NOTE: Paper won Best Paper Award at e-Society 2008 Conference in Algarve, Portugal

INTERSECTING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: MERGING ROLES ACROSS THE ACADEMIC AND BLOGGING WORLDS
Vanessa Paz Dennen
Florida State University 307 Stone Building, Tallahassee FL 32306 vdennen@fsu.edu

ABSTRACT This paper presents a naturalistic study of an informal, blog-based community of practice, contrasting members trajectories and positions in the online world with their trajectories in their face-to-face professional worlds. Data from blog posts, interviews, and observation field notes are analyzed, demonstrating how the communities differ from each other in terms of membership and relative power, and how blogging can, for some people, enhance their experiences on the inbound trajectory of an academic community of practice. Findings show that positions in the blog community are based on a combination of ones purported real world position and ones established role over time on the blogs. Additionally, there is a symbiotic relationship between the communities of practice, with participants acting as knowledge brokers across their respective communities. KEYWORDS Blog, Community of Practice, Mentoring, Virtual Community.

1. INTRODUCTION
Communities of practice are groups of people who are bound by a shared set of interests and goals and who develop and share common language, approaches, systems, and tools for addressing those interests and goals. It is these commonalities, which Wenger (1998) called mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire, that distinguish a community of practice from other types of communities such as those based on geographic boundaries. Most people participate in multiple communities of practice (CoPs) as part of their everyday lives. Some CoPs focus on professional topics and others focus on leisure activities. Some are intentionally joined (i.e., a professional organization or hobby-related club), whereas membership in others is largely a function via association through an everyday (i.e., a community of practice at ones place of employment). Although people typically do not walk around contemplating their membership in particular CoPs and how those memberships may overlap and impact each other, it is not uncommon for ones interactions and learning within one CoP to impact interactions and learning within another CoP. This naturalistic study examines how communities of practice intersect, each providing different types of professional development and support, and how ones trajectory or role in each community may differ. The central focus of this study is an online community of practice, with a look toward how participation in this CoP impacts participation in other, related communities of practice to which the members belong. Particularly, it addresses the questions: What leads people to participate in informal, virtual, career-related CoPs? How do Wengers CoP trajectories manifest in a purely virtual community? How do informal and formal career-related CoPs intersect and overlap? How does participation in the virtual CoP add value to the participants lives? What kind of value does it add? The answers to these questions are important to help determine the value of participation in the virtual community. Additionally, if participation in the virtual community participation which is informal,

optional, and typically not discussed in other settings is indeed of value, it should be validated as one form of professional development.

2. BACKGROUND AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Community of Practice, Knowledge, and the Cognitive Apprentice Model
Learning within communities of practice is said to follow the cognitive apprentice model of learning. A cognitive apprenticeship is much like a trade apprenticeship, only its focus is on developing cognitive skills through interactions set in authentic contexts in which modeling, coaching, reflection, articulation, and exploration are dominant activities (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Dennen & Burner, 2007; Seel, 2001). In other words, learning is social and occurs through iterations of observation, practice, and feedback. Neither a community of practice nor a cognitive apprenticeship needs to be formal or intentionally designed; both are phenomena that occur naturally in everyday life. In recent years, some organizations have wanted to capitalize on the increasing interest in such situated forms of learning and capture the vast experiential knowledge of their members so it may be shared or transferred to others. In the interest of developing knowledge communities in which ideas are freely exchanged, communities of practice should not be confused with work or project groups (Lesser & Prusak, 2000; Wenger, 1999). They are not as goaloriented, and participation should be left more to the discretion of the individual based on his professional development interests and preferences than on an employers demands.

Community of Practice Trajectories

Within a community of practice, members are said to be on trajectories. Trajectories can be considered learning paths that people follow (Wenger, 1998). They are not sequential levels of membership so much as relative positions within a community of practice based on knowledge, and length and level of engagement with others. That said, members often move from one trajectory to the next as they become increasingly entrenched in a community of practice. A person on a peripheral trajectory is one who may not have fully committed to participation in a community, but who is observing keenly and who is in the process is learning about the sociocultural elements of how the community functions. A peripheral trajectory need not lead to fuller participation, but may be satisfactory on its own (Wenger, 1998). The inbound trajectory is a path that leads one into increasing levels of active participation within a community of practice. People on inbound paths are the ones we most often identify as being learners in everyday experiences because they are likely the ones most actively engaged in asking questions or commenting on what they do not yet know. In other words, their main activities are the ones that we traditionally associate with learning. Key to these peripheral and inbound levels of involvement is the notion that participants are learning to talk within a practice, and not just to talk about it (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Insiders are people who we consider to be central to a community and its practice. They are the ones identified as experts, teachers, and mentors, and they serve as models for those on a peripheral or inbound path. However, it is worth noting that they, too, are continuing to learn and be influenced in their practice by the others around them. People on an outbound trajectory are transitioning out of active engagement with the community or the practice. If they were insiders prior to leaving, their key actions may be focused on leaving behind archives or legacies, completing projects, diminishing responsibilities and involvement, and saying goodbyes. Finally, there are boundary trajectories. We might consider people on boundary trajectories to be brokers between communities (Wenger, 1998). This path is one that brings people in substantive contact with a community of practice in a complementary and often symbiotic manner without necessarily becoming an insider. Communities of practice are considered a key way of developing ones identification within a career path. For example, occupational therapy students on an inbound trajectory look to practicing therapists to model for them what it means to be an occupational therapist (Davis, 2006). Newcomers actively look to insiders to see what roles they might play and how they might play them (Klein, Fan, & Preacher, 2006; Slaughter & Zickar, 2006). The knowledge they are seeking to gain is more holistic the mere procedures and processes

they will need to use on the job and will learn in school. At the same time, true acceptance by insiders may be somewhat contingent on a level of displayed competence (Cope, Cuthbertson, & Stoddart, 2000). In other words, one cannot immediately be welcomed as an insider, but first must demonstrate knowledge about the practice. Specific community structures will differ based on community size, and particularly distributed communities need to be concerned with issues of member visibility and cultural differences (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002). Regardless of ones path, reciprocity is a key element of communities of practice, with members following the Golden Rule of giving back to those who have given to them. Network reciprocity is not a clear one-to-one relationship with an equal exchange of favors between partners, but rather is distributed (Plickert, Cote, & Wellman, 2007). Community members become known over time for the quality and nature of their contributions, and whereas one person may excel at providing novel solutions to problems another may be particularly talented at offering emotional support.

3. METHODS Study Population

The study population consists of academic bloggers and commenters. More specifically, these bloggers are people who identify themselves primarily as graduate students or higher education professionals (faculty, researchers, and administrators) and who blog about various aspects of their studies or jobs from a personal, often diaristic perspective. Frequently they blog under pseudonyms, seeking some degree of separation from their professional identity if only to ensure their blog does not shop up via a google search of their real name. These bloggers are not to be confused with academic bloggers who blog substantively about their subject matter areas and scholarship (see P.Z. Myers at http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula and Daniel Drezner at http://danieldrezner.com/blog for examples), although there is a small bit of overlap between the two groups. The study population has been identified as a loosely-knit informal community dubbed Blogademe (Dennen, 2006). This community was born organically out of various individuals desire to communicate with others about issues affecting academic life. Its members span a full range of both academic disciplines and types of higher education institutions in a way that face-to-face academic communities rarely do. Indicators of community are visible elements on blogs: links between blogs, comments on blogs (who comments where), and in-post contextual references to other blogs. Each of these indicators demonstrates some degree of the bloggers mutual awareness. Blogs that otherwise fit the content and author description but which exist in isolation are not considered part of the community. Most members are located in North America, but that is not a requirement; this homogeny is likely due to similarity of institutional practices. Because it is an informal community, its membership is not easily defined. Members do not officially join, nor do they tend to describe themselves as members of a named group. However, they do identify themselves as an interconnected group with interpersonal relationships that are developed to varying degrees. Central members are readily identified based on heavy inlink patterns from other similar blogs, outlinks to and comments on similar blogs, frequency of posting, and number of comments generated. However, new commenters and bloggers appear in these virtual spaces daily and at the same time familiar commenters and bloggers go away, either temporarily or permanently. There are active commenters who are not academics but who either share some other affiliation or interest with some of the bloggers or simply enjoy the community; their blogs may be considered outside the bounds of Blogademe, but their existence and their comments on Blogademe blogs certainly are relevant to the study. Additionally, there are lurkers whose approximate numbers cannot be estimated. Although they do not leave their mark within the community, these lurkers may feel they are a part of the community based on the frequency and closeness with which they read particular blogs.

Data Collection
Data collection focused on approximately 200 blogs that were monitored daily and over 100 others that were monitored sporadically over a three-year period. Relevant blog posts were archived as they appeared in case the blog were to be deleted. Additionally, field notes based on daily observations captured the tone and

activities of the community over time. Additionally, 40 community members both bloggers and commenters were interviewed about their reasons for blogging and experiences within the community. These interviews were conducted via phone due to geographic constraints and lasted between 30 minutes and two hours.

Data Analysis
This study uses an ethnographic approach, examining interactions within the virtual community of practice and looking for indicators of how participation in Blogademe relates to ones identification and activities in other academic communities. Wengers (1998) descriptions of trajectories within a community of practice were used as a framework for examining types of participation. Additionally, archived posts, interviews, and field notes were coded; thematic codes were developed based on topics related to community development, membership, identity, reciprocity, trust, practices, impact on life, and mentions of other communities. Trustworthiness was addressed using the guidelines suggested by Lincoln and Guba (1985). Triangulation occurred by data type and data source. The researchers prolonged engagement within the community as a participant observer and daily field notes mean that interpretations are based on many observations made systematically over time. Selected member checking was used to ensure interpretations matched those of others in the community, and peer debrief was used to ensure that findings seem reasonable and grounded in the data set.

4. FINDINGS Reasons for Joining and Participating in Blogademe

While Blogademe itself may be considered a community of practice, it is not the only academic-related community of practice to which these people belong. Prior to becoming bloggers, members already participated (or at least had the opportunity to do so) at some level in discipline-related and institutional communities of practice. Participation in Blogademe differs in that it is virtual and unexpected. Whereas a new professor of psychology might be expected to engage with others at her home university in ongoing discussion of how to improve teaching effectiveness or increase research productivity and to participate in the discourse of a professional organization, her colleagues probably would not anticipate that she would seek additional professional development discourse online, among unseen and previously unknown others. The common reason for most participants to become active bloggers or commenters in Blogademe is a need to communicate about some elements of academic life. For some bloggers, the practice began as oneway communication (e.g. journaling) and they were surprised to develop community around that blog journal over time. Others were conscious and desirous of audience and community from the beginning. For some members, blogging provides a chance to establish a sense of community that is lacking at their home institution or in their field. Blogademe can be particularly attractive to these bloggers because fellow bloggers can relate to their daily practices and engage in thoughtful discourse on these practices in a manner that is largely devoid of institutional politics and fears of retribution (failed exams, denied tenure, loss of resources). For a Blogademe blogger using a pseudonym, blogs can be a much safer place to discuss many issues related to being an academic. The Internet readily facilitates finding others with similar academic life experiences (as opposed to scholarly interests) much better than campus life or professional conferences. Many bloggers have indicated limited informal interactions with face-to-face colleagues about issues such as balancing professional and personal obligations, acclimating to a new job in a new town, dating and the single academic, dealing with interpersonal conflicts in a department, and fighting the imposter syndrome. While other topics discussed in Blogademe, such as student problems and teaching practices, may be considered appropriate for discussion among local colleagues there are some distinct advantages for engaging in the Blogademe discourse. First, the diversity of participant experiences at different institutions and across disciplines brings some unique perspective sharing that otherwise might not happen. Bloggers may learn new approaches to shared practices from each other. Additionally, there is a convenience factor related to both the asynchronous timing of blog

participation and the presence of archives that may be visited at a later date. As such, the CoP has a built-in knowledge management tool, capturing both practical tips and advice as well as the infrequently exposed underbelly of academic life. Bloggers look to each other for models of academic practice, both good and bad. Blogging is not just about the knowledge that is shared, but also the relationships that develop and the support that is offered. Many of the bloggers engage in informal peer mentoring and get inspiration and motivation from reading about what their fellow bloggers are doing. For example, when one person sets some writing goals and shares them excitedly in a blog post, others may be inspired to follow suit. The community helps individuals develop a stronger sense of self-efficacy as they identify with fellow bloggers, read about their insecurities and troubles in addition to their triumphs, and believe they might achieve similar successes. Although Blogademe membership has become quite important to some, there are others who may not only decline to participate but also fail to understand why anyone else would. Bloggers have described colleagues who become aware of blogs and marvel that anyone would bother to engage in that practice. There is a certain level of fear among some bloggers that if they were found out they would face problems simply because they blog, regardless of specific posting content. Occasionally non-bloggers will comment that they do not understand why the community exists. These comments are quite interesting because of their mildly contradictory nature (e.g., blogging is not useful, but apparently this person was reading and commenting anyway). Based on statements made by both bloggers and non-bloggers, both on and off blogs, it seems that the practice of blogging about academic life is one that meets the needs of certain people, but not others.

Membership and Trajectory Paths in Blogademe

Entrance into the blog world may be different for everyone, but there are a few main ways in which one might become a part of the Blogademe community of practice. Becoming an insider is not as simple as setting up a blog or beginning to comment. Table 1 presents a comparison of trajectory paths between a standard academic CoP and Blogademe. Movement across trajectories in the blogging CoP is a much more fluid process than it is in the academic one, and is much less regulated. Most people begin by reading the blogs for a while, much as one might observe before participating in a meeting at new department. This peripheral trajectory is where some remain, although others move onto an inbound path. Generally this begins when participation is invited (e.g., a bloggers asks for all lurkers to post a comment) or the individual feels confident enough about participation to begin her own blog.
Table 1. Communities of Practice and Trajectory Role Identification Trajectory Peripheral Inbound Insider Boundary Academic CoP Applicants to graduate school, some graduate students, undergraduate students, people curious about academe Graduate students, postdocs, new faculty Faculty, Researchers, Administrators Publishers, corporate professionals in related fields, non-academic research scientists Anyone leaving or retiring from the profession Blogademe CoP Lurkers, People following links from other sites New commenters and bloggers Bloggers and commenters with well-established and accepted identities Non-academic bloggers who participate may be from other communities (e.g. knitting or photography bloggers) or be real life friends and family of an academic blogger Bloggers who are quitting or deleting their blog

Outbound

To be accepted as a member, one must have an established identity. For commenters, this happens through repeated commenting of a thoughtful and constructive nature on the same blogs. Comments that contribute to the greater discourse and respond to the topic of the post and other comments are welcome, whereas comments that are antagonistic or that indicate a drive-by mentality tend to not be well received. Bloggers establish identity through regular posts with a consistent voice. Further, bloggers must link to and engage in discourse with other bloggers in order to be accepted as a member. Blogroll links in a sidebar often will yield reciprocal links and a similar form of reciprocity is common with comments. The existence of these unspoken membership norms has been confirmed in instances when someone has entered the community and violated them. Insiders will alternately shun and ignore the offender or provide

advice on how to become an accepted participant of the community. Although they may differ in their opinions about academic practices, there is a strong sense of intersubjectivity among the bloggers with regards to their blogging practice and appropriate conduct. This intersubjectivity is the result of prolonged engagement and relationships that they expect others to respect. Outbound members of Blogademe are not necessarily leaving academe, but rather quitting their blogging practice. Indeed, some people who leave academe remain in the blogging community. Other reasons for leaving may include lack of time, disinterest, fear of being outed to colleagues, or a negative blogging experience. When outbound, members may take the time to say goodbye, and leave behind their archives as a legacy. Others disappear suddenly, without warning, and delete their blog. Leaving the community is not as permanent as retirement; some bloggers leave only to return after a period of time.

Actions in Online Community of Practice

Blogging in and of itself is a practice. This practice involves reading and writing (both acts to be done reflectively) and linking and connecting, both within and outside the community. Thus, blogging about practices within academe becomes a multi-layered activity. Table 2 presents typical actions taken be members of both academic CoPs and the Blogademe CoP based on trajectory. In both cases, the shared practices are teaching, research, and related service activities. Within the academic CoP, there is a tendency to focus actions on enculturating newcomers to a particular institution and completing concrete and often shared tasks while using established tools and approaches, whereas in Blogademe there is greater exploring and questioning of academic practices.
Table 2. Typical Actions by Trajectory within the Communities of Practice Trajectory Peripheral Inbound Insider Academic CoP Observing and asking limited questions Taking courses, serving as research apprentices, learning to teach; across activities: asking questions and observing others Engaging in faculty/administrator responsibilities; Mentoring inbound members about job duties Offering advice and commentary as appropriate from their unique perspective Leaving academe (finishing projects, transferring responsibilities) Blogademe CoP Observing and asking limited questions (lurking, occasional commenting) Establishing a presence (creating an identity, creating a new blog, linking to others, actively commenting on blogs) Sharing stories on own blog; offering advice as comments on others blogs; raising questions and issues about academic life; hosting blog carnivals Offering advice and commentary via comments as appropriate from their unique perspective Closing down a blog (saying goodbye, posting a final message, deleting or leaving an archive)

Boundary Outbound

Power and Trajectories

In a traditional university community of practice, ones title or rank frequently speaks to ones relative power and in turn influences acceptance within the community; a faculty member is considered more powerful than a graduate student, and a named full professor generally is perceived as more powerful than a new assistant professor. In Blogademe, however, power and reputation are based on other factors, such as longevity and quality of contributions. Thus one may be a graduate student (Academic CoP inbound) and feel fairly powerless at her home institution but also be an established and respected blogger (Blogademe CoP Insider) with a keen sense of how to facilitate knowledge sharing via online discourse. Conversely, a tenured professor (Academic CoP Insider) who is new to blogging (Blogademe CoP Peripheral or Inbound) may have years of accumulated knowledge and experience to share, but must learn how to share it via this medium in which pedantry generally is not tolerated. There is somewhat of a power equalization across academic roles within Blogademe, and this equalization occurs in terms of voices being heard. Although everyone remains identified by their roles, they typically are viewed more holistically based on the thoughtfulness of their online words and interactions. Given that the distributed medium and the frequently used pseudonymity liberate participants from fears related to their perceived powerlessness in their face-to-face settings, the exchange and challenging of ideas

and practices across roles occurs more freely than it does within an institution. Graduate students and untenured or contingent faculty who fear speaking out against perceived injustices or highlighting local problems can use this platform to gain new perspectives and find solutions. Those engaged in the virtual discussion are not participants who can make decisions with real-world consequences for others. A graduate student may not be consulted for advice about working toward tenure since he is unlikely to have experience with that task, but that students perspective can and will be heard about the impact of certain faculty actions and activities on graduate students. A graduate student may help a faculty member understand why his students reacted to feedback in a certain way, and a faculty member may help a student understand why his advisor does particular things. The result is learning to better see each others perspectives and take those new understandings back to the local environment and change practices or expectations accordingly.

How the Communities Intersect and Overlap

Some bloggers are adamant about not having Blogademe overlap into their university community of practice, although they comment on that practice on their blogs. In other words, the blogging community becomes a space for them to explore practices of the other community, but they do not want their real identities associated with their blogging ones for fear that practice of blogging will be disproved of by their institutional peers. This fear is not unfounded; an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education suggested that bloggers should not be hired for academic positions (Tribble, 2005). As mentioned above, reciprocity is an important component of the blogging CoP. Similarly, there is a point at which reciprocity occurs between the blogging community and other parts of the larger academic community. Bloggers will seek knowledge and advice from colleagues to share with other bloggers, and in turn will offer colleagues relevant bits of knowledge from the blogs. They effectively serve as knowledge brokers between the communities. The same happens with articles and resources of interest, which are freely shared and highlighted across blogs. Similarly, some higher education focused media outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education (chronicle.com) and Insider Higher Education (insidehighered.com) regularly provide their readers with links to blog posts of interest. At various points in time, bloggers have meta-blogged about how interactions in the virtual world have influenced their decisions and interactions in their local environments and practices. For some, the act of writing has gotten them unstuck. For others, it was a matter of getting new ideas and inspirations. Seeing the career path that lies ahead exposed on blogs as it is nowhere else has helped many feel they could succeed. During interviews, bloggers shared stories of how their blogging community helped them in terms of support, confidence, and productivity, often providing needed assistance that was not available to them in their face-to-face communities. Assistance also can be of a very direct nature, such as providing a copy of a much-needed article that is not locally accessible. Further, there have been occasions where the virtual community and elements of the real-world communities have quite literally met up, either for social or professional purposes. Bloggers frequently engage in physical meetups with other, previously unknown bloggers when they travel or attend conferences. Some bloggers have begun to collaborate on their work, providing feedback or even co-authoring and copresenting. Blogging has led to invitations to present and publish, and back-channel information about jobs.

5. CONCLUSIONS
In closing, this study has highlighted how participation in the blogging CoP provides value to many through exposure both to multiple voices across academic roles, disciplines, and institutions and to greater knowledge about academic practices than is typically found in an institution-based community. However, blogging in this venue should not be considered a panacea for faculty professional development. It does not replace local professional development opportunities and participation is only valuable to those who seek this type of discourse. It is not an activity that everyone would appreciate or feel comfortable with, but it does have positive benefits for its insiders and quite likely for its peripheral members as well. Further, Blogademes potential benefits for non-participants should not be ignored. Although many academics may not be aware of the community of practice or intentionally eschew participation in it, their participating

colleagues both may serve as knowledge brokers, returning with new ideas and perspectives, and may make tacit changes to local practices based on knowledge and experience gained via participation in the blogging community of practice. The implications of this study for practice are twofold. First, it has highlighted a very real problem, namely that there are a wide range of professional identity and development issues that normally go unnoticed or unspoken in a traditional setting. These issues are the ones that put aspiring and new faculty at risk of not meeting performance goals or leaving the profession. Knowledge of these issues culled from a content analysis of these blogs might help campuses improve their local professional development offerings and reduce the fear involved in blog participation. Second, it has demonstrated how virtual communities can be used not in place of face-to-face ones but as an ancillary support system that meets a different set of needs. Clearly members rely on both communities of practice, one with membership restricted to like people, whether of an institutional or discipline-based nature, and one with membership open to all interested others in the profession at large, to fulfill their knowledge, support, and interaction needs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank the many Blogademe bloggers who have shared their wisdom and experiences, both on and off blog. Additional thanks to Tatyana Pashnyak for many conversations about blogging.

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