Rewarding Participation in Social Media Enabled Communities of Practice

Abstract

Tacit knowledge is difficult to objectify, whether the goal of doing so is to test, share, or technologically reproduce it. Therefore, extending the traditionally skills-based I.T. certification practice to the assessment of social learning that occurs in Communities of Practice will be a challenge. My research approaches this challenge by examining the role of social media and related technologies, information systems, and artifacts in the mediation of knowledge and expertise across the boundary between workplace-based Communities of Practice and external professional communities. Findings from this empirical case study of the Microsoft MVP Award implicate certain design considerations into the design of social media within the workplace.