Expert Documentation Approach for Knowledge Management in Online Forums

Knowledge Management
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Abstract
There is no doubt in the fact that online forums are widely considered within a number of
organizational KM (knowledge management) practices together with virtual societies in order
to effectively share knowledge and viewpoints. Taking the above discussion into
consideration, this particular research intends to propose an expert documentation approach
that revolves around the judgment ratings of the members, mentioned on the online forum.
Further, in specific, this particular paper extends PageRank and proposes the ExpRank
algorithm, which considers both constructive along with undesirable agreement relationships
amongst online forum members. By making use of two datasets (relating to distinct product
segments i.e. music and books) gathered from a renowned product-review online site (i.e.,
Epinions.com), the outcomes of empirical assessment signify that the projected ExpRank
algorithm outpaces its benchmark approach (i.e., PageRank). Finally, results of evaluation
throw light upon the integration of undesirable agreement relationships could greatly enhance
the efficiency of expert recognition.
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Introduction
To start with, online forums have been widely adopted within several organizational KM
(knowledge management) procedures along with virtual societies for the purpose of sharing
knowledge as well as perspectives (Wu et. al., 2006). Recognizing professionals within
particular sphere is vital for enhancing knowledge sharing along with availability via online
forums. Present expert recognition approaches could be broadly grouped into two key
concepts i.e. link-based and content-based (Nonaka et. al., 2016). Even though, the link-based
concept has illustrated its preeminence over content-based concept, it involves few
restrictions at the time when applied for recognizing specialists within online forums (Wang
et. al., 2006). Likewise, this particular study attempts to put forward an expert documentation
approach, which greatly depends upon the judgment ratings of the members, present within
an online forum. Further, in specific, this particular paper extends PageRank and proposes the
ExpRank algorithm, which considers both constructive along with undesirable agreement
relationships amongst online forum members.
A Review of Relevant Literature
There is no doubt in the fact that effective Knowledge Management has become most
important task for every company (Sanchez, 2016). The companies today should hold
complete knowledge about KM tools, KM techniques, KM models, KM processes,
knowledge sharing and trust, applying knowledge for innovation, new knowledge creation
and KM governance (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). In this particular paper emphasis has been
laid upon KM processes, KM techniques, new knowledge creation and KM models (Wu et.
al., 2006). In order to compete effectively within emerging knowledge-directed economy,
companies worldwide have taken up a number of initiatives, which aim at managing their
highly valued still impulsive asset i.e. knowledge. KM (Knowledge management) signifies
towards the methodical approach for generating, retaining, arranging, reusing, sharing and
lastly, assimilating explicit and/or tacit knowledge for the purpose of supporting the learning
procedures in the companies, thus resulting in enhanced organizational adaptability as well as
outcome (Wright, 2015). Additionally, the KM initiatives could be grouped into four
different sections i.e. developing knowledge repositories, enhancing access to knowledge,
improving knowledge atmosphere and lastly, dealing with knowledge like some asset
(Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Moreover, amongst them, knowledge access enhancement lays
emphasis upon enabling knowledge sharing amongst people, particularly from well-informed
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