Title: Collaborative knowledge creation in electronic mail

Authors: Sharman Lichtenstein, Craig M. Parker

Addresses: School of Information Systems, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood 3125, Australia. ' School of Information Systems, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood 3125, Australia

Abstract: With organisational work increasingly performed by the collaboration of distributed groups, an improved understanding is needed of the co-creation of knowledge in emerging virtual structures. We explore the potential of the ubiquitous organisational tool, electronic mail (e-mail), for supporting collaborative knowledge creation in such settings. This research draws on a case study of knowledge creation occurring in e-mail conversations in a large Australian university and adopts a discourse analysis research approach. We describe a model of collaborative knowledge creation derived from the study and identify a preliminary set of key factors for organisational knowledge tools and their use by groups to support collaborative knowledge creation. The paper also provides insights into the role of e-mail in collaborative knowledge creation, not only in facilitating this process, but in shaping a participatory, multi-perspective, team-based approach to knowledge building. Organisational implications arising from this type of knowledge creation are also discussed in the paper.

Keywords: e-mail; knowledge management; KM; collaborative knowledge creation; electronic mail; email; collaboration; Australia; higher education; universities; discourse analysis; learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2006.010996

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2006 Vol.2 No.3/4, pp.279 - 297

Published online: 26 Sep 2006 *

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