On a recent (weekly) open research call, @liz and I wanted to work through some mental models of how knowledge is produced on Public Lab -- especially with our new #research-culture initiative. We're trying to make things clear and inviting, but we know there are lots of questions -- so we gave it a shot. @gretchengehrke and @stevie chipped in too!

For better or worse, our first attempt ended up being really complicated! Of course, everyone understands things differently, but although this was really interesting (see how Ask a Question spans from Entry to Production, challenging the 1-9-90 ratio -- the idea that only more involved people become content producers...), it wasn't helpful from the perspective of one person's journey through the site.

Well... helpful but COMPLICATED.

Attempt 2

So we gave it another try -- shown here and as the main image.

This one made a lot more sense to us! It starts with the basic interests/attitudes that a few different people might have upon arriving on the site, and imagines how they might transition to becoming more involved.

It's still a work in progress, and people of course understand things in different ways.

So, what do you think?

Make your own diagram

We used Google Slides to do this -- and here's the document itself -- give it a go, and post your own diagrams in the comments!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12NU6V9UFeOWKJrql8AIQZI3mKUWTuakF8zrGpOlgrNg/edit?usp=sharing