Notes from open-space sessions

Notes from "Their Space/My Space" / communities vs networks sessions

by Scott Leslie -
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Synposized Notes (after group discussion)
  • community are people not places
  • two real benefits of comunities ove r networks might be are that the boundaries can help people otherwise reluctant to jump in, and the offer more opportunities for "bumping into each other", ability to achieve a specified goal, they tap into a natural desire to belong
  • rather than "look at what you can get" flip it around to "hey, you could help give"
  • rather than "online community" "online spaces to support communities
  • a size issue - after a certain point, you need "communities" not "community""
  • networks may envcourage echoes whereas communities may encourage encountering diversity
  • communities don't necessarily scale, networks do; networks can augment communities

Raw Notes - Our Space vs My Space(s)
  • digital identity (harvesting)
  • personal brand management / lifestreams
  • portable identity
  • value in having different identities
  • role instead of identity
  • facets
  • "networks in spaces you go to" -
  • communities can conceivably be consensually defined instead of centrally defined
  • project with a real aim that united us
  • projects can get funding, networks have a harder time
  • individual campus communities want to retain their individual identities
  • "go beyond" - go beyond initial committments, go beyond initial community, helps them be a part of a larger collective
  • network can be less focused and longer duration
  • showing that we are all united, the "movement" that unites these individual actions
  • anecdote - allowing people to attach a personal photo to individual news stories helped increase sharing aross Go Beyond community
  • "we are interested in sustainability, what's your major" based on response, enlist them in that particular role
  • rather than "look at what you can get" flip it around to "hey, you could help give"
  • affinity, learn from others
  • collective identity that is lost
  • part of something bigger than yourself; belonging, fundamental to huma nature
  • community is much bigger committment
  • "online community" is a terrible phrase; rather "online spaces to support community"
  • a size issue - after a certain point, you need "communities" not "community"
  • bumping into each other - multiple casual interactions; hallway conversations
  • increased diversity of interactions in communities
  • what is a measure of success? not sheer number; effectiveness towards a common goal
  • bounding an event in time or space can actually enable people to go further