Failure is Relativeor

How I Learned to

My Ning By

Asa Letourneau

This is a story of failure but it’s also a story of hope.

It’s about PROVcommunity. A social network for researchers of documentary heritage that I built using the Ning platform.

And this is the Ning platform. How cool. I was going to build a social destination to create a community. Left click Create. Right click Community.

I Had A DreamI had a dream that if I did something really ambitious and awe inspiring people would flock to it

and use it. So I started building...

I built my PROVcommunity Ning, a place where researchers could crowdsource solutions to one another's problems. A place where people could promote their work and chat in real time.

I thought that if I built it they would come...and some did.

I thought if they came they’d do what I wanted them to do...and some did

But there were no explosions of activity.

The Google stats were not off the

chart. My Ning did not ignite and the

community spirit was not as huge as I

thought it was going to be.

So ‘I’ did a lot of things!

So I panicked and started doing a lot of things. I created forum posts, and twitter feeds, and events. I added photos and videos. I blogged. I chatted in real time

(mostly with myself). My Ning was alive...alive!

But it got worse. New memberships dropped off. Old members seemed to go away. And eventually cracks started

to appear.

I had been so focussed on building

something and making it work that I forgot who I was

building it for...and I forgot to ask them if they even wanted

it.

I realized that you can’t manufacture a community. I realized that I had wanted to create a meeting place for researchers but that I had failed. I had only succeeded in creating a

Ning for myself.

That’s when I decided to get help. I asked a work colleague to help me create a survey to ask the members what they wanted out of the

Ning and even if they thought it should continue?

I was thrilled when I got some feedback. I even spoke with some of the members on the telephone. It felt good. It felt like a conversation.

I started talking with other members who had responded to the survey. They all had really good ideas for the Ning. We worked

together and started making changes

And then I stopped...because I

didn’t want to move too fast. Before I knew it members started using the

new Ning. It started looking and

sounding like a real community.

And then I woke up. I had got ahead of myself again. My dream of a better and fairer Ning had been just that.

So I asked a work colleague for help. We have just created a survey and we are about to send it out to members. I really want PROVcommunity to continue because I think it’s

got legs.

I have realized that many Nings die every day, but that ours hasn’t. Why hasn’t it? Could it be that with a little help it

might end up being something worthwhile for the people who use it?

This was a story of failure but now it’s a story of hope. I am learning that regardless of being offline or online, communities don’t follow

orders or plans or good intentions.

They grow organically and follow their own drum. I’m hoping that I can become a part of PROVcommunity and learn the beat of its drum.