However, I worry that "Build network communication channels" and "Initiate digital social network" don't appear until Phase 5.
IMHO symbiotic networks may be easier to create and more likely to survive if the network communication channels were established prior to, or alongside the in-person meetings.
All too often vast amounts of energy are wasted when conference, or event attendees dissipate after meeting face-to-face because no suitable communication channels have been established to keep the network alive. Even worse than this is the time wasted on the incessant debate about which tools to use for network communications - some people prefer email, some don’t like email, some like Slack, some prefer Telegram and then someone proposes a new forum, which fails to achieve enough adoption from members of the network that are already suffering from platform fatigue.
How can we move from siloed groups to effective symbiotic networks, without requiring people to adopt yet another platform or communication channel?
The answer is "by adopting shared protocols".
By adopting a shared protocol for group identification, discovery and progress updates network participants don’t need to change their existing ways of working, adopt another platform or even agree to use the same platform as every other group. They can stick with our existing tools, or preferred ways of working and benefit from wider dissemination of their work, easier discovery of related work of other groups, synergistic opportunities, and improved pathways to cooperation and collaboration at the same time.
As outlined in my post on Defining the DNA of collaboration https://open.coop/2019/03/07/defining-dna-collaboration/ the above could be achieved if groups adopted a simple protocol - a basic publishing format - which exposed:
- The group / organisation’s shared purpose
- A list of freeform tags describing the scope of their work
- A link to their RSS feed
These basic ingredients, which we have now encoded as part of the decentralised network protocol we call Murmurations, ( https://murmurations.network/ ) enable aggregators (i.e Group Coordinators at the network level) to aggregate member profiles, members news updates and even Offers and Wants to build ‘symbiotic networks’ around of any particular topic area, country, biome, or other kind of network.
By encouraging participants in symbiotic networking efforts to adopt shared protocols from the outset, rather than waiting until phase 5, it should be much easier to develop the long-lasting, resilient networks which we need to enable a collaborative regenerative economy.
Thank you for taking the time to express your passion about connecting and supporting collaborative community. And, I do love your protocols. I have been wondering about the challenge of having multiple on the ground networks already working in local communities, but who are not sharing "data", like they are separate threads, who each may be using their own coordination and collaboration channels -- but not a whole quilt.
Great job and I would love to learn more. Maybe a call sometime.
About the Phase 5 in the diagram, I shared this diagram up front rather than wait until later in the book release process. I will explain the reasoning for the sequence much later. Many have asked what is one of the end action tools of symbiotic networking. So, I have always been open to being flexible based on real-world needs - if people want to use those digital tools straight away, people in a local community can do what they want.
The reason for introducing digital tools later in that diagram is to emphasize that the early stages of symbiotic networks is totally different than onboarding people for other purposes, such as being at conferences or doing a time fenced short or medium term project.
That's not what is happening here at all. These are very intimate "trust networks" where people come together face-to-face for a period of time and are not "coordinating" anything at all other than meeting first one to one and then in a small group for probably 30 days.
My focus of Symbiotic Culture is not on any initial technical solutions at all. It is very low tech on purpose.
Let's take this offline as I am very interested in starting an ongoing conversation about your tech while I am releasing the book. I am very excited about what you shared.
This is a very cool infographic! And it's reminscient of what I attempted to do to connect the silos of my local music and arts community where I live a couple of years ago. I kind of intuited a similar approach but not nearly as fleshed out. Unfortunately I never quite got the first round of meetings together and ended up creating yet another silo of my own flavour of creative community instead!
I'm really looking forward to the book. But I'm curious about what you have shared here. Can you really connect and align a whole massive symbiotic network in just a few meetings like this? If it was this easy, couldn't any charismatic leader march into a space and become a catalytic connector? Is there something missing here? Or is it actually as easy to do as it looks on paper?
Would love to read case studies of where this has worked, what the challenges were and what the outcomes were like.
Daniel, I really appreciate your enthusiasm. Your question about how simple and easy it looks! It may be simple (lack of formal structures, doesn't cost anything, no need for employees like in a nonprofit, doesn't take a lot of time) but it is not "easy." It may look easy now because I learned all the lessons about what not to do and what to do over the last thirty years. You are right about the many pitfalls of developing community-based networks.
There are many aspects to it that may not be apparent. For example, doing your own mapping of the existing ecosystem of leaders of the organizations that you are connecting. That takes effort. Identifying those that are already leaders who are also leaders of clusters, or superconnectors. That's mapping and intuitive. Many more like this. That said, yes it is possible to start something like this and get some traction within 90 days. I will share what I learned.
"Can you really connect and align a whole massive symbiotic network in just a few meetings like this?" Or is it actually as easy to do as it looks on paper?
So I read your older article on Sarvodaya. Wow. What an excellent example and resource to have.
Aside from all the wonderful information that I've spent the last hour integrating and taking notes on, this particular part stood out to me:
"I was inspired to finish my book (coming out in early December ) with a how-to guide — so that anyone with a heart for service and the capacity to hold a space of Unity could empower their community."
So I literally started my substack publication, "Unity Underground" as a place where I could write about my discoveries as I go about learning and experimenting with relational and community technologies for a more connected, soul-affirming, (and perhaps oneday) sustainable post-capitalist world. The synchronicity around the emphasis on Unity is not lost on me. It appears I was meant to find your work. I look forward to experimenting with it and putting into practice.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for sharing this - it's great.
However, I worry that "Build network communication channels" and "Initiate digital social network" don't appear until Phase 5.
IMHO symbiotic networks may be easier to create and more likely to survive if the network communication channels were established prior to, or alongside the in-person meetings.
All too often vast amounts of energy are wasted when conference, or event attendees dissipate after meeting face-to-face because no suitable communication channels have been established to keep the network alive. Even worse than this is the time wasted on the incessant debate about which tools to use for network communications - some people prefer email, some don’t like email, some like Slack, some prefer Telegram and then someone proposes a new forum, which fails to achieve enough adoption from members of the network that are already suffering from platform fatigue.
How can we move from siloed groups to effective symbiotic networks, without requiring people to adopt yet another platform or communication channel?
The answer is "by adopting shared protocols".
By adopting a shared protocol for group identification, discovery and progress updates network participants don’t need to change their existing ways of working, adopt another platform or even agree to use the same platform as every other group. They can stick with our existing tools, or preferred ways of working and benefit from wider dissemination of their work, easier discovery of related work of other groups, synergistic opportunities, and improved pathways to cooperation and collaboration at the same time.
As outlined in my post on Defining the DNA of collaboration https://open.coop/2019/03/07/defining-dna-collaboration/ the above could be achieved if groups adopted a simple protocol - a basic publishing format - which exposed:
- The group / organisation’s shared purpose
- A list of freeform tags describing the scope of their work
- A link to their RSS feed
These basic ingredients, which we have now encoded as part of the decentralised network protocol we call Murmurations, ( https://murmurations.network/ ) enable aggregators (i.e Group Coordinators at the network level) to aggregate member profiles, members news updates and even Offers and Wants to build ‘symbiotic networks’ around of any particular topic area, country, biome, or other kind of network.
By encouraging participants in symbiotic networking efforts to adopt shared protocols from the outset, rather than waiting until phase 5, it should be much easier to develop the long-lasting, resilient networks which we need to enable a collaborative regenerative economy.
Thank you for taking the time to express your passion about connecting and supporting collaborative community. And, I do love your protocols. I have been wondering about the challenge of having multiple on the ground networks already working in local communities, but who are not sharing "data", like they are separate threads, who each may be using their own coordination and collaboration channels -- but not a whole quilt.
Great job and I would love to learn more. Maybe a call sometime.
About the Phase 5 in the diagram, I shared this diagram up front rather than wait until later in the book release process. I will explain the reasoning for the sequence much later. Many have asked what is one of the end action tools of symbiotic networking. So, I have always been open to being flexible based on real-world needs - if people want to use those digital tools straight away, people in a local community can do what they want.
The reason for introducing digital tools later in that diagram is to emphasize that the early stages of symbiotic networks is totally different than onboarding people for other purposes, such as being at conferences or doing a time fenced short or medium term project.
That's not what is happening here at all. These are very intimate "trust networks" where people come together face-to-face for a period of time and are not "coordinating" anything at all other than meeting first one to one and then in a small group for probably 30 days.
My focus of Symbiotic Culture is not on any initial technical solutions at all. It is very low tech on purpose.
Let's take this offline as I am very interested in starting an ongoing conversation about your tech while I am releasing the book. I am very excited about what you shared.
This is a very cool infographic! And it's reminscient of what I attempted to do to connect the silos of my local music and arts community where I live a couple of years ago. I kind of intuited a similar approach but not nearly as fleshed out. Unfortunately I never quite got the first round of meetings together and ended up creating yet another silo of my own flavour of creative community instead!
I'm really looking forward to the book. But I'm curious about what you have shared here. Can you really connect and align a whole massive symbiotic network in just a few meetings like this? If it was this easy, couldn't any charismatic leader march into a space and become a catalytic connector? Is there something missing here? Or is it actually as easy to do as it looks on paper?
Would love to read case studies of where this has worked, what the challenges were and what the outcomes were like.
Thanks in advance!
Daniel, I really appreciate your enthusiasm. Your question about how simple and easy it looks! It may be simple (lack of formal structures, doesn't cost anything, no need for employees like in a nonprofit, doesn't take a lot of time) but it is not "easy." It may look easy now because I learned all the lessons about what not to do and what to do over the last thirty years. You are right about the many pitfalls of developing community-based networks.
There are many aspects to it that may not be apparent. For example, doing your own mapping of the existing ecosystem of leaders of the organizations that you are connecting. That takes effort. Identifying those that are already leaders who are also leaders of clusters, or superconnectors. That's mapping and intuitive. Many more like this. That said, yes it is possible to start something like this and get some traction within 90 days. I will share what I learned.
"Can you really connect and align a whole massive symbiotic network in just a few meetings like this?" Or is it actually as easy to do as it looks on paper?
Thanks for writing. I look forward to reading more of your work.
So I read your older article on Sarvodaya. Wow. What an excellent example and resource to have.
Aside from all the wonderful information that I've spent the last hour integrating and taking notes on, this particular part stood out to me:
"I was inspired to finish my book (coming out in early December ) with a how-to guide — so that anyone with a heart for service and the capacity to hold a space of Unity could empower their community."
So I literally started my substack publication, "Unity Underground" as a place where I could write about my discoveries as I go about learning and experimenting with relational and community technologies for a more connected, soul-affirming, (and perhaps oneday) sustainable post-capitalist world. The synchronicity around the emphasis on Unity is not lost on me. It appears I was meant to find your work. I look forward to experimenting with it and putting into practice.
Really glad to be of service
Love it Richard! The graphics are very useful 💗