This talk will explore mistakes everyone makes when trying to bring one or more communities together. Instead of starting from scratch, and creating a new community for every single cause, this talk will explore how existing communities can be brought together, if there is room for cooperation between projects and if the founders are ready to set their egos aside. It be based on the case study of the Social-Digital Innovation Initiative, which aims at bringing social good and tech together, also through communities.
Bringing communities together worldwide is hard, and it's especially hard to bring two completely different communities together. We at the Social-Digital Innovation Initiative are doing it step by step, country by country, region by region, trying to build bridges between people trying to solve social problems (i.e. social entrepreneurs - the word social doesn't refer to social networks here) and those who know how tech could help. All this happens offline at barcamps and online, on our discourse. But is this really the most efficient way? Do you always have to set up a new community for a cause or a project? Or is it inevitable because people need to feel like they belong - and projects need to measure their impact? What if we stopped trying to set up communities for each and every little project, put the founders' egos aside and teamed up? Could we bring existing communities together cooperatively and help them cross-pollinate?
Speakers: Regina M. Sipos