Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. In this paper, we investigate KM practices and needs in Open Source Hardware (OSH) communities. The aim is to provide insights into the KM issues and challenges facing...

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Main Authors: Jason Xinghang Dai, Jean-François Boujut, Franck Pourroy, Philippe Marin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2020-01-01
Series:Design Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470120000189/type/journal_article
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author Jason Xinghang Dai
Jean-François Boujut
Franck Pourroy
Philippe Marin
author_facet Jason Xinghang Dai
Jean-François Boujut
Franck Pourroy
Philippe Marin
author_sort Jason Xinghang Dai
collection DOAJ
description Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. In this paper, we investigate KM practices and needs in Open Source Hardware (OSH) communities. The aim is to provide insights into the KM issues and challenges facing these communities. Our analysis is based on interviews carried out with the participants of 22 projects. Interview transcriptions were coded and tagged with concepts extracted from the literature. Text mining was used to uncover the main concepts embedded in the corpus. From this analysis, knowledge sharing emerged as one of the top-rated concepts. Codification and personalization also proved to be important KM approaches, both requiring support in the OSH design process. Using a dendrogram, we highlighted the benefits and challenges of codification together with some interesting concept associations. High contributor turnover, little or no standardization and weak project structuring are still key challenges for OSH communities when it comes to ensuring awareness, making decisions and sharing knowledge.
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spelling doaj.art-5c9492fb108c4a69a488607bf8a230182023-03-09T12:32:01ZengCambridge University PressDesign Science2053-47012020-01-01610.1017/dsj.2020.18Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communitiesJason Xinghang Dai0Jean-François Boujut1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1331-7800Franck Pourroy2Philippe Marin3CNRS, Grenoble INP, G-SCOP, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, FranceCNRS, Grenoble INP, G-SCOP, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, FranceCNRS, Grenoble INP, G-SCOP, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, FranceCNRS, Grenoble INP, G-SCOP, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, FranceKnowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. In this paper, we investigate KM practices and needs in Open Source Hardware (OSH) communities. The aim is to provide insights into the KM issues and challenges facing these communities. Our analysis is based on interviews carried out with the participants of 22 projects. Interview transcriptions were coded and tagged with concepts extracted from the literature. Text mining was used to uncover the main concepts embedded in the corpus. From this analysis, knowledge sharing emerged as one of the top-rated concepts. Codification and personalization also proved to be important KM approaches, both requiring support in the OSH design process. Using a dendrogram, we highlighted the benefits and challenges of codification together with some interesting concept associations. High contributor turnover, little or no standardization and weak project structuring are still key challenges for OSH communities when it comes to ensuring awareness, making decisions and sharing knowledge.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470120000189/type/journal_articleOpen Source hardwareOpen DesignKnowledge managementKnowledge codificationKnowledge personalization
spellingShingle Jason Xinghang Dai
Jean-François Boujut
Franck Pourroy
Philippe Marin
Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
Design Science
Open Source hardware
Open Design
Knowledge management
Knowledge codification
Knowledge personalization
title Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
title_full Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
title_fullStr Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
title_full_unstemmed Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
title_short Issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
title_sort issues and challenges of knowledge management in online open source hardware communities
topic Open Source hardware
Open Design
Knowledge management
Knowledge codification
Knowledge personalization
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470120000189/type/journal_article
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