social media

On Community Transformation and Engagement... read more »

• We know that cities and communities are constantly changing and we often attributethe change to economic factors (think Detroit) or specific circumstantial or environmental factors (think New Orleans), but a blog post from nuPolis argues that there are intentional cultural factors that lead a community to change as well.   According to the article there are three dynamics – shared vision and goals, social engagement, and systemic improvement – that, if unleashed, have the potential to fundamentally change a community.  It is by unleashing these cultural components that communities can address issues such as economic capacity, poverty levels, and increased interaction with a larger region.

On Networks... read more »

• Networks accumulate power based on their breadth of reach in every direction, inciting complexity and fluidity.  It is difficult, sometimes, to look at a network and wonder if it is not a “random field of chaos,” but while networks do not play by the rules (they can’t because they are cumulative and self-organizing) there are laws that networks abide by.  Networkweaving blog looks at the four key components of networks and devises formulas for how to achieve each of these.  The four components are: luck, innovation, influence and network growth.

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On Nonprofit Collaboration...

• The objection to nonprofit collaboration has always been that “we’re all competing for a limited pool of resources.”  This is true, Debra Askanase of the Community Organizer 2.0 blog states, but it is also true that cooperation makes that pool larger; collaboration brings in more traffic, clients and funding sources which benefits nonprofits and their causes.  We are in a new world in which coopetition (cooperative competition) is becoming the norm.

On Learning, Networks and Communities of Practice... read more »

• Nancy White of Full Circle Associates asks for feedback on her proposed idea of ‘triangulation.’  She defines triangulation as “a practitioner’s experience using external networks to leverage learning and outcomes within organizations and institutions.”  She explores such themes as collaboration, community and technology.
• A paper, Communities of practice: Linking knowledge, policy and practice was recently published by Overseas Development Institute.  The paper focuses on basic characteristics of communities of practice and explains their growing importance (especially in international development).  It also suggests ways that organizations can implement and support their own communities of practice.

Social media is changing the way people interact with each other. As Clay Shirky suggests, social media and networks enable people to share, converse, collaborate, and in some cases, engage in collaborative action.  And while collaborative action is not widely popular yet, it is where the future is headed (Clay Shirky 2008).  read more »

A growing emphasis is being placed on how to support a critical mass of leaders who mobilize their resources to catalyze large-scale sustainable change. With support of the Packard Foundation, and in the context of their Population Leadership Initiative, LLC staff identified and shared promising practices for collective and individual leadership development based on what we have learned through our work during the past 10 years.
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