Working Papers

Mapping Science is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. It has two components: the physical part supports the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers; the online counterpart provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. Read more...

By D. Boyd

For the last few centuries, we have been living in an era of broadcast media, but we have been switching to an era of networked media. This fundamentally alters the structure by which information flows. Read more...

Something odd is happening. While financial turmoil engulfs large organizations, intranets and related employee-facing technologies are experiencing a new injection of momentum. Budgets may have been slashed in many central services, but intranet services across multiple sectors are enjoying large-scale investment. Read more...

By Steve Pavlina

Does it make any sense from a productivity standpoint to spend time on social networking sites, or is this just another form of online addiction? Read more...

In this report (.PDF) you’ll find:
- The top social media marketing questions marketers want answered
- How much time marketers are investing in social media
- The benefits of social media
- How time invested impacts results
- The top social media tools

By Rose Dieng, Olivier Corby, Alain Giboin, Myriam Ribière

This article is a preliminary survey of some methods, techniques and tools aimed at managing corporate knowledge from a corporate memory (CM) designer's perspective. In particular, it analyzes problems and solutions related to the following steps: detection of needs of CM, construction of the CM, its diffusion (specially using the Internet technologies), its use, its evaluation and its evolution.

By Rodica MIHALCA, Adina UŢĂ, Anca ANDREESCU, Iulian ÎNTORSUREANU

Current knowledge management systems focus on knowledge acquisition, storage, retrieval and maintenance. Yet, for that knowledge to be operational, to become knowledge rather than information, requires internalization and learning. E-learning systems and courseware, on the other hand, are all too often monolithic and inert and fail to facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge. In this paper (.PDF) we discuss some aspects about knowledge providing and present our research in this field through an e-learning system for major risks management.

By Ikujirō Nonaka

The fundamental role of social science is to reflect the needs and changes in society. Among several other disciplines, one of most notable trends in conceptual and empirical research in economics and management sciences is the increased focus on knowledge.
This collection is designed to meet the needs of students, faculty, researchers and practitioners working in the area of knowledge management.

By Reinhild Bode, Paola Andrea Victoria, Dora P. Arévalo Valencia

This paper (.PDF) will provide some evidence about the role of knowledge management and communication in establishing effective value chains with resource-poor producers. It first introduces some terms and definitions regarding value chains, social networks and information, knowledge and communication. This leads to a conceptualization of a theoretical framework on knowledge management and communication in value chains.

By Steve Borgatti

All knowledge is socially constructed, but some more than others.
In some cases, an individual interacts with a number of others who may be completely unaware of what problem he is trying to solve, and then, with the knowledge gained, the individual goes off by himself and synthesizes a solution.
In other cases, the new knowledge is co-created by interacting individuals who are bouncing ideas off each other and actively integrating their different perspectives.
These two kinds of knowledge creation are supported by different kinds of network structures. Read more...

By Peter Dalmaris, William P. Hall, Wayne Philp

This paper extends the KBPI to incorporate the idea of the time-value of knowledge, a term we coin and define as a qualification that helps in assessing the applicability of knowledge to solving problems with a variety of time horizons. This examination extends from the simple observation that the knowledge requirements (the knowledge objects, supporting infrastructure and structure, that make up business processes) of the typical knowledge worker, such as a help desk customer support agent, are very different to those of a CEO or an army commander who must to think and/or act now in order to achieve their goals in the future. Read more...

M. Fuller, A. Hardin, R. Davison

The concept of collective efficacy within virtual teams has yet to be studied. This study developed and rigorously validated a domain-specific measure of collective efficacy, entitled virtual team efficacy, within a comprehensive research framework. Over a two-year period we collected field study data from multiple samples of information systems project teams-in all, 52 virtual teams comprising 318 students from the United States, Great Britain, and Hong Kong. As we hypothesized, group potency and computer collective efficacy act as antecedents to virtual team efficacy, and virtual team efficacy is in turn predictive of perceptual and objective measures of performance. Further, consistent with efficacy theory, we also find that virtual team efficacy acts on performance outcomes through specific mediating processes. This paper contributes to the academic and practitioner communities by providing a comprehensive model of virtual team efficacy and performance and by providing validated instrumentation that can be immediately applied during further research in this area.

By Charlene Li, Chloe Stromberg

Many large companies stand on the brink of blogging, yet they are unwilling to take the plunge. Others, having dove in early, now face the challenge of managing existing blogs without the ability to show that they effectively support business goals. While blogging's value can't be measured precisely, marketers will find that calculating the ROI is easier than it looks. Following a three-step process, marketers can create a concrete picture of the key benefits, costs, and risks that blogging presents and understand how they are likely to impact business goals. This, in turn, enables marketers to answer the key questions, such as whether to blog or not to blog, or to make smart choices about an existing blog. Read more...

Personal knowledge management is making strong inroads into enterprise environments where individual users can be motivated to publish quality (commercial) information effectively and with the ease that "bloggers" enjoy. Read more...

The challenges facing organizations today are addressed through learning - but not learning the way we have done it in the past. Courses, programs, and certifications still have a role, but no longer primary. The real task of organizations is to create an ecology of learning that provides the needed basis for transformations. Society, business, and life have changed so dramatically, that our existing means of organizing ourselves seems terribly outdated. Read more...