Community of Practice (CoP) is a small group of people who have worked
together over a period of time. People in CoP can perform the same job or collaborate
on a shared task or work together on a product [Lesser 00]. What holds them together
is a common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other knows
(knowledge sharing). CoP is often used as a learning tool in organizations to create a
collaborative culture and provide a knowledge sharing environment. Thus, CoP has
become a fundamental of many knowledge management systems.