VU University Amsterdam

Graduate Student, Faculty of Arts

Thesis Title: Metaphor in knowledge management

About

Currently, I'm a PhD-researcher at INHolland University of Applied Sciences and VU University Amsterdam. My research is on how language users conceptualize their knowledge through metaphor. In this PhD-research, we are going to determine when and how language users are using metaphor to communicate about knowledge and knowledge management. We will also determine what the root metaphors are for different strategies to manage knowledge. Those we will relate to organization-wide strategic goals. By that, we make well-grounded statements on the relationship between experiences by individual knowledge workers and the organization-wide knowledge management strategies of the organizations they are working for. These statements will be validated by a series of cases.

I obtained my MA in Dutch Language and Literature in 2003, specialization cognitive linguistics. Within the cognitive linguistic framework I studied the use of conceptual metaphor in language use. My thesis was on the word 'tijd' (time) used as a mass noun. I argued that language users conceptualize the mass noun 'tijd' by using the spatial domain. Further research showed that in general mass nouns are understood through the process of spatialization. After that, I explored the relation between mass nouns, count nouns, and the conceptual metaphor TIME is SPACE.

In 2005, I was a member of a research group which focused on business rules and business intelligence. In 2006 and 2007, I studied information and documentation management at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. My final thesis was on the use of topic maps to structure knowledge and information within knowledge-intensive organizations.