Communities

mark.johnson@it.ox.ac.uk@marxjohnson

What is a Community?

"A collection of people or animals who interact in the same environment"

The people What they are doing

Bacon, J. - Art of CommunityWhat's motivating them

Motivation – Why form Communities?

A Sense of Belonging

Bacon

Social Capital

"good-will, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals"

Hanifan, L.J. - The Rural School Community Centre

What benefits do we get once social capital is accrued?● Sharing ideas and experience● Self improvement● Complementing our own skills with the skills

of others● Collaborating on a shared goal

Levels of Commitment

Different motivations will allow people different levels of commitment to a project• Casual User• Power User• Committer• Leader

Varieties of Community

Communities of Interest

Communities of Practice

Communities of Circumstance

Communities of Interest

"A gathering of people assembled around a topic of common interest"

Henri, F. and Pudelko, P. - Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities

Communities of Interest

• Exchange information• Obtain answers to personal questions• Improve their understanding• Share common passions

Communities of Practice

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."

Wenger, E. - Communities of Practice, a brief introduction

Wenger

Domain

Practice

Community

Communities of Circumstance

Defined by the shared experience or situation of its members

Community of Place – a special case the the circumstance isgeographic location, e.g. a neighbourhood.

Community of Position – a special case where the circumstancerefers to position in wider society

Activity

Look at and discuss the following online communities. Are they communities of Interest, Practice or Circumstance?

StackOverflow

Macmillan Cancer Support

Xbox Live Citroen C1 Owner's Club

Dutch Linux Users Group (NLLGG)

Communities

A successful Community of Interest may form sub-groups

• Goal-Oriented Communities of Interest– Aka Communities of Action/Purpose

• Communities of Practice• Communities of Circumstance

Henri & Pudelko

Diversity

• “Surface-Level” – Race, Gender, Age• “Deep-Level” - Skills and personalities

Graen, George B. - Dealing with Diversity

• Important not to exclude based on surface level• Important to encourage deep-level diversity

Case Study – Moodle

Moodle is a community of teachers, students developers, designers and testers with a shared interest in using and improving e-learning.

It is a Community of Interest.

Case Study – Moodle

Within Moodle's Community of Interest, there are other communities:

General Support Forum (CoI)

General Developer Forum (CoP)

Teaching with Moodle Forum (CoP)

Development Teams (GOCoI)

MoodleMoot Organisers (GOCoI)

Local Support Groups (CoC)

Other Language Forums (CoC)

Summary

We form communities to build social capital which allows us to achieve our goals collectively

Members of a community will have different motivations, and different levels of commitment

There are different types of community – a FOSS project should be a Community of Interest, not of Practice

Encouraging deep-level diversity will provide the community with varied personalities and skills

Reflection

What type of community is TYPO3?• What other communities exist within it, and what types are

they?• Do any of these communities lack deep-level diversity?

Questions? Discussion?

References:Bacon, Jono. (2009). Art of Community O'Reilly

Hanifan, L. J. (1916). "The Rural School Community Center". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (67): 130–138.

Henri, F. & Pudelko, B. (2003). "Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities" Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (19): 474-487

Wenger, E. (2006). "Communities of Practice – A brief introduction" http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm

Graen, G. B. (2003) Dealing with Diversity IAP