Resumen
The present article reports on expert findings about collaborative virtual environments. While computer-supported collaborative virtual environments have been successfully applied to revolutionize distance learning, distributed design, and collaborative analysis and planning a fundamental challenge of these systems is establishing the right teams of individuals during interactive problem solving for consultation, coordination, or collaboration. Thus, Expert Finder and XperNet, two software programs that automatically profile topics of interest and expertise associated with employees based on employees tool use, publications, project roles, and written communication with others were created. In contrast to the query-based Expert Finder tool, XperNet focuses on finding expert communities of practice using clustering and network analysis techniques. Networks of individuals with related skills and interests are created by processing information about staff project information, publications, and personal web pages.