KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT BY INTERNET COMMUNITIES: IS IT AN EXAMPLE FOR THE CORPORATE WORLD?
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT BY INTERNET COMMUNITIES: IS IT AN EXAMPLE FOR THE CORPORATE WORLD?

Summary/Abstract: Many Internet users have joined virtual communities who meet around a certain Website. Some of these Websites have become a formidable resource for the management of formal and explicit knowledge in various domains, such as language terminology and micro-mechanical engineering. The present paper focuses on two of these community types: 1. The first community type is centered around a collaborative editing tool – these are Wiki sites1, the most famous one being Wikipedia, especially in its English and German version – the user paradigm is that of an encyclopedia. 2. The second community type is centered around discussion boards, and the user paradigm is either a focused discussion around a certain subject, or of a Question&Answer (Q&A) type. The authors conclude that some ideas and concepts coming from open Internet communities should be re-used in the learning and knowledge management endeavors done in the corporate and government world - these ideas will be listed as a proposals for lessons to be learned in the last chapter of the current paper.

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