From [[http://cpsquare.org CPsquare]], the community of practice on communities of practice.
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... part of the technology for communities project,
started off by the authors of [ Digital Habitats], Etienne Wenger, Nancy White, and John D. Smith. |
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Definition
A regularly published document (electronic and or paper) that is distributed to the community to disseminate key information.
Uses in communities of practice
In communities, this ranges from very informal collections of news to substantial publications of record. Publishing a newsletter to reach the entire membership can be much easier with a specialized tool. Expect even more variation and differentiation as blogs and RSS become more common.
- Types of publishing tools
- Archiving
- Shared authoring/editing features
Polarities
- Together/apart, Synch/Asynch:
- Interaction/publication:
- Individual/group:
Key features
- Text only or HTML Choose depending on use of images/bandwidth issues. Influences the look/feel of the newsletter.
- In some domains, images are a central way of expressing ideas. HTML rich newsletters can support this better than text. However, they take up more bandwidth and are less desireable where there is limited internet access.
- Inclusion of images See HTML above
- Email list management and verification Can easily add/remove recipients. Could be by user and/or by newsletter owner. Related to tool that allows subscribers to manage their own subscriptions. Easy checking of email addresses for syntax correctness, existence of the domain, the existence of the user, etc.
- When the distribution list becomes large, managing the email list, updating email addresses, etc. becomes a significant chore.
- User subscription features Users can self subscribe and unsubscribe.
- Reduces list owner labor, but also reduces control, if that is important.
- Easy forwarding/email address capture Click to forward this email sends data back to list owner to capture new emails.
- When you want to increase your newsletter subscription base, this allows not only easy forwarding of newsletters to others, but a way to capture their email addresses and add to the subscription database.
- Management features Manage all other non-subscriber elements (look/feel, frequency, etc.
Related material
