The header above is the original 2018 site banner — its links are part of the picture. To move around this archive, use the “Site navigation” menu just below, or the “Start here” links at the top of the page. The photos for the guide will be re-added over time.
Community as Family (How It Works)
Recovered from the Internet Archive capture of 15 March 2018. Images not recovered: 3.
Core Community is Exactly Like Family
image: Picture
The great potential of One Social Degree is so simple you might overlook it - thinkers missed it for centuries. But the power of cooperation is startling, substantial and is
about to change how our community understands how we can work together
benefiting each other in inspiring ways. At any given restaurant, coffee shop, bar or social event (wherever we are), if I don't know you, I probably know someone that does know you. This is a social separation of one degree (for more on this concept click here).
What this means is, if I tell you - someone I know - about something valuable (like the Guide or a business in it), this means you're likely to tell another that I don't know, who is likely to tell another that neither of us knows, etc. and on and on and on. And so word spreads from us in direct contact to the 1st social degree, then by others to the 2nd degree and so on. The power is this: Word spreads very quickly, and it's highly effective. Word of our community gets out collectively, dollars come in (and stay in).
One more piece to this equation will blow your mind: The size of a network equals the square of the number of participants in it. So we begin to get a very clear picture that our community as it already sits is more powerful with a greater reach than any of us have considered or imagined. (A good source for varifying this mathematical equation is here (Video) - at the 12:00 minute mark; for quick context start at the 10:38 mark, but the whole thing is worth your time).
Ready for the Math? There are already over 500 businesses in the Guide - and growing. Every business in the Guide is a locally owned, independent business that reaches on average close to a few hundred people a month. Each business also has about 3-5 people on average working for it (owners included). Assume very conservatively that only 1 person - you, for example - share the Guide with your community, and no one else. Well, 500 businesses, with only 1 participant each, is a massive network, (500 people squared = 250,000 people) that's 25% bigger than the whole population of Tacoma !! This is pretty simple math, and our world's greatest thinkers are not at all shy about sharing these things publicly. (See below: Deeper into Degrees).
By Spring, news of the Guide will be all over Tacoma - flyers, posters, post cards and social media will be everywhere. The first of us contributing to the Guide will constitute the Community Core, and we will build from there.
Having your business here - in a thoughtful, free, ever-growing Guide that benefits everybody, well it's going to benefit you. Others that visit the site looking for things in your field will find only so many other local businesses in your field; therefore, if someone is checking out Valhalla, for example, they'll see only 2 other local coffee roasters here, so visitors will have the chance to learn of Bluebeard and Madrona, too. The same is true for you in your field - people will discover you even if they've never heard of you.
And like anything else, the community family will share it like any other good thing with other family (community) members; news will travel quickly, the Guide will grow and by Summer we'll have an interesting resource worthy of our community. All Summer the Guide will be out in the broader South Sound area, being shared on Facebook, Twitter and in other Social media. Visitors all over will be introduced to us (millions pass by i5 every year) and outsiders will spend money in our local economy.
What this means is, if I tell you - someone I know - about something valuable (like the Guide or a business in it), this means you're likely to tell another that I don't know, who is likely to tell another that neither of us knows, etc. and on and on and on. And so word spreads from us in direct contact to the 1st social degree, then by others to the 2nd degree and so on. The power is this: Word spreads very quickly, and it's highly effective. Word of our community gets out collectively, dollars come in (and stay in).
One more piece to this equation will blow your mind: The size of a network equals the square of the number of participants in it. So we begin to get a very clear picture that our community as it already sits is more powerful with a greater reach than any of us have considered or imagined. (A good source for varifying this mathematical equation is here (Video) - at the 12:00 minute mark; for quick context start at the 10:38 mark, but the whole thing is worth your time).
Ready for the Math? There are already over 500 businesses in the Guide - and growing. Every business in the Guide is a locally owned, independent business that reaches on average close to a few hundred people a month. Each business also has about 3-5 people on average working for it (owners included). Assume very conservatively that only 1 person - you, for example - share the Guide with your community, and no one else. Well, 500 businesses, with only 1 participant each, is a massive network, (500 people squared = 250,000 people) that's 25% bigger than the whole population of Tacoma !! This is pretty simple math, and our world's greatest thinkers are not at all shy about sharing these things publicly. (See below: Deeper into Degrees).
By Spring, news of the Guide will be all over Tacoma - flyers, posters, post cards and social media will be everywhere. The first of us contributing to the Guide will constitute the Community Core, and we will build from there.
Having your business here - in a thoughtful, free, ever-growing Guide that benefits everybody, well it's going to benefit you. Others that visit the site looking for things in your field will find only so many other local businesses in your field; therefore, if someone is checking out Valhalla, for example, they'll see only 2 other local coffee roasters here, so visitors will have the chance to learn of Bluebeard and Madrona, too. The same is true for you in your field - people will discover you even if they've never heard of you.
And like anything else, the community family will share it like any other good thing with other family (community) members; news will travel quickly, the Guide will grow and by Summer we'll have an interesting resource worthy of our community. All Summer the Guide will be out in the broader South Sound area, being shared on Facebook, Twitter and in other Social media. Visitors all over will be introduced to us (millions pass by i5 every year) and outsiders will spend money in our local economy.
|
To include yourself in the Guide, download the file below, fill it out and get it to me.
image: pdf.png
|
| ||||
Deeper into Degrees (More on the Math, in Real Numbers)
The great potential of One Social Degree is so simple you might overlook it - thinkers missed it for centuries. But the power of cooperation, in view of the principle of degrees, is startling, substantial and is about to change how our community understands how we can work together benefiting each other in inspiring ways. At any given restaurant, coffee shop, bar or social event (wherever we are), if I don't know you, I probably know someone that does know you. This is a social separation of one degree (for more on this concept click here).
What this means is, if I tell you - someone I know - about something valuable (like the Guide), this means you're likely to tell another that I don't know, who is likely to tell another that neither of us knows, etc. and on and on and on. And so word spreads from us in direct contact to the 1st social degree, then by others to the 2nd degree and so on. The power is this: Word spreads very quickly, and it's highly effective. Word of our community gets out, dollars come in (and stay in).
One more piece to this equation will blow your mind: The size of a network equals the square of the number of participants in it. So we begin to get a very clear picture that our community as it already sits is more powerful with a greater reach than any of us have considered or imagined. (A good source for varifying this mathematical equation is here (Video) - at the 12:00 minute mark; for quick context start at the 10:38 mark, but the whole thing is worth your time).
Ready for the Math? There are already over 500 businesses in the Guide - and growing. Every business in the Guide is a locally owned, independent business that reaches on average close to a few hundred people a month. Each business also has about 3-5 people on average working for it (owners included). Assume very conservatively that only 1 person - you, for example - share the Guide with your community, and no one else. Well, 500 businesses, with only 1 participant each, is a massive network, (500 people squared = 250,000 people) that's 25% bigger than the whole population of Tacoma !! This is pretty simple math, and our world's greatest thinkers are not at all shy about sharing these things publicly (see below).
Little Effort, Great Reward
Relatively little effort put forth by members of a community can result in surprising good, substantial benefit. And it can be fun, too. A recent example of this in our own community was the Lumins Festivus that happened downtown Saturday, 22 September, 2012, and in 2013 on Sept 28. With a team core of only 8 individuals - with only 22 days of preparation time and no experience amongst us of any kind in this field, we coordinated with dozens of like-minded people that were only able to contribute very little because of the time constraints. Using what we call the 'just push it forward method,' we pulled this off (Video).
Now imagine an experienced, professional community of 500+ small businesses strong, acting together in their specialized elements, working through this Guide to present themselves, our neighbors and those we admire throughout our community to outsiders visiting and integrating into our local landscape: As a Community Core, presenting the better experiences available throughout our neighborhoods, we are a very strong team (I think you get the picture). Read on the Super Community Can-Jar for thoughts on the potential accomplishment of small numbers of people contributing from their 'Energetic Surplus.'
Words of Others: Collaboration and the Biggest Picture (Think Global - It Works)
~ How Social Media Can Make History (Video)
For a quick look, start at 10:38, and pay close attention right at the 12:00 minute mark: 'The size of the network is the square of the number of participants.' This is geek-speak for, '100 people participating = a 10,000 people group; 500 = 250,000.
~ How cognitive surplus will change the world (Video)
I call Clay's 'cognitive surplus' our 'Energetic Surplus,' and the basics of what presents here I have called 'The (Community) Super Can-Jar' - it's what a community can do if they a) desire it and b) are willing to put the effort in to see it to fruition.
~ Howard Rheingold on Collaboration (Video)
Howard wrote 'Smart Mobs,' and speaks of an emergent understanding of a way to work together socially that is 'spread across a number of disciplines involving cooperation, collective action and complexities of inter-dependency.' His reasoning encompasses as well the narrower, competitive, self-interested mode of big businesses like IBM, and what they've learned.
I personally believe that our community can do better than the cold blooded, dog eat dog monsters of the big-corporate machine, but even these animals understand that certain kinds of sharing are in their general self interests and adds up to profit. Reasoning so, sharing among ourselves will benefit and profit our community, too. This kind of sharing is in the better interest of a) all of us and b) every single one of us individually as well - business by business and person by person; that's you, me and everybody else. So I hope even the oldest and most cynical among you perceive the value of this project - it's real, it's on-going, it's of a new generation and it's going to work.
What this means is, if I tell you - someone I know - about something valuable (like the Guide), this means you're likely to tell another that I don't know, who is likely to tell another that neither of us knows, etc. and on and on and on. And so word spreads from us in direct contact to the 1st social degree, then by others to the 2nd degree and so on. The power is this: Word spreads very quickly, and it's highly effective. Word of our community gets out, dollars come in (and stay in).
One more piece to this equation will blow your mind: The size of a network equals the square of the number of participants in it. So we begin to get a very clear picture that our community as it already sits is more powerful with a greater reach than any of us have considered or imagined. (A good source for varifying this mathematical equation is here (Video) - at the 12:00 minute mark; for quick context start at the 10:38 mark, but the whole thing is worth your time).
Ready for the Math? There are already over 500 businesses in the Guide - and growing. Every business in the Guide is a locally owned, independent business that reaches on average close to a few hundred people a month. Each business also has about 3-5 people on average working for it (owners included). Assume very conservatively that only 1 person - you, for example - share the Guide with your community, and no one else. Well, 500 businesses, with only 1 participant each, is a massive network, (500 people squared = 250,000 people) that's 25% bigger than the whole population of Tacoma !! This is pretty simple math, and our world's greatest thinkers are not at all shy about sharing these things publicly (see below).
Little Effort, Great Reward
Relatively little effort put forth by members of a community can result in surprising good, substantial benefit. And it can be fun, too. A recent example of this in our own community was the Lumins Festivus that happened downtown Saturday, 22 September, 2012, and in 2013 on Sept 28. With a team core of only 8 individuals - with only 22 days of preparation time and no experience amongst us of any kind in this field, we coordinated with dozens of like-minded people that were only able to contribute very little because of the time constraints. Using what we call the 'just push it forward method,' we pulled this off (Video).
Now imagine an experienced, professional community of 500+ small businesses strong, acting together in their specialized elements, working through this Guide to present themselves, our neighbors and those we admire throughout our community to outsiders visiting and integrating into our local landscape: As a Community Core, presenting the better experiences available throughout our neighborhoods, we are a very strong team (I think you get the picture). Read on the Super Community Can-Jar for thoughts on the potential accomplishment of small numbers of people contributing from their 'Energetic Surplus.'
Words of Others: Collaboration and the Biggest Picture (Think Global - It Works)
~ How Social Media Can Make History (Video)
For a quick look, start at 10:38, and pay close attention right at the 12:00 minute mark: 'The size of the network is the square of the number of participants.' This is geek-speak for, '100 people participating = a 10,000 people group; 500 = 250,000.
~ How cognitive surplus will change the world (Video)
I call Clay's 'cognitive surplus' our 'Energetic Surplus,' and the basics of what presents here I have called 'The (Community) Super Can-Jar' - it's what a community can do if they a) desire it and b) are willing to put the effort in to see it to fruition.
~ Howard Rheingold on Collaboration (Video)
Howard wrote 'Smart Mobs,' and speaks of an emergent understanding of a way to work together socially that is 'spread across a number of disciplines involving cooperation, collective action and complexities of inter-dependency.' His reasoning encompasses as well the narrower, competitive, self-interested mode of big businesses like IBM, and what they've learned.
I personally believe that our community can do better than the cold blooded, dog eat dog monsters of the big-corporate machine, but even these animals understand that certain kinds of sharing are in their general self interests and adds up to profit. Reasoning so, sharing among ourselves will benefit and profit our community, too. This kind of sharing is in the better interest of a) all of us and b) every single one of us individually as well - business by business and person by person; that's you, me and everybody else. So I hope even the oldest and most cynical among you perceive the value of this project - it's real, it's on-going, it's of a new generation and it's going to work.
|
|
image: Picture
|