Cultivator Profile: Fostering Inclusion through Community Technology

Meet Netta

When Netta Caligari became the InCommon Community Success Manager at Internet2 in Summer 2021, she took her responsibility to serve the community seriously from the start. As one of her first projects, she inherited an annual conference, InCommon Campus Architecture and Middleware Planning (CAMP), an established touchpoint of the community’s year, drawing hundreds of participants. The assignment was a big one, and she planned to use the existing tools and frameworks that had been implemented in the past until Keith, a community and planning committee member, spoke up. The existing social app, meant to provide a virtual alternative to the mingling and networking that happens at in-person conferences, was not accessible to people using screen readers. Without an ADA-compliant tool, Keith and other folks who use screen reader technology wouldn’t be able to participate in these social sessions, missing out on important connection and networking opportunities.

For Netta, this was a turning point. “It was something I couldn’t ignore. How many other people in our community feel this way and don’t speak up? My mission as a Community Success Manager is to make sure everyone feels comfortable in all of the situations.”

This is the story of how Netta collaborated with CAMP sponsor and community champion company, West Arete, to create the CAMPfire app, a fully accessible, inclusive, and camp-themed social app…in less than one month! I recently got to speak to Netta and Natalie of the West Arete team, about their inspiring collaboration.

An image of Natalie smiling at the camera wearing a pink top and gray sweater with a grey and white wall as background — Natalie Simonson

The Idea

After testing their existing tools with Keith and other community members, and finding them inaccessible, Netta knew she couldn’t settle for a conference where not everyone felt fully included. She met with a long-term collaborator and sponsor of the conference, the team at West Arete, a company focused on custom software for higher education. Together they tried to make the existing tool work, but when they couldn’t, West Arete decided to support the conference in a new way. They offered to build a custom social app in time for the conference so that all members had the opportunity for meaningful connection. Natalie says, “We have the software skills to make a difference…we knew we had to make it happen”.

The Challenge

In just three weeks, with other responsibilities and conference logistics to handle, Netta needed to get internal support for the new, not yet operational, tool. The team at West Arete, and especially backend developer Ryan Schenk, needed to build and launch an accessible, user-friendly social app from scratch in three weeks. Because it would be used by hundreds of their colleagues and clients, it needed to meet the “good craft” quality standards they hold as central to all of the work they do.

The Outcome

The CAMPfire social app premiered at the 2021 CAMP conference. Compared to past years, they saw a tenfold increase in engagement. Not only was the interface on-theme visually, but its features allowed guests to have a more intuitive and welcoming social experience around a virtual campfire, which they credit with the increased engagement. Netta brought her mission to life, creating a truly accessible space for her community.

This feat alone is impressive enough, but this story doesn’t stop there. West Arete fiercely supports mentorship and believes in the importance of helping young tech professionals get their start. In this spirit, and despite the quick timeline and high-pressure assignment, they contracted Julia Iwinski, a young developer, to build out the front-end design. As a result, Julia was able to show her expertise to a virtual conference hall of potential future employers and colleagues, creating a much-needed platform for a young person in tech to showcase her talent. She landed her first tech industry job through the experience.

West Arete also knew that there were likely other organizations facing similar social platform challenges around accessibility. So they decided to make the backend code publicly available for free, in the hopes that more organizations and communities will utilize it to build gathering spaces for their community members in our increasingly virtual world.

An image of the CAMPfire app showing a green background with four light brown camp fire areas that members could join to network with fellow attendees. Each area has a campfire image and the top says "CAMP Week Fireside Chats" — The CAMPfire App in action!

What Worked?

Using Resources Creatively: In years past, West Arete supported the CAMP conference with financial sponsorship. In this case, they pivoted to provide services. The lesson here is two-sided: Be honest with your collaborators about your needs and what would be most helpful, and be creative with the skills you bring to the table in a collaboration. What are you best at? How can you leverage that here? How can you give someone a chance to show what they’re best at?

Partnership/Build Strong Relationships: Both Netta and Natalie credit strong, clear communication, honesty about constraints, and vision alignment in helping them to do the impossible on such a tight timeline.

Build Thoughtful Buy-In: When it came to securing buy-in, Netta moved with intention, getting support from Internet2’s events team first, creating a clear timeline of deliverables, and putting forth multiple contingency plans in case the app wasn’t done in time. While the ultimate goal was a brand new tool, both Netta and the West Arete team knew that being prepared for all possibilities was essential to making decision-makers comfortable and securing buy-in.

Community-Mindset: Planning committee member, Keith was a part of the testing process of the new app and this change happened because he spoke up. Because of his openness, the conference team was able to eliminate multiple barriers to entry making it easier for more people to participate in meaningful ways.

Netta + Natalie’s Advice for Cultivators

From Netta:

Be strong in your “Why”: This was not an easy project, but switching platforms was an easy choice for Netta once she knew the existing structure wasn’t accessible to her community. Having a strong why helped her to move the idea forward effectively and quickly.
Make decision makers comfortable: Communicate your planning AND your passion to leadership so that they don’t lose the “Why” in worrying about the “How”.
Start where you are: The changes you make don’t have to be big, but by being aware of your own scope of work and expertise you can make impactful change.
Find your champions: It’s hard to do things alone, find the people within your organization who understand your why and support your mission.

From Natalie:

Cautiously but intentionally challenge conventions: Ask “Why are we doing things this way?” If you don’t have a good answer, it may be time for a change.
Bring humanity back into the workplace: Natalie wants us to be thoughtful about where we are hurting ourselves for the sake of business. How could we center the human aspects of organizational culture to build sustainable solutions for everyone?

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