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Community Beyond Borders
John Boyer (joboyer@vt.edu)
Dept. of Geography
Virginia Tech
Twitter: @plaidavenger
Tuesday, December 16, 14

The technology tools now
available to communicate
and to deliver content are
AWESOME!!!
...more humans are
communicating in more
ways, more of the time,
than ever before....

So for a class the
size of a small
town...
there are a few
general strategies
we use in super-
large classes...

Strategy #1: Increase the bandwidth
So for a class the
size of a small
town...
there are a few
general strategies
we use in super-
large classes...

Strategy #2: Expand options
So for a class the
size of a small
town...
there are a few
general strategies
we use in super-
large classes...

Strategy #2: Expand options
Strategy #3: Make a class into a
community
So for a class the
size of a small
town...
there are a few
general strategies
we use in super-
large classes...

And I am increasingly going fully on line....

And I am increasingly going fully on line....
...and do be successful at that, you need to build community....

BUT!!!!
Im just a geography professor!
What do I know about communities?

BUT!!!!
Im just a geography professor!
What do I know about communities?
However, the more I thought about it....

...from Latin communis: things held in common, a broad term for
fellowship or organized society. A social unit of any size that
shares common values and/or common interest, which affects the
identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
(face-to-face, local, national, international, interest group, virtual)
What is a
鈥渃ommunity鈥�?

Community throughout history
It all starts with family鈥he clan or kinship group鈥�.

鈥�.then extends to the tribe
鈥�.people helping out their people, and in exchange they help you.
We work together, we live together, we experience life together.
We have a shared identity. We have shared interest...

But these are peeps and communities on the move, not yet tied to a
certain space, or geography.....

...from hunter gatherers to farmers: we started geographically
hanging out in a single space, a de铿乶ed place, and our numbers in
that space grew into villages鈥�..and small towns鈥�.which turn into
bigger towns....

Ag revolution to industrial revolution to post-industrial evolution
...and these places
(which evolve into cities, city-states, nations, empires, etc.)
have more and more and more peeps in them

So we are each in a group of people with a shared life, shared
experiences in this shared space, perhaps still with shared interest,
although as our numbers get bigger, those interests expand
exponentially....
More and more and more people doing more and more specialized
work, we make stuff, we buy stuff, we make money, we have leisure
time so we create religions and arts and sports and hobbies

So communities become bigger and more complex, but there is still
that shared sense of identity. This is not just my tribe its my town.
Its my place. Its my culture. Its the home football team.

I mean,
times have
really, really
changed....

I mean,
times have
really, really
changed....
...or have they????

And even in 鈥渟mall鈥� urban areas,
NOW THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS!!!
And specialized sub-communities sprung up from the larger
communities: The local Methodist or Baptist church, the Rotary
Club or The Lions Club, the PTA, the Boy Scouts or Girl
Scouts....even the concepts of 鈥榥eighborhood鈥� and 鈥榮ubdivision鈥�

TIME FOR A ROUND OF:
ASK THE AUDIENCE

ASK THE AUDIENCE
TO ANSWER!

ASK THE AUDIENCE
What named community
are you from? How do
you self-identify?
TO ANSWER!

ASK THE AUDIENCE
you self-identify?
TO ANSWER!
What sub-communities
did you have there?

ASK THE AUDIENCE
you self-identify?
TO ANSWER!
did you have there?
Are those civic interest
groups increasing in size?

ASK THE AUDIENCE
you self-identify?
TO ANSWER!
did you have there?
Are those civic interest
groups increasing in size?
Do you think your
hometown has a vibrant
鈥渟ense of community鈥�?

ASK THE AUDIENCE:
Community Generation Gap Speed Round

ASK THE AUDIENCE:
How many of you have lived
in the same town your
whole life?

ASK THE AUDIENCE:
whole life?
How many of you younger
peeps plan on living in your
hometown for life?

So where do you folks spend the
majority of your time
interacting with other humans
with similar interests?
ASK THE AUDIENCE:
whole life?
How many of you younger
peeps plan on living in your
hometown for life?

SO....as the steady progression of the human story has gone forward
for millennia, we have become increasingly urban (now over half the
planet in an urban area), with more and more people around us (7.5
billion of us)鈥�..while simultaneously being able to travel further
and further, for cheaper and cheaper, making it easy to move
around, and thus scatter our tribe, and even our families to
different geographic areas鈥�
World Urbanization Rates

...making get togethers special

...or is it affording us the opportunity
to now NOT see our tribe?
...making get togethers special

From de铿乶ing family, to de铿乶ing clan, to de铿乶ing a place, to
de铿乶ing the culture at a speci铿乧 place....then sub-cultures of
speci铿乧 components of your life
So community has transformed....

...over time as urban areas and populations have grown, the
evolution of speci铿乧 internets groups EXPONENTIALLY grew, as
more people meant more stuff people are interested in, which
meant more opportunities to do those different things that you like
to do, but weren't available in your clan, or village, or small town鈥�

Tribe to village to neighborhood to city鈥�.as our geography circle expands,
so do our opportunities to 铿乶d people who like the stuff that you like鈥�.who
do the stuff you do鈥�.who share the same interests you share鈥�.

Tribe to village to neighborhood to city鈥�.as our geography circle expands,
so do our opportunities to 铿乶d people who like the stuff that you like鈥�.who
do the stuff you do鈥�.who share the same interests you share鈥�.
HEY WAIT A MINUTE!!!!
THAT IS A COMMUNITY!!!!!

And now, let鈥檚 erase geography,
and eliminate borders...
...and head into the digital in铿乶ite

Communities have gone on-line!!!
With perhaps more participants than in 鈥渞eal life鈥�!

Communities have gone on-line!!!
With perhaps more participants than in 鈥渞eal life鈥�!
(...and I鈥檓 not not talking about shopping, or brand loyalty building, or
YouTube vids or dating services or shallow materialistic self-absorbed crap...)

And everything I have said thus far about
increasing human interaction and connections and
community forming....
....multiply by a billion interactions a second.

WHY I THINK DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
--SANS BORDERS--
ARE GREAT

We are building a global neural network

You are not alone.

You are not alone.
(Isn鈥檛 overall human happiness a good thing?)

It is helping humans help other humans.

It is bridging cultural divides, just for fun...

It is empowering consumers AND entrepreneurs

-Power to the (entrepreneur) people!

-Power to the (entrepreneur) people!
-Individuals, and individuals working together as a
shared voice, can focus and enact change like never
before

I am increasingly trusting my community over
traditional sources when it comes to news....

They increase a tendency towards democracy....

They are going to exponentially increase
educating the world: Learning Communities

鈥�.and on a personal note: I want to create on-line courses that
completely eliminate geographic barriers, but also destroy social
barriers in their entirety: students interacting with each other, and
me, on equal footing, but also with politicians and scientists and
everyone else鈥�.by building community.

A COMMUNITY working together can achieve more
than an INDIVIDUAL can on their own...and can make
the impossible possible with a collective voice.

A COMMUNITY working together can achieve more
than an INDIVIDUAL can on their own...and can make
the impossible possible with a collective voice.
...GROUP SYNERGY evolves organically

Aung San Suu Kyi
Noble Peace Prize Winner
and chairperson of the
National League for
Democracy in Burma
Led to live Skype session with her
Initial interest from
Burmese student
Skype shout out & social networking by students

Home may be where
the heart is,
but in the 21st century
communities are where
your interest lie...and in
a digital world without
borders, that is
everywhere and
anywhere, with
limitless options

...and the fascinating possible FUTURE of borderless communities???
Training for space? An entire virtual existence?
A more comfortable virtual existence? The future of warfare?

But for now, local still
matters, because we are 铿俥sh
and blood humans, and we
live in the local-totally-real
world鈥�.but in an increasingly
borderless world where you,
the user, create your
community.
So who is your community?
In an on-line world,
the world is your oyster.
....so what will we do with it?

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Communities Beyond Borders

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