Recently I have been trying to spot any information online on Knowledge Management in Russia or Ukraine. Unfortunately, I was not able to find anything solid. There are many disperse resources, esp. from private companies but no unified point of reference. Perhaps, the search should go on.
Reason for the search. I am trying to identify the peculiarities of the online collaboration in Russian-speaking domain. There are some features, which in my opinion are unique for the region:
- Big gap between those with extensive Internet usage skills and those without any or very limited ability to use Internet and, as a result, online systems. This gap is cross-generational, i.e. present in all generations
- Vibrant and high-skilled community of young Internet users with clear 2 layers: professional and fun-oriented. It is quite common to find lively discussions online of one of the above-mentioned natures.
- Lively community of Russian-speaking bloggers at www.livejournal.com or in some forums shows that people are generally not afraid to express their opinion online, though it might be easy to identify their physical identities. Over years I have noticed that people are much more inclined to refer to their networks and online resources to find answers (even for really small one) than here in Western Europe.
It is interesting if these observations actually have justification or merely reflect my area of contacts and knowledge? Interestinly, maybe there are already some research done on this topic.
Practical interest of this question – possibility to identify where peculiarities of Russian-speaking online community could make a contribution on international level, what could be explored for economical benefits, esp. to the economical development of Ukraine and other Russian-speaking countries, any know-hows to extract from this?
Some articles of interest:
UNDP’s ICT-for-Development (ICTD) Focus Area Holds a Knowledge Management Training in Kiev, November 2004
Корпорация Атлас. Управление знаниями.
Center of Community Networking and Information Policy Studies, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation