Karl Nelson writes in his Information Management Weblog about Open Source Knowledge
A few years back a professor I had talked about the shelf-life of knowledge. His point was that informaiton goes stale quickly, especially in the technology world. There isn't much value in keeping it locked away. The value, in the information and knowledge space, is in sharing what you know.
This is a very familiar thought about how knowledge works -- or how people work with knowledge. People believe their knowledge is so critical and important, but hoarding it and not "socializing" it with others pretty well ensures that it will go stale. I need to write, talk and listen to what other people have to say.
I've learned, simply by being willing to jump into conversation with other interested parties - in blogs, in person and other forums.