Brad Rourke

Category: community

  • Iranians' Success Against Censors Shows Need For "Capacity Building"

    The turmoil in Iran and the efforts of the nation’s citizens to overcome government censorship provide a good argument for why it is important to build capacity in communities. Since at least 2004, Iran has been censoring social networking sites. So, according to this New York Times article, people have had about five years to…

  • My Taxonomy Of Community Participants: The 90-9-1 "Principle" In Person

    Among people who work in, study, and manage online communities, there’s something called the “90-9-1 Principle.” The idea is that in most online communities, 90 percent of the users are audience members, passively reading posts and comments. Nine percent of the users are “editors” editing posts (in wiki-style communities) or adding comments (in blog-style or…

  • Our Civic Wedding

    Having recently been to a wedding, I am thinking about my own wedding, back in 1992. We chose a decidedly nontraditional approach to our ceremony. It is a choice that has endured and I continue to be glad of it. My wife, Andrea Jarrell, and I met doing civic activities. These things were the center…

  • Community Builder? Read This

    One of my entrepreneur and social web heroes, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur, is among the most open and accessible members of the digerati. He is constantly sharing and praising others. He recently was at a conference where Internet star Chris Pirillo was speaking and the subject turned toward community and community building. Chris had…

  • How To Evaluate Online Obligations

    We seem constantly pulled away from reality to tend to online business. For many, this can be vexing. For volunteers intent on helping those around them, it can be even more of a dilemma.

  • "I Divorce Thee . . . "

    I recently witnessed an interesting event.  Some people I know on Facebook, who had sort of reconnected after a long hiatus since childhood, got into a political argument and appear to have “broken up.” Each side had their points, but it was a great example of how hard it can be to engage with people…

  • “I Divorce Thee . . . “

    I recently witnessed an interesting event.  Some people I know on Facebook, who had sort of reconnected after a long hiatus since childhood, got into a political argument and appear to have “broken up.” Each side had their points, but it was a great example of how hard it can be to engage with people…

  • Changing The Meaning Of "Community Work"

    I do a lot of work with organizations trying to change how they relate to — and work with — communities. As a result, I write a lot of reports about “changing work habits in order to make change in communities” and whatnot. There’s a challenge in writing such things. Often, it is hard to…

  • Changing The Meaning Of "Community Work"

    I do a lot of work with organizations trying to change how they relate to — and work with — communities. As a result, I write a lot of reports about “changing work habits in order to make change in communities” and whatnot. There’s a challenge in writing such things. Often, it is hard to…