Community scripts (testing crosspost fcn)

[petronia]

Not server-side scripts, but scripts delineating socializing and interaction. This is something I scribbled down out of the April issue of the Harvard Business Review (ahaha) that seemed appropriate to discourse on Dreamwidth (which is mostly discourse about Dreamwidth, still).

The idea is that a community can organize itself around more than one script, but it can't manage all of them, and some are incompatible with each other, so one has to figure out at the design stage which scripts are most compatible with the goals of the community and implement them (via incentives, rules of conduct, etc.). Of course, the scripts users follow in practice may be at odds with what is feasible or advisable with a given technical setup.

COMMUNITY SCRIPTS

The Tribe: deep interpersonal connections. Common experiences, rituals and traditions.

The Fort: exclusive, protected safe space for insiders.

The Sewing Circle: organized around common interest(s). Socialization around exchange of experience, support.

The Patio: semi-private space. In-depth, meaningful connections and conversations.

The Bar: public space. Shallow but reliable connections and conversations.

The Tour Group: participation in new experiences while staying within the comfort zone formed by the community.

The Performance Space: a place to find an audience for one's talent(s), and to act as an audience for others.

The Barn Raising: coming together to accomplish a task while socializing.

The Summer Camp: a periodic experience that reaffirms connections.


COMMUNITY SHAPES

Pool: activity geared around interests or topics, not personal connections.

Web: network of one-to-one relationships.

Hub: many people who have relationships with a central "celebrity" figure, but not with each other.

Comments

[charmian]

Hmm, very interesting! I'm not sure what the definition of "community" is, though, in this context. Is it a "social group" or more like a "site" or a "software"? Because within LJ I can think of many groups which follow various scrips, within the rules set by LJ. It seems that on LJ.com proper because the rules are fairly broad, and most real "communities" within LJ have different social standards, there's a lot of communities on LJ which enforce their norms through differing standards.

(It's sort of confusing how the shapes and scripts differ at points: some scripts seem to be associated with certain shapes, others not)

[petronia]

I think the definition of "community" here is simply how you would use it in real life, i.e. a group comprised of people, not equal to "site" or "software".

Shapes (this is my word, I don't remember what it was in the paper) and scripts are two different axes. For instance, MeFi is a Bar and a Pool, but Perez Hilton's blog is a Bar and a Hub. IMO the metaphor also extends - so that something like the ILX forum, while still a Bar, has users who may well be called "regulars", and the regulars can be said to form a Tribe. So the community can turn from one to the other over time (discouraging of newcomers, if it's the type of bar where everyone falls silent where a stranger walks in), or it can balance the two functions easily or uneasily.

[charmian]

Ah, I see; although sometimes it's a rather difficult problem to define what is a "community." Is it a bunch of social links or a shared space? What delimits a group of people/organizes it? For example, on LJ for ex, is "everyone on my friends list" a community?

[two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com]

So wait. Would a community set out to define itself using a script, or does it end up applying itself to a script that emerges? Also do they mix and match shapes with scripts, or are some incompatible? like can you have a web-shaped performance space, or a hub shaped tribe?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

All of the above. XD And as Charmian pointed out in the other place, a platform like "Livejournal" is not one community, but any number of communities running any number of scripts, although its capabilities as a platform probably encourage certain scripts over others - it's hard to make a "Fort" without some form of password or privacy control, for instance.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

For instance, SSBB is definitely a Performance Space, with elements of Sewing Circle and Summer Camp. I think for some participants there's also an element of Tour Group. It's definitely not a Fort, a Bar, or a Tribe. Shape-wise I actually worry that it's too much of a Hub, in the sense that there's me posting and making the rules, then everyone else (all members have posting access to bb_shousetsu, but de facto only the mods ever make posts there). ^^;

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Huh, why would it be a tour group?

Eh... but I think it would be reasonable for them to have that perception, because didn't you create a separate discussion comm?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

It's a Tour Group because many people are writing or publishing original fiction for the first time, in what they perceive to be a positive supportive environment.

I created a separate discussion comm only after I despaired of spontaneous discussions on the main comm itself. XD (And no one uses the discussion comm either.)

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Why do you think there is a lack of discussion? Could it be that because of pseudonomyity people feel they don't know who all the other people at the party are?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I've come to the conclusion that it takes place elsewhere - SSBB has developed mechanisms for hooking up writers with betas, illustrators, etc. who then take to email or what have you. Most of my actual interaction with participants happens in email, for instance. And the nature of the beast is not very meta-riffic. :P

One way to see this is that if I had a better preconception of the kind of scripts useful to the community I wouldn't have bothered trying to encourage on-comm discussion anyway.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Well, in some ways, I think it does make sense, because it's not like there is particularly any reason for such one-to-one interactions to take place in public? Other than that, what is there?

[koganbot]

Other potential community scripts:

--Two or more people who chafe on each other are forced to work on critically important project; develop respect and affection for one another
--Someone dies helping the hero
--Vengeance upon my enemy is at hand, but enemy turns out to have a beautiful, well-meaning daughter
--Dividing up loot
--High school located atop a hellmouth

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Not to be facetious, but not all of these have the potential to be stable and self-sustaining over time! Also you need to give them names like "The Odd Couple" or "The Sunnydale High". XD

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting! But what happens if they chose a bad script? Will the community automatically drift towards a better script?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Either that or the community will never get off the ground - lots of that too.