Knowledge Maturing in the Semantic MediaWiki: A Design Study in Career Guidance

The evolutionary process in which knowledge objects are transformed from informal and highly contextualized artefacts into explicitly linked and formalized learning objects, together with the corresponding organisational learning processes, have been termed Knowledge Maturing. Whereas wikis and other tools for collaborative building of knowledge have been suggested as useful tools in this context, they lack several features for supporting the knowledge maturing process in organisational settings. To overcome this, we have developed a prototype based on Semantic MediaWiki which enhances the wiki with various maturing functionalities like maturing indicators or mark-up support. We are reporting results of a design study we conducted in the career guidance context to gain insights into the applicability of these features and to derive additional ideas and requirements to effectively support knowledge maturing in an organizational setting.