Mission Vision Values
Danny
Public
Seen by 24
First Draft
A group of BwoB community members (Tina, Ibrahim, Vik and myself) drafted a Mission Vision Values document as part of our efforts to formalize the structure of Biotech Without Borders in anticipation of our reopening. I am opening this thread to complete the process of finalizing this document.
What Sorts of Questions/Comments Am I Soliciting?
This document is an extension of our mission outlined in our articles of incorporation. I am interested learning what people take away from the document and places where the language might not be clear. Please open a comment and leave your thoughts! Ideally this document will be a philosophical stepping stone to developing the other documents that govern our organization.
v0.1 to v0.2: Continuing to Collect Comments and Looking for Outside Opinions
We have had a month in Questions and Comments on the v0.1 Google doc which was very helpful in stimulating an open discussion. Thank-you to all who participated (Chirag, Frank, Yuriy and Julia). However, the intention was to follow the Consent Process and I realized that the round format is important to maximize the diversity of Comments and Questions received. Hopefully Loomio will help with facilitating that. So I am opening it up to comments and questions first to those who have not previously commented.
v0.2 can be found here
The Mission Vision and Values were approved in the outcome from the singular proposal in this thread.
Vikram Krishnamoorthy
Thu 15 Apr 2021 5:09AM
looks ok. on a side note - still no clue what a valid objection is supposed to be - safe to fail as a buzzword is not clear.
I think it the mission/vision/values could be made more concise and cleaned up a bit. The last sentence of the mission statement is more a list of services offered than a mission. For diversity/inclusivity, should we say community we serve, or communities?
Overall, I think it's good enough to approve and move on to objectives/strategies/actions/etc.
Yuriy Fazylov Mon 19 Apr 2021 7:07PM
Accepted. @chirag raval Don't answer any of that.
Just answer the two I began with. Why "Humans?" and What "Colonialism?" Your definitions and explanations are appreciated.
Danny Mon 5 Jul 2021 2:01PM
Hi @Susan Harrington thanks for your comment here on the general discussion thread (spun off from this thread to vent some disagreements over what I believe could be characterized as the "jargon of sociology or political philosophy"). I agree with the sentiments you expressed there.
Since you may have been unable to review the Missions Vision Values document, I was wondering if you would be able to review it now and comment if it aligns with the thoughts you expressed in the other thread. Any comments or criticisms are appreciated.
Susan Harrington Mon 5 Jul 2021 3:05PM
Hi Danny,
I think it looks fine, and I don't think that it seems divisive, although there are a few words I'd replace because they've become pretty cliched. I would slightly change the emphasis. As it stands, the communal aspects of the lab are really highlighted, but I think you should also mention the community support and facilities for independent research and vision. This will appeal to a different kind of person and a different kind of funder (many people really dislike committee-based approval and think that it distorts science and limits innovation). In my experience, it's easier to work alone or with one or two people. I think this is a matter of background, taste, and type of project you want to work on. It's not as though you want to force all projects to be large community projects I assume. A cool aspect of local community labs is the independence that they encourage (in my opinion).
Danny Mon 5 Jul 2021 4:53PM
OK I'm glad it doesn't seem divisive in your opinion. I felt confident on that matter and it is nice to have another perspective to weigh in.
Yes, I agree that that communal aspects are highlighted in this document. When I first came to Genspace I was attracted by the idea of doing an independent project (in many ways I still am motivated by the idea of a space to do an independent project) but I later came to be excited about the possibility that I could find a common research goal (and now I imagine developing a common goal) to pursue. I also believe that for a successful community project (in the way I aspire to develop) it necessarily requires that participants are nurtured as strong individual scientists. Around that time, Genspace's language and membership fees shifted to use the community projects as a sort of beginners membership/program to encourage volunteer teaching.
In terms of attracting (and retaining) members who want to pursue individual projects, I think how we communicate our fees, facilities, and classes on the website are the strongest outward facing tools to differentiate BwoB from Genspace. I believe there are opportunties to emphasize the support for individual projects in the way we advertise to potential members as well as in the last line of the Mission (there was concern that the line seemed to much like a list of services and not enough a Mission.)
We provide education, lab facilities, and a forum for critical discussions to support responsible innovation in biotechnology.
I'll think about this line and the emphasis on individual projects more as a potential revision. If you would like to point out the cliche terms I will also consider them for revisions. It's also very helpful to hear your articulation of an aspect community labs. This articulation is also useful to think about as we begin to craft out RFP story. Thank-you.
Susan Harrington Tue 6 Jul 2021 3:22PM
Thanks for your response Danny.
I appreciate the effort involved in trying to organize this kind of community biolab, and I think that it's very generous of you and others to devote your time and energy to it.
I'll be happy to make some specific remarks about some of the wording of the mission statement. But I have a more general question. Is there a summary of the plans for BwoB? I know there have been meetings and various threads, so I probably missed the overall picture. But I would be interested in when lab space will be rented, and how BwoB will be funded. So kind of a brief outline and timeline. At Genspace, I believe there is a more traditional board and fixed backers, although they always seemed to have funding difficulties too.
I realize that BwoB is intended to be a community biolab, but I think that having a scientist leader as a public face of the lab is good for PR and fundraising. People like Ellen and Mike Flanagan were good lab directors (at least superficially, since I don't know more than the little I saw) since they had strong science backgrounds and did seem to be ambitious and to relish a public role. I think in Genspace they seem to be wandering more in an art/education direction, and they don't have a scientist at the helm now as far as I know, but I hope they will find one. In my opinion, it would make sense for you or someone else with the right kind of science background and personality to step into this kind of role. I just don't think the cats will herd themselves. :)
Deleted account · Sat 17 Apr 2021 12:48AM
My comments are not enough to hold back consent.
Scientists could be replaced with science driven humans or even humans who think to be more inclusive and less inspired by colonialism
If you can cut each of the value descriptions from 3 sentences average to 1-2 sentences it may improve clarity with brevity.
I mentioned this before but an image to map the major principal would be nice to get people really clear on what BwB looks|feels|smells|tastes like....