BOTTOM-UP! - SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN DLR. A CASE STUDY OF COLLABORATION IN THE GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTER DLR.

Abstract

Establishing an Integrated Knowledge Management System for the German Aerospace Center (DLR) - a task that is not primarily driven by technology but especially by the way people react and interchange with each other. Not the information technology is the key to a successful knowledge management but the people are. From this follows that the improvement of knowledge processes can be done by bringing the right people together - whether online or offline - to share their knowledge and develop new ideas. Whenever technology is used to enhance these knowledge processes, it has to be in a social way to improve the bottom-up knowledge flow. Our first example is the DLR-Wiki, in which each employee can easily share her or his own knowledge with others inside DLR. The second example is the Knowledge Sharing Meeting, a format of collaboration workshops aiming at creating communities of experts by using a bottom-up approach with the acceptance of executive staff. An overview of the other knowledge management activities at DLR will also be given.