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Brown, J.S. & Duguid, P. (2000). Organizational learning and
communities of practice: Toward a unified view of working,
learning and innovation. In E.L. Lesser, M.A. Fontaine & J.A.
Slusher, _Knowledge and communities_ (p. 99-121). Boston:
Butterworth Heinemann.
Brown and Duguid attempt to show working, learning and innovation as
interrelated and compatible activities. This is contrary to commonly
accepted views where learning is separate from (and generally prior to)
work and innovation is a process which changes the other two.
Attending to noncanonical practicies which are shared in communities
and how those communities do their sharing reveals that learning,
working and innovation are closely related. Canonical practices are
akin to a road map describing, in an abstract sense, the process of
getting from one place to another. These abstract guidelines can fail
in the face of concrete, detailed reality and thus communties emerge
to share descriptions of reality which help the members of the
community cope with that reality. Since reality is constanting
changing the community must change to continue coping. Thus a cycle is
generated in which there is constant learning, improved working, and
frequent innovation which feeds back into the cycle.
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Brown and Duguid make much of the difference between abstract and
concrete descriptions of work. In a footnote they say, "informants,
like most people in our society, tend to privilege abstract
knowledge." This is key to their entire discussion. Informal
communities share stories. Informants, when queried, share
descriptions of the activites they perform.
The latter, being already abstract, is difficult to abstract further
into a generality.
Thus the value of specific research of "stuff". With data we can
identify patterns, make comparisons, innovate, learn, work.
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