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Exploring Knowledge Sharing and Community of Practice Development: A Stakeholders Analysis of Social Service Organizations in a Midwestern Underserved Community

Published: 12 January 2025 Publication History

Abstract

Community social service organizations are indispensable for supporting vulnerable populations with multifaceted challenges, such as housing instability and food insecurity, particularly in high-poverty areas where access to essential resources is limited. Effective information and knowledge sharing enables these organizations to offer timely and comprehensive services to these groups. Despite increasing research on social services and emerging technologies, little is known about how knowledge is shared in community-based social service settings or how technology can enhance these complex processes. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted at four community organizations in an underserved community in the Midwest of the United States. Through observations and thematic analysis, we identify key stakeholders that participate in knowledge sharing, including staff and service users, and examine their roles in developing Communities of Practice (CoP). Our study reveals the dynamics of knowledge sharing and highlights opportunities for leveraging technology to support CoP within community social services. These findings contribute to discussions on designing socio-technical systems for improving information sharing in resource-constrained environments.

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  1. Exploring Knowledge Sharing and Community of Practice Development: A Stakeholders Analysis of Social Service Organizations in a Midwestern Underserved Community

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    GROUP '25: Companion Proceedings of the 2025 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work
    January 2025
    145 pages
    ISBN:9798400711879
    DOI:10.1145/3688828
    • Editors:
    • Guo Freeman,
    • David Unbehaun
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    Published: 12 January 2025

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    Author Tags

    1. Communities of Practice
    2. Knowledge Management
    3. Social Services
    4. Vulnerable and Underserved Communities

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    GROUP '25: The 2025 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work
    January 12 - 15, 2025
    New Jersey, Hilton Head, USA

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