I am working to promote a strong Communities of Practice strand at next year's AERA Conference in San Francisco in April 2006. I hope to organize a pre-conference meeting on the Monday before the start of the conference proper and to map out a community journey through the conference, acknowledging and promoting relevant papers The deadline for proposals is August 1st, less than one month away now. People in the research community studying or working in design research in CoPs might contact me to find out more about this effort and/or to have their proposals become part of our promotion of CoP research.( bstuckey@intraceptives.com.au )