Organizational Design of an IT-based Knowledge System: The NetAcademy Concept

Abstract

The emergence of new media channels such as the World Wide Web has induced a profound growth in the publication of books, papers, pictures and hypertext documents. In addition to forming a large knowledge base, the NetAcademy (NA) is meant to provide a meeting place for the joint discussion of trends, the exchange of personal opinions and research results within a specific scientific field of research or interest.Building up a compound knowledge system does not only require an adequate design and good technological implementation it involves also permanent engagement from a core of people responsible for news update, reviewing and feedback response. A smooth integration and automation of processes is therefore a key prerequisite for the successful maintenance and continuous attractiveness of the system.The paper describes the realization of the NetAcademy platform dealing with its template-based design and the combination of different software tools such as e.g.