Download - How does Blogging Create and Support Knowledge Communities

How does Blogging Create and Support Knowledge

Communities

Jack VinsonKnowledge Jolt, Inc.

www.jackvinson.com [email protected]

October 2007 Jack Vinson, Knowledge Jolt


Communities: formation

About: Common interest In public: science, religion, family, shared

history, neighborhood In organizations: work processes, work

problems, academic discipline, company history

People gathering In a physical space Online at a specific venue: bulletin boards,

forums, mailing lists, …


Communities: existence

Why do they stay together? Leadership Common interest / purpose Shared space (physical or virtual)

Why do they disband? Passion (central purpose) fades Change / Loss of “space”


Weblogs / Blogging

Individual author (generally)Frequently updatedReverse chronological postingsTopics to the author’s interests

Lightweight content management system


Blogs – general layout


Layout – single entry

Title

Quote

Comments

Body

Other articles with the same topics


Blogs and communities?

Communities are about common interestBlogs are about my interests


Blogs and communities?

On the other hand, blogs are all about connecting with the larger world “Here’s something I find interesting” “Here’s something Jane wrote, and this is why I

think you should read it.” Would I write if no one were reading?

Hints of community: calls for help, quotes, links, blogrolls, comments, trackbacks


Hints of community in blogs

Community of readers A-list bloggers have thousands of readers Readers are willing to help when directly called

upon Very much a one-way street



Favorite sources Many blogs list their favorite blogs in the

sidebar (blogroll)

Quoted sources Many bloggers quote other bloggers and other

websites that inspire their writing

Get a sense of the wider world in which the blogger operates



Comments Readers can leave their responses directly on

my website Sense of community can develop around those

who write Little opportunity for participants to interact

without the blog



Tools that can find who is talking about what has been written here Trackback Search

Technorati: www.technorati.com Google site search / blog search TalkDigger: www.talkdigger.com


Community in blogs

A community of bloggers Write about similar topics Read each others’ blogs Get to know one another Draw on each others’ writings to extend ideas

and share their point of view


Community in blogs

Traditional online community behavior Frequent writers Discussions in comments Discussions across blogs Plenty of readers who belong to the community,

yet are not actively vocal (“lurkers”)


Discovering a community

Comments, Blogroll, Trackbacks, SearchAnalyzing linking behavior

SNA - Who links to whomText analysis to find similar blogs

WayPath, Watson (both mothballed)


Building a blogging community

Is it possible to engineer a blogging community, akin to creating a Community of Practice in your business? Will they participate? Critical mass? Technology?


Building a blogging community

Issues How to make the connections? Champion / Leadership with individual

ownership of blogs Passion and engagement

Need Active writers, readable commentary Passionate writers Topics that matter to many people


In the end

Communities of bloggers existBuilding the communities can be just as

difficult as with traditional CoP Communities are about shared interest Blog communities are about shared passion


References

McKinsey Quarterly Harnessing the power of informal employee networks,

2007 Number 4 The role of networks in organizational change, Web

exclusive, April 2007 Mapping the value of employee collaboration, 2006

Number 3 Lilia Efimova has written extensively about weblog

conversations and done some of these analyses (http://blog.mathemagenic.com)

Anjo Anjewierden has been writing tools to analyze blogs from a number of perspectives (http://anjo.blogs.com/metis/)

Download - How does Blogging Create and Support Knowledge Communities

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