Book Review: The Art of Community

Bacon, Jono. The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation. O’Reilly, 2009.

           Bacon became fascinated with Ubuntu, Linux, and the open source world, learned as much as he could about it (largely self-taught), and started teaching others, through articles, podcasts, blogs, discussion forums, and now this book.  Bacon’s concern in the book is the power of community.  Given that so many pundits are heralding a new age of collaboration, unlimited by geographical boundaries, how does one go about organizing those who are interested in a given cause?  Bacon has been involved with several online communities, and this book is basically a how-to manual about forming a community that will last, produce, collaborate, and even get along. 

            Bacon describes each step toward building a complex, multi-functional community.  He asserts that these communities can be formed around any interest, on- or off-line, but it appears to me that the primary audience of the book will be those few who are actually running, or contemplating running online communities (as well as those of us who are interested in how the internet environment is shaping collaboration).  He uses plenty of examples, so the book avoids sounding like a list of instructions; in addition to listing the necessary steps, Bacon offers comments from his own experiences, both positive and negative.

            Bacon has a fortunate combination of technical expertise and writerly love for language.  He recognizes that, as he puts it, “the mechanism behind communication in a community is stories” (8).  I imagine that part of the reason for his success in the open source world is his (unusual, for a techie) recognition of the value of human connection; he knows that while some programmers are programming for open source to scratch an itchy bug, even these guys will appreciate being accepted, encouraged, and appreciated by the members of their community.   He encourages the leaders of the community to recognize this and to take intentional steps to make it happen. 3/5*

            

Book Review: Digital Disciple

Author: Adam Thomas

Title: Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in a Virtual World

Description (source):  We connect with people everyday around the world through websites, blogs, and a myriad of social networks. But do we really connect while we're isolated in the Internet bubble? In Digital Disciple, millennial, blogger, and Episcopal priest Adam Thomas explores this contradiction between connection and isolation through the perspective of one who's always known a world with the Internet. (publisher’s info)

Review source: ARC provided by publisher through Netgalley

Major ideas: Adam Thomas writes from the perspective of a digital native wondering what effect the internet (and related technologies) will have on his relationship with God. Mostly, Thomas sees a pretty bleak picture of separation, disembodiment, lack of mindfulness, and even addiction as he reflects on Tech (as he terms it) and the changes it has made in society. The solutions he offers, then, are for the most part suggestions about how to live without the internet.

Writing style: As I was reading, I was trying to figure out the audience for this book. Thomas includes definitions of really basic tech terms throughout (i.e. “google,” “facebook”); these make you think that the book might be geared for someone who knows nothing at all about the internet. But really, who is left in our society who doesn’t know what Google and Facebook are? There are a lot of books being written right now that deal with these ideas from a secular viewpoint (Lessig, Shirky, etc.); Thomas did not seem to have engaged with these authors much if at all. His few references were to the standard Christian authors like C.S. Lewis.

Take-aways: Because of my confusion about his audience (or perhaps because I was not his audience), I sometimes found myself frustrated that Thomas did not really grapple with some of the issues that he raises. In other words, I found the questions raised in the book to be pertinent and thought-provoking; the suggested solutions much less so. My take-aways from the book will be the questions: What might it mean to “do church” online? How will the internet change society, the church, and the individual believer? Does the disembodied self of the avatar deny the incarnation?

Wrap-up: I would recommend this book for the layperson who wonders about the difference between Millennial and non-Millennial believers, or about the ramifications of technology upon faith. I would not recommend the book for anyone doing scholarly work. 3/5*