Future of Belonging
Newsletter exploring future of belonging
I hosted my first event series and learned a lot about what the community is looking for in terms of connecting with each other and learning. I evaluating what worked and what didn't to begin structuring a membership program that can be more robust and consistent.
I've started promoting the newsletter more. I've spoken at a couple of conferences (Black and Brown Founders CHROMA and CMX Summit) and appeared on the Cool Tools podcast.
https://kk.org/cooltools/vanessa-mason-research-director-at-iftf/
I've also started using Twitter threads and Instagram stories to promote new issues.
I participated in Kasley Killam's Social Wellness Series on Instagram Live. This was the first time that I had spoken about the newsletter as well as my initial findings and some of the technologies influencing the future of belonging.
After writing since the beginning of the year, I wanted to add some structure to what I had learned so far. I produced a graphic that illustrated how I conceptualized belonging and summarized some of the technological developments that I saw influencing belonging over the next decade.
https://belonging.substack.com/p/issue-24-mapping-the-future-of-belonging
We were a tiny group but a mighty one. I hosted the first meetup on Zoom where we discussed physical, emotional and intellectual spaces needed for imagining the future of belonging including the university of the future and future cities. We also spoke about the impact of the infinite demands for our attention splinter our collective experience of reality, placing constraints on belonging due to the lack of shared history and memory.
I applied for Substack's Fellowship for Independent Writers and was surprised and delighted to find that I was selected as an honorable mention. Along with the recognition came a $3000 stipend along with developmental support to work on strategy for continuing to build the newsletter.
I shared information about the newsletter along with a link on my Twitter and LinkedIn initially. At this point, I had not invested much effort in building my audience, so I was surprised to see that people wanted to follow along the journey. The feedback I received inspired me to take the writing more seriously.
The newsletter started as a commitment to learning in public by writing weekly on Substack. On this day, I wrote the first post about why I was curious about exploring the Future of Belonging. I highlighted both the personal and intellectual reasons to explore the topic.
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