Selection framework for special children community knowledge sharing tool

Abstract

The term Special Children (SC) is viewed as children who have learning difficulties that make it harder for them to learn or access education as compared to most children of their age. SC community consists of groups of people or organizations who share the same passion for anything related to SC. The community is seeking knowledge on ways to improve the abilities of the SC children. Knowledge Sharing- Tools (KS-Tools) have been identified as a medium for sharing and acquiring knowledge that could improve the ability of SC through regular interaction among members of the SC community. Web-based KS-Tools such as blogs, social network, instant messaging and others provide users with unlimited access in terms of time and space for the purpose of knowledge sharing. However, it was found that there is no framework that is capable of identifying appropriate KS-Tools for SC community to guide portal developers or practitioners. Thus, the main objective of this study is to develop a KS-Tools Selection Framework (KSTSF) for SC community. The proposed framework would systematically select suitable web-based KS-Tools for SC community. The framework was developed based on a knowledge audit analysis and KS-Tools capabilities. Data was collected through survey, interviews and document analysis among SC community in the Southern Region of Malaysia. A KSTSF-Tool was then developed and 10 KS-Tools were selected as appropriate tools for the SC community. Based on the 10 tools, a prototype of “Portal Perkongsian Pengetahuan Komuniti Kanak-kanak Istimiewa (3P3KI)” was developed to demonstrate the practicality of the framework. The framework was also verified by portal developers through KSTSF-Tool. The framework provides portal developers and knowledge management practitioners a systematic process for selecting KS-Tools appropriate for use by this SC community. Hence, it has been proven the KSTF-Tool has the capability to automatically select the most appropriate tools needed to be part of the 3P3KI portal.