How to improve online peer knowledge exchange in a heterogeneous and globally organized development network using a web 2.0 approach

Web 2.0 tools and the concept of user generated content have proven to be useful in order to enable peer knowledge exchange. In the professional environments of enterprises, these concepts and tools have been successfully adapted and tacit knowledge of employees has been transformed into explicit knowledge in knowledge databases. However, in the context of development and the global south, the topic web 2.0 has not yet reached its full potential to enable the members of globally organized and very heterogeneous development networks to share their knowledge and experience as they do in face-to-face meetings. This study focuses on identifying influencing factors that impact the quality and quantity of knowledge sharing in such a network. The research was carried out in context of the Agriculture and Food Security (A+FS) Network of the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation (SDC). With an exploratory design research approach and based on a preliminary analysis of the communication patterns inside the network, two interventions have been implemented and evaluated. The first intervention was the creation of a collaborative newsletter with articles from members for members. The second intervention consisted of building a thematically focused community of practice with an online discussion forum, called subgroup.The reactions on the collaborative newsletter has been thoroughly positive and caused a high response rate and many topic proposals coming from members of the network. The recipients have reported an increase in the relevance of the newsletter because of the articles that have been committed by the other members. The high motivation of the members in order to contribute articles was built on factors like reputation and has led to an increase in the quantity and quality of knowledge exchange. With the subgroup, a demand of the network to focus on topics with more practical relevance has been answered. The members of the subgroup reported an increase in relevance by the thematic focus. The moderators of the subgroup managed to motivate the other members to contribute by leading them towards active online discussions. Compared to the previous communication behaviours, the quantity and the quality of shared knowledge has increased.