Learning about communities of practice has caused me to wonder about all the different places I learn that may constitute as a community of practice. Yes, I’ve thought of the school environment I was involved with when growing up, the University classes I’ve taken over the years, and certain camps that I’ve attended during summers that undoubtedly fit into the category of a community of practice. Today, however, I spent some of my free time online where I am eager to continue learning. Does this constitute as a community of practice? Let’s see…

According to Erik Jacobson who wrote “Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators", there exist virtual communities of practice. He, as well as others (e.g. Dubé, Bourhis & Jacob, 2005; Murillo, 2006; Zarb, 2006; Hara & Hew, 2007; Murillo, 2008), agree that communication technologies (computer/internet) has allowed individuals around the world to collaborate and exchange information, and that despite not having a shared physical environment, the community is still based around “situated learning” in a “co-located setting” (Dubé, Bourhis & Jacob, 2005).

This idea has become so fascinating to some that there is current research being done on the subject by Gray, B. His research is titled “Informal Learning in an Online Community of Practice”, and he suggests that Online or Virtual communities of practice allow for the “enculturation of newcomers to a practitioners’ community”, which enables both “experienced and novice practitioners” to learn together and help shape personal identities of the members of the community.

This idea is also, unsurprisingly, fascinating to me. This fascination is catalyzed by the fact that I’m part of an online community called “Reddit” that I am so happy to have stumbled upon a couple years ago. With the help of this community, I have been able to expand my knowledge of just about everything, from politics to science to art and fitness. But does this truly constitute as a community of practice? In an attempt to figure that out, I will see if it fits the description of a “community of practice” by Wenger himself.

1.     Firstly, Wenger mentions that there must be a domain of interest. This cannot simply be a club of friends- it must have an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Subsequently, if you’re a member of that domain, you might distinguish yourself from other people, and value learning from other members of your domain. à This seems to fit well with the description of Reddit. People who are members of reddit identify so much with the community that they call themselves “redditors”, and distinguish themselves greatly from other similar websites such as 4chan and digg (it is very commonly brought up within conversation on the website). In fact, redditors will often be seen wearing t-shirts with the reddit logo on it (a happy-looking alien). I must admit, I’ve been seen with one myself.

Reddit logo

2.     Secondly, Wenger suggests that there must be a community involved where members engage in joint activities and discussions. Within this community, the members must interact and learn together in the pursuit of their shared interests. à This as well fits within the description of Reddit. Redditors are constantly engaging in conversations that foster a very good learning environment, often maintaining a great amount of respect (mostly) in doing so. Respect towards others is often emphasized during discussions; so much so, that a post will often be made as a reminder to be kind and respectful if that rule was to be broken. This is part of the reason why I still frequent and enjoy the website, as I greatly value the idea of being able to share different views and ideas knowing that other members will give you respect regardless of their differing views. In addition to sharing interests and learning through them, redditors often meet up outside of the virtual world to have real-life physical interactions, which further connects them on a different level (joint physical activities! Bonus!)

An actual screenshot of people making posts about being respectful towards others on Reddit

3. Finally, Wenger mentions the need for a practice within the community. The members of this practice must develop a shared repertoire of resources, which takes lots of shared interaction.  à On Reddit, there are many “sub-reddits” which consist of communities that are divided by specific interests. Take the “fitness” sub-reddit, for example, where redditors have a shared list of online resources linked specifically to learning about fitness. These websites are those that are recognized by the community as reliable and very useful.

Screenshot of a the "Fitness" sub-reddit

So, it’s pretty clear to me now that communities of practice can exist online if they are able to have a shared domain of interest, joint activities and discussions, and are able to practice within that community. If I’ve sparked the interest of anyone to join the Reddit community, check it out and see what you think  Perhaps I will even be able to learn from you outside the classroom as a result!!

References:

1. Dubé, L., Bourhis, A. & Jacob, R. (2005). The impact of structuring characteristics on the launching of virtual communities of practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(2): 145-166.

2. Hara, N. & Hew, K. H. (2007) Knowledge-sharing in an online community of health-care professionals. Information Technology & People, 20(3): 235-261.

3. Murillo, E. (2006). Searching for virtual communities of practice in the Usenet discussion network: combining quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory. PhD thesis. University of Bradford.

4. Murillo, E. (2008). Searching Usenet for virtual Communities of Practice: using mixed methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory. Information Research, 13(4) paper 386.

5. Zarb, M.P (2006). Modelling Participation in Virtual Communities-of-Practice. LSE MSc ADMIS Dissertation: Distinction, Accessed from http://lse.academia.edu.

My last blog focused on the fact that learning is considered social according to Wenger in his book Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. In class, we explored that idea by pondering what attributes or factors help us learn socially, and the idea that we must have brains "good" enough to participate in negotiation (as we are constantly negotiating meaning which aids us in learning) in order to participate in learning.

We also spoke about the fact that we need a stabilized environment in order to foster learning. This joint learning would thus be possible once we are able to screen out other insignificant "stuff" so that we can negotiate meaning. Once an environment is found appropriate, a community of practice can then begin their educational endeavours.

This reminded me specifically of the occupy wall street protests. These people inevitably formed a large community of practice, as ideas were shared and explored, and all at the same time, meanings were negotiated. What did it mean to be protesting with this group? What were the reasons for such a large gathering, with picket signs and voices screaming to be listened to (pardon the pun). During these protests, however, it became clear that those involved in the protest needed to create boundaries. The longer this community of practice existed, the more people came with very different views, which were impeding the protester's ability to effectively communicate about the reasons why the protests were occurring. The media was spewing information that made the protesters sound disorganized and unprofessional, giving many that were confused about what the meaning of these protests were to adopt the same view. It made me feel as though the media (and those watching it) became its on community of practice, creating a divergence in the beliefs of the society at large. But could the news (in all its forms) really be involved in a community of practice without the reporters/journalists being personally present in the information-sharing? This is a question I have yet to answer.

Something else I found difficult to answer was the idea that individuals with autism may participate in the negotiation of meaning, i.e learning. Having two cousins with autism, I knew very well that it was difficult to communicate with them through language, they simply do not seem interested. However, I am also very aware that as they have grown up, they have successfully learned many things, whether it be through school, or through therapy (eg: how to respond to social cues, how to behave in certain social situations, etc). Could they have learned socially despite their differences in their ability to perceive the world? Perhaps their "communities of practice" were simply different in make-up than a typical "community of practice". Perhaps, as well, the transmission of knowledge may be less fluid. Both of these factors create an environment for learning, despite the fact that those with autism may need someone who is exceptionally good at sharing knowledge and communicating with people using alternative methods. Maybe that's why people are born with differences in ability to learn socially, which subsequently creates balance/homoeostasis in our learning environments. After all, by teaching we learn, so those who help others negotiate meaning are also gaining from the experience as well.

Ok, so perhaps individuals with autism can in fact be involved in a community of practice. But what if they aren't able to learn with the help of a professional who is trained to teach those who need to learn in an alternative manner? Could those with autism learn by themselves?

This brought me right back to my question regarding whether or not a television could be involved in a community of practice. Other forms of knowledge transmission that do not involve the physical presence of a person- such as a book, film, or the radio- seemed to be key factors in some of the meanings I've negotiated over the last decade of my life. For example, I recently watched a documentary about quantum mechanics that really opened my eyes to new ideas. Though I wasn't able to have a conversation with the person making the documentary and thus was unable to negotiate meanings with another individual, I certainly did within my own mind- there's no question about that.

I can't wait to re-explore this idea in class again and see what others have to say about it. Perhaps my community of practice that makes up the Lifelong Learning class will allow me to better understand the idea of  what a community of practice can be consisted of, regardless of how many people are actually present within it.

Daniel Tammet- Autistic Savant

Oh, and for those who haven't had the opportunity to interact with someone with autism, here's a book I read written by someone of has a mild form of it (aspergers). Daniel Tammet can recite pi to the 22514th digit, and has learned icelandic (known to be the most difficult language to learn in the world) in one week. Clearly, he's still able to learn despite his "disability" (using the term very, very loosely).