Community of Practice

James Paul Gee makes an interesting observation in his book What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003):

It is common today for research on modern workplaces to point out that in today's high-tech and fast-changing world, the most valuable knowledge a business has is the tacit knowledge its workers gain through continually working with others in a 'community of practice' that adapts to specific situations and changes 'on the ground' as they happen. Such knowledge cannot always be verbalized. Even when it can be verbalized and placed in a training manual, by that time it is often out of date.

Questions:

What does this say about the role of social networking in the workplace?

What does this say about the nature of "formal" training versus "informal training in the workplace?

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