Building and Managing Collective Knowledge in Workplace Communities with Collaborative Technology

A project entitled "Building and Managing Collective Knowledge in Workplace Communities with Collaborative Technology" (2002-2004) is funded by the Aaltonen Foundation. The purpose of the project is to analyze from psychological and sociocognitive viewpoints how organizational intelligence embedded in knowledge sharing, collective efforts for building and advancing knowledge, and individual and organizational learning can be supported by collaborative technology. Collaborative technology refers to groupware and network environments as well as associated teamwork methods that allow the participants to produce knowledge to a shared working space.

The project focuses on examining psychological and sociocognitive problems that are related to learning and knowledge formation within virtual or partially virtual communities. We are interested in examining what kind of support ICTs in general and collaborative technology in particular provide for knowledge management -- and expansion of intellectual resources -- in the case of individual professionals, their teams and the whole organization, and how these processes could be integrated in a flexible way. The study focuses on analyzing

1) how collaborative technology can be used to facilitate collective memory within an organization;

2) how collaborative technology can be used to foster the shared knowledge-building and innovation process;

3) how collaborative technology supports building of virtual communities;

4) how to use collaborative technology for facilitating professional development by sophisticated forms of collaborative e-learning.

Study material will represent individual, communal, and organizational processes of knowledge management of several organizations.

We will carry out an intervention that will focus on development of new practices of knowledge management, knowledge sharing, and external networking in the participating organizations by relying on collaborative environments. We will rely on case studies to be conducted in the participating enterprises using various methods including, self-report questionnaires, ethnographical procedures (e.g., observations and interviews), and social network analyses. We will carry out separate studies that focus on examining current practices of using ICT in workplaces. A series of case studies will explore to what extent building collective memory and engaging in collaborative knowledge building may be facilitated by collaborative technology in knowledge-intensive organizations. Further, we will develop innovative models of e-learning that rely on shared problem solving within collaborative environments. Although software development is not the primary aim of the present project, we will create concepts and prototypes that will further be developed by the participating enterprises and technology partners.

The following persons are responsible of the project on the behalf of the Centre: Kai Hakkarainen, Jiri Lallimo, Lasse Lipponen and Hanni Muukkonen.