• This week you will
  • Create two blog posts on community connections and the intellectual standards.
  • Practice providing feedback on other learners blogs using the first four intellectual standards.

This week you will create 2 blog posts.

First, you will blog about the logic of the first four intellectual standards. As you work on your blog posts, strive for as much clarify, accuracy, depth, and breadth as you reasonably can. Write out your understanding of each element using your own words. Don't copy and paste or parrot back information that you encountered during the week. As much as you can, without looking at the material, write your understanding of each element. To the extent that you can do this on your own is the extent to which you have command of the concept. The extent to which you have to use the material to create your wording demonstrates the degree to which you do not have command of the concept. If you find it difficult to write out an accurate and substantive description of each element, go back and review the material, then try again. Your goal is to get to a place where the concept is clear and accessible to you at all times.

Second, you will blog about community connections.

This week you will begin to provide feedback to other learners week 3 posts, using the first four intellectual standards. Please remember to use the following format to give feedback:

• When a standard was not well met: I am questioning the _INSERT THE INTELLECTUAL STANDARD_ of your statement ____________ because _______.
• When a standard was well met: Your statement had _INSERT THE INTELLECTUAL STANDARD_ when you said....

When you provide feedback to each other, using the intellectual standards, select a couple that are most useful and relevant. At first the process will be awkward and you will make considerable mistakes. This is to be expected, just as you would make many mistakes when first learning ANYTHING.

Having your post receive evaluative feedback using the standards should not be taken personally when the feedback captures a potential weakness. We can always improve our reasoning and should be willing to accept feedback - this shows intellectual humility.

Providing this kind of feedback can be challenging given the limited understanding we have of each other, and the limitations of posting online, but there are no shortcuts. The goal is to work up to the higher higher levels of reasoning which are; logic, significance and fairness. Let's do it!

Finally, this week you will complete and submit your self-assessment of your week 3 learning.

Please remember, before you begin your activities, read and watch this week's topic summary content.

Whenever you learn, let go and have some fun, don't take yourself too seriously.

Read/watch the following...

What is a "Virtual Community" Anyway?

The words "virtual community" and "online community" have been bandied about, hyped and interpreted in many ways. For our purposes, we're going to keep it simple and in context of building your own community.

Online or virtual community is the gathering of people, in an online "space" where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time. From that point on, the rest is up to you. Your community will be what you and your members make of it!

In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy, but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.”

“It is like falling in love. When they enter community, people in a very real sense do fall in love with one another en masse. They not only feel like touching and hugging each other, they feel like hugging everyone all at once. During the highest moments the energy level is supernatural. It is ecstatic.”~ M. Scott Peck

Part of a community...or apart from a community?

We can choose to "give back," or we can choose to give.

Viewing the web as a platform for generosity is very different than seeing an opportunity to turn it into an ATM machine. The way we spend our time online determines not only whether or not the community we choose grows and thrives, but it decides whether or not we will be part of what is built.

"What can I contribute today," might be the very best way to become part of a community. Relentless generosity brings us closer together.

The alternative? The masses of web surfers spending their time wasting their time, taking, clicking, scamming or being scammed.

When you think of the real communities you belong to, your family, your best friends, the tribes that matter... of course the decision is easy. We don't try to earn a little extra money when we split the bill at dinner or calculate market rate interest on a loan to a dear friend. And yet, when we get online, it's easy to start rationalizing our way to short-term behavior and selfishness. Take or give?

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

By, Seth Godin

Intentionally building communities

By Seth Godin

If you think about the tribes you belong to, most of them are side effects of experiences you had doing something slightly unrelated. We have friends from that summer we worked together on the fishing boat, or a network of people from college or sunday school. There's also that circle of people we connected with on a killer project at work a few years go.

These tribes of people are arguably a more valuable creation than the fish that were caught or the physics that were learned, right?

And yet, most of the time we don't see the obvious opportunity--if you intentionally create the connections, you'll get more of them, and better ones too. If the hallway conversations at a convention are worth more than the sessions, why not have more and better hallways?

What would happen if trade shows devoted half a day to 'projects'? Put multi-disciplinary teams of ten people together and give them three hours to create something of value. The esprit de corps created by a bunch of strangers under time pressure in a public competition would last for decades. The community is worth more than the project.

The challenge is to look at the rituals and events in your organization (freshman orientation or weekly status meetings or online forums) and figure out how amplify the real reason they exist even if it means abandoning some of the time-honored tasks you've embraced. Going around in a circle saying everyone's name doesn't build a tribe. But neither does sitting through a boring powerpoint. Working side by side doing something that matters under adverse conditions... that's what we need.

WHAT IS TRUE COMMUNITY

True, Genuine Community is the art and practice of being our most loving, open, and authentic selves while we honor others doing the same. This creates an environment that specifically caters to fulfillment of the six primary human needs and is foundational to the emotional aspect of sustainability for the complete human experience. Dr. M. Scott Peck did extensive research on the differences between traditional community and this idea of “True Community” in his book titled, “The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace.” This book is required reading for all One Community Pioneers and we support the foundational tenants of True Community outlined within it. Here they are in Peck’s own words:

1. Inclusivity, commitment and consensus: Members accept and embrace each other, celebrating their individuality and transcending their differences. They commit themselves to the effort and the people involved. They make decisions and reconcile their differences through consensus.
2. Realism: Members bring together multiple perspectives to better understand the whole context of the situation. Decisions are more well-rounded and humble, rather than one-sided and arrogant.
3. Contemplation: Members examine themselves. They are individually and collectively self-aware of the world outside themselves, the world inside themselves, and the relationship between the two.
4. A safe place: Members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.
5. A laboratory for personal disarmament: Members experientially discover the rules for peacemaking and embrace its virtues. They feel and express compassion and respect for each other as fellow human beings.
6. A group that can fight gracefully: Members resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace. They listen and understand, respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, bind each others’ wounds, and commit to a struggle together rather than against each other.
7. A group of all leaders: Members harness the “flow of leadership” to make decisions and set a course of action. It is the spirit of Community itself that leads and not any single individual.
8. A spirit: The true spirit of Community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom, and power. Members may view the source of this spirit as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Guidelines for Providing Feedback to Others

1. Improving Your Assessment of Others
   1. What is allowed- Reasoning
      1. How could this post be improved?
      2. What exactly needs to be done to improve it?
   2. What is not allowed-
      1. No general statements of like or dislike.
      2. No sweeping comments. “Nice post, insightful and interesting”, type statements are not helpful. These type of statements only tell how you, and your ego, emotionally reacted to the post.
   3. Course instructor will model the assessment process to provide examples for learners to follow.
2. Assessment of Feedback to Others
   1. Is your own feedback reasoning deficient?
   2. Course facilitator will model and comment on how you give feedback, using the intellectual standards, to help you improve your reasoning skills.
3. Improving Your Writing
   1. Revise and improve your posts based on feedback given, or
   2. Challenge part of the assessment and explain with reasoning, why it is not necessary.

Note: Receiving evaluative feedback using the standards should not be taken personally when the feedback captures a potential weakness. We can always improve our reasoning and should be willing to accept feedback - this shows intellectual humility.

Format to use to give feedback.

1. When a standard was not well met: I am questioning the _INSERT THE INTELLECTUAL STANDARD_ of your statement ____________ because _______.
2. When a standard was well met: Your statement had _INSERT THE INTELLECTUAL STANDARD_ when you said....

Showing vs. telling

All the promises, explanations and asides in the world pale in comparison with what you do.

Too often, we forget that jargon and narrative exist to help shape our actions, not to replace them.

Words keep getting cheaper, which makes action more valuable than ever. By Seth Godin

Five Ways to Build Caring Community on Social Media

by By Jeremy Adam Smith | November 20, 2015 |

In the wake of the terrorist attack in Paris, it's time to ask what behaviors might support other people's well-being on social media...

1. Bring your best self to social media

There is a research-tested exercise we promote on Greater Good in Action called “Best Possible Self for Relationships.” I’ve found that applying this exercise to social media can be quite thought-provoking. It asks you to imagine your relationships going as well as they possibly could, and then writing that vision down. It’s really about self-discovery: Who do I want to be and what do I want out of life?

Here are the steps, which I’ve adapted for thinking about your social media persona:

• Take a moment to imagine your life in the future, and focus specifically on your social media relationships. What is the best possible online life you can imagine? This could involve, for example, feeling supported when you face challenges in life, staying in touch with high-school friends, having a place to come together in the face of a natural disaster, or keeping your inner life alive by discovering new music or books. Think about what your best possible relationships would look like for you.
• For the next 15 minutes, write continuously about what you imagined about these best possible future relationships. It may be easy for this exercise to lead you to focus on how things fall short in the present. For the purpose of this exercise, however, focus on the future—imagine a brighter future in which you are your best self and your circumstances change just enough to make these desired social connections happen.
• This exercise is most useful when it is very specific—if you think about having a better online relationship with your family, for instance, describe exactly what would be different in the ways you relate to each other; if you’d like a better relationship with people whose politics are very different from yours, describe how they interact with you, what values you might share, and so on. The more specific you are, the more engaged you will be in the exercise and the more you’ll get out of it.

You might even consider posting your vision to social media. Don’t be afraid: See what people have to say about your ideal social media space.

2. Cultivate a diverse social network

This to me is the foundation of a healthy life on social media.

Racial, cultural, and economic biases exist — within me, you, institutions, across nations, and within nations around the globe. And so, so, so often I see good people generalize from data they see in their incredibly biased Facebook or Twitter feeds. I learned about the shootings in Kenya, the earthquake in Nepal, the Syrian refugee crisis, and more, from Facebook. In the same feed, I also saw people write, “Why is no one paying attention to the shootings in Kenya/earthquake in Nepal/the Syrian refugee crisis?!” Seemingly unaware that this isn’t true of everyone or of everyone’s social network.

It’s a hard truth: Imbalance in your social media feeds doesn’t reflect media bias. It reflects your bias.

To correct for this, I often work to add friends (even ones I don’t know) who I think will add to the depth and richness of how I see the world. I also try to be aware that my efforts will always fall short. You can’t eliminate bias; you can only mitigate and manage it. Over the years, I’ve consciously built an online social network that includes family, friends from every stage of my life, writers of all kinds, journalists, psychologists, and more—plus, people of many different races, cultures, and economic backgrounds. This diversity is one of the gifts that life has given me, though sometimes it can feel like a curse—especially when these different and diverse people start bickering on my Facebook wall.

Yes, diversity can create conflict. It’s tempting to block or unfriend troublesome people, especially when you yourself disagree with them.

Here’s what I think: The difference between a well-rounded human and a one-dimensional fanatic is that the human remembers that he or she can be wrong. Of course, you should be skeptical of everything you read online. But you should also try to be skeptical of yourself. When you feel that dopamine rush of righteousness coming on, STOP. Hit pause. Take a breath. Do your own research, especially when the facts and explanations seem to confirm your pre-existing beliefs. Sometimes you’ll mess up. I do, all the time. Big deal. Admit you’re wrong, forgive yourself, and try to do better next time. When someone else is wrong, try to forgive them.

Diversity doesn’t really work without humility.

3. Highlight what your friends have in common

How do social media turn good people into nasty ones?

Part of the answer lies in the one-dimensionality of the interaction. If someone is not personally known to you, they are just a name on the screen, and all we know about them is one tweet or comment. It seems to me that one of the reasons why Twitter is so vicious is that followers are not bidirectional friends, the way they are on Facebook. This makes it more difficult for you to create and facilitate a community of different people.

I try, as much as possible, to show people I know what disparate friends might have in common, especially at points of conflict. “Peter and Sarah—you disagree about gun control, but did you know you both graduated from the University of Florida?” Or perhaps, “I still love you both!”

Sounds cheesy—let’s face it, most of what I’m saying here sounds cheesy—but it works in defusing tense moments. You’re making them both feel like they’re part of the same in-group, and there are a stack of studies showing that this will increase the pro-social tendencies of all the parties involved.

The important thing to remember is that your social media connections are an in-group that you created. When they comment on something you’ve shared, they are guests in your home. A good host generates a convivial atmosphere by helping everyone to feel included in the conversation.

A word about racism, sexism, and other forms of identity-based discrimination: I don’t tolerate the denigration of entire groups of people in my networks, and I don’t think you should either. Does this contradict what I’m saying about having a diverse network? I agree there’s some ambiguity, but I simply don’t want, for example, women or folks of color to feel uncomfortable inside the community I create with my account. I brought them together; I try to keep them safe from abuse. You may disagree with me, of course. We all have different limits. But this too, in my opinion, is part of cultivating other people’s well-being online.

4. Try some active listening

It’s really hard to listen to people on social media.

In face-to-face conversation, active listening means expressing interest in what a person has to say. This can be as simple as making eye contact or lightly touching their hand as they speak, but it’s really a deeper exercise in trying to truly empathize with another person, especially during a difficult conversation. Here’s what that might look like online, again adapted from Greater Good in Action:

• Paraphrase. Once the other person has finished expressing a thought, paraphrase what he or she said to make sure you understand and to show that you are paying attention. Helpful ways to paraphrase include “What I hear you saying is…” “It sounds like…” and “If I understand you right….”
• Ask questions. When appropriate, ask questions to encourage the other person to elaborate on his or her thoughts and feelings. Avoid jumping to conclusions about what the other person means. Instead, ask questions to clarify his or her meaning, such as, “When you say_____, do you mean_____”?
• Express empathy. If the other person voices negative feelings, strive to validate these feelings rather than questioning or defending against them. For example, if the speaker expresses frustration, try to consider why he or she feels that way, regardless of whether you think that feeling is justified or whether you would feel that way yourself were you in his or her position.
• Understand now, judge later. Your first goal should be to understand the other person’s perspective and accept it for what it is, even if you disagree with it.
• Avoid giving advice. Problem-solving is likely to be more effective after both conversation partners understand one another’s perspective and feel heard. Moving too quickly into advice-giving can be counterproductive.

Of all the steps I’m proposing, this to me feels the most difficult. On social media, we take turns; there’s no opportunity for non-verbal feedback as we speak. For active listening to work online, we need more patience, not less, than we do in real life.

5. Promote positive messages and images

After the Paris attacks, divisive poison and fear-inducing imagery flooded my feeds. Then one of my friends shared this video, of a blindfolded Muslim man hugging strangers on a Paris street:I felt my heart lift. And then other friends shared this BBC video of a man whose wife had been shot to death in Paris:

This is imagery that induces “moral elevation,” which psychologist Jonathan Haidt defines as “a warm, uplifting feeling that people experience when they see unexpected acts of human good­ness, kindness, courage, or compassion. It makes a person want to help others and to become a better person himself or herself.”

In a study published this year, 104 college students watched videos depicting heroic or compassionate acts while researchers measured their heart rates and brain activity. They found that witnessing suffering triggered a stress response, but that then seeing suffering alleviated through a caring, selfless act produced a sense of relief the students felt throughout their bodies. The researchers specifically saw activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with empathy and “theory of mind”—our ability to predict behavior in other people.

In short, witnessing acts of goodness helps us to feel connected to humanity, while witnessing violence cuts us off from others. Elevation helps turn the stress response from fight-or-flight into tend-and-befriend. That’s why when friends share images that elevate me and help me to feel connected, I am grateful—and I share it on.

The bottom line? If we want to transform the culture of social media, we have to set an intention to be supportive of each other online. Kind, compassionate, honest, grateful, and forgiving. There’s a place for anger or snark. But that shouldn’t be our default setting, especially when we communicate with people whom we call friends.

Conscious and Conscientious Communication

THE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT, FAIR USE, AND CREATIVE COMMONS

[Infographic] 2017 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet

The Tribes Casebook - Seth's Blog

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