Discovering Communities of Practice Through Social Network Analysis

2011 ◽  
pp. 2057-2059
Author(s):  
Cindi Smatt ◽  
Molly McLure Wasko
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Building Block ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Network Connections

The concept of a community of practice is emerging as an essential building block of the knowledge economy. Brown and Duguid (2001) argue that organizations should be conceptualized as consisting of autonomous communities whose interactions can foster innovation within an organization and accelerate the introduction of innovative ideas. The key to competitive advantage depends on a firm’s ability to coordinate across autonomous communities of practice internally and leverage the knowledge that flows into these communities from network connections (Brown & Duguid, 2001). But how does an organization do this? A key challenge for management is understanding how to balance strategies that capture knowledge without killing it (Brown & Duguid, 2000).

Discovering Communities of Practice Through Social Network Analysis

2011 ◽  
pp. 129-130
Author(s):  
Cindi Smatt ◽  
Molly McLure Wasko
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Building Block ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Network Connections

The concept of a community of practice is emerging as an essential building block of the knowledge economy. Brown and Duguid (2001) argue that organizations should be conceptualized as consisting of autonomous communities whose interactions can foster innovation within an organization and accelerate the introduction of innovative ideas. The key to competitive advantage depends on a firm’s ability to coordinate across autonomous communities of practice internally and leverage the knowledge that flows into these communities from network connections (Brown & Duguid, 2001). But how does an organization do this? A key challenge for management is understanding how to balance strategies that capture knowledge without killing it (Brown & Duguid, 2000).

Understanding Knowledge Networks Through Social Network Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronel Davel ◽  
Adeline S. A. Du Toit ◽  
Martie M Mearns
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Process Map ◽  
Knowledge Maps

Social network analysis (SNA) is being increasingly deployed as an instrument to plot knowledge and expertise as well as to confirm the character of connections in informal networks within organisations. This study investigated how the integration of networking into KM can produce significant advantages for organisations. The aim of the research was to examine how the interactions between SNA, Communities of Practice (CoPs) and knowledge maps could potentially influence knowledge networks. The researchers endeavour to illustrate via this question that cultivating synergies between SNA, CoPs and knowledge maps will enable organisations to produce stronger knowledge networks and ultimately increase their social capital. This article intends to present a process map that can be useful when an organisation wants to positively increase its social capital by examining influencing interactions between SNA, CoPs and knowledge maps, thereby enhancing the manner in which they share and create knowledge.

scholarly journals A Transnational Research Collaboration: A Social Network Analysis and Perspectives on Our Community of Practice

Quest ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Phillip Ward ◽  
Erhan Devrilmez ◽  
Shiri Ayvazo ◽  
Fatih Dervent ◽  
Yaohui He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Research Collaboration

Emerging Forms of Collaboration

2016 ◽  
pp. 69-99
Author(s):  
Alexandra Antonopoulou ◽  
Eleanor Dare
Keyword(s):  
Graph Theory ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Motion Capture ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Collaborative Technologies ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
New Form

The chapter will outline the implications of two projects, namely the ‘Phi Books' (2008) and the ‘Digital Dreamhacker' (2011). These novel projects serve here as case studies for investigating new and challenging ways of advancing collaborative technologies, using in particular, Communities of Practice and insights gained from both embodiment and graph theory (social network analysis) as well as design. Both projects were developed collaboratively, between a computer programmer and a designer and a wider community of practice, consisting of other artists, writers, technologists and designers. The two systems that resulted also acted as methodologies, instigated by the authors with a view to facilitate, explore and comment on the act of collaboration. Both projects are multi-disciplinary, spanning ideas and techniques from mathematics and art, design and computer programming. The projects deploy custom-made software and fiction enmeshed structures, drawing upon methodologies that are embedded with dreams and stories while at the same time being informed by cutting-edge research into human behaviour and interaction design. The chapter will investigate how the projects deployed techniques and theoretical insights from social network analysis as well as motion capture technology and the wider concept of a Community of Practice, to extend and augment existing collaborative methods. The chapter draws upon Wenger et al (2002), as well as Siemens (2014) and Borgatti et al (2009), and will explore the idea of a new form of collective social and technological collaborative grammar, deploying gesture as well as Social Network Analysis. Moreover, the featured projects provide insights into the ways in which digital technology is changing society, and in turn, the important ways in which technology is embedded with the cultural and economic prerogatives of increasingly globalized cultures.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document