ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE

Countering claims that cyberspace will bring the end of organizations in general and of the firm in particular, this article points to the r ole organizations play in fostering the production and synergistic dev elopment of knowledge. Formal organizations help turn the partial, sit uated insights of individuals and communities into robust, organizatio nal knowledge. To organize knowledge in this way requires acknowledgin g the boundaries inevitably erected within organizations through the d ivision of labor and the division of knowledge. Infrastructure for org anizing knowledge must overcome these boundaries. Assuming that knowle dge is a frictionless commodity possessed by individuals makes communi cations technologies and social organization curious antagonists. This article argues instead for compatible organizational and technologica l architectures that respond to and enhance the social production of k nowledge.