communities of practice
the best ways to imagine may be the ones that position this work as a collaboration—done with people rather than to or for them—giving people and communities the freedom to learn by doing and to adapt the general into the particular.
Geoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
Critical connections between future-builders matter more than critical mass in long-term transformative work: without these, nothing new can emerge. Networks are the lifeblood of emergence, and yet so much of the way life is organised gets in the way of pioneers connecting
Sophia Parker • Emerging Futures at JRF - Two Years In, the Story So Far
A much more humane, and ultimately more appropriate, approach would be to treat our relationships and communities, as well as the benefits we receive from them, not as a form of wealth, but as gifts. They are received, not chosen; valued but not earned; given but not traded; appreciated but not capitalized. They have an inherent, unquantifiable... See more
The Relationship Is the Richness
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
Relational power is the power to receive and absorb influences from others in a generous way, and then to respond with creative generosity, guided by the hope of mutual well-being.
Ecological Civilization
Building these types of environments isn’t easy. Unlike an app, your members can’t be programmed to consistently deliver valuable experiences for one another. That’s why it’s critical to thoughtfully design your community’s social architecture to maximize the value that gets exchanged between members.
Nick deWilde • The Social Architecture of Impactful Communities
To me, the key is the identification and redistribution of latent value back to the community through compelling engagement loops, and the encouragement of long-term incentive models for group coordination.
Richard Kim • From Nothing to Something with R.N.G.
The social scalability of an institutional technology depends on how that technology constrains or motivates participation in that institution. cultural and jurisdictional diversity of people who can beneficially participate in an institution is also often important, especially in the global Internet context. The more an institution depends on... See more
Richard Kim • From Nothing to Something with R.N.G.
Relational infrastructure is only really seen when you know what you're looking for - much like the web of mycelium connecting trees in our forests that make the flow of communication, resources, and mutual intermingling possible, and enable life to thrive.