Community

Question # 1

What does community mean?

User communities are organizations composed primarily of users working collaboratively, voluntarily, and with minimal oversight to freely and openly develop and exchange knowledge in an area of common interest around an artifact. The artifact may be a design, physical object, product, good, or service.

User communities can also play a role in spurring and supporting the creation of new firms.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-126_f6decc9c-b44d-4f45-8796-abafd4c71018.pdf

involves improvement of the well-being of people through joint effort and with regards to goals

Community means caring about our work, our colleagues, and our place in the world, geographic and otherwise, and in turn being inspired by this caring.

Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.

Community is people’s sense of belonging to and caring for something larger than themselves.

Community is the social glue that binds us together for the greater good.

Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.

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behavior.

Question # 2

Why do people participate in a community?

People may participate in a user community because they want to learn more about a purpose, product or service that the community is focused on.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-126_f6decc9c-b44d-4f45-8796-abafd4c71018.pdf

Participating may allow an individual a means for fulfilling a need for creative, challenging, and enjoyable work.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle

User communities allow a person to find like-minded people that share a common interest in a purpose, product or service that the community focuses on.

For some, this generates a sense of belonging that leads to continued active participation in the community.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-126_f6decc9c-b44d-4f45-8796-abafd4c71018.pdf

Belief in the mission of the user community is a frequently cited reason for participation, although this is a much stronger motivation for individuals who participate frequently than individuals who participate occasionally.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-126_f6decc9c-b44d-4f45-8796-abafd4c71018.pdf

Status within a community can serve as an extrinsic motivator.

For example, scores documenting participation levels or the usefulness of answers to others may be used as status indicators.

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-126_f6decc9c-b44d-4f45-8796-abafd4c71018.pdf

Question # 3

What are examples of community platforms?

https://www.meetup.com/ is a platform for finding and building local communities.

People use Meetup to meet new people, learn new things, find support, get out of their comfort zones and pursue their passions – together.

https://www.smule.com/ is a global community of music lovers where millions of people across the world come together to share their passion for music, make new friends, cheer each other on, and simply have fun.

The purpose of https://eduki.com/ is to become a community for teachers and help shape the future of education.

https://crowdsource.google.com/ is a fun, easy way for people to contribute to the building blocks of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Answers from contributors are used in Machine Learning based products - making them work well for the diversity of global population

https://bikeable.ch/ is a tool for users and authorities of cycling infrastructure to make riding a bike safer and more attractive.

This is how it works: A user takes a photo of a place to be improved or a good example and uploads the spot with his title and comment. The spot is then displayed on the map and shown in the list.

Other users can put emphasis on spots with their votes and can participate in finding solutions in the discussion. Cities, engineering companies and political interest groups as well as journalists can stay up to date about the problems and preferences of the local bike community.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ is a platform created by teachers, for teachers to access the community, content, and tools they need to teach at their best.

The educator community use https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ to save time, support students, and learn from each other.

Question

What can people do to build and strengthen community?

A community is established when people, who feel part of the community, reach out to each other – and everyone benefits from it.

Inspired by: Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.

Nurture positive relationships between you and other members of the community you are a part of.

Meet up to reflect with and learn from others, for example during a walk and talk or over lunch, can help build community.

Inspired by: Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.

Encourage people to use strengths they have.

Develop a vision of the future you want

Use a process that helps you to achieve your goals

The way to start rebuilding community is to stop tolerating obscene compensation packages for CEOs.

Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.

Most sustainable improvements in community occur when citizens discover their own power to act, when citizens stop waiting for professionals or elected leadership to do something, and decide they can reclaim what they have delegated to others.

Henry Mintzberg: Rebuilding companies as communities. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009.