Abstract:
A number of trends are contributing
to increased fragmentation within organizations: the
globalization of the economy and workforce, leading to
colleagues being increasingly distributed across
geographical locales; the dynamic nature of
project-oriented workgroups, leading to the formation and
dissolution of teams with relatively short durations; and
flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting that
permit people to work outside of the office on a regular
basis. As a consequence of these trends, more people are
spending less time collocated with a core group of
colleagues for extended periods of time, and are becoming
less aware of what kinds of activities other people in
their group are involved in. This reduced awareness
results in missed opportunities for collaboration,
referrals and sharing of relevant knowledge, as well as
leading to a diminished sense of community among the group
members.
We are undertaking a study of
community knowledge, which we define as knowledge about
the activities and interests of other members of the
community, and the design of tools that will help
promulgate this knowledge. We are seeking a better
understanding of three aspects of community knowledge, as
they relate to our group at Accenture Technology Labs:
- What kinds of information do people want about other
members of the community?
- How can this community knowledge best be acquired?
- How can this community knowledge best be
disseminated?
In this of this paper, we briefly
describe the community under study, then report on some
initial findings and hypotheses in this study.
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