 A Microculture of Meaning is a place – physical or virtual- where people with a perceived common background, purpose, and/or concerns interact. The primary function of a MoM is to provide a context that can help people learn
and take action.
So What? Accurate information alone is generally not sufficient to change behavior or provide ongoing support, yet the vast majority of web, print, and telephone based interventions are nothing more than information. Every experience in the world, and every behavior, is appropriate given some context, some frame. The primary function of a MoM is to provide that context. Without it, information remains indigestible to the user, providing no fuel to take action. Depending upon an individual’s and/or group’s needs, a MoM is designed to help people take action including: problem solving, finding relevant information, changing behavior, coping, developing new skills, advocating for change, finding support. 
Neal Sofian, Dan Newton, and Joan DeClaire have authored an article which describes the MoM theory in detail. Click below to access a PDF version of the article, or continue reading below for a summary of the MoM concept.
The MoM Method helps create the context for behavior change. We do this by providing opportunities for those individuals to be ‘surrounded’ by others with similar life experiences pertinent to the user as defined by the user; to be immersed in a community of people who are demonstrating success at learning and working through the struggle of changing behaviors. “Walk a mile in my shoes” is an old saw. For nearly 70 years, Alcoholics Anonymous has been providing a place where people with like experiences and concerns can support one another in contemplating, making, and maintaining change. And these communities are able to differentiate into very specific sub- communities so that participants feel as though they are with a group that understands them. For example, rather than just going to an AA meeting, in some locations it is possible to attend a non-smoking, Spanish speaking, gay & lesbian, AA meeting. “My shoes” can range from jackboots to pumps to Tevas, and anything in between. When NewSof designs a MoM, we make sure that each of our populations and sub-populations are getting precisely the ‘shoes’ that fit them.
NewSof takes advantage of new media technologies to be able to apply this same fundamental approach to many types of problems. We match the information to a “voice” that resonates, stimulating action regardless of location (unless geographic proximity is the critical desire for the user). Rather than building a generic set of content, NewSof creates multiple sets of content based upon each relevant sub-community within the population. Putting the right people together allows us to facilitate content generation from these groups themselves, so that the results will have the cadence, focus, feel, and clarity that will be meaningful to the particular reader and/or listener within a group. In turn, this contextual content can be hyper-linked to expert content, creating a context to even the more traditional information that is used in most educational materials. In essence we are able to move beyond even complex tailoring algorithms to include all of the subtle elements of effective communication within a highly tailored set of messages and content. By structuring the interview process based upon a variety of behavior change models, it is possible to also incorporate interventional strategies that include stages of change/readiness, self-efficacy, and resiliency into the delivery of any content. This approach to content development can be applied to both consumer and professional content development, regardless of subject matter.
A NewSof MoM has broader reach, greater intensity of interaction, more relevance, and richer content. Opportunities for innovation include far more than standard web sites or telephone information lines that provide information along with chat rooms or bulletin boards. Communities are highly interactive places. Typical interaction in a supportive community includes:
 |  | Greeting
Gathering
Giving/Referring
Personal/Professional Sharing | | Helping/Instructing
Personal Interaction
Relationship Forming | | | | | When designed within the context of a group’s needs, it is possible to build applications and tools that manifest similar behaviors as in a real world community. | The Behavior | | The Application | | | Greeting | | Personal Web Page and Personal Profile | | | Gathering | | Member Directory, Search | | | Giving/Referring | | Resources and Expression Gallery | | | Helping/Instructing/Sharing | | Audio, Video & Text MoM Content | | | | Expression Gallery | | | | Presentation Space with Shared Boards | | | Personal Interaction | | MoM content, Discussion, Chat | | | Relationship Forming | | Email, Chat, Blogs, Discussion | | | | Newsletters, email notification of relevant information | | | | |
We have also developed search engine capabilities that wrap all of these applications together allowing users to find content, people, resources, and maintain ongoing relationships (peer and/or professional) in much the same way they would if they weren’t online, and house all of that in a personal start area so each user re-enters the community with all the elements of that community in one place at their disposal. It works, because at its core, we start with the person, how they view their world, and build both our content and technology with them at the very heart of the process itself.
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