Argumentation and Knowledge-Sharing

Abstract

This paper discusses the conceptual basis for a social-technical system aimed at assisting geographically separate companies to use the Internet to achieve the economic benefits of clustering. The knowledge sharing literature, and the evolutionary economics literature, is used to focus on tacit knowledge sharing and learning through verbal interaction. The first section looks at the evidence for “structured talk,” which includes the role of argumentation systems on research, problem solving, communication and decision-making. The chapter goes on to argue that rural regions have the core competencies needed to cluster but not the interaction. Ensuring appropriate arguments between appropriate people may provide a policy around which to design Internet conferencing infrastructure aimed at enabling the benefits of clustering.