Communities are Shared Knowledge
This article will be on Why it is important to be a part of a community? & Why is it important for the members of the community to take collective responsibilities?
As per Google dictionary, COMMUNITY is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
I am talking about a community which operates in the Startup Ecosystem and in ‘Design + Tech’ Ecosystem. My experience of running a community, started from my engineering days but real learning came from seeing Sudeep Singh, who led Startup Grind Delhi and India and from Sriram, who led Startup Grind Chennai and from many more.
Time is precious and spending time in community is a headache until someone gets something back. Another challenge is — how do you pursue people to contribute and ask them to be regular. If people are not turning up for the community meetup then how will we (community managers) be motivated to run?
Basic question — what is the benefit for me in that community?
Before asking for the benefit for yourself, first you should ask yourself — what or how can you contribute to the community? I would like to urge my peers and whosoever read this article if you are going to get involved in a community, start thinking as a collective. As an individual, you are nothing but collectively with a set of good people, you have the power to change the world.
That’s why the single person cannot build the nation or solve a problem. In another context, a person cannot build the enterprise alone, it is a team and collective effort which does it.
There would be counters to this notion but I believe it is always a set of people who together make decisions and build something for the greater purpose.
Coming back to the topic ‘Communities are Shared Knowledge’ — why am I emphasising this shared knowledge?
Unlike tangible resources and material assets, which can quickly become available to competitors (in any field), knowledge is a unique resource as it increases in value through use.
But knowledge, as an intangible resource, firstly it exists within the mind of the individual. Therefore, it has to come out from the mind.
We can maximise the value of this resource only if we share knowledge with others. Knowledge can be classified into Objective and Subjective knowledge.
Objective knowledge is the basis for the natural sciences. “I know two plus two is four,” and “I know that water is made out of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.” There is no real perspective involved in this kind of knowledge. Philosopher Thomas Nagel described it as “the view from nowhere”.
Subjective Knowledge is the world of personal opinions and feelings. It is the body of knowledge studied by cognitive psychologists, a reflection of our inner lives. We know certain things about ourselves that everyone around us respects as knowledge.
The third form of knowledge is Shared Knowledge. It is public and cultural. Communities are run by people who collectively meet and discuss. People bring their objective and subjective knowledge and transform it into Shared Knowledge. Shared knowledge leads to more ideas and helps to refine them.
Communities have diverse people from diverse background but for a common goal. Different ideas, opportunities and problems are explored in a community.
Remember:
“Ideas breed new ideas, and shared knowledge stays with the giver while it enriches the receiver …only new knowledge resources — ideas — have unlimited potential for growth” (Davenport and Prusak (1998))
That’s why there has been a trend of building communities in corporates as well and organisations are opening their doors to the public through community channel. Organisations especially tech companies are putting their work out and allow users to critique and discuss which in return helps them in innovation.
Communities are significant for several reasons; in terms of knowledge as a resource, they are settings in which not only information is disseminated, but in which effective knowledge sharing happens.
Therefore, our focus at Startup Grind has been in making a shared knowledge space.
OUR VALUES:
We believe in making friends, not contacts. We believe in giving, not taking. We believe in helping others before helping yourself. We are truly passionate about helping founders, entrepreneurs and startups succeed. We intend to make their startup journey less lonely, more connected and more memorable.
