Cohousing-L Mailing List: Why a comprehensive communications system is important

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

I was told by a field sociologist that the first thing they do when they try to 
identify, to discover a community is to look at communications systems. What 
information is communicated to whom? How freely? How dependably? How 
accurately? A strong communications system signals “a strong community here.”

Cohousing desires to welcome diversity. But diversity has many more dimensions 
than each of us might think— night people, day people, available on weekdays, 
only on weekends, online preferably, F2F only. Shares native language or not. 
Patient, impatient, dyslexic, skilled readers, organized, disorganized, 
planners, no planning, procrastinators, forgetters, etc. Anything online must 
accommodate the latest up-to-the-minute technology with three screens on an 
elaborate desk in a dedicated extra bedroom right along with the 15-year-old PC 
with a dial-up modem. Diversity is about accepting personal style and 
preferences to the extent possible if you want to build a strong inclusive 
community.

It is no longer as simple as “check the bulletin board” or “it's in email.” We 
have some people who always prefer — feel safer with — F2F. To figure out how 
some kinds of information will travel or has traveled, I have a map in my head 
of who talks to whom daily.

Then there is the problem of legacy systems. Every new software opportunity 
means laboring under the burden of all the old files under legacy programs that 
your new residents won’t know even existed. 20 years in, there have been a lot 
of disjointed movements.

As one who for 25 years has been the interface between those who still haven’t 
mastered email and those who want us to use the programs designed for big 
businesses, my opinion is that we are best off with a comprehensive open-source 
program that serves most needs, can be further developed with a modular system, 
and can be easily linked to others when necessary. One cohouser whose community 
uses Mosaic said her community members believe that Zoom is part of Mosaic 
because it is in their menu alongside the meal signups, the minutes, the tool 
library, and email. They have developed the system so it is a one-stop-shopping 
experience for members. One address, one password. Everyone can answer 
questions when you forget something.

But, some community members will want to contribute their time using the 
software they prefer and can manage without interference from other members. 
They want to keep the calendar without having someone else mess up the color 
and font settings or having to attend meetings to make decisions about how to 
list events. Then there are the "Google Docs is good enough people" and "Google 
is the enemy people.” 

But in both Mosaic and Gather permissions can be set so only one or a few 
people have access to changing settings. 

At some point, you just have to go with a system that your members are willing 
to put time into. More and more I realize that nothing gets done in cohousing 
unless there is one person (at least) who is willing and able to make it 
happen. And whatever happens, is usually better than nothing happening. 

Whatever system you use, it needs to use some mainstream 
program/language/whatever so information can be transferred to a new system 
reliably. Open source is a magic word. If you have community members who have 
even rudimentary coding skills — or who want to develop them—an open-source 
program can expand forever. That 16-year-old who is yearning to learn and show 
off what they know can be a godsend.

And if many more of our communities worked together to develop a comprehensive 
system we would all benefit. One thing that starts communities out with 
fractionated communications systems is that in the first meetings, they adopt 
whatever someone in the room knows how to use. Once established it is very hard 
to switch. There are other things taking time and energy and people aren’t 
aware of how useful a comprehensive system would be until it becomes hard to 
switch.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org