Remedial Boundary Work and Gatekeeper Centrality in a Virtual Entrepreneur Community

Virtual communities of practice invoke novel forms of boundary work that are newly visible via publicly recorded discourse and failure narratives. This boundary work has critical implications for occupational knowledge, membership, and stratification. Building on social exchange theorization of network gatekeeping, the author tests the assumption that centralized peers are more competitive gatekeepers, in that they react more negatively to remedial narratives. The author tests this theory using empirical data from a virtual entrepreneur community on Reddit. The author finds that a peer’s tenure in the community network is directly related to exclusive, competitive boundary work of remedial members. However, by looking beyond the network structure to the content of the tie, the author finds that exclusive boundary work is not as impactful as inclusive, collaborative boundary work in this open network setting. The author builds on relational cohesion and exchange commitment theory to explain how remedial practitioners circumvent central community gatekeepers through failure narratives that provoke empathy from peripheral peers who experience higher uncertainty than core peers. Understanding these dynamics is critical to promoting recovery from failure and vitality of the community of practice.

Optimizing the Use of Digital Technology in Building a Community Network of Consumption of Small and Medium Enterprises’ Products during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Depok, Indonesia

The massive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic which started in the mid-2020 has had a significant impact on the sustainability of the production and marketing activities of goods and services by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In the context of Indonesia, the so-called policy Large Scale Social Restriction encourages small and medium-sized business groups to find strategic ways so that they can continue to carry out production and marketing activities. One of the strategic ways is building a network of people who consume goods by using digital technology. This study analyses the strategies of small and medium-sized business groups in building a community network of the consumption of small and medium-sized business products through digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic with special reference to the case of Depok, in Indonesia. This is a descriptive qualitative study with interview, observation, and documentation techniques. The findings show that small and medium enterprises use several digital applications to be able to connect individuals to create a consumption group of “common taste” so that those small and medium-sized enterprises could maintain the continuity of selling their goods or products. As a result, this strategic method is proven to be quite beneficial for small and medium business groups.

Networks

Social scientists study many different types of networks, from policy networks to sociotechnical networks, in order to better understand processes of change. These diverse networks have a number of characteristics in common, including interconnectedness, flows, and fragility. Exploring these characteristics in relation to smart grids helps us to better understand the social nature of energy sector innovation. In this chapter, I use these themes and concepts to assess three examples: international smart grid policy networks; a local community network on Bruny Island, Australia; and a fragile network, the digital metering programme in the State of Victoria, Australia.

Cluster Synchronization in Variable-Order Fractional Community Network via Intermittent Control

In this paper, the cluster synchronization of a variable-order fractional community network with nonidentical dynamics is investigated. For achieving the cluster synchronization, intermittent controllers are designed, and the sufficient conditions with respect to system parameters, intermittent control instants and control gains are derived based on stability theory of fractional-order system and linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). To avoid verifying the LMIs, a corresponding simple corollary is provided. Finally, a numerical example is performed to verify the derived result.

PENGUATAN JEJARING KOMUNITAS MELALUI TINDAKAN KOLABORATIF

This research is directed to strengthen the network among the drivers of the Climate Village program in ten RWs in DKI Jakarta. Using collaboration action research, this research uses focus group discussion techniques which are conducted twice in each community. During the FGD twice there was an increase in community network marked by the creation of an organizational structure and work program that had not been made so far. These two outcomes are certainly important for building relationships that are more equal to elements of the local government and also the private sector which tends to impose programs on the community.