The Wiki as a 21st century Water Cooler- a look at knowledge building processes in action in Wikipedia history archives

by Line Vittrup

- MA in International Business Communication

- External lecturer at the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark

- Consultant within Knowledge Management

Background:

This paper is based on my MA thesis (completed in April 2009):

“Wikis as Water Coolers?”A study of the wiki’s ability to support the

processes of knowledge conversion

Scientific background

My studies are based on the history archives of a sample of wiki pages in Wikipedia

Here, contributors to the wiki page can discuss and negotiate what they consider to be ‘true’ knowledge, i.e. what should be displayed in the article as ‘correct’

We are thus able to see/read knowledge creation in action

What is ‘water cooler talk’?

Casual exchange of knowledge and ideas

A place where all types of people meet

Often valuable dialog in which knowledge is created

However, the ‘talk’ is not captured in writing or documented in any other way

Could the wiki be a place for water cooler talk?

And could it capture this type of dialog for others to learn from?

Research questions:

Can processes of knowledge creation be seen in a wiki?

If so, what do they look like?

How can we explain and better understand the process of knowledge creation by use of discourse analysis?

Now, some theories…

Jackson & Klobas (2008):

◦ The knowledge-sharing model is based on the notion of social constructivism as given by Berger and Luckmann (1967)

◦ Knowledge sharing involves a process of objectivation, legitimation, and reification in which knowledge is agreed upon and accepted as ‘the norm’

Fig 2.1: The knowledge-sharing model (Jackson and Klobas, 2008)

‘Ba’ as shared context in motion (Nonaka, Toyama & Konno, 2000)

‘Ba’ is the shared context in which knowledge is created, and is shaped by the participants and how they participate

The ‘space’ does not necessarily refer to a physical space, but may also be virtual or mental

They key to understanding ‘ba’ is that knowledge is created in interactions

Gee’s building tasks

“We always and simultaneously build seven different realities by use of seven building tasks” (Gee, 2005)

◦ Tasks used in the analysis:

Significance: does the text make some things seem more significant or not than others?

Politics: does the text make a distinction between what is good, right, wrong, correct or proper?

Connections: does the text make connections between things more apparent or irrelevant?

Sign systems and knowledge: does the text privilege or disprivilege certain types of knowledge?

◦ These building tasks represent the type of argumentative tools we would make use of in a process of negotiating meaning.

Example from the analysis

Example from the analysis

Conclusion…

◦ Gee’s building tasks can be used to identify processes of knowledge creation in a wiki

They help explain how individuals engage in the process of sharing They help explain the process of negotiation of meaning Four of the building tasks were of particular interest to this analysis:

politics, significance, connections and sign systems and knowledge

The wiki harvests knowledge creation in action, and gives us a still picture of the process of knowledge conversion

Yes, wikis can be water coolers!

Perspective…

◦ How can we use this knowledge of wikis and processes of knowledge conversion in organizations today?

We gain an understanding of how knowledge sharing processes work (and look like) in the wiki

We gain an understanding of the type of communication we see in wikis

We gain an understanding of how communication may go bad in the process of knowledge creation

We are able to the see the layers of the knowledge produced in the wiki

- how it is constructed, and what formed this knowledge

“Knowledge management is not a question of how to capture, store and distribute pieces of knowledge, but rather about how to create situations and conditions that further knowledge sharing and thus knowledge creation”

Perspective…

Contact info:

Line Vittrup

Email: linevittrup@hotmail.comTwitter: vittrupSkype: baklundvittrupPhone: +45 60957700 Blog (Danish): www.linevittrup.dk