In reply to dave cormier.

I think it will have to be negotiated as we go. I deal with IP on a daily basis and it's interesting how some faculty own all their IP while employees own none of it. A pragmatic approach would be to let employees use open systems of their choosing, which the organization could then harvest so that there is co-ownership. This way the organization keeps the information for the long-term. As you know, publishers use this model quite often.

Other options could be blogs owned by the employees, while collaborative material such as wikis, are owned by the organization. In some ways, being transparent with the information is much easier than shutting down a departing employee's e-mail account while the new person just starts from scratch, something I am currently experiencing. This is why I set up the organization's first blog - to save some information in a publicly accessible forum.