Konrad Glogowski writes about an interesting case of technology letting him down.  He has an online community for his students - mainly blogging.  Here is the actual posting that describes his experience.  http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2005/12/07/tools-interiorized/

What I found more interesting was how his students were so dependent on the community. He states, "It quickly became clear from what they were saying to me that blogging was synonymous with English class, that their class consisted primarily of a community and that its absence had an impact on learning.

"I realized that they had formed a bond, not just with each other as learners but also with the community itself. My students got used to inhabiting a space which, as virtual as it was, constituted an important part of their learning experience. When the space became temporarily inaccessible, learning itself seemed to be put on hold."

Glogowski has some keen insight.  So, I'm wondering how long will it be before the corporate learning environment embraces online communities?  Should we expect the same eventual dependence on employee collaboration in a blogging virtual world?  Does it translate to the working world?  Is this another form of academia that thrives because it is inherently theoretical to start with?

He goes on to conclude:

"What have I learned from this? Well, I’m not going to mention the technical aspects. The experience was frustrating. When technology fails and your classroom depends on it, the feeling of helplessness and frustration can be overwhelming. I’ve decided to look at this experience as a very enlightening one. It taught me many things about my students and their relationship with the blogging community that they have inhabited since September. This experience confirmed my belief that blogging is about creating communities. My students didn’t really miss writing itself. Had that been the case, they wouldn’t have complained about writing in notebooks. What they missed was situated writing, a cognitive activity situated within a specific space that fosters cognitive engagement. They missed interactions, interactions with texts and with each other through texts. They missed the sense of participation and their audience. They missed the exploratory environment of the class blogosphere. The student who, having written his assignment in a notebook, complained about feeling like he was talking to himself, missed making connections, he missed the web of correspondences that they have been weaving since September. Their efforts to transfer their entries from their old blogs to the new ones were really efforts to rebuild that network."

Thus, I believe I can make the argument that the success of the online community was based on human nature.  We all want to belong.  We all want to feel important.  We all want to contribute.  We all want to be heard.

Maybe it has a component of ego that is the strong motivator.  Not the rebuilding of a network - just a desire to recover that artifact in which the author took so much pride.  It was her legacy.  It was his only monument to his intelligence.  Pride and ego are more likely than an attachment to the network.

And that pride derived from sharing hard-earned wisdom is what I believe will compel corporate employees to share their knowledge.  Blogging has already taken root in some companies.  But most managers don't see the value.  It appears to be wasteful indulgence on the part of the employees.  Who cares about all those inane details and the blathering about how they fixed such-and-so?

Who cares?  The CEO should care.  That's the company's knowledge.  Those are golden nuggets that represent corporate assets.

Oh yes, online communities will catch on.  Not overnight.  But eventually even the most short-sighted executive will accept the ROI projections.