The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation

Description

This ambitious volume is smoothly written enough that it can be seamlessly read in a long session. The role in question might be likened to Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark". The book is part case study that benefits from hindsight and also a set of templates for strategic plans, teams and values built on trust. The model chosen for the latter distinguishes types of groups, risks and scalability. For example, there is something that keeps volunteers loyal through adversities, if not only a ballad.

Communities have notoriously been criticized for decision-making capabilities due to red-tape or lack of communication, so these layers are addressed by recommendations. The ability of the internet to handle distribution is exploited for advantage. Readers are given tools to create groups that would be self-correcting and -replicating, a sort of penguin meets guerrilla. The amount of planning is a difference from Agile, though there may be realtime interpretations that are hybrid.

In general, the tone is optimistic and the details are a good introduction to leadership and management. There are further details that will depend upon the specific social and organizational contexts. Each decade has had its successes and open-source's economic and disaster-recovery benefits have been timely. Not to be a "negativabunny" (p279), but it would be good to avoid a scorched-cyberspace for a few more decades. Meritocracy is an ideal that has had historical difficulties. The sections on government are of interest; where in the past older officials may have been parental, the younger are geared to seek effectiveness and avoid wrecklessness. Also the psychology of burnout is significant since new responsibilities often push past limits immediately. Ultimately, the economics may determine sustainability and, if pure donorship is not always available, there has to be a paying gig in the wings; workflow from SaaS and cluod are discussed. There is testing-related instruciton for usability. Though a lot of web2.0 implementations are offered, socnets and mobile are not as explicit. There is more at www.artofcommunityonline.org. Thanks.

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