Communities of practice and networks: reviewing two perspectives on social learning

This paper examines the similarities between the concepts of ‘community of practice’(Wenger 1997) and ‘networking for learning’ (Engel and Salomon 1997, and others). Theseconcepts come from divergent traditions: the former has its roots in knowledge managementand the latter comes from agricultural knowledge systems and soft-systems analysis.Although stemming from different strands of thinking, there are some common concepts andcommon elements. For both approaches, the characteristics, theoretical background andimportance for development are explored. Next, similarities based on conceptions of sociallearning are explored. Finally, it is argued that communities of practice and networks forlearning are part of the same continuum with varying degrees of formality, ranging frominformal communities of practice to highly formal networks for learning. About the authorsSarah Cummings is an Information Specialist at the Information and LibraryServices (ILS) of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam, TheNetherlands. She has previously worked at CABI and Elsevier Science. Shehas worked in the information for development field for more than 20 years.She has a BA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Sarah Cummings, ILS, KIT, PO Box 95001, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail:[email protected] Arin van Zee is currently working as an application tester at theBelastingdienst of the Netherlands Ministry of Finance. Before this, he wasworking at the European Centre for Development Policy Management(ECDPM) where among other things, he examined the relationship betweennetworking and learning. Arin van Zee has an MSc in Development Studiesfrom Wageningen University. E-mail: [email protected]