Wikis as a Technology Fostering Knowledge Maturing: What We Can Learn from Wikipedia Simone Braun (FZI Research Center for Information Technologies Simone.Braun@fzi.de) Andreas Schmidt (FZI Research Center for Information Technologies Andreas.Schmidt@fzi.de) Abstract: The knowledge maturing theory opens an important macro perspective within the new paradigm of work-integrated learning. Especially wikis are interesting socio-technical systems to foster maturing activities by overcoming typical barriers. But so far, the theory has been mainly based on anecdotal evidence collected from various projects and observations. In this paper, we want to present the results of a qualitative and quantitative study of Wikipedia with respect to maturing phenomena, identifying instruments and measures indicating maturity. The findings, generalized to enterprise wikis, open the perspective on what promotes maturing on a method level and what can be used to spot maturing processes on a technology level. Keywords: wiki, knowledge maturing, work-integrated learning Categories: H.3.5, H.3.7, H.4.0, J.4 1 Introduction Current research approaches to supporting workplace learning have shifted their attention from provision of learning material towards supporting the active contribution of the learner and the collaboration with others. Working and learning are increasingly conceived as embedded into, interwoven with, and even indistinguishable from everyday work processes. On the one hand, learning support is increasingly seen as work performance support; on the other hand, collaborative activities are increasingly understood as collaborative learning activities. One important element of this new perspective is that individual learning processes are no longer seen as isolated one-way processes, but rather as interlinked with others and loosely coordinated by organizational goals. The theory of the knowledge maturing process (as introduced in [Schmidt 05]) provides a conceptual model for this interlinkage and the corresponding change in the quality of involved knowledge. The model uses the metaphor of maturing and is structured into several phases: from (1) emergence of ideas, via (2) distribution in community, (3) formalization up to (4) ad hoc training and (5) formal training. Along this process, the characteristics of knowledge change: implicit contextualization decreases, explicit linkage increases as well as hardness, legitimation, and teachability [Maier & Schmidt 07]. Furthermore, the theory identifies typical barriers in maturing, such as between Proceedings of I-KNOW ’07 Graz, Austria, September 5-7, 2007