GeoSpectrum: Community Building in Organizations

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GeoSpectrum: Community Building in Organizations

While doing the research for GeoSpectrum, and gathering information about organizations I’ve run across many different types of community building in geoscience member societies. It's important that each society, based on size and culture find activites that work for them. The most visible examples of creating a community within a society are the annual meeting events of AGI member organizations, such as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG): Annual Convention and Exposition which was recapped in GeoSpectrum. The "10th North American Paleontological Convention" was also covered in this issue of GeoSpectrum. This paleontological conference was hosted by many entities including two AGI Member Organziations,The Paleontological Society and The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. The Paleontological society was kind enough to share their post-conference report with AGI. In April 2014, the Association of American Geographers meeting was held Tampa and was also shared in this issue of GeoSpectrum.

While meeting participation is one of the best parts of growing and maintaining a career in geoscience, sometimes forming relationships within your member organization in unconventional ways are the most memorable! Recently, the Geological Society of London, hosted the Great #GeoBakeOff! Starting organically in hallway conversations, inspired by British Television and using twitter, support from society staff and the generous artistry of their members, dozens of GSL members submitted pictures of their geoscience-themed cakes. They all looked yummy!

The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) generously shared a piece submitted to their newsletter “L&O Bulletin” on Improv Training for Scientists. Penned by an actor Brian Palermo in Los Angeles argues that at its core, improv is about creating something completely new, and the ability to work with others using the improv technique “Yes, and…” (see video: ). Palermo argues that this fundamental improv skill could shift scientists’ fundamental thinking and encourage them to engage differently in collaborations. It’s definitely food for thought!

There are so many clever ways to create a community in an organization. AAPG has recently launched a wiki as a way to “engage a broad cross-section of geoscience experts and augment its traditional publishing.” I definitely can’t wait to hear this goes, and if the member engagement is positive, both in experience and for growth of the profession. Read more information here: http://bit.ly/1sZrWRx.

-M. Moses
 

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