3.5 Technology
3.5.2 Technology in knowledge-sharing: some criticisms
71
in the next five years will be technology. Technology has changed the work conventions of legal workers to the extent that it has produced a new type of lawyer. Wall and Johnstone (1997) refer to the new type of lawyer as the “electric lawyer”. In the age of instantaneous communication, lawyers have been forced to find quicker ways to render traditional legal services. Morris (1983) argues that technological innovations must be introduced if costs are to be kept in line. Many of these changes have increased the economic efficiency and viability of the practice while also improving access to the legal system for the broader segment of the population. With regard to technology and lawyers, the use of e-mail, listservs and the Internet are the most popular (Kuhluthau and Tama 2001).
72
Another important factor in terms of IT is the degree of common knowledge that exists between the parties involved in knowledge-sharing. IT systems are particularly disadvantaged in this context as they prove a much less “rich” medium of communication than face-to-face interaction owing to the loss of social cues. One of the articulated advantages of communities of practice is that participants in the community develop a significant stock of common knowledge (such as tacit assumptions and values) through working intensely together, which makes knowledge- sharing within a community relatively straightforward. The ‘best case scenario’, where IT systems may be able to play a useful role, is thus likely to be where a significant degree of common knowledge exists among the individuals sharing knowledge. This is true particularly when there is such a degree of trust between these individuals that they are willing to share their knowledge in this way and when the degree of explicitness of the knowledge is relatively high.
Not all of these circumstances are simultaneously necessary for effective IT-based knowledge- sharing to occur, but the more there are, the greater the likelihood of successful knowledge- sharing.
Elmholdt (2004) adds his dissenting voice by arguing that a company’s overtly technological approach to knowledge management is counterproductive to the goal of enhancing knowledge creation and sharing. He states that the cultivation of a culture where viable communities of practice and collegial networks can flourish may be more important than technological advancement. In his study of a Danish middle-sized software production company, A-Soft, he found that the more credible knowledge-sharing database was one initiated by a fellow worker rather than the ones initiated by the company. He continues by asserting that knowledge is an enactment and in order for its full meaning to be advanced, it has to be embedded in a
“situatedness”. Technology lacks the capacity to do this.
73 3.5.3 Social networking technology
The burgeoning growth of the Internet has now witnessed the emergence and outcomes of tools facilitating socially based interaction and participation. This virtual environment is characterized by self-organization around a common interest or causes, typically, non-hierarchical and meritocratic, requiring only interest, time, application and contribution from membership. This can be seen in a number of socially driven technology-based developments: the Open Source Movement and the Creative Commons approach to copyright. Each emphasises increased levels of sharing, sociability and contribution, with diverse and non-hierarchical end-user involvement, adopting a more bottom-up-oriented approach over the typically rigid corporate locking down of the top-down approach (Patrick and Dotsika 2007). The Social Software movement can be seen to build directly upon this ethos, with Web 2.0 emerging as a similar off-shoot. Web 2.0 refers to a new wave of Web applications built for user-added content that is made to change continuously to accommodate new data and technology (Bauman 2006).
According to the American Bar Association's annual Legal Technology Survey Report (Adams 2008) the bulk of legal professionals are only now on the verge of beginning to use Web 2.0 tools in their daily professional lives. The survey, based on responses from approximately 850 lawyers across the United States, showed that websites and e-mail newsletters are still the digital way in which most attorneys stay current with the news. A small minority reported reading blogs but even fewer actually created a blog. Social networks are catching on only now. However, the one area where lawyers really do appear to be on the cutting edge is mobile devices.
Smartphones and BlackBerrys have become an electronic umbilical cord connecting lawyers to their offices and clients, with younger lawyers and those at the largest firms leading the way.
Colman (2009) found that lawyers were extremely reliant on e-mail to find information.
However, she found that wikis were ideal solutions because they are quick and easy to set up, require very little IT support and could serve as central repositories.
74
It is the view of the researcher that technology has the potential to enable knowledge-sharing.
However, if the organization does not facilitate knowledge-sharing, then technology will have little effect upon it. Organizational culture – spearheaded by the leadership of the organization – has a profound influence on knowledge-sharing.
The last section of chapter three will discuss the final column of the GWU pillar, namely organization.