The Rosetta video approach: an overview and lessons learned so far

Abstract

PurposeBesides the technological challenge of flying a space probe for ten years before arriving at the final mission destination, one is confronted with a potential loss of knowledge during this period. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the general knowledge management applied for such a mission. It aims to give details for a new approach, the video approach, to capture expertise knowledge of engineers and scientists.Design/methodology/approachThe video approach included the visit of all instrument teams for several days, executing interviews with engineers, technicians and scientists. During the interviews a table of content (/toc/) with attached keywords was generated. The final video was transferred into a computer‐readable form and connected with the table of content. The methodology that was used to prepare and execute the interviews, the final video material and the storage and structure of the table of content and keywords is presented.FindingsThe experimenter interviews and the follow‐up work are finished. The paper finds that feedback received so far is positive and some experimenter teams use the approach for internal work.Research limitations/implicationsThe existing videos are not integrated into the existing standard office environment. Another technology step needs to integrate video capture, search and play into the existing, e.g. document processing, environment. The quality of the approach is difficult to estimate as the captured information might only be used in the years to come.Practical implicationsProof of concept is given and lessons‐learned listed.Originality/valueAn new approach is documented giving technical implementation, setup, execution and approach details. Suitable as a reference paper for any organization with similar knowledge management requirements.