We report on the experiences of Siemens Corporation in nine globally-distributed software development projects. These projects represent a range of collaboration models, from co-development to outsourcing of components to outsourcing the software for an entire project. We report experience and lessons in issues of project management, division of labor, ongoing coordination of technical work, and communication. We include lessons learned, and conclude the paper with suggestions about important open research issues in this area.

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In this article, I propose a theory of pedagogical praxis. Pedagogical praxis begins with the premise that under the right conditions, computers and other information technologies can make it easier for students to become active participants in meaningful projects and practices in the life of their community and suggests that professional practices such as architecture, mediation, and journalism can provide constructive models for helping students learn from such experiences. In this vision, new technology reinvigorates Dewey’s (1915) idea of linking school with society. Technology builds a bridge that allows young people to participate in the learning practices of professionals; in the process, they develop epistemological frameworks that organize the skills, habits, and understandings they need to thrive in a complex, postindustrial society. Although further work needs to be done to explore the processes through which such learning can take place, studies suggest that this perspective may be a productive avenue for continuing research. This article presents an overview of the theories and methods that inform such work. Dewey’s collected writings remain a classic and unsurpassed elaboration of

{hoecht} @ rhrk.uni-kl.de Abstract. Self-organized reuse of artifacts from software and system development, using the lightweight Wiki-Technology, promises a sustainable preservation and availability of business-critical information. However, due to the organic, sometimes chaotic growth of content inside a Wiki, additional support for structuring the knowledge and finding interrelated useful content is needed. The enhancement of Wiki content with ontologies – named semantic Wikis- can solve these problems. The application of such semantic Wikis and the development of reasoning mechanisms for software engineering is subject of the project RISE (Reuse in Software Engineering).

Contemporary business process systems are built to automate routine procedures. Automation demands well-understood domains, repetitive processes, clear organisational roles, an established terminology, and predefined plans. Knowledge work is not like that. Plans for knowledge intensive processes are elaborated and reinterpreted as the work progresses. Interactive process models are created and updated by the project participants to reflect evolving plans. The execution of such models is controlled by users and only partially automated. An interactive process system should - Enable modelling by end users, - Integrate support for ad-hoc and routine work, - Dynamically customise functionality and interfaces, and - Integrate learning and knowledge management in everyday work.

This paper presents a case study of an on-line workshop that was conducted via the WWW. Using the participant dialogues from the workshop bulletin boards, the author investigates whether Wenger’s (1998) Community of Practice framework can be applied to this educational setting. The results indicate that participants interactions in the workshop demonstrated the characteristics of mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. These three characteristics are what Wenger posits contribute to a cohesive community of practice. Using this framework, some principles are derived that educators can use to design more cohesive learning communities.

Knowledge and learning exist as byproducts of social processes such as those that take place in communities of practice. We describe two frameworks for understanding and building online knowledge-building communities, or online communities of practice that enhance collective knowledge. First, the C4P framework is described as a way of understanding how knowledge is created and disseminated by participants in a community of practice. Second, we discuss ways in which technology provides added value for learning in these environments using the DDC (Design for Distributed Cognition) framework, and link this to the particular goals of a knowledgebuilding community. Examples from two large online communities are discussed.

The social and organizational aspects of digital libraries are often overlooked but this paper reviews how they can affect users ’ awareness and acceptance of digital libraries. An analysis of research conducted within two contrasting domains (Clinical and Academic) is presented which highlights issues of user interactions, work practices and the organizational social structures. The combined study comprises an analysis of 98 in-depth interviews and focus groups with lecturers, librarians and hospital clinicians. The importance of current and past roles of the library, and how users interacted with it, are revealed. Web-based digital libraries, while alleviating most library resource and interaction problems, require a change in librarians ’ and DL designers ’ roles and interaction patterns if they are to be implemented acceptably and effectively. Without this role change, users will at best be unaware of these digital resources and at worst feel threatened by them. The findings of this paper highlight the importance on DL design and implementation of the social context and supporting user communication (i.e. collaboration and consultation) in their information search and usage activities.

Abstract: The main aim of Knowledge Management (KM) is to connect people to quality knowledge as well as people to people in order to peak performance. This is also the primary goal of Learning Management (LM). In fact, in the world of e-learning, it is more widely recognised that how learning content is used and distributed by learners might be more important than how it is designed. In the last few years, there has been an increasing focus on social software applications and services as a result of the rapid development of Web 2.0 concepts. In this paper, we argue that LM and KM can be viewed as two sides of the same coin, and explore how Web 2.0 technologies can leverage knowledge sharing and learning and enhance individual performance whereas previous models of LM and KM have failed, and present a social software driven approach to LM and KM. Keywords: knowledge management; KM; learning management; LM; e-learning; communities; Web 2.0; social software. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Chatti, M.A., Jarke, M. and Frosch-Wilke, D. (2007) ‘The future of e-learning: a shift to knowledge networking and social software’, Int. J. Knowledge and Learning, Vol. 3, Nos. 4/5, pp.404–420.

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