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Building networks for learning

Social capital refers to those stocks of social trust, norms and networks that people can draw upon to solve common problems. But harnessing the power of these seemingly invisible networks to achieve sustainable development goals such as in public health, well being or environment is an elusive undertaking. All too often their power for supporting development is seriously underestimated. However, the downside is that misguided networking efforts can creates relational demands that sap people's time and energy. So there is good reason to study networks, and determine the best way to manage them. The articles below offer three different perspectives of networking.

• The first articles look generically at how to build and map networks.
• The next series of papers address different aspects of working together - team building, communities of practice and learning groups.
• Finally, links are provided to institutional approaches for working across groups and organisations, including boundary organisations.

Building and mapping networks

• Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving This paper by Valdis Krebs and June Holley investigates building sustainable communities through improving their connectivity – internally and externally – using network ties to create economic opportunities. Improved connectivity is created through an iterative process of knowing the network and knitting the network.



• Communities of practice and networks: reviewing two perspectives on social learningThis paper by Sarah Cummings and Arin van Zee examines two different approaches used to describe and analyse similar phenomena: ‘networks for learning’ and ‘communities of practice’. The paper points out how these two concepts come from different traditions and strands of thinking, and goes on to highlight fundamental similarities in the two approaches which stem from their respective focus on social learning.



• Achieving individual and collective goals: ICTs, capacities and networksThis article considers the collective capabilities of networks in relation to their use of ICTs, information and knowledge management. As the authors, Peter Ballantyne and Denise Clarke, point out ICTs can enable networks and their members to achieve their aims more effectively, and are often part of the ‘offer’ that a network makes to its members.



• Networking for learning: The human face of knowledge management?This article is by Niels Keijzer, Charlotte Řrnemark, and Paul Engel. It is intended to contribute to the debate on networking for learning by exploring its potentials and limitations. It draws substantially on discussions and resource materials shared through the Pelican Initiative, as well as other literature and practical examples, and seeks to identify some entry points into this field for policy-makers and development practitioners.



• Creating High-Impact Nonprofits Conventional wisdom says that scaling social innovation starts with strengthening internal management capabilities. This study of 12 high-impact nonprofits by Heather McLeod Grant and Leslie Crutchfield, however, shows that real social change happens when organizations go outside their own walls and find creative ways to enlist the help of others.



• Building Networks: Collaborating for Community Education and Advocacy This chapter from Advocates for Youth highlights how networks can play an important role in public education and advocacy on adolescent reproductive health. Networks allow different groups to work together toward a shared goal by coordinating strategies and pooling resources. Networks which include a range of organizations, groups, and individuals demonstrate to policy makers wide support for particular policies or programs.



• A value network approach for modelling and measuring intangibles This paper by Verna Allee describes a way of modelling business relationships that incorporates new thinking around knowledge and intangibles, networks nad organisational complexity. More information on these networks can be found from the Wikipedia value networks page.



• Sensing and Modeling Dynamic Social Networks The structure and dynamics of social networks are of critical importance to many social phenomena, ranging from organizational efficiency to the spread of knowledge and disease. This page by the University of Washington's Computer Science and Engineering School provides an introduction to new research in this area.



• Introduction to social network methods This on-line textbook by Robert Hanneman and Mark Riddleintroduces many of the basics of formal approaches to the analysis of social networks. This book aims to provide a very basic introduction to the core ideas of social network analysis, and how these ideas are implemented in the methodologies that many social network analysts use. The book is distributed free on the Internet in the hope that it may reach a diverse audience, and that the core ideas and methods of this field may be of interest.

Different ways of linking up

Here we distinguish between team and group approaches that come together to complete or achieve a task or goal, and those that come together because they want to to build relationships or share common work experiences. The former is characterised by many work teams, while the latter can be evidenced in communities of practice.

Team building

• A checklist for evaluating team performance This is a checklist that people can use to help a team evaluate their progress and improve their performance.



• How to build good teams This newspaper article by Philippa Stevenson highlights the importance of good teams for improving organizational performance.

Communities of practice

• Communities of practice - a brief introduction The term "community of practice" is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is age-old. In this article Etienne Wenger shows how the concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance. This brief and general introduction examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning.



• Communities of practice and organizational performance As organizations grow in size, geographical scope, and complexity, it is increasingly apparent that sponsorship and support of communities of practice—groups whose members regularly engage in sharing and learning, based on common interests—can improve organizational performance. This IBM article argues that the social capital resident in communities of practice leads to behavioral changes, which in turn positively influence business performance. The authors identify four specific performance outcomes associated with the communities of practice they studied and link these outcomes to the basic dimensions of social capital. These dimensions include connections among practitioners who may or may not be co-located, relationships that build a sense of trust and mutual obligation, and a common language and context that can be shared by community members.



• Communities of Practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers and success factors This paper by Pat Gannon-Leary and Elsa Fontainha acknowledges the increasing interest in virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities. However, barriers exist in virtual CoPs and these are defined by the authors and illustrated with quotes from academic staff who have been involved in CoPs. Critical success factors (CSFs) for a virtual CoP are discussed. These include usability of technology; trust in, and acceptance of, ICTs in communication; a sense of belonging among members; paying attention to cross-national and cross-cultural dimensions of the CoP; shared understandings; a common sense of purpose; use of netiquette and user-friendly language and longevity.

Learning groups

• Participatory learning groups in an aid bureaucracy This paper narrates the process of establishing and running two participatory learning groups in the Swedish official development agency (Sida). Through cycles of reflection and action over a period of close to a year, group members explored experiences and ideas, building analyses, alliances and possibilities for action through participatory interaction. Fostering subtle changes through small acts and shifts in thinking, the learning groups helped foster greater reflexivity amongst participants and, with it, a degree of engagement and awareness with the potential for changes at other scales. This paper by Andrea Cornwall, Garett Pratt and Patta Scott-Villiers reports on the way the process developed, and reflects on lessons learnt with potential for wider application.

Working at the boundaries

A number of approaches are being developed to institutionalise processes that support working at the boundaries, or improved dialogic processes. Boundary organisations are increasingly being suggested as an improvement in this regard. It is important to remember that working at the boundary is a process, and can be achieved through many different structures.

• Workshop on Boundary Organizations in Environmental Policy and Science This paper was prepared by the participants as a report of their held on December 9-10, 1999 at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It provides a good overview, and reminds us that boundary crossing requires not only an emphasis on structure, but it requires the structure to deliver on process. David Guston also wrote a follow-up paper, Boundary organizations in environmental policy and science: An introduction , which formed the introduction to a 2001 special issue of Science, Technology & Human Values