Communities of practice,like other living things,have to make some important steps in order to develop.They go through a natural process of birth,growth and death.Even though they continually evolve,they have 5 stages of community development:potential,coalescing,maturing,stewardship,and transformation.
1.Potential-the community's development starts with a social network.These people are the ones who are likely to form the core group of the community.At a certain point,members begin to see their problems and interests as communal fodder,and the idea of a community is created.The main topic,at the beginning of a community,is to find common interests in order to create bounds between the members.Discovery,imagination and passion are essential for starting a community.
2.Coalescing-" if a community can combine a good understanding of what exists with a vision of where it can go,it is ready to move to the coalescing stage."Through this second stage,it is essential for the members to build respect,trust,good relationships.However,it takes time for members to really trust one another and to share knowledge that can be very useful.
3.Maturing-"during the maturation stage,the main issue a community faces shifts from establishing value to clarifying the community's focus,role and boundaries."As the community grows,members begin to see gaps and feel an urge to be more systematic in their definition of the community's parctice.
4.Stewardship-in this stage it is important to keep freshness and liveliness in a community.The key practice issue in the stewardship phase is to keep the community on the cutting edge.
5.Transformation-the transformation,or the death of a community is as important as its birth.This happens when members realize that they do not have the same interests anymore or the community's practices can become so commonplace that they no longer need a community.
Communities transform themselves in many ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment