Community Building

This wiki is a community of practice. We subscribe to Etienne Wenger's definition that these communities are "'(1) created over time by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise' and (2) change individuals in defining them within such communities." (Lau, 2005 http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/glau/mmog/is209-paper.htm).

 

Community Building on the Web__

~notes from reading Community Building on the Web by Amy Jo Kim

 

 

"A successful community must attract and keep enough members to make it worthwile" (Kim, 2000, p.9)

 

 

 

Nine design strategies

(Kim, 2000, p. xiii)

 

1. "DEFINE and articulate your PURPOSE" (Kim, 2000, p. xiii)

 

• Our wiki needs to fulfill an need that has not been fulfilled yet. The purpose of our site is to provide information to the IS community on what informatics is. We are building a professional/academic online community to contribute information on the topic of Informatics. We are building it because we want to connect Information Studies students to Informatics professionals, courses, internships, etc. Please visit the following link to read about the Analysis Phase for the UCLA Informatics Wiki.

 

2. "BUILD flexible, extensible gathering PLACES" (Kim, 2000, p. xiii)

 

• "Community building involves more than delivering content to a particular group" (Kim, 2000, p.29). Our wiki can come to life by creating places for people to "gather" and get to know one another. Using communications tools such as message boards, real-time chatrooms, or weblogs, members can post questions and engage in discussion about Informatics.

 

3. "CREATE meaningful and evolving member PROFILES" (Kim, 2000, p. xiii)

 

• In the phsyical world, groups meet and interact in person. Because we are building community on the web, "identity must be explicitly constructed, and verified" (Kim, 2000, p. 75).

 

4. "DESIGN a range of ROLES" (Kim, 2000, p. xiii)

 

5. "DEVELOP a strong LEADERSHIP program" (Kim, 2000, p. xiv)

 

6. "Encourage appropriate ETIQUETTE" (Kim, 2000, p. xiv)

 

7. "Promote cyclic EVENTS" (Kim, 2000, p. xiv)

 

• To be sure our wiki has a community continually contributing to it, it needs to be brount to gether by regular events. These gatherings help define the community. These take careful planning, facilitation, and follow-up (Kim, 2000, p. 236).

 

8. "Integrate the RITUALS of community life" (Kim, 2000, p. xiv)

 

• Holiday themes: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukka, Christmas, New Years, etc.
• Seasonal themes: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer

 

9. "Facilitate member-run SUB-GROUPS" (Kim, 2000, p. xiv)

 

 

Three underlying principles

(Kim, 2000, p. xv)

 

1. "Design for growth" (Kim, 2000, p. xv)

 

2. "Create and maintain feedback loops" (Kim, 2000, p. xv)

 

3. "Empower your members overtime" (Kim, 2000, p. xvi)