Evolution of humans within a community

In Amy Jo Kim’s book “Community Building on the Web” she talks about the various roles  which community participants assume in their journey within the community.  The above picture shows the stepping stones as visitors become novices who in turn become regulars and then can become leaders, experts and then finally elders.

“Shy visitors evolve into confident contributors; eager students become knowledgeable teachers; and novice game players become tournament champions. It’s your job as a community-builder to create an environment that fosters these basic social roles, while meeting the changing needs of your members as they become progressively more involved in community life” (Amy Jo Kim)   

In designing our learning communities we are looking at the roles that people play withing the community and in community building…we havn’t got the answers yet but so far I agree with Wenger (1999) who states that you can define the roles but you cannot design the identities that will be constructed through these roles.  

CoPs, Ramblings |