[...] The real value of knowledge sharing systems, however, is in
connecting people to people, so they can share what expertise and knowledge they
have at the moment, given that the cutting edge is always changing. The web is easily accessible
and offers an environment that supports the bringing together of people and knowledge.
Sharing knowledge is a social activity and so social implications of knowledge sharing systems need
to be considered and used to help design processes and tools that are actually useful.
In a complete knowledge sharing system tools to support finding the right person or group of people
are required. Once "connected" people need to be able to share what they know.
The information space in which knowledge is shared needs to be effective in supporting
the knowledge sharing task. Relevant information (documents, data, etc) should be readily
available and delivered in an form appropriate to the participant.
Other tools to support the participant's understanding of the relationships between
all participants may help. Understanding
the dynamics of those relationships between participants and the knowledge or information they are
sharing increases awareness and understanding. Communication practices
and processes need to be designed to encourage the sharing of knowledge whether through
synchronous or asynchronous communication.
Evaluations of knowledge sharing systems in real environments are invaluable in determining what is
useful, what works and what does not. Such evaluations help technologists determine what to improve.
We solicit contributions and participants to examine the use of
Web-based technologies for sharing information and supporting people interaction
with relevant information directly, or indirectly through people contact and
social networks. This can include new algorithms and tools, as well as their
evaluation in a real environment.
Topics of interest
The workshop topics include (but are not restricted
to) the following:
- Recommendation systems
- Collaborative filtering
- Design of information spaces for sharing knowledge
- Social analysis of the knowledge sharing activity
- Knowledge-based information delivery and browsing
- People finding systems
- Group awareness and tacit knowledge
- Social network analysis and visualisation
- Support for e-participation and evaluation
- Support for emerging goals identification
