In the course of catching up on reading and email after 6 days unplugged, I came across an article in the Metaverse Journal about an upcoming forum on the use of Web 2.0 technologies and virtual worlds in the corporate sector being put on by the Future Exploration Network.
The topic ”Business value from blogs and wikis in projects, product development, sales, learning and more” caught my eye. Sharing both explicit (the “how tos”/fact based) and tacit (the “intuitive/technique based) knowledge is difficult - whether you are an educational institution, a not for profit, a government agency or a commercial enterprise. Providing tools for employees to share both types of knowledge - not just as they relate to a specific project but in wider business areas - will be invaluable.
The main issues for employees in blogging and sharing tacit knowledge will centre on intellectual property. If you blog as an employee or are commissioned to do so or do so on company time with the blessing of the organisation, you don’t own your work automatically. Therefore when you leave you can’t take your body of work with you without express permission. And the company/agency can do with it what they like - including just hitting the delete key on your blog.
If you share tacit knowledge and later go out on your own — can you share it with a paying audience? Or, in imparting it to your organisation via a wiki has your unique way of doing or thinking about something become their property? If you build up years’ worth of blog postings and decide to go to another organisation - should you be allowed to take at least a copy with you?
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