--- # System prepended metadata title: Pods tags: [meta-communication, idea-stub] --- # Pods as Relational Technologies A 'Pod' is a relational technology for cultivating the high-trust relationships needed to build resilience through collectivising our basic needs of shelter, food, transport, care, and connection. Pods have emerged in different contexts, and can be formed from many different combinations of intentions, principles, rituals and formats. To illustrate I'll focus on two appraoches - identifying our 'personal pods' and participating in the practice of 'small-group podding'. ## Preparedness pods: The idea of preparedness pods is to encourage us each to prepare prior our networks of care prior to needing specific kinds of support. Planning our preparedness pod involves identify the people available to us who can provide us with different kinds of support (and, those to whom we want to offer different kinds of support); if we can each have multiple different supporters then we may, collectively, be better equiped to navigate interpersonal conflict and personal hardships. Forming our preparedness pods involvesseeking out people who we can call on (or offer) short bursts of active support 'as needed' - such as during personal emergancies or when navigating interpersonal conflicts. Types of Preparedness Pods to nurture include: * a) affinity pods of people that we can call on for support in navigating the world with specific marginalised experience; * a support pods of people that we can call on when we experience violence, harm, or abuse; * b) accountability pods of people that we can call on for support in taking accountability for contributing to violence, harm or, abuse; and * c) emergency support pods of people we can call on for material and/or relational support during moments of crises and personal emergency situations. For advice on how to identify people for support and accountability pods, see: - the [Pod Mapping Worksheet](https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/pods-and-pod-mapping-worksheet/) by Mia Mingus - the [Preparedness Pod & Skill Mapping Workbook](https://www.thehoneycombnetwork.com/apothecary/p/digital-workbook-preparedness-pods-skill-mapping-for-revolutionary-times) by the Honeycomb Network ## Small-group podding: Small group podding can take many forms, but typically relies on one or more people expressing an initial invitation to coordinate a group of between 3 and 8 people to co-create a shared experience based on the intentions, principles, and format chosen by those involved. It helps if this intention can clearly state the common intent bringing a group together (e.g. collectivising transport needs, collaborative approaches to housing, creating resilient mutual support practices, coordinating emergency preparedness, etc.,). This pattern for forming podding groups has been articulated within the Enspiral handbook to highlight the value of being explicit about three elements of group practice: * Principles - a set protocols and values that guide the culture of the pod (e.g., you might consider principles around context, meeting rhythm, as well as facilitation and hosting duties). * Rituals - practices that help us interact in ways that align with our principles (examples, include 'opening' and 'closing' rituals to help create a container for more intentional ways of relating during meeting/gathering). * Format - an explicit structure that gives your pod a direction and rhythm over time. This might specify the number of sessions (e.g. 5 sessions), guiding principles, a set of rituals for each session, and perhaps even activities that participants do in-between calls. Most pods are formed by small groups (3-8 people) making an explicit agreement to participate in a fixed round of active 'podding' (e.g., one round of podding may invove participating in five group-sessions over eight weeks); reviewing this process at the end of a round, the group may disperse or choose to continue for another round - either in the same format as the initial round or a new format. Examples of small-group podding practices include: ### Care Pods: Pods focused on the care aspects of our basic needs. For example, a pod formed with the intention of providing a supportive space for reflection and growth around asking for, and offering care. For an example, see: [How to Care Pod Well (learning out loud)](https://carepod.notion.site/How-to-Care-Pod-Well-learning-out-loud-cea3fc3e92424b378e2b02466509d904) by Steph, Mel, and Richie (2023). ### Livelihood Pods Small highly-committed groups with who collective financial resources. For instance, the group may operate by distributing all individual income to everyone in the collective, often with some tolerance for inequal distribution to individuals via collective decision-making processes. For example, see [P2P livlihood pods](https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Livelihood_Pods)) ### Mutual-aid Pods Small groups of people who develop real, ongoing relationships with each other, in ways that support the efforts to practice mutual aid together. For example, see the [Rocky Mountin Pod Project](https://rmman.org/pods/) ### Material Needs Pods: Pods focused on collectivising resources related one or more material needs: pods for reducing barriers to collectivising transport; pods for exploring pathways towards collectivising shelter; pods for creating ways to collectivise food; pods formed with the intention of supporting each other in preparing for specific types of emergencies (fire, flood, etc.,); etc., --- Date created: 2024 Version: 2.0 Attribution: created by [E. T. Smith](https://hackmd.io/@Teq/Bio) on unceded lands of the [Wurundjeri people](https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/). Creative Commons License CC BY-SA