Toward the Realization of a IT based Knowledge-Creating Society : The Community as a Platform

ABSTRACT

As we face the transition into a knowledge-creating society, what role is the diffusion of the Internet playing? How should governments, businesses, and individuals utilize the Internet? Forming a concrete image of a knowledge-creating society based on literature review, this report examines how Japan should effectively utilize the Internet . Open source communities form the basis of this report's analysis of Internet communities as the new platform for knowledge-creation.

A knowledge-creating society can be defined as a society in which "specialists of various fields are able to overcome the boundaries of their respective companies and regions to refine and deepen their specialized knowledge". In order to realize this vision it is necessary to utilize the sophisticated context of the Internet in order to promote the interpersonal sharing of information.

This report analyzes the representative case of "open source communities" as a platform for knowledge creation via the Internet. As a new type of platform, these communities of open source software are operating more effectively than businesses. Furthermore, one of the main characteristics of the knowledge creation in these communities is that the incentives are non-economic.

As the number of both companies that exploit open source communities and individuals who use these communities to gain specialized knowledge continue to increase, the application of communities as knowledge-creating platforms is already beginning to gain momentum. Additionally, the methods and external conditions necessary for the application of communities rather than corporate entities as platforms for knowledge creation are continuing to mature.

In order to actualize a knowledge-creating society, it is essential that the specialized knowledge born of the non-economic incentive that is a characteristic of knowledge-creating communities be transformed into economic value. Businesses that specialize in support and services aimed at making it easier to distribute knowledge created by these communities are already becoming apparent. In the future, it will be vital for companies to connect the knowledge generated by these new types of "community platforms" to actual products and services, as well as to increase production levels of goods created by existing stocks of knowledge.

Introduction