|
words
In that context I was using real world to mean genuine working communities as opposed to the contrived or experimental. An unfortunate phrase perhaps, which could understandably be confused with "Real World" as used by people for whom the internet is some kind of illusion. distributed CoPs I agree, Beverly that the term "wholly online" is too categorical. The reason why I included it in my explanation of distributed action research probably stems from the paucity of published research which I have been able to find which deals with real world online communities or distributed CoPs. Much of what I found related to classroom, workplace or campus based communities with online tools added. So the semi-structured interviews were actually conducted face to face in order to find out how the participants reacted online. Members of distributed communities find each other and the community through the online process, join in, and then over the course of online involvement as the magic of many to many conversation and information flows, they may well develop a level of commitment and endearment, dependence even - and in many cases there will be a strong desire to organise occasions for meeting up with online pals. I imagine most of the people reading this will have done so, it's not like meeting strangers but friends you haven't met yet (or enemies!) And one enthusiastic topic of conversation at such events is what's been happening online. So no, such mature communities are definitely not disqualified from being essentially online. These are the ones which are becoming increasingly important and which we need to understand better, to enable more to flourish and avoid accidentally killing them and so on. The type which begins as a face to face community and then shifts over to an online existence I have a lot less experience of, but it seems to me unlikely that lessons from one can be directly transferred to the other, and certainly the process of research will be qualitatively different. Online communities are different I believe that online communities and in particular distributed CoPs enable a distinct form of group communication and organisation which couldn't exist before. So I'm curious to learn how the fact that some proximal CoPs operate around water coolers, or that people are having disembodied one-to-one conversations via telephone, means that "online community" is a bogus concept. is it really intended to dismiss the extraordinary facility of asynchronous many-to-many comms as just one tool to help existing CoPs? And the capacity for people anywhere in the world to discover and link up with others who's expertise and interests are complementary, doesn't such a scenario multiply the opportunities and problems to a completely new level? Then there is the persistence, searchability, and ease of replication of digital conversations. The application of intelligent algorithms combined with unprecedented raw processing power and storage, but most of all, the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of the latest thinking and work of millions of specialists, taking human knowledge and understanding to a new level. Or is the idea that technology is now so ubiquitous that offline comunities of practice no longer exist? Surely not. I'm not sure if this is just an issue of terminology which needs clarification or a more fundamental theoretical difference. other venues which may be related to AR with CoPs Thanks Bev, AoIR I already know, joined the mailing list not so long ago and enjoyed the discussion about Wikipedia which drew Jimmy Wales into the group. It may just be the way conversations cycle, but I got the impression the type of research which most of them are involved with is just the "looking things up on the internet" type, but I shall make my inquiries there probably after this conference - can't cope with to many strands at once. CIRN I don't think I've come across so thanks very much for that. CPsquare may be the epicentre of all things CoP and facilitators will be keen to develop their own practice, evaluate techniques and understand better how CoPs succeed. I am suggesting that AR is an appropriate methodology but I wonder which methods are the most usual by which CoP facilitators learn? My own research questions I really like the idea that some important research questions and perhaps even a collaborative project might emerge from this conference fringe event, perhaps with the participation of the wider conference and community as well. Meanwhile, I'd like to disclose what my own interests in this are. I began by investigating the concept and practice of distributed action research, starting from an ignorant position of questioning whether such a thing does or can exist. By now, I am pretty well convinced that it does, and I've started doing it on a small scale with some CoPs that I'm involved in. Through this conference and other avenues, I'm currently in the process of reaching out to connect with others who may already be working in the same field. My hypothesis is that action research when conducted in an entirely online context, has unique characteristics which justify the designation of DAR as a distinct type. From that position I have some tentative questions which I'm hoping to get some help with refining and answering: What is the nature of Distributed Action Research compared with offline AR? Are there people already doing it? who? where? What are the advantages and disadvantages to the DAR approach. Where is it appropriate? How can I help to build a resource which will improve the practice of DAR by myself and others? The last question is included really to indulge my interest in building wikis such as the the one in this space, my own attempt at starting a DAR wiki and any others which may emerge as a central repository for online action researchers. Publishing research reports I think 'no need for full reports' is fair enough for practitioner research. The main value is going to be in the action and benefits to the specific CoP and researcher. It's also good to disseminate findings further though. AR is sometimes criticised as a research methodology for lacking sufficient rigour and authority to influence anybody except those involved. But in the case of distributed research, it's probably going to be necessary to construct some kind of report for online distribution within the group in which case why not publish a version to the web as well? Now, if many of these small scale research project reports could somehow be collected, aggregated, linked and tagged then maybe the understanding, value and influence would begin to multiply. Some features of action research My understanding of what typifies an action research approach would include pragmatic - taking actions to improve a situation iterative - cycles of research informing the next participative - involving the community in the research reflective - questioning the very basis of it qualitative data - but quantitative is also useful Those are some of the traditions I've had passed on to me any way. The emphasis may be different where the idea of action research has been taken up in other cultures, which I'd like to hear about. What do you understand by Action Research? The 'distributed' simply means working with CoPs which are geographically disperse so the communication takes place wholly online - as in distributed CoPs. So I I think we can narrow the definition of DAR to mean just AR with distributed CoPs. Some possible scenarios could include attempts to bring about improvements in the way distributed COPs help people by... * introducing additional or better technologies. * helping more people to contribute and gain from COPS * providing bridges to draw disparate communities closer together * providing opportunities for people to work on community-building tasks Does anybody have something specific in mind? Questions and stories Action research may be an appropriate way to work at developing online CoPs, and I have suggested that this Distributed Action Research may have unique properties. What might be entailed, who is already doing something like that, what might be the advantages and disadvantages? Action research in CoPs Thanks for your interest, John. My concept of Distributed Action Research is still quite fluid and I'll be presenting an online exhibition with more clearly thought out ideas in a couple of months but for now I'm still checking out whether there exists perhaps a bunch of people who are already conducting action research with distributed CoPs or not. It seems to me that undertaking participatory research into the nurturing of CoPs is going to be quite closely related to what online facilitators and coaches are likely to be doing to seek to improve their own practice anyway, and in a community of COP practitioners such as this one, perhaps the process has already been systematised to some extent. |
Links
Categories
|