title: Improving social connection through a communities-of-practice-inspired cognitive work analysis approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increasingly, people work in socially networked environments. With growing adoption of enterprise social network technologies, supporting effective social community is becoming an important factor in organizational success.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Relatively few human factors methods have been applied to social connection in communities. Although team methods provide a contribution, they do not suit design for communities. Wenger's community of practice concept, combined with cognitive work analysis, provided one way of designing for community.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a cognitive work analysis approach modified with principles for supporting communities of practice to generate a new website design. Over several months, the community using the site was studied to examine their degree of social connectedness and communication levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Social network analysis and communications analysis, conducted at three different intervals, showed increases in connections between people and between people and organizations, as well as increased communication following the launch of the new design.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this work, we suggest that human factors approaches can be effective in social environments, when applied considering social community principles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work has implications for the development of new human factors methods as well as the design of interfaces for sociotechnical systems that have community building requirements.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Euerby
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Burns
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D006804:Ergonomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007857:Leadership; D017146:Models, Organizational; D011593:Psychology, Social; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships / Q000458:organization & administration*; D060756:Social Networking