Facebook, Twitter, Google, and the proliferation of mobile devices exemplify the social transformation the world is undergoing. In these large scale rapid changes, traditional tools are showing their limits. Complexity theory, self-organization, and adaptability show promise in understanding recent developments such as social networking. As a response, this paper outlines the challenges of designing for complex sociotechnical systems that support self-organization, adaptability, and learning. The Community of Practice (CoP) concept is shown to have strong fundamental alignment with complex sociotechnical systems design and offers a revealing social dimension to the challenges outlined. To illustrate this, several opportunities in complex sociotechnical systems design using the CoP perspective are discussed.
AkrichM.CallonM.LatourB. (2002). The key to success in innovation part 1: The art of interessement. International Journal of Innovation Management, 6(2), 187–206.
3.
Alexa Internet Inc. (2010, February 22). Top 500 global sites. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from http://www.alexa.com/topsites.
4.
BeyerH.HoltzblattK. (1998). Contextual design. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufman Publishers.
DreonO.McDonaldS. P. (2006). Using an online community of practice to foster inquiry as pedagogy amongst student teachers. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Learning Science, 140–146.
7.
DruckerP. F. (1994). Post-capitalist society. London: Collins.
8.
HeylighenF. (2008), Complexity and self-organization, in BatesMacia J.MaackNilesMary, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, CRC Press.
9.
HoadleyC. M.KilnerP. G. (2005). Using technology to transform communities of practice into knowledge-building communities. SIGGROUP Bulletin, 25, 31–40.
10.
HutchinsE. (1995). Cognition in the wild. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
11.
IsraelB. A.ShulzA. J.ParkerE. A.BeckerA. B. (1998). Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual Review Public Health, 19, 173–202.
12.
KleinG. (1999). Sources of power: How people make decisions. London: The MIT Press.
13.
ManuelL. (2005). A visual exploration on mapping complex networks. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from http://www.visualcomplexity.com.
14.
ResslerC.ThompsonJ. (2008). Why work sucks and how to fix it: No schedules, no meetings, no joke-the simple change that can make your job terrific. Ottawa: Portfolio Hardcover.
15.
SantosL. O.GuizzardiR.S.van SinderenM. (2005). Agent-oriented context-aware platforms supporting communities of practice in health care. Proceedings of the Fourth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 1287–1288.
16.
SchwaberK. (2004). Agile project management with scrum (Microsoft Professional). Grove City: Microsoft Press.
17.
StrazdinsP. (2008). Applying the community of practice approach to individual IT projects. Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Australasian Computing Education, 137–146.
18.
SuchmanL. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communication. New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
TifousA.El GhaliA.Dieng-KuntzR.GiboinA.ChristinaC.VidouG. (2007). An ontology for supporting communities of practice. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Knowledge Capture, 39–46.
20.
VicenteK. J. (1999). Cognitive work analysis: Toward safe, productive, and healthy computer-based work (1 ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
WengerE. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
23.
WengerE.McDermottR.SnyderW. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
24.
WengerE.WhiteN.SmithJ. D. (2009). Digital habitats: Stewarding technology for communities. Portland, OR: CPsquare.
