Greetings, In the sense that we are a network, or persons and organizations operating within the same field and towards similar or related positive social ends and not principally competitors in a field as market, (though competition for resources exists, and we are susceptible to a competitive mindset even when not applicable) I have looked at such papers and concepts as "Movement as Network" (which I have previously recommended.. available at http://www.movementasnetwork.org) as a conversational starting point for an ongoing dialogue as to what it means to be a network of the type described above, and how we might better function collectively as a network.
The movement as network paper looks at the Environmental Movement, and makes the case that as a network (in the sense of their being relations and connections of individuals and organizations in that movement) and as a movement it is a real thing and by approaching it from the network perspective we are identifying those relations and formulating a map for ourselves, and a language with which to begin discussions of what we can do, and how we might restructure the network of relations .. One of our esteemed colleagues characterized the paper as "good management theory", and "perhaps not much about networks" in the sense in which we look at networks or community networking however, that raises two immediate questions for me the more difficult perhaps is what "network and networking" mean for us, especially in context of community networking. I wont go into that in depth, and dont think we need restrict ourselves to one definition. In fact I take the terms to be so fundamental to major transitions in our society, that "networking" might well be one of the conceptual primitives of our era not being susceptible to a single definitive formulation, but lending itself to a variety of valid uses and frames. Likewise for the concept of community community means several things, and we can emphasize any number of them in different contexts, and our motive for employing the term and our community of practice generally inform the meaning for us and we are challenged when encountering other communities of practice to respect the value and validity of the term in that context, and the subtle nuances and fertility when the communities of discourse collide or converge. But, to my second question if the movement as network paper (or approach) is simply "good management theory" what is the role of good management theory in the context of a network field devoted to a public good? I have made the case that one doesnt really lead a network or a movement, one facilitates them, or helps to create conditions for the network to flourish. But this is not the role of "one", it is the role of many in concert without an "authority" over them. I've introduced the concept of "movement" again. Garth Graham challenged the notion of our being a movement, or whether we are one any longer the "we" being proponents of community networking, and looking at the end of community networking as movement, under a shift to a "radical practice". What defines "movement"? There is of course an analytic approach somewhat "objectively" we can assert whether some efforts or activity have met the criteria, but from another frame, a movement can also be a matter of self-designation. It can be a claim or an assertion of an identity. Whether others buy into this claim is one aspect but I'm more inclined to accept the folksonomy rather than the taxonomy. I'll leave Movement aside for the moment, to anyone who would like to engage in unfolding that idea, and return to the Network and Management questions In looking at the environmental "movement as network" where there are real connections, relations and structure to be examined and thereby the possibility of investment in the network with an eye to re-organizing for better "effectiveness" of the network, what we are proposing is (strategic) structural differentiation within the network It is easy to see how this can be viewed as an analogue of good management theory. The question is how do we generate the will to collectively manage this process in this direction? I think this is related to past discussions of how we might consider sustaining efforts for the field as opposed to sustaining individual organizations, and to the questions of "educating the funding community" or promoting our general value to the wider society, and inviting their participation in our effort. Again, I invite comments, thoughts, etc., on this both via email and in the DDN group I created earlier on Movement as Network http://www.digitaldivide.net/community/movement ____________________________________________________________________________ Michael Maranda President, The Association For Community Networking (AFCN) http://www.afcn.org Executive Director, CTCNet Chicago Chapter http://www.ctcnetchicago.org Co-Chair, Illinois Community Technology Coalition (ilCTC) http://www.ilctc.org Vice President, CAAELII http://www.caaelii.org Vice President, NPOTechs http://www.npotechs.org Attend the Illinois Community Technology Conference, November 16-17, 2005. http://www.ctcnetchicago.org/conference _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
