I am writing this blog to log my thoughts and where they take me (and you?) on a journey. This journey will explore the asset of Social Capital and how it makes or breaks today's communities. Robert Putman believes that social capital is the backbone of the community; it bonds people and bridges gaps in society towards the social networks which enrich our lives.
The beginning of human time saw original communities consist of close-knit groups of people, geographically close and pretty much all in the same boat. Today's communities have developed greatly, linking people not only geographically, but through gender, age, employment, education, fields of interest, hobbies and a myriad of other commonalities. The relatively recent rise and rise of the internet and ICT has fed this change, inspiring all kinds of new ways of coming together of like minded people, by providing a wealth of platforms and networking opportunities.
I want to look more closely at these opportunities, and how they can be used not only in our individual and personal communication channels, but how they are being adapted to stimulate wider community benefit. This is generally for three objectives: to improve communication streams and the exchange of information, to make resources stretch further by cutting down on cost, time and impact on the environment, and thirdly by stimulating best practice and innovation on the grass roots level. This type of activity happens when community groups encounter a problem and use their collective initiative to come up with a solution. Technology presents a myriad of possibilities to help this happen.
