Does a learning community or community of practice need roles to function well? What about the self-organising power of communities? The art in network learning is often this can be combined with other existing work tasks and having a formalised role may help to ensure the learning community doesn't get 'off the radar'. MORE >>

One of them was: how can blogs support communities of practice? community of practice can have a public teamblog. It works for the community to document face-to-face meetings, and makes it publicly known. In a discussion about the future of the community, it came up as an object of identification with the community. MORE >>

most recent work on value creation in communities of practice. Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework, Ruud de Moor Centrum. At a certain level of maturity a community takes responsibility for practice – and is forward looking to strategy, which in turn can influence the community. MORE >>

To celebrate the second annual Community Manager Appreciation Day , we’ve brought together 15 essential articles for online community managers and social media managers. We’d love your thoughts on these and also your own favourite community manager articles and resources. Image by moriza via Flickr. MORE >>

Building online communities can be a richly rewarding experience for the organizations that create them and for the members who participate in them. This need not be a daunting process and below are some of the key steps to getting your online community off the ground and thriving. Focus on the benefits to the member of your community. MORE >>