People are the Platform

Video gamers say the most interesting things! I was recently reminded of this by a great opinion piece in Associations Now from Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association. His piece, titled "People are the Platform" reminds us that the way most Associations (and businesses for that matter) are going to continue to attract people is by allowing members to talk to one another -- and back to the sponsoring organization.

Unfortunately, many of the available "Association management" tools out their are very closed, very proprietary systems that do not allow for a more flexible, modular approach. Jason gives the example of when his members wanted a wiki available on the site -- the best solution they could find for the short term was to download the latest Mediawiki release and patch it in with their membership pages.

As Jason suggests, it's somewhat concerning (some might even say "appalling") that associations are not adopting these new approaches more open-mindedly. In my opinion, it boils down to a concern about control -- control over who gets to say what in the forums they sponsor. While one can empathize with that view, it's an old way of thinking. The people that form the platform are going to find other platforms to say what they want -- but they'll still say it. Wouldn't it be better if they were saying it TO you, not ABOUT you?