Description
Knowledge Networks: Innovations Through Communities of Practice draws on the experience of people who have worked with CoPs in the real world and presents their combined wisdom in a form that is accessible to a wide audience. CoPs are examined from a practical, rather than a purely academic point of view.
The book also examines the benefits that CoPs can bring to an organization, provides a number of case studies, lessons learned and sets of guidelines. It also looks at virtual CoPs and to the future by asking 'what next?' This book is a resource for all people who work with CoPs - both in academia and in the real world.
Reviews and Testimonials
In this timely and wide ranging volume, Hildreth and Kimble have masterfully brought together a collection of leading scholars and practitioners to explore the creation, feeding and care of knowledge networks. This volume will serve as a rich reference for researchers studying knowledge management as well as practitioners interested in successful implementation.
– Samer Faraj, University of Maryland, USA
This book serves the useful purpose of making some of the difficult concepts associated with the communities of practice literature accessible and useful for business organizations.
– Peter Wright, University of York, UK
Author's/Editor's Biography
Paul Hildreth (Ed.)
Dr. Paul Michael Hildreth received his PhD from University of York in 2001. His research interests focused on knowledge management and how knowledge is shared in distributed international environments. Dr. Hildreth is currently working as a Knowledge Management and Information Technology consultant. He has published numerous book chapters in the area of knowledge management and journal articles reporting his research findings have been published in the Journal of Knowledge Management and Information Research. Dr. Hildreth has been a presenter at conferences throughout Europe and the United States.
Chris Kimble (Ed.)
Chris Kimble is a lecturer in Information Systems in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York. Before moving to York, he was lecturer at the University of Newcastle's Business School, and a researcher for the Business School and Department of Computer Science at the University of Northumbria. His broad area of research is Knowledge Management. His areas of particular interest are Communities of Practice and the problems associated with supporting distributed working in a cross-cultural or trans-national context. He is the leader of Management and Information Systems Research group at York and a co-founder of the Northern Interest Group on Information Systems and Organizations (NISG). He has supervised a number of PhD students and has published over 40 articles in journals, conferences, reports and books. He is the academic contact for Knowledge Management for the WUN (Worldwide Universities Network) at the University of York and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Information Research.