NIKE: A National Infrastructure for Knowledge Exchange

Context: A widely circulated white paper proposing a web- and market-based infrastructure for collaborative, knowledge-based learning and work.

Abstract: This white paper advocates the development of National Information Infrastructure (NII) technologies to support lifelong learning. The immediate, predictable impact would be to overcome existing inefficiencies in the development and delivery of learning materials. An on-line marketplace will create powerful incentives to develop new materials and provide efficient means for their widespread distribution. Advanced authoring tools will allow millions of educators, students, and specialists to contribute to a growing body of learning materials.

The longer term opportunity is to integrate technologies for network-based learning and collaboration into the work environment. Knowledge workers would apply the same skills and tools used in learning — for finding, organizing, and sharing knowledge on the network — to get the job done. They would collaborate in virtual teams and organizations that cut across temporal, geographical, and institutional boundaries. They would contribute to organizational memories that preserve valuable expertise and experience when employees move on. The new way of learning, exploiting the potential of a National Information Infrastructure, will prepare a generation for a new way of working.