Stick your answer in the comments.
Here's where the $10,000 comes from:
Tuesday 30 June 2009
brilliant idea!
What is the greatest social manifestation we could produce in a week, enabled by our $10,000?
emergency efficiency
Played go yesterday, and met with a guy who works in London Transport. I pitched the idea of Emergency Efficiency to him. Then I remembered this fundraising service, and you are invited to participate with money, comments, and being involved if this thing gets off the ground.
Here's an extract from Social Art that explains the idea and procedure:
During the 24weeks experience (cf Generating Pulse), I began to think of applying Social Art to all manner of things. My attention was drawn to police cars driving through traffic; it's quite common to hear sirens while walking around london. I remember waiting at a bus stop and watching how traffic responded to an approaching ambulance. And then it occurred to me: there was a disorder in traffic. Coming up with a solution at the social level might help emergency services navigate traffic thus reducing time for fire-engines and ambulances to get to accidents. This could save lives.I remember being taught to conduct emergency stops, but I could not remember exactly what I was supposed to do when I heard sirens. Normally, when I am in a car and I hear a siren, I try to locate from which direction it is coming. Quite often, people start to slow down. This causes blockages, especially at junctions. How many times have I seen emergency services stuck in a traffic jam caused by the sound of their own sirens? So, one thing to check is what the high-way code recommends. Do they suggest that we slow down and turn to the side of the road, or that we turn to the side of the road and then slow down? The difference is critical. My suspicion is, people tend to put their foot on the brake when they hear the siren. This means that everyone about has be aware of the change of state of traffic, and also apply their brakes. This causes the blockage. You can not turn to the side of the road when you have stopped. This takes seconds if not minutes for a collective around a junction to sort itself out. So, the solution, is to turn to the side first, and then slow down. That is, the priority is to create a free channel for the emergency services to travel down.How could this be implemented? Here's where critical mass and timing come into play. It doesn't work if we just change the high-way code or try to emphasise it through traditional means. We need to induce a culture change, critically over a short period of time, so that we can witness the benefits. It's a classic social problem, and perhaps the case to set a precedent for Social Art. So, what do we do? We go to emergency services and say we will reduce the time it takes from notification of emergency and arrival at the site within the month. The first month we collect data, interview various drivers, verify the insight regarding the traffic flow, elicit ideal behaviour they would like to see on the roads when they are responding to an emergency. We also collect stats regarding the current times across the entire region of london. This takes a week. This is the current condition. We then ask for free time on radio and tv and perhaps even local new channels to publicise the efforts, in schools, every means possible to engage person-to-person awareness of the initiative. The objective is to ensure that everyone knows what they are meant to do when they hear a siren: to turn off before slowing down. And if they can not turn off, not to stop but to keep going until they reach a point where they can turn off. There should also be some kind of website to explain in detail with various examples visualised. Ideally too, there might be a phone centre where volunteers explain to members of the public that remain confused as to what to do. The instructions are pretty simple however, and should be comprehensible over a short radio broadcast. The fourth week consists of collecting various testimonials and current data regarding times to see if there is an experiential and objective consequence to the initiative. These results are then celebrated, with thanks to the public, reports with respect to the number of lives saved as a result, even personal gratitude to the public, reports, articles, etc.If it works, this is real proof of the power of collective action. It sets a precedence for initiatives implemented through networks. It gives feedback to individuals about the collective effect of their behaviour. Because it deals with emergency services, it is a critical matter of timing and the genuine contribution to benefit others. It is uplifting. It is effective. It is practical. It is also a realisation of an ideal. It signals what is possible.What does it take to put this into action? I would like to offer this service entirely free, but realistically it will cost a few thousand pounds to pay for the social artists involved. The initiative can also only go ahead at the nod of a few people in power positions. By providing this service, social artists prove themselves, and I believe they are in a position to ask for financial reward and more importantly recommendation after the benefits have been proven. It is important that there is money flow following this so that social artists can offer their services free in other situations. It is not about making money, but it is essential that money does flow as a consequence (cf Fun_d Stream).
$10000 is the figure I came up with to fund the bunch of individuals needed for the month. It also means that organisations can take the process seriously rather than just think it is a silly idea and dismiss our ability to self-organise such a solution. We are willing to put our money where our ideals are.
Please leave a comment if you want to get involved in any way.
Tuesday 23 June 2009
twitter experiment
Got an idea today. I was using http://tweetpsych.com because the designer, @danzarrella, has included a recommendation of 5 similar thinkers to you. I suggested that he make a bigger jump than he has made so far, which is to compile some kind of algorithm that brings people together from different thinking styles... in order to suggest ideal groups.
Anyhow, I contacted the five individuals who match my profile, got one response back within the hour who said he was interested in an experiment, @robertetaylor. Which is why I am writing this blog, so I can introduce him to the bleeding edge of this experiment. (I assume he's interested in this initial state because... our profiles match:)
Originally, when looking at the various recommendations, I thought it would be a simple matter of seeing if we could do something together as a group. As an extended network of similar thinkers. I contacted robert first because he has a similar follower count to me. We may need to pull our power in order to get the attention of the fifth one who has something like 50,000 followers if I remember correctly.
Then, when I searched for robert's profile, his recommended five did not include me. And I started to think of extended networks. I am not sure what the point would be, but if we could map out our relationships, would this show something of communities? And I am talking about a straight maths analysis of a network graph. Could we use something like nodebox specifically java-network? Could we ask dan to include this as an extension, or could one of us implement it for him?
SO, with experiment#1, what can we five do that we can get to see a social result within the week? How can we empower one another, perhaps, such that we can manifest the greatest social effect. Or, has someone got an alternative idea?
AND, with experiment#2, we create an extended network, each of us mapping to only 5 others. This extended network might be willing to play the following thought experiment once we reach eg 1000 people: what can 1000 people do, the results of which we would see manifest socially within the week?
Feel free to add your own experimental idea, or to answer some of these. This is just the beginning. (It could also be the end. Depends on what we think :)
EDIT:
Shoot, almost forgot. I also did a simultaneous thread introducing my friend @olasofia to her profile recommendations, and @thinksmith with his since I am meant to be interviewed by him tomorrow on his radio show. We can call that experiment#3.
Tuesday 26 May 2009
real meeting dynamics
In order to enable a wow in the new economic paradigm exercised through tuttle, a game can be played with a compare or referee to ensure the following rules are followed:
These bare some relevance to the RealtimeOS of the confluence model.
- no! oppositional state, from A-or-B to A-and-B, encourage the yes
- no pulling, into the past, ideas, definitions, or self, avoid distraction through dissapation, ego spiral, pastwise into old ideas and becoming a waste of time, in order to encourage the return of attention, convergence, futurewise and fluid dynamics
- no grouping, no pairing, triples, splitting, or delaying conclusions for later, no compacts, encourage shared attention
- not creative, not determined creativity like brainstorming and outlandish ideas, but simple observation and emergence of cross-mind pollination
These bare some relevance to the RealtimeOS of the confluence model.
Saturday 9 May 2009
new strategy
So, seems like collective strategy is ahead of its time. My respectful engagement with people at the bottom doesn't seem to work either. Presenting a link between buddhism and maths hasn't piqued anyone interest. Was hoping that respect, attention, gentleness, non-ego, would realise a result, but credibility seems to be the big problem. So, under the nudging of Sofia and Tav, looks like time to make a big change.
Approach the big players, those with money, the stage, the decision makers. If I get a positive feedback loop from them, an audience of a few strategists, or well-monied individuals, or an audience from a stage, then this might make the whole thing move a lot more smoothly. That is, making an appointment at the bottom, with the backing of someone from the top, or getting some social credability from large numbers of people. I had hoped to get it from family, and now from entrepreneurs.... looks like I need to do what most people do, which is to connect to the "powerful". I suspect that my challenge at the top level is exactly what they want. Challenge lower down the system, at the horizontal plane of self-organisation, seems to be too threatening. So, let's see what the big boys are playing at.
Acertain a number of organisations who are trying to work on these problems and present them with these solutions. How about creating a video of my presentations? Walking from one to another, hoping to see people, talking to them, and then writing up things on windows etc. Ie, make a bit of a spectacle of it. Listing the problems, and throughout the presentation ticking off those problems that should be prevented as a result.
Playing the genius card.I've been giving people an interactive value from 0-10 or buddha-genius, from silent observer detached to active participant using will rather forcefully and loudly. The low approach hasn't worked. The ante needs to be raised, so here's the genius card.
Approach the big players, those with money, the stage, the decision makers. If I get a positive feedback loop from them, an audience of a few strategists, or well-monied individuals, or an audience from a stage, then this might make the whole thing move a lot more smoothly. That is, making an appointment at the bottom, with the backing of someone from the top, or getting some social credability from large numbers of people. I had hoped to get it from family, and now from entrepreneurs.... looks like I need to do what most people do, which is to connect to the "powerful". I suspect that my challenge at the top level is exactly what they want. Challenge lower down the system, at the horizontal plane of self-organisation, seems to be too threatening. So, let's see what the big boys are playing at.
What's the game plan?The usual, 2020worldpeace, tron, alpha and 2p2 social security as part of the wave, transitional economics, XQ, pulse and Realtime OS, mathematising collaboration, educare, strateg_os. The objective is to get enough money to fund proper engagement with people, perhaps fund a project or two, and more importantly to get the backing of certain organisations.
Acertain a number of organisations who are trying to work on these problems and present them with these solutions. How about creating a video of my presentations? Walking from one to another, hoping to see people, talking to them, and then writing up things on windows etc. Ie, make a bit of a spectacle of it. Listing the problems, and throughout the presentation ticking off those problems that should be prevented as a result.
What are the Problems?There are a lot of these, from lack of collaboration skills, the catch-22 with adults v kids, captialism attractor, scalibility, too much everything (info, network, ideas), grouping (selfish, competitive, bounds network, mid-top engagement pulling bottom thus top-down effect again), unpredictability (though determined), inefficient methodology of funding, encouraging bottom up growth from above. They should be outlined specific to the institutions that are engaged. Imagine writing up a list on the window outside eg NESTA the problems that face the individuals in this building; here I am outside, outside because my solutions are at a different level to theirs, I can't even get in.
What are the Solutions?These are at a level lower than the problems, such as culture change (vertical movement together, biggest being 2020worldpeace), ethicising western practice (XQ), nerd mentality (convergence with eg tron), one non-group network eg tuttle (unity, not monopoly), ths (using the transitive economic model), . Hence, outlining these, and even describing these precisely, should show how the problems faced are resolved, or pre-solved, actually. Also generate a list of principles as a result that seem to inform most of the solutions, that define the parameters of the new paradigm.
failing thatIf I can't get backing from organisations, what can I get out of a few rich backers? An iphone, free travel, place to stay (preferably in a warm country, eg cabo verde), investment in books in terms of getting publisher, pulse, hotel?, funding tron in schools.
videoI like the idea of a funky video. Recording how I get on at these places, showing my explanations drawn on glass, perhaps getting some people to help draw some graffiti in the background while explaining concepts. Could be a lot of fun, and no matter what happens, there is plenty of material which shows the ideas for all to see, if anyone is interested of course :)
Friday 1 May 2009
confluence consultancy
OK, so how do the principles of the new economic model work in real life? Let's use tuttle since it was Lloyd who helped formulate it.
We perform a kind of free tuttle within a client's office comprising of a unique collection of individuals, vertically from company, and horizontally from tuttle collective. Because this is not a us v them situation, the ideas people come up with are positive and spontaneous based on genuinely interesting responsed to each other's ideas, just like in a standard tuttle meet up. The difference is, this unique group arrive at a decision, by consensus, to realise the best idea. And what is the best idea?
The quality of the manifest idea in the real world is that it benefits the individuals in the company and as a consequence the company itself. This might be indexed by how many people watch a video, say, or how much sales increase etc. The idea is, participants in the meeting might wish to come up with an idea that actually manifests as money flow.
If money flows, then the representatives of the company may wish to pay the tuttle collective a fee for their efforts. THIS IS NOT TO BE ACCEPTED! The tuttlers did what they did free. It is the nature of the kind of work that people are wishing to do. It is not money motivated. It is results based for sure. This allows an ethical dimension to enter into the equation. What the tuttlers may accept is a gift so that they can offer their services free ELSEWHERE.
Tuttlers are then free to contribute their skills and resources ad hoc to organisations. Clearly, we need to start clever, with the highest chance that the first consultancy results in a high potential return within a week. Hence, It's generally self-selecting as tuttlers choose those who they believe will be able to spark off the best ideas in themselves, as well as approaching the most open-minded clients. Once the positive cycle begins, tuttlers will be able to give a week, a month, a year of their time for free to realising a potential. It all depends on how successful their contributions are.
Hannah pointed out a disorder in thinking which might occur to you as you read this. Why would a company pay for something that was offered free? This is a mistake in order of thinking. If looked at in the right way, there is no organisational discussion or exchange. There are individuals within an organisation, normally aligned hierarchically, and individuals from a collective eg called tuttle. The honour of the payment is moral, and so must be conducted at the individual level.
Think blood and the circulatory system. This is a reasonable "model" for social media, since the medium of the social IS more fluid than solid.
With this model, there is only need for one tuttle, as it were. Since it is not really an organisation, but the closest to a formalised network there is. After all, we are all networked anyway, in the same way we are all self-organised. This model allows for a dissolution of the traditional structures, as people in companies experience the benefit of working in this way, they may add themselves to the tuttle pool, as it were, and find themselves in another company's office offering their services free.
We perform a kind of free tuttle within a client's office comprising of a unique collection of individuals, vertically from company, and horizontally from tuttle collective. Because this is not a us v them situation, the ideas people come up with are positive and spontaneous based on genuinely interesting responsed to each other's ideas, just like in a standard tuttle meet up. The difference is, this unique group arrive at a decision, by consensus, to realise the best idea. And what is the best idea?
- ellicits a wow from all participants
- beyond the capacity for any individual to achieve alone
- minimal effort investment so as to produce a social result WITHIN THE WEEK
- the highest level of participant within the company simply allows the attempt to be made
The quality of the manifest idea in the real world is that it benefits the individuals in the company and as a consequence the company itself. This might be indexed by how many people watch a video, say, or how much sales increase etc. The idea is, participants in the meeting might wish to come up with an idea that actually manifests as money flow.
If money flows, then the representatives of the company may wish to pay the tuttle collective a fee for their efforts. THIS IS NOT TO BE ACCEPTED! The tuttlers did what they did free. It is the nature of the kind of work that people are wishing to do. It is not money motivated. It is results based for sure. This allows an ethical dimension to enter into the equation. What the tuttlers may accept is a gift so that they can offer their services free ELSEWHERE.
Tuttlers are then free to contribute their skills and resources ad hoc to organisations. Clearly, we need to start clever, with the highest chance that the first consultancy results in a high potential return within a week. Hence, It's generally self-selecting as tuttlers choose those who they believe will be able to spark off the best ideas in themselves, as well as approaching the most open-minded clients. Once the positive cycle begins, tuttlers will be able to give a week, a month, a year of their time for free to realising a potential. It all depends on how successful their contributions are.
Hannah pointed out a disorder in thinking which might occur to you as you read this. Why would a company pay for something that was offered free? This is a mistake in order of thinking. If looked at in the right way, there is no organisational discussion or exchange. There are individuals within an organisation, normally aligned hierarchically, and individuals from a collective eg called tuttle. The honour of the payment is moral, and so must be conducted at the individual level.
Think blood and the circulatory system. This is a reasonable "model" for social media, since the medium of the social IS more fluid than solid.
With this model, there is only need for one tuttle, as it were. Since it is not really an organisation, but the closest to a formalised network there is. After all, we are all networked anyway, in the same way we are all self-organised. This model allows for a dissolution of the traditional structures, as people in companies experience the benefit of working in this way, they may add themselves to the tuttle pool, as it were, and find themselves in another company's office offering their services free.
Saturday 25 April 2009
standing wave
Very interesting moments of engagement. Talking with Dougald at tuttle assured me that he is a good man and doing his best; I shall not question him ever again. Meeting his mother also verified deeper aspects of his being. Spoke at length with Mamading, regarding collective strategy and my potential role as an outsider drawing attention to dynamics as I enter their organisational space and depart, only once invited of course.
Met with Luke, a genius, again at a talk at the beginning of Slow London Festival; watched an excellent talk by David Rooney about Time, and talked to one of the organisers of the event, Cathy was it?, and remembered that I hadn't replied to their request for information regarding my initiative with slow business ehehhe. Luke and I talked afterwards and we might be playing Armagetron together and mathematising the 'lose me, we win' ethic. There was also mentioning of tango, and perhaps Liz would be interested in teaching him with my guidance.
Big blow out with Tav, on Tav's side, which seems to have resulted in a useful engagement today. Attempting to invite thought on collective strategy, specifically on creating the conditions for next year that enable 1,000,000 to confluence well (cf pulse). This is further qualified by talking with Sofia with a 6 month goal of creating an "empty space" in autumn/winter which perhaps 1k people might block off, individuals who we have determined as having and demonstrating the appropriate qualities for confluence. It might be possible to define the skill/belief set in the negative space, ie it is not this, not that, etc, and whatever is left is thereby defined indirectly. Also, Sofia came up with "drop it when it gets too heavy", aligned to the mantra I suggested to her last week: imagine 10 people lifting a table; if it feels to heavy, then the response should be to relax and let more weight be taken by others. Consider this in relation to personal gravity, when things get personal, too heavy, just let go. The table will only crash down if there are too many people who are not "pulling their weight". Would be very impressed if Tav just decided to do the dishes, all the dishes, all the time. This is an example of the kind of thing required.
Regarding collective strategy, it's like a teacher who prepares the learning environment for the student to piece things together. Or, when people get thirsty, you have the water ready for them. Those involved in social innovation camp et al will realise the limited scope of their growth because the inherent basis of their business model is competitive. That is, the current successes of social media now will meet with failure, with some people realising this throughout the year until by next year it shall be understood. The trick is to set into place influential strategy so that by next year, when a new solution is proposed by various parties, the conditions are appropriate. A reasonable metaphor is to think about improving the quality of soil. It's not about seeding and growing things, but embracing the failure that is death, composting, enriching the conditions. To this end, finally, Sofia is starting to get the "failure vibe" and we hope to have a fun time with that.
Brief engagement with Lloyd of the social art piece, tuttle, which seemed to echo a lot of the things I have written and practiced with collective consultancy. Think I worked out the necessary business model for it to work. Instead of most of these startups starting up with cash injections, I believe it begins with free services, and money flows along the principle of pay it forwards. Start with small group and an effect within a week, giving rise to longer term, larger projects, and greater money flow. Think institutional aikido.
Tomorrow looks like a nice day. If the weather is nice, a picnic with the collapsonomic guys at st james' park, followed by meditation, fresh and raw food salon before tango in the evening.
Looks like this coming month and next month are going to be critical, as this year and next is critical of this decade and the next. The outcome of our efforts may define an age, heheheh, really. You can just sit and read this and watch it as it happens, or you are cordially invited to participate as you see fit. Please remember initial sensitive conditions of chaotic systems. Whether we get hurricanes or depressions depends on our actions now. Be awake. Be well.
Met with Luke, a genius, again at a talk at the beginning of Slow London Festival; watched an excellent talk by David Rooney about Time, and talked to one of the organisers of the event, Cathy was it?, and remembered that I hadn't replied to their request for information regarding my initiative with slow business ehehhe. Luke and I talked afterwards and we might be playing Armagetron together and mathematising the 'lose me, we win' ethic. There was also mentioning of tango, and perhaps Liz would be interested in teaching him with my guidance.
Big blow out with Tav, on Tav's side, which seems to have resulted in a useful engagement today. Attempting to invite thought on collective strategy, specifically on creating the conditions for next year that enable 1,000,000 to confluence well (cf pulse). This is further qualified by talking with Sofia with a 6 month goal of creating an "empty space" in autumn/winter which perhaps 1k people might block off, individuals who we have determined as having and demonstrating the appropriate qualities for confluence. It might be possible to define the skill/belief set in the negative space, ie it is not this, not that, etc, and whatever is left is thereby defined indirectly. Also, Sofia came up with "drop it when it gets too heavy", aligned to the mantra I suggested to her last week: imagine 10 people lifting a table; if it feels to heavy, then the response should be to relax and let more weight be taken by others. Consider this in relation to personal gravity, when things get personal, too heavy, just let go. The table will only crash down if there are too many people who are not "pulling their weight". Would be very impressed if Tav just decided to do the dishes, all the dishes, all the time. This is an example of the kind of thing required.
Regarding collective strategy, it's like a teacher who prepares the learning environment for the student to piece things together. Or, when people get thirsty, you have the water ready for them. Those involved in social innovation camp et al will realise the limited scope of their growth because the inherent basis of their business model is competitive. That is, the current successes of social media now will meet with failure, with some people realising this throughout the year until by next year it shall be understood. The trick is to set into place influential strategy so that by next year, when a new solution is proposed by various parties, the conditions are appropriate. A reasonable metaphor is to think about improving the quality of soil. It's not about seeding and growing things, but embracing the failure that is death, composting, enriching the conditions. To this end, finally, Sofia is starting to get the "failure vibe" and we hope to have a fun time with that.
Brief engagement with Lloyd of the social art piece, tuttle, which seemed to echo a lot of the things I have written and practiced with collective consultancy. Think I worked out the necessary business model for it to work. Instead of most of these startups starting up with cash injections, I believe it begins with free services, and money flows along the principle of pay it forwards. Start with small group and an effect within a week, giving rise to longer term, larger projects, and greater money flow. Think institutional aikido.
Tomorrow looks like a nice day. If the weather is nice, a picnic with the collapsonomic guys at st james' park, followed by meditation, fresh and raw food salon before tango in the evening.
Looks like this coming month and next month are going to be critical, as this year and next is critical of this decade and the next. The outcome of our efforts may define an age, heheheh, really. You can just sit and read this and watch it as it happens, or you are cordially invited to participate as you see fit. Please remember initial sensitive conditions of chaotic systems. Whether we get hurricanes or depressions depends on our actions now. Be awake. Be well.
Thursday 23 April 2009
second wave
having missed the opportunity of catching the first wave
a serendipitous hiatus has caused me to rethink the unemployment situation
and a new formulation has come to mind
the current social security system tries to treat everyone the same
however in reality
there are at least two tiers:
the standard substandard menu which awaits you when you sign on every two weeks
and for those incapable for whatever reason
incapacity benefit
i believe these two levels of provision are good
and in fact i praise the government's attempt to get a little tighter with the second tier
however
the system is still depressing and overly strict
so
here's a potential solution:
three tiers:
alpha beta gama
gama
where those individuals have serious issues that prevent them from being capable
alcohol addiction depression etc
in which case special care and treatment must be offered
integrated with health service
so help the individual overcome their condition
beta
which is the system that is now
where individuals are helped with cv's and trying to get work
and getting the occasional poke to wake them up
and preventing them from slumping into apathy and depression
alpha
for those individuals who are proactive self-determined learners
who have all the equipment and contacts and energy
to create opportunities of employment
that is
i believe we can create the conditions for the alpha tier
with minimal involvement by the government body
aligning ourselves through the free social media services already out there
i've started talking to people about it
and i hope to make a preliminary meeting with local job centre
again along the methodological principles outlined earlier in this blog and elswhere
went to the social innovation camp last night
and 2 of the chosen 7 ideas related to unemployment
and i believe one of the ideas at the next socincamp will be to produce this system
the trick is
let's not just implement it top-down
PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASE
since this will not work as well as a genuine and respectful bottom up growth!
a serendipitous hiatus has caused me to rethink the unemployment situation
and a new formulation has come to mind
the current social security system tries to treat everyone the same
however in reality
there are at least two tiers:
the standard substandard menu which awaits you when you sign on every two weeks
and for those incapable for whatever reason
incapacity benefit
i believe these two levels of provision are good
and in fact i praise the government's attempt to get a little tighter with the second tier
however
the system is still depressing and overly strict
so
here's a potential solution:
three tiers:
alpha beta gama
gama
where those individuals have serious issues that prevent them from being capable
alcohol addiction depression etc
in which case special care and treatment must be offered
integrated with health service
so help the individual overcome their condition
beta
which is the system that is now
where individuals are helped with cv's and trying to get work
and getting the occasional poke to wake them up
and preventing them from slumping into apathy and depression
alpha
for those individuals who are proactive self-determined learners
who have all the equipment and contacts and energy
to create opportunities of employment
that is
i believe we can create the conditions for the alpha tier
with minimal involvement by the government body
aligning ourselves through the free social media services already out there
i've started talking to people about it
and i hope to make a preliminary meeting with local job centre
again along the methodological principles outlined earlier in this blog and elswhere
went to the social innovation camp last night
and 2 of the chosen 7 ideas related to unemployment
and i believe one of the ideas at the next socincamp will be to produce this system
the trick is
let's not just implement it top-down
PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASE
since this will not work as well as a genuine and respectful bottom up growth!
Sunday 1 February 2009
the last week
As predicted, the last week went without much of a murmer of progress. I was not active, and simply awaited any after effects. I received a few emails from MP teams, telling me I was not a member of their constituency, that kind of thing.
I didn't get an email from Jon Cruddas, which is a shame. He seemed direct and genuine. But then again, I was just a lone guy at the end of the conference speaking to him for ten minutes. The difference between being a lone agent or a pair is huge. It probably slipped his mind.
On a positive note, Dougald is making a move with his version of trying to catch The Wave. He held a meeting on thursday which was attended by mamading, vinay, colin, kristine, and myself. It seems some important people are interested in his synthesis. He is playing at the organisational level, with NGO's government departments and the like. Colin showed us a provisional platform for a site, using the open source social utility called dolphin, and vinay revealed his model of organisational change which was very interesting. The three of them seem to be making a committed move. There was not much space for giving feedback because they are demonstrating one of the principles of confluence, simultaneous processes: they are not waiting for agreement, chatting about things before doing anything, they are simultaneously producing something while formulating strategy, while putting the word out. This is good. I did not want to carry my thoughts in my head, so I mind-dumped my response to dougald afterwards. He says he is interested in hearing what I have to say, however I believe I have to await the time when I am asked. This is something which doesn't quite sit well with me, since I suspect I may only be asked after the fact rather in the formation of it. Oh well, we shall have to wait and see. I hope I can be of best service to them, and I believe I shall have to play the part of an observer... from afar. I shall check out their progress in a month when I return from edinburgh.
So, as far as I can understand it, the opportunity to catch this wave at the most important time, has passed. There will be other opportunities no doubt, like dougald's and I hope that meets with more success, and indeed it shall because he is better placed and he is using a more traditional and thus accepted methodology. He is also assembling a strong team around him. There is also a small chance, through possibly minute, that someone else has attempted to catch The Wave in a similar way as decribed here and they may be manifesting change as this is written. If it is working, we will see something emerge during february. I can only wish them, if there is a them, the best of luck. I will be able to spot it if it is happening and contribute all my efforts to assisting its full realisation.
I am realistic, however. The recession is just beginning. The waves of consequence as spreading through the psycho-social sea and constructive and destructive interference, the feedback loops, the disturbances will be many. I think a major opportunity has passed. As things get messier, the visibility for clear action will cloud. Realistically, the solutions people will be coming up with will only deal with partial problems, and the interference of competing solutions will, sadly, contribute to further confusion. I suspect another two years may have to pass before the clouds part for a moment and we get a glimmer of a solution that might shift paradigm of our daily practice. Until that time, I shall keep myself open as much as possible, though concern myself with smaller goals, with helping individuals achieve their ideals at a smaller scale.
I didn't get an email from Jon Cruddas, which is a shame. He seemed direct and genuine. But then again, I was just a lone guy at the end of the conference speaking to him for ten minutes. The difference between being a lone agent or a pair is huge. It probably slipped his mind.
On a positive note, Dougald is making a move with his version of trying to catch The Wave. He held a meeting on thursday which was attended by mamading, vinay, colin, kristine, and myself. It seems some important people are interested in his synthesis. He is playing at the organisational level, with NGO's government departments and the like. Colin showed us a provisional platform for a site, using the open source social utility called dolphin, and vinay revealed his model of organisational change which was very interesting. The three of them seem to be making a committed move. There was not much space for giving feedback because they are demonstrating one of the principles of confluence, simultaneous processes: they are not waiting for agreement, chatting about things before doing anything, they are simultaneously producing something while formulating strategy, while putting the word out. This is good. I did not want to carry my thoughts in my head, so I mind-dumped my response to dougald afterwards. He says he is interested in hearing what I have to say, however I believe I have to await the time when I am asked. This is something which doesn't quite sit well with me, since I suspect I may only be asked after the fact rather in the formation of it. Oh well, we shall have to wait and see. I hope I can be of best service to them, and I believe I shall have to play the part of an observer... from afar. I shall check out their progress in a month when I return from edinburgh.
So, as far as I can understand it, the opportunity to catch this wave at the most important time, has passed. There will be other opportunities no doubt, like dougald's and I hope that meets with more success, and indeed it shall because he is better placed and he is using a more traditional and thus accepted methodology. He is also assembling a strong team around him. There is also a small chance, through possibly minute, that someone else has attempted to catch The Wave in a similar way as decribed here and they may be manifesting change as this is written. If it is working, we will see something emerge during february. I can only wish them, if there is a them, the best of luck. I will be able to spot it if it is happening and contribute all my efforts to assisting its full realisation.
I am realistic, however. The recession is just beginning. The waves of consequence as spreading through the psycho-social sea and constructive and destructive interference, the feedback loops, the disturbances will be many. I think a major opportunity has passed. As things get messier, the visibility for clear action will cloud. Realistically, the solutions people will be coming up with will only deal with partial problems, and the interference of competing solutions will, sadly, contribute to further confusion. I suspect another two years may have to pass before the clouds part for a moment and we get a glimmer of a solution that might shift paradigm of our daily practice. Until that time, I shall keep myself open as much as possible, though concern myself with smaller goals, with helping individuals achieve their ideals at a smaller scale.
Monday 26 January 2009
what a weekend!
It started on friday. I went to tuttle which enabled me to meet mark, vinay and dougald again. I was directed to speak to a chap called ollie, who speaks to ministers on a regular basis. The best part of the experience was speaking with lloyd who set up tuttle, the social artist. I failed in my conversation with ollie, something about my manner. I was tempted and indeed encouraged to talk about the wave notion with its thresholds, but it did not fall on receptive ears. My fault, since I could tell the energies involved, although lovely people, there is a certain brittleness that means a distinction between word and thought, between action and intention. I should have honoured this sense and been more playful and light in my presentation such that on another day, we could properly discuss it.
The engagement threw me for a while, and I berated myself a little. However, I left and went wandering. I found anna turley deputy director of nlgn, new local government network. I walked into their offices and asked the receptionist if I could talk to her. She happened to be free, and we talked for some 15 mins. The conversation went well, and I felt that I had redeemed my confidence in my ability to communicate. It was much nicer and lighter. Although she could not see a way for her to move forward on it, she wants to be in contact. If anything does happen, she will be an important player, and I would like her to be in any prospective meeting with a VIP change-maker.
Then off for a meeting with vinay. We ended up doing a recording in the lobby of a hotel in mayfair. It was meant to be a direct confrontation of our realities, but when we got together that evening, we followed dougald's interest of capturing a conversation on video. Don't think i wrote about dougald. Dougald is one of the founders of school of everything. Went to a talk of his at the temporary school of thought on wednesday; very impressive. Spectacular character, eloquent and genuine in his integration of his experience, and flowed really well when improvising. So, his desire to record something about the wave took precidence, and we ended up recording a dialogue between vinay and myself. The vid has not been put up on youtube yet. We then went to the school to hear vinay talk about an interesting, and I would say accurate and useful, understanding of magic. His manner of presentation was also very powerful.
On saturday, I went to progressive london. I met a chap called pierre and had lunch with him and joy johnson, who chaired on the first meeting I attended which was to do with barrack obama and what "we" can learn from his campaign. Very interesting discussion, since it revealed the completely different realities that either party are not aware of, even though they were in the same room and apparently talking about the same thing. Pierre is an intelligent young man, who is making his decisions as he goes along combined with an open-minded attitude, and is looking to study political relations. Joy has been a politico most of her life, worked with ken livingston, and has seen plenty of changes in the system and politics too and is not afraid of speaking her mind. I was privilege to share lunch with them, and I was a little foolish in suggesting to them that there was an opportunity for us to gather our respective perspectives and experience in such a way that it benefits us all.
The format of the progressive london was still far too archaic. People behind tables, on stages, with a minute or two's contribution from people on the floor. A bit of shouting, disjointed discussion. It is mostly used for information transference! Weird. Ken and the speakers in the last section of the day were very impressive, inspiring and genuine, and I decided to hang around at the end of the conference to speak to jon cruddas since mamading had recommended I speak to him. His attention to people seemed genuine too, and so I outlined the wave notion to him and how it embodied a lot of what the speakers had said, but it was all about practical action now, and not just talk about it. He gave me his email, and I hope he creates the opportunity for us to meet this week. Even if I think it might be too late to catch the wave, it might be a useful experience to hear the kind of ideas and practice and networks that I am an example of.
Sunday began with a discussion with mamading and his meeting with vinay and dougald the previous night. He seemed enthused with the notion of playing a stone, my term, of making a node of the Jisc Developers Happiness meet up in early february. Interesting possibilities. Sunday also meant a visit to the temporary school of thought where tony had booked a session called "What Can We Do By Tomorrow?". Only mamading, tony and I started it, and we gave ourselves half an hour to come to consensus. We tried a technique of only saying one sentence at a time, ensuring we were inviting others to continue. We didn't manage to conclude, and that was mostly because we invited a few kids in, one called omar, and another called james. We passed the time-window, and we ended up talking. James revealed that he has dreams of being at the Olympics 2012, and I believe his dream is the kind of vector that can align a community. If we put our self-organising sense and skills into practice, we might be able to field some superb atheletes for 2012. Champions who are living proof of the operationality of self-organisation. We exchanged emails, and I hope to remain in contact with him see if he is interested, with omar too. Dougald and vinay turned up too, and there was a little interview which I shall put a link to when I find out when it comes out.
Ended the night with a deep vibe. I read some of my XQ solution booklet to tav and sofia -- and it works! It actually makes some sense. I have some reservations about discussing it. Sofia and tav have different notions, perspective, systems and processes of ideas, and by sharing them it appears we end up falling into the illusion that we are discussing something, when of course the maths is reflective of our processes. The trick is noticing the similarities.
Went off to tango. Had some seriously nice dances with fiona, an interesting challenge when dancing with the teacher claire, two disasterous times where I could not find my partners which made me feel like I couldn't dance, but then had a delightful dance with... with... I can not remember her name. We didn't really talk after the dance, which means there were no words exchanged and hence any label like a name just gets lost in the ether. Got home, did some jaxing, which I shall post up a link to when I get them finished, and a video for the kids who I taught last year.
What a weekend!
The engagement threw me for a while, and I berated myself a little. However, I left and went wandering. I found anna turley deputy director of nlgn, new local government network. I walked into their offices and asked the receptionist if I could talk to her. She happened to be free, and we talked for some 15 mins. The conversation went well, and I felt that I had redeemed my confidence in my ability to communicate. It was much nicer and lighter. Although she could not see a way for her to move forward on it, she wants to be in contact. If anything does happen, she will be an important player, and I would like her to be in any prospective meeting with a VIP change-maker.
Then off for a meeting with vinay. We ended up doing a recording in the lobby of a hotel in mayfair. It was meant to be a direct confrontation of our realities, but when we got together that evening, we followed dougald's interest of capturing a conversation on video. Don't think i wrote about dougald. Dougald is one of the founders of school of everything. Went to a talk of his at the temporary school of thought on wednesday; very impressive. Spectacular character, eloquent and genuine in his integration of his experience, and flowed really well when improvising. So, his desire to record something about the wave took precidence, and we ended up recording a dialogue between vinay and myself. The vid has not been put up on youtube yet. We then went to the school to hear vinay talk about an interesting, and I would say accurate and useful, understanding of magic. His manner of presentation was also very powerful.
On saturday, I went to progressive london. I met a chap called pierre and had lunch with him and joy johnson, who chaired on the first meeting I attended which was to do with barrack obama and what "we" can learn from his campaign. Very interesting discussion, since it revealed the completely different realities that either party are not aware of, even though they were in the same room and apparently talking about the same thing. Pierre is an intelligent young man, who is making his decisions as he goes along combined with an open-minded attitude, and is looking to study political relations. Joy has been a politico most of her life, worked with ken livingston, and has seen plenty of changes in the system and politics too and is not afraid of speaking her mind. I was privilege to share lunch with them, and I was a little foolish in suggesting to them that there was an opportunity for us to gather our respective perspectives and experience in such a way that it benefits us all.
The format of the progressive london was still far too archaic. People behind tables, on stages, with a minute or two's contribution from people on the floor. A bit of shouting, disjointed discussion. It is mostly used for information transference! Weird. Ken and the speakers in the last section of the day were very impressive, inspiring and genuine, and I decided to hang around at the end of the conference to speak to jon cruddas since mamading had recommended I speak to him. His attention to people seemed genuine too, and so I outlined the wave notion to him and how it embodied a lot of what the speakers had said, but it was all about practical action now, and not just talk about it. He gave me his email, and I hope he creates the opportunity for us to meet this week. Even if I think it might be too late to catch the wave, it might be a useful experience to hear the kind of ideas and practice and networks that I am an example of.
Sunday began with a discussion with mamading and his meeting with vinay and dougald the previous night. He seemed enthused with the notion of playing a stone, my term, of making a node of the Jisc Developers Happiness meet up in early february. Interesting possibilities. Sunday also meant a visit to the temporary school of thought where tony had booked a session called "What Can We Do By Tomorrow?". Only mamading, tony and I started it, and we gave ourselves half an hour to come to consensus. We tried a technique of only saying one sentence at a time, ensuring we were inviting others to continue. We didn't manage to conclude, and that was mostly because we invited a few kids in, one called omar, and another called james. We passed the time-window, and we ended up talking. James revealed that he has dreams of being at the Olympics 2012, and I believe his dream is the kind of vector that can align a community. If we put our self-organising sense and skills into practice, we might be able to field some superb atheletes for 2012. Champions who are living proof of the operationality of self-organisation. We exchanged emails, and I hope to remain in contact with him see if he is interested, with omar too. Dougald and vinay turned up too, and there was a little interview which I shall put a link to when I find out when it comes out.
Ended the night with a deep vibe. I read some of my XQ solution booklet to tav and sofia -- and it works! It actually makes some sense. I have some reservations about discussing it. Sofia and tav have different notions, perspective, systems and processes of ideas, and by sharing them it appears we end up falling into the illusion that we are discussing something, when of course the maths is reflective of our processes. The trick is noticing the similarities.
Went off to tango. Had some seriously nice dances with fiona, an interesting challenge when dancing with the teacher claire, two disasterous times where I could not find my partners which made me feel like I couldn't dance, but then had a delightful dance with... with... I can not remember her name. We didn't really talk after the dance, which means there were no words exchanged and hence any label like a name just gets lost in the ether. Got home, did some jaxing, which I shall post up a link to when I get them finished, and a video for the kids who I taught last year.
What a weekend!
Thursday 22 January 2009
last couple of strokes
When trying to catch a wave, one has to first spot it, start paddling, then take three big strokes to try to meet the speed of the wave, and then you are being lifted by the wave. Then the job is to try to pop onto the board and ride it to shore.
The wave, as far as I understanding, is a consequence to the financial shock that hit the banks and economic core sometime autumn 2008. One of the biggest waves is flooding through the markets now, with eg 800k+ people in the uk expected to be unemployed this jan/feb. So, the wave is definitely here. Perhaps it is already too late. Certainly, I think we are being lifted by the wave, and my guess is, we needed to catch it by the end of this month, which means initial engagement with the powers that be needed to be done this week.
Because it is so late in the day when I got involved, as it were, I have had to develop a methodology that is in alignment with buddhist fundamentals. That is, from deep stuff within the self, to mindfulness and listening to one another in meetings, to awareness of what is without having to write endless reports about it, and to create simple and light opportunities for us to self-organise and manifest social movement. Most people are still under the delusion that they must create the movement. The principle learned is that there is movement, and this is obvious to us. The trick is to respond to it appropriately, collectively. That is, not creating another group or network or flag or whatever. That is, not writing a constitution or any documentation. That is, be fresh, be light, and connect with those who are already aware of the situation, already got their solutions and aware of the problems they are trying to solve.
The offering is simple, to avoid the problems. To work out the solutions as they occur. After all, we have so many skills, even to the point we are overskilled. We are over-informed. We have over-theorised. The time is ripe for action. The time is now, to catch this wave, concurrently.
So, given that I am not to use the phone here in the office because it is mainly an internal line, I am encouraged to go and visit the buildings where the decisions makers work. Of course, this approach is doomed to failure. There is no way I can just walk in and end up speaking to a VIP. However, I shall make it clear that I do not have the resources to phone, and the whole writing-up is self-defeating, and so I am in the rather innocent position of walking into their offices and asking to speak... to the queen, as it were.
What is my best approach? I am a maths teacher. I have learned about self-organising systems. And I have a solution to the nightmare that is the effect of the credit-crunch. It is not just a solution, it actually turns this social wave from a recession or depression into a social boon. And the way of manifesting it is simple. The opportunity will pass tomorrow, so it is up to someone there to listen and pass it up through the system.
These are my last few strokes, and I need to put into practice with absolute self-discipline the principles of action. No writing, no group, no proof. Engage people honestly, aware of who they are and the constraints of their post in the institution they are in. Point at what is, offer threshold 1, offer challenge to achieve trust for threshold 2, and idealise threshold 3. Honour the executive power of each person. Keep light, since the opportunity is nothing to mourn, it is something to respond to, this wave, which will lead to so much suffering unless this wave is caught, and perhaps in this manner. It is, after all, merely an offering.
The wave, as far as I understanding, is a consequence to the financial shock that hit the banks and economic core sometime autumn 2008. One of the biggest waves is flooding through the markets now, with eg 800k+ people in the uk expected to be unemployed this jan/feb. So, the wave is definitely here. Perhaps it is already too late. Certainly, I think we are being lifted by the wave, and my guess is, we needed to catch it by the end of this month, which means initial engagement with the powers that be needed to be done this week.
Because it is so late in the day when I got involved, as it were, I have had to develop a methodology that is in alignment with buddhist fundamentals. That is, from deep stuff within the self, to mindfulness and listening to one another in meetings, to awareness of what is without having to write endless reports about it, and to create simple and light opportunities for us to self-organise and manifest social movement. Most people are still under the delusion that they must create the movement. The principle learned is that there is movement, and this is obvious to us. The trick is to respond to it appropriately, collectively. That is, not creating another group or network or flag or whatever. That is, not writing a constitution or any documentation. That is, be fresh, be light, and connect with those who are already aware of the situation, already got their solutions and aware of the problems they are trying to solve.
The offering is simple, to avoid the problems. To work out the solutions as they occur. After all, we have so many skills, even to the point we are overskilled. We are over-informed. We have over-theorised. The time is ripe for action. The time is now, to catch this wave, concurrently.
So, given that I am not to use the phone here in the office because it is mainly an internal line, I am encouraged to go and visit the buildings where the decisions makers work. Of course, this approach is doomed to failure. There is no way I can just walk in and end up speaking to a VIP. However, I shall make it clear that I do not have the resources to phone, and the whole writing-up is self-defeating, and so I am in the rather innocent position of walking into their offices and asking to speak... to the queen, as it were.
What is my best approach? I am a maths teacher. I have learned about self-organising systems. And I have a solution to the nightmare that is the effect of the credit-crunch. It is not just a solution, it actually turns this social wave from a recession or depression into a social boon. And the way of manifesting it is simple. The opportunity will pass tomorrow, so it is up to someone there to listen and pass it up through the system.
These are my last few strokes, and I need to put into practice with absolute self-discipline the principles of action. No writing, no group, no proof. Engage people honestly, aware of who they are and the constraints of their post in the institution they are in. Point at what is, offer threshold 1, offer challenge to achieve trust for threshold 2, and idealise threshold 3. Honour the executive power of each person. Keep light, since the opportunity is nothing to mourn, it is something to respond to, this wave, which will lead to so much suffering unless this wave is caught, and perhaps in this manner. It is, after all, merely an offering.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
email response
So, I decided to respond to MIT open-course, and then responded to the requests for more information from lulu, liftshare and mybnk. I took time writing personal responses, outlining the idea. Quite useful for me, but if I had to do this with thousands, it would not be possible, and I would end up having to write generic mail. Again, I think this conforms to a principle which is to not extend beyond a small network. We should not be playing the one-to-many game which is demonstrated by TV and radio. This path leads to competition, as we can see in eg youtube, as if we are competing for the same market. The shift in consciousness is better exemplified by those who are personal, who have a few friends, and invest in them. The trick then, is to trust one another to connect up our friendship groups to manifest social collectives for particular purposes. Even the azaaz thing, is the wrong direction, or rather a direction that meets with some limited success.
Essentially, the people I spoke to on the phone yesterday, are the executives. Once we comprehend this, the entire system will be different. We are approaching this state, the trick is, will we manage it before things fall apart...?
So, here's an example of the email I sent off, in this case to cecilia at liftshare:
3
hello
cecilia
you are most kind to reply
and your appreciation of the idea
most appreciated
and i mean that
at this stage
that is all that i have to work with
the trick
as far as i can appreciate
is to find suitably empowered VIPs who are willing to act on hearing a good idea
to create the opportunity for self-organisation to prove itself
and thus we start a cycle of positive change
based on our experience
how can i describe what i am attempting to do?
to bring about social change
without being a group or company or network or any form of membership body
there seem to be plenty of services out there
which yours exemplifies
however
the basic paradigm in which you exist is that of competition
whereas
i believe that the principle upon which you exist is
co-operation
that means
that we need more people to be in this mindset
for your company and others like yours
to thrive...
hence
we need a critical mass of people
and we need them to use the services during a critical period of time
that is
for mindmass to phase
as it were
my contribution is simple:
i am pointing at the figure that economists are estimating
(800k+ people unemployed in the first two months of this year in the uk alone)
and thinking that is a huge potential energy
if it can be harnessed
that is
if that mass of people were directed into self-organising services
not only does it increase your flow-through and potential money-generation
but it creates a current of experientially developed individuals...
i can dream of other steps beyond this
but there is no need to get into detail regarding them
since the time is not right...
involving various self-organising groups like transition towns and life coach meetings etc
and further
manifesting a substantial current of individuals who are all effectively social entrepreneurs...
to come back to a first step
my attempts are to offer a list of self-organising services to local and national government
who in turn offer them to those who are becoming unemployed...
if this manifests as a step-change in member uptake
then we have proved something
and we may then contribute further in more direct co-operation
to manifest even greater levels of co-operation
and again
without actually forming a super-group or network or anything which involves membership
that is
the social manifestation occurs
we are all more aligned
and a positive cycle which we hear so much about in terms of theory
is actually happening...
the other organisations recommended include:
* wikipedia
* firefox
* school of everything
* make movement
* freecycle
* gumtree
* zopa
* mybnk
* zubka
* peopleperhour
* moneysavingexpert
* facebook: not sure if i want to contact these guys...
* tunecore
* tipjoy and twitter
* lulu
* phone co-op
* mit open coursework
this is not a definitive list
of course
and if things get to the point where they are actioned by government bodies in the next two weeks
then i shall be asking for assistance in generating a tighter list...
i hope this puts you in the picture
cecilia
or rather the opportunity which is being attempted
to turn this economic downturn to the benefit of self-organisation and thus as a consequence all of us...
be well!
david
Essentially, the people I spoke to on the phone yesterday, are the executives. Once we comprehend this, the entire system will be different. We are approaching this state, the trick is, will we manage it before things fall apart...?
So, here's an example of the email I sent off, in this case to cecilia at liftshare:
3
hello
cecilia
you are most kind to reply
and your appreciation of the idea
most appreciated
and i mean that
at this stage
that is all that i have to work with
the trick
as far as i can appreciate
is to find suitably empowered VIPs who are willing to act on hearing a good idea
to create the opportunity for self-organisation to prove itself
and thus we start a cycle of positive change
based on our experience
how can i describe what i am attempting to do?
to bring about social change
without being a group or company or network or any form of membership body
there seem to be plenty of services out there
which yours exemplifies
however
the basic paradigm in which you exist is that of competition
whereas
i believe that the principle upon which you exist is
co-operation
that means
that we need more people to be in this mindset
for your company and others like yours
to thrive...
hence
we need a critical mass of people
and we need them to use the services during a critical period of time
that is
for mindmass to phase
as it were
my contribution is simple:
i am pointing at the figure that economists are estimating
(800k+ people unemployed in the first two months of this year in the uk alone)
and thinking that is a huge potential energy
if it can be harnessed
that is
if that mass of people were directed into self-organising services
not only does it increase your flow-through and potential money-generation
but it creates a current of experientially developed individuals...
i can dream of other steps beyond this
but there is no need to get into detail regarding them
since the time is not right...
involving various self-organising groups like transition towns and life coach meetings etc
and further
manifesting a substantial current of individuals who are all effectively social entrepreneurs...
to come back to a first step
my attempts are to offer a list of self-organising services to local and national government
who in turn offer them to those who are becoming unemployed...
if this manifests as a step-change in member uptake
then we have proved something
and we may then contribute further in more direct co-operation
to manifest even greater levels of co-operation
and again
without actually forming a super-group or network or anything which involves membership
that is
the social manifestation occurs
we are all more aligned
and a positive cycle which we hear so much about in terms of theory
is actually happening...
the other organisations recommended include:
* wikipedia
* firefox
* school of everything
* make movement
* freecycle
* gumtree
* zopa
* mybnk
* zubka
* peopleperhour
* moneysavingexpert
* facebook: not sure if i want to contact these guys...
* tunecore
* tipjoy and twitter
* lulu
* phone co-op
* mit open coursework
this is not a definitive list
of course
and if things get to the point where they are actioned by government bodies in the next two weeks
then i shall be asking for assistance in generating a tighter list...
i hope this puts you in the picture
cecilia
or rather the opportunity which is being attempted
to turn this economic downturn to the benefit of self-organisation and thus as a consequence all of us...
be well!
david
mit open-course
1
i sent a generic email to mit open course
and got this email back
2
Dear David,
Thank you for your interest in MIT OpenCourseWare. We are open to find new ways to extend the reach of our content. Kindly advise me the project you have in mind and which other organizations may be involved.
Regards,
Yvonne
3
for some reason
after the phone issue
i decided to write a response...
which then followed with responses to the other email requests for information
i sent a generic email to mit open course
and got this email back
2
Dear David,
Thank you for your interest in MIT OpenCourseWare. We are open to find new ways to extend the reach of our content. Kindly advise me the project you have in mind and which other organizations may be involved.
Regards,
Yvonne
3
for some reason
after the phone issue
i decided to write a response...
which then followed with responses to the other email requests for information
phone limitations
Hmmm.... Just got into the office, and the chap who runs the hive, Mitchell, asks to have a word in private. He tells me that I was using the phone yesterday and this was a problem. He explained that it was effectively an incoming line, and that my constant use of it over two hours yesterday afternoon, my first attempt to contact live people in local and national government, was a problem. He suggested I should look into alternatives.
I am unemployed. I am using this office-space without paying. My computer has been here for some months, while I was in Thailand, for the use of anyone who needed it really, so I think I have some right in being here for a little while and using the services. I wouldn't even mind paying the phone bill... I just eat beans for a month :)
So, I am not sure how to progress. I would like to think there is a positivity and things feedback so that I can take the thing one step further. This does not seem to be the case. I had hoped that I get the support from melanin and the hive, and this is a little problematic. I shall attempt to use skype to conduct the business calls, and we shall see if that works. Mamading is not about, so I am not sure how to align phone with my skype account. Hmmm...
One of the principles I am operating is that I need only go forwards based on a positive conditions. That is, the people whom I spoked to yesterday, even given their position within government, attempted to offer alternative approaches for me such that I can continue with the fulfilment of this idea. They did not block, and though I did not follow the procedure, they came up with a possible avenues for me to progress.
Even Mitchel attempted to assist me to finding an alternative mode of communication. Very kind of him.
Although there is no great supporting energy, I make my lone way, slowly, in the storm, passing from door to door, hoping that my efforts meet with those who might appreciate them, that is, they recognise that I am here to help, and that this proposed solution and manner of implementation is simple and elegant enough to work.
I am unemployed. I am using this office-space without paying. My computer has been here for some months, while I was in Thailand, for the use of anyone who needed it really, so I think I have some right in being here for a little while and using the services. I wouldn't even mind paying the phone bill... I just eat beans for a month :)
So, I am not sure how to progress. I would like to think there is a positivity and things feedback so that I can take the thing one step further. This does not seem to be the case. I had hoped that I get the support from melanin and the hive, and this is a little problematic. I shall attempt to use skype to conduct the business calls, and we shall see if that works. Mamading is not about, so I am not sure how to align phone with my skype account. Hmmm...
One of the principles I am operating is that I need only go forwards based on a positive conditions. That is, the people whom I spoked to yesterday, even given their position within government, attempted to offer alternative approaches for me such that I can continue with the fulfilment of this idea. They did not block, and though I did not follow the procedure, they came up with a possible avenues for me to progress.
Even Mitchel attempted to assist me to finding an alternative mode of communication. Very kind of him.
Although there is no great supporting energy, I make my lone way, slowly, in the storm, passing from door to door, hoping that my efforts meet with those who might appreciate them, that is, they recognise that I am here to help, and that this proposed solution and manner of implementation is simple and elegant enough to work.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
dwp executive office
Spoke to a nice chap called Oliver at the executive offices of Department for work and Pensions. He was not in an official position to make a decision, and so at first he suggested that I should write information about the idea. I told him about the manner of my engagement, and the ideal or principle I am following, and he was very kind in trying to work out a solution that was mutually agreeable.
He finally suggested I speak to external managers, Darren Woolfenden and John Reid of London and Scotland respectively. I thanked him and asked how he would like to leave it and so I gave the contact of this blog. I found myself apologising for its state, since it is not something which looks very convincing. After all, I am merely an individual, and any form of organisational structure goes against the potential of realisation of the idea. I thought about putting a link to stuff I wrote last week, and perhaps, Oliver, you might want to check it and give some feedback :)
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2375192/emplayment-a-positive-credit-crunch-confluence
for the initial idea
and
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2388695/swell-the-wave
for processural learning...
So far, I have talked with two or three people. They are all very nice, though they are definitely constrained by the system in which they are in. After all, they are employed to carry out such and such a process. I find that those lower down the structure are more constrained, they have little executive decision-making power. What I am suggesting, is that I am happy to give them this executive power. In fact, I was ready to leave something alone when I spoke to Lucy at the GLA. Her advice, Olivers, meant that my idea or principle would miss the opportunity, that of implementing an idea to deal with the expected 800k+ people in these two first months of 2009. They recognised this, and hence I asked them to come up with an alternative. They have both been lovely in trying to help.
It is actually very uplifting. I believe that by honouring the person, genuinely, we can make substantial progress. For example, I would be happy to include Lucy or Oliver in any executive meeting should one ever materialise, if they believe they have something useful to contribute.
So, no matter what happens, whatever the outcomes, I am happy with the genuine response of humanity I have engaged today.
He finally suggested I speak to external managers, Darren Woolfenden and John Reid of London and Scotland respectively. I thanked him and asked how he would like to leave it and so I gave the contact of this blog. I found myself apologising for its state, since it is not something which looks very convincing. After all, I am merely an individual, and any form of organisational structure goes against the potential of realisation of the idea. I thought about putting a link to stuff I wrote last week, and perhaps, Oliver, you might want to check it and give some feedback :)
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2375192/emplayment-a-positive-credit-crunch-confluence
for the initial idea
and
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2388695/swell-the-wave
for processural learning...
So far, I have talked with two or three people. They are all very nice, though they are definitely constrained by the system in which they are in. After all, they are employed to carry out such and such a process. I find that those lower down the structure are more constrained, they have little executive decision-making power. What I am suggesting, is that I am happy to give them this executive power. In fact, I was ready to leave something alone when I spoke to Lucy at the GLA. Her advice, Olivers, meant that my idea or principle would miss the opportunity, that of implementing an idea to deal with the expected 800k+ people in these two first months of 2009. They recognised this, and hence I asked them to come up with an alternative. They have both been lovely in trying to help.
It is actually very uplifting. I believe that by honouring the person, genuinely, we can make substantial progress. For example, I would be happy to include Lucy or Oliver in any executive meeting should one ever materialise, if they believe they have something useful to contribute.
So, no matter what happens, whatever the outcomes, I am happy with the genuine response of humanity I have engaged today.
Monday 19 January 2009
no change
Since last Friday, there has been no change. My emails have not been returned. I was hoping to have a few more leads, like those below... but so far nothing. I sent off generic emails to various organisations, specifically government or council bodies. Clearly, they are not as efficient as the NGO's who have replied sharpish.
This indicates the order of the problem. I shall pursue the contact through the bottom-up approach, through Dillon, and see how far that goes. From tomorrow, I shall attempt a more direct approach, trying to phone and speak to the people who make the decisions. Towards the end of the week, I shall visit their offices with the hope that I can catch someone in the organisation if not the decision-maker.
Some initial wording, which I have given up on: emplayment, and the wave. The problem with writing is that it begins the seeding process that leads to accretion.
This indicates the order of the problem. I shall pursue the contact through the bottom-up approach, through Dillon, and see how far that goes. From tomorrow, I shall attempt a more direct approach, trying to phone and speak to the people who make the decisions. Towards the end of the week, I shall visit their offices with the hope that I can catch someone in the organisation if not the decision-maker.
Some initial wording, which I have given up on: emplayment, and the wave. The problem with writing is that it begins the seeding process that leads to accretion.
Friday 16 January 2009
contacting mybnk
1
generic email to mybnk
tipped by sophia
and got this reply
2
Hello David,
Thanks for your email. Please do email me directly with more information regaring your initiative, or you can call me on either of the numbers below and leave a message if I am unavailable.
Thanks,
Sharan Jaswal
Education Project Manager
3
again
the request for more information...
generic email to mybnk
tipped by sophia
and got this reply
2
Hello David,
Thanks for your email. Please do email me directly with more information regaring your initiative, or you can call me on either of the numbers below and leave a message if I am unavailable.
Thanks,
Sharan Jaswal
Education Project Manager
3
again
the request for more information...
contacting liftshare
1
generic email to liftshare
and receive this response:
2
Hi David -
Thanks for your message. I am probably the best place to start.
I would be interested to know more about the initiative - it sounds like a
very good idea.
Best wishes,
Cecilia
Cecilia Bromley-Martin | Communications & PR Manager | liftshare
3
like the lulu one
what do i say?
generic email to liftshare
and receive this response:
2
Hi David -
Thanks for your message. I am probably the best place to start.
I would be interested to know more about the initiative - it sounds like a
very good idea.
Best wishes,
Cecilia
Cecilia Bromley-Martin | Communications & PR Manager | liftshare
3
like the lulu one
what do i say?
contacting lulu
1
generic email to lulu
and they respond initially with
2
Dear David, thanks for your email.
Can you tell me which kind of cooperation you'd like to have with us, so that I can understand who's the right person for you?
Thanks.
Eleonora Gandini
3
not sure if i want to get involved with explanations
but i have to offer something surely...
any ideas anyone?
generic email to lulu
and they respond initially with
2
Dear David, thanks for your email.
Can you tell me which kind of cooperation you'd like to have with us, so that I can understand who's the right person for you?
Thanks.
Eleonora Gandini
3
not sure if i want to get involved with explanations
but i have to offer something surely...
any ideas anyone?
contacting freecycle
1
sent a message to freecycle
and got this back
2
David,
You may contact Neil Morris our UK Director who is copied on this email. Membership is open to all, of course, and a great deal of disadvantaged citizens and nonprofits assisting the same use our web services. We are free, nonprofit and address things pretty much as you describe. You may certainly link to us or reference us if you like.
Deron Beal
3
will wait to see if neil gets into contact
or if we need to contact him...
sent a message to freecycle
and got this back
2
David,
You may contact Neil Morris our UK Director who is copied on this email. Membership is open to all, of course, and a great deal of disadvantaged citizens and nonprofits assisting the same use our web services. We are free, nonprofit and address things pretty much as you describe. You may certainly link to us or reference us if you like.
Deron Beal
3
will wait to see if neil gets into contact
or if we need to contact him...
Thursday 15 January 2009
bottom-up government
Today was a day of waiting. I left the house at 10:30am and got back at 5:30pm spending most of the day waiting. I was signing on, claiming housing benefit. The entire day was not wasted, however, since I met Dillon at the Job Centre Plus.
Dillon was very nice, and he helped me out with various transferal forms which I needed to complete from Edinburgh to London. I explained some aspects of The Wave, and he verified that the institution was slow in trying to deal with the expected number of unemployed. He suggested at first that I speak to others, but I made it clear that I was not going to put things into writing and if we managed to make an appointment with anyone higher up, I hoped he might take part. He was open to the idea and contributed his assistance. I returned later that day, but he was busy and I ended up having to wait for an hour.
There is a possibility that he might make contact with people he has worked with who are further up the decision ladder. It will be interesting. I will, of course, be trying to approach those further up myself independently.
Although I took pains to describe the situation even to the point that our mode of communication defeated our attempts, his talking about my idea or planting a seed in his head. I can only emphasise that it is a matter of looking at the external conditions and for each of us to respond to it. It really is as simple as that. Then we look around to see what we are doing, and if we are listening to one another, we will find that all the ideas, all the services, all our skills, are more than enough to deal with this situation. And indeed, to strengthen our social ties because of it. In times of war, we bond socially. We face a major problem: let us come together. Together we can ride this wave.
Remember, we only have a week or two to get this thing happening.
090120
Dillon hasn't been able to contact David, someone he has worked with in the past who occupies a position higher up the system. I invited him to come to the hive, and he might turn up tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, I am going to try to hit the Department of Work and Pensions.
Looking around their site, I find there is no phone number, and it is all bottled through a single email entry. There is an address, but I suspect this is just for mail, and it will not be the base for the department. It is like a moat. There is only one way in. How on earth do we go about trying to communicate to eg Rt Hnr James Purnell, or anyone in the executive committee (http://www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/executiveteam.asp)?
This is going to be trickier than I thought. I thought I could at least talk with someone on the phone. Oh dear.
Dillon was very nice, and he helped me out with various transferal forms which I needed to complete from Edinburgh to London. I explained some aspects of The Wave, and he verified that the institution was slow in trying to deal with the expected number of unemployed. He suggested at first that I speak to others, but I made it clear that I was not going to put things into writing and if we managed to make an appointment with anyone higher up, I hoped he might take part. He was open to the idea and contributed his assistance. I returned later that day, but he was busy and I ended up having to wait for an hour.
There is a possibility that he might make contact with people he has worked with who are further up the decision ladder. It will be interesting. I will, of course, be trying to approach those further up myself independently.
Although I took pains to describe the situation even to the point that our mode of communication defeated our attempts, his talking about my idea or planting a seed in his head. I can only emphasise that it is a matter of looking at the external conditions and for each of us to respond to it. It really is as simple as that. Then we look around to see what we are doing, and if we are listening to one another, we will find that all the ideas, all the services, all our skills, are more than enough to deal with this situation. And indeed, to strengthen our social ties because of it. In times of war, we bond socially. We face a major problem: let us come together. Together we can ride this wave.
Remember, we only have a week or two to get this thing happening.
090120
Dillon hasn't been able to contact David, someone he has worked with in the past who occupies a position higher up the system. I invited him to come to the hive, and he might turn up tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, I am going to try to hit the Department of Work and Pensions.
Looking around their site, I find there is no phone number, and it is all bottled through a single email entry. There is an address, but I suspect this is just for mail, and it will not be the base for the department. It is like a moat. There is only one way in. How on earth do we go about trying to communicate to eg Rt Hnr James Purnell, or anyone in the executive committee (http://www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/executiveteam.asp)?
This is going to be trickier than I thought. I thought I could at least talk with someone on the phone. Oh dear.
mediawiki
1
sent generic email
and go this back:
2
Dear david pinto,
Thank you for your email.
david pinto wrote:
hello
i am in contact with national and local government representatives
and promoting wikipedia and wikis in general
as part of a self-organised way to deal with the credit crunch
that is
i hope to provide a link to wikipedia for those who are recently made
unemployed
as part of a programme to educate people and improve the chance of
what i call social confluence
i have just returned from thailand
from writing a relationship between buddhism and maths
and i find that the economic situation is as it is
i believe wikipedia is a leading example of co-operation or confluence
could you please advise me on how this may be best achieved?
what may the start page be?
should there be some kind of introductory portal?
much appreciation for the time you have taken to read this
be well
david
______________________________
if those in the future look back upon us
upon our unique place in human history
what would one say to them...?
Wikipedia isn't in the business of self-help or how-to, so I'm not sure what
page you should link to.
Yours sincerely,
John Reaves
sent generic email
and go this back:
2
Dear david pinto,
Thank you for your email.
david pinto
hello
i am in contact with national and local government representatives
and promoting wikipedia and wikis in general
as part of a self-organised way to deal with the credit crunch
that is
i hope to provide a link to wikipedia for those who are recently made
unemployed
as part of a programme to educate people and improve the chance of
what i call social confluence
i have just returned from thailand
from writing a relationship between buddhism and maths
and i find that the economic situation is as it is
i believe wikipedia is a leading example of co-operation or confluence
could you please advise me on how this may be best achieved?
what may the start page be?
should there be some kind of introductory portal?
much appreciation for the time you have taken to read this
be well
david
______________________________
if those in the future look back upon us
upon our unique place in human history
what would one say to them...?
Wikipedia isn't in the business of self-help or how-to, so I'm not sure what
page you should link to.
Yours sincerely,
John Reaves
methodology
(This is a copy of the material written down in a google doc. The objective of this blog is to report what we have done, rather than strategise or share contact information. You are most welcome to take part in the google doc, by sending a message to me. In fact, if the wave is to manifest, then your thoughts need to be on that doc, and your actions written here. If the wave swells, the doc will most likely become a wiki, but again, with the following principle: what is important is what we do in the real world when we engage one another -- everything else is just opinion and thought.)
Don't write stuff down. Like this, hehehe. I am writing this because I am bored, since I can't go ahead and talk to people because I don't know who they are, and I don't have contact details. Hopefully I shall find a few names, and hopefully they shall be chosen by others. I will then spend a week trying to get into their offices. When an appointment is made, we might consider this to be a success. I shall then invite whoever might be suitable and available to come. Every individual prepares for the meeting, but there is no "group" that turns up and certainly whatever thoughts we have, they have not been agreed upon. We approach the meeting free, inviting the potential for the best solution to be found, ideally invented in the meeting as this unique combination of individuals share their perspectives.
If a meeting with a VIP is managed, either through working up internally through the institution or just by a combination of luck and perseverance, I shall present them the list of recommended sites with the intention that they are distributed through their network or institution. If we are talking about government, then I might ask that this list be given to everyone who is unemployed. Instead of the distribution being conducted internally, a decision may be made to outsource it to us or an individual in the meeting, who prints them and then distributes them, or perhaps creates a website or whatever, and then all the institution need do is point at it. However, I do not expect anyone to trust us. I would rather we just offer what we can free with no major obligation on their part. We may ask for their assistance or support in a future projection, ie their name so when we approach another group we can say we have their support but even this may be too much to expect. My impression is, we need to offer some way for them to trust us, and by us, I mean the self-organising collective. It is like a challenge to us, to prove that we can muster action. Like we get 100k people to hit a site in a week, or we get 1k people to join a group in facebook; the point being that there is no group, but it is a mobilisation of different unaffiliated networks. We are talking mind-mass and time, the same nature of movement in the real world because of the credit crunch.
Such a task serves two purposes: to wake up the community at large to direct action, and to win the trust of the VIP. A further meeting then may allow them more trust and participation, perhaps coming up with potential solutions to realise the second and third thresholds.
Don't write stuff down. Like this, hehehe. I am writing this because I am bored, since I can't go ahead and talk to people because I don't know who they are, and I don't have contact details. Hopefully I shall find a few names, and hopefully they shall be chosen by others. I will then spend a week trying to get into their offices. When an appointment is made, we might consider this to be a success. I shall then invite whoever might be suitable and available to come. Every individual prepares for the meeting, but there is no "group" that turns up and certainly whatever thoughts we have, they have not been agreed upon. We approach the meeting free, inviting the potential for the best solution to be found, ideally invented in the meeting as this unique combination of individuals share their perspectives.
If a meeting with a VIP is managed, either through working up internally through the institution or just by a combination of luck and perseverance, I shall present them the list of recommended sites with the intention that they are distributed through their network or institution. If we are talking about government, then I might ask that this list be given to everyone who is unemployed. Instead of the distribution being conducted internally, a decision may be made to outsource it to us or an individual in the meeting, who prints them and then distributes them, or perhaps creates a website or whatever, and then all the institution need do is point at it. However, I do not expect anyone to trust us. I would rather we just offer what we can free with no major obligation on their part. We may ask for their assistance or support in a future projection, ie their name so when we approach another group we can say we have their support but even this may be too much to expect. My impression is, we need to offer some way for them to trust us, and by us, I mean the self-organising collective. It is like a challenge to us, to prove that we can muster action. Like we get 100k people to hit a site in a week, or we get 1k people to join a group in facebook; the point being that there is no group, but it is a mobilisation of different unaffiliated networks. We are talking mind-mass and time, the same nature of movement in the real world because of the credit crunch.
Such a task serves two purposes: to wake up the community at large to direct action, and to win the trust of the VIP. A further meeting then may allow them more trust and participation, perhaps coming up with potential solutions to realise the second and third thresholds.
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