Jun
9
With much of the focus on Twitter recently I think it is important not to lose sight of some of the less instant but hugely valuable thinking behind ‘communities of practice’. If Twitter is the ‘fast running and shallow’ these communities are at the other end of the spectrum - they develop slow… but deep.
Communities of Practice (CoP) are typically described as “a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and… deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” This stuff is vital for anyone who is interested in working out the puzzle of how we can harness the latent knowledge and creativity of our organisations. ‘Cultivating Communities of Practice’ is a manager’s version of the academic predecessor from Etienne Wenger. Probably the best read available for those keen to know the deep magic and success factors of social communities of practice. I consider it a must for those involved in digital engagement.
Strangely, even though written at the turn of the millennium with the Internet revolution in full swing - albeit pre-Web 2.0 - it does not include nor case study online social networks or virtual communities. Luckily Wenger’s attention has since turned to online social systems and together with Nancy White (who really does get the difference between the new 2.0 communities and the old ‘gated’ style) is about to launch ‘Digital Habitats‘.
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