Community of Practice

Community of Practice (CoP), according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne

Wenger, is a term that describes a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession

Members are involved in a set of relationships over time and communities develop around things that matter to people

Social capital is one of the gains that society acquire

Through informal connections and in the formal process of sharing their expertise, learning from others, and participating in the group, members are said to be acquiring social capital

http://books.google.com.br/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=community

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http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm