Jun 1, 2021
On this episode of the Cohere podcast, Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas are joined by pioneering community strategist and manager Gail Ann Williams.
Gail watched the dawn of online communities through her
participation and eventual leadership position at the WELL - one of
the first successful large-scale online communities. Prior to any
research studies, consultants or books about online communities
Gail was navigating the challenges of community strategy,
development, policy, and exploring the business models of community
- more or less in real-time.
Gail's journey at the WELL started as a conference manager in 1991,
and she helped guide the community through several transformational
changes, including an acquisition of the WELL by salon.com in 1999.
And the eventual repurchase back from salon.com by a group of
passionate members in 2012.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The founding of the WELL and early community culture
- How the dawn of the Internet affected the WELL
- Experimenting with different community business models
- How text-based community experiences can be sensory-rich experiences
- How privacy, even in private forums, can't be assumed
- How communities still provide a unique environment for compassion and empathy