Editing Community informatics (section)

==Understanding communities==
It is crucial to know how communities are formed and evolved and how the participation to a community occurs and differs while formation process.<ref name="source1" >{{cite book|last1=Azzopardi|first1=Andrew|last2=Grech|first2=Shaun|title=Inclusive communities a critical reader|date=2012|publisher=SensePublishers|location=Rotterdam|isbn=978-94-6091-849-0}}</ref> Understanding the nature of communities and the participation process will surely ensure designing and implementing a successful ICT solution that benefits members of community while communicating with each other or performing certain tasks.<ref name="source35" /> The following points include a brief description of the nature of each potential community formation.

===Community as a place===
A group of people may form a community according to the place in which they live, enjoy staying, and work.<ref name="source1" /> They usually participate in communities within these three places since they gather together on consistent basis so that it is highly expected that such community is formed.<ref name="source1" /> Beside the home and the work gathering, people usually like to spend their time at informal places called third places in where they meet their new or old friends or have a chance to meet new people.<ref name="source1" />

===Community as a socio-spatial entity===
A group of people may form a community as they have frequent direct interactions or live in close proximity to each other.<ref name="source1" /> The members of such community may have strong bond and focused common goals which give them a higher status over other communities.<ref name="source1" /> Moreover, as the number of the members increases, the community may become reputable and has a higher status over other communities.<ref name="source1" />

===Community as links between people===
A group of people may form a community as they have common shared identity.<ref name="source1" /> People may form such community to support and advocate common shared values, morals or norms in which they believe.<ref name="source1" /> Such a community may have a set of symbols and be associated with a status over other communities.<ref name="source1" /> The inclusion and the exclusion to such community depend on whether or not a member share the same identity with others in the community.<ref name="source1" /> For instance, people who descend from one origin may form a community in which only people from that origin can join the community even though they do not know each other in advance.<ref name="source1" />

===Community of interests===
A group of people may form a community as they have similar affinity for a particular activity, experience, or subject.<ref name="source1"/> The geographical location is not necessary while forming such community, and the inclusion and the exclusion to such community depends on whether a new member has that affinity or not.<ref name="source1"/>

===Communities linked to life stage===
A group of people may form a community if they share a similar experience in a distinct life stage.<ref name="source1"/> The experience could be related to the members themselves or to their relatives, such as their children.<ref name="source1"/> For instance, parents of elementary school children may form a community in which they care about their children while in school.<ref name="source1"/> As it is mentioned in the previous type of community formation, the members of such community have a common interest which is caring about their children while in school.<ref name="source1"/> This type of community may persist over time, but the inclusion and the exclusion to it may happen consistently as people are no longer in that distinct life stage.<ref name="source1"/>

===Communities of practice===
A group of people who share a similar profession may form a community in which they work to attain their goals and advance in their profession.<ref name="source1"/> Three important concepts are considered while forming community of practice which are mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire.<ref name="source1"/> In a community of practice, the members have to be mutually engaged with each other by establishing collaborative relationships that will allow them to willingly work on certain joint activities.<ref name="source1"/> In the second concept which is joint enterprise, the members of a community of practice are supposed to discuss and agree upon the work responsibilities so that they can work in harmony, and each member knows his responsibility and his expected contributions to the community.<ref name="source1"/> In addition to these two concepts, the members of the community of practice have a shared repertoire of procedures or ways to perform certain tasks.<ref name="source1"/> They usually agree upon these procedures and practices that they establish and develop over time.<ref name="source1"/>