A community of interest, or interest-based community, is a
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
of people who share a common interest or passion. These people exchange ideas and thoughts about the given passion, but may know (or care) little about each other outside this area. Participation in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a community where people return frequently and remain for extended periods. Frequently, they cannot be easily defined by a particular geographical area.
In other words, "a community of interest is a gathering of people assembled around a topic of common interest. Its members take part in the community to exchange information, to obtain answers to personal questions or problems, to improve their understanding of a subject, to share common passions or to play." In contrast to a
spatial community
A community of place or place-based community is a community of people who are bound together because of ''where'' they reside, work, visit or otherwise spend a continuous portion of their time. Such a community can be a neighborhood, town, coffee ...
, "a community of interest is defined not by space, but by some common bond (e.g. feeling of attachment) or entity (e.g. farming, church group)".
Online communities
An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...
connect to communities of interest in that often, they develop out of interests in a particular topic.
A benefit of online communities over place-based communities is that of non-physical access to group involvement.
See also
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Community of action {{Short description, Group of individuals to bring about change
A community of action (CoA), unlike a community of practice, exists in a situation that is structurally more open, where actors have the possibility of bringing about change.
Related ...
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Community of circumstance A community of circumstance is similar to a community of practice, except that it is driven by position, circumstance or life experience rather than a shared interest.Marsh G. The community of circumstance—a tale of three cities: community partici ...
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Community of practice
A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and edu ...
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Community of innovation Communities that support innovation have been referred to as communities of innovation (CoI),Grimaldi, M., and F. Rogo. 2009. Mindsh@re in Fimmecanica: An organizational model based on communities of innovation. Proceedings of the European Conferenc ...
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Commune
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Affinity group
An affinity group is a group formed around a shared interest or common goal, to which individuals formally or informally belong. Affinity groups are generally precluded from being under the aegis of any governmental agency, and their purposes ...
References
Further reading
External and shareable artifacts as opportunities for social creativity in communities of interest
Communities of Interest: Learning through the Interaction of Multiple Knowledge Systems
Interest
In finance and economics, interest is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct f ...
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