Social Web: Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Knowledge Communities - Community-Built Databases: Research and Development - page 15

descriptions. As a result, unless an exact keyword is used, search results may not
include all the information contained in an online repository. This could also be a
significant inherent challenge faced by online communities that span a large
geographical boundary (e.g., across countries and continents) and whose members
come from a wide variety of backgrounds and walks of life. Recent developments
of folksonomy systems such as del.icio.us have been used as a way to alleviate this
issue facing online information retrieval [ 29 , 30 ].

1.6.2 Intellectual Property

Social media has resulted in an explosive growth of user-generated content which
presents significant legal challenges [ 31 ]. Content sharing sites are increasingly
impacting on the business models of traditional content creators. Postings of copy-
righted works ranging from photographs and small clips to the entire copy of
literary works have become a common occurrence. A chapter or an excerpt from
a book posted on a research, health, or any other site is a simple example of this
issue. Many social media companies have failed to effectively control copyrighted
content on their sites by simply binding their users to be liable for their own actions
as part of their terms of use when signing on. Copyright laws differ from country to
country, whereas many of the content sharing websites cross several cultures,
nations, and geographic regions. Understanding the law applicable to a particular
action is becoming a major challenge for several users. On the other hand, compa-
nies rely heavily on specific legislations based on their country of origin, and they
tend to adopt a reactive, rather than a proactive approach to addressing copyright
infringements in other locations.
In organizational knowledge communities, user-generated content - a key fea-
ture of Web 2.0 technologies - is also likely to cause information leakage [ 32 ]. The
use of social media sites may potentially lead to accidental or deliberate displays of
private company information as users utilize the various tools and features available
on the sites. In addition to safety measures related to personal information, profes-
sional networking sites should promote the importance of social media policies for
organizations.

1.6.3 Information Accuracy

Web 2.0 systems can create a platform where end users contribute content and
collaborate further on the social networks. In general, when the content is generated
by the community at large, the accuracy of information is often challenged. Even
with the most well-known initiatives such as Wikipedia, this concern is often
expressed. Although, at any one point in time, the information on Wikipedia may
be questioned for its accuracy, there is a general tendency for information to be