Communities of Practice

I was first introduced to the term "Communities of Practice" a few semesters ago when I was discussing my membership in several professional groups on LinkedIn.  I realized these professional groups were Communities of Practice.  We are touching on Communities of Practice this week in this class, as well as my other course, EME5608.  Here is an article from my other course that defines Communities of Practice and the three criteria which must be present.

Communities of Practice Article

I agree with the three criteria presented and believe it's a pretty straight forward way to distinguish a Community of Practice from other groups:

1. The Domain - there must be a shared domain of interest
2. The Community - members engage in joint activities, discussions, help each other, and share information
3. The Practice - member don't just share a common interest, but are practitioners and have a repertoire of resources.

All of these must be present for a Community of Practice, but I believe #3 really distinguishes the difference between a group or some other community where things such as movies, hobbies, or shopping per se are discussed.  A Community of Practice is a group of doers - people who are doing what they are talking about and sharing best practices and lessons learned to help other doers.