Science of Community Dialogues

Watch the introduction video!

The Community Data Science Collective organizes a series of events called The Science of Community Dialogues which bring together online community leaders, organizers, and experts. The goal of the Dialogues is to build a network of practice and research focused on the exchange, discovery, and application of evidence-based strategies to support thriving communities.

Each Dialogue in the series combines short presentations highlighting recent research on a central theme and what that research means for communities. This will be followed by moderated group discussions on shared areas of concern, interest, and practical experience connected to the presentations and theme. It is an opportunity to learn, share, and understand how communities work.

The Dialogues are not open public events, although we typically publish talks and other artifacts. For each Dialogue, we will invite a select group of leaders from open source communities, online communities, and research organizations to participate.

A code of conduct is shared with all participants before the event and sessions are held under Chatham House Rule to encourage candid conversations. Presentations are typically recorded; discussions are not.

These events have been supported, in part, by awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation and our home institutions. It will be held at no cost to attendees.

Learn more

If you'd like to learn more or get future updates about the Science of Community Dialogues, please join the low volume announcement list.

We've also produced information about how we are organizing the series.

Upcoming Dialogues

[In person] 07 (December 15, 2023) — Underproduction

Past Dialogues (archive)

[In Person] 06 - Science of Community @ FOSSY
[Virtual] 05 (May 19, 2023) - Digital Inequalities
[Virtual] 04 (January 20, 2023) - Accountable Community Governance
[Virtual] 03 (September 30th, 2022) - All Communities are Learning Communities
[Virtual] 02 (May 20, 2022) - Anonymity and Privacy
[Virtual] 01 (February 11, 2022) - Learning from Small and Overlapping Communities - blog post on Dialogue 1