Virtual community of practice

An online community of practice (OCoP), also known as a virtual community of practice (VCoP), is a community of practice (CoP) that is developed and maintained on the Internet. OCoPs include active members who are practitioners, or "experts," in the specific domain of interest. Members participate in a process of collective learning within their domain.[1] Community social structures are created to assist in knowledge creation and sharing, which is negotiated within an appropriate context. Community members learn through both instruction-based learning and group discourse. Finally, multiple dimensions facilitate the long-term management of support and the ability for synchronous interactions.[2]

To some, a VCoP is a misnomer because the original concept of a CoP was based around situated learning in a co-located setting. With increasing globalization and the growth of the Internet, many now claim that virtual CoPs exist.[3][4][5][6] For example, some[7] claim that a wiki (such as Wikipedia) is a virtual CoP,[8] whereas others argue that the essence of a community is place-based – a community of place.

There is also debate on the term VCoP because the form of communication is largely computer-mediated. Few believe that a community of practice may be formed without face-to-face meetings, with many leading CoP researchers stressing the importance of in-person meetings. However, some researchers argue that a VCoP's high use of community technology changes some of its characteristics and introduces new complexities and ambiguities, thus justifying the term VCoP and its area of study.[4]

Other similar terms include: online,[9] computer-mediated,[10] electronic[11] and distributed.[12][13][14] As the mode of communication can involve face-to-face, telephone and letter, and the defining feature is its distributed nature. Virtual Learning Communities (VLCs) are distinct from Distributed Communities of Practice (DCoP).[15]

Research suggests that increases in the sharing of tacit knowledge, which occurs within communities of practice, may take place in VCoPs, albeit to a lesser degree.[4]

  1. ^ Wenger, E. (2007). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved October 5th, 2010, from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
  2. ^ Wenger, E. (2001). Supporting communities of practice: A survey of community-oriented technologies. Retrieved October 30, 2001 from http://www.ewenger.com/tech Archived 2013-05-26 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Dubé, Line; Bourhis, Anne; Jacob, Réal (2005). "The Impact of Structuring Characteristics on the Launching of Virtual Communities of Practice". Journal of Organizational Change Management. 18 (2): 145–166. doi:10.1108/09534810510589570. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Emerald.
  4. ^ a b c Zarb, M.P. (2006). "Modelling Participation in Virtual Communities-of-Practice". LSR MSC ADMIS Dissertation: Distinction.
  5. ^ Hara, Noriko; Foon Hew, Khe (2007). "Knowledge-Sharing in an Online Community of Health-Care Professionals". Information Technology & People. 20 (3): 235–261. doi:10.1108/09593840710822859. hdl:2022/14344 – via Emerald.
  6. ^ Murillo, Enrique (2008). "Searching Usenet for Virtual Communities of Practice: Using Mixed Methods to Identify the Constructs of Wenger's Theory" (PDF). Information Research: An International Electronic Journal. 13 (4). Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  7. ^ The Adult Literacy Education Wiki as a Virtual Community of Practice E. Jacobson in C. Kimble and P. Hildreth (eds). Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators. Charlotte NC, Information Age Publishing (2008)
  8. ^ Bryant, Susan; Forte, Andrea; Bruckman, Amy (November 6–9, 2005). "Becoming Wikipedian: Transformation of Participation in a Collaborative Online Encyclopedia" (PDF). Proceedings of the 2005 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work: 1–10.
  9. ^ Cothrel, Joseph; Williams, Ruth L. (1999). "On-line communities: helping them form and grow" (PDF). Journal of Knowledge. 3 (1): 54–60. doi:10.1108/13673279910259394. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  10. ^ Etzioni, Amitai; Etzioni, Oren (1999). "Face-to-face and Computer-Mediated Communities, a Comparative Analysis". The Information Society. 15 (4): 241–248. doi:10.1080/019722499128402 – via Taylor & Francis.
  11. ^ Wasko, M. McLure; Faraj, Samer (2000). ""It is what one does": why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice". The Journal of Strategic Information Systems. 9 (2–3): 155–173. doi:10.1016/s0963-8687(00)00045-7.
  12. ^ Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice. Hildreth, Kimble & Wright,in Terry Bynum, Simon Rogerson and Jeroen van den Hoven (eds), Proceedings of Ethicomp’98, (March 1998), Rotterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 275 - 286, (1998)
  13. ^ Wenger, Etienne; McDermott, Richard Arnold; Snyder, William (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Harvard Business School Publishing. ISBN 9781578513307.
  14. ^ Chris Kimble; Paul Hildreth (August 2005). "Dualities, distributed communities of practice and knowledge management". Journal of Knowledge Management. 9 (4): 102–113. doi:10.1108/13673270510610369. ISSN 1367-3270. Wikidata Q56455972.
  15. ^ Couros, Alec (December 2003). "Communities of Practice: A Literature Review" (PDF). Unpublished. Retrieved 2024-10-09.