We are remote, but we are not alone.
JnBrymn
Dear Penny University Community,
We've found ourselves in quite a predicament this time, haven't we? Under the threat of this dangerous new virus we are locking our doors and staying inside. Our very culture has just taken an incredible leap, and at this point we are in mid air and we don't know where we will land – it's frightening. Things will change, that's for sure. It is likely that in the future we will be more remote from one another, but that does not mean we will have to be alone!
Three years ago, Penny University started as a learning community centered around in-real-life, one-to-one learning experiences. And we were a thriving community with several self-organizing, in-person meetups happening every single week. But as time moved forward, some of our most active members began moving away, and the activity died down. The Penny University experiment, I believed, was finished.
That was until one of our members that had moved away reached back into the community and used Google Hangout to connect and to learn Unity3D. Even though I didn't have a particular need to learn Unity3D, I jumped into the conversation to observe and to connect with old friends. It struck me... this can work! In the screen-share conversation, I learned about Unity3D, but, more than that, I made a real connections with old friends who I had lost contact with. At that moment, I realized that as our active members had moved away, Penny University had not died. Instead, it had gone global!
I set out to revitalize our community. Soon, I was fortunate enough to enlist the help of Nick Chouard. For the past year we have been meeting once a week to build a software platform to support the community (visit http://pennyuniversity.org to see the tip of that iceberg). After working with Nick for a year, we have developed a good working relationship and I believe we've even become friends. But it now occurs to me that I have only met Nick 3 times in person! Our relationship has developed in virtual meetings across the year.
This is all to say that we can make this work. Penny University did not die out. Instead, it is becoming a global community with members in Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, California, and recently, Brazil! We self-organize regular, virtual one-to-one chats to learn together, socially (just take a look).
I hope this email gives you hope in a time where we certainly need it. I know you're in your room right now, but you are not alone. Instead, please realize you have the potential to connect socially to anyone, anywhere in the world. This will be a challenge. This will require change. But we are not alone. We will get through this together.
Sincerely,
John Berryman