When Networks Become Communities

If there is one common factor between the 3 finalists for the Manchester Beacon’s “Mapping Creativity” competition, it’s how all three of them define community in a slightly different way. It’s easy to forget that our vast “social networks” are road systems, not villages – allowing easy commute, but not providing much in the way of local knowledge.
With £25,000 to the winner, to be announced in November, there’s definitely a pot at the end of the rainbow, but neither easy money or smart technology will really be the arbiter of which one or all three succeeds. For “Community as Curator” there’s a keen recognition that we become a community through interest as much as proximity. So by enabling a group of, say, boxing fans, to follow an exhibition curated by, say, Ricky Hatton around his interests, people who might not normally explore our museums and galleries might do so, both on and off line.
For “Arc Space” a community is definitely locational. Hulme sits bang next to the city’s knowledge corridor, but there’s limited crossover between the university and the diverse population of the area. Through development of a local search engine and social network, they believe that you can create a co-operative of shared knowledge, interests and learning.
Simplest of the ideas, and you feel sure to come to a cooking channel near you soon, was “The Great Manchester Cultural Cookoff” where food – and our memories of food – are used as the glue that binds. Not sharing recipes so much as sharing the stories behind the recipes, it’s not – like Heston Blumenthal – trying to discover what makes the perfect recipe, but wanting to use a virtual space to recreate the familial spaces where food used to be so central. Here “community” is plural, and our differences can be explored via what we share.
We all know that good ideas have many fathers, and bad ideas are orphans; but what struck me about all three of these was how ideas are like children, in that they need to be nurtured in order to grow and reach their potential. All 3 of these seemed worthy of pursuing, but all of them had a gap – either in terms of their community involvement, their innovation, or their sustainability. Being given the time and support to develop is what will fill those gaps.
I was sat near the front as they did a “ten slide” pitch at the Whitworth so I couldn’t see which ideas gained most support from the audience. The pitches were being filmed however, and there will be time to have your say online in the next couple of weeks.