Abstract
This article presents a framework model that defines knowledge building as a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. Our model brings together Nonaka's knowledge-creating theory and Luhmann's systems theory. It is demonstrated how collaborative knowledge building may occur – in an ideal situation – within an organisation, when people interact with each other using shared digital artefacts. For this purpose, three different technologies are introduced as examples: social-tagging systems, pattern-based task-management systems, and wikis. These examples have been chosen to demonstrate that knowledge building can occur with respect to both declarative and procedural knowledge. The differences and similarities between these technologies, as far as their potential for organisational knowledge building is concerned, are discussed in the light of the framework model.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander C, Ishikawa S and Silverstein M (1977) A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, New York.
Bereiter C (2002) Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
Brown J and Duguid P (1991) Organizational learning and communities of practice: towards a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science 2 (1), 40–57.
Budiu R, Pirolli P and Hong L (2009) Remembrance of things tagged: how tagging effort affects tag production and human memory. In Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp 615–624, ACM Press, New York.
Chong NST and Yamamoto M (2006) Collaborative learning using wiki and flexnetdiscuss: a pilot study. In Proceedings of the Fifth IASTED International Conference on Web-based Education (USKOV V, Ed), pp 150–154, ACTA Press, Anaheim, CA.
Craik FIM and Lockhart RS (1972) Levels of processing: a framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 11 (6), 671–684.
Cress U and Kimmerle J (2007) A theoretical framework of collaborative knowledge building with wikis – a systemic and cognitive perspective. In Proceedings of the seventh Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference (CHINN CA, ERKENS G and PUNTAMBEKAR S, Eds), pp 153–161, International Society of the Learning Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ.
Cress U and Kimmerle J (2008) A systemic and cognitive view on collaborative knowledge building with wikis. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 3 (2), 105–122.
Cress U, Kimmerle J and Hesse FW (2006) Information exchange with shared databases as a social dilemma: the effect of metaknowledge, bonus systems, and costs. Communication Research 33 (5), 370–390.
Cress U, Kimmerle J and Hesse FW (2009) Impact of temporal extension, synchronicity, and group size on computer-supported information exchange. Computers in Human Behavior 25 (3), 731–737.
Fuchs-Kittowski F and Köhler A (2005) Wiki communities in the context of work processes. In Proceedings of the 2005 International Symposium on Wikis, pp 33–39, ACM Press, New York.
Golder SA and Huberman BA (2006) Usage patterns of collaborative tagging systems. Journal of Information Science 32 (2), 198–208.
Gourlay S (2006) Conceptualizing knowledge creation: a critique of Nonaka's theory. Journal of Management Studies 43 (7), 1415–1436.
Kimmerle J and Cress U (2008) Group awareness and self-presentation in computer-supported information exchange. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 3 (1), 85–97.
Kimmerle J and Cress U (2009) Visualization of group members’ participation: how information presentation formats support information exchange. Social Science Computer Review 27 (2), 243–261.
Kimmerle J, Cress U and Hesse FW (2007) An interactional perspective on group awareness: alleviating the information-exchange dilemma (for everybody?) International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 65 (11), 899–910.
Kimmerle J, Wodzicki K and Cress U (2008) The social psychology of knowledge management. Team Performance Management 14 (7/8), 381–401.
Köhler A and Fuchs-Kittowski F (2005) Integration of communities into process-oriented structures. Journal of Universal Computer Science 11 (3), 410–425.
Kofman F and Senge P (1993) Communities of commitment: the heart of learning organizations. Organizational Dynamics 22 (2), 5–23.
Kolbitsch J and Maurer H (2006) The transformation of the web: how emerging communities shape the information we consume. Journal of Universal Computer Science 12 (2), 187–213.
Leuf B and Cunningham W (2001) The Wiki Way. Quick Collaboration on the Web. Addison-Wesley, Boston.
Luhmann N (1986) The autopoiesis of social systems. In Sociocybernetic Paradoxes (GEYER F and VAN DER ZOUWEN J, Eds), pp 172–192, Sage, London.
Luhmann N (1990) Essays on Self-reference. Columbia University Press, New York.
Luhmann N (1995) Social Systems. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
Luhmann N (2006) System as difference. Organization 13 (1), 37–57.
Marlow C, Naaman M, Boyd D and Davis M (2006) HT06, tagging paper, taxonomy, flickr, academic article, to read. In Proceedings of the seventeenth conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia, pp 31–40, ACM Press, New York.
Moskaliuk J and Kimmerle J (2009) Using wikis for organizational learning: functional and psycho-social principles. Development and Learning in Organizations 23 (4), 21–24.
Moskaliuk J, Kimmerle J and Cress U (2008) Learning and knowledge building with wikis: the impact of incongruity between people's knowledge and a wiki's information. In Proceedings of the eighth International Conference for the Learning Sciences Vol. 2 (KANSELAAR G, JONKER V, KIRSCHNER PA and PRINS FJ, Eds), pp 99–106, International Society of the Learning Sciences, Utrecht.
Moskaliuk J, Kimmerle J and Cress U (2009) Wiki-supported learning and knowledge building: effects of incongruity between knowledge and information. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 25 (6), 549–561.
Nelson L, Held C, Pirolli P, Hong L, Schiano D and Chi EH (2009) With a little help from my friends: examining the impact of social annotations in sensemaking tasks. In Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp 1795–1798, ACM, Boston.
Nonaka I (1991) The knowledge-creating company. Harvard Business Review 69 (6), 96–104.
Nonaka I (1994) A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization Science 5 (1), 14–37.
Nonaka I and Takeuchi H (1995) The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Nonaka I and Toyama R (2003) The knowledge-creating theory revisited: knowledge creation as a synthesizing process. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 1 (1), 2–10.
Piaget J (1977) The Development of Thought: Equilibration of Cognitive Structures. The Viking Press, New York.
Polanyi M (1966) The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday, Garden City, NY.
Raitman R, Augar N and Zhou W (2005) Employing wikis for online collaboration in the e-learning environment: case study. In Proceedings of the third International Conference on Information Technology and Applications (HE X, HINTZ T, PICCARDI M, WU Q, HUANG M and TIEN D, Eds) pp 142–146, IEEE Computer Society Press, Silver Spring, MD.
Riss UV, Cress U, Kimmerle J and Martin S (2007) Knowledge transfer by sharing task templates: two approaches and their psychological requirements. Knowledge Management Research and Practice 5 (4), 287–296.
Riss UV, Rickayzen A, Maus H and van der Aalst WMP (2005) Challenges for business process and task management. Journal of Universal Knowledge Management 0 (2), 77–100.
Scardamalia M and Bereiter C (1999) Schools as knowledge building organizations. In Today's Children, Tomorrow's Society: The Developmental Health and Wealth of Nations (KEATING D and HERTZMAN C, Eds), pp 274–289, Guilford, New York.
Spender JC (1996) Organisational knowledge, learning and memory: three concepts in search of a theory. Journal of Organisational Change and Management 9 (1), 63–78.
Spender JC (1998) Pluralist epistemology and the knowledge-based theory of the firm. Organization 5 (2), 233–256.
Surowiecki J (2004) The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. Doubleday, New York.
Varela FJ, Maturana HR and Uribe R (1974) Autopoiesis: the organization of living systems, its characterization and a model. Biosystems 5 (4), 187–196.
Wagner C (2006) Breaking the knowledge acquisition bottleneck through conversational knowledge management. Information Resources Management Journal 19 (1), 70–83.
Wagner C and Bolloju N (2005) Supporting knowledge management in organizations with conversational technologies: discussion forums, weblogs, and wikis. Journal of Database Management 16 (2), 1–8.
Wang CM and Turner D (2004) Extending the wiki paradigm for use in the classroom. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding Computing pp, 255–259, IEEE Computer Society Press, Silver Spring, MD.
Wasko MM and Faraj S (2005) Why should I share? Examining knowledge contribution in networks of practice. MIS Quarterly 29 (1), 35–57.
Weinberger D (2007) Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. Times Books, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kimmerle, J., Cress, U. & Held, C. The interplay between individual and collective knowledge: technologies for organisational learning and knowledge building. Knowl Manage Res Pract 8, 33–44 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2009.36
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2009.36