Creating a virtual space to convene communities
Jeremy Hay and Eve Pearlman, Coral Project,This case study demonstrates one way that virtual spaces — in this case, a private Facebook group — can also provide a venue for convening citizens around civic issues. While forums like a Facebook group can host virtual conversations that are simultaneously live and time-shifted, depending on when people are logged in and engaging, it demonstrates the fluid ways in which community forums and community engagement strategies can sometimes become “live events” of sorts. We urge those reading these resources to think about how and where virtual tools and spaces can be thought of from a “public forum” or citizen convening mentality.