Community Knowledge Sharing in Practice:

An organization’s most valuable knowledge—its essential intellectual capital—is notlimited to the information in ofcial document repositories and databases, such as scientic formulae, ‘‘hard’ ’ research data, computer codes, codied procedures, nancial gures, customer records, and the like. It also includes the largely undocumented ideas, insights, and know-how of its members (see, for example, Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Stewart, 1997; Davenport and Prusak, 1997; Senge et al., 1999). This informal (often tacit) knowledge is deeply rooted in individuals ’ experiences and the culture of their work communities. It commonly originates as practical solutions— through everyday inventions and discoveries—to the problems they must solve and thus serves as the critical resource for ordinary work practice (see, especially, Brown and Duguid, 1991, 2000). Much of this knowledge often remains embedded in practice. Small circles of colleagues and work groups commonly share crucial steps in a new practice and fresh solutions to recalcitrant problems through conversations and stories, with members lling in the background and gaps from their own experience. These groups and com-munities use the local vernacular to express these instructions and stories. Organizations face the challenge of somehow converting this valuable but mainl