Sport Informatics and Analytics/Introductions/Communities of Practice

Introduction
One of the ideas that pervades this  course is that we live in a world of connections. Although we might not always be aware of it, we share interests with others and together we have the opportunity to form a community.

Zygmunt Bauman has explored the characteristics of a community. He suggests: Words have meanings: some words, however, also have a 'feel'. The word 'community' is one of them. It feels good: whatever the word 'community' may mean, it is good 'to have a community', 'to be in a community' Etienne Wenger  has discussed the benefits of communities of practice for learning communities. He proposes: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. His definition of communities of practice has three important characteristics: Etienne Wenger, Nancy White and John Smith have discussed how such communities might flourish in digital habitats. They identify the role technology stewards can play in such flourishing. Technology stewards are: people with enough experience of the workings of a community to understand its technology needs, and enough experience with or interests in technology to take leadership in addressing those needs.
 * A domain that has an identity defined by a shared interest.
 * A community in which "members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information". They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.
 * A shared practice that is developed through "a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems.

Fiorella De Cindio (2012) has explored some of the ways in which deliberative digital habitats can develop and does so in the context of participation in open data initiatives. Fiorella notes: Online spaces are defined both by voluntary interaction among people who thus build a shared culture, the gemeinschaft dimension and by the body of rules that govern online life, the gesellschaft dimension, analogous to the normative features of a well organized society. She adds that these two dimensions (gemeinschaft and gesellschaft) provide the social context for communities and that technology provides the physical dimension of such habitats.

Communities of practice in sport
There is a growing interest in the roles communities of practice can play in sport. For example, a University of Ottawa research group has developed a strong interest in these communities.

Diane Culver and Pierre Trudel provided an overview of communities of practice in sport. Their paper stimulated debate about the concept of a community of practice.

Diane Culver and Pierre Trudel joined with Penny Werthner to provide a longitudinal study of a coach's community of practice in a youth baseball league. . Rachael Bertram has provided more detail about communities of practice in sport settings in her 2016 Ph.D thesis.

Elsewhere, John Stoszkowski and Dave Collins have reported on the use of online blogs to structure and support informal coach learning. This paper will be of particular interest to anyone who is considering the submission of an ePortfolio for the assessment of this unit. A second paper, co-authored with Cliff Olson offers "insight into student coaches’ perceptions of their use and experiences of structured group blogging for reflection and learning".

Bettina Callary has reported on the creation of a community of practice (CoP) within a figure skating club. She proposes that her case study: Paves the way to understanding that a CoP can be developed and sustained by coaches when they are in an environment where collaborative coaching and learning is the norm and where coaches entering into the system expect it.

Thriving communities
Bill Johnston has outlined the characteristics of thriving online communities. These include:
 * Shared value (answers, content, connection, expertise and access)
 * Shared identity (to form and shape the community)
 * Vibrant participation (presence, contribution and facilitation)
 * Community leadership (clarity about roles and responsibilities)
 * Quality content (creation, aggregation and curation)
 * Expertise (community learns from leaders within the community)
 * Culture of trust (community is connected and able to share openly)
 * Elegant experience (easy to contribute and participate)
 * Growth and responsiveness (continuing inclusion of members and engagement with the governance of the community)