‘Together!’ (Communities for a World that Works) is a new blog, produced by OurNet’s Community Builder and ‘Virtual Village Town Crier’ Carl Munson. In this first piece, Carl shares his personal experience of community involvement, as well as his hopes for our collective future...
The notion of ‘community’ only began to resonate for me in my early twenties, as a new arrival in what was known as ‘The People’s Republic of South Yorkshire’. Up until that point, I can fairly say I was a child of the Thatcher era – pretty much tied up in my own selfish destiny, a product of elite education and the free market.
Thankfully, 1980s Yorkshire provided an abrupt and loving awakening; broadening my horizons, and shaking up my attitudes about belonging somewhere, and sharing enriching values that weren’t primarily motivated by money or self-interest.
Within a decade, the transformation was complete. I had joined the committees of two charities, become involved in various community development initiatives, and co-created an intentional community – living with others in a strange and progressive way. I went on community building workshops, led a meditation group and helped run a holistic living library. I’d truly realised that there was something greater available to humanity than the sum of its parts.
I had gladly immersed myself in numerous locality-based and interest-based groups with diverse themes including local community radio, human potential, practical philosophy, and living more sustainably. I also founded, published and edited a positive living magazine for the city.
Introducing: 'Together!' A Blog Featuring Communities for a World that WorksLife later led me to the South West of England, where Devon also offered many opportunities for grass-roots involved involvement in holistic education, health, well-being, agriculture and the environment. There I ran a natural health centre, wrote a health column for the local paper and worked with several community radio stations. Eventually, fringe-dwelling ultimately gave way to a formal recognition of my skills as a community builder and networker at one of the UK’s oldest charities – Hannahs, pictured.
There, after starting out as a residential volunteer, I was employed to encourage and support a number of initiatives, primarily for people with disabilities. A fancy dress project, radio and DJing sessions, and off-grid camping were offered with the aim of ‘making disability incidental’. My proudest involvement is the Access All Aerials community radio station, which has become home to over 50 variously-able presenters, whose shows have attracted hundreds of thousands of listens. I’m delighted to say it continues to grow as a user-led social enterprise.
In 2017, it was music to my ears when OurNet Founder and CEO, Michael Brodie, told me about his bold vision to create a ‘virtual village’, which I now see as the nascent global ‘community of communities’. To me, his twin-pronged fork of ‘peer refinement’ and ‘augmented locality*’ into the ego-centric backside of social media offers an inspiring next step for an internet-empowered humanity.
What excites me about realising the OurNet vision, is the opportunity for us all to connect and communicate more deeply and respectfully, as we see online social networking move from infancy into a more mature stage of its life cycle. I believe we are currently only using a fraction of the Internet’s capability in fulfilling humanity’s most noble and functional potential.
It’s a staggering irony that we now have so many ways to communicate, yet are more likely to be lonely and suicidal. It’s another to have the transformational power of the Internet at our fingertips and yet often give way to the loudest, most commercial or sensational content.
Now established in Portugal, we’ll be addressing these early anomalies of cyberspace, as OurNet gathers ground and works together with others, perhaps you, who may feel let down by most of the online community development tools currently on offer.
My intention for OurNet is that it is enjoyed as the go-to space for creating powerful new communities, and that it offers the best tools to existing communities to transcend their existing, and probably unnecessary, limits.
Here are some of my personal wishes for OurNet and the next web generation…
- A shift will take place online from ‘me, me, me’ to ‘us and we’
- Online communities should own their own data, on a distributed and decentralised basis
- The health, wealth and sustainability of an online community is best determined by its membership
- We can and should be rewarded for our online contributions for the community, by the community
As the technological rubber hits the road for OurNet, at our new Aveiro office, I’d like to work closely with community groups ( locally and globally) to hone an online community network fit for purpose and fit for a world that works.
I am already involved with a diverse range of groups, and keen to hear from others who share our ideals or have needs currently unmet by existing and established social networks.
If our offer inspires or intrigues you, please feel free to contact me: [email protected]
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*Alongside his commitment to OurNet, Carl remains part of numerous communities and community development projects. Recently, he has launched ‘The Good Morning Portugal! Radio Show’ for English-speaking settlers and tourists; he presents and produces the ‘Pure Portugal’ community podcast; he remains a resource and mentor to Access All Aerials; and is inspired by the approaches of the Transition Network, Positively Autistic, community guru Cormac Russell, and intends to find a meaningful way to contribute to the rural Portuguese community where he and his family now live.
He is an avid social networker, hosting and contributing to many online groups, including OurNet’s Facebook presence.*
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Peer Refinement -
Augmented Locality -