Abstract
The development of ontologies to unify and to put into context the different concepts and terms of the traditional and locally colored construction industry domains is a necessary step to avoid misinterpretations and inefficient communication. The KNOW-CONSTRUCT project, as an approach to this task, decided to re-use existing ontologies, classification systems, and other semantic resources to develop a system for the integration, management, and reuse of the area specific knowledge via a common knowledge base to consolidate and provide access to integrated knowledge, making community emergent knowledge a significant added value. The Know-Construct project' intends to improve the effectiveness of the Construction Industry (CI) SME's (Small and Medium Enterprise) by improving and extending the relationship with their customers through an innovative support regarding information and knowledge about products, processes and associated issues. © 2006 Copyright

Abstract
The development of ontologies to unify and to put into context the different concepts and terms of the sometimes rather traditional and locally coloured construction industry domains is a necessary step to avoid misinterpretations and inefficient communication. The KNOW-CONSTRUCT project, as an approach to this task, decided to re-use, as far as possible, existing ontologies, classification systems and other semantic resources in order to develop a system for the integration, management and reuse of the area specific knowledge via a common knowledge base in order to consolidate and provide access to integrated knowledge, making community emergent knowledge a significant added value. Copyright © 2006 IFAC.

Abstract

Abstract
Knowledge management intrinsically involves communication and information sharing, which can be strongly affected by the context in which it is viewed and interpreted. This situation gets worst when complex domains. are considered, as it is the case of the Construction Industry domains. The development of ontologies to unify and to put into context the different concepts and terms of the sometimes rather traditional and locally coloured construction industry domains is a necessary step to avoid misinterpretations and inefficient communication. The KNOW-CONSTRUCT project decided, as an approach to this task, to re-use, as far as possible, existing ontologies, classification systems and other semantic resources in order to develop a system that may come to contribute to standards and to the integration, management and reuse of the area specific knowledge via a common knowledge base in order to consolidate and provide access to integrated knowledge, making community emergent knowledge a significant added value. It aims at developing a methodology of common Construction Industry Knowledge (CIK) representation applicable to large sets of SMEs in the construction industry as a basis for the establishment of a knowledge community.

Abstract
This paper presents the socio-technical design of a knowledge community which is part of a system to support an industrial association based collaborative network in the sector of construction industry. There are many explanations around the virtual community concept. Here is presented a fundamental phase of the Know-Construct project which involved the design of the Construction Industry Knowledge (CIK) Community using three analytical approaches. The generic architecture of the supporting system (Knowledge Community Support - KCS) is described, highlighting information and knowledge management, community building facilities and semantic resources management.

Abstract