Johannes Moskaliuk

Using wikis for organizational learning: functional and psycho‐social principles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to aim to identify principles that make wikis an effective application when they are used within an organization. Those principles are supposed to make wikis a successful instrument for organizational learning.Design/methodology/approach – The article makes a distinction between functional and psycho‐social principles and emphasizes their impact on organizational learning.Findings – The functional principles (quick and easy editing; wikilinks; no hierarchical hypertext structure; revision and topicality; collaborative product; scalability and flexibility) may be regarded as the constitutive attributes of wikis. The psycho‐social principles (openness; self‐organization; autonomy; interest and personal relevance; diversity; serendipity effect) are not directly associated with wikis as a tool, but refer to the application context.Originality/value – The article explains the functional and psycho‐social principles in detail. This will help organizations and knowledge‐man...

Learning and Collective Knowledge Construction With Social Media: A Process-Oriented Perspective.

Social media are increasingly being used for educational purposes. The first part of this article briefly reviews literature that reports on educational applications of social media tools. The second part discusses theories that may provide a basis for analyzing the processes that are relevant for individual learning and collective knowledge construction. We argue that a systems-theoretical constructivist approach is appropriate to examine the processes of educational social media use, namely, self-organization, the internalization of information, the externalization of knowledge, and the interplay of externalization and internalization providing the basis of a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. In the third part we present research findings that illustrate and support this systems-theoretical framework. Concluding, we discuss the implications for educational design and for future research on learning and collective knowledge construction with social media.

VISUALIZING CO-EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE

This paper describes how processes of knowledge building with wikis may be visualized, citing the user-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia as an example. The underlying theoretical basis is a framework for collaborative knowledge building with wikis that describes knowledge building as a co-evolution of individual and collective knowledge. These co-evolutionary processes may be visualized graphically, applying methods from social network analysis, especially those methods that take dynamic changes into account. For this purpose, we have undertaken to analyse, on the one hand, the temporal development of a Wikipedia article and related articles that are linked to this core article. On the other hand, we analysed the temporal development of those users who worked on these articles. The resulting graphics show an analogous process, both with regard to the articles that refer to the core article and to the users involved. These results provide empirical support for the co-evolution model.

Visualizing wiki-supported knowledge building: co-evolution of individual and collective knowledge

It is widely accepted that wikis are valuable tools for successful collaborative knowledge building. In this paper, we describe how processes of knowledge building with wikis may be visualized, citing Wikipedia as an example. The underlying theoretical basis of our paper is the framework for collaborative knowledge building with wikis, as introduced by Cress and Kimmerle [2], [3], [4]. This model describes collaborative knowledge building as a co-evolution of individual and collective knowledge, or of cognitive and social systems respectively. These co-evolutionary processes may be visualized graphically, applying methods from social network analysis, especially those methods that take dynamic changes into account [5], [18]. For this purpose, we have undertaken to analyze, on the one hand, the temporal development of an article in the German version of Wikipedia and related articles that are linked to this core article. On the other hand, we analyzed the temporal development of those users who worked on these articles. The resulting graphics show an analogous process, both with regard to the articles that refer to the core article and to the users involved. These results provide empirical support for the co-evolution model. Some implications of our findings and the potential for future research on collaborative knowledge building with wikis and on the application of social network analysis are discussed at the end of the article.

Explaining authors’ contribution to pivotal artifacts during mass collaboration in the Wikipedia’s knowledge base

This article discusses the relevance of large-scale mass collaboration for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research, adhering to a theoretical perspective that views collective knowledge both as substance and as participatory activity. In an empirical study using the German Wikipedia as a data source, we explored collective knowledge as manifested in the structure of artifacts that were created through the collaborative activity of authors with different levels of contribution experience. Wikipedia’s interconnected articles were considered at the macro level as a network and analyzed using a network analysis approach. The focus of this investigation was the relation between the authors’ experience and their contribution to two types of articles: central pivotal articles within the artifact network of a single knowledge domain and boundary-crossing pivotal articles within the artifact network of two adjacent knowledge domains. Both types of pivotal articles were identified by measuring the network position of artifacts based on network analysis indices of topological centrality. The results showed that authors with specialized contribution experience in one domain predominantly contributed to central pivotal articles within that domain. Authors with generalized contribution experience in two domains predominantly contributed to boundary-crossing pivotal articles between the knowledge domains. Moreover, article experience (i.e., the number of articles in both domains an author had contributed to) was positively related to the contribution to both types of pivotal articles, regardless of whether an author had specialized or generalized domain experience. We discuss the implications of our findings for future studies in the field of CSCL.

A systems theoretical approach to online knowledge building

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.

Training in virtual environments: putting theory into practice

Virtual training environments are used when training in reality is challenging because of the high costs, danger, time or effort involved. In this paper we argue for a theory-driven development of such environments, with the aim of connecting theory to practice and ensuring that the training provided fits the needs of the trained persons and their organisations. As an example, we describe the development of VirtualPolice (ViPOL), a training environment for police officers in a federal state of Germany. We provided the theoretical foundation for ViPOL concerning the feeling of being present, social context, learning motivation and perspective-taking. We developed a framework to put theory into practice. To evaluate our framework we interviewed the stakeholders of ViPOL and surveyed current challenges and limitations of virtual training. The results led to a review of a theory-into-practice framework which is presented in the conclusion. Practitioner Summary: Feeling of presence, social context, learning motivation and perspective-taking are relevant for training in virtual environments. The theory-into-practice framework presented here supports developers and trainers in implementing virtual training tools. The framework was validated with an interview study of stakeholders of a virtual training project. We identified limitations, opportunities and challenges.

Motivational factors of information exchange in social information spaces

Several barriers hinder active participation in online information exchange.An interview study analyzed motivational factors for information exchange.A quantitative study related these factors to objective measures of participation.Internal motivation is the strongest factor supporting participation.Time and effort requirements are the strongest factors hindering participation. Research has shown that there are many barriers that hinder people to participate in online information exchange. We provide an overview about the research done so far and classify the found motivational factors. With two empirical studies we test the simultaneous impact of these factors in order to identify the most important ones. Study 1, a qualitative interview study with potential users investigates key motivational factors for information exchange. Study 2, a quantitative study with users of an established social information space relates all motivational factors to subjective and objective measures of participation in information exchange. We found that internal motivation, gain of prestige, quality and quantity of content and procedural fairness are the strongest motivational factors supporting participation, whereas time and effort requirements for contribution and fear of personal feedback are the strongest factors hindering contribution. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Virtual training

Teams were trained for complex collaborative tasks.A virtual training was compared to a standard training and control group.The training was evaluated according to reactions, learning and transfer.All teams were sent to a complex task in reality.Virtual training was as efficient as standard training and showed advances in complex unknown tasks. Team training seems to be crucial for the success of teams such as those in emergency services, the police or fire fighting. To carry out an operation successfully, intense training for complex collaborative tasks needs to be provided for all team members. In our study we applied a virtual training environment to train police personnel for complex collaborative tasks. The virtual training group was compared to a group with standard training and to a control group. The data show that the standard training resulted in more motivation, perceived value of the training and knowledge after the training session than virtual training. But with regard to the learning transfer measured by the behaviour in a real and complex situation, the virtual training was as good as the standard training. Both outperformed the control group.

Who integrates the networks of knowledge in Wikipedia

In the study presented in this article we investigated two related knowledge domains, physiology and pharmacology, from the German version of Wikipedia. Applying the theory of knowledge building to this community, we studied the authors of integrative knowledge. Network analysis indices of betweenness and closeness centrality were calculated for the network of relevant articles. We compared the work of authors who wrote exclusively in one domain with that of authors who contributed to both domains. The position of double-domain authors for a knowledge building wiki community is outstanding. They are not only responsible for the integration of knowledge from a different background, but also for the composition of the single-knowledge domains. Predominantly they write articles which are integrative and central in the context of such domains.