Virtual Communities as Narrative Networks: Developing a Model of Knowledge Creation for Crowdsourced Environments

Theoretical Background

A virtual community of practice is “an online social network in which people with common interests, goals, or practices interact to share information and knowledge, and engage in social interactions” (Chiu, Hsu, & Wang, 2006, p. 1873). Early work on communities of practice focused on communities that were limited in scale and scope, and shaped within organizational or industrial boundaries (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Wenger & Snyder, 2000). By contrast, today’s virtual communities of practice are often comprised of thousands of members with multi-dimensional online identities, rich communication media, and complex social norms. These communities develop over time through the dynamic interaction of the members and evolve along distinct paths that influence the subsequent interactions of the community, despite the constant ebb and flow of the membership (Rheingold, 1993). Moreover, virtual communities of practice largely rely on member-generated content and thus, are dependent on active member involvement and participation. This participation frequently occurs on the discussion boards or forums. While the connections in these communities are generally “weak ties” (Granovetter, 1973), the discussion boards form remarkably strong communities of practice that are characterized by well-defined social norms (Brown & Duguid, 1991).