A Technology for Supporting Knowledge Work: The RepTool

Abstract

In this chapter we report on the RepTool,¹ a computer based tool for the collection, analysis, and presentation of data about “workscapes.” Users of the tool collect relevant information about workplaces and workpractices in a central data structure on which the tool provides different views. Physical, social, and cognitive spaces in users’ or customers’ environments can be represented and analyzed. The RepTool supports systematic data collection and collaborative data analysis that can help people at all levels of an organization build a shared view of the formal and informal work processes they participate in. A tool for collaborative knowledge management, it nurtures intra- and inter-team conversations that can lead to an empirically grounded, shared view of current realities and potentially necessary changes.