CommunityWorkingGroup

Bringing the Noisebridge community together to create a better space for all.

The goal of the Community Working Group is to solve problems as a group that we have historically failed to solve as individuals.

For example:

• keeping the space clean and physically safe (see also House_Keeping)
• resolving interpersonal conflicts before they become "drama".
• maintaining commonly used facilities by delegating responsiblity (and making sure to recognize accomplishment!)
• hosting social events that encourage greater connectedness, without putting extra pressure on the space.

Working Group Members

User:Daravinne

User:Nthmost

User:AdrianChadd

.....need moar members

Philosophy of Operation

We're going to try the FractalWorkingGroup strategy.

The types of things we should seek to convey to Noisebridge as a whole:

• how we brought together X and Y groups, despite $PROBLEMS
• recommendations for action (e.g. "what to do about the kitchen") based on community input.
• how we identified $HARASSMENT despite cover-ups, misdirection, etc.
• new connections made between Noisebridge and the outside world (e.g. shelters and food co-ops).
• reports on how well the physical space supports (or doesn't support) the community vis-a-vis the Noisebridge Mission Statement.

Philosophy of Conflict Resolution

We'd like to see people as individuals worthy of continued participation in Noisebridge, even when they make mistakes. We believe that misunderstandings happen, and that no one is perfect. We believe that the vast majority of people have good intentions and really just want to hack!

We also believe that harassment is a serious problem and not to be taken lightly. So while some disagreements may be treated as minor interpersonal misunderstandings, some should be referred out to another group specifically set up to handle harassment. See SafeSpaceWorkingGroup

Finally, we agree that certain behaviors -- particularly sleeping in the space and drug use -- can endanger our relationship with our landlord and jeopardize our lease. We hope to be able to refer individuals to local hostels, clinics, and shelters to assist them, rather than having them use Noisebridge as a halfway house or having Noisebridge throw them out.

Working Group Meetings

schedule goes here, also links to meeting notes

Possible CWG Projects

• making a New Member Packet containing info about processes, participation, etc, and probably stickers or something too
• refactoring the redshirts role and implementation
• rainbow grocery's consensus and conflict mediation workshop
• outreach/help/services for the disadvantaged/dwelling-impaired (THIS IS IMPORTANT, sure we are not a homeless shelter but our structure and openness cause us to be a vector for this demographic. i think it behooves us as an organization and as people to address this in an empathic and controlled manner.)
• ensuring clean/safe facilities (bathrooms, basically, but maybe kitchen -- depends on strength of the KitchenWorkingGroup)

Possible CWG Scenarios

• hosting a dialog between people who think the kitchen promotes the use of Noisebridge as a homeless shelter versus people who use the kitchen responsibly.
  • thinking about the kitchen existing at all: if we minimize the "dishes and pots" aspect of the kitchen, and set it up to facilitate hacking type stuff like molecular gastronomy, and add a dishwasher, it could get better.

• addressing problematic behavior on the part of individuals and considering whether they should be referred to a separate mediation/harassment group.

Maybe (but maybe not):

• implementing and maintaining management software (http://spiff.readthedocs.org/en/latest/ via torrie, and https://www.loomio.org/ , and https://slack.com/ and http://www.discourse.org/

NOT in the CWG's purview

• kitchen rebuild (content/process) -- KitchenWorkingGroup should attack this one.
• refactoring consensus process and decision negotiation (consensus is not a monolithic model, and its also complex and mutable, kinda like agile/scrum methodology. participants in it should be informed and prepared.) http://web.mit.edu/publicdisputes/practice/cbh_ch1.html