Communities of practice The term “community of practice” is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is age-old. The concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance.This brief and general introduction examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning. What are communities of practice? Note that this definition allows for, but does not assume, intentionality: learning can be the reason the community comes together or an incidental outcome of member’s interactions. The domain: A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice. Where does the concept come from?
Air Force aims to solve knowledge management problems with Web 2.0 The Air Force hopes a soon-to-be-launched Gov 2.0 project will spur collaboration, improve knowledge management, and enhance education and training within the service, said an Air Force official Nov. 16 at KMWorld, a knowledge management conference in Washington, D.C. As Lt. Col. The first problem is the lack of officer education, said Hower. Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox! The second problem is that Air Force changes officers' duties about every two years. With a nod to the Army's MilSpace, Hower is creating a program to address these problems. On July 1, the current Air Force Forums project will likely end and shortly afterward will merge with a new program, drawing from Air Force University's research on requirements and training. Among Hower's lessons learned from developing a social, knowledge-management tool for the Air Force are:
everything elearning: managing: KM Knowledge Management Overview Knowledge management, elearning, and performance support are key components of successful organizations in an information economy. Knowledge management is concerned with "who knows what", elearning with "who needs to know what", and performance support with "who needs to know what, right NOW!". Over the last year, the term knowledge management has become increasingly popular...but, like many concepts, corporations are in danger of embracing it without seeing how it links to other corporate strategies. KM may be a very effective way for organizations to disseminate information. Resources Grassroots KM through Blogging An excellent article detailing the role of story telling in sharing knowledge with others. Knowledge Management - Internet Time Group "Knowledge management is a high-fallutin' buzz phrase for creating and sharing know-how. KM Wiki Great listing of KM blogs, newsletters, associations, etc. Tool Box Good resource list of KM tools. KM Vendors
HiveFire eBook Content Cur at Ion in Social Media EJKM - Journal home On Risk Management, Systemic Failures, and 'Black Swans: Rethinking Systemic Risk Management for Pre-empting Extreme Events aka 'Black Swans' & Systemic Failures: WWW Virtual Library on Knowledge Management and the Knowledge Management Think Tank