Community Enthusiasts SIG

I've already mentioned the Foundations Workshop at CPSquare.org, but here's another event that will be of interest. It ties in especially with our current discussion about the use of blogs in communities. I'm trying to work out how I can contribute to this given the kick-off is during the first week of the semester (The other half of my work life is at NVIT, an Aboriginal institute in Merritt, BC). For sure I will be participating somehow!

======snipped from communication from John Smith 7 Dec 2005======

Web 2.0 and communities of practice

Web 2.0 (see references at the end of this announcement) refers to a second phase of development of the World Wide Web, including its architecture and its applications.

We are proposing a mini-conference in early January to focus on 5-6 major technologies (or tool groups), probably staying on each one for 2-3 days, including:

 Blogs
 Wikis
 Tagging  
 Applied SNA & networking services
 Podcasting & audio applications
 Mashups (like http://www.frappr.com/cpsquaremembers )
 Final reflection and summary

For each category, we imagine addressing a set of questions such as:  

• What actual tools are included?
• What help might the tools provide to existing communities? Do we see a substitution, an incremental add-on or fundamental shift? 
• What potential might they have to create new social forms, aggregations, or interactions? 
• Are there significant tool combinations or interactions between them?
• Does the tool require technology stewardship to leveraging it?  How? Why? 
• Does the tool have a differential role or effect in open or public communities compared to internal or closed or private ones?  How? Why?
  

When?  We propose that it begin as early in 2006 as possible.  We could have a launch phone conference just to share context on Tuesday January 3rd at 20:00 GMT.

What we need now:  

• Proposals for any additional Web2.0 areas which people want to discuss
• Discussion of the mini-conference framing (are we on the right track?)
• Volunteers to lead the discussions -- one each for each of the tool groups 
• Volunteers to summarize & synthesize the discussions afterwards
  

Greeting community enthusiasts!

Are you interested in a free pass to the CPSquare Web 2.0 and Communities of Practice conference? We have one to give away. Send me an email message (scurrie@sfu.ca ) with the subject heading: "Web 2.0 pass". The first person to respond gets the pass.

The cost is very reasonable, so I hope you'll consider attending even if you miss this opportunity :-)

Happy holidays!

Members of this group will be interested in this 2-day event -- April 19 - 20.
http://www.techsoup.org/socialnetwork

What attracted me was:
1) It's asynchronous (I can't fit any more synchronous events into my life!)
2) The focus on social networking for nonprofits
3) It's practical -- and they acknowledge that although we love the ideas around social networking applications, we don't have time to use them.

Here's the full description posted by Susan Tenby from TechSoup.

====snip====
For those of you who haven't heard...
We will be having a free social networking online event here, in these forums, next week Wednesday and Thursday.

There is no need to contact me or do anything to attend. Simply come here on Wednesday and Thursday, April 19th and 20th, and join the discussion!

Here is the announcement, if you want more information:

************************

Join us on TechSoup, April 19th and 20th, for a free, two-day online event at: http://www.techsoup.org/socialnetwork

This event will be an asynchronous discussion that will occur in the TechSoup.org forums. It will be hosted by Chris Law, co-founder of Tribe.net,

Neal Gorenflo, Director of Business Development of Care2Connect.com, Alex Mouldovan, founder of CrowdFactory.com and John Lorance,

Associate Director of CompuMentor?s TechCommons program, and will feature representatives from LinkedIn.com, Gather.com, and others.

This is an asynchronous discussion, in the TechSoup forums, happening for two days only, April 19th and 20th.

We all love social networking applications like Friendster, Tribe, Linked in, My Space and Frappr, however, most of us have little time to use these in our personal lives, let alone to create an organizational profile for our nonprofit. Is there a use for social networking applications in the nonprofit workplace?

* What do we mean by Social Networking applications?
* How are these different form message-board based online communities?
* Getting discovered: How do you promote your organization?s services through a social networking application?
* How can an online social network help your organization find volunteers and raise funds?
* What is the secret to fostering and managing your online social network?

You will come away with practical tips, models, resources, and tools for bringing the collaborative technologies of social networking applications to your own organization.

We hope to see you there!

Please feel free to forward this announcement on to your friends and colleagues.
***************************

[This message was last edited by Susan_Tenby on Apr 13, 2006]

The next 7-week CPSquare.org online/teleconference combo Foundations of Communities of Practice Workshop begins January 29th, 2007.

The only other thing you need to know right now about this workshop is that you should sign up! :-)

Hi everyone,
Pass the word to all community enthusiasts... the next 7-week CPSquare.org online/teleconference combo Foundations of Communities of Practice Workshop begins April 30th, 2007.

An interesting project is emerging from the last workshop group here: http://copresearch.wikispaces.com/  Their goal is to create a "research landscape" on Communities of Practice and to build research capacity on this topic. Neat! I think we can all dive in and participate in the wiki project. A separate discussion on this topic is underway in CPSquare and via telephone conference. To participate in that you'll need to join the community.

The next Foundations of Communities of Practice Workshop starts on January 28, 2008.
http://www.cpsquare.org/edu/foundations/index.htm

In 2008 the Foundations Workshop will only be offered two times - the second starts on September 15.

If multiple members from SCoPE sign up attractive rates can be negotiated. :-) This workshop is EXCELLENT.