Plenary session: enabling communities of knowledge workers

The MITRE corporation is a geographically distributed company of knowledge workers working on projects either related by the same customer or by the problems and technologies being addressed. MITRE recognized early on the power of information technology to enhance the effectiveness of each of its staff with knowledge sharing tools. Early deployment of an intranet with novel functions has promoted information sharing among the staff, enabling each staff member to effectively leverage the knowledge of the entire company. Specific examples, storage structures, information spaces, search mechanisms and policy issues that have promoted sharing have revealed many lessons for enabling the knowledge worker.