unMonastery is moving into a new and exciting phase with the launch of the international call, as the project grows and expands, there is a need for a more definitive working style to take the project forward. This post is coupled with another, titled ‘unMonastic Principles of Administration: a call for design solutions’ – this is an attempt to create space for others to taker a greater role in the unMonastery.
Although I have defined a set of roles, captured from existing needs, I see this very much as a conversation – if these roles aren’t filled the project will still happen but it will be for those currently involved a heavier weight to move. The richness of the unMonastery project is dependent on the number of people who can be involved in the backstage elements of unMonastery, since it’s the decisions made here that effect its overall trajectory.
If you would like to assume one of these roles or you have alternative ideas about these roles comment below!
Roles:
Facilitator of Fundraising and Futures
I imagine this role taking the lead in dreaming up and opening out the future of the unMonastery project. Throughout the time unMonastery has been in the public domain many individuals have suggested possible locations and opportunities, much of the time these possibilities cannot be pursued for lack of time and resources.
Some key features of the role:
-Raising money and resources for the overall project / individual aspects / individual roles.
-Sourcing possible grants and applications
-Writing fundrasing applications
-Supporting and assisting the start-up of other unMonasteries or facilitating other groups approaching local governments.
-Scoping potential partnerships.
-Blue sky thinking around the possibilities of unMonastery on a 5-10 year trajectory
Facilitator of Communication and Community
unMonastery requires a lot of communication, particularly as we move closer to the launch, with the number of stakeholders growing rapidly: between designers, local municipality, MT2019, EdgeRyders and the distributed community contributing online.
I envision this role as one partnered with my own, picking up on threads of communication and building momentum. Leading the social network engagement efforts and actively joining the dots on discussion at unMonastery - Campfire - Edgeryders and the Matera community site.
Some key features of the role:
-Ideally, someone taking this role would speak Italian.
-Producing and maintaining a press pack
-Facilitating press opportunities
-Community management across EdgeRyders and the Matera community site
-Updating, maintaining and translating content for the core website.
Facilitator of Design and Dispersion
Co-design is inherently messy, it acts in a distributed way between many different perspectives, what has emerged in recent months is the need for a designer that understands how these things can be knitted together – in a way that reflects and leverages contributors intentions. You can see the need for such coordination beginning to play out in the first thread on co-designing the space (/t/unmonastery/315/the-unmonastery-the-space-and-co-design-in-matera).
I imagine this role would be focused more on design thinking, rather than hands on designing but would require and obviously benefit from an individual who can do both.
Some key features of the role:
-Establishing an online workspace for managing each element of the co-design process (physical space, ruleset and culture)
-Designing workflows that can reiterate frequently
-Supporting and collaborating on the Nominet bid for building unMonastery in-a-box (detailed in this blogpost: /t/unmonastery/315/everything-you-need-to-know-an-update-on-unmonastery )
-Co-ordinating and creating design elements: presentation layouts, templates, graphics and an overall identity pack
Design your own role
unMonastery isn’t really about predefined roles, it adheres to the mantra of EdgeRyders; “what we don’t build ourselves does not get built” and "who does the work calls the shots”. If there is a role you believe the unMonastery requires to move in the right direction, describe it, declare it your own in a blog post or on the comments thread and lets get building.
