Session one at the unconference was led by David Terrar, and looked at building web communities — after his experience building one for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).

Some interesting thoughts around "why building communities". I pointed out that in fact we were discussing why to build online communities. Comments around managing organisations with aging populations, and online communities being a way to retain knowledge with moving resources.

Need to find new measures — the 1-9-90 rule. Need to find entirely new measures for online communities — not page views or visitors… How to "encourage" commitment and contribution — you can’t force it (and if you try, you will fail)

• Users won’t just come
• What is the purpose?
• What’s in it for me?
• Who are the champions?
• Need teamwork
• Coherent technology framework
• Prepare to lose control
• Moderation guidelines
• Community manager needed

The more CONTENT you have, the more MEMBERS you will get, but the more MEMBERS you have, the more CONTENT you will get — keep things balanced. Don’t focus on the technology, focus on the users.

A cross post from diversity.net.nz