Q29: What do we mean by "Community"?

[Chris Jones]

It's a virtual world now. In that context, what do we mean by "community"? Does it share the characteristics of the local, geographic communities of old, or does social media fundamentally change the paradigm?

Here's the framing post for the 12/2/09 SMCHAT.

TAKEAWAYS have been added as a comment, below -

As always, for LIVE CHAT we recommend Tweetchat. More on SMCHAT on this NING site; our agenda is at WTHashtag.

[Chris Jones]

For today's SMCHAT Agenda - 1pET (via Tweetchat) here is the outline of questions:

Q29a Definitions: What do we mean by community? Virtual community?
Q29b Can we handle shifting frames of reference & multiple contexts? What skills are needed?
Q29c Are demands for change (e20, gov20, social ecosystem) enough to overcome resistance?
Q29d Role & nature of tipping points driving change?
Q29e Transformation ideas: centralized software (e20, gov20), public education, other?

Always interested in taking different ideas from the group in real-time to shape the discussion; be thinking about future topics and let me know what they might be.

Hope to see you there -

Chris

[Robert Swanwick]

Chris, I am curious if you guys have settled on a set of tools to support #SMchat. Looks like you are using Ning, WTHashtag and TweetChat?

We are thinking through the same issues for #KMers. We have embedded TweetChat into the site which we feel is a step in the right direction. We are still working to improve the drupal installation so that it best supports the chat. http://KMers.org

FYI: you can use the Intro text field at http://twebevent.com to merge your agenda with the TweetChat so that people can view on the same page while chatting.

[Chris Jones]

TAKEAWAYS from 12/2 CHAT re: Communities in a Virtual World.

Q29a Definitions & Core Concepts.
- traditional communities may face extinction
- virtual communities the new default?
- "bottom-up" development more likely to achieve success
- "top-down" communities run risk of failure; may fear resistance to external 'agenda'
- much discussion around TEAM vs COMMUNITY constructs and semantics
- believe Seth Godin's TRIBE concept & VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES are synonyms
- SOCIAL NETWORKS maybe be broader (superset)
Q29b-e Context & Challenges
- context is a key issue in navigating culture issues & different rule sets in cross-context CoP
- identified need to have lightweight governance and simple process to remedy
- must be adequately diverse
- must have relevance and 'buzz' to sustain interest
- must benefit its MEMBERS to be a community (else its a team?)
- concept: community=free; team=paid
- concept: we are overlapping circles (communities at intersections)
- focus: drive creativity & vision (not tunnel vision & orthodoxy) - culture issue? (future chat)
- loss of F2F contact a concern
- recognition that even F2F events don't ensure connection
- may need hybrid (online & F2F combo) .. see related SMCHAT re: Q26 Tweetcasting
- concern re: context shifting
- noted tags, metadata & hashtags can be effective at flagging context
- more intuitive tools will help adoption
Q29f Futures
- wide open potential ("we're just getting starated")
- broaden E20 and G20 perspectives
- better ideas, more innovation, wider viewpoints ("richer, more encompassing input")
- reduced limitation on geography and cost
- getting communities right critical to E20 and G20 success (as is culture)

Other notes, comments or highlights? Add them here !! Thanks again to all who participated.

Chris