Designing and Managing light communities
In 2017, when I took up the responsibility to set up, launch and lead which bottles down to designing and managing the Design X Awards for UXIndia, little did I realize that it was a journey rather than a project. A journey of creating light community. Two years on, I continue to be on this journey of managing a community which can be categorized as a light community. I will not go into the details of why DesignX is a light community but rather talk about how to design and manage a light community.
The discourses around ‘community’ are multifold. From creating communities of religion, caste, creed, to designing community housing, communal gardens and community function halls. Each of these is rooted in a purpose although, varying in the boundaries they operate. Traditionally communities started out to form based on territory and found themselves to have close and informal relationships, mutuality, common values and beliefs, organized interaction, strong group feeling and cultural similarity.
However, the present-day social fabric is what Zygmut Bauman advocates as liquid modernity. Liquid modernity emphasizes on the fact that change in society is more rapid in the modern world and the social structures are no more solid but rather elastic. In fact, if one literally thinks about states of matter: liquid and solid; solids have a defined molecular structure and occupy a definite shape. In the case of liquids, it’s not quite so — they are flexible in imitating a shape one moment and the next moment flow free to take up another, of course, taking up the shape of whatever container/space they occupy. This is possible because of the loose molecular structure. From this one can infer that liquids are not bounded by time and space thus their ability to change rapidly.
To further take this analogy from the perspective of change, if one wants to change a solid one needs to think about breaking the molecular structure in terms of rigidity and shape — thus directly affecting its identity. Solids have a definite identity in terms of the shape they are. However, liquids due to their structure modify their identity from one moment to another or as they identify with the shape of the container they take. If one wants to see the change in a liquid(not considering the change in states of matter) one needs to think about the flow. Intervening with the flow — for example in terms of direction, momentum, viscosity etc. would provoke for a deviation thus inculcating change.
The present frame of the world can be looked at as one where constructing durable identities is becoming difficult due to society’s transformation from solidity to liquidity. Bauman particularly explains this as
‘We have moved from a period where we understood ourselves as “pilgrims” in search of deeper meaning to one where we act as “tourists” in search of multiple but fleeting social experiences.’(Bauman, 2008)
A society where one seeks deeper meaning in whatever one does is long gone. The emergent world consists of a young generation which wants to continuously experience everything and anything available in their vicinity. Of course, the technology revolution and digitalization is a huge driver for this transition.
In such a scenario, the pressing issue around creating communities with a vision for social change and impact is a challenging task. The need to design light communities has become evident one the pre-condition that one wants to bring about a systems-level change in the socio-technological world we thrive. For example, Salt is an architectural structure which is a nomadic art project on Langkaia in Oslo, overlooking the Opera House. The project brings together art, music, food and architecture and acts as a community pop up moulding itself according to the environment.
What is a light community?
A light community is one that is porous, flexible and open. One which is designed for a purpose as well as has a particular interest rooted in it. The main attributes of a light community are time and space which in the present fabric of society have a flexible structure and which change constantly according to the need.
What is it that you need to keep in mind while designing( for) a light community?
Designing a light community is a challenging task. Specifically, because of the number of iterations, one has to go through once the basic structure is formed. Here are 5 things you need to know.
- List down your knowns and unknowns.
This is something I do ritualistically for any project. Listing down the knowns and unknowns of any task you take up, gives you the clarity of where to start from, what is missing and what needs work.
2. Start with the knowns and work your way to the unknowns
Always start working with the factors which you know. Try to brainstorm around those keywords and you will eventually find your way to defining the unknowns and working through them.
3. Designing and managing a light community is an ongoing process
Everyone is familiar that designing is a double diamond. Not literally, but one needs to follow the British Design Council’s ‘double diamond’ framework. But I would say due to its ambivalent characteristics, designing light communities is a multiple diamond process. It requires constant iterations, as you go along the journey of managing, maintaining and driving it into the direction you want. The reason behind this is the constant need to strategize between balancing the community’s purpose and community’s interest which is volatile and liquid, constantly varying and influenced by environmental, social, economic and political factors.
4. Aim for a self-sustaining model.
A light community’s success depends on its ability to self-sustain. In simple language, this means its ability to sustain without being largely dependent on the experts. This can be achieved possibly in many ways.
5. Communication is the key
Talk to your stakeholders. Whether they are participants, your experts or just your viewers. Make sure you give them timely instructions and information with what’s happening in the community. Be the storyteller to your audience and lead your active stakeholders who are your participants and experts towards the purpose and ultimately the goal of the community. And of course, keep this as your highest priority at any moment during the process.
References:
- Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge, UK. Polity
- Press.Manzini, E. (2019). Politics of the Everyday. London. Bloomsbury
- https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/what-framework-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond
- https://www.salted.no/?utm_content=visit-website-link
