This page is meant for anyone who’s thinking about starting or is in the early stages of creating a new digital space for your local area — whether a Facebook Group, Discord server, big WhatsApp community, or something similar.

<aside> 👋 If you’re starting a new space and find this useful, have questions about things that aren’t covered in here, or if you have ideas for things to add, we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch here.

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As you’re reading, remember:

• There is no one single “correct” way to start or run a space — different kinds of spaces have different purposes, different community contexts, and run on different platforms, all of which call for different approaches and practices. This guide is meant to be less of a definitive playbook, and more as a thought-starter providing some guidance and tips from other people who’ve done this before. You know your community best!
• The process is unlikely to be entirely linear — These steps don't necessarily have to go in this order. You may want to jump around and circle back, and thats ok!

What’s in here…

Click on any of the tips (>) below to expand it and learn more

💭 Things to consider before you start

Starting a new digital public space can be a lot of fun and a really valuable public service, but it’s also a serious undertaking that can take a lot of time and energy! Before you dive in, here are a couple of things to think about…

• See if other local digital spaces already exist in your area
• Figure out what kinds of geographic “boundaries” make sense
• Find a co-creator or two
• Be really clear about the purpose of the space you’re trying to create