Community of interest

A community of interest is a community 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 of this area. Participation in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a 'sticky' 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."^[1] In contrast to a spatial community, "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)."^[2]

See also

• Community of action
• Community of circumstance
• Community of inquiry
• Community of place
• Community of position
• Community of practice
• Community of innovation
• Community of purpose
• Identity politics
• Hobby
• Interest graph
• Sense of community
• Tribe (Internet)
• Conflict of interest

References

1. F. Henri; B. Pudelko (2003). "Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities" (PDF). Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 19 (4): 474–487. doi:10.1046/j.0266-4909.2003.00051.x.
2. Ramsey D, Beesley KB (2007). "'Perimeteritis' and rural health in Manitoba, Canada: perspectives from rural healthcare managers". Rural and Remote Health. 7 (4): 850. PMID 18081449.

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