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Slide 1
Communities
mark.johnson@it.ox.ac.uk@marxjohnson
What is a Community?
"A collection of people or animals who interact in the same environment"
The people
What they are doing
Bacon, J. - Art of Community
What's motivating them
## What's a community?
* "It depends" * A broad definition is "A collection of people or animals who interact in the same environment" *Bacon, J. - Art of Community* * For a more specific definition we need to look at the skills and motivation of the community's members
Motivation Why form Communities?
A Sense of Belonging
Bacon
* We're sociable animals, we like the sense of belonging to a group
Social Capital
"good-will, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals"
Hanifan, L.J. - The Rural School Community Centre
What benefits do we get once social capital is accrued?Sharing ideas and experience
Self improvement
Complementing our own skills with the skills of others
Collaborating on a shared goal
* Building Social Capital - "good-will, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals" *Hanifan, L.J. - The Rural School Community Centre* * As a business builds capital for it's shareholders (money), so a community builds social capital for its members. * As social capital accures, it provides benefits for its members - once you get to know the members of your community and work with them, you can solve common problems together. * What benefits do we get once social capital is accrued? * Sharing ideas and experience * Self improvement * Complementing our own skills with the skills of others * Collaborating on a shared goal
Levels of Commitment
Different motivations will allow people different levels of commitment to a project
Casual User
Power User
Developer
Leader
Some examples of the roles in an OSS community:Casual user Wants to use the software, seeks support, seeks social interactionPower user As above, but also willing to help others, build reputationDeveloper Wants to add to the software, build reputation and experienceLeader Wants to be in charge, build reputation and experience, sense of power?
Varieties of Community
Communities of Interest
Communities of Practice
Communities of Circumstance
## Varieties of community
3 varieties
Lots of other terms have been coined, but most are just special cases of these 3 as we'll see
Communities of Interest
"A gathering of people assembled around a topic of common interest"
Henri, F. and Pudelko, P. - Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities
* Community of Interest * "A gathering of people assembled around a topic of common interest" Henri, F. and Pudelko, P. - Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities
Communities of Interest
Exchange information
Obtain answers to personal questions
Improve their understanding
Share common passions
* Exchange information * Obtain answers to personal questions * Improve their understanding * Share common passions* Individuals in a CoI aren't working together to achieve a goal, but are using their associations (gained through building social capital) to achieve their own goals
* Examples: * Discussion groups * Fan clubs * Book clubs
Communities of Practice
"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."
Wenger, E. - Communities of Practice, a brief introduction
Wenger
Domain
Practice
Community
"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." - Wenger, E. - Communities of Practice, a brief introduction * Simply having a practice in common doesn't constitute a community, the members must form relationships (building social capital) and then learn from one another. * A CoP can be identified by the Domain, the Community and the Pratice* Domain the area in which the expertise lies Survival, project management, IT administration* Community The people and the activities they undertake to build social capital* Practice Shared experience, tools, techniques. The body of shared knowledge that is built through the community's interactions
* Examples * Professional bodies * User Groups * Online gamers * Sports teams * Bands * A classroom?
Communities of Circumstance
Defined by the shared experience or situation of its members
Community of Place a special case the the circumstance isgeographic location, e.g. a neighbourhood.
Community of Position a special case where the circumstancerefers to position in wider society
* Community of Circumstance * Defined by a shared situation brought about by external factors * "Community of Place" - a CoC where the situation is geographical location * Examples: * LOST * Families * Neighbourhood * School tutor group
Activity
Look at and discuss the following online communities. Are they communities of Interest, Practice or Circumstance?
StackOverflow
Macmillan Cancer Support
Xbox Live
MumsNet
Communities
A successful Community of Interest may form sub-groupsGoal-Oriented Communities of InterestAka Communities of Action/Purpose
Communities of Practice
Communities of Circumstance
Henri & Pudelko
Sub-communities of different types may form, including CoP or GOCoI (project teams), CoC* GOCoI Henri & Pudelko* AKA "Community of Purpose" or "Community of Action"* A "project team" formed within a CoI to perform a task or a achieve a goal* e.g. A party organising committee* Communities of Circumstance may form for groups sharing a circumstance within the wider community* e.g. FLOSSIE Women within the Free & Open Source Software community
Diversity
Surface-Level Race, Gender, Age
Deep-Level - Skills and personalities
Graen, George B. - Dealing with Diversity
Important not to exclude based on surface level
Important to encourage deep-level diversity
* Different people have different things to offer * "Surface-level Diversity" - Race, gender, age, etc. *Graen, George B. - Dealing with Diversity* * "Deep-level diversity" Skills and personalities - you dont want a community of highly skilled people who wont talk to each other * Motivations * This is an important consideration when looking at the other topics we'll be discussing
Activity
Discuss in your group:What type of community is The TYPO3 Association?
What other communities exist within it, and what types are they?
Do any of these communities lack deep-level diversity?
Case Study Moodle
Moodle is a community of teachers, students developers, designers and testers with a shared interest in using and improving e-learning.
It is a Community of Interest.
Case Study Moodle
Within Moodle's Community of Interest, there are other communities:
General Support Forum (CoI)
General Developer Forum (CoP)
Teaching with Moodle Forum (CoP)
Development Teams (GOCoI)
MoodleMoot Organisers (GOCoI)
Local Support Groups (CoC)
Other Language Forums (CoC)
General Support Forum CoI People in various roles seeking and providing helpOther Language Forums CoC People discussing Moodle in another language their shared circumstance is their langaugeTeaching with Moodle Forum CoP A group of teachers working together to improve their teaching practiceLocal Support Groups CoP A sub-group of the community seeking support, defined by their geographical locationDevelopment Teams GOCoI - Groups of users, developers, designers, testers and managers working to fix and improve Moodle itselfGeneral Developer Forum CoP Developers helping each other get better at developing for MoodleMoodleMoot Organisers GOCoI Members of the community working together to organise conferences
Summary
We form communities to build social capital which allows us to achieve our goals collectivelyMembers of a community will have different motivations, and different levels of commitmentThere are different types of community a FOSS project should be a Community of Interest, not of PracticeEncouraging deep-level diversity will provide the community with varied personalities and skills
Questions? Discussion?
References:
Bacon, Jono. (2009). Art of Community O'Reilly
Hanifan, L. J. (1916). "The Rural School Community Center". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (67): 130138.
Henri, F. & Pudelko, B. (2003). "Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities" Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (19): 474-487
Wenger, E. (2006). "Communities of Practice A brief introduction" http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm
Graen, G. B. (2003) Dealing with Diversity IAP
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