Online Communities of Practices (CoPs) is emerging as a major form for knowledge sharing in this era of information revolution. Due to the advancement of technology and ease of internet access in every part of the world, people began to get more and more involved in online CoPs to share knowledge. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. To that end, there is a need to examine, why do people engage in an online discussion, what role domain experts play to keep on-line discussion alive and how to develop a ''right intervention'' to maintain and stimulate participants for engagement in on-line community. This thesis studied eight Communities of Practices that are being deliberately formed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the online community and describes an exploratory study of knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices (CoPs) by investigating eight CoPs - Start up Nation, All nurses, Young Enterpener, Teneric, SCM Focus, Systems Dynamics, Mahjoob and Alnj3 CoPs. The CoPs under investigation shared the following characteristics: permanent life span, created by interested members (i.e. bottom-up rather than top-down management creation), have a high level of boundary crossing, have more than 700 members who come from disparate locations and organizations, have voluntary membership enrollment, high membership diversity, high topic's relevance to members, high degree of reliance on technology, and are moderated. Data were gathered on the eight CoPs through online observations and online questionnaire survey. Results show that in each of the case study the most common type of activity performed by members of each CoP was sharing knowledge, followed by socialsing. Regarding the types of knowledge shared, the most common one across all CoPs was practical and general knowledge. The types of practical knowledge, however, varied in each CoP. The study also discovered that storytelling extensively enhances knowledge transfer and participants' interpersonal communications in eight communities under investigation. What were also notable in this study were the stories discussed in a CoP remains in the archive, what are more likely to generate interest and curiosity on the topic among inactive members who ultimately facilitates knowledge transfer. In this study it is also evident that successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms that the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. An analysis of selected topics in the eight case studies has shown that some successful topics have few replies and vice versa, where many topics ended with open conclusion or they were unsuccessful in terms that the original query was not answered satisfactory. Therefore, it is not necessary that successful topic will get high number of responses as there are some successful topics which have limited number of replies. Overall, it is found that, topic may play a major role in the success of online discussion. It is observed in the study that members normally use short messages rather long messages and usually discusses more than one topic within one thread. Practical implications for knowledge sharing in online communities of practice were discussed, along with some recommendations for future research.

Uppsatsen handlar om hur det går att förstå olika målgrupper på Instagram och hur influencers genom detta enklare kan anpassa sitt innehåll till det som sin målgrupp av följare vill se. Målgruppen som används i uppsatsen är tjejer i åldern 15-20 år från Sverige och genom en enkätundersökningen skapades en bättre förståelse i hur de använder sig av Instagram. Genom en analys av de konton personerna i enkätundersökningen följde på Instagram kunde en sammanställning på vad för typ av personer de följer är. Efter detta skapades ett verktyg för att kunna testa vilket visuellt innehåll målgruppen vill se och studien avslutades sedan med intervjuer både på målgruppen och några av de influencers som de följer.

A presente tese tem como objetivo conhecer o perfil dos participantes de uma comunidade de prática na perspectiva da educação inclusiva e compreender os discursos e as práticas que podem ser tecidas por eles. Esta investigação surge ao observar que o cenário educacional brasileiro sofreu recentes modificações ao implementar a Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva, o qual passou a situar alunos com deficiência também como público a ser abarcado pelo sistema regular de ensino. Dessa forma, tornou-se imperativo que os professores atuantes na rede educacional sejam capazes de contemplar a diversidade humana em suas práticas pedagógicas. Para que isso ocorra, a legislação vigente prevê a oferta de cursos de formação que capacitem os docentes frente à temática inclusiva. No entanto, ao observar-se a latente impossibilidade de as ações formais atenderem as demandas geradas por todo um coletivo de professores oriundos de diferentes regiões do país, passou-se a buscar alternativas que pudessem apoiar a construção de conhecimentos de tais docentes. Nessa procura, encontrou-se nas comunidades virtuais de prática um importante conceito a ser investigado. Baseadas em ferramentas originadas sob a lógica da participação e colaboração geradas a partir da efetivação da WEB 2.0, tais comunidades promovem a reunião virtual de pessoas que compartilham interesses mútuos, podendo, assim, revelar-se como um espaço que fomente a troca de recursos e experiências entre pares. Da identificação de suas potencialidades, instituiu-se a comunidade virtual de prática Inclusão na Educação - CPIE, ambiente implementado a partir da solução Ning Mode Midia 3.0, que angariou mais de 320 membros oriundos de todo o país. Os dados obtidos, observados a partir da metodologia de análise textual discursiva, demonstraram que o perfil do professor que aceita fazer parte de uma iniciativa como a que foi proposta, é aquele que já detém certos conhecimentos sobre o domínio delimitado e que, reconhecendo a sua importância, passa a buscar novas oportunidades de construir conhecimentos acerca do tema. Os resultados ainda indicam que iniciativas como a CPIE, podem adquirir uma conotação mais ligada à suplementação da formação docente, onde práticas desencadeadas a partir dos eixos de comunicação ou de resolução de problemas contribuem para que professores notadamente experientes sigam em contato, colaborando uns com os outros na busca pela construção de conhecimentos que subsidiem suas ações pedagógicas. / This thesis aims to know the profile of participants in a community of practice, in the context of inclusive education, and understand the discourses and uses that can be forged by them. This research emerged from the observation that Brazilian educational scenario has undergone recent changes to implement the National Policy for Special Education in the Perspective of Inclusive Education, which has situated students with disabilities as a public to be placed in the regular education system. Thus, it has become imperative that teachers working in the educational network are able to contemplate human diversity in their teaching practices. For this to occur, the current legislation states the provision of training courses that enable teachers to address inclusive education topics. However, observing the potential impossibility that formal actions can meet the demands generated by the collective of teachers from different regions of the country, we have started to look for alternatives that could support the construction of knowledge for those teachers. In this search, we have found in virtual communities of practice an important concept to be investigated. Based on tools originated under the logic of participation and collaboration, arising from development of Web 2.0, these communities promote the gathering of people who share the same interests and they can act as environments that foster the exchange of resources and experiences among peers. Identifying their potential, we have developed a virtual community of practice called Inclusion in Education - SCRS, implemented with Ning Mode Media 3.0 solution, which has congregated more than 320 members from all over the country. The data obtained, evaluated under the methodology of discourse textual analysis, have shown that teachers that accept to take part in initiatives as the one we have proposed, already have some knowledge about the delimited area, recognize its importance and seek for new opportunities to build knowledge on the subject. The results also indicated that initiatives such as SCRS can act as a supplement to teacher education, where practices triggered from communication axes or problem solving contribute to keep trained and experienced teachers in contact, collaborating with each other in the quest for knowledge that can support their educational activities.

abstract: The purpose of this action research study was to examine how membership within a virtual community of practice impacted individual professional development, knowledge exchange practices, and self-efficacy. The G-3/5/7 virtual community of practice (VCoP) website was created to provide members with access to a wide range of career-related content, while also bestowing them with the level of volition needed to be completely in control of when and how they consume content. Feedback from early cycles of research suggested the pilot version of the VCoP wasn’t perceived as user-friendly and didn’t provide a broad range of professional development-related content. Thus, the layout of the VCoP was completely redesigned, and content offerings in the content repository and on website pages were broadened. This action research study is grounded in social cognitive theory, social cognitive career theory, and the community of practice framework. Reviewed literature includes studies pertaining to mutual engagement within social learning environments, facilitating professional development, sustaining communities of practice, and implementing virtual communities of practice. Participants in this study included a combination of Department of the Army civilian and military employees. Over the course of 14 weeks, these employees were invited to voluntarily join the G-3/5/7 VCoP and freely access and use the site for any reason they deemed necessary. At the end of the 14-week period, participants completed a questionnaire and participated in semi-structured interviews. The result of the study revealed members generally found the G-3/5/7 VCoP website to be user-friendly. They also believed the website could help them accomplish professional development goals, exchange knowledge with peers, and produce higher quality work more efficiently. The analysis of results includes discussion on the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data and connects results to the literature that influenced this study. Also, lessons learned, study limitations, implications for practice, and recommendations for future action research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os impactos das características estruturais, na participação em comunidades virtuais internacionais de especialistas brasileiros do processo de laminação, de uma empresa siderúrgica. A pesquisa foi realizada junto a oito profissionais de laminação de diferentes usinas siderúrgicas do Brasil inseridas em comunidades de laminação internacionais da Gerdau. Visou-se identificar e descrever o entendimento dos entrevistados sobre os conceitos de comunidades de prática virtuais, seu papel na comunidade e sua dinâmica de uso, de forma a entender como a demografia, o contexto organizacional, as características de associação e o ambiente tecnológico repercutem, facilitando ou dificultando sua participação. O método adotado foi o estudo de caso qualitativo; a principal técnica para coleta de dados foram as entrevistas; para a análise dos dados coletados foi empregada a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Como resultado, identificou-se que as características estruturais de orientação nas categorias: demografia; transposição de fronteiras; grau de formalismo institucionalizado; liderança e ambiente na categoria contexto organizacional, dispersão geográfica, envolvimento de membros; experiência comunitária prévia; alfabetização dos membros nas TIC; diversidade cultural; relevância do tópico para os membros, na categoria características de associação; grau de dependência nas TIC, na categoria ambiente tecnológico são percebidas pelos especialistas quer como facilitadoras, quer como barreiras, permitindo assim ações da empresa, a fim de incrementá-las ou mitigá-las. Outras características podem não ser percebidas e, no entanto, se constituírem como base para a ocorrência da participação. / This study aims to analyze the impacts of the structural characteristics in the participation of Brazilian rolling mill experts in international virtual communities of practice of steel company. The research was conducted among eight rolling mill professionals of different steel mills in Brazil that are embedded in international rolling mill communities of Gerdau. The objective was to identify and describe the understanding of the interviewees on the concepts of virtual communities of practice, its role in the community and its dynamic use in order to understand how the demographics, the organizational context, the characteristics of association and technological environment affect facilitating or hindering their participation. The method adopted was the qualitative case study and the main technique for collecting data was conducting interviews. The data analysis has used content analysis technique. As the results it was identified that the structural characteristics of orientation in the demographics category, boundary crossing, degree of institutionalized formalism, leadership and environment in the organizational context category, geographic dispersion, members’ enrollment, members’ prior community experience, members’ ICT literacy, Cultural diversity and topic’s relevance to members in the membership characteristics category and finally, the degree of reliance on ICT in the technological environment category are perceived by the experts as facilitators or barriers, thus allowing the company to adopt actions to enhance or mitigate them, while other characteristics may not be perceived and form themselves as the basis for the occurrence of participation.

A presente tese tem como objetivo conhecer o perfil dos participantes de uma comunidade de prática na perspectiva da educação inclusiva e compreender os discursos e as práticas que podem ser tecidas por eles. Esta investigação surge ao observar que o cenário educacional brasileiro sofreu recentes modificações ao implementar a Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva, o qual passou a situar alunos com deficiência também como público a ser abarcado pelo sistema regular de ensino. Dessa forma, tornou-se imperativo que os professores atuantes na rede educacional sejam capazes de contemplar a diversidade humana em suas práticas pedagógicas. Para que isso ocorra, a legislação vigente prevê a oferta de cursos de formação que capacitem os docentes frente à temática inclusiva. No entanto, ao observar-se a latente impossibilidade de as ações formais atenderem as demandas geradas por todo um coletivo de professores oriundos de diferentes regiões do país, passou-se a buscar alternativas que pudessem apoiar a construção de conhecimentos de tais docentes. Nessa procura, encontrou-se nas comunidades virtuais de prática um importante conceito a ser investigado. Baseadas em ferramentas originadas sob a lógica da participação e colaboração geradas a partir da efetivação da WEB 2.0, tais comunidades promovem a reunião virtual de pessoas que compartilham interesses mútuos, podendo, assim, revelar-se como um espaço que fomente a troca de recursos e experiências entre pares. Da identificação de suas potencialidades, instituiu-se a comunidade virtual de prática Inclusão na Educação - CPIE, ambiente implementado a partir da solução Ning Mode Midia 3.0, que angariou mais de 320 membros oriundos de todo o país. Os dados obtidos, observados a partir da metodologia de análise textual discursiva, demonstraram que o perfil do professor que aceita fazer parte de uma iniciativa como a que foi proposta, é aquele que já detém certos conhecimentos sobre o domínio delimitado e que, reconhecendo a sua importância, passa a buscar novas oportunidades de construir conhecimentos acerca do tema. Os resultados ainda indicam que iniciativas como a CPIE, podem adquirir uma conotação mais ligada à suplementação da formação docente, onde práticas desencadeadas a partir dos eixos de comunicação ou de resolução de problemas contribuem para que professores notadamente experientes sigam em contato, colaborando uns com os outros na busca pela construção de conhecimentos que subsidiem suas ações pedagógicas. / This thesis aims to know the profile of participants in a community of practice, in the context of inclusive education, and understand the discourses and uses that can be forged by them. This research emerged from the observation that Brazilian educational scenario has undergone recent changes to implement the National Policy for Special Education in the Perspective of Inclusive Education, which has situated students with disabilities as a public to be placed in the regular education system. Thus, it has become imperative that teachers working in the educational network are able to contemplate human diversity in their teaching practices. For this to occur, the current legislation states the provision of training courses that enable teachers to address inclusive education topics. However, observing the potential impossibility that formal actions can meet the demands generated by the collective of teachers from different regions of the country, we have started to look for alternatives that could support the construction of knowledge for those teachers. In this search, we have found in virtual communities of practice an important concept to be investigated. Based on tools originated under the logic of participation and collaboration, arising from development of Web 2.0, these communities promote the gathering of people who share the same interests and they can act as environments that foster the exchange of resources and experiences among peers. Identifying their potential, we have developed a virtual community of practice called Inclusion in Education - SCRS, implemented with Ning Mode Media 3.0 solution, which has congregated more than 320 members from all over the country. The data obtained, evaluated under the methodology of discourse textual analysis, have shown that teachers that accept to take part in initiatives as the one we have proposed, already have some knowledge about the delimited area, recognize its importance and seek for new opportunities to build knowledge on the subject. The results also indicated that initiatives such as SCRS can act as a supplement to teacher education, where practices triggered from communication axes or problem solving contribute to keep trained and experienced teachers in contact, collaborating with each other in the quest for knowledge that can support their educational activities.

A presente tese tem como objetivo conhecer o perfil dos participantes de uma comunidade de prática na perspectiva da educação inclusiva e compreender os discursos e as práticas que podem ser tecidas por eles. Esta investigação surge ao observar que o cenário educacional brasileiro sofreu recentes modificações ao implementar a Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva, o qual passou a situar alunos com deficiência também como público a ser abarcado pelo sistema regular de ensino. Dessa forma, tornou-se imperativo que os professores atuantes na rede educacional sejam capazes de contemplar a diversidade humana em suas práticas pedagógicas. Para que isso ocorra, a legislação vigente prevê a oferta de cursos de formação que capacitem os docentes frente à temática inclusiva. No entanto, ao observar-se a latente impossibilidade de as ações formais atenderem as demandas geradas por todo um coletivo de professores oriundos de diferentes regiões do país, passou-se a buscar alternativas que pudessem apoiar a construção de conhecimentos de tais docentes. Nessa procura, encontrou-se nas comunidades virtuais de prática um importante conceito a ser investigado. Baseadas em ferramentas originadas sob a lógica da participação e colaboração geradas a partir da efetivação da WEB 2.0, tais comunidades promovem a reunião virtual de pessoas que compartilham interesses mútuos, podendo, assim, revelar-se como um espaço que fomente a troca de recursos e experiências entre pares. Da identificação de suas potencialidades, instituiu-se a comunidade virtual de prática Inclusão na Educação - CPIE, ambiente implementado a partir da solução Ning Mode Midia 3.0, que angariou mais de 320 membros oriundos de todo o país. Os dados obtidos, observados a partir da metodologia de análise textual discursiva, demonstraram que o perfil do professor que aceita fazer parte de uma iniciativa como a que foi proposta, é aquele que já detém certos conhecimentos sobre o domínio delimitado e que, reconhecendo a sua importância, passa a buscar novas oportunidades de construir conhecimentos acerca do tema. Os resultados ainda indicam que iniciativas como a CPIE, podem adquirir uma conotação mais ligada à suplementação da formação docente, onde práticas desencadeadas a partir dos eixos de comunicação ou de resolução de problemas contribuem para que professores notadamente experientes sigam em contato, colaborando uns com os outros na busca pela construção de conhecimentos que subsidiem suas ações pedagógicas. / This thesis aims to know the profile of participants in a community of practice, in the context of inclusive education, and understand the discourses and uses that can be forged by them. This research emerged from the observation that Brazilian educational scenario has undergone recent changes to implement the National Policy for Special Education in the Perspective of Inclusive Education, which has situated students with disabilities as a public to be placed in the regular education system. Thus, it has become imperative that teachers working in the educational network are able to contemplate human diversity in their teaching practices. For this to occur, the current legislation states the provision of training courses that enable teachers to address inclusive education topics. However, observing the potential impossibility that formal actions can meet the demands generated by the collective of teachers from different regions of the country, we have started to look for alternatives that could support the construction of knowledge for those teachers. In this search, we have found in virtual communities of practice an important concept to be investigated. Based on tools originated under the logic of participation and collaboration, arising from development of Web 2.0, these communities promote the gathering of people who share the same interests and they can act as environments that foster the exchange of resources and experiences among peers. Identifying their potential, we have developed a virtual community of practice called Inclusion in Education - SCRS, implemented with Ning Mode Media 3.0 solution, which has congregated more than 320 members from all over the country. The data obtained, evaluated under the methodology of discourse textual analysis, have shown that teachers that accept to take part in initiatives as the one we have proposed, already have some knowledge about the delimited area, recognize its importance and seek for new opportunities to build knowledge on the subject. The results also indicated that initiatives such as SCRS can act as a supplement to teacher education, where practices triggered from communication axes or problem solving contribute to keep trained and experienced teachers in contact, collaborating with each other in the quest for knowledge that can support their educational activities.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os impactos das características estruturais, na participação em comunidades virtuais internacionais de especialistas brasileiros do processo de laminação, de uma empresa siderúrgica. A pesquisa foi realizada junto a oito profissionais de laminação de diferentes usinas siderúrgicas do Brasil inseridas em comunidades de laminação internacionais da Gerdau. Visou-se identificar e descrever o entendimento dos entrevistados sobre os conceitos de comunidades de prática virtuais, seu papel na comunidade e sua dinâmica de uso, de forma a entender como a demografia, o contexto organizacional, as características de associação e o ambiente tecnológico repercutem, facilitando ou dificultando sua participação. O método adotado foi o estudo de caso qualitativo; a principal técnica para coleta de dados foram as entrevistas; para a análise dos dados coletados foi empregada a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Como resultado, identificou-se que as características estruturais de orientação nas categorias: demografia; transposição de fronteiras; grau de formalismo institucionalizado; liderança e ambiente na categoria contexto organizacional, dispersão geográfica, envolvimento de membros; experiência comunitária prévia; alfabetização dos membros nas TIC; diversidade cultural; relevância do tópico para os membros, na categoria características de associação; grau de dependência nas TIC, na categoria ambiente tecnológico são percebidas pelos especialistas quer como facilitadoras, quer como barreiras, permitindo assim ações da empresa, a fim de incrementá-las ou mitigá-las. Outras características podem não ser percebidas e, no entanto, se constituírem como base para a ocorrência da participação. / This study aims to analyze the impacts of the structural characteristics in the participation of Brazilian rolling mill experts in international virtual communities of practice of steel company. The research was conducted among eight rolling mill professionals of different steel mills in Brazil that are embedded in international rolling mill communities of Gerdau. The objective was to identify and describe the understanding of the interviewees on the concepts of virtual communities of practice, its role in the community and its dynamic use in order to understand how the demographics, the organizational context, the characteristics of association and technological environment affect facilitating or hindering their participation. The method adopted was the qualitative case study and the main technique for collecting data was conducting interviews. The data analysis has used content analysis technique. As the results it was identified that the structural characteristics of orientation in the demographics category, boundary crossing, degree of institutionalized formalism, leadership and environment in the organizational context category, geographic dispersion, members’ enrollment, members’ prior community experience, members’ ICT literacy, Cultural diversity and topic’s relevance to members in the membership characteristics category and finally, the degree of reliance on ICT in the technological environment category are perceived by the experts as facilitators or barriers, thus allowing the company to adopt actions to enhance or mitigate them, while other characteristics may not be perceived and form themselves as the basis for the occurrence of participation.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os impactos das características estruturais, na participação em comunidades virtuais internacionais de especialistas brasileiros do processo de laminação, de uma empresa siderúrgica. A pesquisa foi realizada junto a oito profissionais de laminação de diferentes usinas siderúrgicas do Brasil inseridas em comunidades de laminação internacionais da Gerdau. Visou-se identificar e descrever o entendimento dos entrevistados sobre os conceitos de comunidades de prática virtuais, seu papel na comunidade e sua dinâmica de uso, de forma a entender como a demografia, o contexto organizacional, as características de associação e o ambiente tecnológico repercutem, facilitando ou dificultando sua participação. O método adotado foi o estudo de caso qualitativo; a principal técnica para coleta de dados foram as entrevistas; para a análise dos dados coletados foi empregada a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Como resultado, identificou-se que as características estruturais de orientação nas categorias: demografia; transposição de fronteiras; grau de formalismo institucionalizado; liderança e ambiente na categoria contexto organizacional, dispersão geográfica, envolvimento de membros; experiência comunitária prévia; alfabetização dos membros nas TIC; diversidade cultural; relevância do tópico para os membros, na categoria características de associação; grau de dependência nas TIC, na categoria ambiente tecnológico são percebidas pelos especialistas quer como facilitadoras, quer como barreiras, permitindo assim ações da empresa, a fim de incrementá-las ou mitigá-las. Outras características podem não ser percebidas e, no entanto, se constituírem como base para a ocorrência da participação. / This study aims to analyze the impacts of the structural characteristics in the participation of Brazilian rolling mill experts in international virtual communities of practice of steel company. The research was conducted among eight rolling mill professionals of different steel mills in Brazil that are embedded in international rolling mill communities of Gerdau. The objective was to identify and describe the understanding of the interviewees on the concepts of virtual communities of practice, its role in the community and its dynamic use in order to understand how the demographics, the organizational context, the characteristics of association and technological environment affect facilitating or hindering their participation. The method adopted was the qualitative case study and the main technique for collecting data was conducting interviews. The data analysis has used content analysis technique. As the results it was identified that the structural characteristics of orientation in the demographics category, boundary crossing, degree of institutionalized formalism, leadership and environment in the organizational context category, geographic dispersion, members’ enrollment, members’ prior community experience, members’ ICT literacy, Cultural diversity and topic’s relevance to members in the membership characteristics category and finally, the degree of reliance on ICT in the technological environment category are perceived by the experts as facilitators or barriers, thus allowing the company to adopt actions to enhance or mitigate them, while other characteristics may not be perceived and form themselves as the basis for the occurrence of participation.

Online Communities of Practices (CoPs) is emerging as a major form for knowledge sharing in this era of information revolution. Due to the advancement of technology and ease of internet access in every part of the world, people began to get more and more involved in online CoPs to share knowledge. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. To that end, there is a need to examine, why do people engage in an online discussion, what role domain experts play to keep on-line discussion alive and how to develop a ''right intervention'' to maintain and stimulate participants for engagement in on-line community. This thesis studied eight Communities of Practices that are being deliberately formed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the online community and describes an exploratory study of knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices (CoPs) by investigating eight CoPs ¿Start up Nation, All nurses, Young Enterpener, Teneric, SCM Focus, Systems Dynamics, Mahjoob and Alnj3 CoPs. The CoPs under investigation shared the following characteristics: permanent life span, created by interested members (i.e. bottom-up rather than top-down management creation), have a high level of boundary crossing, have more than 700 members who come from disparate locations and organizations, have voluntary membership enrollment, high membership diversity, high topic¿s relevance to members, high degree of reliance on technology, and are moderated. Data were gathered on the eight CoPs through online observations and online questionnaire survey. Results show that in each of the case study the most common type of activity performed by members of each CoP was sharing knowledge, followed by socialsing. Regarding the types of knowledge shared, the most common one across all CoPs was practical and general knowledge. The types of practical knowledge, however, varied in each CoP. The study also discovered that storytelling extensively enhances knowledge transfer and participants¿ interpersonal communications in eight communities under investigation. What were also notable in this study were the stories discussed in a CoP remains in the archive, what are more likely to generate interest and curiosity on the topic among inactive members who ultimately facilitates knowledge transfer. In this study it is also evident that successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms that the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. An analysis of selected topics in the eight case studies has shown that some successful topics have few replies and vice versa, where many topics ended with open conclusion or they were unsuccessful in terms that the original query was not answered satisfactory. Therefore, it is not necessary that successful topic will get high number of responses as there are some successful topics which have limited number of replies. Overall, it is found that, topic may play a major role in the success of online discussion. It is observed in the study that members normally use short messages rather long messages and usually discusses more than one topic within one thread. Practical implications for knowledge sharing in online communities of practice were discussed, along with some recommendations for future research.