Back in June 2006, in support of the SSN Program, we kicked off a research collaboration with the Universities of Boras and Southern California.  We had over 30 countries around the world that were engaging with us on the program, and there were many questions on the issue of what sorts of things need to be considered to build a successful online community.

I am delighted to announce that the product of this research has now been released and can be downloaded from the attachment section of this blog entry below.  I have included a portion of the abstract here for your reference.

A key conclusion is that the bulk of efforts toward creating successful knowledge management communities focus on less technical, or softer aspects like leadership, culture, social settings and value of participation. However, these are essential, but not sufficient, ingredients for success. Technical issues, issues regarding development and customization of the tools used to facilitate knowledge management (for example, the SSN web portal), and emerging legal issues surrounding the sharing of intellectual property may be perceived as somewhat less important to the participants, but are nevertheless key factors in the long term success of these communities.

It is also concluded that the foundation for successful collaboration is primarily laid in the initial phases of community development. A community must make a positive impression on its participants from the very beginning because most people won’t give it a second chance. In this report we have highlighted three important areas to consider when establishing portals for knowledge management: Leadership, Purpose and Process/Infrastructure.

 Based on demand and available resources, we may do some more empirical research on this topic...let us know if this would be useful!