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ChrisMazzola
Posts:11
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| 11/01/2006 10:12 AM |
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Hello everyone
I have suggested a new topic and written a few lines on it - a friend of mine, invited by me, has also written a few paragraphs. And I would like to discuss the idea here with you.
The structure of the book is really interesting and mostly covers all kinds of application of communities in business. But for me, the million dollar question that should be discussed is: why people WANT to be part of communities - which is the question behind any kind of community that demands spontaneous involvement without immediate benefits - I mean communities that want to engage customers, or general public, and get unbiased involvment from them.
What do you think? Is this relevant for the book? If so, what inputs do you have to help us answer the question, and PLEASE go there and make our suggested chapter richer.
Thank you
Christiane, from Brazil, apologizing for my english! |
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iphazard
Posts:87
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| 11/01/2006 10:45 AM |
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Christiane,
This discussion is absolutely relevant to the book. It is a critical component the success of commnunities.
There are a number of reasons why I think community is and will be embraced by it's members, but the main one is that I believe that the need to share and belong is a basic human trait. Unfortunately for our purposes, it is also a basic human trait to guard our resources and keep them for ourselves. Overcoming this second trait is, as you suggest, among the key factors in creating successful communities.
There are ways to incentivize membership and contribution to a community (prizes, individual recognition, even financial incentives), but in the end, the model will only work if the value of the community is incentive enough to participate. |
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ChrisMazzola
Posts:11
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| 11/01/2006 11:48 AM |
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Isaac,
In spite of the fact that the book is totaly orientated towards business communities, I think that the best examples to try to understand these questions would be the totally non business related communities. I just didn´t mention any when writing on the book because I wanted to first be sure that the rest of the group wouldn´t take it as a lack of focus.
Me, for example, I am a member of a few communities of digital scrapbooking - more active in some, less in others. And it is obvious that people there are helping other people they have never seen and never will, without expecting any "tangible" benefits. Only group recognition, entertainment, and the sensation of "being part" that my friend Gustavo Arjones has mentioned on our suggested chapter.
What do you think? Should I go any further on this direction, or should I keep this line for a more aproppriate forum? |
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iphazard
Posts:87
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| 11/02/2006 9:31 AM |
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Christiane,
By all means go ahead with your line of reasoning. While the focus of the book is on the effects of community on business, there are many lessons and insights that can be gained from the successes and failures of non-business communities.
As long as you understand that other community members may modify what you are writing and potentially may even change the focus and direction, you should feel comfortable adding whatever material you think applies.
Isaac Hazard
Community Manager |
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Gaetan
Posts:4
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| 11/04/2006 8:28 PM |
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I fully agree with you all. I think communities networking is really a social phenomenon much more than a business one. It has taken off in various forms because people enjoy exchanging information and contributing their expertise. Yahoo Groups, Wikipedia, Amazon and Epinions reviews have nothing to do with business and much more to do with society at large.
The more the book can overall balance and integrate both perspectives, the more interesting it will be for any reader and the broader audience it should get. That's my take anyway. |
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ChrisMazzola
Posts:11
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| 11/04/2006 10:26 PM |
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| And the more we understand why they enroll in nonprofit communities willingly the more successful we may be in using those infos to make our business communities work better. That is my point, right from the beggining! Understand people, so that you can make them want to help you! |
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barry
Posts:72
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| 11/05/2006 6:19 AM |
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Isaac
we should add a chapter on - why community matters to you - as one fo the first chapters - and ask the question why people DO and SHOULD be engaged in communities as well as ask jon's original questions - 1. what are the barriers; 2. who has broken them and why; and 3. what should we do differently to insure the participation of the community.
Barry |
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iphazard
Posts:87
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| 11/06/2006 7:02 AM |
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I agree that this should be a new chapter and early on, and te structure prospoed makes sense to me.
In keeping with the current chapter naming convention, how about calling it "We can answer the question: What's In It For Me?" |
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ChrisMazzola
Posts:11
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| 11/06/2006 8:02 AM |
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| I like your suggestion Isaac. I would just suggest changing the "me" for "us" - to keep the notion that we are talking about anyone and not ourselves specifically - but since I am not a native english speaker I am not sure if this makes sense as it sounds to me. |
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arjones
Posts:2
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| 11/08/2006 2:05 PM |
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Base line I'd like to add on this chapter, is based upon group theory, my contribution:
Unlikely main promises of technologies advances and internet which should be connect people and enable then have more closer and frequent contact, we are becoming more and more alone, once I lock myself in a bubble with my iPOD, I don't watch TV series with my family, I download it through iTunes, etc.
Website eMarketer.com released a study which stands "For teens, IM and e-mail are as important as in-person communication" - so, be part of a community is a way, still online re-attach to feelings of "belonging".
On the other hand, Yochai Benkler wrote in the book "The Wealth of Networks" that community have loose affiliations, so people don't fell to much exposed and join it without fear/weight of a long term commitment.
I believe thats are main forces to someone join or not a community: be part of/recognized by a group, and don't have long term commitments.
What do you think? |
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1ofus
Posts:103
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| 11/17/2006 11:21 AM |
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Reading various comments on Chapters it is becoming clear that people are introducing various new sources of information. Should there be a separate Bibliography / references Section?
I see that some Chapters have references at the end so perhaps people who take on to look after specific Chapters will do a check. Note tht hould the membership really explode, thi could prove tricky! |
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joe_flum
Posts:151
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| 11/17/2006 11:36 AM |
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Gustavo,
If I'm understanding correctly, you're talking about the reasons that motivate us to form communities. In particular, the changing social interactions that are the result of an increasing amount of time spent in mediated (ie. through media) relationships.
I think this has a lot to do with "Challenge 15: What Social behaviors do we need to foster in order to achieve vibrant community interaction?".
Assuming that we prescribe to the idea that communities are a positive thing (which I think we do), then it is important that we understand the underlying socialogical reasons that guide their formation.
For now, we don't have a specific forum for Challenge 15, so why don't you add this text into the forum: Forums > Book Wiki > General Discussions. And from there begin to get the idea fleshed out.
cheers,
joe |
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joe_flum
Posts:151
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| 11/17/2006 11:43 AM |
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Lilly,
I think that the "fact-checking" required for assuring that sources are cited and valid, is an important aspect of the "Editor" role that was defined in the discussion on Roles and Responsabilities. As you mention, if the community explodes to huge proportions, we're (ie everyone) going to need people at least identifying where sources are required.
In the case of Wikipedia, any registered user (normally moderators and editors) can edit the page and add "needs citation" remarks to statements that require a source to back them up. I think we could learn a lot from their example. About a year ago they took a more strict stance on requiring citations and it has resulted in a much improved level of validity to the project. |
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iphazard
Posts:87
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| 11/17/2006 11:47 AM |
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| Yes, Some guidelines for contributions, including how to cite, are critical. I am working on them now. |
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1ofus
Posts:103
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| 11/17/2006 11:54 AM |
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Just getting through reading existing materials in what I see as Part I, thus following examples along the established functional areas in corporations.
Where are HR and IT here? Looks like the only aspects picked are those involved directly in product development and sales. Yet, supporting services are equally ncessary. Yes, and I expect Finance dept. is covered in the Chapter on Costing It |
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iphazard
Posts:87
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| 11/17/2006 3:35 PM |
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Excellent point Lilly,
HR and IT are both great examples of business functions that community can perform.
Some HR material may well fit into the Management chapter and you could make a case that both could fit in a governance chapter, but clearly the case studies for these functions would be vastly different from others in those spaces.
I think new challenge sections in the wiki are required to handle these issues. What do you think? |
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joe_flum
Posts:151
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| 11/17/2006 3:52 PM |
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Isaac,
I'm creating a new thread in Book Wiki > General Discussions to provide a list of the challenges and new ideas for possible future challenges. Because the discussion around the challenges is structural, I think it will be quite labour intensive to re-work the home page to accomodate each idea right away.
A forum thread will give us better capacity to discuss the challenges, and when we reach a concensus, we can then implement the changes into the wiki.
cheers,
joe |
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