Look for:

Folksonomies stand in sharp contrast to both trees and faceted systems. First, folksonomies tend to be clusters of tags, not hierarchies: There's a pile of "apple" tags and another pile of "GrannySmith" tags, but the folksonomy may not recognize that the latter is a subset of the former...

 D. Weinberger

Abstract:

The article argues that it is necessary to move e-learning beyond learning management systems and engage students in an active use of the web as a resource for their self-governed, problem-based and collaborative activities. The purpose of the article is to discuss the potential of social software to move e-learning beyond learning management systems. An approach to use of social software in support of a social constructivist approach to e-learning is presented, and it is argued that learning management systems do not support a social constructivist approach which emphasizes self-governed learning activities of students. The article suggests a limitation of the use of learning management systems to cover only administrative issues. Further, it is argued that students' self-governed learning processes are supported by providing students with personal tools and engaging them in different kinds of social networks. 

Abstract: A self-organising system functions without central control, and through contextual local interactions. Components achieve a simple task individually, but a complex collective behaviour emerges from their mutual interactions. Such a system modifies its structure and functionality to adapt to changes to requirements and to the environment based on previous experience. Nature provides examples of self-organisation, such as ants food foraging, molecules formation, or antibodies detection. Similarly, current software applications are driven by social interactions (negotiations, transactions), based on autonomous entities or agents, and run in highly dynamic environments. The issue of engineering applications, based on the principles of self-organisation to achieve robustness and adaptability, is gaining increasing interest in the software research community. The aim of this paper is to survey natural and artificial complex systems exhibiting emergent behaviour, and to outline the mechanisms enabling such behaviours. 

Abstract: Three major components of participatory decision-making, namely knowledge, communication and reporting, are reviewed. A prototype knowledge management system based on these components is developed in the context of community forestry. The system addresses key issues such as differences in literacy levels, interests and technical capability of the participating individuals and organizations, and is structured around a hierarchical structure of Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PC&I). The system automates production of customized reports that can be prepared as hard copy documents, web pages or audio (narrated) reports on cassette and in a selected language. The reporting structure permits individuals to contribute material to interim reports and facilitates the tracking of their knowledge contribution to the decision process. These customized reports mitigate problems of information overload, as well as increasing the satisfaction of the recipients with the participatory process. The system is used as a basis for discussion of alternative system designs and issues related to interactions between humans and computers, from which a new system design philosophy of "Adaptive Knowledge Management" is developed. Crown Copyright (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 

Abstract: The practice of Weblogging as a new social and technological phenomenon in society and business is gaining a growing number of supporters. In short, a Weblog is a website where individual thoughts are publicly displayed in the form of a diary. In this paper, we seek to illustrate the impact of Weblog technology on people's passion for knowledge. We start from the assumption that successful knowledge management requires the engagement of people in knowledge-related practices. We introduce a famous agglomeration of Weblogs that deal with the development of a commercial software. Based on an exploratory study, we suggest that the specific features and character of this novel technology have an impact upon the passion for voluntary knowledge work, which is triggered by experiences of flow states, as well as extrinsic stimuli. 

The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 18 No. 2, May 2003

Abstract:

This paper considers the factors that relate to the
recovery of a community affected by emergency. In
particular, principles of recovery, the process of
recovery, the reactions of people affected by
emergencies, and the means by which recovery
needs might be addressed are considered. An
approach to recovery that is not strictly sequential,
but is flexible, community-centric and which is
integrated with other elements of the emergency
management process is advanced.
On 20 May 2002 the Republic of East Timor was
acknowledged by the United Nations as a country in
its own right. When interviewed, citizens of the new
country expressed relief at no longer having to live in
fear of violent militia attacks. They did however
express new concerns; concerns more characteristic
of the aftermath of a less insidious, yet equally
destructive calamity. These concerns included the
need for employment, long-term accommodation,
and economic viability. The above, in addition to the
psychological sequelae, represent some of the more
typical needs of a recovering community. Indeed, the
recovery of a community, whether from war or
cyclone, rates as one of the more complex and
lengthy challenges to confront both those affected
by the event and those called to assist the affected.
This paper considers the process of recovery. In
particular, several key principals of recovery are
considered along with the process by which the
recovery of a community occurs. In addition to the
aforementioned fundamentals of recovery
management, several other recovery issues will be
considered, including the diverse reactions to
emergencies. The question of meeting the needs of a
recovering community in terms of what is required
and who accepts responsibility for its provision will
also be addressed. Importantly, a number of
conclusions will be drawn with respect to factors that
affect recovery.

Abstract:

This paper describes an ongoing research work on developing methods for effective visualisation
support for situation analysis, decision making, and communication in the course of disaster
management. The major goals are to reduce the information load of the analyst, decision maker, or
information recipient without omission of anything important and to ensure quick and accurate
comprehending of the information. The work embraces the issues of selection of the relevant
information and defining the appropriate level of detail, data preparation (aggregation and other
transformations), and selection of the appropriate methods for visual representation depending on the
user’s tasks or communication goals, recipient’s profile, and the target presentation medium. A
practical outcome from the research will be a knowledge base that can be used to support analysis,
decision making, and information communication in emergency situations. A great part of the
knowledge, specifically, knowledge on data transformation and representation, is generic and can be
used for different applications.

http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/505248.505269

Communications of the ACM archive
Volume 45 ,  Issue 4  (April 2002) table of contents
Supporting community and building social capital
SPECIAL ISSUE: Supporting community and building social capital table of contents
Pages: 37 - 39 
Year of Publication: 2002
ISSN:0001-0782

From the website:

Any system that supports groups addresses this tension by enacting a simple constitution -- a set of rules governing the relationship between individuals and the group. These constitutions usually work by encouraging or requiring certain kinds of interaction, and discouraging or forbidding others. Even the most anarchic environments, where "Do as thou wilt" is the whole of the law, are making a constitutional statement. Social software is political science in executable form.