Social Network:
Social network is a group of people interacting at different levels & environments. The interaction is independent of any interest, purpose or focus and can be transactional. A social network exists on a basic level of a family to a wider network as huge as contries and even the entire world. The achievemnets of the individuals at personal level extends itself to the development of the entire network.
Communities Of Practice (COP):
Communities of practice are group of people getting together having similar interests, tied with a purpose and are working together to enhance information, knowledge and experience. COPs are existent regardless of the social and organizational boundaries having limited control unlike organizations. A COP existing in one framework can be a part of another one sharing similar interests, focus or purpose.
According to Wenger, the definition of COP extends beyond certain practices in a community. According to him the practice extends itself to every aspect of human life and have two essential components i.e. reification and participation. The combination of the two is devised to answer the complexity of the concept forming a duality.
Reification:
Reification in knowledge is a process of verifying the credibility of an information which would otherwise be manipulated. In this particular concept we verify and corroborate the information checked against each other for validity and authenticity.
Reification according to Wenger can be attributed to designing, representing, naming, encoding and describing as well as perceiving, interpreting, using, reusing, decoding and recasting. (Wenger, 1998: 58-59)
Participation:
This according to Wenger is an interesting concept where he takes a different stance on participation. Participation according to him can be conflicting and collaborative or competitive as well as cooperative. In other words different groups working in conjunction or against each other still participates in a social enterprise. (Wenger, 1998: 55-56)
If we look into the essence of these two ingredients we come to realize that the stress is on creation and and contribution of knowledge, regardless of the ideas being in sync or opposite, however they participate in the propensity of knowledge.
The image above gives an idea about the relationship of reification and participation forming a duality. A couple of things that can be noted from the illustration is that two of them coexists and should be proportionate to each other to achieve a balanced framework. The one concept that requires attention is that the actors at the participation level either conflicting or collaborating, competitive or cooperating are participating towards the support of knowledge, so the ideas can be similar or different, elements can be active or passive however they are working in conjunction with each other for enhancing knowledge.
Social network is a group of people interacting at different levels & environments. The interaction is independent of any interest, purpose or focus and can be transactional. A social network exists on a basic level of a family to a wider network as huge as contries and even the entire world. The achievemnets of the individuals at personal level extends itself to the development of the entire network.
Communities Of Practice (COP):
Communities of practice are group of people getting together having similar interests, tied with a purpose and are working together to enhance information, knowledge and experience. COPs are existent regardless of the social and organizational boundaries having limited control unlike organizations. A COP existing in one framework can be a part of another one sharing similar interests, focus or purpose.
According to Wenger, the definition of COP extends beyond certain practices in a community. According to him the practice extends itself to every aspect of human life and have two essential components i.e. reification and participation. The combination of the two is devised to answer the complexity of the concept forming a duality.
Reification:
Reification in knowledge is a process of verifying the credibility of an information which would otherwise be manipulated. In this particular concept we verify and corroborate the information checked against each other for validity and authenticity.
Reification according to Wenger can be attributed to designing, representing, naming, encoding and describing as well as perceiving, interpreting, using, reusing, decoding and recasting. (Wenger, 1998: 58-59)
Participation:
This according to Wenger is an interesting concept where he takes a different stance on participation. Participation according to him can be conflicting and collaborative or competitive as well as cooperative. In other words different groups working in conjunction or against each other still participates in a social enterprise. (Wenger, 1998: 55-56)
If we look into the essence of these two ingredients we come to realize that the stress is on creation and and contribution of knowledge, regardless of the ideas being in sync or opposite, however they participate in the propensity of knowledge.
The image above gives an idea about the relationship of reification and participation forming a duality. A couple of things that can be noted from the illustration is that two of them coexists and should be proportionate to each other to achieve a balanced framework. The one concept that requires attention is that the actors at the participation level either conflicting or collaborating, competitive or cooperating are participating towards the support of knowledge, so the ideas can be similar or different, elements can be active or passive however they are working in conjunction with each other for enhancing knowledge. The duality of knowledge concept outlines the classic concepts of KM from the internalization to the externalization phase and makes use of the knowledge environment as its stronghold. Consider the example of different focus groups whether discussion or technical, educational or medical, social or political contributes towards the propagation of knowledge whether they are proponents are opposers.
COPs exist physically as well as are cybercentric, however regardless of their state they leverage knowledge, share best practices, and in turn provide immense knowledge which would otherwise be unexplored. The COPs are not only the means of sharing and exchanging knowledge but are a huge source of inspiration. Lets take an example of a focus group on cancer where they can share their experiences in dealing with this traumatic reality to the way of combatting this life threatening ailment.
1 comment:
The article is a useful summary of what others have said, though it would be better to be clearer about what are quotes from others.
What I feel I am missing from your article is your own analysis, your own position on whether SNs and CoPs have a real role to play in KM, and then how the various SN technologies can contribute.
In particular, can you explain how technologies can be used for reification, and how you think they could be used in the types of organisation you are familiar with.
You refer to the duality and mention proportionality and balance. How do these ideas and required attributes help? Do you think they are useful and do you think that the technologies need to change to deliver these attributes?
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