Online communities are a great way to keep track of interesting things occurring in an area of interest. I am a member of several online communities, mostly as a lurker, that cover a variety of interests from teaching to ASL (American Sign Language) to religion.
My favorite online communities are usually informal, with a mix of both normal people and experts that come together as equals (sometimes that is the hardest criteria to fill) to discuss a topic. The best discussions happen when everyone enters in willing to be both a student and a teacher.
Social networking sites are a great way to find new discussions. I decided to look at Gather and Ning to search for relevant groups on the topic of special education. I can't say that I am entirely thrilled with either site. A lot of the groups that looked interesting and had a lot of members weren't current. I was able to find a few interesting groups on Ning, but Gather was a bit of a dud. I also looked at the other social network sites for books. Both Shelfari and GoodReads look like good places to read book reviews and discuss books with other people. I always hate it when I really enjoy a book and then cannot find anything similar to read after I am finished, but both of these websites seem like a good way to solve that problem.
Social networking websites and online communities are a great way to keep in touch with people who share your interests and to increase your own knowledge through collective learning.
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