I wanted to add more context to the new community building model I am proposing, called the Piazza. The idea is that when people come together in community around any focus, they come with at least four interests:
- People who want to know more
- People who want to debate and argue
- People who want to talk about something else
- People who want to do something
Each of the four conversations in the model invites each intention. Best of all, people can move to different conversations as their sense of the focus shifts. Each provides a unique and authetic space where people with like conversational intentions can find each other and connect.
Like Open Space, one of the inspirations for the Piazza, any number and variety of people can be invited. People "vote with their feet." The initial focus can be a problem or possibility and change shift and spin off others in the process. It allows for both grass roots and institutions to engage in unpredictable and improbable collaborations.
And as people get involved in the Doing conversation, several potential projects and efforts can emerge and that people can assign themselves to.
