Smith introduces the reader to knowledge communities by presenting a taxonomy of common type of communities. This tripartite taxonomy includes three types of knowledge communities: communities of interest, practice, and exchange.

Most public online forums, such as egroups.com or the support forum of a computer vendor, are communities of interest. These communities bring diverse people together to share knowledge about a topic of interest and dissolve when the topic has been fully discussed. While these communities can provide high value to participants, Smith argues that they have only limited commercial value.

Like professional guilds, communities of practice bring together individuals who share a common practice. Smith argues that these groups provide more commercial value than communities of interest because they allow participants to leverage the knowledge and experience of others in their workday practice.

Communities of exchange are even more specific. These are communities of corporations that share knowledge to pursue common commercial interests. For instance, they might work together to integrate procurement practices, providing efficiencies for all. While Smith’s description of this type of community is vague, she argues that they are explicitly directed at commercial ends, and thus have the highest commercial value of all.

While the title of this chapter indicates that it is about building knowledge communities, the taxonomy presented in the chapter is mainly descriptive. While there are a few planning notes at the end of the chapter, this is an addendum to it, rather than being the focus. Nonetheless, this chapter is an interesting and quick read if you are new to knowledge communities and knowledge management.