Today we are living in a knowledge-society where Knowledge sharing is of utmost importance for companies in order to keep their competitiveness. Therefore, it is a much debated issue - in both the academic and the corporate world - in what way one should handle the knowledge which continuously is created within companies. The aim of this study is to describe how practitioners share tacit knowledge within a large knowledge company. By that we aim to get an answer to how the chosen theoretical models regarding tacit knowledge relate to the empirical world. In this study we will focus on tacit knowledge in contrast to explicit one.

By understanding which factors that affect individuals´ will to share knowledge with others within an organization, companies can successfully develop a knowledge-based culture by influencing individuals´ attitudes and behaviour concerning Knowledge sharing. Several researchers claim that intrinsic motivational factors can consistently facilitate Knowledge sharing between individuals within an organization. Other researchers also assert that extrinsic motivational factors, such as reward systems, might affect individuals? motivation to share knowledge. However, extrinsic motivational factors´ impact on Knowledge sharing is a relatively unexplored field and more empirical studies are sought after.

A research review shedding light over organizational cultureand its affect on Knowledge sharing. The purpose of thereview was to give an overview of the current researchmeanwhile answering the research questions how and whyorganizational culture influences Knowledge sharing.Through careful selection of articles, from Journal ofKnowledge Management, a review of the material led toareas of emphasis being identified: motivation, trust,organizational structure, management, communication andrewards. For each area of emphasis the results from thechosen articles were presented and analyzed, leading toconclusions that the how and why of organizational culture?sinfluence is due to mainly individual motivational factorsamongst staff. This implies that organizations need to keepfocus on the psychological factors affected by organizationalculture when looking to make Knowledge sharing moreefficient.

The purpose of this paper has been to explore how Swedish users of the file-sharing software Direct Connect perceive their own situation and the file-sharing phenomenon. In addition to ascertain what attitudes prevail in the file-sharing culture and what knowledge file-sharers have regarding the relevant Swedish legislation. The questions central to my area of interest were: - Why do file-sharers use the program Direct Connect? - What knowledge do file-sharers have of the relevant legislation in Sweden? - What attitudes prevail in the file-sharing culture? - Is file-sharing behaviour affected by an individuals experience and/or level of knowledge? I compared the results of my survey with earlier surveys done. In addition I compared categories within the file-sharing group such as gender, age, experience and level of knowledge to determine if there were any patterns within or differences between the groups.

This paper describes how files and information can be shared in organisations and workplaces. We studied and compared the traditional file sharing in Microsoft Active Directory and the Social file sharing that comes with Microsoft SharePoint Sites. We used qualitative studies based on interviews with system administrators, management and by our own observations to acquire the necessary data. Using independent research, we were able to analyze the data and show the general difference between the traditional and the social file sharing systems. Social file sharing enables the user to easily store and share files in a flexible online environment.

Befintlig forskning pa? omra?det har dragit slutsatsen att Knowledge sharing a?r av stor vikt fo?r ett fo?retags framtida o?verlevnad och att sma? och medelstora fo?retag i ma?nga fall inte tagit de a?tga?rder som beho?vs fo?r att fra?mja en o?kad kunskapsdelning mellan medarbetarna. Studien belyste da?rfo?r Knowledge sharing inom sma? och medelstora, projektbaserade fo?retag. Syftet med studien var att o?ka fo?rsta?elsen och bidra med kunskap ga?llande hur medarbetarna inom sma? och medelstora fo?retag arbetar med och kan stimulera Knowledge sharing.

In today?s fast changing environment it is important for knowledge intense companies that want to stay competitive to actively work with their knowledge, Knowledge sharing and Knowledge Management (KM). Barriers decrease the efficiency of how knowledge is created, stored and shared, and they are therefore important to reduce or preferably remove making the KM activities result in as much value for the organisation as possible. To achieve this, it is important that the KM activities become a natural part of the employees? daily work.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual?s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital.

Product sharing systems is recently starting to become a more common phenomenon. Carpools exist in more than 40 Swedish towns and both Stockholm and Gothenburg have established bicycle sharing systems. Other products for which sharing systems have been established throughout Sweden are clothing and tools. From the point of view of the consumer, product sharing systems is a form of consumption which can be placed somewhere in between renting and privately owning a product, where the consumers usually pay a membership fee or a monthly fee to have access to the products whenever they need them. The concept is relatively new, and there are many products for which product sharing systems do not exist.

Knowledge is today one of the most important resources for an organization to handle. But knowledge can also be difficult for organizations to manage. The internet is still growing and new tools take form that allows users to effectively share information. The purpose of this report was to describe how organizations can make use out of internal social media to facilitate knowledge management processes. Three issues involving mapping, coding and dissemination of knowledge to were produced to answer the thesis. The study was limited to examining the identification, coding and dissemination of knowledge through the internal social media plattformen, IBM Connections. The theoretical framework emphasizes how social networks can promote Knowledge sharing, how a knowledge mapping can promote knowledge dissemination and sharing, how knowledge can be stored in data sources and how important interaction is to spread awareness. The theory has been supplemented by descriptions of how the system IBM Connections works. Surveys were conducted on four companies that use IBM Connections as an internal communication plattformen. The four companies were selected to illustrate how they use the plattformen of knowledge management processes and we chose to interview the people who were responsible for the introduction of the plattformen. The study identified several similarities between the different companies and that although there were some technical and cultural recalcitrant units against this new type of system within the organization so favored IBM Connections knowledge in several ways. The built-in search automatic created a map of knowledge through the plattform's user profiles. Saved files and documents could be found even after the employees left the company, which encodes knowledge into the company knowledge resources. The opportunity to interact with one another, often over great distances, favored the sharing of knowledge. A comparison with the theoretical framework provided us with the conclusion that internal social media can be used in several ways to Knowledge management through automated knowledge maps, the ability to store knowledge within the company and to communicate knowledge across functional and geographical boundaries in interactive discussions..

Abstract:Title: Engelska (Svenska)Number of pages: 40 (47 including appendix)Author: Carl StrandTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall 2005University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to analyze how young people, in the ages 18 to 25, relate to the subject of file sharing, and what their attitudes to this phenomenon are. I aim to describe how they use file sharing, their knowledge about it, how their usage have changed due to the new copyright law, what their stands are on the question of resource control and management on the Internet, and what they think of the future of file sharing.Material/Method: The method being used is a qualitative focus group interview model, used to investigate how young people look at the subject of file sharing. The results of the interviews is then applied to a theoretical framework based on thoughts of Denis McQuail, Lawrence Lessig concerning creativity, copyright, resource management and file sharing on the InternetMain Results: My conclusion is that the widespread file sharing habits of young people is not only caused by the temptation of getting free stuff, but of the lack of commercial and legal alternatives. Youths are willing to pay for media if the distribution is superior to the illegal file sharing alternative. They are a generation of young people that has grown up in a society where the tendency in many fields has been to make everything faster and more effective.

This bachelor thesis explores the library collaboration "HelGe-libraries" goals, guidelines and strategies for their resource sharing of library books and digital resources. The questions asked were: What does the resource sharing look like when it comes to media and services? What goals and guidelines do they have for the resource sharing? What common strategies do they have for the resource sharing? What challenges have they encountered with resource sharing and how have they dealt with them?The theoretical framework consists of Jennifer Rowleys theory of innovation strategies for libraries and Rosabeth Moss Kanters theory on the art of alliances. The method used to collect material was interviews and document analysis. Four informants were interviewed.My study concludes that the "HelGe-libraries" has formulated goals for their resource sharing and that the resource sharing is connected to their goals.

This thesis work researches what motivates swedish Facebook users to pass along and shareinformation on Facebook, their attitude towards shared information and what affects this behavior. The goal of this thesis is to research todays behavior and motivations to enlighten  what makes information worth sharing to others on Facebook, instead of simply attracting attention. By using a web survey we have collected data by sampling a part of the actual population  of  swedens Facebook users.Our results show that swedish Facebook users main reason for using Facebook is to socialize with offline friends and share information to show otherssomethingtheybelivetheywillhaveuseforand/orwillappriciate.WecompareourfindingstoexistingresearchandtheFIROtheoryabouthumaninterpersonalneeds.Wefindthatuserssharinghabitscanbeidentifiedasmotivatedbyinterpersonalneedstomaintainsocialbonds,influenceothersopinionaboutthemselves,feeluniqueandstandoutinthecrowd.WeconcludethathumanneedsarecontributingtosharingactivityonFacebookandinfluencethesharinghabitsoftheSwedishFacebookusers.Theusersshowacriticalviewonsharingbehavioringeneralbutdonotbelievethattheyshareforthesamereasonthemselves..

We examined why file sharing is such a widespread phenomenon and what drives the persons that using file sharing, and what consequences it has on their consuming and ownership. We reached our goal by interviewing ten people who download files, using a qualitative method. We present the internet community where sharing files, copyright and the IPRED law are important ingredients for how the new generation consumer?s patterns look like. Today you can travel all over the world with a push on a button in just a few seconds.

On the 8th of May 2007 a local power-sharing goverment consisting of Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was formed in Northern Ireland. The aim of this dissertation is to explore why the DUP, who in the past have opposed all forms of power-sharing decided to form a goverment and take active part in a power-sharing agreement. The study is based on a consociational theoretical framework developed by Arend Lijphart and further developed in a Northern Irish context by John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary. Using this theory the study seeks to understand the broad conditions surrounding the DUP's power-sharing. After a description of consociational theory and the road leading up to the Belfast Agreement,three possible explanations for power-sharing, based onconsociational theory are discussed.