Can knowledge management be open source?

As we move further into a knowledge economy where collaboration

and innovation are increasingly central to organisational effectiveness,

enterprises need to pay more attention to the informal networks that exist

within the organisation. Wikis may provide a more appropriate knowledge

management capability and environment to capture tacit knowledge. Where

traditional organisational cultures see that knowledge management must be

tightly protected, Wikis opt for an open source approach where knowledge is

shared and distributed for innovation to continue. This paper aims to explicate

more participatory organisational processes of creation, accumulation and

maintenance of knowledge. It uses Activity Theory as a framework to describe

the components of an activity system where a Wiki is a tool mediating

employee-based knowledge management activities and thereby democratising

organisational knowledge.