Manifesto for a Standard on Meaningful Representations of Knowledge in Social Knowledge Management Environments

Knowledge Management (KM) is a social activity. More and more organizations use social software as a tool to bridge the gap between technology- and human-oriented KM. In order to create interoperable, transferable solutions, it is necessary to utilize standards. In this paper, we analyze which standards can be applied and which gaps currently exist. We present the concept of knowledge bundles, capturing information on knowledge objects, activities and people as a prerequisite for social-focused KM. Based on our concept and examples, we derive the strong need for standardization in this domain. As a manifesto this paper tries to stimulate discussion and to enable a broad initiative working towards a common standard for the next generation of knowledge management systems. Our manifesto provides with eight recommendations how the KM community should act to address future challenges