Tool Audition: Venuegen

Tool Audition on Prezi

Tool Audition: Venuegen

Community of Practice

Community of Practice on Prezi

Above is my representation of a Community of Practice.  I chose not to go about this the conventional way and observe a group of people, rather I felt that this was more interesting as it is what we deal with everyday...the Web.  At first I was going to only observe  people in WeSeed's forums, but I realized that many times people make references to external links and thought that would be of interest as well.  The learning in this case is implicit and therefore informal.  Expertise in this community is determined by experience, (i.e. in forums the the most knowledgeable are those who can share their thoughts from past events).  And people join in on these communities by forming a username and log-in information and visiting the sites to update their thoughts.  

The Internet is cool

In thinking about our next assignment about communities of practice, I find myself wandering over to all of the research articles that were provided for us at the beginning of the year.  One of which is, 'Why Virtual Worlds Can Matter' by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown.  The reason for my thought into this is because according to Thomas and Brown, the 'World Wide Web is what emerges out of the collection and interconnections among the sites that constitute it (1).'  Meaning that the cyber space many of us spend so much of our time on is actually a very powerful tool in not only sharing ideas, but building on them as well.  So arguably the Internet could be viewed as a Community of Practice, as it is a place where informal learning is taking place and people are a part of social collaboration, rather than just observers.

Some sites that could be valued as communities of practice are: Youtube and Vimeo.  Both are valid forms of learning because every user feeds off of one another in a way that doesn't happen easily within superficial learning environments.  Since they are engaging and fun, people habitually go to the sites and without even realizing, quickly absorb large amounts of information in just a few clicks.  This contributes to an online burst of discussion and therefore advancement in reciprocating ideas.  Another example of how social interaction using online tools is useful is how large companies utilize the voice of their employees to expand their product, and improve customer satisfaction.  Moreover, ideas such as the ones presented in the video link presented in the prior sentence create a community of practice because people interact with each other and do not even become cognizant of the amount of information they are learning from each other.  This then contributes not only to sales and improvement in their products, but to the overall happiness of their team, whose loyalty is undoubtedly the foundation of their success.  

Additionally, "the visual component of virtual worlds has redefined the landscape of online interaction from text and toward a more complex visual medium that provides a sense of place, space and physiological embodiment (2)."  So the use of avatars, like those found in games such as World of Warcraft further make the user a part of their learning experience, and expand knowledge in a way that was unfathomable in the past.  WoW in itself is a CoP as well since the ever growing amount of users on the platform engage in similar activities and have the opportunity to communicate informally with one another...So as I build up on my ideas  of what I will present as my chosen CoP, I will most likely be sticking with observing how the aforementioned tools aid in social collaboration and informal learning.