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Knowledge as a Social Medium

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Abstract

The increasing popularity and access to computer networks such as the Internet has introduced a new form of interaction among individuals, and brought about the social dimension to intelligent systems that are embedded into group and community settings. Knowledge is now seen as an asset not only of an individual but also of groups; research fields such as organisational memory, knowledge management and community ware are beginning to emerge. This paper surveys recent approaches, discusses whether social knowledge is a tangible notion, and examines the role of social knowledge in the context of group and community oriented systems with new challenges it offers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German National Research Center for Information Technology, GMD-FIT, Schloß Birlinghoven, 53754, Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Keiichi Nakata

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  1. Keiichi Nakata
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Keiichi Nakata, Ph.D.: He is a research scientist at the Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT) at GMD. He is currently a member of the “Social Web” research programme at GMD, with a particular interest in the investigation of social development of knowledge that belongs to communities, and its application to support social interactions. Prior to the current appointment, he has held lectureships at the University of Wales and Oxford Brookes University in UK. His academic background is BEng and MEng degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Tokyo and PhD in AI from the University of Edinburgh.

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Nakata, K. Knowledge as a Social Medium. NGCO 17, 395–405 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03037245

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03037245

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