communities and portals
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Communities and Portals. Lan Zhang School of Information University of Texas at Austin. Corporate Portals. Corporate portals Are single-point Web browser interfaces used within organizations to promote the gathering, sharing, and dissemination of the information throughout the enterprise. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Communities and Portals
Lan Zhang
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin
Corporate Portals
Corporate portals Are single-point Web browser interfaces used within organizations to promote the gathering, sharing, and dissemination of the information throughout the enterprise.
Offers organizational users the ability to access a wide variety of information sources directly from the desktop.
(Detlor, 2000)
The traditional approach
Data-driven
Ignores the information needs and practices of users
May have usability problemsPoor navigation
Inappropriate display of information
The potential of corporate portals
“By focusing on user information practice and the contexts in which information is utilized, system developers can provide richer and more robust corporate portals that function as infrastructures for the creation, sharing, and re-use of information throughout the firm.”
Elements
An enterprise taxonomy or classification of information categories
A search engine
Links to both internal and external Web sites and information sources.
Advanced features include Access to work group productivity tools, such as e-mail, calendar, etc.
Shared Information Work Space
A content spaceFacilitates information access and retrieval
A communication spaceNegotiates collective interpretations and shared meanings
A coordination spaceSupports cooperative work action
Theoretical basis
Emphasis on people, the usersInformation seeking vs. information retrieval
Taylor’s value-added model and Information use environment (IUE)
Environment settingsSets of people in these settingsProblems Problem resolutions
Information EcologyHow users operate in their information environment Focus on people and information behavior
Behavioral-Ecological framework
The information ecology of the organization
The information behaviors of users
The value-added processes within a portal
Information Ecology
Analyzing an organization’s information ecology
Organizational mission
Corporate portal goals
Information management plans
Information culture
Information politics
Physical setting
Information staff
Information handling
Information behaviors
Refer to the practices of individuals and groups as they go about obtaining and using information to resolve their work-related problem situations.Who are the users?Structure of the problem situations?How users seek and prefer information?
Value-added processes
Directly support the information behaviors of users
Fit or improve the organization’s information ecology
Incorporate functions and features which enhance the potential usefulness of information to users.
Communities
Internet Communitiesthe gathering of people, in an online "space" where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time.
Communities of Practice (CoPs)“A flexible group of professionals, informally bound by common interests, who interact through interdependent tasks guided by a common purpose thereby embodying a store of common knowledge.” (Jubert, 1999)
Major Community Themes
Development path
Membership
Activities
Organizational support
Value
Benefits
Individual benefitsImproved reputation
A better understanding of others
Increased level of trust
Familiar and supportive environment
Increased access to experts and valuable information sources
Benefits
Community benefitsIncreased idea creation
Increased quality of knowledge and advice, problem solving, and creating a common context
Benefits
Organizational benefitsSuccessfully executed projects
Increased new business, and product innovation
Time saving
Costs
Technology investment
Participation time for community members
Meeting and conference expenses
Content publishing expenses
Promotional expenses
Internet Communities
Computer mediated communication (CMC)
How agents interface to the network
How discourse occurs within community
How resources are discovered and accessed
A punctuated discourse model of CMC
TimesOrigination timeDiscovery timeResponse timeResponse discovery time
AwarenessExtensional awarenessIntensional awarenessResource awarenessChronological awareness
Chronological awareness tools
CHRONO
WebWatch
Katipo
URL-Minder
Motivations for participation in virtual communities
To gain positive self-image
Contribution as an investment in social power
Name recognition from peers
Criteria for successful virtual cooperative interactions
Establishment of resource awareness for initial encounterEstablishment of mutual awareness as a feedback loop for continual virtual cooperative interactionsCompatibility between the expected and the actual time cycles of virtual cooperative interactionsProperly situated expectations of fairness in terms of collective social exchangeAccumulation of positive feedback for reinforcements in virtual cooperative interactions.
Detlor, B. (2000). The corporate portal as information infrastructure: Towards a framework for portal design. International Journal of Information Management, 20(2), 91-101.
Jubert, A., “Developing an infrastructure for communities of practice: the Siemens experience,” Online Information 99 Proceedings, Hinksley Hill, Learned Information Europe, 1999, pp. 165 - 168.
Lee, L.& Gaines, B. (1996) Knowledge Acquisition Processes in Internet Communities. Proceedings of the 10th Knowledge Acquisition Workshops, Banff, Canada November 9-14, 1996
McDonald, David & Ackerman, Mark. (2000) Expertise Recommender: A Flexible Recommendation System and Architecture. Proceedings of CSCW'00. ACM Press.
Millen, D., Fontaine, M., Muller, M. (2002) Understanding the Benefit and Costs of Communities of Practice. Communications of the ACM. 45(4), 69-73. ACM Press.