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Business Process Management (BPM) provides support for managing organisations' processes and facilitates their adaptation to changing market conditions. Although various BPM solutions have been successfully applied in industry, there are still open issues to be addressed (for example, ensuring commitment of employees in process modelling and re-engineering or enabling automation of the business processes lifecycle). Researchers are currently investigating the use of Social Software technologies to overcome the existing problems. Based on a conducted study, the researcher argues that although semantics and Social Software technologies focus on different problems, they may be combined, as utilised together, they enable organisations to advance their processes and adapt faster to changing market conditions. For this purpose, an extensive study of the literature on existing types of Social Software and the phases of BPM lifecycle were conducted. As much as social software has a positive impact on the BPM lifecycle, no one really knows which of these software are used in which phases of the lifecycle. As organisations do not know 21st century socio-technical work and the impact they have on the organisation in a way that nobody fully explained, they do not know what business processes are impacted and this needs to be addressed as it can be wrongly managed and incorrect business processes would be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of social media in a pedagogical context is the focus of attention of many researchers. At the same time, the issues of highlighting the conditions for the effective use of social media in the pedagogical context and the analysis of attendant risks remain open. The purpose of this study is to identify the organizational and pedagogical conditions for the effective use of social media in pedagogical education. The identified organizational and pedagogical conditions are based on five key provisions. 1. Implementation of the principle of intermodality, according to which each student should be given the opportunity to engage in various forms of activity (educational and social). 2. The leading role of technology in organizing group work (including in the framework of project activities). 3. Individualization of the learning process. 4. Ensuring the continuity of the educational process. 5. Creation of special means of motivating students and providing feedback (special groups within the framework of social media). These conditions for the use of social media in pedagogical education are based on the principle of intermodality. These conditions allow us to individualize the learning environment, which expands the possibility of creative selfexpression in learning activities. Students receive opportunities to implement personalized feedback (from peers and teachers), create their own groups and forums for sharing information and creating new personally significant knowledge, tools for interacting with specialists from different subject areas and professional sphere. In this case, an indirect effect is also achieved - an impact on those who are not directly involved in the educational process. Due to the interactive and open nature of social networks, students serve as models of social behavior for their peers, which contributes to an increase in the number of subjects of the educational space. Peers who are experiencing such an impact, find themselves in the conditions of informal education in fact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of social media in a pedagogical context is the focus of attention of many researchers. At the same time, the issues of highlighting the conditions for the effective use of social media in the pedagogical context and the analysis of attendant risks remain open. The purpose of this study is to identify the organizational and pedagogical conditions for the effective use of social media in pedagogical education. The identified organizational and pedagogical conditions are based on five key provisions. 1. Implementation of the principle of intermodality, according to which each student should be given the opportunity to engage in various forms of activity (educational and social). 2. The leading role of technology in organizing group work (including in the framework of project activities). 3. Individualization of the learning process. 4. Ensuring the continuity of the educational process. 5. Creation of special means of motivating students and providing feedback (special groups within the framework of social media). These conditions for the use of social media in pedagogical education are based on the principle of intermodality. These conditions allow us to individualize the learning environment, which expands the possibility of creative selfexpression in learning activities. Students receive opportunities to implement personalized feedback (from peers and teachers), create their own groups and forums for sharing information and creating new personally significant knowledge, tools for interacting with specialists from different subject areas and professional sphere. In this case, an indirect effect is also achieved - an impact on those who are not directly involved in the educational process. Due to the interactive and open nature of social networks, students serve as models of social behavior for their peers, which contributes to an increase in the number of subjects of the educational space. Peers who are experiencing such an impact, find themselves in the conditions of informal education in fact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CISTI (Iberian Conference on Information Systems & Technologies / Conferência Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação) Proceedings is the property of Conferencia Iberica de Sistemas Tecnologia de Informacao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The presence of social software and social media in higher education is subject to research and change of educational practice. The increasing use of Web 2.0 technology is well documented in the international literature, especially in relation to more interactive learning, shift to student-centered pedagogies and change of teachers' roles, and student engagement with the learning process. Recently, there seems to be a significant number of studies in which emphasis is moved from teaching to learning with technology, namely on students' expectations from technology use in their courses. In Romania, in spite of their acceptance in higher education teaching/learning process being still in the stage of early adoption, research in this area shows increasing preoccupation with studying their implementation and impact on teacher and student practice. For the past five years, the authors have built and implemented a wiki-based blended learning programme for teaching English for Academic Purposes for undergraduate students at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania. They have studied its impact in relation to the factors that influence the use of social software/social media for learning, with language and IT proficiency levels as predictors of active use. Next, learning behaviour patterns were targeted to document transition from traditional to a web-based learning paradigm. Findings showed that student and teacher roles changed during the process, with the former developing independent and collaborative skills and the latter offering support and guidance as a facilitator. However, the quantitative analysis performed on several cohorts indicated an uneven online presence and a relative reluctance to use the respective course-embedded technology. These results, together with class observations and interaction with students, as well as a growing attention paid to the influence of Facebook on students' behaviour, prompted the authors to investigate into similarities and differences between the current learning environment and Facebook in terms of potential for improving motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. The purpose of the present study is to build, pilot and validate (by using the validity-reliability method) a questionnaire aimed at exploring motivation, frequency and ease-of-use, and type of activities performed on two particular social media, namely a wiki and Facebook. Students' perception of the usefulness of extending the learning environment to Facebook will be also investigated. Brief interviews will complete the quantitative data and study data obtained with social network analysis. The findings are expected to highlight benefits and challenges of using social media for learning and point out ways to improve pedagogical design to allow for an enhanced student engagement and for the design of a future experiment for the in-depth study of student success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the KNORK Project. The objective of KNORK is to develop pedagogical models and technology to support collaborative practices in technologyrich environment. Based on brief introduction to KNORK theoretical foundations, the educational practices in using ICT in education are outlined. Against this background the role of the Technical University of Sofia and the Technological School Electronics Systems in changing educational practices to promote collaborative knowledge creation is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a key to success of organizations and societies - different forms of innovation processes are suitable for different contexts such as frugal innovation for less developed countries. As a starting point, the paper proposes a new form of innovation: born-global innovation. Born-global innovation describes a partly open innovation process which aims at parallel innovation processes in different countries and markets to increase time-to-market and outreach / scale of innovations. To successfully initiate these processes, knowledge management is a key. The paper discusses how social software can help to support knowledge management processes for born-global innovations. It is discussed how barriers to born-global innovations can be used to overcome main barriers and built successful, long-term, knowledge-intensive innovation partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is a highly social activity that occurs as a consequence of social participation and engagement. Communities of practice have proved their positive impact in adult learning.They have multiple functions in adult learning process: to create and sustain an interactive learning environment, to manage life and learning experiences, to build and share knowledge, in few words to act like a knowledge management system.It will be valuable if computer- based environments could support learning mechanisms. Social software can support the development of a community of practice. These results were revealed after conducting a qualitative ethnographic research study in the context of a small community of practice. In the first way, the research reveals that virtual worlds can be applied within small communities of practice. Secondly, this study shows that the usage of social software does offer facilities that support the engagement, imagination, and alignment, the key-elements in adult learning architecture. Thirdly, this study shows that every single social software example (virtual worlds, wikis, blogs)offers its unique contribution to the implementation of the architecture of learning, which results in an optimal combination of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intranet 2.0 is a user-centric and dynamic Intranet system based on Web 2.0 technologies. Intranet 2.0 is based on self-organizing principles and functionalities adapted from Web 2.0 technologies and the Internet. The Intranet system is characterized as dynamic, in which the content is not pre-defined but is generated, changed, and further developed over time by different users. This kind of Intranet system may play an important role in the IT strategy of an organization supporting managers in obtaining successful knowledge management (KM) and social networking within organizations. In this study, we focus on how a Scandinavian university implements an Intranet system to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration across departments and different campus locations. We report on findings from the implementation process and the challenges identified. Different perceptions on the usefulness of the new system were determined. The administration was most pleased with the system and thought it supported their daily work practices and information requirements. By contrast, the faculty was less positive and thought that the system implied extra work and minimal support for information sharing and collaboration. A stage model was applied to explain the implementation and adoption processes of the Intranet. According to this model, we identified five issues that were particularly critical when implementing the Intranet, including: (1) allocation of resources; (2) creating ambassadors among faculty members; (3) creating a critical mass of users and content faculty; (4) navigation problems and the 'information jungle'; and (5) administration and faculty having different mindsets regarding the value of the system. Based upon these issues, four propositions could be developed to identify challenges in each phase of implementation. The findings demonstrate that Intranet implementation can be a long process and difficult to institutionalize. At present there is still uncertainty as to whether the Intranet will sustain across the entire organization. Intranets do, to some extent, reinforce existing structures and practices, and it is therefore advisable for managers to focus on a KM strategy and initiatives that allow communities of practice to emerge. In this particular case, an Intranet 2.0 with embedded social software was implemented, as it has the potential for becoming both the main information channel and collaboration platform for the entire organization. In the paper further implications for research, practice and management are correspondingly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research sets out to ascertain how Social Software tools can be used to support teachers and parents of students with multiple disabilities in order to meet their needs and difficulties. By using the NING platform, we built an online social network that was streamlined for eight months with 45 participants. We achieved many of our original goals while using design-based research and various techniques of collecting and analysing data. The results show that the creation of an informal learning context, which allowed for sharing experiences and building knowledge, was rated very positively by participants. It involved a plural reality with different participation levels: the more active members adopted more "critical" and "creative" positions while the more passive ones took on the position of "collector", "spectator" and of someone who was more "inactive". We conclude that the potential of Social Software is enabled by the use it is given by the participants and that it is an effective means of overcoming the isolation felt by parents and teachers of children and young people with multiple disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge management (KM) instruments increasingly utilize social software applications which provide an opportunity to connect human and technology orientation to improve knowledge activities. Social systems, such as wikis, micro-blogs or organizational social networks, support several knowledge purposes, e.g., to create and develop knowledge. Even though knowing the context of knowledge creation is considered beneficial for re-using and developing knowledge, it is currently not well represented in such systems. So far, there is no standard to exchange information between diverse systems. To address this gap, we introduce a specification which allows for an activity stream-oriented perspective on knowledge to represent the creation context of knowledge as well as the exchange of information on knowledge activities between social systems. Our approach is based on existing standards to capture information in KM settings for the main entities knowledge activities, objects, context and people. We suggest extensions to take on the challenge of representing the vast variety of context resulting from the usage of many different kinds of (social) software and services [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web 2.0 and Social Software revolutionize the knowledge exchange within and between organizations. This is one of the claims consultants and software vendors in the field have made. But have the promises been kept and has evidence been achieved so far, in particular for knowledge management in globally distributed settings? As a starting point, our paper introduces the field of Global Social Knowledge Management (GSKM). We see this area as one of the main research area for future research in the Knowledge Management domain leading to changing practices in organizations. A variety of social software applications have already been seen promising and incorporated into the context of knowledge management (Avram 2006; Zheng and Zheng 2010; Levy 2009). Inter- and intra-organizational micro-blogs (Zhao & Rosson 2009), social networks (DiMicco et al, 2008) or organizational wikis (Levy 2009) are just some examples for potential applications. One main assumption is that social software could bridge the traditional gap between human- and technology orientation (Avram 2006; Fiedler & Welpe 2011). However, there is so far only anecdotal evidence how these applications work in complex, globally distributed organizational settings. We see some initial indications that the field is very promising but it is highly necessary to perform more coordinated research. Within this paper, we present the key issues for GSKM. One of the most important issue is the choice of tools according to goals and processes. To support an adequate choice, we provide a mapping between Social Software, key barriers and knowledge activities. The main research domains related to GSKM are Social Software and Global Knowledge Management. We present a brief review of state of the art research for these domains and focus in detail on Social Software supported knowledge activities. We elaborate on the key barriers for GSKM that affect the usage and adoption of Social Software in KM activities. As one of the first efforts of mapping Social Software to KM, we present a Social Software framework, mapping the major barriers to tools and KM activities. We see this mapping as a crucial step towards finding the right tools for organizations' purposes. With this framework, we emphasize the need to analyze the implications of the global (cultural) influences to the existing and emerging Social Software-supported knowledge activities and processes. The paper is a starting point for discourse on this promising field, outlining the research field of globally distributed Social Software-supported Knowledge Management and discussing current research efforts on the main components. By this paper we intend to contribute towards a research agenda for Global Social Knowledge Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software engineering research and practice provide a wealth of methods that improve the quality of software and lower the costs of producing it. Even though processes mandate their use, methods are not employed consequently. Software developers and development organizations thus cannot fully benefit from these methods. We propose a method that, for a given software engineering method, provides instructions on how to improve its adoption using social software. This employs the intrinsic motivation of software developers rather than prescribing behavior. As a result, we believe that software engineering methods will be applied better and more frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of software engineering practices cannot always be achieved by education or processes. However, social software has the potential for supporting deliberate behavior change. We present preliminary results of an experiment in which we encouraged computer science students to make more frequent commits to version control by using a social software application. We provided a web-based newsfeed of commits that also displayed a leaderboard. While we have yet to analyze the data, interviews we conducted with the participants allow for first qualitative insights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The growing popularity of social software e.g. Facebook, Weblog, Wikis, YouTube, social bookmarking sites among generation of students tends to be an undeniable fact. Sharing information and knowledge on social software is now surpassing the traditional channel such as e-mail and e-learning. While many studies have been done to support the use of these tools for educational and knowledge sharing purposes, the related study in both areas within Malaysian Higher Education Institutions is still rare. This paper argues that social software could be integrated into the current e-learning system of the institutions; thus bringing about the sharing of information and knowledge among the students. It furthermore highlights a part of the findings from the survey pilot study on the use of e-learning and social software among students in the respective context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Considered a set of tools and collaborative technologies, Web 2.0 is defined as a new platform for easy access and use, allowing the sharing of information among people and organizations, and where the user has a new role, more collaborative, interactive and important, in the knowledge's sharing. In the literature seems to be some doubt about the term Web 2.0, if represents a new version of the Web, or if it's just a marketing handling to position a set of features that already existed, but when together have a different value. At the organizational level the concept used for adoption and utilization of the technologies and tools of Web 2.0 is Enterprise 2.0, which some companies have realized the benefits associated with this integration, but others not. Due to the gap in studies performed in Portugal, and given the importance that has been giving on surveys and case studies conducted worldwide, could not fail to analyze the Portuguese experience, in order to understand what tools have been adopted, the reasons of the adoption and if there are benefits. Also, notice what stage of adoption of Web 2.0 tools and technologies are the companies, and encourage other companies to become part of world 2.0. It will be reviewed the literature and analyzed the experience of four companies from different sectors and sizes, but with one thing in common, the Web 2.0. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The traditional teaching methods ofthe Learning Management Systems (or LMS) are rigid in nature and impose limitations on the teaching process. By having a closed pattern, these tools end up hurting the student, for preventing it from interacting with anyone who shares the same interests as him. As a result, the concepts ofcommunity, relationship and interaction between users are required to overcome these limitations. This paper proposes the development ofan architecture for creating a social software that enables the use ofonline social networks automatically created for students [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent research endeavors have shown that knowledge sharing improves not only organizational idea development and innovation, but also work performance. In that matter, IS researchers have mostly focused on macro level analyses. We address this by developing a multilevel model for investigating the impact of organizational social web site (SWS) usage on individual and team performance. Our paper addresses this gap by drawing on existing guidelines for multilevel theorizing. We propose that team SWS usage impacts individual and team performance through its improved structural collaboration capabilities. Organizational learning, social capital, and network theories serve as the theoretical basis. Ultimately, we present a multilevel model as the foundation for future empirical research. Our research's contribution lies in the theoretical derivation of a multilevel model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The deployment of social media inside and across enterprises, i.e. 'enterprise 2.0', has garnered significant attention, not least due to considerable levels of market push and hype from technology vendors, benchmarking institutions and consultancy firms. However, for some organizations, encouraging open and uninhibited knowledge exchanges may actually clash with past habits of relying on designed and structured strategies to manage communication. This paper has two objectives: first, to propose a set of management challenges inherent to the deployment of enterprise 2.0, and second, to incorporate these challenges into a collaborative management workshop process and group decision support system (GDSS) that encourages organizations' leadership teams to consider those challenges mindfully and collaboratively - before jumping on the enterprise 2.0 'bandwagon'. The paper follows Hevner's cycles of design science. For the system's design, we draw on theories of episodic change of general systems theorist, Luhmann and work by Churchman on inquiry systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we explore a combination of social technologies and their use within higher education. Our research builds atop ongoing design science research looking to expand an existing online learning community (OLC) used at our university. Our new design implements the latest version of Elgg, an online social learning platform and integrates it with the popular microblogging site Twitter. The overarching goal of this research is to measure the impact these technologies have on levels of learning and social interaction inside and outside the classroom. We measure this impact across two undergraduate classes taking upper-division information systems courses. Initial findings indicate that while the blogging component of our OLC continues to provide high levels of learning and social interaction in the classroom, microblogging, while effective in bringing new information into the classroom, failed to have a significant impact on learning or interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Software engineering research and practice provide a wealth of methods that improve the quality of software and lower the costs of producing it. Even though processes mandate their use, methods are not employed consequently. Software developers and development organizations thus cannot fully benefit from these methods. We propose a method that, for a given software engineering method, provides instructions on how to improve its adoption using social software. This employs the intrinsic motivation of software developers rather than prescribing behavior. As a result, we believe that software engineering methods will be applied better and more frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social software tools have been observed to change the way how students in this generation interact, socialize and learn. Recent focus of social software usage in the academic context studies concentrate on the pedagogical perspectives and informal learning purpose. The focus of this study is, however, another untapped potential which is knowledge sharing among students. This paper presents the finding from a survey study which aimed to investigate whether or not the students in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions use the social software tools for sharing knowledge and information with their friends. A total of 227 students from various universities in Malaysia participated in this survey study. The results indicate that the students are familiar with many social software tools. In addition, the majority of these students also shares information and knowledge with friends on different social software tools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Web analytics tools are now in operation for about 15 years. While primarily developed to support the operators of public commercial web sites, they offer a stable and mature set of general features to track the behavior of users of arbitrary web based systems. Independently, in recent years web based social software is increasingly used to support collaboration and knowledge exchange in modern enterprises. This paper examines how enterprise social software can benefit from the features provided by state of the art web analytics solutions.In the first part of the paper, we give an overview of the most common capabilities of commercial and open source web analytics tools and examine how the data they produce can be accessed and utilized by other applications. Subsequently, illustrating how social software users - be it as authors or consumers of content -, site operators and even the software developers can profit from this integration. To demonstrate the general feasibility of the approach, we then describe how one scenario was implemented in a commercial web based enterprise collaboration platform using an open source web analytics tool. The current popularity of individual documents, like wiki pages or blog posts, was measured using the number of recent visits for the respective web pages. The resulting metric was then used to improve the document scoring mechanism of the platform's search component. Finally we show that the web analytics tool can in turn be used to track precisely how the search functionality is used - and thus allows for an assessment of the effectiveness of the abovementioned improvement. It further enables a qualitative analysis of user behavior that helps to find defects in the software and additionally motivates further refinements and enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Varied fields of application, fast access to often needed information, easy collaboration capabilities and low maintenance costs make wikis very attractive for enterprises. For these reasons in many companies wikis have already been firmly established as tools for collaboration and knowledge exchange. Since most of the content in wikis is completely unstructured (plain hypertext, links, etc.) it is difficult for programs to process the information on the particular wiki pages. Therefore individual pages can only be found by means of a full-text search engine, but searching for particular pages with specific attributes and attribute values is not possible. In this paper we present Hybrid Wikis, a lightweight approach for structuring content and management of information structures in enterprise wikis. Hybrid Wikis are realized based on the commercial Enterprise 2.0 software Tricia and supported by our experiences made with classical wikis, semantic wikis and integrated Enterprise 2.0 platforms used for knowledge and information management in enterprises. Inspired by these web technologies Hybrid Wikis extend the wiki provided by Tricia with a few mechanisms for classification, linking, consistency checking, and visualization of wiki pages, which can be combined flexibly. We explain how these mechanisms facilitate the structuring of content in enterprise wikis and how both can benefit from it, knowledge workers and enterprises. Hybrid Wikis create incentives for users to apply structure by giving suggestions of frequently used structured elements, provide lightweight web-interfaces which enable users to manage the structured elements directly as part of the page content, and help to avoid information redundancies by offering structured searches as well as autocompletion mechanisms for structured elements. Furthermore we show how Hybrid Wikis enable knowledge workers to manage and integrate structured and unstructured information uniform across the enterprise, which is one of the key challenges knowledge management systems are faced with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web analytics tools are now in operation for about 15 years. While primarily developed to support the operators of public commercial web sites, they offer a stable and mature set of general features to track the behavior of users of arbitrary web based systems. Independently, in recent years web based social software is increasingly used to support collaboration and knowledge exchange in modern enterprises. This paper examines how enterprise social software can benefit from the features provided by state of the art web analytics solutions. In the first part of the paper, we give an overview of the most common capabilities of commercial and open source web analytics tools and examine how the data they produce can be accessed and utilized by other applications. Subsequently, illustrating how social software users – be it as authors or consumers of content –, site operators and even the software developers can profit from this integration. To demonstrate the general feasibility of the approach, we then describe how one scenario was implemented in a commercial web based enterprise collaboration platform using an open source web analytics tool. The current popularity of individual documents, like wiki pages or blog posts, was measured using the number of recent visits for the respective web pages. The resulting metric was then used to improve the document scoring mechanism of the platform's search component. Finally we show that the web analytics tool can in turn be used to track precisely how the search functionality is used – and thus allows for an assessment of the effectiveness of the abovementioned improvement. It further enables a qualitative analysis of user behavior that helps to find defects in the software and additionally motivates further refinements and enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Varied fields of application, fast access to often needed information, easy collaboration capabilities and low maintenance costs make wikis very attractive for enterprises. For these reasons in many companies wikis have already been firmly established as tools for collaboration and knowledge exchange. Since most of the content in wikis is completely unstructured (plain hypertext, links, etc.) it is difficult for programs to process the information on the particular wiki pages. Therefore individual pages can only be found by means of a full-text search engine, but searching for particular pages with specific attributes and attribute values is not possible. In this paper we present Hybrid Wikis, a lightweight approach for structuring content and management of information structures in enterprise wikis. Hybrid Wikis are realized based on the commercial Enterprise 2.0 software Tricia and supported by our experiences made with classical wikis, semantic wikis and integrated Enterprise 2.0 platforms used for knowledge and information management in enterprises. Inspired by these web technologies Hybrid Wikis extend the wiki provided by Tricia with a few mechanisms for classification, linking, consistency checking, and visualization of wiki pages, which can be combined flexibly. We explain how these mechanisms facilitate the structuring of content in enterprise wikis and how both can benefit from it, knowledge workers and enterprises. Hybrid Wikis create incentives for users to apply structure by giving suggestions of frequently used structured elements, provide lightweight web-interfaces which enable users to manage the structured elements directly as part of the page content, and help to avoid information redundancies by offering structured searches as well as autocompletion mechanisms for structured elements. Furthermore we show how Hybrid Wikis enable knowledge workers to manage and integrate structured and unstructured information uniform across the enterprise, which is one of the key challenges knowledge management systems are faced with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support systems are vital for university entrants and one established means of support is peer mentoring which has the potential to improve student engagement and retention. Mentoring models are generally based on face-to-face contact. However, given the increasing number of higher education institutions using social media, might online models be beneficial in a support context? This paper by means of examining extant literature complemented by a case study considered three virtual models: social networking sites (SNS), virtual learning environments (VLE) and virtual worlds. Findings indicated that the social networking model had the most potential. A pilot study by business programmes at Northumbria University is now being undertaken. Technical issues have been encountered and overcome. However, further analysis is required to fully establish the long term viability and potential extensions to the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many programs are being created by end-users without formal training in programming. Spreadsheets are the most popular environment for this, but mashups which combine public services into new, albeit small applications are also becoming more and more popular. Research shows that end-user programmers make potentially costly mistakes. Yet initiatives that aim at bringing software engineering principles to end-users are still rudimentary. In particular, we see much unused potential in approaches that foster and support the cooperation among end-user programmers. Whereas the application of mechanisms from social software to software engineering problems is gaining traction, this has not yet been investigated sufficiently for end-user software engineering. This paper discusses how insights from Communities of Practice research may be implemented using mechanisms from recent developments in social software. From the implementation of the presented social mechanisms, we expect an improvement in cooperation and mutual help in communities of end-user programmers. We plan to combine this approach with lightweight variations of software engineering methods targeted at end-user programmers. This should lead to higher quality in the programs developed by these end-users, as good practices are more likely to spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on an exploratory study, which aims at understanding how software developers use social media compared to conventional development infrastructures. We analyzed the blogging and the committing behavior of 1,100 developers in four large open source communities. We observed that these communities intensively use blogs with one new entry about every 8 hours. A blog entry includes 14 times more words than a commit message. When analyzing the content of the blogs, we found that most popular topics represent high-level concepts such as functional requirements and domain concepts. Source code related topics are covered in less than 15% of the posts. Our results also show that developers are more likely to blog after corrective engineering and management activities than after forward engineering and re-engineering activities. Our findings call for a hypothesis-driven research to further understand the role of social media in software engineering and integrate it into development processes and tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]