But I’ve been wondering about the Facebook phenomenon and the particular type of online interaction it breeds. Only slightly more than a popularity contest I rather thought Facebook dilutes community and have recently come across some interesting action focused online social networking sites that create space not just for amassing friends but building community – communities of social action.

Idealist.com

“Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.”

Idealist has always been an excellent place to, as they describe it, exchange resources and ideas but they have also recently reinvented themselves and watching this unfold was fascinating. The essence of their reinvention is to building a global network to serve and support those who want to make the world a better place. Lofty indeed but it was the way in which they went about it that particularly struck me. Essentially they posed a question – how can we better facilitate the creation of community online and offline – and invited collaboration in making this a reality.

They do a much better job than I at describing their goals. Check them out for the full scoop.

Tyze.com

Tyze networks are personal support networks that facilitate communication and organization. A Tyze network is something that a son or daughter might set up for their parent with Alzheimer’s in order to support, share and coordinate their care with friends, family and health care providers. I have recently started some work with Tyze and it’s through this connection that I’ve become more interested in action based and supportive online communities. Tyze understands that belonging to a social network has tangible benefits, including improved health and their network model facilitates this. They have some great articles on their site.

These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m excited by the possibility that online social networking will evolve and mature and maybe, just maybe even Facebook will be good for our health.

Here are some ideas from everywhere. Here is one way that we try to build community. Have fun with it!

Funnily enough, Alexandra Samuel is scared of robots and four other kinds of technology, including the kind that allows cars to parallel park themselves...

1. Who are you?

I’m a social media geek, entrepreneur, and working parent. I’m the Director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University, which is a new applied research centre that helps BC businesses tap the knowledge, skills and creativity of ECUAD’s faculty and students. I’m also the founder and principal of Social Signal, one of the world’s first social media agency.

2. What do you do for fun?

I make stuff. Sometimes I make stuff online (online communities, blogs, campaigns, videos). Sometimes I use the Internet to help me make stuff offline — like looking at mermaid pictures so I can sew a mermaid swimsuit for my daughter. Sometimes I make stuff without using the Internet at all (tonight I made fresh pasta!) but to be honest, that hardly ever happens anymore.

3. What is your favourite community and why?

The nonprofit technology community — which often refers to itself as NPTech. There’s no one site, event, or center for that community, but it has on- and offline gatherings all the time. The first nptech gathering I attended was the Aspiration nonprofit developers camp, and I had this experience of feeling like, oh, HERE are my people! Since then I’ve had that same experience in working with TechSoup to build NetSquared.org, in connecting with the Web of Change community, in attending NTEN’s nonprofit tech conference, and in connecting with all sorts of social change/nonprofit technologists. What I love about these folks is that we all intersect on two planes of geekiness: tech geekiness, and save-the-world geekiness. These are people who can have a serious conversation about the relative pathologies and strengths of the social justice and environmental movements, and then two minutes later switch into a passionate argument about the relative merits of iPhones vs. Android phones. I love them.

4. What is your superpower?

I am a truly amazing parallel parker. We drive a massive boat of a minivan, but I can get it into a parking space with less than a foot of room on each end — often much less. And what is particularly amazing about this skill is that it seems to be completely disconnected from every other aspect of my brain. I’m just an averagely competent driver, and I have pretty much zero spatial perception — I can barely get through a door without bashing into the frame, and in fact I can barely park in a regular parking lot space. But somehow I’m a parallel parking savant. I’ve literally had strangers applaud my parallel parking.

5. How do you use your superpower to build community?

There’s a close relationship between my parallel parking abilities and my sense of connection to our local community. Because I can parallel park in about 10 seconds, I often pop into a store for a quick errand on my way home. So my local shopkeepers see me a lot, and because I’m a friendly person, I tend to use those micro-interactions to exchange a little bit of news along with the purchase of some flowers, or kids shoes, or whatever it is. So much of our lives are lived in interaction with people who aren’t part of our closest circles of family, friends or colleagues, so it’s easy to stay anonymous. But when you choose to abandon that anonymity in favor of a real conversation — about how your respective businesses are doing, what your family is doing for vacation, or even about the party you’re shopping for — it strengthens our community just that little bit. Whenever you have a chance to connect to another person a little more deeply, take it: they’ll feel better, and so will you.

My three favourite things about Alexandra Samuel are…

1. She actually talked to us: when it comes to blogging, creative currency and building online communities, Ms. Samuel and hubby Rob Cottingham are second to none. And don’t even get me started on how her parallel parking story reflects this woman’s true humility and amazing sense of humour/social-justice (our chat about the community-building nature of parallel parking may or may not have taken more than an hour). Needless to say, the Daily Gumboot is lucky to have been graced with her presence!

2. Alex is a bit of a history nerd, too. Sure, her PhD dissertation about “hacktivism” includes some powerfully awesome techno-geekishness, and it also addresses very important, very meaningful big picture socio-political issues and ideas that certainly set standards for internet pirates (and the people trying to stop them) everywhere. See, history does matter! And Alex will tell you that the past – from time to time – dictates our future.

3. Two words – entrepreneurial spirit: This young lady has it in spades, and, let me tell you, it’s always inspiring to meet someone who possesses this element of the human condition in a way the we know will bring innovation, inclusion and downright goodness to all that she touches. And that’s a beautiful thing!

…as told by John Horn…

the .eco discussion made me think about .com.   I thought: ‘how cool would it be if .com was short for .community’.   this seemed likely, given the networked nature of the internet and the clear sociological links between the communal aspects of online life and sitting in the olden days village pub/square, listening and observing your village’s social life.   not to be.   the capitalist machine wins again:  .com stands for .commercial.

commercial evokes images of flickering product advertisements on television, consumers buying their life-goods, and bland glass-enclosed steel and concrete business districts.   this site describes other domain names including: .org (formally restricted to non-profits, now open to any individual or business), .net (formally restricted to technical concerns, namely web-providers), .biz (business only, I think of used-car salesmen when I see it), and a number of others.   the most interesting is the .coop (reserved for coops, although I have never seen one in use).

these are the most popular of the .somethings and all have become available to business.   does this make the fundamental purpose of the internet economic?  to me this is concerning in light of the essentially anti-community, rapine nature of the capitalist corporate model we live in today (maximize returns to shareholders while minimizing and externalizing costs to the surrounding environment).   what if .com stood for .community?  would this affect our perception of our communities, both virtual and real?

tangentially, this means the most popular ‘community-building’ website — FACEBOOK.com — is a business concern.    somehow it produces income for the venture capitalists invested in it.   is this a problem?   consider this: how would you feel if your real-life, community-centres were run as for-profit institutions?   they could never offer the same range of money-losing services: poorly attended yoga classes, low-income mum’s groups, or 2$ drop-in soccer.   every decision made by facebook must be put through a profit filter; does this make them a good forum for community building?   think on it before signing in and posting information about you and your real community.

The online community that's common place.

From the beginning, Facebook hasn’t been about building a website. Facebook is about all of the people using it and all of the things that are important to you. The 250 million of you on Facebook today are what gives Facebook life and makes the site meaningful to everyone using it, so we thank you.

Each person who joins makes Facebook better by adding a presence to the site that friends and family can connect with and feel closer to. For us, growing to 250 million users isn’t just an impressive number; it is a mark of how many personal connections all of you have made, and how far we at Facebook have to go to extend the power of connection to the billions of people around the world.

I played all sorts of games, but the majority of time was spent on Starcraft, Diablo II, Age of Empires and Half Life’s online team component.

The gaming community (and I don’t use the word community lightly) drew me in because of its inclusiveness. Unlike the social exclusion of high school, I felt accepted by my fellow anonymous mystery gamers who had user names like Morlock67 and CommanderCXX8X. We were all connected in our love of play. We chatted, played together, swapped stories of the past (gaming experiences) and joined into groups (clans) adding pals that you wanted to play with in future games. After a while you’d get to know some of the more familiar faces.

Once you jumped into a game, one of the first questions you might be asked (prior even to where are you were on the game’s map) might be where abouts everyone was from? San Diego, Virgina, Korea, Frankfurt might all pop up and in an instant you’d see just how far ranging our online community was.

The community of online gaming was recently chronicled by the London Times, though in a different light. According to a new study quoted in the article, 1 in 10 American kids are pathologically addicted to computer games. These kids display the symptoms of addiction including lying about the number of hours spent online, using games to escape their problems, and becoming irritable and frustrated when not playing games.

The article goes on to declare 90% of the children admitted to playing at one time or another with the average for boys of 16.4 hours spent online a week. The study further connected “pathological addition to video games” with poor school marks and generally with social dysfunction.

While few people would argue that maintaining a work ethic (and some perspective) is important while indulging in any community, I tend to wonder whether many critics of online gaming and its effects on youth give the idea of community in the online gaming world much credence. Is it just wasting time playing games or is there something more at work here?

Often the amount of time kids play online is lamented by critics. While I would certainly not argue that when you start lying about the amount of time you’re online or can’t function in everyday life without playing games is problematic, I think it behooves us to take a step back and sperate the idea of addiction from the connection to community that it is often masked by.

I don’t doubt that sports, theatre, television, or other hobby enthusiasts would feel similar feelings of irritation should they be told constantly that they should not be indulging more than an hour or so a day (if that…) in their chosen hobby and passion. Further, the sportstar would probably be even more non-plussed by the social and communal ramifications of his scaled down participation in the team.

Gaming, and the community it fosters no different than this in many cases. In the end, many critics – and parents – to paraphrase Carmine Falconi of Batman Begins, “will always fear what they don’t understand.” But by not trying to understand the unique online community and its draw to young people, many critics are doing a serious disservice to their children and themselves. The end result can put strains on the partent and child’s relationship, while at the same time disconnecting the teen from one of the few communities they still feel a connection to. Not a good thing for anyone.

Whatever the case. However you do it. The vast majority of people today have some kind of online presence.

Here are some amazing findings relating to our online community’s behaviour:

Twitter is arguably the hottest thing in new media. Usage is up 752% since December 2008. Last month, about 7.7 million people used the professional social networking site LinkedIn (being mindful of these tough economic times, if you haven’t already, get on there and get connected). If Facebook was a country, it would be the eighth largest in the world. Speaking of Facebook, did you know that 20% of Facebook users do not use any privacy settings? And of the users who do use some or all of their privacy setting, last year nearly one-quarter of them still shared their telephone numbers. Nearly 50% of users concerned with divulging their political views still posted them. And nearly 20% of Facebook users employing their “top” privacy setting.

So, would you like a job one day? Or maybe you fancy yourself as the next Gregor, Gordo, Merkel, or Obama. Maybe your family’s opinion of you is the most important thing in the world. Get this. About 25% of graduates from 50 countries say there is something about them online that they do not want their parents or employer to see. And, last year in North America, 83% of employers searched online to learn more about applicants. Of job-applicants who were dismissed in 2008, 43% were turned away because of what recruiters found online.

So that’s the game. But how should we play in it?

For students and young people:

• According to the Vancouver Sun’s Mitch Joel, “the amazing thing about developing your personal brand in a world of online social networks and blogging is that you can home in and really focus on meeting and connecting with those that have shared values.”
• You can be social and professional, people. Trust me, employers, recruiters and friends alike want to make sure you separate work and pleasure. Man, no one wants to check out a Facebook profile that looks like a resume. It’s just not fun. Now, you should still strive to build an amazing social and personal brand by using Facebook. Check this out: http://mashable.com/2009/04/02/facebook-personal-brand/.
• I have a lot of students who are smarter than me. One of them sent me this link to Guy Kawasaki’s blog, which outlines 11 key ways to use LinkedIn to connect with professionals in your field. In these tough economic times, take full advantage of this advice!
• Long story short. Having fun is important. Being social is important. Being classy is important, too. Maybe leave the funnel out of the picture next time, dude.

For teachers and counsellors and parents:

• Teach and encourage your students/kids about the concept of Link Love. Get them to collaborate in a positive way and to connect their online communities. The more things written about people and groups, the more “searchable” they become. And when the “link love” is positive, once a group or individual is found, say, by Google, their online brand will be well-received by its audience.
• One of the reasons Generation Y is incredibly useless when it comes to comprehending the implications of putting career and socially damaging photos and information online is because they have not been taught proper online community etiquette from their parents and role models. I mean, Shaquille O’Neal is a Twitter MVP, but that doesn’t mean he should replace you/us, parents and teachers. We need to get involved, too.
• First step, get your kids/students to explain to you how an online community works!

For employers and recruiters:

• Is Facebook reflective of a new way of doing business? Find another tool that can put a grassroots movement or a cool new product past the tipping point on a global scale in a more collaborative way in a shorter amount of time. There probably isn’t one.
• With our global networks expanding at lightspeed, this figure has never seemed so real. Organizations must be sure to utilize internal and external social networks to attract, engage and retain top talent. Spreading your company’s brand through the word of mouth of an elaborate global network, after all, is pretty powerful stuff.
• Recent findings show that a cross-section of industry experts believe that the majority of employers suggest several HR professionals see the world of work transitioning from a “machine” to a “community” and from a hierarchical system of management to one that is more reflective of a social network. If the medium is the message, what do employers today need to know about Facebook and Web 2.0? Probably lots.

The Globe and Mail recently profiled the, um, online profiles of Gordon Campbell and Carole James. Like much else in British Columbia’s election, neither candidate showcases the stuff of inspiration. When managing one’s online presence, it’s of course important to be sincere, authentic and to have integrity (in the article, the closest Ms. James or Mr. Campbell got to being authentic was when Mr. Campbell chose a quote from the author of Faust, Wolfgang von Goethe, perhaps all too reflective of devilish deals politicians and their ilk have forever made). With so much noisy information clogging the series of pipes and tubes that make up the internet, those of us twitblogging are way through it must also strive to be unique, interesting and entertaining in addition to being sincere. Whether you’re a student, educator, employer, or politician, think about how you`ll be adding value to the experience of those connecting to your online community.

We here are The Gumboot add value by talking about pirates, communal nudity and cutting edge architecture way before fringe media groups like the CBC or up-and-coming politicians like this guy Stephen Harper do. Some people talk about what’s already cool. We make it cool.

And that’s how you manage an online presence. It’s a beautiful thing!

- JCH

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to a couple of new contributors to The Weekly Gumboot.

The first, really, needs no introduction. Her name is Ms. Theodora Lamb (or ‘Theo’, if she likes you). Holding the editorial staff to task (again, my most sincere and profound apologies for not mentioning the positive contributions of people who stand around – or direct traffic – as we push cars towards community) and being generally and wonderfully dramatic, are only a few of the saucy attributes that our red-headed friend brings to the staff at The Weekly Gumboot. Theo even owns gumboots, and has been wearing ‘em proudly way, way, way before they were cool enough to be sold in Kits.

Second on the list is Stewart Burgess. He needs an introduction, as I’m not clever enough to do him justice. “Stewart Burgess” might even be an alias. So, I’ll let him do the talking. Or, better yet, writing. Below is a totally out-of-context excerpt from Stew’s reply following my invitation for him to join the Gumboot‘s writing and ideas team. As you will undoubtedly see, there’s no one-dimensional, dogmatic, top-down editorial line here at Vancouver’s coolest up-and-coming blog. No, my friends. There are at least two sides of this story.

Enjoy!

“I’d love to contribute the occasional article to your on-line publication.

However, I am not entirely supportive of the merville-centric nature of your efforts (got to have a little hometown pride; perhaps it could be called ‘Coffins or Kids?’ or ‘One homeless man’s guide to warm-air grates’ as I am from Victoria). At the same time I do appreciate the plurality inherent to ‘the gumboot’. Equally at home on the farm or the club –at least in Vancouver–these versatile devices have garnered much attention recently (witness the plethora of gumboot-only stores on 4th and Broadway!). I myself own a handsome pair of blue and white yatching boots, which I am told are a cut above the common gumboot, despite the seemingly exact similarities in construction technique and material choice. They are now at your service. Well, the owner is as I am not sure you’d want to share in the intimacies of my various foot fungi/sweat patterns.

Let me know what I need to do.”

Stew. You just need to keep being awesome. We’re lucky to have you aboard and look forward to further anti-Merville, pro-community and lukewarm-gumboot espousals and commentary. Thanks for the memories.

A tres bientot.

- JCH

*(my overly-supportive parents and my friend “The Professor”* who lives at the Commercial/Broadway Sky Train station and yells angrily at people who are checking their email at Blenz or browsing their blackberry in the B-Line bus line up until they let him skim the most recent Gumboot entry).

“John Horn and Vancouver Team: telling it like it is, and calling it as they see it since December 1, 2008 (the soft launch). These kids are world-changers. And you heard it here first.“

– Confucius, 442 BC

Merville, British Columbia is the undisputed* Gumboot Capital of Canada. As your host at this stop on your social media journey, I should tell you that I not only hail from Merville, but my upbringing in the tiny Vancouver Island hamlet has done much to shape my worldview. For example, if you have an unhealthy addiction to plaid and think that bears are naturally peaceful, well, you love Merville. Together with a team of unmatched** contributors from around the world, I will do my best to lead an ongoing series of engaging discussions about life, the universe and everything for all co-producers (ie. you, the interactive and collaborative visitor) to enjoy.

I’m also going to mention pirates a fair bit because of their spectacular historical, cultural, political, economical, and grammatical relevance to our ever flattening global village. Stay tuned, there’s much more to come…

Ladies and gentlemen: welcome to gumboot country! Have fun with it.

*may or may not be disputed by several competing gumboot enthusiasts…

**might possibly be matched…