Keynote paper: measuring the value of online communities, leading to innovation and learning

Knowledge management is an emerging area for industry and government. Knowledge management deals with how best to leverage knowledge internally and externally. One of the key components of most knowledge management strategies is to use online communities. These web-based communities should lead to a strong sense of belonging, improved people-to-people connections and, ultimately, innovation and learning. An important question that surfaces at some point in the life of these online communities is how to measure their value to the organisation. This paper will address the work in this area and will suggest a methodology to follow.