enabling knowledge management process in ict …...rather than on knowledge transmission as stated...

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Enabling Knowledge Management Process in ICT through Communities of Practice

Akila Sarirete, Effat University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT In this paper, the author proposes a knowledge management process to exploit tacit and explicit knowledge in the ICT domain within the framework of a CoP of engineering. The paper considers Nonaka’s SECI model for the knowledge creation. Two qualitative studies have been conducted to validate the proposed process. The paper concludes that CoPs and social learning impact learning as well as knowledge sharing. The use of web technologies and socio-technical approach in the management of knowledge is of high importance. Keywords: Communities of Practice; Knowledge Creation Process; Knowledge Management; ICT; SECI Model.

لخص:م تكنولوجيیا االمعلوماتت في مجالل ةوااضحوواال االمعرفة االضمنيیة الستغاللل إإددااررةة االمعرفة عمليیة، تقترحح االمؤلفة في هذهه االوررقة ووقد أأجريیت .االمعرفة إلحدااثث نموذذجج "نوناكا"االوررقة ستخدممت مماررسة هندسي إلددااررةة االمعرفة. مجتمعيیستعمل ووااالتصاالتت.تأثيیراا ااالجتماعي االتعلم وو مماررسةاال مجتمعاتتلص االوررقة إإلى أأنن ختلوو. لعمليیة االمقترحةاا للتحقق من صحة تانننوعيی ددررااستانن.أأهميیة كبيیرةة إإددااررةة االمعرفةاالتقني في ااالجتماعي وو وواالنهج تقنيیاتت ااإلنترنت ستخداامموو كما ال .تقاسم االمعاررفف وو لتعلمعلى اا

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INTRODUCTION Knowledge Management (KM) is a dynamic, quickly evolving field and crucial source of increased value. The aim of knowledge management (KM) is to facilitate the preservation of knowledge, its reuse and its actualization; and more importantly the organizational learning which involves the creation and integration of new knowledge at the organizational level. Historically, several tools were proposed to facilitate KM practices (Kimble & Hildreth, 2004). However, most of the KM efforts were based on a typical top-down approach where knowledge was seen as a separate entity and the focus was associated with the creation of central knowledge repositories. Recently, communities of practice (CoPs) were recognized as a tool of creation and maintenance of knowledge within organizations (Kimble & Hildreth, 2004; Wenger, 2004; Palette, 2006). A CoP is defined as a combination of three fundamental elements (Wenger, 1998): (i) a domain of knowledge, which defines a set of issues around which the community engages; (ii) a coherent group of people who care about this domain, and each other’s learning needs and aspirations; and ultimately (iii) a shared practice that is being constantly developed and adapted in their domain. The present research paper proposes a knowledge management process to exploit explicit and tacit knowledge in the domain of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) within the framework of a Community of Practice (CoP). The approach used introduces new elements in the Nonaka’s SECI model for knowledge creation. The methodology is based on action research focusing on social dimension and learning by doing. Knowledge creation is considered as a constructivist learning process where knowledge is constructed collaboratively amongst CoP members. The CoP knowledge in the domain of ICT includes not only the basic knowledge of individual specialty fields but also the knowledge of the best practices captured from the previous developments and projects. Two CoPs were studied to validate the proposed process, “CPsquare” and “The Cisco Learning Network”. The results of this study reveal that the socio-technical aspects of CoPs have an impact on the community learning and knowledge sharing. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: the next section introduces the problem. The knowledge management process related to Nonaka’s SECI model of knowledge creation is then recalled. The following section adapts the model to CoPs and shows how SECI modes were considered as processes and incorporated into the CoP. A qualitative analysis based on the proposed model is then applied on two CoPs. Finally the paper is concluded with some discussion and future work. PROBLEM STATEMENT Nowadays organizations are increasingly using ICT to communicate, coordinate their activities and to solve most of their problems. One problem they face is how to be up-to-date with all ICT tools and how to quickly gain new knowledge about these tools. CoPs are considered to be good solutions for knowledge sharing. Few studies were already done in the field of KM and ICT. Peansupap and Walker (2004) conducted three case studies in using CoPs for ICT in Australia and found this to be a promising solution. They propose to use ICT tools as support for CoPs to solve problems in ICT: they consider this problem as a ‘chicken-or-egg’ issue. Considering the lack of efforts that was observed in the way ICT practitioners are being supported in their daily activities, the author proposes to help them manage collaboratively their knowledge and build shared practices using a CoP of engineering.

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Learning in a community of practitioners often involves learning something in a context where it is immediately useful (i.e. its “use value”) as stated by Lave and Wenger (1991). Recent research on knowledge management (KM) clearly recognizes the importance of CoPs in the creation and maintenance of knowledge within organizations (Davenport & Hall, 2002; Fontaine & Millen, 2004; Kimble & Hildreth, 2004; Palette, 2006; Pan & Leidner, 2003; Wenger, 2004). The basic assumption underlying the theory of CoPs is that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we learn and become who we are (Wenger, 1998). The main objective is to establish a structure where tacit and explicit knowledge are shared and exchanged among various members within a given domain. CoPs present a strategic approach for fostering learning and transferring knowledge through exchange, interaction, and negotiation with learning situated in practice. This differs from traditional perspectives of knowledge management where the focus was often on capturing, codifying, storing, and transferring knowledge with the stored knowledge often not reflecting real practices. The members of a CoP work, learn together, and share their expertise and mutual understanding through the processes of participation and reification (Sarirete and Chikh, 2010). KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS: NONAKA’S MODEL The distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge is critical in understanding knowledge management. According to Nonaka, tacit knowledge is “…highly personal… deeply rooted in action and in an individual commitment to a specific context…tacit knowledge consists partly of technical skills [and partly] of mental models, beliefs and perspectives so ingrained that we take them for granted and cannot easily articulate them”. In contrast he defines the explicit knowledge as the knowledge that is easily expressed, captured, stored and reused. To understand the dynamic nature of knowledge creation and to effectively manage this knowledge, Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) proposed the SECI knowledge creation model (Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization). They view knowledge as an activity rather than an object and they focus on knowledge creation, collaboration and practices rather than on knowledge transmission as stated by Chatti et al. (2007) and Hoadley and Kilner (2005). Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) affirm that knowledge creation and sharing become part of the culture of an organization. The SECI model consists basically of three main elements: 1) four modes of knowledge conversion between the explicit and tacit knowledge, 2) a shared context called “Ba”, and 3) knowledge assets. The four modes of knowledge conversion are accomplished as follows:

• Socialization (tacit to tacit): sharing experience to create new tacit knowledge; • Externalization (tacit to explicit): articulating and converting tacit to explicit knowledge. • Combination (explicit to explicit): restructuring and aggregating explicit knowledge into

new explicit knowledge; • Internalization (explicit to tacit): reflecting on explicit knowledge and internalize it into

tacit knowledge. After internalization the process continues in a new “spiral” of knowledge creation.

The second element “Ba” is defined as the shared context in which knowledge is created, shared, and used through interaction, and where the four modes of knowledge conversion happen (Nonaka et al., 2000). Naeve et al. (2005) call the “Ba” as “a place for interactive knowledge creation”. This space can be physical, virtual or mental. The third element in the SECI model, the knowledge assets, is defined as “firm-specific resources that are indispensable for creating values for the firm”, Nonaka et al. (2000).

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Knowledge assets are considered as inputs and outputs as well as moderating factors of the knowledge-creating process. They are divided in four groups: 1) Experiential knowledge assets (hands-on experiences, skills acquired through dialogue, discussion and shared practice); 2) Conceptual knowledge assets (images, symbols and language); 3) Systemic knowledge assets (explicit, codified and systematic knowledge stored in documents, databases, manuals, specifications and patents); 4) Routine knowledge assets (tacit knowledge customized and embedded in organizational daily practices and actions). ENABLING THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS MODEL IN THE COP OF ENGINEERING The SECI model is mainly applied in organizational setting and knowledge management. In this work, each mode of the SECI model is considered as a process where the main actors are the CoP members. Figure 1 shows the four knowledge conversion modes of the SECI framework applied to CoPs. To represent a process, a graphical formalism is adapted where the inputs and outputs are represented by rectangles. A process is represented by a rounded rectangle having inputs on its left side and outputs on its right side. The processors (supporting elements) are shown in the bottom of the process while the controls are represented by the upper part.

Figure 1. SECI modes as functional models within CoPs (Sarirete & Chikh, 2010).

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Each mode is seen as a process with CoP members as the main actors and the explicit or tacit knowledge as inputs/outputs. In this case, the proposed model is applied at a generic level for CoPs and provides a high level representation:

• In the socialization process (tacit to tacit), tacit knowledge is considered as challenges, problems, ideas, visions, events or objectives that CoP members share and clarify through a process of dialogue. The output should be a better understanding of the previous tacit knowledge or the emergence of new knowledge (new challenges, ideas …). The socialization process can be controlled by objectives, moral values and common background. This can be done through communication tools such as email, forums, chatting and Web 2.0 tools. At this point, CoP members are in the stage of negotiation of meaning.

• In the externalization process (tacit to explicit), challenges, problems, and visions are transformed to a conceptualized form of knowledge. This process is controlled by the objective that CoP members want to reach, the target population and the authoring rules. The process might be supported by authoring tools such as wikis, CAD tools and other brainstorming tools such as conceptual-map tools, and argumentation tools. At this point CoP members are in the stage of reification of knowledge.

• In the combination process (explicit to explicit), the conceptualized explicit knowledge is synthesized based on community understanding and conceptualization. It is controlled by objectives and combination rules. The process might be supported by the CoP members and the authoring tools including fusion, merging or synthesis services.

• In the internalization process (tacit to tacit), conceptualized collective knowledge is then applied in practice helping CoP members increase their knowledge and enhance their skills. This process is controlled by the CoP previous knowledge, the culture of the CoP (its values and beliefs), and the reading rules that the community has established. This process is supported by the CoP members and the reading tools such as annotation tools providing an active reading of the content (e.g. tagging).

The SECI knowledge creation model helps CoP members increase their learning and narrow the gap between actors with different background: the knowledge is shared. For this purpose, a CoP of engineering needs to have knowledge vision which describes the kind of knowledge the community should create and in what domain, as stated by Naeve et al. (2005). This knowledge vision should help in establishing how the knowledge base grows over time. It should also justify why knowledge is being created and nurtured. In the case of a CoP in the domain of ICT, the mission should be the purpose of the community itself. What is the CoP seeking for? For example better reuse of models and methods among the actors. The vision is about what the community is aiming to become. To sustain the CoP, members need to work collaboratively and be action and result oriented, i.e. anything that needs to be done should produce a tangible result. Each community member needs to participate in this process to be able to produce best practices for the CoP. CASE STUDY: APPLICATION OF SECI MODEL TO “CPSQUARE” AND “THE CISCO LEARNING NETWORK” COPS During the application of the SECI model the author collaborated with the practitioners and was actively involved in the practice of the two CoPs: CPsquare and The Cisco Learning Network, CLN. The author participated and acted in the two CoPs and simultaneously evaluated the results

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of the participation. The main objective was to understand and participate in the design of the community of practice, and contribute to scientific knowledge by creating common framework for practitioners. The method used for the case study was based on action research (Baskerville, 1999) combining practical problem-solving and scientific research. Qualitative Analysis CPsquare is an international community of practice whose main domain is “communities of practice” (http://www.cpsquare.org). Commitment and practice of the group is around building and cultivating Communities of Practice, bringing together practitioners from all sectors, including industry, government, education, and civic and non-profit organizations. Conversations within CPsquare take place in Web Crossing1 environment. Members of CPsquare come from more than 25 countries, 15 different time-zones around the world, and use English as the main language (Trayner et al., 2007). Most of CPsquare members belong to other CoPs such as coordinators, technologists, consultants, academics, and executives; this gives a better understanding of CoPs in general. Choosing this community as part of the study was made because it shows maturity through continuous engagement of its members and also to apply the generic SECI framework for CoPs in general. To initiate new members to the community, a foundation workshop2 on CoPs is held virtually for six weeks twice a year. The second community of practice, The Cisco Learning Network (CLN) (https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/index.jspa), is specialized in computer networking field which is a computer engineering field. It uses jive3 software as a platform. The CLN community was chosen as an example of a CoP of engineering and to discover if its members are applying the SECI framework implicitly in their practice. The conversations in CLN are done within the hosted jive website. The Community Memory (an important element within each community and containing most of the discussion threads and produced artifacts) is maintained collaboratively by the CoP members headed by the CoP Leader or the Technology Steward (as in CPsquare). As pointed out in Tables 1 and 2, both CoPs apply the SECI model in their daily work and show the application of the different SECI modes on them. Most of the time, the model is applied in an implicit way. Members interact in a trustworthy environment and share their knowledge and documents in an easily accessible repository based on categories. The majority of the capitalized knowledge in these CoPs comes under the form of systemic knowledge which consists of explicitly creating documents and artifacts. The CLN CoP does not provide specific criteria on how to organize the knowledge base. The only criterion is based on the type of technology and business support while the knowledge retrieval is based on classical search engines. Table 1. SECI model applied to “The Cisco Learning Network” CoP.

SECI modes Socialization Clarification – Dialogue

Externalization Conceptualization – Dialogue

Combination Modeling – Connecting

Internalization Practice

How is the SECI model applied?

Members initiate dialogue through a discussion forum mainly about specific questions or some other inquiries related

Discussion continues through the forum. Other members suggest solutions to the questions or point to existing documents in

Modeling is done through documents that are stored by members in the knowledge base. No specific criteria

Depends on individual members. In general, senior members share their skills with

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to the networking field.

the support wiki. in the modeling process.

others (especially new comers)

Knowledge Assets

Discussions messages are present in the jives platform organized by topics.

Discussions messages. Documents, organized by topics and tags are provided to the members

After discussion with other members, documents are provided by the community leaders or coordinator

Use of CLN website

Inputs Questions, e.g. “What is a logical interface for?” Best Practices to share

Clarification of best practices, e.g. “Main idea when designing a network”.

Models, Documents, e.g. documents on Mobile Voice Access.

Documentation, models

Outputs Answers and clarifications from members, an example of an answer could be “Think of "logical" vs. "physical interface". From one computer, your remote desktop is linked into the other. While the two aren't "physically" connected ... you've created a "logical" connection. I don't know if this answers your question directly, but I hope it helps your understanding.”

Formalized process to best practices. For example, one member explains the process of designing a network and points out to tools that help designers. The answer “First we get all the requirements from our client such as bandwidth, applications, availability. Then we use that information to create a network flexible, secure the information, and scalable. Check www.ciscowebtools.com/designer tool, it gives a good set of steps to design a good network.

Integrated models and documents, wikis; e.g. creation of a Team Wiki by members on Mobile Voice Access.

Discussion among members showing their interest in some topic, or models that were shared

Technology Tools/ Processors

Using jive platform to embed the discussion forums and blogs

Use tagging and RSS feeds to identify documents

Use of Wikis and jives hyperlinks.

Some practice-based tools are provided online such as online questionnaire on fields of interest to help members test their knowledge.

Controls Ongoing support from the CoP managers

Users, Engineers Rules for creating a wiki; disclosure

Previous members knowledge

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statements about the kind of allowable documents

The knowledge base in CPsquare is organized as a folder structure with a content based on community members’ agreement. The knowledge retrieval is based on the members’ navigation skills through the community space and knowledge base. The importance of the foundation workshop in CPsquare is crucial to new members. They are assigned projects where they make use of communication tools such as email, instant messaging, or discussion forums and produce collaborative documents like wikis. After few weeks of struggle, members learn the common vocabulary of the community and get used to the navigation in Web Crossing. Ultimately, they feel welcomed and acquire more experiential knowledge during this virtual workshop. Table 2. SECI model applied to “CPsquare” CoP. SECI modes Socialization

Clarification – Dialogue




How is the SECI model applied?

Technology steward, community leader, or members initiate dialogue through discussion forums, phone bridge and/or email mainly about a project or a research work.

Members conceptualize their project into sub-tasks and often create a wiki page to have a collaborative place to share ideas and concepts. Members use a common simple language while chatting and taking notes.

Modeling is done mainly through wiki creation following a known structure among members; Creation of summary documents that are used as annotations for the video or podcast recording or used to generate research papers.

Members practice their skills in moderating other projects and sub-teams in the CoP.

Knowledge Assets

Threads of discussion messages organized by topics; Members acquire communication skills with the help of others. Some help documents are available in the Web Crossing environment.

Discussion messages and chat notes are available. Discussion is often summarized in a word document and a Wiki is created if needed.

A wiki is updated collaboratively by CoP members with links to Word/PDF and PowerPoint documents.

Members acquire deep understanding of their field and feel more comfortable in using the technology and sharing ideas and concerns.

Inputs Questions, e.g. “Members want to learn more about Webheads In Action

Clarified questions, project plans; e.g. creating a project plan about WIA

Ideas, documents; e.g. gathering all information about

Documents, Wikis, projects

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(WIA) CoP” CoP and assign roles to members

WIA CoP

Outputs Answers and clarifications, e.g. Members discuss how to organize themselves to learn more about WIA.

Email; discussion forum; tags; e.g. collect documents about WIA and share them in WebCrossing Database

Common Wiki; e.g. create a common wiki about WIA and constantly update it.

Discussion among members, application of acquired knowledge to other setting than CPsquare

Technology Tools/Processors

Uses of Web Crossing platform as an Information System and a space of dialogue and exchange; Discussion forum; Email; Instant Messaging embedded through Web Crossing or through Skype; Conversations are done through Skype phone bridge and micro-blogging.

Wiki tools; Email; Discussion forum; RSS feeds and tagging.

Private and public wiki; Web Crossing database.

Web Crossing platform and other Web 2.0 tools.

Controls Support from senior members and CoP coordinator

CoP members, guests

Wiki tools Wiki tools, CPsquare knowledge base (Cybrary)

Discussion Comparing the two CoPs, CPsquare community applies the different SECI modes in more systematic way, especially with its core group which is not the case of CLN CoP. This is due to its maturity and the continuous involvement of the core group in the CoP moderation. However, concerning the knowledge assets, there is no clear distinction between the different types of assets. The capitalization of the experiences, skills, and shared practice scenarios is done for both CoPs in an implicit way. The main artifacts are shown in the wiki pages, blog posts and word documents. There is also a shortage in conceptual formulation of knowledge into models or concept maps that can be reused by community member to solve similar scenarios or problems. The routine knowledge assets showing processes and actions of experts are not always capitalized. Some of the practices are done through FAQ lists or help documents for both CoPs. CPsquare is more systematic in this process though. By applying the adapted SECI model to CoPs it’s clear that most of the knowledge in the community memory of the CoPs is explicit while most of the tacit knowledge is embedded in the members’ conversations through the socio-technical tools. In the case of CPsquare, some of the tacit knowledge is reified in documents summarizing methods and skills to be applied. The case study shows that some important aspects need to be present in each CoP such as the knowledge vision that reminds the members of their CoP’s goals, their sense of belonging and

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trust building. This should be an ongoing process that needs to be done within each CoP. Dialogue within the CoP through socio-technical tools is an important element that a CoP needs to work on. While some generalisations made through this research are possible within CoPs, there should be more research on other CoPs especially, the ones that are related to the ICT field. The qualitative study was done by the involvement of author in the CoPs. A quantitative analysis involving most of the CoPs members needs to be done to show the relevance of the study and arrives to a better generalization of the findings. CONCLUSION A conceptual model for knowledge management framework was proposed to exploit tacit and explicit knowledge as well as its capitalization within the framework of a CoP of engineering. The approach was based on the Nonaka’s SECI model for knowledge creation and was applied to two communities of practice “CPsquare” and “The Cisco Learning Network”. The author concludes from this study that the use of web technologies and socio-technical approach in the management of knowledge in CoPs is of high importance. At each mode of the SECI model, some Web 2.0 tools are involved and some of the practices are reified in the community memory. It has been shown that CoPs and social learning have a huge impact on learning as well as on knowledge sharing. To further validate the concept of knowledge management field in relation to the CoPs more experimentation on CoPs in the ICT domain needs to be carried out. This study suggested that the issue of tacit knowledge is important. The use of qualitative methods to assess this component is clearly of importance to a full understanding of CoPs. A quantitative analysis involving most of the CoPs members needs to be done to show the relevance of the study and arrive to a better generalization of the findings. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research is part of the PhD thesis of the author under the supervision of Dr. Chikh Azeddine. The author would like to acknowledge the support of her supervisor, her research team, the support of CPsquare and Cisco Learning Network CoPs members, as well as the support of Dr. Elizabeth Noble and Dr. Susan Blake from Effat University. REFERENCES Baskerville, R.L. (1999). Investigating Information Systems with Action Research. Communication of the Association of Information Systems, 2(19). Chatti, M.A., Klamma, R., Jarke, M., & Naeve, A. (2007). The web 2.0 driven SECI model based learning process. In Proceeding of ICALT-2007 Conference, Niigata, Japan. Davenport, E., & Hall, H. (2002). Organizational Knowledge and Communities of Practice. In B. Cronin (Ed.), Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (Vol. 36, pp. 171-227). Fontaine, M., & Millen, D. R. (2004). Understanding the benefits and impact of communities of practice. In P.M. Hildreth & C. Kimble (Eds.), Knowledge Networks: Innovation through Communities of Practice (pp. 1-13). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Hoadley, C., & Kilner, P. G. (2005). Using Technology to Transform Communities of Practice into Knowledge-building Communities. SIGGROUP Bulletin, 25(1), 31-40.

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Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. (2004). Communities of practice: Going One Step too Far? Retrieved from http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/docs/AIM14.pdf Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Naeve, A., Yli-Luoma, P., Kravcik, M., Lytras, M., Simon, B., Lindegren, M., Nilsson, M., et al. (2005). A Conceptual Modelling Approach to Studying the Learning Process (IST 507310). PROLEARN: European Commission Sixth Framework Project. Nonaka, I. (1994). A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1) 14-37. Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press. Nonaka, I., Toyama, R., & Konno, N. (2000). SECI, Ba and Leadership: a Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation. Long Range Planning, 33(1), 5-34. Palette. (2006). Pedagogically sustained Adaptive LEarning Through the exploitation of Tacit and Explicit knowledge. Retrieved from http://palette.ercim.org/ Pan, S. L., & Leidner, D. E. (2003). Bridging Communities of Practice with Information Technology in Pursuit of Global Knowledge Sharing. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 12(1), 71-88. Peansupap, V. and Walker, D. H. T. (2004). Diffusion of Information and Communication Technology: A Community of Practice Perspective. Knowledge Management in the Construction Industry: A Socio-Technical Perspective. Kazi A. S. Hesinki, Finland, Idea Group Publishing. Sarirete, A. and Chikh, A. (2010). A Knowledge Management Process in Communities of Practice of Engineering based on the SECI Model for Knowledge. International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 5(1), 27-42, January-March 2010. Trayner, B., Smith, J.D. & Bettoni, M., (2007). Participation in International Virtual Learning Communities: A Social Learning Perspective CPsquare. Retrieved from http://www.weknow.ch/marco/A2006/WEBIST/Trayner_Smith_Bettoni_2007_Participation_in_International_Virtual_Learning_Communities.pdf Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Wenger, E. (2004). Knowledge management as a doughnut: Shaping your knowledge strategy through communities of practice. Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved from http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?intArticle_id=465 Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 1 Web Crossing is a community based tool that helps online collaboration for communities, social networks, project teams communities (see: http://www.webcrossing.com/Home/) 2Foundation workshop reference can be found at: http://cpsquare.org/edu/foundations/ 3 Jive software includes collaboration software, community software, social networking software & social media monitoring solutions (see http://www.jivesoftware.com/)