Steinbeck, Ricketts, Jung and the Gathering Place
Individual Roles and Styles
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Based on direct
experience and observation, Jim Kent describes specific roles in and
gathering places unconsciously taken on by participants. After reading
Jim’s descriptions and reflecting on the hundreds of meetings I’ve
attended in my career, unless assigned, participants assume such roles
well. The roles include:
"Caretakers: These individuals are the glue that holds the
culture together. They are routinely accessible to people of the
networks when people need assistance or advise. This assistance
or advice is freely given; there is no chit or payback. It is
based on interest and predictability. Caretakers are invisible
to outsiders and do not belong to formal groups. They are
essential to high levels of social capital in society. Ed R. was
a caretaker as was Flora. "Communicators": These individuals move information throughout the networks. They are generally in places where they come into contact with people from various informal networks and formal groups. They are especially prevalent in gathering places such as coffee shops, bars, beauty shops, restaurants, etc. They are essential for moving information quickly throughout a community when you need accuracy and word-of-mouth speed. Mac was a communicator between networks, his and Doc's for instance. Danny from Tortilla Flat was a caretaker/communicator. Wing Chung was a communicator. Steinbeck wrote about these types but in my work I found definitions for who they are. "Storytellers": These individuals carry the culture through their stories. They provide a community with the culture benchmarks that are essential to understand how a community can grow and still maintain the good parts of their culture. They understand the importance of gathering places and are often the "characters" in the gathering places where people get caught up with who they are based on culture attachment. George from Mice and Men was a storyteller. Of course Doc was cast as a storyteller in Cannery Row and the whole Lab in actuality functioned as a gathering place where stories brought understanding, introspection, reflection and action.
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"Gatekeepers": These individuals function as a protective
device for the informal systems screening out intrusive people from
formal systems. They narrow the entry to a network or community through
information control. Often they are verbal people who understand both the
informal and the formal. You will often find gatekeepers in the
communities that you are visiting when you ask the question: Whom
should I talk to if I want to learn about…? They will often direct
you to a narrow set of choices within his or her sphere of
influence. If you ask a caretaker that same question he or she
will try to match your interest with a key person in the
networks that may be helpful with no sphere of influence. We
often get at this network by asking: Whom else should I talk
to?? You definitely get different sets between the gatekeeper
and the caretaker.
; "Authenticators": These individuals function in the area of knowledge and wisdom. They have knowledge and wisdom from the culture and often provide cultural interpretations to technical data and information generated by formal systems. This translation of technical data and information into practical cultural terms serves as a verification function that the data/information is only usable if it is in a cultural context. Often these individuals have one foot in the cultural context and another in a scientific context understanding both and how to integrate so that scientific data can be put into a local context that is usable. The Seer in Cannery Row was an authenticator for Doc. Eldon Dedini operates in this capacity in relation to the lab and its function. Bruce Aris was such a person. As was Ed Ricketts. |