It’s useful for analysis to categorize what we observe, and so in 2009, Hara, Shachaf and Stoerger extended a typology of online communities that distinguished between communities that emerged from formal organizational settings, and those that emerged elsewhere. They argued that more attention had to be paid to online communities that emerged elsewhere, as they continue to thrive in the online world. The focus of these authors are communities of practice, which they define as:
Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.
This typology is based on four dimensions that describe an online community:
- Demographics, which are generic characteristics.
- Context, which describes the organizational environment in which the online community develops and operates.
- Membership characteristics, which portray various aspects of the membership.
- Technological environment, which is extent of use and reliance on ICTs.
Each of these is further divided into additional aspects, which are spectrums that reflect the various levels in which an OC fulfills each dimension.
The table below shows how the Nerdfighter Community could be categorized within these terms.
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