Imagine having access to a safe environment where you can ask all sorts of subject related questions. Or perhaps you prefer meeting people and talking about your and their experiences? What about situations where you really need some advice or a second opinion on a method or how to apply a standard in some way?
A community of practice does all of this but lots more
As well as deliver tangible results
Communities of practice are a great way of getting people to connect and talk about a common area of interest. Working here at Edinburgh University I have seen fantastic work going on in my own department and Division but also in the Schools and of course in other parts of Information Services.
From working with UCISA as Vice Chair for the Infrastructure Group I have gained connections and contacts who have been great sources of information, ideas, new ways of thinking and these have really translated into tangible results. This is exactly what a community of practice should be about.
Universities have a long history of inter-organisation collaboration and for an organisation that has the scale and diversity of our own we have a fantastic opportunity to make the most of our own rich sets of skills, experiences and specialisms.
In my current role I can see a fantastic opportunity to create a Community of Practice in the University that focuses on Software Development and all that it involves. This interest area is a big thing for a lot of my direct colleagues and I firmly believe that a community of practice would be a great vehicle for encouraging collaboration on so many levels. So that’s what we are going to do!
So look out for activity with the new Software Development Community of Practice
Why not sign up to the mailing list at
sw-dev-community@mlists.is.ed.ac.uk
Or drop me a note at iain.fiddes@ed.ac.uk
