Gap851 Final Report Main Body

2.4Sense-making techniques

One of the outputs of this project was the identification and application of appropriate tools and techniques to analyse and structure a large body of technical information and to communicate the findings effectively. Dr Durrheim is a member of the CSIR Knowledge Management “Community of Practice”. During 2004/5 he attended several workshops and consulted members of the community regarding methods and models they had applied. Mind Maps, the Cynefin Framework, Scenario Planning, and Technology Roadmapping were used in the course of this study, and are briefly described below. New concepts in “knowledge fingerprinting” and “knowledge mining” were also identified.

2.4.1Mind map

A mind map was developed to explain succinctly the rationale and methodology of rock-related research. The “paper napkin” test was applied: it should be possible to draw the mind map from memory on a paper napkin and use it to make sense of the situation to a non-specialist in normal conversation at a dinner party. The mind map that was developed after discussions with many researchers, practitioners, and non-specialists is shown in Figure 2.1.

Firstly, the major reasons for excavating rock are established:

• 
  To provide material for building;
  
• 
  To provide material for civil infrastructural projects;
  
• 
  To provide metals, minerals and chemical feedstock for manufactured goods; and
  
• 
  To provide energy for industrial and domestic use and fuel for transportation.
  

It is evident that many human activities are dependent on, or affected by, rock excavation.

Next, the main drivers for rock-related research are identified:

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  To reduce the risk to mineworkers and society of rockbursts, rockfalls, rockslides and ground subsidence; and
  
• 
  To increase the benefit derived from rock excavation by maximising resource utilisation and profits, and minimising the impact made by rock excavation on the environment.
  

The rationale for rock-related research is summarized as follows:

To gain knowledge and technology to optimise excavation stability.

In the South African context, SIMRAC has been mandated to focus on safety-related issues, while several other collaborative research programmes (DeepMine, FutureMine, Coaltech 2020 and PlatMine) have focused on productivity and sustainability issues.

To optimise excavation stability, a rock engineer has to balance cost, benefit, and risk. For example, the rock support installed in a road tunnel that forms part of a national highway system will probably differ from that installed in a mining tunnel that has a planned life of only a few months. Similar trade-offs apply to the mechanisation of mining. For example, mechanisation could reduce the risk to workers, but could also lead to job losses. This could have undesirable social consequences in a country such as South Africa that has a high level of unemployment. These considerations raise moral and philosophical questions that have to be answered in the context of South Africa’s evolving social, political, and economic dispensation.

The research drivers initiate a process of discovery, invention, and implementation known as the innovation cycle.

1. 
   Research needs are defined by identifying knowledge and technology gaps. This typically involves a process where perceived needs are solicited from stakeholders in the industry (mine operators, workers, regulators, etc), or potentially relevant advances in technology and practice are identified through scans of the global mining industry and other fields of science and engineering.
   
2. 
   Research work is then commissioned and conducted. The research work can be divided into several elements, although considerable overlap exists between them.
   
   1. 
      Basic science: The properties of earth and engineering materials are investigated to determine the strength, deformation and failure characteristics. Computational methods and tools are developed to facilitate numerical simulation of rock mass behaviour. Rock is a particularly challenging material as it is often discontinuous, heterogeneous, inelastic, and anisotropic.
      
   2. 
      Applied science and engineering: Scientific knowledge is applied to the practical problems of mining. Methodologies and machines are developed.
      
   3. 
      Human factors: Engineering solutions cannot be imposed without an understanding of why accidents happen; why people fail to adhere to standards; and how training, work organization systems, and the compatibility between men and machines can be improved.
      
   4. 
      Risk assessment: The discipline that integrates engineering, economics and the human factor and seeks to determine the best course of action in a given set of circumstances.
      

Research work takes place in several different ways, each requiring a set of skills and resources:

1. 
   Original thinking and analysis;
   
2. 
   Back analysis, which is a structured way of learning from past experiences;
   
3. 
   Laboratory testing, e.g. determining the properties of rock or the performance of support elements;
   
4. 
   Work programmes in mines, e.g. determining in situ rock properties, monitoring rock mass behaviour such as deformation and seismicity, field-testing methodologies and machines, work observation; and
   
5. 
   Computer simulation.
   

Figure 2.2 Mind map showing the rationale and methodology for rock-related research

3. 
   Transfer of the knowledge and technology from researchers to practitioners takes place in several ways:
   
   1. 
      Publication of findings in reports, papers, guidelines, textbooks, databases and computer programs. Media include print, compact disks and web sites (www.simrac.co.za). The SIMRAC web site offers a facility to search SIMRAC reports using the Google engine. The CSIR Miningtek Mining Portal (www.MiningSA.info) allows subscribers to make full-text searches of all reports issued by SIMRAC and the collaborative research programmes.
      
   2. 
      Verbal communication of findings and experience in workshops, symposia, product launches, training programmes and academic syllabuses. It is important to realize that researchers gain far more knowledge in the course of their work than is made explicit in their written reports. The effective transfer of this tacit knowledge is a great challenge. One way in which this may take place is through career mobility, with people moving between universities, research organisations, and consulting and mining companies.
      
   3. 
      Experimental mines or stopes, where technologies can be demonstrated and integrated with other mining systems.
      
   4. 
      Industrialisation of technology, including the identification and licensing of manufacturers and suppliers of technology.
      
4. 
   Implementation, where the knowledge and technology that has been developed is widely applied on mines. Incentives for implementation include the potential economic benefits, the impact on safety, and regulation.
   
5. 
   Finally, the impact of the research on safety, productivity, and sustainability is assessed.
   

The innovation cycle is repeated many times over, with advances taking place simultaneously on many fronts. Sometimes innovation is discontinuous (i.e. radically new technology or systems), but more often it involves steady incremental improvement. Furthermore, the innovation cycle is not a closed system. Research priorities are affected by external factors such as commodity cycles and socio-political developments. The available skills base is also a critical constraint, and succession planning is important to ensure that knowledge and skills do not become extinct.

2.4.2Cynefin framework

SIMRAC works in a complex world, seeking to satisfy many stakeholders (mining companies, labour, government, researchers, manufacturers, etc) with different, and sometimes conflicting, agendas. Conventional hierarchical models of knowledge are incompatible with an environment that is ambiguous and constantly changing. The Cynefin framework is an example of the emerging organic approach to management science, which draws on concepts from complexity theory and ecology (Kurtz & Snowden, 2003). It is impossible to describe the Cynefin approach in a few paragraphs, but a few of the central concepts are described below.

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  Cynefin does not seek to remove conflict by submerging individuality into a common vision, as often happens in workshop groups. Rather, it strives to achieve higher-level understanding by drawing out and fostering multiple perspectives.
  
• 
  Researchers are often expected to deduce and develop simple rules and criteria, when the real situation is complex. Cynefin believes that Best Practice and Standard Operating Principles have their place, but it must be recognised that they assume an ordered universe where the outcome of a defined action can be predicted. Heuristics, on the other hand, provides only general guidance but is more adaptable and allows the emergence of new insights and understandings. Cynefin tools can be used to analyse systems to gain an understanding of what is known and knowable, and what is complex and chaotic.
  
• 
  Knowledge cannot be treated as an organisational asset without the active and voluntary participation of the communities that are its true owners. This implies a shift to thinking of employees as volunteers, which requires a radical rethink of reward structures, organisational form, and management attitude.
  

David Snowden, Director of the Institute for Knowledge Management, University of Surrey, developed the Cynefin approach. It is used by IBM to tailor solutions, based on sound principles, to the unique problems presented by their clients. The term “DNA Consulting” is sometimes used to contrast the approach with “Recipe Books”, alluding to the fact that DNA creates the vast complexity of organic life from just four basic chemical components.

While no direct use was made of the Cynefin model in the course of this study, it alerted Dr Durrheim to different ways of categorising information and new ways of thinking and managing of the research endeavour that might prove productive in the future. The Cynefin approach has relevance to the entire innovation cycle from the identification of needs, the formation of research teams, and the formulation of research methodologies, through to knowledge transfer and implementation.

2.4.3Scenario planning and technology roadmapping

Dr Durrheim attended a Technology Roadmapping Workshop offered by the Department of Science and Technology on 2 November 2004. The presenters were Mr Geoffrey Nimmo (Director of the Technology Roadmap Secretariat, Industry Canada), Prof. Ron Johnston (Executive Director, Australian Centre for Innovation, leader of the Australian national foresight study “Matching Science and Technology to Future Needs”), and Dr Alan Smith (member of the Foresight Materials Panel for UK Government, visiting tutor on Innovation and R&D Management, Strathclyde University). Prof. Johnston described the challenges of planning in times characterised by high levels of uncertainty, extreme complexity, rapid change, the dreaded law of ecology (survival of the fittest), and global reach. A range of planning tools is available, and should be selected according to the envisaged future (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1: Planning Tools

(Prof. R. Johnston, Australian Centre for Innovation, personal communication, 2004)

Future	Tools
Type 1: a clear enough prospect	strategic planning, SWOT
Type 2: a limited range of options	morphological analysis, relevance trees, technology road-mapping, non-linear equations
Type 3: a broad range of possible futures	scenario planning, individual and collective judgment
Type 4: no guide to the future	analogy, metaphor

Scenario planning and technology roadmapping concepts were applied to the Foresight Report in a limited way, as a comprehensive study was beyond the scope of this exercise. For example, CSIR is planning to conduct a Foresight Study of the South African mining industry, which is expected to take at least 50 man-days to complete.

2.4.4Knowledge fingerprinting and mining

The CSIR Information Services Forum hosted a workshop on 24 February 2005, at which new concepts in knowledge management were presented. Dr Albert Mons of IntellectuALL (The Netherlands) gave a presentation on the Collexis® suite. Dr Durrheim was impressed by the product, which appeared to be well suited to analysing and searching the rock-related knowledge base. The Collexis® suite is made available licence-free to non-profit organisations in the developing world, and CSIR is considering taking advantage of this offer.

The Collexis® suite consists of a set of components that together represent software for making large amounts of unstructured information easily accessible. Its development started in the early 1990s, at the time when the Internet began to be used widely. The system can be queried not only for relevant documents, but also for experts on a particular topic or even for organisations that are active in a particular field of interest. It is based on the principle of fingerprinting. The system can create a fingerprint for each piece of text that contains relevant information, such as competence sheets, project descriptions, or web pages. The fingerprinting process makes use of a structure of professional terminology of a particular field (essentially a thesaurus). By doing so, it embodies the way humans understand terms and concepts. The fingerprints are small but unique representations of their source. A Collexis® catalog contains only fingerprints, not the original information, which makes the process of matching a catalogue with a search fingerprint extremely fast. Besides the standard data and information retrieval capabilities, Collexis® technology is also able to discover relationships between elements of different information items (via clustering and/or aggregation) and thus uncover important implicit knowledge.