Double Entry Journal 13

Community is better defined in relationship to spaces because it does not label people, but if defined in spaces you can break that down even farther to see what different people are doing in the space given. A generator is whatever it is that gives space a content, a generator in school could be a textbook. The content organizer is how the content is designed, using the textbook example, a content organizer in a school setting would be how the author of the textbook organized the content in the book. A portal is anything that gives access to the content and this could be the teacher in a school setting. According to the author people have an "affinity" for "the endeavor or interest around which the space is organized" or what the space is organized for rather than the people that are also in the space. This shows me that the true focus of "affinity spaces" are the content rather than the people. Affinity spaces, like inclusive classrooms, give people a sense of community because while the most important part of the space is not the other people, the sense of having things in common among one another gives a sense of community. Affinity spaces also lead to a common vision for people in the space. In the example in the book all the people shared a vision of making the AoM website helpful and informative.