Here is something I have been thinking about with regard to ‘peripheral’ members of our community.With Carla, or even internet lurkers (hello out there to all of our fans; we do this for you, and thank you for your support!), there is some quantifiable and observable way for us to know that they are part of our community. Carla directly interacts with many of us, and the lurkers (hello again) directly interact with our content, even if in a passive way.But what about this:Every Thursday, after I leave Chambers, I spend the next hour telling my fiancee all about our class. She knows all about the technologies we discuss (and I have even hooked her on using some of them, like Google Reader), and all about the discussions we have. In fact, sometimes she even engages me by trying to form and articulate the difference between knowledge and learning, or community and identity — an extension of our discussions.Despite this, she has never been to any of the class sites — Pligg, the class blog, your blogs, or my blog — and I have yet to bring up any of her points in class. So is she a member of our community? Unlike Carla, who we can interact with in class, and lurkers (one more shout out to my homies in cyberspace) who leave a statistic that Cole can identify through Google Analytics, my fiancee leaves no trace (until this comment, anyway). If you think she is a member of our community, why do you think that?
REBECCA WEST BURNS says
I’m so glad that other sig. others are getting the same disruptive technology lessons. My husband can have someone with whom he can relate. Wait! Maybe they (meaning all sig others who are battered by our constant technology talk lashings) can form their own COP…
I would question whether they really belong to our COP… the jury is still deliberating. Part of my definition of community has included intention. While our sig. others may hear about our class topics (same with the lurkers out there) I challenge the notion of them being members within the community until they intentionally engage. To me, that would involve getting on the site, looking at discussions, etc. I think you are really raising the idea of guilty through association. Can you be a member of a COP through association? I don’t know – right now, I say no, but I am open to hearing other thoughts as I continue to develop my definition of community. Maybe someone else can influence my thinking.