Facilitating
Communities
of Practice
in the
Network Era
Nancy White
Full Circle Associates
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/33556189/in/set-72157594373420115/
Note to Slide Viewers:
This set of slides contains both
the slides we used at our May
17th, 2010 workshop, along with
some other slides you may find
useful. But we sure didn't talk
about them!
Nancy
Let’s build some “mud maps”
(from Shawn Callahan – Anecdote.com))
A Community of Practice
Perspective
#1
People Forms
(me, we, network)
Go
Solo?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecstaticist/2918198742/in/set-72157603453505459/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swissrolli/2167756791/
Pairs, triads and very small groups –
Fly with the flock?
Research teams...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swissrolli/2167756791/
South Africa's
community nest spider
http://www.south-african-game-reserves.com/arachnidpics/comnestspid.htm
Roam the network?
Networked Individualism
Barry Wellman
Personal
identity,
interest &
trajectory
Me: the Individual
We: Communities
Boundaryless; fuzzy,
intersecting interests,
object centered
sociality (Engeström)
Bounded
membership;
group identity,
shared interest,
human centered
Many: Networks
Consciousness,
confidence level,
risk tolerance,
styles, emotionC
Me: the Individual
We: Communities
Flows around blocks,
less cohesion,
distributed power/trust,
change
Distinct power/trust
dynamics, shared
forward movement or
strong blocking, stasis,
attention to
maintenance, language
Many: Networks
Blogs, email,
research
portfolios, RSS
readers, the
Brain…
Me: the Individual
We: Communities
Facebook,
Twitter,
YouTube,
Wikipedia,etc…
Forums, wikis,
group blogs, content
mgmt systems,
LMS, platforms…
Many: Networks
purpose exercise
• PURPOSE!
What is the purpose of your
community/group?
• Community Checklist
http://onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com/Online+Community+Planning+Checklist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsevilla/189528500/in/set-1368427/
• …being a leader
means providing a
space for other
people to find the
truth about
themselves. The
leader is the person
who creates the
space, or the
opportunity, where
some truth can shine
forth and where the
people who inhabit
the space can find
themselves at the
deepest level.
Fred Kofman
Rule of Thumb: Make way for teenaged elephants!
enable people to…
• discover & appropriate useful
technology
• be in and use communities
& networks (people)
• express their identity
• find and create content
• usefully participate
facilitators
community leaders
technology stewards
network weavers
Independent thinkers
Thanks!
http://bit.ly/csp5uZ
Nancy White
nancyw@fullcirc.com
http://www.fullcirc.com
Online Facilitation
(STUFF we DID NOT USE but
which you might find useful...)
Facilitating Online
Interaction:
What’s It All About,
Anyway?
Nancy White, Full Circle
Associates
cc 2007
2.
Online Communications
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
Bumblebee time...
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
tortise time...
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
3.
Learning
Together
"To receive
everything, one
must open one's
hands and give”
Taisen
Deshimaru
http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-tal/179390341/
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
4.
Facilitation
• Me: Identity/Reputation
/Presence
• Us: Relationship
• Benefit: Process
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
From: http://oubs.open.ac.uk/emoderating/fivestep.htm Gilly Salmon
Identity/Presence
Benefit
Process
Relationship
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
Convening
Conversations
•
•
•
•
Invite
Focus
Questions
Control  
emergence
• Feed
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
5.
Intercultural
Antennae
…including professional
culture
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
6.
Tolerance
for
AmBiguitY
Move forward
without certainty
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
7. Bridge
& Connect
• Multimembership
• Connectors
• Networkers
• Multiple
perspectives
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
ODI:
6 Network
Functions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Filters
Amplifyers
Convenors
Facilitators
Investors
Community
builders
http://www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Projects/PPA0103/Functions.html
8. Technical
Skills
•
•
•
•
Know enough
Be curious
Experiment
Have friends
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
Finally…1. Self-Awareness
Nancy White, Full Circle Associates, cc 2007
A Systems View of Community
Facilitation
(STUFF WE DID NOT USE)
1. Work with the whole
system
Source: Keith McCandless
http://socialinvention.net
Who needs to be “in the
room” to make this happen?
Catalysts and connectors
From David Wilcox
2. Identify and build on
assets.
http://www.plexusinstitute.org/complexity/index.cfm?id=3
3. Engage the
system in the
learning
We learn
from each
other.
We learn
when we
“do.”
Participation Practices
• Open Space
(http://www.openspaceworld.org)
• World Café
(http://www.theworldcafe.org)
• Positive Deviance
• Storytelling
• …and many,
many more
Keep
it
simple







Keep technology simple, relevant, and local
Build on what is there and being used
Involve users in the design
Strengthen capacity
Introduce greater monitoring & evaluation, especially
participatory approaches.
Include communication strategies.
Research and share learning about what works, and
what fails.
http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.84.html
4. Find where
we can do the
most as
leaders.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsevilla/189528500/in/set-1368427/
Do we….
–let it happen?
–help it happen?
–make it happen?
What are some “mud maps” we can think
about today? What conditions might we
create for these learning patterns and
relationships?
Background Stuff on
Communities of Practice
WHICH WE DID NOT USE
A Communities
of Practice
Lens:
What can it
show us?
Nancy White
Full Circle
Associates
A Community of Practice
Perspective
Distributed CoPs:
Benefits?
Bullish?
• Potential for
diversity
• Border/boundary
spanning
• Multi-modal
• Accumulate Artifacts
• Complex
Challenges
• Diffuse
attention
• Diverse
intention
• Fuzzier identity
• Invisible
boundaries
• Lurking
What is a CoP? Why care?
• “CoPs develop around things that matter to people….
The difference between a CoP and a team is that the
shared learning and interest of its members are what
keeps it together. It is defined by knowledge rather
than task. It exists because participation has value to
members.
• “In their teams, they take care of projects. In their
networks, they form relationships. In their CoPs they
develop the knowledge that lets them do these other
tasks
Etienne Wenger, 1998
Some Comparisons
Who belongs
Formal
Org.
Hierarchical
reporting
Purpose
To deliver a
product or
service
Project
Management
To accomplish
Team
assigned
a specific task
Community Voluntary,
Build &
of Practice invited or self- exchange
selected
knowledge
Informal
Friends and
Collect & pass
network
acquaintances on information
Cohesiveness
Duration
Organizational
goals
Until next
reorganization
Project goals
Until project is
complete
As long as
interest remains
Passion,
identity,
commitment
Mutual needs,
friendship
As long as
reason
to connect exists
Etienne Wenger 2003
CoPs and Social Networks
• Nurturing/preserving/ the social
capital created by an educational or
work experience
P
• Embedding the results of training in
E
R
new work practice
Purpose
PRACTICE SOCIAL FORMATION
F
O
R
M
A
N
C
E
Is the distinction
between a CoP,
team or other form
relevant to your
situation?
• A = Yes
• B = No
• C = Lets talk
about this more!
A Community of Practice
Perspective: Domain
Domain:
Shared Interest;
Purpose
• What are we about?
• What is our identity?
• Significance?
– Organization
– individual
• Scope?
• Learning and doing
What is Purpose?
• “A purpose is a social
invention. It is constructed out
of the intentions of the people
in interaction with their
environment.
• Purpose is the meaning of the
group's existence.
• Purpose is the intended
impact of the groups actions
(or non-action) on the world.”
Jon C. Jenkins Imaginal Training,
Groningen,
The Netherlands
Practical Purpose
Points
• Is it clear?
• Is it sharable?
• Is it inviting?


Organization
individual
• Is it reasonable?
• Is it negotiable?
Does your
community have
a clear purpose?
• A = Absolutely
• B = Maybe not
• C = Nope!
A Community of Practice
Perspective: Community
What is a community?
“A set of people (or agents in
a more abstract sense) with
some shared element…a
group of people or things
that live in the same area.
The substance of shared
element varies widely, from
a situation to interest to
lives and values. The term
is widely used to evoke
sense of collectivity.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comm
unity
…in a CoP
sense?
•
•
•
•
Who is involved?
What roles?
What relationships?
How do they interact
to solve problems &
answer questions?
• How is engagement
and trust fostered?
Keys to Community Interaction
•
•
•
•
Control <--> Emergence
Translucent design
Transparent facilitation
Surface values &
agreements
Social
Translucence
• “Vital tension
between privacy
and visibility.”
Erickson
• The “door with the
glass window”
• Visibility
• Awareness
• Accountability
Translucent Systems
• Balance of public
and private spaces
• Balance of push/pull
of information
• Clarity on decision
making authority &
processes
• Shared goals, but
often individual
work
Norms, Agreements
& Accountability
•
•
•
•
What is the minimum?
How explicit?
How to make visible?
How to keep them
“alive?”
• What shared values
underpin?
Legitimate Peripheral Participation
Lave&Wenger, 1991
“In the workplace, learners can, when they
need, steal their knowledge from the social
periphery made up of other, more
experienced workers and ongoing, socially
shared practice.”
(Brown&Duguid, 1992)
Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollerboogie/
Leadership
online?
•
•
•
•
Servant leaders
Lead by action & example
More explicit than offline
Perhaps more processfocuses
• Hold the space
• Shared
• Tolerant of ambiguity
A Community of Practice
Perspective: Practice
Practice
• Domain-related practice
• What knowledge matters?
• What activities Needed?
• What tools?
• Meta-practice of
being a CoP
• Meta-practice of a
distributed CoP
Distributed
“Being in a CoP”
Practice
DOMAIN
Practice
The “place
between the
spaces”
• What practices enhance
community formation
&thriving?
• How does practice show
up online and offline?
• What is the tolerance for
risk & experimentation?
The
Power
of
Conversation
• Yearn for “pub” or coffee shop
• Social conversation (ad hoc, unstructured, no explicit
focus)
• Scientific discussion (topically organized, structured
around data & hypothesis)
• Blend of both
• Time issues
Collaboration
• Whole greater than
parts
• Derived from purpose
and outcomes
• Principles determine
behaviors
• Based on honest
assessments
• Ownership and
commitment
• Inclusive
Martin Leith
http://www.martinleith.com/lgi/chapter.html
Inquiry
• Define the
problem
• Develop and
evaluation
solution
alternatives
• Come to some
resolution
• Develop a plan of
action
• Reflect on the
process