Hal Meeks Made it Up: Audio From DE Presentation 07
The Art of Building Virtual Communities (Techlearning blog)
Two models for understanding roles in online communities: 4L (Linking, Lurking, Learning, Leading) and 4C (Consumer, Commentor, Contributor, Commentator). Also includes some questions and ideas about what makes healthy online communities.
The Bamboo Project Blog: Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event
Michele Martin debriefs the experience of teaching the Work Literacy online course via Ning. Several things they did were very successful. Ning was a good platform, even though it's intended as a social networking tool rather than a CMS. Explicitly saying that different levels of participation were acceptable meant that lurkers felt comfortable dipping in and out as legitimate perispheral participants. Was the course a success? It sounds like they all learned from the experience; to me, that means it's a success even if some aspects didn't work as they hoped.
Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities -- Campus Technology
Social networking and learning communities--moving beyond just the social aspects to reflective learning in a community. My coworker, April Hayman, is cited in the article.