Doctoral Degrees (Information Science)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/627

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Information Science) by browse.metadata.advisor "Watson, Bruce W."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Modelling knowledge security : knowledge security as a knowledge management problem
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Shear, Christopher James; Watson, Bruce W.; Van der Walt, Martin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : For today’s organisations, knowledge has become a highly valuable resource, one that is often critical for competitive success. As such, a variety of methods and approaches have surfaced in recent decades, coalescing into what has become known as knowledge management (KM). The purpose of KM is largely focused on using various mechanisms and technologies to promote the discovery, capture, sharing and application of knowledge to derive value. Yet, while many studies address how knowledge should be leveraged more openly, fewer have focused on how best to secure it. This poses a risk to organisations, due to the increasing complexity of the intelligence-gathering mechanisms employed by those seeking to gain this knowledge for their advantage. In response, the idea of knowledge security has emerged as a mechanism to counter this risk. From an academic perspective, it has largely been grounded in information security theory. This has occurred because of the convergence that has taken place between information systems and KM, with security having taken a largely explicit focus. While beneficial in some ways, this approach is also somewhat problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly, knowledge can extend beyond the explicit and is often found in intangible tacit forms, which may not be covered by taking a pure information security-driven approach. Thus, not having a comprehensive understanding of the measures needed to secure organisational knowledge at each dimension of KM activity, and vice versa, can make knowledge more vulnerable to compromise. Secondly, this creates a dichotomy between KM activity, predominantly centred on the amplification and distribution of knowledge and current security practices, which aim to limit and control access to processes. It is also a symptom indicative of the deeper question about knowledge in organisations, in terms of how it should best be retained, protected, and managed, in a balanced manner. Thus, the study focuses on overcoming this discrepancy by imposing the meta-question of knowledge security upon KM theory. The objective of the research is to advance the body of knowledge, by contributing to it in the form of a better understanding of how knowledge security can be conceptualised as a KM problem and be presented as a model. It is hoped that in doing so, it will set the foundation for future research on this topic and that it will contribute to solidifying knowledge security as part of the broader set of KM processes. To achieve these research objectives, the research design is structured to focus on three components. The first is a theoretical analysis centred on an examination of the literature related to organisational knowledge, KM, and knowledge security. The second is an empirical analysis focused on identifying the relationship between security and knowledge in practice. The third is combining the insights gained from the first two components and using these inputs to design a conceptual model outlining the relationship between knowledge security and KM. This process culminated in the development of a conceptual model of knowledge security that highlights its relationship with KM.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Van Homo na sapiens: Die evolusionere rol van religie in die ontwikkeling van die mens
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Troskie, Sandra; Craffert, Pieter F.; Watson, Bruce W.; Van den Heever, Jurie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Studies in the health sciences have found overwhelming evidence for a positive correlation between religious practice and the life quality and life expectancy of religious practitioners. Given the strong indications that religious practice affects the way in which the brain processes feelings, one may reasonably assume that the processes of evolution have selected for religion because religious beliefs and behaviour has enabled the practitioner to cultivate his or her inner world of feelings to the benefit of personal wellbeing. If this is the case, these studies offer scientific support for one of the most common claims of religious traditions around the world, namely that unbridled feelings pose a threat to the welfare of both self and society. The fundamental problem with this assumption, however, is the fact that etiological and primatological research shows that feelings are not unique to humans, but are in fact physiological states shared by several social species. This is a strong indication that evolution has probably selected for feelings because these dispositions promotes the welfare of some social species. The question to ask is therefore why it is that humans are the only species for whom the processes of evolution found it advantageous to select for attributes that would enable us to cultivate not only our external environments, but also the inner worlds of our feelings? This question underpins the ultimate goal of this thesis, which is to utilise religion as a lens for conducting a neuro-cultural enquiry into the processes by which an "anatomical, neurological, genetic, physiological ape”, in the words of prominent neuroscientist Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran, becomes human. The focus is thus not on religion as a cultural phenomenon, but rather on what the emergence of this phenomenon — and its impact on both our evolution and personal wellbeing—reveals about the nature and existence of human life.