Social Knowledge ManagementINFS 890 Seminar PresentationFriday, November 6, 2009Cory Allen Heidelberger

Questions (yes, for you!)Can knowledge management take place outside the firm?If so, would such knowledge management follow different rules?Who manages social knowledge?

RoadmapKM/SKM definitions What SKM is not... what it isA little theory (Laszlo & Laszlo)Who does SKM?books? news? folklore? Web?Reimagine Rural

Knowledge Management Defined“doing what is needed to get the most out of knowledge resources” (Becerra-Fernandez et al., 2004)Wikipedia (yes, Wikipedia!)“a range of practices used in an organisation to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences”organisation: read business? “employees, customers, vendors”focus on K as “enterprise resource”Davenport & Prusak: business decisions, competitive advantagecounter: NASABecerra-Fernandez, I., Gonzalez, A., & Sabherwal, R. (2004). Knowledge Management: Challenges, Solutions and Technologies (Har/Cdr.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Social Knowledge Managementnot just social media applied to KMInmagicCollabNet team work for militaryKM + “Twitter”: tech focus doesn’t change basic natureGeoff Spick. (n.d.). Inmagic Cozies Up to MOSS for Social Knowledge Management. Retrieved October 6, 2009.Martin, G. (2009). On CollabNet - Social Knowledge Management. Retrieved October 6, 2009.Sachoff, M. (2009, May 7). Implementing Social Knowledge Management. Retrieved October 6, 2009.

Social Knowledgesocial knowledge: knowledge shared by a group--group may transcend organizational boundariesVon Krogh, G., Ichijo, K., & Nonaka, I. (2000). Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Social Knowledge ManagementSK + M, not KM + Stakes place across/outside organizationsaims beyond competitive advantageaims for social benefit

SKM: Theoretical BasisLaszlo, K. C., & Laszlo, A. (2002). Evolving knowledge for development: The role of knowledge management in a changing world. Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(4), 400-412.

L&L: Three kinds of business knowledgeatomisticimproving internal processesthink Taylor, scientific managementegocentricgathering external knowledgethink Porter: market, industry, customersevolutionaryinnovation, corporate citizenship, global good

Paradigm...traditional KM business metaphors: junglewarfaremachine“mechanisitic”, “reductionistic” – traditional scientific paradigm

...paradigm shift?evolutionary knowledge/SKM metaphor: organismIn a highly interconnected world, the field of knowledge management faces the challenge of making concrete and relevant contributions for the betterment of society and not only for promotion of competitive advantage for business” (Laszlo & Laszlo, 2002)produce human/social capital

SKM: Whose Job Is It?social knowledge shared, open accessnot seeking competitive advantage... so why invest?tragedy of the commons?

SKM: Possible Actorsnews?books?folklore?Web?

An example?

Future DirectionsCompare knowledge management on firm level and social levelInvestigate how individuals/groups use online tools for social knowledge management

Questions? Musings? Speculation?Thank you for participating!