2024 Open Education Conference

From 2017 to 2019, I conducted ethnographic research on the processes of learning and skills development using digital technologies within informal sales and repair communities in Haiti (Payen Jean Baptiste, 2022). These communities, mainly characterized by self-organization and self-management, operate according to a particular networking modus operandi named kolòn, that supports the production of knowledge and the development of skills.Much more than just a word, the term is a philosophy that underpins modes of work organization based on community of practice and the sharing economy (Wenger, 2009, Casséus and Payen, 2013). In this presentation, I will focus on the processes involved in building and maintaining this networked form of social organization, and how it contributes to the development and acquisition of new skills. I will also present the design and development of an open-source digital platform based on that model.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Explain the ethnographic approach to repair communities and the link between these types of communities and digital fabrication ecosystems. Discover how communities of practice in these ecosystems helps support knowledge management and innovation.
• Describe the concept of Kolòn and how it represents an organizational approach based on communities of practice and how this particular type of learning and doing with others in informal environment contributes to research on knowledge production.
• Discuss the concepts of adapted technologies and technologies appropriation within socio-cultural environments of individuals and how these concepts may lead to a new way of innovation and construction of use to transform practices and design new ones.
• Articulate the importance of taking an eco-systemic and holistic approach to understanding knowledge construction that considers cultural and historical contexts when engaging with communities.