Authentic Connection Institute

A practice at ACI

Writing

Writing as a practice of thinking in public, about community, connection, and the knowledge systems we’re building alongside.

Published

Community as Praxis

LinkedIn Pulse, April 2026. Piece 1 of 5 in the “Guarding the Space” series. An argument for treating community not as an output, the thing you produce once a month, but as a practice, the thing you do every day that makes the output possible.

In progress

Four more pieces queued for 2026, all part of the “Guarding the Space” series:

  • “The Three Layers of Authentic Connection”, the knowledge / network / empathy model, fully worked.
  • “Warmth Before Work”, why the temperature of a room sets the ceiling for everything else.
  • “When a Tool Becomes a Prosthesis”, what I’m learning from building a personal knowledge OS in public.

Follow along

New pieces land first on LinkedIn. Deeper working notes and the digital garden are coming at notes.sbvandeven.com in the next few weeks.