Finding the ties that bind: Tools in support of a knowledge-building community

The development OF knowledge-building or leaning communities is a complex, multifacered task By examining users Like David, we came to understand that our goals for a learning community would not be addressed by any "magic bullet" technology solution. Instead, we undertook a lengthy design process that started with self-examination and self-definition and still continues today with community support, assessment, and evaluation. The challenges we faced are similar to those in other community-building efforts, and we have attempted to extract the intrinsic types of work required to engineer technologies to support an online community. Many of these areas of inquiry would exist even if we were not using technology to support our users, bur they are all the more important when we consider designing software to support their needs. By now, the reader has probably. noticed the wide variety of skills to be brought to the problem, from computer science and design to management and grassroots community building to social science research. To be successful at supporting learning communities, we need to address all the questions here in a multidisciplinary way that not only involves research on existing practices and definit~ono f the goals for the community but also supports design and implementation with community support, technologies that map to the users' needs, and reflection on community and individual outcomes.

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