The Intranet as Infrastructure for Knowledge Work

Abstract

In the previous section of this monograph, we illustrated and described two predominant themes. The first examined information seeking as a human activity consisting of primarily three social processes: the experiencing of information needs, the seeking of information, and the using of information. The second explored the nature of organizational knowledge and the social processes by which organizational knowledge is created and shared. In this chapter, we bring these perspectives closer together by exploring how many organizations today are bridging these two areas of interest by introducing and implementing intranets in their corporations. We argue that intranets can promote information seeking and knowledge work by functioning as IT infrastructures that stimulate and foster organizational knowledge and intelligence.