What is a Community?

April 22nd, 2009 • View Comments Uncategorized

On Monday, I had the pleasure of presenting an Ignite presentation as part of Refresh Events’ monthly StayFresh series. (Video of my presentation to come once released.) The keynote by Tom Purves was on the topic of mobility and augmented reality, so in attempting to stick within the theme, I presented on Hyperconnectivity and the Community. However, I wanted to take a different view than many in our community normally do, and identified a few problems that Hyperconnectivity present to a community, and how it may be splitting us apart rather than bringing us together. Interesting stuff, and I’ll write a post in the future as to the community lessons we can learn by looking at ourselves critically.

However, before that can be effective, we need to set some context, and define what a community is. Now, I could provide all kinds of dictionary definitions, but I think that there’s an easy comparison that can be made to help better understand what I mean when I talk about community. This was a point that seemed to resound somewhat on Monday.

Any group of people can get together to complain about something, or to suggest that something should be done about a common problem or missing component. This mobilization – where people are talking about issues – is likely best labeled as a crowd. When this crowd gets unruly, and participates in action that may be detremental or disruptive, the terminology then shifts to it being a mob.

Crowds or mobs are not communities. What differentiates a community is that its members actively participate in accomplishing goals to the benefit of the community. In other words, communities are full of people who DO things. A community doesn’t truly exist without outputs, and in many ways true communities have outputs that are greater than the sum of the inputs of its individual members. Only by working together to tackle the problems that are faced by the community will the members move forward – and problems by and large aren’t solved by mere talk.

Let me give you an example of ways that may differentiate these three groups. In this scenario, a community of people is not receiving their garbage pickup on time, due to people incorrectly preparing their garbage for pickup. (I’m using an offline example to illustrate the ubiquitousness of communities, both on and off. In this example:

1. A crowd would complain about either the city for not picking up the garbage, or complain about the individuals who are affecting everyone else.
2. A mob would harass city officials, the garbage collectors, or the individuals who are causing the problems, either verbally or physically. Note that while this may “solve” the problem, it almost certainly will come at the detriment of the community and the relationships that exist within it.
3. A community would work to educate the individuals causing the problems or aid them in properly preparing their garbage, or work with the city to determine an alternate solution. This doesn’t mean that everyone would be involved in the education/engagement process, but that individuals within the community would step up for the benefit of the entire community.

So what do you think? Does my explanation of what a community is make sense? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

A Confirmation of Sorts (Really, it’s more like “A Short Entry of Sorts”)

January 5th, 2009 • View Comments Uncategorized

Never have I been so sure that I was making the right decision about something as I am today. That was a relief as much as anything else. I spent the weekend thinking and discussing various moves in my life, so going back to work today was going to end up as a test of sorts no matter what. Luckily, it seems that I passed this test with flying colours (although I could’ve done without destroying the left side of my face trying to shave this morning.)

Never have I been so sure about what it is that I’d like to end up doing. A great conversation with a friend in a pretty ill-planned trip to Blue Mountain yesterday allowed me to think a little bit more about the transitionary period that will need to occur for me to accomplish my goals. Still working on some transitionary stuff before I can really reveal anything (Google is a useful tool; work is important right now, as rent is a cruel mistress), but I’m excited to be able to share with you guys a solid plan as to where I’m going in my life, and how I’m going to get there.

Thanks again to everyone who has commented and e-mailed me over the last little while in regards to some of my posts and requests. I really do appreciate everything that you all say, and keep it in mind. If you ever want to contact me about anything, the e-mail’s at the top right of the menu bar above.

That’s really all I’ve got – back tomorrow, hopefully.

Making Change

January 2nd, 2009 • View Comments Uncategorized

I wanted to avoid the cliche of making this the post to start off 2009, but things just happened to work out this way. Don’t look at the message of this post as a resolution – I find those are broken more often than not – but as a life goal that I’ve been working on for a while now.

Recently, I’ve been taking a look at what exactly it is I want to do with my life. It’s a big question, I know, and not one easily answered. I was inspired by watching Shake Hands With the Devil, the story of Gen. Romeo Dallaire and the Rwanda genocides. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I don’t have that question answered – but I have come much closer to an answer as to what I’d like to do with the remainder of my 20s.

This decision has come from a few conversations over the last while – both in person and online. I find that the corporate lifestyle doesn’t really satisfy me at this point, and I suspect that I was pretending that was what I really wanted to do at this point. That’s not to say that I don’t want to do the corporate life eventually, but this isn’t the time for it, at least in my opinion.

Your 20s are a time for you to take chances, to do things that may not work, to screw things up. There is very little that you can do at this age, at the mere beginning of your “working” life that will cause serious long-term damage to you. (Yes, Jaime, I totally cribbed this from you – my apologies.)

With that said, and my current mindset, I’m looking to work towards the goal of making meaningful change while I’m still young and motivated to do so. The specific attack plan isn’t developed yet – and I’m in my lease until September, so I’m in my current digs for a while – but one of the things I’d like to do is head overseas to work or volunteer. Not to teach English (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but to build things, help people, and use my situation and skills to help those in need. I think that the experience provided by this would be invaluable, and humbling.

If you have any ideas or thoughts for me as to programs I could get involved in, please let me know – I’m definitely all ears. I wish Canada had a Peace Corps – that sort of program would be perfect for the sorts of stuff I’d like to do at the moment.

I’m looking to take a lot of chances, with the aim of making change and helping people. I may fail, yes, but I’ll be able to come back from it. If you’re young, and stuck doing something you don’t like to do, why don’t you look to make a positive change in your life, and perhaps consider making changes in others?