Limitations of knowledge sharing in academia. A case from Nigeria

Abstract

Academics in Africa are increasingly embracing the Internet as a tool to support their work because of its potential to provide, manage and store information. This contributes to the development potential of the continent. The continuous emergence of new applications has given academics more opportunities to improve productivity through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Research shows however that these new applications are not popular among African academics. In this study, academics in the southwestern part of Nigeria were asked how and why they utilized Internet services such as email, search engines, messaging, blogs, videoconferencing, online communities, mailing lists, and online databases. The results indicate that academics do use the Internet towards their research activities, but knowledge sharing and collaboration activities are neglected.