Sharing professional knowledge: organizational memory

Reviewing and comparing the outcome of a number of recent research projects which have looked at the ways that communications technology can be used to support distributed groups of workers and learners finds ways in which professional knowledge may be elicited and shared during the process of which action organisational memory is significantly enhanced.

Abstract

This paper reviews and compares the outcome of a number of recent research projects which have looked at the ways that communications technology can be used to support distributed groups of workers and learners. It blurs the distinction between 'work' and 'learning' by drawing on mainly professional communities in which the distinction hardly exists. It considers the individual and organisational dimensions of work on communities in which interaction between members is wholly or partly dependent on a range of electronic communications media. It looks at ways in which professional knowledge, often tacit and informal, may be elicited and shared during the process of which action organisational memory is significantly enhanced.