Community pioneer Vincent Boon returns to the Cohere podcast to discuss his latest project with Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas - the OpenMeta DAO.  The OpenMeta DAO is gathering a community to ensure the future of the metaverse is human-centered, fair, and interoperable. Both the overall mission of the OpenMeta DAO, as well as the OpenMeta DAO itself are fascinating.   In this episode, Vincent discusses the connection between online communities and the metaverse, the basics of DAOs, how the OpenMeta DAO operates, and what the future holds for community leaders in the Metaverse. Resources from this episode:

Exploring the Open Metaverse with Vincent Boon

Kent Langley

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, technologist and co-founder of OpenEXO Kent Langley joins Bill to discuss the current realities of crypto.  Kent and Bill cover a range of topics, from the origin of blockchain, to how blockchains actually work, and current misconceptions about crypto. They then delve into questions about the relationship between crypto and communities and networks.

Making Sense of Crypto with Kent Langley

This week Lauren and I take a side trip from our Season 3 theme of Metaverse to talk about the cyclical (at least to date) nature of online community investment. In this unfiltered episode, we share how this cycle has helped shape our careers and explore questions that seem to come up in every cycle:  With each subsequent era, why do we have to relearn and re-invent basics? Why do most organizations still struggle with community? Why haven’t standards emerged? Why is the enterprise community platform space so static? Why do personalities and institutions almost immediately emerge during an upcycle that want to dominate vs develop

Community Cycles and What's Different (and the same) This Time

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas discuss the early promise (and obvious issues) with DAOs (Distributed Autonomous Organizations). Bill and Lauren have an in-depth discussion to try and separate the value and future utility of the DAO model vs. the current hype.   DAOs have been described as "digital flash mobs with money" by Raihan Anwar, manager of the Friends with Benefits DAO, and a "virtual entity that has a certain set of members or shareholders who have the right to spend the entity's funds and modify its code" by Vitalik Buterin, Founder of Ethereum.  Bill and Lauren explore:   The definition of DAO Current examples and use cases The components, or key moving parts of a DAO What questions remain about DAOs?  Resources from this episode:

Do DAOs Hold the Secret of Orchestrating Collaboration?

Do organizations have the digital competence and skills to distinguish between a short-term trend (that might turn out to be a scam) and a long-term iteration of its digital activities? In this episode, we discuss why NFTs are a phenomenon, and the information and questions community builders may want to consider, including:  NFTs are all the rage - what is the source of this phenomenon? What do we need to KNOW about NFTs? What issues do NFTs solve? How might NFTs be understood, used, managed, and/or created in an online community setting? What questions remain about NFTs?

What Role Might NFTs Play In Future Communities?

The current Metaverse is a mirage. The pursuit of the Metaverse vision could lead us to a better Internet. On the first episode of Season 3 of the Cohere podcast, we (Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas) frame of this season’s topic: the Metaverse.  As they did with “community”, Facebook’s announcement of the company’s move to focus on the Metaverse, and rebranding to “Meta”, , speculation, and investment. Made in a move remarkably similar to their 2017 announcement that Facebook was a “community” company, it remains to be seen if Meta follows through with creating their version of the Metaverse. It is interesting to note that Zuck’s “Community” announcement from 2017 appears to have been taken down at some point in the past year (). But this season of Cohere isn’t about Meta. It’s also not (solely) about VR, AR, XR, or related Web3 technologies - it is about the combinatorial effects all of these technologies and trends interacting to shape the next generation of the Internet, and more importantly, how we create a better Internet that is safe, equitable, accessible and inspires the best of human nature instead of exploiting the worst.

Exploring a Betterverse

Season 3 of the Cohere podcast is just around the corner.  In Season 2, Dr. Lauren Vargas and Bill Johnston explored the role networks play in our lives - from the obvious to the subtle. In Season 3, Lauren and Bill focus on the topic dominating the discussion of our collective digital future: the Metaverse.  The discussion will go beyond the hyperbolic (and eye roll-inducing) to have a forward-looking yet practical discussion of what our connected future looks like in a world of ambiently available digital networks - and what this means for us as individuals, citizens, societies, and as part of globally connected humanity.  Stay tuned for new episodes starting the second week of February!

Announcing Season 3 of the Cohere Podcast

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Lauren and Bill talk to Dr. Sharon Varney, author of the new book "Leadership in Complexity and Change", and leading researcher and practitioner in the field of Complexity Science.   In the early 2000s, Drd Varney came across complexity theory. "That’s how the world really works", she thought! And so began her journey into academia as she explored what that meant for leadership and change practice. Now Sharon brings those insights into her leadership and organization development work in many different sectors. Sharon continues to enjoy a close working relationship with Henley Business School. Working at the interface of academia and practice, she is constantly striving to advance the leading edge of informed practice. Her new book, ‘Leadership in Complexity and Change’ addresses complexity straightforwardly without dumbing it down. It draws on her award-winning doctoral research and the practical application of key ideas by a wide range of managers and professionals in diverse sectors from retail to healthcare, finance, charities and government bodies. It is unashamedly hopeful, ultimately practical, with a robust academic pedigree.  In the episode, we discuss a working definition of complexity science, explore the nature of change as it relates to organizations, how anyone within an organization is actually participating in ongoing change (whether they realize it or not), and how we all can be more mindful and intentional about leadership in the midst of constant change. Key Quotes: “Drawing on complexity science helps us understand the world a bit more fully and that can help us make some different choices, perhaps more deliberate choices about what we say and do in our everyday lives.” “T​hose who are really inside-inside, are the ones who are making change happen. They are the ones who understand the context. They are the people who will either create change or, or not.” “You can't outsource change. We change from within organizations. So you can put in a new structure, that's actually the easy part, but whether the new structure will deliver the benefits that were hoped for, or different ways of working, or whether you are changing a whole team out and bringing in new people will actually change the culture - you don’t know that. There are absolutely no guarantees for that. So, you've made a change. It cost a lot of money. It costs a lot of emotional energy and you may or may not have gotten any benefits from it. So insider actions and insider words are how change actually happens. It's actually quite mundane and sometimes we don't notice it because we're expecting it to come in a big, shiny, package with a large price tag attached to it.” “If we're trying to work on change in organizations, we need to ask ourselves who's in the conversation and who's in the community - they can be really helpful questions because then it draws attention to, and who's not who, whose voices are we not hearing?” “Diversity is really important because differences create novelty and innovation. That's what complexity science will tell us. It is micro-differences - coming in with a different experience of life of, of the world, just might cause us to react in a different way. It's differences that create something new.” Resources from this episode:    by Dr Sharon Varney  Find Dr Sharon Varney online:       Website:  General resources mentioned in this episode:    by Dr Sharon Varney   [Video]   Books mentioned in this episode:   by Gareth Morgan  by Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicki O’Day  by Jean G. Boulton, Peter M. Allen, and Cliff Bowman  by Melanie Mitchell

Leadership in the Midst of Constant Change

Kaliya Young is many things: an advocate for open Internet identity standards, a leader in the identity space - including hosting the Internet Identity Workshop, a published author, and a skilled Open Space facilitator.  On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Kaliya joins Bill to discuss the history of online identity, what events led us to the consolidation of identity into a few centralized platforms, and what steps we need to take to recover and protect our online identities.

The Role of Identity in Creating a Better Internet with Kaliya Young

In this short and timely conversation, Bill and Lauren discuss the concept of the Metaverse, how thinking in the narrative structures of science fiction might help us understand the concept and a slew of great book recommendations. Enjoy! We'lll be back in early November with new episodes.

METAVERSE METAVERSE METAVERSE (and a great cyberpunk primer list)

Cohere will go beyond discussions of online community, social networks and social media and look at the bigger picture - perhaps the biggest picture: the complex, digitally augmented global community we now all belong to, whether we like it or not!The Big Idea:Complex human networks have sprung up globally, driven in large part by exponential technologies such as AI, automation, and space-based internet. Imagine what will happen when three billion more people come online in the next five years! For organizations, a planet-wide network of logged-on human beings brings both limitless opportunities and unprecedented threats. As we increasingly use social technologies to augment human experiences, the Cohere podcast asks, what’s the best path forward? How should we navigate, evaluate, and administrate a complex technological landscape so we can protect, promote, and empower our human networks? How will we ensure that digital communities deliver on the promise of enhancing our lives, both individually and collectively? And what steps must we take to ensure our approach to community development is sustainable, democratic, and morally sound?

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas welcome Nancy White back to the show. Nancy is a true polymath, involved in shaping the early online community and collaboration movement and also deeply versed in group facilitation. Nancy is the Founder of Full Circle Associates and has a long history of working with global NGOs and non-profits on large-scale collaboration and community initiatives.In the episode we talk to Nancy about her personal experiences during the pandemic, what changes she’s observed in her communities and in her work, and explore how we might take what we have learned about collaboration and communities during the pandemic with us back into the world when we begin to emerge from the pandemic.

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas welcome Nancy White back to the show. Nancy is a true polymath, involved in shaping the early online community and collaboration movement and also deeply versed in group facilitation. Nancy is the Founder of Full Circle Associates and has a long history of working with global NGOs and non-profits on large-scale collaboration and community <a href="http://initiatives.In" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">initiatives.In</a> the episode we talk to Nancy about her personal experiences during the pandemic, what changes she’s observed in her communities and in her work, and explore how we might take what we have learned about collaboration and communities during the pandemic with us back into the world when we begin to emerge from the pandemic.

How the Pandemic Forced Online Collaboration to Mature with Nancy White

Charlene Li

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas discuss the future of communities with digital transformation and disruptive leadership expert Charlene Li. We speak with Charlene about her new book “The Disruption Mindset”, the evolving role of social technologies, and the pitfalls and opportunities of leading during periods of disruption (for instance, during a global pandemic.)

The Role of Communities in Navigating Disruption With Charlene Li

Bill Johnston

Lauren Vargas

On this episode of the Cohere Podcast, Bill and Lauren review highlights from Season 2 guests, look back on formative roles in their respective careers and dig into the topic of transformational communities.  From Bill:  The plan for this season of the Cohere podcast is for Lauren and me to use the podcast as a means to learn and make meaning in public. Our plan is to do a series of 3 interviews, followed by an interstitial episode to review and discuss the preceding series. This is our first interstitial session, and is a long-form conversation between myself and Lauren - and we cover a lot of ground!  We begin with a look back at our respective early career experiences that led us into community development - Lauren at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (part of the Gov 2.0 movement), and my first large role at TechRepublic.com.  We then review and discuss the first four episodes of the podcast from this season:  Episode 1 - where we tee up the concepts of network science and the potential value this discipline brings to community practitioners Episode 2 - we interview Gail Ann Williams, and discuss her long-standing relationship with The WELL, one of the longest-running commercial online communities Episode 3 - we interviewed Carrie Melissa Jones, in what Lauren describes as a "masterclass in community leadership" Episode 4 - Jim Cashel returns to update us on "The Great Connecting" and the implications of bringing the next 3 billion people online  We end the episode by discussing my recent post about the end of the Social Boom and the coming era of transformational communities.

On this episode of the Cohere Podcast, Bill and Lauren review highlights from Season 2 guests, look back on formative roles in their respective careers and dig into the topic of transformational communities. From Bill:  The plan for this season of the Cohere podcast is for Lauren and me to use the podcast as a means to learn and make meaning in public. Our plan is to do a series of 3 interviews, followed by an interstitial episode to review and discuss the preceding series. This is our first interstitial session, and is a long-form conversation between myself and Lauren - and we cover a lot of ground! We begin with a look back at our respective early career experiences that led us into community development - Lauren at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (part of the Gov 2.0 movement), and my first large role at <a href="http://TechRepublic.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TechRepublic.com</a>. We then review and discuss the first four episodes of the podcast from this season: Episode 1 - where we tee up the concepts of network science and the potential value this discipline brings to community practitioners Episode 2 - we interview Gail Ann Williams, and discuss her long-standing relationship with The WELL, one of the longest-running commercial online communities Episode 3 - we interviewed Carrie Melissa Jones, in what Lauren describes as a "masterclass in community leadership" Episode 4 - Jim Cashel returns to update us on "The Great Connecting" and the implications of bringing the next 3 billion people online We end the episode by discussing my recent post about the end of the Social Boom and the coming era of transformational communities.

Networks and Transformational Communities - With Bill Johnston and Dr Lauren Vargas

Jim Cashel

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill and Lauren speak with returning guest Jim Cashel about the progress of the "Great Connecting" - the global rollout of broadband Internet - during the COVID19 pandemic.   The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the role of the Internet during COVID lockdowns, having our realities largely mediated via screens and networks, the state of wireless and satellite broadband technologies, public policy surrounding Internet access, and much more.  Jim is the Chairman of Forum One Communications, a former recent Visiting Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and author of the book, “The Great Connecting: The Emergence of Global Broadband, and How That Changes Everything”.

The "Great Connecting" Continues with Jim Cashel

Melissa Jones

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Lauren and Bill welcome author and community strategist Carrie Melissa Jones. Carrie has been managing online communities since the early 2000s. Over the course of her career, she has trained, advised, and coached leaders of thousands of online communities. Carrie is the coauthor of Building Brand Communities. She helps brands create new communities, select technology, envision community roadmaps, and think strategically. Prior to founding her own business, Carrie was the Founding Partner and COO for CMX Media, the ‘community for community builders' providing training, events, and programs for community builders around the world. In addition to helping companies build communities, Carrie is a passionate advocate for community professionals and believes that everyone deserves to belong and feel empowered.In their conversation, Lauren and Bill talk to Carrie about her latest community research insights, delve deeper into some of the concepts introduced in the book, Building Brand Communities, and discuss compassionate self-care and boundaries for community professionals. Show Hosts &amp; Authors: Bill Johnston &amp; Dr. Lauren Vargas

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Lauren and Bill welcome author and community strategist Carrie Melissa Jones. Carrie has been managing online communities since the early 2000s. Over the course of her career, she has trained, advised, and coached leaders of thousands of online communities. Carrie is the coauthor of Building Brand Communities. She helps brands create new communities, select technology, envision community roadmaps, and think strategically. Prior to founding her own business, Carrie was the Founding Partner and COO for CMX Media, the ‘community for community builders' providing training, events, and programs for community builders around the world. In addition to helping companies build communities, Carrie is a passionate advocate for community professionals and believes that everyone deserves to belong and feel <a href="http://empowered.In" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">empowered.In</a> their conversation, Lauren and Bill talk to Carrie about her latest community research insights, delve deeper into some of the concepts introduced in the book, Building Brand Communities, and discuss compassionate self-care and boundaries for community professionals. Show Hosts &amp; Authors: Bill Johnston &amp; Dr. Lauren Vargas

Building Communities with Purpose and Integrity with Carrie Melissa Jones

Ann Williams

Gail Ann Williams

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas are joined by pioneering community strategist and manager Gail Ann Williams. Gail watched the dawn of online communities through her participation and eventual leadership position at the WELL - one of the first successful large-scale online communities. Prior to any research studies, consultants or books about online communities Gail was navigating the challenges of community strategy, development, policy, and exploring the business models of community - more or less in real-time.  Gail's journey at the WELL started as a conference manager in 1991, and she helped guide the community through several transformational changes, including an acquisition of the WELL by salon.com in 1999. And the eventual repurchase back from salon.com by a group of passionate members in 2012.  In this episode, we discuss:  The founding of the WELL and early community culture How the dawn of the Internet affected the WELL Experimenting with different community business models  How text-based community experiences can be sensory-rich experiences How privacy, even in private forums, can't be assumed How communities still provide a unique environment for compassion and empathy

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas are joined by pioneering community strategist and manager Gail Ann Williams. Gail watched the dawn of online communities through her participation and eventual leadership position at the WELL - one of the first successful large-scale online communities. Prior to any research studies, consultants or books about online communities Gail was navigating the challenges of community strategy, development, policy, and exploring the business models of community - more or less in real-time. Gail's journey at the WELL started as a conference manager in 1991, and she helped guide the community through several transformational changes, including an acquisition of the WELL by <a href="http://salon.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">salon.com</a> in 1999. And the eventual repurchase back from <a href="http://salon.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">salon.com</a> by a group of passionate members in 2012. In this episode, we discuss: The founding of the WELL and early community culture How the dawn of the Internet affected the WELL Experimenting with different community business models  How text-based community experiences can be sensory-rich experiences How privacy, even in private forums, can't be assumed How communities still provide a unique environment for compassion and empathy

The Golden Age of Online Communities & the WELL with Gail Ann Williams

In the first episode of Season 2 of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas explore the concept of "network" as it relates to online and real-life communities.  In the episode they cover: The many definitions of “Network”  The technical infrastructure linking people and things The implicit and dynamic connections between people in a group (aka social graph) The activity of actively seeking connections Special places vs special people  How a network relates to a community "The difference between a community and a network is that you belong to a community, but a network belongs to you."  Zygmund Bauman - as quoted in  The Network Epochs  Mobility &amp; Transportation Networks Analog Communications (telegraph / phone / TV) The commercial Internet Internet + Social Graph (the dawn of Facebook) Internet + Social Graph + Algorithms (the dominance of Facebook) What’s next?  Additional sources referenced in the show: "" - Joshua Cooper Ramo "" - Albert-Laszlo Barabasi "" - Niall Ferguson  "", Wired - Neal Stephenson  "" - Sinan Aral "" - Exponential View podcast host Azeem Azhar interviews Sinan Aral "" - Nicholas Christakis, James Fowler "" - Damon Centola

Why Community Leaders Need to Understand Networks - With Bill Johnston and Dr Lauren Vargas

We are thrilled to announce Season 2 of the Cohere podcast!  I say "we", because I'm joined this season by Dr. Lauren Vargas. Together, we will explore the role networks play in our lives, and the range of disciplines and range of research focused on the emerging field of network science. The reason for the focus on networks? Complex human networks are springing up everywhere, driven in large part by exponential technologies such as AI, automation, and ubiquitous internet. Imagine what will happen when three billion more people come online in the next five years! For organizations, a planet-wide network of logged-on human beings brings both limitless opportunities and unprecedented threats.  As we increasingly use social technologies to augment human experiences, the Cohere podcast asks, what’s the best path forward? What do we need to learn and understand? How might science and existing research guide us towards optimal norms and conditions?[ How should we navigate, evaluate, and administrate a complex technological landscape so we can protect, promote, and empower our human networks? How will we ensure that digital communities deliver on the promise of enhancing our lives, both individually and collectively? And what steps must we take to ensure our approach to community development is sustainable, equitable, and morally sound?  We look forward to taking this journey with you in the coming weeks and months!   on LinkedIn  on LinkedIn

Announcing Season 2 of the Cohere Podcast!

Will Roberts

In this episode of the Cohere podcast, I speak with Will Roberts, a data scientist at IBM, about the implications of data science and AI for online communities.  Will and I talk through:   A definition of AI / ML How machine learning is being applied in the enterprise More specifically, how ML &amp; AI are / might be applied to customer experience generally, and community experiences specifically How we might use community data for models (and analytics) What the key opportunities and risks are for leveraging ML Will's advice on how the community team might approach and partner with a data scientist in their organization  This episode is a complimentary conversation to our ongoing  research at Structure3C.  You can find Will online:      Last, but not least, more info about the awesome Ian Banks Culture series Will mentions:   (overview on Wikipedia)  (Open Library)

Data Science and Online Communities with Will Roberts

Vincent Boon is a giant in the community space. A natural community leader, Vincent initially saw the power of community when hundreds of people began to show up to learn to play poker at his meetup.  From there Vince went on to build pioneering communities in the gaming space, and create a fundamentally new model of community-powered business at GiffGaff.   In this episode, Vince talks about his early days in the community space, what it was like to develop the GiffGaff model and his work as Co-Founder of Standing on Giants. We learn about Vincen't new company, Giants Technology. The second half of the podcast is devoted to a discussion about his recent article "Six Key Principles to Building Healthy &amp; Positive Communities"  Key Quotes: Learning About Virtual Communities from In-Person Communities "In my spare time, I set up the London poker meetup. That was to basically teach people the basics of playing poker. It started off with three other guys and eventually had about a hundred thousand people joining it. We were taking over complete pubs in London. Literally incredible and it was really fun.  As I was doing this I was also the working on a (video) game. I said to the team "look guys, we have a whole bunch of fans out there that I'm sure would be love to see early versions of our games. It was so long ago that they'd never done this before. So I convinced the team to say look, let's just do a closed beta. Test and get our customers to test the games. We started off with a couple of hundred people eventually that grew to about 20,000 people testing this one game. We started a bit of a community as well. And these guys started building a lot off the leagues and the letters and newsletters and, you know, newspaper articles that could all be used within the game. So all of a sudden the game became a lot richer than it originally was intended. And, you know, when it launched, it was obviously an instant success because it already had a user base."  Building GiffGaff With the Customer Community"We announced to the world "We're setting up this little MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator)and here is an idea of what we want to do. We want to run it with a community. We want to hear from people. We want to see what you guys have to say about what we're doing. And it started super simple.  We were also being very open about the fact that it's just a couple of people here and we're just setting up this service. If you've got any ideas, let us know obviously. When we were launching, as we were starting and plenty of things went wrong and we would just talk about that and you put that out there.  My view was always like, look, it's infinitely interesting.  Whatever it is that we're doing. That's why they're showing up."  The Current View of Customer Experience At the moment I think customer experience is incredibly flat. I don't have any experience with a website and how I go through that. I understand the whole route and the need to make it easier for me to buy stuff. But it's not really an experience with the company. It's an experience of how I experienced that product. That's cool, but it's not an emotional experience. For me, an emotional experience happens on a basis where I actually am in contact with the company. And that's not at the moment I have a problem."  Resources From This Episode Find Vincent online:    Articles:

Co-creating Business With Your Community Vincent Boon

Cohere will go beyond discussions of online community, social networks and social media and look at the bigger picture - perhaps the biggest picture: the complex, digitally augmented global community we now all belong to, whether we like it or not! The Big Idea: Complex human networks have sprung up globally, driven in large part by exponential technologies such as AI, automation, and space-based internet. Imagine what will happen when three billion more people come online in the next five years! For organizations, a planet-wide network of logged-on human beings brings both limitless opportunities and unprecedented threats. As we increasingly use social technologies to augment human experiences, the Cohere podcast asks, what’s the best path forward? How should we navigate, evaluate, and administrate a complex technological landscape so we can protect, promote, and empower our human networks? How will we ensure that digital communities deliver on the promise of enhancing our lives, both individually and collectively? And what steps must we take to ensure our approach to community development is sustainable, democratic, and morally sound?

Cohere Podcast

Jorge Blandón

Leaders often use the word "transformation" to describe a small or incremental change, but the definition is "a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance". When using the phrase "Transformational Communities", my intention is to define these communities as having a profound and thorough change effect on participating stakeholders.  One of the most interesting examples I've encountered is the hybrid online &amp; real-world community development model that  uses for its UpTogether program. To date, families participating in FII's community-powered program have experienced a 27% lift in income, have established an average of $1,000 in personal savings, and have collectively established $2.5 million in home equity.  Jorge Blandon, Executive Vice President at FII, joins me on the Cohere Podcast to talk about the mission of FII, to discuss their community model in detail, and to talk about the stories of some of the families who have collectively walked out of poverty together.  Key Quotes From the Episode: "FII really is aiming for all people in the United States to be seen and invested in for their strengths and that they're able to build their social and financial assets. I think until today, there are systemic barriers that prevent a lot of low-income families from leveraging their assets, their strengths, and even community. FII wants to remove those barriers and really create a new environment where families are trusted as change agents and communities are collectively addressing the challenges that prevent them from pursuing their, their wellbeing."  "FII's approach is really anchored in historic models of just how communities and families would come together to support each other from barn raisings to examples of the Chinatowns throughout the country, the Black wall street and in Tulsa, or the fact that there are over 1500 donut shops owned and run by Cambodians. These are people, that are coming together, leading the way, showing a path forward. This country has a rich history of, of people just pooling their resources, their money, their time, and collective strength and, and, and wisdom."  "So UpTogether is an online community-building platform. It's a place where low-income families can take their offline conversations and bring them online to connect with other UpTogether members. They may live in their same neighborhood, in the same city, or connect with other families, experiencing similar challenges across, across the country. It's really the place where social and financial capital is exchanged and ultimately accelerated. On UpTogether families can, can share news around accomplishments, like paying off debt, buying a home, sending their kids to college, eating healthier. They can curate groups to share ideas around parenting, children with special needs, starting a business, or even being civically engaged. It's really a platform that recognizes that we all bring something to the table."  Key Resources From This Episode      Lastly, low-income families have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please consider making a donation to , a campaign that FII families benefit directly from.

Developing a Transformational Community to Lift Families Out of Poverty with Jorge Blandón

Too often the deployment of digital strategies and tools begins humans conforming to technology limitations instead of technology being deployed intentionally in the service of human needs and opportunities - a human-centered approach.  Dr. Lauren Vargas joins me on the Cohere podcast to discuss bringing humans back into the center of the "digital transformation" conversation and provides the CALM framework and specific examples for leaders to draw from.  Lauren is particularly well suited to give guidance here, as she is one of the most experienced and widely practiced digital strategists I know. She's had an impressive range of experiences in both the public and private sectors, including senior roles at Radian6, Aetna, and Fidelity. In private practice now, she’s most recently been focused on helping museums around the globe with digital transformation. We recently reconnected in London where I also got to walk through the AMAZING  at the Museum of London with her to see some of her work first hand. Key Quotes: "it's talking like technology with heart, right. So it's, it's when we talk about it being embedded in, in an organization, and we talk about being embedded in an ecosystem, in the DNA, it's how do we have technology with a pulse? How do, how are we having conversations and using and understanding, managing and creating digital, and technology in a way that is, is human-centered." On Culture as Terroir "I think culture is having a common language. It's having a shared belief and value system, implicit and explicit practices. You know, those conditions, those contexts are different for every single organization. Every organization has its own terrior. Each, each organization has its own unique fingerprint, contextual characteristics unique to that certain place that can influence and shape its character. So when we think about terroir, an agricultural and an ecological term, it's the soil. It's the topography. It's the climate that collectively gives and produces a particular characteristic. For organizations, terroir might be attributed to the type and size of the organization and the industry it is anchored in, it's visitor or customer demographics. It's physical locations and all forms of media that terroir, it's complex and it is comprised of internal and external forces that are unique to the organization. And, those forces ebb and flow. They adapt and adopt over time." The CALM Approach to Digital Leadership "Taking a CALM approach to digital leadership, to digital transformation, is incredibly powerful. And when I say calm, it's an acronym.  C — Collaborative A — Anticipatory L — Letting go of Command and Control Leadership and Embracing Collective Leadership M — Mindful  How do we, how do we think about a collaborative first environment? How do we embed, an anticipatory rhythm of practice and ritual? How do we let go of command and control leadership and how do we create the space to reflect?" Resources From This Episode Find Lauren online:          Articles mentioned in this episode:       Books Lauren mentioned in this episode:  "Anything by Ursula K Le Guin" -   by NK Jemisin ASU's Project Hieroglyph -  &amp; .

A Human-Centered Approach to Digital Leadership with Lauren Vargas, PhD

Venessa Paech

It’s human nature to seek connection, meaning, and knowledge through community. Thanks to the smartphones in our pockets (and the near-global access to broadband), “community” now is very much a digital construct, and the way we find and participate in such gathering places is radically changing.  As online communities and human networks have evolved, algorithms have played an increasingly prominent role in the experience, from rudimentary personalization to shaping and segmenting entire communities. In the future, AI and related technologies will become central to our shared digital and real-world experience.  In this episode of the Cohere Podcast, Venessa Paech and I discuss the future role of AI in online communities - both the tremendous opportunities and potential threats AI &amp; related technologies pose. In this episode, Venessa and I discuss:  AI in the context of the digital community experience - 21:15 The specific ways AI can enhance community experience - 33:54 Potential risks of emerging technologies - 39:37 Machine culture - 43:30 Advice for organizations as they began to prepare for the changes that out AI will bring to community experiences - 46:59  Guest Bio Venessa is a co-founder of the Australian Community Managers Network, a PhD candidate studying the intersection of AI and community, and a global authority on communities and community management. She has led Community for realestate.com.au, Lonely Planet, Envato and Australia Post among others. She founded the Australian Community Manager Roundtables (ACM) in 2009, and created Swarm in 2011 with Alison Michalk. She also runs the annual Australian Community Manager Career Survey and with ACM, authored the first code of ethics for the region.  Find Venessa on the web at , her website , and on Twitter @VenessaPaech. Sources Discussed

It’s human nature to seek connection, meaning, and knowledge through community. Thanks to the smartphones in our pockets (and the near-global access to broadband), “community” now is very much a digital construct, and the way we find and participate in such gathering places is radically changing.  As online communities and human networks have evolved, algorithms have played an increasingly prominent role in the experience, from rudimentary personalization to shaping and segmenting entire communities. In the future, AI and related technologies will become central to our shared digital and real-world experience.  In this episode of the Cohere Podcast, Venessa Paech and I discuss the future role of AI in online communities - both the tremendous opportunities and potential threats AI &amp; related technologies pose. In this episode, Venessa and I discuss: AI in the context of the digital community experience - 21:15 The specific ways AI can enhance community experience - 33:54 Potential risks of emerging technologies - 39:37 Machine culture - 43:30 Advice for organizations as they began to prepare for the changes that out AI will bring to community experiences - 46:59 Guest Bio Venessa is a co-founder of the Australian Community Managers Network, a PhD candidate studying the intersection of AI and community, and a global authority on communities and community management. She has led Community for <a href="http://realestate.com.au" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">realestate.com.au</a>, Lonely Planet, Envato and Australia Post among others. She founded the Australian Community Manager Roundtables (ACM) in 2009, and created Swarm in 2011 with Alison Michalk. She also runs the annual Australian Community Manager Career Survey and with ACM, authored the first code of ethics for the region.  Find Venessa on the web at , her website , and on Twitter @VenessaPaech. Sources Discussed

The Role of AI in Online Communities and Networks with Venessa Paech

In this short (~15 min) bonus episode, we speak with facilitator and community builder extraordinaire Nancy White of Full Circle Associates about creating and maintaining connections online during a crisis.  Specifically, we talk through:  Advice for taking offline events online (and if you should) Planning for a near-term future of limited face to face gatherings Drawing from pre-social media community building techniques to create connections How facilitators and community builders can practice self-care and help others during this challenging time  Links / sources mentioned in the episode:  Nancy's bio     (google doc)  The Ecocycle Diagram that Nancy mentions in the episode:

Creating Connection in the Time of COVID-19 with Nancy White

Over the past 25 years, the Internet has become a central part of our everyday lives. Even so, there are still over three billion people in the world who don't have access to broadband internet. Thanks to a combination of new technologies, this will change rapidly over the next 5 years. This change will open a wide range of potential opportunities and vulnerabilities as the Internet experiences its largest, and final, population boom. In this episode, Jim and I discuss key aspects of the Great Connecting, including ways to prepare for, and participate in, this transformative event.  The technologies that will allow the parts of the world who don’t have internet currently to have it in the next two to three years - 5:59 What potential benefits and vulnerabilities the internet will bring to areas that previously didn’t have it - 10:33 Why the benefits of the internet and social platforms outweigh the negatives - 20:53 How companies can prepare for and participate in this great connection - 25:01 What roles AI will play in this future state of connectivity - 30:02  Guest Bio Jim Cashel is the co-founder and chairman of Forum One Communications. As Forum One's Chairman, he works with the senior management team on strategic and leadership issues, helping to support a continuing mission of applying new and promising technologies to address societal problems of importance. He has a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford, a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical.  In 2018-2019 Jim was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. He also recently published the book . Find Jim on Twitter @cashel as well as at ForumOne.com. Sources

Over the past 25 years, the Internet has become a central part of our everyday lives. Even so, there are still over three billion people in the world who don't have access to broadband internet. Thanks to a combination of new technologies, this will change rapidly over the next 5 years. This change will open a wide range of potential opportunities and vulnerabilities as the Internet experiences its largest, and final, population boom. In this episode, Jim and I discuss key aspects of the Great Connecting, including ways to prepare for, and participate in, this transformative event. The technologies that will allow the parts of the world who don’t have internet currently to have it in the next two to three years - 5:59 What potential benefits and vulnerabilities the internet will bring to areas that previously didn’t have it - 10:33 Why the benefits of the internet and social platforms outweigh the negatives - 20:53 How companies can prepare for and participate in this great connection - 25:01 What roles AI will play in this future state of connectivity - 30:02 Guest Bio Jim Cashel is the co-founder and chairman of Forum One Communications. As Forum One's Chairman, he works with the senior management team on strategic and leadership issues, helping to support a continuing mission of applying new and promising technologies to address societal problems of importance. He has a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford, a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical.  In 2018-2019 Jim was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. He also recently published the book . Find Jim on Twitter @cashel as well as at <a href="http://ForumOne.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ForumOne.com</a>. Sources

Navigating the Global Broadband Internet’s Opportunities & Vulnerabilities with Jim Cashel

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The best podcast episodes on physical health. Episodes talk about your diet, sleep, exercise and all the things that people do to improve their physical health and live a healthier life. This topic is for everyone, with applications in all of our everyday lives. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!