compare and contrast

Linda Sanford Jan 28, 2009 12:10 AM
In comparing and contrasting MediaMoo and Tapped In I think you see two different types of success. Even though MediaMoo did not continue, its success can be measured by the germination of ideas and the foundational work it accomplished. In this case success was not measured by the length of time the virtual community survived but by the stimulation it provided. Its life could be seen in other MUDs. In contrast Tapped In is a virtual community that has exhibited success by growth and longevity. As it is a CoP the text points out that success is most evident when the CoP is outside of the specific organization. This particular CoP fulfilled a variety of roles encouraged the learning process for educators while stimulating collaboration and innovation. Major factors that appear to facilitate and sustain success are strong facilitation/leadership, support the actual practices and daily tasks of the group,provide a framework to guide the process and main point the text made in the Tapped In community was that it was imperitive that the participants had decent knowledge and ability to use the platform. Amen to that!

Virtual communitites

Community traditionally has a connotation of a group of people who share a common set of different things. In your home community it may be a locale and as the text points out, physical resources. In a virtual community you still are sharing a set of something, be it goals ( to complete a program of study), beliefs, or interests. Shummar & Renniger indicates that virtual communities lack contextual boundaries that open ups imagination, identity deepening knowledge building. In my master's program we have had several online communities. Not all have led to a deeper sense of building knowledge. To be thrown into a virtual community with little orientation sometimes isolates the members. The knowledge obtained in this unit would have helped me personally understand the virtual community and possibly would have improved what I got out of it.

geez this ws fun

Whew, made it this far. This is hard for an old women..hehe