Calling the Future, a survey that happened in Auroville, during lockdown due to Corona, in May 2020, to take the pulse of the community. Date of publication: 23 Oct 2020

Herbert, Alan; Bassett, Amy; Capdeville, Dan; Pages, Dominique; Latour, Fred; De Junnemann, Laurence (2020) Calling the Future, a survey that happened in Auroville, during lockdown due to Corona, in May 2020, to take the pulse of the community. Date of publication: 23 Oct 2020. Project Report. Auroville.

Text (Calling the Future Survey, Lockdown-time, Auroville) Calling the Future Survey - Detailed Report.pdf - Published Version Download (4MB)

Abstract

In May and June 2020, the Auroville community was invited to participate in the ‘Calling the Future’ survey. The purpose was to provide an opportunity for Aurovilians, volunteers & Newcomers to reflect and share about their experience of the Covid-19 lockdown by taking their pulse in the very specific period of confinement, finding out how they responded to the lockdown, what changes they felt needed to be made, both in their individual lives and in the organization of the community and finally investigate the preparedness of individuals and the community to make these changes.

This survey was also initiated because we felt that the pandemic was an unprecedented moment in Auroville’s history, so we wanted to see how well the community had responded. As major social disruptions often initiate radical change, we wanted to see if the same was true of Auroville and what those changes would look like.

The chosen methodology was an online questionnaire with 20 questions. There was a mix of closed and open questions (to allow free expression). It was launched in May 2020 and got 245 replies. In this initial survey, we asked for individual’s observations on how they and the Auroville organization responded, on their ideas and support for new initiatives concerning spiritual life, food, economy, organization, etc… and on their willingness to change personal habits.

The initial analysis showed that some resident's profiles were underrepresented (youth for example). So a simplified version of the questionnaire was made with the essential questions and sent in July to these underrepresented segments of the Auroville population. This second phase of the survey got 36 answers.

We analyzed the inputs and presented a summary of the results to the community in three postings on Auronet and in the News and Notes. We also presented our findings (via a Powerpoint presentation) to those who had expressed a willingness to help with further steps in manifesting the results of the survey or who were working on new initiatives.

Finally, we helped organize two meetings at which those who had suggested new initiatives were invited to collaborate in driving forward the energy of change.

In general, it was felt that the survey was successful. We received almost 300 responses and were able to observe general trends regarding the need to improve food sustainability, the Auroville economy, etc… However, we think that there is room for improvement in the way the survey was constructed. There were probably too many questions, some were difficult to answer well, some were too guided, and there were also many ‘open’ questions and the responses to these are much more difficult to analyze.

The “Slide show” presentations to different audiences went quite well, although aspects of it could have been delivered more dynamically. The follow-up steps, like inviting those who had expressed a wish to help in furthering the findings of the survey, could have been done earlier.

Item Type:	Monograph (Project Report)
Subjects:	Collective Organisation > Collective Organisation (General)
Depositing User:	Mr Dan Capdeville
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2020 12:49
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2020 12:49
URI:	http://aurorepo.in/id/eprint/93

Actions (login required)

View Item