I am a firm believer that situational awareness determines an individuals sense of physiological safety.
Therefore an individual holding a low level of situational awareness may struggle to orient, make sense of, coordinate, communicate etc. in any given situation / environment.
I feel like this is all absolutely relevant as we are trying to communicate and coordinate with one another across mediums.
phys·i·o·log·i·cal
/ˌfizēəˈläjək(ə)l/
adjective
- relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts.
think : relating to ones environment | internal and external biomes interacting
I Don’t think many people give much thought to what all is happening to thier 
's and ultimately their Nervous systems as they traverse these various environments.
S O C I A L . P L A T F O R M S
We have a tendency to think of Discord, Twitter, Discourse, Facebook, Instagram, Medium etc simply as websites / applications we access without fully acknowledging that we are traversing and often times we are code switching between various cultures within each of these programs.
Our 's are tracking a whole lot from the forefront of our minds and the subconscious to peripheral:
to name a few…
- Landscape change between platforms / Navigation
- Blocking out “useless information” (advertisements / content in streams)
- Where am I going? / Looking for?
- Social Norms within space…
- Self dialogue / insecurities arounds authenticity re: responding to content
- {fear of perception / status lowering = social survival}
- Translating / our 's filter terminology to check on comprehension as we read
- {Imagine glancing back at a word on a screen or in your environment as you would a stranger passing by, taking a second glance as if they are familiar…we do this with linguistics without thinking about it.}
- Flashing / Strobing / Flickering / Spinning / Scrolling = These activities and visualizations all have draining effects on everyone but especially the Neurodivergent crowd.
Being mindful of all the things your mind and body are juggling in any given moment creates more spaciousness for self care and the ability to curb burnout before it comes on.
D I S C O R D
This brings me to one of the most activating Environments many of us are finding ourselves in these days 
Discord. Discord is an exhausting platform to transition to no matter what platform you are coming from. It often reminds me of the wild west, wild open terrain…anything’s liable to happen without structure, and so it does. It’s kinda a hot mess still across the board in web3, however I have hope…
Why do we use Discord?
- to meet
- to communicate
- to signal
- to organize ideas - content
- to reward contributors
- to decentralize operations
How could we be better utilizing this tool?
- to meet
- screens on / screens off / screen sharing / resource sharing
- what are the cultural norms here?
- how do we communicate?
- What are our standards for consent?
- screens on / screens off / screen sharing / resource sharing
- to communicate:
- our needs, desires, ideas, dreams?
- to signal
- specific channels designated for such activities
- to organize ideas - content
- consider using pinned tabs with serious intention
- to reward contributors
- to decentralize operations
Considerations for varied experiences.
- flashing shvt =
[ resist the temptation = Neurodivergence ]
- emojis, giphys, server logos, newsletters, emails etc
- transparency
- define // model
- what does it look like? what about if it is not present? examples of each.
- folx need to know how to spot irregularities in the environment
- roles // communication streams
- personal preferences / sensitivities / accommodations
- power // dissolution of [programs/ comms / organization / scheduling / notifications]
- implicit bias // conditioned competitiveness [ re: incentives / rewards ]
C O L L A B O R A T I O N
How we communicate with one another goes deeper than what we say it crosses into what technology we are using when we speak now, we must be mindful and plan accordingly.
- workflows / guides
- standards of practice
- re: quality // define [should be based on accessibility / ADA standards]
- time to get creative and push back on Academia / Ableism
- working groups // size [individual to collective
count] - implicit bias // conditioned competitiveness re: power // leadership // fear of hierarchies overcorrection : lack of structure creates loss of continuity makes space for hoarding energies
- planning // organization // tooling based on aesthetics and ergonomics per person
- inding the collective middle ground
- ex: allowing multiple calendar options // personal preferences / based on ’s / collective count.
M E N T A L + H E A L T H
- consent = wtf is it? How can it be defined individually / collectively?
- in the same swing, can harm be identified in this ecosystem?
- boundaries = what are they?
- are there collective boundaries?
- implicit bias // power dynamics = coping methods for activations
- implicit bias // identity politics = coping methods for activations
- implicit bias // capitalism = coping methods for activations
- can ableism be identified in encounters? [conditioned social residue from
supremacy culture] - checking-in // groups // personal life // balancing time
- when to [ occasions that call for a check-in ]
- what does a check-in entail?
- creating personal community
- echo chambers [what are we doing to counter them] // personal accountability
- self care // rituals [individual // collective]
N E U R O D I V E R I S I T Y + T E C H
- Rachel Brown: Disordered
- notifications // anxiety
- methods to address certain habits / avoidance
- behaviors that alarm nervous systems in a server
- examples of narcissism observed in discord
- nervous system regulation
- autonomy
- disassociating
- getting grounded // many methods for
- identifying old habits // patterns
S E L F + G O V E R N A N C E
- leading with consent in all regards
- ability to articulate / communicate and stay grounded in ones boundaries
- ability to identify between wants and needs
- ability to prioritize the autonomy of others over the urge to influence or manipulate the outcome of our desires.
- personal accountability
- trauma work // identifying shadows and blind spots
- knowing the ways we react / cope / process / integrate
- knowing what our needs are // because we need to be able to advocate for them
- if there’s things about us that we want people to know about communicating / relating with us how do we share this information // is there a way to signal to the group? = [ count]
N O R M A L I Z E
- screens / voice / participation = always optional [
’s’ on the wall are welcome] - asking for consent
- listening
- gratitude
- radical inclusion [all hands in = throw out identity politics, they obliterate the possibility for collaboration]
- talking about things that make you uncomfortable
- spaces for identity representation {I’ve seen a server with a channel to share pictures of the
’s everyone has our check in channel is nice} - permissionless entry [accessibility over insecurity]
- mentorship
- skill building
- group participation // teach many as opposed to one
- eliminate single points of failure
- know the tools in your ecosystem, shift with the evolution of tech, do your research:
- acknowledge = [cite sources/ lineage], adopt/prepare to adapt, critique, experiment, survey, iterate, fine tune
- always seek feedback and critique in every endeavor // grit grows in these spaces
- situational awareness // share with the rest of the class
Just a few things I have had on my mind. 
