Beyond helping us find our inner circle of friends, digital communities help us coordinate with people different from us in order to tackle today’s critical global issues. As the activists behind #FridaysForFuture and March For Our Lives have shown us, digital public spaces like subreddits and Twitter threads are key building blocks of bottom-up power.
- Location 89
- public infrastructure, grassroots advocacy, digital public space, community formation,
- [note::I agree with this, but I don't think existing digital tools (or at least, popular digital tools) lend themselves well to this kind of organization.]

Like many young people, I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure out where I belong, how I contribute, and why it all matters. I didn’t realize there was a term associated with the things I was looking for: community.
- Location 118
-
- [note::"Finding community is about trying to figure out where I belong, how I contribute, and why it all matters."]

Here’s my understanding of community: a group of people who build power together through belonging and mutual care.
- Location 126
-
- [note::I take "power" to mean]

Communities should help people feel as though they are growing with each other into the best versions of themselves. By doing so, positive communities help people realize their full potential and be of service to the world.
- Location 169
-

She recognized early on the importance of community between people of color, women-identifying folks, and other marginalized people in STEAM. As a result, Ruqaiyah relentlessly searched for spaces where she could meet like-minded people with similar aspirations and vision for the future.
- Location 177
-
- [note::I need to do more of this - (1) get clear about my aspirations and (2) RELENTLESSLY search for spaces where I can meet like-minded people who share those aspirations.]

“As far as virtual community goes, it’s very one-sided. They kind of lecture, lecture, lecture, talk, talk, talk. It’s not necessarily a collaborative thing. During meetings and other big events, the community is very dictatorship-like.”
- Location 185
-
- [note::This kind of feels like my experience with EA Philly and EA more generally.]

Just because people are in one place, associate with the same identity group, or label themselves a “community,” it doesn’t mean connections magically emerge. Connections on a deeper level require work, no matter how many “things in common” people start out with.
- Location 191
-
- [note::Good thing to reflect on - just because you call your group a "community" doesn't actually means any meaningful relationships are being developed. I need to think harder about how I can foster these relationships.]

Fabian Pfortmüller is the founder and CEO of the Together Institute, an organization dedicated to building healthy, caring, and impactful communities.
- Location 193
-
- [note::I should read this guys work]

Ruqaiyah told me about a few more “communities” she was a part of: “It’s very much run by the people who started it. Everyone else kind of jumps in and out whenever they want to.”
- Location 207
-
- [note::This is a major issue EA Philly has]

In prior experiences, Ruqaiyah experienced how dreadful it was to get people to do things without relationships with one another. As a result, creating space for informal relationships to emerge was at the center of Breaking Barriers. Through spontaneous hangouts, movie nights, and late-night text message chats about everything from COVID to mental health, community members were no longer just “another person working on x project.” They were her friends.
- Location 228
-
- [note::This resonates strongly with me. Especially "how dreadful it was to get people to do things without relationships with one another" - with EA Philly operations meetings, I made the mistake of expecting people want to do things for the org m without actually making space for friendships to develop between organizers.]

Their Slack features everything from a popping #ask-me-anything channel with accomplished founders, to #all-smiles-here, featuring positive quotes, memes, and other community bonding content.
- Location 251
-

Community spirit needs to start at the smallest levels and expand outwards, from within internal leadership to the organization as a whole. Shivali notes in youth-led nonprofits, your group’s leaders are also your most engaged members and target audience. If you aren’t able to build community within the team, you can’t expect to do it on a larger scale. Scaling something that doesn’t exist is a recipe for disaster.
- Location 263
-

Building trust between members can be as simple as daily reflection threads, where people pose thoughtful questions to each other. It can be intensive cohort-based experiences, like a small discussion and mutual support group.
- Location 283
-

Think about communities as “relationship gyms,” where people can opt into tons of different experiences to cultivate their relationship muscle—the muscle that holds the community together.
- Location 284
- relationships, connection,
- [note::Interesting idea. Community = "Relationship gym"]

“If Facebook is people you know talking about things you don’t care about, then Reddit is people you don’t know talking about things you do care about.” —Zubair Janali,
- Location 293
- favorite, social media, attention, digital community, community,
- [note::Who is the author of this quote?
Answer: They're a part of reddit's leadership team]

A recent study by Tapatalk revealed 64 percent of Gen Zers and millennials feel more understood by specialized online communities than by family and real-world friends.
- Location 398
-
- [note::Wow. I figured this number would be relatively high, but I would've guessed around 40% rather than 64%. I wonder what the sample size and age distribution this study is.]

In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream. The solution to the dark forest? Digital campfires.
- Location 422
-
- [note::Great analogy!]

“If social media can feel like a crowded airport terminal where everyone is allowed, but no one feels particularly excited to be there, digital campfires offer a more intimate oasis where smaller groups of people are excited to gather,” Wilson wrote in the Harvard Business Review.
- Location 425
- community, social media,

Change happens at the speed of trust—yet many of us don’t have access to enough digital spaces where we can be authentic, vulnerable, and build trust with each other.
- Location 434
-

But similar to how digital-first communities complement real-life interactions, smaller digital campfires are important complements to online public squares. You might meet someone at a busy neighborhood park (a public space) and invite them over to tea at your home the next day (a smaller, more private one).
- Location 446
-

In his book Palaces for the People, American sociologist Eric Klinenberg writes, “People forge ties in places that have healthy social infrastructures—not necessarily because they set out to build community, but because when people engage in sustained, recurrent interaction, particularly while doing things they enjoy, relationships—even across ethnic or political lines—[community] inevitably grows.”
- Location 504
- connection, favorite, interaction,
- [note::Check out book on Goodreads]

In fact, a 2018 survey by the health company Cigna shows nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out.
- Location 514
-
- [note::Wow.]

Loneliness is a subjective feeling where the connections we need are greater than the connections we have. This gap diminishes feelings of belonging that are critical to community. It causes people to withdraw from the collective and retreat into themselves. We forget there are people who love and want to help us, if we only ask for their support. We forget what it feels like to get together, pool together our resources, and make collective decisions.
- Location 515
- pink,
- [note::Can personally relate to this]

Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone article, in which he makes the case that technology is the primary evil that caused people to leave clubs and encouraged people to spend leisure time on their own. “Social media allows people to feel like they are in a kind of community, but they don’t actually have deep relationships in them,” Putnam argues.
- Location 527
-
- [note::Agree]

My hypothesis is that individualism runs rampant because we lack spaces where we can work towards something together, in a spirit of collaboration instead of competition. Too often, we live in a zero-sum game with a finite set of resources and opportunities. Competing with others is the only way to get what we need. But given the chance to be part of flourishing communities and take action with others, I believe most of us are eager to contribute to the common good.
- Location 612
- collaboration, abundance mindset, individualism,

Isn’t it unfortunate that power—both decision-making and influence—centralize at the very top? We preach that everyone is powerful but fail to create organizational structures that embody our beliefs.
- Location 655
-
- [note::What kinds of organizational structures strike a good balance between power at both the top and bottom of the org?]

People come back to spaces where they feel acknowledged and appreciated, not just for their contributions, but for simply being themselves.
- Location 666
-

The famous poet Goethe once wrote, “If we treat people as if they were what they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of being.” That is what leading with love means: to treat community members in ways (through empathy, gratitude, authenticity) that help them realize their full potential.
- Location 669
-

Community is something constantly emerging and evolving with the relationships between members. Relationships are formed by members choosing to lean in, not because you’ve pieced together people in some calculated way.
- Location 679
-

As the community builder, your job isn’t to force community to happen. Instead, you’re here to create the right conditions for community to emerge and care for the space that is formed.
- Location 682
- favorite, 1todo evernote, community building, network stewardship, be a gardener,

One of the first things I did for the YOC was write out my answers to all seventy-six questions in the guidebook and fill out a MVC canvas to share with others, from adult supporters to prospective community members.
- Location 752
-
- [note::I should do this with EA Philly - Not only because I think people would have valuable perspectives to share, but I want to make the org more "for the people, BY the people"]

Community Canvas (https://community-canvas.org/). Consider downloading the Canvas and Guidebook to follow along! These tools will help you think methodologically and with intention about community building, which makes you multiple times more effective.
- Location 761
-

Imagine a community where… Relationships flourish: People in the community trust and feel connected to each other. They show up. They feel a persistent sense of belonging. Members have discovered a sanctuary where they are accepted and loved for being themselves. People discover their inner circle of friends. Everyone finds their you-shaped hole: People feel like they’ve found a role in the community at the intersection of their values, strengths, passions, and long-term goals. It’s what they are uniquely positioned to do. This role is meaningful and deserving of great dedication. It gives people ownership and responsibility for the community. People practice real power: People in the community have shared context, good communication, and a common vision for where they’d like to go. Power dynamics are consciously talked about and addressed. Everyone has access to information, relationships, capital, and other resources they need to lead. Community grows and evolves on its own: The community has documented and battle-tested processes that enable it to do what it was created to do. It self-corrects and evolves without a centralized authority. Many generations of stewards have listened and responded to the community’s evolutionary purpose.
- Location 766
-
- [note::Aspirational characteristics of flourishing communities]

Playing the numbers game is one of the biggest mistakes new community builders make. It’s critical to not be corrupted by these extrinsic motivators and remember “finding your people” takes time and intention. YOU decide how big your community is, recognizing the tradeoff between size of the group and intimacy between members. There is no right or wrong size;
- Location 791
-

In the book, they emphasize the importance of starting with two questions: Who do I want to get together? In order for a community to take off, you’ll need passionate members who are able and willing to invest time and energy to help set it up. This initial group will shape early rules and experiences, which then shape your community’s culture and vibe—so it’s critical they embody community values. Why are we coming together? Thriving communities demand a shared purpose. A shared purpose gives people a reason to come together over and over again and helps ground the community in members’ passions and interests. One measure of a flourishing community is whether people feel like they’ve found a “you-shaped hole”—a role in the community that is meaningful to them and deserving of great dedication.
- Location 821
-

if you start with why (mission-driven communities, such as those advocating for the removal of standardized tests or increased access to healthy foods), you’ll think about the who. Consider questions like: Who is affected by this issue? Who cares about this issue? How might you enlist people you have something in common with to care about the issue as well?
- Location 829
-

Other communities start with who (identity-based communities, such as a group of Taiwanese immigrants in Vancouver, WA, or migrant workers with young children). In these scenarios, think about why it’s important for this specific group to meet again and again. Consider questions like: What do the people in this group need more of? What change do people desire? What is the problem this group is uniquely positioned to solve together?
- Location 831
- belonging, connection, connecting, community building,
- [note::Not to be confused with "Start with Who" community building framework]

Do not compromise the quality of community members for quantity.
- Location 853
-

For communities of all sizes, finding your first people can be as simple as creating a flyer on Canva and directly messaging it to twenty friends. This can take just thirty minutes—don’t overcomplicate the process!
- Location 876
- community launch, community building,

Intimate Asks
- Location 876
- h4,

Tap into scarcity and FOMO. These are the more visceral things that move people to act. When folks receive personal invitations to exclusive and “invite only” communities, they are intrigued and want in. No one wants to miss out on the fun.
- Location 888
-

Believe it or not, you can craft intimate asks for people you don’t personally know. One strategy is to find Instagram accounts aligned with your community’s who or why. Look at the followers of those accounts and identify people who fit your ideal community member persona.
- Location 910
-
- [note::This goes for Twitter too!]

Asks at Scale
- Location 913
- h4,

Some ideas for asks at scale include: Posting on social media and running ads (resources allowing) Doing takeovers for other organizations’ social media platforms Promoting in other Slack channels, newsletters, and adjacent communities
- Location 918
- outreach, social media,

Networking consistently across communities is vital!
- Location 929
-
- [note::Need to do more of this!]

There are more barriers to entry that can be used individually or combined with intimate asks to strengthen the screening process. They include… An application. It doesn’t need to be pages: three short answer questions, a one-minute video response, or a quick meeting can work! Make a simple rubric to score responses and commit to accepting members who meet a certain score. Application questions should be open-ended and allow people to express their alignment with your community. It’s worth noting there are exceptions, and quantitative alignment doesn’t always mean a prospective member is the right fit. Trust your intuition as well. Real commitments. It’s easy to sign up for something new, but when most people do, they don’t consider the associated responsibilities. Being a good community member requires time and energy. It’s helpful to have members define their personal contributions. People may realize they don’t have the bandwidth or aren’t really that passionate about the community, which is 100 percent okay. For example, graduates of the Civics Unplugged (CU) Fellowship who want to join the Civics 2030 community are required to complete a Builder Pledge, a commitment to build a brighter future for humanity. Fellows are invited to reflect on personal goals and actions they will take to actualize the community’s vision. Demonstrations of skills and energy. People can make all the commitments they want, but are they able to follow through? If you want to further elevate the barrier to entry, ask people to act on verbal commitments. For example, if someone is interested in helping develop your community’s social media presence, challenge them to create sample posts you can use! If someone would like to help with partnerships, challenge them to come up with a list of mission-aligned organizations to reach out to. An intensive onboarding process. Finally, the onboarding process itself is a way to weed out people who aren’t interested. For example, CU Fellows are required to complete a tech onboarding before the Fellowship starts, where they learn how to use applications like Slack, Zoom, and Notion. If kids are not willing to figure out how the tech platforms work, they will not be a good fit!
- Location 945
- onboarding, exclusivity, community building,
- [note::EA Philly should have an onboarding process like All Tech is Human, Work on Climate, or Climate Action.tech]

it helps new members gain the context and tools they need to “plug in” to the community from the very beginning. Helping people become familiar with a space increases their ability to engage and take ownership. It helps new members feel welcomed and experience a sense of belonging—both key tenets to a healthy community.
- Location 966
-
- [note::Could provide better ways of "plugging in" to EA Philly for both new and veteran EAs]

Onboarding is a great time to ask members to… Learn how to use the technology. Especially in digital-first communities, new members need to understand how the community’s tech platforms work before they can connect with others. For example, if a community is hosted on Slack and someone has no idea how Slack works, they may not be able to reply in a thread, search for pinned posts, or even introduce themselves in a channel. Craft their introduction. One of the best ways to kick off the community building process is to get people talking—and there are few things people like to talk about more than themselves. In the welcome message, encourage new members to share information that both explains why they are here and introduces themselves outside of the community’s immediate context. Knowing someone’s history, identity, and personal experiences allows you to gauge why they are here, welcome them, and tailor community experiences to meet their needs. You may also designate a “welcoming committee” (which can also just be you) to acknowledge new members who arrive, respond to introductions, and help folks navigate their way around the community. The relationship between the community’s creator/main stewards and new members is especially important to help them feel valued. Sign up for an upcoming event. Clearly identify the places where new members can jump in and experience the community’s culture firsthand. Ideally, some of these are icebreaker-type events that maximize one-to-one interaction between members and allow them to engage in meaningful dialogue with as many new people as possible. If you don’t want people to lurk, challenge them to sign up for at least one event! Ask questions. There will no doubt be many questions that surface for folks as they explore the community. Support folks in discovering answers! This can be as simple as creating spaces (like a shared document) for people to “park” their questions so it can be addressed by community moderators or fellow members. Provide feedback on the onboarding process itself. This allows community members to practice co-creation right from the beginning. Ask members for feedback on onboarding effectiveness, areas of confusion, and other aspects of the process that could be improved. If and when you integrate this feedback, reach out to the community member(s) who introduced the idea and make them aware of their impact.
- Location 976
-

“Online Town, Netflix Party, Discord, ham radio, 3-D printable gifts sent as CAD files, networked printers (the messages printing themselves out like on a Ouija board), meeting up on Figma, meeting up on Mario Party, meeting up on Animal Crossing, meeting up on Minecraft, meeting up on World of Warcraft. My lack of physical presence isn’t a limitation, it’s a liberation… I don’t need my body anymore. I’m enjoying learning how to interact using a new, proprioceptive set of senses. Yes, it’s tactile, but I’m not really touching you. Yes, it’s visual, but I’m not really seeing you. A phone call feels more intimate than a Zoom call. Doing activities together feels more intimate than talking. The best online interactions I’ve had don’t try to recreate the past, but start with the premise of disembodiment.” —Nadia Eghbal
- Location 1000
-

I’m here to remind you real people will take up your digital space, so give them as much thought as you would in-person ones. What do your digital spaces look like and which community tech platform(s) enable them to form?
- Location 1015
-

Community tech platforms serve three core functions: synchronous connection, asynchronous connection, and documentation. At minimum, a community needs at least one of these tools;
- Location 1035
-

Synchronous activities are more time intensive to organize, but more effective in mimicking the “real-ness” of in-person connection.
- Location 1052
- events, connection, event planning, community,

Some examples of technologies used for synchronous connection include: Video // Zoom, Facetime, Google Meet, Run The World: Video calls are the most direct alternative to in-person gatherings. You can put faces to names, hear people talk, and observe body language. Small details like people’s clothes, background, or even angle of camera, gives us a feel for the person’s specific vibe. Zoom is a video-chat platform that makes it easy to have meetings big and small. You’ve probably used it before, and for good reason. It’s super reliable and fast. This is the go-to platform in most communities. Many tools also “level up” Zoom. For example, Nearpod slides increase interactivity by allowing people to collaborate on boards and submit questions. You can even encourage people to “hide self-view” in Zoom, which shifts their attention from themselves to others in the digital space. Because Zoom is also the tool many of us use for work or school, it does carry a more formal, meeting-like vibe. After all, these calls are literally called Zoom meetings. If you’re looking for a more social, happy hour vibe, you can start in Zoom and jump into platforms like Gatheround and Glimpse, which make it easy to create short, one-to-one meetings that allow members to connect. Audio // Clubhouse, phone call, Zoom with cameras off: If your community is Zoomed out (which is totally understandable—sitting in front of a computer all day is draining!), you might experiment with audio-first technologies that allow people to connect in real time while giving them flexibility to be away from their desks. What’s cooler, audio even engenders new forms of empathy. Juliana Schroeder, a professor at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, writes audio allows one to “recognize there’s this feeling, thinking person behind the words, because you hear those words imbued with their thoughts and feelings in those moments. It happens at the implicit, visceral level and that allows you to humanize the communicator in a way just reading those words does not.” Clubhouse is a new drop-in audio platform where people can start voice chat rooms to talk about anything that feels meaningful, or simply listen in. Audio creates a more “chill” vibe. Not seeing a sea of faces staring at you on Zoom can create a non-judgment zone that encourages deeper reflection and vulnerability. For example, a community focused on supporting student mental health during exam season might encourage its members to have their weekly Zoom call with cameras off, while walking out in nature. Virtual world // Minecraft, Among Us, Animal Crossing: While virtual worlds are more fringe, they are great digital venues to help people bond, even in communities that aren’t 100 percent game focused. There’s something different about doing something together—whether that’s singing, dancing, building towers, or finding an imposter—that brings delight into digital spaces. In October 2020, over 400,000 users watched a livestream of…
- Location 1060
-
- [note::Run the World? Glimpse? Nearpod slides (Zoom extension)? Clubhouse?]

Some examples of technologies used for asynchronous connection include: Multi-channel chat // Slack, Discord Slack is the asynchronous community building platform to explore. Originally designed for start-ups and distributed teams, it’s a popular chat platform that can be used on both mobile and desktop to send messages to select people, groups, or the community as a whole. Furthermore, there are tons of extensions that customize Slack for your community. For example, HeyTaco! is a tool that allows community members to shout out others by giving them tacos, a form of digital community currency. Other tools, like Donut, match people in a certain Slack channel for custom icebreakers. Discord can be thought of as “Slack for gamers.” The two platforms share many of the same functionalities, such as varying sized group chats, channels to organize discussions, and threads to respond to others’ comments. Discord also allows for easy customization of someone’s experience in the community based on their role (think how this can be applied to onboarding processes!) and voice channels for built-in audio-first collaboration. Social media // Instagram, Facebook, 2Swim People have been gathering on social media for years. Social media can be a synchronous platform, but usually acts as an asynchronous one. Most people spend time on Instagram crafting posts and passively scrolling, not hosting Instagram Lives. While it’s hard for community to be an Instagram page (too many people → people feel anonymous), private social media group chats are a common asynchronous space for budding communities (Instagram chats, Facebook groups). Social media sparks loose bonds that can be moved into smaller, private communities for deeper relationship building. Finally, many new “social-media-like” platforms are popping up to address pitfalls of traditional social media, such as the pressure to virtue signal—communicate a good character by publicly expressing a moral viewpoint—and compare likes. For example, 2Swim is a social platform that doesn’t have posts with likes, but rather private communities and ephemeral messaging where virtue signaling isn’t effective. You can’t virtue signal to close friends, who judge you by your everyday actions, not words.
- Location 1101
-
- [note::HeyTaco! (Slack Extension)? Oooo, LOVE the idea of incorporating Discord roles into onboarding process. I should look into best practices for this.]

Documentation platform(s) shared between members and stewarded by the community are instrumental in organizing information and making it accessible.
- Location 1121
-

Every piece of technology inspires and perpetuates certain values. For example, Google Classroom is built in a way that values hierarchy and centralization of power.
- Location 1162
- technology, value lock-in, technological hegemony, normative technology, techno-social conditioning,

Choose your platform(s) and commit. Just like how we wouldn’t recommend splitting your garden into two different plots of land or moving your garden to a new location every two weeks, don’t move the people in your community too much either.
- Location 1176
- community platforms,

CREATE SPACE
- Location 1212
-

There are three categories of expectations: Etiquette: How community members treat each other and the community infrastructure. How do individuals embody the community’s values and put them into action? For example, a community might ask its members to “follow the golden rule.” Commitment: Just like how citizenship comes with responsibilities, membership does too. What duties do members have and how do they contribute? For example, a community might decide active members must attend a monthly community gathering. Accountability: Consequences must be clearly communicated in order for a rule to be taken seriously. For example, a community might use a three-strike system to remove members. On the first strike, members receive a verbal correction or formal warning, followed by a temporary mute. On the second strike… (you get the idea!)
- Location 1250
-

A set of rules in your community communicates expectations around how people should act. Rather than being a nuisance or inconvenience, they help members interact in meaningful, productive ways.
- Location 1257
-

When creating rules, it’s a lot easier to work backward from your end goal: the type of digital space you want to create. What are the conditions of that space, and what rules create those conditions? Mapping rules to your community’s design objectives ensures rules are not solely created to signal power.
- Location 1269
- community, design, connection,

Designing Our Intentions, a resource created by the Stanford d.school to set group intentions for digital spaces, recommends the following steps: Reflect. What’s a moment where you’ve had a transformational conversation? When did you feel safe, included, and understood? We assume this environment is the type of space you want to replicate in your community. Excavate. What conditions/behaviors/agreements were in place to shape that moment? What unspoken norms were followed by the people involved, including yourself? What processes were present to help the group navigate tricky terrain? Generate. Based on your answers above, what intentions might be helpful for community members as they work together to create space for each other?
- Location 1271
- community building, organizational culture, interaction,

Some common ways rules are presented, from least to most complex, include… Group norms. If your community is smaller or time-bound, simple group norms might be more effective than an elaborate set of guidelines. Norms are rules of behavior that naturally emerge between members, like arriving on time or stepping up, stepping back. Write them down! Community guidelines. If you have a medium-sized community and aren’t sure how to organize rules, this is a good default. Whereas norms are values-based and open to interpretation, guidelines are comprehensive and enforced by community facilitators/moderators. As a result, guidelines hold greater weight and include tangible consequences when broken. Code of conduct. A code of conduct describes specific ways in which members should/shouldn’t act, such as “do not type anything that is spammy, inappropriate, or rude.” It’s especially helpful for larger, execution-oriented communities building significant things together, such as an open-source project or online conference. Constitution. This structure is one of the most robust and comprehensive ways to present rules. It’s best suited for communities with complex governance structures, especially if you’re managing shared funds or other resources together.
- Location 1297
-

As a community builder, one of your core responsibilities is to create a space where people feel safe, included, and understood. When a guideline or norm is violated, consider not only how to deal with the situation at hand, but how your response (or lack of) indicates your values.
- Location 1318
-

In order for facilitators to be effective, they play a couple roles that might not be intuitive. Specifically, facilitators are… Multi-partial. Facilitators are curious about and pay attention to all opinions from members, including those not expressed. They separate themselves from their own biases and try to bring as many perspectives into the conversation as possible, even playing devil’s advocate if people are being overly diplomatic or agreeable. This ensures even if a perspective isn’t represented by the majority, it is considered and valued. Provocateurs. Facilitators help members challenge status quo beliefs and shift dialogue toward personal experiences, feelings, and critical thinking. It’s natural for strangers to prompt surface level “how’s the weather?” questions when they first meet. Without a facilitator, members may not feel comfortable going deeper. By asking challenging questions and helping groups sit with tension, facilitators empower members to gain ownership over their dialogue. Process guides. While facilitators can model how to do something for members, they are not another participant. Facilitators should not contribute the majority of the discussion, “solve” all the challenges groups come across, or always have the answer. Certain things, like taking a stance or talking too much, can compromise a facilitator’s ability to be multi-partial and hold space for all members.
- Location 1354
-

Power dynamics often revolve around who is speaking and how much. Sometimes, language barriers or tech challenges can prevent certain members from fully participating. In these scenarios, facilitators can intentionally create space for these people (e.g., “I noticed our participants from Algeria have not spoken yet. Would anyone like to share their thoughts?”).
- Location 1403
-

Sharing takes a lot of courage. It’s great to shout people out for that, especially if vulnerability is something you’re trying to encourage. Appreciation is as simple as saying, “Thank you for sharing that with us” or “I noticed a lot of [emotion] in your voice as you were talking about x. It seems like x is very important to you.”
- Location 1406
-

“If you inherently long for something, become it first. If you want gardens, become the gardener. If you want love, embody love. If you want mental stimulation, change the conversation. If you want peace, exude calmness. If you want to fill your world with artists, begin to paint. If you want to be valued, respect your own time. If you want to live ecstatically, find the ecstasy within yourself. This is how to draw it in, day by day, inch by inch.” —Victoria Erickson
- Location 1420
-

If we aren’t constantly leveling up many parts of the community and the people within them, we will not provide transformative experiences that keep members coming back and drive them to give back.
- Location 1432
-
- [note::Disagree]

If a community doesn’t constantly evolve it’s who and why, it will fail to attract new members and create impact. One of the easiest ways to ensure a community doesn’t remain static is to create transformative experiences for the people in it.
- Location 1444
-

In the Art of Gathering, Priya Parker writes, “A gathering’s blandness is a symptom of disease. And what is the disease? That the gathering makes no effort to do what the best gatherings do: transport us to a temporary alternative world.” Often, events are an escape: a space for us to do things that aren’t a duty, but a pleasure. Other times, the promise of events is to create space for collective dreaming and realizing components of the world we want to see. Being transported to a different space allows us to shift our perspective on what is possible and bring that back to the “real world” after events conclude.
- Location 1468
-

An event is made transformative when someone is rewarded with a new experience that changes their perspective on the world. People want to feel like meaningful participants. If you invite someone to an event, they should be able to impact how the event goes, even if it’s just in some small way.
- Location 1473
-

here are some truly transformational moments I experienced within digital communities: The first time someone told me they loved me (platonically, as a friend) over Slack. I’d never had someone say that outside of my family before. Growing up, love was often tied to achievement, and I developed an irrational fear I was unlovable. This experience helped me reframe that mental model, externalize my misconception, and realize how much that person and community meant to me. Laughing so hard on a Zoom call I doubled over in my seat and turned my video off. We had been working nonstop for weeks on an important project, were honestly bone-tired, and probably laughing over something insignificant. That day, I saw a side to community members I didn’t know existed… It reminded me of 3 a.m. hotel parties at FBLA conferences where people are 1) super tired, 2) hustling like crazy because the competition is the next day, and 3) bonding over the sheer absurdity of the situation. A really good jam with two close friends over Zoom. It happened after a raw week in the community, and the jam itself felt like an unveiling. We shared our experiences (more similar than I expected), acknowledged each other’s work, talked through next steps, laughed, cried, and came to new realizations about the community and my role in it. When previous to the conversation I felt like my world was falling apart, I left feeling grounded and grateful.
- Location 1495
- belonging, love,

Create first, best, and unusual experiences. By definition, these experiences have the potential for transformation! Try to mix up the events in your community, introduce fun and spontaneity, and challenge members to try new things. From a Zoom yoga session (if that’s not a practice your community usually engages in) to encouraging members to facilitate a dialogue, experiment with new community opportunities. Encourage members to organize these as well, because they know what they want best!
- Location 1507
- event planning,

Spotlight transformation that has already occurred. Transformational experiences happen to us all the time; we simply find it challenging to pinpoint them because we’re not trained to reflect on these moments. It feels like we experience “gradual growth,” when in reality, growth is distributed unevenly over time. We experience great growth during small moments of chaos and amazement (think eureka moments).…
- Location 1510
-

You can model this practice by sharing your own transformation, using phrases like… “This conversation is so good because…” “What you just said is making me realize…” “One of the biggest…
- Location 1515
-

Uplift people’s contributions. Emphasizing how much someone has added to a conversation and helping them feel as if they are making history is powerful. Not only does it feel great, it prompts that person and those around them to notice the contribution, see it in a new light, and make new meaning from it. Uplifting…
- Location 1518
-

Casper ter Kuile’s The Power of Ritual. I started becoming aware of society’s dominant paradigm of the world: the story of more. In the story of more, productivity is one-dimensional, and growth means producing. We are expected to chase the next goal, move fast and break things along the way. Through the book, I learned about a different form of growth, one built on slowing down and cultivating trust. I learned to see goals as milestones in a values-driven life, not something to be put on a pedestal. I started going on walks in the middle of the day. I started playing piano after dinner. I started having sleepovers with my sisters, growing a plant, and even taking periodic tech sabbaths—twenty-four hours of not using my laptop or phone.
- Location 1529
-

STEVEs, which stands for “short, tiny, exclusive virtual experiences,” describe the second wave of online education. STEVEs still leverage digital technologies to create the accessibility of MOOCs, but are designed to foster accountability by allowing individuals to learn with a distributed peer group.
- Location 1557
-

More recently, Forte describes the idea of cohort-based courses: groups of learners who join an online course together and move through at the same pace. The course instructor offers valuable guidance to help learners master the material, but learning happens peer-to-peer instead of top down. Courses become something learners participate in beyond just content consumption.
- Location 1566
-

Community members naturally want to share their unique insights. When they do, it starts a positive feedback cycle of people surfacing new knowledge and applying it to the real world.
- Location 1576
-

In her book Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown describes the concept of collective effervescence: an experience of connection, communal emotion, and a “sensation of sacredness” that happens when we are part of something bigger than ourselves. People who frequently feel this way experience significance and worth. Their lives become coherent and driven by purpose. Rituals are one of the most powerful ways to create collective effervescence, which leads to self-transcendence and transformation.
- Location 1593
-

You can think about ritual creation in two phases: discovery and design. First, it’s important to discover moments in your community with the capacity to hold meaning and symbolism. These actions should also be easily repeated and accessible to your members. You might think about things your community already does together. Maybe you start off every event with an icebreaker question or piece of poetry. Maybe you close every meeting with a reflection question like “What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?” and wave goodbye after people share their answer. Maybe your community coordinates birthday videos for your most active members. After you decide on an action, the next step is to design an experience that adds greater meaning and depth.
- Location 1614
-

For example, I have rituals that prepare me for my tech sabbath: physically cleaning my desk, writing down ten things I’m grateful for, doing five minutes of guided meditation, then watching my laptop power down. As I do this, I’m redefining a part of my life narrative, telling the story that I’m the type of person who slows down, evokes a calming presence, and emanates quiet joy.
- Location 1623
- rituals, mindfulness, digital minimalism,

Ozenc has identified five elements successful rituals use to create new narrative arcs. Reflect on where each of these components show up in your ritual design: Trigger. What in your schedule or the natural world triggers the ritual? It can be a certain day of the week, whenever it starts raining, a team member’s birthday, or something else entirely. Intention spell. What is the purpose of your ritual? What are the values or aspirational selves the ritual brings forth? Without intention, ritual is a mindless routine. Script. What is the beginning, middle, and end to your ritual? A ritual flow contributes to a sense of coherence. Props. Is there a symbolic object the ritual is centered around? It can be anything from sharing food to wearing costumes to listening to a certain type of music. Enactment. What energy do people bring to the ritual? Having a plan for how rituals unfold is great, but it’s up to participants to take on and identify with the new narrative.
- Location 1626
-

In an essay for The New Yorker, author Kyle Chayka writes, “What a haiku is to language, a vibe is to sensory perception: a concise assemblage of image, sound, and movement. A vibe can be positive, negative, beautiful, ugly, or just unique. It can even become a quality in itself: if something is vibey, it gives off an intense vibe or is particularly amenable to vibes. Vibes are a medium for feeling, the kind of abstract understanding that comes before words put a name to experience. That pre-linguistic quality makes them well suited to a social-media landscape that is increasingly prioritizing audio, video, and images over text. Through our screens, vibes are being constantly emitted and received.”
- Location 1655
-

A few things happen once organic exchanges between community members start to produce trust, reciprocity, and good vibes. First, the community’s positive energy pours out and manifests as creative expression: memes, witty comments, internal language, and other artifacts that can only be created by members. Over time, communities externalize their artifacts, creating art, podcasts, newsletters, and whitepapers to share in public. When outsiders see how cool these artifacts are (it might have gained media and cultural attention), it creates FOMO. People want in on good vibes. Energy is infectious.
- Location 1668
- community building, co-creation,

While a vibe can seem intangible, the practices that help you cultivate and express a good vibe are not. These things include your community’s… Beliefs // Create your vibe. The beliefs community leaders and members hold and embody hugely impact their energy. Artifacts and aesthetics // Capture your vibe. Memes, hot takes, language, and branding all breathe life into your community. Stories // Share your vibe. Stories are how we make sense of our experiences. Our lives are devoted to telling stories about what we did, where we were, and who we were with.
- Location 1674
-

What many people don’t realize is these types of mental models also exist in our communities. Maybe not Theory X and Theory Y specifically, but we carry assumptions around how events should be run, how members relate to each other, and what we should spend our time doing. It’s important to constantly interrogate and evolve our mental models to identify whether they are serving or harming our members. Individual mental models, especially those held by a community’s primary stewards, have a huge effect on vibe.
- Location 1694
-

aesthetics are the visual representation of your community’s energy!
- Location 1755
-

When it comes to branding, it’s important to think ahead. Ideally, people will be able to easily recognize and rally around your brand, and the brand can be remixed to meet the evolving needs of members. Consider questions like: How will my logo look placed on swag items? Is our name too many syllables or hard to pronounce? Does our color palette interact well with the metaphors we use to describe our community?
- Location 1783
-

If there aren’t existing stories, outsiders and new community members will fill the gap with their own interpretations of the community’s vibe. You’ll end up with variations of why your community exists that might be unrepresentative of your brand, which creates confusion among members. Imagine you want to communicate that your community has an introspective vibe, where members often engage in contemplative reflection with each other. You can do this in a couple ways: Say the community is introspective, thoughtful, and collaborative. Recite a list of things members do and use these isolated activities as evidence; we have a daily morning meditation practice, weekly character development groups, and a couple of our members even run an online yoga class for local middle school students. Tell a story about how your community members came to adopt the practices above, why they matter, and how these practices have transformed members over time.
- Location 1838
-

storytelling enables you to package your community’s vibe into shareable narratives that are enjoyable to listen to.
- Location 1848
-

Ganz describes a concept called “public narrative,” which brings three stories into one: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now. Story of self—a personal story that shows “why you were called to what you have been called to.” The story of self is different for every community member, and helps listeners empathize with and relate to the storyteller. Story of us—a collective story that illustrates the “shared purposes, goals, and vision” of your community. It helps people understand who is gathering together and why, and invites them to be a part of it. Story of now—an urgent call to action that presents “the challenge this community faces, the choices it must make, and the hope to which ‘we’ can aspire.” This story invites people to see themselves as part of the collective we and join you in taking action on the pressing challenge.
- Location 1850
-
- [note::This could be a great framework for talking about EA.]

Family thinking can give people an unhealthy, overly dependent relationship with your community.
- Location 1884
-

I have met far too many community builders staying up until 2 a.m. throwing together a run of show for their community’s next event, all the while feeling resentful and drained. What’s ironic is community builders want to create the opposite vibe for members. But how can you create something for others you aren’t experiencing yourself? And if you’re creating the event from a place of burn-out, how can you expect that to not affect the event’s design and execution? Sharing power not only creates new leaders, which is essential to your community’s longevity, it’s also a practice of self-preservation. A community isn’t a community until it’s organizing itself.
- Location 1896
-
- [note::"A community isn't a community until it's organizing itself" - Very valuable idea to keep in mind to help facilitate sharing of power between community members and preventing burnout."]

Empowerment isn’t just given; it must be baked into the structures and practices of your community. Instead of something fought over, power becomes something people simply have. It’s no longer zero-sum, where more power for me means less for you. Instead, power can be created, because every member has the support and resources they need to spark change in their corner of the community. When one of us becomes more powerful, all of us become more powerful as well. Gaining power means increasing your capacity to support other’s efforts in even more effective ways.
- Location 1908
-
- [note::Power = The ability and willingness to effect (or not effect) change
This means that more power is distributed amongst members of a community, the more support and resources you, as a community, can collectively leverage.
Power is not zero sum, it is additive.]

Returning to our garden metaphor, instead of a select few “leaders” tending the garden and getting burnt out because there’s so much to do, everyday garden visitors have the power to trim a leaf here and pull out a weed there. Power comes from a combination of the core garden tenders inviting visitor insights around how the community can improve, as well as making resources needed to take action available to visitors, like a list of weeds and gardening shears. Having many people organically notice problems and step up to tend them makes your garden more resilient in the long run.
- Location 1913
-
- [note::This metaphor just keeps on giving]

Here are the two strategies we discuss in this chapter: Lead with love // Help people want to lead. This is the more conscious and caring brand of leadership. While leading with love isn’t everything, it helps people feel valued and needed, two key characteristics of people inspired to contribute to the community in bigger ways. Decentralize power // Make it easy for people to lead. This is the empowerment baked into your community’s structure and practices, so people already have power and don’t need to wait for existing leaders to give it to them. It’s about creating wells of resources and support anyone can draw on to make their corner of the community better.
- Location 1918
-

When people are led lovingly, they feel… Seen and heard Freed to express themselves authentically and vulnerably Validated and appreciated for their ideas and emotions Capable of making tangible contributions that push the community forward Valued and needed for the community’s collective flourishing
- Location 1927
-
- [note::Am I instilling these feelings in others?]

Inclusion
- Location 1935
-

In order to ensure everyone is included and has an equal opportunity to lead, it’s critical to build in optionality. Some strategies to do this include… Normalize rest. Community members (and community builders!) cannot work all the time, nor should they be expected to. Few people want to step up to lead a community where they’re expected to work non-stop or are asked to sacrifice their individual well-being, even if it’s in the service of “doing good.” Make it easy to catch up. Engagement ebbs and flows, especially in youth-centered communities. If someone needs to step back for a month during AP exams, make it easy for them to 1) figure out what went on while they were gone and 2) find ways to plug in when they return. The “catch up” process doesn’t have to be explicit, which can make people feel shamed or falling behind. It can be embedded into weekly community calls, spontaneous jams with core members, a newsletter, or something else entirely. Respect different levels of engagement. It’s critical to acknowledge contributions and leadership at all scales. Yes, be sure to recognize your most engaged and committed members—but don’t exclusively shout out people who are able to dedicate ten or more hours. Not everyone can do that, and it alienates folks who might want to contribute but simply have less bandwidth. You’re likely working closely with your biggest “hand raisers” anyway, so recognize them through other recurring interactions like small group team meetings or one-on-one syncs. Reserve a chunk of public appreciation for budding leaders and members who’ve contributed in small but mighty ways.
- Location 1947
-
- [note::Damn, effective altruism called out!]

Trust needs to exist for members to have courage to call out bad ideas, introduce new ones, and guide the community forward. Some strategies to create trust include… Public reflection and appropriate responses. Encouraging authentic, vulnerable reflection in your community is a subtle signal to members you trust them to hold space for what others share. With this trust comes a degree of personal responsibility and a request for everyday members to help steward the community. But it’s not just about members’ reflections—it’s also how you, the community builder, respond to them. Reflections are a great opportunity for members to share disagreements, new ideas, and ways they desire to step up. Acknowledging and responding appropriately is essential to build trust, not just signal it. Open agendas and dialogue. Creating space for free-flowing dialogue shows you trust members to contribute important insights and help craft meaningful experiences, not just consume them. Create simple guardrails for events instead of a packed agenda to allow for more spontaneity. Trusting in the process and community members is not only liberating for all involved, but often yields beautiful results too! Giving people responsibility. It might seem obvious: If you want to show someone you trust them to do something, let them do it! That said, giving people responsibility does not mean throwing them in the deep end. If a community member has never hosted a group gathering before, you probably don’t want them leading the next big event. Instead, gradually challenge people with new tasks and provide ample guidance and resources along the way. For example, members might… Offer ideas and feedback—One of the simplest ways to loop members in is to ask them for their thoughts. This process is most effective when you approach them with a document, question, or other provocation. Support facilitators behind the scenes—Running an event is no easy thing, and facilitators love any support they can get. Folks can volunteer to take notes, share screen, moderate chat, or another helpful role. This is a great way for members to step up, feel less out of place if new, and continue to learn about the community. Lead or co-lead community events—This works especially well for events with highly documented processes. For example, Civics Unplugged’s juntos (small discussion and mutual support groups) use the same agenda structure each week, which makes it easy for anyone to facilitate. Welcome people into the community—Any member who has been around for a while has context around the community’s purpose, culture, and vibe. Help them help others figure out what’s going on and how to plug in. Document community tools and processes—Especially in digital-first communities, it’s important to write down information to keep people on the same page. Not only is it awesome for the documenter to be seen as a “keeper of wisdom,” but writing down how something works is one of the most effective…
- Location 1966
-

you can be strategic in how you use love to motivate people. For example, you might ask someone, “Do you think we can wrap up [project] today? You are the best,’’ and follow up with, “Thanks again, [name]!” as a friendly reminder for them to complete it. If there still isn’t any progress, you might ask people what resources and support they need, if they’d like to collaborate with another member, or if they’d like to pass ownership of the project to someone else. If it seems like someone’s doubting their contribution to a project or their role on the team, write them a short letter expressing your gratitude for their work and dedication thus far.
- Location 1990
-

In a typical school club, some things people need in order to be successful in a new leadership role include… A title/position in the community Strong relationships with club members Understanding of how different members relate to each other Context about the history and purpose of the club Tips from the previous leader in this role A…
- Location 1999
-

centralizing power holds back the growth of the community.
- Location 2017
- decentralization, power, community,

Author and management consultant Gary Hamel writes in Humanocracy, “On any issue some colleagues will have a bigger say than others will, depending on their expertise and willingness to help. These are hierarchies of influence, not position, and they’re built from the bottom up.” The key is instead of a single formal hierarchy, we want lots of informal, evolving, overlapping ones—based on passions, strengths, and expertise.
- Location 2031
- networks, hierarchy, collaboration, organizational culture, influence,

One of the simplest strategies to create an environment more conducive to informal hierarchies is by removing formal, dominant ones: titles.
- Location 2036
- organizational design, organizational structure, hierarchy,
- [note::This strongly resonates - instead of titles, have people self-describe how they add value to the comunity.]

Here are some ideas to consider: Digital tokens of appreciation. Civics Unplugged uses the HeyTaco! plugin in Slack. Each community member has five tacos to give away to others every day and can easily do that by tagging their name in the appreciation message. Describe how people add value. Titles are shortcuts that simplify what members bring to a community. How else do you describe everything someone does in a two- or three-word title? Instead of defaulting to a role, help people describe their contributions instead. For example, instead of being the “director of partnerships,” a community member might “lead the partnership with _____ in order to _____.” Titles grant clout, but not everyone can be a director of something. If you truly want to empower every member to lead, you’ll need to help them describe how they add value using numbers and stories, which are infinite. Model the way. People look to community builders for cues on how to act. If you move away from status-signaling language, you’ll inspire others to do so as well! It’s especially powerful when high-status community members (founders, long-time members, accomplished people) describe themselves as simply “members” or “friends” or some other shared identifier. For example, folks in Civics Unplugged’s community are all called Builders!
- Location 2050
-

If you’re reading this and feel removing titles isn’t realistic for your community, there’s another alternative: creative and uncommon titles that don’t imply hierarchy. These titles can be everything from “Community Empowerment Associate” to “Operations Ninja” in less formal scenarios. Instead of presidents and vice presidents, you might remove the part of the title that broadcasts rank and instead highlight what people do (“vice president of marketing” → “head of marketing” or “marketing lead”). Any change that creates space for informal hierarchies to emerge is a step in the right direction.
- Location 2060
-

one of the biggest barriers to decentralizing power are the asymmetries that exist between community members, which can lead to unintended power-over dynamics.
- Location 2065
-
- [note::Key takeaway: Reduce asymmetries between community members]

Relationships with a broad swath of members, so anyone who wants to organize cross-team projects needs to ask the founder to facilitate the connection.
- Location 2069
-
- [note::This is where Superhive fits in!]

Community builders must consciously speak about and manage these asymmetries. If we don’t, power will remain concentrated with “high-status” members and everyone else will find it hard to step up and lead.
- Location 2076
-

Here are some common asymmetries and steps you might take to address them: Information. Founding and older members can have more context about the community: why it was created, how it has changed, current projects and their statuses, and short- and long-term goals. Consider creating whitepapers, newsletters, or even a content index of inspirations that captures your community’s evolution and thought process. Relationships. Extroverted members, or folks who are heavily involved in community member recruitment, selection, and onboarding processes have a disproportionate number and depth of relationships within the community. Consider creating member directories, one-to-one and small group networking events, and simple processes to facilitate personal introductions between members whose work and interests align (maybe there’s a template people can use to make intros for each other)! Skill. Older members or those with industry/academic experience will often have more expertise in certain areas the community needs help with. It’s a good thing to have these folks around! Facilitate mentor-mentee matches, develop skill-sharing workshops, or even organize cohort-based STEVEs (like the ones discussed in Chapter 2.5) to help new members gain the knowledge they need to contribute as well.
- Location 2078
-

Along the way, engage in meta-reflection. Observe your own actions within the community and talk about your power and status with others—it shouldn’t be a taboo topic! As a “high status” community member, your intention to step back and devolve power can catalyze a positive chain reaction.
- Location 2089
-

The goal is to make it easy for anyone to be able to figure out things like… Inspirations and influences. What people, content, or other communities have influenced the design of your own? Not only is this information very telling about the vibe and purpose of your community, it’s a great way to capture the thought and intention that went into creating it. Tools. Technology plays a huge role in digital communities and can be new or hard to navigate. That’s why a whole chapter in this book is dedicated to exploring various community platforms! Documenting what tools your community uses and how you use them can help increase member effectiveness and collaboration. Key objectives and design choices. Create documents that outline key objectives, design choices, and potential pitfalls for your community’s core events, projects, and practices. Design docs serve as a forcing function for you to explain why something in your community is designed a certain way, how it serves members, and realizes your community’s purpose. It makes it easy for new leaders to iterate on old initiatives and create new ones with the insight from previous experiments. Processes. Popular phrases like “The journey is more important than the destination” and “The means do not justify the ends” speak to the importance of process: how you achieve something is just as important, if not more so, than what you achieve. Almost every community activity has an associated process, whether that’s how you onboard new members or address conflicts. Processes form the bulk of your documentation. By writing down the how, you make it easy for processes to be replicated, examined, and evolved by new members, not just the people who created them.
- Location 2104
-
- [note::Creating a community handbook/wiki]

At the beginning of my journey, I fell into the trap of putting softer community interactions like welcoming people or asking how they’re doing in the “if time allows” category (time usually did not allow). It’s easy to de-prioritize small and seemingly insignificant actions, not realizing communities are built on the micro moments in between big, sparkly events. I’ve found it helpful to block time on my calendar dedicated to tending communities and checking in with members.
- Location 2185
- community stewardship,
- [note::This resonates - need to block out some time for "community tending" each week]

As author and former dot-com business executive Seth Godin says, “Ideas in secret die. They need light and air, or they starve to death.” If you don’t have the bandwidth to build a community, the next best option is to find someone similarly capable, committed, and passionate about your cause!
- Location 2198
-

once young people develop emotional maturity, their interests no longer center around themselves. They start expanding their sense of self and directing energy to serve others.
- Location 2216
-

If you aren’t able to find existing communities that address a problem you’ve personally experienced, that is one of the best signals to start your own.
- Location 2241
-

Beyond creating confusion, introducing changes to your Group too quickly may alienate community members who are used to the status quo. Changes could simply be so different from the Group’s current vibe that no one knows how to show up anymore, especially if people haven’t experienced true community before. Move too fast, and you risk losing people along the transition.
- Location 2290
-

Instead of breaking everything down and re-building anew (which requires your community to go through a period of chaos with undefined culture), shift your Group’s culture gradually. Gentle experiments help everyday members feel acknowledged and supported along the way, give people time to adjust to new ways of showing up in the community, and empower them to be part of the community’s transformation.
- Location 2294
-

Making observations is a powerful strategy to help community members gain self-awareness and shift group dynamics toward a new culture. You might say, “I noticed we’ve created a norm of not having our video on during team meetings… Is this the kind of vibe we want to create? How did this happen? What actions can we take to ensure we are building the kind of vibe we want?” You can also observe the emotional reaction someone has to an experiment, or the tensions and commonalities that emerge. An observation might be, “It seems like everyone enjoyed the new icebreaker platform we tried out.”
- Location 2312
-

Remember, you can make small experiments less awkward (especially ones like asking how people are doing and sitting in silence) by explicitly stating and explaining why this is something you’re trying. Throughout the process, observation and reflection is key!
- Location 2347
-
- [note::It's okay to go meta! The goal is to reduce uncertainty/awkwardness.]

Rituals vary dramatically based on the vibe you’re trying to create. Brainstorm with community members. Ask folks what they enjoy doing, what could be made one hundred times better if done with people instead of alone, and what aligns most closely with your community’s vision. Then,…
- Location 2352
-

If you’re looking for ideas, some rituals include… Community reflection threads—Create a daily or weekly reflection prompt members can respond to in Slack or a similar platform and get to know each other. Reflection threads give people an excuse to connect (starting conversations can feel awkward), and move conversations towards personal experiences and feelings, which facilitates deeper connection. Shoutouts and gratitude—What better way is there to help people feel seen and appreciated, than by publicly recognizing their contributions? In Civics Unplugged’s Slack channel, weekly Sunday Shoutout posts encourage community members to shout out a personal accomplishment and a fellow community member for something awesome they did. For example, one Builder wrote, “@xxx- For one of my scholarship applications I was asked to write about an act of patriotism that inspires me, and I chose to write about you and Bloom. I was awarded the scholarship today, and I just wanted to tell you you’re a cool human who’s doing cool things.” Needless to say, it made that person’s day. Art and movement—Another strategy is to create rituals that foster deep connection by incorporating art (poem, music, a piece of writing) or movement (…
- Location 2354
-

The best events include opportunities for members to… Connect 1:1 or in small groups—It’s easy for members to get lost as your community grows. Small groups are where connections of care are formed. Consider hosting events like PowerPoint nights, scavenger hunts, and bake offs that help people get to know each other in new, playful environments. Platforms like Gatheraround and Glimpse make it easy to create speed-dating style events between members. Initiatives like peer accountability buddies or mentorship programs also foster intimate connection. Talk, vent, make sense of the world—It can sometimes feel like every community event is about content. We think the best way to support people is to give them tools and more tools, when in reality, people just want a place to make sense of the world and feel connected to others. Any dialogue event that invites people to talk about “whatever feels meaningful” and has a facilitator to hold space is a surefire way to help people feel acknowledged and like they belong. Solve a problem together—Few things bring people closer together than working on a meaningful project and creating something…
- Location 2369
-

Stop waiting for celebrities to use their platforms, corporations to take action, or politicians to get elected and “do the right thing.” The truth is the vast majority of what can be done to better the world does not depend on the decisions people in power make. People are power. You give power, create power, and have power to build a brighter future.
- Location 2542
- agency, power, favorite, leadership,

Chen, Richard. “The History of Internet Communities.” Richard Chen (blog). January 16, 2019. https://rchen8.medium.com/the-history-of-internet-communities-f0234db848b1
- Location 2676
- digital community, 1resource/article,

Higgins, Josh. “The Evolution of Digital Communities and Where They’re Headed.” Truss, Inc. (blog). August 13, 2018. https://medium.com/@TrussInc/the-evolution-of-digital-communities-and-where-theyre-headed-65afb03acbb
- Location 2682
-

Strickler, Yancey. “The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (Ideaspace #16).” The Ideaspace (blog). May 16, 2019. https://ideaspace.substack.com/p/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet.
- Location 2694
-

Zuckerman, Ethan. “A History of Digital Communities… In Seven Minutes.” Ethan Zuckerman (blog). May 12, 2006. https://ethanzuckerman.com/2006/05/12/a-history-of-digital-communities-in-seven-minutes/
- Location 2700
-

Klinenberg, Eric. Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2018.
- Location 2712
-

New_ Public. “Tend to Your Digital Gardens: Flowers, Weeds, and All.” New_Public (blog). June 13, 2021. https://newpublic.substack.com/p/-tend-to-your-digital-gardens-flowers.
- Location 2730
-

Brown, Jessica, Louie Montoya, and Sam Seidel. “Setting Group Intentions for Brave Spaces.” Stanford d.school. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/norms.
- Location 2740
-

Forte, Tiago. “The Future of Education is Community: The Rise of Cohort-Based Courses.” Forte Labs (blog). March 8, 2021. https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-rise-of-cohort-based-courses/.
- Location 2744
-

Forte, Tiago. “The Future of Online Learning: STEVEs (Short Tiny Exclusive Virtual Experiences).” Forte Labs (blog). February 19, 2017. https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-future-of-online-learning-steves-short-tiny-exclusive-virtual-experiences/.
- Location 2747
-

Ozenc, Kursat. “Introducing Ritual Design: Meaning, Purpose, and Behavior Change.” Ritual Design Lab (blog). April 1, 2016. https://medium.com/ritual-design/introducing-ritual-design-meaning-purpose-and-behavior-change-44d26d484edf#.2ktdz2fct.
- Location 2750
-

Parker, Priya. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. New York: Riverhead Books, 2018.
- Location 2753
-

ter Kuile, Casper. The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices. New York: HarperOne, 2020.
- Location 2757
-

Agrawal, Radha. Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life. New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2018.
- Location 2759
-

Closing the Loop. “Tiktok, Emergent Creativity, The Limits of Social Graphs, and whatever else Eugene talked about (E1).” May 21, 2021. Video, 1:25:54. https://youtu.be/xbnDay35L8I.
- Location 2761
-

Hamel, Gary, and Michele Zanini. Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.
- Location 2780
-

Citizen University. “Just like a garden, democracy takes effort, care, and work to thrive. Living like a citizen in our democracy means we have to think and act like a gardener.” Instagram. September 24, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/p/CFhpYK6AgS8/.
- Location 2793
- democracy,

Liu, Eric. You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen. New York: PublicAffairs, 2017.
- Location 2797
-

Beyond helping us find our inner circle of friends, digital communities help us coordinate with people different from us in order to tackle today’s critical global issues. As the activists behind #FridaysForFuture and March For Our Lives have shown us, digital public spaces like subreddits and Twitter threads are key building blocks of bottom-up power.
- Location 89
- public infrastructure, grassroots advocacy, digital public space, community formation,
- [note::I agree with this, but I don't think existing digital tools (or at least, popular digital tools) lend themselves well to this kind of organization.]

Like many young people, I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure out where I belong, how I contribute, and why it all matters. I didn’t realize there was a term associated with the things I was looking for: community.
- Location 118
-
- [note::"Finding community is about trying to figure out where I belong, how I contribute, and why it all matters."]

Here’s my understanding of community: a group of people who build power together through belonging and mutual care.
- Location 126
-
- [note::I take "power" to mean]

Communities should help people feel as though they are growing with each other into the best versions of themselves. By doing so, positive communities help people realize their full potential and be of service to the world.
- Location 169
-

She recognized early on the importance of community between people of color, women-identifying folks, and other marginalized people in STEAM. As a result, Ruqaiyah relentlessly searched for spaces where she could meet like-minded people with similar aspirations and vision for the future.
- Location 177
-
- [note::I need to do more of this - (1) get clear about my aspirations and (2) RELENTLESSLY search for spaces where I can meet like-minded people who share those aspirations.]

“As far as virtual community goes, it’s very one-sided. They kind of lecture, lecture, lecture, talk, talk, talk. It’s not necessarily a collaborative thing. During meetings and other big events, the community is very dictatorship-like.”
- Location 185
-
- [note::This kind of feels like my experience with EA Philly and EA more generally.]

Just because people are in one place, associate with the same identity group, or label themselves a “community,” it doesn’t mean connections magically emerge. Connections on a deeper level require work, no matter how many “things in common” people start out with.
- Location 191
-
- [note::Good thing to reflect on - just because you call your group a "community" doesn't actually means any meaningful relationships are being developed. I need to think harder about how I can foster these relationships.]

Fabian Pfortmüller is the founder and CEO of the Together Institute, an organization dedicated to building healthy, caring, and impactful communities.
- Location 193
-
- [note::I should read this guys work]

Ruqaiyah told me about a few more “communities” she was a part of: “It’s very much run by the people who started it. Everyone else kind of jumps in and out whenever they want to.”
- Location 207
-
- [note::This is a major issue EA Philly has]

In prior experiences, Ruqaiyah experienced how dreadful it was to get people to do things without relationships with one another. As a result, creating space for informal relationships to emerge was at the center of Breaking Barriers. Through spontaneous hangouts, movie nights, and late-night text message chats about everything from COVID to mental health, community members were no longer just “another person working on x project.” They were her friends.
- Location 228
-
- [note::This resonates strongly with me. Especially "how dreadful it was to get people to do things without relationships with one another" - with EA Philly operations meetings, I made the mistake of expecting people want to do things for the org m without actually making space for friendships to develop between organizers.]

Their Slack features everything from a popping #ask-me-anything channel with accomplished founders, to #all-smiles-here, featuring positive quotes, memes, and other community bonding content.
- Location 251
-

Community spirit needs to start at the smallest levels and expand outwards, from within internal leadership to the organization as a whole. Shivali notes in youth-led nonprofits, your group’s leaders are also your most engaged members and target audience. If you aren’t able to build community within the team, you can’t expect to do it on a larger scale. Scaling something that doesn’t exist is a recipe for disaster.
- Location 263
-

Building trust between members can be as simple as daily reflection threads, where people pose thoughtful questions to each other. It can be intensive cohort-based experiences, like a small discussion and mutual support group.
- Location 283
-

Think about communities as “relationship gyms,” where people can opt into tons of different experiences to cultivate their relationship muscle—the muscle that holds the community together.
- Location 284
- relationships, connection,
- [note::Interesting idea. Community = "Relationship gym"]

“If Facebook is people you know talking about things you don’t care about, then Reddit is people you don’t know talking about things you do care about.” —Zubair Janali,
- Location 293
- favorite, social media, attention, digital community, community,
- [note::Who is the author of this quote?
Answer: They're a part of reddit's leadership team]

A recent study by Tapatalk revealed 64 percent of Gen Zers and millennials feel more understood by specialized online communities than by family and real-world friends.
- Location 398
-
- [note::Wow. I figured this number would be relatively high, but I would've guessed around 40% rather than 64%. I wonder what the sample size and age distribution this study is.]

In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream. The solution to the dark forest? Digital campfires.
- Location 422
-
- [note::Great analogy!]

“If social media can feel like a crowded airport terminal where everyone is allowed, but no one feels particularly excited to be there, digital campfires offer a more intimate oasis where smaller groups of people are excited to gather,” Wilson wrote in the Harvard Business Review.
- Location 425
- community, social media,

Change happens at the speed of trust—yet many of us don’t have access to enough digital spaces where we can be authentic, vulnerable, and build trust with each other.
- Location 434
-

But similar to how digital-first communities complement real-life interactions, smaller digital campfires are important complements to online public squares. You might meet someone at a busy neighborhood park (a public space) and invite them over to tea at your home the next day (a smaller, more private one).
- Location 446
-

In his book Palaces for the People, American sociologist Eric Klinenberg writes, “People forge ties in places that have healthy social infrastructures—not necessarily because they set out to build community, but because when people engage in sustained, recurrent interaction, particularly while doing things they enjoy, relationships—even across ethnic or political lines—[community] inevitably grows.”
- Location 504
- connection, favorite, interaction,
- [note::Check out book on Goodreads]

In fact, a 2018 survey by the health company Cigna shows nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out.
- Location 514
-
- [note::Wow.]

Loneliness is a subjective feeling where the connections we need are greater than the connections we have. This gap diminishes feelings of belonging that are critical to community. It causes people to withdraw from the collective and retreat into themselves. We forget there are people who love and want to help us, if we only ask for their support. We forget what it feels like to get together, pool together our resources, and make collective decisions.
- Location 515
- pink,
- [note::Can personally relate to this]

Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone article, in which he makes the case that technology is the primary evil that caused people to leave clubs and encouraged people to spend leisure time on their own. “Social media allows people to feel like they are in a kind of community, but they don’t actually have deep relationships in them,” Putnam argues.
- Location 527
-
- [note::Agree]

My hypothesis is that individualism runs rampant because we lack spaces where we can work towards something together, in a spirit of collaboration instead of competition. Too often, we live in a zero-sum game with a finite set of resources and opportunities. Competing with others is the only way to get what we need. But given the chance to be part of flourishing communities and take action with others, I believe most of us are eager to contribute to the common good.
- Location 612
- collaboration, abundance mindset, individualism,

Isn’t it unfortunate that power—both decision-making and influence—centralize at the very top? We preach that everyone is powerful but fail to create organizational structures that embody our beliefs.
- Location 655
-
- [note::What kinds of organizational structures strike a good balance between power at both the top and bottom of the org?]

People come back to spaces where they feel acknowledged and appreciated, not just for their contributions, but for simply being themselves.
- Location 666
-

The famous poet Goethe once wrote, “If we treat people as if they were what they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of being.” That is what leading with love means: to treat community members in ways (through empathy, gratitude, authenticity) that help them realize their full potential.
- Location 669
-

Community is something constantly emerging and evolving with the relationships between members. Relationships are formed by members choosing to lean in, not because you’ve pieced together people in some calculated way.
- Location 679
-

As the community builder, your job isn’t to force community to happen. Instead, you’re here to create the right conditions for community to emerge and care for the space that is formed.
- Location 682
- favorite, 1todo evernote, community building, network stewardship, be a gardener,

One of the first things I did for the YOC was write out my answers to all seventy-six questions in the guidebook and fill out a MVC canvas to share with others, from adult supporters to prospective community members.
- Location 752
-
- [note::I should do this with EA Philly - Not only because I think people would have valuable perspectives to share, but I want to make the org more "for the people, BY the people"]

Community Canvas (https://community-canvas.org/). Consider downloading the Canvas and Guidebook to follow along! These tools will help you think methodologically and with intention about community building, which makes you multiple times more effective.
- Location 761
-

Imagine a community where… Relationships flourish: People in the community trust and feel connected to each other. They show up. They feel a persistent sense of belonging. Members have discovered a sanctuary where they are accepted and loved for being themselves. People discover their inner circle of friends. Everyone finds their you-shaped hole: People feel like they’ve found a role in the community at the intersection of their values, strengths, passions, and long-term goals. It’s what they are uniquely positioned to do. This role is meaningful and deserving of great dedication. It gives people ownership and responsibility for the community. People practice real power: People in the community have shared context, good communication, and a common vision for where they’d like to go. Power dynamics are consciously talked about and addressed. Everyone has access to information, relationships, capital, and other resources they need to lead. Community grows and evolves on its own: The community has documented and battle-tested processes that enable it to do what it was created to do. It self-corrects and evolves without a centralized authority. Many generations of stewards have listened and responded to the community’s evolutionary purpose.
- Location 766
-
- [note::Aspirational characteristics of flourishing communities]

Playing the numbers game is one of the biggest mistakes new community builders make. It’s critical to not be corrupted by these extrinsic motivators and remember “finding your people” takes time and intention. YOU decide how big your community is, recognizing the tradeoff between size of the group and intimacy between members. There is no right or wrong size;
- Location 791
-

In the book, they emphasize the importance of starting with two questions: Who do I want to get together? In order for a community to take off, you’ll need passionate members who are able and willing to invest time and energy to help set it up. This initial group will shape early rules and experiences, which then shape your community’s culture and vibe—so it’s critical they embody community values. Why are we coming together? Thriving communities demand a shared purpose. A shared purpose gives people a reason to come together over and over again and helps ground the community in members’ passions and interests. One measure of a flourishing community is whether people feel like they’ve found a “you-shaped hole”—a role in the community that is meaningful to them and deserving of great dedication.
- Location 821
-

if you start with why (mission-driven communities, such as those advocating for the removal of standardized tests or increased access to healthy foods), you’ll think about the who. Consider questions like: Who is affected by this issue? Who cares about this issue? How might you enlist people you have something in common with to care about the issue as well?
- Location 829
-

Other communities start with who (identity-based communities, such as a group of Taiwanese immigrants in Vancouver, WA, or migrant workers with young children). In these scenarios, think about why it’s important for this specific group to meet again and again. Consider questions like: What do the people in this group need more of? What change do people desire? What is the problem this group is uniquely positioned to solve together?
- Location 831
- belonging, connection, connecting, community building,
- [note::Not to be confused with "Start with Who" community building framework]

Do not compromise the quality of community members for quantity.
- Location 853
-

For communities of all sizes, finding your first people can be as simple as creating a flyer on Canva and directly messaging it to twenty friends. This can take just thirty minutes—don’t overcomplicate the process!
- Location 876
- community launch, community building,

Intimate Asks
- Location 876
- h4,

Tap into scarcity and FOMO. These are the more visceral things that move people to act. When folks receive personal invitations to exclusive and “invite only” communities, they are intrigued and want in. No one wants to miss out on the fun.
- Location 888
-

Believe it or not, you can craft intimate asks for people you don’t personally know. One strategy is to find Instagram accounts aligned with your community’s who or why. Look at the followers of those accounts and identify people who fit your ideal community member persona.
- Location 910
-
- [note::This goes for Twitter too!]

Asks at Scale
- Location 913
- h4,

Some ideas for asks at scale include: Posting on social media and running ads (resources allowing) Doing takeovers for other organizations’ social media platforms Promoting in other Slack channels, newsletters, and adjacent communities
- Location 918
- outreach, social media,

Networking consistently across communities is vital!
- Location 929
-
- [note::Need to do more of this!]

There are more barriers to entry that can be used individually or combined with intimate asks to strengthen the screening process. They include… An application. It doesn’t need to be pages: three short answer questions, a one-minute video response, or a quick meeting can work! Make a simple rubric to score responses and commit to accepting members who meet a certain score. Application questions should be open-ended and allow people to express their alignment with your community. It’s worth noting there are exceptions, and quantitative alignment doesn’t always mean a prospective member is the right fit. Trust your intuition as well. Real commitments. It’s easy to sign up for something new, but when most people do, they don’t consider the associated responsibilities. Being a good community member requires time and energy. It’s helpful to have members define their personal contributions. People may realize they don’t have the bandwidth or aren’t really that passionate about the community, which is 100 percent okay. For example, graduates of the Civics Unplugged (CU) Fellowship who want to join the Civics 2030 community are required to complete a Builder Pledge, a commitment to build a brighter future for humanity. Fellows are invited to reflect on personal goals and actions they will take to actualize the community’s vision. Demonstrations of skills and energy. People can make all the commitments they want, but are they able to follow through? If you want to further elevate the barrier to entry, ask people to act on verbal commitments. For example, if someone is interested in helping develop your community’s social media presence, challenge them to create sample posts you can use! If someone would like to help with partnerships, challenge them to come up with a list of mission-aligned organizations to reach out to. An intensive onboarding process. Finally, the onboarding process itself is a way to weed out people who aren’t interested. For example, CU Fellows are required to complete a tech onboarding before the Fellowship starts, where they learn how to use applications like Slack, Zoom, and Notion. If kids are not willing to figure out how the tech platforms work, they will not be a good fit!
- Location 945
- onboarding, exclusivity, community building,
- [note::EA Philly should have an onboarding process like All Tech is Human, Work on Climate, or Climate Action.tech]

it helps new members gain the context and tools they need to “plug in” to the community from the very beginning. Helping people become familiar with a space increases their ability to engage and take ownership. It helps new members feel welcomed and experience a sense of belonging—both key tenets to a healthy community.
- Location 966
-
- [note::Could provide better ways of "plugging in" to EA Philly for both new and veteran EAs]

Onboarding is a great time to ask members to… Learn how to use the technology. Especially in digital-first communities, new members need to understand how the community’s tech platforms work before they can connect with others. For example, if a community is hosted on Slack and someone has no idea how Slack works, they may not be able to reply in a thread, search for pinned posts, or even introduce themselves in a channel. Craft their introduction. One of the best ways to kick off the community building process is to get people talking—and there are few things people like to talk about more than themselves. In the welcome message, encourage new members to share information that both explains why they are here and introduces themselves outside of the community’s immediate context. Knowing someone’s history, identity, and personal experiences allows you to gauge why they are here, welcome them, and tailor community experiences to meet their needs. You may also designate a “welcoming committee” (which can also just be you) to acknowledge new members who arrive, respond to introductions, and help folks navigate their way around the community. The relationship between the community’s creator/main stewards and new members is especially important to help them feel valued. Sign up for an upcoming event. Clearly identify the places where new members can jump in and experience the community’s culture firsthand. Ideally, some of these are icebreaker-type events that maximize one-to-one interaction between members and allow them to engage in meaningful dialogue with as many new people as possible. If you don’t want people to lurk, challenge them to sign up for at least one event! Ask questions. There will no doubt be many questions that surface for folks as they explore the community. Support folks in discovering answers! This can be as simple as creating spaces (like a shared document) for people to “park” their questions so it can be addressed by community moderators or fellow members. Provide feedback on the onboarding process itself. This allows community members to practice co-creation right from the beginning. Ask members for feedback on onboarding effectiveness, areas of confusion, and other aspects of the process that could be improved. If and when you integrate this feedback, reach out to the community member(s) who introduced the idea and make them aware of their impact.
- Location 976
-

“Online Town, Netflix Party, Discord, ham radio, 3-D printable gifts sent as CAD files, networked printers (the messages printing themselves out like on a Ouija board), meeting up on Figma, meeting up on Mario Party, meeting up on Animal Crossing, meeting up on Minecraft, meeting up on World of Warcraft. My lack of physical presence isn’t a limitation, it’s a liberation… I don’t need my body anymore. I’m enjoying learning how to interact using a new, proprioceptive set of senses. Yes, it’s tactile, but I’m not really touching you. Yes, it’s visual, but I’m not really seeing you. A phone call feels more intimate than a Zoom call. Doing activities together feels more intimate than talking. The best online interactions I’ve had don’t try to recreate the past, but start with the premise of disembodiment.” —Nadia Eghbal
- Location 1000
-

I’m here to remind you real people will take up your digital space, so give them as much thought as you would in-person ones. What do your digital spaces look like and which community tech platform(s) enable them to form?
- Location 1015
-

Community tech platforms serve three core functions: synchronous connection, asynchronous connection, and documentation. At minimum, a community needs at least one of these tools;
- Location 1035
-

Synchronous activities are more time intensive to organize, but more effective in mimicking the “real-ness” of in-person connection.
- Location 1052
- events, connection, event planning, community,

Some examples of technologies used for synchronous connection include: Video // Zoom, Facetime, Google Meet, Run The World: Video calls are the most direct alternative to in-person gatherings. You can put faces to names, hear people talk, and observe body language. Small details like people’s clothes, background, or even angle of camera, gives us a feel for the person’s specific vibe. Zoom is a video-chat platform that makes it easy to have meetings big and small. You’ve probably used it before, and for good reason. It’s super reliable and fast. This is the go-to platform in most communities. Many tools also “level up” Zoom. For example, Nearpod slides increase interactivity by allowing people to collaborate on boards and submit questions. You can even encourage people to “hide self-view” in Zoom, which shifts their attention from themselves to others in the digital space. Because Zoom is also the tool many of us use for work or school, it does carry a more formal, meeting-like vibe. After all, these calls are literally called Zoom meetings. If you’re looking for a more social, happy hour vibe, you can start in Zoom and jump into platforms like Gatheround and Glimpse, which make it easy to create short, one-to-one meetings that allow members to connect. Audio // Clubhouse, phone call, Zoom with cameras off: If your community is Zoomed out (which is totally understandable—sitting in front of a computer all day is draining!), you might experiment with audio-first technologies that allow people to connect in real time while giving them flexibility to be away from their desks. What’s cooler, audio even engenders new forms of empathy. Juliana Schroeder, a professor at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, writes audio allows one to “recognize there’s this feeling, thinking person behind the words, because you hear those words imbued with their thoughts and feelings in those moments. It happens at the implicit, visceral level and that allows you to humanize the communicator in a way just reading those words does not.” Clubhouse is a new drop-in audio platform where people can start voice chat rooms to talk about anything that feels meaningful, or simply listen in. Audio creates a more “chill” vibe. Not seeing a sea of faces staring at you on Zoom can create a non-judgment zone that encourages deeper reflection and vulnerability. For example, a community focused on supporting student mental health during exam season might encourage its members to have their weekly Zoom call with cameras off, while walking out in nature. Virtual world // Minecraft, Among Us, Animal Crossing: While virtual worlds are more fringe, they are great digital venues to help people bond, even in communities that aren’t 100 percent game focused. There’s something different about doing something together—whether that’s singing, dancing, building towers, or finding an imposter—that brings delight into digital spaces. In October 2020, over 400,000 users watched a livestream of…
- Location 1060
-
- [note::Run the World? Glimpse? Nearpod slides (Zoom extension)? Clubhouse?]

Some examples of technologies used for asynchronous connection include: Multi-channel chat // Slack, Discord Slack is the asynchronous community building platform to explore. Originally designed for start-ups and distributed teams, it’s a popular chat platform that can be used on both mobile and desktop to send messages to select people, groups, or the community as a whole. Furthermore, there are tons of extensions that customize Slack for your community. For example, HeyTaco! is a tool that allows community members to shout out others by giving them tacos, a form of digital community currency. Other tools, like Donut, match people in a certain Slack channel for custom icebreakers. Discord can be thought of as “Slack for gamers.” The two platforms share many of the same functionalities, such as varying sized group chats, channels to organize discussions, and threads to respond to others’ comments. Discord also allows for easy customization of someone’s experience in the community based on their role (think how this can be applied to onboarding processes!) and voice channels for built-in audio-first collaboration. Social media // Instagram, Facebook, 2Swim People have been gathering on social media for years. Social media can be a synchronous platform, but usually acts as an asynchronous one. Most people spend time on Instagram crafting posts and passively scrolling, not hosting Instagram Lives. While it’s hard for community to be an Instagram page (too many people → people feel anonymous), private social media group chats are a common asynchronous space for budding communities (Instagram chats, Facebook groups). Social media sparks loose bonds that can be moved into smaller, private communities for deeper relationship building. Finally, many new “social-media-like” platforms are popping up to address pitfalls of traditional social media, such as the pressure to virtue signal—communicate a good character by publicly expressing a moral viewpoint—and compare likes. For example, 2Swim is a social platform that doesn’t have posts with likes, but rather private communities and ephemeral messaging where virtue signaling isn’t effective. You can’t virtue signal to close friends, who judge you by your everyday actions, not words.
- Location 1101
-
- [note::HeyTaco! (Slack Extension)? Oooo, LOVE the idea of incorporating Discord roles into onboarding process. I should look into best practices for this.]

Documentation platform(s) shared between members and stewarded by the community are instrumental in organizing information and making it accessible.
- Location 1121
-

Every piece of technology inspires and perpetuates certain values. For example, Google Classroom is built in a way that values hierarchy and centralization of power.
- Location 1162
- technology, value lock-in, technological hegemony, normative technology, techno-social conditioning,

Choose your platform(s) and commit. Just like how we wouldn’t recommend splitting your garden into two different plots of land or moving your garden to a new location every two weeks, don’t move the people in your community too much either.
- Location 1176
- community platforms,

CREATE SPACE
- Location 1212
-

There are three categories of expectations: Etiquette: How community members treat each other and the community infrastructure. How do individuals embody the community’s values and put them into action? For example, a community might ask its members to “follow the golden rule.” Commitment: Just like how citizenship comes with responsibilities, membership does too. What duties do members have and how do they contribute? For example, a community might decide active members must attend a monthly community gathering. Accountability: Consequences must be clearly communicated in order for a rule to be taken seriously. For example, a community might use a three-strike system to remove members. On the first strike, members receive a verbal correction or formal warning, followed by a temporary mute. On the second strike… (you get the idea!)
- Location 1250
-

A set of rules in your community communicates expectations around how people should act. Rather than being a nuisance or inconvenience, they help members interact in meaningful, productive ways.
- Location 1257
-

When creating rules, it’s a lot easier to work backward from your end goal: the type of digital space you want to create. What are the conditions of that space, and what rules create those conditions? Mapping rules to your community’s design objectives ensures rules are not solely created to signal power.
- Location 1269
- community, design, connection,

Designing Our Intentions, a resource created by the Stanford d.school to set group intentions for digital spaces, recommends the following steps: Reflect. What’s a moment where you’ve had a transformational conversation? When did you feel safe, included, and understood? We assume this environment is the type of space you want to replicate in your community. Excavate. What conditions/behaviors/agreements were in place to shape that moment? What unspoken norms were followed by the people involved, including yourself? What processes were present to help the group navigate tricky terrain? Generate. Based on your answers above, what intentions might be helpful for community members as they work together to create space for each other?
- Location 1271
- community building, organizational culture, interaction,

Some common ways rules are presented, from least to most complex, include… Group norms. If your community is smaller or time-bound, simple group norms might be more effective than an elaborate set of guidelines. Norms are rules of behavior that naturally emerge between members, like arriving on time or stepping up, stepping back. Write them down! Community guidelines. If you have a medium-sized community and aren’t sure how to organize rules, this is a good default. Whereas norms are values-based and open to interpretation, guidelines are comprehensive and enforced by community facilitators/moderators. As a result, guidelines hold greater weight and include tangible consequences when broken. Code of conduct. A code of conduct describes specific ways in which members should/shouldn’t act, such as “do not type anything that is spammy, inappropriate, or rude.” It’s especially helpful for larger, execution-oriented communities building significant things together, such as an open-source project or online conference. Constitution. This structure is one of the most robust and comprehensive ways to present rules. It’s best suited for communities with complex governance structures, especially if you’re managing shared funds or other resources together.
- Location 1297
-

As a community builder, one of your core responsibilities is to create a space where people feel safe, included, and understood. When a guideline or norm is violated, consider not only how to deal with the situation at hand, but how your response (or lack of) indicates your values.
- Location 1318
-

In order for facilitators to be effective, they play a couple roles that might not be intuitive. Specifically, facilitators are… Multi-partial. Facilitators are curious about and pay attention to all opinions from members, including those not expressed. They separate themselves from their own biases and try to bring as many perspectives into the conversation as possible, even playing devil’s advocate if people are being overly diplomatic or agreeable. This ensures even if a perspective isn’t represented by the majority, it is considered and valued. Provocateurs. Facilitators help members challenge status quo beliefs and shift dialogue toward personal experiences, feelings, and critical thinking. It’s natural for strangers to prompt surface level “how’s the weather?” questions when they first meet. Without a facilitator, members may not feel comfortable going deeper. By asking challenging questions and helping groups sit with tension, facilitators empower members to gain ownership over their dialogue. Process guides. While facilitators can model how to do something for members, they are not another participant. Facilitators should not contribute the majority of the discussion, “solve” all the challenges groups come across, or always have the answer. Certain things, like taking a stance or talking too much, can compromise a facilitator’s ability to be multi-partial and hold space for all members.
- Location 1354
-

Power dynamics often revolve around who is speaking and how much. Sometimes, language barriers or tech challenges can prevent certain members from fully participating. In these scenarios, facilitators can intentionally create space for these people (e.g., “I noticed our participants from Algeria have not spoken yet. Would anyone like to share their thoughts?”).
- Location 1403
-

Sharing takes a lot of courage. It’s great to shout people out for that, especially if vulnerability is something you’re trying to encourage. Appreciation is as simple as saying, “Thank you for sharing that with us” or “I noticed a lot of [emotion] in your voice as you were talking about x. It seems like x is very important to you.”
- Location 1406
-

“If you inherently long for something, become it first. If you want gardens, become the gardener. If you want love, embody love. If you want mental stimulation, change the conversation. If you want peace, exude calmness. If you want to fill your world with artists, begin to paint. If you want to be valued, respect your own time. If you want to live ecstatically, find the ecstasy within yourself. This is how to draw it in, day by day, inch by inch.” —Victoria Erickson
- Location 1420
-

If we aren’t constantly leveling up many parts of the community and the people within them, we will not provide transformative experiences that keep members coming back and drive them to give back.
- Location 1432
-
- [note::Disagree]

If a community doesn’t constantly evolve it’s who and why, it will fail to attract new members and create impact. One of the easiest ways to ensure a community doesn’t remain static is to create transformative experiences for the people in it.
- Location 1444
-

In the Art of Gathering, Priya Parker writes, “A gathering’s blandness is a symptom of disease. And what is the disease? That the gathering makes no effort to do what the best gatherings do: transport us to a temporary alternative world.” Often, events are an escape: a space for us to do things that aren’t a duty, but a pleasure. Other times, the promise of events is to create space for collective dreaming and realizing components of the world we want to see. Being transported to a different space allows us to shift our perspective on what is possible and bring that back to the “real world” after events conclude.
- Location 1468
-

An event is made transformative when someone is rewarded with a new experience that changes their perspective on the world. People want to feel like meaningful participants. If you invite someone to an event, they should be able to impact how the event goes, even if it’s just in some small way.
- Location 1473
-

here are some truly transformational moments I experienced within digital communities: The first time someone told me they loved me (platonically, as a friend) over Slack. I’d never had someone say that outside of my family before. Growing up, love was often tied to achievement, and I developed an irrational fear I was unlovable. This experience helped me reframe that mental model, externalize my misconception, and realize how much that person and community meant to me. Laughing so hard on a Zoom call I doubled over in my seat and turned my video off. We had been working nonstop for weeks on an important project, were honestly bone-tired, and probably laughing over something insignificant. That day, I saw a side to community members I didn’t know existed… It reminded me of 3 a.m. hotel parties at FBLA conferences where people are 1) super tired, 2) hustling like crazy because the competition is the next day, and 3) bonding over the sheer absurdity of the situation. A really good jam with two close friends over Zoom. It happened after a raw week in the community, and the jam itself felt like an unveiling. We shared our experiences (more similar than I expected), acknowledged each other’s work, talked through next steps, laughed, cried, and came to new realizations about the community and my role in it. When previous to the conversation I felt like my world was falling apart, I left feeling grounded and grateful.
- Location 1495
- belonging, love,

Create first, best, and unusual experiences. By definition, these experiences have the potential for transformation! Try to mix up the events in your community, introduce fun and spontaneity, and challenge members to try new things. From a Zoom yoga session (if that’s not a practice your community usually engages in) to encouraging members to facilitate a dialogue, experiment with new community opportunities. Encourage members to organize these as well, because they know what they want best!
- Location 1507
- event planning,

Spotlight transformation that has already occurred. Transformational experiences happen to us all the time; we simply find it challenging to pinpoint them because we’re not trained to reflect on these moments. It feels like we experience “gradual growth,” when in reality, growth is distributed unevenly over time. We experience great growth during small moments of chaos and amazement (think eureka moments).…
- Location 1510
-

You can model this practice by sharing your own transformation, using phrases like… “This conversation is so good because…” “What you just said is making me realize…” “One of the biggest…
- Location 1515
-

Uplift people’s contributions. Emphasizing how much someone has added to a conversation and helping them feel as if they are making history is powerful. Not only does it feel great, it prompts that person and those around them to notice the contribution, see it in a new light, and make new meaning from it. Uplifting…
- Location 1518
-

Casper ter Kuile’s The Power of Ritual. I started becoming aware of society’s dominant paradigm of the world: the story of more. In the story of more, productivity is one-dimensional, and growth means producing. We are expected to chase the next goal, move fast and break things along the way. Through the book, I learned about a different form of growth, one built on slowing down and cultivating trust. I learned to see goals as milestones in a values-driven life, not something to be put on a pedestal. I started going on walks in the middle of the day. I started playing piano after dinner. I started having sleepovers with my sisters, growing a plant, and even taking periodic tech sabbaths—twenty-four hours of not using my laptop or phone.
- Location 1529
-

STEVEs, which stands for “short, tiny, exclusive virtual experiences,” describe the second wave of online education. STEVEs still leverage digital technologies to create the accessibility of MOOCs, but are designed to foster accountability by allowing individuals to learn with a distributed peer group.
- Location 1557
-

More recently, Forte describes the idea of cohort-based courses: groups of learners who join an online course together and move through at the same pace. The course instructor offers valuable guidance to help learners master the material, but learning happens peer-to-peer instead of top down. Courses become something learners participate in beyond just content consumption.
- Location 1566
-

Community members naturally want to share their unique insights. When they do, it starts a positive feedback cycle of people surfacing new knowledge and applying it to the real world.
- Location 1576
-

In her book Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown describes the concept of collective effervescence: an experience of connection, communal emotion, and a “sensation of sacredness” that happens when we are part of something bigger than ourselves. People who frequently feel this way experience significance and worth. Their lives become coherent and driven by purpose. Rituals are one of the most powerful ways to create collective effervescence, which leads to self-transcendence and transformation.
- Location 1593
-

You can think about ritual creation in two phases: discovery and design. First, it’s important to discover moments in your community with the capacity to hold meaning and symbolism. These actions should also be easily repeated and accessible to your members. You might think about things your community already does together. Maybe you start off every event with an icebreaker question or piece of poetry. Maybe you close every meeting with a reflection question like “What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?” and wave goodbye after people share their answer. Maybe your community coordinates birthday videos for your most active members. After you decide on an action, the next step is to design an experience that adds greater meaning and depth.
- Location 1614
-

For example, I have rituals that prepare me for my tech sabbath: physically cleaning my desk, writing down ten things I’m grateful for, doing five minutes of guided meditation, then watching my laptop power down. As I do this, I’m redefining a part of my life narrative, telling the story that I’m the type of person who slows down, evokes a calming presence, and emanates quiet joy.
- Location 1623
- rituals, mindfulness, digital minimalism,

Ozenc has identified five elements successful rituals use to create new narrative arcs. Reflect on where each of these components show up in your ritual design: Trigger. What in your schedule or the natural world triggers the ritual? It can be a certain day of the week, whenever it starts raining, a team member’s birthday, or something else entirely. Intention spell. What is the purpose of your ritual? What are the values or aspirational selves the ritual brings forth? Without intention, ritual is a mindless routine. Script. What is the beginning, middle, and end to your ritual? A ritual flow contributes to a sense of coherence. Props. Is there a symbolic object the ritual is centered around? It can be anything from sharing food to wearing costumes to listening to a certain type of music. Enactment. What energy do people bring to the ritual? Having a plan for how rituals unfold is great, but it’s up to participants to take on and identify with the new narrative.
- Location 1626
-

In an essay for The New Yorker, author Kyle Chayka writes, “What a haiku is to language, a vibe is to sensory perception: a concise assemblage of image, sound, and movement. A vibe can be positive, negative, beautiful, ugly, or just unique. It can even become a quality in itself: if something is vibey, it gives off an intense vibe or is particularly amenable to vibes. Vibes are a medium for feeling, the kind of abstract understanding that comes before words put a name to experience. That pre-linguistic quality makes them well suited to a social-media landscape that is increasingly prioritizing audio, video, and images over text. Through our screens, vibes are being constantly emitted and received.”
- Location 1655
-

A few things happen once organic exchanges between community members start to produce trust, reciprocity, and good vibes. First, the community’s positive energy pours out and manifests as creative expression: memes, witty comments, internal language, and other artifacts that can only be created by members. Over time, communities externalize their artifacts, creating art, podcasts, newsletters, and whitepapers to share in public. When outsiders see how cool these artifacts are (it might have gained media and cultural attention), it creates FOMO. People want in on good vibes. Energy is infectious.
- Location 1668
- community building, co-creation,

While a vibe can seem intangible, the practices that help you cultivate and express a good vibe are not. These things include your community’s… Beliefs // Create your vibe. The beliefs community leaders and members hold and embody hugely impact their energy. Artifacts and aesthetics // Capture your vibe. Memes, hot takes, language, and branding all breathe life into your community. Stories // Share your vibe. Stories are how we make sense of our experiences. Our lives are devoted to telling stories about what we did, where we were, and who we were with.
- Location 1674
-

What many people don’t realize is these types of mental models also exist in our communities. Maybe not Theory X and Theory Y specifically, but we carry assumptions around how events should be run, how members relate to each other, and what we should spend our time doing. It’s important to constantly interrogate and evolve our mental models to identify whether they are serving or harming our members. Individual mental models, especially those held by a community’s primary stewards, have a huge effect on vibe.
- Location 1694
-

aesthetics are the visual representation of your community’s energy!
- Location 1755
-

When it comes to branding, it’s important to think ahead. Ideally, people will be able to easily recognize and rally around your brand, and the brand can be remixed to meet the evolving needs of members. Consider questions like: How will my logo look placed on swag items? Is our name too many syllables or hard to pronounce? Does our color palette interact well with the metaphors we use to describe our community?
- Location 1783
-

If there aren’t existing stories, outsiders and new community members will fill the gap with their own interpretations of the community’s vibe. You’ll end up with variations of why your community exists that might be unrepresentative of your brand, which creates confusion among members. Imagine you want to communicate that your community has an introspective vibe, where members often engage in contemplative reflection with each other. You can do this in a couple ways: Say the community is introspective, thoughtful, and collaborative. Recite a list of things members do and use these isolated activities as evidence; we have a daily morning meditation practice, weekly character development groups, and a couple of our members even run an online yoga class for local middle school students. Tell a story about how your community members came to adopt the practices above, why they matter, and how these practices have transformed members over time.
- Location 1838
-

storytelling enables you to package your community’s vibe into shareable narratives that are enjoyable to listen to.
- Location 1848
-

Ganz describes a concept called “public narrative,” which brings three stories into one: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now. Story of self—a personal story that shows “why you were called to what you have been called to.” The story of self is different for every community member, and helps listeners empathize with and relate to the storyteller. Story of us—a collective story that illustrates the “shared purposes, goals, and vision” of your community. It helps people understand who is gathering together and why, and invites them to be a part of it. Story of now—an urgent call to action that presents “the challenge this community faces, the choices it must make, and the hope to which ‘we’ can aspire.” This story invites people to see themselves as part of the collective we and join you in taking action on the pressing challenge.
- Location 1850
-
- [note::This could be a great framework for talking about EA.]

Family thinking can give people an unhealthy, overly dependent relationship with your community.
- Location 1884
-

I have met far too many community builders staying up until 2 a.m. throwing together a run of show for their community’s next event, all the while feeling resentful and drained. What’s ironic is community builders want to create the opposite vibe for members. But how can you create something for others you aren’t experiencing yourself? And if you’re creating the event from a place of burn-out, how can you expect that to not affect the event’s design and execution? Sharing power not only creates new leaders, which is essential to your community’s longevity, it’s also a practice of self-preservation. A community isn’t a community until it’s organizing itself.
- Location 1896
-
- [note::"A community isn't a community until it's organizing itself" - Very valuable idea to keep in mind to help facilitate sharing of power between community members and preventing burnout."]

Empowerment isn’t just given; it must be baked into the structures and practices of your community. Instead of something fought over, power becomes something people simply have. It’s no longer zero-sum, where more power for me means less for you. Instead, power can be created, because every member has the support and resources they need to spark change in their corner of the community. When one of us becomes more powerful, all of us become more powerful as well. Gaining power means increasing your capacity to support other’s efforts in even more effective ways.
- Location 1908
-
- [note::Power = The ability and willingness to effect (or not effect) change
This means that more power is distributed amongst members of a community, the more support and resources you, as a community, can collectively leverage.
Power is not zero sum, it is additive.]

Returning to our garden metaphor, instead of a select few “leaders” tending the garden and getting burnt out because there’s so much to do, everyday garden visitors have the power to trim a leaf here and pull out a weed there. Power comes from a combination of the core garden tenders inviting visitor insights around how the community can improve, as well as making resources needed to take action available to visitors, like a list of weeds and gardening shears. Having many people organically notice problems and step up to tend them makes your garden more resilient in the long run.
- Location 1913
-
- [note::This metaphor just keeps on giving]

Here are the two strategies we discuss in this chapter: Lead with love // Help people want to lead. This is the more conscious and caring brand of leadership. While leading with love isn’t everything, it helps people feel valued and needed, two key characteristics of people inspired to contribute to the community in bigger ways. Decentralize power // Make it easy for people to lead. This is the empowerment baked into your community’s structure and practices, so people already have power and don’t need to wait for existing leaders to give it to them. It’s about creating wells of resources and support anyone can draw on to make their corner of the community better.
- Location 1918
-

When people are led lovingly, they feel… Seen and heard Freed to express themselves authentically and vulnerably Validated and appreciated for their ideas and emotions Capable of making tangible contributions that push the community forward Valued and needed for the community’s collective flourishing
- Location 1927
-
- [note::Am I instilling these feelings in others?]

Inclusion
- Location 1935
-

In order to ensure everyone is included and has an equal opportunity to lead, it’s critical to build in optionality. Some strategies to do this include… Normalize rest. Community members (and community builders!) cannot work all the time, nor should they be expected to. Few people want to step up to lead a community where they’re expected to work non-stop or are asked to sacrifice their individual well-being, even if it’s in the service of “doing good.” Make it easy to catch up. Engagement ebbs and flows, especially in youth-centered communities. If someone needs to step back for a month during AP exams, make it easy for them to 1) figure out what went on while they were gone and 2) find ways to plug in when they return. The “catch up” process doesn’t have to be explicit, which can make people feel shamed or falling behind. It can be embedded into weekly community calls, spontaneous jams with core members, a newsletter, or something else entirely. Respect different levels of engagement. It’s critical to acknowledge contributions and leadership at all scales. Yes, be sure to recognize your most engaged and committed members—but don’t exclusively shout out people who are able to dedicate ten or more hours. Not everyone can do that, and it alienates folks who might want to contribute but simply have less bandwidth. You’re likely working closely with your biggest “hand raisers” anyway, so recognize them through other recurring interactions like small group team meetings or one-on-one syncs. Reserve a chunk of public appreciation for budding leaders and members who’ve contributed in small but mighty ways.
- Location 1947
-
- [note::Damn, effective altruism called out!]

Trust needs to exist for members to have courage to call out bad ideas, introduce new ones, and guide the community forward. Some strategies to create trust include… Public reflection and appropriate responses. Encouraging authentic, vulnerable reflection in your community is a subtle signal to members you trust them to hold space for what others share. With this trust comes a degree of personal responsibility and a request for everyday members to help steward the community. But it’s not just about members’ reflections—it’s also how you, the community builder, respond to them. Reflections are a great opportunity for members to share disagreements, new ideas, and ways they desire to step up. Acknowledging and responding appropriately is essential to build trust, not just signal it. Open agendas and dialogue. Creating space for free-flowing dialogue shows you trust members to contribute important insights and help craft meaningful experiences, not just consume them. Create simple guardrails for events instead of a packed agenda to allow for more spontaneity. Trusting in the process and community members is not only liberating for all involved, but often yields beautiful results too! Giving people responsibility. It might seem obvious: If you want to show someone you trust them to do something, let them do it! That said, giving people responsibility does not mean throwing them in the deep end. If a community member has never hosted a group gathering before, you probably don’t want them leading the next big event. Instead, gradually challenge people with new tasks and provide ample guidance and resources along the way. For example, members might… Offer ideas and feedback—One of the simplest ways to loop members in is to ask them for their thoughts. This process is most effective when you approach them with a document, question, or other provocation. Support facilitators behind the scenes—Running an event is no easy thing, and facilitators love any support they can get. Folks can volunteer to take notes, share screen, moderate chat, or another helpful role. This is a great way for members to step up, feel less out of place if new, and continue to learn about the community. Lead or co-lead community events—This works especially well for events with highly documented processes. For example, Civics Unplugged’s juntos (small discussion and mutual support groups) use the same agenda structure each week, which makes it easy for anyone to facilitate. Welcome people into the community—Any member who has been around for a while has context around the community’s purpose, culture, and vibe. Help them help others figure out what’s going on and how to plug in. Document community tools and processes—Especially in digital-first communities, it’s important to write down information to keep people on the same page. Not only is it awesome for the documenter to be seen as a “keeper of wisdom,” but writing down how something works is one of the most effective…
- Location 1966
-

you can be strategic in how you use love to motivate people. For example, you might ask someone, “Do you think we can wrap up [project] today? You are the best,’’ and follow up with, “Thanks again, [name]!” as a friendly reminder for them to complete it. If there still isn’t any progress, you might ask people what resources and support they need, if they’d like to collaborate with another member, or if they’d like to pass ownership of the project to someone else. If it seems like someone’s doubting their contribution to a project or their role on the team, write them a short letter expressing your gratitude for their work and dedication thus far.
- Location 1990
-

In a typical school club, some things people need in order to be successful in a new leadership role include… A title/position in the community Strong relationships with club members Understanding of how different members relate to each other Context about the history and purpose of the club Tips from the previous leader in this role A…
- Location 1999
-

centralizing power holds back the growth of the community.
- Location 2017
- decentralization, power, community,

Author and management consultant Gary Hamel writes in Humanocracy, “On any issue some colleagues will have a bigger say than others will, depending on their expertise and willingness to help. These are hierarchies of influence, not position, and they’re built from the bottom up.” The key is instead of a single formal hierarchy, we want lots of informal, evolving, overlapping ones—based on passions, strengths, and expertise.
- Location 2031
- networks, hierarchy, collaboration, organizational culture, influence,

One of the simplest strategies to create an environment more conducive to informal hierarchies is by removing formal, dominant ones: titles.
- Location 2036
- organizational design, organizational structure, hierarchy,
- [note::This strongly resonates - instead of titles, have people self-describe how they add value to the comunity.]

Here are some ideas to consider: Digital tokens of appreciation. Civics Unplugged uses the HeyTaco! plugin in Slack. Each community member has five tacos to give away to others every day and can easily do that by tagging their name in the appreciation message. Describe how people add value. Titles are shortcuts that simplify what members bring to a community. How else do you describe everything someone does in a two- or three-word title? Instead of defaulting to a role, help people describe their contributions instead. For example, instead of being the “director of partnerships,” a community member might “lead the partnership with _____ in order to _____.” Titles grant clout, but not everyone can be a director of something. If you truly want to empower every member to lead, you’ll need to help them describe how they add value using numbers and stories, which are infinite. Model the way. People look to community builders for cues on how to act. If you move away from status-signaling language, you’ll inspire others to do so as well! It’s especially powerful when high-status community members (founders, long-time members, accomplished people) describe themselves as simply “members” or “friends” or some other shared identifier. For example, folks in Civics Unplugged’s community are all called Builders!
- Location 2050
-

If you’re reading this and feel removing titles isn’t realistic for your community, there’s another alternative: creative and uncommon titles that don’t imply hierarchy. These titles can be everything from “Community Empowerment Associate” to “Operations Ninja” in less formal scenarios. Instead of presidents and vice presidents, you might remove the part of the title that broadcasts rank and instead highlight what people do (“vice president of marketing” → “head of marketing” or “marketing lead”). Any change that creates space for informal hierarchies to emerge is a step in the right direction.
- Location 2060
-

one of the biggest barriers to decentralizing power are the asymmetries that exist between community members, which can lead to unintended power-over dynamics.
- Location 2065
-
- [note::Key takeaway: Reduce asymmetries between community members]

Relationships with a broad swath of members, so anyone who wants to organize cross-team projects needs to ask the founder to facilitate the connection.
- Location 2069
-
- [note::This is where Superhive fits in!]

Community builders must consciously speak about and manage these asymmetries. If we don’t, power will remain concentrated with “high-status” members and everyone else will find it hard to step up and lead.
- Location 2076
-

Here are some common asymmetries and steps you might take to address them: Information. Founding and older members can have more context about the community: why it was created, how it has changed, current projects and their statuses, and short- and long-term goals. Consider creating whitepapers, newsletters, or even a content index of inspirations that captures your community’s evolution and thought process. Relationships. Extroverted members, or folks who are heavily involved in community member recruitment, selection, and onboarding processes have a disproportionate number and depth of relationships within the community. Consider creating member directories, one-to-one and small group networking events, and simple processes to facilitate personal introductions between members whose work and interests align (maybe there’s a template people can use to make intros for each other)! Skill. Older members or those with industry/academic experience will often have more expertise in certain areas the community needs help with. It’s a good thing to have these folks around! Facilitate mentor-mentee matches, develop skill-sharing workshops, or even organize cohort-based STEVEs (like the ones discussed in Chapter 2.5) to help new members gain the knowledge they need to contribute as well.
- Location 2078
-

Along the way, engage in meta-reflection. Observe your own actions within the community and talk about your power and status with others—it shouldn’t be a taboo topic! As a “high status” community member, your intention to step back and devolve power can catalyze a positive chain reaction.
- Location 2089
-

The goal is to make it easy for anyone to be able to figure out things like… Inspirations and influences. What people, content, or other communities have influenced the design of your own? Not only is this information very telling about the vibe and purpose of your community, it’s a great way to capture the thought and intention that went into creating it. Tools. Technology plays a huge role in digital communities and can be new or hard to navigate. That’s why a whole chapter in this book is dedicated to exploring various community platforms! Documenting what tools your community uses and how you use them can help increase member effectiveness and collaboration. Key objectives and design choices. Create documents that outline key objectives, design choices, and potential pitfalls for your community’s core events, projects, and practices. Design docs serve as a forcing function for you to explain why something in your community is designed a certain way, how it serves members, and realizes your community’s purpose. It makes it easy for new leaders to iterate on old initiatives and create new ones with the insight from previous experiments. Processes. Popular phrases like “The journey is more important than the destination” and “The means do not justify the ends” speak to the importance of process: how you achieve something is just as important, if not more so, than what you achieve. Almost every community activity has an associated process, whether that’s how you onboard new members or address conflicts. Processes form the bulk of your documentation. By writing down the how, you make it easy for processes to be replicated, examined, and evolved by new members, not just the people who created them.
- Location 2104
-
- [note::Creating a community handbook/wiki]

At the beginning of my journey, I fell into the trap of putting softer community interactions like welcoming people or asking how they’re doing in the “if time allows” category (time usually did not allow). It’s easy to de-prioritize small and seemingly insignificant actions, not realizing communities are built on the micro moments in between big, sparkly events. I’ve found it helpful to block time on my calendar dedicated to tending communities and checking in with members.
- Location 2185
- community stewardship,
- [note::This resonates - need to block out some time for "community tending" each week]

As author and former dot-com business executive Seth Godin says, “Ideas in secret die. They need light and air, or they starve to death.” If you don’t have the bandwidth to build a community, the next best option is to find someone similarly capable, committed, and passionate about your cause!
- Location 2198
-

once young people develop emotional maturity, their interests no longer center around themselves. They start expanding their sense of self and directing energy to serve others.
- Location 2216
-

If you aren’t able to find existing communities that address a problem you’ve personally experienced, that is one of the best signals to start your own.
- Location 2241
-

Beyond creating confusion, introducing changes to your Group too quickly may alienate community members who are used to the status quo. Changes could simply be so different from the Group’s current vibe that no one knows how to show up anymore, especially if people haven’t experienced true community before. Move too fast, and you risk losing people along the transition.
- Location 2290
-

Instead of breaking everything down and re-building anew (which requires your community to go through a period of chaos with undefined culture), shift your Group’s culture gradually. Gentle experiments help everyday members feel acknowledged and supported along the way, give people time to adjust to new ways of showing up in the community, and empower them to be part of the community’s transformation.
- Location 2294
-

Making observations is a powerful strategy to help community members gain self-awareness and shift group dynamics toward a new culture. You might say, “I noticed we’ve created a norm of not having our video on during team meetings… Is this the kind of vibe we want to create? How did this happen? What actions can we take to ensure we are building the kind of vibe we want?” You can also observe the emotional reaction someone has to an experiment, or the tensions and commonalities that emerge. An observation might be, “It seems like everyone enjoyed the new icebreaker platform we tried out.”
- Location 2312
-

Remember, you can make small experiments less awkward (especially ones like asking how people are doing and sitting in silence) by explicitly stating and explaining why this is something you’re trying. Throughout the process, observation and reflection is key!
- Location 2347
-
- [note::It's okay to go meta! The goal is to reduce uncertainty/awkwardness.]

Rituals vary dramatically based on the vibe you’re trying to create. Brainstorm with community members. Ask folks what they enjoy doing, what could be made one hundred times better if done with people instead of alone, and what aligns most closely with your community’s vision. Then,…
- Location 2352
-

If you’re looking for ideas, some rituals include… Community reflection threads—Create a daily or weekly reflection prompt members can respond to in Slack or a similar platform and get to know each other. Reflection threads give people an excuse to connect (starting conversations can feel awkward), and move conversations towards personal experiences and feelings, which facilitates deeper connection. Shoutouts and gratitude—What better way is there to help people feel seen and appreciated, than by publicly recognizing their contributions? In Civics Unplugged’s Slack channel, weekly Sunday Shoutout posts encourage community members to shout out a personal accomplishment and a fellow community member for something awesome they did. For example, one Builder wrote, “@xxx- For one of my scholarship applications I was asked to write about an act of patriotism that inspires me, and I chose to write about you and Bloom. I was awarded the scholarship today, and I just wanted to tell you you’re a cool human who’s doing cool things.” Needless to say, it made that person’s day. Art and movement—Another strategy is to create rituals that foster deep connection by incorporating art (poem, music, a piece of writing) or movement (…
- Location 2354
-

The best events include opportunities for members to… Connect 1:1 or in small groups—It’s easy for members to get lost as your community grows. Small groups are where connections of care are formed. Consider hosting events like PowerPoint nights, scavenger hunts, and bake offs that help people get to know each other in new, playful environments. Platforms like Gatheraround and Glimpse make it easy to create speed-dating style events between members. Initiatives like peer accountability buddies or mentorship programs also foster intimate connection. Talk, vent, make sense of the world—It can sometimes feel like every community event is about content. We think the best way to support people is to give them tools and more tools, when in reality, people just want a place to make sense of the world and feel connected to others. Any dialogue event that invites people to talk about “whatever feels meaningful” and has a facilitator to hold space is a surefire way to help people feel acknowledged and like they belong. Solve a problem together—Few things bring people closer together than working on a meaningful project and creating something…
- Location 2369
-

Stop waiting for celebrities to use their platforms, corporations to take action, or politicians to get elected and “do the right thing.” The truth is the vast majority of what can be done to better the world does not depend on the decisions people in power make. People are power. You give power, create power, and have power to build a brighter future.
- Location 2542
- agency, power, favorite, leadership,

Chen, Richard. “The History of Internet Communities.” Richard Chen (blog). January 16, 2019. https://rchen8.medium.com/the-history-of-internet-communities-f0234db848b1
- Location 2676
- digital community, 1resource/article,

Higgins, Josh. “The Evolution of Digital Communities and Where They’re Headed.” Truss, Inc. (blog). August 13, 2018. https://medium.com/@TrussInc/the-evolution-of-digital-communities-and-where-theyre-headed-65afb03acbb
- Location 2682
-

Strickler, Yancey. “The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (Ideaspace #16).” The Ideaspace (blog). May 16, 2019. https://ideaspace.substack.com/p/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet.
- Location 2694
-

Zuckerman, Ethan. “A History of Digital Communities… In Seven Minutes.” Ethan Zuckerman (blog). May 12, 2006. https://ethanzuckerman.com/2006/05/12/a-history-of-digital-communities-in-seven-minutes/
- Location 2700
-

Klinenberg, Eric. Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2018.
- Location 2712
-

New_ Public. “Tend to Your Digital Gardens: Flowers, Weeds, and All.” New_Public (blog). June 13, 2021. https://newpublic.substack.com/p/-tend-to-your-digital-gardens-flowers.
- Location 2730
-

Brown, Jessica, Louie Montoya, and Sam Seidel. “Setting Group Intentions for Brave Spaces.” Stanford d.school. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/norms.
- Location 2740
-

Forte, Tiago. “The Future of Education is Community: The Rise of Cohort-Based Courses.” Forte Labs (blog). March 8, 2021. https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-rise-of-cohort-based-courses/.
- Location 2744
-

Forte, Tiago. “The Future of Online Learning: STEVEs (Short Tiny Exclusive Virtual Experiences).” Forte Labs (blog). February 19, 2017. https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-future-of-online-learning-steves-short-tiny-exclusive-virtual-experiences/.
- Location 2747
-

Ozenc, Kursat. “Introducing Ritual Design: Meaning, Purpose, and Behavior Change.” Ritual Design Lab (blog). April 1, 2016. https://medium.com/ritual-design/introducing-ritual-design-meaning-purpose-and-behavior-change-44d26d484edf#.2ktdz2fct.
- Location 2750
-

Parker, Priya. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. New York: Riverhead Books, 2018.
- Location 2753
-

ter Kuile, Casper. The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices. New York: HarperOne, 2020.
- Location 2757
-

Agrawal, Radha. Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life. New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2018.
- Location 2759
-

Closing the Loop. “Tiktok, Emergent Creativity, The Limits of Social Graphs, and whatever else Eugene talked about (E1).” May 21, 2021. Video, 1:25:54. https://youtu.be/xbnDay35L8I.
- Location 2761
-

Hamel, Gary, and Michele Zanini. Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.
- Location 2780
-

Citizen University. “Just like a garden, democracy takes effort, care, and work to thrive. Living like a citizen in our democracy means we have to think and act like a gardener.” Instagram. September 24, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/p/CFhpYK6AgS8/.
- Location 2793
- democracy,

Liu, Eric. You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen. New York: PublicAffairs, 2017.
- Location 2797
-