From: SMcClenahan@comcast.net
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 13:23:13 MDT
> > http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
>
> This is a really important document for anyone interested in designing
> online communities.
This thread is rather off-topic, possibly belonging in the "meta" category.
We can abstract the concept of designing online communities to simply designing
a community. I think it is a fallacy that any sort of community is self-
organizing with every member contributing and extracting an equal amount of
experience. Communities have leaders that the other people are motivated to be
led by in one way or another. There are different strategies for leadership,
and even more books written about them.
Most people who have studied or read up on leadership in business and politics
probably have learnt one strategy from one authority, and failed. To those
people and the people who have not studied leadership, there is a cynicism
about whether any author can come up with a strategy for leadership. But I do
believe there is a way, and that leadership strategy can be used by anyone to
build a community, online or not.
At this moment, I'm listening to Stephen Covey's "Beyond the 7 Habits". He has
written a slew of books under the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
branding, and I would recommend reading one to anyone, especially if you're a
leader, manager, or even a cynic.
http://shopping.franklincovey.com/html/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=16169
Remember, Franklin-Covey is much more than a business that makes time planners.
In summary, if you want to build an (online) community, become an (online)
leader. IMHO, Eliezer gets a 8/10 ranking from me so far :-)
cheers,
Simon
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