Peer-to-Peer Fueling Community-Based Knowledge Management

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks comprise structures of autonomous, egalitarian nodes which collaboratively share resources without relying on central coordination mecha-nisms. Traditional networks store data and information on centralized servers, whereas computers in P2P networks act simultaneously as clients and servers: by minimizing server workload, overall performance is maximized [6]. Initiated by the hype surround-ing the file sharing application Napster, the P2P paradigm has attracted increasing atten-tion from IS researchers. Nevertheless, the underlying concepts and promises yet remain ill-defined and unrealized.[...]