Title: Building knowledge sharing communities using team expertise access maps

Authors: Susu Nousala, Aaron Miles, Bill Kilpatrick, William P. Hall

Addresses: Spatial Information Architecture Lab (SIAL), School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, VIC 3001, Australia; Econ-KM, P.O. Box 642, South Melbourne, VIC 3205, Australia. ' SMS Management and Technology, Level 18 IBM Centre, 60 City Road, Southbank, VIC 3006, Australia. ' Nexus Energy, Level 7, 60 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia. ' Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society (ACSIS), and Engineering Learning Unit, School of Engineering University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; P.O. Box 94, Riddells Creek, VIC 3431, Australia

Abstract: It is difficult for large and geographically dispersed organisations to manage personal knowledge for easy discovery and sharing, especially in the areas of identification, indexing and codification of the knowledge held in people|s heads and the cultural issues of discovery, mutual trust and sharing. We have prototyped a methodology based on mind mapping and a relational database to codify, index and map staff knowledge. This includes an interview process to build trust while eliciting career histories, plus a relationally based graphical knowledge retrieval structure making it easy for other staff to determine who is likely to posses the kind of knowledge needed.

Keywords: autopoiesis; career history database; communities of practice; CoP; human resource management; HRM; knowledge mapping; mind mapping; tacit knowledge transfer; trust; knowledge management; knowledge sharing; team expertise; employee knowledge; graphical knowledge retrieval.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2009.026184

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2009 Vol.3 No.3, pp.279 - 296

Published online: 27 May 2009 *

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