Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A systems theoretical approach to online knowledge building

  • Original Article
  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article describes the phenomenon of knowledge building in online environments. Knowledge building is a process within a community, which leads to the development of knowledge. In order to analyze this process, we will look into the ways in which individuals interact with the collective as a whole. For this purpose, the psychic and social systems, which are involved here are regarded as meaning-based systems in the sense of Luhmann’s systems theory—open to the environment, but operatively closed. The respective modes of operation of psychic and social systems will be examined, and “structural coupling” between these systems described. Another characteristic of knowledge-building communities is self-organization, which is described here in the sense of autopoiesis. A pivotal task, which knowledge-building communities have to tackle, is to handle complexity and reach common understanding. These aspects will also be described using conceptualizations of Luhmann’s systems theory, illustrated by many examples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. At this point, it should not be concealed that science is not in all cases marked by collaboration and exchange with others. Often, it is a rather competitive business and affected by malevolence. But, nevertheless, science is a vivid example of a system that contributes to the development of new knowledge.

  2. Psychic and social systems have in common that they produce meaning and are thus considered as meaning-based systems (in contrast to biological systems). This aspect will be taken up again in the Constitution of Meaning section.

  3. In this context, it should not be neglected that there are also activities in Wikipedia, which are detrimental to the development of knowledge, and which are really examples of the opposite of good self-organization, such as vandalism—damaging or destroying content deliberately—or so-called edit wars—editing and reverting articles as a form of combating each other in order to manipulate or “win” a discussion (cf. Kittur et al. 2007). Nevertheless, these activities take place within the framework of the system’s characteristic mode of operation; so, from a systems theoretical point of view, Wikipedia can still serve as an example of a self-referential, self-creating system.

  4. “Meaning” is a fundamental concept in linguistics and in the philosophy of language (cf. Allan, 1986; Searle, 1979). Moreover, the term plays a role in the cognitive sciences, in computer science, and in research on artificial intelligence. Here, however, discussion has been limited to the concept of meaning in terms of Luhmann.

  5. There is a great amount of research on the process of “sensemaking”, both in individuals and in social systems such as organizations; interested readers should refer to the work of Klein et al. (2006) or Weick (1993, 1995).

References

  • Akgün AE, Byrne J, Keskin H, Lynn GS, Imamoglu SZ (2005) Knowledge networks in new product development projects: a transactive memory perspective. Inf Manag 42:1105–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan K (1986) Linguistic meaning. Routledge & Kegan Paul, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Arazy O, Morgan W, Patterson P (2006) Wisdom of the crowds: decentralized knowledge construction in wikipedia. Paper presented at 16th Annual Workshop on Information Technologies & Systems (WITS) Paper, 8 December

  • Baddeley A (1992) Working memory. Science 255:556–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bereiter C (2002) Education and mind in the knowledge age. Erlbaum, Mahwah

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown P, Lauder H (2001) Collective intelligence. In: Brown P, Lauder H (eds) Capitalism and social progress: the future of society in a global economy. Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp 209–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke SC, Snyder SL (2008) Youtube: an innovative learning resource for college health education courses. Int Electron J Health Edu 11:39–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole M, Engeström Y (1993) A cultural-historical approach to distributed cognition. In: Salomon G (ed) Distributed cognitions: psychological and educational considerations. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 1–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Craik FIM, Lockhart RS (1972) Levels of processing: a framework for memory research. J Verbal Learn Verbal Behav 11:671–684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cress U, Kimmerle J (2008) A systemic and cognitive view on collaborative knowledge building with wikis. Int J Comput-Support Collab Lear 3:105–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1859) On the origin of species. John Murray, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffy TM, Jonassen D (1992) Constructivism and the technology of instruction: a conversation. Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar K (1997) How scientists think: on-line creativity and conceptual change in science. In: Ward T, Smith S, Vaid J (eds) Conceptual structures and processes: emergence, discovery, and change. American Psychological Association Press, Washington, pp 461–493

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellemers N, Spears R, Doosje B (2002) Self and social identity. Annu Rev Psychol 53:161–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engeström Y (1990) Learning, working and imagining: twelve studies in activity theory. Orienta Konsultit Oy, Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • Engeström Y (2001) Expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. J Edu Work 14:133–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Giles J (2005) Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Nature 438:900–901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grampp S (2006) McLuhmann: Niklas Luhmanns Systemtheorie und die Realität der Medien. MEDIENwissenschaft: Rezensionen Rev 7:260–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Grampp S (2008) There’s a new Marshall in town: Niklas Luhmanns Medien in der Medienwissenschaft. MEDIENwissenschaft: Rezensionen Rev 9:127–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt J, Peters V (2006) Using wikis to support knowledge building in a graduate education course. In: Bohmann P, Pearson E (eds) Proceedings of world conference on educational multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications. AACE, Chesapeake, pp 2200–2204

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt J, Scardamalia M (1998) Design principles for distributed knowledge building processes. Educ Psychol Rev 10:75–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland J (1998) Emergence—from chaos to order. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl E (1913) Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einführung in die reine Phänomenologie (1913, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology)

  • Kimmerle J, Wodzicki K, Cress U (2008) The social psychology of knowledge management. Team Perform Manag 14:381–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmerle J, Cress U, Held C (2010a) The interplay between individual and collective knowledge: technologies for organisational learning and knowledge building. Knowl Manag Res Pract 8:33–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmerle J, Moskaliuk J, Harrer A, Cress U (2010b) Visualizing co-evolution of individual and collective knowledge. Inf Commun Soc (in press)

  • Kittur A, Suh B, Pendleton BA, Chi EH (2007) He says, she says: conflict and coordination in Wikipedia. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. San Jose: ACM Press, pp 453–62

  • Klein G, Moon B, Hoffman RF (2006) Making sense of sensemaking II: a macrocognitive model. IEEE Intell Syst 21(5):88–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konieczny P (2007) Wikis and wikipedia as a teaching tool. Int J Instruct Technol Distance Learn 1(4):15–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Leontev A (1981) Problems of the development of mind. English translation. Progress Press, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Leuf B, Cunningham W (2001) The wiki way. Quick collaboration on the web. Addison-Wesley, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (1986) The autopoiesis of social systems. In: Geyer F, van der Zouwen J (eds) Sociocybernetic paradoxes: observation, control, and evolution of self-organization systems. Sage Publications, London, pp 172–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (1989) Ecological communication. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (1990) Essays on self-reference. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (1992) Operational closure and structural coupling: the differentiation of the legal system. Cardozo Law Rev 13:1419–1441

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (1995) Social systems. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (2000) The reality of the mass media. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann N (2006) System as difference. Organization 13:37–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maturana HR, Varela FJ (1980) Autopoiesis and cognition: the realization of the living. Reidel, Dordecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Maturana HR, Varela FJ (1987) The tree of knowledge: the biological roots of human understanding. Shambhala Publications, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Moskaliuk J, Kimmerle J (2009) Using wikis for organizational learning: functional and psycho-social principles. Develop Learn Organ 23(4):21–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moskaliuk J, Kimmerle J, Cress U (2009) Wiki-supported learning and knowledge building: effects of incongruity between knowledge and information. J Comput Assist Learn 25:549–561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson L, Held C, Pirolli P, Hong L, Schiano D, Chi EH (2009) With a little help from my friends: examining the impact of social annotations in sensemaking tasks. Paper presented at the 27th international conference on human factors in computing systems, Boston, 4–9 April

  • Piaget J (1977) The development of thought: equilibration of cognitive structures. The Viking Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter A (1969) Cybernetics simplified. English Universities Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ras E, Avram G, Waterson P, Weibelzahl S (2005) Using weblogs for knowledge sharing and learning in information spaces. J Univers Comput Sci 11:394–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabherwal R, Becerra-Fernandez I (2003) An empirical study of the effect of knowledge management processes at individual, group, and organizational levels. Decis Sci 34:225–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salomon G (1993) Distributed cognitions. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia M, Bereiter C (1994) Computer support for knowledge-building communities. J Learn Sci 3:265–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia M, Bereiter C (1999) Schools as knowledge building organizations. In: Keating D, Hertzman C (eds) Today’s children, tomorrow’s society: the developmental health and wealth of nations. Guilford, New York, pp 274–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia M, Bereiter C (2003) Knowledge building. In: Encyclopedia of Education, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference, pp 1370–1373

  • Scardamalia M, Bereiter C, Lamon M (1994) The CSILE project: trying to bring the classroom into World 3. In: McGilly K (ed) Classroom lessons: integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice. MIT Press, London, pp 201–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Scardamalia M, Bereiter C (1996) Student communities for the advancement of knowledge. Commun ACM 39:36–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searle J (1979) Expression and meaning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stahl G (2000) Collaborative information environments to support knowledge construction by communities. AI Society 14:71–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stahl G (2006) Group cognition: computer support for building collaborative knowledge. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Stahl G (2009) How to study group cognition. In: Puntambekar S, Erkens G, Hmelo-Silver CE (eds) Analyzing Interactions in CSCL: methodologies, approaches and issues. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Surowiecki J (2005) The wisdom of crowds. Anchor Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tapscott D, Williams AD (2006) Wikinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiel A, Mayer J (2009) Characteristics of management in voluntary sport clubs: a sociological perspective. Eur Sport Manag Q 9:81–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varela FJ, Maturana HR, Uribe R (1974) Autopoiesis: the organization of living systems, its characterization and a model. Biosystems 5:187–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viégas FB, Wattenberg M, Dave K (2004) Studying cooperation and conflict between authors with history flow visualizations. Paper presented at the CHI 2004, Vienna, Austria, 24–29 April

  • von Foerster H (2002) Understanding understanding: essays on cybernetics and cognition. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • von Glasersfeld E (1995) Radical constructivism: a way of knowing and learning. Taylor & Francis, Bristol

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky LS (1986) Thought and language. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson JB (1994) Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychol Rev 101:248–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick K (1993) The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: the Mann Gulch disaster. Adm Sci Q 38:628–652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick K (1995) Sensemaking in organizations. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener N (1948) Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Cognitive Psychology and Media Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 40, 72072, Tuebingen, Germany

    Joachim Kimmerle & Johannes Moskaliuk

  2. Knowledge Media Research Center, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 40, 72072, Tuebingen, Germany

    Ulrike Cress

  3. Institute of Sports Science, University of Tuebingen, Waechterstr. 67, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany

    Ansgar Thiel

Authors
  1. Joachim Kimmerle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Johannes Moskaliuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ulrike Cress
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ansgar Thiel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joachim Kimmerle.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kimmerle, J., Moskaliuk, J., Cress, U. et al. A systems theoretical approach to online knowledge building. AI & Soc 26, 49–60 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-010-0281-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-010-0281-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation