This presentation offers an introduction to building open, neutral spaces for collaborative communities to create new conversations in the Civic Space. The material includes an overview of real examples of community and social media use. Written by Betsey Merkel, Co-Founder and Director, The Institute for Open Economic Networks, Dec 2008. Visit the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) at http://www.i-open.org

1. Building Community in the Civic Space
Revitalizing communities in America.
December 2008
The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open)

2. This material is copyright I-Open and distributed
under a Creative Commons 3.0 attribution license. That means you
are free to modify, copy and use this material for commercial
purposes provided that you attribute it as follows:
Source: prepared by I-Open
Distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.
You can learn more about Creative Commons license at
www.creativecommons.org

3. ‣ Civic Spaces & Collaborative Communities
‣ Web 2.0
‣ Your Next Steps

4. ‣ Your First Step: Creating Civic Spaces for
Collaborative Communities
‣ What is the Civic Space?
‣ Why is the Civic Space important?
‣ Why collaborate in the Civic Space?

5. We begin by practicing new behaviors in the
Civic Space to facilitate collaboration.
Text

6. I-Open develops Civic Spaces to create new habits
of thinking and acting together.
This is the first step in creating Collaborative
Communities.

7. • What does community mean to you?

8. Collaborative Communities are
both face to face...
February 7, 2008 Midtown Brews with Meet The Bloggers: Ohio’s
Energy Portfolio: Economic Development in Your Backyard
June 10, 2008 Midtown Brews with Meet The Bloggers: The
Youngstown Business Incubator: A Global Model of Quality,
Connected Business Innovation

9. ...and Collaborative Communities are
also online.
I-Open builds collaborative communities online using an integrated Web 2.0 tool set provided by
Near-Time, a firm located in Raleigh, N.C.

10. Northeast Ohio is home to several national models of
online Collaborative Communities.
REALNEO (above) and the Lakewood Observer (right)

11. • What face to face and online communities
are you active in or know about?

12. Collaborative Communities can be both regional...
Examples of I-Open Collaborative Communities
based in Northeast Ohio.

13. ...and Collaborative Communities can be national.
I-Open Collaborative Communities launched at national gatherings connect participants
once they return home.

14. Examples of I-Open Education
I-Open’s Learning Links
citizen stories
skills training
Collaborative Midtown Brews
technology, creative and
energy
Communities
Map the Mess
political transparency
based in
Northeast Ohio. Linked Communities
Open Conversations
community priorities
Defrag
creative digital media
WENetwork
women and leadership
enterprise
Democracy in Action
citizen-government
networks
World of Work
workforce development

15. What do collaborative
communities offer?
• Trust building
• Networks to break down barriers
• A new generation of cross disciplinary
learning skills
• Opportunities for project building or
enterprise collaboration using Strategic Doing
• They are fun, social, and convivial

16. • Name some benefits you have experienced
from participating in collaborative
communities.

17. ‣ Creating Civic Spaces for Collaborative
Communities
‣ Web 2.0
‣ Your Next Steps

18. Social Media tools expand online Collaborative Communities
quickly to build global networks and share and receive information
instantly...

19. Social Media tools help our conversations to
stay organized and pro-active by...
• Creating accountability to an unseen global
audience
• Iterating fast moving comparisons
• With purposeful conversations
• Co-created by community interests
• Designed to focus on critical aspects

20. For example, the I-Open Education Internet Television
channel offers access to anyone...
• Participate regardless of location
• Engage in multi-task learning by
1. chatting live with the class and others online
2. review archived sessions at your convenience
3. share information with colleagues

21. I-Open Education Internet Television channel
Creative
Brand
Live Show
Live Chat
Archived
sessions
Share

22. • What have you learned from using the
Internet?

23. ‣ Creating Civic Spaces for Collaborative
Communities
‣ Web 2.0
‣ Your Next Steps

24. Some Next Steps to
consider...
• Join the I-Open Education online community
• Begin to think about building enterprise
collaboration with a new perspective from
the details you will learn Thur and Fri about
networks, civility and Strategic Doing.

25. Collaborative Communities to explore
REALNEO http://realneo.us/
Lakewood Observer http://lakewoodobserver.com/
WIRED-Nation http://wired-nation.net/wiki
Midtown Brews http://midtownbrews.net
Women’s Enterprise Network
http://womensenterprisenetwork.net

26. New terms of interest
• Networks
• Strategic Doing
• Collaborative Leadership
• Web 2.0
• Collaborative Communities
• Enterprise Collaboration

27. Important lessons learned from the Open
Source Software Industry:
• The overall evolutionary dynamic is
reinvention
• Reinvention enables continuous
improvement
• Communities co-evolve
• The success of one depends on the success
of the other
• From “Community Development and Interaction in Open Source Software Development Projects and
Beyond,” Walt Scacchi, Institute for Software Research and Laboratory for Computer Game Culture
and Technology, School of Information and Computer Science, University of California Irvine.

28. Thank you
To learn more, send your contact
information to:
http://www.I-Open.org
E-mail: info@i-open.org