Crafting in a Community of Practice: Resource Sharing as Key in Supporting Creativity

Abstract

People express their creativity through something that they enjoy doing. Through engagement in creative work, creators cultivate their identity, enhance problem-solving skills, and speak their thoughts and feelings. In this paper, we look into how a community of practice supports members in legitimizing their creativity. We conducted a user study with members of a home brewing community to understand their creative beer-crafting practice. We first interviewed 11 home brewers, nine of which are members of a home brew club and two who did not belong to any home brewing organization. We then observed club members as they participated in club activities. Our findings suggest that two types of resource sharing are key in supporting different aspects of creativity in a community of practice. Based on these findings, we propose design strategies for supporting sharing in a creative community of practice.