My obligatory presentation on blogs and CoPs. Old now. From BlogHui, the wonderful meetup in Downtown Wellington, scuppered (or nearly) by local bloggers who just didn't know how to use the phone book and landline. Sad.

1. CoP’s and Bloggers BlogHui March 2006 Derek Chirnside

2. First, some background A vision for Community

6. Community . . . Identity . . . Belonging . . . Destiny . . . Comrades – networks – buddies Learning . . . .

9. Community . . .

10. Community Shi-moon-nity

13. Reflection

15. !@#$%^&* !!

16. Identity

18. Who am I?

21. What is my destiny??

23. Destiny. Where do I want to go??

25. Who do I want to go with?

27. Context.

28. knowledge

29. Learning . . .

30. Knowledge

32. skills

33. nous

38. Pause: what resonated for you? Can you identify a time you have been part of or are part of a community? What’s it like?

40. Blogs RSS feeds, aggregators, – implications for communities. CoPs and Bloggers Not too worried about what type of community: Inquiry, practice, learning . . . People getting together in some way with a common purpose or cause, with some level of mutual commitment, providing mutual support and help, working on projects, or just ‘chewing the fat’. Usually Distributed: distance, flexible, multimodal, blended

41. A few random perspectives (CoP + Blog) Blogs: “Containers for conversations” (Nancy White) A “hindrance for knowledge management” (a manager) Blogs: provide a voice, a platform an identity Help attenuate inputs - people build reputations Community: “Constellations of blogs” (quote from??)

42. The community questions Members/Belonging Initiation; Identity – voice . . . Value . . . Destiny . . . (purpose) Comrades – networks – buddies Learning/knowledge . . . . (boundaries) Leadership . . . There are some things we have to take care of . . . Wenger, Lave, Snyder, Figallio, Stuckey, McDermott (etc) Some of these are blogosphere questions. Some are not. Infantisation!!

43. What can web 2.0 offer???

44. From web 2.0: Let’s just choose blogs, aggregators and RSS . .

45. Sample: four classes, all formal taught courses and a few community like entities in teacher professional development Preliminary Finding: Blogs are NOT the same as a threaded discussion forum -in that their psychic effect is different -and seems different for different people. 

46. Forums vs (classic) Blogs adapted from Common Craft Weblogs Threaded forums Individual locus of control Personal ownership Centralised/group Personal reflection is paramount Reflection: has a corporate element (can be broader) Comments: may be switched on – not central Email notifications on replies/dialogue Tools: RSS, categories [permalinks, trackbacks etc] Subjects, post classification Containers: posts – grouped in categories, reverse chronological Grouped into threads, usually reverse chronological Del.icio.us - tagging ?? - evolution is occurring Ideas classified into categories - but can be lost, fragmented . . Ideas can be scattered over multiple forums . . .

47. “ I never felt comfortable posting in the blog” (Compared to forum) – taught course member Surmise: There is a perception of it being too public in a blog. The Poster is the focus in a blog. Liked the relative anonymity of the forum. Ownership is there, but LESS than on a blog. Group is more the focus in a blog

48. Myth: Blogging is easy

49. “ I just find it so hard to blog” (Insert any of a range of responses . .) community member (opt in) Technology is a barrier. Still. “ It’s still to tough getting started out of the box” * * Mark Bernstein talk

50. “ I just don’t like the way the blog is always there – like it’s whispering to me come and do something ” IT course member 2004 where blogging was a part of the course Someone else from the same course: “ That’s what I like about it” Surmise: personality is a factor  - maybe along with other factors such as confidence, motivation

51. Example: Macromedia community described by Kai Koening Communities based around blogs “ Membership” Managing problems Knowledge management Knowledge creation Stewardship of the practice

52. “ It’s all about the tools” Purpose, people & processes 2nd Perception/reality Locus of control Identity Voice Tags/categories Ownership

53. Community software: design issues . . . metaphors scaleable: catering for growth welcoming newcomers identity/belonging - finding other managing the practice - boundaries

54. Blogs tend NOT to worry about KM or community So: Blogs and CoPs *Individual *Individualistic? *Personal *Owned *Locus of responsibility is where? *”Disinterested passion” (from ?) * What in blogging DIS-enhances community? - list in process

55. Bloggers can help keep a community on it’s toes, outward looking So: Blogs and CoPs *creation of an individual voice *identity enhanced (reputation) *boundaries pushed *new ideas *depth of engagement with ideas *challenging of boundaries * * What in blogging ENhances community? - a list in process

57. Where to now?? ? ? ? ? Derek Chirnside Comments?