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Self-Serving Communities: Their Contribution to Building Knowledge Infrastructures
Article

, Klab.com and Tel Aviv University, Israel

IJET Volume 6, Number 2, ISSN 1077-9124 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Chesapeake, VA

Abstract

Knowledge management within an organization today depends on a solid, technologically-based knowledge infrastructure. One of the key components of a knowledge infrastructure is a virtual community. The purpose of this paper is to present a particular kind of virtual community, namely, a community built on a set of self-serving principles. The case study of the Lamda Commu-nity, a virtual professional community for Israeli educators that grew to 250 members and 18,000 web pages, shows a communi-ty built differently from typical internet communities. The most important differences lay in membership phases that selectively and specifically promoted the Community and its members. These phases were built on four self-serving principles: restric-tion, guidance, involvement, and leadership. The paper will present the four phases and their respective principles, and will show how each of these phases both advanced the members in-dividually and the Community as a whole. The study suggests that a virtual community built on self-serving principles is an ef-fective method, both for its individual members and for its gen-eral contribution to a knowledge infrastructure.

Citation

Sivan, Y.Y. (2000). Self-Serving Communities: Their Contribution to Building Knowledge Infrastructures. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6(2), 123-140. Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 19, 2024 from .

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