What is a Community?
All of the posts and comments the last week have given me some time to really think about what a community is and how it matters to us. The online dictionary I use has this as one of the definitions for community: “a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the ): the business community; the community of scholars.” I think that is a pretty good definition.
So what communities do we belong to and why do they matter? First, of course we all have a community where we live, although that’s not the kind of community I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the communities where we connect with others.
We belong to the medical transcription community. Even that in itself has so many branches! There is an AHDI community, where MTs join the organization and participate in common goals. For some of us, that includes national membership, as well as involvement in a State/Regional Association, and a local chapter. For others, it is some variation of that. Some belong to the online chapter. And within the bigger organization, each of these is a community in itself. For some of us, it isn’t about AHDI at all. We belong to online communities, where we gather with other MTs and discuss our profession and our common interests.
Community really isn’t about demographics. What I mean there is that not all MTs are a part of the same community, just like not all blue-eyed people are a part of the same community. It really is that simple. A community is about interaction. People interacting with each other. Note that I did not say always agreeing, always thinking the same, but interacting. One of the blogs I read recently described as community with no controversy as a “dead community walking.” If we all think the same way, then there really isn’t a need for much interaction.There are times when we will agree, and times when we will agree to disagree.
I think one of the best books I’ve read about creating communities is “Tribes” by Seth Godin. It’s no secret to readers here that I am a Seth Godin fan. His no-nonsense approach to business just speaks to me. His message that we need linchpins in our world to create things outside of the norm has spurred me to step outside of my box of comfort more times than I would have imagined possible in the last six months. He describes a tribe as a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea that inspires their passion. And if you doubt that this group at MT Tools has passion, then go back and read the comments from last week’s blog post! We all have a desire to belong to something, to connect to other people. We want to not just be a part of a tribe, but also contribute (and take from) it. Communities, or tribes, do that for us. When we find we are unable to do that, we seek a tribe where it is possible.
I think MT Tools Online is a community. A group of medical transcriptionists, who by the way, are quite amazing. We come together to share our stories, to encourage each other, and to talk about those things we are passionate about. Because you have added to my world, I wanted to thank you for being a part of that.
What are your thoughts on communities? Are they important? And how do you participate in the communities where you belong?
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Tagged with: medical transcription communities • tribes
Filed under: Challenges in Medical Transcription • Professional Development
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There are so many different communities!
Family is a community (typically connected by love, heritage, and tradition…and that doesn’t mean that everyone agrees with or likes the things that everyone else does).
The neighborhood you live in is a community because at the very least all of the people who live on both sides of the same street typically care about their neighbors to a certain extent and also to the general appearance and feeling of their neighborhood.
There is a community, for me, that consists of the online friends I have met in the Yahoo game rooms I might go to, and I have made many online “friends” (even though they are really acquaintances for the most part) over the years, from as far away as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, France, and other countries; and it sometimes happens that I actually HAVE met some of these people in person! In fact three people from game rooms (1 with her “S.O.”) came and spent time we me for 2 weeks at different times over the past 10 years, and they came to visit me in Georgia from Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and I think the lady (who brought her “S.O.”) came from Ohio, but I can’t remember for sure.
Then, of course, as Kathy mentioned, there is our community here at MT Tools. We are joined by common career interests; on a more individual basis, we may find other commonalities between members of this large group, but the basis of our community is our career and career-related interests and activities.
I’ve found that my sister occupies space in 2 of my communities. Although she isn’t a member of MT Tools, she is an MT and, of course, she is a member of my biological family. We connect on more levels with each other than we do with either of our 2 sisters-in-law, for example.
And I think that communities can be of various sizes, too, because when I was living in Virginia and was a member of our local church there, I also sang in the church choir…so that was another community I was a part of!
In fact, I don’t see why a community can’t consist of just 2 or 3 people. Isn’t that threesome who did everything together all through school and then probably stood up for each other at weddings and baptisms a community? How about the foursome of men who always golf together–I’d say they’re definitely a community.
I guess that it is simply “common interests with an ACTION of some type” that creates a community and communities can be of any size (of course, I believe it takes more than 1 to make a community). They can be career-oriented. They might be family oriented. They can be civic, spiritual, “virtual” or any other number of words to describe how and why they exist. If you put any amount of time, effort, interest into something with someone else, you have formed a community, haven’t you?
I mentioned that I believe there has to be an ACTION of some type. If 2 or more people do nothing more than sit on their bottoms and stare at each other, never saying a word, never sharing anything of themselves, and never making a move to discover what they enjoy in common and then pursuing it together, they AREN’T a community.
Well, that’s all just my opinion. Agree? Disagree?
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Kathy Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I think you nailed it pretty well! It IS about interaction, otherwise there’s no real community. I have several communities I belong to as well, some in medical transcription, others in the blogging world. Each is very unique, yet they all “fit” for me in my life. Without the interaction in those communities, I would probably leave pretty quickly. When I started this website, my goal was to create a community where we could discuss the things that impact us as medical transcriptionists, provide an avenue for continuing education to stay on top of the changes in our industry, and build a place where MTs would freely speak about any of those things. You guys make that possible!
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I used the wrong word…..rather than “action” I should have said “interaction.” I think that makes more sense.
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This is *so weird,* Sherry! I was just about to post my response to Kathy’s blog with the theme of “interaction,” and there was your post talking about just that!
My feeling is that the whole “community” concept is based on interaction…people with something in common who interact with each other. That interaction doesn’t even have to be, in my opinion, verbal. A class of children in a school for the deaf are a community, and they primarily interact via sign language.
Also, as Kathy said, a community really has nothing to do with whether or not people agree or disagree with one another; it is based purely on whether or not the members INTERACT with one another….agree, disagree, verbal,
nonverbal. It is all interaction nontheless.
There you have my 2 cents!
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If it wasn’t for some of these social groups, I wouldn’t have learned so much about medical transcription and all it’s many facets!
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