Electronic ties are loosening the constraints of organizational structure and physical proximity to allow connectivity between individuals who would otherwise find it difficult to identify and sustain contact with others who share the similar interests. This paper explores the knowledge exchange processes in extra-organizational networks of practice by studying three technical newsgroups. We argue that the development of relational social capital is a vital component for transforming electronic posting forums into ongoing networks of practice. The results reveal that relational social capital exists on networks of practice and shows a strong relationship with knowledge exchange processes over and above the influence of individual motivation and ability. The concept of a community of practice is emerging as an essential building block of the knowledge economy. Communities of practice are being promoted within organizations as sources of competitive advantage and facilitators of organiza...

A synthesis of the literature suggests that the key characteristics for classifying online communities are: (i)their attributes, (ii) supporting software, (iii) their relationship to physical communities, and (iv) the sociological concept of boundedness. A classification schema based on these four characteristics is presented in this paper. Examples of each type of community are discussed. These classification schema have important implications for the design and management of online communities. Computer networks, such as the Internet, have begun to connect people around the world. In the past, access to computer-mediated communication was mostly limited to employees in the government, military, or university research communities (King, Grinter, and Pickering, 1997), and to work-related tasks (Greif, 1988). As more diverse groups of people gain access to computer networks, a new type of communication group, known as an online community, has begun to emerge. What is an online community (also called a virtual community or an electronic community)? Although there is an increasing amount of research being done on online

this article, we make a conceptual distinction between a preference for information and entertainment as compared with a preference for interpersonal communication. We operationalize this distinction by comparing people's use of the World Wide Web with their use of personal electronic mail (e-mail). This operationalization is not perfect. When people use Internet services---the World Wide Web, electronic mail, Telnet, Usenet groups, MUDs, and so forth, they may be finding out the weather in the Bahamas, downloading games, chatting with friends, learning about hobbies, or sending coworkers a report. A single session on the Internet can fulfill multiple information, entertainment, and communication goals. Nonetheless, the World Wide Web and e-mail are the most popular of all Internet services and most distinctly represent people 's preference for information and entertainment as compared with their preference for interpersonal communication, respectively. Our prior research (Kraut et al. 1996, Table 2) suggested that use of the Web and email are sufficiently independent of each other to have some distinctive causes and effects

In order to create Internet standards, people and ideas move across many institutions. By drawing upon the new institutionalism and on organizational ecology, we develop an ecological approach to studying this movement. The approach examines the birth and death of standards bodies and the ideas they cultivate. We apply the approach to the history of Web services choreography standards, in which over 500 participants traversed nine institutions during a 12-year period. We explain critical aspects of this history by analyzing patterns of movement of standardization ideas. We show that standard-making institutions refuse to legitimate standards by utilizing bylaws which reflect the values of the 1 Kalle Lyytinen was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Paul Edwards was the associate reviewer. Jeremy Birnholtz and Robin Williams served as reviewers. institution; these values reflect the design legacy of the Internet. We formulate conjectures about the dynamics of the birth and death of working groups inside larger institutions that form a population ecology. We discuss plausible explanations for why specific Internet standard-making efforts do not resolve quickly. The theoretical implication of the study is that an ecological approach will apply well to inventions that have been incubated, such as the Internet. The pragmatic implication is that changes to institutional Internet governance, particularly to the bylaws of standards bodies, can have drastic and unintended effects that will reshape the standard-making ecology.