What is a Community of Practice?

'Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope.'

Communities of Practice: The Organisational Frontier by Etienne Wenger is a good introduction

This blog posting also highlights some important aspects of communities of practice.

For other interesting views about communities of practice, click here.