unMeasuring the unMonastery: I like it. What is it?

[la_gaia]

I have been devoting some thought to how we unMeasure the unMonastery. My full thoughts are in this here blog - please do share it, RT, and comment!

Overall, the key question will be measuring whether the project is one that both preserves the sanity of its protagonists, and can be mapped to really engage with and become embedded in its local area.

So, how will we know if it is working?

The job of the unMonasterians is now to work hard and be nice to each other – not too light a request when living and working in the same space as up to ten people for up to four months.

2014 could be the year of unMonastery, and my mission, gladly accepted, is to help shape evaluation models and metrics that help us understand what it is and if it is working. For me the key question will be measuring whether the project is one that both preserves the sanity of its protagonists, and can be mapped to really engage with and become embedded in its local area. Without the wellbeing of those working in it, it becomes a workhouse, without local embeddedness it becomes a fun working holiday for some super-skilled Europeans.

Without the wellbeing of those working in it, #unMonastery becomes a workhouse; without local embeddedness it becomes a fun working holiday for some super-skilled Europeans

Anthony Burill – http://www.anthonyburrill.com/

Using metrics developed in the RSA’s Connected Communities work, I am helping develop ways of measuring how things are going, inside and out.

These are the types of questions I want us to be asking:

1. How are you? Social change is messy, and burn-out is often the cost. The unMonasterians will be asked to measure their levels of wellbeing, and make sure they have routines that allow for some version of the five ways to wellbeing and proper sleep.

2. Do you feel part of a community? RSA Connected Communities work has really highlighted the importance of feeling part of a community, of feeling accepted where you are.

3. Do you feel supported? It is important to know that you can go to others when you need, and our social connections are often the first thing to suffer when we move around. Even for those who live in Matera full-time, their new focus could disrupt those social connections that currently help them feel well.

4. How are you and your project linking in to the local area? This is the big mama of the questions. Even if our unMonasterians are happy, bright eyed and bushy tailed, without real local engagement unMonastery is a spring-break, not a new way of working. Using social network analysis, and possibly linking to unMonasterian Lucia‘s walking ethnographies, we will be tracking who the unMonasterians are working with, how this changes, and if this goes beyond the existing contacts of our contacts. Everywhere is a bubble: a key question will be whether we can burst ours.

[noemi]

Something we all have our eyes on

Thanks for this post [La_Gaia], it’s clearly a step forward (and concrete!) in how to think about evaluating the unMonastery.

It’s interesting, up until know I’ve always thought about evaluation in terms of the impact of unMonasterians’ projects in the local community, as if that’s the most crucial, almost singular thing that needs to happen at the end of the day. But your approach seems to come before that: it looks like an evaluation of the conditions in which any change in the community and outer environment can happen: state of the unMonasterians, the diverse type of relationships which are favourable or not for local embeddedness. Pretty cool, I look forward to read more… heading over to the RSA :) hugs!

PS Is there another evaluation component which will involve monitoring or assessing the impact of the projects (separate or altogether)? Is it also you who’s in charge?

[thomasviscom]

close-up vs. wide shot

Hi there,

while the “close up” perspective is def. the most important, there’s also the “wide-shot”, not to be neglected.

from my perspective as a “distant” observer, a place that I have never heard of, MATERA, appeared on the map,

through the unMonastery project. (and what a beautiful place, indeed! ) Considering that there are other people like me, this would be an impact that could be measured already, when you look at the homepage of the city council (maybe they need a makeover of their own online appearance), and you have a counter installed, you’ll see quickly if the presence of unMonasterians (physical and virtual) brings about significant increase in traffic to the city’s official site. Then, edgeryders could make a pledge to mention and hyperlink MATERA in every communication, apart from all publications (print, TV, online, you name it) where MATERA is mentioned in relation to the unMonastery project. In this case, measuring would amount to some old-fashioned “clipping”, that could be projected back to the city’s tourist/PR department.