Pruning the answer garden: knowledge sharing in maintenance engineering

  • Authors:
  • Volkmar Pipek;Volker Wulf

  • Affiliations:
  • ProSEC, Inst. for Computer Science III, University of Bonn, Bonn, and International Institute for Socio-Informatics (IISI), Bonn, Germany;Institute for Information Systems, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Computer Science, Schloß Birlinghoven, Sankt Augstin, Germany

  • Venue:
  • ECSCW'03 Proceedings of the eighth conference on European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

The Answer Garden supports knowledge sharing in two intertwined ways: by making relevant information retrievable and by mediating access to people with knowledge. We present a case study in which the Answer Garden approach was applied to encourage knowledge sharing in maintenance engineering of a steel mill. The results show that the sheer amount of drawings and the long history of chaning classification schemes challenge the Answer Garden apporach as well as domain-specific needs for technically mediated communication. Moreover, the given divison of labor and organizational micro-politics prevent the Answer Garden apporach from encouraging knowledge sharing. Based on these expriences, design directions for knowledge management systems are pointed out. Finally, the results of the study are related to a recent controversy on technology support for expertise location.