From [[http://cpsquare.org CPsquare]], the community of practice on communities of practice.

Definition

Anything that has to do with the coexistence of one computer and another.

Uses in communities of practice

Technical issues may be invisible to a community until they create a significant constraint. How tools interoperate with each other and how the platform interoperates with other systems currently or previously used by participants or their organization, such as supporting heterogeneity with standard protocol

How usable is the system under various circumstances that may tax its responsiveness, such as large groups, low-bandwidth, variance in OS, etc

The issues here may be addressed at the level of a platform or at the level of a protocol.

This is a real grab-bag of stuff.

Polarities

• Together/apart, Synch/Asynch:
• Interaction/publication:
• Individual/group:

Key features

Need to create groupings for the stuff below...

• User's operating systems (windows, unix, mac, etc.)
  • Are members likely to be using different operating systems. reln to hdw
• Client required how big / standard
• Compatibility with existing enterprise software.
  • When communities live in organizations, they often have to make sure the software they use is compatible with their firm's enterprise software.
• Web-services Adherence to standards that lead to compatibility of accounts and services across multiple products.
  • An emerging standard. (?)
• Exportability How easy is it to export content to another application?
  • This is often a consequence of the data model of the database
• Online/offline Ability to connect to the tool while disconnected from the Internet
• E-mail compatibility Extent to which participation in platform-suported activities is possible using email messages alone.
  • Can address low-bandwidth issues
• Associated processes Any definition of useful processes to use with the product? Is it designed around specific processes or methodologies? (?)
• Firewall issues Fire wall issues may be complex but need to be addressed eventually. Different tools or platforms run into firewall issues at different times.
• Intermodality Issue significance Issues these features address include integration between:

1. Synchronous/asynchronous
2. Discussion/publishing
3. Smooth transitions and blends between modes of interaction. '

• Full URL addressability is the extent to which individual objects (discussions, posts, files, areas) are uniquely identified with a URL.
  • URL addressability lets people point to different things or groups of things. Such pointers are useful in conversations, searches, or community products such as FAQs.

Related tools

See also:

Resources