:Title: Getting back to work :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:57:23 PDT :Modified: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:02:33 PDT :URL: http://www.ned.com/user/u607448711/news/6/ It's been a long time, dear friends.... The past many moons have been rather all-consuming in other realms of my global life... After 10.5 very intense years of Life in Africa, we have recently moved (back) to Brussels, Belgium for 2-3 years as a stepping stone in planning our next family moves to the S. E. Asia region The boys and I arrived in Brussels in mid April. The house is mostly unpacked, we're working our ways into new family routines, and I am making plans for getting myself back up and running with some new work endeavors. First, I am planning to accept a part-time (12-15 hours per week) job on the telecommuting staff roster at http://www.Transtec.be, the multi-disciplinary development consulting firm that I worked for here in Brussels before I moved to Uganda. Second, I am also planning to rent 50 hours/month office space at The HUB in Brussels http://brussels.the-hub.net/public/ - I'm very excited about this! Spending time at the HUB offers me a framework for getting to know other social entrepreneurs and a network of adults I can actually talk to about ideas for my next project. Yes, Third - there is a new project in the works that I am starting to feel driven to pursue now. It's pretty big, fun and intellectually interesting. I am currently putting some serious creative energy into scheduling the time I want to "sustainably" be able to work on it by September this year. I'm not going to say much about the actual project yet, but I can let you know that community collaboration will be an important element. I've been putting some serious thought lately into ways to incorporate nedspace into my current project, in ways that can hopefully inject some new life into the dialogues here. I am still convinced that this platform offers the best collaborative tools I've ever experienced. Until/as that happens, I am determined to work my way through David Bale's birthday plot (see http://www.ned.com/user/u437088629/news/7/). Probably not as fast as one day at a time, but I hereby commit to David's one step at a time plan to get myself back into the swing of things here (thanks David!). For the sake of getting back to work, I really do want to start being here more. I hope you will be too. Huge hello hugs from Brussels to all my old friends! Be sure to let me know if you'll be passing through "The Capital of Europe" any time soon. Nedsters are always welkom :) *P.S. I originally posted note this on 15 June, and on 27 July I decided to edit out some of the tragic personal details that I initially posted at the beginning... time to move on! If you're a close friend and want to know more about what happened prior to this big move, pm me :)* ---- **Comments** :Author: Linda Nowakowski :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:07:45 PDT Dearest Christina - It is so good to see you back active among us. We have always had you here in some form but active is distinctly better. What happened to thoughts of graduate school? Missing you terribly - as always. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:33:05 PDT :Modified: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:33:56 PDT Hi Linda, Thoughts of a PhD are still in my head, but muddled at the moment. The entrepreneur in me wants to do something; the social scientist in me wants to study the thing that I do... I've wanted to teach; I've wanted the legitimacy that another degree might offer; I've wanted to write. Have realized that I can teach others without a PhD, I can allow myself the legitimacy to ensure my project's respectabiity, and that the book I have inside me to write is not an academic one just yet. Without at all closing it out as an option, I guess I realize I need to be really clear on why I want to pursue a PhD. Until that particular clarity comes, I won't be sitting idle. Many of the ideas I was thinking about in the context of a PhD research proposal can also build into a more action oriented plan... one that will hopefully provide a source of funding for the applied research project I would love to eventually propose for academic study. Miss you too, dear. Your apartment in Thailand and the Asoke communities you introduced us to there feel so very far away in space and time right now! Will try to hunt up some old links to them... do you have any to post here? ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:03:50 PDT Just edited in the link to The HUB in Brussels http://brussels.the-hub.net/public/ ---- :Author: Rory Turner :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:07:02 PDT So good to hear of your adventures, and wishing you well! Thanks for sharing with me. I have been up to some other stuff myself, and will post soon regarding it. You or others may well have ideas that will be centrally helpful in this endeavor. Stay tuned. Warm hellos to other old friends! ---- :Author: David Bale :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:20:15 PDT This just gets better and better! Not just Christina, but now Rory too. So good to hear from old friends! :) ---- :Author: kiwanuka mulindwa :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:39:48 PDT A series of unfortunate events but we are with you Christina. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:47:24 PDT Right now I am loving the trust engendered by our past interactions here at Ned and on Onet. When someone like Rory says they are working on something new it sends delightful tingles down my spine. Rory I am sure we will all look forward to learning more about what you've got up your sleeve! ---- :Author: Evvy Bryning :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:15:00 PDT Yes, it has been quite a year.....for all of us. But I am so happy to hear that you are coming back. For me personally, it has been a very lonely year without you. I am going over to David's ned plot now and check it out. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:42:39 PDT Well, it was really a year since then but much better you are back online ---- :Author: barbara spalding :Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:43:43 PDT Hi Christina! ---- :Author: David Bale :Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:14:56 PDT And Hi Barbara! Lovely to see you on Ned! ---- :Author: Grace Ayaa :Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:07:36 PDT I am very sure beyond doubt that you are going to pull back all the great crowd that has been on Onet and Ned,your contribution was so enormous, I am so happy that you are here again! ---- :Author: Evvy Bryning :Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:55:20 PDT So good to see some of LiA back on ned. Here's hoping we can get things going again. ---- :Author: Evvy Bryning :Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:58:07 PDT barbara spalding said: Hi Christina! HI Barbara, really good to see you here ---- :Author: Shawn Kelly :Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:50:02 PDT Why didn't I see this until today? Working on the birthday plot too. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:43:43 PDT welcome back cuz! ---- :Author: kiwanuka mulindwa :Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:35:08 PDT LiA on track ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:40:03 PDT I've had this window open for a week now, wanting to write about my (great) experience with the Ashoka France group last weekend. Amazing how having the kids home full time gobbles up every hour of the day. Will today be the day I actually write something? Stay tuned... ---- :Author: kiwanuka mulindwa :Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:51:01 PDT My schedule is a lil tight but will keep on keeping on. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:55:50 PDT At the beginning of this month I was fortunate to be invited to attend a 24 hour working session with some francophone Ashoka Fellows that was hosted by Ashoka France at a lovely lakeside setting just outside of Paris. Not only was it exhilerating (as it always is) to connect with other Fellows, but it was also fascinating to see Ashoka France's unique new "Ashoka Support Network" (or "ASN") model in action, and to interact with several ASN members as well. For those who don't know much about the inner workings of Ashoka, the global Fellowship is managed in a very decentralized way, with national and regional offices taking the lead on identifying potential Fellows and providing varying levels of backbone support to mostly Fellow led networking initiatives. It's only relatively recently in the organization's history (the past +/-5 years) that Fellows from the most industrialized countries have been named. Prior to that, Ashoka's centralized fundraising efforts were generally geared toward getting investors (and also some inkind service providers) in wealthier countries to support system changers in less industrialized/poorer countries. But identifying and appointing Fellows in wealthier countries has resulted in a need to reconceptualize the fundraising & support model, and decentralize that as well. In that context (which I admittedly don't have all the super-fine details on) Ashoka France has come up with a really interesting fundraising and support framework that they call the Ashoka Support Network. To date, the ASN model is unique to francophone Europe (organized & coordinated by Ashoka France). It is my understanding, however, that the model is now being considered as a possible new way forward for other regional & national Fellowships to follow. The concept is pretty simple - the Ashoka Support Network consists of individuals who commit to contributing both **money** (10,000 Euro/yr) **and time** over a 3 year period. Each Ashoka Fellow has a small consultative team of ASN members "assigned" to their project according to the relevant expertise of the ASN members, and with whom they meet on a regular basis to work on particular issues related to taking their work to the next level. 2-3 times per year, there are also "Work on it" events, like the one I participated in earlier this month. At that kind of event, Fellows can present specific current issues they are facing and the others who are there (ASN, Ashoka staff and other Fellows) spend 2-3 hours brainstorming on ways forward in small working groups. The Fellows benefited from very targeted, practical, high level discussion around their issues, and the ASN members got to benefit from direct involvement in helping to make a range of good things happen. I was really delighted and impressed with the ASN system in action at the weekend event. For the sake of other Ashoka Fellows everywhere, I hope it does take off in other countries. During my Life in Africa days I would have loved to have that kind of regular face to face interaction with local business leaders who might have been part of an ASN in Uganda. Interestingly, though, one drawback that was mentioned in a feedback session about the ASN, was that Fellows were missing more interaction with other Fellows. That's a shame. In East Africa, where we didn't have an external support system to look to, interaction with other Fellows was (in my book) hands down the best part of being a Fellow. I'd hate to see that important element in Ashoka's culture become undervalued in the move to develop more ASN structures. All in all, though, I wholeheartedly applaud the work that Ashoka France has done to develop and pioneer this new model for supporting social entrepreneurs in such a targeted way, and look very much forward to participating in the next "work on it" event in October. Should anyone reading wish to get in touch with Ashoka France (or Belgium!) about participating as an ASN member, don't hesitate to send me a pm here on Ned and I'll be happy to connect you. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:47:31 PDT :Modified: Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:57:04 PDT On a personal level, it's been important for me since leaving Uganda in April to invest considerable time in carefully planning how to go about jumping back into social innovation mode. My experiences online from Africa have born many ideas; sifting through to identify THE idea that I might be able to most effectively develop while in Brussels for 3-4 years has been a personal thought process that's greatly benefited from stepping back to enjoy some relaxed offline time. Of the 3 main ideas I've been considering, one has come to the forefront and taken a place of primary thought focus since June... it's an idea I have for developing an online system to enhance new social benefit concepts and collaboration efforts in their early stages. When I started out in Uganda, I was under a rock for much of my early time - in my earliest days as a social entrepreneur I did not have a conceptual framework for understanding social entrepreneurship as a field, or Better World Building as a viable global economic sector. I perceived myself to be alone, weird and unusual. If there is one thing I have learned since Ashoka introduced me to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a profession, it is that I am certainly not alone. My objective in developing an online system, that can enhance the viability of social entrepreneurship and cross-dimensional collaboration, builds upon the knowledge that there are many of us out there facing similar challenges at various stages in our "Better World Building" work. I see "us" as a sector, with a need for globalized systems that can enhance our collective ability to influence global development. We don't just need to make change happen - we also need to make it stick. To date, I have only articulated the idea twice - both times to people who are active in developing and promoting social entrepreneurship at a sectoral level. Their reception to the idea and the financially & operationally practical systems-level approach I intend to take in developing it has been very positive. There are a few more private conversations I aim to have this month before I actually start publishing any details of the project online. I have promised myself that the real work begins, from the ground up, in September. Just yesterday, I had one of those 2 discussions in which I articulated my idea with the folks at `i-propeller`_ in Brussels. Like the `HubBrussels`_, which I wrote about earlier as a place I hoped to possibly call home for this new venture, i-propeller offers an innovation action lab context within which to set up shop. What I appreciate most about the i-propeller set-up is their strong academic ties in the form of sector-level research projects on social entrepreneurship, in partnership with leading European universities. Their main & only requirement for offering downtown office space for me to work from part time, is that I be willing to share my knowledge and collaborate with the other projects that are happening there. Perfect... and the PhD option I'd been toying with comes back into reach through working with others who are academically active. BTW - The part time job with a `consulting firm`_ I'd mentioned earlier that I was offered didn't end up being financially exciting *enough* for me to decide that it is worth my time right now. Just before meeting with the i-propeller folks yesterday, I finally decided to turn it down. Right now, I am thinking that 2 days/week at i-propeller, 1/2 - 1 day/week with the HubBrussels community and the rest of my time at home will provide me with the foundational real-world context I need to move myself firmly back into social innovation mode online in September as planned. No more working under a rock! This time I am doing things differently. While others have sometimes articulated the need to balance their time spent building online connections with their real-world work, I suspect that at this stage in my career it will be important to me to balance my time spent building real-world connections with my online work. But by reaching out actively into the European social entrepreneurship scene, I am starting to think that my next few years in Brussels are going to be a lot of fun, and possibly more productive in terms of the impact I might hope to create than I'd previously thought. I am getting excited to get back to work. That's a very good thing. .. _`i-propeller`: http://www.i-propeller.com/ .. _`HubBrussels`: http://brussels.the-hub.net/public/ .. _`consulting firm`: http://www.transtec.be . *(edited to add links)* ---- :Author: Michael Maranda :Date: Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:19:51 PDT Thanks for drawing my attention to this thread -- being attendant to family I only read the latest post. We should certainly talk some time or at the very least I should share my own model with you. I've been keeping my big concept/model under a rock as well, so to speak. Mainly I want to be more deliberate in this effort. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:06:30 PDT I think I'm finally ready to talk a bit about the big idea I'm getting myself ready to start working on. I was asked by Jill Finlayson (@socialedge) to weigh in with thoughts on a discussion she will facilitate at #SoCap09 about some of the gaps in the big picture of social media and social change. For the first time, I articulated the plan and why I am doing it in writing. I thought I could share it here as a first glimpse of what the new project is about. ### In essence, the project I'm getting myself ready to start building in September can be described as an effort to fill the gaps I see. 1. We need trust-filled spaces for collaboratively developing and implementing action together. We need to be able to invite our constituents - including the people who give to us and the people we serve - into dynamic dialogues that can take place at a slower pace than blogs or twitter allow. On twitter I am often invited to visit blog posts about issues and personal stories, but I am not seeing folks sending out invitations to work together on real actions to address real problems. 2. We need to address the financial ROI of participating in the world of social change via social media. An income generating mechanism that can make it possible for small orgs (particularly orgs in countries where internet access cost is high) to justify the time required to join the online movement is critical to the balanced growth of our global presence online as a sector / movement / force / impact in world. The current proliferation of prizes is disruptive to offline work and requires too much of an "all or nothing" effort. Small scale and new initiatives, in particular, need welcoming spaces where they can call out for other kinds of help and crowdsource topical knowledge. 3. Here in Belgium, there is currently a wave of young social investment funds looking to finance new socially entrepreneurial ideas. I've got appointments with 2 and am told by both friends who arranged those contacts that one of the common issues they face is finding initiatives to invest in. We need transparent investor-friendly spaces that invite engagement and observation. We need to be documenting our social change portfoilios and making our track records easier to find. So with all of that in mind, I am working toward developing a model for a paid membership site ($5/mo) which borrows a page from the MLM industry to redistribute the membership fees equally to participants, their favorite orgs and member developed/voted collaboration efforts. In addition to generating a bit of reliable monthly online income for the people and orgs participating in the system, $1 of every monthly fee will go into a prize pot to support collaborations. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:12:18 PDT Should have maybe shared this part too, which points more to the why: The socialchange space has changed dramatically since I last spent a significant amount of time in it. Immediately apparent is the sheer number of new soldiers in the Better World Building army online. We are emerging as possibly the most vibrant sector / movement / market / force in the online economy. I also very strongly believe that if we start to get ourselves organized around building systems and collaboration environments for putting our knowledge and financial resources together toward mobilizing solutions, we can start to multiply our impact and kick healing change on a global scale into overdrive. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:24:14 PDT Geez I sound so pompous. Who the hell am I to think I can do something like this? ---- :Author: Shawn Kelly :Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:32:13 PDT Pompous? Nah. It does remind me of the site you joined awhile back, and I think I might have joined too, but have never been back since. It was social-entrepreneurial, but had a financial angle to it too. I have completely forgotten the name. ---- :Author: Patricia Burbank :Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:37:59 PDT Christina. I stumbled upon this from your facebook entry today. Ihave not been on Ned in an age - was not sure I could remember my password - but there it was, welcoming me to this familiar look from ONet days. Congratulations on your "big ideas"!! It is fun just to read and hear the glorious stream of creative thought that emerges from you. Hope life is good in Brussels. I am still fully engaged in One World Children's Fund - check us out at www.owcf.org. (don't remember how to make the link!) love to you, Patricia ---- :Author: David Braden :Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:19:58 PDT Nothing good happens unless some caring person takes the initiative (risk). It was the money aspect that made O.net so diverse (every one wants money) but also proved distracting - at least to me when we were working on a collaboration and then had to drop everything to try to get our friends to vote on a few dollars for the cause. If you can make the collaboration the focus and the money what? a reward for collaboration? that might work. Let me know how I can help. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:43:16 PDT :Modified: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:48:49 PDT Wow. Feels like my stars are aligning :) I have had a serendipitous series of spontaneous email dialogues and conversations this week that has been so interesting. I've been off the grid of the online Better World Building industry for about 1.5 years now, so this summer I've been jumping in on some twitter chats now and again and people are sometimes kind of surprised at the stuff I'm contributing because they don't know anything about me. Some lovely people have reached out to dialogue. Talking by email with @socialedge was interesting because I used to be a really active member of the social edge community and I decidedly packed up and left one day many years back. I moved to Onet in search of globally collaborative space for my African communities. Talk about a huge impact moment in my career... and now @socialedge wants to know more about my ideas on collaboration :) Tonight I've been emailing with @HildyGottlieb and remembered: The company I'm getting ready to incorporate is called Internet4change - alot of the online work we did in Uganda was produced through an "internet4change training" concept. The plan was to certify internet4change agents to represent local people and orgs online, and facilitate their participation in the online world. I have always dreamed of one day developing a certification curriculum, with new world ethics at the heart of it all, that would help to legitimize the Agent's role of helping African communities access and participate in the web in locally practical ways.... and build Agent reputation into a source of employment income for the Agents. Hildy Gottlieb is the author of the `PollyAnna Principles`_ and founder of the `Community-Driven Institute`_. wonderful. Fireworks in the brain wonderful! Had another great meeting to get to know more partners at http://i-propeller.com today. That collaborative partnership is in the bag - we're all super excited to see how to integrate their sector level research approach to what I'm trying to do. Talking to the guy there who can walk me through incorporating next week. The office is kid friendly and at the heart of downtown shopping. Love love love it. Have also had some fun and insightful voice time with PamO, Thomas K and Michael Maranda over the past 10 days (so nice to finally be able to use skype! in Uganda I never could get it to work.) Tomorrow evening I'm chatting with the Unreasonable institute guy. Will see if I can spend at least 1/2 day at http://brussels.the-hub.net/public/ tomorrow (I am officially a Hub member now), but really must do major food shopping. The kids come back on Friday and it's going to take me all day Thursday to get my mess from 3 weeks of alone time cleaned up. Must remember to maintain life balance... (oooooommmmm) .. _`PollyAnna Principles`: http://pollyannaprinciples.org/ .. _`Community-Driven Institute`: http://help4nonprofits.com/ConsultantsEducation/ConsultantEducationCurriculum.htm edited to add links ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:29:51 PDT ok, yes. I love tarot cards. Today's are just too good not to share **how you feel about yourself now** (The Emperor) You feel that success and achievement are on their way to you. A man of significance will provide his support, perhaps your father, husband/partner or boss - whoever it is, he will give you steady support. You feel confident and able to influence people and events, as you have a great sense of your own authority. Expect promotion at work or achieving greater status in life. If you have been a victim of ill will be assured that you will win in the end. **what you most want at this moment** (Judgement) The cards suggest christina, that what you most want at this time is a new start, to close this chapter in your life and have a brand new beginning. This is not a time for regret but for rejoicing. Rewards for past efforts will follow and you are sure to have many opportunities presented to you. Life will pick up a pace and the choices you make will have far reaching implications that could change your life dramatically. Any legal issues should be ruled in your favour. **your fears** (The World) You are afraid of taking action and lack confidence and will power, but this is a time to be positive and proactive, otherwise you will experience loss of momentum, delays and stagnation. Completion and success are only a step away, don’t give up, lose heart or change direction when you are so close to the finish line. **what is going for you** (The High Priestess) All lines are open in your telephone exchange with your intuition, and there is no better guide than your intuition. Listen, listen carefully and the secret you want revealed will be shared with you. **what is going against you** (The Hermit) You are at risk of doing something hasty out of impatience and rage. This is not a time for irrational and impulsive behaviour - don’t be cantankerous (if closer to old than young!) or arrogant and resentful (if closer to young than old!) Try and remain calm and let the rage go, take time to make a cool and collected decision. The Hermit signals a warning not to make hasty decisions. **outcome** (The Chariot) Conflicts ending in victory! Keep charging ahead this is a time of change, travel and success if you stay committed to achieving your goals. A journey relating to work is imminent and if you’ve had your eye on that new car it will soon be yours. ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:07:16 PDT Many don't view tarot cards as a power for good, so would urge caution with these. I agree very much about the collaboration spaces; the idea that you are a "misguided individual" when standing up for the cause of social enterprise is one that can be fought and won. Winning one battle doesn't win the war, though. Practically collaborating is, however, somehow different. Two separate visions can often create friction in a partnership where the sum of both is less than the whole. It's often a "nice to have", rather than a practical solution. Often organisations have whole histories of perhaps justified animosity, which they would have to put to one side to collaborate and it would be unfair to discriminate against organisations who have been wronged by others and now refuse to collaborate. I prefer a model of "collaborative brainstorming", but then from this process a lead organisation can choose or have recommended suitable partners, if any, for a funded project. A coercive approach won't work as well, as it will eliminate some of the most creative organisations. Remember too that "social enterprise" and "visionary" still go together. Nowhere soon are the oil tycoons, gun lobbies and farmers with huge estates going to accept swingeing change. Most will only accept social enterprise if they are told it is part of the rules, because they are a recipient of the benefit or because they care about others and they don't mind how hardship is alleviated, as long as it happens. Thus, we must fight for the most social "definition" of social enterprise and then try to bring about changes in the rules of government, not vice versa. Best of luck in what is an exciting time. ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:50:22 PDT :Modified: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:53:59 PDT Ben Parkinson said: Many don't view tarot cards as a power for good, so would urge caution with these. Haha! Sorry Ben, I've never been one to worry about what others might think. I look everywhere for inspiration, and don't hide it. Nor do I wish to flaunt my personal belief that inspiration to reach for big change is out there everywhere, in every belief system. I am sorry if it made you uncomfortable. At a moment when I feel like *stars are aligning*, I think it's useful to see what the tools associated with using that energy have to give. There are other moments when I read my bible, and I pray. I also seek and find inspiration regularly in manmade movies or `videos`_. As I deliberately work to "get myself ready" to get back to work on something new, I know - of myself - that I need all the inspiration I can get. Thank goodness it's everywhere, and that there are so many divers ways and means to find it when we need it. *edited to add a specific apology to you Ben, & fix link* .. _`videos`: http://www.ned.com/group/rnr/news/12/ ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:15:46 PDT Something the UK government produced today, not especially on topic, but important nonetheless, since the UK probably leads the way on SE. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/third_sector/assets/COI%20SE%20presentation%20FINAL.pdf "Is Social Enterprise at a Crossroads?" ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:38:41 PDT I've never really gotten into Tarot but I generally like the idea of it. I can tell by the readings your using a newer version, which has "kinder, gentler" language than some. How we understand of course is very peculiar to ourselves, but at the same time there are great themes and archetypes which are common among people. Card readings are a way of connecting our particular stories to the greater stories of people. One of my cockamamie ideas for open source books is a Ugandan Tarot--my Ugandan friends have told me what a bad idea it is. The clan system of the Buganda has animal totems. I'm fascinated by the totems and the stories of the clans because they represent a way of visualizing the whole story of a people. I thought that a card divination using the animal totems would be an interesting way of sharing this story. My Ugandan friends' view: Really BAD idea! Stories are powerful and also dangerous, even still our understanding depends on stories. The Wikipedia article on `Organization Stories`_ seems to me a good overview of the subject of the importance of stories for organizations. I suspect many reading this are far deeper into the subject than the overview. But I want to draw attention to a quote from it: "It is now generally appreciated that much knowledge in organizations does not assume the form of logico-scientific generalizations, theories and formulas, but has a narrative character – it amounts to a large reservoir of stories, tales, recipes and experiences (Orr 1996) that are traded in what are often seen as communities of practice." I think this realization is part of the reason for attention to social media in business and social enterprise. Christina I bet you already read `Beth Kanter`_ but in the off chance you don't, her work is very relevant to the work you do. Darn it, there was something else I wanted to say, but am forgetting now and it's time for me to make supper ;-) .. _`Organization Stories`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_story .. _`Beth Kanter`: http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/ ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:32:44 PDT So tomorrow's the day I've promised myself to actually GET STARTED in earnest! Enough mental preparation already... let's get this show on the road :) ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:06:10 PDT This thread continues as a group stakeholder discussion in the Internet4Change Group: http://www.ned.com/group/i4c/news/. I'd also like to give a heads up to my ned friends that my main personal news outlet has shifted to Facebook (as you may or may not already know). I foresee that my participation at Ned in the future will largely be targeted to Internet4Change related pursuits. While Ned still offers some of the best collaboration tools I've seen, Facebook offers me more variety of opportunities to deepen my relationships with people who are meaningful to me. I already see most of you there regularly anyway, just thought you should know. The work part of me stays at ned and and the personal part of me goes. Glad to have that sorted out. ---- :Author: stephanie parkinson :Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:45:22 PDT Christina Jordan said: Should have maybe shared this part too, which points more to the why: The socialchange space has changed dramatically since I last spent a significant amount of time in it. Immediately apparent is the sheer number of new soldiers in the Better World Building army online. We are emerging as possibly the most vibrant sector / movement / market / force in the online economy. I also very strongly believe that if we start to get ourselves organized around building systems and collaboration environments for putting our knowledge and financial resources together toward mobilizing solutions, we can start to multiply our impact and kick healing change on a global scale into overdrive. Sticking my big toe in the water here...Attending COSI10 Chicago. What the heck do I think I am doing?! ---- :Author: Christina Jordan :Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:09:00 PST stephanie parkinson said: Sticking my big toe in the water here...Attending COSI10 Chicago. What the heck do I think I am doing?! We're a generally good bunch Stephanie :-) So glad you'll be attending cosi10. If you don't already know Jean, you will be in for a treat - she has a lovely way of helping the people she works with see new kinds of potential. BTW I've sent her your venue question on skype so I hope she will be getting back soon on that. ----