How to nurture a knowledge logging community.

Here’s more goodness coming from Phil and the Knowledge Board. For more background, you may want to check out my quick klognet resource page before you read this.

Roles and tasks of a community manager.

So “klognets” are little ad-hoc communities in blogspace. Suppose you want to support and nurture them? What do you do?

Sift Online Communities Insider posted these key roles and tasks to the Knowledge Board‘s Communities of Practice SIG.

Amongst the key roles of the community management function are:

  • A visible custodian of the user’s experience on the site
  • A focal point for the creation and development of both content and functionality
  • A driver for ‘added value’ content and services
  • A source of leadership, standards and ‘netiquette’
  • A pro-active stimulator for interest, engagement and participation
  • A co-ordinator of partner relations, contributions and offerings
  • A public champion for the site
  • A strategic thinker capable of visioning, planning, reviewing, measuring and developing the community

Depending on the nature, role and audience of your community, the tasks associated with community management can be individually identified:

  • Strategic planning
  • Content management
  • Member relations
  • Value creation
  • Event scheduling
  • Partner relations
  • Driving revenues

More details on each of the tasks, enough to create a job description.

As klognets are embraced by project management culture, project workers will step into these roles and do this work. Expect a variation of this description to become a project communication checklist.

[Phil Wolff: community via thomas n. burg | randg舅ge]

Personally, I think the “community manager” appellation is a misnomer. You don’t manage a community. You care for it. You nurture it.  Same goes with knowledge. How about calling this role “community gardener”?

[Seb's Open Research]