Indicator-based knowledge management for participatory decision-making

Three major components of participatory decision-making, namely knowledge, communication and reporting, are reviewed. A prototype knowledge management system based on these components is developed in the context of community forestry. The system addresses key issues such as differences in literacy levels, interests and technical capability of the participating individuals and organizations, and is structured around a hierarchical structure of Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PC&I). The system automates production of customized reports that can be prepared as hard copy documents, web pages or audio (narrated) reports on cassette and in a selected language. The reporting structure permits individuals to contribute material to interim reports and facilitates the tracking of their knowledge contribution to the decision process. These customized reports mitigate problems of information overload, as well as increasing the satisfaction of the recipients with the participatory process. The system is used as a basis for discussion of alternative system designs and issues related to interactions between humans and computers, from which a new system design philosophy of “Adaptive Knowledge Management” is developed.