Many collaborative applications, especially in scientific research, focus only on the sharing of tools or the sharing of data. We seek to introduce an approach to scientific collaboration that is based on the sharing of knowledge. We do this by automatically building organizational memory and enabling knowledge sharing by observing what users do with a particular tool or set of tools in the domain, through the addition of activity and usage monitoring facilities to standalone applications. Once this knowledge has been gathered, we apply social networking models to provide collaborative features to users, such as suggestions on tools to use, and automatically-generated sequences of actions based on past usage amongst the members of a social network or the entire community. In this work, we investigate social networking models as an approach to scientific knowledge sharing, and present an implementation called genSpace, which is built as an extension to the geWorkbench platform for computational biologists. Last, we discuss the approach from the viewpoint of social software engineering. 1

Capital–Evidence from the Field

This study investigates how social capital is built and maintained in a Hybrid Virtual Communities (HVC), that is, a group of people with shared interests who meet face-to-face to exchange information and knowledge or provide emotional support and also do so in a ―virtual ‖ or online environment. Past health-IS research has primarily focused on pure virtual environments; however, many communities entail face-to-face interactions as well. This research helps fill this void. Discourse analysis of virtual interactions, face-to-face (FTF) observations, and semi-structured interviews of a patient-oriented HVC were analyzed, providing rich descriptive data. Using the theoretical foundation of social capital, this article extends existing theory by combining Drentea and Moren-Cross‘s [2005] social support framework with Etzioni and Etzioni‘s [1999] aspects of community framework to better explain building and maintaining social capital in a HVC.

the perspective of transaction cost theory

Abstract—This study aims to examine the factors affecting knowledge sharing behavior in knowledge-based electronic communities (e-communities) because quantity and quality of knowledge shared among the members play a critical role in the community’s sustainability. Past research has suggested three perspectives that may affect the quantity and quality of knowledge shared: economics, social psychology, and social ecology. In this study, we strongly believe that an economic perspective may be suitable to validate factors influencing newly registered members’ knowledge contribution at the beginning of relationship development. Accordingly, this study proposes a model to validate the factors influencing members ’ knowledge sharing based on Transaction Cost Theory. By doing so, we may empirically test our hypotheses in various types of e-communities to determine the generalizability of our research models. Keywords—Electronic community, individual behavior, knowledge sharing, transaction cost theory. T I.

A comparative case study on the influences of organizational culture on knowledge sharing

Cross-enterprise collaboration has emerged as a key survival factor in today’s global markets. Semantic Web technologies are the basis to establish enterprise interoperability including data mediation support and automatic composition of services. Capabilities of services are semantically described and reasoning techniques support the discovery and selection of services at run-time. In contrast to Semantic Web technologies that cover interactions between (technical) services, human collaboration emerges based on social preferences. Social networks have become a mass phenomenon and are increasingly used in businesses and professional environments. In a manner similar to service-oriented systems, they enable flexible discovery and dynamic collaboration between participants. In this paper, we discuss the concept of social overlays for Web service based collaboration infrastructures. This mechanism enables information flows between actors in order to allow for flexible group formation in highly dynamic large-scale networks. We present the implementation of a trusted information sharing framework and demonstrate how people adaptively share information according to the strength of social relations using SOA concepts. We evaluate technical concepts with in-depth experiments.

Knowledge management is the process of capturing, storing, sharing and using organizational knowledge with the aim of improving organizational performance. A necessary precursor for successful knowledge management initiatives is knowledge exchange between employees. This exchange is voluntary and highly dependent on an individual’s willingness to share his/her knowledge. It thus becomes important to identify the factors motivating employees to share their knowledge. This research in progress draws on Locke and Latham’s Goal Setting Theory (1990) to propose a model explaining knowledge sharing behavior.