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	<title>Facilitating Change &#187; Consume This</title>
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		<title>Collaborative consumption</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/09/collaborative-consumption/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/09/collaborative-consumption/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:52:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coworking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1235</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was telling a friend this weekend that bike-sharing — a la bixi — is one of the fastest-growing forms of transportation in the world. But then I faltered: Really? I forgot where I got this little factoid. Good thing for me the lovely peeps at Station C posted the video up on their blog — pointing out that coworking is also part of this trend. So... I still don't know if it's true for real. (I want it to be!) but at least I know where my factoid came from.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was telling a friend this weekend that bike-sharing — à la <a href="http://www.bixi.com">bixi</a> — is one of the fastest-growing forms of transportation in the world. But then I faltered: Really? I forgot where I got this little factoid. Good thing for me the lovely peeps at <a href="http://www.station-c.com">Station C</a> posted the video up on their blog — pointing out that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking">coworking</a> is also part of this trend. So&#8230; I still don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s true for real. (I want it to be!) — but at least I know I wasn&#8217;t making it up :)</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="400" height="225" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11924774&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="225" src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11924774&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>The music is annoying, but the possibilities are inspiring (and, apparently, profitable). Sometimes I feel like we <em>can</em> get it right.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Open research, open data, open development</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/09/open-research-data-development/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/09/open-research-data-development/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:27:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Essays & Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fail forward]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[international development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1211</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I've been thinking about this for a while now, gathering resources, printing out stuff to read. Waiting for the right time to pull it all together into a tidy package. Well forget it. Instead I'm going to dribble it out bit by bit.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve been thinking about this for a while now, gathering resources, printing out stuff to read. Waiting for the right time to pull it all together into a tidy package. Well forget it. Instead I&#8217;m going to dribble it out bit by bit. It may be confusing to follow along as I muddle through. You may get lost with me. So be it. Let&#8217;s begin with the basics: a preliminary list of assumptions —</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Good pol</strong><strong>icy and practice depend on good information. </strong><em>Policies </em>are the &#8220;big bets&#8221; about how to structure things and what to support, generally made by &#8220;big&#8221; decision-makers: <em>governments </em>deciding about the rules of the game — laws and regulations — and how to allocate resources, and <em>donors</em> deciding what/who to support, and how. <em>Practice</em> is the way we work: nitty-gritty processes, how we design and implement projects, how we structure and manage organizations.</li>
<li><strong>Good information emerges from the sharing and analysis of processes, experiences, learning, and data.</strong> It emerges from getting things done and researching how things work. What matters here? They types of questions we ask, how we ask them, who asks, what we decide to count, the way results are communicated (making evidence edible by <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/12/briefs-link-research-to-practice/">highlighting the &#8220;so what&#8221;</a>, creating visualizations and infographics, layering, etc.). Understanding people/groups and the relationships between them matters here. As does power relations and connections, incentives, and our relationship to failure (see <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/failing-in-public-one-way-to-talk-openly-about-and-learn-from-failed-projects">here</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-silberman/how-to-succeed-at-fail-wh_b_719351.html">here</a>.). Especially incentives — often they are mis-aligned, effectively killing access to good information.</li>
<li><strong>If development information is generated using public funds then the results should be publicly available in the right formats.</strong> (See <a href="http://datalibre.ca/2010/06/10/please-vote-open-access-to-canada%E2%80%99s-public-sector-information-and-data/">Tracey&#8217;s post on DataLibre.ca</a> for some ideas on what that formats might look like.) A big caveat here is respect for people&#8217;s privacy. But you get the idea.</li>
<li><strong>Communicating about development is an <em>aid effectiveness</em> issue</strong>. Communications in the broadest sense includes all of the above as well as stuff like knowledge sharing or knowledge mobilization or knowledge management for development or whatever you&#8217;re calling it this month. Seriously folks, we need to get beyond creating insipid lessons learned pieces with points like &#8220;take the local context into account&#8221; or &#8220;plan for sustainability from the outset&#8221; — <em>Really?</em> Ya think? </li>
</ul>
<p>Okay, so here are a few — very few! — things I&#8217;ve read or am reading or following lately. Yes I know there&#8217;s way way more. Please make suggestions — or even better read it for us, post the 500-word summary, and send on the link!</p>
<ul>
<li>IDRC&#8217;s work on <a href="http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-133699-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html">Open ICT4D</a> (Google IDRC and &#8220;open development&#8221; or &#8220;open ICT4D&#8221; and you&#8217;ll get lots of good stuff. They rock.)</li>
<li>The <a href="http://okfn.org/">Open Knowledge Foundation</a>&#8216;s <em>Unlocking the Potential of Aid Information</em> (<a href="http://www.unlockingaid.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/UnlockingAidInformation.pdf">PDF</a>)</li>
<li>The EU&#8217;s <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/policy-publications_en.html"><em>Communicating Research for Policymaking</em></a></li>
<li>The <a href="http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss">Civic Access</a> mailing list</li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/2010/sep/14/world-development-aid-data-search"><em>Guardian</em>&#8216;s database of development data</a> (From a newspaper? Apparently they&#8217;ve partnered with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and created a whole new <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development">development section on their website</a>. Interesting&#8230;) </li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/home">Institute for Development Studies</a>&#8216;s work on <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/ikmediary-group">knowledge and information intermediaries</a> </li>
<li>A bunch of stuff on open access and the rationale behind it</li>
<li>Anything related to open data, especially questions of licensing, accessibility (formats, archiving)</li>
</ul>
<p>I&#8217;ll add more links for the last two later. But now I have to stop blogging.</p>
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		<title>The Mortician&#8217;s Daughter</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/the-morticians-daughter/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/the-morticians-daughter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:40:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1151</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This was the song of the day a while ago, but I think I cheated and only posted it via Twitter. It's by Freedy Johnston. It's sad in a perfect way. It came to me via the hippest theologian — ever.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This was the song of the day a while ago, but I think I cheated and only posted it via Twitter. It&#8217;s by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedy_Johnston">Freedy Johnston</a>. It&#8217;s sad in a perfect way. It came to me via the hippest theologian — <em>ever</em>. (He&#8217;s also responsible for <em><a href="/2009/12/littlest-birds/">Littlest Birds</a></em>).</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1166" title="Wakefield knees" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Wakefield-knees.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="195" /></p>
<p>I used to love the mortician&#8217;s daughter</p>
<p>We drew our hearts on the dusty coffin lids<br /> I grieve tonight over this letter<br /> My tears dissolve an image in the careful ink</p>
<p>Her father stands in the open door<br /> He&#8217;s waiting for her<br /> There&#8217;s a storm blowing across the lake<br /> It&#8217;s late summer<br /> On the broken step is a cardboard box full of wilted flowers<br /> She whispers in my burning ear<br /> It doesn&#8217;t matter</p>
<p>I used to love the mortician&#8217;s daughter<br /> We rolled in the warm grass by the boneyard fence<br /> Her skin so white<br /> The first leaves falling<br /> This long forgotten night I am there again</p>
<p>Her father stands in the open door<br /> He&#8217;s waiting for her<br /> There&#8217;s a ribbon printed with last respects<br /> Blowing down the gutter<br /> The rain comes in, she drops my hand, she&#8217;s turning, laughing<br /> And I used to love the mortician&#8217;s daughter</p>
<p>I used to love the mortician&#8217;s daughter<br /> We drew our hearts on the dusty coffin lids<br /> There&#8217;s a lonely dove out on the telephone wire<br /> I turn my head and she flies away</p>
<p><em>Now that you read the words you get to </em><a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The-Morticians-Daughter.mp3"><em>listen</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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<enclosure url="http://facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The-Morticians-Daughter.mp3" length="5668379" type="audio/mpeg" />
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Delicious audio</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/delicious-audio/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/delicious-audio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:39:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[audio]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1159</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Quick note to let you know that today in my travels I came across two lovely audio collections: NPR's books that changed the world and James Bridle's new podcast, Mattins.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Quick note to let you know that today in my travels I came across two lovely audio collections:</p>
<p>NPR&#8217;s collection of <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=15550106">books that changed the world</a>. I&#8217;m going to go listen to Hitchens talk about Paine now, as I do the morning&#8217;s dishes.</p>
<p>The ever-so-awesome <a href="http://shorttermmemoryloss.com/">James Bridle</a>&#8216;s new podcast of (kinda) daily readings: <a href="http://mattins.shorttermmemoryloss.com/">Mattins</a>. Sigh.</p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>
<p> </p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Make music in the kitchen, the back seat of the car, wherever</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/make-music/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2010/08/make-music/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:32:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Essays & Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Think about it: Wouldn't it be so nice if making music was something mostpeople did? Like writing and reading. Not something you consume. Not something veryspecial verytalented people make for you. Instead an everyday creative, collective act. A joyous togethering, washing away for a moment pain and discord. I would like that so much.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How is it that I haven&#8217;t written here for eight months? Likely I&#8217;ve been traveling too much again: DC, Rio, two days back in Montreal to switch to winter clothes, DC, Seattle, Montpellier, Paris, Seattle, some west-coast roadripping with Liam (Port Washington, La Push, Portland), more Seattle, back to Montreal for a bit, quick trip to Seattle, then off to Wiveliscombe, London, and Brighton. And finally a small trip to DC to collect Liam and home home home. Now I&#8217;m obsessing over small renovations. Much needed nesting. Summer in the Mile End is glorious. No need to be anywhere else — except maybe camping in Wakefield — but at least that&#8217;s in the same province!</p>
<p>Okay. Enough excuses. I&#8217;m back. Really. I&#8217;m kicking things off with these:</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9vsNROyJwp0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9vsNROyJwp0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R6f33VFYcJA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R6f33VFYcJA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>Now aren&#8217;t you in a better mood? Were you dancing? I bet you&#8217;re at least thinking about it. Or wishing you were. Simple, joyous music.</p>
<p>My fantasy: I&#8217;m living in my grandmother&#8217;s time, on the prairies, everyone with ten to twelve kids. Big family gatherings. We eat stew thickened with browned flour and fresh veggies from the garden: corn, beets, small potatoes with thin red skins, and tomatoes and cucumbers sliced and sprinkled with salt. Finish it off with white cake doused in sucre a la creme. Then out comes the whiskey and the cards. The kids are under the table or in some corner upstairs, their world full of whispers and intrigue. Now my family was not so musical but I crave it. So in my fantasy out come an accordion, a fiddle, some spoons.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve had little bits of this. I know what each piece feels like. It&#8217;s fun to gather up the fragments and put them together.</p>
<p>Think about it: Wouldn&#8217;t it be so nice if making music was something mostpeople did? Like writing and reading. Not something you consume. Not something veryspecial verytalented people make for you. Instead an everyday creative, collective act. A joyous togethering, washing away for a moment pain and discord. I would like that so much.</p>
<p>PS. I hear Eugene Hutz lives in Rio these days ;)</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.7315px; "> </span></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Littlest Birds</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/12/littlest-birds/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/12/littlest-birds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:58:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[song of the day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Be Good Tanyas]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=1097</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Song of the day. Sammy Parton/Jolie Holland/Syd Barrett's <em>Littlest Birds</em>, as sung by The Be Good Tanyas. Photo by John Haslam.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Song of the day. Sammy Parton/Jolie Holland/Syd Barrett&#8217;s <em>Littlest Birds</em>, as sung by <a href="http://www.begoodtanyas.com/bluehorse.html">The Be Good Tanyas</a>. Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/43145783@N00/3266512514/">John Haslam</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/43145783@N00/3266512514/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1106" title="John Haslam, Little Birds" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/3266512514_4d63d857c1_b.jpg" alt="John Haslam, Little Birds" width="540" height="195" /></a></p>
<p>Well I feel like an old hobo, I&#8217;m sad lonesome and blue<br />
I was fair as the summer day now the summer days are through<br />
You pass through places and places pass through you<br />
But you carry &#8216;em with you on the souls of your travellin&#8217; shoes</p>
<p>Well I love you so dearly I love you so clearly<br />
Wake you up in the mornin&#8217; so early<br />
Just to tell you I got the wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
I got the wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
And i&#8217;m gonna quit these ramblin&#8217; ways one of these days soon<br />
And I&#8217;ll sing</p>
<p>The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs&#8230;</p>
<p>Well it&#8217;s times like these I feel so small and wild<br />
Like the ramblin&#8217; footsteps of a wanderin&#8217; child<br />
And i&#8217;m lonesome as a lonesome whippoorwill<br />
Singin these blues with a warble and a trill<br />
But i&#8217;m not too blue to fly<br />
No i&#8217;m not too blue to fly cuz</p>
<p>The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs&#8230;</p>
<p>Well I love you so dearly I love you so fearlessly<br />
Wake you up in the mornin&#8217; so early<br />
Just to tell you I got the wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
I got the wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
And I don&#8217;t wanna leave you I love you through and through</p>
<p>Oh I left my baby on a pretty blue train<br />
And I sang my songs to the cold and the rain<br />
I had the wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
And I sang those wanderin&#8217; blues<br />
And i&#8217;m gonna quit these ramblin&#8217; ways one of these days soon<br />
And i&#8217;ll sing</p>
<p>The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs&#8230;</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t care if the sun don&#8217;t shine<br />
I don&#8217;t care if nothin&#8217; is mine<br />
I don&#8217;t care if I&#8217;m nervous with you<br />
I&#8217;ll do my lovin&#8217; in the wintertime</p>
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		<title>Tim Hwang at Participation Camp: Can computer games increase citizen engagement?</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/tim-hwang-at-participation-camp/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/tim-hwang-at-participation-camp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:17:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[#pcamp09]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=895</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tim Hwang looks like a super cool guy. And he's not just cool because Joi Ito took his portrait. Nope. Most important? He founded ROFLCon, the internet celebrity conference. Or maybe it's his work at Harvard. Or maybe this awesome talk on video games and citizen engagement. Hmmmm, hard to decide!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/800px-Tim_Hwang.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-896" title="Tim Hwang, by Joi Ito" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/800px-Tim_Hwang-500x336.jpg" alt="Tim Hwang, by Joi Ito" width="500" height="336" /></a></p>
<p>Tim Hwang looks like a super cool guy. And not just because <a href="http://freesouls.cc">Joi Ito took his portrait</a>. Nope. Most important? He founded <a href="http://roflcon.org/">ROFLCon</a>, the internet culture/celebrity conference. (Which my amazing friend <a href="http://k4t3.org/">Kate</a> covered for CBC radio&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2008/04/kate-raynes-goldie-at-roflcon/">Spark</a>. Yay!)</p>
<p>Maybe he&#8217;s cool because of his work at Harvard&#8217;s Berkman Center, where he does research with Yochai Benkler as part of the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/cooperation">cooperation group</a>.</p>
<p>Or maybe because he helps out on the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/internetdemocracy">Internet &amp; Democracy</a> project.</p>
<p>Or maybe because he knows so much about online community and the history of internet culture. <a href="http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/04/08/tim-hwang-explains-net-memes-at-the-berkman-center/">Ethan wrote a nice post</a> on Tim&#8217;s explanation of Internet memes. (Some of it is gross. But you may, nevertheless, find yourself compelled to look at it. You&#8217;ve been warned.)</p>
<p>I wrote previously about the rocking good job that the <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/participationcamp-just-like-being-there/">Participation Camp</a> organizers did. Distant participants felt like they were right in the room. I couldn&#8217;t &#8220;attend&#8221; the second day, so I missed Tim&#8217;s talk — <em>Gaming Open Government Data</em>. But now here it is for you and me. It&#8217;s pretty damned cool. Games and citizen engagement. Some great ideas in here. Maybe this is why he&#8217;s super cool. Hard to decide&#8230;<script src="http://static.livestream.com/scripts/playerv2.js?channel=pcamp&amp;layout=playerEmbedDefault&amp;backgroundColor=0xffffff&amp;backgroundAlpha=1&amp;backgroundGradientStrength=0&amp;chromeColor=0x000000&amp;headerBarGlossEnabled=true&amp;controlBarGlossEnabled=true&amp;chatInputGlossEnabled=true&amp;uiWhite=true&amp;uiAlpha=0.5&amp;uiSelectedAlpha=1&amp;dropShadowEnabled=true&amp;dropShadowHorizontalDistance=10&amp;dropShadowVerticalDistance=10&amp;paddingLeft=10&amp;paddingRight=10&amp;paddingTop=10&amp;paddingBottom=10&amp;cornerRadius=10&amp;backToDirectoryURL=null&amp;bannerURL=null&amp;bannerText=null&amp;bannerWidth=320&amp;bannerHeight=50&amp;showViewers=true&amp;embedEnabled=true&amp;chatEnabled=true&amp;onDemandEnabled=true&amp;programGuideEnabled=false&amp;fullScreenEnabled=true&amp;reportAbuseEnabled=false&amp;gridEnabled=false&amp;initialIsOn=false&amp;initialIsMute=false&amp;initialVolume=10&amp;contentId=pla_1581511838131872052&amp;initThumbUrl=http://mogulus-user-files.s3.amazonaws.com/chpcamp/2009/06/28/748fd683-f298-405c-af58-2c88caef0cc7_1780.jpg&amp;playeraspectwidth=16&amp;playeraspectheight=9&amp;mogulusLogoEnabled=true&amp;width=500&amp;height=500&amp;wmode=window" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
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		<title>My lifes work, she says, is the impact that this has.</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/my-lifes-work-she-says-is-the-impact-that-this-has/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/my-lifes-work-she-says-is-the-impact-that-this-has/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forgetting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=765</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[she closes the lid
and unplugs the device
no bigger than her thumb
from the computer...
And, her lifes work is more than a four meg flash drive. My lifes work, she says, is the impact that this has. This is not about what I produce. It is all about what others receive.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w5IERp2OdJs&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w5IERp2OdJs&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>Information</strong><br />
<em>By Daniel Donahoo (2009)</em></p>
<p>she closes the lid<br />
and unplugs the device<br />
no bigger than her thumb<br />
from the computer.</p>
<p>My lifes work, she says. But, it isnt her lifes work.</p>
<p>You see, we store information like an Escher painting.<br />
It shouldnt all fit in there. But, it does.<br />
And every day we manage to fit more and more into smaller and smaller spaces until one day<br />
she says,<br />
we will be able to fit all the information the world has<br />
everything that everyone knows and believes and dreams<br />
into nothing.</p>
<p>It will all be there. Stored and filed.<br />
Tagged with any keywords you might imagine.</p>
<p>Our hard drives will be thin air.</p>
<p>They will make nanobots look like elephants.<br />
And elephants will be in there too. Tagged. Accessible with search terms<br />
like grey, ivory,<br />
and the largest land dwelling mammal</p>
<p>We will process away at nothing and understand everything.<br />
We will think of a word and the information will slip in, not through our ears or eyes<br />
but straight thorough our skin. Information will breathe in and out of us,<br />
permeate our skin.</p>
<p>Our knowing will be as deep as it is wide.<br />
You see our work here is to learn so much,</p>
<p>to be so full of knowing,<br />
that all there is left to do is unlearn.</p>
<p>Humanity must get to a point where we let go.<br />
We leave the useless ideas and the spent ideologies in the recycle bin.<br />
like an adolescent brain shedding neurons.<br />
like a snake slithering from its old skin.<br />
like an old man who has come to understand so well the point where reality meets the intangible that he is able to decide which breath will be his last. And, he will enjoy that breath more than any that he has taken in his entire life.</p>
<p>And, her lifes work is more than a four meg flash drive.</p>
<p>My lifes work, she says, is the impact that this has.</p>
<p>This is not about what I produce. It is all about what others receive.</p>
<p><a href="http://hughmcguire.net/">Via Hugh.</a> Part of the <a href="http://www.inbflat.net/">In B flat spoken word project</a>.</p>
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		<title>Freebase: Open code for open data</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/freebase-open-code-for-open-data/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/freebase-open-code-for-open-data/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:02:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mashup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=762</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Introducing Freebase: "the easiest way to add free, community-curated, Creative Commons licensed content to your web applications." Watch the video. Imagine the possibilities.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Introducing <a href="http://freebaseapps.com/">Freebase</a>: &#8220;the easiest way to add free, community-curated, Creative Commons licensed content to your web applications.&#8221; Watch the video. Imagine the possibilities.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dF-yMfRCkJc&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dF-yMfRCkJc&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><a href="http://www.la-grange.net/karl/">Via Karl.</a></p>
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		<title>Iranian social media police</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/iranian-social-media-police/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/iranian-social-media-police/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:40:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opacity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=747</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On passing through the immigration control at the airport in Tehran, she was asked by the officers if she has a Facebook account. When she said "no", the officers pulled up a laptop and searched for her name on Facebook. They found her account and noted down the names of her Facebook friends.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Evgeny Morozov,  a fellow with <a href="http://www.soros.org/initiatives/information/about">Open Society Institute&#8217;s Information Program</a> posted a fascinating article in the <em>Foreign Policy</em>: <a href="http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/07/10/are_iranian_authorities_more_sophisticated_than_we_think">Are Iranian authorities more sophisticated than we think?</a></p>
<blockquote><p>On passing through the immigration control at the airport in Tehran, she was asked by the officers if she has a Facebook account. When she said &#8220;no&#8221;, the officers pulled up a laptop and searched for her name on Facebook. They found her account and noted down the names of her Facebook friends.</p>
<p>This is very disturbing. For once, it means that the Iranian authorities are paying very close attention to what&#8217;s going on Facebook and Twitter (which, in my opinion, also explains why they decided not to take those web-sites down entirely — they are useful tools of intelligence gathering).</p>
<p>&#8230; we have to be fully prepared to be quizzed about any online trace that we have left</p>
<p>&#8230; this reveals that some of the spontaneous online activism we witnessed in the last few weeks — with Americans re-tweeting the posts published by those in Tehran — may eventually have very dire consequences, as Iranians would need to explain how exactly they are connected to foreigners that follow them on Twitter</p></blockquote>
<p>We&#8217;ll hear more of this. <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jul/0048">Karl, chalk one up for opacity</a>.</p>
<p>Via <a href="http://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0907&amp;L=SOCNET&amp;T=0&amp;F=&amp;S=&amp;P=19910">Carl Nordlund and the fabulous SOCNET list</a>. I love you guys.</p>
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		<title>Terrain Vague, Citizen Engagement &amp; the Open City: The Roerich Garden Project</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/terrain-vague-citizen-engagement-the-open-city-the-roerich-garden-project/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/terrain-vague-citizen-engagement-the-open-city-the-roerich-garden-project/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:24:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[city]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaboration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=741</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My first Artefatica project is coming along. Sooooo slowly. A draft of the website for our first book —  Terrain Vague, Citizen Engagement &#038; the Open City: The Roerich Garden Project — is up! Check it out, send some feedback, add your story or your vision.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My first <a href="http://www.artefati.ca">Artefatica</a> project is coming along. Sooooo slowly. A draft of the website for our first book —  <em><a href="http://roerichproject.artefati.ca/">Terrain Vague, Citizen Engagement &amp; the Open City: The Roerich Garden Project</a> </em>— is up! Check it out, send some feedback, add your story or your vision. We&#8217;ve started a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artefatica/collections/72157618983189167/">Flickr collection</a> to pull together photos for the book, and <a href="http://imaginemileend.tumblr.com/"><em>imagine (le) mile-end</em></a> has created a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1028450@N25/">group</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://roerichproject.artefati.ca/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-742" title="The Roerich Garden Project" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/roerich-web-thumbnail.png" alt="The Roerich Garden Project" width="450" height="360" /></a></p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to contribute to the preservation of the garden as a wild space Emily posts <a href="http://www.emilyrosemichaud.com">community updates on her blog</a>. And <a href="http://imaginemileend.tumblr.com/"><em>imagine (le) mile-end</em></a> has been doing lots of great organizing. Here&#8217;s their <a href="http://imaginemileend.tumblr.com/post/132610173/a-meeting-about-a-field">report from the last meeting</a>.</p>
<p>From the <a href="http://roerichproject.artefati.ca/about/">introduction</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Lot #2334609 is a terrain vague — <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway</span>, owned by the City of Montreal as of June 2009, used and cherished by the community, the only green space in the Mile End. People feel free in this space. They don’t ask for permission to picnic, grow things, create art, or gather around a campfire. It’s open and wild, unlike most city parks.</p>
<p>To outsiders, it may look like an abandoned field. But, as you will read here, the community has appropriated this space and wants a say in how it will be developed. Development is scheduled for 2009-2010, as part of the city’s $9-million revitalization of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Emily Rose Michaud, through the<em> <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/pousses.blogspot.com');" href="http://pousses.blogspot.com/">Sprout Out Loud!</a> </em>gardener’s collective, created the Roerich Garden project in November 2007. Using this project as a starting point, this book provides a history of the meadow and documents the many ways the community uses and relates to this space. It then connects what’s happening in the Mile End to similar local, national, and international initiatives. It documents what the community wants for this space, as captured through a series of participatory consultations. And it asks questions about how we engage as citizens to imagine and create more open cities.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to get (infrequent) updates about this project and the book you can <a href="http://roerichproject.artefati.ca/purchase/">sign up</a>.</p>
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		<title>Žižek. Trashy guy.</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/zizek-trashy-guy/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/zizek-trashy-guy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:29:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment trash love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=728</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In April I went to see Astra Taylor's Examined Life, a film that "pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets." Right. No no really it was good. They just set themselves up for me to be bitchy by describing it that way.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In April I went to see Astra Taylor&#8217;s <a href="http://www3.nfb.ca/webextension/examined-life/"><em>Examined Life</em></a>, a film that &#8220;pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets.&#8221; Right. No no really it was good. They just set themselves up for me to be bitchy by describing it that way.</p>
<p>Most memorable were Cornell West, <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2008/10/lydia-lunch-at-the-pop-montreal-symposium/">Avital Ronell</a>, and Slavoj Žižek. But probably only because I already knew about them. In fact, I&#8217;ve been carrying around Ronell&#8217;s <em><a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=Lyze7PNXbkEC&amp;dq=ronell+telephone+book&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=J4rYJZs90W&amp;sig=IQ7Z8SFySSRTie1VTdCK0Qtu39I&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=smxRSpXJNqfBtwfrg7mcAQ&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1">The Telephone Book</a></em> for the better part of twenty years now. I&#8217;ve never been able to understand it. Because there&#8217;s a lack of philosophy on the streets (see paragraph one). Anyway I only bought the book because of the design and typography. I had to have it. <a href="http://richardeckersley.com/">Richard Eckersley</a> was brilliant. In fact, this was the first book he ever created using a computer. From his obituary in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/arts/design/19eckersley.html"><em>New York Times</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>In 1989, however, Mr. Eckersley made a radical departure from his signature restraint, shaking up the field with his design for Avital Ronell&#8217;s &#8220;Telephone Book: Technology, Schizophrenia, Electric Speech,&#8221; an unorthodox study of Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger and the philosophy of deconstruction. This was the first book Mr. Eckersley designed on the computer, using new page-making software programs to interpret the author&#8217;s complex postmodern ideas typographically.</p>
<p>Although the stark black-and-white cover of this long vertical book was rather quiet, he radically dislodged the interior text from conventional settings, and the book&#8217;s layout sometimes upstages the text by deliberately impeding the act of reading, which is just what Ms. Ronell wanted. Throughout the book there are unexplained gaps and dislocations between sentences and paragraphs, forcing the reader to work at reading. On one page is a mirror image of the page that faces it. On another, snakelike trails of space that come from careless word spacing (called rivers) are intentionally employed. Some words are blurred to the point of being indecipherable; one line runs into another because of the exaggerated use of negative line-spacing.</p>
<p>Though some adventurous graphic designers were experimenting at the time with idiosyncratic computer type design, this was first attempt to apply a &#8220;deconstructivist style&#8221; to a serious book.</p></blockquote>
<p>Well maybe I suck at philopophy and reading hard books. But at twenty I could pick out rocking design. Clearly I&#8217;m all about looks ;)</p>
<p>I digress. The point here was to focus on Žižek and to share with you this video.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="510" height="300" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wErpJRY-VRc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="510" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wErpJRY-VRc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>Thanks to <a href="http://hughmcguire.net/2009/04/07/the-examined-life/">Hugh</a> for blogging the movie.</p>
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		<title>The Internet of Things: A critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/the-internet-of-things-a-critique-of-ambient-technology-and-the-all-seeing-network-of-rfid/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/the-internet-of-things-a-critique-of-ambient-technology-and-the-all-seeing-network-of-rfid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ambient technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hardware hacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RFID]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[surveillance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=710</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The adoption of he technologies of the City Control is not inevitable, nor something that we must kindly accept nor sleepwalk into. Each of us can help contribute to building technologies of trust and empower ourselves in the age of mass surveillance and ambient technologies.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Rob van Kranenburg has written a new report for the <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/">Institute of Network Cultures</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>The Internet of Things</em> is the second issue in the series of <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/network-notebooks/">Network Notebooks</a>. It’s a critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID by <a href="http://www.waag.org/rob">Rob van Kranenburg</a>. Rob examines what impact RFID and other systems, will have on our cities and our wider society. He currently works at <a href="http://www.waag.org/">Waag Society</a> as program leader for the Public Domain and wrote earlier an article about this topic in the <a href="http://www.waag.org/project/magazine">Waag magazine</a> and is the co-founder of the DIFR Network. The notebook features an introduction by journalist and writer <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/seandodson">Sean Dodson</a>.</p>
<p>&#8230; Rob van Kranenburg outlines his vision of the future. He tells of his early encounters with the kind of location-based technologies that will soon become commonplace, and what they may mean for us all. He explores the emergence of the “internet of things”, tracing us through its origins in the mundane back-end world of the international supply chain to the domestic applications that already exist in an embryonic stage. He also explains how the adoption of he technologies of the City Control is not inevitable, nor something that we must kindly accept nor sleepwalk into. In van Kranenburg’s account of the creation of the international network of Bricolabs, he also suggests how each of us can help contribute to building technologies of trust and empower ourselves in the age of mass surveillance and ambient technologies.</p></blockquote>
<p>There&#8217;s a launch party in October, if you happen to be in Amsterdam. Kudos to <a href="http://www.leon-loes.nl/portfolio/">Léon &amp; Loes</a> for the great design.</p>
<p><a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/2008/10/02/book-launch-the-internet-of-things-by-rob-van-kranenburg/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-713" title="The Internet of Things" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Picture-15.png" alt="The Internet of Things" width="269" height="378" /></a></p>
<p>As you may imagine from my writing lately (<a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/digital-revolutionaries-whats-your-plan-b/">here</a>, <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/fix-hack-create/">here</a>), the word &#8220;<a href="http://bricolabs.net/">Bricolabs</a>&#8221; caught my attention. From their site:</p>
<blockquote><p>A dis<span>t</span>ribu<span>t</span>ed ne<span>t</span>work for global and local developmen<span>t</span> of generic infras<span>t</span>ruc<span>t</span>ures incremen<span>t</span>ally developed by communi<span>t</span>ies.</p>
<p>A global pla<span>t</span>form <span>t</span>o inves<span>t</span>iga<span>t</span>e <span>t</span>he new loop of <strong>open con<span>t</span>en<span>t</span>, sof<span>t</span>ware, and hardware for communi<span>t</span>y applica<span>t</span>ions</strong>, bringing people <span>t</span>oge<span>t</span>her wi<span>t</span>h new <span>t</span>echnologies and dis<span>t</span>ribu<span>t</span>ed connec<span>t</span>ivi<span>t</span>y, unlike <span>t</span>he dominan<span>t</span> focus of I<span>T</span> indus<span>t</span>ry on securi<span>t</span>y, surveillance, and monopoly of informa<span>t</span>ion and infras<span>t</span>ruc<span>t</span>ures.</p></blockquote>
<p>You can go to the <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/">Institute of Network Cultures</a> blog to <a href="http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/2008/10/02/book-launch-the-internet-of-things-by-rob-van-kranenburg/">download a copy and learn more</a></p>
<p>about it.</p>
<p><em>Via <a href="http://www.la-grange.net/karl/">Karl</a>.</em></p>
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		<title>Michael Thompson: Algae fighting over the surface of a ping-pong ball</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/michael-thompson-ping-pong-ball/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/michael-thompson-ping-pong-ball/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:46:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[institutions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=703</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We've been stuck swinging back and forth between the hierarchical and individualistic, the old public versus private debate. This model is inadequate and misleading. Instead we should  imagine four different colours of algae competing over the surface of a ping-pong ball. When one gets bigger the others shrink. The edges are constantly changing.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today I am fascinated by Michael Thompson and his book, <a href="http://www.triarchypress.co.uk/pages/book16.htm"><em>Organising and Disorganising: A Dynamic and Non-Linear Theory of Institutional Emergence and its Implications</em></a>.</p>
<p>Listen to him on <a href="http://earideas.com/earideas/explore/show/61296/Organising+and+Disorganising">EarIdeas</a> or read the <a href="http://www.thersa.org/fellowship/journal/archive/winter-2008/features/beyond-boom-and-bust">text of the talk</a> on the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA) website.</p>
<p>He&#8217;s writing theory. And like all good theory, it&#8217;s simple. Thompson lays out five &#8220;fundamental modes of societal life&#8221; —  hierarchical (government, public goods), individualistic (markets, private goods), egalitarian (equality with fettered competition, common-pool goods), fatalistic (inequality with unfettered competition, club goods), and autonomous. He does not talk much about the autonomous mode, I assume because it means opting out — not engaging.</p>
<p>The problem, he says, is that we&#8217;ve been stuck swinging back and forth between the hierarchical and individualistic, the old public versus private debate. He calls this &#8220;the pendulum model&#8221; and explains that it is inadequate and misleading. Instead, he suggests we imagine the four modes as four different colours of algae competing over the surface of a ping-pong ball. When one gets bigger the others shrink. The edges are constantly changing. It&#8217;s possible for one to take over the whole ball. This is a dynamic model — a &#8220;transactional sphere&#8221; — that allows for deeper debate and the development of a broader range of solutions to social issues.</p>
<blockquote><p>Take, for example, the Brent Spar oil storage structure, the deep ocean disposal of which was proposed by the market actor – Shell – and approved by the hierarchical actor – the British government’s regulatory agency. Had there been only markets and hierarchies, the Brent Spar would now be mouldering in its watery grave. But of course it isn’t. Another actor – Greenpeace – from a third way of organising (egalitarianism), forced its way in by audaciously, and very publicly, landing a helicopter on the structure as it was being towed out into the Atlantic. The disposal plans were abruptly abandoned by Shell (motorists, particularly in Germany, having stopped buying its petrol) and the British government was left with egg all over its face (John Major, the prime minister at the time, called Shell’s senior managers “wimps”). Shell then entered into lengthy discussions with Greenpeace and the Brent Spar has been cut up into cylindrical sections to form a ferry terminal in Norway. Those British citizens who managed to remain ignorant of the whole affair (and there were many) or who found themselves convinced by whomever they happened to have last seen arguing their case on television, were evidently bound into none of these ‘active’ ways of organising – individualism, hierarchy or egalitarianism – and constituted a fourth and rather inactive way – fatalism – assuring one another either that ignorance is bliss or that “nothing we could do would make any difference anyway”.</p></blockquote>
<p>What&#8217;s interesting about this? Five things. First, the dynamic push and pull: each approach attempts to disorganize the other, each needs the other to organize against.  (Reminds me of the <a href="http://www.ditext.com/ardrey/imperative/8.html">Amity-Enmity Complex</a>). Second, it allows for <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/05/nobody-but-yourself/">difference to be creative</a> and constructive. Third, it provides a framework for thinking, arguing, and coming up with the best solution (or re-solution). We need more deep, intelligent debate. To explore all options. No more ad hominem arguments — against individuals <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide"><em>or groups</em></a>. Fourth, it shows that we can make a difference — Greenpeace succeeded in changing the course of events. Fifth, the concept of &#8220;clumsy institutions&#8221;:</p>
<blockquote><p>So, are there any practical guidelines that we can draw, once we’ve detached ourselves from the inadequate and misleading pendulum model and embraced this indeterminate and disequilibrating table tennis ball? Yes there are, and I’ll mention just two of them. First, Ashby’s law of requisite variety tells us that a control system must always contain a variety equal to that which exists within that which it aspires to control. In other words, if one or more of our coloured patches are being reduced to points (as they likely will be if the control system we are applying lacks the requisite variety), watch out! And this principle, slightly more elaborated and tied-in with the classic theory of pluralist democracy, leads us towards the somewhat counterintuitive notion of ‘clumsiness’. Clumsiness is where each voice (each of the policy stories that are generated by the four ways of organising) is (a) able to make itself heard and (b) is then responsive to the others (see Figure 2).</p></blockquote>
<p>Here&#8217;s Figure 2:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-705" title="clumsy institutions" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/journal_bank-fig2.gif" alt="clumsy institutions" width="350" height="337" /></p>
<p>See? Isn&#8217;t that a nice way to imagine making decisions and developing policy? Clumsily fighting and finding a good solution. Together whether we like it or not.</p>
<p>Finally, there&#8217;s Thompson himself. Read his <a href="http://www.triarchypress.co.uk/pages/book16.htm">bio</a> or see him on <a href="http://www.thersa.org/fellowship/journal/videos/michael-thompson">video</a>: soldier, himalayan mountaineer, anthropologist, researcher, environmentalist, thinker. Amazing cool guy. Would I ever like to find a man like this ;)</p>
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		<title>Electronic, interactive tattoos</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/electronic-interactive-tattoo/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/07/electronic-interactive-tattoo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:24:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human-computer interaction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=698</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Been thinking about tattoos lately. And although this image is not a tattoo I find it really lovely. Especially the lace one. It&#8217;s Bare — a conductive ink for skin. A collaboration between Bibi Nelson, Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson, and Becky Pilditch. I am at once fascinated and frightened. Will take time to think and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Been thinking about tattoos lately. And although this image is not a tattoo I find it really lovely. Especially the lace one.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bareconductive.com/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-699" title="Bare Conductive" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/barecon.jpg" alt="Bare Conductive" width="468" height="256" /></a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s <a href="http://www.bareconductive.com/">Bare</a> — a conductive ink for skin. A collaboration between <a href="http://www.bibinelson.co.uk/about.shtml">Bibi Nelson</a>, <a href="http://www.ilizardi.com/">Isabel Lizardi</a>, <a href="http://www.mattmjohnson.com/">Matt Johnson</a>, and Becky Pilditch. I am at once fascinated and frightened. Will take time to think and articulate why.</p>
<p>I found it via one of <a href="https://twitter.com/hrheingold/status/2441134217">Howard Rheingold&#8217;s tweets</a>, which linked to a <a href="http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/07/02/my-body-paint-communicates-with-lights-and-music/">Yanko Design post</a>. Here is a video on how it works:</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsKLdQH1xdQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsKLdQH1xdQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>And as for tattoos here&#8217;s who I found in Montreal who is doing interesting work: <a href="http://www.yourmeatismine.com/">Yann</a>, <a href="http://www.eroby.net/tattoos-scars/">Emilie Roby</a>, and some of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylviels/sets/72157594151239269/">Sylvie</a>&#8216;s work. If you know of anyone else let me know. Looking for artists who do fresh and authentic work.</p>
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		<title>Map of railway networks</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/railway-networks/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/railway-networks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:40:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[railway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[train]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Because I love trains. And am drawn to understanding how we are connected. Or not. From the New Scientist&#8216;s article on our connected earth.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Because I love trains. And am drawn to understanding how we are connected. Or not. From the<em> <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/small-world/5">New Scientist</a></em><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/small-world/5">&#8216;s article on our connected earth</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/small-world/5"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-693" title="map of railway networks" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/mg20227041.500-4_1000.jpg" alt="map of railway networks" width="504" height="246" /></a></p>
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		<title>Fix, Hack, Create</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/fix-hack-create/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/fix-hack-create/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:57:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaboration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[creative commons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=683</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Once again Karl has been twittering awesomeness. (Thanks!) This is from some things he posted tonight&#8230; and connects to my Plan B post and some stuff I&#8217;ve been thinking about. First: The Repair Manifesto, from Amsterdam&#8217;s Platform 21. Funny. I just got my favorite jeans repaired (two pairs, the bottoms went out on me), as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Once again <a href="http://www.la-grange.net/karl/">Karl</a> has been twittering awesomeness. (Thanks!) This is from some things he posted tonight&#8230; and connects to my <a href="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/digital-revolutionaries-whats-your-plan-b/">Plan B post</a> and some stuff I&#8217;ve been thinking about. First: <em>The Repair Manifesto</em>, from Amsterdam&#8217;s <a href="http://www.platform21.nl/page/133/en">Platform 21</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.platform21.nl/"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-684" title="Platform 21: The Repair Manifesto" src="http://www.facilitatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/4375-454-803.jpg" alt="Platform 21: The Repair Manifesto" width="454" height="803" /></a></p>
<p>Funny. I just got my favorite jeans repaired (two pairs, the bottoms went out on me), as well as my favorite fuchsia heels. I had to go to three shoe repair shops. The first dismissed me, the second told me to throw them away, and I managed to convince the third one — although I had to dig through a dirty old box to find the right heels. Now they are black — more character. &#8220;Will your husband mind?&#8221; said <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielseguin/3547198434/sizes/o/in/set-72157617989880682/">the guy</a>. Uh-huh, right.</p>
<p>This also makes me think of the whole <a href="http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm">cradle-to-cradle</a> idea.</p>
<p>Then, there&#8217;s <a href="http://www.wired.com/dualperspectives/article/news/2009/06/dp_opensource_ars0616">Ryan Paul&#8217;s piece in <em>Wired</em> on hackable hardware</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Open source hardware is designed to be reprogrammed or physically modified to make it easy to install custom firmware and software to create entirely new products. The big idea: crowdsourcing hardware development will encourage innovation in unforeseen ways, much like how Creative Commons licenses have enabled artists to remix existing content to create new works.</p>
<p>&#8230; Not all gadget makers embrace this trend and a growing number of them are fighting back by blocking installation of custom software or slapping on warranty stickers to discourage would-be developers from opening up their gear and tweaking the electronics. (Apple has been particularly aggressive about discouraging iPhone hackers.)</p>
<p>Then there are companies like OpenMoko, a spinoff of Taiwan&#8217;s First International Computer, established to build an open source touchscreen smartphone.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the people pushing this project, an open phone is not really even a product. It&#8217;s the very embodiment of our vision of technology,&#8221; OpenMoko CEO Sean Moss-Pultz wrote in 2007. &#8220;We absolutely, passionately, believe that something as fundamental to our lives as the mobile phone must be open.&#8221;</p>
<p>The hardware schematics, CAD files and source code of the OpenMoko mobile phone handsets have all been made available under open licenses so they can be freely modified and redistributed. The project quickly attracted attention in the open source software community and became a hub of activity for open smartphone development.</p></blockquote>
<p>Will follow this with interest.</p>
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		<title>ParticipationCamp: Just like being there</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/participationcamp-just-like-being-there/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/participationcamp-just-like-being-there/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:40:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social reporting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual participation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=677</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I wanted to attend ParticipationCamp in New York. Apparently I can. From Montreal. They have live video feed with great quality: Of course social reporters can use add the #PCamp09 tag to their tweets, which are aggregated on front page of their website. Great use of social media and attention to virtual participants: livestreaming video, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I wanted to attend ParticipationCamp in New York. Apparently I can. From Montreal. They have live video feed with great quality:<br />
<script src="http://static.livestream.com/scripts/playerv2.js?channel=pcamp&amp;layout=playerEmbedDefault&amp;backgroundColor=0xffffff&amp;backgroundAlpha=1&amp;backgroundGradientStrength=0&amp;chromeColor=0x000000&amp;headerBarGlossEnabled=true&amp;controlBarGlossEnabled=true&amp;chatInputGlossEnabled=false&amp;uiWhite=true&amp;uiAlpha=0.5&amp;uiSelectedAlpha=1&amp;dropShadowEnabled=true&amp;dropShadowHorizontalDistance=10&amp;dropShadowVerticalDistance=10&amp;paddingLeft=10&amp;paddingRight=10&amp;paddingTop=10&amp;paddingBottom=10&amp;cornerRadius=10&amp;backToDirectoryURL=null&amp;bannerURL=https://s3.amazonaws.com/mogulus-channel-logos/ebd8bee6-9174-37dd-9a50-0a87dc54b076-banner.jpg&amp;bannerText=Participation Camp&amp;bannerWidth=320&amp;bannerHeight=50&amp;showViewers=true&amp;embedEnabled=true&amp;chatEnabled=true&amp;onDemandEnabled=true&amp;programGuideEnabled=false&amp;fullScreenEnabled=true&amp;reportAbuseEnabled=false&amp;gridEnabled=false&amp;initialIsOn=true&amp;initialIsMute=false&amp;initialVolume=10&amp;contentId=null&amp;initThumbUrl=null&amp;playeraspectwidth=16&amp;playeraspectheight=9&amp;mogulusLogoEnabled=true&amp;width=400&amp;height=400&amp;wmode=window" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
<p>Of course social reporters can use add the #PCamp09 tag to their tweets, which are aggregated on <a href="http://mudball.net/pcamp09/">front page of their website</a>.</p>
<p>Great use of social media and <a href="http://mudball.net/pcamp09/virtual-pcamp/">attention to virtual participants</a>: livestreaming video, twitter, skype. And of course great topic:</p>
<blockquote><p>Democracy is a game in which we all make the rules.  How do we make this  serious game more inclusive, more fair, and more fun? Participation Camp will provide the spark for an explosion of sharing, experimentation, and collaboration around this question.  Participants may attend a wide range of physical and virtual presentations (or deliver one themselves), compete in a conference-wide participation game, or roll up their sleeves in a hands-on workshop.</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Digital revolutionaries: What&#8217;s your Plan B?</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/digital-revolutionaries-whats-your-plan-b/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/digital-revolutionaries-whats-your-plan-b/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:59:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=668</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Farhad Manjoo wrote an article in Slate: The Revolution Will Not Be Digitized: How the Internet helps Iran silence activists. Consider this: According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran has one of the world&#8217;s most advanced surveillance networks. Using a system installed last year (and built, in part, by Nokia and Siemens), the government routes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://blog.farhadmanjoo.com/">Farhad Manjoo</a> wrote an article in <em>Slate</em>: <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2221397/">The Revolution Will Not Be Digitized: How the Internet helps Iran silence activists</a>. Consider this:</p>
<blockquote><p>According to the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html" target="_blank"><em>Wall Street Journal</em></a>, Iran has one of the world&#8217;s most advanced surveillance networks. Using a system installed last year (and built, in part, by Nokia and Siemens), the government routes all digital traffic in the country through a single choke point. Through &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_packet_inspection" target="_blank">deep packet inspection</a>,&#8221; the regime achieves omniscience — it has the technical capability to monitor every e-mail, tweet, blog post, and possibly even every phone call placed in Iran. Compare that with East Germany, in which the Stasi managed to tap, at most, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=QFGG5S2qGHYC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=stasi&amp;pg=PA9" target="_blank">about 100,000 phone lines</a> — a gargantuan task that required 2,000 full-time technicians to monitor the calls. The Stasi&#8217;s <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=QFGG5S2qGHYC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=stasi&amp;pg=PA8" target="_blank">work force comprised</a> 100,000 officers, and estimates put its network of citizen informants at half a million. In the digital age, Iran can monitor its citizens with a far smaller security apparatus. They can listen in on everything anyone says — and shut down anything inconvenient — with the flip of a switch.</p>
<p>&#8230;</p>
<p>Other than trying to shut down many parts of the Web, we don&#8217;t know what, precisely, Iranian security forces have done in response to the online protest movement. It&#8217;s unclear whether they&#8217;ve actually planted disinformation online or tried to trace images and videos back to their original posters. But the uncertainty itself breeds fear. Several times over the last couple weeks, rumors have flooded the Web that the government had already gotten wise to Twitter and was <a href="http://patronusanalytical.com/files/Twitter%20and%20disinformation%20in%20Iran.php" target="_blank">actively seeding the movement with fake news</a>. It was a stark example of how the psychological repression characteristic of authoritarian regimes — the constant fear, the inability to trust anyone — finds particularly fertile ground online.</p>
<p>&#8230;</p>
<p>On Wednesday, <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/latest-updates-on-irans-disputed-election-5/#t17h31m" target="_blank">a reader alerted the Lede</a> to an Iranian government Web site called <a href="http://www.gerdab.ir/" target="_blank">Gerdab.ir</a>, where authorities had posted pictures of protesters and were asking citizens for help in identifying the activists. That&#8217;s right — the regime is now using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing" target="_blank">crowd-sourcing</a>, one of the most-hyped aspects of Web 2.0 organizing, against its opponents. If you think about it, that&#8217;s no surprise. Who said that only the good guys get to use the power of the Web to their advantage?</p></blockquote>
<p>Important stuff to think about. Read <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/ahcs/faculty/barney/">Darin Barney</a> — this connects to what he writes about in <em><a href="http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=0745626696">The Network Society</a></em>:</p>
<blockquote><p>In the network society, power and powerlessness are a function of access to networks and control over flows. Access to significant networks is an important threshold of inclusion and exclusion, a condition of power and powerlessness&#8230;. Control over access to these networks becomes a crucial mechanism of power and domination.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="../2008/06/blogging-for-good-governance/">Anonymous blogging</a> is important. But we need more because it won&#8217;t help if the whole network is down. Which brings me to <a href="http://www.foulab.org/en/news/Foulab_News/2009/05/24/A_Documentary_Featuring_Foulab">Foulab</a> and other hardware hacker spaces, which I got interested in because of <a href="http://bethkolko.com/">Beth</a>&#8216;s involvement with a similar group in Seattle. Then I watched her talk at Berkman: <span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2WpfSBQrKA">User, Hacker, Builder, Thief: Creativity and Consumerism in a Digital Age</a>. </span>Beyond being fun to hang out at (Liam and I did a <a href="http://www.picocricket.com/">Pico Cricket</a> workshop, and I did an intro to basic electronics and <a href="http://www.arduino.cc/">Arduino</a>) I think they&#8217;re part of Plan B. Could you build an alternate network? Or do we go back to radio? Forgive my ignorance here — just trying to figure this stuff out.</p>
<p>And policy. And just a plain old basic understanding<em> how things work</em>. How do our networks operate? Who controls them? How? Knowing this is essential.</p>
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		<title>Unmanaging knowledge</title>
		<link>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/unmanaging-knowledge/</link>
		<comments>http://facilitatingchange.org/2009/06/unmanaging-knowledge/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:58:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Consume This]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaboration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internal communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knowledge sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knowledge workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organizational development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TASCHA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.facilitatingchange.org/?p=663</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Unmanaging Knowledge, an article by Charles Ehin, has a few nuggets I found helpful. He&#8217;s describing characteristics of an open organization. I don&#8217;t believe in open all the time. I actually get along quite well with rules and structure. They&#8217;re important. (Well, as long as they&#8217;re smart and don&#8217;t get in my way. Then time [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.smartpeoplemagazine.com/2009/05/unmanaging-knowledge/">Unmanaging Knowledge</a>, an article by <a href="http://www.unmanagement.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=47&amp;Itemid=2">Charles Ehin</a>, has a few nuggets I found helpful. He&#8217;s describing characteristics of an open organization. I don&#8217;t believe in open all the time. I actually get along quite well with rules and structure. They&#8217;re important. (Well, as long as they&#8217;re smart and don&#8217;t get in my way. Then time to ignore them or put up a fight.)</p>
<blockquote><p>Knowledge workers are an investment rather than an expense. They not only desire considerable personal autonomy but also the responsibility and accountability for running at least some part of an organization. They need to be treated as partners or associates and not as typical Industrial Age employees.</p></blockquote>
<p>I have often felt this. It&#8217;s part of why I work freelance. He goes on:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230; the more people are given a voice and implicit control in managing a venture, the more the informal networks (present in every entity) will begin to function more in the open and start making appropriate connections with other emergent groups.</p></blockquote>
<p>Ehin talks about the importance of tacit knowledge. How it&#8217;s difficult to access, share, and transfer to others without extensive personal contact and trust. How it&#8217;s based on habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves. And, most interestingly, how it emerges serendipitously as individuals or small groups confront new or unanticipated situations.</p>
<p>&#8220;People must first be surrounded by a supportive environment,&#8221; he writes. This is what I&#8217;ve been thinking too. This is why building connections and community within the organization matters so much. Why getting internal communications right matters so much. We not only have to do our work — we need to take time every once and a while to reflect on how we&#8217;re doing it. Especially in an ever-changing environment.</p>
<p>Ehin&#8217;s “organizational sweet spot” represents &#8220;the area where the formal and informal systems of an organization have reached “a meeting of the minds” over the fundamental goals, policies and processes of an organization. &#8230;What can be managed or adjusted is the organizational context or ecology that surrounds the sweet spot.&#8221; Makes me think of the New Institutional Economics. Incentives matter. Institutions matter. Especially the informal ones. Systems, culture, the framework in which we operate.</p>
<p>He goes on to outline two categories of organizational ecologies. I&#8217;m paraphrasing here:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Controlled-Access System</strong> — Access to the resources of a group and its activities are controlled by one or a few select individuals. All other members of the organization must first get approval from these executives before any of the assets can be used. Compliance instead of commitment is prized.</li>
<li><strong>Shared-Access System </strong>— The resources of a group and its activities are dealt with by all members of an organization. All organizational members have considerable autonomy in decision-making and in resource allocations. Expert power instead of position power dominates. Emphasis is placed on situational leadership, open book management, and self-organization in solving problems or pursuing opportunities (read: &#8220;open organization&#8221;).</li>
</ul>
<p>This example really hit home: &#8220;I would like to download a free Web resource which will help me perform my job better, but the IT Department will not allow me to do that.&#8221;</p>
<p>Oh boy. That is me. I did it anyway. Sorry about that IT dudes ;)</p>
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