Open source as a knowledge management instrument

Abstract

Knowledge management typically focuses on communicating and spreading information and knowledge within a company. It is usually limited to technology or business information in spoken or written form. The representatives often overlook, however, that the code of software programs is also a perfect medium for denoting and communicating knowledge. In this paper, we want to show the benefits and problems that are related to a free exchange of code within a corporation. Applying experiences and best practices of the public open source software community to corporate communities leads to several preconditions that are essential for the success of this approach. Even a substantial change of the company's culture may be connected with the introduction of corporate open source.