Affinity space

An affinity space is a place – virtual or physical – where informal learning takes place. According to James Paul Gee, affinity spaces are locations where groups of people are drawn together because of a shared, strong interest or engagement in a common activity. Often but not always occurring online, affinity spaces encourage the sharing of knowledge or participation in a specific area, and informal learning is a common outcome. In his coining of the term, Gee takes the notion of participatory cultures and reframes it to the idea of "space". To Gee, what is happening in these online cultures is not merely a "culture" – and far different from a "community". In Gee's view, the word "community" conjures up images of belongingness and membership (p.70). Instead, he has defined these worlds as "spaces" – a term that allows for the "robust characterization of the ebbs and flows and differing levels of involvement and participation exhibited by members"

According to Gee (2004), "An affinity space is a place or set of places where people affiliate with others based primarily on shared activities, interests, and goals, not shared race, class culture, ethnicity, or gender" (p. 67).

Gee (2004) refers to affinity spaces and states, "Learners 'apprentice' themselves to a group of people who share a certain set of practices (e.g. learning to cook in a family, learning to play video games with a guild, learning to assemble circuit boards in a workplace, learning to splice genes in a biology lab), pick up these practices through joint action with more advanced peers, and advance their abilities to engage and work with others in carrying out such practices" (p. 70).

What Gee (2004) tries to explain about Affinity Spaces is not an attempt to label a group of people. By affinity space he means a space where people can interact and share a lot with each other. the people who are interacting in a space might find themselves as sharing a community with some others in that space, while other people might view their interactions in the space differently. Gee (2004) adds, " In any case, creating spaces within diverse sorts of people can interact is a leitmotif of the modern world" (p. 71).

Gee described twelve hallmarks of what he terms "nurturing" affinity spaces:

Because members of an affinity space are interested in a common practice/belief/activity, they have common ground and motivation together. Gee says that because of this common interest, affinity spaces are able to bridge barriers of age, race, socio-economic status, and educational level, and thus allow each user to participate as he/she chooses, and both experts and novices are equally legitimate participants in the affinity space While not everyone in affinity spaces is an expert, they are not places where the "blind are leading the blind." Many spaces have unwritten rules that while sharing information, you must share only what you know, provide sources to back up what you say, and in general, leave feedback and comments only in areas you know.

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