This Must Be The Place

Episode 15: Bruce Adams on Kranky Records and Low

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:00:00 -0800

On November 6, 2022, Mimi Parker of the band Low died of ovarian cancer. I, like many fans of the band, found myself grieving and struggling to process this event, so I invited an old friend Bruce Adams to join me on the podcast. Bruce was the co-founder of Kranky Records, who released 3 albums and 2 EPs by the band, as well as being a huge fan himself. Together we talk about Low and what made them so special and why they struck such a chord with their fanbase. We also talk about Kranky's founding and why Chicago was and continues to be such a special place for music and community.

Special Guest: Bruce Adams.

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Episode 14: Matt Scott on Building Community Through Storytelling

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 06:00:00 -0700

Matt Scott is the founder of Lets Care, where he passes the mic to those who often go unheard in social change, and was the global community lead for the world’s largest global hackathon, NASA’s Space Apps Challenge. In this episode we talk about managing a global community of over 100,000 people, why storytelling is important in building community, and how pro wrestling is a force for the social change.

Special Guest: Matt Scott.

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Episode 13: Rosie Sherry on community as career.

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Wed, 26 May 2021 08:00:00 -0700

Rosie Sherry is the Community Lead at Orbit, a startup which builds software to measure community engagement. She also runs Rosieland, a newsletter and website which covers topics around community management. In this episode we talk about turning community into career, how to scale, and what to do when you realize your heart is no longer in the community you founded.

Special Guest: Rosie Sherry.

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Episode 12: Shelby Lorman on Awards For Good Boys

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 06:00:00 -0800

Shelby Lorman is a writer, illustrator, and comedian who created the Instagram account and book Awards For Good Boys. In this episode Shelby and I discuss building community as an artist and commentator, how that relationship changes as your following grows, and the challenges of creator and fandom in the age of social media.

Special Guest: Shelby Lorman.

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Episode 11: Margot Bloomstein on Trust

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 06:00:00 -0800

Margot Bloomstein is a freelance content strategist and the author of Content Strategy At Work as well as the upcoming Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap. In this episode we talk about how trust has failed in the modern day, a framework for organizations to build trust, and how trust can empower your community.

Special Guest: Margot Bloomstein.

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Episode 10: Jess Sand on the Content + UX Slack community

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 06:00:00 -0800

Jess Sand is a freelance digital experience expert and the group host of the Content + UX Slack, a digital community of web professionals which currently stands at just under 10,000 members. In this episode we talk about how this community formed, the unique challenges surrounding communities of practice, and how the needs of a community change as it scales.

Special Guest: Jess Sand.

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Episode 9: Rob Cesternino on Rob Has A Podcast

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 06:00:00 -0800

In 2010, two-time Survivor player Rob Cesternino began Rob Has A Podcast, a podcast network dedicated to in-depth coverage of scripted and reality TV shows. In this episode, Rob talks about the community that has grown around RHAP, what has led to its success, and what the future holds.

Special Guest: Rob Cesternino.

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Episode 8: Jasmine Sun on Civic Infrastructure and Online Communities

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 06:00:00 -0800

Jasmine Sun is a writer exploring social and information ecosystems. In this episode we talk about cities as platforms, how the gig economy has replaced social infrastructure, and what our communities can learn from city planners.

Special Guest: Jasmine Sun.

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Episode 7: Angie Byron on Community Burnout

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 06:00:00 -0700

Angie Byron is a Senior Director Of Product And Community Development at Acquia, but she's arguably best known for being a contributor and core maintainer for the open source content management system Drupal. In this episode Angie talks about her journey through burnout, and what people can do to help identify and prevent these issues from happening in their own communities.

"Randy Fay and I used to get into little spats about this where I was big on like, 'I love Drupal, because everybody's just a blue nickname and we all treat each other the same.' He's like, 'Yeah, but you don't, because you know that chx is this big name programmer, but someone new to the community has no idea, and will talk to them in a in a certain way. And they get lambasted off the planet, because they were rude to a core developer. But how are they supposed to know?" It took me a while to kind of come around to that idea of like, the tyranny of structurelessness and things like that. That there actually is value in defining those roles and defining what the procedures are for getting into and out of those roles and things like that. So I think I've learned to appreciate good governance a lot more now than I had kind of in the earlier days." - Angie Byron

Special Guest: Angie Byron.

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Episode 6: Meg Bolger on Discussing Social Justice

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 06:00:00 -0700

Meg Bolger is a facilitator and co-author of Unlocking The Magic Of Facilitation.. In this episode we talk about ways to approach topics of social justice in our communities, whether or not memes are useful, and how we can work together to create a more beautiful and just world.

"I think we underestimate how destructive, or rather how motivational connection and community is. I think it's one of the most important things that people will do almost anything to ensure that they have a community and that they have people who think that they are like ... you're with us. You're one of us. You're one of our people. I mean, I personally think people will become neo-nazis, just to ensure that they have community, not because it's what they deeply believe." - Meg Bolger

Special Guest: Meg Bolger.

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Episode 5: Lisa Welchman on Community Governance

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 11:00:00 -0700

Lisa Welchman is a digital governance consultant and the author of Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design. In this podcast we discuss the growth cycles of organizations, changes in governance since Managing Chaos was released, and how corporate governance models can help communities of any size.

"The choice to do nothing is still a choice. And you shouldn't be naive about that and refusing to look at the consequences of your behavior. Whether that's an individual a business, a nonprofit organization, a Girl Scout troop, whatever. Like that's just not okay, that's not what mature people do. That's what children do. That's what adolescents do. And I feel like the industry of technology and digital spaces is moving out of adolescence into adulthood and it's just not gonna fly anymore." - Lisa Welchman

Special Guest: Lisa Welchman.

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Episode 4: Shawna Potter on Making Spaces Safer

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 06:00:00 -0700

Shawna Potter is the lead singer for the punk band War on Women and the author of Making Spaces Safer on AK Press. In this podcast we talk about the punk rock community, the importance of all-ages scenes, and how to create safer spaces for everyone.

"Something happened kind of early on in the band, where my brain shifted a little bit and I started thinking that if a band called War On Women can't call out someone in the moment for harassing us or harassing an audience member or being shitty ... If we can't do it, well, who can. I started to accept the responsibility of being in a feminist political band, that is a hardcore punk band. We've got to be ready to back up the righteous anger that we're yelling about, that we're expressing musicall and lyrically" - Shawna Potter

Special Guest: Shawna Potter.

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Episode 3: Tenessa Gemelke and Kristina Halvorson on Confab

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 07:45:00 -0700

Tenessa Gemelke and Kristina Halvorson are the driving forces behind Confab, a content strategy and user experience conference that has just completed its tenth year. Since its creation, Confab has stood out from other tech conferences by creating a diverse and vibrant community for its attendees and speakers. In this episode Tenessa and Kristina talk about Confab's history, transitioning Confab to an online event, and their brand new conference Button.

"Without actively soliciting the perspectives and the experiences and the approaches of these folks who are on the front lines who maybe haven't written books and maybe haven't been blogging or don't have a podcast or haven't had the chance on the stage ... if we don't draw those voices in and lift them up we're going to stagnate as an industry. There is so much about giving individuals that opportunity to stand in the spotlight and sit and say their piece and share their wisdom." - Kristina Halvorson

Special Guests: Kristina Halvorson and Tenessa Gemelke.

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Episode 2: Lisa Maria Marquis on Private Digital Communities

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0700

Lisa Maria Marquis is an independent consultant in content-driven information architecture, working to help teams understand, organize, and structure their web content for empowering user experiences. In this conversation, we talk about private digital communities and the place they play in people's lives.

"If you don't set those expectations, then what happens is you're watching a TV show together, you're talking about a TV show together, and it's all surface. It doesn't go any deeper. You don't engage with it, and you don't engage with each other. And then that's not a community. It's not personal. Then what's the point? You know, if you're not going to make a real connection, what's the point?"

Special Guest: Lisa Maria Marquis.

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Episode 1: David Dylan Thomas on Design For Civil Discourse

gdd@heyrocker.com (Greg Dunlap) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:15:00 -0700

David Dylan Thomas is a Content Strategy Advocate at ThinkCompany in Philadelphia and the host of the Cognitive Bias Podcast. In this podcast we talk about how the phrasing of questions influences answers, the ways design influences discourse, and how capitalism is ruining everything.

"You have in your head, oh, I will get more clicks if people are angry, right? But people are yelling at each other on my platform, so it isn't necessarily true, right? There's all sorts of science around, like, what motivates people to share content, and anger does it but then so does wonder and hope."

Special Guest: David Dylan Thomas.

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