A virtual community of practice to support physician uptake of a novel abortion practice: A mixed methods case study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Frances Dunn ◽  
Sarah Munro ◽  
Courtney Devane ◽  
Edith Guilbert ◽  
Dahn Jeong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Medical Abortion ◽  
Baseline Survey ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Barriers To Implementation ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

BACKGROUND Virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) have been used to support innovation and quality in clinical care. The drug mifepristone was introduced into Canada in 2017 for medical abortion. We created a VCoP to support implementation of this medical abortion practice across Canada. OBJECTIVE To describe the development and utilization of the Canadian Abortion Providers Support-Communauté de pratique canadienne sur l’avortement (CAPS-CPCA) VCoP and explore physicians’ experience with CAPS-CPCA and their views on its value in supporting implementation. METHODS This was a mixed methods intrinsic case study of Canadian clinicians’ utilization and perceptions of the CAPS-CPCA VCoP during the first two years of a novel practice. We sampled both physicians who joined the CAPS-CPCA VCoP, and those who were interested to provide the novel practice but did not join the VCoP. We designed the VCoP features to address known barriers to implementation of medical abortion in primary care. Our secure on-line platform allowed asynchronous access to information, practice resources, clinical support, discussion forums and email notices. We collected data from the platform, surveys of physician members, and interviews with member and non-member physicians. We analyzed descriptive statistics for website metrics, physician characteristics and practices, and their use of the VCoP. We used qualitative methods to explore their experiences and perceptions of the VCoP. RESULTS From January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019, 430 physicians representing all provinces and territories in Canada joined the VCoP. Of the 222 who completed a baseline survey, 70.3% were family physicians, 80.2% were female and 35% had no prior abortion experience. Twelve months after baseline, 77.9% of those surveyed had provided mifepristone abortion and one-third said the website was helpful or very helpful. Logging into the site was burdensome for some, but members valued downloadable resources (eg. patient information, consent forms, clinical checklists), and found email announcements helpful for keeping up to date with changing regulations. Few asked clinical questions to the VCoP experts, but members felt this feature was important for isolated or rural providers. Information collected through member polls about regulatory barriers to implementation was used in the project’s knowledge translation activities with policymakers to mitigate those barriers. CONCLUSIONS A VCoP developed to address known and discovered barriers to uptake of a novel medical abortion method was successful in engaging and supporting physicians from across Canada to implement this practice, including many with no prior abortion experience. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028443

Virtual Communities as Narrative Networks

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Weeks ◽  
Natasha F. Veltri
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Community Knowledge ◽  
Primary Attraction ◽  
Networks Analysis ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

This paper extends our understanding of knowledge creation in virtual communities of practice by examining crowdsourcing activities that enable knowledge creation in these social structures. An interpretive methodology, narrative networks analysis, is used to systematically study the narratives of discussion forums in a virtual community. The virtual community studied is voluntary for the participants, and open to anyone. Through the analysis of the narrative, a model of knowledge creation is developed that identifies types of evidentiary knowledge contributions, as well as conversation mitigators that help or hinder knowledge creation within the community. Knowledge is a primary attraction of a virtual community for many of its members, and this study aims to understand how knowledge is shared and created in such voluntary communities of practice. The model highlights elements that enhance and impair knowledge creation in this type of crowdsourced environment.

Designing Practice-Oriented Interactive Vocabularies for Workflow-Based Virtual CoP

2010 ◽  
pp. 283-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demosthenes Akoumianakis ◽  
Giannis Milolidakis ◽  
George Vellis ◽  
Dimitrios Kotsalis
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Virtual Community Of Practice ◽  
First Case ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

This chapter concentrates on the development of practice-specific toolkits for managing on-line practices in the context of virtual communities of practice. The authors describe two case studies in different application domains each presenting alternative but complementary insights to the design of computer-mediated practice vocabularies. The first case study describes how established practices in music performance are encapsulated in a suitably augmented music toolkit so as to facilitate the learning objectives of virtual teams engaged in music master classes. The second case study is slightly different in orientation as it seeks to establish a toolkit for engaging in new coordinative practices in the course of building information-based products such as vacation packages for tourists. This time the virtual team is a cross-organization virtual community of practice with members streamlining their efforts by internalizing and performing in accordance with the new practice. Collectively, the case studies provide insight to building novel practice-specific toolkits to either encapsulate existing or support novel practices.

Increasing Research Students' Engagement through Virtual Communities

2015 ◽  
pp. 50-75
Author(s):  
Maria Limniou ◽  
Clare Holdcroft ◽  
Paul S. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Geographical Space

This chapter describes important issues regarding research students' participation in a virtual community. Within a virtual community, university staff can communicate with research students without geographical/space constraints, and research students can exchange views, materials, and experience with their peers and/or academics in a flexible learning environment. Students' participation in virtual communities is mainly based on socio-emotional and informational motivations. Initially, this chapter describes the conditions of research in a traditional environment and the role of students and academics in it, along with the role of pedagogical and psychological aspects in virtual communities. Examples from a university virtual community developed in a Virtual Learning Environment and a Facebook™ closed group are presented. Apart from discussion forums, blended learning activities also increase students' engagement in virtual communities. Technical issues and difficulties based on different learning environments and university members' experience and familiarity with technology are highlighted and discussed.

The 'Social Experience Factory' and the Fabrics of Collaboration in Virtual Communities of Practice

2010 ◽  
pp. 101-124
Author(s):  
Demosthenes Akoumianakis
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
The Social ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice ◽  
Automated Software ◽  
Product Assembly

This chapter proposes and discusses the “social” experience factory (SEF). The SEF provides a general model and architecture supporting information-based product assembly by cross-organization communities of practice using interactive toolkits and practice-specific technologies. In terms of engineering ground, the SEF builds on two prevalent research tracks, namely experience-based and reuse-oriented proposals for the management of virtual assets and automated software assembly as conceived and facilitated by recent advances on software factories. Our account of the SEF focuses on functions facilitating electronic squads (i.e., cross-organization virtual community management) and workflows (i.e., practice management) which collectively define the scope of collaboration using the SEF. Further technical details on operational aspects of the SEF as deployed in the tourism sector to facilitate vacation package assembly are presented in Chapter XXI in this volume.

The Search for the 'Hidden' Virtual Communities of Practice

2010 ◽  
pp. 42-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Ribeiro ◽  
Chris Kimble
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Electronic Networks ◽  
Virtual Community Of Practice ◽  
Seci Model ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice ◽  
Fully Functioning

This chapter examines the possibility of discovering a “hidden” (potential) Community of Practice (CoP) inside electronic networks, and then using this knowledge to nurture it into a fully functioning Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP). Starting from the standpoint of the need to manage knowledge and create innovation, the chapter discusses several issues related to this subject. It begins by examining Nonaka’s SECI model and his notion of Knowledge Transfer; the authors follow this by an investigation of the links between Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Knowledge Management; the chapter concludes by examining the relation between Nonaka’s Communities of Interaction and CoPs. Having established this the authors start their examination of the characteristics of “hidden” Communities of Practice. Following on from the previous discussion, they look at what is meant by “hidden” CoPs and what their value might be. They also look at the distinction between Distributed CoPs (DCoPs) and Virtual CoPs (VCoPs) and the issues raised when moving from ‘hidden’ CoPs to fully functioning VCoPs. The chapter concludes with some preliminary findings from a semi-structured interview conducted in the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network (UK). These findings are contrasted against the theory and some further proposals are made.

An Online Success Story

2009 ◽  
pp. 1236-1253
Author(s):  
Olli Kuivalainen ◽  
Hanna-Kaisa Ellonen ◽  
Liisa-Maija Sainio
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Customer Feedback ◽  
The Web

The aim of this article is to provide a holistic exploration of the development of the business model of a magazine Web site, and of the factors behind its success. The discussion is based on an explorative case study of a successful Finnish magazine publisher and its Web site. We use triangulated data (interviews, observation, statistical data, customer feedback, newspaper articles) to describe and analyze the development of the Web site and the subsequent changes in the e-business model of the magazine from the Web site foundation in 1998 to the situation in fall 2004. Our case illustrates that a magazine’s Web site is linked to all of its functions (editorial, circulation, and advertising), and to the business-model elements that are vital to its success. We suggest that the discussion forums in question, one type of virtual community, benefited from the positive feedback that resulted in positive network effects, and led to the adoption of the service. Moreover, community activities have enhanced customer loyalty and added a more lifelike dimension to the magazine concept. As such, the Web site now complements rather than substitutes the print magazine. Interestingly, although it does not independently fulfill the requirements of a successful business model (e.g., Magretta, 2002), it enhances the customer experience and adds new dimensions to the magazine’s business model.

MOOS as Virtual Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 329-333
Author(s):  
Shannon Roper ◽  
Sharmila Pixy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Book Series ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Defined Culture

Many researchers have observed that the Internet has changed the concept of virtual communities (Barnes, 2001, 2003; Jones, 1995, 1998; Rheingold, 1993). A unique example of virtual communities is a MOO—a specialized interactive online community that is usually based on a work of fiction such as book series, theater or television (Bartle, 1990). MOOs share many of the features of multi-user dimensions (MUDs) in that both allow participants to create their own virtual worlds, but some researchers consider MOOs to be “more sophisticated” (Barnes, 2001, p. 94). In a MOO community, the participants or “players” create their own virtual communities—fantasy communities complete with world structures, interpersonal norms and social constructs. Individual participants create characters complete with environment, history and personality constructs. The characters interact and influence each other and their environments, just as do the members of real-world communities. The MOO discussed in this case study is based on acclaimed fantasy author Anne McCaffery’s book series set on the fictional world of “Pern.” The players on DragonWings1 MOO create and develop characters over long periods, often many years, leading to the establishment and creation of a strong MOO. In this article we provide a case study of the DragonWings MOO as a unique virtual community. Because the concept of virtual communities is evolving with the Internet, and no definitive understanding of virtual community or virtual culture yet exists, we have chosen to structure our analysis of DragonWings MOO around the classical anthropological definition of culture and community. A seminal definition of culture, first articulated by Tylor (1871), provides the springboard for a number of anthropological definitions widely used today. Building on Tylor, White (1959), a prominent cultural scholar, defined culture as “within human organisms, i.e., concepts, beliefs, emotions, attitudes; within processes of social interaction among human beings; and within natural objects” (p. 237). He also identified symbols as a primary defining characteristic of culture. White’s simple yet comprehensive definition yields clear criteria that lend themselves to our analysis of MOOs. At the broadest level, an application of the criteria provides support for the acceptance of the Internet as a distinct and unique culture. At a more particular level, they provide a convenient tool for the analysis of a MOO as a virtual community. In the remainder of this article, we will utilize the definition outlined above to demonstrate the features that make DragonWings MOO a unique example of a virtual community.

A Symbolic Convergence Perspective for Examining Employee Knowledge Sharing Behaviors in Company-Hosted Virtual Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Tsong Wang ◽  
Hui-Hsiang Hung
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Convergence Theory ◽  
Shared Meaning ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Symbolic Convergence ◽  
Shared Meanings ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice

This article investigates individual knowledge sharing behaviors (KSBs) in company-hosted virtual communities of practice (CVCs), where KSBs are guided mainly by the sense of virtual community (SVC) and the shared meanings that are formed via the recurring communicative patterns and emotional responses in the interpersonal communication processes. The symbolic convergence theory (SCT) addresses the significance of the shared meanings of a social group in facilitating the harmony among and the favorable behaviors of the members of the group. By adopting SCT, the authors examine the effects of SVC and shared-meaning-related factors on KSBs in CVCs. Data collected from 159 CVC participants were analyzed to examine the research model. The authors found that shared language and shared emotional connection significantly influence KSBs both directly and indirectly via SVC. The research findings highlight the importance of achieving shared meaning among individuals in CVCs to encourage interpersonal knowledge sharing via effective communication processes.

scholarly journals Comunidades em redes sociais na internet: um estudo de caso dos fotologs brasileiros | Communities in Social Networks on the internet: a case study of Brazilian photologs

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Recuero
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Online Social Network ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Capital Social ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Computer Mediated

Resumo Redes sociais online são grupos de atores que se constituem através da interação mediada pelo computador. Essas interações são capazes de estabelecer novas formas sociais de grupos e comunidades. Através da discussão de diversos conceitos de comunidade e comunidade virtual, propõe-se o estudo das comunidades virtuais como uma forma de rede social. Esse debate teórico é discutido então no campo de estudo constituído pelo Fotolog, durante os anos de 2005 e 2006. O fotolog é um sistema que permite aos usuários a publicação de fotografias, textos e comentários. Dos dados coletados através de formas qualitativas e quantitativas, propomos uma tipologia para as comunidades virtuais baseada em sua estrutura (a rede em si) e sua composição (tipos de laços sociais e capital social). Esses tipos são definidos como comunidades virtuais emergentes, comunidades virtuais de associação e comunidades virtuais híbridas.Palavras-chave redes sociais, comunidades virtuais, fotolog.Abstract Online social networks are groups of actors formed by computer-mediated social interaction. These interactions are capable of establishing new social forms of groups and communities. Based on a discussion over several concepts of community and virtual community we propose the virtual community as a specific form of online social network. This theoretical debate is brought to the field studying the system named Fotolog during 2005 and 2006. Fotolog (www.fotolog.com) is a web service that allows for its users to post photographs or images with an associated text and other users may comment on each other’s posts. From the collected data, we propose a typology for communities found in these networks, based on their structure (network) and composition (social ties and social capital). We define three types of communities as associative virtual communities, emergent virtual communities and hybrid virtual communities.Keywords social networks, virtual communities, fotolog. 

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