Homo machinus versus Homo sapiens: A knowledge management perspective of virtual communities in cyberspace

Abstract

Amidst debates on whether virtual communities can exist as a solution to technological developments, evidence suggests that knowledge creation and sharing are symptomatic of Home sapiens which may develop into idiosyncratic Homo machinus in cyberspace. According to Geyer (1996, 60), the communication revolution, backed up by accelerating technological development, has created a substructure for the emergence of virtual communities. Recent writings on virtual communities acknowledge Knowledge management as the most often used strategy to bring the human side into the equation. Enabled by online interactive communication technologies, this strategy allows virtual communities to create and share knowledge across the globe, thereby creating a global knowledge-based virtual reality in cyberspace. This article is essentially a theoretical discussion of virtual communities in cyberspace from a knowledge management perspective.