"Community of Practice"

Shirky, Chapter 4: Consider the concept of a “community of practice.” How can such a community offer opportunities for learning?

Answer: Shirky talks about how people are always reading so much information that is not intended for them – but they still receive it. In chat rooms, other peoples’ Facebook walls, Youtube comments, Flickr comments and other related forms of communication, there is certainly plenty opportunity for learning. When we take in so much information at basically all times, there is certainly room to learn – it can not be avoided. I feel like every day, when I look at Facebook or comments on CNN news articles or Youtube videos, I learn something new. It may be people talking to other people and not directly to me, but as shirky says, when you post private conversation comments on public forums, it becomes public information and public knowledge. While most often there is nothing knowledgeable or intelligent transferred between people in these conversations, plenty of times there is. This is why there is certainly an opportunity to learn in a community of practice. The large wave of information sticks to us and we advance our knowledge and experiences through this visual process.