Glossary

The Glossary provides an explanation of terms specifically related to CoPs and those associated with the Communities of Practice Program.

Blog — Website, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Chat Room — Online-based, sometimes moderated communications taking place in real time.

Collaborative software — Computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals. It is usually associated with individuals not physically co-located, but instead working together across an internet connection. It can also include remote access storage systems for archiving common use data files that can be accessed, modified and retrieved by the distributed workgroup members.

Community — Group of people who come together to interact, discuss, share ideas, and collaborate.

Community of Practice — Group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis.

Communities of Practice Program (CoPP) — Group comprised of CDC/OSTLTS federal employees in the Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support which supports and guides CDC Programs and their partners in fostering communities and collaborative activities across public health.

Domain — Shared interest that provides the incentive and passion for the community to come together.

Message Board — Internet forum for holding discussions and posting user-generated content.

Podcast — Multimedia file (audio or video) developed to be played back on a digital media player (an MP3 player) or a personal computer.

Practice — Community’s mission that involves the development and shared practice of new technology, best practices, and gaining knowledge to address recurring problems.

SMART Objective — SMART objective is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound.

Wiki — Collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language like HTML.