MEK: Using spatial–temporal information to improve social networks and knowledge dissemination

Most of the projects which envision knowledge dissemination create and use a unique knowledge base, where all items acquired are organized according to a simple classification. This kind of ‘centralized’ approach shows some inconsistencies in relation to many of the theories about the creation of knowledge and its dissemination. Due to them, distribution and sociability are essential characteristics for the creation and sharing of knowledge. This incoherence partially explains the reason which leads many users into abandoning this kind of system because they have to adapt themselves to a classification and a rigid structure to represent pieces of knowledge. On the other hand, a lot of tacit knowledge and interaction possibilities are lost in this centralized vision. So, based on the advantages of a distributed approach for knowledge dissemination and the improvement of interaction, we designed and constructed the Mobile Exchange of Knowledge (MEK). This approach involves, in a mobile way, the exchanging of knowledge among people who share the same interests. Some issues like ad-hoc networks, social networks, location prediction and distributed knowledge management are also related to the MEK concept. However, to verify how effective our idea is, we conducted an experiment in the geographical space of a university in Brazil where we analyzed the movements of students and also their interest and willingness to share knowledge items.