Our Idea is simple:
Communities are often siloed preventing ‘true’ community vision
We inspire connections borrowing design of popular geosocial networking apps
Here + free time = Community Animation
WHAT WE’VE DONE
Since developing the Android App and website, we’ve engaged potential users and actual users: Development is ongoing.
FIRST, INSPIRE A MEETUP
We surveyed potential users to determine which of three use case scenarios would lead to a set of civic gains.
- Interest-based
- News-based
- Task-based
SECOND, A HAPPENING®
After adopting interest-based as our meet-up category, we hosted a happening, or event to test the app, in a campus cafe.
So far, the views on potential community gains seem to be consistent, but we’re continuing development to improve the design in light of the intended purpose of the app.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
We are broadly interested in how we might facilitate the role of community animators. Specifically, we are measuring:
RQ1) How are particular design features more or less helpful in achieving civic gains?
RQ2) How are particular design features useful for facilitating community animation?
I have developed an initial application to identify how these community interactions can create shared trust, collaborations, and a “win-win” culture for siloed groups. Recently, I am developing a new application version to discover ways to preserve these conversations in a low effort manner so that innovative community conversations can be shared with a wider audience.
Please, contact me for more information, comments and suggestions!
Here some more information about the project:
Community Animator website: https://communityanimator.ist.psu.edu/
Community Animator – Penn State News: http://news.psu.edu/story/392239/2016/02/12/research/animating-community
Jomara Bindá