Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
There seems to be a growing awareness that we learn through
exploration and discovery more readily than through instruction. Not
exactly new - the Montessori method, for instance, acknowledges that
point - and employs guides rather than instructors.

Communities of practice strike me as learning communities where the
act of learning is shared and driven through mutual engagement, and it
makes sense that the technology steward, in that context, would be more
of a guide or catalyzing agent than someone who provides instruction
about technology. I still wonder, though, about those who are slower to
learn or resistant to technology adoption. How do we avoid excluding
them? 
  

    
From my practice, Jon, you start where they are, you encourage,
highlight what works and... stay patient. 
  

    
For me the book was a wonderful set of guidelines - something I could hand 
to others and expect them to find it useful.

The one major lack was useful case studies. I hated the little blurblettes 
(this is from memory) that would say the sorts of things you might hear on 
a late night TV ad "one organization in XXX managed to do amazing things 
with Y" without giving you any useful takeaway about what XXX did and how 
they achieved Y. I wanted a sense of the diversity of how tools are used 
that might help expand my sense of how to build or support a CoP - which I 
would claim is the usual point of such boxes.
  

    
<ari> I'm glad you reminded me about the blurbettes (!!) We had gotten
this critique earlier this year and we have had good intentions of
putting up the fuller case studies (I think we have about 12) on the
blog site. Must. Put. That. On. The. TODO LIST! Thanks. 

And thanks for the feedback. In the end, after the learning for
ourselves,  that is the best thing about writing the book - to find
that it has been useful. 
  

    
One of the valuable tools in this book is the extensive glossary of
terms.  That's very nicely done, and can be valuable for those just
stepping into this field, or thinking about who to hire to help solve
some problems.  

What an interesting book and conversation. Thank you.
  

    
It's funny, Gail. We hemmed and hawed about the glossary. We started
with one that I had on my website for years, updated it, then got some
outside help (Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz) to spiff it up. Thanks!
  

    
We're at the end of our two weeks, though everyone's welcome to stay
or come back periodically and continue the conversation. Many thanks to
Nancy White and John D. Smith! This has been a great conversation; I
know I've learned a lot, and will be coming back here to re-read and
digest. Also thanks to everyone else who joined the conversation, on or
off the WELL.
  

    
I value the Learning Agenda approach to the final chapter of the book
and the hard work that leads up to it. I like the sense of 'unpacking
the problem' that examining community orientations seems to produce.

You've struck a good balance between analysis and synthesis, I think,
while making it clear that these activities are far from rote, but must
be shaped by an understanding of the community that can only come
through participation.

Thank you.
  

    
This has been really fun, everybody!  Thanks to all for the rich
conversation.  I guess my questions at this point are:

* What are the big topics that need exploration and work in the
future? (Separate learning agendas for "leading edge" vs "middle of the
pack" or "trailing edge" folks?)

* Where are such conversations and explorations likely to happen?
  

    
Thanks for the conversation and thanks to <jonl> for being a great
host. Thanks <clm> for the feedback. And I'll stick around should
things continue to percolate!