Technology: CoPs and Blogs (&RSS)

I was so busy talking about blogs that I didn't have time to blog :), nor did I read blogs. I volunteered to summarize a discussion in CPsquare about communities of practice and blogs/RSS. Here's the summary, but based on the summary you can start a whole new discussion (if you want to read it, you may copy this JPEG image and print it).

Interesting and practical were the 12 cases shared and discussed and I will probably discuss a few in separate posts. Personally I see the distinction between existing communities of practice who incorporate blogs as a means of conversation, which will shift the dynamics and content of that conversation, as learning logs did during the online facilitation course I participated in. Blogs are more personal, quiet and safer spaces which are open to a slower pace and more reflection. On the other hand, people reported that blogs can create communities of practice because it is a way of finding likeminded people; which can subsequently lead to dialogue en even meeting face-to-face.

A friend, Maaike Smit, commented that she enjoyed reading my blog because it is so much easier to read a personal account than a long, dry article. I thought that's such an important point about the power of blogs in the overload of information on the web that I like to share it.