Emergence and maturing of collective knowledge describe how individual learning interactions, their traces and related materials are made available to others (Learning Toolbox, Bits and pieces). When others are made aware of these via social networking and community technologies, individual uptake or a broader negotiation in a community setting can take place. This can then trigger processes of co-creation and knowledge maturing in which materials are refined and developed into more mature cultural artefacts and made available for a wider target group, e.g. around “Living Documents” (Living documents). A collective knowledge cycle can also start with the provision of cultural artefacts (e.g. existing normative guidelines) which then need to be adopted locally. Collective knowledge that emerges as part of this process, such as documents, aggregated trust or knowledge structures and their interrelations captured in semantic technologies, then provide the context for individual sensemaking or help seeking.

Task performance, reflection and sensemaking describe the processes of experiencing, reflecting about, sharing and collectively validating the learning moments connected with task performance. While much of expert performance is based on tacit knowledge that is being fine-tuned without the need of much explicit reflection, sometimes the experiencing of learning moments triggers more explicit reflection. Having the possibility to record those experiences in the situated context for more extensive sensemaking and reflection later on may enhance individual practice in the long-term. Technologies that support these processes need to help emerge a shared understanding (e.g. through semantic technologies) and tightly fit into existing working practices. Hence, the design in the healthcare domain revolved around note taking and collecting (Bits and pieces), while in the construction domain recording of videos with mobile or wearable technology were considered (Ach so! and Non-obvious). Recorded experiences can be shared more widely and validated by the community via social networking and community technologies to make them useful for others (Learning Toolbox).