Community+of+practice

Community of practice, introduced by Lave and Wenger (1991) is commonly used to refer to a variety of workplace settings in which there are both a common enterprise and a shared knowledge. - Munby et al. Co-op Student's Access to Shared Knowledge in Science-Rich Workplaces. Science Education, 2007; pg 115.

Communities of practice are composed of newcomers who desire to become full participants in the community, and old-timers who have more experience participating in the community (Lave and Wenger, 1991).

It does not "imply necessarily co-presence, a well-defined, identifiable group, or socially visible boundaries; it does imply participation in an activity system about which participants share understandings concerning what they are doing and what that means in their lives and for their communities" (Lave and Wenger, p. 98).

The idea of Community of Practice implies specific functions that occur within a group of people - it has been used loosely, but the term IS specific - see Lave and Wenger (1991) as referenced above when referencing in research