There has been an ongoing conversation about an important topic (that branched out into several topics) at the LEGO Ambassador Network that I thought to share here as well. Maybe you have some ideas and insights that will help with finding solutions or at least gaining further clarity.
The subject started out when some of the LEGO blogs and news sites were looking to add additional members to their editorial team. Some of these fan sites are trying to transition from a one-man show to a team-based operation, while others already have a team but they want to diversify. This call-to-action by the Brothers-Brick is one of the recruiting efforts happening right now and is a good example of the subject.
There has been much discussion on the most effective methods of recruiting and keeping dedicated contributors. This includes clearly communicating expectations, guidelines for performing various duties, any perks that contributors and team members might receive, how to delegate tasks, how to manage a local or international team, and more.
The conversation also veered into the direction of why it is that most LEGO fan sites and local LEGO User Groups tend to have a mostly homogenous membership, even when they do want to reach out and actively engage a wider demographic. This then turned into a discussion on what is the role of the LEGO Group in the demographics they have been attracting and what they could do to be more inclusive.
Another LEGO blogger and ambassador who is currently actively recruiting new team members is 19-year-old Alex Johnson from the U.K. who runs the website Tips & Bricks. Through discussions with other LEGO fans and ambassadors, he got inspired to tackle some pretty big issues and start gathering data from the LEGO fan community. Alex wanted to share the following with the LEGO fan community:
Hi everyone, while I was in the process of interviewing potential contributors for my blog, I spoke to other LEGO fans and we ended up discussing numerous issues surrounding diversity and inclusion within the adult LEGO fan community. This – alongside personally encountering a number of issues from gender equality to racial discrimination within the hobby, whilst running my blog over the past 3 years – lead us to discuss starting a new initiative that aims to address some of these areas.
Thus, Tips & Bricks, alongside other organizations such as The Women’s Brick Initiative, GayFOLs, and more, is starting an initiative that aims to tackle the wider diversity and inclusion issues within the adult LEGO fan community. At this stage, we are looking to collect as much information and experiences as possible that relate to diversity and inclusion within the adult LEGO fan community. This could be on anything, big or small, that people feel is worth sharing.
We would therefore like to ask if LEGO User Groups could please share the following form to their groups. Anyone can use it to anonymously submit an issue they have experienced or heard about in the adult LEGO fan (AFOL) community: AFOL Diversity & Inclusion Anonymous Report Form
What do you think? Have you ever experienced any issues in regards to diversity and inclusion in the LEGO hobby? How do you think the LEGO Group and LEGO fan communities could be of service? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!
