slow communities & pace layering

Further to Nancy's work on Slow Communities and her question: "when do you need to be fast & when do you need to be slow?". This reminds me of Stewart Brand's idea of pace layering - which he developed to describe our physical environment but which also applies to our digital one (it's a favourite of information architects). Different layers change/move at different rates.

Activities, relationships & artifacts all shift at different rates. One thing important in our lives (individual & collective) is that they don't all do it at the same rate - the variety is good for us.

podcast - slow communities with nancy white

Nancy has been writing & talking a lot about "slow community" recently - video, slides & post here & here. Sadly Ed Mitchell couldn't join us as planned (but we'll nab him again in the future).

One thing we didn't tackle in the podcast was the matter of practical tactics: What should community members & coordinators do?

Answers on a postcard please...

Download the mp3

00:00 - Nancy's conversations about slow communities
03:30 - Matt's fast community anecdote
06:00 - When is slow appropriate?
06:30 - The importance of sustainability
07:15 - Fast is good for social media experiments
08:00 - We need to learn & reflect
10:30 - Rhythm, pausing & athletics
12:15 - Organisational seasons & hurricanes
14:00 - More is not necessarily better
15:30 - Community obesity
17:00 - Networks & comununities
18:00 - Admitting that you have a problem
20:00 - Mindfulness & self-awareness as critical skills
22:30 - Nancy applies the brakes with meditation
24:00 - What do we really need?