Communities of practice and virtual learning communities : benefits, barriers and success factors

A virtual Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of individuals who share a domain of interest about which they communicate online. The practitioners share resources (for example experiences, problems and solutions, tools, methodologies). Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain. A virtual learning community may involve the conduct of original research but it is more likely that its main purpose is to increase the knowledge of participants, via formal education or professional development. Virtual learning communities could have learning as their main goal or the elearning could be generated as a side effect. Virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities are becoming widespread within higher education institutions (HEIs) thanks to technological developments which enable increased communication, interactivity among participants and incorporation of collaborative pedagogical models, specifically through information communications technologies (ICTs) They afford the potential for the combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication, access to -and from- geographically isolated communities and international information sharing. Clearly there are benefits to be derived from sharing and learning within and outwith HEIs. There is a sense of connectedness, of shared passion and a deepening of knowledge to be derived from ongoing interaction. Knowledge development can be continuous, cyclical and fluid. However, barriers exist in virtual CoPs and these are defined by the authors and illustrated with quotes from academic staff who have been involved in CoPs. Critical success factors (CSFs) for a virtual CoP are discussed. These include usability of technology; trust in, and acceptance of, ICTs in communication; a sense of belonging among members; paying attention to cross-national and cross-cultural dimensions of the CoP; shared understandings; a common sense of purpose; use of netiquette and user-friendly language and longevity. The authors recognise the enormous potential for the development of CoPs through e-mail discussion lists and discussion boards but have themselves experienced the difficulties inherent in initiating such a community. These are corroborated and illustrated with text from interviews with academic staff. Much of the literature on CoPs emanates from outside Europe, despite the fact that e-learning articles have a large diffusion around Europe. The authors suggest further exploration of this topic by identifying and studying CoPs and virtual learning communities across EU countries

Effects of Knowledge Base Quality on Peer-to-peer Information Propagation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Visualized Cognitive Knowledge Map Integration for P2P Networks

In the knowledge management field, knowledge map created under the client-server architecture has been widely used to direct the knowledge sharing process. Peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture has been practicable for file sharing, distributed computing, instant messaging, etc. by virtue of the increases of Internet bandwidth and personal computer capability. P2P architecture attracts researchers and practitioners to study knowledge sharing issues in its autonomy and self-organization characters. It calls for academic efforts to design knowledge management supporting system as that for client-server architecture may not be applicable. This study proposes a visualized cognitive knowledge map integration system to facilitate knowledge management on P2P networks. By using the SOM (Self-Organized Map)-like model, called Egocentric SOM (ESOM), the prototyping system can merge the external knowledge under a focal peer’s knowledge structure and present the cognitive knowledge map visually. In evaluating the proposed integration method, this study allocates abstracts of industrial research reports from an industrial technology research institute according to their corresponding author peers and generates individual cognitive knowledge maps. The results from the evaluation experiments reveal that ESOM is capable to retain individual peer’s knowledge structure while articulating with that of other peers in the cognitive knowledge network

AC-RDVT: Acyclic Resource Distance Vector Routing Tables for Dynamic Grid Resource Discovery

Since the objective of grid is sharing the numerous and heterogeneous resources, resource discovery is a challenging issue. Recently appeared, Ontosum, is a resource discovery method based on semantically linked organizations and a routing algorithm Resource Distance Vector (RDV), has been presented to forward resource discovery queries into the clusters. Although this framework is efficient for large-scale grids and nodes are clustered automatically based on semantic attributes to constitute a semantically linked overlay network, but the dynamic behavior of grid isn’t considered. In this method, deceptive information is stored in RDV tables (RDVT) which cause some problems in routing process. In this paper, a method is proposed to improve the dynamism of RDV routing algorithm, so the consistency with grid environments is increased. The developed algorithm is assessed by investigating the success probability, number of hops and routing time of resource discovery.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v3i1.183

Does social media usage matter? An analysis of online practices and digital media perceptions of communication practitioners in Europe

A key aspect for understanding and explaining online communication is the micro level of communication practitioners’ social media usage and their general attitudes towards digital platforms. This paper investigates how public relations practitioner's personal and professional use of social media is related to their perceptions of social media. A quantitative methodology was applied to perform this research. A population of 2710 professionals from 43 European countries working on different hierarchical levels both in communication departments and agencies across Europe were surveyed as part of a larger transnational online survey. Results show that practitioners with a high level of usage of social media give more importance to social media channels, influence of social media on internal and external stakeholders and relevance of key gatekeepers and stakeholders along with a better self-estimation of competences. Issues about diverse levels of overestimation of social media use, application and importance in the professional arena are also debated

Blockchain in Energy Communities, A proof of concept

This report aims at exploring the use of the distributed ledger paradigm to incentive the participation of the citizen to a truly free, open and interoperable energy market, producing a feasibility study and a first demo testbed, taking also into consideration privacy, cybersecurity and big-data issues of the smart-home in the Energy market context. This study is intended to support point 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of the DSM (COM(2015)192) and point 2.2 of the Energy Union package (COM(2015)80.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

A Mixed Blessing: Market-Mediated Religious Authority in Neopaganism

This research explores how marketplace dynamics affect religious authority in the context of Neopagan religion. Drawing on an interpretivist study of Wiccan practitioners in Italy, we reveal that engagement with the market may cause considerable, ongoing tensions, based on the inherent contradictions that are perceived to exist between spirituality and commercial gain. As a result, market success is a mixed blessing that can increase religious authority and influence, but is just as likely to decrease authority and credibility. Using an extended case study method, we propose a theoretical framework that depicts the links between our informants’ situated experiences and the macro-level factors affecting religious authority as it interacts with market-mediated dynamics at the global level. Overall, our study extends previous work in macromarketing that has looked at religious authority in the marketplace) and how the processes of globalization are affecting religion

A Survey on the Contributions of Software-Defined Networking to Traffic Engineering

Since the appearance of OpenFlow back in 2008, software-defined networking (SDN) has gained momentum. Although there are some discrepancies between the standards developing organizations working with SDN about what SDN is and how it is defined, they all outline traffic engineering (TE) as a key application. One of the most common objectives of TE is the congestion minimization, where techniques such as traffic splitting among multiple paths or advanced reservation systems are used. In such a scenario, this manuscript surveys the role of a comprehensive list of SDN protocols in TE solutions, in order to assess how these protocols can benefit TE. The SDN protocols have been categorized using the SDN architecture proposed by the open networking foundation, which differentiates among data-controller plane interfaces, application-controller plane interfaces, and management interfaces, in order to state how the interface type in which they operate influences TE. In addition, the impact of the SDN protocols on TE has been evaluated by comparing them with the path computation element (PCE)-based architecture. The PCE-based architecture has been selected to measure the impact of SDN on TE because it is the most novel TE architecture until the date, and because it already defines a set of metrics to measure the performance of TE solutions. We conclude that using the three types of interfaces simultaneously will result in more powerful and enhanced TE solutions, since they benefit TE in complementary ways.European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GN4) under Grant 691567 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Secure Deployment of Services Over SDN and NFV-based Networks Project S&NSEC under Grant TEC2013-47960-C4-3-

Inclusive University didactics and technological devices: a case study

This paper provides a review of projects related to new technologies used to favour the teaching-learning processes and the inclusive practices in the University context for students with disabilities and with Specific Learning Disorders. Authors present a review of strategies, trajectories and perspectives activated in the national and international scene, aiming to guarantee a significant pedagogical framework of reference. Furthermore, the paper focuses on a meaningful path activated at the University of Macerata, the project Inclusion 3.0, a relevant example of new technologies in support of teaching- learning processes and inclusion practices among all students