New Agora

The word agora is an ancient Greek word referring to an open space in a city, typically at or near the town centre, which acted as a meeting place and community hub.

Later, the word acquired a commercial tinge, with most "agoras" also functioning as marketplaces.

As the world comes to grips with the consequences of shifting to a knowledge-based economy, we have seen new communities emerge, not only in terms of what their interests are, but how they function successfully as communities.

The discipline of Knowledge Management aims to help organisations solve problems, learn, and adapt through the intelligent harnessing of the power of the sub- and super-communities which are any organisation's lifeblood.

As the futility of attempting to enforce a single method of acting and communicating between actors in these communities becomes clear, the focus shifts towards harnessing community outcomes far more than individual efforts.

The agora, as a mix of structured and unstructured, and of social and commercial activity, thus becomes an appropriate icon for the new knowledge economy.