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Dear colleagues,<br>
<br>
We are proundly announcing the appearance of the JCSCW Especial
Issue on Knowledge Management in Action: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/0925-9724/21/2-3/">http://www.springerlink.com/content/0925-9724/21/2-3/</a><br>
<br>
Following a two years editorial process, we believe that this
special issue brings together some remarkable pieces of work, for a
conceptual, empirical as well as from design-orineted perspective.<br>
<br>
Yours sincerely,<br>
<br>
Carla Simone, Mark Ackerman, and Volker Wulf<br>
-------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Editorial:<br>
Knowledge Management in Practice: A Special Issue<br>
Carla Simone, Mark Ackerman and Volker Wulf<br>
<br>
Papers:<br>
Doing Business with Theory: Communities of Practice in Knowledge
Management<br>
Norman Makoto Su, Hiroko N. Wilensky and David F. Redmiles<br>
<br>
The Trouble with ‘Tacit Knowledge’<br>
Kjeld Schmidt<br>
<br>
Affording Mechanisms: An Integrated View of Coordination and
Knowledge Management<br>
Federico Cabitza and Carla Simone<br>
<br>
Bridging Artifacts and Actors: Expertise Sharing in Organizational
Ecosystems<br>
Volkmar Pipek, Volker Wulf and Aditya Johri<br>
<br>
Beyond Expertise Seeking: A Field Study of the Informal Knowledge
Practices of Healthcare IT Teams<br>
Patricia Ruma Spence and Madhu Reddy<br>
<br>
Exploring Appropriation of Enterprise Wikis: A Multiple-Case Study<br>
Alexander Stocker, Alexander Richter, Patrick Hoefler and Klaus
Tochtermann<br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------<br>
Editorial: <span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">Knowledge Management in Practice: A Special Issue<o:p></o:p></span><span
style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT"><br>
Organizations of different kinds, from structured companies up to
social</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">networks or virtual communities, are becoming
increasingly aware of the</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">need to collect, organize, mobilize, and increase the
expertise and</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">knowledge which characterize their ability to stay
alive, adapt and</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">evolve in a turbulent context. Knowledge Management (KM)
is the current</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">term for the different organizational and technological
approaches to</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">answer this need. KM, from a management perspective, is
an attempt to</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">rationalize and manage the vast amounts of formal and
informal knowledge</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">that any organization, especially large companies, has.
KM, from a</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">practice perspective, investigates the everyday
practices that lead to</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">organizationally-situated use of that formal and
informal knowledge (Ackerman et al. 2008). While the KM discourse
has long been focusing on opportunities to externalize and
represent knowledge in artefacts, the identification of
knowledgable actors and the support of social networks as well as
their interactions with artefact becomes highly relevant in a
practice perspective (Ackerman et al. 2003).</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
<br>
CSCW has examined knowledge and information in organizations from
its</span><span style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">very beginnings. In more recent years, the CSCW
community has examined</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">KM per se. This manifested itself in asking for applied
research in</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">the KM practices of real organizations instead of
blindly following</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">media hype - the critical realism stance that<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Robert Kling advocated over
the</span><span style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">technological
utopianism of the media and technology <a
style="mso-comment-reference:VW_1;mso-comment-date:20120302T0057">promoters</a></span><span
class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size:8.0pt"
lang="IT">. <span style="mso-special-character:comment"></span></span></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">As well,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">the KM investigation in CSCW has followed CSCW's notable
interest in</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">discussing and detailing the interrelationships between
technological</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">and organizational innovations, and CSCW as a community
has taken on the</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">task of considering those interrelationships
critically. This views KM</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">largely as a matter of socio-technical design - and a
difficult design</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">at that.</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
<br>
Therefore, this special issues follows these positions. Our aim
was to</span><span style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">collect
papers reporting on knowledge management in action. We wanted</span><span
style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">to
further the discussion of what issues KM had through the kinds of</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">fine-grained
ethnographically-based investigations found in this</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">community
and this journal. Specifically, we wanted</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">ethnographically-based or other interpretivist work that
confronted and</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">learned from real organizational situations. We wanted
these papers to</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">highlight the problems, requirements, tradeoffs, and
technical solutions</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">in KM that can be derived only from field-based
research.</span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
<br>
In this volume, we are fortunate to have six papers that discuss
KM issues in the depth and detail that CSCW requires.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Two of them deal with two
very popular concepts in KM:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>community
of practice and tacit knowledge;<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>they
discuss the origins of these concepts and their influence on the
KM field from the business and research standpoints.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Two papers take an
empirically grounded design perspective. The first paper discusses
the implication of the separation between technologies that
support information and the ordered flow of work and technologies
that support knowledge management. The second paper proposes
analytical and methodological frameworks to guide the design of
technologies for expertise management, which are based on the
notion of ecosystem to focus on the interaction between two
mutually intertwined elements—artifacts and actors.<o:p></o:p></span><span
style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT"><br>
<br>
The last two papers report on field studies in three organizations
and in three IT teams of a regional hospital. The latter suggests
that not only knowledge seeking should be supported but also the
cooperation among the knowledge seekers in order to take into
account how KM is affected by subtle features of the organization.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The former paper discusses
the usage of WIKI technologies from both the management and the
end users point of view by comparing the results of the
investigation in the three different organizations.</span><span
lang="IT"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT"><br>
<br>
We have shown, through this special issue and our own work, that</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">information processes in general and knowledge
management in</span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">particular
can be understood best through field-based investigations.</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">Our
aim is to detail how the technical and the social intertwine. We</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT">believe
the way forward includes many more field-based and design-oriented
studies so as</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">to understand:</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
<br>
- the specialized needs of important categories of organizations
and</span><span style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">institutions, such as in educational, medical, or safty
domains,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
- the impact of culture on knowledge-intense activities, including
the strategies for knowledge</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">management,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
- how organizations use informal mechanisms of knowledge
production,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">adaptation, and reuse and how these practices could be
technically supported,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
- persistent issues in technology use for knowledge</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span>management, such as categorization and
ontologies,<span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT"><br>
- fitting design concepts and architectures and how they are
appropriated in specific social contexts,</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="IT"><br>
- the organizational processes that lead to transformative uses of</span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"> </span><span
style="font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">knowledge management technologies and processes,</span><span
style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida
Grande";mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande""
lang="IT"></span><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family:
"Times","serif";" lang="IT"><br>
- the rhythms of knowledge production and use in organizations.<o:p></o:p><br>
</span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt"><span
style="font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times","serif""
lang="IT">References<o:p></o:p></span><span
style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><br>
Ackerman, M.; Pipek, V.; Wulf, V. (eds): Sharing Expertise:
Beyond Knowledge Management, MIT-Press, Cambridge, MA 2003<o:p></o:p><br>
Ackerman, M; Dieng-Kuntz, R.; Simone, C.; Wulf, V. (eds):
Proceedings of the Conference on Knowledge Management in Action
(KMIA 2008), IFIP-Series 270, Springer, Boston 2000</span></p>
<br>
<br>
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