Self-Serving Communities: Their Contribution to Building Knowledge Infrastructures
Article
Yesha Y. Sivan, Klab.com and Tel Aviv University, Israel
IJET Volume 6, Number 2, ISSN 1077-9124 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Chesapeake, VA
Abstract
Knowledge management within an organization today depends on a solid, technologically-based knowledge infrastructure. One of the key components of a knowledge infrastructure is a virtual community. The purpose of this paper is to present a particular kind of virtual community, namely, a community built on a set of self-serving principles. The case study of the Lamda Commu-nity, a virtual professional community for Israeli educators that grew to 250 members and 18,000 web pages, shows a communi-ty built differently from typical internet communities. The most important differences lay in membership phases that selectively and specifically promoted the Community and its members. These phases were built on four self-serving principles: restric-tion, guidance, involvement, and leadership. The paper will present the four phases and their respective principles, and will show how each of these phases both advanced the members in-dividually and the Community as a whole. The study suggests that a virtual community built on self-serving principles is an ef-fective method, both for its individual members and for its gen-eral contribution to a knowledge infrastructure.
Citation
Sivan, Y.Y. (2000). Self-Serving Communities: Their Contribution to Building Knowledge Infrastructures. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6(2), 123-140. Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 19, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/8015/.
© 2000 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
Keywords
References
View References & Citations Map- Davenport, T.H., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- Davidow, W.H., & Malone, M.S. (1992). The virtual corporation: Structuring and revitalizing the corporation for the 21st century . (1st ed.). New York: Edward Burlingame Books/HarperBusiness.
- Eliot, T.S. (1971). Complete poems and plays 1909-1950. New York: Harcourt Brace & World.
- Hagel, J., & Armstrong, A. (1997). Net gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
- NUA Internet Surveys (1998). China to make example of internet user. [Online] Available at http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905354567&rel=true
- NUA Internet Surveys (1999). 37 million Chinese users predicted by 2005. [Online] Available at http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905354685&rel=true
- NUA Internet Surveys (1999). Syria fighting losing battle against internet. [Online] Available at http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905354864& Rel=true
- Sivan, Y.Y. (1997). Five tips for builders of professional virtual communities (Addendum): Juggle the competing needs of new and current members. In J. M. Gonzales (Ed.), New Links for New Times Cyber-Symposium . New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Sivan, Y.Y. (1998). From the MTV age to the LLL age: the story of a knowledge infrastructure for the education industry. Even Yehuda, Israel: Reches. Sivan, Y.Y. (1999). The PIE of knowledge infrastructure: to manage knowledge we need key building blocks. WebNet, 1(January-March, 1999).
- Tobin, D.R. (1998). The knowledge-enabled organization: Moving from “training ” to “learning ” to meet business goals . New York: Amacom.
These references have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. Signed in users can suggest corrections to these mistakes.
Suggest Corrections to References