Information communication technologies facilitate knowledge management : Web-based applications and technologies at Mzuzu university

Introduction

Knowledge management can be defined as processes involved in assembling and storing knowledge in an appropriate place and format, and then how the knowledge can be accessed at the right time, in the right place and to the right person (Abdullah, 2008 as cited by Abdullah, Abdullah and Tee, 2014). Laudon, (2016), define Knowledge Management as a set of business processes developed in an organization to create, store, transfer, and apply knowledge. The author also identifies four processes of knowledge management; each process adds value to raw data and information as they are transformed into usable knowledge. These four processes are; Knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application (Laudon, 2016). Now, if we relate these concepts to the academic context, we realize that one of the most important knowledge management process concerns all those four processes of knowledge management. Students today are blessed with a wealth of information for their studies and research, in comparison with the pre-ICT period, especially following the explosion of the World Wide Web, which is one of the most effective and convenient ways to find and distribute information. These technologies underpin the foundation and significance of information and knowledge sharing among learners worldwide (Potelle and Rouet, 2003 as cites by Balubaid, 2013). Therefore, the emphasis of this paper is to discuss some web-based applications or technologies and demonstrate how they can be used to manage knowledge at Mzuzu University, and also highlighting some possible challenges that the institution may face in adopting these technologies.

1.0.Web 2.0. ??

Web 2.0 refers to web platforms that offer open, interactive, collaborative, and participatory possibilities on cyber space (Xu et al., 2009 as cited by Chawinga 2016). Organizations are becoming increasingly interested in the benefits of applying Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs, content sharing, tagging and social networking to their working practices. The organizations are going beyond the previous use of online communities to provide ratings, reviews and for other marketing activities. Online communities or Web 2.0 communities are people that share a common purpose and have guidelines (policies) for interaction (Preece, 2000 as cited by Malkawi, 2016). Under the participation architecture of Web 2.0, individual user can edit wikis, write blogs, join Forums, and establish Social Bookmarks etc. In the interaction process, individuals will be connected through various social familiarities ranging from common interests to collaboration group to form a Social Network (SNs) like project teams or other collaboration groups. These individuals and SNs will ultimately build up a tremendous virtual knowledge community (Malkawi, 2016). In the knowledge community, every user is considered as an important knowledge body, contextual factors including generalized trust, pro-sharing norms will motivate more people participate in the creation, sharing and communication of knowledge. Moreover, people keep learning from each other during the interaction processes, the utilization and innovation of knowledge can also be achieved in assembly. In all, the interactive potential of Web 2.0 applications is huge to develop (Wang, Xiong, and Sun 2016). Therefore, there are some examples of web 2.0 platforms that are commonly used at Mzuzu University; those platforms are outlined below in details.

1.1.Google Apps

According to Chawinga and Zinn (2016) said that are the main technologies that have been noted to visibly help lecturers save their time and some would-be costs. The fact that most Malawians and including lecturers own Smartphone’s which have their subscription affordable explains why it is preferred by lecturers than other technologies. Time is a precious resource for lecturers who are preoccupied with teaching, marking, conducting

research, supervising research projects of undergraduate students, attending conferences

and attending departmental and faculty meetings. Thus, these technologies improve

efficiency in communication and do away with costs that could have been incurred in

making phones calls which, according to Mtingwi and Van Belle (2012), are said to be

expensive in Malawi. Google Apps provide lecturers with the most conducive and innovative options for enhanced storage and retrieval of academic materials such as lecture notes, provide the best mode of administering exercises to students and offer one of the finest, innovative and reliable platforms for collaborative learning so much so that many lecturers commented that: ‘Normally, they use Google Apps or Google Drive because with this application, you can do whatever you want, like creating a Google Document, sending an assignment to students anytime and instantly providing students the feedback’ (Chawinga and Zinn, 2016).

1.2. Social Networks

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of Social Web sites, which allow the creation of knowledge through simplified user contributions via blogs, wikis, and the deployment of online social networks. Social networks are software that supports collaboration, knowledge sharing, interaction and communication of users from different places who come together with a common interest, need or goal (Pettantek & Ranier, 2006 as cited by Brandtzaege & Heim, 2007). Social networking is the building of online communities. Online social networking services provide a variety of ways for members to interact from emailing to instant messaging to photo tagging; Facebook.com and Twitter are examples (Van, 2009). There are many other tools of web 2.0 like instant messaging (MSN Messenger), Internet Telephony (Skype), and Audio/Video Conferencing (NetMeeting).

1.3.Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking allows users to store, organize, search, manage, and share webpage bookmarks. Think about your list of favourites or bookmarked sites that you have on your own computer. A social bookmarking website makes this list available anywhere that you can connect to the Internet, so the user can access these bookmarks from home, work, or even a public computer. Bookmarks can be saved privately, made available to other Internet users, a shared with friends or colleagues. Delicious (delicious.com) is the most popular social bookmarking site (according to Malkawi, 2016). Delicious account holders create tags (tag can be defined as a triple comprising the object that is tagged, the keyword used for the tag, and the user who attaches the tag to the object). These tags can be searched or browsed, allowing the information and knowledge to be retrieved more easily and facilitating discovery; though the tags are user-defined, many account holders use the same tags for the same kinds of items, thus linking information between various users (Darwish & Kamaljit 2011). Delicious account holders click on tags, often in tag clouds, to find out what others are reading and discussing. A tag cloud is a list of tags in which the popularity indicated by size.

Benefits of Web 2.0 at Mzuzu University

A noticeable increase in communication and collaboration amongst students and lecturers, both in class and online at Mzuzu University (Ajjan and Hartshorne 2008 as cited by Chawinga 2017) stated. Here, students become more engaged in debates and discussions, as they have greater opportunities to contribute, and get to know each other via their online interactions. Web 2.0 helps students to develop more independent learning skills, confidence and become co-producers of class knowledge and content (Al-Qirim 2010) and it enables students to seek help and support outside of normal class room hours from each other and from lecturers (Brown 2012). Web 2.0 enables students to easily follow current events and integrate them into their discussions and assignments, and instantly engage online with people involved in the topic area (Luckin et al. 2009 and Tyagi 2012). This is important because it enables students to validate their learning in the wider context of what is happening at that very moment in the world outside of the classroom as references, links and resources can easily be shared. Farkas (2012, 85) suggests that Web 2.0 gives students a chance to express their opinions online without the impediments of limited class time, lack of confidence because of shyness, or different levels of verbal proficiency and cultural difference.

Challenges that may be encountered

Despite the potential opportunities of Web 2.0 not all government agencies have explored the possibilities of these technologies [19, 32]. Most public services organisations find it difficult to overcome the perception that some Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) have limited business value and are more a distraction to employees than a means to deliver digital government services (Bonson, Royo, & Ratkai,2015). Moreover, government models for leveraging internet technologies is rather different from that of commercial enterprises [21], especially as government agencies are more cautious and slower in adopting new emerging technologies in comparison to commercial organisations. The following are a list of potential challenges that government organisations could face by adopting Web 2.0 technologies.

Though Web 2.0 can stimulate social interactions and communication between different individuals, there is also the risk of people isolating themselves from the real world as they become too addicted the use of internet. There is a risk of information overload and poor quality of content shared by public users when using some Web 2.0 applications such as blogs and wikis, as concerns can be raised against their reliability, accuracy and authority of information. The open nature of Web 2.0 presents significant challenges to the traditional enterprise approach to controlling intellectual property over information shared and surety of these applications. The increase in functionality and interactivity has increased the ways in which an application can be attacked successfully by hackers and viruses and therefore proves to be a security concern for organisations. There are also risks when sharing information using social networking sites where it could lead to possible abuse of personal information, hacking and stalking (Baxter, Connolly, & Stansfield, 2010).

2.0.Intranets

Though an intranet can be conceived as many things, the prevailing image is that of an information silo or a repository of unstructured information. This illustrates the often-used information-centric perspective of intranets. As argued above, for KM systems to be successful they must include users and provide mechanisms for these users to locate and interact with each other. One important objective for an intranet would be to provide a context where dialogue, reflection, and perspective making could occur. Nonaka and Konno (1998) use the Japanese word ba to describe a shared space of physical, virtual, and/or mental nature, which could be seen as an example of such an environment. However, Nonaka and Konno (1998) primarily see IT as a facilitator of the Cyber ba, i.e. an environment for supporting the combinational phase of knowledge creation where old explicit knowledge is mixed and merged to form new explicit knowledge (Nonaka, 1994 and Nokaka & Tekeuchi, 1995). Though such support would facilitate the access to and the interaction with information, the remaining knowledge creation phases that deal also with tacit knowledge, i.e., humans, are not covered. One suggestion is to view the intranet as a shared information space for content, communication, and collaboration (Choo, Detlor, and Turnbull, 2000). The merit of such a model is that it acknowledges that the information-centric view of the intranet is not sufficient.

2.1.Benefits of intranets in knowledge management

Wai, (2022) said that, intranet play a very big role in management of knowledge for school and universities in both developing and developed nations. Mzuzu university as one of the iconic universities in Malawi, by default she must enjoy these benefits that intranets provide. In addition to above, Wai (2022) proceeds that, intranets facilitate communication at the organizational level, boosts workplace culture and etcetera. Some of the benefits of intranets are as follows.

2.1.1.?????Improve internal communication?

A modern intranet aims to encourage communication across your organization, so: Teams can have open discussions, Individuals can share knowledge, Leadership can stay in touch, Departments can provide updates. And the best part is that communication flows both ways. Anyone at Mzuzu University can share information and articles, and everyone can comment and provide feedback. In this way, an intranet could streamline communication by bringing it into one place and empower individuals with a voice and knowledge

2.1.2.?????Encourage knowledge sharing

Intranets aim to allow organic knowledge sharing to grow as the person-to-person connections increase and deepen across your institution. You want your knowledge experts to be visible and make it easier for people to connect with them. Subject matter experts can also get involved by leading forum-style conversations or publishing blog articles that help to disperse learning throughout the company. In this way, the company’s knowledge can grow rapidly even with remote workers. And as more people share their learnings, you can target relevant information to specific groups throughout the platform and avoid the risk of unnecessarily spamming employees.

2.1.3.?????Improves student community engagement

Students community engagement?is a tricky topic to crack. But we know it’s essential. The goal of engaging students is to make them happier, enjoy improved productivity, and be less likely to leave. At Mzuzu University, an intranet could improve engagement in a number of ways. As the institutional culture (mentioned above) comes to life on your intranet, it’s easier for students and employees to understand the bigger picture and feel part of it. And, as an intranet is a place for active communication, students, lecturers and other employees can use it to stay connected with their team and get feedback from managers (deans and heads). Be careful not to mistake engagement with frustration, though. Engagement metrics may appear sky-high in your analytics. But that could be a sign of wasted effort searching for “the right” information.?

3.0. Databases

A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data, typically stored electronically in a computer system. A database is usually controlled by a?database management system (DBMS). Together, the data and the DBMS, along with the applications that are associated with them, are referred to as a database system, often shortened to just database. Mzuzu university can use and is still using some databases that aid in knowledge management. Databases that are mostly used at Mzuzu University are academic databases. The definition of an academic database is a collection of information that is commonly used for research and writing, including access to academic journals. An example of an academic database is?Academic Journals Database. Some of the databases are outlined below.

3.1. DSpace

Dspace is a digital repository software platform with broad functionality for the capture, management, preservation and redistribution of digital scholarly research materials in a variety of formats, for a variety of purposes (Ravikumar, and Ramanan, 2014). Velmurugan, (2013) views Dspace as a digital repository system design to capture, store, index, preserve, and provide access to institutional digital research materials. Palmer, Teffeau, and Newton, (2008) argues that it is an out-of-the -box repository software package for creating open repositories focused on delivering digital content to end users, and providing a full set of tools for managing and preserving content within the application. Dspace, however, is an open source software designed to capture, manage, preserve and disseminate digital scholarly research material in all forms: Dspace captures, distributes and preserves digital research products.?Here you can find articles, working papers, preprints, technical reports, conference papers and data sets in various digital formats.?Content grows daily as new communities and collections are added to Dspace.

Dspace organizes contents into communities and collections. Collections contain items that are similar in some ways such as source, purpose, existing series or audience research topic, subject matter. Each collection has an approval process that includes combination of approval roles. Users choose a collection to submit items which could be conference presentation, research paper, an annotated series of images etc. We at Kashim Ibrahim Library archive three collections for now, these include theses and dissertation, seminar and conference papers (Lahcen, et al. 2015).?The Dspace Communities correspond to administrative entities such as schools, departments, labs and research centers.?Within each community there can be an unlimited number of sub communities and an unlimited number of collections. Each collection may contain an unlimited number of items. When an item is submitted to a collection, the system routes the submission through the approval process; which reviews the content to ensure that it is submitted to the appropriate collection, check the submission for completeness and errors and then check or augment the submission's metadata (Bass et al., 2002). All submitted and approval items enters the archive, which provides storage for the individual bit stream(s) associated with the submitted digital file. It provides users the capabilities to search, browse content of the Dspace and also capability to download authorized item. Dspace is designed to make submission easy and to provide long-term preservation of digital material stored in the repository. Lahcen, et al. (2015) looked at merits and demerits of Dspace at institution some of them are as follows

3.1.1. Advantages of Dspace?

Dspace has the largest community users and developers that provides frequent upgrades, it is completely customizable, it is effective for long term preservation of digital material, Friendly user interface and it possesses basic and advanced search capabilities, Supports all file formats.

3.1.2. Disadvantages of Dspace

Dspace installation and customization require enough technical skill, the authorization system is powerful but difficult and cumbersome to use.

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3.2.Web portals

Web portals are sites on the World Wide Web that typically provide personalized capabilities to their visitors. They are designed to use distributed applications; different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources (Patel, 2013). An example of web portal at Mzuzu university is a student portal. A student?portal?is a commonly used phrase to describe the?login?page where students can provide a username and password to gain access to an education organization’s programs and other learning related materials. Sometimes a student portal also refers to the entire student-facing part of a?learning management system (LMS). Hossain, and Yafooz (2017) said, a student who has enrolled in an online certification program, for example, may use a student portal to access online course materials that are hosted on the school’s servers, such as articles, lectures and videos. Student portals may be used to provide information about the school, course details, calendars, academic resources, and contact information. Some student portals may integrate with other systems to provide students with easy access to personal information, such as tracking financial aid disbursements and using campus medical services. Ang, et al. (2005) stated that, a student portal is usually part of a broader LMS that can also be used by parents and faculty members. This system is also usually built and managed in-house by the college/university, school district, or private educational institution. Students typically use their school-provided email address or student ID number to access the portal, and sometimes additional layers of authentication are required to verify the student’s identity.

3.2.1.?????Benefits of using a student portal

A student portal is essential in a digital-first education environment. As referenced above, it centralizes all school-related announcements, information, and resources. Students can keep up with assignments, course material, grades, and announcements from the same place, so It also enables students to take care of all school-related needs from a single location, which means students have fewer accounts to manage. This ultimately benefits campus-wide cybersecurity because it minimizes the opportunities for a malicious actor to intercept a student’s login credentials (Dias, 2001).

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references

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Hossain, M. A., & Yafooz, W. M. (2017). Review on Technological Innovation Enhances the Marketing Strategy.?International Journal of Contemporary Computer Research,?1(2), 33-39.

Patel, K. (2013). Incremental journey for World Wide Web: introduced with Web 1.0 to recent Web 5.0–a survey paper.?International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering,?3(10).

Lahcen, O., Mohamed, K., Mouna, E., Jawad, L., Hamid, C., & Aziz, E. (2015). An implementation of a twelve sectors direct torque control strategy of induction machine using DSPACE TMS320F2812.?Communication on Applied Electronics, Foundation of Computer Science,?3(1), 32-35.

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