Wikis in elearning and student projects

The paper presents a study which was based on the hypothesis that wikis that are initiated bottom up by students might be used more deliberately than wikis which are introduced top down by teachers. Therefore it examines the specific effects observed in nine different wiki projects at the university of Frankfurt ranging from student wiki projects up to wikis used in seminars and as information tool for institutions

Communities und Wissensmanagement: Wenn hohe Erwartungen und wenig Wissen zusammentreffen

The idea of communities is very popular in the current discussion on knowledge management in practice: Positive and emotional associations as well as high expectations, especially regarding communication and innovation, have resulted in the foundation of communities as informal groups of shared interests in many organizations. Compared to the community-euphoria, the empirical foundation of the concept can be characterized as unsatisfactory. It is not yet clear if communities content the proposed potential of creativity and innovation. It is also an open question to what extent such communities can develop and exist on the basis of self-organization claimed by the theoretical community-concept. This article tries to analyze the attractive power and chances of communities in detail and points to the critical aspects which can be understood as scientific tasks.Die Community-Idee hat in der praktischen Auseinandersetzung mit Wissensmanagement derzeit Hochkonjunktur: Positive und emotionsbetonte Assoziationen sowie hohe Erwartungen, insbesondere in Bezug auf Kommunikation und Innovation, haben dazu geführt, dass in vielen Organisationen Communities im Sinne von informellen Interessengemeinschaften gegründet werden. Im Vergleich dazu muss man die empirische Seite der Community-Euphorie als unbefriedigend bezeichnen. Ungeklärt ist nicht nur, ob etwa das angenommene Kreativitäts- und Innovationspotential von Communities praktisch tatsächlich gegeben ist. Offen ist auch die Frage, inwieweit derartige Gemeinschaften auch selbstorganisiert entstehen und existieren können, wie dies das theoretische Community-Konzept fordert. Der Beitrag möchte die Anziehungskraft und Chancen von Communities näher beleuchten und gleichzeitig auf die kritischen Aspekte aufmerksam machen, die man als Forschungsaufgaben verstehen kann

The effects of knowledge management on innovative success: an empirical analysis of German firms

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of knowledge management on the innovation success of firms in Germany. Using a matching procedure on data from the German Innovation Survey of 2003 (Mannheim Innovation Panel), we pair firms applying knowledge management with twin firms with similar characteristics not applying knowledge management. Our focus is on investigating the effects of knowledge management techniques on the economic success of firms with product and process innovations. The results of our matching analysis reveal that firms which apply knowledge management perform better in terms of higher-than-average shares of turnover with innovative products compared to their twins. We do not find a significant effect of knowledge management on the share of cost reductions with process innovation. --knowledge management,innovation,matching estimator

Durchführung von Maßnahmen zum Wissenstransfer zwischen Forschung und Ökologischer Lebensmittelwirtschaft unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ergebnisse des Bundesprogramms Ökologischer Landbau - Internationaler Workshop "Wissensbeschaffung und -transfer in der Bioberatung"

Im Rahmen des Bundesprogramms Ökologischer Landbau veranstaltete die Stiftung Ökologie & Landbau (SÖL) vom 2.-3. November 2005 einen 2-tägigen internationalen Workshop zum Wissenstransfer in der Bioberatung. Ziel des Projektes war es, den Wissenstransfer der vielfältigen und unter hohem Aufwand erarbeiteten Forschungsergebnisse zum Ökologischen Landbau zu fördern. Bioberater sollen als wesentliche Multiplikatoren besser als bisher am Wissensfortschritt zum Öko-Landbau teilhaben können und ihr Know-How noch umsetzungsorientierter an Praktiker sowie Unternehmer weitergeben können. An der Veranstaltung nahmen 17 Bioberater aus 4 verschiedenen Ländern mit leitenden oder konzeptionellen Aufgaben teil. In dem Workshop wurden drei Themenschwerpunkte behandelt: Wissensbeschaffung und -management, Berater-Infodienst und Berateraus- und Weiterbildung. Im Rahmen des Schwerpunktes Wissensbeschaffung und Infodienst streben alle Beteiligten eine zentrale, beratungsrelevante Medienablage mit Archivierungsfunktion und Internetfähigkeit an. Weiterhin sollen Fach-Diskussionsforen und ein zentraler Infodienst für Bioberater eingerichtet werden. Die weitere Entwicklungsarbeit wird sich an der Beraterdatenbank BIOS orientieren, da diese bereits von ca. 240 Bio-Beratern genutzt wird. Zur weiteren Umsetzung dieser Wissensplattform bildete sich ein Konzeptionsteam aus 7 Teilnehmern. Auch in der Aus- und Weiterbildung besteht der Wunsch nach einer engeren Kooperation. So könnten beispielsweise die Beraterfortbildungen, die die SÖL seit 2002 organisiert, zukünftig auf einen internationalen Rahmen ausgeweitet werden. Speziell im methodischen aber auch in spezifisch fachlichen Bereichen bekundeten die Vertreter aus den Nachbarländern ein hohes Interesse an Kooperation. Auch hier sind bereits die ersten Schritte zu einer Zusammenarbeit in diesem Bereich geplant

Strategische Kommunikation und Stakeholdermanagement: Struktur, Implementierung, Erfolgsfaktoren

Strategic communication is a relatively new discipline gaining increasingly importance in academia and practice. Strategic communication is the coordinated and structured orientation of organisational communication for the achievement of a unitary perception in markets and society. This way the need is acknowledged that communication comprises more than an organisation's publications by words, pictures or symbols requiring a strategic alignment of the marketing and communication/PR functions. This leads to a new conceptual organisation of the marketing and communication/PR function under the umbrella of a superior strategic communication function, which is strategically oriented to improve organisational performance and its value creation. The book explains the design, implementation and structure of strategic communication for a market environment, which goes far beyond market orientation. Stakeholder management and public perception are also essential parts of the process. Strategic communication is a future-oriented approach for the value-oriented management of organisations

Enriching E-Learning Through Knowledge Management: Impulses From A Comprehensive E-Learning Understanding For Media Didactic Training Courses

Der vorliegende Artikel geht der Frage nach, welche Anregungen sich aus der Verbindung von Wissensmanagement (WM) und E-Learning für die Zusammenstellung von Lehrinhalten in mediendidaktischen Ausbildungsgängen gewinnen lassen. Ausgangspunkt sind die Anforderungen, welche insbesondere Unternehmen an Absolvierende stellen, die Lehr-/Lernumgebungen mit neuen informations- und kommunikationstechnischen (IKT) Medien für Erwachsene planen und gestalten. Die Überlegungen gliedern sich nach den vier Bereichen des E-Learning-Referenzmodells: Strategie, Methoden und Prozesse, Systeme und Technologien sowie Management der Veränderung. Zum einen wird aus diesem umfassenden Verständnis von E-Learning abgeleitet, dass es für mediendidaktisch Tätige wichtig ist, dieses Gesamtbild zu kennen und mindestens ein Verständnis, wenn nicht auch Kompetenzen, in all diesen Aufgabenbereichen zu entwickeln. Zum anderen ist das E-Learning-Referenzmodell als Gliederung geeignet, um zu untersuchen, in welchen Bereichen Wissensmanagement eine Horizonterweiterung für E-Learning darstellt.This article explores the question of what suggestions can be gained from the combination of knowledge management (WM) and e-learning for the composition of teaching content in media didactic training courses. The starting point is the requirements that companies in particular place on graduates who plan and design teaching/learning environments with new information and communication technology (ICT) media for adults. The considerations are structured according to the four areas of the e-learning reference model: strategy, methods and processes, systems and technologies, and management of change. On the one hand, it is derived from this comprehensive understanding of e-learning that it is important for those working in media didactics to know this overall picture and to develop at least an understanding, if not competences, in all these task areas. On the other hand, the e-learning reference model is suitable as an outline for examining in which areas knowledge management represents a broadening of horizons for e-learning

Virtuelle Communities – Kennzeichen, Gestaltungsprinzipien und Wissensmanagement-Prozesse

Discussions on the topic of virtual communities are increasing in theory and practice. But the description of the phenomenon virtual communities is still quite diffuse. In this contribution characteristics and design criteria of virtual communities are described. On the basis of the characterization of knowledge management processes in virtual communities three examples of virtual communities are described briefly.Virtuelle Communities sind ein zunehmend intensiv diskutiertes Thema in Wissenschaft und Praxis. Die Beschreibung des Phänomens virtueller Gemeinschaften ist jedoch noch relativ unscharf. Im folgenden Beitrag liegt der Fokus auf der Beschreibung von Kennzeichen und Gestaltungsprinzipien virtueller Communities. Vor dem Hintergrund von Wissensmanagementprozessen in virtuellen Gemeinschaften werden darüber hinaus drei Anwendungskontexte anhand von konkreten Beispielen genauer betrachtet

The sociological perspective on the knowledge-based society: assumptions, facts and visions

The paper will present the central discourse of the knowledge-based society. Already in the 1960s the debate of the industrial society already raised the question whether there can be considered a paradigm shift towards a knowledge-based society. Some prominent authors already foreseen ‘knowledge’ as the main indicator in order to displace ‘labour’ and ‘capital’ as the main driving forces of the capitalistic development. Today on the political level and also in many scientific disciplines the assumption that we are already living in a knowledge-based society seems obvious. Although we still do not have a theory of the knowledge-based society and there still exist a methodological gap about the empirical indicators, the vision of a knowledge-based society determines at least the perception of the Western societies. In a first step the author will pinpoint the assumptions about the knowledge-based society on three levels: on the societal, on the organisational and on the individual level. These assumptions are relied on the following topics: a) The role of the information and communication technologies; b) The dynamic development of globalisation as an ‘evolutionary’ process; c) The increasing importance of knowledge management within organisations; d) The changing role of the state within the economic processes. Not only the differentiation between the levels but also the revision of the assumptions of a knowledge-based society will show that the ‘topics raised in the debates’ cannot be considered as the results of a profound societal paradigm shift. However what seems very impressive is the normative and virtual shift towards a concept of modernity, which strongly focuses on the role of technology as a driving force as well as on the global economic markets, which has to be accepted. Therefore – according to the official debate - the successful adaptation of these processes seems the only way to meet the knowledge-based society. Analysing the societal changes on the three levels, the label ‘knowledge-based society’ can be seen critically. Therefore the main question of Theodor W. Adorno during the 16th Congress of Sociology in 1968 did not loose its actuality. Facing the societal changes he asked whether we are still living in the industrial society or already in a post-industrial state. Thinking about the knowledge-based society according to these two options, this exercise would enrich the whole debate in terms of social inequality, political, economic exclusion processes and at least the power relationship between social groups.industrial society; knowledge-based society; technology; organisations; knowledge management

The sociological perspective on the knowledge-based society: assumptions, facts and visions

The paper will present the central discourse of the knowledge-based society. Already in the 1960s the debate of the industrial society already raised the question whether there can be considered a paradigm shift towards a knowledge-based society. Some prominent authors already foreseen ‘knowledge’ as the main indicator in order to displace ‘labour’ and ‘capital’ as the main driving forces of the capitalistic development. Today on the political level and also in many scientific disciplines the assumption that we are already living in a knowledge-based society seems obvious. Although we still do not have a theory of the knowledge-based society and there still exist a methodological gap about the empirical indicators, the vision of a knowledge-based society determines at least the perception of the Western societies. In a first step the author will pinpoint the assumptions about the knowledge-based society on three levels: on the societal, on the organisational and on the individual level. These assumptions are relied on the following topics: a) The role of the information and communication technologies; b) The dynamic development of globalisation as an ‘evolutionary’ process; c) The increasing importance of knowledge management within organisations; d) The changing role of the state within the economic processes. Not only the differentiation between the levels but also the revision of the assumptions of a knowledge-based society will show that the ‘topics raised in the debates’ cannot be considered as the results of a profound societal paradigm shift. However what seems very impressive is the normative and virtual shift towards a concept of modernity, which strongly focuses on the role of technology as a driving force as well as on the global economic markets, which has to be accepted. Therefore – according to the official debate - the successful adaptation of these processes seems the only way to meet the knowledge-based society. Analysing the societal changes on the three levels, the label ‘knowledge-based society’ can be seen critically. Therefore the main question of Theodor W. Adorno during the 16th Congress of Sociology in 1968 did not loose its actuality. Facing the societal changes he asked whether we are still living in the industrial society or already in a post-industrial state. Thinking about the knowledge-based society according to these two options, this exercise would enrich the whole debate in terms of social inequality, political, economic exclusion processes and at least the power relationship between social groups.knowledge-based society; ICT; knowledge management; technology