Communities of practice

Groups of people with a common interest, craft, or profession, who improve their skills through regular interaction and knowledge sharing. May emerge organically, or be deliberately cultivated.

Concept first introduced by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, as an outcome of their work on apprenticeship. They observed that learning occurs not only through the direct transmission of knowledge from expert to apprentice, but also through social relationships and interaction within broader communities.

Unlike more casual social groups, members of a community of practice are practitioners, bound by a shared domain of interest, competence, or expertise. They develop a shared repertoire of resources, experiences, stories, tools, and techniques for addressing common problems.

Domain and repertoire serve as common ground, motivating members to participate. It steers their learning and gives meaning to their actions, with members participating in joint activities, discussions, problem-solving, and relationship-building around the shared domain.

• [&] See also: distributed cognition? (both highlight the importance of social interactions, artifacts, and context in understanding cognitive processes)

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