Community values on-line

Building any community requires tenacity, and effort, not by one person, not by a leadership team, but from within the community itself.

The American Center for Community Change comments on community values thus:-

... that we are all connected to each other and interdependent, that the [American] community includes everyone and leaves no one behind, that we care for each other and believe in shared responsibility and shared sacrifice, that we know everyone has inherent value and worth in the [American] story ...

and there are some important points in this definition particularly online.

Interdependence

Interdependence is a mature state of human interaction, at birth we are dependant, entirely, on the support of others, as we grow we tend to seek independence from others and only as we become social, integral, adult, skilled people can we open the door to the possibility of interdependence, a recognition that in a world of equals our contribution is inter-dependant on others if it is to create value. We can’t force our contribution on others, they have a choice to reject it, nor can we demand their support, they have a choice to withhold it.

Interdependence, as a key factor in community values, and I believe that it is, requires a community to have sufficient mature, open, sharing, individuals who work with anyone in the community (randomly), supportively for others. Open, Random, and Supportive people (it's a state of mind not a set of behaviours) are critical to interdependance, and so critical to community values.

On-line

On-Line Interdependence can alo be considered special form of interconnectedness (see the Mitch Joel Interview here > ) that happens on-line. Interconnectedness is not about being connected, but rather being connected and engaged. The special form of interdependent interconnectedness happens when the connections transcend platform but take place on them and off-line.  Communities will always have some level of interconnectedness between members and the best communities use on-line, in the mix of connectedness, as a binding force for the communications structure of the community.

Community values are passed on too, they live in the way the  community works as a whole and in the behaviour of the interconnected individuals. It's probably also true to say that they express themselves in an interdependent way, it's not enough for values to be communicated, but they have to be lived, by everyone in a common way. Being on-line helps that though, as the values can be communicated easily to many and examples and behaviours circulated and seen.

In a Village community the behaviour of one person is seen by a few and may contribute or detract, but it also passes quickly. For those who don't see the behaviour directly there's only hearsay to go on. Bad stuff fades quickly and good stuff takes on the power of legend. On-line behaviour is enduring, so communities can see it, communicate it and adapt, either to adopt or eject that expression of value. The bad is enduring, but it's often not as bad as memories made it and the good is revisit-able too,so it  often doesn't develop the same legendary status as a result. I talked about this in "The impact on community of an unfailing memory."

I've also talked about the critical factors for Building Community in the Societal Web, these remin true even when considering the behavioural and value based aspects here. Values provide a framework in which the practical aspects can be seen and identified. Values allow the endurance of on-line to support community rather than pull it apart.

So, in the context of the todays world, community values are on-line as well as embedded in the people of the community, your communities will be talking about their values and communicating them everywhere, and in an alternative expression of the title its fair to say also that community does indeed value (being) on-line.

Tagged as: Community, Interdependence, Society, Values