http://general.uj.ac.za/infosci/sajimtest/editorial.main.8nr2.a Editorial Vol.8(2) June 2006 A quick scan of the five articles published in this issue might convey that they are discussions on a conglomorate of different topics, with a few words such as knowledge, information, or knowledge management, binding them. But an in-depth investigation will reveal that they can all be taxonomized by only one word, namely sharing; that is, the sharing of information and the sharing of knowledge, irrespective of the format in which the sharing takes place. These information (and knowledge) products, as Elizabeth Orna calls them in her latest book Making knowledge visible (2005), are being looked at from different perspectives. A basic starting point is Katuu’s article, emphasising that effective sharing relies on authenticated electronic records (or archives as we used to call them!). He argues that the quest for ways of addressing the challenges of the authenticity and long-term preservation of electronic records has increasingly infiltrated the research agenda of not only archivists and historians but also scholars in computer science, engineering and other social scientists. Van der Walt and Du Toit’s contribution Developing an information model for an enterprise: a South African case study is spot on with regard to sharing: developing a model for the large (and probably small) enterprise to manage and share its information sources effectively. Read how to develop such a model: its discovery phase, analysis phase, design phase and the implementing phase. The importance of effective sharing of information to a closed interest group or community comes to the fore with Barnard and Rensleigh’s article entitled Investigating ICTs for information dissemination to alumni of the newly merged University of Johannesburg. The main objective of this research was to determine the extent to which Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could enable the Alumni Office of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to disseminate information effectively to its alumni stakeholders or, in other words, how to share information effectively among this group of people. The findings will assist this and other similar organizations to improve their alumni’s sharing of information and knowledge. The last two articles emphasise two prominent elements of knowledge sharing, namely the ethics of corporate knowledge sharing and the importance of knowledge flow. Slave or sibling: a moral reframing of the corporate knowledge sharing community is the interesting title of Du Plessis, Britz and Davel’s article. They argue that to capitalize on their knowledge pool, organizations should promote the sharing of knowledge, not only internally between employees but also externally between their employees and their customers, partners and shareholders. However, the authors stress that it is important that knowledge be shared in an ethical manner. The value of the article lies in its discussion on how to create an ethical atmosphere conducive to knowledge sharing as well as its extensive explanation of the various ethical challenges related to knowledge sharing within organizations. Information ethics is not a new territory, but it is seldom correlated with knowledge sharing.This article is an important contribution. Just as important is the article by Schutte and Snyman, Knowledge flow elements within a context that describes the research done for a model ‘which visualizes the knowledge flow elements within the context wherein knowledge flow takes place’. The proposed model is an attempt to isolate the most basic elements involved in knowledge flow, the relationships between them as well as the impact they have on each other. Pieter van Brakel Scientific Editor Disclaimer Articles published in SAJIM are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily Page 1 of 3 2011/02/15http://general.uj.ac.za/infosci/sajimtest/editorial.main.8nr2.asp?print=1 reflect the opinion of the Editor, Board, Publisher, Webmaster or the Rand Afrikaans University. The user hereby waives any claim he/she/they may have or acquire against the publisher, its suppliers, licensees and sub licensees and indemnifies all said persons from any claims, lawsuits, proceedings, costs, special, incidental, consequential or indirect damages, including damages for loss of profits, loss of business or downtime arising out of or relating to the user's use of the Website. Page 2 of 3 2011/02/15http://general.uj.ac.za/infosci/sajimtest/editorial.main.8nr2.asp?print=1 ISSN 1560-683X Published by InterWord Communications for Department of Information and Knowledge Management, University of Johannesburg Page 3 of 3 2011/02/15http://general.uj.ac.za/infosci/sajimtest/editorial.main.8nr2.asp?print=1