# 2019-10-19 Brigade Congress, `#WeTheNorthCFA`

:link: [`link.civictech.ca/we-the-north`](http://link.civictech.ca/we-the-northo)

:speech_balloon: **Comments/Convo:** https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/we-the-north-civic-tech-organizing-in-toronto-origins-and-extrapolations-from-an-international-city-brigade-congress-2019/631

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:date: **Date:** Sat, Oct 19 @ 11:15-12:30pm ET / 15:15-16:30 UTC
:round_pushpin: **Location:** Cleveland Public Library
:hash: `#WeTheNorthCFA`
:family: **Who's here?**
^{(Add you Twitter handle or name if you feel like it!)}
- Alex, toronto :bird: [@dotorithoughts](https://twitter.com/dotorithoughts)
- Emily, toronto :bird: [@emilyamacrae](https://twitter.com/emilyamacrae)
- patcon, toronto :bird: [@patconnolly](https://twitter.com/patconnolly)
- Ryan H, New Orleans :bird: [@CodeAndData](https://twitter.com/CodeAndData)
- - Cyrus Sethna, [Code for DC](https://codefordc.org) :bird: [@c_sethna](https://twitter.com/c_sethna)
- ... ~15 other attendees
- you?

**Note-taker:**
- :pencil: [e-mail] (notepad)
- :art: [@c_sethna](https://twitter.com/c_sethna) (pictures)
- ...
^{(but pls halp! all support welcome)}

| Nick noting | Cyrus' drawing |
|---|---|
|  |  |

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**Note:** `link.civictech.ca` shortlinks are generated from this master list :link: [`link.civictech.ca/shortlinks`](https://link.civictech.ca/shortlinks) using a schedule script :link: [`link.civictech.ca/about-gsheet2shortlinks`](https://link.civictech.ca/about-gsheet2shortlinks)
:::

## Links shared
- Join our slack! :link: [`link.civictech.ca/chat`](https://link.civictech.ca/chat)
- Organising channel: `#organizing-open`
- minimally-used `#organizing-priv`
- [name=patcon] One of the few formal proposals we've ever done (after months of unsuccessful casual convos) was for migrating from a totally private channel, to this more public strategy: [CivicTechTO: Usage Guidelines for Organizing Channels](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1St_5Ch4Yq9h2gUUTAqEUxPVs0avYuEy5IPw66rg1cWA/edit)
- Google Drive (of everything) :link: [`link.civictech.ca/gdrive`](https://link.civictech.ca/gdrive)
- Hacknight presentation
- :link: [`link.civictech.ca/welcome-deck`](https://link.civictech.ca/welcome-deck) (newest)
- :link: [`link.civictech.ca/welcome-decks`](https://link.civictech.ca/welcome-decks) (all)
- Hacknight roles/runsheets :link: [`link.civictech.ca/roles`](https://link.civictech.ca/roles)
- Civic Tech 101 presentations :link: [`link.civictech.ca/101s`](https://link.civictech.ca/101s) (directory with ALL)
- [OG "Civic Tech 101": July 2015](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jtyMeQ1RIpSWg4ND4Hnp2Uu9kPiMYcZmRngm10zV_B4/edit#slide=id.p3)
- Latest "Civic Tech 101": June 2019 :link: [`link.civictech.ca/101`](https://link.civictech.ca/101) (newest in ALL directory via :link: [`github.com/CivicTechTO/gdrive-whats-new-app`](https://github.com/CivicTechTO/gdrive-whats-new-app))
- CivicTechTO Community Toolkit http://toolkit.civictech.ca/
- h/t @rapicastillo of [Progressive Coders Network](https://toolkit.progcode.org/) for :1234: [code](https://github.com/CivicTechTO/civictechto-community-toolkit)/inspiration :tada:

## Collab Notes
^{h/t Nick Floersch for live-noting :tada: (some formatting/additions by @patcon and mystery strangers)}

- History
- Started 4 years ago; (one of) first groups in Canada (we don't call them Brigades)
- First hacknight: "beta"
- :link: [`link.civictech.ca/beta-hacknight`](https://link.civictech.ca/beta-hacknight)
- Thoughtful list of people from many domains invited to first kick off [:link: invite list](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ScMHaUbu8R30Rs3552UG6coKOMOwAxOpy53sZKJnv9o/edit#gid=0)
- very intentional
- participants were asked: is this interesting enough to do every week?
- participants were offered: consider yourself a co-founder!
- Inspired by Chicago, too
- How the brigade works/is
- General structure
- Speaker at every meetup
- [new] Attendees come for the speaker mostly
- Philosophy of speakers
- Important to welcome speakers in
- Build them up in how we talk about them
- How can we support them and not necessarily confrontational
- We are holding hands with speakers, not pointing fingers
- Roles
- Roles switch up
- The roles are identified and they change up monthly
- MC
- AV person
- Welcomer/greeter
- Sharing "generosity of leadership"
- Positive pressure to change up roles
- Not a virtue to keep doing the same role
- Transfer of knowledge
- Articulate values
- Better understand the what and why
- Use a spreadsheet for coordination
- For each role there is a run sheet to let folks know what to do in that role
- Mitigate burnout
- Link to role sign-up sheet and descriptions of roles: :link: [`link.civictech.ca/roles`](https://link.civictech.ca/roles) or direct link to dir :link: [`link.civictech.ca/runsheets`](https://link.civictech.ca/roles)
- Different assumptions of power for each role... we are all in charge, "we are all the government"
- [name=patcon] Avoid merging small roles into larger ones; this creates more barrier to participation/leadership by removing opportunities for new leaders
- New organizers may not even know the "old timers", but it is maybe a "good smell" in terms of participation and flows of leadership
- Invites to grow
- Try to do active invites to get more folks involved
- Example: Person might start out livetweeting or door greeting, and continue into more challenging organizing roles
- Reminders
- Automated in Slack every week
- :computer: [Screenshots](https://imgur.com/a/yOTaYJh?)
- [name=patcon] Philosophy of community infra (WIP) :link: [`link.civictech.ca/infra-philosophy`](https://link.civictech.ca/infra-philosophy)
- [name=patcon] some via simple Slack reminders, but many via CircleCI script-runner for scheduled tasks, that's kinda like a "public cronjob" :link: [`link.civictech.ca/scripts`](https://link.civictech.ca/scripts)
- Depersonalize reminder process to avoid nagging
- Pulls info from spreadsheets to determine who gets what reminder
- Automation should be wanted by organizers... doesn't force itself on people in a bad way
- Use emojis and symbols to keep things light
- But also visual representation of topics/items (alternative learning types; information/text/data processing ≯ visual processing)
- List of tools and resources for each role too
- Automation doesn't do the real work! It focuses energy
- Does not pretend to be a human or do emotion work like sending a real "thanks!"
- Gratitude
- Reminders automated to encourage offerings of gratitude ("what went well?")
- Focus on sharing gratitude to avoid burnout
- Thank you Chi Hacknight!
- Gratitude runs in line with attribution
- Thanks Cyrus for visual note taking!
- Docs
- Share docs and archive them over time
- Keep docs accessible to all and avoid personal email/service/platform accounts that keep knowledge locked up
- :link: [`link.civictech.ca/inventory`](https://link.civictech.ca/inventory)
- Who is in what role
- What are pitches each week
- What are role needs
- Venue choice/option ...
- A philosophy of tools doc exists
- [name=patcon] Philosophy of community infra (WIP) :link: [`link.civictech.ca/infra-philosophy`](https://link.civictech.ca/infra-philosophy)
- Link to google drive w/ all docs (sorry, disorganized): https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4jGklalvuvwfjhLekdZdUZKNTN6UlVvdGNjSUZjYU50YXlCMUh5emI1SmhxNWZKU3Q2MXc
- Every week
- All invited for pitch
- all split after
- Meet Tuesday nights
- Post-hack-night huddle thread starts after every meetup
- [name=patcon] used to organize in-person, but hard to do when some are leaving or coordinating post-hacknight social
- Values
- Rotate space - not focused on one space or sponsor
- To avoid melding identity with sponsor
- :link: [`link.civictech.ca/venue-map`](https://link.civictech.ca/venue-map)
- Work in Progress / Process-orientation
- "Just enough process to hold things we value in place"
- Co-organizers talk a lot about what we value and why
- Less project driven and collaborating
- Generosity and gratitude are key values
- :running: **Activity:** self-organized brigade measure via thermometer method
- :bar_chart: [**Photos** of all activity results](https://imgur.com/a/9B4V2On)
- Activity: thermometer (spread out along the wall, left side means very few, right side means a whole lot) :bar_chart:
- How many people come to average gathering?
- 30-40 - 25 - 8
-
- Activity: how many "projects" (breakout groups)
- 2 - 4 - 7
- Activity: how long have you been involved in your brigade?
- 10yr - 6mo
- Visual Note-taker invitation to help engage
- Pictures etc. explained
- Cyrus
- :running: **Activity:** Breakout - 3 corners of room/ 3 pitches
- Process
- Dolphin Tank
- Like shark tank but friendlier
- Why did people show up? What first brought you in?
- asks: 1) people who have ideas/topics they think might make good breakouts, and 2) people who want to help workshop those challenges/ideas
- People see the "way things move" modeled, the flows of leadership and what we value.
- [name=patcon] place to share tips-and-tricks for this weirdo "project management/stewardship" world of community projects, building on what previous breakout groups have learned/tried.
- [name=patcon] place to help new/undecided people participate in informing future projects that might get pitched.
- How to Invite from people outside the space
- Reconsidering metrics. How do we measure success?
- Consistency is important, but plenty of reason to "count" the number of people that pass through even if they don't commit long-term
- [name=patcon] many people in city will say "i've heard good things, but haven't made it out _yet_"
- *Inviting* really helps.
- [name=patcon] "every tuesday" makes it as easy as possible for any community contributor to invite ppl they meet. Zero logistical overhead.
- See someone who might make a great organiser? Let them know they'd be great at it, be friendly, and show them the ropes.
- See someone who has a cool potential project? Be friendly, help grow the project, help them feel comfortable seeding something new.
- weekly Civic Tech 101 breakout session is _essential_
- Set a baseline
- Get folks on slack
- Baseline is a moving target
- In-depth volunteering opp for growing organizers! Everyone adds their own flavour and customizes (without discarding past versions wholesale)
- :running: **Activity:** Mapping Sentimental Landscape
- :bar_chart: [**Photos** of all activity results](https://imgur.com/a/9B4V2On)
- move around room to measure what people feel about "subjective feeling statements" on a topic
- PROMPT question for provoking feeling statements: **Should our communities grow? If so, how?**
- 3 corners mean **Agree, Disagree, Pass/Unsure.**
- [name=patcon] new feeling statements emerge from asking participants why they are in a specific corner, esp "unsure/pass" corner.
- inspired by [pol.is](https://pol.is/home) tool and g0v.tw's [vTaiwan](https://info.vtaiwan.tw) community
- Statement 1) _"I feel like more people that show up, the better."_
- _\*people shuffled\*_
- Some yes
- #ask why UNSURE? Some that it is a false metric
- #ask why DISAGREE? Sometimes the correct size is a sweet-spot number that is not big
- Statement 2) _"I feel like growth is more diversity of expertise at the hack night."_
- _\*people shuffled\*_
- #ask why UNSURE? A diversity is best if it is relevant to what you do
- Statement 3) _"I feel it's more important to have diverse backgrounds that are motivated toward the same goal."_
- _\*people shuffled\*_
- #ask why AGREE? Diversity of thought can bring value because you never thought "that way"
- [name=patcon] had intended direction, but ran out of time: to consider whether growth is size of groups, or instead more hacknights acting as incubators for civic projects in different neighboods with different concerns/focii, rather than getting everyone to each city's one hacknight in one neighborhood.
- out of time