Systems and technology for managing documents, content and knowledge have been developed in recent years to address the increasingly complex need for easy access to large collections of data and information. While traditional knowledge management systems do their best to aid organizations in increasing the effectiveness of the information it generates, for the most part, these systems are not as successful as desired. In many cases, while the system is working as designed, the “human element” in terms of how people approach using and sharing information is overlooked. This case study will describe how the application of social media is improving the effectiveness and increasing the adoption of knowledge management in an academic research environment. Specifically, the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has been using a mix of social media technologies in combination with their knowledge management system to improve usability, increase the rate and frequency of use and contribution, and provide a satisfying, contextual search and find experience for their audience of senior academic researchers. The audience will learn about our journey from a large, unsorted data and document collection to what we are building now, which is a comprehensive research resource that uses a variety of social media tools, including wikis, blogs and Twitter, to manage and share our research collection internally, to collaborate within our family of international research affiliates, and to communicate our research agenda and findings to our academic community. Challenges we faced and resolved will be included, as well as costs (financial and otherwise), and our future plans.

1. Social Knowledge Management in an Academic Research Environment:A Case Study Kimberly Silk, MLS Data Librarian March 18, 2010

3. Our Challenge

4. MPI Portal 1.0

5. Why it’s not *quite* right (and some days, awful)

6. What we learned, and what we’re doing next

8. Who We Are: The Research Team

9. Our Collection

10. Our Challenge: Collaboration, with Control

11. Who will use this site?

12. Requirements & Challenges

13. Our Quick & Dirty Evaluation Process

14. SharePoint: WSS vs. MOSS

15. Our Short-term Solution: MS SharePoint (on the cheap) SharePoint was an Easy Win (for now): Free! Already installed on server Compliant with our IT dept Great document mgmt Version control Integration with MS Office Secure Multi-level user access Accessible via web Quick to implement Free!

16. MPI Portal 1.0

17. The Verdict: SharePoint works … sort of What Works: Great integration w/ MS Office Web-based interface is available anywhere Version control is very good Easy to roll back to previous versions Easy to see who edited the document last What Doesn’t Requires users to log in repeatedly; no single-sign-on Dependent on IE browser; other browsers render the page incorrectly Limited features, especially when wanting to add feeds and other external content Heavy simultaneous use causes it to freeze; Users have to remember to access all their work via SharePoint Limited social media tools No fun!!

18. In the meantime, we tried these other tools … and we like them!

19. What We Learned aboutIterative Design & Rapid Prototyping We began by thinking about content, and organization, which are both important; Diving in without any planning or strategy provided us with a great way to learn about how we work, both online and offline; SharePoint works, although it’s not completely successful; We didn’t think enough about the most important component: people.

20. Moving towards Social Knowledge Management KM is not just about managing knowledge; it’s about mining the social interactions that create knowledge. We want to capture knowledge, and then place it in a context to the people who have created it, and have and will use it.

21. How to Improve SharePoint? SharePoint exists, is used, and it’s great for document management. But, the usability leaves a lot to be desired, and it offers very few social media tools. How to take advantage of the strengths, and improve on the deficiencies? Rewarding User Experience

22. What We’re Trying Now Can proprietary and open source softwareget along??

24. Content sharing between SharePoint and Confluence

27. Who Else is Doing This? Join Me! SharePoint and Confluence are not the only solutions. What are you trying? I’m looking for a community of practice There are lots of corporate KM groups out there, but not many in the academic space I’m looking for a group of like-minded colleagues who want to explore these issues with me, and find solutions Is anyone else connecting Confluence and SharePoint? Are you in? Email me at Kimberly.Silk@MartinProsperity.org

28. Thank You Kimberly Silk, MLS Email: Kimberly.Silk@MartinProsperity.org Twitter: @kimberlysilk