What is UniteWNC?
A metaphor to propose to the group to understand the many facets of what UniteWNC is/can be. What do you think?
What is UniteWNC?
UniteWNC is a networked ‘body’ of members who share common core values, our shared ‘DNA’. Our members are from across the non-profit, for-profit, government, freelance, cooperative, and philanthropic sectors in Western North Carolina. We partner with other networks nationally and globally. They are our ‘family’ networks because of our shared core values.
UniteWNC provides facilitation and supports the adoption of tech-centric tools for collaboration, asset mapping, project tracking, and communication across our members. We are the ‘nervous system’ of our member body taking in external experiences, processing them, and organizing coordination among our networked body.
Two components make up the member body ‘brain.’
1. Commonswealth Institute helps our member body think, consider, seek out, and reason information from around the nation and globe to inform our reflection and active experimentation.
2. Freelance cooperatives of various technology skillsets provide the technical and creative knowledge to create the solutions and tools we experiment with.
The ‘food’ that fuels UniteWNC network are member contributions and revenue from network ventures fund our work via a transparent participatory budgeting process as well as alternative methods of meeting member needs: Mutual Aid Networks, timebanking, mutual credit, etc.
Our network produces good work for our regional communities further cultivating our core values throughout the region and infusing creative technology solutions into our ‘home.’
As we mature, WNC’s communities become more networked together supporting cooperative, sustainable, high quality of life for residents. Our practices, tools, and outcomes become global beacons for regional learning partnerships that blend urban and rural, conservative and liberal, minorities and majority, which will fuel further economic growth.
We are the united regional body.
Sharon Sat 11 Nov 2017 7:08PM
@tracyschmidt after the retreat experience, looking at the unitewnc.io website and re-reading this document more closely, I think I finally see the essence of where you want to go with UWNC - and humbly suggest that the website tagline says something very different - "Designing our Digital Future." I think this is one of the reasons I came in seeing the organization as more tech than socio-tech. Here's my take on what Unite WNC is or could be.
(substitute or insert items in parentheses) to replace or add to [your words in brackets]
UniteWNC: SERVING THE COMMON GOOD THROUGH COLLABORATIVE THOUGHT AND ACTION
UniteWNC is a participatory, inclusive alliance that (participates in) [connects] and supports the development of business, technology, and community (connectivity) across WNC.
Our members, (individuals and organizations) are from across the non-profit, for-profit, government, freelance, cooperative, and philanthropic sectors in Western North Carolina.
Our goal is to preserve and broaden the currently high quality of life that makes this region so notably attractive.
Our mission is to (help grow)[serve as] the connective tissue that achieves a positive and progressive collective impact from the many thriving, diverse localized community-betterment efforts currently in place.
We do this through facilitating the adoption of technical and social process tools across our membership, such as collaboration, asset mapping, project tracking, and communication. In this way we share our socio-technical strengths and model the cultural changes we'd like to see in the world at large.
Current Activity:
Silver to Gold,
Internet Connectivity for All,
Freelance Cooperative,
Tech Talent Pipeline.
TracySchmidt Mon 13 Nov 2017 12:43PM
Hi @sharon32 , thanks for your comments! Glad you found us here. I've been buried under work all weekend. The website still has some hold over content and logo from the first summit and we need to finish updating it and get a new logo to mesh with where we have evolved to. I think the retreat helped solidify some of our thinking on that. When I have a little more time (and a bigger screen :-) ) I'll reply more in depth, but overall I think we're on the same page.
TracySchmidt Tue 28 Nov 2017 2:27AM
Hi Sharon- I'm coming back up for air after getting the contract proposal in for my day job and also moving out of old house and into new house. The tagline of "designing our digital future" on the logo was for the summit. I do have a version of the logo without that and tried to replace it on the website tonight but I'm getting errors on the divi theme after going ahead and upgrading the wordpress version. So I'm stymied right now. I'm hoping in January I'll have more time to more fully update the website and bring it in sync with where everyone is now.
I've had time to read through and think through your post and while I agree with what you've written - I see the last paragraph as only half of the equation of what UniteWNC can do. Yes we can do all the collaboration/connective tissue part via the facilitation, but I think we can also provide the active experimentation by applying technology to the solutions.
We are having an initiative call tomorrow night at 7 (invite is on the website calendar) if you want to call into the google hangout.
Jim March Wed 29 Nov 2017 7:23PM
I agree, Tracy. It is important to include the "active experimentation by applying [information] technology". This reflects the original intent of UniteWNC, as well as feeding the "meet-the-geeks" perspective. Our basic support (and potential income generation) will come by leveraging information technology to serve the community's quality of life.
Cheri · Wed 8 Nov 2017 9:41PM
I love this. There is an invitation to participate for everyone and it should spark LOTS of curiosity and questions: How do you do this? How can I play? How is it profitable? How does it contribute? Etc.