MaRS Archives - Lewwwk

It’s Go Time >> ChangeMedium Toronto

It’s go time.

ChangeMedium Toronto is slated for October 24th at MaRS. What is it? Read more to find out. Want a hand in it? Leave a comment below.

What?
ChangeMedium is an initiative to provoke public micro-messaging as a medium for change. Public micro-messaging (e.g. Twitter) is emerging as the most accessible, participatory public medium in history. Bringing the open and emergent properties of the web to the global reach of text messaging is already showing great potential for public benefit. But we’ve only begun to understand what’s happening let alone build an infrastructure to make the most of this medium. Enter ChangeMedium Toronto.

ChangeMedium Toronto is an event to explore the frontiers, gather community, and make the medium. It will be a simple format with 2 tracks – one for researchers and one for hackers. We want to explore the frontiers. What is this medium about? We want to push ourselves further. What are the implications for change? We want to contribute to making it better. Let’s make it happen.

Why?
The pace of change is stunning. Researchers, hackers and makers are already involved in understanding and applying this medium. Whether for fun, profit, or benefit we’re creating this as we go. ChangeMedium Toronto is our inaugural effort to convene this community and introduce and provoke the potential for change.

Who?
ChangeMedium emerged out of the work of a group of people passionate about the world play with Twitter as a platform for change. The Toronto event itself was provoked by Frances Westley and Renjie Bitauld of SiG@Waterloo, Lisa Torjman and Allyson Hewitt of SiG@MaRS, Ryan Coleman, Peter Flaschner, and James Walker.

Of course we’re just beginning and what ends up will be a product of the community. Have an idea? Want to play a role? Want to know more? Leave a comment and get the ball rolling.

“The Convo” on the shift

A few weeks ago a few loosely connected people gathered for a conversation – the #convo (tweetstream). Most I hadn’t met before – except through twitter – but the conversation is still with me seems to have woven into some really great places in Toronto’s twittersphere like #thmvmnt #changecamp #tsTO etc.

Here’s a quick recap of what my memory and chicken-scratch allow and I’m hoping some more fulsome records emerge in addition to the great tweetstream and photos.

The group was drawn to the idea that there is a big shift underway and a feeling that we’re dancing around some simple threads that run through the core of this for all of us. What came out were 4 areas:

Approach -> organic order
Character -> enlightenment
Context -> global locality
Intent -> care to shift – shift to care

The character topic was one that I spent some time on in the convo. We named the cluster ‘character’ because we thought it was trying to describe a way of being — for individuals and for organizations. When asked to describe the concrete action/ultimate realization of that topic what came out was ‘non-denominational enlightenment or self-actualization’ and so whatever things help people and organizations on their own journeys toward ‘enlightenment’ are practical and helpful in developing character. And in the context of an increasingly fluid and transparent world character is ever more clearly a core determinant of outcome.

While I’m at it, there were some other aha’s for me in working up to the convo – the practical disciplines that are/will be most helpful through the shift. Through a series of contributions and conversations those ended up for me as the creative (emphasis on the create part) disciplines of:

There are a few other follow-ups on the wiki. Feel free to jump in. These are exciting times where the creative discplines will rule and participation by doing makes the world we want.

PS… huge thanks again to Joseph Dee for suggesting we do it, Ryan Coleman for bringing his vizthink skills and facilitating, and MaRS for hosting.

The convo I’d like to have: w + ppo + d >> our future

*** SESSION WIKI NOW LIVE ***
Those who know me know that this is a persistent theme with me – and now provoked by @josephdee – maybe it’s time to take this into a more focused conversation with a few more folks.

Premise:

The way of the world is borked.
The web (among other things) is shifting the way we organize resources, ourselves and create new things (W)
From that (in part) is emerging a new mode of organizing where the organization itself (not just the product) is peer produced (PP0).
Design is the essential process of intentionally creating things (D)
‘Un-borking’ our world means creating our future through W+PPO+D.

The conversation I’d like to have:

is this premise (or something close to it) something that we really buy into?
if so, what does it mean to put it in practice ourselves?
how do we weave it into the practices of others?
what are we (each individually and collectively) doing about it?

So I ask, what do you think about the premise, the conversation, and do you want to participate in this conversation (or maybe you are already having it)?

A couple of us have floated the idea of having a conversation at MaRS the morning of Dec. 11th. If you are interested – comment below or ping me directly.

*** Some other things that have come up in subsequent conversations around this – not sure yet how it will fit into the conversation but keep firing away.

The role of mindset is fundamental
‘Spiritual’ development and the question of “what am I” has a potentially significant role
My past work around ‘The Great Remix’ may lend to this too

Social Tech Training – June 22-24, 2008

That’s right, Social Tech Training is happening this June in Toronto. Here’s the link and a quick blurb. Check-it out and sign-up if it catches your eye. Coming from Web of Change and MaRS it’s bound to be an excellent event!

No one working in social change these days can afford to ignore the opportunities offered by the web. Most organizations get stuck, though, on “How do we do it?” “Where do we start?” and “Who can help us?” Interest in high, but the talent pool of people equipped to understand, prioritize, and implement these tools and ideas remains limited.

We’ve gathered the best and the brightest leaders in this sector, and we’ve put together an agenda that will help take your organization to the next level. Each participant will emerge with new technical, creative, and leadership skills, a powerful network, and a customized, comprehensive “Web 2.0 Plan” for their organization.

This training is an excellent opportunity to connect to the big picture, develop practical skills required to execute, and network with both leaders and learners in this emerging space. We are excited to be part of this transformation of the social change sector. Please join us!