<aside> 🚩 A Situational Knowledge Base (SKB) is a document containing all background research conducted during a design project.

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What is a SKB?

The SKB is a document that captures key research outcomes that pertain to a particular project.

Research is conducted in response to some kind of research question or topic, so an SKB must be organized by topic. Topics will vary between projects, and between teams, so there is no universal standard for deciding what constitutes a topic.

The SKB is a "living document" that will grow and evolve over the semester. Update it often to make sure it's current and includes all relevant information.

Treating a given topic involves:

• finding appropriate information,
• studying and summarizing that information, and
• synthesizing the information into meaningful conclusions that are relevant to the project.

The structure of the SKB includes:

• The body of the document.
  • This is arranged by topic.
  • For each topic, include:
    • a summary of the sources of information that were studied,
    • the relevant conclusions drawn, and
    • a reference to the corresponding SKB appendix.
• The appendices of the document.
  • There should be one appendix per topic.
  • Each source of information should be noted, along with the actual information drawn from that source.

The structure of the SKB will evolve in later loops of the Study, Propose, Critique loop.

See Project Reporting Templates for a template for this document.

However

In real life, one would remove from an SKB any information that becomes irrelevant over the course of a project. However, this is not the case in scholastic settings.

In learning environments, it's important to know how much work was done, as well as the quality of that work. Therefore, do not remove information from an SKB even when it becomes irrelevant to your project.

Instead, if and when you find information in your SKB that has become irrelevant, simply move it to a separate appendix in the SKB dedicated for such information. Make sure to briefly note why it was deemed irrelevant.

Checklist

• Is every researched item driven by a necessary need to gain information?
• Are all sources of information reliable?
• Is all information properly cited?
• Are all conclusions drawn from researched information consistent with each other?

Learning Objectives