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Ogbamichael, Hermon Berhane. "Information & knowledge sharing within virtual communities of practice (VCoPs)." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2799.
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Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.The concept of virtual community of practice (VCoP) emanates from the need to create a new mode of learning and knowledge creation. It is found that highly structured forums are not necessarily the best way to assist people to learn and improve their knowledge. This then, requires organisations to seek alternative informal ways to share knowledge. The significance of optimising knowledge sharing results in VCoPs receiving considerable attention while searching for new ways to draw on expertise dispersed across global operations. This impacts organisations, thereby enabling them to respond more speedily to the demands of their stakeholders. The fast pace of change in their business environments is also a factor to contend with. Within this context, the use of VCoPs to optimise both, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing within stakeholders, is the central theme of this research. The findings from literature enables the researcher to explore scientific based models that may have the potential to enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise. The Life Cycle knowledge flow model is found to be the most comprehensive compared to two other models – namely, a Spiral knowledge flow model and Dynamic knowledge flow model. The outflow from the findings in literature is that the Life Cycle knowledge flow model is selected as the basis to conduct two surveys to determine if the model could be adapted to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs in particular, and in an enterprise in general. The result of the two surveys conducted (in 2011/2012 and 2016), leads to establishing an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model. The established model enhances knowledge sharing within VCoPs, and in turn, assists when optimising knowledge sharing in an enterprise. This extended model covers six phases of knowledge development to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The first phase enhances the creation of both, tacit and explicit knowledge. The second phase enables to optimise the organisation of knowledge. The third phase enables the formalisation of tacit knowledge, that is, conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge. The fourth phase improves the distribution of knowledge. The fifth phase enables to optimise the application of knowledge and the final phase enables the evolution or continuous development of knowledge. The contribution of this research proposes that a comprehensive knowledge flow model, namely the Life Cycle knowledge flow model found in literature, served as the basis for this research. However, this model was never tested or verified if it indeed optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The two surveys (Survey One 2011/12 and Survey Two 2016) were developed and distributed to respondents to verify the model’s suitability to VcoPs. As a result of responses received from the two surveys, the researcher was then able to develop an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model that particularly, optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. This research further contributes in formulating a scientific based knowledge flow model that can be adapted to social networks. Therefore, this research also creates the foundation to further study to investigate the optimisation of knowledge sharing in social networks. In recent literature, social networks are established as one of the informal mechanisms to share and enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise.
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Mason, Cecily Jane, and cecilym@deakin edu au. "Virtual Communities of Enterprise Value Creation Potential for Regional Clusters." Deakin University. Management and Marketing, 2008. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20090129.152913.
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Governments around the world have pursued ICT based initiatives including the provision of infrastructure to assist regional areas to develop economically (Beckinsale et al. 2006). There has been considerable interest in exploiting ICT to develop high technology clusters and support innovative networks (Lawson & Lorenz 1999). However, these initiatives have met with mixed success. It is clear that such development depends on more than providing appropriate technology Attention to social and organisational factors is crucial if regional areas are to realise the potential of ICT as a tool for regional development (Gengatharen & Standing 2005). It is important to understand the nature of business networking as well as the perspective of those participating in such networks if successful initiatives are to be established. The aim of this research is to identify how ICT can be used for knowledge sharing among businesses in regional areas and how the online networks through which knowledge is shared can contribute to the development of the region.
This research investigates the question of what value small businesses in those regions derive from knowledge sharing networks using ICT. It also seeks to identify the value creation potential of those networks for their region. Previous research has shown that large organisations have achieved significant value from virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) as a structure for sharing knowledge and supporting innovation (Wenger 2004). The concept of Communities of Practice and Virtual Communities of Practice provided a useful point of departure for this research.
The investigation comprised interpretive case studies of two Australian regional areas and their local business networks which incorporated SMEs in a variety of industries. Each case study was conducted in three stages. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with regional economic development leaders. Second, 192 small and medium business owners were surveyed about their business activities and their participation in local business networks. Third, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 small business owners to gain a richer understanding of their participation in knowledge-sharing networks and the value they realised or anticipated from various knowledge-sharing activities. A combined analysis of the two cases was conducted as well as the individual analyses. The research adopted a modified Structured Case method (Carroll & Swatman 2000).
The analysis of the two case studies revealed:
a.) There was a significant difference between the majority of SMEs who traded within the region and those trading largely beyond the region. The latters more proactive online sharing knowledge and seeking of business opportunities would enable them to access most value from VCoEs.
b.) The participating SMEs operated in a number of industries and what they had in common was an interest in improving their enterprises. Consequently they used their regional networks which were not aligned to any one industry to make connections and share knowledge. They did not necessarily seek to access specific information.
c.) A necessary prerequisite of VCoEs is having vibrant CoEs where face-to-face interaction enhances the development of trust and social capital. This appeared as an important factor facilitating the move to incorporate online knowledge sharing.
d.) Younger businesses appeared to gain the most value from knowledge sharing in CoEs as they were using their networks to determine how to grow their firm.
e.) The value of VCoEs to the SME participants is primarily in their general connection to other businesses in the region. Since the participants operate in a number of industries, what they have in common is an interest in their enterprises. The main value appears to come from the potential of the VCoEs to add to this connection and to social capital.
This study found that successful management of VCoEs must:
i) Ensure the network website is actively used by members before attempting to incorporate online knowledge sharing.
ii) Monitor and stimulate online forum interaction rather than rely on interaction to occur naturally.
iii) Not rely on email as a mechanism for stimulating knowledge sharing. Email is seen as more appropriate for formal documentation than for candid exchange of views.
The concept of virtual communities of practice was found to be somewhat inappropriate for the diverse SMEs in the regional networks. Because of their diversity, they do not necessarily see value in sharing knowledge about practice but they do see value in sharing more general information and in providing support, connection and ideas that facilitate the strategic direction of their business. To address this issue, the concept of virtual communities of enterprise (VCoEs) is proposed as recognition of what the participating SMEs had in common: an interest in their individual businesses as part of the region.
The original contribution of this research consists of its identification of the issues in linking SMEs across industries. It provides new insights on the business practices of regional SMEs and developed the concepts of Community of Enterprise (CoE) and Virtual Community of Enterprise (VCoE) to capture the special nature of knowledge sharing in regional multi-industry business networks. New perspectives are revealed on the ways that value could be derived from knowledge sharing by these regionally networked SMEs, as such it adds to the body of knowledge in an area where there has been little systematic investigation. This research reinforces the importance of social capital as an essential pre-requisite for accessing the value of intellectual capital in regions. Social capital emerges as vital when establishing and maintaining face-to-face knowledge sharing in regional networks and a necessary pre-condition for successfully establishing online knowledge sharing. Trust is a key factor and this research extends understanding of the role of social capital and the importance of trust in regional networks and online interaction. Its findings have significant implications for the development and management of CoEs and VCoEs as it outlines the key elements that need to be addressed when establishing and maintaining them, the appropriate applications for this context and the issues involved in management of the networking and online contexts. These findings not only increase our understanding of the management dynamics of online networks, they can also provide guidance to those seeking to establish successful VCoEs.
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Arnell, Rose. "Teacher Beliefs on Personal Learning, Collaboration, and Participation in Virtual Communities of Practice." ScholarWorks, 2014. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/48.
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Virtual communities of practice have been used to improve teachers' instructional practice; yet, many of these communities do not take into account the effect of teachers' personal learning and collegial collaboration beliefs on engagement within this model. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine if teaching was enhanced through participation in virtual communities of practice and determine if teachers' personal beliefs prior to entering these communities influenced their engagement. Wenger's social learning theory served as the conceptual framework. The research questions asked how teachers' beliefs on personal learning and their beliefs on collaboration influenced their engagement in virtual communities of practice and how personal learning networks facilitated extended technology-based learning in the classroom. Data were collected through 2 semi structured interviews with 9 teacher participants and analysis of digital records from the Classroom 2.0 and Flat Connections Nings. Manual, open-coding of the data revealed themes which explained the use of personalized learning networks for instructional growth and social networking for collaborative practice. Findings indicated that while teachers' previously held ideas were not significantly altered, the social, supportive environments created through virtual learning communities made a suitable setting for professional development. These findings may effect positive social change as virtual communities of practice for teachers evolve into professional development environments that challenge teacher beliefs, use progressive technologies, and engage teachers in collaborative activities.
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Araya, Rebolledo Jacqueline Paz. "Analysis of scientific virtual communities of practice." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2015. http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/130775.
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Ingeniera Civil IndustrialLas diferentes redes sociales han surgido a partir del sentido común y natural de los humanos por reunirse en torno a un tema, sintiendo que pertenecen a una Comunidad, la cual es representada por una red de relaciones complejas entre las unidades que cambia con el tiempo. Una Comunidad es un grupo de vértices que comparten propiedades comunes y desempeñan un papel similar dentro del grupo, las cuales pueden ser clasificadas como Comunidades de interés, en el que los miembros comparten un interés particular, y Comunidades de práctica, donde los miembros comparten inquietudes, participan y desarrollan un tema volviéndose expertos. Si estas interacciones ocurren sobre plataformas en línea, son llamadas Comunidades virtuales de interés (VCoI) y Comunidades virtuales de práctica (VCoP). El estudio de las Comunidades virtuales (VC) no sólo ayuda a entender su estructura interna, sino que también a descubrir cómo el conocimiento es compartido, los principales miembros, proporcionar herramientas a los administradores para mejorar la participación y asegurar la estabilidad de la comunidad en el tiempo. El área de Análisis de Redes Sociales y de Minería de Datos han estudiado el problema, pero ninguno toma en cuenta el significado del contenido que los miembros de una comunidad generan. Por lo tanto, la principal contribución de este trabajo es tomar en cuenta la semántica de los contenidos creados por los miembros de dos VCoP, así como las propiedades estructurales de las redes que forman, para estudiar la existencia de otros miembros claves, buscar los principales temas de investigación, y estudiar las propiedades de las nuevas redes creadas con contenido. Se utilizó una VCoP científica del área de computación ubicua, y otra del área Web Semántica, considerando como data los autores de los papers aceptados en las conferencias de las comunidades y su contenido. Este trabajo propone dos métodos, el primero, busca representar cada artículo escrito por los miembros por sus Keywords, y el segundo, busca extraer los temas subyacentes de cada paper con el modelo probabilístico LDA. Con el resultado de estos métodos, las interacciones entre autores pueden ser construidas basándose en el contenido en lugar de sólo la relación de coautoría (red base para comparar los métodos). La metodología propuesta es un proceso híbrido llamado SNA-KDD que incluye la extracción y procesamiento de datos de texto, para su posterior análisis con SNA para descubrir nueva información, utilizando teoría de grafos, algoritmos de clasificación (HITS y PageRank) y diferentes medidas estructurales para redes. Los resultados muestran que las redes científicas en estudio pueden ser modeladas como VCoPs usando la metodología SNA-KDD usando teoría de grafos. Esto queda evidenciado en los resultados de la métrica Modularidad, obteniendo valores sobre 0,9 en la mayoría de las redes, lo que indica una estructura de comunidad. Además, los métodos propuestos para introducir el contenido generado por sus miembros, Keywords y Modelo de Tópicos LDA, permite reducir la densidad de todas las redes, eliminando relaciones no relevantes. En la red de Computación Ubicua, con 1920 nodos, se redujo de 5.452 arcos a 1.866 arcos para método de Keywords y a 2.913 arcos para modelo LDA; mientras que en la red de Web Semántica permitió reducir de 20.332 arcos a 13.897 arcos y 8.502 arcos, respectivamente. La detección de miembros claves se realizó contra una comparación de los autores más prominentes del área según las citaciones en Google Scholar. Los resultados indican que la mejor recuperación de miembros claves se da en el método de tópicos por LDA con HITS para el primer dataset, para el segundo se da en Keywords, tanto en métricas de Recall como en Precision.
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Majewski, Grzegorz. "Online knowledge sharing in virtual communities of practice." Thesis, University of the West of Scotland, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.557267.
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Knowledge Management (KM) techniques and tools have been utilized by organizations from diverse sections of the Economy to achieve numerous goals such as: competitive advantage, increased innovativeness and global project management. One of the techniques of KM that has gained prominence as a very useful knowledge sharing tool is Virtual Communities of Practice. It originated from work on situated learning. In order to utilize it in a proper way it is necessary to take into account human, psychological, social and technological factors. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that influence participants of VCoP while they play two distinct roles: knowledge provider and knowledge receiver. This is a gap in knowledge as there is a shortage of studies that analyse these two roles in VCoPs. Most of the research in this area focus on the knowledge provider role, with few studies considering the knowledge receiver role. Both roles are present only in a few studies and even so they are not the main topics of those researches and thus these roles are not fully recognized by the authors. This leads to the research problem of how to evaluate knowledge sharing activities performed by the participants of VCoPs while they play these two distinct roles: knowledge provider and knowledge receiver. In order to address this research problem it was necessary to identify and analyse the underlying constructs and how they interact with each other. The process of identifying these constructs and their relationships was supported by existing literature and models formulated by other researchers. In 2 particular and substantial to this research were three models formulated by: Chiu et al. 2006, Lin et al 2009 and Jiacheng et al 2010. The research built relationships between the identified constructs in order to develop a research model. The constructs of the research model were operationalized into appropriate questionnaire items and interview questions. Data was collected using a validated questionnaire and interviews with key members of two VCoPs. The first study was performed with Laurea Labs in Finland and focused on knowledge intensive processes, while the second study with a group in Second Life investigated online knowledge sharing in an immersive virtual environment. In order to evaluate the research model, collected data was analysed. The tools used were Principal Components Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Multiregression Analysis. It was utilized to evaluate the conceptual model. The contribution to knowledge of this study is the identification of the critical factors influencing online knowledge sharing in virtual communities of practice, the design of conceptual model for knowledge sharing that brings together the two distinct roles participants can play (knowledge provider and knowledge receiver), operationalisation of the factors into questionnaire items and interview questions as well as empirical research in two diverse environments (research lab and immersive virtual world). 3 The most significant relationships were between Knowledge Provision and Knowledge Reception on the one hand and Online Knowledge Sharing on the other as well as Perceived Benefits and Perception of Community. The nonsignificant relationships were dropped in the final model. Qualitative findings introduced Language and Innovation Capabilities as new constructs. Besides, further findings from correlation analysis have introduced new relationships termed as propositions on the model. The implications of the research include the difference in the way the receivers as opposed to givers of knowledge in VCoPs should be motivated to engage in knowledge sharing processes. Some of the motivatiors confirmed by this study are benefits, social ties and reciprocity.
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Yavneh, Jonathan S. "Virtual communities in the law enforcement environment do these systems lead to enhanced organizational memory /." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2008/Dec/08Dec%5FYavneh.pdf.
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Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008.Thesis Advisor(s): Bergin, Richard ; Josefek, Robert. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 5, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-71). Also available in print.
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Alghatas, Fathalla M. "Understanding Knowledge Sharing Within Communities of Practice. A Study of Engagement Patterns and Intervention within Community of Practice." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4243.
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Online Communities of Practices (CoPs) is emerging as a major form for knowledge sharing in this era of information revolution. Due to the advancement of technology and ease of internet access in every part of the world, people began to get more and more involved in online CoPs to share knowledge. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. To that end, there is a need to examine, why do people engage in an online discussion, what role domain experts play to keep on-line discussion alive and how to develop a ''right intervention'' to maintain and stimulate participants for engagement in on-line community. This thesis studied eight Communities of Practices that are being deliberately formed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the online community and describes an exploratory study of knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices (CoPs) by investigating eight CoPs - Start up Nation, All nurses, Young Enterpener, Teneric, SCM Focus, Systems Dynamics, Mahjoob and Alnj3 CoPs. The CoPs under investigation shared the following characteristics: permanent life span, created by interested members (i.e. bottom-up rather than top-down management creation), have a high level of boundary crossing, have more than 700 members who come from disparate locations and organizations, have voluntary membership enrollment, high membership diversity, high topic's relevance to members, high degree of reliance on technology, and are moderated. Data were gathered on the eight CoPs through online observations and online questionnaire survey. Results show that in each of the case study the most common type of activity performed by members of each CoP was sharing knowledge, followed by socialsing. Regarding the types of knowledge shared, the most common one across all CoPs was practical and general knowledge. The types of practical knowledge, however, varied in each CoP. The study also discovered that storytelling extensively enhances knowledge transfer and participants' interpersonal communications in eight communities under investigation. What were also notable in this study were the stories discussed in a CoP remains in the archive, what are more likely to generate interest and curiosity on the topic among inactive members who ultimately facilitates knowledge transfer. In this study it is also evident that successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms that the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. An analysis of selected topics in the eight case studies has shown that some successful topics have few replies and vice versa, where many topics ended with open conclusion or they were unsuccessful in terms that the original query was not answered satisfactory. Therefore, it is not necessary that successful topic will get high number of responses as there are some successful topics which have limited number of replies. Overall, it is found that, topic may play a major role in the success of online discussion. It is observed in the study that members normally use short messages rather long messages and usually discusses more than one topic within one thread. Practical implications for knowledge sharing in online communities of practice were discussed, along with some recommendations for future research.
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Romero, Mas Montse. "Virtual Communities of Practice for Family Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's: Knowledge sharing and quality of life." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/671646.
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L’atenció a una persona amb Alzheimer suposa una càrrega per les persones cuidadores havent-t’hi una forta correlació negativa entre aquesta càrrega i la seva qualitat de vida. L’objectiu d’aquesta investigació és proporcionar recursos, concretament les comunitats virtuals de pràctica, per ajudar aquestes persones cuidadores a afrontar el seu rol. Aquest estudi es va dur a terme mitjançant una intervenció que va consistir en establir dues comunitats virtuals de pràctica per a cuidadors: una moderada per un cuidador expert i l’altra per professionals de la salut. Les comunitats virtuals de pràctica van contribuir a millorar la qualitat de vida dels cuidadors, sobretot si incloïen professionals de la salut. L’edat i la relació amb la persona amb Alzheimer van ser variables moderadores. El coneixement social i el suport social eren prioritats per les persones cuidadores. Aquest estudi mostra que el benefici de les comunitats virtuals de pràctica rau en la interacció social.Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s places a burden on family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s and there is a strong negative correlation between this burden and their quality of life. The aim of this research is to provide resources, specifically Virtual Communities of Practice, to help family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s cope with their role. This study was undertaken through an intervention which consisted of establishing two virtual communities of practice for caregivers: one moderated by an expert caregiver and the other by health professionals. Virtual communities of practice helped to improve the quality of life of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s, particularly if they included health professionals. Age and the relationship with the person with Alzheimer’s were moderator variables. Social knowledge and social support were priorities for the family caregivers. This study shows the benefit of virtual communities of practice lies in the ongoing social interaction.
Programa de Doctorat: Cures Integrals i Serveis de Salut
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Han, Jung-Min. "The consumer negotiation of brand meaning in online brand communities." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-consumer-negotiation-of-brand-meaning-in-online-brand-communities(d7db292d-1fa1-4314-a595-53a2febbab44).html.
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There has been much enthusiasm over the power of online brand communities (OBCs). Ensuring that OBCs achieve their potential, however, is a challenge. Adopting the view that an OBC is a social entity at its core, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of OBCs and how consumers manage the continuous tension between social-related and brand-related aspects of OBCs through brand-related and non-brand-related social practices. The researcher took a symbolic interactionist approach and qualitative data were collected using ethnography and in-depth interviews from OBC participants in South Korea. The study was divided into two phases: the exploratory phase and the main study. In the first stage the researcher inspected OBCs and focused on understanding the social context by investigating four OBCs in the fashion and digital camera categories. Evidence of an OBC as a virtual third place (VTP) in the consumer’s mind was revealed. A typology was developed and social practices were revealed and defined. In the main study the researcher developed the framework of brand meaning negotiation and revealed how consumers symbolically interact and negotiate brand meaning through social practices. The tension between social-related and the brand-related aspects during this process was illustrated. The key contributions of this research are as follows. Firstly, the study reveals that an OBC has a strong VTP quality, whereby consumers hate to leave. Second, the study extends our understanding of an OBC by categorising consumers’ different perceptions of OBCs according to their attachment to the brand, the OBC and other participants. Third, the study reveals underlying social practices within OBCs that show the characteristics of a collectivistic culture. The study also fills the research gap by examining the brand meaning negotiation process and suggesting a framework that shows how underlying practices link brand and social-related aspects of an OBC together, which was formerly a “black box”. Lastly, it demonstrates that social bonds, regardless of their importance for making an OBC thrive, can be a double-edged sword and should be balanced carefully with brand-related practice.
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Raphael, Leonard Chijioke Charles. "Fuzzy front end of innovation process management in high technology companies : knowledge sharing in virtual communities of practice." Thesis, Durham University, 2017. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11954/.
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This thesis seeks to examine the challenges inherent in creating and managing knowledge at the front-end stages of innovation. Specifically, the work develops new knowledge to understand how the formation of Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) informs the front end of New Product Design (NPD) and the use of uncodified knowledge to achieve Fuzzy Front End (FFE) innovation outcomes. The ‘fuzziness’ comes from the fact that this cannot be codified and therefore predicted. This is relevant because a lot of new product failures have been attributed to the lack of management at the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation (FFEI) and the technologies at play in this stage. It is for these reasons that the FFE is a very important aspect of potentially successful innovations (Coates, 2009). Studies have shown that ‘speed to market’ and ‘product quality’ play a role in the positive impact of investment at the FFE phase on subsequent profitability (McNally et al., 2011). This is particularly significant, as it has also been established that expenses incurred in the later stages of the innovation process do not have any significant effect on the profitability of new product innovations (McNally et al., 2011). The ‘fuzziness’ and intangible nature of the FFE phase of NPD creates and adds to the complexities and challenges experienced in the management of these activities. Scholars have therefore called for a richer understanding of this phase through more extensive research at the FFE to advance the innovation management discipline as a whole (Bertels et al., 2011). In order to identify the problem areas at the FFE, the researcher has uncovered recurring themes and concepts in the knowledge management field, observing a positive connection between tacit knowledge, knowledge transfer and Situated Learning Theory (SLT) of Community of Practice (CoP) at the FEI within high technology organisations. This is supported by empirical evidence, which states that individuals or groups with more social connections are more likely to be innovative, creative and share knowledge than isolated people or groups (Bjork & Magnusson, 2009). This in turn points to the knowledge transmission benefits of a CoP, particularly in relation to the transfer of tacit knowledge. However, understanding remains undeveloped theoretically, conceptually and empirically with regard to how a CoP in a physical environment, and in particular within a VCoP in a virtual environment, can operate effectively to resolve problems at the FFE of the innovation stage. Findings from the research suggest that the FEI should not be structured, and that businesses need to build an enabling environment to sustain the FFEI. Innovation on the front or back end should not be left to itself either, it has to be managed or governed in some way. In order to develop and manage VCoP at the FFI, this research recommends a sustainable, flexible and adaptable innovation process. This may be understood as creating a vehicle for the innovation process filtered through several gates where all experiences and the innovation journey itself is properly scrutinised. It is further proposed that this approach can also assist in the mitigation of risk. Finally, the use of virtual communication tools such as emails, online repository, virtual workspace and video conferencing for VCoP activities has become standard working practice for many businesses. Organisations who pay close attention to finding better ways to utilise, adapt and apply these tools to specific VCoP projects will be more likely achieve positive results.
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Bumbalough, Mathew. "The impact of social media on identity formation| A netnographic study of Korean graduate students' virtual communities of practice." Thesis, Indiana University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10143514.
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This dissertation explored how Korean students from a Midwestern university use social media when they come to the United States for the first time to start graduate school. In order to do so, I conducted a netnography which examines their virtual communities to observe language use (both English and Korean) within the their virtual circle of friends. I did so for a period of one semester, with archival data dating back to when they first found out they were coming to the US. This thesis is based on the argument that Korean graduate students go through a shift in linguistic, cultural, and social identity, and that social media can provide those in the field of literacy, culture, and language education a glimpse into the literacy and language practices of international students outside of the classroom. This dissertation also explains the theoretical framework behind virtual communities, analyzes current literature about virtual communities in language education, uses Kozinets’ (2009) netnography as a methodology to conduct the research, and analyzes semi-structured interviews, social media, and questionnaire data through Creswell’s (2008) notion of thematic analysis. I conclude that the use of social media generally provides a means of identity expression for Korean graduate students, and that their linguistic, cultural, and social identities are not shaped by social media itself, but social media provides an outlet where we can see negotiation of identity from when they apply to the school and through their first semester of study; by using Korean as a language of social and cultural expression and English as a means of sharing information about their programs.
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Prevedello, Clarissa Felkl. "Comunidades virtuais de prática no serviço público : quadro teórico para a organização de experiências e apoio à inovação." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/134817.
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O serviço público passa por um período de reinvenção e mudança em busca dos valores da Nova Gestão pública baseados na aproximação com as demandas da sociedade e incentivo a um ambiente aberto, transparente e inovador. Em consonância, o servidor público se posiciona cada vez mais de maneira ativa e consciente do seu papel, disposto a participar de um desafio aberto, diferente do imposto por um ambiente burocratizado e desumanizado. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa apoiou-se em um estudo de caso que se utilizou de uma observação participante permeada por um estudo teórico dos saberes necessários para entendela e pesquisá-la, envolvendo os conceitos de: inovação no setor público, intelectual orgânico e comunidades virtuais de prática. Para isso, foram acompanhadas e analisadas durante dois anos as interações da comunidade virtual de prática do Núcleo de Gestão Ambiental Integrada da reitoria do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense que se utilizou do e-mail e do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem Moodle para desenvolver práticas no setor público Nesse contexto, a pesquisa sobre a realidade prática durante o período foi permeada pelo estudo teórico que identificou a postura do servidor público como intelectual orgânico, agente da mudança, aberto para a aprendizagem e inovador que se utiliza das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação atuando em comunidade virtuais de prática. Ao final, a pesquisa delimitou um quadro teórico para identificar, caracterizar e posteriormente auxiliar na organização, condução e análise de experiências com comunidades virtuais de prática como ambiente de inovação no serviço público visando o desenvolvimento da postura de intelectual orgânico.The public service is undergoing a period of invention and changes in search of the New Public Management values-based approach to the demands of society, and encourage an open, transparent and innovative environment. Accordingly, the civil servant positions itself increasingly active and conscious of its role, willing to participate in an open challenge, other than imposed by a bureaucratic and dehumanized environment. In this context, this research was based on a case study that was used a participating observation permeated by a theoretical study of knowledge required to understand it and research it, involving the concepts of innovation in the public sector, organic intellectual and virtual communities of practice. For this, they were monitored and analyzed for two years the interactions of virtual community of practice of the Núcleo de Gestão Integrada of the rectory of the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense which used e-mail and virtual learning environment Moodle for to develop practices in the public sector In this context, the research on the practical reality during the period was permeated by theoretical study that identified the attitude of civil servants as organic intellectual, change agent, open to learning and innovator who uses of Information and Communication Technologies when working in virtual communities of practice. At the end, the survey identified a theoretical framework for identifying, characterizing and subsequently assist in the organization, conduct and analysis of experiences with virtual communities of practice and innovation environment in the public service for the development of the organic intellectual’s posture.
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Correia, Marta Pinheiro Lemos. "Aprendizagem e compartilhamento de conhecimento em comunidades virtuais de prática: estudo de caso na comunidade virtual de desenvolvimento de software livre debian-br-cdd." Universidade Federal da Bahia, 2007. http://www.adm.ufba.br/sites/default/files/publicacao/arquivo/dissertacao-martacorreia.pdf.
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O objetivo geral desta dissertação é analisar como se dão os processos de aprendizagem/compartilhamento de conhecimento em comunidades virtuais de prática, identificando como os conhecimentos individuais se transformam em conhecimentos coletivos. Comunidades de prática existem desde a Antigüidade, entretanto, somente há pouco tempo vêm sendo pesquisadas pela academia e estimuladas pelas organizações líderes. Tais comunidades são vistas como locus privilegiado de aprendizagem e, conseqüentemente, como fontes de vantagem competitiva para as organizações. Mais recentemente, com o advento da Internet, surgiram as comunidades virtuais de prática, que são redes eletrônicas que reúnem, por adesão voluntária, indivíduos comprometidos e engajados numa prática comum e que trocam experiências e conhecimentos a respeito de um tema. Estas distinguem-se das comunidades de prática tradicionais pela ausência da comunicação face-a-face nas interações, as quais são mediadas pelo computador. Apesar de já haver um volume razoável de estudos sobre as comunidades de prática, mormente no exterior, o mesmo não ocorre com as comunidades virtuais de prática. Os dados da pesquisa realizada na comunidade virtual de desenvolvimento de Software Livre DEBIAN-BR-CDD – uma comunidade virtual de prática – obtidos e analisados com base em técnicas qualitativas e quantitativas, corroboraram, em geral, resultados de pesquisas anteriores sobre aprendizagem de indivíduos em situações de trabalho e sobre processos associados de transformação desses conhecimentos adquiridos em conhecimento organizacional ou coletivo, indicando que, mesmo no ambiente virtual, a aprendizagem no plano individual ocorreu, por meio de estratégias acionadas pelos indivíduos, entre as quais, destacaram-se a busca em conhecimentos produzidos pela comunidade, o aprender fazendo e as consultas à comunidade. Esses conhecimentos adquiridos pelos indivíduos foram transformados em conhecimentos da comunidade DEBIAN-BR-CDD através de processos de codificação e socialização. Entre os processos de socialização foram enfatizados interações através de ferramentas assíncronas, especialmente lista de discussão, interações através de ferramentas síncronas e utilização da ferramenta de controle de versão, enquanto que os processos de codificação mais utilizados foram o registro de problemas em banco de dados de falhas, a utilização de ferramenta de controle de versão, a elaboração de manuais técnicos e de bancos de dados de Frequently Asked Questions. Foram ainda encontradas evidências de que, enquanto a tecnologia é indubitavelmente importante para suportar as interações no contexto das comunidades virtuais de prática, aspectos individuais como motivação e o nível de conhecimentos dos participantes, aliados a fatores como a confiança e a identificação destes com a comunidade são vitais para que os indivíduos compartilhem seus conhecimentos na rede, abrindo possibilidades de que a aprendizagem da comunidade venha a ocorrer.
Salvador
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David, Cailean. "Community, Crowdsourcing, and Commerce: WhatsApp Groups for Agriculture in Kenya." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/41530.
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WhatsApp’s growing presence in the developing world has led to a grassroots movement of messaging groups designed to serve relevant needs for small scale farmers in Kenya. These groups provide the means for as many as 256 members to ask questions, share experiences and solutions, gain access to information, and access markets for their products. This research project examines the use of these WhatsApp groups for agriculture in Kenya. The project seeks to understand the existing barriers to participation, and the use, benefits, and shortcomings of these groups for their members. Research findings indicated that farmers’ overall access to smart phones is a substantial barrier to their participation in groups for agriculture, and these barriers are expectedly more difficult for the poorest and most vulnerable (in which intersectional poverty creates additional barriers). However, while each group can vary significantly, members report that WhatsApp groups as a whole overwhelmingly benefit their livelihoods and practice. Systemic and societal change occurs when the experiences and successes of one individual are shared with a larger group – leading to rapid and shared prosperity. As each individual learns a new skill, technique, or input, the group must also learn and benefit from that knowledge. WhatsApp provides the means and the platform for this type of information exchange to occur at scale, and with individuals who would otherwise be unlikely to communicate. This research project examines the emerging use of grassroots WhatsApp groups as a potential example of this positive and inclusive approach to extension and development in agricultural communities.
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Tidwell, Craig Leonard. "Testing the impact of training with simulated scenarios for information security awareness on virtual community of practice members." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2011. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5058.
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Even though the null hypothesis, which stated that there would be no difference between the groups scores on the information security awareness tests, was not rejected, the groups that received the initial training with the simulated scenarios did perform slightly better from the pre-training test to the post-training test when compared with the control group that did not receive the initial training. More research is suggested to determine how information security awareness training with simulated scenarios and follow-up testing can be used to improve and sustain the security practices of members of virtual communities of practice. Specifically, additional research could include: comparing the effect of training with the simulated scenarios and with training that would not use the simulated security scenarios; the potential benefits of using adaptive and intelligent training to focus on the individual subjects' weaknesses and strengths; the length of the training with simulated scenarios events, the time between each training event, and the overall length of the training; the demographics of the groups used in the training, and how different user characteristics impact the efficacy of the training with simulated scenarios and testing; and lastly examining how increasing the fidelity of the simulated scenarios might impact the results of the follow-up tests.; Information security has become a major challenge for all private and public organizations. The protection of proprietary and secret data and the proper awareness of what is entailed in protecting this data are necessary in all organizations. This treatise examines how simulation and training would influence information security awareness over time in virtual communities of practice under a variety of security threats. The hypothesis of the study was that security-trained members of a virtual community of practice would respond significantly better to routine security processes and attempts to breach security or to violate the security policy of their organization or of their virtual community of practice. Deterrence theory was used as the grounded theory and integrated in the information security awareness training with simulated scenarios. The study provided training with simulated scenarios and then tested the users of a virtual community of practice over an approximately twelve-week period to see if the planned security awareness training with simulated security problem scenarios would be effective in improving their responses to the follow-up tests. The research subjects were divided into four groups, the experimental group and three control groups. The experimental group received all of the training and testing events throughout the twelve-week period. The three control groups received various portions of the training and testing. The data from all of the tests were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis ranked order test, and it was determined that there was no significant difference between the groups at the end of the data collection.ID: 029809175; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-196).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Engineering and Computer Science
Modeling and Simulation
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Machado, Davi Marcos. "A estruturação de comunidades e redes sociais em ambiente virtual." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2009. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/18247.
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Previous issue date: 2009-05-26Ending of century XX and mainly from the beginning of the XXI century, the popularization of the Internet access and the emergence of software which provide friendly environment for the inter-relationship of people in virtual space (MySpace, Orkut, Blogspot etc), has made the cyberspace to be occupied by a huge number of people with more diverse interests, which resulted in the appearance of virtual communities or social networks. These communities or networks are organized around several themes and interests. May simply be groups of adolescents who have fun to exchange views on some prominent personality in the media to communities that discuss issues such as education, philosophy, public health or groups that develop a project of great social or economic relevance. The objective of this research is to evaluate, through empirical analysis, based on the available literature, the feasibility of classifying the millions of virtual communities or social networks in just three major groups: virtual communities or social networks organized around projects, people and ideas. We believe that these three major groups are able to include all types of social groups in cyberspace, considering that each one has its peculiarities of organization and structure. "Project means a temporary business or a complex sequence of activities to provide a product. For people we considered the charismatic individual, able to attract other individuals to their environment, either by their capacity for leadership or the ability to provide interest information to a group of people. Ideas is meant a concept, a set of thoughts of an individual or a social group on any one topic, theory, point of view or opinion. The purpose of this classification (projects, people and ideas) is to identify the different forms of grouping, outlining the main features of each of these groups, the structure of the environment in which it is organized and dynamic. These settings can help people, institutions or companies who wish to use the cyberspace how environment of knowledge generation or development of activities or simply exchange ideas. From the characteristics of each type of community is possible to define the best structure and environment to be built, considering the interests and goals of those who structure the community or the network
No final do século XX e no início do século XXI, a popularização do acesso a Internet e o surgimento de softwares amigáveis e ambientes propícios à inter-relação de pessoas no espaço virtual (MySpace, Orkut, Blogspot etc) fez com que o ciberespaço passasse a ser povoado por um número imenso de pessoas com os mais diversos interesses, que resultou no surgimento de comunidades virtuais ou de redes sociais. Essas comunidades ou redes se organizam em torno dos mais diversos interesses. Podem ser grupos de adolescentes que se divertem ao trocar impressões sobre alguma personalidade em destaque na mídia até comunidades que debatem temas como educação, filosofia, saúde pública ou mesmo grupos que desenvolvem algum projeto de grande relevância social ou econômica. O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar a viabilidade de se classificar os milhões de comunidades virtuais ou redes sociais em apenas três grandes agrupamentos: comunidades ou redes organizadas em torno de projetos , de pessoas e de idéias . Acreditamos que esses três grandes grupos são capazes de comportar todos os tipos de agrupamentos sociais no ciberespaço, sendo que cada um deles possui suas peculiaridades de organização e estrutura. Entendemos por projeto um ação temporária que tempo por objetivo fornecer um produto singular. Por pessoas consideramos o individuo carismático, com capacidade de atração de outros indivíduos para seu entorno; e por idéias se entende um conceito, um conjunto de pensamentos ou concepções de um indivíduo ou de um grupo social sobre um tema qualquer. O objetivo de tal classificação (projetos, pessoas e idéias) é identificar as diferentes formas de agrupamento e apontar suas principais características. Tais definições podem contribuir com pessoas, instituições ou empresas que pretendam utilizar o ciberespaço como ambiente de geração de conhecimento ou de desenvolvimento de atividades ou simplesmente troca de idéias. A partir das características de cada tipo de comunidade é possível se definir qual a melhor estrutura, levando-se em conta o interesse e objetivo de quem estrutura a comunidade ou a rede
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Fraslin, Marie. "Evaluating the capacity of a virtual r&d community of practice : The case of ALSTOM power hydro." Thesis, Grenoble, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013GRENI059/document.
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Nous basant sur plusieurs études de cas effectuées au sein de communautés R&D virtuelles d'Alstom Power Hydro, nous démontrons d'une part, qu'un forum peut soutenir différents types d'intéractions allant de la transmission d'informations à la co-construction de connaissances et co-production de solution. Opérationnalisant et améliorant des grilles scientifiques visant à caractériser des communautés de pratiques virtuelles, nous démontrons aussi, qu'il existe un lien entre la configuration d'une communauté et le type de ses intéractions en ligne. Nous démontrons qu’il existe une configuration optimale, de communautés de pratiques virtuelles appliquées à la R&D, qui garantit des intéractions de type co-construction de connaissance et co-production de solution entre ses membres. A l'heure où Microsoft équipe chaque jour 20000 nouveaux utilisateurs de l'application Share point, cette thèse prend tout sens. En opérationnalisant une méthode d'évaluation des communautés de pratiques virtuelles, et en apportant des conseils pour déployer un forum appliqué à la R&D, nous accompagnons tout projet de création de communauté R&D virtuelle et/ou d'instrumentation de ses intéractions par un forumIn this dissertation, we explore the potential of a forum to support collaboration and knowledge sharing among Virtual Communities of practice. We thus propose a coding scheme based on the Rainbow model and test it in order to analyze the content of two forums of R&D VcoP. We demonstrate that a forum supports asynchronous argumentative activities and thus enhances global collaboration and knowledge sharing among R&D VcoP members. We then propose an enriched model based on the work of Line Dube and tested it to characterize the R&D VcoP studied. We prove that the community configuration has a direct impact on the online dynamic of the community. We point out the main factors that play a key role in fostering online collaboration and knowledge sharing between R&D Virtual community members
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Klimanova, Liudmila. "Second language identity building through participation in internet-mediated environments: a critical perspective." Diss., University of Iowa, 2013. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5001.
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Using a data-driven qualitative approach and drawing from language socialization and communities of practice theories, this dissertation study examines the second language (L2) identity-building strategies of 22 American learners of Russian who engaged in a six-week telecollaborative project with Russian native speakers in two genres of Internet-mediated communication: in one-on-one interactions with an assigned native Russian speaking keypal and in selected virtual communities populated predominantly by native Russian speakers. The investigation of L2 identity enactment in Internet-mediated environments was guided by three research questions pertaining to (1) the nature of the discourse Russian (L2) learners use in interactions with native speakers in two genres of online interactions, (2) the discursive manifestations of L2 learner and speaker identity performances in the learners' online discourse; and (3) the learners' perceptions of their online experiences in two genres of online interactions with native-speaking peers. The methods of critical discourse analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis were employed to examine the Russian learners' online interactional discourse and offline metatalk regarding their online experiences in the two genres.
The analysis of the Russian learners' discourse revealed the complex nature of discursive L2 identity enactment as they moved into and out of the frames of language learners to complete class assignments and negotiate their competent L2 speaker positions in conversations with Russian-speaking peers. The findings indicate that the two genres of online interaction evoked distinct participation patterns and interactional practices. In both genres, L2 identity enactment involved three dimensions: the macro-level of global identity categories, the locally assigned identity positionings (e.g., heritage speaker, multilingual speaker), and interactionally negotiated stances and temporary positions that evoked self- or other-initiated L2 learner/speaker identity performances.
The author concludes that L2 identity, when enacted in Internet-mediated environments, represents a continuum of L2 learner-speaker performances that rely on the contextual factors of the online encounter, learners' global identity tokens, and the dynamics of power relations in native-nonnative speaker interaction. Performing an L2 identity online is construed as a critical experience of re-evaluating one's association with the target language and transformation into a new kind of socially oriented multilingual subject.
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Paulos, Alice Maria Vaz. "Criação e partilha de conhecimento em comunidades de prática electrónicas: factores potenciadores e constrangedores." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/1179.
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Mestrado em Gestão de Sistemas de InformaçãoNo ambiente de mercado actual as organizações lidam com dois problemas fundamentais: a situação financeira à escala mundial e a forte concorrência decorrente da globalização de produtos e serviços e da entrada de novos países, tais como a China e Índia. Neste contexto e ao contrário das revoluções anteriores, a diferenciação entre empresas não emana dos equipamentos utilizados mas antes depende da capacidade de geração e aplicação do conhecimento conducente à criação de vantagens competitivas sustentáveis e à inovação. Acresce ainda que o conhecimento necessário para gerar valor acrescentado às organizações não se pode obter unicamente da formação formal mas é consequência, também, do contacto diário com o mercado, os problemas, os clientes, etc, isto é, da experiência prática dos colaboradores. As Comunidades de Prática (CdP) emergem, assim, como estruturas adequadas para suportar a aprendizagem que decorre da vivência prática de cada colaborador. Estas consistem em relações informais que facilitam a criação e partilha de conhecimento entre indivíduos com o objectivo de, em conjunto, melhorarem o modo como executam as tarefas associadas à sua prática. No entanto, paradoxalmente, à medida que a necessidade de conhecimento cresce, as organizações tem, cada vez, maior dificuldade na sua captura e difusão. Com a globalização e a consequente dispersão geográfica, os colaboradores passaram a dispor de menos oportunidades de interacção e como tal a partilha e criação de conhecimento diminuir. Como forma de incrementar a necessidade de interacção e devido ao grande desenvolvimento das tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TIC) começaram a surgir as comunidades de prática electrónicas (eCdP) constituindo estas o objecto de estudo desta investigação. As eCdP e as CdP são espaços privilegiados para a aprendizagem organizacional revelando-se, pois, crucial, compreender os factores que poderão facilitar ou condicionar a criação e partilha de conhecimento nas eCdP. Assim, este trabalho tem como objectivo estudar os factores susceptíveis de facilitar ou condicionar a partilha e criação de conhecimento nas eCdP. No estudo empírico foram desenvolvidos três estudos de casos, em empresas multinacionais do sector das TIC, com recurso à utilização de dois momentos de entrevistas sendo que o primeiro foi acompanhado de um questionário de caracterização das eCdP envolvidas na investigação.
In the contemporary market environment, organizations are dealing with two fundamental problems: the current financial situation worldwide and strong competition from the globalization of products and services, with entry of new countries such as China and India into the market. Unlike previous significant changes in the methods of production, the competitiveness of companies now depends not only on the physical resources available to them but also on their capacity for innovation; this, in turn, is driven by the capability to create and make use of new knowledge to ensure sustainable competitive advantage. The knowledge required to create added value can be gained by formal training but is most likely to arise as a consequence of daily contact with the market, production problems, customers, etc. through the daily experiences of employees. Properly encouraged, Communities of Practice (CoP) can then emerge naturally to channel the practical learning of employees into innovative activities. They support informal relationships, which facilitate the creation and sharing of knowledge between individuals in order to develop innovative ways of improving performance. Paradoxically, as the need for knowledge grows, the organization has, increasingly, more problems concerning its capture and dissemination. With globalization and consequent geographical dispersion, employees have fewer opportunities for face-to face interaction; this means the creation and sharing of knowledge can decline. One way of improving interaction is to improve communication between employees; the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) gave rise to electronic communities of practice (vCoP), which is the subject of this research. The vCoP and CoP are the best spaces for organizational learning and creation of new knowledge. The factors that may facilitate or constrain these activities are clearly important. This research aims to identify those factors. An empirical study was developed using three case studies of multinational companies in the ICT sector. Interviews were conducted in two phases; the first was also accompanied by a questionnaire to characterize the VCoP being studied.
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Mietk, Marcus, Cedric Zander, and Moritz Hesse. "Erfolgsgeschichte GeNeMe? – Eine bibliometrische Untersuchung der Autorenschaft über zwei Jahrzehnte." TUDpress, 2018. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A33855.
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Seit mittlerweile 20 Jahren widmet sich die GeNeMe der Untersuchung des Themengebietes der virtuellen Gemeinschaften. Dies war Anlass genug, um einen kritischen Blick auf die Historie der Tagung zu werfen. Dazu wurden in der aufgezeigten Studie insbesondere die Aspekte Internationalität, Interdisziplinarität sowie Praxisorientierung betrachtet. Als quantitative Datengrundlage der bibliometrischen Analyse dienten dabei die Autorinnen und Autoren der 18 verfügbaren GeNeMe-Tagungsbände. Die aufgezeigten und diskutierten Ergebnisse sollen einen möglichen Ausgangspunkt zur Auseinandersetzung mit der gegenwärtigen Situation der Tagung liefern.
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Affonso, Luiz Carlos. "Comunidades de práticas na internet: um estudo de duas comunidades hospedadas em portais públicos brasileiros." Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro / Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia, 2012. http://ridi.ibict.br/handle/123456789/770.
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Previous issue date: 2012-03-09This dissertation investigates the interaction and learning processes that occur in virtual communities of practice, with emphasis given to experiences hosted in Brazilian public portals. To better understand these experiences one considers here the general characteristics and evolution of some outstanding initiatives of electronic government in Brazil. One also considers theoretical approaches to the following basic concepts: community, social network, virtual community and virtual social network, virtual communities of practice. Specificities, advantages and problems involved in the creation and maintenance of virtual communities of practice, according to experts, are taken into consideration in an online questionnaire applied to the members of two virtual communities: The Amadeus community hosted in the Brazilian Portal de Software Público and the community called Comitê Técnico de Gestão do Conhecimento e Informação Estratégica (CT-GCIE) hosted in the Portal das Comunidades Virtuais do Setor Público. Results obtained from data analysis developed here, systematically comparing the two communities, indicate that they are active and seem to contribute to their member s professional development. Results, including suggestions given by respondents, also point out to some problems faced by the communities studies and provide some ideas to those interested in creating, participating and in keeping alive an online community of practice
Esta dissertação investiga os processos de interação e aprendizagem em comunidades de prática virtuais, com ênfase em experiências hospedadas em portais públicos brasileiros. Para melhor compreensão dessas experiências, abordam-se, inicialmente, algumas características gerais, evolução e iniciativas marcantes do governo eletrônico no Brasil. A seguir, consideram-se as discussões teóricas envolvidas no uso de conceitos fundamentais para o entendimento do tema: os conceitos de comunidade e de rede social, de comunidade virtual e de rede social na internet, bem como de comunidade de prática na internet. Abordam-se aqui também as considerações de especialistas sobre vantagens, especificidades e problemas envolvidos na criação e manutenção de comunidades de práticas na internet. Alguns aspectos básicos destacados por teóricos do tema das comunidades de prática embasam a elaboração de um questionário online aplicado aos membros de duas comunidades virtuais: a comunidade Amadeus hospedada no Portal de Software Público Brasileiro e na comunidade Comitê Técnico de Gestão do Conhecimento e Informação Estratégica (CT-GCIE) hospedada no Portal das Comunidades Virtuais do Setor Público. A análise dos dados, cotejando sistematicamente as características das duas comunidades, revela que ambas estão ativas e parecem contribuir significativamente para o desenvolvimento profissional dos seus membros. Os resultados obtidos, incluindo as sugestões fornecidas pelos respondentes, também desvendam alguns problemas e apontam caminhos a serem tomados para a melhoria e o crescimento das comunidades focalizadas no estudo, bem como fornecem insumos para aqueles que estejam interessados em criar, participar ativamente e manter viva uma comunidade de prática online
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Sanz, Martos Sandra. "Comunidades de práctica: fundamentos, caracterización y comportamiento." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667131.
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Aquesta tesi té un objectiu de doble naturalesa. D'una banda, vol limitar i definir el concepte de comunitat de pràctica, de l'altra, identificar els elements que faciliten el bon funcionament de les comunitats de pràctica a partir de casos d'èxit. Per a fer-ho, la tesi s'estructura de la manera següent: en primer lloc, es fa una aproximació als antecedents de les comunitats de pràctica, tant des del punt de vista de la predisposició natural de l'home a cooperar, com des de les primeres formes d'organització basades en la compartició d'experiències. En segon lloc, i després de la revisió de la bibliografia especialitzada, es defineixen els conceptes comunitat, comunitat virtual i xarxes socials virtuals. Posteriorment, es defineix i caracteritza el terme comunitat de pràctica. Partint d'aquest exercici de caracterització s'estableix una comparativa amb altres grups i equips i un altre tipus de comunitats virtuals. Finalment, s'evidencien els beneficis que aporta la virtualitat a les comunitats de pràctica. En tercer lloc, i prenent com a referència els casos clàssics de comunitats de pràctica Xerox i Tramitadores, s'extreuen els criteris que mostren que les comunitats de pràctica funcionen i els factors d'èxit que ho fan possible, per tal d'endinsar-se a continuació en l'anàlisi dels casos seleccionats als quals s'apliquen aquests criteris d'avaluació i factors d'èxit. Aquesta aplicació permet, al mateix temps, posar aquests factors a prova, de tal manera que, finalment, es proposa un model d'elements que afavoreixen el bon funcionament de les comunitats de pràctica. La tesi conclou apuntant algunes línies futures de recerca que fan referència als beneficis tangibles que poden aportar les comunitats de pràctica a les organitzacions.Esta tesis tiene un objetivo de doble naturaleza. Por un lado, acotar y definir el concepto de comunidad de práctica, y por otro, identificar aquellos elementos que facilitan el buen funcionamiento de las comunidades de práctica a partir de casos de éxito. Para ello, la tesis se estructura del siguiente modo: en primer lugar, se realiza una aproximación a los antecedentes de las comunidades de práctica, tanto desde el punto de vista de la predisposición natural del hombre a cooperar, como desde las primeras formas de organización basadas en la compartición de experiencias. En segundo lugar, y tras la revisión de la bibliografía especializada, se definen los conceptos comunidad, comunidad virtual y redes sociales virtuales. Posteriormente, se define y caracteriza el término comunidad de práctica. Partiendo de este ejercicio de caracterización se establece una comparativa con otros grupos y equipos y otro tipo de comunidades virtuales. Por último, se evidencian los beneficios que aporta la virtualidad a las comunidades de práctica. En tercer lugar, y tomando como referencia los casos clásicos de comunidades de práctica Xerox y Tramitadores, se extraen los criterios que muestran que las comunidades de práctica funcionan y los factores de éxito que lo hacen posible, para seguidamente adentrarse en el análisis de los casos seleccionados a los que se aplican dichos criterios de evaluación y factores de éxito. Dicha aplicación permite al mismo tiempo poner estos factores a prueba, de tal manera que, finalmente, se propone un modelo de elementos que favorecen el buen funcionamiento de las comunidades de práctica. La tesis concluye apuntando algunas líneas futuras de investigación que hacen referencia a los beneficios tangibles que pueden aportar las comunidades de práctica a las organizaciones.
This PhD thesis presents two main objectives. On the one hand, it aims to delimit and define the concept of community of practice. On the other, by analysing successful cases, it seeks to identify the elements that help communities of practice function properly. The thesis is structured as follows: we will first take a look at the predecessors of communities of practice, attending to humankind¿s natural predisposition towards cooperation, and to earlier forms of organization based on shared experiences. Secondly, after a review of specialized literature, we will proceed to define key concepts, such as community, virtual community and virtual social networks. After that, we will define and characterize the term ¿community of practice¿ and set up a comparative analysis of other groups and teams, along with other kinds of virtual communities. This will lead us to the next section, where we will emphasize the relevant contribution online environments make in communities of practice. Then, by exploring classic case examples of communities of practice (Xerox and the medical insurance claim processors), we will extract criteria that will allow us to show that communities of practice do indeed work, and to define the success factors that make them possible. Finally, we will delve into the analysis of the selected cases, applying these assessment criteria and success factors. This process will give us the opportunity to test these factors and suggest a model of the elements that favour the proper running of communities of practice.
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Krisper-Ullyett, Lotte, Max Harnoncourt, and Paul Meinl. "Erfolgsbedingungen für virtuelle selbstorganisierte Lerngemeinschaften." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2014. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-156289.
Full textAbstract:
Im virtuellen Umfeld von Hochschulen ist in letzter Zeit zunehmend ein Phänomen zu beobachten, das für die Zukunft von Bildungseinrichtungen von maßgeblicher Bedeutung sein könnte. Die Rede ist von selbst gesteuerten Lerngemeinschaften, die das Internet nutzen, um sich gegenseitig bei der Bewältigung des Studiums zu unterstützen. (Auf von Lehrenden didaktisch inszenierte Blended Learning Kurse wird im Rahmen dieses Beitrags nicht eingegangen.)
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Krisper-Ullyett, Lotte, Max Harnoncourt, and Paul Meinl. "Erfolgsbedingungen für virtuelle selbstorganisierte Lerngemeinschaften." Technische Universität Dresden, 2005. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A28411.
Full textAbstract:
Im virtuellen Umfeld von Hochschulen ist in letzter Zeit zunehmend ein Phänomen zu beobachten, das für die Zukunft von Bildungseinrichtungen von maßgeblicher Bedeutung sein könnte. Die Rede ist von selbst gesteuerten Lerngemeinschaften, die das Internet nutzen, um sich gegenseitig bei der Bewältigung des Studiums zu unterstützen. (Auf von Lehrenden didaktisch inszenierte Blended Learning Kurse wird im Rahmen dieses Beitrags nicht eingegangen.)
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Pakdel, Ali. "De l'activité communicative à l'activité sociale d'apprentissage des langues en ligne : analyse de la dynamique sociale en contexte institutionnel." Phd thesis, Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00637137.
Full textAbstract:
Ce travail a pour principal objet d'étude la dynamique sociale développée dans le cadre des activités d'apprentissage des langues en ligne en contexte institutionnel. En s'appuyant sur les propositions faites par la théorie de l'activité, cette thèse présente une analyse de la finalité, du cadre instrumental et du cadre social de l'activité d'apprentissage des langues en ligne en contexte institutionnel et de leur évolution dans le système de l'activité. Cette recherche fournit également une méthode d'analyse permettant d'évaluer l'impact de différents types de tâches et d'environnements virtuels d'apprentissage sur l'intensité de la dynamique sociale développée au sein des groupes d'apprenants d'une langue en ligne en contexte institutionnel. La méthode d'analyse utilisée s'appuie aussi bien sur l'analyse quantitative des traces écrites des communications/productions des apprenants que sur l'analyse du contenu de ces traces. Nous montrons qu'il est possible de développer une dynamique sociale de communauté virtuelle au sein de groupes d'apprenants d'une langue en ligne en contexte institutionnel. Le développement d'une telle dynamique est favorisé par la mise en œuvre de tâches d'apprentissage des langues et d'environnements virtuels d'apprentissage permettant l'action sociale authentique dans des cadres sociaux qui dépassent le cadre formel de l'institution éducative.
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Motsi, Harma. "Wireless applications for virtual communities of practice." 2004. http://encore.tut.ac.za/iii/cpro/DigitalItemViewPage.external?sp=1000853.
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Thesis (MTech. degree in Information Technology) Tshwane Univesrity of TechnologyThe idea of wireless application protocols (WAP) has been around for a while. Many organisations have invested heavily in developing these applications and services, but have failed to find the real benefits due to limitations of the most important aspect that could turn it into an everyday aspect of life, namely a reliable broadband connection. At the dawn of the wireless Internet, many organisations emerged with grand ideas of extending existing Internet content and services to mobile devices, making personal and corporate data and application services available anytime and anywhere. This dissertation proposes enhancements of the bidding process of m-auctions for agricultural virtual communities of practice. This application will be used to access auction market information on a portal developed by the Tshwane University of Technology for such a purpose using WAP technology. The farming community will receive real-time auction information and share knowledge through their mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDA) when they need it. This will assist in making the community more effective and thus improving productivity. For example, knowledge of real market prices will put the farmer in a better position to negotiate with the middleman, offering to transport goods to the market. WAP is seen as a means of connecting wired networks to the new wireless networks. Wireless technology can provide agricultural communities with the opportunity to access vast amounts of information independently of their location. This, in turn, will open the door to m-commerce for these communities. The unified modelling language (UML) is used to aid the design and development of the simulation system with the application programme code written in WML. WMLScript is used for the implementation of the simulation. The simulation is demonstrated using the Nokia Toolkit. The dissertation is concluded with suggestions for future research and development based on the work throughout this research.
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Hsueh, Chih-Ming, and 薛智名. "Knowledge Map Discovery in Virtual Communities of Practice." Thesis, 2001. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53321824215651585999.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立中山大學
資訊管理學系研究所
89
This thesis proposes a knowledge management technique, called knowledge map management system, which consists of three components: knowledge navigation, knowledge seeking, and learning history advisory. The knowledge navigation function helps knowledge seekers to understand the knowledge structure. Similarly, the knowledge-seeking component helps knowledge seekers to retrieve knowledge with its structure. The learning adviser generalizes the knowledge access pattern in problem solving history and advises knowledge in the problem solving process. In this study, we prototype the knowledge map management system to facilitate knowledge sharing activities. In order to keep the knowledge map up to date, we also propose the incremental approach to maintaining knowledge structure with the addition of knowledge artifacts. The knowledge map creation and maintenance functions are evaluated using documents collected from SCTNet and master thesis repository at National Central Library, and result in encouraging results.
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Tsela, Dumisani. "Virtual communities of practice in a mobile learning environment." Thesis, 2010. http://encore.tut.ac.za/iii/cpro/DigitalItemViewPage.external?sp=1000425.
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Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010.This research addresses how mobile learning by means of a virtual community of practice can facilitate interaction and knowledge sharing amongst contact university learners as they traverse varied learning environments. Using Activity theory and the theory of social presence, the research aimed to provide an informed understanding of virtual communities of practice and how they manifest in a mobile learning environment. In this dissertation, virtual communities of practice are argued to effectively facilitate personalized learning support in an environment where learning is not confined to particular places. Importantly, virtual communities of practice are fundamentally modeled by awareness of context and social presence. Informed by empirical evidence gathered through a Contextual Inquiry method, a field research framework that depends on interaction with users in the context of their work, this study shows how mobile learners in a typical South African university could be afforded personalized academic support as they traverse varied learning environments.
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Tsai, Yu-Hui, and 蔡玉惠. "Exploring Knowledge Sharing Continuance Intention in Virtual Communities of Practice." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/q34944.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立中央大學
資訊管理研究所
97
Due to the prosperous development of Internet, people can freely communicate to each other without any time and space limitations. Also, Internet changed the way people get together—via the Virtual Communities (VCs). Generally, virtual communities provide the platform for people to share knowledge, exchange message, and interaction socially, etc. However, there are various types of virtual communities. The most popular among knowledge workers are Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). Through the progress of discussion, professional workers create and accumulate new practical knowledge which is useful. Enterprises also get indirectly benefits from knowledge-sharing activities because they can reduce lots of on-job training cost and improve their sustainable advantages by their skillful employees. Nevertheless, managing the VCoPs is never easy. The manager must build knowledge creating and reserving mechanism to attract members’ continuous participation. This research integrated justice and trust theories to understand the knowledge sharing continuance intention of VCoPs members. We verified our research model and hypotheses with data collected from 179 members of IT-related VCoPs in Taiwan. The results show that distributive justice and procedural justice are significant positive predictors of trust in members. In addition, interpersonal justice and informational justice positively influence trust in management. Furthermore, both trust in members and management are positively related on members’ knowledge sharing satisfaction and continuance intentions. Implications for theory and practice, suggestions for future research, and research limitations are also discussed.
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Hung-ChunSu and 蘇鴻鈞. "Knowledge Contribution in Virtual Communities of Practice: Perspectives from Social Capital and Theory of Collective Action." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55643946838664619806.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立成功大學
企業管理學系碩博士班
98
The proliferation of virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) has dramatically and positively influenced the dissemination of knowledge. Thus the issues about why members of VCoPs violate rationality and further contribute knowledge in VCoPs have attracted the attention of researchers. Knowledge contribution in VCoPs can be explained by applying concepts of social capital and theory of collective action. However, to our best knowledge, there is no study that ever attempted to elaborate the relationship between social capital and theory of collective action or to examine the correlations of dimensions of social capital (structural capital, cognitive capital, and relational capital) in the context of VCoPs. For the purpose of discussing the above issues, this thesis conducted an investigation from the members of two VCoPs in Taiwan by applying the concepts of social capital, theory of collective action, and members’ sense of belonging toward the VCoPs. 232 valid questionnaires were collected. Analysis results from the questionnaires show that both members’ structural capital and cognitive capital are positively and significantly related to members’ sense of belonging, and, in turn, members’ sense of belonging is positively and significantly related to relational capital. Eventually, relational capital has a positive and significant influence on the knowledge contribution of members. The results also examined the correlations among dimensions of social capital and provide evidence that there is a significant and positive relationship between structural capital and cognitive capital. In conclusion, this thesis provides further understanding of knowledge contribution in VCoPs. For managerial implications, the study suggests that administrators of VCoPs can provide support for maintaining the proper level of feelings of sense of belonging and social capital among members within the VCoPs in order to improve their knowledge contribution.
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Mckay, Robert Forbes. "Distributed communities of practice : an exploration of a distributed community of practice of South African Life Science teachers." Diss., 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23160.
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This study researches phenomenon of the Biology Teachers Network (BTN), a distributed Community of Practice (CoP). The membership of the BTN is voluntary. The BTN is supported by a core group of members and administered by single moderator. The network uses a manually operated email system to communicate and share information as an automatic listserv proved to be beyond the capabilities of the membership. Etienne Wenger is the authority on the theory of CoPs and provides in depth background to the processes that are evident in a CoP. A CoP consists of the Domain, Practice and Community and through a process of negotiation of meaning, learning takes place through identity formation. CoPs can exist online in the form of distribute CoPs. Passionate leadership is essential for the formation of a CoP as is the voluntary participation of the members. A Naturalistic case study methodology is considered to be the most appropriate research tool. In this study a focus group interview and a collection of emails were used as data sources. The data was analysed using three instruments derived from the literature. The conclusion from the analysis of the data was that the BTN is a vibrant and fully functional distributed CoP in the coalescing stage. Participation in the BTN has led to an increase in professional development and ICT skills amongst some of the member teachers. The fact that this was achieved through the use of email instead of sophisticated websites suggests that this model of distributed CoP is suitable for the professional development of teachers in South Africa.Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009.
Curriculum Studies
unrestricted
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Silva, Adelina Maria Pereira da. "Produção e utilização de saberes na era digital : um estudo antropológico." Doctoral thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/2615.
Full textAbstract:
Tese de Doutoramento em Antropologia na especialidade de Antropologia Visual apresentada à Universidade AbertaNum mundo em profundas e aceleradas transformações, a Internet e o Ciberespaço emergem como um objeto de pesquisa antropológica. O objetivo deste estudo é refletir sobre o papel da antropologia quando o objeto de estudo se localiza no espaço virtual, num “não-lugar”. O Ciberespaço apresenta-se como um novo espaço de vida e prática sociais que influenciam o quotidiano, alterando a forma como os sujeitos interagem, se relacionam, trabalham e aprendem. O estudo realizado durante o Trabalho de Campo - uma comunidade virtual de prática – incidiu na observação das mudanças das práticas sociais e nas relações dos sujeitos membros dessa comunidade, analisando: a colaboração, a participação, a identidade, a interação e sociabilidade, e a moderação. Reflete-se também sobre as mudanças metodológicas que decorrem deste novo objeto de estudo – para novos espaços/novas metodologias. Para a Recolha de Dados recorreu-se à netnografia, um método de pesquisa em ambientes virtuais inspirado na etnografia. A utilização de uma netnografia, permitiu o registo e captura de informações que nos levaram a concluir que, por um lado, os saberes desenvolvidos durante a prática social na comunidade virtual de prática observada, a colaboração, a participação e a interação são fatores essenciais à construção da identidade do “ser membro”, e estão associados aos mecanismos de aprendizagem, desenvolvendo o sentimento de pertença e que, por outro lado, as práticas sociais, na comunidade virtual de prática estudada, são (re)produtoras dos saberes e identidades.
In a world of profound and rapid changes, the Internet and Cyberspace emerge as an object of anthropological research. The aim of this study is to reflect on the role of anthropology when the object of study is located in virtual space, a "non place". Cyberspace presents itself as a new space of social life and practice that influence the everyday, changing the way individuals interact, relate, work and learn. The study carried out during Field Work - a virtual community of practice - focused on the observation of changes in social practices and relationships of the subject members of the community, analyzing: collaboration, participation, identity, interaction and sociability, and moderation. This study also reflects on the methodological changes that flow from this new object of study - new areas / new methodologies. For Data Collection, we used a method of research in virtual environments inspired by ethnography - the netnography. The use of netnography allowed us the recording and the capture of information that led us to conclude that, on the one hand, the knowledge developed during the social practice in the virtual community of practice observed, collaboration, participation and interaction, are essential to building the identity of "membership" and, therefore, associated with learning mechanisms, developing a sense of belonging to the community and that, on the other hand, social practices, in the virtual community of practice studied, are (re)production of knowledge and identities.
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Pestana, Nuno Luz Câmara. "Comunidades de prática virtuais : preditores da sua eficácia em contexto empresarial." Master's thesis, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8014.
Full textAbstract:
Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia ClínicaPropósito – Com a necessidade de saber em que medida as empresas podem potenciar os resultados de Comunidades de Prática Virtuais em linha com os objetivos de negócio, este estudo tem como principal objetivo analisar se a existência de condições organizacionais facilitadoras para a participação, a performance da plataforma digital e a satisfação com as atividades desenvolvidas enquanto mediadora, podem ser fatores preditores da perceção de eficácia das Comunidades de Prática Virtuais. Metodologia - Com base nas variáveis acima mencionadas foram criadas hipóteses e construído o modelo de análise para testar a equação formulada. A amostra é constituída por 175 respostas a um questionário online submetido aos membros pertencentes a nove Comunidades de Prática Virtuais de uma empresa do setor privado. Descobertas - Os resultados obtidos revelam que os membros têm uma maior perceção da eficácia das Comunidades de Prática Virtuais quando a empresa cria condições facilitadoras para a sua participação e a plataforma digital de suporte ao ambiente virtual facilita a comunicação e arquiva o conhecimento partilhado. A satisfação dos membros com as atividades desenvolvidas revelou ser um mediador estatisticamente significativo desta relação. Originalidade – Este estudo é um dos primeiros a analisar os fatores contribuintes para a eficácia das Comunidades de Prática Virtuais em empresas do setor privado.
Purpose - With the need to know to what extent companies can enhance the results of Virtual Communities of Practice, this study has as main objective to analyse whether the existence of organizational conditions that facilitate participation, the performance of the digital platform and satisfaction with the activities as a mediator, can be predictive factors of the perception of the effectiveness of the Virtual Communities of Practice. Methodology - Based on the variables mentioned above, hypotheses were created, and the analysis model was built to test the formulated equation. The sample consists of 175 responses to an online questionnaire submitted to members belonging to nine Virtual Communities of Practice of a private sector company. Findings - The results obtained reveal that members have a greater perception of the effectiveness of Virtual Communities of Practice when the organization creates conditions that facilitate their participation and when the digital platform that supports the virtual environment facilitates communication and archives shared knowledge. Member satisfaction with the activities developed proved to be a statistically significant mediator of this relationship. Originality - This study is one of the first to analyse the factors contributing to the effectiveness of Virtual Communities of Practice in private sector companies.
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Rocha, Maria Antonieta. "Comunidades virtuais de prática : contextos educacional, profissional e sociedade civil." Doctoral thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/2944.
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Tese de Doutoramento em Educação na especialidade de Educação a Distância e Elearning apresentada à Universidade AbertaFace à atual ecologia da Web 2.0 e poder da Rede global, o presente estudo desenvolve uma análise da importância e enriquecimento que verdadeiras comunidades virtuais de prática potenciam bem como, a fim de que possam ser disseminadas, averigua as suas características e boas práticas em três diferentes contextos: educacional, profissional e sociedade civil. As opções metodológicas da nossa investigação recaíram na adoção de uma abordagem qualitativa e estudos de caso múltiplos. Relativamente à recolha de dados optámos inicialmente pela observação à dinâmica das sete comunidades a que se seguiram entrevistas semi-diretivas e um questionário online aos membros de todas as comunidades estudadas. A análise efetuada evidenciou que, das sete comunidades estudadas, apenas a comunidade em contexto educacional e as duas em contexto profissional se afiguram como comunidades virtuais de prática. Constatou-se ainda que no contexto da sociedade civil, ao invés de comunidades virtuais de prática, encontrámos uma tendência para a existência de redes. Emergiu da análise dos casos estudados que para a formação e proliferação de uma comunidade virtual de prática – identificada no contexto educacional e profissional - é determinante a vontade expressa de um conjunto de indivíduos que se identifiquem, entre si, e com um domínio reconhecido como relevante num espaço sem hierarquia explícita, não tutelar nem tutelado, sem demasiada estruturação. A resposta à dúvida colocada como a partilha de experiência assume-se fundamental para alimentar estas comunidades. Verificámos ainda que, para que uma comunidade virtual de prática seja dinâmica e possa proliferar, importa ter em conta alguns aspetos: (a) rejeição de controlo; (b) democracia; (c) liderança horizontal e partilhada; (d) estruturação moderada; (e) tecnologia facilitadora de interação e dinâmica; (f) conhecimento anterior entre alguns membros. Por último, constatámos a importância de comunidades virtuais de prática constituídas por pares, fora de controlo empresarial ou tutelar, mas antes enquanto formas organizativas informais. Com efeito, estas propiciam a partilha e discussão das temáticas e atividades inerentes a cada carreira profissional.
Given the current ecology of Web 2.0 and the power of the global network, this study develops an analysis of the importance and enrichment that real virtual communities of practice provide, in addition to examining their characteristics and good practices in three different contexts, as a means of ensuring the disclosure of the same: educational, professional and civil society. The methodology selected for our research involved the use of a qualitative approach and multiple case studies. Data collection initially consisted of observing the operations of the seven communities followed by semi-directive interviews and an online questionnaire completed by the members of all the communities under analysis. The analysis conducted revealed that of the seven communities in question, only the community classified in an educational context and the two communities classified in a professional context were actually virtual communities of practice. Furthermore, we ascertained the existence of networks rather than virtual communities of practice in relation to the context of civil society. The analysis of the case studies revealed that the creation and proliferation of a virtual community of practice – identified in the educational and professional context – is dependent on the express will of a series of individuals who see eye to eye, and with a domain regarded as relevant in an environment with no explicit hierarchy, neither protected nor protective, and with no excessive structuring. The answer to the doubt specified as the sharing of experiences becomes vital in relation to supplying these communities. We also ascertained that the following specific factors need to taken into consideration to ensure a virtual community of practice is dynamic and will proliferate: (a) rejection of control; (b) democracy; (c) horizontal and shared leadership; (d) moderate structuring; (e) technology which facilitates interaction and dynamic activity; (f) prior acquaintance between some of the members. Finally, we determined the importance of virtual communities of practice consisting of pairs, beyond corporate or tutelary control, but rather as informal organizational bodies. As such, it is these communities which ensure the issues and activities inherent to each professional career are shared and discussed.