Knowledge Transfer: Revisiting Video

Knowledge transfer has been an important issue for organizational knowledge management programs. This article reviews the plethora of user-generated video activity and the issues it creates for knowledge management activities. Video’s media richness combined with its ability to convey rich narratives can facilitate sensemaking and learning. However, structure and culture are important factors that must be considered in story telling activities to increase the opportunity for effective sensemaking and message retention. Evidence and arguments are presented that should motivate organizations and academics to review video generation activities both internal and external to the organization. Issues concerning video content delivery, liability, spam, and search engine capabilities are discussed. Opportunities for new research inquiries are identified. IntroductIon The knowledge sharing landscape has changed with the advent of widespread video creation and sharing by individuals. Organizational employees and customers are far less versed in video development, content management, presentation techniques, and liability issues than the professionals who develop videos for firms. This article examines the user-generated video phenomena and its implications for organizations and their knowledge management activities. It provides a comprehensive overview of videorelated issues by examining the role of video in knowledge transfer activities, the importance of video’s richness to tacit knowledge sharing, the need to consider storytelling techniques and structure when creating videos for tacit knowledge sharing, and the importance of culture in sensemaking activities. Video search capabilities and potential content liability issues are also examined. The article concludes by identifying