Phase Two

Belief Statements: Step Three

Journal: November,15 2012

For this week's journal, we were instructed to have classmates challenge our belief statements, and from those challenge statements formulate alternative belief statements.

Here are my original belief statements along with the criticisms of my classmates.

After reviewing the notes I took in class, I realized that my belief statements had a pattern. I found that my statements contained the assumption that involvement in communities is inherently good. For example, I stated that "I believe each individual should be given the opportunity to participate in the success of his or her community" without discussing the benefits of participating for the individual. Likewise, I stated that "communities should reach out to others in the community" without examining the impact on individuals within the community. I was able to create alternative belief statements that described how communities can benefit the individual. I stuck with the idea that involvement in communities is beneficial to an individual because of my first alternative statement. If members of communities feel that the goal or mission of that community is worthy, their involvement in that community should be constructive for the individual members. 

In order to make progress on this project, I hope to receive more input from my classmates. Others are often able to point out patterns that I cannot recognize myself. Classmates help identify areas where I have been unclear. I would like to expand more on what community is, the impact communities should have, and the impact individuals should contribute. 

Reflecting on My Community

My next task is to make a list of the communities I identify with. First, I made a hand written list. I wrote these communities down in the order I thought of them. 

Next, I constructed a typed list. This list is more organized, as I categorized the communities I identify with.

A community I identify strongly with is the cycling community; however, I have found that it is difficult for newcomers to become involved with cycling organizations. This is probably because many long-time cyclists have connections with others and don’t feel the need to add others to their personal cycling group. Another frustrating aspect of riding with a new cyclist is that they may not be as efficient as cyclists who have been riding for years. Frustration is understandable because in order to improve, an athlete has challenge him or herself. Riding with a beginner is not challenging for a seasoned athlete. I own part of this problem, as I too find it frustrating to ride with people who are slower than me. How might experienced cyclists assist newcomers, making them feel welcome and excited about the sport? 

What would it mean to solve this issue?

Solving this issue would mean that more people would express an interest in cycling. If current cyclists lend their friendship and knowledge to new cyclists, those new cyclists are more likely to share cycling with others. Since cycling has many benefits including improving one’s health, reducing one’s carbon footprint (if used instead of a car as alternative transportation), and a decrease of spending on fuel, an increase in the amount of people who cycle is beneficial not only to the cycling community, but to larger communities as well.

Infinitive Statements:

For my infinitive statements, I decided to look back at my belief statements. If I wrote effective statements, they should apply to the cycling community and how to tackle the tough challenge of enticing and involving newcomers. 

Here's what I came up with:

After writing my notecards, I edited my statements in order to improve clarity. To emphasize the connections between my belief statements, challenge statements, alternative statements, and infinitive statements, I decided to place all four statements together.

Journal December 6

The next step in the process is to categorize the infinitive statements. I chose to place each infinitive statement under a top ten word I came up with during phase one in my associative word list.

I hope by looking at the words I used at the beginning of my project and the infinitive statements I wrote at the end, you are starting to see my project come full circle.

Technical vs. Adaptive Solutions to My Problem

Now it’s time to go back to the problem I discussed before. It is difficult for newcomers to become involved with cycling organizations. A technical solution to this problem would be to recruit new members with fliers, Facebook invitations, or other advertisement. It is technical because it is a relatively easy fix. Little effort needs to be put into these types of invitations. It is often standard operating procedure to promote a group or idea through advertisements. This technical solution does not approach how to change the cycling community as a system.

An adaptive solution would be to talk to other cyclists of all levels. How did they become involved in the cycling community? What could have improved their experience as a newcomer? Based on the responses of the interviewees, cyclists looking to recruit and include new members to the community can shape their actions. One response might be that the insider language used by experienced cyclists intimidates new cyclists. Experienced cyclists can keep this in mind and communicate in a way that is understandable to all people. This is an adaptive solution because it requires new knowledge. This solution acknowledges that there may be a flaw in the system. It is very likely that new cyclists have a hard time joining the cycling community due to the actions of experienced cyclists. An adaptive solution is open to experimenting new ways to intrigue and treat new cyclists. 

Final Reflection