Here’s a thoughtful post comparing communities of practice to networks of weblogs, apparently distilled from a discussion group at the Blogwalk conference. The short summary:
- Weblogs are more respectful of their authors and of their audience
- Weblogs are better connecting tools
- Communities are better social structures for problem-solving, knowledge stewarding and innovation
- Communities of practice are better social structures for learning
- Blogger networks generate communities of practice
- Communities of Practice can use weblogs to communicate with the outside world
The last two point hints at a basic weakness in this otherwise illuminating piece; namely, that weblogs and communities of practices are apples and oranges. A weblog (or really, a network of weblogs, which is what the author really means) is a technological platform for dialogue with certain specific affordances. A community of practice, as defined by the author, is a social structure that is independent of platform. A more apples-to-apples question might have been, “What kind of affordances for dialogue do weblog communities have in comparison with the affordances typically sought after by communities of practice?” Another interesting question might be, “How do weblogs compare to discussion boards or listservs as vehicles for communities of practice.” But because the author (and, presumably the group whose discussion he is summarizing) partially conflate the technology base with the social structure, they miss out on other interesting questions, e.g., “How well does a network of weblogs work as a facilitating platform within a community of practice?”
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of good stuff in the post. Definitely worth reading.
Michael Feldstein is the founder of e-Literate who currently works as the Senior Program Manager for MindTap at Cengage Learning. For more information, see his profile page.
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