communities of practice

Campus provides a low-stakes way to “try on a new way of being”, learn with social accountability, and experiment without hard committing. Each quarter we ask our members for classes, events, bookclubs, or circles they want to host. Many use this opportunity as a chance to engage with an interest more deeply - both as a leader, constructing the... See more

Social scalability is the ability of an institution –- a relationship or shared endeavor, in which multiple people repeatedly participate, and featuring customs, rules, or other features which constrain or motivate participants’ behaviors -- to overcome shortcomings in human minds and in the motivating or constraining aspects of said institution

Richard Kim • From Nothing to Something with R.N.G.

these are all types of relational infrastructure too:

• Peer-to-peer journeys and learning crews - topic as focus

• Communities of practice - practice as a focus

• Participatory ecosystems - place as a focus

• Labs - social, living, innovation and more - process as a focus

Sam Rye • On Relational Infrastructure

Relationships are the energetic core of communities. They are the glue. They are the reason people keep showing up. They are the biggest (and yet ironically the most intangible) value that communities create. Relationships are the community’s soul and source of life. Without relationships, the community is an empty shell.

Fabian Pfortmüller • Community = relationships

Those relationships can have intrinsic value for the individual members, creating a sense of belonging or being connected to others. But it can also have value fo r the larger society for three reasons: first, because one can draw on it as a resource for accomplishing some objective , such as partnering with other parents to improve the local... See more

Isabel V. Sawhill • Social Capital: Why We Need It and How We Can Create More of It

While we might use these spaces, open communities have particular needs. They are formed not from shared identity but from entwined attention and collaborative work on shared resources. They thrive on diversity and so require the creation of an environment that is proactively inclusive and welcoming. They need fluidity, iterativity, and a... See more

Creative Communities

In practice, it is not possible for the technical layer to be resilient while the social layer is not, as the social and technical dynamics of infrastructure are co-constitutive.

Kelsie Nabben • Decentralised Technologies as “Self infrastructuring”

people who are creating containers for healthy community building. They see solutions to problems through the lens of relationship. They connect people to one another and create and cultivate spaces for people to develop relationships to solve problems. They know these spaces need tending to remain healthy and put in the time and effort to do that