Aims and Scope

The Minnesota Symposium on Knowledge Management is aimed at fostering a collegium of scholars examining issues related to the use of information systems in knowledge management.  Though a considerable volume of research has focused on this topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, there are many unresolved issues, challenges, and opportunities for research.  Further, there have been few forums for the assembly of scholars interested in studying issues related to integration of information technologies and activities related to the creation, integration, management, sharing, transfer, and valuation of knowledge in organizations.  The motivation for the Minnesota Symposium is to provide a forum for researchers to share their perspectives, ideas, and research on knowledge management. 

The event will bring together IS researchers drawing on multiple disciplinary perspectives and adopting a variety of theoretical approaches to engage in a focused critique of prior research, share perspectives about future research, and encourage collaborations.  The conference will comprise presentations and discussions around peer-reviewed submissions as well as invited presentations by thought leaders. 

The conference will provide authors the opportunity to further shape their work for submission to a special issue of the MIS Quarterly on Knowledge Management to be announced shortly.  The theme of the special issue will be aligned with the theme of the workshop, though it will have an independent editorial board and reviewing process. 

Topics at the Symposium

The symposium invites design, technical, managerial, behavioral, organizational, and economic perspectives on knowledge management.  The topics in the workshop will include (but will not be restricted to) the following:

• Phenomenological approaches to Knowledge and Expertise
• Acquisition, storage and transfer of knowledge
• Design of knowledge management systems
• Technical challenges and solutions in the capture, storage, retrieval, and use of knowledge
• Organizing for knowledge management
• Intra and interorganizational processes for effective leverage of knowledge
• Cultures, networks, relationships to promote knowledge sharing
• Interorganizational knowledge sharing and leverage
• Communities of interest and networks of practice for KM
• Role of information technologies in knowledge management
• Knowledge reuse in organizations
• Organizational and Economic incentive structures for knowledge sharing and use
• Valuation metrics and approaches for knowledge management systems
• Economics of investment in knowledge management systems
• Pricing, bundling, and versioning of knowledge goods
• Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital
• Methodological approaches to study KM
• Information Systems Architectures to support KM

Papers can be conceptual expositions or empirical examinations of knowledge management phenomena and draw on one or more theoretical perspectives. 

Submission

Authors are invited to submit conceptual or empirical papers representing original contributions in the areas of knowledge management.  Submitted manuscripts should be about 4000 words in length including tables and figures. Full-length papers are not required in the case of theory building or conceptually oriented submissions.  However, submissions must contain a sufficient description of the phenomenon, theoretical or conceptual perspective, and intended contributions for reviewers to assess the merit and potential of the submission.  Further, authors must clearly articulate how their work contributes to the intended goals of the symposium. 

Submissions must be emailed to Mani Subramani (msubramani@csom.umn.edu).

Documents in standard word processing formats are preferred.

Important Dates

November 15 2002:   Deadline for submission of Papers

February 1:                 Acceptance notification

Conference dates:      March 14-15, 2003

Event Location

The event will be held at the Carlson School of Management, 321, 13th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455.