A Design Theory for Digital Habitats: Building Virtual Communities of Practice

This paper reports on-going research into the design of virtual communities of practice. Using Wenger's work on communities of practice it develops an Information Systems Design Theory (ISDT) for building digital habitats for communities of practice. The researchers use an analytical approach in applying the design theory ontology of Gregor and Jones to the work of Wenger, White, and Smith together with inductive insights gained from several development case studies. An expository example illustrates a design project case study for a virtual conference.