The information context of the modern organization is rapidly evolving in the face of intense global competition. Information technologies, including databases, new telecommunications systems, and software for synthesizing information, make a vast array of information available to an ever expanding number of organizational members. Management's exclusive control over knowledge is steadily declining, in part because of the downsizing of organizations and the decline of the number of layers in an organizational hierarchy. These trends, as well as issues surrounding the Web 2.0 and social networking, mean that it is increasingly important that we understand how informal knowledge networks impact the generation, capturing, storing, dissemination, and app...