The intellectual origins of knowledge ecology include:

• Bootstrap strategy (Engelbart)
• Business as complex system (Stacey, Wheatley & Kellner-Rogers)
• Community of practice (Seely Brown, Wenger)
• Computer Supported Collaborative Work (Cashman & Greif)
• Conversation as core business process (Brown & Isaacs, Weber)
• Information ecology (Davenport & Prusak)
• Intellectual capital (Edvinsson, Stewart, Sveiby)
• Organizational intelligence (McMaster)
• Organizational epistemology (Krogh & Ross)
• Knowledge networking (National Science Foundation)
• Organizational learning (D. Michael, Argyris, Senge)
• Virtual teaming (Lipnack & Stamps)

Other disciplines feeding into "knowledge ecology" include:

• Cognitive sciences
• Coordination technologies (Malone, Flores & Winograd)
• Ecology studies
• Generative learning communities (Veltrop)
• Hypertext (Engelbart, Nelson)
• Hypertext organization (Nonaka & Takeuchi)
• Information design and architecting (Tufte)
• Memetics (Dawkins, Brodie)
• Mental modeling (de Geus)
• Noosphere (de Chardin)
• Sociology of Knowledge
• Storytelling (Schenk)
• Systems thinking (Senge)