Creating and nurturing the MELIA Community of Practice

(CoP): A strategic Knowledge Management and Dissemination

Platform for the discovering and implementation of the Good
Practices in IWRM based on the EU-WFD recommendations in
the Mediterranean Area
M E L I A
COORDINATION ACTION
FP6 INCO 517612
Seville, September 4-7, 2006
Juan Miguel Gonzlez-Aranda
MELIA Kick-off Meeting
Mediterranean Dialogue
for Integrated Water Management
Lets remember again the main targets of MELIA Project:
Building a knowledge base for integrated water resources management
(IWRM) planning, based on integrating contributions from different perspectives,
involving the wide spectrum of stakeholders and based on the general frame
defined by EU Water Framework Directive.
Develop a Mediterranean-wide awareness of the social (cultural and
participatory), economic and technological issues related to water management.
Propose participatory mechanisms and prevention tools to avoid competition
in resources allocation between regions states and different waters users.
Provide legislative and administrative bodies with criteria and arguments
agreed in a consensual way by a wide representation of social, economic,
scientific and political actors from different countries, to support sustainable
water policies and economy.
The dissemination of the results of MELIA will be the most relevant and
appreciable output, carried out by means of a wide communication strategy,
addressed to all those involved actors in water use who set up the MELIA
Community or Practice (CoP), in rising awareness at educational level, in
research, administration and policy making.

Contribute to the construction of a common frame and knowledge, and to
the development of a common terminology and semantic and help water
negotiations BUT
Provide the intellectual basis and the indicators to perform a benchmarking
exercise of Integrated Water resources management in the Mediterranean area.
BUT, in this sense, WHAT is a Community of Practice
(CoP)?. Some important theoretical definitions to
take into account
Choosing the definition provided by Wenger/Dermott/Snyder (2002), they define CoPs as
follows:

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a
concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and
who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by
interacting in an ongoing basis.
Internal Communities of Practice: entirely within individual organizations

Communities of Practice in Network Organizations: A network
organization is a relationship among independent organizations (Powell,
1990).
In an initial classification criterion of the CoPs, they are divided in 2
groups:
Communities of Practice in Network Organizations:
Member organizations in a network work in close and continuous cooperation
on projects or processes involving partnerships, common products and/or
services, and even a common strategy.

In solving problems in todays environment, it is becoming increasingly
important to cross boundaries, either within the organization or to unconnected
organizations for fresh insights.

Learning and knowledge exchange through networks focuses on the inter-
organizational network as a resource generator to enhance learning.
Networks of Practice
At this point, extra-organizational CoPs can be defined as networks of practice.
A network of practice is an open activity system focused on work practice, and it
may exist primarily through electronic communication. It is a type of CoP in that it
is a social space where individuals working on similar problems help each other
and share perspectives about their practice.
However, in a network of practice, people working within occupations or having
similar interests congregate to engage in knowledge exchange about the
problems and issues that are common to their occupational community and
shared practice.
Networks of Practice CoPs
Self-organizing NoPs/CoPs Formal NoPs/CoPs
A self-organizing network of
practice is a loosely organized
and informal network that has
no central management
authority or sponsor,
membership is voluntary, and
there is little explicit
commitment.
A formal network of practice has a
membership that is controlled by fees
and/or acceptance through some central
coordination authority that also assists
in organizing, facilitating and supporting
member communications, events, and
discussion topics.
However, a network of practice has a
focus on specific work issues and
strategies of immediate importance to
the membership, and it may in fact
become an adjunct to an affinity network.
An example of an affinity network is
purchasing managers, members of an
association who may form networks of
practice where they communicate on a
regular basis on strategies, practices,
opportunities, and innovations.
Additionally, despite the many similarities of these CoPs, there are also
important differences that have to be considered like competition, or different
organisational cultures coming together, which make rich these structures.
Together with the last classification, there is a important distinction to be made:

As it was described before, there are CoPs within organisations and across
organisations, but as well there are CoPs which contain others CoPs, and they
dont know the existence of each other necessarily

These ones can be discovered by the application of Social Analysis Techniques

These initiatives have already undergone many phases. Initially, the new
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) were in the focus of
many strategies.

In the last few years, attention has been paid increasingly to soft factors
like culture or trust, and to personal networks.

Communities of practice (CoP) are considered as a particularly successful
and promising way for Knowledge Sharing. Nowadays, communities of
practice are a widespread form of knowledge sharing and learning not only in
Research and Technologic Development Cooperation, but applied to other
thematic areas of the Knowledge Society.
Is the MELIA CoP a Network of Practice with Formal structure attributes ????

Lets analyse in detail the MELIA CoP Context (Theoretical Framework)

Theoretical background based on the CoP Theoretical Framework
(Wenger/Dermott/Snyder (2002)), Modelling which shapes the setting for the
MELIA CoP:
According to these arguments, a CoP is combination of three structural
elements:

The DOMAIN of knowledge, which defines the area of shared inquiry the
set of issues discussed in the community;

The COMMUNITY, the members of a community, the social fabric, their
motivation, and interactions;

The PRACTICE, the set of frameworks, ideas, tools, information, styles,
language, stories and documents that the community members share.

Every CoP has some kind of output, outcome and impact. These three terms are defined as
follows:

OUTCOME: Results of a programme or project relative to its objectives that are
generated by its respective partners outputs.

OUTPUT: The tangible products (goods, services) of a programme or project.

IMPACT: Positive and negative, primary and secondary long-term changes or
effects produced by a programme or project, directly or indirectly, intended or
unintended.
In this sense, It is clear that
depending on this positive
and/or negative IMPACT the
SUSTAINABILITY will/wont
be guarantee
The COMMUNITY is subject to a process and changes itself as time goes by. It is initiated
and develops over time to the current shape and is also embedded in a political,
environmental, social and economical context that is ever evolving. There is a mutual
interaction between the COMMUNITY and its surrounding CONTEXT.
Additionally, there are 4 HIDDEN essentials are:

MOTIVATION of its members, visible in their personal interest and in the
priority they attribute to CoP in their daily activities.

MANDATE of the concerned organisation(s) defines on one side the
thematic focus with the declared interest of the organisation in a concrete
outcome; on the other side, the mandate gives open space for self-
commitment to its members (working time and financial resources).

A little bit of INFORMAL structure inside the official Formal NoP
structure beyond organisational boxes and lines. Most CoPs make a link
between organisational units and between organisations (flexibility).
Legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) is a theoretical description of how
newcomers become experienced members and eventually old timers of a CoP or
collaborative project.

According to LPP, newcomers become members of a community initially by
participating in minute and superficial yet productive and necessary tasks that
contribute to the overall goal of the community. These activities are typically
simple and carry low risk to the community as a whole but, are also important.

Through peripheral activities, novices become acquainted with the tasks,
vocabulary, and organizing principles of the community. Gradually, as newcomers
become old timers, their participation takes forms that are more and more central
to the functioning of the community.

LPP suggests that membership in a community of practice is mediated by the
possible forms of participation to which newcomers have access, both physically
and socially. If newcomers can directly observe the practices of experts, they
understand the broader context into which their own efforts fit. Conversely LPP
suggests that newcomers who are separated from the experts have limited access
to their tools and community and therefore have limited growth.


LPP is not reserved for descriptions of membership in formal organizations or
professions whose practices are highly defined (this is interesting)
It crucially involves participation as a way of learning of both absorbing and
being absorbed inthe culture of practice. by means of a absorptive
capacity of the new knowledge created and feedbacked again by the CoP.


An extended period of legitimate peripherality provides learners with
opportunities to make the culture of practice theirs (Lave and Wenger, 1992)
So, now it is time to answer the
following brainstorming
questions referred to the MELIA
CoP:
What is the size of the group?
Who is participating? What is
the commitment?
What is the inner structure of
the group? What roles can be
differentiated?
What is the domain of concern
(theme, topic)? Who defines it?
What is the aim of the
interaction?
To what extent motivation and
interests are personal and to
what extent mandated by the
institution?
What kinds of results are
expected? Who defines them?
What is the planned duration
of the interaction (initially)?
How is the working mood of
the group?
Where is the source of the
information/knowledge/
experience?
What are the working tools of
the CoP Worgroups?
How is the group financed?
Who has an interest in its
financing?
Now it is time to put names in the Theoretical MELIA CoP Context:
MELIA CoP DOMAIN
The MELIA CoP DOMAIN is based on the establishment and support
of a Strategic and Sustainable Knowledge Management and
Dissemination Platform for the Dialogue (Information and
Knowledge Sharing !!!) with other running or past research projects
and initiatives dealing with the Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) in the Mediterranean Area and the other target
objectives described in the Work Plans of its corresponding
Coordination Action Technical Annex objectives.

The Knowledge Thematic Areas
covered by this DOMAIN are
structured in the following way:
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
The MELIA CoP COMMUNITY is structured in:
The COMMUNITY Core Group: Partnership Consortium
4
1
6
2
1
1
4
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
3
3
3
BUT, looking at the map shown above, it is clear that although the most relevant
stakeholders in IWRM are represented in the MELIA CoP COMMUNITY CORE GROUP
Membership, NOT all the Mediterranean Area organizations (research centres, governments,
regulators, users and providers), belong to this Consortium.

In this way, they should be invited to participate as active actors in this process of
Knowledge Management and Dissemination in the MELIA CoP, because of the fact that
IWRM is supposed to be one of the leading topics identifies by the Monitoring Committee of
the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in Science, Technology and Innovation, as a key field
for the SUSTAINABLE development of the Mediterranean Countries, additionally with the
general purpose of opening up the European Research Area to the Mediterranean Space and
the application of the principles and actions of the European Water Framework Directive
(WFD) to this area.
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
The last reasoning justifies the expansion of the CORE Group to new Members for
the COMMUNITY CoP, who constitute the MELIA CoP Legitimate Peripheral
Participation (LPP) (newcomers role described in previous slides):

SIMILAR PROJECTS
Mainly focused on EU-INCO-MED Projects: past, current and future initiatives
(WASAMED, FOGGARA, WADAMED, MED-REUNET, SED-Net
DESURVEY,WADI,)

Rest of Projects (Related to the Mediterranean Area (SEMIDE-EMWIS,EU-
MEDA-WATER, MED-EUWI, EU-MEDSTAT-ENV, etc)

Related to the rest of EU and World Areas (EU-WFD,EU-LIFE,EU-
SMAP,UNEP-MAP,EXACT, INCO-DEV Asia,)
INDEPENDENT IWRM EXPERTS:

As well, mainly focused on their INCO-MED Projects past, current and future
initiatives participation (i.e., experts from MED7 Renewable Energies and
Water Risk Management Workshop, Athens, May 2005, )

Coming from the rest of Projects in IWRM
Related to the Mediterranean Area
Related to the rest of World Areas
EXPERTS FROM ANOTHER THEMATIC AREAS
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
For instance: Environmental Sciences, Renewable Energies, Sociology,
MELIA CoPLPP DECISION-MAKERS (which not belong to the MELIA CoP CORE
GROUP)
Benefits for Decision-Makers from participation in MELIA CoP

Get access to information and know-how
Increase personal network
Facilitator for partnerships

Other benefits

Gaining power of persuasion
Being involved while remaining independent
Test new ideas and innovative solutions
Multiplier for resources
Benchmarking
Increased reputation
Other personal benefits like having fun
Mainly focused on the Mediterranean Area active participation:

The public concern about water is deeply rooted in the cultural basis of the
Mediterranean societies, but the progressive urbanisation and industrialisation of the
agricultural production, has distanced the common people on the practical issues related to
water management, reducing the debate on the water related problems to technical levels or
conflicts of interests between competing users of an scarce resource.

and LAST BUT NOT LEAST: ALL THE CITIZENS
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
The public do not participate in these debates and this situation provokes lacks of
concerns or, worse, loses of opportunities to reach a sustainable management of water with
the complicity and participation of ALL users, including the common citizens. Raising
awareness of the competing demands of water, and the conflicts related to this issue is one
of the target of MELIA.

BUT the relevance of the content is not the only reason why this community is
thrive. MELIA CoP would have to cultivate a unique community spirit that holds
the group together.

MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
The members should always be looking forward to meeting their colleagues;
some consider each other as friends. This community spirit was also supported
by the common events or special social events during the MELIA CoP workshops.
In the MELIA CoP - like every community of practice - individuals with different
backgrounds and interest must come together. There are always hierarchies in
communities, but the hierarchy among the members should only be applied on
the Coordination and Managerial (Administrative) Project aspects:

Everybody feel that he or she benefit from the MELIA CoP meetings. In fact,
IT IS MORE A DISTRIBUTION OF FUNCTIONS AND ROLES !!!. Some members
could be more active than others; other members that could often be quite
expressive; others could be more introspective. It is important for the group
spirit that nobody goes to the meetings just to gain without giving something
back to the group - there is a win-win-situation for everybody
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
A basic prerequisite for a successful CoP is mutual TRUST among its Members.
People will only share knowledge if they trust each other. Trust has to be
maintained again and again through intensive communication and shared
experiences.


They should take care that trust is not lost. It can be destroyed very quickly and
it can take a very long time to build up again. An aspect of trust is a culture of
giving and taking in the CoP. Each partner has to be aware that he or she cannot
only benefit from the CoP but has to contribute as well. Its give-and-take, just like
in our personal networks. Friends who only take and never give anything back will
eventually be disliked.
The interdisciplinary of the MELIA CoP COMMUNITY also led to many critical
reflections and kept the discussions lively. Many of the exchanges during the
MELIA CoP meetings should be quite controversial but none have ever set off
irreconcilable conflicts.
A precondition for the build up of TRUST is setting a good balance between
openness and restraint within the CoP. This one should be open to the outside,
and there should be a dialogue between internal and external perspectives.

Otherwise the CoP will stew in its own juice. However, if it has too many
members, coordination will become more and more difficult, and maintaining
familiarity and trust among the network partners will also be more of a
challenge.

If these soft factors are taken into consideration, a common spirit can grow
that offers the familiar comfort of a hometown, where everybody is happy to
meet people. With this spirit, internationally distributed CoP like MELIA will
become vibrant and dynamic organisms in the development community that
facilitate knowledge sharing.
MELIA CoP COMMUNITY
MELIA CoP PRACTICE
Initially, the PRACTICE is based on the Activities (Tasks to be done),
Deliverables and Events described in detail by the Project Technical Annex, all of
them executed through a Time Table of 48 months carried out by the MELIA CoP
CORE WORKGROUP
and additionally, the participation of the LPP Members !!!!!
AN EFFICIENT GOVERNANCE COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT
PLATFORM IS NEEDED TO DEAL WITH THIS CoP PRACTICE ELEMENTS
MELIA CoP GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE
An important question for internationally and geographically distributed CoP
like MELIA is the degree of centralisation or decentralisation. Who should have
responsibility, and how much? Should there be a secretariat? Should there be
regional sub networks? There is no blueprint for the ideal network structure and
the governance structures. Studies vary quite a lot. Nevertheless, there are some
core elements that can be found in every network.
MELIA CoP GOVERANCE STRUCTURE
At the top of many CoPs are some well reputed chairpersons, who has a
representative and strategic role. A steering committee and management board
occupy a more active role, being responsible for strategic questions and
operational planning. Some CoPs are tempted to enlarge such committees too
much, aiming for a good representation and looking for strong connections with
the most important stakeholders.
Yet the result of big committees is often that only half of the members actually
participate in the meetings. This devalues the committee and frustrates those who
participate. It is therefore advisable to keep the steering committee small.

In order to stay in touch with a major circle of stakeholders there is still the
possibility to create a VIRTUAL committee of patrons or a supporting committee
with no executive function. The members of a respected advisory committee
could support the network on demand.
The secretariat has a central role in distributed CoPs. Because of the
complexity of international scenario, an official but small secretariat is
recommendable. A node is needed for CoP coordination, where the PRACTICES
OF THE MELIA CoP COME TOGETHER !!!.

Without this node, a CoP Member (mainly those ones who belong to the CORE
GROUP) will take over this essential role unofficially. It is a major challenge to
ensure that the secretariat does not become too strong, crowding out the
engagement of other Core Group Members of the CoP. The secretariat should
always strive to motivate these members to be active and to support them in their
work. If the secretariat remains small, this has the added advantage that
associated costs can be kept within certain limits.
MELIA CoP GOVERANCE STRUCTURE
MELIA CoP GOVERANCE STRUCTURE
Going back to the MELIA
CoP DOMAIN
AN EFFICIENT INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, SHARING
AND DISSEMINATION METHODOLOGICAL PLATFORM IS NEEDED !!!
MELIA CoP INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT,
SHARING AND DISSEMINATION METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
(1) The combination of DOMAIN, COMMUNITY and PRACTICE is what enable CoPs
to manage knowledge. DOMAIN provides a common focus, COMMUNITY builds
relationships that enable collective learning; and PRACTICE anchors the learning
in what people do. (Thats right!!!)
MELIA Community or Practice is a strategic response to the
demands for increased skills and capacities in the water sector leading
towards the implementation of IWRM in the Mediterranean Area.

It starts with a STRATEGY and will going on with a STRATEGY. It
connects STRATEGY with performance through KNOWLEDGE
2 essential conditions are needed to this:
(2) The proper organizational context ---->GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE discussed
before -> (Thats right!!!)
The information management cycle foreseen in MELIA will assist specific knowledge functions and link
them with institutions or individuals outside the network. The cycle of information management and
knowledge creation will be organised in a way that the following cycle of functions is ensured:

Establishment of the information base;

Adaptation of information and sharing within the network;

Transfer of the information to target groups (water users, managers, IWRM implementers,
citizens);

Generation or better consolidation of common knowledge (local and global levels).

Information
base (1)
Information
Adaptation &
Sharing (2)
Knowledge
Generation (4)
Case studies
Research
Experience
International & local
knowledge
Documentation
Training materials
Tools
Trainers trained
Skills
Capacities
Advisory
Training, education
Awareness raising
Access to
Information
(3)
Note that this model
Is meant to convey the
logic of a CoP Based
Knowledge Strategy,
NOT a chronological
Sequences of steps
The development of
CoPs is bottom-up
Process as well as a
Top-down one
Based on this STRATEGYWhich are the expected main MELIA CoP
Outputs and Outcomes ???
Outputs Outcomes: Main goals to be
reached by MELIA CoP
Information Base (1)
WP0
MELIA CoP has access to international and local
knowledge.
Participation in local and international meetings.
Membership distribution and functions at local and
international levels.
Communication systems.
Documentation of current thinking and practices on
sustainable management of water resources is available
within the MELIA CoP.
Resource libraries identified and accessible to members
Web based information access
MELIA CoP has a broad range of knowledge on elements
of integrated water resources management in the skills
and capacities of its members.
Range of skills and disciplines of members.
Knowledge mapping of members.
Information Adaptation&
Sharing (2)
WP0
Knowledge products are adapted to the regional and local
context.
Training materials and other materials in appropriate
languages, with local examples and relevance.
MELIA CoP members and all citizens are fully informed
and contribute to communication on MELIA CoP
activities, work opportunities and exchange of information
and experience.
Effective communication system in place between
members.
Members participating in activities, sharing experience
and information.
Network members are competent in aspects of IWRM and
able to deliver quality capacity building services.
Trainers have been trained.
Quality of capacity building assessed.
Access to Information (3)
WP0
Information about the network and about integrated water
resources management is made available and
disseminated to water sector professionals and
accessible to all the citizens
Information materials type and availability for
dissemination towards water professionals and
accessible to all the citizens
MELIA CoP and its members carry out training and
include water resources management in education
curricula (Special mention to PhD Students)
Number of training activities.
Revised curricula.
Contribution of members
MELIA CoP is seen as a focal point for accessing advice,
from members, on integrated water resources
management.
Requests for network assistance.
Numbers of workshops, papers, consultancies.
Knowledge Generation (4)
(WP8 and WP9)
Research is being conducted contributing to
understanding on how to achieve sustainable
management and development of water resources.
Number of research programmes.
Incorporation of research into capacity building
Case studies have been prepared and disseminated. Number of case studies
Dissemination of results
MELIA CoP is attracting experienced members and
members are gaining new experience by participating in
the network.
Number of new members
Range of skills and knowledge
Number and type of network activities generating
experience
Although this Information and Knowledge Management, Dissemination and
Sharing STRATEGY will be coordinated and managed by the WP0
(Coordination And Management), WP8 (Building Knowledge) and WP9
(Knowledge Sharing)
this STRATEGY must be also translated to the rest of DOMAINS.BUT,
HOW?:
DESIGNING, IMPLEMENTING AND SUPPORTING AN INFORMATION AND
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, SHARING AND DISSEMINATION
PRACTICAL METHODOLOGY TO ALL THE WORKPACKAGES:

DEPENDING ON THE SPECIFIC ROLE OF EACH CoP COMMUNITY
MEMBER INSIDE OF THEM

INDEPENDENTLY OF THE CONSIDERED THEMATIC AREA IN EACH
WORKPACKAGE
Defining a Work Package for each Domain !!!
at this point, lets analyze in detail the previously defined MELIA CoP roles
inside from the point of view of the COMMUNITY:
CoP CORE GROUP
(Project
Consortium)
CoP Leader (CoP Coordinator)
LPP CoP Members
CoP Deputy-Leader (Assistant to the CoP
Coordinator)
Rest of similar projects, invited experts,
decision- makers who dont belong to the Core
Group, Rest Of Citizens in general,
At any time some of these
Members could be invited by
the Members of the CORE
GROUP to participate actively
inside each WP always under
the (under the supervision and
approval of the respective WP
Leader and Deputy Leader)
Into each Work Package (WP):
Leader, Deputy Leader and WP
Members
WORKFLOW PROCESSES !!!!
BASED ON EACH ROLE
PECULIARITIES
(lets not get ahead of
ourselves, not yet)
so, how is structured each Work Package (WP)?:
The WP Leader is responsible for the organization of the different tasks within
the WP, the assignment of resources, the respect of the WP time-schedule and
the delivery of their results to the Coordinator in due time. Each Work Package
affects the work performed in the others and shares a certain number of common
participants. Therefore, a good matching and coordination of activities is
absolutely necessary.
Each Work Package will be led by a Work Package Leader, assisted by a
Deputy Work Package Leader (Pn, Pn), balancing the leadership between
partners from the EU and the Med countries. The WPs are subdivided in a number
of tasks (see previous slides), related to concrete activities and deliverables, such
as organization of Workshops and other type of events, background documents
elaboration, assessment documents on technical proposals, identification of best
practices, dissemination material. Each task will be organised by the Task Leader
and executed with the help of the group of partners attributed to the WP
There are 1 WP Leader, 1 Deputy Leader and the rest of WP Members
well, this seems to be a little bit difficult to manage Lets sum up:
Lets introduce the concept of Work Group:
In order to simplify, initially there will be only 1 Work Group per Work Package. So
1 Work Group = 1 Work Package
Additionally, there will be only 1 Work Group for the Steering Committee, 1 Work
Group for the Management Board and 1 Work Group for the Secretariat
1 Work Package = 1 Work Group
But, how to manage all this COMPLEXITY through the 48 months of duration
corresponding to the tasks and deliverables execution, taking into account that
there are only 1 Kick-off Meeting, 4 Workshops 1 Seminar and 1 Final International
Conference face-to-face events ????
Virtual Work Groups have become a crucial part in the present economy.
Advances of ICT enable the transfer of information across continents, time zones,
and organizational boundaries.
Despite these technological developments, human factors should not be
neglected in an increasing virtual environment.
Useful as they are, ICTs cannot replace face-to-face contacts and more
conventional means of communication. While ICTs continue to offer a ever-
widening range of options, regular meetings, workshops or conferences are
still necessary.
A context-oriented platform will be first created to support spatially distributed
Work Packages ( in our case = Work Groups). This is the main reason to design
the user interface to be based on Web technology (INTERNET as one possible
way of access) as a commonly well-understood and accepted user interface
paradigm.
TRUST is important in conventional workgroups; it has been emphasized to be
particularly crucial in virtual workgroups. Empirical research reveals that trust can
be established in virtual workgroups, but the supportive mechanisms differ from
those patterns in workgroups that cooperate on a face-to- face basis. Particularly,
the early phases of workgroups formation and collaboration are crucial for trust
building in a virtual context, like in the case of this KICK-OFF.


Management needs to take these specialties of trust formation in virtual
workgroups into account by establishing an appropriate environment. As a virtual
competence of work group members is essential for the emergence of virtual
trust, workgroup members should be trained accordingly.


Hereby, the cultural, social, and communication competencies are enhanced,
and workgroup members are sensitized for the problems that can occur in a
virtual workgroup context. Additionally, management needs to provide the
adequate technical infrastructure that facilitates various modes of
communication.
MELIA CoP ELEMENTS ICT PURPOSES
MoSCoW Classification (Van Vliet, 1995)
MELIA CoP ELEMENTS ICT REQUIREMENTS
Promotes policy acceptance: in the case of networks this is promoting and
raising awareness about the need for IWRM. The core of the content is IWRM
and as information (and then knowledge) circulates policy is impacted within the
water sector and related target groups, including decision makers and
governments in the Mediterranean Area.

Information management and knowledge generation enhances MELIA Community
of Practice performance as it:
Makes things visible: for a network, the most active way of gaining visibility
is through operational information management and knowledge generation. As
much as it is important for networks to have a formal structure, they acquire
reality once their active operations begin, and this as we have seen is through
information management, knowledge generation and delivery of capacity
building.
Facilitates platform processes: the information management and knowledge
generation cycle requires effective networking. Without effective participation
of MELIA Community of Practice members (MELIA partners, independent
experts, anonymous contributors ) and recipient groups there will be no real
information management. Network development and information management
are simultaneous processes contributing to each other.
MELIA Work Packages (WPs) aim at a symbiosis of physical and virtual work
environments. The availability of MELIA CoP members and their work
environment becomes uncoupled from their physical locations.

MELIA Work Packages Workspaces need to offer workgroups members intuitive
and ubiquitous access to each other, and to information and resources of their
Work Packages, secure and transparent to their physical workplaces and their
own tools, as well as ease of use and accessibility mechanisms.
At this point, a proper communication system based on the new Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) within the MELIA CoP is central for its
efficiency and to facilitate information mapping sharing. MELIA Community of
Practice is about people and their interactions, and thus communication is
critical.
Therefore, MELIA CoP Platform will facilitate the collaboration of people into each
Work Package (= Workgroup), providing a ubiquitous and secure access to
selected Web services required for the teamwork within the respective context.
The MELIA Community of Practice (CoP) ICT TOOLS:
Website and its Taxonomy Description
M E L I A
COORDINATION ACTION
FP6 INCO 517612
Seville, September 4-7, 2006
Juan Miguel Gonzlez-Aranda
MELIA Kick-off Meeting
Mediterranean Dialogue
for Integrated Water Management
MELIA Web Personal Area
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