Operation Merge Resources: 7 Cups Project Proposal
One of my 2024 goals is to tighten up processes and to improve how our community is organized. We’ve got so much going on (lucky for us!) that it can be difficult to bring it all together and make it easily discoverable. I started out by compiling a list of all of the cool things going on across domains, available to listeners and members.
The next thing I’d like to address is our expansive library of resources. By resources, I’m referring to the many google docs and sheets we as a beautiful patchwork quilt community have generated over the years. Over time, and with the coming and going of leaders, these docs and sheets have multiplied, and resulted in duplicated work, and this also means users are receiving outdated information as well.
I’d like to propose merging our resources. We could create a master list, categorized and easy to navigate, that becomes the go-to source for everyone. Think the Listener Primer, and the Member and Listener Welcome Packs.
This would minimize the hunt for links and allow for us to maintain updated resources as a whole.
This is a huge endeavor so of course, this would require teamwork:
➤ Firstly, we’ll need volunteers willing to share their existing collections and expertise! Collaborating and merging will require open-mindedness and a focus on the greater good. This doesn’t pertain to personal documents and sheets - just the links you share with community members that have become publicized and commonly circulated.
➤ The second part of this undertaking is the need for folks who can collect everything, and create and organize all of these documents, and once everything is merged, we’ll need a dedicated team to keep the resources updated and relevant.
Does this interest you? Do you have ideas for how we could coordinate this organizational effort? Please reply below!
Ideally, it’d be awesome to form a team around this project so I’m inviting anyone who may be motivated to help take the lead on this to let me know. Thanks, everybody!
(Also opportunity side note, this could blossom into a new leadership project if properly nurtured and built out. 🙌)
I'm a new listener and I think this is a wonderful idea. There are so many pages, links, trainings, resources, chats, groups to navigate 😵 and all in different places.
I don't have the resources to do that I Got Google but I don't know what to look for
@Heather225
Hi, Heather,
I can help brainstorm though I'm not willing to do this type of meta-analysis at the moment.
One of the strengths (I think) of the 7 cups community is the very diversity you mention in your original post. I think as soon as power gets centralized in the hands of a few, then danger appears. For example, who is this person who is going to be deciding what is important, and what can be shelved. This is giving tremendous power to one, or a few persons.
Again reiterating, that one of the strengths of 7 cups is its strength in diversity: of thought, of ideas, of ability to rise up to the challenges of today. So, I wonder how to embrace that even while creating a sort of "Library of Congress" of materials.
Kindly, with Love and Courage Always,
Rose
@CalmRosebud
Right, exactly my concern as well. I don't want to lose any essence of the melting pot that is our community, hence opening up this topic for discussion well before taking any steps. Thanks for weighing in on this and your other reply! i'm sure we'll figure out a strategy that will retain our magic while also organizing a more centralized space for information.
@Heather225 @CalmRosebud Unfortunately, the very centralization you fear is inevitable. It is a consequence of size & the "diversity" so lauded in today's society.
Most people don't know it & those who do know don't want to face it, but political power can only be diffused in a small group. When any group of people grows significantly, it has to get more organized if it is to continue existing. It has always been true & is not going to change in the foreseeable future. It goes double for a group that exists to fulfill a specific function, whether that function is manufacturing circuit boards, teaching young people--or mentally & emotionally supporting its own members. The function itself doesn't matter because the need for increased organization is always the same. With increased organization comes specialization of tasks & arrangement of people who fulfill said tasks into some kind of hierarchy. In short, a large enough group generates its own bureaucracy. I suspect 7Cups already has a bureaucracy of sorts; Glen is clearly the leader. And with bureaucratization comes centralization of power to some degree. It's not because of desire to rule over others--I don't think that's true of anyone running 7Cups--but because of basic necessity.
@slowdecline48
True enough. I see it also from a biological perspective. Cells split off, they develop specialization, turn into particular organs, and so on. It's an interesting analogy and you bring up a valuable perspective on the necessity for specialization when an organism or business grows to a certain degree.
@CalmRosebud Good point! I hadn't thought about it from a biological angle, but yeah... One of the thinkers of the Enlightenment period, the Baron de Montesquieu, said the same thing in the terms of his time & place. He said that for a village or small town, direct democracy was the best form of government, representative democracy for a city--& constitutional monarchy, for a nation-state.
@Heather225 we already have a huge thread for listeners with some resources : https://www.7cups.com/forum/listenerjourney/ListenerResourcesMockChatGuides_2381/ListenerResourcesMasterListForumLibrary_228279/
@CalmRosebud
That's a really valid concern, we wanna make sure to protect the diversity of this community while compiling these resources.
One way that we might be able to take the centralization power out of it is by having some kind of structured way to add resources to this list. Maybe a suggestion form by which users can suggest additions and then we can set some criteria for example if 5 different users suggest the same resource, then it has to be added.
The system can be tweaked and perfected as we go along but do you think this kind of a solution will be effective for this problem?
@Mahad2804 the form sounds like an awesome idea to decentralize the power!
@Heather225
Hi, Heather,
Even though I don't want to work on this, I do have a thought about how it could be organized.
The crisis line where I'm a volunteer has a Resources page with all topics in the world that someone might arrive distressed about. Very well organized. It might be worth the time of some of the managers of 7 cups to take the 30 hour training and just explore their Resources page to see how it could be done. It's just a thought on how such a "Library" could possibly be organized.
If you want more detail please feel free to hit my dm or just ask away.
Kindly and with support for 7 cups,
Rose
@Heather225 Count me in please! I know how daunting a project like this can be.
@Heather225
Hi H! 😊 ❤️ What a great idea! This is a wonderful initiative, a long term project worthy of the time as well as a really neat Leadership role if things work out. Would be nice to have someone in the leadership role as "Librarian".
As an idea, anytime that a link is changed, policy updated, etc. the "Librarian" could be tagged and or pm'd and so they would be able to delete the old in the "link library" and add the new to keep us current. Seems quite efficient. Also they could determine where it should be placed in the "Link Library" if it's brand new link to be added to keep us highly organized.
Thank you for seeing the need as many of us have seen it as well. It would be amazing to have everything in one place to streamline the process and a "one stop shopping" experience, lol 😊
My link library is quite the mess, some in google docs, some bookmarked, not in order, some might be outdated, and it is so hard to keep up. If you blink around here, you just might miss something! 😊
Okay.....thoughts on how to get there. (If I'm not part of the solution, then I'm only part of the problem). Confident it's not the best idea, but it's the only thing I can think of at the moment in an effort to try and help. Wondering if a Listener account can be created with a user name ....maybe...."7 cups Library."? The entire "bio" could be links. Everyone could bookmark this "listener" library page as their go to for link retrieval and we all, over time would build up "muscle memory" of how the Librarian has organized it for quick retrieval.
Our "Librarian" could start small, build that page with the links they currently have. Organize it in a great way that would be helpful to move forward. After they feel comfortable and confident in knowing what it is that they have, are questioning what may be missing....I wonder if they could request by pm'ing or tagging others in the forum area to provide what they know should be added based on the leaders role in the community. I think we all have a firm grasp on who is knowledgeable and in what areas.
The Librarian then would not be as overwhelmed, could go at their own pace, delete the old and or duplicated and let the user know "good job, I got it...it's now included in the Library, please delete your link and come here for one stop shopping".
If this got up and running and many of us started using this as a resource, we may over time on our own, be able to delete what we have has a link in our personal link library. It could be deleted from google docs and or bookmarked area and know, that's where I need to go now and we all get used it over time as our links become deleted by self.
Closer to the end....cattle call for what anyone has left :) Got something left, something you haven't deleted over time because you don't see it in the library..........Weeeeeeeee weeeeeeeee! 😊 We can hand it over to the Librarian, they can let us know that it's now included and to delete it or to delete because it's no longer applicable.
I think so many times...What's the best way to eat an Elephant? 🤔 One bite at a time! 😊
Again, probably not the best ideas, but I'm trying. Even if there is something of value here, perhaps it will spark a thought, maybe a spin off into a better direction.
Super excited about the concept and potentially getting there! 💡
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@SparkyGizmo
i love your creative approach here and the librarian idea is definitely worth mulling over.
also "I think so many times...What's the best way to eat an Elephant? 🤔 One bite at a time! 😊" 😂 you're a real one Sparky. I love your vibe.
@Heather225
Many thanks my sweet friend! 😊 ❤️ I'm so glad you saw some creativity in my thoughts and had little a *giggle* 🤭 there too. I love your vibe also H and you too are the real deal! ❤️
*high fives* 😊 and big *hugs* ❤️
@Heather225 I would love to be a part of this initiative. Please count me in for this
@Heather225 count me in
@heather225 can we start by creating a google form to store the links?
I'm a new listener I can say that many to learn on this site.
So many out links🤦🏽♂️