Internet Resources for IFS Community Building

I have written in a prior post about my interest in developing a more robust IFS Community and connecting that community to the Center for Self Leadership in a manner that promotes mutual accountability. While there are many avenues for creating and sustaining this relationship, one of the most promising is the use of the Internet. The Community is spread out all over the globe and the Internet erases distance.

I have a strong concern that we have not made good use of the tools the Web provides us. Just at this most recent conference [October 2010] I often noted that there are tools we could have used that would have greatly enhanced the experience for those of us in attendance and which could have included those who were not.

• We met in a venue that had Wi-Fi coverage but the resource was not accessible to us. It is a simple matter to get an Internet connection and set up a wireless access point. This would allow for a great many things.

• When a presenter has a presentation to which we want access, we pass around a piece of paper on which we write our email addresses. As we do this, we are distracted from the talk and likely to make entry errors or to write undecipherable characters. It is much easier to go to the web site to get the presentation materials or to go to the forum page to sign up for notifications about the resulting conversation.

• I had a great chat with a guy named Frank who teaches spirituality at Claremont. I would like to connect with him but we didn’t exchange cards. I would like to go to the roster of Conference attendees and do a search for him. But there is no such roster. One could be easily constructed by the attendees themselves.

• At one workshop I attended, excitement about the topic was so high that we had nearly universal interest in generating a subsequent conversation or retreat. We know there are others who were at other workshops offered at the same time or even others who were unable to attend the conference who will be interested. It would be great to send a notice to anyone in the community who has indicated they want notification when events in this field are planned.

Creating these options is not difficult. It will take very little work and the cost can easily be born by those using the tools. We don't need to create new ways to harness the Internet to meet our needs. The resources are already available and many of them are free. Let me just spell out my dream system, recognizing that the design of the social networking site should be created by the community itself.

How it might work
When someone goes to the CSL site to purchase a service or resource they are invited to login or to create a profile if they are new. Everyone who creates such a profile becomes a member of the community. The community is defined as those who have ever purchased a book, a training, or a conference slot from CSL. Similarly, when someone offers a workshop for the Conference, they sign in or sign up. Everyone who comes to the Conference or training is a member of the community.

Each member has a profile page on which they can post information about themselves which can only be accessed by other members. They can restrict that information to only those members they have created a "friend" relationship with. They can link to their own web site or they can link to a file they have placed on the Community site if they don't have their own. Thus a presenter can upload a file that other members can access (as with a workshop presentation).

Each member's profile will show what Conferences they attended, what trainings they have completed, and perhaps other items like when they led or assisted at a training or presented at a conference. This could be a sort of IFS resume.

Members can form groups around interests. Any member can create an interest area and any member can join that group if they share the interest. Thus there can be an IFS and Breathwork group that can easily communicate with other members of the group.

Members can control what notifications they get about the activities of other members. They can chose to receive email whenever another member offers a workshop or when anyone in their interest group makes a post to the forum.

Forums are generated by members and the administrator of the forum is the person who created it. They can choose to moderate all posts or leave the forum un-moderated or can appoint another member to be the moderator.

Members can search the profiles of other members to find all persons named Frank, or all with the word Claremont in their profile. Email can be sent from within the site.

Making it happen
It is most unfortunate that Noah Rubinstein of GoodTherapy.org was unable to attend the conference. He has generously offered to enhance the social networking capabilities of the CSL site and it may well be that he has already charted out these or similar enhancements. I deeply hope that we can have such resources in place as we prepare to gather in Boston next October.