A community solution byYeaseul Kim, Susan Oldham, Laurel Stone & Ian Wyosnick
cultivating relationships through gardening
meet Greta
� misses sense of community � has extra food from garden � wants info she can trust
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
Greta uses grownet to: � Share knowledge � Share food � Connect with community and promote local gardening
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
knowledge sharing
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
knowledge sharing
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
food sharing
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
food sharing
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
social connection
Strong & weak tiesEmotional connectionsSense of presenceLeadership conditionsBoundary activityBridge offline & onlineSplintering
Greta & Nicole make strong ties
social connection
How did we end up here?
We address Greta’s problems with an online environment that’s based on:
�Knowledge Sharing �Food Sharing �Social Connections
our platform
will it float?
will it float?
occasionallynever
often
81% of gardeners are comfortable/very comfortable sharing food with strangers
user research surveysFood SharingWhat do you do with extra fruit/vegetables that you have grown but cannot use?
Knowledge SharingHow often do you participate in online environments such as forums or social networks for knowledge sharing?
Social ConnectionsHow comfortable would you be sharing your garden produce with people you don’t know?
Need for Community Garden
1 2 3 4 5
20
16
12
8
4
0
20
16
12
8
4
0
41% Share with friends/family
20% Donate
02% Sell
Sell Share friends family
Share neigh-bors
Do-nate
Com-post
Other
community researchSeattle P-Patch 2009 Evaluation Key Findings
� Relationship Building � Source of Food and Economic Security � Skills Development
� Need for More Communication and Support
� Recognized need to continuously grow new leadership in the community
� A sense of personal gratification knowing that they provide a benefit to the community and to individual
our literature review
Combined Key Findings1. Support Strong & Weak Ties
2. Create & Maintain Emotional Connections
3. Convey a Sense of Presence
4. Establish Leadership & Boundary Activity
5. Bridge Offline & Online
6. Allow for Splintering
Topics � Sense of Community
�Knowledge Sharing
� Local Food
� Learning to Garden
competitive analysis
sharingknowledge
community events
food sharing
sense of community
Your PlotSupports Strong Ties
�Group size maximum of 100
Creates and Maintains Emotional Connections �Able to see offline life of those they care about
Convey a Sense of Presence �User always sees all members of plot
Establishing Leadership and Boundary Conditions
� System suggests people nearby to add to an established users plot
knowledge sharing
Your GroupsSupports Weak Ties
� Large knowledge base to draw from
Allows for Splintering �Users can customize to match up with their interests or specialities
Establishes Leadership �User can gain respect and expertise from group involvement
food sharing
Food ShareSupports Strong & Weak Ties
� Broad base for people to conduct transactions
Boundary Activity �Allows for “lurkers” who just want food � Introduces large user base to system � Limited to 100 mile radius from location
Bridging Offline & Online � Establishes an offline connection from an online environment
log in plot feed chat your
groupsyour plot
food share
profile builder
quick lookplot
groups
have food
need food
persistent action
system flow
future steps
Connect to Local Food
CommunityP-Patches
Food BanksMarketsGrowers
Extensions
Calendar &
Events
next• User studies • Prototyping • Usability testing• Responsive web design for multi-platform accessibility
Recipes for
LocavoresUser
ReviewsUser
Custom- izaton
Deploy Nationally
Support Weak & Strong TiesAiello, L., Dunbar, R. I. M. (1992). Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates. Journal of Human
Evolution, 22(6), 469–984.
Create & Maintain Emotional ConnectionsMcMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. American Journal of
Community Psychology, 14(1), 6-23.
Convey a Sense of PresenceBecker, B., Mark, G. (1999). Constructing Social Systems through Computer-Mediated Communication. German
National Research Center for Information Technology.
Vassileva, J., Lingling, S. (2007). Using Community Visualization to Stimulate Participation in Online Communities. e-Service Journal, (6)(1), 3-39. Indiana University Press
Establish LeadershipLudford, P., Cosley, D., Frankowski, D., Terveen, L. (2004). Think Different: Increasing Online Community
Participation Using Uniqueness and Group Dissimilarity. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Vienna, Austria: ACM.
Establish Boundary ConditionsBendt, P., Barthel, S., & Colding, J. (2012). Civic greening and environmental learning in public-access community
gardens in Berlin. Landscape and Urban Planning, 109, 18-30.
Allow for SplinteringBruckman, A., Jensen, C. (2002). The Mystery of the Death of MediaMOO: Seven Years of Evolution of an Online
Community. In K. A. Renninger & W. Shumar (Eds.), Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (21-33). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
our references
Questions?
Highpoint P-Patch
cultivating relationships through gardening
Thank you.