Giuseppe Riva Carlo Galimberti (Eds.)

The impact of Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) on communities' development is a topic still rather unexplored. All the interaction processes mediated by these technological environments are characterised, from both psychosocial and discursive points of view, by absolutely new practices and by the absence of some communication features, typical of face-to face. The "Community of Practice" model, allows us to analyse the growth of virtual communities along the construction of a shared repertoire, the involvement in a common enterprise and the sharing of a mutual engagement. Communities of practice use technology in social and material contexts, sharing meanings about the technology uses and peculiarities through a continuous negotiating process

Giuseppe Riva Carlo Galimberti (Eds.)

Contents 10.1 Introduc tion .............................................................................. 176 10.2 Method...................................................................................... 176 10.3 Measures ................................................................................... 177 10.4 Procedure .................................................................................. 178 10.5 Analysis .................................................................................... 178 10.6 Results ...................................................................................... 179 10.7 Conclusion................................................................................ 182 10.8 Acknowlegement ...................................................................... 182 10.9 References ................................................................................ 182 176 10.1 Introduction Virtual Environments have been employed as too