Online knowledge communities: Meeting places for continuing professional development

Abstract

This paper describes the concept of Online Knowledge Communities (okc) as meeting places for continuing professional development (cpd). An okc is defined as a social network of members, who are online and are organized by making use of an online knowledge center. The okc has a particular group culture and members are involved in appropriate information processes to develop and exploit a specific knowledge domain. The author anticipates that the application of okc for cpd will have positive effects on the professionalism of the community members and on the development of knowledge assets in knowledge intensive organizations. © 2003 by Springer Science+Business Media New York.