Seems like a catch-up day for my blog!
When I came across the Fill Circle site as recommended by George Seimens, I was fascinated to read the article providing How some folks have tried to describe community
In this article Nancy provides summaries of and links to a wide range of current views from noted authors and thinkers in this area. For anyone who is beginning to think about communities and communities of practice, this article is a valuable read.
Interesting to note George Seimens’ note on how technology is shaping how we regard community:
“I agree with the general tone presented. It’s difficult, however, to precisely detail the concept of “community”. The tools we use shape ideas and contexts in which we use them. For example – due to technology, collaboration used to mean something quite different from what it does today. Different inputs (decentralized, distributed across cultures) and different processes (asynchronous for reflective thought,synchronous for real-time connections of geographically dispersed team members) have reframed what it means to collaborate.”
He points to another interesting article titled Little Boxes, Glocalization, and Networked Individualism by Barry Wellman (PDF) that explores the redefintion of community as a result of technology.
I have read Wellman in the past, much of his work that I have seen is on the notion of strong and weak ties. As I remember it one of his central arguments is that if a ties is disrupted (mail list stopped for example) in a community of weak ties that may well be the end of it. If however the community is made up of strong ties, then participants will seek alternative modes of communication and re-establish the community. The whole concept of strong and weak ties is developed along various avenues linked to community.