Web 2.0 and Personal Knowledge Management: A Framework of Skills for Effectiveness

This chapter explores the benefits and challenges that Web 2.0 tools present to knowledge workers and proposes a framework of personal knowledge management (PKM) skills to foster effectiveness in Web 2.0 settings. Research into Web 2.0 in the enterprise has focused primarily at the organizational level. Although the importance of individual knowledge workers is well known, there is limited understanding of the issues that Web 2.0 tools present for PKM and the related skills required. Our study aimed to address this gap. We interviewed six individuals from multinational software companies—three software developers and three middle managers. Our analysis combined an inductive approach with use of Avery et al. (Personal knowledge management: Framework for integration and partnership. ASCUE 2001 Conference Proceedings, North Myrtle Beach, SC, 2001) PKM skills model. Key perceived benefits of Web 2.0 were time saving, timeliness, improved collaboration, ability to locate knowledge holders, and improved communication across hierarchies and silos. Participants highlighted five main challenges: unreliable information quality, inequality of participation, lack of knowledge about the nature of technology, security risk, and fragmentation of information. They combined eight PKM skills to militate the challenges and realize the benefits of Web 2.0. We propose an adaptation of Avery et al. (Personal knowledge management: Framework for integration and partnership. ASCUE 2001 Conference Proceedings, North Myrtle Beach, SC, 2001) model that identifies eight PKM skills relevant to Web 2.0 and a framework for understanding how these promote individual performance in the context of Web 2.0. While the need for some traditional skills appears to be reduced, we found that two additional PKM skills were critical: creating and curating information and exercising time control.