Towards a Multi-Agent System Application to Support Communities of Practice

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of some possibilities to apply multi agent systems to support Communities of Practice. Firstly, we present some basic issues on Communities of Practice including a definition, a couple of cases and the concepts of identities, trajectories and multi-membership. Then, we analyze the adequacy of the multi agent systems technology to support Communities of Practice. After this, we show how some characteristics of Communities of Practice can suggest different applications of multi agent systems. Finally, we explore one of the identified possibilities, more specifically the one related with a member´s trajectory into and inside a community