Organization of knowledge ecosystems: Prefigurative and partial forms
基于实证证据，本文提出知识生态系统由围绕联合知识搜索组织的用户和生产者构成，区分了搜索知识领域的预构形式和已识别领域内的部分形式，并分析了参与和协调机制。
This paper provides a unique perspective on knowledge ecosystems by studying their organization. Grounded in empirical evidence, we propose that knowledge ecosystems consist of users and producers of knowledge that are organized around a joint knowledge search. A distinction is drawn between knowledge ecosystems searching for a knowledge domain and those searching within an identified knowledge domain, respectively characterized as prefigurative and partial forms of organizing. In a knowledge ecosystem organized in prefigurative form (to identify a knowledge domain), actors whose participation is affiliated, self-resourced, and unobliged probe that domain to identify and establish shared knowledge as a basis for collective actorhood, with no formal rules or coordination mechanisms. In a knowledge ecosystem organized in partial form (where a knowledge domain has already been identified), actors search and reveal problem- and solution-related knowledge, participating though formal membership and access to resources, and their contributions are monitored. The present study contributes to the literature by 1) specifying the distinct types of joint search performed by knowledge ecosystems; 2) considering how the nature of joint search affects how knowledge ecosystems are organized; and 3) distinguishing two forms of organizing knowledge ecosystems, with a focus on participation and coordination.