"Let Me Know What You Know" ReachOut as a Model for a Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing Network

Abstract

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology has spread through the Web over the last few years through several incarnations, ranging from search for extraterrestrial intelligence to multimedia file sharing, or resource sharing in the general sense. Collaboration systems, expert finding systems and recommender systems are all examples of resource sharing tools where the basic resource is “knowledge,” yet they are not viewed as peer-to-peer due to their centralized architecture. We claim that the process of knowledge sharing in such systems is ofter P2P, regardless of their architecture. This chapter analyzes knowledge sharing and collaboration models through the prism of P2P technology. We propose a framework for determining when knowledge sharing systems follow a P2P model, review existing collaboration and knowledge sharing systems, and verify whether they qualify as P2P under the criteria we define. We then introduce our “Second-Degree Peer-to-Peer” model for knowledge sharing and illustrate it with ReachOut, a tool for peer support and community building developed at the IBM Haifa Research Lab.