Title: Information sharing online: a research challenge

Authors: Sheizaf Rafaeli, Daphne R. Raban

Addresses: Center for the Study of the Information Society, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. ' Center for the Study of the Information Society, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel

Abstract: We view information sharing as a promising target of research. Technology and human practice have been evolving toward more opportunities and varied manners in which information can be shared. We propose that ||information sharing|| is best understood as a continuum that concomitantly reflects behavioural, social, economic, legal, and technological influences. ||Information|| is a hybrid of both ||public|| and ||private|| goods. The mechanisms that enable, predict, and catalyse sharing behaviour in online contexts should be of major interest to both scholars and practitioners of knowledge systems. We cite a spectrum of analytical as well as empirical research on the topic of sharing, identifying the methods and theories used in the approaches to date. We also review the major online technology genres of import for sharing. We suggest an initial map of constructs to chart future research on sharing.

Keywords: information sharing; public goods; disintermediation; lurking; free riding; ownership; free information; commons; information system structure; online information systems; knowledge sharing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2005.006251

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2005 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.62 - 79

Published online: 09 Feb 2005 *

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