Full Circle Associates

I was going to blog this site, constanttrek, on my travel blog, but once I started reading, it was a classic "community indicators" piece. Constanttrek had to be in this blog too.

The first reason was their tag line: "Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time." There is an online cousin to this: "Everyone can be in your world if you have the time." Our ability to connect and have meaningful interactions with others starts with our willingness to give it some time. Online this is particularly true. We have this amazing access potential, but relationship and community building take our time and attention.

The second reason, and a very common indicator, is the support offered to the Constant's in their walk from England to South Africa (yes, I said WALK!). This support is from people who, in most books, would be counted as "strangers." Take a peek at their recent entry marking the end of the first of three phases of walking:

"Thanks to all of you who have followed the web-log this far, and thanks in particular to those who have taken the time, particularly during these last few truly hard weeks, to email us and send messages of support. It means more to us than I can say, and there has been more than one occasion when I have sat in internet cafes with tears pouring down my cheeks, grateful beyond belief for the kindness of friends and strangers who have written us a line or two encouraging us to carry on. Sometimes it is those little things that really have made the difference."

Those "little things" that make a difference are community indicators in my book.

Recently, Siobhan Kimmerle and I wrote about the impact of those little things in an article for the new "Knowledge Management for Development Journal." In "Little steps to lofty goals: keys to successful community learning for civil society development" (Abstract below, full PDF text here) we wrote:

This is a story about the things that came together in Armenia, beyond the availability of technology, to bridge time and distance. It is a case history of Project Harmony's Armenia School Connectivity Programme (ASCP) that attempts to highlight the little things and their weaving together to form a fabric of community learning for sustainable civil development. The story affirms the importance of community and organizational context in the success of the project. It identifies some key aspects for catalyzing distributed learning communities for development, including confidence-building through layered training, relationships, attention to how we talk about learning and community needs, and close attention to people before technology.

Although this paper highlights some approaches for areas of low Internet penetration, the process lessons presented here are relevant across a wider variety of settings. And of course, this story pays attention to those little human nuances that support connection – and eventually learning – across a community

The unasked for offering of support, and the ability to accept it, is a community indicator in my book.

Have any other examples to share?

See also http://constanttrek.com/

community_indicators, onlinecommunity, support