Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

19 – Building Communities of Practice
The adaptation of personal behaviour is the foundation
of developmental adventure education. Facilitating
the process of adaptation guides the participant in developing
an understanding of group expectations,
norms and behaviours. 21
Building blocks
The leadership concepts and lessons of the turkey boat
also apply to community interactions.
In this section we look at theories of community development,
balanced with an understanding of how
digital communities, and technology generally, have
pervaded daily lives.
Conceptual investigations
The emerging nature of cyberspace has caught the
imagination of writers for decades. Prolific science fiction
writers in the mid-1980s introduced what were then
radical ideas about how the Internet would create a
space for perfect regulation. 22 Today, this question of
regulation has become more relevant then ever before.
Increasingly society is using the Internet for commercial
enterprise. As a result, control is coded by commercial
interests, and backed by government legislation. 23 Yet
resistance to this control is spreading throughout many
digital communities that perceive themselves as being
oppressed. 24
For some founders of the digital era such as Linus
Torvalds 25 ,the ability to communicate and share infor-
21
This is reinforced by Fabrisio and Neill who state “adaptation
is necessary for individuals to achieve a sense of belonging
which… must be obtained before individuals can
experience personal growth” (n.d., p. 5).
22
William Gibson’s influential book Neuromancer, released
in 1984, is one example of the deep uncertainties many
people felt when envisioning the future role technology
would play within society. (Lessig, 1999, p. 5).
23
The ability for commercial enterprises to influence government
legislation for increased control can be seen within
the recent Digital Millennium Copyright Act within the US.
24
John Perry Barlow (1996) describes the perceptions and
resentments of many within cyberspace through his persuasive
essay entitled ‘A Declaration of the Independence of
Cyberspace’.
25
Linus Torvalds was the developer who released the Linux
operating system (OS)—a computer OS that competes with
Microsoft Windows. This OS has the advantage of allowing
mation has always been fundamental to both personal
and professional development. These technological pioneers
have attempted to provide the tools for individuals
to contribute to a community. These contributions allow
individuals to create, adapt and adopt the rules that govern
the digital community’s very social fabric—its code.
INFORMATION WITHIN CYBERSPACE
It is the ability for individuals to contribute to the community
that provides the context for information to be
applied to practices. 26 More generally stated, our participation
within the digital world allows individuals to
build relationships with others. These relationships form
the foundation for our collective social interactions
within the online space.
It is only recently that researchers have begun addressing
the social consequences of new technologies. 27
Our optimistic perception that technology will radically
transform our business processes have been somewhat
tempered in recent years. Researchers are beginning to
realize that “technology does not have any impact per se,
it is all a matter of choices, power and situated change—
the digital economy is not evolving by itself; it is all
about choices at the societal, company and individual
level” (Anderson, Fogelgren-Pedersen & Varshney,
2003, p. 211). The management of the technology that
controls information is becoming increasingly important.
28
This chapter assumes that the important choices regarding
the very design of digital communication must
be based on the values of the community using the technology.
As technology continues to shape society’s material
structure, 29 individuals and organizations must
the public to access and modify its fundamental operations
through altering computer code.
26
For a detailed review of how individuals contribute to
practices in the development of a community see Etienne
Wengers’ book entitled “Communities of Practice” (1998).
27
Of particular note is the new research group at the University
of Surrey, UK—the Incubator for the Critical Inquiry
into Technology and Ethnography (INCITE).
Established in 2001, this group focuses on research at the
intersection of qualitative sociology, design and new technology.
28
A persuasive argument outlining how changing technological
resources are affecting organizations can be found in
the Journal of Information, Communication & Society
entitled ‘Mobile Organizing using Information Technology
(MOBIT)’ (Kim Viborg Andersen et al., 2003, pp. 211–228).
29
This is an argument put forth by Manuel Castells as an
epilogue to Pekka Himanen’s book The Hacker Ethic
Education for a Digital World 289