Examining intersubjectivity in social knowledge artifacts

Thanks to the modern ICT, social knowledge creation and dissemination has reached new frontiers of ease, accessibility and velocity. This raises questions of quality and validity of knowledge created in open online knowledge communities. Multiple models of knowledge evaluation in open online communities have been proposed but a general conceptual framework is still lacking. We develop a concept of Social Knowledge Artifact (SKA) and integrate it with the notion of intersubjectivity in the social systems of knowledge creation and refinement. Further, we outline a conceptual model of SKA evaluation that combines the constructs of the artifact attainment, artifact controversy, author self-assessment and reviewer bias. Our future research entails development and empirical testing of the research model and proposing recommendations for the design of information systems to support social knowledge creation and refinement.