Wichita State University's Applied Technology Acceleration Institute (ATAI) is launching a new Center for Social Knowledge, which will be co-led by iTalent Corp., an award-winning technology consulting and systems integration company known for its best practice implementations of social knowledge in Fortune 100 companies.

Faculty, staff, students and the general public are invited to attend the public launch of the Center for Social Knowledge at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the Don Beggs Hall lobby at Wichita State. The launch ceremony will include an announcement of the technology platform chosen to allow WSU to take full advantage of the benefits of social knowledge management.

Social knowledge involves tapping into communities and subject matter experts, moving away from the traditional knowledge-in-storage model of accumulating information in knowledge bases.

“The ATAI team is excited to partner with iTalent and other technology platform providers to deliver a game-changing solution for colleges and universities, starting with WSU and leading the way for higher education to collaborate internally and across external stakeholder communities,” said Ken Russell, ATAI executive director.

Multiple benefits

The mission of the Center for Social Knowledge is to introduce best practices in the area of enterprise social capabilities (leveraging social media tools and technologies to increase efficiency, produce knowledge experts more quickly and help transform organizations more successfully) that can benefit not only WSU and the entire Kansas area, but also be recognized nationally and internationally. ATAI’s many partners across Kansas and the nation will benefit from the social center of excellence.

As a first step, iTalent will partner with ATAI to lead WSU’s own implementation of social knowledge (a new road for knowledge and information sharing across the enterprise space) on campus, employing WSU students to assist with the implementation. ATAI promotes a practical approach to solving complex technology problems. This initiative will give WSU students an opportunity to participate in some of the latest trends in this space and help prepare them for new jobs emerging in the social knowledge and collaboration technology sector.

“We at iTalent are extremely excited to be working with ATAI, and students, to deliver cutting-edge social solutions that will dramatically enhance the student and partner collaborative experience at WSU, which in turn will be available to be shared within the community at large,” said Renee La Londe, CEO of iTalent.