I thought this community might want to help outline what other elements of G+ communities are missing from this how…

I thought this community might want to help outline what other elements of G+ communities are missing from this how…

I thought this community might want to help outline what other elements of G+ communities are missing from this how to. 

Originally shared by Ben Wilkoff

Just like I did for hangouts, I have made an Animated Gif-filled how to for creating and taking part in Online Communities of Practice here on G+.

Please leave comments on the doc for what is missing. 

92 Comments

  1. Honestly, I’m not nearly as excited as the content as the form of the tutorial. Google+ Communities are pretty terrible IMO as a space to curate and maintain communities with any amount of depth of conversation (although Google is getting a little better). Using animated GIFs as tutorials is something I’ve played with before on a MUCH smaller scale (a blog post, or a single page “cheat sheet”). Seeing it here gives me the shot in the arm I need to go bigger 🙂

  2. Honestly, I’m not nearly as excited as the content as the form of the tutorial. Google+ Communities are pretty terrible IMO as a space to curate and maintain communities with any amount of depth of conversation (although Google is getting a little better). Using animated GIFs as tutorials is something I’ve played with before on a MUCH smaller scale (a blog post, or a single page “cheat sheet”). Seeing it here gives me the shot in the arm I need to go bigger 🙂

  3. Honestly, I’m not nearly as excited as the content as the form of the tutorial. Google+ Communities are pretty terrible IMO as a space to curate and maintain communities with any amount of depth of conversation (although Google is getting a little better). Using animated GIFs as tutorials is something I’ve played with before on a MUCH smaller scale (a blog post, or a single page “cheat sheet”). Seeing it here gives me the shot in the arm I need to go bigger 🙂

  4. Honestly, I’m not nearly as excited as the content as the form of the tutorial. Google+ Communities are pretty terrible IMO as a space to curate and maintain communities with any amount of depth of conversation (although Google is getting a little better). Using animated GIFs as tutorials is something I’ve played with before on a MUCH smaller scale (a blog post, or a single page “cheat sheet”). Seeing it here gives me the shot in the arm I need to go bigger 🙂

  5. Ben Wilkoff I don’t see any missing features right off, but if I think of something I will add. I really like the tips/footnotes you left for users. Helps them have a better understanding of purpose and intent. Nice job and thanks again for sharing. I know our ITRTs will definitely use with teachers in the field. 

  6. Ben Wilkoff I don’t see any missing features right off, but if I think of something I will add. I really like the tips/footnotes you left for users. Helps them have a better understanding of purpose and intent. Nice job and thanks again for sharing. I know our ITRTs will definitely use with teachers in the field. 

  7. Ben Wilkoff I don’t see any missing features right off, but if I think of something I will add. I really like the tips/footnotes you left for users. Helps them have a better understanding of purpose and intent. Nice job and thanks again for sharing. I know our ITRTs will definitely use with teachers in the field. 

  8. Ben Wilkoff I don’t see any missing features right off, but if I think of something I will add. I really like the tips/footnotes you left for users. Helps them have a better understanding of purpose and intent. Nice job and thanks again for sharing. I know our ITRTs will definitely use with teachers in the field. 

  9. Ben Rimes, alright so I am really intrigued by this idea that Google+ communities aren’t good for going deep. I saw your post in the Macul community about #linktoilets, and I can definitely see where you are coming from.

    However, Google+ posts and communities are the only place I have seen any level of depth to our educational discussions, except blog posts that are scattered around the web. 

    Please tell me if there are other spaces I am missing because I am pretty much basing my entire PD strategy around creating online communities of practice using G+. Where would you build them?

  10. Ben Rimes, alright so I am really intrigued by this idea that Google+ communities aren’t good for going deep. I saw your post in the Macul community about #linktoilets, and I can definitely see where you are coming from.

    However, Google+ posts and communities are the only place I have seen any level of depth to our educational discussions, except blog posts that are scattered around the web. 

    Please tell me if there are other spaces I am missing because I am pretty much basing my entire PD strategy around creating online communities of practice using G+. Where would you build them?

  11. Ben Rimes, alright so I am really intrigued by this idea that Google+ communities aren’t good for going deep. I saw your post in the Macul community about #linktoilets, and I can definitely see where you are coming from.

    However, Google+ posts and communities are the only place I have seen any level of depth to our educational discussions, except blog posts that are scattered around the web. 

    Please tell me if there are other spaces I am missing because I am pretty much basing my entire PD strategy around creating online communities of practice using G+. Where would you build them?

  12. Ben Rimes, alright so I am really intrigued by this idea that Google+ communities aren’t good for going deep. I saw your post in the Macul community about #linktoilets, and I can definitely see where you are coming from.

    However, Google+ posts and communities are the only place I have seen any level of depth to our educational discussions, except blog posts that are scattered around the web. 

    Please tell me if there are other spaces I am missing because I am pretty much basing my entire PD strategy around creating online communities of practice using G+. Where would you build them?

  13. Ben Wilkoff I think the point both Ben Rimes and I were making is that to have a really great community, you need to have a well established and publicly posted ‘code of conduct’, and active moderation to eliminate the link dumps that we see all too often in large G+ communities.

  14. Ben Wilkoff I think the point both Ben Rimes and I were making is that to have a really great community, you need to have a well established and publicly posted ‘code of conduct’, and active moderation to eliminate the link dumps that we see all too often in large G+ communities.

  15. Ben Wilkoff I think the point both Ben Rimes and I were making is that to have a really great community, you need to have a well established and publicly posted ‘code of conduct’, and active moderation to eliminate the link dumps that we see all too often in large G+ communities.

  16. Ben Wilkoff I think the point both Ben Rimes and I were making is that to have a really great community, you need to have a well established and publicly posted ‘code of conduct’, and active moderation to eliminate the link dumps that we see all too often in large G+ communities.

  17. I think this would be an excellent discussion via video chat or someplace for a face to face Ben Wilkoff , but I’ll attempt to do it justice here.

    I’m with Ron Houtman  on this. You can certainly have a great community here on Google+, but it’s going to take moderation and curation, something that either a LOT of educators running Google+ communities currently aren’t sure how to do, or aren’t interested doing in some of the large communities. The types of places I see on the internet where deeper conversations are being held are typically not in education. You’ve got the NEOGaf community for gamers, Reddit for “hard core” interneters”, and various other groups that tend to create their own spaces.

    I’m speaking entirely from personal preference when I say that I don’t care for G+ communities at large, as I’m a fan of “owning my data” and have had experience hosting, running, and moderating my own community through the phpBB software. With the proliferation of open source software (phpBB, Moodle, bbPress, BuddyPress, WordPress), it’s incredibly easy to create your “own space” in a matter of minutes, and begin to craft an identity for both the community and establish a community of practice that doesn’t become overshadowed by the larger community of practice like it does here in G+ Communities…..for every fantastic conversation and community here in G+ there are hundreds of link-fests happening that only seem to benefit Google’s ad sales and data mining.

    THAT having been said, there’s certainly room for someone as passionate as yourself to set a high bar, and with careful curation and moderation, create a G+ community with a laser-like focus on deeper conversations.

    I would build my community around the tools (or ideas) that I’m aiming for. If you’re pushing Google Apps in your district, it makes sense to build a community in G+. So, in short, my “beef” is with a general lack of effective community building (and I’m using a very careful definition of community outlined by Sherry Turkle – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle), not necessarily the tools themselves.

  18. I think this would be an excellent discussion via video chat or someplace for a face to face Ben Wilkoff , but I’ll attempt to do it justice here.

    I’m with Ron Houtman  on this. You can certainly have a great community here on Google+, but it’s going to take moderation and curation, something that either a LOT of educators running Google+ communities currently aren’t sure how to do, or aren’t interested doing in some of the large communities. The types of places I see on the internet where deeper conversations are being held are typically not in education. You’ve got the NEOGaf community for gamers, Reddit for “hard core” interneters”, and various other groups that tend to create their own spaces.

    I’m speaking entirely from personal preference when I say that I don’t care for G+ communities at large, as I’m a fan of “owning my data” and have had experience hosting, running, and moderating my own community through the phpBB software. With the proliferation of open source software (phpBB, Moodle, bbPress, BuddyPress, WordPress), it’s incredibly easy to create your “own space” in a matter of minutes, and begin to craft an identity for both the community and establish a community of practice that doesn’t become overshadowed by the larger community of practice like it does here in G+ Communities…..for every fantastic conversation and community here in G+ there are hundreds of link-fests happening that only seem to benefit Google’s ad sales and data mining.

    THAT having been said, there’s certainly room for someone as passionate as yourself to set a high bar, and with careful curation and moderation, create a G+ community with a laser-like focus on deeper conversations.

    I would build my community around the tools (or ideas) that I’m aiming for. If you’re pushing Google Apps in your district, it makes sense to build a community in G+. So, in short, my “beef” is with a general lack of effective community building (and I’m using a very careful definition of community outlined by Sherry Turkle – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle), not necessarily the tools themselves.

  19. I think this would be an excellent discussion via video chat or someplace for a face to face Ben Wilkoff , but I’ll attempt to do it justice here.

    I’m with Ron Houtman  on this. You can certainly have a great community here on Google+, but it’s going to take moderation and curation, something that either a LOT of educators running Google+ communities currently aren’t sure how to do, or aren’t interested doing in some of the large communities. The types of places I see on the internet where deeper conversations are being held are typically not in education. You’ve got the NEOGaf community for gamers, Reddit for “hard core” interneters”, and various other groups that tend to create their own spaces.

    I’m speaking entirely from personal preference when I say that I don’t care for G+ communities at large, as I’m a fan of “owning my data” and have had experience hosting, running, and moderating my own community through the phpBB software. With the proliferation of open source software (phpBB, Moodle, bbPress, BuddyPress, WordPress), it’s incredibly easy to create your “own space” in a matter of minutes, and begin to craft an identity for both the community and establish a community of practice that doesn’t become overshadowed by the larger community of practice like it does here in G+ Communities…..for every fantastic conversation and community here in G+ there are hundreds of link-fests happening that only seem to benefit Google’s ad sales and data mining.

    THAT having been said, there’s certainly room for someone as passionate as yourself to set a high bar, and with careful curation and moderation, create a G+ community with a laser-like focus on deeper conversations.

    I would build my community around the tools (or ideas) that I’m aiming for. If you’re pushing Google Apps in your district, it makes sense to build a community in G+. So, in short, my “beef” is with a general lack of effective community building (and I’m using a very careful definition of community outlined by Sherry Turkle – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle), not necessarily the tools themselves.

  20. I think this would be an excellent discussion via video chat or someplace for a face to face Ben Wilkoff , but I’ll attempt to do it justice here.

    I’m with Ron Houtman  on this. You can certainly have a great community here on Google+, but it’s going to take moderation and curation, something that either a LOT of educators running Google+ communities currently aren’t sure how to do, or aren’t interested doing in some of the large communities. The types of places I see on the internet where deeper conversations are being held are typically not in education. You’ve got the NEOGaf community for gamers, Reddit for “hard core” interneters”, and various other groups that tend to create their own spaces.

    I’m speaking entirely from personal preference when I say that I don’t care for G+ communities at large, as I’m a fan of “owning my data” and have had experience hosting, running, and moderating my own community through the phpBB software. With the proliferation of open source software (phpBB, Moodle, bbPress, BuddyPress, WordPress), it’s incredibly easy to create your “own space” in a matter of minutes, and begin to craft an identity for both the community and establish a community of practice that doesn’t become overshadowed by the larger community of practice like it does here in G+ Communities…..for every fantastic conversation and community here in G+ there are hundreds of link-fests happening that only seem to benefit Google’s ad sales and data mining.

    THAT having been said, there’s certainly room for someone as passionate as yourself to set a high bar, and with careful curation and moderation, create a G+ community with a laser-like focus on deeper conversations.

    I would build my community around the tools (or ideas) that I’m aiming for. If you’re pushing Google Apps in your district, it makes sense to build a community in G+. So, in short, my “beef” is with a general lack of effective community building (and I’m using a very careful definition of community outlined by Sherry Turkle – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle), not necessarily the tools themselves.

  21. Ben Rimes, thank you so much for providing the context for your thoughts as well as pushing my thinking.

    I couldn’t agree more about “owning” the discussion. I am a huge fan of creating a “domain of one’s own” and having a professional portfolio that you can keep on coming back to. I’ve been blogging and playing with open source php apps for years, and in a lot of ways, I don’t think that you can do any better than WordPress. 

    The biggest issue for me, though, is that the barrier to entry is too high for most teachers. I think that we can do a great job of providing spaces for early adopters, but for the mass of teachers and leaders who have yet to start really leveraging the power of open collaboration, we need to provide something that integrates with everything else they are doing (i.e., Google in many ways).

    Another issue I have with setting up our “own spaces” is that they very rarely outlive us. What I mean is that when we move on to other things, they die. 

    I’ve been leading a group of folks from my district through a Community of Practice Management series. We are using this community to help in that regard: https://plus.google.com/communities/111912967334662200756

    Also, I think that having a purpose and understanding of what the communities are for is a huge component of making whatever space you choose. I put together a template form/document for this purpose, too: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_MOy7naiNdEQSSbE727QN0ZWAl7M4389aX1wkbE3ZWI/viewform

    Again, thank you for your thoughts. Do you have spaces that you are creating/curating that I can draw more inspiration from. Love to continue to collaborate on this topic!

  22. Ben Rimes, thank you so much for providing the context for your thoughts as well as pushing my thinking.

    I couldn’t agree more about “owning” the discussion. I am a huge fan of creating a “domain of one’s own” and having a professional portfolio that you can keep on coming back to. I’ve been blogging and playing with open source php apps for years, and in a lot of ways, I don’t think that you can do any better than WordPress. 

    The biggest issue for me, though, is that the barrier to entry is too high for most teachers. I think that we can do a great job of providing spaces for early adopters, but for the mass of teachers and leaders who have yet to start really leveraging the power of open collaboration, we need to provide something that integrates with everything else they are doing (i.e., Google in many ways).

    Another issue I have with setting up our “own spaces” is that they very rarely outlive us. What I mean is that when we move on to other things, they die. 

    I’ve been leading a group of folks from my district through a Community of Practice Management series. We are using this community to help in that regard: https://plus.google.com/communities/111912967334662200756

    Also, I think that having a purpose and understanding of what the communities are for is a huge component of making whatever space you choose. I put together a template form/document for this purpose, too: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_MOy7naiNdEQSSbE727QN0ZWAl7M4389aX1wkbE3ZWI/viewform

    Again, thank you for your thoughts. Do you have spaces that you are creating/curating that I can draw more inspiration from. Love to continue to collaborate on this topic!

  23. Ben Rimes, thank you so much for providing the context for your thoughts as well as pushing my thinking.

    I couldn’t agree more about “owning” the discussion. I am a huge fan of creating a “domain of one’s own” and having a professional portfolio that you can keep on coming back to. I’ve been blogging and playing with open source php apps for years, and in a lot of ways, I don’t think that you can do any better than WordPress. 

    The biggest issue for me, though, is that the barrier to entry is too high for most teachers. I think that we can do a great job of providing spaces for early adopters, but for the mass of teachers and leaders who have yet to start really leveraging the power of open collaboration, we need to provide something that integrates with everything else they are doing (i.e., Google in many ways).

    Another issue I have with setting up our “own spaces” is that they very rarely outlive us. What I mean is that when we move on to other things, they die. 

    I’ve been leading a group of folks from my district through a Community of Practice Management series. We are using this community to help in that regard: https://plus.google.com/communities/111912967334662200756

    Also, I think that having a purpose and understanding of what the communities are for is a huge component of making whatever space you choose. I put together a template form/document for this purpose, too: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_MOy7naiNdEQSSbE727QN0ZWAl7M4389aX1wkbE3ZWI/viewform

    Again, thank you for your thoughts. Do you have spaces that you are creating/curating that I can draw more inspiration from. Love to continue to collaborate on this topic!

  24. Ben Rimes, thank you so much for providing the context for your thoughts as well as pushing my thinking.

    I couldn’t agree more about “owning” the discussion. I am a huge fan of creating a “domain of one’s own” and having a professional portfolio that you can keep on coming back to. I’ve been blogging and playing with open source php apps for years, and in a lot of ways, I don’t think that you can do any better than WordPress. 

    The biggest issue for me, though, is that the barrier to entry is too high for most teachers. I think that we can do a great job of providing spaces for early adopters, but for the mass of teachers and leaders who have yet to start really leveraging the power of open collaboration, we need to provide something that integrates with everything else they are doing (i.e., Google in many ways).

    Another issue I have with setting up our “own spaces” is that they very rarely outlive us. What I mean is that when we move on to other things, they die. 

    I’ve been leading a group of folks from my district through a Community of Practice Management series. We are using this community to help in that regard: https://plus.google.com/communities/111912967334662200756

    Also, I think that having a purpose and understanding of what the communities are for is a huge component of making whatever space you choose. I put together a template form/document for this purpose, too: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_MOy7naiNdEQSSbE727QN0ZWAl7M4389aX1wkbE3ZWI/viewform

    Again, thank you for your thoughts. Do you have spaces that you are creating/curating that I can draw more inspiration from. Love to continue to collaborate on this topic!

  25. Thanks Lyn Hilt I think I’ll forever be branded as the “community police” 🙂

    Blame #bookclub106  for selecting Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” for really pushing me into an entirely different pattern of thoughts on what “community” really means, and how most of what we call communities on the web today are more likely not living up to a more well-rounded definition of that word. Ron Houtman actually read it along with us, too, maybe that’s where why we’ve been tag teaming this 🙂

    Ben Wilkoff I LOVE your thoughts on this, man! I also love the example you gave us for your G+ Communities in that it has the size to be more productive in conversation. I actually belong to a G+ Community that has roughly 20 members, and we’ve had some VERY deep conversations there. The #michED  people have been talking about this to great lengths, and we’re on the verge of opening up the website to a more “community” driven focus in terms of sharing and discussing ideas beyond the 140 character mindset that Twitter often puts us in 🙂

    I’ll make sure to share it with you when we have the basics figured out, and a clear “community of practice” goal in mind. Thanks Ron Houtman for the idea!

  26. Thanks Lyn Hilt I think I’ll forever be branded as the “community police” 🙂

    Blame #bookclub106  for selecting Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” for really pushing me into an entirely different pattern of thoughts on what “community” really means, and how most of what we call communities on the web today are more likely not living up to a more well-rounded definition of that word. Ron Houtman actually read it along with us, too, maybe that’s where why we’ve been tag teaming this 🙂

    Ben Wilkoff I LOVE your thoughts on this, man! I also love the example you gave us for your G+ Communities in that it has the size to be more productive in conversation. I actually belong to a G+ Community that has roughly 20 members, and we’ve had some VERY deep conversations there. The #michED  people have been talking about this to great lengths, and we’re on the verge of opening up the website to a more “community” driven focus in terms of sharing and discussing ideas beyond the 140 character mindset that Twitter often puts us in 🙂

    I’ll make sure to share it with you when we have the basics figured out, and a clear “community of practice” goal in mind. Thanks Ron Houtman for the idea!

  27. Thanks Lyn Hilt I think I’ll forever be branded as the “community police” 🙂

    Blame #bookclub106  for selecting Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” for really pushing me into an entirely different pattern of thoughts on what “community” really means, and how most of what we call communities on the web today are more likely not living up to a more well-rounded definition of that word. Ron Houtman actually read it along with us, too, maybe that’s where why we’ve been tag teaming this 🙂

    Ben Wilkoff I LOVE your thoughts on this, man! I also love the example you gave us for your G+ Communities in that it has the size to be more productive in conversation. I actually belong to a G+ Community that has roughly 20 members, and we’ve had some VERY deep conversations there. The #michED  people have been talking about this to great lengths, and we’re on the verge of opening up the website to a more “community” driven focus in terms of sharing and discussing ideas beyond the 140 character mindset that Twitter often puts us in 🙂

    I’ll make sure to share it with you when we have the basics figured out, and a clear “community of practice” goal in mind. Thanks Ron Houtman for the idea!

  28. Thanks Lyn Hilt I think I’ll forever be branded as the “community police” 🙂

    Blame #bookclub106  for selecting Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” for really pushing me into an entirely different pattern of thoughts on what “community” really means, and how most of what we call communities on the web today are more likely not living up to a more well-rounded definition of that word. Ron Houtman actually read it along with us, too, maybe that’s where why we’ve been tag teaming this 🙂

    Ben Wilkoff I LOVE your thoughts on this, man! I also love the example you gave us for your G+ Communities in that it has the size to be more productive in conversation. I actually belong to a G+ Community that has roughly 20 members, and we’ve had some VERY deep conversations there. The #michED  people have been talking about this to great lengths, and we’re on the verge of opening up the website to a more “community” driven focus in terms of sharing and discussing ideas beyond the 140 character mindset that Twitter often puts us in 🙂

    I’ll make sure to share it with you when we have the basics figured out, and a clear “community of practice” goal in mind. Thanks Ron Houtman for the idea!

  29. Dave Cormier has a LOT of great thoughts, and that piece is a great one! I think the last few paragraphs pretty much some up my thoughts on the drawbacks of communities (currently). It’s a shame that his initial work on the concept of MOOCs was pretty much turned into a pretty soulless movement of larger “start ups” that have become the poster children of how NOT to do K-12 and higher education (looking at you, Udacity).

  30. Dave Cormier has a LOT of great thoughts, and that piece is a great one! I think the last few paragraphs pretty much some up my thoughts on the drawbacks of communities (currently). It’s a shame that his initial work on the concept of MOOCs was pretty much turned into a pretty soulless movement of larger “start ups” that have become the poster children of how NOT to do K-12 and higher education (looking at you, Udacity).

  31. Dave Cormier has a LOT of great thoughts, and that piece is a great one! I think the last few paragraphs pretty much some up my thoughts on the drawbacks of communities (currently). It’s a shame that his initial work on the concept of MOOCs was pretty much turned into a pretty soulless movement of larger “start ups” that have become the poster children of how NOT to do K-12 and higher education (looking at you, Udacity).

  32. Dave Cormier has a LOT of great thoughts, and that piece is a great one! I think the last few paragraphs pretty much some up my thoughts on the drawbacks of communities (currently). It’s a shame that his initial work on the concept of MOOCs was pretty much turned into a pretty soulless movement of larger “start ups” that have become the poster children of how NOT to do K-12 and higher education (looking at you, Udacity).

  33. Ben Rimes, I think we can boil down a lot of this conversation to this:

    If PEOPLE are the center of your community, you will be successful. If links/content is the center of your community, you will not.

    The same goes for Udacity (and most xMOOCs). SOCIAL media works. social MEDIA doesn’t. 

  34. Ben Rimes, I think we can boil down a lot of this conversation to this:

    If PEOPLE are the center of your community, you will be successful. If links/content is the center of your community, you will not.

    The same goes for Udacity (and most xMOOCs). SOCIAL media works. social MEDIA doesn’t. 

  35. Ben Rimes, I think we can boil down a lot of this conversation to this:

    If PEOPLE are the center of your community, you will be successful. If links/content is the center of your community, you will not.

    The same goes for Udacity (and most xMOOCs). SOCIAL media works. social MEDIA doesn’t. 

  36. Ben Rimes, I think we can boil down a lot of this conversation to this:

    If PEOPLE are the center of your community, you will be successful. If links/content is the center of your community, you will not.

    The same goes for Udacity (and most xMOOCs). SOCIAL media works. social MEDIA doesn’t. 

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