Table of Contents:
October 2014 update
April 2014 first draft

October 2014

Objective 1: Scaling engagement

• Refer to Model of Engagement described April 2014
• Need to recognize there is a learning curve at each moment, and that to support this learning both online and offline components need development
• Enhance support for organizers: handbook, summit, annual survey, intro videos on profile, role on profile
• Build a strong tech developer community -- what is their first contact moment?
• Build connections between commenting / following tags on publiclab.org and topic-specific mailing lists
• Q&A structure overlaid on wiki to provide easier entry points
• Need to track depth of engagement by categories that transcend current technologies in use.

Objective 2: Incorporating Resilient Social Methodology

• Resilience, culture, values
  • Scale community welcome/manager functions into the culture of Public Lab itself
• Create clearer chapter models:
  • levels of maturity: “seed,” “shrubbery,” “flowering,” “canopy,” & individual roles to fill: activist, technologist, ambassador, wrangler (via profile tagging)
• Prioritize the creation of new social event guides / series of workshops, including:
  • place-based stakeholder engagement,
  • collaborative goal setting / identifying the problem,
  • community asset mapping on paper and with mapknitter (related to OpenLand GM eval),
  • reliable interaction modes (best practices that can be flexibly mixed and matched) that support the strengths of different types of contributors -- setting tone (tenor of event, what is expected when people walk in) and communicating that an event is speculative with unknown outcomes
  • the design of research that prefigures the future use of the data for advocacy.
• Create a guide that bridges tool incubation with community process /wiki/new-projects, articulate the “win-win” of developing in community.
  • begin with Mat + Adam's tool ladder illustration + expand the diagram with other points where community partners can connect with PL
• Incorporate project management tools for high capacity projects:
  • partner tracking,
  • transparent task management that welcomes new contributors,
  • articulating and reporting back “soft” outcomes that are usually omitted from research notes (conversations with politicians, sidebars with gov’t employees, numbers of passers-by spoken with, etc).
• Manage the projection of expertise, of staff, of organizers, of jargony newcomers. Instead, take on role of "bard" in new and legacy projects--the oral tradition of Creative Commons.

Objective 3: Integrating Outreach with Kits

• moving from customer to member
  • kit boxes have a checkbox that says "this tool is available for community use"
  • geographic outreach (profile tagging by region, regional mailing list outreach, international chapter development)
• Connect Tool Incubation to community development
• Connect bulk sales to Education Working Group

April 2014

Understanding our engagement model

1. First Contact
2. Welcome moment
3. First contribution
4. Building peer-to-peer bonds
5. Becoming an organizer / being an organizer
6. Chapters
7. Circle back

First contact

• trace how folks first find encounter Public Lab and get drawn in: http://publiclab.org/wiki/first-encounters
  • kits (online store, physical packaging, object without packaging), web presence, social media, press coverage, heard about from a person (evangelism?), Kickstarter campaign, ...
• ISSUE: website front page
  • too much information, lacks community presence/identity, not synthesized

Welcome moment

• Looking for how I "fit in"
  • lead with values
  • culturally, is the first "welcome" over dinner or by typing into a technical discussion?
  • identifying the "need" to engage -- begin with what is already known locally -- asset mapping exercise -- needs to be systematized. This can combat the perception problem of tools seen as speculative not results-oriented.
  • attracting diversity in the context that many current active members have leisure time, are high capacity with degrees.
• whose responsibility is it to welcome / orient new members who ask?
  • everyone / no one?
  • Welcome Working Group: good, but has scaling issues
• option to speak to types of stakeholders:
  • reference from Sugar Labs,
  • and Scott's metaphor below:

First contribution / activity

• "When do I see myself as a part of Public Lab?"
  • Hello Moment
• publiclab.org/signup --> profile page
• joining a mailing list
• going to an event / meeting someone in person
• posting a research note
• NEW: Ask a question / answer a question forums
  • serves as a venue for matchmaking
  • develops a Most Wanted List to prioritize R&D

Forming peer-to-peer bonds

• mailing list discussions
  • prompts upon joining to say "I am interested in [...], I can help with [...], bio, location
• comments on research notes
• website:
  • further integration of lists and website (future)
  • regionalization of website / feeling of place
  • listening to interests and areas
  • tours of places through mapknitter
  • collaborative editing on wikis / pads**
• regularly scheduled meetups
  • not just tech, but also goal setting, asset mapping, strategizing, learning
  • on research sites
• cross-group and cross-region exchanges
• voice channels: openhour
• ISSUE: social bonds should not result in clubhouse effect

Becoming an organizer

• update / demystify nomination process:
  • change nomination process to focus on profile pages
  • self-nomination for folks instantly seeking a higher level of engagement
  • options for community organizers who may be offline / won't join email list
• attracting new organizers:
  • targeting outreach, diversity

Being an organizer:

• resources for organizers
  • buddy system with experienced organizer
  • event "guides"
  • receive all foldable kits
  • direct mail service for distributing kits / GMFs within their region
  • speaking opportunities on OpenHour
  • Organizers Summit (day before annual Barnraising)
• benefits / expectations
  • regional focus to nurture new members, partner orgs, and research sites
  • staying engaged monthly
  • annual survey for re-up
  • fundraising support
  • Fellows Program

Developing organizer-supported chapters

• review and publish pathway for chapter creation
  • have regional organizer in place
  • guidelines for joining a regional list before starting a new hyperlocal mailing-list
• Place pages:
  • highlight research site(s)
  • subdomains like boston.publiclab.org
  • featuring partner organizations
• resources for chapters
  • organizers can apply for resources for local events
  • funders can "Adopt a Chapter"
• ISSUE: organic growth vs targeted growth?

Circle back

• barnstars model outcomes
• finish and review Values statement

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Priorities for depth:

• develop better structure to become and contribute as an organizer
  • Organizer Summit
  • distributing resources
• include social process throughout online and offline
  • community asset mapping workshops, dialogue education facilitation, modes of communication beyond email groups, OpenHour, guides and distance learning, offline logbooks, etc
• make a strong translation model for our "communities of practice", see below:

Priorities for growth

• improve first contact experience
• integrate with Kits Initiative