Community
- In
your own words, what does a community mean to
you and why?
- How
would you define a community?
- What
makes a community feel like a community? (Feel free to post any
images to help bring your thoughts to life)
- Based
on your definition, what ‘communities’ do you feel you’re a part
of?
- Which
ones and why? How do you interact with these communities? (e.g. What
about digital communities? How do they differ? And in terms of being
a part of it?)
- Thinking
about your local area, what would you say are the top
3 community initiatives or groups you’re aware of:
- What
are they? What do they do? (e.g. Consider all types of groups and
communities, natural and organised online and offline)
- Why
are they in your top 3 - what do they do that is good?
The term 'community' is somewhat
nebulous, not least because it means different things to different people.
'Community' inevitably involves people, such as people who live in a village
(as I do), or attend a 'community centre', but I imagine that people who work
in a zoo or a cat sanctuary also consider many of the animals with whom they
positively interact to be part of their community. It is positive interaction
that brings 'community' into existence. When I lived in various suburbs of
Durham (for 37 years) I never experienced a sense of 'local community': we were
simply people who happened to be living in relative proximity. On the other
hand, I am a Quaker, and the positive interaction between us (both in Durham
and north-eastern England, and now in Canterbury and eastern Kent) gives us a
very strong sense of community, despite our geographical spread over a sizeable
area.
I have worked in many universities and
colleges, mostly teaching. Until my final job, the permanently temporary nature
of my forever-part-time employment status meant that I was never really allowed
to belong, and I knew that there would always come a point when my contract was
not renewed. However, my final job was at the University of Sunderland. Here my
employment contract was full-time and permanent. I was not only allowed to
belong, I was encouraged to feel a sense of identity with the University. This
meant that, for the first and only time in my working life, I joined and
belonged to a community of work colleagues.
My sister is gay, and she clearly
identifies with, and feels a sense of belonging to, 'the gay community'. On the
other hand, I am a strict vegan, and have been so for nearly 30 years. I have
met a handful of vegans during my life, and although we have some values and
interests in common, I do not interact with them, and consequently do not feel
as though I belong to a vegan community. My daughter is severely physically
disabled and profoundly deaf. A significant proportion of her contacts have
disabilities of one kind or another. Mostly, her interactions, including
disability rights campaigning, are on-line, where her physical disabilities are
less of a problem. She uses a specialist electronic communication device with
voice synthesis, and strongly identifies with other people who use such
devices: she is active within an organisation called One Voice, which is a
community of people who use assistive communication.
I have been around computers since
1976 (an IBM 360 series mainframe at the University of Durham). When personal
computers started to be more widely marketed in the 1980s, I became something
of an 'early adopter' (which explains my unusual e-mail address). I saw myself as
part of a 'personal computer community', although I interacted with relatively
few people about it, mostly because, in those days, only enthusiasts were
interested. However, a lot of hardware and software was aimed at 'early
adopters', which is what lent a sense of community.
Key words in what I have written are
'people', 'proximity', 'shared values/outlook/purpose', 'identity' and
'belonging'.
As your local water provider, Affinity Water want
to be part of your community
- What
do you think Affinity waters' role is, as an organisation that
services your community? Why?
- How
can Affinity Water build relationships with customers and
drive a sense of community? Why?
- What
other businesses or organisations could Affinity Water
partner with to better support the community? Why?
- What
do you think is missing in your
local area that Affinity Water could support, in order to help customers?
Why?
As with
many people who have signed up to this project, I have an interest in water,
especially in my local area. As it happens, I talked at some length with a
young man who works for the Environment Agency who I encountered while he was
carrying out his job of measuring the depth (115 metres today) of the water
table in the chalk aquifer that underlies the North Downs. Winter rainfall will
reduce that depth. I asked about the quality of the water, and he said that the
groundwater round here is good, although there are some problems with nitrate
run-off from agriculture. I mentioned about heavy rainfall causing sewage to
drain into the River Nailbourne, and when the water table is very high, the
Nailbourne floods, carrying sewage into people's houses. Water issues can and
do become very real and immediate. If Affinity Water would like to interact
meaningfully with the local community, then it needs to find ways to
participate in the local community. Here are some ideas:
1. An
annual talk in the Village Hall about some aspect of water management.
2. A
stall at the annual 'food fayre' / farmer's market.
3.
Regular reports about water issues to the Parish Council.
4.
Appointing a named person working for Affinity Water as a liaison and someone
to whom questions could be directed.
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