From The Art Of Community by O'Reilly (http://www.artofcommunityonline.org) by Jono Bacon

Introduction

Communication is essential in community. It is the metaphorical highway that connects the many towns and people in your world. Effective communication brings together your community members in a manner that is free-flowing, productive, and accessible.

First, your community needs to build a set of resources to facilitate communication, discussion, and the sharing of ideas and best practices. In many cases these resources are online facilities, such as mailing lists, forums, and discussion channels.

Once your communication channels are in place, they can be used in all manner of ways. There will of course be some good drivers and some bad drivers; some will communicate exceptionally well, and some will irritate and agitate anyone who crosses their path. You want to inspire and encourage a baseline quality of communication. This is not about excluding people who are imperfect writers or speakers, but instead about providing a consistent example of simple approaches to communication that make the community easier to understand and more pleasurable for everyone involved.

Building Your Communication Channels

Ensure that teams can communicate clearly and effectively.

Communication can be divided into three primary areas:

• Incoming
  • Receiving and processing feedback and viewpoints for the purpose of improvement. An example of this could include surveys to determine how well a part of your community is working.
• Outgoing
  • Sharing news, stories, and achievements from the community with the rest of the world. An example of this could be showing off something your community has created.
• Internal
  • Internal discussions and meetings in the community to discuss objectives, goals, conflict, and other issues. An example of this could include meetings that are designed to decide on how your community will work together toward its goals.