Describing your 'real'
community
Developed by Drew
Mackie <drewmackie@m2ud.com> and
David
Wilcox
<david@partnerships.org.uk>
Sequence of play
The following instructions for the
community networking or Neighbourhoods Online game are for use in a
'real' community... urban or rural. See also instructions for
inventing
a scenario at a conference,
and a 'given'
scenario.
1 Describing the
community
The facilitator asks the
audience to call out characteristics of their area:
- What they feel is good about
it
- What they think is bad or
needs improvement
Alternatively, the audience might
map out strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats... or use
any other technique to describe its characteristics. These are
then indicated on a flip chart as a map with bullet points
indicating issues. If there is disagreement on which
characteristics should be adopted, ask for a show of hands to
resolve it. (Time: 15 mins.)
2 Picturing the community -
now
Once the area has been
specified, the audience will split into groups of no more than 7.
Each group then considers the issues of the area and draws the
sustainability model (see
below) on flip chart paper
to show how things are now. The facilitator now tries to get the
audience to agree to a shared "picture" of the area as represented
by the diagram. (Time: 10 mins.)
3 Developing
projects
Each group is now issued
with the set
of cards showing possible
online community projects. Each project has red number in circle
in its upper right hand corner. This is rough indication of the
relative costs of projects. Each group has a budget of 10 points
i.e. the projects they select must not total more than 10. Within
this restriction, groups discuss the projects and select a set
that they think will work well together and address the issues
outlined in stage 1. (Time: 20 - 30 mins.)
4 Picturing the community -
later
Groups now draw the diagram
of how things have changed because of the projects they have
selected.
5 Presenting the
results
Each group now presents the
results of its discussions, preparatory to a general discussion.
(Time: depends on number of groups and time available.)
The
model
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The model used to assess the
present and future states of the area intentionally simple
to allow communities and professionals to communicate about
matters of sustainability. It consists of a three-by-three
matrix.
The columns represent The
Environment, The Local Community and the Local Economy.
These are assessed as being Robust, Stable or Fragile and
the diagram shaded accordingly.
Thus the diagram on the
right shows an area where the Environment and Community are
Stable but the Economy is Fragile. Arrows are used to
indicate trends. In this case the Environment is becoming
more Stable while the Economy is becoming less Stable, and
Community could go either way.
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