ETCon 02

Communities and the Power of Crowdsourcing

© Jason West

Community

• Home• Work• Street• Shop• Club• Court• Prison• Why going online?

Old notions of community

•  Gemeinschaft 1 (usually translated as "community") and Gesellschaft 2 ("society" or "association") Ferdinand Tönnies

• ‘unity of will’• Selflessness 1 v Self interest 2

Do people need just three places: 1) the home, 2) the office, and, 3) the community hangout or gathering place?

“Over the past 25 years, attendance at club meetings has fallen 58 percent, family dinners are down 33 percent, and having friends visit has fallen 45 percent”. Putnam Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000)

What is the ‘Third Place’?

New notions of community

• ‘Sense of community’• To what extent do participants in joint

activities experience a sense of community?

• In a seminal 1986 study, McMillan and Chavis identify four elements of "sense of community": 1) membership, 2) influence, 3) integration and fulfillment of needs, and 4) shared emotional connection

One community

• Human race– All basically the same– Same motivations– Same fears– Same challenges– Same pleasures– Same, same, same, same, same, same,

same…

What have we forgotten?

• People are good– A look– A touch– A gift of time to listen and respond– A gift of help– A pat on the back– A praising remark– A smile and wave– A thank you

Community meets Crowdsourcing

Free1 v Paid2

Freemium and completely inclusive

Free1 = crowdsourced or incomplete or amateurish – frippy idealism

Freedium and as inclusive as possible with sustainability

Freed3 = crowdsourced + professionally edited + globally affordable

Premium and largely exclusive

Paid2 = professionally authored and edited – purely profit driven and pricey

Deep impact…

“I’ve never thought that I would enjoy this school this much. I think everyone must try something like that once in a lifetime, it is just not good for your English, it is also good for your entire life.”

Arda Ozdemir, Turkey.