‘Creating an information literate Scotland’ Community

of Practice

Lesley Thomson, Knowledge Management Officer, Scottish Government

LILAC 2010

What is a community of practice?

• what it is about – joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members

• how it functions – mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity

• what capability it has produced – shared repertoire of communal resources that members have developed over time

Wenger, E. (1998) 'Communities of Practice. Learning as a social system', Systems Thinker,  http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml. Accessed September 10 2009.

Communities of practice (CoP)

• like-minded colleagues and peers

• share experiences and learn from others

• collaborate and achieve common outcomes

• accelerates learning• validates and builds on existing

knowledge and good practice

• innovate and create new ideas

Communities of practice are

groups of people who share a concern or a passion for

something they do and learn how to do it better as

they interact regularly

Types of CoP

• helping communities - forum for community members to help each other with everyday work needs

• best practice communities - develop and disseminate best practices, guidelines, and procedures for their members use

• knowledge stewarding communities - organise, manage, and steward a body of knowledge from which community members can draw

• innovation communities - create breakthrough ideas, new knowledge, and new practices

Community roles• champion/sponsor - able to envision the services of a

CoP over time• facilitator/coordinator - consulting, connecting,

facilitating, helping, guiding• leader - energises the sharing process and providing

continuous nourishment for the community• librarian - organises information/data • technical steward - understands business needs and

ensure the appropriate tools are available to meet these needs

• experts - subject matter specialist• members - without them there is no community

Purpose

connect up practitioners in a range of sectors

who are all working towards the common goal of creating an information

literate Scotland.

CoP critical success factorsclear purpose – what will it be used to do?creating a safe and trusted environmentcommitted core group of active

participants being motivatedknowing the needs of participantsblending face-to-face and online activitiesusability of technology

What’s worked for us?

• nudges • not too formal• polls

I'll confess to being a serial lurker on this forum (more reactive than proactive) and tend not to contribute (new year's resolution is to contribute more!) but I wouldn't be without my regular CoP e-mails.

It has been excellent in enabling me to discover who else (both organisations and individuals) that are thinking about Information Literacy and discovering what they are doing practically to address the many issues faced.

I am an avid reader of the CoP, but feel a tad guilty about my lack of contribution.  So, I am resolved to frequently update my blog and to contribute more to the range of interesting conversations happening

in the CoP.

I was totally unfamiliar with the concept but have found it easy to use - and very useful. I've also recently had the opportunity to compare it to alternative methods of communication, and I think it stands up well.

On the down side - the fact that it is a closed space means that you often need to post outside the space as well. Double the work.

On the plus side - it's a great space for sharing information and ideas with a wide range of people from different organisations. It's also great that it is provided and supported by the Scottish Government.

What next?

• encourage greater participation• marketing• how to measure success• community charter• face to face event• hotseat/online conference