Establishing community infrastructure – technological and human

Communities don’t just happen. You can build a community space, but that doesn’t mean members will show up and immediately know what to do. This theme has come up for us multiple times this month, both in terms of choosing the right online platform for your community and ensuring that the human infrastructure (i.e., a community manager) is in place to support it.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working with a client to research and design a Discourse instance for a brand new community. Discourse is an open-source discussion platform, featuring a customizable but straightforward interface for community members to connect, answer each other’s questions, and find topics of interest.

In the spirit of “working out loud” and creating a learning space to exchange experiences of Discourse, for our May community call we hosted a Discourse “Tools Trial.” This was a lively and very practical conversation to explore what the platform can do, as well as take a look at a couple of STEM Discourse communities that our members are already hosting. You can find out more about the call on the CSCCE blog.

While contemplating Discourse, we also talked about different ways of seeding and scaffolding a new community, and how community managers are essential to empowering members to connect directly with each other. This is something that we are currently doing ourselves as we establish a new community of practice for participants in the POSE Training Program, and over on the POSE blog you can find out how we’re getting things started.

Also in this month’s newsletter:

Register for our annual mid-year social and curated networking forum
Check out CSCCE’s three-part guide to creating multi-modal community programming

Nurturing community

Establishing your community on Discourse

At this month’s community call/tools trial we took a closer look at Discourse. On the call, CSCCE staff gave an overview of the platform and Andra Stratton (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) and Isaac Farley (Crossref) demoed their community’s platforms. In our blog post recap, you can also find ideas for how to get your members talking and a host of relevant resources.

Read the recap

Creating intentional community programming

May saw the end of the pilot cohort of the POSE Training Program, with participants transitioning into an ongoing community of practice (CoP). The POSE Training Program CoP is intended to be a learning space where practitioners can compare and build upon their experiences, taking the frameworks discussed during the training and reflecting on implementation.

Find out more

The CSCCE Community Participation Model

If you’re working to establish or invigorate your community programming, the CSCCE Community Participation Model is a great way to create a strategic community engagement plan. Our three-part guidebook explores different ways to use the model, the importance of creating scaffolding to support your members, and how to mobilize community champions to maintain, grow, and/or evolve your community.

Download now

Get to know other STEM community managers!

Join us for our annual mid-year social and curated networking

On Wednesday, 21 June 2023 at 11am EDT / 3pm UTC we’re hosting our annual mid-year social and networking event during our monthly community call. Let us know who you’d like to meet, and we’ll curate a series of 1-on-1 and small group chats. These forums have been very well received in the past, so don’t miss this opportunity to get to know other STEM community managers!

Find out more

CSCCE

c/o Community Initiatives,
1000 Broadway Suite #480,
Oakland, CA, 94607, USA
—
info@www.cscce.org

Forward this to a friend!

Donate to CSCCE

You are receiving this newsletter because you expressed interest in CSCCE. Unsubscribe | Update preferences