What other people think community is

OK, as part of my role I have been trying to find out information about community, whether exclusive online communities or physical communities that use online resources to facilitate parts of the community interaction.

Jake, the Community Guy, works for the LEGO company, but is an evangalist for Community involvement relating to online communities and also the interaction between corporate businesses and their customers. Jake has been trying to define Community in his own blog and this post is his third attempt at the question of 'What is Community'.

http://www.communityguy.com/index.cfm?commentID=189

Now I know some of you might switch off part of the way down the post, but please endure and try to read through all of the comments that are attached to the post. It becomes a very interesting debate about active and non-active (lurkers) community members.

I loved the whole 'going to church' line of thought.....

Sense of Community

(Taken from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html)

Sense of community (SOC) has been the focus for face-to-face community researchers for some time. McMillan and Chavis (1986) have the most well-regarded and well-researched conceptualization of SOC. They define SOC as consisting of the following four characteristics:

• Feelings of membership: Feelings of belonging to, and identifying with, the community;
  
• Feelings of influence: Feelings of having influence on, and being influenced by, the community;
  
• Integration and fulfillment of needs: Feelings of being supported by others in the community while also supporting them; and
  
• Shared emotional connection: Feelings of relationships, shared history, and a “spirit” of community.
  

So bloggers is there SOC with the scvs weblog?

Do you feel a sense of belonging with the group? Do you feel that you have had some impact on the blog? Do you feel that it addressed your needs or gave you support? Have you developed a relationship with some or all of the people involved?

If you can answer yes to thses four questions , then at least in your eyes, this is a community, or at least feels like one.

Legal advice on blogging

Just found this information on the legal issues related to blogging and thought they might be worthwhile reading. Unfortunatly they are geared towards America but the general information is still informative
EFF: Legal Guide For Bloggers
How to Blog Safely

One Mug to rule them all

Well after all the hard work that Darren has been putting into his online journal of the Manchester CTA (Community Transport Association) I thought it only fitting that we put a photo up on the blog.

So folks what do you think of his mug?

By the way, for those people who freely use any spare mugs in the kitchen at SCVS, please have a GOOD look at this mug, it is Darren's, Please do not touch, kidnap or otherwise seperate it from Darren, this mug was destined for him.

Getting your community group on the web

For all you community groups....

If you are in any way interested in the internet then you may well at some point of had a webpage for yourself. This page might of had a small amount on information about yourself, and then you probably forgot all about it, as lets face it, nobody probably read it.

This can change when it is a website for a community group. Straight away you have a larger user base of interested people, so it makes the effort of having a site more worthwhile. Then there is the idea of having a web presence, as so many groups and organisations now have. The site does not have to be regularly updated either, it can just be one or two pages, giving information to those interested (Aims & Objectives, Mission statement, Policies, Committee Members, etc.). It can also be a whole lot more.

But how do you get your group onto the internet, there are so many different web hosting providers out there for personal use, some of which are free.

But do you really want your community group to have a web address of (for example)
www.(provider).com/homepages/yourorganisationhere we can see how that would be a little bit offputting to the potential user of your site. And then the site (because it is free) will probably be supported by advertising (sometimes with those dreaded 'pop-up' windows).

This is where SCVS has come to the rescue. There is a funding information sheet on ICT and the Internet that is available from the Development Team at SCVS which gives information about orgaisations which offers free webspace to community groups. So why not click on the link for the SCVS website on the side of this page or email me at gareth_roberts@scvs.org.uk and I will be more than willing to forward you the information. You will still need to do some research yourself, deciding which provider is the best for your group but at least some of the leg work had been done for you.

Community Involvement (or lack of)

You sitting in an office / community centre / youth club / (Insert buidling of your choice) and there are those big dustballs (from the cowboy films) rolling past, and you can hear the faint sound of the wind blowing through the empty building.
Does this scene seem in any way familiar?
So why is it that people are not showing up?
Did you leaflet the community?Did you advertise it on the radio/newspaper/tv? Did you send out letters/emails? These are the easy questions that almost every worker can answer 'Yes' too. But lets look a little bit deeper into the problem.

Does the community feel unwelcome? If so then why? Where is the venue? At what time is the meeting/event? What are transport links like? What about provision of child and elder care (and other carers)?

We all recognise that physical communities are often very territorial and especially on a sub ward level. the area where I live recognise the fact that there are 5 villages. These areas do not mix that often.

As far as people feeling unwelcome at a venue, is it something more personal? Do you let your feelings get in the way of your professional role? Sometimes it is difficult to seperate the two? But as a community worker, we are suppose to be there for the whole community not just the ones that we are more comfortable with, otherwise we are becoming one of the very barriers that we are trying to break down.

So the above are some questions that are a little bit harder to answer. However there can be other reasons as well why the office is empty and it seems that nobody uses the facilites.

How much outreach work does your organisation do? How many community groups do you go out to meet in their own settings? Instead of making them come to you, there is an old saying about a mountain and a certain Islamic prophet. Your organisation might work best when it out in the community as opposed to being stuck in an office.

So yes it could well be that there are dust balls rolling around the office, but there could still be good work being done in the community.

The Risca Legend's Visit to Manchester

From Monday evening to Friday Darren will be in Manchester attending the Community Transport Association Conference. Darren says:

"I know what you are all thinking, why doesnt my job allow for me to go to something as fun, exciting and informative as a week finding out about buses? But as the fortunate one who is going, I feel it is my duty to keep you up to date with events at the conference, about lving in a travel inn in an alan partridge way and my general experience at the biggest and most prestigious community transport event of the year.

So to keep you informed, I will give a daily update via the comments page in this blog of what I have learnt, what has impressed me, what has made me laugh and what has made me think that maybe community transport is not for me afterall. Wireless internet allowing, I will give you a blow by blow attempt of my week".

Tune in next week to find out about what you are missing out on.