Data is more than knowledge: implications of the reversed knowledge hierarchy for knowledge management and organizational memory In knowledge management literature it is often pointed out that it is important to distinguish between data, information and knowledge. The generally accepted view sees data as simple facts that become information as data is combined into meaningful structures, which subsequently become knowledge as meaningful information is put into a context and when it can be used to make predictions. This view sees data as a prerequisite for information, and information as a prerequisite for knowledge. In this paper, I will explore the conceptual hierarchy of data, information and knowledge, showing that data emerges only after we have information, and that information emerges only after we already have knowledge. The reversed hierarchy of knowledge is shown to lead to a different approach in developing information systems that support knowledge management and organizational memory. It is also argued that this difference may have major implications for organizational flexibility and renewal. 2

This paper was originally prepared for presentation to the seminar series on social and institutional change at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, N.J., organized by Paul DiMaggio. I appreciate the insightful comments of Art Stinchcombe on the earlier draft.

E-commerce strategists advise companies to create virtual communities for their customers. But what does this involve? Research on face-to-face communities identifies the concept of “sense of community: ” a characteristic of successful communities distinguished by members ’ helping behaviors and members’ emotional attachment to the community and other members. Does a sense of virtual community exist in online settings, and what does it consist of? Answering these questions is key, if we are to provide guidance to businesses attempting to create virtual communities. The paper explores the concept of sense of virtual community in a newsgroup we call Multiple Sports Newsgroup (MSN). We first demonstrate that MSN does indeed have a sense of virtual community, but that the dimensions of the sense of community in MSN differ somewhat from those reported for physical communities. The nature of these differences is plausibly related to the differences between electronic and face-to-face communication. We next describe the behavioral processes that contribute to the sense of virtual community at MSN—exchanging support, creating identities and making identifications, and the production of trust. Again, these processes are similar to those found in non-virtual communities, but they are related to the challenges of electronic communication. Lastly, we consider the question of how sense of community may come about and discuss the implications for electronic business.

E-commerce strategists advise companies to create virtual communities for their customers. But what is involved in establishing and maintaining virtual communities? This paper addresses two questions: Does a sense of community similar to that sometimes observed in physical communities also occur in virtual settings? And how is a sense of virtual community maintained? These questions are examined in an intensive study of an established virtual community called MSN. MSN members experienced a sense of community, but the dimensions of sense of community differed somewhat from those reported for physical communities in ways plausibly related to the differences between electronic and face-toface communication. The experienced sense of community in MSN was actively maintained through the social processes of exchanging support, creating identities and making identifications, and the production of trust. Again, these processes are similar to those in non-virtual communities, but related to the challenges of electronic communication. The findings suggest a process model of sense of virtual community creation and maintenance that is simpler and more powerful than previous theories.

This paper describes the evolution of the Linux operating system, and studies dynamics of socio-technical change using Linux as a case example. Theoretical models of community-based practice and learning are combined with actor-network theory, and the characteristics open source development model are described using the introduced theoretical concepts. The paper analyses the growth and development of Linux and its development community, and shows how the development community evolves into an ecology of community-centered practices. During the last couple of years, the Open Source development model has been on front pages of newspapers, and focus of much attention (e.g., DiBona, Ockman, & Stone, 1999

This paper presents a study of an organisation, which is undergoing a process transforming organisational and technological boundaries. In particular, we shall look at three kinds of boundaries: the work to maintain and change the boundary between the organisation and its customers; boundaries between competencies within the organisation; and boundaries between various physical locations of work, in particular between what is done in the o#ce and what is done on site. Maintaining and changing boundaries are the processes through which a particular community sustains its identity and practice on the one hand, and where it is confronted with the identity and practices on the other.

The concept of path dependence is being used in highly deterministic ways in neo-institutionalist analysis, so that studies using this framework have difficulty in accounting for, or predicting, change. However, the original Polya-urn model from which path dependence theory draws predicts that alternative paths will be possible. It can then be argued that actors will be able to use these when they perceive a need to change. This article seeks to capture this possibility through accommodating a Bayesian parametric decision maker, interacting with an environment. This makes it possible to examine how change may involve such processes as: the use of past or redundant institutional repertoires; transfer of experience across action spaces; or from other agents, through networks of structured relationships; the emergence of perceived ‘one best’ solutions. This approach points to the need to change how typologies are used in neo-institutionalist research, so that those features of cases which do not fit the pre-conceived framework of a type are not disregarded as 'noise,' but properly evaluated as potential resources for change.

In today's highly dynamic business environment, organisational creativity is one of the most important sources of competitive advantage. Although the unpredictability of creativity makes it difficult to plan for, it may still be possible to facilitate it given that we understand what affects it. In the first argumentative part of this paper, the author criticises the demand for organisational convergence often found in management literature and instead suggests seven other enabling factors of organisational creativity. Information technology's role in knowledge management-related activities have also been debated. While the technocrats often promote IT as the solution to virtually every KM-related problem, others claim that KM is fundamentally a people-related activity and warn of the IT-bias in today's KM approaches. In particular, when it comes to the role of corporate intranets in KM efforts, many contradictory views have been reported. The second part of this paper identifies the characteristics of the intranet and relates these to the seven enabling factors for creativity. The objective is

This article explores organizational restructuring in one large public institution as a situated response to the instabilities brought on by globalization. Drawing upon ethnographic research with the Los Angeles public school system, I argue that a process of fragmented centralization is taking place, whereby decision-making authority is becoming more centralized while accountability for centrally made decisions is becoming more distributed. This process is propelled, in part, by the rise of a new occupational group of information technology (IT) specialists that is integrating itself into places of power and altering all aspects of organizational operations, transforming the school system into a post-Fordist organization.

The emerging trends in digital(ized) collection development from 1997 are examined using a sample of projects accessible through Web-based registries of the Association of Research Libraries and the Digital Library Federation. The analysis focuses on thematic repertoire, narrative structuring, underlying historiographic principles, presentation, and the context of institutionalization, combining empirical and interpretive approaches to understand how digital libraries are involved in the production of knowledge and how memory institutions are currently shaping this record in the digital environment. Digital collections are presently showcasing material previously restricted to scholarly uses, making it available for broader educational purposes. Nevertheless, they resemble the sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury Cabinets de curiosités in their limited ability to support scholarship or address information needs of defined communities of users. Programmatic statements for developers in the conclusion of the study suggest ways for improving the usability of these emerging textual environments, while recognizing new uses for the collections. The authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible