Initiating Organizational Memories using Ontology Network Analysis

One of the important problems in organizational memo- ries is their initial set-up. It is difficult to choose the right informa- tion to include in an organizational memory, and the right informa- tion is also a prerequisite for maximizing the uptake and relevance of the memory content. To tackle this problem, most developers adopt heavy-weight solutions and rely on a faithful continuous interaction with users to create and improve its content. In this paper, we ex- plore the use of an automatic, light-weight solution, drawn from the underlying ingredients of an organizational memory: ontologies. We have developed an ontology-based network analysis method which we applied to tackle the problem of identifying communities of prac- tice in an organization. We use ontology-based network analysis as a means to provide content automatically for the initial set-up of an organizational memory.