This note is thinking-in-progress on how to bring together ideas about civil society, communities, networks, mapping, operating systems, platforms and canvases.
For the purpose of this note: Platforms are frameworks for local communities and wider networks that join up maps, communication and organising methods to make it easier to find people and information, communicate and collaborate.
Why we need community and network platforms
In theory we have access to enormous amounts of information, and a host of digital tools, but it can demand a lot of skill to find what you need, and to use tools to best effect. It's too complex - and many people are excluded.
Platforms like Facebook do provide integrated sets of tools, but there are downsides. People may be wary about the way that their data is used, and elements of these platforms may operate as closed systems which make it difficult to share and link up content. The like and sharing tools are useful - but designed to get as much information as possible from users, so this data can be used for targeted advertising. That affects the user experience and way the systems operate.
However, we generally do have to go where people are - rather than try and get people on to new systems. On that basis, the challenge in any community or network is to work with tools people are already using, offer others as alternatives or complements, and join up the way the tools operate and content flows. Platforms can then be used more readily both by individuals and by community and network connectors to signpost information and opportunities, and help build new collaborations.
Platforms at different levels
We can consider platforms at different levels for civil society:
Localities, where there may already be elements of a platform in the form of community news and information sites,“tech for good” support for social action, and civil society organisations blending traditional organising methods with digital technology. Cassie Robinson has explored Community As Platform.
Networks - whether formal or informal - which are likely to be using digital methods centrally, and may be interested in supporting more peer-to-peer connecting and collaboration. June Holley has described what communication tools may be neededfor a network ecosystem.
We need new social infrastructureat all levels for the digital age, to complement older social infrastructure of public gathering places, community centres, libraries, pubs and cafes ... and we need civic operating systemsto ensure new tools and platforms join up. The Networked City blog posts below expand on these ideas.
Mapping as described hereis fundamental to the development of platforms, because it can show the existing social infrastructure and the ways that people and organisations may be connecting and collaborating. However, mapping alone will not create a platform.
Thinking here is based on resources and blog posts listed at the end.
What a platform can offer
Community and network collaboration platforms bring together maps and communication methods to enable people to do some or all of these things:
Find people, organisations, projects
Discover news, events, activities
Join in conversations
Cooperate, collaborate, or campaign more effectively
Enhance the profile and effectiveness of groups and organisations that may be involved
Support internal group or organisational activities.
While some all of these activities may already be available in a locality or network, the aim in developing a platform is to make it easier to use different tools by joining them up, and also providing a system within which community connectors and network weavers can operate.
What are the component tools
The platform to do this could be created by bringing together a mix of existing tools, and adding new ones. For example:
Directories and maps showing who's who, where things are, how people and organisations connect around interests, needs and offers
Existing and new communication methods
People who act as facilitators, connectors and managers of the systems
Ways to learn together and support people, groups and organisations
See Platform tools matrixfor a detailed analysis of platform activities and tools to support these.
Vision for a Hub and platform
Here's the vision for a Hub and Platform. This concept was initially developed for a local programme where there are:
a well-resource local community organisation that could host the Hub
projects under development to promote and support connections in the community
other elements including plans for local discovery trails, events, mapping
Why we need community and network platforms
Platforms at different levels
What a platform can offer
What are the component tools