Slide 1
Communities
[email protected]@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
Reddit
Twitter
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
