I’ve been up to my alligators in all things networks as part of the Network Weaving Community of practice project, a nine month community of practice for 70 non profit folks who use or want to use the power of networks in their work. I keep tagging and annotating websites like crazy (find them here!) and have seen some terrific stuff I’d like to reblog. One is the Connected Communities Report: How social networks power and sustain the Big Society by Jonathan Rowson, Steve Broome and Alasdair Jones. This is worth a read of you are working at a specific community level and/or you are working at a network level. The point is, when we see the different levels available for activation, we can be more intentional in our work, activating whatever levels can add value.
Traditional approaches to community regeneration which define communities in solely geographic terms have severe limitations. They often failed to deliver on key social capital improvements such as improving trust between residents or fostering a greater sense of belonging.
In this report we argue for a new approach to community regeneration, based on an understanding of the importance of social networks, such an approach has the potential to bring about significant improvements in efforts to combat isolation and to support the development of resilient and empowered communities.
Download Connected Communities: How social networks power and sustain the Big Society (PDF, 1.5MB)