Establishing and Managing Knowledge Sharing Networks

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the approaches supporting the establishment and the management of social networks aimed at knowledge sharing. We identify two approaches. The first approach is made of networks driven by technologies and potentially providing support for architecture knowledge management, like grid computing and peer-to-peer technologies. These were initially meant for implementing very specific and low level services; nowadays they cover broader spectra like knowledge management in a distributed setting and knowledge grids. The second approach is made of networks autonomously created from already existing social communities. These are further enabled by Web 2.0 technologies and services.

The chapter describes the approaches and their inter-relations, and it highlights the needs for architecture knowledge management they can potentially support. An overview of some widely known approaches in the current practice further emphasizes which potential architecture knowledge management needs have been actually fulfilled. In this way, we illustrate what has been already experimented with, and what are the architecture knowledge management needs requiring further investigation.