Co-creating corporate knowledge with a Wiki

Wikis have a growing reputation on the open Internet for producing evolving stores of shared knowledge. However, such democratic systems are often treated with suspicion within corporations for management, legal, social, and other reasons. This article describes a field study of a corporate Wiki that has been developed to capture, and make available, organisational knowledge in a large manufacturing company as an initiative of their Knowledge Management (KM) program. As this approach to KM is a controversial and rapidly changing phenomenon, a Q Methodology research approach was selected to uncover employees- subjective attitudes to the Wiki. Activity Theory was used to provide a deeper interpretation of the findings of the Q-study. The results are enabling the firm to more fully exploit the potential of the Wiki as a ubiquitous tool for successful tacit and explicit knowledge management as more employees are encouraged to participate in a process of cocreating the store of corporate knowledge. The article also demonstrates how meaningful and rigorous research on this new democratic direction of corporate KM should continue

USING WIKI AS A CORPORATE KNOWLEDGE SHARING SYSTEM

The business world is changing at a fast pace. The multinationals, the relocation of the production centers, the virtual integration trend of companies, the ubiquitous text, audio and video communication channels and devices, the overwhelming amounts of information, the power of the new consumer, are all signs of these changes. The economy is switching from a physical resources oriented, to an information and knowledge oriented one. The most important resource a company has becomes the human resource, the people of the organization, with the information and knowledge they possess and use to deal with the everyday challenges. Beginning with getting an insight into the concepts of information and knowledge, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the benefits of a Wiki as a collaborative knowledge sharing platform, able to harness the collective knowledge of a company in the highly competitive today’s knowledge economy.wiki; social networks; collaborative knowledge network; collective knowledge; web 2.0 technologies

Reaching for the Moon: Expanding transactive memory\u27s reach with wikis and tagging

Transactive memory systems (TMS) support knowledge sharing and coordination in groups. TMS are enabled by the encoding, storage, retrieval, and communication of knowledge by domain experts-knowing who knows what. The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group provides an example of how TMS theoretical boundaries are stretched in actual use. This group is characterized as being highly innovative as they routinely engage in field studies that are inherently difficult due to time and technology resource constraints. We provide an expanded view of TMS that includes the technology support system available to this group, and possible further extensions to NASA\u27s or other such dynamic groups\u27 practice

The Wisdom of Crowds in Government 2.0: Information Paradigm Evolution toward Wiki-Government

This essay, exploring the peer-to-peer collaborative atmosphere penetrating Wikivism, crowd-sourcing and open-source movement, identifies a new paradigm of public information as evolution toward Wiki-government. Citizen participants can collectively create public information via various platforms enabled by Web 2.0 technologies. Under the new participatory paradigm that a large number of individual citizens and government cocreate public information, not only do Wiki-oriented government agencies benefit from crowd wisdom, but citizens also learn from their colleague citizens. Crowd-sourcing to collect the wisdom of crowds is categorized into four types by matching between the quantity and the quality of participation: civic-sourcing, mob-sourcing, professionalism, and fiasco. For Wiki-government, a mass of well-informed and concerned participants in civic-sourcing make more desirable outcomes for a society than fewer, poorly-informed and unconcerned people. Thus, civic-sourcing promises greater advantages for government over professionalism and mob-sourcing. Three strategies for civic-sourcing (Wiki/open-sourcing, contest, or social networking) can be employed through different working mechanisms, with different motivators for participation, and under different approaches to human nature of key participants

Enterprise 2.0: Collaboration and Knowledge Emergence as a Business Web Strategy Enabler

The Web is becoming in many respects a powerful tool for supporting business strategy as companies are quickly becoming more and more reliant on new Web-based technologies to capitalize on new business opportunities. However, this introduces additional managerial problems and risks that have to be taken into consideration, if they are not to be left behind. In this chapter we explore the Web’s present and future potential in relation to information sharing, knowledge management, innovation management, and the automation of cross-organizational business transactions. The suggested approach will provide entrepreneurs, managers, and IT leaders with guidance on how to adopt the latest Web 2.0-based technologies in their everyday work with a view to setting up a business Web strategy. Specifically, Enterprise 2.0 is presented as a key enabler for businesses to expand their ecosystems and partnerships. Enterprise 2.0 also acts as a catalyst for improving innovation processes and knowledge work

the role of microblogging in knowledge work

Microblogging in the workplace as a functionality of Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) platforms is a relatively new phenomenon of which the use in knowledge work has not yet received much attention from research. In this cross-sectional study, I attempt to shed light on the role of microblogging in knowledge work. I identify microblogging use practices of knowledge workers on ESN platforms, and I identify its role in supporting knowledge work performance. A questionnaire is carried out among a non-representative sample of knowledge workers. The results shed light on the purposes of the microblogging messages that knowledge workers write. It also helps us find out whether microblogging supports them in performing their work. The survey is based on existing theory that supplied me with possible microblog purposes as well as theory on what the actions of knowledge workers are. The results reveal that “knowledge & news sharing”, “crowd sourcing”, “socializing & networking” and “discussion & opinion” are frequent microblog purposes. The study furthermore shows that microblogging benefits knowledge workers’ work. Microblogging seems to be a worthy addition to the existing means of communication in the workplace, and is especially useful to let knowledge, news and social contact reach a further and broader audience than it would in a situation without this social networking service

Funny Business: Public Opinion of Outsourcing and Offshoring as Reflected in U.S. and Indian Political Cartoons

In this paper, we studied the public’s opinion of outsourcing and offshoring as reflected in political cartoons. Researchers in many fields have used political cartoons to track public opinion, yet we are unaware of any such research in the field of IS. We analyzed the content of 165 political cartoons from the U.S. and India that depict offshoring and outsourcing. Overall, U.S./Western political cartoons portray outsourcing and offshoring negatively, causing lost jobs for workers and poorer customer service for consumers. Indian political cartoons focus on jobs gained and the labor and infrastructure constraints caused by the rapid growth of ITO and BPO industries. We also compared the content of political cartoons to IS academic research. We found both similarities and differences. One similarity is that lower costs were found to be the most common reason depicted/cited for outsourcing/offshoring in political cartoons and IS academic research. One difference is that political cartoonists primarily empathize and thus promote the interests of the workers, direct supervisors, and customers most affected by outsourcing/offshoring whereas IS researchers primarily promote the interests of the firm. We also discuss the use of political cartoons as an effective pedagogical device in global outsourcing courses

Social media engagement strategy : Investigation of marketing and R&D interfaces in manufacturing industry

Research shows that effective marketing and R&D interface is pivotal in a company's new product development performance and future competitiveness. The increased popularity of social media promised to enhance interaction, collaboration, and networking between the two functions. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the key activities, infrastructure requirements, and potential benefits of social media in the marketing and R&D interface. This study aims to advance the current understanding of social media engagement strategies, which facilitates improved marketing and R&D interfaces and ultimately NPD performance for manufacturing companies. Based on a multiple-case study in two manufacturing companies, this study first presents the role of social media in facilitating improved marketing and R&D interface within a B2B context. Second, it presents the adoption process of the social media engagement strategy for an evolving marketing and R&D interface. The adoption process is divided into three phases, namely coordination, cooperation, and coproduction, to provide detailed insights regarding full-scale social media engagement. Taken together, the study provides novel insights into industrial marketing management literature by exemplifying the role of social media and proposing a systematic social engagement strategy for improved marketing and R&D interface in the manufacturing industry.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A Sociocultural Analysis of Book-Length Works Mentioned in the English Journal, 2010-2020

Between 2010 and 2020, the book-length works mentioned in the English Journal were recorded in order to assess societal and professional trends reflected in the uptake of these books in pedagogical articles. The data shows a continued heavy presence of canonical literature, particularly Shakespearean plays, as well as an increase in diverse perspectives, a higher respect for new genres such as Young Adult Literature and the Graphic Novel in the classroom, and a pushback on two popular novels, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Knowledge sharing and competitiveness of professional service firms: A case study

The problem addressed in this study is that little action is taken to create the social aspects and social value of knowledge-sharing culture within organizations. There is a need for increased understanding of the behavioral side of knowledge management. The purpose of this study was to focus on knowledge sharing from a behavioral perspective. Knowledge management is defined as the accumulation, protection, and leverage of knowledge. This research study investigated the relationship between knowledge sharing and competitiveness and approached the field of knowledge management from the organizational, cultural, and behavioral perspectives. The research questions examined how knowledge workers described the parameters and conditions of knowledge sharing, as well as the relationship between knowledge sharing and competitiveness of professional service firms. The overall research design employed three focus groups and individual interviews of a selected professional service firm. Similarity and commonalities of data from interviews were color coded and labeled. Field notes, handouts, and a qualitative research computer program were used to triangulate data. Results of the study generated and established five specific categories. The categories of spiritual essence of business, believability and openness, and ethical responsibility present the mind and spiritual connection to enhance the value of knowledge sharing as a factor for competitiveness. In addition, the categories of whole brain learning and connectivity are context for creating a learning organization. The implications for social change include a clearer understanding of knowledge sharing which can increase organizational competitiveness. The effect of the added competitiveness of professional service firms can result in enhancing economic and social value of their key stakeholders