Communities of Practice - Learning as a Social System by Etienne

Communities of Practice - Learning as a Social System by Etienne Wenger

The following are some key points that stood out to me:
A community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:

1. purpose or topic
2. roles people take towards the purpose or topic
3. product - this may not be a physical or electronic project, it may be a sense of communiyt or the learning held by the members individually or the "whole is more powerful than the sum of its parts"

Key Qoutes:

• Communities of practice develop around things that matter to people. As a result, their practices reflect the members' own understanding of what is important.
• it defines itself in the doing
• participation has value
• community of practice is different from a network in the sense that it is "about" something

Communities of practice...

• retain, exchange and interpret information
• give a home and opportunities for displays of 'identity'
• can be a liability
• to legitimize the community as a place for sharing and creating knowledge, recognized experts need to be involved
• the best place to start is to foster the formation of communities of practice that leverage the potential that already exists