From the Inside Out: Examining a Knowledge-Based Practice in Large Public Organizations

This article outlines a study into a specific knowledge-intensive practice (Web information architecture [IA] — the organizing and structuring of information on an organization's website) across a number of large public organizations. Using a practice as the unit of analysis it is found that the practice is fledgling, fragile, and lacks legitimacy and that a mindlessness of the practice exists. These new understandings of specific practice enable organizational members within and outside the practice to provide more supportive environments for the work. The article argues that attention to practices uncovers subtle, deeply held realities and knowledge that would otherwise remain obscured.