Participation, continuity, and purposeful work
Community Groups and Working Spaces are the principal environments through which Commons Members participate in the active life of the Community.
They bring people into sustained relationship around shared areas of knowledge, professional responsibility, practice, institutional interest, public concern, lived experience, research, learning, or other relevant activity. They provide continuity for discussion, resource sharing, peer exchange, Events and Learning, and the development of ideas. Where an activity requires clearer scope, shared responsibility, coordinated effort, or controlled access, they provide an appropriate setting for focused work.
The distinction between them is fundamental.
A Community Group is an ongoing and relatively open body of Commons Members connected by a shared area of relevance.
A Working Space is a focused environment created for a defined task, project, proposal, event, review, consultation, publication initiative, resource, or other bounded activity.
A Group may generate a Working Space; a Working Space may draw participants from one or more Groups. Neither is equivalent to the Community as a whole, to Commons Membership, or to a formal Partnership.
The Commons administration retains responsibility for creating, configuring, reviewing, merging, archiving, closing, and materially changing official Community Groups and Working Spaces.
Community Groups
Community Groups are the principal participation units within the Commons Community.
A Community Group is a defined cluster of Commons Members formed into a loose and continuing body around a shared academic, professional, institutional, practice-based, sectoral, community, or other relevant interest.
Groups may be organized around a discipline, field of knowledge, profession, practice area, sector, institutional responsibility, Critical Issue, public concern, geographical context, shared experience, or another subject of sustained relevance.
Examples may include Groups concerned with:
- OER and Pedagogy.
- Policymakers and Civil Servants.
- Professional Bodies.
- Research Methods.
- Teaching and Learning.
- Institutional Development.
- Public-Interest Practice.
- Community Knowledge and Participation.
- A particular field, profession, sector, place, or Critical Issue.
A Group gives Members an identifiable place within the wider Community. It enables people to remain connected over time, follow developments, exchange knowledge, share resources, attend events, learn from peers, identify questions, and participate in activity appropriate to the Group’s purpose.
A Community Group may support:
- Discussion of evidence, methods, professional practice, policy, institutional developments, and emerging concerns.
- Sharing of Journal Publications, Repository records, reports, resources, data descriptions, frameworks, toolkits, and other relevant material.
- Peer learning, professional exchange, and practice development.
- Consideration of Critical Issues.
- Identification of evidence gaps, research needs, practical challenges, and future priorities.
- Development of Events and Learning activity.
- Calls for questions, evidence, experience, or participation.
- Discussion of completed research, publications, and Repository outputs.
- Requests for Working Spaces where focused activity becomes necessary.
- Development of appropriate pathways into research, publication, practical resources, projects, or Partnerships.
Some Groups will be active and task-oriented. Others will operate primarily as communities of interest, professional exchange, peer learning, or shared reference. Both forms are valuable. A Group need not generate constant visible discussion in order to sustain relationships, make knowledge discoverable, preserve continuity, host periodic activity, or provide useful infrastructure for future work.
A Community Group is part of the Community; it is not the Community as a whole.
No Group automatically represents the Commons, all Commons Members, every institution in a sector, all members of a profession, or every person affected by an issue. Authority to represent, decide, publish, govern, commit resources, or speak formally must arise from an explicit role, delegation, governance arrangement, or approved process.
Membership and Group Participation
Interested users register to become Members of the Commons.
Commons Membership provides a registered identity and access to the Commons in accordance with the relevant Membership level, permissions, and stated conditions. It may enable eligible users to access designated resources, participate in Community activity, attend appropriate Events and Learning activities, join Community Groups, and pursue other available Commons pathways.
Membership and Group participation are related but distinct.
A registered Commons Member may join one or more Community Groups, subject to the purpose, eligibility, capacity, and access conditions of each Group. Joining a Group enables fuller participation in that particular Group’s activity.
Depending on the Group’s arrangements, a Group participant may contribute to discussion, share resources and experience, receive Group communications, attend Group-specific events, participate in peer exchange or consultation, express interest in related Working Spaces, contribute to Group priorities, or take on an approved role.
A Commons Member who has not joined a particular Group may still have limited access to selected activity. They may be able to view the Group’s description, follow public updates, access designated resources, attend an open event, respond to a public call, or request to join.
They may not have access to Group-only discussion, internal communications, Group-specific events or resources, consultations, Working Spaces, or Group roles.
Commons Membership provides registered access to the Commons in accordance with the relevant Membership level and permissions. Joining a Community Group enables fuller participation in that Group, subject to its stated access conditions. Commons Members who have not joined a Group may have limited access to its activities.
Each Group should make its access and participation arrangements clear. Access may be public, available to registered Commons Members, limited to Group participants, linked to a Membership level, available to authorized Institutional Member representatives, invitation-only, or restricted.
Access should reflect the purpose and sensitivity of the activity. It should not be restricted for status or exclusivity alone.
Working Spaces
Working Spaces are focused environments for defined activity.
They are appropriate when ordinary Group discussion is not sufficient because the work requires clear scope, identified participants, shared records, structured review, coordinated tasks, defined roles, controlled access, stated outputs, or a timeframe.
A Working Space may arise from a Community Group, Critical Issue, Event, Commission Request, Concept Note, research initiative, publication opportunity, Repository activity, Partnership discussion, or another approved Commons pathway.
It may be created to:
- Develop an Event Proposal or deliver an approved event.
- Prepare a Commission Request or Concept Note.
- Review evidence, methods, or existing knowledge.
- Coordinate an approved research, publication, practice, or Partnership project.
- Develop a report, framework, toolkit, guidance, or learning resource.
- Support consultation or engagement.
- Prepare material for Repository deposit or preservation.
- Convene a time-limited Working Group.
- Undertake another defined and agreed task.
Every Working Space should identify its title, purpose, scope, relationship to relevant Commons activity, eligible participants, access level, responsible lead, timeframe, expected outputs, and review or closure arrangements.
It should also address applicable requirements relating to privacy, confidentiality, consent, data, ethics, safeguarding, cultural rights, intellectual property, institutional responsibility, law, and contract.
Working Space access is separate from Commons Membership and Group participation. Access may be granted to a defined Working Group, approved project participants, Group participants, event organizers, advisers, reviewers, authors, editors, authorized institutional representatives, Partnership participants, data stewards, or others with a legitimate and approved role.
A Member should not assume that Membership or Group participation alone provides access to a Working Space.
Working Spaces may support the development of drafts, proposals, reports, resources, publications, events, projects, consultations, and other outputs. They may also support review, coordination, discussion, task allocation, milestone tracking, version control, attribution, and appropriate record-keeping.
They should not be treated as the authoritative public record of completed work. Final reports, approved resources, publications, datasets, event records, and other significant outputs should move into the appropriate Journal, Repository, project, research, or other formal pathway.
Creation, Stewardship, and Review
Only the Commons administration may create, configure, rename, merge, archive, close, or materially alter an official Community Group or Working Space.
This ensures that spaces have a clear purpose; do not unnecessarily duplicate existing activity; have appropriate access, moderation, and support arrangements; remain connected to the wider Commons; and meet relevant privacy, data, ethical, safeguarding, cultural, legal, institutional, and contractual requirements.
Commons Members with appropriate permissions may request a Community Group or Working Space. A request should normally identify:
- Proposed title, purpose, and scope.
- Relevant field, Critical Issue, Group, event, project, publication, or other Commons pathway.
- Intended participants and proposed access conditions.
- Expected activity, outputs, outcomes, and next steps.
- Proposed coordinator, lead, or responsible contact.
- Expected duration or review period.
- Accessibility, moderation, technical, communication, and resource needs.
- Relevant risks, requirements, and safeguards.
- Why an existing Group or Working Space is not sufficient.
The Commons administration may approve, approve subject to conditions, request revision, refer the proposal to an existing space, defer consideration, merge the activity with another initiative, or decline the request.
Community Groups and Working Spaces should be reviewed at appropriate intervals. Review should consider whether their purpose remains relevant; whether activity is constructive and useful; whether access, coordination, moderation, and accessibility arrangements remain suitable; whether duplication has emerged; whether significant learning or outputs should be preserved; and whether the space should continue, change, merge, pause, archive, transfer, or close.
Not every contribution should become a permanent public record. The Commons should distinguish between informal discussion, working material, event resources, project records, formal decisions, approved outputs, Journal Publications, Repository records, and historical or archived material.
Community Groups and Working Spaces are working well when Members can understand the distinction between Commons Membership, Group participation, and Working Space access; when Groups sustain relevant exchange and connection; when Working Spaces support defined activity with appropriate structure; and when access, roles, moderation, privacy, and preservation arrangements are clear.
They work well when different forms of knowledge can be shared responsibly; when Groups and Working Spaces remain connected to Critical Issues, Events and Learning, research, publications, the Repository, Membership, and Partnerships; and when completed, inactive, duplicate, or unsuitable spaces are reviewed and managed responsibly.
Above all, they should strengthen the Commons as an accessible, intellectually serious, well-governed environment in which people can learn, contribute, work together where appropriate, and move knowledge towards meaningful use.
Critical Issues explains how the Commons identifies, frames, examines, develops, and responds to significant questions, challenges, gaps, and areas of academic, professional, institutional, community, and public concern.