post_number,post_id,created_at,reply_to_post_id,source_username,target_username,text 1,509,2016-06-20T22:42:36.000Z,509,anon2267245549,anon2267245549,"When current regulations are obsolete, one solution may be to evade rather than to reform or abide by potentially stifling rules. Evasive entrepreneurship refers to circumventing institutional obstacles as part of novel activity. It is not illegal: it’s done by using new technologies, finding room in existing regulations or working in the gray zone. If successful, it can make the institution being sidestepped irrelevant, or even provoke reform by highlighting its inefficiency. Evasive entrepreneurship is potentially a tool that can aid institutional reform in Europe, in particular in areas where institutions are obsolete or ineffective but where political reform is slow in response. I use this framework to discuss how initiatives which stem from communities can bring about change. An example used to illustrate this is the Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic in Greece, a large volunteer effort which provides health care to low-income patients. The self-organized clinic referred to as the people’s “Alternative Health System” has served thousands of patients parallel to the existing (but ill functioning) health care system. All this is nothing new. Economic and social development often results from entrepreneurs responding to problems or opportunities and enacting change. While high-tech business firms are everyone’s favourite example, this entrepreneurship need not be profit-driven nor abide by existing rules. Institutional entrepreneurship refers to how entrepreneurs are influenced by and influence institutions. It is a field that greatly interest me. Entrepreneurship typically refers to business activity. More fundamentally however it includes all innovative activities aimed at change, not only firms. Other categories include “social entrepreneurs” who create non-profit organizations, “political entrepreneurs” who recombine resources in the policy arena to bring about reform and “community entrepreneurs” who organize to provide local public goods. According to Schumpeter, the defining characteristic of entrepreneurship is not earning profits but disrupting the current equilibrium – the “order of things” inherited from the past. Business entrepreneurs who change the market equilibrium with new technologies, products or organizations are one important group, but the term can be applied to other actions which bring about dynamic change. This post discusses these concepts theoretically as well as giving examples of how specific projects can be viewed within this framework. A case illustrating political entrepreneurship is the People's Assembly in Estonia, an online platform for crowdsourcing ideas for reforming electoral and political laws. The public was free to suggest proposals, which were reviewed by experts and discussed by a randomly chosen assembly of a few hundred voters. The People's Assembly was initiated and organized by civil society voluntaries dissatisfied with democratic institutions in Estonia. It uses modern IT-tools to mimic classical democratic associations in smaller polities which allowed for face-to-face discussions and open proposals. One interesting example of “community entrepreneurship” is Prinzessinnengarten, a large urban garden in the middle of Berlin founded and managed by local volunteers. The garden was built in a poorer part of Berlin to experiment with green urban gardening but also as a social initiate. Both the Prinzessinnengarten and the People's Assembly are entrepreneurial in that they are novel responses to opportunity, but clearly not business firms. Social entrepreneurship was also the driving force behind several much larger institutions. The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant is not famous for his private investments but for founding of the Red Cross, for which he received the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. More recent example of non-profit entrepreneurs includes Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger who in 2001 created Wikipedia. The Red Cross and Wikipedia were innovative initiatives which changed the world as much as any entrepreneurial firm and which also required novel ideas, alertness to opportunities, risk taking and organizational effort. The People's Assembly, Prinzessinnengarten, The Red Cross and Wikipedia are examples of novel and to various extents disruptive entrepreneurship, but not of evasive entrepreneurship. These are examples of innovations in practices, technology or organization carried out within the existing institutional framework. Entrepreneurs act within the rules of society we call institutions, sometimes defined as “the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction”. Formal written institutions include laws, property rights and regulations whereas informal unwritten institutions include as traditions, cultural practices and norms. In the last few years there have some interesting work on how institutions affect entrepreneurs and how entrepreneurs may in turn influence institutions. I have previously written about the interaction of entrepreneurship and institutions. Institutions such as property rights, rules, market structure, the political system and social norms largely regulate society and influence the extent to which entrepreneurial talent is directed toward productive or unproductive activity. Entrepreneurs can in turn work to abide, evade or alter institutions. The common response is to institutions and work whiting the current framework. Altering institutions can take the form of social activism aimed directly at influencing policy makers to reform laws and regulations, such as the environment movement. A perhaps more intriguing way in which entrepreneurs interact with institutions is through evasive entrepreneurship aimed at circumventing formal institutions. Unlike activism, evasive entrepreneurship is not aimed directly at changing institutions by influencing policy makers but at devising ways to work around them. One example includes rides-for-hire application companies such as Uber and Lyft which enable their users to circumvent regulations in the local taxi market. Another example aimed at circumventing intellectual property right and monopoly power includes file-sharing platforms such as The Pirate Bay. An important recent study by Elert and Henrekson discusses evasive entrepreneurship in depth: “A well-established idea in the entrepreneurship literature is that entrepreneurs generally abide by institutions, which are therefore seen as the main determinants of entrepreneurship and economic growth. We challenge this idea by providing the first formal definition of evasive entrepreneurship, and argue that it is an important yet underappreciated source of innovation and change in the economy, especially because evasive entrepreneurs through their actions in the market may spur institutional change with potentially important welfare effects…This type of entrepreneurship is a means to test and provoke the existing institutional frameworks, and it also indirectly results in adaptations within those frameworks”. Social activism takes place in the policy arena and deals with unwanted institutions by creating oanon3606750899ion and influencing politicians to directly reforming the institution in question. Evasive entrepreneurship by contrast accepts the institution but devices method to de facto work around it in the real economy. Elert and Henrekson discuss the distinction: “Unlike institution-altering entrepreneurs, evasive entrepreneurs do not use political means to change institutions, but instead affect them through their activities in the market [...] they do not directly try to change institutions through political means at the higher levels of the institutional hierarchy” An entrepreneur who devises clever ways to evade taxes by using tax-havens may cause harmful economic effects. An early definition of evasive entrepreneurship is efforts in “evading the legal system or in avoiding the unproductive activities of other agents”. Adam Smith had this figured out already in 1776. He wrote that individuals could circumvent institutional constraints unfavorable to commerce, and added that the effort of individuals to better their condition is “not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operation’’. Elert and Henrekson agree. Evasion can be both a bad and a good thing, depending on the specifics. “If evasive entrepreneurship circumvents institutions that are welfare enhancing, it is likely to decrease welfare, but if there are other motives behind these institutions or if they have become obsolete (act as impediments) due to technical and/or organizational change, evasive entrepreneurship is likely to raise welfare”. It is more likely that evasive entrepreneurship act as a vehicle of regulatory change by provoking it when the institutions being evaded is obsolete or inefficient. In these cases, evasive entrepreneurship has the additional benefit of pointing to inconsistencies in regulation. Policy-makers may indeed welcome evasive entrepreneurship in many situations. The interest of politicians and society do not always perfectly coincide, for example in settings characterized by rent seeking, corruption, lobbying or group conflict. This can lead to institutional designed to further private interests of politicians or special interests despite being ineffective for society at large. Not all institutional inefficiency is however intentional. In other cases, inefficiency reflects complexity and the fact that optimal policies constantly shift due to technological and social change. In this situation,evasive entrepreneurship palys a Hayekian role by utilizing local information that is known in communities affected by policies but which policy makers in centralized decision making do not have full access to. Another major problem in devising institutions is uncertainty, not the least when dealing with new technologies. When there are large uncertainties, evasive entrepreneurs can serve as an educational source for policy makers by demonstrating by experimenting and testing boundaries, demonstrating on a smaller scale what works and what does not. This is particularly true when there are active communities which self-organize to actively bring knowledge to the surface. In recent years, policymakers have become more aware about the benefits of using self-organized communities as a source of smalls scale experimentation and innovation as a complement for large scale for bureaucracy. Many initiatives fail, but the cost of failure is small, unlike state activity, and easily outweighed by the gains from even a few successful experiments. An example of such innovative initiatives who I recently came into contact with is the tech community Edgeryders, which experiments with open access enterprises to deal with institutional failure in Europe. One fascinating case in evasive entrepreneurship which interested me is in the Greece health care sector. Health care provision is one of the major problems facing the economy. Studies in the field of health economics has documented the difficult problem of health inflation, where expenditure on health care consistently increases faster than the rest of the economy, which puts pressure on public and private finances in both the U.S and Europe. There are however few satisfactory answers to what can be done about this. The Greek health care system in addition collapsed following the economic crisis. Edgeryders works with a very interesting case study on evasive entrepreneurship in the Greek health care sector. Health care provision in Greece faces major difficulty following the financial crisis, with brought the public to the brink of bankruptcy and in addition led to many Greeks losing their jobs in a country where the national health service is tied to employment. This led to many unemployed Greeks losing their insurance virtually lacking access to public health care and no money to pay for private clinics. One response to institutional failure was Metropolitan Community Clinic, a self-organized initiative evading existing institutions to provide health care to those lacking health care. Edgeryders write:  “This is a very strange animal as health care providers go. It has no legal existence. Its literature proudly proclaims: “MCCH is a volunteer organization without Legal or Taxable status and it is not a 'Non-Profit-Making-Organisation'.” Maria: ""We are technically illegal"". It does not accept donations in money. It does accept donations in kind: medicines, equipment, blood sample analyses. It operates from a building that belongs to the Municipality of Helliniko-Argyropoulis. Though none of its employees works in the building, the Municipality still pays the electricity and phone bills that the MCCH generates” Traditional economic theory might in the past have concluded that this arrangement is impossible, but work in New Institutional Economics by Elinor Ostrom and others have shown that self-organized governance systems can use norms, internal trust and reciprocity even when formal structures and property rights are lacking. The MCCH may serve as an illustration of Ostrom's Law: “A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory” There are apparently several similar health-care clinics in Greece circumventing the institutional framework as a response to policy failure. I find this an interesting example of evasive entrepreneurship, and plan to evaluate the MCCH as a case of evasive entrepreneurship as a response to institutional failure together with my college anon948101822k Lakomaa. Elert and Henrekson in their study focus on for-profit evasive entrepreneurship, but conceptually nothing precludes non-profit evasive entrepreneurship. In discussed above, the benefits of evasive entrepreneurship are particularly important in situations when existing institutions do not function well, which makes Greece a suitable case study. This and other cases are interesting to evaluating if evasive entrepreneurship may be utilized to identify, resolve or reform obsolete institutions in Europe.   Photo credit: Charles Knowles on flickr.com " 2,8856,2016-06-29T08:39:42.000Z,509,anon1491650132,anon2267245549,"Two more stories of ""evasive entrepreneurship"" @anon 1/ Cytostatic network in 2012-2013 in Romania : community led organised efforts to bring patients unavailable drug treatments and transport them across the borders 2/ An acupuncture clinic in Dartmoor UK built as a charity ""working on a donation basis was my nod to being a non-commercial entity, which (as far as I know) means the clinic is not subject to licensing - similarly to people who volunteer in hospices, addiction recovery centres etc."" (anon1088780966) " 3,14411,2016-07-11T06:52:47.000Z,509,anon3594395480,anon2267245549,"A revelatory article @anon   or me, it was important to know the difference between inovation and  disruptive entrepreneurship, and  evasive entrepreneurship.  Another example of such action is also the movement  Let's do it,  https://www.letsdoitworld.org/, originated in Estonia, who now functions  like an institution, but it began on a smaller scale, as a private initiative.  That could also be a challenge for the status of the evasive entrpreneurship, because when the initiative grows, it also grows into an establishment, with rules and  papers to fill etc etc.  And I could also give an example that does not relate to care giving, but to arts. There are hundreds of music composers (who write classical contemporary music) who do not register their scores to any property rights companies, because this is a difficult and long procces, to many papers to fill for artists and too little gain. So many of them just give their music to different performers who do not pay rights to play the music (they are also poor and need to make a name for themselves) The avantgarde art is  usually very far form the industry, there are no kings who would hire composers for their courts :), and it is impossible to make a living from actual art, most of them have other jobs.  So, the evolution of modern music is made by simply avoiding the institution of author rights when dealing with indepenendent performers.  We would not do so, though, when dealing with National Orchestras or  other rich established music institutions :)    " 4,20436,2016-09-23T15:37:46.000Z,509,anon281534083,anon2267245549,"The Plenty Ambulance Service In 1977 the South Bronx in New York had the worst healthcare in the country with one doctor per 100,000 people.  It was a time of ""white flight"" with scores of lareg apartment buildings abandoned by the tenants and then often bured by the owners (or someone) to collect insurance money.  It was the closest the USA has come to an urban environment that resembled many cities in Europe after WWII. At the time I was living at The Farm down south in Tennessee, then the largest colledctive in the country.  It was famous for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was a concentration of hippies and dropouts who looked like typical countercultural stereotypes but were in fact a concentration of highly educated and motivated people.  We used to sometimes say, ""don't take over the government.  Take over the government's function."" In that spirit, we created a nonprofit organization, Plenty, to do good work in the world. (Plenty still exists and thrives today: plenty.org).  Because we had to provide emergency health care to ourselves (the Farm had more than 1000 people at the time) and because some of those educated people wanted to apply themselves toward meaningful work that was also interesting, we had an unusually large group of EMTs, paramedics, nurses and other health care workers. Seeing how bad things were up in the south Bronx, we decided to go up there and see for ourselves if we could lend a hand. Fast forward to early 1978.  A group of us located a suitable building and squatted in it, fixing it into a livable place. I was part of that early group.(That included converting the coal-buring furnace to a giant woodstove that we fueled by finding leftover wood products in nearby abandoned factories.  I went on may of those firewood runs.  Unforgettable!) My daughter was born in that building, home delivered by one of our Farm midwives. Later that year, Plenty began a free ambulance service to the nearby residents. Soon enough some grant money was procured, equipment bought and the ambulance service kicked into high gear, saving many lives.  The service lasted for six years, until crack and automatic weapons made the place much more dangerous than it already was.  But the good news was that the service had by then embarrassed the city so much by doing what the government was not doing, that the city improved its service to that community. Relevant to this topic: nobody asked for permission to do this.  No permits were applied for or obtained until much later when a lot of publicity was generated, and the city couldn't exactly turn it down. I personally was a small player in this particular saga, and there is much more to the story - it was an incredible experience.  But I remain in awe today at the vision, the guts and the perseverance of the main people driving the project.   It was the spirit of OpenCare at its finest. " 5,75437,2020-04-30T06:01:26.207Z,509,anon70625510,anon2267245549,@anon 6,75439,2020-04-30T06:26:22.316Z,509,anon70625510,anon2267245549,"Ciao Tino, hope all is well with you under the circumstances. I came across this piece while preparing for a summit we are building around resilient livelihoods in the aftermath of Covid19 + ahead of future crises (e.g due to climate/ecological degradation or geopolitics). A key issue arises when you are exploring solutions that require reliability and consistency of access, e.g life critical healthcare: How can the outcomes of evasive responses to institutional failures be sustained for long enough to become established alternatives? How to build capacity for long term stewardship of material and relational assets that are build through, and sustain, these initiatives? An illuminating example is that outlined by Alberto*: of a cluster of companies (many of which co-operatives), non-profits, research and art organizations, co-ordinated by Fondazione di Comunità Messina ([http://www.fdcmessina.org](http://www.fdcmessina.org/), henceforth FCM). This cluster consists of 120 local enterprises, employing some 400 people, created or consolidated in the last 20 years in or near the city of Messina, in Sicily. They were borne out of need to ""do something"" when all local seats in the elections were won by members of Berlusconi's party ( also there were indications of some oddities in how that had happened). The process was initiated in 1998 by a group of local people led by a physicist; they started by creating a research centre called EcosMed. EcosMed took on the mantle of championing a specific vision for local development, and over time managed to get several other enterprises up and running and working together as a cluster. In 2010, they leveraged a European policy (green certificates for producing renewable energy) and a national/regional one (a large foundation called Fondazione con il Sud was doubling capital to any Fondazione di Comunità being constituted in Italy’s Mezzogiorno) to create FCM as a superstructure. FCM also has institutional partners, like business associations and a cooperative bank called Banca Etica. From an economic point of view, the cluster made three moves which contain the seeds of long term stewardship. 1. **Relational goods** . Some goods store value because they encode relationships. Example: several world-famous artists in the Mediterranean area donated pieces to Fondazione Horcynus Orca, the cluster’s main art org. In fact, FHO runs a contemporary art museum that never bought any piece, everything was donated or produced in-house via artist residencies. This collection is worth several millions, but of course FHO could not really sell it except in very dire circumstances. Instead, they leverage it to attract private donors. Other example: Messina had a local brewery, Birrificio di Messina. This was purchased by Heineken, that ended up closing the plant and relocating production, keeanon3606750899g the brand. FCM persuaded the laid-off workers to start a cooperative to make a new brewery, and attracted a 6M EUR investment. 700 people attended the brewery’s grandopening, because > the beer tastes very good, but it also carries the values of dignity, community resurrection and human development to purchasers. The new company was already turning a profit in its first year. 2. **Stocks over flows** . The creation of FCM marked a shift from producing income (a flow) to fund Messina’s social and civic transformation to securing the capital (various stocks) that generate that income. The difference is resilience: if you are sitting on your own stocks, you are not at the mercy of short-term changes in marked conditions (or, worse, funding landscapes), and you have the breathing space to plan countermoves when difficulties strike. 3. **A system, not a network** . > In a network, participants look for how to make the most of what others are doing. In a system, participants are willing to re-orient their work, so as to better work with the other participants. If you are a construction company, you must not be lazy, and be open to using new technologies. If you are a social cooperative, you must look away from providing standardized services to customizing what they do in order to better valorize the capabilities of the people they are assisting. And so on. #### I was wondering if you, or anyone else have come across any other comparable examples since or before you posted :point_up_2:t5: ?

**Original post: https://edgeryders.eu/t/long-termism-in-economic-thinking-reflecting-on-the-experience-of-the-messina-advanced-cluster/12883*" 1,686,2016-05-29T10:28:57.000Z,686,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"The World Wide Web is increasingly useful to experiment, produce and research for identities, relations and objects in the field of ""Healthcare & Innovation"" such as Open Source, Open Access, 3D printing and Additive manon169343781facturing, HCWH (Health Care Without Harm), Augmented and Virtual Reality, Co-Working, Workscaanon3606750899g and other important and emerging issues. The bet of PUNTOZERO is to call for interest and shape a networking model motivating healthcare professionals in sharing experiences and co-driving innovation and care programs together with patients and open networks. Read our agenda. The idea at the core of PUNTOZERO is that there are still often missing masses -mainly issues and narratives stood and promoted by citizens and patients- in healthcare sets and education curricula. Such issues turn to be interesting especially when dealing about and advocating for innovation, open source and access, DIY, networking, collaboration, communities of practice, etc... Healthcare professions students handle and study subjects and programs about ""healthcare"", but often are not trained and motivated in practice to collaboration and innovation, for a better understanding of the society and such fast-changing world. The web represents a formidable ""umwelt"" for those who like to experiment, network and collaborate even in the field of health information, prevention and biomedical research. It is time to promote open care practices in medical schools, nurse schools and hospitals as well.     The project includes a accessible site via the github pages and the social networks' groups and profiles; at the same time it supports activities, communication and resources for about 150 students of 5 healthcare professions Masters on 5 e-Learning communities of the University of Parma, in Italy. The MOODLE environment used by students and tutors is shared open source and downloadable from here. Free to comment, join and collaborate with us!
[] Community [] Contact[] e-Learning[] Research [] Social[] Tutorials
" 2,8059,2016-05-30T12:08:00.000Z,686,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"The OpenCare for proper educational learning Hi again @anon I have looked for the community interactions but the only space I found was this one (empty?) https://puntozero.github.io/community.html Should I go somewhere else? One last point for now, your timeline follows closely OpenCare as well. Is it possible for non-registered students to participate in the webinars? If so, we might consider partnering up - as many community members here speak Italian and could be interested to join. " 3,11219,2016-05-30T12:52:37.000Z,8059,anon3341622463,anon1491650132,"Thank you for your comment @anon I'm not teaching about healthcare issues, but running a project about innovation with Education Technologies and CSCL adopting the University e-Learning site and coding by html around some github pages as you can see.. Unfortunately the  community interactions are the goal and not the mean. I'm doing my best to inspire students to share and collaborate online. From the social page you can ask to join the facebook group and DIIGO social bookmarking community; i will let in anybody asking for access. Other few e-tivities are run on the e-learning site, but the access is only for students and tutors of the campus. The idea to run together some webinars seems great to me! In the AGENDA you find the (flexible) schedule about webinars; we might swap the listed issues, or just pick out some of them. I'd love to share ideas about such issues with anybody. We could arrange sessions in english too..and seen the interest for online ethnography have some meetings too to discuss about methods, studies and experiences.  What about starting in June talking about ""e-patients and EHMs""? That would be heaven! Usually i use a doodle survey to choose date and hour, livehangout for the videosession, archived on youtube then by a playlist. " 4,15268,2016-05-31T09:02:21.000Z,686,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"about Additive Manon169343781facturing and 3D print for healthcare At the end of janon169343781ary, the STOA (Science & Technology Office Assessment of the European Parliament) hosted a workshop about the study of the ""Impact and Potential of collaborative Internet and additive manon169343781facturing technologies"". There are many clues and references about 3D printing development, trends in the field of education and healthcare. The possible scenarios are depicted thanks to a DELPHI-like study involving experts from all over Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3kzq9lJ67E  
  The full study on The Collaborative Economy is available in english. @anon " 5,21418,2016-06-13T09:38:35.000Z,686,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"WEBINAR - e-patients & Health Mobilizations on the Internet I'm seeking contributions, participants and co-organizers for a webinar at the end of the month about discussing on e-patients and online communities on healthcare issues and forms of activism, networking and engagement of patients, citizens, makers, etc.. in research and social shaanon3606750899g of medical and healthcare technology. Anyone interested is welcome in co-designing or sketching the best formula for such a live event! Thank you " 6,22404,2016-06-14T12:07:46.000Z,21418,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"Let's see who's around for the webinar.. Ping @anon4116418727 maanon1932026148 he's interested or can connect us to someone? Also, Federico you might want to check if @anon Count me in for helanon3606750899g prepare it. Do you have a preferred tech for event delivery?  " 7,24673,2016-06-16T04:11:08.000Z,686,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"event: date & tech Hi @anon At the moment i think Live hangout might do fine, or...do you have any suggestion? About the date...could be by the end of the month, like monday 27 for instance..Next week i will schedule it better. Hope to get feedback and some interest about these issues.. " 8,26019,2016-09-29T13:27:41.000Z,686,anon1089184890,anon3341622463,"Goal or means Hi, @anon " 9,26948,2016-11-24T18:51:41.000Z,26019,anon3341622463,anon1089184890,"Hi @anon just got on this comment now. Great! Let's get in touch. Great platform for connecting like -minded people Dear Monaco, your concept is really awesome and supercool.Using technology to reach out to the world with sustaibale E-health solutions in schools, hospitals and community events. With this great resource, i think quality information will be accessible for people and this will help save lives.. Good job, i am very impressed. Many of us will definitely love to collaborate with you to make the concept widely known especially in Africa.  You could reach out to mbotiji@anon " 11,28457,2017-06-07T13:30:33.000Z,27796,anon3341622463,anon1790353549,"i surely will Thanks! At the Department of Medicine of the University of Parma we are collaborating quite a lot with foreign countries. I will contact you.     " 12,73474,2020-04-03T08:56:53.822Z,686,anon2305791913,anon3341622463,"Hello @anon3341622463, your project looks quite interesting, especially right now in this light of a global virus pandemic leading to a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, a lot of the wrong information being shared and many people working and learning from home! * Is your project still going? * If yes, what does it look like now? * What else have you been up to? * And can we maanon1932026148 help you in any way?" 13,73568,2020-04-04T08:30:31.332Z,686,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"Dear @anon2305791913, the project is still going on, although changed a lot since then, banon3760936673cing research and resources between curricula needs and informal learning in a Digital Social Innovation key available in the hybrid space for society at large (i'm quoting #workspaces:opencare and edgeryders here). As research fellow now, i'm assessing and develoanon3606750899g open education projects for medicine, surgery an nursing by a virtual lab [www.360.unipr.it](http://www.360.unipr.it/) within the Department of Medicine and Surgery in Parma, providing best practices in the field of simulation, deliverables by an open repository ([https://github.com/treseizero/download](https://github.com/treseizero/download)), VR solutions, e-Learning support and environmental sustainability research. Moreover, since 2018, by a tight collaboration with local associations and the Department of Welfare of the Municipality of Parma. A github site [Pablocommons](https://pablocommons.github.io/pablocommons.github.io/english) as primer for social inclusion, inspired Katya Lucà - the deputy for social inclusion in the city of Parma- to connect such opportunity of mapanon3606750899g resilient practices and resources within the district Pablo surrounding the hospital to the european project [Casper](http://sociale.regione.emilia-romagna.it/immigrati-e-stranieri/temi/fondo-asilo-migrazione-e-integrazione-fami/casper-2-1/percorso-fomativo-casper-in-azione-anon1201778428rie-e-pratiche-in-tema-di-cittadinanza). Mainly, by a mandate as digital expert for the italian chapter of World Organization for Prescholar Education ([OMEP Italia](https://www.omepitalia.org/)), locked down since the beginning of march, I'm volunteering to provide support and expertise to children, families and association by organising online meetings, puppet theatre connecting on jitsi with puppeteers in Rome, VR collective drawings, homeworks help...even the local bookshop [Piccoli Labirinti](https://ths.li/mNYJf) was supported to become a virtual exhibition with hotspots of poetry readings around the city, meant for Parma Capitol of the Culture 2020. Let's discuss possible connections to edgeryders present effort. Greetings from Parma P.s.: by the way, for your information: a) italian family doctors are sharing Googledocs about monitoring the pandemic in realtime in a common effort called [movimentogiotto](https://www.movimentogiotto.org/2020/03/31/registro-per-il-telemonitoraggio-di-casi-sospetti-covid19-uno-strumento-di-monitoraggio-e-un-sogno-di-open-science/?fbclid=IwAR0qTe2_N_x_ICQ4MuafWAUDlZfSZuwE1meYMvKdcnXOZmm37lN2htdvzWY) and b) the italian government is using github with daily updated machine readable opendata ([https://github.com/pcm-dpc](https://github.com/pcm-dpc)) :scream::scream::+1::clap::clap::fist_right:" 14,73571,2020-04-04T09:08:08.622Z,73568,anon2305791913,anon3341622463," [quote=""anon3341622463, post:13, topic:653""] I’m volunteering to provide support and expertise to children, families and association [/quote] Amazing! [quote=""anon3341622463, post:13, topic:653""] Let’s discuss possible connections to edgeryders present effort. [/quote] Absolutely. We are working on cultural as well as technical initiatives. One of our main goals is to coordinate and connect between many different initiatives, ""unsung heroes"" and projects, connecting those who's skills, solutions or problems fit together and would love to connect with you and see how we can help out :). We are having a [weekly Corona Crisis Response call with the community every Monday 17:00 CEST, that might be a good place to start, but I am](https://edgeryders.eu/t/weekly-covid2019-community-response-call/12920?u=anon3708118144euler) also happy to schedule a 1o1 with you and some of our team at another time that suits you :). [quote=""anon3341622463, post:13, topic:653""] As research fellow now, i’m assessing and develoanon3606750899g open education projects for medicine, surgery an nursing by a virtual lab [www.360.unipr.it](http://www.360.unipr.it/) within the Department of Medicine and Surgery in Parma, providing best practices in the field of simulation, deliverables by an open repository (https://github.com/treseizero/download), VR solutions, e-Learning support and environmental sustainability research. [/quote] Super interesting. Can this maanon1932026148 also be expanded to educate people on how to treat raspiratory problems such as with the stronger cases of covid-19 with some professionalism or how to properly apply and use safty equipment" 15,73572,2020-04-04T09:15:32.022Z,73568,anon2305791913,anon3341622463,Also: just to hear from your experiences on what worked best (puppets included ;)) to help children and families understand and feel better would be great :) 16,73622,2020-04-05T12:03:55.569Z,73571,anon3341622463,anon2305791913,"Tomorrow i have a lecture at that time, but i'd love to join next moday sessions. @anon2305791913 do you know of other districts in any country in Europe doing anytihng similar, i.e. creating commons about best and tacit practices in a DSI style? I'm in contact with the Childrens' hospital to deliver online health education literacy for children about prevention (hand washing, social distance, etc..). I'm calling in students involved in online classes to join in, but most of physicians and healthcare professionals are yty involved on the front in the hospital." 17,73624,2020-04-05T12:19:11.309Z,73572,anon3341622463,anon2305791913,"i have a 7 year-old daughter so we are testing and experiencing anything, even VR drawings, or puppet theatre by videoconference. Informal learning can become an occasion for new friends, or for new types of collaboration between children as well. I have been working in this direction in the past two years by a couple of open projects to involve children, families and the school by simulation: [https://kidscoda.github.io/](https://kidscoda.github.io/) [https://scuolavirtuale.github.io/](https://scuolavirtuale.github.io/) Now it's time to put into achieve such experiences directly online for a #DIWOOL Do It With Others On Line approach. I'll keep you updated." 1,6478,2017-07-07T14:16:17.000Z,6478,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Everywhere we feel it; the spreading anxiety, the growing precarity, our social media feeds enclosing around us. The news haunts us, a new crisis is ever arising, our jobs take over our lives. And we’re so tired, all the time busy and tired. It’s the air we breath and yet no one ever talks about it. So we become depressed, use drugs, spend money on “wellness practices”, individualize ourselves, focus on dead end careers and retirement plans. Or worse, we’re arrested, assassinated, become refugees, become displaced. This is no way to live and we all know it; we all feel it in the deepest parts of our spiritual being. How are we then to live in this world? We must go back to our physical beings. We want to be free from physical want, we want pleasure and connection with those around us, and we want purpose. We want to laugh over good food, to have the time and mental space to enjoy a sunset, to feel good about our children's future, to take care of our loved ones and to be taken care of in turn, to relate to the natural world around us. And we must be clear, these desires, in their true, uncommodified and non-exclusionary form, are inherently revolutionary. They cannot be compatible with the dominant capitalist world view that atomizes us, makes us sick in body and mind, and places the luxury of time and wellness out of the reach of the vast majority.

The question is not why, it is how. How do we build a life with those around us? How do we create a world in the ruins of the old?

To invest in the question is to become revolutionary. Help us build this path together. We want to hear from you. Share what experiences you have undergone. At Woodbine, we have been working to create the material conditions for autonomy and revolution in New York City. Through the OpenVillage festival, we want to connect with you, build networks together, hear your successes, your failures, and everything in between. There are already so many examples, from the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Asimong discussing communal care, Cosain talking about peer based mental health practices, John examining decades of communal living, Calafou’s post-capitalist eco-industrial colony, and The Reef project in Brussels. Building a life together means we must examine every aspect of our lives. Our urban gardens, our communes, communal dinners, elder-care, child-care practices, mental health practices, the riots, the side hustles for money, manipulations of institutions, shoplifting habits. Everything. How do we deal with money? How do we create beauty? How do we struggle through patriarchy and oppression within ourselves? How do we provide care? What structures do we need to create? What lessons can we learn? What inspires us? What are we scared of? How do we stop being so scared of each other? How can we create optimal conditions for our children and our elderly? As the indigenous around the word have been showing us, we must call out our own “Basta ya!” (“Enough is Enough”) and fight for a “world in which many worlds can fit”." 2,7384,2017-07-09T15:04:20.000Z,6478,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Reflecting on constructive wording for \#openvillage.. This draws on our email conversation @anon I am aware that there is a sort of ""in group"" deeper understanding of the phrasing ""Living communism, spreading anarchy"" - think I found the original work here.  But by making a statement about anarchy do we risk alienating some community members? personally I prefer ""collective health autonomy"" as it points more clearly to community care.  I would argue that it's great to convey the idea of being revolutionary about care, but with a connective layer, the sense of ecosystem and infrastructure. I dont think revolutionary = political in the sense of the ideological spectrum though. Anyone care to help us find a formalised narrative? Do you have feedback/ advice?  " 3,14634,2017-07-09T19:50:16.000Z,6478,anon70625510,anon3670751854,"Communism has a painful ring to it Hi guys, tuning in quickly from the road. I'm looking forward to this and will try to scout for more initiatives.  Im curious what you associate communism with?  Am partially of Ethiopian descent where it is associated with the red terror"" ""Thousands of men and women were rounded up and executed in the following two years. Amnesty International estimates that the death toll could be as high as 500,000.Groups of people were herded into churches that were then burned down, and women were subjected to systematic rape by soldiers.[19] The Save the Children Fund reported that the victims of the Red Terror included not only adults, but 1,000 or more children, mostly aged between eleven and thirteen, whose corpses were left in the streets of Addis Ababa."" I do not mean to engage in an ideological debate, just to understand what it is you mean and how to articulate it with clarity and exactitude.  " 4,33213,2017-07-11T22:09:52.530Z,14634,anon3670751854,anon70625510,"Hey, thanks for the comments and looking forward to this conversation develoanon3606750899g. One of the things we are going to do in the next week or so is to work to develop the main ideas we hope this title expresses. So I will attempt to do so here, but more in-depth work will come out. I think the points that are raised are very valid and I think fundamental to our collective development of what it would mean to live and work together as the original title described. By communism, we are not referring to the ideals of communists, most of whom were essentially socialists vying for state power to then institute some utopian form of communism. So that communism was only possible after some transition period, and the accumulation of power. Both of which are false assumptions, proven over and over again by history. Be it Ethiopia, USSR, Cuba, or China, these leaders took power by whatever means, in an attempt to take over ""means of production"". But the problem is not who owns the means, it is the means themselves. What we mean by ""communism"" is the ancient form of communism. The form of communism that arises in close knit neighborhoods, the form that Occupy, the Squares movement, and historically, the Spanish anarchists all exemplified. It is the development of common needs and the sharing of resources and property to meet those ends. I would argue that communism is our natural form of life if we consider the indigenous ways of life as well as the natural trend towards communism that occurs after natural disasters. And so when we say ""living communism"" it is a nod to this way of life, having nothing to do with state power and the crimes committed in its name. As for the strategic use of rhetoric, I absolutely agree that there is a strategy around that selection. When we argue for ""spreading anarchy"", it is not necessarily the ""Black Bloc"" that we are supporting. Nor is it the adolescent who wants to do ""whatever they want"" mentality of some so called anarchists. Rather what we are arguing is that anarchy as a form of organizing is fundamental to how we live. OpenCare is working to highlight decentralized groups that self-organized, most without any state support and that will aim to provide their services or goods for minimal costs, separated from the capitalist model. I would argue that this is in form ""anarchist"" in that there is autonomy within groups to create their own rules, there is a lack of hierarchical structure, and the goods produced are for the commons. Interestingly, the terms ""communism"" and ""anarchy"" have both been painted so negatively by liberalism, which I think is even more potent at this juncture. Here in the US, there is a feeling of complete polarization. It is becoming impossible to be ""middle of the road"". And from what we see in the UK elections, it seems that people are tired of liberalism's vague ""hopes"" for freedom and equality. That people can say extreme ideas and those ideas can begin to be taken seriously. Unfortunately this works for both sides, as we see fascist language becoming more commonplace. But inevitably, I see this as a result of capitalism, not as a reaction to the left. In fact, because the left here in the US is so weak (mainly because they have been trying to ""compromise"" with capital), they have no power to struggle against the far right. I would argue that this is a time to recapture our language and our ideas. We are not fighting for the autonomy of Silicon Valley or the global development ideas of the World Bank. We are fighting for a new vision of the world, and I don't see how that vision of the world is compatible with capitalism. If we believe that, then we must openly admit that we are calling for a revolutionary way of living. And to push our vision forward, we must re-appropriate the words. So maanon1932026148 using strong language will push some people away. But as has been shown in struggles around the world, it has the power to attract even more. Its a gamble, but so is wanting a different way of life." 5,73479,2020-04-03T09:16:37.961Z,6478,anon2305791913,anon3670751854,"Hello @anon3670751854, How are you? What is your project doing now? In the light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we would be very interesting to hear how you and the communities you work with react. Are there any ideas or contacts from the Health Autonomy project that could be helpful now? Is there anything you need help with?" 1,713,2016-08-05T20:00:29.000Z,713,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"I came across this great article on how the Amish culture and their approach towards healthcare in the United States. The Amish - a culture of independance and thrift may be a way to banon3760936673ce community support and individual responsibility. A cost-conscious, community-based take on American healthcare may be able to teach the general population a thing or two about dealing with a broken healthcare system. Health care practices vary considerably across Amish communities and from family to family. Many Amish use modern medical services, but others turn to alternative forms of treatment within their community.  The Amish society accepts responsibility for their own actions and chooses not to depend on services offered by the state and Amish communities opt out of the government-funded insurance. Opposed to commercial insurance and they pride themselves on taking care of their own. To assist one another, they willingly offer donations when a member of their community becomes ill. It may not fit in this area, but I thought it was an interesting read a thought I would share.   Excerpt from the article:   Plain communities are highly interested in health education and disease prevention. Coming from an ethic of thriftiness, many Plain people distrust the motives of hospital administrators and even doctors themselves. They believe a profit motive can influence courses of treatment. They are also keenly attuned to unnecessary expenditures within the system. “In the Amish world, healthcare is seen as a ministry,” says Wengerd, “which is exactly what healthcare in the [non-Plain] world used to be.” Remember apprenticeships and house calls? The doctor used to be viewed like a minister who sacrificed his life for the patient, but there has been a shift. “The patient now sacrifices his livelihood for the doctor’s wellbeing.”   Read the full article here :  http://qz.com/695101/the-amish-understand-a-crucial-element-of-modern-medicine-that-most-americans-dont/     " 2,6704,2016-08-06T06:43:02.000Z,713,anon70625510,anon3708118144,"Not only in the US but also closer to home @anon @anon   " 3,14083,2016-08-06T08:24:25.000Z,713,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"Already posted. Now a challenge? I posted that a couple of months ago:  https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/a-challenge-on-autonomy-in-care At the time, I had proposed we roll out a challenge on autonomy and responsibility. Pre-welfare states (19th century), welfare was basically invented by European mutual assistance societies, in turn part of the workers' movement. I imagine that, in the early days, these societies were small enough that the choice of treating someone would visibily drain the common pool of resources. So, in those days, maanon1932026148 European factory workers thought a bit more like the Amish. A modern-day version of that, though I only know anecdotes about it, is implemented by @anon I think autonomy is also an interesting scenario in terms of policy, and fits well into @anon My summary from the article:  " 4,17020,2016-08-06T15:06:12.000Z,14083,anon2267245549,anon1526983854,"autonomy Extreamly interesting case Alberto, will make sure to read on it and include it " 5,73477,2020-04-03T09:06:37.635Z,713,anon2305791913,anon3708118144,"Hello @anon3708118144, Do you have any idea how theses communities are dealing with the challenges of the current COVID-19 crisis? Or would you know where to find such information?" 1,35574,2017-09-05T23:29:36.501Z,35574,anon769971262,anon769971262,"Hello, I am Ghada Abbes (22 years old), an entrepreneur from Tunisia. I am computer science engineering student and embedded system developer. I want to share with you some of my projects. **Life Guardian** Life Guardian, is a health self monitoring, extends the traditional practice of medicine in a new challenging approach using IT and the latest powered technologies to establish a smart and reliable medical network for exchanging valuable information about your health status. The idea of ""Life Guardian"" has started since 2016 for the first time with MIT Entreprise Forum Pan Arab Competition (it was for me as unbelievable jump). It was selected Top 20 among 6000 applications from over the world in the idea Track, we was the youngest entreprenurs (19-20 years old). It was a honourable experience as beginning. Then, we made it to final two times in ArabNet ( ArabNet Beirut and ArabNet Riadh ) as Finalists but we couldn't afford the travel expenses. Then, the prestigious Conference ""Gitex Technology Week"" but unfortunately we didn't get the Visa. After that and with the same project, I was selected among Top 200 in the WeMENA program held by the World Bank as young female entrepreneur and founder. Thankful for the amazing dynamic team and the progress that we have made during this period, we are selected now as finalist in Social Impact Award Tunisia 2017. This startup could change the healthcare forever and save lives! I let you discover it from the video link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9X6dwPOsT4 Now, we are selected in the national competition Social Impacy Award if you like it please support us, help us get to final in the Social Impact Award International Summit in Belgrade, Serbia. Here the link of vote: http://socialimpactaward.tn/ **School in Hospital** Also, i am the founder of social initiative «School in Hospital» The aim of this initiative is to establish a structure, bringing together volunteer teachers, whose aim is to enable young patients hospitalized for a long period to continue their education. This initiative launched on 23 of April 2016 in collaboration with the organisation International Institute of Debate ""IIDebate"". **Vascapa Tunisia** Finally, i am planning with Hamdi Achour, an active member and the only ambassador of the international association VASCAPA (Vascular Anomaly Patient Association in Brussels, Belgium, to open a branch of VASCAPA in Tunisia. So, we can help patient with vascular anomaly from Africa and the Middle East. I hope you that you find my projects of interest. I find this plateform a great opportunity for exchange, so, i am ready if you have questions or suggestions. Also, i want to share with you and encourage you to apply participate those competitions that i take part in because it changed my perspective on life." 2,35660,2017-09-06T20:25:59.760Z,35574,anon281534083,anon769971262,"Greetings Ghada. First let me express how impressed I am with your projects. But you say ""we."" Does that mean you have a team working on them with you? How far along are they? And where are you based?" 3,38994,2017-11-03T21:24:28.201Z,35574,anon2350529763,anon769971262,"hey @anon769971262 was wondering how did it go with the social impact award ? and if there are any new updates with the Brussels-Tunisia collaboration. anon3606750899g @anon2954219769 if you know any connection that could help in making this collaboration/partenership" 4,39069,2017-11-06T09:41:59.317Z,35574,anon2954219769,anon769971262,"Nice to read you @anon769971262 ! Impressive indeed. A nonprofit I helped start is doing science education for forgotten groups in Belgium. These are children from underprivileged contexts, people with physical or mental disabilities etc. A while back we planned to teach long term hospitalized children, but sadly it did not go through. Our added value is being able to translate modern or complex science into fun and instructive activities suited for the target audience and their context. Maanon1932026148 this can be the start of a further conversation. A group we have a hard time reaching is children with a migration background, especially those that are ""fine for the system"". They are not ""doing bad enough"" to be accompanied by specialized organisations, but by any measure they have a disadvantage that shows in their grades and ultimately how they enter society as young adults. There are many children from from Northern Africa here, and we have noticed that they need role models that they can relate to. Perhaps this is also something we can talk about. Finally, of course, I agree our health care system needs some serious reform. We want to make pharma more open with [Open Insulin](http://openinsulin.org/). Nice to see we're all doing our part of the puzzle :)" 5,39106,2017-11-06T23:43:20.060Z,35574,anon3525264245,anon769971262,"Hi Ghanda, Massively impressed with your project and entrepreneurship. Many congratulations on your awards, that must feel amazing :-) I would love to know what your doing with the Life Guardian project now? What is the next step do you think in trying to implement your incredible work. I am a junior doctor in the UK and I definitely see mobile apps as an important part of our future in terms of trying to create healthcare autonomy and patient autonomy. I think there is HUGE potential in their use to help people not only understand their illness but manage it more independently too. I would love to know/ hear a little more about your next moves. Please feel free you email me or message me through the platform. anon3525264245." 6,73473,2020-04-03T08:50:19.975Z,35574,anon2305791913,anon769971262,"[quote=""anon769971262, post:1, topic:6975""] Also, i am the founder of social initiative «School in Hospital» The aim of this initiative is to establish a structure, bringing together volunteer teachers, whose aim is to enable young patients hospitalized for a long period to continue their education. This initiative launched on 23 of April 2016 in collaboration with the organisation International Institute of Debate “IIDebate”. [/quote] Hello @anon769971262, I just came across your post and thought that your perspective and ideas during this current epedemic crisis would be imensly valuable! * What are you currently doing? * Which initiatives and interventions do you think are most necessary now? * Which changes have to made to the healthcare system also on a short and longterm view to be better able to deal with something like that? **And do you have insights from your work with the ""school in Hospital"" initiative which could now be helpful for this ""school at home"" scenario during quarantine?** We would love to hear from you and if possible see if we can help out in any way!" 1,4638,2015-06-30T14:31:24.000Z,4638,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"In the first time of Future Makers Nepal, we were mostly concerned with assisting the relief work after the earthquake (for obvious reasons …). This is slowly coming to an end, and we wanted to share with you some updates we prepared that summarize what we learned about ""grassroots-organized disaster response"", in Nepal and in general. The first part of what we learned is what actually happened on the ground: who were the disaster response volunteers, how many, what did they do etc.. Please find our research updates published below. We will replace this with a link to the proper research paper where we discuss these findings, once UNDP publishes it. Contributing authors: Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Situation Overview 3. Methods and Data 4. Findings 4.1. Characteristics of Dialogue and Collaboration Initiatives 4.2. The Rise of New Civil Society in Nepal? 5. Case studies: People and Initiatives Making a Difference 5.1 Kathmandu Living Labs: Creating Dialogue and Coordination Spaces 5.2. Milan Rai and Friends: Building Camp Toilets 5.3. Immediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal: Assisting Far-Off Villages 5.4. Community Service of Nepal: Organizing help locally and internationally 6. Conclusion and Outlook 6.1. Method Review 6.2. Relevance for Professional Disaster Responders 6.3. Relevance for Disaster Response R&D  

1. Introduction

Edgeryders’ Future Makers Nepal project was initiated by UNDP Nepal with the aim to research, contact and connect alternative leaders in Nepal using an online platform. As part of this work, we had to carry a “mapanon3606750899g of existing virtual dialogue spaces in Nepal”, the findings of which we detail in this report. Our start of the work in Nepal coincided with the 25 April 2015 earthquake, after which a huge number of existing web-based dialogue and collaboration spaces was re-purposed for community-driven disaster response, and a similar number of new spaces and initiatives was created for this purpose. These were the most vibrant online communities of alternative leaders in Nepal in the weeks past the earthquake, so we have put particular emphasis on mapanon3606750899g them in the following report. We find and analyze in detail how after the 25 April earthquake, mostly young volunteers came to the fore, creating their own dialogue and collaboration spaces and on-the-ground initiatives to tackle the effects of the disaster. Effectively, a spontaneous movement of community-driven earthquake response initiatives formed. About half of the initiatives involved formed spontaneously after the earthquake, and a portion of them will transform into new, sustainable dialogue and collaboration spaces in Nepal;s civil society, beyond the current context of earthquake relief. We were lucky to be able to capture the formation of these nascent dialogue and collaboration spaces in this mapanon3606750899g report. The analysis is devised based on an online database that is created for keeanon3606750899g track of people and organizational initiatives involved in the disaster response activities. It focuses on aspects such as nature of the initiatives, focus of the initiatives, the activity location and the scale of activity. Offline and online dialogue between citizen driven disaster response initiatives and alternative leaders form the basis of analysis in assessing the level of community-engagement. The online dialogue spearheads the understanding of the importance of grass-root efforts in the disaster response. It serves as a unique platform to discuss and learn how people work and coordinate at times of crisis, what motivates them and how they reflect upon their initiatives. This ultimately helps in strengthening and develoanon3606750899g a stronger civil society base which can devise constructive solutions to problems, develop sustainable collaboration between people and relief organizations and prepare Nepal for unforeseen circumstances in the future. This report provides an overview of some of the community driven responses to the recent crisis in Nepal. For the purpose of this study we define ‘community-driven responses to disaster’ as any disaster-related response activities that are not initiated by professionals officially designated to do relief work (including security forces, governmental structures, UN system, INGOs and NGOs among others). The Future Makers Nepal team did a preliminary mapanon3606750899g of 121 volunteer driven disaster responses that emerged in Nepal in a span of a month following the earthquake. The following findings are a result of a two-week-long analysis of the data available online, combined with conclusions derived from informal meetings with people engaged in the relief efforts.  

2. Situation Overview

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on the 25 April 2015 and was followed by numerous aftershocks left thousands dead, injured and properties worth millions ravaged. The earthquake also destroyed some of the most important cultural heritage of Nepal. The government report shows that over 35 of the 75 districts are affected in the Central and Western Regions including the Kathmandu Valley and 14 of these districts were identified as ‘priority affected districts’ depending upon the severity of the damage. Reportedly, Gorkha, Dhading, Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur are the districts that are highly affected by the earthquake. As of 31 May, the Home Ministry reported a total of 8,693 deaths, 22,221 people injured and over 505,000 homes fully destroyed and another 275,000 partially destroyed.[2] The earthquake also ravaged more than 70 percent of the cultural heritages of Nepal listed in the UNESCO heritage site.[3] In addition, the official estimates put forth by the World Health Organisation show that 8.1 million people out of a population of 28 million have been affected by the earthquake, amongst which 1.7 million are children. Nepal’s Ministry of Education estimates that 23,644 classrooms have been damaged or destroyed, and an additional 10,922 classrooms have received minor damages in the priority affected districts alone.[4] For a country like Nepal, prior to the earthquake tackling an alarming number of issues pertaining to political tensions, slow economic progress, poverty, unemployment, energy crunch, among others, the task of rebuilding now turns out to be a herculean one. The country now faces another major setback in its development trajectory and what is needed at this hour of crisis is a good leadership and above all the collective strength of common people. However, the way the young Nepalese took up the task of reaching out to the victims speaks a lot about the concern they have shown towards their society, thus projecting a sense of natural ‘community resilience’. While majority of the people remained outside houses for numerous days, there were these certain groups of individuals and organizations that took charge. They worked day and night to give to the living by voluntarily rendering whatever support they could. Some crowd-sourced funds for immediate relief or transported relief materials to the affected areas, while others took up the task of setting up platforms for disseminating crucial information outside the traditional modes of communication, and a significant number of youths collaborated with government authorities. The preliminary mapanon3606750899g for this report recorded 121 voluntary disaster response initiatives out of probably more than 250 voluntary disaster response initiatives that have published anything online, and many more who did not. It will be years before Nepal recovers from this catastrophe, however, the country is fortunate to have motivated youths, bounded with an unprecedented sense of collective responsibility, community spirit and social consciousness to rebuild Nepal.  

3. Methods and Data

The data pertaining to community-driven initiatives after the 25th of April earthquake and subsequent aftershocks are gathered through online and offline sampling. Most of the data was extracted manon169343781ally from publicly available, unstructured Internet content published by the respective initiatives. This method was fast and efficient to stay within project constraints, and lead to relatively complete results. The alternative of inviting initiatives to a survey would have lead to somewhat more exact data, but would have been slower, taking time away from actual relief efforts and thus only a low turnover could have been be expected. An online database of individuals and initiatives that were involved in various types of post-earthquake disaster response endeavours is devised to collect certain type of information the research focuses on. Based upon this dataset, initiatives are selected and featured in the Future Makers Nepal online platform through interviews and are invited to take part in the online dialogue that this virtual community supports. The method also uses case studies as a basis of qualitative analysis in examining the initiatives, their nature, scope and challenges. These case studies are further taken as a basis for formulating an analysis for the post- earthquake disaster response carried out by people and institutions. At this stage, the database contains 121 records of community-driven disaster response initiatives. Initiatives are further analyzed by devising categories to measure the intensity and diversity of their earthquake relief responses and recording this information in the database. The first criterion concerns the activities carried out by the community-driven initiatives. Categories for this are largely aligned with the UN cluster system for comparability. However, sub-categories for activities have been added where required, allowing a more detailed analysis of interesting aspects not covered by a UN cluster system categorization. For instance, the information management category is further divided into crisis mapanon3606750899g and volunteer placement, and the relief supplies category is further segregated by type of supplies. The location of the initiatives has been analyzed on a district level. Where more specific information was not publicly available, initiatives that operate location-independent (e.g. fundraising campaigns) have been assigned the 14 government designated priority affected districts.[5] The initiatives and projects are also analyzed based upon their nature, that is to say if they have emerged spontaneously following the 25th of April earthquake or if they derived from the pre-existing organization structures that diverted their focus after the earthquake. Finally, the scale of the initiatives has been recorded, using categories that could be easily inferred from publicly available information and are meant to gauge the internal coordination complexity of the initiatives; namely, if the initiative was an individual effort, or a work done by one team, multiple teams, or multiple teams using multiple base locations.

4. Findings

4.1. Characteristics of Dialogue and Collaboration Initiatives

Activities

Each community-driven earthquake response initiative was sorted into all types of response activity categories. The current dataset shows the following significant clusters of activity: Beyond the these major activities above, community-driven initiatives focused on various other areas. The categories used for these activities are:
Image 1: Relative frequency of activities carried out by community-driven disaster response initiatives.[6]

Service Locations

The community-driven initiatives by individuals and pre-existing organisations were distributed throughout the locations that were severely affected by the earthquake. With 70 records (58 percent) of initiatives as per the database, Kathmandu turned out to be the center location for most of the disaster response activities, followed by Dhading (65 records), Nuwakot (60 records), Sindhupalchok (53 records), Rasuwa (48 records) and Gorkha (48 records). These can be considered the focus areas of the volunteer initiatives. Given that many number of initiatives rendering volunteer service are centered in Kathmandu and other periphery areas, we can easily infer that the geographical terrain and accessibility still stands as a determining factor for any kind of post- disaster relief operations. Other priority affected districts like Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Makwanpur and Okhaldhunga, and also some less affected districts like Pokhara, Lamjung, Solukhumbu also saw several activities of volunteer initiatives carried out in the earthquake affected areas though at slightly lesser scale. Okhaldhunga saw the least number of community-driven disaster response initiatives (26 percent of initiatives covered it). This might point to difficult terrain in this hilly district, the distance from Kathmandu as a hub location for initiatives, and / or a perceived low level of damages.
Image 2: Deployment locations of community-driven disaster response initiatives at district level among the 14 priority affected districts. (Totalling 651 locations by 121 initiatives.)

Nature of Initiatives

The community-driven responses to the earthquake were carried by individuals / organisations that emerged spontaneously in the wake of the crisis (58 records) and by pre-existing organizations shifting their focus to disaster response (63 records). The emergence of significant number of new engaged individuals and initiatives in the wake of crisis paints a positive picture of community resilience and civil society activity. For example, 30 of the 58 spontaneously emerged disaster response initiatives directed their activity towards supplying immediate relief materials and 31 towards information management (incl. crisis mapanon3606750899g and volunteer placement; see image 3). There were also significant number of spontaneous initiatives that worked in the area of shelter (15 records), health (14 records) and fundraising (10 records).
Image 3: Absolute uptake of activities (number of initiatives involved out of 121 in total; split by nature of initiative)

Scale of Initiatives

With 56% of initiatives carried out by one team, working in small groups was the major mode how community-driven disaster response was organized. All larger-scale initiatives combined accounted for 36%. Generally, smaller-scale organizations were more frequent than larger-scale ones (compare image 4). This organization size distribution is to a degree universal – it is also found, for example, for company sizes.[7] For the surveyed disaster response initiatives, there is one major exception from this rule: single-person initiatives as the smallest organization forms account for just 8%, which is much less than the next larger scale category has. This means that team work clearly stands as the spirit and mode of function of community-driven disaster response.
Image 4: Scale of Community-Driven Disaster Response Initiatives

4.2. The Rise of New Civil Society in Nepal?

When it might have been thought that the country which was already in tatters due to its decade long Maoist conflict and the subsequent political turmoils, reeling problem of corruption and underdevelopment will further divulge in a situation of hopelessness following the recent natural disaster, it was fascinating to see the outpouring of citizen engagement and the rise of new community organisations. What made this rise of ‘public sphere’ more interesting is the nature of their emergence, that is to say the spontaneity of their rise in the wake of crisis. The findings show that 52% of the mapped organisations that were engaged in disaster response activities were the ones that already existed while 48% of initiatives emerged spontaneously after the crisis. There seems to be a significant number of voluntarily driven citizen engagement endeavors with their focus on supplying immediate relief materials and more importantly, on information management. This is heading towards an emergence of tech savvy, philanthropic new civic leadership. As per the findings, about half (29 of 58) of newly emerged initiatives tasked themselves with general information management (coordination and need assessment), and several more took on crisis mapanon3606750899g or volunteer placement, in most cases additionally. Based upon these findings we can see a rise of new civil society in Nepal: Besides the conventional civil society activities, largely related to politicised mass mobilisations, there is now a new model of self-directed citizen engagement. The next challenge that lies ahead is to enable this ‘new public sphere’ to effect lasting social change: rebuilding communities, rehabilitating victims and most importantly, reestablishing enduring trust in government by coordinating effectively with it.  

5. Case studies: People and Initiatives Making a Difference

Based upon the online dialogue that takes place on our edgeryders.eu platform, some of the surveyed initiatives are presented here in more depth as typical examples for different varieties of initiatives, differing by activities (here information management, health, fundraising and providing immediate relief supplies) and scale (here one or multiple teams). Some but not all of the initiatives presented here emerged spontaneously after the disaster, so they also differ in history.

5.1 Kathmandu Living Labs: Creating Dialogue and Coordination Spaces

Kathmandu Living Labs[8] is a tech group that existed before the earthquake. It has been using mobile and internet based technology in order to enhance urban resilience and civil engagement in Nepal and it has been doing exactly this after the earthquake. It created an online, as well as offline, map to assist earthquake relief workers and volunteers by mapanon3606750899g the affected villages, thus helanon3606750899g relief operations to reach the affected areas. Quakemap[9] is an initiative led by Kathmandu Living Labs. It was set up as an immediate response to coordinate the relief efforts of volunteers and volunteer-driven initiatives. They provide a wide range of information, including identification of affected districts, the needs of affected people, and acting as a bridge between the relief providers and the relief seekers.
Image 5: Main screen of quakemap.org by Kathmandu Living Labs[10]

5.2. Milan Rai and Friends: Building Camp Toilets

An enthusiastic young adult, Milan Rai and his team, built more than 140 temporary toilets in camps in Kathmandu and other affected areas. Confused initially as to how to react to such a grave crisis, Rai took up the lead by urging people to go to a safe place and to ask others to do the same. For Rai, there was no sitting back and panicking. He cycled all the way to the hospital at 3 am to help the needy. After surveying around Kathmandu where people have camped, Rai found out that there were no toilets at all. Worse, he found girls complaining that they had to wait for the night to relieve themselves. Milan along with some of his friends therefore thought of fulfilling their part of the relief work by setting up temporary toilets. For them, setting up toilets was not anon2590712900y about ensuring health, hygiene and sanitation, it was also related to self-esteem and dignity of the people. They built the toilets with tarp and bamboo, which required less time to install and could be easily transported and fitted. With some voluntary support by army members, they were able to build 47 toilets during their first day. Milan and his like-minded team are on a “helanon3606750899g spree”: after setting up temporary toilets, they are now promoting growing vegetables and planting seeds. As they grow mature with their disaster response endeavours they have been able to better organise their work and ensure more sustainable solutions.[11]
Image 6: Temporary Toilet Building by Milan Rai and Friends
“We saw a lot of people in the public spaces where they were camanon3606750899g but there were no toilets. Especially the girls complained that they had to wait for the night in order to relieve themselves. We realized that if we were unable to tackle this issue then this would be the source of epidemic outbreak”. – Milan Rai
 

5.3. Immediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal: Assisting Far-Off Villages

Immediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal is a group of friends from diverse backgrounds who came together spontaneously to carry out relief work in earthquake affected rural parts of Nepal. They started their relief initiative by reaching out to a village in Nuwakot through a personal contact and were largely sought-after by villagers and asked for help. While they received accolade, they utilized the trust placed into them to raise funds and relief materials to be distributed to the affected people. So far, this group has assisted people with relief materials worth around $23,000, covering 44 villages in nine districts. They headed an organised disaster response endeavor, coordinating with government authorities to locate the vulnerable areas and people. Their activities included need assessment, ensuring accountability and looking into the nooks and crannies that usually go unnoticed. One important lesson this group teaches is that of community resilience – the ability to anticipate risk, limit impact and bounce back quickly in the face of turbulent changes.[12]
“We were out of the house three days after the earthquake. I think it was pure emotion initially. We could either have stayed quiet or we could have worked. There is an emotional drive after you see people in need. You cannot not do something.” – Rakesh Shahi
 

5.4. Community Service of Nepal: Organizing help locally and internationally

After the 25 April earthquake, the greatest challenge that stood ahead of Madhav Bhandari and his team was to provide relief materials to people affected by the earthquake in a widely scattered village in Sindhupalchok. With almost 6000 people homeless in only three inaccessible villages of the districts, Community Service of Nepal – a registered non-profit community organization that does charity and humanitarian work – took up the initiative to distribute tents to the homeless people. Within a couple of days after the quake, they were able to locate a source that donated them with 1000 tents to be delivered to the affected people. Having distributed tents and other relief materials to those in need, the next challenge that lies ahead of the organization is to provide the homeless with corrugated metal sheets which are in high demand. Another task for this humanitarian initiative is to seek support from ‘cluster of contacts’ for different types of aid designed by the United Nations and the government of Nepal in carrying forth the disaster response to materialise their goal of reaching larger group of affected people through the distribution of food, shelter and medicines. They have been doing every possible thing, from connecting into the official network of aid, to finding possible ways to make it easy to drop off relief materials in areas inaccessible by road to exploring ways, to address the demands and concerns of the affected to make sure that thousands of homeless people have a place to stay.[13]
“The corrugated iron is much more expensive than tents, but the people know what they need much better than we do because they are the ones who need to live in their own situation. We need to change all of our fund-raising appeals to corrugated iron, and we need to find a cheap source of the iron sheets.” – Lisa Bates
 

6. Conclusion and Outlook

6.1. Method Review

The chosen method was reasonably effective and efficient to detect key characteristics of the community-driven disaster response movement after the earthquake in Nepal, including activities, location, group nature and scale. It also worked well to inform research questions for follow-up work. However, the nature of the data and data collection prevented us to work out some of the more subtle properties of the movement. Specifically, the limitations arose from: For a more complete picture of the significance of community-driven earthquake response, potential further research should answer the following question: How much did the different types of responders contribute to total relief and reconstruction work after the earthquake? This relates to self-help, neighborly help, community-driven disaster response at village level, community-driven disaster response at regional and national level, government and security forces, and disaster response by the international community of donors and response professionals (incl. UN system). This question cannot be answered by mapanon3606750899g using public information as in this study, but would require a field study in randomly chosen settlements, followed by statistical estimation. The second major limitation is that of quantitatively analyzing key facts about initiatives does not grant insights into their inner working models, processes and challenges. Follow-up research should employ qualitative methods like ethnography to acquire these insights.

6.2. Relevance for Professional Disaster Responders

The findings relating to community driven response to the earthquake in Nepal can be a basis for professional disaster responders to facilitate broad based local preparedness for long-term emergency response and other local efforts. By devising frameworks and conducting trainings for information management, crisis mapanon3606750899g, assessing local power structures, needs evaluation, conflict-resolution skills, supplies management methods, and community-profile development, these professional disaster responders would ultimately contribute by informing the citizens that their involvement is essential to local development well beyond times of disaster. This will in due course of time ultimately foster well-planned and effective reconstruction activities. Likewise, more similar grassroot mobilisation can be planned for, and responded to in the aftermath of the disaster. Furthermore, processes such as bringing together diverse local groups, formation of local groups for planning, establishing long term vision and goal setting for disaster preparedness / recovery and recruitment of experienced local citizens can to lead the reconstruction. They could further also contribute by establishing an alliance between local groups that have been affected from the same areas and set a stage for more effective resource and responsibility sharing during times of crisis. Such alliance can therefore serve as a liaison between local grassroot efforts and more formal structures. Professional disaster responders could ultimately fill in the gaps by rendering support in areas which were not covered by the voluntary institution primarily due to inadequate professional expertise. For instance by providing staff for medical emergencies and treatments.

6.3. Relevance for Disaster Response R&D

Disaster response is under increasing scrutiny to work efficiently, transparently and accountable. Thus, it is worth keeanon3606750899g an eye on recent developments in technology, social changes, and grassroots innovations. This study identifies and analyzes community-driven disaster response as one of the grassroots innovations that can help to improve current disaster response mechanisms. In its movement-scale form observed in Nepal, community-driven disaster response can be considered an application of Internet-enabled peer-to-peer communication, collaboration and funding mechanisms – a latest addition to recent disruptive innovations like collaborative economy platforms, knowledge sharing platforms and digital collaboration platforms.[14] Obviously, such a development was only possible after widespread Internet uptake, now a given in urban Nepal. Designing a tool that further empowers community-driven disaster response and enables efficient coordination and collaboration with professional disaster responders is a task beyond the scope of this project. Relevant research questions for further work include: For such future work, the database and analysis of initiatives provided here is a viable basis. Informed by it and extrapolating from current technological developments, here is an idea-stage list of possible design aspects of such a tool:
[1] We thankfully acknowledge funding of this research by UNDP Nepal, via contract UNDP/INST/012/2015.
[2] Government of Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction Portal, http://www.drrportal.gov.np/, accessed 31 May 2015.
[3] Rajneesh Bhandari, Jonah M. Kesse: Rescuing Nepal’s Relics, 20 May 2015, nytimes.com/video/id/100000003695666/video.html, accessed 31 May 2015
[4] Government of Nepal: Ministry of Education: School Building Preliminary Damage Assessment, version of 22 May 2015, anon2400895282.gov.np/allcontent/Detail/374, accessed 31 May 2015
[5] This seems a good approximation, since only very few location-bound initiatives operate in districts beyond the 14 priority affected ones: Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchok, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Makwanpur, Dolakha, Kavrepanon3760936673chok, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Okhaldhunga. Source: tinyurl.com/nepal-affected-districts
[6] Each initiative could carry out multiple types of activities. Thus, values differ from activity uptake / coverage percentage numbers mentioned in the text.
[7] Compare for example: U.S. Census Bureau: Statistics about Business Size (including Small Business) – Employment Size of Firms, census.gov/econ/smallbus.html#EmpSize, accessed 2015-06-08
[8] See http://kathmandulivinglabs.org/
[9] See http://quakemap.org/
[10] Shows map imagery from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). See http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright for details.
[11] For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4744
[12] For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4704
[13] For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4632
[14] For a database of over 9,000 different collaboration and sharing platforms, see Meshing.it, http://meshing.it/categories.
[15] See: https://humanitarianresponse.info/
[16] See https://data.hdx.rwlabs.org/
[17] See http://ckan.org/
" 1,776,2016-10-01T23:55:11.000Z,776,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"Background There are tons of reasons that makes baby cries. Baby might be hungry, sleepy, diaper dirty or more and more. While the baby is crying, mom has to check what the exact problem is, and before mom solves it, the baby won’t stop crying. In this period, mom might feel anxious, stressful or panic that from the crying sound, herself or others. This mental situation might influence mom’s decision making or education for the baby. In some case, mom has to leave her baby to cry. What if these all happen in a silence public such as an airplane, train, office or a good restaurant et.? To prevent this kind of situation happened, lots of parents even avoid to go to those places with their baby or even stay at home.  What are the main aspects of this project? With the baby crying sound reducer parents can have more choice to go with their baby. It can also reduce the stress that comes from the stranger beside and creates a better quality of life for parents and people together in the same space.  How to? Main Function  + Active Noise Cancellation Technology + Baby soothing materials Secondary Function  +Volum control + Speaker output from baby with funny sound to make fun of himself What have been done? There hasn’t been anything specific active noise cancellation product that has been designed for baby and parents. Most of the active noise cancellation technology are used in earphone and space.  " 2,10314,2016-10-03T11:31:37.000Z,776,anon1491650132,anon3003844599,"How would it work exactly? Hey @anon3003844599, fun fact: I was reading about your idea as I was flying and thinking how my next big purchase should be a set of noise cancelling headphones.To be clear: not necessarily because of crying babies :-) Yet I don’t understand how it would work because of the very uneven cries and peak sounds which are hard to counteract. Tell us more. " 3,10661,2016-10-04T11:39:06.000Z,10314,anon3003844599,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi, We are a group of students from Master of Interaction Design at Domus Academy. We are now working on Opencare project in colabration with WeMake FABLab in Milano. We have a lot of ideas we know :)  This idea has some difficulties about reversing technology which is already there (sound cancellatıon). The way we wanted the prototype to work is that if we can use the existing technology of noise cancellation to design something that can be put on the baby in order to reduce their noise. We can further dıscuss how we were proposing to use the noise cancellation technology here, but for now we have kept this project on hold.  Actually we kept every project on hold and we are currently working on the Alzheirmer's Wristband. It is in process now :) " 4,12250,2016-10-05T17:47:24.000Z,10661,anon1491650132,anon3003844599,"Happy to see things are moving Keep up the great work! My advice is that for each post you include a call to action to the broader community where you ask for help. That also makes it easier to reach to the specialists in here, which  we do manon169343781ally, sort of. " 5,14059,2016-10-04T14:29:03.000Z,776,anon1526983854,anon3003844599,"Same as Noemi Hello @anon3003844599 , I also was intrigued by this idea, but I don't get it. As far as I know, noise cancellation is predicated each one of us having a ""personal"" source of reverse-phase sound anon3003844599s: my headphones, for example. They sample ambient noise (the hum of an aircraft's or train's engine), reverse the sample's phase and emit it in my ears. Your idea of emitting at the source is quite novel, at least I have never heard of it. Would love to know more!  Also, as Noemi says, existing noise canc technology works best at cancelling steady white noise-type sound emissions.  " 6,68608,2020-01-11T14:08:29.921Z,776,anon2817387452,anon3003844599,"I may have an idea that can make this work! Bluetooth microphone /audio receiver inside something a baby can wear and is safe if chewed. And a multi directional speaker with active noise cancelling. To capture the sound at the source, and project sound of the opposite amplitude at the baby and arround the room. Adjusted to reduce decibels but not silence the cry" 2,7835,2016-05-28T10:07:38.000Z,684,anon1491650132,,"It probably needs to happen seamlessly.. Hi @anon I find that the proposition (for Germans) can make a difference: when you are asked to come and commit to do something and be responsible for it is different than when you are asked to join a social gathering, or simply have fun.  A proposition I loved was the one by Tonguesten (here on Edgeryders) - who are mixing language with culture, and frame it as being part of a community of language learners. Any idea of why they are reluctant and don't want to feel obligated? " 4,12503,2016-08-17T06:29:49.000Z,11135,anon1491650132,,"Bravo for campaign! @anon " 6,62732,2019-11-01T09:36:46.142Z,12888,anon70625510,,"Hallo Marie, curious if you guys ended up building/deploying this?" 1,622,2014-08-17T15:29:59.000Z,622,anon3024423671,anon3024423671,"My book ""The Idealist's Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout"" is a ""tool kit"" designed to support people engaged in meaningful work to keep sane and address stress and burnout. A kind of ""unGuide to doing good stuff and keep sane"". People with daring vision and edgy ideas pour their soul into their projects. We strive for meaning and fulfilment and we can't do that on a 9 to 5 schedule. So we are freelancers, change-makers, entrepreneurs, activists, humanitarians. Riding the edge. On the edge the temperature rises sometimes...and if we are not careful and get too close ""to the sun"", just like Icarus, we risk burning ""our wings"". We run out of steam and enthusiasm. We become jaded and cynical. In other words we burnout. What many people ignore is that burnout is a problem of the system, of the ""community"", not just of the individual. When individuals burnout it is a symptom that they are part of a community that is not caring for its people. We see this problem among ""do-gooders"" who tend to focus on fixing things out there and pay little attention to the emotional texture of life. Stewardship of assets will not change the world, if we forget to care for one another. Here's a link to [my book](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Idealists-Survival-Kit-Prevent-Burnout/dp/1941529348) which you can also order in bookshops if you don't like Amazon." 3,36038,2017-09-12T11:38:38.068Z,34050,anon1491650132,,"Hi @anon Are you coming to the OpenVillage festival about care in october? If so, that would be a good opportunity to approach this guide systematically, as many in the community are figuring out ways of preventing burnout and depression in a support community. [Alan's story](https://edgeryders.eu/t/losing-hope-gaining-hope/529) of how one can take effective action as an externality of having gone throuhg the rabbit hole is pretty amazing." 4,56064,2019-07-02T13:39:56.047Z,622,anon1491650132,anon3024423671,Ping @anon 1,5075,2015-12-13T11:22:51.000Z,5075,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"At Edgeryders we are racing to set different puzzle pieces into place so that people from all over the world who wish to come and meet each other face to face can do so despite money obstacles. We are going to unFail in finance. Here is a list of where we can each reach out and how.. if you have more ideas please share them below. 1) UN agencies: we have contacted the UNDP offices Edgeryders has worked with in order to ask for scholarships covering travel and accommodation. You can do the same if you have a UNDP, UNESCO, or UNICEF office in the region, there's a template letter ready for being adapted to your context. 2) Foreign embassies in Brussels: same here, we're translating a letter to ask for support and adjusting it for cultural nuances. Template here, already in five languages, so come help.  3) European Cultural Foundation: ongoing scholarships to ""fund up-and-coming artists and cultural workers (giving priority to individuals up to 35 years and/or in the first 10 years of their career) to travel between EU and countries bordering the EU"". Ideally you would have a project that LOTE can contribute and help you develop, just asking them to pay for your participation at a conference is not eligible. You need to fill in an online form, make a budget for your project Full application guide is available, and here are some of the projects financed, to give you an idea. 4) Pick one of the topics in failure around which the program is organised and reach out to your past/ present collaborators to see if they would sponsor a citizen journalist really digging into a topic - eg for helanon3606750899g the organisation with future funding applications.  Up for helanon3606750899g? Register for a dose of LOTE: Fail unFail in Brussels! Also pick up one of the above or come to the next community call. You'll see first hand how you can be part of building an event entirely in and with community, with or without large sponsorship. " 2,9276,2015-12-15T10:53:43.000Z,5075,anon2884490385,anon1491650132,"Artichok update Artichok is also an option from the Walloon-Brussels Bureau International de Jeunesse. All info here, main restrictions: beneficiaries should be bw 20-35 years old, have an artistic background and it should be in the context of a residency/atelier/creative workshop. You can get a maximum of 100€ per week (max limit 1000€). Applications to be sent out every 1st of the month (at least one month prior to the event). I checked the amount of paperwork: it's not much, the aspiring LOTE5 participant just needs to fill in this application, on top of some general info you need to write about: what is your project (LOTE5) (description, foundations, motivation, how it is pertinent with an artistic discipline), why this project (LOTE5) (objectives, expectations, destination choice, expected impact on your professional career in M-L term), how will the project (LOTE5) be developed (planning of activities, presentation of the partners and spaces chosen). BEWARE: 1. For people that have an artistic background (previous professional artistic training is mandatory) 2. It needs to be about artistic development; communication, journalistic, therapeutic, social, humanitarian, sports-linked, or pedagogic projects aren't eligible. I guess one of our best choices to use it is through the creative industries track: @anon" 1,5493,2016-03-24T18:08:56.000Z,5493,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Congratulations, you've made it to retirement age, and without a pension or investment plan, you'll have to hack your way through your golden years like you did your youth. Have no fear, with a little bit of innovative thinking and peer collaboration, you can seamlessly cruise through your elder dementia in style! Many precarious workers do manage to make it to retirement, and it just might happen to you. Some Americans have turned to ""outsourcing eldercare"" by shipanon3606750899g their parents off to India, to live like a Maharaja on $2000/month. In Japan, the film ""Mezon do Himiko"" tells the story of a retirement home for elderly transvestites and homosexuals. They managed to fund their retirement from a successful Tokyo nightclub and wealthy donors. But are Ledgestriders™ so well prepared for their retirement? Do you really think people will want to read your funding applications when you're wearing a diaper? It's time to start exploring options for people who aren't part of the rank and file society before it's too late. But you are now 96 years old and your robotic care assistant accidentally sucked up your dentures into the \#opensource vacuum cleaner because the IoT fridge and stove were chatting away and inadvertently knocked the robot offline. It's really not a problem because a neighbour in your HackGrace has a 3D printer and (after downloading a free 3D file off Thingiverse) you manage to print a new set of teeth. Unfortunately, they are not the right size and you wind up gumming your food at that evening's Disco Soup event, getting chunks of organic radish all over your sustainable milk-fiber bib. Since your robotic helper is on the fritz, you decide to wash yourself off in the hipster bathing facility but slip and break your hip. Again, your mates have this problem covered and start using 3D printed bones to grow you a new leg. Unfortunately, the operation doesn't go well and you get an infection, however, there is a cure for those with sufficient computational capacity: you can manon169343781facture your own patent-free medicine based on your individual DNA. Hooray! You win! you have advanced to the next level of retirement: that of constantly badgering your kids to come and visit you! But not everyone will be so lucky in the future, so it is time to explore the different possibilities that can be made to exist for people outside the ""system"". Soon we'll be exploring the different options that exist or will exist and extending the conversation to experts in specific fields to get a better picture of how the world will be when we're old and no one loves us anymore! Over the next two years Edgeryders, Stockholm School of Economics, The City of Milan, The University of Bordeaux and WeMake are working together to: This is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we'll do it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process will be – and stay – open to anyone who wants to participate. We are working on a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution, and will not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers. Care is deeply human. Everyone has firsthand experience of it. Even those if us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and receiving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the building of subsequent prototypes. Want to get involved? Great! Getting started is easy. Just pick one of the challenges and go for it here. Welcome to the [Internet of Humans](https://edgeryders.eu/c/ioh)! Text adapted from an editorial piece commission from Jeffrey Andreoni." 1,38787,2017-10-26T23:52:01.172Z,38787,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during the ""Woodbine and ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ ### WOODBINE Intro: We are a collective in NYC, “against the end of the world” = against the nihilism across the country, the end of American empire, the end of a world A revolution is a line that we draw in the present not the future. 50% of individual bankruptcies are due to a medical bill. More than 50% of Americans can't cover the bill for an ER _(Podcast skillshare
Land upstate)_ ### ZAD presentation: **Namid, Liliana, Sara, Claire** Land occupation set up to fight an airport project, in a struggle for 15 yrs. The occupation movement exists only for 8 yrs, created through a call out. 10 square km, as big as the biggest villages in France. 200-300 people who made the choice to live there. Several thousands involved. Organizing without state infrastructures. How to avoid relations of domination, hierarchy, specialization. Collective autonomy. Diversity of thoughts, but fascists not welcome. ### How they organize: * Daft structures cabins, farmhouses, tents. A lot of agriculture with machines, collective gardens - grain and beans to feed a nonmarket and support other struggles. They built a lot of infrastructure: spaces for tractor mechanics, woodwork, preservation spaces. Weekly newspaper, radio, website zad.nadir.org, welcome houses, internal telecom network. No police, no justice. Conflict mediation group. Autonomous health care. Some people don't have health insurance, no legal papers, or access to cars or phone to do paperwork in the city. Fugitives, people traumatized by the medic system. ### 4 spaces of care: La transfuse cabin for first aid, Trailer Medic for free/cheap medical assistance, Varies Rouge medical house a collective living there similar to a hospital, Medicinal Cabin for storing and drying medicinal plants. ### Varies Rouges: Sees 10 25 people a week, medical problems or who want a tattoo for their dog. At least 1 person available that can do care - a mix of self aid and accompanying medical surgeries - opened wounds, dog attacks, police. All materials are donated, i.e. by hospitals, medicine are free prices, tinctures are one tenth of retails, support group of professional. We're not trying to do everything or be the heroes, but there's a lot we can do. We help people without papers to get into medical institutions, and take responsibility for it. CARE for people caught in armed conflicts I.e. with the police in demonstrations - rubber bullet injuries, grenades. Fight the part of the state that is intentionally hurting its people. ### Trainings: Short, for life vital help and first aid. 9 day for people in the zed, in a certain region so afterwards they can work together in their city, for example in demonstrations. A network of people who've been through these trainings (80) so they can call out to the other groups. Easier to organize together because they have the same protocols. We grow our own medicine in the medicinal garden and harvest them. Use them in consultations for chronic problems. Regular Drop in clinics for exchanges, training and giving care at the same time. ### About mental health: No filter, anyone can come when they want. We're now at the step of collecting information and finding professionals support. Why do we do this? To take control of what happens with our lives, put ourselves on a learning path. The person who has the power to decide is not the same as the person who has the knowledge about their body. ### Important to work in teams: We are not experts. In emergency situations, it's important to be 2. To build a base of knowledge to be collectively autonomous. Yes we live 20mins away from the hospital, but do they come in 20mins? No. --- ### REFLECTION: * What does health autonomy look like for you? * How does your work or expertise contribute to that? * What is it that you need, the next step for you? [quote=Eugenia] _Artist and ecologist_ Project How to perform an abortion. Reproductive health Laws are flawed. Autonomy is accountability. The space in which I'm most vulnerable is when I'm ignorant - ie when I enter a hospital. The next steps: continue this work, reintroducing women to a knowledge that was robbed from them. [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] Autonomy is My ability to recognise my health care needs and ability to respond to them on a group level. [/quote] [quote=Bernard] How do I stay healthy until I'm 60 and over, and how to die well. My steps: Movement yoga, group collaboration, nursing etc. Wants to be connected to group services - maanon1932026148 connection with mainstream services? [/quote] [quote=Kashi] From a mental health group in Ireland. [/quote] [quote=Terineh] The Canaries, from Nyc, thinking outside of medical crises. Using arts as a place to reimagine infrastructures of care and psychosomatic healing. Over 80 autoimmune diseases, not known if it's caused by genetic or environmental causes. You need to find group support. 100 on the list sharing info and resources. Difficult because we are spread out and hard to support each other materially. Being a support group for the disabled :Crip time when you don't have the energy to actually get that information. At odds with insurrectional anarchism. Interested in how we link with other people outside of our own and how to support that. [/quote] [quote=Tori] How we can consent to things that happen to our body. PS: research on these practices and sharing info while building own tools. Trying to understand more tools for consensus decision making We feel exhausted [/quote] [quote=Michael] Autonomy as agency. In the role of filling gaps: caring through technical skills, getting people to tell their stories better that are not the same as them [/quote] [quote=ZAD] Autonomy is the contrary to what you see in France and Belgium - a GP having 1000 people in care who all rely on him. Works 70hrs a week and is exhausted. In one community there are many people who can offer information and help. [/quote] [quote=Nadia] * Diagnostic autonomy: feel confident in one's ability to understand their problem. * Knowing where to go - organized knowledge ie barefoot doctor manon169343781al and having a contemporary equivalent. **The issue of navigating health care.** * formalized access to services and formalized [/quote]" 1,38856,2017-10-28T16:35:45.907Z,38856,anon1839840820,anon1839840820," The most pressing need now is to set up a patient cooperative for Open Insulin and how to prototype it. And clear out the international collaboration that is now emerging in the open insulin research. ### Some history of the project Early 2015 in Counter Culture Labs, biohacker collective in Oakland, developed consensus around the idea that we could make insulin in a lab like their. The idea is worth pursuing, the technology is there. First it was a technical motivation, afterwards it was clear that insulin was a social and economical issue. Many people don’t have access, it’s bad in the US. Only a few companies have the oligopoly on production globally (US, France, Denmark based). There’s also the fragility of the supply chains. Only major producers in the West, which means that supply is easily disrupted in less developed or accessible regions. We need to rely less on shipanon3606750899g insulin around and maintaining eg. a cold chain. This is a major barrier to getting insulin out where it needs to be. In short, we need to decentralise production. **Science and engineering:** Went through one proof of concept iteration in an E. coli bacteria (for troubleshooting methods). Took about a year. We made a precursor protein to insulin. Bacteria however is not able to convert the precursor into insulin, so since early 2017 we’re looking at yeast, because that organism can do everything inside the organism. The protocol needs to be simple and easily reproduced. 6 months - 1 year we will have engineered the strain that does everything. Then we can move to using the strain and producing or scaling up. So the question is now: how do we structure the legal entities to govern the production. Teams from Ghent (ReaGent) and Sydney (BioFoundry) joined the project. International collaboration is unfolding. We need to organise this better and set up some legal frameworks for sharing the IP that gets generated, keeanon3606750899g the goals of the project in mind, we want to have a commons framework. Allowing entities to use it, but making sure that they do so in keeanon3606750899g with commons principles. The organisation needs to ultimately be accountable to diabetes patients. It can’t be a misalignment like we have now with the large producers that mainly have a large profit motor. They just keep diabetics dependent, charge high prices, and don’t innovate much otherwise. Prices went up by 1000%, even though production got cheaper. Many semi-independent manon169343781facturing efforts that are localised, but sharing knowledge. A [diabetes] patient coop would be able to decide how much effort to put into prevention or researching cure vs manon169343781facturing. The FDA is the biggest player in making this a reality. Big part of this is making a rigorous case and showing the costs of illness and the benefits of our alternative. Depending on how their own incentives work, they might not care. We have 2 goals, proposal is to split in two groups: ### 1. How do we move from here to this cooperative? A cooperative as a platform where patients would be the main stakeholders. The patent is not to stop other people from doing it, but to protect the **Characteristics of the agreement:** Rate of profit determined by patients Where it is invested is determined by patients. Example of medical cannabis cooperatives. Maanon1932026148 we can use it as a template for our organisation. Tailor this to the local jurisdiction. We need some kind of global scale organisation that holds the IP in custody. Perhaps a Swiss foundation. A public benefit corporation. Forging alliances with city governments. Show that production at city scale is feasible and show that economic implications they have can be addressed. Eg. problem of people going to emergency rooms, which is a cost for the city, so open source insulin would make the hospital work better. Lucas Gonzales. Epidemiologist. His job is to prepare for flu pandemics in the canary islands. As part of preparing the plan, he found out there’s 8000’s diabetics in the CI and there is no capacity on the island (comes from Germany). So in case of pandemic, they are screwed. This could be an angle. Synthetic pancreas people. Firewall of FDA and then they appealed to free speech. They don’t sell, yet share the schematics. Make it look less like a market transaction, and more like a club: participating in the testing. Analogy to Open Source Ecology. Centralized body of knowledge, localized operation to build machines by doing workshops etc. [quote=Chris Cook] At the global level: memorandum of understanding, but otherwise you’re free to do what you want. [/quote] * **Unincorporated association:** Agreement, but not in any legal form. 2 pager. For very early stage funding. Like a club. People have an account in the name of the club. This could be global from day 1, with members. It has a ‘hatching clause’ which makes it hatch into an actual legal form. ### Action items: * Review relevant structures * Pitch this to city governments (Milan next month, Oakland, Ghent) * Have a legal structure, so that funders know where their money goes * Cali cooperative weed * Cooperatives in calif and europe (Switzerland? Winnie’s contact Malcolm Bain? European Cooperative Association) * Centralized holder of IP **Review the agreement of Chris.** Have an inside trusted partner when you pitch this, so that’s it’s not 50 50 in they liked it not. Clear action plan with timelines. Open to input. Jump in early for a premium. Weigh the pro’s and con’s of premium. Winnie can talk about it with the head of strategy for the City of Ghent. _In Oakland:_ never got to the head, always mid or low level managers. You need to get people in power to not necessarily endorse it, but mainly not stop it. An endorsement would really help though. A paragraph and collect signatures of ‘innovation, super cool project’. ### 2. How do we do international collaboration? [quote=Winnie] People are disgusted by how biotechnology industry works. Morally it’s not okay that people are taxed so much money. We started a collaboration in March between Oakland, Ghent, and Sidney. It was hard to get access to information - where are the best practices documented. The team in Oakland was spread thin, so this makes it hard to scale internationally. Coincidentally it became good to collaborate, but no investment to find sinergies, for example split the experiments between groups. We’ve been in touch online only, and visiting helped a lot to develop trust, despite calling on skype every 2 weeks. **Two key problems:** * Documentation and * Trust [/quote] [quote=Gaby] Is it a problem of infrastructure - better tools, better software, or about changing the culture? [/quote] [quote=Winnie] It’s about develoanon3606750899g the habit of documentation - so valid because it enables more groups to work on it. We lack the scalability - we cant involve new groups since it’s going to be very bumpy. No platform for documentation yet. We should have a method of getting everyone on board, in difft timezones and geographical points? Thomas: What is the patients’ perception? In Belgium, the insulin is covered by the government, so not many incentives to participate among that group. The motivation here is the biotech industry. [/quote] [quote=Cindys] Build on an existing community that has thousands of people in it, and not take on the burden of building a new platform. The Public Lab community - good for discussion and file sharing, and replicability. Attend the barnraising and do a workshop there? [/quote] [quote=Matanon1201778428] Replicability across countries: there is a lack of culture of open science and a knowledge gap in biology. A transnational cooperative system funded by a big donor which fosters development in underdev countries? The path from need to solution is longer there - building trust, community building takes more time. [/quote] [quote=Winnie] Ideally find a big donor but with niche interest locally/ in a region. The community coordination and interface needs to be funded too - i.e. the Oakland team is more focused on the research itself. [/quote] [quote=Cindys] Public Lab has developed frameworks to use - to create a context and make sure it feeds back and then it is championed, took forward by the organisation. [/quote] [quote=Gaby] Learning to do science by sharing information, many times tacit. But you either have to think of the role of the person making this, or have an incentive - a place where we give recognition where people actually see it and appreciate the value. **Groups back together** A platform cooperative as a club insulin: the insulin users and platform service provider (management, quality control). A global framework in which local production can put its roots in local jurisdiction. The overarching club, anyone can join and it doesn’t own anything. [/quote] [quote=Cindys] Three issues discussed - platform documentation, trust, building the network [/quote] [quote=Thomas] Interested in local production, is in a process of launching a High Institute of Open (?) Science. He’s going back to Cameroon, it would be an opportunity to test open insulin there. [/quote] [quote=Gaby] Sharing information [/quote]" 2,50378,2019-01-28T10:51:09.276Z,111,anon4201383930,,"How to enhance awareness, diagnosis and disease management of patients suffering from Diabetes? How to improve the access to medicines in remote areas from supply chain management to alternative payment solutions? How to support decision-makers in getting a better usage of available health data? https://challenges.vivatechnology.com/en/challenges/sanofi-in-africa?lang=en" 1,38777,2017-10-26T23:06:02.986Z,38777,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during a session at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017) where researchers and community discussed the results of the two year opencare research. Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ * First presentation: [combining ethnography and network science](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P9R6yC6ShofdvARXXfj7SXTdJP8FeOa0A4FliBcXI1g/edit#slide=id.g35ed75ccf_028) * Second presentation: [an ethnography of OpenCare, preliminary results](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sU_eK5nLNYlmbKZekMcGPyBJP7l4c5a4wlPedcaWlGk/edit?ts=59e9a364#slide=id.g271d7ae11d_2_79) * [Final survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1aLLCcXK_b_7EKk7YOrne3Aq031b6hjHKKpgcYagJ-ps/edit) _**Are there ways of using this tool to show structural ideas: eg momentum within people,
Are there ways of showing how these posts ideas have led to journalists or media stories?**_ How can the tool be used by Policy makers to drive change in your community. Looking at the graph will show the links between problems and potential solution. Shows answers without having to read all of the posts/comments. An application of the data. Can be used by clients (outsiders to the community) to see without the deep information. Because we can do this it means we can generate resources to run projects like OpenVillage/OpenCare. We will be presenting this idea and this tool to the World Bank as part of the OpenVillage MENA project. _**Have you explored how to translate the online data into offline conversations. Do we explore the way between the two?**_ * **Talk - action.** Talk is not a form of action. Community building is part of the sharing and consultation. Meet space structures are highly structured spaces, led by the conveners sense of what they want to get out. With this we aren’t bounded by preconceived answers. The connections and response grow naturally out of the threads. * **Peer to peer is very important. Skill sharing has happened cross vast geographical spaces.** **Key themes that have emerged:** * Precariousness - self of isolation, find place in society. People want to be autonomous. Mental Health - alleviation of stress - food sharing and cooking, gardening, intergenerational connection. Stigmatisation of mental health. Need for professional help as well as p2p * Migration - current solutions of giving care ok, but better to look at solutions that self-autonomise the response from within the communities displaced. * Fighting against propriety - comes back to autonomy again. DIY and breaking through preexisting legal issues and structures. Regulation vs ‘open’. Importance of having a safety net of regulation as well. * Battling our ‘illnesses’ - the world is broken, not us. It doesn't accommodate the needs of people - e.g open trampette, openinsulin. **The right resources, but in the wrong places - Crossing borders, navigating the systems that are in the world, but keeanon3606750899g the open nature of ideas and needs.** **E.g** * Streetnurses - taking care to those who can’t go to the hospital. Sharing best practices for disaster relief. * Finding meaning off the beaten path - people looking for ways to find hapanon3606750899ess, but also looking for * Fixing what is broken - community is significantly trying to reform systems from the inside and outside. **Tensions:** * Autonomy vs community building - in control of one’s life against social isolation. * Inside institutions vs pushing from the outside * Safety (legalist/regulation) vs DIY/Opensource **What have we learnt:** * Tech is not a cure all. People exist in real communities and real contexts. * People are the best technology. People most need access to other people. Skills knowledge and sharing. The best thing tech can do is bring them closer to each other. * Bringing network science and ethnography has been very useful. _Self care only takes us so far.
Institutional care only takes us so far.._ **Questions:** With tensions. These tensions are evidenced within the conversations online. These are the lines that people have been wrestling with. We yesterday talked about: * Autonomy vs community building - in control of one’s life against social isolation. * Inside institutions vs pushing from the outside Fining the tags that coexist together frequently, but where there is a tension between the two ideas/concepts. The vs. is not a true representation. The tension is not in direct opposition They can sit together. We will often find these tensions within threads, because of the nature of the community - some very keen to push against, some well within the institutions who see ways of working from inside. These conversations occur These communities often don’t talk to each other outside of ER platform. - SWASHLOCKER link, on the internet no-one knows you’re a dog. More diverse interaction than offline. This makes it more inclusive. * Bringing people together - Storytelling, the division between talking and action - what is the culture of conversation? How does it happen. The conversational culture of ER. How does this look through this system. People are not totally autonomous because they care about stuff. The care shows the links. People are dedicated to a cause or group. They aren’t here just to talk to people. Engaging in CONSTRUCTIVE dialogue is why people are here. No trolling, no name calling even though people come from very different sides of a perceived divide. * Communities of interest - Ezio. Productivity comes from a shared interest. This is not a REQUIREMENT, but its self selecting. If this isn’t what you’re interested in your drop out. The %age of conversations with value are really high. Would be interesting to see how these thing fit in with each other. Finding where things are based on ‘activism’ or on self-driven goals. Validation for their own existing drives, vs looking for guidance." 4,49851,2019-01-03T08:12:41.556Z,38777,anon1491650132,anon1839840820,"Just realised that this is probably the most compelling post on the platform with the research report and results, as one searches for links to share which explain our two year community building around care. Pinned it :-)" 5,49852,2019-01-03T08:13:15.852Z,38777,anon1491650132,anon1839840820, 1,827,2017-04-30T08:16:32.000Z,827,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

DIY WELFARE WHEN SYSTEMS FAIL

Meet people who are doing it. Learn how to do it. Build it together. 

19-20-21 OCTOBER BRUSSELS The OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions. We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together. 

What would you like to build, explore or learn about DIY welfare when systems fail? Tell us!

\# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail. Contribute towards creating an inspiring, generative and fun experience for all.  Help us to shape a theme in exchange for a free full access pass to the \#openvillage in 3 simple steps!   Step 1: Share thoughtful feedback to move our initiatives forward! We ask everyone to read and comment stories about 3 other participants' intiatives. In part it's to ensure that people know about what others are doing, as well as to start building generative relationships between peers. Pick a story from those listed here, read it and post a thoughtful comment. Do this for two more stories. Step 2: Suggest one care related theme or burning question that is highly relevant for your professional and personal development! Can it be somehow exhibited at the event? Tell us how this would look in practice, what resources you have and what is needed from the other participants.Upload a description of the theme and discuss in our Coordination group. Step 3: Propose and engage one speaker on the theme/topic/burning question! Know someone who is doing groundbreaking work in care and should participate or exhibit at the Village? Invite them along and let's feature them in the program. Report back by posting an update in our Coordination group.   Got questions, reflections or general suggestions? Post them here for a response within 24 hours! " 1,570,2017-05-01T16:43:29.000Z,570,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

DIY WELFARE WHEN SYSTEMS FAIL

Meet people who are doing it. Learn how to do it. Build it together.

19-20-21 OCTOBER BRUSSELS https://player.vimeo.com/video/162811723 The \#OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions ("" opencare ""). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.

Are you our next community fellow? Tell us what you would you like to build, explore or learn about DIY welfare when systems fail!

\# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail. Our Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000€ to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the \#OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).

As a Community Fellow, you commit to do three things:

1. Read what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work. 2. Articulate a burning question to move everyone's work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme. 3. Reach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the \#openvillage festival. We now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the \#OpenVillage Festival.

Deadline for applications: May 5, 2017

How to Apply:
  1. Connect with other participants by reading their stories at the bottom of this page, and offering ideas or advice in the form of thoughtful comments.
  2. Think about a theme, session or exhibit on community care, that you would like to curate for the OpenVillage (see the first proposal here).
  3. Write a post containing your proposal in our shared workspace.

About the program, process and selection criteria

We believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs. The OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives. Aiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - May 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 “students” to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use “students” in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status. What you will get if selected: Process and timeline: Who can participate? Anyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good. Selection Criteria We will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as ""opencare"") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners): What happens if I am selected? You will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017. How to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
  1. Demonstrate your interest in the work of opencare and other DIY Welfare practitioners. Read three stories about OpenCare initiatives and leave thoughtful comments here (you'll need to scroll down).
  2. Share your experience from care-related initiatives in your community, with reflections around how they relate to the topics and themes of opencare. Post your story here.
  3. Demonstrate your general knowledge about the field. Propose a theme, session or exhibit that you would like to see happen as part of the OpenVillage and name a number of projects or people whom you would like to see involved. Create a post in the OpenVillage coordination group.
Once you are done use \#opencare and \#scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work! The deadline for applications is May 5th 2017, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances! For more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact

Partner organisations

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
" 1,569,2017-04-11T08:20:36.000Z,569,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

DIY WELFARE WHEN SYSTEMS FAIL

Meet people who are doing it. Learn how to do it. Build it together.

19-20-21 OCTOBER BRUSSELS https://player.vimeo.com/video/162811723 The \#OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions ("" opencare ""). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.

Are you our next community fellow? Tell us what you would you like to build, explore or learn about DIY welfare when systems fail!

\# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail. Our Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000€ to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the \#OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).

As a Community Fellow, you commit to do three things:

1. Read what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work. 2. Articulate a burning question to move everyone's work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme. 3. Reach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the \#openvillage festival. We now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the \#OpenVillage Festival.

Deadline for applications: May 31, May 5 2017

How to Apply:
  1. Connect with other participants by reading their stories at the bottom of this page, and offering ideas or advice in the form of thoughtful comments.
  2. Think about a theme, session or exhibit on community care, that you would like to curate for the OpenVillage (see the first proposal here).
  3. Write a post containing your proposal in our shared workspace.

About the program, process and selection criteria

We believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs. The OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives. Aiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - May 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 “students” to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use “students” in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status. What you will get if selected: Process and timeline: Who can participate? Anyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good. Selection Criteria We will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as ""opencare"") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners): What happens if I am selected? You will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017. How to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
  1. Demonstrate your interest in the work of opencare and other DIY Welfare practitioners. Read three stories about OpenCare initiatives and leave thoughtful comments here (you'll need to scroll down).
  2. Share your experience from care-related initiatives in your community, with reflections around how they relate to the topics and themes of opencare. Post your story here.
  3. Demonstrate your general knowledge about the field. Propose a theme, session or exhibit that you would like to see happen as part of the OpenVillage and name a number of projects or people whom you would like to see involved. Create a post in the OpenVillage coordination group.
Once you are done use \#opencare and \#scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work! The deadline for applications is May 5th 2017, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances! For more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact

Partner organisations

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
" 1,6371,2017-05-31T18:51:52.000Z,6371,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"In April I received the happy news that I was selected as an OpenCare Community Fellow by SCimPULSE Foundation and Edgeryders. Ironically, in the month that marked the start of the fellowship, I was struck by several illnesses. As a Belgian citizen, I can get the best care for next to zero financial cost for myself. Though, what is mainly just a nuisance for me, can be dramatic for those in more precarious situations. Those here outside the healthcare system and those in areas with weaker or no social security. The track I curate at the festival investigates the role science and research can play in a more resilient care system. Specifically we will zoom in on open science and citizen science in all their forms, and learn from real-life projects.   Exploring the ecosystem The past weeks have been an exploration of what is out there, which you don't get to do nearly enough when buried deep in your own project. It was a period of trying to spot connections, common issues and creative solutions. Talking to people and connecting them to each other. Outreach has been difficult at times. Being too busy truly is a sign of our times, all the more so for people exploring new ways. Things take time at the edge. The people that I did have the pleasure to speak with, however, proved that there is a plethora of possible solutions, and challenges. Among them are an interdisciplinary researcher stewarding data on walking mechanics for indigenous communities and an activist develoanon3606750899g a way for individuals to manon169343781facture their own medications. They have issues with legal battles and attracting talent, respectively.   Biohacking Valhalla In mid May I attended the BioFabbing Convergence. Many European biohackers, citizen scientists and experts gathered in CERN, Geneva at Ideasquare. The conversations I had and the presentations I attended offered insight into running community science spaces, education and science activism on the edges. Among participants, plans were made to take concrete action towards improving citizen science practices, one of which is the DIY Science Network.   Challenges Challenges I’ve faced have been time related. Between being ill, crisis management for own projects and working with people scarce on time, getting concrete things done is difficult. It goes to show that being active in the fields that we are, does also mean being more vulnerable to factors outside of your control. Going from interesting conversations in real life to stories on the platform, has also proven difficult. The Edgeryders platform is, quote, “hard to navigate or have an overview”. We have noticed the same with people participating in the Open Insulin research. Part of the solution is getting a hang of it, another part are improvements to how people navigate the site, which the Edgeryders team is constantly doing.   Next up There have been inspiring stories on the platform already for a while, some of which I have reached out to and will assist in drafting a session proposal over the next weeks. The community calls are a nice way to connect with everyone and discuss new ideas. After the community call of earlier today, the first sessions should be ready for scheduling over the next week. Additionally, I’ll be getting more external people into the existing discussions, and inviting more people to share stories and session proposals. Any help with the latter is welcome: if you know of any inspiring people active in the field, let’s get in touch!   This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation. " 1,6357,2017-05-24T10:14:12.000Z,6357,anon1626956627,anon1626956627," Tell us what you are doing to get \#openvillage tickets, fellowships and more! What is it that creates the conditions for an environment of open care? Gehan Macleod proposes a session at OpenVillage to tackle an important question that goes beyond the field of preventative or wellness care by asking ""how do we understand the architectures of love that are called for to create a more care-full society?"" Gehan is the co-founder of the GalGael Trust, an organisation of social solidarity based in Glasgow, Scotland. Taking its roots from a communal protest camp against a planned motorway in the local area, the trust developed into a community building effort involving craft-making, rural event organising, boat building and timber work.  Through her experience with the trust, Gehan proposes a session that explores the conditions, or as she empathetically describes 'the architectures of love', that can foster an environment of open care in communities. ""My work through the GalGael Trust based in the Govan area of Glasgow has offered some hints that actively generating a healthy culture is perhaps more effective in achieving in an anchored way the 'good intentions' of policy. Strong values guide actions, decisions and behaviour, influence language and how we treat one another. Our workshop sees people working, for the most, part side by side."" Evoking an important thematic tension between policy and values, Gehan condenses her question to an essential perspective, asking what foundational parts of a culture contribute to a caregiving society that go beyond formally enforced policies. Read more about Gehan's session proposal here.

OpenVillage Festival (Oct 19th - 21st)

As part of our preparations for the OpenVillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem. By October 19th to the 21st we aim to:

How you can contribute

Good For You When you post you will get a ticket to OpenVillage: Meet the OpenCarers. When you post you become eligible for the Open Fellowship. Good For Everyone Your input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century. " 1,5969,2016-10-21T10:43:03.000Z,5969,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Happy to introduce our new recruits! Ybe Casteleyn alias @anon1932026148 is a Belgian therapist specializing in trauma and pain and is now starting her own bus tour journey to offer affordable services in places where people most need them. It must take some bravery as a professional to say ""Medical diagnosis and treatment are often very 'traumatic' = overwhelmingly disturbing"". So now Ybe is connecting with community members in Greece to give a hand to displaced people in Greece! www.traumatour.eu @anon The @anon https://player.vimeo.com/video/150364886 http://woodbine.nyc/ " 1,5863,2016-09-05T08:53:04.000Z,5863,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"I’m happy to introduce our new Fellows, community members who have contributed to the OpenCare debate and are now off to writing more about how their work connects with, well ... mine and yours! @anon C’mon, show some love :-) Here’s what you can tweet/share to support Winnie: Winnie is Bioengineering the way to the future of \#education | ReaGent lab http://bit.ly/2bi33Pa \#opencare \#biohacking \#OPENandChange @anon bit.ly/2aiEOmU \#opencare \#opensource \#MS \#research \#OPENandChange Nina Breznik (@anon2131851816) and Alexander Praetorius (@anon2805308645): their work intrigued me with their timely intervention introducing www.refugeeswork.com platform for online learning of web & programming skills. I asked them to do a longer writeup and reflect on the rationale behind their work, and especially how they strike the banon3760936673ce between seeing daily enthusiastic people and small wins vs. making a compelling argument about newcomers actually enter the (a?) job market. #RefugeesWork: Don't count on the government to magically create jobs. http://bit.ly/2bXAbvf \#programming \#opencare \#OPENandChange https://www.youtube.com/embed/5v-xx_7MIH0 @anon Let’s send some love to the Malagasy people! Fix rice planting, prevent \#asthma and improve the ratio of doctors to patients. Needed in Madagascar: http://bit.ly/2a6Srq6 \#opencare \#OPENandChange @anon Alex is sharing solutions to refugee care: decentralised systems, volunteer-led initiatives and listening directly to needs of the group http://bit.ly/1MwxuBD Learn more and join in: edgeryders.eu/opencarefellowships " 1,5746,2016-07-04T08:49:46.000Z,5746,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"New month, new exciting connections! This is to introduce five more community members who are contributing their work to the opencare research and global conversation.

Community spaces that are thriving create the right kind of social fabric and resilience that help people live in society 

Yannick Schandené, a tech-savvy activist, self proclaimed amateur urbanist and recent blogger for edgeryders, is reporting on his efforts to build Huis VDH in Brussels in true community fashion: a collaborative house in the making that started from a personal urge to repurpose empty space and give it to projects or people I believe in and is becoming an experimental hub on every level to test out new models of organization, collaboration, construction and economy. Creating a space as an example on how social and cultural dynamics in empty spaces can empower the wellbeing of the people from the community. We learned about Prinzessinnengarten at the heart of Berlin a few years ago from @anon

Learning from care systems born out of crisis

Natalia Skoczylas and Pavlos Georgiadis are doing a series of pieces telling the story of how Pavlos, a returning agro-ecology researcher and entrepreneur, is building movements in the Greek “zombie economy”. We know Natalia best for her adventurous spirit and the ability to be in more than a place at once! and of course for her fearless take over Kathmandu in post earthquake Nepal last year. Also, I’m intrigued by the details of Pavlos’s narrative of care, as he seems to be taking Greece by storm, working on both small and (especially) big scales: He consciously chose to become part of the market, be open for collaboration with government, and get involved with huge public procurement systems because he thinks demonizing the market is wrong. And because there is a dire need for change there. More about his venture We Deliver Taste - here. Last but not least and perhaps most straightforwardly tied to care, we met Sabina Ulubeanon169343781 two weeks ago, as she told us how she became involved with a semi-formal, non medical network providing actual treatment to patients suffering from cancer. Sabina is a composer, visual artist and co-founder of an international new arts festival in Bucharest (among many other hats!), yet it is her personal story of a young mother and patient which brings her to opencare: Yes, I travelled home with medicine, calmly taking them through security and bringing them to Valeriu, the taxi driver that distributed them to the ones in need. More important was the fact that doing a simple thing, an easy gesture, meant helanon3606750899g someone's health and fighting a system that seemed not to care about the people. Everyone I talked to about the network felt the same: it is the least we can do! (read the short story) I look forward to read and meet @anon More about our ongoing Op3n Fellowships here. About other Op3nCare Fellows here. " 1,5696,2016-06-01T14:40:55.000Z,5696,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"      "" Pictures above: Omri, Pauline, Kate, Tomma 1. Team UP: Pauline Schautmann (@anon Our goal is to make the complex, 'taboo' issue of mental health more tangible and approachable to the public. It aims at fostering empathy and understanding towards those that are suffering from emotional distress. Read more: Designing for Vulnerability 2. Kate Genevieve (@anon712028032) is an artist and researcher at the intersections of domains, of the physical and virtual (own worded bio here). Her approach to mental care which I liked a lot is a community rewiring of listening and offering support, ""that everyone who lives in a distributed area is in someway involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place"". I’m hoanon3606750899g her piece will explore connection to inhabited spaces, using the digital as a space for honesty - more details to come. Real-life conversations from real experience in which neither party is an expert can be life changing. I work a lot with VR and seeing through another's eyes is certainly helpful but what really leads to change is honestly communicating difficult experience and listening to others and accepting their experience. There's some sort of validation in the honesty of that process that allows for shifts. There are lots of CBT, brain training, ""look at things brighter"" apps around but perhaps there's room for bold digital networks - with some serious legal tick boxes in place - that make possible structured honest relational experiences between people in a particular place. - Kate in her thoughtful contribution. 2. Team “make it up”: Dennis Nguyen (@anon4144941096), Tomma Suki Hinrichsen (@anon So there they are, our Op3nCare Fellows. They are the first to explore community led care in depth, aided by a small financial reward and learning opportunities in 2016-2017 (more about our ongoing Fellowship program here). Everyone, feel free to dive in the readings and say hello. Up until July 1st community members and new Edgeryders are welcome to join the conversation and submit Op3nCare stories. If you already posted in March, April, May, don’t worry, your submission is valid and will still be considered. " 1,5581,2016-04-22T11:12:11.000Z,5581,anon70625510,anon70625510,"  https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVZb_2ujOnI The migration issue dominates the European political debate. The influx of migrants, some people say, will break the European welfare system. Any new person coming in is reducing the amount of care that others can get. Care is supposedly a zero-sum game. Is this really the case? It turns out that, when faced with care challenges, communities rise to meet them. By doing so, they step outside of our current paradigm, one of provision of care services by a combination of the state and private business. This changes the game completely to one of decentralization and reciprocity. These services often display an uncanny degree of efficiency. So no, care provision does not need to be zero-sum. There are unexploited resources in the system.  But they cannot easily be added to our existing care system. They are too strange: ad hoc, blurry at the edges, often existing in legal gray areas. Unfundable. In this talk at re:Publica, we explore some of the amazing care services that communities are providing - right now  - to people that the state and private business have let down. We then ask how we, as a society, would need to change for them to continue to exist, and to scale where possible.  We will discuss, among other things:
  • The economic truism that ""health care costs can only go up, never down"", and why that's a fallacy.
  • The difficult relationship between care giving and management culture.
  • Greece's shadow health care service. 68 clinics with no legal status, don't accept money and provide free health care to people out the public health care system. 
  • A large unofficial refugee camp in France that has developed its own services – community kitchens, a library and even a theatre!
  • A makerspace in England with an incredibly diverse user base, where people find meaning (and income) through engaging with open technologies.
This talk takes place in Berlin onWednesday, May 4 at 11:15.  Session information and registration on the event website: https://re-publica.de/16/session/care-communities-non-zero-sum-provision-health-and-social-care. NB: We have a  limited number of tickets available for Edgeryders community members. For more information let me know you are interested in coming by hitting the attend button and I'll get in touch with you. Date: 2016-05-04 11:15:00 - 2016-05-04 11:45:00, Europe/Berlin Time. URL: https://re-publica.de/16/session/care-communities-non-zero-sum-provision-health-and-social-care" 1,5545,2016-04-12T14:02:02.000Z,5545,anon281534083,anon281534083,"If you give them a ride, but also if you take them in or even feed them you could be prosecuted. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/denmark-a-social-welfare-utopia-takes-a-nasty-turn-on-refugees/2016/04/11/a652e298-f5d1-11e5-958d-d038dac6e718_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_denmark-5pm_1%3Ahomepage%2Fstory And this is a list of the many recent laws passed by European nations regarding refugees: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/migrant-legislation/ I know this is a huge problem with no easy solutions and I do not wish to have simple-minded views about it.  But some of these laws seem rather bizarre to me, such as:
  • The Danish city of Randers made it mandatory for public institutions, including cafeterias in kindergartens and day-care centers, to have pork dishes on their menus. 
  • States in southern Germany can seize assets from refugees if they are worth more than 750 euros.
  • Slovakia said that it will refuse entry to Muslim refugees, instead announcing that it would take in only Christians.
" 1,5510,2016-04-01T10:45:48.000Z,5510,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"For most of humanity's history, care services – which today we call health and social care – were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other's children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations. This new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people…) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manon169343781facturing process. What if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? We are going to attempt to do just that. We are launching OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services. We will:
  • collect experiences of community-driven care services
  • validate them through open discussion, both online and offline.
  • augment them with state-of-the-art maker technology (3D printing, laser cutting, biohacking…)
  • combine everything we learn into the design and prototype of next generation community driven care services.
This is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we'll do it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process will be – and stay – open to anyone who wants to participate. We are working on a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution, and will not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers. Care is deeply human. Everyone has first-hand experience of it. Even those if us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and receving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent prototypes. If you want to be involved you can stay up to date through the newsletter, sign up to Edgeryders and come talk to us on our workspace. OpenCare is led by YOU, and assisted by a world-class partnership: Edgeryders, the University of Bordeaux, the City of Milan, WeMake, ScImpulse Foundation and the Stockholm School of Economics. We are grateful for the support of the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme.  " 1,5373,2016-02-23T13:15:21.000Z,5373,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

OpenCare Research workspace

You can get an inside view of the OpenCare European funded project (2016-2017). There is a discussion group where the curators coordinate work, organise, plan, evaluate and so on. Anyone is welcome to join. To visit or participate go here.

The OpenCare campaigns in 2016 and 2017

OPENandChange | August-September 2016: we have applied for the 100 million dollar grant with a “decentralized application”, with hundreds of communities, and organizations large and small, a swarm of solution providers working on a cloud of problems related to the provision of health and social care. Fellowships for Storytelling | April-November 2016: we have supported 20 community members to editorialize their experiences of care and share them on the opencare platform.

Project Materials 

The original proposal | Find it here. OpenCare is firmly committed to radical openness, so we are publishing our winning proposal under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Design Materials | Visuals - Logos, Banners, Headers, Videos for OpenCare Research Project Focus stories by community members | Care by communities: Greece's shadow zero-cash health care system, The Regeneration of Meaning and Living Social in Brussels- Coliving as a lifestyle for adults How-to Guides | Guide for building the OpenCare online community (by Edgeryders), opencare Playbook: a practical guide for emphatic explorers (by WeMake) Media articles | An ongoing reading list Social OpenCare | on facebook  | on twitter | on Pinterest | newsletter

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The journal of prediction markets, 1(1), 75-91. United Nations Development Programme, 2014. Spotting the Future: Horizon Scanning in Armenia, Egypt and Georgia. https://github.com/edgeryders/documents/blob/master/STFEthnoReport.pdf Vallance, R. R. (2000, July). Bazaar design of nano and micro manon169343781facturing equipment. In Nanotechnology Workshop, July (Vol. 14). Van Abel, B., Evers, L., Troxler, P., & Klaassen, R. (2014). Open design now: why design cannot remain exclusive. BIS Publishers. Chicago     Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440-442. Wolfers, J., & Zitzewitz, E. (2004). Prediction markets (No. w10504). National Bureau of Economic Research. Zanetti, M. S., Sarigol, E., Scholtes, I., Tessone, C. J., & Schweitzer, F. (2012). A quantitative study of social organisation in open source software communities. arXiv preprint arXiv:1208.4289. Zhang, J., Ackerman, M. S., & Adamic, L. (2007, May). Expertise networks in online communities: structure and algorithms. In Proceedings of the 16th international conference on World Wide Web (pp. 221-230). ACM. " 1,5374,2016-02-24T00:06:24.000Z,5374,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Narrative: OpenCare

1. Who are the OpenCarers?

We meet a number of credible, committed and qualified people taking responsibility for fixing problems. Each presents how they are dealing with a (problematic) situation related to health- and social care, science and technologies and or communities.

Start:

Background: High resolution video - Person doesn't say anything, looks straight into camera.

Foreground: Text- Full Name, Professional title and organisational affiliation, Country (location, not nationality) Voiceover: 1. Meet [name of person]. 2. He/She is a [professional role/title/identity]. 3. That means he/she does a,b,c and helps you to avoid e,f,g. 4. [Name of person] is currently in situation h : e.g. ""Marie has a pacemaker due to a genetic condition"" 5. He/She has discovered that [ alarming or surprising thing] 6. [Name of person] is asking [some question relevant to opencare: e.g. in marie's case it is ""What is the social contract for the code running in our bodies?""

End individual interview snippets with:

What's your story- maanon1932026148 you have questions you would like to explore with others ? Meet [Name of Person] and the rest of the OpenCare community at www.opencare.cc

2. What do [ OpenCarers or Names of Interviewees] have in common?

Voice over: They see a number of trends which together form future we are ill-equipped to deal with. For most of humanity's history, care services – which today we call health and social care – were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other's children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations. This new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: - Trend 1: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people…) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. - Trend 2: many attempts to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manon169343781facturing process. - Trend 3: Privacy and security concerns in the age of ubiquotous connectivity. Increasingly intimate data generated about us and shared beyond our control, or that of the institutions meant to protect our rights. Animation: current situations --- current ways of doing things-----> current (negative) futures.

3. They are also part of a growing community of people figuring out how to build a health and social care system that is safe, accessible, open and participatory.

What if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? This is what they, and thousands of others are setting out to do.

4. What will come out of it?

New knowledge, prototypes and economic models.

5. Ok great, so how will this work and how can you be a part of it?

Animation: current situation ---OpenCare-----> closer to ideal futures via these steps (on a staircase): 1. Outreach and exchange of experiences 2. Collaborative sense making 3. Narrative building 4. Prototyanon3606750899g and testing 5. Prizes 6. Exhibition and Summit Voice over (describing each step of staircase): Outreach and exchange of experiences: It all starts with an invitation for you and others around the world to share personal experiences, observations and examples on the challenge topic. You will share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health-or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care. Collaborative sense making: Once the the goals of OpenCarers, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of (wiki-style) collaborative writing of the OpenCare fund mission and guidelines. This phase links OpenCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals. This strategy ensures that both are firmly grounded in real-life, first-person experiences. Project Narrative and calls to action: We collaboratively synthesise the results of our sense making into a narrative structure for OpenCare, that is going to set the scene for our interactions with one another. This includes co-designing a fair social contract and ethical guidelines for members. It also includes defining role structures (for example: participants can register as “trailblazers” sharing stories or “mentors” that help making sense of it), motivational engines (for example: badges, karma points or other forms of recognition for active users), strategic partnerships, style and aesthetics. Prototyanon3606750899g and testing: t.b.d Prizes: t.b.d Exhibition and Summit: \#lote 6 takes place in September 2017, in Milan. Voice over and text: To learn more about OpenCare and how you can be a part of it, go to www.opencare.cc or write to community@anon

Interview Questions:

Need to be revosed to give us the right material for script above!
  • What is your understanding of what OpenCare is - why should your audience care about it?
  • What will you be exploring/doing in the project- how will you be working?
  • What activities you will be running - who do you want to get involved and why?
" 1,5344,2016-02-20T08:37:11.000Z,5344,anon70625510,anon70625510,"last week I met with Angelo Di Mambro (journalist, video producer and communications consultant based in Brussels). We had a really interesting conversation about Storytelling for engagement. Especially when it involves introducing your intended audience to some new concept or way of doing things, this can be very difficult. So we started looking at previous efforts to do this. We started by analysing our experiences of having worked with communication for over 10 years. Then we explored how much respected storytellers such as George Lucas and my first mentor, award winning Swedish Director Roy Andersson, go about building engaging stories. It was so much fun that Angelo has decided join me in leading this workshop. Later today Angelo and I are meeting again. One of the topics we will be discussing is how to use myths and archetypes in effective storytelling for engagement. An interesting aspect for a transnational community is which myths and narratives are culturally specific and which ones seem to resonate with everyone. It taps into something which I think is very relevant to the design of the OpenCare engagement process. Bear with me as I try to articulate what is no more than an early intuition... At the turn of this year I had a brief exchange with Evan Roth, one of the early movers in net art and fellow activist. Like many others who grew up on the Internet and who have been fighting against the erosion of civil liberties, he was heartbroken and disenchanted after the Snowden revelations. A kind of collective depression was tangible in the scene, a lot of people for whom this was the first experience of engaging with mainstream politics just dropped out.  Others have been engaging with the significant challenge of making the techno-social debate accessible, and engaging, to people outside the tech scene and Brussels bubble. This is sorely needed. Kirsten Fielder, Julia Reda, Walter Van Holst, our own anon948101822k Lakomaa (all coming to \#lote5) and Amelia Andersdotter have first-hand experiences of the difficulties involved. Amelia in particular has been very active in the debate around data security and patient privacy in Sweden. Evan's talk at \#32c3 is a poetic description of how he tried to make this overwhelming, abstract infrastructure something with which he could engage as an artist ( 1hr video). Julian Oliver's creative practice comes at things more from a critical engineering perspective: he has built functional objects which both critique and circumvent the offending practices or technologies e.g http://transparencygrenade.com/ Those of us working on OpenCare will be facing the similar challenge of making difficult (or abstract) topics/debates and insights more accessible. Both to people who are curious, but need a ""soft"" way into the conversations...as well as to community members, practitioners and relevant decision-makers e.g legislators. So I thought it might be interesting to engage product designers to make some of the more difficult or abstract topics/debates ""easier"" to approach through the lens of critical design (as an example see http://www.backslash.cc/). Maanon1932026148 even produce an exhibition at the final event taking place in Milan. This could fit into the prototyanon3606750899g phase of the project. Or it could be a separate parallel strand. Prof. Susanne Stauch and myself have been discussing this in the context of a product design course we will be holding at Berlin University of the Arts UDK       " 1,5369,2016-02-19T12:14:07.000Z,5369,anon70625510,anon70625510,"OpenCare is an EU funded program made up of three things:
  • A PLATFORM where people can share stories, ideas and insights and make new connections;
  • A diverse and distributed COMMUNITY or network of individuals and groups, mainly in Europe but including the whole world, exploring alternative, more long-term sustainable solutions to healthcare;
  • A PROCESS that brings people together from this community to share, inspire, connect and collaborate.
The aim is to bring together people, virtually or physically, to gather and share stories, ideas and insights. Out of this will emerge new ideas, new solutions and new connections that benefit all.

WHO?

There are two main roles:
  • The OpenCarers:people who care, and are willing to share their stories about how they care. People like you!
  • The curators: these are people who have created and maintain the platform, and curate the content. Right now they are @anon1701267031 , @anon2954219769, @anon3670751854 and @anon1491650132 who is stewarding the process.

THE PROCESS

We (the curators) have devised a four stage process, described below. We invite you to engage at all and any stage. Every single contribution is valued, whether it is telling a story, leaving a thoughtful comment, bringing cake to a community gathering or helanon3606750899g to build a prototype.
March 2016 - August 2016
Project phase What we are focusing on How to participate

Collaborative Sensing: Who and what is already out there?

 Individual Stories (100)

Contribute a story: Say hello and introduce yourself Participate in Op3n Meetups ( to receive invitations to future events, complete an Op3n Challenge)
Objective: Discover, understand, acknowledge what people are already doing Activities: Sharing your own personal stories, interviewing people affected by the challenge topics and sharing successful initiatives or analogous examples from other areas. It all starts with an invitation for you and others around the world to share personal experiences, observations and examples on the challenge topic. You will share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health- or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care.
July 2016 - September 2016

Collaborative Sense Making: Where are we going? Where would we like to be going instead...and how can we get there?

 Case Study Stories (20) Join fellow Op3nCare Active Learners Join fellow Op3nCare Practitioners Join the Op3nCare Partnership
Objective: Analyse and structure the information shared in our conversations in such a way as to support op3ncarers desire and ability to constructively engage in society. Activities: Using appreciative enquiry methods and playing with tools like Edgesense to find surprising connections between your experiences and those of other participants. Whether it is because you want to solve local problems, keep governments accountable, avoid expensive mistakes or learn new things about the world in which you live, knowledge is power. This phase links Op3nCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals.
September 2016 - April 2017

Prototyanon3606750899g and Testing: How do our ideas work in practice?

 Self-evaluation reports Join the Op3nCare Partnership
Objective: t.b.c Activities: t.b.c Once the goals of Op3nCare participants, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of hands-on, intensive peer-to-peer help. We look at each initiative and work together to connect it with the people, knowledge skills, and resources to take it to the next level.
April 2017 - September 2017

Impact: How do we take the work forward?

 Caring on the Edge event, Milan High Impact Publications Strategic Partnerships Sanon3606750899-off Projects It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a conference in September 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives.
Objective: It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a festival on October 19-21, 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives. Activities: t.b.c We collaboratively synthesise the results of our sense-making, prototyanon3606750899g and testing for OpenCare. This includes co-designing a fair social contract and ethical guidelines for all stakeholders including practitioners, policymakers, funders and investors.

Subscribe to the OpenCare VALUES

  • Try to support and build on what is already there. We start by sharing experiences and research. We do this to discover what is already out there, what is needed by initiatives and the communities they serve. In doing this collaboratively, we increase collective knowledge. We also encourage peers in the movement to acknowledge one another’s good work and build on it, rather than waste resources on duplicating or competing with initiatives.
  • Help one another to improve y(our) ability to analyze and interpret information. We analyse and structure the information shared in our conversations to support community members' desire and ability to constructively engage in society through and about facts, statistics and other pieces of information. In a world of ubiquitous digital connectivity, improving access and use of information helps us navigate meaningfully current ecosystems and societies. Whether it is because you want to solve local problems, keep governments accountable, avoid expensive mistakes or learn new things about the world in which you live, knowledge is power.
  • Keep in mind that we are a diverse community. This is critical: almost anything we can achieve rests on that diversity, so the social contract needs to preserve and enhance it. It is essential that we stay wide open to an influx of new people, insights and skills. This means that we  can never be a membership-based organization. The minute you draw a line and say “Here, we are on this side, the outside world is on that side”, the community begins to asphyxiate and die. This means we accept and take into account that individuals should be able to choose their own role, as long as it does not limit the autonomy of others.
  • Who does the work, calls the shots. The focus of any interaction should be to empower and encourage each one of us to do things. No one gets to sit on the sidelines and tell people not to do things. If you want to make something better, you can add thoughtful suggestions. The suggestions most likely to be implemented are ones which are backed with an offer of hands-on help from the persons making them.
 
ROLES There are two main roles:
  • The Opencarers: people who care, and are willing to share their stories about how they care. People like you!
  • The core team and experts: these are people who have created and maintain the platform, and curate the content. Principally this is the hosts, Edgeryders (a consultancy that specialises in community-based solutions to complex societal challenges) as well as Ezio Manzini (a leading design strategist for socialecolocial sustainability).

 

THE PROCESS 

We (the curators) have devised a four stage process, described below. We invite you to engage at all and any stage. Every single contribution is valued, whether it is telling a story, leaving a thoughtful comment, bringing cake to a community gathering or helanon3606750899g to build a prototype. 1. Read, comment and post responses to challenges: We share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health- or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care. ONGOING: PARTICIPATE HERE! 2. Make sense and build new knowledge: Whether it is because you want to solve local problems, keep governments accountable, avoid expensive mistakes or learn new things about the world in which you live,  knowledge is power. This phase links OpenCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals. ONGOING: PARTICIPATE HERE! 3. Develop new ecosystems and see how they work in practice: Once the goals of OpenCare participants, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of hands-on, intensive peer-to-peer help. We look at each initiative and connect it with the people, knowledge skills, and resources to take it to the next level. ONGOING CALL FOR FELLOWS AS CURATORS. 4. Defining how we take the work forward: It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a conference in October 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives. ONGOING CALL FOR REGISTRATION AT OPENVILLAGE. " 1,5378,2016-02-10T21:52:11.000Z,5378,anon70625510,anon70625510,"We are a global community working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. It starts from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.

How to make the most out of being part of the community right now

Come to the OpenVillage Festival on 19-21 October, in Brussels! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and shape the future with inspiring people using opentech and science to reimagine how we care for one another. First create an account on Edgeryders.eu. Now complete the following steps:
  1. Share your story in a post - let fellow community members know a little more about you.
  2. Comment 3 stories from the one below.
  3. You're now set to Meet the OpenCarers at the Festival. Keep an eye on the Program in development!
  4. Join our global media team sharing \#opencare, a curated list of three best-of stories on care related topics.
" 1,5377,2015-10-26T10:54:25.000Z,5377,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"The OpenCare consortium consists of: We formed around a need that emerged within the Edgeryders community in the course of an event called Living On The Edge 4. The main idea was, and still is, that hacker culture and the availability of cheap and open but advanced technology (not only software, but hardware and wetware too) can contribute to ideating and providing care services – at a time Europe badly needs innovation in this domain. Furthermore, services designed and deployed by skilled communities of hackers are likely to be very different from those provided by the state and the private sector. The discussion proved that tackling the issue of community-drive care required a strongly interdisciplinary approach, covering many areas of expertise. We identified the main ones as follows:
  1. Collective intelligence: how can a community function as a knowledge engine?
  2. Domain expertise on care: how can communities interface with the academic debate on what constitutes care and how it should be done?
  3. Design: how can we bring state-of-the-art design for sustainability and service design practices into designing care provision?
  4. Open hardware: how can rapid prototyanon3606750899g and open hardware platforms be used in the participatory design of care services?
  5. Public policy design and evaluation: how can community-driven care services be integrated in the highly sensitive, highly regulated landscape of European care provision?
The team adopts a working out loud practice throughout the project and coordinates in an open group. Join here. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670 " 1,818,2017-03-22T10:37:20.000Z,818,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"The opencare Maker in Residence is open! The opencare Maker in Residence is the first edition of a special residency programme that provides support, assistance, resources and acceleration to Makers - from all over the world - who are interested in develoanon3606750899g / validating / iterating an open source project in the health and care field. Makers can live and work on-site at WeMake for a period of time that may vary from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 8 weeks, providing an opportunity for intense collaboration, creativity, and learning to improve their project. The opencare Maker in Residence will take place from April to July 2017 (dates will be scheduled according to applicants’ availability).

Why we’re doing the opencare Maker in Residence

Through this special edition of residency we are trying to create an active and participatory link between the online and offline collaboration. On one hand online collaboration is a great experience: you can get inspiration by reading stories, learning from all around the world experiences, finding technical documentation, forking and contributing to different projects … On the other hand, the live (aka ""offline"") experience (working in a makerspace / fablab) will add some other things:
  • intense physical experience: smelling the laser in the morning will push you ;)
  • human in flesh and blood (AFK) can use different kind of communications channels (they can also make faces without using emoticons)
  • people around us can act as serendipity triggers (I.E. “Did you know that you can do this ..”)
  • having a lot of materials and tools at hand can foster your anon1056199097nuity  
  • iteration is key: discard a yesterday idea and try the today new one
  • you’re not alone: working in your office is great, but having people around you is awesome!
  • tacit knowledge: looking others makers (designers, artists, tinkerers, ...) working around you will ... making around you is an hidden but huge diffuse competence and skills repository
  • explore different point of view about your project: There’s the s*** you know, the s*** you know you don’t know, and the s*** you don’t know you don’t know.
online + offline = GREAT THINGS!

-----

How to apply

Step 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account Step 2 - go to Add my story and write about your project, following closely the instructions on that page. Step 3 - follow this link and fill in the form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22

More info

For more information, explanations and support with the application process, go to the page or please contact: On Janon169343781ary 21-22 I participated in NOW, a 2 day event bringing together mayors from cities and towns receiving the largest numbers of refugees from Syria as well as activists and individuals currently seeking asylum in Europe. I will dedicate this post to a brief summary of the key issues highlighted by participants, followed by proposals for how we could contribute towards building actionable and sustainable solutions. The first part of the event consisted in a kind of intense briefing of the situation in countries closest to Syria. In a short time the populations of small countries in the region, Lebanon and Jordan, have grown manyfold (1.1 Million refugees in Lebanon, 630,000 in Jordan - in addition to Palestinian refugees already there). Some reading materials with up to date, detailed information: Armenia: Anna’s report from Yerevan is a good introduction.  Jordan: Five Years On | Syria Crisis-related needs and vulnerabilities in Jordan.   While many of the cities and towns receiving refugees face similar challenges there is a significant difference. Some are transit locations, which asylum seekers pass on their way on to other destinations. They include major cities in Greece, Italy and Turkey, as well as small coastal towns from which people leave on boats to take their perilous journey across the sea. There, volunteers do their best to care for their immediate physical needs and the mandated administrative/security procedures to grant them entry onto the mainland. Other cities and towns  are receiving the newcomers on a more long term basis. This happens in two different phases, each one posing its own  political, administrative and infrastructural challenges for the hosting communities. The first one is the period of time between arrival and the approval or rejection of the person’s application for refugee status. This period could be very long, as in the case of the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, or that of Mr. Teferi in Norway. The second one is the period that begins once an individual has secured refugee status. In this period, the challenge is navigating the difficult period between receiving the papers and being fully established in the social and economic life of the host new community. While the details differ, the problems and needs mentioned by mayors, NGOs and activists fall into one or more of the following:
  • Resource efficiency: How to get better at covering necessities of both refugees and citizens/ residents on very limited resources? As an example Jordan is one of the most water scarce countries in the world and 70 per cent of the population suffers from inadequate water supply below the national standard of 100 liters/person/day. Aging infrastructures, inefficiencies in operation and maintenance. interrupted provision of water services etc. Could resource scarcity be mitigated through Open Source technologies for recycling of sewage, seawater desalination at scale, deep drip irrigation etc? Affordable, modifiable technologies are required to manage the current crisis as well as to secure peace in the region.
  • Interoperability, knowledge transfer and Institutional memory: I heard many calls to “make information available about how the system works”, and ""calls for online platforms to fix a perceived lack of information"" thought to be a ""key obstacle for labor market access"". Here too I head that “we need a database of all the initiatives and resources available to help refugees” and ""we need to make existing information about getting your paperwork done, how to set up a new business etc"". There are three underlying assumptions: 1) That some people understand in detail “how the system works” as a whole and 2) That they can transmit that kind knowledge into brochures or documents and that 3) This information material will make the system navigable and penetrable for newcomers. These three assumptions do not hold up to scrutiny and could fill an entire blogpost with reasons as to why. For now I will simply refer you to the Brickstarter report as it is a light, beginner-friendly introduction to some of the issues.
  • Scalability of public services: How to build/rethink provision of public services so that they can accommodate changes in the number of people to serve? Many of the participants complained about the lack of resources to provide education or training for newcomers. Others mentioned the provision of health and social care services, especially psychological support for the traumatised. I heard a lot of calling for more resources to be put into existing services, but little examination of how existing services are performing and even less awareness about more effective, flexible and cost-efficient approaches. Are we sure that throwing money onto more of the same will result in better outcomes?  Sugata Mitra’s work on Minimally Invasive Education, Miguel Chavez’s experienced from building Makerspaces in Favelas, Freifunk and many others offer alternative approaches with promising results. The political will, and practical ability, to welcome and accommodate newcomers depends on it. In this recent talk, I present a proposal for how we can break out of the zero-sum thinking in the provision of care services as an antidote to rising social tensions between social groups.
One of the outcomes of the conference was that Mayors from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Austria signed a declaration to work together in solidarity across borders: Politically, this is an important signal. However the event didn’t get into the part I find the most interesting- how they expect to go from intention to implementation. So what is needed in order for this commitment to be delivered on? Based on discussions with mayors, activists and refugees it looks like the participants at NOW need:
  1. Efficient and sustainable coordination across geographic, linguistic and technological barriers.
  2. A globe-spanning sustained effort to help community leaders, mayors, politicians and fight back against populist rhetoric and divisive narratives.
  3. Ability to learn about and experiment with novel or unconventional approaches towards tackling root causes of problems which affect both newcomers and the host communities which welcome them.
In practice this would require:
  • Active engagement of a lot of affected people in mapanon3606750899g and making sense of urgent problems related to a sudden influx of newcomers in education, housing, employment/entrepreneurship, language/social skills and finance. The reason being that those affected will only get behind efforts to solve problems if they trust the people involved, and have shared ownership in the process. Part of what builds trust is if people can recognise their own perspective, language and experiences in the description of the situation. That they are taken seriously as experts in their own lives- that their own ambitions, words and thoughts weigh at least as much as input of credentialed domain experts (who may never have set foot in the neighborhood). This was echoed by newcomers frustrated by discussions about training them to fit into pre-defined slots in society, based on what they perceived to be unfounded assumptions by institutional actors about what they could or could not achieve: “Do not put a cap on my dreams, just give me access to the tools and see what I can build with them”.​
  • Continuous mapanon3606750899g and connection of different private, public and third sector actors efforts into coherent shared plans that take into consideration the budgetary, logistical and political constraints within which each group is working. I can tell you from experience that is it not easy. The reason being that the incentives are aligned against it. We all agree that at the system level good documentation saves everyone time and resources. At the individual level it is more difficult to motivate the additional investment of time and effort. Where you see people doing this consistently is where it is a part of a shared culture and work ethos. To get this going you have to create the incentives for people to do additional work involved, instill the ethos, teach people the workflow and enforce it top down. Over and over. Until there is a critical mass doing it and others can share the effort of spreading and maintaining the enabling culture.
Take a minute to think about what this means. If the participants in the event want to see the transnational cooperation happen in practice, then they will have to learn to think and work as networks of individuals interacting inside, outside and all around different organisations. Each working at the hyperlocal, micro-level, while sharing and learning with others working in different contexts as a natural part of the everyday workflow… not just something afforded to people who can travel and spend 2 days talking with one another at a conference. And all of this done in ways that build granon169343781lar, immediately relevant and continuously updated institutional memory accessible to all. Affecting behavioral change at this scale is hard, but it can be done. I think we can contribute in two ways. 1. At LOTE5 we are organising this reflexive design exercise on Collaborative inclusion: how migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. The event is run by Ezio Manzini, one the world's leading designers for social innovation. You can partner with us if you want to help make it into a workshop on addressing specific problems tied to reception and inclusion of asylum seekers. Or just sign up and participate. 2. We also have a way to produce cheap, accurate ethnographic data around problems like the ones mentioned above, with a focus on surfacing creative and actionable solutions. This would enable you to engage a large number of participants (thousands) in a participatory process for designing solutions to meet their own needs. This methodology is being employed/supported by a growing number of actors including the current Swedish minister of Nordic cooperation and strategic foresight, the European Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Volunteers as well as the cities of Milan and Matera in Italy, and of Bucharest in Romania. We have developed a methodological guide for doing this - email me if you would like a copy (cannot post online): anon70625510@anon   " 2,7469,2017-01-13T09:28:44.000Z,5234,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"And then elections happen. I was reminded of this story when reading the headlines these days, how Germany's trend of receiving refugees was considerably reversed in 2016 and worse, people are now sent back to the borders of Europe (elsewhere called ""voluntary deportations""?!). Also, I re-assigned this story to the ""Policies of Care"" challenge. | @anon " 3,11530,2017-03-16T10:02:07.000Z,7469,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"We'll see how this works out We may see general rebellion as regressive policies on multiple fronts are pushed e.g. Poland on female reproductive rights. Also national govs running out of dough = more decentralisation and growing influence at regional/local level. Mayors can have huge influence and tip scale with creative responses. One big obstacle issue is Frontex and other strong lobbies for EU border control, but as EU loses clout, also this may change. Who knows. " 1,33636,2017-07-27T09:55:18.949Z,33636,anon2954219769,anon2954219769," # Alberto Rey _#documentary #art #cleanwater #flyfishing #filmmaking #sciencecommunication_ _Alberto is an Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York in Fredonia, has been the founder and director of a youth fly fishing program for 18 years and is a fly fishing guide. For the past 20 years he has been working on art that tries to reconnect communities to their local bodies of water to become more sensitized to the complex issues that affect them._ During an exhibition on the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River in Buffalo , New York, I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows through the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. I was excited about extending my body of work beyond the Western Hemisphere and to working with a culturally diverse community. The project was a success and resulted in [a documentary](http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/videos/bagmati/), a book written in English and Nepali, an exhibition, [website](http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/) and a poster. The fly fishing program is another way of reconnecting people to their local environment. It has educational and therapeutic benefits. I’m working with youth to get them more engaged with their environment and to instill a sense of stewardship. I also organize a conference on this topic to help educators connect science, art and literature through fly fishing. At the OpenVillage, I will give a lecture about the Bagmati River Project and a brief overview of the other projects that led up to it. It is an active session with visuals, sound and video. I’d like to open a discussion about the topic afterwards. We will also do a fly fishing demo with a group of children and participants of OpenVillage. We will combine this with citizen science experiments on water quality and stream biology. This format can be documented and reused by schools who would like to implement a similar project in their curriculum. **Alberto’s lecture and demo are part of the Citizen Science track at #OpenVillage. You can get in touch with him and join the conversation [here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/session-complexities-of-water-investigating-clean-water-for-community/6396).**" 2,33699,2017-07-29T14:16:01.740Z,33636,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Alberto is one of the people I look forward to meet at the Festival this October. We've been in touch for almost a year now and his contribution is one of the most valuable in community building: the gift of attention. Thanks for the time and patience Alberto! :-)" 3,33830,2017-07-30T13:56:54.653Z,33636,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,Fly fishing definitely gets my prize for the most original session proposal ever. Looking forward :slight_smile: 4,34457,2017-08-17T13:38:43.878Z,33636,anon1293448839,anon2954219769,I am very excited to be part of Open Village and Edgeryders and look forward to working with everyone there!!!! It should lead to some interesting discussions!! 5,34459,2017-08-17T13:48:10.721Z,34457,anon1526983854,anon1293448839,"Likewise. Also, @anon1526983854rey, you must be popular: this topic is the third most referred topics across all of Edgeryders over the last month! :slight_smile:" 7,36593,2017-09-19T12:12:21.897Z,34457,anon169343781,anon1293448839,"@anon1526983854rey I am from Kathmandu, Nepal and indeed Bagmati Cleaning Campaign was successful. I participated for 70 weeks." 8,38198,2017-10-12T21:30:36.382Z,36593,anon1293448839,anon169343781,That is amazing! I look forward to meeting you! 9,38199,2017-10-12T21:32:15.609Z,34459,anon1293448839,anon1526983854,"Sorry for the late reply...it is taking me awhile to figure out the websites. I just got this. I am very excited about the festival and look forward to you!" 10,38224,2017-10-13T09:23:41.595Z,36593,anon1491650132,anon169343781,"Seriously?! Wow, @anon Is there anything which stayed with you, learnings about how to make a difference or coordinate ?" 11,38323,2017-10-15T15:21:29.509Z,38224,anon169343781,anon1491650132,Hi @anon1491650132. Yes I was there at Bagmati Cleaning Campaign. It is still running. Once a week people volunteer to clean the river. I volunteer two hours a week for a year. We also get an SMS reminder from government network which was very helpful to keep updated ourselves. More than two thousand people be there :slight_smile: It was not only about cleaning the river but also the world heritage sites like Pashupati Temple which is considered as one of the main Hindu temple around the world. 12,38399,2017-10-16T18:31:02.234Z,33636,anon3606750899,anon2954219769,"whow ! I am very excited to be part of Open Village and Edgeryders and look forward to working with everyone there. Water was also the point from were we start to be more and more interested on Biohacking with a ecofeminism point of view. we start to be afraid of the situation of the river in our community in Barcelona Clafou and from there we were researching about fitodepuration and bioremediation to try to fix or at least solve the contamination from heavy metals and strogens at the water. Finally I was super sad to realize that you can.t do to much is the people from industry doesn.t stop top thought away contaminants. From the environmental to the body everything matters and is the same there is not a impermeable membrane on our skin we are permeable to particles, water, hormones etc. super interested on talk with all of you to try to find ways to get things better for future." 13,38701,2017-10-25T07:02:20.897Z,33636,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"Hi, Alberto! Your presentation was so nice in Brussels, and I love your book also... Your card did not have your email address, so I am first trying this to say I'd still love to get a copy if possible. I am at Ch du Châtaignier 9C CH 1026 Echandens Switzerland Hope your travels went smoothly and to see you again! (go fishing next time??) best, Rachel" 14,38702,2017-10-25T07:05:30.298Z,33636,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"@anon1526983854rey (I guess I should put this in to make sure you get notified...) I copy my above note, just in case it goes directly to your mailbox. my email btw is raronoff@anon Hi, Alberto! Your presentation was so nice in Brussels, and I love your book also... Your card did not have your email address, so I am first trying this to say I'd still love to get a copy if possible. I am at Ch du Châtaignier 9C CH 1026 Echandens Switzerland Hope your travels went smoothly and to see you again! (go fishing next time??) best, Rachel" 15,47707,2018-09-29T23:03:04.319Z,33636,anon1293448839,anon2954219769,I just responded through email...i just noticed this. 16,47722,2018-09-30T17:20:50.645Z,47707,anon1526983854,anon1293448839,@anon1526983854rey the email goes to me as a private message. The question above from @anon1227671133 is a different one! :slight_smile: 1,33730,2017-05-05T16:15:08.000Z,33730,anon1580856632,anon1580856632,"My name is Nabeel Petersen, a South African citizen on a mission to design and test novel methods for Science Communication, Research and to foster collaboration and stimulate dialogue. I have been employed in the non profit sector as a Project Manager on various projects, after having explored and tested theatrical/drama techniques and incorporating that into Science Communication and Health Messaging. And let me tell you, I am completely motivated and inspired by this community and others toward this goal and Public Engagement. My experience as a process facilitator includes various participatory methods including: photovoice, drama, collaborative/participatory video, workshop design and events design. I've resigned from my formal job in order to test additional methods which I believe have the power to stimulate dialogue, forge relationships across difference sectors and reach larger audiences in organic, fun and interactive means. Since resigning from my formal employment, I've begun develoanon3606750899g concepts using Street Arts and collaborations to install live arts installations driven toward Public Engagement. Now, Public Engagement as a term itself is not void of ambiguity and misuse for the purpose of funding or green-stamanon3606750899g our professional works. This isn't anyone's fault as it's a field that is develoanon3606750899g. We should strive for full participation in our works, not anon2590712900y using the term as a stamp of approval. Our project aims to forge relationships with very different bodies of knowledge and social status, i.e. biomedical professionals/scientists, community members and artists, all of whom I argue have equally important and necessary knowledge to combat illness, increase the status of general Public Health and, simply put, fight a battle using a full arsenal of knowledge and weapons. Allow me to rewind, ever so slightly to paint a picture. I've previously sought to test photovoice as a participatory method by forging relationships with community members from an under-resourced community in Cape Town, South Africa, and Scientists from the University of the Western Cape. The project sought to bring these varied parties together in a participatory workshop process, after which community members were trained on DSLR cameras and instructed to capture the lived experience of food in their everyday lives. They could capture anything related but not limited to the purchase, consumption or disposal of food. This project revolved around Cardiovascular disease and the Scientists involved were Seniors at the Cardiovascular Research Unit at the University of Stellenbosch. The array of visual material and accompanying narrative was phenomenal and utterly beautiful. It shed light on the constant negotiation of food and consumption in these communities, including the availability of food, what kind of food was deemed healthy or not, when it was suitable for food to be disposed, food as celebration and community building etc. To me, and the Scientists involved, this process unveiled knowledge on food consumption behaviour and more structural issues imposed on these communities. It was never simply a ""I want KFC and I shall buy KFC"". This food choice is always compounded by budget, compromise, available options, time of the month, etc. People are consciously and constantly negotiating and re-negotiating choices. My heart broke when a Senior member of the project sample pulled me aside mid-project and told me ... ""Nabeel, I've suffered from Type 2 Diabetes for 15 years. At least thats what the doctors told me. They gave me medication and send me away each month. But never before has anyone told me what Diabetes is in a way that I understand. Never before have they taken time to talk with me. But now I have these scientists in my backyard. And they can't leave until I know my body""... It's necessary to point out that even though this community has an approximate population of 100 000 it only has one superstore that either of us would immediately turn our back on. Most food products are sourced from small kiosks on the corners. Yes, I am still in shock. How and why are the most vulnerable excluded from knowledge and provision of services? An alarm bell rang in my head that I could not ignore since I resigned. We've been running projects with a very specific agenda which more often than not in the non-profit sector provides an income and life for the administering organization. The sad truth is peoples' knowledge and expression are not given the kudos and respect it desperately needs. And in this battle, that may just be our most prize weapon. Fastforward 8 months and I've developed a concept with others (including Infers Group and may own company Interfer) which: 1. aims to bring 3 very different bodies of knowledge together in a participatory, collaborative and egalitarian process; 2. forge relationships between these traditionally-deemed exclusive fields, i.e. arts and science and; 3. test organic and participatory processes to create events and arts installations that extends this knowlege to a broader audience in a fun interactive means. Now. Back to my current mini-project... I have recently collaborated with the University of Cape Town's Swallowing the World project which is a curatorial project focused on the lived experience of TB. My team of graffiti artists and I joined the festival, set up 2.5 x 2.5m canvas in the middle of campus and contributed to this project on International TB Day. As the focus of the fest was on Destigmatization, we followed suit and allowed interaction between the audience and ourselves to influence or define the artpiece. A short video of our work: https://www.youtube.com/embed/2NCOAeipD9k This project will be installed in South Africa, India and Botswana simultaneously and attempts to use culturally- and community-sensitve street art forms. As such, we are holding participatory principles as central to the success of the project as we would like to design the project trajectory, outcomes and art installations/events with all participants. You may be thinking that no Funder finds this ideal. Alas, we're all wrong! We have had alot of interaction with a potential funder who chose to view the testing phase on UCT in livetime. This live time viewing feature of our project is something we would want to function very much like Edgeryders as it allows for collaborations and creativity between individuals and entities that may not traditionally interact. This leaves me at your feet as I'd love feedback, interaction and potentially consider collaborations with not only this project but others moving forward. I'd love to work in varying contexts and establish relationships between and across scientists, community members and artists from varying countries. This will be my next step. Apart from the actual arts installations and events, as products, we will be develoanon3606750899g a best practices publication focused on the entire project in each 3 countries. I will also carry my ""researcher"" hat for the duration of this project as I wish to study: the interaction; immediate knowledge transfer between scientists, community members and artists; retained knowledge and overall impact. I would openly accept any suggestions or feedback... For now I continue on my mission to test community- sensitive and -relevant means of expression and trying to find ways of using those tried and tested methods as communication tools. After all, what we want are healthier , expressive and inclusive communities whether you choose to define that territorially or otherwise. Only together can we progress... " 2,33772,2017-05-05T23:23:59.000Z,33730,anon1491650132,anon1580856632,"Public art for Public health Wow @anon Just to understand better, would you like to join us for the community festival this October, around health and social care?  As a community manager doing content management here on edgeryders, I took the liberty to embed your video for easier watch and greater exposure :) One for @anon " 3,33774,2017-05-07T07:46:19.000Z,33772,anon1580856632,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi @anon I would love to join for the Event in October 2017 and I would like to apply for the Fellowship. I feel being connected to this network would be phenomenal in my own growth and for organic collaborations. I have recently presented the success of a photovoice project at the Wellcome Trust International Engagement Workshop in Kenya 2017. I am actively seeking opportunities to test, collaborate and explore these methods and thematic areas with others.  I was looking for partners/collaborators in other countries for this specific project. I have however, decided to scale down the project and treat this as a testing phase with a large research component. In 2018 I'd like to scale the project to additional countries with collaborations across the countries. Any feedback would be wonderful.  " 4,33782,2017-05-07T11:20:33.000Z,33774,anon1491650132,anon1580856632,"All clear now. No worries, it's good to be sure anyway, and now that you're part of the community we'll make sure to spread the word and see where support can come from. It sometimes happens that by the time we meet at the event, people know each other and are already working together to progress in their work. So hopefully no one is depending on just one opportunity, but benefits massively from being exposed to a global network.  " 5,33787,2017-05-07T10:57:58.000Z,33730,anon2954219769,anon1580856632,"Inspiring! Thanks for sharing this @anon I was recently in contact with a Belgian researcher working on stigma of TB and HIV/AIDS community health workers. As you see behind the links, she made two mini documentaries about people involved in those communities. She's now planning to make another round of videos/photographs. I find it a great way to communicate science and to highlight the community aspect. The comment of the Senior suffering from diabetes is relevant to another discussion here on the platform. The Open Insulin team in Belgium is thinking of how to do educational outreach around diabetes, because knowledge on the topic is not very widespread. Here is some more info on Open Insulin and anon3606750899ging @anon @anon Personally, I'm very interested in learning about the topics you will study as a 'researcher'. How will you be conducting this research? " 6,33803,2017-05-09T07:35:44.000Z,33730,anon1580856632,anon1580856632,"APPRECIATION! @anon Wow @anon Our project on Cardiovascular disease, which I managed and lead all facilitation, used Photovoice as a methodology. It was phenomenal in highlighting illness, nutrition and general social dynamic in response to health. I'd be happy to share this as well as the Photovoice booklet. Please note that even though I managed the project the book was developed by the org that employed me. @anon And finally @anon We then interviewed a select number of persons 3-5 months post-performance to gauge retained knowledge. This allowed us insight into which theatrical mechanisms allows message recall. I am yet to publish this paper (if only we had 2 extra hours per day).I aim to take a similar approach with the Street Arts project, although the project adopts an organic, reactive and culturally-/community-sensitive approach and may prove hard to collate. We will not control the public health concern that will be focused on in each country that the project will be installed. Instead, we will allow for this to come directly from the community as we wish to work with issues, define the project and define the artform in collaboration with community members. I wish to track this process, and treat this project as a prototype phase before scaling the project and inviting others as collaborators/partners in 2018.  I hope this provides you with some clarity. Please feel free to contact me on nabroe@anon " 7,33814,2017-05-10T15:08:17.000Z,33730,anon3143445963,anon1580856632,"Dear Nabeel, @anon With great interest I read your story. I absolutely agree that a beautiful collaboration between biomedical professionals/scientists, community members and artists is possible and necessary. Stimulating the dialogue between all these different actors sounds like a challenging, but important and rewarding task. At the moment I am trying to build bridges between the academic world and the larger audience, via video and photography. More specifically, trying to portrait the people behind the scientific numbers in a creative and emotionally touching way. When I read your article, I had to think about the beautiful work that has been done within the framework of Amaphiko Redbull: https://amaphiko.redbull.com/en I visited one of their projects in Langa, which already build bridges between community members and artists. Not sure whether science communication was already part of any of their projects. Perhaps an avenue for new collaborations for you? Thank you so much for sharing your videos on the CCWs' work with regard to TB and HIV. This is right in my field of work, and I would love to hear more of your experience using Digital Story telling, Theatre and Photovoice with regard to the CCWs' important work.   Wish you all the best with your project! Warmest regards, Caroline " 8,33819,2017-05-11T09:03:23.000Z,33814,anon1491650132,anon3143445963,"Welcome on board. @anon From your work so far, have you seen how the ""larger audience"" responds positively to new formats? What constitutes reaching results for you? More awareness? or more active behavior across the different community groups? Just wondering about the instrumentality because of course collaboration across disciplines and more awareness are more than needed.. we all agree. Where do you see the twist, or the real ambition? " 9,33824,2017-05-11T14:01:52.000Z,33730,anon1580856632,anon1580856632,"Energized! Hi @anon So great to meet you. If you are based in CT, then please do reach out I'd love to meet with you and consider a conversation in person. I agree with you with regards to relaying information beyond academia and forging collaborations between academia and larger/broader audiences. This has been the preemptive step to the current project and various talks I've had with various institutions. I agree that visual approaches bridge educational divides and somewhat diffuses jargon. This has assisted me in relaying scientific knowledge to other audiences. I've been actively involved in collaboratively designing Events to this purpose, which not only provides knowledge in ""digestable"" means to community members, but are key for Scientists to observe as well. Each event has been learning for me, and I'm now testing the efficacy of presenting data in a different manner in communities, i.e. arts, or fun interactive events within communities in a pop-up fashion. Langa has a very dynamic collaboration scene between artists and community members, as well as the private sector. It's a phenomenal community and I was assisting with a local tech-startup focused on providing community members with tech-training. Completely fascinating and I am trying to access various communities, as I find that given South Africa's current dynamic and transport restrictions communities tend to be territorial bound in its activities and collaborations. The Work with local CCWs is still a focus for the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, who I was employed by. I managed various projects using various participatory approaches to explore lived experience and provide an outlet for expression. One of our projects funded by the Making All Voices iniative sought to bring these issues faced by CCWs to the City governance structure. It was a phenomenal experience trying to track down CABS and Clinic Boards (whom only exist on paper). There is a network we found that are actively working for the benefit of CCWs, but gov has cut funding for this network and introduced a new structure that is completely defunct and has no community representation (based on my findings in 2016). @anon This is a trying question. In my personal work using participatory methods and facilitation, I've found that audience members generally respond positively to these new formats, perhaps because it is visual and emotion-invoking. When producing the Digital stories and the Events with CCWs, we found people openly reacting to persons they see everyday and that they already know function within communities in a very different light. Suddenly we had a hall of persons speaking about CCWs, valuing them differently, wanting conversations, etc. Immediately support was forged. IN one meeting, I had a community member request the microphone and state ""If i only saw this video 6 months ago my friend would be alive. He would know what these people do in the community and I would understand what my friend is going through. He died because the TB medication made him sick and he didn't want to be sick like that so he stopped"".  Further to your question, each commuinty in CT alone, nevermind SA, responds to these formats differently as they each have a varied social dynamic on their own. So a one-size-fits-all simply does not work in this context, hence us wanting to test out methods that are relative to the communities we work in. Additionally, commuities (esp townships) suffer from very different public health concerns, e.g. in Delft the issue we worked on was cardiovascular disease as a majority of persons are suffering from this wheres the community 2 km from my called Vrygrond TB is the main concern. Language variation is a big issue as its not homogenous. I agree with @anon The value for me lies in the intersection of these fields or knowledge bodies. and the relationships and collaborations forged. I am truly excited by this potentiality that remains on the franon1056199097s of studies and projects. @anon " 10,33825,2017-05-12T13:25:22.000Z,33730,anon3143445963,anon1580856632,"Hi @anon A pleasure to meet you too. I am based at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. For my PhD I used to live in Cape Town for a while. Right now, I don’t visit Cape Town that often anymore (unfortunately :)). But very happy to let you know when I am around! The quote you write about the CCWs and TB is very powerful. CCWs do an important job, which remains often still under the radar. At the moment, I am thinking of making a short documentary about their amazing work and life – to create more awareness about what they are doing. Your idea of testing different ways of presenting data in communities sounds really interesting! Your project funded by the Making All Voices Initiative sounds amazing. Do you have any material to share with us about this? Same holds for the photovoice booklet you mentioned. Would love to learn from your rich experience. Warmest regards, Caroline " 11,36681,2017-09-20T13:38:19.737Z,33825,anon1580856632,anon3143445963,"Hi @anon3143445963 It's so great to hear from you and I do apologize for the delay in my response. I thought I had presented you with a response before. My sincerest apologies. It would have been so wonderful if you were still working in Cape Town. To address you question, the work I did with MAVC was hosted by the organization I used to work for called The Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation. They have recently published the findings of the report and can be studied here: http://www.livelihoods.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MAVC_SLF_Pr3Final_Translating_complex_realities.pdf . I would gladly forward you copies of the Photobooks should you send your email address to nabroe@anon My current work is all about partnerships and co-design processes for community driven communication strategies in the context of health, using Arts as platforms. This is exciting and I've been involved in various test phases of the project. I'll soon be launching projects across South Africa, testing its efficacy and its reception by communities. As my focus is co-design and collaboration I'm very keen on continuing conversations and forging relationships in the name of Healthy communities and Active Citizens." 12,36696,2017-09-20T15:39:15.647Z,36681,anon3143445963,anon1580856632,"Hi @anon1580856632, No problem at all. Thanks so much for sharing these documents with me. The booklet sounds really fascinating. I just returned a couple of days ago from 'photovoice' fieldwork in Uganda (on social inclusion of children with special needs). I'll go through your booklet, it might be of inspiration for the dissemination of the findings. Right now, we are thinking in the direction of a small exhibition, but this might also be a fruitful avenue for a follow-up aspect of this research project. Definitely keep me posted when you can share more of the processes/results of your current work!" 13,36698,2017-09-20T15:48:05.778Z,36696,anon1580856632,anon3143445963,"Hi @anon3143445963 Thank you. I'd definitely like to follow your progress as well. Will you be at the Festival in Brussels? I'm just trying to organize transportation from London-Brussels and looking at Accommodation. It would be wonderful to have an in-person conversation. I am completely interested in your theme, and may be able to see linkages between your work and my own work at the moment. I'm keen on working on more psycho-social and psycho-somatic themes in varied context using an organic community driven approach." 14,36703,2017-09-20T17:07:06.946Z,36698,anon2954219769,anon1580856632,I hope both of you can make it! I am also keen to learn more about your work in person. 15,36707,2017-09-20T17:33:29.430Z,33730,anon3143445963,anon1580856632,"Hi @anon1580856632 and @anon2954219769, I would love to join you at this Festival. But unfortunately I won't be able to make it, as I'll be at another conference in Antwerp at that moment. Hope you have a fruitful get together, and I would love to hear what was discussed at the Festival." 16,36743,2017-09-21T09:36:13.285Z,36703,anon1580856632,anon2954219769,@anon2954219769 Excellent. I have planned to attend the Festival. If I took the 06:30 Train from London I would be in Brussels at circa 08:40 and will try to locate the venue. So it's very exciting that we'll be able to meet. 17,37879,2017-10-08T18:36:21.154Z,33730,anon501933252,anon1580856632,"Hi anon1580856632, Thank you for sharing all this info about your project, sounds super inspiring and creative finding ways to bring together arts and science via collaborative community-focused approaches. Being myself a teaching professional for children with special needs, I would be very interested to get new ideas of raising social awareness towards inclusiveness of children with special needs in the school community. Moreover, as I am a supporter of Community Education and Community Learning Development, I would like to hear your views on different framework conditions that can enable individuals and communities by learning to make positive changes in their lives and communities. I am currently based in Brussels and very keen on participating in the festival on 19-21 October (unfortunately only on day 3 as I have to work the previous 2 days…) and meet people like you who are already creating self-sustaining projects for the common good. Looking forward to meet you all in the festival!" 18,37943,2017-10-09T12:28:08.205Z,37879,anon1580856632,anon501933252,"Hi @anon501933252 Thanks for the feedback. I'd be glad to share my experience. I'm only just rolling out into testing various conditions when designing projects with multiple parties and would be in a position for greater sharing in +- 9 months. I'll be publishing project progress broadly and I'm very open to collaborations and sharing. Your work sounds exciting and I'm just about attempting to work on various pyscho-social issues as the communities I work in have some sense of communal trauma (past, present and future), which I think co-design initiatives installed and mostly prompted by community has the potential to provide an outlet or expressive means. This, of course, is a stepanon3606750899g stone but i believe street arts and art has the potential to install creative projects and provide a catalyst for dialogue and communication. Let's arrange a meet! During conference or after. I should be around Brussels for a day or two after the festival" 19,46183,2018-07-09T13:46:01.652Z,33730,anon3341622463,anon1580856632, @anon 20,46267,2018-07-13T11:20:37.743Z,37879,anon1491650132,anon501933252,"Hi @anon501933252 @anon3143445963 I was reminded of your introduction here and I think this might be of interest to you: https://edgeryders.eu/t/an-edgeryders-culture-what-does-it-mean-and-how-can-it-be-expressed/8850 We are trying to understand what people in our network involved in culture making would want to focus on and where we can collaborate. Have a look and let us know what you think? Any feedback and reaction would help so much, thanks! Xenia, are you still in Brussels by the way?" 1,38825,2017-10-27T14:46:48.340Z,38825,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"As it is officially one week since my workshop today, I have to give you the low down on the microbio results (lower your expectations, sorry!)! " 2,38826,2017-10-27T14:50:27.487Z,38825,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"thanks also to Nick and Winnie for getting lab stuff, including the pressure cooker autoclave, and to everyone for participating! at least we made the attempt, and _E. coli_ was not in tap water samples... ciao for now!" 3,38863,2017-10-28T20:49:24.047Z,38826,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"@anon1227671133 I took the liberty of moving these results into their own topic, which will make finding them easier. :slight_smile:" 4,38864,2017-10-28T20:59:17.551Z,38825,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"Ok, I am not sure I can interpret those results. What do columns mean exactly? Also, about the ""counting is not easy"" part: how is it done? I would have thought: 1. Count something (number of critters in a ml of water, or whatever) in the test sample (water from the fountain, for example). For statistics to work, you have to do this more than once! Suppose the average count is `a`. 2. Count the same thing in the control sample (negative), again more than once. Suppose the average count is `b`. 3. Run a t-test (technically a Welch test, I suppose?) on the null hypothesis that `a = b`. If the p-value is low enough, you reject the null and have found contamination. But I see a number with its standard deviation, not a p-value, to the right of your sheet. How do I interpret that?" 5,38869,2017-10-29T08:39:03.763Z,38825,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"Thank you for the questions and comments. Indeed when 'printing' a page from excel it is always hard to interpret how the columns fit together with labels. I will add a box or something to help clarify what is what and attach it next... In terms of the hopes for reliable numbers from the plate counts a bit of background might help for people who did not make it to the presentation or at least see the prezi (which is open access here: https://prezi.com/fbdthanaocd2/citizen-science/). Basically, for environmental microbial sampling, the rule is to take 3 independent samples from each site, then at the minimum you will have 3 plates to count colonies on (even better would be to have min 3 plates per sample). 0.5ml of water is put on each plate, spread over the surface (using sterile technique) then allowed to grow. (In the end all the values are calculated to know the average number of original cells in 100ml of a given sample.) Then, the other important thing to grasp is that each microbial colony seen the next day on the plates (containing millions of cells after the overnight growth) represents of a single original cell from the sample, that has replicated in a certain spot of the plate - we call these 'colony forming units' because it is likely that there are lots of cells that actually don't make colonies (because they don't like the nutrients or the temperature or other parameters...). In fact the purple 'Levine plates' contain bile salts that prevent a whole class of abundant bacteria from growing (gram+ ones, if this means anything to you). This helps us look for ones of interest, esp our 'bioindicator' for untreated sewage, _E. coli_, which allows us to think that tons of other unknown things (enteroviruses, micropollutants) are also probably in the sampled water. Of course, very importantly, one can't just sample without comparing to something or another, and generally there is always a positive control (here in Switzerland, we have used river water or even sometimes toilet water - I still meant to talk with the other Alberto more about how rivers are full of bugs... :) sadly...) and a negative control, ordinarily tap water. Finally, you need to have confidence that your plates themselves are not going to just randomly have lots of things growing - an uninoculated control! This was something we really lacked last week! With the plates just freshly poured at La Serre, there were many possibilities for sources of contam, like the droppers we used to inoculate the plates with the water samples. Finally, the plates normally should have some time to lose excess water, otherwise the colonies can be smeary and very hard to distinguish one from another... One other variable is the treatment of the sample. Ordinarily the rule is, after sampling, the tube must be kept in the cold and plated within 5 hours. Our tubes, perhaps, were not entirely sterile, and they were just carried around and left until we did the plating after dinner... Ask more questions if this is not clear. I will put an image up showing a collection of plates from one of our sampling days this last summer. (we had another special plate, termed 'chromogenic' that allows one to distinguish at least 4 kinds of bacteria, and even a fluorescent substrate that confirms _E.coli_ - pics of this are in the prezi...) Then, as you say, we ultimately want counts that give numbers that we can use for statistical tests, like the T-test... For these tests though, you need at least 3 samples averaged to compare. However, we only had one set of 3 plates with counts, and their variance was so high, not much could be said, esp without an average of 3 from controls to compare against! Counting more than once is another good option, and we could have attempted that - actually we still could using some pictures! But, because of the problem of the negative controls full of colonies (but at least not E. coli), we would still have a very difficult time drawing meaningful conclusions. The crazy incubation in the bathtub also meant that the plates were not only super smeary, but a couple only had saran wrap as a cover, and got squashed! Also one could imagine bacteria floating on water droplets to cause all our negative controls to have so many colonies (if it wasn't the droppers we used or the tubes we collected the samples in, which were left at RT too long...)! Quantitative biology is coming of age now, I should note - tons of old papers that relied on stats p<0.05 are now realised to be completely underpowered and with non-reliable conclusions. I am happy you asked some probing questions! Have a great Sunday!! Here is an example of plates from one week's sampling last summer. The positive controls have lots of colonies, the negative controls almost none, and the regional samples (from Lake Geneva around Montreux Bay) have varying amounts. To note, 0.5ml was put on the positive controls, and unknowns here had 4ml per plate inoculated. Again, in the end you make the numbers per 100ml (as in Alberto Rey's Bagmati graphics...)! Here is the summary I made already, with a few extra things: " 6,38873,2017-10-29T15:20:10.577Z,38869,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"Aurelian's image number 2 shows real counts in a plate sector in progress, btw... https://edgeryders.eu/t/we-dance-we-think-we-surf-on-the-edges----/7584 :blush: colonies from la serre sink!! (am I just replying to myself here, or do you see this, Alberto (and others?)?)" 7,38878,2017-10-30T08:37:20.427Z,38825,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Great summary and explanations @anon1227671133 ! Thanks :slight_smile: This should serve as a good addendum to anyone wanting to try this again on their water. I know we will do it here locally! I recently met someone working at the Flemish water governing body who wants to set up a citizen science project in her spare time. There's not much room to do meaningful change inside the government, since in Belgium it's quite a mess: multiple governing bodies, bureaucracy, strict rules, all land is taken and blocked. It would be more than bacterial sampling, also bio indexing, inspecting river banks, turbidity, metals, ... How much experience do you have with doing those DIY? Ping @anon1526983854rey" 8,38919,2017-10-31T15:15:02.908Z,38878,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"could be fun to do more!! we've also done pool kit things for nitrates/sulfates etc, and I had two years of students doing the biotic index stuff on the banks of a river... (forms were posted in one part of this domain before...)" 9,38999,2017-11-03T22:38:00.757Z,38869,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"Sorry, @anon1227671133, I still don't get it (ignore me if I'm being too thick). You have described the many methodological challenges to obtain ""well sampled"" samples. Great. I also understood you are counting the number of bacteria per 100 ml of water. But I do not understand _how_ you would count thousands of critters swimming around in a drop of water. Do you take a picture and then process the picture somehow? And finally: your printout shows p-values. That means probabilities. But probabilities of what?" 10,39001,2017-11-04T06:39:48.459Z,38999,anon1227671133,anon1526983854,"Hi, Alberto! You aren't 'thick' in my oanon3606750899ion, and obviously I should be able to make a more coherent story for you (all). Indeed with the microbio 'plating' methods, we only can count the bugs that grow under the given conditions of nutrients and temperature and oxygen and pH etc... This is why we try to talk about 'colony forming units' in the stricter analyses. Never are we able to get a number of everything that was in our original water sample... Another project from Hackuarium, the Water Drop DNA project (that has the 'explorer' Mike Horn as a sponsor!) does try to find out all the things in a water sample -through DNA analyses - but that method doesn't give a real number of how many of each bug is represented in the sample (and can also include things that aren't even alive!) ! I don't think, however, that there are any p-value probabilities on the sheet. Just the counts (usually gross estimates) and one average and standard deviation (that shows the variance) for the one sampling site for which we had 3 plates... However, I will try attach a graph that shows 95%-iles for some similar analyses... It is very worth talking about this though, because what the probability shows is only valid in comparison to the controls. You start out with the so called 'null hypothesis' (i.e. there is no difference in bacterial abundance between sampling sites and tap water) and if the P value when you compare the averages is very low, that means you can reject this null hypothesis, and say there is indeed a significant difference in bacterial abundance between sampling sites from these data. So from the example graph, that I need to upload next, where these 95%iles all overlap, there is no significant difference in bacterial abundance, but (usually the rule of thumb is that significant diffs should be at least 2standard deviations away from each other - we can talk about normal error bars another time, if you want! :wink: ) the parts with a big peak not overlapanon3606750899g with others does differ significantly - at least statistically. Which leads me to the next point: The really crazy thing that is hard for people to grasp is that, even if your p<<0.01, there would still be a 1% chance that the difference you observed with your data *is* simply due to chance. yep. This is why there is a re-thinking of many old data based only on p=0.05 with low n numbers (this is why using 5 plates would be better than 3 plates, too, if you can manage it, to provide a concrete example of how to try to get around these problems). This is also why really using the 'control data' is important! In our case, we can ask, for instance, how many times does the tap water give no bacteria? In fact, we were basically really screwed because we had tons of colonies even from the tap water samples, and should have included non-inoculated plates in the DIY (box in the bathtub!) incubation! :joy: There is a great quote I will find about this to include too! ok, got, it - I actually took it from George Elliot's book Daniel Deronda, but says that in Aristotle's 'poetics' he wrote (also quoting someone else!): ''This too is probable, according to that saying of Agathon: 'It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.' '' Just to re-iterate in terms of probabilities: the P value shows the probability that what you observe could have happened simply due to chance. If P values are low enough, you are allowed to reject that null hypothesis and say there does seem to be a real difference between the different samples. However, there is still another important issue: this whole exercise never 'proves' anything, in the way you can have some mathematical proof, or the way the media says - this study proves xyz! never! In fact, the true scientific method can only 'disprove' something (i.e. to say, these are not the same!)! & a new experiment with better controls and more statistical power can sometimes turn all beliefs upside down. I love the idea that in the last decade so many things are being realised as quite important - microbes are part of us (10^14 of them vs 10^13 of 'ourselves'), our neurons aren't forever and 'baby' ones come into our brains from stem cells, DNA is repaired (but better to avoid damage, still) - these are just 3 things that are game changers. I started my serious academic work, working with retroviruses, that showed that an old dogma of molecular biology (DNA->RNA->protein) is wrong - RNA->DNA too! And now with microRNAs, and more (RNA helanon3606750899g repair DNA), the RNA life hypothesis isn't just for explaining evolution, but is an important current thing in all living cells - crucial in my ideas about dynamic genomic integrity. But I will try to get back to the point (though I could go on and on, and would love to hear other's ideas and thoughts!!)! I am sorry that because of our weak data, with smears and few replicates, we can't say there is a real difference in bacterial populations from our water sampling! Still, nonetheless, I am convinced that we had one good result - no E.coli observed in the tap water samples - so little likelihood that raw sewage was there, unlike for the Leopold park samples... hip hip hooray! ?? :confounded: I got a little deeper into statistics a couple of years ago in a MOOC course, and know that we would all benefit from more awareness of these issues. Hope you have a great weekend! " 11,39072,2017-11-06T09:49:53.677Z,39001,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,I enjoy reading your explanations @anon1227671133 :) I hope to delve into the topic a bit more myself soon as a water citizen science group starts here in Ghent! 12,39161,2017-11-08T11:39:02.087Z,39001,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"Yes, sorry: what I meant is that you have no p-values, so I don't know how to read the stats. I get it now: if the standard deviation is more than twice the mean of the bug count, the bug count is not significantly (""significantly"" => 0.05) different from zero. Gotcha, thanks!" 13,39279,2017-11-11T13:41:24.522Z,39161,anon1227671133,anon1526983854,"actually for this case, we know the counts on those three plates are very much different from zero, particularly as the green shiny e.coli colonies grew. those bugs were not, again, found in 'tap' water samples... however, as we don't have any comparison from the other samples that can be used for real stats, since in no other case did we have at least 3 plates to count, we can't make much of a conclusion at all... & indeed, having the standard deviation turn out to be more than twice the average count for the three plates that were 'scored' gives us little confidence in the only average value already! the take-home is that we have to plan well and proceed correctly to be able to draw conclusions from citizen science. hoanon3606750899g to help more people realise this and encouraging them to do more too! :slight_smile:" 14,45663,2018-06-17T08:07:58.983Z,39072,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,I saw you did some water analyses recently. How did they go?? 15,45695,2018-06-18T13:42:48.826Z,45663,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"It went well @anon1227671133 ! We did some analysis for E. coli and coliforms using Levine's. We found a lot of them in some places of our city water doing tests in DIY context. We still need to discuss some next steps, but doing the tests in a rigorous way again in those places is probably up next. There was a lot of worry from more classical scientists that we shouldn't ""claim"" things from our analysis, citing of course the quality of our work. The opposition seems more ideological than practical though. But we're looking to dispell that. What's your experience with claiming certain results?, have you done it?" 16,45715,2018-06-18T21:49:14.101Z,45695,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"glad you got some results. did you do any replicates?? did you make sure to plate within a few hours (keeanon3606750899g the samples cool)?? those points (and standard devs) are very important for the 'classical scientists' - but who are the ones you talked to??? we are still working on our report for the 'montreux clean beach project' - somewhat sadly still awaiting the finalised python code from our colleague, to let people see the data in many ways... Of course it was always out and available as we were gathering it... Still, after getting coopted by the WWF (not paid), to do what he does, stats and coding, around their 'swiss litter report' - which basically mirrored our colleagues' great work, but offered him nada - we got very delayed... in the end he felt sorry for the (paid) intern, and did more than he should and is in serious danger of a burnout! then, I met the guy (at ECSA conf in Geneva the other week) who publishes the citizen science journal we thought we would be submitting to (before this summer - just a few days away!) and he was talking about how you can forget about the science in cit sci and I got bummed. But, yes, both on the public side (montreux authorities) and the rest (scientists), not to talk more about our publishing hopes (which also seem a bit weird to me as the data has already been 'out'), it is not going to be simple . but certainly interesting! how are you sharing your open data?? claims are best when everyone can access the raw data and the processed summaries, I think. We hope to find out if this is really true, of course! ;)" 17,45736,2018-06-19T16:15:44.264Z,45715,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Good point about the sharing openly, we should. So far it's not worth sharing though, the tests we have done are more demonstrative to get things moving. A bit more rigorous than the demo at OpenVillage though ;-) we had real incubators this time round. Now the group of enthusiasts is a lot bigger, so we'll want to do some real sampling and data collection soon." 18,45738,2018-06-19T16:36:49.484Z,38825,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"sounds great! I am so excited because the pea seeds are soaking now and the cultures half way there, for our first urban garden trial!! keep up the good work! :sunny: Just in case, here is the Hackuarium wiki page about this trial! http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Urban_gardens_with_rhizobial_bacteria" 1,4134,2015-02-13T10:22:57.000Z,4134,anon70625510,anon70625510,"
A big part of my family is Ethiopian. This is also the main reason I packed my bags and headed off to Addis Ababa ... to participate in my beautiful cousins’ weddings. My cousin made clear I was expected to show up in a Habesha Kemis. So on arrival I headed off to Shiro Meda to find a tailor.
I liked it so much I ended up getting a second one made. The wedding itself was a ball. With our family being spread across the globe it is rare for so many of us to be in one place at the same time. I really appreciated being able to spend time together in celebration of the most important element of a happy life... love.
On the ride to venue where we would dance and try to keep the groom from picking up the bride (yes, literally- tradition), we came into the topic of religion. I was asked about my religious beliefs which struck me as quite an odd question. . ... Until I found myself in the middle of a massive Timket (Epiphany) procession in a different part of the country a week later.
The same thing happened on numerous occasions in different parts of the country.

Religion is a big deal in Ethiopia. So is peace.

So Ethiopia is home to oh about 200 ethnic groups and around 80 languages. However diverse I knew the country was, in my mind always was associated with Christianity and Judaism... a long history that began over 2000 years ago. The Hebrew influence and identity is pretty clear when you wander around Gondar and Lalibela, especially if you dig into historical information about different dynasties that ruled and shaped Ethiopia throughout the centuries.
So I was surprised to learn just how large a proportion of the population the Muslim minority is. Almost 40 percent, if I’m not mistaken. And that the one Jewish person in the Bet-Israel village is the guy running the museum frequented by tourists on pilgrimages. Where is everyone?! Oh yeah. Pretty much everyone was evacuated to Israel after the massive drought in the 80s. I feel a link to this diaspora, all diaspora really. There is something those of us born with feet in many worlds discover sooner or later. That we are not one or the other, but something else.. ours are third, remix, cultures. Religion is one of those sensitive areas we have to develop mechanisms for navigating. Within my family there are ties to several mega-cities of Africa and Asia where more than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, and around sixty percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians, live. I was born and have lived in different parts of a Western liberal Europe not sure how to deal with growing tensions between different social groups. Here and there, what we think of as religious and or ethnic conflicts are often intimately tied to underlying conflicts over resources like land or water. Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa and the pressure on land has often been put forward as an important factor in the 1994 genocide. I cannot remember where I heard that in the case of Rwanda there were more intra-ethnic murders than between different ethnic groups... the genocide was partially fueled by the need to free up resources. If memory serves me, they had a system ( currently being reformed) in which all land would be passed on to the first son. Which left a class of landless, disenfranchised young men with no hope of accessing a brighter economic future unless some of that land could be freed up... Israel and Palestine is another example. At the source of this conflict, according to Bo Rothstein, lies mixing of religious rhetoric with what is essentially a fight over assets. He claims that you would create the foundation for lasting peace by focusing on resolving the land/economic disputes with compromises for everyone (Swedish article): http://www.svd.se/…/markavtal-kan-stoppa-valdet_3777014 Other examples of legacy injustice include (thanks Egypt - land is divided amongst all children so within a couple of generations everyone has a tiny patch they can't profit from - the result is illegally constructed tower blocks on most of the rare and fertile land in Egypt and a lot of in-family tensions. Likewise In England or any other Western Country, the peasantry had their inheritance stolen out from under them long before the lords and merchants started robbing foreign soil. … There is much to be learned from Ethiopian history about the importance of tackling inequalities in distribution of property and use rights for building lasting peace. Especially in societies where formal property laws and customary property rights arrangements exist in parallel. I believe some of those lessons are also relevant in societies where land rights are secure but ownership of property is highly concentrated.

Fixing legacy injustice: Reforming dysfunctional property laws and peace between ethnic groups


Justice is a prerequisite for peace. While the murderous fascist regime known as the Derg got a lot of things wrong, they did push through land right reforms. Prior to the civil war against the old feudal order (Haile Selassie, also known as Ras Tefari), the Muslim population was excluded from being able to access land as they were passed along hereditary lines. So your family had to own land in order for you to have hope of owning land. This was the Ristegna system. Then there was the Gultegna, the nobility, which were granted the right to a fat chunk of the surplus from the land tended by farmers. Basically a rentier class that contributed little or nothing to the development of the country and life of their fellow Ethiopians. Both were upended by the revolution and land redistributed and finally nationalised. Why? One of the persistent calls for social justice in the revolution, also during the Derg period, was “land to the tiller”. All the different interest groups got behind this reform as a fundamental requirement. The military dictators could not back out on this demand as they would loose legitimacy amongst the soldiers, many of whom hailed from the southern parts of the country where the problems of unfair distribution of land was particularly strong for historical reasons. There are still problems, and new ones. Ethiopia is also undeniably doing a lot better than many of the other countries in the region- my impression was that there is a fundamental belief that things are improving, also for those at the wrong end of the power spectrum. Clearly the picture painted depends on who you ask but I could see for myself that e.g. infrastructure is much better in many parts of the country than it used to be.
Most of all people are very aware of how fragile and important peace is. The story of a popular revolution co-opted by a military regime that then did its best to murder an entire generation is still fresh in the collective memory. I am reminded of this every time I hear any talk of revolution: the move towards a western style liberal democracy is not one that Ethiopians I spoke to value highly. Rather, it is economic rights and development that seem to be at the heart of their concerns. If we are to achieve peace at home, we need to think about how we tackle legacy injustices against people in different parts of a globalised world. The central pillar is property law and ownership. As Ethiopians learned, it makes sense to start there and not let up till an acceptable solution is reached. There will be losers. However if they are taking up so much space that it threatens the ability of others to survive. Well, they... all of us, may end up losing a lot more than excess capacity. " 2,9973,2015-02-16T12:09:36.000Z,4134,anon3769417221,anon70625510,"History of conflict Just read up on modern Ethiopian history, since I didn't know anything about it. Interesting. The civil war story is sadly the same mess that state politics is everywhere from time to time :( (Newest European example being Ukraine.) ""Here and there, what we think of as religious and or ethnic conflicts are often intimately tied to underlying conflicts over resources like land or water."" – To the point. Religious and cultural affiliation is often simply a lobbying / collective action tool for mundane interests. " 3,16450,2015-02-16T13:39:42.000Z,4134,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"Things looking up On the subject of things being in the process of improving in Ethiopia, I have written my own account of that journey. I was stricken by the ""Chinese syndrome"" of a technocratic government with a fairly poor human rights record which is, however, quite accountable and successful, and enjoys a high degree of consensus. For a Westerner, this can be unsettling!   " 4,18061,2015-02-18T01:44:00.000Z,16450,anon3769417221,anon1526983854,"Gravitation is also overrated Interesting article of yours, just read it. Thanks for writing it! So, to be a bit heretical, one could say: Political rights are overrated. The only time you need them is if you need political change because of the current government being incompetent or corrupt. And given that the next government in Europe is usually just as incompetent and corrupt as the last one, they are of little use then either. The human rights record of democratic European governments with respect to creating a humanitarian crisis in Greece is also not that good :D In fact I'd like to see some statistics about what caused real betterment in democracies: Election-induced changes, or extra-constitutional changes? However, it's not yet decided. The latest Greek developments and the upcoming Spanish elections make me hope that elections can indeed (at times) be the peaceful, orderly revolution that we were always taught they are meant for. And where this works out, it's just great, literally a lifesaver. I'm talking too much though. Good night!" 1,4112,2015-02-03T14:47:47.000Z,4112,anon70625510,anon70625510," Latest surface scan with color textures by slo 3D creators on Sketchfab Hi Everyone, I came across this article today and thought it may be of interest to the group: ""Thanks to Sketchfab, Mike was able to send the 3D model of his wife’s skull to surgeons at both hospitals. Johns Hopkins claimed that their only recourse would be a full scanon3760936673on3606750899g to drill through the portion of his wife’s forehead above her eyebrow. UPMC, though, agreed to do it."" Read full article here: http://goo.gl/nJlSXp " 1,4348,2015-04-19T20:19:27.000Z,4348,anon1491650132,anon1491650132," This is a wiki and anyone logged in can and is invited to Edit. If you come across articles or media worth checking out, add it please or post about it in a comment below.
  • The Future of Care in the Hands of Hackers by Remy & Ben (Living on the Edge in 2014 session) ""a number of conversations have started springing up, talk of distributed pension plans, hacker care homes and intergenerational meetups. (Just imagine if the EdgeRyders community management team was composed of your grandparents generation, it actually begins to make a lot of sense.)  Disruptive innovation often comes from unexpected places and perhaps nothing could be more unexpected in this moment than an intergenerational alliance focused on social innovation.""
  • Notes from The Future of Care session at LOTE4
  • Welcome to retirement, by Jeff ""it is time to explore the different possibilities that can be made to exist for people outside the ""system"". What options are there? How will this be financed? What can/will the state do? Private corps? What technological solutions will there be?""
  • Stewardship Ethnographic report, by Inga and other Edgeryders ""When a community becomes the main actor taking care of shared assets, instead of waiting for help from a state, it can be beneficial, as we see from the case studies. But it needs to be stressed that even if a community becomes the main caretaker and stewards common assets, it does not exist in a vacuum. Thus it needs to be in a constant dialogue and communication with local authorities and policy makers."" (p.17/18 as of April 19th)
  • At 90 designing tech for ageing population (""For a friend of mine, I tried to design air bags of graded sizes that would be activated at a lurch of 15 degrees."" She is stumped on how to find the right power source for her air bags."") 
  • The island of long life. On the Greek island of Ikaria, life is sweet.. and very, very long. So what is the locals' secret? The island has not escaped the Greek economic crisis and around 40% of its inhabitants are unemployed. Nearly everyone grows their own food and many produce their own wine. There is also a strong tradition of solidarity among Ikarians.[] After the war, thousands of communists and leftists were exiled to the island, bringing an ideological underanon3606750899ning to the Ikarians' instinct to share. As one of the island's few doctors told Buettner, ""It's not a 'me' place. It's an 'us' place.""[] ""We keep the old people with us. There is an old people's home, but the only people there are those who have lost all their family. It would shame us to put an old person in a home. That's the reason for longevity.""
  • Eastern Europe's population has higher mortality risk and greater difficulty for care systems to cope with this. ""The most important implication is for health policy. Much of the greater morbidity and mortality among the middle-aged is driven by preventable conditions such as cardiovascular disease. This is because the health systems, geared to treating in hospital, are not configured to the management of public health with its emphasis on lifestyle changes, prevention, and disease management. Reducing morbidity and mortality would allow the countries to reap a second “demographic dividend” from a healthier and longer-living population.""
  • Germany moves away from US-dominated IoT standards group
  • IBM and Apple want to share how you are with others (retrieving health data from fitness apps)
  • Dutch students choose to live in nursing homes rent-free (as long as they keep the residents company)
  • Innovation in Health: Co-Creating for a Healthier Society, article in The Changer - ""The importance of health has long been recognized in Germany. In Prof. Ganten’s words, “Science and culture are the only sectors that have always been maintained at a high level in our country in spite of the historical catastrophes it has faced.” Unfortunately, science has also been misused for terrible purposes, especially in the field of research on the human body and diseases. That being said, the most effective way to ensure abuse won’t happen again is to make science the property of the largest number of people possible, so it can’t be controlled by a select few. “Science can’t be closed”, Prof. Ganten added. And co-creation is the road to progress.""
  • The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things, book by Bruce Sterling
  • IoT Podcast series: http://iotpodcast.com/
  • Information Security Professionals May Not Be Prepared for IoT after all. As you might expect, the IoT is fraught with security holes and a growing population of users who are rather unconcerned about it - mainly because they don't know and don't think about it enough.  But do you want someone hacking into your Google Car?  This article points out that many IoT devices and projects don't even know all that connect to them. (via John Coate)
  • OpenCare anon3606750899terest board (via Costantino)
  • BBC Frontline Documentary on Two UK Doctors Helanon3606750899g Refugees
  • Dutch Volunteer Turns Refugee Boats and Life Jackets Into Backpacks. Story about a Dutch woman who made a super clever hack of the junk boat and lifejacket parts to make backpacks out of them using a few simple tools, which she then taught to the refugees.  An excellent maker story solving a real problem without having to get too high tech or even ask for wither permission or forgiveness.. (via John Coate)
  " 1,5352,2016-02-20T17:19:40.000Z,5352,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Op3nCare is an open collaboration platform hosted by Edgeryders. Join our global community to make health- and social care open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. 

About Op3n Meetups

Op3nCare's vision is to deploy collective intelligence to the problem of designing care services by communities, for communities. This mean blurring the distinction between researchers, designers, caregivers and care receivers.   Consistently with this vision, the Op3nCare consortium has decided to make its own meetings open for anyone interested to participate. The ethos is ""one day of talking, one day of doing"": for every day spent on administration issues, we are setting aside another day to do hands-on stuff like design workshops, network data analysis, or hardware hacking, with doors thrown wide open. Additionally, we intend to use our meetings to partner up with, and contribute to, events organised by existing communities already working on care, collective intelligence, open source hardware and software hacking. We are aware that this marks a clean break with the tradition of closed-doors consortium meetings in European-funded research, even for projects that publish their results with open licenses, and that we are venturing in uncharted territory. But then again, that's why they call it ""research"".

2016

FEBRUARY

26/2, Brussels, 09:00 -10:00 | How to cope with meltdowns in communities, Keynote by John Coate. 26/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 | Collaborative inclusion. How migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. A reflexive design exercise. With Ezio Manzini, Yara Al Adib, Gido Van Den Ende and the Syrian New Kids on the Block. 26/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 | THE OPEN CARE FILES - Welfare through the looking glass. Panel hosted by Marco Manca, CERN. With Julia Reda, MEP and Lucia Scopelliti, City of Milan. 27/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 | MASTERS OF NETWORKS: NETWORKS OF CARE hackathon for network scientists, doctors and patients to make sense of collective intelligence using network science and data. Led by Guy Melançon and the University of Bordeaux. 27/2, Brussels, 14:00 -17:00 | Storytelling workshop: Narratives of Care 2016, led by Nadia EL-Imam, Edgeryders and Angelo Di Mambro, journalist and communications consultant. 27/8, Brussels, 14:00 -17:00 | The long path from invention to innovation. Led by Lorenzo Paolozzi, CERN.

 

APRIL

4/4 - 7/4, Berlin, 10:00 - 20:00 | OpenCare Labs - Hacking Utopia. Product design workshop. Led by Susanne Stauch, UDK and Nadia EL-Imam, Edgeryders.

MAY

18/5, Berlin, ??:?? -??:?? | CAPS2020 community meeting. Not an official Op3n meeting, but some of us should go. 

AUGUST

Stockholm | Exact date t.b.c. Program under construction.

NOVEMBER

Milan | Exact date t.b.c. Program under construction.

2017

FEBRUARY

Geneva | Exact date t.b.c. Program under construction.

JUNE

Bordeaux | Exact date t.b.c. Program under construction.

SEPTEMBER

Milan | Exact date t.b.c. #LOTE6 | Open Care. Program under construction.  

Subscribe to the Op3nCare newsletter for updates coming soon. We can’t wait to see your submissions! 

" 1,647,2016-03-25T16:08:59.000Z,647,anon70625510,anon70625510,"This year is the 10th anniversary of Be-Cause health, a network consisting of different organisations either involved or interested in healthcare in Belgian development cooperation. I participated in their annual convening. My main takeaways:
  • Vendor-driven conversations tend to result in centralised solutions. To paraphrase the representatives of a company selling a reporting platform for performance-based health financing: we see a future where all patient data is stored in one place. Oh and yes, we do geotag everything and everyone!
  • There is e a mismatch between they way most data-centric tools/platforms/programs are designed...and the realities within which they are meant to be used. In Uganda alone you have over 600 mobile health pilot projects with 10-500 users and only 11 projects with over 1000 users. One of the bigger challenges here is designing against the ""helium effect"" of data""
The rest of this post is an aggregation of some resources that may be of use for our work within Opencare Projects to learn more about
  • Coeur D'Or: a community healthcare project in Benin centred around promoting behavior change for improved cardiac health through online community mostly driven by volunteers.
  • In your Pocket Diagnostic Lab: A backpack field workers can carry around with them.
  • Oscan: A screening tool for oral lesions using phone cameras. The tools that have one function are most likely to succeed.

Questions to answer when designing new health-related tech

  1. What is the problem and where do you need to be active to solve it?
  2. What do intended participants want?
  3. What is possible?
  4. What is viable?
  5. What is sustainable?
  6. What are your failure modes?
" 1,498,2016-04-19T10:16:26.000Z,498,anon413297907,anon413297907,"test " 1,5554,2016-04-14T09:57:42.000Z,5554,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Looks like one for @anon Deadline for registration is gone, but it can probably be hacked. Date: 2016-04-14 11:45:00 - 2016-04-14 11:45:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 1,5645,2016-05-10T19:50:13.000Z,5645,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"OpenCare is a project run in collaboration with cities, maker spaces, research institutes, academia, communities on the ground in Europe, and most of all individuals with deep, genuine experiences, which means each and every one of us. Starting now and throughout the next year we are building a community with genuine interest in care and availability to share and get closer to peers around the world. This Monday we are hosting a themed online community call around new approaches to mental, spiritual, emotional health.  Several edgeryders have brought this topic in the centre of attention, even without the OpenCare team promoting it: We are onto something, but to figure things out we need even deeper conversations.  On Monday we go though the questions we are asking ourselves about selfcare, depression, medication, peer support, alternatives to living a stressful life and so on. We will try to put it all together to make a bigger picture and launch a proper Challenge. Everyone is welcome to join this call, simply enter this live video and chat room:  https://meet.jit.si/opencare.  If you have time ahead of the call, let me know in a comment below if you think emotional distress is something worth approaching like this. We might be far off! Date: 2016-05-16 17:30:00 - 2016-05-16 18:30:00, Europe/Berlin Time." 1,5682,2016-05-29T08:38:05.000Z,5682,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Monday afternoon is when the OpenCare crew, community and anyone interested to learn about the project meets online for a one hour of
  • chatting and sharing ideas about designing better services for social and health-care
  • keeanon3606750899g others in the loop with how the work progresses in Milano, Berlin, Brussels and everywhere else where Open Care communities are growing
  • making plans for upcoming activities
We document the sessions and post them online in weekly blogposts about what is going on, and where people can jump in to help each other. The call takes place at 16:30 CET in this online room: https://meet.jit.si/opencare Let us know you're coming by pressing ""Attend"" below (make sure you are logged in). Date: 2016-06-27 17:30:00 - 2016-06-27 17:30:00, Europe/Bucharest Time." 1,33237,2016-05-31T22:00:00.000Z,33237,anon1839840820,anon1839840820," The aim of this project is to implement inside a window manager (as XFce on Linux) a system that use the eyes to move the mouse. This system will allow a disabled person to use his computer with eyes only. When a person will focus a point on the screen, the window manager will detect that point by using the webcam. Then, the window manager will draw a cursor on that point. The Window manager will propose a split screen. On the top screen, the window manager will display the usual windows. On the bottom, a virtual keyboard will be displayed." 1,33728,2016-07-08T23:52:35.000Z,33728,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Where: Barcelona, Spain When: 2014 Who: Mauricio Cordova Few lines description:
  • Is it a device / software / service
FairCap is a device produced with open source technologies.
  • Type of community involved (elders, deaf/blind/autism… disability, etc)
The project is designed to make drinkable water for everyone, but keeanon3606750899g an eye on those people (around 1 billion) who don’t have access to drinkable water and therefore are characterized by premature deaths due to this reason.
  • How big is the community involved
  • What is the solution proposed
    • How is the project currently affecting users’ life?
FairCap is a 3D printed filter, the instructions to build it are available to anyone and all the files are easy to download. The project is not completely developed yet, but it is currently available in its basic version. Therefore it is difficult to evaluate the effect on users’s life.
  • Is the project developed or still in the development phase?
The project is still in the development phase, anyone can have access to the files and improve them. The team is currently trying to design a filter for bacteria and viruses, and is trying to reduce the cost for producing it to 1$.
  • Are there similar projects or attempts to solve the same problem?
There are several: SolarBag ® (http://www.puralytics.com/html/solarBag.php), SOL Water (http://www.coolhunting.com/travel/sol-water-purifying-bag), Solar Water Purifier (http://3dprint.com/15917/3d-printed-water-purification/) Why:
  • How is it open?
    • What kind of license did they use to publish it? (links to documentation/repo are welcome)
FairCup is completely open source, available to download and released under Creative Commons licence.
    • Can you clone/fork it?
Yes
    • Is it freely available?
The source files are downloadable for free
    • Is it affordable? (please compare)
The estimated price is around 5$, currently. In the future it will be reduced to 1$. Not even comparable to existing patented and commercialized water filters.
    • Is the community involved in the design process? If yes, how? (is the project offering a solution for the creator needs? Is the project offering a solution for someone close to the creator?)
The founder and designer comes from Peru, he experienced in 90s a massive colera outbreak. The diffusion of diseases like colera often happens through contaminated water.
  • How does it “care”?
    • Does it solve a medical issue?
    • Does it solve a social issue?
    • Does it solve an everyday issue for a specific (disadvantaged) community?
Yes for questions 1 and 3, it helps 3rd world countries drinking clean filtered water, giving them access to this primary good and avoiding getting viruses and diseases. Link: http://faircap.org/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Open-Source-3D-Printed-Water-Filter/ " 1,763,2016-09-22T13:14:57.000Z,763,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"

Where:

Italy

When:

2013   Who: Marco Sangiorgio, Vincenzo Iadisernia, Antonio Ianiero (Unterwelt)

Tweet:

UGO is a home automation system which allows users to control home devices through speech recognition technology. Few examples: turn on and off the light, lift or lower a rolling shutter, signal gas leak, exc.  

Similar ideas:

(http://hackaday.com/2013/08/11/voice-controlled-home-automation-uses-raspberry-pi-and-lightanon3003844599rf/)VoicePod (http://www.voicepod.com/videos/), AmazonEcho (http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-echo-review/)  

Links:

http://www.unterwelt.it/ugo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j02W99Z8GNI  

 

" 1,774,2016-09-30T14:20:20.000Z,774,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"Breast Cancer Recognizer Idea is about detecting the breast with a prototype which have a skin recognition and accelometre to map the breast. It is necessary because every women and men needs to check their breasts once a month. And the techniques of detecting the breast cancer early is so complicated. First with 2 fanon1056199097rs you should message your arm pit. With 3 fanon1056199097rs you should rub down your breast in a circle to the niple... We can optimize this with a prototype. What are the main aspects of this project? Our goal is to detect the cancer in early stage. Our perspective is “it can happen to anyone” It is an awareness and caring project. So we encourage all the people to look after theirselves with our prototype and catch the cancer before it is too late. How to? We should show supervisors the research and prototype of Yemen University’s to think about more simple ways to make this prototype happen. Because their system is so complex and difficult to built with only Arduinos. http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2014/Lisbon/BIOENV/BIOENV-20.pdf Releated Work done by Yemen University " 1,772,2016-09-29T22:23:45.000Z,772,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"Autistic children have limited behaviours about social connections and they can easily get confused from hearing more than one sound when they are outside. We want to help the children to get out into the world without fear. Usually children get very scared of loud noises and it a ects their behaviour. They nd it very intimidating. We propose to care for them by designing a device that lets them hear their parent’s and other familiar voices, phasing out other sounds like those of tra c, crowd, machines etc.   What are the main aspects of this project? The main aspect of this project is to use technology that is not only advanced but also very much user friendly. The prototype will be able to have speech recognition so that it detects the sounds of certain people and lets them through but not intimidating sounds like those of tra c and machines   How to? We can -use noise cancelling technology and speech recognition software to design the prototype -introducing simple gestures to use and control the headphones   Links for reference: http://oureverydaylife.com/use-headphones-children-autism-12460.html http://www.got-autism.com/blog/?tag=headphones-for-kids-with-asd     What have been done? There hasn’t been anything speci c that has been designed for autistic children that serves the purpose we intend to solve. There have been independent approaches to speech recognition through software and headphones through software. " 1,771,2016-09-29T21:55:50.000Z,771,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"We want to provide care for people living in neighbour- hoods with lot of noise around them. Noise can a ect physical and mental health of people. Noise pollution in the cities can take a toll on the quality of life of the people. Research has shown that noise pollution can cause problems like heart diseases, stress, lack of sleep and hearing loss to some extent. The average recom- mended noise exposure limit is 55 decibels. However, tra c accounts for 70 decibels and construction machin- ery accounts for about 120 decibels. These are the major generators of sound in the city and well beyond the average exposure limit. We want to provide care to the people living with so much noise around them by using technology.   What are the main aspects of this project? The main aspect of this project is to use technology to provide care for the people so that they have a healthy lifestyle   How to? We can -use transducers on the walls or windows of the house. -sensors that sense the movement of people in the house, detecting whether to switch the device on -LCD screen showing the decibel levels outside   Links for reference: http://www.explainthatstu .com/noisecancellingheadphones.html http://doctord.dyndns.org/Pubs/POTENT.htm   What have been done? www.silentium.com/blog http://www.ipanon3606750899ka.com/blog/sono-peace-quiet-home/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wnc/whisper-the-noise-canceler https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/muzo-personal-zone-creator-w-noise-blocking-tech-sound-sleep#/ " 1,768,2016-09-29T21:50:37.000Z,768,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"Parkinson's, as we all know, is a serious ailment for which there has not been a cure yet. What makes the ailment even more intimidating is that the symptoms keep varying from person to person and we never know in what way is going to affect the patient. Wave, as our team is called, is trying to make someone suffering from parkinson's and their caregiver's lives easier using technology that we have today at our disposal. The first signs of someone having parkinson's are the motor symptoms. These symptoms include essential tremors in hands and other parts of the body. These symptoms further advance overtime enough that it makes it difficult for them to perform the easiest of daily tasks. The symptoms occur when the level of dopamine, the chemical responsible for body movement coordination, reduces in the brain. Medication is used to replenish the dopamine levels or fake the action of the dopamine. With our prototype, we propose to make the lives of someone with parkinson’s simpler. Our prototype will be wearables that can monitor the motor symptoms of the patient. Our prototype will monitor the common symptoms like tremor and stiffness in the human body, and if the symptoms are showing an uncommon behaviour, the prototype can beam the information to the smartphone to remind the patient or the caregiver to take the medicines to or to see the neurologist. Our goal is to help someone who has recently started showing symptoms of parkinson’s to track their motor symptoms and also prolong the initial stage as much as possible. A lot of research-based apps and services are available today that help in better understanding the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Apps like mPower and Parkinson’s Central are monitoring the patient’s health from their rdaily movements and tasks along with daily or weekly surveys. With our prototype, we not only propose to help in tracking symptoms to better understand the disease but we also want to help the patient in the best way possible.   " 1,780,2016-10-04T15:24:24.000Z,780,,,"The basic idea was to create a prototype consisted of two already invented tangible objects. The eyeglasses which give you the possibility to focus by moving the lances and the one that measures your myopia and presbyopia using the size of your retina. The basic idea was to implement one to another and using an algorithm with the application on your phone you  could measure firstly your problem and afterwards adjust the focus depending on the measurements and making your eyesight perfect  almost all the time. The eye sight becomes blurry as years go by and everyone gets older.   The technology is simple as you can just focus manon169343781ally too the lens either if you are trying to read a book for a long time and your eyes are focused on close objects. Using the adjustor the two lens move or slide so they come to a point where they totally focus with the poins of myopia or presbyopia you might have and you can see clearly. The concept of the application was easier as it enables you to measure the points while you are focusing the glasses yourself. This gives you an idea of the size of your problem without necessary have to go to a doctor. " 1,823,2017-04-11T21:02:40.000Z,823,anon2188661263,anon2188661263,"Easy Doc is an app designed to simplify the approach that each person has with the world of healthcare. The user the app is intended for, is a person who is for the first time in a stranger city for various reasons, work or travel. Suddenly they have an emergency related to their health, they need for an urgent attention but they do not know where to ask for advice.   Through this app, with the help of geolocation on a map, the user can identify three categories of health services whose they could have an immediate need (medical, public or private health facility, pharmacy). The ease of use allows the user to find the service they need as near as possible to them.   Pharmacies, hospitals and clinics can be localized, with their day and night schedules and their availability. About the specialists, the user can: -check reviews and the starlets popularity (on a scale from one to five) assigned to each doctor by other users who have benefitted in the past of their performances; -book directly, consulting a calendar in which they can select the day and time of the visit; -make a reservation by phone call; -enter into a private chat with the doctor to book their visit or ask for a quick medical advice.   Once the visit would have taken place, the user will be invited by the app to give a feedback about the service they have received. It is expressed through the starlets and/or by a written comments. Moreover, a planner would show the user their appointments and push up notification would remind them the forthcoming ones.   The present status of the project is the develoanon3606750899g one. A brainstorming has helped us to find out problems and needs of the users and the possible solutions. We have highlighted components and characteristics of the app, the challenge we want to face and the characters involved. Through an Empathy map, we have figured out who actually are our users of the app. A User flow has drafted which pages should link to each other, to design call-to-actions that lead users through the right screen flow. Then Wireframes have visually illustrated the structure of the app. They have also been useful to allow a stranger to the app to test it and to point out possible mistakes. We are now working at the final prototype and we hope to start a new Usability testing as soon as possible.   The goal is to improve the service offered from the app and to facilitate the search for future users. " 1,6233,2017-04-05T21:14:59.000Z,6233,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"We can have the bacteria soon already. Winnie has heard from CCL that they have a partner who has experience in shipanon3606750899g globally. BioFoundry confirms for their case. We need to plan so that we are prepared to receive them. What is the minimum we need? List:
  • Antibiotics
  • Glycerol
  • Medium (liquid/solid)
--> The above would account to <100€
  • Culture flasks
--> This might be more expensive to buy
  • Access to -20°C freezer
  • Access to -80°C freezer
--> At Open BioLab? Other organisation? We need to do the lab work in a Level 2 lab, so in Open BioLab in Brussels. If we succeed in culturing the bacteria, this is already a good validation of the previous research from CCL. We can do the same for the new method BioFoundry is doing. In the next stage things will get more expensive. We need to digest the protein, purify it and validate if it’s insulin. Rita: we have no purification skills yet Others: we can ask questions to professors/experts on the topic Rita: HPLC is the easiest option by far. Niek: we can try cheaper methods for validating if the protein is the correct insulin. I’ll look up if blotting is possible. Perhaps there an ELISA kit for this? (looks up online: there is an insulin ELISA kit at €500 for 96 tests). We’ll also need a way for showing gfp expression. The CCL protocols will come in handy. Winnie: is the process a black box from start to end, when we ultimately validate if what we’ve made is insulin? Because if there’s something wrong, we won’t know where it went wrong. Rita: we could look at the patents, if there’s mention of detection methods. We can use those if it’s just for validation in this stage. We will ask around for prices/help from our network as we will need to buy materials at some points. This is not always easy in ReaGent’s experience. ReaGent has a supplier that will sell to them, but the supplier doesn’t have everything. Others don’t even answer. We can get some stuff viavia though. Concluding thoughts: we can easily receive the samples, so we’ll get that done asap. As the next stage is more expensive, we need to plan a crowdfunding or other initiative to look for some money. We need more detailed information on the protocols of CCL to make better estimates of required materials and costs. " 1,6230,2017-04-04T08:31:13.000Z,6230,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"

Winnie’s presentation

  • 400 million + diabetics
  • no generic insulin 
  • poorer communities have limited access
  • complications include blindness and amputations
  • patent strategies keep prices up. The industrial insulin patent is 90 years old; pharma reacts by tweaking patents (for example, they patent the delivery method)
  • Solution: open source insulin. Cheaper, perhaps home brewed, or perhaps brewed at the community level in microfactories
  • Additional advantages: great communication tool to highlight the condition of diabetics; great ramp into citizen science
  • Started at Counter Culture Labs in San Francisco. Founder Anthony Di Franco is himself diabetics. They started the project with a successful round of crowdfunding.
  • Progress: two generic constructs were produced and delivered to E. coli, where they grow enough to express proinsulin with a fluorescent marker
  • To do: get rid of the fluorescent marker and turn the proinsulin into human insulin. This involves protein folding, digestion and purification. Also validation with HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography).
  • When asked “What have you learned?”, interestingly CCL talked about communication, and recruiting people with the right skills. 
  • International collaboration, hence unchartered territory. A group in San Francisco, one in Sydney (Biofoundry), one in Gent. Exciting, but it’s never been done before. 
  • In Belgium we can repeat experiments to validate; maanon1932026148 find some new approaches (these is what the Sydney group wants to do); and also help communicate.
  • OpenBioLab Brussels (a University-affiliated biolab) has offered help. They have good equipment, including HPLC. Other labs coming through: KASK, a biolab affiliated to the Art Academy in Gent; Break it Down, a science communication collective; Edgeryders, a digital platform that offers near-real time analysis of Open Insulin collaboration, based on ethnography and graph theory. 

Discussion

Arne - Money can probably be found. I have some experience in asking donors.  Q. Can we know more about the actual process? Winnie: the body makes a protein with 4 component: a leader sequence, the A-chain, the C-chain (a spacer, facilitating the A- and B-chains to connect to each other) and the B-chain. In the end, insulin is only made of an A- and B-chain. Manon169343781facturing just A- and B-chains will work, but is very very inefficient, because these two chains do not react with each other easily. The challenge of making insulin is that of increasing the efficiency of this reaction.  The CCL innovation to do that is something called a Leucine zipper, that attaches to both chains (which are produced by two different genes), and attracts copies of itself like a magnet. Leucine zipper helps A- and B-chains find each other.  Round of presentations. Lots of bioengineers-biochemists.  Alberto: How is it going to work? Do you guys specialize in one phase of the process?  Winnie: CCL would like us to purify and validate with HPLC. That also means validating that their bacteria (E. coli with DNA insertion) breed true in our lab as well as theirs. One problem is: how do we get the bacteria to begin with? The Sydney lab has solved this problem, we have not tackled it yet. There are legal restrictions. Maanon1932026148 we could go through Open BioLab, which is part of a university.  Federica: do we have access to CCL results? Winnie: yes. Everything is on Google Drive. We need to ask what the policy for access is. We also need to be clear on the license of this stuff, i.e. terms of reuse for publications etc.  (Technical discussion of the process as developed by CCL. The gist of it: making proinsulin seems easy, but cutting out the relevant part and purifying the resulting insulin from the junk is going to be harder).  Arne: how long does this take? Engineering efficient microfactories looks like a very big deal.  Winnie: we are not engineering yet. We are going for a proof of concept. Our proof is complete when we have a viable open sourced process for making insulin that works in the lab. Making it work in production is not on the table yet. CCL got about halfway through it in 18 months. Imagine another 12-18 months to complete the proof of concept.

Notes afterwards

Winnie: the next steps I gathered from the conversation were to:
  • Agree on a shared vision and approach (research + communication/education)
  • Figure out shipanon3606750899g of bacterial sample
  • Estimate project costs & timing for crowdfunding/other funding sources
  • Get a hold of more OI documentation
Winnie: you should see more documentation popanon3606750899g up in the Drive over the next few days as I get them from CCL. They might be able to give us some info on the shipanon3606750899g as well.   " 1,820,2017-04-03T22:12:51.000Z,820,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"This is the digital workspace for coordination and discussion on the Belgian chapter of the Open Insulin project. The global project is being executed in local biohacking labs across the globe, with the researchers collaborating online. Do you want to get involved and contribute to the project? Read these simple steps on how to! Physical meetups happen every two weeks on Wednesdays at 8pm CET in the ReaGent lab in Ghent. Everyone is welcome to join. Next physical meetup: July 5th, 8pm at Timelab Calls with the international team happen every two weeks on Mondays at 9am CET. Pop Winnie an email to join: winnie [at] breakitdown [dot] eu. Next international call: July 10th, 9am on Zoom

The goal: develop the first open source protocol to produce insulin simply and economically

Access to affordable insulin is not a given. Many people in poorer communities or develoanon3606750899g countries have no way of getting appropriate treatment for diabetes. This leads to serious ilnesses such as blindness, amputations, cardiovascular disease and ultimately coma or death. There is no generic insulin on the market and prices are kept high by patent strategies of the few companies that control the market. We're trying to change this by open sourcing the knowledge required to produce insulin. As an obvious result this would allow production of cheaper insulin by generic suppliers. It might also enable home brewing of insulin or local microfactories in remote areas. Moreover, it can serve as a fertile soil for more open innovation and citizen science in research. Still, the scope of this project is narrowly defined: develop and validate a production method for insulin. Patient testing and further engineering are not on the table before this important milestone. The original Open Insulin team from Counter Culture Labs started out by attempting to modify E. Coli bacteria to produce the precursors of human insulin, which has proven successful. Next steps are purification and turning it into human insulin. The actual lab work is done locally and the open conversation takes place online. This is the workspace for the Ghent group and we invite everyone to participate as we get the lab work underway. Want to take part? Drop by at one of the open lab spaces in Oakland (US), Sydney (AUS) or Ghent (BE) or anon3606750899g a team member to join the fortnightly conference call on Sunday/Monday. To join this online workspace you can create an edgeryders account here. Edgeryders is a global network working to affect change in local and global environments. We use this open internet platform (self-hosted) to collaborate on different projects. " 1,33751,2017-05-03T09:12:09.000Z,33751,anon3853818059,anon3853818059,"  \#reHub \#glove is a tool used to monitor hands movements. Collected data can be applied to a various range of fields.  reHub is an interface of interaction man-machine. It can be used in various areas for example the evaluation of dexterity, sport, music & gaming. Our beneficiaries are all those people who needs to have an experience feedback concerning the hand movements. reHub glove is a tool designed for proprioceptive rehabilitation, to recover movement fluidity after an injury: provided by the physiotherapist, it allows the patient to record and report exercises data such as hand position, fanon1056199097r flexion and fanon1056199097rtips pressure. Recorded data are displayed through a software that reproduces a 3D hand, its movements and detected values. Through the software a physiotherapist is able to evaluate the therapeutic process and possibly change it. Thanks to reHub exercises can be done in physiotherapist presence or at a distance. ReHub acquires informations about fanon1056199097rs movements from flex and pressure sensors. It uses a 6DOF sensor to define the position of the hand in space. reHub glove is the result of a meeting between electronics enthusiasts, a physical therapist and a hand rehabilitation patient to find a way to solve the problem of monitoring the progress during rehabilitation therapy. During this meeting we found out there are no digital devices to monitor the hand rehabilitation and we decided to develop one.  To define our project we didn’t started from a theoretical concept. We started to make the prototype and to test it.  The development of reHub working prototype has been at the heart of our design process. As described on www.anon3853818059.pro, the definition of the prototype is subdivided into 4 time frames of research and development. The first steps of the team have moved in electronics and design. After testing the very first glove we decided to create an integrated system with a self-produced/maker pcb. Our design has always been oriented, and always will be, to integrate all electronics on the top of the glove. Another aspect of our prototype is that the glove itself must be comfortable for the patient. At a later time, once we knew that the glove was able to transmit data to the computer, we focused on the development of a software allowing patients and physiotherapists to evaluate the glove’s collected data through a graphical interface and cartesian charts. We are looking for our final user(s), who will try our product and help us develop different options:
  • Sport
  • Gaming
  • Educational
  • Medical  
We want to built a community and start a business strategy. We will publish tutorials, kits and software to make your glove. Everything to improve the glove solution. We want to develop 4 different kits to sell:
  • with single sensors 
  • only the electronics
  • glove tailored
  • complete of all components
Websites & Social www.anon3853818059.pro www.facebook.com/anon3853818059glove " 1,33749,2017-05-02T14:50:43.000Z,33749,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"These notes and pictures were taken at WeMake in Milan during the meetings held on april 11th 2017 for the openrampette project At WeMake people have being busy with a opencare project about customized ramps to make more shops accessibile to wheelchairs in Milan. It is called openrampette and is being developed with the Comune di Milano, another opencare partner. ... The group has a discussion about best ideas on the prototype and how to involve citizens of Milan in the design phase. There  are also needs to develop an app for openrampette. The discussion goes deep in understanding whether the job consisted in reviewing (advanced prototyanon3606750899g) or development. The problem is that there are not enough indoor skills to develop for mobile. Even IoT (Internet of Things) would have been interesting, but there were no news from the groups.There is a proposal about creating a course for app developers and an internship, but it doesn't seem feasible. The UX (User eXperience) approach is a main issue, but a simple “nice, try, next” way cannot work. There is agreement on the fact that the ramp should stay light and not, for instance, 40 kgs heavy. In a presentation of the project there is a interesting discussion about understanding what is not included in the procedures (the rules enforced by the Municipality), and in the advantage of accessing the database mapanon3606750899g the ramps in the city. Some hypothetical cases are discussed. The idea to work on is about a “ramp on call” that occupies the ground for a very little time, the one needed for the disabled to access the shop and buy stuff. Otherwise there is the average ramp, already available where big shops, or post offices are. The results from the questionnaires about the absence of the ramps before many shops in Milan are considered. There is need to talk with two type of publics; on one side the shop retailers, on the other the customers on wheelchairs. There is the proposal of a survey before and after the meetings. Some last work is put on schedule for the end of august, as prototyanon3606750899g, the website, documents, the wiki, the video, etc.. All the effort is designed for the local side of the city and then it might be replayed in further city contexts. A solution for “calling” the ramp would be to create a button to push. Communication and promotion issues in co-designing engagement of citizens (disabled and retailers mostly) are a priority. The idea of a call is being discussed; a container in order to face by degrees what is to be included. The context is opencare so MIR (Maker In Residence) could be included by creating a challenge based on this framework. The idea is to use edgeryders as development platform and have some surveys about UX and UI (User Interface). The viable solution seems to stay focused on the issue of accessibility in the milanese context for wheelchairs. It is something on which all the participants agree. Insight The project is being discussed often in meetings (at WeMake and online with remote collaborators) and is run daily as a main activity. It is very interesting to follow the different steps about the making of the project as openrampette is not a simple issue when it comes to the technical and the social. On openrampette many questions are raised about how dealing with the processes. The shared decision making process is quite often adopted here. The group has a lot of trust in ideas from individuals and in including the “publics” in the discussion by focus group activities. Discussions are necessary to share oanon3606750899ions and stay aware of the limits of proposals from individuals, but putting things together in a responsible way following a collective logic seems quite common here. There is consideration for a need of a collective dimension about the research section of open rampette, anyway different from co-design, …a group discussion among participants. For further information: http://wemake.cc/tag/openrampette/ The procedure to participate (in italian): click here " 1,853,2017-05-29T14:21:17.000Z,853,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Martedì 23 maggio ha avuto luogo il secondo appuntamento di coprogettazione con l’obiettivo di approfondire l’esperienza legata alla procedura per l’abbattimento di barriere architettoniche con rampe e scivoli. Durante il primo appuntamento (11.05) abbiamo cercato di analizzare la tematica dell’accessibilità degli esercizi commerciali e, più nel dettaglio, l’utilizzo della rampa a chiamata, sia dal punto di vista del commerciante (Minerva), sia dal punto di vista del cliente (Dioniso). Clicca qui per leggere il report completo del primo incontro. Durante questo secondo incontro, abbiamo svolto un’indagine sulla tematica della procedura attraverso un’attività di role-playing, ovvero un gioco di ruolo: “Dimentichiamo per un momento chi siamo e cosa facciamo. Questa sera siamo tutti Minerva, ed abbiamo un solo obiettivo: svolgere la procedura per poter dotare il nostro negozio, Vineria Minerva, di una rampa mobile a chiamata”. Scopo dell’attività: Ottenere spunti e informazioni utili al miglioramento (della comprensione) della procedura e sistematizzare le difficoltà riscontrate nella compilazione. Svolgimento: I partecipanti hanno lavorato in coppie e l’attività si è stata divisa in due momenti: 1. Compilazione: a ciascuna coppia sono state fornite le seguenti informazioni, utili alla compilazione del Modulo A1 (domanda per occupazione suolo pubblico con rampa/scivolo mobile-provvisoria e campanello di chiamata):  Nel corso dell’attività i partecipanti hanno avuto modo di reperire facilmente alcune informazioni grazie ai documenti che gli abbiamo fornito, in altri casi tuttavia questo non è stato possibile. A tal proposito, abbiamo chiesto ad ogni gruppo di annotare sul Modulo A1 come fare per reperire tali dati nella vita reale e su post-it, cosa dover fare per completare la procedura. 2. Analisi: al termine della compilazione abbiamo chiesto ai partecipanti di rileggere il documento con attenzione e, sulla base della loro esperienza, utilizzare i pennarelli a loro disposizione come segue:
  • ​​evidenziatore giallo: parole o sezioni di testo di difficile comprensione
  • evidenziatore rosa: informazioni difficili o complesse da reperire
  • penna blu: commenti, aggiunte, dubbi, ecc.
 Tempo a disposizione: 20 minuti (compilazione + analisi) Al termine dell’attività, abbiamo ritirato tutti i moduli compilati e li abbiamo raggruppati in colonne a seconda delle note e riflessioni riportate da ogni coppia. Successivamente, abbiamo condiviso le note in evidenza in una sessione di plenaria e sintetizzato ulteriori commenti su un cartellone. Quest’ultimo ci permetterà di riprendere i punti emersi durante l’incontro e di portarli al livello successivo di progettazione all’interno di open rampette.   Storia di Dionisio’, cittadino alla ricerca di una bottiglia di vino: “ Dioniso è pronto per la festa di questa sera, ne sarà il cerimoniere! Solo appena prima di uscire si accorge di aver finito il vino, quindi di non poterlo omaggiare ai festeggiati. Quale scempio, Dioniso senza vino… Decide di uscire per andare a comprare del buon vino sulla via per andare alla festa. Per strada passa davanti alla Vineria Minerva, la vetrina abbonda di bottiglie di ottima annata, i migliori vini della città. Dioniso si avvicina all’entrata e solo all’ultimo può notare l’ostacolo, un misero gradino, decisamente basso per altro, ma che in ogni caso non gli permette di accedere all’interno del negozio. “ [Clicca qui](https://docs.google.com/document/d/16wewrgnea06SkdLrU2l1-EPBbi7op_Rtud4xF2MA654/edit?usp=sharing) per accedere alla ‘[b]Storia di Dionisio[/b]'. Subito dopo la lettura della ‘[b]Storia di Dionisio[/b]’, ha inizio un giro di tavolo per conoscere gli interessi e le aspettative di ciascun membro. Al gruppo di Dionisio, hanno partecipato sia cittadini portatori di bisogno e sia cittadini interessati alla causa per comprendere al meglio le problematiche relative a questa complessa normativa. La discussione ha inizio con la condivisione, da parte dei cittadini disabili, della propria esperienza di shopanon3606750899g in città. Le esperienze variano da persona a persona, ma soprattutto dipendono dall’entità degli ostacoli presenti all’esterno e all’interno dell’esercizio commerciale. Tali ostacoli forzano infatti relazioni e incomprensioni non volute sia da parte di chi vorrebbe accedere al negozio, sia da chi si trova nelle vicinanze e sia da chi si sente responsabile di questa non accessibilità. [Clicca qui](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sWkZF-dd8VqeoKqkpi5QglpCPdnDLExB7LTkoywbIVE/edit?usp=sharing) per leggere la [b]minuta[/b]. Dal confronto dei partecipanti del tavolo di Dionisio sono emerse diverse tematiche che verranno poi riprese durante i prossimi appuntamenti di [b]open rampette[/b]: * [b]Semplificare la normativa[/b], cambiare le procedure se necessario senza ricorrere necessariamente all’aumento delle sanzioni. * Aumentare l’assistenza, supporto e controlli tecnici e soprattutto fisici per [b]verificare l’accessibilità esterna ed interna[/b] di un esercizio commerciale. * [b]Creare un sistema condiviso di scambio di informazioni utili (adesivo, sito internet, applicazioni)[/b] per aumentare la visibilità e il riconoscimento di un negozio accessibile. Utilizzare e normalizzare un sistema analogo a quello utilizzato per gli alberghi ed hotel (1, 2, 3 stelle e così via). ![img](/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ced946e2eb3f488a580caab98f55a33b622a18eb.jpg) Riferimenti utili: Link - Report incontro di open rampette - LA CHIAMATA 11.05 @anon Link - Storia / Challenges di open rampette sulla piattaforma di EdgeRyders, per coinvolgere ed avviare una parallela discussione online con i partecipanti e membri del progetto europeo opencare. Link - Report gruppo di Minerva" 1,844,2017-05-16T14:18:18.000Z,844,anon400496570,anon400496570,"Il gruppo di Minerva, incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l’accesso al proprio negozio, è formato da: * 7 cittadini (proprietari di diversi esercizi commerciali), * 1 moderatore (Cristina Martellosio - WeMake) * 1 assistente moderatore (Silvia D’Ambrosio - WeMake), * 1 osservatore (Costantino Bongiorno - WeMake), * 1 maker (Enrico Bassi - opendot), * 1 rappresentante del Comune di Milano (Matanon1201778428 Matteini). Subito dopo la formazione del tavolo, la co-progettazione ha avuto inizio con la lettura della[b] ‘Storia di Minerva’[/b], proprietaria di una vineria in pieno centro città: “ [...] Ogni mattina Minerva prende la rampetta mobile dal retrobottega, la posiziona affianco all’ingresso dietro la colonna, in modo che non sia di intralcio, pronta all’uso nel caso se ne presentasse l’occasione. Minerva sa benissimo dove è situata la rampetta, visibile ai suoi occhi tutto il tempo dal bancone, ma non si è mai accorta che dalla posizione di ingresso, di fronte all’entrata è invisibile ai passanti. [...] Proprio come è successo a Dioniso infatti, che in ritardo e in cerca disperata di una bottiglia di vino da offrire ai suoi festeggiati si è recato alla Vineria Minerva, ha notato di non poter superare l’ostacolo di ingresso e ha cercato invano l’attenzione di Minerva o dei clienti all’interno del negozio che Minerva stava servendo in quel momento. Avendo atteso diversi minuti per cortesia è poi però dovuto correre a casa, la pioggia iniziava a scrosciare, non riuscendo a comprare il Chianti che tanto desiderava per la serata. “ [Clicca qui](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nf_Bj71kqzwiu005eLDg7cmEilpyw7ILbnkFps_IZ4k/edit?usp=sharing) per accedere alla [b]‘Storia di Minerva’. [/b] Subito dopo la lettura, il moderatore ha aperto la discussione chiedendo a ciascun partecipante la tipologia del proprio esercizio commerciale. Al gruppo di Minerva hanno partecipato proprietari di diversi esercizi: da studi di architettura, grafica pubblicitaria a negozi di sartoria e riparazioni per calzature a gioiellerie ed atelier. Si è poi passato all’analisi specifica, per ciascun esercente, dell’accessibilità o inaccessibilità del proprio negozio, osservando che gli ostacoli sono di diversa entità: marciapiede piccolo, gradino alto, porta d’ingresso stretta, doppia porta, porta chiusa per necessità del lavoro all’interno del negozio, sotto negozio, pulsante piccolo e mal funzionante e così via. [Clicca qui](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c7DXcVi3GHnYkY5pNcCNC837aMiXIRh1Z8w0lOcuZMs/edit?usp=sharing) per leggere la [b]minuta[/b] del gruppo di Minerva. Dal tavolo sono dunque emerse diverse tematiche, quali: * La necessità di [b]rendere più visibile e funzionale il campanello[/b] non solo per evidenziare e comunicare l’accessibilità dell’esercizio commerciale, ma anche per creare un senso comune di appartenenza e di riconoscimento “ — friendly” all’interno del quartiere Isola di Milano. * Ideare un [b]sistema efficiente di feedback,[/b] sia da parte di chi effettua la chiamata e da chi la riceve. Onde evitare inutili e frustranti attese non volute da entrambe le parti. * Utilizzare ed implementare gli [b]strumenti esistenti in negozio[/b] quali il wifi, cellulare e proprio sito internet. ![img](/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ced946e2eb3f488a580caab98f55a33b622a18eb.jpg) Riferimenti utili: [Link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xXGGaZfzxaI-dR-SUTpzCVEJomL78XouwPJMOdD4yuY/edit#) - [b]Report generico[/b] primo incontro di open rampette - LA CHIAMATA [Link](/t/openrampette-discussione-preparativa-per-user-research/6240) -[b] Storia / Challenges di open rampette[/b] sulla piattaforma di EdgeRyders, per coinvolgere ed avviare una parallela discussione online con i partecipanti e membri del progetto europeo opencare. [Link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/13mCBDCojqlUUvp-orhDC8o0eztzK4X6-UryLFO-WgWw/edit#) - Report gruppo di [b]Dionisio[/b]" 1,6235,2017-04-06T13:25:56.000Z,6235,anon70625510,anon70625510,"A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was – and still is – unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done. We saw people coming together, stepanon3606750899g into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together. We started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear: It's all about humans. Community provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. This intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there's a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. We dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other. We have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times. The unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning. So, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now. We are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters). Like coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start. We ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @anon If you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a ""building the Reef"" track within to OpenVillage where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein – from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some “skin in the game” by becoming founding members.

Why become a founding member?

What we get out of a membership in the Reef is access to unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
  • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
  • Project development & partnership-building support
  • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
  • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
  • Full unlimited access passes to our Annual Community Summits (e.g. OpenVIllage Festival)
What you will learn
  • how to present & sell your ideas
  • community building and management
  • intercultural communication
  • resolving and limiting damage from conflicts
  • building practical skills like permaculture, carpentry and plumbing
  • improving nutrition and physical wellbeing
  • recognising and dealing with common psychosocial problems e.g. depression
What each one of us contributes
  • When becoming a member: money to cover running costs (for a breakdown of these go here)
  • While in the house, as resident and/or visiting: share costs of collective meals
  • On the online community platform: feedback and knowledge to support one another's work
Our approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships. Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities in order to meet each other's needs. If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.

To Become a Founding Member of the Reef You Pledge 300 Eur (25 Eur/month)

You get:
  1. A spot for you and your project in the PowerPitch Masterclass, May 26-27, at The Reef, Brussels.
  2. A spot for you and your project in the upcoming Masterclass, September TBA, at The Reef, Brussels.
  3. A Ticket to OpenVillage Festival, October 19-21 at The Reef, Brussels
Your contribution is used to cover the costs involved: venue & equipment rental, third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders' fees." 1,5829,2016-07-18T07:37:00.000Z,5829,anon70625510,anon70625510,"**_Available in: :gb: [English](#en) / :ar: [Arabic](#ar) / :nl: [Netherland](#nl) / :de:[Deutsch](#de) / :es:[Spanish](#es)_** ---------- ## :gb: **_English version_** ###The MacArthur Foundation has decided to deliver a mighty push to fixing the world’s most hairy, entangled, unfixable problems. The idea is to look hard for a promising organisation, one that has the tenacity and creativity to provide a real solution to a problem (almost any problem is eligible). They will provide the resources: a whopanon3606750899g 100 million dollars. We have been thinking hard about the problem of providing high-quality, affordable health and social care to all.[b]We think we have a candidate solution: provision of care services by communities equipped with open source knowledge and technology.[/b] From where we stand, these communities deliver services that are based on modern science (like those provided by the state and the private sector), yet they retain low overhead and human touch (like those provided by traditional communities). This is more than just an idea. We have already connected with tens of initiatives out there, and we suspect there are hundreds, possibly thousands more. We are already seeing a lot of interaction and knowledge sharing happening: we think this could be the beginning of a cycle of prototyanon3606750899g-sharing results- improving-prototyanon3606750899g. With sustained support, this cycle could result in an ecosystem of care services building on a shared body of open knowledge and tech – and be ready to deploy at scale before our present care systems collapse. So, here’s what we want to do. We want to apply for the 100 million dollar grant, with this solution. But not alone. [b] We volunteer to coordinate a “decentralized application”, with hundreds of communities, and organizations large and small, a swarm of solution providers working on a cloud of problems related to the provision of health and social care.[/b] We think we will win. Why? Because decentralization is, simply, a superior approach. Consider: * [b]We will deploy much more brainpower than competitors[/b]. There are more people in the many communities around care than in any organisation: almost every human has been, at some point, both a care giver and a care receiver. We are all experts, we all have something to contribute. * [b]We will use more effectively the brainpower that we do have[/b]. Organisations are, by definition, hierarchies: funding one means empowering a small group at the top (senior management, possibly a research group here) to issue the orders for the rest of the organisation to execute. With us, almost everybody is at the top, almost everybody is thinking creatively around her particular corner of the care problem. * [b]We are better at learning, because more of us are teachers[/b]. Centralised projects maintain coherence via concentration of power and hierarchy. But decentralised ones cannot do that, and they have to rely on knowledge sharing and documentation. With many units collaborating on sharing knowledge and competing (with the world outside, and sometimes with each other) on implementation of care services, you get a highly interconnected network of practitioners. And these networks learn fast: we now have evidence that[ sociality in access to knowledge and teaching produces better technology than individual smarts.](http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1690/20150192) In Edgeryders alone, we have 5,300 documented sharing knowledge relationships. * [b]We are more diverse – and [diversity trumps ability](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.long&sa=D&ust=1468950945597000&usg=AFQjCNFoAmpA8pDq9T7QGI2g_6_XZIpwrw)[/b]. Large, entangled problems tend to be badly defined, so that we are not even sure what kind of expertise will help solving them – it’s a bit like having a car that won’t start, and you don’t know whether the problem is mechanical, electric, electronic or the car is simply out of fuel. In this case, assembling a team of the best mechanics you can find is a risky strategy, because the problem might turn out to be electric after all, and no mechanic, no matter how good, has the right skills and tools to solve it. A large swarm of initiatives large and small will be vastly more diverse than an organisation (the Edgeryders community alone is present in over 30 countries) [b]Join us[/b]. You should be involved in applying for the 100 million dollars grant as part of #OPENandChange if you are involved in a grassroots initiative that is contributing towards improved health and well-being of people using/ interacting with it. You could be an activist or social entrepreneur who got the initiative started in the first place. You could also be a researcher, but you need to have full access to the people behind the initiative.You could also be someone who appreciates the initiative and wants to support it. [b]How to participate[/b]. In order to coordinate effectively, all participants are asked to come online in one of the weekly skype calls and tell the others about their work/ project, interact with the community here and contribute their own project planning to the collective bid. ###Update Dec 2016: What did we submit to the MacArthur Foundation's 100andChange call? * Read the draft final application here http://bit.ly/2cj0EWv [b]#NoSpectators[/b]: Only participants who completed all the steps, from sharing their story online to sending in project activities and team members' contacts, to sharing #openandchange on social media were included in our joint application. [s]Getting started is easy! Just fill in this form (deadline September 10): http://bit.ly/29BmwxP[/s] ![img](/uploads/default/original/2X/2/23e6e188ce863962a3cfde643ee6cd9dca23045e.png) ---------- ##:ar: _Arabic version_ لقد قررت مؤسسه ""ماك-ارثر"" ان تقدم دفعه قويه باتجاه حل المشاكل الاكثر صعوبه وتشابكا فى العالم عن طريق البحث الجاد عن منظمه واعده قادره على توفير حلول واقعيه لأى مشكله وتوفير لها الموارد المطلوبه والدعم المادى الذى قد يصل الى 100 مليون دولار. فى نفس الوقت, لقد كنا نفكر بجديه تجاه توفير رعايه صحيه واجتماعيه عاليه الجوده ورخيصه الثمن للجميع ونعتقد ان لدينا حل مقترح وهو عن طريق توفير خدمات الرعايه عن طريق المجتمعات المزوده بالمعرفه والتكنولوجيا المفتوحه المصدر, حيث ان هذه المجتمعات قادره على توفير هذه الخدمات القائمه على التقنيات والعلم الحديث, بنفس الجوده التى تقدم من قبل الحكومات والقطاع الخاص, ولكن مع الحفاظ على تخفيض النفقات وعلى العلاقات الانسانيه, مثل معظم الخدمات التى توفرها المجتمعات التقليديه. هذه ليست مجرد فكره. لقد قمنا بالفعل بالاتصال بالعشرات من المبادرات التى تقوم بذلك, ونعتقد بوجود مئات بل ربما الآلاف اخرون, ونشهد بالفعل حدوث العديد من التفاعل وتبادل المعرفه ونعتقد ان هذا يعد بدايه لدوره من تطوير النماذج المختلفه ومع توفير الدعم المستدام هذه الدوره يمكن تطويرها لتكوين نظام من الرعايه مبنى على هيكل من المعرفه والتكنولوجيا المفتوحه المصدر, وقابل للتجربه على نطاق اوسع قبل ان ينهار نظام الرعايه الحالى. وهذا ما نريد ان نفعله. نريد ان نقدم على منحه ال100 مليون دولار بهذا ""الحل"". ولكن لن نقدم وحدنا, نخن نتطوع لتنسيق ""طلب لامركزى"" ""decentralized application"" بالمشاركه مع المئات من المجتمعات والمنظمات ( الكبيره والصغيره) لتكوين سرب من مقدمى الحلول المختلفه لمشاكل الرعايه الصحيه والاجتماعيه. ونعتقد اننا قادرون على الفوز! لماذا؟ لان اللامركزيه هى نهج متفوق ببساطه خصوصا عندما نأخذ هذه النقاط فى الاعتبار:
  • سيكون لدينا قوى جمعيه اكثر بكثير من منافسيا.
    ان عدد الناس من مختلف المجتمعات المهتمون بالرعايه اكثر بكثير من اى منظمه: تقريبا كل انسان, فى مرحله ما, كان اما مقدم للرعايه او مستقبلها. نحن جميعا الخبراء وكلنا لدينا شىء للمساهمه فى الرعايه.
  • سوف نكون اكثر فاعليه فى استخدام قدراتنا ومواردنا.
    المنظمات هى,بالتعريف, تسلسلات هرميه: تمويل واحده يعنى تمكين مجموعه صغيره فى اعلى الهرم( الاداره العليا و ربما مجموعه بحثيه او اخرى) لكى تتمكن من اصدار الاوامر لبقيه المنظمه لتنفيذها. اما معنا فالكل تقريبا فى الجزء العلوى يفكرون بابداع حول جزئيه معينه من نظام الرعايه.
  • نحن نتعلم افضل لأن الكثير مننا معلمين.
    المشاريع المركزيه تعتمد على تمركز القوى و التسلسلات الهرميه للمحافظه على اتساقها ولكن المشاريع غير المركزيه لا تستطيع ان تفعل ذلك ولكنها تعتمد على مشاركه المعرفه والتوثيق.
    مع وجود الكثير من الوحدات المتعاونه التى تعتمد على مشاركه المعرفه وتأخذ نصيبها من المنافسه( مع العالم الخارجى ومع بعضها البعض احيانا ) فى تطبيق خدمات الرعايه, يتم تكوين شبكات مترابطه من الممارسين. هذه الشبكات تتعلم بسرعه كبيره:لدينا الان ادله على ان هذ ا الاسلوب الاجتماعى فى مشاركه المعرفه والتعلم ينتج تكنولوجيا افضل من الذكاء الفردى وحده. فى ""ايدجرايدرز"" فقط لدينا حوالى 5300 علاقه مشاركه للمعرفه موثقه.
  • نحن اكثر تنوعا, والتنوع يتفوق على القدره.
    بشكل عام, تميل المشاكل المتشابكه الى ان تكون سيئه التعريف مما يجعلنا غير متأكدين من نوع الخبره المطلوبه لحلها, انها تشبه قليلا السياره التى لا تعمل,ولا يمكنك معرفه هل المشكله ميكانيكه ام كهربائيه ام الكترونيه او ربما السياره ببساطه ليس لديها وقود كافى. فى هذه الحاله تكوين فريق من افضل الميكانيكين قد يكون استراتيجيه خطره لان ربما تكون المشكله كهربائيه فى النهايه ولن يستطيع اى ميكانيكى -مهما كانت مهاراته- ان يحل المشكله. لذلك سرب من المباردرات الصغيره والكبيره سيكون اكثر تنوعا من منظمه متخصصه واحده ( فى مجتمع ايدجرايدرز وحده يوجد ممثلون او مواطنون من اكثر من 30 بلد)
انضم الينا ! يمكنك ان تشارك فى التقديم على منحه ال100 مليون دولار كجزء من OPENandChange.care اذا كنت منضم لمبادره شعبيه/محليه تساهم فى تقديم خدمات الرعايه الصحيه والاجتماعيه. قد تكون ناشط او رائد اعمال اجتماعى وساهمت فى بناء المبادره او ممكن ان تكون باحث ولكن يجب ان يكون لديك سهوله و حق الوصول الكامل للقائمين على المبادره. كيف يمكنك المشاركه؟
لكى نتمكن من التنسيق الجيد بين جميع المشاركين نطلب منكم المجىء اونلاين لواحده من مكالمات"" السكيب"" الاسبوعيه وان تخبر الاخرين عن عملك ومشروعك , والتفاعل مع المتشاركين الاخرين على منصه ""ايدجرايدرز"" edgeryders.eu وتساهم بمشروعك فى الطلب الجمعي للمنحه. البدايه سهله جدا ! فقط املاء هذه الاستماره ( اخر معاد 20 اغسطس) http://bit.ly/29BmwxP المنظمات الشريكة: ---------- ##:nl: **_Netherland version_** De MacArthur Foundation heeft besloten een enorme bijdrage te willen leveren aan het oplossen van de meest netelige, anon1056199097wikkelde, en onoplosbare problemen. Hun idee is te zoeken naar een veelbelovende organisatie die de vasthoudendheid en creativiteit heeft om een echte oplossing te leveren voor een probleem (en bijna elk probleem komt in aanmerking). Ze stellen daar dan de financiële middelen voor ter beschikking: het enorme bedrag van 100 miljoen dollar. Wij hebben al hard nagedacht over de vraag hoe je iedereen van hoge kwaliteit gezondheids- en sociale zorg voorziet tegen een lage prijs.[b]We denken dat we een goede kandidaatoplossing hebben: zorgverlening door gemeenschappen voorzien van open source kennis en technologie.[/b] Zoals wij het zien, verlenen die gemeenschappen diensten die gebaseerd zijn op de laatste wetenschap (zoals nu worden geleverd door de overheid en particuliere sector), maar die tegelijkertijd een menselijk karakter houden en lage overheadkosten kennen (zoals nu door traditionele sociale gemeenschappen). Dit is meer dan alleen maar een idee. We hebben inmiddels al contact gelegd met tientallen bestaande initiatieven, en we denken dat er honderden, zoniet duizenden meer zijn. We zien al dat er veel interactie plaatsvindt, en er veel kennis wordt gedeeld: we denken dat dit het begin is van een positieve cyclus van prototypes maken-resultaten delen-verbeteren-prototypes maken. Met stabiele steun, zou die cyclus kunnen uitgroeien tot een ecosysteem van zorgdiensten die gebouwd zijn op gedeelde open kennis en technologie. – en dat klaar is om op grote schaal uit te rollen voordat onze huidige zorgsystemen bezwijken. Daarom willen we het volgende gaan doen. We willen een aanvraag indienen voor een beurs van 100 miljoen dollar voor de genoemde oplossing. Maar niet alleen. [b]We stellen ons vrijwillig beschikbaar om een “gedecentraliseerde aanvraag” te coördineren, met honderden gemeenschappen en organisaties, groot en klein, een zwerm van partijen die oplossanon1056199097n aandragen om samen te werken aan een wolk van vraagstukken en problemen in de verlening van gezondheids- en sociale zorg.[/b] We denken dat we die beurs gaan winnen. Waarom? Omdat decentralisatie gewoonweg de superieure aanpak is. Bedenk: * [b]We brengen vele malen meer pure denkkracht dan andere aanvragers[/b]. Er zijn meer mensen in de vele gemeenschappen rondom zorg dan in willekeurig welke organisatie: bijna ieder mens is op enig moment zowel de verlener als ontvanger van zorg. We zijn allemaal experts, hebben allemaal iets bij te dragen. * [b]We zullen de denkkracht die we hebben effectiever gebruiken[/b]. Organisaties zijn per definitie hierarchieën: geld geven aan een organisatie betekent dat een kleine groep aan de top (senior management) de gelegenheid krijgt opdrachten te geven aan de rest van de organisatie om uit te voeren. In onze opzet is bijna iedereen in de gelegenheid om creatief te werken aan ieder zijn specifieke aspect van het zorgprobleem. * [b]We kunnen beter leren, want we hebben meer onderwijzenden[/b]. Gecentraliseerde projecten houden hun samenhang in stand door hierarchie en de concentratie van macht. Gedecentraliseerde projecten kunnen dat niet, and anon2400895282ten bouwen op het delen van kennis en het documenteren van activiteiten.[ Als veel teams samenwerken om kennis te delen en gelijktijdig met elkaar en de wereld concurreren op het implementeren van zorgdiensten, krijg je een heel sterk verknoopt netwerk van ervaringsdeskundigen.](http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1690/20150192) Dit soort netwerken leert heel snel: we kunnen aantonen dat in een populatie sociaal breed toegankelijke kennis en van elkaar kunnen leren betere technologie oplevert dan slimme individuen. Alleen al binnen Edgeryders hebben we 5,300 gedocumenteerde relaties waarlangs kennis wordt gedeeld. * [b]We zijn veel diverser, en diversiteit overtroeft vaardigheid [/b]. Grote anon1056199097wikkelde problemen zijn vaak slecht te definiëren, zodat meestal niet duidelijk is wat voor soort expertise nodig is voor een oplossing. Een beetje alsof een auto niet wil starten, terwijl je niet weet of de oorzaak mechanisch, elektrisch, of elektronisch is, of dat de benzinetank gewoon leeg is. In zo’n geval kan het team van de beste mechaniciëns hoe goed ze ook zijn in hun vak, of hoe goed hun gereedschap ook is, het probleem niet oplossen als het om een elektrisch mankement gaat. Een grote zwerm grotere en kleinere initiatieven is veel diverser dan een enkel specialistisch team, en daarmee kansrijker om verschillende werkende oplossanon1056199097n te vinden. (De Edgeryders community alleen al heeft bijvoorbeeld mensen in 30 landen). [b]Doe mee![/b] We willen graag dat je meedoet aan het aanvragen van de beurs van 100 miljoen dollar als onderdeel van OPENandChange.care als je betrokken bent bij een grassroots initiatief dat bijdraagt aan betere gezondheidszorg en groter welzijn van de mensen die deelnemen of gebruik maken van dat initiatief. Je bent misschien een activist, of een sociaal ondernemer die het initiatief is gestart. Je kunt ook een onderzoeker, maar dan wel met direct contact met de mensen achter het initiatief. [b]Meedoen gaat zo:[/b] Voor een goede coördinatie wirden alle deelnemers gevraagd wekelijks online deel te nemen aan skype-gesprekken om te vertellen over hun werk en project, om actief deel te nemen aan de interactie tussen community-leden op edgeryders.eu en hun eigen projectplanning aan te leveren voor de collectieve aanvraag voor de beurs. [b]Beginnen is makkelijk![/b] Vul dit formulier in (voor 20 augustus): http://bit.ly/29BmwxP ---------- ## :de: **_Deutsch version_** Die MacArthur Stiftung hat beschlossen, viel Geld auf eine Karte zu setzen, um [b]eines der weltweit größten, schwierigsten und kompliziertesten Probleme anzupacken.[/b] Dabei sind sie auf der Suche nach einer vielversprechenden Organisation die hartnäckig und kreativ genug ist, um reale Lösungen für ein globales Problem zu liefern. Die Stiftung übernimmt die Finanzierung: [/b]Satte 100 Millionen Dollar stellt die MacArthur Stiftung dafür bereit![/b] Wir haben uns mehr als Gedanken über das Problem der Bereitstellung von qualitativ hochwertiger und erschwinglicher Gesundheits- und Sozialfürsorge für alle gemacht. [b]Und wir denken, dass wir einen Lösungsansatz gefunden haben: Die Bereitstellung von Sozialdiensten durch Gemeinschaften kombiniert mit Open Source Wissen und neuer Technologie.[/b] Unser Community-Ansatz für eine zeitgemäße Gesundheits- und Sozialfürsorge basiert dabei auf moderner Wissenschaft (wie andere herkömmliche Ansätze), verbunden mit einem „Human Touch“ wie jene Gesundheitssysteme welche in traditionellen Gemeinschaften gelebt werden. [b]Das Ganze ist bereits jetzt mehr als nur eine Idee. [/b]Mit mehr als 10 Initiativen sind wir bereits im Kontakt. Weitere hundert, wenn nicht ein paar tausend, arbeiten an den gleichen Fragestellungen wie wir. Bereits jetzt wird Wissen geteilt, Menschen verbinden sich, neue innovative Lösungen nehmen Gestalt an. Durch Austausch, Prototyanon3606750899g und Vernetzung entsteht ein gemeinsames Open-Knowledge-Ökosystem, welches effektiv die Transformation eines kollabierenden Gesundheitssystems unterstützen wird. Was wir tun werden? [b]Wir bewerben uns auf die 100 Millionen Dollar - jedoch nicht alleine! [/b] Momentan koordinieren wir ehrenamtlich eine „dezentralisierte Bewerbung“. Eine Bewerbung aus hunderten Gemeinschaften, Kommunen, großen und kleinen Organisationen. Ein Schwarm, der Lösungen für Probleme produziert, welche im Zusammenhang mit Gesundheit und Pflege stehen. Und gemeinsam werden wir das Geld gewinnen um Lösungen in die Tat umzusetzen. Warum? Weil Dezentraliserung der Weg der Zukunft ist. Gute Gründe sprechen dafür: * [b]Wir werden viel mehr Intelligenz haben als andere Mitbewerber.[/b] Es gibt mehr Menschen in vielen Gemeinschafen, die mit Betreuung beschäftigt sind als in irgendeiner Organisation: So gut wie jeder Menschen war schon einmal Versorger oder Versorgter. Wir sind alle Experten, wir haben alles etwas dazu beizutragen. * [b]Wir werden unsere kognitive und emotionale Intelligenz effektiver einsetzen als andere.[/b] Organisationen haben per Definition Hierarchien: Nur eine einzelne Organisation zu finanzieren, bedeutet eine kleine Gruppe von Menschen (meist Senior Manager, in diesem Fall einer Forschungsgruppe) viel Macht zu geben, welche dann Aufgaben an andere delegieren, die diese umsetzen müssen. In unserem Modell, ist so gut wie jeder im Top Management. Jede Person kann kreativ einen Beitrag leisten und das Problem aus der einen oder anderen Perspektive beleuchten und seinen Beitrag für eine Lösung leisten. * [b]Wir sind besser im Lernen, da jeder von uns auch ein Lehrer ist.[/b] Zentralisierte Projekte werden durch eine Konzentration von Macht und Hierarchie strukturiert. Dezentralisierte können dies nicht, daher müssen sie sich auf das Teilen und die Dokumentation von Wissen konzentrieren. Wenn viele Teams zusammenarbeiten, Wissen teilen und miteinander im kooperativen Wettlauf sind neue Betreuungsprojekte zu implementieren, entsteht eine hochvernetzte Gemeinschaft von Praktikern. Und eine solches Netzwerk lernt schnell: Bereits heute gibt es Belege dafür das [gemeinsames Handeln bessere Technologien produziert als einzelne schlaue Köpfe](http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1690/20150192) . Allein das Edgeryder Netzwerk hat 5300 dokumentierte Fallbespiele von Menschen die das Wissen miteinander teilen und dadurch kontinuierlich lernen und sich verbessern. * [b]Wir haben eine höhere Diversität – [und Diversität schlägt.](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.long&sa=D&ust=1468950945597000&usg=AFQjCNFoAmpA8pDq9T7QGI2g_6_XZIpwrw)[/b] Große, verwirrende Probleme tendieren dazu schlecht definiert zu sein. Häufig ist schon die Frage welche Expertise benötigt wird um das Problem zu lösen unlösbar. Es ist wie ein Auto das nicht anspranon1056199097n will und man weiß nicht ob das Problem mechanisch, elektrisch oder nur Benzin fehlt, oder braucht es Strom? Einfach nur ein Team Mechaniker zu bestellen ist dabei eine riskante Strategie. Was wenn das Problem doch in der Elektronik liegt? Dann können die Mechaniker noch so gut sein, sie werden nicht über das notwendige Werkzeug verfügen. Ein Schwarm von Initiativen ist daher um ein Vielfaches diverser aufgestellt – zum Beispiel arbeiten im Edgeryders Netzwerk Initiativen aus über 30 Ländern zusammen. [b]Mach mit![/b] Sei dabei wenn wir uns für 100 Millionen Dollar bewerben als Partner von #OPENandChange. Du bist der oder die Richtige, wenn du dich an der Basis im Bereich des Gesundheitswesens, der Pflege und Betreuung engagierst. Du kannst dabei Aktivist oder sozialer Unternehmer sein, gerade eine Initiative ins Leben gerufen haben oder forschend tätig sein. Wichtig ist, dass du direkten Zugang Menschen hast, die sich für Gesundheit und/oder das soziale Wohl engagieren. Du hast keine Initiative findest jedoch die Idee gut? Dann unterstütze uns durch deine Person. [b]Wie du teilnehmen kannst.[/b] Um alles effektiv zu koordinieren bitten wir alle Teilnehmer an einem der wöchentlichen Skype Gesprächen teilzunehmen, um anderen das eigene Projekt und die Arbeit vorzustellen. Darüber hinaus besteht die Möglichkeit, sich auszutauschen und einen persönlichen Beitrag für die kollektive Bewerbung einzureichen. [b]Der Anfang ist einfach! Fülle dieses Formular bis zum 20.8.2016 aus:[/b] http://bit.ly/29BmwxP ---------- ##:es: **_Spanish version_** La fundación MacArthur ha decidido dar un buen empujón a los problemas más liosos, enmarañados y difíciles que necesitamos resolver para arreglar el mundo. La idea es fijarse en una organización prometeanon2851090535, con la tenacidad y creatividad para proporcionar una solución real a un problema (casi cualquier problema vale).[b]Proporcionarán los recursos: un tocho de 100 millones de dólares.[/b] [b]Hemos estado pensando en serio sobre cómo proporcionar asistencia sanitaria de alta calidad y asequible para todos.[/b] Pensamos que tenemos una solución candidata: proveer los servicios de salud mediante comunidades equipadas con tecnologías libres. Tal y cómo lo vemos, estas comunidades podrían prestar servicios basados en la ciencia actual (como los proporcionados por los sectores público y privado) pero mantedrían un tipo de relación humana y cercana (como la proporcionada por comunidades tradicionales). [b]Esto es más que solo una idea. [/b]Ya hemos conectado con decenas de iniciativas allí afuera, y sospechamos que hay centenares, posiblemente miles de ellas más. Ya estamos viendo mucha interacción y conocimiento compartiéndose: pensamos que esto podría ser el principio de un ciclo de prototipado-resultados compartidos-mejora del prototipado. Con apoyo sostenido, este ciclo podría resultar en un ecosistema de servicios de salud construido sobre un cuerpo compartido de tecnología y conocimiento abiertos – y estar a punto para desplegarse a gran escala antes de que nuestros sistemas sanitarios actuales se derrumben. [b]Esto es lo que queremos hacer: solicitar los 100 millones de dólares subvención con esta solución.[/b] Pero no sólo. Nos ofrecemos voluntariamente a coordinar una «aplicación descentralizada» con centenares de comunidades y organizaciones grandes y pequeñas, un enjambre de proveedores que trabajan en una nube de problemas relacionados con la provisión de servicios de salud y asistencia social. [b]Pensamos que ganaremos.[/b] ¿Por qué? Porque la descentralización es, sencillamente, una aproximación superior. Ten en cuenta que: * [b]Desplegaremos mucha más capacidad intelectual que los competidores.[/b] Hay más personas en las muchas comunidades alrededor de la asistencia que en cualquier organización: casi cada humano ha sido, en algún punto, tanto proveedor como receptor de cuidados. Todos somos expertos, todos tenemos algo con lo que contribuir. * [b]Utilizaremos más eficazmente esa capacidad intelectual.[/b] Las organizaciones son, por definición, jerarquías: financiar a una significa facultar un grupo pequeño en la parte superior (administración sénior, posiblemente un grupo de investigación) para emitir las órdenes que el resto de la organización deberá ejecutar. Con nosotros, casi todo el mundo estará al frente, casi todo el mundo estará pensando creativamente alrededor de su lugarcito particular en el problema de la asistencia sanitaria. * Somos mejores aprendiendo porque más de los nuestros son profesores. Los proyectos centralizados mantienen su coherencia a través de la concentración de poder y de la jerarquía. Pero los descentralizados no pueden hacer eso, tienen que confiar en el conocimiento y la documentación compartida. Con muchas unidades colaborando y compartiendo conocimiento y compitiendo (con el mundo exterior, y a veces con las demás) para implementar servicios de salud, consigues una red altamente interconectada de proveedores. Y estas redes aprenden rápido: ahora sabemos que, en una población, [acceder socialmente al conocimiento y la enseñanza produce tecnologías mejores que las del genio individual.](http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1690/20150192) Solo en Edgeryders tenemos 5.300 relaciones documentadas de conocimiento compartido. Somos más diversos – y [la diversidad impulsa la capacidad.](https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.long&sa=D&ust=1468950945597000&usg=AFQjCNFoAmpA8pDq9T7QGI2g_6_XZIpwrw) Los problemas importantes y enmarañados tienden a estar mal definidos, de modo que ni siquiera estamos seguros de que tipo de pericias ayudarán solucionarlos. Es parecido a tener un coche que no arranca y no saber si el problema es mecánico, eléctrico, electrónico o el coche, sencillamente, está seco de combustible. En este caso, reunir un equipo con los mejores mecánicos que puedas encontrar es una estrategia arriesgada, porque después de todo el problema podría ser eléctrico y ningún mecánico, no importa lo bueno que sea, tiene las habilidades y herramientas adecuadas para solucionarlo. Un enjambre grande de las iniciativas grandes y pequeñas será de largo más diverso que una organización (solo la comunidad Edgeryders está presente en más de 30 países). [b]Uneté.[/b] Tendrías que implicarte para solicitar los 100 millones de dólares conceden como parte de #OPENandChange si estás involucrado en una iniciativa de base que está contribuyendo a la mejora de la salud y el bienestar de las personas que la usan o interactúan con ella. Podrías ser un activista o social emprendedor que puso en marcha la iniciativa. También podrías ser un investigador, pero necesitas tener acceso pleno a las personas tras la iniciativa. También podrías ser alguien quién aprecia la iniciativa y quiere apoyarla. [b]Cómo participar.[/b] Para coordinarse de modo efectivo, a todos los participantes se les solicita estar conectados durante una llamada de Skype semanal y contar a los demás sobre su trabajo/proyecto, interactuar con la comunidad allí y contribuir con su propio proyecto a planificar la oferta colectiva. [b]¡Empezar es fácil![/b] Basta con rellenar este formulario (fecha límite 20 de agosto): http://bit.ly/29BmwxP. " 1,5860,2016-08-31T15:55:52.000Z,5860,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

A short online event where you can quickly catch up on what is happening in the community, tweet support or ask any questions. It's like a press conference, but with everyone talking to everyone.

This is an opportunity to discover the amazing projects that your peers are involved in, from Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic dispensing free health care to the many Greeks who, having lost their job, also lost their access to public health care; to the Urban Shepherd of Stockholm, inducing a neighborhood to come together through husbandry; to the Cytostatic Network where unsung heroes provided cancer patients with life-saving drugs unavailable in Romania; to the OpenInsulin project reshaanon3606750899g the drug market for diabetes patients. And so many others! If you are part of OPENandChange, or wish to join; or simply have lost track of the work and could use a quick summary... this is a unique opportunity!Instructions for joining the fun (and getting lot of new friends and followers).

How to participate:

  1. On Tuesday 20th September at 16:50 PM CET/ 10:50 EST go to Twitter.
  2. Open a window with a search for #OPENandChange. While you are at it, follow @anon
  3. At 17:00 CET/11:00 ESTsharp @anon
    • Retweet them! Tweets will be rotated at least 3-4 times: don't be afraid to retweet every iteration. In Twitter this is not a violation of netiquette.
    • Be creative! Retweets are good, but MT (Modify Tweet for those new to Twitter) are better! Make jokes, add your point of view, it's all good. The more you do so, the better. 
    • Don't stop at Twitter! If you like Facebook, by all means reshare links through your Facebook account. We will do the same.
  If you already are part of OPENandChange.. .. your story is up or you've been in touch, please help by preparing tweets in advance in your own language so @anon We're working in this shared document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DtzdpKPUuyUwPW3XDWehEu3gGvqaepF3uMfMt_lWUUU/edit?usp=drive_web Date: 2016-09-20 17:00:00 - 2016-09-20 18:00:00, Europe/Bucharest Time." 2,7629,2016-09-12T20:34:00.000Z,5860,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Testing different tools to do this First up: Click to tweet https://clicktotweet.com Tweet: Smart swarms for the win: Our \#OpenandChange draft application to is online http://ctt.ec/k2U3d+ Tweet: Smart swarms for the win: Our \#OpenandChange draft application to is online http://openandchange.care " 3,14744,2016-09-12T20:52:11.000Z,5860,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Tool \#2 A Tweetchat room http://tweetchat.com/room/openandchange It solves the issue that it's difficult to follow a hashtag while also actively participating in the conversation. With the usual twitter interface you need to have two tabs up and switch between them all the time. Tweetchat is a better interface for doing it: " 4,20258,2016-09-13T08:56:00.000Z,5860,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"#3 Preparations broken down into individual tasks 1. [Everyone] Choose/prepare our a longer form text that tells the story of what we are doing and why (e.g. blogposts). Break down the longer story texts into a number of tweets using a tool called little porkchop http://pork.io/. Copy paste them into a comment on this event page. 2. [ Everyone] Do a search for \#openandchange tweets. Pick the best ones. Copy paste them into a comment on this event page. 3. [Site Admins] Copy paste tweets from the comments into the  description of this event above. 4. [Site Admins] Use http://clicktweet.com  to produce ""tweet this"" buttons for each one and edit content of the page above into simple instructions and a series of quotes in this format: ""Twitter is like the lunch meeting with potential clients before you do the pitch. [ [Workshop leaders] Ask people to translate/remix some of the tweets into their languages. Especially the storytelling ones! 6. [Site admins] Embed tweetchat interface on this page if possible.  7. [Workshop leaders] Rewrite instructions in your own language, update FB event page and invite everyone to join there (easier for non signed up people). What do you think @anon " 5,21917,2016-09-13T11:50:47.000Z,20258,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Taken up 1 and 2 I can also do 3 and 4 later in the week once more tweets are gathered. The chop and clicktotweet tools are great, you don't know how much I've looked to add Tweet this buttons for past events and didn't find a tool or quick code! The problem with the chat room is that it doesn't seem to collect all tweets, update fast enough and show RTs. Let a few of us use it these days to test it.   " 6,23802,2016-09-13T11:42:25.000Z,5860,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"**Tweets: text broken down + favs** Welcome to \#OPENandChange Care: An invitation to a shared 100 mill$ bid to fix health and social care. \#OPENandChange: is it here? is it now? how does it affect me? Tune in for 1hr and tweet it to meet the future. Use \#openandchange to join a massive online live conversation taking place now and led by @anon .@anon .@anon \#OPENandChange aims to PROVIDE PARTICIPATORY, OPEN, SAFE AND ACCOUNTABLE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE FOR ALL #100andChange ...[add teasing questions here] Did you know per capita health care expenditure grows much faster than GDP? Health systems everywhere are under strain [Health_care_expenditure.gif](https://drive.google.com/open?id=15ZirTKJjlNbqiEVFQpW8uD2mOm5t8oV_) \#OPENandChange .@anon We do it by engaging with projects we know and dont yet know. This is an offer for partnering up, you're in time! http://OpenandChange.care #OPEandChange Oh. And we will break the competitive logic of grant funding in the meantime [buff.ly/2cxjwUd](https://t.co/KIv7MG5Mx9) \#OPENandChange \#100andChange We think we will win. Why? \#openandchange \#100andChange Why #OPENandchange? Funding one organisation means empowering a small group at the top. How about a network of orgs and movements? #100andChange Why \#OPENandChange? Diversity trumps ability: large swarm of initiatives will be vastly more diverse than an organisation #100andChange Why \#OPENandChange? Decentralized networks learn fast because they rely on knowledge sharing and documentation \#100andChange Why \#OPENandChange? Sociality in access to knowledge and teaching produces better technology than individual smarts #100andChange In Edgeryders alone we have 5,300 documented sharing knowledge relationships. Advanced analytics enable meaningful data extraction #openandchange \#100andChange We are already present and mobilized in over 30 countries #openandchange \#100andChange Why is fixing broken social and health-care systems a task for a massive no of people and projects? #openandchange \#100andChange It is where we are all experts: almost every human has been, at some point, both a care giver and receiver #openandchange \#100andChange For \#100andChange competition we are not proposing new ideas: Inspiring projects are already showing that communities are able to deliver care. Yet they are struggling #openandchange Now we will introduce stories and invite you to connect directly with protagonists. We are one click away and will be so for \#OPENandChange \#100andChange ...[fav tweets about projects here - suggest being explicit about location so that we show how worldly we are! Open Insulin project! [#3Dprinter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%233Dprinter) [#proteins](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23proteins) [#biohacking](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23biohacking) [#diabetes](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23diabetes) [#solution](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23solution) [#OPENandChange](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23OPENandChange) [http://buff.ly/2bQhUUS](http://buff.ly/2bQhUUS) [https://t.co/xjVGNALo93](https://t.co/xjVGNALo93) Calais Jungle! [#diy](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23diy) [#Dunkirk](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Dunkirk) [#volunteers](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23volunteers) [#refugees](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23refugees) [#OPENandChange](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23OPENandChange) [welcome to the jungle](https://edgeryders.eu/t/welcome-to-the-jungle-weve-got-fun-and-games/7651) [https://t.co/DzbvuHHrJh](https://t.co/DzbvuHHrJh) DoucheFLUX in Brussels | This simple thing will fix once and for all problem with access to showers [Showers and more: meet DoucheFLUX ](https://edgeryders.eu/t/showers-and-more-meet-doucheflux/694) [#OPENandChange](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23OPENandChange) #100andChange ... [maanon1932026148 one person can tweet these one hour in advance?] @anon818599741 are joining \#OPENandChange and we'd invite them to tweet why? @anon --- How is \#OPENandChange going to tie together these crazy weird wonderful approaches? \#100andChange Since beginning 2016 we have done Step 1: SENSING what is out there doing ambitious work on delivering better care \#openandchange \#100andChange Ending 2016 we are moving to Step 2: SENSE-MAKING through large ethnographic and \#SNA study with @anon By winning \#100andChange competition we want to move a level up: SCALING to help projects advance through collaboration #openandchange \#100andChange To show what we preach we are making the proposal draft for @anon Thanks to @anon Thanks to @anon" 1,875,2017-06-30T09:57:02.000Z,875,anon214847711,anon214847711,"Hi there! The open rampette project has quickly moved forward to the design phase. We just finished a week-long design sprint with the goal of presenting 7 new concepts to the community meeting on June 21st. The prototypes were inspired by the insights collected from the user research conducted with the online and offline community. You can find a report about the main insights [here](/t/open-rampette-la-chiamata-insights-from-the-questionnaire/839). It was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it: in general, it is very difficult with non-designers to talk about concepts, but when you have some prototypes in your hand everyone is capable of expressing their oanon3606750899ion and give constructive feedback. I’d love to let you all experience the prototypes, but unfortunately here on edgeryders I can only describe them in words and show some picture. Please ask question if something is not clear and use the comments below to provide your feedback. We divided the concept and prototypes presented in 4 different categories: * 1.How do I find accessible shops in my area? * 2.How do I recognize the shops that are accessible with temporary ramps? * 3.How do I call the shop for assistance? * 4.How does the shop owner receive the call? For each category, several prototypes/concepts have been produced: * 1.1 An app to discover accessible shops in the city * 2.1 A sticker to identify the accessible shops in town * 3.1 A doorbell with improved usability and gives feedback to the user * 3.2 A device (fitted with beacon technology) that advertises the presence of an accessible shop and allows the user to call for assistance with his own smartphone * 3.3 A custom device that understands (via bluetooth e beacon) when it is close to the shop and can be used to call for assistance * 4.1 A custom doorbell receiver (small and wearable) on which you can choose how to get the notification (sound/vibration, light) * 4.2 Receive the doorbell call on your smartphone. If you want to know more about the features, the usage and reasons that are behind each concept You can have a look at a summary on [this pdf](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2SJ8fygbNJmdVdoX1dpU3FiaHM), Don’t be shy and give your feedback on the proposed ideas. Which one do you think will produce the biggest improvement on the actual context? Which one is the most desirable? After analyzing your feedback and the one given by the community we will update you with a final prototype plan. :slight_smile: [Here](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hDlnd9nbMixGVOHXKeNYFB-CWaeHa3RrVJh3WMHFgVA/edit?usp=sharing) you can have a look at the slides presented during the public event of June 21 @anon [Here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/wemake_cc/albums/72157682768295823) is the photo gallery of the event. Code and cutting files of the prototypes are already on [github](https://github.com/opencarecc/rampette)!" 1,34621,2017-08-23T10:22:05.796Z,34621,anon3842400425,anon3842400425,"Hi I am Gilad Gomé, Currently Biologist in residence at media innovation lab at the inter disciplinary center milab.idc.ac.il in 2016 I started an independent mission to open Zika Virus Diagnostics in Brazil. experiment.com/zikalika I am interested in connecting with new people and opening more biodata to anyone. I am especially interested in creating tools that allow people to ""read"" DNA\RNA. Thank you, Gilad." 2,34658,2017-08-24T12:29:28.830Z,34621,anon70625510,anon3842400425,"Hi Gilad, welcome to edgeryders. Don't know if you've seen but we're running a festival in Brussels on oct 19-21, might be a nice opportunity to meet in meatspace.[ festival.edgeryders.eu](http://festival.edgeryders.eu/curators-note/) In here are several people in the community who are looking towards/engaged at the intersections of open science & tech, health/social care and communities. You'll find a lot of them in the OpenCare groups here: https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare Some like @anon4116418727 work within institutions, others are running independent hackspaces and labs. @anon2954219769 has been in touch with most of them. Also @anon1526983854 and @anon2774142051 may have some helpful suggestions or contacts. @anon Ok those are top of mind :slight_smile:" 3,34720,2017-08-25T13:27:20.402Z,34621,anon2954219769,anon3842400425,"Hi @anon3842400425 , nice to read you. As Nadia said it would be great if you considered coming to the Open Village in October. There will be quite some scientist activists, as you call them, present to share their work and learn from each other. For tools that allow people to read DNA/RNA, two projects come to mind: DigiBio, open source microfluidics devices ([https://digi.bio/](https://digi.bio/)) and Cell-Free Tech ([http://cell-free.tech/](http://cell-free.tech/)), who produce cell-free extract. They're both young companies, have prototypes and are very open to cool projects for their beta program." 4,34736,2017-08-25T17:32:45.618Z,34658,anon3842400425,anon70625510,"Thanks Nadia! very interested in meeting you all here and offline. Will try to apply for Brussels for sure! Also i Am interested in the event in Amman and would like to know the organizers... G." 5,34737,2017-08-25T17:33:56.874Z,34621,anon3842400425,anon3842400425,"Thanks! I know cell free and signed up for digi.bio beta just now thanks to your recommendation! G." 6,34813,2017-08-26T15:48:50.393Z,34621,anon643101606,anon3842400425,"[quote=""anon3842400425, post:1, topic:6778""] I am especially interested in creating tools that allow people to ""read"" DNA\RNA. [/quote] interesting, could you please elaborate more on this." 8,34881,2017-08-28T09:09:40.982Z,34813,anon3842400425,anon643101606,"yes, Check out our project on experiment.com\zikalika it is now continuing RnD in the CRI in Paris. TLDR - if you now what you are looking for a PCR reaction can give you a yes\no answer. for example - do I have Zika? is this water safe? does this mosquito carry dengue? Anything about the meetup in Amman? hope this answers G." 9,34923,2017-08-28T15:07:59.957Z,34881,anon1491650132,anon3842400425,"Hi @anon3842400425, I'm Noemi and contributing to good information flows around here :-) Community manager since six years now. To keep up to date with the workshop developments - now finding spaces and people - please [see these questions](https://edgeryders.eu/t/coming-to-the-workshops-help-us-plan-by-answering-5-questions/6806/2) and answer them in a comment? That contributes to good outcomes and ensures you will be kept up to speed.. as a lot of the preparatory work will happen in the digital. Massive thanks and also to @anon1839840820 for making the connection!" 1,862,2017-06-07T14:35:21.000Z,862,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"The past year I published on opencare a story about PUNTOZERO, a web lab for healthcare professionals I developed as project for the University of Parma. Only after some months I came back to check the post and i found that someone ( @anon1089184890 ) replied with a comment. So, I got in touch with Rune and planned to meet at Master of Networks that took place at WeMake in Milan. We could discuss for long and shared many points of view. Since then we have been talking about a common little project and how to realize the shared idea of open care to involve and empower patients. We even agreed on writing a academic paper together. Thanks to the digital ethnography the first results of the network analysis were the metrics about involvement of users. Opencare staff users were the most present and with a higher number of posts and comments. The most active two persons on opencare infrastructures, but not from the staff, were @anon3341622463 (ranks 7th by in-degree) and @anon1089184890 (ranks 13th) (for further information check: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/the-wonder-of-open-notebook-science-opencare). The involvement of Federico Bortot- @anon279382001 - an engineer interested in 3D printing and open assistive technologies could bring in useful skills. The discussion grew as the project about how research could benefit from such breakthrough experiences, especially in the field of assistive technologies and scalable manon169343781facturing. Enrico from WeMake has brought support and enthusiasm in printing assistive prototypes like the one you see in the above picture. Now, we are collaborating online (Google Calendar and Google Docs mostly) and offline, meeting quite often at WeMake to design and deliver a local project with common goals....more to come :) Is interesting to remark that we are -more or less- following the trajectory represented in the matrix developed during the meeting in Geneva, with the different steps going from 1A to 6F." 2,8010,2017-06-08T13:43:17.000Z,862,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"Wow, seriously? @anon3341622463 so you're turning into quite a community manager and blogger, and nicely complementing the work which has been done online and then offline in opencare. It's through observers and active participants like you that we can make a few steps back and on the side to realise the ""potentiality"" of it, as Ezio would say :-)) So do you think @anon1089184890 's and your involvement in opencare can actually lead to coagulating a project around your ideas on patient centered assistive devices? No matter if that turns out to be the ambitious physical lab (WeHandU), the research paper or simply tinkering around WeMake.. I think it's valuable insight and thanks for allowing the rest of us to witness and process this as data to support other collaborations in the future. See you soon!" 3,15323,2017-06-10T13:43:00.000Z,862,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"thank you Hi @anon1491650132 thank you. There is so much going on and is so interesting tracking and reporting between the theory and practice, online and offline. More ethnonotes coming soon.." 1,675,2016-05-02T12:28:24.000Z,675,anon641249244,anon641249244,"Who needs care? Who receives care? Who gives care? Who is getting benefits? When I first thought about care- care giving- care receiving, I thought about the people who need care. Old people, Kids, disabled people. People who are helpless without us „normal“ people helanon3606750899g them, I thought. But there are a lot more ways of caring. Everyone has a disability (translating it to german its also: Unfähigkeit, Inkompetenz, Unvermögen- i think these words are really important to know when you speak about Disability). I need your care/help when I need to lift up heavy things, when I have personal problems, when trying to deal with soldering in the workshop, when I fail to motivate myself, and heaps of other things. I do have problems and I want someone to care about me. Caring is always an interaction between two or more people. And no matter if you are the care giver or receiver you are always getting benefits.   " 2,10562,2016-05-03T09:49:39.000Z,675,anon1526983854,anon641249244,"Labels Hello and welcome, @anon641249244! This is a recurring theme in Edgeryders. The whole social cohesion industry is based on the notion of ""vulnerable groups"". People belong to such groups if they bear the markers of some kind of disadvantage, for example the dark (or light) skin of an ethnic minority, or a physical or mental disability. Belonging to vulnerable groups can be temporary: for example, there is a group called ""the unemployed"", thought to merit special care, even though no one is born into this group. Like many people around here, I dislike the notion. There are two problems:
  1. Labelling. People are included in a ""vulnerable group"" by somone sticking a label on them. I am a migrant. You are a female. He is transgender. The labels are not incorrect, but they imply that my having migrated is what is important about me. When providing care, the label will be inspiring the design of the services that target me.
  2. ""Representative agent"". Once they have a group to service, care providers set up services with the average component of that group in mind. This activity misses out on the richness of human diversity, and it usually ends up mass-producing services that suck.
Right now, we are seeing the damage done by this concept in the so-called migrants issue in Europe. A Syrian doctor (or engineer, or carpenter) is labeled a refugee and stuck in a camp, where another doctor (European) will assess his health. He might be ten times more experienced than his European colleague, but he is not allowed to diagnose himself and others because – guess what – in that context he ""is"" a not a doctor, but a refugee. @anon477123739 told me a funny-heartbreaking story from The Jungle (check out his post, it's really interesting). He talked to an Afghan guy in the camp. He fled Afghanistan because he is an atheist, and that's led him to trouble. He wants to live in a place where agnosticism is common, bigotry can't touch him and nobody cares what you pray to. And there he is, in a refugee camp, surrounded by muslims, and everyone goes to great lengths to do everything in a way that will work for muslims. They assume that, since he is Afghan and the average afghan is muslim, he must be muslim: when in fact he is persecuted by muslims." 3,16916,2016-05-03T10:17:59.000Z,675,anon1491650132,anon641249244,"We are all broken and emotionally damaged. Hi @anon641249244 and welcome on board! You might want to read @anon4144941096 on this same approach - learning about not belittling anyone through language or actions (even unintended). His story is called A New Chapter in Other People's Story Books Your intuition about needs we all have is also spot on. I was reading the other day a telling piece on Medium explaining how ""most humans alive right now are broken. Our communities have been stripped of gathering places. We find ourselves isolated and alone, with heads in the digital cloud and eyes fixed to the screen. We are not ready to look one another in the eye. The shame we feel as we strive to do everything right (the way we were taught) — as we fail to get jobs, are unable to keep up with growing rental prices, and are displaced increasingly from our homes — that shame and humiliation is why we don’t come together."" WeHandU? And also how we could get a local physio onboard?" 1,507,2016-06-13T21:01:09.000Z,507,anon1357151325,anon1357151325,"Community-based initiatives contribute in a lot of different ways to the well-being of a community and the people participating. These contributions can take the form of directly supporting people and communities through giving them access to education, healthy food, social support, nature, informations about political and administrative procedures. Indirectly they also allow the development of a culture of mutual help, sharing and empowerment. This post is a description of what we have learned about care structures in communities during our years as community activists building Prinzessinengarten an urban garden in Berlin. But let’s start from the beginning….

Prinzessinnengarten: Making gardens from wasteland

https://player.vimeo.com/video/16450772 At Moritzplatz, a busy roundabout in the center of bustling Berlin-Kreuzberg, well over a thousand supporters have helped the site to grow, turning a lot that was vacant for 60 years into a flourishing garden. Without specific expertise, with little money and motivated by the idea of a communally used garden in the center of the city, we began in summer 2009 to put down the first roots of a flourishing garden between cement and rubble. By now, a huge diversity of plants is growing here as well as a diversity of social relations. People of different origins and of different ages meet and exchange their knowledge and their experience. The Prinzessinnengarten is a communal project; our vegetable beds are shared without anyone claiming individual ownership. Over the course of four years, supporters from the local community have dirtied their hands in order to. This takes place in a neighborhood that is one of the most densely developed and socially most vulnerable in the city. Here a garden evolved that can sustain itself financially and that grew into a locus of social exchange and mutual learning. Prinzessinnengarten, as well as other urban gardens in Germany, have been able to develop small economies around its activities. Prinzessinnengarten has been able to support 15 full-time jobs during it seasons, being financially independent through its economic activities such as horticulture, the tending of a small café, selling its products, as well as giving training in gardening, ecology or the planning of further gardens. At the same time, it has been able to offer high quality, healthy and ecological food at affordable prices.  In cooperation with local institutions, with universities and international partners, the Prinzessinnengarten became a laboratory for resilient forms of urban development. In a pragmatic manner, we have been asking questions on how to deal with urgent issues such as climate change, dwindling resources, food sovereignty and the loss of biodiversity. The answers being experienced and experimented on all strive toward the creation of a resilient city, not only taking global challenges such as climate change into consideration but also incorporating local actors in the building of practical and local solutions.    The success of the garden has been vividly mirrored in vast press coverage: Since 2009, well over a thousand supporters have helped the site to grow „from an ugly vacant lot to a paradise“ (Die Zeit). 60,000 visitors come to Moritzplatz each year to see this „biotope and sociotope with a model character“ (Tagesspiegel), this „utopia in miniature“ (Berliner Zeitung)  Despite the garden being a celebrated pioneer project and undisputed value even by official sources, in 2012 the Berlin Property Fund was commissioned to sell the plot of land on which the garden stands. We only had an annually renewable lease, leaving no prospects for long-term planning. Through the immense support of our public and an increasingly motivated government, the Berlin government decided to return the property the Borough of Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain. The Prinzessinnengarten has been able to establish its model character as a locus of social, ecological and urban change. To discuss questions arising from this kind of community engagement, Elizabeth Calderon-Lüning, Marco Clausen, and Asa Sonjasdotter initiated the Neighbourhood Academy in 2015:a self-organized open platform for urban and rural knowledge sharing, cultural practice and activism. This bottom-up academy combines different knowledge- and experienced-based formats: non-standardized knowledge, hands-on know-how, sensuous narratives and research methods. People, organizations, and projects from different neighborhoods come together. Participants can come from Berlin-Kreuzberg or the region around Berlin just as likely as from Detroit or rural areas in Greece to find common ground for learning and teaching. 

So what have we learned about care structures in communities?

In taking over responsibilities in issues that affect the whole society - refugees, climate change, social and ecological justice, to name just a few - community-based and grassroots initiatives play an increasing role in tackling these challenges and their effects on the local level. They are breeding grounds for social innovations and new bottom-up-strategies. Often people take initiative when traditional or institutional forms of care and support decline or do not meet people’s needs. Community gardens and urban agriculture- the field in which I am personally engaged- can serve as a good example. Without being part of planning, or political programs, these places are mostly created by local, self-organized initiatives. Based on local engagement and alternative forms of economy and often without public or financial support, community gardens contribute to the well-being, social inclusion, healthy and sustainable lifestyles, biodiversity, the physical- as well as the social climate. Not only they contribute to the physical health of their participants, but also to their sense of dignity and self-esteem. There is also a downside to community engagement. While community organizations have to promote themselves with success stories to get recognition, political- and financial support, the negative aspects are often less visible. You hear a lot about precarious funding, internal or outside conflicts, political and economic pressure, multitasking, impossible workloads, competition between projects. At the same time, dealing with complex and often rigid political and social institutions, community activists have to become self-trained experts in finances, public relations, lobbying, community-organizing etc. But these fights are long and complex and the institutions and their procedures require a patience that easily outlive the time, the physical and mental resources individuals and grassroots initiatives are able to mobilize. Over time, this situation can result in what you might call an „activism-burnout“. When this happens, physical, mental, and social damages are far too often just seen as a personal or biographical drama. These individual burn-outs are likely to be accompanied by a weakening or even a collapse of the organizations and initiatives that are often carried by the engagement of single individuals. The disintegration can lead to a situation where an organization loses knowledge, expertise, networks, and spirit. For the reasons mentioned above, community care should also include structures to support the people that are directly invested in it. It should create securing and supporting networks. Instead of competing, it should allow people from different initiatives in different fields of engagement to share their knowledge of failure. There should be at once structures of collective learning and consultancy, which at the same time help the individuals to find spaces of trust and recreation. With the Neighborhood Academy, we started informal meetings with members of different groups and initiatives, not only to exchange experience and knowledge and to broaden networks and alliances, but also to deal with stress, conflict, fear, doubt, and failure on a more personal level. Even though this is just a tentative beginning, we experience a need for this kind of care and support structures, which was previously not expressed. Often issues related to the stressful conditions of organizations and community initiatives are externalized into the private and infuse personal relations . Therefore on a structural level, we see these caring structures also as a form to win even when you lose. Community groups often focus on single questions, spaces, conflicts. They often react under economic and time pressure to immediate problems. They act within marginalized or weak political and economical communities. They deal with institutions and stakeholders with more time, much power, and resources whereas they rely on limited personal resources or precarious funding. Simultaneously there are a lot of joy, learning and personal empowerment involved as well as a sense of a meaningful life and community relations. However, the risk of failing is high, which can lead to frustration and disintegration. Community care structures can help to ease this stress not only in giving support but also in a form of what we call „collective learning“. They can work as an archive for the knowledge, the experiences and know-how being created in grassroots and community initiatives. Thus, they allow activists to see themselves not only as part of a singular local fight that you might win or lose but as contributors to a collective living memory.   " 2,10375,2016-06-14T10:01:17.000Z,507,anon1491650132,anon1357151325,"""The bees are happy collecting nectar in the middle of Berlin"" Great money quote, thank you so much @anon1357151325 for sharing this story. I'm curious, how did you learn to deal with conflicts as your network expanded so much over the years? Do you have a governance structure in place that helps you work out solutions inside the community: for example if there are differences of oanon3606750899ions between gardeners, beekeepers, neighborhood conveners, the association members and various groups stewarding Prinzessinnengarten. After all, you only have a limited number of vegetable beds, right? " 3,12111,2016-06-15T22:06:19.000Z,10375,anon1357151325,anon1491650132,"thanks anon1491650132 for your feedback. it's hard to give advice on the right governance structure and conflict management. in a project like ours it's still an ongoing learning or de-learning process, especially dealing with formal and informal mechanism and forms of communication and decision making.   " 4,16817,2016-06-15T14:29:03.000Z,507,anon1526983854,anon1357151325,"Lots to think about... Excellent piece @anon1357151325 . It resonates with other stories and oanon3606750899ion I have heard, especially in the context on the unMonastery: many so-called social innovation initiatives (including, er, Edgeryders itself) are constantly at risk of burning out the (relatively) few people who pull most of the weight.  Noemi above seems to endorse governance as a way to mitigate friction. My point of view is that governance often is an attention sink, and could potentially make burnout worse. This is why we are so interested in do-ocracy as a way of life: it has low overhead.  On the other hand, I could not agree more on collective learning. Our own version of that is an emphasis on documentation, so that people have a shared, written, searchable and evolving knowledge base. I think this is working quite well for us.  " 5,19633,2016-06-16T10:01:27.000Z,507,anon1357151325,anon1357151325,"low-overhead Dear Alberto, thanks for the reply. i totally understand the wish do not get mixed up with organizational structures. and even though i don't like the word ""governance"" too much, i think for a long term survivale of projects, and also to keep them transparent and open, there should be next to the possibility to do also some general rules and mechanism. i also refer here to the idea of the commons, that are often practically related to very clear rules (including sanctions, and instruments to deal with conflict). I think Jo Freemans ""the tyranny of structurelessness"" (http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm) is still - after 40 years -  relevant, and i also enjoyed reading David Graebers ""Utopia of Rules"" where he also refers to Freeman.     " 6,21673,2016-06-16T10:23:45.000Z,19633,anon1526983854,anon1357151325,"Difficult compromises Agree on all fronts, @anon1357151325 . After three years of do-ocracy in Edgeryders, we are not blind to its flaws. It comes down to the lesser evil, I guess. It kind of works with us, but I would definitely not try to implement it at the nation-state level, at least not without major major revision!  However, do-ocracy is itself a set of rules. I like to think of it in terms of Protocol, a word that we used a lot when working on the unMonastery: https://edgeryders.eu/en/unmonastery/protocol-01-engineering-human-to-human-interaction-for I am familiar with Graber's work, and, like you, I enjoyed it too.  " 7,22469,2016-06-16T15:56:00.000Z,21673,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"What I like about some way of organising or governance.. .. (call it what you want) is that it makes it easier to see how/ if it would translate to other groups or settings. What we don't know about the ER style of do-ocracy yet is how it would work in a real life, physical place that is not an infinite playground or resource after all - that's why I asked @anon1357151325 about ruling over the vegetable beds. Shouldn't a community that is healthy be better at caring for its members than one where conflicts take over? (with the shades of grey in between of couse - hapanon3606750899ess and conflict are no absolutes). If so, then learning to minimise conflict or other kinds of distress should make it easier for activists to stay well. On learning: we're all doing that, but no matter how much you learn, if you can't keep the lights on with people staying well, then it's only a matter of time.. As an example, a paintbrush factory-turned-contemporary art space where I'm from in Cluj saw a huge blow after 7 years - one of the splitting factions has trademarked the brand with EU's OHIM, and anyone in the art community is now somewhat part of that conflict. The brand is affected, reputations too, and of course the influence achieved over the years and ability to attract funding might be too.. I'm sure there's many stories like that out there. Anyway, just a thought. thanks again for the piece :-) " 8,23537,2017-05-07T22:36:11.000Z,507,anon1701267031,anon1357151325,"Thanks @anon1357151325, I like your description of your community garden becoming a 'laboratory for resilient forms of urban development'. If we're truly open to learning - the most surprising spaces can become laboratories for new methods and models. And I totally get what you say about how unhelpful the pressure to present to the external world the successes is, in sharing and learning from the excessive challenges that community work can present. I'm curious to know how the informal forums to share the 'tough stuff' are going since you posted this? Are people finding this is effective in managing work pace/load to reduce burnout? I am also curious about the connection between burnout and governance structures. If these are designed well, could they not act to distribute the work (and the stress) more evenly? I'll need to reflect on and read more of the links in the thread above to see whether I agree that these are an 'attention sink'. For the past two years, we've been using sociocracy in our community organisation. Its brought flow and connection to all the different activites that take place in pursuit of our purpose and to sustain us as an organisation which can otherwise quickly feel like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing. Its brought clarity to our decision making, and how our work is organised. I particularly value the use of consent rather than consensus which uses the criteria; 'is it good enough for now, safe enough to try' as the basic test in approving decisions. Perhaps you've come across it? Laloux is interesting on conflict in his book Reinventing Organisations. All useful nuts and bolts of sustaining the work longer term. With every wish that Prinzessinnengarten will continue to thrive for many years to come." 1,5848,2016-08-20T10:34:26.000Z,5848,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"To all opencare consortium and community members: we have received an invitation for papers on Quality-Of-Life technologies. They would be published on the journal of the IEEE Computer Society, on a special issue on, well, Quality-Of-Life technologies. This might be a good match for the likes of @anon2435658896 and @anon1089184890 and @anon More information here. If you see an opportunity for yourself, write to Katarzyna Wac (you will find her email at the bottom of the web page), she will assist you in making the decision on whether to submit. In your e-mail, mention that you are involved in the opencare project, which in turn is part of the CAPSSI program (CAPSSI means ""Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation""); she has been specifically seeking out contributions from projects like ours." 3,11794,2016-08-20T18:13:49.000Z,9506,anon1526983854,,"No pressure :-) " 4,16141,2016-08-20T14:46:00.000Z,5848,anon281534083,anon1526983854,"Have they extended the deadline? It shows Aug 1 as the time for full paper submissions.. " 5,17830,2016-08-20T16:05:40.000Z,16141,anon1526983854,anon281534083,"Yes According to the email received by Guy, they have. " 6,21179,2016-08-20T21:54:49.000Z,5848,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"I'm interested It's a good idea @anon1526983854. I had some thoughts about it. At first I shared @anon Wouldn’t it be be more appropriate writing in a (health) care related journal? (@anon281534083). What about a Open access (which ieee is not) to align with our mission. Lately tons of journals are desperately seeking contributions so we can look for a journal with a higher impact (factor). (JRRD comes to my mind. I will dig up another invitation). Then, how should we affiliate? Our home institution or as OpenCare? However, i'm in! How do we start? Whos interrested?. I can contribute with a few things related to rehabilitation technology (stroke, sanon3606750899al cord injury, multiple sclerosis, hand, foot,Functional electrical stimulation, EMG control, clinical evaluation, low back pain, biofeedback....)" 7,22332,2016-08-22T10:24:53.000Z,21179,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Your call Hey, it's an opportunity. In practice, I imagine you already have a paper somewhere. What I would do is: email Katarzyna, ask her whether what you are doing is what she wants to publish, agree with her on deadlines etc. If you have to write a paper from scratch, this might be a bit tight. You should affiliate as it suits you best! Personally, I am not qualified for this stuff: I am a collective intelligence scholar using network math, not a technologist. You, @anon1089184890 , on the other hand, you are working on a quality of like technology, and you could and should get the publications in!" 9,23240,2016-08-22T11:10:36.000Z,23173,anon1526983854,,"No worries You do not have to explain, @anon " 10,24567,2016-08-22T13:26:01.000Z,5848,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Compiler error:Not enough arguments for the input function Thanks @anon1526983854, I see they have an impact factor of 1.1 and I hope my next publication is ending in a IF:3+ journal so as instituion it's not interresting. It's not open access so no OpenCare value. @anon * You get peer reviewed = constructive criticism on your work and ideas * If it has impact factor your institution gets funding (OpenCare??) * You get rocksolid references for your work to claim: 1 seriousness and validity of your work, 2 your CV for grant/job applications, 3 visibility (also on google) 4. contacts .... However I would have imagined that the EU wants to see some publications for their money. (Often thats what counts most) Therefore I say, let's write a joint paper. I'm into rehabilitation so I have an invitation fromTears (of joy) in my eyes Oh, @anon Hope that Tesla, Alan Turing, Maxwell, Gallilei...have however been useful to the society. And maanon1932026148 after we have revolutionized the world we can change academia as well. What about OpenAcademia? P.S. You forgot to mention that we all serve one monopolized master: 'thompson reuters' (many TED videos and web posts about that)." 14,25580,2016-08-22T14:44:12.000Z,25520,anon1089184890,,"acknowledge that academia, in practice, is a corrupted instituti I did'nt say this. No need. Lots of people say it.  Question: I thought this was a OpenCare forum or am I in the wrong place?. I hope to contribute for the better. Observe, Invent solution and Implement. OpenCare is supposed to challenge the system (page 1 of proposal) or is it just hot air to get the grant? " 16,25628,2016-09-05T10:58:32.000Z,25611,anon1491650132,,"Kudos Maymay I am not much interested in discussing a hypothetical ideal academia in the world as it ought to be, because I am too busy working within the constraints the world as it is.  Lovely put, @anon " 17,25680,2016-08-22T14:36:01.000Z,25427,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Should we catch the fish before frying it? On the serious side @anon" 19,26627,2016-08-22T13:29:47.000Z,5848,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Lots of possibilities Just received another invitation:Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Journal. Just to say that possibilities are plenty @anon1526983854" 20,28233,2016-08-22T15:12:46.000Z,5848,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Lesson learned! Whoa, I did not think I'd cause such a stir. Apologies for any inconvenience. I do not know you well yet, and I took a shot in the dark as to whether you might like to publish papers or not (and where). We all agree on one thing: publishing is not a high priority. I very occasionally publish my own results. I do it because I find the process of writing them in a watertight academic format useful. Once they are written, it makes sense to share them. But I am not a professional academic, and publish or perish does not concern me.  I do read academic papers. Ok, let's just move on. :-) " 21,29373,2016-08-22T15:34:44.000Z,5848,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Glad I met you Hi @anon You say you have implemented what I read as an automatic triage ( intake, dispatch, and field support toolkit). Could it be used to 'filter' people that could benefit from the initiative? If I understand right this can be used as an alternative to 112. So  Buoy poses a risk and could be identified as 'responsible' for causing health damage. Have you measures to protect you from that? Please consider share in my post:OpenCare Legal Evasion Guide: mortal issues for humans helanon3606750899g out Ill continue over on your presentation post " 23,29900,2016-08-24T19:38:28.000Z,29373,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"""Causing"" health damage? Wait, @anon1089184890 . Why would Buoy be ""causing"" health damage? Suppose I am a Buoy user. I get hurt. I call my friends. They come help me out, but do not do the right thing. As a result, I have some damage, let's say an ugly scar that could have been less ugly. Did they ""cause"" the damage? Isn't that stretching causality a bit far? Also, is this not exactly the same problem of people engaging in first aid, for example Community First Responders in the UK? It must have been solved by now, or these schemes would be dead in the water." 24,29921,2016-08-25T07:03:03.000Z,29900,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Legislation is stretching causality too far everyday @anon1526983854, I'm have no expertice in that matter and I dont like it, but here is my two cents. You feel ill, pain i your arm and vomit in the mittle of the nigth (real life example). Instead of calling 112, you use Buoy to call a friend (thereby wasting precious time). Say, your friend takes his time. He sits with you a couple of hours, because it seems like a simple flu. Around noon they pick up your dead body - you had a cardiac arrest. The judge will say: The provider of Buoy has discouraged that 112 was called, impeding immediate lifesaving intervention from a heart ambulance and could be condemned as culpable homicide and the friend (who could even be a doctor) did not recognize the symptoms (like in the real life example) is also responsible. Every week the press has stories where 'Legislation is stretching causality too far' and to protect OpenCare initiatives against absurd accuses we will need to take constructive measures, but we need some legal people to help us. Maanon1932026148 we could even find a way of having a collective insurance (Open?). Could something like what e.g. AirBnB offers be an idea?" 1,37182,2017-09-29T10:46:26.840Z,37182,anon4100256711,anon4100256711,"I am Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou from Cameroon. My background is in biochemistry and used to be a biology teacher for secondary school. Currently I am a researcher in the field of Open science with a focus on the maker movement and biohacking in the African context. I am also the President of the Association for the Promotion of Open Science in Haiti and Africa (APSOHA). The maker movement and biohacking interest me deeply, due to their potential to overcome most of challenges the African Health system faces (e.g. many hospitals lack the basic materials, like microscopes). The possibility to modify hardware (e.g. connect a solar panel to a PCR machine and so on) is an advantage. In order to promote this potential, I have organised this conference : “Biohacking in the medical field: perspectives for develoanon3606750899g countries”, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Mai 2017 Even if the potential benefits are high, the maker movement and biohacking are subjects of critics, since : practices are very Western oriented, local knowledge is not acknowledged (it’s classified as superstition or culture) and values are often not put into practice as they should. My paper entitled “Benefit and the hidden face of the maker movement: Thoughts on its appropriation in African context” was written from the critic perspective. In Africa, the maker movement and biohacking is facing many difficulties: 1) the vision differs fundamentally from the usual makers/biohackers. When I ask Western biohackers “why do you make this?”, it’s usually just for fun, like a hobby. In Africa, it is not the same, geeks are hacking to solve a problem, and to help people. 2) the machines that are usually made, are not prototyped in an African context. Although there are exceptions, often they are not useable. Therefore I promote biohacking in Africa in collaboration with electrotechnicians etc., so things can be tested and used. 3) The basic electronic components which are not easily affordable and available in Africa. Even the raspberry pi and Arduino are not easy to get; you have to order it from China. 4) The capitalistic system is another hurdle, because even if the prototype is good, there is standards defined by the WHO so that prototypes or materials to be used in hospitals, should fit with a standard. These standards are defined by the big companies. You cannot, as a biohacker, fight the establishment. They define the standard. This critique is addressed to the system managing health: it does not let people do it themselves. 5) Biohacking is not completely new to Africa, but it remains not supported by African Governments. People behind the project suffered a lot eg. The geek who made a cardiopad, was supported only when the state saw that media everywhere in the world, talk about this cardiopad invention (CNN, BBC, ...). However, some strategies and support can help to overcome these difficulties: 1) Government support, by the implementation of national policies on Open science. This is our biggest obstacle, not money or other things. 2) International organisations can be used as a vehicle of Open science. Because there is a kind of epistemic and colonial alienation which makes that our leaders trust in International Organization (because of money) and they are very open to discuss with white people. The reality is all things coming from the white people, West and NGO’s are ‘good’, while they don’t listen to their own people. 3) Due to these realities, most of the geeks engaged in biohacking are successful because they are connected with Western geeks and lab. There are not many fablabs, makerspaces or ‘protofablabs’ in Africa. Some of them are promoted by personal efforts, association or companies. The Woelab in Togo is well known and has success. In Cameroon there is the fablab Ongola Lab, supported by Orange and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie. But communities seem not deeply involved due to their perception of these spaces. That is why the science shop model has a lot of potential to change the African conception of fablab, rather than replicate the western model. In my community, I conducted some project to give better life to people by hearing their needs and build solutions together. Like safe water to drink as I did in my village several years ago. I am not supported even by the state or by the rural council. If the pump is broken or whatever, I pay money to keep it going. I cannot ask villagers for money because they don’t have it. I did other projects as well. Together with my wife, a teacher in nutrition, we did some research to reduce children malnutrition in rural zone; since many mothers cannot afford the right meals. We have created a formula using local ingredients, to help them give a banon3760936673ced diet to their baby. All the work is freely accessible here (https://www.zenodo.org/record/57037/export/xm#.WcauGoxSxPY) and it’s being used in our direct environment. We can help for a local problem, for 10 or 20 children, but cannot do it for the whole village. For a larger impact, it needs to be spread. We don’t get the support we need to do this. A powerful weapon is education. Imagine: introduce biohacking in the curriculum. What would happen after 10 years, 20 years? How could we do this, since our governments seems inactive? For me the first thing is to hack textbooks by writing ourselves. I did it through this platform : http://www.fabrel.org/. Without national and/or international support, I feel tired and not sure that I will continue. I’d love to come to the OpenVillage Festival in October because I want to share my experience with others, continue to build a strong African community of biohacking, shape strategies for the use of Open science in healthcare and mostly, learn from others…" 2,37230,2017-09-29T20:08:49.923Z,37182,anon2954219769,anon4100256711,"It was great talking to you in Boston @anon4100256711 , happy to see you here! I'm still impressed by your energy to make things better and your view on the maker movement. I liked the article you wrote, so I'll include the link here as well :slight_smile: [http://revista.ibict.br/liinc/article/view/3774](http://revista.ibict.br/liinc/article/view/3774) For policy inspiration, you may want to check out the [Policy Redesigned - collaboratively rewiring inclusivity in to policy](https://edgeryders.eu/t/enforcing-a-policy-collectively/786) session at the festival. Do you think the approach would be applicable to your context?" 3,37262,2017-09-30T13:30:20.895Z,37230,anon4100256711,anon2954219769,"@anon2954219769 Compared to many countries in Africa, the approach used there is at an avanced stage of policy designed to take care of people with mobility limitations. This panel can be so exciting to inspire the design of an african policy inclusive and sensitive to the needs of people with mobility limitations. I guess, in the African context particularly, the first thing to do is to advocate about the necessity of this policy and engage people with mobility limitations in the de shaanon3606750899g of the policy. Definitely, I am interested to see how science shop in African context can be helpful: to hear about the need, to shape the policy, and to advocate." 4,37423,2017-10-03T19:07:06.239Z,37182,anon1491650132,anon4100256711,"Welcome to edgeryders @anon4100256711, I'm anon1491650132, one of the first around here, currently in living Brussels. Are you a member of a fablab yourself or do you do your research independently? You say impact as scale needs government, and gov support is easiest achieved when having international backup. Is international partnerships/ funding/ media something you are staying away from, intentionally, or have you tried and failed? Or maanon1932026148 you find it very expensive to get that kind of exposure? In local government, maanon1932026148 I'm stupidly naive, but frankly I'm even surprised you're not the city mayor, or one of the ""elders"" group members, most influential citizens and so on.. We'd love to have you in Brussels, let's see if there is an affordable option. In addition to what Winnie writes above, I would say the first day panel on [infrastructures for autonomy](https://edgeryders.eu/t/main-session-infrastructures-for-autonomy/6663/3) would benefit massively from your insights: Your understanding of the community dynamics but also government resistance. The take seems to be: where collaboration is **not** possible, but some of the people in the room might be more optimist. We'll see. For example, @anon2913896429 has been mobilizing groups to do citizen science, maanon1932026148 there's examples she can share where barriers have been torn? anon948101822c Osiakwan, a tech investor in and around the African continent is also joining us for a panel on funding innovation - is there anything you would like to ask him in advance? I'll anon3606750899g him so maanon1932026148 he can already join here." 6,37488,2017-10-04T16:34:47.021Z,37182,anon1526983854,anon4100256711,"[quote=""anon4100256711, post:1, topic:7227""] The capitalistic system is another hurdle, because even if the prototype is good, there is standards defined by the WHO so that prototypes or materials to be used in hospitals, should fit with a standard. These standards are defined by the big companies. You cannot, as a biohacker, fight the establishment. They define the standard. This critique is addressed to the system managing health: it does not let people do it themselves. [/quote] Spoken like a true hacker! Welcome, @anon4100256711, and thanks. This is one hell of a post. I am intrigued that you view WHO-defined standards as ""the capitalistic system"": I think WHO would disagree, mostly in good faith, but I also think you are mostly right. Standards are classic (anti) competitive weapon – I wrote a paper about it myself, in a very different context, almost 20 years ago. In OpenCare we have attempted to address this issue. @anon2656437829 and @anon2267245549 have been working on a concept they call ""evasive entrepreneurship"", which is what happens when entrepreneurial qualities are deployed to circumvent regulation instead of working within its framework. And @anon1277226854 has noticed interesting links between ethno codes such as `legality` and `existing systems failure` (but also `safety`) in her analysis (interactive visualization [here](https://bit.ly/graphryder)). It's also great that you put your work on zenodo (we do the same), it denotes openness (though the first 20 pages of the thesis appear to be missing). Hope to see you in Brussels, then!" 7,37591,2017-10-05T11:55:03.651Z,37423,anon4100256711,anon1491650132,"[quote=""anon4100256711, post:1, topic:7227""]school[/quote] @anon1491650132 Due to my PhD studies at Université Laval, I am currently based in Quebec, where I am a member of the [Fablab EspaceLab Québec](http://espace-lab.org/). As a researcher for the [LABCMO](http://cmo.uqam.ca/) (common Lab between Université Québec à Montréal and Université Laval), I am studying some makerspace in Québec. My interest in Biohacking is due to my background in biochemistry. But for my thesis my focus is Africa, that is why the topic is: Influences des sociétés traditionnelles africaines sur la contribution des tiers-lieux de fabrication numérique au déploiement de la modernité. Enquête sur l’organisation, les pratiques, les valeurs et les objets de 3 Fablabs du Burkina Faso, du Cameroun et du Sénégal The government support I am talking about here is : policies to frame community-science action ; encourage the broad adoption of these local initiatives inside the country. Only official communiqué can change the life of many people. Then funding can be useful… In my context, international partnership is very helpful, because our Government doesn’t support open science and does not seem aware of this field or it is not their priority. But 1) International Organisation used to choose government as the first partner…like that, be sure all the support will not reach to the population. For me it is not the good partner to bring impact where it is needed. 2) International Organization don’t know our realities. They don’t take in consideration that even if you are working with a local collaborator, the traditional structure of African society (family, clan, tribe, ethnic) still has a big influence in our manner to think, manage and organize. 3) It is very easy for Africans in the diaspora to be in touch with international organization and get their support. But for those who cannot travel (it is the case for many leaders and members of Civil Society Organisation (CSO)) ; the international support happens randomly or never. Me, Mayor (lol)…I am Cameroonian and 34 years old. I don’t want to expose the political environment of my country here. But for a few notes, our President has spent 35 years in power (older than me) ; officially multipartism exists, but the President party is like the unique ; be Mayor means join this Party. And frankly, I am not sure that I will feel comfortable in this system. That is why I work directly with the community through advice and education and my philosophy is that local developement can be ensured only directly with/and inside the community. To support my action I have created in 2010 this school (legal) http://www.zikulumarie-claire.com/, with like 250 students every year. In this school I am doing formal education (nursery and primary) like that, I am training our future leader. I am doing informal and long life education through workshops and seminars, to empower people. I am also doing hygiene sensibilisation, with my mother, who is a retired nurse, we used to run this course : EVA (Education à la Vie et à l’Amour), for sexual hygiene. @anon1491650132 I have too much to tell, but through these actions, I feel my impact more tangible and authentic than to be mayor under this system. Perhaps one day, if the system change. All these reasons explain why I took the decision to do my research in Open Science and particularly DIY ; technology is a good way for communities to ensure themselves their own local development. That is why in December I will launch inside my community, one [science shop](http://www.livingknowledge.org/science-shops/about-science-shops/) combined with a lab, for the rapprochement science-society. Definitely, I really want to join you in Brussels and share with you. Let me know how it is possible. @anon1491650132 @anon2954219769 @anon1839840820" 9,37593,2017-10-05T12:20:37.033Z,37488,anon4100256711,anon1526983854,"Yes @anon1526983854, I understand why you are [quote=""anon1526983854, post:6, topic:7227""] intrigued that you view WHO-defined standards as ""the capitalistic system"": [/quote] I am involved in the [Open Science Hardware](http://openhardware.science/) movement, where I meet @anon1839840820. There is a big issue now in the forum, where many biohackers are trying to get certifications for their prototypes, and it is amazing to see which kind of barriers they are facing with. I am wondering, the case of CRISPR the issues are just on ethics and safety? Or behind there is the need of protection of biotechnology industry. :slight_smile:" 10,37596,2017-10-05T12:49:40.032Z,37182,anon3769417221,anon4100256711,A post was split to a new topic: [Getting back a post draft](/t/getting-back-a-post-draft/7339) 11,38478,2017-10-18T09:36:05.065Z,37182,anon3606750899,anon4100256711," Hello ! It will be nice to have more time to talk than the last time at Cern into the Biofabbing context. Your thinking is addressing most of the worries about what it is and what can be this movement that for years we were thinking and acting. Into my close environment as living at ""autonomous"" community Calafou and Pechblenda lab and being active at Hackteria network more for the needed than for entertainment. eg. If everyone is caring about climate change should be researching on that topic to re.appropriate and develop possible solutions; probably they are now doing something because it turns a trend ( and is money ) and looking for this perspective can be ok because is needed to act. Although if we can look at the intentions and why the people do the things out of the trending and them probably we find people working and develoanon3606750899g solutions for the day by day technologies that doesn.t give such a much money right ? The point is what happen when the only thing that is important is to save lifes, save the planet, if we together believe that things can change doesn.t matter the money around ... you do the things from the needed, and this is what is the important and what I consider a successful project here, in Africa, in Spain or In Antartida. Doing the things in this way is never payed with money you are been payed with looking at the impact having better conditions and new lines to explore. Of course is not a easy way, because people needs money to survive. We can talk for hours at this level but If I get a bit of distance and I look from the ecofeminisme perspective It will be easy to think on that: * why most of the people that wants to protect earth are woman? don't like to address comparative results, but from what I know and see around I can be comfortable to thinking at that point. * why most of the people tha doesn.t care about anything wants to be rich? because the only important thing is to make money ... and if with this two ... we jump also at the topic of power/money destroy everything --- nature etc aaaahh is a loop we are caring things that power and money destroy for that reason is needed to change everything and this is to difficult I will love to find people that think in this direction, more about distributed, knowlegde, tools, money, to make banon3760936673ce not empowering and make the other suffering without having the basics, I think this project is around this main topics by the way, for that I consider essential to join." 12,38481,2017-10-18T09:55:28.417Z,37591,anon3606750899,anon4100256711,"[quote=""anon4100256711, post:7, topic:7227""] me know how it is possi [/quote] http://www.zikulumarie-claire.com/ nice one" 13,38716,2017-10-25T10:19:33.415Z,37593,anon70625510,anon4100256711,@anon4116418727 might have some insight to offer... 14,38810,2017-10-27T12:20:55.083Z,38716,anon4116418727,anon70625510,"Hi @anon70625510 this time I was more comfortable on the sideline, but since you are calling me out... The issue is complicated and multifaceted, I would immediately give up any attempt at labelling the barriers as ""ethical"", ""protectionism"", or anything else... there are components of each of the above and more, and the problem is intractable if reduced. I always recommend a pragmatic approach: what can be learnt from the obstacles and from the conversations collectively held with authorities? In my experience authorities will share many frustrations expressed here about ""certifications"", however they will describe the system as ""the worst, except all the alternatives""... and in facts, what alternatives are there? Laissez faire? Skin the game? Humankind has been there, done that, and it's **failures** that have brought this style of regulation upon us... Are you aware of communities working on accountability solutions? Cooperating with other organisations (Universities, Regional Governments, ... SCImPULSE Foundation :innocent: ) to set-up sandboxes to test alternative models of ensuring public safety, and sustainability of risks- and failures- management? Until efforts of this sort do not diffuse and do not become convincing, certifications are likely there to stay, and to expand to those territories that are apparently unburdened at the moment... not only for bad reasons. I don't know if @anon2435658896, with whom we had recently discussed exactly this in quite some depth, wants to add something, or to correct me..." 15,38834,2017-10-27T17:56:35.229Z,37182,anon2350529763,anon4100256711,"hey @anon4100256711 was nice briefly meeting you in Brussels. now reading this and your paper, and thinking about our small discussion with laurel and (..) on fablabs, hackerspaces in different countries. I really like how you put it that the ""alternative"" economies ( sharing, circular....etc ) can just get back in the capitalism umbrella within the fablabs, makerspaces, communities. linking this with @anon3417123289 's concern on the [opensource collaboration within the African communities](https://edgeryders.eu/t/empowering-african-youth-by-leveraging-opensource-community-power/6786), also check the link in maanon3606750899g github in this [comment](https://edgeryders.eu/t/empowering-african-youth-by-leveraging-opensource-community-power/6786/6?u=anon2350529763) on his topic. **how do you think an african-african collaboration can come into action,** even within communities not governments ( as you mentioned Gov's in Africa tend to trust European/US entities rather than their own people ) may be also working together towards similar issues, [ could be mainly access to health care, food, clean water ] I don't understand french but was wondering if your experience with providing healthy diet to babies could be useful in rural Egypt ( anon3606750899g @anon643101606 @anon3807379521 may be you know more about this ? ) Also wondering how the [Muslim community](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Cameroon) in Cameroon dealing with wudu' water, check [this post](https://edgeryders.eu/t/wudu-water-project/7587) and tell me if you think this could be suitable to experiment and adapt in the coming science shop there ( if there is a nearby muslim community, or if that is an issue there or not ) in the end thanks for sharing this here, this could inspire others to continue working on localized solutions rather than following the same colonial influence in a new way." 16,38835,2017-10-27T18:50:33.305Z,37182,anon643101606,anon4100256711,"Thank you @anon2350529763 for bringing me here to get to know such an inspiring person like @anon4100256711 [quote=""anon4100256711, post:1, topic:7227""] Together with my wife, a teacher in nutrition, we did some research to reduce children malnutrition in rural zone; since many mothers cannot afford the right meals. We have created a formula using local ingredients, to help them give a banon3760936673ced diet to their baby. All the work is freely accessible here (https://www.zenodo.org/record/57037/export/xm#.WcauGoxSxPY) and it’s being used in our direct environment. We can help for a local problem, for 10 or 20 children, but cannot do it for the whole village. For a larger impact, it needs to be spread. We don’t get the support we need to do this. [/quote] for some reason, I am not able to access the link but I am interested in this project. what age group are you targeting? and do you have a follow-up method, like weighing the kids..etc? I am not expert with that but I believe that diet wise in rural areas in Egypt is better than the one in cities, however, the unhygienic environment and non-clean water affect their health causing disease like diarrhea and vomiting reflect later on their nutrition state." 17,38850,2017-10-28T13:11:27.171Z,37182,anon2954219769,anon4100256711,"As a result of our conversations over the last weeks, we and the broader DIYbio community will help with collecting machinery for the lab in Cameroon like @anon4100256711 envisions it. If all goes well, there should be an Open Insulin group starting in Cameroon in the coming months. Thomas' blog post just went live on the website: [http://openinsulin.org/open-insulin-in-africa-from-local-communities-to-the-lab/](http://openinsulin.org/open-insulin-in-africa-from-local-communities-to-the-lab/) I'm excited to learn together how we can bring these localized solutions to life, within a relationship of equals, working on a common cause from our unique perspectives." 18,38881,2017-10-30T11:05:23.455Z,38850,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Whoa, hurray for @anon4100256711! I really enjoyed reading your post and it is amazing that just 3 weeks ago you were writing about a science shop and a lab, and now you are setting up the lab! Do you intend to make OpenInsulin the core, priority project of the lab? Very curious to read you again, feel free to re-use parts of that article when you synthetize your reflections from the festival - it's a very important outcome that people in the network can be proud to have contributed to, somehow." 19,38882,2017-10-30T11:26:03.645Z,38881,anon4100256711,anon1491650132,"I am sure you will also enjoy my post on the festival...be sure that the community is in the root of all. as in the blog on open insulin it is from community to lab....it is one of the consensus I had with @anon2954219769 and @anon so I am coming" 20,40663,2017-12-21T07:57:10.092Z,38834,anon3417123289,anon2350529763,"I've read recently the story of this nigerian boy develoanon3606750899g his own mobile app on a feature phone (not android one). He developed an interesting low-tech app that fits his market at the age of 14 without computer! He directly developed on his phone! But because of the lack of support, he didn't know how to develop his business and terminate his project. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-went-from-programming-with-a-feature-phone-to-working-for-an-mit-startup-40ca3be4fa0f I think there is a need here for dozens of Elvis Chidera to be helped to develop their own business and/or scale it. Just thinking out loud. @anon4100256711, since we're living in a small world, do you know him or have you heard about this story?" 21,40713,2017-12-23T06:23:19.538Z,40663,anon4100256711,anon3417123289,"Thank you @anon3417123289, very interesting. I didn't know him. I will se how he can attend the www.africaosh.com" 22,42158,2018-02-28T22:33:56.155Z,37182,anon1526983854,anon4100256711,"Hello @anon4100256711, how are things over there in Cameroon? Today I found out about some people who think much like you, but are based very far from Africa: southern Mexico. https://towardfreedom.com/archives/americas/cracks-in-the-wall-of-capitalism-the-zapatistas-and-the-struggle-to-decolonize-science/" 1,41152,2018-01-11T18:36:17.560Z,41152,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"The mighty @anon4116418727, after some lengthy discussions with others (including myself), has produced a very interesting document. It is an explicit social contract, of the sort we imagine is hovering over the best community-care initiatives we have seen in the two years of opencare. I find it very, very thought provoking; it seeks a way that we can promise to do our best, which is all that communities can do, while still taking responsibility. It somehow brings home the unanon3003844599ring gaze at our human fallibility, our perennial underfunding, our precarious organisational structures, and still the excellence, still the empathy, still the grit to soldier on. Reading made me think of the [Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic](https://edgeryders.eu/t/care-by-communities-greeces-shadow-zero-cash-health-care-system/4880), or of the [Woodbine Health Autonomy Center](https://edgeryders.eu/t/woodbine-health-autonomy-center/488), or of @anon477123739's and the other volunteers' work at [the Jungle in Calais](https://edgeryders.eu/t/care-on-the-camp-a-calais-story/503/4). I am sharing it here, hoanon3606750899g for comments from all of you – starting from @anon1701267031, @anon3670751854, @anon2954219769 and @anon3895445472. In fact, I am thinking of making a non-care specific version that would cover all community initiatives. But then again, maanon1932026148 all community initiatives have an element of care. A much longer, commented version is [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lwi0tWuN6mjVwdbXBvlZXecpOXIA6sre95rEe_XnvD0/edit). ### The contract 1. This form of care is designed to outlive the individual initiators, and has a clear strategy towards sustainability, or the necessary situational awareness to navigate through changes preserving the right to care of its beneficiaries. 2. This form of care is designed to work as a catalyzer, it may remain available an arbitrarily short period of time, and it is explicitly meant at raising awareness and/or teaching coanon3606750899g or problem solving strategies and/or passing the responsibility of care onto well identified existing organizations, rather than offering outright care in the traditional, entrusting sense. 3. Care offered by our team/s is designed with you based on information that has been, and will be tested for validity concerning both its effectiveness and safety. Our partners and we commit to publicly discussing our practices, to be transparent and to have the opportunity of discovering what could be done better/differently. 4. We commit to transparency about our funding streams, and we commit to procuring and managing resources adhering to the ethical standards we apply in all our activities, and in measure to sustain the continuity of our action, designing adequate fallback strategies should causes of _force majeure_ cut us short of planned funding. 5. We have designed this initiative with our community in mind, we struggle to maintain space and opportunities for everyone of you to join us and use, or ethically misuse what we maintain, so that the forms and offers of care existing here could evolve with the community itself. We are aware we cannot do everything alone, but we can facilitate you doing your part. 6. We put in place every measure within our means to support your conscious participation to the production of the desired outcomes, and to support you in behavior changing and maintenance. However, we will never deny your access to care from us, as long as fall within the community we care for, as it is transparently stated and advertised in our statute. 7. We may enforce temporary restrictions to your access to care, under those circumstances in which your behavior represents an acute risk for the care providers (e.g.: violent or otherwise threatening behaviors), or whenever your behavior poses an absolute barrier to the achievement of the goal of said care, until modified (e.g.: requirement of discontinuation of alcohol abuse before accessing organs availability lists). 8. We devote ourselves to care, and we are aware that the very objective and meaning of care evolve with the vision of the world of individuals and community. Thus, we commit to continuing independent evaluation of our activities, and to turning any breach or near miss consequently identified into the awareness of a changing landscape that would guide an evolution of our operations and governance. We invite all our members and users to raise a flag and report those instances in which needs required work-arounds, not because we aim to police the ethical dimension of your behavior, but because we want to rethink with you our rules and principles in order to find ways to accommodate the unmet needs you spotted in the most transparent and widely acceptable form possible." 2,41442,2018-01-26T09:20:20.388Z,41152,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"I've been a bit swamped with work, but I've gone through this. I can't say much other than that it's obviously complete and in line with our values. Drafting a text like this is hard work and definitely a help for projects that have no time for this kind of deep thinking. As far as a communication tool towards patients/clients/community I'm not so sure. The contract is quite dense. It should be tested in different contexts I guess. My hunch is that you need to put this in an easily digestible format like a graphic or easier language, add examples etc for it to be useful to people who are not project leaders or deeply involved in the business of thinking about stuff." 3,41458,2018-01-27T15:31:59.011Z,41442,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Hmmm. Not sure. I think this is not for communication. It is there to consult, when people are unsure on what to do. It is also a trust building device, not so much for people who read it, but rather for people who notice it's there. This means someone's gone through the exercise of actually wondering what sort of commitments they can actually make, and how that is still ethical and better than not bother with doing the project (or delivering the service) at all." 4,41461,2018-01-27T22:23:29.792Z,41458,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"It's always going to be communication though. The issue with dense material is that in my experience it is not conducive of a feeling of belonging. Especially if the topic is so fundamental, and claims to be _the_ social contract, it can make people feel excluded. People stumbling on it is just a random subset of all people (slightly skewed to the curious): smaller, not different. And only few of that subset will ""get it""" 1,6337,2017-05-17T09:27:14.000Z,6337,anon70625510,anon70625510,"The OpenVillage Festival is a \#nospectators event. Each talk, workshop or exhibit is contributed by participants. The program is thoughtfully assembled by curators who work with session leaders to make the most out of the interests and learning expectations of each:
  • Community curators are leaders on the ground. Each of them proposes a theme that she will curate. Her/his job is to find the content to exhibit, get the relevant stories blogged out here on the Edgeryders platform, and convene their protagonists at the OpenVillage itself. Curators receive an opencare fellowship and/or a travel allowance.
  • Guest curators are senior people - established scientists, or serial entrepreneurs, for example – who act as a sounding board to support OpenVillage participants in their work. They give them advice and access to global networks. They have no specific commitments, other than to offer advice upon request and participate at the OpenVillage.
  • Participants and session leaders are active community members involved in articulating questions from their work and shaanon3606750899g a collaborative program.
Francis Coughlin - Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center. A medical doctor, resident in a public hospital in NYC and a member at woodbine.nyc, Frank is a revolutionary doctor working to build infrastructure at the community level, for people to reclaim their health and reduce their dependency of oppresive systems. At woodbine, they are organising discussions, running workshops (i.e. introduction in health systems) and learning events (i.e. skillshare) where the colective develops skills, practices and tools needed to approach health in a holistic manner. Say hi to Frank here. Areas of expertise: \#healthsystem \#ER \#Medicine \#firstaid #communal \#autonomy \#wellness \#alternativemedicine \#mentalhealth \#fitness Winnie Poncelet - Reagent, Ekoli & OpenInsulin A mix of engineer, biologist, entrepreneur and storyteller. ReaGent, Ekoli and other educational non-profits he co-founded in Ghent, Belgium, mainly work on rendering science and technology more accessible to diverse groups. A big focus is on the way in which they do it, always trying to stimulate cooperation and other values. In Edgeryders he's now coordinating the OpenInsulin global group. Looking at things from diverse perspectives is a competence Winnie values highly. Say hi to him here. Areas of expertise: \#openscience \#citizenscience \#engineering \#diy \#biomaterials #interdisciplinary \#collaboration Gehan Macleod - Galgael A hoarder of bits of thinking and disruptive thoughts with occasional bouts of fundamentalism about things that should be simple. Lives in Glasgow, Scotland where she co-founded the GalGael Trust, which she prefers to think of as a social solidarity organisation rather than a charity engaged in traditional forms of community development. The collective works together on the demanding common tasks that demonstrate ways of living with more humanity in our times. Say hello to Gehan here. Areas of expertise: \#woodbuilding \#community \#activism \#marginalization #publicpolicy \#wellbeing \#therapy \#mentalhealth Matthias Ansorg – Edgeryders & PayCoupons An open source hacker who refuses to believe that his work borders on magic (it does!). Among other projects, he is currently working on a moneyless mass collaboration tool called PayCoupons and a new marketplace with six smallholder farmers from Nepal shipanon3606750899g coffee beans to Europe with no intermediaries. Say hi to Matt here. Areas of expertise: \#diyEverything #resilience \#economy \#development #opensystems \#computing \#EarthOS Noemi Sanon3760936673tiu - Edgeryders, Food Waste Combat A social science background coupled with soft skills honed in the digital realm, Noemi is one of Edgeryders co-founders from back in 2011. She's consistently pulling off banon3760936673cing acts of working online and on the ground to enable care by communities caught in complex systems. Finds that residency at Edgeryders Reef will fill in the gaps brought by the promise of the digital as an instrument to provide support and real care to change makers around the globe. A believer in strong work ethics and human kindness. Areas of expertise: \#communitybuilding \#onlinecommunities \#peer \#humancare \#socialcontracts \#fairness \#networkweaving \#facilitation

Guest Curators

anon948101822c Osiakwan - Chanzo Capital Entrepreneur and Investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership across Africa and the world. anon948101822c was part of the team that built the TEAMS submarine cable in East Africa - he has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. Some of these companies and organizations are Angel Africa, Angel Fair Africa , Ghana Canon1932026148r City, PenPlusBytes, African Elections Portal, FOSSFA, WABco, GISPA, AfrISPA, GNVC, Internet Research, InHand, Ghana Connect. He serves on the board of Farmerline, Forhey , Teranga Solutions, Siqueries , Amp.it, SameLogic, eCampus, Bisa App, SeeSayDo and Wanjo Foods, - some of which are his investments. anon948101822c is a Poptech, TED, Stanford, MIT and Harvard fellow. Marco Manca - CERN & Scimpulse Foundation A Medical Doctor by education, with more than 10 years of research and clinical practice in Internal Medicine, and a long history of volunteer activities, including providing medical services for free in refugees shelters in South of Italy, and in social-care centres for troubled children. CoFounder, and Chairman of the Board of SCImPULSE Foundation, a sandbox and incubator Foundation dedicated to philanthropic projects ranging from financial inclusion, to the future of medicine. Senior Research Fellow of the Director for Medical Applications at CERN, the European Nuclear Physics Organization, where he has experienced the complex ways of International Diplomacy, and the facilitating role of science and education." 1,6272,2017-04-26T13:09:09.000Z,6272,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"
2017: welcome to The Reef, from Nadia and Noemi!
A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Ready-to-go, affordable health and social care was – and still is – unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done. We see people coming together, stepanon3606750899g into the breach. Communities are taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They are doing amazing things. Hackers make open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drive them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients find and help each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers are trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. Activists in America encourage each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together. We started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
It's all about humans.
Community provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. This intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. Collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. Any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. We dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a gate to keep the wolves out, but a bridge to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other. We have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped it in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. The most important lesson was this: a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learnt how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times. _2014: Lunch in the sun at the unMonastery Matera_ But the unMonastery also got many things right. The one I am proudest of is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning. So, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. We are trying a second iteration. Right now. We are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters). Like coral reefs, our new space will draw strength in diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. And like coral reefs, our new space is going to be an ecology – a network. There are many ways to take part in it. Some people will want to live there full time, others will show up once or twice a month, or a year. Some will use it on building projects with us, and with each other. Others will work on shared learning and professional development. Of course, we already have a network: the Edgeryders online community itself. This will not go away, in fact it will become ever more important. But now The Reef will give it a permanent offline presence. Reef members will be the kernel of the Edgeryders community. Everyone is free to join the kernel or not; everyone is free to play the role she feels most at home with. We ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @anon Are you considering being part of the experiment, or just curious about it? There are three things you can do.
  1. We are planning a side event to OpenVillage Festival dedicated to The Reef. There, we will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein – from business to physical fitness and personal development. It is restricted to members, because this is our future home we are talking about. It's up to people with skin in the game to make decisions about it. Info here.
  2. We are running our first personal development event in The Reef itself on 26-27 May. We will learn to be better public speakers in the Power Pitch weekend. Info here.
  3. Get in touch! Write, or join our community calls, or come over for coffee.
So: a place-based symbiosis of some inhabitants of the edge, a mutant company, and no book to do it by. It's not going to be easy. But it has the vibe I was looking for: the excitement of building, and the pleasure of doing it with good, solid people. It is in the sweet spot between ambition and achievability. And I, for one, am going to give it all I've got." 1,34452,2017-08-17T12:04:51.794Z,34452,anon335358890,anon335358890,"[Proposal for biosphere(x) session] Reproductive sovereignty is paramount to our freedom. This workshop will explore the knowledge lost surrounding reproductive care and planning, both ancestral and contemporary, the alienation of women from their bodies, and the implications of regaining this knowledge in our modern world. We will discuss how to create individual, localized, and decentralized birth control and reproductive health care that is safe, secure, and most importantly -- outside state and institutionalized medicine. To demystify the practice, we will go over skills and potential methods that can be used by people who are compelled to take back control." 2,34472,2017-08-17T20:09:47.800Z,34452,anon3670751854,anon335358890,Liz thanks for the post and welcome to the community! This is such an important topic and one I know we'll discuss more at Woodbine. Will be in touch about details! 3,34568,2017-08-21T16:05:23.479Z,34452,anon1526983854,anon335358890,"Highly relevant, @anon335358890! I am curious: why do you speak of knowledge ""lost""? The story most of us in my generation heard is that, before legalisation of birth control, all people had was folk remedies, unreliable at best and dangerous at worst. So, it is a story of knowledge ""gained"". Can you elaborate?" 4,36216,2017-09-14T15:33:32.844Z,34452,anon1491650132,anon335358890,"Hello @anon335358890, sorry I missed your proposal, catching up on my reading about biosphere now :slight_smile: Meet @anon A little backgroun: My own story and contribution to the opencare discussions and what it means to go backwards instead of forwards re: medical systems in an Eastern European country, is [this one..](https://edgeryders.eu/t/when-do-you-decide-that-running-from-a-failed-medical-system-is-no-longer-an-option/652/4)" 5,38197,2017-10-12T21:18:43.018Z,34452,anon1904106503,anon335358890,"Really looking forward to your presentation, and to exchanging about reproductive health initiatives in different places." 6,41156,2018-01-12T00:35:02.395Z,34452,anon335358890,anon335358890,"Notes from the session! As with the movie Hypernormalisation by Adam Curtis, we will only begin to see all the systems at play in shaanon3606750899g our reality once we take a step back. In this session, we sought to reflect on the systems at play in our worlds that play a role in shaanon3606750899g our reproductive destiny. We noted how the ancient practice of choosing one's reproductive destiny has become so foreign. Due to the multitude of entities invested (even only partially) in controlling a woman's reproduction -- pharmaceutical companies, local/state/national governments (laws!!), schools, religious bodies, culture, husbands, fathers, doctors, teachers, etc -- it is a daunting task to seek autonomy. The interplay between doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and governments alone should make any one skeptical of the treatment they are receiving. But is there even an alternative? As a group, we reflected on our own infrastructure related to our reproductive health -- do we trust the entities at play? For some, there are strict laws preventing abortion, for example. For others, the laws were more lenient but came with a list of caveats. Who can you trust and what are your options? Rather than fighting all of these powers at play, we realize we can arm ourselves with knowledge. Knowing our own bodies that we are typically so alienated from, is the first step towards sovereignty. We also must understand our own needs as individuals and as communities. We found commonalities between stories shared within the group (from around the world), but so much is different. Through the discussion we realized that the work must be done at a the hyper-local level because context matters. At the end of our discussion, GynePunks gave an inspirational preview to some of the tools they've created in order to take power over their bodies and reproductive sovereignty." 1,5841,2016-08-16T09:36:58.000Z,5841,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"We are slowly weaving our learnings in \#opencare as part of the \#OPENandChange bid for the MacArthur Foundation’s call. Reminder: we are mounting (and very publicly!) an application to propose community led care services as the solution to the world’s broken care systems. 25 projects, organisations and informal networks have joined to be part of our swarm application so far. The call is still open and you are very welcome to join it. Learn more at OPENandchange.care In addition to collaboratively building grant applications, we come together as a community to build broad support for members' activities. You can contribute by: reading one of these inspiring stories, sharing them with your network, and leaving a thoughtful comment to help move the thinking forward! Some of the latest:

Autonomy and community in care:

Buoy Coordinated Crisis Response and Community-based Mutual Aid, without a State Woodbine Health Autonomy Center After Occupy, Sandy and Katrina - Develoanon3606750899g structures to empower community health, access to resources, and preventative medicine Team Able: Deep conversations about accessibility and inclusion with Raul Krauthausen, Rosalie, and her parents New Technology! Soundsight - enables blind and vision impaired to be independent from aid devices by boosting nonvisual senses

Reflections on systems, innovation and care:

Natalia: Greece as a hot-spot of transformative future (conversation with Pavlos Georgiadis, part 2) Ezio’s Manzini - Can collaborative care services help us to overcome the care crisis? Dougald Hine - The Regeneration of Meaning: Mitigating the negative consequences of unemployment on psychological and social health of the individual New Space! - Setting up Huis Vdh as a community open home and making of weekend sessions!

Technologies, participation and care:

ReaGent - Reviving biology education through experimental learning and providing open and inclusive access to a community bioengineering lab. Rune Thorsen - Streamlining innovation in assistive technology and offering alternatives to patients required to spend 5-10K € for tech that’s now cheap to make? Éireann Leverett - Securing our medical data to avoid it flowing around the world to companies that may or may not be protecting it New Product! Cloudi - a swing designed to encourage more playground interaction between children with disabilities and those without .. and more. Check them all out here.
How we honour your contributions \#100andChange \#OPENandChange
  • You get an invitation to one of the OPENandChange workshops in Sept 2016 in Thessaloniki, Berlin, Brussels .. Claim it by leaving a comment on the event pages.
  • You get a ticket to CARING ON THE EDGE - The 2017 edition of our annual community summit. Claim it early by registering on the event page (just press Attend).
" 1,38650,2017-10-21T19:11:49.085Z,38650,anon3339535919,anon3339535919,thank you :-) its amazing to witness people who respect their commitments 1,5042,2015-11-26T13:44:37.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"
My favourite kids in their temporary house in the outskirts of Yerevan on arrival from Suruc camp in Turkey where they stayed over a year (without a possibility to attend school) after fleeing their home in Kobane, Syria. Photo credit James Aram Elliott on assignment to the Armenian Redwood Project
 
Armenia is the third European country with the biggest number of displaced people from Syria. Read more There are many organisations claiming they help the refugees in Armenia but the impact is very little so most of the times the newly arrived refugees are not aware about available services and assistance which results in the majority of them leaving the country in disappointment and failure to find a job/accommodation (the ones that manage to get a visa go to Europe/Canada and the ones who don't have money go back to Syria). I've helped several newly arrived vulnerable families to integrate, acting like a social worker, finding them accommodation, placing the kids at schools and orientation/training for the adults to find jobs to become sustainable in the long run. In my work I often come across the fact that refugees become overly dependent on our aid when we get too involved. It is very hard to find a banon3760936673ce when we want them to become self-sustainable in the long run. How long shall we provide the housing subsidies? How to help the refugees to become self-sustainable in the long run? What criteria should be used to qualify the family? How can social workers stay objective in evaluating each case? What if after 3-6 months of support none of the family members are able to find a job? What if the available jobs are hardly enough to pay the rent? E.g. A single father with 4 kids(one of them is mentally disabled) and he just has no way to work even though his disabled son started attending an art therapy workshop(from 10AM to 2PM) he still needs to cook, clean and do house chores during that time. There is no part time job available for him and he is not motivated to look for one neither; he needs psychological help but he refuses it. The government can not offer him a stipend(40 Euros per child/month) since he is not yet a citizen of Armenia and even if he receives the stipend it will not be enough to sustain his family. Another problem we are facing in Armenia is the facilitation of information communication for the refugees: we got many organisations that offer different kind of assistance but it seems like refugees do not have access to the information and feel lost when they need help(healthcare, housing, employment, food/clothing, etc).  I am currently doing a desk research about how to improve the social services for the refugees here in Armenia. The aim is to mobilize all the organisations working with refugees to create an independent unit of trained social workers(including many Syrian-Armenians as it would provide them with a job and they are naturally motivated to help other refugees) and create an effective system to deal with the issues of Syrian refugees in Armenia. Here's a recent article about the hardships many refugees face in Armenia and another one about why Armenian organisations should work together to ensure resiliency in the face of the Syrian migrant crisis.  

Tentative agenda

Coming soon. 

Before the workshop

Coming soon.

Possible references:

Reading the references is not obligatory at all! But it may help participants to get into the flow and enjoy it more. Feel free to suggest more! 

Team

  • Anna Kamay: "" It's been a few months that I decided to settle back in my hometown Yerevan (my decision was inter alia affected by all the inspiring people/grassroot initiatives I (re)discovered this summer working for Edgeryders/FutureMakers project) "". Read more.
  • If you want to join the team sign up/sign in to edgeryders.eu and contact Anna directly or leave a comment below!

How to get a ticket!

Tickets for this event do not cost money, but you need to complete some small tasks. It's easy!  1. If you don't already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here: http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ 2. Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come! 4. Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket! 5. When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket 6. See you at the workshop :) Date: 2016-02-27 11:30:00 - 2016-02-27 11:30:00, Asia/Yerevan Time." 2,9308,2015-11-26T14:35:49.000Z,5042,anon70625510,anon4259720994,"Got a set of questions you want to focus on? Wow. I had no idea about the numbers, it's mind boggling. Why Armenia- Could you maanon1932026148 describe a bit the historical/geopolitical context? I know  that there is a big Yezidi community in the country and my favourite composer is Armenian (guess which one :)) But not so much more. My guess is the same will be true for many people in the community and beyond. Also, do you have some photos from Armenia, the spaces where you are working? Clearly nothing that compromises privacy of the people with, but that gives an idea of the context/ environment within which you are looking for solutions... " 3,11734,2015-11-27T00:00:47.000Z,9308,anon4259720994,anon70625510,"Your favorite composer has to be Aram Khachaturian :-) This is just a draft for me to work on in the coming weeks, I created the event as a reminder to myself mostly. There used to be and still is a large Armenian community in Syria (roughly 100,000, with more than 60,000 of them centralized in Aleppo), due to the displaced people who found refuge in Syria after the Armenian genocide of 1915-1924. Basically Syria was/still is considered the stronghold of Christianity in the region due to the Armenian population living there. Because of The Syrian Civil War, most of the Armenians would leave Syria and move to either Europe/North America or UAE(if they had relatives there and could afford the trip), otherwise they would come to Armenia as their homeland. The ones who still stay in Syria are either so poor they can not afford to move or they have properties that they can not sell and are afraid to leave risk having them robbed and vandalized, so currently the estimate of the remaining population of the Armenian community in Aleppo is approx. 5000 people. The sad reality is that the ones that do come to Armenia eventually (intend to) leave the country as they fail to integrate, find jobs and affordable housing though in the last 5 years you can feel their presence in Yerevan a lot: food joints serving delicious stuff that was once considered exotic and rare, good customer service(as in all post-sovietic countries it was non-existent in Armenia), new available services, diversity in many fields, etc This is a once in a lifetime chance for Armenia to improve and progress...we will never again have a chance to receive such human capital (over 17 000 people with different skills and professions, most of whom speak Armenian) coming to Armenia voluntarily, that is able to boost the local economy, bring diversity and change that is so needed here. However we are failing at providing the essential care needed for these people to resettle and start a new life here, so sadly, if we do not act, we are going to lose almost all of them.  Officials are proudly reporting that we do not have tented camps like elsewhere and that the Syrian refugees in Armenia are taken care of and have lots of advantages but it is not enough. Even if they manage to find accommodation and a job, the salary is not enough for them to pay the rent and live a decent life (this is a problem for the locals as well, that is why every second person has a relative sending them money from abroad), the process of integration of students at school is non-existent(the Syrian-Armenians speak a different dialect and some do not know how to read or write in Armenian), the medical care system also has lots of issues...overall there is no platform to coordinate the care services available for the refugees resulting in people being lost and nowhere to turn to for assistance. Here are some photos. P.S. And we still got the issue of the Azerbaijan refugees who fled to Armenia after Sumgait massacres of 1988 who live in overcrowded dorms without any care.. " 4,12607,2015-11-27T13:49:25.000Z,11734,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Useful context Thank you, this is great insight and gets us reading about the Armenian situation ahead of the event. Take your time to structure it, and like Nadia I think it will be super if the description will mention what it is you will want to achieve with the session, what questions will be answered so that people know what angle to expect (one or more of the system fails to integration and how the RedWoodProject takes on duties normally pertaining to placement centers? or?). Also makes it easier for anyone to decide whether this is a session useful to them.  We'll be on the lookout for this! " 5,12942,2015-11-27T14:18:28.000Z,12607,anon4259720994,anon1491650132,"Thanks dear, Will be working on the core subjects of the session and will update the event soon. Still need to discuss this with ARP and see if they want me to represent them at the event.  Will keep you posted! " 6,15519,2015-12-12T18:38:21.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"Outlines of core subjects So I've discussed with ARP and got several ideas I'm going to dive into during the session: for instance, I often come across the fact that refugees become overly dependent on our aid when we get too involved. It is very hard to find a banon3760936673ce when we want them to become self-sustainable in the long run. Another subject I'd like to touch is the facilitation of information communication for the refugees in Armenia, we got many organisations that offer different kinds of help but it seems like refugees do not have access to the information and feel lost when they need help(healthcare, housing, employment, food/clothing, etc). I am currently doing a desk research about how to improve the social services for the refugees here in Armenia and what I've learnt so far is that we definitely need an independent unit with social workers with a call center, lawyer, social broker/real estate agent and employment agent. Here's our latest blog entry about why Armenian organisations should cooperate to ensure resiliency in the face of the Syrian crisis. I've also done several case studies of Syrian-Armenian refugees in Armenia: here are the stories of Ilona and Ashkhen.   " 7,21364,2015-12-17T15:23:13.000Z,5042,anon602631834,anon4259720994,"Just anon3606750899ging a cool project to check out. The Refugee Project is a narrative, temporal map of refugee migrations since 1975.  " 10,29126,2016-01-15T16:43:05.000Z,5042,anon1201778428,anon4259720994,"How about public perception? Great session, @anon I was wondering what is the public perception towards refugees in Armenia? I was recently part of a small communication project, implemented by a local NGO, about the situation of refugees in general and in Romania. One of the activities was to go to universities and talk to students about the challenges that migrants and refugees face. I intuitively knew it, but I was still taken by surprise by the negative attitude towards refugees that some of the students we interacted with had. Maanon1932026148 it was just ignorance and lack of information, but I founded it concerning since it's not rarely that refugees have to rely on others' support and open-mindedness .   " 11,29561,2016-01-19T14:40:27.000Z,29126,anon4259720994,anon1201778428,"Great question, @anon Good question, @anon As Armenia has lots of unsolved social issues(e.g. in Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia lots of people still live in temporary houses provided by humanitarian aid back in 1988 due to the earthquake), some locals feel those issues should be addressed first before addressing the refugees' issues.  This is sad, as most of the Syrian refugees in Armenia have Armenian origin and their ancestors fled the Turkish massacres of 1915-1924 to find shelter in Syria, and Armenians talk a lot about recognition of the Armenian Genocide  forgetting that the grandchildren of the victims are now back in their homeland and they need urgent help.  " 12,29994,2016-02-05T10:57:30.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"Here is a great initiative by Natakallam (one of the founders is Armenian) aiming to alleviate the struggle of jobless Syrians in Lebanon by pairing them with students learning Arabic for conversation-focused classes over the internet.  In providing Syrians with work opportunities, the platform also caters to a specific need within the Arabic learning community interested in the spoken Levantine (especially Syrian) dialect.  " 13,30633,2016-03-07T21:23:17.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"As I didn't have my session during LOTE5, here's the documentation I'd like to share here. Your feedback would be much appreciated! My presentation , an article about the current situation and a success story. Was great to be part of LOTE5 <3   " 14,31164,2016-11-15T15:54:18.000Z,5042,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Updates? Also, food brings people together. Hi @anon I'm curious if 10 months after we had this conversation the situation of Syrians ethnic Armenians has improved in your country? Some days ago in response to my post about the community dinner we organised in Cluj you mentioned you would like to do something similar in Yerevan? I was wondering how these food businesses set up by refugees (which you linked to) are progressing and if there is a chance of showing value for the community by involving them in such a simple, yet fun event? I look forward to returning, and 2017 is the year!! Let's have a skype sometime to let you know about updates.  " 15,31360,2016-11-18T08:06:38.000Z,31164,anon4259720994,anon1491650132,"Thanks for checking in! Hi @anon Nowadays I'm juggling a few projects, all of them are important causes I care for and I wrote case studies about during the Futuremakers project - I'm managing a social enterprize Sunchild Eco Tours  and the Eco Lodge in the only privately owned nature reserve in the Caucasus - the CWR, organizing events and the AiR program in the Institute for Contemporary Arts in Yerevan AND working on my own art project The Return: Environmental Portraits of the Syrian Refugees in Armenia together with my friend and a tanon3760936673ted photographer Anush Babajanyan of 4Plus Photography. The final product will be a photo exhibition and storytelling event that aimes to bring awareness to the issues of Syrian refugees in Armenia.  And we will definitely involve the Syrian restaurants to provide food for our opening ceremony(maanon1932026148 some collective cooking eventually). People in Armenia got to like and appreciate the taste of Levantene cuisine and Syrian food is popular more than ever in Yerevan! So yeah, I'm uberstretched and have almost no me-time considering I'm single-parenting since I moved to Armenia in summer 2015.  Luckily I have had the chance to be one of the beneficiaries of Stega 's 6 week yoga course for the changemakers of Armenia (just had my last class on Wednesday) and we hope to fundraise to offer yoga and meditative therapy classes for the refugees in the nearest future.  I'm also preparing another art project which is called ""Juggling Dinosaurs"" that is going to tackle the notion of single parenting in Armenia for females, who receive no support whatsoever...a woman, a mother, an activist and a professional trying to juggle it all.... So there you are, now you know why I was absent from the platform for such a long time...hope to meet you all for LOTE6(is it happening?) next year! Edgeryders(you, @anon Much love " 16,31439,2016-11-18T08:56:17.000Z,31360,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"When is your exhibition? Very happy you are keeanon3606750899g yourself busy with great endeavors! Alex is organising an event to increase learning across refugee workers and wider public within an arts fest in the end of February in London - we're just now discussing potential formats.. if we know your timeline who knows, maanon1932026148 we come up with some idea :P " 17,31460,2016-11-21T09:16:07.000Z,31439,anon4259720994,anon1491650132,"Cool! Thanks @anon " 18,31470,2016-11-21T09:31:55.000Z,31460,anon477123739,anon4259720994,"@anon I think the other benefit could be to line up the work you are doing in Armenia with some UK citizen-led charities who may be able to offer support and volunteers to help out in Armenia. We really want the event to about positive steps forward, and were keen to share stories where people have made a real improvement, or created a new service themselves. If there are still issues and negative conditions within the refugee provision then it may be most useful to prepare a document that outlines these, with some suggestions as to how people could help from home. We could then circulate this at the event and make it available online through social media and the ER platform. Just an initial idea. Please feel free to add to the page where we are collecting thoughts: https://edgeryders.eu/en/the-culture-squad/ideas-for-building-an-event-at-the-intersection-of " 19,31475,2016-11-26T15:29:22.000Z,31470,anon4259720994,anon477123739,"@anon @anon Other then that Syrian refugees in Armenia need psychological support(therapy, meditative yoga, etc) and there is no capacity in the country. So this is one kind of help we might need from your mentioned UK charities(language barrier might be an issue). I did conducted a research in 2015 and I can share it if you are interested.  I will post my thoughts in the ideas page.   Cheers,   " 20,31479,2016-11-27T10:04:22.000Z,31475,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Yes, do share the research .. I would be super interested, thanks! " 21,31546,2016-11-29T15:22:28.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"@anon " 22,31837,2016-12-09T19:34:35.000Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"Also, here's a recent article depicting the current situation with the refugees in Armenia. " 23,40759,2017-12-27T11:11:18.803Z,5042,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,Here's [an article about my latest curated exhibition](http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/12/refugees-improve-armenia-social-fabric-171214061224398.html) featuring works of [4Plus collective](https://edgeryders.eu/t/4-plus-documentary-photography-center/4548) 1,536,2016-09-16T14:35:13.000Z,536,anon477123739,anon477123739,"What follows is a long story documenting some of my experiences working as a caregiver on the Calais camp during March - May 2016. The first thing that strikes you about the Calais camp is the smell. In the beginning you assume it comes from the camp itself. After prolonged exposure to it you realise it comes from the chemical plant next door. It pours a strange chemical tang over the surrounding area. I will never forget that smell. It masks the true nature of the camp. I use this image to emphasise the unsanitary conditions of the site, and how you become desensitised to them. Each morning at the l’Auberge des Migrants Warehouse between 40-200 volunteers arrive to help with the day’s tasks. It is one of 2 or 3 three aid organisations in the area serving the needs of the camp. The number varies depending on the day of the week or the time of year. The tasks at the warehouse vary in difficulty and duration. Some people may find themselves chopanon3606750899g firewood for a day, or sorting through clothing donations. Those that can only volunteer for a day or two will do these jobs that base them at the warehouse. Volunteers that are available for a week or more will join the clothing or food distribution team. This involves spending a lot of time on the camp working face-to-face with refugees. Volunteers available for a month or more find themselves joining the 'Aid Distribution' or 'Vulnerabilities' team. These teams work on the camp every day. Travelling from shelter to shelter to assess aid requirements and taking clothes and food to vulnerable people (children, elderly, injured). When i started at the Calais camp these teams didn’t exist. I helped to set up, test and structure the team program. Now, 5 months later the teams are indistinguishable from the basic structures that i helped to set up. Working days are long and filled with waiting. Long-term volunteers have to banon3760936673ce time considerations to get the most work done. Volunteers arrive early. UK volunteers have early Channel ferries to pack a full day in. Or the locals from Belgium and France are more banon3760936673ced towards early starts. As a result the warehouse opens early with many arriving around 8am to start working. On the other end of the spectrum the refugees on the camp rarely rise before 11am. Many have been up for most of the night; making attempts to get into the port area, travelling to lorry parks nearby; etc. The camp itself comes to life at about 4pm with the most people around between 4pm and 10pm. This means days often start with a lot of waiting. They often extend further into the evenings for the long-term volunteers. 12hr+ days without proper breaks are par for the course, particularly for the volunteers working on the camp with the refugees. Those working in the Aid Distribution team have to work in intimate personal spaces. The role requires you to enter into the shelters and tents of refugees to communicate with them. Preferably, this requires a translator, but most communication is through non-verbal, gesture and eye-contact. Even with a total language barrier, the way the refugees welcome you into their personal space is heart warming. The experience is unlike anything I have experienced elsewhere. For many British volunteers this immediate intimacy from strangers can be strange and disorienting. It feels odd to accept food, drink and hospitality from people who have so little already. Yet, rejecting the offer also seems heartless. It is difficult to banon3760936673ce these conflicting emotions. I often struggle to banon3760936673ce my desire to be ‘efficient’ at the task, with being ‘friendly’ to the people I’m helanon3606750899g. I could spend a whole day working with only 10-15 people: Eating food with them; making notes about vulnerabilities; listening to the needs of their community and drinking sweet milk chai. Then I remember that there are thousands of people on the camp. If I spend the same amount of time with each group it would take years to finish the simple tasks. In these small, intimate moments people open up to you. Some share stories, oanon3606750899ions on the camp or photos from their phones. Some photos are of family and home. Some photos are graphic images of violence and bloodshed. You never know if these images are from their own experience, or if they are from external sources. Almost every refugee can connect to the internet and people share images amongst groups. You know it would be rude to ask for verification. You are frequently reminded not to push anyone to tell you about their life before, or their journey. You are not a therapist and reliving traumatic experiences can re-traumatise them. These moments also show you how angry people are. Refugees stop you in their shelters, or on the paths around the camp. Inter-community tensions seeps out through small cracks. The walls and fences of the Calais port don’t discriminate between nations. So neither does the camp. Afghanis rub up against Iranians, Indians, Sudanese and Syrians. Some communities are better established on the camp. Some manage their resources and people better than others. Some communities have established 'leaders' who act as a lynchanon3606750899 for fellow countrymen. I met a young Indian refugee who was angry there was no Indian community leader. I explained to him he was the first refugee from India i had met on the camp. He was de facto the community leader for his nation. Race, religion and resource issues overlap in a fraught and challenging space. It is surprising that it doesn't descend into violence more often. The fact it doesn't is a testament to the work done by volunteers, and faith and community leaders on the camp. When it does break down like this it is scary and totally unexpected. You can never relax into to the role. Every day demands that you prepare to be surprised. You can be disarmed by a moment of pure joy and positivity from a happy young man. Around the next corner you could be challenged by an angry refugee, or a major medical injury. Sometimes the pressure comes from the armed police that surround the camp. At every entrance a bus full of armed police waits. They stop all vehicles going on to the camp. Sometimes they're friendly, sometimes officious, always confrontational. When there are problems on the camp or the nearby Motorway they respond with CS gas canisters. They fire them at will over the whole camp. Dispersing refugees into shelters. The canisters overheat when they let the gas out, this causes fires in the camp. Often the police target refugee communal areas like restaurants and shops. They try to use the gas to burn them down. I will never forget walking through the camp, under a thick fog of CS gas, my throat raw, shielding my watering eyes from the gas with a scarf. In the end you start to live like the refugees on the camp: day-to-day, expecting the unexpected, desperate to get away to the ‘real world’ but somehow unable to move on. You find yourself under the same strain as the refugees. You get emotionally attached to their quest. You want them to succeed at making it across the Channel. But when they leave the camp to try you feel a gut-wrenching fear for them. You’ve heard too many bad stories – about the armed police; about the fascist skinheads that patrol around the ferry ports; and refrigerated lorries. Whilst I was there I met two people I later found out fell under the wheels of a moving lorry, or became trapped in airless lorry containers; suffocating to death. Sometimes you hear someone you work alongside for months has made it across to the UK. You feel overwhelmingly happy for them. Then you feel sad and angry that you don’t get to see them anymore. Then you feel guilty for being selfish. In the end there is either hope, or hopelessness; Chance or no Chance. Both suffocate you and the refugees. It clouds all your conversations and interactions. Mentally, the camp comes back with you into the volunteer spaces. Most volunteers are young people between the ages of 18 and 25. They are mostly students and temporary/seasonal workers. A lot of long-term volunteers work in the UK music festival community.   Mental health for the volunteers is a concern. Everyone lives on a knife-edge. Most volunteers self-finance their time working in Calais. They live frugally, stretching their money out. This means they end up living on top of each other. The warehouse team has a caravan park attached to the building. Volunteers with no money can stay there. Living up to 6 people in a caravan, with limited access to hot water and personal space. Volunteers who live in this enclave have a different experience to those who stay in private accommodation or hostels. Everyone experiences some form of trauma. Most experience exhaustion. Often trauma comes from being in scary situations that you aren't trained to deal with. Occasionally volunteer social workers, therapists and psychologists stop by the volunteer camps. They offer their services for free. As always, the people who need it the most are most likely to not take advantage of these services. I met a few long term volunteers who had become caregivers 24/7. They would work long hours on the camp or managing the warehouse. In the evening they would sit listening to the emotional and personal problems of volunteers. They might operate on only 5-6 hours sleep per night and then do another 18hr day of work. Every day. Every week. Days off from the work of the warehouse and camp are encouraged, and even scheduled. But they are ignored, rescheduled, or simply don't happen. People feel responsible for the people on the camp. They can't switch off. The management team at the warehouse made some great improvements even in the short time I was there. More training for long term volunteers on conflict resolution and dealing with difficult people. More training on how to self care and look after each other. The warehouse caravan park was designated an alcohol-free zone. Resident meeting were set back up. A weekly 'safe space' for free and open personal discussion was created in the warehouse. Weekly film screenings were restarted. Over all this positive improvement still hangs the uncertainty of the future. Volunteer numbers have decreased. Aid donations have slowed. Some organisations struggle to fundraise the money needed to provide services on the camp - for the first time since last year refugees on the camp report hunger and malnutrition. In the face of this adversity volunteers get up every day and go onto the camp to help. They meet people new and old, hear new stories, discover new problems and show a friendly face to those in need. Not because it's their job, but because they feel a duty to help.   A 16yr old Afghani boy i worked with every day for 2 weeks asked me a question one night: “Why is the world so faithless?” I didn't know how to respond at first. What did he mean? Was he asking about religion? I couldn't answer. So i thought for 10 minutes Finally, i responded: ""I don't think it is. The world is full for people who are scared. This fear drives their actions. But there are always others who respond to fear with love. This love is faith."" He gave me a look that said 'strange European man, you know nothing of the world!' Yet i stand by my answer. Every day hundreds of volunteers from all over Europe travel onto the Calais camp to show this love. They come with gifts and open hearts. They leave exhausted, frustrated and heartbroken. And they come back the next day, and the next. That has to be something positive.   Do you have similar experiences working with refugees in other parts of Europe? Do you have any useful experience that might help the volunteers at the camp? Do you have any ideas for how the Calais refugee situation could be re-structured after the evictions? Are there any other parts of my experience that you would like to learn more about?   The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016 " 2,9328,2016-09-16T20:06:29.000Z,536,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Long awaited story.. .. and well worth the wait. Thank you! Interesting how being a caregiver comes not just from sense of purpose or attachment, but a sense of duty. About the training for self care: what was it like? I imagine that has something to do with how people find it hard to take days off, ""switch off"" as you say..?    " 3,16022,2016-09-16T20:26:32.000Z,536,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Developed I think i initially went out to help because i had a sense of purpose. I fesire to use my skills to help people most at need of them. As my time went along though i certainly developed the sense of duty. I definitely saw this in the other long term volunteers i worked alongside. The self care training was mostly around sharing best practice. Asking groups to share ideas around how they unwind, stress reduction, how they notice stress in themselves and others.   " 4,21551,2016-09-19T17:47:16.000Z,536,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"What a beautiful post! This is not just informative, it's literary. And I sometimes wonder if you don't need the beauty for the information to hit home. As I read about the volunteers life in The Jungle, I am brought back to an impression I have had all through this opencare project. The impression is this: ""the economy"", ""society"", the world we know is only paper thin. Behind the surface of carbonated drinks and targeted advertising and employment figures and pre-election rallies, I glimpse self-organisation reaching out for ways to cater to our needs. It seems like it percolates through the crack of society, colonizing immediately any area that ""the economy"" retreats from. This could be why there are so many great stories from Greece coming through; Helliniko and @anon Mayble another world is not just possible, it's inevitable. Maanon1932026148 these communities are humanity's default configuration, and we are only held in place in large hierarchical system by massive dissipation, and even then just about.  Volunteers in The Jungle are sad, broken, exhausted. Why don't they go home? ""We feel responsible"", says Alex. Not good enough. Why do you feel responsible? Humans seem to be naturally building mutual help communities. Why? What are we missing?  " 5,24666,2016-09-19T18:37:22.000Z,536,anon1932026148,anon477123739,"philosophical question @anon maanon1932026148 this is part of an answer: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Csseq9xXgAAW9g1.jpg:large It is for me ... making a difference for someone makes me feel profoundly human, part of humanity ... I think connecting, helanon3606750899g, supporting, caring restores humanity in us, in the other and in the world" 6,24862,2016-09-22T10:35:00.000Z,24666,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Ok, wrong question maanon1932026148 Ok, @anon1932026148 , it might be the wrong question. People do what they do. The question is: is this impulse towards care reliable enough that we can factor it into project design? Are we looking at a sort of ""If we build it, they will come"" of community care initiatives? " 7,33412,2016-10-14T18:35:36.000Z,24862,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"There is an answer to this When you first posted your comment i had a rush to answer it immediately. I had a gut reaction that there is a response to the provocation. But try as i could i couldn't find the correct words to frame it. I'm not sure i've worked it out fully even now but i think that the answer is this. ""if you build it, someone will come"" The most important part is to not be concerned about attracting a predefined set of people to a structure, but to accept that the people who are drawn to your initiative are 'de facto' the right people. Self- selection. I feel that this is similar to the Edgeryders platform itself. Perhaps information around how people chose to engage in a digital landscape can be extrapolated out into the way they engage with physical organisations/structures/bodies in the 'real' world? " 8,39985,2017-12-05T08:55:21.064Z,536,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"I have a belated question... I know it was over a year ago since we discussed this. [quote=""anon477123739, post:1, topic:503""] Occasionally volunteer social workers, therapists and psychologists stop by the volunteer camps. They offer their services for free. As always, the people who need it the most are most likely to not take advantage of these services. [/quote] Why do you think that is? Is it that refugees cannot process the idea of professional therapy, as opposed to offloading to a friend or relative?" 9,39992,2017-12-05T16:02:40.940Z,39985,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"My experience at this point was more to do with what was happening within the volunteer community, rather than with the refugee community. There were at that time a lot of long-term volunteers who were working themselves into the ground, providing nearly 24hr support 7 days a week to refugees on the camp. People were refusing to take time off, or to properly take care of themselves, causing massive burnout. The refugees were (with some exceptions) better at dealing with the situation and seeking help when i was available. Many did not take part in therapy sessions because to them the trauma was still ongoing. It's hard to process what you've gone through when you are still on that pathway. My oanon3606750899ion is this was largely down to misplaced guilt (why should i take time out from this when the refugees can't?) and/or the sense that they were operating at a level above the need for support (low level volunteers getting training on stress management, but long term project leaders not attending meeting because there were 'too busy') The situation in Calais was very unique to that context, and has now changed completely. There is an interesting insight into the end of the camp here, with interviews with lots of volunteers i worked alongside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw6lbhcdbdI You can see from their interviews a small amount of the problem." 1,6242,2017-04-10T19:12:45.000Z,6242,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

DIY WELFARE WHEN SYSTEMS FAIL

Meet people who are doing it. Learn how to do it. Build it together.

19-20-21 OCTOBER BRUSSELS https://player.vimeo.com/video/162811723 The \#OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions ("" opencare ""). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.

Are you our next community fellow? Tell us what you would you like to build, explore or learn about DIY welfare when systems fail!

\# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail. Our Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000€ to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the \#OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).

As a Community Fellow, you commit to do three things:

1. Read what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work. 2. Articulate a burning question to move everyone's work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme. 3. Reach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the \#openvillage festival. We now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the \#OpenVillage Festival.

Deadline for applications: Ongoing

How to Apply:
  1. Connect with other participants by reading their stories at the bottom of this page, and offering ideas or advice in the form of thoughtful comments.
  2. Think about a theme, session or exhibit on community care, that you would like to curate for the OpenVillage (see the first proposal here).
  3. Write a post containing your proposal in our shared workspace.

About the program, process and selection criteria

We believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs. The OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives. Aiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - June 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 “students” to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use “students” in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status. What you will get if selected:
  • A bursary appointment: Up to 15000 Euro to reimburse your working time, distributed on the basis of winners’ financial needs
  • A travel budget: Up to 5000 Euro, to be authorized in advance by due justification.
Process and timeline:
  • Mar 15 Mar - Until all fellows are selected. We Collect submissions in the form of comments, published stories and proposals for OpenVillage Festival Program.
    • Review of submissions
    • Announcement of winners
  • June 2017. First draft of project/exhibits descriptions submitted by Fellows.
  • July 15. Final session and project descriptions submitted by Fellows
  • October 19-21. OpenVillage Festival!
  • October 26. Final Report detailing the value chain of the project/s the appointee worked with, and documenting the “recipe” to reproduce it (resources, community engagement mechanisms, pitfalls to avoid)
Who can participate? Anyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good. Selection Criteria We will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as ""opencare"") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners):
  • are registered on edgeryders.eu and have contributed a story on the OpenCare community page. NB: All the stories already submitted in 2016 and 2017 are being considered.
  • are operating at the grassroots level or are heavily interacting with such groups
  • Are open in their work, use of methodology, technology, results (public and transparent communication, open processes for participation, commons licensing, open source code etc.)
  • their contribution is validated in positive responses by their peers in the opencare community (as seen from the Comments section)
  • have storytelling and content production skills for presenting the opencare initiatives to various community groups and audiences
  • demonstrate willingness to collaborate with others and use online environments for communication, engagement, documentation of work and social media
What happens if I am selected? You will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017. How to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
  1. Demonstrate your interest in the work of opencare and other DIY Welfare practitioners. Read three stories about OpenCare initiatives and leave thoughtful comments here (you'll need to scroll down).
  2. Share your experience from care-related initiatives in your community, with reflections around how they relate to the topics and themes of opencare. Post your story here.
  3. Demonstrate your general knowledge about the field. Propose a theme, session or exhibit that you would like to see happen as part of the OpenVillage and name a number of projects or people whom you would like to see involved. Create a post in the OpenVillage coordination group.
Once you are done use \#opencare and \#scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work! There is no deadline for the applications, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances - we will consider them on the rolling basis! For more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact

Partner organisations

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
" 1,5258,2016-02-03T13:35:45.000Z,5258,anon1491650132,anon1491650132," Two stories about patterns of failure in EU policy-making that happen to affect our rights in an increasingly digital society. One illustrates the way the institutions fall short, the other how civil society sometimes is part of the problem as well. We also want to explore questions like:
  • Which failures can be fixed?
  • How can we unfail them?
  • What does that mean for civil society and advocacy?
To not give away too much, a sneak into the contents of this session from the Chaos Communication Congress \#32c3 is here. Speakers Kirsten Fiedler, managing director of European Digital Rights (EDRi) | @anon Walter van Holst, ICT laws practitioner by day, digital rights activist by night | @anon How you can register for this session This session takes place at 9:30 AM on Saturday, February 27th. 1. If you don't already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here: http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ 2. Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come! 4. Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket! When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket. 5. See you at the workshop :) Image credit: Photographer unknow, sourced from Greenville Post Date: 2016-02-27 09:30:00 - 2016-02-27 10:45:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 1,39328,2017-11-14T11:34:08.342Z,39328,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Background to the story To those of us in the UK the Calais ‘Jungle’ has become synonymous with the migration and asylum crisis that has occurred in Europe over the past 2 years. It is frequently in our papers and on our televisions, yet beyond the UK and the direct environment of Calais the Calais camp has not received the kind of attention it deserves. ‘The Jungle’, as it has become known, is a large camp on the edge of the Calais port area. It sits on top of a series of sand dunes, small lakes and wastelands on the very edge of the French coastline, right by the lorry parking area at the port. Before it was settled it was an industrial dumanon3606750899g ground, and previous checks of the ground have found traces of heavy metallic elements like Cobalt, as well as large amounts of old asbestos panelling that had broken down. On top of all this sits a huge camp for migrants and displaced people from around the world. At last count it stood at around 4900 people, most of whom are trying to claim asylum in the UK. At it’s largest point shortly after Christmas the camp had over 6000 residents. Living in very harsh, cold conditions through the Northern Europe winter. Originally the camp was made up of tents and very temporary structures. But from around September last year a number of new charity organisations and volunteer structures made it their plans to help improve the quality of the camp [http://www.ahomeforwinter.org/]. The camp is largely made up of young men, although there are small numbers of families, women and young children as well as around 350 unaccompanied children between the age of 12-16. A number of organisations sprang up that work with the women and children on site, provided youth clubs, teaching and English lessons. [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/camp-initiatives] [http://www.calaisjungleyouth.com/] The camp has grown up, physically and mentally, over the last 5 years, but has really become a focal point since around 2012. The camp has grown hugely during this time, as well as moving around from site to site. Alongside the humanitarian and social aid there are library and reading services [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/jungle-books-library], theatre and arts activities [http://goodchance.org.uk/], community kitchens [https://www.facebook.com/OneSpiritAshramKitchen/][https://www.facebook.com/The-Belgian-Kitchen-1736739086546935/], hot food distribution, dry food goods distribution and daily clothing distributions provided from a central warehouse [http://www.laubergedesmigrants.fr/], amongst many others [http://time.com/4233206/calais-jungle-shops/]. You can find out more about a numbers of the organisations that work on the site by visiting [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/breaking-news] or by reading the No Borders document [https://welcometocalais.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/welcome-to-calais-booklet_eng_updatedoct15.pdf] Although MSF, GWB and Unicef run services on the site, and have provided some care to the camps the site itself is not officially recognised by the French or UK governments, and as such has no requirements to meet basic human rights, or follow local building or health and safety guidelines. As a result, no single government or NGO organisation has responsibility for the activities and structures on camp. Everything that has grown up has happened through self-organisation, communication and collaboration between new and existing charities both French-based and in the UK. Increasingly we are seeing aid, and charities from further afield in Europe coming to Calais to help, creating a multi-national series of solutions that have grown up without any direct hierarchy or guidance. In March the French prefecture with the support of the CRS cleared the oldest, largest section of the camp in the south. The intention was to rehouse all of the residents in to a number of local official options; including the La Vie Active container camp [http://julesferry.vieactive.fr/]; the brand new official refugee camp in Dunkirk [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12186407/Frances-first-ever-internationally-recognised-refugee-camp-opens-near-Dunkirk.html] or into asylum/detention camps around France. The majority of residents in the camp chose to not take these options as they are not looking to seek asylum in France, but are trying to get to the UK to reconnect with families. This disconnect between what the French authorities want to achieve with the residents and what the residents themselves want to achieve goes a long way toward explaining the conflict and central problem at the camp. About what i have been doing For the past 3 weeks I have been working as a volunteer through the central warehouse, L’Auberge des migrants. L’Auberge acts as the central aid and food distribution services for the camps across Northern France, including Calais, Dunkirk and a number of smaller camps around the area. L’Auberge exists solely on donations, providing daily hot food deliveries, daily dry food deliveries to allow residents to cook for themselves, clothing drops, and since my arrival a mobile distribution service that goes from shelter to shelter, assessing individual and community needs and providing aid in the form of blankets, sleeanon3606750899g bags, cooking equipment, lights and a number of other personal items. All of these services are coordinated by long to medium term volunteers, who spend their own money and time to care for the people on camp without receiving any direct pay. Sometimes fundraised money is spent to provide accommodation and travel expenses to volunteers but a large majority of people live out here entirely on the own funds. The warehouse was initially set up by a French charity but is now run and ‘staffed’ by a UK charity HelpRefugees [http://www.helprefugees.org.uk/what-we-do/], who bring in funding and support from around the EU to help provide humanitarian services. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/03/burying-refugees-die-calais-jungle-160329071028796.html TO BE CONTINUED..... https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CALAIS" 2,39330,2017-11-14T11:39:46.881Z,39328,anon70625510,anon477123739,"Hi Alex, how are you? Sorry to have missed your visit- just back an hour ago after an intense week + in Berlin. Very curious to hear about your experiences and reflections. In part because I would like to volunteer this spring but am unsure as to where I can meaningfully put my skills etc to use. In part because both Ezio and myself are adamant that this should be one of thd focal points in opencare" 3,39331,2017-11-14T11:40:04.248Z,39330,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Hey Nadia, Shame not to see you as well. I'm sure i can fit aother visit in when you're around. Sorry this story isn't filled in properly yet, i've basically been writing massive proceedural documents for the camp people which has taken a lot of my time. I think i'm about half way through the full write up, so all things being well it should be on the site tonight. Fanon1056199097rs crossed Alex" 4,39332,2017-11-14T11:40:23.610Z,39331,anon70625510,anon1526983854,"Looking forward :) See you thursday in the call btw." 5,39333,2017-11-14T11:40:50.852Z,39328,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"**What about the refugees themselves?** This is a great story! What it seems to have to teach is this: refugee camps could sprout many more and better services if people were allowed to provide for each other. Score one for self organization. However, from what I read I have the impression that this is a story about the volunteers. It is them (you!) doing all this amazing stuff. Are refugees themselvesd involved in building and staffing these services and efforts?" 6,39334,2017-11-14T11:41:16.534Z,39333,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Some of the facilities and services on camp are staffed and operated my residents of the camps. Both the Ashram Kitchen (link above) and the Jungle books use people from the camps to organise (cook, clean, serve, staff etc) their operations. Some parts of it a situated in specific areas of the camp and the people who live close to those amenities operate as security and safety overnight. It's very much a case that the residents are very active on site. Whenever organisations start to build additional shelters, or do maintenance/repairs the locals get heavily involved. At the moment we aren't allowed to bring large-scale building material onto the site so resourceful communities and individuals are doing a lot of self building using scavenged wood and tarpualin/waterproof fabrics. There are lots of skilled people on the camps, some of them have been engineers, large scale construction workers so us volunteers are always happy to bring equipment, hand it out and then stand back and let the professionals handle the work. It is probably true to say that there aren't any refugee-led projects on site, or if there are, i am not aware of them yet. It's certainly something i could find out more about by asking around. My view is that most people living on the camp consider it to be a temporary pit stop before they get to the UK (even if it's 'temporary' for 9 months or more) and so aren't keen on setting up services long term on the camp when they could be in a lorry tomorrow night heading to Britain. Longer term residents who are more settled in the camp and are looked at as community leaders do a lot more than i am aware of, but in order to find out more about what they were doing to support each other it would be really benefitial to have a few translators who could have more detailled conversations with them. It's those guys who are the real heroes of the story. The volunteer workforce are just smiling, friendly couriers really." 7,39335,2017-11-14T11:41:36.949Z,39334,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Got it! Very clear, thanks @anon" 8,39336,2017-11-14T11:42:02.675Z,39333,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"It's so sad to see that there is no way to move beyond that. And yet you hear stories like this school built by a Nigerian: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35714129 It's probably fragile and temporary though (if still there), but good example." 10,39338,2017-11-14T11:42:30.123Z,39337,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Hi, Totally agree with this. The situation in Calais has the added edge that most of the aid agencies operating there are UK based charities, but they are working in France. There is a need to try to work alongside local authorities (or be seen to) because we are 'outsiders/foreigners' and 'interfering' Keeanon3606750899g the refugees in the community as a central part of the planning and decision making is a core part of the management though. Many of us wish there could be a better, more permanent way of dealing with this situation. But right now getting either the French or UK governments to actually accept that these people are not just going to disappear into the air, well, that's almost impossible." 1,36387,2017-09-16T11:01:27.843Z,36387,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Do I want to live a regular, somewhat boring life, or an interesting life? Can I put myself in a greater-than-life service, or do I learn to better care for myself before I care for the world? These questions have been lanon1056199097ring for years, and became more profound after I moved in with my co-workers into [The Reef Brussels](https://edgeryders.eu/t/spawning-the-reef-brussels-re-inventing-communal-working-and-living-again/6239/1), edgeryders first home base. I just spent a few good days near Nieklitz (Germany) in a gathering organized by[ Open State](http://www.openstate.cc/), the professional camp builders who built [POC21](http://www.poc21.cc/) and [Refugee Open Cities](https://www.facebook.com/openstate/posts/1358328040903787). The camp, funded by [Advocate Europe](https://advocate-europe.eu/en), offered a rare occasion to 30 something activists to slow down and reflect on our work; with yoga, meditation, ecstatic dance intermissions (sic!), and no hard commitment to produce an artefact by the end. One could wander and ponder about whether pairing people with radically different political worldviews changes their civic behavior, but also chat about good apps for practicing mindfulness (I hear it’s Headspace). Of 40 people around the camp, about half of us were “participants”, while the other half were organisers and hosts, an extensive team affiliated to Open State and the place. It was the Place which really made my camp experience. With scarce Internet and mobile signal, vague appearances of machines, we found ourselves in a nature park with a history, at a two-hour train ride en route from Berlin to Hamburg. Wir Bauen Zukunft (translates We Build Future) aka “the Nieklitz crew” is a collective that in the beginning of 2016 bought 18 hectares of land with a loan from a generous private person. This was previously a biology park, a multi million euro technical project of a local architect in the late 90s which failed to bring in enough visitors or people to fill spacious workshops. The ensemble had severely deprecated due to lack of maintenance and use. Since 2016, the Nieklitz crew rebuilt most of it, with a lot of attention for craft and design. It is quite an experience to walk between The Hive main hall and kitchen, the Scent House and House of Flowers, all equipped with a few dozen beds, toilets, indoor and outdoor shower(s); or to walk the green paths between large workshops and storage spaces, old trailers, camanon3606750899g and camp fire spots. See it for yourself: _The Hive is the hq, with event space, kitchen/dining area and living quarters too_ _Main hall and dining area_ _The Flower House_ _The Scent House_ _The outdoor shower (CC-BY-SA - Open State)_ It is my understanding that the group works for Earth sustainability, with a mission of co-working in nature (the lack of working Internet was temporary). They partially use geotermal energy (underground pipes for heating); research water efficient biogas stoves (to work through methanization); plan an upcoming earthship; organise renovation and building camps on the land. All these build up a sustainable space, with awareness that “everything we produce we need to sell”, as someone said to me. All would then call for how-to innovation workshops, for others to learn how to do it. They also host organisations/ events to make temporary use of the space, and encourage deeper exchange: permaculture meetings would teach everyone new practices, while experimenting on the Nieklitz land. Like most skilled communities I have seen, the boundaries between those who host and those who cross their path are purposefully blurred. It also reflects in the group’s structure. Formally, it is a cooperative (in German the legal term is genossenschaft) where members buy-in an amount of 5K to co-own the property. There are 18-20 of them, with many active supporters - Open State itself has contributed large share of the camp funding to equip the space for future uses. About 10 people also live in the space, putting their time and skills into servicing it, but needing to make ends meet in the real world still. I asked everyone I got the chance about their involvement and how the community develops. The points below are valuable takeaways for me and hopefully for edgeryders[ OpenVillage](http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu) in-the-making: **1. Reaching out to fitting partners in a strategic way.** Securing the resources to get started involved 3 questions: What’s the topic? Who’s around to partner up with? Where does the money come from? It could be that the OpenVillage solves 2) and 3) by being hosted temporarily in a community whose values are aligned, which has the space for us: could be an industrial park, an eco-village, a farmland and so on. **2. Time set aside for planning, group structuring and reflection.** The core group had known each other for about 3 years prior and intersected in various projects. The cooperative model looks promising because in it, members share clear rights, but they also share the responsibility in a way that doesn’t break the structure when someone drops out. Everyone participates in weekly meetings and they apply sociocracy 3.0 to all decision making. Reportedly, it is not easy, but the collective understands that it’s a process and gets help when needed (professional coaches). **3. A healthy mix of working, living, and the space in between** In the Nieklitz group, I found a surprising combination of brain meets the heart meets the hands. It is not a hackerspace with living quarters, nor is it a hippie commune. Or if it is any of them, it escaped me, as I was talking to such diverse people - designers, artists, cooks, planners and highly skilled builders. The space reflects that: as part of the package one can try three different kinds of showers – the inside shower, the outside shower, and the love shower :-) My own questions about making a life for oneself lanon1056199097red. It seemed that the deep personal investment of people is not only in making a project happen. Someone I spoke to framed it as having a chance to live the lives we want, outside the oppression experienced in the city. Wir Bauen Zukunft and their extended loving arms like Open State are building future, in much needed radical, but gentle ways. Chapeau! _Thank you so much Anja, Lale, Laurent, Kyra, Felix, Kari, Cristoph, Ele and everyone for the time we spent together. I look forward to meeting again!_" 2,37670,2017-10-05T22:56:09.940Z,36387,anon3667621034,anon1491650132,"Dear Noemi! Thank you so much for writing up this amazing article! And thanks in particular for all the flowers ;) I know I can speak for the entire Wir bauen Zukunft Team, that we are super happy you and your fellow participants had such an inspiring and enjoyable time on our project site. It was a real pleasure to host you! To speak for myself, I was overwhelmed by the high density of awe-inspiring, like-minded and congenial people on site. That was a whole 'nother level :) I had so many great conversations that sparked new ideas and gave me different insight to quite a variety of different topics. Time wasn't enough to connect to everyone who attended, however every single contact was rocking my sweet socks :) I cannot remember having a longer conversation with you, but now reading your kind words and about OpenVillage and Egderyders I feel I missed out. I feel quite tempted to stop by for the OpenVillage festival in Brussels. From what I got of your website and the short video clips, it's a gathering of similarly switched on people as during the Open State of Politics Camp. Dealing with key questions our modern societies and economies are up against. The role of community is becoming more and more important for moving on from a mainly individualistically shaped society. A few days ago I watched the BBC Doco ""The age of self"" and was struck again by how important our work here in Nieklitz and in all the other communities and projects around the world is. Long story short: I wanna come and would like to contribute with some input or workshop. I have a solid background in natural building, especially in building Earthships and could give an input on Earthship technology, the global movement and about social dynamics/personal growth potential in practical building workshops. I also could give an input on the Wir bauen Zukunft project, our approach to develop a project community and what we've learned so far. Another option could be to run a little Case Clinic workshop, a format I've learned during a U-Lab course which trains people in active listening. Keep up the good work!!! Much love Henry" 3,37689,2017-10-06T09:15:36.322Z,37670,anon1491650132,anon3667621034,"Hi @anon3667621034, you're officially the first in the Nieklitz crowd to jump on this openvillage ship.. My impression is also that there is resonance with your crowd - and anyway edgeryders operates at the network level rather than a well defined group, so many people around here run community initiatives themselves. You should meet @anon2442420827 ! [His crowd in Ireland](https://edgeryders.eu/t/freeflow-creativity/779/3) also experiment with housing options ie tiny houses and ways of rewiring: among many, they do retreats at a castle near Galway, and mixing ecological sustainability thinking with the arts and health practices. Bernard is running a session on the last day of the festival. Here's to kinship <3" 4,38041,2017-10-10T17:53:42.588Z,37689,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Great article @anon1491650132, Nieklitz sounds amazing. So many people are now edging towards a more earth-savy lifestyle. :) @anon3667621034 me , would be great if you or someone from Nieklitz could make it to the festival, we could learn loads from you!" 5,38154,2017-10-12T13:28:26.847Z,38041,anon3667621034,anon2442420827,@anon2442420827 i'll be there ;) looking forward to meting you! much love 6,38157,2017-10-12T13:37:10.635Z,36387,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Hi Henry and welcome to Edgeryders :slight_smile: Daniel Kruse mentioned this project during a discussion at UDK (if I am not mistaken). So nice to see that this bear fruit, congratulations! Noemi thanks for much for taking the time to share what your learned<3 Looking forward to meeting you!" 7,38255,2017-10-13T19:13:09.732Z,37670,anon2350529763,anon3667621034,"hey @anon3667621034 a late welcome from my side. It's amazing to read about what you guys are doing. wanted to know more from you specially about applying the sociocracy model, what challenges did your group face, how do you think this can work within larger groups. I am interested in knowing more about your governance model in practice, I am trying to apply sociocracy with my [group in Egypt](https://goo.gl/eUWV61), mainly as a governance model we are not living together ( till now ) not sure if you are connected to this [experiment days](http://experimentdays.de/2017-echh/) cohousing network, there are different cooperatives and intentional communities in Germany, would be nice to exchange knowledge in Case you are not connected. ( will be happy to connect you together ) also anon3606750899ging @anon4201383930 @anon2138500052 @anon2376168967 @anon3807379521 , check this out as an existing model and let's see how we can learn in the openvillage in the southern Mediterranean region. hope to see you soon in Brussels. greetings from Cairo." 8,38305,2017-10-14T21:17:16.178Z,36387,anon2376168967,anon1491650132,"Thank you for sharing this with us! such a beautful space and spirit, serioulsy thank you for sharing that with us! and as @anon [quote=""anon1491650132, post:1, topic:7127""]A healthy mix of working, living, and the space in between[/quote] [quote=""anon1491650132, post:1, topic:7127""]Or if it is any of them, it escaped me, as I was talking to such diverse people - designers, artists, cooks, planners and highly skilled builders. The space reflects that: as part of the package one can try three different kinds of showers – the inside shower, the outside shower, and the love shower[/quote] I am guessing the diversity of the people in there is what keeps the space unique and going, you know what is the problem in most of the MENA region countries? is that at some point it was a mess and having different people in one room would only cause a lot of troubles... however now things are getting better, at least for Tunisia" 9,38337,2017-10-15T19:47:29.955Z,36387,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"The ""love shower"" being one stall with two shower heads?" 10,38342,2017-10-16T07:00:05.228Z,38337,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"Nope, just a group anon3003844599 of hugs as appreciation, encouragement and so on." 11,38346,2017-10-16T09:00:21.409Z,36387,anon281534083,anon1491650132,Ah...the metaphorical shower. 12,38957,2017-11-02T08:43:34.419Z,36387,anon70625510,anon1491650132,Hi @anon3667621034 was super meeting you. I'm in Berlin November 27-29 for something at Progressive Zentrum. Will you be around? Would be good to hang out :) 13,39149,2017-11-07T22:24:17.876Z,38957,anon3667621034,anon70625510,Hey Love! Enjoyed my talks with you a lot during OpenVillage Festival. Most probably will be in Berlin during these days. Would love to catch up! You have a place to stay? 14,39199,2017-11-09T12:16:01.311Z,39149,anon70625510,anon3667621034,"Hey, great! The organisers are sorting out a hotel - so that's settled. Drop me a line with your number so I can text you mine? anon70625510@anon" 1,38830,2017-10-27T15:41:01.608Z,38830,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"I remember very well, two summers ago, when I first attended an Edgeryders workshop in Brussels. It brought together local people working on open care solutions. Nearing the end of the session, we discussed our reflections and it came to the issue of collaborating. I brought up the question “connecting and collaborating takes substantial time, often too much for this type of projects. So should projects themselves make this risky investment, or is there an external initiative that takes the lead to invest time and resources in it?”. It was clear to me then that it is a matter of investing upfront, before there’s any tangible outcomes that propel each individual project forward. When the collaboration is rolling, when the incentives are clear, it should be pretty self-sustaining. So the question can be reframed as: who makes the upfront investment? Last week, the OpenVillage Festival gave us an immersive and powerful experience. Exchanging with such a diverse group of people from all walks of life, thinking deeply, making concrete plans and having fun in a genuine setting. It was grand, quoting Anthony. On the day after the festival, some of us came together to assess how we could continue the work we’ve been doing. I have been knee deep in trying to make my own projects work, being in survival mode the last months. I had lost track of the bigger picture that was in front of me. We have all contributed to the journey to OpenVillage that started months ago: the community members, the OpenCare project and the Fellows. But Edgeryders has contributed by far the most and saw the need to get people moving in the same direction. I can’t imagine many would disagree with the value they have gotten out of it so far. Only now, while synthesizing notes several days later, it dawns on me. Everything that has been done, where Edgeryders took a leading role, has been the investment. Will we put to use what has been built? During the first hours of the Festival, we sat down in groups of three to talk to each other. In their stories, both of my conversation partners posed the question if Edgeryders would be better at walking the talk. Better than who? The system? Our own projects? However it may be, there were clear expectations of the Festival, of Edgeryders. On the evening of day 2, I sat down again with one of my earlier conversation partners. I asked how his thinking had evolved since the start. He said that he realised the situation was more nuanced than that. “I’ve come to realise we are all Edgeryders, we should step up.” I think that is the essence of where we are at. My own projects have evolved, not in small part thanks to Edgeryders and the Fellowship. We have the capacity for others to benefit from what we have built, with concrete actions. We can give, help others to grow like we did and will step up. As OpenVillage unfolds, I’m looking out how to contribute and hope to see you there!" 2,38837,2017-10-27T22:36:37.810Z,38830,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"[quote=""anon2954219769, post:1, topic:7586""] “I’ve come to realise we are all Edgeryders, we should step up.” [/quote] Wow, @anon2954219769, great post. I think many of us, including ""Edgeryders"", found themselves in the same situation. There is something that really works for me in this ""community of action"" culture. This: in a diverse group of people with fairly aligned values, but very different practices, we look up, not down. We focus on the smartest, hardest working, most generous. We are awed by their vision and courage. At some level, we know these people do not represent the middle ground of our community, but its very best; and yet we cannot avoid feeling like ""we should step up"". I feel that myself, all the time – only to be told that there actually are some people that look at _me_ and feel the same way. I am coming to realise that the group of Edgeryders founders has grown, too, even if we that's not what it felt like. We were so busy just trying to make things work! And now suddenly people are asking us to hold workshops and seminars and masterclasses. They want us to teach them. And we are just barely keeanon3606750899g it together! But it makes some kind of sense, because when I look around I see sloppy thinking, bad work and business ethics, lack of rigour. We are lost, but yes, but a lot of organisations out there are _way_ more lost then we are. So yes, I guess we try to keep going. We try to step up. What else is there to do?" 3,38992,2017-11-03T20:45:23.182Z,38830,anon2591396734,anon2954219769,"I was one of @anon2954219769's little group posing [quote=""anon2954219769, post:1, topic:7586""] the question if Edgeryders would be better at walking the talk [/quote] But I didn't get the chance to follow up, like our third member, so maanon1932026148 I might do that here? For me, the key walk that it is far easier to talk about than walk, is the walk of caring for each other in a way that is mutual, supportive, non-invasive, and oriented towards mutual growth. I'm absolutely with @anon1526983854's response, as well, noting that in such a vast and challenging space, we are all lost, just some are more hopelessly lost than others. Alberto invites us to join together in humility on this one. I accept wholeheartedly! Our awe when we see others stepanon3606750899g up keeps us humble, but also draws us in, when we feel that our values are genuinely similar. As I've said in reply to @anon70625510's contribution as well, I'm working on writing something about ways of taking those first steps of care, particularly in the situation where we come together not knowing each other in advance. And I hope there are ideas that can help us both in the ""Festival"" context and also with our online community. Surely, it is vital to help people both to engage with each other and get to know each other well... It's not a mechanical process, of course, but I do believe we can encourage it more or less effectively. Again, no simple formulae. One size does not fit all. But I think there are enough common points that are emerging from many people to have some good guesses. So ... stepanon3606750899g up — absolutely! It's not other people's responsibility, it's ours as and when we feel that calling in us. But also ... but also ... we can support each other to step up, and that, I think, is where the culture of the community (or the culture set in a gathering) can make a lot of difference. Many of us (I definitely include myself) need some kind of support to step up. And I'm pretty sure that there are some people I could offer support to for them to be able to step up. So let's celebrate the service of providing the step-ladder, as well as the courage of stepanon3606750899g up on it!" 4,38995,2017-11-03T21:40:41.874Z,38992,anon1526983854,anon2591396734,"[quote=""anon2591396734, post:3, topic:7586""] Many of us (I definitely include myself) need some kind of support to step up. And I'm pretty sure that there are some people I could offer support to for them to be able to step up. So let's celebrate the service of providing the step-ladder, as well as the courage of stepanon3606750899g up on it! [/quote] Well, @anon2591396734 – this is as good an illustration of ""bootstrapanon3606750899g"" as I have ever read. :slight_smile:" 1,38707,2017-10-25T08:26:48.228Z,38707,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"As I have been encouraged to write a blog post (but when I went to a place where it said 'blog' I got an error saying that tag is only allowed for certain people) I will start one here with some reflections on the great festival! I am very glad Winnie invited me, something that maanon1932026148 should go without saying, but I will start with that anyway! Thanks!! From the complexities of water presentation by Alberto Rey, to the super fun Urban Games (yay, Hippos!), to the open insulin work and the workshops and masterclasses, it really was so interesting. Of course I am sorry I missed out on Bernard M's discussion and the details about data protection from the afternoon of the second day, but hope somehow (in these pages?) I will manage to catch up! It is incredibly cool that we finished with Matt M (who my daughters would also really love) and John C (so cool he is advising this group!) giving their take on things, and the final documentary, well I already talked about that elsewhere, but it was really great. As I got on the plane home, I realised that my current book, Heureux les heureux, by Yasmina Reza, is also very applicable to these topics of open care, open sourcing and open science even - and esp knowing each other... There are even vignettes with people waiting in the doctor's office, being brave and pathetic, all at once... The title is from Jorge Luis Borges, and I will quote: 'Felices los amados y los amantes y los que pueden prescindir del amor. Felices los felices.' Maanon1932026148 we can all call ourselves happy just to have been together for those few days, but I am hoanon3606750899g that there will be more to come, even thought I know getting to Morocco to start off next year is certainly not going to happen for me! :blush: Still I look forward to hearing about it all! And seeing at least some of you (for real, not just in facebook) in the not too distant future! Now, if I could just find out what those instruments were, that were played during the party (well, at least for one song, outside of the sound check... ;)! Thanks again to everyone for their contributions and organisation!" 2,38936,2017-11-01T07:49:05.281Z,38707,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Hi @anon1227671133 - well all the sessions have been documented, including Bernard's, so we will be sharing them broadly over the next weeks. Can you add a link to your own somewhere [here?](https://edgeryders.eu/t/openvillage-festival-session-documentation-overview/7588) As we are now in a deep evaluation process and weighing all the work that has been put in against the outcomes, I wanted to ask you what have you learned, specifically? Are there things and projects which you are now working on in collaboration with other community members as a result of the event? For example @anon4100256711 is setting up a biolab in Yaoundé, Cameroon after having met Winnie and Anthony! Will follow this idea of new collaborations on email, but having it here for the record would be great!" 3,38938,2017-11-01T10:48:37.000Z,38936,anon1227671133,anon1491650132,"Looks good! How do I add this link to your list? https://edgeryders.eu/t/results-of-the-diy-lab-analysis-of-water-contamination-in-brussels/7591/5?u=anon1227671133 I could put more info in also about the cheek cells and diy scopes etc… thanks again! RA p.s. do you think I should fill in the form about joining in for more ahead?? what is Winnie’s position in the group?" 4,38941,2017-11-01T11:28:33.565Z,38938,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Heya, we'll add it! I would really appreciate if you filled out the forms. Working to input that data into the a collective report, so the more concrete it gets the better, thanks Rachel! @anon2954219769 can speak for himself I guess.." 5,38944,2017-11-01T15:32:45.923Z,38938,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,I'm contributing to the Academy idea that took form after the festival. I believe we're going to talk about it more this evening at the community call (6pm Brussels time). Feel free to join :) 6,38952,2017-11-01T21:48:23.571Z,38944,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"sorry, our Hackuarium board meeting started at 6:30 today... but I am very interested in learning more and further collaborations, and wonder about mentions of swiss foundations to somehow help the open insulin effort in the Day 2 document from the OpenVillage Festival... I also wonder if Hackuarium (with its new P1 space, just officially opened today! my first bioluminescent strain - from colleagues at the UNIL - is growing on a plate now in Hackuarium, and we will be doing a first 'golden gate' cloning exercise, as part of the how to grow almost anything course, soon!!) might be able to start a small project to get involved in some real way. To get myself more up to speed I've done a bit of googling, and found this review of interest, from mainly egyptian researchers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4203937/ This PLOS One article was also interesting (even if one of the authors works for Merck): http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0167207&type=printable We do have one member who has done quite a bit of protein work, and is just about to turn in his thesis... Maanon1932026148 I can convince him that we should get really going, and form a project group around this idea. One extra thing I noticed, ironically: IP is used as a common abbreviation for the insulin precursor in the literature. best to all!" 7,38956,2017-11-02T08:30:16.433Z,38952,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Those are good articles to start on! I invited you to our Drive where there's plenty of articles. We should put all our brains together at some point with those that have specialized skills. Re: Swiss Foundation, yes this is an option! We're still figuring it out though. Following up on a lot of thoughts and threads from the Festival." 8,38966,2017-11-02T14:35:33.817Z,38936,anon1227671133,anon1491650132,"In terms of what I specifically learned, I realised I never answered you here... Because I really would like to get more people doing citizen science, and especially help them become aware of how easily we might be able to help our cells avoid too much damage, also for future generations, I guess one personal thing I (re)learned was how difficult it is to push ideas onto people directly. Even if they seem very nice. For one example, many times I would have liked to advice people to skip their cigarette break (since cigarette smoke not only can directly damage DNA but prevent its repair!), but I guess there was only one person that I even pointed this out to (very gently, I think)... I believe people have an idea that there are so many bad things out there, that one more makes no big difference, and of course adults are allowed to make their own choices. Nonetheless, I hope that if they could really understand 'why' such things are bad for us all, and the environment - based on this idea of 'dynamic genomic integrity' getting disrupted, things could change for the better... (here is the link to my public service association, http://www.genomicintegrity.org/ just in case someone would like more info in this regard. The summary flyer btw is available already in 10 languages, but I would love to make more translations, and would also love more 'flags' to show up the site's counter... I also want to point out to all the artistic people out there that the AGiR! Art Call is still open!!) Outside of these reflections, concretely, one project I hope to collaborate more upon in the future is to join in somehow for the open insulin project, most likely via Hackuarium and its newly inaugurated P1 lab. I would also like to help find funding for us all to keep learning more and ultimately help make the world better... (I finally filled in the form this morning...) Two more things: I didn't see whether the info I sent before got linked into your list, but probably 1) including the prezi link (https://prezi.com/fbdthanaocd2/citizen-science/) would be good, as it includes the protocol for the quantitative micronucleus assays and microbio of envtal water samples, origami microscope, etc. at the end. Also, 2) I encourage everyone who did bring home a foldscope to explore more via this site (https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/) especially checking out their 'usage tutorials' and trying to make more paper slides with tape and items of interest (insect wings etc)! Thanks!" 9,38977,2017-11-03T12:57:49.776Z,38966,anon2591396734,anon1227671133,"For a short time I was a science teacher in secondary schools. I even considered introducing the study of environmental chemistry instead of standard chemistry, but that didn't work out. But this kind of citizen science would bring great life to teaching, as well as helanon3606750899g adults take control of their own lives. I was fascinated by the citizen science aspect of the Festival as a whole. What comes through your posts beautifully, @anon1227671133, is the dimension of knowledge, experience and care (in the sense of being careful, rather than the other vital sense of caring for each other). The technology is secondary. Your posts here suggest that attention to the detail in the process is much more significant than, say, the difference between using a domestic pressure cooker rather than an official autoclave for sterilization. There's something here too that is shared between citizen science and open source software. It is that it is quite easy in principle to involve ordinary people in ordinary situations, without great amounts of expensive technology or large organisations. Back to schools, though. How can we get these ideas, and practices, into mainstream secondary education? Perhaps through, first, alternative education and home schoolers sharing resources? If we did manage to get into mainstream education, that would be such a powerful springboard into the hearts and minds of young people. In the UK, we can perhaps benefit in an unexpected way from present trends. There are still large numbers of standard council-controlled schools, but increasing numbers of free schools and ""academies"". While these are perhaps set up to allow private interests to profit from education (very distasteful), they can also be used to break free of some norms, and maanon1932026148 experiment with this kind of idea." 10,38981,2017-11-03T13:30:09.296Z,38977,anon1227671133,anon2591396734,"I hope we can 'break out' more with these ideas, especially with the next generation! I think that even ordinary schools might be up for this, even though (in my experience with a private school in Switzerland at least) many are much more well equipped than Hackuarium. Thanks, Simon, for your kind words (or probably I should say @anon2591396734)! It is clear that the details are important, but especially having a valid basis of comparison - the 'controls' - and replicates of tests (we usually aimed for triplicates, for instance, in the Montreux bay water sampling study, because the plates we used were pretty expensive, but 5 would be better). Additionally, I think also aims for raising awareness to increase active *prevention* for public health is a kind of 'care' for us all - to help avoid wasting not only future resources but especially suffering." 1,38811,2017-10-27T13:04:36.998Z,38811,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon1526983854 during the ""Harvesting Session"", at the end of the first day of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon3769417221]_ [quote=Harrison]Not clear what happens when people say “oh, let’s have no structure and be free”. Infrastructure is by definition invisible. We need to start understanding what it actually is.[/quote] [quote=Tory]More whisper translators would be useful.[/quote] [quote=Thomas]A community is like a dish full of food. Food is good, by the question is: who provides the dish? I really would like to know more about this?[/quote] [quote=anon589839666]I would like to talk about medicalization of lifestyles. Some people call for de-medicalization, and want to rebrand anorexia or autism or amputation as a lifestyle. _Where are the boundaries of “a medical condition”?_[/quote] [quote=French guy]We might be stuck into a situation where we are basing our thinking on false information. (Examples follow).[/quote] [quote=anon1526983854rey]My takehome points: (1) it is important to find likeminded people to share dreams with, but (2) it is frustrating when that does not go anywhere concrete. It would be great to have some kind of information about people’s skills.[/quote] [quote=anon2350529763]My takehome is about the footprints of what we do. Alberto’s Kathmandu example is that his project did not clean up the rivers, but it did increase the awareness that the rivers are polluted. John’s clinic is up and running, so that’s a fantastic footprint.[/quote] [quote=Henry]What is needed, on a personal level, for collective intelligence to work? How can we deal with immanent power structures? In my oanon3606750899ion the goal is not to take them away.[/quote] [quote=Chris]The will to freedom is the only thing that is stronger than the will power. I suggest to look for and improve forms of agreement not to be dominated (nondominium instead of condominium). Second point: how do we measure “units of care”. Third point: the destination is not the point, just like in the urban game the point was not getting to the coordinates.[/quote] [quote=anon2389685268]I really enjoyed the game. I am interested in family, and that’s where the care starts. Some people are now looking into chosen families – me too, as long as I have increased access to travel. But it feels weird to ask for health to chosen families, people who are not blood. Maanon1932026148 that’s old fashioned of me. But I would like to talk about family. Also: are we creating a kind of tyranny of reputation scores, a kind of God of judges us on the basis of our digitally encoded accomplishments?[/quote] [quote=Denise]I suggest we all introduce each other. _[Yikes! The idea gets voted out. Alberto proposes to build a sort of directory. Nadia proposes to put photos on the platform, where listening triads are listed.]_[/quote] [quote=anon1661517034]Inventory skills; also look for ways to encode them into data, and see if that engenders behavioral change, addressing perhaps public health concerns.[/quote] [quote=Frank]Address issues with historical, as opposed to egotistical, approach. Behave as what we do here matters.[/quote] [quote=anon70625510]How to do skills mapanon3606750899g in a way that is not anxiety inducing? Also: how do we channel our efforts in a way that is conducive to building something (we now call it the OpenVillage), and not let the momentum go, build something out of looking in the same direction?[/quote]" 2,38841,2017-10-28T06:55:08.824Z,38811,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"That kind soul was me. I was not yet familiar with the faces, so there is misattribution and shorthand like ""French guy"". Sorry :slight_smile:" 3,38846,2017-10-28T12:08:16.494Z,38811,anon1661517034,anon1526983854,"Hey mods, the 'American Lady' was @anon589839666" 4,38847,2017-10-28T12:52:42.935Z,38846,anon3769417221,anon1661517034,"Thank you, I edited it in :)" 5,38848,2017-10-28T12:55:45.984Z,38841,anon3769417221,anon1526983854,"[quote=""anon1526983854, post:2, topic:7585""]That kind soul was me.[/quote] Thank you for the writeup! So I have attributed the first post to you now." 6,38933,2017-10-31T21:15:29.843Z,38847,anon1661517034,anon3769417221,Thx! 2,38824,2017-10-27T14:33:06.184Z,38808,anon1227671133,,"good pics! still want to know what instrument those musicians played, and from which country. Here is another funny picture that I probably already shared with Noemi: (but look closer, is Owen on the bus or off the bus? This sort of follows the John Coate lead...?? :) ) " 3,38862,2017-10-28T20:48:36.092Z,38808,anon1526983854,,2 posts were split to a new topic: [Results of the DIY lab analysis of water contamination in Brussels](/t/results-of-the-diy-lab-analysis-of-water-contamination-in-brussels/7591) 5,38861,2017-10-28T20:46:11.567Z,38862,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"That instrument, @anon1227671133, was a [kora](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kora&atb=v88-3&iax=images&ia=images)." 6,38868,2017-10-29T07:52:57.755Z,38808,anon1227671133,,"aha! Thanks, Alberto! a sort of west african lute they say... and do you know the country the musicians actually came from, too? great sound ..." 7,38885,2017-10-30T13:15:29.706Z,38868,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Uganda :-) And @anon And [ this was the facebook event](https://www.facebook.com/events/295336234206667/permalink/297645477309076/) with a video :-)" 1,38718,2017-10-25T10:55:55.295Z,38718,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"As i mentioned to everyone in the session. [cache of volunteer guides zines and resources](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-_UtuXclJEYSWdic2l2c1Y1eEE). EMA zine one is our one. [EMA mixtape](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-_UtuXclJEYc2luejFCdTBNems) is a podcast selection that could be useful for new people getting involved. @anon477123739 @anon1138232662 @anon1661517034" 2,38719,2017-10-25T10:57:34.094Z,38718,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,@anon1904106503 @anon2442420827 3,38845,2017-10-28T11:56:27.014Z,38718,anon1661517034,anon3560946760,"Thank you for providing the resources. They are a wealth of information that I think anyone interested in understanding what goes into emergency aid should draw upon, even if they don't get involved directly. Looking forward to listening to the mixtape too on my flights back home." 1,38786,2017-10-26T23:43:16.960Z,38786,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during the ""The Edge of Funding - Sustainability and Financial Models"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_
[quote=anon948101822c] Active in the startup sphere. Mostly in technology companies. Invested in 15 companies. Most angel investors invest in what they know, eg. real estate. [/quote] [quote=Paola] Consider fellowships. Very analytical, structured way of approaching questions. Her work is looking at use of data in issues of social justice and criminal justice system. Used to work in Data For Justice: show inequalities in the criminal justice system. Lawyers, activists, advocates, … Gathered data and sued police department of Boston because they refused to open their data. Won the case. They were doing more stop and frisks in poor neighborhoods. The community was disproportionately targeted by the police department. But she was a ‘one woman band’, and that’s not sustainable. How can we get people paid, involve more people eg. through foundations of universities. Paola has been funded for her work through applying for fellowships. One at Harvard, MIT, Mozilla. Little by little gaining more experience and data for strategies that can be applied in different contexts. [/quote] [quote=Chris] Has been active on the platform. He’s looking specifically at legal frameworks that open new ways to create assets and manage them. A government is an agreement, a company is an agreement. Instruments (eg. shares, debt, derivatives). Nuance between rules of the game and the ball. If you’ve got resources, why do you need money? What sort of agreement or accounting or means of keeanon3606750899g score to do what we need to do. Has been conducting an international review and a historical review. What was here before banks? Commons? No, made proprietary. How has it been enclosed? 75% of money in existence is based on land. Came about through banks lending money for mortgages. Nobody really knows how the system works. How can we use complementary means to get done what we need to do with as little need for the system as possible, bootstrapanon3606750899g. ###Group for the long term: * **Henri:** Big botanical garden, bionics. It’s a venue. Alternative building and experimental building. Community living on site. Providing services for the events. POC21. * **Sohayeb** NGO Specialized in development. Several projects in mainly empowering people in marginalized and rural areas. Trainings, incubation, skilling up programs. For now doing all of these program for free, but looking for ways to make the program sustainable. * **Rami** Informal consultant for community garden. The land was going to be sold off, possibly soon. In Oakland gentrification is a big problem, so they are now looking into land trusts. Write a toolkit while doing this, because it is a sustainable strategy. * **Fabio** Open access health commons. Invite people to take care of their own health. It’s software, mostly a creation process. * **Bernard** Working on inventions for energy, water, economy. Mainly to have a kit so that everyone can create their own bank, their own money, to finance their own life. * **Bader** Civil servant in Tunisia ministry of tech. How can we use software development R&D IP for development with Tunisian and African youth. Collaborate between social entrepreneurship and existing state infrastructure. * **Winnie** open insulin, a way to put the gains and the production factors that go into producing insulin into the hands of patients or supporting organizations that have the interests of patients in mind. * **Frank** Trying to buy a large plot of land. Experimental farm, retreat center, skill sharing, residential. * **Kate** A program in Italy where they’re giving building to people under 40 without rent. Similar like Frank and Henri Money or money’s worth? We think of property as a thing. The development model in the UK is that you buy land, let it increase in value and sell it off. Land as a commodity. If you break down land, there are certain elements. First: rights of use (fishing, grow crops). Second: rights to fruits of use of land: who gets them. Mortgages: you’re giving the banks the fruits of the use of the land. Third: right to keep somebody out, exclusion. These three rights can constitute the sharing of surplus. We can easily create agreements that . If you have a piece of land and you put things into it (work, fertilizer, …) and then you get stuff out of it and distribute it. The way that we have been scaling this has been through companies with shareholders. Everything is a cost for shareholders, they don’t share. Imagine a club where, if you are part of the club, you get the right to live there. It’s going on in London. The club owns the land. You go to a landlord and ask for the rights of use. They put in the land as an investment. And they get a return. You need to do it long term, so that you actually invest in the place (you won’t do that if you are only there for 6 months). **Limited Liability Partnership.** A trustee says what will happen, a custodian says what will not happen. Moral rights. Non-dominion: no dominant rights, nobody tells you what to do. It is the right to be able to say no. **Asset partnerships.** A club is both open and closed. Anyone can become a member, but it only caters to its members. [/quote] ## Group for personal financing With Paola, @anon **Takeaway: ideally you find an angle which helps make some aspect of your work attractive to a funder. This validates the project and you, Once you got in the first time then its easier in the next times.** Paola: my theory is that collaboration is super expensive. Is should be paid because it is a lot of investment. We can convince foundations or orgs to pay people to collaborate. **anon2138500052: When people have no idea how to make a product, how do you do it?** P: What inspired me is community organising. It happens for the sake of community. Same with collaboration. The reason we do it is because we want to, not necessarily for an outcome. You bring your own perspective: you ask questions, how tech and openness and care interact. First try to diagnose what collaboration is possible, we are creating a framework with which we can operate. **Q: What happens when an organisation like ACLU gets empowered through technology?** (Data for Justice project). That was a question that starts it, You have the organisation and the community, so you promise to create a framework, That makes the funders to understand that they are creating a tool. Its also a guide for how to design a project. anon2138500052: still starting her project, doesnt know how to write a proposal. Working in a hard context in Egypt where its hard for civil society to work. Shes working on her project and not getting paid, but she has a support community which she can rely. Now collaborating with Hazem to write a concept not for the project to create a cycling infrastructure in Alexandria. She wants to gather activists, see what they can do and put it out there to the community, then assess. P: There are urban fellowships to create this. IE Women cyclists scene - your output would be normalizing the attitudes. Friend who was a bicycle strategist in Mexico. The fundable project could also be: looking at how other cities did it. Noemi: can you hop from project to project, while you are already giving most of your time to a core organisation, similar to a full time job? **Q: What do you think of the civic tech. Civic hacking scene?** Paola: worked with or for the Mexico Innovation lab, or Code for America. They try to substitute the government, but the gov doesnt work. So its practical, but its not long term. The gov gets away with problems they dont have to solve, because the hackers do it and do it for free." 1,38785,2017-10-26T23:18:23.184Z,38785,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon2828635509 during the ""Policy redesigned"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ [quote=Lucia] _(from City Council of Milan)_ I would like to share with you our observations. One thing is that civic awareness is increasing a lot. When I started working in Milan, it was top down, but now tensions are growing. In Milan we started a crowdfunding: 1300 became donors. They accepted to be engaged. They want a dialog with the public administration. And they aren’t used to that. We didn’t at first know how to manage that, to speak to citizens in a rational way, as a productive practice. Something else, public policy, especially top down is very dangerous. In these days, you talk about regenerating suburbs -- it is a public emergency. In the 60s, there were big blocks, without shared spaces, this approach was not public-centric. Third, traditional political parties can’t afford a top-down approach, they have no future if they can’t talk to people. Civic movements will replace them. Like in Turin & Milan, they are ruled by civic movements. If they want to survive, they are obliged now, to change their approach…. Our sanon3606750899off of OpenCare, is called Open Rampette this is a use case. [/quote] [quote=Matanon1201778428] _(City Council Member, Milan)_ Open Rampette is the sanon3606750899off of Open Care and is funded by Horizon 2020. We are publically funded. OpenCare is about the research that put together the collective intelligence…. We Make [a local makerspace] & Milan partnered together to talk with the community. Our scope was to figure out what was working, what wasn’t, and what was promising. We co-designed, and used the brain of makers in that process of co-designing. We focused on Article 77. The problem here is that regulation was designed without consensus or consulting the community. The office that designed it, didn’t talk to the constituency, and other offices. There was a 10% compliance rate, which is practically a failure. The way to enforce. We started thinking about how to rewire, This group put together a strategy for co-designing. And started to look for why people weren’t complying. [See mapanon3606750899g for stats]. In my oanon3606750899ion, we still thought that we were thinking top-down. We deconstructed the policy to figure out the bugs in the policy. This was the first step _[missing notes]_ The 3rd step was co-design session to find solutions, and to possibly fix it. We were ready to go back to the city council, and to talk with them if the solution we provided was implemented, if it was replicable & scaleable. [/quote] [quote=Constantino] (We Make, La Rampette): So I set up this mess to have Francesco join us. [/quote] [quote=RK] Is this being recorded? [/quote] [quote=Constantino] Yes _[Francesco appears on projection and shows us slide in Italian, bc of the local population.]_ We are trying to going from the very specific to a more general solution. What is very interesting, we at We Make, you can build products and stuff. The first idea we had was to actually produce custom ramps. But this wasn’t the main point. It was fast prototyanon3606750899g, how it can be applied to fast policy. The open care project allowed us to _[missing]..._ To me, this not a failure. The online platform needs to bring…. We created two roles to impersonate the shop owner and a person who wants to enter the shop. We frame the … _[missing]_ ‘La procedura’ is the bureaucracy. ‘La chiamata’ is the moment in the user experience in which the user rings a bell for the shop owner to open the ramp. The rule in Milan now is that the buildings need to be accessible, fullstop. These rules say that if the building isn’t under renovation, that they need to have at least have a temporary ramp, like an aluminum one. To call this ramp, you must ring the bell. We went into the process of meetings, in the neighborhood, touching base with all the local associations. The meetings were from 7-9pm, so we offered a drink to the participants. You can go through the pictures on Flickr. They were held at a community center, near to a garden, where many people go to with the their children. ‘La Chiamata’- is the user experience of the call. We went through different scenarios [of the user]. We found that a temporary ramp was not the best solution. But right now, we need to cope with this. We need to improve this. 2nd, we need a physical [missing] … We analyzed the comments from post-its, etc. then came up with a process. ‘Campanello’- a bell near the entrance, and we designed some technology with bluetooth. And feedback. The little rope was to experiment if there were other kinds of physical interfaces. We created these 4 sub-prototypes, including the stickers. An IoT object, was protoyped using arduino, and cheap components and we are working on the documentations on Instructables. The other part of the prototyanon3606750899g was part of the material, information architecture, the graphic design of the PDF [documents]. Many of the competencies could be transferred from the physical to non-physical. We did user research, and created interactive prototypes of mockups. There is a checkbox, a little calculation that the shop owner needs to make for the slope. This process is a lot, and may be a lot for each procedure, but this is something that shows what can be done. To show that you are compliant, we created a sticker that was visible. In these few[?] months, we met 3 different challenges [missing].... Being focused, you can be scientific, instead of talking in an abstract way, you can talk in a very practical way, and can introduce facts into the conversation. _[Nadia interjects saying no more ‘presentation’ time]_ [/quote] [quote=Francesco] _[Audio from Francesco brought in] Matanon1201778428 translating Francesco (a user tester)_ He was eager to join rampette…’The restart from bottom up is revolutionary. Not even the association that helps the handicapped deals with this kind of process. What was amazing that the reps for disabled were able to add on a cultural level, not just technical level. This is important, that the reailer in Milan has enthusiastically joined the program. From one side, the techical… on the other side, open rampette, makes it possible for those without limbs to activate the bell. This is the next step, I hope that it makes it possible for a universal shopanon3606750899g experience. Also, we hope that there will be a smarter interface.’ [/quote] ###Questions and answers **Article 77** Problem with Au Quai (where we are at present): Francesco (from Milan) could have been invited, but it was not accessible “Think about the new consumers if it is accessible” Reputation effects. Milan council: different districts have different reputations. Recruiting: went through associations Accessibility not just an issue for the disabled, also e.g. parents with strollers _**Q: Was there resistance in the different departments?**_ The policy was clearly top-down, designed without consulting audience. New buildings respond to universal accessibility. Defensive attitude in drafting the appilication of the policy. Convened meetings bring sides together to discuss language etc. Challenge about competences: if engineers wrote policies, they are not skilled in service design. Team is trying to foster and hybridise competences. Departments are silos. [quote=anon1526983854rey] how do you get people to comply for old buildings? [/quote] Isola district is limited part of the city, good compliance Intention within the project does not include scaling up for city policy Law applies only to shops on the ground floor. They try to be transparent in the design process. Needed to simplify and focus collaboration with the user. [quote=anon1526983854rey] _**Do others have experience of blending roles?**_ [/quote] _**Community research, theory of commons … Barriers between people. How can the rampette be considered a public good, as street lighting is already? Prototyanon3606750899g the policy is the challenge. Related to participatory action research?**_ [quote=Nadia] Favourite public art pieces: “capitalism works for me” buttons one was yes one was no, in public space, press buttons. Another methodology from Dutch “Kennisland”(?) putting the research where people are. [quote=anon1526983854rey] Getting as much feedback as possible is good. Paper or digital survey to take away. Bringing local people into the design process. Go from the particular case to the general case. Online community building shared knowledge. _**Bridging between case studies for particular issues and scaling or scaling up?**_ _**What general things have we learned about top-down policies?**_ [/quote] Tried a participatory approach for e.g. sharing economy. Started from draft document on Google Drive. Invited people to modify and comment the document. Final document was approved by the city council. Less nice: participation of 250 people in a city of over a million inhabitants. It was made as easy as possible, but many challenges. Very relevant for the Edgeryder community. Also important to pre-design the participation process. Should be developed through the process itself. No one method of participation that works in every situation. * Unpredictable. * Multiple factors * Need to be able to change the approach. Redesigning playgrounds of schools … difficult to communicate … e.g. sharing photos was too boring. They just went out to play, and tried things out. Threw out preconceived ideas and just watched them playing. Referenda cost millions of Euro." 1,38784,2017-10-26T23:16:04.915Z,38784,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon
[quote=Cindy Regalado] From what I seen so far lot of opportunities. Background: I started my work in 2004 in Baha california, working with communities there as part of masters research. I researched People who were providing care. [/quote] [quote=Eta] The difficulty of organising your work and what you are trying to build, how to overcome certain dynamics, for example gender and racial.. _**How are we able to give each other care when we are trying hard to give our best?**_ [/quote] ###Cindy Worked with communities In Cabo San Lucas fishing village of 300 people in Baja California, Mexico - it had a 20% growth rate by cca 2010. People were running day to day services - medical, legal etc. Cindy was working to integrate those networks in the masterplan of the town. Later she worked in the Ontario Public Service research group - enable students to gain credit in their course but applied at the community level i.e. work with an organisation or group. Cindy’s group built their capacity - to being understanding, to have facilitation workshops, grow empathy etc, complementing i.e. engineering skills. Now based in London, runs Citizens Without Borders, using improvisation methods to build enthusiasm and playfulness in taking initiative. [quote=Cindy] I am involved with the Public Lab, which produces a suite of open source tools to open/citizen science (https://publiclab.org/). Group of community members realised they need to get together and get their data. Formed after oil spill? Main job formative evaluation: Making sure people care for themselves ...DIY air photography project used air balloons to surveil the hot spots and get info in real time. -> i.e. Israeli and Palestinian children working together. [/quote] [quote=DITO] Do It Together Science at the uni of London (?) consortium - Cindy does formative evaluation, making sure that the partners are actually taking care of themselves. Build into design of activities the notions self care, self value and self responsibility. [/quote] [quote=John Coate] I will talk about deep collaboration, Who I am... I am older than most of everybody here, everything in my life was a collaboration, started for me as a teenager in San Francisco in the 1960s. And joined a group of people who wanted to come together and live and work together in new ways that makes sense for us, seeking a life of peace, self-sufficiency and care, started by living cheaply and trying to take what we can take from the roads in the US, at the time of war we wanted to be like messengers for peace, the core group of 250 people started to live together in buses in small groups and tour the country. _**“We wanted to be messengers for peace”**_ I found myself 19 living in a bus with 7 people that I don’t know, we started to know each other, and to start, being in a bus, we had to sit in a circle and talked in everything and developed trust, and then it is simple to sit in the bus and tour the country. That meant deep conversations. It’s where I started experiencing “going deep”. That ‘s where I began, then after this experiences, we decided to continue living together, bought land in Tennessee. That was the start of a 12 year that we lived collectively so that I didn’t even have my own money, in a way it was ultimate collaboration: we had to learn everything and how to take care of each other. We started to age and have families. We had neither the money nor the desire to go to the hospital for anything that occurred to us. So, we we taught ourselves to deliver our own babies, instead of going to the hospital, and that was a learning by doing. Throughout this, we had to collaborate with professional medical people, because bad things happen, and you can’t always DIY your way around them. A couple of local doctors who liked what we were doing helped us, and paved the way for us to deliver our babies and be self-sufficient, .. If you fast forward some years, our skill levels up and we could try to do good for people besides ourselves. So we founded a nonprofit. I found myself in NYC, in the South Bronx, at the time the poorest place in America. We started a free ambulance service for the people; again, in order to do that, we had to collaborate with local people. My point is that here, we set a counter culture of people who are doing good. But, in order for us to fulfil our goals, we had to collaborate with people who belong to the ”establishment” and we couldn’t have survived without doing so. Later on, we moved onto a new project: starting a free, bilingual clinic in Wash DC, the first of this kind. Again, the same thing: we collaborated with a bunch of doctors who could see the problem. We (the hippies) drove the initial fund raising, and provided the administration and structure behind it. The clinic is still working. After this I choose to move on with my family and moved to california, after being there for a few years, offered a job helanon3606750899g with a computer network that I knew nothing about, The WELL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WELL). It had itself grown out of a very successful countercultural project, called the Whole Earth Catalogue. … before that I was fixing cars to support my family. This is the mid 1980s the idea of people who use the computer to talk to others in a network was a new thing, I was hired to help it grow and support it, because of where I come from, when I got there the only thing I could do is to apply what I learned, so I made this term “online community”. I tried to help peple to have a meaningful expericne so they feel they are in a community and stay.Some examples… One is that we had the big computer , server, was a big box but slow for what we needed and did not have the money to buy a new one, so everybody who are using the system had interest to improve, it. We made this if people paid in advance for the subscription we can buy and improve the system.. The community itself came up with the money to do it Another one, a woman was a member of the community decided to go to india and become a buddhist monk , after some months , she became ill terribly. She was going to die. Word got back to us and a doctor in the community found a contact person to work with; and the community itself raised the money to airlift her with a helicopter, take her to the hospital where the doctor’s contact had prepared the ground, and treat her. She could then go back to the monastery. No one, I think saw, here again. That the community itself could do so for a person who didn’t see for month and may not see again, this was an incredible experience. It blew us away. We were clearly onto something. One thing I found, when going deep with people (not doing something for a week or month, not a collaboration), you are on a journey you make together, not a marriage, but you trust that collectively you can figure it out, Some people have leadership roles and some have supporting roles, like in a kitchen , not everyone is a chef. These roles can switch, you can have a supporting role then change and so on. [/quote] [quote=Cindy] An innovation setting creates a context where you can deal with uncertainty. In fact, dealing with uncertainty is central: you are trying to do something that’s not been done before. What’s the infrastructure for that? I have a very broad definition for infrastructure, and I want to hear more from you about it, includes ethos …….then there are the frameworks and actual processes, the legalities, the technical infrastructure, and physical infrastructure, The setting and the environment created by the people, creating safe spaces in order to nurture innovation, and organizational team , individual ...as infrastructure. And that forms multilayered infrastructure as well. This includes a critical review of the infrastructure; a common language and lexicon; common meanings; common or shared interests – they are all part of the nurturing infrastructure. [/quote] [quote=Eta] _**How do you banon3760936673ce the organic dynamics of the group with the need for infrastructure building and management?**_ [/quote] [quote=Cindy] In the current project that I am part of coordinating we have 11 partners different types of organizations they all have different structure, 2 levels here: * Creating an understanding * Then going back to the individual teams One of the roles that I do, listening to each organization and make capacity building workshops, the individual values and how this relate to the organization and their local environment and to the project By having the discussion framed this way, this creates a common understanding towards common shared interest, these are teams that hardly do so as they have different structural levels, ( this is within the same team ) ( this in between different organization ) The other aspect of it, each org, they are very particular and I organize exchanges in between each other [/quote] [quote=John Coate] We started out by talking about values first. That’s where we began. We as a group came to mutual understanding to what you can call a right life, we came into alignment, to be the change you want to see and we focused on that first. We were not very skilled in survival, some college degrees but mainly in English and literature, this doesn’t really help in building a water system. We made the values clear. At the same time, if you try to get everyone to agree on the every single thing that you believe, well… better bring lunch, because it might be a long process. We discovered we could find enough common ground, without necessarily agreeing on 100% of the issues. Our focus on medical care reflects that: we needed it to survive, and it was somehow uncontroversial among the group. Even if we do not agree on the fine points of doctrine, we can still do good work together, and bring about some concrete improvements. The clinic in DC, the ambulance service in NYC, these were concrete, and they were good. They would not have come about without collaboration with others, that often did not share all or even most of our values. You can’t hit people too hard with your values. For instance: non-violence. We were all vegans, but you can’t require others to be. Don’t judge other people as “selling out”. What is a deal breaker or not? This little group isn’t going to solve the world’s problems by ourselves. We need to work with other people. [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] Q: Can you preset boundaries – define them in advance? [/quote] [quote=John Coate] Yes: at what point do you feel so compromised that you can’t work with the other person? But not too tight or not with too much restrictions.. ( example of being a vegan community but collaborate and work with non-vegan, ……….but not work with violent groups for example ) Also depends on the situation, for example just before coming here in the last 2 weeks the place where my mother and family caught fire ….and you will not stop and discuss political stands in this situation. _**Q: What do others think of the idea that it is hard to work without a leader?**_ _Constantly reassessing the tactics used in a groups. Often some people take on leadership roles, etc._ [/quote] [quote=Eta] There are people’s natural tendencies – some people dive in and do a lot. Some people take on a more supportive role. Problematic when those roles reify and are not addressed. How do we also recognise that this week, this month, I may need to step back and take care of myself, or conversely have the energy to come to the fore? How do we let those roles organically switch between participants in the group? [/quote] [quote=Cindy] We struggled with in public lab – roles were fluid, hadn’t been defined. Different roles have different speeds which don’t match. Community organisers takes a long time to build trust. Tech people work at a different speed. Recognise parallels between different roles. We hadn’t defined the speeds and roles. Having playful times helped us to get to know body language and tacit signals etc. Knowing each other and knowing ourselves. _**Q: How do you define the boundaries? Need to know where you are at a particular time.**_ [/quote] [quote=Gehan] Sometimes we over-focus on leadership. More important is “power literacy”. Many groups aspire to flat structure with no leaders, but the power dynamics are dubious. Needto understand how power works in groups of people. Flat structure doesn’t work without power literacy. [/quote] [quote=Eta] Re-evaluating is important as you go along. [/quote]" 1,38783,2017-10-26T23:15:16.102Z,38783,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon ##Harrison _[u]By Bernard Dugas + Fabio Balli[/u]_ Some data about Respiratory Health: Daily we breath the quantity of air of a Hot air balloon, 1/5 persons is affected with respiratory diseases Asthma is the most common for children and COPD is more with the adults. One death over 6 is due to COPD, is one of the biggest disease in the UK We propose a different approach to see death, disease and wellness. If you see them connected in a line (see the image in the presentation), we right now just treat the disease instead we can invest in awareness education and growth, promotion and prevention. There is also an opportunity on health innovation for example: There are 165000 health apps available, the digital health industry is increasing and also we can produce more and more tools and devices. Breathing Games to treat Respiratory disorder. We started with a video game Hackathon at Concordia And we did that various time, we started calling them Health Game Jams, usually we have 20/30 people together splitted in team. It was interesting to mix: Research team + Hardware team + Visual sound and programming + Game designer Our goal was to treat disease but also to make people learn about respiratory diseases. If we look at our story a key moment was when we decided to share and put all the contribute online. This summer we did a residency in Milan (℅ We Make) and we develope our device, our “controller” for the games. Right now we have a library of game prototype, which is open and free for everyone. A thing that we discover with the residency was that in order to have a device that works well you have to test it regularly (in medical environment it’s a daily routine), so we decided to develop also the pump that could calibrate the device. We add to the first device also other measurement (the first one was detecting just the pressure) but now we can detect different data (and on doing enrich the game experience): the flow, the pressure, the volume of the breath and if the flow in in or out. The idea was to have a modular thing so we can test different sensors, all the 3d model are available and you can print it, and we builded a 3 liter pump calibration. There were key element that the develop: 1. Free software, that can be adapted and studied and shared. We used GitLab, Rocket.Chat to work online and discuss, Zotero for the research and Godot which is a videoGame engine, very similar to Unity. 2. Copyfair licensing We used AGPL3 protects the software that is in services, we use hardware from the University of Geneva and CC and P2P production License, the advantage is that it doesn’t enable companies to take your product (not really proved in tribunals). 3. Accessible documentation Chats for hosting, Wikimedia for databases, inclusion and Open Journal. 4. Research. We tried to do participatory research, having a discussion with people and moving towards, it’s a cycle instead of a line. Personal commitment is the key. And another difference is that when you do medical research you don’t have an ethical commitment, in this case you want to share your results. 5. Contribution System Economic part, we are thinking about creating tokens so you can make decision in the collective, and also the use of data that you collect with our games could be valuable. The data are very valuable, that can inform the policy maker, we want to produce a collective common. Problems that you see for your future? One problem is how to involve more people, and ask them free time, and also we have some struggle with financing our self, right now we accessed research funding but the growing of the project is slow and steady. Different suggestion arrives from the participant: A mixed revenue system, imagine solution and games that could be available in the market, like designing a kit that could detect your breath and give you back data about you (also if you don’t have illness), there is a very active movement that is into breathing right now, also yoga and mindfulness. Use the jams as a way to improve with big steps your development process (useful also for OpenVillage) Design and commercialize pre-assembled kit available for people that suffer from respiratory disease" 1,38782,2017-10-26T23:14:06.363Z,38782,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during the ""Ethics and Data Protection in Open Source, Community Based Projects"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ In 2018 a new law is going to enter in function in eu , regulate data The issue is the 1st time focuses Europe accountability and responsibility. Tiy would be clear to justify why this data is needed for your service. A person that will be independent from the board, and with his/her team is responsible for your data. Small organisations will have it harder to comply with the law, because it does not make sense for them to have an independent manager of privacy. Eg. now that the WAP2 protocol has been exposed as vulnerable, as a small business, you would need to get a new router right away, not wait for an update from the seller. Otherwise, by a literal interpretation of the law, you would be liable if data is leaked through a hack. But this does not make sense, there will need to be precedents in court, that interpret the law considering the scale of the organisation and the scale of the vulnerability or breach. The law applies to everyone that is active in the European region, even those based outside of it. The US does not have a data protection responsible. It’s hard for the government to do open date, because it is always possible to make links by cross referencing with other data sets. Basically, they would need to anonymize it to the extent that it is not usable. The telecom companies think about the data they collect as ‘their data’. According to the law, however, it is your data. Telecom companies for example thinks about the traffic data as its own data on how they work, although by law they are personal data. **How to enforce?** About privacy, it seems like a fragile system, if only one goes down, then you are also at risk. Everyone needs to be watertight for it to be work. This could be done by the new law you must identify why you are collecting your data. **Is there a way to broker in a market way the data?** Exchange consent to use your data in return for a payment (phone, $5, ...). * More of a question of exploiting vulnerability than a matter of exchange. The example of phones for homeless people in USA is mainly a simple exchange just names in order to make sure everyone got only one phone. In practical ( anon1526983854), not having emails in spreadsheets for example, unless you tell people and enable a methodology for them to delete, as this is going to be pricy, [ encrypt or if you don’t do it if you don’t need it ] **How to check where data is going?** **As a small person blogger, where do you go for help in safing up your data handling ?** 1st, question, the companies should appoint someone to do so according to the new law. As a blogger, then this should be done by the company that runs the blogs, ( wordpress or so ) unless you are self hosted, then you have to do it yourself. You would have to monitor your infrastructure and this is not easy, but I presume if taken to court, a judge would rule you have no responsibility, but if you are running a platform with 200 contributor May be it is about what data you are collecting You are responsible equally on personal data, whatever it is. Then if you have no obligation in collecting actual names and emails then you have no sensitive data. **If a company is taken to court for not giving someone his data?, can they go for many people ?** Depends on the percentage, if the whole europe brought Fb to court , that's something but if one person, then its one person. Recenlty there was an experiment in us uni, over 90% of students express extreme importance of data security ...and outside 100% gave all there data to get a free pizza at a stand just outside. **On the IOT, barcelona ?** The problem of IOT , like environmental sensors that are inside homes, _[..................]_ Rise of citizen science projects and DIY data connection If they work with Europeans according to law they should abeid by the new law, if applicable. Citizen science has an advantage, as they are communities not companies. As you will find lots of experts in between communities. _[...........]_ Even if the community has their own rules and ethics, but once they publish something then they become visible and must justify the process. ##Trust and credibility * **For audience “How do you a trust an organization ( or not ) ?** * **What’s your criteria ?** * **Do i know the people , can I talk to them?** * **If a friend vouches for them, Where is the money come from or who owns them?** In data ethics , 1st The commitment of doing no harm. This can not be trusted **But if they are enforced ?** The issue of they are committed and must do this. When you are running an activity making sure to be transparent that you commit to protect the data from risks that can be now or in the future, in a transparent process. So GDRP is extremely paralyzing in one way, but there is a rational behind it, and transparency and being open is a part from a plausible plan. FROM now till May, what is being done? We are now already in a grey zone, the text was published last year. Currently, lawyers are making some consultancies. Brussels for example data and groups come together every 2 weeks to discuss , including data experts, lawyers and so, and possibly in every other place. **What about the open source software and platform, like discourse, but what happens in these situation?** Open Source in principle says it comes as it is, unfortunately it becomes the problem of who’s running it. Otherwise you will have to do it yourself. **How did this law came about to be ?** ( John Coate as this didn’t pull up in the US ) Value chain map as a better alternative for SWOT." 1,38781,2017-10-26T23:13:15.818Z,38781,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during the OpenVillage Festival. Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ 14.00 - 15.30: Friday 20th October 2017 @anon Session began with 12 people approx in the room horizontally resting. Healthy situation already existing in the context of busy, intense couple of days. Participants invited to do gentle breathing exercise before sitting upright. Getting to know each other a little better through movement, throwing a ball around, and questions to aimed at revealing commonalities and skillsts. * Only one or two people in attendance had coding skills. * English was the dominant language, more than 50% could speak a second language. * Majority of attendees had some degree of experience in healthcare. * One attendee was an architect with basic knowledge of welding. * About 5 attendees had some type of physical combat/martial arts training/experience. Slideshow of Bernard’s experience of creating healthy situations in Galway, Ireland; food garden on the grounds of a primary school, engagement with policy makers, cultural events with multiple groups participating, trialing and develoanon3606750899g a Galway “Monastery”. **“What makes a space healthy?”** Isn’t that obvious? Nature, greenery, sustainable ecological practices, etc.? Not necessarily. How we interact with each other is more significant. Laugher is important. If there is no laughter or potential for laughter then it is not a healthy space. Space for an individual to be alone. Somewhere quiet away from noise. There are so many things, is the question too broad? Add a word, “what makes a space healthy for everyone?” / “what makes a space healthy for an individual?” Wheelchair accessibility. Fair economy, the situation in Egypt. Space to be creative. Key cards “hurdles” from the methodology kit: Distractions, roles, workplace. Suggested additional card that was not found in the pack: Self-care. Session ends with a short guided, seated meditative breathing exercise, aimed at acknowledging and dealing distraction. The room was bright, spacious, comfortable with good acoustics. Mild to moderate external noises." 1,38780,2017-10-26T23:12:13.975Z,38780,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon1526983854rey during the ""Complexities of Water"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ [quote=Alberto Ray] Start at the beginning and how my work as an artist has evolved and how the metaphor started to incorporate science then how it got into community work as well. There are some books for the people to have a look. I was born in Cuba and asylum to Mexico then to Miami then 15 years moving around the north east , I relocated 20 times, lack of home made a huge difference for me, my art work became more layered , then started to think about the idea of landscape with relation to culture, how culture is formed from the landscape. **Artwork is presented** While I was working on these black and white images from cuba, So in USA, the artist go out in the wilderness and bring this large artwork, and people can experience art and science thought these paintings. I started to make these painting to the fish species and document the bodies of water that the people walk by everyday to make this connection to the audience, to connect their experiences. As I started too, if you understand your regional waters then you will understand your global waters, so I moved to document that. Connect the global and regional issues, if you understand what’s happening in your hometown you will understand what happens in the global scene. This connect the traditional way of doing art to the contemporary work, I started to extend my knowledge and started to do books and video like the book about Nepal written in Eng and hindi so it is accessible. The idea to use the painting with sound and video and project them very large to the audience to connect to their landscape Invited to several venues around the country, **Examples of different exhibitions** One, making test and investigating the water and discover how polluted it is even though people live naturally with it and near it. One sample was very high on e coli even though it is in a part that is supposed to be relatively cleaner than the nearby places. Kathmandu, has this river , the holiest river and the most polluted, I wondered how a river that is so important become so polluted, made a research and the it is very complicated, the cultural importance of water is very deep people use it bathe in it and then some how it became very polluted. Took 5 venues, and made a report from water experts , and used them for the book and exhibition, …..and came to a point it is being danger just to be exposed and step in the water, students collected samples made some designs. Interviewed a lot of people for the documentary, talking about the water and how it became a cultural practice. How it became important in the buddhist culture to wash the bodies of the deceased to wash their bodies in the water and then release them, then water became very polluted, and this stopped, but this was really important for the culture. On development of Kathmandu and how it grew from the the 60s till now, there is not enough sewage control, so every stream that feeds in the river is polluted, by the time it leaves the valley the water is black from sewage and industrial waste, Now they have gotten grants to build water treatment units, some were build some were not due to corruption. The hope at this point to clean the water but diluting the water till they get enough water treatment plants. This was the art side, now the community side. The fly fishing program We meet every week and reflect on how many insects that live in the stream. Besides fly fishing we talk about the value of water how to evaluate how clean the water is, and we up the stream collect the bugs, and the no of bugs tells us how clean is the water. Program started 18 years ago. Lots of underprivileged people ?in the inner city A lot of students went to environmental sciences, these individuals to become stewards of the environment. We provide mentors for the kids and provide a positive role model, that we found that to be very important in these communities We realized that there are needs in other communities, it was clear we couldn't go for all these communities to do the same, then we started to work with adults, community leaders, teachers, etc so we started a conference and we provide all the equipment and the materials with 50 % discount from the industry for them to start their own program. We host also a steam cleaner, not only clean but plant trees they allows more bugs to survive. We have done 5 conferences already , in the mornings in the classroom and in the afternoon we go to fly fish, and see it as an activity to bring students outside. After this we are going to work with communities in new mexico. Now working on extinct birds art work collection. As we are facing mass extinction nowadays. Last thing that flyfishing does, We started to re introduce this fish species, they are very sensitive to water quality, we fundraised and worked with the youth and adults and we are now fro 7? Years introducing this bruter? Fish to local waters. The fish started to migrate to other streams as well. This was very successful and we are continuing with the program and trying to expand it. [/quote] [quote=winnie] _**How you approach the same thing in Nepal?**_ [/quote] [quote=Alberto Ray] When we started the program, was very small, had 4 students took years and sometimes we couldn’t find a place to have it, this made us seem unpro, then we found a place that can host us every week, then it started, this consistency is important. We used not to make in the summer, then now we do it all year round. We have kids that r 10 years old and mentors that are 80 years old In Nepal , we spend a lot of time to work with water experts and find info that are not mentioned in the documents, the main issue with kathmandu is for the generation , the youngest generation has no memory of the river being clean, they have the idea of it is always dirty and will always be this way. And if the old generation didn’t work on reclaiming their old vision there is a sense of hopelessness as the young was accepting the situation. We were there to make a difference, and participation level was different, there are a lot of things that are needed to be done. It could happen. Often it takes one person to market that difference, you can start and ask for the assistance, but you need somebody to organize and help and raise the funds, and you will find a lot of interested people who don’t want to be leading but they want to be there and help with what they can, Then you gotta have fun doing it. As most of this is volunteering. [/quote] [quote=Islam] For kathmandu what are the steps need to recover it if you will stay for longer? [/quote] [quote=Alberto Ray] There has to be political incentive to do it, there are a lot of non govt. organization who do what they can, but when the money goes to the government, it stops there, so if anyone wants things to be done they give money to these ngos. There were a group of women who were collecting water and got introduced to clean the water using ceramic filters and others techniques these was done by these NGOS. A lot of other problem with the groundwater, so there is also lack of water, Its a problem that is there for a long time, now there is a pressure to do something as even some people can have their political positions in stack. Acoli alone is not harmful but the mix and other wastes together ( note form the biologist from the audience ) [/quote] [quote=Alberto Ray] Funding for the flyfishing It is kinda a long story I was going in a flight sat next to a guy we got to talk, and then by the end so what do u do, I work in an organization that gives funding for groups who work with kids,.... Not too much, but enough to do stream cleanon169343781ps, and make some sponsors for the cleanon169343781ps and what's left we put in the flyfishing and get donations and equipments for free. After having a consistency it's easy to get free equipments , even more than what we need, we even give them to other groups [/quote] [quote=Sohyeb] _(The most exciting discovery)_ It was probably couple month ago when we found out that there are bructa (the fish species ) down other streams, which was not expected to survive. The idea of this and the kids to realize this they handle life fish to put in water. _(Saddest discovery)_ The bagmati (Kathmandu river) we try to do what we can , but just seeing the level of corruption and you like to be hopeful but you don’t know. There is hope they make every saturday they have clean ups this never stops even after the earthquake, The water is still toxic but when they finish, you can’t find a piece of paper by the banks. [/quote] _**Was working with fishermen, and they want clean water but they do affect the water?**_ Just a comment as the people don’t know how was the river being clean, we are also for example don’t know how was it before money . [quote=anon1491650132] What's your expectations from this place, the people here, the festival? [/quote] [quote=Alberto Ray] My program started from a discussion for 2 hours with another person , I wanted to do something for the kids in my community. To figure out the nuts and bolts, then you have a community of helpers and get started. What is the cultural significance of bodies of water? Understand regional and global issues. [/quote]" 1,38779,2017-10-26T23:11:04.645Z,38779,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon281534083 during the OpenVillage Festival. Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_
_photo by bärbel maessen_ ##John Focus is on openvillage, edgeryders and reef The whole premise of openvillage is that the entire network benefits from every single one in it. **Benefits:** Exchanging ideas that lead to action, helanon3606750899g each other professionally, taking care of each other. There is no single path in doing this. Who am I , john describing his journey in the us and how the Tennessee community started from a bus ride across the US in the 70s during the Vietnam war, then deciding to continue living as a community after that, bought some cheap land in there, and started building it. Just a comment on why he is called Tex in email :D found a cowboy hat in an old car, he was a car mechanic, and people started calling him Tex :D Went to the south Bronx in NYC , squatted a building in the poorest neighborhood there, because of their experience, they decided to take care of each other and provide our own health care. One got the idea of going and making an ambulance for the people around. As there were no doctors and poor health care around. This worked for 6 years, he was supporting and setting up this not the medical person. They had to deliver their own babies. Regenerate the midwifery movement. Then to Washington DC, collaborated with some doctors to initiate the first bilingual clinic there. Then Back to California, fixing cars, then went to work at the WELL, and the whole earth catalogue. Supposed to work on customer support and marketing in time I became to John became what is now known as an online community manager. He basically invented the field. He had an intense living-working experience. In 1994 John co-founded the first online news website, SFGate. Combine news articles with community dialog. Help journalism be better, help the community be smart. A hybrid of oanon3606750899ions with fact checked professionally written material. _**What makes the Open Village and The Reef different?**_ Doing online community, living space and working space together is rare. This is authentic pioneering work. This hybrid of virtual and physical community. Not having them be separate entities, but blend seamlessly into each other. Each depend on each other. They need to be connected. Open Village is a network of houses with an autonomous network affiliation. The Reef is one of those spaces. The communities need to be shaped by the active participants, yet there are some general things in common. John offers a toolkit to improve our likelihood of success and how to not screw it up. _It’s all about relationships._ John wanted to make the online experience as meaningful as possible, foster deep relationships, in the online community. Working honestly and compassionately in the open with each other. It had not been proven, but John had a conviction it would work. _A culture of sharing and respect._ It must express online and offline in word, deed, ??. It has to be clearly evident to everyone who shows up, lives, works, stays. It’s a commitment and has to be corrected if there are deviations. You have to want the togetherness. You need to be committed. Or the ups and downs will get to you. * **Work hard** John wasn’t very suited to the community life. But he wanted to be with his community members more than he wanted to remain how he was. He became a hard worker. * **Share** Don’t let things escalate. Keep it up. Share is a verb, an action, do it, initiate it, don’t wait for someone to do it. It is bad to let things lead to an eruption of conflict. * **Be Open and Honest** Talk about what limits you want to set. Don’t get mad if someone asks what’s going on. “Oh, nothing” is not an answer. * **Provide Service** Your attention and effort goes beyond your own job, projects and personal interests. If you see something that needs to be done, you pay attention to it and take the initiative to lead it. Don’t be a Complainer, Grouch, Jerk (or worse) Everyone has their moods. Do they drive you, or do you drive them? Don’t let them drive you. Make Time for Fun If it’s no fun, no group will be working for the long haul. _The magic of affirmation._ Encourage someone. Finding something you like in another person and lift him up by telling them. Not like a ‘like’ on Facebook. Show that you’re paying close attention to a person. You can help grow more of that in the other person by expressing it, bringing it out. Never fake it, if you don’t see it, don’t say it. Be honest. Keep it real, don’t overstate it. “I see your better self in yourself, but what you just said or did does not really express it very well”. It’s not about stoking up ego or building self esteem. Not “you are great” but “what you just did or said is great”. _Living Arrangements, maintenance, sustainability._ You have to make some decisions about how you maintain things and manage yourselves. Take time to have a conversation about it. Find skills, strengths, go into it with an open mind. It might take some time to do it what works well for everyone, but not doing it will lead to problems down the line. You want to put out a clear sense of being positive people that are an asset to the nearby community. Decent power, good food, good sanitation. A lot of landlords of pretty lax. Someone needs how to not get shocked or overflow the plumbing. Sanitation can kill your community. One richer community failed due to overflowing toilets. Grow strong human connections and commit to those. _About the money._ No money = no projects, no food, … Grants do not pay for operations. Sometimes projects net a profit, sometimes not. You need to come up with ways to provide for yourself and this will test the community. Who’s owed, what is owed? What’s on him? You can’t mess this up, or it’s a big hole in your boat. What’s your own money, what’s the group money? You and the group need to decide how the rent will be paid. Are you willing to pool your money and then decide to spend it? John lived without any own money for 12 years. _The projects that make the money._ Is everyone in the kitchen the chef? How much ownership do you have over projects? Is there commercial potential? Do you know how to read a contract? How would you feel like it’s your job to make money for the group, rather than working on your own ideas and projects? Or is the well-being of the whole group more important for you? Are you willing to set aside your own project for a time? Are you able to set yourself aside for a while, working for the whole? Over the long haul, roles can change and reverse at times. John worked a long time ‘sacrificing for the whole’, working as a mechanic, maintaining appliances. But then he raised seed money for the clinic. You just never know what’s going to happen. You need to pay attention, be committed, and it may just fall on you to be the catalyst that turns the key. Can you think of ways to combine projects? Be more than the sum of the whole. Leave your ego at the door. _Who decides what?_ Will you decide through one person? Consensus? Decide on yourself. Be thorough and not attached to just your own personal desires. Who is good at what? What about chores? Everybody should be involved in basic household work and (the usually more fun) project work. If you see something that needs to be fixed, don’t just walk away: step up. The project leader is not necessarily the leader in the living arrangements (important for working-living situations). Perhaps individuals with natural leadership, but it is not a given that this authority carried over to the home situation. It’s about claiming or granting an authority role. _Stay healthy._ People living together share a lot of germs. Pay attention to basic hygiene. What if everyone gets the flu? John has a hepatitis B story. Someone came and cooked, infected everyone. Bad stuff, could barely function. _Privacy and personal space._ At what point does your personal space spill over to the common? Where do you draw the lines? John lived in a complete transparency, mental nudist community. It served him well as an experience in every community situation afterwards. Don’t escape into your Phone. Don’t obsess to remove yourself from the group. Or you’ll miss it. Alienation can begin in the tiniest things. _Visitors*._ You want to convey a business like feeling. There needs to be a reason for someone to hang out longer. _Living and Working._ The online space. Have physical meetings. Have parties. The people who are not face to face, but are online, still benefit from the bonding that the people who do meet physically have done. Magical! And vice verse. The whole network gets stronger from different relationship building. The online is a good diary, everything is searchable, but the diary needs to be available by serious documentation and linking and structuring. _Managing online community._ Someone will be main point person, but everyone needs to know how to do this stuff well. There needs to be consistency. Even when there is debate online. Finding commonalities by discussing differences. You want your online self to be close as possible to who you are in person. Not knocking roleplaying; but this is how Edgeryders does it. You can’t be too casual on how you accomplish that. You want your work to be as if your speaking naturally, but you are crafting your words so that it seems like you’re spontaneously communicating. You need to compensate for the loss of that you can’t communicate through words. That takes effort. Make your communication ‘hyperreal’. Project yourself deliberately. Being real is important, and consciously set out to achieve this to get to a place of deeper connection. _Model the behavior you want to see in others._ Zen master: the main point is to keep trying. That’s why they call it practice. The online environment is restricted to words, pictures, videos, but there is an emotional subcarrier that goes out together. And they will be received and felt by the people at the other end. Hippies called it the ‘vibes’. _Be Someone everybody trusts._ Vouch for people and they will vouch for you. Ultimately trust is the basis for everything functioning. Otherwise everything falls on the ground. Many people who are smart and socially capable, had however not experienced the community feeling, the bigger picture. Yet it is the essential part of coming together. John was the trusted person that initially brought everything together. This was a crucial way that this group of talented people became something they themselves called a community. ###The hats you wear * **Leader** Give all a place to talk, meet and collaborate. Yet Edgeryders is not a democracy. Someone is responsible at the end. You have responsibilities as leader * **Participant** You participate, even as you maintain your leader status. You need to participate well, then you will also lead the group to deeper understanding. * **Moderator** * **Mediator** Arguments happen. Usually it resolves without intervention. But when you do intervene, do it without expression of your own oanon3606750899ion. * **Helpdesk** There will be people who don’t know how to do something. Help them, or they will go away. * **Librarian** You need to know where things are, link to related material. Help people find out things. * **Analyst** How many people do you have? How do they participate? How long are they here? Weave them into the story you tell to people who support or fund you. _The Devil is in the details._ You can’t really multitask in real time. Your brain just does really fast switching, not really multitasking. When you wear multiple hats, you’re going to have to be really good at switching. Full attention here, then quickly somewhere else. People involved in ‘visionary’ work, often don’t like admin. Yet it needs to be done well, it can endanger projects. It is pivotal. There can’t be mistakes or the consequences will be big. If you’re good at it, you should step up. Pay attention to the details. Being good at the admin details will net you respect from people who are more business or financially minded. _Authority versus authoritarian._ Authority is recognized by others and reinforced. Authoritarian is processes and rules that enforce without optimizing for what actually is important for the community. Make sure that, when you grab the wheel, you know what you’ll be doing. Don’t act like you’re right all the time, just because you’re the “manager”. Admitting your mistakes and striving not to repeat them, actually builds more trust you’ll need to do your work. _IRL (In Real Life)._ In fact it’s all real life. You want to be as close to your real self as you can get. You can to project onto others what you think is the best of yourself. Show that you’re being honest and your intentions are good, that you’re part of something bigger. _Regarding negativity._ Conflict and negativity are inevitable. Yet it does not need to dominate any group. It is not healthy to suppress unexamined feelings or thoughts if they are unpleasant or inconvenient. Get objective enough about the negative to prevent it from spreading, and to fix it. Not about being fake happy, but separating what you want to say from the emotion you are experiencing that is driving you to say it. Don’t make it worse by projecting the full load of negative feelings you may have: mindfulness. Don’t let it go too far. Everyone knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of a rant. Everyone experiences a bad mood. How do you straighten it out? First: separate informational content from the emotion of it. _Conflict._ Easy to get in, hard to get out. It applies everywhere, online and offline. It seems like people are calibrated to misunderstand each other. We need to figure out how to rise above it. Good news: conflict can strengthen bonds (as well as weakening it). Your bond is stronger if you know that can resolve it, because you have in the past. It is important to carry this with you. You will always know that you have done this. Do not seek conflict, yet do not avoid it if you have to go there. _When do you talk about it?_ What is your business, what is someone else’s business and not yours? Sometimes it does work without addressing it. Relationships often have a “honeymoon” phase. Where everything is “awesome”. The longer you know someone, the more things you find you don’t actually like that much. You want to avoid a buildup of irritation that becomes to hard to sort out, because you have lost the trail where it got sorted. Can you let it go, or do you need to talk about it? Some people are just not aware that what they do bothers other people, and they don’t mind being told. But you don’t want to be the behavior police, straightening people out. As a default, it’s better to say things than not say them. Am I the problem, or are you the problem? Ask yourself before you blurt out. Problems in a relationship are never 100% one or the other. _Receiving feedback can be hard._ Sometimes giving it is even harder. Getting defensive, it’s difficult to have empathy. It’s hard to give this feedback in an open and trusted way You can’t erupt. You need to work on it together? Have compassion for the person who is trying to give that feedback. If both people understand that equation, it will go better. _Oversupply understanding._ This is central. The art of listening. Cut people some slack. Try to understand where they’re coming from. If they’re having a hard time expressing things. Be diplomatic: the essence of being a diplomat means that if you’re at a table with 9 other people, you’ll talk 10% of the time and the rest you listen." 1,38778,2017-10-26T23:07:13.369Z,38778,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made during the ""Building OpenVillage"", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the ""Flag → Something Else"" feature and a mod will fix it. – @anon169343781]_ ###TEAM Hazem, Anique, Baderdean, Thomas Mboa, Alex levene ###Vision [quote=Hazem] A distributed network of homes working together for a better future beyond borders. Working for a better future means different things for each place. It has a sense of home for the local community. Best for their own local communities and for the broader vision and community. [/quote] [quote=Anique] Mobilizing to change the system towards inclusive well being. I see there are two spaces in which that happens. Building it through the online space Living it in the physical spaces Unleashing it Mobility between the physical spaces. Moving into public spaces. Long term I see opportunities in semantic web where the online platform meets the houses. [/quote] [quote=Baderdean] Safe places and communities. A place where you feel safe to build and have healthy relationship with people. Then on top of that ideas and projects and all the stuff that people can bring, they benefit and exchange experiences. Feedback from people outside your project that have another way of doing things. A network of skills so that you can access specific skills you can use at a specific time. And to learn, just be curious and to learn from others. [/quote] [quote=Thomas Mboa] I draw in two pictures: 1) There are some principles that inform where the vision should go 2) Commons -Concrete and tangible things that should be shared in the village: resources (material and immaterial), . Nobody should feel outside the village. All these resources should be embedded in a global vision [/quote] [quote=Maira] For me openvillage is a community, the physical part is not so important. It’s a community that is sharing knowledge ..It’s about the relationships that people establish between themselves. [/quote] [quote=Alex] A series of physical locations tired directly to their local communities, offering support and guidance to social entrepreneurs, linked together through an intangible online network. Someone comes along and says hi I'm new. Oh welcome to my space the reef London- why don’t you talk to my community online . Oh wow - so many people doing so many interesting things in so many different places!. Hi! I would like to build x. Great! There’s a crew in morocco that’s running a project like that. Why don’t you go and visit them to learn. Hi welcome to the reef morocco why don’t you... [/quote]" 1,38604,2017-10-20T07:04:29.577Z,38604,anon3301928407,anon3301928407," There are 3 different main communities I am working in and on- * Co-Housing * Cetis LLP learning tech coop * Local Quaker community. The big question which haven’t solved is *Care*. In co-housing they are very good at governance. co housing. Other networks are focusing on the technical stuff. Edgeryders is focusing down on the Care. Edgeryders is talking about care: where is the structure? where is the actual scaffolding? Care is a really sensitive issue. People don’t like intrusion and people don’t like isolation. In my community beyond the house and the village ,there is no intermediate scale of care. There is a well being lack in our community.People are not having their needs met or not getting on down with the individuals. That's not a very caring way of doing it. Some of us can look after our own needs alone, but its very difficult. A village context is exactly where I can see it happening In my co-housing community because there are not formal structures for care and well-being: its all informal. [/quote]                                        " 4,38757,2017-10-26T07:21:53.795Z,38604,anon281534083,anon3301928407,"I wonder if there are co-housing communities that do include care. I think giving care in many respects requires a deeper level of co-commitment than housing. At least it seems to me that hard as it is to give up a physical living space, if one of your cohort gets really sick and needs help and has no other people to help and it falls on you to give that help, I think that would be very hard to walk away from. But that level of commitment requires a lot of agreement up front or it won't be reliable." 5,38765,2017-10-26T14:36:31.167Z,38604,anon3301928407,anon3301928407,"Is this post addressed to me? I didn't write this post, so it's a bit confusing." 6,38767,2017-10-26T14:53:41.616Z,38765,anon70625510,anon3301928407,"Hi Chris, the notes from the listening triads which were submitted to us have been split into individual topics so that people who wish to connect with you based on shared interests etc can easily do so and you can find them in case you want to make additions/changes." 7,38768,2017-10-26T14:54:19.166Z,38767,anon3301928407,anon70625510,Ah! No worries 8,38769,2017-10-26T14:55:04.672Z,38768,anon70625510,anon3301928407,You can find all the documentation and post-festival discussions here: https://edgeryders.eu/c/festival 1,38736,2017-10-25T14:34:46.919Z,38736,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"_[**Editor note:** The following notes were made by @anon ##Harrison _(From New York)_ _Work done in NYC
_
**“Is it relevant to European context?”** _(Nabeel question: cultural context, Western centrism of some numbers?) - Something about people being healers?_ **Goals (extract):** * Seeing Crisis as an Opportunity: “Vacuum” when US state agency collapsed. Opportunity for us to fill the void. * Actionables of this new framework **First, why scales? what does scale mean?** * 3 people vs 12 people vs 1k people vs millions (a Nation) * How number of people impact effectiveness. * Dunbar number **What is the Dunbar number?** * Public discourse “150 friends is the max number of friends” “men should meet twice a week” * Scientific definition: “When a group size exceeds this limit, it becomes unstable and begins to fragment. This then places an upper limit on the size of groups which any given species can maintain as cohesive social units through time.”, Robin Dunbar 1992 **Human “Fibonacci sequence” (just an analogy)** * Corporations, Start-up and military build strategies to counter the “Dunbar number” effect like split the engineering teams (corporation), ideation meeting rooms have only 7 seats (start-ups), build small unit (military) * We are more versatile in our belonging circles than in the past (tribe as only and sufficient circle) * upper and lower limits…. **Size of human groups impacts groups dynamics:** * Working group (5-17): consensus is possible * Judas Number (~13): competing people for power (hierarchy) splitting in two groups * Non-exclusive Dunbar Number (25-75): not the only group you belong to * Dunbar valley (~90): tends to split * Exclusive Dunbar Number (~150): greatest number of known exclusive group (tribe), agile institutions and beliefs **Sizes of “circles”** * support circle 3-5 * sympathy circle 10-15, e.g. to talk to in some kind of crisis * trust circle, about 150 – for easy socialising, and trusting some things but not so much emotional * Emotional circle: about 300 – positive affinity for; you know about them, their name, a little bit about them, but not close friends * Familiar strangers: about 1500+ – people whose faces you may recognise but you don’t know their names _5 minutes of “Ramp up time” per person means that you can only could have 15 people in your circle_ **Health:** * Sums of technological solutions (mobile app for doctors, soylent for food) isn’t a answer to health and moreover to “death anxiety” * In the US we’re not good to deal with death, death is put away (old people are far away from the center city, we dress differently for funeral) * Fist Medicine is actually Community (Us)" 3,38745,2017-10-25T17:18:18.866Z,38736,anon70625510,anon2066188386, 4,38750,2017-10-25T21:11:13.117Z,38736,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"I remember @anon2389685268 on Day 1 of the festival saying that we have now chosen families, but he finds it difficult to turn to chosen (non-blood) families for care. This relates back to @anon2066188386's circle of support, but it also suggests that the circle of support is not small because of limits to human cognition (as it is in Dunbar), but because of something deeper related to familial ties. I, too, would be interested in knowing more about this question by Bilal." 5,38755,2017-10-26T05:08:27.711Z,38736,anon281534083,anon2066188386,"There is a lot of insight in @anon2389685268's observation. Maanon1932026148 then family isn't quite the right word for ""chosen family"" if it doesn't include that level of commitment. Deep medical care requires commitment and often a lot of financial resources. Coming together to live for an unspecified time, doing work projects together and other deep involvements still generally do not include the level of commitment that generally comes with one's blood family, at least not in the long arc of one's life. Even when members of a blood family don't get along that well, I think there is still in most cases one's best chance of getting serious care compared to a circle of support or a chosen family if one doesn't have the resources to afford it for themselves. Unless that commitment is stated and agreed to, not unlike a marriage...""in sickness and in health."" I have known that kind of commitment with people not in my blood family. But now, years later, although I am still very close to my ""tribe"" from that time, I do not assume that I would receive that kind of support from them. That said, there are people in the extended group with similar status who have needed more care than they can afford and have received support via GoFundMe type efforts and benefit events. But past something like that, not so much." 1,38584,2017-10-20T03:29:38.928Z,38584,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"Open Village is a way of making an international community. In terms of Open care, maanon1932026148 it is a way of making us more empowered and ultimately more healthy. I am a biologist, esp involved in an open science group called *Hackuarium*. Our cells are really important aspects of our health and the health of future generations. There are lots of things that we do that we could choose to do differently. Genomic integrity = DNA as dynamic (and in concert with all the molecules of cells)! not super fixed in stone. There's damage and repair of DNA and reg of DNA expression, for example. At least half of all cancers could be prevented. Stem cells and mutations and cancer, because all of our cells have to mutate in different ways. Genomic integrity. The idea at Hackuarium is that there are simple methods to look at DNA damage that people could do with groups and with other people. With a toothbrush you could do a lot of inner cheek cells to look at! òne guy who was a smoker, and his nucleus even looked bigger than ordinary?? want to get lots of data to see if any observations really hold.Could contribute by trying to convince people to make our futures better. Hackuarium is totally volunteer, no one has extra money, we tend to mix engineers and biologists and designers, and therefore we have a really transdisciplinary practice. we prefer DIT, not DIY, getting more from learning continually..." 4,38751,2017-10-25T21:13:56.512Z,38584,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"Wow, @anon1227671133, this is tantalizing, but I do not quite understand it. Is it normal or counterintuitive that a smoker's cells have bigger nuclei? And: what do you mean by [quote=""anon1227671133, post:1, topic:7512""] Could contribute by trying to convince people to make our futures better. [/quote] ?" 5,38754,2017-10-25T22:55:34.576Z,38751,anon1227671133,anon1526983854,"the 'big nuclei' remark was really a one off observation from a workshop last spring. I really want to get everyone doing these expts on themselves, with good annotation and imaging one should be able to see if there is really any obvious difference in smokers... Combustion products can result in extra molecules stuck on the DNA, termed adducts, especially of poly aromatic hydrocarbons, that one could imagine (with enough of them) to cause the nucleus to swell... But, again this is just hypothetical. (but not really unexpected, perhaps) Also, I just googled a bit, and see: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612170919.htm My particular contribution to thinking about Open Care, I think, was the idea from the quoted bit - to convince people that they can protect their cells' dynamic processes (that I put together in the blanket term 'genomic integrity'). If people took prevention more seriously, this could make all our futures better because it is not just a question of an individual's risk of cancer or disease but of subsequent generations being more likely to have new lesions (and it is clear there are tons of these every generation, as a more recent study has shown!! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00934-5 ) and thus higher risks of new disease... This of course impacts all of society needing to devote resources to the attempts to care for the diseased... Thanks for probing! Hope this make sense..." 1,38738,2017-10-25T16:07:30.839Z,38738,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"_[**Editor's note:** The following notes were made by @anon [quote=Michael] I was part of the group who got a trailer from a festival and turned it into a clinic. Several of us had been involved in helanon3606750899g out in Calais. We drove it to a refugee camp in Serbia. We gave basic care: massage, footcare, taught stretching to people with bad backs (comes from sleeanon3606750899g rough), things like that. [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] Me and Michael work together at a unofficial refugee camp in Serbia. I imagine Calais to have been something like that. There were roughly 1000 refugee boys & men, mostly Afghans, essentially homeless, lived w/op structures & systems, they had nothing. And the network that existed came off the backs of the volunteers that were there...Save the Children, … UNHCR were there, but we could not see that they were doing anything at all, except prevent people from moving across borders. It was a mess. [/quote] [quote=Michael] We have a situation that is quite supportive,...in Serbia where the govt is just not there. As we see, look into the future, how do we interact with the 2 different contexts? Comes with hurdles & ?. We came from the mutual perspective that we should be in solidarity with teh people. The people … The irony is that those who have been through it are doing the most work. For instance, … How do we support ppl to look after themselves. This is beginning to how to do that, the first type of experiment. [/quote] _**Q: What did you do?**_ Footcare..bunions & ppl with scabies, problems with people who were sleeanon3606750899g rough. [quote=anon3525264245] Run mostly by two nurses. Change their socks... We don’t think much about footcare, it’s easy for us. But these boys had terrible feet. They had unmatching shoes, they had their shoes stolen from them, they walked 20 km a day, etc. So they had horrible blisters, they had bad toenails, hygiene problems. It was biblical, I came from a medical background, I’m a junior doctor. These boys were not accustomed to see female Western medical professional kneeling at their feet to wash them! Language was a problem. They spoke Pashtuni, Urdu, & Farsi but we did not. I was exceptionally lucky to work with an American nurse who was Pakistani, and could communicate. We did stuff like film screening, to address how to come together. [/quote] _**Q: How was the need determined?**_ A: 7 of us worked in Calais. We had the object before we knew what we were going to build. And asking the persons if they wanted that. [quote=Bernard] where do you place hygiene in the picture? Would you start with that? [/quote] [quote=Michael] We had no sewers! Hygiene starts with the engineering, and that was not there. It would really have helped. [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] After 3 months, I felt most helpful by giving information, yes there is a health care need but that’s not what the people really wanted, thinking about the root cause the whole time. You have to be ready to evolve The delivery of care is not easy, but it’s clear. But as we did it, we found that our work was directly caused by some other unmet need, like in Michael’s example if sewers plumbing. Well, of course, there are deep reasons why these people were emigrating in the first place. [/quote] [quote=Michael] They’re already vulnerable to for example, to a hard winter, because they’re already oppressed. Also how do you make the connections to have the people empower themselves? [/quote] [quote=Alberto] What I’m learning here, is that healthcare problems are themselves caused by other, deeper problems. Does this mean that emergency mutual aid is pointless, and you don’t recommend getting into it? [/quote] [quote=Michael] No, not at all. The trailer is still on the road, and it will continue. For the future, I want to do first aid training with migrants to get lots of first aid kits to migrants. I’m sure that once I do that, there will something else [/quote] _**Q: What is the status, do the migrants want to go home?**_ **Intros** [quote=Alberto] I’m interested in how to rig up on-the fly organizations. There is sociological literature about great self-organised services that arise as a response to calamities like earthquakes and floods. I hope to learn about how to do that. [/quote] [quote=Tory] I have a background in public health. I am from Oakland, California, and I am wondering about taking care of our large homeless population. Right now we are struggling with large fires, and they affect unhomed communities. We had to find a way to respond rapidly to meet their needs. [/quote] [quote=Alex] I spent the last few … living and working on the Calais camps. I also work with a UK organization. The question of how we connect grassroots together better and deeper [/quote] [quote=Bernard] I am a nurse by training, now moving on to caring about the community at large in the West of Ireland. Also active in the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture operations. I am hoanon3606750899g to get the information I am already getting. [/quote] [quote=Chris] Though not a lawyer neither an accountant, I know about law and accounting. The UK government asked me to be a researcher and to think about the unthinkable, like, what happened before companies existing. Resilience comes from the bottom up. And resources, keeanon3606750899g the lights on, and human resilience. I view human arrangements as agreements: companies, governments, armies, rock bands all are agreements. I’m interested in what agreements, what instruments can we mobilize to do what we need to do? My experience is that it is achievable. [/quote] [quote=Claire] We live in ZAD (Zone À Defendre), an autonomous community living together on a big stretch of land outside Paris. I’m very interested in … I’m interested in building a practical infrastructure in order to build solidarity in our group. But I’m also interested in the struggles around other groups. For example, growing vegetables for other communities, and others who need it, to be a place that welcomes different types of people. And also I’m part of the medic team at ZAD. I’m learning skills , first aid & medical skills in order to help the ppl around. To help ppl who are victims of police violence, and I’m very interested in sharting this knowledge. [/quote] [quote=Lilli] I am also from ZAD. I’m an herbalist, so I also do herbal consultations. We are engaged in bottom up medical care there. We have a medical group that runs this particular show. [/quote] [quote=Sara] I am also from ZAD. We are not specialists, but we do have to deal with lots of issues. We are here to share experiences; larger projects, but also smaller tools. We need this, because our way of organising implies that we sometimes find ourselves isolated. [/quote] [quote=Tori] I’m Tori and I’m part of of a collective...how power affects our health. I have a background in autonomous organization .., more relevant to this conversation, I did solidarity work in Athens? With this work, oftentimes, there is a situation that as an individual, we have to confront very different belief systems, and we can encounter violence. How do you resolve some of the things on the fly? [/quote] [quote=Gehan] I’m Gehan, I don’t bring any technical expertise, how do we practice mutual aid in emergency situations, how do we create an infrastructure in these situations would be v interesting to explore [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] I came here to talk about our work in Serbia. I came here to learn. I felt frustrated about the global situation and wanted to take part in the collective action. Any knowledge is good. [/quote] [quote=Mitchell] I don’t have that much experience, but have been trained as a street medic. I’m interested in building digital tools for this purpose. How to know ethically is. [/quote] [quote=Alex] There’s a lot of soul-searching about the refugee crisis at the moment. You guys actually went out and deployed, this is great. [/quote] [quote=Tory] How do you get out there? How do you reach out in order to make things move onthe ground? [/quote] [quote=anon3525264245] It’s all about networks. I did everything through Facebook! Even got to Serbia because of something I read on Facebook. [/quote] [quote=Michael] You don’t need to break the law, but it’s important to cut through the bureaucracy. [/quote] [quote=Claire] I used to think that the public was a mass of people waiting for our help. But then I started squatting, and got around to asking local people “what do you need?” and this worked better. Also, it turns out local people have capacity. And I wonder if it would be possible to mobilise that capacity, and how. [/quote] [quote=Gehan] System change is long term. It’s easy to get demotivated from. This kind of work, I think, is where new systems get met. [/quote] [quote=Tory] Proposal. Let’s discuss what to do with emergency mutual aid when you have met the basic need. Do you scale and do the same thing elsewhere? Do you stay and diversify, doing more things in the same place? [/quote]" 1,38572,2017-10-19T15:25:27.119Z,38572,anon2138500052,anon2138500052,"Notes from the Listening Triad session with @anon [quote=anon2138500052]I am actually a new member here. I have been part of the online community recently and I see it as a place for putting your thoughts and even imaginations about what you want to achieve for the public good. Working on the ideas alone can possibly discourage you especially when you have doubts about how it’s going to work and self-criticism about how you are doing it. When I voiced out my ideas online I had surprisingly positive response and that got me more engaged in my project, I networked more with people with insights about the similar projects. And I really enjoy the positive vibes.I came here to see it ‘live’ and meeting those people face to face and possibly look how I can go forward from there. It’s a project related to my academic background – cycling and transportation. There is no cycling promotion in Egypt.No action from the government and the community is limited in what they can do and what I want to do is building on other activists in Egypt’s work and try to put the scientific knowledge into it.Trying to tie together individual actors into a bigger network along with the government.In Egypt it’s hard to take community action. Open Village’s semi-formal structure has advantages, keeanon3606750899g the doers doing more good without having the political and economic limitations (or rather reducing them).The international connections are important, seeing that your way of doing things aren’t the only way. Individual actions are happening in Egypt, more collective action would be a good thing. [/quote]" 4,38632,2017-10-20T13:29:18.663Z,38572,anon3807379521,anon2138500052,hi anon169343781 . where i can see the original post ? 5,38641,2017-10-21T08:21:01.122Z,38572,anon1526983854,anon2138500052,"[quote=""anon2138500052, post:1, topic:7510""] Open Village’s semi-formal structure has advantages, keeanon3606750899g the doers doing more good without having the political and economic limitations (or rather reducing them).The international connections are important, seeing that your way of doing things aren’t the only way. [/quote] I see it this way, too. It is important not to get the doers gridlocked by too much need for consensus. And yes, at least for me it is superuseful to check what I do against what others do in the same area. And, the more niche your project, the sparser, further away your peers. Hence the attention to international reach in Edgeryders, the embracing of (bad) English as a connecting language, and the emphasis on online, written communication – much cheaper at this geographic scale." 6,38735,2017-10-25T14:34:13.035Z,38632,anon3769417221,anon3807379521,"[quote=""anon3807379521, post:4, topic:7510""]where i can see the original post?[/quote] In this case there is no original post. We just use the quote feature to indicate something said by a platform member live during the OpenVillage Festival event (with notes taken by somebody else). If there is an original post, there is always a link in the top-right corner of the quotation to jump to it." 1,38724,2017-10-25T12:23:45.829Z,38724,anon3525264245,anon3525264245,"Georgina at OpenVillage Festival (October 19th, 2017): [quote=Georgina]I didn’t really understand what it was, crude understanding it was open access pool of bloggers, way of connecting with people globally. Introduced by Michael Dunn from Glasgow, we worked together in Serbia with the refugee population. Seeking answers to questions I haven’t found answers to, but want to address together. Global, national, individual issues; hitting head against brick walls in structure. Most frustrating thing is it doesn’t care for individuals,commercially driven. Not working on something to contribute per se, I have a job. I’m a medic. Hope for points of connection out of it.[/quote]" 1,38721,2017-10-25T11:35:05.747Z,38721,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"Taraneh at OpenVillage Festival (19th October, 2017): **OpenVillage: How I came to it** [quote=Taraneh]A bunch of folks from Woodbine (an anarchist space with a health autonomy group) in New York City. Woodbine came out of occupy and mutual aid. Nadia presented in New York City last year about Edgeryders, mostly about the general background but also about gathering support to collectively apply for the McArthur ""100&Change"" grant. Nadia’s presentation was loosely about technologists creating flexible insfrastructure for community needs. Points of connections were visualized in the maps but what are the actual qualities of connections in these webs … a lot of problems and we are united … Edgeryders is a way of doing auto-ethnography via online platforms and mapanon3606750899g points of data.[/quote] **I am curious to know more about …** [quote=Taraneh] 1. How the Edgeryders auto-ethnography data is collected. 2. The actual mechanics of how projects unfold and are supported in infrastructure thus far. 3. How Edgeryders it banon3760936673ces local and global. 4. How Edgeryders started online. [/quote] **I can bring …** She says she needs to understand what OpenVillage is better first. She is coming from another temporary community trying to solve problems about redistribution of resources and how care figures into it, and, as chronically ill person, only has so much energy. She has been working with artists and groups organized around care on re-envisioning infrastructures for care and how to find relief under systems that extract from rather than add to wellbeing. **Projects and Actvities** 1. ""Sick time, Sleepy time, Crip time: Against capitalism's temporal bullying"" was a project that thinks about the body's states of illness and rest and disability and how time gets organized in capitalism. How to re-imagine, how to be together through how we allocate time during day. 2. ""Canaries"": She is a member of ""Canaries"". Canaries as in ""canary in the coal mine"". It is a collective of women, trans people and gender non-conforming folks with auto-immune conditions. (Three quarters of auto-immune patients are women.) It is an informal support group and art collective. Bio-medicine doesn’t know much about these diseases, so diagnosis and relief is hard. Bio-medicine can be very narrow minded, not spending much time thinking about what is creating the issues. The idea behind autoimmune diseases is that they may be genetic or may be caused by what we, as human actors, are doing to our environment. So, while Canaries are particularly affected / sensitive, they are a litmus test of what is happening more broadly. Also the group is trying to understand their own bodies by using lateral knowledge (working around hierarchy and the expertise of bio-medicine, rethinking what expertise is). Art is a useful space for understanding abstract systems and and re-envisioning it." 1,5649,2016-05-12T08:38:18.000Z,5649,anon70625510,anon70625510," When I visited Berlin-based artist and hacker Bengt Sjölen’s studio earlier this week he was develoanon3606750899g the hardware for of OpenDrop: an open source digital platform for controlling small droplets of liquids using electro-wetting technology. It struck me that we ought to be looking at open wetware and synthetic biohacking in Opencare. Because there is a lot of scope for DIY and citizen science to actually make advances in develoanon3606750899g new care solutions. There are many areas where this could help us to solve pressing problems like antibiotics resistance. Bengt mentioned an experimental initiative to use some of the properties of silk produced from recombinant bacteria to break quorum sensing. This means you break cell-cell communication within and across bacterial species. It matters because this is a contributing factor to a number of clinically relevant things like making harmless bacteria produce enzymes which attack host tissues, produce toxins, stick to hosts and protect themselves while outside hosts. It may also be a way to break their antibiotic resistence…. The reasoning is that antibiotics typically kill or prevent proliferation of bacteria by targeting biomolecules involved in such essential processes as cell wall synthesis, DNA proliferation, or protein synthesis. Treating large populations of bacteria with such agents inevitably selects for a few resistant mutant cells. These proliferate, mutate further, and give rise to antibiotic resistant populations. So you want to get at the entire propulation and since the ability to communicate with one another affects behavior of the entire community.... What makes these kinds of intiatives especially interesting is that they are being done in hackerspaces and garages using equipment that anyone can put together from recycled materials. There are already examples where unleashing scientific experimentation amongst the citizenry at large has exceeded expectations.The Malaria Box was an experimental initiative in which 400 diverse compounds with antimalarial activity were distributed in a bid to catalyse drug discovery and research for neglected diseases such as malaria. At a recent medical conference I heard that this initative resulted in several breakthroughs and a number of patents shortly after it was launched. I've only begun to scratch at the surface and have come across the Registry of Standard Biological Parts - a growing collection of genetic parts use for building biological devices and systems and IGEM (“where future life scientists go to get their freak on”). You can see the mind boggling list of what participants have come up with here (click on ""team abstracts"" from previous iGem competitions here). What could be achieved if many more people were engaging in this kind of open experimentation? How can existing care initiatives better achieve their goals in collaboration with their peers doing exciting work in open science and technologies? Join us for [OpenVillage](http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu) _[was OPENandChange]_ for this kind of project development sprint to explore how open science and technologies can improve your community care-related project! We're mounting a collective funding application and you’ll get to work with brilliant scientists and your peers from different fields, while moving your project forward. We're also going on a tour in several cities in Europe this September and you can drop by! It’s first come first served, so don’t wait or risk missing out! Image credit: unknown, sourced from the Human Futures website" 2,8614,2016-06-28T10:22:40.000Z,5649,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"Any community here? I would be curious to know if Bengt works alone in his lab, or if he is embedded in a community of like-minded people. Of course, people in the open source movement are by definition relying on communities to make their tools, but my hunch is that there is more community going on here. There's probably a (still tiny) OpenDrop community, that could be as small as 2-3 people (still a huge difference from working alone; and even the quorum sensing stuff is made on the Openwetware wiki, which has 10 contributors.  Did Bengt tell you anything about this? " 4,38395,2017-10-16T18:13:16.201Z,5649,anon3606750899,anon70625510,"hello here ! I.m Bengt's friend and together we collaborate into the network of Biohackers called Hackteria.org. Is a coincidence but I'm now writing from the desktop of Gaudi, another developer from the Open drop project. Gaudilabs http://www.gaudi.ch/OpenDrop/ As Alberto mentioned before is difficult to think on Open source and imaging someone working alone at their lab, so well I think that this step is something that everyone needs to be allow after a research an develoanon3606750899g to share the advances and faults into a big group, community... basically putting the results at the Wiki to make the others part of the process. The network in which we are involved is not only working from the virtual feedback but also is a prominent net in which the hackatons and Event are very important as time to develop and fault but also make the others that come to visit get part of the hole process. So at this level we work really horizontally in many ways to make the change in how institutions and Most of the universities are still acting." 5,38398,2017-10-16T18:20:16.131Z,8614,anon3606750899,anon1526983854,"hello here ! I.m Bengt's friend and together we collaborate into the network of Biohackers called Hackteria.org. Is a coincidence but I'm now writing from the desktop of Gaudi, another developer from the Open drop project. Gaudilabs http://www.gaudi.ch/OpenDrop/ As Alberto mentioned before is difficult to think on Open source and imaging someone working alone at their lab, so well I think that this step is something that everyone needs to be allow after a research an develoanon3606750899g to share the advances and faults into a big group, community... basically putting the results at the Wiki to make the others part of the process. The network in which we are involved is not only working from the virtual feedback but also is a prominent net in which the hackatons and Event are very important as time to develop and fault but also make the others that come to visit get part of the hole process. So at this level we work really horizontally in many ways to make the change in how institutions and Most of the universities are still acting." 7,38717,2017-10-25T10:42:23.169Z,38398,anon70625510,anon3606750899,"Would be nice to do something together in the house in Morocco. The house/accomodations are paid for, but people will have to cover their own flights. But they can be very cheap from Europe with a bit of planning. I think it would be totally worth it. Kind of like the festival in slow cooking mode and with more time to actually play with ideas together." 1,38714,2017-10-25T10:15:01.604Z,38714,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"From the Listening Triad session with @anon1526983854rey, during OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017): [quote=anon1526983854rey] Organization that brings like minded people together globally. Ambitious solutions to issues in communities. It is many things.They direct their attention at a lot of different things. **Do you have examples?** There’s a lot of individuals that do things with health care and citizen science. These are the two that I’ve seen the most. **How do they define the community?** Its up to each individual who is running and organisation or directive. They are meeting the needs of the local. **What did you start?** Working with the kids, education programming, all volunteer.Landscaanon3606750899g and water, recent work in Nepal. Regional to global. Incorporating youth groups. Sensitizing them to nature.We try to in-cooperate fly fishing into school: linking science art literature. Getting students outside into nature. **What is the link and how did that happen?** Water! Was the link. Access to clean water.There is a need for clean water in all of those places.The people in power control the water. The undeserved suffer the most. Cultural political corruption. Nepal – New Mexico – Buffalo – Sewage treatment. **What does art bring?** For me Art is the access point for people. You seduce people by using art to make science accessible to people. I try to simplify or make opportunities for people to access the science for understanding. Example- Nepal ,visual art piece 2 languages. Story telling.Visualizing the abstractions of the structures we live in.Artists and scientist work together. Back then everybody was a scientist. Science was a lot more accessible. I see my job as making connections between people and the environment . [/quote]" 1,869,2017-06-25T15:17:04.000Z,869,anon1277226854,anon1277226854,"I was thinking about it the other day, and I think it is finally time to tell a story. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Open Care's ethnographer --- I have been reading everyone's stories, growing increasingly more inspired, and making sure that the important connections you all are making do not get lost. A lot of the time, ethnographers consider themselves to be research instruments -- so maanon1932026148 think of me as another technology, like the platform itself or the cool visualisations the research team has been producing :) But it has become increasingly difficult for me to feel I am fulfilliing my role as an ethnographer, because one of the central tenets of ethnographic practice is participant-observation. Now, I've certainly done plenty of observing. But I think I have been dropanon3606750899g the ball slightly on the participant part! Talking about my own positionality is important to making sure that I am filtering everyone else's through lenses that don't distort them. So here's one of my Open Care stories. I have two related questions: how do we care for people in our communities who aren't visibly ill, yet whose lives are made more difficult by invisible illnesses keeanon3606750899g them from living life the way they want to? And how can we look outside current medical frameworks to help people whose illnesses haven't been successfully helped by existing medical frameworks? This issue of invisible illness particularly affects labor, which as many of you have noted, is both a crucial part of what it means to be human (working on things that enrich us, feeling like we have autonomy and are masters of our own destiny) but also something that can cause us pain (when we have to do jobs we don't like, or can't find employment in this rapidly changing world). These questions hit particularly close to home for me. I suffer from vestibular migraines (also called migraine-associated vertigo). This means that about three out of seven days a week, I feel dizzy for part or all of the day. If you've ever felt motion sick, you'll be able to understand the feeling, although it's difficult to describe if you haven't. The way I often laughingly put it: It's like being drunk, but without the fun parts. During these episodes, I am very nauseated and is really unpleasant to look at screens, read, or generally do anything except stare at a wall. Sometimes the episodes will be extreme: like the whole world is sanon3606750899ning, and I can't tell which way is up. When this first started happening, about a year ago, it was terrifying. I would panic, which would make it much worse. In the first six months, I tried everything. I went to my GP, who referred me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist (ENT). I had to wait months to see her, and she ran all kinds of tests on me: I was put in a dark room, spun around in a chair, water was ran through my ears. Inconclusive--- I had inner ear damage, yet my body was correcting for it. I was referred on to a neurologist (another long waiting period), who told me that vertigo is really hard to do anything about. She diagnosed me with vestibular migraines, and then proceeded to try out 5 separate drugs over 5 months. For weeks I'd try something new, have terrible side effects, without improvement. I learned that most drugs have side effects, and a lot of drugs are used to treat secondary conditions but the primary use has serious effects (they tried anti-depressants, which can help but made me feel awful, for example). Finally, after 2 trips to the emergency room in 2 months, she recommended I try a blood pressure medication. That was the last straw for me---- I looked at the bottle, read the side effects (I already had low blood pressure--- so the side effects were, you won't believe it, DIZZINESS). I decided to give up on medication for a while. I want to add here that most of this journey took place in the USA, so the medical bills were beginning to pile up. So I turned to the internet, and found many people suffering like me, without help from medication, and with the same exact symptoms. I don't have any wonder cure to report here---- but it was nice to know that other people were there, and were also frustrated by the medical system. I also took solace in my family in the times I was able to see them, who would come and sit with me when an episode hit. Talking to others, taking my mind off of it, helped. But one of the hardest things was not wanting to tell people, because I didn't want them to see me differently or treat me like I was infirm. I didn't want to lose my job, and I didn't want my PhD supervisors to stop pushing me and giving me new opportunities. I felt that short-term illnesses people are compassionate about, but when there is no end in sight, eventually your lowered performance is no longer a case for compassion, regardless of the cause. I empathised with this position, knowing how frustrating it would be to have a colleague or a friend who disappeared for days at a time. Perhaps most of all, I didn't want anyone to treat me like I was disabled. I didn't want anyone to treat me differently at all, and I wanted their expectations of me to remain high. On the other hand, my illness was invisible. No one could see my suffering, so no one knew to reach out and help. Sometimes we do need to be treated differently, and sometimes we just can't go it alone. I told my supervisor at last, and told him that I wanted to move back to the UK --- my home, and a place which, though the medical system was struggling, had universal healthcare and wouldn't charge me to get the help I could need in the future. I wouldn't have to be scared to go to the emergency room after a day of excruciating pain and nausea. So he ended up supporting me immensely with my goal of transferring my PhD, and I'm moving back soon. I've started down a new path, now. I don't know if it will be helpful, but I'm starting to acknowledge that I might never be ""cured,"" and that maanon1932026148 that rhetoric ignores the way that most people with illnesses end up living their lives despite it, rather than conquering it. I think there are a lot of us out there learning how to live in peace with our unruly bodies, and I have found a lot of support and solidarity from friends, who after I confide in them, end up telling me secrets of their own. One has IBS, and has near-constant stomach problems. She told me a story: I don't think of myself as disabled, I think of my body as a Maserati. Sure, I have to be really careful about what I fill myself up with, but that's because my body is a luxury car! I laughed when she said it, and I carry that story with me. I am filling up my arsenal with other stories of resilience in spite of medical systems which offer no answers, or the wrong ones, and in spite of bodies that don't behave. I have also learned to be mindful of the fact that other people around me are probably struggling with something they're not saying. I don't give angry looks at people on the tube who sit in priority seats---- what do I know about their conditions? Instead of being upset with friends who cancel plans, or co-workers who seem to show up less, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Who knows what they're dealing with. All in all, I see the stories I have heard as an ethnographer in past projects on technology and health and social care with new eyes, and I feel more strongly about projects to build social solidarity and informal networks more than ever. I for one will continue to do research and publish on these issues, and help design better systems. People are the answer. Keep up the good work, everyone :)   " 2,9224,2017-06-26T09:51:51.000Z,869,anon1491650132,anon1277226854,"Another invisible one: celiac disease Hey you. My hairstylist who is a colleague from highschool suffers from celiac disease, the worst form.. a lifetime condition that he discovered at 19 after being prescribed many expensive drugs against a supposed allergy.  He got better over the years but of course had to accept that he might never be ""cured"", just like you say. He can't eat out, like ever, but got better at managing his appetite for the forbidden. However, I feel that it did isolate him quite a bit - to give you an example, he wasnt able to go to the highschool 10 year reunion because there was no point sitting at a festive table for a day and eating bananas.. while watching others stuffing up. This disease being much rarer in his city than, say in the US, it is much more difficult to find acceptance and support in the infrastructure around. Lack of infrastructure in turn translates into people being oblivious to this.. so unintendedly cant really support much unless they're close and witness what the disease really means, develop empathy and ways to show it, and so on.  Thank you for sharing this, Amelia. It is really an eye opener. " 3,11685,2017-06-26T22:53:23.000Z,9224,anon1277226854,anon1491650132,"So true Celiac is a really good example. As you aptly point out, he problem with invisible illnesses is that it makes people want to disappear even more. Like your friend who didn't want to go to the reunion. without knowledge about these kinds of things, people can't help--- as you say, they are oblivious. So the infrastructures don't get built, and people stay invisible. I think it has to be a two way task-- people seeking to become more informed so they can be supportive , and people with invisible illnesses being willing to talk about them. Building a world without fear is tough but worth it.  " 4,15938,2017-06-26T12:25:39.000Z,869,anon2442420827,anon1277226854,"I needed to hear this. Hi @anon Thanks for sharing that. I suffer similar symptoms, but less frequent,  and have become skilled at playing down the symptoms due to the stigma attached. When the pain is less than 6 out of 10, I work and close my eyes when I get the chance. Causes could stem from the fact that I've had a few notable head traumas, but I'm not sure, more likey to be food related in my case. Doctors diagnosis is migrane, broad ranging and I've had no specific ENT tests. Pain meds kind of work if I get it in time. I've done the vipassana meditation course. It isn't for ""fixing"" migranes, but it showed me the things I've been doing wrong and gave me some tools that, to be honest, I haven't been utilizing properly. It's described as a ""surgical procedure"", which I thought was a bit dramatic until I tired the technique. It's not for everyone and shouldn't be taken lightly. I'm very glad I done it though. I grew up with processed food and have been trying to get away from it. I have a sugar addiction. Growing food helped me improve my diet and lifestyle, but I still have way to go. If I cut out processed foods, maintain regular exercise and daily meditative practice I think I can stay pain-free. I definitely wouldn't have written this in a public forum if it wasn't for your post, so thank you, it's given me the reminder I need to write food plans and stick to them. I hope we find pathways out of pain. " 5,17752,2017-06-26T14:13:44.000Z,15938,anon1277226854,anon2442420827,"Solidarity, friend! Nice to virtually meet you, @anon I am also currently working on food --- I'm trying to improve my overall nutrition, and lower my stress, in the hope that it will help. It certainly can't hurt. Elimination diets are tricky things, though, since our bodies are complicated systems. I too have been slipanon3606750899g food-wise lately as I've been travelling. We can both take this opportunity to re-up committments to healthier practices. Let's carry on down the path :) " 6,18465,2017-06-27T12:11:09.000Z,17752,anon2442420827,anon1277226854,"Likewise. I agree, ""I'm here with you"" is more incluisive in language, situation and energy. I like that. I try to eat as much seasonal glyphosphate-free veg as possible and change shopanon3606750899g habits. When I've a headache I whatever takes least amount of strength; doughnuts, choclate and something fizzy for comfort. But maanon1932026148 the comfort is important too? Kolcaba, 1976ish - ""3 stages of Comfort; relief, ease, transcendance."" :) " 7,21007,2017-06-26T13:52:00.000Z,869,anon1526983854,anon1277226854,"... and pretty soon it's everyone. I have been very fortunate with my health, but as I advance into middle age I become less tough. The price I pay for any deviation from healthy lifestyle, especially eating, got so high that I just moved away almost completely from alcohol and sugar. Despite this, I am getting other bugs: lower back pains, as the bad posture of a former musician catches up with me, and a tendency to put on weight that used not to be there. I am not sick. But I am getting old. My capabilities are becoming limited: just as Noemi's hair stylist does not go to formal dinners, no point for me going to rave parties – I just can't take this anymore. This stuff will get worse and worse, and eventually my wetware will crash completely. In the mean time, like any old-timer, I still need to go about the world, and work and play with people of any age. Some of these people will not have the same limitation as I. This raises the issue of stigma (as @anon Which means the effects of an actual medical condition are a darker shade of those of simply being less-than-peak fit. Which means, again, there are no ""healthy people"" and ""patients"", but only humans in different conditions." 8,22199,2017-06-26T14:08:21.000Z,21007,anon1277226854,anon1526983854,"Still fits my friend's car metaphor The older your car gets, the more you have to care for it. And outlook matters---- you can either see your body as a rusty clunker, or as an old Mustang that needs more TLC than it used to :) I think that your categorisation helps (not splitting people into ""healthy"" and ""patients) because it allows us to see ourselves on more of a continuum, and have a more expansive notion of health. A lot of it is about reforming our cultural notions. Money factors in here as well---- you have to have money to pay for your upkeep. It's medically known that the less financial resources you have, the easier it is to have more health issues (see the double burden of obesity and malnutrition on the poor for example). In short, we have to look at the larger structural conditions and people's surrounding communities, rather than seeing people as singular patients. Hence a lot of Open Carer's focus on prevention and improving the environment (both human and natural) rather than interactions in a clinic.       " 9,24674,2017-07-03T15:59:57.000Z,869,anon3670751854,anon1277226854,"Changing the way we think of care Thanks for the article!  At Woodbine we've been having a similar topic, trying to untangle what care could mean in the context of our evolving situation.  Especially in the field of mental health, this invisibility becomes unbearable for some.  Living here in NYC, anxiety and depression are a chronic condition for most people, but there is neither the time nor space to devle into these topics. Worst yet, the stigma of talking about these things is so taboo, even though they are a natural and approrpriate reaction to the chaos around us.  In addition, as was pointed out, our bodies are in a constant state of change and death is the only end point.  So how can we change our view of health as being the abscense of disease to a more fluid and compassionate view?  We think it must come from community and reconnecting with energies larger than ourselves, such as the land.     " 10,36632,2017-09-19T18:02:18.986Z,24674,anon1277226854,anon3670751854,"Mental health is a great example, since such an overwhelming amount of people suffer from things like anxiety and depression (as you mention). I was reminded of your comment because for me, this past summer, it has exactly been through ""connecting with energies larger than myself"" that I have started to learn how to dwell with my condition. There's this Rumi poem that I love that I am trying to embrace: This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice. meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whatever comes. because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. There's something about the metaphor of a guest house that gets me, as well. Perhaps its the openness to the world, or the hint of community that it invokes. @anon1491650132, I feel like you might enjoy this poem as well." 11,37850,2017-10-08T09:12:01.896Z,869,anon1138232662,anon1277226854,"Thanks for sharing your personal story, it is super meaningful. For many of us who are involved with PMS, we suffer from health conditions that impact our ability to fully participate in other forms of activism. For some of us, these conditions could be said to have developed out of participation in collective struggles, where the participants were not familiar with how to take care of one another. Or, put another way, we got left behind. We allowed ourselves to believe that our symptoms were instead weaknesses that needed to be pushed through. We didn't pay attention to our own bodies screaming at us. For us, it is imperative to understand new ways of caring for one another that can be practically applied for groups. It is one thing to critique the existing system and to talk about what else is needed, but it is another thing entirely to actually make shit together and try it out. That's what we're trying to do. One of those things is our accountability model, which we hope to share more in Brussels with all of you." 12,38706,2017-10-25T08:18:21.680Z,869,anon1491650132,anon1277226854,"anon3606750899g @anon2232687617 - you would enjoy this post I believe.. It was really great talking to you at the festival <3" 1,36154,2017-09-13T20:03:08.873Z,36154,anon1904106503,anon1904106503,"**Dynamics around healthcare on the Zad** Shared experience and common desire brought into existence several dynamics around healthcare based in the Zad of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Here we present four of them : the organisation of street medics, the medic team of the zad, the herbalism project and the group who organises street medic trainings. These dynamics share several common bases. There is a desire to reappropriate knowledge around healthcare, because we find it important to decentralize knowledge related to our bodies, but also as a response to the difficulties in relationship to classical institutions of healthcare : the ambulances blocked by law enforcement, the routine collaboration of hospitals with police, and the disdain and non-respect of consent lived by some. There is the desire to learn and share knowledge about more holistic ways of healing and which is not dependent on the pharmaceutical industry. There is the desire to reinforce social movements by propagating knowledge about emergency care and to form new groups. These projects are independent but they are all entangled with elements of herbalism introduced into our street medic practices, trainings which bring new participants into the medic teams, and our experiences on the ground which nourish the content of the trainings. **The street medics** As soon as we show disagreement in concrete ways, or we block the smooth unfolding of increasing profit, repression quickly follows. Whether for the duration of a demonstration or because we live together on an outlawed zone , or when we are labeled « undesirable » or « protestors », the State wounds and kills at the hands of law enforcement. Consious of these risks, in many countries revolutionary groups and activist movements have developed their own medical support networks for demonstrations or direct actions. This dynamic is different than humanitarian practices like the Red Cross, because we don’t pretend to be neutral. We take a clear political stance and an active role in the conflict, and in the support that we bring to our comrades in struggle. In a demonstration, street medic teams try to be present on the scene as early as possible to be able to provide emergency care to people who ask for it , and to evaluate the needs of the situation before an ambulance arrives, which is sometimes blocked or diverted by the police. There is also an assessment of the legal risks in the case of recourse to official emergency care : for example, identity controls and arrests inside the hospitals to take in people without papers, people with outstanding warrants, or just because the simple fact of being wounded makes someone a suspect. Law enforcement regularly update their equipment dedicated to repression with new chemical, electrical and physical weapons. As street medics, we try to respond by spreading techniques of defense developed on the ground and shared across the world for preventing, protecting, and healing. For us, medical knowledge is accompanied by a political reflection in how we put it into practice, to avoid reproducing as much as possible relationships of domination, administration, and dispossession that the medical institution exerts. Our desire as street medics is to put the first priority on the consent of injured people and to give them the information to make clear and informed choices for themselves. **The street medic team of the Zad** On the zad there is a medic team which represents an autonomous medical presence during demonstrations and actions, including during past and possible future evictions, but also being present on the ground for medical emergencies when they happen. The medic team brings together people who are interested in that role, with or without official training (there are very few people with professional backgrounds). We organize together to get the knowledge and the material necessary to be able to be autonomous in actions or demonstrations. Daily healthcare plays an important part in our work. There is a house with a living collective where many medics live, and people can pass through with their injuries or health problems for material, care, advice, and contacts. We evaluate the person and depending on their desires and the capacity of the individual who is treating them (knowledge in first aid, conventional medicine, or herbalism), either we treat them or we direct them to further care. For this we have contacts with medical professionals we trust (nurses, doctors, osanon1201778428paths, homeopaths…) who are in exchange and relationship with us. There is also a medic trailer, to make sure that we are not the only way tfor people to have access to medical materials. It is left open, and stocked with first aid materials to use there, and material and information for harm reduction linked to drug use and sexual practices. We also are part of a network of healthcare workers involved in the struggle against the airport. During the evictions of autumn 2012, a number of healthcare professionals came to support the medics on the ground. Over the years, we have worked together to prepare logistical and communications strategies, and to have the materials necessary in the case of eviction attempts or other police intervention. We also have regular discussions, and regular reciprocal trainings. **The herbalism projects** For the past six years, a dynamic around medicinal plants has been develoanon3606750899g and made concrete by the creation of a medicinal garden, a dispensary, the creation of an autonomous phytotherapy school, the organisation of plant walks, and of trainings on the uses of plants and how to prepare them. There is a clinic project in the early stages, with regular individual consultations for chronic conditions, and drop in clinic days for more acute illness. As many other projects which co-inhabit this zone, care by plants is rooted for us in a logic of long term struggle and autonomy, in conflict with the State and capitalist logics. As we try different ways to live, to resolve conflicts without legal intervention, to organize with many people with a diversity of positions and practices in the same territory, we take the liberty to be autonomous in care. We don’t want the world of the pharmaceutical industry, and of the disempowerment of bodies by a vertical and imposed system. We want to play an active rôle in the expansion of a method of accessible, understandable, and participative care which opens up new paths towards more knowledge of our bodies and the plants that surround us. With a local support group we have built a cabin which serves as a lab for making and storing medicine, a place for distribution, for care, and passing on knowledge. From this place we offer different forms of consultations- individual, but also other times where we see people in a more collabotative exchange, to be able to share skills and learn together with the person seeking care, while having access to the dispensary so that we move together beyond a theoretical level. **Street medic trainings** The training group was created after realizing that the militant french networks were relatively poorly organized in terms of street medics, in comparison with other European countries or in North America. The street medic trainings are intended as a tool for improving our capacity to self-defence by contributing to the existence and multiplication of street medic teams in france and neighboring countries. The trainings are done for specific geographic areas, to encourage the creation of local groups who can continue to practice and organize together. The group was formed around self-training in relationship to first aid ; it consists of mainly non healthcare professionals involved in social struggles, with diverse levels of skill and experience. The complete nine day trainings focus mainly on the most likely injuries in the case of demonstations or riots, the possible complications or aggravations of illness in these moments (stress, fatigue, cold, etc.) as well as psychoemotional injury. We have added a part about the weapons used by law enforcement and about advice for medics in action situations (organization, prevention…), as well as moments dedicated to harm reduction in sexual practices and in drug use. The content is based on classical western emergency care, with (for now) a partial integration of techniques of herbalism." 2,36279,2017-09-14T21:05:09.015Z,36154,anon3670751854,anon1904106503,@anon1904106503 Welcome to the platform! We're really excited to see your work being published in a broad context like this format. You are such an inspiration to us here in the US! 3,36317,2017-09-15T08:27:35.839Z,36154,anon1526983854,anon1904106503,"Wow, @anon1904106503, this looks impressive! There seems to be quite a bit of background that I am missing. First of al, for non-francophones it is not obvious what a ZAD is (it's a [zone à défendre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_to_Defend), a kind of autonomous zone). And then, I'd like to know more about the functions of the street medics. I mean, you cannot be engaged in demonstrations and confrontations all the time, and yet you obviously have substantial skills, equipment and capacity. You hint at some sort of grassroots baseline health care service: the house where many medics live seems to have become a sort of clinic and to function outside of confrontation with law enforcement. Did I get it right? Also, it seems that there is a sort of permanent community living in the ZAD. Is that the case? If so, how many people live there? What are the health care challenges?" 6,36548,2017-09-18T14:26:08.814Z,36154,anon335358890,anon1904106503,"Thanks for sharing~ Have been hearing a lot about the ZAD through friend's and podcasts. I'm currently working in the aftermath of the 2 hurricanes that made landfall in Houston and Miami in the US, and I think about the vulnerability we are facing solely depending on the state infrastructure being there to catch us when we need it. It's increasingly not even about a political choice, but a practical one. There is big money to be made though by providing emergency services, and I'm witnessing first hand the sub-par care and quite regressive and inhumane patterns that are showing themselves in both cities. A lot of weaponry, a lot of masculinity and manager laborer dynamics... Looking forward to learning more about the ZAD and spreading the message!" 7,36562,2017-09-18T20:39:10.728Z,36154,anon3525264245,anon1904106503,Wow that sounds so exciting. Can't wait to hear more about over the weekend. 8,36577,2017-09-19T09:04:27.247Z,36548,anon1526983854,anon335358890,"I am curious about this post-hurricane situation... can you say more about it, @anon335358890? So far, OpenCare has found that the best community responses have arisen from the direst need." 9,36757,2017-09-21T13:43:27.335Z,36577,anon335358890,anon1526983854,"I think it's a matter of scale and economics. Places where there is a lot of money to be made, you get the situation like where I'm at. However within this there are microcosms of egalitarianism. Sharing of resources, looking out for each other out of necessity but also desire to help. Outside of here you hear of neighbors helanon3606750899g neighbors, especially when there is no govt to come save them etc. There's desperation and people taking advantage of the situation. Perhaps this is just a more magnified version of reality. Those who were struggling will now only struggle more. Those on top can now take over entire resorts and hold people there with military force, working 12 hours a day, no power at night (no air conditioning), minimal food, and confronted by security any time they ask a legitimate question. No one to monitor safety of working conditions, call bosses out on racism, sexism. Even within this, there are microcosms of people helanon3606750899g each other but it's on a more horizontal level of course. Outside of this place, it's also very militarized since it's a disaster area and little of the infrastructure is back on grid. Once media attention is gone, there's less hope for outside aid. In the US it has become ingrained in many of us that we will always be able to depend on the government. When a disaster hits, it leaves those populations extremely vulnerable unless they prepare ahead of time." 10,36811,2017-09-22T13:44:40.237Z,36154,anon2700952829,anon1904106503,"Looking forward to seeing how this autonomous healing paradigm plays out when it comes to women's health and abortion. Part of a project I've been collaborating on, called [How to Perform an Abortion](http://www.howtoperformanabortion.com), involves planting and workshops around Abortion Gardens. Very curious to see how people are discussing and understanding the connections between clinical knowledge and herbal knowledge (and access to both of these)." 11,36964,2017-09-25T10:18:35.865Z,36811,anon335358890,anon2700952829,Looking forward to hearing more! This is very relevant to the workshop I will be hosting on Day 2. Looking forward to hearing about your experience on the abortion gardens project and connecting women to resources. 12,38178,2017-10-12T17:50:17.637Z,36964,anon2700952829,anon335358890,"I'm looking forward to learning more about your work as well -- and better understanding the relations between street / herbal / ""traditional"" medicine and medical / synthetic / ""modern"" medicine" 13,38196,2017-10-12T21:10:58.029Z,36154,anon1904106503,anon1904106503,"Hi, for background information about the zad we have a website, it's http://zad.nadir.org. It's randomly translated into lots of different languages, there's a tab up top where you can pick. Fifty years of local struggle and 8 years of land occupation is hard to sum up in a comment, but basically local farmers and citizens were against the airport, and city squatters came to join them, and built infrastructure and a new dynamic in the struggle, and then the state tried to evict but didn't fully manage, and then a lot more people came and we had to rebuild everything. And there's no police and so we organize everything ourselves without State intervention, which is why we get to do primary healthcare without diplomas." 14,38322,2017-10-15T13:44:20.629Z,36154,anon167692867,anon1904106503,This seems like an amazing panel. I am currently training to be a street medic so I hope I can learn new skills and contribute to the development of this invaluable effort 15,38468,2017-10-18T01:28:24.506Z,36317,anon255535628,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto there are currently social struggles going on, with regular demonstrations in the neighboring cities. Recently, there were demonstrations every week, with blocades or actions in the morning. Because of the police repression, the street medics have plenty of occasions to practice first aid. The most frequent injuries come from the teargas and rubber balls (see flash-ball on Wikipedia), or people hit by the police. When stun grenades or other grenades explode, there is a risk of shrapnel injuries ! Outside of confrontations with the police, it also happens that people living at the zad get injured while doing manon169343781al work (f.e. carpentry), fighting each others, picking fruits or even chopanon3606750899g vegetables... and of course some get ill... with more of 200 people living there, there is every day a lot of things going on ! About the health care challenges, it's difficult to summarize as there is a great diversity of ages, habits, activities and physical conditions at the zad. We will be able to discuss it more precisely at the festival." 16,38597,2017-10-20T05:42:02.799Z,38468,anon70625510,anon255535628,@anon1904106503 @anon255535628 and @anon167692867 it's be really great to have a chat ahead of the panel I am running on financing this afternoon. I don't know how you guys look - could you find me in the venue this morning? Ill be wearing a blue edgeryders hoodie and hideous glasses :)) 17,38705,2017-10-25T08:16:48.706Z,36154,anon1491650132,anon1904106503,"@anon1904106503 I really enjoyed your session at the festival - and took [extensive notes](https://edgeryders.eu/t/session-notes-health-autonomy-with-woodbine-nyc-and-zad-of-notre-dame-des-landes/7550). Feel free to signal anything I may have gotten wrong. And can we ask you to upload your presentation and share it on edgeryders? We were talking after with Taraneh @anon2232687617 and would be curious to learn more about how you develop your network of professionals and get support from them. One thing you mentioned is that they help you get donations of materials from the hospitals, or that they can help get into the system someone with no papers. How do you approach them, or how do they become part of ZAD in the first place? Thanks!!" 1,37973,2017-10-09T20:16:42.460Z,37973,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"What Protocol for the individual inside a collective? This article is my preparation for one of the sessions at OpenCare Village: Infrastructure for autonomy Through analyse of some of the structures I’m or was part of, I want to set a parameter of personal care. I think I will have more questions then answers at the end of the ride, but lets still try to make a fruitful read. First, you have to know i was diagnosed with mild borderline personality disorder a couple of years ago. While the most extreme outrages are now under control i still can have anxiety attacks that will block me, for a couple of days and i will be unreliable to contact or connect with. Knowing that most of my job is organizing events, being a project manager in small or larger groups, makes it quite a challenging. I learned to organize my life in such way that other people are bothered the least possible way and can enjoy my highs as much as possible. Some people in my entourage understand very well this liability, but in formal or new structures it is sometimes difficult to be at ease. Through my reflection, I came across organic, collectively growing and peer to peer organization as the most suitable for myself as a person but also for people in need of a more humane approach inside organizations. In absolute terms, I see these collective entities as a machine fed by every participant regardless of the level of energy they put in, but giving back to a general audience: the collective or even broader: society. They are well engineered by core members but give place for anybody else to check in and out without to much of a change of creating conflicts, something I personally can quite difficultly manage. It’s not ‘the end by al means’, but succeeding the goal while the people inside are respected as an entity. Because why would we be frustrated if at the end collectively the goal succeeded even if the energy wasn’t spread evenly between the participants. True: it sounds less engaging, but it opens a world post-individuality, where you don’t need strong individual leaders all the time, but an organic set of connections between a larger group believing in the higher goal altogether. In the next couple of paragraphs, I will present to you a couple of organizations I had the pleasure to work with, create or follow up. Each with their own structures, positive sides and biases. I will try to speak from a personal angle without criticizing any other member as I find it an important thinking exercise to help build the structure were within the people can thrive and not criticize the members for the way you want the collective to be. Soft Revolution / Pic Nic The Streets These were my first experiences with organic organizations. The first was an artist collective drenched in the Do It Yourself spirit created by myself and a bunch of friends. We organized festivals, created a board game, wrote a book and made some meta-expositions. Through almost ten years of working together we learned from each other flaws and only worked on something when it was suitable for the whole group. What kept us going was our kindness towards each other, our understanding of the human being. But when we arrived at the crossroad between continuing an amateurish journey or professionalizing our collective we chose the second one. Not knowing the stressful implication, it had within the group while we all were stepanon3606750899g into our professional work environment (we started our collective when we were 16-17 till we were 24-25), we couldn’t deliver the last couple of installations and had to dismantle our collective. I still hold great strengths and knowledge from this time and use it as important building stone for any other organization. Understanding each other flaws and not judging them but embracing them is something I would love to share with anybody else. We are always eager for perfection and showing the best. But if to get to that best, you have to care less about the other then it hasn’t any meaning for me. It’s not an absolutism, but a constant work in banon3760936673ce. Another story happening around the same time goes with Pic Nic The Streets, a citizen movement started in 2012 that wanted to fight for more public space by picnicking on the main boulevard Anspach. For a couple of years, we organized systematic pic nicks, resulting in a carfree central lane, but also in sanon3606750899-offs like Canal Park for a big park at Porte De Ninove and Cyclo Guerilla for more bike lanes. It was a thriving time for City activists but ended up in a lot of ego-fights and underlying conflicts between activist groups that maanon1932026148 wanted the same, but had a nuanced approach that resulted in conflicts. I was really saddened about this rivalry between people wanting to look for each other and better the world. Sometimes it became a toxic environment where people found it more important to be right then to care for his or her fellow activist. That is where my enthusiasm for classic activism stopped. But luckily for me there were lots of alternatives. POC21 / Edgeryders In the summer of 2015, one of my projects (Vélo M2) was selected for the 5-week innovation camp in an abandoned castle near Paris. I wasn’t prepared at all for the mind-blowing experience that would impact the way I think and live from then on. POC21 was a temporary place where every day around 100 people lived and worked together around 13 projects. The symbiosis that occurred there was one of kind. I think the biggest reason of their success was the creation of an immediate trust between all participants. We were into it for the same narrative and will do it together. By creating a taskboard with everything that was needed to do to keep the machine rolling without taking account that everybody gave equal amount of energy it created another way of working. Not guild trapanon3606750899g you in doing it, but giving you the space for the things you wanted to do. Of course it wasn’t always as perfect and I think the architects of the project had a lot of conflicts, but almost all the time it occurred in an open discussion. There was the space to doubt, to fail, to negotiate the coming or not of the president of France, … Having met really great people at POC21 I came in touch with Edgeryders, where I started writing occasionally for. While it wasn’t at a first glance the most intuitive platform, I loved the vibe coming from the comments while writing pieces. No easy comments, but moments of thoughtful sharing. I was invited for LOTE4 and continued to engage into the conversation. The word ‘conversation’ is for me the best way to describe what Edgeryders is, a constant conversation with fellow humans about deeper subjects. I know how hard some of the Edgeryders core members fight for the organization, but what I always loved about the structure is the easy switcheroo between being active and passive in the organization. I curated an event around care at Huis VDH for them and learned much about the organization as about my own skills. Without any problem, I was able to switch to being a passive member again while feeling no pressure to do more or be more involved. That organic feel is something I really appreciate. I understand those core members are an important asset, but giving the opportunity for others to wander around inside the collective is a great way to care for our members. CIN / Vélo M2 Where the first example was a background introduction and the second a more or less ideal situation, the third kind of organizations are the one I search the most answers for. Civic Innovation Network is a platform where I’m now an occasional ‘scenarist’ for and Vélo M2 is a project I created with a couple of engineers. Both have a massive potential, both are now connected through a possible fund I helped creating, but in both I can’t find my ideal place as an individual. I asked myself multiple times why I wasn’t able to fit the narrative. When for example I got more and more involved in CIN my anxieties where getting higher and less manageable. CIN is achieving great things, but every time I’m hesitating in what my place is in it. The demanded structure at Vélo M2 with weekly meetings and monthly working sessions made me feel trapped and again scared. And then the question occurred: in an environment where Open Source, collectiveness but also growth is a key feature is it the individual that needs to adapt towards the collective or is it the collective that has to be flexible towards each individual it encounters. For growing and likewise still learning entities it looks like it’s important to create long-lasting mechanisms, structures that helps stabilize the organization for a fruitful future. But then the ethical questions arise, what do we do with those that can’t, or are less able to manage a structured, framed context and need the flexibility. Is it a task for the collective to look after them, to simply understand them, and loose maanon1932026148 some momentum because of the lacking stability or is it the individual that needs to understand or made clear what he or he can’t do? In the couple of years I’m struggling with my anxieties I often chose the second one. For example at my main job at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival it took me almost three years to create the right banon3760936673ce between creating my own agenda following my ups and downs, trying to explain that to my colleagues and knowing that in the two week period of the festival I need to fight ANY possible anxiety because of the fact that I manage 150 guests for that period of time. At Fermenthings, a shop I own with a friend, before starting I gave him one task that I would not work on from minute one: it was paperwork. I don’t understand the logic of the bureaucracy and it simply blocks me to work on anything else. I know it would be a stumbling-block for the whole organisation. Thanks to a lot of attempts and fails I’m starting to understand better what my role can be. I love to create, to enthusiasm people and structure vision, but I need organized and stable people around me to compensate my lack of consistency. I felt so often overwhelmed and helpless trying to understand myself. I would have loved to find people, feeling the same struggles or questions willing to create the right protocol, so maanon1932026148 through this OpenCare Village festival we could open the discussion about care of the individual inside the collective. I didn’t expect to write such a personal paper, and for those I made unease with it, I apologies. But my only hope through this is a better understanding of each others ‘condition humain’ and maanon1932026148 we would find collective answers for the individuals through this mean." 2,37974,2017-10-09T20:18:01.039Z,37973,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"this is my introduction for the infrastructure for autonomy, if somebody could help clean out the grammatical errors that would be great, anon3606750899g @anon1491650132" 3,37997,2017-10-10T08:26:37.288Z,37974,anon70625510,anon3595237380,"Yannick I found I tool that is great for errors called grammarly, check it out!" 4,38080,2017-10-11T11:26:11.278Z,37973,anon2389685268,anon3595237380,"Wow. @anon3595237380 - I see the amount of self learning and self understanding it takes to be able to have this sort of discussion. I am having these sorts of discussions with many of the people I work with these days. I often find myself during my low days ignoring people entirely (it's especially different when I'm not needed to be face to face which often affects my mood and ability to engage.) It's been a liability for much of the way I've organized my projects and I haven't found a good way to manage. It's my ability to get really passionate and excited that energizes and instigates the communities I participate in, and then when I drop off the map during my low times things fall apart. For most of my life I've taken this as a personality flaw, some thing I need to work on (drugs, meditation, diet/working out etc) and my loops keep happening, my projects fall apart, and what hurts me the most is the feeling that I keep letting people down. Not sure what I'm saying other than, I'd love to discuss the individual within organizations - we've designed much of our societal systems assuming rational actors working at their best. How would organizations looked when it takes people with mood swings and the jaded and the in progress and and in mind? Sometimes it's tough for me to realize that other people don't have minds like mine. A lack of empathy because I have no idea what it would be like to not be so bimodal. Perhaps an aside... I once went to 5 different therapists and they all thought I needed some work, one claimed I was bipolar and should be on drugs. So I went to a spiritual/life coach/philosopher/trained therapist dude, he said my energy was too high and I wasn't grounded enough to be able to channel it well - hence the highs and the crashing. I worked with him for a while - much of what I worked on in those days was to be grounded and accept what was happening without desire for any other states. I became quite neutral and my loops ended. I also felt inanimate, the whole point of lithium was to avoid those states. So I stopped and here we are in loopy days again. Hugs! +BG" 5,38082,2017-10-11T11:27:49.672Z,37973,anon2389685268,anon3595237380,"PS, yeah, I know the Vélo M2 folk! And I hear you about paperwork, for some reason I often leave grants and money on the table just because I can't spreadsheet. Yeesh. And then I wonder what I do have to offer when all the things that look like ""work"" are so tough for me. Makes me feel guilty and lazy sometimes." 6,38135,2017-10-12T10:16:10.606Z,38080,anon3595237380,anon2389685268,"[quote=""anon2389685268, post:4, topic:7388""] It's my ability to get really passionate and excited that energizes and instigates the communities I participate in, and then when I drop off the map during my low times things fall apart. For most of my life I've taken this as a personality flaw, some thing I need to work on (drugs, meditation, diet/working out etc) and my loops keep happening, my projects fall apart, and what hurts me the most is the feeling that I keep letting people down. [/quote] This is completely recognizable! I think the key here is a sort of interdependence resilience, organizations need as many boosters as they need people that structurize the thing. The importance is the openness wherein this kind of dialogue is possible, and at the moment we still have it quite difficult to discuss this kind of behavioural threats just because of the fact we always thing it is a flaw that can be fixed, and other are much more perfect" 7,38316,2017-10-15T10:17:59.025Z,37973,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"I only now found time to read you carefully @anon3595237380, I am learning a lot. Thank you. In my work in just Edgeryders - one of the networks you write about I find a mix of interesting thing and day to day drudgery. The latter is everything that comes with building something lasting and ensuring things with potential, high energetic ideas and people take off or multiply. All this while searching for yourself as an activist and human. Got my own ways of pressuring myself - like you and @anon2389685268, but have been staying with it. I have to say though, it doesnt automatically follow that the organisation gets the best of me. It only gets the best out of me/ us as long as it works for the individual. My hunch is that there is a time of serving it (compromising, daily efforts put into it, ""staying with it"" as @anon1526983854 likes to say) and a time of it serving you (in your words, this is ""the collective looking after the individual""). It the long haul, it probably happens in cycles, and if the foundations are pretty solid it should work out somehow. With due failure and personal disapointments etc. @anon Just a few additions: * Why do you feel you don't fit the CIN narrative? What's the narrative? Is it because many of the things you start require you to followup? * I was at an OpenState camp just a few weeks ago (blogged about it [here)](https://edgeryders.eu/t/wir-bauen-zukunft-learning-from-a-community-with-3-kinds-of-showers/7127) and I get what you say about being given the space- self organisation onsite its something they do gracefully. * About Edgeryders: [quote=""anon3595237380, post:1, topic:7388""] I understand those core members are an important asset, but giving the opportunity for others to wander around inside the collective is a great way to care for our members. [/quote] Thank you for reminding us this. Always good to read it coming from somewhere other than the organisation." 8,38343,2017-10-16T08:33:03.311Z,37973,anon1701267031,anon3595237380,"@anon3595237380 - thought provoking post. I'm going to anon3606750899g Eta @anon2305407032 who is moderating the panel for us - I imagine she'll have thoughts to contribute to this thread. [quote=""anon3595237380, post:6, topic:7388""] interdependence resilience [/quote] I like this term - it feels useful. The issues you've highlighted are fundamental to creating organisations that generate health as well as other forms of value. I'm really curious about the link between your involvement in CIN & anxiety level. I'm guessing there are clues there that relate to the theme I'm exploring - the conditions that generate health within our organisations. It sounds like these conditions are generating ill health. I see this as connected to the issue of banon3760936673cing the needs of the individuals and the needs of the collective/group/org and collaborating around strategies so that a broader range of these are met while at the same time its true that its not often feasible to meet all needs at all times. Greater attention paid to needs as a normal part of our operations would be one way forward. I'm also interested in how we might create organisational structures that are much more capable of functioning _around_ individuals ability to function. The organisation I work for receives many referrals who are skilled and talented people who aren't able to hold down paid work because of health issues of various kinds. Yet often what they want _more than_ 'help' is contexts where they feel their skills are valued, where they can contribute when they are able and find support when they are not. Often this means not having someone trying to 'fix you' and perpetually asking if you're okay which can just draw your attention to how 'not ok' you're feeling. At one point we considered implementing a badge system - to indicate to others our internal state - a kind of 'leave me alone - its enough to know you're there'. But we haven't done that and we are only able to take people as referrals or as volunteers which feels like it falls short. Thank you for bringing such a personal and interesting dimension to this discussion. Looks like the panel discussion will be an engaging one." 9,38370,2017-10-16T15:27:50.960Z,38343,anon70625510,anon1701267031,Mm I think that's sort of how the edgeryders org works when it is working well. 10,38424,2017-10-17T09:57:25.436Z,37973,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"thanks for the follow-up @anon1491650132, it's more about informal responsibility or unwritten responsibility. I'm not good at seeing every consequence for my involvement and sometimes I'm surprised that the ideas I have work and then I don't know what to do with it afterwards. I'm starting to have more conscience about the impact my ideas can have so I create safety protocols. Like for the next scenario, I'm writing for CIN I will incorporate already a possible person who can follow-up if the idea makes it to a reality. I have a difficulty understanding unwritten rules. If you don't tell me exactly what I can't do that, or I need to do something that way I will first try to bend the rules, to understand if they are valuable or not" 11,38427,2017-10-17T10:03:17.108Z,38343,anon3595237380,anon1701267031,"[quote=""anon1701267031, post:8, topic:7388""] contexts where they feel their skills are valued, where they can contribute when they are able and find support when they are not. [/quote] this is completely it. I can do massive workloads of analyses, connections and opportunity creation on short time, but I can't do it regularly on a day to day basis. And i feel often that the second one is seen as the logical necessity for work and the first one a great extra, but only valued as working every day is satisfied." 12,38703,2017-10-25T08:03:43.823Z,38424,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"i see. Guess it doesnt help that networked environments are not so good at following up with rigor. It's seldom that you find processes in place to channel great energy coming in after a project recruitment, or an engagement campaign and so on. Also, professionalization is a big issue because you get to have a weird and unique combination of skills that I am not sure how can be translated in a proper working environment, bankable as a business card etc." 1,6479,2017-07-07T15:40:39.000Z,6479,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Calling mostly @anon I propose that the mighty @anon4116418727 leads a session on ethics and data protection  in citizen science/open source projects. Regulation on ethics in research and data protection is taking shape, with the GDPR coming into force in less than a year in the EU. Marco thinks there is potential for this new regulation to make anyone except very large and well-moneyed orgs viable to do research and data protection. This would be done by making the costs of compliance very high. Example: if you use algorithms (say, a recommendation algorithm for books) you are supposed to be able to make a case that it is ethical: you are not, for example, systematically recommending books by white authors over minority ones, or male authors over female ones, whatever Bayesian updating might have to say. Which is fine, but where does this leave open source? What happens if I install WordPress on my server, and WordPress comes with a search algorithm? Do I have to audit the code to be compliant with the GDPR?  The outcome of the session could be an ethics/data protection wiki for citizen science projects in care: guidelines that tell projects like OpenInsulin what to do when.  What do you think? " 2,7707,2017-07-10T13:37:33.000Z,6479,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Relevant! This is a tough subject for citizen science projects to look into themselves. It is relevant for those who are already further in the project, like echOpen or Open Insulin, or those starting out, to keep it in mind. When doing something radically open, the last thing you want is to compromise the project by making avoidable missteps, legally or ethically.  I like the idea of a wiki. How would such a session look like? Is it a documentation effort of what can be found on the web, or experts sharing insights and projects judging the relevance, or something else? If needed, are there other experts to invite @anon4116418727 ? " 3,11099,2017-07-10T15:25:11.000Z,7707,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Let Marco explain this @anon4116418727 , what do you think?  I would certainly welcome an intro to GDPR with an open source perspective.  " 4,33348,2017-07-18T12:39:27.000Z,6479,anon4116418727,anon1526983854,"Very relevant Hi @anon1526983854,  as discussed on hangout I find ethics, in general, to be a very powerful learning point for most, if not all, the open care projects we have met. Well beyond the challenges of GDPR, there is in general a certain semantic confusion about what ""open"" would mean, and a lack of self-reflections about where value is produced, and for whom... Defending ethics in the absence of such fundamental insights is often challenging, and most conversations get framed as box-ticking before adequate discussion and provocation. That being said, I would like to ask @anon2954219769 (we can discuss the details tomorrow during our call) to evoke an expression of interest with real questions/stories by the groups that would join this session at the Village. In facts, we have to be realistic about the time limitations at the Village, and what we can usefully discuss there and then... On a related issue, I would like to collect questions for the ethics board, from the consortium partners (@anon Collecting questions/topics is fairly important, as of course the advisors need time to understand the proposed issue, and prepare a conversation. (Let's give a deadline of at least one month ahead of the Village?) Talk soon, " 5,33380,2017-07-19T13:57:14.000Z,6479,anon1409060592,anon1526983854,"Ethics of public spending In CoM's experience, ethics and data protection in public / open source science projects (@anon " 6,33388,2017-07-19T18:49:32.000Z,33380,anon4116418727,anon1409060592,"That's the kind of provocations I am looking for Hi @anon thank you for your reaction. That's absolutely not off topic, and quite in line with what we have been observing/hearing during OpenCare. Another side of this, correct me if I am wrong, seems to be the fact that most of the times once public institutions get wind of the interesting bottom up activities around them, they often try to replicate/absorb them at face value... investing in a snapshot of what seems to be their current value proposition, but failing to capture the path that attracted momentum, and their value chain. In facts, many initiatives have little EXPLICIT awareness of their values and situation, and it is perfectly fine for them, as they run on experience and shared stakes... but transfer/reproduction efforts complicate things quite a bit... ...on the issue you point out... Could one challenge be the denial of the need of more than just one model to describe reality? In care this is quite problematic... bureaucracy tries to optimize for one model, typically fine tuned around middle tendencies of distributions in public health, but this operation introduces important fragilities, as eloquently discussed by Nassim Taleb... Looking forward to your further considerations ;) " 7,33391,2017-07-20T08:43:00.000Z,33380,anon1526983854,anon1409060592,"Like this It latches nicely onto work we are doing on a different project, witn UNDP: @anon The topic is different from care: we are looking at bottom-up urbanism, city-as-a-wiki etc. But it is still community-based, and seeks to empower community capability and enable it towards public good goals. This is very hard for local governments to do, because giving communities space requires, paradoxically, for them to behave in a way that might appear arbitrary. Why are we letting people do things in this park, but not that square over there? Because the people who are interested in this park are aligned with the spirit of contribution to public good, and they have capability to deliver. Who says so? We do. This is the polar opposite of @anon In David Graeber's book on debt there is an aside that stayed with me, and might solve the policy maker's dilemma. It is well known that Imperial China invented bureaucrats. The Mandarins were civil servants, centrally selected on the basis of merit and centrally trained. But they were not given a rulebook to apply. China is big, and communications were poor and slow; also, it was very unstable, with peasant revolts sprouting out every year. The Emperors knew that Mandarins would be on their own in distant provinces, and they would need to take quick action to prevent and quell revolts. So, they were trained in Confucian ethics rather than ""law"" as we understand it, and instructed to do their best to make sure the people were content and did not starve. In modern terms, their operating mode was result-oriented rather than process-oriented, and buttressed by ethics rather than rules. I think Amartya Sen's work shows that this would be enough to ensure accountability. Which means, governments could, in principle, be hierarchical and creative and accountable. But that's not easy to do in process-oriented, formalistic legal systems and cultures.  Is this something we could be discussing? Maanon1932026148 invite someone from UNDP? " 8,33395,2017-07-20T13:36:00.000Z,33380,anon2954219769,anon1409060592,"Public spending: how and where? @anon Another thing I've been thinking about in the context of Open Insulin. Leaving aside if Open Insulin is the right approach, consider any project that is a long shot, ambitious and with a potential big impact on many parts of the world. It's hard to disagree (in my oanon3606750899ion) with long shots for systemic changes in eg. pharma industry, based on ethics. I haven't met anyone who is against it in principle, also not in government. Though only a smaller part of such an impact is realised in the city where the project resides. In my experience, a city wants to support projects that have an impact in their city, the impact beyond that is of minor importance. Or, more extreme, they will deliberately not support you so that you go search funding up the chain, such as regional grant, because that results in an inflow of money into the city from elsewhere. Not so popular to be funded by the city, due to the above, but also because they would rather support projects with an immediately visible impact, such as helanon3606750899g disadvantaged children or establishing a development aid link with an African town. This is of course great, but it is a form of symptom treatment, and for the cynical, mainly about the funder's next election cycle. Policy now seems more about adding new rules and exceptions to help very specific groups who have been disadvantaged, rather than taking ambitions decisions that address the root and affect everyone - from the same disadvantaged to the shrinking group of privileged people - to change the legacy of outdated rules. It should be a banon3760936673ce, naturally, but it's way skewed to the wrong side now. A trick is to tie some concrete city level impact to the project - I guess OpenRampette would be a good example. Yet this is not always possible, especially in more complex projects. Higher up there's also close to no room for eg. an Open Insulin in more formal and bigger funding programs. Rigid structures, but also lots of lobbying going on from, in the case of Open Insulin, big pharma. There, your chances are tiny and attempts are expensive. Ping @anon Personally I see potential in the role of the city, just because there seems to be more room to be creative for those who dare. These long shot projects are not expensive in money either, especially considering the potential outcome. If five girls & guys in their garage can have a shot at changing an industry, imagine what a city could do. How badass would it be to read in the newspaper: ""The city of Milan supports open source treatment for diabetes induced blindness"". So should a city support what emerges in their city, even if the impact is proportionately realised mainly outside the city? Considering they are dead in the water elsewhere, is it ethical not to support these projects at a city level? " 9,33401,2017-07-20T06:18:21.000Z,6479,anon4116418727,anon1526983854,"Maanon1932026148... Maanon1932026148, @anon " 10,33525,2017-07-24T12:25:59.946Z,6479,anon4116418727,anon1526983854,"I would like to invite a strategic decision at this point... would we rather like to follow a ""seminar+clinics"" scheme, as to offer an hands on reflection on real study cases to the participants bringing up their experiences, or running a conference style debate on the topics, with experts of diverse background? For the latter, I would like to import the form of open peer review traditionally adopted at CERN when taking community decisions: anyone has the right to speak/question, and the speaker “survives” only if the reply is deemed satisfactory… since the audience can interfere, and “counterattack” those asking questions, fairness is pursued by skin in the game, rather than gentlemen’s moderation. I am quite agnostic about what this session should look like, as I believe any of the alternatives discussed so far with @anon My 2 pennies of wisdom: although it takes a bit more to arrange the clinics, they tend to be smoother, because people feel challenged in the 1-on-1 meetings, but pride doesn’t enter the game too prominently… In a CERN-style debate, it is necessary to make sure everyone feels their weltanschauung is equally at stake, and people who have invested large life-capitals on certain ideas, will vehemently try to fight even once the audience has already decided on the sentence of the contestants. I have had the opportunity to discover the latter is a show not to the taste of everyone... Your calls?" 11,33531,2017-07-24T13:39:49.242Z,33525,anon1526983854,anon4116418727,"Not my call to make... but I would be really curious to try CERN style review. Even though it does seem like a methode to decide something. What are we deciding at OV?" 12,33588,2017-07-26T11:59:43.108Z,33525,anon2954219769,anon4116418727,"I second @anon1526983854 , I like the idea of doing the CERN style review. This won't allow us in depth 1-on-1 meetings, but it will allow more people to share in the insights. Can we do a combination perhaps @anon4116418727 ? The topic of the CERN style debate can be a specific problem of one of the guest projects. Experts in the debate, projects in the audience to interfere. It hopefully then approaches the usefulness & specificity of the 'clinic' format, allows for broader interaction and discussion solutions to specific problems should decrease the influence of 'life-capital investments'. There is some preparation work then to find one or two projects and formulate questions well. Those projects ideally have presented themselves already in a different session, before the debate. Shall we move forward with this?" 13,33595,2017-07-26T13:15:59.332Z,33588,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Maanon1932026148 we can set the expectations and purpose a bit better. I hope to learn about: * Requirements for data protection and ethics (legal, like the GDPR, and otherwise – for example ethical oversight is required by many funding agencies). * These requirements were dreamed up with universities in mind, so: how they map onto citizen science projects. Badly, I expect. * Ways and hacks that citizen science projects can comply with those requirements." 14,33598,2017-07-26T14:18:18.919Z,33588,anon4116418727,anon2954219769,"Hi @anon2954219769, as stated before I don't see the two formats merging, as the principles of clinics, and total-peer-review, are quite conflicting, as it is the designed relationship of power in the two. In a CERN style event, we have to make sure a majority of the ""parterre"" has own projects, and stakes, that are touched by the conference topic, but there will not be 1-0-1 engagement, rather all will share their skepticism, and doubts, to converge (hopefully) to viable solutions, or to clearly mark as ""BS"" all that doesn't stand peer-review... Trying to have also a clinic in this context, would defeat the goal of maintaining everyone constantly on watch, peer-reviewing and critiquing/re-framing what is said... imagine a University lecture, at the end of which students wait for the talk to be finished, to approach the professor privately, rather than asking/commenting in public... we don't want that. ""Speakers"", here, are sort of provokers, offering high quality insights into what's going to be made, that has to be digested by the conversation of the ""public"". Presentations should be short, and to the point, as appetisers for the question time. No project-specific answers will be sought (not by design, at least)." 15,33599,2017-07-26T14:32:28.448Z,33595,anon4116418727,anon1526983854,"Hi @anon1526983854 I hear you loud and clear, but you are not the committer of this session. I would like to collect the same kind of statement about expectations from (at least) all the projects that will come to create the OpenVillage (@anon1491650132 @anon2954219769). GDPR does not seem a hot topic in our conversations about ethics with the projects/communities we met so far (I tried to comment on this yesterday during the call, but @anon2774142051 mistook my opening for a reference to WP7 and I did not want to waste time in polemics)... Furthermore, people in the legal field I regularly meet, have at the moment conflicting oanon3606750899ions about what to be expected from the new regulations that will soon take course... in facts, taken by the word the new regulations are clearly informed by a rather advanced view of IT, and they would seem to favour a migration to large platforms (please remember EU is working on an ""open science cloud"" of its own)... however, most legal professionals point out to the fact that the effect of any law will be shaped by the first (and later by the major) sentences by Courts... most envision some leniency in support of a realistic application of the law. An event centered on GDPR will happen, if the community wants it, but I feel it is a bit too early now for it to be anything more than a reading of the norms. However, ethics in citizen science, something way larger than data handling, is a very appealing topic... Does this make sense to you?" 16,33621,2017-07-26T20:14:47.502Z,33599,anon1526983854,anon4116418727,"Oh, absolutely. I was just proposing an example of how anyone can declare interests, so that a specific format can be chosen." 19,33828,2017-07-30T10:16:43.145Z,6479,anon1701267031,anon1526983854,"This discussion could easily constitute multiple session proposals rather than just one! I caught it last week but I’m coming to a response late from other things. I don’t know anything about GDPR or much about data protection in general but the discussion touches on a number of topics that interest me; policy re-designed as a tool for a networked and complex world and what Illich would refer to as the ‘radical monopoly’ that our procurement systems create. But it’s another of Illich’s concepts that seems to be the thread running through this conversation - the systemic problems that arise from growing institutionalisation. As Marco mentions “_bureaucracy tries to optimise for one model_” and for me this is the nub. It is entirely unsuited to operating within systems thinking perspectives and perhaps this is what is called for beyond creating multiple models. Systems account for and allow a greater degree of variation and adaption unlike as you say, bureaucracy that seeks to encourage standardisation because this is one of the conditions it needs to operate. This is also how I would understand why institutions can’t replicate bottom up approaches @anon4116418727 - they are founded in two completely different _operating systems_ to use Winnie’s term. It strikes me that the ethics training of Mandarins that @anon1526983854 mentions facilitated operation in a living system - and therefore able to cope with the infinite variations that played out across Imperial China. Ethics and data protection compliance are the symptoms in this context but to my mind, the underlying malaise is hyper-institutionalisation. I also see another dilemma unfolding in the discussion that may be helpful to tease out. There would appear to be an inherent tension not just in this thread but also within Edgeryders itself between responding to immediate needs and contributing to generative creation of completely new approaches and responses. For example there is some necessity in meeting immediate needs of those undertaking Opencare work - to pull in resources to support their work or to understand the implications of future changes such as compliance. At the same time, there is a pull - to work on the ‘long shots’, the longer term, bigger impact projects that @anon2954219769 mentions. A frame I’ve found useful is [Three Horizons](http://www.internationalfuturesforum.com/three-horizons). Briefly: Horizon One (H1) is the dominant system, business as usual. Horizon Three (H3) for me represents a different paradigm - or a completely new way of doing things. Horizon Two (H2) is the space of innovation and this can go two ways: either prolong H1 (H2-) or open up H3 (H2+). It strikes me that Edgeryders and OpenCare are operating across all three horizons. Horizon One has been outlined in the proposition for OpenCare as rising health care costs and care systems struggling to meet demand. In exploring DIY welfare, OpenCare researches activity that falls into H2 stretching into H3. I’m not totally clear yet whether the underlying goal for OpenCare is H2-; that is enabling the current way of doing things simply to function better or H2+/H3 - paving the way for the ‘completely new’? So in this discussion there are the immediate H1 needs of projects to sustain their work. What role does OpenCare (or might a session at OV) play in meeting these needs? But beyond this is there also a role to call for structural changes that get to the root of the problem? And this is where we hit up against mutually exclusive sets of interests. I’m curious as to how OC and EE sees itself in this regard?" 20,33829,2017-07-30T13:13:41.520Z,33828,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,"@anon1701267031: the three Horizon model is interesting. Ethics and data protection in citizen science project, however, are not easily classified as H1, H2 or H3. No one seems to care. Data stewardship is normally dismal. Many projects (of any kind, not speaking about citizen science in particular) are playing cowboy. In all this, H1 requires compliance, this is true. But compliance is not where the action is. The action is in self-motivated actions to do things in fairness (in ethnics) and steward the datasets that people helped build together (in data protection). So, you can take action because H1 demands it as a condition to fund your citizen science project (H1): in this case you will just tick boxes. You can do it to stay fundable, but while you are at it improve your practices a bit (H2-). You can do it mainly to improve your practices, and it's great that you get extra fundability (H2+); or you can do it because you believe that a world that puts ethics and data stewardship in research is fundamentally different from one that consumes people and data and moves on (H3). In practice, in H2-, H2+ and H3 you will be doing the same things, at least initially, because conditions in H1 are so poor." 21,33918,2017-08-03T08:17:15.627Z,33525,anon2954219769,anon4116418727,"Let's make the call then and go with the CERN style review. We can brief participants so that it is generative, as it does seem like a more direct approach that can degrade into a fight instead of a search for insight. I remember @anon628128301 has questions on legislation. Same for @anon3786846929 from the Open Insulin side (also what can be generalized across the US and Europe). @anon1315297957 also has similar questions on certification and safety. We'll be on the lookout for experts to join the session. Do you have a sparring partner (or multiple?) in mind @anon4116418727 ?" 22,35290,2017-09-02T16:53:04.054Z,33918,anon4116418727,anon2954219769,"It's all good... but are we the only ones engaging in this decision making? Do the people anon3606750899ged so far all share the same oanon3606750899ions? They did not even reacted to the posts with a ""like""... Is it that, maanon1932026148, people would rather have an intrusion of legal/ethical discussions within the other sessions? We could still think of something interactive and pragmatic, if anyone shared their desires and/or frustrations about what we propose..." 23,36598,2017-09-19T14:16:05.708Z,6479,anon4116418727,anon1526983854,"There has been some activity on this post by user @anon169343781 that has been notified to me, but I don't spot where the reply/reaction is... can you give me a pointer? :)" 24,36638,2017-09-19T19:24:38.884Z,36598,anon1526983854,anon4116418727,It could be @anon169343781 or @anon3769417221 reorganising content in the background. :smile: 25,36652,2017-09-19T22:12:13.876Z,36598,anon3769417221,anon4116418727,"As Alberto says, it's a side effect of reorganizing content on this platform. Sorry for the annoyance, I don't see a useful way around it right now. Here's what happened: 1. The very first post of this topic / thread contains a mention of your username. 2. We gave @anon169343781 the task to assign still-missing OpenCare content to the selection for ethnography using Open Ethnographer, which means assigning tag #ethno-opencare::tag. 3. When she does that, such as on this topic, it counts as an edit of the first post (you can click on ""1 :pencil2:"" in the top right of the first post to see the edit history, it says ""tags changed: …""). 4. When a post is edited, Discourse re-evaluates the @anon" 26,36706,2017-09-20T17:18:12.688Z,35290,anon2954219769,anon4116418727,"I've been talking to the Open Insulin team in Oakland and some big questions came up on how to proceed after we have the open source protocol. The idea of a sort patient coop came up. It would be helpful to discuss the ethics and legal side of this. Given that @anon628128301 also has questions, and then maanon1932026148 attendees in the moment, but we don't have them at this point in time: how do we harvest them? An idea: ask people during the festival, before your session. Then do we need to choose one 'representative' that has an overview of all questions to participate with you in the format?" 27,36924,2017-09-24T13:59:36.586Z,36706,anon4116418727,anon2954219769,"Hi @anon2954219769 yes, probably the best way would be to have some mechanism to collect questions topics in advance. I would have hoped this conversation to serve somehow this purpose... ""even"" :stuck_out_tongue: I have to study sometimes, and knowing what the questions would look like ahead of time would help me to dive in into more detail... The closer we get to last minute, the more the session will be a high level browse through. Real cases need interpretation, and sometimes lead to other related issues. ...anyway, I understand there is no way out of this... alphabetisation will be better than nothing, I guess." 28,36980,2017-09-25T16:01:52.332Z,36706,anon628128301,anon2954219769,"This session would be very interesting for us @anon1526983854 @anon2954219769! **Medical device accreditation** As you may know, we discussed with @anon2435658896 and @anon4116418727 the reproduction of our device that transformes the breath into digital data. Some of our contributors advocated for a medical device accreditation, while others were against it, as it would have recentralized and closed the project. Following this, we worked on a new research proposal to evaluate the reproduction of the device by different populations, in three fablabs (one around scholars, one around local residents, and one in a low resource setting). We also created a [document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rqVlEJA2eBsAmVBNrcCUFs8k0pe78-lYteWT97EZaP4/edit) for the ethical board, that aims to explain why the device does not go through this accreditation process. **Distributed data bases for health data** Regarding open data, we have been working on a distributed database to ensure that the data collected are kept within the community. We have thought about a use of two different cryptocurrencies, one to mobilize the community that contributes to the games (devcoin), another to grant rights to take part to decision-making to the users that generate data. We did not work on the ethics part though, and it would certainly be very valuable to discuss different ways of approaching it – possibly in a community-driven approach, where the community takes co-responsibility about the research? :yum:" 29,37147,2017-09-28T14:32:49.959Z,36924,anon2954219769,anon4116418727,"Have you though about the data aspect of your work, @anon1227671133 ? Do you have any related legal questions that can serve as input for this session? I for one am interested to discuss genetic data in general. At this rate of technological progress, citizen access to genetic information will probably become widespread soon. Though if we do, we should put it into an OpenCare perspective. Something along the lines of this project: [http://waag.org/nl/project/gene-coop](http://waag.org/nl/project/gene-coop) (although it is still more of a performance at this point). For the Open Insulin coop I have a hard time coming up with concrete questions now. We will go specifically into the idea during Anthony's session the day before. Surely questions will pop up there. I am also wondering what is the difference between regions (eg. US and EU), since Open Insulin is now global. @anon1526983854 , given that you were one of the instigators, do you want to be part of this session as sparring partner with @anon4116418727 ?" 30,37161,2017-09-28T18:18:09.772Z,37147,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,@anon2954219769 I see myself as an active participant; sitting in the audience and asking a lot of questions. Will that work for you? 31,37219,2017-09-29T16:12:15.529Z,37147,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"It looks like my email reply this morning didn't work, so I will put it in here now that the site seems back up and ok! more soon, I guess!! **this morning's email** Hi! every time I try to go to the edgeryders site there is an error! just to quickly address a couple of points: definitely shared scopes are the way to go, with at least partners working together, with the plan (because of human reporting bias) that they would be counting each other’s samples! :) If there are only about 25 people, maanon1932026148 a foldscope each is possible, even?? For the water sampling, technically we should plate for microbes within 5 h of the sampling (the first evening of the meeting? can’t even reach the schedule again now… Anyway, this would be fun and won’t be too involved, just plating and putting them in the incubator, to check for colonies the next day), so we could then get into quantitative aspects of such data during the workshop, along with the cheek cells etc. In response a bit to your next note (will copy paste below, the bit) about data… Definitely all of this is a legal issue in terms of privacy and health, and should be ‘anonymised’ I guess before posting anywhere. The micronucleus data are not strictly speaking ‘genetic data’ - though I totally agree with the gene-coop principals, and worry about everyone getting their sequencing done by 23&me or other services - but rather are a measure of the number of cells thought to have broken off a big bit of chromosome. If someone has super high levels of cells with micronuclei, one should try to see if there are any potential exposures that could explain the finding, ideally. (not too easy!?) I am not sure if we can really hope that citizen access to all genetic info is likely to be widespread, in the face of IP, however, any time soon. This is a very big issue! For instance all the mutations linked to BRCA1 that are patented by Myriad Genetics are not available readily, because they want to use them to diagnose breast cancers! However, this is a great disservice to people and for health, because actually, as a DNA repair factor, BRCA1/2 mutations greatly increase the risk of many cancers, not just breast cancer, and including prostate cancer in men. By not distributing this information generally, it takes away from the broad realisation of how important prevention really is (if you avoid damage to your DNA, you have less need of repair - and repair can actually end up fixing new - potentially worse - mutations in certain cases - nhej… I could go on and on…) Study on how BRCAs are involved in repair is of course on-going, but again the human data are not readily accessible. This is a sorry state of affairs! I would love to have a data base of all the BRCA mutations to double check that they are all simply loss of function (or not?! dom neg??), but haven’t got this info yet, for instance. Hope there are others interested in discussing such points during the meeting! Looking forward!" 32,37291,2017-10-01T17:41:32.525Z,36980,anon1227671133,anon628128301,"cryptocurrencies!? interested in this 'co-responsibility about the research' (tho wonder how one would propose to take care in case of problems...) are you trying to market a product (but open source?)?" 33,37325,2017-10-02T14:24:46.016Z,37161,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Sure, that works. Then I see two possibilities. The first is, in absence of a data expert to go head to head with @anon4116418727, @anon628128301 could fill the spot with their project in mind. I'm not sure if this setup lends itself to the CERN review format you had in mind. Marco, does it work? As another possibility, the 'Distributed data bases for health data' project mentioned by @anon628128301 can be the starting point for a more general group discussion led by Marco. @anon1526983854 and I have questions, surely others will too when they hear about what the GDPR implies, or if they are prompted to think about ethics & data protection in their context. I'm sure they both will be insightful, so I'm good with either. What do the others that are involved think?" 34,37455,2017-10-04T11:00:32.971Z,37325,anon4116418727,anon2954219769,"Good afternoon @anon2954219769 As mentioned yesterday on the phone, it would be a very interesting opportunity to have someone with real life doubts and issues stepanon3606750899g up to talk this out in public. I would not think of this any longer of an adversarial debate, as I understand rather than having 2 parties playing the devil's advocate for two alternative sides, here we would really have a joint exploration... but I prefer to keep things interesting for people, than to stick with schemes ;)" 35,38682,2017-10-23T19:01:30.316Z,37291,anon628128301,anon1227671133,"Hello No, it is about making educational and care tools available to all." 1,38590,2017-10-20T04:15:12.105Z,38590,anon1661517034,anon1661517034,"From my understanding, I am a very very new member of Edgeryders. I am still getting acquainted to Open Village. I was introduced to it. I joined last couple of weeks. Winnie came to Oakland and introduced the idea to join. Open Village what I understand is a physical manifestation of what happens on the digital collaboration with members from Edgeryders. I relate to it because I work on community building and that is local, but my scope is always much broader, and the only way to collaborate in a broader sense is to be open to digital collaboration. I am already working on multiple things, all my work relies on cross-functional collaborations. I am in public health, and one very recent project that I am involved in, is visualizing data for ritual awareness in health. It could be visualizing led exposure data, this encompasses, deals with the interactions with our built environment, and how it affects our health. I am an environmental health consultant. For one of my hobbies, I do applied mycology, and am a member of counterculture labs where, in Oakland, I met Winnie about a month ago, and he told me about Edgeryders and the Open Village festival, and he said it would be perfect for me. I worked on another group called *Open Oarkland*, which is Code for America brigade, and we work on civic technology, which is using open data to increase civic engagement. For example, you want to know how much of the city’s budget is going towards education. Collaboration is central to all of the work that I do and I would like to use the ideas of decentralization with Open Village projects." 4,38601,2017-10-20T06:46:10.127Z,38590,anon2954219769,anon1661517034,"Welcome @anon1661517034 :slight_smile: Do you see your mycology hobby and your health work meeting somewhere?" 5,38611,2017-10-20T08:49:32.348Z,38601,anon1661517034,anon2954219769,"Absolutely! I call it a hobby, but I am an all-in believer in mushrooms: from their medicinal benefits directly supporting human (+other species') health, to their role as an accessible food source (food security), to their potential for applied mycoremediation (environmental health). I try to sneak in mycelial metaphors socially when I can, too. I've been lucky to have met members of Bay Area Applied Mycology (BAAM) though their outreach workshop in inoculation at Counter Culture Labs, because now I'm active member & acolyte." 6,38629,2017-10-20T12:23:01.530Z,38590,anon1526983854,anon1661517034,"Wow, Code for America does great work! I am an open data activist myself ([here's the story](https://edgeryders.eu/t/spaghetti-open-data-a-little-thing-that-feels-right/1281)). I have been for seven years now, and plan to continue. Hopefully the Open Village will meet open data at some point, though how is not yet clear to me." 7,38658,2017-10-22T10:00:00.804Z,38629,anon1661517034,anon1526983854,"Great Alberto, I quickly read the backstory of Open Spaghetti and your reasons why open gov is important to you. As I learn more about the Italian case, perhaps I can provide some insight or moral support as you & others propel the open data agenda forward." 1,38606,2017-10-20T07:13:28.954Z,38606,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes from the listening triad session at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017): [quote=anon2954219769]A thought experiment for now, could turn into something real. Running an open bio hack lab in Ghent, bunch of people who don’t agree with place of science in society. How can open insulin contribute to society. Low cost experiments that if they succeed they will influence society. If it works, feels great, if not, no great loss. I have been involved for a year in ER, learned so much on platform, I have my community of doers, but ER is good for more thinking and intellectual development. Then also the human relationships. Hope to continue that. Doing: on day 3 hope to contribute to that. Going through a transition phase, some professionalization, some exploring, some learning needed. The community aspect has been the most instructive. We are self-taught, helanon3606750899g scientists to communicate. see the lab as a community space. I have been a fellow for ER, helped to organize the conference, privilege to work very closely with ER, see how they experiment with processes themselves. People who are willing to take the risk in how they do things.[/quote]" 4,38628,2017-10-20T12:02:13.675Z,38606,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"[quote=""anon2954219769, post:1, topic:7520""] I have my community of doers, but ER is good for more thinking and intellectual development. [/quote] ... and that is a confirmation of @anon1941345029's theory about ""communities of interest"" and ""communities of action"". (Of course I agree with Winnie. Intellectual development and friendship are also why I am on this particular ride)." 5,38640,2017-10-21T07:54:05.942Z,38628,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"just noticed no notification so far to Mr. Poncelet, so here we go: @anon2954219769." 1,34451,2017-08-17T12:01:13.674Z,34451,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"Hi All, Harrison from Biosphere(x) here. Would people be interested in a workshop such as this? What is a human scale? Our new social patterns brought upon by technology suggest we can be comfortable navigating millions innumerable online profiles and groups, while a culture of quantified self help pushes us towards a solitary pursuit of personal meaning and growth. Far from being disparate issues, this session will establish that the dilution of connections and the anxiety induced by quests of self improvement are 2 sides of the same coin. In the 1990s, anthropologist Robin Dunbar proposed a number which lies between 100 and 250 (150 is commonly used) as the amount of relationships a person can comfortably maintain. As the Dunbar Number is just a suggested cognitive limit, we will explore its implications for well being without wading into dogma. What does awareness for the Dunbar number do for our personal ability to care for ourselves and each other? We will attempt to formulate strategies for healing, learning from ancestral and contemporary precedent, and leave with tools that hopefully can scale in our native environments." 2,34473,2017-08-17T20:12:53.952Z,34451,anon3670751854,anon2066188386,"Harrison, love the proposal. I think this is such a great topic for this community as we work with issues around enlarged communities and the banon3760936673ce between hyper-local and international." 3,34475,2017-08-17T22:03:34.277Z,34451,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"IMHO this session would benefit from data. What has been tried? What worked, what imploded? Ping @anon281534083 and @anon" 4,34509,2017-08-18T14:44:26.719Z,34451,anon281534083,anon2066188386,"My experience living in a large intentional community showed me that you can get that number higher - maanon1932026148 up closer to 400 or more - if you have a high level of agreement among the people. And there have been large monasteries, Amish communities, and the like that succeed. But such groups sit at the high end of personal and social agreement. My experience at The Farm was that with fewer than 400 I knew everyone by their first name and I knew something about them and their personalities and styles. If I lived in a household with them or worked with them I knew them still better, as you would expect. As that number went higher our ability to really know each other well diminished. However, there were benefits to bigger numbers because it meant a greater diversity of skills and community services. Where it began to really break down was when the population outgrew our ability to improve our standard of living. I said at one point in this weeks community call that there can be a risk of ""biting off more than you can chew."" We did that. It didn't go well, even though that period (late 70s - early 80s) was also characterized by us doing some of our most valuable contributions to the larger society such as the Bronx ambulance service and the bilingual clinic in DC and the soy protein project in Guatemala. By the way, that clinic and that soy dairy still operate on their own even though we no longer have a direct hand in it." 5,34516,2017-08-18T17:58:46.421Z,34509,anon2066188386,anon281534083," Hey John, Thanks for sharing experience. The point about the ""ability to improve standard of living"" is really illuminating. I will chew more on that and incorporate it into the session flow. My hope for the session isn't to uncover what the actual numbers are, it's to establish that there are limits (more like ranges of limits), and what that means for us in terms of organizing and health. 400 is awesome. You guys must have had great systems in place that addressed the local contexts really well. I would wager that there's much more to the limit than the neo-cortex. Land carrying capacities and economic conditions should be respected and also addressed. Trying to keep it to community health, so thankfully should be less ground to cover than trying to reframe the whole of this society (though time well tell just how easy it is ;) health isn't straight forward at all~)" 6,34517,2017-08-18T18:00:14.968Z,34475,anon2066188386,anon1526983854,"Yes! And it seems that what has worked worked also wouldn't have as much data available because many have been erased from our public consciousness. I'm definitely interested in what would work in the now. I'm game!" 7,34518,2017-08-18T20:23:48.268Z,34516,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"What about lower bounds? At The Reef, with 3-4 people, if we want to have a communal dinner we have to make a (small) effort. Exert discipline. But at the unMonastery Matera, with maanon1932026148 10-12, this was just natural. Any one person was free to bail out on meals for whatever reason. But everyone knew that they could count on dinner to happen, with 6-10 people. The person on kitchen duty would ask around to get an idea on whether it would be more like 6 or more like 10, but no big deal either way, leftovers would be put away and quickly wiped out by the next hungry unBrethren. In other words, when you get to 6-8 people the system of communal meals with ""kitchen duty"" combines conviviality _and_ individual freedom. Also, it is very, very economically efficient: it turned out we had overestimated the running costs by 50%! I see a risk of breakdown by ""too few"" as by ""too many"". I admit never having read Robin Dunbar's work. Maanon1932026148 there is something about the _optimal_ size of human groups, not just their _maximal_ size." 8,34519,2017-08-18T20:47:58.520Z,34451,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"Hey Alberto, Totally on point. My description actually should have been more specific. Definitely need to address lower as well as upper bounds. The way that our technology and myths drive us towards individual pursuits and promised reward/glory is some sort of emergent divide and conquer in my book. Yes, I would like to put forward prescriptive sizing for different types of health scenarios, based in precedent, and backed by data :slight_smile:" 9,38578,2017-10-19T23:25:52.999Z,34451,anon70625510,anon2066188386,"Hey @anon2066188386 Thanks for the session today. Still chewing on it in an effort to calm my brain enough to sleep... Some of us are going through the [notes that we collaboratively produced](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g6jAD5uTkkkM3WkaCeaCra3gHjSKo-IAN1WuL5u2IzA/edit#), but it was so fast and rich I think they don't do the presentation justice. Basically people got the bulletpoints on the slides but not much else. So we need to flesh it out. Are you around tomorrow for an interview/chat with me if @anon4135570375 or @anon1839840820 can do an audio or video recording (whatever feels most comfortable)? Also, maanon1932026148 you have speaker notes to add to the document ?" 10,38610,2017-10-20T08:09:11.966Z,38578,anon4135570375,anon70625510,"Yes @anon70625510 & @anon2066188386 couldn't make it yesterday, really want to hear a little about it. got a recorder (thanks to laurel), I'm in the main hall all day.. S." 11,38637,2017-10-20T21:28:03.534Z,34451,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"Hi Nadia! If tomorrow works and there is some time I'm totally down. Sorry for the delayed response." 1,38626,2017-10-20T11:20:09.044Z,38626,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"**@anon1491650132: About a place and a space. We have to be somewhere. Not a matter of need Identifzy with the place, difference between home and house?** **Chris:** My open village would my home I leave in Scotland but don t know if this is my home now   **@anon1491650132: **What is open? What is open or close?** **Chris:** Internet is open because there is no control to control.Telling others what to do, be able to say no .It s about being open and close.Associative is not a collective (government, company) people do not participate in it, they are alienated to them. Open village are associative.Part of the foundation, we need to have the right metaphysical foundation. Book zen and the art of motorcycle.The art of it is the question about and / or either or Stall-man and opensource / free.In Scotland in a trial, you can be guilty, not guilty or unproven.Everything we do is about an agreement. Law is code.For me I want to do write the code of a protocol to allow anybody to live.Care is not valued.Debt, shares are instruments Instruments can be obsolete.If you got the land, you got the resources, why do you need money.   **@anon1491650132: Do you Practice?** **Chris:** I am busy to by a common property. I organize the film. The art of flirting (not floating). We try do make it without money. About risk sharing and producing value." 1,38615,2017-10-20T09:48:55.094Z,38615,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"Notes form the Listening Triad session with @anon1138232662 at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017): [quote=anon1138232662]I don't know if I fully understand what Open Village is, but I think it is ways for people to collaborate on self organised care, but I think there is a tech component and a liberal component that I don't really agree with. This was clear in the previous presentation, the slide about revolution: to say forget revolution is sort of bullshit and this delimits peoples actual rage and motivation to create those movements. I am part of a collective PMS, doing creative research on autonomous health care practices and networks, and the ways that our mental, physical, and social health is affected by power structures and the formal and informal ways people take care of each other. build tools for people to create more accountability, and have a step between the things they already do with friends and reliance on state based health care systems. share resources around these different methods, in order to strengthen them. accountability model will be shared more soon. we reach out also to other groups that do similar work, and give them a space to share. powerful in anonymity, to protect the work of people who might be doing things the state doesn't find acceptable, like taking care of other's health, so with this we have a way to share what they work on or their struggle. this gives us the freedom to do the kind of work we find most interesting.[/quote] While the quote is attributed to @anon1138232662, it does not mean it is something written or said by the user verbatim. Rather, it comes from live notes taken by somebody else during the listening triad session. Take with a grain of salt and understanding :wink:" 1,38613,2017-10-20T09:17:21.986Z,38613,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Open Village Festival [quote=Alberto]We’ve been doing community gatherings for sometime, but are getting frustrated. Great way to meet people and deepen connections, but struggle with launching action orientated platforms. This is an experiment to formulate a new process to create concrete outcomes. Concrete => has spreadsheets,re-allocates concrete material resources for deployment. It has not been so successful in in the past. We started by running a project with an institution called the Council of Europe, people met and relationships were made, this is how edgeryders started with @anon3769417221 , @anon70625510 , @anon1491650132 and @anon How do you organize an online platform to channel resources towards a concrete goal. How do you channel it is the million dollar question. We try to lead by example, the example of others, in highlighting great their work, and our own. If you come with a nice analysis of the world, that’s nice but not as interesting. So we try to reinforce and reward concrete behavior, if you can show that you have a serious desire to commit to action, then further collaboration can be possible. When we started, we created a corporate vehicle, so that everyone could use without asking, but we not many people took us up on the offer. There is a core group who still has to do a lot of the leg work. [/quote] [quote=Liz] Interviewing In the US, there is a distrust between the groups that do work like we want to do that don't want to work with governments or companies. [/quote] [quote=Alberto] – We don’t do that here. We embraced the idea of social enterprise, and found out there are good people in government, and maanon1932026148 in companies too. We always work with specific groups within the UN, the World Bank etc; people with names, faces, track records. It’s worked out so far [/quote]" 1,38608,2017-10-20T07:23:21.936Z,38608,anon3670751854,anon3670751854," [quote=Frank]I understand it as a vision of something that could happen at this point and I see it as a growing network of localized nodes. There is a common project say in the example of mutual aid and how can we activate the network when we see that there is a tangible need. [/quote] @anon1526983854: **Can you tell us why Woodbine has invested so much in this?** [quote=Frank] For us it is a question of scale. It has the potential to produce a material affect that is still in the work in the US. networking still being developed on the left. [It is not every day that you get this seamless interaction with people at a distance. We think it would be a bad idea to not harness these relationships. What do we do next] I would like to see the network to be more concrete. I think there is this platform for communication. I would like to see this network come up with a variety of needs for specific project. I would love to see a network where one node produces one thing ex. Access to water, access to resources that can be distributed when needed. We anticipate further precocity. People will have less and less resources. How to think about how to manipulate people with money into projects that need funding that would never otherwise receive money. Product development model in the US will not lead us to the answer that we want. We don't want the startup model. How can we start manipulating the systems that already exist. [/quote] @anon1526983854 : Your economic vision translates into – when you bump into a need, if your network is a good one-- able to deploy some sort of solution. Two years ago, we were doing some work in Nepal, two days later, earthquake, we pivot and we joined the response effort with significant technical skills. That experience taught us some stuff – two months later, flash flood in the capital in Georgia. We know guerilla gardening groups – they knew us and they created a successful Facebook group – in no time there were 8000 people in the group. We found a program to provide mobile phones for disaster response. We hope to build an open source turn-key solution] I think that is becoming very clear that the State cannot handle these crises and will not handle them. Given that these other models have to be created.]" 1,38602,2017-10-20T06:50:33.923Z,38602,anon335358890,anon335358890,"Open Village Festival October 19, 2017 [quote=Liz]Open Village for me is a way for different groups and people with similar goals to get together, share experiences about taking care of themselves and each other, outside of what’s provided by governments and private sector.I hope to find inspiration by connecting with people with different vantage points and tools from myself.One of the main projects that I am working on I think is a good match for Open Village is in line with the reproductive sovereignty of our groups. To move that forward, the next step for us would be to make an open source bio-lab. Additionally, find a way of scaling: these have to be local projects, but at the same time need to have a scaling mechanism. [/quote]" 1,38598,2017-10-20T06:10:01.008Z,38598,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"**Questions: How do you effectively collaborate from local to global contexts? How do we rapidly deploy projects across borders without losing decentralized identities?** [quote=Barbara] For me it is a place that people can come where everybody can come and contribute whatever the person feels like contributing. It is not a big hierarchy and everybody is free to come and go as they like. It is very flexible. Everybody is welcome. That is what it means to me.Well I am very interested in community places like this. I also know that the idea is very nice, but in reality not always so easy.I am interested in this topic for many years, and I visited several places, but these are different where people are already living together, and this is of course, not always easy, because there are differences in oanon3606750899ions, and different ideas.I live in Berlin and there are some community gardens, how to say, I don’t know how to say it...I take part in some of the activities and I want to participate more, and different focuses, of course environment is very important. [/quote] **Question: How do you move forward with a common goal and not get distracted by group dynamics?** [quote=Fabio Balli ] Open Village is a social gathering, where people form the civil society, who are interested in health come together to share experience, and may be build something from it. I relate to it, 1-2 years ago you in touch and participate in a ground application for some health projects. Last year we applied to a residence in Milano and we went with a health project “Breathing Games” for two weeks. I want to continue on this project and hopefully find individuals or groups interested, like computer games for educational or treatment asthma, etc. [/quote] **Question: What legal and economic standards do we need to change in order to ensure health for all? Why do we sit in rows and not in a circle?** [quote=Bernard Dougas] A place to live. Is it a live work space? For me working is something artificial, if you like what you do you don’t work. The problem now is the existence of work in itself. Doing things is part of life, work is part of life. In french the word “labour” is different. “Travaille” means torture, historically this was a type of torture. For enjoyable activity the term would be “Activite”. My partner told me I don’t work because I don’t earn money. But I work a lot, more than if I were at an office of someone else. [/quote] [quote=Chris] The technical word is labor (in Marx’s term), work should not be that, it’s part of life.This is care. People look after each other and they’re not paid for it. If you are paid for it it’s not care. [/quote] **HOW DO YOU RELATE TO IT?** [quote=Chris] I’m trying to explain the physical roots of the economic system, from an engineering pov. The whole process of making people think that this is an action when it is not. I’m trying to make a theory about metro-logy (the science of measuring) and apply it to the economy part. Normally you shouldn’t buy a unit of measure.I’m working on energy independence and healthcare (with breathing games). I did a lot of work in the use of magnesium and health – we have a common protein with the trees, the link with energy is clorophine: in our body this is called hemoglobin. To be autonomous is not to be alone, to associate and try to keep moving. Swarmwise should be a required reading before coming. [/quote]" 1,38588,2017-10-20T03:58:55.108Z,38588,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"A chat with Paola Villarreal during Open Village Festival 19th October 2017 [quote=Paola] It is a network of people that share values that focus on openness which is something that I was focused on. They want to create a community online. I am sick of seeing people creating technology that is top down as opposed to bottom up and I think communities should be involved and be a priority for technology developers. I met @anon70625510 anon70625510 at mosfest as a fellow we started to talk about how to make these efforts sustainable through fellowships and grants - exploring the topical things and that's how she invited me to join the funding panel at this event. I am currently doing research on data and inequality called data for justice - develoanon3606750899g a methodology to measure different places and develop measurement tools. I was focus on the story telling from the data that I get. Picking trends from it and pointing out things. [/quote]" 1,38586,2017-10-20T03:45:50.084Z,38586,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"Notes from the Listening Triad session with @anon [quote=anon948101822c]I am totally new to this, I haven't gotten in the platform. I came from transparency. As Entrepreneur, investor privacy is very important, you want to be ahead of the game and how can I be more transparent in what I do. Starting from sharing information and building networks. This event is the first relation to OpenVillage. I could contribute with my experience in the world of funding. Happy to share that in the panel tomorrow. What I do is very focused in Africa so that I am also contributing the African perspective.[/quote]" 1,34003,2017-08-04T23:43:28.745Z,34003,anon2305407032,anon2305407032,"hello! my name is anon2305407032 and i'm a member of Woodbine Health Autonomy. I came to the group after years of intensive academic work, existing in cut throat, very hierarchal institutions, and ignoring my own well-being inevitably caught up with me. i was forced to reckon with how the professional and cultural spaces we value most in our society push the labor of social reproduction into the private, individual sphere--even as feminist academics talk about a lot about care, and even as ""health"" and ""wellness"" are now pervasive buzzwords and boutique amenities accessible to those who can afford them. i'm a writer, scholar, and an amateur herbalist. these days i think a lot about the history of the body under capitalism--in particular about gender, trauma, desire, and increasingly the history of medicine. Woodbine Health Autonomy has given me a space to think about anti-capitalist infrastructures of care as we move toward building our own. Please ask me any questions you might have, and I really look forward to planning, convening, and scheming with all of you!!" 2,34015,2017-08-05T19:27:38.670Z,34003,anon3670751854,anon2305407032,Welcome Nicole! 3,34021,2017-08-06T09:15:51.321Z,34003,anon1526983854,anon2305407032,"Hello @anon2305407032, welcome from me too. Woodbine is on a big quest (intimidatingly so, even), so any extra intellectual firepower is sure to be welcome. What kind of an academic did you use to be (or still are)? What are you trying to build within the Woodbine framework?" 4,38469,2017-10-18T02:02:08.669Z,34003,anon255535628,anon2305407032,"hi Nicole ! I'm also very interested on those topics. I recently read a zine called ""Burning Women - the European Witch Hunts, enclosures and the rise of capitalism"", by Lady Stardust. (find it here : http://we.riseup.net/assets/246955/Burning+Women.pdf) Well, the content is summarized in the title, but it also talks about the rise of medicine as opposed to the grassroots feminine knowledge of herbalism. I heard about a bigger book called ""Caliban and the Witch"", by Silvia Federici that develops the subject further, but I couldn't find the time to read it yet." 5,38580,2017-10-19T23:39:34.630Z,34021,anon70625510,anon1526983854,"During some of the sessions today I got the feeling that several people in a room share same values and ideals, but are coming at things using really different vocabularies for whatever reasons. To understand one another we need some kind of glossary of terms so a reading list would be helpful as a starting point." 1,38573,2017-10-19T15:45:43.693Z,38573,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"**Galway project – Monastery.** * Doing things different. * Capital of Culture 2020, with the project part of the bid. * Trialing the concept of Monastery. * Participating with OpenCare, asking questions of local people. * Building with a community in real life, not just online. _Inspired less by the tech side of the work, interested in the positive aspects of the religious side of monasteries. Working against the_ _Spiritual end of the idea is of interest_ **How do you do this without the Dogma?** * Working out how we work together in groups. * Looking at long term co-habitation and co-living. * Trying the idea as a shorter term – retreat based idea. * Looking at short term gains and recharging. * Bringing people from diverse areas, backgrounds, interests and bringing them into a conversation with an online platform. * Looking at how we mix. Listening to others ideas and adapting them to the Irish situation. Seeing where progress has happened and where blocks have appeared. Tying together with how ‘the arts’ and culture more widely fits in. Bringing in wellness to arts, building communities, how we adapt to existing infrastructure. Learning from intentional communities. Sharing info about the idea of The Reef in Ireland. Learning about the small scale ideas, finding a way through the beucracy. * Keeanon3606750899g things positive, but not ignoring the difficulties. * Island nation means people are careful not to overshare. They are ‘cagey’. Projects require critical mass behind them to grow." 1,38571,2017-10-19T14:56:33.952Z,38571,anon1839840820,anon1839840820,"Notes from the Listening Triad session with Alex, at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017): [quote=Alex] Open village is the next step, the evolution of what was tried in un-monastery project.A network of spaces that are connected with an approach rather than an output. It’s about finding solutions for problems that are faced by everyone For example- the reef in Brussels is about consultancy and it’s about a community that is open so it’s a really different than in the reef in another place but the problem we address is the same but the make-up is different.What drew me to un-monastery is a set of different stories which in monastery was religion/authorities but in the new projects it’s societal change How to feed people? How to reduce our reliance on multinational corporate? Bio hacks, urban gardening, avoiding being taken over by central governments. **What do you think the community can draw from this event?** The event is an opportunity to do two things.The first is reflective of what we have already achieved.Then acting as a catalyst and a way of energizing and going forward, at the end of the event you would say I have met very interesting people who we can go together.The fact that we are using this space and tomorrow we will move to another so there is a sense in the city Brussels of re-development away from large corporations and there are many spaces like these who are growing rooted in the community. I don’t think Brussels is unique in that we can see it in capital cities and large cities around Europe.I never know what I want to achieve.I am really drawn to the idea and often I find myself between the desire to travel and see and explore and wanting to stay somewhere and be part of a community.So what happens here is a mix of both.It might be interesting with my background and my interests and I approach the community here I found a mix of both. [/quote]" 1,38185,2017-10-12T18:45:47.054Z,38185,anon2700952829,anon2700952829,"Dear all -- as our time together is quickly approaching and will be quite brief, I wanted to connect ahead of time with anyone who is working as an artist or curator with / in / around the topic of women's reproductive health. I am currently collaborating on a project called [How to Perform an Abortion](https://www.howtoperformanabortion.com/) which explores systems for self-managed women's healthcare. Does anyone's work align with this project, which examines both ""medical"" and ""herbal"" approaches to managing fertility? I will also be traveling in the UK (Oct. 22 - 25) and the Netherlands (Oct. 25 - 29) so if anyone has any recommendations for people I should reach out to who are doing similar / mission-aligned work, please let me know! ~ Eugenia Manwelyan School of Apocalypse" 2,38187,2017-10-12T18:56:42.409Z,38185,anon70625510,anon2700952829,prolly @anon2954219769 ? maanon1932026148 also @anon 3,38252,2017-10-13T17:36:21.460Z,38185,anon1061021150,anon2700952829,"Hey Eugenia! you got lucky, one of my best friends is a sex educator, with years of experience in Poland now living in London and working in the same field. I will connect you via email ;)" 4,38397,2017-10-16T18:18:30.695Z,38185,anon3606750899,anon2700952829,"hello here ! I'm coming to the meeting so we can find to talk about this topics as I'm one of the ones we start the Gynepunk project I will be happy to find and share with you this and other experiences from plants to hardware hacking! see you there !" 5,38404,2017-10-16T20:48:55.000Z,38252,anon2700952829,anon1061021150,"Natalia -- That's amazing! Do you mind sending intro to my personal email account - emanwelyan@anon Thank you!! Eugenia Manwelyan 917-710-7496" 6,38439,2017-10-17T13:49:45.317Z,38185,anon948101822,anon2700952829,"If you are travelling to the Netherlands it could be maanon1932026148 nice for you to get in touch with this organisation https://www.womenonanon3003844599s.org/en/page/2928/contact They work on access to safe abortion through multiple ways of empowerment (drones, ship campaigns, etc) They also realised an interesting documentary few years ago http://vesselthefilm.com" 7,38471,2017-10-18T02:37:19.018Z,38439,anon3606750899,anon948101822,"womenonanon3003844599s, esential !" 8,38472,2017-10-18T06:45:33.781Z,38185,anon3670751854,anon2700952829,"@anon335358890 is going to be presenting about reproductive sovereignty at the festival, will def put you in touch." 9,38545,2017-10-18T17:12:23.315Z,38439,anon2700952829,anon948101822,"@anon3606750899 - would love to meet with someone involved with Women on Waves and / or Women on Web -- they do amazing work -- if you have any contacts who could put me in touch, that would be amazing. Till soon! ~ Eugenia Manwelyan School of Apocalypse" 1,859,2017-06-04T22:33:35.000Z,859,anon3786846929,anon3786846929,"

Open Insulin so far

A group of citizen scientists at Counter Culture Labs, a hacker space in Oakland, California has been develoanon3606750899g an open-source protocol to make insulin for about a year and a half. The world needs more economical sources of insulin because 1 in 2 people who need it lack access to insulin worldwide, and this burden falls disproportionately on the poorest communities. Longer term, we hope that by starting with insulin we can broaden our scope to develop more general protein engineering capabilities and provide a practical foundation for small-scale groups working in distributed fashion to experiment with and produce other biologics. We're very near to reaching our first milestone of producing and isolating proinsulin, after which we'll be redoubling our efforts to develop a simple, end-to-end protocol to produce insulin. We've had several collaborators join our effort in the meantime, including a group at ReaGent in Belgium, another at Biofoundry in Sydney, and another here with us in the Bay Area at Fair Access Medicines.

What have we learned about having citizens define and help advance our research project?

Our team has benefitted from participation from people with a broad diversity of backgrounds and interests - from veterans of producing biologics at pharmaceutical companies, to people with PhDs and years of work experience in relevant fields, to college students and total beginners who are just interested in starting to learn and contribute. The sharing of knowledge and responsibilities within our group thus mirrored what we were seeking to support beyond the group.

How do we ensure long term sustainability for our project?

We originally raised a little over $15k to get started via a crowdfunding campaign, a small budget that has nonetheless proven adequate. We've been fortunate that we've been able to stretch our financial resources a long way with donated and deeply discounted second-hand equipment and reagents, and the contributions of skilled volunteers to keep our equipment running. Thus we have no recurring expenses, which has proven to be the most important way to conserver resources and keep the project sustainable in its high-risk seed phase. This has put us on a firm foundation to reach our first milestone, the production and isolation of proinsulin, the first major step on the way to making the mature, active form of insulin. Once that is done, we plan to pursue our next steps and undertake whatever further fundraising effort we may need to do so, possibly involving a distributed ownership structure and holding and sharing of the fruits of our efforts under some sort of peer production license to ensure we develop a viable commons around our work. Challenges we still face are keeanon3606750899g continuity in the work of the group and preservation and transmission of knowlege as members join and leave the project, something that is becoming more urgent with our develoanon3606750899g international collaborations. The urgent questions of distributing the work effectively and making good use of everyone's time and enthusiasm and providing all involved with the support they need has us eager to develop better organization and get people with better organizational skills involved; let us know if you can contribute in these ways!

How do we encourage change at policy level?

We have learned more about how much we don't know about the complex geopolitics and economics around insulin than about how to directly address the policy dimensions of access to insulin and access to medicine in general. But the fact remains that our fundamental rationale for our work is economical, and has to do with the impact that decentralized production could have immediately and how it could change the landscape of incentives in the longer term to favor better policies.  We hope our work will have several effects. First, by enabling more production of insulin by more groups, it can increase competition in the market for insulin, which is currently dominated by 3 large manon169343781facturers who face criticisms of acting as an oligopoly and lawsuits credibly accusing them of illegally colluding to fix prices. Increased competition might quickly lower costs, bringing insulin into reach for more people, and decentralized production might avoid problems with supply chains reaching parts of the world where it's currently uneconomical to ship centrally-produced insulin. Second, in the longer term, reducing profits from sales of insulin could help to shift economic incentives towards develoanon3606750899g better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for diabetes rather than the highly costly and inconvenient chronic treatment that those with diabetes must currently live with. This should synergize with the third effect, mentioned before, of making it easier to experiment with biologics by putting the tools for protein production and purification in more hands. Then, with these realigned economic incentives around insulin and a cure for diabetes, we can revisit policy questions from a more favorable position, advocating for policies that favor innovation from small-scale groups and revoke the legal privileges large manon169343781facturers have won to protect their oligopolies.   " 2,7889,2017-06-08T10:31:30.000Z,859,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"How do we organize open science? Hi @anon3786846929 ! Thanks for posting your session proposal draft. Your remarks about information sharing and organization connect with me, not only because being part of the international Open Insulin collab. Also because when talking to people in several open and participatory science projects over the last year, the same questions keep popanon3606750899g up. Perhaps this is a good challenge to solve with the participants during your session: how do we best organize collaboration and information sharing in large community driven science projects? An outcome of this workshop could be a framework you can readily use in the project, and that others can use for their projects. The other part of the session can be you sharing experiences, outcomes or anything you think is worth telling.  What do you think? " 3,15045,2017-06-08T14:42:29.000Z,859,anon1491650132,anon3786846929,"+1 session on Collaboration, blueprints etc @anon3786846929 your project inspires many people around here, myself included. I spoke about it any chance I got at meetings and events.. You mention the challenge of keeanon3606750899g continuity within the group: how large is the group now? does it help to have community coordinators like Winnie with clear mandate to support knowledge sharing and convening of groups, even more so than the hard science aspect of the project?  Also, isnt there stuff to be learned from similar networked groups around the world ? Nightscout have also prompted high levels of interest spanning many countries, have they found new ways, better ways..? I think the lessons from a workshop like that stand to benefit any networked organisation or collective, including edgeryders if you ask me. Collaboration, especially over the internet and between people who barely see each other face to face, well... it's damn hard. Keep it up! " 4,37440,2017-10-04T07:41:47.335Z,859,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"During my visit in Oakland, Anthony and I discussed the organisational side of Open Insulin. With methods for collaborating globally being one aspect, another is what to do with the open insulin protocol once it is there. In order to keep incentives aligned and the decision making power with the patients, we came up with the idea of a patient cooperative to govern a sort of generic insulin manon169343781facturing company. Everyone has a non-transferrable share and is involved in the decision making process of what happens with the gains from the cooperative's activities. Do patients want cheaper insulin? That would be possible. Do patients want to invest into research for better forms of insulin? That would be possible. Do patients want a combination, where the financially comfortable patients invest their gains in better insulin, while the poorer choose for cheaper insulin? That would (or should be) possible, although it will require more complex forms of governance. Do patients want to invest in an actual cure, instead of remaining dependant on insulin as a treatment? That would be possible. Ultimately, resources would stay inside the circle of people who stand to benefit the most from the productive activities, without external predators to capitalize on their ilness. There are many questions, limitations and remarks around design and implementation of such a cooperative. We hope to explore those during the workshop part of the Open Insulin session at OpenVillage Festival. It will be a collaborative brainstorm format, focussed on concrete solutions, rather than a philosophical exploration of the idea. I hope we can already start off the discussion here in anticipation of the event. That will make our meeting in two weeks much deeper. Ping @anon3786846929 @anon3301928407 @anon3112530648 , you might find this interesting. Do you have any pointers from your own work?" 5,37459,2017-10-04T13:16:51.168Z,37440,anon3301928407,anon2954219769,"Hi Winnie. Open Insulin is of great interest in the context of my action-based (ie applied, rather than theoretical) research into resilience. Open Insulin represents what I think of as a global ('macro') application of the resilient institutions (aka agreements) and instruments I have been researching and develoanon3606750899g. Open Care & Open Villages are (by definition local) resilient 'micro' applications. Of course we network resilient micro, the result should be resilient mezzo and macro. :slight_smile: Looking forward to the discussion. Best regards Chris Cook" 6,37918,2017-10-09T08:13:55.134Z,37459,anon2954219769,anon3301928407,"I'm curious to explore the micro/macro dynamics. The current idea with Open Insulin is to bring production to a city level. There are synergies in scale, and costs. In my view, it is a good strategy to start small and observe where it stops making sense to grow certain aspects. Eg. physical production might stop being interesting to scale beyond the city level, but it might make sense to keep growing a shared pool of financial resources so that it spans a country. And perhaps distribution hubs at a neighborhood scale. First and foremost things must make sense at a micro level, and can then be minimally tweaked to also make sense as part of a bigger whole. Yet the priority is always the micro, or else the macro is fragile." 7,38465,2017-10-17T21:55:38.477Z,859,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Some notes in preparation of this session. Anthony will present an introduction to Open Insulin. He will focus on the organisational side of the project and the obstacles this entails. This has two aspects that are immediate needs for Open Insulin: - A way of organising ourselves that scales internationally. May includes better habits, expressing shared values and use of digital platforms - A prototype of a patient cooperative that stewards the open insulin protocol. May include managing a commons that is a production facility at a certain scale (eg. the city level) and collective decision making. How to prototype such a complex thing in an accessible and action oriented way? Desired outcomes for the project: - Several sets of methods/tools/habits that (citizen science) projects can use to organize themselves internationally and locally. No information without context, but a combination of what to use, how to use them and when. - A plan for prototyanon3606750899g a patient cooperative that stewards the open insulin protocol We will discuss a set of questions, aimed at coming up with actionable outputs. Depending on the amount of people showing up, it may be beneficial to split into groups briefly, before sharing insights collectively again. - How have you managed communication in your team? What are tools you use, how do you use them? How does it scale online, geographically, over time zones? - How have you managed information in your team? What are tools you use, how do you use them? How does it scale online, geographically, over time zones? Is it applicable for scientific data? - @anon3301928407, from your experience in applied research, what would be thoughtful questions as prompts for discussing the patient cooperative? Input and remarks are very welcome. Ping @anon2913896429 , you probably have valuable experience with similar challenges." 8,38475,2017-10-18T07:25:41.160Z,859,anon3301928407,anon3786846929,"My 'reality-based' approach in my action-based ('learning by doing') research is to first establish the desired outcome and to then 'Backcast' to firstly, identify the resources necessary to achieve that outcome and secondly, the optimal institutions and instruments to mobilise these resources, as far as possible in 'money's worth' rather than money. Note here by 'institutions' I do not mean organisations which have a legal existence independent of their membership, but rather nested/networked agreements between stakeholders (the aim is for a Platform Co-op consisting of a co-op of co-ops, association of associations or even club of clubs) to the agreed common purpose These multi-stakeholder co-ops may or may not be within national corporate frameworks: the global framework agreements requires careful thought. @anon2913896429 As with any concept we will need an initial proof of concept implementation & location." 9,38476,2017-10-18T09:04:04.245Z,38465,anon2913896429,anon2954219769,"I would very much like to join this session and learn more about the foundations of this visionary project, the current team's structure/framework, and the needs it plans to address. Some of the questions you've raised have a parallel focus as the session on Infrastructure for autonomy. (Which session comes first you think?) It would be ideal to if we can pull the learning and conclusions from one to the other." 10,38479,2017-10-18T09:40:43.812Z,38476,anon2954219769,anon2913896429,Great! :-) The panel will be on Day 1 and this workshop is on Day 2. I will be at the panel as an active audience member and documenting thoroughly with the Open Insulin project in mind. 11,38480,2017-10-18T09:43:20.124Z,38475,anon2954219769,anon3301928407,"That's clear, thanks. Backcast seems like a good exercise for this topic, and a structured way at that. I have facilitated such a brainstorm before and could do it at the workshop. Unless someone else rises to the opportunity, of course." 1,5886,2016-09-14T06:33:38.000Z,5886,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"
“A Resolution” points to the sparks that are creating a new light in the growing darkness: the revolutionary anon3003844599 that spread from Tunis to New York; the Kurdish freedom struggle and the war against ISIS in Rojava; the riots and blockades sparked by the killings of Mike Brown and anon948101822c Garner; and the retooling and remaking of life with “civilization starter kits” and “removing the dust” from indigenous knowledges and practices. “We, the people who work every day, who think we ‘don’t have time’ - we are the only ones who can do this,” said a Woodbine co-founder. “No one’s going to do this for us—no politician, no technological innovation, no international agreement. If we want a different future, we are going to have to make it, from where we are and in every place.”  
https://player.vimeo.com/video/150364886  

The Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center is in Ridgewood, Queens. It is part of Woodbine, a hub for building autonomy in the wake of a dying civilization.

Our goal is to examine what health autonomy would look like and how to begin to build it for ourselves here in New York city. We are beginning by providing ways to interact with neighbors, to think of health and care as a communal process, and becoming a point of aggregation where people can come together and share resources. We currently facilitate health related skill shares, create concrete ways to navigate the overwhelming health infrastructure that exists while lessening our dependence on it, in order to build an autonomous health community. We are beginning to experiment with providing care outside of the realm of state control. This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. Our intention is always to heal, and so we are finding ways to do this that protects providers and patients. Within Woodbine, the struggle for autonomy has been broken down into categories of the most urgent material necessity, meant to focus our attention on tangible goals toward building power within our community. Health autonomy is a crucial part of this. The health resource center is run by a mix of health professionals and those with informal training in various health practices. We want to re-create a sense of agency over health through a focus on the dissemination of usable, teachable skills. We are working with peers who practice herbal medicine, massage, feldenkrais, acupuncture, meditation, yoga and other forms of so called “alternative” medicine. We are creating our own definition of wellness, one that is congruent with the realities of our time. There is also a large focus on prevention of illness, of re-fostering the idea of a healthy life, not anon2590712900y the absence of disease. This is how we begin the necessary process of removing our physical and mental health from systems that would damage them further, to reclaim control over health and use it to increase our collective autonomy. We do not reject modern methods of medicine, but recognize the need to detach its knowledge from the oppressive institutions that guard it. We are attempting to change our orientation to institutions of western medicine to one of use over dependence; a manipulation of the systems that surround us. While there are significant problems with the city’s public health infrastructure, they do provide much of the emergency and chronic care here. We realize that there needs to be support for people needing to navigate these without the fear of accruing a huge amount debt, alongside the emphasis of practices that will ultimately lessen dependence on them. The spaces dedicated to holistic medicine or alternative care are largely inaccessible to large portions of the population because they exist for those who can afford them. For these reasons, our center is meant to involve community members, help us understand the care-related skills we already have, and be an informational resource for accessing all types of health modalities. We have public open times for the community, staffed by one of our members, to assist in that process. Our skills workshops so far have included basic first aid, wound care, acupressure and intro to traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and an intro to medicinal plants. Coming up we will have workshops on navigating existing healthcare systems, nutrition, addiction and ongoing fitness skillshares. Our goal is that participants can use the resource library to learn about things relevant to their own health, potentially explore different modalities, and either receive aid in navigating the health systems in place or find treatment within the space itself. As we gain ground in the journey towards health autonomy, we see just how disempowered we have become when it comes to being able to give and receive the kind of care necessary. We have to fight that disconnection and build the infrastructure in order to give ourselves the space to envision a new existence. We look forward to hearing your stories, to understand your struggles and to collectively create the foundations to answer these monumental questions.  Editor's note: We are building a collaborative bid for the MacArhur Foundation's 100 Million USD with our peers in 40 + countires. You are very welcome to join us if you are doing work at the intersections of care, open knowledge and technologies, and communities. Learn more at  http://openandchange.care. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,9115,2016-09-16T10:30:26.000Z,5886,anon1526983854,anon3670751854,"Great post ... and great video (Nadia showed it to me). I am impressed, and looking forward to get to know you better.  (Adding this post to the opencare community group) " 3,16165,2016-09-18T09:14:13.000Z,5886,anon4219214615,anon3670751854,"ability to go beyoind it , sense making, strnght, strong eliefe these are the words that i felt more powerful adn fitting to the video and the project description. i feel the strength of a group with a shared mission and vision, soemthing that is strongly missing the modern individualistic society, and by the way it is based on a shared concrete experience of care. this is many many are looking for as a way to sense making postmodernity values, for sure attarct intersted to more concretely understand how it works, how could develop, how could go beyoing queens and the founding group. how much it is posisbile that co-living communities become a point of reference to each neightboorhood social growth...and then a nertwork of them become soemthing more impactful... single energies are often burn out or depressed by being alone or istitutionalised or politiced....here i see a cognitive breakthru... " 4,21278,2016-09-18T16:14:04.000Z,5886,anon1088780966,anon3670751854,"healthcare in political context! This really spoke to me. Healthcare is largely seen as a 'value-neutral', apolitical issue, and it's so important to put it back in its political context, and to see that our attitudes towards it are framed by the wider values of our society. It looks like Woodbine are doing some great work on this. Attitudes towards alternative medicine are a case in point - not only is there resistance from the medical institutions [often ignoring solid evidence supporting the practice], but ordinary people pick up on that and are averse to being involved with something that doesn't have the approval of the medical 'authorities'. I wonder if the Woodbine folk have encountered any resistance to 'woo' things like TCM and Feldenkrais, and if so, how they have overcome this? I should also put in a shout for the Chinese tradition of Yang Sheng - non-industrialised health practices that aren't just about physical fitness, and that can be suitable for those recuperating or without full physical mobility. If you have a community library, Peter Deadman's latest might make a great addition - not only does it cover a whole range of areas [general health, pregnancy, ageing, etc] but it cites lots of western science to back up the older eastern practices.  " 5,24586,2016-09-19T13:20:18.000Z,5886,anon477123739,anon3670751854,"agree ""Healthcare is largely seen as a 'value-neutral', apolitical issue, and it's so important to put it back in its political context"" Couldn't agree more with you here. Certainly, given what is happen in the UK at the moment it is really important that both the wider community and the medical professionals themselves understand that they stand in a highly politicised space. I think it's time we stopped demanding our doctors and medical practitoners pretend they somehow exist outside of the politcal world around them " 6,26630,2016-09-19T17:17:32.000Z,5886,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"In the USA all healthcare is political ""Obamacare"" is arguably the number one political debate along with immigration and national security. Another aspect is student loans.  For years students have taken out loans to attend universities.  For years the government set low interest rates and wasn't aggressive in going after delinquent accounts.  That changed some years ago and those loans are now both very expensive and likely to scar your entire working life if you don't pay them on time.  I submit that is has a chilling effect on people seeking careers in medicine and health care at the higher levels.  And it is certainly a huge reason why there is such a shortage of general practitioners compared to specialists.  A GP has to take many more years to pay off their student debt. I could go on and on.  But the point is that it is impossible to separate health care from the political debate in the US, and probaly everywhere else. " 7,27204,2016-09-19T18:03:42.000Z,26630,anon1526983854,anon281534083,"You are unusually politically sophisticated! I may be way off the mark here (I am not British), but I think @anon1088780966 is thinking of the way the Leave campaign in the recent Brexit referendum used NHS funding as am electoral promise to sell their product: ""Support us, and there will be more money for health care!"". They can do this because everybody agrees that funding public health care is a good thing. In this sense, even though it's still entangled with politics in complex ways, public health care as a principle is bipartisan in the UK. Italy is the same: it's part of our identity. Attacks do not come from groups trying to defund it, but from groups trying to parasitize it, for example supplying it with (super-expensive, proprietary) equipment.  We (Italians, possibly the British too) do not think of health care as political because it's not divisive as a basic choice. I appreciate ours is not a sophisticated position. " 8,28236,2016-09-19T18:19:25.000Z,5886,anon1088780966,anon3670751854,"US/UK Thanks, @anon But I would venture [not living there, but observing from afar] that there is a similar issue in the US - people think of the status quo as 'normal' and don't see that it already has a political dimension, so attempts to disrupt the massively wasteful insurance/medical cartel [as Obamacare made some small steps to do] come up against lots of resistance even from people who might benefit from change. " 9,28630,2016-09-19T18:46:44.000Z,28236,anon281534083,anon1088780966,"American oanon3606750899ion seems easy to manipulate in certain ways.  Millions of not very bright people who derive their understanding of the world through a mix of TV and their own predjudices and assumptions view the healthcare status quo as being one where they have more individual choice.  (Obanacare = socialism and ""death panels."") Over here that is like a core religious belief, so if you can convince people they will have fewer choices then it isn't that hard to get them to oppose it, even though it is not in their economic interest to do so.  Indeed the fact that Ronald Reagan got elected largely with the support of such people is a perennial case in point. " 10,29375,2016-09-19T18:21:10.000Z,5886,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"But with so many refugees now placing increased demands on health care - and the budgets that support it - it it not becoming more politicised in the EU? Also, Open Care is a distinctly apolitical effort, but after it gains some traction both specifically and as a meme that propagates, I see a danger in attempts at co-opting or using it by political forces wanting to channel the narrative - and the money - to a particular agenda.  Of course this is from someone in the US where everything is political on some level. " 11,30187,2016-09-19T18:42:22.000Z,5886,anon1088780966,anon3670751854,"not so many I can't speak to places like Germany and Sweden, but the numbers of refugees in most EU countries are very low compared to the overall population - and the ones who managed to get there tend to be younger and more able, so not placing huge demands on health care per se. That's an interesting point about the apoliticality of Open Care - in the party political sense, of course it should not be aligned with a particular side. But if politics just means 'how we organise things in our society', then it is very much political - and if it does bring about significant change, it's bound to be seen as such by some people. A current example - kind of the opposite to Obamacare - are the moves in the UK by the current government to privatise aspects of the NHS. They will say that it is not about political ideology, it's just about being more 'efficient' and using 'the invisible hand' of market forces to drive costs down, and that we can't afford not to in a time of 'austerity' - but every one of those terms has an ideology behind it; assumptions and values about what healthcare is, what a society is, what government is for, etc. " 12,30781,2016-09-19T18:55:52.000Z,5886,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"Twas ever thus.. > every one of those terms has an ideology behind it Absolutely correct. Over the past eight years, in addtion to other duties as a manager of an organization, I administered the health care benefit for my employees.  This all took place during the whole Obamacare/socialized medicine debate. As you know, in politics, one gets ahead by identifying and demonising a bad guy.  In that debate the bad guys were the health insurance companies.  Plenty of blame to go around with that group, no question. But in shopanon3606750899g for the best plans, I noticed something interesting.  If we opted for a plan where the pharmaceudicals were all generic, the premiums for each employee was reduced by half.  By half!  No other cost reduction option even came remotely close to that.  So, if half the expense is going to the drug companies for their proprietary drugs, then shouldnt they have figured a little more heavily in the national debate?  (Actually it did with one candidate - Bernie Sanders.)   One would think, but in my view, that would have complicated things too much for the huge numbers of people who need everything in the public sphere dumbed down so they can grasp it.  (I hate to say such things because it sounds so elitist, but after decades of involvement with the public dialogue I can't avoid that conclusion.) " 13,31632,2016-10-06T15:25:29.000Z,5886,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"Impressive Great work.  I salute you. " 14,38456,2017-10-17T17:22:14.367Z,5886,anon948101822,anon3670751854,thank you for sharing your experience: it is really inspiring... a breath of fresh air! 1,38430,2017-10-17T12:00:27.251Z,38430,anon948101822,anon948101822,"I could tell my story as a sort of Janon169343781s-headed narrative. I like this god of beginnings, gates, transitions, duality and endings, with his two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. But maanon1932026148 also to all the kind of opposites and contrasts our society is so rich of. I am a doctor: I studied in Rome, where I observed the changement in a health system under my eyes. From a national health system capable of paying you even thermal therapy to one where if you need to see a specialist for a serious disease you can wait for months ...or just book an appointment for the next day if you can pay the private-practice fee. I moved to Brussels for specialising in Pediatrics -(access to specialised training in different countries could be another interesting topic, but too many things to say for resuming everything in one post!)- and had the chance to work in different multicultural contexts: Brussels city-center, Antwerp travel clinic, Burundi's rural hospital. What really caught my attention was how children health was related to some very specific cultural-related aspects. There are of course the well-known social determinants of health, but that's not all, or at least the way we deal with them as health worker is trivial. Am I doing my job as a Pediatrician if I am not doing something for empowering mothers, for helanon3606750899g them in creating social networks, in having access to instruction, to healthy nutrition, safe shelter, gender equality? I strongly believe Health is a social result and my job as a doctor will never be accomplished if I do not go out from hospitals, clinics, cabinets, if I do not act firstly as a citizen. Then let's have a look to the other face. I am a patient too, as anyone is at a certain moment in life -hopefully just a transient moment!-. I was confronted to the weaknesses of Occidental medicine: when I see a specialist that only looks to my blood results and never to my eyes do I feel heal? He will probably solve my medical problem, but where is caring? Is that enough? Aren't we loosing something with this dichotomy? Sometimes, in spite of a very scientific vision of life, I prefer to look for alternative medicines as a patient, exactly because of this need for an holistic vision. I often think to the ancient hawaiian healing practice of Hoʻoponopono. The definition in the Hawaiian Dictionary is: ""To put to rights; to put in order or shape, correct, revise, adjust, amend, (...); to make ready, as canoemen preparing to catch a anon3003844599."" Illness is considered as a problem of the whole family (or even society), and the solution is then thought as a social practice too. What could we learn from that? From a very practical point of view I am sure that a lot can be done, and thinking about how to create and empower social networks is one of the keys for improving health. I think loneliness is one of the stronger social determinant of health in more and more industrialised societies: no solution can be thought without a systemic and partecipative vision. From what to start?" 2,38448,2017-10-17T16:37:23.546Z,38430,anon1526983854,anon948101822,"Hello @anon948101822, nice to meet you and welcome to Edgeryders! Many people here, in the course of OpenCare, have been asking questions similar to yours. I have no answers of my own, but I have read plenty of super-interesting stories from others. The experience of the @anon3670751854 collective in New York City got me thinking perhaps most – they have been linking the concept of ""care"" to that of autonomy, for example [here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/after-occupy-how-we-are-develoanon3606750899g-structures-to-empower-community-health-access-to-resources-and-preventative-medicine/5853): [quote=""anon3670751854, post:1, topic:5853""] We want to re-create a sense of agency over health through a focus on the dissemination of usable, teachable skills [/quote] If you want to get an idea of how many more people in here are exploring the connections between health care and society at large, you can also come to the session @anon1277226854, @anon3675269997 and myself are holding at Open Village Festival." 1,34145,2017-08-08T13:12:26.579Z,34145,anon2615441044,anon2615441044," - **Tweet-like description of the project**: Modules for voice display - **Need or problem you are attempting to solve**: Read numerical display with a voice, without having to use the sight. - **Beneficiary, single person and/or community**: People with disabilities, like blind or people unable to read. People with difficulties or impediment in reading a value on a display. - **Solution, brief description of the project** Voice module for electronic instruments and sensors, able to say numbers and short sentences. Specifically designed for small devices like multimeters or domotics. This module was born to read, through a loudspeaker, values that are normally shown on the instrument display. It is composed by an hardware (that reads data), a software library (that can compose pronunciation according to the data) and some guidelines to make the project a speaking one. - **Technologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt** Small MicroController like Atmel or PIC; Audio Player Module like WTV020 or Mini DF Player; Mini Speaker. - **WebSite (or socials)** / - **License, that you are planning to use:** / - **Current status/stage of the project. Considering your project, please point out the project stages that you have already accomplished.** The majority of electrical equipment currently available on the market consists of a visual output device, that communicates and interacts with the user through a visual display. Some devices, however, are also equipped with a voice interaction system, that allows users to utilize this technology without using their sight. Nevertheless, the totality of these electrical devices equipped with an alternative interface is very narrow and confined and is often regarding popular customary appliances, such as smartphones, domestic or medical scales. In Italy, therefore, finding “voice instruments” (as weather stations, domestic thermostats, washing machines or digital multimeters) is quite difficult, if not impossible. Initially, while working in a chemistry lab, I thought about building a measuring instrument particularly useful in these contexts: a speaking pH-meter. The first prototype of this innovative instrument has been carried out through an analog pH sensor, an audio module WTV020, both controlled by an Arduino Uno board, the core of the device. The first version of the speaking pH-meter can pronounce sequentially the entire part, if necessary the word “comma” and the decimal portion of pH value when the probe is immersed in a liquid. In the following versions, after carrying out some research, I thought about using a Mini DF Player as an audio module, rather than a WTV020 (more troubled and sophisticated to manage), while I decided to use an AtMega 328 as a control unit, streamlining the whole system. The key point of the subsequent developments was the possibility to use the pH-meter vocal system on other instruments, such as a barometer, an ammeter or even a dishwasher. In order to meet these requirements it is necessary to know how to manage a huge amount of information and values, differently from the pH measurement, that ranges from 0 to 14. To achieve this it is necessary to subdivide the value or the information in the different parts that compose pronunciation, and subsequently manage microcontroller’s routine in order to play audio tracks. The last step of the project consists of creating a case to contain all the electronic components. As for the small devices, in order to cut costs, I have decided to work with laser cutter machine, puncturing and customizing standard boxes, whenever possible. While, regarding particular devices, I have decided to cut and assemble the different sides of the case." 2,34148,2017-08-08T13:27:10.862Z,34145,anon2435658896,anon2615441044,"We're very happy to support this project! :) go @anon2615441044 go !!!! <3" 3,34177,2017-08-08T19:06:31.838Z,34145,anon2954219769,anon2615441044,"Hi @anon2615441044 ! Nice to read you. I'm also involved in open source health care, open insulin specifically. As an OpenCare fellow I'm researching how open science/tech projects can realise a higher impact more effectively. You mention the idea came to you while working in a lab, have you been working a while on this before the residency? What experience made you start this project? Have you had any help?" 4,34205,2017-08-09T16:38:35.478Z,34145,anon1526983854,anon2615441044,"Congrats @anon2615441044. Great idea! I am curious about the workflow in the lab. A blind researcher would measure pH with your meter. What's next? I imagine she would then have to report the value to somewhere, where, again, she'd need an input device... How does it work?" 5,36819,2017-09-22T18:09:45.708Z,34205,anon2615441044,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto and thanks for your replay! Usually in a chemilab, pH measurements are made to determine the acidity or basicity degree of water solutions or instead in acid-base titolations. Expecially in this case it can be usefull to store the data to make a plot and operate calculations. My device has a built-in speaker that shows the last measured values but if you need you can add a micro SD datalogger to the mainboard or simply link the instrument to the PC via USB and record data sent by serial." 6,36820,2017-09-22T18:22:41.129Z,34177,anon2615441044,anon2954219769,"Hi Winnie and thanks for your replay! Congrats for your plans and projects! I made this device last year when I started to work in a secondary school chemilab where pH measurements are an ordinary activity and actually there are not devices like these usable by blind or reading unabled people. The first prototype of this pH meter was made by me and then I asked for some support especially to design the PCB and the case." 7,38431,2017-10-17T12:34:52.464Z,34145,anon2615441044,anon2615441044,"_(Traduzione in italiano dell'application)_ * **Tweet-like description of the project:** Moduli per display vocale * **Need or problem you are attempting to solve:** Poter “leggere” un display numerico grazie alla voce, senza dover utilizzare la vista. * **Beneficiary, single person and/or community:** Persone con disabilità, non vedenti o impossibilitati alla lettura. Persone con difficoltà o ostacolati nella lettura dei valori su un display. * **Solution, brief description of the project** Modulo vocale per strumenti elettronici e sensori, in grado di pronunciare numeri e frasi brevi. Progettato specificamente per piccoli dispositivi come multimetri o apparecchi domotici. Questo modulo è stato creato per leggere, attraverso uno speaker, i valori che sono normalmente mostrati sul display del dispositivo. Sistema composto da un hardware in grado di leggere un dato, una libreria software in grado di comporre la pronuncia in base al dato, e una serie di guidelines per rendere il progetto parlante. * **Technologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt** Small MicroController like Atmel or PIC; Audio Player Module like WTV020 or Mini DF Player; Mini Speaker. * **WebSite (or socials)** / * **License, that you are planning to use:** / * **Current status/stage of the project. Considering your project, please point out the project stages that you have already accomplished.** La stragrande maggioranza degli elettrodomestici e della strumentazione elettronica attualmente presenti sul mercato si serve di un dispositivo di output il più delle volte visivo per comunicare e per poter interagire con l’utente, tuttavia, alcuni apparecchi oltre all’output visivo dispongono anche di un sistema d’interazione vocale per consentire agli utenti di poter utilizzare queste tecnologie senza l’uso della vista. Ciò nonostante, la cerchia di questi dispositivi elettronici dotati di tale interfaccia alternativa è molto ristretta e spesso riguarda dispositivi popolari di uso comune come telefoni cellulari, bilance domestiche, medicali mentre invece può essere più difficile reperire almeno in italia strumenti parlanti come stazioni meanon1201778428, termostati domestici lavatrici o multimetri digitali. Inizialmente, lavorando in un laboratorio di chimica, ho subito pensato di costruire uno strumento di misura molto utile in tali contesti, ossia un pH-metro parlante. Il primo prototipo di questo innovativo strumento è stato realizzato attraverso un sensore di pH analogico, un modulo audio WTV020 entrambi controllati da una scheda Arduino 1, che è il cuore dello strumento. Questa prima versione del pH-metro è in grado di pronunciare in successione la parte intera ed eventualmente la parola “virgola” e la parte decimale del valore di pH quando si immerge la sonda in un liquido. Nelle successive versioni e dopo alcune ricerche, ho pensato di utilizzare come modulo audio un Mini DF Player piuttosto che un WTV020, molto più problematico e sofisticato da gestire mentre come unità di controllo ho preferito utilizzare un AtMega 328 snellendo il sistema." 1,38174,2017-10-12T16:50:18.229Z,38174,anon3667621034,anon3667621034,"Hi folks! My name is Henry. I met @anon1491650132 briefly at the [Open State of Politics Camp](http://openstate.cc/politics) in northern Germany and after the camp read [her article on the camp](https://edgeryders.eu/t/wir-bauen-zukunft-learning-from-a-community-with-3-kinds-of-showers/7127). This is how I found out about OpenVillage festival. I caught fire on the spot and was instantly keen on coming. So I dropped Noemi a message and now it's happening :slight_smile: A few words on my background: I'm born 1978 in Dresden, studied Math in Berlin, worked at a fairly large international company in the clinical research industry until I got super fed up by the top down management style and the general ethics in this field. I quit and then worked in Web Development and Graphics Design as a freelancer full time (I started this as a side project when I was studying) and helped develoanon3606750899g the campaigning system of [campact](https://www.campact.de) - one of the larger German NGO's. After living abroad in Canada and Australia for a while I got on the natural building train, attended the [Earthship Academy](http://earthship.com/academy) in the States and after coming back to Berlin in 2013 founded the [Earthship Deutschland Network](http://earthship-deutschland.de) together with two fellow Earthship Lovers who I happened to meet in Berlin. After one year of networking and another winter down in Australia helanon3606750899g organizing natural building workshops with the [Agari Crew](http://agarifarm.org/) I got involved with the build of the [first German Earthship](http://earthship-tempelhof.de) at the community [Schloss Tempelhof](http://schloss-tempelhof.de). This is where the idea for the [Wir bauen Zukunft project](http://wirbauenzukunft.de) was born amongst participants of the quite amazing building workshop. That was end of 2015. Since I'm heavily involved with the development of the Wir bauen Zukunft project. I still work as a freelance Web Developer and Graphics Designer to rake in the money. Further more I organize and run natural building workshops and seminars together with Lale Rohrbeck under the label [down2earth](http://down2earth.org). We also teach at [Technical University Berlin](https://www.facebook.com/earthshipberlin). My favourite topic is relationships. How do humans relate to each other? What is a healthy relationship? What role do dependencies play? From my perspective only through relating to other humans and/or to animals, plants, things we are able to evolve. To relate raises potential for growth in the form of challenge. We are challenged to overcome behavioral patterns through personal change, through lifting unconscious reactions to a conscious level in order make active decisions. Hence to relate is a means to be free. This - I think - is why building communities is so essential to move on from the century of self. On the festival I'm happy to introduce the Wir bauen Zukunft project. A little rundown on the history of the project, where we at, why we are doing what we're doing and our vision. It would be a short presentation with Q&A. Let me know if that resonates with you and fits into your program. Apart from that I would love to host a little workshop on how relationships foster our personal growth, employing the [Case Clinic method](https://www.presencing.com/tools/case-clinics) I learned during a [U.Lab](https://www.presencing.com/ulab/overview) Session two years ago. This will give the participants of the workshop the opportunity to learn about the Case Clinic format and about active listening apart from getting a better understanding of the nature of relationships. Let me know if that resonates with you. Looking forward to get to meet you all and to have a fantastic time at OpenVillage Festival :slight_smile: Much love Henry" 2,38227,2017-10-13T10:06:58.770Z,38174,anon1491650132,anon3667621034,"Definitely pitch for freestyle (onsite shoutouts) or join with Wir Bauen Zukunft during the 3rd day when people will be taking about community houses and spaces for living and working. I'm curious who / what funds the earthship and other building workshops and seminars you mention? do you have a model? Also, paid/non paid tickets to attend? Or is your livelihood not depending on this so you do them as a hobby..? among the many other endeavors :)" 3,38280,2017-10-14T10:48:34.219Z,38174,anon1526983854,anon3667621034,"Welcome, then @anon3667621034. I am Alberto, one of the older (in all senses) Edgeryders folks. Among other things, I am one of the people pushing hard [The Reef](https://edgeryders.eu/t/spawning-the-reef-brussels-re-inventing-communal-working-and-living-again/6239). I read @anon1491650132's experience with Wir bauen Zukunft: seems great, looking forward to scheming with you on Day 3, when we get down to Open Village design issues." 4,38338,2017-10-15T19:52:38.014Z,38174,anon281534083,anon3667621034,I too look forward to meeting you. 1,33943,2017-08-03T23:37:50.501Z,33943,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"The Festival program has been assembled in a participatory way, in a slow cooking mode. At its core are pillars of the OpenCare two year research on community alternatives to health and social care. Everywhere we look, from the hyperlocal to the international, people are committed to building solutions. There is a nascent, ambitious, and effective ecosystem of care that is develoanon3606750899g in response to the failures of the current models. We aim to highlight and support that development. The structure of the program brings together sessions built around three themes: Open Science, Architecture of Love, and Revolutionary Care. The themes blend and build on one another, reflective of the fundamental interdependence of care. Three fellows were selected from the variety of participants to help curate and develop the three themes as well as the festival itself. One of OpenCare’s core themes has been citizen science and Open Science. Many projects are producing highly promising products and outputs. ""We have no capital, no investors, no shares"" - Winnie Poncelet has lined up a number of both researchers and champions of affordable and accessible technology for care who are on a learning path to improve coordination and distribute team efforts and value accordingly. Architectures of Love is evoking an important thematic tension between policy and values. Gehan Macleod condensed her question to an essential perspective, asking what foundational parts of a culture contribute to a caregiving society that go beyond formally enforced policies. Experiences from the City of Milano, from community groups in Galway and Glasgow are a few ways to understand what are enablers for citizen-led care responses. Revolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy is the third theme of the festival. As we talk about care, we are working to understand how we can live together and how we can develop our lives in commune. We ask the questions around responding to crisis, responding to our needs, and building generational models of care. Finally, as we face the destruction around us, we strive to highlight care as a fundamentally revolutionary act. The Woodbine Health Autonomy collective (represented by Nicole Demby and Frank Coughlin) based in New York City, has curated this theme. We know this festival will be more than another “passive” conference. The lines between presenter and audience are purposefully blurred and as we have worked to build the Edgeryders community, we will take the information and use it to build tangibly. The first two days will highlight the work of different projects and groups around the world. We look to meet new friends, share embraces with old ones, and learn together. On the third day, we will experiment together as we continue in the process of building new worlds that place our collective well-being at the forefront. We look forward to walking this path with you. Gehan, Noemi, Nicole, Frank, Winnie https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13n7DYa8_9_n_qSlbkyZRZCJMsOXlq97DjErEf7zMcVk/edit?usp=drive_web Outdated: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yw9RDK6ym-NfNAQy9i5clCz4cWDYmH1q5LO5IdQt32Y/edit?usp=sharing" 2,33958,2017-08-04T07:42:21.367Z,33943,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Thanks! Just to say we are missing some things.. - John’s training session (Day 3) -> I had put the title and summary in a comment to you a few days ago. -Digital security training (Day 3) -> same - heads up: Day 2 has the whole afternoon to one panel (plus a gap time from 5 to 6?) and 6 sessions crowded in the morning.. we might need to make some space there. @anon1701267031 I wanted to say that since you are curating the panel on collaboration you should have the last word on its title.. I'm not sure as of now that the people we invite to open the conversation would have a say about autonomy - which is not the same as the sanon3606750899 on collaboration that we wanted to give it.. I liked the framing around chaos and collaboration more." 3,34016,2017-08-05T19:32:46.549Z,33958,anon3670751854,anon1491650132,"@anon1491650132, looks like Day 2 in the pm will have the 3 sessions and the panel, which is about the same amount of time compared to the am. Let me know what you think. @anon1701267031, agree as above, just put the last title we had mentioned, but if you think it will change the focus, let me know." 4,34312,2017-08-13T09:09:00.417Z,33943,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Just a few notes in response to the latest conversations spread on community calls and emails: * We need to be careful about the gender banon3760936673ce <3 * Early morning sessions for physical care would be great! * I propose all new sessions to be taken in as **open options** and agree with the proponents that we will try to accommodate them by mid September when we release the final program for the twitterstorm (for example there is an open slot on Day 2 from 5 to 6; or during an afternoon panel which is standalone now we can insert a workshop on the side). Please encourage people who would like to come to offer other kinds of contributions - assist a session from the current schedule with production, or share their insights on the page; or help onsite, organise icebreakers etc. It's details like this which will make a difference, in my experience. * Day 3 could see everything that has a practical relevance for OpenVillage moved here -with clear nudging to leaders that they adjust the contents to try to answer **How would you see your work develoanon3606750899g further in a communal residency? ** (water sampling, permaculture, fitness clinic being some obvious examples) * I added a Dinner and PARTY on Day 3: a festival needs a proper celebration, right? This will be organised by Edgeryders through @anon @anon @anon" 5,34331,2017-08-13T17:23:46.034Z,34312,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"I've emailed a few people to suss out potential sessions and most of them happen to be women which would help bring more gender banon3760936673ce. I guess if something comes together we include it as an open option. Great @anon3670751854 have offered to do early morning physical care sessions. Bernard offered similar sessions - so perhaps a collaboration/splitting days? Also Kate has offered to host an early morning session harvesting dreams from the night before. It'd be good to have a sense of whether we can find space for both to take place." 6,34363,2017-08-14T21:46:27.828Z,34331,anon3670751854,anon1701267031,"Hey thanks for the thoughts/ info! We have some sessions being proposed with female and/or female focused care (reproductive access), pending blog posts and more info now. Will post when available. The dream sessions sound great and @anon712028032 will post more info. Also some thoughts on having the first few minutes of the harvesting sessions being a grounding/physical experience, help break up the afternoon." 8,34672,2017-08-24T15:09:16.243Z,33943,anon1701267031,anon3670751854,"I've chatted to anon2072667717 and will write up an introduction. @anon3670751854 @anon1491650132 is there still space to include as an open session? It'll be along the lines of how our conceptions of personhood and dialogical thinking create or otherwise the conditions for care, drawing also on experience of people inhabiting communities that are open and networked due to their traditional philosophy." 9,35032,2017-08-29T17:47:44.872Z,33943,anon3097547345,anon3670751854,Happy to clown around with everyone. We can do a session of clowning and laughter 10,35081,2017-08-30T17:06:08.810Z,33943,anon1563597512,anon3670751854,"Dear All, Kindly note that my organization "" Skills to Succeed "" expressed its willingness to host any workshop you need to organize in Tataouine , Tunisia .Our training room is fully equipped and we have an outstanding reputation regionally. I look forward to seeing you ! Warm regards," 11,35085,2017-08-30T17:21:46.619Z,35032,anon1491650132,anon3097547345,"Hi @anon3097547345, are you considering coming to Brussels?? That would be great. We are organising an Urban Game in the city about wellbeing, on the first day - you are welcome to[ give Matanon1201778428 some ideas here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/urban-game-openvillage-festival/6643) about how a clowning activity could happen.." 12,35270,2017-09-02T12:43:18.816Z,34672,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Hi @anon1701267031! I'm sorry about the delay, this notification came in while I was still traveling last week. I would welcome anon2072667717 for sure, even if we dont immediately see how a session would fit in the program at the moment. I think her contributions would be relevant to many sessions, and most useful in Day 3." 13,35276,2017-09-02T14:24:37.229Z,35081,anon70625510,anon1563597512,"Hi Achref :slight_smile: thanks for the offer. @anon3962300956 is planning the workshop(s) in Tunisia, maanon1932026148 have a chat with her?" 14,36114,2017-09-12T21:07:33.418Z,33943,anon3819508367,anon3670751854,"Dr.. Hana Mohammed Khalaf Alshloul from jordan Summary (palm) The best human personality influential for the year 2016 - High Commission for Human Development - Saudi Arabia Canada Sweden - Head of Department of Arabic Language and Literature - Al-Hayat Al-Jadida University - Sweden Member of the Arab American Board (Chairman of the Arab Cultural Association) International Peace Coach - Canada Certified Trainer of the World Federation of Development Sciences - Egypt Not an initiative initiator I want - Malaysia Member of Amnesty International - London Gold Member - World Federation of Human Development Technologies Member of the Federation of Volunteerism and Community Service" 15,36235,2017-09-14T16:40:15.756Z,36114,anon281534083,anon3819508367,Quite impressive credentials. Welcome to edgeryders.eu - we very much look forward to your participation here! 16,37165,2017-09-28T20:15:47.337Z,33943,anon948101822,anon3670751854,"Hello, I am a Pediatrician working in Brussels. My interest is focused on studying how to empower social networks for revaluing community-based infancy care in multicultural contexts. If there s still place for a discussion on the theme (preferably on Thursday or Friday) I would be happy to join !" 17,37190,2017-09-29T12:24:07.893Z,37165,anon1491650132,anon948101822,"Nice to meet you @anon948101822! If you look in the [Festival space here](https://edgeryders.eu/c/festival) on edgeryders you can see the final program - that latest version, while pretty much final, includes a freestyle slot on Friday and Saturday afternoon where anyone can propose a session to lead, in a more ad hoc way. We will organise them onsite. That said, I'm looking forward to learn about your work and what draws you to this topic - go ahead and share your story (a few paragraphs) in the same festival space (see Add Topic), then we will include you on the participants list and send you the latest updates about the event. By the way of example - my story about the failings of the Romanian medical system is[ here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/when-do-you-decide-that-running-from-a-failed-medical-system-is-no-longer-an-option/652/4)." 18,37210,2017-09-29T14:50:44.702Z,33943,anon1277226854,anon3670751854,"Best I could do is evening of day 1 (earliest I can leave Oxford is 1:30, and will take me 4hrs at best to get to Brussels) and morning of day 2 (must be back in Ox by 5pm). No way around it, I'm afraid--- my funding depends on attendance. October is a very packed month :confused:" 19,37321,2017-10-02T14:09:14.282Z,37210,anon1526983854,anon1277226854,"@anon1491650132 and team, @anon1277226854 and I have decided to go for this. We would like a Day 2 morning session. Ideally, a long one, hackathon-style Masters of Networks (all morning). If not possible, we will take what we can get, ideally the first session in the morning to allow Amelia to go back to Oxford in time. Info: 1. It's a workshop. Title: ""understanding community care with semantic social networks"", or something like that. Run by Amelia, @anon3675269997 and myself. 1. Presentation of OpenCare's preliminary results, using GraphRyders as a way to illustrate it. No more than 30 mins. 1. People fire up laptops, load up GraphRyders, group around questions and look for answers for the rest of the time. Questions could be of the type ""what does it mean that X is connected with Y?"" (implies reading material and reflecting on it); or of the type ""what can we say about the structure and clustering of codes?"" (implies messing around with the graph as a whole). Jason could contribute with rapid-fire analysis on Tulip." 20,37352,2017-10-02T19:56:28.241Z,37321,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Good. To minimally disrupt other sessions, I suggest you guys take the slot from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM - with a lunch break in between (12/12:30 until 2 PM..). That way we dont add a 4th parralel session in the morning at 9. How's that @anon1526983854 ? Ping @anon3670751854" 21,37354,2017-10-02T20:19:57.777Z,37352,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,No can do. @anon1277226854 needs to leave for Oxford early. 12 is the latest we can do this. 22,37370,2017-10-03T06:20:33.539Z,37354,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,So maanon1932026148 @anon 23,37418,2017-10-03T17:29:15.802Z,37370,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,Sure @anon1491650132 Sunday morning would be good. 24,37699,2017-10-06T10:15:45.084Z,37418,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Ok great, changes made! soz @anon3670751854, i took the liberty to do it because I didnt get a response from you in a while and we need to move faster.. So Ethnography happens all morning." 25,37702,2017-10-06T10:53:31.756Z,33943,anon1277226854,anon3670751854,Hi all--- is this set? Can I go ahead and book the tickets? @anon1491650132 @anon1526983854 26,37711,2017-10-06T11:22:21.530Z,37702,anon1526983854,anon1277226854,Set. Go ahead. Also: we are making a video. You'll be in it. Letting you know so you can curate your public image. :slight_smile: 27,37717,2017-10-06T11:34:24.117Z,33958,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Hey guys, I think Im doing the welcome on day 1 - just want to confirm if this is accurate? Also, could we claim a dedicated space in the venue for ""Building the OpenVillage"" conversations?" 28,37725,2017-10-06T13:12:18.065Z,37717,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Hi @anon70625510, so we can some space for building the openvillage conversations (in day 2 and 3): @anon Recapanon3606750899g what you would be doing during the fest, if you're still game: 1) Welcome Day 1, 9-10:30 AM: we need to sync with @anon477123739, master of ceremony. Which means he'd start introducing the context, the program, the teams; and rules of the space for the first 30mins. The for 1 hr I see you then doing big picture layout and why we are *really* here, asking people what they bring, expectations and so on. 2) Edge of Funding panel on Day 2, 3:30 - 5 PM: we need you to moderate 3) Day 3: I saw your preparatory document where I see you need a day? We can get OpenVillage a room, but here is a suggestion you start at 10 with an overview for everyone, as it is now in the schedule, then you stay in the same space to run the workshop but accommodate the community building masterclass and security training. After all, those serve many of the same people no? If you dont feel like have enough time we can end the day at 6 PM instead of 5. Let me know." 29,37861,2017-10-08T15:42:58.150Z,37711,anon1277226854,anon1526983854,"Good, will do. I'll make sure that my hair game is on point :smile: Currently planning on a train that leaves at 12:52. Will I be able to make that?" 30,37866,2017-10-08T15:53:43.425Z,37725,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Ok cool works for me. @anon @anon1277226854 I wanted to ask you if/where you have posted a summary of keywords that are most frequent in our opencare conversation, as well as key emergent themes/insights? I think I remember a post somewhere but have forgotten where" 31,37929,2017-10-09T09:29:01.632Z,37866,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Hei this sounds timely, over the past weeks during the community calls we have been discussing Harvesting - part of which is collecting insights throghout the day and reflecting in a dedicated afternoon session facilitated by curators. @anon1701267031 has been putting quite some work in this - [this](https://docs.google.com/document/d/117i98WOIjLQY2ao5NwErRjjjzdJFsiItOmgqcd1eoTU/edit) is her working document, shared in our Festival google folder. You guys should connect to ensure that there is no duplication or mixed messages. Otherwise, for the Session leaders a toolkit/ documentation template will be much welcome!" 32,38228,2017-10-13T10:18:12.115Z,37866,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"paging @anon1701267031 here. Remember there is a separate thread for this. It'd be great to update your[ Day 3 OpenVillage](https://edgeryders.eu/t/building-the-openvillage-and-program-for-day-3/6779/9) workshop page with a summary once all is agreed on." 33,38327,2017-10-15T17:03:57.326Z,37725,anon70625510,anon1491650132,yes works. Would be best if Alex could keep the intro to 15 minutes- that leaves me 15 for big picture presentation and 1 hr for interactive group exercise (triads) 1,826,2017-04-30T14:36:41.000Z,826,anon1138232662,anon1138232662,"Power Makes us Sick (PMS) is a creative research project focusing on autonomous health care practices and networks from a feminist perspective. PMS seeks to understand the ways that our mental, physical, and social health is impacted by imbanon3760936673ces in and abuses of power. We can see that mobility, forced or otherwise, is an increasingly common aspect of life in the anthropocene. PMS is motivated to develop free tools of solidarity, resistance, and sabotage that respond to these conditions and are informed by a deep concern for planetary well-being.  PMS is working together to forge an accountability model of health that can function multilocally and without requiring place-based fixity or institutional support. This accountability model for health - mental, physical, and social - will operate irrespective of place, and for all bodies seeking health care in assistance with all ailments and disempowerments. This tool would be informed by the integrated model of health implemented by the clinic at Bio.me in Thessaloniki and the mental health questionnaire developed by the Icarus Project in NYC, and other relevant tools we continue to encounter along the way. Inspired by the Bio.me system, our model functions as a triage system that helps participants understand the complete picture of a person’s health first through a longform interview, followed by periodic ‘check-ins’ or urgent calls with the committed group.  case ‘health practitioners’ are understood as those who share the responsibility of one another’s health. This means that accountability works in all directions and that if we uphold certain procedures, everyone is capable of providing care. Following the initial long interview, a ‘health card’ is generated and shared among the team, which includes the care seeker. This serves as a health record that can be added to over time and that the care seeker can use in emergencies. Through long term support and awareness of individual and social patterns, the health care practitioners can connect health care seekers with local resources, provide consultation, and solidarity. " 2,37556,2017-10-05T02:19:42.959Z,826,anon3638964947,anon1138232662,"Can I ask the logic behind the name? Super interested, any thoughts appreciated. I'm reminded of some of the neurological research around the effects of occupying a position of relative power in a system, think was done with police officers, citation needed. I know neuro/bio research shouldn't be necessary to tell us power (whether for victims or perpetratorr) screws people up, but...yeah. Your model sounds inspirational, hope to follow up." 3,37849,2017-10-08T08:59:20.761Z,37556,anon1138232662,anon3638964947,"Hello Thom, Thanks for your reply. I'm pretty sure the logic of the name of our collective is meant to be self-explanatory, if not also agitating in nature. Yeah, you're right, we don't really need science to tell us that power makes us ill. Most of us are painfully aware of this. We're excited to hear more of what you're working on and share stuff too." 4,38068,2017-10-11T09:15:34.492Z,826,anon140354369,anon1138232662,"@anon1138232662 this is just wonderful! Thank you for sharing, thank you for doing. So I'm coming from an aligned perspective when it comes to care, in that I think that toxic power dynamics are central to the brokenness of intimate and systemic relationships of care. Some of the ways in which I've been thinking through and practicing this refer to certain post-feminist, queer and decolonial approaches. I've been thinking that if we can start with shifting our very psychoanalytic experience of the Self and Other, that if we begin relating through what I call an ""expanded self"" or what Bracha Ettanon1056199097r calls the ""matrixial borderspace,"" then we might be able to address the root of these issues. I have much more to say on this... will you be at the OpenVillage festival? Perhaps we can share more in person. In any case, you may like to look at the work of Bracha if you're not yet familiar with it - very high theory but beautiful in the ways it pushes beyond the patriarchal model of psychoanlaysis. What I've come to realise however is that my philosophical and practice-based explorations are limited in how they can address wider immediate care needs and will take a long time to unfold. This is what I appreciate about what you're doing! Is that you're translating these ideas into a tangible accountability model for health. I'm not sure I understand it in its entirety, and yet another reason I hope we can talk more!" 5,38299,2017-10-14T20:02:01.397Z,826,anon1904106503,anon1138232662,Really inspiring work 1,6429,2017-06-21T03:44:21.000Z,6429,anon1293448839,anon1293448839," For the session I will give a lecture of 40 min on making complex information accessible. It is an active session with visuals, sound and video. After the lecture, there is room for discussion. The movie about water issues at Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal can also be shown, to serve as an example. Fly fishing is another way of making environmental issues accessible. It also has educational and therapeutic value that has been used in several organizations in the United States to works with individuals recovering from breast cancer or PTSD. It is also used to get children outside and connect them to their environments. We will do a demo workshop on fly fishing, involving a local school and participants of the festival can also join. The group will go to a body of water close by and learn fly fishing techniques. The fly fishing is also a way into learning about environment, physics, biology and your surroundings. The session can be supplemented with citizen science research on water quality, through biotic index (measuring water quality through the type and amount of living organisms in the water) or microbiotic activity (measuring the type and amount of micro-organisms). As the group will be diverse and there are multiple things to do, we’ll work with a rotation, so that everyone gets to do a little of everything. The session should not be limited to the festival for its impact. It would be good if this format can be reused by other schools. Communicate about it with pictures, videos, etc. beforehand, during and after so that there is a lot of documentation: a mini website. What we still need for the session:
  • People with fishing experience to teach casting techniques
  • People who want to facilitate the citizen science experiments
  • Fishing rods and reels to borrow
  • Help with online presence
An issue I experienced is finding opportunities to let people know that what we are doing. There will probably be others active in similar fields, so a session/workshop that creates a concrete output on this topic to take home would be nice! " 2,8127,2017-06-22T06:14:39.000Z,6429,anon1491650132,anon1293448839,"Citizen science experiments. @anon1526983854rey I'm glad it's coming along nicely! Count me in to help with the online presence and tweeting before and live, during the session. To get a good promo I think you need a large/hi res picture illustrative of the topic. Can you Edit your text to add a few sentences with instructions for potential leaders of experiments? Where to send their information, how to stay in touch? etc. Ideally by leaving a comment on this session page.  " 3,16522,2017-06-29T22:30:17.000Z,6429,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"Will do I will look through my files tomorrow for image and will edit text. " 4,21410,2017-06-30T13:35:00.000Z,6429,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"More info
I was looking through my file for images to promote the session and i remembered that we usually have the students draw their favorite insect for the day's collection of bugs from the biotic index exercise. Does that sound like an interesting addition.? Drawing the insect really makes them look careful at the insects. it also adds a new disciline to the exercise and can link it to the long history of drawing by explorers like Humboldt.  
Here is the form we have used in the past: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/pdf/level1/data-Biotic.pdf  .  
thanks,
Alberto
 
" 5,33400,2017-07-19T11:45:21.000Z,6429,anon2954219769,anon1293448839,"Visiting an expert in Brussels @anon1526983854rey and @anon He said there are no suitable rivers in Brussels for fly fishing. October is also a harder period, as the season ends in september. The suitable places are 60-100km away (one in Flanders and a few in the Ardennes), and then still it would mostly be a club or an artificial pond because of the time of the year. He gave me contacts at Mouche'T (fly fishing club in Brussels), Casting Club of Flanders VZW (fly fishing club in Ghent) and Fario Fly Fishing Club (fly fishing club in Diksmuide, West-Flanders). They would probably be a better shot at finding experts who are willing to help and also lend out their equipment. In conclusion, actual fly fishing will be hard: it's uncertain if it goes at all and will involve bus travels etc. That would break the rhythm of the festival as well. What we can do is do a demo in another body of water which includes everything but the actual catching, but do tell me if that does not make any sense as I'm no expert. An artificial pond seems silly considering we also want to do some citizen science experiments. Curious to see what you think! " 6,33445,2017-07-19T12:14:24.000Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"planning @anon It is too bad there are no good Belgian rivers running through Brussels with good banks for fly-fishing.  However, doing casting and citizen science on an artificial pond would still be fun...  Practicing casting especially for dry flies is very important, if you want a big trout to jump up for them! ;)  We almost always did 'catch and release' fishing - which can be stressful, esp if the fish swallows the hook too far - back in the day, anyway.  Also, I would say seeing the microbial state of an artificial pond might be of great interest in terms of citizen science, esp if kids are wading in it.  :)  We have Levine Media which can distinguish E. coli by their metallic green sheen, and prevents many gram+ bugs from growing, if I should bring some - poured plates already??   bye for now! Rachel " 7,33452,2017-07-19T12:16:00.000Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"equipment one more thought: real gear would be nice, of course, but also string and sticks can be used to teach some basics for casting, imho... :) " 8,33538,2017-07-24T16:06:00.516Z,6429,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"Thanks for your hard work! I think it would be a good idea to contact the groups that were suggested and see if we can borrow some rods and reels and if the groups would be willing to help us with the casting demo and fishing in the ponds. If there are ponds that are available for fishing, that would be great for the adults and kids! If there is a cost associated with using the pond, we could provide free advertising for them at the festival as well as mention that we are providing opportunities for individuals who might become members of the club that runs the ponds. They could also see it as a donation to a charity. There seems to be an opportunity here to investigate why fish can not survive in rivers in Brussel and does this create health issues to the residents if the city. What is the history of the pollution and why does it persist? This is common around the world. We can also do some testing to compare the water quality between the pond and the rivers. I believe the festival is near the la Senne river. It might be appropriate to investigate and compare it to the pond." 9,34632,2017-08-23T15:37:29.699Z,6429,anon2954219769,anon1293448839,"I scouted the neighbourhood of the Festival venue for suitable bodies of water this weekend. There's two lakes nearby Plage Flagey (Etang d'Ixelles), which are not so suitable since you cannot reach the water. You can do it easily in theory, and the place is actually quite nice, but you're not allowed it seems like. They are supposedly really close to the venue though. Photos below Another option is the lake in Bois de la Cambre, which is a 30+ min walk from Place Flagey. Could be shorter depending on the exact address of the venue (@anon1491650132 ?). You can reach the water easily. Not sure if it's allowed, but we should ask if a demo is allowed (not the actual fishing). The distance is a problem: a one hour round trip doesn't fit the schedule. Public transport takes as long. Perhaps a few rental cars? Photo below (click on map to see full). The last option I didnt't have the chance to visit, but on Google Maps it also looks suitable: Parc Leopold. Closer to Place Flagey (20 min walking) and the water is accessible. Same remarks as Bois de la Cambre. Photo below In any case we'll need to figure out if fishing is allowed or if a fishing demo is allowed. Thoughts? @anon1526983854rey @anon1227671133 @anon" 10,34651,2017-08-24T10:40:21.580Z,34632,anon896289950,anon2954219769,"Winnie, thanks! I think that the Leopold park could work, I will probably put it in the middle of the game, so there is plenty of time to go and come back to the location. Now I will come up with a suggestion about how to integrate that in the game, then we can decide if it works or not @anon1526983854rey, hi, we are thinking about integrating a small demo in the game that will kick off the conference. [You can read the first thoughts we had here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/urban-game-openvillage-festival/6643)" 11,35079,2017-08-30T16:45:24.938Z,34651,anon1491650132,anon896289950,"This sounds awesome guys, happy the flyfishing is part of the urban game! Let me or @anon" 12,35092,2017-08-30T18:20:34.394Z,34651,anon2954219769,anon896289950,I still need to check if we are actually allowed to do it ;-) 13,35231,2017-09-01T19:57:36.924Z,35092,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"So I've checked the legal aspect. There's of course a rulebook for the use of public parks: [https://www.brussel.be/sites/default/files/bxl/REGLEMENT%201%20dec%202014%20DEF2.pdf](https://www.brussel.be/sites/default/files/bxl/REGLEMENT%201%20dec%202014%20DEF2.pdf) (Both in French and Dutch). TLDR: * Fishing is strictly forbidden, so we'll need to argue that we are doing a demo and not actual fishing. Which might not 'fly' * We need to file an application and probably pay a fee. We can avoid the fee if we do it as a nonprofit, which I'm not sure we can do with our Flemish nonprofit. Then it needs to get approved still. * We need to pay a deposit, which is minimum €150 (cash 5 days up front at their treasury). * We cannot put structures or whatever 'heavier' equipment there, as this makes the application more expensive. ... if we want to go that way. @anon" 14,35234,2017-09-01T20:41:01.012Z,6429,anon2954219769,anon1293448839,"Communication (how to reach an audience as eg. an artist) and storytelling are becoming an intriguing topic of conversation. See also this post on [Risks of a too beautiful story-telling](https://edgeryders.eu/t/risks-of-a-too-beautiful-story-telling/6856) that sparked a lot of reactions. @anon2362692215 also mentioned it: [how do you disseminate the outputs of your project](https://edgeryders.eu/t/proposal-for-a-session/6529)? On the one hand, it takes a lot of effort to get your stuff out there. We can testify to that with our lab: it takes a lot of work, especially when what you do is relatively obscure. Then getting people to actually _care_ is harder still. On the other hand, painting a rosy picture, using buzzwords and rubbing shoulders with those who have the means to take your project to the next level can also be toxic. Which factors make it harder or easier? Which kinds of obstacles do we encounter? How should we make these highly consequential, but often cloudy judgment calls? How is it all connected to business models and funding? I am personally extremely interested in a session around this topic. Since you mention it in this session proposal, I think it would be a great topic for the discussion part of the session @anon1526983854rey @anon1491650132 @anon1701267031 @anon3670751854. We can open it up for others with similar or completely different experiences on communication and going out there to 'sell' your ideas to your relevant audience. Pinging those involved in the discussion so far for their thoughts @anon70625510 @anon3417123289 @anon1526983854 @anon1839840820 @anon281534083 @anon643101606 @anon2376168967 @anon3339535919" 15,35238,2017-09-01T22:41:45.791Z,6429,anon281534083,anon1293448839,"It helps I think when the person responsible for the message, outreach and fundraising also either manages the on-the-ground work of the mission itself, or knows enough to do it, but works closely with someone to whom it is delegated. Funders usually want to see a main person who hands-on manages the work and is also the main champion of the idea. But if it is more than one person they have to be very tight in their day-to-day understanding of what is going on. When the message gets separated from the work, credibility drops. Maanon1932026148 that project had this disconnect. But I bet it made good copy in the annual reports of the big orgs that funded it. It helps to lay out a vision of where you want to go and where you think you can go, then describe what you need to accomplish it. It might be interesting to have seen the grant proposals for that tree project to see what was promised. And posing with Macron..hard to say if that helped or hurt fundraising and overall awareness. I know he made some boneheaded comment awhile back about how good to them France was as a colonial power, which didn't make him look too sharp. But usually those photo-ops gain you more than they lose." 16,35253,2017-09-02T01:57:11.461Z,6429,anon281534083,anon1293448839,"This isn't exactly parallel, since it comes from business, but I was given some very sage advice by the man who ran the Chronicle Publishing Company, owner of SF Gate, to whom I had to pitch my budget, secure funding, and who helped me along the way. First in budgeting e told me that when I made my revenue projections, it was better to predict a lower number even if it showed less or even no profit - if that was my real number. because whatever I declared was what he was going to hold me to. He would not tolerate over-promising and then under-delivering. The second thing was when you have good news and bad news, always lead with your bad news because then your good news will be believed. It won't necessarily if you lead with good news. And as you might expect, many do lead with their good news.." 17,35259,2017-09-02T04:26:45.859Z,35234,anon3339535919,anon2954219769,nice 18,35267,2017-09-02T11:13:33.073Z,35234,anon70625510,anon2954219769,Mmm I have a hunch. We've experiemented with some things in edgeryders. If they are turned into shared routines I think we can get around some of the issues 19,35895,2017-09-10T09:05:44.207Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"are we still thinking about doing some water sampling? for microbes/protists/biotic index calcs?? if we want to do microbes, we need plates and incubators etc organised in advance. A DIYbunsen burner is very easy with alcohol, a jam jar and a paper wick! :slight_smile:" 20,35896,2017-09-10T09:06:48.238Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"for the biotic index, some easy access shoreline is useful... (my students did it on a shallow river)" 21,35994,2017-09-11T18:28:37.230Z,35895,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"We can and got all of the stuff ready to use from our lab here! For biotic index and sampling we don't need permission and the water is accessible in parc Leopold. Sampling can be part of the urban game, right @anon For the fishing itself I haven't had the time to contact the autorities." 22,35998,2017-09-11T19:32:27.000Z,35994,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"any chance of Levine or other selective media, in addition to ordinary LB, if microbial counts are done? during the urban game, ’sterile’ conical tubes would be useful, to be labelled wherever we take a few samples, for use in analyses (plating, nitrates, etc - plankton, aanon2400895282ba, algae)? thx! best, Rachel p.s. if you know anyone with biosensor bacteria for volatile pollutants, you have to make sure to leave no air bubble, btw ! ;) please don’t also forget the big micronuclei hunt(s)! on our cheek cells (tooth brushes to be provided, with AGiR! mini logo would be cool, huh??)!! ciao for now, RA" 23,36149,2017-09-13T17:58:53.427Z,35998,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"I'm not fully up-to-date with what we have in the lab. @anon2442826637 is helanon3606750899g out with the experiments at the festival and better with this stuff. Can you pitch in? Let's make a list with stuff we need and then work towards gathering everything. I've made a spreadsheet here, please add everything you can think of: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bJF0GLmmx7s9SofkXFJ-MvSmD0eFPsWWUVDXIxZl8wQ/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bJF0GLmmx7s9SofkXFJ-MvSmD0eFPsWWUVDXIxZl8wQ/edit?usp=sharing) We should get a good overview by the end of next week, so we can order what's missing or reach out to people to bring/support us with stuff." 24,36337,2017-09-15T12:18:24.466Z,36149,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,put in a few things on the list... 25,36338,2017-09-15T12:21:12.634Z,36337,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"just in case, here is a sheet like my old students used for calculating the 'biotic index' (indicating river health)..." 27,36567,2017-09-19T02:51:02.444Z,1,anon2954219769,anon1293448839,"Cool! Re-mineralizing? Haven't heard about it. If you can get your hands on some, we can do some tests :-)" 28,36568,2017-09-19T02:52:31.441Z,36338,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,Okay! @anon 29,36951,2017-09-25T05:42:02.893Z,1,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"my cousin uses a sort of block charcoal water purifier, http://nymag.com/strategist/2017/03/best-charcoal-water-filter-kishu-review.html but I don't expect the one pictured here to affect microbial water quality, which is what I mainly thought we could test - more physico-chem things (chlorine, and maanon1932026148 some metals, but maanon1932026148 not heavy metals - they say the brita charcoal filters don't help for lead or iron, for instance)... Maanon1932026148 we could test for nitrates etc (we have some fish-tank kits reagents at Hackuarium) and pH?? (they talk about going alkaline in that Kishu review) Actually, the head of the fundamental microbio dept here (at UNIL, Jan van der Meer) thinks using things like Brita filters is less good than just drinking ordinary tap water also because they could potentially provide a carbon source for bacterial growth!! (after all my years using them, I was not happy to hear this...)" 30,36953,2017-09-25T05:55:58.112Z,35231,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"if we don't have real hooks, it is hard to see how they can call it really fishing... in the rule page, I guess we would fit under article 10?? should we see if our date(s) are free first, on their calendar, before trying to put in an application? Maanon1932026148 Hackuarium could be the non-profit requesting approval?" 31,36990,2017-09-25T22:29:15.979Z,36953,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"We've decided not to do the demo. Apart from the legal hurdles, there's also the logistics and timing that make it hard to have a meaningful experience. Instead Alberto will show us his work and open a discussion on communication." 33,37034,2017-09-26T17:36:05.278Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"oohh! Well, Luc Henry is still involved (acting secretary for the association now), though very busy with his work with the new president of the epfl (who also seems very interesting). Can't wait to hear more history and also about Gambiology... :)" 35,38125,2017-10-12T08:47:57.880Z,35994,anon896289950,anon2954219769,"Yep, the sampling part is in! So we have to remember to prepare the materials for the teams." 36,38167,2017-10-12T15:36:54.003Z,38125,anon2954219769,anon896289950,@anon1227671133 @anon2442826637 and I will prepare the petri plates that we will use for the analysis. What else should the teams have with them Rachel? 37,38175,2017-10-12T17:29:49.416Z,38167,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"Hi! @anon2442826637 and @anon Thanks for making the petri plates for the water analyses! If we have both LB and the Levine media plates, it will make for a more interesting analysis (the levine not only shows E.coli as metallic green, but prevents a bunch of gram+ from growing). Ideally, we will go off for the urban games with some clean tubes to collect samples, so we can use 3 independent tubes for each site. ( We usually just use conical tubes, but really we only plate 0.5ml per plate so that is overkill...) For negative control we can use tap water, and for positive controls I usually do a river water sample here, but maanon1932026148 water from a WC is also ok (if people aren't too grossed out! ;) When we get back and can do the plating we will need, besides the bunsen burner, a pipetter and tips to deliver 0.5ml per plate, and I usually use a bent glass rod to spread the sample over the plate surface. Then the plates get incubated at 37degrees... For the actual main part of the workshop I just cut some foldscopes (planning to bring 7, and tell everyone how to do their own...), but the main activity was supposed to be the cheek cell micronuclei assay. For that I need microscope slides and cover slips and methylene blue solution (0.5% is a standard) - if we want to fix cells on slides, methanol could come in handy... (but I don't want to get into adding iodine/acridine orange or other things like that in this workshop context). Again, pipetters and tips (p200, p20) could come in handy... For people that want to look at some of their own cells, we should tell them to bring toothbrushes! If people want to look at moss life, also some extra plates, mineral water, and some droppers could be useful... Maanon1932026148 this is a bit over-ambitious for 1.5h... more soon!" 38,38190,2017-10-12T19:16:11.305Z,6429,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"ok, back again... 3:1 (v:v) methanol:acetic acid is even better for the fix, if we want... also, forgot to mention, saline solution for washing the cells off the toothbrushes, and conical tubes to let clumps settle out, and then microcentrifuge tubes and a microcentrifuge to concentrate cells. (usually I use a little beaker with 10ml saline solution to wash cells off from the toothbrush, then I pour this solution into a 15ml conical tube to let the big clumps settle away, and pellet the cells from about 8ml of the upper volume, with one final wash, and that is when I count the cells with the hemocytometer. then smears are made and slides air dried (optional fix after this) then I put on methylene blue and coverslips to look at them... Many extra details may still come to me!" 39,38209,2017-10-13T06:06:05.509Z,38167,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"just updated the list in the drive (DIY science material, should be DIT! :smile: the extra things I mentioned are now there, and I also added gloves, glass waste container, scotch tape (for the Foldscope paper slides!)" 40,38235,2017-10-13T12:01:49.140Z,38209,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"Got some methylene blue powder in an eppendorf tube now, to bring with me, just in case you don't find any easily! Can you please make an official invitation with letterhead and signature that requests me to come to this event, just in case I get any trouble at the airport??? (@anon1491650132 Maanon1932026148 that is for you to do?) Thanks again for all the organisation! Looking forward!" 41,38237,2017-10-13T12:04:57.252Z,38167,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"Not sure if you got my last few notes, Winnie... The google sheet of needed things is updated. Also, I did get some methylene blue powder in an eppendorf tube now, to bring with me, just in case you don't find any easily! Can you please make an official invitation with letterhead and signature that requests me to come to this event, just in case I get any trouble at the airport??? (@anon1491650132 Maanon1932026148 that is for you to do?) Thanks again for all the organisation! Looking forward!" 42,38240,2017-10-13T12:21:06.295Z,38237,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Thanks for all the work Rachel, appreciate it! I saw your notes. I think we're good with everything. We're taking the missing stuff from ReaGent next week. Our stuff is in a garage and the owner is not there often. We've been trying to get a hold of them, so haven't been able to confirm the materials 100%." 43,38258,2017-10-13T19:54:00.534Z,38240,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"3 more useful items to have during the workshop would be a hot plate (to more quickly dry the smears), a light box for imaging, and some ethanol for slide cleaning. What is the space like? Will there be tables for people to work around (for instance, for the foldscopes) and benches for microfuge, slides and microscope(s)? Tell people to bring their DIY ones too (I have a simple lens you just stick on your phone somewhere...)! have a nice weekend!" 1,33746,2017-03-02T21:04:09.000Z,33746,anon2163824315,anon2163824315,"“Local authorities are no longer perceived as the only party expected to solve complex issues in cities” (source) This post follows a conversation between Pieter Deschamps (www.labvantroje.be/en) and @anon Living Streets is a project in Ghent, Belgium, where neighbors collaborate to temporarily redesign their streets for a couple of months, when neighborhood parking areas are marked down away from the street. You would see safe playgrounds built, or new green meeting spaces, or social, communal activities. A flagship project of the Trojan Lab non-profit, it went on for 4 years now, involving more than 25 streets, but as an experiment, it also had an expiration date: the end of 2017. An experiment as it was, its eyes were always on the prize: exploring a new approach of public space, finding alternatives for street parking and reworking people’s relationship with city officials. The story begins with the city administration itself: in 2011 it was part of a European program about the transition to a climate neutral city. The result was that we should rethink the mobility system in order to become climate neutral. Beginning of 2012, the city of Ghent started a transition arena. Pieter was one of the 20 people involved in this arena, as he used to work for the National Railway Company and involved in sustainable mobility development. These 20 people were brought together, and had the opportunity to be critical on the current system but also had the power of imagining a future vision, how it could be better. In this process, after six months, the arena developed a transition agenda for sustainable mobility in Ghent, where a couple of critical choices were identified, that needed to be made to achieve that vision. “Hard choices” they called them: two of them were the basis for the Living Street project. So: 1) The arena had the vision 2) They determined some critical hard choices, policy making decisions 3) At that point the arena had developed about 10 ideas for how this can be put in practice. Living Streets was one of these ideas. Pieter: “After 6 months we pitched these ideas and while the city’s work was done at the time, we didn’t feel we were done. I will always remember that night. These 20 people sat in a bar and said “how can we make our ideas real”. That’s how it all started.” The group didn’t have a status at the time, they weren’t the government neither a NGO. It was just a group of people that went on and organized in 2013 the first Living Streets in 2 streets. The city of Ghent helped by giving the permission to experiment with a new kind of street. Pieter: “We evaluated it with the city administration and wanted to carry on. We needed a legal status for two reasons: first, to be legally covered when things go wrong, and be able to protect ourselves and the project. A second is that we were starting to work with money, we had private sponsors and companies saying they were interested in what we are trying to discover. We organized an NGO, very close to the city organisation, because we wanted to change the system.” The mission of that NGO (The Trojan Lab) was - within the timeframe of 5 years, and importantly, in between 2 elections - organizing as many as possible experiments and gather lessons, see what dynamics all this can start. We’ll stop before the elections to make sure that every political group has the possibility to take the lessons and translate them into the government system.

Where the project is today

The Living Street experiment has 3 strategic goals: 1) How can we evolve from street park to neighborhood parking? 2) How can we turn grey streets to more lively/colorful streets? 3) If we create spaces on street level where people can meet each other and come together in a peaceful way, will this strengthen social cohesion in the neighborhood? Evaluation was in-built, it had to do with the process of arriving at a Living Street. Pieter: “We started engaging people with the question “What if?”; mapanon3606750899g the ideas and also the interests of people. “How do I look at my neighborhood?” from the perspective of social security, traffic, safety, more green in the streets,... For each remark we mobilize our network and creativity to support initiators from each street to find solutions. After that process is done, the people come up with a vision for their living street, that will be implemented in practice. Evaluation is an ongoing process, so things can be changed during it.” The project is driven by the communities in the city. The Trojan Lab started the mapanon3606750899g and year after year new people were interested to help and lead the process, or involve others. The quality check was always done by the organization. Pieter: “In terms of social cohesion, it’s crystal clear after 51 Living Street-processes in Ghent, we created a new space at street level that improves relations between residents, between the city government and his residents and we discovered innovative solutions to redesign the street and park the car at a neighborhood parking.

What next?

The Trojan Lab and the volunteers from the Living streets are now helanon3606750899g the local government to think about and rethink how Living Streets would look like without the role of the Trojan Lab. What’s in it for the city administration: it involves bringing different public stakeholders together with those who have participated from the streets, to think how it can continue in the upcoming years. Are you also dreaming of a living street? Share your stories with the pioneers of Ghent. Website:  www.livingstreet.eu info@anon " 2,33762,2017-03-03T16:53:00.000Z,33746,anon1526983854,anon2163824315,"What a story! Welcome, @anon One part of the story I don't understand is: where does the transformative muscle come from? The arena you describe was made of 20 people. That's not a large number, certainly not large enough, in and of itself, to secure legitimacy. And yet, you guys were able to wield real influence, with the city giving you permission to try things out. How did this happen? Did you have a ""bureaucrat hacker"" in the administration championing you?  I suppose you needed some financial support to get the Living Street experiment going. Evaluation is a particularly hard task to get people to do as voluntary work. Where did that come from? Were you aware of the Social Street experiences in Italy?  And finally, there is a sentence in the post I don't understand:  1) How can we evolve from street park to neighborhood parking? What is ""neighborhood parking""? Can you please explain? Also anon3606750899g @anon " 3,33778,2017-03-19T20:52:36.000Z,33762,anon2163824315,anon1526983854,"Good morning @anon Good evening @anon We started indeed with a small group of people. The city of Ghent used the theory of transition management to create a strong group (“arena”) to start reflecting on the future. We explained this in this article: http://www.polisnetwork.eu/uploads/Modules/PublicDocuments/thinking-cities-launch-issue-web2.pdf  (page 24) The city of Ghent (thanks to the European MUSIC-project) coördinated the first year of thinking, dreaming and creating a strong group (see also https://drift.eur.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DRIFT-Transition_management_in_the_urban_context-guidance_manon169343781al.pdf) . Then the group organised themselves, with sponsorship money and a lot of volunteer time of the pioneers of the first hour. The Living street experiment evolved from 2 streets during 1 month in 2013 to more than 30 streets during sometimes 2,5 months the last years. Each edition the evaluation is done through collaboration between the residents in the street, “From streetparking to neighborhood parking”: if we want to create free spaces in streets we have to find solutions for the parked cars in the street. When experimenting with Living street the initiators have to find appropriate places for their cars to park. Not just 'around the corner'. We look for under-used parking spaces at shops, companies, railwaystations, ... This can be in the neighborhood or even more remote at 'long distance parkings'. Each time citizens (on a volunteering basis) test this new way of parking and are supported by our network through (e)-bikes, bus/tramtickets, ... The insights and experience we gain here are used by the local city administration. Social streets: We heard about social streets not long ago via Giulia Ganon169343781gi. She's a PhD student Sociology in Bologna. Her research is about the Social Street phenomenon, born in Bologna three years ago and spreaded throughout Italy and the world. She visited us in Ghent to know more about the Living Street-experiment. We also like to add the link to our newspaper: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/55700321/livingstreetsnews1   Kind regards, Pieter and Dries from Ghent @anon " 4,33784,2017-03-20T19:07:03.000Z,33778,anon1526983854,anon2163824315,"I get it Thanks @anon I really liked the DRIFT Transition Management Handbook. The approach resonates deeply with our own: Transition management does not seek to involve stakeholders or to represent a given population; it focuses on selecting change agents. However, any concept of selective involvement comes with tensions. For example, doubts can surface regarding democratic legitimacy. Making clear that transition management is not a decision-making process can assuage these: it creates a setting for mutual inspiration among societal actors, in which new ideas, connections, and actions can emerge.  We also like to approach change as something that is not decision making. I in particular use a lot of biology-derived metaphors, like evolution or adaptation – we discussed this at length with your fellow Ghentian @anon I am sure @anon " 5,33786,2017-03-21T14:19:29.000Z,33784,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Connection with FutureMakers I could see early on how Pieter and Dries's experience connects with what UNDP are trying to do in FutureMakers - approaching cities and public spaces as experiments where communities could bring their contribution at the decision making table. Not as a ""stakeholder"", but as a dynamic conversation partner. It falls on me to follow up with a proposal for collaboration to our friends in Ghent and the UNDP teams - definitely kickstarted by sharing this kind of knowledge. Proposal incoming later this week! " 6,37934,2017-10-09T10:09:28.051Z,33746,anon667599033,anon2163824315,"Hi anon2163824315, thanks for sharing. A few comments, observations, questions: You speak about lively, colorful streets. Most cities are lively, and colorful by definition. Think of people from all around the world, graffiti, street art, and much more. It is mostly the poor neighborhoods that are ""lively and colorful"". What I can't find in your description is the issue of social justice, of human dignity, of autonomy. Getting to know one's neighbors is nice, but it is not about what we do in our free time, it is about how we work together to live a life in dignity. Personally, I wonder how a middle class project like this might undermine the trust of the wider (poorer) community in the ability of actually working together across class ('race', gender, sexuality, etc.)." 7,38069,2017-10-11T09:56:19.195Z,33746,anon140354369,anon2163824315,"Thanks @anon2163824315 for sharing this, and in particular for stewarding a project that straddles social and governmental systems! Having been involved in aligned movements but more so in North America and Australia, there's a lot that comes to mind on reading this post. So the first thing is to check if you're aware of ""[tactical urbanism](http://tacticalurbanismguide.com/)"" and its approaches, as to my understanding this is one of the earliest iterations of community-led placemaking and has plenty of useful tools that could allow you to expand involvement in this project to broader collaborators if you wanted that..? As I'm sure you're aware, there's an abundance of this kind of placemaking happening across the US and Canada and if you're not already across organizations like the [Project for Public Spaces](https://www.pps.org/), it's an absolute must. [The Cities for People](http://citiesforpeople.ca/en/about) initiative in Canada is also super interesting. (My apologies if I'm sharing the obvious... I have plenty more references if you want them just hit me up). Recently, I've been involved in some community consulting as a part of a new project that's bringing together diverse collaborators in Montreal's community development. It's called the [Listening Platform](http://listeningtomontreal.org/) and is trying to address the way in which we listen and weave together to the abundance of voices involved in a cities evolution. I think it could be an interesting reference as Living Streets grows. One reason in particular is I'm also left wondering how you are engaging the breadth of the communities in Ghent in this project - is it including socially-excluded communities or is it more a creative placemaking project? Over the years I've collaborated with an amazing organization called the [Design Studio for Social Intervention](http://www.ds4si.org/) (incubated out of MIT's urban engagement lab) and I continue to be inspired by how they use placemaking approaches to include and empower marginalized voices. Their [Creativity Labs](http://www.ds4si.org/creativity-labs) could be interesting for you too. Anyway, that's a lot I know (and I haven't even touched on my masters yet! :grinning: ) . In short, great to see how you've expanded out of government, and curious as to how you're continuing to move beyond traditional approaches to this kind of important and generative work. PS. You may be interested in the [Participatory Governance in Culture](http://conference.participatory-governance-in-culture.net/) conference coming up next month in Croatia (I'll be presenting), if you're not already familiar with it :seedling:" 8,38155,2017-10-12T13:30:09.089Z,38069,anon1491650132,anon140354369,@anon 9,38242,2017-10-13T13:21:39.359Z,38155,anon140354369,anon1491650132,"@anon1491650132 I'm glad it interests you! So from what I can tell, I think because of its subject matter and networks, the conference is designed to be accessible to all kinds of practitioners. In the call for papers they were looking to bring together ""scholars, researchers, theoreticians, cultural operators, artists, practitioners, activists, policymakers and decision-makers from across the world and broad range of disciplines"" You can read more on the call [here](http://conference.participatory-governance-in-culture.net/call-for-papers), and the programme [here](http://conference.participatory-governance-in-culture.net/hr/programme) can also give you an idea of the style and nature of how the ideas will be explored. To me I think it is trying to bridge hands-on learning with scholarship so would be worthwhile thinking about it but yes, I'm really not sure. Would be very happy to share my notes if of interest!" 1,38221,2017-10-13T08:51:46.991Z,38221,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"

One of the projects I’m looking forward to learning more about at the Festival is Open Rampette. Matanon1201778428 Matteini is part of the OpenCare team at the City of Milan bringing his background in urban sociology to the project. In my original theme proposal I’d set out a hope to explore the role of policy within the context of a networked and complex world. What if policy isn’t an effective tool to deliver a course of action any more? Before their involvement in OpenCare this might have been a suggestion that would have been supported by experience in Milan. In early 2015, the City of Milan passed a law requiring all commercial and public premises bordering the road to provide access to people with limited mobility or disabilities. Fifteen months later, only 10% of businesses had complied with the new regulations. However, I was curious to learn during a call with Matanon1201778428 that this was not as simple as demonstrating the limited efficacy of policy. He went on to describe the processes that OpenCare project partners had used to help turn round that low compliance rate. It seems that by adopting a multi-stakeholder approach involving a range of partners from multiple perspectives along with facilitating processes that bring collective intelligence into play, that policies can be rendered effective tools that achieve the desired outcomes - in this case greater accessibility by those with mobility issues. For those who haven’t yet caught Matanon1201778428’s post on how we can implement policies through collaborative processes - you’ll catch that *here*. Working with WeMake to co-design a process that would facilitate listening and cultivate relationships based on mutual understanding seems to have been key.

Open Rampette’s strong partnership approach will be evident at the Open Village session as Matanon1201778428 will be joined by Lucia Scopelliti, Head of Economic Planning at Comune di Milano and Costantino Bongiorno of FabLab WeMake. They will share diverse perspectives on the project and its successes. One of the criteria for the successes now being achieved through Open Rampette seems to be process design and deliberate steps to include all stakeholders; those holding different roles within the public administration, at various levels of seniority as well as shopkeepers and business owners and of course members of the public with mobility issues impacted by the lack of access to shops and other facilities. A particular challenge seems to have been engaging all the ‘actors’ within the public administration - something that was only achieved through persistent engagement to form the necessary relationships. Shopkeepers were another distinct stakeholder group - when the project team started talking to them they found that by and large they were willing to comply with the regulation and make their shops accessible, but they couldn’t afford technical expertise to implement a solution. This was another role that WeMake were able to fill. They helped facilitate a process of co-design to include all the stakeholders in finding technical solutions, including a means by which those with mobility issues could contact the shopkeepers to alert them to their arrival.

Matanon1201778428 also described the issues that can arise for lawmakers who devise regulations in isolation from those affected by the implications of implementation. In this case, the regulation created some complex protocols with which shopkeepers and businesses had to comply. This in itself was a barrier, quite apart from any other considerations such as cost, technical expertise and inconvenience. anon413297907 agrees; “It’s very common for bureaucratic procedures to be designed in a way that first off satisfies bureaucracy needs.” Costantino and Alessandro have brought a social design to public policy as Costantino describes in his post as agile policymaking; “Small iterations, user research, interviews are few elements that guided our design process. While those concepts and tools are well accepted in the world of the industry..., in the domain of policymaking, regulations, and administration of city they haven't been quite discovered yet. We believe that some of the techniques we adopted can be translated in the exciting domain of the city regulatory system.”

As a result of OpenCare, Matanon1201778428 sees some lasting changes in the form of new approaches; “Our mindset as an administration has changed due to OpenCare and its influencing how other departments work too. We are learning to deal with people differently through OpenCare.” Partners from Milan will share their learning during a session on day 2 of Open Village.

Posts from the team are well worth a read: https://edgeryders.eu/t/enforcing-a-policy-collectively/786 https://edgeryders.eu/t/openrampette-the-procedure-the-prototype/6491 https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-rampette-first-round-finissage/6639 https://edgeryders.eu/t/opencare-playbook-1-0/5708" 1,6460,2017-06-30T19:30:08.000Z,6460,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"

THE EDGE OF FUNDING - Sustainability and Financial models

A panel session moderated by anon948101822c Osiakwan \#OpenVillage, 19-21 October, Brussels You want to sustain the good work you are doing. In a resource-strained world, you need to be smarter in how you search for and acquire resources. What models are most future proof? Funding is perhaps an obvious means but is getting harder to access and research funding often is focused on serving particular sets of interests. This session will take a broader look at how to sustain our work in a rapidly changing context. Panel members will share their expertise, followed by Open Space to give participants an opportunity to explore particularly relevant ideas or models in more detail. This session has been developed to span all the themes at Open Village, from open science to collective living and working, to culture and policy. What kind of sub topics do you want to see covered in this panel? We want your thoughts on this as well as the kind of panel members you'd love to hear from. While we build the lineup, feel free to put yourself forward as an active contributor and get a ticket to \#openvillage! Learn more.
" 2,6671,2017-07-05T08:54:00.000Z,6460,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"DIY Science Network participating DIY Science Network want to participate in the panel to present the perspective of bottom-up research initiatives. They're exploring both the short term (how to get funded now) and the long term (how to change funding policy culture). Ping @anon " 3,14704,2017-07-10T08:21:47.000Z,6460,anon3595237380,anon1701267031,"Gamification at OpenFab I'm working now on the development of gamification elements at OpenFab, a fablab in ixelles. Where we are looking at how we can create a system that mixes money and inside credits. Moneytarisation of each brought resource and every possible issue becomes a mission that can be beaten while receiving credits. These credits can then be use for other resources. The idea is to have it ready for september, and we are using github as the managing tool: https://github.com/openfab-lab/openfab " 4,33359,2017-07-13T14:41:29.000Z,14704,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Cant tell how advanced the thinking is.. @anon I remember Ouishare at some point had a system of internal credits, is this the logic? I couldnt find a writeup on your github rep unfortunately.. @anon628128301 are thinking along similar terms, advocating for social mutual credit as a way to finance the work in open projects. Maanon1932026148 Bernard can explain more. " 5,33687,2017-07-28T15:05:23.549Z,6460,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Heads up: I spoke to Paola Villareal yesterday who agreed to be part of this panel! She is a programmer and data scientist advocating for social causes, and recently with Creative Commons as a Director of Product Engineering. She will contribute from her journey of getting her work funded in a more or less sustainable way: through fellowships in different programs over the past years. @anon1326409700 and @anon3112530648 I think you will enjoy meeting her. Looking forward to making this session official, getting there and thanks for the patience :-)" 6,34072,2017-08-07T13:48:46.374Z,6460,anon628128301,anon1701267031,"Economics frame the way we interact socially. Today's funding generally foster competition instead of collaboration. This creates high collective costs instead of mobilizing everyone's efforts to meet collective challenges. We propose a game that enables players to experiment different socio-economic dynamics. We will bridge it with our work, introducing the [value accounting system](http://anon628128301.net/sites/default/files/m/sshrc_crowd_sensorica.jpg) we use, and the [cryptocurrencies system](http://anon628128301.net/sites/docs/anon628128301_net_2017_poster_acfas_donnees.pdf) we have been develoanon3606750899g." 7,34082,2017-08-07T15:50:02.055Z,34072,anon1701267031,anon628128301,Hey! I really like this. What I understand about the panel will be structured - I'm wondering if this would sit better somewhere in the 3 days where we can get good interaction from those who are interested? How long does a game take? 8,34086,2017-08-07T16:48:47.246Z,34082,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"I agree with Gehan, the game can stand alone in the afternoon of that same panel. Back when we talked to Fabio and Bernard in the team the panel idea was early days and we thought the game can piggyback on it. From my notes, it seemed that the game aims to make us think about systems where everybody creates their own set of monetary units and the right to fund the projects they want. What it will reflect on is if and how ""social credit would be the better way to finance open projects that we do."" Also @anon628128301 we need the name + duration + ideal name of participants and any other logistics required in order to include it in the program. Thanks!" 9,34906,2017-08-28T13:47:08.071Z,6460,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Hey, I just saw this session tweeted. Wondering if we can update the page with the confirmed panelists and moderator? Thanks @anon2954219769 if you have the time. See @anon1701267031's update of the [collaboration panel](https://edgeryders.eu/t/main-session-infrastructures-for-autonomy/6663) page. The next step would be to promote sessions and encourage participants to drop in the questions from their own work. " 10,35097,2017-08-30T19:17:51.968Z,34906,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Updated with what I had. Asked Chris for a hi-res picture. Has anyone received a picture from Paola?" 11,35233,2017-09-01T20:33:45.798Z,35097,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"I'll email her tomorrow and ask for it, sorry for the delay!" 12,35235,2017-09-01T20:42:36.723Z,35233,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Thanks :slight_smile: Do we have some info for a short bio, or can you ask that as well?" 13,36551,2017-09-18T15:22:16.556Z,34082,anon628128301,anon1701267031,"@anon1701267031 @anon1491650132 Hi, we are open to organize the game when it fit best. :) We could take a name such as ""Money and Social Innovation"". I think the usual time for the game is about two hours. I think it is better with a group bigger than six people up to all villagers. For logistics, a space where the participants can move easily, that is with no tables or chairs in the middle. Out of that, a whiteboard, a table, and possibly a beamer. Best," 14,36574,2017-09-19T07:38:25.631Z,36551,anon1491650132,anon628128301,"Hey, have you seen the [latest version](https://edgeryders.eu/t/final-openvillage-festival-program-released/7105/4) of the program? There afternoon sessions under the headers of Freestyle, where all the session ideas not officially in can be hosted - we'll do a shoutout during the day so people can announce themselves, and allocate rooms on the spot. Works?" 15,36978,2017-09-25T15:25:46.873Z,6460,anon628128301,anon1701267031,"Hello @anon1491650132 . Ok, let's do so. :)" 16,37179,2017-09-29T10:17:23.469Z,6460,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"@anon70625510 we thought you'd be a good fit as a moderator from your experience with Open&Change and Edgeryders. I thought I had asked before, but couldn't find the communication anywhere, so probably not. Are you up for being moderator?" 17,37183,2017-09-29T11:01:35.526Z,6460,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,She's in!! I asked yesterday too :)) 18,38145,2017-10-12T12:06:53.707Z,6460,anon4101994392,anon1701267031,"Dear All, I am looking forward to being a part of this conversation and getting to know the community. My contribution would be through an African lense since that is much of my experience. anon948101822c here" 1,33985,2017-08-04T16:48:12.215Z,33985,anon896289950,anon896289950,"Following the suggestion from @anon1491650132 I would love to share and propose to realize an Urban Game during the first afternoon of the Festival both as a strategy to faster enter in touch with the participant and also as a way to explore the #opencare themes in a non-conventional and non-“conferential” way. An Urban Game is usually a playful activity that takes place in public spaces, [here is a comprehensive list of urban games](http://ludocity.org/wiki/Category:Playable_games) (from street games to pervasive games) and some definition. In the past [I’ve contributed to create various urban games](http://www.urbangames-factory.it/en/games-en/) that managed to start conversations around complex topics and enlarged the community interested on that. __ Maanon1932026148 is interesting to share **a case study,** which is [the Basilicata Border Games](http://www.urbangames-factory.it/portfolio-item/basilicata-boarder-games-2/), that we designed and produced in the summer of 2013 in Basilicata, Italy. Basically the goal of the game was to spread themes and topics that were part of the Matera 2019 candidacy also to those segment of the society that usually weren’t involved in the conversation. We decided to design and set up a pacific and creative invasion of 4 Basilicata’s major cities, occupying the city center and playing in the various neighborhood during the day. Games and tasks that we played weren’t directly connected to the Matera Candidacy Dossier contents, but because of the shock and non alignment of the performance, we managed to bring the people in the street and THEN starting the conversation about the candidacy. ___ I think that **a similar strategy could work also during the OpenVillage Festival**, but maanon1932026148 we can push a little further the experiment and try also to perform activities and games directly related to the topic of the Festival. Noemi states “our aim with the game is to collectively learn and demonstrate in practical ways different aspects of care - new and open practices, products, relationships between participants in an ecosystem.” A format that we already tested various times and we could adapt for the Festival is called **Incognito Battleclash,** is an urban game in which teams (made by 10 to 15 people) compete against the time with the main goal of completing a set of creative and interactive tasks. **Game Dynamics** Every team will receive a secret envelopes where they will find the list of tasks that they have to complete, with a fixed score. Envelopes will be delivered in 5 times in 5 different locations of the city. Every team will testify the accomplishment of the tasks through the use of a sport camera (GoPro) and their own mobile devices (we could use WhatsApp or Telegram to collect all the materials). **Duration and timing** The experience will last for a total of 4 hours, divided as the following: Intro > rules, team creation, tools test > 30 minutes Game > 5 envelopes in 5 different locations > 2.30 hours (one envelope every 30 minute) Closing > Chill out time, mission’s review, prize moment, 45 minutes It must to be considered at least a 15 minutes delay gap. **Urban Route** In order to fit the Open Village format, the game could start in the location of the Festival (the easiest way to have all the participants ready to go), and finish at a dinner location or a pub, where the player could have the opportunity to interact, share stories and chill out. The Open Village location could also be a great ending locations, players could leave their things there and play more freely, and we will then explore the surroundings of the area. Usually checkpoint are located at 15 to 20 minutes walking distance and connected with path that could cross public spaces, parks or pedestrian areas. **Name** Incognito Battleclash is not exactly in line with the goal that we want to reach, so maanon1932026148 could be cool to come up with a different name? **Tasks** The tasks design will be based on the Open Village contents in order to achieve a tasks-list of 25 missions, divided between the 5 envelopes and organized in a crescendo. Health, citizen science, care, body fitness will be mixed with funny and interactive tasks, to involve also passer-by and citizens. **Output** We will have a massive amount of video/pictures and other player generated materials that could be helpful to describe and share the topics of the Festivals. ___ **BIG OPEN QUESTION** The tasks/creative missions are the core of the game, and could lead the experience in one or in the other direction (simple fun vs serious game). Then probably the best way to understand that is starting throwing ideas about the tasks lists and see how far or how close we are from the Festival topics. **OPEN QUESTION** Incognito Battleclash is an already tested format (we did it in Roma few month ago with 50 people), but we can also imagine something more complex (single urban games in the different Checkpoints?)." 2,33991,2017-08-04T19:15:00.285Z,33985,anon1526983854,anon896289950,"I have a feeling Brussels might be a right place for urban games. Lots of young people, plenty of places to lounge about, Belgian surrealism & playfulness. .." 3,34017,2017-08-05T19:35:16.573Z,33991,anon3670751854,anon1526983854,Sounds great! Will think about a name. Thanks for all the work. 4,34075,2017-08-07T14:33:27.057Z,33985,anon2954219769,anon896289950,"Yay, I'm a big fan of city games :-) we dabbled in it ourselves in our city of Ghent a few years ago with a cat-and-mouse style Vampire Hunting city game. There is another session that we're planning to be somewhere in the city: @anon1526983854rey 's [fly fishing demo](https://edgeryders.eu/t/session-complexities-of-water-investigating-clean-water-for-community/6396). Is there a way to make that part of the city game? Eg. We were also hoanon3606750899g to do some DIY water quality analysis during that session. I think there's plenty of potential to do small citizen science projects during the game :-) . Anything that produces data, basically: air quality, quantity and type of trash on the ground, dangerous obstacles for bikes, spotting bird nests, collecting [urban fossils](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3dajgy/the-coolest-urban-fossils-that-are-right-beneath-your-feet). Pinging @anon1227671133 as well. Not sure if the tempo of the two activities would clash or not. City games are hectic in my experience, while I envision the fly fishing as a relaxation moment." 5,34490,2017-08-18T10:54:00.335Z,34017,anon896289950,anon3670751854,"**Names!** Here some suggestions, i'm not a native speaker so i'm not sure if they works in english. UnderCity Village Invasion Open Ground Explò **Lab**yrHunt Wanderaze Drifted! I love the concept of _derive_ so wander/drift are words that sounds cool. And also the concept of Village / City / Playground. What do you think?" 6,34491,2017-08-18T11:00:09.394Z,34075,anon896289950,anon2954219769,"Hei Winnie, thanks for all the suggestions! About the fishing demo, that's interesting and i'm sort of agree with you that usually Urban Games are very active and fast, you are playing against the time. Maanon1932026148 one way to incorporate that in the game too could be to think it like one of the Checkpoint between the missions, that are spaces and interactions that are calmer, so maanon1932026148 if the spot where this activity will take place is in the game area we can insert it like that. About the DIY analysis and citizen science, do you think that is possible to have also some experience that is not tech related, do you have links or suggestions so I can dig deeper on that? Thanks!" 7,34496,2017-08-18T12:10:54.093Z,34491,anon2954219769,anon896289950,"Okay! I'm going to Brussels to scout for a suitable location for the fly fishing in the vicinity of the venue. What do you mean by citizen science that is not tech related @anon Another idea that might be fun: seeds bombs or guerilla mycology. Planting plants or mushrooms in public spaces. No effect during the festival, but fun anyway to know that something might be there in a year, can even revisit it at some point." 8,34512,2017-08-18T15:31:38.093Z,34496,anon896289950,anon2954219769,"Yeah, maanon1932026148 I need some links to example of citizen science, like can you scan air data without devices? Or check water hardness without filters or devices (yes more than tech probably I was thinking about devices).. Guerrilla actions > great!!" 9,34532,2017-08-19T19:49:20.024Z,34512,anon2954219769,anon896289950,"There is not much without devices. Smartphones are usually the lowest tech way. Like this litter tagging project -> https://openlittermap.com/ Then there's many where you are required to send pictures of snails, birds, ... to map biodiversity. These biology projects are usually fun and have a community around them, but to be honest, most other existing low-tech projects are low-tech because the organizers have designed them that way. They are a dumbed down version of the actual scientific research and citizens are invited to participate within the (limited) possibilities the scientists carefully designed. Participants are just human sensors or data processors. This goes against the citizen science we put in the spotlight during the festival, where citizens are active agents in every phase of the research from ideation over planning all the way to conclusions. This is more intense and inevitably involves technology. We'll have demos in the program so it's not necessary to put them in the urban game. That being said, we can also design our own 'citizen science' project around anything that can be measured. Think correlating driver friendliness with car price range, checking cleanliness of public toilets, I don't know. Designing the project can be part of the game, though I'm not sure how hard it is or how long it takes to think up something that makes sense. Would love to see us try though @anon" 10,34578,2017-08-22T09:31:38.978Z,34490,anon1526983854,anon896289950,"Not sure. ""Wanderaze"" I don't even understand. I am no native speaker myself, but ""Drifted"" also sounds a bit borderline as ""drift"" is not a transitive verb. Shame, because I like that one. You might like ""adrift"" (""alla deriva"")." 11,34649,2017-08-24T10:34:30.706Z,34578,anon896289950,anon1526983854,"Do you think that we could add adrift with other words or it's enough by himself. Like: Amaze Drift City Adrift E-drift Underdrift :ok_woman:" 12,34652,2017-08-24T10:43:50.659Z,34532,anon896289950,anon2954219769,"I think that smartphones are enough (the palyers will use it anyway during the game), and maanon1932026148 because we are starting the Festival we can also go with the ""mapanon3606750899g"" approach, besides it's pretty basic (with humans as sensors/data processors)..then during the Festival they can go deeper and discover all the process. It's like a tutorial / entry level on the topic. What do you think?" 13,34654,2017-08-24T11:23:16.735Z,34649,anon1526983854,anon896289950,"Not sure, Matanon1201778428. I suck at this naming thing. :slight_smile:" 14,34660,2017-08-24T12:52:17.064Z,34490,anon70625510,anon896289950,"i Don't know maanon1932026148 @anon1839840820 has some ideas. or @anon712028032 :)) Meet @anon3097547345 and @anon2376168967 btw, they're into clowning and [we're chatting in the OpenVillage MENA conversation](https://edgeryders.eu/t/urban-game-openvillage-festival/6643/11). Argh before I forget, have you seen this? [http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu/workshop/](http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu/workshop/) Didn't you say something about Jordan?" 16,34809,2017-08-26T14:50:12.266Z,34512,anon1227671133,anon896289950,"some citizen science can include cleaning up your favourite environment - but quantitatively! our colleagues from 'hammerdirt' had already been cleaning beaches, with a focus on quantitative statistics, but as lifeguards, they were also concerned about skin rashes and gastro-intestinal illnesses that were more frequently occurring each summer. At Hackuarium, we helped them get started on systematic microbial analyses of local waters ... (lake and river, and we even recently had an amazing visit to their local sewage treatment plant) Here are a couple of links: http://www.plagespropres.ch/ http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Micro_to_Macro_Water_Pollution We repeated the lake water sampling this year, and I hope to be able to talk about our compiled results at the festival... :slight_smile:" 17,34885,2017-08-28T10:39:56.452Z,34532,anon712028032,anon2954219769,"Hi all, great exciting developments! We printed labyrinth stamped seed bombs for our COP21 Cascade and attached messages to them. It was playful and cheap. http://cascade.network/glitchy-transmissions-from-the-now/ Could organise getting some seeds printed before the Open Village? What would tie in with the theme I wonder? I love the idea of guerilla mycology - really happy to help with this." 18,34889,2017-08-28T11:29:35.170Z,34885,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Reading deeper into this thread, fully supporting the emphasis on active agents. I posted the comment below on slowness a few weeks back (copied it in below). & since then have been having lots of conversations about time - some people emphasising “just doing and doing now” and others emphasising “slow process & the long view”. They feel complementary perspectives: acting fast, but doing so with a vision of the long-term & that some work / relationships / studies / projects bear fruit over serious time. One of the most illuminating points came from a musician who said that to play super-fast musical passages it was necessary to get his body into a very slow state. There’s something here about time mastery. So I wonder whether there’s a bubble of slowness that can be grown inside this fast-paced Incognito Battleclash idea? @anon Towards supporting @anon2954219769 ‘s fly fishing perhaps? Or guerilla mycology/ seed bomb idea? Planting plants or mushrooms in public spaces, record the points they were planted, returning months later - documenting slow process… Seeds planted… I love the citizen psychological science suggestion. Maanon1932026148 some of the info collected from the public can be about people’s experience - ie they’re experience living in the area - perceptions of care - support… Human experience as part of the biodiversity. Might all tie in well with the local collective intelligence / local wifi system. Faranak Mirjalili and me will collect dreams from attendees at the Open Village meeting in morning sessions. & wow! This water project is impressive. Know little of the watershed in Brussels so can't input on that. But really interested to hear more about http://www.plagespropres.ch/ http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Micro_to_Macro_Water_Pollution at the festival. ""Part of the cascade project was around slow culture hacks. Activism that emphasises changing the pace of the city and foregrounding presence, vulnerability and the beauty of the earth. The dance groups on the streets for the COP21 shifted me. Been thinking about action on the streets & since culture is obsessed with excitement - anything too high paced is likely just to feed the machine and be yet another ride on the wheel... For where there is hectic business, there is all the distraction, blindness and madness of this suicidal culture. This sense that “the time is now” can be met by something present. Instead of putting that intense feeling into multiple short-lived projects, to make energy matter. To use energy with real intention. One way of spreading courage and alternatives is to be in total presence. What about an action that expressed a great slowing down into presence during the Open Village? Slowing down the pace of the streets with movement. Done a few things like this before - I led a slow motion walk up Oxford high street in the last decade to protest the Iraq war. So - what about a short workshop and then an action of dancing slowly (in whatever your style) in the streets? Gifting pieces of fruit to passers by? A way of spreading the invitation. I've made mistakes in the past about acting before the time is ripe. Doing too much. In rushed ways. Not preparing long enough to really pull it off. There is a mastery to carpe diem - in plucking the day when it is ripe. If that can tie in with urban game you are working on - great - I'm on for this & looking out for times and places for this creative plan."" https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-village-call-19-july-2017/6506/3 /// In the wilds of Portugal and little connectivity here unfortunately - will check in with this conversation next week ///" 19,35283,2017-09-02T15:11:55.651Z,34889,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Back online & excited to print up some seed bombs :) & FYI - there's a GREAT relevant open call in Brussels (deadline end of October) that could be a place to develop creative instigations further... https://www.thalielab.org/en/call-for-proposal/de-la-transition-ecologique-a-la-decroissance-du-bon-usage-de-lart#.WaY0Q62B2EJ From ecological transition to degrowth and the effective use of art Based on an examination of artisanal practices and new forms of food production, the foundation invites visual artists, curators, designers and chefs to submit a project on the theme of deceleration, that explores concepts for the collaborative economy (recycling, textiles, 3D creation, food…) and has a social impact." 20,35350,2017-09-04T08:40:53.627Z,35283,anon2954219769,anon712028032,Nice! Maanon1932026148 what we do during the Urban Game can serve as inspiration and prototype for something in this call? :slight_smile: 21,35362,2017-09-04T13:10:20.683Z,35350,anon712028032,anon2954219769,"Yeah, a rare call looking to fund exactly this kind of initiative. Happy to join a call on urban game plans towards some prepanon3606750899g b4 October - seed printing etc. @anon2954219769 @anon" 22,37375,2017-10-03T07:52:19.312Z,33985,anon1491650132,anon896289950,"@anon I added some stuff in the google doc Brief - some POI for you in the neighborhood. Let us know what else is needed and if all is going well ? :P" 23,37407,2017-10-03T15:03:39.127Z,37375,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,I'm also interested in how the ideas found their way into the game and if you need anything from us in preparation for the event @anon 24,37931,2017-10-09T09:56:55.693Z,37407,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,Earth to @anon 25,38127,2017-10-12T09:04:18.913Z,35362,anon896289950,anon712028032,"Hi Kate, thank you very much for your suggestion, I think that we could definitely add the seed bombs task in the game or we can ask people to collect seeds and then you can do a lab about seed bombing during the Festival (didn't have a look at the final program yet so I don't know if it fits), otherwise I think that we can create a number of messaged and bombs (multiple of 3) and then simply add it to the tasks that the teams must do. Sorry again for my late reply, i really hope that we can add it ;)" 26,38128,2017-10-12T09:05:24.716Z,37931,anon896289950,anon1491650132,"Yes, yes yes!! Noemi is there a way to have ""private"" conversation with multiple member of the community here in EG or is better if I ask to the Urban game team to talk in Drive? Thanks!" 1,812,2017-02-03T17:36:31.000Z,812,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"I’m a designer, nurse, yoga teacher, food grower and performer, currently studying Business Enterprise and Community Development with Equal Ireland. I’m lucky to have had many learning opportunities, and the freedom to let that knowledge merge. I volunteer at a community/school garden (Soil Chroí Íosa) with Transition Galway and was a writer/editor and designer for our “A Vision for Galway 2030” document. I’m also Resilience Coordinator with An Áit Eile (The Other Place), a cultural organisation in Galway, with an amazing network of collaborators. In 2015 I was invited to open meetings by An Áit Eile (AÁE), mapanon3606750899g potential groups who could potentially fill a community led cultural hub in Galway. Some of the groups I’m active with matched perfectly, so they were an easy fit. I developed the idea as part of my college work, with input from AÁE. Next was “Pilgrim”, again collaborating with AÁE, entered for the European Capital of Culture 2020 bidbook for Galway. Working around 3 thematics, Monastery (inspired by unMonastery), Meitheal (Irish term for a work party) and Pilgrimage. In October we done this... https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zg7bFoK6kyg Keeanon3606750899g momentum, we tested unMonastery/Monastery in early December, 2017. 4 days at Cregg Castle, PreMonastery; a Rural Reconnaissance. A range of skilled individuals involved with a range community groups and initiatives, and collaboration with @anon We’re hoanon3606750899g to roll out Pilgrim: Year One this year. The provisional plan feels epic. Joining the med-hack revolution and design/build small spaces looks like a promising direction. Sharpening existing knowledge/skills, then application and outcomes. freeflowcreativity.com " 2,6885,2017-02-04T08:11:08.000Z,812,anon1526983854,anon2442420827,"The frontier between culture and care Welcome back, @anon This is impressive work. As I looked up AÁE and what they do, I noticed they seem to be focused on culture (David Boland's statement here). So I'm curious: where do you see the interface between culture, community and care?  " 3,14308,2017-02-04T19:26:36.000Z,812,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"Working with the seasons:) Thanks @anon Through collaboration, listening to local caring initatives/groups and providing what we can. I see community and care as part of culture alongside the arts. Examples; at ""Our Place"" event we brought yoga by Green Lotus Galway (GLG) and circus workshops for kids by Hoopla Troupla  (social inclusion in a socio-economically disadvantaged area). at What Now? A Cultural Weekender, there was Yoga by GLG (50% of donations went to familycarers.ie), mandala making by Cosáin (community wellness group) and teen open-mike by Foróige, tribal dancing, reclaimed pallet furniture as part of design exhibition and much more. We'll be revamanon3606750899g our website in time and a fuller picture of that will appear. at preMonastery (report on website soon), which itself was semi-retreat in nature, yoga and mental wellbeing featured. A preliminary looks at the feedback forms suggests positive effects wellness of participants. Outcomes from preMon include a collaboration between Cosáin and Paisúin Fáisuin, where they ran an event and raised €1440.  And Cosáin doing an art therapy retreat in 2 weeks with Alan, our host at the castle. Hopefully a yoga workshop with David Jones. It got myself and Pat out chopanon3606750899g through a community walking trail and talking about building med/health/builing. Develoanon3606750899g designs/concept at present. And food, communal eating = learning about nutrition and food/water sources. AÁE originated as an arts group but has been looking at culture in the broader sense, integrating health and physical environment/ecological sustainability. AÁE's arts reviews and events are key to engagement, facillitating connection of groups and situations of care at local level.  And celebration:) David's statement is from June 2015, it starts with arts, then evolution:) " 4,17145,2017-02-06T10:00:47.000Z,14308,anon1526983854,anon2442420827,"Great answer! I think I get it. So, you see health and sustainability as an essential component of cultural activity. This goes back to the issue of activist burnout, which keeps recurring in the Edgeryders community. To ensure health and sustainability, you bake prevention/wellness activities into cultural programmes. So, a side effect of doing culture is (over time) a reduction in treatment of acute health conditions.  I am starting to think that this is where most of the impact of communities on care comes from. Communities can ""corral"" us into avoiding destructive choices (heavy drinking, overeating...). They provide support in wellness/preventative activities, and that reduces human and financial costs of havingn to treat acute afflictions down the line.  " 5,18305,2017-02-10T14:26:54.000Z,17145,anon2442420827,anon1526983854,"Yes and more. Yes, that's it. Taking it further though, would be to create rural/nature situations where healthcare professionals can rejuvinate and connect with people from different professions. And yoga, nature based activity and arts for teens in rural settings. There is already a will for this to happen from Foróige, as a means to curtail troubeld behaviours. ..and the elderly, we especially need alternative services as our elderly population grows. " 6,19282,2017-02-06T11:47:41.000Z,14308,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Being a collective I think that's the point of being a collective, right? It's relevant to have a shell like AAE which enables its different members and people connected to it to do things based on what interests them - it means that when you do an arts event there are people who run workshops on the side and activities that have a wellbeing component. It is community care at its core, because they are social activities where people inevitably learn from each other. Does care need a clearly spelled out mission? I don't know. I've always liked how AAE feels very free, but at the same time I'm wondering if working together with Galway 2020, consumer panels in Cosain etc and needing to projectify in a more structural way is useful, and the more strategic level taken since your early days helps your work or not? Obviously, doers will always be doers no matter what :-) I'm just wondering though.  " 7,19435,2017-02-10T15:00:56.000Z,19282,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Fluidity in structure. Aye/yes, a big diverse melting pot of stuff. Not pigeonholing, but allowing each group to have their own identity. It could be more clearly spelled out in our mission, and might do so in time, but also being aware that the arts can draw people in, but health and enironmental issues can sometimes scare people off. More structure and over longer timeframe feature in our recent proposal, but not too ridgid. Care can be tough work. Rest, play and time to breathe hopfully will lead to stronger, healthier, more productive outcomes. Speaking of outcomes... :) Cosáin are doing an overnight art therapy session with Alan at Cregg Castle tomorrow and Sunday. Also, when promoting ""What Now?"" I spoke with Claddagh Arts Centre, so when I went looking for help to build an outdoor classroom at the Transition Galway school/community garden, Michael from the centre gave his time, machinery and a very genorous price on stonework. Busy week = very happy school princial:) " 8,19490,2017-02-11T09:17:00.000Z,19435,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Quote of the day ""the arts can draw people in, but health and environmental issues can sometimes scare people off"" I feel this is an important insight. " 9,19534,2017-02-11T13:59:00.000Z,19435,anon1526983854,anon2442420827,"Impressive stamina @anon Since October 2012 we have been working on the Transition Galway community garden [...]  It’s a nice wee plot, kindly offered by the school to our group. Together with the pupils, parents, teachers and members of the community we have been growing food and improving biodiversity. A TG-school collaboration around gardening, biodiversity and community building that's been going onto five years. That's impressive. This is how you build a culture of teamwork and societal resilience. If you guys can start a community garden and keep at it for five years, you can probably get ambitious. Where do you think the stamina come from? " 10,20731,2017-02-16T17:02:45.000Z,812,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"Watching things grow feeds the soul:) Thanks, we've had some struggles such as low volunteer numbers and consistancy of volunteers. Still haven't cracked that. I think there's potential for job creation as we outlined here and here in our visioning document, and submitted to Galway City Council, as they invited submissions from community groups for policy suggestions (particularly Policy 5.). Gaining employment doing something I enjoy, that also benefits my community was a driving force for at the start. There doesn't appear to be real jobs materialising in this area in Galway, so I'm staring to shift my gaze a little. Plenty of successes there though; learning, eating, conversation, connections and engagement with school activities. This year the focus is on getting more involvement from parents of the school kids and people in the neighbouring houses. Stamina comes from following a common sense approach to resilience. Food is a base need, and the process of growing it benefits health, community, physical environment and financially it helps a little to get veg every now and again for our efforts. I can't imagine not growing some food every year. It feels like the most rational thing I do with my time. " 11,23982,2017-06-23T13:38:51.000Z,812,anon1701267031,anon2442420827,"a session as part of enabling factors theme for OpenCare? Hi @anon Inspirational work... and impressive stamina as others have already commented! It'd be good to get your thoughts/contributions to the theme as it firms up. This will help to shape your session in a way that will contribute to collective insights on this topic.  Theme: better understanding policy in context of a top-down system. Even good policies may be limited in their effectiveness - that is by the time they cascade down to the level of effect/impact they are often either diluted or do not produce the effects desired by the original intentions of the policy no matter how well meaning these might be. Another way to look at it would be this: living systems theory has turned on its head the Victorian world-view that imagined that unless mankind were imposing order from top down then chaos would ensue. The new sciences - nano biology, quantum theory - have revealed the extent to which order is a natural impulse (fractals being a beautify example) and that many of mankind’s efforts to date have disrupted this impulse. So what does this say about policy? How do we understand more effective ways to enable our natural impulse as human beings to be caring and compassionate? How do we re-conceive of policies in the light of this - to support and not disrupt the collective impulse to help our fellow human beings?  From this understanding - how do we understand the instruments and tools of the collective, of citizens - what do they look like in relation to health and social care? Equally, how do we understand the instruments and tools of the state (such as policy) - how can these be designed to enable the collective response that is the basis of welfare in traditional societies? The next question would then be how this might inform the nature of the session you’d offer. It seems there's so much you could contribute for joint exploration.  There seems to me to be a common thread in what I’ve encountered of what you’ve sent through. Its something about the format of the various happenings. e.g. Monastery, Galway Soup - that genuinely reflect values of welcome, bringing people in, shifting power, playing with stereotypical roles to create new experiences that have greater meaning - that get under the superficial. Does that make sense? And something about new recipes - the way you put together interesting elements to create new experiences/outcomes. Perhaps you’d want to focus on one of the three thematics? Sharing what’s really worked and using peer review (I’m gathering that this is something ER are particularly keen on) to solve some things that aren’t yet clear/sorted? Which of the three thematics connects most strongly to the health and social care? There’s also the tiny houses & homeless folks work you mentioned. Might this also be a possible session?  You’ve so much good work to choose from - would a way forward be for you to suggest 2-4 possible sessions and we work up the one that has the best connection to the theme? Thanks  /anon1701267031 " 12,24984,2017-06-23T16:31:51.000Z,23982,anon2442420827,anon1701267031,"Narrowing.. Thanks @anon Key situations: Galway Monastery, SOUP, An Áit EIle's ""What Now?"", Transition Galway Garden. Collaborations that have formed, and outcomes that have occured would be presented as digrams using the various logos of groups, on a timeline. Branding can be an effective language, shows diversity of collaborating groups through symbols/colour, and is also easy for the business sector and authoritive bodies to understand. It's also how I organise stuff in my head every few months, so I guess that could be a good next step for me. Maanon1932026148 another potential session or two might spring to mind. How long might a session be? Are there anymore guidelines on what a session is? Workshop, presetation or maanon1932026148 a mixture of both? The session could start with a 5min gentle seated yoga asana stretch, and a 5min circussy catch wordgame. Peer review is something I must give more thought to. ""The iot assisted garden"" - might be a good fit for Open Science and Citizen Science for more inclusive healthcare. I think Ken will talk to @anon " 13,25412,2017-06-24T10:14:00.000Z,24984,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Small distinction Forgive me for stepanon3606750899g in unasked for,  Just a heads up to say that there is a dedicated (3rd) big theme around working and living well together which will encompass I believe physical community spaces and some aspects of mental health and collective wellbeing ensured by tight communities. I would keep your work on that, Bernard, outside of the impact/ policy discussions. This seems natural already, as the key situations you listed above seem like a good fit with Gehan's focus. No guidelines as to what a session could be, or format - it just needs a clear description on a session page so that attendants know what to expect, and perhaps a little flexibility wont hurt - adjusting later to the constrains of the space, sequencing of sessions, other incoming demands etc.   " 14,25464,2017-06-25T12:43:16.000Z,25412,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Thanks Noemi Useful distinction. I'm now leaning more towards identifting hurdles, bridges, bonding oppertunities, what's best to share?, what's not shared?, social currency, open value networks? @anon " 15,26062,2017-06-26T19:54:00.000Z,812,anon1701267031,anon2442420827,"inner spaces as enabling factors? @anon I'm just noticing that the Afternow Project website is down. It was a great resource. But the main point of this research project by the Dept of Public Health at Glasgow Uni was to highlight that all the great public health challenges of the past had been solved mainly by structural changes like sanitation and clean water and some behavioural change. The public health challenges of modernity will no longer be addressed in the same way. They are things like addiction, violence, suicide. Their research concluded that it was inner and cultural change that would be called for. You could reference the work in Indian prisons but really draw on the first hand experience you've built up through your work in Galway. Wondering how that lands? " 16,26968,2017-07-03T20:05:13.000Z,26062,anon2442420827,anon1701267031,"Working Title: Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences. @anon -------- Starting with a 5min grounding meditation participants will then get a short overview of work from two groups from the West of Ireland; Transition Galway and An Áit Eile (The Other Place). Citizen led care and self care from the garden, to the (un)Monastery to the meditation mat and back again. Then a 5min seated stretch (yoga asana), followed by a look at An Áit Eile's network mapanon3606750899g and resource sharing as part of European Capital of Culture, Galway 2020 project; ""Pilgrim"". This will include some of the Galway stories shared in Opencare, including Cosáin Community Wellness. Participants will then be invited to take up their pens and comment, question, suggest links and direction on a paper map of An Áit Eile's network as it stands at the time of OpenVillage in October. -------------- This should probably have more detail. I'm still not sure if it fits in Architectures of Love or Living and Working Together. I'll be nursing this week and won't be able to attend the community call, hopefully Ken will be there. " 17,27644,2017-07-03T20:06:02.000Z,26062,anon2442420827,anon1701267031,"Working Title: Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences. @anon -------- Starting with a 5min grounding meditation participants will then get a short overview of work from two groups from the West of Ireland; Transition Galway and An Áit Eile (The Other Place). Citizen led care and self care from the garden, to the (un)Monastery to the meditation mat and back again. Then a 5min seated stretch (yoga asana), followed by a look at An Áit Eile's network mapanon3606750899g and resource sharing as part of European Capital of Culture, Galway 2020 project; ""Pilgrim"". This will include some of the Galway stories shared in Opencare, including Cosáin Community Wellness. Participants will then be invited to take up their pens and comment, question, suggest links and direction on a paper map of An Áit Eile's network as it stands at the time of OpenVillage in October. -------------- This should probably have more detail. I'm still not sure if it fits in Architectures of Love or Living and Working Together. I'll be nursing this week and won't be able to attend the community call, hopefully Ken will be there. " 18,27825,2017-07-05T07:51:29.000Z,812,anon1701267031,anon2442420827,"combined practice Hi @anon The way you've combined some embodied practice with verbal overviews could work well. I think what you've outlined could fit under either theme. If we work something up under the Architectures of Love theme then I'd be looking for the overview or the session itself to start to tease out what had been learned through both experiences about the enabling factors that made citizen care responses more likely and supported their continuation.  If its easiest we could set up a call at a time that suits you to see if that fits with your thinking?   " 19,33451,2017-07-19T16:00:04.000Z,27644,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Your session post is now up to date Hey @anon I included the info you provided, so the title and description now suit the latest version. Title also changed. Here it is, let me know if I can help in any way. Looking forward!" 20,38124,2017-10-12T08:41:57.096Z,33451,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Hi @anon1491650132, that link isn't working for me, nothing happens when clicked. I also found a link on a festival page to that says ""share your proposals,.."", but it gives me the message something like : ""oops, page unavailable or permission required.""" 21,38126,2017-10-12T08:52:02.103Z,38124,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"It got hidden probably sometime during the new platform migration. I see it's not even updated according to the latest - so maanon1932026148 add there what you consider relevant for next Saturday session. Then we can tweet it out, and link to it from the main festival site: https://edgeryders.eu/t/galway-monastery/6399" 1,806,2017-01-06T09:27:53.000Z,806,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Last October, during the Makerfaire in Rome, the opencare WeMake team was exhibiting in front of project Hubotics!   A DIY solution that provides customized physiotherapy at home.  Composed of 3D printed parts, and a simple mobile app, the solution works in a way that makes it easy to stimulate muscles and nerves of the patient who needs therapy, with customized motion and power.    A wonderful family was in the Hubotics booth.  I had a chance to interview Luca, the project co-founder, who was demonstrating the project and openly shared the story of his solution below. The project is still in development and is in need of testers, read the story and see if you can take part in the project in its current status. 1.  How did you start the project? What were your motivations? The Hubotics project started in late 2013. At that point I was about to finish my Master’s studies and I wanted to add a practical side to my technical skills as an engineer and as a passionate DIYer by develoanon3606750899g accessible technologies and aids which could have helped improving independence for people suffering from motor disabilities. Actually, the reason why I decided to study engineering and became a builder and hacker stemmed from my personal experience with my sister Chiara, who suffers from a motor disability. I remember, as a child, my parents used to buy plenty of super expensive devices, as computer headsets, mice, keyboards or having to travel back and forth between clinics and private medical studios to have access to the “latest” rehabilitation techniques. After having hacked wheelchairs, remote controls for doors and televisions inside our house and having realized several other robotic contraptions, I realized that achievement of independence through the use of one’s own body is one of the most gratifying experiences everyone could hope for, that’s how the idea of creating an exoskeleton to be used in everyday’s life was born. 2. Did you start alone? How long did it take to develop the initial prototype? How was it funded? Around that time, I started speaking about these ideas with Roberto, a friend with whom I had studied between Torino and Milano. Together, we started brainstorming and discussing and we finally converged on the idea of develoanon3606750899g a low-cost, 3D printed exoskeleton for rehabilitation and assistance of upper-limbs, directly at people’s homes. The idea was proposed at the Telecom Italia WCAP accelerator in Catania that believed in the project and decided to fund us. This allowed us to buy the 3D printers and the components to build and iterate on our ideas and prototypes. The first reliable prototype of the device, finalized in one year, consisted of a wearable, smartphone-controlled, elbow exoskeleton. After showing the device at the MakerFaire 2015 in Rome and gathering plenty of positive feedback, we understood that the project had plenty of potential and decided to keep working on it. What is your current status now? Today, together with Roberto and Chiara, we keep on improving our devices and iterate on the designs in order to achieve a concept as usable and useful as possible while maximizing customizability and accessibility. Our latest device consists of an exoskeleton with 3 active degrees of freedom for controlling the shoulder abduction/adduction, shoulder flexion/extension and elbow flexion/extension of its wearer. The device can be controlled by means of a smartphone app or by a program with predefined motions/tasks. 5. How do you see it moving forward? What kind of help/expertise/data that is missing for moving to a next phase? Our main objective in the near future is running experiments with potential users of the exoskeleton and their relatives, in order to gather further feedback and improve our devices based on this.  Additionally, we are brainstorming on possible models that would allow the project to keep its philosophy of openness and accessibility while making it economically sustainable. For example, how to fund the project in order to promote further development? How to enable open/low-cost and customizable solutions capable of reaching end-users? How to ensure that these devices would work (and keep working) at users’ houses (services?), all these are open questions that we will be working on for the next phase.   " 2,8386,2017-01-20T12:26:32.000Z,806,anon2442420827,anon1743371374,"Very interesting. I had a complicated above elbow fracture resulting in 70% muscle wastage, reduced movement of elbow joint and fanon1056199097rs, and removal of the funny bone nerve. I found using plastic bottles filled with water as weights very useful. Easy to change the weight and squeezing the bottle as I lifted was effective at getting the work to where it's needed (and free). In what ways do you think the product in the picture would work better than a plastic bottle? Strenghtening multi-directional movement? " 3,11425,2017-01-21T13:41:48.000Z,8386,anon1491650132,anon2442420827,"Telemetry @anon " 4,12487,2017-01-21T17:35:25.000Z,11425,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Thanks, @anon " 5,13646,2017-01-22T17:34:37.000Z,8386,anon4225276284,anon2442420827,"Use-case scenarios Hello @anon The device has been designed to allow (and/or complement) simple shoulder and elbow movements (namely: shoulder abduction/adduction, shoulder flexion/extension, elbow flexion/extension). The main idea behind its development is that of enabling its use directly at people's homes, in order to allow intensive sessions directly in activities of daily living. As such, it could be used in several scenarios, from rehab to assistance. The main differentiator wrt such scenarios would/could (mainly) be the user-interface. In the simplest case, the device could be programmed (by a physician, physiotherapist etc.) in order to mimic/repeat a predefined set of motions over and over again in order, for example, to avoid the undesired consequences of limbs immobilization (contractures, poor blood circulation etc). In a rehab setting, for example post-stroke, the exoskeleton's motions could be derived by decoding user's intention via physiological signals (mainly EEG, EMG). In this case the basic idea would be to allow the user to complement or slowly re-gain control over his flaccid/weak arm and discontinue its use once the user does not need it any longer. In an assistive setting, for example post sanon3606750899al cord injury or in myopathies, the exoskeleton's motions could be derived as before or chosen from a simple interface (e.g. smartphone, joysticks etc.) in order to provide assistance-as-needed, whenever the user wears the device. In a case like the one you've mentioned the device could indeed be used, not to help but rather to (selectively) resist the movements. By customizing some parameters to the user's needs/residual abilities, one could enable specific trainings in order to work on specific ranges of motions, torques, joints/muscles combinations etc. Such parameters/programs could be also updated by a physician, or dynamically (by the device itself) by inferring correlates of muscle-fatigue, achievable range of motions etc. In all the previous scenarios, as specified by @anon " 6,13761,2017-01-23T14:09:15.000Z,13646,anon2442420827,anon4225276284,"Thanks @anon I now see the wide range of applications for the device. Avoiding undesired consequences of limbs immobilization, post-stroke, torque and mechanics, uses for sanon3606750899al cord injury and myopathies are all bits of info that show the huge potential value of what you're doing. I wish you luck with it and will follow with interest:) " 7,15872,2017-01-23T16:26:55.000Z,806,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"How complex is it Hi, @anon @anon " 8,17989,2017-01-29T23:19:17.000Z,15872,anon4225276284,anon1089184890,"Hello @anon Thanks :) The project is not yet open-source, we are indeed brainstorming on the type of licenses under which to release it. This will definitely affect the way it is going to be constructed/built/distributed, so unfortunately we have no answers yet on this regard. We have not run any complete clinical assessment but we are planning to start some pilot studies on single users in the near future in order to assess the usability and functionality of the device. " 9,21506,2017-04-05T12:39:55.000Z,806,anon3708118144,anon1743371374,"Moving Forward Hubotics was presented at the OpenCare Deep Games event at CERN earlier this year. As it's early in the development stage, modifications of design are being achieved to maximize customizability and accessibility to a large community in need.  For the full article here:  here: https://goo.gl/vFqiY3 " 10,37937,2017-10-09T10:32:00.966Z,806,anon667599033,anon1743371374,"Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. It's always so inspiring and encouraging to learn about projects that start from a personal experience / situation. I really hope that you can achieve your goals and spread these tools to other places and contexts. Looking forward to learning more about this!" 1,745,2016-09-15T17:28:13.000Z,745,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"I met Sigried some years ago when I was working on a Parc project in Brussels and we had long discussions about the way she looks at the banon3760936673ce between public and private space. Between then and now she experimented around public – private space in Istambul, the Netherlands, Brussels and chose to practice her philosophy with her boyfriend, a product designer by living small (We Live Small is an on-going experiment develoanon3606750899g tools to make living in small space possible.) When we meet again she comes back from a week working in her apartment and starts explaining why they chose to live small. For her living in a condensed space within the city is ideal if you design it well. In Belgium people have the reflex to buy fast, and you feel a societal pressure around it. Because buying in the city become impossible, people find big houses farther away from the city. But big houses means a lot of possessions, and it means working harder in desk jobs in the city, which means again more stress. So the logical decision to stop this infernal spiral for them was to choose to live small, really small, and use the exterior as complementary. The secret of living decently in the city is to manage space and time differently, but she is aware that it becomes more difficult. Public space isn’t anymore a space for everybody, but a space for nobody. A cleaned-out space that only looks pretty. Because our fascination for more sterile environments we lost the skills to interact with each other. Who needs to interact with your neighbour if you have all the space you need inside your private home. Living small could bring back the necessity of interaction and borrowing stuff from your neighbours, helanon3606750899g create a much-needed social fabric to your neighbourhood. When she works for the semi-public private space project Huis VDH she finds the same logic. Creating common spaces that gives the feeling of a home, but are able to invite people over to use it in certain ways. Why have a big living room with kitchen for social events that you organize four times a year at home when you could share such space with other people. Some things can be privatized but not everything. In the same line of thought she sees empty spaces above shops or pubs and restaurants as an opportunity to create common spaces for people living small. You could think: why not set bigger apartments above those places? That could immediately make it difficult for the bar or restaurant holder to continue his night live activities, and also this plays an important role in the city. ‘But how could it directly be linked with care?’, i asked her. She takes the example of elderly care, also discussed in the interview with Ginette where people even if they live in big houses don’t have the time anymore to care for their elderly and put them into homes, from own experience we conclude that the home isn’t the best designed space to give good care. Making effort to create a nice environment for the elder people could help them feel well longer. We know from studies that interaction is a key in stopanon3606750899g elderly dementia. So having public spaces designed around giving care and sharing part of your lives with unknown people could be a major incentive for our future problems with ageing population. When living in Istanbul it occurred to her that people interacted much more easily with each other in the street, even complete strangers could discuss with each other when waiting for the bus. She doesn’t know exactly why it occurred much more often in Istambul then in Brussels but she had the feeling the way we use time was part of the solution. Living small gives you much more time to just sit around, be outside and make you car independent. Only this simple part, of not having a car makes you much more able to interact with the people you see. But don’t be alarmed; this discussion didn’t became a ‘everything was better in the past’ discussion. Cascoland was another project where she worked around public and private space. One of the tasks she had was to implement a sharing community inside a mixed neighbourhood. Like in Germany or Suisse they printed out little signs of objects anybody could put on their door to show they can lent this out. What was interesting was the conclusion: when explaining the concept to people with only Dutch roots they answered almost all the time: but I have nothing to share. For them it was a difficult step to share something of their belongings with their neighbours. When explaining the concept to people with Arab roots for example they didn’t have a problem with sharing and where found of the idea, but had a problem with the fact the stickers would become an opportunity for other people to come inside. Inside their community they already had all the needed interaction and didn’t want something external extra. A compromise could be the organization Tournevie that puts in disposal several tools for the community. A semi-private public space, as we understand it. We conclude on the fact that the creation of digital tools will not alone be the solution, what we need are well thought of spaces that give people the possibility to live at a descent standard without needing to fall in the spiral of a purely private ownership. Sigried will be participating to the Open&Change Workshop in Brussels and will be working on the scenography of the place to give it a welcoming space to be creative about care solutions.   " 2,9138,2016-09-16T10:40:55.000Z,745,anon4219214615,anon3595237380,"agrre and some additional points In my experience (and sociological studies) i reach out to similar conclusions as yours adding some more 1. digital helps a lot but not enough as the famous book of sherry turkle descibes (we are together and alone) we need also a) training and learning how to take the good out of digital b) phisical proximity and real realtionship c) digital can be intersting to share learnings and expereine and communicate with somebody far away, to discover new words...similar and intersting to you (this is not facebook, this is something that includes people willing to share interesting relationship adn prctises) 2. so shared spaces in addition to private ones (co-living) can be a solution to some of these issues 3. but you also underline that housing is not a standard, that needs are different so ""offer"" should be personalised by family/groups by size, lifestile and so on. but you cant expect that normal real estate will ever produce anything like that if not stimulated properly...it sounds less profitable...   " 3,16858,2016-09-19T18:40:31.000Z,745,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Ah, kitchens... It is true that space and care intertwine. At least, this seems to be the experience in Edgeryders. The kitchen was a fundamental infrastructure in the unMonastery; and @anon  Even in my own home, at the second iteration we acquired two fully functional kitchens, but we decided to only ever to use one of them, because this leads more naturally to us mingling, chatting, spending time together. I even put music equipment and computers on the work surfaces and the stove of the unused kitchen, to make sure no one is tempted to use it! :-) " 4,20801,2016-09-27T17:42:56.000Z,745,anon3136355993,anon3595237380,"You are on the right pass. It is very important for social, psycological health to change the environment we are living in. Current living environments are a cause for all kinds of problems. So we want to encourage you to design new community and cooprative spaces for living and working. Bert " 6,26044,2016-09-28T10:23:55.000Z,745,anon2954219769,anon3595237380,"Is there a recipe? My sister lives in classical Cité house in Ghent. Cité houses are small, cheap houses that were built for the former poor working classes back in the day. They are mostly built in a way that allows more interaction between the inhabitants. There is a shared open space in the middle, which is free of traffic and is usually filled in with things people chose: tables, barbecues, little gardens, ... The cité where my sister lives is very lively. There are a lot of social interactions because people spend a lot of time outside, organise things together, borrow stuff, etc. Everyone knows everyone. Then again, this is a lot less the case in the cité right next to my sister's. People don't interact that much and the social ties aren't as rich. I'm not sure what causes this, because the same basic elements are there. Does it come down to the people? What do you think? Picture of cité housing: " 7,26957,2017-01-18T06:12:39.000Z,26044,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"The Reef! This looks great to me, actually. Basic, but ""self-contained"", with the courtyard providing already a layer connecting the different units. The difference in culture between one cité and another does not surprise me a little bit. @anon281534083 has written much about how a bunch of interacting people are turned into a community, and the very many things that could go wrong.  This all ties back into The Reef. " 8,27815,2017-06-14T12:35:12.000Z,745,anon3670751854,anon3595237380,"Time and Space Hi, Thanks so much for the beautiful description.  This is a conversation we've been recently having at Woodbine.  @anon3595237380 i think it is really important how you combine the idea of space with the idea of care.  Living in NYC, it is such a struggle to even have the space to think, let alone the time to take care of yourself.  Then with the ever increasing rent, you become more and more attached to ""work"" or the struggle to compile a bunch of part time jobs together.  Hence the ubiquitious greeting in the city is the ""I'm so busy, just really busy"" idea, that once said is usually completely understood to be a chronic state.  But we are in the process of expanding a few hours upstate to create a bridge between the urban and rural environments.  To add our energy and thought to the community upstate but also as a way to connect rurual struggles with the increasing social struggle in the city.  Last week we were all up there together and it was magical to have the time to sit and talk and just be with each other.  In addition, there is a long dirt road that connects all the houses, and there was a sense of community and care that existed that I haven't felt in the city.  As one of our comrades said, ""we left the capital of the world, and in this little town, our world just got so much bigger.""   Excited to continue this conversation and see the work you all are doing!  Be well.  " 9,28466,2017-06-14T15:55:16.000Z,27815,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Invite Sigried to OpenVillage? @anon Is there a way to contact Sigried? If she's in Brussels, I would love to meet her! " 10,28734,2017-06-15T07:50:54.000Z,28466,anon3595237380,anon1491650132,"I contacted Sigried Hey @anon1491650132, will answer the discussion from @anon " 11,37930,2017-10-09T09:33:18.257Z,745,anon667599033,anon3595237380,"Thank you anon3595237380! Just a few thought: I like the points you raise about the size or scale of living, public and private space, property and community, but we must not forget to think these in relation to our context of global capitalism, and how it claims a monopoly over reality, how to work, live, love, design, relate to each other and so on. Because it penetrates, colonized and commodifies every aspect of our lives, it is not just an economic, but a deeply social and political problem. It is a program/ logic/ system in which (human) life has been made dispensable. So who, living under this oppressive system, has the power to actually shape space? In what ways do these dominant spaces teach us how to move, talk, commune? What do we loose? I can't help linking this conversation with the use of chairs in the public and private space. “Before these strange implements of combined architectural/linguistic/physical/political torture, we did not sit, I’m telling you. We had no ‘seat’, no ‘site’, no ‘situation’.” (Jimmie Durham, 1998) Cu in a few weeks, Coni" 1,36576,2017-09-19T08:52:53.374Z,36576,anon2913896429,anon2913896429,"""_All of us, regardless of our background, have a major role to play in addressing the challenges to a sustainable future. It is by 'doing science together' that we combine our resources and expertise to raise awareness, build capacity, and innovative lasting solutions grounded in society._"" This is the motto of our project TogetherScience.eu. Hello Everyone! It is with great excitement that I join the first #OpenVillage in Brussels. At OpenVillage I look forward to meeting and learning from you all and being inspired by your ideas, approaches, joy for life, and drive. I also look forward to roll-up my sleeves and connect, hands-on, with projects that seek to engender meaningful change socially and personally. As many of you reading this, I wear 'several hats', pulling knowledge, ideas, and resources from various sources and experiences to create engaging spaces/conditions for enriching exchanges. My hats: I am a research associate at the Extreme Citizen Science research group with Prof Muki Haklay at University College London. Here I develop and promote techniques for public engagement in Do-It-Yourself science and technology. My research focuses on the taken-for-granted process of inquiry that underlie all exploration and discovery and which represent ownership over learning and action: figuring things out by oneself, experimenting, seeking knowledge, and questioning the state of things to find potential solutions to local concerns. I have also developed frameworks for the understanding of factors influencing our engagement in inquiry and initiative-taking at the personal, organisational, and societal levels. I am also a London-based community organiser for the [Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science](https://publiclab.org/), a not-for-profit organisation and community that creates accessible, low-cost civically engaged monitoring methods. As community organiser I work with communities, researchers, and stewards on the use and development of DIY tools for environmental monitoring. I am also co-founder of Citizens without Borders, a London-based group dedicated to creating spaces for exchange that build the public’s capacity to act as civic agents. I am founder of '[Science has no Borders](https://www.meetup.com/Science-has-no-Borders/)', an initiative through our project TogetherScience.eu, which is committed to science that benefits from community and aims at creating an environment for networked engagement to learn, connect, and gain feedback on ideas, prototypes, and projects. Together with my team at UCL we lead on the Horizon 2020 EU project, ""Doing It Together Science"" - TogetherScience.eu, which aims to bridge the gap between civic agency in science/technology and policy. In this project I focus on consortium management, development of public engagement activities in Biodesign and Environmental Sustainability, the formative evaluation of the project, and the capacity building, self-care, and well-being of science event facilitators and 'DIY science educators'. For the latter, we are creating online resources on shared good practice, gaining meaningful feedback, engagement, outreach, science communication, and inclusion techniques. I'll be participating in the **Infrastructures for Autonomy panel** discussing sustainability of initiatives and organiser's self-care. I will be also video-documenting your learning and experiences at the festival - look out for a video camera if you'd like to share your voice (and discuss how the videos will be used)!" 2,36642,2017-09-19T20:02:00.698Z,36576,anon1526983854,anon2913896429,"Hello and welcome @anon2913896429. I am looking forward to your panel and to meeting you personally. Like most people in Edgeryders, I do dream of a broader autonomy; and I am also an occasional participant in grassroots... well, I would not call it science exactly, maanon1932026148 data science initiatives. Since you like Horizon 2020: my latest project, done with my brothers- and sister-in-arms at [Spaghetti Open Data](http://www.spaghettiopendata.org), is a network analysis of Horizon 2020 consortia, looking for exclusionary dynamics in partnership formation. Hope to learn more about your work. http://www.cottica.net/2017/07/04/the-horizon-2020-tribes-partnership-building-and-network-assortativity-in-european-research-funding/" 3,36646,2017-09-19T20:45:57.326Z,36642,anon2913896429,anon1526983854,"Hello Alberto! Thanks for your comment! I look forward to a more in depth conversation about these issues you mention, which are also of great interest to us. Part of our evaluation work is to 'make visible' a lot of these tensions and also the taken-for-granted and 'behind the scenes' work that goes into EU project activities, which cannot be accounted for in the traditional forms that have to be submitted through the application process. Part of 'playing the game' in the application and selection process is about 'disguising' some of this work, which we believe, reproduces (and sometimes validates) this invisibility - e.g. the extra in-kind work by event facilitators and external help that makes events great but becomes 'labour of love' and can then lead to burn out." 4,36929,2017-09-24T16:00:23.399Z,36576,anon1491650132,anon2913896429,"Hi @anon2913896429 - I'm curious, ahead of your panel, has any of the groups or projects you are involved sustainable in so far as the work pays for itself and covers the time if those doing it? Especially the Public Lab from what I've seen is network based, which means, if it's anything like edgeryders, that most of the collaboration happens because people are highly mission driven. But how is the coordination work sustainable from a point of view of network care? Feel free to also throw back questions, if you've read @anon1701267031' s email introducing the panel you know that it will be focused on people answering each other.." 5,36931,2017-09-24T16:22:14.433Z,36576,anon1491650132,anon2913896429,"@anon3807379521 if you are coming to Brussels be sure to join the panel on infrastructures of collaboration of which Cindy is a part of. Cindy: with Mohamed we were discussing ways in which his community called Ma'arefa in Egypt - a flatarchy he calls it, needs to become an institute to formalise support for the hard working coordinators!. Perhaps you have advice? Here is the story: https://edgeryders.eu/t/maarefa-a-cultural-attempt-in-egypt-self-story/6813" 6,36954,2017-09-25T05:57:42.562Z,36931,anon3807379521,anon1491650132,@anon 7,37141,2017-09-28T13:06:00.653Z,36576,anon2954219769,anon2913896429,"Happy to see you here @anon2913896429 ! Sorry for the late reply as I was travelling and conferencing abroad. People in the biohacker community have criticized the DITOs project for not being very participatory towards the community. Mainly involving them through asking for free work or using their work without proper attribution. A big discussion around fair pay / fair play ensued and continued at the Global Community Bio Summit last week. Among other things, this seems to be tied to the bureaucratic nature of partners participating in large publicly funded projects. Money is going into managing and reporting on projects, rather than doing actual high impact work. Not sure if this is the case for DITOs, but surely you've experienced it at some point. I do a lot of work around science, citizen engagement and education at a grassroots level. We do cool stuff and involve loads of people without any budget. A big contrast to certain several hundred thousand euro projects of which the output is meager in terms of quality and citizen involvement, as well as being dead in the water when funding ends. Browsing through past EU project websites often feels like walking through a graveyard, ""Fun while it lasted"" on the tombstones. On to the next funding round. Speaking to other community labs all over the world last week at the Bio Summit, I have the impression it is seeanon3606750899g into their organisations as well. I hear the old, establish labs talk about their 'executive directors' and other roles that deal with (or add?) overhead and generally lower the cool stuff:cost ratio. Unavoidable when you grow in size, but definitely to be improved upon. Now that we are going through a growth phase with our own organisations, we absolutely want to maintain our cost efficiency. And importantly, fairly pay the people doing the actual work firstly. I'd like to explore: how do we ensure this through organisation infrastructures? It further ties into other discussions we are having at the Festival, such as our panel [The Edge of Funding](https://edgeryders.eu/t/main-session-the-edge-of-funding/6427)." 8,37446,2017-10-04T09:00:26.705Z,37141,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Edge of funding and edge of admin are not the same thing, though they are related. We (Edgeryders) are really struggling with the latter now. Part of it is dealing with the Brexit mess, and I am telling myself it is a one off, and it will pass. And Brexit _is_ a one off, and we _will_ shut down the old company and only run one instead of two. But I wonder." 9,37461,2017-10-04T14:07:24.077Z,37446,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"They aren't or they shouldn't be? I see it as a spectrum that goes from a zero ratio 'actual work' over 'admin' to an infinitely high ratio. Admin and funding are not the same thing, but in the low end of the spectrum, they become closely related enough to consider them together when it comes to financial decision making, in my oanon3606750899ion. That's where I would place (certain) big funded projects. Is that where 50% of the budget goes into 'project management'? 75%? 25%? I don't know. I do know that I will be extra critical of a situation with 75% budget for overhead. This as part of a more intuitive thought process that goes into our decisions about our business models and where we should put our energy/time/resources to develop or exploit offerings as a collective. Not paying for overhead jobs as a default keeps us light and has felt like a good guiding principle so far." 10,37463,2017-10-04T14:25:35.791Z,37461,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Closely related, not the same. Meaning: once you have the money, you might think your troubles are over, and now it's going to be meaningful work all the way down, but... no. :slight_smile: [quote=""anon2954219769, post:9, topic:7150""] Not paying for overhead jobs as a default keeps us light and has felt like a good guiding principle so far. [/quote] We have done the same so far – and I agree. But: 1. If your colleague makes an accounting mess in a decentralised system, legal responsibility might be with you (are you a member, shareholder or director of the organisation?). Ignore her at your risk. 2. People who are more structured tend to get stuck with the worst tasks. If they are not paid, they can and will push back; this will generally raise the tension and infighting." 11,37916,2017-10-09T06:48:16.372Z,37463,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"All true. What I would also like to explore is to invest in resistance to (non-dramatic) fuck ups rather than rules to do things right. Especially given that we do see people want to learn how to 'run an organisation' and fuck ups are part of the learning curve. When I look at our own history, we have had some room for failure (several on my end) since we are classified as a small nonprofit and thus less strictly regulated. That's changing though, but with it the core group gains experience to teach new people and avoid them having to fuck things up and showing them how to be efficient. So it's about learning, similar to how you rotate(d) admin duties in Edgeryders?" 1,37908,2017-10-08T22:43:23.954Z,37908,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Last week, the Republican Party here in the U.S. failed in its last attempt to repeal Obamacare—though that isn’t stopanon3606750899g the Trump administration from trying to systematically undo ACA’s provisions. Meanwhile, last month Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill for universal, single-payer health insurance that has drawn unprecedented levels of support from a broad coalition of democrats. There are those enduring acute crises—citizens of Puerto Rico facing an immediate future without electricity and clean water, those suddenly robbed of a loved one in Las Vegas—but for many, life toggles between the perpetual reminders of how bad things are on the news and some more mundane reality. Even for those for whom the everyday is an enduring state of crisis—the undocumented mother, the uninsured person with a grave illness, the opioid addict, the trans person living in the wrong city—life takes on its daily, unspectacular rhythms, settles into its stabilities. There is a lot of doomsday sentiment floating around these days that transcends class and political affiliation. A devout state policeman who engaged us in conversation when our car ran out of gas on a Virginia freeway said standing by as white nationalists clashed with Antifa in Charlottesville bolstered his belief that the prophecies of Revelations were underway. Silicon Valley billionaires are designing their post-apocalyptic contanon1056199097ncy plans. The “prepper” industry is thriving. But, while some live in immediate anticipation of societal collapse, Sanders’ bill reminds us that there is also the capacity for major reform. The barrage of monster storms and renewed nuclear brinksmanship under the reign of a “[sentient bathroom swastika with the personality of a yeast infection](https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/911650241832656896)” has snapped even the complacent into some new level of alertness, yet for many, fear and discontent organizes itself around to the liberal horizon of the 2020 presidential elections. Like others on the radical left, we at Woodbine probably fall closer to the doomsday camp. Yet, as we take pains to build and broaden our vision, we should imagine not only some Murphy’s Law future of hegemonic fascism or imminent disintegration, but also what the best-case scenarios might be within the present system. Doing so will help us better delineate the strategic nature of our struggle, and to better articulate the imperative for a truly alternative future. We should ask ourselves the question: is there a difference between futures that some of us could live with and a universally livable future? Armchair radicals are quick to distance themselves from anything that smells of the dreaded _reform_, rather than _revolution_. Yet, that these radicals tend to be single, white men with limited care duties should make us skeptical of snide, wholesale dismissals. Expanded state welfare is a good thing. Yet it is also far from the be all end all of our struggle. In order to understand why, it helps to turn to the devastating critiques leveled by those who have always been systematically abjected from capitalist society in all its iterations, such as Afropessimists who know that Blackness is what is structurally negated, or Marxist feminists who understand that capitalism will always relegate aspects of care or social reproduction to the realm of the unwaged or onto the shoulders of the most marginalized. Likewise, health is not simply denied by any one lobby or administration; it is what is negated by capitalist society. This negation may not be a structural condition in the same way as the extermination of blackness and the subordination of women; in industrial society, capitalism had to take ensure the body of the worker had enough of what it needed to keep returning daily to work. Within late capitalism, it is the body of the consumer that must be maintained (or the body of the potential angry horde that must be assuaged). Yet the negation of health has always been one of capitalism’s de facto effects. The body it preserves is one robbed from us and remade in all its parts according to the profit motive, one pumped full of industrial poisons, one fashioned according to a productive, compliant, white heterocissexist ideal. We can’t let the embattling of our rights defensively delimit our terms. Take, for instance, the relentless attack on reproductive rights currently underway in this country. This week, the Trump administration put forth rules that would expand the rights of employers to deny women coverage for birth control. But should we simply fight to restore the universal coverage mandate for contraceptives under Obama? If we want women to truly have control over their bodies, we must acknowledge that hormonal birth control—designed to suppress naturally-occurring androgens and so to reduce body hair and acne, often given to teenagers without their full understanding of its effects—is part of a regime that regulates gender and functions within a provider-consumer model of care that robs people of agency over their bodies (as [Luiza Prado de O. Martins](https://www.academia.edu/24586798/Pills_genders_and_design_Speculations_on_Queer_Materialities) explains, these “sexopolitical” medications can also be “(mis)used to articulate new ways of doing gender,” but these ways deviate from the medicalized norm). We need to do more than argue for the restoration or the expansion of a system that has enabled liberation for some (with liberation being the freedom to join the workforce), while cruelly oppressing others—think of the eugenicist policies U.S. institutions have carried out against Native, Latin, and Black Americans. In August, my gig as a graduate student will be up and I will lose my health insurance. So I do in all earnestness think it would be cool if this country instituted universal Medicare. But I’m also wary of doing what [Alyssa Battistoni describes](https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/false-promise-universal-basic-income-andy-stern-ruger-bregman) in her article cautioning against an unqualified acceptance of the idea of a Universal basic Income, or UBI: not “fighting off the dystopian future,” but “settl[ing] into the interregnum of the present, with all its morbid symptoms.” I’m wary of the grip of what Lauren Berlant calls “cruel optimism”: attachment to ways of being that enable us to tread water from day to day and thus temper the acuteness of crisis—yet ways of being that actively inhibit our individual and collective flourishing." 1,33754,2017-07-15T18:10:54.000Z,33754,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"## Content 1. **user journey experience** 2. **interviews: preparation and interviews** 3. **prototyanon3606750899g** ------ ## CASE 1 - What happens today in restaurants **Users:** * Customer with food allergies * Other customers * Waiters * Kitchen staff **Moments analyzed:** * Arrival at the restaurant * Customers sitting at their table * Taking the order * Writing the order for the kitchen **Observations:** When the waiter collects the order and writes it down for the kitchen, a series of information are transmitted: * Costumer’s state of health * **ingredients** that are present in the food * How the **dishes are prepared** * The waiter that is not prepared on the menu has to **ask information** to the **kitchen staff** The waiter who is not aware of the ingredients in the dishes, who does not know how to advise customers with food allergies and who has repeatedly to ask information to the kitchen, produces a delay in the taking the order. All customers who eat at the same table undergo the same delay. ## CASE 2 - At the restaurant with “Allego Kì” **All users know “Allego Kì”** * Customer with food allergie * Other customers * Waiters * Kitchen staff **Moments analyzed:** * Booking through **“Allego Kì” app** * Arrival at the restaurant * Customers sitting at their table * Taking the order * Writing the order for the kitchen * Table service **Observations:** **“Allego Kì”** for the restaurateurs comes in a kit containing: * Guidelines for the menu * Table allergies indicator * A smart guide for coaching the restaurant staff * Personalized order book * Restaurant’s business cards for customers who do not know **“Allego Kì”** project. * Food safety manon169343781al With these tools, the restaurateur is able to train the staff and **reduce pre-order times and also replace all the information** orally transmitted between client and waiter **by a visual code (icons)**. At the same time the customer with food allergies is able to indicate, thanks to the device, **his allergies** and show his **position at the table**. The waiter at this point can use the personalized order book to write down where the allergic person is seated, what type of allergies he has and pass all the information to the kitchen. Staff in the kitchen know how to prepare the food safely (without contamination) guaranteeing **security** for those suffering allergies. For customers at the table the waiting time is limited to the phase between the order and the table service. ## CASE 3 - Customers do not know “Allergo Kì” but the restaurant owns the kit **Users:** * Customer with food allergies does **not knows “Allego Kì”** * Other customers **do not know “Allego Kì”** * Waiters * Kitchen staff **Moments:** * Arrival at the restaurant * Customers sitting at their table * Taking the order * Writing order for the kitchen * Table service **Observations:** The device at the table becomes a **tool for the customer** who can **indicate his allergies and show his position at the table**. **The preprinted order will help the staff during the entire process; from the taking of the order for the kitchen** to the table service avoiding misunderstandings in the passage of information. " 2,33767,2017-07-18T14:05:26.000Z,33754,anon1491650132,anon2842198470,"**Small clarification** Hey @anon2842198470 thanks a ton for documenting your process, it seems like you guys will make lives easier for people everywhere! I dont have allergies myself, but I have frineds who do. Many times having to read the long indexes of allergenic ingredients and what each food in a restaurant contains is painful - basically getting hungry and hoanon3606750899g the list holds true for what you are about to order. That is, if the restaurant menu has the list. Most dont. Question: I'm not sure how advanced you are in your design, but are the AllergoKit mobile app, the kit for the restaurant and the physical device for customers all in consideration for you to build? Or do you settle for just one of these which is most useful and feasible? Thanks again!" 3,33779,2017-07-19T16:12:35.000Z,33767,anon2842198470,anon1491650132,"Thank you Noemi for your post. Actually we are focusing on the kit for restaurant​ owners (Guidelines for the menu, Table allergies indicator, A smart guide for coaching the restaurant staff, Personalized order book, Restaurant’s business cards for customers who do not know “Allego Kì” project, Food safety manon169343781al), and We have temporary left out the idea of the web app for restaurant research. We believe that restaurant owners could be very important to publicize and let people know the Allergo Kì system. Into the next days we’ll publish the progress of our researches, and above all, the useful informations collected during the project presentation at WeMake." 4,33792,2017-07-19T06:55:49.000Z,33754,anon2954219769,anon2842198470,"**Implementing** Hi @anon2842198470, thanks for posting your thought process behind making this a reality. Restaurants are sadly rarely considerate of eating habits & requirements outside of the 'norm', great that you're develoanon3606750899g a solution. You indicated in one of your earlier posts that restaurateurs didn't want your product. Has this changed, and if so: how? Furthermore I'm curious for your strategy to implement it." 5,33801,2017-07-19T16:15:59.000Z,33792,anon2842198470,anon2954219769,"Thank you Winnie! During the two MIR weeks, thanks to an exchange of views with @anon Devices that we’ll develop for restaurant staff will be integrated with their in use instruments, without adding something new. Considering this, our worry about the reception of our product from restaurant owners is unfounded: will be their own choice the acceptance and compliance, through our solution. Stay tuned! Into the next days we’ll publish updates." 6,33809,2017-07-19T13:40:40.000Z,33754,anon3670751854,anon2842198470,"**Great idea** Hey, thanks for the post, seems like a great idea! Saw your other post about implementation, wondering if restaurants see a benefit or is it viewed as too much of a cost? Wondering if having the kit makes it a more marketable restaurant, similar to how ""vegan"" or ""gluten-free"" restaurants have become niche places. Also would you include dietary choices such as vegan/vegetarian/gluten free type stuff? Thanks for all the work!" 7,33835,2017-07-31T08:08:45.366Z,33809,anon2842198470,anon3670751854,"Thank you @anon3670751854! Up until now we have checked the awareness of restaurant owner about food allergy, without offering them any product. We are trying to make people working into this field more sensible, and if this will increase their business, so much the better. Our work Will be focused only on allergens, not on menu dishes, independently from diet." 8,37743,2017-10-06T16:25:51.777Z,33754,anon2717512012,anon2842198470,"Cool project! Did you talk with a chef about the menus? I'm wondering how to develop menus with all the possible food allergy combinations, and at the same time how to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen." 1,35132,2017-08-31T08:54:08.522Z,35132,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"When you’re interested in particular issues and engaged in associated networks, there are people who are on your radar but that you never get to know too well. @anon3560946760 is one of those people. He’s been at events and workshops I’ve attended, … and he’s usually engaged in issues I’d not yet thought about too much. One of the last times I’d spoken to him he was organising around precarious workers issues. The next I came across Michael was through Edgeryders. His [post](https://edgeryders.eu/t/mobile-independent-clinic/827) raised some thought provoking points - what might be gained by seeing the migrant crisis as a training ground for other crisis? We met for a chat at a cafe so I could write up this intro and it was the first real opportunity I’d had to find out a bit more about Michael’s background. So I asked him how he came to get involved in migrant solidarity and the other issues I knew he'd worked on. Michael was studying economics at university when he first got involved in environment justice campaigns. He started to see the way in which many of these issues linked up at a structural level. The budgets to fund nuclear submarines and missiles such as those based just outside Glasgow could be diverted to tackle necessary climate measures. Michael was involved in founding Plane Stupid Scotland - a campaign airport extension as the fastest growing cause of climate change. While there were successes that came from the campaign; the targeted airport expansions didn’t go ahead - the campaign didn’t achieve the growth of a movement that it had hoped might come about. Towards the end of the campaign people were left pretty exhausted - that topic of burnout that seems a pretty familiar theme on the Edgeryders platform. Michael experienced these tough times when you had to rest up from exhaustion as not all bad but as an opportunity to reflect, to learn and adapt. His resilience is rooted in gratitude even when things are hard going. From there Michael got involved in the Climate camps; Heathrow, Kent, Blackheath, Edinburgh and Mains Hill at the tail end of the anti-globalisation movements. The camps involved a lot of collective learning and opportunities to do things on a bigger scale. They were places to get exposed to new ideas and feel connected to other people in throughout the UK & EU. Michael understands their importance more as being a means to give people a taste of large scale communal protest experiences. He acknowledges they had less impact on climate issues but sees the camps as an empowerment process that fed in to other ventures and movements. Then he saw the anon3003844599 of hope and optimism that was Copenhagen 2009 rise and fall. His memories of the experience were pretty bleak. This confirmed a change of direction that was away from protest politics towards more direct means to deliver change. He deliberately sought out issues that he'd researched as likely to become increasingly problematic in future years. These two factors led him in to migrant solidarity. He got involved with the Unity Centre in Glasgow. This involved lots on legal case work, anti-deportation, and people in detention and housing rights. There Michael helped out with Unity's newly formed charity, which distributed clothes and other necessary items to those in need and with founding the Unity Cafe - a soup kitchen and food bank. Michael was involved with helanon3606750899g to house migrants before there were any night shelters in Glasgow. It was another period where he saw too few people doing too much. But he has warm memories - describing times when there were always people round for dinner. When they got by 'on their wits’ by ‘skipanon3606750899g' for food (rescuing food waste from the dump) and the sense of companionship and agency that came from finding a way to solve problems as they arose, finding another plate of food or another bed on the floor - at a time before these kind of actions became more popular. A logical progression from this work came in the form of the [Golden Trailer](https://edgeryders.eu/t/mobile-independent-clinic/827). A few friends watched Storming Sarajevo - and hatched an idea. It took two years between idea and implementation. They put useful skills like engineering, mechanics, nursing together with an abandoned trailer they’d come across. They kitted the trailer out to offer basic medical aid, music, respite and a cinema to migrants in Italy and Serbia. You can read more about this on Michael’s post here [link]. Some of the challenges were staying motivated while the idea got off the ground and started to take shape and pulling in untied funding. Funding that wasn’t conditional enabled the trailer to respond to needs as they came across them - they weren’t tied to a specific place and they could identify areas where other aid wasn’t getting through and target these. The experiences Michael had with the trailer were an opportunity to observe events first hand but he told me he'd started researching related issues prior to setting off. His research covered areas such as disaster sociology which suggests there is no such thing as a 'natural disaster’ - rather there are always social factors that contribute to crisis. Other themes that drew Michael's interest included the influence that crisis can have on people’s behaviours and responses - the well known tendency for people to take responsibility and demonstrate more solidarity during disasters. How could this tendency be cultivated beyond times of catastrophe? These are the kind of topics Michael hopes to explore as part of the [Emergency Mutual Aid](https://edgeryders.eu/t/emergency-mutual-aid/6437) session on Day 2 of the Open Village. What are the barriers to this form of direct response and how do we overcome these? How might we turn hard-won personal experience in to collective expertise to up-scale a collective response? He has some ideas and has started to develop some resources; podcasts and zines and he’s keen to create space for collaboration with others with similar experiences to explore what else can be done." 2,35396,2017-09-05T01:47:27.943Z,35132,anon2066188386,anon1701267031,"Wow... pretty amazing progression. I'm looking forward to hearing more. The Crisis abroad will surely come home one day, and all the more reason to start anywhere with trying to implement practical steps. #Infrastructure!! Gonna read more about the Golden Trailer now." 3,35526,2017-09-05T15:08:43.939Z,35132,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Oh this is so insightful.. I'm grateful to @anon3560946760 and @anon1701267031 for producing it.The money quote for me is [quote=""anon1701267031, post:1, topic:6863""] there is no such thing as a 'natural disaster’ - rather there are always social factors that contribute to crisis. [/quote] You mentioned elsewhere that welfare states can contribute to disaster prevention, but I would have a hard time understanding how capacities to respond, plan, prevent can be aided even within a welfare state.. a sort of diy welfare state which is more agile to piggyback on efforts of people like you maanon1932026148..?? It seems like many things should be in place for this up scaling, including a generational change. If there's readings which you would like us to go through ahead of your session, please send them over, will be happy to encourage others to take the time." 4,35565,2017-09-05T19:23:01.147Z,35526,anon3560946760,anon1491650132,"I'll think more about a reading list. welfare states put more people through the education required for disaster response nursing civil engineering etc. A strong case can be made for the civil defense model that arose in the cold war. it saved millions and eradicated small pox but relied on lots of money from US/USSR. With austerity talk is more about community resilience and grassroots responses in a lot of Europe. i think the marginal will often be forgotten. Evolving challenges. In houston the Cajuan navy would an example of an emergency mutual aid that comes out of the lack of a state evacuation. some state assistance for vehicle rental and or special insurance set up would act to lubricate those efforts and be pretty cheap in the bigger scheme of things. [this is a good article on Houston.](https://theconversation.com/dont-blame-climate-change-for-the-hurricane-harvey-disaster-blame-society-83163)" 5,36067,2017-09-12T16:26:23.688Z,35132,anon3560946760,anon1701267031,"Mega-disasters/ meta-disasters and the mass movements they cause. I heard someone on the radio say that climate change was a compound policy failure. That got me thinking. That's true but it doesn't explain the disasters in the gulf. Whats going on with harvey and Irma? We can't just blame climate change.This distracts from individual and collective responsibility. That many of those doing life saving work are also subject to budget cuts. The ability to withstand has also been undermined. The draining of wetlands and a greater concrete surface area mean that cities flood more easily and more severely. Not to mention that poverty is one of the biggest things that traps people. so people call these things perfect storms that one time everything comes together just right for it all to go horribly wrong. except This will keep on happening. Mark my words this once in 500 year events are not that. We are seeing pile ups. poverty +racism+austerity+wetland destruction+climate change+hurricanes+ floods = a mega-disaster. a disaster made up of lots of little disasters. a meta-disaster. On the other side of the world a third of Bangladesh is underwater while people still flee there. Relatively safe compared to the strife of Burma. The disasters in the gulf coast are also a cause for hope. The innovation we have seen will outlast the flood waters . curious questions lanon1056199097r about what can be learned [The Cajun navy use zello.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/08/31/the-cajun-navys-secret-weapon-for-saving-lives-the-human-voice/?utm_term=.1a7ed486e61a) A walkie talkie app. [The florida madjority has 4 community hubs](https://www.facebook.com/NewFloridaMajority/?fref=gs&dti=118902918772705&hc_location=group) to coordinate responses. [Another gulf is possible is the coaltion in houston.](https://anothergulf.com/a-just-harvey-recovery/) allowing groups to specialized as well as collaborate." 6,36306,2017-09-15T01:22:50.551Z,36067,anon3525264245,anon3560946760,"Guys can't wait for the weekend. It's gonna be so full of interesting discussion :-) I agree with what you say Michael the world is piling on top of its self with ""meeta- disaster."" How much are we contributing to that? I would say a significant amount unfortunately, on so many levels! The global inequality we see exaggerates the effects of environmental disasters or changes. Haiti being a prime example of an impoverish nation hit again and torn apart by the destruction and devastation of the forces of nature! But out of such disaster can come hope, imagination and creativity, resourcefulness and solidarity. Examples, demonstrated in 'black flags and windmills', of the grassroots movement that supported locals in the new orleans flooding. We might not see it in all streams of society but it will connect us, as an undercurrent, an alternative." 7,36312,2017-09-15T08:09:22.947Z,36306,anon1701267031,anon3525264245,Appreciate these thoughts anon3525264245. Looking forward to learning from your experience in October. 8,37643,2017-10-05T19:00:35.456Z,35132,anon3560946760,anon1701267031,[Here is a mixtape.](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-_UtuXclJEYc2luejFCdTBNems?usp=sharing) .A selection of nine podcasts. I'll be changing and updating this as times goes on. The woodbine podcast is in there. I'll be sharing this with different groups of people and this is part of resources that ill be updating and share with people at front lines and taking feedback. 1,37342,2017-10-02T16:13:53.629Z,37342,anon2232687617,anon2232687617,"Hello soon-to-be festival friends! First off, I want to express gratitude to all who have put in so much care/labor to make this convening happen. Due to some bouts with illness amidst relocation to Europe, I am a bit late to the game. Our comrades from Woodbine invited me to contribute ideas a while back and I am just now getting to this as the official program has been decided. I would like to introduce myself still in case this helps facilitate a coming together with those with like concerns, possibly in the freestyle sessions (or even more informally after meals and the like). As a curator, citizen, human, I’ve focused my attention primarily on the interrelatedness of groups, subjects, and objects within various social and political systems and, particularly, institutional bodies. Last year I realized that I was at a crucial point where focused time outside of the imperatives and logics of an institution could facilitate a necessary perspectival shift in the work I was doing, one that would inevitably alter the way I’ve been working though the convergence of contanon1056199097ncy, labor, administration and planning within organizational bodies in the arts. Just as I slowed down, I got sick. This is how the ongoing curatorial project “Sick Time, Sleepy Time, Crip Time: Against Capitalism’s Temporal Bullying” began, out of this lived experience. (Note: “Crip” is a political reclaiming of the derogatory label cripple.) “Sick Time” argues that care for the body in states of debility and disability (particularly their temporalities) can help us to re-imagine the ground necessary for collectivity. It proposes that better incorporation of the temporal states of rest, illness, sleep, and aging into society works against the Eurocentric conception of progressivist linear time that finds its corollary in neoliberal capitalist logics and drains humans of their life blood. Dragging on, circling back, with no regard for the stricture of the work week or compulsory ablebodiness, sick time is non-compliant. It refuses a fantasy of normalcy measured by either-in-or-out thresholds and demands care that exceeds that which the nuclear family unit can provide. (A set of curatorial notes/manifesto can be found [here](http://temporaryartreview.com/notes-for-sick-time-sleepy-time-crip-time-against-capitalisms-temporal-bullying-in-conversation-with-the-canaries/) and more info about the first exhibition in the series can be found in the PR [here](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/537c9eb6e4b0ca838c2f4f52/t/58e3bc521e5b6c8ff92d36a1/1491319891111/Sick+Time+PR+Draft_3_30.pdf)) I’d hoped to offer a bodily communication workshop centered around how we communicate about illness, but perhaps some of the artist’s practices/experiments in this show might be interesting to discuss. Much of the work being done by the artists and communities of care in “Sick Time” relates to a distinction articulated by anon4157656950ano Harney and Fred Moten in their 2013 book between policy vs planning. In short, policy comes from above and pronounces others as incorrect, while planning invents the means [of social reproduction] in a common experiment. “Planning in the undercommons is not an activity, not fishing or dancing or teaching or loving, but the ceaseless experiment with the futurial presence of the forms of life that make such activities possible. Planning is rooted in a black radicalism, which hopes against hope...in order to survive in the deplorable present"" As Harney and Moten further detail, “Management looses not in workplace but economic management can not win in realm of social reproduction...here, management encounters forms of what we will call planning. In the undercommons of the social reproductive realm the means, which is to say the planners, are still part of the plan."" One example to look at might be the Canaries. Canaries is a support group and art collective for people with autoimmune diseases that operate on crip time amidst a scarcity of language to address rapidly unfolding chronic illnesses. For the publication project, _Notes for the Waiting Room_ they contributed texts and images addressing the question: “How do you take care of yourself during a flare-up of your symptoms?” The resulting publication, distributed in art contexts as well as in doctor’s waiting rooms, challenges the unilateral and hierarchical transmission of information from doctor to patient and, much like the overall art and advocacy work of Canaries, fosters solidarity and embodied knowledge sharing instead. Or another example is the work Cassie Thornton has done. She has investigated the impact of economic systems on public affect and behavior for some time and, like Canaries, is currently exploring methods of social healthcare by testing a model for de-financialized care that responds to the experience of crisis. By constituting new cultural rituals and creating provisional non-hierarchical infrastructures, these artist’s works question the very borders of a body and provide myriad radical possibilities for gaining agency and negotiation with the problems of the body by using a political relational model that views dependency with others positively. While the space of the arts has long been a site for new modes of self representation, critique, cross-disciplinary experimentation, the envisioning of alternatives, and challenging the dominance of mind-centered epistemologies that dislodge us from our bodies, it could be interesting to discuss how it allows for a reconfiguration of structures of care that then does or does not trickle out. Of course there is a certain experimentation of forms that is germane to the arts, but there is also the way arts critiques just helps institutions optimize under neoliberalism etc to consider… Looking forward to discussing this and more!" 2,37599,2017-10-05T13:17:47.210Z,37342,anon2232687617,anon2232687617,"Here are the links to some Canaries materials mentioned (As a new user I could only link 2 things!) The [Canaries support group website](http://wearecanaries.com/) and [Notes for the Waiting Room publication](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57798de320099e9ea5949651/t/59cd301ccd39c3e808d1edf3/1506619444570/NFTWR_LincoV5.pdf)." 3,37620,2017-10-05T14:55:55.758Z,37342,anon1491650132,anon2232687617,"Hi @anon2232687617 and welcome to edgeryders. Thanks for formatting your text, it's easier to read now without the screencapture/ picture in it. Yours seems like a culturally sophisticated way of ensuring some deeper awareness and peer support of which others have been talking about around here. I guess I am having a little problems reading it due to some new terminology - 'undercommons""? Otherwise, I think @anon1277226854 and @anon712028032 would really enjoy your work. Amelia wrote a beautiful post a few months back about[ invisible illnesses.](https://edgeryders.eu/t/invisible-illnesses-transforming-self-care-into-collective-care/836). Looking forward to meet you in person. We've included you in the list of participants and the email which Natalia sent earlier today." 4,37629,2017-10-05T16:33:50.932Z,37620,anon3670751854,anon1491650132,"@anon2232687617 Welcome to the platform! Really excited to have you come to the festival. Some of us have been following the work of the Canaries in NYC and we have resonated with the discourse around ""sick time"". We find the tension between what our natures demand and capitalism expects to be an area to delve into the topics of care and care as a revolutionary force. Looking forward to connecting with you!" 1,34574,2017-08-21T20:54:55.443Z,34574,anon1069075497,anon1069075497,"My name Aymen Masmoudi, I’m 30 years old, and since I was a child I have been loving and following technology and everything related to it. In 2006, I obtained my Baccalaureate Diploma in Mathematics, and then I have decided to get into the virtual world and have started learning by myself through the web. I have been trying to learn many things including design, videos mounting, net security, and development. That was not as easier as I thought, but it is funny to do what you love and to create your own world. I developed my experience by working as a Freelancer in many companies around the world including France, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. In 2015, I was nominated to get the “Golden Quality and Innovation Prize” in Paris, and in 2016, I got the Price of the best mobile application in Tunisia. In my life, my biggest aiming is to contribute on resolving the people’s problems around the world in order to make their life easier and more comfortable. Actually, I’m working as a mobile developer in a Tunisian Company, but my dream is to get my own Business and to become an International Entrepreneur. For that reason, AuxiLife came out to my mind: a social network that gives to the persons with deep physical disabilities the ability to hire the suitable “Personal Care Assistant” to assist them in their daily activities. AuxiLife would be the most used social network all over the world to help persons with disabilities to enjoy their lives, so that they get more autonomy to go anywhere and to do whatever they want without waiting for the charity of the other. This network would allow persons with disabilities the possibility to request for an assistance by posting the details of the activity that they want to do, and get propositions of the Personal Care Assistants through the platform, and then they will choose the best proposal according to criteria that they identify. AuxiLife will reduce time and energy consumption to look for the “Personal Care Assistant” to be with the person with disabilities. This was the humble story of Aymen Masmoudi, a mobile developper and a young social entrepreneur from Tunisia, who expect your awareness, your encouragement and your awareness. Here you find also some pictures and videos 15/07/2016 closing ceremony of MDev (Mobile Development) with the First Minister Mr Habib Essid " 2,34622,2017-08-23T10:52:26.663Z,34574,anon2350529763,anon1069075497,"hey @anon1069075497 welcome on board. what you are doing is very interesting and should fulfill actual needs. not only in Tunisia but in different [parts of the world](https://edgeryders.eu/t/persons-with-disabilities-health-care-system-in-bangladesh/807) but how developed AuxiLife now, is it ready to be launched or not ? and will you reach out to the targeted community specially ""the personal care assistants "". you might have noticed that we are having a big community of opencarers and invisting a lot of time in the [opencare](https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare) project, may be this could be a start ( may be @anon1491650132 @anon" 3,34665,2017-08-24T13:32:29.494Z,34574,anon70625510,anon1069075497,"hi Aymen, I think @anon2435658896 and some of the people in the community around WeMake, their makerspace in Milan might be of interest. They've been doing very interesting work as part of the OpenCare research project. More generally, have a look at the [stories from other care-related projects,](https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare) and feel free to drop comments with questions or throughtful reflections - this is a space for us to learn together." 4,34794,2017-08-26T13:17:01.532Z,34622,anon1069075497,anon2350529763,"hey @anon2350529763. first i want to thank you for your comment and your support. actually, the AuxiLife project is very new, i start developanon3606750899g it few weeks ago, after a long time of research and planning, and i think it need more time to be published and used. thank you for your advices, i'll try to use them to improve my project." 5,34796,2017-08-26T13:20:30.146Z,34665,anon1069075497,anon70625510,thank you so much @anon70625510 for your comment. 6,37378,2017-10-03T08:13:28.707Z,34574,anon1069075497,anon1069075497,"AuxiLife the dream start to be real " 1,35807,2017-09-08T15:13:21.492Z,35807,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"I often wonder if it is my disposition to always be pensive and borderline depressive. Or if it is my association with a more type A personality, always striving to be efficient, productive, serious? Or if it is a reflection of the world that surrounds us? I feel like an old time blues sanon1056199097r, asking “why do I always have to sing the blues”. Perhaps this is a roundabout way of asking for patience with my oftentimes apocalyptic tomes. I’m here in the US, sitting in a cafe in NYC, watching the daily commute of walkers and bikers. It’s a beautiful fall day, one of those days that reminds you of all the joys of the summer, giving you that last bit of warmth, but with the tiniest bite of cold in the evening that tells your body to get ready for the hibernation. Those days that make you feel happy to just let the sun wash over your face, warm but not hot, comforting but not overwhelming. The day holds a sense of hapanon3606750899ess and hope. But for many in the US, this past month has shown clearly that while we may relish in the joy of what has passed, winter truly is coming. Our month started off with the terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. For those not aware, a secret white supremacist rally was held on a Friday night at the campus of UVA. It was filled with hundreds of angry white men, complete with tiki torches (yes really) and chats of “blood and soil”, a key slogan for the Nazi regimen. Counter protestors were brutally attacked and the police were nowhere to be seen. The next day, a large gathering of white supremacists went to a central park for a sanctioned (i.e. legal) march. They were met by an even larger group of counter-protesters. Conflict between the groups quickly escalated, and as video evidence has shown, the violence was clearly started by the white supremacists. Non-violent counter-protesters were defended by anarchists, anti-fascists, communists, and other groups who embraced self defense and black bloc tactics. The white supremacist march was shut down, and during a period of celebration and regrouanon3606750899g, a young white supremacist drove his car into the crowd, injuring dozens and killing a protester, Heather Heyer. Other counter protesters were beaten with pipes in broad daylight. Militia men walked through the streets of Charlottesville as if they were walking the streets of some foreign land, M-16’s and body armor ready. Throughout it all, the police were nowhere to be seen, “protecting the perimeter”. Solidarity demonstrations erupted across the country. Trump offered a clear support of the growing fascist movement in the country, unwilling to push away his political base. The liberal media is at a loss, unable to condemn the self-defence of the counter protestors but unwilling to acknowledge that the foundations of our society are crumbling. The American Civil Liberties Union protects the fascists and white supremacists in the name of “free speech” while the alt-right is clearly co-opting the tactics of liberalism and nationalism to increase their political power. At the end of the month, as the debate in the mainstream media about Russia and tax codes and debt burdens trolled on, the rise of massive “superstorms” loomed on the horizon of our southern coast. Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, was hit by the most amount of rain to ever hit the US. Large swaths of the city are still underwater, a week after the hurricane. Many people have died, and it is clear that the devastation to the city is just beginning. Many are arguing that Houston represents the paradigm of massive growth and infrastructure development without any thought to environmental concerns, adding the massive destruction. In addition, almost a quarter of the refined gas supplied to the US comes through the refineries in Houston, many of which have been damaged. Mixed with the flood waters runs gas and oil and untold other toxic chemicals, creating the beginnings of an environmental catastrophe. As the conversation around Hurricane Harvey shifts toward rebuilding, Hurricane Irma is on a straight path towards Miami, Florida. Miami chronically suffers from daily flooding, again an example of development within floodplains without consideration to climate factors. Who knows what damage a category 4 hurricane will do to the city. Our thoughts go to the safety of the residents and all other life there. Perhaps Irma will miss Florida, ironically a state where the government cannot use the term “climate change”. But right behind Irma is Hurricane Jose, their cousin Katia is battering the eastern coast of Mexico and who knows what other family members will show their face during this hurricane season. In addition, the west coast of the US is on fire, with massive uncontrolled wildfires running across the mountain ranges. In Bangladesh, a third of the country was flooded, suffering landslides that have killed hundreds of thousands. As has been clearly shown throughout history, those affected the most by the ravages of capitalism are not the beneficiaries of these systems. The question of care looms behind all these thoughts. How are we to provide care in the broadest sense when people drive cars into crowds? When unsanctioned militia men walk armed down the street? When we are being ravaged by storms that are literally larger than the entire state being hit? The liberalism that infects this country, of trying to find compromise in everything and promotes a sense of powerlessness runs rampant in our culture. We watch “Game of Thrones” rather than think that perhaps we have our own white walkers. We worry about our careers and our next vacation. I watch the people out of the window heading of to work, assuming that since NYC represents such a nidus of capitalism, that their job somehow continues to facilitate my own destruction. I think of my own work in an ER, is my job any different? Am I also continuing to worry about my own individual world, desperately trying to walk a fine line of caring about the world but not letting those thoughts actually influence my life? I ask myself, if I truly think that the fundamental structure of our economics and society are being threatened, why am I paying back my school loans? Yet through all this depression, there is always hope. Not that shitty optimism of the hippies or the progressives that are destroying our cultural sense of power. Not the general hope that everything will be ok, which is such a comfort for the petit bourgeois of this country. But a hope that we can find each other. That we can have the courage to face this destruction, and while I do not wish for the superstorms and the violence, it is here and is not going away. So let us embrace the fact that these represent potential vulnerabilities to the heart of neoliberal capitalism. That the police will not protect us, that our careers will not save us. Our work cannot be to bemoan the possibility of this destruction, but to build the alternative world that will build on the ashes of this culture. This past weekend, I stared at the faces of my comrades, washed in the wondrous light of a campfire. We planned and schemed ways to build a new world together, letting our visions intertwine themselves with the smoke, rising up to the stars above. This hope exists everywhere. The OpenVillage conversations are working through the logistical obstacles of coming up with ways of being together across the country. As the Festival approaches, proposals about different ways to organize communities and tactical tools needed to rebuild worlds abound. The OpenVillage Festival will be a step in the direction of building an international community that feels the glimmer of hope that a new way of being can be built. But we must dedicate our lives to it. I don’t hold answers and often question my own complicity with this devastation. But it is clear, we must find each other, hold each other through the depression and sadness, fight against the comfort of nihilism, protect our communities from those who would harm it and learn to care for ourselves in ways that can overcome the material destruction of whatever comes. A new world is possible, we just have to walk it. ""We have nowhere to return to... And this is a conscious choice.""" 2,35826,2017-09-08T18:20:39.246Z,35807,anon1526983854,anon3670751854,"Great post! I can't wait to hang out in Brussels, Francis. I myself struggle with these huge themes. In my day-by-day it feels like operating on small, interesting projects is enough; that local positive change is happening, and that's OK, a honest day's work. But of course, I know I am not _fixing_ anything, not really. It's hard to figure out what kind of systam these small things (like your own Woodbine, or Edgeryders) would give rise to, if they were pervasive. Nobody knows. I'm supposed to be an economist, and economists used to be able to imagine and propose alternative economic systems; but now we have lost this ability. The only people I'm seeing that can do this (kind of) are a selected few science fiction writers: Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Peter Watts. Of these, Doctorow is the one who most explicitly engages with economic theory. Some years ago I wrote [an economist's take on his novel ""Makers""](http://www.cottica.net/2010/08/30/leconomia-di-makers-di-cory-doctorowthe-economics-of-cory-doctorows-makers/), and I am now under the influence of his recent ""[Walkaway]""(http://crookedtimber.org/2017/05/10/coases-spectre/). I think you, of all people, need to read it, if you have not done it already. For some months now, I have been thinking about raising some money to organise a workshop of economic science fiction, inviting some of these writers (as keynote speakers and proponents) and some economists (as discussants and debuggers). I hope to get down to it in the Fall." 4,35995,2017-09-11T19:01:12.499Z,35807,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"[quote=""anon3670751854, post:1, topic:7000""] the progressives that are destroying our cultural sense of power [/quote] Can you say more about this - about why you think this is the case? I'm not sure I understand what you mean." 5,36015,2017-09-11T22:46:00.327Z,35807,anon3106910601,anon3670751854,Bring it.Peace first - But don't push. Some of us peaceful guys push back - very hard. 6,36110,2017-09-12T20:45:39.369Z,35807,anon1701267031,anon3670751854,"Thanks for these reflections. Troubling times - depression surely is a natural response, denial and delusion the only antidotes. Reminds me of the Cornell West quote ""I cannot be an optimist, but I am a prisoner of hope"" - which seems to capture perfectly the tension that seems to characterise our times - between realism and never letting go of 'some possible other'." 7,36124,2017-09-13T10:08:44.297Z,35807,anon3560946760,anon3670751854,"many of us on here have experienced Casandra syndrome. All to able to predict our apocalypse but unable to change it. The real pointlessness of those words i told you so. but as the apocalyptic plays out it always feels stranger when it happens. life is always richer then predictions. Obscure feelings. No matter how bad things were in the barracks refugee camp in Serbia everyday i found myself thinking well at least its sunny. Staying in a hut in the woods in Scotland through the winter left me feeling pleasantly surprised that I felt physically comfortable. how do we stay well in a sick sea? and when we do escape this lanon1056199097ring sense that we should be suffering with the many other? we need new stories to face new challenges. Those 2 core issues are emotions and logistics. frameworks for resilience in a darker age. dark optimism appeals as a phrase. to increase motivation and decrease expectation because in a more unstable world we get less of what we expect. we are not the first to think these thoughts or have these feelings. There was a slogan in the Warsaw ghetto uprising ""Someone has got to live"". it sounds bleak and yet it was perfect. a defiant last stand before people got sent off to the concentration camps. it was a massacre but some people escaped. it stands a flickering and dim light that stands out clearly amid horrendous darkness. In the words of Paulo Feire ""with one eye i look into the light, with on eye i look into the darkness, with one foot in the fairy tale and with one foot in the abyss.""" 8,36140,2017-09-13T14:58:21.165Z,36015,anon1526983854,anon3106910601,"Interesting stance, @anon3106910601. How would you advise others to push back? Is there a middle ground between just sucking it up and all-out war?" 9,36528,2017-09-18T11:33:51.259Z,35807,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Thanks for this Frank @anon3670751854 , it so clearly resonates. Our friends and youth in Egypt declare the same [propensity for depression](https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-village-workshop-cairo/7062/4) - understandably, in some other cultural code. I used to think there is some gratefulness to be practiced due to our ability to organise ourselves in the west. Not anymore, as we are all one. You and your comrades are paying your dues for sure, and you found each other. How can the rest of us help in making it easier to find each other? Learning helps, but now it seems we need more of us in the same place and a lower cost of even learning. Speeding up in the trenches, together? Is woodbine involved in any other international effort, outside of OpenCare and our festival?" 10,36543,2017-09-18T13:44:03.189Z,36140,anon3106910601,anon1526983854,"The middle ground is mutual respect. It is like a line in the sand. To cross on either side is to jeopardize the stability of that group. Robert Frost illustrated this concept in the Mending Wall. ‘Good fences make good neighbors.' In our efforts to embrace diversification we have not paid proper heed to those who would like to embrace their individuality. integration and diversity are great, but as a construct, they should not be used to reduce the individuality of any group. If a group chooses to insulate themselves from diversity then it should be their choice. It should also be respected by others without considering the individuals to be racists. Diverse lifestyles should be respected on par with segregated lifestyles by honoring the choices of the people who live those lives. In the end everyone wants what they feel deep in their hearts is best for them and their families. The problem comes with oppression. When any group of people try to force their ideals on another person and desecrate their life choices. Whether it be a feminist trying to destroy the hijab, a white supremacist trying to impose a false superiority on other races, or a liberal and diverse group trying to take over a town founded and cultivated by white separatists, it is all wrong. And when someone tries to destroy your way of life, directly tries to destroy it, then you should fight back. By any means necessary. Where this line gets gray is when one community has profound dependencies on another. Example, when an insulated white group has benefited from excessive amounts of diverse labor to build their ideal community. Well, there is a price to be paid beyond simple salary. Now there is a since of entitlement that mus be compensated. If it is ignored then it will lead to revolt. Every people should be deeply involved in the process of securing a successful future for their people. But, when another set of people use the entirety of your resources in order to propagate the future of their people, there becomes a feeling that the indentured party should have proper access to what they built. Whereas those who it was built for claim exclusive ownership. This is the case in many urban US cities. This is a platform for conflict. In the end the problem only exist in shared spaces. Typically urban, these spaces will always be habitats of co-existence and should be left to those with that desire. For those who seek separation in an urban space then the law should restrict their engagements in order to reduce the possibility of violent action. When the law fails to do so then the attacked reserves the right to stop the aggressor by any means necessary." 11,36559,2017-09-18T17:09:50.999Z,36543,anon1526983854,anon3106910601,"I may be wrong here, @anon3106910601, I am not sure I understand you 100%. But, in general, it seems to me that there is no one-to-one correspondence between a space and a way of life. I live in Brussels, where you have about one third Belgians, one third European migrants, such as myself, and one-third non-European migrants, mostly from Morocco, Turkey and Congo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels#Nationalities). If any one group pushes too hard to enforce its way of life, the city will become unlivable. And then, it's not like there is one way of life, even within the same group. Italians and Danes are both Europeans, but they do not necessarily live in the same way. Belgians are themselves split across the Wallonian/Flemish linguistic and cultural line. And Moroccans and Congolese... you get the idea. Low-diversity neighborhoods such as Molenbeek (where it can happen to a random woman to be scolded because no hijab) are seen as brewing trouble. I do not know enough to take a position myself, but [this post](http://www.politico.eu/article/molenbeek-broke-my-heart-radicalization-suburb-brussels-gentrification/) made the rounds in late 2015. It made me think a lot. Additionally, low local diversity does not mean lack of oppression. In Tunisia after the revolution, for example, there was a big political fight on the political rights of women. Both the progressive and the conservative religious side of the argument claimed to speak in the name of the same Arab and Muslim tradition. The culture was homogenous, but at least some people did not feel they were getting a completely fair deal _from the people sharing their same culture_. The usual way to get out of this complexity is, in the West, human rights. This is a legal culture that says: the rights of individuals supersede the rights of groups. It's historically kind of new – individuals have been seen as expendable for most of human history – and not everybody buys into it, not even in Europe (its birthplace). If I am completely off the mark, just ignore me :slight_smile:" 12,36667,2017-09-20T09:43:39.584Z,35807,anon3708118144,anon3670751854,"Great post-Frank @anon3670751854 With all that's going on in the world, it's hard to think, much less imagine creating a new world. But, we can, we must. We have the reason, vision, power, and technology to do so. Just have to bring it all together in a cohesive global movement, where people can change the world locally and impact globally. Openvillage is definitely a start in the right direction. Keeps hope alive. Often hope gets a bad rap. For some, it conjures images of naivety, but as defined by psychologists it matters a lot." 13,36705,2017-09-20T17:12:08.114Z,35807,anon2954219769,anon3670751854,"Thanks for this Frank. Travelling in the US has left similar impressions on me. There is so much normalized suffering in plain sight, even without the bigger and less visible (to most) horrors. Glad to have enjoyed the atmosphere of counter movements in SF and Oakland in the same breath, it gives a little hope." 14,36908,2017-09-24T00:26:02.731Z,35807,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"The USA - Land of the Free. Freedom to succeed, freedom to fail." 15,36959,2017-09-25T07:16:43.793Z,35807,anon1061021150,anon3670751854,"@anon3670751854 there is a sentence I quoted in the newsletter that says OpenCare festival... :) It's not OpenCare but OpenVillage festival - I will edit it, if you disagree, please edit back" 16,37004,2017-09-26T06:54:26.514Z,35807,anon4157656950,anon3670751854,"Great piece of refection Francis! I believe all of mankind with the ability to reason often has the same contemplations……how can we make a difference if the majority is thinking in extremes and in its own benefits. Capitalism is an example how a relative good system (“the best of the worse”), can be misused due to the nature of mankind, greed in the example of capitalism. How can we close the gap between the ultimate rich and the ultimate poor in the world for instance, if greed keeps existing and the world doesn’t wake up from its own nightmare? Three weeks ago, I travelled through the US for my work. I was stunned by the homeless I saw, the people with three jobs, just to hold on to their houses. I got sick at the idea that people in that same country don’t know what to do with their money and want to get rid of that one thing that would at least make an effort to bring healthcare to the ones that need it and cannot afford it…and they call it a civilized country… You ask yourself the question on care: “ how can we provide care in the broadest sense when people drive cars into crowds”? In my believe, you are part of the answer…trying to figure out how to make a better world while still trying to pay of your study loans (opposed by you through capitalism), contributing to OpenCare project, figuring out how to reorganize care so it can affect more people, not only the rich. Change starts at the individual, individuals like you from where we hope it spreads like an oil spot at sea….I realize the irony in this phrase 😊… People in general care first about themselves and their closed environments, hopefully to pay attention to the rest of the world afterwards in order to make things better for everyone. Take myself as an example….This is the first time you see me react to a post….this is because I am on vacation, having the time to read stuff that is on the internet from my network. I spend my days working for a big capitalist company, making a decent living. The industry I am working for makes an awful lot of money from a primary need, I know this and try to compensate through ScimPulse, but in essence I am just “ as bad” as everybody else but with the effort of trying to mitigate. First me and my surroundings, then the rest of the world…..it’s a mentality It is just this that is also drawing my attention from this post and you briefly touched it…….we seem to care only for the “Western” part of this world. We see I don’t know how much footage about rampages in US and Europe…even some on Mexico but not nearly as much as from the US or other rich Western countries…..close to home..anyway in the same cluster of welfare. It is not a contest but the impact and casualties in other parts of the world, caused by same or different catastrophes are much, much worse. i.e. Bangladesh flooding’s, earth slides in China, Inida, parts of south America’s, starvation in Africa, mass killings in Africa and Eastern part of the world, political repression and imprisonment even in Turkey (where we don’t have the guts to stand up due to political/economical interests), the remainders/consequences of Arabic spring (and I believe this is also part of what you try to point out Faruqh, when you argue oppose….will come back to this later😉). Like you mentioned, those which are impacted the most, are those from we western capitalist greedy society is taken the most advantage With Open Care I believe we try to touch the lives of many by trying to organize care in such a way that more will benefit and it stays sustainable towards the future……We try to make better and preserve what we have….what about the people deprived of care? I hope we also can have the discussion on how we can get care to those which are deprived of what we have…we seem to care first of our own ecosystem……it’s a mentality Perhaps our first point of attention should be to mitigate the differences in the world instead of making better what we have…..? I know, this is a very blunt statement, but consider, for a large part we harvest the consequences of “us” exploiting those countries which suffer the most now…… Perhaps what we learn in this project could also be of benefit when we try to solve these kind of utterly questions…….There must be a correlation between prosperity and individualism (read, not having community care)…Take Europe for example, starting at the South of Europe, where there is a lot more of community care, traveling to the North and take for instance The Netherlands, my home country. No way, I am going to take care of my parents in my home. Not because I don’t love them…I can’t…..I am too busy to take care of my own closed environment first (my household), no room for my parents (or any other family members). This sounds harsh, and I realize it when I write them down, but it is reality. I am part of an individualist society, where I worry about my next career move, my next holiday, my next house I will buy….It is not a free choice (now I hear you think, you always have a choice…that is where you are wrong..you don’t..if you are not with this mentality, you are against and when you are against, you are out and you will not have the ability to, for instance, influence policy makers). We are all doing it, we are all living in this society that “ forces” us into a materialistic approach towards life……wanting more and more and abusing capitalism….it’s a mentality “ How can we provide care in the broadest sense, if we are not willing to stribe towards equality”? “How can we provide care in the broadest sense, when we are not able to change the individualist mentality we have in a large part of the western world”? I mean, US is often seen as “ the leader of the free world” , home of the brave, land of opportunities…..yes, if you are born in the right circumstances (color, social class)….and it is this country that is trying it utmost to deprive the needed of care.. The challenges we face in care are utterly complex and not to be captured/solved in a project. They vary from indifference to ignorance……from protectionism to fear. How do we change mentality in this world so we will not only improve the care system we have, but utterly we can have the entire world have a care system as good as ours…and at the same time keep it affordable through a different way of caring? First thing we should do is not neglecting other parts of the world where people suffer from the same disasters the western world is facing, but only the essential impact to lives is exponentially bigger. Second thing we should do is asking ourselves how we can change individualistic mindsets and disconnect it of prosperity and wealth. “Wellbeing” , not “wealth” should be the way that we should look at life…easier said than done hey…😊 I just claimed I will never take my parents into my home, because it doesn’t fit my dynamic life that brings me my wealth…I am doing the same, how can I make a difference in changing this mentality then? Tough questions…philosophical if you like and I don’t have an answer, only the struggle…perhaps awareness…don’t hide the misery in the “ third” world and focus on the western part… I did promise to come back to the point that @anon3106910601 was trying to make……correct me if I am wrong Faruqh but what I read from your comment is that one cannot oppose something to another group and expect them to “ live it”…..you cannot oppose democracy to the countries which don’t have it (in our eyes)…it is the arrogance of the western world that has caused total anarchy in the countries we” tried to help”…..we should reason, educate, convince, teach….instead of oppose…if that is what you meant, I totally agree. I hope I can “find the time somewhere” (😊) to visit you guys at OpenVillage and discuss some more on this because I truly believe these are essential things to worry about when we think of sustainability and caring. If not, I am also convinced that when we still have people that care and think on these essential topics, in the end common sense will prevail and we (society) will get together in the sake of mankind." 17,37065,2017-09-27T12:57:11.431Z,35826,anon3670751854,anon1526983854,"Thanks for the kind words @anon1526983854. Likewise, really excited to meet everyone and discuss possibilities for a new world. So funny you bring that book up. One of our comrades wrote a [review](http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-swamp-issue/life/ungovernable-scifi) of it and it has really been shaanon3606750899g my views on what we need to do. Be well and see you in a few weeks." 18,37224,2017-09-29T17:07:33.342Z,35807,anon281534083,anon3670751854,"Two quick thoughts. 1 - In the USA, the ""pursuit of hapanon3606750899ess"" does not have to include caring for or helanon3606750899g anyone besides yourself. And many people do not wish to have any of their resources going to anyone other than their family or who they specifically designate. The issue of whether or not we are ""our brother's keeper"" is a debate with no end here in the land of the free, where you are free to succeed and free to fail. And if you do fail, someone may or may not lend you a hand. I, who have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over the course of my life, want that money to help people with education, health care, food, shelter, etc. Not bombs, war and destruction. But a lot of people here feel the opposite. And right now they pretty much run the government. 2 - Once I heard R. Buckminister Fuller give a lecture where, at one point, he said ""if you really want to help the whole, bring up the bottom.""" 19,37261,2017-09-30T13:29:47.986Z,37004,anon1526983854,anon4157656950,"@anon4157656950, I just wanted to flag how nice is to finally read a post from you (and what post!). I was really curious to find out what you really think about OpenCare. Now I know a bit more: [quote=""anon4157656950, post:16, topic:7000""] No way, I am going to take care of my parents in my home. Not because I don’t love them…I can’t…..I am too busy to take care of my own closed environment first (my household), no room for my parents (or any other family members). This sounds harsh, and I realize it when I write them down, but it is reality. I am part of an individualist society, where I worry about my next career move, my next holiday, my next house I will buy….It is not a free choice (now I hear you think, you always have a choice…that is where you are wrong..you don’t..if you are not with this mentality, you are against and when you are against, you are out and you will not have the ability to, for instance, influence policy makers). [/quote] Super-interesting. Two things: * If you want to make sure that a certain person (in this case anon3106910601) reads your comment, you can mention them à la Twitter, like this: @anon3106910601. I took the liberty of editing one mention into your post. * You are of course super-welcome to the Open Village Festival. If you are in Maastricht, it is just a short train ride away from Brussels. Come!" 20,37346,2017-10-02T17:07:11.000Z,37261,anon4157656950,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto, Thanks for the feedback and the tip you pointed out. I will do my utmost in order to try make it to the OPenCare village. Hope to see you there!" 1,37245,2017-09-30T08:35:21.226Z,37245,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"September was a month of being on the road. I spend some time working from Bratislava and went to the US for a 3 week visit. On September 9, I arrived in San Francisco. I was staying in a hostel in an edgier part of town (at least at night), because of the many social services in the area. All sorts of people who visit those during the day, hang out there at night, sleeanon3606750899g on the streets, nowhere else to go. A grim view of the US, which didn’t get better later. Walking through the city the next morning, there were tens of homeless people every block. With massive skyscrapers in the background, the effects of the incumbent system are apparent: it produces winners and losers. Or as John put it: freedom to succeed, freedom to fail. A bit later, in Boston, we got talking to two African American guys who ended up giving us a bunch of T-shirts. Mine sums up most of the talks on politics I had in the US.

As a counterweight to the darkness, I got to hang out a lot in Oakland and Counter Culture Labs (CCL). CCL is located in the Omni Commons, a large community space that is an old Italian social club. It has a large ballroom, boxing ring, basements and multiple big rooms hosting organisations. CCL is one of those organisations and the full list is here (https://omnicommons.org/index.html#about). With names like Food Not Bombs and Liberated Lens you can get a sense of the vibe. There was also the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair while I was there, which attracted plenty of people for zines, workshops and books.
_Goodbye San Francisco, hello Oakland_
I had the pleasure to meet plenty of amazing people at CCL. All with more ideas than they have time to do, but loads of energy to have fun experimenting away with biology anyway. I helped out with some yeast lab work and attended several social & project meetups. One of the highlights was a workshop I hosted on mycelium materials together with Bay Area Applied Mycology (BAAM). It attracted 20+ people, all highly interested and motivated to get down to business with the technology. Due to limited resources, we had to hack some things together, which made it all the more interesting. First time I used a cheese grater for science. Per coincidence I ended up at the 10 year anniversary party of Noisebridge, the infamous hackerspace in San Francisco, where I finally learned how to lockpick (I’m still pretty mediocre). We discussed and planned for where to go with Open Insulin. The idea of a patient coop to steward the protocol (and the gains from it) gained traction, so we’ll be looking into that during [Anthony’s session](https://edgeryders.eu/t/organizing-the-open-science-behind-open-insulin/826). We continued the talks at the Global Community Bio Summit, the 4 day event I travelled to Boston for.
**The Bio Summit** The event in Boston was a transformative experience. That was the reaction of most people, including myself, at the end of our time together at the MIT Media Lab. Even the seasoned biohackers, active for many years, had similar sentiments. The Summit brought together 150+ people from all over the world in an inspiring four days. I was there with two friends with whom I started the biohackerspace in Ghent. The program was packed with anything and everything across the spectrum of diverse initiatives in the biohacking scene. We visited one of the biggest synthetic biology companies in the world, as well as a local permaculture farm. We went to huge makerspaces, local community biolabs and had a great party. There were talks on feminism, VC funding, open source hardware and biodiversity. The people in attendance showed excellent qualities you’d want from a community like that: talent, open mindedness and high energy to change things up.
Some loose thoughts and conclusions. We are doing well in Ghent. Our view on things is very multidimensional compared to other labs, who are mainly focussed on technology and trying to survive, without all that much worries on socio-economic and political aspects of choices. Not that the latter is required to be good at what you do. We learned about community engagement. Many successful labs were inward looking communities, providing mainly for their members and the shared resources. In ReaGent we have looked outwards most of the time, trying to service the broader public. Seeing other communities at work was instructive and we’ll be applying certain lessons to our own activities back in Belgium. We’ll definitely put our own fun first more often, which was sometimes traded for servicing other people. Everyone is open to collaborate and share resources, but no one does it. Over the course of the event, the message did get through to most: we can share more globally to help each other with the hard stuff, like finances. Sharing workshop formats and devices are a direct benefit to many labs’ bottom lines. It just takes asking each other, or contributing to a shared online resource. We have a sophisticated financial model (or framework) as opposed to most spaces. We did not get the chance to share much in depth, since there was no time in the schedule. Most conversations on the topic were relatively superficial and in the unconference formats it is not so conducive of conversation to hog the speaking time. I see however the merit to synthesize some of our practices into something that is more easily accessible for other spaces. That, or we overthink it. The event was very diverse, props to the organizers for making sure. That way we got to meet people from every continent. Especially South-East Asia and South America were strongly represented. Joi Ito challenged us in the opening talk: are we a movement? After spending these days together, everyone was convinced: we are a diverse, global movement and poised to play an important role in the future of biotech.

On the final day, we held an unconference session on Open Insulin. Several people wanted to get involved with their own lab, a group in Ecuador and a group in Mexico. The San Francisco team offered to share resources as well as materials and info. From the past, it was clear that we need a better way to share though. We will try to have local/global facilitators to smoothen the collaboration. I will help out onboarding new groups, from our experiences joining half a year ago. With more groups, more possible research directions can be pursued. We can also work together better on the same direction, by brainstorming together and distributing the execution of experiments. There are several initiatives being taken to look more into economics, governance of the IP, policy etc. With a global distribution, different options can be explored and different opportunities can arise. I’m looking forward to ride this learning curve more! In these hectic weeks leading up to OpenVillage Festival, and our continuous efforts to stay afloat with projects locally, there is little time to process and report deeper on the rapid succession of experiences. I hope to share more live, as a participant at the Festival!
_This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation._" 2,37284,2017-10-01T14:18:46.999Z,37245,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Nice work as always. I am so jealous of you guys! Why can't I be a biohacker too, instead of a boring old economist? :grin:" 4,37295,2017-10-01T20:29:00.764Z,37245,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Also: Open Insulin to gain two new labs? Ping @anon3341622463 and @anon1941345029, I am not sure they saw this." 5,37327,2017-10-02T15:02:26.404Z,37295,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"It's in the works. They joined our unconference session at the Bio Summit and we're now following up with them to see what their ambitions are and help them get started. One guy wanted to submit Open Insulin to a Bayer project call and we first had to discuss how to handle this type of thing. I personally don't want to be affiliated with Bayer. Today during the global group call we came to a conclusion where we will draft some kind of Code of Honour that gives labs independence within that framework." 6,37328,2017-10-02T15:03:05.084Z,37284,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"@anon2658280305 can tell you more about that. He recently 'became a biohacker' as a philosopher. He even wrote an article about it, set to come out soon :slight_smile:" 7,37330,2017-10-02T15:07:21.360Z,37245,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"By the way, @anon2954219769, @anon1701267031 and @anon3670751854: we would eventually love to have a list of the events you attended as part of your fellowships. We need it for our own reporting to the EU Commission – part of it is a question about engagement and dissemination of the activities of the project. Thanks!" 8,37336,2017-10-02T15:34:48.448Z,37330,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Sure, I attended: * **BioFabbing convergence in Ideasquare at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.** May 10-11, 2017 I was an invited speaker at this event. * **Biohackathon at Waag Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands.** July 7-9, 2017 * **Workshop Mycotecture 101 at Counter Culture Labs, Oakland, US.** September 17th, 2017 I was the facilitator of this event. * **Global Community Bio Summit at MIT Media Lab, Boston, US.** September 21-24, 2017 I pitched OpenCare at this event. And then of course OpenVillage!" 1,34103,2017-08-07T21:07:33.155Z,34103,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Chaos. It's the best feeling I can describe when thinking about my first month as a fellow for the OpenVillage festival. I am working with the Woodbine Health Autonomy group and my co-fellow Nicole. We are based in Queens, NY. Chaos, like anarchy, are usually viewed as negative terms in our society. They denote disorder and structurelessness. They are usually states of being from which we wish to escape or wish to flee from. But looking at the seeming chaos of storms or of human physiology, it is clear that often times it is the incubator for something even more profound. Be it Einstein’s hair, the genius behind insanity, or the warmth provided by a fire, they all produce “a something” out of chaos. And so in the past month as we dove head first into the chaos of the Edgeryders platform and communication methods, I see something profound being produced. _Communication_ Our first experience with Edgeryders and OpenCare was more than a year ago when we were contacted by members from OpenCare. They had seen a video we produced and were touched by the message. We wrote a blog post and we're soon overwhelmed with the format of communication. As one who has weaned himself off of social media and strives to check email once a day, the up-to-the minute communication and breadth of people was overwhelming. Since then, we have had some interaction with OpenCare and were asked to apply for the fellowship in June, of which we were awarded. As above, the communication methods have always been an obstacle for me. I’ve often wondered why that was the case. On the one hand, I’m of the generation that is most comfortable with social media and the internet. I’ve spent literal years of my life diving into social media platforms and online conversations. For me though, and perhaps one of the founding aspects of Woodbine is a rejection of the internet mentality. Not to critique its usefulness, but more of a comment on technology’s role in our lives. For many in the US with counter-cultural ideas of anti-capitalism and revolutionary tendencies, the internet offers a way to create a community. Similar to Edgeryders, many leftist communities arise on the internet, lending to an ability to share ideas, experiences, and fellowship. For myself, some of these communities were paramount and life-giving. One of the lessons from Occupy though was the power of true human interaction. The mass gatherings, the communal dinners, the encampments all provided a new concept for our internet generation; that it was the building of tangible community that could be the most powerful. For those who started Woodbine and previous iterations, there was a goal to create a space in which we could remove ourselves from our internet avatars and commune with people in the flesh. So a big goal of our project was to transition ourselves from thinking of meeting online to meeting in person, to create projects developed from long-term presence and being. So in that process, I have personally been trying to move away from internet-based means of communication (although I often spend too much time on email!). It has been a process to begin thinking of the constancy of internet communication and responding to blog comments as the formation of a community. And I think that is what will make the festival such a success. That with the continuation of these festivals where people can meet face-to-face, it will form the basis of a much more solid connection than just emails and messages. Inevitably in our world today, there is always the struggle between the local and the international. While all true work must come from the local, we are facing massively connected systems of oppression, so we must be ready to fight on that level as well. _The role of words_ As a collective, one of our goals with taking on this fellowship was the ability to add to the growing Edgeryders community, benefit projects that we wish to deepen connections, and stay true to the message we are trying to formulate. It that vein, I will be transparent in my thoughts throughout these reflections. I do not mean anything as a critique, but as a way to open doors to conversations and bridges through misunderstanding. Woodbine was started as a way to build the material means for revolutionary lives. We don’t say this sarcastically or pathetically. Our goal is to build collective power and create a path for a revolutionary life. It denotes a process, not some distant utopia to be gambled upon. Wording is important. Often the term “revolution” has been used to excuse horrific atrocities and recently has been co-opted by neo-capitalists for their marketing campaigns. Even terms now used like “autonomy” are signaled by entrepreneurs to co-opt revolutionary language, instead representing the newest “tech” idea or pure individualism. So one of our struggles has been to elucidate and elaborate on what we understand these words to mean. It is a process of creating a vision for a new world. The words of the past have meaning, which is why neoliberalism is so intent on co-opting our collective histories. We were recently in a great conversation about the role of wording in our title. The original title of the theme we are to curate was “Living and working well together”. We then changed it to “Living Communism, Spreading Anarchy”, which was a reference to a book written by comrades in France who have been influential to us. There were comments around the terms “communism” and “anarchy”, essentially arguing that perhaps these words are too “coded” or have too much negative connotation. After some thought, we changed the title to “Revolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy”. We recognized that we are new to the online community and the larger European history of these words, which maanon1932026148 have different connotations in the US. But it also brought up questions around being specific about what we as the Edgeryders/OpenCare community are trying to do. With regards to care, do we view the OpenCare project as a means to fix the problems of state produced care? Or do we view care as a basic right that is oppositional to the current global model of capitalism and the exclusionary notion of citizenship? Are we trying to reform neo-liberalism with apps or are we trying to fundamentally remove ourselves from its grip so that we can build the power necessary to destroy it? The crisis we face as a community dedicated to care are caused by an exploitative means of viewing the world, be it climate change, the migrant crisis, and the rise of proto-fascist policies in our countries. How can we as a community avoid the “Silicon Valley” trap of convincing ourselves we are saving the world through a techno-utopia? Are we capital-based entrepreneurs or do we wish to build a world in which humanity can flourish? I bring these questions up as a response to a general tendency in progressives circles to not want to create opposition to power. So we soften language or we try to be on the middle ground. But recent events and elections have pointed us to the idea that people are ready for strong language and great visions. Not all visions lead to totalitarianism. In the Americas, the indigenous struggles have clearly given us a path from which to follow. They are clear in their language that they reject the extractive mentality of this culture. For them, to be for the land and the people is to be anti-capitalist, and the path for their revolution is the daily struggle to build a new world. Can we as a community be as courageous as them to use the strong language that will make us a beacon to a world of nihilism and distraction? _Community_ Overall, the experience of building this international community has been humbling and inspiring. From working with Noemi (thank you for being patient with my delays and mishaps!), Nadia, Marco and the rest of the team helanon3606750899g the fellows! My co-fellows Gehan and Winnie have been such a wealth of information and thought around the festival, happy to be working with them. And in NYC, Nicole and I are the public faces of a much larger group of folks who are helanon3606750899g behind the scenes with ideas, group suggestions, research, etc. Much thanks to them all. @anon1277226854 for her post about Invisible Illness was a great way to describe the covering up of anxiety and angst as a trauma itself. Care as providing a way to create solidarity must be paramount! @anon968801895 for their inspirational account of Social, circus, community. As Emma Goldman says, “A revolution without dancing isn’t a revolution worth having.” @anon So many more posts we’ve read and thought about. Please keep up the amazing work and help us share your work, so please contact us. Let us know what you think and we look forward to the continuing the revolutionary work of building a new world, a world based on care for each other. -_Frank_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today we enter eclipse season. It’s a notorious time of flux and upheaval, closures and openings. On tonight’s full moon I will go out with a friend I’ve made this year through my work at Woodbine and gather mugwort to bind into smudge sticks. As summer begins its end here, this medicinal plant, which grows abundantly out of the lots and cracks in the sidewalk in Bed-Stuy, is just coming into the height of its magical powers; mugwort, or _artemesia vulgaris_, has been used traditionally as a stimulator of vivid dreams and a third-eye-opener. I’ve begun my involvement with Woodbine Health Autonomy, and now with OpenCare, in the midst of a life transition. I’ve spent the past year orienting away from something that has circumscribed my understanding of myself—who I am, what I’m doing, and where I’m going—for a while now, toward a future that is more unknown. For the last five years I’ve been pursuing a PhD in art history. By the end of my fourth year, however, the promises of academia had begun to ring hollow for me. On the face of it, everything in the academy seems to be running as usual. Universities keep reiterating the same forms: liberal arts educations, PhDs, lectureships and professorships, grants and post-docs. Yet, at the very same time as they reiterate their merit and prestige in rhetoric and brochures, with the other hand universities are systematically undermining these entities in the course of running increasingly brazenly like large corporations. Young academics cling to notions of critical discourse and transformative pedagogy even as they are forced to churn out work ever more rapidly and are saddled with heavier teaching and administrative workloads. We reflexively assume the eventuality of a bright and stable future even as the university cuts tenure-track jobs and many end up out of work or living near the poverty line without benefits as adjuncts for years. We are talking about social and economic justice as we watch the university function as a debt machine and factory for reproducing the wealth that has access to it in the first place. In other words, we’re stuck playing out an atrophied and anachronistic story, attached to ideas that have already expired. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about genre. By genre I mean the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and the categories these stories fall into. Genre is the way our individual narratives conform to certain tropes because what’s possible is delimited by historical circumstances and situational constraints. Genre is how these tropes gather inertia and reproduce themselves, because it’s easier to maintain a sense of constancy by slotting your life into a recognizable picture than it is to exist with shattering indeterminacy. In his book on the historical novel, the Hungarian Marxist theorist György Lukàcs talks about moments of what he calls a “parting-of-the-ways.” Despite the heavily determining effects of class conflict and modes of production in the lives of individuals and societies, there are moments of pivotal decision that emerge when the inherent contradictions produce a “certain crucial sharpening of social or personal circumstances.” Lukàcs brings a quote from the German drama Herodes and Mariamne: “To every man there comes a moment when the pilot of his star hands him the reins. The misfortune is he does not know the moment, each which passes by may be the one.” Things have stopped working on a mass scale and no elected official—no liberal, conservative, not even a socialist—can salvage them. At best they can mitigate the damage provisionally—expand healthcare so more people can live to fight for dwindling jobs imperiled by automation, dole out a universal basic income to distract the ranks of the unemployed, support big corporate green energy projects that displace indigenous people from their land, reform prisons, relax immigration, even as carceral capitalism and state violence continues apace, etc. There’s no going back to the welfare state: “The transition from the citizen/worker model to the citizen/consumer/customer one means the transition from a welfare regime, based on the enforcement of social and fundamental rights, to social policies intended as the ‘management’ of social problems. As subaltern ‘customers’ and/or ‘needy,’ we are deprived of full subjectivity and self-determination.” Even as this past year saw new and frightening forms of rupture and instability worldwide, there’s a way in which things also feel perversely stable. The market ebbs and flows, wealth continues to concentrate in the streets and gleaming towers of New York, London, Shanghai, Dubai. We keep waiting for our political offices to straighten themselves out, to straighten things out. We keep going to work, looking for work, buying groceries, watching TV, picking our kids up from school. We find ways of stabilizing, find stability in what Lauren Berlant calls the _crisis ordinary_. She speaks about how genres can function as holding patterns, how we attach ourselves to stories that enable us to move forward—or at least to tread water—even as the these stories are actively harming us and inhibiting our flourishing. And how could we not cling to narratives that afford us at least a provisional sense of constancy when we have no better option, when we need to pay the rent and put food on the table, when no matter how bad things get they never seem to tip into full-blown collapse? It is impossible to give up our attachments to outdated, conservative, and harmful stories alone. If, as Bourdieu says via @anon I don’t actually have a very good future imaginary. While some possess much more prescient minds, for better or for worse I’m mostly stuck analyzing what exists in the here and now. As a historical materialist, I’m especially aware that the limits to our political imaginations aren’t creative, but structural. The very categories we have to work with—the ways we conceive of time, the past, our bodies and minds and the bodies and minds of others, our assumptions about what has value, what is progress—have been formed in and by the political economic system we are trying to varying degrees to contend with. We see this play out all the time; development schemes and NGO’s propagating neo-imperialist dynamics, activists caught in a capitalist work ethic, so-called radicals reproducing racialized and gendered dynamics of power and violence. I think moving toward a truly better future together will entail deep and sometimes brutal examinations of our attachments. It will mean giving up some of our most closely held notions about ourselves, conceding that things will change in ways we cannot predict, letting others in to a degree that is necessarily uncomfortable. It will mean agreeing on provisional grounds of commonality knowing that our ideas will morph and evolve, that things will be revalued, that categories we can’t yet imagine will emerge and be swallowed again in the course of things. It means conceding that we don’t have The Answer—it isn’t an app or a crypto-currency or a rural commune or an urban farm, though revolutionary change may involve all of these things. I know these are incredibly broad, abstract thoughts. I’m afraid I have many more like them. But in the coming weeks and months I hope to think with greater specificity about what they mean in relation to my participation with OpenCare, to the goals of Woodbine Health, to our engagement with the many amazing groups and individuals cohered by this unwieldy and exciting platform, and for the conversations I hope we will have together in October. As a wayward conclusion to a wayward post, I’ll just say that I like weeds because they’re the abject, valueless. They’re a reminder to me that the good stares us in the face all the time but we don’t or can’t experience it as such because we’re busy or in pain or because it might not look like a product and maanon1932026148 we don’t have words or a framing story for it yet. -_Nicole_" 2,34105,2017-08-07T22:39:42.571Z,34103,anon1701267031,anon3670751854,Thought provoking post. Is the citizen/worker to citizen/consumer quote also Lukàcs? 3,34107,2017-08-08T03:05:20.124Z,34105,anon3670751854,anon1701267031,"Thanks, @anon1701267031! That quote is from here: https://www.viewpointmag.com/2015/10/31/reproduction-as-paradigm-elements-for-a-feminist-political-economy/" 4,34178,2017-08-08T20:51:16.908Z,34103,anon2954219769,anon3670751854,"I don't get much further than wayward or abstract thoughts myself, so thanks for taking the effort to write down these reflections Frank & Nicole @anon3670751854" 5,34414,2017-08-16T02:26:00.558Z,34103,anon2066188386,anon3670751854,"I've been recognizing my past fascination with canon1932026148r-punk/speculative/subversive fiction as just another pattern of dead end consumerism. I guess it's all stepanon3606750899g stones. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have the vocabulary and cultural references to appreciate visionary fictions from authors such as Octavia Butler or Ursula Le Guin. Who's to say that next year I'll look back and realize this was also, just another futile phase of intellectual development -_-. But never mind that, I'm curious what lays ahead of this new awareness. Is it more rewiring of the neural patterns?? Or is there a critical mass of people who will spill over into actual (r)evolution. Is this question going to be asked in perpetuity? Is that the definition of protracted struggle?? With respect to communication Frank, I think media diets play a huge role in how we relate to each other here in the Coastal States of the US. I can't speak for the rest. But unplugging from facebook is basically the same as not watching HBO shows and CNN. Where as this type of consumption pattern is also layered since it can be seen as even more advanced virtue signaling, reminding me of people who only buy green products and live minimal, nothing is safe from ridicule and derision. But my point is when you become Mass Media Lean, more time is available for that face to face, flesh to flesh communication, just gotta get the words in with people between their commercial breaks, haha." 6,36985,2017-09-25T17:46:21.740Z,34414,anon1491650132,anon2066188386,"Critical mass in a world of distributed networks is a hard concept to anon3606750899 down, no? Which way are you building of the two you mention @anon2066188386 rewiring or building mass? Sorry for the quick reply as I am on the road.. Plus I'm still rereading this post (always keeanon3606750899g it in an active browser tab) as I find it fundamental. It informs harvesting of the OpenCare - @anon1701267031 made a good distinction in her backend work on harvesting, as a way to internalise and put into practise our learning journey these months: individual level harvesting, ground level, community level and meta level. Thanks Frank." 7,37310,2017-10-02T11:56:55.007Z,36985,anon2066188386,anon1491650132," I'm currently trying to just rewire my own brain with a couple of my close friends/comrades before we can try and take on the situation at large. Realized that I'm carrying a bit of malicious frameworks I must purge, but this is a personal practice, it takes up minimal bandwidth. I would think that media diets play a large part in this." 1,36085,2017-09-12T16:50:20.505Z,36085,anon1257791429,anon1257791429,"Hello Edgeryders (veteran and pioneer), I was going through the draft program of the event and I would like to share about two concepts that I learned during and after my studies and have been pretty important to me in my work as a peace worker/educator. The fun part about them is that numerous individuals from all walks of life and practitioners from different professions/disciplines have contributed to the development of a solid body of knowledge spanning 20+ years. ## 1. Infrastructures for Peace **[Infrastructures for Peace](https://www.peaceportal.org/web/i4p/i4p):** ‘dynamic network of interdependent structures, mechanisms, resources, values and skills which, through dialogue and consultation, contribute to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in a society’. **Establishing a national or MENA ‘Infrastructure for Peace' may include:** * development of institutional mechanisms, appropriate to each country's culture and context, which promote and manage this approach at local, district and national levels; * adoption of a cooperative, problem-solving approach to conflict based on dialogue and non-violence, which includes the main stakeholders. **Such an infrastructure can help** a fragile, divided, transitional or societies recovering from violent conflict build and sustain peace by: * managing recurring conflicts over land, natural resources or contested elections; * finding internal solutions, through mediated consensus or multi-stakeholder dialogue, to specific conflicts and tensions; * negotiating and implementing new governing arrangements- such as new constitutional provisions- in an inclusive and consensual manner. **Essential components of peace infrastructures can include:** * National, District and Local Peace Councils- comprised of trusted and highly respected persons of integrity who can bridge political divides and who possess competence and experience in transforming conflicts; * National peace platforms for consultation, collaboration and coordination of peace issues by relevant actors and stakeholders; * A Government bureau, department or Ministry of peace building; * Passage of legislative measures to create national ‘Infrastructures for Peace' with appropriate budgets; **Based on past practice it's features could be:** * Expanding the capacities of national peace building institutions, related government departments, Peace Councils and relevant groups of CSOs; * Establishing an effective early warning and early response system; * Renewing and using traditional perspectives and methodologies for conflict resolution; * Promoting a shared vision for society and for a ‘culture of peace'. * These components are not mandatory, but are among the possible pillars for building ‘infrastructures for peace'. The fun part about Infrastructures for Peace is that it can be established top-down, through governmental policies and coordination structures, or bottom-up (as I prefer :D) via local initiatives such as peace committees that may or may not be connected to a national infrastructure, but through a distributed network of Open Care Centers, for example. I am happy to share some case studies in case someone would like to to learn more about the practical experiences in diverse contexts. ## 2. Do No Harm as an essential element of conflict sensitivity This is a pretty cool concept borrowed from the healthcare and bioethics. _Primum non nocere_ (first, do no harm) is the Hippocratic Oath that all medical students are taught in school. Back in early 90's, CDA, a peacebuilding NGO, developed a framework for analyzing the impact of aid on conflict—and for taking action to reduce negative impacts and maximize positive impacts of their work. The “Do No Harm Framework” came from the experiences of people participating in CDA consultations and feedback workshops, including other NGOs, experts, donors, and policy makers collaborated through the project to identify common patterns of interaction between aid and conflict. **The Six Lessons of Do No Harm in this brilliant [book](http://cdacollaborative.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Final-2015-CDA-From-Principle-to-Practice.pdf)** 1. Whenever an intervention enters a context it becomes part of the context. The intervention is placed in the middle, under the context, representing that it is now part of the context. 2. All contexts are characterized by Dividers and Connectors. The context already has Dividers and Connectors. The intervention is between them. 3. All interventions interact with both, either making them worse or making them better. The arrows flow from the intervention to Dividers and Connectors because the intervention is having an impact on both. That impact can be negative - Dividers get worse by increasing; Connectors get worse by decreasing. That impact can be positive - Dividers get better by decreasing; Connectors get better by increasing. 4. Actions and Behaviors have Consequences (ABC), which create impacts. The flow from the intervention to Dividers and Connectors is the ABCs. Resources and Messages flow from the intervention into the context. These affect Dividers and Connectors, making them either worse or better. 5. The details of interventions matter. Conceptually, within the Framework, this lesson applies earlier as it is integral to understanding the Intervention. 6. There are always Options. Where we see impacts from the intervention, we develop options to counter the negative ones. We can also attempt to support the positive ones further. The fun part about Do No Harm is that there is no formulaic approach to using this tool. It cannot substitute for knowledge or thinking, but it is something a thinking person can use to improve his/her work. **DNH has been used by peacebuilders in the following ways:** * As an initial conflict analysis tool * For conflict mapanon3606750899g and identifying stakeholders * As an early warning system by tracking how Dividers are trending * For identifying areas of shared interest and concern * To transform mindsets, bringing people to a place where they form and improve relationships with “the other” * As a tool for focusing constructive dialogue around shared problems * To help motivate people to work on peacebuilding themselves * To assist organizations with their strategic positioning in relation to conflicting parties, in order to establish credibility and relationships (which can support a subsequent expansion into peacebuilding)" 2,36086,2017-09-12T17:13:33.503Z,36085,anon1526983854,anon1257791429,"Well, well. This is a welcome surprise, Andrei! I am giving myself some time to re-read your post... but really glad you made it :slight_smile:" 3,37016,2017-09-26T10:20:21.652Z,36085,anon1491650132,anon1257791429,"Long time, sorry for the late response Andrei, I've been traveling all month. We have a Frestyle section in the program where all the most recent proposals and others who did not have time to be circulated and coagulate enough interest by now are included. Let us know if you're coming, hope to catch up!" 4,37221,2017-09-29T16:15:23.588Z,37016,anon1257791429,anon1491650132,"Well, I would love to come, Noemi! Still, I am lacking clarity and understanding about the conditions of my participation. It says ""Passes and travel support are offered on a case by case basis, so the sooner you get involved the better."" I understand that unfortunately, I came in quite late and that my post hasn't attracted much interest either. Nevertheless, I would be happy to offer a workshop during the Festival, if such an opportunity is still available. Please let me know, how to further proceed from here. I would prepare something about the nexus between peace studies and health studies. One of the fathers of Peacebuilding, Johan Galtung, argues that the triangle diagnosis-prognosis-therapy can be applied. ""There is the common idea of a system (of actors, of cells), of well-states and ill-states. The word pairs “health-disease” from health studies and “peace-violence” from peace studies can be seen as specifications of these very general labels."" Both states of being actually need **diagnosis** (or analysis), not only violence and disease. Peace and health also have their conditions and their contexts. They may be different from the conditions for violence and disease, but could also be related to them. Galtung argues that a condition for peace could be an equitable relation, but we have to factor in the violence in a non-exploitative system, if something goes wrong within one single actor. Thus, a condition for health is a stable equilibrium of key parameters of the human body, and yet one cell or a colony of cells may go wrong, starting growing out of all proportions for instance. If the system falls out of its “well-state” and shows symptoms of ill-states coming up, or they are already there, the question to be answered in a **prognosis** is whether the system is capable of self-restoration back to its well-state, or whether some other type of intervention is needed. Galtung warns that and intervention from the outside should not be identified with therapy. First, it may on the banon3760936673ce make the system worse (Do No Harm); Secondly, living beings may also be capable of providing self-therapy. Thirdly, self-restoration does not necessarily mean conscious, deliberate intervention. The system may “take care of itself”. Our bodies have that amazing capacity to restore equilibrium through incredibly complex mechanisms that we have hardly even started to understand, leave alone are capable of influencing. The interesting question to ask is how to provide positive conditions for those restorative functions. Finally, when it comes to **therapy**, meaning by that ""deliberate efforts by Self or Other to move the system back again to some well-state, or at least in that general direction"". When we talk about the distinction between negative and positive peace, we should also keep in mind the difference between curative and preventive therapy. All four of them stand for well-states. There is no (or very little) disease or violence around. The systems are (almost) symptom-free, but in the negative case that is about all that can be said about them. The equilibrium is so unstable that a (minor) incident of hate speech can bring the system into an ill-state. In the negative case the equilibrium is more stable, meaning there is more capacity of self-restoration, even if the system may not be entirely symptom-free. Curative therapy aims at the former, preventive therapy at the latter. Both are needed for health and peace." 1,36674,2017-09-20T11:28:38.806Z,36674,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"In a workshop held on september 18th at WeMake I could disseminate and share some elements of the ethnographic research as well as some sounds from previous researches in the hard sciences, anthropology and ethnomusicology. The question we moved from was: how could sounds be important for social research about health and for opencare? Among the participants there were anthropologists, DJs, WeMake staff all interested in sound studies about opencare In first place sounds make evident the dominance of a visual human dimension and the ocular centrality. Trying to move beyond a ocular centrality means to connect to a much open world of perceptions. On a further level researching on sounds problematise the care universe by different perspectives at home, in a healthcare environment in the physical worls as online. Experiences in diverse cultures show how much emotions, beliefs and practices can be connected to sounds. Sounds are not only connected to a well being, but are structural in certain social contexts and by certain perspectives we cannot deny. The presence of hackers, designers and makers in the opencare awareness european initiative represents not only an occasion to deal with how designers and makers shape care in different and unexpected ways, but on how reality of care can be declined and understood in many different ways. https://soundcloud.com/cvpido/giulio-soundscape3 Hear the negotiation between two makers (one of the two blind) while setting a software for the voice instruments' Maker In Residence project An input from Sound studies'perspective might be fruitful and challenging in researching about issues such as Quality of Life, health environment design, healthcare without harm, blind people, or whoever might benefit from sounds or silence. Here are the slides with all the working links to the resources.
https://www.slideshare.net/symbiosys/we-make-noise" 2,36715,2017-09-20T21:08:52.543Z,36674,anon1526983854,anon3341622463,"I can sympathise with that. I am more of an aural than a visual person myself. But: what would the care applications be?" 3,37124,2017-09-28T08:21:05.902Z,36715,anon3341622463,anon1526983854,"Sounds are as important as textual and visual information, but on opencare this aspect is rarely mentioned and considered. I think a inclusive pluralism of perception and sensing should be part of a democracy of care. Care applications can be many; here some examples: a) awareness about blindness condition and design of devices and services; b) development of healthcare without harm to the ear by excess of noises in sensiible areas with newborn, patients, eldest; c) research in areas of intersection between bioacoustic, health, culture, d) use of sounds for teaching about medicine and healthcare professions integrated to visual and textual information on textbooks...and so on." 1,34456,2017-08-17T13:36:25.329Z,34456,anon589839666,anon589839666,"# How to build a social movement for care in the 21st century? This is the kind of title a social scientist comes up with, and to no surprise _social science_ is what we do. We-- Gabriela A. Sanchez and Dana Mahr from the University of Geneva (https://twitter.com/citizensciences)--want to propose a session where we contextualize socially and historically how civil society has intervened and impacted biomedical knowledge and health care in Western societies. Cases such as the _Women’s Health Movement_ in the 1970s, _the Deaf Culture Movement_, the _Anti-vaccination Movement_, and the _Pro-anorexia Movement_. These explorations helps us understand how social movements can challenge and alter the ways we provide definitions (scientifically and culturally) for things like expertise, health, disease, bodies, and care. The purpose of this reflection is to situate Health Social Movements (HSM) in 2017 and to sketch some of the potentials and pitfalls they face with current social and technological trends like: _Big data driven medicine and care_, the _automatization of health care work_, _scientific citizenship_, the re-emerging _discourse of empowerment and participation_, the _right (or duty) to make individual lifestyle/medical choices_, the growing _medicalization of many aspects of modern life_ and its oppositional (but somehow complementary) trend of _dissenting established medical practices_ (like vaccines and pharmaceuticals). Against the background of these contemporary developments we want to discuss how OpenCare and the themes we discussed during the #openvillage gathering could be positioned in the continuous effort of HSM to alter both, the public discourse about care and its policies. We want to open up the debate with questions like: Why do we believe open science and citizen science are helpful in health care? Is _participation_, _openness_ and _choice_ inherently good? How do we envision shifting dynamics of power between physicians, care-givers, and (informed) patients? Who do they empower? ### Format of Session We propose to do a 15 min presentation introducing the session, present basic social concepts and analyze selected examples of HSMs to open a 45 min discussion about possible (un)foreseen failures of contemporary HSMs in creating an inclusive, participatory, individualized, and caring health care movement/infrastructure and develop strategies to properly address them. We believe participants in this session will gain valuable insights into how social movements work by changing the discourse, practice or policies in health care and effect real change. We hope this discussion will also raise new questions and concerns, as well as deep reflexivity of the roles and responsibilities we hold as activists, developers, patients, family caregivers, health-care professionals, policy-makers, etc. ### Thematic hashtags health social movements :small_blue_diamond: (de)medicalization :small_blue_diamond: normalization of bodies and minds :small_blue_diamond: pseudo-medicine :small_blue_diamond: the ethico-politics of care :small_blue_diamond: othering :small_blue_diamond: intersectionality :small_blue_diamond: partaking vs dissent vs alternatives :small_blue_diamond: illness as a culture :small_blue_diamond: health as a lifestyle" 2,34471,2017-08-17T20:08:32.958Z,34456,anon3670751854,anon589839666,Hey thanks for the proposal! These ideas sound amazing and definitely asking similar questions to what we hope to cultivate at the festival. We've had a bunch of great proposals and will be looking through them all in the next weeks to come up with a finalized program. Be well and hope we get to meet in Brussels! 3,34474,2017-08-17T20:40:14.662Z,34456,anon1526983854,anon589839666,"So welcome, @anon589839666! I would be interested in taking part. I have nothing much to offer, except that I know OpenCare data reasonably well. But I am curious of exploring the border zone where science meets democracy. So, bring it on. I will sit with you, and learn." 4,34494,2017-08-18T11:56:14.049Z,34471,anon589839666,anon3670751854,That is great! Looking forward for the event! We are really excited and hope we can have an interesting and creative session! 5,34853,2017-08-27T18:46:32.596Z,34456,anon1491650132,anon589839666,"Nice to meet you and welcome from me too, @anon589839666! I was talking to a health clinician earlier today and they were asking a similar question as I was telling them about the festival and how much community members in edgeryders look in the way of solutions provided by the citizenry - for better health and care (infra)structures, to put it simple. She was asking something similar to your question: ""Is participation, openness and choice inherently good?"", the case being the advances and limits of the sequencing of DNA. For example how sometimes patients refuse to know if they have a mutation because the treatments are not available and dangerous to follow based on unconclusive research - so a case where knowledge and openness about medical science can have adverse effects. Not sure if this helps, but do you have other examples? Other than that, of course you're welcome to the festival, with or without a formal session. You'll be getting regular updates about the venue and things we need help with from @anon" 6,34922,2017-08-28T14:53:22.555Z,34456,anon2954219769,anon589839666,"Happy to see you here @anon589839666! Looking forward to meeting you again in Brussels. The ideas you wrote already resonate with others here, so surely thought-provoking conversations will follow in October, much akin to the ones started in Geneva in May! :-)" 7,36273,2017-09-14T20:57:02.904Z,34456,anon3670751854,anon589839666,"@anon589839666 Thanks for this proposal! We weren't able to include it on the formal presentation, but as you can see from the [Final Program](https://edgeryders.eu/t/final-openvillage-festival-program-released/7105), there will still be time/space for these presentations. So we hope that you can still come and share your thoughts with the community! Looking forward to meeting!" 8,36274,2017-09-14T20:58:00.125Z,36273,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"p.s. @anon2066188386 @anon335358890, your work is very similar to these topics! Check out the posts they made about Reproductive Sovereignty and The Dunbar Number." 9,36293,2017-09-15T00:11:53.699Z,34456,anon2066188386,anon589839666,"[quote=""anon589839666, post:1, topic:6742""] Why do we believe open science and citizen science are helpful in health care? Is participation, openness and choice inherently good? How do we envision shifting dynamics of power between physicians, care-givers, and (informed) patients? Who do they empower? [/quote] Yeah, so relevant, got to do a double take at our assumptions sooner rather than later. The topic is so expansive, looking forward to your session. At the moment, because I'm going through a lot of Dunbar and social network theory in my research, I'm getting meta-feels while using the Edgeryders forum, power rules of participation and hyper sensitivity to ""meaningful connections""..." 10,36739,2017-09-21T09:05:59.457Z,34456,anon589839666,anon589839666,"Sorry for my absence on this post, I was on holidays and just returned. @anon3670751854: Too bad we couldn't make it to the program, but from the looks of the final program you had great proposals and I am looking forward to the event. I will be joining and my fellow colleague Dana is figuring out her schedule. I just have one question. Should we still prepare a session? @anon2066188386: I am sooo excited for all the interesting conversations and discussions we will be having! Looking forward to meeting you all!" 11,37066,2017-09-27T12:59:25.230Z,34456,anon3670751854,anon589839666,"@anon589839666 Thanks for the reply! Looking forward to meeting! There will be informal time for small scale presentations/discussions, so I would definitely prepare something if you feel like you would like to host a small group about the topic. They'll be on day 2/3 for about 1-1hr 15mins. See you!" 1,36474,2017-09-17T16:32:49.380Z,36474,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"Hi Edgeryders, I was wondering there were any examples of alternate models of health insurance that aren't based on total pooling of collected dues? In the US, our insurance system is provided by a few companies that sell packages, which penalize people who are unemployed or in freelance/ non-traditional modes or employment. Universal healthcare is quite a political spectacle, and not many people are holding their breath up for something to pass soon. Do people know examples of where health insurance is based on small scale local pooling of monetary resources, which then is accepted by sympathetic health care professionals? Or something similar? Also if you know of even more creative models I'm all ears. Thanks!" 2,36480,2017-09-17T18:21:33.010Z,36474,anon70625510,anon2066188386,"Haven't said hi yet, so hi! :slight_smile: I heard of two ones.... something in Peru I think @anon Another one is the Amish, Alberto wrote about it [here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/a-challenge-on-autonomy-in-care/5636). Then there is the [Greek network of shadow clinics](https://edgeryders.eu/t/care-by-communities-greeces-shadow-zero-cash-health-care-system/4880). Also @anon3670751854 might know of some? Maanon1932026148 also @anon4116418727 ?" 3,36555,2017-09-18T16:38:16.520Z,36480,anon2066188386,anon70625510,This a great starting point. Thanks @anon70625510 Nadia! Gonna dive deep~ 4,36597,2017-09-19T14:13:00.700Z,36474,anon4116418727,anon2066188386,"Hi :slight_smile: I am not sure if I have put the question in the right mental frame... I think I understand until the part about pooling local resources... and as instance even CERN utilizes schemes of mutuality for social security, and health insurance... However, I may be missing the part about sympathetic health care professionals...? I understand most mutual insurances would cover costs for care with some ""capanon3606750899g"" mechanism, which is calibrated on the best offers they have been able to negotiate in advance: providers A and B would do it for the amount X, and if you go to another, and the amount is higher, you will be reimbursed up to X, or only Y% of the cost you incurred... As long as you pay in a valid currency, no sympathy by the providers really enters the picture... it's usually the mutual insurance that sets the policies. It may be different if you were discussing of an alternative currency here, but that requires an entirely different setting... I imagine if a LETS exists, then this would not be a problem? ...have I made sense to you @anon2066188386?" 5,36813,2017-09-22T14:29:31.617Z,36597,anon2066188386,anon4116418727," [quote=""anon4116418727, post:4, topic:7141""] sympathetic health care professionals...? [/quote] Hi @anon4116418727, by ""sympathetic"" I meant like, health care professionals who were cool taking money from a group of people instead of a middle agent like an insurance company at a comparable rate with which they charge insurance companies. So if say 150 people pooled together a health fund, a doctor would take their money as payment at a negotiated rate as opposed to that uninsured rate. (I'm also in the US where prices vary wildly and people go bankrupt all the time due to lack of insurance or insurance company litigation. And yes, I agree, would love to explore like alternate forms of compensation for health care, haha, but let's keep it simple~" 6,36919,2017-09-24T12:08:26.684Z,36813,anon4116418727,anon2066188386,"Hi @anon2066188386, thank you for the clarification. I cannot draw any truly general considerations here, but this boiling down essentially to a business decision, I would say that once the collectively instituted pool has a clear enough governance, any doctor should be at least willing to negotiate such a deal. This boils down to the size of the pool, its stability over time (and the possibility by an affiliated provider to check its current status), and the terms of payment (whether the ""pool"" would pay immediately, or with fixed delays, etc)... nothing formal I can think of further than this. Of course, this being a negotiation with a huge human and ethical dimension to it, having front people that can truly communicate the case for this arrangement, and explain and defend its purposes, would greatly impact the chances of landing an agreement. ...but in general, as a doctor myself, I see not a single reason why my category should reject a deal anywhere in the world (at least for those countries with whose professionals I have interacted with...) Have you encountered specific barriers that you would feel comfortable sharing with me, either here or privately, to analyse them together?" 3,34743,2017-08-25T19:43:19.564Z,6392,anon70625510,,"If we are doing any exhibitions or performances on this theme, Ars electronica has a fellowship for artists on the topic. Maanon1932026148 some of the artists would like to participate in this theme [https://www.aec.at/center/en/opening-beyond-the-lab/](https://www.aec.at/center/en/opening-beyond-the-lab/)" 4,34808,2017-08-26T14:41:59.412Z,6392,anon1227671133,,why does the 'green fluorescence' jpg on this page look so much more like bioluminescence? 5,35088,2017-08-30T17:54:21.376Z,34743,anon1491650132,anon70625510,A calll @anon2954219769 would need to make or spread with the crowd... 6,35091,2017-08-30T18:17:57.510Z,35088,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"@anon70625510 the question popanon3606750899g up the most lately is ""will this fit in the program?"" so I'm hesitant to reach out for more content. We do have some interactive experiments lined up, not in the least @anon1227671133 with the micronuclei & water analysis. And some more on the way." 7,36802,2017-09-22T09:14:41.687Z,35091,anon1580856632,anon2954219769,"This Theme sounds incredibly exciting to me as its aligned to the work I'm doing and my personal interests. I think of Action Research / Citizen Research, and how that, if seriously considered, disputes and overthrows the desire for current models of healthcare and interaction, at least in South Africa. Before the provision of various therapies and medicines, the majority of South Africans are excluded from any conversations or basic knowledge relay when it comes to health and healthcare. The main reason is we cannot afford healthcare structured within the capitalist model, resulting in the exclusion of the vast majority of persons even understanding illness or the body. Our work is about filling that gap by using the Arts and Community Driven/Devised strategies for Communication and Knowledge transfer to stimulate these discussions. What happens when Communities, each with its own story, persons, folk lore, arts mediums, dynamic etc... What happens when they drive the agenda. I'm very interested in this and would love to meet like-minded persons and/or forge relationships focused on this divide. I'd be open to a small presentation perhaps." 8,36823,2017-09-22T20:03:36.513Z,36802,anon2954219769,anon1580856632,"Hi @anon1580856632, great! :-) There will be room in the program to self-organise sessions. If you could share your experience during a small presentation/discussion, that'd be awesome. Looking forward to meeting you!" 1,792,2016-10-14T00:10:59.000Z,792,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"When it comes to social care, it is important to create links between the social movements, in a way they continuously support and feed back to each other, finding solutions that are creative, radical and practical at the same time. This is what is happening with a visionary project that is linking alternative and cooperative economy with the needs of refugees in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is a project of a group of people interested in the building of a cooperative economy network, in which I participate as an activist and a researcher of alternative economy. Having completed my PhD in economics in the last spring, I am now interested in continuing research, exploring links between solidarity economy and refugee solidarity movements in wider Greece.  This cooperative project is called ‘Refugees to Refugees (R2R) Solidarity Call Center’ and it is a project run by refugees for fellow refugees. Its objective is to provide information and advice for various kinds of issues related to either transit, temporary stay or settlement of refugees in Thessaloniki, but also in wider Greece. At the same time, through its services, it hopes to create linkages between refugee communities and the wider solidarity movement, in order to break the exclusion and isolation that refugees are feeling, as a result of being crammed in concentration camps. Strong solidarity networks already exist within the cities, in which teams of lawyers, doctors, translators and networks of families offering hospitality in their homes, are offering voluntary support and practical solutions, whenever needed. The project is inspiring in its own right, but what makes it even more important and intriguing, is the fact that it is further linked with the efforts to create a new, fair and solidarity economy on a larger scale. Having such a vision, the group of refugees and solidary comrades that are supporting them on this, have built a collaborative network between the cooperative R2R call center and cooperative grocery stores in the area of Thessaloniki, where the refugee operators of the call center can cover most of their food and other basic needs, using a digital, alternative currency that is called Faircoin. The building of a network of alternative economy is being supported by FairCoop on a global level, and in the area of Thessaloniki it seems to be of special value as it can be directed to service needs of refugees. It is certainly not an easy task to achieve and it requires a lot of networking and cooperation, but already a cooperative store and collectives of producers are participating, while there is interest and plans for more to join very soon. What is also very important is that the cooperative stores participating in this network distribute high quality food products, produced by fellow cooperatives in Greece or imported through fair trade distributions channels. In Thessaloniki and more generally in Greece, there is currently a rise of the cooperative movement, especially as a result of the effects of the ongoing economic crisis, but unfortunately these new initiatives are up to now largely disconnected from each other. To create links between them, means to expand the spaces where solidarity is being practiced, in other words to fill the gaps with ever-increasing solidarity! My role in this project as an activist is to work closely with the group of refugees and locals to support the building of the project which requires a lot of work on communication and cooperation, in order to continue and expand successfully. As an independent researcher, I have presented the results of this ongoing project at a conference in Lesvos and hope to continue documenting its progress as well as to explore other similar initiatives in Greece. One last but very important point is that the funds for this ambitious project are being raised through an international campaign of crowdfunding in both euros and faircoins, which are being used to cover incomes of the refugees working in the project and their home rent. Being a cooperative initiative, this means that all the incomes are being equally distributed among the members, currently four in number, three men from Gambia, Egypt and Morocco, and a woman from Syria. If you would like to support the R2R solidarity call center and at the same time help expand the bridges between the refugee solidarity movement and the solidarity economy movement, please consider to donate using our ‘coopfunding’ platform or share about the project with your solidarity networks! If you work with refugees in Greece or other countries, interested in the call center’s services or interested in building similar initiatives in the countries where they live, please share the phone line’s number and communication e-mail! Photo credits: Maria Orfanou   Call center tel: 0030 23111 80903  E-mail: Greece@anon Web: Callcenter.coop Facebook: Refugees to Refugees R2R Solidarity Call Center                             " 2,9184,2016-10-14T15:00:12.000Z,792,anon1526983854,anon1270892108,"R2R! Great stuff, @anon The Jungle behaves the way it does because it is not an official camp. It's more like a favela: the first stop in a migrant's social journey, which mostly goes upwards in the social ladder. So, refugees are more free to cooperate, R2R, then they would be in an official camp. Their anon1056199097nuity and skills come into play: they make their own lives better, and become empowered at the same time. Your own story, it seems, goes much in the same direction.  " 3,15996,2016-10-15T14:12:12.000Z,792,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"Thanx for pointing out these beautiful articles @anon In all these places, it was very encouraging to see what can be achieved when determination of refugees and solidarity from activists/volunteers is combined in a self-organised and impulsive way. In the informal PIKPA camp in Lesvos for example, refugees create beautiful, colourful bags from discarded, life-jacket materials and are also planning to distribute them abroad. There is many hopeful examples of such great initiatives in Greece and other countries and I am sure they will multiply as refugees are settling for a longer-time period in their new living places. What seems to be important right now, in order to make all this effort more meaningful and useful, is to move further from just providing for the basic needs to create structures of solidarity and cooperation that can provide more sustainable solutions and allow people to take care of themselves and feel empowered. This is a big challenge that lies ahead but we should start thinking this way if we want to make a real change to both their lives and ours. " 4,17769,2016-10-15T13:00:36.000Z,15996,anon1491650132,anon1270892108,"Timely roles for Network connectors, documenters, researchers Great story, Christine! I find it so useful to see people like you, Alex, @anon " 5,18497,2016-10-15T20:29:44.000Z,17769,anon4074474473,anon1491650132,"Thank you for the encouragement! I'm working on my article these days, so I'm a little bit (more) buzy! I'm glad to know about R2R. I didn't know about this project. I'll be in touch! " 6,19368,2016-10-15T19:02:35.000Z,15996,anon1526983854,anon1270892108,"What?!? ""In the informal PIKPA camp in Lesvos for example, refugees create beautiful, colourful bags from discarded, life-jacket materials and are also planning to distribute them abroad."" Do you have more information about this story, @anon " 7,19463,2016-10-16T08:53:29.000Z,19368,anon4074474473,anon1526983854,"I think there are many projects @anon http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/2016/06/16/koinonia-sosivia-prosfyges-_n_10483414.html " 8,19544,2016-10-18T10:10:38.000Z,19368,anon1270892108,anon1526983854,"Glad you find this interesting I am glad you find this project interesting @anon " 9,19561,2016-10-15T20:49:12.000Z,15996,anon4074474473,anon1270892108,"Thanx for sharing @anon " 10,19572,2016-10-18T10:28:58.000Z,19561,anon1270892108,anon4074474473,"This is great Aravella This is great @anon " 11,19577,2016-10-18T11:08:21.000Z,19572,anon4074474473,anon1270892108,"Great! See you soon! " 12,19582,2016-10-18T13:35:06.000Z,19561,anon1526983854,anon4074474473,"And do not forget about us :-) It's lovely to see you ""next door neighbours"" connect in the context of a global community! Let's stay in touch, though, there are many people in the Edgeryders community, all over Europe, trying to help out, healing our ailing societies. @anon " 13,19583,2016-10-18T15:02:16.000Z,19582,anon4074474473,anon1526983854,"Literally next door! Me, @anon " 14,19584,2016-10-18T15:23:18.000Z,19583,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,":-) I am so looking forward to meeting you all ! " 15,19585,2016-11-25T12:47:52.000Z,19583,anon477123739,anon4074474473,"Visiting in Janon169343781ary @anon I am planning on coming to Thessalonki in the middle of Janon169343781ary. (15th-19th) Part of the trip will be touch volunteers and get to know what is being done there by Help Refugees (who i worked with in Calais this year). I'd also love to meet up with you and see your projects. If anyone has any suggestions for cheap places to stay whilst we're out there please let me know. " 16,19586,2016-11-26T20:08:06.000Z,19585,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Feeling inspired to join. Between Natalia having gone this summer, @anon " 17,19587,2016-11-26T23:06:37.000Z,19586,anon1270892108,anon1491650132,"You are welcome @anon " 18,19588,2016-11-26T23:04:02.000Z,19585,anon1270892108,anon477123739,"Great news @anon " 19,19589,2016-10-19T00:07:36.000Z,19582,anon1270892108,anon1526983854,"for sure, let's keep in touch everyone! " 20,19593,2016-10-16T06:57:19.000Z,15996,anon477123739,anon1270892108,"Thank you Many thanks for the kind words @anon It's interesting also that it made you think of camps at places like Idomeni. The team who manage the warehouse in Calais and do a lot of the groundwork on the Jungle camp is led by the British charity organisation HelpRefugees. They also did a lot of work in Idomeni during the last year as well.  I believe they have now moved their operations in Greece to Thessaloniki, so perhaps you have come across them and their team members? I saw that they recently opened a new distribution warehouse there. I have been talking to their team and i'm trying to find a time in early Janon169343781ary when i can come out to Greece and talk to them/see what they are doing there. I hope that during this time i might also be able to meet some of the great people and organisations that have shared their stories on Edgeryders (@anon " 21,19594,2016-10-18T10:56:49.000Z,19593,anon1270892108,anon477123739,"Good to hear about HelpRefugees and to have you here in Greece @anon It will be great also to have you here in Greece! Please let me know when this happens and I will arrange to meet you with our group in order to share our experiences and other valuable information. " 22,21134,2016-10-15T18:34:40.000Z,792,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"Great inspiring stories Dear @anon " 23,24568,2016-10-18T07:06:58.000Z,792,anon1932026148,anon1270892108,"love it I find this a very hopeful story 1) because of the involvement of refugees themselves - it is so empowering to be able to do something to improve your life, to have work, to have a life, an income and to be part of a community 2) because of the 'amplification' factor - you put a lot of energy in connecting different initiatives and projects and that is what we need to create general and global change thx anon1932026148 from traumatour (soon in thessaloniki)     " 24,25250,2016-10-18T11:18:26.000Z,24568,anon1270892108,anon1932026148,"Thanx Ybe, i agree @anon1932026148 thanks for your kind words, i agree with what you are saying about these two factors and this is what i tried to highlight in my article! Your traumatour project also seems super interesting and it is very exciting to see that more people are planning to visit Thessaloniki with their projects in the future! I am in contact with people working in alternative health and spiritual health projects here in Greece so I could put you in contact with them, if you are interested. " 25,25462,2016-10-19T00:16:31.000Z,792,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"great Your plans sound great, let's speak again closer to the time that you come and see which groups/places/people you are interested in meeting here related to your project. Your services could be very beneficial to refugees so we can get you in contact with groups working with refugees or the social solidarity clinic of Thessaloniki which is another great initiative working on a community voluntary basis. " 26,26053,2016-10-19T14:30:31.000Z,792,anon281534083,anon1270892108,"""solidarity"" This is a fascinating project.  I have alerted a close friend, an American journalist who has done important radio and print reporting on the refugees in Greece, to come have a look at this topic becfause of this specific project and because of the networking going on in this conversation. One question: by ""solidarity"" do you mean a formal association or something more loosely arranged through a kind of self-identification? " 27,27821,2017-05-24T01:00:09.000Z,792,anon1790353549,anon1270892108,"glad to learn about R2R concept. It is a beautiful way of reaching out to the world and letting people know how , living in a confined environment(camps) can be challenging.If we are  our brothers and sisters keepers, then we will make out time from our very busy schedule to donate and help millions in those camps. He cared enough to share this story, so please y'all, return the favor by giving whch will go a long way of changing a life. "" sharing is caring"", Giving is transforming and investing in other peoples lives.The best investment, is in the life of another human being. Thanks for sharing " 28,29081,2017-06-02T19:27:47.000Z,792,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"About solidarity Hey @anon281534083 and @anon " 29,33434,2016-10-18T11:25:10.000Z,25250,anon1932026148,anon1270892108,"yes please ! I would like to have some more contacts in Thessaloniki; I still have room in my agenda (december) to help a couple of organisations f.ex with trauma info sessions for the helpers (basic trauma information, interventions and exercises) or by helanon3606750899g develop on ongoing 'how-to-cope-with-trauma-practice, or... thx, anon1932026148 " 30,36740,2017-09-21T09:11:49.556Z,792,anon4201383930,anon1270892108,"@anon1270892108 I enjoyed reading your article. FB suggested this competition when I shared it. http://innovateforrefugees.mitefarab.org/en/site/index I thought maanon1932026148 volunteers and refugees can work on develoanon3606750899g solutions for problems they are facing together, and participate with a chance to win. And now what? After almost one year. @anon4074474473 @anon477123739" 1,737,2016-09-09T08:04:24.000Z,737,anon4074474473,anon4074474473,"In August 2015, as the first large anon3003844599s of refugees started landing on the Greek shores and stuck along the border of Idomeni, I started this initiative of collecting and filling backpacks with first need items for refugees. At first, this has started very modestly, with a few friends organizing clothing donations through the Facebook https://www.facebook.com/%CE%A3%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%A0%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%86%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BDBackpacks-for-the-RefugeesSolutions-for-Homeless-148172338861553/?ref=bookmarks . At the beginning, I wasn’t expending such a big response to my call, but volunteers -known and unknown- started visiting my clothing shop in Thessaloniki, bringing clothes and helanon3606750899g out to fill in the backpacks. Within two months, this action spread virally all over Greece. Over time, I networked with other grassroots initiatives active in refugee care, such as the Alternative Immigrant Centre of Thessaloniki (@anon I have learned to live with the dynamics, and I started helanon3606750899g out at Oikopolis, to create a clothing storage, explaining an internationally used methodology of inventorying, so refugees were able to serve themselves on their own. This system still works, where refugees can come, try and take the clothes they need for free. While continuing to work with clothes, I now focus on providing school items for children and the campaign has shifted focus. From just catering for refugees, we also provide care for native homeless people. Through a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/519478964902645/, we are trying to organize volunteers who adopt the schooling needs/items of children in need. These needs may be covered through a donation of items or money, and this is open to everyone. So far, the stock gathered so far through donations, is enough for about 250 kids. In parallel, I am organizing seminars and crash courses on repairing clothes and upcycling old objects to create, for example, pencil boxes. There is another task, which is more time-consuming and complex, in terms of research. I'm in the team-building process that will eventually become a non-profit legal entity, to develop a Handbook for the Management of Material and Resources, in cases of emergency. For example, due to my professional background, I know how to sort and store thousands of clothing items. Somebody else might have other skills. This is also connected with the sharing of knowledge of alternative treatments, practices or hacks, that might offer cheap and practical solutions to people in need. For example, using cocoa powder as a shampoo, or other uses of baking  soda, salt, etc. I come from Thessaloniki, and my ancestors were refugees. Initially, the response from my immediate environment has been disappointing. My job is in the clothing sector, however, being an elected Municipal Councillor at the City of Thessaloniki, people know my public activity so it was easy to build trust. Furthermore, I am sitting at the Management Board to the Municipal TV100 station. Having many contacts with journalists helped to communicate the action widely. All this combined has resulted in the massive spontaneous response of a community of 1500 citizens from all walks of life. Including people from Europe and the US, who donated waterproof jackets and blankets. As s municipal councilor, I am in contact with local authorities. Sadly the Municipality responded very poorly, compared to what it could do. Same goes with the Ministry of Immigration Policy. We talked to the consultants, they appreciated our effort, but there was no practical result. Unfortunately, the public sentiment is negative. Mass media shape the oanon3606750899ion that the refugees stopped crossing borders, so people believe that they stopped coming. Others falsely believe that refugees are to blame for anything wrong. And since the beginning of the summer, most volunteers disappeared. This has, inevitably, resulted in a fatigue in the area of refugee care. Nevertheless, I have no other option but continue. I wish to launch a crowdsourcing campaign, so the venture can continue. I imagine of a list of people with different skills, who -in the case of need- will be ready to take up a certain role. A type of inventory of what human assets exist and what everyone can contribute. " 2,7782,2016-09-16T20:35:27.000Z,737,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,"hello, maanon1932026148 I can be of help for the chapter 'how to cope with emotional/mental suffering' in your handbook. In fact, I plan coming to greece with my Trauma Tour Bus - providing trauma information and therapy, and also 'help for the helpers' - we need to take care of our own energy and ressources too... Take a look at my website and contact me if you think we can work together. " 3,11310,2016-09-14T19:59:10.000Z,7782,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"@anon1932026148 thank you for your interest! I' d like to know more about your work but there something wrong with the link. Could you repeat it?   " 4,12428,2016-09-14T20:04:24.000Z,11310,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,"here's the link again www.traumatour.eu " 5,12889,2016-09-15T19:57:38.000Z,12428,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"@anon1932026148 thank you! I'll be back soon! " 6,13540,2016-09-20T13:55:23.000Z,7782,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"When will you visit us? @anon1932026148 I'd like to know when will you visit Greece. I think it will be helpfull for the team.  " 7,13721,2016-09-20T18:25:43.000Z,13540,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,"december 2016 / Janon169343781ary 2017 @anon       " 8,13785,2016-09-23T19:57:24.000Z,13721,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"Perfect! @anon1932026148 hope to see you soon! " 9,13827,2016-09-24T09:16:22.000Z,13721,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Make sure you guys keep us in the loop! We all stand to learn much from @anon1932026148 's visit to @anon " 10,13832,2016-09-24T12:11:10.000Z,13827,anon1932026148,anon1526983854,"I'll keep you posted ! I'll keep you posted :-) . I may be going to Calais as well - via Alex Levene, keep you posted on that too.   " 11,13835,2016-09-24T17:47:00.000Z,13832,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Fantastic! We stand ready to diffuse your posts in the Edgeryders network, @anon1932026148 – and we would be happy to host them, if you do not have a blog of your own. " 12,13837,2016-09-24T17:52:00.000Z,13835,anon1932026148,anon1526983854,"I have a blog on my website. What is easiest to do for you to spread the news? What do you need from me? Bloglinks? Newsletter subscription? I blog ca. once a week, newsletter is more like once a month. And on twitter we're already connected :)) " 13,14969,2016-09-14T06:47:38.000Z,737,anon1491650132,anon4074474473,"Hang in there @anon I realise it's a lot to expect though, I imagine coanon3606750899g with an unpredictable situation already takes a lot of effort.  I remember @anon " 14,17482,2016-09-14T21:13:48.000Z,14969,anon4074474473,anon1491650132,"@anon At the moment I'm focus to create a solidarity net that can be prepared for crises. In this network everybody could have a role that can ""play"" in case of emergency. Also a survival handbook with forgotten or unknown tips and tricks that can solve problems in such crises. Especially for clothing, I 'm trying to solve the problem with an idea called ""smart boxes"" (difficult to explain at the moment). I don' t know if there's something out there that can help. This is why I'm here... " 15,18433,2016-09-16T10:28:08.000Z,17482,anon1526983854,anon4074474473,"Teaching each other how to respond Wow, @anon
At the moment I'm focus to create a solidarity net that can be prepared for crises. In this network everybody could have a role that can ""play"" in case of emergency. Also a survival handbook with forgotten or unknown tips and tricks that can solve problems in such crises.
In the language we use here in Edgeryders, you are working on a community and documentation for it to operate on common knowledge. There are also opencare's main elements. This is the community equivalent of what venture capitalists call ""scaling"". You extend your reach, but without large money investment and unwieldy hierarchies.  Maanon1932026148 someone's already asked, but... there is a chance we might help you get funding for your initiative (if that's what you need). We are working on a sort of collective proposal, where the proponent is not just us, but a whole ""smart swarm"" of grassroots initiatives like yours. More information is here.  " 16,19161,2016-09-16T11:07:28.000Z,17482,anon1491650132,anon4074474473,"I understand What you say makes complete sense: at the end of the day you have a major crisis and not enough professionals anyway to deal with it. So, large mobilization doing suboptimal work is still better than the alternative of not helanon3606750899g or having enough help. @anon " 17,19203,2016-09-16T20:30:14.000Z,19161,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"""So, large mobilization doing suboptimal work is still better than the alternative of not helanon3606750899g or having enough help"" this is definitely the case at the Calais camp " 18,19220,2016-09-17T09:49:38.000Z,19203,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Suboptimality @anon " 19,19222,2016-09-20T16:57:44.000Z,19220,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Will think and post here I think there's a lot to be said about suboptimality when it come to care and response. I will have a think and put some words together for you. " 20,19227,2016-09-27T15:39:14.000Z,19222,anon477123739,anon477123739,"So i've been thinking a little about this` Just a few thoughts on suboptimality to hopefully drive the discussion around this topic. It is the case from Alberto's comment that ""fast, messy, large scale response has to be stopped. Citizens are told to stay home, stay out of the way as the professionals dust off their contanon1056199097ncy plans"" It seems that this is true in cases where: a) a contanon1056199097ncy plan already exists (e.g. Earthquake in Nepal, Disaster Relief in Sub-Saharan Africa) The above examples are plans for disasters that occur frequently and regularly in places that share a geographic similarity or border. It would seem logical to expect that, for example, a disaster relief plan for helanon3606750899g people in Nepal would also be of use if a similar problem occurred in Kashmir, or Bhutan. Since similar types of disaster are likely to occur in those place it makes sense to defer to NGOs on the ground in those areas. But, in order for us to 'leave it to the professional' there have to be NGO's willing, and able to step into that role in the space. What has happened in Greece and Calais is we have seen NGOs step up initially, but then step back from the problem. Often because they cannot work with the changing political situation. I am thinking here of MSF pulling out of Lesvos after the EU-Turkey repatriation deal occurred. (http://www.msf.org.uk/article/why-is-msf-closing-its-moria-project-on-lesvos) The French government's reluctance to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Calais camp has created a vacuum. So, NGOs have struggled to work in that area. Because they cannot work under license, they cannot reduce the suffering there, except on a micro scale. Perhaps the idea of sub-optimality in the system comes back to a wider idea. One that is floating around in other areas of the site, that of 'unlicensed behavior'. Once an organisation or NGO becomes 'legitimate', it tends to deal with Governments. It starts to operate at a higher level politically. This brings with it more constraints on the way it can act (at least overtly). It becomes more constrained to do things 'the correct way' and less able to focus on doing what is required. When there isn't a precident for dealing with a disaster on the scale or in that location two options remain. Either improvise or adapt. Both options work with sub-optimality from different directions.  The NGO is most likely to adapt. They will find solutions used in other areas, or to address different problems, and adapt them to the new situation. These solutions are 'tried and tested' and so they can point to evidence that shows where they have worked in the past. The NGO avoids looking bad if this approach fails, because they can show ways it has worked before. Their cultural and political capital stays strong and they can work on a new response in the long term. I expect that the lessons learned by MSF et al during this decade's refugee crisis in Europe will lead to contanon1056199097ncy plans that will be used around the globe in the future. They struggle to deal with the problem in real time though. At the other end the improviser continually adapts what they are doing to try new solutions. They are willing to try anything. They are willing to fail because they have no social or political capital to diminish, except with the people they work with directly. This means they do not provide a consistent service, but they can evolve new solutions quickly through ongoing prototypes. They risk creating failures, but know that they will move on to another possibility the next day. This behaviour can be seen in the citizen organised projects in Calais and Greece. What is required is a way of feeding the experiences and innovation prototyped by the improvised, citizen-led organisation into the institutional learning of NGOs " 21,19228,2016-11-03T13:15:55.000Z,19220,anon784612129,anon1526983854,"Nepal ought to be a good case They ran the SOPs (but did not factor in that Nepal is hard to get to/around in) so a lot of dogs were flown in to look for people under the rubble who had mostly perished by the time the dogs came. While they were walking their dogs in Kathmandu you really needed water treatment - absence of which can quickly lead to a loss of life that drawfs the ones they might have pulled from the rubble. Fortunately that did come before epidemics happened. At the same time citizens were either sitting under tarps in the rain, complaining about a lack of water (while not catching the rainwater!), or standing in very long lines at the government water truck that could only serve 1 person at a time because no one had thought of a manifold. " 22,19229,2016-11-03T22:46:20.000Z,19228,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"This is why it needs to press the smart mode button. " 24,21911,2016-09-23T00:19:23.000Z,20496,anon1491650132,,"Who then takes care of the volunteers? @anon " 26,22795,2016-09-23T14:08:42.000Z,22549,anon1491650132,,"I see.. Can't disagree with what you write @anon " 27,24150,2016-09-15T20:26:25.000Z,737,anon4074474473,anon4074474473,"A good idea! @anon Thank you! " 28,26039,2016-10-17T09:49:23.000Z,737,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,"would like to fix date(s) @anon contact me by mail anon1932026148@anon thx - I look forward meeting you! " 29,26954,2016-11-03T21:54:07.000Z,26039,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Exciting! It's great to see you ladies @anon1932026148 and @anon " 30,27641,2016-11-03T22:39:48.000Z,26039,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"No problem! Anytime it;s ok! aravellasalonik@anon " 31,34648,2017-08-24T10:25:26.112Z,19227,anon3560946760,anon477123739,"so i'm coming to this a little late. disaster studies takes the approach that no disaster is man made. border situations often lead to a denial of responsibility by the state player. i wonder what you oanon3606750899ions are on how to adapt to anti-solidarity laws that make humanitarian aid into organised crime. sort of gangs of care and fair treatment. The informal networks that have emerge in France, Italy, Macedonia and Bulgaria are definitely ""sub optimal"". but if we look less at efficiency and towards effect. lots of important work is still done. although ngos cant always operate in these places as hubs of learning and upskilling that can be used in other contexts." 32,34734,2017-08-25T16:39:17.195Z,34648,anon1526983854,anon3560946760,"Hello @anon3560946760, nice to meet you – I don't think we have ""spoken"" before. Can you say more on the anti-solidarity laws you mention? I have read about the controversial code of conduct that the Italian government wants NGO to sign, but am not familiar with the situation in Greece." 33,34768,2017-08-26T09:34:50.896Z,34734,anon3560946760,anon1526983854,"I don't know much of the Greek situation. No anti solidarity laws to the best of my knowledge. Italy runs a humanitarian corridor many through massive NGOs like red cross who run the camps. Anti solidarity ordances are passed by the local governance against individuals sharing food etc. Permits can be difficult for small NGOs to get. It varies across Italy. Migrants complain about it as a form of segregation. Serbia doesn't enforce its anti solidarity. Laws on EU passport holders. Charities can get permits but limited in number. A lot of people still publicly flaunting laws. Generally without consequence. Hungary and Poland both have laws on books more hostile climate. Both migrants and supporters crimalised. Macadonia super server all but largest NGOs refused. ""Talking to the blacks is unacceptable"" can result In expulsion or charges." 34,34769,2017-08-26T09:43:30.895Z,34768,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"Anti solidarity laws and the detention crisis are a new jim crow. They foster a lack of understanding and climates of violence long term . The argument that helanon3606750899g them only encourages them is used repeatedly. In the words of martin Luther king Rights delayed are rights denied." 35,36365,2017-09-15T20:49:39.519Z,737,anon4074474473,anon4074474473,"[quote=""anon3560946760, post:34, topic:704, full:true""] Anti solidarity laws and the detention crisis are a new jim crow. They foster a lack of understanding and climates of violence long term . The argument that helanon3606750899g them only encourages them is used repeatedly. In the words of martin Luther king Rights delayed are rights denied. [/quote] Hi, fellows! Sorry for this delay. I' m out of the grid for a long time and i've lost the thread i think. Nice to meet you @anon3560946760. (It's not the right topic but i'm trying hard all these months but now i see is impossible to participate at OpenVillage in October. Anyway, next time!). About the anti-solidarity laws here in Greece, we do have problem. The transportation is illegal and many people have had problems and also arrested because they helped refugees to go ...somewhere anywhere. We also have had problems when sharing food but police wasn't always very strict. Now everything is under control at the camps but there are many ways for the individuals to help without problems." 36,36389,2017-09-16T11:08:25.922Z,36365,anon1526983854,anon4074474473,"[quote=""anon4074474473, post:35, topic:704""] now i see is impossible to participate at OpenVillage in October. Anyway, next time!) [/quote] What a shame @anon4074474473! Next time, indeed. :slight_smile:" 37,36482,2017-09-17T20:45:58.715Z,36389,anon4074474473,anon1526983854,"What a pity I should say! ""Cosmus diy"" team (and our space) is not ready yet. Two months of bureaucracy but now we became an association officially." 38,36483,2017-09-17T21:24:37.783Z,36482,anon1526983854,anon4074474473,"Well done. Keep us in the loop, please!" 39,36485,2017-09-17T21:42:31.045Z,737,anon4074474473,anon4074474473,"Till now I focused to build the team and our meeting place. I think next month we will be ready to announce our first projects. And of course, to introduce you new members... :slight_smile:" 40,36637,2017-09-19T19:20:02.213Z,36365,anon4201383930,anon4074474473,Why and when they passed these laws? 41,36650,2017-09-19T21:44:56.235Z,36637,anon4074474473,anon4201383930,"Sometimes are not laws exactly, but orders. These orders maanon1932026148 are against a law but it's too late when you prove it." 1,35325,2017-09-03T16:24:52.177Z,35325,anon3341622463,anon3341622463," _“People who have allergies or sensitivities to certain food additives should check labels carefully.”_ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/food-additives/en/[text-direction=rtl] [/text-direction]
Allergo Kì is a project developed in the frame of [MIR](http://wemake.cc/category/mir/) (Maker In Residence) activity for opencare at WeMake. A team of designers came out with a project for a round display designed for restaurants to represent allergies to food and customers needs in case they are allergic to specific kind of food. After the post called [AllergoKi | Agile kick off at WeMake](https://legacy.edgeryders.eu/en/allergoki-agile-kick-off-at-wemake), on july 31st a post titled [Allergo Kì | User journey experience, interviews and prototyanon3606750899g](https://edgeryders.eu/t/allergo-ki-user-journey-experience-interviews-and-prototyanon3606750899g/6603) was published. Then a post about [Allergo Kì | How to represent allergens with icons](https://edgeryders.eu/t/allergo-ki-how-to-represent-allergens-with-icons/6615) describing the study on the icons, and on august 10th a post named [Allergies challenging restaurants by open design](https://edgeryders.eu/t/allergies-challenging-restaurants-by-open-design/6605/2) followed, deepening on some social critical aspects about the situation allergic people must face if they decide to lunch in a restaurant. What is really of concern here is the attention to this topic given by people involved or simply interested in opencare represented by a quite above average numbers of [reads](https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare?order=views). Following Allergo Kì team vision we should develop and disseminate new ways and artifacts to bypass classifications (i.e. socially defined differences) about our daily lives, bodies, disorders and habits. In the case of food allergies the usual and social representation tells about people with food allergies as exceptions of the tacit and shared rule about what should be eaten in a restaurant and how we should behave as “paying eaters”. We can eat hindi, japanese, italian, tex mex, fast food, but what about serious global issues about food instead of laypeople geography represented by the restaurants? Fast food restaurants are said to be global, but what about global issues about their food when customers ask for a lunch without onion (Star, 1990)? Moreover, it is a real contradiction between health global issues and how restaurants shape customers when we pass from the view in the food industry to the one shared by the World Health Organization tells about something that sounds like: we have on one side the “normal” people, while on the other “those who cannot eat this or should check labels carefully”. Food allergy is a rising global health problem and, as reported on the White Book on Allergy (WAO, 2013), it was in 2013 a problem for 240 million people up to 550 million. In Europe (Mills, et al., 2007) numbers are also impressive and count between 11 and 26 million people interested by the problem. These statistics are of course not updated and the situation might have become much critical. There is concern about GM foods (FAO, 2001). The same White Book includes in the key statements about food allergies: the issue of quality of life of sufferers (mainly children) and the need for advocacy of “stakeholders” that “must be prepared to meet the needs of patients by enhancing the diagnostic process, the traceability of responsible foods, and the availability of substitute foods, assisting hospitalized patients, and preventing mortality” (p.54). Although labelling such people as patients, the problem is tangible in the healthcare world, but less outside and in the wide social context of food industry and restaurants where it is still considered a sort of exception that may not occur in the daily work routine while is about a growing percentage of possibile customers. Read more about Allergo Kì challenge: [https://legacy.edgeryders.eu/en/allergoki](https://legacy.edgeryders.eu/en/allergoki) FAO 2001 “Evaluation of Allergenicity of Genetically Modified Foods” Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Allergenicity of Foods Derived from Biotechnology 22 – 25 Janon169343781ary [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y0820e/y0820e00.pdf](ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y0820e/y0820e00.pdf) Mills EN, Mackie AR, Burney P, Beyer K, Frewer L, Madsen C, Botjes E, Crevel RW, van Ree R. 2007 “The prevalence, cost and basis of food allergy across Europe”. Allergy. 62: 717-22 Star, SL 1990 “Power, Technology and the Phenomenology of Conventions: On being Allergic to Onions”, The Sociological Review, 38: 26-56 WAO 2013 White Book on Allergy, http://www.worldallergy.org/wao-white-book-on-allergy" 2,35813,2017-09-08T15:38:35.997Z,35325,anon2066188386,anon3341622463,"Does anyone have thoughts on why Allergies are rising throughout the world? As well as following new ""treatments"" for addressing it? Been following a UK firm Circassia for a while now. They had a couple projects in the pipeline for years, but I don't think any have made it to market. http://www.circassia.com/pipeline/ Not much else though, so it seems that most industry don't see a profitable realm outside of symptom mitigation. Which is telling because it might mean that allergies are more misunderstood than we are led to believe. Is it the food itself that is causing the reaction, or was it the processing of it? Or some sort of combination of other environmental factors... I don't know. Could it have to do with Western diet habits, the 3 meals a day routine, mostly processed carbs, no fasting, lack of short chain fats. Inflammation within the body could be addressed through diet and other lifestyle changes, and dosages of offending molecules aren't well understood either. Apologies for the rambling. Allergies are definitely something I think about since I got tested 3 years ago in the USA with the prick test. The results came back that I was literally allergic to everything, Grass, Dust, Pollen, other stuff I don't even remember. My arms were all hives. Fast forward a couple years, through some changes in lifestyle, I actually have mitigated many of the symptoms. Anecdotal, but I'm very skeptical now of medical establishment's ability to dictate what is ailing us, and more importantly, what are some solutions..." 3,35837,2017-09-08T21:24:35.132Z,35813,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"[quote=""anon2066188386, post:2, topic:6887""] Does anyone have thoughts on why Allergies are rising throughout the world? As well as following new ""treatments"" for addressing it? [/quote] Could it be heightened awareness leading to more complete reporting, like with sexual harassment? In my lifetime (I am 51) the air, water and food have become much cleaner and healthier, if anything. [quote=""anon2066188386, post:2, topic:6887""] Not much else though, so it seems that most industry don't see a profitable realm outside of symptom mitigation [/quote] Well, yes. That's a great business model. As long as people never heal, the money keeps rolling in." 4,36215,2017-09-14T15:18:55.093Z,35325,anon2066188386,anon3341622463,"[quote=""anon1526983854, post:3, topic:6887""] Could it be heightened awareness leading to more complete reporting, like with sexual harassment? In my lifetime (I am 51) the air, water and food have become much cleaner and healthier, if anything. anon2066188386: [/quote] WOW, that's really interesting. This is gonna keep me up. In the US, we assume that thinks are on constant decline... Never framed it this way. (I'm a youngin')" 5,36275,2017-09-14T20:58:10.349Z,36215,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"[quote=""anon2066188386, post:4, topic:6887""] Never framed it this way. [/quote] You know, I grew up in an industrial town in Northern Italy, during boom times. Full employment, high growth, the works. The town is called Sassuolo: it was then, and still is, the world capital of ceramic tile production. At the time, it served 40% of the _world market_ in ceramic tiles. Ceramic tiles are a support of clay which gets sprayed with a kind of paint called glaze. The whole thing is then baked at high temperatures ( ~ 1,000 C°). The glaze vitrifies, and the tile becomes chemically inert. Glazes, however, often contain heavy metals to make pretty colours and aesthetic effects on the finished tile. This stuff was liberally sprayed in the air in manon169343781facturing plants, where it entered the lungs, skinpores and bloodstream of workers. One of these metals was lead. Once in your bloodstream, lead stays there forever. It can even be transmitted from mother to foetus. When I was 6, in 1972, someone discovered that 12% of elementary school kids had ""too much"" lead in their bloodstream. There was a major scandal. I remember that teams of doctors and nurses would come to our schools (very basic back then, we had no infirmaries etc..) and take blood samples from all the kids. Walls were black with dusts. Most of it was just clay (but even chemically inert PM10s are dangerous, as we now know). It was a hideous place. My mother and one of my sister still live there. It's unrecognizable now. Environmental regulation got the best of all that stuff. With time, they put in a park or two and prettified at least the town center." 6,36557,2017-09-18T16:43:52.094Z,36275,anon2066188386,anon1526983854,"[quote=""anon1526983854, post:5, topic:6887""] My mother and one of my sister still live there. It's unrecognizable now. Environmental regulation got the best of all that stuff. With time, they put in a park or two and prettified at least the town center. [/quote] Yeah, really interesting. Growing up in Shanghai and Hsinchu, Taiwan, I remember when I moved around Asia and seeing yearly changes from green environments to concrete ones, so I had this framework of going the other way, haha. And my limited experience in around the satellite towns around Kampala, Uganda. Seeing pictures of what was and the present severe desertification. I'll never see ceramic the same way again." 7,36644,2017-09-19T20:06:21.661Z,36557,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,":smile: Ceramic is superclean now, at least in Sassuolo. The big push started in the late 60s, and was complete by the late 80s. But the boom years were a mess." 1,35958,2017-09-11T02:16:27.288Z,35958,anon2700952829,anon2700952829,"Members of School of Apocalypse would be thrilled to join OpenCare at the OpenVillage Festival -- we believe we walking a parallel path ... here's a bit on what we could offer: **Title** Here you Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space **Abstract** How do we come to understand space through bodily experiences? How does the environment we build shape the way we feel and interact? This interactive session explores the ways that architecture shapes our physical, social, emotional bodies. In offering a series of exercises designed to help us reclaim our right to behave and move freely in the spaces we inhabit, this work aims to innovate the vocabulary for embodied architecture that sensitize us to our surroundings. **About School of Apocalypse** School of Apocalypse (SoA) examines the connections between creative practice and notions of survival. In light of growing cultural, ecological and technological phenomena that challenge basic assumptions about human existence, SoA offers courses and programming that seek to develop new modes of inquiry and apply broader levels of experience to intellectual investigation. SoA has no fixed definition of survival, but engages with the fundamental questions that the themes provoke. We understand the creative potential of a school to be a space in which shared experience generates deeper insights and can lead to alternative cultural systems. The school invites a range of thinkers, artists and scientists to present programming on related themes. Subjects of study are theoretical as well as hands on, and emphasize the integration of observational and material practices found in mystical traditions, creative modalities and scientific field work. **Workshop Description** Space has a strong impact on the ways our bodies move. It’s design is rarely arbitrary, and yet its power over us so often remains invisible. The presenters offer a series of instructions to explore any space with our bodies in order not to fall victim to mindless obedience within it. The group has produced a soundtrack and manon169343781al that can be used by anyone at anytime to investigate the ways in which architecture and the environment influence the body and vice versa. Expanding the vocabulary used to describe this experience can then enable us to have productive conversations about the power of our surroundings and designing to optimize agency. This session explores different ways of learning, helanon3606750899g participants widen their awareness and expand their openness to the inputs of the world around us. The body is an exceptional vessel to receive and inform the wisdoms of space. **Participant Engagement** Workshop participants will have the opportunity to engage both mentally and physically throughout the session. The workshop is constructed in three parts. In part one, the presenters will introducing the goal of the group’s work - to better understand and more actively engage with the ways that space impacts the body, and vice versa. The facilitators will provide context and case studies for the this research, and will then share their research methodology. Part two will give workshop participants the opportunity to enact the research. A fifteen- or thirty-minute audio piece will guide the workshop facilitators and participants alike through a series of prompts and sounds which will expose the ways in which the space that contains this very workshop provides the groundwork for certain kinds of thought patterns, behaviors, and experiences. (Here is the link to a 5-minute version of the audio piece: https://soundcloud.com/bodiesintersectbuildings). During part three, participants will discuss the ways in which the soundtrack, and the ideas presented over the course of the workshop, were and were not effective in growing awareness and interest in sensitizing their given professional fields to the body. All participants will leave the workshop with a manon169343781al entitled “Here You Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space.” Till soon! Eugenia Manwelyan Choreographer, Ecologist, Founding Faculty of School of Apocalypse" 2,36101,2017-09-12T18:49:48.834Z,35958,anon1526983854,anon2700952829,"Hello Eugenia, thanks for the proposal! You certainly got the name right, @anon2700952829 sounds really intriguing. I am not involved in making the program, but just wanted to give you a shout out for the creativity. I guess @anon3670751854 and @anon" 3,36139,2017-09-13T14:21:35.339Z,36101,anon3670751854,anon1526983854,"Hey welcome to the format! Agreed, definitely on similar paths. The proposal looks great, we're working on finalizing the program by Friday. Especially in regards to the development of the OpenVillage, space truly plays such a pivotal role in how we function in the world. Excited to further develop this all with you." 4,36278,2017-09-14T21:03:29.123Z,35958,anon3670751854,anon2700952829,"@anon2700952829 Thanks for this proposal! We weren't able to include it on the formal presentation, but as you can see from the [Final Program](https://edgeryders.eu/t/final-openvillage-festival-program-released/7105), there will still be time/space for these presentations. We'll talk more over email about other possibilities, and would love to include this work at Woodbine in the future!!!" 5,36629,2017-09-19T16:42:26.174Z,36278,anon2700952829,anon3670751854,Great! We're just finalizing our travel plans -- really looking forward to it! 1,34374,2017-08-15T18:10:08.627Z,34374,anon2066188386,anon2066188386,"Hi Edge Ryders! We were introduced to you guys by the Woodbine Hub in NYC. We wanted to introduce ourselves and hopefully get more involved with this epic OpenCare endeavor. We are eager to learn and share at the same time. Biosphere(x) is a group effort towards permanent culture[s]. A dedicated cadre of people with different histories and common visions, we strategize to leverage existing infrastructures, cutting edge research, obscure histories (from the point of view of our common mother cultures), and practical direct action in order to create new possibilities within the dominant one. With a vision of a world that is better than we found it, we believe it’s imperative to remember the root all problems are social, and they require social solutions to address. In the past couple years, Biosphere(x) has focused in a couple of areas. In our physical practice of Permaculture design, we operate 3 separate sites where we have implement small scale holistic land management. Community food events are also weekly occurrences which range from fermentation parties, spice making, weekly meal preparations. We design and fabricate bespoke tools and structures both out of necessity and principle. Each indoor aquaponics operation and mycelium cultivation system we build and operate provide us with insight for the next iteration. One public facing service we offer through the engineering and fabrication wing of b(x), BxM, is building loft structures for friends and friends of friends. Many of the members of b(x) practice intentional physical movement as a reaction to modern sedentary expectations. This has led to an emergence of weekly calisthenic exercise groups in the various parks of NYC, more focused movement clinics for interested non-Biosphere(x) peoples, and team practice of field tactics. With this non-exhaustive list of programs we aim to maintain a readiness to address uncertainties of the future, as well as stay rooted in the present. It’s evident to us that changes are predicated upon small consistent steps. Between every monthly public facing project are smaller daily practices and rituals. For every harvest there are many sowings, for every skill share there are numerous meal preps. It’s not that we have discovered something new, but more an acknowledgement of the long now. It’s our hope that as a group we will ultimately construct the reality we seek, and be able to be of service to other individuals and groups in a common struggle against industrial complexes and spiritual death. We look forward to interacting with people on here leading up to the OpenCare event. Feel free to reach out to @anon335358890 and I if you guys are in our neck of the woods. More info can be found on our website: www.biospherex.org A" 2,34406,2017-08-15T21:54:56.203Z,34374,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"Welcome, then, @anon2066188386 and @anon335358890. Wow, that seems impressive. I browsed around your website a bit, but of course still have questions! Where can I find more information on BXM, and also on this intentional physical movement you speak about? Background: I am one of the permanent residents of [The Reef](https://edgeryders.eu/t/spawning-the-reef-brussels-re-inventing-communal-working-and-living-again/6239), and we are always looking out for easy, low-effort practices that can improve our long-term health and reduce our environmental footprint. Nothing comprehensive like what you guys do, just small things. Right now @anon1491650132 is spearheading an effort to reduce our use of plastic packaging." 3,34415,2017-08-16T02:44:19.937Z,34406,anon2066188386,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto! BxM, short for benevolentXmachine, is a flexible unincorporated entity (at the moment). It started out as a media production crew, mainly for Hip Hop, but now it's morphed to be hardware oriented. It's not the most streamlined operation, since our members do work full time jobs and we have wide ranging interests, it is being structured so that it can be a serious contanon1056199097nt in the near future for our material needs. The Instagram hasn't been updated in a while, since we aren't very media savvy and have limited bandwidth, but it attempted to document some of our earlier projects. https://www.instagram.com/benevolentxmachine Intentional Movement draws upon the current zeitgeist of self improvement through ""movement"". From more well known public figures like Ido Portal (and the various people that this dude ""took inspiration"" from) to schools body work/ body awareness like the Feldenkrais Method/ Alexander Technique. Personally coming from a Hip Hop/ Bboy Bgirl background, I'm more interested in ""healthspan"" right now. Where it's unusual to be able to live a physical lifestyle in corporate urban environments unless you have a gym membership, I guess our group's fondness for constantly building structures enables us to move around a lot! So we try and train to maintain full mobility to ensure we are able to perform complex duties. You might have seen this on the site already, but here is an example of a some what major build that would double as ""movement"" for us. We would like to make our energy expended translate to actual infrastructure, and not solely lifting heavy weights (which we do sometimes no doubt) https://www.instagram.com/p/BT7v6AHjcii/?taken-by=biosphere.x The Reef's vision sounds mad solid! We are all for physical space which then enables new forms of relations/possibilities. Looking forward to seeing more!" 4,34438,2017-08-16T21:42:19.741Z,34415,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"We do have a common gym membership (cheap in Belgium). The issue is that of motivating each other by sharing activities. Here, we have not been able to go very far. I run; one of my housemates takes long walks. Shared physical activities is an empty set. Maanon1932026148 this problem will be solved by having 20 people in the house instead of five, when it becomes much easier to match your preferences and time availability with those of at least one other person! I did not know Ido Portal. That attitude seems more conducive to art-with-body-as-a-medium than to health care. I'm happy if I can do 30K a week. :slight_smile: If you join us at the festival, come over and I'll show you the Reef prototype!" 5,34454,2017-08-17T13:33:54.766Z,34374,anon2954219769,anon2066188386,"This is super cool, thanks for sharing @anon2066188386 ! The community at our [biohackerspace in Ghent](http://reagentlab.org/) (BE) and in our jobs we're experimenting with many of the same technologies: edible insects, black soldier flies, fungi, aquaponics, ... Always with the idea of connecting waste streams, but it's been too much work to actually keep recycling things on a regular basis. Props to you for taking it on :-). At our popup lab location, some of our friends did build a mushroom hut connected to a small greenhouse for CO2 and O2 exchange. On your website I don't see anything on mycelium materials. Have you looked into that? They're pretty new and still in development, but a fun way to recycle waste into building materials & experimenting. It's one of our [main expertise areas](http://magmanova.com/) and if you're interested, we can share our knowledge on the materials with your community. Some of us are actually heading to New York around 18 September, would be cool to meet up." 6,34460,2017-08-17T13:54:09.697Z,34438,anon2066188386,anon1526983854,"I'm so looking forward to it!! Yeah, movement has become a bit more decoupled from ""productivity"" for my personal liking (though there is a lot of contradictions to unpack there. I'm constantly asking myself, why do I want to move more? to what end? Maanon1932026148 these questions themselves are symptomatic of a culture too obsessed with optimization and ""progress""... but oh well..." 7,34461,2017-08-17T13:55:27.052Z,34454,anon2066188386,anon2954219769,"Most definitely, we definitely got to meet up. We have been messing around with dehydrated lion's mane mycellium. Been shaanon3606750899g them on a CNC machine. Though we would rather eat it! haha. Definitely let's make plans. You are going to tour a couple hacker spaces or what?" 8,34462,2017-08-17T14:21:03.629Z,34460,anon2954219769,anon2066188386,"I was asking the same a few years ago. I used to sport to be more productive in studies, work etc. It does help. And then the same mindset led to a hardline commitment to improve prestations in the sport, always stronger faster and further. Yet then disaster struck and I got dealt several physical and lasting injuries. Now I have to do sports to stay healthy, mainly physically but also mentally. If I quit or have eg. a sprained ankle or a bad cold, I'll be in pain within the month. Though, I actually enjoy it more now. It's a way of staying well and banon3760936673ced physically, which is reflected mentally. I don't really believe in the productivity thing anymore, it doesn't seem sustainable in the long run." 9,34463,2017-08-17T14:26:39.269Z,34461,anon2954219769,anon2066188386,"Oh, cool! I'd also prefer eating. Does eating lion's mane also have the 'coffee effect'? We grew some of them as well with the idea of extracting the active elements, but the guy championing the experiments went inactive before we could. I'll be in Oakland/San Francisco to work with the Open Insulin team at Counter Culture Labs + visiting other hackerspaces from 9-18th and then from 18-26th Boston/New York for the [Biosummit](https://www.biosummit.org/). We land in Boston on the 18th and then plan to take the bus down to NY on the 19th. The conference begins on the 21st, so might take a night bus back. So some time on the 19th or 20th is best. If you've got mushroom spawn and a way to work sterile (+-), we can even do a demo/workshop :-)" 10,34464,2017-08-17T15:07:22.635Z,34463,anon2066188386,anon2954219769,"[quote=""anon2954219769, post:9, topic:6713""] on the 21st, so might take a night bus back. So some time on the 19th or 20th is best. If you've got mushroom spawn and a way to work sterile (+-), we can even do a demo [/quote] Sounds good. I can see what our bandwidth is like at that time, but would be awesome opportunity. @anon335358890 Liz has been commercializing it at the moment: http://mane-tain.com/ Personally I don't feel any stimulating effects like coffee when I consume it. I assume it's a really playing the long game in terms of the nootropic effects (if any). The research seems so suggest it's like some Panacea. I'm a bit more skeptical, but I'm down for a diversity of consumption, so no loss there." 11,34520,2017-08-18T20:58:02.080Z,34463,anon335358890,anon2954219769,"Hi @anon2954219769, I would love to hear more about your projects when you are NYC! Just checked out the link to the biohackerspace in Ghent. Rad! Seems like there is a lot of overlap. I can produce or procure some spawn before you are around and perhaps we could do a little experimenting. I've been using a glove box for my sterile work, which has its limitations, but is adequate for my needs for now. If we are interested in coming up with a demo/workshop during that time, I can find us a space! Let me know. I know this is a workshop people have been interested in... Which materials have you been using with your mycelium structures? The Biosummit looks really cool as well. Looking forward to chatting more!" 12,34528,2017-08-19T18:09:50.271Z,34520,anon2954219769,anon335358890,"Hi @anon335358890 ! The substrate we usually use is hennep, shredded straw or beech. Supplemented with spent coffee grounds, flour, sugar, perlite among other less common ones. For the materials, _Coriolus versicolor_ and _Pleurotus ostreatus_ have worked best for us. If you can get your hands on one substrate and one supplement, a small mold, some rubbing alcohol, cooking pot + stove and spawn that is relatively fresh & clean, we're good to go. We're there only one evening on the 19th, so if people are interested like you say, I can give a demo/workshop then :-) I'm curious to see your work too! I'd like to learn more about cultivation of lion's mane and maanon1932026148 see an installation you've made with Biosphere." 13,36460,2017-09-17T15:45:43.641Z,34528,anon2066188386,anon2954219769,"[quote=""anon2954219769, post:12, topic:6713""] If you can get your hands on one substrate and one supplement, a small mold, some rubbing alcohol, cooking pot + stove and spawn that is relatively fresh & clean, we're good to go. We're there only one evening on the 19th, so if people are interested like you say, I can give a demo/workshop then :slight_smile: [/quote] Hey Winnie, what would you need for a workshop??" 14,36566,2017-09-19T02:48:34.296Z,36460,anon2954219769,anon2066188386,"- Cooking pot - Stove - Autoclave (second cooking pot will also do) - Substrate (hemp fibres, straw, sawdust, wood shavings, ...) - Coffee grounds - Mushroom spawn (or fresh big pieces of mushroom to cut up) - Desinfection alcohol (or H2O2) - Saran wrap - Bunsen burner / camanon3606750899g gas burner would be cool It will take ~2 hours to prepare as well. Alternatively we can just do an interactive lecture/discussion on mushroom materials. Best to let me know via text!" 1,35902,2017-09-10T15:04:28.116Z,35902,anon3708118144,anon3708118144," Questions that patients have don’t always get answered- What can I do to keep my body in the best shape? What food is best to eat during treatment? These are a few of the many questions that require answers. In the standard 15 minute doctor visit it hard to dig deep and get these answers. It all began with three words. ""You have cancer."" The most dreadful words anyone can hear. Denise Sliepen and Carry Hendrix heard those words. When Denise was diagnosed with in 2015 she had support from family and friends, but still found that they couldn't fully understand what she was going through. It was only by chance that Denise crossed paths with Carry Hendrix who was going through a similar diagnosis. An interaction at the gym brought these women to share the same space. Their friendship started and strengthened, and from that bond, it eventually led them to an idea of starting CoreCareCollective. An initiative to support the emotional and social needs of people living with cancer. This initiative promises to create a network of support dedicated to ensuring all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community. Their story was shared in the [SCimPulse Blog](http://www.scimpulse.org/search?q=cORecarecollective), and we know it’s necessary to share the “Why” behind the initiative. Their intent is to provide a tool to support a collaborative dialogue between patients for sharing experiences and offering support. As these early conversations are the backbone of any project. I had the opportunity to speak with Denise over a coffee and she shared with me the motivation behind their initiative. A Recollection- I asked a few questions and this was the result of our conversation. “After meeting Carry and getting to know one another and sharing the challenges and realizing they were similar including the internet for answers. We realized that information was scattered and more importantly we realized there must be others just like us. Searching for answers and support or exchange of conversation. If something works for us, maanon1932026148 it could help someone else who is in that unknown space. Sharing valuable information and treatment options are things that we would welcome. We thought we there must be others who were searching for answers as well. Nothing should be left up to chance. We decided that we wanted to help the next person who was affected and change the way people deal with cancer”. I can recall an appointment at the hospital, where we were going to speak with a dietician for advice-which ended up not with insufficient information. We asked various questions, and shocked by the answers”. We both loved sports, maintained a healthy diet and wanted to retain as much of our daily lives as possible prior to diagnosis while undergoing treatment. So we went online and the journey began”. What prompted the action? “We wondered if all cancer patients struggled with the information provided on nutrition and exercise during treatment. We knew healthy eating and nutrition support can improve a patient's quality of life during cancer treatment. But we could not find a platform to discuss these issues, exchange experiences and see what works for someone else. We all could learn from one another. So we put our thoughts together and experiences so far and decided to start a community that could benefit from each other”. What is the mission of CoreCareCollective? “Our mission is to empower anyone who has been affected by cancer. To provide a space with the ability to connect and share personal experiences about cancer with others who understand. Our community would be 100% user-generated and engages all who are involved in a person’s cancer fight: the survivors, fighters, supporters, and caregivers”. “Every person who faces cancer has a story. This would be a space where the individual and collective voices impacted by cancer can be heard and shared to meet the social and emotional needs of patients, families, and caregivers throughout their journey”. I had asked who else would be in collaboration, this was her response, and “The platform will honour the individual experience and create a community of understanding that extends to the entire health care delivery system”. Who do you want to reach? “People around the world that want to share their experiences and sharing their strength”. Denise and Carry have the vision to improve how cancer patients receive care and to collaborate and create a cancer support community that empowers people to take control of life before, during and after treatment. This support is crucial in allowing survivors, fighters and caregivers to share experiences with foods, treatment, side effects, long term effects and more. It is their hope that every person and family battling cancer will reach out to the many others who want to help and get connected to a community that cares. Sharing the stories each with a promising and innovative approach to reinvent healthcare. I should end on a note with the essence of transparency, Denise and Carry, two strong and powerful women had their lives turned upside down decided to take their time and focus on feeling well and take an active role in improving their well-being. They decided to take a step back to move forward, at their own pace. So at present CoreCareCollective is waiting to be birthed. There are a plethora of platforms available to cancer patients and their families. But not all are created equally or intended to serve the same purpose. Updates on this project will be shared as they develop." 2,36395,2017-09-16T11:26:36.955Z,35902,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"@anon3708118144 this seems a duplicate of https://edgeryders.eu/t/community-conversations-with-corecarecollective/7011/2 Maanon1932026148 delete it?" 3,36560,2017-09-18T19:13:03.206Z,36395,anon3708118144,anon1526983854,"@anon1526983854 the first piece was an introduction, the latter is the “why, the conversations that prompted the idea and then going a bit further. It’s always of value to share an update, where they are at this moment and the reason behind the decision to put the project on hold, while at the same time express their intention to re-ignite at a later date. Whatever that time frame may be." 2,33281,2017-07-21T08:16:48.524Z,6403,anon1491650132,, 3,33940,2017-08-03T22:09:54.241Z,6403,anon281534083,,Does communism no longer mean a Marxist based government? 4,33986,2017-08-04T17:15:15.968Z,6403,anon281534083,,"I ask because ""communism"" is a pretty loaded word that triggers set reactions in some -many still - people. So if we use it I think we will be explaining it a lot. Thus outside of ideology it isn't efficient." 5,34076,2017-08-07T14:40:29.979Z,33986,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"Hi @anon281534083, some of us asked the same questions as the collective posted their call here: https://edgeryders.eu/t/revolutionary-care-building-health-autonomy-call-for-submissions-for-openvillage-festival/6445/4 I understand they now have changed their framing, so maanon1932026148 @anon3670751854 can update us and this page too? Note that in [Festival](https://edgeryders.eu/c/festival) discussions where we are directing all festival participants this is a anon3606750899ned page, so one of the first people see when coming in. Thanks!" 6,34080,2017-08-07T15:31:17.709Z,34076,anon281534083,anon1491650132,Should we not then change the title of this topic? 7,34106,2017-08-08T02:31:39.024Z,34080,anon3670751854,anon281534083,"@anon1491650132 @anon281534083 Thanks for the questions. We talked about this topic in the [reflections](https://edgeryders.eu/t/fellowship-post-reflections-and-wayward-thoughts/6659) post we just published. Overall, I think we should aim to be clear with the language we choose, but also recognize that our words will always be co-opted by the right/neo-liberal agenda. In addition, they are inherently loaded words, we are in fact talking about changing the world, and not everyone will be into that. But also recognizing that certain words have become trigger words not because of what they mean, but the meaning that capitalism/nation states/ governments have put into them. Communism being case in point. When most people think about communism, they think Stalinist USSR or other state controlled system. We harken back to the original meaning of the word, most used in examples like early Marx theory, the French Commune, or the communism of the Spanish Civil War. Even now, words like ""autonomy"", ""mindfulness"", ""wellness"" have all been co-opted and likely in the future will be unusable. What I think our mission is is to be explicitly clear about the meaning of words and refuse to let the powers that be taint that meaning. A long path fer sure!" 8,34167,2017-08-08T14:39:36.865Z,6403,anon281534083,,"I agree with you for the most part though I still think in this case putting communism in the title of a presentation or workshop or something similar will require repeatedly defining what you mean by it. Now if that is the intent that is another matter. And yes change the world but not through requiring a systematized mode of living. We want to show by example that a group of people can come together to accomplish good things and living together accelerates it. But not everyone is going to want to do that. But they will still be productive players. digging deeper into what is meant by communal, communist, etc, if it means living together does it also mean sharing everything? Pooling all money? Is there a point where something is owned by an individual? On The Farm we pooled our money but allowed some personal possessions like clothing and musical instruments. On the bus even the clothes were shared. Nobody owned anything for themselves except maanon1932026148 a toothbrush." 9,36556,2017-09-18T16:40:54.346Z,33986,anon2066188386,anon281534083,"[quote=""anon281534083, post:4, topic:6370""] pretty loaded word that triggers set reactions in some -many still - people. So if we use it I think we will [/quote] Qualifying concepts/ assumptions is half the battle in substantive discussions, for better or worse, haha" 1,35903,2017-09-10T15:10:45.107Z,35903,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"By understanding the experiences of patients and reflecting on their conversations and interactions gives us insight that led to their initiative. This is a snippet of the early phase of CoreCareCollective Questions that patients have don’t always get answered- What can I do to keep my body in the best shape? What food is best to eat during treatment? These are a few of the many questions that require answers. In the standard 15 minute doctor visit it hard to dig deep and get these answers. It all began with three words. ""You have cancer."" The most dreadful words anyone can hear. Denise Sliepen and Carry Hendrix heard those words. When Denise was diagnosed with in 2015 she had support from family and friends, but still found that they couldn't fully understand what she was going through. It was only by chance that Denise crossed paths with Carry Hendrix who was going through a similar diagnosis. An interaction at the gym brought these women to share the same space. Their friendship started and strengthened, and from that bond, it eventually led them to an idea of starting CoreCareCollective. An initiative to support the emotional and social needs of people living with cancer. This initiative promises to create a network of support dedicated to ensuring all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community. Their story was shared in the [SCimPulse Blog](http://www.scimpulse.org/search?q=cORecarecollective), and we know it’s necessary to share the “Why” behind the initiative. Their intent is to provide a tool to support a collaborative dialogue between patients for sharing experiences and offering support. As these early conversations are the backbone of any project. I had the opportunity to speak with Denise over a coffee and she shared with me the motivation behind their initiative. Carry Hendrix & Denise Sliepen (pictured above) A Recollection- I asked a few questions and this was the result of our conversation. “After meeting Carry and getting to know one another and sharing the challenges and realizing they were similar including the internet for answers. We realized that information was scattered and more importantly we realized there must be others just like us. Searching for answers and support or exchange of conversation. If something works for us, maanon1932026148 it could help someone else who is in that unknown space. Sharing valuable information and treatment options are things that we would welcome. We thought we there must be others who were searching for answers as well. Nothing should be left up to chance. We decided that we wanted to help the next person who was affected and change the way people deal with cancer”. I can recall an appointment at the hospital, where we were going to speak with a dietician for advice-which ended up not with insufficient information. We asked various questions, and shocked by the answers”. We both loved sports, maintained a healthy diet and wanted to retain as much of our daily lives as possible prior to diagnosis while undergoing treatment. So we went online and the journey began”. What prompted the action? “We wondered if all cancer patients struggled with the information provided on nutrition and exercise during treatment. We knew healthy eating and nutrition support can improve a patient's quality of life during cancer treatment. But we could not find a platform to discuss these issues, exchange experiences and see what works for someone else. We all could learn from one another. So we put our thoughts together and experiences so far and decided to start a community that could benefit from each other”. What is the mission of CoreCareCollective? “Our mission is to empower anyone who has been affected by cancer. To provide a space with the ability to connect and share personal experiences about cancer with others who understand. Our community would be 100% user-generated and engages all who are involved in a person’s cancer fight: the survivors, fighters, supporters, and caregivers”. “Every person who faces cancer has a story. This would be a space where the individual and collective voices impacted by cancer can be heard and shared to meet the social and emotional needs of patients, families, and caregivers throughout their journey”. I had asked who else would be in collaboration, this was her response, and “The platform will honour the individual experience and create a community of understanding that extends to the entire health care delivery system”. Who do you want to reach? “People around the world that want to share their experiences and sharing their strength”. Denise and Carry have the vision to improve how cancer patients receive care and to collaborate and create a cancer support community that empowers people to take control of life before, during and after treatment. This support is crucial in allowing survivors, fighters and caregivers to share experiences with foods, treatment, side effects, long term effects and more. It is their hope that every person and family battling cancer will reach out to the many others who want to help and get connected to a community that cares. Sharing the stories each with a promising and innovative approach to reinvent healthcare. I should end on a note with the essence of transparency, Denise and Carry, two strong and powerful women had their lives turned upside down decided to take their time and focus on feeling well and take an active role in improving their well-being. They decided to take a step back to move forward, at their own pace. So at present CoreCareCollective is waiting to be birthed. There are a plethora of platforms available to cancer patients and their families. But not all are created equally or intended to serve the same purpose. Updates on this project will be shared as they develop." 2,36394,2017-09-16T11:24:48.418Z,35903,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"[quote=""anon3708118144, post:1, topic:7011""] We knew healthy eating and nutrition support can improve a patient's quality of life during cancer treatment. But we could not find a platform to discuss these issues, exchange experiences and see what works for someone else. We all could learn from one another. So we put our thoughts together and experiences so far and decided to start a community that could benefit from each other [/quote] This makes complete sense, and we are seeing it everywhere. Others mention, together with information, motivation: by being in touch with people that fight an illness by adopting a healthier lifestyle, people are nudged towards making their own lifestyles a bit healthier. And the illness might be simply... life. :slight_smile: At the end of the day, this confirms the OpenCare result that communities are doing a lot of work in preventative care and lifestyle change." 1,35053,2017-08-30T10:59:54.547Z,35053,anon3197531486,anon3197531486,"First off, I have been here before, got pissed off with process, left, and now am coming back to share solid insight and process based on my own interim work, work of doing, having done, and haviing no doubt about continuing in the doing of same. In 2008 I got Crohns disease my time in Edgeryders was a morphed up, healing, and reaching out, of creative capacity; in a muddle of sick and post multiple surgery period during which my surgeon constantly reminded me of 'mortality issues'. It took 3 years to learn what to eat, and another 3 to learn the truth of 'you are what you eat' , and at this stage I would assert that you are also HOW you eat, as in - how you supply sustenance to self and kindred. 2016 was the first year since 2008 that I was not hospitalised, and going strong since, the reason for this has been the slow acknowledgement that ""we are the soil"", or in more precise terms, our health depends on the bacterial ecology of the gut and this depends on the health and bacterial ecology of the soil (all of which is 'the ancestor' if you think about it deeply enough). Food shaped food , grown in chemical soup, with only 3 of 62 micronutrients, will not cut it. In 2014 I secured the first 8k of funding from Plunkett and Carnegie on their Growing Livlihoods Program, we started in March of 2015 with a quarter acre under 6 foot of mess and brambles, littered with litter, broken glass, and surface detritus. Beneath all of that though, there was a gold untouched by the chemical agriculture model whose manon169343781re had come from organic fields during the 300 year history of its use as an urban kitchen garden. Today, based on the near-basic-income of a post surgical disability allowance from the government, with passion, hard work, reasonable communication skills, and a whole lot of help in the driving of it, we have a beautiful space, feeding participants in our 'food commons' , and working projects with the community mental health centre, intellectual disability groups, schools, rehabilitative care clinics, and the general public. We also run research trials with DIT's Engineers Without Borders on biochar, built 9 biodigestors on the island in 8 days with nat-geo explorer TH CULHANE, welcomed OS Ecology inventor Daniel Connel for wind turbine workshops, grow food for conscious creativity events, started a local cottage market to support small scale producers, initiated a local inter green schools program, a community woodland, a community garden in a neighbouring village, an ecotouristic bee project, education and training with the national education network, etc.-and-ting. So far we raised over 20 k for what is a relatively small project, now three urban and social gardens, and are looking to greater heights for the work to come on what will be our residential site at Tullanisk, a three acre walled garden with four bedroomed house, space for a yurt, and rich earth to bring to fruition in the service of the land, it's people, their health, resilience, and joy in what will otherwise be hard times for a country importing 98% of their vegetal foodstuffs. A point on the why...Within months of the Normans coming to Ireland it is noted that ""they became more irish than the irish themselves"". In effect, your consciousness is cumulative and you contain billions of 'individual' life forms (there is no such thing as individual but for the whole you see). The normans ate from the soil, and became of the land. This is health and rectitude. The modern human is disconnected from others, from true self, from the land via work and food, and from the earth and all of its depth thereby. For quite some time I have urged the tech community to put down roots. To date I have figured out the techniques of doing this, both practical, having trained with the legend Jim Cronin for 9 months, and structurally through time on the Community Land Trust research and development group at the Royal Institute of Architects, Ireland. I currently work with PJ FITZPATRICK, a leading software and app developers and former high finance exec. whom I met in hospital the last time I was there, me for post surgical rehydration, he to have his bowel removed, a process I had been through years earlier. There would be no such things as Crohns, IBC, colitis, etc if not for our building into the world the shortcomings of our own nature. These are centralist, they deny the value of untramelled nature and simple work, they demand privilege and power over submission to the greater order of this earth, and they will get us all in big trouble in the very short term. We have open and honest work to do in which we take long hard looks at ourselves and what we are at, take the self-protectorate lens off, and begin to do what, and as, needs be done. **Things team Edgeryders might note** - a 'venture' was the name given to the expedition of the 'adventurer', who formed a 'company' of mercenaries, and continued to plunder the material resources of others for their own and their masters profit. Those who 'invested' in the 'shareprice' of such 'ventures' divided amongst themselves the spoils of these journeys of rape pillage and murder without thought of the moral 'externalities' protected in the eyes of the law by 'royal patent'. I am not a venturer, nor a company-man, nor an investor, nor do I want any part of it all as one cannot build white houses of black bricks. By your admission of having 'some ideas about non-extractive business models' you openly acknowledge the extractive nature of your current setup. Intellectual and creative resource is little different to the material. While this approach exists, I will take no part in the doing. But if you can approach the Regenerative, and as principle of action, then I will work with you, and train your growers in the how and why of the soil such that they might feed you as you do your thence good work. We have site and situation for the training, and it is not only how to x, but as anything connected deeply, it will ever be how to x in relation to the entire alphabet of the present predicament. We also have partners through which to engage higher order structural approaches. Contact me directly at birrgrowery@anon" 2,35054,2017-08-30T11:26:06.650Z,35053,anon3197531486,anon3197531486,"The title of 'Getting your shit together' comes of the Celtic tradition wherein the place in society was a position of 'care', a word which was also the word for an adult - Aire. A child who needed care only, was a boh, a mid-boh needed care but also cared for the animals as a herder, and for the land by collecting the manon169343781re for the winter pasture. At this time the land measure unit translated to ""enough grass to feed three cows"". When the mid-boh had collected enough manon169343781re to fertilize the soil of the winter pasture, **and** '_enough grass to feed three cows'_ then, and only then, were they granted stewardship of land, cows, and were given the right to marry eachother, whereby their duty of care was extended to the whole Chlann, and they became an adult, Aire, a carer. The Ard Aire, were the elders, 'high carers', who passed on the rites of the mill, forge, the technologies of the time, and the sacred rites of inauguration of settlements, coronations, and ceremonies of the sacred and celebriate. In this society, this culture, of the land Ériú of the western seaboard, one's place in societal station was based not on extraction, but upon the extent and number to which care could be extended by the nobility and ultimately the minor king, of any given Tuath, or parcel of land, and it's Chlann, or family." 3,35118,2017-08-30T23:13:57.925Z,35053,anon1526983854,anon3197531486,"You seem to be doing good work, @anon3197531486, and it's great news that your health has improved so much. I wish you continued process along this path, or any other that you may choose. I cannot speak for Edgeryders, or anyone else really. But I find it hard to believe that any human cultural tradition can lead to living in harmony with nature. We belong to a species that has [driven the megafauna to extinction wherever it touched land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapiens:_A_Brief_History_of_Humankind) – and we are not speaking of modern adventurers with guns, but of hunters-gatherers with spears. That, according to the latest interpretations of archaeological evidence, existed in an almost constant state of warfare to keep density below one person per square mile ([reference one](http://books.google.com/books?id=y_XD7KHgGWkC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=leblanc+%E2%80%9Cas+the+city+folk%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=ntUHi8ntQu&sig=axP0-BKlJeIeza0WCC4f-U83mmk&hl=en&ei=xvA6Su3LGIfGMpSevagO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1), [reference two](http://www.economist.com/node/10278703)). That has an [innate preference for in-group individuals](http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10543.html) (""those like us, not those others""), demonstrated by research on children as young as six months (this is the biological kernel of racism and discrimination – and we all have it). This is rape, not harmony. Extraction, it seems, is at the very core of our species's success. Non-extractive _homo_ have gone extinct. We are the descendants of the best slash-and-burners. As for ecology, nature thrives wherever man leaves it alone. The Chernobyl radioactive disaster area, just about human technological folly at its worst, has [thriving wildlife](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_Chernobyl_disaster#Studies_on_wildlife_in_the_Exclusion_Zone), with lynx and bears and bisons and wild horses (wild horses! In Europe!). This has led elder ecologist Stewart Brand to [suggest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Discipline) that mega-cities are the greenest solution for hosting homo sapiens. If you love nature, he says, set her free... of your presence. This in no way diminishes the usefulness of what you are doing. Of course there is much practical knowledge to be gathered from living from the land. But it seems more likely that care beyond the family and the band is a modern invention. I will look for it in the future, not in the past. Good luck to both of us!" 4,35134,2017-08-31T10:48:11.000Z,35118,anon3197531486,anon1526983854,"Ugo Mattei, a compatriot of yours , writes about an ecological legal order. The Brehon legal tradition, prior to its abolishment via the tanning case, was an ecological legal order, where the trees were divided into three classes in the forest, the nobles, the commoners, and bushes, they had status, based on their function as preserves of the life of the forest upon which the people depended. In a short few hundred years of common law the great forest was levelled to smelt iron ore for weaponary and to build the ships of colonialism. This push came from more ancient compatriots of your homeland, it is perhaps not surprising that you share a certain fatalism. We live by our enstructured values and beliefs. In the present we see efforts being made via the common legal tradition to revert to common legal practices. It is not a yearning for the past, but a recognition that the future without change is grim death at scale. It is also a recognition that the separatist extractive and self interested ego, in the pursuit of one or another form of power, is a prevailing feature of the detriment. Only a fool denies that he needs to eat, and that the food must come of the land, and that the quality of each are important to one's well being and survival. That said, the world has ample evidence these days of such foolishness. In the Daoist tradition the sage immortal is often found riding backwards on a donkey through the mountain villages. The children laugh and ask, 'why are you travelling, facing backward on the donkey?' - ""It is not me"", replies the sage, ""but rather that the donkey does not know where it is going"". To know where one is is the key to taking appropriate next step. To know where one is, one must know how things have come to create the conditions of the present. Things ever come into being by the same process and as such cycles can be observed in the evolution of things. And so, as such, it is wisdom to look backward, as one moves forward, the ego is a donkey, it does not know where it is going. Care beyond the self beyond the family or band is hardly a modern invention, though I appreciate where you are coming from. The Avalokitsevara details the 37 principles of the bodhisattva, an ancient acknowledgement of the spectrum on which all things find themselves. To one side pure nefarious self interest, to the far extreme on the other of bodhisattvic altruism. The distinction is one of practice, by which one comes to disidentify with personal as self, and take responsibility for all of creation, through the lived medium of self; that is, for practitioners. For the unpracticed life there is apparent separation in what is inherently unified, and an evolution from there of Lila, the will to live play breath bleed and die unto new life. Either way for us we want to live, with some degree of wellbeing, and this requires basic sustenance. You have posed a fatal argument, basically that our nature is unchangeable and that we are fucked in the greater scheme of things, and while I agree to some extent, I can choose how I live. It is not by personal choice that I experience the breaking of the normal bodily function, near death, healing, and the change that that requires. I wish for others that they see the problem now as it is, and choose to heal, without the global invention of dire necessity. In the meantime, conscious of the prevailing stupidity, it is wisdom to be prepared, and practiced in resilience on behalf of those short of insight. Good luck to us all." 5,35150,2017-08-31T16:04:47.071Z,35134,anon1526983854,anon3197531486," [quote=""anon3197531486, post:1, topic:6855""] one cannot build white houses of black bricks [/quote] Oh, I don't think we are doomed to selfishness and extractiveness. In fact, we have made massive progress on so very many fronts. I just think such progress, and most of the progress to come, will come from looking ahead. I am just saying _there are no white bricks_. Our hands are covered in blood. Our tribe elders have killed and maimed and enslaved and raped and messed up the planet as a matter of routine, whatever the tribe. ""In ancient Ireland, female slaves were so plentiful and important that they come to function as currency"" ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years)). That does not mean Ard Aire were not high carers, as you say, but it does raise the question of caring _for whom_. Similarly, 5th century BC Athenians had an advanced democracy _and_ was based on slavery. In either case there is no contradiction, because Irish and Athenian slaves were not considered to be people. Did I ever tell you I used to be a professional folk musician? I do understand the pull of tradition, of rootedness, of your place in the world. But I refuse to let myself be blinded by it. Humans, I want to believe, can still build a non-extractive civilization. But its bricks will be black, almost without exception, and there will be blood in the hands of the builders." 6,35156,2017-08-31T17:15:30.962Z,35150,anon3769417221,anon1526983854,"[quote=""anon1526983854, post:3, topic:6855""]The Chernobyl radioactive disaster area … has thriving wildlife[/quote] That means radioactive waste is an effective tool for ecological restoration :grin: I can imagine a new movement of somewhat radical environmentalists … scary haha … But seriously: interesting discussion here! I largely agree with Alberto that there's an ecological guilt of humanity throughout history … it just wasn't that bad while people didn't have all this tech to amplify their actions. One new thought: what's relevant is only the net effect on nature. The good (repair, cleanon169343781p and restoration) can always offset the bad, except for cases of species extinction. So while humans destroy parts of the earth beyond recognition, other humans may find ways to create ecological diversity in other parts _beyond_ what nature could do if left alone. Think ecosystem restoration work, and then something on top: ecosystem creation. If the net effect of all humans is positive for ecological diversity, no reason to grieve about humanity's very existence on Earth. That is of course far off, but I found it an interesting approach to the problem. Because it's just unrealistic to regulate everyone into not harming nature. The same applies to climate change: if a part of humanity would care to (profitably!) remove the CO2 from the atmosphere that the other part of humanity is releasing there – problem solved. I'm not yet done with thinking how that could be done practically, mainly saying this as a new way to think about countering ecological destruction. But it's not completely unfeasible: think CO2 concentration technology and lots and lots of [seawater greenhouses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater_greenhouse) in desert areas. The CO2 enriched air inside the greenhouse makes the plants grow faster (which is the most important property of modern greenhouses, but currently done with a natural gas burner). The products are fruits, nuts, vegetables, and biomass, which would be partially charred and partially composted to create long-term stable soil with lots of carbon in it for even more such greenhouses …" 7,35168,2017-08-31T23:12:03.000Z,35150,anon3197531486,anon1526983854,"St Patrick himself was a slave. The colonialists shipped women in their thousands from Galway bay. Today people put their creative attention into processes that enrich others without say in conducting the value created. My great great great grand father on my father's side was overseer at the workhouse in this town. In that direction the castle and Demense have played a founding role in their survival this last three hundred years. On my mother's side, the family of the Éile (Claim) of Laois, the Finlays, or Finliath, and the medical family of Callanan, Ui Chuilenáin. It is perhaps an accident of chance that the current head of the Opus Dei is an Ui Chuilenáin, as the philosopher king Córmaic Ui Chuilanáin was the Bishop of Cashel before him in the 9th century. The Church at that time was hereditary, primogeniture, passing to the eldest son, as clergy still had the right to marry. Apparently it was the strength of the Irish church that was the cause of the decree forbidding marriage in the second lateran council of the mid twelfth century. My g-g-great grand father would have overseen lists I have dug out of a century and a half of pigeon shit in the corner of an upper floor room, burnt out just last month, at the workhouse here in Birr back during the famine. They detail the imports, tea and sugar from Calcutta, sweet cream, grain, cloth, and so on. There was a cape buried in there too. No ordinary garment, though partly decomposed. i wonder was it his? Was he a good man? ... My father would march down the hall, enter, draw the curtains sharply, open the three stacked windows methodically, one by one, then tug the covers from the beds into the hall, saying in a measured tone, ""your breakfast is on the table, there's Work to be done."" ... Córmaic was a man who caused the Roman Catholic Church great difficulty in his interpretation of the faith as he saw it lived by his 'flock'. His people were clergy, and were afforded the benefits of the church as the fruit of their labour, a labour in good Faith. He could not be argued. Odd to think the lengths to which an institution might go to rid themselves of a particular bloodline, and the scale of time they gather into their reckoning! ;) There were also the O Dempseys and the Lálors, of which was one Patt Lalor, repeal MP, father to James Finland Lálor, a man always sickly, who spoke and wrote against the tithes and markedly stirred revolutionary foment in his time. The tithes were payments extracted by the clergy from farmers and tenants, 10% of their earnings paid in kind by a metric not of their own making. The people squeezed, revolted. In Ireland the land is important, I know it, still, and deeply. I respect that we live of it, that soil, as you call it, is ancestry. Science says much the same, life lives, and dies, and this brings new life. You walk atop all you once were, all you are, all within and without of You who live eat and breath it, I get that. Most forget, even here, most forget. I forgot, and it damn near killed me. Without soil there is no life, it is your ancestry , if you deny it, you deny your existence, and as such will cease to exist. There is no future that disrespects it's source of life." 8,36280,2017-09-14T21:08:36.978Z,35156,anon3197531486,anon3769417221,"Last week we had a group from Engin[http://www.ewb-ireland.org/](http://www.ewb-ireland.org/)eers Without Borders in to demo their biochar kiln (they also trialled in Nepal for 6 weeks at a permaculture farm that produces coffee Matthias). The week before at Cloughjordan Ecovillage I met Albert Bates, author of The Biochar Solution, (https://www.newsociety.com/Books/B/The-Biochar-Solution)which lists the products, science, and strategies regarding the use of biochar to return us to the known normal levels of atmospheric carbon by the charring of wood, turning the carbon to its recalcitrant form, and thus taking it out of the 'labile' cycle whereby organic matter rots, releasing it's carbon as atmospheric carbon which returns to the earth with rains recompiling organic matter in 12 to 15 year cycles. Biochar stays in the soil as structure, and as Willem Reich points out in the Bion Experiments, when you add potassium to char, with bacteria, you get the breakdown of said char into vesicular structures which form the basic food stuff for bacteria and microorganisms, hence biochar is both a form of capturing carbon, and a super food for soil biology. So yes, I agree, regenerative approaches are there in evidence, and can be developed. Biochar also can serve as a sand substitute in concrete and has a number of superior properties, including that it floats, for example. It can be used in paint, when mixed at 1% to 99% silage it reduces methane output in cattle by 35%, and improves digestion and immunity, reducing need for antibiotics, used as bedding it suppresses ammonia formation so no ammonia smell, it can be used with plastic in recycling composites, and as a paint, among other things. Fascinating stuff. I find that inoculation, or as Albert calls it, 'microbialisation' of the char, works well with digestate from our biodigestor. All that surface area means lots of oxygen and so the anaerobic bacteria die off leaving a foodstuff for the bacteria in the compost heap where we keep the char for a couple of weeks before putting out on the soil. We hope to go no-dig next season, with the six inch cover layer in biochar altogether. Partners to the project include DTC , the development technologies in the community research group, based in ireland at DIT, as one node of a global network. They have no pilot site for their technologies. [http://www.dit.ie/dtc/] Another is WWGS world Wise Global Schools, the post primary education partner to irish aid. They are looking for a site to teach dev Ed to teachers , young people, and life long learners. [http://www.worldwiseschools.ie/](http://) The third partner is the Irish Heritage School who work with placement programs for service learning in a network of universities from the US, EU and Australia. Faculties include community development, anthropology, archaeology , heritage, and sustainability. [http://irishheritageschool.com/] I think it's a good setting to do things. We are also working with Tom Stewart on the Pilgrims and Pathways bid as part of the Galway 2020 capital of culture thing, hence primed for unMon-esque type things. Re-Gen all the way. Millennials are not as useless as the intergenerational vampirist make them out to be ;) ----------" 9,36282,2017-09-14T21:35:57.832Z,35156,anon1526983854,anon3769417221,"Matt! Please, reconsider. The incentives here are perverse. You know how Anthony says that no one is searching for a cure for diabetes because selling the treatment to _contain_ it is too damn profitable? Now imagine the same company were allowed to cause you diabetes, and then to sell you the drug that keeps you alive. You might say ""Well, the person is alive and well with the drug, so their health has been restored. All good."" But no, all is not good, because the guy with the formula now holds your well-being, maanon1932026148 even your life, in their hands. Power dynamics has shifted. It's like working extra hours to buy the car that allows you to work extra hours so you can buy the car. Economically, with this solution, you can never get to robust commons, because someone is constantly destroying them." 10,36342,2017-09-15T13:26:34.448Z,35053,anon2066188386,anon3197531486,"[quote=""anon3197531486, post:1, topic:6855""] These are centralist, they deny the value of untramelled nature and simple work, they demand privilege and power over submission to the greater order of this earth, and they will get us all in big trouble in the very short term. [/quote] Hey @anon3197531486, have you read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn? Your post deeply resonates with me. I consider myself fortunate to not have developed any jarring health condition, though my early years of consumption would have. It's been pretty clear to me through the practice of permaculture and keyline design that these techniques hint at a deeper perspective that human's can and probably should be integral in the ecosystem, and to separate the human from the environment is a product of trying to control risk and uncertainty that our agricultural ancestors probably didn't know would cause invisible and intangible issues, one of which would be ailments of the microbiome, another I would argue is climate change. I do hope to link up with you at the festival. Here in New York, we at www.biospherex.org are practicing at the intersections of food production, cultural relearning/rebranding, and urban rural ecologies. I'm personally a bit too obsessed with my microbiome, might be a disorder at this point, made worse by the rise of ""biohacking"" and sensationalist media. More fermenting though, ALWAYS MORE FERMENTED FOODS!" 11,36344,2017-09-15T13:59:14.309Z,35053,anon2066188386,anon3197531486,"[quote=""anon1526983854, post:3, topic:6855""] But I find it hard to believe that any human cultural tradition can lead to living in harmony with nature. We belong to a species that has driven the megafauna to extinction wherever it touched land – and we are not speaking of modern adventurers with guns, but of hunters-gatherers with spears. That, according to the latest interpretations of archaeological evidence, existed in an almost constant state of warfare to keep density below one person per square mile (reference one, reference two). That has an innate preference for in-group individuals (""those like us, not those others""), demonstrated by research on children as young as six months (this is the biological kernel of racism and discrimination – and we all have it). This is rape, not harmony. Extraction, it seems, is at the very core of our species's success. Non-extractive homo have gone extinct. We are the descendants of the best slash-and-burners. [/quote] I personally would really push back on this sentiment @anon1526983854, but I can very much see where you are coming from. Perhaps when I see you in person we can do a discuss more. On here, I would suggest that through certain lenses, the best slash and burners of all time is one way to frame it, but we conceptualize a ""non-extractive"" homo would take it too far. I would argue that our human social abilities enables us at a group level to shape this world dramatically, but always, ALWAYS, subject to the laws of physics. Slash and Burn was one such technique, and one a planet with less than a million humans, it's practice probably weren't dramatic because the biomass and ecosystems of Earth could accommodate and might even have anticipated, needed this human phenomenon to occur for other life to emerge. This is not some sort of veiled ""destruction breeds creation"" American Neo-Conservative agenda, though I can see the overlap, this is one part of a larger history that has been for the most part erased from our collective consciousness. What I would call standard narrative. Slash and burning at different scales/different times produce different results, and it was one of many techniques used. We are also the best reforestors, animal migration pattern enforcers, hunters, seed spreaders, etc etc. America is a place where the story of human's actively managing and ensuring huge biodiversity and thriving has been suppressed, this is the story of the Indigenous people's who were largely decimated by the arrival of small pox. With the second anon3003844599 of European immigration occured, they happened upon the most lush forests and largest Bison herds (due to decades of no culling) that this concept of ""Pristine Nature"" emerged, an environment free of humans (which it never was) that, I would argue very strongly, is retroactively framed by our dominant industrial complexed history to confirm the myth that makes what we do possible: Humans are inherently opposed to the ecosystems that sustain us. Nothing could be farther from the ""truth"", and we will definitely get into this, I'm pretty ""Post-Truth"" at this point, we choose the narratives we represent, But one major vein of our work here at Biosphere(x) is to recover fragments of these forgotten narratives to counter the notion that ""where humans go, megafauna disappear."" Causation, Correlation depend the frameworks that inhabit us when we are exposed to this phrase. I would argue that megafauna are still around, though I would love to have seen Giant Sloths and Giraffes outside of central and southern Africa roaming, it is systems, not humans, which has led to the unprecedented extinction events, as well as collapse of microfauna habitats around the planet. Humans are vessels, what organisms inhabit them? Besides the billions of gut bacteria along for the ride @anon3197531486, I can see certain ideas coordinating millions for certain end goals. It's these ideas, which has scaled beyond anything before, which presents to challenges for us. Human Nature is not as malevolent or anti-nature as we see on movie screens or read about in standard narrative fiction/non-fiction/journalism (My oanon3606750899ion is that there is far too few attacks on the systems that drive us to short sighted progressions, we have names for them such as capitalism, patriarchy, totalitarian agriculture etc etc, but these suggest a compartmentalization of the issues, where as the memetic organisms are as multidimensional as you or me, and the problem is they are invisible to our eyes for the most part) Our will to survive and reproduce is not a sin nor commendable, but it's universal intra and extra-species. The fact that humans within our culture of industrial complexes has been able to replace like 80-90% of the biomass on the Earth's Surface with ones of our choosing is Disturbing to no end~ but the feed back loop that causes this isn't inherently part of our nature. If you need examples of human beings who don't live in the shadow of our culture and practice ways of life completely integral to their environments, I would consult with anthropologists, since I'm not one. This is not a call towards ""primitivism"". There are very real reasons why the stories of humans living as one with nature aren't common. They don't scale well in the face of disease and military/economic pressures our culture has more than enough of. I would say that's the challenge, how to navigate and repurpose suppressed and non-scalable views for the future which really really needs them." 12,36353,2017-09-15T16:09:16.020Z,36344,anon1526983854,anon2066188386,"I am not sure where we disagree. Of course extraction on this scale means destruction. Everyone sees it. @anon3197531486 expressed an idea that the way of the trader chosen by Edgeryders (""fraternitas merchatorum"", as @anon So, I advocate looking at any tradition from a healthy distance, and building this house with bricks from the future, rather than from the past. Sure, happy to talk in person in Brussels. Looking forward to it, in fact! :slight_smile:" 1,33560,2017-07-25T11:56:44.118Z,33560,anon2362692215,anon2362692215,"I am working on two major projects: Engineering Comes Home and Vital. Always environmentally focussed, broadly in care. Engineering Comes Home ask the question of “How can communities of non experts be involved with infrastructure designers to make infrastructures that meet their needs?” It is in development as a co-design toolkit for new infrastructure design (food, energy, waste, water). It brings together ethnography, workshop practice and rapid prototyanon3606750899g. It is mainly aimed at citizens and infrastructure designers. The project is realised in collaboration between iilab, University College London and Newcastle University. Among other things, we developed a prototype “calculator” to measure environmental impact to look at the possible resources people can steward in their neighbourhood. The first iteration of the project was done with one community in London, with good results in terms of infrastructure outcomes and satisfaction and feedback from community stakeholders. We gained insights into involving citizens in a complex subject matter and increasing their over their stake in it. A first implementation of rainwater stewardship has been installed in collaboration with KloudKeeper, and during the final workshop we came up with a plan for increasing the scope of rainwater stewardship by the community that can move forward with minimal support from the ECH team. Vital is a collection of processes to interrogate our relationship with food. Delivered as a series of workshops, techniques include DIY micronutrient analysis as well as mindful eating (eg. aesthetic experience), forum theatre and foraging. The process ends with participants co-creating installations and interventions for an exhibition that synthesises these perspectives on food, allowing participants to explore what sparks their interest to create something new and internalise the knowledge. In the first iteration of the project, preliminary feedback shows that engagement with these processes has changed the attitudes of the participants towards food. The group of young people who participated started out caring only about the calorie content of food. After seven weeks their attitudes had changed and they were reflecting on their personal eating habits, cultural and aesthetic aspects of eating, as well as bringing to the fore social and financial inequalities that affect the availability of different food, which emerged from the participants’ drawing on everyday life experience. Next up is a collaboration with a DIY spectrometer project to measure better micronutrient content. The aim is not to measure toxins, but to make a deeper appreciation for food and the environment. I’m a big believer in experiential and collaborative working to create change. This is part of the design in the projects and art work. All these projects are open source, with documentation being put online over the summer. During a session I would share experiences and showcase these projects, and if there’s interest I can also demo a workshop from ECH or Vital. If people are excited about it, we can adapt the infrastructure co-design toolkit during a longer workshop, so that it can be used for different communities to co-design their infrastructure/living environment. I’d also like to discuss opportunities to roll Vital out more widely around the globe. Alongside the specifics of these projects, I’d also like to discuss strategies to make these kinds of projects self-sustainable. For instance, a few years ago I participated in an Edgeryders conference with the Open Droplet project. The goal was a device to non-invasively measure water flow. The data was owned by consumers, rather than companies. It led to lobbying for more open data and community stewardship of resources within UK water policy. The project is now on hold as it didn’t find a way to get the required funding, though it morphed a little into the Engineering Comes Home project. I’d like to explore funding more with others during the festival, drawing on discussions I’ve been having with other DIY science pracitioners. Another issue is how to disseminate outputs of projects, like exhibits, conferences etc. It’s a lot of work and feels like a drop in the ocean sometimes. It’s hard to reach central actors like the European Commission or other government, who can create real change, which is the goal." 2,33579,2017-07-25T17:10:32.210Z,33560,anon1491650132,anon2362692215,"@anon2362692215 welcome back! You definitely need to talk to @anon1326409700 , the way you two problematize the issue of sustainability hits home and potentially for more people. Building on [her input](https://edgeryders.eu/t/diy-science-network-advocating-for-community-access-to-research-funding/6394), we have gotten as far as dreaming up a debate around sustainability and funding. Kat is there a way to organise your contribution around the exhibition on food, analysis and the aesthetic experience ? Did your initial group made it that far? I think we're at the point where its worth thinking how the event can practically add to the work done, in addition to showcasing. @anon2954219769 is curating the citizen science theme, so he'll know best.. just my thoughts." 3,33591,2017-07-26T12:43:04.893Z,33560,anon1526983854,anon2362692215,"Wow! Can you say more about ""good results in terms of infrastructure outcomes""? What did they build?" 4,33840,2017-07-31T12:11:13.560Z,33560,anon2954219769,anon2362692215,"Hi @anon2362692215 , thanks for the session proposal! I'm interested in doing a workshop on infrastructure. We're changing our labspace so I am curious how it could help us in designing a new community space. I'm wondering if others also like the idea. @anon70625510 @anon3769417221 ? We want to go with interactive formats for the sessions, so that we spend our time during the festival in a generative way. In that light, a demo on Vital would fit perfectly. We're thinking to install a little lab at the festival to do some citizen science, so we could do some analysis there as well." 5,35402,2017-09-05T06:47:52.736Z,33579,anon2362692215,anon1491650132,"Hi @anon1491650132! Thanks for your thoughts! Great to see @anon1326409700 's contribution too - very pertinent and she and I are already in conversation for other projects. My initial group did create two exhibitions from the Vital processes - is that what you mean? And I created two exhibitions from the overall Vital | Flows project such as [this one at SPACE in London](https://katausten.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/vital-flows-at-space-hackney/). Is this what you mean?" 6,35404,2017-09-05T06:50:43.349Z,33840,anon2362692215,anon2954219769,"Hi @anon2954219769 - I could help out with a workshop on infrastructure - the ECH stuff is particularly focussed on community-scale interventions at the nexus of water, energy, food and waste. Does this fit what you're thinking of doing in the community space? In terms of Vital - we could do a forum theatre or an DIY Chemistry extraction perhaps?" 7,35787,2017-09-08T12:42:06.683Z,35404,anon2954219769,anon2362692215,@anon70625510 is curating day 3 of the Festival [here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/building-the-openvillage-and-program-for-day-3/6779/10). Maanon1932026148 you can share your thoughts in the thread to figure out what would be a good way to contribute? 8,36277,2017-09-14T21:02:13.643Z,33560,anon3670751854,anon2362692215,"@anon2362692215 Thanks for this proposal! We weren't able to include it on the formal presentation, but as you can see from the [Final Program](https://edgeryders.eu/t/final-openvillage-festival-program-released/7105), there will still be time/space for these presentations. So we hope that you can still come and share your thoughts with the community! Looking forward to meeting and let us know if you have questions/needs for a presentation!" 1,34108,2017-08-08T05:59:22.140Z,34108,anon722012516,anon722012516,"**Description:** A panel on different models for how to build mental health care into the structures of communities, such as universities, cohousing projects, and neighborhoods. I see this session operating in two possible ways. The first way is for several people who have worked on creating support systems to introduce their communities, as well as what frameworks they have used. When discussing their frameworks, they should talk about advantages/disadvantages, the process involved in implementing these plans and how they have adapted them to their communities. Followed by an audience Q&A. If other possible participants haven’t used any framework or plan and instead worked addressing their community needs as they noticed the need (which is not uncommon in many communities), the other option would be for all of us to introduce our communities. And then I would discuss the JED Foundation’s Framework for Success and how we adapted it to Minerva (my university). From there we could discuss how this framework could be used and tailored to each community represented on the panel. Followed by an audience Q&A. **Takeaways:** One or more frameworks for develoanon3606750899g the mental health care of your community. And advice on strengths and pitfalls of each from people who have used them. **Needs:** Additional Panel Participants willing to share their experiences. A better understanding of the scope of the Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences session to make sure they are strong complements and don’t overlap. **My Background:** I’ve worked in my university’s Mental Health Team as an intern for almost two years. In that time I got to help in develoanon3606750899g our support system plans in three countries. **Who Might be Interested in this Session:** Those working and living in communities of care, other universities, and people in the mental health field. (i.e., @anon3638964947, @anon2591396734, @anon3670751854, @anon818599741, @anon2594564133) **Theme:** Architectures of Love or Revolutionary Care, I’m not sure which this fits under better and would defer to the curators." 2,34301,2017-08-12T14:04:12.229Z,34108,anon3670751854,anon722012516,"@anon722012516 Thanks for the post. These ideas sound right in line with what we're trying to foster at the festival. I think our program is full for complete sessions, but I'd love to chat more about your ideas around creating mental health care models, something we @anon3670751854 are very involved in. We have tried a few models, such as informal healing spaces, but we are looking to implement more formal ""empathy circles"" within Woodbine (https://vimeo.com/165280759). I hope you are planning on coming to the festival, I think your voice and experiences would be so beneficial. Maanon1932026148 we can talk over Skype about more details, please email me at anon3670751854@anon" 3,36062,2017-09-12T15:58:58.453Z,34108,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Guys, is this session happening? Just flagging it in case the ball dropped. @anon" 4,36131,2017-09-13T12:02:08.980Z,34108,anon722012516,anon722012516,"Hey @anon1491650132, I don't believe this session is happening because it never gained traction. Thank you though for reaching out." 5,36276,2017-09-14T20:58:41.133Z,34108,anon3670751854,anon722012516,"@anon722012516 Thanks for this proposal! We weren't able to include it on the formal presentation, but as you can see from the [Final Program](https://edgeryders.eu/t/final-openvillage-festival-program-released/7105), there will still be time/space for these presentations. So we hope that you can still come and share your thoughts with the community! Looking forward to meeting!" 1,728,2016-09-02T11:02:40.000Z,728,anon818599741,anon818599741,"I grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Gunn High School in 2008. When I was 15, I was accepted into the Palo Alto Police Department’s first student police academy and then became police explorer upon graduation. Over the next 6 years I volunteered with the Palo Alto police department in a many capacities. Through hundreds of hours of riding along with the police I got a deep understanding of law enforcement infrastructure. I saw numerous people challenged by homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse who were caught in the revolving door of the criminal justice/emergency medical system. A year after aging out of the explorers program I lost a former high school friend to suicide. When I was 23 I did a ride along with ‘CAHOOTS,’ (crisis assistance helanon3606750899g out on the streets) an organization that does civilian crisis response in Eugene, OR. CAHOOTS provides special care to people who are stuck in the revolving door and through its intervention, break the cycle. CAHOOTS provides alternatives to incarceration and hospitalization for people with wellness issues. This ride along catalyzed me and my buddy Doug creating  ‘Concrn’ a company that builds mobile apps and software to assist compassionate response communications infrastructure.  We are now a compassionate social service network that connects people in need to responders trained in crisis de-escalation. We offer an alternative to 911 for non-violent crises and respond using the harm reduction model. Concerned citizens can download our mobile app on iPhone or Android or call us directly to access our services. We make it easy for both witnesses and victims of nonviolent crises to create a report and directly dispatch our network. We believe that this “Compassionate Response” model is more humane, harm-reducing, and cost-effective than a law enforcement approach to non-violent crises. Our coordinated teams of responders help connect individuals challenged by homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse, to the resources they need. These resources include local mental health, physical health, and shelter services. In addition, our ongoing case management program encourages clients to maintain their connection to these support services by promoting clients’ sense of self-worth through alternative methods like art and music collaboration. " 2,8935,2016-09-02T11:53:29.000Z,728,anon1491650132,anon818599741,"Training communities Hi @anon818599741, welcome! I'm Noemi, and my own cases of irrelevant (at best) or aggravating (at worst) situations appearing in connection to system brutality are listed here. I like your solution - training communities to compassionately respond to their own crises before police get involved.  How do you do it? Is it through your own example or do you have activities to teach citizens that? In Bucharest there is a long time organisation working with drug addicts and sex workers on the streets, and they are so hung up in the very basic aid of providing IDs for these people or getting them into the social security state service provision, that they can't really do anything else, that's how hands on and exhausting that task is. And while they could need help, it's very time consuming to train others how to deal with people on this dramatic edge - because of the emotional investment and very specific set of skills needed. They do, however find new ways of helanon3606750899g those in need, but incipient - car wash social businesses, or a social restaurant providing some jobs. Anyway, titanic work! " 3,11811,2016-09-06T19:30:58.000Z,8935,anon818599741,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi, We lead by example as well as train the community members to become responders. Feel free to call with more questions! I'd love to chat 415-881-8278   Jacob " 4,36217,2017-09-14T15:35:38.608Z,728,anon2066188386,anon818599741,"Hi @anon818599741, This is really intriguing. I'm based in NYC, and one of my main organizing activities here is with a local Cop Watch team. The movement has been getting a bit more press for the past handful years due to sensationalist news cycles and I genuine growth of grassroots teams popanon3606750899g up around the country. My team is around 6 years old, and our main activities are consistent ""patrols"" in which we film all police encounters with the public if we happen upon them, and the vast majority is handing out ""Know Your Rights"" fliers in a couple different languages depending on the neighbor make we are in that night. Cop Watch is a form of community self defense, in which one goal is to raise the level of awareness in the community about their rights and options which encountering the police, and leveraging the ubiquity of digital cameras so that people everywhere can record police, not just to catch misconduct or brutality, but because it's perfectly legal to film. That being said, with the past 3 years, we have been hitting a wall in terms of the limits of our efficacy, because in our consistent patrolling, we often come across instances in the community that don't involve police but require some sort of intervention, whether it means homelessness, interpersonal or mass violence, injury, public intoxication etc etc. I guess we are coming post-""Who Watches the Watchmen"" phase, where we are asking ourselves, what is our role? Is it just to enable people to operate within legal frameworks? or should the hours and energy we expend week after week be do towards visions of a world where legal frameworks are obsolete? (very lofty) What are the practical steps before then. One of the first programs we are implementing is a rapid response network, right now it's just through a big texting group of people who have opted in, which in itself presents severe scaling issues, which in turn, limits it's usefulness. We don't really have the expertise to design an app since most of our team aren't programmers. Our hope with this was to intervene before the state got involved in community affairs. I would be curious about your app, company, and business model, and maanon1932026148 we can do something in New York, since we have like 6 cop watch teams around the city." 1,880,2017-07-10T10:18:58.000Z,880,anon3180330308,anon3180330308,"Hey there everybody!   My name's Kenneth and I'm based in Galway in the west of Ireland. I'm keenly interested in the myriad of ways that Internet of things projects can be applied. I grew up with my father as a Network Sys Admin and general electronics affectionado so from an early age I had a love for IT and computing in general. I'd never wanted to learn to code until I found the Raspberry Pi as it gave me a means to an end to achieve something physical with a device. That's when it all changed for me and a lot of the barriers I'd made for myself and a love for making came along. The Pi, using a version of Linux, Raspian, which is based on Debian {which I'd worked with alongside my father} then meant I was able to hit the ground running and really get a kick out of IoT dev boards. I've participated in several of the Hackathons in one of Dublin's colleges, DCU and very much got the bug. I had a group of friends that had just started a Social Enterprise whereby they had gotten permission to take a brownfield site in the center of Dublin and then construct an 11 x 5 metre geodesic dome, in which they would both have a community space, while also having it be an intensive food producer by having an over head hydroponics system, controlled with IoT devices. I'd worked out an array of analogue sensors linked to an arduino, which would then feed their data over to a MYSQL database hosted on the raspberry pi. Then there was a website which would interpret and display that database onto a website hosted on the same pi. This then enabled more awareness of the growing space and control through remote intervention through the use of reporting and the likes of relay switches to turn devices on and off. http://www.thegrowdomeproject.com/   I'd like to learn more about what people are doing and perhaps to see what I could become involved with too {^_^} " 2,7725,2017-07-10T14:02:33.000Z,880,anon2954219769,anon3180330308,"Dream project Welcome @anon I can testify the Grow Dome is a dream of many urban farming/vertical farming enthusiasts here in Ghent (BE). Impressive! Your skills with these devices is pretty valuable to citizen led science projects. Are you involved in any other initiatives at the moment? Also, when I read IoT, I immediately think of user data. @anon Would such a session be relevant for you? " 3,33934,2017-08-03T15:18:12.812Z,880,anon1526983854,anon3180330308,"A belated welcome from me too, @anon3180330308. I have two points to make. First: @anon3112530648 is also involved with a startup making aquaponics under a geodesic dome. I already told him it would be quite spectacular to build one as part of our upcoming deployment in Morocco (to be announced, just be patient for a while longer). Second: where this IoT stuff meets citizen science is in projects like the Smart Citizen Kit, rolled out initially in Amsterdam by the Waag Society. It mostly [failed](https://waag.org/en/news/smart-citizen-kit-findings). Citizen data turned to be unreliable. Data quality was too low; specifically, comparability across different data sources was an issue. This is not an ethical issue per se, however." 4,34225,2017-08-10T11:34:45.267Z,880,anon3180330308,anon3180330308,"Hey guys, The idea of building a geodesic dome in Morocco would be a dream! I guess one of the main things that I'd noticed with off grid use of IoT devices was that until there's very regular power supply, the cutting out of power meant that the integrity of the database was lost, so the timing was all off. One way around it had been using real time clock modules on the Raspberry Pi, kinda like a CMOS battery on a pc. I must read up more on what you've all been up to, I'm juggling working on a project for the Science Gallery involving an Arduino and VJing at the moment :slight_smile:" 5,36214,2017-09-14T15:17:20.463Z,880,anon2066188386,anon3180330308,"[quote=""anon3180330308, post:1, topic:847""] I'd like to learn more about what people are doing and perhaps to see what I could become involved with too {:slight_smile:} [/quote] Wow GenghisAloe, salute! I would be super interested to see some of your libraries. We are doing some apartment aquaponics using an NFT system I would assume is a bit similar to you guys. I definitely want to do more with Arduino's to take data. Do you guys have water composition sensors in the array? I tried to test water quality at the beginning, but soon gave up. I assume our system is pretty stable, because no massive die offs, but alas, I don't really know know~ haha. Whack stuff about PH meters is they have to be calibrated every so often, as well as all the other types of instruments... Side note, have you guys looks into any of the vertical hydroponic techniques, I'm thinking of name brands such as Zip Grow towers from the US." 1,36125,2017-09-13T10:53:28.550Z,36125,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Hi Guys This is about the big announcement we are making about the OpenVillage Festival on Twitter. It's called a twitterstorm, it's happening on Saturday (16/9) and we need your help to make it happen. Please do the following 1. [Add 3 or more tweets on to this list](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aEEAfWxnghveX8c1mocrPDW1Qfw3KnRUMvZpEcHlSjE/edit#gid=1049567654) right now! 2. Make sure that you are online at 10:30 am CET! Follow @anon
## Whaaaaat is this?!? On Saturday we announce the OpenVillage to the world in style. Through a Twitterstorm! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this format it's like **a massive press conference where everyone is talking to everyone on twitter**. Think of it as a flashmob on the internet **The audience participates by opening two twitter windows.** One in which they are following the @anon **People who follow the @anon **People who follow the #openvillage hashtag search results get a large amount of tweets from many different accounts talking about the same thing.** They get a big diversity of tweets from twitter accounts because different members of the community are telling their own version of the story focusing on what is especially relevant or interesting about the OpenVillage project and festival for them and their audience. ## Why should You Participate? **Good for you:** You can feature your own project as part of a massive conversation where many people are paying attention. Because you can quickly meet others in the community and get an overview of what is happening. Because together we draw a lot of attention to the bigger story and collective effort to make social impact - you can show how your own work is an important part of big movement and that it should be supported! **Good for everyone:** This action is a good way to show people who are struggling to make the world a better place that they are not alone. That there are many ways in which peers are working on the same challenges, and many ways to support one anothers' efforts. ## How to join the Twitterstorm 1. **Right Now:** Go to the spreadsheet where we are preparing the materials and make your own contribution in the form of [3 or more tweets here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aEEAfWxnghveX8c1mocrPDW1Qfw3KnRUMvZpEcHlSjE/edit#gid=1049567654). 2. **On Saturday at 10:30 - 11:30 CET make sure you are logged into Twitter and open 2 tabs**. One where you have search results for the #openvillage hashtag. Another where you can post your status updates. At 11:00 CET , start posting your tweets and reply to comments or questions that pop up int the #openvillage search results. ## Want to do more to help? Yayy! Help spread the word about the twitterstorm. Invite friends to join us by sharing this update and flyer on twitter: > _See you Saturday?! Everything you need to know about the people and projects joining #OpenVillage. We lay out our grand vision for the festival and what comes next in a 30 minute mini-conference on Twitter. More here: http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu/tweetstorm/_ https://edgeryders.eu/uploads/default/optimized/2X/8/8d5e7dc4bfd5c7a88ad32912df1857098af3534a_1_690x517.jpg" 2,36183,2017-09-14T08:43:58.195Z,36125,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Yess! Ping @anon477123739 @anon2591396734 @anon4116418727 @anon1277226854 @anon335358890 @anon3895445472 @anon1526983854rey @anon628128301 @anon3301928407 @anon3708118144 @anon2435658896 @anon2774142051 @anon722012516 @anon2442420827 @anon3560946760! You probably got the notice on email already, just making sure you put it in your calendars <3" 3,36189,2017-09-14T09:36:29.237Z,36183,anon2591396734,anon1491650132,Thanks @anon1491650132 and @anon70625510. I'm not clear about putting tweets in the spreadsheet. Is the point to make a tweet then put it on the sheet; or to put on the sheet and tweet it on Saturday; or to put it on the sheet and have it (somehow?) automatically tweeted? 4,36203,2017-09-14T13:00:23.563Z,36189,anon1491650132,anon2591396734,"The second :-) put the tweet on the sheet and tweet it on Saturday - or schedule it to go out from your account on saturday (i.e. i'm using buffer.com). Of course you can write your tweets outside the common sheet, but seeing what others are planning is more social - also you can pick up tweets from there already, or just get inspiration, or translate others into a difft language. Feel free to use what works best for you, and looking forward to catch up!" 1,36167,2017-09-13T22:28:57.832Z,36167,anon3670751854,anon3670751854," The apocalypse is often thought of as the end of times. For School of Apocalypse, the proverbial end of times offers a glimpse into the beginning of a new one. School of Apocalypse (SoA) is a New York City based radical learning community. They find their inspiration from the emerging feeling so many of us have about fundamental shifts that are occurring in the world. The idea of the apocalypse is not so much a cataclysmic event, but the sense that the time we are inhabiting is ending and that something new must emerge. Their goal is to dive into that feeling, unpack its hidden dimensions, and create the cultural language to help us define it. As they describe, “For us, apocalypse isn't quite a destination but a horizon, an idea that always exists somewhere in the near future, just ahead of us. As we look towards it, it reflects back our fears and desires. Thinking through apocalypse can therefore foreground creativity and survival, and strip away our pretensions to reveal truths about what is essential.” They have no definition for survival, but rather are interested in the questions that arise from it. What is essential for us today? Tomorrow? Is survival enough? And since death and change are both inevitable, what do we mean when we say survival? For them, school is a broadly defined notion that provides a framework for shared knowledge to emerge. Through pedagogy that is “place-based, participatory, experiential, and collaborative,” knowledge is not an accumulated as a set of facts, but is instrumentalized to create new models of thought, behavior, and culture. As they go through this process of “school,” they investigate what it means to be part of a community of learning. One of the ways this school convenes courses is through working groups, which are self-directed autonomous groups that come together around a topic for a 3 month period and share their findings with the rest of the SoA community through a final project (which can take any form). Some recent working groups include: Choreographies for Survival: “investigates the resilient body and the generative culture space that emerges between bodies that engage in creative acts together. Survival Library: “aims to consolidate and contribute to an ongoing collection of publications and media works centered around the personal narratives of W/Q/T/POC.” Bodies Intersect Buildings ii: “develops a choreography for raising body awareness in space.” Greenhouses and Bio-art Systems: “explores the various different aspects of how artistic practice and theory aids in the development of human-centric ecosystems, their biological functionality and the implementation of a living artistic form as a tool for habitat survival and stability.” SoA brings together artists, thinkers, doers, makers, creatives, among others to think through the chaos of the Apocalypse, hoanon3606750899g that a new cultural imagination is on the other side. To learn more and find out about the next SoA meeting (always free and open to the public), visit them online: [School of Apocalypse](https://www.schoolofapocalypse.org) Also see their proposal for the OpenVillage Festival: [""Here You Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space""](https://edgeryders.eu/t/session-proposal-by-school-of-apocalypse-here-you-are-how-to-experience-your-body-in-space/7016)" 1,35814,2017-09-08T15:54:01.249Z,35814,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Hey all, Just wanted to introduce a podcast that we've started through the Woodbine Health Autonomy group. It's being supported by Mask.fm. Please check it out, let me know what thoughts you have, and if you have any suggestions for an episode. Please email anon3670751854@anon Podcast Description: ""This way of life is a war against our bodies. The air polluting our lungs, our breast milk filled with toxins, and our mental angst driving us to suicide. Proposed health cuts increase our general precarity in relation to a failing health system, a health system that fundamentally furthers our objectification and dependency on capital. Therefore the steps we make to gain and share skills and develop subterranean practices of care can return some of the agency we’ve lost to the professionalization of medicine and the profitable mystery that is our bodies. As we think about expanding our capacity, we don’t want to just “fill in the gaps” of public health infrastructure. We need to slowly break our dependence on these institutions in all the ways that we can and also look for ways to use them to our advantage. We think this happens through sharing knowledge and skills, an emphasis on preventative care, and finding ways to manipulate existing structures to allow us to move forward on this path of autonomy. We believe in the utter necessity of revolution, of the development of material lines of power. Questions of care and health autonomy are pivotal to that progression. From the Greek solidarity clinics to the Zapatistas “healthcare from below” to Black Panther Clinics and GynPunks, there is inspiration for this path all around us. We begin by finding each other. This podcast will be a step in that journey."" [Health Autonomy at the End of Empire](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/health-autonomy/id1279639722?mt=2) [Mask.fm](http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-rant-issue/work/introducing-maskfm)" 2,36121,2017-09-13T09:21:52.297Z,35814,anon3560946760,anon3670751854,"This looks great. I was thinking that podcasts are a great way to reach an audience. it also allows people to multi task in ways that reading and watching don't. Im sure you have heard of these guy already but id love to hear an interview between you and [cadus](https://www.cadus.org/en/). Who built a mobile training hospital that they took from Berlin to Rojava. so inspiring. I will listen to this today. good work." 1,35613,2017-09-06T11:30:09.726Z,35613,anon1739255017,anon1739255017,"Hello @anon70625510 i'm mostafa from egypt i really happy to hear about openvillage Idea because i start to represent this idea and share it in 5 TV Show and more than 15 Newspapers from 2 years my Idea is to build a community from Egyptian creative Youth in an island To create a successful model of creative youth By creating common workspaces And projects that are not harmful to the environment And use A clean energy only on the island and these are some details about my idea : I. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: 1. A successful model of 1000 Egyptian youth gathered together on the idea of ​​develoanon3606750899g Egypt. 2. Increase the percentage of internal investment. 3. Development of internal and external tourism through model work for the Maldives, Malaysia and Thailand in Egypt. (Tourism islands) and these are the most places where the Egyptians in their travel. 4. Establish agricultural and industrial projects without harm to the environment and not rely solely on tourism. II. THE CAUSE OF THE SELECTION OF JIFTUNE ISLAND: 1- The length of the island of Jiftun is 18 km and the length of its coast is 43 km. 2 - away from Huranon769971262 11 km and this makes it easy to take advantage of the services available in Huranon769971262. 3 - Includes 14 sites of the most beautiful diving sites. 4 - receive about 188 thousand tourists annually and therefore do not need to campaign for a large awareness of the place. 5. Exploitation of the island comes from entrance fees only island. Third: The reason for exploitation of natural islands and reserves in Egypt: 1. Australia generated revenues of $ 2.5 billion 2 - Canada achieved $ 6.5 billion in addition to providing 125 thousand jobs. 3 - Italy achieved one billion euros in addition to providing 80 thousand jobs. Mauritius Island receives about 1,500,000 tourists annually. Thus, the importance of exploiting the islands in Egypt to increase national income, create job opportunities for young people, and work successful models of Egyptian youth capable of taking responsibility. IV. How to choose 1000 young people: The 1,000 young people from all over the country will be selected by a dedicated HR team The lesson in selection criteria are: 1. Ethics. 2. Ambition. In order to avoid the negatives resulting from the poor morals and frustrations that exist in society now • After selecting individuals Each member of the island has a membership card and the card has a number of points and if the person has committed any offense The number of points owned shall be deducted according to the type of violation committed (of course, the sanctions regulation) and if the individual has exhausted the number of points owned by him He is thankful for his time spent on the island. The number of points is also increased for individuals who are positive in helanon3606750899g the people of the island and thus giving them greater advantages based on their positivity • The island is not limited to 1000 young people only, but they represent the population in the General Assembly of the island in accordance with the regulations of the team of human resources. • The expected number of people on the island will be reduced to 50 thousand and jobs will be provided to them in the available fields. V. ELECTRICITY: Only clean energy generated from: 1. Solar energy. 2. Winds. 3. Water rush. 4. Power generation by movement (bike). VI. WATER: Studies in Egypt have proved that if we move away from the Nile River 70 km, desalination is the economic option Therefore, seawater desalination will be used to provide water for drinking and agriculture. VII. Sanitation Sewage will be treated to be suitable for irrigation of gardens and agriculture. VIII. Means of transportation: You will be able to use environmentally friendly transportation such as bicycles and golf cars that are powered by electricity IX. HOUSES: Wooden houses is the perfect choice that has been chosen for various reasons: 1. Do not harm the environment. 2 - Economic price interview with concrete houses. 3 - her aesthetic view. 4 - the ability to withstand the various environmental factors more than others. --- and now i make start-up company in carpooling field to solve transportation crisis, traffic, and Car air pollution in the Egyptian society." 2,35619,2017-09-06T12:28:44.083Z,35613,anon3769417221,anon1739255017,"_(Moved your post to its own topic so it can attract more attention. Feel free to adapt the title, which I had to invent.)_ i love this idea, its sheer scale compared to the independent house projects we are looking into, and that you have come so far with it already. What I don't get is, how can you do this on the island? Do you need or have any government cooperation, or is it just about moving there individually for the 1000 selected people?" 3,35621,2017-09-06T12:43:19.845Z,35619,anon1739255017,anon3769417221,"Really thanks for your support @anon3769417221 :wink: you can Imagine what one creative entrepreneur can do ?? but sure you can't imagine that 1000 creative entrepreneur can do when they meet and live together in one place like island I think they can change the world this is my vision to my idea :slight_smile: and i trying to make co-operation with government but no response" 4,35623,2017-09-06T12:53:58.748Z,35621,anon3769417221,anon1739255017,"[quote=""anon1739255017, post:3, topic:6979""]i trying to make co-operation with government but no response[/quote] As I feared :slight_frown: In that situation, you might want to adopt the voluntary migration strategy of the [Free State Project](https://freestateproject.org/) instead, because it needs no government cooperation at all. Own governance structures like the membership card might have to be adapted a bit, though. Wikipedia has [a nice summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Project). Basically the FSP intends to ""take over"" one location by amassing people with similar intentions and initiatives there. This happens crowdfunding-style, with a threshold. So they first collected people who promised to move if 19,999 people promise the same. This lastest from 2001 to 2016. Now that the threshold has been reached, these 20,000 people are expected to make good on their promise and come to New Hampshire." 5,35628,2017-09-06T13:39:04.566Z,35623,anon1739255017,anon3769417221,"sure you are right :wink: for that I am now looking for support from nonprofit organizations in supporting in this idea But the idea of FSP is more different from my idea in several subjects and the most important subject is I do not want to create a Closed society but I want to create a creative environment that helps innovators and innovators And produce a number of innovative projects that help a better life" 6,35662,2017-09-06T20:43:23.349Z,35613,anon281534083,anon1739255017,The island looks like incredible diving offshore and a lot of beach bungalows and resorts and the rest looks like bare rock. Is there a town on the island? Where would 1000 new people live if not connected to the resorts? 7,35713,2017-09-07T09:32:06.488Z,35662,anon1739255017,anon281534083,"[quote=""anon281534083, post:6, topic:6979, full:true""] The island looks like incredible diving offshore and a lot of beach bungalows and resorts and the rest looks like bare rock. Is there a town on the island? Where would 1000 new people live if not connected to the resorts? [/quote] there is no town in island .. its Only the land of sand and we need to make a Create an innovative life in island with a innovation people There are many areas for modern investments within the island There are more than 10 islands in Egypt without people living on it And the nature inside the island helps to calm and relax and good work for innovators" 8,35779,2017-09-08T10:56:48.836Z,35613,anon1526983854,anon1739255017,"Hello @anon1739255017! This is very impressive, but I am not sure how you can do this with so much top-down control without breaking it. A town whose inhabitants are selected by an HR committee sounds more like a company than like a town. Also, how would you keep out people that you do not like? What is stopanon3606750899g me (or anyone) from simply moving into the island?" 9,35810,2017-09-08T15:23:11.862Z,35779,anon1739255017,anon1526983854,"@anon1526983854 Really its a great Questions and i will answer for it :wink: First : why HR choose inhabitants ?? Because HR team can choose individuals based on: 1- Ambition 2 - Ethics 3. Innovation and this to avoid the negatives produced by non-qualified individuals ٍSecond:how would you keep out people that you do not like? Solution is the points system: Everyone on the island has a number of points If a person commits one of the wrong behaviors or against instructions A number of points will be deducted from the banon3760936673ce based on the list of violations If a person reaches 0 points Thanks are given to him for the time he spent with us and he will leave community Third : What is stopanon3606750899g me (or anyone) from simply moving into the island? No one can stop you to moving into island but you can visit it as a visitor not a member in community the different is no one outside a community can work in island or invest on it" 10,35828,2017-09-08T18:31:04.540Z,35810,anon1526983854,anon1739255017,"I don't get it! I could just move in. Set up a tent somewhere, and refuse to leave, points or no points. Does that mean you have some kind of police to enforce your point system, and make people leave by force if they don't comply?" 11,35829,2017-09-08T19:01:48.270Z,35828,anon1739255017,anon1526983854,"when a company have an employer against instructions , company will end of contract for this employer and exit him the same we will do The person who wants to join us will sign a document with the necessary instructions and list of violations When the person against instructions, the contract with the person will be terminated and his / her work will be terminated within the community and will become a visitor only and has no right to work in our community" 12,36002,2017-09-11T20:20:24.450Z,35829,anon2350529763,anon1739255017,"so is it a community or a company ? who will put the rules or the document or so , in other words who is ""us"" in this. and how is the progress going, you mentioned that you were in contact with some people from the Government ? or from the presidency office ? and they refused the idea of an island due to strategic reasons, but they are open to other locations, like what ? and how is the communication going, I am very curious to know, is it between just you and may be some young people as an initiative with them or is it through other companies or organizations ?" 1,35561,2017-09-05T18:11:30.199Z,35561,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"There are a number factors that contribute to organisational sustainability. In my experience some key ones are: - that you have good work with a clear purpose and that the values and vision of the organisation are coherent and alive; - that people are able to work together and sort out differences; - that the resources are sufficient - there are enough coming in to support the work that needs to take place. Financial sustainability has remained a persistent task for GalGael, as it is for many organisations. This was a particular challenge during August and mostly likely for some months to come. It’s an issue that regularly features in posts on the Edgeryders platform and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of experience to share at the [Edge of Funding](/t/id/6427) panel planned for OpenVillage. Supporting the development of program content and other curating work has been welcome respite from these challenges. The fellowship itself affords a bit of time to step back and consider the ‘less urgent’ things about the work. Being caught up in the ‘urgent stuff’ as we so often are in smaller organisations and groups is the space of burnout. We become sucked in to a relentless pattern of activity to secure our survival or just because there are too few people to cover all that needs done. Other forms of organisational and personal sustainability seem less important and while time management tools encourage us to move out of the ‘urgent quadrant’ and spend more time on the important aspects of our work, the reality of achieving this can feel perversely elusive. The three original themes [have been blended](/t/id/6632) for Open Village program to reflect the overlap and interconnection. The fellowship allows me to continue following the thread of the Architectures of Love theme – I’m still curious about where it might lead and what it might reveal. I guess that curiosity stems from a sense of something ‘important’ happening out of the corner of my eye and while all my attention is consumed with numbers, spreadsheets and plans – I’ve never had much chance to give this my full attention. I’m curious to see what would be revealed if we paid more attention to creating the conditions to bring about desired outcomes - such as health in our organisations - rather than see these as ‘outputs’ of our clever plans and policies? Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze’s book [Walk Out Walk On](http://walkoutwalkon.net/) describes the principle of ‘start anywhere, follow it everywhere’. In a world of constant flux it seems like a useful approach and one which they describe as generating changes in education, public safety, arts, ecology and food in Joubert Park in Johannesburg. They make the point that this is a more productive approach than forms of social change dependent on assumptions that large and complex issues must be addressed one by one, with institutions and experts who specialise in that particular problem. So in ‘following it everywhere’ I’m continuing to look for insights on this topic through conversations, books and reading posts that will help to flesh out the list of ‘enabling factors’ for Opencare/citizen led care suggested [early on in the fellowship](/t/id/6429/12): * The skills, forms of awareness, competences, knowledge and practices of individuals * The designed environment, including public spaces and communal spaces * Values and a culture of care * The designed opportunities for interaction, engagement, collaboration * Commons of all kinds, material sufficiency One pattern I’ve noticed is the role that language and assumptions play in either creating or shutting down the interior and exterior spaces within us and between us. Both language and assumptions influence all of the factors listed. The language we use is in direct relationship with our assumptions. The words we choose can give away the assumptions we are operating from while at the same time shaanon3606750899g our perceptions. In Ivan Illich’s words; “the present is built on assumptions we haven’t yet found names for.” - they shape our sense of self and others and inform our worldview. They subtly contribute to or degrade the conditions we create. A perspective reinforced by [anon2072667717 Birhane’s](https://edgeryders.eu/t/abeba-birhane-cognitive-science-dialogism-and-care/6893) tweet quoting Bakhtin; “The deepest layers of our assumptive world are probably those where we unreflectingly conceive the nature of time and space”. Assumptions are the hidden architecture but they impact the world around us in ways that are very real. In the Right to Useful Unemployment, Illich describes “language as the most fundamental of commons” – a commons that perhaps requires more of our attention. Like other commons many terms and words have themselves become enclosed or hijacked; ‘innovation’, ‘resilience’ and ‘empowerment’ are all cases in point. There are many more we could list that have been co-opted for certain agendas. Some words are simply ‘hollowed out’ – words that through mis-use and over extraction lose value and meaning. Within the care sector, language subtly defines relationships and power. To reference Illich again; “language is about the organisation of power”. Language use informs relationships that either confer agency or create dependency. Perhaps our use of language is the first condition that creates either ‘power with’ or ‘power over’ - something to consider in our care services? There are clear possibilities that could arise from working consciously with these factors. I’d be curious to hear from others who have intentionally worked with the soft structures that shape our world. My hunch is that this could dramatically increase the scope for radically innovative work that isn’t anon2590712900y badging new developments with a hollowed out word." 2,35797,2017-09-08T13:50:49.291Z,35561,anon3670751854,anon1701267031,"Thanks for the thoughts. Love Illich's work, was very transformative to me during school. I really appreciate your emphasis on the structure of organizations and the myriad ways that ""soft"" structure, like language actually determine the power dynamics. I think for us, our language is very important, because it allows us to connote visions that are much larger than our words. As I write this, the US seems to be in a world of chaos, more present daily. Multiple ""largest"" hurricanes ever are battering the southern coast, our politics is a joke, and daily people are retreating into themselves, an escape from the world. I think that language does have the power to help us address these assumptions that lie beneath our thoughts, and it is my hope that by elucidating the insanity of our assumptions, we can begin to think of new ways of being." 3,35840,2017-09-08T21:57:27.402Z,35561,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,"Wow, you guys are really into Ivan Illich! I looked him up, he looks to have been a modern thinker. I never read his work, but have been exposed to some of the key concepts exposed in his Wikipedia page: Counterproductivitity => negative feedback (originally Wiener, later all complexity theorists) Specific diseconomy => iatrogenics (Taleb) Radical monopoly => winner-takes-it-all (a VC near you) Conviviality => no specific word I know. People don't talk much about is, except anthropologists." 4,35977,2017-09-11T12:17:05.276Z,35840,anon1701267031,anon1526983854,"I warned early on, I'm big into Illich! Can't promise there won't be more : /" 5,35978,2017-09-11T12:22:20.389Z,35797,anon1701267031,anon3670751854,"Yeh, I think there's a pivot point for change there... how do we envisage some practical ways to start to reveal our assumptions - the unseen structures that shape our world? Until we find tools and ways to make them more evident it'll be so much harder to work with them. I'd love to spend some time develoanon3606750899g practices and tools for that kind of work. And I wonder whether there might be ways - like experiences crafted for that specific purpose or spreading 'ear worms', like songs that get stuck in your head - that challenge old core beliefs so that they unravel and create the space for healthier more collaborative core beliefs can emerge." 1,35894,2017-09-10T09:03:06.115Z,35894,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"please point me to the best item to 'share' about everything in facebook (both for my personal one, and at Hackuarium)! will look for a program summary... Also, please let me know if there is something special I can do!" 2,35922,2017-09-10T18:52:10.161Z,35894,anon70625510,anon1227671133,Hi Rachel do you mean [festival.edgeryders.eu](http://festival.edgeryders.eu)? 3,35923,2017-09-10T19:10:25.000Z,35922,anon1227671133,anon70625510,"help shape it, ok… but maanon1932026148 this is still early days for announcing?? Meeting points and day venue: will be announced soon." 4,35962,2017-09-11T07:22:54.313Z,35923,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,@anon1626956627 is updating the festival site today with location etc and will get it ready for the tweetstorm this Saturday - have you seen[ this announcement](https://edgeryders.eu/t/rsvp-tweetstorm-for-openvillage-festival-september-16th-2017/7003) @anon1227671133? 5,35967,2017-09-11T08:02:49.910Z,35894,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"ok, good... except, I don't do any 'personal' tweeting... but can go via fb." 1,35963,2017-09-11T07:27:12.834Z,35963,anon1491650132,anon1491650132," I'm happy to introduce a new edgeryder! Paola will be joining us in Brussels October 19-21. She recently joined Creative Commons as Director of Product Engineering, designing a search engine that supports the organisation to advance culture of openness into social behavior, beyond using the licenses: ""I want to build a more usable commons, a more vibrant commons so people can benefit from its openness. This creates a virtuous cycle where people collaborate and are grateful to each other."" Paola is joining a panel at [#OpenVillage festival]([https://edgeryders.eu/c/festival](http://festival.edgeryders.eu)). I asked her to share insights into how she and others who do programming for the greater good can finance work dedicated to solving pressing societal issues. Paola started applying for fellowships in 2014 (she was a Mozilla Open Web Fellow), and developed a personal strategy to get funding. Her experience has to do with training oneself to find out the funders' perspective and possible adjusting one's research to increase the odds to get a project supported. More about her work: http://paw.mx/ You can hangout with Paola by joining [The Edge of Funding](https://edgeryders.eu/t/main-session-the-edge-of-funding/6427/12) on October 20th!" 1,35166,2017-08-31T22:04:16.893Z,35166,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Hey all, Some updates about the ever-evolving program! You can see the most updated version of the program here. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yw9RDK6ym-NfNAQy9i5clCz4cWDYmH1q5LO5IdQt32Y/edit#gid=2086488137 As the OpenVillage project and MENA project develop, the structure of the program has been slightly altered. As stated before, the general themes of the festival (Open Science, Architectures of Love, and Revolutionary Care) will be woven throughout the festival. Day 1 will be an introduction to the general themes, as well as a way to present some theoretical views of care. This process will allow us to ease into the conversations and the urban game will be a way to loosen our bodies and our minds with each other. Day 2 will focus more on the practical. It will highlight ways that projects have taken the theoretical and developed them into daily practices and infrastructures. Day 3 will focus on the visionary. It will be a combination of introduction to the OpenVillage projects, but also looking at the process of other collectives around creating community. Overall, we aim for it to be a capstone conversation to the previous two days. How do we create the structures of care needed in our local worlds while also creating the tangible villages to experiment? We will use the MENA project as an experimental space to visualize the logistics as well envision the dreams of a new world, a world capable of answering the pressing catastrophe around us. We hope all participants stay for Day 3 and that you bring your most creative and visionary selves to the process. We will need all of you to make it work! As we continue to develop the program, we ask all participants and presenters to have patience with us! While we want to give everyone the time to present formally, there may be some changes to the formal presentation schedule. But Day 3 will be left more informal and we desire that folks feel empowered to present their work in small groups. Also, if you do have work that you feel encouraged to present informally, we hope that it can be included in Day 3. Lastly, if there are still formal proposals for sessions, please post them on the blog! It will always be helpful for the larger community to hear about your work and there is no telling how many other projects you can inspire! We will plan on having a formalized schedule by September 15th. So please continue sharing and participating. We hope to see you all in Brussels! Festival Curators" 2,35232,2017-09-01T20:24:35.328Z,35166,anon2954219769,anon3670751854,"Thanks for the good work on the program @anon3670751854 ! Some notes for myself and people who want to pitch in: * We need a third panel member for the Edge of Funding session * We need a sparring partner for Marko in the CERN style review session on Ethics and Data Protection Have any potential candidates surfaced @anon1491650132 @anon1701267031 ?" 3,35324,2017-09-03T16:19:00.417Z,35232,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Thanks Frank @anon3670751854 for this, so much appreciated. I made some comments in light of last week's community call and added a sheet with the parked proposals. Let's indeed aim for mid September as a final date! Also note that http://festival.edgeryders.eu/ now has each session page linking to the conversation on our forum, so feel free to share those and invite people to join. Winnie, for Edge of Funding we currently have Paola, anon948101822c (not a moderator last time I checked.. maanon1932026148 I missed smth), Chris. I dont know who else would be needed. For the ethics panel we'd have to ask @anon1526983854 or @anon4116418727, but from the current participants I would see either Olivier (echopen) or Fabio/ Bernard (Breathinggames)." 4,35345,2017-09-04T08:10:47.146Z,35324,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Aha, I checked the communication so far and you're right. I've been asking around for a science point of view, but have not found someone yet. Will do a final round of emails, otherwise 3 panel members is fine. Then we do still need a moderator." 5,35352,2017-09-04T08:50:28.356Z,35345,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,I propose @anon 6,35353,2017-09-04T08:58:46.408Z,35352,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,Seconded :slight_smile: Are you up for it @anon70625510 ? 7,35959,2017-09-11T06:38:54.556Z,35166,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"So @anon1277226854 can't be at the festival except on Sunday - I think we will be missing an opportunity not being able to present the ethnography of opencare on the first day - but nothing much to do. @anon3670751854 can you move the session for sunday morning? Thanks!" 1,35378,2017-09-04T16:54:55.939Z,35378,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"anon2072667717 Birhane is researching cognitive science at University College Dublin. She tweets and [blogs](https://abebabirhane.wordpress.com/) about embodied cognition and the enactive approach to cognitive science, which is how I came across her work, when Marco shared a link to [her post](https://aeon.co/ideas/descartes-was-wrong-a-person-is-a-person-through-other-persons) on Aeon. anon2072667717’s interest in a more relational understanding of personhood and dialogical approaches informed by the likes of Bakhtin, could bring a useful perspective to understanding the enabling conditions for community-led Opencare. While her work is not specific to the field of care, there are clear connections between the field of her research and how we think about a person and the challenges around health that OpenCare is wrestling with. The extent to which our Cartesian mindset goes unquestioned can be seen in the way which our health and social care systems have developed and our responses to solving the big challenges in public health that have faced society. anon2072667717 interests lie in the problematic conceptions of selfhood that arise from the influence of Descartes on psychology, the modern mind and ways of understanding our place in the world. She draws on Ubuntu and African philosophy for richer conceptions of the self and on the work of Bakhtin. Bakhtin’s study of philosophy led him to develop the concept of dialogism - a concept that went on to influence fields beyond language and communication. European social psychologists have applied Bakhtin's work to the study of human social experience, preferring it as a more dynamic alternative to Cartesian dualism. anon2072667717’s research interests lie in the emerging fields of embodied and enactive cognition, which are similarly finding greater potential in dialogic models of the self. She is researching the ways in which our personhood is ""always on the move, is relational and communal”. Sharing these insights may contribute to a sense of what a relational health and social care system might look like. Where patients are no longer treated as self-contained units in need of some form or intervention within conduit models of service delivery and greater health is generated through greater interconnection with others, with community and society. I’m hoanon3606750899g anon2072667717 will post some thoughts and that conversations will develop that will provide insights as to the assumptions our current care systems are founded on - conversations that may continue as part of the open sessions at the Open Village in October. What happens when we explore and shift our assumptions, when we work consciously with these, beyond designing care interventions and health apps confined by the boundaries those assumptions create?" 2,35532,2017-09-05T15:43:28.595Z,35378,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"I would surely hope anon2072667717 joins us here and in Brussels for the event.. Reading your post reminds me how I lost my habit of reading academic writings - her style and method of inquiry looks like it's more theoretical and philosopical than empirical, am I wrong? Has she, or perhaps you, seen care interventions feeding into this high level thinking and viceversa? I am wondering how people who are deep in the trenches might apply the thinking rather than inform it - thinking of @anon3560946760 or @anon2442420827 here.. Otherwise, thanks for the post, you're definitely on a mission of diving deeper Gehan, just as you promised <3" 3,35547,2017-09-05T16:58:06.313Z,35532,anon3560946760,anon1491650132,"I saw this and it did make me happy. This strange idea of community having its first primordial moment when people are conscious together. story . language. metaphor. that great moment when people understand each other or the awkward moment when you don't. empathy and social anxiety changing peoples mind. perhaps cornerstones of the cognitive revolution. what is more attested to is the key role of story. part of a way of changing the software of our minds. here is something i would like to know your thoughts on. i have been told about trauma something that disrupts the stories we tell ourselves about our lives. often replaying it like a broken record. [man's search for meaning by victor frankl](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mans-Search-Meaning-classic-Holocaust/dp/1844132390) talks about the will to meaning being a key factor in the likelihood of people surviving or recover from the Holocaust. Could community stories be part of showing that collective resilience? could new understandings of cognition and research into artificial intelligence make us more sympathetic as we get a better understanding of how difficult for everyone to be conscious at all?" 4,35588,2017-09-06T08:18:47.575Z,35378,anon70625510,anon1701267031,"This is at the heart of what we are exploring, isn't it? One of the cultural shocks I experienced when moving back to Europe was how people related to their homes. In Sweden the home is a closed off thing. One of its key attributes is serving as a fort and highly controlled environment entry to which has to be negotiated in advance and only for specific people, especially around meals. My parents home served as a social hangout place with people dropanon3606750899g by all the time at any time of the day, often without pre-warning, at most a call asking if we were in. Midnight, noon....didn't matter, when people showed up you would welcome them with tea and cookies or food if it was mealtime. I believe that experimenting with cultural concepts of ""home"" as a place and set of interactions that take place in it is central towards understanding and reshaanon3606750899g that relationships between selves. One's own as well as the ones physically manifested in other bodies... very much looking forward to meeting anon2072667717 :slight_smile:" 5,35589,2017-09-06T08:23:31.770Z,35588,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Also, food has been a key discussion in the context of opencare. Check out this thread on [how different food cultures facilitate care](https://edgeryders.eu/t/how-do-different-food-cultures-facilitate-care/6588). @anon3325826017 is looking at something related to how we see ourselves in relationship to the earth and soil in his work on [transforming food systems in post-crisis Greece](https://edgeryders.eu/t/transforming-food-systems-in-post-crisis-greece-conversation-with-anon3325826017-georgiadis-part-one/669/9) if I've understood his work correctly?" 6,35607,2017-09-06T10:50:13.880Z,35532,anon2072667717,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi, Thank you. Yes, you are right - my work is theoretical and philosophical but my aim in the long term is to extend it to the experimental, or at least develop a clear methodological path as to how such theories and philosophical foundations could be cashed out in empirical work; hopefully dynamical modelling. As to your question about experience of care intervention feeding into theoretical thinking, no, I don't really have much first hand experience. However, I am familiar that theories of dialogical and embodied cognition are applied in clinical (therapy) and educational (the idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for ex, which is all about relationships and disconnectedness) settings. Best, anon2072667717" 7,35608,2017-09-06T11:04:21.822Z,35547,anon2072667717,anon3560946760,"Indeed, Michael! Moving away from the notion of the person as independent , fixed and autonomous (aka Cartesian) and towards the notion of cognition as contextual, in continual change and something essentially embedded in a web of relations is exactly the type of cognitive science I aspire to do. And this in a way is challenging as for most of Western intellectual history Cartesian thinking has been dominant and it has influenced and shaped almost all aspects of our thinking be it the way we think about ourselves or the way we conduct our experiments. And yes, as far as I am concerned this new (ish) understanding of cognition is making progress in many fields - from robotics ( the principles of embodied cognition underlie [Boston Dynamics's Big Dog](https://youtu.be/eZUS4NVNH2o)) to psychology. Best, anon2072667717" 8,35610,2017-09-06T11:13:57.555Z,35588,anon2072667717,anon70625510,"Exactly! Understanding and accounting for relationships which are the fabrics of our being is at the heart of it all. And also acknowledging change, fluidity, uncertainty and openness changes the way we view self-hood or communities. But of course, uncertainty makes it difficult to anon3606750899 things down and experiment whether you are doing academic work or implementing policies but I wholeheartedly believe we are better of with a relativity changing and uncertain science that is true to nature than the illusion of control and fixity." 9,35862,2017-09-09T08:47:22.555Z,35610,anon1526983854,anon2072667717,"Wow, @anon2072667717, super-interesting. I am only superficially familiar with embodiment theory etc. But, as a network scientist, I am comfortable with the idea that complicated phenomena like the self might emerge from a great many much simpler parts interacting. I guess other people out there close feedback loops, by locking each one of us in a web of relationship with others that is super-important to survival and reproduction: so, human introduce to each other an evolutionary advantage in being able to negotiate (rather than just fight-or-flight) and even collaborate with one another, for example exchanging information. Evolution might have come up with self-awareness as device to increase fitness along the way. However, a biologist-cum-science fiction writer called Peter Watts has been popularising very interesting, franon1056199097 theoretical biology papers that posit that: (a) you can imagine intelligence without self-awareness (in fact we are even building it, in the form of AI); (b) self-awareness is costly to mantain (cortex and neocortex tissue sucking up glucose to maintain continuity of the homunculus behind our eyes); (c) because of (b), an intelligent but not self-aware lifeform, if it were to emerge, would eventually outcompete self-aware ones. That does not invalidate your argument, of course." 1,6282,2017-05-01T14:03:24.000Z,6282,anon477123739,anon477123739,"This is a work in progress idea for the OpenVillage. Big Question: How can Britain and Europe work together, post-Brexit, to provide a humane and safe environment for asylum seekers and refugees across the continent? My background: Worked on the Ground in Calais 2016. OpenCare fellow. Wrote about my experience here.  Now, I am a Regional Coordinator for Help Refugees. The UK largest grassroots refugee charity. Initially a reactionary humanitarian charity. Sending volunteers from UK out to support projects in France and beyond. Now, works to support projects in areas across Europe. Working with local organisations doing charitable/humanitarian work in Northern France, Greece mainland and islands, Serbia, Italy, Turkey and Lebanon. Fundraisers and political change-makers – lobbying UK government and civil service/NGOs. Starting to work on the ground in the UK. Eyes turned towards putting our own house in order. Undertaking an asset mapanon3606750899g of refugee services in UK. Desperate to avoid overlap or duplication. More about connecting and supporting existing services with volunteers and funds. Ethos is heavily on grassroots, non-NGO, Non-Political, but partisan actors. Working with refugees IS a political act. Predominantly Young volunteers, and young people within central team. Mix of UK and local European partner volunteers working in projects on the ground – strong split 50/50.  How could the event work? Reach out to Help Refugees organisers. Bring in people running the groups they support around Europe. Could pitch it as a Help Refugees European summit for grassroots and citizen-led refugee projects, working with EdgeRyders to connect to a wider audience. How might it work? In an ideal world i would ask the team from Good Chance Theatre to bring their theatre to the city for the weekend. We would use the space inside it to run a series of open group discussions, keynote talks, breakout discussions and evening entertainment. Discussions I would like to see people having:
  • Building a sustainable model for volunteering abroad beyond ‘pay to play’ services in “develoanon3606750899g world”.
  • Encouraging people to volunteer ‘at home’ to refugee charities. How do we borrow ideas from the ‘Health charity sector’?
  • Practices for develoanon3606750899g cohesion and integration. What can we learn from each other?
  • Dealing with trauma and deep trauma: When a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
  • A generation of lost skills: How do we make sure skilled refugees are assisted into skilled work?
  • Microfinancing, sharing economy and skills banks: initiatives for charities to help us help each other.
  • On the move: or how to hack your way through life. A session where people share ideas and tips with each other that they have learned from being on the move.
  • Tech and refugees. How do we stop building apps and start building communities?
  • Working with governments. Petitioning, lobbying and campaigning. What works? what doesn’t? what next?
  • What happens when ‘the crisis’ is over? How do we make sure that ‘business as usual’ is better? What next for Fortress Europe? How do we prepare for a future of mass migration and political uncertainty?
Speakers and Orgs I would like to hear talks from NGO/Government: UNHRC (ch/sw)  European Commission: Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (eu/bel) Creative Europe culture team (eu/bel) Refugees International (USA) European Council of Refugees and Exiles Grassroots/Charity: Breaking Barriers (uk) Citizen’s Platform for Refugee Support (be) Refugee Open Cities (ER members - @anon Refugees Work (ER members - @anon2131851816 ) (de) EmpowerHack (uk) RISE: REFUGEES' IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS FOR EUROPE [Greek Forum of Refugees](gr) (Advocate Europe project winner 2016) Refugio Berlin (De) The Orange House (gr) (ER members and Help Refugees funded) Refugees to Refugees R2R Solidarity Call Center (gr) (@anon Help Refugees (uk) Utopia 56 (fr) Impact Hub Athens Culture: Anyone who won the Creative Europe awards in 2016 Platforma (counterpoint arts) (UK) Art Refuge Uk (uk) Young Roots (uk)     @anon A long list of potential groups that may be encouraged to participate. The hope would be that ER existing members would be encouraged along to meet as a group and that a number of new organsiations would join. Adding their stories to the project. On top of this the hope would be to reach out to the volunteer and refugee support community in Brussels. Also, (if we can make it happen) the large theatre space would be a visable beacon to members of the public.   It's a big idea. It could be scaled down if required. It has the potential for a lot of moving parts, but i think it's achievable given the timescale. The biggest hurdles would be securing buy in from Good Chance Theatre to create the space, and finding ways to support grassroots volunteers to travel to, and stay in, Brussels to meet, share and talk. Typical ER problems i guess. Let me know any thoughts you have about the idea. Happy to reframe, or revisit any ideas here based on input. " 2,8952,2017-05-01T20:54:25.000Z,6282,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"How do we stop building apps and start building communities? I deeply reasonate with this and it's interesting how late the issue is being exposed.  In a conversation the other day with @anon cc-ing @anon2131851816 in case she has a take on this, given the hotspot that Berlin is. " 3,11619,2017-05-02T21:42:36.000Z,8952,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Absolutely to both @anon Refugees welcome! " 4,15811,2017-05-02T16:13:54.000Z,6282,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Looks promising I used to have a contact in the Commission... If we decide to go ahead with this, I can try to bring her online, keep me posted. As for ""with"" service recipients (horrible word! In an ideal OpenCare scenario we are all designers and deliverers as well as being recipients, by definition!): the mind runs to @anon " 5,20445,2017-05-11T09:12:08.000Z,6282,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"""Practices for develoanon3606750899g cohesion and integration"" Still thinking about how the theme around refugees and people on the move can work at the OpenVillage Festival this October. Heads up: it's what participatory program building often ends up being - proposals, moving pieces around, and generating more ideas to make sure the event is both relevant and generates more knowledge. To zoom in on one of your points above and my earlier observation @anon Adding to your list of orgs and people doing really effective work already alongside refugees: could be The Bike project (just learned about it via via @anon A call dedicated to just this area of work could be useful..  " 6,23956,2017-05-11T13:30:45.000Z,6282,anon477123739,anon477123739,"I'm aware of The Bike Project, they're doing some amazing work with refugees and asylum seekers in London. Also, a big fan of the work done by Refugees at Home. I would love to see examples of effective work popanon3606750899g up around the festival. I'd love to see the modular furniture systems of @anon I wonder to what extent we would need to find some innovative solutions from people/orgs on the gorund in Brussels. Would it be possible for a group like The Bike Project to set up quickly on the ground for 3 days? I guess we'd have to ask them. I would foresee that a chunk of money would go towards covering the transport costs to bring groups that could deliver services on the ground. This would need to be delivered in conjunction with organisations already working with refugees and/or homelessness in the city. If we're bringing these groups great innovations together then they should be delivered into the hands of people who will most benefit from them, allowing for a 2-way discussion between service users (urgh!) and service providers. " 7,26671,2017-05-22T11:41:00.000Z,6282,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Upskilling - More resources.. @anon some people in the group assert that the venture has to generate an income for the refugees, and not just training- training for what? Founder's answer: Making people happy! (the whole conversation documented here) " 8,27226,2017-05-22T11:56:27.000Z,26671,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Thanks @anon I'll have a look at the session notes from LOTE5 and start to write a focussed brief for a session at OpenVillage " 9,28263,2017-06-30T09:49:00.000Z,6282,anon1701267031,anon477123739,"Commonality Still navigating the complexity of the Edgeryders site, so just coming across your inspiring post @anon I'm interested in the trajectory from reactionary group to largest grassroots charity - seems to be a common thread around groups forming in response to urgent needs. I wonder how it might be better understood so that it can be more deliberately resourced across a range of issues? I'm also curious about your statement ""Ethos is heavily on grassroots, non-NGO, Non-Political, but partisan actors"" and what observations, experiences are behind it. I'm guessing it might relate to the theme I'm curating for the OpenVillage event. Your original post is a much bigger scope but there are commonalities and I wonder if you're further forward in the 'focussed brief' you mention? A number of the discussions you've listed would help in illuminating the enabling factors that create and maintain grassroots care responses.  I think ""practices for develoanon3606750899g cohesion and integration"" are key and would love to create some space to explore these in a session. It's fundamental to your later discussion point: Tech and refugees. How do we stop building apps and start building communities? Its obvious that there will be many insights from the grassroots work you've outlined that will be very relevant to wider discussions on citizen led health and social care. Good to hear where you're at. Gehan " 10,33685,2017-07-28T14:43:06.307Z,6282,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Not sure if this is happening anymore, but wanted to give @anon477123739 a heads up that we're releasing a first version of the festival program - pretty full by now - next week. It would be a pity if after all the conversations and exhibitions last year around the issue of refugee care and new economic models we dont have anything in the Festival program.." 11,34639,2017-08-23T20:37:40.468Z,33685,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi, Sorry to have gone so quiet. It's been the crazy few months i was expecting it to be, and i've been wrapped up in all thing theatre. I've kept a eye on the developments that have occurred and i'll still very much be joining in. Seems unlikely that i would be able to run a session, but depending on the other people in attendance i'd certainly be happy to organise something informal (even if it's just for everyone to say hello in person and share how things have moved forward for them since we shared our original stories) If there is still an open slot and you already know that others from the refugee care strand are looking to attend i'd be happy to convene a 'Where are we now? What next?' session in the slot. Something on that scale could fit into my current schedule." 12,34781,2017-08-26T11:59:45.425Z,34639,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Hi Alex, I'm not sure how it fits the current program as it's been a while - @anon3670751854 and @anon1701267031 are adding final touches - see the [curator's note and latest program version](https://edgeryders.eu/t/openvillage-festival-program-and-curators-note/6632/3) here. We do want to leave small room for ad hoc, less structured sessions - maanon1932026148 we save this one for that?" 13,35639,2017-09-06T15:03:57.996Z,34781,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"That would be fine for me. I expect it will depend on who is in attendance anyway. I like the idea of being able to bounce between different sessions again this year so i'm happy to be a (helpful, busy) spectator. Do you need people to do Capture again this time around. Very happy to put myself forward. I must admit with a few months away and the new format website (very pretty, by the way) i'm struggling to get back into the swing straight away." 1,6470,2017-07-05T10:37:47.000Z,6470,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"bottom up crisis management. Through the cold war we saw disaster situations managed through large scale civil defence. Even at the end of the cold war the mass migration that followed was handled with a military humanitarianism. With the rise of global austerity since 2008, civil defense with the care sector in general has been get eroded. Cuts to public services reduce there capacity to respond. overall the public respond well to disasters, but new formations of disaster management are not without complications.  how can gaps be filled more effectively? how can training be provided that meets unkown needs?  how do we prevent difficulty from becoming dispair? I have been doing research through actions. Seeing the migrant crisis as a training ground for the crisis of the future. Working with a mobile footcare clinic and trying to extract the best practice as we moved through the small camps of italy and down to serbia. dealing with medical issues and truck logics  how do we repilcate skilling up? how do we deal with elite panic? ie large organisations in dissarray due to poor leadership. how do we get people to thrive in high stress enviroments? most of us can think of times when we have risen to the challenge of tough situations. what are the emotions and logistics behind that happening?   " 2,6685,2017-07-05T11:04:28.000Z,6470,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"relating it to policy ideas working with at talking to poeple about barriers. not being able to get the time off of work. not being allowed to take 4 weeks at once is very common. Even when they would be develoanon3606750899g useful transferable skills. chronic embitterment within organisations that seem incohernent. this has been a big issue in the NHS. there is a large intrest in opencare from medical professionals. addressing its internal issues or just giving greater flexibility to the staff would give staff the head space for other projects of intrest.   " 3,14386,2017-07-07T10:14:00.000Z,6470,anon1701267031,anon3560946760,"two interesting posts... & some meaty questions Thanks @anon Clearly you'll have amassed vital practical experience on your travels and it would be good to link up the learning with others in Edgeryders. I really like the notion of 'Emergency Mutual Aid' and a very concrete practice of solidarity. I can see how it's useful to see ""the migrant crisis as a training ground for the crisis of the future"".  The questions you raise in both posts seem to fall in to a number of headings: training/upskilling, logistics/coordination, personal resilience. These issues are core to the central enquiry of OpenCare if we are to gather insights to shape a ""DIY welfare"" network and they resonate with other questions raised in other posts shared on the Edgeryders platform. I could see a useful session - drawing on what you've learned and co-enquiry around the questions you've outlined - making a meaningful contribution to the Open Village event in October. I can also see that it could sit well in either the Architectures of Love theme or the Working and Living Well Together curated by @anon Under the Architectures theme it would be useful to explore - personal resilience, effective ways to pass on skills (this is also something other theme conversations have picked up on - see here). Logistics/coordination may come in to the considerations about the role of citizen compared to role of the state and appropriate instruments such as policy. I'm not yet clear on this. Perhaps others have some useful perspectives? Your questions would also bring in the dimension of emergency - what does urgency bring to the lines of enquiry the Architectures theme have considered so far? " 4,17141,2017-07-07T15:00:18.000Z,14386,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Coordination around emergency responses I think that is a common thread so far: we've heard from welcoming refugees in Greece - a lot of which was ad hoc engineered so to speak, to p2p on-call systems which are more structured (and tech based - see BUOY's / ""Call a friend, not the cops"").  I don't think @anon the migrant crisis as a training ground for the crisis of the future - this reads so compelling, thank you Michael for coining it!  I definitely see a session built as an experience/lesson sharing conversation between Michael and others who are doing great work on the ground, and at least someone with a high level overview that understands how the supoort system fails at the coordination and resource allocation level. @anon   " 5,35236,2017-09-01T21:30:53.359Z,6470,anon1526983854,anon3560946760,"Emergency response is something that, in the right situation, communities might do very well. Already in the 1980s, I recall that an Italian sociologist called Francesco Lanzara observed how, within hours of a major earthquake in southern Italy, one guy had gone out to the main square, in ruins, of a small town that had been flattened by the quake. He carried a large camanon3606750899g stove, a large tank of water, a large bag of coffee and five or six coffee machines. He started offering hot coffee to people digging in the rubble. Over the following two days, ""Quake Café"" became a meeting point for people to get organised, plan their effort for the day, hustle for wanted materials, offer help, exchange information (this is 1980, no Twitter). By offering a natural ""hub"", Quake Café had enabled a myriad small initiative to happen faster and more efficiently, with a minimal effort. Positive feedback kicked in: the barista himself got more organised, he now had small snacks and a helper. All the while, the state was struggling to get together a response. On the third day, the army moved in, but they had more guns than shovels. They could not much to help, at least initially, but they did order the barista to pack up and go home. Lanzara was stunned. How was it that local people could stitch together the embryo of a system in a few hours, with no resources, no command power and no coordination tools? And how was it that the mighty machine of the state, who did have resources, command power and organisation, sputtered first and then actually did damage, preventing what was working from continuing operations? This small episode, and a few others in the same earthquake, spurred a anon3003844599 of sociological literature that continues to this day. I have only read Lanzara's 1993 [book](http://www.lafeltrinelli.it/libri/lanzara-giovan-francesco/capacita-negativa/9788815040862) (in Italian), but not his earlier article in English on the _Journal of Management Studies_, and not the [book by Rebecca Solnit](https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Built-Hell-Extraordinary-Communities/dp/0143118072) which probably you, @anon3560946760, have in mind. I am not too optimistic about the possibility to do policy based on these intuition. They are by definition anti-policy. But I may be wrong, and for sure would be interested in hearing your reflections from the work done with the mobile clinic." 6,35505,2017-09-05T13:12:38.418Z,6470,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"policy ultimately in declaring what your responsible for, planning and prevention. welfare state models of civil defense. effective welfare states can prevent disasters entirely 90%" 1,6415,2017-06-16T11:30:45.000Z,6415,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"  Notes from our community call ahead of \#OpenVillage Fest, with: Michael - curious about The Reef and would like to drop by in Brussels. Bernard - piloting a new Unmonastery. Building cloches for growing food in urban areas. Three people hoanon3606750899g to come along to Open Village. Measuring soil humidity for better gardening (Ken in Ireland) http://www.aae.ie/ait-eile-monastery-2017/ John - likes the open source, self management tools. DIY control of your stuff - needs to be open source; Raspberry Pi: board for remote controlling stuff, with microports; you can make kiosk videos; it will plug into a lot of ports; Lile Arduino. Great application to practical tasks. Including medical. Getting some hackers/DIY electronics people at the festival would be cool. Alberto- Buffalo NY. Working on water quality and using fly fishing as a way for integrating citizen science and working with schools. Building environmental stewardship Winnie - citizen science theme for the Festival, working with Alberto, involved in open biology lab here in Belgium Noemi- has been working to curate OpenVillage program Gehan - Glasgow, involved in Galgael.

How do we create the conditions for opencare? 

Are we over-investing in one way of producing change? That being through policy. How do we create a culture that creates an environment, an ecology of care? Bernard: spent time with Transition Galway, actively involved in doing things; Bernard and his group are involved in Galway 2020 which means they can go ahead with a little funding and act under the banners of culture. Especially in mental health - they managed to get a centre open besides the hospital (see Cosain for more info). That’s by getting into anything that is public participation, getting lots of groups together. Galway City Community Network (CCCN) - they tried to influence the council. Galway got a Greenleaf award - there were events promised, funding,... and nothing happened. Currently all the environmental groups are putting pressure for something to actually happen, by going international: “Because we’re officially registered we wrote to the Council through Galway’s CCCN. The next stage is to go directly to the Greenleaf in Europe”. Gehan: what is comes down to is dropanon3606750899g this idea that creating jobs is important, and explore decoupling work from jobs. Jobs have come to monopolise work in a way that is not necessarily conducive to the kind of future we’d want.

Learning to do open policy: who should we invite at OpenVillage?

Noemi: Help with feedback on the programme pls? https://edgeryders.eu/openvillage/program Open Policy making group in Milano as they work on Collectively enforcing a mobility policy. How do you make people comply with this? Its cheaper for shop owners to pay the fine. Working with social designers, ethnographers. Collective law enforcement. Is it about understanding constraints at a system level? A live debate…? Let Noemi know what is needed to go deeper on this theme.  Do a search on the network and see what work is happening on policy and explore gaps. Send invitation to get people to participate in a panel- starting with @anon

Co-Living: ""Collective policing and policy-ing""?

Simon from England - be useful to try to get his engagement. Lancaster co-housing. Not working. But builds in lots of protection for you. Sliding scale - when you live with people, how much are you keeanon3606750899g for yourself. It really comes into play when you have kids. That’s when it gets interesting. The parenting dynamic can become tense. It’s always a conversation between the individual and the collective. It might be interesting to hear more about how they’ve doing. Community in Milano - Bovisa Co-housing. Post on Edgeryders. Premise when we got there was not as anticipated. Lack of understanding at the beginning that this was a communal project. Spectrum between family and ‘sociality’. Moved over time to sociality but not deliberately. Self-selection. Very organic. Connected to sharing everything - vs - sharing common values. Design, expectation, governance. WHAT WOULD BE AN ASPECT OF COMMUNITY SPACES LIVING/WORKING/LEARNING THAT YOU WANT TO LEARN AT OPENVILLAGE? Bernard: Water supply - testing water. Trying to live with off grid. Reed beds. There are people working on this that we can network with. Several proposals have touched on the importance of water, there is energy to work with. or is it also more practical - like plumbing - that you're after? Winnie: some guys pretty active in the tiny houses here in Belgium. He came to us for info on a fungal filter for his water at some point Noemi: How people learn to live together while also making a contribution in the world. Lifestyle - impact relationship. Gehan: In GalGael: we don’t live together but we work together. Drug & alcohol policy but this doesn’t keep people safe. Collective policing versus authoritarian policing - still limited; how to go beyond the reach of policy - perhaps by creating working principles that guide day to day interactions and relations? John: underlying theme would be just asking them what are ways to form alliances without a pre-defined outcome. What is the commitment when people do decide to come/live together?    What about you? What would you like to learn about? " 2,7471,2017-06-20T09:36:00.000Z,6415,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Meet the Policy Maker debate.. ? (curated) Hello all, I propose we work towards a session to make the most out of experiences in creating conditions and infrastructure for open care: open and collaborative policy making being one aspect of it, and I'm sure there's more. Hopefully we have the journey of Milano to start with, but I can see it playing out as a live debate with other progressive civil servants and community members whom we could invite based on a preliminary outline.  I invited Lucia Scopelliti and Gehan for a first stab at the concept, but I could use some input from @anon " 3,35360,2017-09-04T12:34:43.449Z,6415,anon1409060592,anon1491650132,"[quote=""anon1491650132, post:1, topic:6382""] Learning to do open policy [/quote] Hi Noemi, about ""Learning to do open policy"" @anon3471410614 would give her contribution as she confirmed she'll attend Open village. Though @anon3914374234 and myself will shortly catch up with @anon1701267031 on the building up of the session." 4,35410,2017-09-05T08:47:12.855Z,35360,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,Sounds good! Lucia coming does in no way exclude what we discussed and your contributions @anon 1,6376,2017-06-02T14:06:13.000Z,6376,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"As we continue to struggle in NYC, many changes have come about since we last wrote of the Woodbine Health Autonomy Center and our thoughts After Occupy. The chaos of the world seems to grow larger, pushing us to further investigate the materiality of autonomy. The growing migrant crisis in Europe, the rise of proto-fascist forces across the world, the election of Trump here in the US. The continual melting of glaciers. The mundanities of crushing debt, the anxiety of our culture, and the everyday loneliness of the city. And for us here at Woodbine, the loss of a dear friend and comrade who was traveling to support the indigenous resistance at Standing Rock. We don’t bring these up to anon2590712900y add to the general devastation. But because they are our reality. They exist and to not acknowledge that is to cover ourselves with superficial banalities. The crises that continue to arise are anon2590712900y symptoms of the disintegration of a way of being in the world that is becoming rapidly untenable. So when we think of care, we must take on the task of being a bridge to a new way of being.   At Woodbine, we are continuing to develop a path toward health autonomy. We are looking to meld many different modalities of health.  We have been experimenting with different projects and finding ways to build community. We’ve had a garage gym with weekly fitness classes, open hours in our Resource Center, and ongoing public workshops. Our series of “skill shares”, has included subjects from acupuncture to foraging urban medicinal plants, to workshops on first aid and large discussions questioning what communal health really requires. Autonomous mental health infrastructure seems to be the most pressing immediate need of our community. This is a key place we are focusing our energies at the moment. We find that the act of sharing responsibilities, allowing for new innovation, and practicing vulnerability with our comrades are the first steps to addressing these larger questions of health and care. With the proposed health care cuts as well as the general trend our government is taking, we fear that some heightened level of austerity will be upon us. As resources to critical health infrastructure are being threatened, as evidenced by Planned Parenthood cuts, the war on women’s health, and the potentials for immigration officials to use health institutions as a screening tool, we are increasingly seeing a need to provide clinical as well as educational resources. Because of the immense cost and regulatory difficulty of providing clinical care in NYC, we need to seek and develop work-arounds. As we see the needs increasing, cuts being made and draconian measures to make non-violent actions to protect water punishable with prison sentences, we can only imagine a future where care for ourselves and our fellows will become increasingly criminalized. Therefore the steps we make to gain and share skills and develop subterranean practices of care can return some of the agency we’ve lost to the professionalization of medicine and the profitable mystery that is our bodies. As we think about expanding our capacity, we don’t want to just “fill in the gaps” of public health infrastructure. We need to slowly break our dependence on these institutions in all the ways that we can and also look for ways to use them to our advantage. We think this happens through sharing knowledge and skills, an emphasis on preventative care, and finding ways to manipulate existing structures to allow us to move forward on this path of autonomy.   We believe in the utter necessity of revolution, of the development of material lines of power. Questions of care and health autonomy are pivotal to that progression.  From the Greek solidarity clinics to the Zapatistas “healthcare from below” to Black Panther Clinics and GynPunks, there is inspiration for this path all around us.  We begin by finding each other.       " 2,6557,2017-06-03T08:14:26.000Z,6376,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"We missed you over here. We missed you @anon Just this morning I was reading this Urgency and Agency Hello all @anon I really connect with all you've said here and in particular you're sense of urgency and the imperative of radically different approaches to health and its broader determinants. I have often found myself at well intentioned workshops with rooms full of professionals working hard at designing perfect interventions that will deliver the miraculous ‘product' of health to our communities. I’m intensely frustrated by the waste of human resources and energy when surely it must be obvious that health is not simply the output of professional ‘interventions’ (even the clinical language makes me recoil). Surely it’s obvious that health is also fundamentally the natural outcome of healthy communities, relationships and systems - including our political and economic systems.  The work I'm involved in at GalGael came out of fires protesting motorways bringing asthma and nature deprivation to communities in Glasgow already hard pressed. We created relative safety admist a housing scheme where there was little. We learnt along the way - by accident - the sense of agency that comes from ‘the act of sharing responsibilities’ within the context of the encampment. We chose to continue to work with that sense of agency and still do so 20 years after the motorway was built. We’ve continued learning and particularly the extent to which that sense of agency is profoundly connected to our health. We’re lucky in Scotland to have had a recent Government Chief Medical Officer who underlined the importance of work on salutogenesis - the importance of studying what makes us healthy rather than disease itself - and the role that our sense of control over our own lives plays in our health; both physical and mental. (Harry Burns - I believe he is regularly in NY) For a while we were disheartened to see people we’d worked with on issues of addiction appear back at our doors. What were we doing wrong? We were adamant that we did not want to be another revolving door for people stuck in the cogs of a poverty industry or disease factory. Slowly we realised - by classical 'analysing our own reality' - that the systems and relationships beyond our doors and beyond our direct influence were considerably more effective at creating disease and dysfunction than we could ever be at resolving it - especially on grant funded (frequently cut) project work, creating environments where people could find greater health and humanity. And now we know the imperative of both - to be there when people need us on the renewed understanding that many diseases and social ills are adaptations to the dysfunction in our wider systems. On its own, this would amount to little more than sticking a fanon1056199097r in a crack in the harbour wall in the face of a tsunami. So now we understand that working to influence system change is also essential to not only the health in individuals but increasingly the survival of our communities. I find what Deborah Frieze refers to as 'hospicing the dying' in relation to systems helpful - an important aspect of care work in our times. What is called for as old systems collapse? How do we work to illuminate and support the emergence of the new?  These thoughts led to me proposing a track for the Open Village - see more here. If you are delivering a session - I would love to hear more and stay in touch as the programme shapes up. @anon There is much that is quite overwhelming in the world - loss, grief, fear, uncertainty, greed. In standing firm in the face of this, the words of Dr. Cornel West regularly come to mind; 'I cannot be an optimist - but I am a prisoner of hope'. They seem to hold the tension between current realities and possible futures beautifully. " 4,17074,2017-06-05T20:44:08.000Z,13972,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Agency: working with, against the system, or..? Yes, I resonated with the association of words as well. However, the Centre for Political Beauty works completely against the system, or parrallel to it at best. Woodbine as well, from past conversations, seem to be on the revolutionary side - although someone in the collective mentioned working in public hospitals and guiding people through the system, fully aware that at the end of the day the system is failing us all. This past discussion on the Woodbine sustainability and interaction with the system is truly enlightening: ""agree that we have to study the idea of both being within the system and out"". What came out was the question of whether teaching prevention, taking on a single point of system failure could be lower hanging fruit for groups like yours who make a real contribution but also risk overburdening or taking on too big a task. Meeting basic survival needs like housing or food, which are traditionally system tasks is more difficult and involve a certain work with the system in order to build that major capacity - i.e. charities or grant funded organisations.  @anon Over these 20 years GalGael is surely becoming a repository of learnings and things which work, or dont. How did you work over these years in relation with existing institutions? This is just one of the many points of congruence we found in opencare community. It all goes back to how we build the infrastructure needed, a point nicely made by @anon " 5,20144,2017-06-06T23:06:56.000Z,6376,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"A revolutionary life Hey all, Thanks for the comments.  Always impressed with the level of analysis within the group.  I think our group tries to reflect the larger feeling within the world at the time: that we must act as bridges to something else.  Many of us come from the anarchist model of thinking, and in the US, that comes with a heavy focus on destruction.  Mainly in contrast to the NGO/professionalization model of ""bandaids"" and objectification.  But how we see the parallels now is that we must no longer allow ourselves to be motivated by a destruction entity.  Rather we must begin building the worlds that we would die for.  A world worth dying for.  Similar to the examples you all used, there is a strong movement to not reject a destructive attitude (revolutions being inherently destructive) but recognizing that our strength now is our potential to offer the world a new vision of life, the ""good life/buen vivir"" of the Zapatistas.  As such, I work in a public hospital and acknolwedge the needs for institutions at this time.  But always with an eye towards utilizing towards our ends, not becoming dependent on the institutions/NGOs for a way of life.   I look forward to continuing the conversation!  As for practical things, I think a larger question we have is the role of networks in creating autonomy, how to build structures that increase autonomy not just something that replicates Silicon Valley mindsets.  Also for skills, maanon1932026148 something aroudn the very act of giving skills.  How we plan out our skill shares and what are the main purposes (i.e beyond just passing on knowledge).   " 6,35390,2017-09-04T20:41:42.896Z,17074,anon2066188386,anon1491650132,"[quote=""anon1491650132, post:4, topic:6343""] ""agree that we have to study the idea of both being within the system and out"" [/quote] Yes, if we can't figure out how to build within existing frameworks and instead insist on forcing a clean break, it would be unprecedented and for good reason. Pretty sure all change, even revolutionary change, has to respect current climate and parameters. Instead of shunning the financial system, understand how it sucks money out of us and how compound interest works, instead of rejecting all western medicine, pretty sure there's lots of gems in there as well, etc etc. Practical steps to get to where we need to be is less romantic than the insurrection everything narrative, but I'll be damned if it's this struggle isn't protracted as hell." 1,34920,2017-08-28T14:45:57.510Z,34920,anon2954219769,anon2954219769," In August we synthesized strategic work we have done in ReaGent and Ekoli in July, we are taking some important steps with Open Insulin and we are moving into the next phase with the OpenVillage Festival. #Strategy July was an instructive month for the teams at [ReaGent](https://www.facebook.com/ReaGentBiolab/) and [Ekoli](https://www.facebook.com/EkoliBE/), the two nonprofits that share the open biolab in Ghent. We held three strategic sessions (one for Ekoli and two for ReaGent), to determine our focus points for the coming year(s). We had been building plenty of science related content, activities and infrastructure since we started (2 years ago for ReaGent, just short of 1 year for Ekoli). We had been mainly acting on gut feel so far, but the time had come to evaluate and improve our actions. Several factors are the base of this: our rent will increase, we are growing and some aspects are professionalizing. The latter is particularly challenging in an environment where the people who need help the most, don’t have financial means, and there is a mix of volunteer and paid work. I invited Filip Daniëls, a systems thinker and visualizer, to join us during the sessions and help make sense of the complexity we’ve created in sharing resources between two organisations. From the sessions we’ve learned that we’re doing quite okay and are very aligned in terms of values. We did lack some collective vision and the practical details of implementation were not always aligned. Discussion on the latter topic ironed out the details and got us going on the right track again. We had to think more economically than before. The costs to cover are substantial. Luckily, we have built so much content and expertise that can be exchanged for money somehow. The difficulty lies in the short term that it has to succeed, and the dependency on personal investment of a few people. Yet after simulations, it’s looking feasible. It is tempting to draw conclusions about how to really, and resiliently run a community space like ours, but I don’t feel like it’s time yet. Are there general takeaways for other projects? Can we generalize what we observed with our projects? Not so much. Doing these sessions is the most important takeaway. So is looking from different angles and thinking from the perspective of an ecosystem, rather than an individual project. In the sessions for ReaGent, what is an advantage for Ekoli was considered a benefit for ReaGent and vice versa. It is interesting how dependencies and assistance evolve over time. Ekoli used to be dependent on ReaGent, but now it is evolving to be an equal relationship, or over slightly the other way around when it comes to paying the rent. This is sure to change in the future. What makes us able to do collaborate like this? Is it the fact that a big part of the team is active in both organisations? Is it the shared values? The shared space? Something else? I’m not sure at this point, though the first point is probably the biggest factor. I’m looking forward to future developments, where both organisations keep co-evolving through whatever ties them together. There are plans to formalize the link, as well as the links with other organisations that are heavily involved as our partners. #Open Insulin Open Insulin powers on. Good progress is being made in Oakland and we have also started lab work in Ghent. It is still clear that more time and effort by more people is needed, and that we need to invest in the habits and digital infrastructure to make it possible. Hence my trip to Oakland will be important to implement the digital infrastructure, and I’ve been in touch with several team members there to prepare that. There is a computational dimension of the project that is also very promising. It will involve the sharing and processing of scientific data by citizens all over the world, much like the celebrated Hubble telescope citizen science project. I’m planning to travel to Cork to meet the team there in November, as they are starting their own Open Insulin efforts. With four groups globally, it is important to be on the same page and invest in synergies early on. The lab work in Ghent took off, after a long search and waiting period due to logistics and legal constraints. We’re now reproducing the experiments in E. coli bacteria and designing a new yeast genetic construct, which is in line with the direction that Oakland is taking. We have been supported in a major way by a department at the University of Ghent, and the team of volunteers here is putting many hours into the project. I think a congratulations and thank you to everyone is in order, for hanging in there since we started a few months ago :-) #OpenVillage After an intense sprint in early summer, and a quieter period in August, the OpenVillage program is in its final forms and the communication efforts are ready to begin. It’s been a hell of a ride, chaotic and a lot of work. Even though it’s a while to the final party, it’s already satisfying. Co-fellows @anon1701267031 and @anon3670751854 have pulled off some amazing work! Onwards, lots of work and travels around the world. Writing this from a friend’s place in Bratislava, where I’m away from everything to do some deep work. Then to Oakland for Open Insulin and a global DIYbio conference in September, where I’ll be meeting community members who are working on similar things! Yay!" 2,34947,2017-08-28T16:38:43.379Z,34920,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"This is some seriously good work, @anon2954219769. And two really important pieces of news: 1. Reagent and Ekoli ""are growing"" and look to be doing so in a reasonably sustainable way. 1. New group in the Open Insulin global network! Now it's Oakland, Gent, Sydney and Cork. This is really impressive! I am enjoying these posts, keep 'em coming. I am sure @anon1626956627 enjoys them too, especially this one! :wink:" 3,35083,2017-08-30T17:13:37.738Z,34920,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"I'm also enjoying the posts - it's interesting to see how you're using the fellowship context for deep learning and thinking. How exactly did you do simulations in the sessions? Does it involve numbers and cash flow predictions based on current products and services, or something else? What is the core piece of feedback you've received from Filip? It seems from what you write it's good to have an external pair of specialist eyes, but can't put my fanon1056199097r on it still..." 5,35089,2017-08-30T17:58:54.414Z,35083,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"We didn't go into simulations during the sessions, they had to stay light and high level. The simulations were mainly financial in nature and a dedicated team worked with those. The output was shared with everyone, though only a few people were really interested in the fine details of it. We didn't go as a deep as cash flow, just simple in and out analysis, because we do still have some flexibility in that regard within the coming (critical) period. A lot of thought had gone into it before as well: where to offer what product, who invests in which infrastructure, who covers what, who manages what, ... And then another part is just ad hoc and in the moment. The core feedback from Filip was positive: we enjoy what we do and we are very aligned. But the main value was not in that, we kind of knew that and weren't so worried. He helped make sense of things here and there, by asking and synthesizing, before, during and after. I did meet him a few times one-on-one as well, which helped me as a facilitator for the sessions. That was valuable." 6,35090,2017-08-30T17:59:02.702Z,1,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,How do you mean? 8,35098,2017-08-30T19:20:06.803Z,1,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Alberto was at our kick-off event in Ghent, we discussed it there (Sydney started around the same time we did). He may know it from there, but I think I wrote about it online before as well. It's Alex Kelly from BioFoundry leading their efforts." 10,35125,2017-08-31T03:01:46.023Z,34920,anon3670751854,anon2954219769,"So interesting that even though our general projects differ in scope, we all face the challenge of rising rents, the struggle of structure, and time. Progress sounds amazing and looking forward to you meeting the folks in NYC!" 11,35217,2017-09-01T17:09:58.316Z,35125,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"I second that. Everywhere we go, the same. Just now I am having a conversation about the value of pausing to evaluate. Everyone seems to be weary of evaluation processes (internal and external, generally or for projects) because it sounds like a box you need to tick in overly bureaucratic projects. But I find the need to do that greater and greater.. Not sure about the rest of you?" 12,35257,2017-09-02T02:48:51.293Z,34920,anon281534083,anon2954219769,"When are you coming out to Oakland? I am quite nearby..unless you mean someplace other than Oakland, California." 13,35341,2017-09-04T07:32:16.755Z,35257,anon2954219769,anon281534083,"That's the one @anon281534083 . Great, I didn't know. I'm there from 10 to 18 September. Do you have time to meet?" 14,35354,2017-09-04T09:04:46.866Z,34920,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Some notes from an email conversation about fellowship and project progress. > I won't pretend I understand the learning process. It is generally chaotic and serendipitous, in my case. However our (note: with @anon4116418727) conversations were enlightening and thought-provoking for sure, and some ideas will stick for a long time. They have influenced our self-reflection and helped sharpen some of our ideas that had been ripening for long. > Even though I am hungry to learn more, from you and others, the phase we are now in demands execution. Sadly, because I know there's so much more to learn. Yet zooming out again now would feel like overthinking. Our direction is clear; it will take time, people and resources to move forward. > The execution will lead to new and unique insights in due time, for the next learning cycle. I'm extremely satisfied so far and excited by the outlook!" 15,35363,2017-09-04T13:41:49.952Z,35341,anon281534083,anon2954219769,Yes I do. Email me some details about your stay and I can definitely meet up with you. tex@anon 1,6427,2017-06-19T18:04:10.000Z,6427,anon1326409700,anon1326409700,"I’d like to propose a session around a recent new project – the DIY Science Network – with a lot of parallels with Opencare. It would be great to connect these efforts where it makes sense.   I’m one of the volunteer organisers of a community of science hackers in Berlin. Since 2013 we’ve been running a local edition of the hackathon Science Hack Day which brings together scientists, artists, designers, engineers, developers and other enthusiasts with an open brief to collaborate, ideate and hack together. We’ve grown a really amazing community of passionate and talented interdisciplinary folks and we’d love to be able to develop some more ambitious civic or cultural projects. But we’re already at the limit of what we can achieve as volunteers. It’s a classic Catch 22 volunteer trap – we need money to buy us more time, but we don’t have enough time to work on finding money.   THE PROBLEM From talking to friends in the wider network of DIY and community-based science projects (many related to issues of care) it seems this is a very common problem. From diybio community labs and bioart collectives, to civic environmental monitoring projects, to patient activism groups, to interdisciplinary science hacking communities — we all face similar challenges in growing and maintaining ourselves as sustainable civil society initiatives. Finding the right banon3760936673ce to sustain a healthy community, share knowledge, and support co-creation is hard. And funding around grassroots citizen science can be particularly challenging, if not unfair: researchers that study us receive more funding than we do ourselves. And, whilst large amounts of public science funding are allocated to ‘citizen science’ at the both European and National levels, there is very little possibility for non-institutional citizen science communities to access it.   JOINING FORCES: THE DIY SCIENCE NETWORK The DIY Science Network has grown out of a number of conversations around these topics. We exploded into existence last autumn fueled by some rather difficult and inequitable interactions with institutional partners, but are now focussed on channeling our energy into positive action. It is a meta network between DIY science initiatives: part ‘P2P: sharing best practices’ and part ‘advocacy for access to public research funding’. So far most of the work we’ve done has been about growing the network and finding our identity.     OUR PROGRESS We took part in the Mozilla Global Sprint earlier this month with a focus on the P2P side of the project. However, for now we think the priority should really be to get an advocacy platform up and running as soon as possible in the hope that we might still be able to have some influence on agenda setting for FP9. In the short term we hope soon to secure funding to gather 4-5 European community/project organisers together for a co-design sprint to lay the foundation for the network – describe our identity, values, mission, begin to craft our advocacy arguments and roadmap next steps – and build a basic website.   At \#Openvillage, we would like to keep our focus on the advocacy side of the project:   MAIN CHALLENGE How do we encourage funders to support DIY science initiatives now? And, longer term, how can we foster a funding culture that is supportive of non-institutional science?   QUESTIONS TO ADDRESS
  • What kind of funding do we need? (fellowships? core funding? project funding?) and how much?
  • There is a lot of perceived risk in funding non-institutional projects, especially at the European level where so many stakeholders are involved. How to we allay those fears? What about ethics committees, scientific advisory boards, financial controlling...?
  • How can the impact of our projects be evaluated?
  • Does it make sense to work with intermediary organisations (fiscal sponsors) who manage the distribution of smaller funds (Individual DIY science initiatives are not usually looking for EC-scale funding budgets - think €1000s or €10 000s rather than €100 000s or €millions.), provide training/project co-design, mitigating risk for the funding bodies?
  • Is public funding even the way to go? E.g. Would be we better off concentrating on changing the culture of science-funding foundations to encourage them to support DIY science? Should we be working on develoanon3606750899g our own business models? ...
  As yet we don’t have a clear idea for a format for \#openvillage - it will depend on what stage we are at by the time of the festival. But in general, we are very open to talk about how to bring in this topic in the most constructive way possible for everyone. " 2,7509,2017-06-20T10:35:03.000Z,6427,anon70625510,anon1326409700,"Ecosystems vs. individual projects. Hi Lucy, A little context: Last year we ran a small experiment to build a collective bid for the MacArthur Foundation's 100 Million USD grant. Edgeryders wrote the meta application, and then set up a simple process through which projects could attach themselves to the bid (approx requirement of work for each participating project= 2.5hr). The Edgeryders organisation was the organisation which would then take responsibility for managing the funds. We did manage to get past the first round (administrative due diligence). It was a good way to go about it in that it also helped us better understand what people in the OpenCare/broader Edgeryders community need. The design of the OpenVillage festival is based on what we learned. I don't know if you saw that we just won a World Bank bid. The work we will be doing will build on this idea of nurturing initiatives as part of a collective effort towards something. We're still learning how to do this, but the results so far are promising. So maanon1932026148 it could make sense to dedicate a session to sharing strategies, even past funding applications that worked for remixing etc...   " 3,14809,2017-06-20T22:17:45.000Z,6427,anon1326409700,anon1326409700,"intermediaries Wow - congratulations on the World Bank bid. That's huge.. It would be great to dig deeper into these kind of strategies. It would be great to see your past funding applications. I had a conversation with Shannon Doesmagen (PublicLab executive director) recently - they frequently act as fiscal sponsor for other projects, fielding a lot of funding from private foundations and donors, very occasionally public funding (they're based in the US). Most recently they've been managing a lot of funding that has come in for the Environmental Data Governance Initiative (EDGI). It's a little different, but the same trust issues apply. I think they would also be happy to share the details of their practices. In Germany, Open Knowledge Foundation fairly recently launched their Prototype Fund, which distributes funding from the German Education and Research ministry to smaller civic tech projects. Again, similar but different. I could see what I can find out about that as well. Neither of those are so clearly about ecosystems or focussed collective action between smaller initiatives, as edgeryders is. But interesting nonetheless. I think this could be a really interesting and practical discussion. " 4,20342,2017-06-21T21:18:56.000Z,6427,anon2954219769,anon1326409700,"Diverse insights Hi @anon For this topic I think diversity is especially interesting. Insights from projects outside of DIY science would be interesting to hear. These projects have the same questions, so it would make sense to find better answers together. We should figure out a way to make use of the diversity, while keeanon3606750899g a focus so that it is useful for a more niche field. We talked about it during the community call earlier today and we'll think that through in the coming days. The first idea was to group sessions around broader central questions (eg. policy or funding) rather than themes (eg. the science theme). What do you think would be useful for you? " 5,24558,2017-06-30T16:20:00.000Z,6427,anon2954219769,anon1326409700,"Panel on funding Over the last week we've tried to identify common thread across the different Opencare themes. Funding and funding policy was one of them. We'd like to do a panel on funding with a diverse set of participants. This way we use the diversity present at the festival and have multiple perspectives that can lead to new insights. I think it is interesting both ways if DIY Science Network is part of the panel. As for a practical session around funding, we will either plan it at a later point or leave space in the program for things to be organised on the spot if there's interest. We can plan that according to the outcome of the co-design sprint this summer. Does that sound good for you? " 6,26689,2017-06-30T21:33:10.000Z,6427,anon1326409700,anon1326409700,"funding panel Hi Winnie, Thanks for following up on this. Sounds like a good plan. For sure all kinds of civil society projects must deal with similar issues around funding. We might have recourse to different funding sources and the culture probably varies, but the same risk issues must always apply if you're trying to get funding for non-institutional projects. It would be interesting to learn how sectors that are more accustomed to funding non-institutional projects have learned to mitigate risk over the years. I'm sure a panel that collects these experiences would be really valuable to everyone. It would be cool if the DIY Science Network could be part of that. If it's possible to also leave some flexibility in the schedule for a more practical session that would be really good. It's been tough to find the time to push forward with the project over the last weeks, so I unfortunately don't have a clearer idea of where we'll be in October at this point. " 1,34582,2017-08-22T11:17:21.409Z,34582,anon3282341057,anon3282341057,"Hidayet Ayadi A new world awaits My name is anon3282341057 ayadi, I am 24 years old. I have lived 16 years in Egypt, I came to Tunisia to attend high school. It was hard, I didn’t know the language, the cultural and also, I was the freak of the school. I got to know really good people that helped me get through that time. Fortunately, in Egypt I was in a French school, so when I came here I was at the top of the class which helped me pick my university. Now I am an engineering student and I have a dream which is creating a company that will do lots of good in Tunisia, it might sound dreamy but I believe in it. My story begins when I started studying IT and discovered that my sister has dyslexia, it is a genetic illness that causes problems in education. I started doing some research and gathering info and in the end, I got the idea to create an app that uses 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality to help improve education in general and help kids with special needs in particular. My project is a startup that specialises in the 3D technologie , we go by the name of “Devolution”. The idea began when we heard about the reading in blocks problem that kids have: They do not know how to read a word based on syllables or letters but they memories the appearance of the word. In addition, having a little sister suffering from dyslexia plays a big role to move on and take actions to start develoanon3606750899g the application . Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence.Different people are affected to varying degrees.Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, ""sounding out"" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.Often these difficulties are first noticed at school.When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia.The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn. Our first project , is a mobile application that helps kids read , it takes stories found in ordinary books , and shows them to the kid in full 3D using the augmented reality , which means , we use the papers as platform , but also we use the virtual reality , so the vr headset. The idea is to create an app that has 3D stories, with a voice off that reads the actual story. Our perspective is using augmented reality in education in way to make learning a safe and fun experience for all. Augmented reality is a technology based on image recognition and 3d . We use a piece of paper and a smartphone that recognizes the paper and puts on it a 3d object . We will be using this technology to project a small 3d animation with voice that reads the story . the paper we will be using will be the reading books used in school education in tunisia . With animation on the words something like karaoke , the kids will be able to read the stories , learn and have fun.In addition to this , the app will have special animation in words and the stories to suit the needs of special kids , like the dyslexique ones . That was the reading feature , also the app will have a game zone that will help children play to learn basic things like numbers and letters but this time using another technology that helps bring 3d objects in the real word without using the paper , something like pokemon go and lots of other features to help improve the imagination of the children Now we are a team of four engineers: Myself, I am a book lover , a game player . I am active in the social life as a vice president in the junior chamber international. And I am the founder of devolution Saif eddine Ben achour ,He is a game developer , an amazing person , active , hard worker , a little perfectionist and very passionate about Devolution Oussama Maatouk ,, also a game developer , he is a fast worker and kind of genius Souhail Houssein , in a word , an artist , he is an amazing 3d artist , also a game developer and one with amazing imagination Hamza Ben Abdessalem , 3d artist , 2d designer , Friendly and helpful person, he is the one we always turn to when we have a problem . We are different but united , a big family with one ambition and 5 wheels to ride to it The idea is here and very promoting, since we are all engineers, and even though we had an accelerated course in finance and how to run a startup, we found it hard to do it all since we want to have an international start up. What we really need to be the SUPER TEAM is a person specialized in finance who will help us to raise funds and manage better the financial flow of our startup to land on the shore of success ." 2,34670,2017-08-24T14:12:23.860Z,34582,anon70625510,anon3282341057,"Finance and admin. Tell me about it. If you guys are funded it might be easier. IN any case I think @anon3406688078 might have some suggestions. Also @anon On a different note, I'm curious what you think about @anon1086066384 's project on use of technology for managing disabilities- you can read about soundsight here : [https://edgeryders.eu/t/introducing-soundsight-training/5084](https://edgeryders.eu/t/introducing-soundsight-training/5084) I think @anon3708118144 has been looking deeper into the project so she may also be able to share some reflections relevant to your project. Also several of the community members in the OpenCare research conversation have experience in building assistive technologies...maanon1932026148 have a look here ... [https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare](https://edgeryders.eu/c/opencare)" 3,34848,2017-08-27T15:51:07.011Z,34670,anon3282341057,anon70625510,"hello no we are not funded we work together with our own money and potential i will be looking at the links you sent me hope to here from all of you guys soon" 1,34705,2017-08-24T23:23:29.841Z,34705,anon3769417221,anon3769417221,"This is just a link and not an own project of mine. But, it fits right in here and is at the same time useful and hilarious. So, here it goes, the latest article from Low Tech Magazine: ""[Non-Electric Hearing Aids Outperform Modern Devices](http://www.notechmagazine.com/2017/08/non-electric-hearing-aids-outperform-modern-devices.html)"" Money quote: > ""Since the nineteenth century, the main criterium for a hearing aid is no longer its effectivity but its discretion and compactness. Nevertheless, those who can overcome their vanity can revert to technology that has proven to work.""" 1,34199,2017-08-09T14:37:10.641Z,34199,anon3853818059,anon3853818059,"**ReHub glove experimenting and develoanon3606750899g processes are going hand in hand on two fronts:** * Textile * Technology ReHub Team is at work during OpenCare - MIR to analyze and redesign the glove, improving the weak aspects of the old prototype: _Textile_ We are defining a new pattern for the glove: a surface of stretch material that covers the top of the hand and holds to it by soft elastic bands on the bottom. Tailoring a glove is not easy stuff, this new model is designed to be easily reproduced with digital fabrication and basic sewing knowledge. Most important: this kind of glove can be easily worn also by those who have difficulty wearing normal gloves (stretching fanon1056199097rs and so on). To make it functional and completely customizable we are working on a digital/parametric version: we studied hands dimensions to deliver a measurements chart that could be filled to modify the glove (we are looking for hands, by the way). The output will be a .dxf file that can be laser-cutted at any makerspace. Here the very first experiment: _Technology_ Technologic development during OpenCare MIR was about searching for a micro controller worthy of the new glove, version 4.0, described above. We selected curieNano micro controller of DFRobot, the evolution of Arduino Curie's board developed on Intel's SoC. A technological aspect we discovered is that the number of ADC inputs of the selected microcontroller is lower than the number of analog sensors on the glove. To solve this problem we are develoanon3606750899g an I2C interface board from which a microcontroller can acquire two analog sensors and transfer captured data with the I2C to the main microcontroller. Using I2C technology we can add many sensors that communicate with the Intel Curie Through a defined hexadecimal address. This technique allows to have many sensors connected to the glove and only 4 wires between each I2C and the glove brain (curieNano). Here a sample of the system we will use to connect the tiny microcontrollers. Soon for further developments! Mauro & Sara" 2,34601,2017-08-22T21:51:10.604Z,34199,anon1526983854,anon3853818059,"@anon3853818059 – Mauro and Sara, this is supercool stuff! But I must have missed some earlier post: what is the electronics on the glove for?" 3,34611,2017-08-23T09:01:15.345Z,34199,anon3962300956,anon3853818059,"Hi Sara & Mauro , I am textile Engineer if you need help or some recommendations for the raw matériels I would be happy to help and contribute in any way I can." 4,34618,2017-08-23T10:10:27.505Z,34601,anon3853818059,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto! We explained a lot about anon3853818059 glove here: https://edgeryders.eu/t/anon3853818059-rehabilitation-glove/6600 . Briefly our glove has 6 flex sensors, 5 pressure sensor and a gyroscope/accelerometer to monitor and collect data about the hand's movement. Thank you for your interest :smile: Mauro & Sara" 5,34620,2017-08-23T10:18:31.611Z,34611,anon3853818059,anon3962300956,"Hi Zmorda, currently we are working with normal double jearsey and will sew all the components on the glove, but we are looking foreword to experiment with conductive/resistive textiles and threads. Right now we have a contact, thanks to WeMake makerspace, with INNtex (http://www.inntex.com/), but we would love to hear from you more. Let's keep in touch! Sara & Mauro" 1,34583,2017-08-22T11:22:33.182Z,34583,anon3282341057,anon3282341057,"Hidayet Ayadi A new world awaits My name is anon3282341057 ayadi, I am 24 years old. I have lived 16 years in Egypt, I came to Tunisia to attend high school. It was hard, I didn’t know the language, the cultural and also, I was the freak of the school. I got to know really good people that helped me get through that time. Fortunately, in Egypt I was in a French school, so when I came here I was at the top of the class which helped me pick my university. Now I am an engineering student and I have a dream which is creating a company that will do lots of good in Tunisia, it might sound dreamy but I believe in it. My story begins when I started studying IT and discovered that my sister has dyslexia, it is a genetic illness that causes problems in education. I started doing some research and gathering info and in the end, I got the idea to create an app that uses 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality to help improve education in general and help kids with special needs in particular. My project is a startup that specialises in the 3D technologie , we go by the name of “Devolution”. The idea began when we heard about the reading in blocks problem that kids have: They do not know how to read a word based on syllables or letters but they memories the appearance of the word. In addition, having a little sister suffering from dyslexia plays a big role to move on and take actions to start develoanon3606750899g the application . Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence.Different people are affected to varying degrees.Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, ""sounding out"" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.Often these difficulties are first noticed at school.When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia.The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn. Our first project , is a mobile application that helps kids read , it takes stories found in ordinary books , and shows them to the kid in full 3D using the augmented reality , which means , we use the papers as platform , but also we use the virtual reality , so the vr headset. The idea is to create an app that has 3D stories, with a voice off that reads the actual story. Our perspective is using augmented reality in education in way to make learning a safe and fun experience for all. Augmented reality is a technology based on image recognition and 3d . We use a piece of paper and a smartphone that recognizes the paper and puts on it a 3d object . We will be using this technology to project a small 3d animation with voice that reads the story . the paper we will be using will be the reading books used in school education in tunisia . With animation on the words something like karaoke , the kids will be able to read the stories , learn and have fun.In addition to this , the app will have special animation in words and the stories to suit the needs of special kids , like the dyslexique ones . That was the reading feature , also the app will have a game zone that will help children play to learn basic things like numbers and letters but this time using another technology that helps bring 3d objects in the real word without using the paper , something like pokemon go and lots of other features to help improve the imagination of the children Now we are a team of four engineers: Myself, I am a book lover , a game player . I am active in the social life as a vice president in the junior chamber international. And I am the founder of devolution Saif eddine Ben achour ,He is a game developer , an amazing person , active , hard worker , a little perfectionist and very passionate about Devolution Oussama Maatouk ,, also a game developer , he is a fast worker and kind of genius Souhail Houssein , in a word , an artist , he is an amazing 3d artist , also a game developer and one with amazing imagination Hamza Ben Abdessalem , 3d artist , 2d designer , Friendly and helpful person, he is the one we always turn to when we have a problem . We are different but united , a big family with one ambition and 5 wheels to ride to it The idea is here and very promoting, since we are all engineers, and even though we had an accelerated course in finance and how to run a startup, we found it hard to do it all since we want to have an international start up. What we really need to be the SUPER TEAM is a person specialized in finance who will help us to raise funds and manage better the financial flow of our startup to land on the shore of success ." 1,34541,2017-08-20T10:09:30.556Z,34541,anon2075779126,anon2075779126,"26 years ago, when I came to this world, I have found myself with a physical deficiency “Sanon3606750899a Bifida” (sanon3606750899al cord injury and paraplegia), which has caused a partial loss of sensation and control of my legs. Growing up with such disability is not very relevant: looking on others playing, running, jumanon3606750899g, and swimming, while you may not do the same as they do only because of your disability! As I grew up, life for me was getting harder, both public and private places were almost inaccessible and not sufficiently adapted to people with disabilities. As a result, you could not go wherever you want, barriers are everywhere (in addition to how is the society looking on you). Where you move you find that your disability is not taken into consideration in transportation, in libraries, schools, in municipalities, in banks and even in the street. With a very weak adaption of access to people using crutches, canes, wheelchairs, white canes, and sign language, people use to spend a long time to find a suitable restaurant or a coffee-shop where you can get in by themselves, or at least where people can help you with the minimum of difficulties. In fact, I discovered later that around 13.5% of the population in Tunisia and around 15% of population in all over the world are encountering such issues. As a disability rights advocate, and a Computer Science Researcher, I was looking for addressing the issue of accessibility since it is a fundamental element towards the social inclusion. Resolving this problem means protecting the dignity, the autonomy and the security of people who have deficiencies and find themselves in a disability situation only because the environment including the society are not considering them. This has been the main idea of the initiative that I came up with: ""HandYwiN”, which is a web based platform, based on crowd-sourcing and geo-localization technologies that determine and rate the level of accessibility and adaptability of the public and private places for people with disabilities and particularly, those who are using wheelchairs. Through this platform, people can rate places around them, in a participatory map, according to official criteria and norms of accessibility. The map shows then to its users the closest and accessible place that they need or they want to go. It determines also if a particular place is accessible and what are its affordances in terms if accessibility Furthermore, the platform will promote for places that are handicap friendly, public or private, while the social responsibility is becoming a corner stone in a modern economy and an obligation of all. This is in addition to the fact that by law, accommodation in public and private places to people with disabilities is obligatory. Therefore, in a country where a new democracy is being born, all people should be taken into consideration, including persons with disabilities. Thanks to my Computer Science Masters degree and the funding that I received from the French Institute (Institut Français) due to my participation in SafiLab program in France during two excellent weeks that I spent in Paris. So that I was able to create a team of 5 members (Arbi Chouikh, Tarek Guelmami, Aymen Masmoudi, Azzen Abidi and Vanessa Adouani) who have developed the beta version of the platform. The platform will be well tested and several updates and improvements will be made relying to the users reviews during the one-month essay period. I am looking forward to keep fundraising to launch the final version of the platform and turn it into a sustainable social enterprise that contributes on guaranteeing the the wellbeing and the social inclusion of people with disabilities not only in Tunisia, but also in the world. HandYwiN is not only a mapanon3606750899g tool, it is also can be a valuable accessibility referential that compile the Good Practices of giving the possibility to everyone to go to places where is the autonomy, the security and the dignity. It would also alert the authorities about the inaccessible places and be an Advocacy tool. This was the humble story of Arbi Chouikh, a disability rights advocate and a young social entrepreneur from Tunisia, who expect your awareness, your encouragement and your awareness. To learn more about the project, please see https://www.facebook.com/HandYwiNCommunity/ Here you find also some interviews about the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcx7Fk9hPqc&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr3ZmcODEbU&t=554s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ksYMCO8rY&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4qhryywqY&t=5s" 2,34544,2017-08-20T11:51:48.866Z,34541,anon3962300956,anon2075779126,Welcome on board Arbi :) 3,34567,2017-08-21T15:53:50.610Z,34541,anon1526983854,anon2075779126,"Hello @anon2075779126, welcome from me too. This is much needed work, congratulations! I imagine you will be familiar with Wheelmap ([this is Tunis](https://wheelmap.org/en/map#/?lat=36.80055689264675&lon=10.184926986694336&q=tunis&zoom=13), for example). How is HandYwiN positioned with respect to it? You could easily import all Wheelmap data, because they commit onto the OpenStreetMap database, so all the data are open. This would populate your platform immediately. At the same time, you could also contribute your own data to OpenStreetMap, so you would be helanon3606750899g to enrich it for yourself and others. The presence of accessibility data on OpenStreetMap means that it is going to be difficult to make money selling access to digital maps of wheelchair-friendly places, when the world's largest such map is online for free. On the other hand, you will have the benefit of concentrating of the other functionalities of your platform you mention above." 4,34569,2017-08-21T16:22:08.138Z,34567,anon2075779126,anon1526983854,"Hello @anon1526983854, thank you so much for your comments! In fact, I have studied Wheelmaps and I wheel Share also, but there are three major issues: - You can't implement DataAnalysis tools through Open Street Map; - You can't have the itinerary to the identified place in terms of accessibility; - When you map (and/ or mark) a new place, the accessibility basis are very standard the time that the norms are different from a country to the other; This is in addition to the fact that the process in Wheelmap is not that simple. That's why HandYwiN is basing on Google Maps, which affords you many options including the itinerary and the feedback of others through the Google Maps app. Moreover, HandYwiN provides 10 simple questions (if you check that means yes, and if you keep it unchecked it means no). Please don't hesitate if you have any interaction. Best" 5,34571,2017-08-21T16:49:48.293Z,34569,anon1526983854,anon2075779126,"Huh... I am no expert (but some here are: for example @anon1497232120, @anon * I don't understand what you mean by ""data analysis cannot be implemented in OSM"". * As for computing accessible itineraries; of course you are right that this is not done in OSM itself. The whole idea of OSM (or Google Maps), as far as I understand it, is that it provides the data for _other people_ to build applications on top of. The OSM wiki has several routing examples optimised by different needs (for example [this one](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing#Bicycle) for cyclists). * Any data you collect that do not meet the OSM stranon1056199097nt requirements, like the 10 simple questions, can be stored on your own server and ""mixed"" with map data on the fly via API calls. So, it seems that (in theory) you could build an added value application on top of OSM as of Google. The difference is that Google data are not plastic the way OSM data are: any edit to the Google database you have to ask for, then wait and hope, whereas in OSM you can just go ahead and make the edit yourself. This has big implications in terms of building community and awareness. For example, you can organise [mapanon3606750899g parties](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mapanon3606750899g_parties). Besides this technical issue, you might enjoy the work that the City of Milan is doing in a similar vein: trying to build cheap, simple solutions for shopkeepers to make their shops wheelchair accessible. This initiative is spearheaded by @anon3914374234 and @anon413297907; @anon3341622463 is observing it closely. The project is called [Open Rampette](https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-rampette-the-call-user-testing-with-the-prototypes/6635)." 6,34580,2017-08-22T10:51:58.184Z,34541,anon2350529763,anon2075779126,"hey @anon2075779126 accessibility is a crucial issue that used to be overlooked by city planners and mapanon3606750899g is one way to make our cities accessible. I am no expert in mapanon3606750899g also but normally I tend to go for Open street Maps as there is an active community that helps with the mapanon3606750899g. but outside of mapanon3606750899g some public interactions to draw awareness is also helpful. I took part in some of these [accessibility tours](http://creative-sustainability-tours-berlin.net/tours/creative-accessibility-tours/) in Berlin, where people get the chance to experience the city with wheel chairs or eye blinds, and see for themselves if their neighborhood accessible and friendly enough or not. am not sure if this tours can make sense in tunisia or not but it could be an idea, if you are interested I can link you together to cooperate with the berlin group. also in berlin another they are using is this kind of posters saying ""unfortunately we must stay outside ""( [Wir müssen leider draußen bleiben](https://www.facebook.com/merkste.selbst.ne/)) to encourage even private business to have a barrier free entrances." 1,33905,2017-08-02T08:39:04.652Z,33905,anon1164166643,anon1164166643,"In the last post we left you with a form and an invitation to share with us your oanon3606750899ion: the goal was to choose, among the 4 presented proposals, the most suitable sticker to identify the shops involved in open rampette project and the accessible shops in general. Throughout the dialogue with the shopkeepers and the final users what has recurrently emerged is the need for an effective communication. So the sticker has two different roles: it is a way to transfer the message clearly making the community more aware, but it is also a collective activation element to improve the accessibility experience in the city. We received a lot of feedback, several positive comments, suggestions for improvement and also some critical advice, in particular regarding the two-color proposals, which may be confused with a prohibition sign because of the diagonal cut passing through the center of the circle. According to our purpose - use the sticker to communicate accessibility - this reversal of meaning was a quite considerable issue. So, treasuring your advices, we worked on a new version of the sticker. Considered the many feedback regarding the importance of having a representation of the ramp under the icon, we lowered the diagonal line dividing the two colors, creating a sturdy white ramp. The color combination has been also reviewed to maximize the contrast and make the icon as recognizable as possible. Last but not least we reduced the size of the text “rampette.opencare.cc”, to put more emphasis on the icon that is quite self explanatory. Hope you like the new version of the sticker!" 2,34570,2017-08-21T16:48:36.897Z,33905,anon1526983854,anon1164166643,It's very designery and elegant. Very Milan! 1,34565,2017-08-21T14:01:07.329Z,34565,anon3339535919,anon3339535919,"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi0mQX-gG3t9hWYxiDAmyXJsA2Rlqfvb3 To know more about us as the Zyara Makers please watch our trailers and behind the scenes videos. We contribute to the world through cinematic arts Promoting love over fear here). This is just scratching the surface and confirms deep system fail: (1) underfunding and horrendous infrastructure making large numbers of young doctors leave - to give you an idea, more Romanian doctors are working in other EU countries (>20K) than in Romania (10-13K) (2) the perverse circle of paying under the counter - there is no way out: if you’re not paying as a patient, you risk not being watched over; if you’re a doctor and refuse the “gift”, you show weakness and worry patients; you’re also a threat for colleagues because you’re messing up with their system.   This post is not a rant about the system, it's to share 3 stories and how they connect with it as much as we like to escape it. Special thanks to @anon First story: One of my best friend’s brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While being made to wait long hours in Romanian hospital hallways, he felt his morale was going down even before embarking on the painful journey that cancer treatment is. Having Hungarian citizenship as well, they immediately chose a clinic in Budapest (also public) - more quiet, and with greater concern for patients wellbeing, both physical and mental. What struck me the most is seeing my friend driving her brother for 6 hours every other week for many months, repeating this in cycles until the disease receded. Her own time, subjecting him to this tiring ride and random B&Bs were altogether more desirable choices than putting him through the pains of systemic healthcare. Second story: While I was growing up, my (then) very young parents took grand-grandma in, who had just moved in from the countryside as she had no one left there. She helped my parents a great deal as they were both working and raising me and my sister. She would cook, take us to the kindergarten, contribute her pension to domestic expenses too, so that, in her words, she would not be too much of a burden on the family. When she fell very ill my grandma (her daughter) took her in, cared for her in ways some would say only professional help should care for a patient, and finally she went.. in a familiar bed. So here you have, like in the story reported by @anon Fast forward twenty something years, and my widower grandma now, too, lives with my parents. This kind of housing arrangement is common practice, as private home cares cost at least twice a pension. And while there is perceived duty from children to care for their elderly, I’m convinced this is not the way, I see now how much my big family picture (idealized!) has changed. It is a solution that comes from the need to avoid alienation coupled with saving costs for both sides. My grandma’s rental apartment provides half a salary more and helps my folks support themselves - up until now, my dad was unemployed for the past 4 years. So this is a barter with love, but with too much daily pressure and more to come - my parents are still young (50yrs old) and my grandma’s health is only getting worse. So it can’t be that a generation later, the solutions are still so archaic.   We make these long term investments in relationships and stand ready to pay our dues when time comes - in love, care, financial support, anything that we can. What if my friend's brother could have waited differently, learning something with other patients in the first hospital? What if my grandma had serious help in caring for her mother, at home so she could still feel a good daughter? What if my parents don't have to psychologically prepare for their future where their daughters won't be able to care for them (my sis lives abroad, and I have never had a job)? but maanon1932026148 could save a little money at a time and put them in a collective pot, like a trusted health insurance?  What if people would be willing to make proper care investments? Well, there is one dramatic, yet telling story of crisis-born solutions (and effective partly because of that). Third story: Starting 2009, Romania became the EU country with the cheapest drugs, which screwed up pricing arrangements - it made providers offer small prices to the state agency purchasing and distributing drugs to medical institutions; the profit margin was so low that they stopped producing, especially cancer drugs; the regulations were so weak that there was no punishment for breaking contracts. This left hospitals all over with serious shortages of essentially cheap cytostatics. An underground support network was created by young economist Vlad Voiculescu living in Vienna at the time. Vlad was seeing desperate calls for help from home and offered to buy the drugs from pharmacies in Austria and in Hungary, flying them in by himself or through friends, acquaintances and, as the network grew, helpful strangers or tourists. The delivery chain ended up including even taxi drivers as intermediaries dropanon3606750899g off drugs at patients’ homes and picking up the cash. All this was aided by the online community platform set up where people would report shortages, and led to strong, media-supported advocacy which eventually improved the supplies. I would ask Vlad to join and tell us the whole story, but I know he is busy. As of this week he is the newest Romanian Ministry of Health, in a situation where grassroots meets hope for system change.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/HtrmVQMUXnw " 2,7465,2016-05-26T18:27:49.000Z,685,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"What. The. Hell. @anon I need to think more about your questions in bold. It seems you have in mind an Amish-like solution – or is it me being under the influence of that article? But I do know this: OpenCare needs to know more about the Cytostatic Network. I appreciate your friend Vlad is ""busy"", but I am sure you can dig out someone who was in the front line of the Network. That's an OpenCare Fellowship right there. Maria, the woman in the Helliniko Community Clinic, told us that the doctor who started the original community clinic (the one in Rhodhes) had just been appointed minister in the reshuffled Tsipras administration at the time of our visit there (October 2015). If this is a pattern, it's a very interesting one.  How about getting in touch and offering to partner up for an event on open care in Bucharest? I'm completely improvising, but... open care bootcamp? Showcasing this sort of ""shadow govt innovation""? " 3,10998,2016-05-26T19:28:53.000Z,7465,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Ok.. homework for me. Thanks. It's not just you, I had read your Amish related post and at the time was just working on this one on my own. So clearly there is something there about tightly knit communities making decisions together and planning thoroughly their care system - investments and returns. As to the cytostatics, you're right - I will ask Vlad and common friends to make a connection and take it from there. Of course, establishing causal links between someone setting up a massively effective thing like this network or the Greek clinic and their recruitment into politics is more complex. As far as I know Vlad is also VP in the European Cancer Patient Coalition and organises an annual camp for children diagnosed with cancer. So there are credentials backing up his current position. " 4,34208,2017-08-09T19:59:19.686Z,685,anon3525264245,anon1491650132,"HI Noemi, Im just having a browse through some edgeryders articles and came across your post from last year. Couldn't leave without saying how much your stories moved me. Its so interesting to read about a corrupt and failing system. Im sorry to hear that your people, family and friends have to suffer through it and live with the ever lanon1056199097ring anxiety of how to provide healthcare for the elderly and ageing population. It's amazing to realise how different the structure is here in the UK where healthcare and social support is free for all. I have often been critical about the impact of free healthcare on the complacency of families to neglect and dismiss their elders to the care of the state, often with huge and high expectations of what the state can and should provide. I think it has contributed to a fractured family structure in society with sometimes little care and responsibility of families to look after their loved ones. There is an enormous financial burden that is placed on the NHS with the ageing population, to have them pick up the bill for every person in a care home is unsustainable and to some degree unfair on the system itself. Reading this however, I can appreciate a little more the enormous pressures that is put on family and friends when this support does not exist. It is inspiring to hear of people such as Vlad Voiculescu who come into support others in an otherwise neglected area. There is amazing potential for the redistribution of wealth (and wealth in health care provisions). The money is out there and the provisions most definitely are as well, they are just not spread evenly!! As always we may hope on a middle ground, with services available for the elderly, looking after their specific health care needs. But I would hope that family involvement would always be encouraged and part of a sustainable system. Even within a globalised world we still hope for community. :-)" 5,34255,2017-08-10T19:01:01.457Z,34208,anon1491650132,anon3525264245,"Thanks so much for the attention and patience to read through @anon I'm looking forward to meet you in October, hopefully you can make it. I see people like you and Vlad who are young and courageous enough to stick around as the ultimate hope :-)" 1,33838,2017-07-31T10:57:30.792Z,33838,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"During the last years, restaurants have been undergoing a sort of “maquillage”. There has been an improvement in variety and design of food and interiors, while services and customers have been standardized to fit a “glamour” experience of dining out. In fact, the development of the attention to the detail of what is being offered in the menus changed definitely the way we eat out of home. Nowadays, eating in a restaurant is seen and lived not only as a way to satisfy biological needs and to spend own leisure time or to break from work at lunchtime, but as a “trendy” form of experience and entertainment. The space-time we spend in restaurants can be understood as a network of symbols, matter (edible or not) and relationships. All this appears as a system that works well, satisfies us, but that to tell the truth we are actually satisfying. If the quantity of products in the portions has considerably reduced, it is often the form or combination of extreme attention to quality and taste that rules. That is, we are often in the presence of a inconsistent innovation in forms and colors, in the ways of presenting food, at the expense of a needed revolution that should have included attention to the specific needs of the pluralism of the customers. A revolution in care of the customers as eaters. Restaurants should inter operate today with cultures, beliefs, personal needs. Unfortunately, all these elements are excluded _a priori_ in the construction of the professional identity of chefs and in the management of the cuisine experience we live any time we enter in one of such wonderful temples of taste. This is the scenario from which the Maker in residence activity of [Monica](https://issuu.com/monica) and [Nicoletta](https://www.behance.net/anon2305407032ttafaltracco), two designers of Vicenza, started their interesting and useful project named Allergo Kì. Please, read more about the project [Allergo Kì](https://edgeryders.eu/t/allergo-ki-user-journey-experience-interviews-and-prototyanon3606750899g/6603) The first peculiar aspect of the Allergo Kì project is to present the theme of allergies in the context of the restaurants not as a problem, but as a solution. Daily troubles experienced by eaters with allergies is still lived by restaurants as a temporary incident that should not happen and that is an exceptional need. Allergo Kì makes a philosophy centered on the inclusion of customers with allergies. The experience for those who are sensitive to certain foods should be designed and included in the catering facilities also to promote and facilitate the social life of citizens with allergies. At play there is a power dynamic based on inclusion/exclusion, transforming the theme of allergies into a problem of food rights. Another fundamental theme is the one of identity, since having allergies can not be considered something that is not inherent in daily, relational, personal life. The solution offered by Allergo Kì is deployed in the materiality of the physical details of a device (round place card) and symbolism for a guided experience for both the customer and the operator, waiter, chef, etc. This leads to rethink the experience by overcoming the lack of information and knowledge by integrating it with the round place card that has the most comprehensive and complex representation in the classification and _ad hoc_ symbols of allergies." 2,34223,2017-08-10T10:04:47.386Z,33838,anon2842198470,anon3341622463,"Thank you @anon3341622463 for your excellent review! We are working hard and in September we are going to organize a Design Thinking meeting with a group of restaurateurs and their staff. We think that the Design Thinking method is the right way to create empathize and define or reframes the problem in human-centric way. Please, follow and support us!" 1,33930,2017-08-03T12:59:11.719Z,33930,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"

The last four weeks seem a bit of a blur and I’m still making sense of the conversations that took place in relation to the theme I curate. Banon3760936673ce is a continuous challenge; banon3760936673cing ongoing work with fellowship duties, banon3760936673cing online and offline activity, banon3760936673cing time spent gathering information and making connections with time to synthesise all this into something useful and shareable. I will give these more attention in the coming months.

GalGael, the organisation I work with, crossed something of a milestone this month. Since @anon4116418727 suggested I write more about our work, I thought this would make an appropriate focus for this post. Not least because it’s my observations within the context of my work with GalGael that led me to propose a theme for the Open Village festival - to explore what conditions generate health, and how this shapes our understanding of the role of citizens, policy and the state? A little over twenty years ago, GalGael received a letter from the tax man - recognising our charitable status. A week ago we held an event to celebrate all we’d learned over the twenty years that have passed since then. Receiving a letter from the taxman, was something of an ironic landmark to celebrate as I’ll explain. As the years have unfolded, we’ve been more confident about sharing our unconventional beginnings. GalGael first constellated around a protest fire in a dark woodland on the edge of one of Glasgow’s housing schemes - Pollok; the first of four such schemes in response to inner city slum conditions. It’s an area that has been shaped by successive anon3003844599s of regeneration policy, some that have recently been identified as contributing to the ‘Glasgow effect’ - Glaswegians’ higher risk of premature death.

While protesting a motorway that would cut off those in the ‘scheme’ from parkland, we learned much about how to create community in a difficult space. We had to learn how to create a place of relative safety in the midst of an area of ‘excess morbidity’. It was an exciting time; edgy and full of possibility. Videos uploaded to Youtube over the years capture some of that. We declared a Free State. We created our own passport, our own stamps, our own university. Somehow the symbolic opened up so much possibility that wasn’t there before. Looking back now, perhaps it was our co-creation of an alternative reality that revealed our normal mode of complicity with the set of assumptions and beliefs that comprise the dominant reality or socioeconomic structures of the present day.

One of this month’s conversations with Douglas Robertson, a sociology professor at Stirling University brought me to this quote from Bourdieu; “our denial, the source of social alchemy is, like magic, a collective undertaking"". Colin Macleod, my late husband, who spent much of his childhood in Pollok Park escaanon3606750899g the ‘scheme’, later described the Free State where he set up camp as an ‘art installation’ and a ‘leading question’.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4x9-Wzzkp1w

Despite all this possibility, we lost the campaign and the motorway was built. But we had no wish to throw away all we’d learned - often through excessive hardships. GalGael was our vehicle to continue working with those hard-won lessons and shift from being about what we didn’t want to what we did want. There was a clear founding intention that this was not about establishing a charity but rather reconvening peoplehood - what it means to be a people. And that for me is why it’s a little ironic that the landmark we celebrated constitutes our recognition as a charity. Peoplehood is fundamentally about relationship, identity and culture - all characteristics that institutions, not even charitable ones demonstrate particularly well (in my book at least).

The problems of institutional responses is a thread I’ve noticed running through a number of the conversations I’ve engaged with these past four weeks. It’s been a very live issue as I’ve observed GalGael develoanon3606750899g. There are certain pressures on an organisation as it matures to become ‘mainstream’ - often that’s how we define success. The challenge I think we’ve partly overcome is how an entity can sustain itself without becoming institutionalised. What Graham Leicester of International Futures Forum refers to in his book Transformative Innovation as a ‘creative integrity’ seems to be a more useful description of GalGael as an organisation.

Craft, relationship and conditions for health

Living in times when we have a myriad of products and services to meet every conceivable need, through GalGael we have witnessed that beyond this people have a greater need - to simply be ‘needed’ for who they are - to belong. I understand it as people who due to income deprivation cannot consume and acquire status also finding themselves dependent on institutions and statutory services to meet an ever increasing amount of their needs. No longer producing or serving our own needs and those of our families or neighbourhoods creates a devastating vacuum of meaning. This contributes to poor physical and mental health and a profound loss of self - far beyond the ‘self confidence’ prescribed for the workless by well-meaning professionals. It critically damages Antonovsky’s sense of coherence that is fundamental to health and that he defines as a person’s situation being comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. My guess is this is an epidemic that stretches into the employed population too.

So what does this tell us about the conditions that create health and wellbeing? For us in GalGael, in our workshop craft defines our relationships. It creates a purposeful workspace where you are not objectified as the ‘service user’ in need of help but an active agent - the focus becomes the object you’re working on, often beautiful or useful, and new forms of identity get bound up in this act of creation. The sense of agency generated through the craft process is immensely important. Grayson Perry said: “craft is the physical manifestation of ‘I can change the world’” The craft gestures themselves - chiseling, sawing, hammering - create new neural pathways, working with the brain’s plasticity to erase negative past patterns. But it’s also something about the immediacy of the experience; its embodied; its not abstract that is immensely important. And that you are engaged in producing something where you have a relationship to the end use in ways that is no longer so often the case in our global marketplaces. This is of course particularly true of the boats that slide from workshop to water for both literal and metaphorical journeys. Each stroke of the oar generates not only speed but agency, coherence and meaning as you inhabit the river that otherwise passed you by.

Radical monopolies

Relating where this takes us to the theme of my fellowship - I see relationships as fundamental to creating the conditions for care and DIY welfare. The nature and scale of institutions make them inhospitable to the quality of relationship called for. @anon

So to bring this post to some sort of conclusion - quality of relationships are a condition for health. These relationships form the substructure of the architectures of love, to continue with that metaphor. I’ll finish this post with a quote from Eduardo Galeano, the Uruguayan writer, which captures perfectly the kind of relationship that underanon3606750899s our work at GalGael;

“I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.”

As a parting thought - this quote also captures the implicit power dynamic in our relationships and perhaps this is a further condition for DIY welfare in the context of OpenCare. Either way, I look forward to more insights and learning generated through being in relationship and conversation with others through the course of this fellowship.

" 2,33990,2017-08-04T19:04:15.529Z,33930,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,"What a beautiful, thoughtful post! Thanks so much for sharing. I am on awe of your stamina: building a thriving community *and* a social business, *and* staying with it for twenty years, and all this *on top of a fight that was lost, not won*! You should be celebrating your honorary doctorate at Hogwarts. I took the liberty of moving this onto a sub category of OpenCare. I don't want @anon1277226854 to miss it!" 3,34081,2017-08-07T15:42:20.361Z,33930,anon1626956627,anon1701267031,"> The craft gestures themselves - chiseling, sawing, hammering - create new neural pathways, working with the brain’s plasticity to erase negative past patterns. But it’s also something about the immediacy of the experience; its embodied; its not abstract that is immensely important. And that you are engaged in producing something where you have a relationship to the end use in ways that is no longer so often the case in our global marketplaces. So beautifully written, something profound in your observations on agency through craftsmanship (reminds me of this - https://youtu.be/0nxDro6THUg?t=16m20s). Thanks for sharing" 4,34187,2017-08-09T08:01:18.688Z,33930,anon712028032,anon1701267031,"Thank you! You have stated such vital points so clearly here. Really great to read this. Your theme is really excellent. If it fits to have an entirely optional session first thing in the morning at the Open Village for anyone who wants to come share the dream they had in the night, I'd love to facilitate this under your theme. Been working with this for some years and am always amazed by way this space for expression nurtures relations and community. Let me know how best to offer - posted some thoughts after our call here https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-village-call-19-july-2017/6506/3" 1,34115,2017-08-08T09:55:50.988Z,34115,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"**INFRASTRUCTURES FOR AUTONOMY and the dynamic equilibrium of collaboration** A panel session moderated by @anon2305407032 Demby of Woodbine Autonomous Health Centre **OpenVillage, 19-21 October, Brussels** Collaboration is more needed than ever to solve complex problems in care. Yet it can be expensive in time and energy when working outside formal grids, or on a voluntary basis, or in emotionally demanding environments. This kind of work calls for new governance structures and ways of making decisions together based on values that sometimes seem at odds - like self-management and autonomy. This session brings together people who have experience of wrestling with these issues to find an equilibrium which makes it possible for us to work together well. This session will take a broader look at how to sustain our work through collaboration and organisational frameworks and practices. Panel members will share their expertise, followed by open discussion to give participants an opportunity to explore particularly relevant ideas or models in more detail. This session has been developed to have broad relevance for participants at Open Village. What kind of sub topics do you want to see covered in this panel? We want your thoughts on this as well as the kind of panel members you'd love to hear from. While we build the lineup, feel free to put yourself forward as an active contributor and get a ticket to #openvillage!


Paola Villarreal

Paola will contribute her experience in doing programming for the greater good and the challenges of financing the work. Paola started applying for fellowships in 2014 (she was a Mozilla Open Web Fellow), and developed a personal strategy to get funding. Her experience has to do with training oneself to find out the funders' perspective and possible adjusting one's research to increase the odds to get a project supported.

Some background reading:

Meet Paola Villarreal

Chris Cook

Chris has had an unconventional career path that takes in the UK Department of Trade and Industry; market regulation and development as a Director of the International Petroleum Exchange and then a Dot Com entrepreneur in the world of global markets. This path came to an abrupt end when he blew the whistle on oil market shenanigans and since then he has been researching more enlightened - peer-to-peer - approaches to the flawed system he had left.

Some background reading:

Meet the Market Developer: A Conversation with Chris Cook

anon948101822c Osiakwan

Entrepreneur and Investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership across Africa and the world. anon948101822c was part of the team that built the TEAMS submarine cable in East Africa - he has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. He serves on the board of several organisations like Farmerline, Forhey and many more - some of which are his investments. anon948101822c is a Poptech, TED, Stanford, MIT and Harvard fellow.

Learn more. " 2,34168,2017-08-08T15:08:41.289Z,34115,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"I love how this session is framed and I'm glad we spend time looking at who could be conversation openers aka panelists. By the way @anon2305407032 is in za house!" 3,34169,2017-08-08T16:44:43.161Z,34168,anon3670751854,anon1491650132,Love the name! 4,38827,2017-10-27T15:29:23.058Z,34115,anon169343781,anon1701267031, 5,38828,2017-10-27T15:29:28.835Z,34115,anon169343781,anon1701267031, 1,33887,2017-08-01T16:39:56.152Z,33887,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Hi, Product Design category discussion are mainly discussion coming from UDK workshop. Can we change the name of this category in something like UDK workshop?" 2,33919,2017-08-03T09:40:55.028Z,33887,anon3769417221,anon2435658896,This change was proposed by @anon70625510. Over to her. 3,33921,2017-08-03T10:14:05.696Z,33919,anon70625510,anon3769417221,Product design is a category [ie Meta category]. The idea here is to keep things simple until there is a need for more distinctions. You can propose in a subcategory for what you want and we can discuss it internally in the team. If there is a consensus then it is created. Works? 4,33922,2017-08-03T10:14:34.604Z,33921,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Oh sorry, ^^ was directed to @anon2435658896" 5,33948,2017-08-04T06:14:20.511Z,33921,anon2435658896,anon70625510,"Hi @anon70625510 The issue came from the other ""categories"" (ie open insuline, how-are-you-using-diy-opensource-solutions, maker-in-residence) that are partially in the Product Design. From what I'm seeing the category are more similar to the old challenges therefore almost all the post are related to the UDK challange and activities. Correct me if I'm wrong @anon3769417221 but a post can be in **a** category but can have many tags. If I correctly understand my suggestion is: * category are for the main campaign / challenge or sub campaign / sub challenges * use ""meta"" tags coming from the old website (i.e challenge response) * leave to the community give ""topic"" tags (it can be messy therefore can be useful having guidelines) so for example a community manager or the author can tag ""open rampette"" post that are in different categories." 6,33959,2017-08-04T07:56:53.122Z,33948,anon3769417221,anon2435658896,"You got that right: topics are in exactly one category, but can have multiple tags. Guidelines for user-contributed tags are needed (and coming). For now, you can use `project-*` tags to keep project content together. For example: `project-open-rampette"". (The meta tags like `challenge response` will vanish eventually. We only need them for a time after the software migration for content sorting tasks.)" 7,34147,2017-08-08T13:26:10.575Z,33922,anon2435658896,anon70625510,anon3606750899g @anon70625510 1,33485,2017-07-22T12:17:15.634Z,33485,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"I first met Chris about 7 years ago at an alternative economy conference in Inverness. Chris has had a pretty unconventional career path that takes in the UK Department of Trade and Industry; market regulation and development as a Director of the International Petroleum Exchange and then a Dot Com entrepreneur in the world of global markets. This path came to an abrupt end when he blew the whistle on oil market shenanigans and since then he has been researching more enlightened - peer-to-peer - approaches to the flawed system he had left. **Collecting business models** He says he collects business models like some might collect butterflies. But unlike a butterfly collector - these aren’t anon3606750899ned down in glass cases. He’s breathed life in to a number of them - prototyanon3606750899g enterprises where there were no existing examples. This has led to ventures as diverse as raising the local pub from the ashes, literally (The Star and Garter in Linlithgow) to producing a short film. His prototyanon3606750899g of corporate forms and instruments adopts a fractal approach - one foot in the existing and one foot in the possible. He has discovered that complementary solutions may be found via an ‘adjacent possible’ through a process of testing agreements and structures. The word ‘agreement’ comes up a lot in Chris’ chat. I was hearing, that to make it as a prized corporate structure in Chris’ collection, it would need to be simple, flexible, have an element of being scalable without encountering conflicts of interest and be founded on agreements. And perhaps most prized of all - created a structural alignment of all interests. **Practical applications and prototyanon3606750899g** He's tried a simple structure, an Unincorporated Association, based on a two-page governance document - this was instrumental in regenerating the much-loved local pub. He appreciates the infinite flexibility of a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) for asset holding and use. But perhaps, if I understood correctly, it is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) that possesses most of the sought-after characteristics for bringing people together to develop assets to be held in perpetuity and in common within a CLG. The development structure he calls a 'Capital Partnership' produced a short film with a launch party in Soho, London from nothing but a concept, a willingness to work together and free capacity. All those involved were members; actors, directors, agreement writers. They weren’t issued ownership shares of £1.00. They received ‘nths’; that is a percentage of the future revenue of the film produced. This offer wasn’t so acceptable to suppliers of essential equipment such as cameras and lights. So the LLP needed cash. This is where the funding innovation came in. Two capital partners invested the £30,000 in cash in return for an agreed percentage of the film's revenue _if there was any_. **Aligning interests of all stakeholders** Capital _partners_ do not participate in net profits after costs - they simply participate directly - as genuine partners - in any gross revenue. I think the emphasis here is they were _participating_ - and it was in their interest to participate in ensuring the film was a success. All stakeholders interests were in alignment. This contrasts sharply with both bank debt and with typical venture capital which extracts profits - and where more often than not, it can be more in their interest to screw everyone in the pursuit of those profits. So while the structure supported the film production, unfortunately this film didn’t have a happy ending. The director (the founder and driving force) had a melt down and left for South Africa and the film was never marketed. But nobody got hurt. No employees got stuffed. Everyone went in to it with their eyes open. Film investors know they only make money on one-in-ten films and they had a genuine tax loss to ease the pain. The LLP hadn't contracted with anyone and didn't own anything - it was simply a framework or a wrapper that enabled people to come together for the common purpose of creating a potentially productive asset - in this case a film. What works for a film would also work for develoanon3606750899g or acquiring any type of productive asset - land, buildings, wind turbines and of particular relevant intellectual property such as that produced through Open Care. Its a financing structure that enables the creation of new flows of use value - whether that’s care, rent, production, energy, pizza or beer. Then he pulled from the pocket of his jacket two sticks. He told me these were tally sticks - an accounting mechanism that pre-dated double entry bookkeeanon3606750899g. All those counter-intuitive credits and debits! He said it was a way to record a transaction. Notches are cut in a stick, and a record made in writing to identify the people and what the notches represent. The stick is then cut into two, with one piece longer than the other. A transaction between two parties may be recorded by splitting this 'tally stick' into two - with one party retaining the long stick, and the other the short stick. He told me they were used in two ways. The first was to record a PROOF of payment, also called a _memorandum tally_. This was like a receipt of past value transfer. The second was more interesting. The second was as a record of a PROMISE and was also called a _loan tally_ which enabled finance to be raised through the exchange of value now against a promise of provision of value later. Naturally this offer of credit required trust that the beneficiary would provide value in the future. Apparently, these tally sticks were used by kings who always needed money (or money's worth of goods and services) before taxes or rents were due. The tally sticks enabled a funding mechanism by which rent or tax payers who had spare resources or had created some surplus could pre-pay their taxes - which of course they would only do if they received a discount. When the agreement to prepay taxes or rents was made the tax/rent payer received a loan tally as a record of the pre-payment . When the time came to pay his taxes or rent he then returned the tally stick promise to Exchequer where it was matched using the notches (and of course the grain of the wood) to the other half of the split tally stick. This cancelled the tax obligation and is the origin of the expression 'tax return' for our annual accounting with the tax man! This return of promises also gave rise to the expression 'rate of return’. This represents the rate over time at which the tokens or sticks could be returned to the promissor who issued them. In simple terms - you take the discount (or profit) and divide by time. There’s no compound interest - there’s simply a swap of money's worth going on. **Promises and agreements as a funding mechanism** So how is this relevant to today? What’s interesting is that anyone can issue these promises or credit instruments. They become a way of funding an asset or an enterprise. There is no permanent dividend. You could sell 5 years of future production, rent or revenues. Unlike interest on a loan, all/both parties share risk and reward. In a bad year the investor/s gets nothing but in a good year they'll do well too. What this opens up is a new funding option for anyone without the need for shares. It is simply pre-payment at a discount. Chris was able to give a couple of good examples of places where this had worked in practice. He told me about a deli in NY State in the U.S. The owner wanted to borrow money for a new pizza oven but conventional forms of capital knocked him back. Then a customer offered to pay in advance for a pizza and this gave him an idea. He issued $10,000 of promises in exchange for $8,000 in cash - pre-payment at a discount - and these $1 Deli promises soon began to circulate as a form of currency which he called DeliDollars. So it would seem that this suggests that we don’t need money. We need an agreement (there’s that word again) which in this case is some way of keeanon3606750899g score. Beyond that we simply need land or location, intellectual value (know-how, know-who) and design. And a will to work together. **Both Open and Closed** Chris went on to explain the agreements we need are neither open or closed. Or perhaps they are _both_ open and closed. He said - as a model for sustaining operations - open doesn’t work because anyone can take your work and quite simply you’ll starve or at least you'll struggle to continue your work. Yet, the open source community is a response to 'closed' or proprietary models where value is extracted by rent-seekers aiming to screw as much as possible from all other stakeholders. Perhaps the ideal are forms or structures that are neither (or both) - like a club which may be both open and closed as dictated by club rules or agreements. Closed because only members may participate: but open because anyone who agrees to the club rules may join. Club rules begin with aims and extend to members, standards, dispute resolution and so on. But fundamentally a club is a two-way agreement, being interactive and participative so that interests become aligned. So I could understand how this all worked when there was pizza involved - just! But I couldn’t understand how this model was applicable to future, indirect benefits or outcomes - such as those that arise from social innovation or in the field of citizen science. In this example, Chris explained that the productive asset - which in the case of citizen science is IP - are held by all the stakeholders collectively with someone (typically a founder whose vision the IP was) designated as custodian of the ethics and aims. In addition to the custodian, you have people with rights of use, people who invest in future rights of use and a trusted third party (someone who took care of any conflict resolution, and perhaps holds the money). This model can apply to land, energy and even IP like open source insulin. The rights to open source insulin would be held by a custodian in keeanon3606750899g with the values of open source but not necessarily ‘open’ to those who operate on exploitative practices. A platform cooperative agreement could then be set up to act as a framework for the creation and use of productive assets. Think of it like a platform for all the stakeholders. There was a ton of other interesting stuff he said - like the business model created by James Watt. But my brain is still struggling to process this. So perhaps this is enough to chew on for now. I'd be interested to hear thoughts from others as to whether this has any interest in relation to the [Edge of Funding](http://edgeryders.eu/t/the-edge-of-funding-sustainability-and-financial-models/6427/4) session. @anon2954219769 @anon1491650132 Seems it also may relate to the session proposal on [Ethics & Data Protection](http://edgeryders.eu/t/session-proposal-ethics-and-data-protection-in-citizen-science-open-source-projects/6446/4) @anon4116418727 @anon1526983854 ---------- _Chris is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at University College London where his action-based research focuses on a new and complementary generation of networked markets and instruments. In parallel to this research, his work at the Nordic Enterprise Trust, Scotland sees him develoanon3606750899g new partnership-based enterprise models and financing or funding instruments._ http://www.opencapital.net/ http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Chris_Cook" 2,33488,2017-07-22T12:39:25.164Z,33485,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,@anon1701267031 just a one-liner to let you know I read this with great interest. I will write a proper comment when I get back from my trip. 3,33493,2017-07-22T14:03:31.746Z,33485,anon3301928407,anon1701267031,"What a pleasure it was to catch up with @anon1701267031 again in Glasgow. Just a word of warning about [Open Capital](http://www.opencapital.net) It's useful historically and for context but there's an immense body of work out there since then....one day I might try and pull it all together! I look forward to working with Edgeryders on the agreements and instruments necessary to mobilise resources to achieve mutual/common goals." 4,33495,2017-07-22T14:11:54.950Z,33493,anon1526983854,anon3301928407,"Welcome @anon3301928407! As I said, I want to write a thoughtful response to this. Meanwhile, glad you are here. As I read the post, I could not help thinking about @anon3895445472: you collect business models, he collects _governance_ models (he calls his area of interest ""human organising""). It would be fun to hear the two of you hash it all out. :slight_smile:" 5,33496,2017-07-22T14:22:57.437Z,33495,anon3301928407,anon1526983854,"Thanks @anon1526983854 It's a small world. I've known @anon3895445472 a good long while and we did a little bit of work together maanon1932026148 a decade ago on a very interesting enterprise - [Riversimple](http://www.riversimple.com/) - which has been (and still is) beavering away on building the world's first open source car. Patrick and I clearly have some unfinished business on the subject of the right business model for Mobility-as-a-Service as part of the development of legal IP/funding platforms with general application." 6,33524,2017-07-24T12:19:45.446Z,33485,anon4116418727,anon1701267031,"Thank you @anon1701267031 for sharing this... SInce, @anon3301928407, you are online here (a pleasure to e-meet you), I would like to ask you to expand a bit about the example of the tally sticks. Double entry book-keeanon3606750899g is a more formalized way of dealing with credit/debit, and the sticks do not allow anything, to my knowledge, that is impossible be the former... While I appreciate the importance of contract incompleteness and emphasis on trust and sharing stakes, I get a bit confused by the reference to the tally sticks. Thank you in advance :slight_smile: ...and if I may add one question: although the definition is of business models' collectivist, the blog entry seems to emphasize a list of governance legal frameworks... could you share with us something about business models, and specifically some examples you suggest we should study in OpenCare?" 7,33544,2017-07-25T00:08:40.473Z,33524,anon3301928407,anon4116418727,"Thanks @anon4116418727 for your queries. Double-entry book-keeanon3606750899g entries records value transactions and rights of ownership & use as between market counter-parties. Each party keeps his own records independently using debit and credit entries. However, double entry book-keeanon3606750899g records transactions which take place within a market paradigm of legal relationships (agreements - such as mortgages, limited liability corporations) and claims over value (instruments - such as equity ownership, debt and derivatives). This paradigm has evolved and become more and more sophisticated over time and has led to an unsustainable concentration of wealth. To use a sporting analogy, agreements are analogous to the rules of the game while instruments are analogous to the implements of a game such as bat and ball. The problem with double entry book-keeanon3606750899g is that its associated paradigm of absolute rights of ownership and use and 'for profit' commodity transactions makes risk and production sharing difficult if not impossible. We hear a lot about the sharing economy, but simply put, shareholders (in a Joint Stock Company) are fundamentally incapable of sharing. The split tally stick provided a record not only of conventional debt instruments but also of the simplest instrument of them all, the credit instrument or promise. This undated promise/credit instrument actually pre-dates all other instruments, and promises required a trust framework of implicit or explicit risk and production sharing agreements. I believe that through using the correct combination of credit instruments/promises and risk, revenue and production sharing agreements it is completely possible to create a new and resilient economy bottom up and moreover to do so without requiring any permission from any third party. For risk sharing I advocate a 'guarantee society' agreement of which the best example is the Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club in the shipanon3606750899g industry. Here we have seen for 140 years ship owners clubbing together (and employing a manager) to mutually assure risks that Lloyds of London ('for profit' risk intermediaries) will not take. [This article](http://www.the3rdimagazine.co.uk/2013/04/the-community-is-the-currency/) illustrates how local credit risk might be assured using the same risk sharing approach. For production and revenue sharing we may use simple partnership agreements as referred to in my discussion with @anon1701267031, and for long term funding of productive assets we may issue, and accept in exchange in payment for use, the credit instruments referred to. So in relation to Open Care I believe that it is possible to create new 'Care for Land Use' swaps whereby in exchange for caring for People, Place or both, then carers may receive credits which are returnable in payment for residential or other use of land, or in payment for food production derived from land use. I envisage networks of carers - possibly using an 21st C quasi-guild approach - who share costs of a care platform (eg transport, scheduling, equipment, training and so on). In exchange for providing care, then carers may receive credits which they can use against essentials such as housing and energy use. If (as it appears) you are interested in the application of financial technology (Fintech) you might find my article on [Fintech 2.0](https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/fintech-2-0/2016/10/06) of interest" 8,33584,2017-07-26T10:06:56.329Z,33544,anon2954219769,anon3301928407,"Hi @anon3301928407, nice to read you. I've gone through your posts and links and your reply to @anon4116418727 clears up some of the confusion he brought up. Yet I want to summarize to see if I understand correctly since I'm no expert at all. It became a bit of a long post. I understand a business model as the mechanism by which someone generates value and is compensated when they exchange it with someone. In my mind there's several elements to this mechanism (tell me if it doesn't make sense): - _The value (food, education, housing, ...)_ - _The way of generating value (for the food example: allowing people to grow and pick their own vegetables, growing vegetables for people, ...)_ - _Who you are providing the value to (a company, a citizen, children, refugees, ...)_ - **The compensation (money, in kind, credit, equity, intangible benefits such as more equality, ...)** - **The way of compensation (buying, pay-per-use, renting, STR, ...)** What I gather from what you wrote is are changes in the last two elements in bold, let's call them **instruments and agreements** (correct me if I'm wrong). And that these would enable new ways of doing the elements in italic, let's call them the _value proposition_ (according to @anon4116418727 , if I'm correct in the use here). Like the example you gave of artists: they would be able to create cultural value (execute their value proposition), because they are individuals in a Guarantee Society (new agreement & instrument). This enables either an established value proposition as a starting point, or would enable the artist to experiment with a new value proposition (with risk sharing through the default pool).
As somewhat of a pragmatist in trying to sustain a shared community space, I have to look from the side of new value propositions. Can we come up with new value, ways of generating value and find new target audiences? Within the standard instruments & agreements: using money and selling or renting. Example: we develop and provide free education for underprivileged children through workshops (free). The educational content we developed is adapted to the formal education system through another series of workshops (material costs covered). Then we train teachers to use the material in the classroom (paid gig + profits to reinvest). Ultimately we sell our services as consultants and trainers in science communication (paid + profits to reinvest). We're aiming for a banon3760936673ce between all of them and are banking on the collective know how we build up. Figuring this out and implementing it is hard work: market research, mastering a skill and trade, finding partners, team collaboration, admin, ... And that for each of the steps described. Moreover, they have a clear time element: there is no shortcut for the learning curve of the people involved and there's simply only 24 hours in a day to do all the work. Although the implementation of new agreements and instruments is easier in a new project (no legacy of habits and outdated worldviews of key people), they usually don't have the time or resources to do that (let alone having enough time for their value proposition). And from experience, actions must have an advantage that increases chances of survival in the short term. The costs and risks are too high otherwise. You are often screwing yourself if you do not use the readily available agreements and instruments. Those who do have the means to try to implement new agreements and instruments, usually keep looking at the short term anyway, or they don't have it specifically on their mind, or it is a watered down version that comes back to short term benefits. Like big financial institutions trying to adopt blockchain these days.
Therefore I think focussing the business model narrative on agreements and instruments is not representative of reality. Value proposition plays a bigger role in my view. I'm taking the perspective of a new or struggling project, as these are the majority of the projects I'm in touch with. They are usually also those taking the longest shots at change. The cool thing about the design you describe is that a collective of established business/organisations/individuals would be able to carry the risks involved for new or struggling projects adopting new agreements and instruments. Moreover they have incentive to provide know how, network and help in implementing it. Benefits also go both ways, in terms of diversity and room for experimentation. The advantages are many. It's being attempted with various mechanisms and varying success, see eg. [Enspiral](https://enspiral.com/) and [Transforma Bxl](https://www.transformabxl.be/) or [Civic Innovation Network](https://civicinnovation.network/site/). Varying success, because it is not an easy thing to implement: bringing together parties, setting rules, navigating obstacles, ... It also has to come as an initiative of a party willing to invest time and resources for the unavoidable coordination costs, at a considerable risk of failure. Those who are aware, willing and capable are rare. Thus the fertile ground (or market opportunity) for third party services facilitating such a network, is not really there yet I think. In conclusion, I think there is an order to things. To me, it makes sense to start with the value proposition and then evolve towards adopting new agreements & instruments when the capacity is there, after bridging a risky startup period. My two cents, as someone that has been involved in failed attempts at setting up such a network from the perspective of a new project. Curious to read more thoughts!" 9,33585,2017-07-26T10:17:47.340Z,33584,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,@anon4116418727 I realise my use of 'value proposition' here is not detailed enough to transmit what you meant by it in our conversation last week. Maanon1932026148 you can expand on that. 10,33596,2017-07-26T13:51:51.097Z,33544,anon1526983854,anon3301928407,"Ok, I think I get it. You seem to be comparing two different pairs of concepts: 1. Corporations based on pooling capital and aimed at remunerating that capital vs. corporations based on pooling resources, or promises of resources, and aimed at whatever goal people set for themselves (I guess @anon2954219769 would call the latter ""having novel value propositions""). 1. Tally sticks vs. double-entry. You can build zero-interest, pooling resource corporations within most modern legal frameworks. You can even take a for-profit corporate form (in our case, an Estonian Limited Private Company), and then use your articles of association to establish whatever you want: ""we are never going to take on debt""; we are not allowed to distribute profit until we have renovated the local school"". Similarly, there is nothing stopanon3606750899g you using double entry accounting in the service of a promise-based corporation. It's a bit more complex than tally sticks, but much better at catching errors. Am I in the right ballpark?" 11,33600,2017-07-26T14:37:00.375Z,33585,anon4116418727,anon2954219769,"Hi @anon2954219769 if I remember well the conversation we had, here you are referring to the jatus between the value proposition (what an organisation declares to be delivering to the stakeholders, or a target subgroup of them most commonly), and the value chain, which should capture the entirety of needs that are satisfied, at the different scales of the organisation and its activity, to deliver that promised value. ...so, here, you would rather refer to the value chain, if I am right? I hope this helps. Marco" 12,33631,2017-07-27T07:58:53.438Z,33596,anon3301928407,anon1526983854,"@anon1526983854 There are two problems with any 'Joint Stock' corporation where ownership is distinct from other stakeholders (eg suppliers, customers, staff, management, financiers). Firstly, the sheer complexity of the protocols necessary to rectify the conflict between owners and stakeholder groups bilaterally, and secondly the conflict between the interests of the different stakeholder groups. Secondly, there is the intractable 'principal/agency' problem of the conflict of interest between owners and managers which invariably leads to hierarchy and managerialism - the 'Iron Law of Oligarchy'. Both of these may be addressed firstly through the use of 'open' corporate entities and multi-stakeholder risk, revenue and production sharing agreements and secondly through what I call 'open capital' - that is to say promises or credits returnable in payment for value (money's worth) in all of its forms, most of which are certainly not valued now. The question then arises as to what metric should be used for value exchanges..... Double entry book-keeanon3606750899g does not accommodate promises/prepay credits adequately (as we saw with Enron - which defrauded creditors and investors by using tripartite prepay arrangements) and that is why we need a transparent shared transaction/title repository which essentially constitutes a third 'triple' entry." 13,33634,2017-07-27T08:17:41.084Z,33584,anon3301928407,anon2954219769,"The agreements and instruments I work with are generic and agnostic as to the nature of the types of value being generated by human interaction with each other and with our environment. But the key point is that they enable direct 'Peer to Peer' and 'Peer to Here' connections and risk/production & revenue sharing without the intermediation/dominance of those who extract 'something for nothing'. The 'value proposition' will of course vary as between the infinite types of value creation and exchange possible, but the fundamental value proposition which I am proposing is simply stated. ""Would you rather have 100% of nothing or a smaller %age of something valuable to you?"" Of course there are psychopaths and sociopaths whose motivation is dominance over others and who would prefer simply that others get nothing. But the vast majority of people take a different view. As H G Wells said the only thing stronger than the will to power is the will to freedom (from domination by others). I created a neologism for the multi-stakeholder agreements I advocate - [Nondominium](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/resilience/2013/01/16/submission-by-chris-cook-to-the-land-reform-review-group/). The key governance element of a Nondominium agreement is that every stakeholder who consents to the agreement has certain veto rights of governance in relation to matters that concern them." 14,33638,2017-07-27T10:06:44.069Z,33600,anon2954219769,anon4116418727,"That helps, thanks!" 15,33639,2017-07-27T10:17:47.449Z,33634,anon2954219769,anon3301928407,"@anon3301928407 I think I was mainly trying to give my perspective. I agree with all you wrote. But then I ask myself: now what? What I wonder comes down to ""change what exists"" vs. ""build better from the ground up"". Changing what exists seems to be a (very) slow process. I'm involved in building the new and although our vision of the future is similar to the one you present, it seems nigh impossible to implement. What would be your advice for us? I guess slow and process are the key words in changes like these." 16,33651,2017-07-27T13:59:48.472Z,33485,anon3301928407,anon1701267031,"My approach is via the 'adjacent possible'. I have learnt the hard way not to try to change what exists. Nothing I advocate competes with or attempts to alter existing structures and instruments. Risk and revenue/production sharing agreements and instruments pre-date modern finance capital by millennia and are therefore complementary to it. In many parts of the world they remain routinely in use, even if not necessarily documented. It is quite clear that implementation of these methods 'out-compete' existing finance capital, which will simply wither on the vine. The fundamental reason for this is that being a middleman (whether public or private) is very intensive in finance capital whether embedded in productive assets or necessary to cover market and credit risk. So 'smart' service provision essentially replaces finance capital with 'intellectual capital'. A good example of such a 'smart trade' is the example of James Watt in 1778 who allowed tin-mine owners to have the use of his new steam engine (IP) powered water pump in exchange for a third of the coal they saved. ie Pumanon3606750899g as a Service displacing Pumps as a Commodity." 17,33652,2017-07-27T14:05:51.371Z,33639,anon3301928407,anon2954219769,"My action-based research is all about prototyanon3606750899g and proof of concept, because the only way to change a paradigm is to demonstrate the new paradigm in practice. That is how I hope to work with @anon1701267031 in months to come and I think that edgeryders rich international resource of skills, innovation, insight and experience could well be instrumental in successful practical implementation of new (actually, ancient) models." 18,33693,2017-07-28T22:05:15.489Z,33631,anon1526983854,anon3301928407,"I think you are saying that joint stock corporations and double entry accounting can be hacked. This is true. But, in fairness, so can most things. We have infamous and recent examples for [social cooperatives](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_italiana_e_appalti#Mafia_Capitale_2) and [blockchain implementations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO_(organization)). I am curious about the revenue sharing (as opposed to profit sharing) idea. How are costs covered? How is revenue allocated?" 19,33695,2017-07-29T11:27:17.925Z,33693,anon3301928407,anon1526983854,"Ideally, there are no 'costs' as all of these are converted to revenue/production sharing partners. I have long used the incredibly simple UK Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) as a framework for risk/ revenue sharing (as was recounted by @anon1701267031 in her narrative) for the purpose of co-creation of new productive assets. Note that membership of a UK LLP is not restricted to UK persons, and that it is a 'tax transparent' or 'pass through' vehicle whereby each member must make his peace with the tax-man in his own jurisdiction on income or gains generated through membership. It is possible to use US LLCs for the same purpose, and also to use simple unincorporated partnership agreements as complementary/additional development frameworks, on any scale. Irreducible Costs and Revenues are shared and allocated on the basis of what is fair and equitable between the stakeholders. This requires a transparent 'open book' approach and I have found ta trusted third party facilitator/mediator 'honest broker' to be a crucial service provider in respect of this crucial function of (subjective) relative valuation. It is also essential to have a governance arrangement whereby these allocations may be varied dynamically with the evolution of the project." 20,33697,2017-07-29T14:02:51.608Z,33485,anon281534083,anon1701267031,Doesn't an LLP usually have a Managing Partner? 21,34018,2017-08-05T21:35:53.125Z,33485,anon3301928407,anon1701267031,"@anon281534083 Hi John, There is some confusion because what one or two countries call a Limited Liability Partnership is what we in the UK call a Limited Partnership, where there is a General (Managing) Partner with unlimited liability (albeit they may be limited companies etc) and Limited Partners whose liability is limited to their investment but have virtually no management say. The UK LLP does not even require a written agreement since simple default provisions apply in the absence of agreement to the contrary (eg equal %age shares; all members must agree to a new member). LLPs are very useful for people businesses and are widely used as development vehicles for new assets. The closest US equivalent to the UK LLP is the Limited Liability Company (LLC) just to confuse things even more. In tax terms the UK LLP is 'tax transparent' (or what the US calls 'pass through') which means the taxman treats it as a partnership and taxes you on income or gains received through it as though you are a partner, as distinct from a member of a collective." 1,33844,2017-07-31T13:35:49.133Z,33844,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"#The onset of open biotech Some thoughts on my activities in open biotech in the past month. _Biohackathon in Amsterdam, 8-9 July 2017_ ###IP on the beach At the end of June, I attended [a workshop by the EUIPO](http://www.ideaspowered.eu/en) on strategies to educate youngsters about IP. About 60 people below 30 from all 28 countries were attending at the headquarters in Alicante. I had already attended the first workshop last summer. The discussion fell largely into two categories: how to help vulnerable smaller or starting artists and how to help new entrepreneurs. Despite efforts by the organisation, open alternatives (CC, open source, public domain) were not part of the conversation so much. The generally prevailing mindset is protecting rather than sharing. Though, the attendees were brimming with energy as they learned about IP and were making plans to set up awareness raising projects in their respective countries. If we can show youngsters to be conscious about the impact IP has on their daily lives, we’re already one step forward. An advantage of outlier views is that people know the few proponents in their organisation - “Open Source? Go talk to that guy”. That’s how I got talking to Malcolm Bain, a lawyer, lector and advisor specialised in open source software. On a beach party in Alicante, of all places. Malcolm seemed happy with how open source software has evolved into a fundamental, albeit relatively invisible, part of our digital lives. He cited how most software is built on top of open source digital infrastructure. And that companies like Microsoft, IBM and Google are [big contributors](https://octoverse.github.com/) to open source software, contrary to what people might think. Whatever those numbers may mean, this can make an optimist hopeful. I asked Malcolm about the evolution from open source software to hardware and now wetware. He had not thought of open source biotech and was happily surprised. In his view, from seeing the open source software field mature, you need several basic things in place to develop open source biotech into a meaningful field. The first are the basic tools you need in order to do biotech. As it stands, there are ample [open lab hardware projects](http://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_Lab) around, as well as affordable basic instruments like the [Bento Lab](http://bento.bio/). Furthermore, the [BioBricks Foundation](https://biobricks.org/) is committed to growing a database of standard synthetic biology parts called ‘BioBricks’. Are we at the point where enough people can easily get going? Probably not, although DIYbio labs are helanon3606750899g. Legislation on GMOs (which is not necessarily a bad thing) is another hurdle that prevents people to easily contribute to a project like Open Insulin, as the project revolves around engineering microorganisms. Our own struggles to find a certified lab in Belgium are a testimony of the extra barrier. Second are people. A critical mass of contributors to biotech fundamentals is needed in order to make real progress, to make the efforts enjoyable and to keep going. A great example of a community driven effort in making biotech accessible is the annual [iGem](https://biobricks.org/) contest. And [DIYbio labs](http://www.diybio.org) are localised community hubs that play an important role as enablers and breeding grounds for open biology. Lastly, Malcolm mentioned that you need to crowdsource or -fund all the effort being done to get rid of closed off knowledge. As an example, he referred to groups of lawyers systematically fighting patent by patent to open up knowledge for the public. This requires a degree of coordination. The latter is where most projects are lacking, including Open Insulin. The Oakland group is organised well enough locally to progress, but it’s not resilient and the collaboration does not scale well, locally and internationally. Coordination is expensive in time and/or money. It is where I am investing most of my time at the moment. ###Collaboration frameworks A few months ago, when starting Open Insulin, I had predicted that the global collaboration would be autopilot mode due to the clear incentives of sharing information and experience across teams globally. The difficulty would mainly be to keep the local collaboration going. I referred to the overhead costs and energy that goes into putting people and resources together productively. Reality so far has been the opposite: the international collaboration has proven more difficult than the local one. The main reason is an obstructed flow of information. One of the theoretical advantages of joining a project, rather than starting a new project, is that there is plenty of work to start from. Yet, if the information is not curated, this can be a hindrance rather than an advantage. In an environment with limited organisation of information, only those involved from the beginning have a good enough overview (from legacy) to have access to all the right information. Anthony from Open Insulin in Oakland mentions in [his OpenVillage session proposal](https://edgeryders.eu/t/organizing-the-open-science-behind-open-insulin/826) that the latter is a local problem as well. For us in Belgium, picking up where CCL was at, meant incomplete information and overlay in communication. These delays did have an effect on the morale in the team in Ghent. BioFoundry in Sydney decided to take a whole new approach from scratch, and they are now moving forward with research at a more rapid pace. In search for solutions, I’ve looked into Aquarium, a lab automation tool in development at the University of Washington, and the Open Science Framework (OSF). On OSF, there are other open, large scale global collaborations such as the [Reproducibility Project: Psychology](https://osf.io/ezcuj/) and [Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology](https://osf.io/e81xl/). They can serve as good examples of how to organise similar projects. ###Biohackathon On 8 and 9 July, [Waag Society](http://waag.org/en/lab/open-wetlab) & [Digi.bio](https://digi.bio/) hosted the first Amsterdam biohackathon. It brought together biohackers from the Netherlands and surrounding countries like Belgium & Germany, but even Canada. All in all it was an international bunch, which made it a pleasant biohacking community gathering. We were there with a Belgian delegation of 5 people, all involved with the Open Insulin project group in Ghent. We came to get to know and play around with the microfluidic chips developed by digi.bio. Microfluidic devices have the potential to accelerate the way biotechnology research is done, and the open source version makes it possible for communities such as biohackerspaces to reap the same benefits. I was also planning to meet Tom, who is develoanon3606750899g [cell-free extracts](http://cell-free.tech/). In essence, this extract allows people to do genetic engineering with the soup that’s inside a bacteria, without the actual living microorganism. Legally, this is big, as working with live microorganisms often means legal & financial barriers. Yet anyone can work legally and simply with cell-free extract. For Open Insulin, and open source protein engineering in general, this technology offers opportunities. If we can somehow make the potential reality for the open source community, it's a solid step towards democratization of scientific research. In other words: plenty to talk about at the hackathon. When thinking of a collaboration on using cell-free extracts for Open Insulin, we quickly came to the known issue: how do we collaborate efficiently in open.citizen science projects? We sat down with a few people to discuss & brainstorm. The group came up with a plan outline that we will try to implement over the next months in the hopes it boosts the Open Insulin collaboration. Hopefully, other citizen.open science projects can also benefit from the approach as we test it out. ###Train lecture On the train ride back from Amsterdam, I read [this work](https://freerads.org/science-scope-full/) on putting science in perspective. Then I read [this captivating article](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-for-science) on how large publishers rose to power. The system is not conducive of science done primarily for the greater good. It runs on other incentives: those of publishing, patenting and money. What we do as biohackers and with projects like Open Insulin is political, and needed. In 2001, then Microsoft CEO [Steve Ballmer called Linux “a cancer”](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/). Today, as a mastodont company whose legacy is primarily built on proprietary software, Microsoft is embracing open source more and more. Let’s see where this biotech thing goes. In the next weeks I continue to study open science collaborations, looking at success factors and guidelines to copy. I’m planning to visit Counter Culture Labs in Oakland, home of the original Open Insulin group, in September to help organise the collaboration. _This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation._" 2,33996,2017-08-04T21:45:34.885Z,33844,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"I had managed to miss this post! It's clearly an interesting point in the trajectory of open source wetware. This decentralised stuff was never easy, for anyone. But biotech has an additional regulatory hurdle, which software hackers do not have. Hardware hackers do have it: Davide Gomba, an A-list Italian hardware hacker, once told me that regulation forbids people in the makerspace to touch the power tools, unless they are employees of the space itself! But you wetware guys are really in the regulator's crosshairs. Hopefully technologies like cell-free extracts will help with regulation, and microfluidics will help with cheap raw ""experiment scalability"". But in the end, I think Malcolm is really really right: at the end of the day, open source hackers need to bite the bullet and redo the work from scratch, but this time with the right license. Stallman and Torvalds and the others, they had to redo what other had already done. GNU/Linux was, at the beginning, a poor relative of Unix: but it was open, so it could be improved. And once that was done, you *still* had the problem of figuring what the hell was going on in the code that you were supposed to improve upon. Turns out hackers are better at getting code to run than at documenting it. Vast amounts of time are spent in trying to decipher code which is legally open, but hard to understand and therefore not really actionable. This is similar to your struggle with following up on the work already done in Oakland on insulin. Slowly, the toolkits emerged: in-code commenting practices, wikis, GitHub... there may be something to port to wet hacking there. Moved the topic to OpenCare, so @anon1277226854 does not miss it. I added the `blog` tag, which is how we will implement our blog in the end." 1,33974,2017-08-04T13:34:58.712Z,33974,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"On july 27th we gathered again with the open rampette community to share the final results of the project. We presented the final prototypes of the solutions designed around the 2 topics we have been working on, namely “the call” and “the procedure”, moreover while working on the two topics, we realized that there was a third topic emerging “the communication”. **The Call** Regarding the call we shared with the community the feedbacks we got from the usability testing of the prototype (you can read more about it here). And we let people experience the improved/final version of it. **The Procedure** The day before the event we had the chance to test the prototype in some real shop around isola neighborhood (read more about the test results here). The collective event was the perfect moment to share what we learned from it. **The communication** Although the theme partially overlaps the two themes already discussed we decided it had so much importance it required to be treated alone. The topic addresses some questions we already asked ourselves during the research: How do I recognize if a shop is accessible? How do I know where to find an accessible shop in town? How can Minerva explicit the fact that they are well equipped to welcome dioniso? We believe that communicating the right message in terms of accessibility is as important as filing all the paperwork required to be “legal”. In fact, as discussed also during the user test with the doorbell, the very simple sticker we designed gives Dioniso the confidence that he will feel ok pressing that doorbell. --- After presenting the development about the three topics here, we finished our presentation mentioning a couple of global take aways we wanted to share with the community. **Inside out: from the details to the global scale** Makers usually have this kind of approach; you start making something and than you reflect on the impact that the thing you are making might have and how you can improve your design. Thinking practically in terms of solutions in the beginning of the design process gives you a solid starting point you can use to test your assumption and discuss your ideas from the very beginning. At the same time you are continuously pushed at thinking about how your solution might fit in the context and how it can link to the other pieces of the system. **Tangible solutions** Letting people touch with their hands some prototypes and experience a potential improvement regarding their issues is not just the best way to collect feedbacks; but it is also a super effective way to demonstrate policy makers that things can be changed and improved. **Multiple voices/experiences and new communication channels** Along the project we created an environment open to critiques and ideas coming from different perspective. The active participation momentum gave us the opportunity to engage offices and functions of the municipality not directly linked to the project (i.e. ufficio suolo pubblico and urbanistica) **Testing and iterations for an agile policymaking** Small iterations, user research, interviews are few elements that guided our design process. While those concepts and tools are well accepted in the world of the industry (in the startup world as well as in the most robust companies), in the domain of policymaking, regulations, and administration of city they haven't been quite discovered yet. We believe that some of the techniques we adopted can be translated in the exciting domain of the city regulatory system. Agile can be applied to policymaking and at WeMake we would be more than happy to open a table with the municipality to understand how. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f6QVy8j10QgRWNNPNUHhIDbbXiB7IR6KoP0n8-OVnaE/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000" 1,33952,2017-08-04T07:04:51.331Z,33952,anon214847711,anon214847711,"Hello open rampette followers! The last update was about the prototypes selection, now we would like to share with you what’s happened in the last period. We have been quite busy lately doing what makers do: programming, soldering, 3d printing etc… we built several doorbell prototypes and an app that let the user perform the call via Bluetooth. From July 19 to July 26 it has been a super intense week, during which we started a new experience with the community. We have got in touch with several shopkeepers based in Isola district in Milan who already have “accessible” shop, and we asked them the availability to take part in the user testing of the prototypes. Once they accepted our proposal, we gave them all the technical information and we installed in their shops the devices: * The doorbell with the sticker on it to identifies the project * The custom device to receive the doorbell call * Moreover we created a full instruction sheet. **TESTING THE DOORBELL WITH THE SHOPOWNERS** During the week the shop owners and the citizens had the opportunity to test the system proposed and reflect on advantages and the pain points. At the end of the seventh day we interviewed the shopkeepers and about their experience with the new prototype. It was a very precious moment to collect a lot of interesting feedback to better understand what features should be improved and what already works well. In summary, the doorbell was valued quite positively from the shop owners: * The doorbell is easily visible by the street. * The sticker placed on the doorbell is really clear, it works well to communicate accessibility. Waiting for the implementation of the final products, the shopkeepers are available to place the sticker outside their shop. **TESTING THE DOORBELL WITH DIONISO** On the same day we met one of our Dioniso, he reached us in order to test our solution in two different ways: * Calling the shop through the doorbell. * Using the app, which notifies him the presence of the accessible shop and allows him to request assistance directly from the smartphone. In both these cases, the process worked smoothly and Dioniso was pleased to give us his impressions. Generally speaking, the device was appreciated by our Dioniso: He highlighted that the proposed solution is way more effective than the former doorbell: * It is more visible. * It clearly indicates its function. * And moreover helps in communicating that the shop is ready and willing to put down a ramp if he asks for help Dioniso confirmed our assumption regarding the app: * It's a functional solution for people with limited movement capabilities of the arms and the others in general. * It could be useful for shops where the doorbell is badly, or where a big step create an obstacle between Dioniso and the bell itself. We couldn’t test the app with any user that uses voice commands to control his smartphone, but the test done at the lab using Android Accessibility Features with voice control went very well. We were able to use the app and call for assistance without touching the screen at all :) **FUTURE IMPROVEMENT** The test helped us also realize that some features that seemed very important during the user research were not so relevant in the end. * In every flow we proposed, we stressed the aspect of giving a clear feedback about the reception of the call for assistance; During the test we realized that it is not that relevant, as people use the bell in the way they are used to and don’t expect it to light up in different ways to highlight different statuses. * We put a lot of effort in creating a device with a “silent” mode, using just light and vibration, and unfortunately we had just a very little time to work on the fundamental “loud speaker” feature. In the end, we developed a very silent doorbell receiver, that is not really appropriate in most circumstances. * Since several people expressed during the research that they have shops with several rooms, we thought that creating a portable device could have been the solutions for all. However, a device that you carry around is easy to forget on a remote desk. For the future implementation, we recommend adopting the strategy of having multiple receivers to spread around the shop. Generally speaking the most important confirmation we had from the prototype was about the importance of effectively communicating the accessibility of the shop. While we really like the doorbell we designed, it could be interesting to try an hybrid and definitely “cheaper” solution using the sticker with an off the shelf wireless doorbell already adopted in many in of the town." 1,33594,2017-07-26T13:09:08.279Z,33594,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Next week **Wednesday the 2nd of August @anon It would be good if those who want to do lab work at some point are there, as otherwise we need to do the safety intro again at another time. Those with a biotech background also need to do the intro, no escape ;-)." 2,33902,2017-08-02T08:08:21.395Z,33594,anon1746600840,anon2954219769,I'll join 3,33907,2017-08-02T09:35:00.631Z,33902,anon2954219769,anon1746600840,Great! See you there @anon 1,33635,2017-07-27T09:22:51.642Z,33635,anon1061021150,anon1061021150," This addition to the festival draws on my experience as a traveler in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Me and two of my friends, fellow lecturers from the University Muhhamadiyah Manon3760936673g, went to explore hidden communities of different Dayak Tribes. The exhibition will include pictures of different long homes - exploring their special architectural features and purposes, as well as different designs for different communities. It will include videos of customs and cultural events, as well as explanations about their particular economy, philosophy, attachment to nature and pride deriving from their connection with the jungle. There will be pieces about the eclectic religious beliefs of the Dayaks, as well as about the modern ways in which sustainable businesses are being developed and financed around Kalimantan, striving to preserve the nature while giving people opportunities to improve their conditions." 2,33686,2017-07-28T14:56:51.257Z,33635,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Is there any way we can include this in a batch of evening sessions : art presentations + screenings? We can do a combo with @anon1526983854rey 's session + documentary about Bagmati River. Since you two are the only ones so far presenting work in SouthEast Asia. I know sessions are still being shaped up, which is why I dare proposing this. Feel free to scrap it if your work is more selfcontained and should stand alone. @anon3769417221 could also propose a documentary about an indigenous community in Rukum, Nepal. We saw one last night which was astounding, but there's another one he recommended - 20mins. I think it makes sense to have imaginative sessions where we travel to wordly villages of sorts :-) cc @anon3670751854 who is just now putting together our festival program, version 1.0." 3,33704,2017-07-29T14:35:44.832Z,33686,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"Great, i can do it both - i could easily do it as an exhibiton, not as a session even. Let's see how much time and space in the program we have and then I can adjust." 4,33897,2017-08-01T21:59:01.256Z,33704,anon3670751854,anon1061021150,"Tentatively put time after dinner on the first night for arts/demo. Also maanon1932026148 take the time for ""harvesting"" on the first night and use that for the presentations." 1,33523,2017-07-24T11:52:21.952Z,33523,anon3525264245,anon3525264245,"I am very excited to have stumbled upon your community to hear more about open access health care. I am a junior doctor in the UK, currently 3 years out of med school, with an MSc in Humanitarian Studies. Coming from an academic angle I am very much aware of the limitations and formalised structures of my knowledge and learning so far. I am taking a couple of years out of formal training to take part in the wider world of health, healthcare and healthcare delivery. I have recently returned from Belgrade, Serbia supporting an unofficial camp of around 800-1200 migrants, majority Afghan, all male, squatting in the city centre. I teamed up with a creative and passionate trauma nurse practitioner from the states, who had a lot of involvement in the squat clinics in Athens, and together we built a small clinic tent (literally gazebo and tarpaulin) and set about delivering health care to the community. One of the earliest challenges we faced was how to deliver healthcare where there was no infrastructure in place, not even a basic clean, safe and private space to consult or examine patients. In this setting the lack of infrastructure allowed us to be more creative and fluid about the way we delivered healthcare. Challenging the limited view that healthcare intervention revolve solely around the quick consolation, examination of patients and distribution of pharmaceuticals. In fact these are the last stages of healthcare and may only be offering a quick fix to a much broader problem. I think it is so important to be a part of the wider community outside of clinic walls. The second interesting thing for me was the recognition of environmental factors and how significantly they affected peoples health. We had serious problems with poor sanitation and hygiene and the inevitable infestation of scabies and body lice. Tackling these issues wasn't about treated their medical symptoms (although hopefully we try to achieve that too), it was about recognising the source of the problem and working out ways to overcome or improve the problems. Work such as this prompts you to talk to different voluntary groups and communities about the work they're doing, the infrastructure they're building and their impact on the ""camp"". Bringing a collective ethos to the action and work that everyone was participating in. We also delivered or tried to deliver public health information and education to the community about why they were suffering and how they may be able it help themselves to overcome it (ie. itching and washing). Breaking down the perception that you can solve everything with a pill and encouraging people to recognise the environmental, social and political factors that have an impact on their health. Hoanon3606750899g to encourage peoples independence, knowledge and agency in self care. Having spent the majority of my life so far in school, I haven't had much opportunity to take part in activist or anarchist action. As a beginner, newby or a novice as yet I can't define myself by either of the above. The world at times feels like a dark place, as the planet heats up, the weather fluctuates to greater extremes, there is an increase in natural disasters, war, famine and draught still devastate and kill it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I would love to take part in a community where, despite the heavy dose, cynicism does not prevail. Where in the face of adversity we hope to find some cooperation, creativity, and compassion. To talk about events, learn develop and evolve my own understanding and hopefully share some of my knowledge, experience and thinking too." 2,33554,2017-07-25T10:48:12.796Z,33523,anon1491650132,anon3525264245,"What you wrote is an inspiration @anon3525264245 , am glad you found edgeryders. Many stories of people coanon3606750899g with refugee crises - from many angles (@anon4074474473 's [backpacks with basic aid](https://edgeryders.eu/node/6729 ), [solidarity businesses](https://edgeryders.eu/node/6890), and also[ this story](https://edgeryders.eu/t/care-on-the-camp-a-calais-story/503) which I highly recommend about working in the camp - @anon477123739 wrote it. What were the resources you had, in the midst of running the clinic? Is it still going? I'd love it if you joined us for OpenVillage festival at the event - we'll be up to 60-80 people gathering to share the different kinds of work we are doing to deliver care in mostly less seen and informal ways. You can read about it in the Festival page (see menu above), but coming up is a draft schedule. There is however a lot of space for new ideas and projects: is there something which you would like to do, or people you'd like to meet in such a gathering?" 3,33564,2017-07-25T12:33:43.767Z,33523,anon1526983854,anon3525264245,"Great to meet you @anon3525264245! It does seem there is a good match between you and this crowd. :slight_smile: It's a great story you have here. It's intriguing how a trauma nurse played an important role. In the context of OpenCare we have been following @anon1932026148 and her [Trauma Tour](https://edgeryders.eu/t/trauma-tour/707). She is a trauma therapist herself... is there a pattern there?" 4,33694,2017-07-29T09:08:12.851Z,33523,anon3525264245,anon3525264245,"Hi folks thank you so much for your welcome response. I feel the open village festival is calling me :-) I shall have a little look at the links you have sent me as well as take a tour through some of the interesting comments and reflections people have made. We were fairly resource poor in terms of medical equipment and medical supplies. Pharmaceuticals were relatively easy to get out hands on, we relied heavily on donations of gloves, swabs, betadiene, tape, scissors, sterile fields and other small practical equipment from visiting healthcare providers from nearby Spain and Italy. They were sporadic, but on reflection it would have been very difficult without them or at the very least very expensive trying to source them over the counter. Unfortunately the whole area was destroyed and the migrants were gathered up and packed off to camps! :( the clinic was also bulldozed. It would be interesting to hear if any one had any bright idea about supply chains and resource/ equipment management in these ""pop up"" type clinics. I know @anon3560946760 is doing so work on emergency mutual aid of which supply chains may be a small but important feature. I also really liked the Health Autonomy at the End of the World, written by @anon3670751854. They paint a rather bleak picture of the breakdown and cut backs in healthcare structures within America. I whole heartedly agree that we need greater health autonomy for the individual and population at large. I shall do some further reading and comment on the writing there. Many thanks for your warm welcome. Ill look into booking some time off for the festival :-)" 5,33698,2017-07-29T14:10:08.174Z,33523,anon281534083,anon3525264245,"[quote=""anon3525264245, post:1, topic:6523""] I would love to take part in a community where, despite the heavy dose, cynicism does not prevail. [/quote] We ought to put that as a banner across the front door: Here cynicism does not prevail." 6,33702,2017-07-29T14:28:07.781Z,33698,anon1526983854,anon281534083,"Amen to that, brother." 7,33896,2017-08-01T19:21:14.431Z,33694,anon3670751854,anon3525264245,"@anon3525264245 thanks so much for your post and sharing your story. And I agree that it is so easy to fall into the cynicism of everything is ""fucked"" or what not. There is a courage in being able to look into the bleakness and not try to cover it up with some corporate blank ""positivity"" but rather seeing the world as it is and finding the beauty in the process of building a new world, together. Glad you found this community! We're hosting the [""Revolutionary Care: Building health autonomy""](https://edgeryders.eu/t/living-communism-spreading-anarchy-call-for-submissions-for-openvillage-festival/6445) theme at the Opencare festival. I'd be interested in hearing more about your story and ways we can collaborate. Maanon1932026148 we can set up a voice/video call in the near future? Message us through this platform or email anon3670751854@anon" 1,33291,2017-07-19T16:03:56.000Z,33291,anon413297907,anon413297907,"Hello, new update from the open rampette project - the procedure! We left with user research results during the last episode (link). Insights that were useful for the team at WeMake to start prototyanon3606750899g a new interface, a digital tool to make the regulation procedure more intuitive, easier to fill out, faster, pain and frustration-free. In order to guarantee accessibility, cross-compatibility and to enable easy iterations and future implementation we decided to prototype a tool in the form of a web app. Here are the key factors that led us to designing a tool that was user driven instead of bureaucracy driven: Complexity It’s very common for bureaucratic procedures to be designed in a way that first off satisfies bureaucracy needs. In our case, for instance, the way the information is organized doesn’t really take into considerations the way Minerva (our shop owner) would think about solving the accessibility problem, but it put things into the perspective of solving a bureaucratic issue from the point of view of the person who would review the filled module. As a consequence, the first thing we did was creating a logic chart of the questions that Minerva would ask herself while approaching the accessibility problem. The questions that would more easily push Minerva out of the procedure were put upfront. This might sound strange for some of you, as if we are helanon3606750899g shop owners skipanon3606750899g the procedure, but of course this is not what we want... Let’s try to wear Minerva shoes for a sec, would you be happy or frustrated to be notified that there is another procedure for shops that are currently under renovation after the procedure have asked you to measure the sidewalk, the obstacle and you have looked for a ramp online? Something tells me you would be quite frustrated... It’s with this approach that we did our best to guide Minerva exactly to the areas of the procedure that would fit her specific situation and to let her skip all the rest. Comprehension A big issue of the procedure that resulted from user research was technical language. After reading and re-reading all the documents the approach we have taken in this case is two-folded:
  • First we wanted to understand and interpret what really was the point of the question and then formulate a new question that would more easily go to that point using a language that would be closer to Minerva’s one
  • Secondly we followed the rule that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and we accompanied text with pictures and illustrations everywhere possible    
Assistance In line with the simplification of the procedure’s logic and the restructuring of the data flow, we decided to give the tool the form of a series of questions, just as if Minerva was being interviewed and assisted by an employee of the municipality during the filling of the procedure. Pleasure Last but not least, we wanted to give the interface a fresh but very simple look. We decided to use the guidelines from the opencare project, but we stressed on:
  • Making the text very readable
  • Making the buttons easy to locate and understand
  • Avoiding misleading icons and illustrations
You can test the prototype here and give us feedback. Your help would be invaluable to design a better tool! In the next episode we will share what we learned from the usability testing and start a conversation there on how we can make it better :) " 2,33510,2017-07-23T10:21:05.153Z,33291,anon1526983854,anon413297907,"Great work as usual, @anon413297907. On the contrary, you approach makes a ton of sense. I tested your wizard, and it seems, frankly, great. This is the way govt online services are built when they are built well. A lot of the branches ended up on ""contact a professional"", but that's not your fault. With @anon2435658896 in Bordeaux we discussed a ""more punk"" approach of just doing it (""it"" being your solution 3, the permanent concrete ramp) and getting the City of Milan of giving it a nod or at least looking the other way. But this is a separate discussion. If we do it by the book, I think this prototype solves the problem." 3,33569,2017-07-25T14:24:27.677Z,33510,anon413297907,anon1526983854,"Hi @anon1526983854, thanks for your feedback. Happy to hear you appreciate the work. I'm just the tip of the iceberg here so let me publicly thank @anon We discussed the ""punk"" approach too. But what came out from co-design sessions was nonetheless a ""desire"" to comply to the rule, mostly for fear of repercussions and consequent fees. We then decided to go less hacky and try fixing the existent for this first run. It turns out that apparently the office in charge of the regulation is open to discuss the current state and form of the regulation itself, starting from the results of our research, and re-write the regulation (hopefully taking into consideration an approach like the wizard we propose). Let's see how far it goes..." 4,33597,2017-07-26T13:55:00.512Z,33569,anon1526983854,anon413297907,"Hm. Question. If I go by night in front of Minerva's shop and pour concrete so that a normal wheelchair can now get in, is Minerva still breaking the law? Is she breaking _two_ laws? Does the city require that she pays a fine, takes the ramp down, then rebuilds it? Or do the two rule breakings cancel each other out? In the end, the ramp is there. The only damage was to the paperwork... :slight_smile:" 5,33642,2017-07-27T11:24:27.329Z,33597,anon413297907,anon1526983854,"I think we should ask a lawyer :slight_smile: What we know so far is that if the entrance of Minerva's shop is facing a public street, then to make whatever kind of changes to the usage/aspect of the sidewalk itself (temporary or permanent) Minerva should ask permission to the Municipality (this is actually what the procedure is all about). The Municipality is responsible to whatever happens (legally) to this sidewalk. If at night you go and pour a concrete ramp in front of Minerva's shop then I guess Minerva should have an alibi that demonstrates she is not responsible of that action. I mean, in the end Minerva will most probably face a local cop asking for explanation, not the Municipality itself..." 6,33701,2017-07-29T14:24:52.923Z,33291,anon281534083,anon413297907,"How does the city want a shop owner to make the ramp? Get a permit before doing anything, they tell you what they want you to make, and then have it inspected before it gets used? (That's how you have to do it in the US.) Make a new doorway or separate entrance just for that?" 7,33888,2017-08-01T16:49:28.494Z,33701,anon2435658896,anon281534083,"not super easy to reply ;) due to the intricate burocracy. briefly: for a light solution as a ""temporary ramp"" the shop owner has to declare the presence of the solution using an A4 from + a small drawing + a ""rendering"" of the future solution (this is what we called LA PROCEDURA) When you have all this docs you can send it to the office that check it and you are finally allowed to deploy the ramp when needed. So this is a technical declarations that is now checked on the paper. In theory a policemen can go into a shop and check if the shop owner has the ramp + the docs OR the docs to certify that in the shop is impossibile to create a solution for the accessibility (produced by an Architect or similia) In the prototype described by Ale we worked on the current situation and we tried to streamline it. In the process we discover a lot of points to improve the overall situations --> from a part to a more general improvemetn" 1,33868,2017-08-01T12:20:25.676Z,33868,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"### From 3rd to 17th July 2017 we interviewed 20 people to define how to represent food allergies with icons.   **FIRST STEP** Icons from [Food Allergy Italia web site](http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita/index.php): 1. We numbered all icons from 1 to 16 2. We showed them to the sample. 3. Each person told us which allergen is represented. 4. We collected all answers. **Results** Icons recognizability ⋍40% **Considerations** In our oanon3606750899ion, icons have a low level of recognizability because images represent a sample taken from biological classification of a given allergen. For example: the “mollusk” allergen is represented by a snail, an invertebrate animal belonging to the mollusk [phylum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylum). ----------   **SECOND STEP** 1. We re-elaborated an icon set with: -small size -one color (Black) -only drawing (without text)   [_The hardest design: luanon3606750899s icon!]_   2. We numbered all icons from 1 to 16 3. We showed them to the sample. 4. Each person told us which allergen is represented. 5. We collected all answers. **Results** Icons recognizability ⋍90% **Considerations** We have developed a new icons set, looking for and then pointing out the allergen food mostly used in recipes of mediterranean diet. For example, we have represented the “mollusk” allergen as mussels, frequently used in recipes of italian cuisine, as starter and main courses. In summary, we have displaced the [signifier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signified_and_signifier) into the food field. ---------- **TO DO** - Re-design icons. - Select color pallet. - Add new five icons to represent molecules that cause food intolerance (tot. 22 icons). ---------- [](https://goo.gl/forms/yNgU4mt8QzoluOtr2) ## TEST [**Recognize the allergens from the images!**](https://goo.gl/forms/yNgU4mt8QzoluOtr2) [**Please support the Allergo Kì research by doing a simple survey.**](https://goo.gl/forms/yNgU4mt8QzoluOtr2)" 1,33862,2017-08-01T11:05:25.921Z,33862,anon1164166643,anon1164166643,"Hello everybody, here's an update from openrampette project. The event of June 21 was an interesting moment to give voice to the community. We shared with people 7 different prototypes (you can find more information [here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/open-rampette-the-call-here-come-the-prototypes-21-05-2017/842)) and we asked them to evaluate the different solutions answering these questions: * Which prototype do you think will produce the biggest improvement on the actual context? * Which one is the most desirable? ---------- After collecting all the feedback we have analysed them, trying to understand on which prototypes keep working and which ones discard. At the end of the process we selected 4 of the 7 presented solutions: * **a sticker to identify accessible shops:** the sticker identifies the shops that are taking part in the open rampette project, and in general the accessible shops.The sticker is explicit but is not the standard wheelchair sign. It is a sign of prestige for the shop exhibiting it (like the tourist guide stickers). **WHY?** It is impossible to recognise the shop accessible via temporary ramp if no sign is present. * **a doorbell with improved usability:** the custom doorbell has the sticker on it that identifies the project. Dioniso receives a visual feedback when his call is received by Minerva. **WHY?** The ad-hoc doorbell highlight the fact that Dioniso is welcomed in the shop. * **a custom device to receive the doorbell call:** Minerva receives a notification on a portable device, which can produce light, vibrate and/or sound. By pressing a button on the device, Minerva can notify Dioniso that the call was received and will shortly go out with the ramp. **WHY?** A device with a single feature is more reliable than an app. It can be used by multiple people running the shop. * **a smartphone app to ask for assistance when you are in front of a shop:** A device (fitted with beacon technology) advertises the presence of an accessible shop. Dioniso receives a notification on his smartphone and he can call for assistance if in the range of the shop. **WHY?** People with limited arm movement capabilities can use smartphones fitted with ad hoc controllers (e.g. vocal controller). So now it’s time to develop the final prototypes in order to be ready for the user testing phase! Stay tuned :slight_smile:" 1,33306,2017-07-19T18:20:47.000Z,33306,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Woah, interesting open meeting. Realise you’ve been talking about this for months & I don’t know the web that’s been weaving all this time between you all but my reflections: Your focus on learning about how to do autonomous healthy caring community through a bold, experiential meeting of people is bang on. Focusing productive engagement at a mobile health village on care, resilience, fitness, mental health, spirituality, communal living + space + wild imagination & hacking + radical economics all sounded needed by the many different community ventures and community interventions that are rising in 2017.   It already sounds like a bold invitation to people to join, collaborate and go for it but the questions about the the precision of the invitation & the precision of the activity feels important. Brought to mind the many excellent social initiatives that fo.am has spawned over the years https://fo.am/activities/ and communicated so clearly. You asked me about events that I had experience of & I’m not sure I answered that well. But events that combine focused invitation with a mix of supportive structure & improvisation so that people can creatively participate with purpose work for me.  Even better events that through the meeting itself prototype & meet a specific question of care: this shifts depending on the context and where the meeting is.  If you pivot the whole thing to Morocco - then there’s a different care need…   On a Games tip, it made me think of the Brighton Cascade project I set up with Felix http://cascade.network/ & the unfulfilled plan we never found funding for which was first on our list for what we wanted to do after the COP21 had settled  which was “City Game & Action Residency” http://cascade.network/five/. The aim was an action residency & living differently with each other across a number of days on a different economic exchange whist tying it in with a food lab, sleep lab, creative lab open to the public and sharing tools/ knowledge and supported in the spirit of play by a city wide game inviting people into living differently. But you know what it needed to really make it work was one clearly understood focus. The reason the cascade.network went dormant is 1. people had jobs & the workshop aims were easier to achieve 2. people wanted leadership & focus to create in reaction too and give it shape - I didn’t recognise that and kept on seeking to accomodate everyone's interests & waiting for a consensus which never came 3. (and this is the big one!) it was not clear how, apart from being fun and creative, this would actually actively help the climate situation.  Reflecting on this today I agree with what Nadia said on the call - that a certain state of trust is necessary. To be bold and make the experiment with a leap of faith and make sure to learn from it in an organised way. We never know where any creative act leads. In a very basic way setting up creative healthy spaces that are emboldening, empowering and give people great information, new ideas and a lived sense of new potentials has an effect that is meaningful, rich, valuable.  However what I like about Edgeryders is your pragmatic focus on what is actually of communal use and has actual power to change people’s lives for the better. & care is a vital goal. Enacting possibilities with a sense of play towards a focused purpose of enlarging our skills for care & supportive community is useful. So a mix of game + pragmatic focus on care + working with aspects of real community (whether it’s living together differently, or working with the realities of the wider city / region) inspired me. & using playful techniques in the city - I don't personally have time to produce an audio journey but there are more spontaneous acts - like clowning - that don't need much prep ie. going out on the streets and giving people gifts.  I’ve got to hand my PHD draft in September & will work out what I can bring to this meeting - workshops or VR project & very open to connect with Gehan / Bernard / Frank about health / mental health / spritituality / love .  Available for calls if you need me. I unfortunately don’t have a block of time before the event to build something but perhaps it’s the beginning of a longer journey.  I’ll be there in October - wherever it is held - and participate with all I got.  " 2,33330,2017-07-20T15:35:24.000Z,33306,anon1491650132,anon712028032,"More about the Cascade project Hei @anon712028032 you surely have a way with words - maanon1932026148 you are up for helanon3606750899g proofread or contribute to the mission statement/ invitation we will launch when releasing the first version of a program? I've browsed through the Cascade website and it's not clear how your calls for participation were met by the community. I understand for about 6 months you ran events to re-activate Brighton in creative ways (#CascadePortal), then in spring/summer 2016 you attempted the 11 day action residency for which you didnt get funding and it completely stopped? None of the 3 components of the residency happened? (city game, AV nights and workshops) Community building and nurturing is very hard work even when theres a collective conscience and willingness to go forward together.  I think you and Nadia hit a chord when you mentioned leadership and excitement, so needed in ambitious projects! Paging @anon " 3,33831,2017-07-30T18:15:19.938Z,33306,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Happy to read / proofread - though I'm ever impressed by the succinct writing on edgeryders*. I'm also happy to record interviews at Open Village and bring audio equipment. The Cascade was a variety of labs in galleries, hackspaces, on streets, with a different people flowing through. Heinously documented, not put online & though I remember saying the phrase ""let's not bifurcate"" a lot, ultimately the enthusiasm bifurcated... The bifurcation had a practical root - to do with resources, time, lack of funds to support it. Others wanted to steward the project but got distracted by their other work, families, health & could not. I did not realise that my leadership and initiation of the group was a vital component of its existence & my over emphasis on everyone’s freedom was ultimately unhelpful to social organisation & cohesion. I took on the workshops and AV and continued carrying the torch - but ran out of money to keep living in Brighton where I was, moved out to the countryside & spectacularly ran out of energy at the CCC 2016. Still carrying this fire but agnostic about where I bring it. Now that I'm in Petersfield UK - finding people who are working towards the area becoming a Transition Town, who are tending the river networks and are standing against the Oil drilling of the Weald. Every place has it's own needs. On the plus side of the cascade.network we didn’t all destroy each other, or fall in love with each other and then destroy each other, which is a certain kind of success in group endeavours. The group experiment did not fall into wounds and trauma, sexual confusion, conflict and resentment. No one was nearly killed by the experience or driven half mad by it. We had a good knowledge exchange and the people it touched seemed opened, enlivened, emboldened. But… my focus is how to make the impulse & the work stronger & more effective because the intention is creative action & we are living in the context of this crazy risky moment of transition where nothing but completely radical action will do. So how to give something of real value & help shift a situation from not working or being actively toxic into health... I'm thinking towards 2020 - that that year is a meaningful goal for clearly working together https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/these-experts-say-we-have-three-years-to-save-the-planet-from-irreversible-destruction/ *Here's some useful stuff on ways of going about Creative Activism* On the subject of planning bold meetings good stuff over at Centre for Artistic Activism What we have learnt from history - https://artisticactivism.org/2016/11/c4aa-fundamentals-webinar-4-what-weve-learned-from-history/ https://artisticactivism.org/2017/02/how-to-win-webinar-10-make-your-meetings-inventive/ & great resources here http://yeslab.org/kb *Nurture & Patience* You are very right about the challenge of nurture and getting a group to nurture itself without needing constant encouragement by particular people. That kind of resilient self organised network comes through time, hard knocks & a shared understanding that if something is not working, that it's up to the person who is noticing to fix it, rather than complain/bitch/judge. The problem is that everyone is hardwired from how they've worked in more traditional companies and notions of ""the management"". Sharing leadership & systems for swapanon3606750899g stewardship feel really vital to avoid burn out and for that longterm goal... One thing that helps is PATIENCE With ourselves - the last few years has been an extraordinarily painful personal learning about my weaknesses and ability to destroy my best efforts and not organise energy properly. Naivety is not helpful - I had a tendency to think that i could do many many things because I was animated by the feeling that it was vitally important. This feeling met the crushing realities of difference between people, everyday life, parenthood, resources and my real ineptness to use social media… & also patience with others and with how human beings actually are. I've been on a great learning about personality and the limits of change. That well intentioned people might want to change, that knocks & failures certainly help shed naivety, but that changing habitual patterns takes time and support and is rarely complete. There's this realism emerging - mainly people only partially learn things and have a habit of remembering just a few things... We all tend to get swamped by our own lives sometimes. I like to think that I learnt about the problems of “trying” to make something happen over the last few years, but then I look at my current state of affairs & realise that my tendency to ""try"" to make things happen and naive enthusiasm that this time it will all work out is still prompting my actions. Habits of action are engrained in our biology - there's a noticing and re-wiring that's possible... & difficult. As I (and many others) re-wire ourselves with respect to what we do not do well and work out how to *genuinely* put energy to good use and work together, there's a kind of hardcore deathless patience that's needed. Because we have to keep aware and change ourselves and how we work, whilst keeanon3606750899g on doing. & If I’m going to be real - I’m not sure I’ve noticed many people get astoundingly wiser about their own weaknesses or completely overcome the bits of their characters that tend to alienate, confuse, splinter, cause trouble for all. & that's part of the melting pot of being human, making trouble, being part of the trouble... I wonder what a meeting that has a sense of complete and open welcome to everyone combined with a really compassionate understanding about people’s limits and flaws might be. That feels like what you are aiming at in the Care Conversation. It feels a good place to start and avoids the problem we talked about around carers vs. those who need care. *Mechanisms & sessions to get people creating & flowing* I'm really excited by the move at the OpenVillage to genuinely learn through courageous experiment and in friendship, with all the learning of the last decades. I'd love to see group mechanisms for getting people to play to their strengths actively & creatively within the Open Village, because social situations can tend to split into spectators and active agents and - often - some of the best people, don't have any idea of what their strengths actually are or that they are allowed to use them. I’ve packed up the idea that collaboration is going to be a banon3760936673ced affair - but there's a joy in friendship, encouragement and acceptance of how other people are in the moment. I wonder what mechanisms / games / workshops / group actions can be put in place that gets people to flowing together. I'd love to come and do some group dreamwork. Ie. An entirely optional session first thing in the morning to come and share the dreams that were had in the night. I've been learning from Apela Colorado about this practice and can only say that although it would take me many years of practice to really say why this is so effective at group meetings, that I have found it to be so. Group systems for mutually holding the unconscious forces of a group might be useful to our tendencies to unwittingly sabotage our best & most concerted efforts. Feel like I've said this in the article I wrote, but I'd love to facilitate some dream work sessions. & really encourage the existence of group dance, meditation and other activities through the day. Surprising ways of getting the web of creativity going is one way of getting through the armour of pessimism. I hear a lot of people these days, burnt by the failures of past ventures, getting bitter and hard and talking about having their fanon1056199097rs in many pies so as to avoid being too troubled if one doesn't work out. To me, this sounds like a strange new way of ""not caring"". We do have to CARE & actively try hard to not make the same mistakes - non-attachment is one thing - but speculative gambling to avoid committing just leads to a whole load of nothing. It's such an inhibitor of potential. All our eggs are in one basket ... and the basket is on fire. There are many other effective ways of creating together and keeanon3606750899g the flow. A few from my experience - Schumacher College https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/ vitalises their educational experience with student organised group meetings each morning where different people bring short physical practices & games, readings to bring everyone into the new day & it also serves to communicate a clear map for the day - what's happening, whose doing the food... It works. And you really notice how sometimes you just wake up negative and need to be heaved back into flow. They also have great healthy hearty habits of building fires, clothes swaps, making puddings, doing ritual, singing together, storytelling, dancing - it has a spiritual cohesion that is rare. On a less good tip - it's fucking expensive which leaves most people out of it. COP21 at the ZAD - self organisation that worked well mainly because of the urgency of the climate meeting & a level of care & focus given by the event following so shortly after the bombing in Paris. The thing that made this one work so well was the shared commitment to a greater cause - it gave the space feeling of camaraderie, trust, helpfulness, gifting, community, sharing info. The Chaos Computer Club in 2015 also had a similar community spirit, loads of people interacting with a will to experiment & hack prototypes, set up spontaneous meetings, share experience, exchange networks, DANCE together - on a less good tip - well, there's everything about the negatives of technology culture, new elites rising, tech worship that has not yet plugged into wisdom and care... The Warp Experience in the 90s in London - this one really shifted me with its open, mind bending, hilarious & inspiring concoction of theatre, workshops, talks, wild dance, a hot tub. It was a liberty space of organic flow, wild experimentation and spontaneous creativity. Like all expressions of liberty, liberty lasts a short while and then rots unless it is tended to transform into something else - and these negatives became more visible, there was no real help to those who were vulnerable (except the social radar that sometimes worked well), there was mental fall out, sexual predation, guru culture and power conflicts, hedonism culture always means lots of talk and less action and its got a shadow of addiction and escapism, and no one really understood how hard it would be or how long it would take... One conclusion I take from all this is that true creativity is the secret ingredient. The Warp may have been wild & chaotic and bitten the dust but it spawned its seeds, to America and the Cosmic Trigger rising in the UK is all part of its growth through time. Real creative experience has organic effects that continue and seed new life, even if you can't account for them in reports - they often have much more power than really thought-through planned experiences... I've certainly been to a lot of conferences and formal meetings which have not shifted me. Something that keeps coming to me about the Open Village is TIME The question of - what lasts? what's useful? how can we inhabit this time with power? & what's possible for October? Which is not so long away... I have one thought that keeps rising on taking this notion of the caring healthy self-organised group out into the city. Few respond well to shouty negative activism. Fear is not the great communicator... Part of the cascade project was around slow culture hacks. Activism that emphasises changing the pace of the city and foregrounding presence, vulnerability and the beauty of the earth. The dance groups on the streets for the COP21 shifted me. Been thinking about action on the streets & since culture is obsessed with excitement - anything too high paced is likely just to feed the machine and be yet another ride on the wheel... For where there is hectic business, there is all the distraction, blindness and madness of this suicidal culture. This sense that “the time is now” can be met by something present. Instead of putting that intense feeling into multiple short-lived projects, to make energy matter. To use energy with real intention. One way of spreading courage and alternatives is to be in total presence. What about an action that expressed a great slowing down into presence during the Open Village? Slowing down the pace of the streets with movement. Done a few things like this before - I led a slow motion walk up Oxford high street in the last decade to protest the Iraq war. So - what about a short workshop and then an action of dancing slowly (in whatever your style) in the streets? Gifting pieces of fruit to passers by? A way of spreading the invitation. I've made mistakes in the past about acting before the time is ripe. Doing too much. In rushed ways. Not preparing long enough to really pull it off. There is a mastery to carpe diem - in plucking the day when it is ripe. If that can tie in with urban game you are working on - great - I'm on for this & looking out for times and places for this creative plan. Stripanon3606750899g things back. I think it is all about caring, realism and presence, and for me - whatever the outcome - joy. Events can unleash creative energy + knowledge. So I love events that combine enacting purpose with great up-to-date info exchange, tools and realistic sharing of experience & melding that with infinite welcome, friendship and heartfelt (some might call it spiritual) unity. & if we hit the sweet spot, participating in the network can catalyse personal understanding and meaning in the personal lives of all those that come participate - that's a good feedback loop. Meeting together can open up new potentials for people to see how their own creativity can be part of meaningful radical action if it's held in a solid creative authentic container. The reason I got drawing chalk doors on the walls of Paris & planting seeds across the city during cascade.network was to invoke this strength. Doors where we see walls. Might be poetic. But the effort's so tough, it needs poetry. & diversity! Whilst I am attempting to school myself in canon1932026148rnetics to become a real structural thinker, I still think like a creative and have a lot to learn. A variety of very different kinds of people who share values & can play to their strengths and accept the limits of others, might be more powerful than a group of people who are all exactly on the same page. Functional groups needs the grumpy pessimist, the young & enthused, the spontaneous creative, the radical wild card, the focused logician, the butterfly generalist, the pragmatic parent, the radically honest, the contextualisers and historians, the future-thinkers, an elder and groups desperately needs the people who've had it hardest and have learnt lessons most are lucky never to learn. My work - creative, research, teaching - has often kept me in a solitary pattern & I'm trying to break that pattern in myself as I truly come to understand that we not only need to know ourselves but we also need each other - in all our different forms - to make action together & give that action the best possible support. These years have made me agnostic to style & aesthetics. What moves me is whether someone means it, because then there's possibility for learning and acting. Commitment and care is a helluva lot more important than uniting over style or even personality. Commitment and care are solid foundations for the humility and superhuman patience to work with people you may not necessarily vibe with all the time... Ok - that's my attempt to share some experience. & wait - my god - if I learnt anything from the Cascade it would be the communication. The project was an attempt to unite behind a purpose, act boldly and tell the story as we did it. But my god, did I discover how terrible at leaving a documented trail I was. Spent a lot of time with sound artist Leah Barcalay who was tweeting for one of the massive eco twitter accounts during that conference. She'd trained herself to tweet every minute or so. Open Village can make it easy for young people to attend and take up this communicative role - that would be a great idea. The social reach. The story told by many different storytellers. I was really naive about this when Cascading. & beautiful documentation carries the spirit on into the future. Unmonastery felt pretty great at this - I was not involved at all in this project - but through the videos & presentations that project moved me. & this one http://www.open-frames.net/changing-tents/ Here are some events going on in the UK in August with some similar values - Banon3760936673ce Unbanon3760936673ce http://banon3760936673ce-unbanon3760936673ce2017.org/ - I'm going to this, it's great Earth First! http://earthfirstgathering.org/ Intergalactic camp 17th-24th August https://zadforever.blog/2017/07/13/come-to-the-intergalactic-week-17-24-august/ & final question The plan to hold ""11 days of living differently"" in Brighton & the attempt to live on a different economic exchange, inside an open creative lab, sharing tools/ knowledge & a city wide game did not work because we realised that we needed to provide support if it was going to be a real invitation. ie. more than an arty kinda project. If it was going to be an invite that people could answer and participate in without getting burnt out and becoming penniless in the process it needed some self-funding structure that could tend it & support people who were on lower income... Experimenting with Brighton's GoodMoney or one of the ethical cryptocurrencies like FairCoin was the idea, but frankly I don't know enough about this. My main point here is that it is vital to support people in being able to take up a bold invitation - otherwise it's a radical possibility for those with the privilege to meet it, in that people live in a radically unequal context with totally different kinds of resources. If it's an open invite for people to make their own way to the ""experiment"" that risks only receiving folk who can commit to risks like that (eg. folks on PHD scholarships like me.) That's not healthy representative variety. & many ""utopian"" meetings I attended over the decades died because they were basically wedded to capitalism and the inequalities of that system at their foundations. I’m really interested how you guys are going to meet this problem. Nadia mentioned cryptos... & I will catch up with Frank about this next week - about how people can be fairly supported to take up the invitation. In 2017, we all have to take risk. But we also gotta make the effort to try and share the level of risk - something that is a manageable risk to one person, might genuinely destroy another person's ability to survive. Looking forward to learning from you all on this. *If I copy edit your copy, can someone consider writing bullet point summaries of mine ; ) Short form writing is not my strength..." 1,33305,2017-07-18T18:04:39.000Z,33305,anon3675269997,anon3675269997,"In the direct continuity of the last community call, we propose another seance of online and interactive demo showing GraphRyder, and especially how we use it to visualise what the EdgeRyders' community (hey, that's you!) is talking about, and what we try to extract from all this content. If you have been unable to follow the last call, no worries, @anon If the audience is already familiar with the platform, then we will continue where we left off last time, that is, at the Detangler view. Obviously, whether you have played around with GraphRyder before or not, if you have questions about the whole process, some feedback about the tool or if you are just curious about it, come and join us to discuss about it. The whole call is happening on Wednesday the 26th at 18:00 (6pm) UTC+02:00 on Google Hangout. All you have to do to join us is use this link (no login required). Also leave us a comment if you have any special requests for the demo. Date: 2017-07-26 18:00:00 - 2017-07-26 18:00:00, Europe/Berlin Time." 2,33326,2017-07-19T09:00:09.000Z,33305,anon1491650132,anon3675269997,"I'll be there! Will keep an eye on the number of attendees so that we are prepared to setup a 2nd hangout room if needed :-) " 3,33603,2017-07-26T14:58:40.164Z,33326,anon2350529763,anon1491650132," count me in, wil be there. see you in a bit." 4,33657,2017-07-27T18:06:45.377Z,33305,anon1626956627,anon3675269997,"Some (admittedly fragmented) notes from the call yesterday: **Attending**: @anon1526983854, @anon1491650132, @anon1277226854, @anon Discussion on how you might use this tool if you were trying to figure out what to use this data for. **Amelia**: As a policy maker this is something we have been talking about quite bit. **Alberto**: Example connecting legality, existing system failure, and safety and regulation. We make a hypothesis on the basis of the graph, confirmed by reading the conversation. Many people blocked by regulation trying to do something beneficial, but there is also a recognition of the issue of safety - this contradiction plays out in sophisticated ways in the OpenCare community. The way you dig deeper into this is by reading the text, but at a higher level you can already read it in the graph. **Amelia**: You couldn’t read all the stories, there are too many. Graphryder enables you to pick out the stories, and dig deeper. Start with the tag view. For example: I’m interested in 'policy'. **One of the things I’m noticing** is there is an interesting link between policy and existing system failure: If I were a mental health professional, I could look at all the related topics. For example: mental health and creativity - what’s going on between the two, that might not be clear? I might not know the link between the two, but Graphryder provides a link between the two that exists. People feel they have more mental health concerns when they are in creative professions. Now we get an overview of content that relates to both of these issues. 3000+ contributions in all on Edgeryders, very hard to filter through - Graphryder gives us an ethnological perspective: I would miss some of these connections if I didn’t get this zoomed out view - instead of relying on individual memory, I can see how strong the link between these different concepts are, that I may not have known about. Looking at the graph - there’s a crucial link with safety and system failure - even though legal frameworks get in the way of DIY initiatives, there are existing regulatory frameworks to work within, which from an anthropological point of view is interesting. The **tag** view is really useful for seeing relations between nodes. By digging into care we can find a different angle of discussion on health, the design interventions node points us to smartphone based healthcare apps: There are three different views: one for users, one for content, one for tags. The **Detangler** view lets you see the intensity of the conversation around subjects. **Alberto**: Benefit to local network analysis in ethnography - my instinct is to try and get information on the network as a whole - that’s what humans can’t do. Anyone can keep track of a local track of ten nodes or so - what is unique is the global connectivity pattern - a pretty close call for collective intelligence. My problem with the detangler view: hints at regularities, but stops ahead of the finishing line, which would be to say, these connections between nodes correspond to a social network, then you compute the social network metrics which has something to say about the connectivity. Ex: validation to interaction, if the social network is connected, we can hope, people have been debunking the connections between the two nodes, therefore we know the network is solid. You use it to calculate a reliability score of the reliability between the nodes on the social network. **Amelia**: There are different kinds of interactions that are valuable. A few people discussing a topic might be more valuable, if they have a deep and intense knowledge of the topic, we wouldn’t want to discard them just because they are a small group talking about insulin and open research. Allowing for a way to display that importance is pretty important to me from an ethnographic perspective. For example: mental health and creativity are closely looped - it seems a lot of people are talking about it. Is it an intensive or distributed conversation? From an approximation: it's a very diversified social network, looks like the link between mental health and creativity has been discussed and debunked quite a bit. Whatever the results: you can fall back on what people are actually talking about." 1,33632,2017-07-27T08:13:11.645Z,33632,anon413297907,anon413297907,"Hello followers of the openrampette project. Here is a brand new update about the procedure track: results and insights from the usability testing of the prototype. We left last week with an update on the design and development of the prototype for the regulation procedure. This procedure will let a shop owner make an accessible shop in the City of Milan comply with the local government’s building regulations. At the moment the procedure is entirely paper based, not easy to follow and fill. We tried to digitalize the most part of the process so a shop owner would only need a browser to complete the procedure. See this post ([link](https://edgeryders.eu/t/openrampette-the-procedure-the-prototype/6491)) if you want to know more about the prototype of the webapp and about the research that led to this solution. _**So what do you do after you create a prototype? You test it!**_ On the 12th of July we set up a public meeting were shop owners and other citizens could try and test and give feedback about the prototype. After introducing the user research results and the reasoning behind the design of the prototype, we set up 3 testing stations, each fitted with a laptop and a member of the team taking notes. We tested with 9 people, half of which were shop owners (our Minervas), one person with mobility impairment (our Dioniso), and other citizens that showed up because interested in the project. We decided to run two different kinds of tests depending on the tester: * UNMODERATED. Minervas were just told to try to fill the procedure as if they were doing it for their own shop, and commenting aloud or asking questions if blocked * MODERATED. Dionisos and other people were given some mock data in advance (obstacle height, sidewalk width…), and were asked to complete specific tasks as if they were impersonating Minerva During the tests we received very useful feedback on many different aspects: information architecture, user interface, navigation, text comprehension, tone of voice, need for assistance. ## QUOTES Here are some key quotes from the testers: _SATISFIED QUOTES_ “The math to calculate the slope is very useful” “The automatic generation of the measured project would solve my issue” _IDEA QUOTES_ “It would be cool to have a preview of the filled procedure before downloading so you can double check your data is correct” _“I DON’T UNDERSTAND” QUOTES_ “In the screen where you are supposed to input the data is not clear if you need to take the dimension of the ramp or the sidewalk...” “How do I proceed to the next screen?” _UNSATISFIED QUOTES_ “30 mins to complete is too long time...” “I’m not gonna buy a ramp if I’m not 100% sure it will make me comply to the regulation” ## USABILITY PATTERNS Besides what the testers were saying we could observe interesting patterns in their use of the app: User Interface Most of the testers faced issues in the navigation, they couldn’t find a call to action when this is below the browser window’s fold 60% of the testers were able, at first try, to understand and use the interactive elements throughout the flow _» Wording_ Most of the testers didn’t properly read the full text before clicking the call to action, too long Most of the testers couldn’t find a significative difference in the description of some of the different ramps one could choose Most of the testers have issues understanding which one is the right solution for them, even after reading the descriptions _» Information architecture_ Most of the testers didn’t understand it was necessary to look for a ramp online before being able to input the ramp’s dimension in the procedure _» Wishes_ Most of the testers showed interest in using this tool to fill all of the different procedures to regulate the shop for accessibility, and not only the one for temporary ramps _» Preoccupations_ Many testers were worried of a ramp slope (15%) that, despite its congruity with the regulation, would imply for them to help Dioniso to enter/exit the shop All the results above were collected and analyzed. This pool of data gave us a starting point to iterate our prototype fixing the architecture and the user interface on one hand, and take note of details that would need to be evaluated and discussed for a possible future re-design of the procedure in its entirety on the other hand. You can also try the final prototype [here](https://pr.to/CK6W6O/) (Italian only) and give us feedback below, thanks!" 1,33580,2017-07-25T17:58:03.554Z,33580,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"The ethnographic research at WeMake is finally delivering some first outcomes. The first meeting out of three held place on the 12th july. It was a useful set to present the aim of the research design and the methodology. By my side, I could share the academic background about STS (Science, Technology & Society) and my experience in two different contexts of healthcare (hospital and university). Then, it came the time to present the first insight of the research as experience and explaining how I have started combining and giving meaning to data collected on the field. A matrix about online/offline and design/making practices has been helpful to map the different and many practices enacted by the staff involved in opencare at WeMake. Such practices happen mostly in a hybrid integrated space of physical and digital actions, where applications and software are implied in the pursuit of tasks. Some members of the staff work sometimes remotely and videoconferencing is rather a common practice. Although WeMake workplace is definitely a technological environment, the human element seems still important in finding mistakes or re-schedule and re-arrange things to be done. Interesting questions were asked about the research and the involvement of WeMake in the opencare project. A second part of the presentation was scheduled about working in groups on the published elements (pictures, sounds and notes). Anyway, a change of the program happened spontaneously given the matter of the meeting: understanding how daily morbid living is being changed in and by WeMake practices. Maker in residence and Openrampette were mentioned as having an important part in the development of the qualitative data of the research given their experimental and participative design parts. Thereafter, the participants started an interesting discussion about the role of maker spaces in redefining the concept of care in different sets and social worlds. There were two key elements to boost interesting discussion about how roles and rules are felt as costraint not only by patients and laypeople, but by social and healthcare services themselves." 1,767,2016-09-28T11:07:52.000Z,767,anon3207928631,anon3207928631,"Street Nurses (Infirmiers de Rue): How do we help people living in the street for more than 10years? The non-profit organization Street Nurses was formed in April 2005, following a year and a half of field studies. Two Nurses realized that, despite there being many medical and social organizations in Brussels (Belgium), there were still a great number of homeless people in the Belgian capital. They noticed that personal care and health were major issues for homeless people and were convinced that they could solve these problems. The organization has three primary goals: field work, trainings and tools. Field work: Street Nurses takes to the streets to meet patients directly in their environment, without asking for payment. We take care of them, earning their trust, and we motivate them to take charge of their personal care and health by accompanying them to specific care facilities, by actively listening to their needs and giving them advice. Our work is also based on prevention and the dissemination of health information. We are medical and social intermediaries between, on the one hand, persons who live in an extremely precarious situation and on the other, healthcare professionals and social workers. The follow-up of patients ends with the integration of the patient in accommodation where he or she is regularly supported by professionals and volunteers of Street Nurses, and a network of social associations. We aim to assist persons who live in extremely precarious situations by offering them a home and by permanently reintegrating them into society. This medium- to long-term goal is achieved by improving the living conditions and the hygiene of these individuals, as well as their self-esteem. Trainings: Street Nurses organizes different types of awareness-raising sessions and training courses in French or Dutch on ‘hygiene and precariousness’ and ‘basic first aid’.  These trainings are address to any target group that is likely to come into direct contact with homeless people or that works with people who live at home and have major hygiene issues. Our nurses organize sessions on site – in schools, in the offices of security guards and social workers, clinics etc. Tools: Street Nurses develops prevention tools and information packages to raise awareness among homeless persons about the importance of personal care and health, to give them better access to care and to facilitate their medium - to long-term rehabilitation. Certain tools, however, are aimed at raising awareness among the general public about the situation of homeless people. Examples: list of showers in Brussels, map of fountains and free public conveniences, symptoms and interventions in case of hypothermia, Frostbite prevention poster, Heat stroke prevention poster Since 2005 the non-profit organization Street nurses has grown and its projects are continuously developed. Today, Street Nurses has the equivalent of 13,84 full-time staff members and approximately 60 volunteers. We saw the call by the Mac Arthur Foundation too, but we tough we were way to small to try and get it so we were very happy to receive the information trough DoucheFLux that this kind of initiative exists. We are mostly organized to search every year for new funds. We try to find the good banon3760936673ce between private, public and foundation funds but because of our high costs of wages it is difficult to fund foundations that are willing to support us. Most of them give only money for material or structural projects, not for day to day tasks, and that is what Street Nurses is all about. Since a couple of years we opened our work to an even more inclusive service. We have a collaboration going on with Social housing agencies in Brussels to try to give homeless people a decent home at the end. We participate to the program Housing First Brussels. We have a good network within the association field in Brussels, but when we go to specific funds we are not transcribed in their goals. For example, they help by giving furniture for kids, or funds for kid projects. But our main audience, people living on the street between 8 and 20 years is often forgotten. Something rather unique in the social field is that we have one of our colleagues that is paid by two different organizations, ours and another non-profit organization. This makes it possible to create a solid bridge between both organizations and have a great information flow. We think there is bright future is this way of work. Finally we organize a colloquium the 20th of October in Brussels that has as goal to eradicate homelessness in Brussels for ever. With the mindset: if even we can find homes for the most difficult audience, you can too! We want to share our experience in the field. It takes time and dedication for each of our people to do the whole process, from getting the confidence, to willing to have a stable home. But we want to show that the hard work also has direct results, and if we rally our forces we can go for a total abolishment of homelessness in Brussels! " 2,10392,2016-10-03T12:23:14.000Z,767,anon1491650132,anon3207928631,"Oops, a day late for OpenandChange! Hello @anon “..because of our high costs of wages it is difficult to fund foundations that are willing to support us” What do you mean by that? For example the MacArthur funding would allow personnel costs, and most large grants that I know of. Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Noemi, community manager, and my own answer to the challenge “How do you give and receive care?” is here, I wrote it a few months ago should you be interested to exchange notes. Let’s stay in touch. " 3,10674,2016-10-04T13:46:26.000Z,10392,anon3207928631,anon1491650132,"Hello Naomi, I don't understand. We have worked with Yannick for the OpenandChange. Have you not seen our applicant ?  " 4,12232,2016-10-05T14:26:00.000Z,10674,anon1491650132,anon3207928631,"Nope, sorry! Working in the area of homelessness I'm only aware of DOUCHEFlux as a partner in the proposal.. but I may be wrong. Maanon1932026148 @anon " 5,15524,2017-06-12T11:03:44.000Z,767,anon2442420827,anon3207928631,"Hoanon3606750899g to tackle homelessness in Ireland Hi @anon3207928631, Are your tools and publications available to people in other countries interested in following your model? I'm a nurse in Ireland involved with various community projects, and believe the street nurses model would be a great fit for here. Also, how do you maintain patient privacy while treating people on the street? Part of my work is looking at care on the move and related design solutions.   " 6,17902,2017-06-14T15:33:53.000Z,15524,anon3207928631,anon2442420827,"Reply Hi Bernard,   Thanks for your interest for our work and model. Of course there's certainly room for export of some tools, trainings or even more... But we would like to discuss it more thorougly  with you on skype, to see what could be the plan and what are exactly your needs. We are very busy at the moment, preparing our ""registry week"" end of this month, so we will contact you in the beginning of July to make an appointment with you on skype.   Best, Pierre Ryckmans pierre.ryckmans@anon   " 7,19697,2017-07-05T11:15:17.000Z,767,anon3560946760,anon3207928631,"similarities the medical issues  seem to be the same as the golden foot collective. working in the migrant crisis. any thoughts on how to deal with scabbies in precious situations?  be well  Md " 8,33555,2017-07-25T10:48:34.269Z,15524,anon3207928631,anon2442420827,"Hello Bernard, Can I have your e-mail ? We want to organize a skype. Best Streetnurses." 9,33565,2017-07-25T12:51:49.206Z,767,anon2442420827,anon3207928631,"Hi StreetNurses, A Skype conversation would be great. My email is anon2442420827mcglinchey@anon" 1,33297,2017-07-15T09:38:40.000Z,33297,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"These days edgeryders will be moving onto a new platform using discourse (exact date tbc). For \#OpenVillage Festival, this means we lose this minisite we set up with festival information aggregated in one place: We need help setting up a website whose main goal is to communicate effectively about the event to the people who registered and newcomers - visually attractive and containing the most important and up to date information. The site is all static, but should include a page which links to edgeryders.eu[ festival coordination.](https://edgeryders.eu/c/festival/festival-coordination) Primary materials to use: *
  • key info: openvillage
  • story: how we got here this handout | research outcome: visuals: opencare.cc | visual style guide (good typefaces, fonts etc)
    • Other ideas:
    • example of a landing page we used for previous event (NB it's now messed up in the new edgeryders.eu installation)
    • example for festival missions statement : http://cascade.network/aim/ ..
    To complete this task, leave a comment below with your availability and what you can help with - coding the website, synthesis of information, producing new videos or other visual materials etc.. Any effort is appreciated! Once the work completed we will send you the festival ticket!" 2,33536,2017-07-24T14:53:53.683Z,33297,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Wordpress theme templates available here: http://www.showthemes.com/ https://themeforest.net/ * choose one that includes a counter with remaining hrs and mins to the festival." 3,33541,2017-07-24T19:02:15.379Z,33297,anon2706619482,anon1491650132,"I noticed that the link for the ""visual design"" is unaccessible because it hasn't been made accessible yet. It'd be great if everyone could view it :)" 4,33550,2017-07-25T09:32:06.469Z,33541,anon1491650132,anon2706619482,"Yeah, I'm not sure what the agreement is with the original designer, so if you click and just ask for permission to view it would be great, thanks! Also @anon2706619482 are you interested in helanon3606750899g with a funnel event site? Any ideas welcome. I may have found someone to code it, she's sending a mockup later this week.. Thanks!" 1,33491,2017-07-22T12:51:13.596Z,33491,anon70625510,anon70625510,"OpenCare Lab is a new course produced as a collaboration between UDK and The OpenCare consortium as represented by Edgeryders. The slides from the introductory presentation on day 1 are available for all to reuse and remix here. The videos that were included in the presentation are: Take a few moments to reflect on your experiences and thoughts during the four days we have spent together before they get distracted ad are lost in the everyday rush. Open a word processing document and just let your thoughts flow. Find an image that you feel is appropriate (JPG, min 600x400). When you feel done, log into edgeryders.eu, click on the add my story button and upload your image + text." 1,33490,2017-07-22T12:46:17.001Z,33490,anon70625510,anon70625510,"In this exercise you are required to take a care-related question of your own choosing, and develop it into a design challenge. Not sure what a design challenge is? Have a look at p.31-33 of the Human Centred Design Field guide before you start building it by answering 5 questions: 1. What is the problem/question you are trying to solve/explore? Frame it as a design question! 2. State the ultimate impact you would like to have. What would make you feel like you did something meaningful with your time? 3. What are some possible solutions to your problems or ways to answer your question? Think broadly. It's fine to start a project/learning process with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for surprises. 4. Write down some of the context and constraints that you are facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based, or have to do with the population yo're trying to reach. 5. Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again. To complete this task pick your question (GWK and UDK students select one question each from this list), open a word processing document, and write your answers to the questions above in it. Next, find an image you feel is related to your design challenge (JPG format, 600×400 or larger). When you are happy login to edgeryders.eu, click on the ""Add my story button"" below and upload your contribution. If you have any questions email anon1491650132@anon" 1,33487,2017-07-22T12:37:29.086Z,33487,anon70625510,anon70625510,"In this phase of the project we collaborate around research needed if we are to develop proposals for interneventions, improvements, or design new concepts/products/services rooted in people's everyday realities, needs, and lifestyles. Each participant does their own research on a care-related topic of their choosing, and explores what others already are doing or have done. Everyone shares their results here and we do a round of gathering feedback/input online. This enables everyone to make well-informed decisions to shape their steps forward. This is the first of two research tasks. All over Europe and beyond people are building a new world together. Amazing projects demonstrate hope for the future and visions of the world which is possible when we work together. In Cairo, residents brought along bulldozers and just started building their wikicity. In the United States a 16 year old boy who couldn't afford braces just went ahead and 3-d printed his own orthodontics. In another part of the world a concerned parent got tired of the constant worrying about whether their diabetic four year old son's blood sugar levels are ok, so they hacked the diabetes monitor's software code and wrote a simple program that transmitted the monitoring data to an online spreadsheet he could view on a Web browser or mobile phone. Their actions are now part of an entire open source ecosystem, from sensors to apps to insulin, emerging from patients. Many people living their dreams together are changing their corner of the world, one small intiative at a time. In this challenge we conduct research to discover what is already out there and what is needed by existing projects/places/products/services and the people they serve. In doing this collaboratively we increase our collective knowledge. We also encourage peers to acknowledge one another's good work and build on it, rather than waste resources duplicating or competing with existing initatives. The focus of our research efforts in the context of OpenCare are initiatives that exist at the intersections of care, communities and open science and technologies that allow anyone to make and modify the things they want...without needing permission. What do we mean by OpenCare? Seen from here the definition of Care is nurturing interactions between humans; the open part is about fluidity in the roles and relationships of the humans involved. Food cultures, cultural practices, the artefacts we use and the ways in which we use them etc; the field is broad and you are free to look in whatever direction that engages you. The Challenge: Produce case studies on existing initiatives, interventions, products, or services that are relevant to your care-related challenge or question. How to complete this challenge:
    1. Identify interesting or relevang Groups, Projects, Places, Products, Technologies, Tools, Services or Infrastructures.
    2. Interview their protagonists using this interview framework. We recommend you make an extra effort to capture each interview on video so you have footage that you can re-use/remix for later steps if you want (e.g. putting together crowdfunding campaigns).
    3. Map the flow of information, reosurces, attention and trust in the ecosystem of which they are a part.
    4. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that either the project faces from its environment, or that the environment faces from the project.
    5. Present your results in a text with visual material..
    6. Upload your results using the ""add my story"" button below or email them to anon1491650132@anon
    What makes a good Case Study? Content Guidelines: Focus on methodology, actions, motivations and insights. Look at this interview, this story as well as this one to get an idea of what we are looking for. If you want to attract help and support from othr participants, then we suggest that you adopt a working-out-loud approach. This means opening your working process and reflections to others at regular intervals. We run weekly google hangouts every Monday at 16:30 CET where you can connect with, and ask for help from, other participants. You ar very welcome to join whenever you like. For more information email anon1491650132@anon

    All over Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and beyond people are building a new world together.
    Amazing projects demonstrate hope for the future and visions of the world which is possible when we work together. In Cairo, residents brought along tools, bulldozers and just started building their wikicity. In Italy a group of young activists are improving their cities by engaging inhabitants to reactivate abandoned buildings. In Tbilisi a group of young activisits engaged women in mastering technology in the quest to improve their communities. Many people living their dreams together are changing their corner of the world, one small initiative at a time.
    - See more at: https://edgeryders.eu/en/spot-the-future/call-for-participation-mapanon3606750899g-our-way-to-a-global#sthash.7YGXxfeL.
    " 1,6301,2017-05-05T23:39:04.000Z,6301,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    How to propose something for the program

    A good proposal will include 1) a description of your work 2) reflections around your experiences working in community, as well as 3) a burning question or challenge you would like to explore during the event.  To submit a proposal you are invited to write a post with some initial thoughts and then publish it in our shared workspace. Here is a brief you are required to answer*. Once your proposal is posted, other community members will leave thoughtful comments to help refine it. The Program team will contact you for next steps within two weeks from the time of posting.   ​ * On Briefs: When we launched the OpenCare conversations last year we had several questions we asked the community - all the stories contribute to finding answers to those questions. Here are the briefs (accessible from the main menu - OpenCare stories).
     

    Ongoing Submissions

    Together we are building a unique program in which every talk, workshop and co-design session is an excellent, generative experience for everyone involved. You can help by reading and leaving thoughtful comments on the proposals below...

    Themes examples

    Session proposals

     

       

    Process for Working Together

    All background information and status of proposals is collected by the team in a shared spreadsheet. Proposals are turned into the official program when: 1) Team members agree with the proponents on the final title, summary, format, scheduling, hi res photos etc. Proponents are signed up to share \#OpenVillage consistently on their social media. 2) Team members set up individual event pages on edgeryders.eu containing the agreed details   3) An official Program page is updated with links to individual sessions. *** Travel support is made available on a case by case basis for most active contributors, both session leaders and OpenVillage participants in general.

    Schedule

    Work in progress. Approved sessions are added by the program team on a rolling basis.

    John Coate

    John is one of the early movers at The Farm, a US hippie commune back in the days, who went on to become a pioneer in online community management. He understands the dynamics of living and working in a large intentional community, and the boundaries between self-sufficiency and embeddedness in the outside world. John can offer insights from experience in a range of settings and organisations.

    Some background reading:

    Meet John Coate: A wizard among us

    When You Live With Your Co-workers

    Yannick Schandene

    Yannick started working with organic structures through his collective Soft Revolution. He later had a prominent role inside PicNIcTheStreets, a citizen movement to demand more public space in Brussels. He worked with variant groups on that topic: CanalPark BXL for a park near the center, Vélo M2, an open hardware project with cargobikes and HuiS VDH on repurposing empy spaces above shops. Through this experiences Yannick learned a lot about group dynamics and the human scale inside positive changement groups.

    Cindy Regalado

    Cindy Regalado is a research associate at University College London develoanon3606750899g and promoting public engagement methodologies of ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) and ‘doing it together’ science practice. She is a London-based community organiser for the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science training communities, activists, and stewards on the use of DIY tools for environmental monitoring. She is co-founder of Citizens without Borders, a London-based group committed to building the public’s capacity to act as civic agents. She leads on the initiative 'Science has no Borders' through the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘Doing It Together science’, which aims to bridge the gap between public engagement and policy action on Responsible Research and Innovat51.

    Session Who?  Learn more
    DAY 1: Talks and Project Demonstrations 09:00 - 18:00
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description  Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader   Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
         
         
    DAY 2: Fishbowls, Workshops & Masterclasses
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Title of session & 1 short paragraph description Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader  URL on Edgeryders.eu
         
         
    Day 3: Co-design Sprints and Project development coaching
    Project Name  1 paragraph description  Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name 1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name 1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
    Project Name  1 paragraph description Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu
         
         
     

     

         
     

    #OpenVillage Festival

    Follow us: Facebook   Twitter   Newsletter General inquiries: Need a quick reply from curators..     Hey @anon So our festival program page in the menu looks pretty empty now.. it's simple but misses the connection between themes and actual sessions. The themes listed there are generic ones we used prior to working with you. We need to link to synthetic theme pages, in addition to circulating your briefs and calls for participation. So: Can we show people we invite what is already part of which theme? The hope is that will make it easier for others to build on the theme. Let me know what you think of the below? For Citizen Science: https://edgeryders.eu/en/openvillage/open-science-and-citizen-science-for-more-inclusive For Architectures of Love: https://edgeryders.eu/en/openvillage/architectures-of-love-creating-the-conditions-for-open As content managers, you should be able to see them even as unpublished pages as they are now. There is also an Edit tab on the top where you can edit the pages yourselves. We can work together to finalize them on Wednesday early morning - even if you dont have final information... Ping me for quick chats? " 3,11565,2017-06-12T22:33:53.000Z,8895,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"Tomorrow Thanks, I'll give this more thought tomorrow & do a few edits. I'll follow up contacts with people or orgs who can make contributions on this theme.  " 4,15688,2017-06-12T18:35:58.000Z,6301,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Sure I get access denied for those pages though. On my end, I have just had a Skype call with Anthony from Open Insulin and his session will be up soon. We can go ahead with programming that. There are two more proposals on their way by EchOpen and DIY Science Network. Those should be good to program soon after, the calls I had with them were promising. I can check with them if they can get it up before Wednesday, or if we can go ahead with programming the sessions. " 5,17646,2017-06-12T19:48:43.000Z,15688,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Ping Zoe Ok.. One of the sessions to have which we didnt talk about yet is one about Makerspaces and the infrastructure they provide to enhance community care. WeMake experience in Milano is highly relevant - so inviting @anon3612872438 for a chat would be great! " 6,20594,2017-06-23T16:39:00.000Z,6301,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Mental note: make room in the program for.. .. intimate plenaries: de-briefings and sharing sessions in the evenings, across the different themes. List of questions here. This works nicely when the floor is opened by someone summing up the day from an angle i.e. could be curators who attended most sessions in a theme. We tried it in Matera at one of our events and it worked really well. @anon " 7,24109,2017-06-24T10:21:04.000Z,6301,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"world game? http://www.internationalfuturesforum.com/world-game-workshop We participated in this game once and I wonder if it might work well at some point over the three days?  There are three 'acts'; World of Concerns, Possible Futures, Wisdom Council. It might be a good departure from other formats and we found it generated insights that may not have been possible otherwise. International Futures Forum are engaged in other areas of work, including in health (they work closely with Glasgow Centre for Population Health). Their Three Horizons model I've found particularly helpful. Where are we choosing to put our energy - in sustaining horizon 1 or creating horizon 3. Opencare seems to be about building horizon 3. I'm arranging to meet up with them soon to explore relevant connections and whether these might lead to another session. " 8,33389,2017-07-21T12:14:43.000Z,20594,anon3769417221,anon1491650132,"Comments on the format Ok @anon We made sure at least one of us two curators (Amelia and me) would join each session in our theme. Sometimes it was not possible for both of us to attend … I don't remember why, probably because of having to lead another session on our own in parallel. The ""de-briefings"" were an, umh, interesting experience :-) You'd have to ask audience members if they found this helpful. From my perspective, it was a bit like giving a stand-up-speech. Like, ""Please talk 5 minutes about roses."". It would require to create some ideas and insights on the fly that at least sounded somehow interesting or relevant. Bit like brainstorming on stage :D I still remember an idea I had in this situation, which felt novel to me: ""Open source is about re-inventing and re-creating everything that so far only exists in IP protected, closed versions. It's somehow a waste of time enforced by the laws we have, but so be it."" As for changes, I'd propose to somehow give curator teams quite some time (30 min) to discuss their insights together before telling the audience. Because every speech / public address becomes clearer and better if the speaker tried to verbalize the ideas before at least once. " 9,33448,2017-07-20T10:46:24.000Z,6301,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Compiling ideas from community calls To help us draft Program v1.0:
    • the precision of the invitation & the precision of the activity feels important. Brought to mind the many excellent social initiatives that fo.am has spawned over the years https://fo.am/activities/ and communicated so clearly. (Kate)
    • a mix of game + pragmatic focus on care + working with aspects of real community (Kate)
    • The Chaordic Path: Chaos is creative but the paint never dries, it's impossible to form anything lasting. Order is the about maintaining, ryhthm, routine - it has its place. The overlap between chaos and order is the most productive space for innovation and emergence (Gehan)
    • ""rich mix of talks, workshops and performance, and to the kind of alchemy that can happen when you honour the spaces that open in-between"" (via Gehan)
    • Easier to have deeper conversations while doing something with my hands; building, cooking (Nadia)
    • leaving enough space where there isn’t a highly curated space. Free space sometimes outside is where the most interesting conversations take place. Scottish Ceilidh - no audience, everyone brought a story or a poem or a song. It creates a convivial atmosphere, doesn’t require perfection - creates sufficient ambience and builds community and warmth (Luke)
    • Connect the different themes of the festival to each other as to not lose the advantage of the diversity represented. A way to do it is clustering around big questions that many of us have, and then involving different perspectives to find answers during more generalized sessions (Winnie)
    • for panels: folks who have their bios would represent similar but institutionally different aspects of the point. Formats could be: each panelists gets ~20mins to talk, then open discussion or have each talk a little about their experiences and then have set questions for the group to discuss? Then the other panelists do the same, there will be three questions for the group to discuss. Helps make it more future oriented versus talking about experiences (Frank)
    There were a bunch of concepts mentioned with relation to Harvesting, maanon1932026148 @anon " 10,33456,2017-07-20T15:23:23.000Z,6301,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Storytelling the program Dropanon3606750899g this here for lack of. We need a blog post (or series) articulating the invitation around precision of activities, which Kate mentioned yesterday - her example: http://cascade.network/five/ " 1,808,2017-01-12T21:19:00.000Z,808,anon968801895,anon968801895,"Hi, I’m Duana, commonly known as Duey Sol. I’m always happy to connect with like-minded people from all over the world, especially those working towards a common goal of making the world (or their small part of it) a better place. I grew up in the countryside in Ireland with veg, fruit, herb gardens and trees, lots of trees. That was my foundation. I moved to Galway City when I was about 8. I was lucky to go to an alternative 'Educate Together' primary school. They teach people to care about people and planet and to think for themselves. I went to a typical Irish secondary school which I left at 16 to do a horticulture course for two years. I then took a variety of courses, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I studied massage for two years and practiced for a while but I took a step back from that. I hope to get back to it one day, I like healing people. When I was 22 I started volunteering in the Galway Community Circus teaching kids contemporary circus arts (no animals!) and learning skills myself. I taught and learned there for two years. It was so important in my journey; I discovered my first hobby, first sport, my circus freak family and my love of working with children. I'm massively interested in 'Social Circus'. I believe recreation activities, hobbies, and the social and personal development aspects of these are hugely beneficial to people. For a few years friends and I trained together. We occasionally did circus shows and workshops at festivals and events. Now we have a performance group in training called Hoopla Troupla. We have performed and done workshops at a number of charity and community events and festivals in Ireland. My favourite disciplines are fire dancing and being a human puppet. I also practice/teach hula hoop and poi. And I dance. A lot. My stage name is Dancing Duey. I started doing social media work 5 years ago. One of my creations is a facebook group 'House Hunting Galway (for sound people)’, facilitating people to network to find housing and house mates. It’s really important to have a safe space to live with people who suit you. The group grew to 26,000 people and counting. Another facebook group I started is Galway Underground Gigs, which has 6,000 members. I’m always connecting people with the right people, projects and events. Galway is a magic place that draws people here from all over the world, and I get to meet the most inspirational people. I worked as a youth work assistant for a year and now I’m doing a degree in Business, Enterprise and Community Development. I never thought I'd do third level education, being a more practical, hands-on learner, but this degree is helanon3606750899g me to merge my ideas and skills with community development, enterprise, youth work and circus. My dream is to create an alcohol-free social and entertainment venue in Galway. Ireland desperately needs alcohol-free spaces. An inclusive space for people to come together with music, dancing and activities, with rooms for workshops, classes and meetings.  Finally I really want to get back to nature for some grounding and get back to my roots. Taking part in An Áit Eile’s pre-unMonastery event, a “Rural Reconnaissance” at Cregg Castle reminded me of that. Nature is life. " 2,7416,2017-01-13T08:48:56.000Z,808,anon1491650132,anon968801895,"How was the pre-unMonastery for you? Very nice to meet you, @anon I'm Noemi, longtime edgeryders member, so if you're curious about past unMonastery work which inspired to some extent AAE feel free to ask.. There is a discussion group where the prototype work was coordinated and reported on - it's /t/unmonastery/315. Do you have plans of joining the Galway/Cregg iteration? " 3,11035,2017-01-13T21:22:55.000Z,7416,anon968801895,anon1491650132,"Greetings! Hi, Thanks for your welcome. Lovely to meet you too, and lovely to be here! I'm sure i'll have a good look around and get to know the place and people soon. Excited to see what it's all about. I loved meeting Nadia in Ireland at pre-un-mon, the event went great, lots of good conversations, company, food, and work done out in the fresh (cold) air! scheming and hatching plans was great too, and the yoga and archery of course (Thanks Bernard!). I am looking forward to see what comes out of it, the connections I made and deepened there over the 4 days was invaluable. Having that time away from the city to focus on things, the whole concept is great! So I'm not sure what my exact path is yet, there are so many ideas, possibilities and opertunities. But i'm sure being here surrounded by inspiring people will help me. I'll be sure to ask questions thank you :)  Toodles :)      " 4,15489,2017-03-14T15:20:01.000Z,808,anon1526983854,anon968801895,"What would you need to move forward? Hello @anon I have a question. What would you need to move forward with your alcohol-free space? I am interested in people's dreams, and how they can be made to come true.  " 5,17562,2017-03-14T15:46:47.000Z,15489,anon968801895,anon1526983854,"Hi, Nice to meet you. Thank you for your comment. Well for the alcohol-free space, I would need:  1) One or two dedicated and trustworthy people who are as passionate as me about the idea, in Galway who could commit part time hours to work in it, and possibly be coloborators or managers with me, because I am not sure I want to be alone in the decision making and managing at this time. 2) Funding and resources: I would need start up funding for the first couple of years to get the project to a self-financing stage, and a trusted accountant and solisitor to take care of such things.  3) A suitable venue/building in the city centre. It would be ideal to own a building, or be donated one, but I would settle for renting, it is more important that the space exists. 4) I would need to be able to give my full time and energy commitment to the project for a couple of years. (this is where a partner would be handy)  In the mean time what I could be doing is running regular monthly/twice monthly events in rented spaces, to build up a customer following and awareness of the project. This would require a smaller investment of money, resources and time.  I currenlty do not have any money to invest in either of these options.  I would need to make money from it to make it sustainable and be able to dedicate enough time to make it the best it can be.  Thanks for asking, it has helped me think about where I am and where I'm going :)  " 6,33382,2017-07-20T16:36:28.000Z,808,anon3670751854,anon968801895,"Social and health @anon " 1,33303,2017-07-17T19:43:21.000Z,33303,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"We're meeting again at Timelab this Wednesday July 19th at 8pm. We'll go over some practical stuff for starting the lab work in August. As posted before, we are going to the lab at UGent where we can do work with the plasmids on August 2nd, 7pm. @anon Maanon1932026148 a visit to the Gentse Feesten afterwards? Let's see! " 2,33331,2017-07-20T16:10:00.000Z,33303,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes: basic plasmid mechanics @anon Basically it comes down to this: for expressing proinsulin, the bacteria needs T7 polymerase (which is a molecule needed for turning DNA into a protein) and a spot to bind to the plasmid DNA. The bacteria has to produce T7 polymerase itself (that's why we need a specific type of bacteria, such as BL21 or TG1, that does this). We control production through making the binding spot available or not. The T7 polymerase can only bind to the T7 promotor, which leads to production of proinsulin, when the binding spot is not repressed. Adding IPTG, which works on the ""lac"" part on the plasmid, makes sure the T7 promotor is not repressed. IPTG is our induction agent in this case: when we add it, proinsulin production starts. The ""his tag"" is for purification of the protein after it was expressed. The amp gene is for ampiciline resistance so that when we add ampiciline (an antibiotic) to the growth medium, we are sure the surviving bacteria have our plasmid (those bacteria that don't have the plasmid are not resistant). Finally, we went over the required materials one last time and we're good to go for starting experiments in August when we have access to the lab! " 1,876,2017-07-01T18:07:54.000Z,876,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Hey Edgeryders,  I'm develoanon3606750899g a course to become an energetic master and conscious creator. It's a self care course to become aware of how beliefs and perceptation relate to how you feel. Here's a first video I shot last week.  https://player.vimeo.com/video/223017516 Conscious creator from Ewoud Venema on Vimeo. You can find a more elaborate on my Academy where I'll continue to share these courses (probably). I hope you find it inspiring and clarifying. If you like them, you can subscribe to my newletter or follow me on vimeo.  Let me know how you feel!     Ben Moore   " 2,6779,2017-07-05T14:52:23.000Z,876,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"""Is it for me?"" Me, I've never tried anything like it. It might help if you have a call for people who havent experienced, in practice, to be conscious in the same way you probably have, since you use the term. Did you have an idea which progressed somewhere thanks to you being so aware? Somewhere that others can associate with positive effects?   " 3,33353,2017-07-19T14:53:32.000Z,876,anon3670751854,anon868457471,"Conscious and creation @anon868457471 Thanks for the video and post.  I'm curious to learn more about your connections between creation and resilience?  How do you view them being connected?  How do you see creation as a process of mental health practice?  What do you think the next steps will be for your course?  Thanks alot and looking forward to hearing from you.   " 1,881,2017-07-09T22:57:32.000Z,881,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"The research activity consists in describing the multiverse ways by which the concept of care is re-defined among makers and what makers “make” for opencare in the context of a fablab.     A concept i'm working on is about the “transmogrifying of morbid living” as possibile research of the development on how knowledge of life and knowledge of living are differently generated (Wahlberg, 2014). It is important to understand how and how much opencare practices are represented by makers as a situated practice, at the same time contanon1056199097nt and shared in a different way and by different approach from other healthcare settings.  
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/WitXj62TYPo In the circular triangulation of three important concepts about life, living and technology, bìos, zoé and téchne are hereby considered relationships, identities and actions negotiated in other disciplined and this undisciplined context of care production. Such tension is deeply tacit in the fab lab where experimental practices of design, making and delivering are useful to change (to transmogrify) the concept of care itself.   Check the information about ""Transmogrifying morbid living"" workshop in Milan at WeMake  
    " 2,33318,2017-07-13T12:21:31.000Z,881,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"LINKS FOR WORKSHOPS ACTIVITIES Dear participants, welcome to the hands-on segment of the workshop. Please, choose and access a category (notes, pictures and sounds) of the field material collected as open resources: 

    NOTES            PICTURES        SOUNDS

    Discuss possibily in group and publish in this thread your comment about one of the three collections.
    " 3,33352,2017-07-19T14:46:14.000Z,881,anon3670751854,anon3341622463,"Changing model of life with disease to disease with life @anon " 1,33298,2017-07-15T10:11:40.000Z,33298,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"While a lot of contributions and sessions happen in skype calls behind the scenes, this can be an easier way for socializing new people in edgeryders and the festival. Can we support them to understand the common work and be seen by the broader community? Can we also shine some light on the great work of current festival participants? (especially if they havent head their personal story posted). Get in touch with someoen, and write a thoughtful story featuring the person and their open care work. What did you learn about them and their work? What questions does it raise? Should we expect to meet them in Brussels?  Check back with the person to see if they feel confortable with the text.   When you are ready, post your story in the OpenVillage coordination group and make sure to include a hi res photo of the person. Works as a weekly routine? One team member = one weekly post? " 2,33324,2017-07-18T14:55:36.000Z,33298,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"What do you think of the weekly post? Does this work as a routine? From existing participants: I'd like to know more about Michael Dunn, Lucy, GenghisAloe, Yep     up for giving that a go... what are we looking to achieve?  " 1,6291,2017-05-03T18:53:46.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"There have been some ideas floating around on a new possible avenue of research for the Open Insulin project. Anthony and me got in touch with Federico from digi.bio, who are develoanon3606750899g an open source microfluidic device. I only got to writing a summary of the conversation now. It boils down to this. There is someone in CCL planning to generate a bunch of genetic sequences that could be potentially interesting as linkers for bringing the insulin A and B chain together more effectively. Hopefully this would result in many viable options, that have to be tested in lab experiments. Testing many options would be very resource intensive, and this is where the microfluidics chips come in. A small demo at one of the Digi.bio events can be found here (cool video!). If optimized, the chips would allow for much cheaper and automated testing of the generated sequences. The optimization part is something that we could work on here in Belgium. Federico is based in China/Amsterdam, so he is around close enough to help us get started and betatest his chip. This would give a new dimension to replicating the work previously done by CCL, if we could test culturing the bacteria on the chips. If it works, it would even be pretty valuable step towards opening up biotech research in general. This is getting more and more interesting... Any thoughts @anon1746600840 | @anon I dug up some specs of the device (approximates) that Federico shared:
    • Up to 20 liquids in- and output
    • Run program to get a droplet from the liquid: 300nl-2µl depending on size of device
    • Temperature goes from 4°C to 95°C, so you could run a PCR and anything in between (eg. cell incubation at 37°C)
    • Magnet to do purification (unsure about this)
    • They're planning to add fluorescence detection (months in the future)
    • It should be possible to do everything on the chip: transformation, cloning, selection, screening, ... Also planning to add electroporation.
    " 2,9636,2017-05-03T18:58:29.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"In other news @anon1746600840 is collecting the consumables we will need for receiving the samples and starting our culture, based on an older version of the CCL protocol from December. We will proceed with this as a starting point until we get the latest protocols, as differences are expected to be minor. " 3,16210,2017-05-03T20:01:52.000Z,6291,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Mindblowing, though... ... with @anon That does not mean Open Insulin should not deploy digi.bio stuff. After all, it as much for the learning journey as it is for producing insulin. But you guys will still need to apply domain expertise to figure out which sequences are most promising, before testing.  " 4,20733,2017-05-12T12:07:00.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Building an OpenDrop Today I met with Michiel, Bram & two students of UGent who were interested in teaming up to develop this further. We think the first step is to build an existing device ourselves to familiarize with it: the OpenDrop of GaudiLabs (http://www.gaudi.ch/OpenDrop/). Asking around for a fablab to host us and then find a date in the coming weeks. Next up is trying to culture some E.coli on it and prepare for the Biohackathon in Waag (Amsterdam) on 7-8-9 July. Who else wants to join in for preps/experiments/biohackathon? anon3606750899g @anon1746600840  " 5,24140,2017-05-12T13:38:15.000Z,6291,anon1746600840,anon2954219769,"preps/experiments/biohackathon? Count me in! " 6,26673,2017-05-14T12:28:00.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Where to begin? The repository link for OpenDrop is here and the website is here. I'm kind of new still, been learning about the tech behind it, so I can't seem to wrap my head around where to begin from the Github files. Can anyone pitch in on the materials we need etc.? Also a warm welcome to @anon " 8,29392,2017-05-23T11:32:00.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Let's make some plans Hello and welcome @anon I'm ill, hence the radio silence. Some updates: I was in touch with the creator of the OpenDrop and documentation is limited to what we have on the GitHub. We could buy a finished one for €500 though. Else, we are welcome to build at the Fablab of the UGent on weekdays from 9:00-16:00 (except Tuesdays). From looking over the documentation and talking to people I realise we really need some electronics expertise to get going. For meeting up I propose we join the Open Insulin meetings we have every two weeks. The next one is planned for June 7 at 8 pm at ReaGent. Some things that need to be done:
    • Translate the documentation into some concrete steps to get started (probably electronics expertise needed)
    • Gather the necessary materials
    Is anyone up for doing one of these tasks? " 9,29673,2017-05-23T12:26:15.000Z,29392,anon4099110767,anon2954219769,"Let's make some plans indeed Allright, I'll join the meeting June 7. In the mean time I'll browse through the documentation of OpenDrop trying to figure out how complex it is and to what extend we need additional electronics expertise. Regards, Bram   " 10,30200,2017-05-23T20:53:57.000Z,6291,anon2696739629,anon2954219769,"OK, I will join as well the 7th and will also go through the documentation of OpenDrop. Wim Van Criekanon1056199097 is planning to also join. He made quite some promotion for the open insulin project in his lecture today. M " 11,30405,2017-05-25T11:46:49.000Z,30200,anon2954219769,anon2696739629,"Techniques Happy to hear Wim is coming! Apart from getting the device together, we can start thinking about what to do at the biohackathon in July. Federico shared some interesting techniques like Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) and Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) that are convenient to use in microfluidics, as they are isothermal reactions. We already discussed culturing bacteria on the chip. We could add a detection step or try to do a transformation, or do cloning. " 13,30957,2017-05-24T10:09:31.000Z,30792,anon4099110767,,"Re: documentation OpenDrop The documents on the Github are schematics for the circuit board itself, CAD-files for the electronic components, SVG-files of the carrier... " 14,31016,2017-05-24T13:47:51.000Z,30957,anon2954219769,anon4099110767,"Things to get So we need to make a circuit board, get electronic components & laser the carrier? I can do the lasering at Timelab next week, I'm a member there so it's cheaper than other places. " 15,31041,2017-05-25T19:24:12.000Z,31016,anon4099110767,anon2954219769,"Things to get (2) Hi Guys & Girls So, I browsed through the files and checked the schematics for the openDrop. As far as I understand there are 3 important hardware parts to the opendrop. The hardware:
    1. The printed circuit board (PCB): I found a list of electronic components with prices and suppliers, I checked this list with the OpenDropperV2 schematics and everything seems to be there
    2. The carrier: there is also a carrier which is also a PCB without any components (Current status (WIP): I'm not sure what the function is of this part, I can't find it in the list of electronics and I can't find it on the pictures of the OpenDrop)
    3. The protective acrylic base plate with bolts, nuts: there is also an acrylic baseplate which needs to be lasercut, this protects the electronic components at the bottom of the openDrop. (Current status (WIP): I haven't found the correct measures of the bolts nor the base plate, yet)
    Now, the cost of all the hardware components is about €90 and includes the cutting and the etching of the PCB. With respect to the assembly of the openDropper, it has about 90 unique components to solder so it is going to be a lot of work to assemble this manon169343781ally, the other option is to buy it assembled but I fear that is going to add about €200 to the pricetag (Maanon1932026148 some advice of an electronics expert could come in handy here, @anon The software The OpenDropper uses an arduino shield as microcontroller and there is already code available on the github, so this is not an issue Remaining questions
    1.  What is the function of the carrier board?
    2.  What is the difference between OpenDropV2-ESP01 and ESP201?
    3.  Is it feasible to solder all the components manon169343781ally?
    4. Dimensions and size of Protective base plate?
    I'm currently enjoying a 3 day holiday in den haag so my responses can be delayed. Bram out! :D " 16,31051,2017-05-25T21:02:00.000Z,31041,anon2954219769,anon4099110767,"Good stuff! Some thoughts Good stuff @anon ESP 01 and ESP 201 are modules with Wi-Fi connectivity. So my thinking is those folders are two versions of the device with different modules. Can this be? I've had a search for those carriers and they are shown in these videos: part one and part two. Shortcut to 6:20 of part two to see both being combined. When I was in touch with the fablab @anon Have fun in The Hague! " 17,31286,2017-06-08T08:57:50.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Open repository for fluidic systems I came across this today, may be useful for further research on the possibilities: Metafluidics, an open repository for fluidic systems. " 18,31406,2017-06-08T09:34:05.000Z,31286,anon4099110767,anon2954219769,"Re: Open repository for fluidic systems Thanks, useful stuff! " 19,31639,2017-06-19T13:06:55.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Short updates Some updates:
    • @anon
    • After the last meeting it became clear the microfluidics avenue of research is currently outside the main focus of Open Insulin (develoanon3606750899g insulin vs optimizing a lab-on-a-chip device to develop open insulin). However, some of us are going to go further with the microfluidics with a broader goal in mind. At some point it may help the insulin research (or vice versa), but it is not the goal.
    • The biohackathon in July is on, yet the purpose has shifted: Bram and Michiel are joining with a broader microfluidics project idea in mind, others are welcome to tag along as it will be fun, interesting and nice to visit Waag Society & Amsterdam. More here.
    " 20,33480,2017-07-17T19:37:52.000Z,6291,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"More info 3D printed conductive PLA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpo1P5eEUU8 " 21,33481,2017-07-18T17:01:57.000Z,33480,anon4099110767,anon2954219769,"Re: more info Cool!  " 1,879,2017-07-06T16:06:36.000Z,879,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Ciao,  Oliver please meet Fabio, Fabio is a Caanon70625510n researcher that is @anon Fabio is looking for information and knowledge about:  - knowledge about device that can be uses in clinical studies - certification of medical device (or how to circumvent it) ;)  I think your projects need to be in touch cause you're approaching similar topics and issue!  It'll be great if you wanna talk here (if possible) because many of the community and projects can leverage from this discussion.  Cheers Costantino @anon @anon " 2,7192,2017-07-07T12:37:41.000Z,879,anon1315297957,anon2435658896,"Thanks @anon We are now in contact and we planned on discussing in the following days. Cheers,    Olivier  " 3,33347,2017-07-17T16:56:37.000Z,879,anon1089184890,anon2435658896,"About certification and clinical, studies Very relevant topics , I'd like to join @anon @anon Some start is here https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/opencare-legal-evasion-guide-mortal-issues-for " 4,33379,2017-07-18T11:07:10.000Z,879,anon2954219769,anon2435658896,"Would love to hear more I had missed this post and hope you ended up having having a conversation somewhere. I also hope you'll continue the conversation at OpenVillage with @anon628128301 . A session on regulation & legal issues has been in demand, as @anon " 1,33304,2017-07-18T09:01:28.000Z,33304,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    Rachel Aronoff

    Facilitator at \#OpenVillage Festival #genetics \#opensource \#neuroscience \#biohacking \#DoItTogether \#research \#learning I’m a biologist and my big passion is looking into the different things that we can choose to avoid, that aren’t good for our health. The concept of ”genomic integrity” is supposed to be a dynamic big picture concept, not simply about DNA sequence, but all the molecular genetic details of cells. Protection of genomic integrity can also be thought of as behavioral. For instance, we know that sunlight affects DNA; so if you avoid it, it’s easier to reduce the risk of melanoma”. @anon At \#OpenVillage, Rachel is hosting a workshop on DIT (do it together) micronucleus testing, where participants are paired up to assess their baseline levels of DNA damage and help each other analyse results. She says anyone can participate by collecting cells with toothbrushes, staining and observing them. The bigger challenge is to make sure to count enough cells for statistical analysis (500 to 1000). What's the potential of opensourcing DNA damage tests? This is relevant for health protection. We would understand better how the choices we make influence our health, and risks associated with it. At the very basic level, people who start doing it might think about: “how can I change my lifestyle?” Just like you use a Fitbit app (tracks your physical exercising), you might think: “oh, how many micronuclei do I have today?” While it is educative, the method has some way to go to be self-contained. The reasons have to do with the complex correlations with lifestyle choices and also data analyses. Another issue is confidentiality - participants would need to provide as much information as they think is relevant for a correlative analysis. But we are still learning what might impact genomic integrity most. For instance, smoking damages DNA directly and prevents its repair, another reason it is most highly-correlated risk factor for both ageing and disease. Not least, taking this testing further also means figuring how to avoid using compounds that might damage the environment themselves. For instance, the methylene blue used to stain cheek cells to see micronuclei might also impact genomic integrity, so should not just be poured down the drain. We are trying to make protocols based on ‘kitchen sink ingredients’ that will still allow us to do the micronucleus assay and another test for DNA breaks in cells, the comet assay. Rachel’s workshop is part of the Citizen Science and Open Science track at \#OpenVillage. Get in touch with her and join the conversation here! " 1,830,2017-05-06T08:26:44.000Z,830,anon2591396734,anon2591396734,"I live in a eco-cohousing community of 40 homes, and over 60 adults. we have smallish separate PassivHaus homes; car sharing; a ""Common House"" where people cook and eat together; shared community tasks; and organisation and governance by consensus. It's quite large as cohousing goes, and while several values are common, there is also much diversity. Some minority groups find a home here: in our case, including vegans. We try to be inter-generational, though there are more older people than younger. That's partly due to economic factors. It is a surprisingly complex little society, and any group like this has its own life, its own character, which would take a long time to describe. For Opencare, I'd like to focus just on one of the challenges that I see here: how we engage with our own and each other's well-being. We have at present no special provision for caring for each other: it happens in some ways at some times, informally. Sharing some non-mainstream values, and a vision that is not yet shared by the majority of people, there seems to be some kind of assumption that we will provide a safe space for ""people like us"", a haven from the strain of being minorities who are disregarded, or even criticised, elsewhere. This need for a sense of psychological safety does appear in various ways, sometimes surprisingly. This is often hidden in the rest of society. Otherwise, our needs are probably similar to most people's. We do have methods for dealing with conflict, but the challenge seems to be to get people to engage with them. Recently, a small group of members underwent training in Restorative Circles [https://www.restorativecircles.org/]. If we all understood and participated in this, it might help deal with issues that have surfaced. Relatedly, several members have developed, to differing degrees, along the path of Nonviolent Communication [https://www.cnvc.org/]. If we all interacted with each other following NVC principles, maanon1932026148 that would be a highly positive influence on our community culture, and the well-being of all of us. But how does one persuade a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and histories to engage in one practice like NVC? What about other practices, like co-counselling? This brings me to outlining the challenges that I, personally, see for our cohousing group. How do we collectively approach the issue of mental and spiritual well-being, with little common ground to start with? How can we then grow (in) a culture that effectively supports the well-being of individuals, and of the group as a whole? How can we be sure that an individual will receive the care that they need? Can we rely on informal relationships, or should we organise this in some way? Part of our well-being is the sharing of common purpose: how can we frame and agree our common purposes, from members whose values diverge? Are we fixed with the vision of the founders, or can we (and do we want to) move on? These are hard questions to answer, but I have the sense that we will need to answer them more and more, if we are to develop the resilience that we will need as mainstream politics and economics unravel. We need now to care for each other's resources of time, energy and good will, and as we age, we will increasingly need to look after our health and strength if we are to achieve what we want to achieve, being a positive transformative influence in the world.   " 2,8009,2017-05-10T17:19:09.000Z,830,anon722012516,anon2591396734,"Some thoughts :) Hello @anon2591396734, The issues you're facing in your cohousing community actually sound a lot like the type we face in my university, especially how to align views on wellbeing when everyone comes from varied backgrounds, with sometimes completely divergent perspectives. One thing we've taken to doing, in order to give a space for the range of views and thoughts on these topics is we hold semesterly fishbowl discussions. Possibly your community could benefit from adopting this format as one of its methods for exploring issues that arise.  Another point I wanted to touch on, is when you discussed wellbeing you asked if you could depend on informal relationships alone. I think it's important that individuals have access to professional care if/when they need it, but that doesn't diminish the role that informal relationships play in getting people to help and supporting them in their struggles. Along those lines, I think you might be interested in looking into bystander training, where members of your community who are interested can learn how to best support people, and connect them to the care they need. I'm not sure where you're based, but one I can recommend is Mental Health First Aid, which is offered (often for free) in a number of countries. Hope some of this is useful! I would also love to hear more about how these issues are already being addressed within your community.   " 3,15392,2017-05-11T17:56:00.000Z,830,anon281534083,anon2591396734,"And some other thoughts First let me say that I was so fascinated by your cohousing community I spent the past hour reading many of the documents and web pages.  Much admiration to all of you.  I would come by for a look but I'm in California.  Maanon1932026148 sometime soon.. Your Articles of Association and other agreements to which one signs when joining are generally material in nature.  There is a document about shared values, of which the formal ones are ecological values.  But it also says ""we would like our community to be built on trust, respect, friendship and understanding."" But those four are not part of the formal agreement from what I could see. Those four are daunting to put into an agreement to say the least.  And maanon1932026148 the group or the founders don't want such things to be formalised not because it is hard, but because it is better to not get formal with them. But the process for joining involves a lot of face time with community members over a number of visits and meetings.  I assume that when it comes to a vote  for admitting someone, most everyone considers the whole person and whether or not they will be good cohousing companions. But disagreements happen.  Things go unsaid and build up.  So what then? My experience in community is different from yours in that I lived for a number of years in a total collective that described itself as a ""spiritual community.""  It was based around a charismatic leader/teacher who did in fact have quite a lot of say in just about whatever he wanted - which was a lot.  Still, we were a large group (we started at about 200 and grew over the course of 8-9 years to about 1500) and since we shared everything it was a matter of survival that at the household, work crew and personal level we have a day-to-day way of resolving conflicts. I need to say at this point that we could not sustain ourselves as a collective (for a variety of reasons I won't go into here).  After 12 years we ""fired"" the guru and changed into a cooperative that exists to this day, though most of us are not formal members.   But we did get good enough at the process of bonding that included intense ""working it out"" that our tribe outlasted the structure.  And the tribe that lives somewhere else (concentrations in northern California where we started, Austin TX and around NYC) outnumbers those who remain on the land in Tennessee.  But the tribe itself is strong and real among us in a way that has not diminished regardless of where we live. We live all over now but the deep bonds didn't diminish.  They were built day by day, hour by hour living and depending on each other. We never got very formal about codifying how people get along except we did follow some simple age-old practices. The basic thing we started with was an allegiance to the truth.  Not in a religious sense per se (as in ""I am the Truth, the Way, etc""), but just that every person was going to try to be as truthful as possible with themselves and everyone around them. Next, compassion.  People who live together, and don't want to be a bunch of robots, need to find ways of being ok with each other's ways of being. As it said in a recent artticle about why Findhorn has lasted so long one guy said, ""everyone is willing to look at their stuff.""  And, we agreed that the vibes matter.  Not that everyone is going to be fake nice all the time, but that human consideration very much includes the vibrational space between people and is thus open to discussion as much as any material item. A group may agree (tacitly or by not adhering to anything that isn't in a written agreement) or, a group may just settle over time, into a state of not pointing out when someone bothers you, or you can see that the other person is playing some sort of game or being manipulative, or being afraid to say something, or just not having the energy for it, then resentments build up.  At a group level it can get factional.  Let it go too far and it wrecks the social bonds. One problem with individuals and groups is not knowing what is, and is not, ok to talk about. In our community we went the route that there is nothing one cannot bring up.  High risk for sure.  Thus we got a lot of practice doing this with many screwups and many satisfying sessions. In deciding whether or not to say something inconvenient to someone, we thought it best to start by considering, is it helpful?  Is it kind?  How much of my impression is really coming from the other person and not from my reaction to it?  The last one is important because in an honest discussion one's motives for bringing something up very often get questioned, like it or not.  If we couldn't come to terms, or a good feeling, we agreed that any one of us would act as a fairwitness to try to arrive at a place where everyone feels good and right and it's fine to move on. And if that didn't work we would expand the circle.  Since we lived close together that often happened organically.  Without having any statistics, I think we did resolve huge numbers of disagreements. I guess because we called ourselves a ""spritual community"" that embraced a very eclectic mix of sources (we were hippies after all), we would often advocate for our various points of view using tenets of other religious and spiritual practices as references. One of them was the Buddhst idea of not getting caught up in ""praise and blame.""  This translated for us that in giving and receiving feedback, we should stay mindful to not give or take either praise or blame.  When delivered with compassion then, it mitigates the perennial problem of somene feeling attacked and then defensive on one side and on the other the person giving the feedback delivering it with aggression as if to say ""I blame you for this problem.""  (Or infinate variations of these and more.) It is hard to both give and receive feedback, so there can never be too much empathy. I hope this doesn't sound too patronising.  It looks to me from the pictures of the members that your community is loaded with great people who surely have great understanding of how to get along. I guess this was my long-winded way of saying that if nothing is formal as to how one is to behave with others and how people are to deal with certain relationship problems, much can be achieved if there is a general consensus that it's ok to say things to each other about the more subtle mental and ""vibratory"" aspects of living together and that it will get a fair hearing and be delivered with kindness, even if one is annoyed.   One thing I do know about why one should not avoid conflict if something needs to be talked over, is that relationships with any history of resolving conflict are stronger because built into the bond is the knowledge that you can resolve something because you actually did it. " 4,17021,2017-05-19T19:15:30.000Z,15392,anon2591396734,anon281534083,"Thoughts filled with experience and wisdom Thank you, John @anon281534083 for this reply which makes great sense to me, and reading of your experience brings me more insight. Simon " 5,19718,2017-05-19T17:08:00.000Z,830,anon1491650132,anon2591396734,"Learning from Enspiral, Loomio and in betweens I really like what these guys are doing, althouhg I dont know them personally nor have I been in touch with their work too much. But I do read. To skip to your interests @anon2591396734 , they are very rigorous in governance, and have a system where each person in the organisation has a steward who is sort of in charge of their wellbeing: they call it the stewarding circle. Also about wellbeing, this ties nicely to what @anon281534083 wrote above: need for codification (via allegiances, settling rituals/practices, social contract, decision making model or what you want to call it..):  there is no such thing as a perfectly inclusive space. If you try to include everyone, you’ll include people whose behaviour excludes others. Community is defined by its boundaries, so the question becomes, where do we want to draw our boundaries? What behaviours do we want to include? If someone is getting close to a border, how do we want to treat them? (source) " 6,21701,2017-05-19T19:20:18.000Z,19718,anon2591396734,anon1491650132,"Slight differences between living and working Thanks, @anon One thing I will say, though, is that the emotional safety side of relationships struck me with particular force in the cohousing situation. At work, ""it's just a job"" - well, OK, some jobs have great personal importance, but as a rule one walks away every evening and weekend. In a cohousing (or other living) community, there is nowhere to walk away to. This seems to me to bring an extra level of emotional relevance. " 7,22476,2017-05-19T22:13:23.000Z,21701,anon1491650132,anon2591396734,"Even in my extra limited experience, I completely agree Just tonight we were talking about this aspect with @anon Ours is a rental situation, for now. I'm thinking even when you acquire property and co-own it in some way, there needs to be a provision for getting out. Yes, it's costly, but then most personal relationships or life problems are, when they hit a wall no? " 8,22761,2017-05-20T09:46:04.000Z,22476,anon2591396734,anon1491650132,"getting out and staying in replying to you, @anon I hope this makes sense of the importance I put on the living community, compared with the working community. We have got used to the idea that employment comes and goes. I would say, let's not get used to the idea that relationships and communities come and go, but instead that we all grow within them, and we find ways of strongly supporting other people growing as well. Hopefully, I look forward to this leading to stronger and more stable working relations as well, so that we can then have more long-term work stability. Not being stuck in the same work roles, of course: here too, we need to be growing and develoanon3606750899g, and calling for more fulfillment in our working lives as well as our personal lives. " 9,24158,2017-06-12T21:02:11.000Z,830,anon3670751854,anon2591396734,"care in practice? Hi @anon2591396734, super interesting reading about your cohousing community and the strategies you're exploring in seeking ways to care for each other's well being. I'm really curious to know more about your expereince with restorative circles and if the members who were trained have begun leading them. This is a model we've been looking at for our group. Our collective mental health, especially in the last year, has become a major challenge and focus for us. We are not in a co housing situation now, but we try to share as much of our life and resources we can while living in a neighborhood together in NYC. Would love to hear any of your experiences or strategies for dealing with conflict, care for each others emotional, mental and spiritual well being. " 10,25076,2017-06-12T22:09:17.000Z,24158,anon1526983854,anon3670751854,"Why a challenge? Hello @anon And @anon2591396734 : fantastic story, and very good reflections there. Thanks so much. Yes, we are all juggling commitment and freedom, stability and excitement... it's fundamental, I'm afraid. And not just in communal living, but also in traditional marriage and families, as you say. I liked this:  let's all work hard on doing the work of growth and development in ourselves and in relationship, so that there is (nearly) always a viable option for staying, supporting commitment. Amen to that.  " 11,25790,2017-06-28T14:10:58.000Z,24158,anon2591396734,anon3670751854,"Restorative Circles Hi @anon " 12,26065,2017-06-14T12:22:58.000Z,830,anon3670751854,anon2591396734,"Holistic health @anon1526983854, thanks for the comments.  While our resource center does focus on preventative health, one thing that has come to light in the last year is the paramount need for community mental health.  At this point in NYC, there is still infrastructure for primary care and physical care within institutions.  In addition, the regulatory and renting environment in NYC does not allow us to easily expand to include more ""primary care"" functions.  But in addition, as we think about this idea of health autonomy, we are striving not to just replicate the old instutions but to transform the way we think about health.  In that vein, we need to rebuild the idea of community and shared mental health as models to overcome the capitalist imposed isolationism that is so great here.  We are thinking of treating acute mental health episodes, but to form the foundation for ""preventative"" communal mental health.   " 13,26969,2017-06-14T15:44:06.000Z,26065,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Someone who knows about what could work at the group level.. ..is @anon3760936673 who wrote a heartbreaking and heartwarming post (few people pull this off..) on Losing Hope and Gaining Hope. As someone who was in need of care, he is now doing advocacy work for mental health - and this works at the palliative level too, it reads very empowering. So encouraging. " 14,27645,2017-06-15T23:21:50.000Z,26065,anon1526983854,anon3670751854,"Greatest potential gains? What I'm reading is: you think mental health care is the low hanging fruit of preventative health care. Is this correct?  I would have imagined that the low hanging fruit would be lifestyle stuff: healthy eating, exercising etc. Communities are good at this stuff, because each person helps nudging the others. Can I ask you how the focus on mental came about? Who proposed it, what was the story, what specific problem are you trying to solve? " 15,27828,2017-06-28T13:44:00.000Z,830,anon1701267031,anon2591396734,"Great thread... and inspiring mental health empowerment models Hi @anon2591396734, I'm just catching up on this thread. Many relevant themes. We've tried a bit of restorative circles too - though the people we work with nicknamed it 'Conflict Kitchen' because of the way the guy who introduced it to us described it - in that conflict is natural we just need somewhere to go with it - just as eating is natural and we go to the kitchen when we want to prepare food. We're still figuring out how to bed it in. I've also worked a bit with NVC and follow Miki Kashtan's work most. I think the question you highlight in relation to Opencare is very pertinent - ""how we engage with our own and each other's well-being"". I'm also wondering if you're already tuned in to Laloux's Reinventing Organisations - the passages on wholeness practices seem particularly relevant to what you mention about growing a culture that supports collective & mutual wellbeing.   Thanks @anon Mental health is an ongoing focus within our working community too. @anon Its contributed to my ongoing reflections on an organisation's mental health. I wonder if this is what you refer to when you say ""collective mental health""? I've noticed that the organisation's mental health seems unwell when there is too great a distance between various peoples perceptions of the organisations reality and its relationship to the world. It feels too big a gap and too likely to contribute to mutliple organisational personalities that can often be at odds with each other. We've recently concluded a year long collaborative process that has generated really embedded alignment in core things like values, the assumptions and context we're responding to. The mental health of the organisation is noticeably improved. I hope that these conversations will continue up to and during the event in October. Much to glean...   " 16,28470,2017-06-28T14:30:22.000Z,27828,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"Laloux, NVC and organisations Hi @anon Your work with organisations looks really interesting, and I'd like to learn more. Yes, there is plenty of overlap with the collective or organisational mental health of any group of people in regular interaction. The quality of that interaction is highly significant. And there are skills there to be learned and practiced -- that's part of my understanding of the basic approach of NVC. Maanon1932026148 there are several potential sources of cognitive (or affective?) dissonance, in 1-1 relationships as well as in groups, and again it could be seen as a branch of communication skills to address that dissonance and foster harmony (one of my favourite words ;) ). What I don't know enough about is how to help people (including myself) see the distorted views of themselves which contribute to dissonances in others as well as themselves. 1-1 interactions can so easily stall. Anyway I see these issues as highly relevant to the range of wellbeing and care issues that we are all investigating and may be living through as well. " 17,29085,2017-07-07T14:45:44.000Z,830,anon2591396734,anon2591396734,"How to release our collective latent wisdom? This question came back to me today in the context of recognising that many of us (everywhere) have well-being challenges, for example in our personal relationships. Particularly in a community like ours, there is also a great wealth of experience, much of which has already been distilled into wisdom. If we were able to access this wisdom, many would be helped along our ways. It's a two-way process, of course. On some occasions we could greatly benefit from the experience and wisdom of others, and on other occasions they might benefit from ours. And it's more than two-way. One person's wisdom is often shallow, constrained by the very life experience from which the wisdom comes. If we are lucky -- for instance if that other person is a skilled therapist -- they may be very helpful. But in a peer-to-peer world, it seems better to rely on plurality. The more people whose wisdom we have access to, the more likely it is that one of them will be able to ""speak to our condition"". So what's the essence of the issue here? To me, there seem to be social and cultural barriers preventing the full realisation of this passing on of the wisdom of experience. But also there are time constraints. Maanon1932026148 one challenge could be to find ways of finding people who have more to offer us; or conversely, finding people who we are more likely to be able to help effectively. It's a puzzle, and I would be delighted to read the reflections of others about this puzzle, or even suggestions from your experience, or collective wisdom, on how to address the issues. " 18,29549,2017-07-10T15:40:43.000Z,29085,anon1491650132,anon2591396734,"Network based organisations - where I find it hard You ask about the social and cultural barriers to these useful exchanges.. I see the noise brought about by the digitalization as a source of considerable stress, and working in/with groups whose added value is precisely generating knowledge out of that and release it back into. For Yannick, the problem is the lack of real collaboration. In the social entrepreneurial scene in particular, he sees more competition than collaboration - he says the collaboration culture means seeing information as a ship which needs to arrive in the harbour (‘Culture de la collaboration’ est de voir l’information comme un bateau qui doit arriver à bon port). I cant speak of living together, but I can speak of working together. Maanon1932026148 some things fit, I dont know. For me, our ability to navigate the network and filter knowledge in and out has to do with how agile our organisations are - on one hand, we prize flexibility and autonomy, and the ability to shift roles and dynamics (a telling example: @anon281534083 spoke about the merits of interchanging roles - from being managed to being a manager in different projects with the same people). I see people prizing generalists more than specialists. But on the other side, I find it problematic that there's a shortage of specialists or people hanging in to perform deeper execution tasks. We are all leading something or working for something bigger, but we need to find the time to be just cogs in a machine, which i think we are anyway.. and that for me is of essence. Otherwise the risk not systematically capture the ""wisdom of experience"" because it becomes diluted in the many experiements and people we work with, who come in and out of contact with us. --- To your comment above @anon2591396734, what is a good example of dissonance in communication?  I have many in our working relationships, but it has to do - at least in my mind - with exceptional professionalism. Which means there are always ways to improve oneself, which makes one forgiving of the situation. Not sure if the diplomatic, soft way is the best to go when damage is produced.  " 19,33474,2017-07-17T10:12:57.000Z,29549,anon2591396734,anon1491650132,"Dissonance in communication Thanks for the request for an example, @anon Thinking about it helps me recognise how hard it is to describe such dissonances well. When I start to think about the dissonances between my own thinking / feeling / being and that of others around me, I feel quickly drawn in to defensive justification of my own position, which makes describing the other points of view more difficult to do in any kind of fair way. I try to maintain my own inner harmony by muting the dissonant voices; by invalidating them in my own mind. Alternatively, and sadly, we simply stop resonating with our own truth, and let it be silenced — drowned out — by the prevailing hymns. To hold dissonance in one's mind is hard. I will try to reflect on why it is so hard, and to dredge up some examples. " 20,33475,2017-07-10T23:54:48.000Z,830,anon281534083,anon2591396734,"Am I the problem or are you the problem? Or rather is it that no problem between people is 100% just one person.  Except sometimes it is.  That's why this stuff is hard work.  In another discussion with a bunch of my old Farm friends we were talking about the things we value from our experiences together and many said something along the lines of ""living simply.""  On the land, not much money, making as much of stuff as you can.  Simple living.  But socially it wasn't simple at all! " 1,33747,2017-04-26T13:34:28.000Z,33747,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"Je pense ne pas être le seul, en disant qu’une fois tous les x-temps dans le milieu socioculturel, événementiel ou de l’entrepreneuriat social tu te demandes : pourquoi suis-je en train de mettre toute mon énergie dans un projet collaboratif quand personnes ne collabore vraiment. Est-ce que je n’arrête pas tout pour faire mon truc dans mon coin, sans les autres, car la seule personne sur qui je peux conter c’est moi ? Une logique peu constructive mais tellement facile qu’elle nous éloigne du vrai problème : pourquoi n’apprenons nous pas la culture de la collaboration à partir du plus jeune âge ? Nous l’entendons partout : nous sommes dans une période transitionnelle, qu’elle soit positive (émergence d’économie collaborative, renouveau des modèles low-tech, création d’outils numériques de gestion décentralisée, …) ou négative (émergence d’organisations extrémistes, renouveau des partis populiste-fasciste, création de tactiques numérique de propagande,…) nous voyons que l’importance de se retrouver sous un arbre de valeur est d’une grande importance en ce moment. Les outils sont légions : Trello pour les fanas de post-it digital en mode collaboration, Slack comme forum organique et le saint graal de la collaboration décentralisés : Github. Tous ont une armée de fans, mais tous ont le même problème : si il n’y a pas une base de valeurs collaboratives sur quoi travailler, ces outils restent un beau décor. C’est comme donner des outils de permaculture à un fermier industriel : si il ne voit pas que les valeurs partagées sont un atout majeur, il restera avec ces méthodes classiques.

    La Culture de la collaboration

    Comme n’importe quelle autre idée sociétale, elle devient omniprésente quand elle est vue comme une partie de notre ‘culture’. Mais aucune idée n’a fait partie de la société sans avoir été confectionnée d’une manière ou d’autre. Un premier pas pour aller vers cette ‘Culture de la collaboration’ est de voir l’information comme un bateau qui doit arriver à bon port. Ca ne sert à rien de tenir l’information pour soi, partage la avec la bonne personne, passe les bonnes idées comme si c’était un plateau de charcuterie à une soirée raclette. Chaque personne prendra bien soin de choisir l’info qui lui convient le plus. Car une information qui véhicule librement aide à améliorer le deuxième point : Ne perdez plus d’énergie à réinventer la roue mais essayer de contribuer avec des projets déjà existant. C’est en ajoutant de nouvelles grilles de lectures, en rentrant dans un projet avec un autre angle ou d’autres informations qu’on apprend beaucoup. Rester dans son enclos n’aide personne, même si le réflexe protectionniste se comprend : vous voulez contrôler votre idée contre un opportunisme qui pourrait se cacher derrière chaque recoin. Mais si nous acceptions, comme c’est déjà le cas dans les recherches universitaires, d’avoir un système de mentions générales pour la collaboration de projet, nous devrions avoir moins peur de cet opportunisme.

    Recréer la membrane de confiance

    Car voilà, le grand problème qui se cache derrière cette peur innécessaire de la protection d’information: on à perdu notre membrane de confiance entre humain. Tout dans notre entourage nous dit de se méfier de l’autre. Car comme disait ce bon vieux Sartre: L’enfer c’est les autres. Mais si nous relisons la théorie du Darwinisme social nous voyons que c’est notre aptitude à collaborer qui à fait que nous avons survécu aux animaux dix fois plus grand que nous, aux périodes glaciaire et aux famines. Pour recréer cette membrane de confiance nous ne devons pas croire dans ‘les grand mouvements’, car comme les grandes histoires, elles sont mortes avant d’entrer dans la période post Moderne. Soyons comme Enspiral, un réseaux de petit groupes. Créons des petits faits, pour réapprendre à se faire confiance. On ne doit pas décrocher la lune, mais simplement savoir aider son voisin. La petite pierre que j’apporte à cet édifice est de prendre le café chaque matin avec quelqu’un d’autre, d’écouter son histoire et de voir ou je peut faire du lien.

    L’ego doit donner place à l’idée

    Dans notre société contemporaine nous donnons encore et toujours trop de place à l’ego, qui l’emporte souvent en discussion de l’idée. Mais voilà si nous voulons vraiment créer une culture de la collaboration nous devons mettre en place des freins à l’ego. De pouvoir être fier de l’ajout qu’on a donné à une idée. Ne plus voir la collaboration comme une simple économie du (mauvais) couple, ou chacun donne et qu’on fait les comptes quand ça ne va pas, mais se focaliser sur l’idée et les valeurs véhiculées en commun. Pour ça la collaboration doit se faire par les faits et non par les mots. Trop souvent la réunion précède la participation, mais c’est en faisant qu’on apprend plus de la personne, que chaque personne est mise à nue. Une expression inventée par Nicolas de OpenFab trouve ici parfait écho: nous devons créer l’atome de FAIRE. Un prochain pas pourrait être de redonner dans notre éducation collective une vraie place à la collaboration. Pas de travail- en groupe forcé qui mal organisé nous prouve que l’enfer c’est vraiment les autres, mais une culture de la collaboration ancré dans le système d’éducation général. Si vous avez des ressources la-dessus je suis preneur. Howard Rheingold | Who Said Collaboration Wasn’t Sustainable Jason Louv |The Next Buddha Will Be a Collective Daniel Christian Wahl | Collaboration and empathy as evolutionary success stories Enspiral Stories | 5 Reasons to Build a Network of Small Groups, Rather than a Mass Movement of Individuals " 2,33761,2017-05-09T20:45:47.000Z,33747,anon2238163770,anon3595237380,"Enlightement and cooperation, Wonderfull... Well collaboration, is a term within it which includes a large field of understanding the term itself. @anon The collaboration itself, should begin as an inner movement and will, to enlight you within you and make you spread your aura with other people around you, startin from your home where you live, your school or college, your working place, your company or your weekends house neighbours.  You should concentrate on the connections to every each person neat you, and try to connect them with your inner will and try to transmit the message also with your aura. Start learning new things, start leraning new cultures and characters.  Making compliments and new friendships is the best way, to explore each others mind and ideas, collecting mutual interests and creating fellowships and spreading the collaboration breath. I am more spiritually bounded to this idea, because I am also a very social person and the topic was bolded for me as i readed it, and I hope you will endure the way.  Wish you all the best... " 3,33776,2017-05-10T08:13:20.000Z,33761,anon3595237380,anon2238163770,"Thanks for sharing Yes i'm well aware that it's from an inner circle that collaboration needs to thrive, that is also why i love my coffee moments with passionated people, listening to their stories is rewarding on itself. I try to be at that moment as much possible in the present, just reactive enough toward that person. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the subject :) " 4,33793,2017-05-14T15:30:59.000Z,33747,anon70625510,anon3595237380,"Everyday life Salut Yannick, Hey how are you doing? Sorry we missed one another during the festival. I kept being hungry after the shows so left without having a drink :( I read the enspiral post, it was interesting-  thanks for sharing! You're right, it's not the tools but people. There's some valuable advice in there, maanon1932026148 we can try some of them out here. But this term, emotional labour, it feels like  When we were in Matera with unMon, a local pharmacist held a lecture about the old system of community provided healthcare. And why it disappeared with modernity. According to him it was basically held together by the need to manage an important resource- water. In Matera there is a huge man-made underground reservoir of water, and a system for accessing it through wells. Each well is situated in a courtyard shared by a number of individual family houses. They collectively manage their shared well and according to him this was the key reason as to why there was such a strong sense of neighbourhood and mutual care amongst residents. Because of the day to day interaction and mutual dependence on one another to responsibly manage the shared resource. When the state moved people into modern dwelling (in the 80's?) then they had running water etc. No need for daily interaction and no dependency - the system broke. They also did things like ran communal bakeries instead of having individual ovens. I would say these are examples of cultures of collaboration born out of material necessity. This has been consistent with my own experience around how collaboration happens. It doesn't happen without a compelling reason... The enspiral crowd is running an interesting experiment. It seems to work within one context where people have aligned interests and a compelling driver of collaboration (economic activity), possibly other things too? So how do you build it if you live in societies where people's material needs are mostly satisfied? Maanon1932026148 have a look at Jordan's experiment in stockholm with chickens... Curious to hear what you think. " 5,33806,2017-07-15T11:09:50.000Z,33747,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"I really enjoyed your post I have to say your attitude shows - I've had early morning coffee with you and I really enjoyed the openness and goodwill to serve collaboration by generously connecting people and ideas. Thanks for your time Yannick! (wont anon3606750899g you to not distract you more :-)) " 6,33815,2017-07-15T12:33:29.000Z,33747,anon628128301,anon3595237380,"Et si nous adoptions de bonnes habitudes et des outils libres ? Je rejoins @anon Si l'on agit dans une vision de bien commun, sans doute devrait-on également veiller à rendre le travail collectif accessible, afin que d'autres puissent le reproduire et l'améliorer ? Les standards socio-économiques actuels tels que le copyright favorisent cependant la compétition et l'accaparement des ressources par une minorité. Pour éviter de refaire la roue, il suffit donc de partager ses innovations sous licences telles que GNU AGPL, CERN OHL, CC BY SA, MIT, PPL. Au delà des outils, l'état d'esprit est bien essentiel. Peut-être devrait-on aussi veiller à utiliser des technologies qui ont un état d'esprit collaboratif également. Malheureusement, tes trois exemples n'en sont pas : Trello, Slack et Github ne sont pas des outils libres et open source ! Encourageons alors des communautés et plateformes libres, telles que Wekan, Gitter et GitLab ! Et pour aller plus loin, adoptons des systèmes de redistribution de valeur, qui permettent une tracabilité des efforts individuels et collectifs, remplaceons les concours qui créent pléthore de perdants par des outils d'investisement collectif, transformons les espaces ""collaboratifs"" basés sur la rétention de membres par des réseaux mobilisant par leur impact sociétal ! Une lecture à recommander, en lien avec l'illustration de @anon En espèrant apporter du grain à moudre pour ton café quotidien, :D Bien cordialement, " 1,33290,2017-07-15T08:38:16.000Z,33290,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"A meeting was held this week at La Stecca, a social hub in Milan, to facilitate users to fill the form for the enhancement of accessibility of the shops by their owners. By contrast, the place is shaded by the high buildings of the Vertical forest in the modern, stilish and accessible open area of Piazza Gae Aulenti. The designers of WeMake staff could present the state of the art of the project and “how” and “why” openrampette was being developed in such peculiar ways. To cover all the aspects and to design meeting presentations and activities almost a dozen of people were involved daily for months. I could follow on site and online the openrampette growing design. Activity has been so intense that were scheduled daily online meetings called “openrampette stand up”at 10 am on Stack instant messagging. Participants and designers had the occasion to meet, discuss and share visions for the future of accessibility in Milan. So many ideas and oanon3606750899ions about what looks like a cold bureaucratic and standard issue. Different people have different needs, situations and values, but “opening the “rampette” issue could bring so much curiosity and interest from different sides. A so called “boundary object” in the terms of openrampette as matter of discussion and negotiation enough structured and selfsustaining, but at the same time a concept accessibile and by a possibile informatic metaphor “patchable”. It is a good add to the hypothesis on how is being taken action to change the concept of care into a daily and shared practice, i.e. how by the transmogrifying of morbid living care becomes a social issue and play. The closed world of social and healthcare services accessible only as individual citizens and patients is seen here in a different way. In the case of openrampette, the normative and reverse salients sides become useful tools to test the possibile changes to access shops in Milan. Design and/as dialogue was enacted between people and designers by the support of this online form https://share.proto.io/7VVRQ5/ It was an occasion to discuss not only the issue about openrampette, but to know better each other, to take contact and to spend 3 hours in a different and vivid way. " 1,6483,2017-07-10T11:16:07.000Z,6483,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    Community Call 12/7: Play date with GraphRyder! 

    A one hour online demo and interactive event where participants learn to read the opencare community network graph! 
    • What do participants mean when they talk about care?
    • Which aspect of care are you are interested in? See who (else) is talking about it and in which context 
    • Discover co-occurences of care concepts: i.e. which care concepts are associated with migrant care, or care regulations in our conversation. 
    GraphRyder is opensource, web based, and meant to be a resource for network scientists, researchers, community managers and citizens at large - graphryder.opencare.cc  Our goal for this first session is to help people get familiar with it. Anyone interested can come, learn how to navigate graphically and conceptually our community database, and ask questions. We hope to get useful feedback on the tool to help us adjust the views that need improvements.

    Who is leading?

    Guy Melancon is a professor and researcher at University of Bordeaux and the uni computer science research lab (LaBRI). A mathematician and expert in network visualizations, with a knack for interdisciplinary collaboration and learning events (Masters of Networks), Guy is leading the team building GraphRyder as a compelling interface for open care community data. I get involved as much as I can in tech and intellectual transfer action towards the industry. I dream every citizen would be able to handle, mine and visualize open data to defend their cause. Jason Vallet. works with anon2774142051, banon3606750899aud at the University of Bordeaux to provide expertise in visualization for the opencare conversations. Amelia Hassoun. A digital and medical anthropologist, and PhD student at Oxford University, Amelia has been coding over. I'm secretly hoanon3606750899g she'll become Edgeryders in-house ethnographer.  Federico Monaco. Teaching at Universita degli Studi di Parma, Federico is currently opencare's ethnographer in residence at WeMake makerspace in Milano.

    When and where

    This Wednesday at 18:00 CEST in the google hangout - click here for direct access (no login required). You don't need to prepare ahead of the call, just bring an open mind. Interested to attend? Press the blue button ""Attend"" or leave a comment below so we can do a proper head count, thanks! Date: 2017-07-12 19:00:00 - 2017-07-12 19:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 2,33316,2017-07-13T09:39:00.000Z,6483,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Notes from the call We made some notes during the call, here they are. Intros: Guy - researcher working on the software & network science part of Open Care. Winnie - curating open and citizen science theme. Involved in biohackerspace in Ghent, Open Insulin collaboration. Alberto Rey - working on citizen science for the festival together with Winnie, and fly fishing. Michael - new to Edgeryders, figuring it out Gehan - curating Architectures of Love theme: researching conditions in which opencare happens, policy. Works at Galgael trust. Conditions evolve not entirely by design. Amelia - Edgeryders' ethnographer. I use Graph Ryder to help with the data analysis! I'm an anthropologist and my home is London Federico - sociologist at university of Parma. Doing anthropological research in makerspace WeMake. Rachel - invited by Winnie, met at Biofabbing convergence. Part of Hackuarium, into citizen science and choices we can make that influence our health (risks). In on citizen science track for the festival. Some more people joined during the session: Alberto, Bernard This session is not technical, rather a walkthrough for the GraphRyder program. When signing up on Edgeryders, you consented that your ‘data’ (posts, comments, …) would be used for research. Posts have tags. You can navigate the tags and then go back to the comments. Link tags that co-occur in conversations. Look at links that appear more frequently. Slider helps to focus on strong links. This helps to analyse why these might be appearing more frequently. This can be accessed following the url: http://graphryder.opencare.cc and a detailed view: http://164.132.58.138:9000/index.html#/dashboard/globalView Aware of the issues in terms of navigation around the various websites. Suggested that a simple webpage is created that links to the various sites and gives an outline. Key word: Autonomy. Program grabs all tags that autonomy is linked with. It’s linked with a lot of key words. High score tags that link with ‘autonomy’. You can access into the original content and posts. The tags are made by an ethnographer. We access the whole conversation at once. How autonomy connects with strongest connection. An association made by the conversation itself. You can read the comments and posts so you can figure out why people think these two things are connected. When someone comments on a post, chances are they will make similar comments and be tagged with the same label/s. However they will often bring something new into the conversation that will create association with new tags. The innovation is related to the thread and it denotes new tags/elements brought to the conversation… indication of how much the thread/discussion added to the conversation. If the number is high it means many new concepts were brought into the conversation. Amelia: we haven't properly tested the innovation theory - so it's not to say that higher ""innovation"" = more interesting, it was an idea we had. So don't assume posts with lower innovation tag aren't interesting :) We're looking for views of community members as to how to use it. Post on the platform and anon3606750899g …. Guy (@anon2774142051) or Jason (@anon Amelia: now we have the link we can experiment on our own and then come back and discuss further on the next call Detangler view - people on the left and tags on the right. Use the example such as Alberto’s post some time ago that follows how a policy maker might use Graphryder as a tool. Amelia and Jason will do a session at OpenVillage. This was the first in a series of 3 demos on navigating the GraphRyder software. They’ll shape the session considering the input of people in the following calls. Some questions for further discussion:
    • Do you have feedback for us?
    • Is this tool useful to make sense of the community and conversations you're part of?
    • What would you change about it?
    • Do you see other applications for GraphRyder? New databases, communities etc?
    " 3,33346,2017-07-13T09:42:48.000Z,6483,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Personal reflections I had used the software before during a Masters of Networks event, so I was already kind of familiar with it. As an introduction I found the call a bit too technical. It went into the software and its features more than the 'why?' and the usefulness for non-experts. The latter would be more relevant to go into for an audience like we had at the call. The software is also clearly built for research at this point. That being said, I found the technical explanation to be very clear. The Google Hangouts was full at some point (10 people) and some people were left out, so it's worth considering a different platform. Many people seem to be interested. " 4,33358,2017-07-13T12:31:12.000Z,33346,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"A wiki page to explain I felt the same, @anon https://github.com/opencarecc/graph-ryder-dashboard/wiki/Understanding-the-code-co%E2%80%90occurrence-network Is that concrete enough? It seems clear to me, but then I spend a lot of time with this stuff. " 5,33362,2017-07-13T12:37:52.000Z,33358,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Also anon3606750899g @anon As I said in Bordeaux, high time to take the documentation of software & methodology very seriously. The wiki page is an attempt to formalise the (procedural) knowledge sloshing about in the community call.
    • Is it clear enough?
    • Is the wiki the right place for it?
    " 6,33365,2017-07-13T12:41:40.000Z,33362,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Playbook-readiness About my question 2 above, anon3606750899g @anon But even better: do you have a Playbook chapter template that we can use for the documentation? " 7,33366,2017-07-13T13:14:08.000Z,33362,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Hm Thanks for putting this together @anon While it is clear for you, and me, I find if this is meant as a user support text  it should be more hands on and placed in a pop up in the web application. Some language might be toned down to less technical:  Example ""Which codes connect to which other codes. For example, the network could be disconnected into ""islands"" of codes, with no code in each of the islands ever occurring with any code in any of the other islands. This would be a strong indication that the informants have not associated concepts with each other. think there are entirely separate, mutually independent sides to the problem at hand. In a less extreme variant of the same scenario, the network could be highly modular. " 8,33367,2017-07-13T13:46:48.000Z,33366,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Not exactly What I had in mind was not inline help. That needs to be super-short, agree. I have in mind a kind of user manon169343781al.  " 9,33368,2017-07-13T14:25:26.000Z,33358,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Who is it intended for? Who are you aiming to reach with the wiki? If it's anthropologists & network scientists the wiki is good. Then again, the explanation during the call was also fine. Experts and really interested non-experts will read you no matter the effort you put in polishing the information. If you want to a non-expert that's not particularly interested or aware of the possibilities, you need to present it differently. More explanations (eg. what is an ethnographic code?) and examples (eg. Winnie wants to know more about influencing policy, how is the software useful for him?) need to be added. I'd also structure the information differently, such as putting the relevance/novelty first (eg. the collective intelligence bit) or adding an element of storytelling (like you did in the policy maker example at some point). Right away there needs to be a justification for a non-expert to take the effort to understand the rest of the wiki. " 10,33370,2017-07-13T15:52:58.000Z,33368,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Ethno/anthro We set out to build a research method that extends the reach of ethnographers and other qualitative researchers. GraphRyder is not a finished product: it is a tool for analysis. Once researchers have interpreted the data, with the help of a lot fiddling with it, they are ready for returning the results of the whole exercise.  The non-expert-ready form of approaching the data is generally post-analysis: a report, an executive summary, an infographics, depends how much you want to editorialise it. That said, you make a good point. When we were writing the methodological paper, I realised there are no experts on this stuff. Some people understand ethnography. Other understand networks. Almost no one understands both. Even in the research group we tend to be either-or, with maanon1932026148 a vague idea of what the other camp is all about (and the vast majority of humanity, of course, understands neither, nor does it care). That leaves us with two strategies: either we write in a heavily context-dependent way (explain ethnography when submitting to netsci journals, explain graphs when submitting to anthro journals); or we assume that no one knows anything at all. In the case in point, we were submitting to something called the Internet Science Conference. Whatever the hell Internet Science is, it is unwise to assume an audience that understands networks like @anon2774142051 , or ethno like @anon Ethnography is a qualitative research technique aimed at discovering how a certain group of humans perceives a set of issues [...] So: what you propose is relatively simple to implement, though we would definitely have different pages for the background information. Actually, I already added a page on key concepts. Why, the wiki is three hours old! But my question to you (and all) is: Is this interesting for people who are not involved with ethno/anthro/qualitative research? Should we even make the effort to talk to them?  Final remark for @anon " 11,33371,2017-07-14T08:53:06.000Z,33370,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"A new field or a new method? From the methodological paper I gather you consider it mainly a method at this point. Then it makes sense explaining it in terms your intended user base understands. If it's part of a new field, it makes sense to explain it in and of itself. A field being a set of methods, people, language, ... that have crossed some threshold. Then there's less need to justify its usefulness for another field or set of users. The line is blurry because it's interdisciplinary research: you're building new tools. Thinking about it more deeply, it makes sense to me to place what you're doing in a spectrum from monodisciplinary research to transdisciplinary research. This excerpt from my workshop on interdisciplinary collaboration & communication explains a little. It seems to me you're doing the interdisciplinary thing, but not yet to the extent it can be considered a new field? For me this classification in terms of mono, inter, trans is tied to communication efforts. In the mushroom material research, Elise and I went from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary and ultimately transdisciplinary. Now we're at the point where we actively involve society in the research through workshops & outreach. Initially our communication with each other had to improve, then to other professionals (eg. designers, biologists) and ultimately to the public (hobbyists, children, ...). It took progressively more effort in terms of communication and practical things: translating experiments into digestible, accessible activities for people to interact with). I feel like the payoff is there (we get ideas, connections, an audience, ...), but going that far with communication does take a lot of time. We can do it because I'm not involved in the lab research anymore, only as project manager for outreach and missions. There is of course also the argument that what has been researched using tax money should be made accessible and understandable apart from there being a payoff for your research by involving society. Making complex information understandable takes time, so the most economical solution is to define your audience and write for them, rather than for any audience. The latter means taking into account the group that has the hardest time understanding, without compromising in content or form too much for any group. That is hard and you always end up losing detail or nuance. You wouldn't write so that an 8 year old could understand you, even if you were perfectly capable, unless your plan is to go specifically to them with your post. A technical person is okay with a separate glossary page. For engaging a non-technical person, who perhaps has no experience with technical texts and their structure, having to check words in a glossary may break the story and their attention. Your post on your own blog about the results of the Horizon 2020 research is pretty good overall. I see the distinction between result (good potential to be relevant for a non-expert) and analysis tool (less potential to be relevant for a non-expert), yet it comes down to your own ambitions, judgment and what you want to say to whom. So all in all, I understand the communication aspect in this context in terms of where you're at with the research (new field or not? Multi, inter, transdisciplinary?), where you want to go (Multi, inter, transdisciplinary?) and how you want to do it (who to involve and why?). Maanon1932026148 @anon " 12,33372,2017-07-14T09:43:37.000Z,33371,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"New fields are for giants ... not for the likes of me. More humbly, I see a market opportunity. Consulting companies grow by ""owning"" a unique methodology; without it, you are just cannon fodder, competing on price. My role in ER is to build a niche where we can claim to be number one in the world. Even if it is small, it is probably enough to ensure interesting work and a measure of prosperity. Thanks for pointing to the text you wrote. The distinction does not really apply here, because one of the ingredients of our method, ethnography, is, by your definition, itself trans. I guess that makes SSNA ""meta"", or something! But the way I think of it is rather inter: let ethno people do their thing as normal, let network people also do their thing as normal, and then build a new layer on top of it that enhances both and brings about a new synthesis. Problem is, to interpret the new layer (SSNA itself) you need to speak both languages. It speaks clearly to me, but I need some effort to make the ithers see. IMHO the best SSN analyst is someone like @anon In a way, we are all children of Jacob Moreno and the sociometrists of the 1950s. Not by chance, these were all socio people, and Moreno himself was a psychiatrist (originally from Romania, like Noemi!). I would be super-interested in the oanon3606750899ions of @anon " 13,33373,2017-07-15T03:39:22.000Z,33372,anon2591396734,anon1526983854,"New fields for ants? Interesting thread I was new to. Personally, even though I'm no giant, I love contributing to these really new trans- or inter-disciplinary areas. I was deeply impressed, around 1975, reading ""Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems"" by Jerome R. Ravetz, originally from 1971. Rom Harré used to recommend it in his lectures in Oxford.  It had a great chapter headed ""Immature and ineffective fields of inquiry"" (you can get some results from searching for the phrase in quotes) which set out some of the dangers, and excitements, of these areas. It's easy to imagine this is all about giants, and maanon1932026148 it used to be, but I don't think that is so any more. The world (of knowledge) has grown so vast, no one is a giant anymore. If instead we constitute ourselves as collaborative, cooperative intelligent ants, though, I think we can make progress. Ants (real ones) do so much with so little individual intelligence. What could we do, if we were to coordinate with the power of ants? This links so well across our discussions ... it is the culture of collaboration that is key, and that in turn rests on how we interact day to day -- ""micro"" level, you could say. To me, it involves deep listening to each other, just as care more generally does. It involves co-creating, and co-managing, a culture in which the commons is held in higher regard than the individual, and where the commons wisdom knows who to ask about particular issues; where we all help to redirect, rather than individualistically claiming intellectual territory for ourselves. In the network, some people are valuable more as nodes, others more as links. My personal interest in the thread might start off by asking about the nature, the provenance and the governance of tags themselves. " 1,33289,2017-07-12T17:18:52.000Z,33289,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Our two-week OpenCare residence at WeMake Milano was a success! We were able to do a review of literature, develop a modulable kit to test different pressure and flow sensors, build a pump to calibrate the sensors, and enhance our website. Watch the presentation to get all details! The articles gathered, electronics designs, 3d models, and other elements can be found in our repository and on GitLab. The work is released under a Peer production license. In the next weeks, we are going to finalize the research protocol to test the sensors in caanon70625510n hospitals, and write a scientific article to share the key learnings of the residence. We will present these outcomes during the OpenVillage festival in Brussels. Keep posted, follow us on Twitter or Facebook. " 2,33315,2017-07-12T20:47:00.000Z,33289,anon1491650132,anon628128301,"From residence to \#OpenVillage Guys, first of all super impressed by your documentation with which I spent a bit of time these days - I learned if not from the science aspects (I'm no expert), from the way you organised and structured the information. Good way of documenting @anon628128301 ! For the festival, we agreed we'll be happy to finance your trip (a shared small travel grant reimbursed after the event) - and what remains is two things: 1)  Hammer out a short description of your session (intro + format: demo + open discussion around i.e. certification of medical devices + who can participate), and point us to hi res photos we can use for promo.  @anon 2) For the panel on funding and sustainability: put yourselves forward as panelists/ or simply add a contribution to shape it. @anon " 3,33334,2017-07-14T14:00:58.000Z,33315,anon628128301,anon1491650132,"From residence to \#OpenVillage Hi @anon Thank you for your feedback, and for the support regarding OpenVillage. We are preparing the texts for both proposals, we keep you posted! " 1,6401,2017-06-13T14:59:03.000Z,6401,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Dear Edgeryders,  I'd like to share an experience about resilient community practices. Last year I organized a series of meetings in Utrecht, The Netherlands. First they were about Free living and money, later they were about freedom and transforming trauma's through awareness as I felt a desire to treat a more direct approach about individual transformation. I call these meetings ""Circles of openness"".  Some of the meetings were extremely fruitful and transformative. Others were okay and sometimes a bit boring. What determined the quality of the meetings was the openess and willingness to share from an honest and authentic place, and to really be curious to share what feels exciting and challenging to someone. During the meetings where the mayority of the participants was willing to listen and feel into what's relevant at that time, there was a magical openness and connection among the group. I truly enjoyed these meetings and they were one of the most beautiful shared moments of my life. What I also enjoyed is the power to transform through awareness. By expressing a doubt or a challenge and openly looking at it, it became possible to take distance from the perspective and let go of it. Also the awareness of the group seemed to stimulate and hold space for sharing these vulnerable perspectives.  What didn't work so well was: - when people spoke in general terms and theoretically/ hypothetically without really feeling the question.  - when people didn't really want to be there   What did work well was:  - sharing from your own experience - listening and asking questions to explore the perspective - holding space: being open to the perspective without taking it personally, listening with from an open space - using a talking stick, so one could speak at the time.  - a good host and facilitator who's comfortable with (almost) everything and ready to set some guidelines, such as: speaking from the heart, speaking from your personal experience, no interuptions and the talking stick.    In my experience these circles of openness help build relationships of trust and create a vital space for transformation.  Let me know if you want to find out more. I'm playing with the idea to organize new ""Circles of openness"" over the next months.  Thanks for reading! Warm regards,  Ewoud @anon     " 2,9251,2017-06-13T18:30:47.000Z,6401,anon70625510,anon868457471,"Mood, Time, PLace, Energy Thanks for sharing this Ewoud. I'd love to come to one of these circles and you are very welcome to host them at the homebase in Brussels if you like. A few times I have been lucky enough to be in this kind of conversation where there was flow. I've always assumed that they happen serendipitously when the stars align somehow- so many different things that are there at the same time. The mood, the sense of being there in a kind of timeless state, the conversation happening for its own sake and not tied to any kind of agenda. Kind of like wandering aimlessly around a beautiful forest... " 3,16180,2017-06-14T10:57:14.000Z,6401,anon1701267031,anon868457471,"the art of real conversation Thanks @anon868457471,  I've also found that creating the spaces for conversations willing to push the normal boundaries of politeness or superficiality can be tremendously transformative. I'm curious as to whether you were referencing a particular approach - such as Parker Palmers beautiful book A Hidden Wholeness. I find it particularly helpful the way he describes these kinds of spaces as counter-cultural. My own learning the hard way suggests that it takes a particular kind of noticing and differentiation of norms to create and preserve these kind of spaces.  g " 4,17038,2017-06-17T11:33:56.000Z,16180,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"Parker Palmer; circles of trust Delighted to find that you @anon1701267031 have read and appreciated ""A Hidden Wholeness"" too! I would add my strong recommendation :) " 5,21318,2017-06-15T06:26:00.000Z,6401,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"Is there a sharing learning curve that circles speed through? I have never been part of such a group with such speedy process of opening up - even when deep conversations arise, we had been traversing a sort of coolness, then sociality, then friendliness, and more and more into deeper discussions. That stood for both personal and professional contexts; for both one on one conversations and group conversations. How do you go through this curve collectively, and so quickly, is probably really an art. Are we talking one day workshops? Familiar faces or strangers? And how large a group is optimal? Thanks @anon868457471 for sharing so generously. " 6,24534,2017-06-15T11:12:47.000Z,6401,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Circles of openness Hey @anon In my experience it these circles work very well when the group shares a common willingness to receive, listen, and is open to go into deep experiences. Also what works well is to set a clear invitation and some simple guidelines, such as the ones I described. They help the group process and give a certain structure to build up momentum. My experiences have been diverse. I've experienced beautiful gatherings where love, depth and understanding were shared among all participants. Sometimes when the group was mixed deeply sharing also lead to some confusion as these depths were not familiar to everyone and not everyone seemed to grasp the depth of the experience of someone else. Although I think it didn't harm or shock anyone too much, I do think it may have lead to some confusion. For instance, I once went very deep receiving the talking stick and staying silent for a few minutes, all attention on me, I didn't want to ""just say something"" so I stayed present with my inner dynamics (and doubts) in front of everyone. Finally, I said something that felt true to me. So I remained connected to my inner truth. The woman who was sitting next to me didn't know how quick she had to say something when I gave her the talking stick. Ever since our contact between me and the woman have been somewhat weird. Coming to think of it, I should have probably talked to her sometime and exchange perspectives lightly.... :) (oops).  This particular meeting was organized by a friend of mine btw and was a gathering of about 20 people, which is quite big for such a sharing. I'd say depending on the size of the group there will be different forms and formats that suit best the conversation. Not necessarily the bigger the group to more superficial. Groups can go very deep together when they are guided properly. This is a true art. And ideally, one question/ sharing leads to another, being able to deepen the conversation coming closer to opennings. And, maanon1932026148 most importantly everything is good. So not resisting anything nor having an agenda helps for creating the space to be who you naturally are.  I believe the Circles of openness serve best around a certain theme that is loaded and which everyone has experiences with: I organized a series about money and I participated in one about sexuality. Both topics lead to a very vulnerable and warm sharing and brought everyone closer together. Also I think Circles work well for existing communities that work or live together, as tensions may arise during the daily practices. The latter I have some experiences with at the Synergyhub and the principle we used was to share from what's alive in you at the moment. This worked pretty well.  I also initiated a circle once during a workshop where people didn't really know each other and there wasn't a real theme or topic. In that setting it didn't feel really appropriate to do a sharing, as apart from being human and sharing a similar human experience (so there's always (some) interest),  there wasn't really a common intention or relevance to have this talk together. So I wouldn't organize a circle ""out of the blue"" again.  Most of the meetings I was with had both familiar people and strangers. As long as the intention for the meeting is clear, it's no problem and good examples will follow.  Most circles I went to lasted for about 1 to 2 hours. Although probably you know about retreats/ satsangs for instance with Bentinho Massaro that take about the whole day (with sessions of about 1,5 to 2 hours each). Have to say that during these days Bentinho (or some other ""teacher) is the one who does most of the talking. Yet, he knows how to bring a group into depth. So, even though it's a different form, there's also huge transformation happening during these meetings.  @anon And is there a learning curve, @anon     So let me summarize my experiences:   - Sharing from personal experiences - yet not getting caught up into the story. The aim is to gain clarity to let go of stories and have space te create the new.  -  Circles work well around certain (loaded) theme's and communities who work/ life together with a clear invitation.  - Listening from the heart, listening from beyond the personal perspective (not taking anything personal) - Everything that pops up from a genuine sharing is welcome, even if it's off topic. What's alive here and now is relevant, provided it serves the conversation & transformation of the whole (including the individual).  " 7,24719,2017-06-16T11:51:00.000Z,24534,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"""Groups can go very deep together when they are guided properly"" I think that's a crux, you said it yourself it's an art. Okay, people can share a lot or a little, but if others are to contribute somehow to understandign things better it means that a facilitator conveys when the conversation can lanon1056199097r or move on? I dont think you understand things just by saying them out loud in a group, so you need attention; but for the group it's also important that it stays relevant somehow. No matter how good a listener you are, or..? It seems like quite a fine line, especially if the space is loaded with emotions.  Each afternoon and evening we'll have space for self-organised sessions, but a circle of openness would be more organised i think - if you see a topic from the opencare conversations that would work, feel free to propose it. I will be on the lookout too! Big thanks <3   " 8,26687,2017-06-16T15:01:42.000Z,6401,anon868457471,anon868457471,"The topic could be: openness itself What do you say if we explore openness and creative energy itself. We could explore this theme. How can we be more in alignment with ourselves/ our own creative energy? My experience is that when I'm good in my energy I use a combination of being both intentful as well as open to whatever comes up (inside of me). So it's a combination of receptiveness and creative intent. So how can one cultivate the quality of being sensitive/ receptive and powerful/ intentful? Vulnerable as well as powerful. Loving as well as clear. Open as well as practical and creating physically (in whatever form excites one the most).  I'm excited about this theme. Would you like to explore this using the circle of openness? We could for instance pick a week at The Reef where we have circles every afternoon/ evening, while during the day everyone goes about their ""normal""/ personal activities.  What do you say? @anon   " 9,27232,2017-06-16T16:26:36.000Z,26687,anon70625510,anon868457471,"Money I think is a nice scary topic It would be helpful I think. It's messy and many relationships break over this topic. If we are to have a thriving, truthful space it is important to figure out. Let's have a chat about this early next week? " 10,27413,2017-06-17T09:27:34.000Z,27232,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"+1 for money I think it will make for a meaningful session.. Especially for people who know each other a little but perhaps not enough. We stand to learn a lot about others through those conversations.. tabu in most contexts.    " 11,27489,2017-06-17T17:07:21.000Z,27413,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Ewoud proposed a call tomorrow at 11 am It'll be on the community call google hangout space . I'll do a writeup if you don't make it in person :) " 12,28273,2017-07-05T08:08:58.000Z,6401,anon1701267031,anon868457471,"...picking up this thread again @anon868457471 - picking up this thread again, could this form a session as part of the Architectures of Love theme? The kind of environment that would be created in a circle experience would reveal a number of harder to perceive conditions for creating the 'microclimates' that generate our natural impulse to care for one another. Some of this is expressed through our relationships to money. It'd be good to check in with where yours/others thoughts are on this? Or has this gone elsewhere in the program following the call with @anon " 13,33471,2017-07-13T09:53:29.000Z,6401,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"This session is being discarded if I got it right @anon868457471 is no longer able to participate/ lead its development, right? So we will have to move on without, unfortunately. " 14,33476,2017-07-14T12:09:43.000Z,6401,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Yes, this door is closed. A new one opens.  " 1,6410,2017-06-14T15:42:50.000Z,6410,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"SCimPulse Foundation and Edgeryders welcomes Winnie Poncelet and Gehan Macleod, Community Curator and OpenCare Fellows. Winnie and Gehan will be facilitating a series of themed sessions at the upcoming OpenVillage Festival in Brussels, Belgium, on October 19-21, 2017.  W innie Poncelet - Engineer, Biologist, sustainable change maker, and Co-founder of the first DIYbio lab in Flanders.  He’s been active in several different fields including engineering,  game theory, arts, sustainability, biotechnology, and education. Winnie has an unrivaled talent for inciting cooperation, deconstructing and combining diverse perspectives. His knack for capturing the overall picture and its diversity are sure to add a refreshing anon3003844599 of change. He is coordinating the OpenInsulin research group at Edgeryders. The digital workspace for the Belgian chapter of the Open Insulin project, with the researchers collaborating online. Gehan Macleod - disruptive innovator, activist, social entrepreneur and Founder of GalGael Trust. GalGael Trust is an organization providing learning experiences anchored in practical activities for helanon3606750899g people whose lives have been emotionally battered and challenged by unemployment, or economically inactive, depression or addiction. These projects require collaborative efforts from co–working, either in the carpentry workshop or the timber warehouse. The completed projects are sold through social enterprise helanon3606750899g people carve their future. One of the ways this is accomplished is by involving the community in traditional skills, such as boat building and restoration. Rekindling work and meaning in communities where there is little of either. OpenVillage, a 3-day event encompassing various themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we care for one another where old models of care systems fail. It’s a participant built event dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a showcase of a new health and social care system powered by open source and community-driven solutions. What is going on in your community or in the world to help shape an Open Care environment? What skills do you have to bring community practices into reality? Learn more about you could get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here. Interested in joining Winnie and Gehan as an OpenCare Fellow If you're involved with care related initiatives in your community and imagine alternatives for better medical and social care, this could be an opportunity to impact social change.  Read more how you can participate in the OpenCare Fellowship Program and sharing community-based services. OpenCare the early conversations Through the many initiatives that are connected with OpenCare, there are as many stories that are untold. Stories that are deserving to be shared and explored to discover how conversation weaved together is the canvas for these projects. How communities, people, family, random strangers add value to creating a solution. In those random conversations are the seeds of change often discovered? You can read them here and have a glimpse of those early collisions of discussions that Irene Lanza was privileged to experience to help move SoundSight forward. Or, the physiotherapist that by sharing his challenges changed the course of reHub. Interested in creating change in health care, or you have a story how use you are using open source science to meet care needs? Or, you want to share your experience of giving or receiving care? Join OpenVillage and Propose a Session or Get a Ticket Click here! Follow the developments on Twitter! \#opencare \#openvillage \#scimpulse       " 2,33320,2017-07-14T10:10:38.000Z,6410,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"We have our third and final fellow! Meet Frank at Woodbine! With this we close the applications for curating OpenVillage Festival. Welcome to Gehan, Winnie and Woodbine <3 You can follow their work building a festival program and engaging networks and other participants, here. " 1,863,2017-06-14T06:39:02.000Z,863,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"The concept of genomic integrity, basically including all the molecular genetic details of cells, was developed in about 2009 as a means to encourage public awareness of the many things we can choose to avoid doing, for our health.   Thus, prevention (to avoid health care issues) rather than actual care is my key passion.  The non-profit association AGiR! Action for Genomic integrity through Research! was begun about 4 years ago to promote this idea.  I am very interested in the open village plans for next fall, and will start with a short post as I am still looking into the best way to fit in!  For instance, my experience with the AGiR! 'art call' (http://www.genomicintegrity.org/art-call) could be interesting to discuss in Alberto Rey's session, as might some microbial water sampling on Lake Geneva.  We have just started a second round to see if we can replicate last summer's data: http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Micro_to_Macro_Water_Pollution.  I learned about the local biohacker group, Hackuarium, when co-organising a biosensor course in the context of the EU project BRAAVOO, and was very excited by the energy and possibilities.  The big AGiR! project at Hackuarium currently is about develoanon3606750899g open source methods to look at your own cells for DNA damage.  More info can be found here: http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity  I have been hoanon3606750899g use of Foldscopes will be one solution to allow international networks to collect data, even perhaps using fluorescence.  http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Foldscope   We are also trying to design a 'cheek cell chip' for both micronucleus and comet data collection. Maanon1932026148 we could do a micronucleus workshop in October?  Encouraging quantitative methodology is one of the challenges around these topics. Looking forward to further discussion.   " 2,9415,2017-06-14T07:31:00.000Z,863,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Prevention and awareness raising as care @anon I liked your call for artistic depictions of ""molecular dance"" (!) and wondering if the works were exhibited somewhere? Same with the water sampling data? What have you found are good ways to bring the work and insights outside for a wider involvement where people can take action? (cc @anon1526983854rey ) For the micronucleus workshop @anon Also, dont forget to register here so you get updates and learn about other sessions in the runup to october! " 3,11715,2017-06-14T08:08:37.000Z,9415,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"OpenDroplet and non-evil iot for water stewardship Hi and welcome Rachel Not sure what she is up to these days, but @anon2362692215 has been working with non-evil IOT for water stewardship and proposed a session for a different edgeryders community event here.... " 4,12391,2017-06-22T06:03:45.000Z,11715,anon1227671133,anon70625510,"interesting thanks!  apparently an acoustic based sensor that recognises running water sounds is the basis for the water stewardship plan (non-evil IoT! :) so many projects and ideas out there - it is implementation that is always the biggest challenge imho! " 5,16325,2017-06-14T14:34:48.000Z,863,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Bio experiments! Hi @anon I think a micronucleus workshop would be cool :-). Off the top of my head in ReaGent we have a binocular lab microscope, some Foldscopes and some variations of this model (both with bought lenses and self-made ones). Plenty of glassware & staining products as well. What would you need exactly for the workshop? We can also do a microbial analysis combined with the fly fishing demo by @anon1526983854rey . We also have the equipment and might as well when we are at a river! Another proposal by @anon " 6,17617,2017-06-24T14:35:24.000Z,16325,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"+1 for DNA damage test workshop Winnie was telling me that this is accesible for non-experts and so I think it could be the best use of everyone's time. For at least two reasons:
    1.  you can demonstrate diy science and how it contributes to increasing health awareness and care
    2.  you demonstrate its openness, how communities take it on board and learn, then teach others etc.
      " 7,20399,2017-06-22T06:05:40.000Z,863,anon1227671133,anon1227671133,"super sounds like very good synergies are possible, @anon I also thought it might be good to look at how others define citizen science recently...  Here is one link full of links: http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Scientists-Guide-to-Citizen-Science/ Happy Summer!!   " 8,33341,2017-07-13T12:08:29.000Z,9415,anon1227671133,anon1491650132,"more thanks for the nice chat today. did I already send you the art link:  http://www.genomicintegrity.org/home/art-call-works or the link to the water data: last years: http://www.plagespropres.ch/micro.html this years: (still being collected! ) https://kc.kobotoolbox.org/hammerdirt/forms/Microbio_2017/view-data ?? bye for now! " 9,33342,2017-07-13T13:18:25.000Z,33341,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Received with thanks, Big up @anon Will check the links, then I'll send you the text for Meet the Edgeryder and you can email over the pics (yourself + any activity relevant to the workshop) to me and Winnie, so we dont duplicate. Yay. " 1,6412,2017-06-14T19:51:42.000Z,6412,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"I started this simple wiki for beginners and experts alike to get oriented in contributing to the Open Insulin project. For beginners it should be a starting point to learn more about the technology. It should help everyone better navigate the information we have archived on the Google Drive. This wiki contains:
    1. How do I get involved?
    2. Research Status
    3. Technology Basics
    4. Where do I find information?
    5. FAQ
    Anyone who wants to help build this can join in. SImple things you can do:
    • Find good quality online educational material that offers an introduction to synthetic biology, molecular biology, protein engineering, genetics and other relevant fields. Add it to the 'Technology Basics' section with a short description containing what's it about and why people should use it.
    • Help in organising information. Are you a pro in organising scientific articles and data? Great, we can use help with that! Get in touch with @anon
    • Add Frequently Asked Questions. Have you been asked about the project? Put the question and your answer in the FAQ!
     

    1. How do I get involved?

    You are a beginner or a (bio)scientist: everyone is welcome to join! We can use your brains, energy and creativity regardless of your prior knowledge. As a beginner or non-bioscientist, you may be interested in learning more about the technology. It is super interesting stuff and it will also help you to contribute to the project at a technological level. Take a look at the technology basics below. As a bioscientist trained in the field, you can jump right in. Take a look below at the research status and introduce yourself on the forum or at one of the live meetings (see introduction post for the latest info). You can also help us by donating materials or money, and we'd be forever grateful! Get in touch to discuss how it could work.

    2. Research status

    Current step: awaiting the arrival of the plasmid samples from the team in Oakland. Next step: use the plasmids to transform E. coli, in order to replicate the work of Oakland and set a reference point for further optimization. Updates from the Oakland team can be found on their website.

    3. Technology basics

    MOOC on production of medicines, with insulin as a case. Not currently online but @anon555382939 has notes. This MOOC on synthetic biology will require some additional study (eg. looking up terms on Wikipedia) but guides you through the basics.  MIT offers a very extensive range of biology courses (some of which are written in comic sans). One of them is this solid introduction to biology on edX. Choose recent courses, knowledge is outdated fast as the field changes rapidly. Can anyone recommend other specific courses?

    4. Where do I find information?

    On the 5. FAQ
    • You're working open source, where's the data?
    It is not currently openly available (see the discussion below).
    • Are you going to inject hacked drugs into people?
    No. The goal (for now) is a production protocol for the insulin molecule. " 2,10027,2017-06-15T06:58:38.000Z,6412,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"open data There is a debate about what really constitutes 'open' research still, certainly.  @anon Starting a European Open Insulin project is awesome, btw!     " 3,11937,2017-06-15T08:05:00.000Z,10027,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Re: open data That's a valid point @anon I am also reminded of an interesting aspect of openness. A researcher I know, has a huge dataset on barefoot walking by indigenous communities. The Nikes of this world would pay big cash to have it. She believes in open source, however, opening up the dataset would mean only the Nikes could really exploit the data, thanks to their size. Smaller companies can't do much with the data (they don't have eg. the $10,000 3D printer for it) and the indigenous communities can't either. There is skewness in the situation: a huge relative difference in resources, a huge financial incentive and no community of peers that is in a position to contribute to the commons. For all good measure, opening up the data would be closer to a transaction (a gift, even). The same factors are at play for Open Insulin. If at one point, an experiment proves promising, a biotech company could take it from there and easily be faster. The peers (like the Belgium group) who want to contribute, can contribute though, but by getting more closely involved. At the end everything can be released, and hopefully this will shift some of the factors at play. Paving the way for a new way of protein engineering is also a goal of Open Insulin. Not sure if there's good answers, I'd love to discuss this more. " 4,12671,2017-06-15T10:14:45.000Z,11937,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Messy topic, but some conventional wisdom is emerging As @anon
    1. ""Documentation is expensive and nobody is paying us for it"" is a completely acceptable argument. No one can fault an open source project for bad or missing documentation, only praise it when it does it right.
    2. There is no opennness without letting go of control. Keep your eyes on the ball: if your goal is cheap insulin, or shoes that reap the health benefits of barefoot walking, you win even if it is Novartis or Nike delivering it. In open source, most people consider that open source is winning exactly because business uses it (and, now, contributes to maintaining it). Linux is everywhere except your laptop; if you are hellbent on open source, or cost-sensitive, you can also get a Linux laptop, with Linux being free as in both speech and beer.
    3. Open cannot be closed again. If you don't like what Novartis did with your data and you thing you can do better/cheaper, your data are still there and still open. You can still go ahead and undercut them.
    4. That said, you can take a ""free"" as opposed to ""open"" approach, and use nc or nc-sa licenses. This means people can reuse your data, but are prohibited from doing anything commercial with it; additionally, with sa (share alike) any new entity that incorporates your data inherits their license, so all ""children"" dataset stay noncommercial forever. The Creative Commons website has a handy wizard for choosing your preferrred license. These days, noncommercial licenses are not considered open licenses according to the Open Definition. With Creative Commons licenses, additional usage rights can always be negotiated with the rights holder. So, you can put out data with a nc license; if Novartis thinks they are so valuable and want to use them to develop a drug, they have to come to you and ask for a different license. At that point you decide what to do. Of course, it is difficult to monitor that they do not just syphon the data up and do whatever they want anyway, but hopefully the regulation is tight enough that they will consider not worth the risk of being caught out. 
    I'd love to help with your data strategy. OpenCare's works like this.  " 5,12977,2017-06-15T11:40:00.000Z,12671,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Best strategies On your point 2: the goal is an open source production protocol, mainly for economical reasons. Though those reasons are 'how one will use the protocol'. We can all agree on the protocol as a goal, what happens with it afterwards is up to the user. In this stage, it is desirable that the way we get there does not jeopardize the use some of the team members have in mind (or at least minimally). Cheap insulin is one of the reasons, but a precedent for more of this kind of research is also a reason, as this could decrease the cost of many more medicines. We can only guess, but I doubt the lesson Novartis would draw is ""we need to do more open research"" after they pick up half-finished open knowledge and successfully turn it into a product or profit. From releasing a somewhat finished protocol into the world, they might still not take that message away, but more citizen researchers might be inclined to, and keep the effort going. It becomes an optimization problem to banon3760936673ce short term and long term economic benefits, taking the strategy to get there into account. The comparison of the dynamics in software is fair, but that is not to say that there is not a more favorable outcome. The stakes are also higher when considering medicine. The difference between having or not having a piece of software is not death. On 3: agreed to an extent. There is a lot of wickedness in the biotech industry. Research is very slow and expensive, almost as extreme as it gets. The dynamics do change at these extremes, I think, and that asks for a different strategy. To break through, accumulating small wins in an iterative way might not be ideal. Reaching a particular benchmark that actually matters big time (eg. the first open source production protocol for insulin) perhaps would be. Volunteer time can drastically undercut the cost, and make this type of research more efficient than what a Novartis could hope for. We already seeing signs of that in the DIYbio movement. But we are still learning how to leverage the advantage. Hardware, software and wetware are definitely enabling us at this point, but are also still develoanon3606750899g. Hopefully these things are bringing us to a tipanon3606750899g point, quicklier than the large companies are. I think this is still a learning phase, where there are vulnerabilities on several fronts. Taking the least risky route wherever we can, seems reasonable. " 6,16714,2017-06-15T19:34:12.000Z,6412,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"risk vs honor I think the diybio code of ethics has transparency as its first principal for a very good reason - it gives a moral high ground that I think can override such questions of risk @anon To me, the worst is when an idea is squashed because others decide to protect it for their own profit - but if it is all in the open to start, we should all benefit.   Idealistic?  perhaps...  :)   " 7,18064,2017-06-15T20:57:20.000Z,16714,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"The best default Well, idealism is the best default I think :-) Thanks for sharing your views on this. Not opening up data right away is a compromise for sure, one that I do not particularly like, but I can see reasons. Maanon1932026148 these are wrong, I have no answers. We have not really produced data ourselves yet. Looking forward to when we do and at that point, the team should make the call together. Then it is a conscious and collective decision. " 8,20010,2017-07-09T09:08:02.000Z,6412,anon555382939,anon2954219769,"notes of MIT course By Prof Christopher Love - Koch institute By Prof Christopher Love - Koch institute at MIT Focus on protein therapeutics manon169343781facturing using recombinant DNA technology.   Week 1
    1. Define what a biologic drug is
    2. Describe why biologic drugs are important in the treatment of disease
    3. Summarize how cells were first used in manon169343781facturing
    4. Explain why many modern biologic drugs are manon169343781factured using cell culture
      What is a biologic drug?
    • biological drug (= protein therapeutic)
    • vacines
    • blood components
    • hormones 
      Multi billion dollar industry       First test with penicillin:  low yield to high yield penicillin (over 1000 fold increase) => penicillin is protective measure of mold => stressing the mold will lead to higher production of defence? diphtheria first antiserum    He found that by heating and inactivating the bacterial toxin that caused diphtheria, and injecting it into guinea pigs, the animals were immune to lethal doses of the toxin.   Bio-manon169343781facturing to Deliver High-quality Biologics   Week 2
    • Describe how a small molecule drug and a protein therapeutic differ.
    • Name the 20 amino acids used to build proteins.
    • Identify the four types of protein structure.
    • Identify and categorize post-translational modifications.
    • Summarize how small changes in the structure of insulin lead to large changes in function.
    • Describe what an antibody is and how it can be used to treat disease.
      Conventional drugs vs recombinant biologics size difference analogy marble and football  In red the recombinant biologics in top 10 list Small molecules are easier to produce by chemical synthesis mimic compound or block pathway for example ibuprofen, blocking inflammatory reactions.  Due to the small molecule it can bind at a lot of other sites, creating side effects and unintended reactions. This is the reason of large scale failure in first round testing    Biologics ar impossible to chemical synthesis, they are grown. less side-effects thanks to hyper specific shape   in order to work well => drug needs to attach to: they need to be exact and precise to activate a function   How larger the molecule, the easier something can go wrong (such as oxidation or substitution) possible problem: aggregation  => clustering of molecules, can lead to allergic reactions  Better filtration techniques are a solution for this problem Small molecules are often given in pill form, the acidity changes the pill to the active ingredient. If a biologics would be used the same way, they would be destroyed - intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous injection or inhalation  Enzymatic: example insulin special targeting: inhibit normal biological function Protein vaccines: hepatitis B, influenza   2.2 introduction to amino acids 3D form of proteins = what is does and how   Primary structure: sequence of amino acids Secondary: A-helix and B-sheets the alfa helix support itself by hydrogen bonding between the carboxyl and the amino group.   Tertiary structure: interactions among all atoms in 3D space (cysteine covalent bonding of S in insulin) Tertiary structure, how everything influence the position between other molecules including ionic bonds (charges),  hydrogene bonds, hydrophobic    quaternary structure insuline is stored as a hexamer but activa as a monomer Insuline has a tendency to clog together when it is released from hexamer,  insuline is engineered to prevent this 2.4 Post Translational Modifications (PTM)   PTM can be a cause of concern: toxic variables  " 9,33385,2017-07-13T09:49:57.000Z,20010,anon2954219769,anon555382939,"Thanks, added Fantastic, thanks! I added the notes in pdf format to the wiki. You can also add things/make edits to the wiki yourself any time. " 1,33222,2017-07-12T10:42:50.881Z,33222,anon70625510,anon70625510,"##OpenVillage pass (limited): Crowdstorm the news **Join in to take the lead on communication for OpenVillage Festival and make yourself eligible for one of the 5 Full Passes we are offering in exchange for knowledge and support.** **Interested?** Let us know by telling us about your project/ interests in a story below. Wait to get confirmation from community managers (we have limited memberships for this role). In any case, here's what the work involves: * **30 mins task.** Curate social media digests - in practice this means you produce 3 headlines every day that will get sent to our list of 70+ people in the opencare community. They all spread the word! Start building the headlines by editing / commenting [here](https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/countonme-daily-digest-and-monthly-newsletter-template). * **1 hour task.** Run the official opencare social media accounts (cca 5 posts daily). We manage them using buffer.com, in a decentralized manner. Read more and request access [here](https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/task-6445). * **2 hour+ task.** Produce a twitter press conference to communicate OpenVillage and your participation in it. Start by sharing your thoughts [here](https://edgeryders.eu/en/openvillage-coordination/resources-for-crowdstorming-on-twitter). **NB:** We are flexible with your choice of tasks. If you have a different skillset that you wish to deploy in order to get a membership, post about it in our [OpenVillage Coordination group](http://edgeryders.eu/lote6)." 1,33288,2017-07-11T09:23:14.000Z,33288,anon214847711,anon214847711,"Some weeks ago, after presenting the first run of prototypes to our community, we voted the ideas that have the potential of drastically improve the user experience of the temporary ramp. One of the selected ideas is a sticker that marks the accessible shops in the neighbourhood. It’s the most low-tech solution we presented, but it tries to solve in a very straightforward way an important issue emerged during our research: How do I understand if a shop is accessible or not? The sticker proposed identifies the shops that are taking part in the open rampette project and in general all the accessible shops. Here some key aspects of the sticker:
    • The design of the sticker is straightforward, but the icon on it is different from the standard wheelchair sign. The icon comes actually from The Accessible Icon project, an ongoing work of design activism around the topic of accessibility.
    • For the shop the sign should be a sign of prestige for the shop exhibiting it (like the tourist guide stickers)
    • Moreover, the sticker highlight the problems around accessibility making the community more aware and therefore more engaged in addressing the issues around accessibility of the public spaces.
    Help us pick the right one. We created multiple graphics variation of the sticker and we would like to understand from you which one do you like the most? You can vote your favourite one here " 2,33311,2017-07-11T14:32:24.000Z,33288,anon1526983854,anon214847711,"Voted! Option 1 for me. But they are all nice. " 3,33344,2017-07-12T09:01:31.000Z,33288,anon214847711,anon214847711,"Thanks! :) " 1,110,2017-07-10T18:33:16.408Z,110,,,"Let's figure out together how to run relief services and improve coordination at donors-grassroots-policy levels. ""What if a sudden disaster left millions of Greeks or other Europeans homeless and helpless?"" Is what Aravella was thinking as she started to assemble Backpacks for refugees . All the way from the Kos Island to Thessaloniki and to the Idomeni border, Hundreds of enterprising Greeks spawn a whole network of ""shadow"" clinics . YBE, another community member and psychoterapist, went on to Trauma Tour from Belgium To provide mental health assistance to anyone in need. Meanwhile, young programmers or design students in Berlin are offering free programming courses at RefugeesWork , or develoanon3606750899g a Newcomer app, or build furniture to foster new skills and creativity. In our conversations over the past year, several inconsistencies and roadblocks came up Which make it more difficult to continue the work:
    • how public authorities has or well meaning donors can add to the difficulty of coordinated grassroots relief efforts (Aravella's example of More than 1/5 of all donations being unsuitable!)
    • who cares for the carers? how volunteers Preventing burnout needs to be on top of the list (Alex wrote a great post )
    • different projects seldom build on each other to meet different needs of Those on the move , from access to basic security, to nurturing social life, to empowering technology? (Luisa makes a case for public spaces as substitutes for home )
    • few to none solutions are there to deal with the ""chaos in the system"" brought` about a politicized, stigmatizing debate on one side, and unfit welfare infrastructures on the other: ""How does a clinic in Brixton cope with a situation in cui you have five hundred people who have just walked to Calais and have broken feet ... In addition to the epidemiological situation? ""(also see Woodbine's view on health autonomy alternatives as)
    As part of our preparations for the Openvillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem. By October 19-21 we aim to:
    • Engage existing Initiatives in telling about the practical challenges they are facing
    • Validate them through open discussion, both online and offline, to understand the full scope of how alternative care systems are coanon3606750899g with the needs of people on the move
    • Demonstrate / Exhibit projects and concepts in a format immediately useful to practitioners, economists, policymakers and any interested parties working on similar grounds.

    How you can contribute:

    1. Explore the stories others have shared and leave thoughtful comments.
    2. Tell us about your own care-related experiences and projects. Where are some things you have tried to do in the past, what are you doing now.
    3. Build a proposal for a demo session / exhibition at Openvillage. You will deliver a practical, hands-on showcase of a project connected to migrant care. Tell us what support do you need to make it happen?
    Open a new document and write down what you are doing or have learned. Do not worry about getting it ""right"" in any way - this is a no judgment space. When ready, upload your contribution through the ""add new topic"". Good for you: When you post you will get a ticket to Openvillage: Meet the OpenCarers . Good for everyone: Your input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report Which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century. " 1,48879,2017-07-10T18:33:00.000Z,48879,,,"_(This is the former topic ""About the Maker In Residence at WeMake category"".)_ ## Hello, maker! Here is where you can apply to opencare's Maker In Residence programme. It is a funded programme to enable creators to boost their project, prototype or concept idea by working on site at WeMake in Milan. For details please check the Call For Makers. ### How to apply The application process will require 15 to 20 minutes. Before you start be sure you can provide personal data of all the applicants and can provide in-depth description and media about your concept / project. Step 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account Step 2 - go to Add my story button at the bottom of this page and write about your project:
    1. First tick the second answer for both the opening questions
    2. Add the name of your project and upload a relevant picture (photo of the prototype if existing / render / a picture that tells more about the context)
    3. Contribute the description of your project or idea in the form. We suggest to copy/paste the template below in the Story section to guide you through the writing (* mandatory fields)
      • Tweet-like description of the project
      • Need or problem you are attempting to solve*
      • Beneficiary, single person and/or community*
      • Solution, brief description of the project*
      • Technologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt*
      • Website (or socials)
      • License, that you are planning to use
      • Current status/stage of the project. Considering your project, please point out the project stages that you have already accomplished. [Consider the following as a blueprint to guide you during the description]*
        • Discovering
          • Observing the context
          • Gaining insights
          • Defining the problem
        • Defining
          • Exploring solutions
          • Ideating a concept
          • Sketching the solution
        • Develoanon3606750899g
          • Building and testing prototype
          • Technical revision
          • Usability testing
        • Delivering
          • Finalizing product/service
          • Final delivery
          • Line production
    4. Choose the Channel(s) suited to your project
    5. It is not mandatory to add all the other details
    Step 3 - follow this link and fill the form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22" 1,48876,2017-07-10T18:33:00.000Z,48876,,,"This exercise is an opportunity to reflect on what you skills would like to develop in the course of building a product or service with others. As well as which skills you can offer those who could use a little help. Share a little information with your peers about yourself and what you especially enjoy doing. You don't need to be an expert, a little experience is enough. Think about what something you would like to learn. Have a look at the list below. Think about
    1. Woodwork
    2. Metalwork
    3. Ceramics/Porcelain work
    4. 3-d/CAD construction/ Solidworks/Rhino
    5. Drawing, Sketching
    6. Photoshop/ Indesign/ Illustrator
    7. Photography
    8. Graphic design
    9. Illustration
    10. Animation
    11. Motion graphics
    12. Interface design
    13. Audio/visual production (Video + editing)
    14. Copywriting
    15. Dramaturgy
    16. Scenography
    17. Conducting interviews
    18. Business strategy and planning
    19. Business models
    20. Marketing
    21. Sales
    22. Frontend programming
    23. Backend programming
    24. Project management
    25. Community building and management
    26. Translation: German-English | English-German
    " 2,35893,2017-09-10T09:00:30.550Z,48876,anon1227671133,,"molecular microbiology and project management plus language polishing are my key professional skills... (includes teaching and analyses, the bio) But, everyone used to think I could make it in radio or theater. :slight_smile:" 3,37942,2017-10-09T12:26:50.405Z,48876,anon1138232662,,"Hey folks, I don't build products, but I'm totally in support of folks sharing skills with one another. Specialization is useful, but within group settings it can also induce imbanon3760936673ces in power. For this reason, it is important that skills (and therefore also the roles associated with them) are shared and rotated. Personally, I have an interest in consensus-building, facilitation, and conflict resolution. I'd be happy to share knowledge or resources on the topic of communication strategies and group process. If anyone is interested in this, feel free to get in touch with PMS. anon1138232662@anon Knowledge is for sharing not owning! <3" 1,882,2017-07-10T09:59:11.000Z,882,anon413297907,anon413297907,"Hello, here is an update about the other research track of the open rampette project: the procedure. You should be familiar with Dioniso and Minerva by now (Dioniso representing the desires and issues of people with reduced mobility willing to enter a shop and Minerva representing all the shop owners that want to welcome everyone in their shops). Dioniso might wonder what is actually Minerva doing to make her space accessible to everyone while designers @anon Unfortunately Minerva cannot just buy a ramp and a doorbell, she needs to follow a bureaucratic procedure to let the Municipality of Milan check:
    • The size and attributes of the ramp are correct
    • If it’s possible to position the ramp in front of the shop without compromising the use of the sidewalk
    • And more specific regulations…
      The procedure is not exactly straightforward, so we set up a public meeting where we asked shop owners of the Isola neighborhood in Milan (our Minervas) to try completing the procedure under our own eyes, as you can see from the follow-up post at this link.   We received good insights that led us to the preparation of user interviews to be ran with shop owners at their shops. “It’s not easy to understand when it’s necessary to turn to a professional…” “It’s hard to get the info about the size of the ramp, length, width and inclination. How do I calculate that? How do I know my calculation is correct?”   We checked their own specific situations and asked questions like:
    • How did you receive the information that you had to follow a regulation procedure?
    • Have you ever seen the procedure?
    • Did you try following the procedure on your own or you asked a professional to do the work for you?
    • Were you able to understand what the procedure was asking and were you able to find that data?
      Planning and running interviews was a lot of work but it also was extremely helpful from a design perspective. It helped us understanding a lot of nuances about the shop owners’ issues when reading and trying to fill the procedure and their needs, desires and commitment in solving the accessibility problem of their shops. “We’d love to let anyone come into our shop” “First off we will try to solve this issue on our own, and build the ramp ourselves. Only if necessary we will eventually contact a professional to do the work for us” “I think it would be great to have the possibility to fill the procedure online, maanon1932026148 on the website of the Municipality of Milan, with a tool that does the calculation while you enter your data”   Below you can see a radar chart showing the topics we covered during the interviews, any of the shapes is a representation of the profile of a shop owner we interviewed. By stacking the shapes you can see topics (issues, needs) that are more relevant (the highest relevant towards the outside of the radar).   Below you can see another chart that re-thinks the Minerva profile we initially invented, adding the real issues and needs of the shop owners we interviewed. Finally we have a real life Minerva profile that we can design a better procedure for! Why was this helpful? Because it’s only with this knowledge that we can proceed in designing a tool to make the process for regulation procedure easier. At the moment we’re using all this insights to create a prototype that we will show and test publicly in Milan on Wednesday, the 12th of July. Please come at the meeting to share with us your questions and feelings, they will be extremely helpful and needed to design a solution that better fits you. " 1,6474,2017-07-06T11:45:49.000Z,6474,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Notes from our community call 5th July. Present: Gehan, Winnie, Frank, Costantino, Fabio, Bernard, Jason, Noemi, Owen, John Coate Constantino, WeMake in Milano - in opencare are working with the City to organise design workshops and now they are running Makers in Residency program to prototype care products Breathing Games team - 4 people; working on tech to control lung capacity and games for respiratory diseases; residents at WeMake and running one of the more advanced proj in the residency program Bernard: engineer, working as technician; doing calibration of sensors Fabio: in the beginning they were only working on the pressure sensor, then figured they also need to measure the flow, the incoming pressure; worked in Geneva Team’s experience: distributed teams; managing collaborations online - offline to advance fast development and engage more people - http://anon628128301.net/?q=en Jason, University of Bordeaux - works with Guy, Bruno, Luce; they provide expertise in visualization for the opencare conversations. Platform that allows you to look at all the information on Edgeryders. Frank @anon Living together: Community as a mental health treatment - building community as a response to a need, esp in the US where there is overarching anxiety around precarity. To contradict that with the corporate welness model - self care. Winnie - citizen science theme. For the Festival - looking at different aspects, distill common learning on things such as - how to do it better, sharing of knowledge, funding etc. Owen - social media, pushing out stories, creating imagery and banners John - US Independence Day…. US is in an identity crisis, very conflicting visions, how and what we should get paid for, v hard not to pay attention to the national dialogue thats going on right now. When I first thought about the math models about how many people there were in the world and how much resources there were - I remember thinking wow, I wonder what that’s going to be like! Well here we are. That’s why I’m in this community.

    Coming up next weeks: Brief tours of GraphRyder

    Jason took us on a quick tour.. here is the live dashboard.
    • Next up: Online demos for members of the community to explore this as a tool. Feedback will help to create online tutorial. This will form the basis of a session at the Open Village where members can ‘play’ with the tool and then Amelia will provide more of an overview of the findings.
    • @anon

    Looking for more contributions and ideas for session on Funding: What would people find useful around how do we pull in the resources?

    Interested? Leave a comment below or participate here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/openvillage-coordination/open-village-session-sustainability-funding Frank - some people at Woodbine have been studying things like cryptocurrency etc and can feed in ideas about possible contributors. John - we all have this kind of experience, been to a lot of events and seen a lot of panels. People want to get funded and people with the expertise to help them to do that. If we do bring in ‘experts’ they would be people who are very good at conversing with people about their specific situation - almost brainstorming. Suppose it’s like last year - varying levels of expertise. What is the main thing people want to come away with? OpenCare itself is a really complicated funding model. Gehan: Funding is one strategy - but starting from the need question is crucial: what do we need to be able to sustain ourselves and our work? That opens up more radical strategies for exploration. Costantino: For fablabs, 3 funding channels:
    1. Membership fees
    2. Educational projects and programs
    3. Technical consultancy for research and development. Various topics: e.g. fashion, steam, philanthropic activity, coding, care
    Mixed revenue stream is important strategy for financial sustainability. Breathing Games: Interest in the open money. Optimisation of resources - where are they and who can access them. We have 2 major problems: 1 is the copyright which creates competition between people and doesn’t allow us to innovate; 2 is the economic system which allows appropriation of the resources by the few. It seems the current monetary system doesn’t provide resources for citizen science. Use local money. When you want to use the machine. Working for a not-for-profit association. Using many skills and volunteer time. We have a game where you can try transaction - based on gift, mutual credit and so on. You can see how much you can create in each system. Copyright & economic system - which values competition and appropriation of resources for a few. See Open Source Everything manifesto from last year." 2,7351,2017-07-09T12:43:45.000Z,6474,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Ping Yannick Maanon1932026148 something for you along the lines of what we discussed @anon " 1,6409,2017-06-14T14:58:04.000Z,6409,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Hello,  I updated the OpenVillage Fest program page. So far we have two community curators handling two key themes which emerged out of opencare conversations throuhgout last year: 1. Architectures of Love: Creating the conditions for open care led by @anon 2. Open Science and Citizen Science for more inclusive healthcare led by @anon Next up: 3. ""Living and Working Well Together"" : highly relevant, this emerges at the intersection of building physical spaces for coliving/coworking and ensuring wellbeing in community. I titled it in honor of @anon281534083 's recent blog posts (thanks!!). 

    What we need over the next week

    We need a good outline for the theme + fitting sessions. I tentatively assign this task to Woodbine because it seems this is up their street. More than a space where for co-habitation or learning together, they are involved in running a place where activities are directed at providing care - preventative, through peer learning and building capacity which system healthcare lacks. The sessions, demos and panels can be built from the following key stories (.. and more out there, not yet on edgeryders!):

    How to curate a theme?

    Process and instructions for curators are here. Taking on this task gets you a Full Pass to the festival and potentially a Fellowship. Guys, let me know what you think? The rest of us, can we spread the word?  " 2,9836,2017-06-14T15:00:22.000Z,6409,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Themes.. @anon Each theme page should provide more info.. Could use more help though.. " 3,15829,2017-06-25T20:15:05.000Z,6409,anon3670751854,anon1491650132,"Looks great Hey, Like the ideas!  We'll get to work on catching up and thinking about the curation.   Frank " 4,17113,2017-07-07T12:14:20.000Z,15829,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"How stories can become sessions? @anon " 1,6459,2017-06-30T15:45:52.000Z,6459,anon2954219769,anon2954219769," In April 2017 I was selected as an OpenCare Community Fellow by SCimPULSE Foundation and Edgeryders. The goal: curate a theme on citizen and open science at the OpenVillage Festival on October 19-21. This series of blogs is an ongoing report. June has been an instructive and productive month. The OpenVillage program is becoming concrete, my own learning is accelerating and the projects I’m involved in are going through a transition phase.

    Shaanon3606750899g a program

    The OpenVillage program I had in mind when starting my curation task has completely changed and keeps doing so. Well, yes and no. The people and projects come and go, however the questions remain the same. We really are all in the same boat when it comes to the obstacles we face. Olivier from echOpen summed up their issues in a conversation we had. They nicely cover most obstacles:
    • How to put everyone together productively without eg. 2 people having to work full time? Two aspects: community management and information sharing.
    • Legal frameworks and patents. How to make things reusable for everyone regarding regulatory and patent framework?
    • Reliability and safety. How can you ensure that the community with its contributions (the sum of all) are good quality and safe?
    • Economic model. We have no capital, no investors, no shares. We use other channels like foundation money, but this is not sustainable. How do you sustain a project?
    These have been the issues of many open.citizen science projects, including ones I am involved in. Even beyond citizen.open science this is true. On June 28th we had a community call to discuss common threads across the themes at the festival. Focus points will be funding and funding policies and coordination overhead. There is however another issue that many of us don’t think of immediately. It takes a more long term perspective: funding policy. The DIY Science Network seeks to address this, as separate projects most often don’t have the time, network or expertise to invest. Through conversations with Lucy Patterson, two questions emerged:
    • How do we encourage funders to support DIY science initiatives now?
    • And, longer term, how can we foster a funding culture that is supportive of non-institutional science?
    The DIY Science Network will work on these questions over the summer, at the OpenVillage Festival and hopefully long after that. These are just some of the sessions that have taken shape in the last weeks. At the moment, the sessions in the theme look like this.

    Learning

    Meanwhile, my learning path is gratifying. I’m getting a better feel of the field by talking to a diverse set of people, getting out there at different events and synthesizing what I see and hear in posts like this. For my curation work, it has been important: I ask better questions. While buried in the daily tasks of keeanon3606750899g a project afloat, this would have been impossible. Another rich learning aspect is my involvement in the Open Insulin project. I experience the dynamics, obstacles and opportunities in a complex citizen science project firsthand, much more explicit than in any project I have done before. The lessons have not fully formed yet, but my initial assumptions have certainly been challenged. I hope to clear this out in the next months and report on it. Anthony pointed out one of the aspects in a preparation call for his session at OpenVillage. No one in the team has the time to put into organising or documenting information. So with people dropanon3606750899g in and out (especially experts), knowledge gets lost easily. Counter Culture Labs has made efforts in finding a solution, such as involving an organisational expert, yet without lasting effects. With global collaboration on Open Insulin taking off, this becomes a necessary improvement. Luckily for CCL, it does not cause much trouble within their team. It is a relatively minor obstacle they have at the moment.

    Transition dynamics

    The projects I am involved in (ReaGent, Ekoli & Break it Down) are going through transition phases. This requires us to take a step back and deconstruct what we’re doing. It comes at a good time when I’m doing such in depth work with other, often similar projects for OpenVillage. We break down many of the processes that we have, eg. logistics for running the lab space as a community, with the purpose of building new ones. This process unearths dynamics that would otherwise be harder to spot for the community, such as the difference between being an open lab and being a shared lab. And then what that means for being an open, shared lab. Mid June we had a workshop with the ReaGent team to look closer at our strategy and implementation for the shared lab space. It was fruitful and is the first of several sessions this summer across our organisations to get everyone aligned. In our next location, the financial pressure from the rent will be higher. We need to prepare. Set up our business models and synergies between all organisations. Design the next iteration for resilience.   In July I’m attending a Biohackathon in Waag in Amsterdam, where I’ll meet many protagonists in citizen.open science & DIYbio. Over the next weeks, we’re also moving into logistic planning for the sessions at the festival and picking up communication efforts. This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation. " 2,7127,2017-07-07T09:37:30.000Z,6459,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"""We have no capital, no investors, no shares."" For me, seeing you guys at work it's been highly rewarding: fairly technical projects requiring hard skills are crossing over to ask fuller questions re: sustainability whose answers can only become a common resource for those of us struggling with the same. @anon628128301 the four obstacles lined up above are something to include in your session description I believe - for the discussion after. " 1,6467,2017-07-04T16:22:08.000Z,6467,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Hi all, some info for the meeting tomorrow. @anon1746600840 has received the plasmid samples (they're in her freezer!) + we got the vector maps and @anon Hope to see you there! " 2,6726,2017-07-05T12:01:17.000Z,6467,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"8pm @anon Forgot to add! " 3,14093,2017-07-05T12:03:58.000Z,6467,anon2696739629,anon2954219769,"@anon " 4,19814,2017-07-06T13:21:31.000Z,6467,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes July 5th Notes from yesterday:
    • Are we going to make our own competent cells of buy them? Usually the quality of the cells is higher when you buy them.  We didn’t get much DNA, so it might be best to buy competent cells. The protocol to make them would take +-2 days. We’ll check with the lab if we can do that: timing for using lab, if we can use & buy materials from them, when we meet first time.
    • Winnie will find out the concentration of the plasmids, so we know how much to use.
    • We’ll consider the transformation and first production with these plasmids as an orientation phase, and then move on to working with yeast. Legally, for injecting the medicine, it cannot be produced by a bacteria.
    • This means we’ll look specifically for expertise on protein expression in yeast and industrial biotechnology to develop a new construct and protocol.
    • Let’s take some pictures of the lab work we’ll do from now on for getting the communication going when we’ve confirmed the plasmids work and have produced some proinsulin.
    " 5,23500,2017-07-06T13:35:16.000Z,6467,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"And news about the lab We're visiting the lab where we can do the work on the 2nd of August at 7pm (the professor is on holiday til then). Who's up for joining? " 6,26692,2017-07-06T15:46:06.000Z,6467,anon1746600840,anon2954219769,"Lab visit Count me in! " 1,6462,2017-07-01T18:12:01.000Z,6462,anon1701267031,anon1701267031," In an interview with Open Democracy, Birgitta Jónsdóttir of Iceland’s Pirate Party mentions starting “...to talk about [things] at times when it still seems weird.” There is something about weird conversations that tell you that you’re in new territory. The first four weeks of my time as an OpenCare Community Fellow has been made up of those kinds of conversations both off and online. Given that this involves curating a theme in response to a challenge as huge as welfare system failure across Europe perhaps this was to be expected. It’s a complex issue that demands new insights, new perspectives and where better to draw these from than the web of connections between grassroots engaged activity that is often taking place persistently and having to learn and adapt unendingly - just to sustain itself. My early encounters with the Edgreryders platform, I’ll be honest, have been confusing. That said there is something in this that reflects the incredible diversity of the members and their contributions. Engaging with this complexity requires a new set of skills and senses. Absorb, stumble, unravel, gather. It is at times frustrating - it’s at odds with standard linear project trajectories and ways of working. So perhaps I’m simply experiencing the necessary pain we all encounter as we grow the inner muscles and capacities to cope with the complexity at the edge of wicked problems. It also feels necessarily a slow process of absorption before I can begin to synthesise and produce.   It’s unsettling and creates some vulnerability. But in being open to the confusion and discomfort - I sense I’m creating space for something new. This is my learning. I’m open to being challenged by as well as offering challenges to all I’m encountering - I guess this is a process of peer validation.    Conversations over the first month have helped to refine the theme from how I’d originally outlined it. This now focuses in more on insights from citizen-led responses to illuminate the enabling factors that support our natural impulses as human beings to take care of ourselves and one another. These insights will shape how we understand the kind of conditions that grow and sustain grassroots care initiatives. They will help to define the ‘microclimates’ that animate or inhibit this kind of self organised activity. My intention is that this will start to inform how we understand the role of policy in the more disbursed ecology of care called for in response to growing health needs.   Enabling factors Conversations started to anon3606750899point some of these enabling factors:
    • Enspiral’s stewarding circle;
    • Network reciprocity, mutuality, shared values;
    • Mental and spiritual well being such as that fostered by @anon
    • Experiences that create sense of self - being in relationship with others and the world - so beautifully captured in this quote from Abiba Birhane; “being happens in the space between the self and the world” in a link shared by @anon4116418727;
    Simon (@anon2591396734) suggested a useful categorisation for enabling factors that I’ve amended slightly using insights from others:
    1. The skills, awarenesses, competences, knowledge and practices of individuals;
    2. The designed environment, including public spaces and communal spaces;
    3. Values and a culture of care;
    4. The designed opportunities for interaction, engagement, collaboration;
    5. Commons of all kinds, material sufficiency.
    Coming across @anon   Simon makes another interesting point - that these kind of skills are “not learned, [rather] picked up from living in a culture where they are norms, through a process you could call ‘enculturation’.”    The fourth category connects with what Dougie Strang of Dark Mountain referred to during our chat as ‘deep encounters’ and this is something that I'm keen to explore further. How do we facilitate these kind of experiences? Might this be one mode of Simon's 'enculturation'?  (This might be worth a separate blog post...)   Roles & responsibilities All interesting insights on which to build. Another area that is opening up through these conversations starts to re-evaluate the relationship between citizens and the State. State care responses are dependent on and delivered by institutions designed and built in a different era and on a different world view. Consideration of citizen-led care responses will take us into a process of renegotiating the roles and responsibilities of the citizen and the state.  A number of threads of conversation touched on this issue of responsibility. @anon Early considerations on role of policy Where policy sits in relation to this also came up in conversation. Simon commented that “misguided policy can be worse than no policy” and we agreed that this wasn’t to dismiss the efforts of policymakers altogether. Policy is by its nature ‘top-down’ and in conversation with @anon   Over the coming months and through the Open Village program, more of these conversations and questions will refine an understanding of the enabling factors for OpenCare - drawing largely on the multitude of posts by the Edgeryders community that detail real life experience and precious lessons learned about what works and what doesn't work. In the process clues will be gathered that start to deconstruct policy and re-imagine new tools that are more generative in relation to the health and wellbeing of citizens. And beyond this perhaps how we reconfigure the role of the State to re-calibrate responsibility and the role of citizens in ways that create greater agency as a foundation to health. " 2,10437,2017-07-03T09:05:14.000Z,6462,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"Good opening! Thank you @anon1701267031 for this stimulating reflection, and for the mentions. I identify with the great challenge of knowing how to orient ourselves and act in the larger picture, beyond what we are already doing in our own smaller contexts. But even just describing the threads helps us to recognise our belonging to the same fabric, and to weave more connections over time. " 3,16896,2017-07-03T16:54:31.000Z,6462,anon1681188173,anon1701267031,"Great summary @anon And I remember that conversation about the 'poli-words', and also of the need to capture insights, spontaneous sharings and maps of meaning that come up in informal contexts, in conversations among friends, that can often be ephemeral if not documented: I recall we had a good conversation after an Edgeryders community call some weeks ago where we found the words to express things better after the call had ended- I remember a great riff you had about 'chaordic' ways of working.   " 4,18134,2017-07-04T10:25:27.000Z,16896,anon1491650132,anon1681188173,"""chaordic"" ways of working Nice way of putting it.. I assume it refers to the non-linearity and coanon3606750899g with complexity which Gehan mentions. Feel free to expand on that - it will help those of us primarily tasked with infusing some sense of orderly process around here :-) " 5,18142,2017-07-04T19:47:00.000Z,18134,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"working with chaos and order Its an idea I came across through Art of Hosting that I found useful (though other AoH methods made me feel a bit 'spiky') It talks about the different qualities of chaos and order. On both sides is death - left of chaos, complete break down - to the right of order death through stagnation. Chaos is creative but the paint never dries, it's impossible to form anything lasting. Order is the about maintaining, ryhthm, routine - it has its place. The overlap between chaos and order is the most productive space for innovation and emergence. I think its useful because it's about considering what's needed in any given situation. " 6,18597,2017-07-06T09:42:13.000Z,18142,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Staying there for longer.. I wonder if this phase can last for long enough that it becomes somewhat a given and acknowlegded in the organisational culture - that would make people working on-and-off feel more at ease and able to find a role that is creative and autonomous instead of coanon3606750899g for the larger part :-) I guess time is of essence, and communicating the best we can.  Later on, organisation growth comes with its own (and other) strings attached which can easily compromise out-of-the-box creativity levels. Maanon1932026148 this is a useful framework to bring about at the session on organisations' sustainability, governance. " 7,19020,2017-07-06T11:43:51.000Z,18142,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"Visuals make it clear Thanks for those visuals @anon I'm a fan of using this framework for something more " 8,19042,2017-07-06T13:33:00.000Z,19020,anon1701267031,anon2954219769,"yes, and... ... what I've taken from it also relates to the point about burn out. The space between chaos and order is what to cultivate to innovate. But we don't what to expend our energy reinventing the wheel. When we have found stuff we want to maintain - shift it a little to the right - find routines and rythms - sustain it. Like a bike - if its working you want to maintain it. You don't want to be designing new components constantly.  This is also a high octane space, it can be fast. We need to enter it to create new and innovative stuff but it is also exhausting.  How does that land? " 9,19057,2017-07-06T13:43:11.000Z,19042,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"Same observations And shifting to the right in practice for us meant develoanon3606750899g sustainable financial models. Largely in two ways: commodifying what came out of our own chaos and getting paid to invent new things for other people (creating some chaos in their world). " 10,19609,2017-07-04T10:46:02.000Z,6462,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Transitioning from one role to the other Thanks @anon In your theme, I am most curious about how communities which nurture those enabling conditions can move on to leverage them into bigger arenas (Bernard's tales from Galway, or the incredible potential of @anon " 11,21670,2017-07-04T20:16:07.000Z,19609,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"Yes - both! That's it - ""identify microclimates and bottom up organising at the same as distilling policy implications"". That is the direction I hope the theme will take us in! Bigger arenas is another interesting dimension and I'd hope that by identifying the enabling factors this will be like knowing what ingredients are needed no matter the size of the pot! Healthy growth for wider impact would be a goal. Looking forward to more shared insights on these topics!  " 12,23370,2017-07-04T19:46:30.000Z,6462,anon1681188173,anon1701267031,"@anon And here is a useful page on the P2PF wiki: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Chaordic_Organizations_-_Characteristics Quote: Chaordic organisations are: • Are based on clarity of shared purpose and principles. • Are self-organizing and self-governing in whole and in part. • Exist primarily to enable their constituent parts. • Are powered from the periphery, unified from the core. • Are durable in purpose and principle, malleable in form and function. • Equitably distribute power, rights, responsibility and rewards. • Harmoniously combine cooperation and competition. • Learn, adapt and innovate in ever expanding cycles. • Are compatible with the human spirit and the biosphere. • Liberate and amplify anon1056199097nuity, initiative and judgment. • Are compatible with and foster diversity, complexity and change. • Constructively utilize and harmonize conflict and paradox. • Restrain and appropriately embed command and control methods. Sounds very Edgeryders! " 1,878,2017-07-04T17:35:22.000Z,878,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"Hello we are Monica and Nicoletta Allergo Kì team project. Together with Alessandro and Costantino, from the WeMake - OpenCare MIR team, we explored the main steps of the Agile Planning, which made us able to focus more on our project. We had already heard about the Agile methodology and on this occasion we tested it. 01_Why are we here After a brief brainstorming we realized that we are here to WeMake for these 3 reasons: \# 1_ We want people with food allergies to eat out without problems. \# 2_ Exchange and share ideas on the topic of food allergies. \# 3_ Realize our idea 02_The elevator pitch For people who are diagnosed with an allergy or intolerance in adulthood. Who These people experience trauma because they have to change their eating habits. In addition to physical illness, food allergy also causes psychological problems causing significant trauma and further pathologies such as neurosis and depression. The AllergoKi is an integrated communication project to help people with food allergies to eat out without problems. Not as it is today in restaurants. Our project, providing visual media, wants to create a channel for effective communication between restaurateurs and people with food allergies. 03_The Not list During the meeting we decided not to develop: the search engine and mobile app. 04_Meet you neighbours We wrote down a list of the “actors”: - People with food allergies Associations (parents, sick person, trainers ) - Restaurateurs (waiters, providers) friend and collegues 05_ What keeps us up at night: \# 1 Block Project: impossibility to continue planning \# 2 Find the ""right"" communication channel among the main actors \# 3 Restaurateurs not interested in the project 06_Size it up (time planning) " 1,757,2016-09-20T15:54:04.000Z,757,anon3638964947,anon3638964947,"‘What people experiencing mental health difficulties need most is to be shown compassion, empathy, a voice, to be listened to, to be believed in, somewhere to go where they will be given hope of a more meaningful life.’ Cosáin Community Wellness is a recent initiative to develop a peer-led community-based support system for people with emotional distress and mental health issues, and to promote wellness for all. Cosáin is the Irish word for ‘pathways', reflecting our belief in different paths not single roads, and the guidance, wisdom and support that we can find in the stories of each others individual journeys. All quotes within this article are from research performed by Galway Mental Health Services Consumer Panel, the local representative body of mental health service users for the geographic region. GMHSCP advocates for supports and services which are fit for purpose from the perspective of service users, and the integration of users of services into the design,  development and delivery of services, working in partnership with the Irish Health Services (HSE) based on the value of our lived experience of current systems of care, and the evidence of our own healing processes. ‘The most effective help I have experienced over the years, having had years of medication, psychotherapy, hospitalisation, is the support of peers, where I am treated as normal, with kindness, not judged, and not expected to conform to the medical model of treatment.’ Where progress was slow or absent within the system, we took it upon ourselves to prototype and demonstrate how necessary supports could be delivered in partnership and collaboration between health providers, community groups, and local authorities based on a cooperative ethos of mutual support. We believe our approach will be of value and benefit because ‘it's a community based project concerned with 'well-being' which is preparing fertile ground for the empowerment and transformation of people, individually and as a group. It's organic growth reflects the personalities and desires of the people involved, making it of and for the people.’ Our belief is that properly resourced and equipped communities can provide more effective intervention in cases of crisis, care in a more person-centred and human manner, and both at a lower cost than the dominant acute-oriented, clinical and biomedical approaches. We believe that only approaches that are grounded in local communities and emerge from their dreams and aspirations can meet the needs which we are presented with in the time that we have. ‘My experience of large organisations is that the individual gets lost in the system and become just another number… I’m sick and tired of waiting for the HSE to offer people the support they want’ We also believe that the act of mutual support is amongst the most therapeutic of acts, transforming relationships from ones of being a recipient and subject of care, to a space of autonomy, collective development, peer provision and mutual reliance that involves people in generating their own solutions. ‘Being with people who are doing whatever we can to have our lives the way we want them, seeing the evidence that people can succeed, that we can make a difference – all this has a positive effect on my own mental health, self-esteem and my ability to shape my life the way I want it.’ We developed our initiative over the course of the Galway 2020 Bid process, using  participatory design exercises that brought together a range of groups and individuals including independent therapists, health professionals, service users and patients, and other interested parties who are seeking to develop new models of community-based health promotion and care. We then used the blank canvas of a disused city building, visioning and combining elements of artspace, green makerspace, and wellness supports that were brought together using the concept of an integrated cultural and community hub. During this time we came into contact with EdgeRyders and the Opencare research project, and welcomed the opportunity to form productive partnerships at European level with groups and initiatives with similar ethos. Our current operating model exists with the support of Galway City Museum, who have provided us with the use of a room one day a week for prototyanon3606750899g and co-design. This is taking place as part of the Galway City Cultural Strategy, which seeks to use  cultural resources and infrastructure for wellness supports and public health. These sessions were an extension of the earlier co-design process, deployed in a real-life environment for feedback from stakeholders and re-design. Our sessions to date have included artistic and creative process, peer support and educational sessions, based on the demand from service users.  Currently delivered on a volunteer basis for proof of concept, our intent is to progress towards a cultural space and ‘crisis cafe’ on a social enterprise model, with a welcoming cafe-type front-of-house drop-in space that can be used as an open studio and learning space, with a supportive backstage of more intensive interventions, therapies and supports for those people in emotional distress. Our model is grounded in the value and authenticity of provision of supports and services that are delivered by people with the direct personal experience of the situations in question, and the expressed need based on our research for appropriate creative outlets that support emotional wellbeing and generate meaning and community for the participants. ‘in Irish culture mental health tends to be seen as a failing by an individual, of an individual, in an individual. This attitude views the natural processes of emotional distress and recovery through a lens of pathology, individualised blame, guilt and shame. In contrast, rather than attempt to seek what Zygmunt Bauman called ‘individual solutions to collective problems’, an impossible task, we felt the need for the sake of our collective sanity, to use an approach based on collective support and interdependence. Our story is just beginning. " 2,6901,2016-09-20T16:26:32.000Z,757,anon1491650132,anon3638964947,"""mutual support is amongst the most therapeutic of acts"" This. Over and over again.  I'm an avid supporter of Cosain and look forward to returning to Galway soon! <3 " 3,15044,2016-09-23T11:01:43.000Z,757,anon1526983854,anon3638964947,"Unlikely allies So, what we have here is:
    • A peer-to-peer support group of mental health patients and caregivers.
    • Which formed with the idea to give out recommendations for improving HSE (state-provided) services.
    • But which ended up having to take on the role of innovators and start prototyanon3606750899g stuff, as institutional response was slow.
    • And reconfigured itself in the context of the process through which Galway has re-invented itself to bid (successfully) for European Capital of Culture 2020.
    • With its main ally so far being not a hospital or a clinic, but an Arts Museum. 
    It is paradoxical and completely logical at once! I guess, in its own way, this is fairly typical of the idiosyncratic paths taken by communities of care. You work with the tools you find lying around, and they might be highly specific of your place and time.  ECOC processes have one thing going for them: they do encourage everyone in the bidding city to think as a local community, like a piece of a local system. Maanon1932026148 it made it more natural for a group interested in mental health issues and an arts museum to form an alliance.  " 4,21632,2016-10-03T16:13:00.000Z,757,anon1491650132,anon3638964947,"Sharing experiences between Ireland, Greece and other places @anon For reference, MAZI's story also makes a compelling case for peer support groups and they run these gatherings in both Athens and Thessaloniki. It seems to me they also have had some successes with funding coming in. " 5,24214,2017-05-02T14:37:16.000Z,757,anon722012516,anon3638964947,"WOW! Wow! @anon " 6,26046,2017-07-03T16:28:14.000Z,757,anon3670751854,anon3638964947,"Great ways of using systems Thanks for this post!  Just getting around to reading it and impressed with the scope and vision.  The idea of the ""crisis cafe"" is very similar to what we have been thinking about in Woodbine.  How can we begin to view mental health  issues not as a failure of the individual necesitating treatment but rather as a symptom of an unmet need.  And then using our spaces and fostering the manipulation of other resources to meet that need.  Keep up the great work and looking forward to hearing how it progresses.   " 1,868,2017-06-19T06:06:02.000Z,868,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"Makers in residence are supposed to deliver and publish on the web the output of their experience at WeMake. Finding the right way to record and develop a innovative and open experience seemed therefore a matter of concern in designing the opencare MIR program. During the last weeks GitHub, a social network for developers, became a obliged point of passage for some people at WeMake. Github allows to create repositories, communities and webpages (gh_pages), among the main features. Putting a project on github makes possibile for members to contribute remotely and for anyone to view and download it. Not only makers, but some service designers involved had to take class on GitHub as well. The idea was to instruct participants and support them to create by github repositories and pages. Although github is very known and used, not everybody there at WeMake is familiar with it. I've been knowing Github for some years, but is interesting to follow conversations and see how different persons see and use it. " 2,10455,2017-07-03T10:01:05.000Z,868,anon628128301,anon3341622463,"GitHub is NOT open source, use GitLab The intention is good, but GitHub is not an open source tool. I suggest to use GitLab, which includes an issue management tool. GitLab also acquired Gitter which is an unlimited equivalent of Slack. Different website exist that give free/libre and open source alternatives to proprietary code, such as FramaSoft. " 1,877,2017-07-03T09:44:22.000Z,877,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Our OpenCare residence at WeMake Milan is moving forward! We have been building and testing different sensors to mesure the pressure and flow, using 3d printing, Adafruit electronics, and other elements. More in our main document. Feel free to contact us to contribute! Breathing Games is a member of the Open Source Initiative. Read our previous posts " 1,6455,2017-06-29T21:58:27.000Z,6455,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"I am putting together a 6 page handout with a synthesis of the festival - focus is on opencare research and the festival contents. This follows an increasing need to do storytelling around what we are building and equip ourselves with resources we can hand out to those we engage. See and make suggestions/ edits here?  @anon Anyone interested, feel free to chip in! " 1,874,2017-06-29T11:47:56.000Z,874,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"Yesterday, during the Opencare Consortium meeting in Bordeaux, Costantino from WeMake presented and answered questions about openrampette (here all the project in italian and the gitgub repository). I have been following the design, the meetings, the long discussions among designers and the public for a while. All the project is being put into delivery step by step, part by part with a lot of expertise, will for experimenting and considering all possible ways..   So, here is the full video i shot from the presentation, with a intro about the simulation of fire evacuation we had to take part the day before, as guests in the Bordeaux University. The presentation was very articulated and explaining from different points of view the steps, salients and elements that constitute the caleidoscopic design of such a challenging and useful project. In short, the project aims to redefine the roles of citizens (especially shop owners and customers on wheelchairs) in finding solutions for accessability of shops. It's technology, but also dialogue, design, but also awarenes, standards and overall people taking collective decisions. The role of the Municipality of Milan in the project is fundamental in making all this possible.  
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/ISdhijO8RmM
    " 1,872,2017-06-29T09:59:31.000Z,872,anon214847711,anon214847711,"A couple of weeks ago after collecting all the data from the public event of may 11th, we also produced an online questionnaire to better understand the user experience of a Dioniso facing the temporary ramp. You can download a summary of the responses to the questionnaire here or look at the raw data here I want to highlight here the most important insights collected:
    1. How does Dioniso recognise an accessible shop?
    Dioniso mainly focuses on the presence of ramp or the presence of the “accessibility” sticker to recognise an accessible shop. If none of those is present s/he doesn’t even bother ringing the bell and goes to a different place. “I feel comfortable shopanon3606750899g at the mall, it has no barrier and I can move around freely” Dioniso       2. How do I find an accessible shop? Sometimes Dioniso uses technological tools like Google StreetView to verify if a place is accessible before heading there and avoid unhappy surprises. “I use Google street map because it allows me to plan my experience” Dioniso      3.  How is the experience of using the doorbell to call for assistance? :-/
    • Dioniso sometimes cannot press the button, because it is badly placed or because he/she is incapable of performing the specific movement.
    • Dioniso hates waiting for someone to go out to help him out.
    • The shop owner, Minerva, doesn’t like the sound of the bell.
    • Dioniso does not understand if the call for assistance was successful (is the doorbell working or not?)
         4. Little awareness about the regulation and the accessibility issue.
    • It is important to help shop owners to go through the procedure and get a ramp providing better motivation than just giving fines.
    • Every Dioniso should be aware that s/he has the right to ask for the ramp!
      Given this precious insights we move forward to designing and prototyanon3606750899g some novel concepts that address two main issues:
    1. How can we improve the experience of calling for a temporary map?
    2. What kind of intervention is necessary to raise awareness on the shop owner about the problem?
    A second post about the concepts developed and the prototypes will follow shortly. Stay Tuned! " 1,581,2017-06-28T15:43:39.000Z,581,anon3853818059,anon3853818059,"Hi Edgeryders and opencare community! We are Sara & Mauro, reHub team. You can learn more about us and our project on our Open Call! Maker in residence at WeMake in Milan Last week we had the chance to start our residency at WeMake. Our experience will be different from those of ResQ and Breathing Games. We’ve been makers at WeMake since the makerspace opened and we will not stay overnight or work everyday for 2 weeks in a row, we will have to manage to do everything when we have the chance to meet: wednesdays and saturdays from now to august. Our first approach to the residency was with Chiara, from the opencare MIR team. She welcomed us with the MIR welcome pack and defined our first activity: Agile Planning. ResQ group already explained Agile planning steps as you can read here. So we will focus on the outcome of our planning: 1_ why are we here: During this first step Chiara asked us to write, separately, what we expect from this experience. We found out we were well aligned on our expectations. Surely our first interest is in meeting communities of people interested in trying and develoanon3606750899g with us our new prototype. 2_ the elevator pitch This step was very useful to clarify our project main aspect. The resulting sentence was: ReHub project is an online platform and open source kit that allow the monitoring of fanon1056199097rs and hand movement for athletes, rehabilitation patients and music instrument students that needs a certain and digital data to monitor the exercise. Unlike Neofect project our project is open source and open hardware. 3_ the product box Four reasons why people should use our product are:
    1. It’s opensource
    2. You can monitor and share data with who evaluates the exercise
    3. Increases the chances of exercise
    4. Historicizes the progress of therapy
    Our small advertisement to be streamed on media/social is: ReHub: Improve your hands 4_the not list During “the not list” step, together we wrote down the activities backwards, from the one necessary to deliver a finished product/service to the one we are working on. This is the result:   About the ""last activities"" we are supposed to do we focused mainly on the realization of the kit and the communication of it on the website, to renew the software 3D and organize events to promote the project. ""Earlier activities"" involves technical issues like sensors testing and pcb develoanon3606750899g, textile sampling and digital pattern development for the glove. Our interest is also directed to communities: physiotherapists and their patients, but also other people interest into the hand movements and their monitoring. Project plan and business plan are also 2 main activities we are not able to face with our knowledge, so we will need help also on those activities. Chiara’s scheme helped us define the priorities of the activities we defined: We decided to develop first what we defined as “earlier activities” and leave our “last activities” after the MIR. 5_ meet your neighbours Here we define the communities we would like to meet during our MIR. Physiotherapists and patients, but also Communities of makers, designers, web developer and electronic experts. 6_ What keep us up at night Our biggest threat is time. Also lack of money and specific knowledge are our nightmares. 7_ Size it up (Time planning) Together with Chiara, that helped us with our long term calendar, we defined when and what kind of activity we are supposed to do during our MIR. Soon more updates about our work at WeMake- opencare MIR! Sara & Mauro " 2,9266,2016-11-03T01:02:27.000Z,551,anon1526983854,,"Great stuff! Wow, this is really really cool. Have you tried doing ethnography on it? @anon " 3,16270,2017-06-28T09:59:41.000Z,551,anon1277226854,,"Missed this somehow But, in light of the collaboration with Anders this week, @anon " 1,849,2017-05-24T00:22:06.000Z,849,anon1790353549,anon1790353549,"In Cameroon, parent children discussion on sex education is a taboo. When ever an adolescent brings up a topic around  reproductive health or sex  education, they are usually severely punished  and regarded as been disrespectful to their elders. Due to this absence of discussion on sex education, many adolescent young girls face lots of challenges and stigma at their puberty stage, especially during menstruation.Most parents in Cameroon especially in the rural and grassroots areas, don't know that they have to provide pads for their girl children during menstruation. They don't even give their girls advice when these children even summon a little courage to inform them that something abnormal is happening with them .According to many parents, these children are very immature and still very young to be able to handle understand and process issues on puberty , reproductive health and menstruation. Because of this lack of discussion between parents and children on sex education, many of these girls, during menstruation are forced to stay away from school because of stigma from boys who often notice blood stains on their uniforms and also the unpleasant odor which  cames out of the bodies as a result.  Their staying away from school, makes them not to be performant as they ought to be like the boys and this plays a key role for their poor performances. Some stay away for two weeks and others for a month, just to avoid this stigma. As a youth advocate to encourage parent children dialogue on sex education and advoacting for Access to reproductive health knowledge, i have had time to hold some trainings with a few groups of adolescent girls to tell me about their experiences.  As a result of lack of menstrual hygiene, due to absence of  dialogue between them and their parents,  i was amazed by the stories i got. Some said, as they approached their parents  when they noticed boold stains on their pants, they were thoroughly scolded and driven away and warned never to discuss any thing on menstruation. Some said, they were forced to carry dry dust and sand to insert into their vaginas in order to stop the bleeding as they knew not what was happening to them. Other stories came up like using  dirty clothes to pad themselves, which was very in hygienic and gave them some genital infections.  As a result of this lack of knowledge on reproductive health for adolescent girls, many have dropped out of school because of unintended pregnancies, some have contracted sexually transmissable infections and others have been forced into early marriages , to the boys that impregnated them. Many of these  adolecents have lost hope for a better future, because they are now in condtions due to necglect and lack of reproductive health knowledge.  so i am hoanon3606750899g to enlightened parents and the community about the importance of sex education and also advocating for this curriculum to be taught in primary and secondary schools in Cameroon. I am hoanon3606750899g, to equally train these adolescent girls on matters of gender equality, menstrual hygiene , family planning and reproductive health as a Whole. In Africa, there is an ardage which says ""Charity begins at home"" if  discussions between parents and children are initiated at home on sex education, it will go an extra mile to enable parents understand their daughters and support them effectively , so that they will not be statistics of unwanted pregnancies , school drop outs and poor academic performance in school. If Access to knowledge on reproductive health is improved upon  for parents and adolescent girls, then sustainable development will be ensured. I believe that women and girls form an essential link in sustainable development. " 2,8524,2017-05-24T20:26:16.000Z,849,anon1491650132,anon1790353549,"Art as a medium? Example from South Africa @anon How do you see the change in behavior happening? Is anybody speaking publicly about this? One example of intervention which you might find useful, although i don't know your background, is throuhg art. @anon Also, guys: how much exposure of taboo is taboo? " 3,11273,2017-06-22T10:16:58.000Z,8524,anon1790353549,anon1491650132,"Hello Noemi, I think, i could easily work with finr artists to talk about reproductive health and other issues of rpime concern to young people. Thank you " 4,15441,2017-05-24T22:28:21.000Z,849,anon1790353549,anon1790353549,"we could collaborate and work together for collective good DearNeomi, I am really glad you could make out time to read my article on improving access to reproductive health knowledge for adolescent girls in Cameroon. I will definitely work with together and create social positive impact. I read your story and it was so inspirational. I salute you for your efforts and work. More grease to your elbows   " 5,21127,2017-05-30T21:59:17.000Z,849,anon1883627246,anon1790353549,"Sustainable Health development Dear Gentlewest, Hi.... The motivation of health workers to deliver services in develoanon3606750899g countries has been described as a critical factor in the success of health systems in implementing programmes. How the sociocultural context and affects the values, motivation and actions involved in sexual and reproductive health services is important for policy development and programme planning. With interest in male circumcision as an HIV prevention option is also necessary, this study explored the perceptions and motivations  involved in sexual and reproductive health services, examining their implications for the possible future roll out of a national programme as well. Good efforts, keep it up  Dr.Saeed Ahmad Qaisrani " 6,21990,2017-06-22T10:14:48.000Z,21127,anon1790353549,anon1883627246,"Hello Dr Saeed Thank you for your encouragements. In fact when i volunteered with the world Bank, which took me to 25 villages in Cameroon to work with community health centers, what i saw grieved me so much in terms of infrstructure, sanitation and equipments. No lights at the clinics and lack of portable drinking water . Patients carry water from natural springs to take their drugs and minor or major surgeries cannot be performed at night due to lack of power supply. All of these, affects the quality of health care delivery. I am currently working on a proposal to help these health units get bore holes and solar enegry to power  up their facilities. Any links, contacts for funding will be of great help.  "" If you believe that your product or service can attend to a true need, then it is your moral responsibility to sell it"" Zig ziglar I also salute your work and efforts in the health sector. More grease to your elbows " 8,24949,2017-06-22T10:07:28.000Z,24411,anon1790353549,,"Dear Shakaerjola, i am so glad to read from you Hello, it takes a like minded person to connect and identify with another mind doing same activities to foster development and inspire change. I am so delighted to hear from you and on your positive comments. Actually, my goal here is not to make people feel sorry for Africans, or to paint a dark picture and exagerate facts. My goal here is to let people be aware of issues whose practices has created a negative impact on th lives of Cameroonians and Africans. Till today, our elders think, young people are not qualified to talk about matters of sex education with them. As i pointed out in my article, theis alone makes young people vulnerable to wrong practices  and getting information from doubtful sources to help themselves. We have stories of young girls seeing blood in their private which they, didn't understand it was menstruation, poured plenty of dust and dry ground on their vaginas to stop the blood flow. I am working with a dedicated team of volunteers to extensively spark healthy discussions about reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management. We have organized a series of information events, training workshops and seminars to educate youths on reproductive health and family planning. FGM which is a form of Gender based violence is widely practiced in Cameroon and we are doing  plenty of advocacy to work with traditional leaders to abolish such obnoxious cultural practices that  expose girls and women to violence  and  HIV. I have some reports of activities which i have done in Cameroon.If you are interested, i will be glad to share with you. Here is my email: mbotiji@anon I will be glad to connect and discover you more and of course you will be the reason why, i will visit the beautiful country of Albania. With Personal Warm Regards anon948101822c Mbotiji Secretary General ,United Nations Youth Association of Cameroon Assessor, Duke of Edinburgh International Awards Cameroon  President,Net Impact Professional Chapter Bamenda (+237) 670345904/670708533 " 9,26068,2017-06-20T11:56:49.000Z,849,anon784612129,anon1790353549,"Distributed teaching Hi @anon I have already made a small collection of mp3 players, ear plugs for listening, some spare parts, and solar for charging the batteries. I have started to test them for reliability and easiness to repair and I am hopeful that most will survive many months before they have to be repaired. I think the cost of the audio lecture was 0.001-0.0005 EUR per minute (+ the cost of recording the lecture). The mp3 players cost about 3 EUR but the memory card also cost 1 EUR for 1 GB of storage (which is plenty). Sooo: 1 Player needs to run for 4000 to 8000 minutes (66.7 hours). A fresh player will have to charge about 15-20 times for that. So that means they have to survive about 3 weeks of one use per day on average. If they survive longer or get repaired cheaply (very possible) then it gets significantly cheaper. If you know what illustrations are needed those could be printed on a robust support (e.g. playing cards or similar). Some of them could also be designed to be copied by hand (e.g. as a memory exercise). A couple of advantages: - you know what gets taught - kids could be working at the same time, or be at home - less humans in the loop (has some disadvantages, but is perhaps helpful against corruption) - no literacy required Let me know if you are interested. I have much more thought on that but I really need advice from someone who knows the real problems in Cameroon much better. Feel free to get in touch. We can also skype or similar - it may be a bit easier to explain & understand then. " 10,27830,2017-06-22T09:43:11.000Z,849,anon1790353549,anon1790353549,"Dear Saeed, i am so humbled and honored to read from you I am so delighted to read from you. I salute you for the effort and initiative to extensive make reproductive health knowledge spread across the world. What a wonderful initiative to do so. If i may add, these MP3 players could be as well be made  exclusively just to carry information od Reproductive health and rights and with some good educational music added to it. Youths will love this and it will actually sell. Instead of making a model that will need solar charging, we could making a small portable device like any other player that takes memory card as well , which is rechargeable.  I will love to work out something with you. Lets connect. get in touch at : (+237) 670708533 :Looking forward to read from you soon. " 11,28471,2017-06-26T10:48:49.000Z,27830,anon784612129,anon1790353549,"The ""Big Picture"" Hey @anon ( @anon Thia here includes many spare parts, a small radio station, a powerful loudspeaker, voice recorders to takes tests and get feedback, etc. I like your idea about including music - and I had thought something similar. On Jamendo.com we could get free music without any legal trouble. Because the mp3 players are relatively simple (you can only go forward or backward by one complete track) one could put the lecture before the music in the same track. So they would have to listen to the lecture before they get to the music. This will be some extra work in the beginning but I think you made a good point. It is possible to do ALL KINDS of sound editing in a program called audacity (http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/) but I think it would be good to find something more simple. Another thing one could offer are more or less educational stories - e.g. for language courses (e.g. from Librivox.com). But all that is a different topic. " 12,28736,2017-06-26T23:10:08.000Z,28471,anon784612129,anon784612129,"A few explanations So this concept is pretty flexible and I already had a discussion with @anon Each of the players will be used by a group of 2 students (usually girls, but if somehow possible I would love to include some boys into this as well e.g. some that have younger sisters to look after). One can complement this ""intimate lecture"" by 1. a short intro for everyone via loudspeaker (also allows for questions to be answered for everyone). 2. A discussion period where the 2 students can ask each other questions and discuss things they did not understand. Then some can be interviewed e.g. in groups of 4 with 1 interviewer recording the discussion in order to have feedback for continuous improvement (I'd recommend doing 3 of these 4+1 format interviews: 1 with the smartest, 1 with the kids that likely had the most difficulty (and would likely be disruptive in a larger group), and 1 with random pairs). These interviews are not to grade the students but to find where most misunderstandings remain, and where the lecture needs to be improved or go deeper. The other students can have a more regular question & answer lecture. If you visit a group of approximately 50 students, you'd ideally have 2-4 people to run the hole thing. 1 to do the recorded 4+1 interviews one after the other, and 1 to deliver the interactive lecture. After the lecture you carefully check if you get all materials (including memory cards) back. Then they need to be charged for about 1 hour each using 5V and a mini-usb cable. One could also do a multi day event if there are enough power supplies there. The power supplies are probably among the most expensive things. ASIN: B00MLTTO6Y will do 4 x 5V USB for 6 EUR as step down from e.g. small a car battery, ASIN: B00K67X8PQ does 1 x 5V step up from e.g. 1-2 AA batteries for approx 1.50 EUR. (By the way these would also allow you to run or charge small USB-LEDs or other USB based items such as phones) Any super-old USB phone charger will likely also work fine because the power the mp3 players need is super small (10x less than most phones). Also the small solar panels can charge the battery directly in direct sunlight (just be careful things stay below 40 C). " 13,29088,2017-06-27T09:42:53.000Z,849,anon1790353549,anon1790353549,"Sam, you rock??? I am so glad we had that discussion yesterday. you left me so happy and i really was amazed how simple and humble you are to key in with my idea and with your beautiful concept of MP3 players with memory cards , with one hour of spoken word on reproductive health education , with light music carefully selected for their entertainment as well. These Kids in Cameroon especially in Orphanages will love this and t will totally work. i wish to invite all the participants of this community to join us and lets empower young people in orphanages in Cameroon with these MP3 players containing quality and verified information about reproductive health education and menstrual hygiene management, head phones and memory cards. You could join I and Sam in this venture to educate young people." 1,870,2017-06-26T13:19:02.000Z,870,anon628128301,anon628128301,"August 2016, Breathing Games took part to the Open & Change Care application to MacArthur's Foundation. April 2017, we were selected for a two-weeks residence in Milan, organized by EdgeRyders, WeMake and OpenCare. We document our residence in following spaces. Feel free to contact us to contribute!   Further articles on EdgeRyders Other threads on EdgeRyders " 1,6258,2017-04-17T20:40:03.000Z,6258,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"These are some notes of the call we have every two weeks with CCL (Oakland) and BioFoundry (Sydney) on Monday at 9am CET. Anyone is welcome to join in, just drop a line in this thread. CCL has done the last round of lab work for a while, due to holidays. They have a mixture of protein attached to insulin & gfp. When testing the mixture with gelelectrophoresis, they have one band (indication of the presence of a protein) that is the right size (40kDA) for the desired insulin-gfp-protein molecule, which is encouraging. However, they also have a band that is a bit shorter (30kDA). They've been troubleshooting issues with the purification column. They want to research better ways for production now, so they will revise the construct for a better production process and higher yield. There are two new phd'ers on board who bring some fresh talent. We (Belgium group) should get good yields of the gfp-insulin molecule a few days after we receive the shipment. The protocols have been thoroughly tested. CCL is preparing for shipanon3606750899g & sending over the protocols. Remark on the IP: as far as Anthony knows, it's more the formulation that's patented (eg. how they make long acting insulin), rather than the production method. They are using a vector which might be protected (unsure) and the gfp might be as well. It's worth checking out, especially for the next steps. Anthony asked us to write a blog post to tell our story of why we participate, what we plan to do etc. " 2,7400,2017-04-20T10:04:58.000Z,6258,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Welcome on board @anon2717512012 and @anon In this group you'll find the discussion and documentation for Open Insulin. Don't hesitate to join the conversation and share your thoughts by making your own post or replying. Let me know if you need help in navigating the platform. You can find a User Manon169343781al for the platform here, in case you need it. " 3,16665,2017-06-01T10:31:01.000Z,6258,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes Open Insulin Global calls For keeanon3606750899g an overview, I decided to bundle the notes from the fortnightly calls we have with people from BioFoundry and Counter Culture Labs on Monday mornings (9 am CET). You can find it in the Drive here. Anyone is welcome to call in, the next one is on June 12th. " 4,20702,2017-06-12T13:40:26.000Z,6258,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Global Call notes June 12th I've added notes from the call this morning to the document in the Drive. Cliffs: the plasmids will arrive when customs feel like it; stressing the need for a more structured collaboration, both locally and globally. " 5,24242,2017-06-26T08:29:18.000Z,6258,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Global Call notes June 26th   I've added notes from the call this morning to the document in the Drive. Cliffs: CCL is making progress with the yeast strain. BioFoundry is testing 9 different plasmids in the coming weeks. " 1,533,2016-09-14T18:43:03.000Z,533,anon1743021627,anon1743021627,"The Orange House in the heart of Athens is changing the negative image about refugees through the cultivation of social skills. I am involved in refugee care as a volunteer since years because several of my friends are refugees. My partner, Hassan, comes from Syria and also had to cross the Aegean Sea. Last year, when I saw the gaps in the official structures for refugee  relief, I decided to create the Orange House. Many non-Greek volunteers offered to give money if I decided to build something. At first, we only thought of one room, because we didn’t have a lot of cash. But then, we found this house that was not used for several months. In fact, it was an old electronics and computer shop. Slowly, I started asking for help and people got involved with all things related to opening a space that would offer human shelter. This was the beginning of the Orange House, which opened in May 2016. The house has three floors, the upper one reserved for resident refugees who live inside it. They cook, clean and take care of the space by themselves. We rarely enter their space, unless some maintenance work is necessary. On the ground floor, there is a common space for everyone, which hosts several classes and sessions: from yoga to music, salsa dancing, and movie screenings. We use the half-basement, as a classroom for language classes, including Greek, English, Spanish, French and German on different levels. We also have a room in which we just meet to talk with each other and other spaces for storing clothes, glasses, food, educational material, bathing towels, etc. There is a kitchen and bathroom for people to walk in, a courtyard and a simple roof garden to grow vegetables in self-made contained made of old cargo palettes. The Orange House hosts a specialized 2-hour LGBT program for refugees every Monday, also visited by a guy from an Athens checkpoint to meet and offer help to the community.  Our house is open for visits by NGOs, artists, gardeners and everyone who wishes to offer creative inputs, such as salsa, music classes, or just brainstorm on what we can do better. It is hard to say how many people visit the common space. Some people come for a specific activity like a lesson in German or French. Some other women bring their kids for all day long. Volunteers can also attend classes and other activities, which are offered totally free. However, we are planning to be able to make some items to sell, such as cooked food or jewelry made by some of the residents. Our idea for the future of the house is that the refugees in collaboration with the wider community will be able to generate their own money through the skills they have and develop. For example, we have some women with a talent for cooking, hairdressing, and Arabic calligraphy. The idea is that one day all this will evolve to a social enterprise, where residents in the Orange House will be their own boss. The operations of the house are managed by the community. For example, an Iranian woman is teaching someone else to do jewelry. Same goes with all housekeeanon3606750899g, like cooking and cleaning.  We now want to register as a legal entity, in order to be able to manage funds. At the moment, I am renting the house under my name, paying 1000 euro for a monthly rent, and another 1000 for utility bills. The volunteers of the Orange House usually bring some cash and then we ask it they can change that lamp, or cover some other cost. We always have one volunteer sleeanon3606750899g inside the house, and we have a schedule of who is coming and for what reason. There are no public authorities or institutions involved in the project. We are just like that. Mohammed, one of the board members, works as a doctor for Doctors of the World and brings useful information about persons that need shelter. Some other NGOs also visit us to see in there are any needs.  People usually appreciate what we do and the way we do it. When I tell them “look at me, I am Greek-French and I look like this”. Or when they see me together with my Syrian partner. I am Christian and he is Muslim, and some people think that this is something strange. But we know how to laugh about it, and tell them that these refugees are not terrorists or criminals, but humans like everyone else. When we first entered the house in May 2016, the place was so dirty and so many things were in need of repair. I knew since the beginning that it will be a lot of work, that I will need to work two weeks full time to get everything going. But this was not true at all because it takes much more time than I initially thought. Together we are taking very good care of our space. No alcohol, smoking or drugs are allowed in the Orange House. We check who is coming in and the neighborhood feels reassured. When people see refugees doing a yoga or salsa class, they have a different image of them. Instead of seeing the of misery, like on the Lesbos island or other camps shown on TV, we show that we grow hapanon3606750899ess and care for the community. When we started, we noticed that most people don't know how to speak a language other than theirs. This is why we called the place “Orange House” because the word “orange” sounds similarly in Greek and Arabic. We also painted the house in orange color, so people coming for the first time can distinguish it easily. At the beginning, the biggest problem was bureaucracy. I didn’t know whom to address to get information on how to set up an organization. Someone suggested a lawyer, but I am still waiting for the paperwork since two months. We didn’t face any conflicts with the legal system because we are very careful of what we do inside the house. We brought engineers, social workers, and another expert to advise us and ensure that what we do is not something illegal. When we were almost done with all the work, I posted a poster in Greek, explaining to neighbors that what they see is the preparation of a house and school for refugees. We made a house-warming party, and we invited everyone to join, see for themselves and ask questions. This is a process of building trust. At the end of the day, there was only one neighbor that came to ask. Most people simply don’t care, otherwise, we could have more reaction. The house currently hosts 15 residents. We can only accept up to 20 persons because we only have 3 bathrooms, which is the major limitation. We explain to everyone that they must contribute to housekeeanon3606750899g, participate in the training programs and that it is important that we share everything. We cannot be with someone that wants to be alone in the bedroom, for example. It is not possible for us. There are about 50 people that visit the Orange House to receive some sort of service. For example, a 16-year-old who is very lonely and comes just to speak with others. Many of our visitors are staying in squats, camps of other shelters where conditions are not very good, but they come to the house because they like the atmosphere. When a visitor comes we offer tea, we talk and listen, but also sing and dance. It is really like a house, not like a social service type of place.  Residency is only open to women and children, but male visitors are also welcome to join in the activities. Most of the male refugees arrived earlier, so the majority of the people arriving now in Greece are women and children. Quite often, we have women that have suffered some sort of abuse. We have listened to some very tough stories. Most of the volunteers are refugees themselves, or people coming from abroad and then going back home. Many people think volunteers need only shelter and food. But the reality asks for the development of real skills, to help them integrate into the society, but also have some fun. It is hard to find people that are not skilled to refugee care, but they have specific skills. What we need to have is a salsa or a hip hop teacher, or somebody that can help with the roof garden. For example, one of my friends is an electrician and is coming to do maintenance work in the building, for free. Anyone entering the house as a resident has to commit to attending 5 classes per week. Therefore, there is at least one activity taking place in some of the spaces every day. Sometimes, we organize outdoor activities, like hiking excursions. Refugees that benefit from the training programs at the Orange House are progressing their social skills very fast in. When a mother with a 17-year-old son arrived in May they spoke Farsi. They are now speaking fluent English. This is because everybody is connected through some sort of social action. The transformations we observe, offer some very important lessons. One of them is about the importance of patience, even when you are passionate about something. Starting a community of care is like planting a tree, and needs time to develop. There are times that you see things going wrong and always question what doesn’t work. But, actually, it is important to not give up and say that you have to try again. That you will tease many people, but at the end, it will work out. Over time, I am learning how to be more grateful for every progress that is happening inside the house. Any positive impact is important. " 2,8654,2016-09-15T16:28:30.000Z,533,anon477123739,anon1743021627,"Wonderful story Hi Orangehouse, This sounds like a fantastic project. Congratualtions on your initiative and making it all work out so well. It's great to hear a positive story where people are learning to integrate and create a new life out of a difficult situation. There are certainly lessons that could be learnt from your experiences. I hope that i can share some of them with the volunteer teams that work in Calais. A project like yours in Calais would be a real start to help allieviate the problems between the local residents and the refugees on the Camp. I'd love to learn more about your process and they way you initially reached out to the refugees. How did you get them to trust you and your service? Have you had any scary moments?   Alex " 3,16513,2016-09-18T18:00:24.000Z,533,anon4074474473,anon1743021627,"Good Job! I'm happy for this Orange House! I thing here in Thessaloniki we don't have something like this. A ""copy paste"" is not possible when we talk about people but your advices could be very helpful. How can we follow and share your project? " 4,21430,2016-09-18T20:32:51.000Z,533,anon1526983854,anon1743021627,"Great work! ""It is really like a house, not like a social service type of place. "" Welcome, @anon There seems to be something going on in the background: you are not being stopped, even though you are definitely in some kind of semi-legal grey area. The story of the Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic is similar: no legal entity, but the authorities look the other way (in fact they cooperate, unofficially). There are definitely some humane and brave bureaucrats at work in the Greek public sector!  " 5,23671,2016-09-22T07:18:18.000Z,533,anon1491650132,anon1743021627,"Perceptions changing @anon Your story is providing interesting answers to questions we were posing a few months with @anon " 6,26042,2016-10-19T09:00:11.000Z,533,anon1932026148,anon1743021627,"hello - you might be inetrested in my tour? Hi Orange House, I am coming to Greece this winter to offer (free) psychotrauma help in my trauma tour bus. Are you interested in hosting me? I can offer you trauma training, info sessions, trauma best practices and selfhelp, also individual consultations. Please visit my website and contact me if interested. I will be in Athens in janon169343781ary 2017 anon1932026148 " 7,26956,2016-10-20T14:09:19.000Z,26042,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Direct contact is safer! @anon1932026148, in case @anon " 9,28465,2017-06-09T14:14:48.000Z,27813,anon1491650132,,"Making sure they read it @anon In order to draw attention of the person you're addressing I recommend anon3606750899ging: @anon " 10,28967,2017-06-26T07:12:24.000Z,27813,anon1526983854,,"No reply? Also anon3606750899g @anon " 1,6211,2017-03-24T16:57:12.000Z,6211,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Some ideas for a theme at the OpenVillage event, work in progress. I’d like to involve projects that are dedicated to citizen science in care. I think one interesting question to explore is ‘How do we solve resource intensive and technically complex issues in care as communities?’. I'd involve projects with different angles to have diversity, a broader view and hopefully validate observations/lessons. I've formulated some subquestions at the bottom of this post. Projects that would fit into this theme:
    • Open Insulin: ambitious research project in biotech/pharma, both tough fields, to make an open source production protocol for insulin. Intellectual property, resources, timescale and expertise are all difficult and expensive. Moreover, a global collaboration is forming around the research. How do they manage to pull this off and what are their obstacles?
    • echOpen: open source and low-cost echo-stethoscope developed with a large group of volunteers
    • Belgian Ageing studies: highly participatory initiative that involves elderly people in the scientific study of the social aspects of ageing.
    • University Hospital Ghent: making legal documents for studies, admissions, operations, … much simpler and more readable for everyone, in collaboration with the stakeholders. Particularly children are largely left in the dark by the dense language, as well as people whose mastery of Dutch or English is limited. <More details as I look into it>
    • Future Footwear Foundation: hybrid research project at the intersection of anthropology, biomechanics and shoe design. 
    Some program ideas specifically for Open Insulin:
    • KASK Laboratorium, a lab in the art’s school in Ghent, would like to do a call for students to develop an arts project/exhibition/show on the different themes of Open Insulin, to be shown at the event. They're now talking with an artist already working on those themes.
    • Through @anon3786846929 we got into contact with Claudio, a filmmaker living in Brussels. He was diagnosed with diabetes at 35, almost going into a coma. He’d like to contribute to the Open Insulin project by making a short film for us. We should definitely show it at the event if it goes through.
    I’d also think it would be interesting to make the link with the other themes mentioned on the OpenVillage wiki by presenting our experience with the quest to secure long term existence of the lab space ReaGent. We have been setting up structures to ensure financial sustainability and independence, providing people with a meaningful job, while keeanon3606750899g the societal mission intact. One aspect that is relevant and interesting to go deeper into is how we are figuring out models to the share a community space, the lab, and how these can be applicable to other initiatives. This returns in some questions that we pose to ourselves for our local projects:
    • How do you ensure long term sustainability for your project?
    • How do you encourage change at policy level?
    • What have you learned about having citizens define and help advance your research project?
    Thanks for the remarks and ideas so far!  As we flesh this out further over the next weeks: what are some questions you would like to have answers to? " 2,9472,2017-03-25T09:03:58.000Z,6211,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Some quick thoughts Hey, timely idea. Nice to see how you tie ongoing conversations with the event.
    • I would say go specific more than broad: for example if you want to curate more sessions related to citizen science I say outlining broadly the theme should work initially (like above), but from past experiences articulating deep questions helps - it could mean getting in touch with each of the projects you have in mind and asking them to put forward their most important question they'd like to see answered. Those make for your key inquiries - sessions would aim to answer those. We can also check with @anon
    • Re: call for students - the way we are exploring now with WeMake team is that we launched an opencare Maker in Residence Challenge, and all contributions come in publicly, as stories. Similarly past students from Berlin did the same, going from raw design questions posted online into develoanon3606750899g products and a real public exhibition. The incentives differ though, it depends on what's in it for them to participate.
    • For citizen science, less technology oriented projects we could ask @anon
    " 3,11828,2017-03-29T12:18:40.000Z,9472,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Community call Thanks for the input! I'm joining the call as well today to discuss this & more. " 4,16115,2017-03-26T19:48:59.000Z,6211,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"It would be the best theme ever I totally support this. It seems like a great learning opportunities. Also ties nicely into OpenCare 's fairness objectives, and our preoccupation with ethics. " 5,19915,2017-04-16T19:17:33.000Z,6211,anon70625510,anon2954219769,"How about framing the session proposal as a challenge? Hey You :) How do you feel about shaanon3606750899g your theme as a specific call for input and participation directed towards peers, e.g. people running the projects you mention above?  1. The first thing is to have the ""big"" question: Which financially sustainable models are different open source and citizen science initiatives using to run shared community spaces and labs?  2. The second thing is to have a clear goal for what you want to get out of your and others' investment of time and effort in ""your"" part of the OpenVillage festival. If the event has been great, what would have happened by the end of it for you? Wild guess- you would have a number of tried-and-tested models that you could experiment with. Possibly having gotten help on develoanon3606750899g your own project in peer-to-peer project clinic? Maanon1932026148 having met others who's skills you could use, or who could use yours? You get the picture :) 3. The third thing is to have a clear ask of people whom you wish to engage. What do you want them to contribute...and how? Do you want them to do a talk or exhibit at the event? Do you want them to reach out to others whom they know/think can contribute and invite them etc. 4. Then maanon1932026148 direct a question to the individuals whom you want to involve: ""How are you doing [what you want to know] in your [open source- or citizen science project]""?  End with an invitation to do something and explain the steps for how.  This is an example we built for more general outreach for OpenVillage: https://edgeryders.eu/node/6147 What do you think? feasible within the next two weeks maanon1932026148? " 6,22026,2017-04-27T13:40:23.000Z,19915,anon2954219769,anon70625510,"Helpful This was helpful, thanks :) " 7,23979,2017-04-27T14:49:24.000Z,6211,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Reflections Some thoughts have come to mind while synthesizing ideas and going through the stories on the platform again. (PS I've cleaned up the Open science and technologies channel a bit by untagging the projects that have no connection at all). Writing thoughts down for future reference as I rework the original text here with more concrete info, I admit they are kind of vague still.
    • There is a distinction between generating knowledge and creating prototypes/implementing solutions. The former can be classified as science, the latter could be called hacking. Both are interesting, but I reckon it's more interesting to focus more deeply on one for the OpenVillage track. I want to zoom in on science.
    • Generating knowledge has a more long term character than prototypes and a specific profile in terms of resources & technical complexity. An outcome is that results are uncertain, invisible or too far in the future to provide much incentive for a community to initiate research. This shows the role of government as an intermediary enabler of research for communities who would otherwise not make those high risk high reward choices on their own. This means we have to talk about policy.
    • It is tempting to commodify the generated knowledge as an attempt to hedge risks and move incentives to the short term. Result: patents, closed access, secrecy. This is where generated knowledge stops being property of the communities it is meant for. Therefore talking about IP (or better: intellectual rights) is central to this conversation of citizen science/open science/science as a community service, in my oanon3606750899ion. The boundaries of these terms gets blurry to the extent that it becomes obvious that we should really just talk about a better 'science', no adjectives, as a goal.
    • Other aspects to be covered that are more obvious: legal & admin, financial sustainability, implementation lessons, people & community roles.
    Curious to hear people's thoughts! " 8,26663,2017-06-17T07:43:11.000Z,6211,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"knowledge and objects just one thought: commodification is a two edged sword - people like objects, yet marketing lies and easy access don't necessarily reflect the actual cost to society of certain items (à la story of stuff).   Plus, it is so much nicer to actually make (or fix!) something oneself...   One nice compromise is to make designs reflecting new knowledge fully open source, so anyone could make it themselves easily, but also to provide an easy access for those who just want the thing...  (and also provide a fundraising opportunity for those who generated the output and can readily make the thing) We are thinking about doing this in terms of the 'cheek cell chip' idea for citizen science (looking into what leads to DNA damage in cells...). Having something concrete provides a focus for community members, that is for sure... " 9,27223,2017-06-19T08:44:22.000Z,26663,anon2954219769,anon1227671133,"Knowledge commodities Those are valid points. I can definitely testify to the commodification idea, we do it with workshops. These fun and informative sessions are 'consumable' for a broad audience. We commodifiy the experience, not the knowledge: we make the manon169343781al freely available online, people can do it at home or in different labs if they want to. I wonder: is there a more widespread tendency of commodification in this ""layer on top of knowledge""? Experience, curation, translation, ... These things are becoming more and more valuable with exploding quantities of information and all the inefficiencies it brings with it. What are the hurdles you see for the cheek cell chip? " 10,27408,2017-06-19T18:58:00.000Z,27223,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"challenge! yes, commodities sell... outside that - there are many hurdles for the cheek cell chip, to look at DNA damage by two methods, but maanon1932026148 we have ideas to surmount some of them already... in one case, the fluor detection problem (which we would like to avoid), the challenge is simultaneously being addressed through testing of a DIY method for fluor detection (in context of Foldscopes), along with trials of less toxic dyes that might reveal the not only 'micronuclei' but 'comet tails'...  the actual item - the 'chip' - with microcontroller links and electrodes for the e-phoresis step for the comets - is of course quite a hurdle, but we hope it should work... Making sure truly quantative methods are used by people is another huge challenge, particularly given human reporting bias.  We think for workshops, working in pairs, with each partner counting the cells of the other, might help reduce this...  but, people are always people ;) - and if the Foldscopes work, people may really be able to do this outside of a workshop/biohacklab setting.. finally the data correlations, annotations, etc will be a challenge, but use of open python with the kobotool box for our water analyses now may help lead the way to make it easier for the cheek cell results (base-lines and 'tests')... ciao for now! Rachel " 11,27488,2017-06-24T09:11:22.000Z,27408,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"Different service = different skills needed What can be commodified and what not to maintain the open spirit but also reward the creators - Wordpress or Arduino being really good examples. Another one, but for open knowledge, is thenounproject.com where graphic designers who release their products under cc license can earn from purchases, community subscriptions, and royalties. With ""delivering"" a science based service i.e. workshops in Winnie's example - I find the issue of skills for delivery relevant: I imagine it's not common that people who excel at doing the hard core research also excel at packaging it or relying on soft skills to take it out into the world. Similar in other domains.. same with building and artifact vs making the sale. " 12,28259,2017-06-25T20:12:49.000Z,6211,anon1227671133,anon2954219769,"dit yes, that is how the 'do-it-together' concept is of such great use...  many expertises coming together with shared long term goals.   looking forward!   " 1,6440,2017-06-23T13:47:55.000Z,6440,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"http://paris.ouisharefest.com/schedule/ ""IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT POLITICAL TURMOIL, CITIES AND CITIZENS ARE AT THE HEART OF THE NEXT GREAT TRANSFORMATION."" There sees like lots of relevant connections to be made at this event. Is anyone going? Its not far off but I'm considering it...     " 2,8498,2017-06-23T16:42:26.000Z,6440,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Not me,.. @anon @anon   " 3,15490,2017-06-24T07:58:05.000Z,6440,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"Went last year We won free tickets last year with a project. It was nice, but wouldn't pay a few hundred euros for it. I'm not going this year, although I tried to get in through their new masterclass program. It's an interesting model: fixed entry price for every masterclass (I think €150 per person, 20 participants max.) and all logistics handled by them. The masterclass expert is not paid, but the profits are split 50 50 between Ouishare and the expert. Wonder if it works, and if enough people would participate to make it worthwhile for the expert. A paid event inside a paid event... Not sure. Ouishare has all the infrastructure in place anyway, so not such a big investment or risk on their part. " 4,20865,2017-06-25T06:22:00.000Z,6440,anon70625510,anon1701267031,"I'm speaking at the event - help preparing? Panel - 70 minutes - Space for the Future Of Work - How can communities contribute to defining the future of work, July, 5th - 4.50 pm to 6pmSession description here:  https://ouisharefestparis2017.sched.com/event/B1da/space-for-the-future-of-work-how-can-communities-contribute-to-defining-the-future-of-work. It's heavily media covered event and unqiue opportunity to get out what we are doing far and wide. it would be a good opportunity to present what we are doing in the form of a succinct booklet to share with participants... I need your help to compile the following information:
    1. a short description of the fellowship program experiences so far and  work you guys did at CERN @anon4116418727  @anon1315297957 and @anon
    2. As well as the program for the event including description of events, tracks and sessions with high resolution photos of the curators and session leaders @anon
    3. Roadmap for how we are moving forward (REEF, REEFMENA + WB involvement etc) @anon
    Deadline: July 1. Could we dedicate this week's community call to this @anon   " 1,6439,2017-06-22T14:42:47.000Z,6439,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"During last night's community call, we discussed the need to connect the different themes of the festival to each other as to not lose the advantage of the diversity represented. A way to do it is clustering around big questions that many of us have, and then involving different perspectives to find answers during more generalized sessions. We decided that we shouldn't spend too much time on discussion, as some sessions are now being made concrete, and finalize this during an extra community call. To get things moving we meet this Tuesday the 27th at 6:30 pm in the community hangout here. Some questions that have come up in the citizen.open science projects I've been in contact with:
    • How to spread your message, how to reach people, how to get your creation out there?
    • What organisational structures and practices models do we use to make sure contributors are getting the most out of their contributions participation and their contributions have the most impact?
    • How do we fund our projects? How do we sustain our project financially?
    • What is a good way to influence policy?
    • How do we ensure compliance with legal frameworks and patents?
    • How do we ensure reliability and safety for users?
    • How do you professionalize without compromising values?
    • How to work with institutions?
    • How to distribute value in a fair way?
    anon3606750899g @anon To everyone: what are your big questions? Do you see any overlap with others? Please add concrete, simple questions that anyone understands..  " 2,8388,2017-06-22T20:41:35.000Z,6439,anon1701267031,anon2954219769,"thanks ! Thanks @anon " 3,15402,2017-06-23T17:19:41.000Z,6439,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Here's a really long list of questions :P https://edgeryders.eu/en/response-questions It is a Drupal view that renders all the questions from all the stories submitted by community members in opencare. If you remember, when submitting a story one needs to fill in the Story editor with some information about what is is, who do you want to reach etc?  I can do Tuesday 6:30 PM this week. " 4,20692,2017-06-24T09:45:45.000Z,6439,anon1701267031,anon2954219769,"time... @anon " 5,22089,2017-06-24T09:53:00.000Z,20692,anon2954219769,anon1701267031,"CET @anon " 6,22608,2017-06-24T10:00:14.000Z,22089,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"... or CEST? During the daylight saving part of the year, most of Western Europe runs on CEST: Central  European Summer Time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_European_Summer_Time " 7,24099,2017-06-24T10:01:59.000Z,6439,anon1701267031,anon2954219769,"hope to be there... ...same google hangout link? " 8,25044,2017-06-24T10:22:04.000Z,24099,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"same hangout link Added it in the wiki. See you on Tuesday! Let me know if you need something from me in advance.. " 9,26939,2017-06-24T15:33:00.000Z,6439,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"A proposed agenda for the call Hi @anon For me, it makes sense that as we add and select common questions we move them around into a formatted grid as an exercise. Obviously the one on the Program page now is just a placeholder, so we can experiment. " 1,6441,2017-06-23T14:31:04.000Z,6441,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"
    I've cut and paste the text below from the web - just wondered if anyone had existing links as it sounds as though there's potential connections for OpenCare in general? ""Southcentral Foundation is a non-profit health care organisation serving a population of around 60,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people in Southcentral Alaska, supporting the community through what is known as the Nuka System of Care (Nuka being an Alaska Native word meaning strong, giant structures and living things).
    Nuka was developed in the late 1990s after legislation allowed Alaska Native people to take greater control over their health services, transforming the community’s role from ‘recipients of services’ to ‘owners’ of their health system, and giving them a role in designing and implementing services. Nuka is therefore built on partnership between Southcentral Foundation and the Alaska Native community, with the mission of ‘working together to achieve wellness through health and related services’. Southcentral Foundation provides the majority of the population’s health services on a prepaid basis.""
    " 2,8601,2017-06-23T20:15:07.000Z,6441,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,"Updated link http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21118 ""Southcentral Foundation's Nuka System of Care is based on what customer-owners really want – a primary focus on building and maintaining relationships."" ""The Nuka System of Care is a departure from “beneficiaries” or “patients” serving as mere recipients of tests, diagnoses, and pills. Instead, customer-owners actively share responsibility for the success of the health care system and for their family's health and wellness."" " 1,6435,2017-06-22T09:45:16.000Z,6435,anon1626956627,anon1626956627,"Notes diligently taken by @anon Attending: @anon   Noemi:
    • Following up on policy making panel/group. Wrote to person in Milano, waiting for reply. See how they would like to approach the session. Case of mobility ramps (co-design with citizens). Is there something specifically we can do with civil servants around the table?
    • The third community fellow is known. It’s Francis from Woodbine health. Theme on living and working well together. Quite radical. They might bring in interesting people. He’ll be in for the community calls soon. Check out Woodbine Health Autonomy Center and their latest blog post.
    Winnie:
    • Had a chat with Kat Austen: infrastructure design kit https://katausten.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/portfolio_nov2015_small.pdf 
    • How big a space needed for a design workshop? Is 2 days too much? We need more information posted.
    • Funding for DIY projects : Lucy’s session - what else is out there?
    • [Kat's] previous work with OpenDroplet is no longer going due to funding not available anymore. This ties in with the funding question.
    Bernard: 
    • ​Ken is able to come. He works on IoT in agriculture.
    • Proposal: a day of IoT stuff? Could be, but it needs a structure to move from fast project introduction to actually collaborating.
    • Harvesting insights from the festival:
      • Organise sessions and people around big questions, and then have the different themes contribute their answers to that. 
      • We need sessions on the same question across the different themes: Funding in diy projects separately from Funding in policy etc doesn’t make sense! We should get a post up on the forum for that, and combine with another call.
      • Also it may help to tie together diverse sessions if there are some theme-level questions that each session contributes to answering. Perhaps even generating further questions that may suggest useful ongoing lines of ongoing enquiry. 
    Bernard has many things to choose from:
    • Homelessness - Doing workshops with people who need housing; hosting them in Pat’s Tiny Houses.
    • StreetNurses in Brussels
    • DoucheFlux
    • Videos on mental health and collaborating with “caution and passion”; work with videographers; same with dementia. - part of UnMonastery
    • Ecohack: Pat & Ken & co. to present their work on that
    Gehan: still thinking deeply about the theme
    • Policies are not bad in and of themselves, but they are flawed can be improved.
    • Examples of policies that enable / disrupt citizen responses care work
    • Drawing on systems theory
    • Humanity has a lot of genuine impulses around care, and policies can disrupt that.
    • Check http://procomuns.net/en/program/ in relation to open care
      • Thought this session looked relevant - City Challenges: Economics of care. ""To what extent do digital platforms and collaborative methodologies cover the field of care, or can they be applied and respond to the needs that exist in the field of the care economy?""
      • Technology infrastructure and blockchain for a common collaborative economy. ""We will introduce new technological tools within our reach and discuss technological strategies to then dynamically debate (with “balls”) about the potential (or not) of blockchain to promote the procommon collaborative economy."" 
    Owen: reminder of our video campaign ad, open to submissions:
    • Open Casting page
    • Best to upload to Vimeo and share link, can set video to private
    • Check script, make it your own and use your own language if necessary 
    " 2,8253,2017-06-22T11:18:06.000Z,6435,anon1491650132,anon1626956627,"My takeaway from the call I see a lot of value in sharing where we are with the work and discovering overlaps - drawing each other's attention that someone in the community is already asking similar questions like ours. I was also positively surprised about Bernard's process of really digging in the network to find collaborators around homelessness and mental illness - and looking forward to a few paragraphs with what they intend to do so as to latch onto that to invite those working on the same.  " 3,11282,2017-06-22T11:32:07.000Z,8253,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"+1 Seconded, and also surprised by the diversity of Bernard's interests. Makes me realise the importance of 'connectors' at the festival and the preparation of it, who can see where different fields find each other. " 4,15233,2017-06-22T14:43:22.000Z,6435,anon2954219769,anon1626956627,"Connecting questions I've added the thread to discuss it here. " 5,20531,2017-06-22T20:23:09.000Z,6435,anon1701267031,anon1626956627,"...and within themes? Thanks for sharing these thoughts. And thanks Winnie for creating a Wiki to gather the common questions. The person I'd spoken to was referring to ways to connect the sessions in a theme. So perhaps we're looking at cascading tiers - session level questions/theme level questions/common OpenCare questions? What do you think? She also underlined the importance of each session being really clear on three things; Purpose, Need & Calling Question/s - and that these are separately and clearly articulated. I thought this was helpful - don't know if its also helpful for others...  " 6,23963,2017-06-22T20:36:00.000Z,6435,anon1701267031,anon1626956627,"other formats? I was having another chat with a friend and colleague who is heavily involved in attempts to influence drug policy... in relation to the AOL theme, this is a case in point - as you may know - globally drug policy is dominated by a harm reduction approach that is founded on 2-3 experiments that drew conclusions about the addictive nature of heroin based on rats in cages - Bruce Alexander's work talks about a different approach - the globalisation of addiction based on a counter experiment nicknamed 'Rat Park' & there's a great graphic novel report of this - perhaps graphic novel format might be an alternative way to gather and diseminate insights? Anyway I was reminded of the Museum of the Future that another connection who's expertise lies in scenario planning around the future of health...  he's used MoF in helanon3606750899g people to imagine the future - I think he did this with young people for a project we were involved in a few years ago. I wondered whether that might make for an interesting session that gets away from simple 'downloading' good info and purely presentation based formats? I'm due to meet up with him soon - I'll ask him what would be involved... " 1,6422,2017-06-19T09:07:18.000Z,6422,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Hi all, I propose to meet each other at Geuzenhuis at 8pm this Wednesday the 21st for the open insulin meeting. We might as well combine the get together with a drink. Hope to see you there! :-) " 2,8319,2017-06-22T14:55:14.000Z,6422,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Science was discussed And drinks were had. Only short updates as not much happened in the last two weeks. We further planned the trip to Amsterdam for the biohackathon and discussed general things.
    • We can use the leftover iGem funds for buying consumables. This will get us going with the plasimids that are set to arrive soon
    • We have access to a Biosafety Level 2 lab in Ghent, yay!
    We also asked ourselves: what is the legislation around genetic engineering in open sea? Could it be unregulated? A first short search on the internet did not deliver any results... " 1,815,2017-02-28T00:36:26.000Z,815,anon319669080,anon319669080,"I discovered my passion for Art activities early in life and haven’t looked back since. Art College taught me the fundamentals of art, but it’s the journey of life that provided me with inspiration.  I feel my Paintings are very personal and reflects my own Timeline of life, In my process of painting I have found doors for me to explore and develop a greater inner spiritual connection to myself and our external  Angels.  I Love to sense and discover connections in life and with wonderful people and enjoy where and how they go…… My exhibition of original oil Paintings hangs in the two large reception rooms of Cregg Castle. I call it the “Gallery of Angels”. It’s a dream space to have my own semi-permanent solo show.  I fell in love early in life and built a little purple cottage in the countryside of Galway.  Lorraine and I got married and had two wonderful boys, Jaeden and Zach. My twin Ivan, a sculptor now living in Whales, and I as young artists took on spaces for exhibitions because we didn't want to charge extra to clients as in commercial galleries. I was always interested in spaces, and ended up building my second home as well, with a purpose built Montessori school which I ran with my wife Lorraine. I took care of the project management and the arty play part. I feel some choose our school because there was a male influence and contribution, and feel it helped with some of the more distant relationships between some hard working fathers and their kids. While working on other creative projects, I also developed a therapeutic painting Workshop fusing my passion, with my training and skills in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Timeline therapy. I call it “Butterfly Wings”. It was suddenly the time to put it into action.  I had recently separated from my wife and was seeking many new positives changes in my Life.  I started searching for a healing place to host my therapeutic workshop. My grandfather used to own Cregg Castle and then was passed to my Aunt, so I thought I would visit Cregg and see what the new owners were doing with it. When I got there the Castle was in disrepair and had been sadly boarded up for 4 years. I contacted the new owners to see where they stood and a few months later I sent them my strong proposal where I aimed to take on the castle as is, and start an artist’s residence and a cultural music venue. Thankfully they accepted my proposal and we have a great Win Win arrangement in place. I had a lot of red tape and restrictions holding things back however I’ve been pretty much living my dream here at the castle for 4 amazing years. It’s a perfect space /place for artists to live and work together. It certainly is for me, I love it here, so much because it just feels like the right path for me and also I got to connect with so many creative, talented people here.  When my Aunt had the Castle as B&B with a strong  traditional music energy here, Dusty Springfield, Sinead O Connor, Shane Mac Gowan from the Pogues, all stayed here on occasion, back in the day. Dusty wrote in the guest book, it was her special healing place. I’ve had quite a few artists in residence over the years, come and go, and have hosted many music and cultural events, film and photo shoots, bush craft courses and other random stuff. I have now most parts of the castle as liveable again. Artists have helped me fix up spaces as and we needed them, each artist having a living/studio space and also use of the many large communal spaces. Last year I opened one room for Airbnb guests. I have many foreign visitors all year and they are all delighted to come and stay in a real Irish Castle. https://www.airbnb.ie/rooms/7479769?preview https://www.facebook.com/creggcastlefriends/?pnref=lhc My Pony - Arrow, Donkey - Houdini and Cat - Pixie are a huge contribution to the positive healing energy here. Recently when An Ait Eile approached me about with the Monastery concept I was very interested. It was easy to see how it could map onto what my hopes and plans for the castle. So we held a PreMonastery event which was a great success. And since that I with Kashi from Cosáin, a local wellness group hosted an amazing “Butterfly Wings” weekend. (Therapeutic Painting Workshop) Over the last year or so, I did a lot of work designing and fabricating two, 40ft high cube containers which I have created all on site at the Castle. My aim was firstly to create a purpose built mobile event venue and an alternative workshop space. The design includes a large indoor/outdoor space between them, with a mobile roof covering and a neat modular floor system.   More work is needed however to bring them to the standard required for holding events, and with the added potential as develoanon3606750899g it further as a demo concept home. This project has me excited, motivated and inspired. I see it as a real positive alternative to the mainstream approach of building another traditional home.  I took the opportunity to create a new start in life, moving towards a positive creative lifestyle.  Freedom is my top Value and this approach has given me that sense of freedom to move.   Also it gives me the ability, to build my own home for a lot cheaper than traditional building. I feel we all need to simplify our lives, to our basic needs and have time to enjoy the - true simple pleasures and treasures in life. I rekoned, If I care for the Castle, the Castle will Care for Me and many more to come... Alan Murray " 2,6850,2017-02-28T14:11:00.000Z,815,anon1491650132,anon319669080,"Insights for the Reef Hi @anon It seems like you really know what you want from life, which is something not many of us can say :-) even those who value freedom just as much and above all. I have been working on Edgeryders and putting a lot of my energy into building the kind of thriving network you mention but using an Internet island of people who think and dream alike. Five years later and having had some breakthroughs as we think together about how to live and work meaningfully in the 21st century, it feels it's now time to look for a physical home. We call it The Reef and this year is when we will try it, perhaps you are interested in shaanon3606750899g it? It draws from lessons at the unMonastery we ran in South Italy, and from insights like yours above - particularly around wellbeing and what is a healthy way of living with others, communally but with a focus on producing great work at the same time. There is a lot of metaphoric language still, and we are looking for a model - but I am curious what you learned about how your lifestlye can bring tangible outcomes to the community surrounding you, even beyond personal relationships? Maanon1932026148 for those participating in your workshops, or the broader ecology around Cregg castle..? " 3,14237,2017-02-28T16:16:42.000Z,815,anon1526983854,anon319669080,"Heroes passing through Welcome from me, too @anon Like Noemi, I am deeply involved in The Reef. Hopefully we can exchange. :-) Is the Montessori school still running? Is it in Cregg? " 4,20260,2017-06-21T09:11:00.000Z,815,anon1491650132,anon319669080,"A home with a purpose: compare notes at OpenVillage Fest? Hi @anon We'll see attending others who are doing coliving in a connected set of houses, or who did the hippie communes back int he days, or who run spaces for getting better health together i.e. prevention but dont live there; others are doing mobile instantiations of temporary or permanent home living, again often with the purpose of providing some form of care: mobile clinics i.e. footcare;  4x4 firefighter truck flat fully equipped for work and hacking our economic operating systems;   Some of the things being discussed at the moment are:
    • acceptance and learning when you live with your co-workers
    • governance for emotional safety of relationships 
    • learning to ensure collective mental wellbeing
    • the practicalities of organising and using the common space
    Would you be interested in joining and helanon3606750899g design an interesting session to compare notes around an issue which interests you? Anyone else interested to shape something like this? Especially if you dont feel like just presenting a project and could use a more thoughtful conversation curated (with care!): @anon2591396734 , @anon281534083 , @anon     " 5,21938,2017-06-21T17:06:05.000Z,20260,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Pictures of the workshop container I found these on the facebook profile you linked to.. so.cool! " 1,6432,2017-06-21T10:37:24.000Z,6432,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"**Title:** Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences **Abstract:** What is a healthy experience and how can we create more of them? This session explores what exactly we consider to be healthy through questions, conversation and a look at what's happening in the West of Ireland. The struggles and the successes are part of it, but how we connect is what makes us whole. **About the network in Galway, Ireland:** It's diverse. It has many groups who've been providing care in there own ways now beginning to come together. Initially through celebration, then collaboration, sharing space and resources. A melting pot of creativity pointing towards cultural progression, hope and healing. A snapshot of some of the Irish groups who've contributed to OpenCare is part of the picture. An Áit Eile (The Other Place) make it their business to provide situations for coming together in healthy ways. It's the small interactions that are key, but planetary connections are also vital. **Participant Engagement:** Catch and speak, a way of getting to know each other. What skills and experiences do we share? After hearing a little about the Irish situation, time for a deeper look at ""What makes a space healthy?""." 1,576,2017-05-10T13:13:47.000Z,576,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"
    In 2014, I, Alberto Rey, had a solo museum exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. That project outlined the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River. The river was buried under the city of Buffalo in the 1800’s as a way to keep from dealing with the smell and pollution found in the water. Parts of the river remain buried and it continues to be polluted even as it is monitored by state and federal organizations.  My research and installation took about three years to put together, and it presented the complexity of how economy, government policies, lack of planning, lack of accessible information and climate change can dramatically erode an environmental and cultural asset while creating insafe health issues to underserved populations. It was during this installation that I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows though the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. After initial discussions with professionals, museum staff and community members in Kathmandu, it was clear that there was a great deal of interest in starting a new project investigating the Bagmati River. I was granted a residency at the Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Center a few months later, and my research began in earnest. Jason Dilworth, a colleague at the State University of New York and a graphic designer, joined the venture early in 2016 and his work has been integral to the project’s success. During Jason’s and my first trip to Kathmandu in March of 2016, we were able to strengthen past connections to the project while building a larger network of individuals and groups committed to improving conditions in the Kathmandu Valley and the communities outside the valley who live along the river. Support for the Bagmati River Arts Project has grown steadily from the beginning through the assistance of Hatchfund donors, travel support through SUNY Fredonia and a Burchfield Penney Art Center grant. It has continued to grow through the sales of the project’s publications and the sales of my artwork. The Bagmati River Arts Project (http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/) includes exhibitions, lectures and a website that houses a project  overview, daily of blog of research in Kathmandu, sketchbooks, data, videos and links to the project's publication and documentary:
    • an exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery at Barbar Mahal Revisited in Kathmandu opening on November 20th, 2016. My artwork, water data from the Bagmati River and the video documentary will be presented on the second floor. The first will include artwork by Nepalese artists whose attention focuses with issues related to the Bagmati River and related health concerns in the area. We are also working with the fine art faculty and students at Kathmandu University who will be creating work related to their cultural connections to the river.
    •  a book ,Complexities of Water: Bagmati River, Nepal and Beyond, is a publication that will examine how the holiest river in Nepal became spoiled by decades of pollution and policies that did not address issues related to climate change. It’s present condition is a result of is the result of government mismanagement and oversight, lack of concern for underrepresented communities who live along its banks, and extreme flooding and droughts due to climate change. Recent reports have ranked Nepal as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to the high rate of urbanization, unchecked industrial development, severely low water supply, high pollution levels, increasingly frequent extreme floods and droughts, predictions of worsening conditions and lack of appropriate planning to mitigate or adapt to these conditions. Reports also list Nepal as an LDC (least developed country), which indicates its potential limitations to address these issues. This project hopes to bring international attention to this issue and hopefully some support to help provide finances to assist in addressing these issues.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   While examples of pollution and the effects of climate change can be found throughout Nepal, there is no better example of how bad the situation has become than what has happened to the Bagmati River. The river is the most sacred Hindu and Buddhist river in Nepal and its banks border the holiest Hindu temples and several UNESCO heritage sites. Yet, it is the most polluted river in Nepal. The Bagmati River is also a prime example of how adversely climate change can affect a community while, at the same time, highlighting the resiliency and commitment of the residents to continue the fight to mend their river. The importance of the river to the people of Nepal and residents of Kathmandu had resulted in inspiring city-wide community events that have tried to restore the sacred waters. While their efforts are admirable and have motivated government action, little has been done to mitigate climate change causes or to adapt communities to their present conditions or to future projections. The proposed book, documentary and related programming connects the science of water quality and climate change to effects of urban migration, social norms, economics, industrial development, and government policies. The book will also investigate how the river’s condition has affected religious rituals and culture. The inclusion of interviews and artwork by professional artists whose work deals with the Bagmati River will provide a unique visual perspective on Kathmandu’s cultural connection to the river. While the issues investigated are specific to Nepal and the Kathmandu Valley, the general causes of the pollution, degradation of the water and its connection to climate change is reflective of many rivers and communities throughout the world.                                                                 Through aesthetically-interesting and related imagery, maps, and graphs, we hope to provide a new perspective on the interconnectedness of science, economics, environmentalism, health issues and art as it relates to the complexities of clean accessible water and the related social issues. By understanding the interrelatedness of complicated issues in the specific local region, the audience can begin to appreciate the complexities and connectiveness of their own locality to the global community.                                                                                                 The publication was made available in Kathmandu at no cost to the residents to assure wide dissemination of its data to a diverse communities. It also will be available in the United States and sold as a way to fund other parts of this project and future projects. A link to this finished book is available on the project website (http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/project-publication-2/).
    • a documentary video documents the project and include interviews with water quality and health professionals, community members as well a policy maker in Kathmandu. Songs by traditional Nepalese folk sanon1056199097rs are incorporated throughout the video including a commissioned song about the Bagmati River. A link to this finished documentary is available on the project's website (http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/videos/bagmati/).
    • a brochure and poster written in Nepalese will also provide important accessible scientific and health data about the river. The poster and brochures will be distributed to the communities that live along the entire length of the river in Nepal. Members of the Bagmati River Expedition 2015 team, who created a comprehensive report about the river’s water quality, microinvertebrates, avian population and plastics data, have already established connections in these communities. We have worked with Sujan Chitrakar and his graphic design students in designing the posters and brochures. Sujan is the Academic Program Coordinator and an Assistant Professor for Kathmandu University’s School of Art, Center for Art and Design. We will be collaborating with the students at SUNY Fredonia to finish the design of the brochure and poster.
    All elements of the project listed above were finished and presented at the opening of the exhibition on November 20, 2016 at the Siddhartha Gallery in Kathmandu, Nepal. An exciting extension to this project is to have the artwork, publication, documentary, brochures and posters tour the United States and internationally. The Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York is very interested in the merits of the project and they have volunteered to promote and organize the touring exhibition.Water issues are a worldwide concern and the Bagmati’s perils are not unique. Our hope is that, by touring the exhibition and by combining it with site-specific exhibitions, audiences can create connections between their region and other global communities. There is a good deal that can be learned from the history of the Bagmati as well as from the grass roots efforts that created the Saturday Bagmati River clean-up program and the successful community health initiatives supported by the non-government organizations. All of these efforts has unified the underserved residents of the Kathmandu Valley to address the basic needs in their communities while creating hope and motivating government involvement.   For more information please contact anon1526983854@anon1526983854rey.com.  
      Project Leaders Alberto Rey – Distinguished Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and for the past 18 years has been the Director and Founder of Children in the Stream Youth Fly fishing Program (https://anon1526983854rey.com/s-a-r-e-p-youth-fly-fishing-program/). He is also an Orvis endorsed fly fishing guide and is an environmental activist. (https://anon1526983854rey.com/) Jason Dilworth – Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and founder and director of several social design projects. More information available at: www.projectmlab.com/Jason-Dilworth and www.designersandforests.us
    Past, Present and Future For the past decade, I have been working on site-specific installations that examine the local bodies of water near the exhibition venues and their relationships to enviornmental and health issues. When the regional investigations are included with other investigations from regions around the country and the world, the audience can make connections between their local region and other parts of the world. These installations are complex, ambitious, and include informational publications and with extensive text panels that outline the issues related to the bodies of water. The panels and publications include maps of the bodies of waters being investigated; water samples with scientific data outlining their chemical breakdown and pollutants; and images, graphs and videos from the data collection sites. We have recently partnered with the United States Forest Service and will begin the process of documenting the stories that outline the importance of clean accessible water in communties and the organizations that are helanon3606750899g communties by protecting this valuable resource.
    " 2,8153,2017-05-11T08:38:56.000Z,576,anon1491650132,anon1293448839,"Where do you feel you've made a difference? Hi! I have a hard time understanding where the key points of your work is - raising awareness to improve environmental and water quality policies? e.g. water sewage pipes introduced. If so, that is really ambitious, but in the long run. In the meantime it seems you have talked to so many people involve in taking care of the river, and understanding tits vitality for the community, in  practical and traditional terms. If there is one thing that Basmati river project contributed to, what would that be? " 4,21501,2017-06-15T19:47:14.000Z,576,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"fly fishing? I hope you will get the touring exhibition to have a european leg, and come through Lausanne!  To add to the previous comment, by @anon I left a comment with a few points this morning on the page with the documentary, but just to ask one more silly question: was it actually possible to do any fly-fishing on the Bagmati river??  (are there many fish to catch??  are they edible?)   I did some flyfishing long ago in the great northwest and Montana, with great pleasure, but don't like to even imagine how the Bagmati river might have smelled in Nepal, let alone think of walking in it with hip-waders (with others swimming and washing alongside!?)... Thanks again for sharing, and looking forward to further discussions!     " 5,21913,2017-06-21T09:38:38.000Z,21501,anon1491650132,anon1227671133,"I dont think they did fly fishing on the Bagmati.. Did you @anon1526983854rey ? This is a connection which I believe will be good to explain during your session in october. " 1,866,2017-06-14T13:47:11.000Z,866,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"After the first submission, our original project ""doc.doc"" (https://edgeryders.eu/en/node/7847) got some feedbacks and contributes that conviced us to implement those inspirations that eventually turned out the early project in ResQ! In particular was pointed out how the core concept of our proposal could have been way more effective if applied in critical healthcare context (such as emergency hospitals and refugees reception centers) where the language barriers affect the quality and efficacy of the medical treatment.  Following is the brief description of our updated project, ResQ, we would love to hear your thoughts about it!  
    • Our project in a tweet
    ResQ is an app for physicians working in emergency contexts, that digitalise the health information of patients, so to make them easily available for colleagues.
    • Problem that our project is willing to solve
    Currently, the first aid provided to refugees arriving in Italy is effective in terms of solving the main health issues (healing of hurts due to the journey, or state of fever), but at the same time is not very efficient because of the superficial anamnestic research that physicians are compelled to make in such situations. In addition, the information gathered about the health state of each patient, are stored in simple paper sheets, preventing a further the potential of a pervasive sharing that a digital format would easily allow. The current way of working shows the following problems:
    1. The language barrier prevent a proper communication between the physician and the patient. Is usually delegated to the patients the duty of providing the accurate information about their health condition every visit.
    2. The missing digitalization of the gathered health data and the consequent discontinuity of the healing process.
    3. The limited precision of the anamnestic research due to the high number of patients and the short time available.
    • Final User, individuals and community target
    ResQ is conceived to ease the communication among physicians (involved in critical context such as emergency hospitals and refugees reception centers) regarding the health state of foreigner patients who don’t know the language of the hosting country. In this way, the tool is designed for physicians, but the main benefits will come for migrating patients whose this services is dedicated to.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/MZSMi316E-Y  
    • Solution, brief description of the project
    ResQ is a mobile management tool that improves the communication among healthcare workers (especially physicians, but also volunteers, nurses etc etc...), getting as a result the reduction of the language barrier that very often doesn’t allow foreign patient to fully explain their symptoms or their own pathologies. The personal pathological condition besides being a psychological kind of weight, for instance when a patient has to explain multiple times his/her condition to a series of different medical specialists, it could also lead to misinterpretation and diagnosis issues when there might be a language barrier. ResQ is conceived to to be used mainly during the period in which the migrant still doesn’t own a “Codice Fiscale” (personal unique fiscal code), but only a STP card (Straniero Temporaneamente Presente), that makes her/ him able to benefit from the main national healthcare services (for 12 months maximum). The reception centers that provide the STP card and give the first medical assistance, have to deal with a very high number of people in a stressful situation that often lead to a superficial treatment. In this way we designed an agile gathering data tool that saves time and in few minutes would be able to fulfill a complete health history of the patients. Also, the digitalization of such a document would make possible an extensive sharing with colleagues that later will take care of the same patient. Therefore the physician will have the chance to communicate autonomously among themselves without misunderstanding through the management tool.
    • Technologies we will adopt
    The tool we are designing will be developed in order to be accessible from the main devices available on the market. Therefore we envision applications possibly developed in their native languages as Java or Android and Objective-C foe iOS ambients. Even though we believe a mobile tool might be most suitable solution for the specific usage context we are working on, we would like to provide also a multi-platform responsive app developed in HTML5. The cloud service might be developed in NodeJS, with database in MongoDB and MySQL.
    • Website
    Under construction.
    • Licence
    Opensource --- " 2,9809,2017-06-14T14:09:00.000Z,866,anon2435658896,anon3260786624,"go ResQ cool pivot!  cc @anon " 3,14618,2017-06-20T10:04:00.000Z,866,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"Agile kick off Thank you @anon After this pivot we also had an interesting workshop with  @anon In the following link is an article that go deeper in the details of this activity. https://edgeryders.eu/en/agile-kick-off-at-wemake " 1,580,2017-06-20T09:59:52.000Z,580,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"

    Agile kick off at WeMake

    June the 13, 2017 Together with Chiara e Silvia, from the WeMake - OpenCare MIR team, we explored the main steps of the Agile Planning, which made us able to focus more on our project ResQ. For those who are not familiar with this methodology, Agile is an effective way of working that helps teams in identifying their unique value proposition, and how to make it real. Therefore we went through the following steps:
    • 01_Why are we here
    • 02_The elevator pitch
    • 03_The product box
    • 04_The Not list
    • 05_Meet your neighbours
    • 06_What keep us up at night
    • 07_Size it up
    As following a deeper view on each one.

    01_Why are we here

    During this first step each member of the team wrote down on a Post-it its own expectations about outcomes, both for themselves and for the group, that the projects might will produce. Doing this exercise clarified our visions and interests about our ultimate goal. Therefore we found out that as a group we are very aligned in our aims, in fact, everybody pointed out how crucial are motivations as the personal development and the social impact of our project.

    02_The elevator pitch

    This exercise consists in completing a brief sentence that should summarize the main aspect of the project involved. In particular the fixed terms of the sentence are:
    • the (name): name of the project to realize
    • is (category): what we are going to create
    • that (benefit): aim, what the product does
    • among (target): people to whom is dedicated
    • and (second target): second group of people to whom is dedicated
    • who/ that: the interaction between these two target groups
    • unlike: comparison with competitors/ status quo (current situation) or other services
    • our project (do): the peculiar difference (innovation) that set apart the project from the competitors/ status quo
    The final result of this activity has been: Resq is an application that makes easier the communication between physician in critical context and migrants who need healthcare services. Unlike the current situation, our service speeds up and eases the sharing of medical data.

    03_The product box

    The product box is the creation of a small advertisement of the product/ service as it has to be streamed on the media. Resq: Behind the boundaries!

    04_The Not list

    Everyone wrote down the activities we should accomplish in order to get our goal in the end of these two weeks of residence at WeMake. We all agreed that we should have used this time to focus more on the research of the context and therefore an the analysis of the data gathered so far, rather than on the development of the software itself. To point it out even more clearly, we separated the activity we will accomplish for sure, from those we are already sure we won’t be able to do, finding also a little place for “hope” ;)

    05_Meet you neighbours

    The exploration of the closest communities of people we should and we will be surrounded of, since we are working in such a project. Also, these are the communities we will work for and from which we could benefit as well.

    06_What keep us up at night (the nightmares)

    The so-called nightmares.

    Or, in other words, the most worrying threats we think we might stumble in during our work. With the support of Chiara and Silvia we eventually analyzed each items, in order to constructively see if the concern was realistic and/ or how to tackle with it, thus to solve it.

    06_Size it up (time planning)

    After having defined the activities to accomplish in two weeks, we started to resize them for every day. In this way was easier to find an agreement on what to do exactly each day and how much time we should dedicate them. The agile method also suggests to host a so-called “stand-up meeting” every workday morning, in order to keep up on what has been accomplished and has been delayed." 1,545,2016-09-30T15:03:37.000Z,545,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"

    T-shirts 4 Open Communication

    Main aspect of this project is to create an environment that deaf people can open up to the world through T-shirts... More people use T-shirts, deaf people have a voice. This is also an awareness project about the isolation the deaf people. Because only friend's t-shirts can capture the sign language. (through the gloves)   " 2,10300,2016-10-03T11:22:44.000Z,545,anon1491650132,anon3003844599,"Where did you get the idea? Hi @anon3003844599 how’s it going? I don’t think we’ve met yet, I’m Noemi one of the Edgeryders community managers. Thanks for taking so much time to read and post here on the platform, even though I’ve been traveling and couldn’t react, definitely catching interest. So what’s your story, how did you become interested in pretty cool ideas like the T shirts? " 3,14518,2017-06-19T17:50:00.000Z,545,anon3708118144,anon3003844599,"is there anymore on this? Hi @anon3003844599 @anon " 1,6388,2017-06-08T13:02:26.000Z,6388,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Waag Society and Digi.bio are organising a biohackathon on July 8-9 in Amsterdam. They asked if we are up for joining with a team of 4-5 people. We will be able to experiment with the open source microfluidics chips Digi.bio has developed. The event will be a mix of presentations and hands-on work, with a focus on the latter. Many experts in the field will be there. Waag Society itself is of course also worth a visit! This is a good occassion to get some more input on the plans we have regarding microfluidics. We can already go on the evening of the 7th to avoid early travels and to enjoy the evening in Amsterdam. As we discussed in the meeting of June 7th, we could try to replicate some of the work we do with the plasmids on the chips. Who's up for joining? Any other ideas? :-) " 2,8024,2017-06-08T14:08:34.000Z,6388,anon4099110767,anon2954219769,"Re: Biohackathon at Waag Society 8-9 July I am totally up for it! Don't have a good idea at the moment but I will keep my mind open the coming week. Bram " 3,15033,2017-06-08T14:14:51.000Z,6388,anon2696739629,anon2954219769,"I also want to join! Blocked in my calendar! I am sure that by then we will have an excellent purpose for the microfluidics device. Michiel " 4,20450,2017-06-09T10:18:12.000Z,6388,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Pings Some anon3606750899gs for people who have shown interest before @anon1746600840 | @anon " 5,23912,2017-06-09T10:42:42.000Z,6388,anon3132163688,anon2954219769,"Good idea, count me in. Will give us a lof of exposure to new ideas and maanon1932026148 new partnerships.. " 6,24960,2017-06-09T15:23:53.000Z,23912,anon4099110767,anon3132163688,"Re: Good idea, coint me in. Hey @anon Just out of curiosity, how did you get involved with the openInsuline project? It seems that you just materialised out of thin air? :D Bram  " 7,25392,2017-06-09T14:30:39.000Z,24960,anon2954219769,anon4099110767,"Welcome! Hi @anon3132163688 , welcome to the platform! I've known you for a while, but the others have not. Maanon1932026148 you can shortly introduce yourself and say a few words on why you want to get involved with Open Insulin and join us for the hackathon :-) I hope you can make it to the next Open Insulin gathering on June 21st! " 8,25525,2017-06-09T16:55:14.000Z,25392,anon3132163688,anon2954219769,"I indeed appeared like a rabbit out of a hat @anon I talked about it with @anon Anyway I'd be happy to join, mainly because it's a meaningful project and it's something completely new for me, so I'll not get bored fast. I'd be happy to join the hackathon but if the places are limited by all means choose someone else..   " 9,25583,2017-06-12T13:43:26.000Z,25525,anon3132163688,anon3132163688,"Ok it seems like I can't participate anyway that weekend.. " 10,26684,2017-06-09T17:33:06.000Z,6388,anon2658280305,anon2954219769,"Count me in! Yes, I would really like to join and the dates work for me, so count me in! " 11,28271,2017-06-12T10:28:31.000Z,6388,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"The call is out They just launched the official event call. Through the mailing list I got this accompanying email: --------------- This in an invitation to the first Amsterdam Biohackathon organized. This Biohackathon event will focus on experimenting with the microfluidic technology called ""Digital Microfluidics"" in the context of automation of molecular biology and microbiological applications, diving deeper in how microfluidics, automation and software are changing the way biology is performed and how researchers and and extended audience can benefit from these systems.   A number of tracks have been proposed such as:
    • sensors
    • biosensors (isothermal amplification and PCR, staining )
    • cell free system (GFP)
    • machine vision
    Focus will be on how bio-molecular assays can be performed in a micofluidic droplet-based environment and how visual programming and software is used to control such experiments. Thanks to the contribution of CellFree Technologies we will be able to run cell free experiments in microliter droplets. Another side track is looking into how ""biosensors"" like PCR and LAMP would fit into the system and how to visualize the signal of the reaction itself.   Machine vision and sensors are both tracks that that focus on how software and sensors, once integrated in such microfludiics systems, can be of use to control or observe particular phenomenons (i.e color change, fluorescence)   Digi.Bio will provide a number of devices based on digital microfluidics technology that the participants will be able to use to automate the choosen track or a project the participant will propose autonomously. Waag Society is providing support and hosting the event in the beautiful Waag building. The Biohackathon welcomes all applications, from any research field, that would benefit of microfluidic automation, thermal control and a suite of sensors and magnetic systems (see drive folder for recent literature on the topic). The Biohackathon will start 10am July 8 and end 6pm 9 July, 2017. For further information or application of individual teams contact info@anon   " 12,29397,2017-06-18T12:15:14.000Z,6388,anon555382939,anon2954219769,"I am in! Would be great to join if there is space left! " 1,6304,2017-05-06T19:08:27.000Z,6304,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"I'd like to propose a theme that I've been curious about for some time. How do we create the conditions for #opencare in our organisations and our communities? How do we design communities and organisations that are care-full, and promote health and flourishing? I'm curious about the interplay between policy and culture (as in ways of doing things rather than music and art). Are policies simply agreements about what we think works and what is right at any given time? Moreover how are they implemented at government or regional levels and in organisations, if they are to be more than good intentions? Do they end up needing enforced or policed by someone? Are they a tool of old ways of doing things built on hierarchy and power over? What role can they play in creating the conditions for opencare or for that matter for love and acceptance and generating the sense of coherence that Antonovsky describes in salutogenesis and its approach to study what creates health and well being rather than researching dis-ease? My work through the GalGael Trust based in the Govan area of Glasgow has offered some hints that actively generating a healthy culture is perhaps more effective in achieving in an anchored way the 'good intentions' of policy. Strong values guide actions, decisions and behaviour, influence language and how we treat one another. Our workshop sees people working, for the most, part side by side. We’ve had people with violent histories, people who suffer agoraphobia, depression and addiction. Yet something about the space we’ve created has meant that people largely get on, there’ve been no violent incidents in our 20 year history and people describe their doctor taking them off medication, sometimes for the first time in many years.  It’s not a silver bullet. People lapse. They fall back in to the darkness at times. But there is something undeniable about the environment we’ve created and actively generate that has a therapeutic affect. While some of our participants and volunteers have said ‘the work is the therapy’ - this refers to the hands on purpose they find in their labours not the work we do with them. So is this as a result of policy or culture? What is it that creates the conditions for an environment of open care? How do we understand the architectures of love that are called for to create a more care-full society? We’ve recently spent a year curating a collaborative process to explore what it means to ‘be GalGael’. It saw us going back to our beginnings and drawing on the learning from our days as an anti-motorway protest camp. We wrestled with our assumptions - which were shared and which were disputed? We explored whether our purpose was actually underneath it all - to bring about greater love. This contributes to our being in a good place to explore this theme more widely in our own organisation and its practical application in more depth. Through the process we would like to connect and learn from other organisations exploring this theme.  What kind of structures and processes are essential building blocks or make up the ’hardware’? What kind internal capacities and approaches make up the ‘software’ that keep a healthy organisation, healthy community or healthy societies humming with human flourishing? The theme could also link to other themes that explore how we create the conditions such as: - citizens income and the politics of time; - nature of collaboration and how we exercise our freedoms and capacities; - the nature of work in care-full societies; - forms of leadership and personal capacity called for.  I’m very new to Edgeryders and I’ve not had much time to develop this so would appreciate feedback and thoughts as to whether this might be a theme of interest to others.   " 2,6792,2017-05-07T10:07:00.000Z,6304,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Creating the conditions for opencare: in for the long haul Hi @anon1701267031 it is a pleasure to meet you, welcome! I've heard great things about the work in Glasgow from Nadia, and would be interested in zooming in this overarching care theme during our festival later in the year. The reason for me personally is obvious: being a community manager here at edgeryders, the core of my work goes into creating the conditions for care, in a community and organisation: whether it's trying to forge new relationships and learning, creating meaningful work for those of us not willing to compromise to an exploitative job market but needing to find resilience in precarity, or just being on the margins somehow socioeconomically but also health wise, or culturally. I realise more and more how ambitious this is and how we need to be in it for decades to understand how it can shift things broadly, culturally or in policy, like you say - doing things differently, rewiring ourselves etc. Some projects and wonderful people I know which you might want to consider connecting with, mainly because they go deep into rewiring communities: " 3,14151,2017-05-07T11:07:27.000Z,6304,anon524334160,anon1701267031,"Something Else? Hi @anon1491650132! You mentioned that I'm now doing ""something else"" after I left Access Space. Indeed! In a sense I am doing a very similar thing - but with a different business model and emphasis. I left Access Space just after we'd delivered an incredibly successful EU funded project: Sheffield Community Network. The project's overarching objective was to create jobs and social enterprises in the Sheffield City Region, and my particular role was to investigate the local employment potential of digital making technologies, give support to local enterprises that were investing in these processes, and help understand what positive local impacts could come out of engagement with 3D Print, Lasercutting, CNC, Digital Embriodery and so on. We (Access Space) were a minor partner, receiving less than 5% of the project budget - yet one of our clients, who we helped to prototype a key product, has created more jobs than the WHOLE PROGRAMME'S OBJECTIVE. How were we thanked for this? We had our budget cut. That led me to feel that there is no future in publicly-funded programmes, particularly when they involve asymmetric power relationships - a local authority, for example, can simply dictate to minor partners how a budget will be deployed. This is partnership in name only, So, I and my wife Lisa started ""Makers"" - a high-street shop which combines digital making and traditional craft activities with upcycling and re-use. Our objective is to take the lessons I learned from my research at Access Space, and deploy it in a context that's completely self-sustaining. Our logic is that, in these increasingly reactionary times, public money will not be available to help localities, so we'll need to make sure that what we do works on a completely commercial basis. This means that job number one is to SELL! Every other objective can only be realised after we understand exactly how to relocalise manon169343781facture SUSTAINABLY. If we can find this path, then the potential for replication is obvious. If not, I fear that the new ""maker economy"" will be so much hot air, and digital making will suck resources out of localities and neighbourhoods, just as have so many other anon3003844599s of supposedly ""decentralising"" technologies. ""Makers"" has a website here: http://makersontheedge.com. We sell things that we and local people have made, plus interesting old, curious and unique things that we acquire. What we don't sell is mass manon169343781factured stuff. We also run craft and making workshops. Oh, and if you want to come and visit, and maanon1932026148 to a Makers residency, we have a self-contained flat above the shop which we rent on AirBNB here! https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/13081880?preview We're currently involved in a Horizon 2020 project, researching ways to introduce making into junior schools, encouraging engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and we'd welcome collaborations with other research projects. Hope to see some Edgeryders here in Sheffield soon! All the best, James " 4,17052,2017-05-07T11:54:46.000Z,14151,anon1491650132,anon524334160,"Thinking alike: work/home coommunity space model @anon Whoa, funding cuts due to being 'too successful"" sounds like a familiar story - edgeryders at the end of our Council of Europe journey, could have gone for longer if incentives were better aligned, but in the end it might be better like this: an independent sanon3606750899off is probably an even better story. If you have blogged somewhere about the details of the affair, or the promising results, I'd be interested in reading. We'll come visit with the first occasion - i dont know if you've seen this, but we've just moved in a common work/home space in Brussels, also with a guest room / AirBnb and a view on achieving resilience by creating more sustainable lifestyle and work. @anon " 5,19274,2017-05-07T12:45:21.000Z,14151,anon1526983854,anon524334160,"Always great to hear from you @anon Just one small thing: OpenCare is indeed a Horizon 2020 project (official landing page with all the logos, bells and whistles: http://opencare.cc). How could we, concretely, collaborate? Maanon1932026148 you want to connect with @anon " 6,19837,2017-05-07T15:01:20.000Z,6304,anon524334160,anon1701267031,"Horizon 2020 Collaboration? Perhaps a Future Project? Hi @anon I suspect that we should understand these two projects as running in parallel, rather than collaboratively. MakEY (the project we're a partner in) is 100% focused on early years kids, devising workshops to help teachers gain confidence and skills to lead higher value making sessions for 5-8 year-olds, hopefully enthusing them with STEM. We're looking to have fun with robots, drawing, moulding things, playing with conductive materials and electricity; then we aim to develop best practices which we can disseminate to other school environments. A further objective may be to understand what kind of ""makerspace"" could be accommodated inside a school. As you'll no doubt be aware, there's an EU-wide problem with retaining young people in STEM learning, and this will put us in a poor position to compete globally, and make best use of the new transformations in manon169343781facture. From our point-of-view at ""Makers"", our interest in making extends into the enterprises that making enables. We welcome the strategic engagement with making that MakEY suggests - but we also question whether the new, high-tech jobs that relocalised manon169343781facture suggest are really real, or another digital illusion. If relocalised manon169343781facture means nothing more than an ""automated manon169343781facture pod"" attached to each supermarket, that robotically creates objects on demand from a centralised database, then, frankly, it is of little interest. While it may have some environmental advantages, it will only serve further to centralise wealth and employment. Only if relocalised manon169343781facture reinvigorates locally-owned enterprises, bringing high skill, high quality jobs into neighbourhoods, will it have a positive economic effect, and only if it can help to relocalise the act of invention itself will it be a positive force on a cultural level. Meanwhile, of course, I have studiously avoided the implications of the B-word. However, as Britain dusts off its application to join the Third World, it'd be a very positive thing for us to build some bridges with our friends from the future. Any suggestions? All the best, James " 7,21744,2017-05-07T17:35:16.000Z,19837,anon477123739,anon524334160,"Ouch! This wins the award for bleakest B-word take i've read this weak. ""Meanwhile, of course, I have studiously avoided the implications of the B-word. However, as Britain dusts off its application to join the Third World, it'd be a very positive thing for us to build some bridges with our friends from the future. Any suggestions?"" Sounds like you've got a solid start on making positive changes though. " 8,23102,2017-05-09T20:09:42.000Z,19837,anon1526983854,anon524334160,"Agreed on all counts Yes, OpenCare + MaKEY does not seem a good match. But yes, building bridges is good. In fact, that's why Nadia was in Glasgow to begin with – @anon I do not have a concrete idea at the moment. Will need to think about it more. " 9,23520,2017-05-07T17:25:06.000Z,6304,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"Some hellos Hello @anon Thanks for the heads up on other projects. There’s a lot of inspirational work taking place that we’re keen to do more connecting up with beyond those we collaborate with in Glasgow and other areas of Scotland.  Hello @anon Making the ‘numbers look pretty’ (and less in the red!) has been tough and we’re at a point where we don’t know if we can make it work. We see clear potential but what happens as people have less money to spend? My hunch is that for localised manon169343781facturing to work we need structural measures to offset the realities of the global marketplace and explore ways of interfacing and contributing to the growth of non-monetary economies.  If I’m down in Sheffield I’d like to stop in. If you’re in Glasgow please pop by. Hello @anon Go well  Gehan " 10,24900,2017-05-10T10:11:25.000Z,23520,anon1526983854,anon1701267031,"Hello back Great to meet you @anon I do not have nearly your experience around care, so I'll defer to your judgment as to people's emotional needs. We started looking into care beccause, frankly, it keeps getting in the way. We are always trying to build something (an online community, a consulting business, a space for life and work... ). Building is hard, and normally underpaid because no one wants to pay for the costs of coordination and the risk-taking phase when you are building, but the thing you are building is not yielding its expected benefit because it's not finished. So people keep burning out, or having to take long breaks, or otherwise dropanon3606750899g the ball. That affects everyone else, is unfair on the tougher people who keep grinding it with less support, and fragilises everything we do.  This is ust my own personal  take, mind you. But me, I am too much of an economist not to see the efficiency gains of involving everyone, being super-flexible as to the form in which different people contribute. The Reef has a calming, burnout-preventing effect on us simply because being in one live-work place allows us to support each other in more ways. If I am exhausted, or pissed off, I can share whatever I do to flush the ad stuff out of my system: if I feel like cooking a meal I can offer you to cook for you too (or help me, if you feel like cooking too). If I feel lik going for  run or a long walk I can invite you. It costs exactly nothing. But occasionally it will be just what you need: taking a break, regenerating a bit. We have already noticed how we are working fewer hours, and cutting out exactly the worktime where we are most stressed or tired – the worktime that does not produce anything. Compare the economics of this with those of bringing in a top-heavy professional system of counseling and treatment.  I have not read Illich, but yes, ""conviviality"" does emerge. We are trying to build to little traditions: the Thursday evening dinner in the house, an open brunch on the last Sunday of the month. We hang out. We take our time. We try to stop our colleagues and friends from breaking for trying too hard. We go on.  " 11,26676,2017-05-08T12:46:48.000Z,6304,anon4116418727,anon1701267031,":) Hi @anon1701267031 very interesting approach to care, it has been refreshing to read your words. Have you, by any chance, read this https://aeon.co/ideas/descartes-was-wrong-a-person-is-a-person-through-other-persons or anything along the line, recently? There is a renewed interest in the role of social inclusion (or lack thereof) as the root rather than the consequence of mental health challenges... And I very much like that you suggest to connect the topic to reflections about the hyped citizenship income, and the nature of work. How do we envision the future of our societies, within the frame of our bias for autonomy, freedom, and independence? Looking forward to reading more about your GalGael ^_^  " 12,27228,2017-05-08T17:58:09.000Z,26676,anon1701267031,anon4116418727,"'being happens in the space between the self and the world' Thanks @anon4116418727 - this link is interesting. I love what it says about Ubuntu philosophy; ""I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am."" Growing the sense of 'we' is so fundamental to every other generative and evolutionary human project - at least to my understanding so far. I think of it as our 'collective muscle' - our ability to think on behalf of the whole. And this muscle has become so emaciated by the experiences of modernity. Its not simply about 'being together' or connecting - virtually or physically. It has a markedly different quality. The Misak indigenous peoples of Columbia seem to take this to a whole other level. When we co-hosted a workshop with one of their elders late last year, I was really drawn in by their descriptions of the collective consciousness and how this only came about and was sustained by active engagement in Minga (collective work). You'll get a sense of the clarity of their thinking here: http://www.lifemosaic.net/eng/tol/life-plan/ though I don't think they mention Minga in this video. I don't get so much time to read so am a bit ignorant of Descartes thinking but am very familiar with its consequences for humanity and guess I have read enough on that! The problems of the modern mind... one of the things I most enjoyed learning in the last three years was that we have three brains - observable by a surgeon - discovered about 100 years ago - but forgotten because we are blind to facts that don't support dominant world views - in this case the myth of hierarchy (there can only be one brain)! But also perhaps the dictatorship of mind as our primary sensing capacity. I love this quote too; ""Instead, being is an act or event that must happen in the space between the self and the world."" We hear a lot in our line of work - this guy has low self esteem - or this woman lacks self confidence. I now see from reading the article you sent that this is itself based on Cartesian thinking. And I think it goes way beyond loss of self esteem etc - I think we've been observing the people arriving at our door with profound loss of all sense of self. The article you sent helps to describe why that might be. Sense of self is coproduced in forming a sense of collective. Perhaps these offer new frames through which it might be more helpful to understand the mental health challenges of modernity. Afternow have done some really interesting research on this: http://www.afternow.co.uk  Thank you for sharing these insights... " 13,27410,2017-06-15T07:10:50.000Z,27228,anon1227671133,anon1701267031,"confidence I love the next to last paragraph of this post, @anon The image you start with here, building boats, of course is one great way, by making things and helanon3606750899g others make things.   I would love to make a sailboat!  (Passing on ideas for public health and develoanon3606750899g ways for people to look in their own cells for signs of trouble is one of my key preoccupations, btw.) " 14,28267,2017-06-14T11:35:43.000Z,6304,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"conditions for empathy? I'm wondering about what ""the conditions for opencare"" might mean in practice. On the one hand, maanon1932026148 some aspects of care have no conditions other than a person who cares in an appropriate and relevant way. But practically speaking, how do we create the conditions where there is a positive cycle of care: where one person's care of another results in the second person being able to care more, and so on. I'm glad you named the purpose ""to bring about greater love"". That comes across to me as having a deep and strong foundation. On a practical, psychological level, my own experience is that if I care for people who don't share my values to some extent, it can be dispiriting. Like giving to people who believe only in taking, and not giving back, can be very taxing. So one thing, which is no different from what you have said, in different ways perhaps, is to bring people together in a community where people share the values of caring for others, giving back, giving forward, or something similar. People who want greater love in the world, and not just for themselves! I believe there are many skills, relevant to this, that can be learned. Or if not learned, then maanon1932026148 picked up from living in a culture where they are norms, through a process you could call ""enculturation"". So is at least part of what we are talking about here to do with learning the skills and habits of caring, and those behaviours being positively reinforced -- to use a phrase which sounds quite wrong in some ways? Looking forward to reading more Simon " 15,28645,2017-06-16T16:33:42.000Z,28267,anon1526983854,anon2591396734,"Reciprocity There is a long-term reciprocity lurking behind this community stuff. It's totally OK, even a pleasure, to cover for someone. It can even be someone that never covers for you, as long as she covers for other people in the space (however you define its borders). So it is network reciprocity. But if you get the idea that someone is a free rider, then covering for her is not so OK anymore. It can only be OK if you really live in abundance, and it does not matter. But most of us are a long way from there.  Community care takes away the externality of health care (""the person that demands the care is not the person who is footing the bill"", as @anon Additionally, the cultural evolution theorists like Wilson claim that we are hardwired to find and drive out free riders because of evolutionary pressure at the level of the group. This theory is super-fascinating, and deserves its own discussion, so I will just leave it here. It might help to explain why you prefer to help people who share your values.  " 16,29394,2017-06-16T10:21:37.000Z,6304,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"a new paradigm for care Hi Simon (@anon2591396734),  Thanks for your thoughts. What I'm meaning by 'conditions' is more the environment, the enabling factors - rather than 'contractual conditions'. For me it connects to new understandings about the kind of leadership called for by emergent and uncertain times - leaders as architects, creating the containers for things to happen, self organise in a desirable way - rather than the old command and control models. I particularly love Margaret Wheatley's early work on this area. What might these look like in practice? I think it will be a combination of the factors you go on to mention; culture, values, new skills, awarenesses and practices. That is what I'm keen to explore as part of this theme of open care. There seems to be (particularly in this area of the public sector) an over-emphasis on interventions and policies that are quite entrenched in a command-and-control mindset. What is called for to engable self-organising, citizen-led responses to welfare needs of our fellow citizens? Also how this might pull the wider structures of our society and the non-health determinants of human flourishing in to formations that are less likely to deplete and more likely to generate greater heatlh. I'm still trying to articulate this theme clearly enough so as to connect with others engaged in connected work who may be open to contributing a session at the Open Village in October. Do you know of anyone that would be worth contacting? thanks " 17,30201,2017-06-16T18:42:49.000Z,6304,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"Tbe Peckham Experiment @anon1701267031, have you read about the Peckham Experiment? Pioneer Health Centre. I think a few people here have read about it. Was a long time ago, mind you. 1930s, 1950s I think. Googling it should work. Anyway, it might be a useful reference point. That still had the actual doctors on site, but health was generated by the people in that well-designed environment. So I'm not saying it can't happen, just that I see the best way as environment plus culture plus skills. Simon " 18,30406,2017-06-16T20:02:00.000Z,30201,anon1701267031,anon2591396734,"Thanks, I think my use of the word 'environment' is really not working for you - perhaps better to substitute this with 'enabling factors'. Think of it like a petri dish - what is needed to cultivate care? Though yes, architecture & space have an impact.  The Peckham Experiment sounds a bit like the Bromley By Bow Centre which I visited last year. They have a GP surgery on site but its very much integrated with a range of other activities - from a cafe providing employment and offering food prepared from Fair Share donations to workshop and artists space.  It also stems from our own observations in our work - which kind of took a permaculture take on what was working for the people who had been engaged in our project over the years. What was very obvious was that it was the settings and 'environment' created in the workspace that was as important as the work we were doing. So for example, creating spaces 'round a kitchen table' was conducive to peer support as opposed to professional support. I like the notion of 'networked reciprocity' @anon This led me to propose this theme with a hope of connecting up with others who share some curiousity about this and related topics. I'm also particularly struck by the amount of energy that goes in to forming or influencing policy. This seems to be an instrument of an old world view that imagined human progress would lead us to predicting everything. What would be a) a more productive use of people's time and b) contribute to improved outcomes in relation to the often laudable intentions behind these policies? In Scotland, I see this happening on a national level - recently there was an academic paper published on the failed regeneration policies pursed over the last 30-40 years, costing millions of public money that have left the deprived areas that were targeted still at the bottom of the league table. But also in our own organisation, policy responses to issues such as addiction seem a little useless. What do other responses look like? Citizen led responses that include a rich mix of culture, values, new skills, awarenesses and practices. How do we work with this more skillfully? Appreciate your thoughts and experiences. If you're ever in Scotland/Glasgow - stop in for a walk round our workshop & a chat.     " 19,30472,2017-06-17T11:27:40.000Z,30406,anon2591396734,anon1701267031,"Enabling factors and policy Thanks, @anon1701267031. I value the focus on what is actually found to work in practice for real people. And it's often hard to isolate what, in general, are enabling factors, and what is just accident, that makes little difference. Then there's the added complication that people sometimes differ greatly in how they work. We can see this in education as well as work. What works to motivate one person might turn another one off. I'll rephrase what I was trying to say earlier, in the hope it might help. I do think that we can consider a few different kinds of enabling factors for \#opencare.
    1. The skills, attitudes, competences, knowledge, experience, etc. of individuals involved.
    2. The designed environment, in the sense of the Peckham Experiment etc., but also including public spaces, communal spaces, sizes and geometry of living spaces (indoors and outdoors) and how their relative location
    3. The culture of care -- related to what Denis Postle calls the ""psycommons""
    4. The designed opportunities for interaction, engagement, collaboration -- like your populated 'spaces round a kitchen table'.
    ""Policy"" -- what a hard word indeed. I think we would all agree that a policy statement can be no more than an empty promise; and that misguided policy can be worse than no policy. I can well believe that the policies for regeneration or addiction you refer to could have been misguided. But I wouldn't want to dismiss the efforts of policymakers altogether. Maanon1932026148 policy can act as a reminder to concrete effective actions? A point for coordination? Or are you trying to say that there is something inherently wrong with policymaking at present? Maanon1932026148 it's too much (a) embroiled in politics and (b) too ""top-down"". Maanon1932026148 we could have a policy that states that all policies are to be developed from the bottom up? Or that certain areas should be kept deliberately free of policy? If you really think that policymaking is essentially flawed, then maanon1932026148 you're thinking that our current mechanisms of government are fundamentally flawed, and I wouldn't disagree. Similar flaws appear at national and European levels. What we do about that is another matter. Happy to discuss... " 20,30794,2017-06-18T10:06:00.000Z,6304,anon1701267031,anon1701267031,"Radical monopolies & living systems This is very useful thanks @anon2591396734... I particularly like your categorisation of enabling factors. I hadn't come across Denis Postle's work before but looks like there are some good leads to follow up there. It resonates with Ivan Illich's critique in Tools for Conviviality - dominance of technocratic elites and radical monopolies in the field of 'mutual caring, rapport and cooperation' to use a phrase from the psyCommons backstory. I particularly love Illich's description of the kitchen table in his interviews with Caley as being a place of recovering what our modern universities have lost in the ""search for truth"". ""Friendship is required first, the search for truth is based on the creation of the 'we'."" My questions on policy are not intended to dismiss the efforts of policymakers. My interest is more in how we gain a better understanding of the limits of policy as a tool or instrument to ensure wiser use of range of tools and practices which will achieve the desired outcomes of policy. In writing this response I'm reminded of two things. One something Michael Spence (of Schumacher College) wrote in After Capitalism about what happens to laws when they become written - which I must dig out and re-read as I think this might connect to a particular limit of policy. The other Margaret Wheatley's book A Simpler Way, which as you may know, unpacks the obsession of the so-called civilized world, dating back to Victorian times with the world descending into chaos without man imposing order - while new science is revealing that order is a natural tendency and that we need to get better at how we work with that so as not to disrupt it. So I guess another way of coming at the question could be: what do policies look like that support natural responses to care and welfare rather than prescribe interventions and methods? Policies that are more generative in relation to those enabling factors you've outlined. And beyond this... perhaps something fundamental about how we reconfigure the role of the State from a living systems perspective. thanks again " 1,864,2017-06-13T13:51:22.000Z,864,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"There have been many changes during the last week... Caracol, a designer studio, moved its big 3D printers out the building and left an empty big room at the upper floor. Yesterday, the designers of ResCure arrived, the first group ""in residence"" that will live here till june 25th and accelerate their project thanks to WeMake know-how and its shared spaces.   https://www.youtube.com/embed/WmLTLav3zWw There are many people around now, many machines and tables too; there is not a fixed way to deal with spaces. At least, functionality and results make spaces lived by people and changed time to time. Some machines are heavy, but I have seen the 3D printers and other stuff moved easily from one side of the place to the other, or more tables mounted for the newcomers in few minutes. There are also many classes and participants around; so many tables, activities, computers, cables and..of course, people. There is a heterogeneity at work that makes such peculiar activities possible;  half way instructional, half way productive. When it comes to prototyanon3606750899g, mocking-up, or discussing how to define something that is not standard, or mass produced, there is an involvement on different levels and by different actors. It reminds more of a home life than a factory; there are no written rules about how to deal with spaces and home rules as well, as far as I have understood. Anyway everything seems very well organised and scheduled: MIR guests arrived yesterday, but had already two classes: one about AGILE approach by @anon413297907 and one about Github by @anon It is important that everybody here uses and delivers contents using the same tools and integrating to others within the bigger tasks. Me too, i had to live this ""rite of passage"". There are two considerations now. First, big changes in constituted order of space may bring changes in the way work is organised. Second, there is not a better way than changing the program, or modifying the shopfloor, to see how people react and enact in other ways, de-routinizing the ethnomethods shared at WeMake and whoever may access its social world.   The arrival of ResCure-ers brings opencare work at WeMake to a new level. Different local settings can be understood now as network localities coexisting and sharing the same space-time dimensions. The classes are shared with WeHandU and inspire more makers at once. The understanding of how others work give a day by day and specific shape to own projects. By what they talk about and what they do, “Making for opencare” discourse becomes a visible and touchable meaningful concept for different people involved in such exchange of knowledge. A large community is at work these days here...I have counted about 40 people..It's amazing! Teens, Senior Makers, opencare staff, makers and designers, students and trainees..all together. " 2,6650,2017-06-16T16:07:07.000Z,864,anon1526983854,anon3341622463,"This looks great This residency concept is onto something.  @anon In terms of the digital space, the same modularity concepts apply. People should use the same tools whenever possible, like in WeMake, to facilitate interoperability and reconfigure your workflow on the fly.  Of course this has got nothing to do with care. It's just what work well done – any work – looks like.  " 1,867,2017-06-16T09:57:55.000Z,867,anon1626956627,anon1626956627,"
    As we navigate through different layers of space - personal, communal, public, private; physical or immaterial - we find that each has its own unique dynamic that is conditioned by ownership, access and attitudes of the people inhabiting them. How we live with one another and how we make sense of the interactions when factoring in power relations, newer arrivals, meshing of spaces or other elements that constantly challenge the basis of our relationships? You can do this mission in either of two ways:
    • Imagine a person moves to your town or city and tells you that they would like to hangout somewhere where they could make new friends. Where would you send them and why? What information or advice would you give them? What knowledge or skills do you think you would have found useful to settle in faster the last time you moved to a new place?
    Alternatively:
    • Do you consider yourself an indigenous person? Why or why not? Interview someone who has moved to the city or town you live in, and ask him or her about their experience of the place. How does it compare to yours?
    Dig deeper into the topic
    • Read what other Edgeryders are saying - Andrei’s At the edges of conflict and mixed identity makes a strong point on what it’s like to live at the crossroads and clashes of cultures. His vision is that of peacebuilding: ""hate speech on both sides [of Transnistria] is still louder than the voices of peace""
    Good for you: If you’re an indigenous person, reflecting on this can help you learn how to welcome new arrivals; if you’re a newcomer, reflecting on this can help you learn the tricks to accommodate to the new home and make the transition smoother.   Good for everyone: Your contribution can educate others to cherish new places and out-of-the-box relationships and open up to the value of communities that are dynamic, adaptable or rich in diversity.

    Count me in! How do I participate?

    It’s easy! submit your contribution by sharing your story. If you´re not already signed in to the Edgeryders platform you can do it here. Remember to get the bigger picture on Living together.
    " 1,33752,2017-05-04T10:24:04.000Z,33752,anon3581542807,anon3581542807,"As today we record as a great success the fact that growing multiculturalism, migration and movement of people with varied and different cultural backgrounds are considered usual and an ever growing phenomenon. A lot has been done in the field until now however, still a lot to do in the field. It is important to notice that there is still great animosity within local communities as well as a lot of prejudices. A lot of issues also arise as people of local communities do not acknowledge the issues at hand which creates more and more divide which is not being addressed. Those stereotypical thoughts are mainly generated as a result of the absence of adequate communication, education and the influence of the society through all types of mediums. Whithin those toughts and seeing what is happening even amongs my friends, I got an idea to approach cultural identity questions, self and other's perception through a different lens as well as to raise awareness about cultural integration, positivity and motivation to create positive patterns and a sense of belonging. As the name is suggesting, it's about speaking and creating save space for that using spoken word poetry, creating space to improvise as well as to bring experience into already existent scene. " 2,33768,2017-05-05T09:19:49.000Z,33752,anon1491650132,anon3581542807,"Poetry? Hi @anon3581542807 , I remember being briefly in touch when you joined Edgeryders about a year ago, what made you consider posting? :-)  Are you based in Vilnius? Curious how your city, or Lithuania broadly, are dealing with diversity, and whether you look at it as an in-group thing (different groups within the same nation) or an out group. For example where I come from, Romania, the issue of diversity is treated at the politica/ media level as a matter of ethnic groups among the Romanian nationality. It's less a matter of incoming, new groups - where things look good in the quiet way: since we are not exposed to it so much or exposure brings in clear benefits rather than strains (i.e. tourism). How come you're thinking about artistic expression as a solution, do you have experience with that? You probably need to meet others here interested in culture and diversity - Edgeryders has a Culture Squad in the making where we try to set up projects specifically on that, maanon1932026148 have a look? " 3,33781,2017-05-05T15:40:09.000Z,33768,anon3581542807,anon1491650132,"Hey @anon I live in Amsterdam and I work a lot here with spoken word poetry and inclusion and self development. I am happy to share if you like! " 4,33785,2017-05-06T01:11:12.000Z,33781,anon1491650132,anon3581542807,"Any link further would be appreciated indeed Also given the interest from Alberto below.. Thanks! " 5,33795,2017-05-05T20:52:33.000Z,33752,anon1526983854,anon3581542807,"Have you tried it yet? Hello @anon3581542807 , welcome from me too. Spoken word for cultural integration sounds like a new approach to me, at least in continental Europe. Maanon1932026148 there is soimething in English-speaking countries, where spoken word as an art form is more widespread.I recall @anon Have you tried it yet? Even on a small scale? If so, how did it go? And: was there a language barrier to negotiate? " 6,33802,2017-05-07T16:35:37.000Z,33752,anon722012516,anon3581542807,"Curious about your Experiences! Hello, @anon3581542807! Similar to @anon I also wonder if you have looked into any other creative mediums for creating common ground? One thing I am looking into in this realm is Theater of The Oppressed. Maanon1932026148 this upcoming webinar would be of interest to you? " 7,33812,2017-06-15T19:54:10.000Z,33802,anon1227671133,anon722012516,"cultural humility! I clicked on the Theater of the Oppressed link and saw the point about cultural humility! @anon Did you know 'modesty' is the 5th principal in the diybio code of ethics, btw? I am also interested in open poetry, spoken word, and think most problems can be solved if good communication is possible! " 8,33813,2017-06-16T06:03:15.000Z,33812,anon1526983854,anon1227671133,"Ethics Hello @anon " 9,33818,2017-06-16T07:18:30.000Z,33752,anon1227671133,anon3581542807,"ethical aims Hi! The diybio.org group made this code in 2011, as far as I know.  We have a handout for prospective members of Hackuarium that includes it too... Here it is: Transparency Emphasize transparency and the sharing of ideas, knowledge, data and results. Safety Adopt safe practices. Open Access Promote citizen science and decentralized access to biotechnology. Education Help educate the public about biotechnology, its benefits and implications. Modesty Know you don’t know everything. Community Carefully listen to any concerns and questions and respond honestly Peaceful Purposes Biotechnology must only be used for peaceful purposes. Respect Respect humans and all living systems. Responsibility Recognize the complexity and dynamics of living systems and our responsibility towards them. Accountability Remain accountable for your actions and for upholding this code. DIYbio code of ethics, Draft from the European Delegation, May 2011  Probably there could be many versions of this out there now, of course! I should also note that DIT Research is more close to my heart (do it together!) than the original diybio...  ;) ciao for now, Rachel " 1,850,2017-05-24T10:09:07.000Z,850,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"The meeting with citizens like @anon The openrampette team worked for weeks in order to plan and deliver a well banon3760936673ced session that included hard design needs by a user research approach and an easy, neat approach meant for anyone. As the participants arrived, they gathered in 4 informal groups to have some chatting. @anon As facilitators, the openrampette team walked around to help and suggest to the participants how to tackle certain details. A load of pictures was taken around to witness the session. By my side, I was interested in taking pictures as well, even though my perspective was different, more focused on how the session was enacted and how a intersubjective level could emerge from and by the interaction of actors. Even though the time was up, participants were willing to discuss more on biases on the forms and about the procedure itself. There was a break with drinks and food for a evening snack. Then, the openrampette team collected the filled forms by the participants and the idea was to find out for patterns and common salients. The paper sheets were layed on the floor and a feedback was given, while @anon   https://www.youtube.com/embed/NeNmf9v3p60   Now, some considerations.. First of all, a kind of participatory assessment, based on a broad and heterogeneous participation was appreciated also by @anon413297907 -the designer in charge of the user research meant for shop owners only that will follow this event. What emerged are unexpected cases in-between and common and shared interests among stakeholders. The social dimension emerged as a shared need to construct a substantial and workable objectivity, by a keen and multidimensional analysis of the formal objectivity embedded in the procedure and the script articulated in the fields of the form. What citizens could make visible where aspects of the dimensions for access that usually remain invisible when filling a form or being counseled by a technical advisor. Makers have a peculiar perspective and bird's eye to hack technology and open it. There was great interest around such a technical procedure and bureaucratical details. A participant even talked about how power be embedded in institutions when it comes to filling forms to satisfy some requirements and how institutions make things difficult. Open care is certainly related to the dimensions of access to practices, but also to information not as end-users, but as editors and reviewers. The evening was a good example of viable and inspired assemblage of citizens, institutions, norms and devices for the public.   " 2,10148,2017-06-15T10:01:53.000Z,850,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"The context of making culture that spills into policy Yesterday during our community call @anon Openrampette is a mix, as the City is interested in open care and doing more open policy making - so having a mandate as partners in OpenCare research they were on the lookout for contexts where learning and sharing knowledge with citizens can happen. I tried to pick most relevant reads that you can skim through, they are so many reporting on openrampette ... - Outline of the collective enforcement of the mobility policy in Milano - About a process of co-design with citizens Next up: how to get it into \#OpenVillage Fest, which aspects are more relevant. " 1,6315,2017-05-10T13:36:04.000Z,6315,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"For the past decade, Alberto Rey has been working on site-specific art installations, websites, books and videos that examine bodies of water around the world and their relationship to social conditions. These works are complex, ambitious, and often include combinations of publications, documentaries, websites, paintings, drawings, maps, water samples with scientific data outlining their chemical breakdown and pollutants as well as images, graphs and videos from the data collection sites. Alberto will discuss ways to make complicated issues interesting and accessible to a wide audience. The lecture will also outline how this process evolved and his most recent projects in the Nepal and the United States (https://anon1526983854rey.com/site-specific-projects/). https://player.vimeo.com/video/178565032 Above: video from the Basmati River Project  " 2,8169,2017-05-11T08:43:57.000Z,6315,anon1491650132,anon1293448839,"Frame a question? Hi and welcome back @anon1526983854rey , would be great to finally meet. Are you coming to the Open Village Festival this October in Brussels? If so and as we prepare the schedule given all the proposals coming in - I would be interested in zooming in on one question which you would like to answer during the session. It may be a question you have and could not answer yet, for whichyou invite contributions and active participation from the people attending. I believe this is the best way to get the most out of the festival and learn from others too. The less presenters versus spectators, the better! I just watched the Basmati river project documentary you linked to in your story, it is beautiful. Can we embed it on this page so people can click and view it directly? Then add an introduction to the session so we can promote the proposal around the network and see what new ideas come to help prepare it. " 3,15247,2017-05-11T12:39:01.000Z,6315,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"response Hi Noemi, Good to talk to you again! I apologize for not being able to join in the discuss yesterday. We are in the middle of final exams here on campus and I was in class. I would love to present at the conference but I would need some travel support. I would also be interested in being a Fellow if that's a possibility. I'm sorry I was confused. I listed the questions that we hoped we could address by our presentation. My question is ""What is the best way share our project and our interest in working on other organizations around the world?"" Thank you for taking the time to look at the video and your kind comments! Here's the code: <iframe src=""https://player.vimeo.com/video/178565032"" width=""640"" height=""360"" frameborder=""0"" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> For the introduction, do you need something like ""The Biological Regionalism Session discusses ways to use art as a way to introduce complicated environmental and health issues to a diverse audience"" I look forward to working with you. Thank you! " 4,17801,2017-05-15T06:22:18.000Z,15247,anon1491650132,anon1293448839,"Message coming up Thanks, your interest in OpenVillage is much appreciated. Requests for support acknowledged. Many community members are just now making different proposals for what the festival program could contain and so lots of content to go through. We're gonna need, together as a group, to see how each initiative or theme works together with others to advance a collective opencare agenda and what we as a community can show to the world, so to speak. Expect an email reply with updates these days, ok? As for the Fellowships, a few days ago posted an update in this group saying we need more time to see which proposals get others enthusiastic about them. That's always a good measure for parsing. PS I embedded the video. For next time: if you go to the Edit tab above the post you are able to make changes yourself, so just go ahead. " 5,18523,2017-05-16T13:11:36.000Z,17801,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"Thank you! Thank you for embedding the video and your assistance! I will take care of it myself next time. I had tried to post some comments with my iPhone but it did not work. It seems to be working well on my computer. Thank you for the feedback and please let me know when decisions have been made for the conference. I have a few research trips coming up and am trying to figure out my schedule with the other researcher partners in New Mexico and in New Zeanon3760936673d. There is always too little time and money to do all that is necessary. Thank you again. Alberto " 6,21041,2017-05-30T15:01:59.000Z,6315,anon2954219769,anon1293448839,"DIY water quality measurements Hi @anon1526983854rey ! It took me a while to get back to this after the call on Wednesday, sorry for that. What I am interested in when talking about communication is how it leads to action. In my field, this would be for people to get engaged in research or development to ultimately improve the water quality. Water quality (and air and soil quality) are usually hot topics in civic uses of science. Here in Belgium alone, the biggest university-led projects are about air quality, as well as most grass-roots open tech projects. It shows that people really do care a lot about it. Eg. the air quality in my hometown of Ghent is pretty bad. It might be interesting to hear the perspective of some people working in grass-roots water quality measuring. Communication is often an expensive (time- and/or moneywise) aspect. Your work as an artist is potentially a great help. Has your work on making complex issues around bodies of water acessible somehow contributed to citizen-led research? " 7,24498,2017-06-15T06:47:14.000Z,6315,anon1227671133,anon1293448839,"Beautiful! @anon1526983854rey  Hoanon3606750899g hope isn't really the only thing left, however! ;)  That log scale on the E.coli graph certainly gives me a new perspective to consider our current Montreux lake water study!  Really love the music too, and look forward to joining in the discussion about how to raise awareness via art for public health (also in the context of 'genomic integrity'& AGiR! - not only cleaning up pollution)...  I would like to see some of the macroinvert biotic index data, if possible!  Did you tour the whole river, too?  I wonder if Nepal has sewage lines and treatment plants already.  (or not ??)  What is the interesting game with hands into the hole in the stone??  Dumanon3606750899g garbage in the river was common also, even back in the '80s, in Switzerland.  Another weird thing around here, some people say fish die-offs can because the lake water is *too* clean.  Also, federal standards of water quality are not based on presence of trash!  Any thoughts?  Looking forward to further discussion (the real kind, too!)!     " 1,6407,2017-06-14T11:47:26.000Z,6407,anon3894174616,anon3894174616,"In relation to what i bring on to the open village festival, i intend to lay out the underlying reasons why we have a lot of youths engaged in drug abuse in africa and its social-economical effects of develoanon3606750899g-world countries. i would to demonistrate the importance strong communities towards combating the drug menace and eventually creating awereness with views eradication of the drug menace. radicalisation is spreading fast among drug users who are easy targets for terrorist activities in the coastal city of Mombasa.if we are at aposition of curbing the issue at hand, then we will be able to address the global effects of terrorism.which not only affects us in Kenya but now a major issue in Europe, middle east and the USA. we hope to grow a strong network out of the presentation at the festival so as to broaden our scope of understanding and welcome some experts in social-counseling who may helps in rehabilitating these youth into leading productive lives within the communiting. approach of presentation
    • the presentation may include brief videos and statistical data to show the scale of damage.
    • group discussions and presentation(which may require representatives of each team presenting their finding to attendees)
    • slides hence i may require :
    1. projector
    2. white board
    3. makers
    NOTE : the presentation may take 30-45 minutes at the festival i hope to learn more on collaboration and experiences in europe which may help us advance our urge to transform our local communities to provition of global solution to our local challenges. " 1,865,2017-06-14T10:11:42.000Z,865,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"On Wednesday 31st of May there was the closure of the CALL FOR MAKERS | opencare Maker in Residence.   The application process wasn’t easy at all! It required three main steps. The reason why of this process lies on our opencare vision: we strongly believe that a collaboration is also possible within online and offline communities, composed by professionals, doctors, researchers, practitioners, economists, social media experts, designers, activists but also real users, citizens, people with special needs, students, makers, tinkers and many other stakeholders interested in building encounters. By clicking on this link you can read all the stories  which applied to the MIR within the 3 topics :  
    • Hacking and making
    • Healthcare and social care
    • Open science and technologies
    Allright makers, time to stow the gab and announce the accepted projects. The opencare team, based at WeMake, is glad to announce that the following projects will be officially part of the first edition of opencare Maker in Residence: WeHandU |  The Question: Perform simple and everyday tasks independently. The Problem: A person with amputee hand and locked elbow. The Solution: A helanon3606750899g device held in the hand, capable of interacting with multiple items Continue to read the Story of WeHandU on EdgeRyders.   ReHub | by Mauro Alfieri and Sara Savian @anon3853818059 The Question: Is there a quantitative tool to monitor the hand rehabilitation? The Problem: The lack of a tool able to provide a digital feedback on the progress of proprioceptive physiotherapy. The Solution: A wearable glove that can record and transmit data thanks to a sensor system. Continue to read the Story of ReHub on EdgeRyders.   ResQ | by Luca Tarasco Nushin Alishahi Emanon169343781ela Pucci Francesca Previati @anon The Question: How to help refugees in getting a more efficient healthcare service? The Problem: Language barriers often lead to misunderstanding and psychological weight for foreigner patients. The Solution: ResQ is an app that connects physicians over common patients, providing a complete overlook to minimise language barriers.  Continue to read the Story of ResQ on EdgeRyders.   Breathing Games | by Fabio Balli, Povilas and Duglas The Question: How to ensure that (lifesaving) health innovation benefits all? The Problem: Competition and copyrights hinder the free use and adaptation of health innovation. The Solution: We co-create knowledge and technologies that can be used and adapted by everyone, in all countries. Continue to read the Story of Breathing Games on EdgeRyders.   AllergoKi | by Nicoletta Faltracco and Monica Zambolin The Question: There are a lot of people with food allergies and/or intolerances, that too often are forced to renounce to have dinner outside because they are afraid to feel bad. The Problem: People with food allergies and/or intolerances feel immense embarrassment every time they have to tell their health condition. The Solution: AllergoKi wants to create a visual/tech “system” placed in the restaurants or any food court, in order to have a comfortable and convivial atmosphere for anyone. Continue to read the Story of AllergoKi on EdgeRyders.   In the next days we are going to meet each team, in order to set a specific schedule in terms of calendar, resources, activities and much more.  opencare Maker in Residece | WeMake team   " 1,6277,2017-04-27T10:34:09.000Z,6277,anon882273058,anon882273058,"Hi everyone! I’m Pieter, an information designer living and working in Ghent. I’ll design the infographics for the Open Insulin project. Before I can start we need to define the content and the target of the graphics.   I like the idea from Niek that most of the people in Flanders know diabetes as  “The Sugar” This could be a good start to attract people to the graphics with something they are already familiar with. This could be used in a big title that immediately draws the attention. A few points I would like discuss: 1. Target public?  I would make a difference between 2 targets: children (-18) and adults (18+), each with a different mood. Is there a difference between children diabetes and adult diabetes? Does it affect the development of the child? 2. Key questions I would design 2 infographics (as a start), one for the adults and one for the children. Each infographic should contain 5 key questions with a few lines of info to avoid an information overload.  3. Format/design I would use a landcape A4 format so it can be easily shared and read on social media. I will design a small document with the ""corporate identity"" so the the communication of the project will be internally and externally consistent and clear for everyone. Any thoughts? What key questions about Diabetes should we address? best, Pieter " 2,8561,2017-04-28T08:09:00.000Z,6277,anon2954219769,anon882273058,"Local relevance I think the points we touched last Wednesday (link) offer a great starting point of what an infographic should look like for the audience in Belgium. Specifically around the need of education around prevention. For the graphics to be maximally useful, they should be easy to employ in a different context, for the teams in Oakland and Sydney. What are your communication needs, @anon3786846929 , the most pressing obstacles that could be resolved if your message reaches the right people? " 3,15935,2017-05-03T05:29:03.000Z,6277,anon2954219769,anon882273058,"Some inspiration I came across this article: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/amp/desperate-families-driven-black-market-insulin-n730026 The visual about blame struck me... I wonder how it is in Belgium, maanon1932026148 something comes out of the discussion here. Can be worth adding as well. " 4,17808,2017-05-03T13:04:36.000Z,15935,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Whoa That post is heartbreaking, Winnie. And @anon " 5,21120,2017-05-15T09:37:31.000Z,6277,anon882273058,anon882273058,"Information for the general diabetis infographic hi, So I gathered some info for the infographic with general diabetes info. Feel free to comment, I would like to start designing this Wednesday, Thursday. Title: So what do you know about ""The Sugar"" ? Intro: The number of people wih diabetes has doubled in the last decennia. Everybody knows someone that is suffering from diabetis but do you know what is really happening inside the body of someone with diabetes? Do you know what to do when someone gets a hypo? In this infographic you will find some basic info about diabetes and how you can prevent it.  1) What is diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic condition that increases blood sugar levels. This can have two causes: either the insulin is insufficient or the insulin produced is insufficiently effective. In both cases, the cells can not absorb enough sugar (glucose), which accumulates in the blood. There are two types of diabetis: Type 1: Occurs usually in children or adolescents and affects less than 10% of all people with diabetes. Body does not produce enough insulin. Type 2: Over 90% of people with diabetes have diabetes type 2. This occurs especially from the age of 40 years. Body produces insulin but can’t use it well. 2) How many people have diabetes?  The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In 2012, an estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes and another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose. WHO projects that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030. 3) What are the complications? How can you prevent them? Diabetes can lead to complications in many parts of the body and increase the risk of dying prematurely.  Intestines & stomach problems, heart attack, kiney failure, blindness, hearing loss, stroke, damage of nerves and blood vessels, amputation of feet or leg, fatigue,.. Eat and drink healthy, quit smoking, keep your weight under control, exercise, keep the sugar levels in your blood under control, check your feet, get a check-up on a regular basis, keep learning about diabetes! 4) What is gestational diabetes? A special form of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This occurs especially in the second half of pregnancy. This calls for further follow-up to minimize risks during pregnancy and at birth. Usually the diabetes disappears after childbirth. The diagnosis of gestational diabetes is an alarm signal. It means that you have a high risk of develoanon3606750899g persistent diabetes in the first 5 to 10 years. Pregnancy diabetes occurs in 5 to 20% of pregnancies, usually in the second half of pregnancy. 5) What do you need to do when someone has an attack? If your blood sugar levels fall below 4 mmol / l, you have a hypo. That's what you notice:  •    to sweat • vibrate •    being dizzy • suddenly changing mood (suddenly angry, for example) is unconcentrated •    headache •    being tired •    be hungry A hypo is about eating or drinking something quickly (not light). For example, six to eight tablets of grape sugar. If your blood sugar exceeds 10 mmol / l, you have hyper. That's what you notice: • Pee a lot • Have a lot of thirst and keep it • are tired • sudden moodiness, getting angry quickly • be sick or give up • Everything feels annoying The body itself wants to lose too much sugar in the blood, through lots of pee. Many people continue to drink (but nothing sweet!) Helps. Also movement is good, then the blood sugar burns. If you are using insulin, you usually need to inject additional insulin. Sources About OPEN INSULIN     " 7,24398,2017-05-15T14:09:14.000Z,6277,anon2954219769,anon882273058,"What do we want to achieve? I think the comment of @anon ""Is it here? Is it now? Does it affect me? Is there anything I can do about it? More generally what is the behavioral change that you want to achieve with each outreach effort?"" I think this is the starting point: what do we want to achieve with the infographic? The graphics I saw from idf were kind of static. Mainly some facts and figures on diabetes. I think we want something that activates. There are already some concrete things that it could be used for, like education and prevention. What would be useful for education, @anon What is the message you'd like to get across for the project in the US @anon3786846929 ? @anon " 8,26668,2017-06-12T13:52:38.000Z,6277,anon882273058,anon882273058,"Infographic draft " 9,28261,2017-06-12T13:54:08.000Z,6277,anon882273058,anon882273058,"Infographic draft I need some more input from the different partners about the content of the infographic before I can progress with the graphic. Feel Free to comment. Any thoughts? best, Pieter " 10,28644,2017-06-12T14:37:26.000Z,28261,anon1526983854,anon882273058,"Data driven Hello @anon882273058 . Great first stab, congratulations! I would start from the info you you want to convey, and convey by data visualisation rather than text whenever possible. Maanon1932026148 the number of deaths is also better represented by a number or a time series rather than a block of text. Next, I would spend some time visualising the data. Histograms? Dashboard-style numbers? Time series?  If your story is ""rising social costs"", time series make most sense. You could even combine basic information: put in the same graph the rising number of diabetics D, the rising price of insulin P, and the total cost of providing insulin D x B x Q, where Q (constant ) is the number of insulin doses a patient consumes in a year. The product of two rising values rises very fast! If this is your story, a missing information is how much open sourced processes could bring down the price.  Again, you could experiment with dataviz to convey the message. For example, you could project your cost of insulin into the future , with and without open sourced processes. Only then you would write a text that contains the info that you cannot convey by dataviz. My hunch is that now you have too much text for an infographics, but I am no expert. Hope this helps.  " 11,28999,2017-06-12T14:56:05.000Z,28261,anon1491650132,anon882273058,"Yeaaay @anon Other than copy I'm not sure I can provide feedback, I'm a really bad designer :-) Great work by the way... !! " 13,29391,2017-06-12T15:03:10.000Z,6277,anon882273058,anon882273058,"Global data on the rising cost of insulin? Thanks for the comment Alberto, very helpful. Indeed too much text now, I was going to cut the text but we first need to divide the infographic in different frames.  I’m still a bit confused about the rising cost of insulin, is this mainly happening in the USA? What kind of data should I use, there is no global data on the rising cost of insulin. I can analyse and visualise big data sets, but we need reliable datasets if we want to make a clear statement. “a missing information is how much open sourced processes could bring down the price” => great idea! How should we define this?  @anon     " 14,29671,2017-06-12T15:28:00.000Z,29391,anon1526983854,anon882273058,"Hm Rising costs: that's in your own draft , I am just proposing an aggregation mode. ☺ EDIT: sorry, I was wrong. You mention insulin prices, not costs.  Bringing down the price: somebody here suggested 40% as a reasonable target for biosimilars. EDIT: that person was @anon " 16,29939,2017-06-14T05:21:36.000Z,29391,anon1491650132,anon882273058,"Nope, I'm not on the gdrive Hi @anon Getting there!   " 17,29949,2017-06-14T08:58:07.000Z,29391,anon2954219769,anon882273058,"Which perceptions to break? There is plenty of data out there it seems, it comes down to choosing the data that will have our desired effect. Open Insulin takes a more activistic approach: first and foremost we do things and would like people to join us in doing things (on two aspects: production of insulin and prevention). I think informing and opening a debate, although important, are means to an end or (desirable) side effects for us. For me, things stick when some perception I held is broken (while avoiding the sensational). Eg., for most Belgian citizens it is a surprise that diabetes is a massive financial burden for US patients, while this is widely known for a US inhabitant. Just an example, better yet would be if it is also relevant for the same Belgian citizen. Say, data on the cost savings for tax payers. It is important to define the audience like Alberto mentions below. In my oanon3606750899ion, we focus on the local project first and produce something that can be (partially) salvaged for other contexts and uses. " 19,30404,2017-06-13T23:05:09.000Z,30199,anon1526983854,,"Cost a better indicator Insulin consumer  prices carry little information. They are too dependent on the particular form of subsidisation that exists in each country. Estimates on costs are likely more useful.  Also, is the infographics going to refer to Belgium?  The EU? The world?  " 1,845,2017-05-19T23:01:33.000Z,845,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Co-creating new realities. Imagine what it would be like to solve every challenge we face. Imagine you could talk to anyone you need to and you can help everyone you want to. Imagine you're being connected to everyone, spiritually as well as through the internet. Imagine you can raise every question. Share every idea and improve them. Build together. Imagine you can create any reality you want to. What would you do? Where will you find them? How do you address this challenge? Imagine the internet will help solve everything. As quickly as possible. Imagine ideas being filtered by their quality, and you can set the filter, you can change the algorithms to work for you, intentionally. Serving you.  Imagine a platform like this. Will you help me develop this idea and make it into a reality?  Could it be as simple as sharing challenges?  Like: self-sufficient and abundant cities. Hosting the topic and solve it?  Homes for everyone, support and care for anyone who needs, organize needed funding and create a reality of support.  Simply designing new practices and distributing it, gifting it, and creating a culture of gifting eachother forward into abundance for all.  Simple? Naive? Tell me? Want to explore this with me?  " 2,6865,2017-06-05T11:06:16.000Z,845,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"Starting from a blank slate or learning from the past? Hi @anon868457471 it was nice meeting you at The Reef in Brussels a few weeks ago. I thought your experience at the Synergy Hub in Rotterdam is really telling and contains lesssons to keep when moving forward. We all stand to learn from them, as they point to what works and what doesn't in co-design within a community pretty aligned in values. If you ever feel like listing the most important things you've learned in a few paragraphs for a read by other edgeryders, it would be super helpful. If I can help in any way let me know, I'd be happy to have a skype and support documenting/posting them. It also helps the development of our common Reef! " 3,14633,2017-06-06T19:28:55.000Z,845,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Talk Hey @anon Tell me when's best to connect!  " 4,17218,2017-06-06T19:37:54.000Z,14633,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"Community call tomorrow ++ Hey @anon868457471 you're welcome to join the call tomo Wed at 18:00 where we meet new people and design together the event later this year around building the OpenVillage - whose concept by now you know super well :)) I can also prepare a short interview guide and we can have a one on one later to writeup the insights you mentioned the other week, if that's okay.. Hope to see you tomo! " 5,20133,2017-06-06T20:58:27.000Z,845,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Alright, I'll join! I'd also love to share another idea :)  " 6,24354,2017-06-14T08:44:33.000Z,845,anon70625510,anon868457471,"Thrivability Several years ago @anon They may be helpful as a starting point? Maanon1932026148 Jean has some advice to share? " 1,33729,2017-05-03T14:39:04.000Z,33729,anon3260786624,anon3260786624," 
    • Il tuo progetto in un tweet*
    • Doc.doc è la soluzione per mettere in contatto medici che seguono lo stesso paziente, fornendo loro la panoramica più completa possibile.
    • Bisogno o problema che il tuo progetto cerca di risolvere* 
    Sempre di più patologie complesse necessitano della collaborazione tra molti specialisti della cura. A questi diversi professionisti manca però la possibilità di comunicare e condividere informazioni su una piattaforma dedicata. L’attuale procedura di lavoro evidenzia i seguenti problemi: 1. Delega al paziente la responsabilità nel fornire le corrette informazione relative al proprio caso. 2. Rende complicato il confronto fra i diversi specialisti riguardo aspetti controversi delle diagnosi. 3. Non permette ai medici di essere aggiornati sugli sviluppi clinici di un determinato paziente, se non all’incontro con lo stesso. Doc.doc fornisce quindi una piattaforma tramite la quale i medici possano raccogliere e informarsi autonomamente riguardo i pazienti in cura. Inoltre la progettazione UX è stata specificatamente orientata alla facilitazione della comunicazione tra medici, semplificando le azioni che permettono di interagire con un collega tramite una telefonata, un messaggio istantaneo o un’email.
    • Utente finale, individui e/o comunità di riferimento*
    Il prodotto è pensato per i medici, ma i maggiori benefici andranno ai pazienti. Doc.doc infatti migliora la comunicazione tra i vari operatori sanitari, ottenendo come risultato un miglioramento delle condizioni lavorative degli stessi (più pianificazione, più chiarezza, quadri clinici completi e organizzati), ma soprattutto consentendo ai pazienti dei medici che faranno parte del sistema doc.doc, di essere seguiti da un network di specialisti sempre in contatto e sempre aggiornati sui vari mutamenti dei quadri clinici su cui stanno lavorando.
    • Soluzione, breve descrizione del progetto*
    Doc.doc si propone essenzialmente come un aggregatore di informazioni, un unico database medico nel quale possano essere convogliati e organizzati i dati dei pazienti che si hanno in cura. In questo modo il medico può affrontare ogni nuova visita avendo già anon2188661263 l’anamnesi pregressa del paziente in questione. Doc.doc inoltre fornisce tutti i contatti degli specialisti che hanno condotto una determinata visita in precedenza, e rende estremamente semplice (un clic) la possibilità di mettersi in contatto con un collega per richiedere un chiarimento o un parere rispetto ai dettagli di una certa una cartella clinica. Inoltre, in una fase successiva, sarà possibile strutturare doc.doc come strumento di ricerca pura, grazie all'aggregazione di dati demoscopici dei pazienti e alla loro categorizzazione per patologia.
    • Tecnologie utilizzate o che vorresti utilizzare*
    Lo strumento che abbiamo progettato si esprimerà attraverso un’applicazione mobile per ambienti Android e iOS, che verrà quindi sviluppata secondo i linguaggi di programmazione di riferimento (verosimilmente verranno utilizzati rispettivamente Java e Objective-C per realizzare app native). Abbiamo privilegiato questo tipo di approccio per rendere l’utilizzo del software il più immediato possibile. E’ comunque ipotizzabile lo sviluppo di una web app responsive in HTML5 che consenta un utilizzo trasversale multiplatform. Il servizio cloud potrà essere sviluppato in NodeJS, con basi dati MongoDB e MySQL.
    • Sito web (o social network)
    In fase di pianificazione.
    • Licenza, che pensi di utilizzare
    Opensource
    • Stato attuale del progetto*
    Il progetto attualmente consta in un prototipo sviluppato attraverso la piattaforma proto.io. Prima di ottenere questo risultato abbiamo sostenuto una approfondita analisi UX che ci ha consentito di effettuare scelte precise circa lo sviluppo di certe funzionalità.
    • Considerando il tuo progetto, evidenzia le fasi che hai raggiunto con il tuo progetto.
    1.0 Scoperta 1.1 Osservazione del contesto Doc.doc nasce dalla constatazione di quanto siano spesso frammentate le informazioni che i diversi specialisti possiedono riguardo un certo paziente. Attraverso un processo di ricerca abbiamo evidenziato come un approccio olistico, che a colpo d’occhio fornisca un quadro clinico completo, comporterebbe indubbi vantaggi a medici e pazienti. 1.2 Acquisizione di idee, spunti, intuizioni Lo spunto iniziale che ha dato l’avvio al progetto è scaturito da una serie di interviste condotte tra medici e pazienti. Questi ultimi in particolare lamentavano la scarsa preparazione del medico rispetto al loro specifico caso clinico, delegando pertanto al paziente stesso, la responsabilità nel fornire informazioni dettagliate circa la patologia da affrontare. 1.3 Definizione del problema Il problema che abbiamo affrontato può essere definito come una carenza di comunicazione. I diversi professionisti della cura non possiedono, ad oggi, uno strumento semplice e veloce che possa tenerli aggiornati rispetto alla progressione clinica di ogni loro paziente. Le informazioni sanitarie sono disgregate e appartengono allo specialista che le ha prodotte attraverso la propria visita. Queste informazioni tendenzialmente non hanno altro modo di essere condivise, se non attraverso il paziente stesso, cui si delega il compito e la responsabilità di fornire tali informazioni allo specialista successivo. Doc.doc si propone essenzialmente come un aggregatore di informazioni, un unico database medico nel quale possano essere convogliati e organizzati i dati dei pazienti che si hanno in cura. In questo modo il medico può affrontare ogni nuova visita avendo già anon2188661263 l’anamnesi pregressa del paziente in questione. Doc.doc inoltre fornisce tutti i contatti degli specialisti che hanno condotto una determinata visita in precedenza, e rende estremamente semplice (un clic) la possibilità di mettersi in contatto con un collega per richiedere un chiarimento o un parere rispetto ai dettagli di una certa una cartella clinica. 2.0 Definizione 2.1 Analisi delle soluzioni In seguito ad una estesa sessione di una particolare forma di brainstorming, il brainwriting, sono stati vagliati diversi possibili approcci per affrontare il tema proposto dal bando OpenCare. Questi sono stati categorizzati in modo sistematico secondo la tecnica detta delle 4Cs (le quattro”c”: components, characteristics, challenges, characters) e quindi circoscritti in macro-aree che puntavano ad un certo specifico orientamento verso la risoluzione delle problematiche riscontrate in ambito sanitario. 2.2 Ideazione del concept In seguito ai risultati scaturiti dalle tecniche di brainstorming, è stato realizzato un questionario da sottoporre ad un certo numero di pazienti, parenti dei pazienti e professionisti della cura (non solo medici, ma anche infermieri, farmacisti, fisioterapisti etc…). Queste interviste si sono rivelate cruciali nel definire il percorso che doc.doc avrebbe intrapreso. Infatti, abbiamo riscontrato presso la maggior parte dei pazienti intervistati, una sostanziale insoddisfazione riguardo i processi di comunicazione con i propri medici. In particolare, nel caso di patologie particolarmente complesse, dove è necessario il coinvolgimento di molteplici specialisti, spesso i medici coinvolti sono parzialmente o totalmente all’oscuro riguardo i progressi dei colleghi nei confronti di uno specifico aspetto nella cura della patologia. La comunicazione di queste informazioni, avviene, ma quasi esclusivamente per mezzo del paziente, il quale è costretto ad assumersi la piena responsabilità dell’accuratezza e completezza delle informazioni fornite. 2.3 Proposta della soluzione In seguito alla ricerca svolta, è stato quindi logico cominciare a pensare alla progettazione di uno strumento gestionale che permettesse ai medici di avere immediatamente disponibili tutte le informazioni concernente un certo paziente, comprese le informazioni di contatto dei colleghi responsabili di una certa visita. Abbiamo così progettato uno strumento gestionale che facilita l’organizzazione degli appuntamenti di un medico, ordina in maniera anon2188661263 le cartelle cliniche dei pazienti per tipologia e cronologia, permette in un clic di contattare un collega tramite telefono, chat o email, infine rende più efficiente la visita stessa poiché doc.doc consente al medico curante di aggiornarsi circa i progressi del proprio paziente nei minuti precedenti alla visita. Doc.doc infatti può essere programmato per concedere uno spazio di tempo (tendenzialmente 10 minuti) tra una visita e l’altra, che permetta al medico di prendere visione della cartella clinica del paziente che sta per incontrare. 3.0 Sviluppo 3.1 Progettazione e prova del prototipo Doc.doc allo stato attuale consiste in un prototipo interattivo realizzato attraverso la piattaforma proto.io. Prima di ottenere questo risultato abbiamo sostenuto una approfondita analisi UX che ci ha consentito di effettuare scelte precise circa lo sviluppo di certe funzionalità. In particolare, attraverso tecniche di Brainwriting e alcune empathy map abbiamo circoscritto l’ambito di lavoro. A seguito di alcune interviste di orientamento con pazienti e professionisti sanitari abbiamo definito ulteriormente gli obiettivi del progetto, concentrandoci su una “one primary task”, che nel caso di doc.doc consiste nell’aggregazione semplificata dei dati di ogni paziente. Considerando quindi alcuni ipotetici scenari di utilizzo del nostro servizio (presso specialisti o medici di base, in studio o in visita a domicilio etc…) abbiamo sviluppato una prima logica di user flow e infine la sua realizzazione grafica interattiva, della quale si può avere una tangibile esperienza d’uso qui: http://bit.ly/2oOXbmK (una volta scaricata l'intera cartella è sufficiente aprire il file index.html con il proprio browser, meglio se Chrome). Inoltre in seguito allo sviluppo del prototipo è stato condotto un piccolo usability testing che ha evidenziato piccole problematiche, immediatamente risolte con il rilascio della versione successiva, di cui si può prendere visione al link sopracitato. 3.2 Prova della fruibilità E’ stato condotto un piccolo usability testing, parzialmente moderato, che ha sostanzialmente confermato tutti gli obiettivi di usabilità stabiliti a monte. In particolare i nostri utenti test sono stati, per la maggior parte, in grado di portare a termine le operazioni richieste, quali: 1. Consultare una cartella clinica, 2. Consultare la rubrica pazienti e professionisti, 3. Aggiungere un nuovo appuntamento, 4. Contattare un collega. In questa fase abbiamo ritenuto prematuro considerare ulteriore metriche di controllo oggettive quali tempi e statistiche di errore, concentrandoci piuttosto su misurazioni di gradimento soggettive e mantenendo come unico conteggio obiettivo il numero di operazioni portate a buon fine. Sono stati riscontrati alcuni problemi nella fruibilità dei dati della cartella clinica e delle funzionalità ad essa collegate (è infatti possibile anche iniziare una conversazione con un collega). L’organizzazione dei contenuti di quella determinata schermata è stata quindi modificata sulla base dei feedback ricevuti, così come l’intero look&feel dell’applicazione è stato rivisto coerentemente rispetto alle modifiche apportate. 4.0 Rilascio 4.1 Completamento del prodotto/servizio Il prototipo è già stato testato, ma andrebbe ulteriormente verificato su un campione più esteso di utenti, seguito eventualmente da un A/B testing. Conclusa la fase di usability testing sul prototipo, si procederà quindi con lo sviluppo di programmazione vero e proprio, la cui funzionalità verrà verificata ad ogni milestone raggiunta. Infine, verranno concepite strategie di distribuzione, idealmente con il coinvolgimento delle ASL locali, per permettere un capillare ed effettivo utilizzo del servizio. 4.2 Rilascio finale E’ in fase di definizione una timeline di sviluppo che presenti le milestone necessarie al completamento del prodotto, secondo specifiche tempistiche. 4.3 Produzione Il team di sviluppo tecnico è ancora da definirsi, ma stiamo valutando una collaborazione con I-SEE (http://www.i-seecomputing.com), specialisti nell produzione di software in ambito medico/ sanitario. " 2,33771,2017-05-17T16:17:42.000Z,33729,anon413297907,anon3260786624,"Hello + request + proposal :) Hello team doc.doc, Thanks again for sending in the application form for the MIR and for publishing your story here! If possible, may I ask you to quickly translate your concept to English, so that the Edgeryders community could eventually comment and contribute? Thanks! (It doesn't have to be a detailed translation of all the content above, a couple of paragraphs highlighting the key aspects of your concept would do the job!) Talking about the proposal, I like the idea of helanon3606750899g doctors communicating  more efficiently with each other in order to help patients, as a consequence, in relieving the weight of their own personal pathological condition. Besides being a psychological kind of weight, for instance when a patient has to explain multiple times his/her condition to a series of different medical specialists, it could also lead to misinterpretation and diagnosis issues when for instance there might be a language barrier. Now this leads to two different considerations: 1 Based on my design experience, it is extremely hard to convince workers in the standard medical field (hospital, primary care physicians, etc...) to adopt a new kind of CRM software for multiple reasons: regulations issues due to privacy and national laws, obligations in using a specific software, affection to a well known software in contrast to the commitment in learning a new one,(even when the new one has better user experience... )  2 Such a digital system/experience could be way more powerful when there is actually a language barrier and/or the patient itself is in a context s/he doesn't know very well how to swim in. This made me think of trying to change the context of the concept and switch to scenarios such as the activity of ONGs like Doctors Without Borders, or thinking at care issues in refugee camps on European soil at this present day. I believe that re-thinking the service/app in terms of the specific needs in the scenarios above could lead to interesting solutions and could work for different reasons: - I suppose the physicians working in these scenarios would be more free to choose their own set of tools as long as they are effective in solving real problems quickly  - I suppose they would generally meet patients very quickly, maanon1932026148 one time only, and then address them to other physicians - It would solve the language barrier issue of the patient since the two physicians are communicating ""in the background"" Of course all of these hypotheses would need validation through research in the field. Do you think this approach could be of your interest and would you like to give it a try? Happy to hear your thoughts about it :) " 3,33789,2017-05-20T13:45:04.000Z,33729,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"Proposal Hello Alessandro, thank you for your availability and for creating this possibility. I find that implementing our app and the concept in the ONG sector dedicated to emergency situations is not only interesting and suitable, but needed and helpful. Since the app was initially designed to ease and facilitate both doctor and the patient in the transitory situations I was considering to contact and involve a friend working in the immigration reception center in Ancona to have more insight, information and clarify any doubts. Let me know what are your thoughts on this :) We are currently working on the translation of the project and will be sending it as soon as possible. Once again, thanks for your comment and looking forward to hearing from you again. " 4,33800,2017-05-29T10:06:00.000Z,33789,anon413297907,anon3260786624,"Sounds great to me! I think it would be great to involve your friend from day one! s/he would probably have a lot of precious insights that would be highly needed to implement the best user experience for such a scenario. did you maanon1932026148 elaborated the concept a little further? I would suggest to have a look at these " 5,33805,2017-06-07T14:31:52.000Z,33729,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"Interview Marta working in the immigration reception center in Ancona(Italy) General information Name: Marta                                                                                                                                                                                                         Where do you live:Fabriano, Ancona, Marche(Italy)   Age: 29                                                                                                                                 Role and position in the NGO: To be more precise, it is not exactly an NGO but cooperative. We are the first contact for those seeking international protection and medical and legal assistance. We are also providing additional services and programs such as art workshops, IT courses, Italian language and adaptation and integration courses. We have also been organizing educational workshops for instance FabLab Rinoteca woodwork workshop or training for welder, baker etc. Questions How would you describe the first reception process? From the moment migrants arrive to Italy, more precisely to Sicily, they are being transferred to reception centers depending on the available places. The new legislation on the migrants placement implies transfer depending on the municipal availability in the non-emergency periods. The summer, for example, can be described as continuous emergency period because weather conditions make it easier to travel. How would you describe your working hours, do they change and if so, depending on what? Our shifts and working hours are usually from 9 until 6, but also we always have on 24 hour call one or more persons, available to help if necessary. Working hours are not fixed but flexible and workers organize the by themselves depending on necessities. What are the medical data that are being collected from the asylum seeker on the first reception? On the occasion of first encounter between reception center worker and the migrant, they are normally filling in the form, provided by county government, with personal data and information on health state. On their arrival in Sicily, they are being examined by the first aid team; the process usually consists in fever/temperature measurement, the mandatory tuberculosis test and the regular doctor checkup. What are the checkups that are being performed on the first emergency (arrival to Italy)? First Aid, for example treating wounds caused by the conditions of travel, fever and if serious problems are presented it is inserted in the migrant’s info sheet and the record. Are the doctors in charge of the first visit always the same or they change? The doctors are not being chosen by the reception center staff but they are so called STP doctors. This means that they are treating patients that are not covered by health insurance or they are general doctors with an independent office and not employees of the hospital. In Marta’s experience they are usually not very thorough with the patients case and in fact once migrants are provided with health insurance they are not advised to consult STP doctors. On what criteria are doctors chosen? Marta was not able to provide this information, contact directly a doctor to clarify this. How are the collected data being managed? First step is filling in the form with all the personal data, history of previous diseases and therapies, also if if there were wounds or fever caused by the travel it is being noted. Often happens that this first form is not filled in because the first checkup is performed in a hurry and superficially. Afterwards, once the migrants are transferred to reception centers the staff receives the copy of this form and they add more info and more detailed and elaborated record on the migrant that is being sent to the municipality officials. This form is scanned and sent by email. The lack of a database is targeted as a problem as well as the management of hard copy records and documents. What are the major problems during the doctors’ visits? A logistical problem is that there is no any information prior to the arrival of the migrants to the reception center in order to prepare better. They come by a bus and the staff is not informed neither on their medical state nor the nationality, sex and age in order to preogranize the visits and accommodation. @anon413297907 @anon " 6,33817,2017-06-13T22:29:46.000Z,33729,anon3260786624,anon3260786624,"Pivot! Hello everyone! Since your inspiring and helpful contributes, we as a team, decided to update our project from the original idea pivoting it to the far more impacting new usage context. We also changed our name project in ResQ, we hope you'll like it :) Following is our updated project's abstract which includes some of the ideas mentioned in the previous comments. Thank you!
    • Our project in a tweet
    ResQ is an app for physicians working in emergency contexts, that digitalise the health information of patients, so to make them easily available for colleagues.
    • Problem that our project is willing to solve
    Currently, the first aid provided to refugees arriving in Italy is effective in terms of solving the main health issues (healing of hurts due to the journey, or state of fever), but at the same time is not very efficient because of the superficial anamnestic research that physicians are compelled to make in such situations. In addition, the information gathered about the health state of each patient, are stored in simple paper sheets, preventing a further the potential of a pervasive sharing that a digital format would easily allow. The current way of working shows the following problems:
    1. The language barrier prevent a proper communication between the physician and the patient. Is usually delegated to the patients the duty of providing the accurate information about their health condition every visit.
    2. The missing digitalization of the gathered health data and the consequent discontinuity of the healing process.
    3. The limited precision of the anamnestic research due to the high number of patients and the short time available.
    • Final User, individuals and community target
    ResQ is conceived to ease the communication among physicians (involved in critical context such as temporary hospitals and reception centers) regarding the health state of foreigner patients who don’t know the language of the hosting country. In this way, the tool is designed for physicians, but the main benefits will come for migrating patients whose this services is dedicated to.
    • Solution, brief description of the project
    ResQ is a mobile management tool that improves the communication among healthcare workers (especially physicians, but also volunteers, nurses etc etc...), getting as a result the reduction of the language barrier that very often doesn’t allow foreign patient to fully explain their symptoms or their own pathologies. The personal pathological condition besides being a psychological kind of weight, for instance when a patient has to explain multiple times his/her condition to a series of different medical specialists, it could also lead to misinterpretation and diagnosis issues when there might be a language barrier. ResQ is conceived to to be used mainly during the period in which the migrant still doesn’t own a “Codice Fiscale” (personal unique fiscal code), but only a STP card (Straniero Temporaneamente Presente), that makes her/ him able to benefit from the main national healthcare services (for 12 months maximum). The reception centers that provide the STP card and give the first medical assistance, have to deal with a very high number of people in a stressful situation that often lead to a superficial treatment. In this way we designed an agile gathering data tool that saves time and in few minutes would be able to fulfill a complete health history of the patients. Also, the digitalization of such a document would make possible an extensive sharing with colleagues that later will take care of the same patient. Therefore the physician will have the chance to communicate autonomously among themselves without misunderstanding through the management tool.
    • Technologies we will adopt
    The tool we are designing will be developed in order to be accessible from the main devices available on the market. Therefore we envision applications possibly developed in their native languages as Java or Android and Objective-C foe iOS ambients. Even though we believe a mobile tool might be most suitable solution for the specific usage context we are working on, we would like to provide also a multi-platform responsive app developed in HTML5. The cloud service might be developed in NodeJS, with database in MongoDB and MySQL.
    • Website
    Under construction.
    • Licence
    Opensource --- What question  How to help refugees in getting a more efficient healthcare service? What problem  Language barriers often lead to misunderstanding and psychological weight for foreigner patients. What solution  ResQ is an app that connects physicians over common patients, providing a complete overlook to minimise language barriers. @anon " 1,6373,2017-06-01T10:23:13.000Z,6373,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Our next meeting is on June 7th, 8 pm @anon I though I'd share a tentative agenda beforehand: Pleaase add to these is anything is missing. Are there things to be discussed about the education / communication? @anon " 2,7979,2017-06-08T12:51:00.000Z,6373,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes June 7th   Meeting 07.06.2017 at Timelab, Ghent Present: @anon Notes (can also be found on the Drive here) -------  

    Lab work / arrival of samples

      Rita posted a list of things to order on the Drive here, as the samples (spotted plasmids) are about to arrive. Shee and Federica also posted some useful protocols. Bram: what is the lifetime of the plasmids when they arrive? Federica: they keep a long time, but it’s best to resuspend them and store in a -20°C freezer. Part of them should be used to transform the bacteria and freeze those at -80°C in a glycerol stock. Open Biolab has most things equipment/some consumables available to do the transformation, as well as storage. The option of getting an own -80°C freezer (Wim knows of one) is not ideal right now - high electricity use and it’s very big/heavy for just storing a few samples. It will be simpler to do it at a uni for now.   We will need about €400 (minus materials we can find ourselves) to get started with the lab work. Rita should be able to order them and she will see which materials we already have/can get elsewhere. If you have something from this list to contribute, get in touch with Rita. Winnie can get us underway with some of the money he got from the OpenCare Fellowship. Michiel will look into reusing leftover budget from iGem. Then the next iGem team can also use Open Insulin for their project. Some thoughts on BL2 lab: as Open BioLab is not always open (they close over the summer), a backup option would be handy. Michiel and Wim will ask around. From October (if all goes to plan), we could use Wim’s new lab if needed. Using a lab is mainly about permission, safety and legal reasons are no obstacle (see OBL).  

    Road map / science

    Federica and Bram will put their heads together to come up with a road map for the science and lab work. Concrete milestones would make the plan better. A first step is already clear: replicating the Oakland work with the plasmids we receive. Although our work can be more useful on downstream processing, this way we gain experience, prove reproducibility and have a reference point for when we change the construct. After that, the roadmap and milestone should offer us some focus, as there are many options to test (different organisms, different linkers, microfluidics optimization, …) There are already plenty of papers on the Google Drive, thanks to the work of the teams in Oakland and Sydney.  

    Microfluidics

    On testing multiple conditions: Wim mentioned the work of Peter Schotte with 3D printed caps for shaking flasks that are a simple, cheap way for changes in conditions. Bram: if we get the microfluidics device working, they could also be used for this.  Bram did research on the OpenDrop device, to figure out how to get started and the feasibility. His impression was that it’s not so well documented in order to build one ourselves. We can however buy a finished device for €500.
    • The components cost about €90 (chinese, not considering import tax)
    • Theyy have to be soldered, it’s a complex chip. A service could do it, but that would be minimum €200 (transport and logistics will also make this more expensive and cumbersome)
    • In total it would be minimum €350, but there are plenty of uncertainties and risks
      In order to continue, we really need to find people with more knowledge, have a better view of the possibilities. We can use the hackathon in Amsterdam for this. There will be many experts present, as well as the chips of Digi.bio. We can try to do some of the experiments we will do with the plasmids, on the chips. Designing or working on the chip itself however, is not the goal or something we have the right skills for.   Who wants to join us for the biohackathon? We can get 4-5 people together. You can reply in the thread here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/open-insulin-research-group/biohackathon-at-waag-society-8-9-july   Card game idea for communication: the others were not present. Guido mentioned that the Diabetes Liga has a card game, worth checking out. " 1,6360,2017-05-25T08:44:42.000Z,6360,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Notes from our community call yesterday, contributed by Alex, Noemi & co. Edit the wiki to correct or add things we missed! Community members Gehan, Winnie, Noemi, Alberto, Steve...

    Simon in Lancaster, North of England: “how can people provide for their wellbeing in a p2p way, that works along with a consensus community self governance?”

    Doing cohousing and interested in technical ideas; experienced in governance and also how to deal with community care and self care within communities. Lives in a setup with 41 households, an ecological house. Member of a tech cooperative doing learning technology; technical standardization; experience in consensus governance. Cohousing is less intense than a commune: interested in governance and wellbeing side of that, various aspects of therapy. At \#OpenVillage: for a session what I would need is an conversation with other people, to talk it through. Winnie: The Reef is already being prototyped in Brussels, talk to @anon

    Alberto Rey: “[in Nepal] we tried to show which NGOs have been effective and provided clean water and link to policies where the government hasn’t been able to provide”

    Based outside of Buffalo in NYC, artist, professor, flyfishing guide. Water and communities through arts projects. Worked in Kathmandu looking at the story of a river as one of the holiest bodies in Nepal. Pollution and importance. How do they come together. At OpenVillage hopes to forge links to build similar services to other groups. Making complicated issues more accessible. Bringing the stories and projects together and building a network of interest and potential clients for the same work - through exhibitions, publications, videos, documentaries. At \#OpenVillage he’s interested to host a panel session on clean water, where invited experts speak and then open it to new people; problem is many are in Kathmandu and harder to get them to Brussels. Winnie: “there's an active subscene in DIYbio working on water quality. diy analysis methods, open source hardware. Will look up contacts in Lausanne, Switzerland”

    Bernard in Galway, Ireland: ""arts is a big thing for the group, and culture is important for ecology building""

    Designer nurse and community growing, a BA in business enterprise and community development, volunteers in a school garden. Outdoor classrooms. Making rural areas more part of the community. Coliving, co working and retreat, mixing mental health, art therapy, yoga/movement and ecology. Beginning to step into Open Source. In last weeks they did a project where they went to visit Cregg Castle (unused): framed as unMonastery, a co-living and coworking retreat over a short period, through the European Capital of Culture 2020 which Galway won. “My problem is I do too many things” :-) At \#OpenVillage he doesn’t know what he is able to host, as he’s just out of running an event locally. Most relevant is unMonastery.

    Steve (on-the-move) in the UK: “you can treat lots of people at a fairly low cost”

    An acupuncture practitioner; holistic fitness and practices of working with the body, relaxation and breath work, Tai Chi, Hichibuku.. and others. Started his own clinic initially around Dartmoor in SouthWest of England, but will have a new one up and running in the summer as he’s moving to Bridport. Also shows how it can be useful for people with mental health At \#OpenVillage wants to do more than a presentation, a demo: actually treat someone and demonstrate how healthcare can work in its more traditional model - more attention to human care. Alex: “I'd love to see you run the space for people in the morning and then perhaps in th afternoon do a presentation about the process. That way you will have people in the room who have also experienced it”. Also, walk the talk - make sure onsite there’s a little space built in for people to take care of themselves. Alex: I'd like to see if we could set up something like this: https://harrygiles.org/portfolio/chill-out-corner/

    Winnie in Ghent, Belgium: “..because science education is so outdated”

    Bio lab and bio space. Open to public. Develoanon3606750899g Educational non-profit in the community to push science education to under resourced groups. Helanon3606750899g researchers and orgs to communicate better with each other and public. Generally interested in sustainable models for running a physical community space. For OpenVillage he is curating and looking for people to introduce projects on citizen science and open science, starting with the OpenInsulin global team which he is coordinating in Europe.

    Alex Levene in Bedford, UK: “we need to ensure that the communities that we work with are represented within any discussions around refugee care and support”

    Creative producer, working in theatre. I write and perform poetry, as well as storytelling and playing games. EdgeRyders and OpenVillage ties in with my work with refugees. I'm a Regional Co-Ordinator for Help Refugees, UK's largest Grassroots charity working with refugees in Europe and ME. My interest is in how communities and groups are approaching grassroots and how community led organisations are looking to deal with refugees and asylum seekers within communities around Europe. For OpenVillage session(s) “for me useful things would be: connections with on-the-ground refugee organisations working in/around Brussels”

    Shajara in California: “Will be in South Korea in October, but sure I may come to OpenVillage Fest” :-)

    An American-Egyptian, into educational partnerships on the edge and data analytics for evaluation. Helps run a mental health support programme for students, as he is enrolled himself at the online Minerva university in Buenos Aires, in a 4 years program where the first six months are in Argentina, then one gets to move in seven different countries, from US all the way to Europe and Asia.

    Steps forward: make sure our upcoming Festival captures this richness of ideas and the great work people are doing.

    Contribute to our Open Programming spreadsheet to make sure you're part of the official program and you get the logistics in place, as well as being on track for travel support if you need it. If you're new to Edgeryders and not sure how to get started, just leave a comment below, or come to our next community call on Wednesday, at 18:00 PM CET HERE." 2,8674,2017-05-25T08:54:00.000Z,6360,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Your thoughts from yesterday? What next for you? @anon1526983854rey , @anon @anon @anon " 3,15609,2017-05-25T20:57:35.000Z,6360,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"Different levels Still feeling stupid for thinking the time difference worked the wrong way round!  Thanks for the extensive notes. Good to be able to catch up. As I'm reading through - seeing multiple different levels; some getting in to quite a bit of detail and then bigger patterns, themes - kind of at a meta-level. All seem necessary. In your experience of running these events in the past - is there a useful way to work on multiple levels - perhaps reflecting them in the programming but also how the event/learning/outcomes are captured? I should have things in place at my organisation to fill some of my current duties soon and will be more available to input. Catch you at the call next week (correct time!) g " 4,17635,2017-05-27T08:39:52.000Z,15609,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Ongoing exploration Hi @anon I see your point - the different (concrete and meta) levels for going about a session on care depend a lot on where participants come from. I think they are both valuable and there is a lot of flexibility in the format - from project demos to open conversations, to actual explorative/work sessions. 1) the more concrete and detailed ones would definitely benefit from curation to ask questions above the project's worthy achievements.   2) the more meta and patterns discussions could use curation to get to a solid framing where others could plug in. A very useful example from a past event is a session which was prepared ahead like a collection of viewpoints on how communities organise around and steward material assets - people would be reporting from their own experiences, but coordinated ahead so that the facilitator could see how they fit into each other. There is documentation from it. " 5,21073,2017-05-30T15:43:35.000Z,6360,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Thoughts I'm back in action and following up on the call of Wednesday. The spreadsheets looks good and I'll be sharing my thoughts on the projects that fit the citizen science theme, to pick up the discussion. I'll also reach out to people/projects that I think might be interesting to participate in the discussion. I'll also contact the people who have made proposals directly to flesh out concrete session ideas. As I was thinking about the proposal of handling data, I was reminded of a major Belgian organisation that supports social projects: Sociale Innovatiefabriek. They have a good overview of projects, plenty of expertise and are based in Brussels. Perhaps it would be interesting to involve them? Also regarding the idea to have a more solid local anchor for Edgeryders/The Reef. @anon " 6,22248,2017-05-30T21:59:23.000Z,21073,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Hm, did we connect with them last year? Thanks for getting back on this one.. Looking forward! @anon @anon   " 7,24218,2017-06-13T08:19:59.000Z,6360,anon3894174616,anon1491650132,"hoanon3606750899g i will be part of this amazing team " 1,578,2017-06-11T17:55:07.000Z,578,anon3708118144,anon3708118144," In our previous post, we concluded that nobody had really ideated SoundSight all alone… no solitary genius working on an anon1056199097nious solution, no hero. A collision of honest and upfront conversations about existential experiences and a research of numerous solutions that had yet to be exploited in a certain context, rethinking their business models. At this point, SoundSight was a completely new initiative. A virtual gym to train echolocation, and while the idea of features and UX design accumulated quickly, the team pursued a proof-of-concept and something that others could think of as a minimum viable product. The first prototype was a mess. To the users invited to a test, it must have seemed unbelievable how a software engineer could have thought that a piece of software reverberating in a fixed environment and artificial sound would have been enough to suggest how the platform would work. Not to mention, a command line interface, and a rather lengthy procedure to change the position within the simulated environment. But thanks to the outgoing and always positive outlook of Irene, they never thought of disinvesting: SoundSight was an experience for them. The team worked hectically on Irene’s feedbacks, and a really workable proof-of-concept finally became available around Spring 2015.   Let’s leave it again to Irene’s recollection: Irene: “Hello Mario[1], we are here again… this time I promise you will be impressed” Mario: “Hi Irene, it’s a pleasure… and rest assured, last time I was already impressed, although maanon1932026148 not as you hoped for… with my friends we have been laughing a lot about your engineer’s idea of a prototype!” Irene: “Oh no, Mario… don’t abuse him, or who knows when we will find another person with the same talent and will to do something meaningful even with no immediate profit in sight! I am counting on you to keep certain things” Mario: “Don’t worry Irene, I have only told the story to one or two… hundreds of people… ahahah!” Irene: “Doh! …ok Mario, then to pay you back, today’s text will be extra tough!” Mario: “I am ready for the challenge!”   Irene sets up the simulation   Irene: “OK Mario, it’s ready. I would like to ask you to try the first round without me sharing with you any information… I want you to focus on your impressions only, tell me how it feels” Mario: “let’s start”   The simulation is run, Mario is moved to several places in a cathedral in this virtual world, and listens to the echoes of a tongue click   Mario: “Indeed there have been a lot of improvements, it is smooth now… last time it was a bit of an annoyance to have to wait for so long every time you wanted to move the position. However, listening to a prerecorded tongue click… are you sure these are simulations?” Irene: “Yes Mario… we know it still requires a bit of imagination, but I assure you this is a real time simulation. Later during the tests, I will offer you the possibility to move the position arbitrarily, and you should notice it. It is definitely on our list of priorities to introduce real-time input of user generated tongue clicks… we are just not there yet… you are one of our very early testers, and I cannot thank you enough for that” Mario: “Don’t, I enjoy this experience, and I really like the concept. Somehow contributing to its realization makes me proud. However, you need my honest oanon3606750899ions, and I think the ability to exploit the user’s own tongue click will improve the experience terrifically. I have realized that you have made me move through wide and small environments… but I haven’t been able to identify where I was.” Irene: “That’s already quite good Mario! I have only given you one point for each environment, and you have already been able to tell something about them… you are the best! We will focus on learning curves and performances later again, can you tell me anything else about your general impressions at the moment?” Mario: “It’s difficult to tell you more from just this… maanon1932026148 we can move to the next exercise?” Irene: “Yes, here we go. Get ready, and now I will let you walk through the environment of today, and you will hear repeated clicks… try to guess what it would be” Just a quick run of the new scenario on the simulator Mario: “hmmm… the smoothness has improved a lot… but I really could not tell you what it is. It seems a large environment, I have been getting away from a wall and after getting closer to another?” Irene: “I had told you would not have an easy life, after those jokes about our engineer Mario! But you did quite well. It was a cathedral… now that I have told you, could you confirm it or would you still be doubtful?” Mario: “Let me try to listen again”   …the simulator runs again shortly Mario: “Yes Irene, now that I know, it could well be… I had some doubts, with no context it could have been a theater or a large gym, …” Irene: “Indeed… now I would like you to do a few exercises… I will tell you this time what you are going to listen to, precisely, and you will have to focus on the features… later there will be a test…” Mario: “For me or for the software?” Irene: “For both, Mario, don’t try to escape your responsibilities” Mario: “Ahahah”   They run the training set Mario: “Well Irene, we will see how I perform later… but you should consider develoanon3606750899g an interface to feed information about structures, volumes, and positions, directly to your users… it is nice to chat with you, but if you really think of this as a tool for making echolocation training accessible to anyone, the fact that you need to have by your side another person as your interface to the system doesn’t add up” Irene: “You are right. Together with the real-time acquisition of users’ clicks, this interface is at the top of our list of priorities. We are thinking of using a simple tablet of mechanically executed needles to offer a map of the space being tested and a natural interface… or some haptic 3D interface, but that may be more expensive and complicated. We have not yet looked into that enough” Mario: “You would need a lot of needles to offer a useful interface… you can try prototyanon3606750899g something quick maanon1932026148 with Arduino… but I would be a lot more curious about the haptic interface. I have seen some applications with holograms and they looked impressive.” Irene: “We will keep this in mind. Of course, we need to make it as simple and cheap as possible, but still functional… and we hope the prices of that hardware will be democratized soon. Now that we have taken a small break…” Mario: “What break? Are you not letting me off yet?” Irene: “Mario, let’s just take the test before the coffee… I will let you off then, for today” Mario: “Ok, ok… a no is not possible anyway, isn’t it?” Irene: “It’s always possible, but I will insist with a smile” They run the tests Irene: ”if we compare today’s performances to those from the last tests, both with the software and in the lab with the moving panels, you have really gotten better Mario!” Mario: “But Irene, how can I be sure if I have truly learned? I mean… we should arrange tests where there are coupled with some sort of benchmark… maanon1932026148 similar tests in real world, you could imagine a mobile lab to do so… or even just arrange competitions among users” Irene: “That’s a really good idea, Mario! We will seriously reflect on how to arrange this, but for the time being… do you think your partner would like to try it out against you?” Mario: “But she sees…” Irene: “it should not be an advantage, and I promise you I will not show her the screen” This is now a different story… but after being initially baffled, Mario’s partner took it to her heart to seriously compete with him, and in the end, she won one of the tests, confirming anyone can learn this skill. 1 Please be reminded that Mario is a blind guy. However, the language of sight is so ingrained in our culture… " 1,577,2017-06-06T16:31:13.000Z,577,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"With modern day communication technology sharing through email, social media and Skype it rarely encourages people to share the evolution of their project. We often list, number, bullet point, but seldom do we engage in informal discussions where we share knowledge and reflect. It’s in the reflection that we witness human capital being the driving force behind our projects. It’s worth taking a look at SoundSight, whose story has sparked curiosity in co-creating care solutions.  There are many factors that determine the direction of our projects. For SoundSight it has been an ongoing commitment of the human capital to bring forward this project.Experiencing co-creation is a method to bring value to patients in a personalized way with the intention to benefit patients in coanon3606750899g with their health and enhance their quality of life. Looks as though co-creating is the road where the community is defining the destination, planning the journey and sharing the drive.  Let’s hear from Irene” “I can never thank the Reggio Emilia blind people union enough for accepting me in their community and interacting with me so sincerely and proactively. Let me say that 2 years ago I started spending some time with them, to enquire about their daily challenges, and to shadow some of them (who kindly volunteered) during their daily routines, I had conceived this as any other didactic activity of my university education, excitingly on the field, but not more special… how wrong could I have been! Long story short, I had reached out as part of a design thinking exercise, after brainstorming with my colleagues over social and technical literature to find solutions to the challenge of blind people navigation through living environments, “simply” to extract narratives about what we thought their problem to be and, thus, tune our solutions… We had succeeded obtaining the information we wanted, we had lists of the defeating features of currently existing solutions, descriptions of use cases, but while working on the desired features, something started to emerge for some of us in the team: another narrative had been seeanon3606750899g through our conversations with the blind volunteers, that we did not consider in advance. Most of the blind people we had talked to, despite agreeing to the obstacles imposed by visual impairment, did not consider that a defining condition and were rather cold to any assistive technology they tested or we described. Instead, narratives of empowerment, education, disintermediation, were flowing through most of their replies, even when our conversations were explicitly biased towards solutions”. Let this sink for a moment. And remember that the number one challenge of helanon3606750899g another person is falling in love with the solution one wants to offer, losing sight of the person in exchange for the problem. So we asked Irene to recollect her most significant conversation for us: IL (Irene Lanza): “Good morning Maria[ I would like to thank you already for your time… it is truly precious to me to be able to talk with you” MBC (Mother of an 11years old blind child): “Good morning Irene. I have heard about you from my friends and fellows from the blind union… they say you are a very polite and smart girl” IL: “Aww… how much will they ask me to pay, now? …haha” MBC: “haha” IL: “Did they also already tell you about what I would like to talk today?” MBC: “vaguely… apparently, you are working on a new technology to assist blind people in their daily life…?” IL: “That is fairly accurate, but luckily they did not spoil our fun by letting you in too many details. In facts, we are working at the proof-of-concept of a wearable device that could analyze the surroundings in real time and feed information about objects, their velocities, and positions to a visually impaired user, to allow him/her moving naturally through a living environment… our challenge is to allow a blind person to play a football game competitively against people with normal vision… well, we would still not provide talent though” MBC: “So, are you thinking of something like those apps on the smartphones?” IL: “Well, not really… we would have dedicated hardware, and we would like to collect your oanon3606750899ions about how to design the user interface… a smartphone app would be a proof-of-concept compared to the kind of product design we are pursuing” MBC: “I don’t like this kind of assistive technology much… you never know it will let you down. So many factors: the signal may be lost, the battery may go down, the app could crash… what should I do then?” IL: “This is exactly what I am here to listen to… you see, we will collect all these oanon3606750899ions, and try to prioritize features in our design concept… so, have you already tried some of those?” MBC: “I am constantly exploring and searching for new tricks and tools that could help Mario, so I often talk about this topic with my friends at the union, and I try some them after reading their reviews or hearing their presentations. Most of them are quite far away from real life, for they are very specialized on single use cases, and they rely on infrastructural investments that in our Country are stagnating for too long already. Mario’s problems extend well beyond walking through an airport or a shopanon3606750899g mall or reading the label on a tomato can. The only tool I really find useful is the reader with vocal synthesis on the smartphone: it works pretty well and it’s so precious to be able to listen to any book when audiobooks are still not the norm…” IL: “So could you tell me more about Mario’s experience? What do you think are the most commonplace barriers he experiences when going to school? How does he roam around?” MBC: “He is training with the stick. Many people dislike it, but it is rather dependable and attracts sufficient attention to ensure that other people will be more cooperative and safely behaved. However everyday life can become very problematic. Architectures are often hiding traps that would surprise for the naivety of those who designed the spaces: you would never imagine the feeling of dread when you have just seen your son missing an unprotected element from a window, protruding out of a wall with its sharp corners… and the use of the spaces themselves can be even more challenging! Hanging wires, doors opening directly on stairs, elements built in non-shock-resistant glass. Many of these, if you ask me, would be dangerous to any child, but if you factor in the inability to forecast what you are going to meet next… The risk of bad practices escalates quickly!” IL: “So school is not a safe haven for Mario…?” MBC: “Not just that… most activities are not structured to include children like Mario. Schoolbooks are more difficult to find as eBooks for the vocal synthesizer than others. Even then, many graphics, whether didactic or there for testing purposes, remain inaccessible… and even the teachers, despite being aanon2851090535ble with Mario, are not informed about methods for inclusive teaching… For example, my husband is a musician, and he has always tried to exploit musical theory to organize our family games (she mocks for me a couple of games based on recognizing the tones, or what an object at home could be based on analogies of noises). We constantly try to use acoustics as a tool to explain concepts, and risks to our child…” IL: “…and this, of course, doesn’t happen at school” MBC: “Not even closely. School sometimes becomes a very frustrating experience… a place of isolation to remind Mario of his diversity. Irene, you are young, you must remember your lectures of geometry, for example…” IL: “yes, indeed… mostly graphics are drawn on the blackboard… I see what you mean” MBC: “even our language is geared for the idea that seeing is believing. Mario often tells me that he has seen a schoolmate with a certain outfit or some event that he is going to tell me about… he does enormously to find his place in society. And my husband and I do our maximum to help him surpass the social barriers: we teach him games that he can play with his friends, we accompany him to familiarize with the places where he will have to interact with his mates, and we drill into him, constantly, how to react to the unexpected, hoanon3606750899g that panic will never prevail. Technology, instead of these half-baked attempts at substituting vision for simple tasks, should take on education… there is so much more that is lost in our societies when one cannot see than just reading on a can whether it is tomato or green peas, and nurturing those skills that we all have as fellow humans, rather than focusing on what we lack, would be so much more empowering.” IL: “what you say is very inspirational… so you believe education is the true mean of supporting Mario… and what is the place of technology in your vision?” MBC: “we live in a time obsessed with technology, and we forget that it is just a tool. I have not hidden from you, I am not a big supporter of the idea. For example, we use the e-reader with voice synthesizer… the problem is extremely important, but not mission critical, and so the technical solution makes sense… I am not sure I would delegate to technology, or to other humans for what is worth it, many other things on a regular base… what would be the meaning of life, if you give up on the very experiences that make it worth sharing and living? We are social animals, someone more important than me said once…” IL: “Maria, thank you really for letting me peer into your family life… and thank you for your kind guidance. I hope that we will be able to live to your expectations, but I can already promise you that we will at least try our best!” MBC: “It has been my pleasure Irene, it is so nice to meet a young person trying with enthusiasm to tackle a problem we have to deal and cope with every day. I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to hearing about your progress!” When Irene went back to the team after this conversation, she was confused, for having just experienced the most confrontational conversation about their project. Irene was moved emotionally by the passion and interest expressed by the mother. An experience that would leave her forever changed and stretched. With Irene insisting, a small group of three people from the original team started diverging from the original path of designing a wearable “small world” navigation system. They started brainstorming wildly about educational concepts. Independently from the rest of the team, which opposed the need to bring to completion the academic assignment, they sought a new agreement with their mentor and started optimal thinking at 360º. Using 3D ultrasound-based haptic interfaces to offer interactive geometry education or simulators for practical tasks that would completely substitute visualization for acoustic and tactile feedbacks? Most of the early ideas were dropped when their mentor, or people not involved in the team that he suggested to talk to, would object other low-tech solutions (e.g.: wooden models for 3D geometry) could deliver almost the same experience, significantly undercutting the complexities of the projects. It was during this naïve and intense search, that their mentor showed them a video of a blind person using tongue clicks to echolocate while biking (!!!). The rest, as they say, is history, and we will share with you a few details about the early testing in a next post… so follow us ;)  The challenges for the visually impaired are enormous, so immense are the ramifications for those now living without sight, and so exciting is the initiative on the horizon.  *To protect the privacy of individuals the names and identifying details have been changed.  There was a brand indicated, which we discovered is trusted among the blind community, but we do not think it is relevant here.
        " 2,8467,2017-06-10T19:49:13.000Z,577,anon1701267031,anon3708118144,"curious... Hello @anon3708118144, thank you for sharing this conversation.  It's important what you say about how we can become precious about the problem and lose sight of the people. There's something very meaningful in your description of the mother's response to technological solutions. Did the insight about the loss of human connection and sense of empowerment that can come with some forms of technology inform the next stage of the project? I'm curious to learn more. Have you considered how we might design technological responses that generate more human connection rather than displace it? Thanks again for taking the time to post this. Gehan " 3,15427,2017-06-11T15:32:40.000Z,577,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"just my thoughts Hi @anon For starters, reframing the problem in human-centric ways, technological solutions and its designers could develop a deeper understanding of the user's lives and their unmet needs. This will bridge the gap between product (solution) and the user population who would most benefit. Develoanon3606750899g supporting systems that recognize the unique challenges of each patient, that means taking it to the community, and having them create the impact and play a major role. FYI part 2 of this conversation forthcoming " 1,857,2017-05-31T11:36:12.000Z,857,anon1979688579,anon1979688579,"Bearing in mind that Serbia is extremely patriarchal country that many many people primarily uneducated, ignorant, limited by dogma, the church has a strong influence, the police is on the side who persecute LGBTQ, laws are not adopted nor respected, even the media are not friendly. Being different in any sense means to be condemned, discriminated against, rejected. Like it is not enough that we have to deal with our demons and problems, and that's not enough, we have to fight with the rest of the world. And what is worse it is futile struggle, doomed to fail.  I'm not a member of   LGBTQ, I can not imagine what is happening in their soul, I believe it's scary and it's hard, extremely hard.  I am someone who looks soul who hears the words and I really am not interested in anything else, really can not understand why anyone would be bother by LGBTQ, I ask why? We are free, to do what we want, right? So why, Some give themselves the right to determine how we should behave, what to eat, who to love, how to dress, to be socially acceptable, and why we shoud care about their oanon3606750899ion. Unfortunately these moralists are the majority in our country, fake moralists who point out other people's mistakes to cover up their own, chasing people only that they would not be marginalized, persecution, condemn so they would not be convicted, these are people who also suffer, but they damage others and society as a whole, ALL of that can be cured.  First, people need to understand that we are all different, but equal, we all have the right and that nobody has the right to endangers or give us verdict how we're going to live, that everyone should be looking at themselves and their own life, to solve their problems and  not to care about other people's problems. tell me how wedding and adoption of a child endanger other families, how sex change threatens others, or dresses  make  someone uncomfortable ???? Imagine pain of  LGBTQ and you, with your limited minds consider them ill and reject them and persecute, torture and abuse  Our society have to change from the root, I regret and I am ashamed because I live in such society and  that situation is not changing We have to change family, education, political estambilsmenta, police, the mind is like a parachute works only when it is open it is easier to break an atom than a prejudice We need to do the impossible I believe that we can, step by step, it will not be easy,but we simply have to change everything , this is not a life and it is not worth to live like that " 2,10011,2017-05-31T16:35:49.000Z,857,anon1526983854,anon1979688579,"How? Hello @anon This is a pretty tough issue. I am no expert on Slavic cultures (I myself am from Italy) but we do hear that women and minorities have a harder time as you go farther East.  It is also a very important issue. For human rights, for a better economy, for plain human decency. Have you got any idea of where to start? I know that there are many players looking at the problem, and there is money available for people who can make a credible case that they have a solution. I think Edgeryders might be prepared to help a bit... but you would need to come up with an idea, even a sketchy one.   " 3,11931,2017-05-31T17:02:00.000Z,10011,anon2442420827,anon1526983854,"Rainbows in Ireland Hi @anon " 4,16621,2017-06-01T10:00:30.000Z,857,anon1979688579,anon1979688579,"how? fishing for ideas Thank you for suggestions @anon What do you think about interactive workshops, psychologists, educators and sociologists playing with children so they can  adopt essential ideas that no one should mistreat them, that they should report any form of violence, when they grow up won`t allowe bad behavior in the name of love, oppression or degrading treatment from society or be abuse and suffer because they are poor? To organize webinars women can follow from home, or work,( as you know usually bullies isolated them from the world and friends) to obtain information, entrusted to others, sometimes it's a shame to talk with a close  people and somewhat easier to turn to strangers... To organize workshops and lecturers to train women practical skills , make fund for scholarship to help women to get education,  improve skills in order to obtain job easier, economically become independent, or  learn how they can work from home To organize support groups in the villages because  as well as smaller cities, seminars, give practical advice, different topics, famous and successful people can tell their stories of how they achieved success, to have overcome its crisis.... " 5,20403,2017-06-08T21:41:48.000Z,857,anon2442420827,anon1979688579,"Right track. They sound like great ideas. Having professionals work with and educate kids and adults about equality, fairness, stereotyanon3606750899g, prejudice, scapegoating, gaslighting, etc is always a good thing. Workshops can be good if they are welcomed to a place and there is a strong willingness for them to happen. Getting these important subjects onto school curriculums would be a very good outcome. I created an app in 2001 ""Seeing Sense"" that became part of the curriculum in the schools in Northern Ireland, when working with Mark Willett Design Associates. It was a usefull educational tool, but education is just a part of the solution. Changing attitudes and culture takes more. As you've said organising and getting the conversation going at a community level is key, and getting famous/successful people to champion the cause would be a big help. And professional counselling service for individuals effected by these issues would help straight away, and also would be usefull along the journey as yet unknown challeges will surely appear. " 1,6372,2017-05-31T18:54:00.000Z,6372,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Attended: Csengele, @anon Csengele: heard about OpenVillage from the Internet, isnt sure. Student at Waldorf school, ""I don’t work in health field. In the last year I organized an int’l youth conference for graduates"" – the topic was “how can we create a new world”? How can we see the system that we are now in, step out from highschools, and how to make a change?” -How Banks are working and whats the difference with ethical banks; -How can we build up communities? “I’m in a gap year” Damiano: studied biotech in Rome, 3 main interests: Sharing Economy (FairBnb); Biotech and edu; Created this association called Net Innovation for a new inno lab – biohackerspace and broader; -We will organize an event in Rural Hub in education near Salermo (Oui Share Summit 2 yrs ago there). -Orthoponics in circular economy – does aquaponics and combines hydrocultivation with the waste from fish -Filtered bubbles on Internet: doing a PhD; -in general interested in creating connections -SAVVY: new platform coop about healthcare – they won a grant they connect patients, orgs and researchers Alberto: artist, videographer; uses stories and video installations to make complicated i.e. environmental issues more accessible to the public Shajara: Student at an Argentinian based online uni; -Installed solar power streetlights in Brazil -Data science in free time At OpenVillage Alberto: We are often preaching to the converted and need to reach to the groups we work for. Try to use aesthetics to seduce the viewer who might not be interested in social issues – to look at the project as an asthetic work, so they can make their own decisions.  What outcomes? How communities learn? -A few organisations that have done things and continue to be very effective. -Alberto: other research project coming up as well, needs to know OV details to finalize travel plans. What support available? Damiano: -Discussion starting generally, and then what platform can become faircoop? PLATFORM AS A COMMON, community as a shareholder; hopefully it will be ready to launch! -Where do we draw the line in what the event is about? It’s an edge event, but under the banners - Social care and healthcare, we need to signal for example 3 bigger topics [discussion about what is care/ how openscience and education meet...] Citizen science and education meet where the educational value of citizen science is taken into account. In the traditional sense, this educational value would be used as a justification for scientists to do citizen science: the masses may learn from participating in research, even if this is done in a menial way. Yet the reasoning should be the other way around: how do we make scientific education resemble citizen science? It promotes skills like creativity, problem-solving and civic mindedness. This connects to other educational reform initiatives that seek to promote the same values, as well as other soft skills. Csengele: has seen educational events working with environment projects – participants working with water; trying to tell students that there is another option, how we shouldn’t stick to what we learn Alberto: mentions flyfishing education inserted as an activity in an edu program in the US. Relevant for Damiano, Winnie, ... can be shared for OpenVillage? " 2,10162,2017-06-01T09:19:00.000Z,6372,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"Interesting 31/5 community call I enjoyed today's community call. There always seems to be a diverse range of conversations. I look forward to further discussions as we iron out possible themes related to education, community outreach, water, citizen science, etc. and a format to encourage interaction by participants. " 3,16678,2017-06-01T10:34:00.000Z,6372,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Signup to \#CountOnMe list How do we keep up to date and contribute from now until the Festival? A few helpful links I mentioned during the call : 1) All the live updates, discussions and documentation about the festival organising happen here in a discusison group. This wiki is also assigned to the group. 2) We are each spreading stories and Festival news to allow more people to find the sessions and connect with other participants. It's a quick routine and it's proven effective in doing network outreach. You can sign up here to get the updates: http://eepurl.com/bNtfZj (cc @anon " 4,21518,2017-06-01T14:15:46.000Z,6372,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"re: Damiano organising a roadmap Hey @anon Edgeryders organised pretty much every year since 2012 community gatherings called Living On The Edge (LOTE1, ... LOTE5). Each lote had an overarching theme (youth transition, community stewardship, learning from failures..). This is supposedly LOTE6 with the health and social care banner. What makes it different is that it's more a festival than a conference. Many people are tired of conferences, so the more hands on it goes, the better imho. How does it sound to you? Lote4 is a favourite of mine so far: https://player.vimeo.com/video/112143480?portrait=0 For organisational details and to give you an idea, here are the minisites: For LOTE4 | For LOTE5  In the ""Join a Team"" / or ""Contribute"" menu items if you scroll down the pages you can see that we had people joining organisational teams.. do you think we should have an equivalent this year? So far participants get tickets when they complete tasks we post in this group, but I'd so welcome your help to structure this process some more. Actually we can organise the next community call just around this - effective open team work.  To answer your question, there is no one person ""in charge"" of promo or comms. " 5,23379,2017-06-03T10:50:52.000Z,6372,anon1701267031,anon1491650132,"Some suggestions - if relevant, which theme? Hi there, Slowly able to get more engaged with the process. There's still much I'm getting my head round.  The RSA is an innovative organisation (21st C enlightenment is their tag line). One of entrants in their Designing Our Futures - Student Design Awards that might be of interest here. A project titled Curve in response to the \#HackOnWheels brief.  Also are Edgeryders/OpenCare community already linked in with Adaptive Design (assistive products/cardboard/cheap materials/open source design)? I think it started in New York but I understand there are initiatives here in Glasgow now too. g " 6,24832,2017-06-06T18:17:17.000Z,23379,anon1491650132,anon1701267031,"Yes! I really like AdaptiveDesign because it's ongoing - whereas the RSA awarded ideas in initial stage. For \#HackOnWheels I think the WeMake crowd in Milano could tell us if there is someone interested in making a connection with an opensource indoor wheelchair for disabled?  @anon Or @anon " 7,26938,2017-06-05T20:07:10.000Z,6372,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"fly fishing at OpenVillage?! As I mentioned, we provide a three day conference here in the States called ""Children in the Stream Conference"" (www.childreninthestream.com). The conferences use fly fishing as the thread that links biology, physics, social studies, literature and art. We use fly fishing the activity to ""hook"" the children in the schools into going outside and introducing these topics in the classroom and in the field. The fly tying and related topics also nurtures a sense of environmental stewardship at a young  age while getting chidren off computers and providing alternatives ways to engage socially and with their environment (http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/). Fly fishing has also been used to treat soldiers with PTSD. Here's an interesting article: http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/fly-fishing-and-brain....and it has been also used for women recovering from breast cancer (https://castingforrecovery.org/). We could provide fly fishing and fly tying workshops at the OV conference while also discussing how to integrate it into curriculums and we could also have it sponsored by local fly shops in Brussels...it's also a good way to do some outreach in the community which is always a good idea I think. (http://www.pechemouche.be/michieuk.htm). There are a lot of possibilities for reaching out to fly fishing clubs also (http://www.waderson.com/water_details.php?pc=15&setthewater=76).   " 8,27314,2017-06-06T19:07:09.000Z,26938,anon1491650132,anon1293448839,"Hm, an idea @anon1526983854rey and @anon If so, can you make the case in short for fly fishing as environmental stewardship? (the full story and argument...) In this works, I would keep your other proposal, Alberto, but set it aside for now - the panel on advocacy for clean waters and do it if it gathers more experts around it.. there is still time and anyway now we are full on promoting the opencare stories so far, so I expect new people and knowledge to join over the summer (by the way are you registered for \#CountOnMe to share these stories?) " 9,27447,2017-06-07T07:05:00.000Z,27314,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Demo & edu session I think a demo session would be nice and can tie in with more educational content. Finding a school should be doable, if it's on a Friday. Weekends can work as well, then you could involve an NGO working with underprivileged groups. Practically, what more would be needed for such a demo @anon1526983854rey ? @anon Meanwhile I have been in contact with people on water quality, a response is on its way. " 10,28454,2017-06-07T20:55:37.000Z,6372,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"The tug is the drug! I think it would be great to work with schools and underserved kids! Fly fishing is based on using flies that duplicate the insects and bait fish found in bodies of water. By understanding and looking at the fauna found in local streams and by discussing the fragility of that environment, student can make connections between their actions and how government and industrial actions affect their local bodies of water. It is important to make a connection between the students and their environment. This can be done by simply walking into a stream and turning over some rocks to see what is clinging to it. fly casting and tying flies are other activities that can be done to connect to this. There is a Royal Casting Club in Brussels plus other organizations that could help us with these activities. More activities is also possible to link to other schools through Zoom and Hangout.   " 11,29539,2017-06-08T13:28:26.000Z,6372,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"More on fly fishing.. There are two streams in Brussels that might be a better stream to investigate than the Seine:Maalbeek,and Woluwe as well as several ponds. There seems to be fishing opportunities in Brussels in Laeken: (lespecheurslaekenois.com/ind... ) and outside of Brussels in Wallonia (peche.tourisme.wallonie.be/p...). It might be good to partner with Michieles Fishing Center in Brussels and other organizations mentioned in angloinfo.com for more specific assistance finding bodies if water to investigate including water quality and fly fish.   " 1,860,2017-06-07T10:08:40.000Z,860,anon3560946760,anon3560946760,"hello Edgeryders, I am part of the golden foot collective. we took a mobile independent footcare clinic and cinema from scotland to italy and serbia.  To help in the migrant crisis. there were 8 of us and we had 2 nurses and 2 mechanics. everyone had done some international migrant solidarity before. This was a process of upscaling what we were doing. dispite many obsticale.  it all worked well.  since Then i have been increasingly intrested in best practice. how do we get people to operate well in high stress enviroments? reduce there expectations of situations to allow them to see what is happening? how do we get people to learn rapidly as this is the only way to stay on top of quickly changing situations? how can more of the knowledge and expertise that has been aquired be passed on more effectively?  in the long term how do we cultivate high levels of mental resilence so we can face the future well? how does mass empowerment break down into actionable steps in the crisis to come? coming from scotland we live in an end destination. how  can we have effective solidarity with those that live on transit routes as well as those in transit? I am producing zines and perhaps in the future i will do a podcast but i come here with alot of questions.     " 2,7915,2017-06-08T10:59:39.000Z,860,anon1491650132,anon3560946760,"""Independent footcare clinic"": change title of your story? Hi @anon I looked up details about the project and found your crowdfunding campaign page.. how come you stopped at food care as a way to describe it best, even though I see you provide many other basic first aid - medical supplies, tea etc. In the past year we met many people who do relief, aid, skilling up work with regugees.. most of the projects are local scale - the Orange House in Athens (15 residents and 50 people around to receive some services), a Refugee 2 Refugee Solidarity Call Center in Thessaloniki, informal and bottom up, and crowdfundedfunded through an international campaign.. or ad hoc backpacks packing to welcome people in Kos Island, Lesbos.. and beyond. Most of them point at the need for better coordination among community leaders, citizens donors, organisations, and other businesses and organisations in the ecosystem.. What has been a major challenge for you as you went on the road? " 1,855,2017-05-30T21:29:39.000Z,855,anon1883627246,anon1883627246,"In 2010 Pakistan was subjected to overwhelming floods which wreaked havoc in the country. More than 20 million people and over 650,000 houses were at the receiving end of this destruction as per Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) report. The province of Punjab was greatly affected, the district of Layyah, in Southern Punjabin particular. Rivers of this region overflowed due to the enormous downpour and 15 union councils (UCs) of Layyah were devastated.  In order to reduce the suffering of people from diseases and hunger, a program was developed to promote agricultural and helath development in the region and also make stratigies to overcome in future too, Relief International (RI) carried out a thorough assessment in this region. Following the assessment, RI has embarked on a project titled ‘Rapid Livelihoods Rebuilding via Agriculture & Health based Livelihood initiatives’ (RL-RALI), in collaboration with the British Asian Trust (BAT) for the rebuilding of agriculture based livelihoods in District Layyah of Punjab, Pakistan. The main goal of this project was to reconstruct livelihoods as well as health care and encouraging positive economic development in regard to the population of Layyah district affected most by flooding. OBJECTIVES 
    1. Improvement of livelihood through sustainable agricultural  practices via kitchen gardens and establishment of fodder plots in District Layyah, Punjab, Pakistan.
    2. To establish rural health centers with provision of vaccinations and proper helath facilities to ensure safe and good health in the region.
    3. Capacity building through provision of trainings and inputs for sustainable development of the flood effected people.
    4. To establish local governance through local economic development and implementation of project in partnership with local government stakeholders and village-based institutions.

    Project implementaion and stratigies

    •   Recruitment of staff
    •   Selection of target area
    •   Baseline survey
    •   Orientation & coordination meeting with stakeholders
    •   Formation of community based organizations (CBOs)
    •   Capacity building of CBOs
    •    Beneficiaries’ identification with the help of CBOs
    •    Demo plots establishment
    •    Technical skill enhancement of beneficiaries in kitchen gardening and fodder
    •     Agricultural inputs’ distribution
    •     Health services and provision of medicines 
    •     Evaluation of project
    •     Continuous follow up.
    •     Continuous monitoring of project
    Project Targets
    • 40 CBOs
    • 40 Demo plots
    • 10 Rural helath centers 
    • 20 persons were trained in emergencies handling and care
    • 10 First aid voulnteers were trained on each localities 
    • 1400 Persons trained (700 beneficiaries trained in kitchen gardening (70% females) & 700 beneficiaries trained in fodder/vegetable plots)
    • Distribution of 700 seeds and 700 tool-kits 
    Progress Summary  The main goal of this project is/was the reconstruction of livelihoods and encouraging positive economic development in regard to the population of Layyah district affected most by the flooding. Its a good experience to work with community through its local plate form of Community based organizations.We got a positive response in this sense that all community based plate form established their rural health centers/demo plots and mobilized the community for this income generation activity of kitchen gardening. This income generation activity was not only adopted by CBOs but also adopted by other communities and all the voulteers of CBOs are working with the RI team as volunteer and own the work with full participation. Although we have started this project in July 2012 with limited team but we have achieved majority targets of project in the short period of time that  not only show the better planning of project but showed the excellent participation of CBOs and community also. Cntribution is needed now more than ever to ensure livelihood of the farmers with  Program continues to serve those in most need. ( Farmers expections) " 2,6903,2017-06-05T17:31:08.000Z,855,anon1491650132,anon1883627246,"Example of community based activity? Hi @anon Can you tell us more about the kitchen gardens and how people were directly involved? More than ""beneficiaries"", I assume they had their own ideas and skills to offer as solutions for Layyah, right?   " 3,14771,2017-06-07T13:22:54.000Z,855,anon1883627246,anon1883627246,"Community Based Organizations (CBO'S) Dear Noemi, Hi...... First of all, i am so pleased and appreciate your keen interest to boost up every member of Edgeryders. Actually, I did PhD in Agricultre with specialization in food security and water management. During my doctrate research at plant breeding institue, The University of Sydney, Australia, I got a variety of experience in food security and economic development. Rather to be a professional, i am proud to be a social worker. For this purpose, tried my best to serve vulnerable community with ultimate objective of livelihood as well as food security.  The best example from community, launching a rapid livelihood efforts through community based organizations (CBO'S). Yes we got much fruitful result from expectation only with the help of community and this project.  Please keep in touch in future for new story about community based on Food Security, poverty eliviation and livelihood management practices.    " 1,824,2017-04-22T12:20:21.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"Tutto è nato da una nostra esperienza Monica: “Nicoletta? Andiamo a mangiare una pizza?”  Nicoletta: “Certo! Prenoto per due al solito posto dove puoi mangiare anche tu?”  M.“Ok!”. Ristoratore: “Buona sera Signore, avete prenotato?” N. “Sì, per due; nome Nicoletta”. - Eccoci, sedute al tavolo, scegliamo dal menu la pizza e il cameriere viene a prendere l’ordine.  N.“Per me una prosciutto e funghi” M. “Io invece..premetto: sono intollerante al glutine e al lattosio...” il cameriere annuisce “...ho letto sul menu che oltre alla pasta senza glutine potete sostituire la mozzarella di latte vaccino con quella di riso...” C.“Sì signora”  M.”Bene, quindi per me una pizza con farina senza glutine, la mozzarella di riso, crema di zucca e porcini” C. “Da bere?” N. ”Una birra per me!” C.”E lei?” M.”Io? Che cosa posso bere che non sia acqua?” C.”Abbiamo due birre senza glutine” M.”Quali?” C.”La Daura e la Peroni”. Giro lo sguardo verso Nicoletta con un’espressione rassegnata e penso ”...sempre quelle...” Passano pochi minuti e al tavolo si ripresenta il cameriere dicendo che la crema di zucca é terminata e che il pizzaiolo propone una crema di porro in sostituzione. Sgrano gli occhi e penso che non sia proprio il mio giorno fortunato e che la pizza, forse, non avrei dovuto mangiarla. Ho fame però e voglio trascorrere una serata serena insieme alla mia amica. A malincuore accetto la proposta del pizzaiolo - “Chissà”. Arriva la pizza e a quel punto, mi assale lo sconforto più profondo e un senso di disagio che non avevo mai provato; guardo la mia pizza, poi quella di Nicoletta, poi di nuovo la mia, la sua, la mia... Non ce la posso fare...assaggio...pare buona...ho tanta fame...dai che mangio...fame, fame, fame: mangio! N. “Monica? Mi fai assaggiare?” M.”Certo!” N.”...Mmm...il sapore non è male ma questa non è una pizza! Ha una strana consistenza, si presenta come una pietanza da ospedale. È proprio triste...”  M.“...Già...” --------------------------------- Questa serata per Monica e Nicoletta non è stata l’unica; altre l’avevano preceduta e altre ancora ne seguirono. Ad ogni occasione conviviale, presso qualsiasi locale di ristorazione, lo schema che si ripete pare essere sempre lo stesso:
    • Monica elenca ad alta voce al cameriere le sue intolleranze, 
    • il cameriere annuisce puntualmente, 
    • Monica  si barcamena nella lettura di menu labirintici (a volte privi dell’elenco degli allergeni)
    • dalla cucina arriva l’avviso che l’alimento richiesto non è disponibile
    • Monica si accontenta di “ciò che propone la cucina” nella speranza di non entrare in contatto con quelle molecole malsane che le provocano un sacco di dolori
    E in tutto questo? Nicoletta osserva esterefatta e non si capacita di quanto tutto questo provochi un disagio alla sua amica e a tutti quelli che, come lei, hanno allergie e intolleranze alimentari. All’interno dei locali queste persone (malate) vengono spesso confuse con altri clienti che seguono diete vegetariane o vegane frutto di una libera scelta personale e non ad uno stato di salute.    Qui in allegato la pizza di Monica " 2,8387,2017-04-27T13:44:10.000Z,824,anon592621174,anon2842198470,"Storytelling dritto al punto! Approfondiamo.. Ciao Nicoletta e ciao Monica ( @anon Sono Chiara, faccio parte di WeMake e mi occupo anche del progetto opencare Maker in Residence. Potreste aiutarci a capire meglio che cosa pensate di progettare, anche a livello anon1201778428rico, per entrare maggiormente nel merito della vostra soluzione (creare un “sistema” visivo/tecnologico nei luoghi di ristorazione per garantire agli intolleranti un ambiente e rilassato e conviviale)? " 3,11549,2017-05-02T10:45:29.000Z,8387,anon2842198470,anon592621174,"AllergoKi - IoT e le allergie alimentari Ciao Chiara, ti condivido il file del “sistema” visivo/tecnologico"". In caso fammi sapere se servono altre delucidazioni. Grazie Buona giornata. Nicoletta " 4,15696,2017-05-01T09:07:21.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"sistema Ciao @anon " 5,20827,2017-05-01T13:43:40.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"AllergoKi - IoT e le allergie alimentari " 6,24195,2017-05-02T14:13:01.000Z,824,anon413297907,anon2842198470,"focus progettuale Ciao Nicoletta + Monica, Grazie per aver caricato lo schema, ora l'idea progettuale e' sicuramente piu' anon2188661263! Non vi nascondo che mi sembra moltissimo lavoro, e rispetto alla vostra richiesta nella application di partecipare alla MIR per 2 settimane mi sorge spontanea una domanda: avete gia' pensato a focalizzarvi su una delle varie parti del progetto? se si quale? Grazie! " 7,25155,2017-05-03T16:25:17.000Z,24195,anon2842198470,anon413297907,"AllergoKi - IoT e le allergie alimentari - APP e gadgets Progettazione dell'App e di un gadget del kit " 8,26063,2017-05-03T16:24:12.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"AllergoKi - IoT e le allergie alimentari - APP e gadgets Progettazione dell'App e di un gadget del kit " 9,27826,2017-05-23T16:21:23.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"Da AllergoKi a Allergo-risto. Nuove considerazioni Ciao a tutti! @anon413297907  e @anon Dopo esserci confrontati e vista la complessità del sistema che avevamo pensato inizialmente, abbiamo deciso di concentrarci su 3 aspetti che prevedono un minor utilizzo di tecnologia.   1 - SEARCH, ORDER AND EAT YOUR SAFE FOOD Scenario: la persona con allergia alimentare vuole recarsi presso un ristorante per consumare un pasto fuori casa. Problema: persone con allergie alimentari si sentono a disagio nel dover spiegare al personale di sala il loro stato di salute. Soluzione: studiare la UX-UI di un’applicazione mobile e di un sito internet con l’obiettivo di fornire alle persone allergiche la possibilità di:
    • ricercare un ristorante dove viene garantita la sicurezza alimentare con cibo adeguato e personale formato;
    • scegliere dal menù il proprio piatto;
    • ordinarlo online;
    • scegliere l’orario d’arrivo;
    • trovare pronto il proprio piatto al ristorante.
    Note di approfondimento Elenco di 50 startup che stanno cambiando il business del cibo: http://www.economyup.it/startup/4352_food-50-startup-per-capire-come-cambia-il-business-del-cibo.htm   2 - BE AN ALLERGO-RISTO Scenario: Il locale ristorativo aderisce al sistema. Problema: Lo staff deve essere formato e istruito sulle esigenze delle persone con allergie alimentari e sui rischi deranon3406688078ti dall’inosservanza delle regole di gestione della sicurezza alimentare. Soluzione: Creare un kit di comunicazione contenente:
    • linee guida per la redazione del menù con lista degli allergeni;
    • credenziali d’accesso ad un account dedicato per il caricamento del menù sul portale web;
    • supporti visivi che indicano in modo chiaro e discreto la persona allergica al personale di sala;
    • manon169343781ale d’uso del materiale;
    • guida sulla sicurezza alimentare - regole di comportamento per la corretta gestione di clienti con allergie alimentari.
    Note di approfondimento L'associazione no profit Food Allergy Italia di Padova da maggio 2002, si propone di tutelare esclusivamente la salute delle persone affette da allergie ed intolleranze alimentari sue socie. F.A.I., nel suo materiale informativo, mette in risalto il problema di mangiare fuori casa per una persona allergica offrendo come soluzione la Chef Card. http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita/page.php?cat=primopiano&id=1
    Sondaggio di Food Allergy Italia e un’associazione irlandese di Cork SAFEFOOD sugli effetti del Regolamento (UE) n. 1169/2011 per determinare se la legislazione ha portato benefici alle famiglie e ai pazienti che soffrono di allergie ed intolleranze alimentari, in particolare sulla capacità dei ristoranti di servire alimenti sicuri http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita/page.php?cat=news&id=2&item=122   3 - TAKE CARE OF ME! Scenario: Una persona allergica prenota la cena presso un Allergo-risto dove si reca con un gruppo di amici. Problema: La pietanza viene servita nel pieno rispetto delle norme di sicurezza alimentare, di cui purtroppo gli amici non sono a conoscenza: pertanto questa viene contaminata da allergeni, con conseguente malessere della persona allergica. Soluzione: Attraverso illustrazioni di immediata comprensione, distribuite su vari supporti, informare i commensali dei comportamenti a tavola che potrebbero contaminare le pietanze (es.: usare la propria forchetta per assaggiare gli alimenti presenti nel piatto di una persona allergica). L’obiettivo è sensibilizzare a questa problematica le persone vicine all’individuo allergico. Note di approfondimento Video realizzato da EFSA che spiega in modo scientifico ed intuitivo cosa sono le allergie alimentari: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqJQVsY24LU " 10,29084,2017-05-29T11:02:00.000Z,824,anon413297907,anon2842198470,"Ottimo! Ciao @anon Grazie della ricerca e scusate il delay. Mi sembrano direzioni molto interessanti, in particolare i temi 1 e 2. (Forse il tema 3 in qualche modo potrebbe essere integrato nel 2) Davo un'occhiata ai link e pensavo che potrebbe essere molto utile avere uno scambio con la F.A.I., per la loro esperienza diretta ed eventualmente per accedere al loro network. Il loro sforzo e' notevole, forse potrebbe essere un po' piu' orientato al design ;) PS: magari iniziamo a ""switchare"" verso l'inglese in modo da coinvolgere la community di edgeryders nella conversazione " 11,29966,2017-06-07T09:22:19.000Z,824,anon2842198470,anon2842198470,"AllergoKi project - ENG version 1 - SEARCH, ORDER AND EAT YOUR SAFE FOOD Scenario: Some people with food allergy want to go out for dinner Problem: People with food allergy often feel uncomfortable when they have to explain their health state to the restaurant's staff Solution: We design an application mobile and a website UX-UI, to allow people with food allergy to:
    • find a restaurant Where the security is guaranteed, through safe food and trained staff
    • choose a dish from menu
    • order/ booked online
    • choose the arrival time
    • find the food ready at the restaurant
    Annotation A list of 50 startups changing food business: http://www.economyup.it/startup/4352_food-50-startup-per-capire-come-cambia-il-business-del-cibo.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 - BE AN ALLERGO-RISTO Scenario: Restaurant join the system Problem: Staff must be trained and educated on the needs of people with food allergies and on the risks of non-compliance with food safety management rules Solution: We will create:
    • a guidelines for writing the menu including the allergens' list
    • login credentials to dedicated account for uploading menu on website
    • The visual material helps the staff to detect the allergy person in a clear and discreet manner
    • Instruction
    • Food safety guide – rules to manage in a correct way clients with food allergy
    Annotation No profit association Food Allergy Italia, Padova, since may 2002 protect food allergy people's health. F.A.I. underline how problematic is eating in a restaurant for people with food allergy, offering the chef card as solution. http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita/page.php?cat=primopiano&id=1 Surveys conducted by Food Allergy Italia and Cork SAFEFOOD Ireland about effects of Regulation (UE) n. 1169/2011, to clarify if the law has brought benefits to people with food allergy and their family members, especially about the restaurants' ability to serve safe food. http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita/page.php?cat=news&id=2&item=122 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 - TAKE CARE OF ME!   Scenario: A person with food allergy book a dinner at the Allergo-Risto with his friends Problem: Meal is served respecting the food safety rules; unfortunately his friends don't know these rules, so the food is contaminated by allergens. The final result isn’t ailment for the allergic person. Solution: Using easy-understandable drawings, realized on different supports, to inform diners about behaviors that should contaminate food ( for example: using the same fork to taste allergic people's food). The goal is to let friend and family members understand the problems of people with food allergy. Annotation Video made by EFSA, explaining in a scientific and easy to understand way what are food allergies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqJQVsY24LU " 1,858,2017-05-31T10:56:08.000Z,858,anon1979688579,anon1979688579,"All of my studying and experiences encouraged me to learn more about the world we live in, particularly its population, demographic trends, societies, economies, cultures and the environment .With a growing interest in issues such as migration, climate change, environmental degradation and social cohesion, the present is a perfect time to be involved in a subject that literally touches everybody. We also must know and understand the characteristics of the population and problems. Gender Equality is an issue that increasingly attracting attention and I'm glad that it is so, because we have to face with problems in intention to solve. Especially in the Balkans because of the tradition, male dominance and patriarchy dogma, we can`t even speak about gender equality. Violence against women is a common phenomenon, discrimination in employment, obtaining dismissal due to pregnancy, sexual harassment at work, on the street, not to mention the Roma communities, where women have almost no rights, the situation is bad, and even alarming. Women are treated as less valuable, challenging their basic human rights. The right to education, freedom of movement, the right to vote, the right to decide about their marriage, not to be forced, mutilated or rejected by family, society if they do not abide by traditional rules and norms, teen marriage, teen pregnancy, violence against a woman, more often situation. The violence being perpetrated against girls and women it takes on epidemic proportions. And instead of every day a woman to be given more heed, honored, a pillar of society and the family, it is at the margin, not only neglected but also abused, physically and mentally exhausted,, without the right to fight for themselves ,their  life, their well-being. Women who are the most oppressed are precisely those without education, personal income . How many women and girls were sexually exploited, raped ... What are the primary tasks?  To be primarily pledge any form of violence and abuse, to provide education, training. Selection of partners is free will, the right to contraception, the right to health care, the right to equal pay, the right to be employed, not to be discriminated just because it's a woman, it does not get fired when she went on maternity leave, to receive compensation while pregnant, the right to social protection, in health insurance and care. The right to engage in politics of his country, to participate in the economy, not only as a worker, but also as an entrepreneur, manager, trustee To be more women in science, the arts, that were not created just to take care of home, children, family, that are free to read, write, engage in teachings, scientific research…. Many seem that women seek the impossible, seek the same thing does not belong to them. Women do not seek a special status, not seeking privileges. Women  demand the respect that every human being deserves, looking for the opportunity to be the best version of yourself, achieve talents, looking for an opportunity to live freely, go towards achieving its objectives without fear that they will be attacked, abuse, put down, ridiculed… crippled Many studies have shown the importance of women in large companies and how important it is to have greater participation of women in the labor, The whole society has benefits and profit from that, also economic empowerment of women can give them the strength and the power to fight for their rights. What is I have to emphasis totally crazy, to fight for something that is obvious and should be guaranteed. But since we live in such a country and such a world, which I will say freely that's gone completely crazy. The first thing we have to teach girls, because some things are taught from childhood, that the slap is not love, that no one have right to beat you, there is no reason to be afraid. You have to forget that terrible sentence, you're a girl, you you have to let go, you have to listen,  you must be good, obedient Well,  you do not have to do anything Be good and obedient and you'll be good and obedient patients If you're a girl, you do not have to do anything that you do not like, house, kids, kitchen, It is not your job by default,  you can be scientist, pilot, astroanon169343781t, everything you want Of course, a question of love, partners, children, number of children, or abortion, should be your choice, initiation of sex and number of partners is also your thing,  to love, to be loved, free, jealousy is not proof of love, respect and friendship are very important, you have a right to do what you want when you want and not worry about social norms, because only happy persone have good thoughts and  works good, Society where women are sitting home and deal with the housework is dead. We need all the strengths and capable and smart and successful women, because obviously while men are leding, we can not talk about peace and prosperity, we should agree to disagree, to respect and appreciate each to give positive example because children learn from their parents, scattered on the model, so change must start from family, parents, environment, kindergartens, schools ... this is serious story , a wide and large, but the success is guaranteed if we work together, jointly, it is not enough to have a law that sanctioned violence, because in every segment of society and at every step of women suffer some form of discrimination, some form of abuse, violence, really suffer if they are young and pretty, and if they are ugly and old, have always been the subject of ridicule, gossip, and never good enough and ther is  always something wrong , they have to be perfect to be loved because they are  upbringing in that manner, it is a huge burden, that burden must be rejected, it's okay to be imperfect it's okay to have a bad day, to smilie and  to be good... It is a great theme, and very serious and  requires indispensable large and big steps to make the change, so we won't any more read about dark statistics or to be a part of it, I forgot about inadequate or not existing  health status of women and treating them, how horrible gynecologist acting, a large number of cancers that are not detected at time, shame,  when they give birth listen insults and so on...  I want you to understant situation in my country, importance of the problem and that action is needed, that will not be easy, but it is something that must do because it is not a choice any more it is our obligation. " 2,9882,2017-05-31T14:59:24.000Z,858,anon1491650132,anon1979688579,"Are you working on a project at the moment? Hey @anon From your style of writing, it seems to me you're an activist, or..? I wouldnt be surprised, nowadays and in post election Serbia most progressive young people are in the streets right? But do you have a project which others in edgeryders can support you with advice or their own experience?  " 3,11895,2017-05-31T15:58:27.000Z,9882,anon1979688579,anon1491650132,"answer Unfortunately I currently do not work, actively looking for a job, I wish I had a project, I have lots of ideas, but I have a problem to realize them, even when I worked whenever I had the initiative, I was told do as the boss says , (proverb: ties horse as the boss says even if you and the horse die).  @anon Abortions are legal, but there is still a condemnation of women who decide to have an abortion, by doctors, partner, society, which is totally stupid woman's right is to do with her body what she consider is the best. Very little is done on education, large number of abortions, legal and illegal, women should be informed that this is not a form of contraception, and that repeated abortions are harmful to health, the number of adolescent pregnancies is rising. Awareness and availability of contraceptives, pills for the day after and abortion with medication, are crucial. You  are well informed, yes young people were in the streets, dissatisfied with the elections but they got tired and gave up, it is easier to simply go somewhere abroad, looking for a job, although it is not easy,( language,habits, traditions, family, friends, problem with visas, work permits.... ) than to stay and fight, brain drain is huge issue. " 4,12293,2017-06-06T18:54:01.000Z,11895,anon1491650132,anon1979688579,"What about working with a group already doing awareness raising? @anon Sometimes a good way to begin if you want to do social work could be to set yourself up as a collaborator of an existing NGO or activist group whose work you admire. You could start as a volunteer or even get a part time job? Or try an EVS internship which at least covers living costs? It's not easy to get started, but from my own and friends experience it take a little personal investment - of time, money, learning etc. whatever you have available.. @anon PS Branislava, your ticket to the \#OpenVillage festival is coming up via email, hope you can make it!! " 5,14745,2017-06-07T09:20:08.000Z,858,anon1061021150,anon1979688579,"@anon " 1,835,2017-05-11T14:06:08.000Z,835,anon279382001,anon279382001,"WeHandU aims to establish an online platform, where users can share, browse and modify projects capable of helanon3606750899g people affected by disability. WeHandU tryes to solve the problem everyone with disability encounters: prosthesis are not personalized and often need to customized in regard of each personal need. The target is everyone intersted in or affected by disability, ready to learn, design, share and produce their personal device to deal with one (or more) disability. WeHandU consists of a site where users can browse a database of existing solution, and can share their own ideas. A group of chosen user, called MENTORS, will help develop ideas that look promising, granting a solid know-how in many field (design, engineering, law, medicin, etc.). WeHandU will be an online site, but the focus is on customised items, thus it will be strongly connected to 3D printing technology. http://wehandu.it/it/ Creative Commons license The project is still gathering minds to achieve its goals. The site is online, but it's still an early build with very few functionalities. WeHandU is at the development stage: we need to put in practice our ideas!   " 2,6497,2017-06-03T07:36:04.000Z,835,anon1491650132,anon279382001,"Did the kick off event happen? Hi @anon I was in Milano in November last, with the opencare team, and I know that the priority was to get WeHand U started somehow, and that coordination of a network is a large task for a small team. But buillding a prototype, as small as it were, could be realistic. InPe developed with WeMake community seemed to be an example of a good approach, especially because it was captured on video too, so people could see what it is actually about. What is your priority at the moment?  Waving from Brussels, and looking forward to meet in person this autumn when I'll be back in Milano, " 3,14118,2017-06-05T08:18:58.000Z,835,anon279382001,anon279382001,"WeHandU - Kick off Event Hi @anon The kick off event had a good start. During the first meetings we gave the patient some specific knowledge about 3D printing technology; now we are more focusing on teaching how to use a 3D CAD (specifically OnShape) to get from the idea to the 3D model. The patient is really interested and is actively participating, asking for more and more: this is a great success! Our priority is to keep the patient engaged and to give them all the tools for develoanon3606750899g their own ideas (and this patient has A LOT of ideas in mind). Thanks for the support!  " 4,17195,2017-06-06T18:38:53.000Z,14118,anon1491650132,anon279382001,"Heard of Adaptive Design? This just came in via another edgeryder - it might be easier for WeHandU to build on existing models than start from scratch, and these guys started in the US but support replication of their model. Have a look here?  " 1,842,2017-05-16T13:47:38.000Z,842,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Dopo la presentazione pubblica del progetto open rampette, un’iniziativa pilota per il miglioramento dell’accessibilità degli esercizi commerciali promossa dal Comune di Milano e da WeMake | fablab e makerspace all’interno del progetto opencare, giovedì 11 maggio si è tenuto il primo incontro di co-progettazione. L’incontro ha avuto luogo dalle 18.30 alle circa 21.00 presso LaStecca3.0, uno spazio innovativo ed accogliente per la socializzazione e la condivisione di diversi progetti legati al quartiere Isola di Milano e non solo. Incentrato sull’approfondimento dell’esperienza legata all’accessibilità in un esercizio commerciale tramite gli elementi di pulsante – chiamata – rampa, il focus della co-progettazione è stato condotto ed analizzato sia da parte di chi deve effettuare la chiamata per accedere (tramite campanello) e sia da parte di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l’accesso al proprio negozio. Clicca qui per accedere e scaricare la presentazione slide e qui per visualizzare la galleria fotografica. Dopo la presentazione ed introduzione al progetto open rampette, i partecipanti sono stati divisi nei due gruppi di interesse: il gruppo Dionisio (incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve effettuare la chiamata per accedere all’esercizio commerciale) e il gruppo di Minerva (incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l’accesso al proprio negozio). Entrambi i gruppi sono stati supportati e facilitati dai membri dello staff di WeMake e dal Comune di Milano, proponendo per ciascun gruppo: 1 moderatore, 1 assistente moderatore, 1 osservatore, 1 maker e 1 rappresentante del Comune di Milano. I due tavoli di discussione sono stati gestiti in due stanze separate, per poter permettere libera e serena condivisione delle proprie problematiche e riflessioni. Durante la gestione dei tavoli sono stati utilizzati diversi strumenti: la ‘Storia di Dionisio’ e la ‘Storia di Minerva’, una lista di domande atte a generare una discussione aperta e mirata e una mappa di post-it realizzata sul momento per captare intuizioni ed oanon3606750899ioni salieni al tema da trattare. La lista di domanda è stata strutturata partendo da una parallela discussione online tramite la piattaforma di EdgeRyders. Il tema della CHIAMATA, legato all’utilizzo degli elementi di pulsante – chiamata – rampa, è solo uno dei tanti temi che verranno proposti ed esplorati durante i diversi e prossimi appuntamenti di open rampette. Clicca qui per leggere il report del gruppo di Dionisio, e qui per il gruppo di Minerva. Progress update - brainstorming on future scenarios     Ciao a tutti,  Abbiamo iniziato ad analizzare le informazioni raccolte durante l'incontro dell'11 e quelle ottenute tramite il form online.  I molti spunti raccolti con la community ci hanno permesso di iniziare a immaginare possibili scenari futuri che cercano di migliorare l'esperienza del ""dioniso"" che deve servirsi della rampetta mobile di chiamata.  Abbiamo cercato di raccontare possibili user-journeys in una mappa di flusso che trovate quì sotto. Al momento, abbiamo lasciato fuori dalla mappatura le considerazione relative a come Minerva può richiedere, ottenere e installare i vari dispositivi. Andremo ad approfondire l'argomento in un secondo momento quando sarà presa una decisione sull'esperienza utente che andremo ad implementare e testare. Tutti invitati a commentare le proposte che trovate nell'immagine allegata! Potete anche scaricare il file quì   " 3,14500,2017-06-06T11:57:37.000Z,842,anon904321944,anon2435658896,"Accessibilità. Ciao Riusciamo a rendere accessibile il diagramma, magari tramite una opzione di ingrandimento in una finestra indipendente oppure dando la possibilità di scaricarne una versione possibilmente ""parlante"", in modo tale da complementare quanto scritto? Grazie ;-) " 4,17173,2017-06-06T12:40:32.000Z,14500,anon214847711,anon904321944,"Ciao Francesco,  puoi visualizzare il documento in alta quì!  " 1,861,2017-06-06T11:19:24.000Z,861,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Community Conversations can have an impact in various ways, from discussing challenges, catalyzing collaborations or changing the direction of the project and creating new initiatives. This was the case for Sara Savian and Mauro Alfieri, creators of reHub. The glove designed for proprioceptive rehabilitation and to recover movement fluidity after an injury.  It allows the patient to record and report exercises, data- such as hand position and fanon1056199097rtips pressure. In 2014 Sara Savian and Mauro Alfieri started their journey with a “test on sensors “and they had presented their first prototype at the Arduino User Group & Wearables community at WeMake. The purpose for this to share projects, knowledge and create discussions on Arduino and Wearables and smart textiles.  The intent was to explore how it can be used? How can it add value and be of use socially?  What could be built on this foundation? These discussions could change the course for many participants. Sara and Mauro not only had many questions answered, but they left with the idea of going back to the drawing board and creating something that would be beneficial to society. A conversation between a physiotherapist and someone suffering from hand disability created inquiry for Sara and Mauro. They exchanged and shared thoughts on their project, how could it be of use and that led to further discussion. It was the trigger point for them and a stepanon3606750899g stone for their project. We can’t capture every discussion that took place as dialogue is woven into many discussions. But this one interaction planted the seed for what is now reHub.  We asked Sara to recollect this conversation: John: ""I suffer from a hand disability that limits my activities of daily life. Self-sufficiency is greatly reduced and hinders the quality of life for me. Constant monitoring of my movements and joints must be done frequently to evaluate my progress by and going back and forth as an outpatient for evaluations. This interferes with my daily activities”* Physiotherapist: “There has been an advancement in technologies in the rehabilitation to help patients achieve maximum recovery outcomes. In Italy, physiotherapists have no access to digital tools to evaluate rehabilitative progress for hand movements. Having instant access to this therapy anytime would be greatly beneficial.* We asked Sara and Mauro how this conversation altered the course for reHub. Sara: “This made us re-evaluate our project in a variety of ways and prompted us to think in broader terms and combine the ""test on sensors"" with solving a problem. We know that there is a lot of learning that needs to be done when you put the device in the hands of people that are just things you would not expect"".  Mauro: From this discussion, Sara and I saw the opportunity offer a solution and an experience of an emerging area of wearable technology together with the sensing technology and decided to create a device that could be delivered in a rehabilitation approach to support patients’ and to monitor hand rehabilitation. From listening to challenges that are faced on a daily basis, and realizing how painful it is for the patient and family. We need to work with them to help co-create with us”. With the project in its early stage, Sara wanted to share this: Sara: “There is much work to do including working with actual users and receiving their feedback. With the goal of making it open source, fully customizable and adaptable, a community of user is required. We are solving the problem of monitoring the progress of rehabilitation therapy and the people directly impacted must be included.” We asked what’s next for reHub. Sara: ""We know that rehabilitation is time-consuming and demotivating and we plan to change that with a reHub device to empower patients through their therapy. Rehabilitation is often costly, by making it open source, it’s affordable and accessible for people who are living with limitation and this could drastically improve their mental well-being during the road of recovery”. This will allow the vast majority of patients to be sent home with a rehabilitation program to practice on their smartphone or tablet."" The reHub team is taking a broad approach in this area and looking for users and a community that will benefit and help develop different options: sport, gaming, educational, medical. Why is it important to work with the community to further develop reHub? Sara: ""Spending time with a community, or patients that will benefit from what you’re creating is looking at the problem in a human-centered way and it highlight’s what’s needed instead of just relying on responses to questions. Spending time with people in the area of use is a really important step in the design process. So we’re back to the drawing board. We need to know what from the user's perspective so we can design with them in mind."" Co-creation, it matters. There is the emotional and functional connection that people have to a medical device. As far as functional, understanding how people use things, what they need to get done daily.  When we think of medical devices we initially think of accuracy, consistency, making sure it delivers the expected results. These are crucial reasons why design should be human oriented. Mauro Alfieri: “We thank all the physiotherapists we have had a chance to meet with  which could effectively confront the future of this project, orienting it to a continuous use in proprioceptive physiotherapy."" If people can’t achieve expected results due to a design issue or flaw, then that’s obviously going to have a clinical impact. From a functional aspect, understanding how people use things does matter. This is where engineering, design and the community will benefit and need to work hand in hand to understand these components. It’s crucial to consider human emotions when designing medical products. Often, it’s the emotional connections that people have with respect to the design. Is it flexible? The weight, how it feels, is it aesthetically appealing? Then, of course, cost and accessibility that make people gravitate toward certain devices as opposed to others. With the joined forces of diverse backgrounds of Sara and Mauro, reHub will be addressing all these concerns. reHub-goal-oriented effective rehabilitative treatment and experience that will help patients return to family, job, community and resume regular daily activities. More updates to follow. *The name of John and Physiotherapist have been used to maintain privacy.     " 2,7329,2017-06-06T11:59:47.000Z,861,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Sharing reflections There is always a series of encounters and discussions that help pave the path that led to idea creation. During these conversations, it;s the human ""Why""- not the scientific ""Why"".It's in those personal interactions that give a voice to humanistic problems.  @anon " 1,852,2017-05-30T16:07:57.000Z,852,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"This week the opencare team of WeMake welcomed a new member. Lorenzo Romagnoli (http://anon214847711romagnoli.me/) is an interaction designer that will be in charge of develoanon3606750899g the mock-up and co-designing with users and other makers the needed prototypes for the projects openrampette and MIR. As first mission Lorenzo will be in charge of the “call” part of openrampette; i.e. the device, or the solution meant to call the shop attendants. The result should be a “good” mock-up to be discussed on in the next meeting of “user research” with the shop owners themselves. The design side is improving now that the projects have been developed and could involve and motivate many people. It's the turning point from design thinking to the making. There is a hard work on coordinating activities, plans, schedules, people, and it can be done only in a shared and collaborative way. Infact, the issue i'm currently working on is about leadership. A liquid and seamless leadership making possible such performance made up of details and roles taken time by time by the many here around. There are skills, shifts and duties that can be interchanged; other are very specific and will need a bit of training, or briefing. Just today, I was considering how much decisions are based on situations and how much situations are shaped by the technological means used by the team. Chats, online files, networks and software are such a heterogeneous and complex network to face the complexity of turning design sessions into events, actions and artifacts. " 3,10708,2017-06-05T08:05:49.000Z,9672,anon3341622463,,"It's time for public engagement Yes, you are getting it right. Innovation processes and progress policies should involve citizens as designers to build a much responsible and sustainable society. " 4,14239,2017-06-05T20:13:40.000Z,852,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"How does the codesign with shop owners happen? @anon   PS I suggest whenever you blog about WeMake work or OpenRampette you make sure to link to a context post on edgeryders or elsewhere so that when we share your notes on the Internet readers can plug in directly in the conversation - or just explain in 3 introductory sentences what is OpenRampette and what question is poses. " 5,17069,2017-06-05T20:27:10.000Z,14239,anon3341622463,anon1491650132,"it happens in the hybrid space... @anon What i'm understanding is that is not a matter where it happens, but that it may happen. Those are events useful to tune a heuristic model. People use the web, come to the meetings, post a comment... The matter is about having a representation and a plan of the event strong enough to let the input in from participants. I will follow your suggestions. Thank you " 1,6379,2017-06-03T08:37:46.000Z,6379,anon2696739629,anon2696739629,"Hi all, yesterday (2nd of June) I had a Google Hangout with Noel Carrascal on designing the insulin construct. Relevant to @anon Post-translational insulin consists of two chains (A and B) that are bonded through disulfide bonds. In humans this is obtained through post-translational modification of a single peptide chain. Such machinery is not available in an E. coli host. Noel is studying how to design the construct for insulin such that a the two parts can reliably find each other.   His design is based on the strong affinity between barnase and barstar. Barnase (resp. barstar) are connected to one of the insulin chains using a linker. When the barnase-barstar complex is formed, insulin should form by proximity. This also circumvents the risk of the formation of two chains of the same kind bonding (A-A or B-B).   Such insuline-barnase-barnstar complexes should aggregate into a large complex of many such molecules, from which pure, functional insulin can easily be cleaved. Admittedly, I did not follow this 100%.    The challenge here is to design such linker as such the complex can be formed. To this end, Noel writes his own software to do mechanistic molecular modelling. He computes all the molecular (polar, Vanderwaals, …) interactions between amino acids to finally obtain the stability of a complex. For a given linker, this is represented by a set of (sparse) matrixes quantifying the strength of the interactions between the amino acids.   This is the point where machine learning comes into play:
    • Using a set of example matrices, predict the matrices for new AA chains
    • Perhaps use the information to directly build a model to predict stability of a given linker? The mechanistic information should somehow be used to improve the model (i.e. Vapnik’s learning with privileged information)
    • Given a model, optimize the linker (SA, GA…)
    • Bayesian optimization to search for promising under model uncertainty?
    Michiel out! " 2,6920,2017-06-05T19:16:00.000Z,6379,anon2954219769,anon2696739629,"Did I understand? Hi @anon Let me rephrase this to see if I understood correctly: your work with machine learning uses the output of Noel's computational work (matrices) as input, and when you have sufficient data, you can 'shortcut' the work by using those matrices directly to generate new matrices. In essence, automating, optimising and speeding up the modelling that he does now. Am I in the ball park? Did you make any plans for what's next? PS tagging someone fails sometimes when there is no space behind the tag. Like this it works @anon " 1,6383,2017-06-05T12:30:19.000Z,6383,anon1626956627,anon1626956627,"Tell us what you are doing to get \#openvillage tickets, fellowships and more!
    ""Reagent is a term used in chemistry to describe a process in which one determines a presence of a substance by sparking a chemical reaction with it."" 
    Edgeryder member Winnie Poncelet is working at Reagent Lab, an open space designed to spark interest in the sciences, and doing so by the intersection of biology and open source technology. Reagent aims to replace outdated methods of teaching biology with a renewed focus on develoanon3606750899g sustainable solutions for the future using accessible and open scientific methods and technology. Reagent offers paid and free programs, with the former as well as memberships used to sponsor free applicants coming from underprivileged backgrounds. 
    ""Places like ReaGent spark creativity in sciences by working in an accessible, open and flexible manner. Their mission now is to give access to this type of education to the whole of Flanders, and extend their network by inviting for example designers to come and create biodegradable materials.""
    Reagent is currently working on the Open Insulin project, a collective open source project to research less expensive ways of making insulin, which you can read more about here. You can follow all their other projects at reagentlab.org

    OpenVillage Festival (Oct 19th - 21st)

    As part of our preparations for the OpenVillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem. By October 19th to the 21st we aim to:
    • Engage existing initiatives in telling about the practical challenges they are facing
    • Validate them through open discussion, both online and offline, to understand the full scope of how alternative care systems are coanon3606750899g with the needs of citizens living the very effects of bad climates or policies
    • Demonstrate / Exhibit projects and concepts in a format immediately useful to practitioners, economists, policymakers and any interested parties working on similar grounds.

    How you can contribute

    • Explore the stories that others have shared and leave thoughtful comments.
    • Tell us about your own care-related experiences and projects. Where are some things you have tried to do in the past, what are you doing now.
    • Build a proposal for a demo session / exhibition at OpenVillage. You will deliver a practical, hands-on showcase of a project connected to migrant care. Tell us what support do you need to make it happen
    • Open a new document and write down what you are doing or have learned. Don’t worry about getting it “right” in any way - this is a no judgement space. When ready, login to edgeryders.eu and upload your contribution through the “add my story” button.
    Good For You When you post you will get a ticket to OpenVillage: Meet the OpenCarers. When you post you become eligible for the Open Fellowship. Good For Everyone Your input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century. " 1,548,2016-10-11T11:51:58.000Z,548,anon4098712251,anon4098712251,"Where do young people go to when they grief? Do they cry alone in their bedrooms? Do they logon to the internet? How do young people in grief find each other? Do they phone a friend? Do they enter a counselling centre? Do they search through hashtags and websites? Death has never been more public than in the age of the internet. Alongside anon3003844599s of \#RIP[insertcelebrity] tributes and \#[nameofvictim] police shooting activism proliferating on social media are viral posts of everyday people approaching grief and documenting their experience on the internet: recounting a person’s final days, parting words and gratitude from the deathbed, captures of assisted suicide and “right to die parties”, and families commemorating the deceased. These experiences of death and loss have been augmented and prolonged with the growth of social media use. More specifically, the ways in which a social media platform is structured and the dominant culture of its users has allowed people in grief to process their loss in innovative ways – new spaces of affect are created, new paranon3760936673guage vocabularies are innovated, and new transient networks of care are formulated. Research has emerged in various disciplines focusing on internet memorial pages (in which the deceased and/or their funeral is commemorated on a public page), digital altars and graves (in which the living pay respects to the dead via technological mediations), afterlife digital estate management (in which the transfer and privacy of internet artifacts belonging to the deceased are negotiated), and even RIP trolling (in which trolls hijack Facebook memorial pages with abusive content). There is even an academic journal and a handful of institutes dedicated to “Death Studies”. For instance, monuments.com enables clients to personalize cemetery headstones with a QR code. By scanning the QR code with a smartphone, users are led to an interactive website where they may upload images and text of well wishes to the deceased and their family, or contribute to building their family heritage through stories or family trees. Users are also able to re-share their post on more mainstream social media. As an anthropologist and ethnographer of digital culture, I have a comprehensive understanding of such practices. But when my younger sister passed away earlier this year, the ways in which her friends expressed and managed their grief in digital spaces led me to discover a rich repertoire of coanon3606750899g mechanisms, exchange of affect, and mutual aftercare in a vernacular created by young people who grew up with the internet - these really moved my heart and encouraged me to examine young people and grief in digital spaces. But just what is mutual aftercare? Often after a global grieving event such as large-scale natural disasters or spates of violence, strangers would gather in public spaces that transform into transient sites of solidarity. With candles, flowers, and written tributes in tow, strangers come together to process their grief, share their grief, and lend support to those in grief. Bodies who are not familiar with each other are motivated by the immediate, tangible, and tactile presence of other bodies in an enclosed space to disperse emotions they would usually restraint, and dispense care they would usually withhold when the group’s motivations are briefly aligned. Sociologist Emile Durkheim refers to this as “collective effervescence”. This is ‘aftercare’, or the care one offers to others after a hurtful experience. When people come together to publicly acknowledge their pain and simultaneously offer care and concern to fellow others in pain, this becomes a network of ‘mutual aftercare’. Young people seem to be doing similar things in digital spaces, and I wanted to find out how. * Being a young person in my mid-twenties for whom the internet and social media is second nature, I seamlessly took to my blog to make sense of my grief and loss. I wrote about my experiences of “holding space” for my sister in her final days (see also Heather Plett), and about learning to declutter physical artifacts despite my abstract emotional attachment to these things. I also wrote about how I felt when Facebook friends began “deep-liking” my old posts on grief and how it impeded my progress and recovery. As much as I felt hurt and disappointed by these peers, I could not justify my anger knowing that digital etiquette is not universal – knowing how to approach someone in grief on social media or how to express grief on social media is not actually “common sense”. Digital etiquette varies across personal beliefs and cultural norms, and is highly dependent on the context of interpersonal relationships and the norms of a social media platform. In other words, digital etiquette surrounding grief has to be taught, learnt, and practiced. I was both a young person managing grief in digital spaces and an ethnographer invested in understanding everyday practices through intimate anthropological inquiry. To do this, I conducted personal interviews with young people who self-reported using digital media (i.e. the internet, social media, devices and artifacts, non-analogue spaces) to manage their grief. I started with friends in my sister’s social groups, made open calls to undergraduates in local universities, and amassed informants via snowball sampling. I wanted to understand what young people did on the internet to recover and how this differed from analogue coanon3606750899g mechanisms pre-social media. I wanted to learn how they constructed solidarity, conveyed empathy, and maintained networks of mutual aftercare. Some also showed me their smartphone apps so that I could study how they crafted content, ranging from emotive Instagram captions of meaningful photographs to extensive digital catalogues of every tactile item the deceased has ever touched. I learnt that a vocabulary of grief was quietly emerging among young people. For instance, emoji and emoticons were especially significant as a paranon3760936673guage. Some reported that “when words fail”, or when they “had no strength” to craft responses back to friends who had sent them condolences, they would mobilize emoji or emoticons to acknowledge receipt, demonstrate reciprocity, or express gratitude. One person who had lost his father to a critical illness said that while “the adults” in his family did not seem to articulate their grief and loss to each other (“they strictly never said anything about it in the house”), those in his generation such as his cousins took to Facebook to comfort each other via status updates and follow-up comments. Another young person began a groupchat on the messaging app WhatsApp and recruited friends of the deceased from all walks of life into the chat. They used the groupchat as a semi-private outlet to share their thoughts without having to worry about self-censorship – many of them felt Facebook was “too public”, that email was “too impersonal”, and that meeting in person was “too soon”, “too painful”, or “too awkward”. As such, the space of a groupchat accorded them the freedom to process grief more transparently among empathetic others in a safe space; the groupchat became a space of mutual aftercare. * The need to understand young people’s grief in digital spaces became clearer to me as I began consulting and conversing with healthcare professionals in palliative care. One hospice nurse expressed that as a patient approaches their end of life, most family members would single-heartedly focus all their effort and affect on that one person. Upon the death of their loved one, many people are suddenly hit with grief all at once and are unable to transit into care for each other, or “care for the living”. In other words, despite social workers and counsellors preaching the value of “care chains”, many people who are deep in grief simply do not have the mental capacity and physical resources to plan for self-care or mutual aftercare. Another doctor reported seeing an increasing number of young patients in their late teens or early-to-mid twenties. Sorrowfully recounting a memorable incident in which her young patient instructed her to post a specifically-worded status update on his Facebook after death, she came to realize that young people deeply valued their digital estates as platforms to communicate gratitude and farewells even on their deathbed. In a handful of other instances, young patients requested for their doctors and counsellors to add them on Facebook or to read their blog in order to access sentiment they felt incapable of articulating in person, in physical spaces, via traditional media Despite the very crucial work that such palliative staff engage in, much of this work is negotiated ad hoc on-the-go as they “play by ear”. Most staff do “what feels right” based on their individual relationships with their patients, or on their personal concepts of etiquette and ethics. In other words, once we have a better understanding of how young people grief in digital spaces, palliative healthcare workers can be equipped to guide their young patients and clients using their preferred coanon3606750899g mechanisms, devices, and vocabulary. To a generation for whom death and grief are increasingly public spectacles, such care will be crucial to preserving the mental well being of cohorts to come. * Have you ever commemorated the death of a loved one in digital spaces? What did you do? How did others respond to you? Whenever you witness someone sharing their grief on social media, how do you feel? Does it motivate you to respond to the person in particular ways? How can we use social media more conscientiously so as to create spaces for mutual aftercare? What can we do for each other in digital spaces whenever a global grieving event occurs? We would love to hear from you. * This article was written by Dr Crystal Abidin for OpenCare Research, Edgeryders. Crystal can be contacted at anon4098712251.com. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016." 2,8509,2016-10-12T10:19:00.000Z,548,anon70625510,anon4098712251,"Cousin Hi Crystal. I am sorry for your loss. This is a difficult topic to write about and not sure how to go about it. But I'll just go ahead and try. Reposting your questions here with an attempt at answering them below:
    • Have you ever commemorated the death of a loved one in digital spaces? What did you do? How did others respond to you?
    • Whenever you witness someone sharing their grief on social media, how do you feel? Does it motivate you to respond to the person in particular ways?
    • How can we use social media more conscientiously so as to create spaces for mutual aftercare? What can we do for each other in digital spaces whenever a global grieving event occurs?
    Four years ago a favourite cousin died in a car accident. Her facebook page is still up and people use it as a memorial site. Sometimes her icon pops up unexpectedly in my feeds and it floors me everytime. I couldn't go to the funeral: it still feels surreal, like she might show up at any time, and the ""active"" facebook account isn't helanon3606750899g. I am a private person- If and when I do post about anything it is with a lot of consideration. I rarely post about someone while they are alive if it is not to share something they themselves intended for public consumption. Posting about someone else's death feels like a violation of their agency and privacy. They can no longer have agency over the narrative spun about them and it somehow adds insult to the injury for me. When I witness others sharing their grief I usually get in touch via a PM. Asking how they are and offering a shoulder to cry on if they need it. Commenting feels to exposed, like participating in a spectacle orchestrated by FB. Did you ever watch ""We Live in Public""? I did many years ago and it has definitely shaped how I feel about social media. Using Social Media more conscienscously....mmm I don't know. What immediately comes to mind is that the business models of commercial social media platforms is advertising based ""fast"" media. I ask myself what effect this has on the dynamics of grief, which are slow and somehow not very condusive to selling anything - except for membership in cults or possibly self-help literature. In my parents cultures grief is a shared experience, there are a lot of social rituals for processing it have written about it in Life and Death at the UnMonastery. I recently came across something called Sunday Assembly. They have set up a secular equivalent to the sunday sermons at church to address the lack of spaces for social communion and other rituals which are key to cementing strong communities. Somehow I feel social media can be used to grow these kinds of movements and to connect a critical mass of people to them. So that when grief strikes, the individual is embedded in a nurturing local community that can help them heal. My two cents.. I don't know if it relevant to your work " 3,11904,2016-10-17T04:36:00.000Z,8509,anon4098712251,anon70625510,"Hi Nadia, Hi @anon Thanks for your thoughts. I'm sorry to hear about your cousin and share in your experience that these fleeting witnessing of the social media profiles of the dead are a jarring juxtaposition that solicits the grieving process all over again. Yet, many of the young people I interviewed expressed that this presence brought them comfort and helped in their recovery, because the memory of their loved one is permanently embedded into their social media networks and uses, and the digital footprints they share can be achived and memoralized on the digital platform of social media (they pay less attention to the public nature of some of these platforms). Memorialization of the dead for the dead who can no longer speak for themselves is indeed tricky. I think there is an implicit hierarchy of grief and proximity among the loved ones of the deceased that influencers who gets to have a say. I personally feel a little put-off when folks of super-distant, loosely aggregated, weak social ties excessively express their grief over my sister, especially when some folks start comparing the authenticity and intensity of their grief. But I remind myself that it is not in my place to police how people grief, because we all cope in ways that help us. So I end up putting aside some of these negative feelings, and reach out to those in the 'inner social circle' for mutual aftercare.  " 4,12425,2016-10-28T17:47:52.000Z,11904,anon1491650132,anon4098712251,"A way of caring for those remaining..? I have one such example and it seems that the more distant relatives or friends posting are trying to support those closest ""in rank"", albeit from afar. It's almost as if trying to show that they care, maanon1932026148 for the same reason @anon ""(Mutual) aftercare"" is an interesting word I will remember, thank you for introducing it. " 5,15488,2016-10-12T13:49:49.000Z,548,anon70625510,anon4098712251,"Also came across this story which miht interest you http://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot " 6,20691,2016-10-12T18:19:09.000Z,548,anon1526983854,anon4098712251,"I had no idea Wow, @anon4098712251 . This is a beautiful, well researched post.  I am definitely not young anymore, and I guess I am still moving within the paradigm of ""mourn, then move on"". Actually, my understanding is that you mourn exactly to make peace with your loss, so that everybody can move on. People in my circles keep memories and memento of those who passed away, but they do not want them to be too interactive. This is why the famous Black Mirror episode about digital afterlife was so disturbing. The protagonist was flailing about, unable to move on, as the AI occasionally manages to make a convincing simulation of her dead husband. Convincing, that is, to her: we, the spectators, are not fooled. We shake our heads as she holds on to the simulacrum. We see her doing almost all the cognitive work to build the illusion of an ongoing relationship.  This is a well known bug in our cognition: we antropomorphize. In computer science, this was first exploited by the famous ELIZA program in 1966. psychological research around it established that  ""[...] even if fully aware that they are talking to a simple computer program, people will nonetheless treat it as if it were a real, thinking being that cared about their problems."" – source I had a friend who was very active on social media – in fact one of its early users, and author of a 2003 book thereabout. When he passed, I unfollowed his accounts. The last thing I want is a digital ghost haunting my feeds.  " 7,22330,2017-06-05T10:22:49.000Z,20691,anon4098712251,anon1526983854,"Hi @anon I responsed to some of these in my reply to Patrick below. I think the key distinction between the infamous Black Mirror episode and other forms of memorialization is the conflation of representation of a person with the actual person. When we mourn through artifacts and practices, we remember selective attributes of the dead and memoralize the things significant to us. But we seek not to replicate, copy, reduplicate these sensations and connections. They are nostalgia rather than replication, which is probably why concept behind the BM episode was so arresting - it sought to replace the dead rather than remember him.  " 8,24145,2016-10-13T22:23:27.000Z,548,anon3895445472,anon4098712251,"great post @anon4098712251 Thanks for this. I suffered a loss many years ago and couldn't understand the reaction of the people around me. It was if they allowed me a month or two to ""get over it"" and then I was expected to move on. Some good friends couldn't bring themselves to mention the dead person's name or admit she ever existed - as if it would be too painful. Yet I wanted to talk, and talk about her. But I got the message and shut up too, to everyone's relief it seemed. I remember crying in front of my brother a few months later and he didn't know how to cope. But he hadn't been taught that expressing emotions is normal and human. I would be delighted if the coming of the digital age can have a positive impact in tis respect, enabling people to express their grief, and their concern for the grieving, more boldly and freely.  " 9,25204,2016-10-17T04:46:03.000Z,24145,anon4098712251,anon3895445472,"Hi Patrick, Hi @anon I echo your sentiments and feel that grieving does not have to be temporal. We tend to associate a negative connotation with grief - that the griever ""has not moved on"", is ""affecting others"", is ""bothersome"" - that moralizes the different beliefs and practices people have about the dead. In some cultures, the dead are permanently embedded into the daily lives of the living, such as when Taoists pray to their ancestors via altars, or when the Japanese pay respects to their dead in mediated ways through digital budisan on apps and websites. For some cultures/some of us, these everyday integrations bring comfort and recovery more than any prescribed grieving period will, and digital media are certainly helanon3606750899g to normalize these options. " 10,26051,2016-10-17T08:57:13.000Z,548,anon70625510,anon4098712251,"What could space for this kind of ""meta"" conversation look like? It's such an important topic in contemporary life which has ties to so many other domains of life, and politics. I find that a reflective conversation with some kind of ""distance"" such as this one helpful for handling the feelings. And for sensitising others/ building literacy around how to help/support the grieving process. Somehow this is being built around mental health especially depression. Grief? Not yet... " 11,27820,2016-11-03T10:28:38.000Z,548,anon1526983854,anon4098712251,"Wondering... ... if @anon1932026148 has found evidence of ""digital grieving"" in her work on trauma. Might this be a tool? Where the Trauma Tour is going there is going to be a lot of grieving...  @anon4098712251 " 12,29079,2016-11-03T12:33:54.000Z,548,anon1932026148,anon4098712251,"definitively I often recommend digital grieving. I kknow a number of sites that 'help' people grieving by providing nformation, testimonials, sharing stories, proposing  exercices or rituals,... I think it is a great tool, especially for youngsters - since 'being online' is almost natural to them. Also, for persons with few ressources, who feel very lonely, the internet, 'a digital community' is often their only link to the outside world. And their very first attempts in meeting and going into this outside world.   " 13,29963,2017-05-04T10:07:49.000Z,548,anon3581542807,anon4098712251,"Amazing post... There is always light somewhere.. and light comes in through the places where scars used to be.. " 1,851,2017-05-30T14:34:53.000Z,851,anon214847711,anon214847711,"Ciao Edgeryders, Il progetto open rampette è adesso più che mai in rampa di lancio! Avremmo bisogno di un piccolo contributo dalla community! [b]Premessa:[/b] L’incontro dell’11 maggio, di cui trovate report [qui](/t/open-rampette-la-chiamata-incontro-11-05-lastecca3-0/809), è stato molto interessante e ci ha permesso di costruire una buona mappatura dell’esperienza del Dioniso e Minerva che si trovano a confrontarsi quotidianamente con le problematiche dell’accessibilità degli spazi pubblici. [b]Scopo del post:[/b] Per raccogliere ulteriori osservazioni e considerazioni relative all'esperienza di utilizzo della rampetta temporanea e del relativo campanello di chiamata, abbiamo preparato un questionario sulla base della traccia delle domande utilizzate durante l’incontro dell’11 aprile. Nello specifico vogliamo approfondire il punto di vista di Dioniso ([leggi la storia di Dioniso](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2hvchbsK99qZlZROVZUUGJIREE/view)), colui che vuole accedere ad un esercizio commerciale ma è impossibilitato da un ostacolo di tipo fisico (ad esempio lo scalino dei negozi che impedisce l'accesso a persone in carrozzina, con mobilità limitata, ecc.). [b]Come puoi aiutarci:[/b] Ti sei mai trovato nei panni di Dioniso? Come ti sei comportato? Raccontaci la tua esperienza compilando il form [qui](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSzTGHEtvYeowGEF9O2-lyTEVXM9Dy0gwJcVMlQsZMiWPm_A/viewform) e/o condividi il questionario nel tuo network. Link: [https://goo.gl/forms/ob7SBC5Om4VAHXLH2](https://goo.gl/forms/ob7SBC5Om4VAHXLH2) [b]Prossimi passi:[/b] Le storie e i dati che raccoglieremo saranno alla base della progettazione che verrà portata avanti nelle prossime settimane." 2,6793,2017-06-05T09:08:08.000Z,851,anon3341622463,anon214847711,"FYI @anon @anon " 1,854,2017-05-30T18:17:44.000Z,854,anon1979688579,anon1979688579,"Respected, It is my pleasure to introduce myself. Unique experiment of nature, kind, sweet, cheerful, positive, charismatic, did I mention good looking? I have a couple of certificates……and so on… curious and creative, eager to learn, to travel, have fun…   I live in Serbia, the Balkans, reason enough to be interested in current events in the world and region. Turbulent past, dynamic present and an uncertain future, burdensome by intolerance and conflicts in the region, which I personally found not only unnecessary but also totally crazy, because we all have the same desires and dreams, to live freely, love unconditionally, have fun, learn, be independent, travel, have amazing adventures, the best parties …. without regard to national and religious affiliation, skin color, eye color… there are too many prejudice, inequality, unprotected and vulnerable people, there is gender inequality, intolerance, social injustice, poverty, hunger, disease, non-existent or inadequate health care, problems of refugees, racism…. I do not know why and I`m trying to understand. Injustice affects me terribly. We learn history in order to avoid the mistakes which were made and were pretty catastrophic, and to me it seems like we constantly repeat the same errors. I have learned not to judge in advance, that all deserve respect, a smile, a kind word, that the mind is like a parachute works only if it is open, that in the period of globalization, IT progress, revolutionary discoveries, scientific achievements, robotics, nanotechnology … we must not think about limits, all barriers and borders exists  only in our heads., I perfectly understand what it means conflict, and detest it, I hate arguing, hate conflicts. I watch the news, read a newspaper and follow social networks and  I can say there is too much violence, too much suffering, too much of everything negative, the constant threat of war, terrorism…just too much. I want a better world, a better society, a better life for all, it is important to take care of others, to be open-minded. I want more, I need more, no one should be afraid for ones lives, children must not be hungry, barefoot, on the streets, women must not be abused, people should not be expelled from their homes, the world gone crazy and we desperately need all people of good will who want and have the knowledge and strength to fight, not only to philosophize and criticize, but also commit to work, to improve our society, day after day, devotedly… They tell us that as individuals we can`t do anything, at least anything important, that we are still small, young and inexperienced, but adults forget, and sometimes reduces our value, ignored it, forget it under the weight of today circumstances. We are thirsty for knowledge and education, we might be weak, but snowflakes are gentle and weak until they connect, then they become strong. We need to connect, as snowflakes, the youth of the region and the world, only united we can be strong, important, perhaps adults hear us and listen. When children quarrel, they quickly reconcile because it`s not important to be right, but to be happy. We should accept that we do not have to agree on everything, sometimes can agree to disagree, but we have to respects others' way of life, other people's oanon3606750899ion, that we can discuss about everything, not argue, talking in order to generate ideas, information, positive energy.. To find the solution for all problems and dilemmas, make projects, succeed. Somehow it feels despair and uncertainty it should not be so, we are young, we have desire and we can change everything that we do not like. It is essential to connect, and I read that nothing brings people together as well as living a happy accident, if it is true, We, all  in this region, the Balkans, we have more opportunities to be close, strong and organized than anyone else in the world, everything we've been through good and bad, sometimes on opposite sides, unfortunately, but we survived, war and killing, and we must never repeat it, we also  sang and celebrated and rejoice together, it was perhaps more sadness and unhapanon3606750899ess, but if there is justice in life, in future we should have only lucky days, hapanon3606750899ess. Good neighborly relations like friendship and trust builds, slowly and gradually, all that is good and valuable in life, takes time. First we need to forgive. Forgiveness is possible only with understanding, that is why this camp is super idea, to understand together what had happened, impartial, draw lessons from history, in order to continue, this time better, smarter. The goal is to make the world a better and more humane place, sustainable, use space in the best possible way, with full respect of nature and population needs, because that's the point of studying, find the best way to reconcile nature and society to meet human needs, give vision of the future, the objectives of the future development. Everything is connected and the problems must be considered as a system, If one part of the system does not work properly, it reflects on other parts of the system. " 4,21281,2017-05-31T15:24:21.000Z,854,anon1491650132,anon1979688579,"Happy to meet you. What you are currently working on? Hi Ola @anon I'm Noemi, one of the veteran edgeryders community members here on the platform, and curious to see what keeps you busy in your daily lives: what you studied or what projects you are involved in.. It would be great if each of you:  1) adds a little background in your stories and 2) updates your user profile: to do this, go to https://edgeryders.eu/en/user and click on ""Edit Profile"" tab to add text. Here is an example of the kind of info useful for others to be able to connect with you. " 6,22743,2017-06-03T06:57:52.000Z,22417,anon1491650132,,"Really makes a difference! Wow, much more informative @anon " 1,715,2016-08-09T21:14:46.000Z,715,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Reagent is a term used in chemistry to describe a process in which one determines a presence of a substance by sparking a chemical reaction with it. In Ghent, ReaGent is a space opened by enthusiasts of bioengineering in order to spark interest and passion for natural sciences among the citizens of the city. And to prove that the increasing know-how will play a huge role in innovation and future of technology, also with a local focus. People are more and more aware that biology will shape future technology, by improving its performance and making it more sustainable. Yet both researchers and students lack access to knowledge about it - especially in a form of a laboratory, where everyone is free to experiment, try, learn, exchange and meet. Biology education is becoming outdated and we need students able to design the sustainable solutions of the future. The situation has been changing in the past years across Europe - many graduates, biology enthusiasts, opened biolabs equipped with instruments that they built themselves or that companies were giving away. Surprisingly, it’s a rather common situation - for many of the businesses the costs of maintenance or even disposal of these sophisticated machines is higher than just giving them away to whomever would be interested to use it. I have been involved in ReaGent since over a year. The space offers both paid and unpaid access and program - the privileged ones fund this way free classes for poorer children. Part of the funding comes also from the memberships, which guarantee access to the lab 2 days a week. Places like ReaGent spark creativity in sciences by working in an accessible, open and flexible manner. Their mission now is to give access to this type of education to the whole of Flanders, and extend their network by inviting for example designers to come and create biodegradable materials. As OPENandchange allied, ReaGent would bring about the same qualities to the application: they would bring scientific education, which in turn would be used in innovation and hacking applicable in care. If you have advice or another project which is relevant, let's discuss it here. A question to get the discussion going: what is the fairest way in the long term to fund education outside of, but as an addition to, the traditional state-funded system - from who and how? http://reagentlab.org/ " 2,7618,2016-08-09T22:44:50.000Z,715,anon477123739,anon2954219769,"A great idea Thank you Winnie for sharing this with us. This sounds like a brilliant project, and a great use of resources that would otherwise be wasted. I'm not sure that i know the answer to your questions? But perhaps you would like to make contact with @anon " 3,11069,2016-08-10T07:05:02.000Z,7618,anon2954219769,anon477123739,"Thank you Alex. It is funny how you meet the same people in different places. I'm working together with Merel on a P2P initiative to let people grow edible insects at home, as a form of urban farming and food autonomy. How did you come into contact with him?" 4,14767,2016-08-10T06:26:55.000Z,715,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Partnership with schools? Hi @anon To your question, I dont know much about business models but I'm wondering if you can finance at least part of the work through collaborations with schools where you provide a curricula and a new kind of classroom, and the school covers tutors salaries and some materials. Maanon1932026148 you're doing this already?  " 5,17283,2016-08-10T07:11:56.000Z,14767,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Morning laugh Hi Noemi, thanks for that video. The instant sound of kombucha slime landing on that table blasting through my speakers made me laugh out loud during my morning coffee. An example of a workshop is a DNA Cluedo (or Clue?) game where children in group have to solve a murder using biochemical and forensic techniques. We haven't crossed any language borders yet, but hopefully we will in the future :). We're now going to start testing out in what way we can work together with schools. So far it seems like they have very limited means. We will try and make it work regardless, the way you mention might work. Thanks for the tips :)" 6,18286,2016-08-10T10:58:07.000Z,17283,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Not clients, partners In most of Europe schools have no money (I do not know the situation in Flanders). But they make great partners. In Italy, we have a legislation (and, by now, a tradition) of local businesses supporting extracurricular activities in schools. Good school principals build a network of local businesses they work with. So, it could work like this: you involve a school, then – together with the school principal – you target local businesses to support the activity.  Anyway, @anon " 7,18667,2016-08-11T13:46:47.000Z,18286,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Great input Thank you @anon If you're ever around again, let us know and we'll gladly show you around :). Will you be there in Brussels for the workshop in September? " 8,18832,2016-08-11T16:23:01.000Z,18667,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Yes on both counts @anon " 9,18917,2016-08-17T08:26:15.000Z,18832,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"For school collaborations parents make for a great ally. @anon My mom is a computer science teacher. She is organising tech contests and involves IT companies who are very much on the lookout for future hires. They not only sponsor by providing the prizes, but also come and become juries in the contests, and enjoy meeting bright young people. True, they are true moneybags, but thriving businesses are probably not a rarity. Also, the Education Ministry has passed a provision saying that a week every year in spring all schools have the opportunity to insert more creative and unconventional programming in their schedule: ""Different School"" is called - completely decentralized, so teachers themselves select and organise activities for their pupils - including taking them outside school. Have you met @anon " 10,18946,2016-08-19T07:21:01.000Z,18917,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Inspiring Thank you for sharing Noemi, that's also quite an interesting approach. Biotech is still in the early stage, but it should be possible. What I am especially curious about is how we can cooperate with different actors on the controversial issues, like GMO. We don't pick any side, because we don't think there should be polarized sides: we want to tell a nuanced story, which is the hardest task of all. But as soon as you involve big biotech, concerned citizens might drop out and self-censor. The same could happen vice versa. Perhaps it is ideal to steer clear of the subject for a while, there are so many other interesting things to talk about anyway. I've not met @anon " 11,18966,2017-05-31T11:54:01.000Z,18917,anon3112530648,anon1491650132,"Biohacking in Italy Hello @anon @anon Here you find part of the documents https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3a6iTS9jqfCY242M0g2VUp4QUU/view?usp=sharing (if you want I can share the rest)  In general, I think biohacking have an enormous potential, for educational purpose, it's already very valid. I think the movement should be ready to take action to make aware of what could happen in few decades/years with genome editing and aging, etc. , that could be some unprecedented achievement but the risks that they could bridge economic inequality to biological inequality. I focussed on agriculture, I have created a project (never realized) that was called Openphenotyanon3606750899g, it was about democratic plant phenotyanon3606750899g ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Phenotyanon3606750899g ) and it aimed to give the power of biotechnology to small farmers' cooperatives to maintain and exalt biodiversity, also,  through genetic modification. The idea about Openphenotyanon3606750899g it was based on the fact that genome data became cheap to get, while phenotypic data represent one of the main barriers to research.  The fact that Phenotyanon3606750899g is relatively simple could lead to a competitive advantage for bottom-up initiatives against big corporations, and more in general, could allow the involvement of a much wider group of people in research processes and their benefit. I never had the chance to realize the initiative, but I will be very glad to know more if there are similar actions taking off or another project that tries to tackle some major problems related to ""traditional"" biotech. " 12,18968,2017-05-30T21:48:20.000Z,18966,anon1491650132,anon3112530648,"Which connections in Italy? Hey @anon " 13,18970,2017-05-31T13:38:09.000Z,18968,anon3112530648,anon1491650132,"P.making Hello @anon I updated the link. The proposal wasn't take in consideration and the Ministry started a plan focussed on Fablab-like labs (Laboratori Territoriali and Atelier Creativi). Eugenio now is focussed in Platforms http://platformdesigntoolkit.com/ , but I can contact him or other people from the Hackteria network. For individuals involved in policy making, I don't know.. but I will be at the ASEF summit https://goo.gl/z9WzMD and I have the chance to present proposals both for sharing economy and for education/c.science. There'll be lots of important policy makers (several Ministers of Finance from Asia and Europe, etc. With the right preparation, we could try to invite someone at Open Village through ASEF. Count on me for this thematics; I will help if I can. " 14,18972,2017-06-01T16:45:02.000Z,18970,anon2954219769,anon3112530648,"Super interesting! Super interesting Damiano. We wrote a proposal for the same thing in December: install a DIYbio lab in a high school. We had a nice consortium of partners, but sadly it did not go through. I'd be very interested in reading the rest of the documents. I did my thesis on correlations between phenotype characteristics and seed yield (+ genetic diversity) in red clover. I know first hand the horrors of measuring the size of 10.000 tiny flowers, tagging genetic barcodes and the weeks of zombie computer work this brings. Luckily, research institutions have students and interns to do this stuff ;-). You make a very valid point: phenotypic research can benefit a lot from citizen science. " 15,20249,2016-08-10T09:37:47.000Z,715,anon2590712900,anon2954219769,"Great to see you made your way to Edgeryders @anon I am indeed working with Winnie and a few others on an P2P initiative to let people grow edible insects at home. I saw the project as a slow burner. It is hard to bring the P2P approach to the public and it's a constant experiment to find the right approach to get is going. For me and the others, the project is going down on the priority ladder of all our activities..." 16,24301,2017-05-30T14:31:26.000Z,715,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Update I thought I'd write a small update. In September 2016, we have launched a new nonprofit for education called Ekoli. Reasons for putting our educational activities in a new entity were better communication and keeanon3606750899g the biohacking legally seperate (translates into admin & cost advantages). In retrospect, it was also good to assemble a new team around a new common goal. This fresh wind pushed us to where we are now, having reached hundreds of underpriviledged children & school children and poised to grow a lot in the new school year after the summer.  Downsides so far have been extra overhead (two administrations) and spreading the core team's (those involved with both Ekoli and ReaGent)  time too thinly. Generally it was a good decision though. " 17,26027,2017-05-30T23:13:06.000Z,715,anon1883627246,anon2954219769,"Amazing Dear, its utmost need of this said topic,  Best wishes ..... " 1,848,2017-05-22T22:18:14.000Z,848,anon4132325713,anon4132325713,"

                                         #PlantAtreeChallengeBD – Iffat-E-Faria

     
    On September 8th 2016, I have initiated an online campaign called  #PlantAtreeChallengeBD” The reason behind this was very simple. A country like Bangladesh, which is constantly facing threats of so many kinds of natural disaster, is being increasingly ignorant about its natural conservation. This country has only 17% of forests within. This by the way is getting narrower. Even the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans, which is an internationally recognized world heritage site, is also facing terrible manmade disasters and constant environmental pollutions. It has reached such a zenith, that the global-ecosystem is threatened with the loss of a majority of all species, by the end of this century. Everyone knows, but some chose to ignore it, some choose to remain silent about it. But I thought the simplest solution to address this problem is just plant more trees. It’s a simple yet most productive solution to involve the youth, who first of all should be concerned about it; secondly should take initiatives to mitigate this problem. The idea to run an online campaign came to me due to the massive participation of youth in social media. My goals were very simple, engaging the youth to talk about the problem or at least make them realize how important it is to address the issue. Secondly, mobilize my community to take an initiative in real space so that they feel the necessity to do something about this particular problem. Along with few friends, I started inviting people over facebook to join the event. All they had to do is plant 5 trees and nominate 5 other friends on facebook to replicate the same. This way it will work like a chain reaction and we will be able to see a huge number of trees getting planted in a short period of time. The campaign is still going on and more people are joining. I know it has not gone viral and the number is not that high. Because in reality if you want to mobilize your community for a good cause, you have to ensure some motivations for them. Social norms are something that people tend to follow. Online campaign is there to help create a buzz, to create an objective. Which means if someone can bring out the movement from online space to offline, it moves faster and better. This is exactly why I have planned to run this campaign both online and offline. Primarily I even offered few things extra to carry on with the campaign. Since I am an online based entrepreneur and I have a client tale which is 3 years old, we kind of have a personal trust relationship with each  other. So I personally offered my clients, I'll plant trees on behalf of them for every sell worth $10. To bring the campaign to reality, a part of that plan involves talking to the civil society and involving them. Therefore, we are in touch with mayor’s office to propose an idea to tell the citizens, if they plants 5 trees, they'll get a discount on their TAX. The CEO’s of top notch companies to take part in this initiative where we want them to initiate a tree plantation program as a part of their CSR activities. Encourage their employees to plant trees so that they can get a better record at the end of the year in the ACR. We've asked the Headmasters of local schools to run the campaign along with the students, whoever plants more trees and takes care of them properly, will get an excellence award & certificate from the school. Recently our PM received the award of CHAMPION of the Earth for her outstanding initiative on increasing forests and going green. I am simply trying to follow her path to make a change. Because I believe, OXYGEN is the most needed thing on earth and one can not simply buy a healthy environment with money. It takes proper plan and interest to create a land full of trees and a lot of patient. I got inspired by watching BHUTAN be the very first carbon negative country. There is a chinese proverb saying ' The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. ' So, I believe in trying for a good cause. To save our galaxy. We only have one home, planet earth. You should start too. Because, if not now, when? If not me , who will? " 2,8154,2017-05-23T22:22:07.000Z,848,anon1701267031,anon4132325713,"Hello @anon I wish you all the best in your efforts.     " 3,11325,2017-05-24T10:38:57.000Z,8154,anon4132325713,anon1701267031,"Thank u so much @anon " 4,15576,2017-05-25T13:43:43.000Z,848,anon2373660656,anon4132325713,"Great initiative. Hello Iffat, Being a scientist and environmentalist from Bangladesh myself, I can appreciate the simplicity of your project. There are of course some challenges associated with it. However, it's a great initiative. Well done! " 5,17589,2017-05-25T17:45:10.000Z,15576,anon4132325713,anon2373660656,Thank u so much ! @anon2373660656 why don't you take the challenge and join us too? :) 6,18447,2017-05-30T13:53:33.000Z,17589,anon1491650132,anon4132325713,"Nice: the City and private companies collaborating @anon4132325713 @anon2373660656 hello again and what were the chances of you two meeting here online?! Are you already seeing some positive results with your project Iffat? I especially like the idea of talking to private companies - where I come from in Romania, I have many friends working in corporate environments who would like to volunteer more, or get their colleagues to volunteer more - and they dont have a fun way to do it, together (better than on their own..). Their thinking is: why dont we talk to management to convince them to give us 2 hours once a month to go out on a set cause. A good person to ""make the case"" and convince management in the company is the employee representative - who understands volunteering but also the interests of the company and knows how to frame it. An actual example, a few years ago our city hall gave all the green spaces in the city for ""rental"" to firms willing to maintain them - so the firms took their employees out for planting weekends. After that they get their name on the green space as the ""Carers"" of the space. " 7,18773,2017-06-01T13:14:46.000Z,18447,anon4132325713,anon1491650132,"Hello dear @anon   " 8,21069,2017-05-30T15:34:20.000Z,848,anon3112530648,anon4132325713,"Green Up Hello @anon4132325713, it's hard to create a viral campaign that requires even small effort to engage, unfortunately, people are really lazy. You might want to connect with Green-Up-Gambia Green-Up Gambia - Home | Facebook founded by my friend Kemo Fatty. Also, it might be a good idea trying to get in touch with Ecosia.org !" 9,22394,2017-06-01T13:17:19.000Z,21069,anon4132325713,anon3112530648,"@anon Yes I understand, Still I am hopefull because I am getting positive feedbacks. Really? Wonderful! I will check and keep tracks of Kemo from now on and will get in touch with Ecosia.org too. Thanks for suggesting! Have a good day. " 10,24340,2017-05-30T17:16:00.000Z,848,anon2954219769,anon4132325713,"A tree story Hi @anon4132325713. More green, more forests are beneficial to our health in so many ways. Taking joy of caring of them as @anon In Brussels there is a project I met that is offering a tree planting service to stores. The service entails that Creo2 will be the intermediary to invest in a non-profit for eg. every euro spent by a customer. They started with trees a few years ago and now it seems they have gone broader. Five seems to be the magic number, coincidentally I planted five trees myself about 1,5 years ago. Here's the story. The five apple trees were a leftover decor piece from a theatre play, so we saved them. Here's loading them in a cargo bike: The ride was pretty funny, people didn't know what was going on as we were driving a mini-forest through streets and parks. We also found out that the electrical wiring for the trams is not conducive to mobile trees. We planted them at our lab: This month, we have to move our lab since the old building will be erased, probably together with the trees. So we have to save them again. Last month we already saved a small one by taking it to the Edgeryders space in Brussels. @anon Four to go! Any potential hosts around? :-)" 11,25251,2017-06-01T13:25:12.000Z,24340,anon4132325713,anon2954219769,"Dear @anon Thank you for comnmenting here, means a lot. " 12,26066,2017-05-30T21:48:11.000Z,848,anon1883627246,anon4132325713,"Plants for Future Dear @anon4132325713, its very impressive and motivational efforts. All around the world, people are gearing up for earth day. Started in 1970, this designated day of April 22 has become an annual reminder of our responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth. You did excellent and contributed into a healthier Earth in multiple ways with plant a garden, which committed to reduce, reuse and recycle. Good and keep it up...... All the best for your future endeavors Dr. Saeed Ahmad Qaisrani" 13,26970,2017-06-01T13:28:00.000Z,26066,anon4132325713,anon1883627246,"Dr. @anon1883627246, First of all, thank you so much foe finding time to read my story and sharing your thoughts. I do not really know why more people are not being concerned about trees. I just hope and pray it is not too late when they finally realises. Please keep in touch and share the plan with others. TC." 14,33438,2017-06-01T14:38:57.000Z,25251,anon1491650132,anon4132325713,"Preaching to the choir That's a say which points out that the people already active will continue to do this anyway: we are not environmentalists, or have a job to take care of the earth, we do it because we like it, but there's only a few trees we can care for personally. I think projects like yours @anon4132325713 are more important because you systematically convince people who dont normally do this, and have a bigger impact. So more power to you, do keep Edgeryders posted if you are looking for partners or would like to exhibit or demonstrate an action during the OpenVillage festival we are organising in Brussels. Another idea: if you are available, you can organise an OpenVillage in your city at the same time as the event in Brussels - as a partner. So you have international promo throuhg this network, yu can use the name and the communications, and we'll make sure to coordinate to share the learnings from Europe all the way to Bangladesh and the other way around. let me know.." 1,6325,2017-05-15T14:32:17.000Z,6325,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Got some news that CCL is ready to ship us the plasmids within the week, and maanon1932026148 the organisms. @anon1746600840 has been looking up the stuff for growing up the organisms if they come as a culture. Now there's also the possibility that we'll start from the plasmids, so we should prepare for that as well. Within the week means I'll be out of action due to medical reasons. We can use this as a strength as I'll be home all day for sure to receive the samples ;-) . Is anyone up for leading the first rounds of lab work to get going with the plasmids/cultures? We can use this thread to further coordinate the lab work. Some anon3606750899gs for sharing the news: @anon " 2,9779,2017-05-15T16:42:25.000Z,6325,anon1100347391,anon2954219769,"RE: lab thread Unfortunately work is consuming all my energy right now (and next week I'm on holiday for half a week), so I won't be able to coordinate or help with the lab work. But great news that the samples are on their way :)  " 3,16297,2017-05-15T17:26:17.000Z,6325,anon1746600840,anon2954219769,"lab thread I'm available for lab work starting June 26th. " 4,21226,2017-05-15T17:41:34.000Z,6325,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Stupid question What are the practical differences between dealing with plasmids and dealing with the culture? " 5,24451,2017-05-15T17:59:04.000Z,6325,anon1746600840,anon2954219769,"plasmids vs culture The plasmids need to be put in bacteria. Therefor, we have to make bacteria 'competent' (= able to take up 'naked' DNA) or we need to buy 'competent' bacteria. Buying is more expensive but more efficient. " 6,25188,2017-05-15T18:28:44.000Z,24451,anon1526983854,anon1746600840,"Thanks! Appreciate that you take the time to explain, @anon1746600840 . " 7,26681,2017-06-01T10:09:22.000Z,6325,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Consumables Thanks to @anon1746600840 for making an overview of what we need to get started with the plasmids once they arrive. The list can be found in the Drive here. It seems we are at about €400 in total, if we buy everything. I know we do have some things in ReaGent to save some costs. Does anyone have spare things lying around? We can discuss this & more at the meeting next week June 7th (8 pm @anon " 2,9161,2016-12-27T22:28:51.000Z,801,anon1526983854,,"Building, teaching, healing Hello @anon The ""teaching"" in the title of this comment is not a pun with the Irish ""teachín"", by the way. I was hoanon3606750899g to learn more about building the tiny houses. How do you do it? What is needed to build them? How do they connect with your gardening project? Could you not have made a garden next to a ""normal"" house? If the West of Ireland is anything like rural Italy, there will be plenty of unoccupied property lying around. Also: what kind of climate is compatible with a tiny house?  There is another sense that no pun was intended. I find that teaching (and, reciprocally, learning) is good for the soul, the collective ""soul"" of the community as well as the individual one. In the hacker community there is a strong orientation to knowledge sharing. It is useful, obviously, but it seems that many people do it because it's the right thing to do and because it feels good when done right. :-) " 4,12304,2017-04-22T08:19:21.000Z,10975,anon1491650132,,"Community development -more rural than urban? Hi @anon Having met people working in sustainable housing and also at the policy level, there's two steps I found they follow: 1) moving away from cities to be able to run with greener technologies that dont otherwise get approved by authorities (by green tech I mean, for instance insulating with clay mixes, recycled pallettes, wool or cellulose..). 2) building more houses on larger pieces of land and adding an educational center near it to support community development. " 5,14070,2017-01-09T19:21:54.000Z,801,anon1491650132,,"Word goes around.. Hi @anon Do you think the mobile version of the tiny home would be suited for a larger event (60+ people)? Nadia may have told you, we are looking into modular structures but also environmentally friendly, so that after the event when time comes to wrap up there is no waste.. Like Alberto, I am curious about the climate suited and other favourable or unfavourable conditions.  " 7,22360,2017-06-01T09:18:18.000Z,20069,anon1491650132,,"If you're considering travels.. Well, there's a bunch of videos like this one on the Internet, I'm sure you've seen them :-)   https://www.youtube.com/embed/74KTOpJXY_o " 1,6364,2017-05-29T12:12:46.000Z,6364,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    Get An OpenVillage Ticket: Invite your Intellectual Hero at the event!

    Hello old and new edgeryders, this is a task you can complete and get a ticket to our community Festival later this year (Oct 19-21)!  Steps to complete it: 1) Leave a comment below with the name and affiliation of an expert you want to invite - someone you know is doing inspiring work, or dream of meeting! Wait for our confirmation to go ahead. 2) Contact/ Email the expert. Below is an invitation to OpenVillage which you can use or remix. Also see the Comments with more templates.   3) If they accept to come, we'll send you the ticket to the event!  

    [Invitation] Guest Curator at \#OpenVillage: support selected healthcare and social projects with sustainability advice and business development

    OpenVillage is a participatory built festival gathering outstanding community projects from all over the world which are on their way to a new health and social care ecosystem. The Festical is structured in three parts: a speedy discovery of promising projects from around the world; hands on work on business modeling and sustainability; finally, technical knowledge sharing and learning new skills from health practitioners, data analysts, policy makers, investors etc: Day 1 | Meeting protagonists of revolutionary health and social care projects  Day 2 | Business modeling: hands on discussions and intimate networking with selected projects Day 3 | Technical learning and knowledge sharing around health data, policy and investments (example sessions: Healthcare Paradoxes; Collaborative Design and Inclusion of Migrants, Masters of Networks for advanced data visualization and analysis, and more). We’d like to bring you in for the whole festival, as a guest curator providing support for the business track we call Financing care. You would be involved in a low effort in the runup to the event, and our in-house community curators are tasked with keeanon3606750899g you up to speed and point you in the direction of most relevant projects. A process for working together with community Curators August | Community curators prepare 5 solid sessions & 1 blog post with a synthetic outline which you will receive September | Preliminary call: Community + Guest Curators September-October | Guest Curators leave comments online with feedback to relevant sessions #OpenVillage Pre-event | Power Pitch Masterclass with curators and session leaders to optimize delivery at the Festival TBC #OpenVillage Main Event 19-21 Oct | Guest Curators attend sessions and provide support and evaluation   If this sounds interesting for you, a first thing to do right now is to send us a photo and a short biography. We will announce your participation in a post like this one. " 2,9964,2017-05-31T15:47:00.000Z,6364,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Other model invitations for OpenVillage These can be used by anyone who wants to present OpenVillage to someone in their network - and invite them to come. Mix and remix is welcome! cc @anon 1) Call for Session Proposals: visualisation. You can change the text in the visualization with your own, then save it as .jpeg or .pdf. Don't forget to add a short introduction when sending it! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iRoJpLGLhTumNExvEHZg2j9pP0Dm5kiu0kyR92_4fOI/edit  2) OpenCare Co-Housing Story + Invite. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R8s9_rCt7kFlrCcVwL54XJMzIsGMl5U3nQKNYOTQAEA/edit 3) OpenCare Collective Exploration + Invite. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z_VUI685WglCfHu5TpUAGT4rYPL6g6TyQNItykk_HkQ/edit# " 3,11910,2017-05-31T16:45:21.000Z,9964,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Thank you for sharing Hello @anon " 4,16548,2017-05-31T21:20:15.000Z,6364,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Good idea! What's not to like? Engage with your hero and get a ticket for yourself! " 2,9905,2017-05-31T15:19:55.000Z,856,anon1491650132,,"Saw the movie. I remember the movie and how influential it was when it appeared some years ago, still is. Actually we were shown it during civic education class at school :-) Are you involved in a similar initiative in your town in Albania? Which town do you come from by the way? An example of community project I recently took part in - along similar reasoning, is a community food waste dinner: takes a resource many people have: food leftovers - and use it to cook new dinners for others who could learn and do the same. Not poor people, but people who can then go home and reuse their waste in some positive way instead of throwing it to the garbage. Pay it forward, indeed.   " 1,6369,2017-05-30T23:10:26.000Z,6369,anon1883627246,anon1883627246,"Food Security for All ....... 1- Training  2- Capacity Building  3- Open Discussion  " 1,559,2016-12-14T12:52:14.000Z,559,anon1058307311,anon1058307311,"I grew up in Thessaloniki but always had a deep want to travel, see and live in other places. Which I did. My sporadic encounters with my native Greece always brought to mind the lyrics from a famous Greek song which I shall badly try to translate here: “Oh Hellas I love you, and I thank you deeply, for you taught me and I know how to breathe wherever I find myself, how to die with every step I take and how to just not be able to stand you” These words are the preface for my MBA thesis for which I had to interact with Greek officials -and hence got a first hand experience of the stagnant and chaotic ways of its bureaucracy. Greece is a place of extreme and diverse beauty, almost 1/3 is under Natura protection. Within such a small geographical place there is a dose of everything (apart maanon1932026148 from glaciers): snowy mountaintops for skiing, desert-like dunes, volcanic islands, prehistoric forests and countless hot springs! It feeds your soul with joy, light and clarity and you see why the term philosophy was coined up here. On the other hand, interaction with the system and the people can drive you mad in nanoseconds. In late 2010, I had been on the road for the best part of a year, not keeanon3606750899g track of politics and news and had missed the handing over of the country to the IMF and the banksters. One day I heard someone say: ‘Oh you’re Greek! My condolences: your country has gone bankrupt and is in tatters’..(!).. So, I thought I’d check back a bit and see what goes on. Especially after the 2004 Olympics every time I was back I felt ‘like a fly in a glass of milk’ as we say in Greek, like I do not fit in. It was as if they’d all undergone mass hypnosis; everything was new, shiny, posh and expensive; credit cards arriving in the mail without having applied for one; people, euphoric and dull-eyed, going on constant shopanon3606750899g sprees. I felt like I was in a twilight zone surrounded by consumerist zombies! When I went back  a few weeks later, two things happened: a. the country was not in ruins as I was led to believe: people were out shopanon3606750899g and had food on their table, public transport was regular, water and electricity were still there, as were public hospitals (none of which is the same nowadays). But something was brewing, brooding even. Which leads us to b. something was different… I couldn’t exactly put my fanon1056199097r on it, but something was a-changing. The proof came in May 2011 and the infamous ‘indignation’ or ‘occupy the squares’ movement. I was there from the very first day, and although it was very amateuristic and problematic in various levels (and has been widely exploited for political gain) still, it was a strong, life-changing experience for most of us involved. I had never before (except from history books) seen Greeks come together in such ways and with such plurality and diversity. God-fearing pensioners working alongside young budding anarchists; apolitical housewives and disillusioned political-party members, all stepanon3606750899g out and taking initiative, organising, sharing openly their feelings and their food, showing solidarity, standing hand-in-hand to face the teargas and police brutality... The zombies had a heart! The next cornerstone came in August 2011 when I was fortunate enough to be part of the Greek delegation for the first Nyeleni Forum on European Food Sovereignty. That was it for me. I decided to stay. And help. With all my strength. Since then, I dedicated myself and all my resources to bringing about change -and what a ride it’s been! I can honestly say that I have never before worked as hard and with such persistence -even when I was working for a paycheck! Of course that meant many sacrifices on my part and a complete change of lifestyle as I immersed myself in the gift economy and found out how it is to have your needs met without money being the first resort. Since then I got involved with and instigated the creation of various groups, collectives, anti-privatisation initiatives etc. In October 2011 I co-organised the first Greek meeting on Food Sovereignty. In 2014 I organised the Permaculture Caravan -roaming the country for six weeks with Permaculturist Peter Cow spreading the ideas of autonomy and self sustainability and creating a new hype for Permaculture around the country. I joined ‘Neighbourhoods In Action’ -a group of eco-activists that managed to get elected in local government council of Thessaloniki -and played an important role in our municipality signing the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact for the creation of Food Policy Councils. I am currently trying to put our municipality in the European Network for Cities for Agroecology, and I am the focal point for Greece -ie contact person, for the European Food Sovereignty Movement and URGENCI -the Community Supported Agriculture Movement. I am interested in creating a new agricultural production model, focusing on agroecology and self-sufficiency and I believe we need to pursue the transition to a new way of thinking and living. We live in a time of confluence where the old and the new are still co-existing and that creates a very challenging atmosphere, so people need support, tools and skills to make it through. We need to get involved with things like Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); sharing risks, responsibilities and rewards between growers and eaters of food, creating a new concept of human relationships, and new kinds of communities. Out of the ten million inhabitants of Greece almost half live in the area around Athens and one in Thessaloniki. There are whole regions -especially in the mountainous parts of the country, filled with ghost towns. The cities are dying due to the continuous austerity packs that suffocate entrepreneurship and chances of finding work. We need to revive rural areas by promoting small-scale agriculture, empowering farmers and inspiring rural lifestyle, by combining traditions and technology, and promote an economy based on social solidarity and alternative currencies.   This is also, in its heart, a political issue: we need to emancipate ourselves as political beings, as citizens and as consumers and we need to create a new way for governing and caring for our societies and be responsible custodians of the abundance of nature for ourselves and all other species and for the generations to come.    *For my take on the crisis as a “virtual crisis” and what it means for our food, please watch my short speech during Solikon Berlin (The Solidarity Economy European Congress 2015) last year. https://www.youtube.com/embed/8NzDEBOeSWQ If you are unaware of what Food Sovereignty is all about you can watch this. https://www.youtube.com/embed/R7k2wnkt1sw So if all of this sounds interesting, if you feel the urge to get involved, or if you have information and contacts that can help, please contact me to join forces :) To see what I am currently involved in and all the exciting things we are creating at present in Greece and around Europe, please follow this link The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,7761,2016-12-15T23:02:35.000Z,559,anon1526983854,anon1058307311,"Where to start? Hello, @anon Food sovereignty sounds like a great concept. Many people in Edgeryders are sympathetic to anything that breaks dependencies. A few are deeply involved – @anon In your speech, you say that food sovereignty is about growing food rather than writing manifestos. But how does one really go about it? Growing basil plants on your balcony, fair enough. But what would be the second step? Some of the other activities you mention (Urban Food Policy Pact, European Network for Cities for Agroecology) are, after all, (local) government  activities. In Edgeryders, we are considering getting our own space, and we would like to grow part of our own food. But that does not seem easy at all. Any tips?  " 3,11122,2016-12-16T06:48:00.000Z,7761,anon1058307311,anon1526983854,"Hi there @anon I’m glad the idea (and the movement) of Food Sovereignty is spreading! And I will grant you that becoming self sustainable and autonomous is no easy feet. On the other hand, everything is as simple or as hard as we make it out to be. In nature everything is connected and everything functions through viable, long-term, symbiotic relationships. In this new model of a new society based on solidarity, collaboration, and fairness we are trying to create and advocate, I really do not think that anything can be achieved without partnerships. Nothing in nature works alone, why should we? Hence concepts like CSA are strong representatives of this new type of communities we need to evolve into. It also stands to reason that no-one can know everything and have experience (let alone expertise) in every field; by combining forces with someone that knows how to farm we stand to gain lots more than if go at it on our own. So I would say find local farmers to source your food from and co-produce together. Food Sovereignty and Agroecology are political matters at heart -hence the (obvious) connection with governments and policy makers -as you correctly pointed out. What ‘we the people’ fail to recognize is that ‘that’ (governors and policy-makers) should be us! We need to play a more active role where our livelihoods and our present and future are concerned! So we need to find ways (and where there isn’t one, create it) to push for changes in policy, in the way our affairs are run (and whom by). This is why pushing for the creation of Food Policy Councils is an idea I stand by, and this is why one of the main pillars of the FoodSov movement is related to this specific sector -ie political lobbying and advocacy. After all, the word 'eco' in greek means house, the place where one lives, and we can't be proper (agro)ecologists without giving enough attention into how this house is run! But FoodSov and Agroecology are also about being practical and hands-on, hence the phrase about growing food and not writing manifestos. 70% of the world's food is produced -contrary to mass belief, by small farmers around the world. We are an active movement, we put food on our table every day, and that's no small thing. We just need to realise the importance and value of that, and unite with our natural allies -e.g. the producers and branon1056199097rs of our food and health (for as a wise farmer once said 'we are not in the business of producing mere food! I like to say that what I do for a living is cultivate people's health'). " 4,12382,2016-12-16T12:06:15.000Z,11122,anon1491650132,anon1058307311,"A down-to-earth result that's encouraging? You being at this level of international networking, interfacing and broad level education, @anon " 5,12835,2016-12-16T12:35:21.000Z,12382,anon1058307311,anon1491650132,"I think perhaps there are other people more qualified by me to answer this: those involved in places where they have already set up such mechanisms like the people in the city of Corke and many others outside the EU borders. But if I were to give my personal oanon3606750899ion, as I said in the article I believe htat every action has a political meaning -picking up my fork, paying for whatever I decide to buy is done to fill my stomach, but without realising it much it is also a highly political action. Because with every bite and every buy I choose and I shape the world I want to live in. The point is that 'we the people' finally decide to take action, to become involved and to gain for the first time ever our own sovereignty -at least when it comes to what food we consume. Nothing is set. The future is what we make it. So it is up to us 'the people' to decide whether we want to continue living a life of subordinates, never resuimng our own responsibilities (which is actually much easier as there is always someone else to blame for our problems) or to finally ascend and take (our) matters into our own hands. Food policy councils are only as good, representative and successful as the people that comprise them... " 6,13106,2017-01-05T14:43:26.000Z,12835,anon1491650132,anon1058307311,"News about the Nepalese coffee trade @anon " 7,13267,2017-01-05T15:35:39.000Z,12835,anon3769417221,anon1058307311,"Political coffee … Thank you for making the connection @anon " 8,16179,2017-05-30T22:12:47.000Z,559,anon1883627246,anon1058307311,"Food safety and Security Dear Jenny Gkiougki, Appreciating your kind efforts which reflects the defination of food security too i.e. The final report of the 1996 World Food Summit states thatfood security ""exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and foodpreferences for an active and healthy life"". " 1,800,2016-12-14T05:51:36.000Z,800,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"As an Island located in southern Emispher, between the Indian Ocean and Africa. Madagascar is on target of cyclones which is born in the Ocean Indian. The number of this natural catastrophe was changing recently from 4 to 18 or more. All of those cyclones doesn't passed through the Island but only the strongest, those who doesn't get weak by the way 2 or 3 sometimes . The climate changing from human consumption: forest, petroleum and gas that we spread out (carbonic gas, chemical gas, etc) is growing since the last 50 years. It's also a fact of cyclones generator, from Northern Emispher to Southern accompanied by climate changing.  Every year starting on October until February according to the old cyclonic season we have to be also ready for change caused by climate changing. Fixings doors and windows, put some bags of sand one the roof. Get some supplies for those who can afford ( dry food, medicines, batteries, candles and matches, water purifier etc...). Those things are looking like routine for those who knows, It's really Important for all of us.  Nature is really uncontrollable. It's happened constantly that crops and plantation are also victim from this natural catastrophe. After ""the passage "" of cyclon, food rupture and malnutrition are next challenge followed by sickness from dirty water, death.    Is there any way to overcome or slowing down this fast extinction?  " 2,7745,2016-12-15T22:30:00.000Z,800,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"Can communities help? Wow, @anon I would not know, really, but I imagine that communities can help. Our friend @anon https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gne17XBZrwk Nick, are you reading us? Do you have any advice for Michel? also @anon " 3,14873,2016-12-16T03:21:35.000Z,800,anon1061021150,anon2668029998,"I would love @anon I do not have a ready tip, but i am aure it is timr for us to prepare a climate survival kit for many countries in the global south. do you think it would make sense to spend some months next year building a dedicated section on the platform to address this issue? maanon1932026148 we could travel somewhere to research, connect with locals and create a database like this collectively?  @anon " 4,17319,2016-12-16T10:00:45.000Z,14873,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Great idea! Yes, @anon " 5,20497,2016-12-16T17:36:10.000Z,800,anon2373660656,anon2668029998,"Thanks @anon Thank you @anon Being a country often ravaged by tropical depressions and powerful cyclones I can relate with the debacles faced by @anon   " 6,24213,2017-03-17T16:45:29.000Z,800,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"After a few days since the cyclone Enawo went through Madagasc. Since last week, Madagascar has been classified nation in disaster. The method of @anon https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/news/responding-disaster-feeding-hundreds-uprooted-cyclone-enawo " 8,27823,2017-05-30T22:08:30.000Z,800,anon1883627246,anon2668029998,"Preventive Measures Dear Michel, nice to see your article, its very interesting, here some preventive measures are given below for safe exit and i am sure you will definitely agree with that .... During a Cyclone: If a cyclone is approaching and an official evacuation order has not been issued, you may decide to shelter in your home until the cyclone has passed through.  If you decide to shelter at home:
    • Turn off all electricity, gas and water and unplug all appliances
    • Keep your Emergency Kit close at hand
    • Bring your family into the strongest part of the house
    • Keep listening to the radio for cyclone updates and remain indoors until advised
    • If the building begins to break up, immediately seek shelter under a strong table or bench or under  a heavy mattress
    • BEWARE THE CALM EYE OF THE CYCLONE.  Some people venture outdoors during the eye of the cyclone, mistakenly believing that the cyclone has passed. Stay inside until you have received official advice that it is safe to go outside.
    If you must evacuate: If an official evacuation order is issued then you and your family must leave your home immediately and seek shelter with friends or family who are further inland or on higher ground.
    • Turn off all electricity, gas and water, unplug all appliances and lock your doors
    • Ensure all family members are wearing strong shoes and suitable clothing
    • Take your Emergency Kit and your Evacuation Kit and commence your Evacuation Plan
    • If you are visiting or holidaying in Queensland and do not have family or friends to shelter with, contact your accommodation manager immediately to identify options for evacuation.
    After a Cyclone: The time immediately after a cyclone is often just as dangerous as the initial event itself.  Many injuries and deaths have occurred as a result of people failing to take proper precautions while exploring collapsed buildings and sightseeing through devastated streets.  Once you have been advised that the cyclone has passed you must adhere to the following:
    • Listen to your radio and remain indoors until advised
    • If you are told to return to your home, do so using the recommended routes only
    • Do not go sightseeing
    • Check on your neighbours if necessary
    • Do not use electrical appliances which have been wet until they are checked for safety
    • Boil or purify your water until supplies are declared safe
    • Stay away from damaged powerlines, fallen trees and flood water
    " 1,6262,2017-04-20T07:06:09.000Z,6262,anon722012516,anon722012516,"A common issue I have is how to design, collect and analyze quantitative data for program evaluation. I'm curious what are some best practices that people in community abide by and if others feel they would benefit from a session on it? Are there methods we could outline that would be especially helpful for smaller projects that possibly don't have a dedicated data scientist onboard? Possible key points of focus: -How to estimate the counterfactual (what would have happened without your intervention) -What assumptions different analytical models make and when appropriate to use them. -Best practices for saving and sharing data (keeanon3606750899g with the open source nature of everything!) Please comment with your thoughts and ideas! " 2,7538,2017-04-22T08:38:32.000Z,6262,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"More context? Hi @anon Are you still in Berlin, how's it going? " 3,11473,2017-04-29T20:20:57.000Z,7538,anon722012516,anon1491650132,"Context Hello @anon My post was less of a direct question of how to use a specific data set and more of a starting point for creating space for people to start sharing advice and create best practices around data collection and analysis. I think this could be especially relevant to small interventions, that maanon1932026148 lack a dedicated data analyst. Also, how are you and what have you been up to these last few months? .  " 4,14682,2017-04-22T08:58:21.000Z,6262,anon1526983854,anon722012516,"Very relevant! This is super-relevant, I am very interested in it.  I have to admit I have no idea how you might do this in a rough-and-ready way. Hope to learn more from the session.  " 5,19347,2017-05-02T14:04:27.000Z,14682,anon722012516,anon1526983854,"On the same page! Hey @anon I agree that I'm not sure how to do it in such a clear cut way. Perhaps, the best way such a session could happen if instead of trying to provide a top-down comprehensive answer to all data problems, it could be more bottom up session focused on getting people to engage with the thoughts underlying different analytical methods.  Where we would use some of the OpenCare projects that have already been introduced and have participants break into small groups, each with a different example and someone with a strong data background. Then have them discuss what kind of data has been collected, what different types of analysis could show, as well as the assumptions of each approach.  Followed by a short presentation session where each group describes there conclusions of how they would have run their analysis. Where other groups have a chance to ask questions about what it actually means to run such an analysis (eg. using a linear model when perhaps one does not exist). And then conclude with summarizing takeaways and themes seen across groups, and creating a dedicated forum topic on Edgeryders where people reach out to the community with questions they have around data analytics.  What are your thoughts on this? This is just a quick outline of my initial thoughts and is completely amendable. Also, apologies if I take long to respond I have limited internet access for two weeks. " 6,19453,2017-05-02T16:35:36.000Z,19347,anon1526983854,anon722012516,"That's a great idea! Well done, @anon
    1. We ask people working with projects represented at OpenVillage to sit down and participate in a ""ballpark evaluation sprint"".
    2. We build groups of say 4 project people + 1 data person (we should have a few. I can be one, and @anon2774142051 can be another). 
    3. We build eval sketches from the data: data that are easy/cheap to get, data that are so obviously useful that people crave them. Data of the first kind are realistic to obtain; data of the second kind require additional effort, but maanon1932026148 one that could be baked into subsequent projects. ""Obviously useful"" data refer to what my friend Giulio Quaggiotto calls ""data as input"": he (and others) observe that in NGO work data is normally produced for reporting, and everybody hates reporting. What we are not doing is re-use the data that people on the ground need to do the work for reporting. 
    4. We try to use these sketches to figure out how small projects can do eval with small money. If we can crack this, everyone becomes more systematic and more fundable.
    Correct? " 7,19478,2017-05-07T00:39:50.000Z,19453,anon722012516,anon1526983854,"Wow, fantastic insight! @anon  Also, your friend's post brings in a great point about ""thick data,"" which you touched on earlier with your requests for people with experience in qualitative analysis. We can use these sprints to not just look at the hard numbers but also us the unique advantage that participants have deep knowledge of their own projects to show what analysis can look like when you combine hard data with firsthand, stake holder's perspective. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! " 8,20783,2017-04-30T14:45:31.000Z,6262,anon1138232662,anon722012516,"anonyminity @anon722012516, we are also very interested in this and would be excited to work together. However, we have a particular focus on how to preserve the anonyminity of participants in a given system's records to provide a layer of defense from state violence. We are designing a workshop now that explores the scalability of some of the techniques we saw from the solidarity clinics in Greece, such as identifying certain characteristics about the care seeker that the participants are aware of, etc. We'd be happy to talk more about this is there is interest! PMS " 9,22126,2017-05-01T08:56:00.000Z,20783,anon1526983854,anon1138232662,"I'll help too I'm kind of a low-grade data scientist myself, and am struggling with the same issue. In Edgeryders, we do mostly small projects – not realistic to set aside huge resources for impact eval. But, if you are handling data, you are going to need resources. Reason: statistics. The simplest project eval tool is a test on the hypothesis that  variable you are trying to affect with the project = variable you are trying to affect without the project If the test rejects the hypothesis, you have impact. Apart from the obvious problems of finding the counterfactual etc, this has a problem: you need enough datapoints to support your rejection. ""Enough"" gets complicated quickly: it depends on the size of the difference between the value of the variable with/without the project, on assumptions on the distributions of the error term in each realisation of the experiment etc. But basically: the more datapoints you have, the more accurate your test. You want to be able to say, for example, that the difference in the variable between with-project and without-project is significant at the 95% confidence level. But datapoints cost. It comes down to this: project eval with statistics can usually not be done for small projects. Does anybody have experience with qualitative eval methods, more tolerant of small sample sizes? Ethnography maanon1932026148?  What I'm trying to say is that I volunteer to help @anon " 10,22628,2017-05-02T14:26:00.000Z,22126,anon722012516,anon1526983854,"Excited to work together Hey @anon " 11,23141,2017-05-02T14:13:14.000Z,20783,anon722012516,anon1138232662,"Interest! @anon1138232662, this is actually really interesting to me! I know you work on state level scales, but I was wondering what is the smallest population you've worked with? The reason being, in my university's mental health office we have been wanting to collect more comprehensive data to use for planning interventions throughout the term, however, we have been hesitant to do so because we don't want to in any way encroach on the confidentiality of students. Knowing how to effective anonymize this data while still being able to work with it, could be deeply beneficial!  " 12,24327,2017-05-30T15:27:49.000Z,6262,anon2954219769,anon722012516,"Impact tool Hi @anon Supporting organisations know this and a consortium of NGO's in Belgium has recently launched Impact Wizard. It is spposed to help assess your impact, to then communicate it better to the public, funders, team members etc. There's a free trial week and then you need to get a yearly subscription of €90, which seems like a fair price to me. I haven't had the time to check it out in detail, so I'm not sure how powerful it is in terms of data analysis. Looking at it from your expertise, how does the idea relate to the Impact Wizard tool? @anon " 1,6300,2017-05-05T22:01:11.000Z,6300,anon3112530648,anon3112530648,"I would like to propose a discussion panel for the OpenVillage Festival 2017. During the last six months, I have been attending almost all the event on Platform Cooperativism in Europe. Even tough is exciting what is happening, there isn't a model that reached a dimension that can be compared to any dominant platform, and some points are missing from the global discussion. Platform Cooperativism promotes shared ownership among users of the platform in order to create non-extractive alternatives to current platforms. The digital economy produces enormous amounts of wealth that become profit (often non-taxed) for few billionaires. This money could be used to power the welfare state, nonprofit projects or a collaborative economy. In the last 5/10 years, our economy has been ""platformed."" The ""disruption"" didn't allow proper reflection and to take action to create the most desirable platforms for users. We have enough data on the externalities of this platforms and the extent of the impact on our economies, it's now possible to analyze what brought us here, the opportunity that we should investigate and the challenges that we need to face. Being part of the Fairbnb project helped me to focus on important questions related to the digital economy. How can we create non-extractive alternatives platforms that can compete with the existing one? Is it possible to create platforms that are ""commons""? Can we use the wealth unlocked by this technology to fund non-profit community projects? How can an organization be both efficient and competitive without losing in inclusiveness and openness? To answer this questions, there are many guests that it would be useful to invite: Internet of ownership: The Internet of Ownership is a resource for the emerging online democratic economy. Its purpose is to advance platform cooperativism—a vision for online platforms that share democratic ownership and governance among the people who rely on them, especially those who contribute their labor and personal data. Guest: Nathan Schneider Fairmondo: Fairmondo wants to create a scalable fair ecommerce platform and is one of the pioneering platform cooperatives with an innovative redistribution scheme that honors unpaid contributions. Guest: Felix Weth Ecosia: Is a search engine that plants trees with the value that you generate through your digital actions Guest: Christian Kroll Faircoop: Fair.coop is an open global cooperative, self-organized via the Internet and remaining outside nation-state control. Its aim is to make the transition to a new world by reducing the economic and social inequalities among human beings as much as possible, and at the same time gradually contribute to a new global wealth, accessible to all humankind as commons. Guest: Enric Duran Platform Design Toolkit: Is a set of open-source tools to design digital and non-digital platforms with ease. Guest: Simone Cicero Other Guests: Sangeet Paul Choudary is a platform strategist, probably one of the most skilled person on this planet in understanding platform Of course, other founders of Fairbnb could join the discussion and hopefully we could launch the platform during the event. With this broad variety of guests, we will have enough competencies to generate a debate that could be fascinating and could help to further the global discussion on those important thematics. " 2,7437,2017-05-09T10:42:28.000Z,6300,anon70625510,anon3112530648,"Interesting and highly relevant Hi Damiano, and welcome :) I've been following this discussion with interest. @anon   " 3,11398,2017-05-11T22:18:46.000Z,7437,anon3112530648,anon70625510,"Hello @anon I think this is one of the most urgent topics that needs to be discussed and it's where our actions can make a real difference.  @anon In this comment https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/27263#comment-27263 , I highlight a strategy for the activation of the platform. Basically, for and Airbnb-like platform is good to use this system because you don't have to maximize the benefit of the peer producers (as it should be for Uber for example). You can maximize the benefit for the society (for this reason fairbnb should be a common, not owned just by certain users e.g. hosts). There are many reasons why Airbnb fit and on why it should be the platform to target in order to attempt to change the digital economy. I have been thinking and studying a lot and I would love to write about it. I made some months ago the structure for a green paper call ""Overthrowing Power, one Platform at a Time"" https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aeZAdKdbF1N2hexDO8VMqlzN6XUofumpQW2KTAgHwPw/edit?usp=sharing . if someone is interested in develoanon3606750899g this, it would be a pleasure to do it . Here there are some articles, that I found interesting, on platforms (related to the technical part and on growth hacking/critical mass in particular) https://workflowy.com/s/fRXqUUze22 We also did an Horizon2020 call (we didn't win) but is a huge work and I can share it if you want. " 4,16044,2017-05-14T15:32:18.000Z,6300,anon1526983854,anon3112530648,"About care? Hello @anon Do you have in mind any examples close to health and social care? I can't think of anything right now, but it must be my own fault. Is there the ""Uber of health care"" out there? There must be. And conversely a platform cooperativist alternative to it?  " 5,18104,2017-05-18T08:49:11.000Z,16044,anon3112530648,anon1526983854,"Future of healthcare and SV giants Hello Albero, I think that opencare was meant as a broader topic, indeed for me, inequality is strongly related to health.  The wealth that gets drained, without taxation, by platforms could/should be used to power many initiatives that are related to social care. Also, the same giants that are in control of the dominating platforms are the one that we should fear more in the healthcare industry.  Calico, a company that will tackle aging, is owned by Google. In general, the Silicon Valleys' company are investing a lot in Biotechnology and Healthcare, and this is because they know that they can dominate this sector. We are in the Omics Era https://www.slideshare.net/swamihetal/omics-era, data are crucial and will lead in the coming 10/20 years to have personal medicine and gene therapy that could lead to an unprecedented extension of human lifespan.  Big tech companies are the ones that know better how to harness information from data, that's why they know that they are going to compete with hospitals and with nationals public health sectors. In general, I think it's important to analyze problem in a non-reductive way and that we should learn as much as possible on platforms' topics and counteract where we still can,  but it could be a good idea to have also focused on health related platforms and companies (e.g. 23&me that do private analysis on DNA etc.)  " 6,19865,2017-05-20T10:09:09.000Z,6300,anon868457471,anon3112530648,"Common creations & relating Hey @anon3112530648,  I like your questions and experiences with fairbnb. I've also been thinking about this topic and share some ideas and perspectives on http://creatingnewrealities.co/creating-new-realities/.  My perspective is that there seem to be natural relationships to property and things, even if they are temporal. So I'd like to introduce this element of relationship into the equation for commons. I'm also interested in exploring this topic further and create a software/ community/ commoncreation tool to support the natural relation to our creations and possesions.  Another aspect that relates to this is the topic of access of ownership. Which is another way of relating. I'd like to experiment with this in the forms of networks and platforms. Curious how you feel! " 7,22115,2017-05-26T14:43:01.000Z,19865,anon3112530648,anon868457471,"Creating new realities nice project! For what I see there are so many valuable initiatives around the world, the main issue is that there's lack of funding for them and the general overload of informations makes it very difficult to understand what is important and what is not. If we want to reach a profound change in this society we should aim to create new innovative form of credits that promote pluralities and radical new ideas while giving enough security to people that trace alternative paths. Sharing economy platforms could be used to power these activities because they unlocked a large number of resources that could be redirected towards projects thanks to a crowdaction. P.s. I will probably live for some weeks in the netherlands this summer, let me know if you want to meet! " 8,24255,2017-05-30T11:11:00.000Z,6300,anon1491650132,anon3112530648,"Moving forward with a panel on fair platforms for cooperation? Hi @anon   We are lining up community and guest curators to work on each session and make sure it makes it into the draft program we are about to launch. The weekly Wednesday calls are dedicated to work on the sessions. We meet at 18:00 CET tomorrow. Are you guys up for it? @anon This is the link to the hangout, see you?   " 9,26675,2017-05-30T12:51:54.000Z,6300,anon3112530648,anon3112530648,"Hangout Sorry I missed the email! Yes, I will gladly connect tomorrow for the hangout :)   " 1,837,2017-05-12T23:15:17.000Z,837,anon3406666142,anon3406666142," Can we look at Care as a form of maintenance instead of as an emergency call for chronic issues? Can we look at Care as something to cultivate rather than to delegate? New health issues are increasing rapidly, due to environmental conditions and GMOs as well as for the newly acquired technical ability to test for them. For many (new) health issues there is yet little knowledge. Often the research is guided by profit-driven decisions, in the interest of big pharmaceutical corporations or exclusively within the analytic tradition. To look at care as a life practice. We take a health issue like histamine intolerance as a concrete example for which it is clear and mandatory that food intake and lifestyle are determining the severity of the health condition. In defining “Care” I would like to work around the question: Is our diet and lifestyle shaped around products or can we brake out of this path and empower ourselves in designing products - an app in this case - that help us define which food and lifestyle combination is better for each unique person? Can a tool help eventually finding one's way to still eat or drink that food by combining it differently and so on? Need or problem you are attempting to solve* How can one learn to listen to her body and track, compare, and be systematic with the help of technology. The idea is to help people to be more in touch with their body rather than alienate from it. How to empower users with a system that guides them in tracking aliments and environmental reactions, observe cross behaviors, and share that information with other users. A guided digital diary can be very helpful in a case like histamine intolerance where the combination of foods, cooking and food preservation, as well as lifestyle, and environmental conditions, all play a great role, in an intricate and complex combination. Histamine intolerance has been chosen as a concrete case to work with because it's a health condition I suffer from myself and for which I would like to have a tool that helps me deal with it. From a developer standpoint it will be a tool that I can test in first person. Next to it, there are more and more friends who have found they are affected by this condition, so it will be as well easy to find a group of people for preliminary usability testing. ​Beneficiary, single person and/or community* Beneficiary will be both single persons and the community in a mutual exchange between users affected by the health condition and those who want to participate and make use of the app like doctors, researchers, practitioners and more. Solution, brief description of the project* A first version of the app will be essentially A GUIDED FOOD DIARY. Obtain information and make your own list of safe foods, referring to a build-in food list of: high-histamine, anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory and cross- check it with a list of typical symptoms and reactions. The idea is to allow users to add \#tag foods, behaviors, and symptoms with the intention to generate knowledge and work in the direction of creating a community and use data-analysis for a second version of the app. The food diary can help create awareness and be a systematic tool in finding out which foods provoke reactions and to which degree. It can help to expand one's diet, follow elimination diet systems, help re-introduce single foods, and monitor whether these provoke any reactions or not. It can help apply more logic to why certain symptoms occur and when. It can be used to help one's general practitioner or specialist in doing more targeted testing. It can be a great support in case of multiple intolerances as well. ​Technologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt* We are a two-women team whit design and development skills. We will start with IOS , and consequently adapt for Android. ​Website (or socials) We are planning a dedicated website that will follow all the steps of the project. ​License, that you are planning to use Open-source Current status/stage of the project ​1) Setting the theoretical ground with references to relevant texts for this idea from thinkers like: Michael Foucault, Silvia Federici, Cristina Morini, Yuk Hui, Donna Haraway, among others. Based on this theoretical ground I would like to gain insight and discuss the approach with experts from the OpenCare network as well as with possible users from the local community. 2) Observing the context - UI-UX and Algorithms, comparative analysis and design: by looking at existing apps, like: ""Food Intolerances"", ""All I Can Eat"", ""Your food Intolerance"", and other food intolerance apps, as well as other apps on different health issues, as for example, the menstrual cycle tracking app, “Clue”. 3) Sketch out of a wireframe flow for a testable minimum viable product or prototype. The wireframe will also address issues like users privacy and handling of private health information " 2,8578,2017-05-24T21:50:29.000Z,837,anon1526983854,anon3406666142,"What role for ""the community""? Hello and and a belated welcome, @anon3406666142 . I have managed to miss your post – seems like great work, congrats! The idea of understanding one's own histamine intolerance seems sound, and is in line with what a lot of people in OpenCare are doing: refocus on preventative health. A question: I cannot quite understand if you have in mind a one-to-many interaction between the app user and the app provider (food diary goes into the phone, advice/feedbck comes out), or a many-to-many interaction between users. Can user A see the diary of user B? Do they interact? What are the mechanisms of interaction, and how do they help users to learn how to use their bodies?  " 3,15751,2017-05-29T15:21:15.000Z,837,anon413297907,anon3406666142,"Thanks Deborah + some considerations Thanks @anon3406666142 for your application! I agree with @anon I have some questions but I will try to first off reply to Alberto by interpreting the text above: to my understanding the idea behind the digital service is one where in a first phase the experience is initially one-to-many and the users are receiving feedback, but what they are actually mostly doing is feeding some kind of artificial intelligence that will generate the knowledge about the specific intolerance. the many-to-many kind of interactions will come at later stage as a consequence of the first phase. - - - I'm not 100% sure about my interpretation and would love Deborah to give us more hints about it. On a side note, I would be interested to know if you (Deborah) have already thought about the interaction of the main task: adding the data tailored to your specific situation. In my experience, even when the committment is pretty high (meaning the tool can for instance improve the quality of your life), a system that involves a lot of data entry tends to have a short life cycle, (unless the feedback is clear and constant and meaningful). I'm very interested in approaches where for instance the system knows when is the right time to ask you for the data, or in general where the data entry becomes organic, integrated in your routine, almost happening in the background.   I will check the apps that you have linked, lately I have been looking at ""Headspace"", it's a different field but there can be some interesting insights there. Last, I would suggest you to check https://edgeryders.eu/en/allergoki#comment-27544, there could be an interesting bond between the two concepts. ciao :) " 4,20905,2017-05-29T23:22:31.000Z,837,anon3406666142,anon3406666142,"reply @anon Hi Alberto, hello Alessandro, how nice to find feedbacks! happy to try to answer to your questions. Sorry Alberto, I missed your comment and noticed it only now. As Alessandro points out the project is divided in several phases. In the first phase we want to make it really easy and doable. So the system will contain lists of foods and their degree of histamine, as for example:  Carrots, Broccoli, Fennel = Low Histamine Tomato, Orange, Kiwi = High Histamine Coffe, Garlic, Grapes = sometimes tolerated This are informations that anyone can find online but while at the supermarket or while choosing your ice cream flavour, it is handy to have it quickly ready all together in an app. The first phase of the app will also contain a list of Common symptoms: Headaches, migraines, Vertigo, dizziness, Abdominal cramps ecc. And it will allow the user to check symptoms and associate them with foods into a diary/calendar system. This is handy in case the user wants to reintroduce a food or wants to monitor the effects of some food that are sometimes tolerated. In the first phase of the app the system will not ask many questions nor give too many informations. It will mostly be a structured tool for annotation that will empower the personal awareness of the user. The app “Clue” (menstrual cycle tracking), is a very good example in this terms, it doesn’t do much next to allowing women to structurally note down dates and symptoms, yet it is a powerful tool of awareness.  The data-analisys will only enter  in the second phase. For this there will be some work to be done to design the interaction between what we find trough the data, the assumptions we already have, our approach on care, and the collaboration with practitioners and medical experts.  I hope that I have answered your questions and please let me know, I am happy to answer if there are more questions.           " 5,24217,2017-05-29T23:33:22.000Z,837,anon3406666142,anon3406666142,"reply @anon413297907 p.s. Alessandro, I'm also interested in approaches where the data entry becomes organic, integrated in your routine, almost happening in the background. i.e. a wonderful UI UX.  I will like to anticipate what the app will become in the later phases and start to design the interface and the system in a way that more modules can be integrated later on. I’ll definitely like to deliver a smooth user experience. " 1,829,2017-05-05T20:40:47.000Z,829,anon3112530648,anon3112530648,"Almost six years ago I took a gap year and, I decided to spend some time away from Italy, in Australia. Back there I found a guy that told me about this movement: the biohacking. Basically, a bunch of tinkerers started to use their garages as biotechnology laboratories with the aim to make those biological technologies available to everyone. From that moment I started a path that led me to follow many movements and initiatives that are trying to create alternatives to existing power infrastructures. My name is Damiano Avellino, I'm 24 years old. I’m one of the founders of Fairbnb and of other non-profit initiatives that seek to create a more inclusive and fair society. During my years at the University, where I studied biotechnology, my curiosity was fed by great Professors during the day and by biohackers geeks on the internet during the night. My first attempt to create a biohacker space dates at my freshman year, as you can imagine the excitement of my colleagues vanished due to the pressure of our studies and the difficulty of the journey. The problem wasn’t related to the goodness of the project, both other colleagues and professors seemed thrilled by the idea of having an open source lab for biotechnology. What stopped the initiative was the lack of support and guidance from existing organizations incapable of grasanon3606750899g and helanon3606750899g to fund new ideas. In general, there’s a tendency for new initiatives to struggle in the initial fundraising. It’s easier to get funded if you are already big or active enough. If you have applied for any grant, you know how competitive these things can be, and probably you understand how the abundances of projects and the lack of funding tend to lower the diversity of the ecosystems and sometimes discourage innovative ideas - This doesn’t apply to for-profit start-ups that can rely on other types of financial support (VC, Business angels, etc) -. Anyway, this part of my story is not what I’m here to write about. I’m here to write about emerging opportunities we have to finance bottom up initiatives, that are not exploiting, related to a viable strategy to transform existing sharing economy platforms in a mechanism to perpetually fund non-profit projects and grassroots initiatives. This story is about an ongoing project that could pilot a new model of sharing economy that by succeeding could lead to the flourish of a new collaborative economy. Fairbnb is in an early stage, we didn’t launch the beta yet, but I’m convinced for some reasons that I will briefly explain at the end, that it represents a huge opportunity to change the digital economy. Why should we attempt to change the digital economy? Well, during the last ten years our economy has been completely “platformed”: the largest taxi company doesn’t own any cars (Uber), the world’s biggest media owner creates no content (Facebook) and so on. In almost every sectors a single player with a “platform business model” dominates. There are two main problems with this: 1) Platforms that succeed are the best for investors not for users  (the growth is achieved thanks to massive investments), therefore are extractive, so Amazon takes % on the little bookstore sales, Airbnb takes % on your house, etc. 2) Platforms tend to become a natural monopoly due to the network effect. (I’m not mentioning how we lost our privacy and the possibility to have control over the data that we generate because it could lead us too far) My intention to create an alternative to this model grew with time and thanks to some precise experiences. I firstly became interested in platforms thanks to Eugenio Battaglia (Platform Design Toolkit) with whom I share the passion for biohacking. He gave me the Pentagrowth report and fulfilled my head with other absorbing materials and thoughtful conversations that shaped my platform thinking. The second crucial event happened last year when I was selected to participate in the Global Changemakers summit. The rough idea that was floating in my mind, since probably a couple of years, had the chance to become a real project. The idea to use part of the money generated by our online activities to redistribute wealth to local projects as an opposite model to the present one, that uses part of the wealth generated by our online activities to enrich billionaires, was simple and not probably not even that original. But the fact that I had to attend a summit with 60 young activists all very influential in their communities and from all over the world gave me the chance to think concretely about a model for a particular platform that relies on crowdsourcing, and that could work. The event took place in June 2016; there I brought the rough idea of a project called Solbnb (Solidaritybnb). Since then the project merged with two other initiatives, which were also trying to create an alternative to Airbnb in Amsterdam and Barcelona, under the name of Fairbnb. Nine co-founders from five different countries and with an age range that goes from 24 to 50 are working together to build the platform along with a growing community. The platform with shared ownership and control will be non-extractive, inclusive and cooperative. The peer2peer accommodation market produces every year more than 1.5 billion dollars of revenues (the extracted part). If Fairbnb will be able to take even a little share of the market, an incredible number of non-profit initiatives could be funded. We want to use as little as possible of the revenues to keep up the platform and give back the majority of this money to communities through local projects thanks to a crowdfunding-like mechanism. If we succeed thousands biohackers spaces, social streets, art exhibitions, solidarity initiatives, refugees projects, etc. could be funded. As Janella Orsi highlight in this article https://goo.gl/0XK6Nu  “That rumored $20 billion company valuation relies largely on the loyalty of users. Like I said, thin air.” Yes.. a non-extractive P2P accommodation platform most likely is the best opportunity that we have to pilot a new model of sharing economy that could produce positive externalities at an unprecedented scale. " 2,10494,2017-05-06T01:07:24.000Z,829,anon1491650132,anon3112530648,"How do you deal with market failures? Fun thing: only at the end of the article did I understand that FairBnb is about accommodation! :-) Nice to meet you @anon In 2014 edgeryders fellow member @anon3077117708 wrote a post about market failures in dealing with value exchanges (very fragile) and excess capacity being the key reasons why AirBnb and the likes have fertile land to grow.  I liked it because it was critical, yet realistic. Curious if you have identified risks which you are facing in attempting to redistribute wealth in a fairer way..? Where are you based by the way? " 3,10667,2017-05-06T18:40:30.000Z,10494,anon3112530648,anon1491650132,"  Nice to e-meet you too! At the moment I'm living in Milan, but every week I spend some time in Rome and in Bologna. Really interesting post, thanks! Full of insights, I jumped several times through a stream of articles during the reading :) . I do agree that until we figure out how to create valid alternatives, current platforms are indispensable.. there's no wayback... That's why we need to act to create a fairer digital economy where interests of people are central instead of profit, some of this platforms are almost impossible to create an alternative to, others I believe not. Competition between a non-extractive and an extractive platform is somehow like David against Golia. I think the key is to pick the right platform and to craft the perfect strategy that enhances intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the users. For some reason (community-driven, aggregation platform, P2P are ordinary people, it produce lots of wealth by unlocking unused resources) I see Airbnb as the most suitable. For the strategy, the only real competitive advantage is, in the end, that % that get subtracted to every transaction. The % needed to anon2590712900y run a platform is always much lower than the one taken, lots of this money are used for advertising, paying managers, and the majority of it become profit (this is true for platforms that have a solid business model ). It's how this subtle but substantial amount of money is used in an alternative way that could make the difference. Basically the money that is redistribute helps the platform to grow and it lower the Custumer Acquisition Cost in a platform that don't require a huge amount of users to reach the critical mass.      " 4,14269,2017-05-07T16:18:46.000Z,829,anon722012516,anon3112530648,"Reflecting on Stakeholders @anon I think a platform like fairbnb will be a great alternative to those who don't agree with some of Airbnb's practices but still need an affordable place to stay. Like you said, currently, these platforms are indispensable. The one thing I was wondering about though, is how you plan on recruiting the people who actually provide the service over to these new platforms? The reason being is that the people who choose to share their homes or cars with others are often already on these other platforms and until they start to move over to new platforms there is no way for I the user to actually access the platform. I.e. I can't order a ride when there is no driver available.  I was wondering if some of the money that doesn't go to overhead would result in slightly larger pay for the service providers? Of course, this then cuts into the amount of funding that could go towards new initiatives. I think this reflects some of the thoughts from this talk by Dan Pallotta, namely that we are hesitant to use money as an incentive to create more business in the non-profit sector.  Overall, I think this type of platform is a timely and needed development. I'm curious your thoughts on how to address the needs of these key stakeholders?      " 5,17424,2017-05-11T10:07:16.000Z,14269,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Is it the same users switching or new ""market"" ? I think @anon It's basically breaking down the offer into pieces - some could be attractive to some people (those needed to change service), some to others (who are the real supporters for the service). What does one need to tap into in the incentive system, well that looks very ambitious. I'm not sure what is a good incentive - I agree that a lower commission compared to other service providers does not cut it - especially since you are not so competitive in the market that the same user can get as much occupancy as with airbnb (following the logic of @anon @anon " 6,20627,2017-05-11T21:23:58.000Z,829,anon3112530648,anon3112530648,"Hello @anon I will speak just as Damiano because we still need to vote things on loomio.   The growth strategy that I propose is bonded to projects.  I will underline here the basic principles. So Airbnb as just two main actors: Host and travelers Fairbnb should have three: Hosts, travelers, and projects. Basically, I see the MVP as an Airbnb with an additional feature, an easy system to crowdfund projects on the platform (60% local 40% from wherever you want). The fees will be more or less the same as Airbnb, 15%: 5% will be used to cover costs for the service, 10% will be allocated to projects directly by the travelers. The trick is that the 10% that goes to projects will bring users.  The idea is to maximize the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for users and let everybody be connected with the goal of the platform, in particular, projects will allow the organization to grow, scale and create a widespread mass of users. Bonding our initiative to hundreds of others will create that crowd-powered process that is needed to achieve the critical mass without relying on VC money. To offer a decent service and try to trigger the network effect at the beginning around 5000 accommodations are needed, distributed in all the major cities. The process I see is this: 1) Looking for 1000 projects (independent, possibly new, diverse to give everyone the chance to support the cause they care most).   This will be hosted on the platform for a certain amount of time and with a minimum and maximum goal (e.g. 5k-20k euros) when the platform will open. (I see the selection done thorugh an open call in different countries to have a worldwide coverage) 2) During the call and for two months after the selection the platform will be open just for hosts to register. 3) Projects will help to find at least five accommodations in their city. 4) The platform will open to everyone. 5) Boicott Airbnb campaign, start a serious public debate with action (put the initiative as an anti-capitalistic model that could compete with the existing one) Basically 5000 accomodations will solve the chicken and egg problem. With an average per night of 28 euros  5000 * 28 * 31 * 10/ 100000 It's an average of 434 euros a month for each project. This growth strategy is like the basic to avoid failure at the beginning, because I think it's possible like for everyone to find five people that will put their accommodation on the platform.  This strategy should be integrated with all the ""traditional"" strategies. The community that will form will be capable of doing much more.  The value proposition is easy to understand, if you travel with Fairbnb you do good by traveling (in a quantifiable way) instead of giving money to some billionaire. I think is really important to involve networks like Edgeryders, Ouishare, Global Changemakers, etc Hosting 5 projects for every organization will help to crowd-power the activation of the platform and engage existing networks that have been thinking about world's challenges a lot. -- This is basically how I see the activation process. Lots of people that use Airbnb use also other platforms (they are multi-homers) so probably both @anon " 7,22088,2017-05-12T07:36:18.000Z,20627,anon1491650132,anon3112530648,"Putting the projects at work I like this, basically ensuring that those primarily benefitting from your model become early movers, champions, promoters. Your success is their success. " 8,23131,2017-05-12T11:08:29.000Z,20627,anon2954219769,anon3112530648,"Interfacing for projects Cool, this latest post of yours is basically what I was thinking reading the posts so far @anon What you are then doing is interfacing for projects to monetize excess capacity in their network. Instead of having to invest heavily into logistics, marketing, sales, everything that comes with selling something, you can rely on a 'service' like yours. I think this ties in nicely with the discussion here on business models for The Reef. Diversity is hard to do early on, but interfaces make it a little easier. Offering this service to a social project rather than a person (what Airbnb does) offers some more interesting possibilities, especially in the way you set this up. What if people can choose to 'bind' their room to a specific cause, donating most of the returns to that project? You could have, eg. for ReaGent where I am involved, a ReaGent branded accomodation service, hosted inside Fairbnb? Will projects then shift more and more towards mobilizing their community to help in non-material ways with excess capacity? Does this allow/force/nudge projects and their stakeholders to be stripped down to the very essence: a community with a certain mission, with a lesser focus on the means to an end? Just some quick thoughts and a lot of questions, it's a super interesting topic. Would love to hear more, but mainly see things prototyped. " 9,23217,2017-05-12T13:34:15.000Z,23131,anon3112530648,anon2954219769,"Projects and hosts Hello @anon2954219769 : for projects, I think that having initiatives with a definite amount of money, spent in a certain way to achieve something defined, is more catchy than sustain the normal activities of an organization and is also easier to avoid that money are not spent in the right way.  So with ReGent you could apply for example to buy a camper and instruments to go around the city to do biohacking in schools. It should be for activity that is not normally done by the association (this may be different in places like Syria, etc.).   One of my goals is to allow plurality, especially for new initiative is always hard to find funding.  Anyway, this is something that needs to be discussed in depth, the nice thing about this is that it will create a perpetual passive funding that could literally enable thousands of valuable projects to reach their goals. So about the host you pointed out an interesting thing, the model that I described is focussed more on projects and travelers than on hosts.  I was thinking about something like having the host deciding a single project to ""pledge"", and it will gain 1 extra day on the crowdfunding platform. This will create an incentive to find more accommodations and will engage more hosts.  Making host deciding in large part where the money generated through their apartment goes risk to create a system where people support the project of their friend or something that they have an interest in.. But of course, it's possible to imagine also another way to let hosts support more a certain cause. Also, I proposed a model for the organization that is based on three levels: Foundation (Take care of the platform in general and connect the global community) National Associations (Help to select projects and to develop the organization in each state) Local Cooperatives (A group of citizens can apply to become a cooperative, it will have dedicated projects on the platform for that particular city, the aim is to do project together maanon1932026148 about certain topics). I would like to share more on this, in my oanon3606750899ion a worldwide mobilization on those themes is very needed. Platforms have become the main infrastracture for the economy, we should act now where's still possible to make a change or we will be trapped: it will be harder and harder to compete with existing one (due to their network effects, data collected, availability of money, etc) @anon1491650132 yes, but project will stay on the crowdfunding part of the platform for a limited time, so that new projects can join. " 10,23259,2017-05-12T16:15:00.000Z,23217,anon2954219769,anon3112530648,"Sustained effort Though I value the merit of doing stuff on a project basis as you describe, I also think for the complex issues like education, housing, medicine, sustained effort is needed. An overly large focus on well-defined projects limited in time risks perpetuating a 'quick fix' narrative and devaluating sustained effort that is not as 'sellable', in my oanon3606750899ion. I believe in a healthy mixture and I see most funding initiatives now focus on the project model, so I advocate for more of the long-term view. That being said: it's a big idea, but worth pursuing @anon " 11,23282,2017-05-18T08:59:56.000Z,23259,anon3112530648,anon2954219769,"Long term support for projects I don't have a fully formed idea, but I thought that projects that did well after the first crowdfunding could get back on the platform after 1 or 2 years. Also, the projects after funded should remain in a dedicated part of the platform to keep updated the community, and there anyone is free to donate more whenever they want. We need a little money to finalize the platform. Anyway, the activation process has said have many steps. The choice on how to redistribute part of the value generated by the users is made by them deciding to which project pledge their money. This could be also done by Hosts but not in the same % because will have too much ""power"" and the risk is that they will favorite projects that they know personally. " 12,24694,2017-05-18T13:24:02.000Z,829,anon477123739,anon3112530648,"Really interested in following this project. It seems that you've really put some thought into how this could work. I see a couple of parallels between the service platform and a couple of initiative that run in the UK. I wonder if there's some extrapolation that can be taken from them. Firstly, many supermarkets in the Uk have charity partners in the local community. They hold them for 3-4 months each. Every shopper who spends over a set amount (i think it is £20) is given a small plastic token. They are then encouraged to drop these tokens into a box by the main doors, selecting one of the 3 charities to recieve their donation. At the end of the period the tokens are collected and counted and all the charities recieve the amount of money that has been donated to each box from the supermarket company. Its a basic mechanism and it only raises small amounts of cash, but the charities are often very small. Also, (and i think this ties in with your idea in a comment above) the money raise goes towards the delivery of a specific project or purchase. It is often the case in the UK that fundraising from grant making charities is tied directly to projects. It is very hard to get funding to cover ongoing overheads, and business expenses. I think that this model would work best with the Fairbnb platform. People chosing to use the platform as hosts and 'customers' would be able to see the successes that funded projects provide,. I assume that a large section of the platform would be dedicated to sharing the success stories with the service users? I know i would look to use a service like this instead of an airbnb service if it were available. I guess my question would be what plans do you have for encouraging participation in the platform outside of major cities? I can foresee that these are the areas where uptake of new platforms are often slowest, but that they are often areas with high levels of charity support and high levels of poverty. I'm thinking for example of an area like Cornwall in England (high use of holiday lettings and airbnb style accommodation, but also high levels of regional un/under-employment and low levels of Government engagement in service delivery) " 13,25049,2017-05-26T14:32:35.000Z,24694,anon3112530648,anon477123739,"Projects, countryside and suburbs I agree with you about the projects. Studying crowdfunding and charity there are some rules that help: people like ""successful"" initiative (the achievement of a specific goal that adress a specific need), to produce a somehow quantifiable contribution (for this reason the pledge should be done directly by the users) and to have some choices (this reinforce engagement part). I think also this model would help us to involve smaller organizations that could be more willing to support the promotion activity for fairbnb. For the support of Fairbnb outside big cities, I think two are the consideration needed: The first is that Fairbnb should help valorize places that are underrated. For example, I'm from Italy (from Rome) and in my oanon3606750899ion, there are so many little places that are worth visiting, is really upsetting knowing that just a few cities here have the attention of international travelers.  For example, I rarely suggest to go in Rome (especially if you are young), go to Sicily if you can :)!! More in general the money generated through the Fairbnb system are split 60% goes around the area where you traveled (it can be the entire region) and the other 40% can be given to any project inside the platform. I think the problem could be addressed with specific calls for this projects in those places. I recently randomly read this book http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13086.Suburban_Nation that I suggest often and that gave me a much deeper knowledge of suburbs. For the countryside, I think that the tendency of the people from this places to go in the major cities could be reversed (especially in Italy) since cities don't represent any more a place of opportunity. This is a much broader argument, but I hope that the platform that we are building could help to experiment new models to solve problems related to this places. " 1,6308,2017-05-08T12:22:16.000Z,6308,anon2442826637,anon2442826637,"Hi everyone! This Wednesday I will be hosting the meeting for the OpenInsuline project and I myself would like to focus on the outreach, as started in this post. I'd like to think with you about three things:
    • An educational activity
    • An awareness artwork, as proposed by Maria during the 26.04 meeting
    • Visualisation as proposed by @anon
    A couple of people made the case for prevention, with @anon People who aren't intrested in the outreach aspect are more than welcome to come as well of course, we can work in two groups and exchange at the end of the night or something :) So I look forward to seeing you guys Wednesday the 10th at 8pm!  " 2,7247,2017-05-08T13:15:45.000Z,6308,anon1526983854,anon2442826637,"Can't make it Thanks for taking the lead in this, @anon " 4,20743,2017-05-12T12:31:24.000Z,6308,anon2954219769,anon2442826637,"Shame to miss it Shame that I missed it as well, was abroad. How did it go? Just want to make the link with this thread again for inspiration and also plug this concept I learned about during the DIYbio Biofabbing Convergence earlier this week: reinventing the role of musea using more active methods & science (among which biohacking). Specifically, Ricardo, the speaker, mentioned the example of the Museum of AIDS in Africa. I'd love to know more on how you could have a preventative impact as such an institution. " 5,24426,2017-05-15T16:40:30.000Z,6308,anon1100347391,anon2442826637,"About the boardgame idea... At the meeting last Wednesday we proposed a board game as an educational activity (@anon " 6,26678,2017-05-15T17:51:36.000Z,6308,anon1746600840,anon2442826637,"boardgame What about a life-sized board game? " 7,28268,2017-05-23T11:38:24.000Z,6308,anon2954219769,anon2442826637,"Meeting tomorrow Is there any followup planned for the meeting tomorrow? As for technical stuff, there's not much news. Still waiting for final news from the samples & microfluidics will be for June. I'm also out of action due to medical reasons and Niek is abroad. If there's nothing new to be done or discussed, I suggest we get back at it on June 7th. " 8,28647,2017-05-23T17:36:00.000Z,28268,anon1100347391,anon2954219769,"Meeting tomorrow I don't think any follow up is planned... I also can't make it tomorrow (also going abroad) so it'll probably be best to just postpone.  " 9,28797,2017-05-25T11:15:44.000Z,28647,anon2954219769,anon1100347391,"Next time Okay, it didn't go through, looking forward to hear more next time on the 7th :-) " 1,680,2016-05-16T14:25:10.000Z,680,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"Sometimes I feel like my friends can’t quite take me seriously when I tell them how much art school is stressing me. When I hear myself describe to them what we do in our courses (like dressing up and dancing around cardboard sculptures of alien Christmas trees), I sometimes find it difficult to take myself seriously. However, as most people that work in a creative field would probably tell you, it really is stressful. Being creative is intense. Apart from the financial uncertainty and competitiveness that tend to run in these professions, the work itself is very demanding, mentally and emotionally. It is very easy to become personally invested in a project, some might even call this is a necessity. Because they are so closely intertwined, it is often difficult to separate between the professional and the personal. How does this affect the way we deal with issues of mental and emotional wellbeing in this context? In Product Design, we are constantly brought to question our surroundings, our decisions, and most importantly, ourselves. There has been a crisis point in almost any project where this turned into seriously doubting myself and hating all the work I had done. Sometimes, it led to absolute public meltdowns. To me it is a strange and uncomfortable feeling to share such intimate moments with people I work with. Many of my friends that study creative subjects have told me about similar experiences in their lives, particularly about struggles with insecurity and stress of varying degrees. Are these emotional strains simply an occupational hazard that we as creatives have to accept? Are they something we should embrace, something we actually need to produce meaningful work? There seems to be a romanticized idea of the tragically ailed, mad genius, based on the stories of countless artists like van Gogh or Beethoven that produced some of their best work during periods of Depression or Hypomania. Joshua Walters proposes in his Ted Talk ‘On being just crazy enough’, that those suffering from mental conditions might just be more sensitive to the world than others and that we can use our ‘skillness’ to our advantage. Many scientific studies suggest in fact, that there is a link between creativity and mental illness. One theory is that those with strong creative inclination perceive the world with a heightened awareness and tend to be more reflective and ruminate in their thoughts. For me, a host of questions and problematics arise out of this. How do these factors influence people in creative fields in reaching out when in distress? At what point does these different pressures stop aiding creativity and start impeding it? What are your thoughts? " 2,9648,2016-05-17T12:56:48.000Z,680,anon477123739,anon2594564133,"Need to think Hi Pauline, This definitely resonates with me. I realy want to share my thoughts on this with you, but i need some time to think about how best to structure them. I thought i'd say thank you for sharing first and then respond in a day or 2. Alex " 3,11235,2016-05-30T13:11:56.000Z,9648,anon2594564133,anon477123739,"Hi Alex, thank you for saying thank you! :) take all the time you need  " 4,12308,2016-06-23T08:33:11.000Z,11235,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Studies showing link between creativity and emotional precarity @anon " 5,12784,2017-01-12T18:16:44.000Z,12308,anon3760936673,anon1491650132,"links between creativity and emotional precarity Hi @anon I found this article interesting: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-real-link-between-creativity-and-mental-illness/   Alan.        " 6,13033,2017-01-13T10:47:39.000Z,12784,anon1491650132,anon3760936673,"Schizotypy! Very grateful for the material, @anon3760936673 ! This is a very interesting missing, because the way @anon more creative people include more events/stimuli in their mental processes than less creative people. But crucially, they found that those scoring high in schizotypy showed a similar pattern of brain activations during creative thinking as the highly creative participants, supporting the idea that overlapanon3606750899g mental processes are implicated in both creativity and psychosis proneness.  " 7,13151,2017-05-25T09:33:28.000Z,13033,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"""I hate my work"" syndrome On a lighter note... :-) https://www.youtube.com/embed/xm7awfl6hYA " 8,13417,2016-11-24T10:35:57.000Z,11235,anon477123739,anon2594564133,"Still thinking It's been quite difficult to work out exactly what my thoughts are on this subject. I've found some of the comments below to be helpful and insightful, but some to be problematic. There is certainly a strong link through poetry and literature to this idea. I've recently been reading a lot of Thomas Mann and it's almost the entire structure on which his work is predicated. There seems to have been a sensibility that was propagrated in the late 1800s -early 1900s European intellectual/artisan culture around 'bohemianism' or latterly 'bourgouise'. I think in some senses it emerges out of a combination of Romanticism (in poetry and visual art) and it's opposite reaction, Realism (in painting and literature) and the beginnings of the sentimental nostalagia-tanon1056199097d classical music of people like Verdi and the German/Austrians like Liszt, Mendelsohn.  The 'struggling artist' becomes a trope, a series of hooks onto which musicians, writers and painters can hang their emotional responses to the world. The struggles of the artist can therefore be equated to the struggles of the working, pastoral man and woman, who often during this period are the themes on which the artist work. c.f Beethoven's 6th, Robert Burn's Poetry, Victor Hugo. Which becomes an important connection between the (usually rich, educated and entitled) artists and the philosophy of people like Rosseau and Locke who want to improve the human condition for all.  More of a History of Art and Ideas response to the idea, and certainly not my final views on the subject, but i thought i'd add a bit more to this already in-depth post. Also, worth having a quick read of this piece i found today: http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/literary-madness/ " 9,16370,2016-05-18T16:02:05.000Z,680,anon3895445472,anon2594564133,"link between sensivity and creativity Pauline, your post made me think of my brother. At school he was artistic and a left hander, naturally talented at sport, and very sensitive (for example, he once walked into a house and sensed a ghost, which the owners later confirmed; another time, he avoided a major accident because he sensed something and changed his route on his motorbike). Life has been a bit of a struggle for him - he has pursued conventional success and it didn't suit his temperament and he complains about life being constant suffering (although sometimes it as if he seems to enjoy the suffering, otherwise why would he keep doing it?). He also drinks alcohol a lot - I have always asssumed this is because he finds life challenging, because he is so sensitive.  Having said this, he is still creative and charming and loveable. But he is hard to be with sometimes. I think modern life makes it very hard for such people and you need to try to find ways to live on the edge, and places to escape. " 10,17386,2016-05-30T13:10:46.000Z,16370,anon2594564133,anon3895445472,"Hi Patrick,  nice to meet you and thank you so much for sharing your brothers story! ""I think modern life makes it very hard for such people and you need to try to find ways to live on the edge, and places to escape."" Do you know of any good projects like that? Something like the Unmonastery perhaps, or are you thinking of something different?  " 11,21301,2016-05-18T22:55:52.000Z,680,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"I can't offer much, but maanon1932026148 Finbar can Someone like me who is not a creative or art professional could simply read the emotional stress as common angst. Stress is so widespread nowadays most of us are struggling in a way, so.. really don't know. Have you looked into art therapy or therapeutic gardening? Also, my newest friend @anon " 12,21954,2016-05-30T13:13:02.000Z,21301,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi,  you make an important point, and it's something that we've been struggling a little bit with in our project. Everyone will most probably face some form of emotional stress at one point in their lives. These reflections were related to us trying to narrow down our target group and the issue we want to focus on. As we found a particular lot of these issues popanon3606750899g up in our immediate surrounding during our interviews, we were thinking to focus on young creatives. However, we are not quite sure if this even makes sense and Edgeryders is the right context to explore this or if we should approach the topic of mental health in a different way. Lots to figure out! Of course, all input is very much appreciated!  " 13,23625,2016-08-26T15:28:36.000Z,680,anon3708118144,anon2594564133,"Connection between creativity and mental illness Hi @anon   " 14,24943,2016-08-30T06:03:37.000Z,23625,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"Challenge on mental wellbeing @anon " 15,29064,2016-10-22T08:39:19.000Z,680,anon1501565612,anon2594564133,"Cultural approaches My own experience with artistical education and the myth of sensitivity and creativity being linked to madness, depression, angst, is a sad one. I have found some solace and the begging of an understandment of the issue in the cultural differences between Europe, USA and Japan in this respect. The role of the artist and the way art is socialized varies greatly when you compare these traditions and to our shame Europe exhibits a very self-destructive narrative to live by. Maanon1932026148 that could be a meaningful starting point to unravel the question, I hope it helps. " 16,29542,2016-10-24T07:53:33.000Z,29064,anon1491650132,anon1501565612,"What's your story? Hi @anon Have you worked in Japan or experiencedvarious situations directly, or is is something you've read about?  Interestingly, I wasnt paying too much attention to the question Pauline first addressed in this post, and yet seeing confirmations from such personal points above makes me wonder indeed if there is something more to explore here. If you have ideas on how we can frame this question of different emotional responses even more specific to the art world, we can launch a challenge so that we can bring more domain insights. Let me know, I'd be interested. " 17,29955,2016-10-24T13:05:37.000Z,680,anon1088780966,anon2594564133,"Sensitivity and emotional processing Fascinating thread. One question that strikes me is: shouldn't this be precisely what art school is about? Providing the freedom to engage deeply with such practices, to experience the emotional fallout of an intense creative life before a job or a commercial project is hanging in the banon3760936673ce? Certainly, this is something you will see at certain drama schools, who combine aspects of psychotherapy with learning to be a good performer - treating the education period as a time to process all the emotional material that surfaces from engaging in the creative practice. Perhaps just being given permission to experience these things and making space to check in with each other and have collective discussion about what is coming up would go a long way to avoiding people feeling that processing emergent emotional material is somehow wrong or unbanon3760936673ced. This all also reminds me of how important it has been in recent years that people with 'non-ordinary' mental constitutions have been able to find each other and build a sense of solidarity, from which they can begin to try to educate the 'normals' about their own unique experiences: Whether that be artists, introverts [and see also my piece here], Highly Sensitive People, Mad Pride or autistic people lobbying to be accepted as a neurological minority. " 18,30315,2016-10-25T22:29:02.000Z,29955,anon1526983854,anon1088780966,"Echoes @anon1088780966 , I just wanted to say that your piece on introverts is highly reminescent of @anon784612129 's own thinking around the same matter.  Me, I am not so sure that things get done in meetings, nor that real world meetings are more likely to lead to real world actions. But your point stands: collaboration environments that are friendly to introverts are a good thing. " 19,30441,2016-10-26T12:17:03.000Z,30315,anon1088780966,anon1526983854,"face to face ""I am not so sure that things get done in meetings"" Ha. You may have a point there! :) I would say, though, that in my experience face-to-face meetings certainly produce different kinds of outcomes than just connecting online - there is a certain kind of trust, enthusiasm, or motivation to collaborate on projects that can suddenly emerge when a group who has only been connecting through screens suddenly share the same real-world space. " 20,30483,2016-10-31T18:35:56.000Z,30441,anon477123739,anon1088780966,"fully agree with that sentiment. face-to-face produces something tangibly different but equally as powerful as shared 'head space' online " 21,30502,2016-11-11T21:51:09.000Z,30441,anon784612129,anon1088780966,"Sry for late comment @anon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KysVad2dr-c On face vs screen, etc. I think you are right that certain methods work better (or just more comfortably?) with some people (on some topics). You'll get different discussions and different outcomes. I think face to face helps my mirror neurons fire up fully. I often feel I can only really fully develop many aspects of a thought in a discussion. On the other hand I also like to listen to a recorded discussion afterwards and focus my thought much more on certain aspects without being afraid I have to answer some question or lose track of a discussion. I can be fully in observer mode and my thinking is much more like if I am editing someone else's text and want examine and fix every little bit of imprecision. Another thing that could make face to face meetings different is that you can smell the person and the environment. Also a LOT of our nervous system is connected to the stomach/digestive tract (the face and brain came way later!) so I would not be surprised if there is more purpose to business/conference dinners than to knock out the prefrontal cortex a little (althought that can also help). " 22,30513,2016-11-11T22:53:25.000Z,30441,anon784612129,anon1088780966,"here is the comment Alberto was referring to https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/18173#comment-18173 " 23,30514,2016-11-13T13:36:52.000Z,30513,anon1526983854,anon784612129,"That one Yes, that's the document that @anon1088780966 might be interested in reading. I certainly found it illuminating.  " 24,30608,2016-10-24T22:02:59.000Z,680,anon1501565612,anon2594564133,"HI @anon1491650132, sorry it took me so long to answer you, I've been traveling. I was trained as an sculptor in Madrid in the '90s and I found artistical education to be deeply rooted in a tradition of irrationality that can be traced to the romantic movement in the 18th century, what is generally presented as the reaction to the enlightenment. I knew I had had enough when a very dear person to me committed suicide. I've had the chance to study and live in the states and in Canada and my experiences in those cultural environments helped me understand other ways to address artistical activities, in a more positive and banon3760936673ced way. While in Boston I had the great luck to find a sumi-e master that introduced me to the practice of Japanese brush painting, yet another approach to art that includes irrational thought without the angst. I have never developed a theory on all this, but my observations on how the individual artist relates to the society in the different cultures, what is expected of the creative role and how we teach art leads me to think that we in Europe need to overcome this tragical tradition. I wish I could give you more to pull the thead, I really am no expert! " 25,30885,2016-10-25T08:12:11.000Z,30608,anon1491650132,anon1501565612,"I'm less of an expert than you, but Maanon1932026148 @anon I've also invited an art curator friend of mine to join the discussion, and see what she makes of this. I'm sorry about your dear one. I wonder: if this is so generalized, what support systems are out there for artists then? do artistic collectives or platforms have a contribution to make here or rather more diverse social environments?  " 26,31148,2016-10-25T15:46:22.000Z,680,anon1932026148,anon2594564133,"view of a psychotraumatologist ;-) What an interesting discussion, thx to you all. I agree that stress and suffering are part of life @anon1491650132 @anon In general, I think of art and creativity as an expression of oneself, an expression of our inner world, our 'being' in the world, our being 'me'. Being authentic is by definition being different from others and thus coanon3606750899g with judgment,  the others , the outer world goes along with it. But I also think that feeling different, an outsider, more sensitive than others, etc etc .. is often a 'symptom' of trauma, a result of not having our needs met in the past f.ex, wich often results in losing our own connection with our needs, our connection with ourself.  This disconnection is trauma, the residu of pain. In my vision many artists are trying to 'heal' themselves through their art - redefine themselves, trying to find a way to become 'whole' again - integrate pain and trauma. Artists are often 'self-healers', they are their own therapists. When the self-healing fails, they might consider exploring the pain and trauma trough different glasses - those of a therapist. Thinking out of the box could help them cope better :-) This is the more or less classic, freudian, psychological explanation for 'artistic pain'. There is another explanation though, one that is defended by one of the founding fathers of expressive arts therapy S.K. Levine : that art is the expression of our soul, our 'acorn', that we are born with a 'mission', something we want to express, and that the struggle to discover and express this acorn, this individual mission causes pain. Levine thinks we overfocus on pain and trauma caused by environment/youth/parents... We should instead in therapy look more for 'the inborn authenticity, the inborn self'. (If interesetd in this latter explanation: See Stephen K. Levine: Trauma, Tragedy, Therapy: the Arts of human suffering (quite a philosophical, demanding book - but very interesting out of the box view for therapists ;-)) Hope this helsp as a theoretical frame @anon Ybe   " 27,31535,2016-10-27T09:18:41.000Z,680,anon1501565612,anon2594564133,"The traumatized self healing artist myth The theory @anon1932026148 has contributted is a very accurate example of the destructive narrative I was talking about in the first place.  " 28,32092,2016-11-08T11:37:19.000Z,680,anon954326867,anon2594564133,"If it's not too late to join the discussion Hi everyone. I can only speak for the contemporary art scene, which is the one I’m part of and not for theatre or other subdomains of the creative field. I see two main directions in the discussion so far. First, there’s the question of creativity and anxiety being intertwined, and how to identify the moment when this anxiety crosses over to a dangerous zone for the artist; also, if this link is a given, how would we go about trying to keep an artist in the safety zone without hindering the creative dimension. Going back to what has been noted so far, the idea of the artist as troubled soul is rooted in the romantic definition of the artist, which I think has long been overcome within contemporary art (and made room for other sources of angst). Nevertheless, apart from this dated, unhealthy perspective, there might be an actual connection between the artistic predisposition and emotional volatility. I haven’t read any studies on this topic, though I suppose this is a strong area of research and only after making sense of the results we might be able to think of strategies for improvement. These might be seen as issues concerning the psychology of arts, which I’m not at all familiar with. Then, there is the layer of high (or higher?) anxiety levels within the art world as a result of the pressures of the specific field. Here I’m referring to aspects that could be integrated within the sociology of arts (which I have more understanding of) like rampant competition, status issues (the art world is strongly hierarchical), precarious living/working conditions, high levels of uncertainty (not only of day to day life but the artist’s own sense of identity as an artist), market/ commercialization contamination and so on. At one point in his article The Curatorial Muse, Michael J. Kowalski writes: “It is acknowledged, though not often discussed in polite company until the third drink, that the arts are defined by the same Darwinian savagery as any another profession. It is also acknowledged that the aspiration of art to beauty and truth is a pious fiction, but in the best possible sense of the word. Finally, and crucially, it's acknowledged that these two characteristics of art are seriously and permanently at odds with one another”. - (http://www.contempaesthetics.org) One important idea here is to note that these are not concerning artists only, but art workers in general. It’s difficult for me to say if the levels of anxiety are higher in art that in other professions. A good point was made earlier that these might be found in any other field. My impression is, though, that fields in which creativity is profoundly linked with identity will always make for a more stressful environment. And for those that already identify with the psichological pressures of creativity, this later layer might be just too much to handle. Just a few more personal notes: in my discussions with artists I found that many drop out from University because they can’t take the pressure. It might be helpful to note that the myth of the emergent artist will bring the issues I identified before as pertaining to the sociology of art very early on in an artist’s life – from the first years of university. This young age, one that is related to learning, experimenting, trial and error, finding one’s path etc., has become a battlefield for launching careers. (My one experience brings this even earlier in life, being a child and a teenager trying to become a professional musician. I am one of those who could not handle the difficulties of a musical career at such an early stage in my life and lacking a good support system, so I quit. At present I work as a passionate art professional - curating, arts management, teaching, cultural PR - and I find the field highly demanding, but I feel I have more resources in myself to work my way through, than I did when I was a young musician.) Another key point in artists’ lives that my friends who are painters pointed out to me is finishing their studies and trying to make a living through their art and not make compromises. The attention to each decision is overwhelming for most young artists: they need to make a living but most of the times their options put them in a compromising position they know they might not recover from, the art world being so much about reputation management and legitimation. Whenever I think of the contemporary art world I have in my mind the picture of a chess board. One needs to learn the rules of the game by playing, and you only get one round. The other day I was listening to Sarah Thornton, a sociologist of art who was pointing out that ever since Duchamp, the freedom of the artist to fashion herself as an artist is a demigod position that puts a lot of pressure especially on artists finishing studies, whom are very much aware of the responsibility of designating themselves as artists. Many would not use the word artist, Thornton notes, and when asked what they do, they say “I do work…” Of course, older age comes with its own anxieties within the arts, namely the obsession with youth... But to conclude, I’d say that once clarified what aspects you guys are more interested in working with, there would be specific/ specialized ways to enable care and help. It might be that it is not even relevant if the creative field is more prone to anxiety than others, but wanting to reduce these big emotional costs would require a particular approach, one that suits the idiosyncrasies of the field. I’d be very interested to contribute within my own area of knowledge and experience - I say there’s a strong need for open care structures here.  " 29,32197,2016-11-08T18:04:00.000Z,32092,anon1526983854,anon954326867,"Patterns of competition Hello, @anon Trained as an economist, having been a professional musician for several years in the 1990s, I looked up economic literature about the arts. The intuition most relevant to your point (and the whole thread) is this: art is defined by economies of scale in consumption. It works like this. Imagine you like classic two guitars-bass-drums rock music. Well, that technology scales really well: you can enjoy a rock concert in a bar with an audience of 30 people, or in a football stadium with an audience of 80,000. The costs of giving a concert increases in the size of the audience, but much slower than the ticket revenues. If you double your audience, your profit does not double: it goes up fourfold, or even tenfold, depends on where you start. Markets with these characteristics are called winner-takes-it-all: they produce few superstars, with everyone else doing badly (Rosen's classic 1981 paper). While stars tend to be very talented people, it is simple to build a model that takes performers with identical characteristics, and then makes one or a few of them superstars, and discards the others. Initial lucky breaks are reinforced by the success-breeds-success dynamics. We need a hairdresser every ten blocks, because people go to different hairdressers. But very few stars, because we all watch/listen to/read the same ones. Now, you really do not want to work in a labour market that makes superstars. Whoever you are, probability says that you are almost certainly a loser in the race. That's extremely stress inducing. But artists do work there. And so do others, as you point out.  Tentative conclusion. Maanon1932026148 it's not creativity that is stressful: it's the characteristics of winner-takes-it-all labor markets, including the one for artists. Implications: hard call. I fully appreciate that being creative in your spare time is limiting. But so is being poor, scared and stressed out. My own choice was relatively easy, given that I was obviously no artistic genius, and other things interested me just as much as music: I got the hell out of it after making it to midlevel (gold record in a secondary market such as Italy), but not to stardom :-) " 30,32237,2016-11-08T20:03:11.000Z,32197,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Introductions Georgi, here is Alberto's story as an economist turned musician turned policy expert. Pretty savory :-) I don't know if market skewness explains it all - it certainly makes sense. But from what people are saying here, it also has to do with professional identity and some ideas attached to it telling you what you should do as an artist or how to carry yourself in the world -which creates anxiety. " 31,32270,2016-11-09T21:40:28.000Z,32197,anon954326867,anon1526983854,"costly naivety Hi, @anon Thank you. I'm new to the platform, indeed. I was kindly introduced to the thread by Noemi, my dear friend. You pointed out so well that being poor, scared and stressed out is as limiting as not practicing one's art as their profession! It’s curious what makes people choose one or the other. One theory I heard recently at a sociology of arts conference was that people in these fields keep thinking that the next gig/exhibition etc. will be the big break. Costly naivety/ self-deceit  :) So, the theory you mentioned and the article you recommended are new to me and I find they describe aspects of the arts-market relationship, amongst others, very accurately. Thank you for sharing this with me! Before reading these, I was thinking about how creative fields and other professions, like sports, have some similar stress sources, and this was confirmed and explained by the superstar economy theory. As useful and valid this is, I think it explains things only in part. One idea that comes to mind is the notoriously anxiety-inducing profession of writing. There seems to be something intrinsic about the creative craft that makes people doubt themselves completely. The tyranny of the white page could be well found in the white canvas … Besides this intrinsic source of anxiety, which, again, I'm quite uninformed about, I see a few more layers. As you were saying, Alberto, a strong one would be the characteristics of the winner-takes-it-all labor markets, and others might hover between the two, like self-belief, identity issues etc. I imagine a tension, a dynamic. Noemi, you phrased it wonderfully talking about the pressures of ""how to carry yourself in the world"" as an artist. In particular, the fact that the distinction or the separation between art and life, professional and personal evaporate within the arts (from creators to art professionals) would be a generous source of tension. One question that crosses my mind: how much of this is penetrating within the non-creative spheres as side-effect of the creative turn, the requirement for creativity, the curated self, etc.? By way of conclusion - I'm 30 now and I've been practicing self-deceit and strategic thinking, in turns, for more than 5 years now. Reading your story, Alberto (thanks a lot @anon " 32,32271,2016-11-10T15:45:00.000Z,32270,anon1526983854,anon954326867,"You have time :-) Oh, you have plenty of time. I left professional music at 34. It was a struggle to get back to being a freelance economist, but it could be done. After a few lean years, I got a breakthrough at the age of 41. When I turned 45, I took on an international job and left the country. Another two years later I co-founded Edgeryders, and this year, at 50, the transition from freelance economist to working full time for my own company seems complete. 30 years, you'll probably change your professional identity not one, but twice. In fact, Edgeryders exists in part to provide a ramp to people that want to do this stuff. I took it head on, but it does not have to be lke that. Noemi will tell you more about this if you are interested. :-) In our current line of work there is some of the persistent, low-level panic of the artist's work, because there are fads in consultancy, and people hustle, and it's important to be seen in the right places. But the market is NOT winner-takes-it-all. Companies need help, and they can't all get the top ten guys in the business, because those guys can only sell 100% of their time.  " 33,32272,2016-11-11T22:30:25.000Z,32270,anon784612129,anon954326867,"The notoriously anxiety-inducing profession of writing Regarding ""There seems to be something intrinsic about the creative craft that makes people doubt themselves completely. The tyranny of the white page could be well found in the white canvas … "" I am not someone who enjoys writing a whole lot, but let me share two items. The Dunning-Kruger effect probably explains some of this. It works indirectly though: Literacy is something that tends to draw an intelligent crowd. Those people tend to read material produced by other relatively intelligent people. If you decide you also have something to contribute, you will often feel like you'd better not be one of the worst of authors (even though for mere mortals there may not be a realistic way around that - as most people just need the practice). That means people who actually decide to write are a tiny minority and probably quite far from the average. So in short: writing does not produce (particularly much) anxiety, but it tends to draw an anxiety plagued crowd. When I read how fairly prolific writers approach the task (journalists on reddit, or academics for scientific proposals) I was shocked by the lack of rigor and decorum. The other item I fould almost universally helpful and reconiling is a list of cognitive biases. For me it very much drives home the point that the mind really is a very messy thing that is quite dismal at some tasks and quite impressive at others. And we are probably very lucky there is a good deal of variation between people. " 34,32273,2016-11-11T22:51:20.000Z,32270,anon784612129,anon954326867,"Only 1 shift?! Here is a vid from a person from a very different milieu I think, and still there are many parallels. He's more expecting 7 shifts though: https://youtu.be/qfVy_NnbZPE?t=607 You can just watch 7 or so minutes, but perhaps @anon3786846929 would be interested in the whole thing - I could imagine there could be some mutual benefit in that approach as well. " 35,32274,2016-11-13T13:02:29.000Z,32273,anon1491650132,anon784612129,"Changing professional paths The thing that is pretty scary to me is this idea of arriving at an end of it, figuring out where your path is gonna take you, or worse, like this guy in the video you shared says, discovering ""what you've been put on earth do do"". I think starting off with that mindset is freakish..  " 36,32275,2016-11-13T14:16:56.000Z,32197,anon1088780966,anon1526983854,"long tail? Interesting economic analysis, @anon There were a lot of promises a few years back that the internet would make many more people able to be sustainable successful at a smaller scale [curating a fanbase of a few thousand fanatically-loyal people, say, while presumably supplementing income from art with other jobs and roles], and I know of a few anecdotal examples of artists doing just that, but my general impression is that those promises were not delivered on. " 37,32276,2016-11-13T21:49:07.000Z,32275,anon1526983854,anon1088780966,"Don't know much There seems to be some interesting stuff happening in franon1056199097 genres, like erotica and my favourite, hard sci-fi. But yes, that's anecdotal. I have dropped out of studying that stuff since, and moved onto greener pastures. Which itself is a kind of anecdotal analysis.  ""Long tail"" markets would feature many niches, each one with the economies of scale in consumption aforementioned, but making space for more artists just by virtue of being many. So your question is theoretically valid, but I do not know the answer. " 38,32290,2016-11-13T13:15:00.000Z,680,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"This thread is becoming immensely resourceful. I'd like to explicitly, out loud, acknowledge the super ideas and contributions people have been bringing to this conversation. What months ago started as a shy question by Pauline about the relationship between creativity and mental illness became slowly a rich discussion on artistic education, creative angst and vulnerability in various professions and particularly how personal attributes like introvertedness, autism, ambition, self-deceit, psychological resourcefullness at large influence the wellbeing of our professional self. What depth!  Re-reading it all makes for some pretty deep reflection points on a Sunday afternoon.  Thank you @anon " 1,670,2016-04-24T16:45:12.000Z,670,anon4000965159,anon4000965159,"First Interview/Brainstorm (german):     ⁃    Thema Sharing / DIY / P2P Frage nach allgemeinem Wohlbefinden der Leute /Community kann das mit geschäftlicher Art und Weise zusammen gebracht werden, oder ist es ehre soziale Geschichte, private Zeit für andere geben, wie kann man eine Symbiose mit Mehrwert für mich und andere schaffen?     ⁃    S. Thema alte Menschen App mit jungen Menschen zusammen Zeit     ⁃    M. Ähnlich: Junge Menschen aus der ganzen Welt haben alte Menschej in USA angeschrieben: Austausch / WinWin alte Leute haben Kommunikatin / Junge lernen Eng. / Beide Seiten profitieren / anders als bei kommerziellen Projekten + möglichst große Gruppe dafür schaffen     ⁃    Es geht um symbiotischen Austausch/Interessensvertretung / In welchen Bereichen funktioniert das noch überhaupt nicht und welche Anreize kann man da schaffen / Worauf hat keiner Bock, was ist scheiße bezahlt oder hat zuwenig Leute die das machen wollen?     ⁃    S. Technische Mittel der Kommunikation M.: alles was online gemacht werden kann wird dort gemacht, wegen niedriger Hemmschwellen / Weg auf sich zu nehmen um in ein Altenheim zu fahren macht keiner, ZB Hemmschwelle Geruch     ⁃    What is care for you? M. Übersetztung ins Dt. schwierig/mehrdeutig, sich um jdn kümmern?, nicht nur völlig sozial und selbstlos, muss auch etwas für mich geben, kann auch nur Spaß sein oder Gefühl etw Gutes zu tun, Dankbarkeit, irgendetwas muss ich zurück bekommen, und auch anderes herum, wenn sich jemand um mich kümmert will ich so reagieren, und wenn nicht direkt dann an dritte weiter geben, Sozialwesen, das macht den menschen als human aus     ⁃    S. Realität: Sozialsystem nicht darauf ausgerichtet     ⁃    M. ist bekannt....ist einfach echt scheiße bezahlt! Es geht in  sehr sehr vielen Lebensberiechen um Geld und das ist schade, es ist einfach so dass Leute, die gutes tun kein geld dafür bekommen / paralleles System etablieren – ich habe ein Ferienhaus in den alpen, in liste eintragen, alle können hin, große gruppe bezahlt / pures egoistische überwinden,     ⁃    um das zu überwinden, vllt begriff von eigentum überwinden     ⁃    S. Akte der Solidarität nicht als Bürde / Wie? / Arbeitsgedanke / Warum nicht Spaß?     ⁃    M. konkretes Bsp. Treppenhaus sauber halten / Hausgemeinschaft, Lösung: Aufteilung oder der der es immer sauber macht bekommt den schlüssel zum dach oder man entw. Produkt das das treppen sauber machen zum adrenalin erlebnis macht, fahrzeug, –> treppe als rutsche benutzen // S. Spielansatz / Last     ⁃    M. das ist etwas dass man nicht in seinen Lebenslauf schreiben kann     ⁃    S. gemeinscaften / wie unterscheiden sie sich voneinander / wenn neue mitglieder rein kommen, wie integrierst du sie?     ⁃    -M. grundsätzlich ziemlich interessiert, die branon1056199097n ja auch was neues rein / uni: Gruppen binden sich aus Interesse, wenn da jmdn neues kommt muss ich mich nicht überwinden Kontakt aufzunehmen     ⁃    S. Stressfull things into opportunities? / M. Ort wo sich Menschen gegenseitig helfen, gemeinsam fluchen heulen können daraus neue Freundschaften das wäre jawohl ein win??!?! / Ich habe echt wenig Sachen die mir überhaupt kein spaß machen, liegt vllt daran, dass davon fast alles mich betrift     ⁃    S. Gibt es waren Altroismus? M. Ich glaube sozial handeln schließt auf ein selbst zurück / ist auch gut für mich The first questions I have were: How can you get people to make symbiotic connections with each other by combining their intrest? How can you get people out of their comfortzones by increasing them? Can you make society act more social by making their their help more recognized? Are there new ways to make joyless but neccessary work more enjoyable? Nudging: should we manipulate people in a good way? Do we have to? Aren´t we doing it all the time anyway? Is there a way to defeat hypocritisy in some areas of social life? I let you know the anwers I get. Stay tuned! Milan   " 2,7822,2016-04-25T07:25:11.000Z,670,anon1491650132,anon4000965159,"What's your design process? @anon A friend of mine, expat living in Cluj, has similar questions to yours and he's starting to design a project with psychology students: to bring people in town of different ethnicity, ages and occupations together in meaningful socializing, because everyone is so into their own clique. The proposition is to just give themselves an opportunity to meet new people, no strings attached for a couple hours? Basically they will run events branded as such - ""you should spend time with strangers, it's healthy and fun"". It's nice because it starts with a personal burning point and doesn't pretent it will find answers. Needing to find answers can be scary sometimes :-) " 3,15150,2017-05-24T00:51:02.000Z,670,anon1790353549,anon4000965159,"Behavior sciences is an interesting way of knowing people more Hello  Milan,  It is very interesting to get to know and understand people, especially trying to know their interests, passions and habits. Body language is a key to getting to know and understanding people well.From the way they greet, sit eat and talk.Some people are introverts , while others are extroverts. some are timid and some are loud and very bold. But ig you find like -minded passion driven young people, lets say not for profit making team members, they will definitely share same goals which might be for collective good of their community. I will recommend, you read more on social phsychology and body language. " 4,17524,2017-05-24T20:29:26.000Z,15150,anon1491650132,anon1790353549,"Make sure to use the @anon @anon " 5,20638,2017-05-24T22:31:46.000Z,670,anon1790353549,anon4000965159,"Definitely looking forward to connecting with Milan Dear Neomi and Milan, You guys are great and wonderfully made to create more sustainable impacts. I respect you guys very much for your work and efforts. @anon " 2,8438,2017-05-24T10:47:58.000Z,838,anon4132325713,,"I am out of words to explain how amazing the idea is. Such creativeness! Each of the artwork is unique in their own way. Carrying hidden meanings and emotion. Treat to the eyes. Glad to know you came up with the idea. Wishing you good luck. " 2,9544,2016-09-29T08:11:15.000Z,764,anon489906876,,"Hands on Its great to see the developement of your project... spreading out the idea and establishing it. Passioned and caring about the women: The ones you work with and the women in general for getting access to a new kind of preventive breast cancer examination that is gentle and pleasent. Thank you for your commitment :) " 3,14838,2017-05-23T09:06:56.000Z,764,anon702062533,,"Brilliant! I love this. Shifting the viewpoint to highlight the beauty and variety of people's different abilities. It really does seem like a win-win idea. Your photo here looks so modern and stylish, but when I go to your website it falls a little bit flat in interesting content. The concept though is so beautiful. I am a graphic designer, I can imagine a really beautiful brand overhaul to reflect this innovative project and an open source toolkit made for people/social entrepreneurs/investors who would like to implement discovering hands. " 4,20593,2017-05-24T15:04:32.000Z,764,anon1491650132,,"Freelancing in healthcare I had to re-read the post because I didnt understand at first whether this new super original type of health workers would train to become personnel, or it would be a training that is more alternative medical practice. I'm curious how freelancing works and if it is easy to become a temporary caregiver  in a hospital, clinic, or other medical facility with this certification? @anon702062533  I think @anon " 1,840,2017-05-17T17:25:00.000Z,840,anon1456232841,anon1456232841,"Bangladesh is not only one of the most densely populated countries in the world (with 926 persons per square kilometer) but also located in the world's largest delta, facing the Himalayas in the North, bordering India in the West, North and East, Myanmar in the Southeast, and the Bay of Bengal in the South. No comprehensive empirical study has been conducted at present to determine the incidence and prevalence of disabilities in Bangladesh. The few studies that have been conducted reflect a medical rather than a social model of disability, and they are also limited in geographical coverage. While no reliable national data exist, anecdotal information and a number of micro studies generally suggest a disability prevalence rate of between 5 to 12 per cent. This is close to the WHO estimate, which states that 10 per cent of any given population can be considered to have some or other form of disability. Ignorance and wrong beliefs surrounding disability, compounded with a negative and derogatory attitude of the community (including family members) have contributed to the marginal development in the disability sector in Bangladesh. As Bangladesh makes progress in implementing its health policies on infant mortality rate, immunization coverage, and general health care, there is likely a lowering of incidence of disabilities. However, the gains due to improved health care can be outweighed by the triple effects of increased number of surviving children with disabilities, increased number of people incurring disabilities due to old age (e.g., cataracts and arthritis), and widespread malnutrition. Disabilities due to natural calamities and road traffic accidents imply that the prevalence of people having disabilities in Bangladesh is likely to continually rise over-time, although the nature and distribution of disabilities are also likely to change considerably. " 2,8421,2017-05-24T10:45:59.000Z,840,anon4132325713,anon1456232841,"Hello dear, I am from BANGLADESH too. Glad to know there are such nice thoughts about other people in your plans. It is high time we take an action about these because otherwise who will? All the best with your proposal. I have a project too, visit maanon1932026148? : https://edgeryders.eu/en/one-simple-solution-for-global-warming-to-save-my-country " 1,841,2017-05-16T11:40:16.000Z,841,anon702062533,anon702062533,"

    WHAT?

    A social enterprise beer brewing club.

    WHY?

    St. James’ Hospital, Dublin, commissioned a service design project in search of  a non-clinical, community based service design solution to the problem of particularly poor overall personal health locally. The aim is to focus on reducing the number of inpatients over fifty years of age with entering the hospital with preventable ailments such as heart disease, high cholesterol, dementia, and lung cancer.  The hospital is based in The Liberties in Dublin, which got its name in the 12th century due to its location just outside Dublin City's walls – lands united with the city, but still keeanon3606750899g their own jurisdiction (hence ""liberties""). The area's history is still very relevant to the health of its residents. Being outside the city walls, the Liberties became a hub for trade and craftsmen. The 19th century saw the Liberties become dominated by large brewing and distilling families, most notably Guinness who built the world's largest brewery there. With this industrial wealth, however, came dire poverty and slum living conditions. Today the Liberties is a city neighbourhood of opportunities and innovation, but its history - positive and negative - pervades. Although having undergone much urban regeneration as well as gentrification, the Liberties still embodies that juncture between being a centre for enterprise and commercial life as well as being home to large blocks of inner city social housing. Homelessness, drug use, and lower than average life expectancy are some of the problems facing in the Liberties today.  On researching in the area first-hand, it was observed that there was a distinct lack of male presence in local community centres, as well as a high number of men drinking alone in pubs. The Liberties Local Health project draws on this observation to engage those lone drinkers to become members of a local brewing club, where beer is brewed by locals, for locals. The project takes its inspiration from the highly successful Men’s Sheds mental health initiative whose motto is, “men don’t talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder.”

    HOW?

    The brewing club for men over fifty in the locality – where they create a low percentage beer brewed by locals, for locals – harnesses existing local skill sets of the hundreds of Guinness factory retirees. The brewing club, ""Sláinte"", takes it name from the Irish word for ""cheers"", also meaning ""health"". The aim of the club is to encourage more responsible drinking through appreciation of the brewing process as well as forming a sense of pride and comradery among members. The project was commended by health industry professionals after its presentation at Dublin’s Active Age Conference 2012. With Ireland's craft beer market having hit €59 million in 2016 (up form €40 million in 2015) and volumes of beer from Irish microbreweries having increased by 415% between 2011 and 2015, the brewing club ""Sláinte"" has high viability potential to run itself as a social enterprise overseen by members, bringing with it a sense of pride, achievement, and overall better health.

    USER JOURNEY

                  " 2,10198,2017-05-16T16:47:14.000Z,841,anon281534083,anon702062533,"How is it going so far? It's a grand idea and project.  Your writeup says it started in 2012.  How has it been going since then?  Has it got those men to talking with each other more?  I am sure it does, even if it is about the beermaking.  That by itself would show it as a success since those guys aren't so alone anymore.. " 3,14829,2017-05-23T08:52:46.000Z,841,anon702062533,anon702062533,"Thanks John Yes this project was started in 2012, but it is no longer running. It was a group project and some of us didn't have the time to really make it happen. But all the research is there so I would love the opportunity with the help of Edgeryders to get this off the ground. " 4,17376,2017-05-23T18:44:25.000Z,14829,anon1526983854,anon702062533,"You know who does this? Las Indias! Ok, not quite the same. But here's the story: @anon " 1,710,2016-07-31T22:10:07.000Z,710,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Access to potable water is a severe and increasingly pressing health issue for many countries. An affordable solution for poor water quality that will improve health within develoanon3606750899g countries. Communities will be taught how to make the filter and the purification drops - made from clay, water, saw dust and small amounts of silver. Then it will become a source of local enterprise from the sales of the filter and drops.   Interesting read: http://innovatedevelopment.org/2014/05/13/the-madidrop-an-affordable-easy-to-use-water-purification-tablet https://www.youtube.com/embed/xpsAJ9Bqcmo Access to potable water is a severe and increasingly pressing issue for countries in the Global South. Due to a confluence of factors including overuse, population growth and climate change, an estimated two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025. One recent innovation that could potentially revolutionize water purification in poor, rural communities is the MadiDrop. The MadiDrop is a porous ceramic disc that has been infused with silver or copper. When dropped in water, the tablet releases ionic silver or copper that strips away bacteria and pathogens to produce clean, drinkable water. Each tablet is capable of treating 10 to 20 litres of water for up to six months. The result is an affordable, easily distributable and long-lasting alternative for families who lack access to a safe, potable water source. The MadiDrop is the second water treatment technology developed by PureMadi, an organization formed by a group of interdisciplinary students from the University of Virginia. Their first project was the creation of a ceramic water filter factory in South Africa. The filters use local labour, readily available materials (clay, sawdust and water) and are treated with a dilute solution of silver nano-particles that effectively filter out common waterborne pathogens. The PureMadi ceramic filters were designed to create a cheap and sustainable point-of-use water purification solution for low-income households. To date, they have been well-received and highly effective among families in Limpopo province, South Africa. The impetus for the MadiDrop was to apply this successful model to create an even cheaper point-of-use water treatment technology. The MadiDrop can be used in a variety of water storage containers, and at only a few dollars per drop, can provide families with purified water for an extended period of time. Lab results look promising but extensive field testing is still required to determine whether the MadiDrop is a sustainable and culturally appropriate solution. With any luck, the MadiDrop will eventually be widely used to improve clean water access and curb the spread of waterborne diseases in low-income communities. " 2,6621,2017-05-19T11:57:15.000Z,710,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"How far did it get? @anon A more important question for you: do you personally have contact with any of the projects or people you introduced in opencare so we can send them in invite to the Open Village Festival in October? I can send you a model invitation. Let me know, it would be useful. " 3,15020,2017-05-23T15:37:58.000Z,710,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Worth a share @anon However, I did read that the initiative developed substantially in the past few years. I read that they opened up two facilities in South Africa.  This is as of 2016, the facility produces clay water pots infused with silver particles to disinfect the water – and provides employment for the locals and is an excellent small business model for community entrepreneurs.       " 1,6340,2017-05-18T12:02:29.000Z,6340,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Welcome! This is the team for you If you want to discover great people and promising projects, help get their message out into the world, and help draw support to their work.  We are mainly interested in people, projects and places that help us to reimagine how we care for one another in the 21st century. This is a global community, with participating people and projects located in more than 50 countries. It connects inspiring people from all walks of life, each one bringing with them new information, knowledge, skills and opportunities. Our communication efforts aim to make their initiatives visible to one another and to the world at large.  Members also document of what happens during the event, make detailed notes from key sessions writeups of key sessions, summarise the conclusions and ways forward so that we can continue to learn and collaborate once the event is over.  If you are up for contributing to make this a great experience for you and your peers, let's collaborate. Like everything on Edgeryders, this is driven by social interactions. Things only become active when you post something, so if you think something needs to happen, step in and drive it, and others will follow :)

    Tasks available to this team

    Do design (flyers, visualisations, interfaces, physical objects e.g. prototypes) Conduct an interview and publish it Tell the story of a change-making project Document a conference session Information design | Copywriting Create a story of the \#openvillage festival in tweets, for the twitter press conference ..or propose a new task if you want to contribute with something else!

    Steps to get your OpenVillage Festival ticket

    Each ticket is worth a number of tasks. They take no more than 30 minutes each and can be done whenever you like:
    1. Login to your edgeryders account (create a new one here)
    2. Introduce yourself in a comment below and pick one or more task that interests you.
    3. We will then contact you individually to shape a set of 5 tasks that you will enjoy and find useful as preparation to help you get the most out of the event.
    Use the comments below to communicate with the team to let us know once you have completed your tasks. Or if you have questions etc. " 2,6603,2017-05-19T11:07:39.000Z,6340,anon882273058,anon70625510,"Information Designer form Ghent Hi I’m Pieter, an information designer living and working in Ghent. I’m a biologist by degree but I have a keen interest in turning complex information into clear and appealing graphics. I mainly design infographics and animations for scientists but I’m open for any kind of graphic work. I’m especially interested in the relation between science and design and how the latter can be used to attract a bigger audience to scientific research.  For the open village festival I can design: infographics flyers, posters,.. social media graphics a motion graphic (animated video) to advertise the festival and so much more…   Let me know what you need, I’ll be happy to help you out!   Pieter " 3,14760,2017-05-22T16:20:50.000Z,6340,anon1293448839,anon70625510,"very interesting Hi Pieter, That sounds interesting! I would like to see some of your work. You might be interested in our project and publication about health concerns in Kathmandu....http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/project-publication-2/ . I hope to meet you in Brussels. Kind regards, Alberto " 4,20210,2017-05-23T08:32:14.000Z,6340,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Hi guys! It was really nice meeting you yesterday Pieter, we're working on that writeup of the bigger vision behind open village as planned.  Hi Alberto :) Yesterday we had a long call to discuss what is needed, and structure it so it is easy and to work together as a distributed crew spread all over the place. Here's what we came up with, what do you think? " 5,23839,2017-05-23T14:49:23.000Z,6340,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Summarising conversations in different threads... The link between openvillage, edgeryders and the festival has not been articulated clearly as @anon1526983854rey and @anon  It's something we are struggling with- Pieter has kindly offered to help do a simple visualisation once we have done a first writeup. Openvillage, and edgeryders in general, is a response to systemic problems. People come at them from different angles, this is my own whereas Alberto Cottica's is here and if you trawl through the edgeryders conversations throughout the years there are hundreds of conversations, each containing a piece of the puzzle. Over the next couple of days and weeks we will be hammering away at it with anyone and everyone who wishes to get involved. @anon As far as what is already here: We have a number of spaces on the platform. They're currently not easily accessible, but will be changing this so that visitors to edgeryders.eu can get to them directly from the top level links in the hamburger menu- they will replace several of the ones which are currently there. We are also looking updating their contents to make clear connection with OpenVillage, and then adding links to them from the openvillage menu:
    1. Blog where deep"" interview and ""all together now"" blogposts can be found: https://edgeryders.eu/en/page/newblog
    2. Channels where stories, blogposts etc are sorted by topic: https://edgeryders.eu/channels
    3. Arrivals where edgeryders videos interviews can be found: https://edgeryders.eu/arrivals
    ... What do you think?   " 1,6356,2017-05-23T13:12:18.000Z,6356,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    Gehan Macleod

    (Community Curator and OpenCare Fellow) #woodmaking \#community \#activism \#marginalization #publicpolicy \#wellbeing \#therapy \#mentalhealth A hoarder of bits of thinking and half formed disruptive thoughts with occasional bouts of fundamentalism about things that should be simple. Lives in Glasgow, Scotland where she co-founded the GalGael Trust , an organisation which provides learning experiences anchored in practical activities that offer purpose and meaning. They run a large physical space consisting of a large carpentry workshop, metal working room, co-working stations for makers, and timber warehouse. People whos lives have been battered by storms such as worklessness, depression or addiction work on demanding projects which require collaborative efforts. Some of the products are then sold through the social enterprise - their traditional wood longboats are widely recognised as the best on the market.  Gehan is curating a track at the OpenVillage Festival in Brussels this October. It is a participant built event dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community-driven solutions (""opencare""). We are interested in what our peers already already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.  Are you interested in how to build healthy organisations, communities or healthy societies humming with human flourishing? Perhaps you might like to join us? Learn more about Gehan's work and how you could get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here.   Image Credit: Scottish Field " 2,7646,2017-05-22T15:58:07.000Z,847,anon1491650132,,"Creating your own job Hi @anon How can people in Edgeryders can support your work? And in turn, what are you interested to discover..? We have an annual gathering which this year takes place in Brussels, see if it's of interest maanon1932026148? It's called #OpenVillage Festival. " 4,17300,2017-05-23T10:46:00.000Z,14787,anon1491650132,,"Will be sharing your story I am definitely up for sharing your story here, and then others can get in touch directly with you..  @anon If you click on the link to the Festival it says 19-21 October, Brussels. also there: instructions for registering :-)  " 1,6355,2017-05-23T09:08:46.000Z,6355,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    Winnie Poncelet

    (Community Curator and OpenCare Fellow) #openscience \#engineering \#diy \#biomaterials #interdisciplinary \#collaboration   A mix of engineer, entrepreneur, biologist and storyteller. The organizations he co-founded in Ghent, Belgium mainly work on science and technology, but a big focus is on the way in which they do it. Working across education, research and communication, they alway try to stimulate cooperation, openness, inclusiveness and other values. In Edgeryders he's now coordinating the OpenInsulin research group. Looking at things from diverse perspectives is a competence Winnie values highly. Winnie is also curating a track at the OpenVillage Festival in Brussels this October. It is a participant built event dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community-driven solutions (""opencare""). We are interested in what our peers already already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.  Are you using opensource science, knowledge, hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? Perhaps you might like to join us? Learn more about Winnie's work and how you could get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here. " 1,831,2017-05-07T15:11:23.000Z,831,anon658789429,anon658789429,"Hello peeps, This is my first post in this community…. So no completely sure yet how it works or what kind of responses I will get. Here my story and my question: Because I took into my household 1,5 years ago, a 17 year old Iraqi boy (refugee) I am becoming, a little bit against my own will, a go to, ask to, for other Iraqis, around the globe… His mother, on her way to Belgium, Brussels, on a “family reunion visa”, was professor in History at the Mosul university. His uncle, doing a PHD in medical micro biology – molecular micro biology - immunity in England, Leicester. They are both asking me for help in finding a job at universities or doing a (another) PHD in Europe. His uncle, so he does not have to return to Iraq after his PHD finnishes in Leicester. His mother, to feel use full while waiting to go back to her country one day. So her my question: Where, how and what can they do to have the best results in their search for a university job or sudy? As I never did a PHD or worked at universities it is still a blank canvas for me. Thanks for taking the time for providing me with tips and tricks. Maria " 2,7489,2017-05-09T12:58:00.000Z,831,anon1491650132,anon658789429,"University spots for asylum seekers in Belgium or Europe Wow, this is heartfelt, seeing people like you do so much for others.  Who can help with even a contact in Belgium that could provide more info? In or outside universities, people must know what works or what doesnt. @anon Also, maanon1932026148 the OpenInsulin folks around here can help? @anon1746600840 , @anon " 3,14667,2017-05-09T15:09:29.000Z,831,anon4116418727,anon658789429,"I may need more background Hi @anon I may need a bit more information before even trying to share any suggestion... First thing, I would like to ask you to confirm my understanding. There are two separate issues that would need to be faced: 1) how to enroll in a doctorate while being classified a refugee [this one should be reasonable] 2) how to enroll in a doctorate as an already senior professional The latter is a bit complicated. In my limited experience, most EU doctoral programs are biased towards young, highly competitive candidates. Usually, more senior individuals access doctoral tracks by tertiary funding (e.g. the company hiring them covers the full university costs, and maintains them on payrol). Can you share with us how the idea of a PhD was selected, among other alternatives? Is it for the student status/visa? Or for the need to receive economic support? If their titles/certificates are at hand (which I presume, since they do not want to enrol in a bachelor, but in a doctorate), why not seeking a professional position (lecturer, lab technician, ...)? If they have tried and failed, could you share a bit more about this, to figure out what is the situation... In general, no one size fits all in academic careers... It's my humble oanon3606750899ion, but for the double issue you are bringing to our attention, I am somewhat skeptical that anyone will be able to say ""get in touch with X"" or ""look up on Y""... each solution will be custom tailored on the history and professional profile of the person. I hope to be able to help you doing the latter. ^_^ " 4,16990,2017-05-19T15:48:35.000Z,14667,anon658789429,anon4116418727,"clear information (I hope;-)) Hello! Thank you very much for giving me some of your time and maanon1932026148 later some of your knowledge. OK, here we go; 1) Question 1 (Emad): How to enroll in any position within the academic world (or other) to be able to stay in a safe society like ours until they (him and his family) can return back home. Being Iraqi and at the end of a PHD in medical science and student visa in England. He is also looking to support his family financially.   2) Question 2 (Amal): How to find any position within the academic world, for somebody, on the way to Belgium, on a ""family reunion visa"", to be able to spend, the years waiting for the war to end, sensibly, by investing in her knowledge and-or career. As she will be supported by the Belgian state financially, money is a little less of an issue for her. As they are not in a position of demanding things they would of course greatly accept any solution or proposition :-) I guess what I am looking for most is;   * What kind of opportunities exist being in their specific situation? * Where do these two individuals have to start their search for having the best chance of finding any job or position within the academic world? I hope this makes things more clear. If not, shoot I have asked both to give me more specifics on their careers. Can't wait for your return. Maria           " 5,18157,2017-05-19T16:00:23.000Z,16990,anon1491650132,anon658789429,"The skills asymmetry.. We were just talking about this earlier today with @anon Where do these two individuals have to start their search for having the best chance of finding any job or position within the academic world? I know some universities like CEU in Budapest opened itself to allow any classes to be audited by displaced people, but that's a small step. Probably meaningful still. Maanon1932026148 look for some similar  offers, if Emad and Amal are already covered by the Belgian state. " 6,19962,2017-05-20T15:09:40.000Z,831,anon658789429,anon658789429,"Different profiles For Amal I am sure I will find the way once she is here in Belgium. I am less worried about her. because she will already be in save hands and she can apply as from Belgium Emad is a more complicated situation because his PHD and student visa will come to an end and so his employer needs to apply for his visa.  I guess he just needs an opportunity to stay in Europe and as I am not familiar with the academic world I am still lost in how to resolve this issue.   " 1,574,2017-05-08T09:51:10.000Z,574,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"In the following months few makers, designers and innovators will be invited as temporary collaborators to the project opencare and will live at WeMake. In the upper floor of the building there are two rooms, two bathrooms, a big open space with the kitchen and a balcony. The idea about Maker in Residence (MIR for short) is that -after a selection- chosen candidates will join WeMake and will get the proper on-site support to develop and accelerate their own project, if it fits to the opencare world.   So, here is a brief ethnography about some talks that emerged during the meetings to organize and plan MIR.   A meeting of the staff - from left to right: Alessandro, Chiara, Costantino, Francesco and Silvia   In the past weeks two of the most recurrent questions by the makers and the staff of WeMake have been: ""what is opencare? What does fall under this category?"" This came out during the drafting of the call and after reading the applications. You can read more about the call here: http://wemake.cc/opencare/maker-in-residence-en/   Since the beginning it was clear that either designing an object, like doing “city guerrilla” was certainly not corresponding to taking action about care. But “if such an object is loaded by local care is opencare”. Both have an impact on care about the territory, but the second does it with such a goal. It's not a matter of considering shared and open means, or connecting the health and the social. “It's a matter of meaning for us”. “We found ourselves in many situations where this was absolutely not immediate to be understood”.   About the call. During the early meetings the staff of WeMake discussed some issues came to discussion. The first one was: “how broad is care?” Understanding and agreeing on the extension of the concept of care seemed a very important point to put into achieve the MIR project. Although it seems quite a philosophical question, this had a very functional consequence: it made possible to draft the call and also to select the candidates.   A second discussion came on how much physical should have stayed the designed object. The call itself is based (it has a record) on the physicality (fisicità) of the object, as it was a result of the main experience of WeMake with opencare, given that all services needed new design and that service and hardware may reach a ratio definitely in favour of the services (service 90%; hardware 10%).   “Even if the prototyped object is not material, in a makerspace, a dash of impact for completeness is however needed on the project” It has to do with the way makers think; very creative and very material thoughts are always in the air here. I feel lucky to follow and take notes and records of what is happening and how things are in the making about MIR initiative. I'm looking forward to discussing with the coming makers in residence about it.   " 2,6864,2017-05-19T22:28:01.000Z,574,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"Are makers in residence already recruited? @anon service and hardware may reach a ratio definitely in favour of the services (service 90%; hardware 10%).​ - are you refering to projects we are discovering in opencare, from all over the world? or mostly a WeMake challenge? Either way, that could be a result itself, it tells us that convening people to tell others and learn about community care tends to be more effective when there is social dynamics or relationship building involved.. just a hypothesis, of course many factors are involved and some other relevant conclusion could be due.    " 1,813,2017-02-14T17:39:40.000Z,813,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"THE OPTIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PAGE ARE ENGAGING ONLY THE AUTHOR. The Malagasy people seem to have lost the desire to resist standing up to defend their rights, even though they are being trampled on a daily basis. According to statistics, 92% of Malagasy lived below the poverty threshold but no one rose up. When social pressure is too much, the point of rupture is not far, and the accumulation of frustration and deprivation often results in bloody explosions. However, this can be avoided. Just put yourself to nonviolent civil resistance! Nowadays, the Malagasy people are tired of going down to the streets to claim their rights as citizens. Why make the strike if it is to have each time the same scenario: Teaser bombs, lost bullets and blood flowing, as was the case in 1972, 2002, or in 2009? Why manifesting because it is the politicians who benefit in the end? Today, people prefer to stay at home and rant about the social network instead of expressing their frustration in public and questioning their leaders. And yet, it is not the subjects of contestation which are wanting. Traffics of all kinds, corruption, bad governance, lack of accountability of elected officials, non-respect of laws, hamper development of the country. It is now essential that the Malagasy rediscover that power belongs to them and that they learn how to fight against injustice, without dilatory maneuvering of the politicians, and without violence. As Martin Luther King Jr pointed out, active nonviolence is not a method for cowards. On the contrary, it is a real resistance. It is the art of using non-violent power to achieve sociopolitical objectives, especially through symbolic protests. This practice was popularized from 1921 by exemplary personalities like Gandhi in India, by Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko in South Africa, or Martin Luther King Jr in his fight against segregation. The Malagasy also experimented with nonviolent civil resistance, for example through publications in satirical journals under colonization, but the practice gradually lost face to the rise of the military and police repression, but Also facing the weariness of the main concerned - the citizens. Contemporary movements such as Wake-up Madagascar are now trying to awaken citizens' consciences and to revive non-violent civil resistance. Short-lived symbolic actions that do not create crowds and are therefore not illegal are regularly organized to denounce the fact of society that make jasper. Expose empty plates to say that the Malagasy are hungry, to walk in the streets of Antananarivo to demand the ratification of a charter on democracy or to make the dead on the place of independence in the city center of the capital to denounce the words which undermine the country are for example, part of the non-violent civil resistance. It is precisely to spread this philosophy on the desire for change through non-violent actions that many projects such as LIANA or Learning Initiative Aiming at Non Violent Action which was initiated by Wake Up Madagascar, Liberty 32 and the WYLD program Women and Youth's League for Democracy with the support of the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict. Since the 70's during the 1st Republic in Madagascar, Malagasy people have been manipulate and influenced by politicians who wants a place on government by force. This article is about about my own personal oanon3606750899ion. You can add a comment, give suggestions or critics :) " 2,8777,2017-02-16T13:03:42.000Z,813,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"Except... @anon Used to be these kinds of posts (not related to a project, just wishing to express an oanon3606750899ion) would go in the Agora. @anon " 3,11860,2017-02-23T08:06:16.000Z,8777,anon2668029998,anon1526983854,"Error from wet touchscreen @anon   " 4,15843,2017-02-19T10:24:38.000Z,813,anon1491650132,anon2668029998,"Boiling points Hi @anon That feeling of powerlessness in the face of politics is present in many people's minds, no matter where they are in the world or the regime governing them.. Unfortunately it's hard to say what needs to happen to undo that. A lot of the times it is cumulative effects, at others it is a sudden outbreak.  I hear you. Myself, I was so suprised to see a quarter million people taking the streets in my country these weeks for something very concrete - the government passing an emergency ordinance in the middle of the night, ""like thieves"", people would say. And right they are. In a democracy, this is non-violent protesting.. and it kept growing gradually because people would suddenly see that joining forces can actually overturn things. And it did, but because a large enough number made that mental click. So I suspect the best advice is to hang in there, and keep building. Also, the world is watching now, more than ever. Solidarity has ever new ways of showing its face :-)   " 5,19608,2017-05-19T19:22:15.000Z,813,anon2591396734,anon2668029998,"Where is non-violent resistance appropriate? It is a tricky question. I've seen it written that Gandhi, King and others relied partly on the background assumptions of the culture they lived in, for their non-violent approach to succeed. I would perhaps contrast that with the idea of non-violent protest under the Nazi regime 1940-45. A recipe for instant disappearance and death, along with anyone else who showed any signs of supporting the non-violent protest. Non-violence as a way of life, however, I do believe is nearly always good. It's just that open protest might not be the way to go. Instead, it might be being kind to one's oppressors. Or treating them with empathy. Nonviolent Communication is a good set of principles in many settings. But people have to be human. What good is non-violence in face of a pack of hungry wolves or hyenas? And sometimes, people lose their humanity, behaving like animals. It can be very hard to call back people's humanity, but perhaps always worth the effort? " 1,6323,2017-05-13T17:14:05.000Z,6323,anon722012516,anon722012516,"@anon So I've been thinking about what an opportunity the OpenVillage is for bringing a large portion of the Edgryders community together, and IN PERSON! And I was wondering if there are any plans for community building activites around the conference schedual that were focused, directly on the community, not just everyone's work?  I know that conferences like this will naturally bring people together, and especailly with the outlined plan people will be listening for what projects speak to them, to partner with and learn from each other. But I was curious if there is any programming being put together just to connect people on a human level? Some ideas as to how to this could be done around the conference schedual: -Early morning hike, for those who are early risers and would like to work in some fresh air and activity before cognitive work of conferencing. -Evening of Inquiry (adapted from my university), people sign up to be put in random, small groups (5-8 people) and take turns answering personal, premade questions around motivations, hopes, fears, dreams, obsticals over come, etc. (Possibly with wine and some snacks). -Edgeryders Match (adapted from Under30 Changemakers), have members of the community (who choose to) fill out a form about a variety of their interests and passions. And then match them another member, so that they can videochat in the weeks leading up to the OpenVillage. This way there is at least one familar face when they arrive! Are things like these already in the works? Or maanon1932026148 there are contraints I don't know about? Additional thoughts/reflections/feedback, please comment! " 2,9414,2017-05-14T17:03:57.000Z,6323,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Whoa, great thinking Hi @anon I especially like your idea of Edgeryders match ! Having participants meet and socialize ahead is part of what we found works with community events, and there is much room to do it even better than interacting solely around projects. I am willing to support such an activity if you are game!   " 3,12143,2017-05-18T23:40:17.000Z,9414,anon722012516,anon1491650132,"Great Explanation @anon Also, I'd love to make an Edgeryders Match happen before the conference! I'll contact my friend who ran it in another community and ask her for an outline. Is the best way to proceed just to continue to post in this thread?   " 4,12729,2017-05-19T06:34:01.000Z,12143,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Yep, proceed here. Yes @anon Should we catch up during next week's community call on Wednesday? (the hangout link is as usual this one). Looking forward..!  " 5,12732,2017-05-19T08:04:28.000Z,12729,anon722012516,anon1491650132,"Sound good @anon   " 6,13006,2017-05-19T08:25:46.000Z,12732,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"6 PM CET Always this time. (I was on the road this last wednesday so I may have missed it indeed, apologies) " 7,16211,2017-05-15T14:42:07.000Z,6323,anon281534083,anon722012516,"It's a good point Relationship building isn't all about projects and work, even when it is of such importance.  Relationships are built on trust, and in turn so is the process of networking among individuals.  But there isn't any one way that trust gets established.  We humans are deep and complex and there isn't any one set way that people form bonds - bonds that last anyway. Sometimes a simple question like ""what do you do for fun?"" leads to something meaningful in life and in work.  My experience at the LOTE that I attended last year was that the people there had so many natural affinities that it seemerd like anyone could talk with anyone else and develop some sort of bond that could lead somewhere new.  But there is a lot to be said for ""fanning the flames"" to increase the likelihood of it happening. It has occurred to me at times that this site, very project oriented, would benefit from areas where such mutual discoveries could more easily happen.  It isn't small talk if it leads someplace bigger. " 8,16960,2017-05-19T09:30:00.000Z,16211,anon70625510,anon281534083,"Video hangouts and welcoming new arrivals For in person conversations, there are the weekly online video chats. @anon784612129 has been in many of the previous ones (do you still have some of that audio documentation?). When we did them in the past they were often meandering and could run on for ages, people dropanon3606750899g in and out. Kind of like a cafe. It can be really nice and a good way to get to know one another. Something else we have tried is Video
    • talk-to-me-about bubbles. People take a photo or video of themselves holding a speech bubble with containing their ER handle +  * one sentence about what they are interested in (  videos here).
    • skype interviews with more specific responses to questions e.g How are you making a living on the edge? (e.g. Elf's video here )
    • more traditional short video interviews about people's life and work (videos here)
    There are also older, pre-edgeryders experiments like this one Maanon1932026148 we can get a tradition going where people make videos and then post them in the arrivals group?  We already have a lot of videos from members lying around, so we could get in touch with them and invite them to get it started... what do you think @anon " 9,18152,2017-05-19T14:08:26.000Z,16960,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Yes to more video formats Similar to ""Talk to me about.."" series which we shot when people were in the same place, last year ahead of LOTE we asked participants to tell others about their failures, which was the topic for the event. Here's a long thread with responses that came out. The next step I think we missed: how to make all of these personal intros more available to people new to edgeryders or the event...  Of course, @anon " 10,19619,2017-05-19T08:24:56.000Z,6323,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"LOTE Yes @anon281534083 it's not the first time I heard people say this: My experience at the LOTE that I attended last year was that the people there had so many natural affinities that it seemerd like anyone could talk with anyone else and develop some sort of bond that could lead somewhere new. @anon   " 11,23432,2017-05-19T17:48:16.000Z,6323,anon281534083,anon722012516,"It is for me for sure I have had a lot of jobs and work situations over the years.  And I have friendships that continue and are active from just about all of them.  What I can say about my own experience is that the ones that lasted had a social component outside of work.  The ones that stayed only inside the workplace were certainly friendly for the most part, and I am sure that any one of them could resume in a friendly way should the situation arise. But the ones that really lasted - and which provide for me the best opportunities for a high quality referral or a collaboration (as well as an assurance of a good time if it's just social) - are the ones that had a personal/professional overlap.    For an unusual guy like me who has no credentials bestowed by any institution, this means everything.  My survival has depended on it.  One report from the edge, anyway... " 1,846,2017-05-19T10:27:39.000Z,846,anon868457471,anon868457471,"Hey dear fellow edgeryders! How can we create the most amazing world by being all of ourselves? How can we explore more of our loving and creative potential as well as create a world that reflects this inner beauty and love?  These are two vital questions for me and why I'm ""Creating new realities"". There's this beautiful play between the physical world and the non-physical (spiritual), which goes beyond words and at the same time can be very simple in heart. In my experience we are learning to trust and act upon our hearts' desires and letting go of the certainties of the known. Learning to be fully into life and at the same time peacefully creating the life that's feels really good, often being unpredictable, confronting with new challenges along the way of growth. Yet, totally clear from another perspective, which is often only afterwards understood.  To me there's roughly two aspects to creation, finding love and expressing it. In whatever way feels most relevant. So creating new realities is about this expression. Expressions of love, expressions of fascination, of being intrigued by a question. This passion, like life can often only be looked upon afterwards. Yet is highly stimulating during the process. At the same time, we can experience a deep peace from within. Growing and integrating. Expressing and being silent. Creating new realities requires both in my experience. Going into something, almost blindly. Being into the question, into life, almost unconsciously. Letting go of what I already know. And at the same time being fully aware of what's happening, even when I don't know where I'm going. I'm fully aware of what I'm experiencing, all of the feelings and sensations, getting to know myself. To me, creating is about holding space and love, it's also about exploring new states of being. More expansive versions of myself. Going into the unknown. Creating new realities, riding the edges, exploring new perspectives, and at the same time, taking care of each other, holding space, accepting all of yourself and everyone around you. Knowing the lows to accept the others and overcoming doubt, finding highs to thrive and create a more amazing life.  So can we do that? Create new realities and find deeper love within and for each other? Can we create and hold space? Can we set up a world that's a reflection of the love and creative potential? Can we shine light on some of the systems that enslave us (like the way money is used to control us) and create new systems that support the dynamics of our potential? Can we let go of heavy concepts and perceptions such as ownership? Can we create a world that's natural and harmonious, yet inspiring and unknown? Can we co-create out of passion rather than looking for security? Can we step into the unknown and create with love? So how do we deepen the understanding of ourselves and our behaviours? And more importantly, how can we let go of everything that doesn't serve us. Can we accelerate into loving ourselves? Which techniques can we use? Which perspectives can we take? And physically how can we create lifes that actually feel inspiring and authentic? Over the last years I've been organizing several series of meetings about personal transformation and living from the heart (for instance; Vrij met Geld/ Free with Money). Also I've worked and lived with changemakers communities, for instance at the Synergyhub in Rotterdam and several ecovillages/ ecocenter's, as well as intensely researched the topic of enlightenment and spiritual growth and the physical world. Over the last months I've started writing a book: Step into creation - guidebook for a co-creative universe. Recently I've started a platform ""Creating new realities"". One of the important lessons I learned is: ""you can't co-create if you don't resonate"" and ""a little shift in perspective"" is often all you need to get back into flow. When I stop resisting, things happen. ""When I let go, I know"". Behind the known is a infinite field of potential. There lies true excitement. There is infinite inspiration at our disposal. And at the same time, it's nice to play with the physical. So to make the world a reflection of our spiritual growth. To let both go hand in hand. To grow and deepen the quality of relationships and communities. To develop the society and create things that represent our love for the world and the mystery of creation. These are some of my most important reflections over my experiences. That's what I'd love to inspire and catalyze! To create realities that are infinitely inspiring and joyful.  Looking forward to co-create with you! Ewoud " 2,6581,2017-05-19T10:32:41.000Z,846,anon1061021150,anon868457471,"Hello Ewoud! Great to read you on our platform - I wanted to introduce you to @anon " 3,14071,2017-05-19T16:53:53.000Z,846,anon1491650132,anon868457471,"My curiosity + other communities around here.. Welcome on board @anon868457471 and thanks to the lovely Natalia for introducing you to edgeryders. Ourselves are in the very process of setting up a community space in Brussels (The Reef mentioned by Nat), starting small in our first year, but already looking for a bigger space in 2018. The most concrete and useful info I found on your website is this: An 11.000 sqm house gives space to everyone who has an in^terest in contributing time, skills and resources into a manifestation of unconditional sharing and co-creation. How did you get hold of the space and for how long? While The Reef is similar in the idea of sharing physical space to support each other, the model for making it sustainable and not conditional on core team members or Edgeryders as an initial (small) investor is a challenge.. which is why we want to run a session on co-designing it during our Festival in the fall. Of course, this is designing by doing, as we cant afford a year of just planning. Would you be interested in joining the festival?   Some other communtity building projects by fellow edgeryders which you could find interesting:
    • [urban] Cohousing in Lancaster, UK reported by @anon2591396734 to be dealing with challenges around mental wellbeing and dealing with conflicts 
    • At Cregg Castle in Ireland, stewarded by @anon
    • CAPE virtual network in-the-making, focused on personal development and self-education in a holistic way. Their outlook on the future is related to an ""awakening"" of sorts (inverted commas because the language reads new to me, as someone not used to spirituality).
    " 1,839,2017-05-15T12:10:51.000Z,839,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"A new issue I could deal with, during these last weeks, has been the additive manon169343781facturing (known by the most of us as 3D print). Part of the work at WeMake is done thanks to the 3d printers, machines that materialize objects from digital projects and templates. There are different types of 3D printers according to the type of material, process and size of manon169343781facturing. The additive manon169343781facturing is one of the most commons; the material i've seen so far is a kind of plastic wire warmed and turned into layers added on a base on which in few hours any object can take shape. There are prototypes and test objects all over the scaffolds and tables. After a while you get used to such unusual presence and start to think of materializing by print whatever. Really. In the past week Costantino and I went to Fondazione Bassetti in Milan to listen to Professor Jos Malda from Utrecht University about 3D printing in the biomedica sector. Moreover, I could discuss with some of the makers about possibile uses of printing cells and what are the scenarios about it. We talked also about the possibility to print food. When it comes to 3D printing everybody is open to discussion here. A meeting with Rune and other collaborators turned in a interesting discussion about including patients in the process of manon169343781facturing hands, or prothesis to grab forks and spoons to make people who miss some fanon1056199097rs, the hand or an arm, autonomous with eating. There are so many different applications and by 3D print it seems a viable way to save costs and have a just in time do it yourself scalable production of whatever the patient needs. Of course there are many issues about copyright, legal implications, safety, patenting and certification. What is sure is the interest not only at WeMake and other fab labs, but from the bigger community of innovators taking action inside opencare framework. " 2,6670,2017-05-19T14:40:55.000Z,839,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"Is there an agenda? The team at WeMake probably know this, but what informs the amount of work of a makerspace/ fab lab puts into projects of care (underwritten by values like affordability, accessibility, inclusivity of whatever products are \#D printed) versus the more commercially driven products? Is there an agenda of sorts? For example, the FabCity network apparently are going for building urban ecosystems: ""obliging cities to produce 50% of everything that is consumed in a city to be local by 2054 using new production methods"" (from Yannick's post on medium.com) At that level, care seems to be very abstractivized..  whereas a local fab lab agenda could be of much more interest to opencare. " 2,9491,2017-05-15T06:27:29.000Z,6321,anon1491650132,,"So many references Hi @anon I skimmed through two of your references, but they are too many and too long to read in one go! The video is especially inspiring.. In the opencare research of which OpenVillage Festival is part of, we have been engaging with community projects to understand how the very groups projects are intended to serve are participating actively in shaanon3606750899g them. Opencare means, to some extent, very participatory community approaches to solving a problem. I'm curious if and how the artists you work with are involved in the BRIDGE Foundation, or taking the lead somehow..? To give you an example, in the WeHandU project in Milano the disabled are invited to jointly design customized prostheses better than those on the market, and a project team is there to support putting them in practice, more than offering a readymade solution. I think the team - in its early days would very much appreciate your feedback as a comment to their post, thanks! " 4,12685,2017-05-17T05:54:15.000Z,11777,anon1491650132,,"Hadnt seen that page I agree with @anon I look forward to reading more, hopefully in the meantime you can also socialize around here. I recommended reading about the project in Milano, but Edgeryders has a pretty diverse network, so let me know if you want to especially connect with some projects or areas.  Waving from Belgium, " 6,13122,2017-05-18T06:53:27.000Z,12989,anon1491650132,,"Small clarification I forgot to ask you @anon " 8,13683,2017-05-16T13:00:24.000Z,9491,anon1293448839,anon1491650132,"interesting organization Very interesting organization reaching a diverse community...good work.   " 10,16133,2017-05-15T10:19:08.000Z,6321,anon1061021150,,"@anon " 11,21180,2017-05-15T14:57:00.000Z,6321,anon281534083,,"Magical Art of Silence Great name, and some very nice art.  In looking at your page in FB I also saw a link to the ""Youthopia""  https://www.youthopiabangla.org/index.php# which presents a lot of promising opprtunities as well as a number of meetups and get-togethers.  It's great to see this going on.  I agree that it is well worth the time to investigate and understand all of it better. " 2,9432,2017-05-14T17:36:14.000Z,836,anon1491650132,,"Link to video? Hello team @anon I am curious if you posted the video and have a link to it? Let me know if we can help in any way. " 1,575,2017-05-10T08:07:17.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Hi EdgeRyders community!  We are a group of students from Politcecnico di Milano. Our story was started with the intent to share the process of one of our latest projects. The project is about engaging the inhabitatants of the Bovisa neighbourhood, Milano with the students of Politecnico to improve the environment they happily share. Hope this project interests you. If some of our work sparked some ideas in you, please don't hesitate to share them! Cheers! " 2,7855,2017-05-10T08:56:13.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Our process The brief for the project was: improve the communication between the students of Politecnico di Milano and the people of the Bovisa neighbourhood. So our first step was to start drawing ideas and defining the needs of the two target groups. We looked into what the two groups can offer to each other and how possibly they can meet each other's needs.   We were stuck for a moment with the creation of ideas and identifying needs (it happens! :)). Therefore we needed a new approach so we decided to use the 'How to ...?' to trigger our creativity again. Here was the outcome:   After the 'How to ...' questions we mapped out the different needs of the stakeholders and how they are co-realted.   After that we identified the three main needs of the people of the neighbourhood and students.    After the identifying the main needs we started coming up with ideas that can  possibly answer one or more needs at once.    We voted on what we thought was the best idea: the idea with best potential of benefit for our target group and of course feasibility. In the end we choose one main idea and we drew inspiration from other two.  Hope you enjoyed our process. Next comes our finalized idea. " 3,14908,2017-05-10T08:51:13.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Final Idea Here is the 'formal description' and the visualization we created. 'Connection between people and the space they live in plays a huge role in the development of any area. We noticed that in Bovisa this connection is lost as people are not willing to go outside and streets seem absolutely empty and dangerous in the evening. As Bovisa was industrial area in the past, people feel that they live in the place they are not supposed to live. That’s why our goal is to change the atmosphere in the area and as a result it’s perception by locals.   We consider collaboration between students and locals as the strong tool to achieve this goal. Our concept starts with the platform where locals communicate their needs to the specific spaces in the neighborhood with the professors who are in charge of the workshop. Locals would define problematic spaces, spaces that can be transformed and improved. Professors will choose few places to be developed and launch the workshop. In this workshop students and locals will work together to develop the concept. Once the final concept is selected, students work to prototype the concept with funding by locals.'   Next step for us is to develop all details surrounding the idea and visualize it for our final presentation which is in 2 days (phew we now it's too soon..). More process posts to come. " 4,20341,2017-05-12T16:16:09.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Next Development Steps For us to better understand the idea we had to put on paper every step of the process. We did that and we defined things that were still unclear.   Then we used visuals to express every step that the different stakeholders would go through. We used these visuals to make the storyboard of one of our videos. Now it's the video making time... We are doing a simple animation, stay tuned... " 5,24181,2017-05-12T16:22:36.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Videos developement Based on the storyboard we developed our first video. It was about explaining the project. How it would be made possible externelly and internally. A second video was created to engage citizens on the platform: it is more friendly and direct, focused on all the aspects and the benefits for locals.  Video 2 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nrDJfmlLgRZzFHZ2Z6T3JwZGM Video 1 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nrDJfmlLgRSzB0S3puUmI2Zk0 " 6,26064,2017-05-12T16:29:04.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Interviews After develoanon3606750899g the concept entirely together with the explanation videos, we interviewed some of the involved stakeholders. First we spoke with two professors. We tested the feasibility of our proposal and how it might work in the context of a university laboratory. We also talked with some citizens. We tried to find out if they would be interested in taking part and trying to understand their needs and possibilities according to proposal. LINK to images of INTERVIEWS: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2EechllVKtRY1BFMzV5TE5LZFk " 7,27827,2017-05-12T16:35:44.000Z,575,anon3223221784,anon3223221784,"Presentation After 4 days of work we presented our project. We focused a bit on the process behind and then we described what the idea is, which are the actors and their motivations. We described service encounters, elements needed to build up the proposal. Finally, we showed how we answered the brief, backing up our project with the interviews that we mentioned earlier.   " 8,29087,2017-05-14T15:07:16.000Z,575,anon1526983854,anon3223221784,"Good work! Wow, that seems like a lot of work! Congratulations. I find quite hard to read the longhand writing on the post-its in your photos, but I watched the videos and everything became clearer. Are you moving forward to realise it? When? Something in your project reminds me of a different project we are working on at Edgeryders. It's called Future Makers, and it's about DIY urbanism. Not so much city planning as city making, directly. It happens in three cities: Yerevan, Armenia; Rustavi, Georgia; and Luxor, Egypt, under the aegis of the United Nations Development Programme. Working with UNDP, we have noticed that there are groups of people who are trying to ""edit"" the city as if it were a wiki, without necessarily going through all the mandated procedure. Some of the ""edits"" are good, great in fact: look at this Cairo neighborhood were people got out with bulldozers and build four new ramps to access the ring road!  In Future Makers. the city authorities and the local ""city hackers"" agree on a street, or a square, or a park, that is marked as ""editable"". Within the limits set, everything is allowed, as long as the people build it themselves. We will then see what happens.  Future Makers has a workspace here on this platform, but they have decided to keep it private, so, I can't share what they do with you. But if you are interested you can ask for membership of the workspace – just send a message to Noemi from here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/users/anon1491650132 , then click on the ""Contact"" tab.  " 1,6320,2017-05-12T15:38:43.000Z,6320,anon2954219769,anon2954219769," Pic source: DITOs Twitter On May 10 & 11 one of my \#lifegoals came true: to visit CERN. I studied physics at university 8 years ago, but dropped out after the first year. The awe for physics and the mythical status of CERN did outlive my short-lived career as a physicst. Together with @anon The venue, Ideasquare, is the perfect setting for an event that's part academic conference, part unconference, part hackathon. I was happy to discover the latter two parts had the upper hand and that everyone that I met had an interesting story to tell as to why they were there. After arriving later than expected (we have much to learn about Swiss buses), we could join the first few short plenary sessions. Quickly though, everyone was invited to propose their own sessions or to join the hacking in one of the meeting rooms-turned-hacklabs. No time for that in my case, as over the short two days, I went from one interesting conversation to another. To be expected with such a high concentration of the most active biohackers in Europe and beyond. Discussing more inclusive education with Bethan from Bento Lab and open source, DIY medicine with Michael from Four Thieves Vinegar among others who are doing amazing things. It is certain: there is much to be learned from each other, and we should encourage this more. The OpenVillage Festival theme on citizen science aims to do exactly that: learn from each other. On day 2 I presented the questions I had raised initially and our ways of tackling them with ReaGent, Ekoli & Break it Down. The need to find answers was further confirmed by reactions, other presentations and conversations offline and online. Many communities have the same issues:
    • How to sustain your lab space?
    • How to sustain people?
    • How to professionalize in a way that does not compromise values?
    • How to work with institutions?
    • How to distribute value in a fair way?
    It was not all seriousness and we ended exploring weird ideas like what to do with tonsils after they are removed (Adam Zaretsky gave me a detailed protocol after I asked him about how to make tonsil burgers; this was not even that far out there compared to the ideas he presented the next day) and laughing at the fact that someone is actually getting paid for jamming minced meat in lab glassware. As I'm writing this back in Belgium, the discussion is still going on at the event and on the online forum. With so much combined experience and brains, some interesting next steps should come out of it. I'm motivated to find solutions by sharing our experiences, learning from others and connecting dots between fields and initiatives. For anyone interested, our joint presentation can be found here. If these questions resonate with you and your project, let me know. I'd like to visit some spaces over the summer to exchange experiences and work on new solutions. " 2,9204,2017-05-13T01:46:04.000Z,6320,anon281534083,anon2954219769,"Citizen Science Right on.  Great report.   " 1,511,2016-06-30T21:00:12.000Z,511,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"https://player.vimeo.com/video/177412523?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 Support the Shit Show on Startnext! startnext.com/theshitshow We have been studying it for 3 months, we have been dealing with it most of our life, we are highly aware of the importance of engaging with it but we still find it incredibly hard to talk about. Pauline and I are both product design students and together with Nele and Luisa who study communications we are team UP. In the context of ""Hacking Utopia"", a human centered design project at the University of Arts Berlin, we are investigating mental health. This article explains our approach of boosting mental resilience and give you the chance to get involved in our project. In our previous contributions on Edgeryders we described how we started off with the question of making sadness, unproductivity and inefficiency less shameful. We discovered two TED talks that influenced us greatly: The power of vulnerability by Brene Brown and Depression, the secret we share by Andrew Solomon. As later confirmed by the psychologists we interviewed, these talks made us understand that sharing our feelings is a key step towards mental resilience. Establishing a sustainable, personal connection this is necessary for recovery and growth. When we hide our condition, we ignore it, it becomes worse. USER INTERVIEWS The issue of mental health is especially important in the context of youth. Young adults are increasingly affected by issues like anxiety or depression. Their circumstances make them particularly susceptible to psychological stress. As many leave the familiar framework of home and school and move into an uncertain future, the newly independents have to find alternative support structures. New living situations, potentially in a new city or even country, starting university or a job, all these developments entail a multitude of mental pressures. In a time where social media is so influential, standards of self-representation are an added factor. According to one of the psychological guidance counsellors at Studentenwerk Berlin; stress, loneliness and self-image issues are very common results among many students. As part of our research, we interviewed several university students from different backgrounds about negative emotions like these. One question was how they handle situations of feeling sad, stressed or lonely. The main insight was that everyone experienced this shit, but no one liked to deal with it. A prominent theme in the conversations was the difficulty to talk about emotional problems – be it a missed project deadline, a loss in the family or an eating disorder. It was mentioned that it was easier for them to open up to someone who had similar problems and could empathize. However, it is difficult to identify the people that can offer support when everyone tries to hide their struggles. As a result, most people don’t decide to seek help until they had been in increasing pain for a prolonged amount of time. Yet at this point of outreach, recovery is still far. As we learned from our interviews, it can take months to find care that is suitable to the individual and more months to see any progress. While there is a great spectrum of available options, the general idea of psychological treatment is still stigmatized. It is often not even perceived as a possible solution. The psychologists we interviewed mentioned that many of their patients came to them only after being referred by a general practitioner or friends who had tried therapy themselves. Yet, we cannot force people to seek help. Keeanon3606750899g quiet about insecurities is a justified mental defence mechanism. When we share our feelings, we are vulnerable, exposed. Oftentimes, the recipient is simply not equipped to offer a good, empathic response. This could almost be described as a societal incompetence, stemming from a general lack of awareness. OUR GOAL We want to challenge the current attitude towards psychological care. Our project tries to de-stigmatize psychological pain and make the sensitive, 'taboo' issue of mental health more present and approachable to the public. We believe that udnerstanding and empathy is vital to provide good care for people that are suffering from emotional distress. We want to make it clear that feeling shitty is nothing to be ashamed of, but actually a very common thing. Also, we want the impact of these feelings to be understandable, so that more people can offer informed, helpful responses. When this happens, the threshold of reaching out is lowered, which in return allows problems to be addressed before they develop into serious mental conditions. INSPIRATION There are a number of inspiring projects who deal with exactly this issue of awareness. One clever way artists are spreading awareness is over the internet. Tumblr users like Rubyetc, Beth Evans or Sarah’s Scribbles have gained quite a following with their funny, relatable comics about everyday struggles. Seeing that you are not alone in your suffering can be very comforting. Recently, illustrator Gemma Correll created a series of drawings as part of an online awareness campaign for Mental Health America to visualize what #mentalillnessfeelslike. Their campaign encourages people to open up about their conditions and harvest the power of sharing. A related approach can be found in the various devices that exist to simulate old age. Suits like ‘GERT’ are designed to make the wearer feel the impairments that come with aging: stiffness and limited mobility, decreasing strength, blurred sight, muffled hearing. The concept was originally developed to enable caretakers of elderly people to better understand the needs and fears of their patients. Now, gadgets with similar effects, designed by students at Weimar University, are being exhibited at the Hygiene Museum in Dresden, allowing the public to gain the same understanding.   In general, public exhibitions are a valuable source of inspiration when it comes to reaching people and conveying information. A prime example is the 'Happy Show', set up by design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Verging somewhere between art and education, the show throughly explores the theme of hapanon3606750899ess in a graphic, creative and interactive manner. Another show that encourages people to actively engage with the exhibit is Erwin Wurms 'Bei Mutti'. Visitors are isntructed to interact the artefacts on display, effectively becoming a piece of the art themselves. PROJECT PROPOSAL In order to achieve our goal we propose a combination of an interactive exhibition and an information booth. This pop-up stall can easily be set up at universities events like open days and conferences. We will exhibit various sadness simulators, wearable objects for the crowd to try which simulate the effects of being depressed, stressed or anxious. These objects have been inspired by an online survey we have conducted in order to find out how people physically feel when they are in emotional distress. Out of dozens of responses we have extracted the most common themes: weight on the shoulders, head pulling down, brain fog and a general discomfort in one's body feeling: hot, sticky and itchy. With these results we have designed various objects: A neck bender, a very heavy device to carry on his back being forced to lean forward. A helmet made of tinted transparent acrylic that simulates looking through a veil and muffles the sound of the surroundings and a really uncomfortable ill-fitting coat made of a super itchy and stiff fabric. We have more ideas but for now we have realized these three. Those who are brave enough to test our simulators will receive a positive feedback. They will get to choose between 3 gifts: Stickers that encourage everyday task such as: ""got out of bad"", ""took a shower"" and ""washed my laundry"" in order to demonstrate how difficult these tasks can be to certain people. They could also choose comforting cynical tea bags that they can grant a friend in need on a rainy day or shit shaped chocolate pralines to compensate for the horrors they have just been through. The exhibition will also include an interactive board in which participants can share their feelings caused by the simulators or just generally and a second board presenting useful information regarding mental issues: how to identify, approachable treatments, support groups and other solutions. The first exhibition will take place during Berlin University of the Arts Semester end's exhibition and we hope it will continue to other universities around berlin and even in other cities in Europe. If you hope so as well you are welcome to join us in a number of ways: 1. Support our Startnext campaign going online July 20th! Help us fund the first ever Shit Show and enjoy our moody merchandise (link tba) 2. Spread the word! Our first intention is to raise awareness of mental health issues. Please share our ideas and solutions, you might even help someone. (It will also be nice if you would share our Startnext campaign once it's up :) 3. Participate our research, tell us how you feel when you are down in our survey or just share with us your Ideas and comments. We would love to hear some feedback and improve our project Pauline Schlautmann: The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,9367,2016-07-01T09:40:50.000Z,511,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"""comforting cynical tea bags"" LOL You guys have a very interesting list of perks for those willing to experience distress, kudos. So you want to raise awareness about serious issues through humor, or a lighthearted approach. I'm guessing there is a difference to be made in approaching awareness this way versus advocating for mental support through humor. For the latter: does (self) irony help embrace the shitiness of one's situation? hm, not sure. " 3,11930,2016-07-04T18:31:44.000Z,9367,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Humor vs. Approachability Thank you! I think the main thing we are trying to do is make this topic more approachable. More than humor it's perhaps about the casual language and the interactive methods like the simulators and surveys. Of course it is still a serious topic and the options for professional help should be presented in a serious manner. We don't want to make fun of the shittiness itself, but rather criticize the social standards concerning emotional wellbeing, in a somewhat satirical / cynical way. As far as using irony or humor to embrace the shittiness, I think that's very personal. Those comics that we mentioned for example often deal with these issues in a funny way and receive many comments saying that it's helpful. But surely there is also people who deal with it differently.  " 4,12669,2016-07-05T08:07:42.000Z,11930,anon1526983854,anon2594564133,"There must be some research about that I do not know much firsthand about depression and mental discomfort (lucky me). But I have heard that positive messages are not uplifting on depressed people, on the contrary. If you have doubts about when and how much to be humorous, you could look around for research about the matter. I am sure there must be loads, though I myself cannot think of anything...  " 5,14581,2016-07-12T08:54:59.000Z,511,anon2223306613,anon2594564133,"I’m sixteen and I find this concept relatable and useful... I really enjoyed reading this article and I find familiar to me some of your influences (the Tumblr users, I’ll check out the others at some point)! I actually talked with my mother (who is a psychologist) about this. We both agreed that this might help a lot. Young people feel attracted to creative ideas and not that typical solutions to problems, especially when it comes to this uncomfortable subject. I encourage you to keep going and develop this project. But let me give you a little piece of advice: just pay attention to the way you express your way of thinking about this project, as the subject is not that nice and easy to work with. Also, don’t forget to ask for as much feedback as possible (especially from young people, who might be open and curious about this – like I am). Thanks for sharing this and good luck with it! What are the next ""challanges"" going to consist of? Let me know if you need a young girl’s oanon3606750899ion. I’m really interested into this subject and I would like to give some help. :) " 6,21491,2016-08-01T09:07:39.000Z,511,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Just a quick ask: video? Hi again! If you guys have the crowdfunding video up online somewhere it would be great to share it! " 7,22431,2016-08-03T15:12:50.000Z,21491,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Video online. Maanon1932026148 we should make a page with all the projects? Maanon1932026148 it makes sense to embed the video in this post https://player.vimeo.com/video/177412523 with a  button linking to the fundraising page? " 8,24338,2016-09-06T08:33:29.000Z,511,anon4098712251,anon2594564133,"Vernacular language, platforms, and context Moshimoshi folks, I think the work you are doing is great. I am an anthropologist who studies young people's practices on the internet, and one of the projects I am working on wants to understand how users on Tumblr use the space for solidarity and resistance, to share resources both good (i.e. recovery) and bad (i.e. relapse, hiding evidence of self-harm). It strikes me that the language of ""shit happens"" is not only gendered and culturally-specific, but also speaks to a segment of young people who are able to articulate their hardship and agony through humour - unforunately, this may not be a language accessible or comfortable for all. It would be great to see how your team will approach different internet/social media platforms and uncover the different cultural norms each one has with regards to expressing thoughts about mental health (i.e. nice images but cyptic captions on Instagram? secret groups on Facebook but not public status updates? anonymous Tumblrs with all-out honest confessions?) Looking forward to reading more on this. Good luck! " 9,26023,2016-09-14T08:47:17.000Z,511,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Got advice for this interesting mental health initiative? @anon Say hello to this wandering therapist who is doing traumatherapy on wheels and going on a tour in Europe just now! " 10,27798,2016-09-16T11:20:27.000Z,511,anon4219214615,anon2594564133,"i would like to give you a reference of soemthing big which lasted for many decades and had a solid scientific background and support. it is much differnet from your project but in some way it was aimed at showing and trating mind problematic people (sorry for my english) to a different open normal way: a big area (ex psichiatric hospital) transformed into a living community with srvices and cultural events partially manged by people which woudl ahve been reclused. http://www.olinda.org/cittaolinda/paolo-anon3606750899i   google should help in putting into english " 2,7661,2017-05-09T21:46:28.000Z,833,anon2238163770,,"Greetings from Kosovo I would like to make a comment to your idea and Wow     I know travel is problematic for non-Schengen because I grew up with it (I'm Romanian). My life changed completely at 15 when I traveled abroad for the first time, and has shaped who I am today, and where I live (I recently moved to Brussels). @anon The project above is about having students in a neighborhood in Milano go outside their design bubble and talk to the people in the neighborhood. So not so much about international traveling, but about - like you say - learning and accessing new knowledge.   " 1,832,2017-05-08T15:35:01.000Z,832,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"Cities are experiencing a growing social crisis: lacking in social cohesion; insufficient public services; decreasing support by traditional social forms (as families and neighbours); growing sense of loneliness. The gap between the growing demand and the shrinking offer of care is the basis of the present care crisis. To overcome this crisis a brand-new care systems has to be imagined and enhanced. It is possible to imagine communities of care and their socio-technical enabling ecosystems, capable to sustain and coordinate people’s caring and collaborating capabilities and doing so, creating new forms of care-related communities. This process exacerbates in those areas of the city that suffer sudden transformations and even more where a large chunk of the city change its function. This was the case of Bovisa district in Milan that undergone a dramatic change in the 90s’ when the dismissed industrial area (Ex-gasometri) left place to the current Bovisa Politecnico University. In the words of one of the professor at Politecnico “it’s like if a massive alien spacecraft has unexpectedly landed”. This is considered a general upgrading of the district but no doubt resulted in a subsequent change in the social life. The newly established School of Design attracted some 4,000 students which increased the demand for daily, standard, low cost services. That is what today Bovisa offers for the most, since the majority of the students live somewhere else. When students are off the district it changes its face: bookshops, fast food, bars, copy centres are closed and leave the district lifeless. There are good practices for people aggregation like the local weekly street market, the cultural association Scighera, the social initiative Coltanon3406688078do or the multiservice cafè Mamusca, but students show little interactions with it. It seems a missed opportunity. The aforementioned pushed the Politecnico University to challange itself asking “how can our student transitional community and residents develop positive interactions and give new life to the district?”. This is what the course – PSSD 2017 Networks of Care Collaborative encounters in/around the Bovisa campus – is about. Ezio Manzini and Liat Rogel, with Susanna De Besi wanted this to be the focus of their students’ work for this year. And they suggested the students to interact with the edgeryders community as their works progress. Today introduction ended with the following questions to students: Referring to your everyday interactions with Bovisa, when are you in need for care?  And when are you willing to provide care to somebody else? @anon " 2,7571,2017-05-09T17:38:00.000Z,832,anon2828185664,anon1409060592,"Group 2 - Report Day 1 After a brainstorming, we found out 4 main areas of interest in the field “need for help”:
    1. Avoiding loneliness and increasing safety;
    2. Triggering motivation for exercising together;
    3. Improving the efficiency of residence resources;
    4. Overcoming cultural gaps by creating situations that make locals and foreigners interact/teach/learn/share.
    This was our main intention: “We would like to create an atmosphere that helps Bovisa inhabitants to overcome cultural stereotypes. We plan to build situations that make them interact/teach/learn/share with international neighborhood, feel familiar with each other and increase the feeling of safety”. Day 2 Starting from these 4 main areas we tried to understand the situation from two different points of view: people living in Bovisa (families, children…) and Politecnico students (mainly those who live in Bovisa). After defining all the different situations we made 5 main clusters:   1. Understanding each other; 2. Lack of structures/facilities; 3. Security; 4. How locals perceive students; 5. Perception of the district. Afterwards we made another brainstorming on how the situation could change starting with the question “What might be done/improved?” and we arrived to many interesting ideas which derive from the 5 main clusters. We finally chose to focus on a service that allows exchanges using an online platform. It will make people talk and interact in order to exchange cultural knowledge and everyday goods. We decided to focus on families with children and young generations living in Bovisa, since they are the future of this district. To sum up, our intent is to push students to give what they can offer very easily, which is their knowledge. For knowledge we mean: - Language (both speaking and grammar skills); - Common subjects (for school education); - Hobbies (instruments, sketching, writing, and so on); - Cultural knowledge (movies, cooking, clothes…) This last one is the link between the first actors (students) and the second ones (families) since they both can join this kind of activities not for a specific need but just for personal enrichment and for meeting new people in the district. What families can give, on the other side, is more about involvement (for example sharing a dinner with a student - both Italian or foreigner one) and little everyday goods to share/lend.   " 4,20209,2017-05-10T06:12:23.000Z,832,anon1699469140,anon1409060592,"Group 8: Exchange Places Day 1: We thought about the needs for care that we had as students and then thought about how we could provide care to someone else. From the need of care we can highlight the need of company when dealing with loneliness and the need for help with the language barriers we face everyday. Respecting the opportunities for providing care we can say that we thought about volunteering or giving situational Italian classes to the people of the Bovisa and Dergamo neighborhoods and also skill sharing with them. In this first step we envisioned a place where people could share their leisure time to help someone else. A place where managing time is key to achieve a care exchange. We would like to find a way to integrate different cultures in the Bovisa neighborhood and to make it last, even after the initial buzz. Day 2: In Bovisa districts there are a lot of interesting shops for Politecnico students, but nobody knows about them because the most popular streets among students are always the same two main ways which link the university with the Bovisa station. For this reason our proposal aims to connect the needs and the desires of both students and shop owners. Students could experience the shops as places to work on their projects, get help from experts and use professional tools, while employees could acquire more visibility and get more customers. All this could happen through a powerful exchange of passions, knowledge and skills, in a stimulating atmosphere to co-work and to share meaningful stories. We want to give to Bovisa districts a new energy and vitality.   " 5,23763,2017-05-10T06:35:21.000Z,832,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Welcome to all! Dears, happy joining on edgeryders, I am Noemi, community manager and happy to assist if you need help navigating our web platform. In order to draw attention of someone to what you are writing make sure to use the anon3606750899ging options (@anon If everyone agrees that more interactions are needed with the local community, does this mean that you yourselves would be willing to spend your free time in other company than the usual? (maanon1932026148 elderly, families, children). Think about it. After all, you are residents there too, so you are in the position of both designers and ""partners"" or ""contributors"" in the service you design. I am also wondering if students who live in Bovisa have identified different priorities than those who only study there? " 6,26067,2017-05-10T07:57:06.000Z,832,anon1362267427,anon1409060592,"Group 6

    Day 1

    What are the need of students when they first come to Bovisa? With this question in mind, we set out to brainstorm on this topic, covering topics as dear as food, housing and facilities, moments of relax and moments of hard work. We then mapped out our needs in 3 categories: Practical, Personal and Social. We discovered that most solution share a practical component, that is indeed essential when trying to sort out how to move in a new, foreign environment.   After brainstorming in, on and for Bovisa, we agreed on some indisputable truths about it: FACT 1: Bovisa is a meltin’pot. People from many nationalities live in this neighborhood and many exotic shops can be found walking in the streets. Here, people can find at a short distance Chinese takaways, Italian pizzerias, Japanese all-you-can-eats and Indian restaurants (just to name a few). Unfortunately, the wide geographical network does not convert into effective connections. That’s why we asked ourselves: How may we foster cultural exchange and engagement among different nationalities? FACT 2: Bovisa is undefined. In the past, it was an industrial powerhouse. Today it’s something different, difficult to define. It lacks the identity that other areas have successfully established,  which also reflects on the feelings that people share towards their place. For that reason, we believe that Bovisa needs to state new, authentic values  to make its way to the minds and hearts of people. That’s why we asked ourselves: How may we shape a relevant and unifying image for this area?   Day 2 DEFINING AN IDENTITY THROUGH CO-DESIGN Most social innovation projects start from the bottom-up, engaging communities by leveraging common interests. In the same way, we believe that designers should start at the ground level when dealing with the complexity of social organizations: before looking at needs and solutions, they should start from the definition of a system of shared values. In line with the participatory nature of the topic, we intend to create a platform that uses co-design to research, define and communicate a new authentic identity for the Bovisa area. " 9,29967,2017-05-10T17:29:21.000Z,832,,anon1409060592,"Group 9: From a Makers space into a Home, Day 3 First we set the different touch-points of the encounter with how to reach the different stakeholders (Residents, associations and Students). We then created a timeline of the steps starting from knowing about the makers space to having it rehabilitated. We see a lot of potential in co-working together and how it can build a community. We tried to imagine a possible encounter by creating a storyboard of Anna an Italian Design Student from Politecnico with Nour a Resident of Bovisa originally from Morocco and how working together they were able to create a chair for Nuovo Armenia’s space and build a bond.     " 1,834,2017-05-09T20:50:19.000Z,834,anon2111288836,anon2111288836,"Day 1: Reflections on why the Bovisa neighborhood is living a social hiatus with the Politecnico campus, and the reasons behind the overall unpleasant feeling you live in the area. Many ideas, focusing on three themes: food, a gathering place and knowledge sharing. Highlight: the strong necessity for the concept to bring high utility to all the stakeholders involved (students, Bovisa dwellers, local workers/artisans).   Day 2: Decision to open up the focus, in order not to restrain to only the “venue” idea. Discussion on initiatives of social cohesion and networking we were aware of. After this, come back to the first idea, and refinement: not just a place for exchanging ideas, life experiences and knowledge, but also a relaxing , informal and cozy working space. Moment of stop and ideas recollection after the review with the professors: need of getting the focus back and to separate the working and the mere “socializing” side. Choice of a place that could be a reference for the neighborhood, opened longer than existing shops (maanon1932026148 24 hours), giving employment to locals, and access to a multifunctional working space for students. Possibility of eating, drinking, chatting, finding printers, tools and various working materials. Day 3: In depth plunging into the definition of our idea. Separation of the group in two units: graphic design one, to prepare the material for the video, and on-the-field interview one, to gather insights for the refinement of the concept. Brief brainstorming for deciding the name, which remains a surprise for now. Stay tuned!   Day 4 : Video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdqL22Ti7Y&feature=youtu.be " 2,7784,2017-05-10T06:46:35.000Z,834,anon1491650132,anon2111288836,"Your personal experience? Welcome to edgeryders @anon2111288836 , nice to meet you. Interesting way of phrasing it, ""social hiatus"". I am wondering if you have your own memory of feeling strange or unease, or lonely in a situation. How long have you been living in the neighborhood? For me and my colleagues in Edgeryders, being new to a city like Brussels (we live here but we are all expatriates) definitely risked feeling loney or unfit. It made us reconsider our lifestyle habits and become more social in our own living environment, through trying co-housing. The reason it works is that we are both designers and subjects of the experiment, so we only designed what we are willing to do. Have a look at     the story we posted and feel free to comment there or here.. do you socialize or create bonds with people in Bovisa outside your student circle or friends? if yes, great. if no, what are the constraints at the personal level? " 1,741,2016-09-12T16:26:33.000Z,741,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"FairCoop is, in fact, a lot of projects with a unifying mission behind all of them: to build alternative, grassroots-driven economy, which will be participatory, fair and belong to the people. All of the members of our global collective want to see that happen.   The FairCoop Thessaloniki is a local group linked to the global movement. We’re all dealing in different ways with the establishment of tools and processes that would bring about alternative, cooperative economies.   In the case of our city, to some extent, it’s done by implementation of alternative cryptocurrency, faircoin, developed by the FairCoop. We try to understand ways in which this currency, and a local currency introduced after the crisis, can coexist and supplement each other. In any case, the goal is to free ourselves from proprietary technologies and capitalist banking systems - by creating a parallel circular model, ideally connecting and supporting a whole ecosystem of projects locally and globally.   There is also the ambition to create a health care system within the communities by implementing the same solutions and building autonomous, community managed and driven scheme, highly independent from the existing one. For example, it could be done by using the percentage of community’s income to fund health care. It could even in the future take shape of an autonomous security system. Considering the increasingly ubiquitous 3D technology, many of the medical tools can be soon printed cheaply by anyone. Small ethical pharmaceuticals will be able to produce their own medicine. And all the wealth that is sucked up from the communities will stay there, making them stronger and independent. It is already the case in Spain, where after 6 years of experiments in the communities of all kinds a lot of generated income has been fed back and used to build, support projects, create systems of all kinds.   We also plan to replace the public system with a cooperative one. For now, it’s a hurdle - but in the future, it will be possible. The condition? The strong community behind it.   FairCoop exists since 2 years, and in Thessaloniki, it started a few months ago. We have links with dozens of cooperatives, organizations, initiatives and communities - such as Bitcoin community, P2P foundation, Catalonia Cooperative, etc. We’ve brought on board more than 1000 people so far. Yet, there’s still a lot to be done. We need to connect and build stronger alliances even in the cities - in Thessaloniki, many existing initiatives remain disconnected from each other. We need to develop models of integral cooperation on different levels. Bring decentralized technologies to local communities to make them more resilient. And seed the idea of cooperation, which will replace competition. " 2,7658,2016-09-12T21:43:31.000Z,741,anon2954219769,anon1270892108,"Personalized medicine I'm very intrigued by this idea: ""Considering the increasingly ubiquitous 3D technology, many of the medical tools can be soon printed cheaply by anyone. Small ethical pharmaceuticals will be able to produce their own medicine."". It would leave out the parties who suck the most money of out of the local communities. But more interestingly, it would allow for personalized medicine. People with rare diseases or allergies, who are often neglected by corporations based on economical incentives. Empowering these people with the tools to provide for themselves or have a close one provide for them seems like a revolutionary way forward. Then again, safety and legal hurdles quickly come to mind. I hope there's at least room for experimenting with it. 1000 people is already a lot... Congratulations! What do you feel is the biggest challenge in order to connect these existing, fragmented initiatives and replace competition in favor of cooperation? " 3,15909,2016-09-16T11:24:32.000Z,741,anon4219214615,anon1270892108,"no enemies be fully inclusive my friend, your peoject edvelop in really hard area and time. thanks you are doing it! your peoject has a strong identity. it shows values. You agree with me that not everybody agrees on thos values and practises. it will come a point when (if the project arrive to a relevant size and numbers) you will be in signirficant touch with interests, groups, organizations...that let's say, have a more traditional view. one side is big conflict othe side seam to be the death. third way, try to include what you do with what others do, with the time things and realtionship changes and if it good and betetr, your stile will modify their ones...without conflincts... " 4,21067,2016-09-16T21:06:10.000Z,741,anon1491650132,anon1270892108,"I never understood this, but maanon1932026148 you can enlighten me Hey, I wonder if we have met before here and there..? Were you at some point organising the Fest of Solidarity, circa two years ago? anyway.. Is your group or another in Greece already using Faircoin, and where? Is anybody estimating how much use is needed in order to see communities or projects up and running and producing results thanks to it? For detailed measurements feel free to point me to resources, I'm sure the story is longer.. PS @anon " 5,24572,2016-09-19T10:49:03.000Z,741,anon1270892108,anon1270892108,"Hey everyone, thanx for your comments! Our group is based in Thessaloniki but it is connected with a global network of tools and projects with the vision to expand an alternative and fair economy through cooperation, or let’s say to create sustainable economic solutions through cooperativism. In Greece there is already many cooperatives, especially created as a result of the economic crisis, either under a legal form or remaining informal, and we want to support their networking as well as to expand the network through creating new cooperative initiatives. One of the tools to connect those and at the same time to untie ourselves from the banking system is alternative currency networks and FairCoin is already doing this on a global level. However the currency is just a tool, what is most important is the vision and the values that incorporate the efforts. In Thessaloniki, we started quite recently but there is already some places that joined and we hope to see more of them joining very soon. In Greece there is more places in Athens and the island of Crete, where FairCoin is further connected to the local currency of Herakleion. @anon @anon @anon I invite people interested in our efforts to visit FairCoop’s website and if you wish to be more actively involved or have ideas to share, please leave a message or join our telegram groups which we use for networking and communication, by sending an e-mail to: coop@anon PS: @anon " 6,26041,2017-05-09T19:46:08.000Z,741,anon2238163770,anon1270892108,"Impressive story and idea !!! Well as very first I would like to graduate @anon I would't like to be very specific and boring, and I think that the most of you understand how the global financial system works. With increased interest you will shut the other party down, whether is it on food, water, money, medicine and other life sustainable neccesarities. And achieving to create an cooperation community is a very, very smart idea as long as it will be promoted and shared with the community you live in or are planning to support. I would have a special request, as soon as you are planning an idea which will save and help the humankind, please try to create a fair cycle of the equality. I am also very updated with the cryptocurrencies and that has proven us that where is the will, there is a way which means that everything on what or which you work hard on for it will be perceived.  (Thumbs Up ) Wish you all the best and good luck on your journey...   " 1,6305,2017-05-07T11:21:31.000Z,6305,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"I made a quick network sketch of the OpenInsulin conversation and how it fits in OpenCare as a whole. This is you: And this is OpenCare as a whole. The visual identity of nodes is preserved by keeanon3606750899g them in the same position across the two graphs. Color means degree, with redder nodes being more connected. " 2,6887,2017-05-07T11:38:10.000Z,6305,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Reference to reading conversations in opencare as networks Hi guys, some of you who are part of OpenInsulin project may not know about opencare too much, so here's a little context: Edgeryders is involved in a 2 year participatory research called opencare, on alternative solutions to health and social care problems, the big systemic ones - access, affordability, inclusivity of state provided or private services. In these two years we are discovering projects like yours, and connecting people into a community. The research also includes building software to visualize the conversations happening here online in graph formats *with the help of University of Bordeaux (@anon2774142051 can offer extra details if you ask him!). Some of the graphs can show nodes/ dots as people in the conversation and how they are related - who's talking to whom and how much, other, more advanced visualizations play with semantics based on what ethnographers code from our online conversations. These semantic network graphs can tell us what are the things being discussed, which are more central in the global network, which associations of topics are more relevant to participants, and so on. They all support collective intelligence: us talking with each other and generating new knowledge that can be more sophisticated but also more actionable  (i.e. at the policy level) than what any of us can produce individually.  Here is an interactive dashboard - still work in progress, but you see where this can go.. " 3,14448,2017-05-08T12:37:54.000Z,6305,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Visual association Is there a time element to the graphs? Have you ever made something similar to the video below, a timelapse, for the conversation graphs?   https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wz4igVjNGq4" 1,6289,2017-05-03T13:40:28.000Z,6289,anon2124466388,anon2124466388,"I would like to propose a talk and demo for the OpenVillage Festival 2017 of my social networking platform: Remarkable Lives. The timing of the Festival will fit very well (I hope!) with my platform's development stage as it proceeds from Beta to community roll-out. In fact, OpenVillage Festival 2017 could be the stage for its European launch.  Let me explain a bit more about Remarkable Lives...and forgive me for using the third person (I'm new here and not 100% sure how this community works yet). Remarkable Lives is the App for Ageing Well: a new social network that celebrates and shares the life stories and achievements of older people, improving society’s connectivity with later life. Founded by Social Entrepreneur, Owen McNeir, Remarkable Lives helps to change society’s perceptions of later life, aiming to combat loneliness and isolation, improve health and wellbeing, and benefit care providers and community groups by offering real-life solutions to challenges confronting the care sector and an ageing society. Why it matters
    • Ageing is often portrayed as society’s burden; its associations with physical and mental decline perceived as something to fear.
    • In the UK, 3.5 million people over 65 and 2 million over 75 live alone. In the US, roughly one in three people older than 65 and half of those older than 85 live alone. This compounds feelings of loneliness and isolation in people, at a time in their lives when they should be valued and heard.
    • The needs of our ageing population are changing and there are many people that make up our diverse society who still feel under-represented and anxious about later life, such as the LGBT community, people with mental health problems, refugees and those displaced in society who find themselves far from home at this vulnerable time of life.
    • Families continue fragmenting; communication has changed, leaving many behind, widening the gulf of shared experience, reducing connectivity between generations and the loss of memories when life stories go untold. 
    • The care sector is under strain and facing rising costs, making it harder to motivate and retain valuable staff, ensure standards of care quality are sustained, and maintain a positive, trusted reputation.
      Remarkable Lives addresses these challenges to create a positive social impact:
    • Enhancing the physical and psychological health of all older people in today’s diverse society, contributing to more positive feelings about later life, combating loneliness, isolation and the onset of dementia.
    • Building confidence and reassurance in people facing the transition into care.
    • Saving money for care organisations with solutions to enhance acquisition and retention, reduce administration, facilitate easier reporting, save staff time and reduce medical costs.
    • Improving job satisfaction, staff retention and helanon3606750899g to address vital resource issues by attracting good potential candidates for recruitment into the care sector.
    • Improving care standards by enabling front-line care workers to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the people in their care.
    • Promoting care organisations by telling the stories of people in their care while raising awareness and profile for the services and support they provide.
    • Reconnecting families and friends, bringing them closer together across generations through the positive and meaningful process of reminiscence.
    • Providing the cornerstone for fundraising or PR campaigns by building interest and engagement within the community, with press and with potential donors.
    Building a community platform An award from UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, and a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter are supporting the development of an operational platform that will take Remarkable Lives forward to engage care providers and community networks with a system that offers easy-to-use personal web profiles using photographic, audio-visual and written reminiscence. To raise awareness and build a community of interest around the enterprise while the platform is in development, Owen is conducting life-story sessions in care homes, hospices, community centres and with individuals in their own homes.  Using photographic and oral reminiscence techniques, he is opening a window on the past, giving older people a renewed sense of identity, dignity and meaning.                                     The results are short life-story moments, edited and published on a dedicated photo-blog: www.remarkablelives.uk . These stories, easily accessible online, are also designed to help those who care for older people to better understand and connect with them. Carers and nurses are rushed off their feet, so Remarkable Lives provides a quick to read, personal history to help them form a picture of the individual in one click. Care homes who have participated in this stage of the project even add the stories to their residents' Care Plans, all of which is resulting in improved staff satisfaction. Owen says, “My mission is to help society stay in touch and age well together by providing a positive, safe and empowering environment; an online gathering place. Remarkable Lives offers a refreshing perspective of old age that rolls back the years to celebrate our most memorable moments and helps to change society’s perceptions of later life.”  He adds, “We are building something special with Remarkable Lives: we are combining creativity with innovation, harnessing the powerful medium of storytelling with the familiarity and connectivity of a social networking platform to create a positive social impact.” Evidence that Remarkable Lives makes a difference “UnLtd is convinced that innovative social entrepreneurs like Owen hold the key to ageing well.  We are delighted to have the opportunity to support him to increase and deepen the impact of Remarkable Lives.”                                                   Julie Carthy, Award Manager, UnLtd “What you are doing has such value and importance. It’s things like this that make our world better and kind, putting humanity into statistics.”       Nicci Gerrard, Author & Founder of John’s Campaign “With Remarkable Lives the emphasis moves on to their lives, experiences and skills and away from dependency and disability.”                                      Rob Fountain, regional CEO of Age UK “Remarkable Lives has strengthened our staff / resident relationships – we know them better and have a deeper understanding.”            Peter Gardiner, General Manager The Hollies Care Home This short 3 minute film from Owen's recently completed Kickstarter campaign helps to convey the essence of Remarkable Lives.  I hope my enterprise is of interest to the EdgeRyders community. Please feel welcome to connect with me - I'd love your feedback. Thank you.   " 2,10075,2017-05-05T08:47:39.000Z,6289,anon1526983854,anon2124466388,"Interaction? Hello @anon I checked out the Remarkable Lives website. It's great reading – stories of humans are always interesting. I wonder: what's your plan for interaction? What happens if I think Jean or Derek seem cool, and I want to reach out? I saw there is support for sharing the story on FB/TW, but that does not make a connection with the Remarkable People themselves. BTW: in pre-Internet days, I was a musician. My band was a sort of Italian version of The Pogues, keenly interested in a ""folk"" collective narration of Italian recent history. We are almost an amnesiac country, and it is hard to gain access to first-hand experiences from the messy times of war, Nazi occupation, partisan guerrilla, collaborationists etc. Long story short, I started asking around and ended up in the house of Germano Nicolini, a former partisan commander and Resistance hero, later disgraced because suspected guilty of the political murder of a priest (happened in 1946), and finally found innocent (after 10 years in jail) in the mid 1990s, 50 years after the crime. No Google, no six degrees, no nothing. We wrote and published a fairly successful song about Nicolini's story. It put him on the radar of popular culture: while not exactly a celebrity, he became a respected voice, one of too few real elders in the Italian left's tribe. He now has his own Wikipedia page, but at the time he was floatsam and jetsam of history, just another freedom fighter gone bad. I am telling you this story because I understand the value of oral memory, and of personal relationship with the past. But I did need to wash up at Nicolini's doorstep, and ring his bell. I remember his initial guardedness: my story made sense to him (""you are part of my history, I want a first hand account""), but it was way out of his experience, as of my own.  " 3,10859,2017-05-08T11:03:20.000Z,10075,anon2124466388,anon1526983854,"Interaction Hi Alberto Thanks for your comment and for sharing your own experience of meeting Nicolini. What a fascinating story.  The question of interaction is an interesting one. At this stage in my planning, I don't envisage any direct interaction other than commenting on / sharing the stories that are published via social media. This is important in emphasising the privacy and security of the platform when it is launched later in the year. When this happens, people - everyone - will be able to create profiles for their own relatives to which invited family, carers and friends can contribute. But these profiles will only be visible to those who have been given permission and, in this context, Remarkable Lives operates as a private family social network. It is also to take in account the sensitivity around the demographic's profile - we're talking about older people in society, some who are vulnerable and for whom privacy needs to be safeguarded. That said, there will be the facility for profiles to be made public, for example if someone has created a profile for themselves (imagine an 80-something tech-savvy person) and is happy to be 'found'. In that instance, you would be able to make contact with that person and send a message and, feasibly, begin interacting that way. I hope this answers your question.  Owen " 4,16633,2017-05-05T14:13:27.000Z,6289,anon1491650132,anon2124466388,"Why an App?.. and more about the session. Hey, I'm Noemi, and my story (only partially) featuring my grandma is here. Your project is interesting to look at.. storytelling about old age is uncommon, and good storytelling in general is as well. I like the idea a lot, although I'm not sure why you call it an app? Super happy about you joining edgeryders at OpenVillage. What would you like to happen at the session? Do you need people to participate in a more active way, if so, how? Even if it is a demo, from past edgeryders events I can say it's been the greatest when the session articulates a question for participants? The time which would follow your demo/ talk is spent trying to asnwer together that question.    " 5,19945,2017-05-08T11:34:07.000Z,6289,anon2124466388,anon2124466388,"Why an App - more about the session Hi Noemi Thanks for the comment, questions and for connecting with me on social media as well. Thank you also for sharing the story of your great-grandma and grandma - that's very powerful indeed. I must apologise for not being clearer in my original post. While the concept of discovering, telling and sharing stories about our older members of society underanon3606750899s Remarkable Lives, the enterprise I am building is a social networking platform. To clarify, the current phase is where I am interviewing older people and publishing their stories on the photoblog - the purpose of this is to raise awareness and a sense of community appreciation around the Remarkable Lives project. If you like, what I am doing now is trying to get people tuned in to the idea of celebrating the life stories of their older relatives by actually telling some stories myself.  When my social networking platform (or application - hence sometimes referring to it as an App) is live, that will be like me handing it over to society, to the public, as in: ""Here you are. I've been telling some stories to give you a flavour of the rich and diverse lives older people have led. Now it's over to you to discover the stories in your own families and share them with each other."" And for the general public the platform will be free to start creating Remarkable Lives profiles. Does that make sense? At OpenVillage I would like to:
    • Present the Remarkable Lives project and my journey, starting with the challenges I identified that I wanted to address (see 'Why it matters' above) 
    • How I chose to address these challenges by celebrating and sharing the life stories of older people to help change society's perceptions of later life
    • Where the project started, i.e. by telling individual stories and publishing them on the photoblog and social media
    • How this led to the idea of building a private social networking platform for individuals, their families and carers (and how I realised there were more challenges I could address)
    • Demo the platform itself, by showing some case studies and by inviting festival delegates to participate themselves by creating their own accounts and profiles (this would be even more effective if we could contact delegates in advance of the festival and ask them to bring some old photos / memories / stories of their older relatives with them for this exercise)
    • Then together, build on the knowledge and research I've developed by using this interactive experience to consider both how the challenges I've identified in the UK are relevant to other countries and what additional challenges (I haven't thought of and that are especially pertinent to individual delegates e.g. personally or in relation to their countries / communities) the Remarkable Lives platform could help address and resolve.
    Would that work as a session?  Best, Owen   " 1,6279,2017-04-28T13:12:14.000Z,6279,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"We base the OpenVillage on three pairs of fellows and curators.
    • Fellows are leaders on the ground. Each of them proposes a theme that she will curate. Her job is to find the content to exhibit, get the relevant stories blogged out here on the Edgeryders platform, and drag their protagonists to the OpenVillage itself. Fellows receive a bursary and a travel allowance. Belgian biohacker Winnie Poncelet has been chosen as the first of the three. 
    • Curators are senior people – scientists, or entrepreneurs, for example – who support fellows in their work. They give them advice and access to global networks. They have no specific responsibilities, other than give wise advice and show up at the OpenVillage. We have several ideas for curators; we will discuss them, and possible pairings, with candidate fellows.
    Additionally, fellows are encouraged to go on Wanderjahre. These are not literally three years and one day of wandering (wikipedia): we see it as a trip across Europe to meet people with open projects around care, and connect them to the OpenVillage. Blogging during these trips will make for very, very interesting read.  What do you guys think? @anon " 2,6778,2017-05-07T09:20:30.000Z,6279,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Pieces coming together I've been thinking and talking to our team, @anon I would be cool to combine this with the Wanderjahre: visit open care projects to connect them to the festival, blog about it, and also hold a session with local people around business modelling/financial sustainability. We'll learn for our situation, they'll hopefully learn for theirs. As for a mentor, I couldn't think of someone yet. " 3,10855,2017-05-08T10:02:42.000Z,6778,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Roger that :-) " 1,6278,2017-04-28T07:43:21.000Z,6278,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Notes from the gathering on 26.04.2017. We had the pleasure to meet Guido ( @anon Guido: Insulin is very well organized in EU. Belgium is 14th (out of 30) in the European index. The medicine doesn’t cost much here. Pumps, sensors etc. come with the package patients get from convention centers. The Diabetes Liga sells some stuff like glucometers, sensors, strips. It doesn't make sense to sell other stuff, since they get it cheaply from convention centers. The convention centers are an intermediary between hospitals and the government health services. Maria (@anon2717512012 ): it's the same in Spain, it's almost free. Guido: The problem is clearly different in the US vs. here. In the US the price is a problem. Here the problem is more type 2 diabetes, specifically the prevention, as it's a lifestyle diseases. Many organizations work on that. Diabetes still costs the government way too much money because of it: checkups, dietary stuff, ... Type 2 diabetes here is also tied to poverty. The best way to reach these poorer people is the doctor, but they usually have no time. Maria: it would be best to focus on this type, because it’s an actual problem here. It’s hard to reach these poor groups, we could help there. An art project would be a good medium in general to spread awareness to the public. Through the non-profit Ekoli, we do come into contact with poorer and vulnerable groups of children in Belgium. This ties in with the idea of @anon Vincent: someone is paying for the insulin here. Probably tax payers. Guido: yes, there are intermediaries that gain a lot from the government. In the US that is much more. There was a scandal not too long ago: big companies were making deals. Walmart is now also bringing back an old version of insulin to sell it cheaper. People here are spoiled though: they are always asking for faster, better insulin. They wouldn’t settle anymore for older types. Other info around the Diabetes Liga. They have about 80.000 patient members and 2.000 professionals. The members determine what the organisation does, and cheaper insulin simply isn't a policy point here. Guido mentioned the Open Insulin project at the office, but it was not a priority at all. Pieter will design some infographics that can be used for communicating about the issues surrounding diabetes/insulin. The International Diabetes Foundation has some good ones already, these can be used as well or serve as a starting point.   Thanks a lot Guido for the interesting input! I'm interested to hear what others think. How can we shape the project so that it also meets the needs of the Belgium situation? The next gathering is in two weeks: Wednesday 10 May at 8pm @anon " 3,15736,2017-05-02T10:30:56.000Z,6278,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"""Someone is paying for the insulin"" – but how much? Thanks everyone, especially @anon As an economist, I resonate with Vincent's point: there is no free lunch, so someone has to pay for the insulin. It is very affordable to patients, but that does not mean it is cheap. Cheap insulin is resilient: even if the health care system were to undergo a financing crisis (not all that unlikely), it it's cheap it is probably going to stay, and even if its costs are passed over to patients... it's cheap. Expensive insulin, even if cheap or free at the point of delivery, is not resilient at all. It means diabetic patients are at the mercy of the political/financial cycle. Generic, open-sourced drugs are always  a good thing. Guido (and everybody), which one is it in Belgium? Is it really cheap or is it cheap to patients? How good is the Belgian state at negotiating down the price of pharmaceuticals sold in the Kingdom?  " 5,18487,2017-05-03T20:17:44.000Z,17839,anon1526983854,,"Great numbers Thanks again, Guido. So, by making open insulin, we'd be saving maanon1932026148 500 EUR per year per patient. 80,000 is the number of diabetics in Belgium, or that of members of the Diabetes Liga? In the former case, 40 million – a lot of money, but still less than 0.1% of Belgium's total health care costs.  I totally agree on preventative, by the way. This is a clear indication of the whole OpenCare project. How would you translate that into activities for Open Insulin? " 7,19123,2017-05-07T12:12:36.000Z,17839,anon2954219769,,"Thanks Guido @anon A 20-40% decrease in cost is still pretty big at this scale, I didn't stop to think about the absolute numbers. " 1,6293,2017-05-04T09:54:24.000Z,6293,anon3581542807,anon3581542807,"Description: Stress is inevitable. It walks in and out of our lives on a regular basis. A burnout is a mixture of professional exhaustion, and disillusionment with other people, the organization, or the career, over the long term. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to minimize and cope with stress and learn how to avoid a burnout. Main Aims: - Career guidance and counselling - Combating failure in education - Fight against school/university failure & link school/university and work - Inclusive approaches - Pedagogy and didactics - School/university improvement & quality evaluation Specific objectives of the course are:  Introduce holistic model of stress and raise understanding of stress causes, mechanisms and effects  Raise understanding of how stress impacts teaching ability  Provide the participants with practical tools for dealing with stress  Reduce the consequences of stress (such as poor health, absenteeism, lack of creativity, ineffective communication, inability to focus, more conflicts etc.) and develop healthy ways of dealing with everyday work demands  Prevent burn-out syndrome in educators  Enhance emotional self-awareness  Introduce practical tools for coanon3606750899g with difficult emotions  Improve the participants’ emotional banon3760936673ce  Help the participants to identify their stress triggers and emotional triggers at work context and come up with new, more resourceful strategies  Enhance in the participants the ability to relax  Broaden the understanding of health Programme Elements: - Introduction and course overview - Ice breaking - Individual expectations - What is stress? - Definitions - Understanding the stress response (fight/flight versus prolonged stress) - Physical, emotional, mental and behavioural symptoms of stress - Relation between our thinking and stress - Effective and ineffective ways of dealing with stress - Relaxation exercises that help to manage stress effectively – part 1 - The impact of emotions on teaching and learning ability - Tools for dealing with disturbing emotions - Effects of stress in educational setting - Assessing your personal stress triggers - Changing not resourceful strategies - Self-talk awareness - Relaxation exercises - part 2 - How can I be more mindful and resourceful in the classroom? – action plan - Summary, course evaluation and closure ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT BY THE PARTICIPANT Before Participants will receive a list of study material prior to their arrival for the seminar along with the links for the websites which are relevant to the content of the course. During The course will provide theory necessary to understand the nature of stress as well as practical tools for managing stress and difficult emotions. Attention will be given on how to implement the findings and skills in real life situations after the seminar. Methods such as debate, role play, body movement, individual mind management technologies, pair and group exercises and mini -coaching will be used throughout the course. The methodology of the course includes learner – centered approach and utilizes self-learning methods. The aim of the course is not to produce ready-made solutions (passive learning), but to inspire the participants to search creatively for knowledge and effective solutions which are connected with their needs and challenges (active learning). In this way the participants take responsibility for their own learning process and act as active partners of the course. After The participants will be encouraged to form a network in order to continue an exchange of ideas and support one another. Up to 6 months after completion of the workshop, the participants will have an opportunity to ask for advice (via email or Skype) if they face obstacles in using the new skills or if they have any questions or concerns.   " 2,10097,2017-05-05T10:26:14.000Z,6293,anon1491650132,anon3581542807,"More info would be useful Hey, so is this a proposal to run the course at the OpenVillage Fest? If so, I suggest a way to narrow the goals to one or two, and think of a format that fits into maximum a few hours.  @anon3581542807 what do you think? Also, what's the story behind it the course seems really ambitious, is this something you do at the university or as a freelancer and have found helpful for those attending?  " 3,11995,2017-05-05T15:25:08.000Z,10097,anon3581542807,anon1491650132,"Hey! Thanks for your comment... I do agree it might be too intense for few hours but I can always squeeze into smaller version of course! This course can be both two days or half day workshop... " 4,12705,2017-05-05T22:24:15.000Z,11995,anon1491650132,anon3581542807,"A question Yeah, when you have a few minutes do formulate one question that participants will be able to answer (or move closer to the answers). I think it will make a difference and we'll also be able to promote it in order to see who else is interested. A question (my framing) and story I recommend reading is this one, although not sure how it would be addressed at OpenVillage. Probably a discussion.. Given culture and creativity are anyway your other interest, maanon1932026148 you can tailor the course so as to connect to this discussion? Just a thought for how it could be narrowed down, feel free to ignore if it's far from what you wish to do. " 5,16932,2017-05-06T06:53:00.000Z,6293,anon2954219769,anon3581542807,"My question Hi @anon3581542807  I would be interested in exploring the differences between burn-out (a hyped up phenomenon nowadays) and stuff that has been around longer, eg. nervous breakdown and depression. My doctor briefly told me about the differences once and what I took from it is that the difference is vital, as cures are different for each (apart from the fact that a cure is also different for each person). With the hype of burnout, people are sometimes pushed into the wrong 'diagnosis'. This is clearly bad for finding the right cure, but in my experience, understanding of what you are going through is also a big factor towards getting better. How do we help people find the 'affliction' they have? " 6,19695,2017-05-06T23:47:01.000Z,6293,anon722012516,anon3581542807,"Super interested! Hello @anon3581542807, I'm super interested in this session! Mainly because I work in my university's mental health office (added a link to more info on this at the bottom). What I'm curious about is one of the points you outline relates to combating school/university failure as it relates to burnout.  I think this is a needed topic of discussion, and in my experience is an ever ongoing issue. However, it seems that students (myself included), often cut back on self-care when the workload is highest because they struggle with time management. This is a problem because it is precisely these times where they can most benefit from self-care practices. Would you be able to address how students can best integrate burnout prevention into their lives, and how you view universities can support them in these efforts? https://edgeryders.eu/en/using-the-university-that-is-rethinking-higher-education-to-rethink. " 1,571,2017-05-04T21:22:04.000Z,571,anon2238163770,anon2238163770,"I'm about ti explain shortly my story. It starts with the topic the Phoenix Spirit which also describes all my way till here. Struggling with several experiences and job possitions, building and colliding several bussineses, reached the experience to build a new company Phoenix Connections and set my soul on it. In Phoenix Connections agenda we have projected an Agro-Technological project called Agro-Bot which will help farmers and Agriculture reach higher scala of yields, productivity and enlarging the farming land. http://www.phoenixconnections.net " 2,10147,2017-05-05T11:29:35.000Z,571,anon1491650132,anon2238163770,"Harsh startup life? Hi @anon You say your problem is fundraising and you seem to be a startup? How do you see this as an action of taking/ giving care? Setting your soul on it seems reasonable, better than selling your soul :-) " 3,14028,2017-05-06T22:30:52.000Z,571,anon2238163770,anon2238163770,"Tweet Hi @anon The project is to be developed for individuals, hobby-farmers to the mega agricultural industries and it's not only for B2B bussineses.  We have more than a lot of arguments covering our requests and develoanon3606750899g. Investing on this project will bring financial and social goods and will give a very effective and professional solution to this space of the working cycle. The website is just an presentation of our main activities, but programming and develoanon3606750899g is something we do on other behalfs of time. You can also visit the social network, founded by our Team member Mr. Herolind Luzha and it's under https://www.itrendin.com/ to find or download it on forAndroid or IOS. We have 2 type of fundraising presentations and also a very precissive description of the project which i would gladly also share with you. " 1,788,2016-10-07T13:06:44.000Z,788,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"For this second tool (Tool 1) i want to come back to the end discussion of the Brussels workshop we held on 24th of September. Alkasem, a doctorstudent and Syrian Refugee started a really important conversation about collaboration: how can we collaborate if there is no trust? Lets go back to this conversation and look at what came out of it Citation from the workshop:  SIDENOTE 2: Alkasem was again the most disruptive thinker in the group and gave us a lot to think. For him, everything moves around friendship. He has the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust. And without trust no skill can be shared. This intervention of him started a discussion about the meaning of trust and how we can build that. “‘Trust is an enabler to use the resources. How can that be created inside an eclectic group like this?’,asked Yannick.  For Claire it is a text and rules of engagement and a clear path of conflict resolution, and a way to learn to treat each other better.  Winnie reacted that your own people's trust is a constant, but gaining the network's trust is more difficult. With the help of Nadia we made a synthesis of the discussion 1) Working trust is very different from social trust; and there needs to be a boundary.  2) What also worked for her is deciding to work on even a small project. 3) A story that binds us together - understanding how our different activities are related 4) Documentation: what does it mean? for us it has been in writing. Finding each other strengths and weaknesses by organizing small events with each other, and beginning with things that don't have something big at stake. Because then we can learn about each other. The importance of documentation in building trust: Leaving a story behind that people can follow. When the discussion was coming to an end we all felt we had got a lot of information and the workshop was going to close. So Nadia came up with a good idea to end the workshop with something concrete. We all felt that one of the biggest issues in care is that we live to much on our own island and that if we want to make care better we need to share and collaborate. But to collaborate we need to create trust. So this exercise was given to every participant and will hopefully end up in solidifying the care network in Belgium. The following question was asked: What can i bring to another organization, that also better myself as a person and is easily realizable? This question will be asked again at the next meeting we are organizing. If you want to join, fill in the framadate and put your contacts in comment. We will update this discussion at that point and see how we have concretized the thrust issue. https://framadate.org/gWB9QN65MCyedmrL     " 2,9116,2016-10-14T14:45:32.000Z,788,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Is it not the other way around? My take on this is: you create trust by collaborating, not the other way around. Collaboration comes first. The trick is to create situations where collaboration is cheap, and people can try it at no great risk to themselves.  " 3,11618,2016-10-14T15:19:27.000Z,9116,anon281534083,anon1526983854,"The attitude you bring to the party I agree with Alberto, epsecially in terms of having low risk starting points.  Because everyone brings to a situation their own place on a kind of continuum between a willingness to risk getting burned by someone in order to increase the possibilites of fruitful new relationships, and being protective of oneself to the point that you only ""let someone in"" after they have demonstrated in some way their worthiness. " 4,16945,2017-05-06T06:59:32.000Z,788,anon2591396734,anon3595237380,"What is trust, anyway? Such an important topic! I've noticed, when discussing trust personally, that the meaning of trust is not as clear as it is sometimes assumed. To me there are levels of trust, that can be drawn out by asking questions like ""would you trust this person to..."" You can sort these questions by asking a bunch of them together about the same person. ""... take a letter to the post office""; ""... keep my house keys for emergency use""; ""... look after my child when I'm away"" (and what age of child?) ""... not to trick me or take advantage"" -- all these (and many more) might have different sets of people who I would trust in that way. For me, it's about having reasonable confidence that they would act in specific situations in a way similar to the way I would. Normally we get this only through personal experience. But if we documented trust more, we might be able to trust people based on the recommendations of other people we trust, for instance. Maanon1932026148 worth exploring? " 2,9430,2016-09-16T21:21:05.000Z,535,anon1491650132,,"Pings to make sure you don't miss the GNU Health project! Nice to meet you @anon Are you finding that people and established institutions are transitioning to this easily (ideologically speaking) or what do you see is an average learning curve? I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that it's becoming adopted more so in less developed areas than the big West, which are already set on their ways.  " 4,13941,2016-09-19T22:26:43.000Z,535,anon628128301,,"GNU Health is a sister initiative which we discovered at the Open Source Initiative and some time later at the Internation Symposium on Open Collaboration. GNU Health concept is simple as free software: all people should collaborate to build a common of knowledge instead of building competitive, exclusive systems that hinder access to healthcare services of quality. GNU Health ensures that the different therapists and doctors who follow our children have the best available information about them, so that they can provide the best advices for the best health outcomes. Thanks for all efforts put in develoanon3606750899g this project! " 6,21640,2017-05-06T06:50:33.000Z,535,anon2591396734,,"great vision! It's a great vision. Personally, I see a direct analogy with knowledge of using open source software. If we were to arrange ourselves into levels of knowledge, with one person at each level looking after a few at the level below, then all questions could be answered without the experts being overburdened. Why not the same with health? Well, the danger is undiagnosed serious conditions, and that has to be factored in somehow. But apart from that, it's what we do anyway in a small way. If there is something the matter, we start by asking maanon1932026148 an older family member, then if that person is not sure, we can ask a nurse, then a general practitioner, then a specialist....   Not sure how relevant this is to GNU health, but I hope the idea is of some interest. " 1,666,2016-04-15T15:22:56.000Z,666,anon1843041433,anon1843041433,"It was in 8th grade I think, when I heard my former best friend Tina say: „Ticking off to-do-lists makes me happy.“ I still feel the irritation that came along with those words. I just couldn't understand what she was referring to. Did she really enjoy this? Immediately I – as teens do – started to question myself: Why wasn't I that self-organized structure-loving girl that always got everything right, made reasonable decisions and planned her life 5 months beforehand? As the years went by, I began to understand that it was not the fact that Tina loved ticking off to-do-lists that  seemed so strange to me. It was the logic of efficiency, that I began to see everywhere. Peers trying to „get it all right“, to „avoid failing“. To master their own life as it was some kind of stress test. And to always be ready for the next job interview, a smooth and pleasing CV at hand. I was and I am a part of that. And it strikes me that this kind of neoliberal thinking of „your life (and your success/failure) is your responsibility“ leads us sometimes to very harsh assumptions about ourselves and our peers. I can now see all of that in a broader socio-economic context of destabilized markets and societies. We are all, in a way, facing much more uncertain futures than our parents did (while it is extremely difficult to get a full understanding of how this is just a perceived thing or really the case). Against this backdrop, the topic of mental and emotional resilience seems really a thing we should put our minds to. What does „real“ self-care mean when we are all trained to function? When spiritual practices like yoga and meditation are already a part of improving ourselves, being a good self-entrepreneur who, after a good yoga-session, can function even better, work even longer hours?  I think sharing our vulerabilities and insecurities around failing, missing out and not wanting anymore is crucial at this point. Although there are already some great projects bringing these issues into awareness it seems that for a majority of people the stigma around for example mental illness, burnout etc. is still too big to cope with on their own. How can we turn sadness, unproductivity and inefficiency into an accepted part of life and how can we help people to cope with expectations they can't and don't want to meet? " 2,9396,2016-04-16T10:24:13.000Z,666,anon1526983854,anon1843041433,"Efficient at what? Hello @anon Your reflection is recurring in Edgeryders. I guess this is a common thread to the people on the edge. For example, the unMonastery was in part a product of the need for finding one's own rhythm. It turned out to be very challenging, but at least it was not the usual challenge – it was a different one.  My personal way to look at it is to draw inspiration from biology. In the natural world, there is no one but you to underwrite your pains. Even parasites have to be good at parasitism, or they will die as individuals or go extinct as a species. At the same time, a successful species in biology is definied as one well adapted to its ecological niche, not in terms of how close it is to to the top of the food chain. A frog is not a failed crocodile: it is a successful animal by its own yardstick. Put a crocodile in a European pond, he'll starve to death, whereas frogs do just fine. By the same token, it would be weird to say that a craftsman is a failed CEO! He is just not. We should not take the analogy too far, of course. But I guess what annoys you is that you do not agree with the idea of success that mainstream society is promoting. In that case, the first move is probably to accept it, and decide you are going to measure yourself in some other way. Maanon1932026148, then, it will not be a vulnerability at all that you do not like ticking boxes! In my experience, it helps to find communities of like-minded people, because it takes a lot of effort to be alone in upholding an alternative vision of society!  " 3,11888,2016-04-29T10:37:20.000Z,9396,anon1843041433,anon1526983854,"Hello Alberto, nice to meet Hello Alberto, nice to meet you too! „But I guess what annoys you is that you do not agree with the idea of success that mainstream society is promoting. In that case, the first move is probably to accept it, and decide you are going to measure yourself in some other way.“ Exactly! Thanks for your ideas and input. I think that your idea of changing my own perception on success and failure is really a good starting point. But it is a piece of a much more complex puzzle, I guess. Building communities of like-minded people sounds good, too, and I see how the unMonastery project contributes to that. Maanon1932026148 one could also find a way to promote an alternative vision for society within „mainstream culture“, whatever this is..." 4,16075,2016-04-17T09:56:28.000Z,666,anon1491650132,anon1843041433,"Looking at the other components of life I fully recognize myself -maanon1932026148 a year back or so - in this picture. The advice I've been given is to learn first  to go easier on myself if I want or expect others to do the same. Like you say, practicing some sort of spiritual education helps. Supposedly it would also allow you to change the focus from the ""professional"" aspects to personal wellbeing and better self care to banon3760936673ce your life. The problem is that sometimes you can't do it alone, and shouldn't. So the challenge is finding those like minded communities which Alberto mentions and dreaming up solutions to make it better for more people. If you know of good projects do recommend, I'm very interested. This talk on vulnerability really hits the nail, I wholeheartedly recommend it, if you havent seen it already: https://www.youtube.com/embed/iCvmsMzlF7o " 5,20396,2016-04-25T15:41:14.000Z,666,anon602631834,anon1843041433,"Discovery channel rebels Hi guys! One time I sat in grand écart position for 48 hours so that I could join the pro gym team. Just to illustrate: I'm very disciplined and am applying to be Tina's new best friend. But the latest skill that I've been training is to do nothing. The saying goes that a little hard work never killed anyone, but after a burn-out and a crushed nerve at my young age, I'm not prepared to take the risk. When the going gets tough and I feel guilty about my time spend doing non-productive things, I remind myself of two things. One: when you look at discovery channel, animals don't spend all their time chasing. Most of it is just lying in the sun. No judgement necessary. Two: doing nothing is very rebelious these days. Why think of myself as a lazy-ass when I can think of myself as bad-ass? On the question of how to help people to cope with expectations they can't and don't want to meet -  I think it's something we each do for ourselves. Personally I draw a lot of inspiration from people who don't give too many fucks. So I try to be that person, too. " 6,23909,2016-04-25T23:13:38.000Z,666,anon3406688078,anon1843041433,"Afraid of relaxing? I feel your plea, and as @anon Myself, I am afraid of taking things easy and slowing down, because I feel that if I am not going forward I am going backwards (by whatever standard!) and.. what if I stopped caring? That scares me the most I guess. At the same time I see a spiritual path in finding new ways of changing yourself to overcome challenges. I see these situations like signals telling me to adapt and find a new way to fit better.  Saying that, the best strategy I have found up to now is to try to be rested, eat well, exercise, pursue some hobby and be happy. In exactly that order. As you build up energy the number of fucks given dramatically decreases and you are psychologically more resiliant. Sometimes very resiliant.  The really hard thing for me is to realize when I am eating too much into my energy and I can become tired, grumpy, worried, overworked.. and then fearful without even realizing I am getting there. So, when you are there.. just press reset and rebuild your energy, then much of the fears of failing and checklists will just evaporate. " 7,24963,2016-04-26T08:07:33.000Z,23909,anon1526983854,anon3406688078,"Don't try this alone Inspiring, @anon That's not to say you cannot define your own measure of success. But it does mean this is a lot easier when done in tribes. If you inhabit a cluster of the global social graph that goes by different rules, you are kind of OK being different, because your social network is also different, and that means you can mobilize those people to help in whatever it is you are doing. You can enjoy a reasonable measure of social esteem, even if it is localized in your corner of the graph.  An unfortunate consequence of this is that, the more different you want to be, the more energy you need to invest promoting yourself. The message is ""look at me, I am not a failure, I am a success by my own measure"". Social media are full of this, often cloaked in hyper-individualistic narratives, of the ""I quit my day job to follow my dream"" type. Which is ironic, because hyper-individualists (if they exist) do not care about what people on Facebook think of them. Self-promotion is, in my oanon3606750899ion, the expression of a deep need for social acceptance.  " 8,26015,2016-04-26T01:42:16.000Z,666,anon106478308,anon1843041433,"expectations and value systems Hello friends, Very interesting topic and quite a common problem as well i believe. I will share with you few things in hope it is beneficial :). Haven't felt depression in years, sadness very rarely and short termed. I believe sadness comes from our inability to accept a certain situation, our resistence to it. If there is a situation we don't like we have only two choices: Accept it as it is or change it or at least try to change it. In both situations we shouldn't be depressed. If de did all in our power and failed to change it, we should be satisfied with ourselves and accept the outcome, since there is no alternative. However i do believe once sadness comes we should not try to supress it, let it run its course because anything else would be commiting violence upon our own nature and sadness would still manifest itself somehow. Good at school, always calm and good kid, inventive, reading since i was 5, playing chess since my 6th year...i can't really tell how many times i heard my family members say this dreadful phrase to their children: ""just take Jasen's example, can't you be like him"".  Than i was 27, married, hated my job, didn't love my wife, i was miserable and had a lot of health issues. I started wondering: ""how did i end up right here at this moment in life?"" I knew i totally went off my path but didn't yet realise how or where is my path.  After realising the community in which i grew up actually applied huge subconscious pressure on me through their projections of myself, through their expectations especially, and that so many of my life's actions were led by those thoughts in my head which were not really my thoughts. (i actually got married because everyone was telling me it's the right time and after some time it made sense...how crazy!). My next step was selfexploration, i had to get to know myself. I stayed at home reading books for months, Carlos Castaneda's books were an amazing discovery at that time. I went into nature for periods of isolation where i spent my time in silence and thought, and finally after some time i started meditating.  As far as success is concerned i agree with Alberto. Should we measure ourselves in comparison to others or by finding our own system of values and definition of success? For example i have 0 debt, built my own house by the age of 28, a good car and pretty much anything i need materially now...most of my friends think i am succesful. I would however consider myself succesful if i could succeed in creating a well banon3760936673ced family full of love and respect, or if i could be nothing but a positive and inspiring experience for anyone who meets me. Or if i could attain permanent state of meditation for example. Also i have been with many women, and ofcourse friends i went out with always considered me lucky or succesful with women. Well again my definition of success is very different: i would have preferred to stay with the first one i loved...or with any i loved. Now, in retrospective i rather think i failed miserably with some of those women and brought really bad kharma on me through those ""successes"" :). " 9,26944,2016-04-26T04:31:12.000Z,26015,anon1491650132,anon106478308,"As I remember you.. .. Hi @anon " 10,27792,2016-06-17T20:05:15.000Z,666,anon70625510,anon1843041433,"Apparently doing nothing has become a sport in South Korea I came across this article about a competition in South Korea where people do, well, nothing and immediately thought of this conversation thread... ""Since the first competition was held two years ago, it's evolved into a full-on pageant with a panel of judges and a set of strict rules—no phones, no talking, no checking your watch, no dozing off. WoopsYang said more than 2,000 people signed up for the 70 contestant slots this year, and she had to hold qualifying rounds to select the best candidates."" Full article available here: http://www.vice.com/read/doing-nothing-has-become-a-sport-in-south-korea " 11,29063,2016-06-17T20:11:48.000Z,666,anon70625510,anon1843041433,"Also, brainball (later mindball) Years ago I came across this hilarious and frustrating game: ""Brainball is a two-player game where relaxation is counterbanon3760936673ced with the desire to win. The little ball on the game's table is telekinetically controlled through the use of each player's brainanon3003844599s. Both a calm state and a stressed state have a direct influence on the match. The player who is most passive can watch the ball roll away towards the opponent's goal and a prospective win."" Slate wrote an article about it a while back: Bowling with Brainanon3003844599s " 12,29954,2017-05-06T06:41:00.000Z,666,anon2591396734,anon1843041433,"self-acceptance Full self-acceptance is very hard. Often we need the support of others to be able to see our ""shadow"" (in the Jungian sense). To me, sadness, unproductivity and inefficiency are symptoms of not having found satisfying connections in life. But the answer to that is often not ""trying harder"" to find something. It might more often be letting go of images of oneself that one has taken on from other people. Finding oneself is easy to say, and really hard to do. Let go, be open, listen, accept help... " 2,7848,2016-04-09T17:54:58.000Z,657,anon477123739,,"Sounds great Hi Phil, This sounds wonderful. Make sure you let ER community know when you are planning this to happen. I know i'd love to come along if i can. Alex " 3,14948,2016-04-10T14:34:00.000Z,657,anon1491650132,,"The eyecontact experiment A very basic event which happened in a lot of cities over the last years, including where I live (Cluj) was to have hundreds of people - strangers - staring in each others eyes for one long minute, two by two. After that, one would stand, leave and go to sit with someone else. And so on. It was an interesting human connection experiment, although it mostly brought young people in. More about this and a video: https://inspiralight.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/the-touching-truth-behind-the-eye-contact-experiment/   " 4,17086,2016-07-08T19:12:04.000Z,14948,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"We used to call it ""eye vibing"" Back in the hippie glory days some of the more spiritually-inclined ones of us routinely engaged in this sort of mini-meditation with another person. It wasn't structured; we would just do it when we felt like it.  It often led to better mutual understanding and empathy, which was usually discerned in whatever conversation followed the session.   " 5,19934,2016-07-09T19:16:45.000Z,657,anon1526983854,,"Exploit the architecture of human cognition And after all of this inspiring stuff, I am going to offer some information I have come across, and that is going to sound dry and heartless in comparison. :-) There is a concept at the crossroads of evolutionary biology, anthropology and psychology called cultural evolution. The idea is that, in humans, culture and biology intertwine dynamically: evolutionary pressure makes us evolve mixed packages of genes and culture that make us fitter for survival. These packages repurpose and harness pre-existent packages. If you want to know more, this book is a fantastic introduction.  Researchers in this area have figured out why humans have evolved rites of passage, which can be very costly (in some tribes, young men especially have to go through gruesome trials to become full members of the tribe). So where's the benefit? The benefit is that these rituals cement the tribe's cohesion, making it more fit to withstand intergroup competition, a major driver of human evolution (and suspected to have been a driver of non-human primates before we came around). How can rituals cement cohesion across participants? They harness certain biases in human cognition. For example, it has been found that doing things in sync enhances the propensity to cooperate. Consider the following experiment.
    • Participants are randomly divided in two groups. People in group A are asked to perform a simple physical act in sync with each other, like clapanon3606750899g hands. People in group B are asked to per form the same act, but not in sync.
    • All participants are asked to play a simple game where they need to choose between a ""cooperate"" and a ""defect"" strategy, like the Prisoner's dilemma. 
    • Members of group A have a measurably higher probability to cooperate.
    So, to make strangers connect, a sensible strategy seems to be to ""think like a hacker"" and exploit the biases in human cognition, such as the tendency to cooperate more with people you have done something in sync with. A major bias is that we seem to be hardwired for forming groups. It is very, very easy to make humans behave like a group – check out Wilfred Bion's work for that.  Obviously, this same kind of hacking is successfully used every day by racist groups, who succeed in making people hate and despise other people just like them, who have never hurt the haters and whom said haters do not even know anyway. Like the Force in Star Wars, human cognition has a dark side... but you guys, I',m sure, will stay away from it.  " 6,21816,2016-10-23T16:28:39.000Z,19934,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Resurrecting an old post I saw your post after recent activity on this thread @anon I'll recommend this book as well for everyone who is interested in the topic. " 7,23506,2016-09-11T10:54:18.000Z,657,anon331549993,,"ok, but what if you feel unequal to the other? Ok, but what becomes the ""being strangers to each other"" when it combines with a ""feeling unequal to the other""? Being alien to each other? To what extend are the strategies you develop or suggest effective in that case? Did some have (good or bad) experiences for that case? But if one develops specific strategies for that case, one takes the risk to confirm the unequality one wants to overcome or sublimate! The question I raise is relevant, I think, for any type for ""feeling unequal"". Any hint? Laurent dUrsel " 8,26013,2017-05-06T06:33:48.000Z,657,anon2591396734,,"Find common ground, ask common questions This may sound obvious, but I guess one main approach is to find some point in common. Yes, the two people may come from completely different backgrounds, but there are so many aspects to life that, if we look at enough areas of life, it is extremely unlikely that nothing at all is shared. Alternatively, try exploring questions which mean a lot to almost everyone. See e.g. https://www.indy100.com/article/the-36-questions-to-ask-that-will-make-anyone-fall-in-love-with-you--gJVkNnfRcg See what happened to one person trying this out in this TED talk... https://www.ted.com/talks/mandy_len_catron_falling_in_love_is_the_easy_part " 2,10263,2016-09-19T09:11:03.000Z,751,anon1491650132,,"How do people fight the stigma? So inspiring to read you @anon There are no expert lectures and no self-pity parties. -well said. @anon712028032, another edgeryder, said something similar about  how conversation in which neither party is an expert can be lifechanging. I'm curious about the group which seems more or less open - can anyone who reports feeling down or unable to cope join you? Considering how difficult it is to make that step due to the fear and stigma attached, are you making any prior efforts to invite people in or signal somehow that this is a different approach? " 3,16765,2016-09-19T16:38:18.000Z,751,anon1395349008,,"Very inspiring What an inspiring story, @anon Thank you so much to share it. Knowing many people soffering from depression and knowing how they can be judged in the wrong way, it's very refereshing to see there is hope out there. How can people get in touch with you? " 4,21420,2017-05-05T13:43:20.000Z,751,anon1491650132,,"On group therapy in Ireland Hi again @anon More importantly for advancing your cause, I think it is very impactful when people who are or were once patients share deep insights about the experience. This is the case of @anon " 1,828,2017-05-03T17:14:19.000Z,828,anon443108007,anon443108007,"Asnada is an association born in 2010 inspired from the strong desire of investigating the role of the language in integration processes. Through our social and educational work, we try to answer a question: how can we live together taking care of our specific differences?  Far from the identity concept, we make the most of our similarity, using the new language (Italian) as a common ground. We have opened a first school for refugees and asylum seekers and, some years later, a school for unaccompanied minors. We are now nine (eight women and a man) coming from different backgrounds (Journalism, Pedagogy, Classical Studies, Education, Psychology, Cultural mediation, Languages) and ages (from 25 to 55).  Our schools are the places where we try to build up familiar relationships and a sense of community, but also the place where we try to understand, together, the contradictions of the world we live in. The learning group has here an essential role because it’s the context in which every single student find his place, support and the courage to express himself. The variety of writing and speaking levels we look for in the student group is meant to lead to a free and informal circulation of knowledge and language skills, creating a context where the directory of teaching is also transversal, not only vertical. The language we teach is not only the language of the daily routine, but an intimate language which allows people to reshape and rename their past and present experience, together with their aspirations and future projects. In order to allow everybody to have the opportunity to express himself or herself, we don’t only use the spoken and written language: theatre exercises, songs, handcraft workshops, games, silent books, pictures and images, silk-screen printing, short films are the means through which explore the new language and ourselves.  Montessori’s instruments give an important support to the learning process, as they help reading and writing but also studying grammatical and syntactical structures. We both use original instruments (for example, sandpaper letters, movable alphabet, set analysis and grammar symbols) and readapted tools we calibrated on purpose for the whole group. During these years we’ve been meeting more than six hundred people coming from all over the world. This exchange of unconscious knowledge constantly creating new ways of schooling and in these years made us organize specific projects based on students real needs or passions: 
    1. The discover of the importance - especially for illiterate students - of learning at a slow rhythm, also thanks to practical activities, is the reason why, three years ago, we started to organize “The ground language” (La lingua della terra), a class around the growing of a vegetable garden and the study of the organic agriculture principles. 
    2. The comprehension of the role of the mother tongue in our life, as the skeleton of our soul, press us to find a way to support and promote all the mother tongues. So, we hold up a group of story-tellers named “Roots and Branches” (Radici e Rami) sharing traditional and fairy tales, poems and myths in the first languages and in Italian. 
    3. Due to the need to use as soon as possible the new language also in order to better understand the world where we are living, with its contradictions, injustices and opportunities, we started to explore the city not only as tourists but as researchers: recorder, camera and a set of questions are the equipment with which we walk through the city asking people we meet to share their ideas, their point of view and experience about an issue which is meaningful for all the group.
    4. The importance to look at the students as men and women having resources, abilities and strength enhance equal relationships. 
    From 2016, Asnada collaborates with the groups Nuovo Armenia and Gina Films. The City of Milano has assigned to us a farmstead (Cascina) situated in the centre of Dergano, a neighbors in the north of the city, in order to build up a place where migration issues could be faced through a cultural production, developed with the foreign communities themselves.  Our goal is to reshape the collective perception of the migration issue with the direct experience of a possibile living together, in order to avoid the usual relationships based on charity or humanitarian help. The “Cascina” will be the place where, besides our schools, will be held a multilingual cinema where foreign and Italian people will watch movies in original languages, but also a cafeteria (with controlled prices) and a coworking area. The collaboration of schools and cinema wants to start a process of thought consciousness by crossing these two situations: italians dealing with foreign languages, and foreign people dealing with Italian and other foreign languages. The “Cascina” will be also a place for permanent education in intercultural field, where we will set meeting, readings, conferences and workshops open to all citizen, with a particular regard to the foreign communities of the neighbors.  " 2,9935,2017-05-04T14:26:36.000Z,828,anon1409060592,anon443108007,"From Imagery to identity Thank you for sharing this very interesting experience. The language is for sure the most powerful “vehicle” for integration and new ways of teaching might make it happen faster and deeper. Language also can instigate to newcomers a different view of themselves by providing new words, different expressions and more detached emotions. I wonder if you ever involved second generation Italians in your projects. I was just reading this article that made me think of many connections with your activities. I'm pretty sure also @anon " 3,16570,2017-05-05T11:17:45.000Z,828,anon1491650132,anon443108007,"Schools = buildings? Hi @anon I'm asking because you posted in Policies of Care - did the City help in the beginning or did you have your own assets? " 2,8294,2017-01-19T09:59:06.000Z,810,anon1491650132,,"A question and some intros That sense of community and connection is the most important aspect to life That is something many people are experiencing or gravitating towards, but one hardly says it the way you did. Thank you for that, and for sharing your story with honesty, @anon Now for some intros: I'm one of the community members often around. I have experienced my own share of anxiety after graduating because I didn't want the money grabbing either, and was not willing to compromise. Luckily those times are over for now, it' funny how anything that offers some stability gives one comfort.  You might want to read and meet @anon1932026148, whose on journey is dedicated to making mental support more readily available, irrespective of labels like patient, doctor, ""in need of care"" and so on. She's actually on a bus tour right now to get the work started! " 4,12480,2017-01-21T14:14:00.000Z,11421,anon1491650132,,"Very helpful to learn about coanon3606750899g and isolation I see your points and they all make sense for why group therapy can be so much more helpful than relying solely on close ones. I'm thinking - not sure though - that there is probably a limited amount of pain that another person can empathize with or take upon themselves, even as they love us dearly and would do anything for us. Also, I'd read about how wanting too much to ""fix it"", whatever it is.. can be alienating because it means projecting too much onto someone. It also makes it harder for the person looking for human support and understanding, above all. If you have ideas on how networks can improve mental healing, I would definitely be interested. There is also an incredible post by @anon712028032 on community interventions and how collective recovery was achieved by a traumatised group of Kenyans. Kate's story is here. " 5,15313,2017-01-19T18:55:00.000Z,810,anon1088780966,,"Economic crisis and changing minds Hi Heads up for mentions...     Calling @anon Mentions on edgeryders have a minor (but annoying) bug: the name of the user mentioned needs to be followed by a space and nothing else. Like this: @anon As a result, @anon Sharon, welcome from me too! That was quite the story. Like Noemi, I find super interesting that you single out ""community"" as your most important resource in coanon3606750899g with all these problems. Several people here seem to agree with you. This suggests that a good way to help mental health patients might be to turn every one of them into a healer for others, participating into a community healing itself. This came up in the story by @anon3760936673 . His doctor suggested he gets involved in mental health advocacy immediately after making the diagnosis (full story). What do you think?  " 9,22611,2017-01-21T19:10:22.000Z,22093,anon2954219769,,"Thanks, some thoughts Thanks for taking the time to write your views on things @anon It's a harsh truth that there is no cookie cutter strategy, that everyone has to go through their own process, solve their own puzzle. Although this process is different for everyone, for each part of it there are similarities with someone, somewhere. To me it appears that a big part of the search is identifying pieces of your puzzle in other people (eg. some advice) and testing if it gets you closer to finishing your puzzle. That's where community comes in handy: a large group of people equals a lot of potentially useful pieces. The analogy is a simplification, but it helps me make sense of it. You say some people find the idea of a group therapy unsettling. I am one of those people. It's not the sharing with strangers or the speaking up. I could even live with the religious connotations, though I have a light allergy to most things that involve ritual. I think the reason is the lack of richness I experience in these group interactions. I find one on one conversations or reading people's stories like yours much more rewarding.  However, when I went through a darker period, it was also a group of people that helped me get out. It was a series of stories and great conversations, offline and online, one person at a time. Most of them will never meet each other. Defining what constitutes a community, a group, or what is just collection of individuals that share a friend is not the point. I guess you could say that the form the group or community takes differs for everyone. Or that the healing process is about meaningful interactions with others, however that may work for you. Helanon3606750899g others is an underrated aspect of this. " 11,24078,2017-01-21T13:52:31.000Z,810,anon1932026148,,"@anon Thank you for sharing your story with us " 12,26061,2017-03-28T05:11:13.000Z,810,anon3708118144,,"Networks are crucial to coanon3606750899g -mental well-being @anon While it’s true that each of us is unique and may have unique circumstances, none of us is alone in our struggles.  It great reduces isolation and alienation. It increases the sense that “we’re all in this together,” and kind of normalizes the individual situations. While members, in turn, encourage each other for support, feedback, and connection, instead of getting all that from the clinician.  By sharing experiences we all learn from each other and navigate out of their current situation and ultimately helps to find your voice in the sense of relating to others.  On the flipside, it takes strength and some recognition of the needs of others to function well in a group, not be destroyed by it. Creating the community atmosphere to overcome challenges and gain confidence. On another note, at university, they had “programs” in place and designed to enhance the student’s life, as @anon It was made almost mandatory by the dean and resident advisers to participate in these groups. There was resistance at first by many and that kind of tapered off. Being a psychology major we helped develop these groups in collaboration with various student groups. It was quite astonishing to see the resistance then you see the connection that was made over time and the participants, well some of them anyway changed their direction and went into this field so maanon1932026148 it was a chance to tap into their real path they were destined to follow. Through difficulties, we usually discover what we were meant to do. Each one teach one to reach one! Networks can indeed support and enhance the quality of life and provide a buffer against adverse life events and difficulties. " 13,26967,2017-03-22T20:49:12.000Z,26061,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"Other examples of networks Wow, I did not know this about you @anon The student program you mentioned, was it addressed to any and all students? What was it exactly that helped them cross that point between resistance and accepting support? Have you been involved in actually providing assistance? Wow, that programs seem like they are not hard to implement (even if non-mandatory one can still promote them so that you have more people asking for help than with the offer absent!). I wonder why we never had those. I just realised there is a personal story there - from the two hardest years I've had as a masters student. Maanon1932026148 I will write it someday soon. Also, how do you feel about a sort of less formalized, adhoc group therapy via twitter? There is a story here about organising twitter chats to access information and support - and supposedly it can get therapeutic, maanon1932026148 you would be interested to connect with the team at WeCommunities? " 15,27824,2017-03-25T23:20:57.000Z,810,anon3708118144,,"Keep the the conversations open @anon Being a university student – as you know -- can be a difficult banon3760936673cing act. It is easy to get weighed down with the pressures of academics, social life, and choosing a major and so on.  If personal problems are piled on top of these pressures, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There were different groups and workshops which made it easy for them to identify with. There was distress tolerance, learning how to improve coanon3606750899g skills, groups range in diverse areas.  Workshops were topical with a therapeutic focus and the students realized they were helanon3606750899g each other. Encouraging open and frank discussions while getting to the core. As a psychology student, we started a group with the focus of awareness of mental health and resilience (it started as a project) For students by students -showing support is beneficial to manage the inevitable ups and downs and the resources available.  Mental wellness was brought into the light – which it’s ok to talk about it. From there the students that were not really “interested” took another look at the options available with a different perspective. Years later when working with JP Morgan Investment in NYC I did facilitate– employee support programs. @anon   " 16,29083,2017-05-03T14:21:09.000Z,810,anon2124466388,,"Positive social impact through community support I've read avidly all the posts in this thread, all the inspiring stories and the challenges people have faced. With this kind of outpouring of support and collaboration, the world should really be a much happier place. I guess it will take time.  For my part, I'm gladdened to read everyone's experiences and the fulfilment that you have gained through the help, care and fostering of both informal and formal communities. Later life is my particular area of focus and I see on a daily basis the powerful effects that positive communities can have on our ageing society. As has been pointed out elsewhere here, it's not just on the individual at the centre - in my case, older people - but on those around them. I run a social enterprise called Remarkable Lives (for which I've just posted a proposal for OpenVillage Festival) which is all about celebrating the life stories of older people to help change society's perceptions of later life. In practice, the great benefit of this activity comes from encouraging multi-generational and community connectivity. In other words, harnessing the power of personal stories to help bring people together. In the end, I believe, that's something we can all identify with, just as the stories here from @anon " 18,29728,2017-05-04T16:40:46.000Z,29548,anon2124466388,,"Thank you Many thanks @anon " 19,29965,2017-05-04T16:28:51.000Z,810,anon3708118144,,"Great initiative @anon A lasting legacy of someone’s life, experiences and expression of their values. It’s definitely an opportunity to bridge the gap and reflect on their life journey and achievements.  Communities benefit from a cultural history that may otherwise be lost. The older generations is a tremendous resource and can certainly instruct us with words and stories of times past, and share a lifetime of accumulated wisdom. Telling these stories helps counter the perception that older people in care homes have nothing left to offer society. Success with Remarkable Lives! I look forward to hearing how it develops. @anon " 20,30320,2017-05-04T16:39:50.000Z,29965,anon2124466388,anon3708118144,"Thanks Maria Thank you @anon " 1,819,2017-03-23T16:58:00.000Z,819,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"Public places have to be accessible to all regardless their mobility capacity. The City Administration regulated the matter for new buildings as well as existing ones. The latter faced a variety of unforeseen problems that resulted into a 10% compliance rate in 15 months since the law passed. In the common understanding, this means a public effort not hitting the target, a cracked relationship between the City Administration and private businesses and ultimately disadvantaged people still vulnerable. The story begins in 2015 with the City of Milan to pass the Building Regulation article 77 that required all bars, shops, restaurants and craft activities bordering the road, to provide easy access to people with limited mobility or disabilities (the National Institute of Statistic in 2007 assessed 13.189 people with mobility disabilities in Milan). This normative action was the instrument that City of Milan deployed to overcome architectural barriers and provide universal free access to public places by 2017. In November 2016, 12 month after the law passed the City of Milan assessed only 2.000 businesses compliant over 18.000. An article on la Repubblica, the second most read Italian newspaper, by the 5 Janon169343781ary 2017, published these data and opened a public discussion on the subject. Lisa Noja (delegate of the Major for accessibility policies) said: We have to make sure that very quickly all businesses comply. This year we want to get to the full application of a rule of civilization and to do that you cannot only use repressive strategies. It was a beginning of a twist in the Municipal strategy and the start of a speculation about the most effective way to enforce a regulation. The new thinking included working with trade associations, like Confcommercio, as well as promoting campaigns to engage business holders. Cristina Tajani (City Councillor for labour policies, businesses, trade and human resources) said: places that show attention to the disabled are also easily accessible to children, parents with strollers and the elderly. This does not mean that they will not be submitted to controls, but we want help the business understand that the adjustment should not only be seen as an obligation. It is also a business opportunity. This is when OpenCare approach came handy. Local staff including WeMake was involved and started talking to as many people as possible, to understand what was not working and tentatively get it streight. Listening it was vital to start from the pieces of the City Administration that were involved from the beginning like the Major Cabinet, the Urbanistic Department, the Public Soil Occupation Office and lately Urban Economy and Work department. We have understood that the building legislation was conceived in a department and the implementing regulation was written in a different one (and of course published through another one). That gave a lot of room to officers for interpretations and tightening the instructions for businesses to prevent opportunistic behaviors.    Including as the collaboration with the trade association got closed we’ve understood more of the problems that businesses are facing to comply with the regulation, such as: high costs, complex red tape, lack of understanding of the most suitable solution and existing solutions too standardized. Since red tape is partially due to complex implementing regulations and the unclear communication follows, we started facilitating a mutual dialogue between pieces of public administration, businesses and associations. Regarding costs and production related problems, we can take it into the arena of manon169343781facturing 4.0 by including also designers, makers, social innovators, businesses and utilizers. Going where innovation beats we have started organizing an experimentation called Open Rampe (Rampe means Ramps/Slides) in a limited area of the city that has everything it takes. The Quartiere Isola in fact has a functioning District for Urban Commerce, a civic center devoted to urban regeneration, art and crafts workshops (ADA stecca), active businesses and a long tradition of civic participation. Our idea is to engage business individually and through a public event by 11th April. Involving them into co-design sessions pivoting around their necessities may generate unexpected outcomes. Dealing with collective intelligence is what we have just started doing by sharing this story here. Any input from the community could be brought into our experimentation and add value to it. It would be interesting to study this collaboration as it happens and share it. This is where we stand now and the next steps are: Co-designing / mobilizing resources of course we will not predefine outputs, but rather keep the sessions open to any outcomes. Prototyanon3606750899g policies by monitoring and evaluating this experimentation. We are aware that talking about “enforcing” a policy collaboratively may sounds an oxymoron. Since article 77 of the building regulation fits in the EU and the National legal frameworks, it is certainly a top down process. Nevertheless, the Open care approach might help policy makers, (non)compliant businesses, users and citizens to achieve simpler, cheaper and faster solutions. It would be interesting to know who else has been involved in a similar process and managed it collaboratively. Or not. " 2,10471,2017-04-06T11:33:25.000Z,819,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Calling experts on urban mobility and policy You might want to check out the approach of Living Streets (in Ghent, Belgium) - they rethought mobility (car free areas in the city) through a multiyear project . What I learned from them is that it takes sustained effort and some competent leadership that understands both civil service, how policies are made and incentives of the community. In that setup, the convener was not the city itself, but an independent organisation. @anon Speaking of incentives, I heard good things about the CarrotMob approach Generically speaking, the logic behind it is pretty cool: businesses who agree to make changes in how they work get a boost in consumer support. I'm sure Milano must have similar groups of community organisers that can (again) be credible interfaces - so ""mobs"" actually show up and make a difference in the incentive structure. Are you directly involved in this collaborative law enforcement :) @anon " 3,14016,2017-04-11T13:51:50.000Z,819,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"Consumers - a driver for change Thanx @anon     " 4,17073,2017-04-14T07:32:04.000Z,14016,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Consumers =supporters You're right, in the CarrotMob people, as in the money spenders, are supporters, because they do it for the cause more than financial consumption. NB they are different than the civic and environmental activists and may not be prone to acting by themselves or coming to your meetings. But they are a force in that they can be activated in well designed campaigns. It's like awareness raising, but with actions as outputs (in many cases it means buying from those businesses to reward their move towards greater sustainability). " 5,19824,2017-04-13T17:37:21.000Z,819,anon1526983854,anon1409060592,"""Not just an obligation, but an opportunity"" This sentence brings back memories, @anon It was not true. Not really. A top brand, or a very early mover, could gain marketing advantages by putting in place serious cleanon169343781p efforts. But for most small manon169343781facturers in my native Emilia, these were just costs. The benefits went, by definition, to the whole planet.  However, here's what happened over the decades: businesses started to realise they had done (albeit kicking and screaming) the decent thing. The region had become more livable. As a territory (and not so much as single businesses) they had indeed gathered some competitiveness.  In your case, I think, ""it's an opportunity"" is a little more true. Your barber salon or gorcery store has a ramp. The parent with the stroller, the person in the wheelchair can get in easily. They get a good experience. They are more likely to come back to you. But even here, I suspect that the ""area"" approach is going to be stronger: the message that registers is not ""you, personally, can gain a business advantage by servicing people with reduced mobility"", but ""here in Milano we make everyone feel welcome"". Not so much the extra profit, but the civic pride. Not the homo oeconomicus, but the ""we"".  How is it going yet?  " 6,22307,2017-05-04T12:23:16.000Z,19824,anon784612129,anon1526983854,"Dynamics a little different here I would imagine (given enough info flow to the potential users) the first couple of shops to do it would get the largest share of extra customers. Those could be specialised shops, or shops with special locations (close to housing units for mobility challenged people - if Milano does things like that). The tricky bit is making customers and shops aware of each other - but I would expect this to be possible through special interest channels (self help groups, care community, etc.). " 7,23676,2017-04-21T12:40:37.000Z,819,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"Moral suasion > Community efforts> Changes. Thanx @anon Last Wednesday we had a Kick off meeting to share the idea behind Open rampette to a crowd of local businesses, people with limited mobility, makers, associations, activists together with City of Milan civil servants as well as civil servants coming from neighboring cities. Putting together these people, with a purpose, in the iconic La Stecca 3.0 community center created a favorable atmosphere, as such. The way the meeting was managed made also a difference. In fact City of Milan started “admitting” that the law (see above) was created without enough stakeholders’ engagements and it resulted in limited compliances. The meeting was the occasion to amend the situation by experimenting a talk at a different level based more on moral suasion than power games. When @anon In her introductory speech, the City councilor Cristina Tajani said that helanon3606750899g enforcing this law isn’t just fair and mandatory, but it may also turn economically profitable for local businesses. Implying that more accessible businesses might have more clients among disabled and caregivers, but also among people that favors living in an equal opportunity neighborhood. This is the point to me. I have the feeling that this initiative is going to be successful here (a track of what’s going on will be provided as it happens) because of the nature of this area. This place, even if it’s recently gentrified, succeeded in keeanon3606750899g its original community spirit. There are plenty of small independent shops, recreational spaces, associations and spontaneous groups. People who cares. In other words it doesn’t take a single specific reason to wish shops and restaurants to be accessible for all. People, at times, might just follow their sense of community and contribute.      " 8,24857,2017-04-22T08:44:25.000Z,23676,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Admission is sometimes the hardest submission I read that somewhere, and interesting how it holds true in this case. I said it elsewhere, is there a way to think about recruiting from the very community someone whom the city can trust to run co-design sessions? or experiment: some ran by people already on board, some ran by people brought in aka citizen experts.. Thank you for staying in the loop @anon https://twitter.com/anon3612872438/status/854985849439694849 " 9,25789,2017-05-04T12:28:05.000Z,23676,anon784612129,anon1409060592,"There will likely be a mobility focused co-design challenge here soon. Just wanted to let you know - there seems to be a lot of overlap. So far it is only in brainstorming stage. Did you somehow document some of the outcomes from you workshop online? And do you know of good resources to get everyone on the same page for such an event? " 1,759,2016-09-20T16:16:37.000Z,759,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"The other day cycling home, I saw a person, probably living with sanon3606750899al cord injury using his hands to pedal, a really rare sight in Italy. I’m a keen cyclist for transport and leisure, but my profession is also research in devices enhancing the mobility for people with physical limitations. Therefore I feel an obligation to spread the news about recent advancements in cycling for physically challenged. Have you heard about FES cycling? FES - short for functional electrical stimulation - can be used to activate paralyzed muscles by impulses imitating the nervous system in the most natural way possible. We have come a long way with our research and it is possible to use this technique to let people with paralyzed legs cycle again. For some reason there are very few people who know about this so I’d like to share this knowledge with you. We cycle to move, but also to maintain fit. It can be both fun and functional. But, if your legs don't obey you anymore, you will probably not consider it a possibility. Paralyzed legs can result from an accident breaking your back, a stroke or a sneaking disease like the multiple sclerosis.   People caring for and curing you need to be very pragmatic, and you with them. Mobility then becomes reduced to passive transport, a dietetic approach to avoiding getting fat and medication of pressure sores and other side effects from lack of physical exercise. That’s where the publicly unknown FES research comes into play. Years of clinical research have consolidated the benefits, but we need to spread the news and understand more about it. Some people may already have heard of handbikes. They allow you to cover greater distances than manon169343781al wheelchairs. They are special tricycles where you use the hands for pedaling. FES, on the other side, is applied via adhesive electrodes or incorporated in bicycle shorts. The stimulus activates the muscles of the buttocks and thighs in sync with the ride.  However only the leg muscles can challenge the cardiovascular system to get physically fit. Some people with for example sanon3606750899al cord injury (paraplegia) may be able to use FES for activating these large muscles.  With FES cycling they can cover greater distances with greater speed and due to activation of large muscles they get (bene-)fit and feel physical well-being. The research community has tried to promote a more widespread use of FES cycling by arranging races (see here) and publications with the user's statements of the pros and cons (see here). How can we build research into practice or at least make options much more accessible? The question is how to help people who have become paraplegic or their families know about the existence of such possibilities. FES bikes are quite expensive so where to go to try them? Many places and cycle lanes are missing so it requires some changes to infrastructure as well. But as long as nobody uses them it's a vicious circle. Therefore we need more awareness to reduce cost, change infrastructure and increase inclusion in the cycle community Even handbikes which are more popular can’t be bought in a normal bicycle shop, but rather directly from a few specialized companies. The lack of marketing incurs high costs to manon169343781facturers and hence to clients. My own group’s response as research and practitioners is to create a culture to promote this change, a project in the making. How can we promote actual experience based dialogue between users (who are maanon1932026148 hackers) and researchers? There is an international community of researchers, so there should be a good chance of of finding local experts. As someone with a disability, you could connect with them and hack - evolve - test collaboratively cheap functional solutions in a healthcare hacking space. Dr Fitzwater, who is both a researcher and FES cycler, reports on the need to make benefits enjoyable in addition to positive medical outcomes: “The FESC function should be capable of being used on the open road with or without friends and family and be easily usable without any more assistance than that already required for the activities of daily living”. Why should you, me or anyone care about the future of research? you want to see your tax money spent well, don’t you? And most importantly, this could be you or a relative who would like to go for a ride and have drastically limited options. Check out the coming cybathlon for more information and help us spread the news. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,10564,2016-10-03T15:57:13.000Z,759,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Can we get this story to your proximity in Italy? Thanks @anon Ping @anon " 3,13970,2016-10-04T10:09:24.000Z,759,anon2668029998,anon1089184890,"Can we go further about that? it's really amazing, nice job @anon " 4,19646,2016-10-04T11:09:55.000Z,759,anon2954219769,anon1089184890,"Thanks for sharing this @anon About where to try the FES bikes: are the bikes customized to the user? Or could you imagine a network of users who are up for letting others test their bike from time to time. On top of that people meet and connect, they are more involved and it's not a huge cost for anyone. " 5,23387,2016-10-04T12:57:34.000Z,759,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"One issue reveals another Dear @anon @anon You have a good point,@anon I’ve learned two things recruiting wheelchair users as testdrivers 1. There is a perception that it may be physically harmful 2. People are afraid of traffic. There is a perception that there are nowhere to use the a Handbike As for 1. it shows the importance of having clinicians who can evaluate physical aptness for this exercise weighted against the alternative (cardiovascular diseases, pressure sores etc.) As for 2. We need a method of showing where it's possible to go safely, (Google maps in italy does not support cycling).  @anon " 6,26048,2016-10-04T14:15:00.000Z,759,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"The virtuous cycle of non-excluded people blazing the trail Traffic is scary, for everyone. In my home region, Emilia-Romagna, we have a strong cycling tradition – it is unusually flat for Italy, and that helps. When I moved to Milano in 2001, I found cycling much more difficult because of a deadly combination of cobblestones, tram tracks and just sheer traffic nastyness. Bicycle lanes where almost absent. As a consequence, only ""extreme cycling"" happened: young, fit men who wore tactical backpacks, army boots and yelled at drivers, and even kicked at their cars. I could just about cope: my (Swedish) wife refused to cycle, saying it was too dangerous. Extreme bikers did things like this: But over the years those extreme people have become sort of cool. A company called Urban Bike Messengers established a bicycle-based delivery service. They cultivated an image of green, cool and a bit scary. Rumour was that, to become a messenger, you had to pass a near-impossible test of crossing the city only in minutes. This encouraged more people to go out and bike. This, in turn, made biking a little safer for everyone, because drivers learned to be a little more attentive. So even more people got out. By the time I left the city, the Decathlon shop in Cairoli was selling 50 to 100 bicycles a day. Eventually, the city council started to take cyclists a bit more seriously; traffic was restricted in the center, some slightly better bike lanes appeared.  What this story has to teach is that, perhaps, if you want to make life better for paraplegics you have to start from the urban sport enthusiasts. Which is, after all, the same old story of finding a group of early adopters that pave the way (literally, in this case) for everyone else. " 7,26960,2016-10-08T15:53:06.000Z,26048,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"early adopters Yes @anon1526983854 that's the key and why we do a FES cycling event. We also need marketing guys to promote and recruit (we have not been effective at that). Can you or others help out?   " 8,27319,2016-10-08T17:26:59.000Z,26960,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Wrong guy I am no cyclist, and have left the country five years ago.  So no, I guess I am not the right person. ☺ " 9,27568,2017-05-03T16:32:35.000Z,26960,anon784612129,anon1089184890,"Talk to the Queen of Shitty Robots! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3G9PuDZ_8c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLFesz9O1g Yeah she has a thing with electric shocks. I think she could help with outreach in many interesting niches. And I can see her doing it in a fun & viral way. " 10,27818,2016-10-08T12:01:40.000Z,759,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Mapanon3606750899g Hi @anon1526983854, you are very right.. However I have been cycling around milano on tandem with a trailer (thats a long veicule) and two kids. I've learned that the trick is to know where to go and its a challenge (https://edgeryders.eu/en/can-we-hack-or-tweak-maps-to-help-where-infrastructure-fails-for-soft) we have to work on after our kick off event :http://wehandu.it/it/fesbici/     " 11,29078,2016-10-12T11:43:44.000Z,759,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Successful event Despite a cold and rainy evening the FES cycling event was successful.  The test riders got carried away pedalling with FES activated legs. This was an open air event showing functional and fun use of scientific results. The imperession was that the BerkelBike was useful and we should work on making more readily available. More information here:http://wehandu.it/it/eventi/     " 1,564,2017-02-09T11:46:51.000Z,564,anon3077117708,anon3077117708,"This is an interview with Mobile Medic, an organisation working on delivering care in the develoanon3606750899g world through mobile phones.  Mobile Medic were approached through the OpenCare Twitter mapanon3606750899g process. Can you tell us a bit about the background of Medic Mobile? Medic Mobile builds mobile and web tools for health workers, helanon3606750899g them provide better care that reaches everyone. Operating as a nonprofit technology company, we develop free and open-source tools that can be adapted for specific uses, backed by evidence. Health workers currently use Medic Mobile to register every pregnancy, immunize infants against illnesses, track disease outbreaks faster, keep stock of essential medicines, and communicate about emergencies. Our platform is built for the last mile of healthcare, supporting over 12,000 community health workers in 23 countries. We currently have 52 staff and three hubs: San Francisco, USA; Kathmandu, Nepal; Nairobi, Kenya. Not all of our staff works out of these hubs - about ⅓ of the team is remote. We spend a lot of time on Slack! Our approach has its roots in service and human-centered design. A lot of people are using these ideas now. Seven years ago, when we started, they were not so well known. We have a whole team of designers, including regional designers who use a participatory, ethnographic, HCD approach. They do in-depth site visits and investigate the context in which the apps will be used, and use a variety of techniques to do so: system mapanon3606750899g, role playing, in-depth interviewing. Some questions they might ask: “What is the current workflow? Ideal workflow?”, “What is the day-to-day like for end users?” It’s an intensive and essential process. We’re inspired by a whole host of organizations in this space, including IDEO, Acumen, etc. 100% of our staff do a HCD crash course. Specifically for our designers, we have our own design curriculum, and many of them come from an HCD or anthropology background. What are the services that Medic Mobile provides? Medic believes that health is a human right. We know that global health disparities around the world are vast, and it’s estimated that one billion people will never see a doctor in their lifetime. In many places around the world - especially low and middle income countries - community health workers (CHWs) are closing that gap. CHWs are community members - sometimes volunteers, but ideally paid - who provide basic AND complex health care for their neighbors. Our vision is to equip these CHWs with mobile technology and the right tools to increase their impact. For example, a community health worker can support in the following ways:
    • Identifying and supporting pregnant women;
    • Helanon3606750899g ensure the pregnant woman gets four antenatal care checkups, and identify any danger signs. (Having frequent checkups increases the chance the mother will give birth in a facility and survive child birth.)
    • Ensure that children are vaccinated fully;
    • Screen children and adults for common diseases (diarrhea, malaria), malnutrition, mental health, etc.
    In many of these scenarios, community health workers serve as first responders, so that patients can start getting treatment quickly. Medic Mobile’s tools are oriented around specific evidence-based use cases that have a clear impact logic. For example, we know that if we support a pregnant woman receiving a full course of antenatal care, she is more likely to deliver in a facility and survive child birth. Our use cases currently are:
    • Antenatal care
    • Childhood immunizations
    • Under 5 child health
    • Stock monitoring
    • Disease surveillance
    What the means is that in above areas, we have a ton of evidence and experience that our tools work. For a new use case - say, an area of health services or protocol that we’re not as familiar with - we have to do a lot of design. The design and product development teams are very tightly integrated. As far as tools, we have tools for basic phones and smartphones (Android exclusively). We work with implementing partners and/or governments to equip health workers with these tools. I was interested that you mentioned delivering advanced/complex care this way? Broadly, when you’re dealing with delivering care for complex health conditions in resource-poor settings, there’s two issues: 1) Practically, you need what Paul Farmer calls “staff, stuff, space, systems.” You need expert knowledge. For example, to treat cancer, you need a professionalized cadre, you need certain goods like chemotherapy drugs, etc. All of that won’t be delivered solely through community health workers. 2) Where community health workers can come in for complex health conditions is in coordinating access, screening, and adherence to treatment. For example, with HIV. Thirty years ago, the World Health Organization suggested that delivering HIV care to the ultra poor was “too difficult, that there wasn’t enough money, it was too difficult to get people to adhere to medications out in the community.” Partners In Health (whose work is very influential for us) showed that community health workers can support people in adhering to HIV medication. Same for TB. They proved that if you make the drugs available, you can even support the treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant TB through CHWs– where you have to take drugs daily for almost two years (and they have terrible side effects). Again, this is through trained community health workers in a process they call “accompaniment,” where CHWs are following up every day, providing support and guidance and ensuring that people are taking meds. In India, there’s been a lot of success with the Home Based Newborn Care protocol which provides guidance to community health workers around the first 45 days of life and navigating the major risks to a child’s life during that period. Community health workers are starting to be used in the US, too – in Harlem, First Nation communities, and the rural South. So CHWs can definitely support health issues that are complex and difficult, and in fact, can probably do so more effectively and with more touch points than a physician could. Do health workers have to be literate to use Medic tools? Ideally, yes, but we’ve worked with many CHWs that have mixed or low literacy. For example, the Female Community Health Volunteer (FCHV) network in Nepal has mixed literacy. We’ve equipped them with basic phones where the FCHV can text something very basic like “P 12 Jill” to mean “Jill is pregnant, her last menstrual period (LMP) was 12 weeks ago.” Then, Medic Mobile will send the health worker SMS messages, reminding her to remind Jill about her antenatal care checkups. Someone with a low level of literacy can still use these messages, and we provide booklets/guides to make sure they can remember how. We also have a thorough training process, where we start with teaching these health workers (if needed) how to turn on their phones, how to enter characters, everything from soup to nuts. In Nepal specifically, many FCHVs have reported feeling more empowered and motivated after being trained to use these mobile tools for their work. How are your tools evolving? That’s a very timely question. We are combining what we’ve learned over the last 6-7 years and develoanon3606750899g apps that support key shifts that we’re seeing in global health care delivery. We are moving beyond data collection to decision support. Previously, our tool was often a substitute for form filling (ie. registering a pregnancy), but more and more, we are helanon3606750899g community health workers make decisions – around complex protocols for under 5 child health, for example. We’re moving towards supporting integrated performance management of CHWs, managing CHW targets and providing support for supervisory meetings between community health workers and their managers. Also, integrated health systems require integrated technology tools that will support families over time and across a variety of health issues. If we simply organize health information by specific conditions or by form, we could miss opportunities to provide longitudinal support, leave out important social and historical context, and create unintuitive workflows. In general, we know that reactive systems that rely on sick patients showing up at facilities don't achieve equitable health outcomes. Health systems should be proactive and timely by design: mobile tools have an important role to play in bringing health workers to families' doorsteps often and early. How do you coordinate with local government and politicians? We are usually working with long term community-based partners. Ideally, organizations who already work with the local government. At some point, we want the local government to take over our mobile tools; the goal is always for the ministry to take over. We also sit on advisory committees and advise national eHealth and mHealth strategy in many of the countries where we work. We are committed to sustainable use of our tools. For that, we have to work hand in hand with local and national governments. Is it open source? Can I deploy my own? All our software is open source. You can certainly deploy our tools yourself, especially our DIY toolkit. All of our code is available online at Github. " 2,7961,2017-02-09T19:20:00.000Z,564,anon1491650132,anon3077117708,"""WE DON’T START WITH TECHNOLOGY. WE START WITH PEOPLE"" I really liked this slogan on your website, team Medic Mobile! I don't know if ""community health worker"" is a term you use for both official and volunteering members (it appears they are different from professionals though) but the fact they they are real power users of the technology and take the message to local governments seems like quite an asset. Is there professionalization happening and are the ranks of CHWs growing ..? I suspect there  must be other kinds of rewards other than intrinsic, given that these people are crucial in providing care and their work is largely underpaid. Very curious, thanks for the response. This story could be interesting for @anon   " 3,16132,2017-05-03T16:14:39.000Z,564,anon784612129,anon3077117708,"Connect with Rafael and Victoria here: https://launchforth.io/infocentrousmajac/#user-content or https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-lugo-82236b41/ They set up something similar in Mexico afaik. " 1,6281,2017-04-29T16:46:20.000Z,6281,anon2954219769,anon2954219769," I am actively involved in alternative ways of doing research as one of the initiators behind ReaGent, a publicly accessible biolab that allows citizens to do research independent of institutions. I facilitate and participate in open research projects and teach children and adults alike about biosciences. Research is an important driver for progress in healthcare. It brings us cheaper medicine, cures to seemingly incurable diseases and better therapies. Yet research methods have not evolved much at all to better reflect the needs of patients and citizens. The people whom the research is essentially meant for, are largely left out of the process. Moreover, the outcomes are often shielded behind intellectual property law or unaffordable prices. Citizen science and open science are research philosophies that offer an alternative. Citizen science as an approach is overwhelmingly commonly reduced to an alternative method for collecting data. I was at a conference dedicated to citizen science a few months ago; a full programme, even quite diverse for most standards, and data collection and data quality were all anyone wanted to talk about. Insight only progresses if we ask the right questions. At the conference not a word was spoken about better ways of actively listening to citizens every step of the way. Closely involving patients was missing from virtually every research agenda. In OpenCare I saw plenty of initiatives that are successful at taking citizen-led and open research to the next level. Biohackers are producing open source insulin, researchers in Greece are putting almost-forgotten research to use for everyone and people with motor impairment are coming together with researchers to develop open source neuroprosthetics in maker spaces. In the grand scheme of things however, these examples are few and far between. But we need more of them. For this, we need to share best practices, learn from each other and ultimately implement real life solutions. I curate a theme on open science and citizen science at the OpenVillage Festival so that we may do so. This theme at the OpenVillage Festival brings together people and projects with hands on expertise to build on each other’s knowledge in order to push the boundaries further. We will answer questions like
    • How do you ensure long term sustainability for your project?
    • How do you encourage change at policy level?
    • What have you learned about having citizens define and help advance your research project?
      Do you want to be part of this? Going through these steps will get you a ticket to the festival straight away:
    • 10 mins task | Share headlines to your network, invite interesting people and projects whose oanon3606750899ion you value to join the discussion.
    • 30 mins task | Share thoughtful feedback to move our initiatives forward. We ask everyone to read and comment stories about 3 community members initiatives. In part it's to ensure that people know about what others are doing, as well as to start building generative relationships between peers.
    • 1 hour task | Post your story of open or citizen science research online. Answer the questions above, share with others the needs or obstacles you experience and pose a question yourself.
    Head over to Registration for more information. Do you want to share a valuable insight? Do you want to solve your most pressing issues together with the participants of the festival? Post a proposal for an interactive session at the OpenVillage festival in the OpenVillage coordination group. During the session you should also look for answers to your most pressing needs. Strengthen your proposal by discussing with other community members.   This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation. " 2,9238,2017-05-03T02:33:33.000Z,6281,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"The purple network @anon3077117708 pulled out a twitter network (see spreadsheet with detailed info) with some hashtags and accounts relevant to our opencare conversations. A LOT of it is on open source and open hardware solutions, tentatively around UK and broader. Maanon1932026148 you'll find interesting contacts?   " 1,6274,2017-04-26T18:05:21.000Z,6274,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Is community-based and participatory health care sufficient? The World Health Organization (2003) states that ""Effective treatment for chronic conditions requires [...] a system that is proactive and emphasizes health throughout a lifetime."" For us, three conditions are required to ""Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages"" by 2030, a United Nations Global Goal:
    • Health innovation should be driven by communities and validated with participatory research.
    • It should focus on prevention and adherence to care, not on expensive tech.
    • Processes should be transparently documented, and results should be freely available to ensure everyone can use and adapt the work done.
    Do you agree? Would you see other essentials? Watch the practice we develop at Breathing Games. :) " 2,8238,2017-04-27T08:51:00.000Z,6274,anon1526983854,anon628128301,"Hard to disagree! Hello @anon628128301 , it's hard to disagree. Elsewhere in the project we have documented that a shift happens when the care-receiver is also the payer: suddenly, prevention becomes far and away the best way to spend your money (and time) on care. This is rare, because the person receiving care is almost never the person who pays for the care: the payer is either the state (more in Europe) or insurers (more in the USA). This is associated with an attention to therapy and a de-prioritisation of prevention.  I looked brefly at your games. It seems the first three are about teaching people with respiratory conditions what to do or not do, whereas the fourth is a quantified self kind of thing, right? Also, in the fourth game you need dedicated hardware to measure air pressure. How is it done? Do you make your own, with Arduinos etc? " 3,15352,2017-04-30T23:06:29.000Z,6274,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Payment and games Thanks @anon Mh, in fact both state and insurers are paid by citizens, but the solutions set rarely preserve the collective interest. :-/ Same happens when organizations or institutions are subsidized by public funds, but result in non-adaptable innovation... Regarding the four video, the first is preventive and for all (coanon3606750899g with stress), the second is aimed at education in asthma, the third is based on a therapy for CF, and the last builds on a lung capacity test recognized for a follow up of certain respiratory conditions. For the two last, we develop open-source hardware to capture pressure and flow, using Arduino or Raspberry Pi. One additional layer is that these technologies are collectively created, which enables to increase awareness about respiratory health. :) " 4,17513,2017-04-27T18:14:36.000Z,15352,anon1526983854,anon628128301,"It would be great to see the prototype! It sounds like interesting work, a some people around here (like @anon As for payer vs. receiver: yes, in the end citizens always foot the bill. But the risk-sharing mechanism we have in place makes it so that, you do not have to pay for your own treatment. You are paying a little of everyone's treatment. This encourages a behaviour economists call moral hazard: if I  do not diet and neglect my exercise hard, everyone else has to pay for my heart surgery: no additional cost for me (except the illness itself, of course). Conversely, if I do adopt a very healthy lifestyle, I still have to pay for my health insurance, just like the guy who eats McDonald's twice a day every day. The Amish, for example, refuse to take health insurance on the ground that it deresponsabilises people, and they do behave quite differently when it comes to prevention.  " 5,20791,2017-04-30T23:41:18.000Z,6274,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Behaviours Thank you for the connections. I did not know about this theory and read about it and the practice, it is interesting! We are continuing to develop them to do clinical tests in November. :) " 1,712,2016-08-03T11:41:57.000Z,712,anon497976862,anon497976862,"I've met Éireann for the first time a couple of months ago, during LOTE5 in Brussels. I mostly remember him for knowing probably all brand new, absurd Twitter accounts, and being able to quote quite a lot of their content. Then I have learned a bit more - and the more unveiled, the more impressive it got. There is a great reason for us to team up and work on the challenge together: Hacking, internet security, and medical devices. He knows a lot about that stuff. Éireann with his friend, Dr. Marie Moe started investigating the security of pacemakers - as Marie's life actually depends on a little instrument that generates each of her heartbeats. And runs on a proprietary code. This means she has to implicitly trust the programmers, and despite her and Eireann’s years of assessing devices for security holes, they wouldn’t normally be “allowed” to investigate the security of such devices. This implies how little a regular customer of similar devices is informed about the ways they work, what protocols and tools they use, where their data is stored, etc. It has everything to do with person's safety - and still, companies keep most of the key information secret from the users, making them more vulnerable. I suggest you watch this great video from 32C3, where Marie and Éireann tell about their journey. Obviously, the issue of safety transcends this case and applies to a whole range of tools that increasingly improve our quality of life and longevity. The security flaws are potentially causing exactly the opposite, making for a health/life hazard. There are concerns about privacy too, where your medical data flows around the world to companies that may or may not be taking measures to protect it. But that's not all - Éireann works also as an advisor for European Network for Canon1932026148r Security (ENISA), has founded http://www.concinnity-risks.com/, and works as a Senior Risk Researcher at Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies. He is loosely affiliated with I Am The Cavalry, a canon1932026148r security movement, whose motto is “Safer. Sooner. Together.” He contributes to our OPENandChange application vast expertise in the security of medical devices, and embedded devices. He will be helanon3606750899g DIY makers, programmers, and engineers with training on how to build safer code, and what standards they will want to comply with to produce products for different markets. He's also offering insight into vulnerability research and standards-based research, contributing safety and transparency knowledge to this huge, open swarm OPENandChange wants to become. Lastly, he loves the idea of preparing a consumer training and equipanon3606750899g people who rely on medical devices with knowledge and clear questions they can ask about their own devices. Finally, Éireann has just been announced an Open Web Fellow for Privacy International and he will be taking the word out about our idea while advocating for open canon1932026148rspace. " 2,10583,2016-08-03T20:31:38.000Z,712,anon1526983854,anon497976862,"MedDevice FAQs? Wow, this is great news indeed. Welcome @anon I was at that talk at 32C3. It was a real eye opener. It's all very good and well to make fun of the Internet of Things: my favourite is the Twitter account Internet of Shit (https://twitter.com/internetofshit), that churns out a sad/hilarious/scary gallery of smart diaphragms, Internet-connected pet feeders that starved your cat to near-death because the server went down (""It's literally just a timer! WHY does it have to be online? Oh, right, so that they can show me cat food ads""), and keyboards that predict your next keystroke and leak all your keylogs all over the Net.  But when you are running that stuff inside your body, that's where it gets a lot less funny.  I love this idea: preparing a consumer training and equipanon3606750899g people who rely on medical devices with knowledge and clear questions they can ask about their own devices. A sort of FAQs, of checklist, if I understand correctly. Does it make sense to try and prototype this at one of the Open&Change events in the fall?   " 3,16928,2016-08-04T10:12:03.000Z,712,anon1491650132,anon497976862,"Love the activist touch to medical care Thanks Natalia and Eireann for reporting on this. I had read Marie's story a while ago on the internet and was impressed by the humility with which she had approached medical security. After all, she rightly stated that the benefits of having the pacemaker far outweigh the risk - which is why probably many patients are looking away or de-prioritizing this. I'm also reminded of @anon " 4,21205,2016-08-21T00:58:50.000Z,712,anon1089184890,anon497976862,"Hmmm, it's an interesting and complex issue. I’m not sure to what extent @anon Honestly, would you dare to hack a pacemaker or implant one that was running opensouce version 42-beta last edited by someone with an obfuscated name ? More interesting. Is there some documentation that opensource software is more reliable compared to proprietary code with a relevant approvals? The opensource development or hacking is extreme programming where bugs gets fixed, new ones introduced and iterative improvements are taking place. Unless you believe in afterlife I don’t think you would accept being beta tester of your pacemaker. Non life-critical medical devices (low hazard) could be open source, when failures will cause little or no damage. Especially those not being provided by the health service. P.S. I think CE marking the waterdispenser is a lot easier than getting approval for a medical device and there is no comparison.   Bottom line @anon It would be a great idea to develop a FAQ or rather a book of knowledge/best practice for OpenSource Medical Devices. Please let it be based upon evidence and legal references " 5,21955,2016-08-29T19:58:59.000Z,21205,anon784612129,anon1089184890,"Nice points I can't really answer your question ""Is there some documentation that opensource software is more reliable compared to proprietary code with a relevant approvals?"" as I am not aware of applicable metrics that do this with little/no room for interpretation. It would be interesting what @anon As for "" Honestly, would you dare to hack a pacemaker or implant one that was running opensouce version 42-beta last edited by someone with an obfuscated name ?"": Well who decides that Windows Millenium or Windows 8 is not beta anymore, and what are the programmer's names? Not sure, but couldn't you beta-test in a dummy, an animal, or even a human (in a less sensitive location) before you declare it a finished product? Of course I agree that such probing questions need to be asked, and you can't expect to automagically transport some (but not other) features of one field into another field with a very different history etc. and expect to be able to predict the outcome. However, regulations have a tendency of accumulating and not always for the right reasons, so critical questions from outsiders are in place, particularly in the medical field I would say. Also there is the issue of possibly not being able to support the current complexity of the domain in the longer term. Lastly, I think work in the techno-medical-regulatory domain may help overcome indifference towards the consequences of technological choices, as illustrated in Alberto's comment. " 6,23651,2016-08-27T09:10:27.000Z,712,anon1526983854,anon497976862,"Some real issues here @anon " 7,26028,2016-09-09T08:26:02.000Z,712,anon497976862,anon497976862,"Some references First off, let me apologise for the long delay. I have been truly buried in work, and my life got heavily disrupted by personal matters for a couple months. @anon1089184890 I think we have some miscommunication here. I'm not suggesting open source is more reliable, or the only way to go with medical devices. However, there is an issue of transparency of the code to the patient, that has 'similar' issues to the issues of open source. On your other points though, you rightly note that there is a lot of safety and regulation around medical devices. However, we still know that user input issues pervade the safety of medical devices. For examples, see the paper Preventing Medication Errors by  P Aspden, J Wolcott, J L Bootman, L R Cronenwett:, or any of a number of papers by Harold Thimbleby. The paper Killed by Code written by Sandler et al, also details many case studies that you might be interested in. Getting back to the point about safety regulation, I don't believe that safety regulation takes security into account as regularly. This istarting to happen, but very slowly. This is why the paper ""Pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators: Software radio attacks and zero-power defenses"" is so powerful. They took an FDA certified device, and showed it was possible to make it operate unsafely after some security analysis. There are many more things we might discuss about regulation, such as the FDA's limited resources for looking at the code of the devices. However, there are some good things too, such as the MAUDE database. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/search.CFM By making this database available, we can search for adverse events and study this in an evidence based approach, as you rightly request. I'm not here to inflate the claims, and honestly I prefer to let Marie do the talking about these subject because her patient viewpoint is banon3760936673ced and essential. However, I'm happy to provide more reading and evidence, when time permits. " 8,26950,2016-09-09T17:18:02.000Z,26028,anon1526983854,anon497976862,"""FDA's limited resources for looking at the code of the devices"" @anon " 9,27802,2017-04-27T12:27:00.000Z,712,anon2954219769,anon497976862,"Finding the ideal solution What I make of this is that it's not about choosing between the open source or current proprietary code/technology approach. It's clear to me that both do things well and other things wrong and that an ideal situation lies somewhere in between. I find it is recurring when the open tech/science ideas meet traditional ideas that the discussion is seldom held around the question: how can the different approaches learn from each other, in order to implement a better solution? Rather, it is usually about what approach is the best as is. Result: boring discussion and no real progress. How can we get to a situation where this conversation is not about an ideal solution, but about finding an ideal solution? Ping @anon @anon @anon784612129 @anon " 1,6188,2017-03-07T15:08:47.000Z,6188,anon70625510,anon70625510,"https://player.vimeo.com/video/162811723

    We will imagine and enact the future of care together.

    What is it: A 3-day conference and expo on the topic of health and social innovations by communities. The event showcases their anon1056199097nious solutions to real-world problems through a process that encourages and highlights collaboration and sharing. Why: Resilient solutions are key to fixing access, support, investment and acknowledgement in the domain(s) of care. This event is dedicated to showcasing what is in place and modelling an encompassing ecosystem of care - via exhibitions, discussions and workshops. Who is it for: Project protagonists, Caregivers & recipients, entrepreneurs, public administrations, funders & investors. What is in it for partner organisations: Derive new insights, new opportunities and deep understanding. Discover a new field gathering exciting actors at the intersections of civic innovation, healthcare and open science & technologies.  What’s in it for participants: Creating tangible activities and products to help your project make an impact. New contacts, opportunities and deep understanding. Access to the OpenCare Fellowship Program. For more information: Contact anon70625510@anon

    Background

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/H1iu_oI2ghw For most of humanity's history, care services – which today we call health and social care – were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other's children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations. This new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people…) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manon169343781facturing process. What if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? The purpose of the OpenCare PopUp Village is to demonstrate that this is indeed possible. During the past 12   months, we have driven a transnational research project on the future of health and social care. Through OpenCare we have connected with hundreds of partners, investigating radical solutions to social and healthcare systems under strain, failing to cater to the needs of growing and ageing populations. These solutions are often under-the-radar initiatives - from open source devices for echography to peer-to-peer suicide prevention schemes; from building alternatives to expensive proprietary medical instruments to decentralising the science and production of essential drugs such as insulin. Many of them involve neither state nor private sector support or funding. Some are completely informal, some being run by only one hard-working individual. They hunger for peer support and opportunities to collaborate; during the year we have seen them forming partnerships and sharing their ideas and practices, all as a side effect of meeting on our online platform. With members in over 30 countries and 4 continents, we are currently building a network of opencare cities to scale up the initiative with us. As well as committed partners willing to bring in their own resources as an investment in an exciting new venture. The OpenCare PopUp Village will be a series of participant built festivals, with project demonstrations and a vibrant community spirit. Our ambition is to connect local actors in your country, with peers from all over the planet. Before the physical gatherings even start, a lot of preparation happens openly online. This means there is plenty of room for partners and attendees to shape the content, or for taking ownership of spotlight themes. For more information: Contact Everyone should be able to adapt (lifesaving) health innovation!     Is community-based and participatory health care sufficient? The World Health Organization (2003) states that ""Effective treatment for chronic conditions requires [...] a system that is proactive and emphasizes health throughout a lifetime."" For us, three conditions are required to ""Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages"" by 2030, a United Nations Global Goal:
    • Health innovation should be driven by communities and validated with participatory research.
    • It should focus on prevention and adherence to care, not on expensive tech.
    • Processes should be transparently documented, and results should be freely available to ensure everyone can use and adapt the work done.
    Do you agree? Would you see other essentials? Watch the practice we develop at Breathing Games. :) " 1,6253,2017-04-13T10:54:09.000Z,6253,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Francis is new to the project and arrived a little earlier to give his input. He can help us with mass spectrometry and other analysis methods to determine if we’re working with insulin. He does have some technical questions about purity and the kind of buffer of the samples. This is partially answered by the fact that we will start from the bacteria, so we do the extraction of the molecules and hence control the buffer and purity. Francis thinks the legal aspect will play a big role. In his biotech job, patent blocking is a very common thing. He thinks some of the methods mentioned in the documents are already not available without having to pay for licenses. We should clear this out at some point.
    • How much research did CCL do on this?
    • Do they have an expert looking into it?
    • Massimiliano will contact experts in Belgium to hear their oanon3606750899ion.
    A discussion on the communication aspect of the project: the main takeaway is that it has to be for a specific goal. It seems like now, we can get by with almost no budget. We can get a lot of stuff via-via, if all options go through. There’s no point in doing eg. a crowdfunding for very low amounts. We don’t have a real call to action yet, so we risk wasting opportunities. We’re still “talking about things we’re about to do but are still a little uncertain”, rather than “things we’ve done/are doing”. The story misses some power for now and we need to clear stuff out. When we need serious budget, and have a concrete call to action, we should plan things carefully to time them right, tell the right story. Arne points out the importance of having a website, an email address and perhaps a legal structure when there is more money involved. This in order to look more legit and to not burden other organizations with the administrative aspect. Angela and Massimiliano think that talking about the history of insulin and diabetes, with fascinating stories, will work well for the educational aspect.

    Timeline & actions

    We drafted a rough timeline in ideal conditions:
    • 12 May: received bacterial samples, start culturing
    • 31 May: successful culturing, start extraction of compounds & plan analysis
    • 31 August: finished analysis runs & made follow-up plans
    We’ll try to minimize delays by leaning on the practical experience CCL already collected, to avoid failures in lab work. Winnie will find out protocols/shipanon3606750899g @anon555382939 will figure out if OBL will be available when the samples arrive and in the summer @anon Next time we meet on April 26th, 8pm @anon " 2,6851,2017-04-13T11:31:53.000Z,6253,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Good work and proper welcomes. Hi all, just to chime in and welcome on board @anon Let me know if you need help browsing edgeryders or the OpenInsulin discussion group. A User Manon169343781al for the platform is here, should you need it. " 3,14285,2017-04-14T13:18:00.000Z,6253,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"News from CCL Anthony @anon3786846929  is checking with the person in charge of preparing samples & the guy who is helanon3606750899g with shipment where they are at with. Status update soon. They are changing the genetic construct a little bit to optimize it towards production (this confirms what we discussed shorty during the meeting @anon1746600840, @anon Regarding the cost estimate for our first steps, Anthony can answer specific questions about the cost of materials. I'll follow up on that. " 4,19864,2017-04-14T13:36:29.000Z,6253,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Science Espresso @anon Technopolis asked ReaGent to do a small event on citizen science in health care a while back. The Science Espresso format is a short talk and interaction of a (citizen) scientist with the audience. We had already set the date on 12 July 2017, 7pm. I figured we might as well use this time to present Open Insulin. The timing is suddenly close by (they want to start communications soon), so we should decide this week. Following the discussion on timing of communication: what are your oanon3606750899ions on this: is it too early or do we go for it? " 5,21900,2017-04-25T16:26:50.000Z,19864,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Moving the lab + dwelling on the safe side As we have to unexpectedly move the ReaGent lab this summer, the event won't go through. This also allows us to dwell on the safe side regarding our communication stance for Open Insulin. There is, however, a small event on data early May in Brussels where I will briefly present the project in ~5min and see if any people want to participate. That seems more like the kind of outreach we should be doing at this point. " 6,23845,2017-04-26T15:02:36.000Z,6253,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Trolls, our nemesis <Groan> Patent trolls. Typical. I have no idea how to do due diligence on the license status of bio lab processes. Am afraid I can't help much here, except by putting the word out in search of a kind soul who knows and will share what she knows. Is Francis going to be leading this? " 2,6886,2017-04-13T12:14:02.000Z,822,anon1491650132,,"What made you think of this solution? Hi @anon It's strange that given the usefulness, the idea has not been done yet, or has it? Anyway, this sounds like a pretty collaborative project so I wanted to let you know there are community members in Berlin who also designed something to provide care for newcomers - support for navigating the city in a more interesting non-touristic way. Newcomer got started last summer and I suspect it also used geo data to provide information about things in the city. Feel free to contact them. @anon " 3,11123,2017-04-26T08:27:45.000Z,6886,anon592621174,anon1491650132,"Is it possible to move the story? Hi @anon1491650132! We got in touch with @anon " 4,12358,2017-04-26T09:37:34.000Z,11123,anon1491650132,anon592621174,"Done. . " 1,6234,2017-04-06T12:59:03.000Z,6234,anon2442826637,anon2442826637,"Hi everyone! I'd like to set up a discussion on the outreach aspect of the project. I feel like people have heard about insulin and diabetes and they vaguely know it has something to do with sugar and stabbing yourself (In Flanders, when people have diabetes, they have 'The Sugar'). So we have the opportunity to address that through this project. The way I see it, the content would fall within these 3 categories and I think it would be cool to do one project in each:
    • Hardcore education: a clear but accurate rendering of what diabetes is and how insulin works, on the molecular level and how OpenInsuline is approaching it. Scientifcally driven, but clear and accessible. -- Medium: a wiki, a blog, a video, an infographic, ...
    • General outreach: A brief and general overview of diabetes and insuline, that describes the problems and solution. Here we could rely on metaphors, alternate non-scientific imagery and pop culture outcasts to paint a picture with layman's terms. The storytelling is strong in this one. -- Medium: a song, a meme stream, a video, an infographic, an app, ...
    • Awereness: The aim here is for diabetes to reclaim the spotlight, without going into detail and without there being an obivous 'lesson'. This calls for a unique approach in terms of medium/execution and there has to be a synergy between the message and the medium as well. Ideally we can find a medium with which diabetes hasn't been presented yet. Medium: VR, a stick figure game, a comic, an open mic night with diabetes patients, ...
    I think it will also be important to have the outcome of each category refer to the other ones, if we decide to tickmark every category. If we write a blog, we can urge to 'check out this silly thing we made'; if we write a song, the interested can find more info in our wiki, etc  So maanon1932026148 we can start with coming up with some options for each category and build from there? Hoanon3606750899g to have been constructive, Greets ND " 2,10483,2017-04-07T14:21:35.000Z,6234,anon1491650132,anon2442826637,"Purpose related to OpenInsulin or diabetes education in general? Hi @anon I'm a generalist and so doing community management on Edgeryders across the different projects - definitely not a health specialist!, but here's my two cents:  I like the idea of using mixed media to report on any health matters - you can never have enough awareness for sure. Writing a song sounds both hilarious and anon1056199097nious. I'm wondering though whether you're dreaming up a campaign to engage more OpenInsulin supporters in your project or if viceversa, to use the project as a vehicle for education, awareness etc about a widespread condition. To give you an idea of the many directions outreach could go, Anthony (aka @anon3786846929 here on edgeryders) made 3 points here for the stake brought forward by OI in the bigger picture:
    • open sourcing medical research for accelerating progress
    • making insulin more affordable through small scale production
    • citizen science and democratizing participation.. point made by Winnie as well.
    You can probably add more, and surely know best where you would be going. Lots of angles though, even for a general purpose, basic language campaign.. " 3,16832,2017-04-07T15:53:45.000Z,6234,anon1526983854,anon2442826637,"Capacity... Hello @anon I do not have much experience in these areas. They all look really useful. IMHO what matters is capacity. How many people do you have to throw at the problem? How much time do they have? How much experience? Etc.  From my understanding, ReaGent is strong on education projects. So, that would be my recommended starting point. Make a great education project linked to Open Insulin; sell it in Gent and beyond. This is a win-win-win proposition, because it builds on existing expertise and reinforces ReaGent's reputation in its main ""business"" area. You other, broader proposals can be taken on too, of course, but before you start designing I would recommend making sure there is at least one person who takes responsibility for driving them forward.  " 4,21617,2017-04-08T10:46:40.000Z,6234,anon1746600840,anon2442826637,"insulin on the molecular level Hi @anon I'm planning to include how insuline works on the molecular level in my biochemistry course. Happy to assist in the writing of this part. " 5,21693,2017-04-12T13:36:00.000Z,21617,anon2954219769,anon1746600840,"Purpose of communication & demand from people Over time we have often heard the desire of non-biologist people to learn about biotech & synthetic biology. Paving a way for interested people to learn about these subjects with Open Insulin as a case study and storyline might be a win for all. It's outreach, combined with education and combined with training people to work with us on this. The latter is one of the things needed to keep pushing the project and citizen science in general forward. There's plenty of biohacklabs around the world offering introductory courses like this. I believe CCL even has some intro courses @anon3786846929 ? " 6,24716,2017-04-10T10:06:49.000Z,6234,anon2954219769,anon2442826637,"Synergies I agree capacity is the bottleneck. Looking for synergies with what is already going on, within ReaGent or otherwise, is a good strategy: Ekoli, schools, universities, dedicated organisations that have some form of an educational track already (eg. Belgian diabetes liga <Dutch> https://www.diabetes.be/wat-diabetes). I advocate for working progressively, starting with things that can be made quickly (knowledge tidbits, short posts, graphics, ...) while building up reach and resources for harder things. Ideally all educational material can be shared with Sydney and Oakland and made so that it requires minimal effort to adapt it to the local conditions. This goes for local use as well: if we can make it so it is easily used by any type of organisation for many types of audience, spread it openly, we save ourselves a lot of groundwork. It takes a bit more coordination work, however it translates in more reach for everyone involved. Youth education would be an exception, as fitting it into the local educational system will always require some work. In the Belgian case, I think we have enough experience with Ekoli to do this. We can try to share this experience through an appendix though. We should flesh out a good synergy with the goal of the Open Insulin project as @anon " 7,24766,2017-04-12T16:45:17.000Z,24716,anon70625510,anon2954219769,"Benoit has some experience of this Will anon3606750899g him to see if he might be interested.  " 9,25912,2017-04-17T13:11:48.000Z,25860,anon1746600840,,"@anon Hi Guido, can you join us at the next meeting? April 27th @anon   " 11,25943,2017-04-18T19:25:46.000Z,25932,anon2954219769,,"Welcome, small correction Hey @anon I'm afraid there has been an error on my part, sorry. We meet every two weeks in the lab on Wednesdays, during the open lab night at ReaGent. I wrote down the wrong date in the notes, which is where @anon1746600840  got it from. The correct date and time is Wednesday the 26th at 8pm. I hope you're also available then? " 13,25946,2017-04-20T10:07:12.000Z,25945,anon2954219769,,"Great, @anon2717512012 from the KASK Laboratorium will also be there. She's looking into building an arts project around Open Insulin. Maanon1932026148 there's options to combine efforts there. " 14,26665,2017-04-10T19:40:38.000Z,6234,anon70625510,anon2442826637,"What is the communication for? I once got a useful heuristic for shaanon3606750899g effective communication. Basically whatever you craft has to answer the following questions (with a ""yes""): Is it here? Is it now? Does it affect me? Is there anything I can do about it? More generally what is the behavioral change that you want to achieve with each outreach effort? " 1,6256,2017-04-15T12:33:54.000Z,6256,anon70625510,anon70625510," Join the \#openvillage drop in video chat ! Today and every Wednesday at 18:00 CET here

    About

    OpenVillage is a participant-run festival. We know everyone is busy, so we make it easy and fun for everyone who wants to contribute. The video chat is a nice way to quickly get an overview of what is going on and why we are so excited about it. Plus you meet others in the community! If you cannot make it to the call, or want to go ahead we have prepared a number of this that need doing this week. If you have any questions or want to let us know you are working on one of them, just leave a comment below... 1. Write calls for sessions and exhibitions to participate in Meet the OpenCarers track. We need your help to ensure contributions are relevant to generating new knowledge and opportunities for the people who have shared stories of their care-related experiences and projects. How you can help? Pick one of the threads below, read stories people have posted about their experiences and share your thoughts around a possible theme  (see Winnie's example to get an idea)... 2. Write one thoughtful blog post each in which we introduce ourselves to one another by sharing our care-related experiences and projects here. 3. Prepare a budget spreadsheet for the OpenVillage Festival conference and exhibition. This will give us a clear idea of what resources are available for covering travel expenses, materials etc for people who contribute to building the event.  Want to help with any of this? Not sure how to get started? Just leave a comment below or write to community@anon " 2,7310,2017-04-19T10:01:33.000Z,6256,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Calls for sessions done. Or in forever progress :-) They are now briefs to engage participants in submitting stories and sessions, as well as interact with others around major themes. Each call outlines questions prompted by great stories in opencare in the last year. Start here and browse them, if you find inconsistencies give me a heads up. [next up for me: sending out invites + budget for the exhibition] " 1,6251,2017-04-13T08:21:26.000Z,6251,anon1746274751,anon1746274751,"Hello all , I am relatively new to the community (actively, as I have been following you for a while now). I am a health economist with an increasing interest in medical anthropology. I was actually looking for the ""right post"" to contribute to when I saw your post on help needed with the social media for the OpenVillage festival and decided it would be a great way to meet the group (and the group to meet me :) ). So, nice to meet you all! " 2,6830,2017-04-13T09:18:33.000Z,6251,anon1491650132,anon1746274751,"Welcome on board. Hi @anon1746274751 , I'm glad you found your way in. At times all we need is for someone to post a cry for help on the internet :-)  I'm Noemi, an Edgeryder since the early days and doing community management, and more and more interested in selfcare and lifestyle health, probably a no brainer for professionals. So with the social media and communication this structured task could be a useful start: Curating social media digests - in practice this means you produce 3 headlines every day based on community stories, both older and newer (tweet format is good) that will get sent to our list of 70+ people in the opencare community so they themselves can share with their networks and so on. It takes about 30 mins every other day, gets you up to speed with stories and projects we're discovering and importantly, secures you a ticket to the Festival for Meet the OpenCarers track (for which tickets are secured through active participation - posting stories being the first, but we keep it open).  A bit of context: with Edgeryders, we teach ourselves to build rewarding event experiences by finding sweet spots for people to contribute early on and use their skills to shape them (after all we are a small team spread all over the world), so by the time we meet in a room people will have known each other quite well. I find it speeds up learning quite a lot. If this sounds good for you, feel free to start building the headlines by editing/ commenting here, then we'll transfer them into our digest. How is 3 weeks as a calendar for now? Then once we get going we might find it fun to work together and take it to the next level :-)  Let me know. Btw, we also have weekly community calls on Wednesdays 18:00 CET on hangouts where we can coordinate the work and debug things. " 3,14252,2017-04-13T17:41:40.000Z,6251,anon1526983854,anon1746274751,"Welcome from me too :-) Alberto. And glad to meet you, @anon1746274751 ! " 1,6248,2017-04-11T13:39:24.000Z,6248,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    How do we build Edgeryders Reef and other social clinics of the future?

    The Reef at the \#OpenVillage Festival! 19-21 October 2017, Brussels Provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. Building The Reef is where we, together, design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein – from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some “skin in the game” by becoming Founding Members. What you get out of being a Founding Member of the Reef is access to unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
    • Use of the coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    • Full unlimited access passes to our Annual Community Summits (e.g. OpenVIllage Festival)
    What you will learn
    • how to present & sell your ideas
    • community building and management
    • intercultural communication
    • resolving and limiting damage from conflicts
    • building practical skills like permaculture, carpentry and plumbing
    • improving nutrition and physical wellbeing 
    • recognising and dealing with common psychosocial problems e.g. depression
    What each one of us contributes
    • When becoming a member: 5, 15, 25, 50 or 70 Eur/month for one year to cover running costs.
    • While in the house, as resident and/or visiting: share costs of collective meals 
    • On the online community platform: be generous with feedback and knowledge to support one another's work
    Our approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.  Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities in order to meet each other's needs. If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions. Join us now! Become a Founding Member! Your contribution is used to cover the costs involved: venue & equipment rental, third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders' fees. You can make your financial contribution in several ways:
    1. Place a standing order for direct bank transfers 
    2. Make a one time donation via direct bank transfer, creditcard or bitcoin
    3. We can send you an invoice if you prefer
    Write to community@anon
         
     
          Activities
    • Masterclasses like this one on Storytelling for Conversion.
    • Evening Talk & Dinner events like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community.
    • Networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    • Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summits. This year's edition is the OpenVillage Festival.    
                                                                                          Guest room* + Coworking space
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room* (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support via residencies.
    • You can also use the guest room to host visiting friends and family
    *3 nights/person/month - you need to let us know a few weeks in advance, so we can plan for your visits.   Place a standing order via bank transfer, or make a one time donationation for the year. 
      " 1,6246,2017-04-11T08:40:25.000Z,6246,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    What can we learn from under-the-radar projects at the intersections of open tech & science, communities and healthcare?  

    In this event we meet their protagonists and present findings from a massive 2 year research project on community driven care. MEET THE OPEN CARERS A track within the OpenVillage Festival 19-21 October 2017, Brussels OpenCares are a global community of individuals working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. We start from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required. For most of humanity's history, care services – which today we call health and social care – were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other's children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations. This new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people…) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manon169343781facturing process. What if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? We are attempting to do just that. Meet the OpenCarers will showcare the results of OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services.  By the end of this project we will have:
    • collected experiences of community-driven care services
    • validated them through open discussion, both online and offline.
    • augmented them with state-of-the-art maker technology (3D printing, laser cutting, biohacking…)
    • combined everything we learn into the design and prototype of next generation community-driven care services.
    This is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we are doing it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process is – and will stay – open to anyone who wants to participate. We operate under a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution; we do not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers. Care is deeply human. Everyone has first hand experience of it. Even those of us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and recieving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent prototypes. In Meet The OpenCarers, a track within the OpenVillage Festival, we will:
    • Participate in community care-related talks, debates, workshops & business development
    • Explore new technologies, methodologies & collaboration opportunities in community care
    • Discover innovative new technologies, products and services in the exhibition.
    To get a ticket to this part of the OpenVillage Festival is easy:
    1. Create an account on edgeryders.eu
    2. Read 3 conversations about how others are innovating in care & leave thoughtful comments here
    3. Submit a proposal for a session, or tell others about your experiences of giving and receiving care. Share this as a story here

     

    Partner organisations

    This track of the OpenVillage has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
     
      " 1,6245,2017-04-11T08:05:51.000Z,6245,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and networks of social clinics for the future?

    The Future of Care: An Investment and Policy Lab \#OpenVillage Festival 19-21 October 2017, Brussels A suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work. We invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them. To get a ticket:
    1. Read the information about The Reef below
    2. Decide whether you would like to participate as a partner organisation or as a private individual
    3. If you wish to explore partnership alternatives, contact anon70625510@anon
     

    ABOUT THE REEF

    A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was – and still is – unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done. We saw people coming together, stepanon3606750899g into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together. We started a research project to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear: It's all about humans. Community provision of care services needs humans:  more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills.  Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. This intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there's a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. We dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other. We have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a live/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times. The unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning. So, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now. We are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters). Like coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start. We ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @anon If you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a ""Building the Reef"" track within the  OpenVillage Festival where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein – from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some “skin in the game” by becoming founding members. Why become a founding member? What we individually get out of a membership in the Reef is access to unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others. Partner organisations gain access to early stage opportunities for investing in new ventures born out of global network of 3000+ hackers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, artists, activists and more:
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    • Full unlimited access passes to our Annual Community Summits (e.g. OpenVIllage Festival)
    What you will learn
    • how to present & sell your ideas
    • community building and management
    • mastering intercultural communication skills
    • resolving and limiting damage from conflicts
    • building practical skills like permaculture, carpentry and plumbing
    • improving nutrition and physical wellbeing 
    • recognising and dealing with common psychosocial problems e.g. depression
    What each one of us contributes
    • When becoming a member: money to cover running costs (for a breakdown of these go here)
    • While in the house, as resident and/or visiting: share costs of collective meals 
    • On the online community platform: feedback and knowledge to support one another's work
    Our approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships. Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities in order to meet each other's needs. If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions. Join us now! Become a Founding Member! Look at the list of resources available below, pick one and contribute the right amount. Your contribution is used to cover the costs involved: venue & equipment rental, third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders' fees
         
     
                Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year                                                                          Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year's edition is the OpenVillage Festival.                                    Get this membership                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Pledging 600 Eur/year (70 Euro/ Month) or more also gives you access to The Reef Guest room* + coworking space
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    *3 nights/person/month     Get this membership (yearly)        
       
    " 1,6240,2017-04-10T08:40:47.000Z,6240,anon70625510,anon70625510,"   

    How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and networks of social clinics for the future?

    The Future of Care: An Investment and Policy Lab A track within the OpenVillage Festival 19-21 October 2017, Brussels A suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work. We invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them. To get a ticket:
    1. Read the information about The Reef below
    2. Decide whether you would like to participate as a partner organisation or as a private individual
    3. If you wish to explore partnership alternatives, contact anon70625510@anon
    To receive OpenVillage festival updates and be in touch directly, join our global #CountOnMe team.

    ABOUT THE REEF

    A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was – and still is – unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done. We saw people coming together, stepanon3606750899g into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together. We started a research project to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear: It's all about humans. Community provision of care services needs humans:  more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills.  Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. This intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there's a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. We dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other. We have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a live/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times. The unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning. So, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now. We are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters). Like coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start. We ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @anon If you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a ""Building the Reef"" track within the  OpenVillage Festival where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein – from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some “skin in the game” by becoming founding members. Why become a founding member? What we individually get out of a membership in the Reef is access to unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others. Partner organisations gain access to early stage opportunities for investing in new ventures born out of global network of 3000+ hackers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, artists, activists and more:
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    • Full unlimited access passes to our Annual Community Summits (e.g. OpenVIllage Festival)
    What you will learn
    • how to present & sell your ideas
    • community building and management
    • mastering intercultural communication skills
    • resolving and limiting damage from conflicts
    • building practical skills like permaculture, carpentry and plumbing
    • improving nutrition and physical wellbeing 
    • recognising and dealing with common psychosocial problems e.g. depression
    What each one of us contributes
    • When becoming a member: money to cover running costs (for a breakdown of these go here)
    • While in the house, as resident and/or visiting: share costs of collective meals 
    • On the online community platform: feedback and knowledge to support one another's work
    Our approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships. Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities in order to meet each other's needs. If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions. Join us now! Become a Founding Member! Look at the list of resources available below, pick one and contribute the right amount. Your contribution is used to cover the costs involved: venue & equipment rental, third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders' fees
         
     
                Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year                  Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year's edition is the OpenVillage Festival.                                    Get this membership                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Pledging 600 Eur/year (70 Euro/ Month) or more also gives you access to all of the above + access to The Reef Guest room* and coworking space
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    *3 nights/person/month     Get this membership (yearly)
    " 1,6238,2017-04-06T21:52:47.000Z,6238,anon70625510,anon70625510,"    Building The Reef: A Community Property For Everyone A track within the OpenVillage Festival 19-21 October 2017, Brussels Community provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. Building The Reef is where we, together, design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein – from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some “skin in the game” by becoming Founding Members. What you get out of being a Founding Member of the Reef is access to unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
    • Use of the coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    • Full unlimited access passes to our Annual Community Summits (e.g. OpenVIllage Festival)
    What you will learn
    • how to present & sell your ideas
    • community building and management
    • intercultural communication
    • resolving and limiting damage from conflicts
    • building practical skills like permaculture, carpentry and plumbing
    • improving nutrition and physical wellbeing 
    • recognising and dealing with common psychosocial problems e.g. depression
    What each one of us contributes
    • When becoming a member: 25 Eur/month for one year to cover running costs.
    • While in the house, as resident and/or visiting: share costs of collective meals 
    • On the online community platform: be generous with feedback and knowledge to support one another's work
    Our approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.  Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities in order to meet each other's needs. If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions. Become a founding member right now!  Look at the options below, pick one and make your financial contribution.  If you pledge 300 Eur (25 Eur/month) or above your immediate benefits include:
    1. A spot for you and your project in the PowerPitch Masterclass, May 26-27, at The Reef, Brussels.
    2. A full access pass to OpenVillage Festival, October 19-21 at The Reef, Brussels
         
     
                Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year                                                      Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year's edition is the OpenVillage Festival.                                    Get this membership                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Pledging 600 Eur/year (70 Euro/ Month) or more gives you access to all of the above + access to The Reef Guest room* and coworking space
    • Use of our coworking space and guest room (incl. public transport & sim card)
    • Project development & partnership-building support
    • Invitation to participate in all of our Skill Development Masterclasses
    • Invitation to all of our networking dinners, parties, and adventures
    *3 nights/person/month     Get this membership (yearly)        
       
    " 1,6236,2017-04-06T16:18:37.000Z,6236,anon70625510,anon70625510,"MEET THE OPEN CARERS A track within the OpenVillage Festival 19-21 October 2017, Brussels At the OpenVillage Festival you will meet protagonists of initiatives working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, privacy-friendly, secure and participatory....
    Open Science & Technology Mental and Spiritual Health Migration and robustness to Rapid Change
    How are people all over the world using open knowledge, open source hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? What can we learn from off-the-radar Initiatives about how we can boost one another's' mental and spiritual health? and more..! What new or unconventional solutions can protect us from consequences of ""chaos in the system"" when we are most vulnerable i.e. refugee crises?
     

     

    A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE

    • Participate in talks, fishbowls, workshops & business development sprints
    • Explore new technologies, methodologies & collaboration opportunities
    • Discover innovative new technologies, products and services 

     

     

    TICKETS

    To get your ticket create an edgeryders account, then write to   

    #OpenVillage Festival

    Follow us:     Facebook   Twitter   Newsletter General inquiries: 

     

    Background

    For most of humanity's history, care services – which today we call health and social care – were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other's children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations. This new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people…) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manon169343781facturing process. What if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? We are attempting to do just that. Meet the OpenCarers will showcare the results of OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services. By the end of this project we will have:
    • collected experiences of community-driven care services
    • validated them through open discussion, both online and offline.
    • augmented them with state-of-the-art maker technology (3D printing, laser cutting, biohacking…)
    • combined everything we learn into the design and prototype of next generation community-driven care services.
    This is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we are doing it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process is – and will stay – open to anyone who wants to participate. We operate under a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution; we do not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers. Care is deeply human. Everyone has first-hand experience of it. Even those of us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and recieving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent prototypes.  

    Partner organisations

     

    This track of the OpenVillage has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670 " 1,6217,2017-03-27T12:15:43.000Z,6217,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"While we are adding final touches to the OpenVillage launch, we plan a personalized message to our partners that includes: 1) Save the Date and register for OpenVillage 2) Take on Communication and Business modeling (?) roles in preparation for it: 5 memberships available (opencall upcoming) 3) Take on Curation role: Fellowships (see main menu link) 4) Maker Residency in Milano (see main menu link) These are the concrete opportunities for continuing the work which has been done in openandchange. Am I missing something? " 2,9765,2017-03-29T11:00:25.000Z,6217,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"the weekly community calls good opportunity to touch base and keep up to date on near future opportunities, one another's work etc, discuss collaborations, ask for help etc " 3,16775,2017-04-06T07:23:53.000Z,6217,anon904321944,anon1491650132,"Alcune Domande in merito ad OpenVillage. Ciao Ho letto con estrema attenzione le pagine (con i diversi collegamenti ipertestuali ad altre risorse) relative all'OpenVillage e con queste righe vorrei chiedere alcune cose. Personalmente sarei interessato alla costruzione del Reef/OpenVillage, possibilmente a Milano in futuro non troppo remoto, ma vorrei capire se e quanto il modello preveda una sorta di apertura alle realtò che operano sul territorio nell'ambito, interesse-priorità specifici, dell'arcipelago delle disabilità e della non autosufficienza. I temi che mi piacerebbe innestare in tale ""laboratorio"" sarebbero, per esempio, la realizzazione di ausili personalizzati, l'avvio di progetti di vita indipendente, la progettazione e la realizzazione di soluzioni residenziali avanzate, la riqualificazione del tessuto sociale e la co-realizzazione di iniziative con le pubbliche amministrazioni (vedi     https://edgeryders.eu/en/the-reef/in-2017-were-pushing-the-community-further-with-the-reef-and). Vorrei inoltre comprendere se, nel corso del primo anno di vita del ""prototipo"" a Bruxelles, sia stato quanto meno ipotizzato per gli aspiranti ""fondatori"" un percorso informativo e formativo, da realizzare sopratutto attraverso una opportuna piattaforma digitale, sugli aspetti internazionali europei riguardanti i finanziamenti internazionali e la disciplina unitaria del crowdfounding e crowdsourcing agevolata da forme di imprenditorialità sociale transnazionale, sulle modalità di adesione ad iniziative di ricerca e sviluppo tramite clustering tecnico scientifico che preveda la costituzione di realtà permanenti ad hoc oltre che considerandone tutte le implicazioni giuridiche e legali. Giungendo infine ad un livello più pratico, sarei inoltre interessato a comprendere meglio i meccanismi sin da ora solo ipotizzati per ciascun fondatore per sostenere economicamente ed operativamente l'avvio ed il consolidamento di OpenVillage. Immaginando che tutto ciò sia già stato discusso nella videochat, sarebbe interessante accedere alle registrazioni Hangout in modo da garantire un allineamento informativo in merito ai progressi ed alla programmazione da parte di tutti. Vivendo in una struttura residenziale gestita da terzi e non avendo al momento una quotidianità autonomamente gestita sotto il profilo assistenziale, per esempio, per me sarebbe più pratica una consultzione asincrona dei contenuti audiovideo da integrare nella costante attività di consultazione della Piattaforma Edgeryders. Grazie e a Presto " 4,18088,2017-04-06T11:02:00.000Z,16775,anon1491650132,anon904321944,"Hangouts are regular. Francesco, grazie. Abbiamo un luogo di ritrovo quasi ogni settimana per parlare di questione comunità. Le prossime luoghi di ritrovo dovrebbero apparire elencati in questa pagina: https://edgeryders.eu/en/whats-new   ""i meccanismi sin da ora solo ipotizzati per ciascun fondatore per sostenere economicamente ed operativamente"" - La strategia finora è quello di creare una rete di collaboratori che renderanno i contributi finanziari come supporto per il luogo (The Reef che va lanciato durante OpenVillage Festival) e in cambio essere partecipanti attivi inattività. ""sia stato quanto meno ipotizzato per gli aspiranti ""fondatori"" un percorso informativo e formativo, da realizzare sopratutto attraverso una opportuna piattaforma digitale"" -  Come per tutte le questioni Edgeryders, nulla di ciò che accade in un luogo fisico resta solo un'occasione lì - noi pensiamo che è esclusivo. Così abbiamo documento in linea o per l'apprendimento e gli eventi, idealmente troveremo il modo di inviare registrazioni o riassunti in formato digitale in modo tutti hanno accesso ad essi e può partecipare da remoto. (Scusate per gli errori nella traduzione, l'ho fatto con google) (also marking the task as done, email to openanchange partners was sent the other day) " 1,563,2017-01-16T14:49:51.000Z,563,anon3836215526,anon3836215526,"Context In recent years Milan citizens have developed needs that the City of milan is no longer able to cope with. Available data tell us that welfare services are directed to a minority of citizens, creating a gap with all the others. But what are the main changes taking place? - The aging population; - The reduction in resources due to the economic and financial crisis; - The changing role of the family, its components and its characteristics; - The question of the role of youth in society; - The increasing multiculturalism. In particular in Milan: SENIOR CITIZENS In Milan, the ultra elderly residents aged over 60 are 394 673 (about 30%), mostly women (233,863). Of these 25% are people alone, who then often they face the last part of life in solitude. Among these are the ""very elderly"" (over 80) are 94,330. The elderly non self-sufficient are about 40,000 and they have a lot of care needs and the main caregivers are  familiars (usually sons) and health and social services. These numbers also explain the growing significance of the phenomenon of the informal care market, the caregivers for elderly people. The phenomenon is significant in Milan if you consider that in the city are estimated around 32,000 caregivers, both legal and illegal. It 'also important to note that only 25% of the 39,000 non self sufficient elderly people living in Milan receive formal care provided by Municipality. WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? THE ROLE OF WOMEN The role of women/ mother in Milan  is increasingly complex. Just think that in Milan, in 2011, appear to be residents 383,221 women aged between 25 and 65 years and that the female employment rate in the city is 62.70%. The above described demographic change also determines a situation where women who are 40 years old today can expect to share about 22 years of their lives with at least one elderly parent, 4 years longer than those born in 1960 and 10 years more than women born in 1940. The Milanese women are, therefore, for most working women, whose problems of conciliation between family and work are even more marked than women of other cities of Italy. Children in Milan between 0 and 6 years old are 83,605 of which only 6,902 are enrolled in pre-schools or nurseries and only 5,600 are enrolled in pre-school services and after-school primary school. WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? FRAGMENTATION OF RESOURCES We also found a strong fragmentation between public funds used for care and a  lack of coordination. 43% of these resources comes from the State, Region, Municipality and Local Public Health Agency,  the other part are cash resources that come from INPS (National Insurance Contributions). The project “Welfare of all” The idea is to create the conditions to make sure that everyone has access to opportunities provided by the welfare, regardless of economic conditions, and that anyone can have an active role  in the welfare and thus responsible for the improvement of society. Therefore the name of the project: Welfare of all. This approach seems to us really innovative. Adolfo Ceretti and Roberto Cornelli (partner of our project with the National Centre for Prevention and Social Defence) told us: ""The claim of recognition of civil and social rights, after having supported the gradual expansion of the Western democracies, becomes more and more an individual claim that tends to exclude, in the name of ""my own right"", those of others. ""My"" right to public housing, the provision of ""my"" child daycare, and even the right to receive adequate medical care is seen in contrast with the rights of others. We prefer to support the removal from the list of those who ""are not as much citizen as I am ""- rather than to claim services that reach everyone. In a context where human relationships are more rarefied, the solidaristic relations are weak, the gap between social segments is dangerously exploding. Insecurity and uncertainty have made the idea of ​​community something relative and fragile. "" Wemi is develoanon3606750899g an online platform that enables simple access to home care services of the City, making it possible for citizens to request new services, or in different ways, creating new solutions together, giving you the chance to find personalized answers. http://wemi.milano.it/ We realized also two territorial platforms, ie two listening spaces for citizens in the aim to promote the sharing of offers and needs among citizens. The territorial platforms perform the same function of the digital platform but in three different physical locations. In these spaces people are helped to find the services they need, but also they are encouraged to share needs and services between groups of citizens, in the aim to aggregate the needs and provide shared answers . These services then work directly with families and traditional third sector associations. Online and physical platforms are innovative tools because they force the entire system to rethink: the City of Milan has to change its vision of citizens and the world of the third sector needs to open up to new citizens and think again an adequate business model. Finally thanks to some ideas  received during some design sessions WEMI is implementing two pilot projects: “Apartment Block Welfare”, with apartment block caregivers/home helps, and “School Welfare”, working with local schools, with a view to better integrating welfare provision. Apartment Block Welfare Financial education for social operators Which are the main difficulties that we found? We found different kind of difficulties. From the point of view of the City of Milan we’re working with new tools that are very different from the typical ones. For example, we had to think about a new way to communicate services to citizens, trying to build a new visual identity system with the Department of Design at the Politecnico. Moreover we need to build a new language with the traditional actors (cooperatives, NGOs..) that can be understood by citizens  (not technical language). Another difficulty has been to help no profit organizations to think new kind of products, beyond their traditional services in order to be able to answer to new and different needs.   So the biggest challenge is to get out from traditional logic, in relation to how we think, how we communicate and we distribute services. We believe that this new way of thinking services might lead to great opportunities, but we still need to prove that this idea is true. So we need to be brave and really believe and work on this idea. In this sense the role of the Municipality is important because only Municipality can take the risk of innovation and make an investment that the private social agencies alone could not do, as they are forced to face objective difficulties also linked to a long economical crisis. What do you think? Do you know similar projects? Do you have suggestions for us? All comments will be useful for building together this difficult road of Welfare innovation. " 2,8139,2017-01-18T05:49:27.000Z,563,anon1526983854,anon3836215526,"Sostenere i ""devianti positivi""? Interessante, @anon Fare cambiare le logiche a soggetti che hanno già le loro è sempre difficile. Nello spirito di opencare, mi viene da suggerire che potreste pensare di appoggiarvi a soggetti diversi, che hanno già le logiche ""sharing"" che vi interessano. In pratica, questo significa cercare e sostenere i cosiddetti devianti positivi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_deviance), cioè gente che ha già cominciato a sviluppare soluzioni come quelle che vorreste promuovere. Mi ricordo che qualche anno fa leggevo di un caso a Firenze: una signora immigrata, con molto tempo, amante dei bambini, avevo montato un servizio in cui i genitori le lasciavano i loro bambini, e lei li faceva giocare, faceva con loro piccole attività, etc. Sembrave una buona idea: in Italia le scuole per l'infanzia servono solo una parte piccola della popolazione, e sono molto care. In Emilia il costo pieno (senza profitto) è stimato a 700 EUR al mese per bambino. E invece, le cooperative sociali che in Toscana gestiscono questi servizi l'hanno denunciata e fatta chiudere: mancato rispetto delle normative regionali. Un approccio basato sui devianti positivi avrebbe invece concluso che a Firenze servono scuole dell'infanzia basic, e creato uno spazio per la signora e per le altre persone come lei.  La metodologia di opencare è molto adatta a trovare i devianti positivi. Si tratterebbe di fare un affondo su Milano, cercando le iniziative su cui la gente si sta automobilitando; queste sono le cose che servono davvero. E il bello dei devianti positivi è che, per definizione, sono già nelle logiche che vi interessano.  Ultima cosa: c'è un numero anon2188661263mente sbagliato nel post: 383.221 donne, di cui 372.998 divorziate? Impossibile. Il totale delle donne dovrebbe essere sul mezzo milione abbondante, a spanna.  " 3,16324,2017-01-26T22:24:54.000Z,563,anon1491650132,anon3836215526,"How is the City and private social agencies working together? Hi @anon I'm glad there is a version in English too, thank you to the person who translated from Italian. My question is related to the challenges you mention - needing to present the program online and in a more accessible language and so on. How do you work with the private actors? Ok, the city is the only one to finance this innovation, but does it accept consultancy or how are social agencies involved? " 4,21260,2017-01-27T11:40:32.000Z,563,anon1409060592,anon3836215526,"display_matching_funding_services Hi @anon for as much as I know primarily WEMI is matching a number of services available among the city organizations (providers) with citizens' needs. Provider organizations are those listed in the Register of the City of Milan, therefore they are previously assessed and qualified. Citizens are whoever need services. The matching happens mainly online. Secondarily, City of Milan subsidizes up to 1,500 euros each to less affluent users (some 3mln euros have been pladged for 2017) to access services provided through the platform. Seems to me that the most (creative) interactions can happen in WEMI physical places, that are open to citizens and associations (not only providers). By April 19th, 2016 Opencare local team met up in the WEMI space in Corso San Gottardo. That was an opportunity to engage representatives of “San Gottardo Social Street” that gathers neighbors in order to build relationships, to share expertise and knowledges, and to implement common ideas. @anon " 5,22308,2017-01-27T12:18:30.000Z,21260,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"No doubts on some private actors using the programme.. Thanks @anon " 6,23171,2017-01-28T14:20:04.000Z,21260,anon1526983854,anon1409060592,"Register? Hello @anon " 7,24186,2017-03-16T18:57:57.000Z,563,anon1409060592,anon3836215526,"Accreditation Hi @anon " 8,25092,2017-03-17T10:58:56.000Z,24186,anon1526983854,anon1409060592,"Dark side @anon Quality control is an important function of government. You guys have to do it, of course. But certification of entities is not necessarily the best instrument to do it. For sure it is not particularly innovative: medieval Guilds already used them. It is not even particularly successful: it did not stop corruption and abuse, even in care. The Mafia Capitale scandal that emerged in 2014 involved certified social cooperatives like 29 giugno, La cascina, Domus Caritatis (source). Formal control end up emphasizing formality. Can we do better?  " 9,26060,2017-03-23T17:25:57.000Z,563,anon1409060592,anon3836215526,"Agreed (in principle) I totally agree with you @anon " 10,26966,2017-04-06T10:49:54.000Z,26060,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Do new care providers register or are able to deliver services? This is interesting, so if you want to rethink relationships in care provision and there is a formalized understanding of who providers of care are, and who beneficiaries are, how do you expect innovation to happen? Is it mainly through the technology and methodology (the platform matching), or is it also through the appearance and registration of (until now) unregistered and informal providers? Did you see an increase in the Registry numbers, or signs that there are new actors delivering innovative services?  Thanks Matanon1201778428, maanon1932026148 some other people involved in the programme might also want to join the discussion. " 1,6206,2017-03-22T10:01:34.000Z,6206,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"**_Available in: :gb: [English](#en) / :it: [Italian](#it)_** ---------- ## :gb: **_English version_** The [b]opencare Maker in Residence[/b] is the first edition of a special residency programme that provides support, assistance, resources and acceleration to Makers - from all over the world - who are interested in develoanon3606750899g / validating / iterating an open source project in the health and care field. Makers can live and work on-site at [b]WeMake[/b] for a period of time that may vary from minimum 2 to maximum 8 weeks, providing an opportunity for intense collaboration, creativity, and learning to improve their project. ###The opencare Maker in Residence is open! ![img](/uploads/default/original/2X/5/51b1fd86fa7c07df38569e7e3a609e863e8b5b6f.jpg) The [b]Maker in Residence[/b] will also be the framework in which [b]WeMake[/b] will cooperate with local opencare chapters like the milanese one (anon3606750899g @anon It will take place from April to July 2017 (dates will be scheduled according to applicants’ availability). ###Why we’re doing this Through this special edition of residency we are trying to create an active and participatory link between the online and offline collaboration. On one hand online collaboration is a great experience: you can get inspiration by reading stories, learning from all around the world experiences, finding technical documentation, forking and contributing to different projects. On the other hand, the live (aka ""offline"") experience (working in a makerspace / fablab) will add some other things: * intense physical experience: smelling the laser in the morning will push you :wink: * humans in flesh and blood (AFK) can use different kind of communications channels (they can also make faces without using emoticons) * people around us can act as serendipity triggers (I.E. “Did you know that you can do this ..”) * having a lot of materials and tools at hand can foster your anon1056199097nuity * iteration is key: discard a yesterday idea and try the today, new one * you’re not alone: working in your office is great, but having people around you is awesome! * tacit knowledge: learning from others makers (designers, artists, tinkerers...) working around you is an hidden but huge diffused competence and skills repository * explore different points of view about your project: There’s the s*** you know, the s*** you know you don’t know, and the s*** you don’t know you don’t know [(right?)](http://jangosteve.com/post/380926251/no-one-knows-what-theyre-doing). online + offline = GREAT THINGS!

    -----

    How to apply

    Step 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account Step 2 - go to [Add my story](/en/open-call-maker-in-residence-at-wemake-in-milan) and write about your project, following closely the instructions on that page. Step 3 - follow this link and fill in the form: [https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22](https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22)

    More info

    For more information, explanations and support with the application process: read this page or please contact: ---------- ## :it: **_Italian version_** [b]L[/b]a call per il programma opencare Maker in Residence è aperta! [b]opencare Maker in Residence[/b] è la prima edizione di un programma speciale di residenza organizzato da [WeMake](http://wemake.cc), come parte del progetto europeo [opencare](http://opencare.cc). La residenza offre supporto, assistenza, risorse e processi di accelerazione ai makers interessati a sviluppare, validare e reiterare un progetto open source nell’ambito della cura e del benessere. [b]I[/b] residenti potranno vivere e lavorare in loco per un periodo di tempo che può variare da un minimo di 2 ad un massimo di 8 settimane, avendo l’opportunità di prendere parte ad un’intensa collaborazione, scambio di creatività e conoscenze per migliorare il proprio progetto. [b]o[/b]pencare Maker in Residence avrà luogo da [b]aprile a luglio 2017[/b] (le date verranno stabilite a seconda della disponibilità e richiesta dei candidati). ###Perchè una Maker in Residence per opencare ? [b]Q[/b]uesta speciale edizione del programma di residenza ha lo scopo di creare una connessione attiva e partecipativa tra due dimensioni: online ed offline. [b]D[/b]a un lato, la collaborazione online è un’esperienza fantastica: potete trovare l’ispirazione leggendo storie; imparare dalle esperienze che avvengono in giro per il mondo; forkare e contribuire a progetti diversi … [b]D[/b]all’altro lato, l’esperienza dal vivo (lavorando in un makerspace / fablab) può apportare molti altri benefici. Questi sono solo alcuni dei vantaggi che sperimenterete durante la residenza: * [b]v[/b]ivrete un’intensa esperienza a livello fisico: l’odore del laser al mattino vi spronerà a realizzare grandi cose :wink: * [b]p[/b]ersone in carne ed ossa (AFK - away-from-keyboard, ossia lontano dalla tastiera) vi faranno scoprire l’esistenza di diversi canali e tipologie di comunicazione (e vi mostreranno che è possibile fare numerose espressioni con il viso, senza dover utilizzare emoticons) * [b]v[/b]i accorgerete che le persone che ci circondano possono innescare dei pensieri tanto nuovi ed inaspettati quanto positivi (ad esempio “Lo sapevi che potresti fare questa cosa … “) * [b]a[/b]vere a disposizione numerosi materiali e strumenti incoraggerà la vostra anon1056199097gnosità * [b]c[/b]apirete che l’iterazione è fondamentale: scartate l’idea di ieri ed abbracciate quella di oggi * [b]n[/b]on sarete mai soli: lavorare nel proprio ufficio/stanza/garage non è male, ma essere circondati da persone è grandioso! * [b]a[/b]cquisirete conoscenza tacita: osservare altri maker / designer / artisti / tinkerer lavorare intorno a voi si rivelerà una ricca fonte di competenze diffuse [b]e[/b]splorerete diversi punti di vista riguardo al vostro progetto: Ci sono quelle cose che sai, quelle cose che sai di non sapere, e quelle cose che non sai di non sapere.[link](http://jangosteve.com/post/380926251/no-one-knows-what-theyre-doing) [b]Q[/b]uindi, per concludere: online + offline = GRANDI COSE! [b]----------[/b] ###Come candidarsi [b]Step 1[/b] - vai su Edgeryders.eu e crea un nuovo account [b]Step 2[/b] - vai su Add my story e racconta il tuo progetto, seguendo attentamente le istruzioni presenti sulla pagina [b]Step 3[/b] - segui questo link e compila il form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22 ###Info Per maggiori informazioni, spiegazioni e supporto con il processo di candidatura, vai sulla pagina della [Maker in Residence](http://wemake.cc/opencare/maker-in-residence/) o scrivici all’indirizzo [opencare@anon" 2,9330,2017-03-22T10:41:13.000Z,6206,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"working out loud @anon we're publishing this content on the main channel (here and in the community section).  Today we'll share with you the plan for the next communication actions using our (WeMake) communication channels and the opencare ones (read buffer + facebook page) so Edgeryders can support spreading the news! ciao   " 3,11670,2017-03-22T11:00:24.000Z,9330,anon1491650132,anon2435658896,"Awesome! @anon " 4,12662,2017-04-03T08:53:23.000Z,11670,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Incoming applications? How is it going @anon " 5,16032,2017-03-22T20:49:50.000Z,6206,anon904321944,anon2435658896,"Ping Resolved! @anon Sono estremamente lintrigato dalla possibilità che questa iniziativa possa costituire una importante opportunità di rendere concreta e percorribile quanto ideato e progettato all'interno di OpenCare. Non nascondo che un progetto come WeHandU, così come per InPe', con questa occasione potrebbe davvero diventare uno strumento importante per le persone ""portatrici"" di bisogni e di idee che tutto l'arcipelago delle disabilità attende da molto tempo, per lo meno in Italia. Rune, Alexander ed il sottoscritto, per quanto ci è consentito dalle nostre competenze oltre che dalle nostre risorse, proveremo già in occasione del prossimo Arduino-Genuino Day a tracciare una strada che porti a rendere protagoniste le persone prima dei processi manageriali, delle tecnologie e delle economie, cercando di interpretare quanto colto dall'esperienza all'interno di OpenCare, oltre che dalla connessione con la Piattaforma di Edgeryders, valorizzando inoltre le relazioni umane di WeMake e delle tante persone che incontriamo addentrandoci nel mondo dei Makers. Per quanti arranon3406688078o dalla ""tradizionale"" ricerca clinica riabilitativa oppure dal ""mondo dell'handicap"" questo è un passaggio complesso quanto epocale che non attiene esclusivamente all'ambito culturale o professionale. Non vedo l'ora di parlarne direttamente, in modo da capire come dare slancio, stabilità e prospettiva a questa nostra idea, magari valutando le disponibilità e le possibilità di ciascuno per tradurla in una reale operatività. A Presto " 6,17807,2017-03-25T09:10:21.000Z,16032,anon1491650132,anon904321944,"Grazie per il tuo coinvolgimento constante! @anon " 1,6215,2017-03-26T19:01:35.000Z,6215,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was – and still is – unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done. We saw people coming together, stepanon3606750899g into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together. We started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
    It's all about humans.
    Community provision of care services needs humans:  more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills.  Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. This intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there's a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. We dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other. We have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times. The unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning. So, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now. We are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters). Like coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start. We ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @anon If you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a ""building the Reef"" track within to OpenVillage where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein – from business to fitness and personal development. [PRACTICAL INFO GO HERE] " 2,9546,2017-03-26T22:04:03.000Z,6215,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Great progress I remain very interested in the model and idea being trialled here. I am free in May, and would be really interested in committing time and energy to helanon3606750899g build the Reef either in person, or from afar) I've found myself with a bizarre and interesting arts-based project based in the UK that will take me out of commission from June-early Septmeber, but i'd also be very interested in putting my events and production skills to use helanon3606750899g create LOTE/Openvillage during Septmeber/October. I'll reach out to you on a personal level to talk more about what/when and how i can help out. Much love to all " 3,16166,2017-03-27T12:09:04.000Z,6215,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"I very much like it. ""hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home"" Pretty darn ambitious. " 4,21154,2017-03-27T14:19:05.000Z,6215,anon70625510,anon1526983854,"Works for me This is a succinct description and captures the spirit in which we do this. Well done, thank you. " 5,24397,2017-03-27T15:08:08.000Z,6215,anon2442420827,anon1526983854,"Nutrients for the for sealife, very nice. Looks great. Hoanon3606750899g to do a short stint at Cregg Castle in May. First a little Mobile Reconnaissance mid-April. Thinking in part about unemployment and transferable skills. " 6,26935,2017-03-28T08:37:40.000Z,6215,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Thanks everyone for the feedback Did a second pass with some minor changes.  @anon @anon " 7,27313,2017-03-28T09:21:12.000Z,26935,anon2442420827,anon1526983854,"Dipanon3606750899g our toes in. We submitted a workplan/budget for Pilgrim, hoanon3606750899g to commence in May with Monastery (for 3 weeks). ECOC 2020 is in a transitional period. They are appointing board members and should have a CEO in June, so we're unsure what supports we'll have at this stage. As we've built capacity and had some things we'd really like to try it would be a shame not to do something. 12 days seems possible, scale back on the level of activity and costs. First a Mobile Recon, a few of us plan to cycle to the castle for ""leave no trace"" camanon3606750899g in the forest. Seclusion, reflection, connecting with nature. " 8,27446,2017-03-28T10:42:33.000Z,27313,anon477123739,anon2442420827,"That sounds like a wonderful way of consolidating thoughts and creating action " 9,27508,2017-03-29T17:07:25.000Z,27446,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"You've got all in your favor @anon " 10,27527,2017-03-30T08:52:25.000Z,27508,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Leaves on treees. Thanks @anon " 1,6222,2017-03-29T10:34:45.000Z,6222,anon70625510,anon70625510,"// [Work in Progress]: This wiki is where we prepare information about the events that will be held in the Reef for members, 2017-2018. Please add/help edit the information about the event you are organising or leading. //

    Talks, Masterclasses & Workshops

    ""Power Pitch Weekend:  "", A 2-day Masterclass lead by August Pirovano and Matanon1201778428 Uguzzoni in Brussels, Belgium on May 26-27. More info here. ""How to use co-design of healthy food systems to regenerate communities"", An Evening talk & Dinner featuring Susanne Stauch and Virginie Gailing  in Brussels, Belgium on May xx-xx. Background Information. ""Masters of Networks - How online interaction fosters action"": A workshop with [name][name] in Bordeaux, France on June 28 at hh:mm. Previous edition held at CERN.

    Community Retreats & Summits

    October 19-21 | Meet the OpenCarers: We present findings from a 2 year massive research project on community driven health and social care. The conference and exhibition will bring together promising projects into a demo of a new care system powered by open source, community driven solutions. We will imagine and enact the future of care together. October 19-21 | Building the Reef: A Community Property for Everyone.OpenCare revealed the aspiration to a more communal living, where taking care of one another is easier and more affordable. How do we acquire and manage collective property for permanent, affordable living and working? We will discover and learn from cases of existing financial, legal and governance models. October 19-21 | The Future of Care: A Policy and Investment Lab. How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and what enabling infrastructures already exist that we can learn from? Implications for participants, investors and policy makers.

    Concerts, Exhibitions & Parties

     

    DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF EVENTS

    Power Pitch: Masterclass on Storytelling for entrepreneurs and other changemakers

    [Add image here] In 2008, Edgeryders community members Augusto Pirovano and Matanon1201778428 Uguzzoni started working on []. Critical City won every competition there was to win. They now help others to do the same.  Edgeryders are in the business of develoanon3606750899g and deploying new initiatives at the edge of context. Many of which come at the problem from a completely new perspective.  We need to provide opportunities for personal development to ourselves. So we are commissioning Augusto and Matanon1201778428 to run a 2-day storytelling Masterclass and project clinic.
    • We are already attracting attention towards edgeryders' individual and collective projects this is generating new opportunities for all. Better storytelling = more engagement, investment & support in members' work.
    • Some of us are already deriving a small income from public speaking. So if we are great speakers we get more invitations and more money. Also it's basically client-funded marketing for your initiative.
    The Power Pitch weekend is a unique opportunity to rapidly develop your storytelling skills, and take your project to the next level. It takes place on May 26-27, in Brussels at the Reef. 
    •  
    •  
    •  
    And a third reason to choose Augusto/Matanon1201778428 (""Dyson sphere: we try to keep the money in the community"") Why should people put money into the workshop? Critical City won every competition there was to win. They are selling presentation preparation to big corpses. Also. Social entrepreneurs. I know them since 2008. Good people. Part of the community. Not your average biz guru bullshitter
    " 1,6216,2017-03-26T19:39:44.000Z,6216,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Can you help with this? https://edgeryders.eu/en/membership-perks " 2,9601,2017-03-27T11:52:01.000Z,6216,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Edited I updated the calendar with the info I have - I suggest MasterClasses are singled out somehow: the pitching sessions and MoN at least. Also added the info about the culture we're building - members are not service recipients, they are contributors. And the fact that this comes with flexibility in using the guest room and office space. Keeanon3606750899g it vague could be OK, gives the house residents freedom to manage schedules, but it needs to be explicit in answering (""what are the concrete things I am contributing towards as a member"", a paying member nonetheless)! Still to add: (link to) how to purchase membership. " 1,6175,2017-03-02T14:03:29.000Z,6175,anon1526983854,anon1526983854," Quite a few curious people who participate in the OpenCare conversation about care end up engaging with the research team in a different conversation: the one about OpenCare as a research project. This is a lovely side effect of OpenCare's radical transparency. We practice a sort of open notebook science. We don't publish only results, but also questions, doubts, within-team disagreements, half-baked ideas. This is made more effective by a specificity of OpenCare: the community and the team are in separate ""rooms"" of the same online platform, edgeryders.eu. People who hang around it can't help noticing the stream of research project updates. Some of them engage.  This was expected. But I was not expecting the magnitude of the effect. 81 people have contributed at least one comment to the research team space. The team's own numerosity fluctuates, but it's about 20. The others are just people from the community who drop in to ask questions or make suggestions. And they outnumber us three to one. In the network diagrams, nodes are color- and size coded by in-degree. You can think of in-degree as a measure of the interest that the person's contribution elicits in the conversation. By this metric, it is clear that self-selected community members who just jump in are making a major contribution to the OpenCare research effort. The highest in-degree individuals who are not affiliated with any of the partners are @anon The conversation about OpenCare as a project (to the right of the picture) is of the same order of magnitude as that about open care as a potential pathway to societal well-being (to the left). It needs to be said, however, that the former has a lot of menial content: agreeing about a time and place to meet, requesting administrative information etc.   What are the consequences of all this activity? More diversity in research. More space for participation. With a bit of luck, more and higher quality scientific output. My favourite story is this: a community member, the already mentioned Federico Monaco, has proposed we do a paper together. He had found a call for papers in a journal he follows, and thought it a good fit. His proposal stirred the rest of the team into action. His thread received over 50 comments. A draft abstract was then uploaded onto a public wiki for community scrutiny and feedback. Many people sent contributions large and small. The large ones (example: that of Ezio – here) did most of the heavy lifting. But the process had a role also for smaller ones. People like myself, who did not feel confident to step in as co-authors, were able to offer some small help without having to take responsbility for the whole thing. Federico led with a firm but light touch, asking everyone who volunteered any thought what role they wanted to play in the paper. For example, @anon Interdisciplinarity happened quite naturally as a result of the open process. The final submission listed five authors: Federico himself (a medical anthropologist); @anon Another advantage of doing things this way is increased accountability to the people who take part in the main conversation, the one about care. Through the research team forum, they can ask question and make proposals. This should mitigate the perceived risk of researchers taking an exploitative attitude towards people's contributions. The operative word here is ""perceived"". We have the best intentions, but we recognize this is not enough. We are determined to demonstrate them to the community, and transparency goes a long way towards doing it.  I think that, together, we are making OpenCare... open. I had never had the luxury of running a research project with such transparency. I like it a lot, and hope to keep doing so in the future. What do others think?  " 2,7570,2017-03-02T15:56:02.000Z,6175,anon281534083,anon1526983854,"I think it's great keep it up.  It should lead to more cross-pollinating.  Good model. " 3,14733,2017-03-02T19:24:26.000Z,6175,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"This makes me happy Impressive to see it in numbers, visuals and anecdotes like that. This is only the tip of the iceberg, surely. I see some big potential in being able to look at the research process in this way. In my experience with alternative research models, and especially when interacting with classically trained researchers, it does not occur to them that there are possible correlations between the research process and the value of the research outcomes. They are locked in how they have been doing things for years, naturally. For example, citizen science as an approach is overwhelmingly commonly reduced to an alternative method for collecting data. A tool, not a different process. A way to collect data and involve people a little by doing so, rather than involving people in the whole process and having them collect data in addition to formulating questions, designing experiments etc. all along the way. I was at a conference dedicated to the topic last week; a full programme, even quite diverse for most standards, and data collection and related issues were all anyone wanted to talk about. Insight does not progress if the wrong questions are being asked. It is detrimental if forms of participatory science are looked at only in this way. A perspective like the one you just posted could help to radically change that, to show that better questions should be asked. The potential goes beyond that well into actual research. Coupled with the use of the Edgeryders platform, it's valuable as digital infrastructure to manage a research project, a way of setting up a 'meta' research regarding the process, an analysis tool to see if there is actual merit to a participatory process, and a way for pouring everything into hard conclusions. I think of Open Insulin right away @anon3786846929 . It would really drive a point home if we could validate the way you, and hopefully soon we, are doing the research. " 4,17260,2017-03-02T20:36:09.000Z,14733,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"That's a really great point! Whoa, @anon Your comment prompted me to expand on my anecdote of the mighty @anon " 5,20179,2017-03-02T21:45:57.000Z,6175,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Meta meta It just dawns on me as I read the example you are giving: as we prepare to write a paper on going from online interactions to collaboration of sorts with Federico, Ezio & co., we are in fact collaborating in the very process set out by opencare. So the very approach in writing the paper is a testimonial to its core argument. This is turning into very advanced research analysis :-) Special thanks to community members like the ones Alberto mentions above and @anon " 6,23783,2017-03-05T09:12:29.000Z,6175,anon3341622463,anon1526983854,"on becoming a native... Dear all, so in the end i became a case study :) Reflexivity and objectivity are very connected in ethnography. It's impressive to see and compare visually the two networks and your comments are so useful for the paper! I'm trying to go deeper in how boundaries and tasks between the opencare network and the research are constructed and sometimes solved. By an ecosystemic and emergent approach all this gets high meaning.  " 7,26661,2017-03-14T10:55:01.000Z,6175,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"On co-authorship and ""the crowd"" After reading @anon What does everybody think? If you are interested in the government side of things, I remind you we have a specific challenge: https://edgeryders.eu/en/policies-of-care " 8,27222,2017-03-14T20:32:33.000Z,26661,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Nice! This is great! I'd love to delve deeper. I've got a good intuitive understanding of what you're coding, but I'm not familiar with the practicalities and limitations. Thinking out loud here, I'm wondering if we can somehow run part of the Open Insulin research (or any lab research for that matter) on the platform and analyse that. What insight could it produce and how? Ping @anon784612129 and @anon3786846929 . In your case, you have a blanco somehow with the ""team only"" conversation. It allows for some crude conclusions. I wonder if you can refine the insight somehow. An other possibility: how would a blanco look if you ran this on a random research project? Run an algorithm on a classical lab diary and an open lab diary on a highly similar research topic, with types of contributors etc. taken into account? This and other options seem unpractical as the format of classical research is not very compatible. Does anyone have any ideas? On the matter of ""the crowd"": this is prevalent on so many levels. Going against this is at the core of why we do what we do in science communication and engagement. The narrative is always ""the public"" and ""science"" as seperate entities. This vocabulary already skews everything at the base. There's always some form of elitism, paternalism, laziness in justifying research, general lack of insight in the role of science in society and so on. Even, and most harmfully, from those that work in the exact departments dedicated to ""linking science and society"", often unintentionally. " 9,27407,2017-03-14T22:38:35.000Z,27222,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"How it could work @anon Technically, it's pretty clear. You'd create your own project on Edgeryders. You have a forum and some other basic functionalities (tasks, documents, wikis). We would code your work using OpenEthnographer, and change the APIs so that your (coded) conversation is added to GraphRyder. This way, it becomes part of the OpenCare study. Insight produced would pertain to design/social science (what is collaboration for you, how it differs from collaboration in other OpenCare projects, how the group works as a group). They would not, I am afraid, pertain to biology!  Socially, it's not clear at all what would happen. Maanon1932026148 nothing. Maanon1932026148 OpenInsulin Global – like OpenCare – will find itself with 80 people participating in your group. This could be another source of insight: gauging how interesting what you do is to others. For me the degree of active interest in OpenCare was a real surprise!  " 10,28257,2017-03-16T09:32:44.000Z,6175,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"That sounds great! For what we are setting up in BE it sounds perfect as we start from a blank page. Seeing how @anon3786846929 and the Open Insulin group are already on a solid roll using their own platforms, it probably makes less sense to switch now. Same for the Sydney people I'd guess. It's their call, but we can try it out first, learn and then spread it if it works. As it stands I think we'll be starting gradually in about two weeks. Looking forward to some surprises, biological and non-biological alike! " 11,28641,2017-03-16T10:33:43.000Z,28257,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Deal done Ok, it's a deal. We'll help you set up the digital space if you want (group creation, welcome message etc.) " 12,28795,2017-03-23T09:31:38.000Z,28641,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Timing Great! Next week we are meeting up with the team to plan the research/communications and all that. I propose from then on to start setting up the digital space, as the needs become clear. " 1,6108,2017-01-18T10:25:42.000Z,6108,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"The City of Milan is organizing a seminar on thursday 23th of February from 2pm to 5 pm at WeMake / Milan, in order to present Open Care to a network of civil servants from European cities. The event is part of a three days Eurocities' Study Visits focused on Social Entrepreuneurship. [The Study Visit detailed programme will be available asap]. Milan has founded Eurocities in 1986 together with Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon and Rotterdam. The network today brings together 130 of Europe's largest cities and 40 partner cities, that between them serve 130 million citizens across 35 countries. Eurocities consists of a platform for sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas through six thematic forums, a wide range of working groups, projects, activities and events. Milan is taking part in the working group Social Affairs > Smart Social Inclusion, working out solutions to a better spending and for better social outcomes. Participants in this working group discuss subjects such: - How to respond to reduced public spending and higher demand for social services, investing in a smarter and innovative way? - What is the role of cities in promoting social entrepreneurship and social economy? Participants will be invited from Municipalities of Acharnes, Amsterdam,  Antwerp,  Athens, Barcelona, Belfast,  Besiktas,  Beylikdüzü,  Birmingham,  Bonn,  Brno,  Bydgoszcz, Cardiff, Copenhagen, Dresden, Essen, Brussels, Gdansk,  Geneva,  Genoa,  Ghent,  Gothenburg,  Helsinki,  Katowice,  Leeds,  Lisbon,  Ljubljana,  Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Nantes, Netwerkstad, Twente, Newcastle-Gateshead, Nice Cote d’Azur, Nicosia, Osmangazi, Ostend, Porto, Rennes Metropole, Riga,  Rome,  Rotterdam,  Sheffield,  Stockholm,  Stuttgart,  Tallinn, Turin, Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia, Uppsala, Utrecht, Vantaa, Warsaw, Zagreb, Zurich. If you are interested in taking part at the seminar feel free to send an email to milano_smartcity@anon   Date: 2017-02-22 13:00:00 - 2017-02-24 00:45:00, Europe/Paris Time." 2,8335,2017-01-19T14:17:56.000Z,6108,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Civil servants only? Hi @anon Let us know how we can support this and do share if anything comes out of this seminar that speaks about communities' role and contributing to better services. I hope there will be a chance for opencare to provide some serious reality checks, and from my experience that tends to happen when you have more than one perspective - policy, citizen, interest groups etc.. " 3,11382,2017-01-20T09:39:58.000Z,8335,anon1409060592,anon1491650132,"Sharing experiences Hi Noemi, I do agree with you. Even if Eurocities is a ""network of cities"", represented barely at administration level, in our study visits we intend to share the spirit of Open Care, that is - to include various perspectives. We'll keep you posted on the evolution of the agenda and of course, anythings comes out of this meeting. " 4,13699,2017-01-31T13:09:06.000Z,8335,anon1089184890,anon1491650132," Address Hi, @anon Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups: TypeError     @anon there was a type error milano_smartcity@anon     " 6,15414,2017-01-20T12:50:18.000Z,6108,anon1526983854,anon1409060592,"Opportunity for gathering stories! @anon " 7,21445,2017-01-30T15:01:57.000Z,6108,anon3914374234,anon1409060592,"Good idea! We'll do everything possible to make this happen.   " 8,24477,2017-03-17T11:34:17.000Z,6108,anon1409060592,anon1409060592,"Quick report The first day of Eurocities' Study Visit has nearly finished. City of Milan and WeMake have provided the audience with an insight of OpenCare. Our 18 guests from 13 European Cities were very interested and reacted with their own examples and some questions. The representative of City of Porto for example, mentioned their project called “Bridge to the Future”. They brought together elderly people, students, companies to discuss, understand and think solutions for elderly people problems. The best outcome would eventually be tested in a Shark-Tank like arena of investors, to pitch their core ideas. People asked if OpenCare has provided a budget also for prototyanon3606750899g. The EdgeRyders platforms rose interest in participants. Guests from France and Holland questioned if the platform was inclusive enough, given than it takes a degree of internet literacy to use it. Polish guests asked if, using English as a common language wasn’t limiting. @anon   " 9,25222,2017-02-24T10:19:41.000Z,24477,anon1491650132,anon1409060592,"Thanks for quick updates.. Guys, sounds great and I bet a case study like Porto's Bridge to the Future has some interesting details to it, for the learnings in OpenCare. Do you have any idea of how outputs and outcomes from this event can feed into our online discussions and advancing the Policies of Care challenge? Let me know if I can help. " 1,4195,2015-03-02T12:00:09.000Z,4195,anon70625510,anon70625510,"


    As an incredibly diverse community, the range of experience and knowledge about building economically sustainability projects amongst members ranges from ""where do I even begin"" to ""I just sold my 3rd company"". Also, there are many different interpretations of ""economic sustainability"" and strategies for achieving it.     Moneyless crowdfunding with Makerfox anyone? A recurring topic is one David De Ugarte dove into in this Las Indias's piece on generating revenue through sales. Especially in purpose/value driven contexts, this topic is often controversial and deeply unsettling: [] our “conscience” and the “private logic” will join forces to tell us “we are not good at it”, and that this “it” – selling – is very close to deceiving. But this is false.  Most initiatives fail to generate monetary resources not because they don’t manage to develop and deliver a product to the market; they fail because they develop and deliver an experience, service or product that no customers want or need enough to pay for. This is not magic though, it is something that you learn to do.  Many of the projects we see popanon3606750899g up on Edgeryders, are collaborative and decentralised initiatives. Perhaps it makes sense to structure a process which everyone can participate in to build economic sustainability into projects in a decentralised way:

    1. Identify and document our assumptions

      1. What are our assumptions/hypotheses about how we gratify our clients and or sponsors, who they are, how we will acquire and monetize them?
      2. What are our assumptions/hypotheses about how we serve the needs of our constituency, who they are, as well as how we engage them into becoming more active participants in (and beneficiaries of) our initiatives?

    2. Talk to prospective customers to validate (or invalidate) our assumptions

      1. What problems do they face?  How do they solve them?  What matters to them?  What is a must-have for them?

    3. Identify the risk factors in the opportunity

      1. Are we facing significant technology risks?  Or more of market risk?  How can we test and validate these (starting with the most risky)?  What market testable milestones can we build that would result in sufficient evidence to induce us to pivot or move forward? A proof of concept? A letter of intent?  A prototype?

    4. Create and Test a Minimum Viable Offer

      1. landing page click-through that prove there’s some amount of interest in an experience, product or service;
      2. a time commitment for an in-person meeting to view a demo that shows the customer or funder's problem being resolved;
      3. a resource commitment for a pilot program to test how the experience, product or service or product fits into a particular environment.

    5. Once we have users using our MVO we listen for & tune into the Must-have signal

      1. We listen very carefully to find our must-have signal and articulate it.
      2. We Double-down and strip away the unnecessary> focus on building an experience, service or product that is cherished and supported by everyone who uses it.
     

    Does this make sense to you? Do you want to learn the hands-on-skills involved?

    I am just about to launch an initiative on behalf of the social enterprise supporting the community. For those who want to learn the skills, this offers an excellent opportunity to learn-by-doing with me. Let me know you are interested by leaving a comment below or emailing me: anon70625510@anon " 2,9660,2015-03-03T11:06:44.000Z,4195,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Recommended What can I say, having learned quite a bit just by watching you work your magic :) @anon   " 3,11825,2015-03-03T13:26:44.000Z,9660,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Ok so it seems there is an interest I have resisted doing this for a while out of time constraints, but it kept popanon3606750899g up as a need. A few minutes after this post went live I started getting emails from people who want to sign up for the course. Perhaps I should have set this up earlier, but as always...time time time.     " 4,16291,2015-03-03T13:48:03.000Z,4195,anon630786643,anon70625510,"The lean startup methodology :-) Hi Nadia, yes, great post. What you are saying actually is indeed the fact that there needs to be value creation for social purpose driven initiatives. For it to be value driven, there need to be people that are ready to pay for the service. The whole concept of testing with a Minimum viable product (MVP) or Minimum viable Offer (MVO) it's the ideas behind the lean startup philosophy. Test something from users, learn how to identify their needs (because they do not always express them directly) and how to create something that satisfies their needs creating enough value for them to really use your product/service. Etc. I believe there is much to learn from the whole lean startup philosophy for people that want to change the way our world is driven. This is why we were organizing workshops on lean startup and collaborative business modeling (as the one organized in Stockholm). However, there are also limits of the lean startup principles. For example with Babele, we received the true validation of the concept only in October 2014, so 1 year and 2 months after having launched the platform. And we started selling services with the platform only in February 2015 (so 1 year and almost 6 months after). It takes a lot of patience in building professional products and services, and sometimes the lean startup philosophy invites people to give up too soon because they were not able to receive proper validation soon enough... " 5,16967,2015-03-06T09:11:12.000Z,16291,anon70625510,anon630786643,"Yes I think we need to remix what is out there to work for us I am looking at collaborative ways of generating revenue for people working on the kinds of projects that pop up in this community and others. They rarely fit comfortably in existing categories (various mixes of startup, social enterprise, art project, activism, research etc etc) and they often require engineering different kinds social contracts which the same people to move between multiple roles e.g. user, consumer, cobuilder etc. without fear of exploitation. It's tricky. But maanon1932026148 you want to build this together Ruxandra, as a join Babele Edgeryders project? Here's where the course is being shaped, feel free to jump right in: https://edgeryders.eu/en/how-to-build-a-revenue-stream-to-support-your-activities-p2p-course " 6,18163,2015-03-06T16:08:58.000Z,16967,anon630786643,anon70625510,"Would be thrilled to help out Yes, I completely agree with the remix. I looked at the way the course is going to be structured. This is indeed great, I like very much the idea of peer-to-peer feedback, and of weekly calls to state the advancements. We were doing this with the crowdmentoring programm that we organized with Babele in October, and it really works :-). My remark regarding the course is that this is great for ideas that were not implemented yet, but it would be fantastic to adapt them to already existing ideas. For example if they already have an MVO, they would still need to figure out if they satisfy needs and if somebody is ready to pay for their service because it's creating value, but the focus, the questions, etc, would be different. What do you think?    " 7,18595,2015-03-06T18:52:09.000Z,18163,anon70625510,anon630786643,"Sure Let's build the tasks for people to complete together? When should we schedule the first group call for, next thursday morning work for you? " 8,19801,2015-03-06T22:54:53.000Z,4195,anon1522766639,anon70625510,"Collaborative ways of generating revenue Hi all,  I got captivated by this thread, because this is precisely what we are trying to do at SENSORICA.  @anon First, what is the value system? We need to map it first and that will determine how to set everything up for value to be created, distributed and for the benefits to be shared among participants. Second, there is a choice to be made about the type of environment we want to create. Is it about creating value in a corporate-type environment or in a peer production environment. Nadia's words above suggest that something like the second choice is preferred. People like us need to be free, want to contribute to different projects, want to be able to influence and take ownership of processes, want to share... So how do you set up an environment that allows value creation and its distribution but feels like a network and is build on openness, transparency, decentralized processes? This question is at the core of my activities since 2008 and my answer is the Open Value Network (OVN) model. There are a lot of hybrid models that try to go in that direction but preserve some of the old stuff, and I think that is because people are not ready or can't go all the way. Within SENSORICA  all projects are open, everyone can perform tasks, no barrier to value creation, and we use the value accounting system to redistribute the revenue. Networks that have projects formalized as a company, incubators and accelerators for example, don't have a lot of co-creation or exchanges between these entities. Within a value network projects are open and are only loosely formalized. If you have a system to track contributions you'll get a lot of value flows between projects, synergy increases, there is a lot of recycling and sharing of tangible and intangible resources.   We are now prototyanon3606750899g services. A client makes a request, a group forms within the network and use the infrastructure to deliver. Here's one example  http://www.sensorica.co/home/what-we-do/products/offered-services/barda-periscope-project " 9,21736,2015-03-07T08:21:00.000Z,19801,anon70625510,anon1522766639,"Hey :) So I followed your link and couldn't really make sense of what the contents of that page want from me as a visitor. Are you trying to sell me something? Am I expected to post something somewhere? We are looking at the same problem from different angles. I saw there was a need to put together an overview of how you actually generate revenue because for a lot of people it is kind of a black box. Then you can plug those skillsets into different contexts that operate under different rules. Your Open Value Networks Concept in my mind is one such context: I am looking at all the stuff that happens before a customer arrived at your door stating they want to contract you to do x thing for y amount of money. The background story is that I had a meal with an Italian civil servant who has become friends with three homeless-ish guys in Milan. One of the guys is an Italian aristocrat who spent all his money. The second is a skilled Senegalese metal worker who lost his job as a factory worker. The third is a Maroccan guy who lives out of his car, and is not really specialised in any area. Guess which of the three is doing best? " 10,23095,2015-03-09T09:00:07.000Z,19801,anon1526983854,anon1522766639,"Interesting That page seems to be a sort of fairly abstract description of what any project ought to look like. Its categories are very abstract: ""Create spaces"", ""Map interests"", ""Create structure"" etc. Each comes with deadline and deliverables. Each person running a project would fill in these fields as appropriate – in fact, quite similarly to what happens with European Commission-funded project (they have ""Excellence"", ""Impact"" etc.). Also the process people have used in the periscope case is similar: work on a GoogleDoc, then copy-paste into the Sensorica form. The point of copy-pasting seems to give people a way in to contribute (and be rewarded accordingly – kind of like Github + accounting). This is all reverse engineering, I am not actually seeing the accounting (no fields denominated in € or $ or whatever), but that might be due to my non-logged in status. We have a similar system, except no forms. You have a project, you post it as a group on the platform and receive your basic tools for cooperation (wikis, tasks etc.), loosely coupled with what the whole community is doing. This is meant to maximize the chance that somebody you don't know will randomly walk in and turn out to be exactly the person needed for that project. People are encouraged to find their own ay to share, under Who Does The Work Calls The Shots – doers decide. A problem in ER is turning out to be how to reward the quite difficult and not always fun activity of making the sales. Not rewarding encourages waiting around for someone to walk in with a contract; rewarding it seems quite awkward, at least before you have some hard data on what it costs to do that kind of work (accounting for all the failed pitches). How do you guys do it in Sensorica? Does your accounting award a commission to people making successful sales? How much, if I may ask?   " 11,23191,2017-02-28T11:51:03.000Z,23095,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Sales @anon In our case, there will be some recurring and organic inflow of missions and we're counting on that to make it easier. Though we really do need long shots as well. " 12,23247,2017-02-28T13:56:07.000Z,23191,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Maanon1932026148 a little The traditional solution is commission on sales. We found out quickly that it does not work for a company like Edgeryders, small and new and trying to make way. Reason: we agreed we would try to grow based on overdelivery. We would compensate the risk taken by clients in hiring us by being excellent value for money. This means we would be hurt by taking 10% of or budget out to pay for the commission: we need all the money to provide the service. Essentially, we are foregoing commission to invest in reputation.  The problem is mitigated by none of us being only a salesperson. Each person in ER gets intrigued by a project, and tries to sell it because she means to then work on it. With us, the project's champion must lead it; almost always the champion is the one closing the deal, or having worked a lot on it. So we can compensate this person by paying her a little more generously once the sale has been made. It's like an informal commission.  " 13,23272,2017-02-28T16:51:47.000Z,23247,anon70625510,anon1526983854,"Encourage, support and train more people to do public talks Also, build informal social events where people just meet. In what we do ""sales"" basically means really understanding what people you come across need and connect it with something you are doing. Then there's the research work to understand how they can put money into hiring you. Once you know this you can make an offer. So maanon1932026148 it could work to split these tasks across the collective? We're getting there as we move into a space. " 14,23285,2017-03-13T19:58:35.000Z,23272,anon2954219769,anon70625510,"Helpful Thanks, this is helpful. Sorry for the late reply, your posts went under my radar. Interestingly though, the outlines of a similar approach have been forming for us since my post. Basic backstory: we are professionalising our services as a collective of freelancers. For recurring services we have simple formats (graphic design, workshops, ...) that are easily sold and applicable to many kinds of clients. Each team member has their own specific expertise, so the division there is easily made. Eg. the workshop guy would sell workshops, but meanwhile also be on the lookout for graphic design missions. One mission could involve both writing and graphics. Collaboration is easily coordinated there. The organisation stays agile, without dependencies, with a shared story. These are the easy advantages teaming up as freelancers offers. Projects, paid or not, are to be initiated and implemented by the champion (team member or volunteer) that proposes it, much like what you describe. Some more coordination is required and this is usually done by the champion. I'm sure the overdeliver idea is applicable to us in this early stage. Not so sure about the extra payment for carrying a project, as it varies a lot from industry to industry how much money is available for covering these costs. The client could have low funds (underfunded education system), there's plenty of competition (projects involving more generic services eg. web and graphic design) etc. Flagship projects do create openings for higher margin formats, if we can find a way to channel it there. A hard thing to quantify and it would increase dependencies again, projects being the indirect sales strategy for other formats. Many things to be aware of, curious to see what will work best. " 15,23332,2016-11-30T21:38:21.000Z,19801,anon1089184890,anon1522766639,"Accounting  @anon " 16,23571,2015-03-08T15:41:31.000Z,4195,anon2350529763,anon70625510,"interested and following a comment to show interest and follow been learning a lot since I joined this community :) " 17,26011,2016-05-24T06:00:21.000Z,4195,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Time to dust this off again Ping @anon " 18,27790,2016-05-25T19:47:09.000Z,4195,anon630786643,anon70625510,"Yes, definitely Hi Nadia, yes definitely we can have a skype call late morning on Friday if that is ok with you. Just anon3606750899g me on skype.  Ruxandra " 19,28456,2016-05-26T05:57:15.000Z,27790,anon70625510,anon630786643,"Hi! I'll be on a train then, but Monday? Works for you? " 20,29062,2016-05-26T12:12:36.000Z,4195,anon630786643,anon70625510,"Monday should be fine as well Let's try on Monday then. Ruxandra " 1,6168,2017-02-27T08:34:16.000Z,6168,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Let's take two examples of successful community engagement around an ambitious goal: OpenAndChange and Alt33c3. I think the success of both depended on a few critical factors 1. Clear, attractive offer. OpenAndChange: Save time ( 2.5 hours  to participate in large funding bid instead of min. 1 month full time work). Alt33c3: Get benefits of a much loved, sold out, event through a parallel event situated in the same building instead of just being at home. Work in progress here and here (you can see that we are not there yet if you look at the communication here) 2. Clear process, low threshold to entry: OpenAndChange: Do these 5 steps with clear instructions (retweet once a day, fill in this simple form etc ). Alt33c3: contribute money in exchange for rewards (main one being the ticket to the event). Work in progress here. 3. Centralised coordination. You need a small core group that breaks down bigger challenges into small tasks, recruit people to do it, and organise onboarding events. We have done a lot of background work here. But we need to connect it to rewards and communicate this very clearly and succinctly. This week's Community Calls are dedicated to completing the above three challenges. See you tomorrow Tuesday 28/2 (9 AM CET) and Thursday (3 PM CET) here. Ping @anon " 2,6523,2017-02-27T19:45:31.000Z,6168,anon477123739,anon70625510,"Unavailable for the calls thia week, but i get my life back after the 5th March and i'd love to spend some time working on this stuff with you. Can happily volunteer my time for the Tuesday or Thursday that week (6th/8th) " 3,14086,2017-02-28T12:16:00.000Z,6168,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"My notes from the call Over the past weeks we are seeing an opportunity to start a pre-Reef stage - an Edgeryders physical space - in Brussels. We are going to test it this year where Nadia and Alberto currently live (200 sq m space). The question we talked around was: What is a good membership offer and one that is financially fair? Some models we went through:
    • In Bali: people are willing to pay 500 USD a week and the big draw is coworking space and social connectivity
    • In Cluj: Impact Hub memberships range from 60 to 150 eur, main target is startup scene
    • In Yerevan: Impact Hub more expensive; focused on expats and the Armenian diaspora, but missing out on the connection with the local realities
    • SMART BE where LOTE5 was hosted in Bxl: they bought the space very cheap; their revenue (as far as we know) mostly comes from insurance companies they work with to support independent artists more than from the space itself
    Important distinctions: All of the above are for profit businesses, unlike edgeryders..  Buying vs. Rental model: in the longer run we want to own our assets One-off costs vs. Running costs: one-off costs are easy to crowdfund for in our network; we'd need to break the benefits into benefits for being a shareholder, in return for helanon3606750899g create the space and benefits in using the space, for contributing to the running costs. Personal thoughts: obviously in between the high end market of the Impact Hub and other highly urban cowork models or small informal places ran by friends (we've seen mostly failing attempts everywhere) Edgeryders is positioned in between. We definitely need: 1) people paying with money in order to meet the end of the month costs and run it sustainably, but also 2) keep the door open for the severely underfunded people and projects who are aligned in vision, and who could pay in kind.  The offer to these two types of ""participants"" are different imho. For the first - costs are covered by permanent residents + membership fees and services (! this is where the beef in the thinking is). For the second - costs are covered mostly on a shorter basis, more flexible and in kind. But for the sake of sustainability the emphasis should fall on the first, at least in the short term.  @anon " 4,19742,2017-02-28T12:24:08.000Z,6168,anon1061021150,anon70625510,"sorry @anon " 5,23450,2017-02-28T12:30:31.000Z,6168,anon4259720994,anon70625510,"My 2 cents Here are my reflections @anon " 6,26660,2017-02-28T17:28:44.000Z,6168,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Community Call \#1: Defining the Offer This is my summary of what we discussed today.

    WHAT SEEMS TO BE WORKING

    Coworking spaces are generally not financially viable by themselves. Their costs are covered by revenue from other sources, they serve as a differentiator when peoplem have choices between two similar options.In order of scalability:
    • Sales of specialised services for independent/freelance businesses (SmartBE),
    • Group Purchase and Development of real estate for living (Simone's Coliving in Milan)
    • Revenue from personal development and bodywork courses (e.g. Theory U/Spiral Dynamics workshops or Yoga Teacher Training )
    • Rental of short term accommodations (hotel rooms/beds e.g. ROAM) and long-term housing (regular apartments e.g Techfarm in Stockholm).
    • Also, I read this article today which I recommend: Like Startups Most Intentional Communities Fail, why?

    IMPLICATIONS FOR US:

    • The key driver is to meet and build relationships with interesting people.
    • Different value propositions will work for different people at different times and in different combinations: Comfort // Productivity // Adventure // Wellbeing // Personal development // Business Opportunites // Conviviality and friendship // Happening social life// Social Prestige // Cost saving
    • A good membership model ensures that we are economically sustainable. It supports diversity and experimentation. It allows for a mix of different kinds of participation, commitment and investment.
      • Basic Membership: Generates baseline revenue without depending on square meters . Number of available memberships is unlimited. Required membership contribution depends on costs of organising events and community management.
      • Subscriber-Investor Membership: Generates capital in exchange for co-ownership. Number of available memberships is limited. Required membership contribution depends on cost of acquisition and renovation of real estate, size/number of rooms and number of days per year.
      • Resident Membership: Generates rent for running costs. Number of memberships are highly limited. Required membership contribution depends on number of square meters per person, number of beds and duration of stay.
    Thoughts @anon1491650132 @anon3708118144 @anon" 7,27221,2017-02-28T17:50:45.000Z,26660,anon784612129,anon70625510,"Need to think about this a little. In the meantime, here is a talk by ""the Airbnb guy"" that I am halfway into. Perhaps useful in this context? That guy probably has a bunch of leads via his twitter. https://www.youtube.com/embed/FXD6StXrrWA " 8,27693,2017-03-01T13:07:09.000Z,26660,anon2954219769,anon70625510,"Takeaway from article An interesting takeaway from the article for me is what is mentioned in the piece on Damanhur: ""600 full-time citizens, primarily organised into small ‘nucleos’, or makeshift families, numbering 15-20."". Large groups broken down in smaller ones to increase effectiveness. It reminded me of the important relationship between diversity and scale. Each context & group has their own correlation between diversity and scale, and each situation thus has its own sweet spot(s). Small groups tend to lack diversity, yet they are likely to be efficient at the few things they do. Large groups tend to follow the opposite rule. Too much diversity in both cases loses functionality. Not enough leads to inbreeding of ideas. Maanon1932026148 this has been said already, but I wanted to share it anyway. Your hurdle seems to be very pragmatic, rent and business model, and you're looking to start at a relatively small scale. So I think it might be a good idea to reduce diversity at the start. In other words it might be better to start with people who agree on one business model and leave the door open for diversity as context changes, size grows, opportunities arise. Lean methodology wise. The potential extra cost of starting in a lean and not-so-diverse way, the potential deficit, could be considered an investment in all the lessons that you will learn from starting this way. You could structure this investment as a mortgage or loan to future users. They will be benefiting in hard cash when the model with lots of diversity is ultimately in place, as this model should be more resilient, economically viable and able to offer lower prices on multiple fronts. It seems natural that dues are paid for what it is built upon. Support from the future community. In financial terms, it would be a relatively standard loan I suppose, though I don't know how realistic it is for you to get one. " 9,27731,2017-03-01T20:50:01.000Z,27693,anon281534083,anon2954219769,"well said good advice there. " 10,28256,2017-02-28T19:09:00.000Z,6168,anon281534083,anon70625510,"About that article.. an initial reaction is to take this sentence and suggest we parse it out  and know where we are with each one, because it's pretty all-inclusive.  I don't necessarily weight them the same, by the way.  For example, ""poor systems of conflict management"" weighs in pretty heavily in my own analysis.  In the patois of the Farm days, not having that means the vibes will ""silt up with subconscious"" (which can be taken to mean unstated thoughts and feelings that have an effect on the conscious mind, even if it isn't clear.) Anyway, here is that sentence: ""But the more relevant drivers that cause many communities to unravel sound more like the challenges afflicting any organisation today: capital constraints, burn-out, conflict over private property and resource management, poor systems of conflict mediation, factionalism, founder problems, reputation management, skills shortage, and failure to attract new talent or entice subsequent generations."" " 11,28640,2017-03-01T12:24:03.000Z,28256,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"How would we parse it? @anon281534083 even if we can weight them, how would you do it beyond the value level..?  I feel like we either need a business development expert around here or at least map an actual space onto all of these. Spaces come with their own stories and tangible challenges.. the rest seems too abstract given that - after this call it's become more clear that we can't model our own concept concretely on any of the examples mentioned above (FOAM, Impact Hub etc). " 12,29388,2017-03-01T07:29:04.000Z,6168,anon1061021150,anon70625510,"I think we are looking here at a much more complex space, along with models of financing. First of all, it would be great to clarify what type of space do we open for LOTE - do we try to buy something and use the event for barn raising (at the same time skipanon3606750899g bargaining with host cities - the more independence we have, the better), or do we want to have a space in Brussels, ready to use as Nadia and Alberto live there already? Or both? For me buying a land and a farm sounds most interesting - because of the costs, because of the location (out of the city, obviously well connected, but also in an underprivileged, a maanon1932026148 slightly abandoned area that would use a community and an investment) and access to farming land. I was looking lately into offers in Portugal, and discussing it with one of my friends, and it's easy to find something rather cheaply - for 40, 70, 100.000 euros for a big piece of land there. Portugal is well connected by highways and has relatively many airports around. For me living in a big city in Europe is not that interesting anymore anyway:) About the model, it will greatly depend on the space - and vice versa. I would see it as a mix of super cheap or free accommodations for people who work on things (fellowships, residencies), residential spaces for those who want to invest long term in it where we also cover the costs, and a business model - high-quality rooms we could rent short term, but also services. If we manage to build a community where various practices of care are available, this could be a source of revenue. We could start offering training for companies in well-being. Or open a section for a couple of elderly people, paid, but affordable.  These ideas could build up into a de facto village we would be running there.  The village could be at least partly financed by the crowdfunding campaign, but once we have this sorted, we should submit the very same plan to Velo foundation in Denmark that offers support in purchasing real estate for organizations. And if we connect LOTE with this land purchase, we can actually, once in a lifetime, offer a chance to buy tickets for the event with the intention that the money from the tickets (and merchandise) goes to renovation and so on. It won't be compulsory - it would be a voluntary donation, and I think many would find it reasonable.  I am only worried about the timeframe. Can we really buy a space within a couple of months? I know that Nadia is planning to go scouting, while I am preparing a list of places where there are interesting lands and farms. Or the Brussels space has to be the first step, and we will look into the purchase sometime later, once we see what works there? " 13,29669,2017-03-01T12:14:41.000Z,29388,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"The scary thing freedom is Wow you summed it all up Natalia, and even offered a quick plan :-) I think where we all seem to agree so far is these three types of membership (Nadia's terminology)/ offer: a mix of (I would say affordable) super cheap or free accommodations for people who work on things (fellowships, residencies), residential spaces for those who want to invest long term in it where we also cover the costs, and a business model - high-quality rooms we could rent short term, but also services.  It is at the business model where we seem to get stuck. I think we are going to need some more time to figure out the purchasing vs renting dilemma, and the home space in Bxl now buys us that time. " 14,29770,2017-03-01T12:54:42.000Z,29669,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"A Banon3760936673ce In many ways i agree with Natalia. A rural, larger space is probably more interesting and holds more potential for growth and development of the project in the medium to long term. This would certainly need to be purchased land (or at least very long leasehold) I also forsee that it will remain beneficial to hold a place in at least one major city, for no other reason than it serves as a pysical 'shop window' for the organisation and the work we're doing. It also give the curious a space to engage with us in a way that it undemanding on resources,time and steps into the unknown (important if we want to bring in new ideas and voices). I could foresee this space being an incubator for the fellowships and residencies program, and a small way of bringing business and professional engagement with the organisation. My gut feeling is that in the short term a city based rented space could help stress test certain areas of the project and act as a crucible for designing larger idea. Funds must be raised, permissions saught and connections and partnerships with local communities formed. The 'where?' of a city is much less important than the 'where?' of a larger settlement. " 15,30197,2017-03-01T20:19:00.000Z,6168,anon281534083,anon70625510,"Parsing at the Crucible This is a big undertaking.  An historic one for all personally involved so far.  (I have some group experiences but were quite different in several important ways.) Thus the two-apartment place in Brussels does look to be a crucible for figuring out the larger plan, and also as Alex says, a place to stress-test things.  A modeling workshop. Living in the country has many advantages.  More land, fewer rules, more quiet privacy, possibly ways to sustain such as water source and arable land.  But the disadvantages are strong too: fewer or less reliable services like broadband, sewage treatment, water and heat and ultimately health care, that thing you don't need until you do.  It just isn't as good in the country overall.  So, more freedom but corresponding self-reliance.  That means being good at fixing things and having the time to do it.  This will be compounded when you add people who won't see it as their responsibility to deal with certain problems as they arise, but they will expect to have water, heat and broadband. Five years of my Farm days were spent in urban communal living in cities.  Some of that time was doing that Bronx ambulance project but most of that time was in Washington DC.  Usually 10-12 adults and a bunch of kids.  We paid for it by having some of us do the work of our mission there (we were - and still are - a nonprofit that gives direct aid to needy people, often native people plenty.org) and some of us run a remodeling/carpentry business.  The work of our mission was encompassing enough that all of us living there took part in and gained the experiential benefits of participation (events with native Americans, managing a big no nukes rally and concert, etc), but for us remodelers, the work day was all about fixing up houses in DC just like the one we stayed in last September.  That got everything paid for and it also meant we had the tools and the ability to deal with the household stuff that broke.  Because I was more of a mechanic than a carpenter, I maintained our small fleet of vehicles as well as the washer/dryer and other appliances plus the household electricity and plumbing.  Believe me, all of it goes wrong at some point and if you can't fix it yourself it either falls apart or you pay a lot for someone else to do it.  What I am saying is that this kind of thing compounds in group situations.  But I say, accept it and treat it as an opportunity for self-sufficiency.  Care starts at home. As for parsing those things, some of it is pretty obvious, but here goes a stab at it. 1. Capital constraints: Obvious to all.  Money.  Groups can economize to almost unimaginable amounts (like at Findhorn and The Farm), but it also means there are all sorts of things you can't do. 2. Burn-out: just like with any office refrigerator and dishes, some people are neater than others and some people care more than others about certain daily realities of the physical space and on to completely mental/psychological/relationship issues.  It is inevitable in any group that you will have a kind of bell curve of participation at the most basic levels of responsibility where some people take on anything and everything, most people do some, and some people don't do that much.  This is one of the most important reasons why certain things have to be worked out and talked through.  Putting a bunch of signs around and just being rule-enforcers might work when the large majority of people there are transient, but for a smaller more committed group, it can take on a life of its own that can get to be a drag.  Plus, it wasn't said in that article, many of the intentional communities or collectives, are started by people in their younger adult years.  Sometimes the real story is people grow and change and their life goals shift. 3. Conflict over private property and resource management: related to burnout and capital restraints.  This is a situaltion where I think it ought to get written down as to what the basic agreements are about who owns what and who is responsible for what.  Not getting this right is dangerous.  But that is what the crucible and planning is all about.  Many ways to go on this, with pros and cons at every turn. 4. Poor systems of conflict mediation: One of the best quotes in that article was, ""‘It’s not utopia. It’s microcosm. Everything that’s in the outer world is there – marginalisation, addiction, poverty, sexual issues, power. Communities are just fractals of society.’ The difference for Sutherland was that in Findhorn there was good will and a clear commitment to waking up: ‘People are willing to look at their stuff.’ ""People are willing to look at their stuff.""  No matter how you say it, get this working and you can go on and on.  Avoid it, and, well, vaya con dios..bad vibes await you. 5. Factionalism: Inevitable perhaps to some degree, but can and should be diffused with regular open and honest talk about it.  Requires total fidelity to truth, even if the truth is somene admitting that they are conveying an impression and not facts per se.  The thing is, frank talk should not get put off too long or too often so that bringing up anything turns into some huge blowout deal. 6. Founder problems: leaders and founders don't easily relinquish.  Every situation is different.  In a ""does the work/calls the shots"" environment this won't present itself as a huge problem as long as everyone understands and agrees on the meaning of the word ""work"" and what work has what relative value. 7. Reputation management: can be a problem as an attractor of new people.  One of the agreements of the operation should be ""don't be an asshole"" plus make sure the plumbing works and the reputation ought to take care of itself. 8. Skills shortage: this has been discussed already in terms of having a variety of people clustered who know how to synergize what they know.  But if you go out to the country, this will become a big deal right away.  Unless you want to spend your time learning country skills.  But in the city the skill sets are going to be more focused on the ER mission as it plays out now, right?  Grant writing, business management, event planning, workshop managing, etc. 9. Failure to attract new talent or entice subsequent generations: not a near term issue at all.  But one problem with groups is they can get pretty smug and insular.  That's not attractive. Noemi said get a business plan.  I say yes, at least write down a realistic profit/loss and cash flow sheet.  One of the best pieces of advice I got when preparing budgets was not to sugar coat the revenue projections but be as dead honest as possible. Anyway, that's a quick sketch.  Speaking of skills, I need to go now and look at my son's leaking water heater at a house he just bought nearby.  I still have a good tookbox. " 16,30402,2017-03-02T23:18:09.000Z,30197,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"What translates from the online culture? Hm. @anon281534083 I can only hope we are / will be worthy of this thoughtful advice.  Reading you I would say some points come earlier than the rest (1,2,3,4,8), and thinking them through well in advance should avoid, at least in theory, the others. A question, do you think having already a culture of ""who does the work calls the shots.."" or a doocracy pretty well instated in our online community should help with the community management points? I would suspect so. What makes it challenging is that at least some conditions typical of do-ocracy (or listed as favoring factors) are turned almost upside down in a physical communal space:
    • Stakes are low. Typically, if job X or task Y didn’t get done, or got done poorly, it’s not a life-or-death situation.
    • Authority is non-coercive.
    Working to accommodate to higher stakes and more authority (presumably of the capital providers/ managers etc) already means stepanon3606750899g into a new space with rules different than those on an online playgroud. Which means acquiring new skills - beyond the physical skillset which for people like myself, sounds pretty scary I must say. Point 8 is indeed.. yikes.     " 17,30470,2017-03-04T01:04:27.000Z,30402,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"From online to offline >do you think having already a culture of ""who does the work calls the shots.."" or a doocracy pretty well instated in our online >community should help with the community management points? Yes I definitely do.  You have already been through a lot together and you have refined your thinking along the way. " 18,30790,2017-03-02T00:05:00.000Z,6168,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"What a beautiful thread! You guys seriously rock. Especially @anon281534083 - the depth and robustness of his experience is invaluable. It would take me 10 more years to figure out this stuff on my own. " 19,31285,2017-03-02T13:48:20.000Z,6168,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Next Step: Building the Crowdfunding campaign Hey guys thanks for a really interesting discussion. In today's Community Call we look at what the suggestions about mean in practice. If you cannot make it in person don't worry, we'll put up the documentation from the call and continue from there. " 20,31638,2017-03-08T17:40:31.000Z,6168,anon2706619482,anon70625510,"How it's been done before There are quite a few property crowdfunding 'platforms' in the UK. Though they solely focus on financial gain. But perhaps there is still something that can be learnt from them? https://www.crowdwithus.london/ https://yielders.co.uk/ https://propertymoose.co.uk/ https://www.propertypartner.co/ https://www.crowdlords.com/ Also this is a rather interesting article on the topic: https://www.ft.com/content/bff453da-be7d-11e4-a341-00144feab7de " 21,31734,2017-03-10T13:37:19.000Z,31638,anon1526983854,anon2706619482,"Thanks! Thank you @anon " 1,6182,2017-03-06T13:58:08.000Z,6182,anon70625510,anon70625510,"

    Change \#1/4 - Headers v.1:  OV_Banner_1024x146.jpg

    Please produce a new version of Header v.1 with these changes:

    • replace “LOTE6” with”"" Meet the OpenCarers""
    • add logos of the partners and funder (European commission) (scroll down here)
    • Change signature colours from Red | Grey to the official OpenCare project’s colours (only for this specific track to distinguish it from the rest of the event as the only one which is EU funded):  Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0

     

    Change \#2/4 - Poster v.1: OV_Poster.jpg

    Please produce a new version of Poster v.1 with different content:

    • Header: 

      • replace “LOTE6” with”"" Meet the OpenCarers""
      • Add logos of all the opencare partner organisations and European Commission : you find them here 
      • Change signature colours from Red| Grey to the official OpenCare project’s colours (only for this specific track to distinguish it from the rest of the event as the only one which is EU funded):  Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0

    • What's the story 

      • What can we learn from under-the-radar projects at the intersections of open tech & science, communities and healthcare?
      • In MEET THE OPENCARERS we present findings from OpenCare, a massive 2 year research project on community driven care. It is a full day program of high quality talks, conversations and networking as we try to answer questions like:
      • How do communities cope with needs of providing for individuals in vulnerable situations when official systems fail? 
      • Can networks of shadow clinics and innovative care homes ensure a fairer access to health services? 
      • What happens when every mental health patient is given a chance to become a healer for others?
      • Can cities uphold innovative policies of care by engaging more openly with bottom up care providers i.e. informal communities?
    • Join in on the action!
      • This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and shape the future with inspiring people using open tech & science to reimagine how we care for one another.
    • How to get involved tickets
      • First sign up on edgeryders.eu. Now complete two steps
      • 1) Read three stories from other participants and leave a thoughtful comment on each one here: http://bit.ly/opencarers
      • 2) Share your own reflections on the questions above in the form of a story on the same url.
    • What's in it for you
      • Discover innovative new technologies, products and services in the exhibition delivered by members of a 4000+ strong global network
      • Participate in community care-related talks, debates, workshops & business development
      • Build new contacts, opportunities and deep insights about community driven care. 
      • Access the Fellowship Program for up to 15000 Eur in bursaries

    Change \#3/4 - Program Banner v.1:

    Please update the text describing the three tracks with the following:

    • Meet the OpenCarers: we present findings from OpenCare, a massive 2-year research project on community driven care. 
      • Participate in community care-related talks, debates, workshops & business development
      • Explore new technologies, methodologies & collaboration opportunities in community care
      • Discover innovative new technologies, products and services in the exhibition.
    • Building the Reef: A community property for everyone How do we acquire and manage collective property for permanent affordable living and working? In this track we explore existing financial, legal and governance models cases.
      • Participants get a stake in an ambitious new venture: acquiring community property for permanently affordable living and working together  
    • The Future of Care: An Investment & Policy Lab How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and what enabling infrastructures already exist that we can learn from? Implications for participants, investors and policy makers.
      • Participants get new contacts, opportunities and deep understanding of new approaches to health- and social care

     

    New Banners/ Posters (format good for digital use)

    FOR TRACK 1.

    - Change signature colours from Red| Grey to the official OpenCare project’s colours (only for this specific track to distinguish it from the rest of the event as the only one which is EU funded): Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0 \#OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo What if every mental health patient is given a chance to become a healer for others? Can biohacking labs and citizens around the globe join forces to produce cheap, open source pharmaceutics? How can cities engage more openly with bottom-up care providers i.e. informal communities? MEET THE OPEN CARERS 19-21 October 2017, Brussels edgeryders.eu/openvillage

    FOR TRACK 2

    #OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo It's all about humans.                                                                                                                 Community provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home. BUILDING THE REEF: a community property for everyone 19-21 October 2017, Brussels edgeryders.eu/openvillage

    For TRACK 3

    #OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and networks of social clinics for the future? A suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work. We invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them. The Future of Care: An Investment & Policy Lab 19-21 October 2017, Brussels edgeryders.eu/openvillage

     

    For FELLOWSHIPS

    Example: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A5dhmw7Cn8XsmyhhVkYC3Tf1m8G-Ev_D4IOYZo-mPm4/edit#heading=h.qdrxo63kh359 -Opencare logo + text ""opencare"" Logo here: https://github.com/opencarecc/OpenCareStyleGuide/blob/master/OC-Style_guide_20160519.pdf - Change signature colours from Red| Grey to the official OpenCare project’s colours (only for this specific track to distinguish it from the rest of the event as the only one which is EU funded):  Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0 Community Fellowships We now invite participants to submit proposals for curation, engagement and communication for the OpenVillage Festival, 19-21 October 2017. The Festival is the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that engaged hundreds of original initiatives. Fellows will receive bursaries of up to 15,000 EUR, a travel budget of up to 5,000 EUR, and the opportunity to learn from and connect working solutions in community-driven care. How to Submit:
    1. Join the opencare community! Register on edgeryders.eu and share your story as a care giver or recipient.
    2. Connect with other members by reading their stories and offering ideas or advice.
    3. Propose a theme, session or exhibit on community care, that you would like to curate for the OpenVillage.
    We are looking for Fellows who are passionate, curious and driven, as well as willing to collaborate using online platforms and community building methodologies. If this is you, we want to hear from you. Questions or comments? Tweet \#opencare! More info: edgeryders.eu/communityfellowships   Consortium partners logo in footer: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/visual-material-logos-banners-headers-videos-etc

    Standard Sizes

    • Website Header: 1024 x 146 pm and 1200 x 440 Px
    • Twitter Header: 1500 x 500 px
    • FB Event Page Cover: 784 x 295 px
    • Twitter Post: 1024 x 512 px
    • FB Post: 940 x 788 px

    COLOURS & TYPEFACES

    OpenVillage

    Orange: \#f15c32  | Black:

    OpenCare Research Project

    Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0 | White: \#e5e7f0 | Montserrat Regular + Bold.

    OpenVillage Checklist:

    Thursday - Saturday, 19-21 October, Brussels, https://edgeryders.eu/openvillage This is a wiki where participants can post visual communication materials to help spread the word about the event. Feel free to make new versions of the material on this wiki. Good to know: there is a visual guide for the opencare research project where you will find logos, colour codes, videos etc. We also have a repository of animations which we can share on agreement that they are properly credited when used. " 2,8183,2017-03-07T07:45:27.000Z,6182,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Looking good. @anon We should be signaling that the majority of OpenVillage visuals will be community produced materials and not necessarily official ones. I've added two lines saying this. " 1,6097,2017-01-06T13:28:27.000Z,6097,anon1061021150,anon1061021150," Hello all! After a bit of silence, shortly before we hear back from MacArthur Foundation, I wanted to share a few ideas we’re working on and ask about your oanon3606750899ion and possible participation. First of all, this autumn/late summer we will host our annual gathering with a different format, shifting towards hands-on work (even if not fully embracing it yet:)). We call it OpenVillage Festival and we want it to be a showcase of initiatives like yours. We envision it as a space to meet, present our projects to each other and wider communities (like-minded people, but also regular folks who could be your clients/funders in the future). On top of that, we will use it as an engine to crowdfund, learn how to fundraise and improve our work during hackathons with members of our community. That’s a lot of great minds with plenty of knowledge. We’re looking for a place to host this! There's interest from Milano, Thessaloniki, Lile and other partnering cities and events. We will keep you posted. And maanon1932026148 your city could help us make it happen? Ping us if so. Let us know if you want to be part of the village. What could you do to help us prepare and deliver a great experience, and what would you expect from it as an outcome? At the same time, we’re dreaming of a more permanent space called The Reef Brussels. Or, more precisely, even more than one space, where we will be putting our hands on building “real life” communities, altogether called ""OpenVillage"". It would be a house, a huge flat, a farm, or a former Olympic village which we can purchase collectively or lease for decades and use as a space for collaboration, experimentation and an engine of change. There is already a space in Brussels which might become the very first Reef (read more about it here). And again, we want to ask if you’d be interested in joining? What kind of contribution would you like to offer (in terms of time, skills, material, knowledge) and what kind of support would you expect from this space to generate for your work and life? Or do you know a space that would seem like an ideal destination for us? I’d be very grateful to hear from you about both, or any, of these calls. You can comment / add a new thread about The Reef here. And on the OpenVillage Festival, under this topic. Or simply write me back: natalia@anon Looking forward to hearing from you!" 2,7824,2017-03-05T18:26:23.000Z,6097,anon904321944,anon1061021150,"**Eccomi!** Ciao a Tutti L'idea di una struttura residenziale con caratteristiche polifunzionali per il co-lavoro e la co-formazione è assolutamente interessante, anche se nell'ambito della disabilità questo è infatti stato sperimentato qualche anno fa (residenza integrata al territorio) purtroppo con esiti non propriamente lusinghieri. Tuttavia credo che il suggerimento offerto dall'iniziativa Roam possa essere ampiamente colto e semmai declinato per una “clientela” decisamente meno hipster e “giovanilista” ma più “esigente” per quanto concerne lo spettro e la qualità dei servizi che una soluzione come quella proposta dovrebbe garantire. L'idea che ho in mente in questo momento è quella di uno spazio polifunzionale altamente “riprogrammabile” a seconda delle necessità contanon1056199097nti all'interno del quale, comunque, debbano essere previsti spazi di laboratorio “vivente”, aree di condivisione delle risorse strumentali (connessioni, piattaforma social con sistemi di co-design e di co-progettazione, archiviazione multimediale, ecc.) per agevolare il più possibile i momenti di lavoro comune e rendere oltremodo “naturale” l'esecuzione di tutte le varie attività di creatività e di collaborazione che prendono vita e senso in un contesto informale, aree dedicate alla “cura” di sé e dell'altro, aree deputate alla relazione con il tessuto connettivo sociale (sensibilizzazione, eventi e formazione), senza naturalmente trascurare una serie di attenzioni in termini di design for all considerando infatti che le persone potenzialmente interessate a questa opportunità possono necessitare di soluzioni altamente preconfigurabili che possano incidere complessivamente sul tasso di qualità in termini di accoglienza e di soggiorno lavorativo. Per quanto riguarda gli aspetti più “istituzionali” credo sia opportuno coadiuvare Edgeryders con una serie di innesti - nella fase progettuale e di operatività – provenienti sia dal pubblico, per quanto sia possibile date le ristrettezze economico finanziarie che ne limitano fortemente l'orizzonte strategico, sia sopratutto dal privato. Mi piace infatti immaginare che un progetto di alta innovazione sociale come questo, oltre ad incontrare il favore della pubblica amministrazione, possa in qualche modo stimolare l'interesse del mondo della ricerca (università ed aziende), della finanza etica e dell'economia solidale oltre che coagulare diversi attori del terzo settore o, più in generale, del no profit indirizzate a questo punto ad una azione di sinergia che possa contribuire “dal basso” al ridisegno di uno stato sociale oggetto di una profonda trasformazione. Mi auguro che Bruxelles possa costituire un valido banco di prova come Milano possa divenire un secondo nodo di quello che potrebbe divenire un network all'interno del quale elaborare e trasferire nel concreto il pensiero, l'approccio ed il consolidamento di OpenCare. Personalmente, insieme ad altre persone, sto riflettendo e lavorando a WeHandU, una iniziativa volta a supportare le persone nel processo di superamento della loro difficoltà quotidiana attraverso la realizzazione di una soluzione ottimale per loro stesse e magari per qualcun altro (al momento si pensa al recupero della funzionalità della mano e del piede per i soggetti affetti da ictus, sla o lesioni traumatiche), in qualche modo cercando di creare un ambiente di progettazione, lavoro e condivisione della conoscenza che si traduce certamente in uno spazio di co-working e di living lab. Tuttavia questo non esclude, né tanto meno preclude, la possibilità che tale idea possa evolvere ed articolare in funzione di una maggiore ampiezza delle soluzioni co-progettate quanto piuttosto di una reale apertura a livello transnazionale europeo comportando la strutturazione di spazi e momenti che ne condividano il respiro, le finalità e gli obiettivi. Al momento quanto esposto è infatti oggetto di riflessione tra i membri di WeHandU, per quanto attiene le finalità e le possibilità realizzative dell'iniziativa a partire dalla localizzazione delle operatività previste (makerspace), ed argomento di informale conversazione telematica tra me, Alberto, Rune ed Alexander. Credo però che una maggiore connessione a questa iniziativa possa scongiurare una dispersione di energie e di opportunità e che, nelle varie fasi evolutive, possa al contrario essere foriera di risultati importanti. Come al solito sono stato lungo e verboso… Scusatemi! **PS:** Aggiungo solamente questa risorsa, che contiene un video in italiano e la trascrizione in italiano ed in inglese, per illustrare la capacità e la potenzialità della Città Metropolitana Milanese di essere sociale, inclusiva ed innovativa nello stesso tempo: http://www.report.rai.it/dl/Report/puntata/ContentItem-c2b6ce4c-69c2-464b-8179-9cb3f692a64f.html. Milano puà senza alcun problema costituire un terreno fertile per un progetto importante come""The Reef""!" 3,14992,2017-03-06T14:21:05.000Z,6097,anon1089184890,anon1061021150,"Excellent idea It's good to see that things are moving forward. Definatly an excellent idea and thank you @anon " 4,17400,2017-03-06T21:54:04.000Z,14992,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"For sure! But... @anon But there is no contrast, because the prototype today actually increses the probability that a newtowk will exist tomorrow.  " 1,6174,2017-03-02T13:42:41.000Z,6174,anon70625510,anon70625510,"In tuesday's call and the online discussion after it,  we bounced around several ideas around collectively investing in physical spaces for sustainable co-living and co-working. We asked: what is a good membership offer that is both attractive and financially fair? To  keep the discussion concrete, we have put together a skeleton crowdfunding text which we then build on together during and after today's community call. See you here at 15:00 CET. " 2,7962,2017-03-06T12:46:33.000Z,6174,anon1061021150,anon70625510,"During the second call last week, we discussed with Nadia two main questions: - what will be the money be dedicated to and why lote6 is a great opportunity for us to fundraise. While the conference itself is already financed in big part, and what remains to make it happen is a lot of work on our side in preparing both the program, the logistics and the exhibition, it will be used as a fundraising engine to crowdfund a permanent space for the edgeryders' community. All kinds of contributions, from in-kind donations of goods and time, to financial support and long-term involvement in sharing the costs and the work required to keep the space up and running, can be collected from the members, who come to our event free of charge anyway.  - We make a list of perks and rewards for contributors to the online campaign - if you have an idea, would like to contribute something (a massage, a special session, a language lesson, a tarot reading we could offer as an award - write it down in the comment, so we can collect all the ideas and include them in the list of rewards).  " 1,552,2016-11-09T08:57:58.000Z,552,anon3786846929,anon3786846929,"Open Insulin is one of many projects at Counter Culture Labs, a biohacker space in Oakland, CA. Counter Culture Labs was founded around 2011-2012 by a group of hackers with diverse backgrounds and interests. Members joined us from Sudo Room, another hacker space in Oakland, and Biocurious, a biohacker space in Sunnyvale. Many were also involved in Occupy Oakland, and wanted to establish a more permanent organization with the same community spirit and values. Eventually, the community we built in the hacker space reached a critical mass of knowledge and interest around the idea of starting to producing insulin with a manon169343781al protocol, but one designed to be simpler and less expensive than existing methods. We named the project “Open Insulin” to reflect a commitment to make the results freely available to any interested party and publish our methods openly. The name was a deliberate reference to open source software. Open source, as many readers may know from the software world, is the practice of making all information necessary to produce and modify a product publicly available along with the product itself. It started in software as an alternative to the practice of providing only machine-readable copies of programs, which can’t be understood or practically changed by users of the software. Without access to human-readable code, users and other stakeholders were shut out of their own tools. Open source methods of production are relevant not just to aligning incentives and improving the economics of software development, but also to scientific reproducibility and transparency, and in both software and science, open source can enable more participation and progress than trying to hold secrets close. In medicine in general, and diabetes treatments in particular, I think it holds one of the keys to breaking through the barrier between promising research and a stagnant market of treatments available to patients, just as it made software much more efficient to produce and use and enabled a great deal more innovation than was otherwise possible.   Open source software and the hacker culture that makes it was a major inspiration for biohackers to organize as such. “Biohacker” derives from the term “hacker” in the sense used in the communities of early pioneers of computing, where it’s a term used to refer to people who seek to understand how things work on the inside, instead of just using products as a consumer. Hackers are people who seek to modify things to serve their own purposes, instead of just accepting them as being limited to their originally intended purposes. It’s an approach that emphasizes the philosophical concepts of phronesis and techne, which describe an embodied, contextualized, practical approach to things, applied to science and technology. Biohackers are people who take a practical approach to understanding and engineering biological systems, and look beyond appearances and inside the black boxes of commercial products to understand the substance and true implications of things. If we can achieve the creation of open source insulin, it could contribute to at least three important goals - first, by making insulin production more economical at a smaller scale, and opening up manon169343781facturing to much more competition, it could improve cost and access for patients. Second, we hope the protocol will serve as a basis for future research into improvements to insulin - variants that are longer acting, shorter acting, more temperature stable, and so on - that address different concerns that arise in treatment. Third, we hope it might serve as a basis for research and production of other proteins by small groups, and open up participation in research and development to accelerate progress in other aspects of diabetes treatment besides insulin and other areas of science and medicine besides diabetes treatment. Currently we’re working on a novel method to produce human insulin, which is not patented, and as far as I know is not patentable. There are variations on normal human insulin to make them longer or shorter acting, which involve very small changes to the sequence that codes for human insulin.   We’ve been working in the lab for about 10 months, and we’re just seeing the first signs of success on our first major milestone, the production of proinsulin, which is the precursor to insulin. Once we’ve verified our success there, we’ll move on to making the final form of insulin.   We face two main challenges. First, while we are a group of talented and curious folks, most of us are learning challenging lab protocols from scratch, and second, we’re working with limited amounts of time and money, fitting the work into gaps in our schedules left by work or school, and mainly relying on surplus equipment and reagents that add delays and uncertainties to our work. So progress can be slow and involve a lot of detours on top of those implied by the already uncertain nature of scientific investigation, and we have to dig deep to figure out what to do next when something goes wrong. We do our best to learn fast, but it’s difficult to follow up on everything we should with our limited time and resources and background knowledge. There’s a lot of practical wisdom around making insulin that doesn’t show up directly in the papers published in scientific journals, and we’re learning these nuances of making things work as we go. Much of the value we hope to provide to the community is documenting as much of this practical wisdom as we can, and perhaps eventually automating the kind of work we’re doing by hand right now. If all goes well, we hope our techniques will be available to people with diabetes, especially to help meet the needs of people in resource-poor and lower-income countries. However, it’s hard to say at this point when we might be able to deliver a result useful for making a pharmaceutical-grade product. After the scientific work, which might take a few years, there will be the work of seeking business partnerships and going through more engineering work and the biosimilar approval process in the US. In other areas of the world, it may be simpler, but might also involve more unusual local political considerations. We’re hoanon3606750899g that our work will inspire others to move in parallel alongside us and increase the chances that one group will succeed quickly, and there are some preliminary signs that this is happening, which could yield results sooner. But there’s no doubt we’re at the start of a very long and winding road. We’ve had the good fortune to have many experts in relevant fields reach out to advise us to smooth out our path, but many important questions remain, and the most important ones remain for us to find new answers. Scientists who are reading this – can we count on you to contribute your expertise in protein expression and purification? Organizers – can you share with us your vision for expanding these efforts into a movement with participation from parallel groups like ours around the world? The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,6933,2016-11-10T16:34:00.000Z,552,anon1491650132,anon3786846929,"Question to Organisers My two cents, @anon3786846929, as someone involved in building a movement (as one seems to be these days, as if there's no other way [sic]): Not to be too pessimistic although it's in the air given recent events in the US, but it seems that no matter how good a scientist or how decent your values are, or how promising your early results: common decency is no longer enough and one has to have grit. In other words, I feel more and more that any ambitious effort to lead to greater equality, access, fairness in the world needs to become somewhat political and build consistent support behind them.  Example: look at Academia as a space for sharing expertise and see whether it is going in the right direction paywalling everything and being very slow to reform in terms of open access policies. What you have is a set of no-way-out reactions, people like A. Swartz or this lady in Kazakhstan taking action in their own hands. I would not favor those of course, but middle ways are long term battles with a lot of coordination across the net. Repeat, repeat, repeat..  " 3,11314,2016-11-16T17:13:20.000Z,6933,anon3786846929,anon1491650132,"Thanks for the analysis Noemi. Grit is about all we've got right now! It's gotten us some results in the lab and gotten many people interested in helanon3606750899g out. And it has been key, in the preceding years, to founding the hacker space itself that we work out of. We've gone out on a limb and inspired some people and now we need to make the most of this interest. Influencing politics in favor of the values we're trying to serve is a side interest of most of the team and we're hoanon3606750899g in collaborating with Edgeryders here to be able to contribute to these broader questions even as we focus on our scientific and engineering work. " 4,14307,2016-11-11T13:45:33.000Z,552,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Community support Hello @anon3786846929! The Open Insulin project inspired my friends and me a lot, which ultimately led to starting ReaGent, a DIYbio space in Ghent, Belgium. We've been going for about a year now. I'm sure there are more people with similar stories and who would love to help you - us included. Let me know if you want to skype sometime to discuss what we can contribute. Have you reached out or collaborated internationally before? " 5,19886,2016-11-11T21:26:28.000Z,552,anon784612129,anon3786846929,"Interested! I am more a engineer/scientist on the dead matter side of things - but I know just enough to understand that this is a pretty big thing. If you do skype with @anon Do you know the question function of research gate? Insulin comes up with 385 researchers who follow the topic and 300 questions discussed. I often get good and detailed responses on things that you usually have a hard time finding in papers. Check here: https://www.researchgate.net/topic/insulin " 6,23778,2017-02-08T22:17:51.000Z,552,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Skype call @anon3786846929 and me ended up Skyanon3606750899g on Monday. It was kind of last minute after long silences and trying to find overlap in each of our hectic agendas. Sorry @anon784612129 and @anon The project is still going well in technical terms. Only now, due to time and communication constraints, international collaboration seems possible. A local group in Sydney just launched a few weeks ago and already made good progress. Other groups are open to launch a local chapter. We'll be launching a chapter in Belgium to see if our community is up for joining this. Like that we will test the international collaboration and see where it leads us, perhaps others will join as well. There's a diversity of angles, eg. we could contribute more in terms of communication, while the others are more technically adept. It's interesting to me that each group can have their own approach, and all contributing to the same goal. I'm reaching out to the other labs in Belgium to see if they are up for joining. There's already a good diversity there (arts, technical, educational, ...). Does anyone have any ideas in terms of collaboration process? We're in a new field to set this up at such a scale. " 7,24889,2017-02-08T22:51:12.000Z,23778,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Collaboration: can we help? @anon I was thinking. We (Edgeryders too, but OpenCare in specific) would be really interested in seeing this collaboration unfold. We would like to help, if we can. If our next batch of fellowships are in the pipeline, we could even support you. @anon4116418727 , what do you think? I guess the main question is this: what is the main collaboration challenge that you are facing? Is it the launch of a Belgian chapter of Open Insulin, and specifically the uptake of the ReaGhent community of the project? And: who is going to lead on this? Is it going to be you, Winnie? Also anon3606750899g @anon   " 8,25366,2017-02-09T18:43:14.000Z,24889,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Main challenges I'm also fascinated to see if/how we can make this work. Testing something like this is right up there with the things we absolutely wanted to try out when setting up our lab. Some initial thoughts, I may be off. In my view, there's two clear levels to this: local collaboration and international collaboration. Both are interesting to research seperately, and the combination even more so. For good measure, local research groups participating in this are (or should be) inevitably autonomous in practical aspects. Save the occasional shipanon3606750899g of a sample to replicate experiments or other small stuff like that. This entails that the local element will have coordination costs in the form of time, money and energy to keep the community and project going through a potentially long and tough research track. The big advantage is that all global groups are interconnected for the information aspect. The international element will probably happen relatively smoothly if the right digital infrastructure and practises are in place, as there is a clear incentive to do so: faster learning, collective intelligence. Coordination costs should be low, there's only information being shared and this is cheap and fast if you have people who keep track of data. I'm optimistic about the uptake of the project by the community here. The main challenge that I see now for us is the local coordination cost (Ghent or Belgium level TBD). I've (tried to) set up, participated in and observed a few similar local research collaborations. They all had high coordination costs. This insight comes from scientific fields that are way less of a pain than biotech/pharma, so I can't see it turning out easier than expected. Another challenge is gathering relevant insights in terms of process to have some insights at the end of the road. More so when you haven't set it up right at the beginning: having to change process during the project is costly. For Open Insulin in SF locally it seems to have turned out well and I already discussed some potential pitfalls with @anon3786846929. This is very hopeful. As for international collaboration, there's already some stuff in place: filesharing and weekly Skype calls. With the Sydney group recently started there is already a clear synergy. I think we should have a call about how we can make it happen, @anon " 9,25463,2017-02-09T20:08:52.000Z,25366,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Guys you're really going for this, wow. In addition to possible support from OpenCare (for which we are just now drafting terms with Marco) you might want to look into a uni partner that would be willing to assign students to work for it and make it part of a semester assignment, that should really help kickstart.  Of course, this may be too advanced stuff for coursework, I have no idea.  What's a good timeline? Is it reasonable to expect advances in 6 months? They can be, if not research results, community mobilization results, contributing to global documentation and similar things. Well done! " 10,25673,2017-02-13T18:06:02.000Z,25366,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Yes! Let's totally have a call, @anon " 11,25685,2017-02-15T10:59:00.000Z,25673,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Only next week I can only do Feb 23, 23 or 25. @anon " 12,25694,2017-02-15T16:09:06.000Z,25685,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Good @anon 23 afternoon/evening 24 evening 25 anytime " 13,25699,2017-02-28T15:31:27.000Z,25694,anon784612129,anon2954219769,"Finally found it - sorry it took me so long You even mentioned me! I need to train my eyes better when skimming all those headers. @anon - MENTION [by Winnie] on [XY] Edgeryders - Digest of Edgeryders activity [X-Y] - New comment (keep as is) @anon Also if you eventually want to share parts with another group it gets much easier. Either by writing a (late) summary or (if in English) just pushing part of the convo to them. One nice thing is that a written summary posted will probably have a high fraction of the key terms that are relevant for ethnographic analysis. " 1,743,2016-09-15T09:04:29.000Z,743,anon4219214615,anon4219214615,"Since summer 2009, 30 families started living together in the first “official” co-housing in a periferic neighborhood in Milan, and probably of whole Italy. To my knowledge, the phenomenon has been often recorded by the Media (radio, tv, magazines and newspapers) and Polytechnic of Milan (Ph.D. and Master dissertations) as a first and original case. For some months and years, people liked to come and visit, check, make interviews about an experience that, in those years, sounded strongly innovative and now is consolidated. Some other co-living “residences” (but not many) of this kind have been promoted and started in the north of Italy and not only in Milan. What made this so new? Italy has a long story of small communities, both in the countryside (above all in the agricultural areas) and in urban areas. And we were about 70 people who didn't know each other before, who didn't share any identity or common belonging and who decided that co-housing could be a very good way to live. We have a shared living with semi professional kitchen, a small garden in the center of the building, shared laundry, bike space and hobbies area, and a terrace with swimming pool. It took almost two years (2007-2009) of co-creation and creating bonds between the members. Meanwhile, we've projected (thanks also to facilitators' support) some of the physical aspects of the building which allowed “personalization” by the community and facilitated the envisioning of a “way of living”. We agreed on some basic rules, attitudes, priorities and so on. Co-housing is about these two elements: the physical (spaces, objects, homes and shared areas) and relationships. Where are we about 7 years later? 100 meetings + countless B-Day parties and shared lunches and dinners, bbqs 4 kids + 3 cats + the building is fixed rules of living have been adjusted through the real life experience group email and WhatsApp group still alive and working properly (communication is deep and useful to keep connection and support) micro-welfare and mutual support include a lot of different situations (child care / homework/ vacations, home trouble fixing, information, shopanon3606750899g for the neighbor, shared purchases, savings, medical support, emergency support, skills sharing…) still volunteering in groups (garden caring, swimming pool fixing, legal affairs, food purchase) few people moved away but rented the house (just in case they come back) an association created to manage share expenses and service and to deal with town council and other local associations sharing knowledge and experiences (cooking course, dancing school, movies calendar, book presentations, pics competition/games, summer kids caring..) opening up to local events, well known in the neighborhood, networking with local associations Many aspects should be analyzed for a precise assessment, some are probably specific to this very situation, some can be generalized. Of course only general considerations should be done, a detailed story would be more interesting as we have passed through several phases which coincided with the local and historical events (for example, the economic crises affected some of the member families; the city of Milan has been evolving; the arrival of new members - children; the Expo 2015 in Milan hosted nearby us…). But that would be very long. What I'd like to focus on instead is the startup, the real “lifestyle storming”, the community forming, the association phase, the community's opening up to the local area, the maturation phase, and the What’s Next?... I can’t say everything we've done was perfect but surely many lessons have been taken.   The “light community” has grown and changed adapted. At the beginning, we met very often to decide on things. We've probably put too  much relevance in fulfilling the physical needs, while we should have been looking for ways in which we can banon3760936673ce different speeds for those who  wanted to live this experience and adjust the levels of engagement… The preparation phase (2007-2009)  could not “prepare us” for the real thing. The big point is the continuous discussion among people (meeting, email, “working” groups) which is the backbone of this lifestyle, but also takes time and energy. We did probably too much of it at the beginning. Many difficulties have been fought together as we've been creating a big space, with many problems to be fixed (electricity, legal, walls, gardens, technological infrastructure..). The social project was on top of that. None of us was particularly aware of good planning. The kids have been a strong “glue” among the family with kids and others, who became kind of uncles, grandpas or grandmas. And a topic of discussion for the other ones. We had to come by with a legal framework to a situation unknown by Italian law (we had to govern it in the traditional way). The paid professional legal “administrator” has changed three times… It is hard for them to deal with a real counterpart with proposals and ideas for innovation. The usage of shared spaces, or of the mailing list, have changed through the time as we understood our needs in by practice. The opening up phase is probably one of the most interesting, as we tried to have our living room used by visitors. We have also created an association to manage the shared expenses (like a food purchase group, eventually a car), but also to prepare a project for the small park in front of home together with other associations. This was exactly the kind of situation that sociological literature likes to call a “gated community” . bu we never felt like that.  we started as a non-group, we have become a light community with different sensibilities and priorities, we've engaged with the neighborhood in several ways, we took part in local decision making, social action, and so on… It is still difficult to take care of a community when everybody has its own life and duties, and probably some external help and supervision would have helped in moderating tension, in identifying new solutions... Goodwill is never enough. We'd also gladly make use of a practical tool, perhaps a platform, to share materials, ideas, needs, etc. And being part of a bigger network to compare notes, support each other, share more, and maanon1932026148 be connected with the town council infrastructure (cars, electricity, water, events, …) Anyhow, both visitor and inhabitants of the place are still surprised by the aesthetic, the connection, the quality of living which is hugely superior to any normal flat experience in a city (and even in countryside) they experience here. And we are frequently asked if any apartment is on sale or for rent. " 2,8575,2016-09-15T13:04:00.000Z,743,anon1491650132,anon4219214615,"I recognise this story! Wow @anon Alberto was telling me some time ago about a social housing project in Italy (maanon1932026148 Milano?) where a complex of buildings is rented to poor families, and one of the units in each building is rented to the ""community manager"" tasked with working on social ties between people. Not sure about details, but it seems it's financed by Casa Depositi e Prestiti. Does your project have anything to do with it or better yet: do you see your project coming to influence social policies in Italy? It seems it's 8 years along the line and you guys seem to have great results to show as to what the future looks like. " 3,11577,2016-09-16T10:18:42.000Z,8575,anon4219214615,anon1491650132,"we are informa group cassa depositi e prestiti operate usually on big projects 8its the finacial side of the government) together with fondazione cariplo.   we are a group of family living together...not suc support... " 4,15499,2016-09-15T16:34:48.000Z,743,anon1526983854,anon4219214615,"Many lessons learned I have known about this project for years (I have even visited!), and really like the way you guys seem to have adjusted and improved your ways of living together. My own co-living experiment is much smaller, and much younger than yours... there is a lot to learn here.  I just re-read The Book of Community by @anon Cassa depositi e prestiti has a very large social-co-housing scheme on the road. We discussed getting involved with them, but they are being quite slow in making a decision. :-) " 5,17693,2016-09-16T10:22:21.000Z,15499,anon4219214615,anon1526983854,"thjey are rebranding, re shaanon3606750899g strategy and muc more things..i deal with them for work purposes...but the chance here is get support of expereinces (good and bad) from families who knows what can mean to live like this without a religous/political/frienship previous shared background. companies or big institutions can probaly leverage on stronge assessts for the real estate side but usually those managers have no idea of what living together can be in this way.  external supervisor or facilitators can be one option but sure also they like of direct experience, rural communities or scout or this kind of experience has less chances to be useful to enhance a spread out co-living (and maanon1932026148 also co-working projects)    " 6,18457,2016-09-16T20:28:56.000Z,17693,anon1491650132,anon4219214615,"Can we connect with someone in there? @anon (I'm asking you because I see Simone has a lot of questions addressed below, so no need to load more.. :)  " 7,21004,2016-09-16T18:05:11.000Z,743,anon3670751854,anon4219214615,"So many questions Thanks so much for sharing your story! Apologies in advance, this is pretty much all questions, I think we can learn a lot from your experience creating this form of housing and the way its changed over the years. I especially relate to and heed your advice about the too many meetings thing ;) . I’m curious to know more about the impetus for starting such a project, if as you say didn’t know each other and had no common identity or belonging, how did you find each other and make the decision together?  Also curious to know how it was initially funded, did you rent or buy a building and grow from there or did you build something new (the image with your post is a co-housing experiment I’m somewhat familiar with, is it related somehow?). In regards “micro-welfare” and mutual support, have you communized your money or is there a separate fund that members pay into for these kinds of things? This is something we’ve been discussing for our group and haven’t figured out quite how to do it with the constraints of an economy like NYC. Have these things created a situation where people are able to work less or not at all?  In regards the “gated community” comment and talking about how you interact with the greater neighborhood, I'm curious to know how you’ve navigated this and what your outwardly facing presence is like both in terms of your activity and the neighborhoods perception of your community.  If you work with local government/neighborhood councils, is this something you do out of necessity, as something that sees it as a tool but not a goal or does that participation have value to you in and of itself? I ask because we've gotten involved with local government at times, but we see it as purely strategic, we won't do anything with them that would require some kind of compromise because ultimately we are interested in autonomy from all forms of governance. We think of our outward facing projects as building a territory. In a place like nyc where creating one large place where many people can live together and actually spatially put their lives in common is not really possible, we have formed a network that is concentrated in a neighborhood but spreads across the whole city and connects with like minded hubs in the rest of the country. An important question we ask ourselves is how do we keep this open to all forms of life that would grow our power and we theirs. I would pose the same to your group, how do keep it from becoming an isolated, if enviable situation, which is not anon2590712900y its own ends?  Would love to know if your model has the intention to put itself forth as a form that could be replicable, maanon1932026148 it alreay does? If you have ways that you formally share your experiences with other groups so they might learn and begin to try these things for themselves in their particular regions? Would love to know more about any or all of these things.   " 8,24390,2016-09-18T09:37:07.000Z,743,anon4219214615,anon4219214615,"really so many questions one big asnwer. i - we dont wanna say we are the best, we are the benchmakr. we failed a lot of times. becasue mainly co-living takes time and it is not a professional activity. this is not a community like organization that lives as a whole, it is the sum of families which tried to improve a better way of living in a light way. so no huge ambition was inside it, so i feel that everything that happen is like a miracle, even with all the troubles and limitation increased also by the economic crises that hit so many of us here. the very very starting point was a private real estate project that used co-hpusing as amktg attractor, but then the community create and organised itself, even because the company disappered afterselling - here my comments abot hard to relie on biz people fo these kind, we should develop out own independent way to create this places, everybody bought home, no rent was possibile, but..why not. microwelfare. we sill live in a ""normal way""...but we share time, infromation, products,  skills, decision maing on shared purchases...anycase it is a light version of what you think. we acted on single issues like local areas transformation together with other gourps, we hosted meeting people, activties of other assocaition and took aprt in them. infromal relatioship with neightbour people/family also nice. we had a purchase group for quite a while local government is burocratic-politics and slow, almost no budget... also here we have many lesson learned also about mistakes.   other groups came here to get inspiration, infromation and advise about to form themself. few manged to do it. politecno of milan use us a good case to show what can be done as a minimum. we had never had greater ambitions becasue it would need a lot of time..but with open and care some of us feel that we can finally give a stronger contribuition   " 9,26043,2016-09-19T16:07:44.000Z,743,anon1395349008,anon4219214615,"Interesting What an interesting project. I really don't know much about these kind of experinces but what I would really like to know is how people get in touch with you and how do they decide to become part of a community? Do they stay for a long time? Are there any children that grew up and then moved away? Do you get any financial help from the government?   Thank you! " 10,27814,2016-11-07T19:56:30.000Z,743,anon1491650132,anon4219214615,"Coming to town! Hei @anon " 11,29076,2017-02-28T13:02:11.000Z,743,anon70625510,anon4219214615,"Financials? Ciao Simone, something which would be helpful is information about one time costs and running costs involved for participants? How do they compare to regular market rates for purchasing property in Milano? " 1,726,2016-08-26T13:32:05.000Z,726,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"When discussing society’s biggest questions I like to have a discussion with Ginette Bauwens, a figure of the activist scene in Brussels and well-spoken about any subject. She has the looks of a friendly grandmother but the vivacity and energy of a young activist that believes in the power of humans. She played an active role in the recent car free shift of the centre of Brussels but made sure it didn’t become a gentrified zone. She majored in philosophy and made the choice to work all her live half time so she could invest her time in local or global movements. First when I asked her to give a short oanon3606750899ion about the bottom up imitatives organizing care related projects she responded: I only believe people can give care when it comes from love and friendship. All other forms need to be done by the government to be effective. I was really surprised by this ballsy argument so I invited over for a drink on the hottest day of the year (35°C!) and we had a tomato juice and a great conversation. We dived immediately into the subject. Care is a government issue for  her that isn’t at all taken care (pun intended) of. Why does the government give as much power to the pharmaceutical industry for example? Why can Nestlé become the number one partner of a government organization called ‘Kind En Gezin’ that helps parents of new-born through the first year? For her our role as activist and change makers is to put pressure on the government to make change on a big scale possible. I explain her how local initiatives are bending the system like the open insulin, chemotherapy in Romania or ways that people are hacking neuroprosthetis. Even if she find them great initiative she is scared that it will not be scalable, for her if the government doesn’t follow, nothing will change on the long term. I ask her why even within this idea people are rather trying to find solutions themselves then going in the street and pressuring the government. It makes sense, she says, you have an illusion doing something more meaningful while starting a project, then putting pressure on a government where the reward will (maanon1932026148) be given after many years. Instant gratification is much more popular, and with bureaucratic complexification people are less temped to get into a long battle with the government. But Ginette isn’t the person to only be sceptic and give critic towards ideas. She likes finding solutions. So before I explain her the principle of the workshop we talk a bit further on the big problems ahead. For her everything can be put into three categories: poverty, elderly care and work ethics. Poverty makes it impossible to take care of each other; it is a vicious circle that is difficult to get out of. Even with the best projects, people without money will not get towards it. Elderly care is also a big problem in European countries, care became profit and it is all about efficiency. Only a rearrangement about how we look at elderly care can get us out of this problem. Finally there is the way we look at work and how it makes us sick: burn out is one of the biggest epidemics of this century and involves pulls the whole family downwards. Not one political party is discussing these problems on a larger scale and that is problematic for her. The resources are there, but the unwillingness of changing is bigger. Politicians aren’t trained to be vectors of change; they are the ones that bring continuity. It’s the civilians that need to push the change and politics to implement it. Dark times ahead? Maanon1932026148, but this discussion made me think more clearly about the workshop and what we need to take notice of when bringing care-project together. Like within the makers movement it is important to find a banon3760936673ce between corporate and counter culture partners, within care it is also important to have an open approach towards policy makers. Yes we are in a ruff path at the moment, and trust is at an all time low towards politicians. But therefor it is the moment to open our arms to welcome them towards new ways of organizing care. We need much more and easier collaboration between projects. We need especially that knowledge of the government to tackle complex problems with multiple partners. We need to take them by the hand and show them what there is possible within an open care system The discussion I want to open towards the community is: Is involving the policy makers important, or will it be obsolete in the future? What kind of dialogue can care taking projects take towards it? " 2,7853,2016-08-29T13:55:32.000Z,726,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Learning from concrete wins or lost battles? I'm grateful to Ginette for her oanon3606750899ions and super curious to see if she has experienced victories too in her work, even small ones. In a conversation I had the other day with a friend well versed in NGO work and having quit, she mentioned something suprising to me: that for her it is the proper third sector having a chance of changing things, not the bottom up grassroots. So you see, all sorts of distinctions are being made, but I recognize the bottom line - the need for structured processes, paths to access resources, influence etc. My oanon3606750899ion is not worth much, in fact we can be right and agreeing and still not go anywhere :-| From the years I've been working in this field, what I've seen is doors opening and an ability from policy makers to listen. With unMonastery called in by a city, Futurespotters by UNDP, new doors opening thanks to them and other consultancy work, and so on. It feels to me hard to think about large scale change, but seeing a progression makes me more hopeful than at time zero, if that means much. If Edgeryders is anything of a counter culture movement, than it is also true that from the beginning the position was to open channels for collaboration between very diverse people. And guess what: over the years people in policy making have joined too, and were honest about their own limitations as institution representatives - for example, this is someone who at the time of engaging was in the Amsterdam City Council and here asking about basic income and how it would work.  So to me, if OpenCare with the workshops and future activities manages to open a real channel, that is already a win. Then to move forward, I can see the need for someone to pick their battles and perseverate in that.. and who knows how long that takes.    " 3,15056,2016-08-29T16:28:23.000Z,726,anon2339841247,anon3595237380,"Re one of the three areas mentioned by G. Bauwens - Burn Out One main finding made by field researchers about burn out is that one of the main factors that leads people to burn out is ""ethical suffering"" (litteral translation of the original expression in French ""souffrance éthique"") and this before workload. What does that mean ? Stress often comes from a conflict of values between prescribed work and ""real"" work, ""real"" in the sense of what really has to be done in a correct way. A large amount of professionals who get burnt out couldn't live anymore with the contradiction between what is asked and what should really be done. And I don't speak about ethics from ideological point of view. Just the tension between what is asked and what true professionals believe should be done (eg : social workers in big institutions, engineers in industrial companies, nurses in hospitals,...). The fact that there is no place anymore for true dialogue, exchanges and co-construction around their own practices worsened the situation. So bringing ""real' work in the center of the operations by giving back the floor to those who act is a way that is currently implemented in a few organizations to significantly reduce the risk of burn out. By organizations, I mean not-for-profit, for-profit or public organizations. None of them is immune to this illness...especially the not-for-profit ones like NGOs. And this is without mentioning the ethical conflicts that workers can have between their own values and those shown withing the organizations they work for. And this is another (big) story. " 4,17774,2016-09-05T15:07:20.000Z,15056,anon1491650132,anon2339841247,"""giving back the floor to those who act"" @anon By new ways of giving back the floor to doers, do you mean new decision making models? Or more tolerance for the doers in an organisation run in traditional way, a way of compromising?  Our community conversations so far mention burnout in entirely new kinds of organisations growing from bottom up movements. You'd say these new orgs could be better candidates for diminishing that tension and ethical conflict. I myself am an exhibit of that. But you also see people like @anon1357151325 reporting cases of community activists lost in simply too many requirements which they hadn't signed up for.  They come with the ""job description"" so to speak, especially in a non-sustainable environment where you have to compensate for roles you can't afford to pay for. So you have cases of burnout because of simple overwork, even with passsion and alignment between what is required and what you want to do. Curious, from your experience of working with both co-ops and more traditional businesses: is sustainability of an organisation correlated with healthiness of work? Here I mean the quality of what it produces, its impact. Maanon1932026148 if there were some roadmaps or a system of sustainability rewards that come with keeanon3606750899g healthy at work, at the expense of some other things, we'd get better at moving our work forward. " 5,20946,2016-09-03T09:22:34.000Z,726,anon2954219769,anon3595237380,"Shift away from political activism Nice input from Ginette and valid points. Last week I had several conversations with philosophy friends of mine who noted the same in their research or otherwise. They made some interesting points. I tried to reconstruct them, but there might be some holes in it. Most 'activism' today is done by do-ers. Bottom-up initiatives that took it upon themselves to solve problems that governments should take care of. They noted that this shift to just getting your hands dirty and not wait for government action is actually quite a neo-liberal way of solving problems. The ideal of May '68 has become ingrained in the way the mainstream thinks. The loss of faith in government and institutions has become part of a normal way of thinking. Management and corporations have adopted it in a way: they want to get rid of the old and slow processes, they want radical disruption asap and would like as few interventions by government as possible. Government is mainly seen as an obstacle at this point. Bottom-up initiatives follow the same reasoning to a large extent. Government is one of the obstacles to be overcome, because they're perceived as anon1056199097rently part of the problem, almost an external factor that is unchangeable. But they have to do it with less means, less people and less power (leading to the burnout problem). Additionally, the whole neo-liberal side will see these projects and initiators as 'one of them', because of the shared 'entrepreneurial activism'. For an outsider, the difference between both fades. One of their conclusions was that there is a need for political activism by these bottom-up activists right now, rather than only acting boots on the ground. Otherwise real systemic change may not follow, as politics today is mainly politics for the sake of politics, heavily influenced by big economy. What do you think about this? " 6,22226,2016-09-06T08:42:02.000Z,20946,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"I see similar things I see people in today's fairly young generations building professional paths along these lines. One of the latest political party in Romania running for national elections is a formerly local political party founded by civic activists. Now they're going national, after the founder has seen 25% support in the local elections. However it looks like titanic work, their lack of experience shows many times, and funding missing. The road is uncertain, but attests to the idea above.  Also, my story of a grassroots innovation in the medical system which a few years later contributed to the founder being appointed Minister of Health also makes the case.   " 7,22723,2016-09-08T21:51:57.000Z,22226,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Interesting outcome That's an interesting development! Thanks for sharing. I'm actually trying to send some medicines to a friend in Serbia at the moment, because he got the meds prescribed for Lyme but cannot buy them over there. It really doesn't make any sense at all. " 8,22857,2016-09-09T08:50:23.000Z,22723,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Aw :-( Probably the easiest is to find a human carrier, you never know with medicine across borders. " 9,24331,2016-09-05T15:27:35.000Z,726,anon2339841247,anon3595237380,"Giving back to floor to those who act @anon I've observed such situations in not for profit AND in for profit organizations even though the purpose and the values behind the organization were sensefull for people. It is about the meaning of the work to be done and the way it is asked. Indeed distributed decision making processes (cf the integrative decision making process), spaces where people can share practices in order to improve them (which supposes that they have an influence on them), the autonomy of each team and individual in his/her area of competence and responsibility (where each person is sometimes leader and sometimes follower) combined with a results-oriented work process (instead of an effort-oriented culture giving more credit on hours spent then on results) are cornerstones to move forward in the right direction. What is meant by heath at work ? Do we speak about fitness, yoga and mindfulness ? If so, it is just an approach to relieve people and allow them to go on in an unsatisfactory environment. If it comes on top of the characteristics I mentioned hereabove, it will be the ice on the cake. Last but not least, working for a purpose-led organization that strives for a better world will surely help at the condition that the way this organization works is consistent with its aspiration. " 10,26036,2016-11-29T15:04:30.000Z,726,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Discussing about ""policy for opencare"" tight now Hello @anon " 11,27810,2016-12-02T13:07:05.000Z,726,anon317670948,anon3595237380,"Open policy making process Thanks @anon So the problem of scalability. We are seeing in our City and in Edgeryders, a lot of interesting care projects, community driven, but the idea is that the role for Government is to guarantee the scalability. What is the scalability? In my oanon3606750899ion the scalability could be possible only if these new solutions, new approaches became part of an open policy making process. So, in our case, the Local Administration has to became an observator, a facilitator of these initiatives, helanon3606750899g them to evaluate their own effectiveness and impact. In our experiences we’re observing many interesting care projects that are developed by communities, using new approaches to care, involving new actors (makers, hackers..) These experiences are helanon3606750899g us to change also our services directly, to manage our services in new ways, trying to recompose the fragmented network of Care. I think that Government could be not an obstacle, or a part of the problem, risk that @anon2954219769 reported, but  (hopefully!!) a part of the solution: if tha PA can change its perspective and tries  not to be THE actor, the only care provider really allowed to do something, but one of the actors. Also, maanon1932026148, to guarantee not to fall to a neoliberalism way to solve problems..   But in which role? We’are thinking to develop this idea: became an enabling platform that can facilitate the dissemination of some solutions, and create the conditions to replicate in a large scale what has been evaluated effective.   But it’s not simple, and of course we’re talking in general.   We want to open a challenge about this topic because we would like to stimulate a debate and also find concrete examples about the role that in each project could/should be done by a Public Administration (in particular Municipalities). We‘ll share also some stories of our administration that in our oanon3606750899ion are going in this direction, to rethink traditional services in the new context of Care. This conversation could maanon1932026148 became also a way to create a path for discussing how civil servants could continue to believe to do a “real work” and not just a prescribed, traditional work, @anon What do you think?   " 12,28463,2016-12-02T13:10:16.000Z,27810,anon1526983854,anon317670948,"Meet Franca, everyone Ping @anon Everyone, meet @anon It would be interesting to challenge the opencare community to find actual policies of care that ""give back the floor to those who act"", to use Philippe's very nice phrasing. What do you guys think? How would you see it happening?  " 13,28966,2016-12-04T17:38:27.000Z,27810,anon2954219769,anon317670948,"""We’are thinking to develop this idea: became an enabling platform that can facilitate the dissemination of some solutions, and create the conditions to replicate in a large scale what has been evaluated effective."" From the perspective of our organisation, this is exactly what we need. We follow this strategy internally in our organisation as well: test lots of things in a small cheap way, evaluate, scale, evaluate and so on. In my city this is done sometimes, like with the Living Streets project. The city was cooperative enough to let them test the idea. These are exceptions sadly. I've been to a few city organised or backed 'workshops' meant to shape the future of the city. The workshops all lack the same: citizens present. Generally, they are organised during working hours and the only participants are civil servants and companies/entrepreneurs that have an economic stake in the issue. The details of how these workshops go, are pathetic. And it's packaged and sold to the citizens as 'co-creation'. Last one was most striking. A workshop on urban planning, commissioned by the city and organised by the same organisations that were involved in an ongoing massive real estate scandal. The workshop itself featured only entrepreneurs and project developers, talking about matters that affect everyone. Already at this basic level, the city fails. How can anything good come from such a basis? Maanon1932026148 this is how at least a little good can come from it. Our city has an image of being progressive and there are lots of projects that prove this. In the end however, politicians mainly want to get re-elected or get a better position next term. This means they need to live up to public expectations and produce impact in the short term. The fact that people here expect politicians to be more progressive, means the politician's output will have to be more progressive in order to make a career. As a result we have a pretty awesome city. However, it's a sugary coating that hides the broken way in which we are governed. I've been advised by a project coordinator to stay away from help from the city. She described it like this: if we were to receive support from the educational department under politician x from party a, next term all support could be gone under politician y from party b. Because politician y needs to have their own projects for their curriculum, so the limited means need to go towards launching new initiatives from scratch under their term. Also, draining a project from a political opponent diminishes that opponent's credibility. This is such a waste on so many levels: money, knowledge, time, ... Not to mention the competitive atmosphere this actually creates between projects that otherwise share a similar purpose. My own experience: I contacted the city anyway a few months back. I mailed with the responsible politician and she directed me to the civil servant at the bottom of the 'food chain'. We met, she was impressed by our project and clearly wanted to help. She promised me to take the message back up the food chain, but assured me it would take a while, and keep me updated along the way. The department got restructured, so this was slowing things down. Fast forward 2 months, no news, and our project is already in a different stage. Time flows differently for the government, I hope people age slower as a perk for working there. A government platform for projects to grow at their own speed would be a major improvement. De-coupling this platform from political incentives is a priority. " 14,29073,2016-12-05T15:01:49.000Z,726,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"Great to read this :) Hey @anon What you wrote Franca is really great to read, because it is the first time actually having a policy maker understanding so well the principle of an open care system, but also discribing the role a governement has to play in the futur. He is there as a facilitator, giving the right tools to test and later on help scale the bottom up initiatives. In such way the governement becomes a currator, not simply a gatekeeper of the funds, but the person who helps grow the talented projects.  Winnie i know what you are discribing, with my years of activism i had mostly the same kind of experience  with policy makers in Brussels. Getting funds is tricky because you need to behave a certain way because 'they' have the power in hand, you have to calculate who is going to get the portefieulle in next couple of years and so on.  But a couple of days ago a kind of epiphany came accross. In fact like what edgeryders does on care, we can create locally on any topic, creating an easy swarm of projects that can become a lever to not wait till policy is written, but to shape what it is going to be without having to play the political game. We are going to do this exercice with the Brussels makers scene through the FabCity platform of Barcelona. Bringing projects towards organisations and spaces and coordinating these spaces to communicate as one about their needs towards politics. In such way that we don't have the proposal from politics: let's just build 170 fablabs for 2020, but that through the swarm of knowledge know what are really the necesities.  Hope i could contribute to this nice debate; " 15,29546,2016-12-07T22:01:36.000Z,29073,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Swarms are great! But... I totally agree, @anon But I would not underestimate policy. A determined policy maker can make stuff happen. In 2012, Milano invented a new policy that works like this: they put out a list of 100 entire buildings, and 1,000 smaller spaces, that the city owns. You can have one of them, for free and for up to 30 years, as long as you (1) fix it and maintain it with your own money and (2) use it for activities that have social benefits. The city is being quite proactive: in one neighborhood it might encourage activities that interest young people, in another the focus might be on migrants etc. (see here, in Italian). It's the same thing you are doing at VDH, Yannick, but on a much larger scale.  I, for one, am very interested in having a discussion on policy with you guys. I would be more than willing to reach out to other policy makers too. What do you think? " 16,29961,2016-12-12T10:43:00.000Z,726,anon317670948,anon3595237380,"great! Hi @anon
     
    in my oanon3606750899ion you have touched a key point. When you work in a public administration the relation between technicians and politicians are crucial, in particular if you want to do something, if you want really realize new and innovative projects. In many situations for example the fact that a politician is engaged in a project became the only possibility to realize the projects.
     
    In many situations I saw terrible fights ‘politicians versus technicians’, but also collaborative approach, with a sharing of knowledge, working together for the same objectives.
     
    Also the project of @anon As we announced we launched a     challenge.       Could you read it and tell us if you think it’s interesting written in this way or if you want to change something.. Every your suggestion will be precious!!!
     
    Now we are starting to disseminate the challenge among some local partners, NGOs, associations that are working with us, but also among other local italian municipalities.
     
    Could you help us to engage other political actors, as @anon
     
    It could be really great and potentially of huge impact… what do you think??
     
     
     
    " 17,30318,2016-12-29T22:10:35.000Z,29961,anon2954219769,anon317670948,"Great @anon When we set out to solve a complex problem in our organisation, we start with small actions that change the context a little. Small experiments that can fail, but the lessons of which can scale big. A great example in government is a challenge this month of my own city where they will distribute 1,300,000 euros among civilian projects that aim to have a positive impact on the city. Citizen vote will account for 70% in the decision where the money goes. I don't think popularity contests are the best way to do this either, but it's a beginning and will change the playing field. Yet this is already at the interface with the public, at the policy level. Most possible small experiments I can think of would all very likely fail at another point: the government itself. The processes, people, time perception, incentive structures, ... Seperately these things are not huge problems, but together they form a problem where there are little starting points to start solving it. I'd say the most important problem for the government to solve today, is the government itself, not the policies it produces. So we need small actions in that aspect, eg. hiring a few recruiters that recognise the skills needed to implement change. And then you can sustainably keep producing good policy, even parallel while changing the internals. " 18,30444,2017-01-01T13:57:54.000Z,30318,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Low level rules are the most important @anon Changing this does not require a strategy. A workforce that stays up to date would help any mayor, be she conservative or progressive. It does not require changing the law, either. The city council could simply vote a resolution allocating a modest budget that each employee can use to go to conferences and events they are interested in. This would have a massive impact, in my oanon3606750899ion. Maanon1932026148 @anon " 19,30485,2017-01-06T17:01:08.000Z,30444,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Nice example @anon I do think that institutions and companies are (perhaps unknowingly) looking for these qualities when you see trends in expectations set by job offerings, although they use different words. Yet ironically, those companies and institutions seem to lack the 'noticing' and 'steering' qualities to realise what they are actually looking for and thus be good at recruiting the people who have what it takes. You have a good point about isolation and depreciation of skill sets. Keeanon3606750899g your workforce up to date entails both education and turnover. " 20,30497,2017-01-26T22:36:05.000Z,30485,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"A new point of view perhaps? Hi everyone, this is to introduce @anon3708118144m1313 and also draw her attention to this conversation. She's working in Georgian public sector in areas of innovation. Mariam can we quickly pick your brains on this? Above Franca (Milano), Yannick (Brussels), Winnie (Ghent) and Alberto whom you know are sharing experiences about what it takes for accountable and efficient gov programming to happen in order to better support citizens and initiatives. Franca (working on the inside of the system) said that the public administration needs to learn to become a facilitator and enabler of solutions, not necessarily THE solution provider which fails in so many cases. Do you have an example of good governance from your office? Or healthy collaboration between policy makers and technicians/ citizen experts/ creative people etc? Thanks, and officially: welcome on the platform! " 22,30886,2017-02-22T11:45:33.000Z,30612,anon1526983854,,"The limits to participation Thanks for chipanon3606750899g in, @anon3708118144m1313 !  Like you, I am interested in participation. My own work has been about ways that the Internet can enable more effective forms of participatory democracy. I even wrote a book about this. My point of departure was that participation as we inherited it from the 20th has not made a substantial impact on decision quality or societal cohesion, at least not in Italy, not even in the best cases. There are many reasons why this happens. Some of them:
    • Participatory processes are designed by civil servants, with other civil servants and ""usual suspect"" stakeholders (like professional business and trade union representatives) in mind. In your rural development example, I see that they worked through offline meetings, convened in cities and on weekdays at 11.00 am. That choice is going to prevent the most interesting potential participants (the local entrepreneur, the teacher, the parent of small children...) from showing up. People who reliably do show up are the people paid to participate, like representatives and lobbyists... but those already have channels to talk to the government. The other option would be to convene during the evenings, but, at least in Italy, civil servants do not like this at all. The option is almost never even discussed. So, most of the collective brainpower is ruled out before the process even starts.
    • The ""technology of participation"" (the town hall meeting) is non-scalable. This means (a) every participant will spend most of her time being talked to and (b) people will need to keep any intervention short. This means there is no time to explore issues and scenarios. This is why I like so much online forums like Edgeryders: you can participate in your own time (when you are off work, when your children are asleep...); take time to make your case; and no one is forced to be reading anyone else. We choose to engage with contributions we find interesting.
    • The social contract underanon3606750899ning participation is often not clear. I participate, then what? What we suggest gets implemented? What we suggest gets considered? How do I know decisions have not been made beforehands, and the decision maker ris just looking for a rubberstamp? Recent example: after an online and offline consultation with 1.8 million participants on Italian schools, number 1 request that emerged was to have teachers evaluated by independent experts, and not by their own headmasters. The government, nevertheless, decided to reject that request. Assuming the average participants spent two hours participating (very conservative assumption), that means the waste of 3.6 million hours. In European standards (1,732 productive hours in a year), that the equivalent of about 2,000 years of human work. Not cool. The social contract issue is the easiest one to fix.
    I have recently been involved in contributing to Italy's 3rd action plan under the Open Government Partnership (as an activist, unpaid). My brothers-and-sisters-in-arms and myself made these points quite forcefully, and they have been adopted by the government. Here's to hoanon3606750899g for better times. :-) " 23,30992,2017-02-25T15:49:08.000Z,30886,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"An optimist? @anon3708118144m1313 thanks again for being so responsive, I can imagine a long thread like this can be somewhat confusing :-) For myself, the lessons - far and beyond the existance of institutional policies per se - are those which are carried by the people involved: civil servants or citizens directly involved in these processes. For example I remember the story about Rustavi's participatory budgeting and Revaz's enthusiasm to be involved in implementation. However, there is more to learn about the outcomes of it - for example, in Cluj where I live they ran a 3 step process starting from the neighborhood level. But it involved a lot of deliberation - as Alberto was writing above, that means showing up at neighborhood meetings (physical). They nonetheless got to testing it at the city level, but a lot of the energy got dissipated in sending in proposals to compete for online votes (>400 projects)! and ending up funding very few with little money (1000 eur per winning project - about 50 of them).  I don't want to think of the amount that went into the administration of it, but you see where this goes. That was in 2014-2015, no news since, and more importantly, it's unclear whether it was considered successful or not in order to move further in an upgraded version. Anyway, this is just an example..  hope Rustavi will do much better, but also that people running it are considering risks too. " 1,709,2016-07-24T17:00:47.000Z,709,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"The second project started in the Himalayas in Nepal but now has spread to six other countries in develoanon3606750899g world. Himalayan Cataract Project is a brain child of Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon, who invented a cheap and simple method to operate cataract and restore vision. The organization was later on started by Dr. Tabin, American eye specialist who fell in love with the project while on holidays in Himalaya. The duo is now leading the world’s biggest project aiming at removing cataract for the poorest: through a ten minute microsurgery with articial lens implantation. The project is extraordinary and has been documented in media all over the world. My favorite aspects of it are:
    • The lenses used by the doctor are produced in Tilganga in Kathmandu, Nepal, bringing their costs down from 100 dollars to around 3.5 per piece.
    • The surgery lasts around five minutes per eye, and can be delivered almost anywhere. I saw a documentary about Dr Ruit and his visits in the Himalayan villages, where he opened pop-up clinics and treated dozens of people a day; for most of these people ability to see is crucial not only to their own well-being, but also the condition of the family, which needs their working hands;
    • His lenses have 98% success rate, same as sophisticated and expensive surgeries delivered in USA (using equipment for 1 million dollars)
    • The doctor himself has cured around 120.000 people
    • By funding Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, Dr. Ruit created a whole system that provides patients with complete eye care - and the fees that better-off patients pay for their services finance the free surgeries for the others;
    • In Tilganga they also manon169343781facture eye prosthetic which has similar quality with those produced in the West, but costs 3 dollars, instead of 150.
    This simple idea turned out incredibly effective and is tested now in other countries. http://www.cureblindness.org/eye-on-the-world/press http://www.tilganga.org/ " 2,10626,2016-08-04T11:16:36.000Z,709,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"I like most the idea of going where the biggest need is Wow, they set up surgery camps in the most remote areas. ""All of his equipment fits in just one yellow duffel bag"" - it feels like a dream to be able / allowed to do this ad hoc in first world countries.  20 years later, their model seems basic yet very advanced, working at scale - they've built up a huge network of partnerships, residencies, training camps, on-site mentoring, volunteers exchange programs. Have you met anyone in Nepal involved in this @anon " 3,14907,2016-12-03T22:32:12.000Z,709,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"So is it problem solved? ""Within a matter of hours, the team can turn a dusty schoolhouse, or whatever building is available, into an equivalent medical ward where sight-restoring surgery is carried out to comparable standards found in the developed world."" (source) This looks like a good fit for community-driven care. You still need ophtalmologists, but the infrastructure around the treatment is minimal and can be conjured by communities. So... is it happening?  " 4,20294,2016-12-04T15:05:31.000Z,709,anon281534083,anon1061021150,"The SEVA Foundation http://www.seva.org has been working to save eyesight in Nepal for many years.  SEVA was co-founded by Dr. Larry Brilliant, who co-founded The WELL.  I don't know if they work directly with Dr. Ruit, but it would not surprise me. From the SEVA website, ""Since 1978, Seva has worked with partners in Nepal to develop a network of eye care providers and services. Seva Nepal, a local Seva Foundation office, supports continuing medical education, professional training, and provides surgical equipment and supplies, all of which serve to increase the quality of patient care.  All aspects of Seva Nepal’s programs serve to build the capacity of local hospitals to deliver high quality, sustainable eye care. By equipanon3606750899g our partners with the tools they need to provide quality, efficient services, Seva builds locally-run eye care programs that are self-sustaining within 5-10 years of establishment."" " 5,24126,2017-02-16T20:12:11.000Z,709,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"FYI this is a finalist project at 100andChange Well spotted @anon Here are all the 8 finalists. " 1,699,2016-06-28T16:20:00.000Z,699,anon4000965159,anon4000965159,"After a very long research phase me and my team from Newcomer now have conceptualized a smartphone-app, which familiarizes not only refugees but any newcomers with their environment. Our team is working in the Hacking Utopia project at UDK (University of Arts) in Berlin. We are two product designers and two communication students. Main target group are refugees why we mostly talked to young men from syria. Of course they are facing a lot of problems and some are probably more serious tha the one we are trying to solve. We found out that -waiting for german bureaucracy to give them the needed papers and learning german- a lot of them feel lost in their new environment. Although our focus is on refugees Newcomer is for everyone, who is new in the city. Our App combines different types of challenges in a city-rally taking place in Berlin. They make them explore the town and talk to people. So for exapmple it asks them to take a photo of something, that reminds them of their origin. Also we are inviting Institutions like Bars, Cafés and Eventspaces be a part of our project. So for example we lead a participant to a café and ask him to drink a coffee with someone. Both drinks are half priced so they get in contact by using this discound. With a growing community different app-users could match and meet to solve tasks together and have a nice experience. So our app definitely is no tourist guide. It is more like a motivation-tool to go out and socialize. In two weeks we are starting a crouwdfunding-campaign on start next. Until then we clarify our concept and test it with people. If you have questions or suggestions please feel free to comment. Milan/Newcomer " 2,9052,2016-06-30T11:13:41.000Z,699,anon1526983854,anon4000965159,"Not bad! Very simple idea... it could actually work!  I don't understand the ""city-rally"" part, though. Is it gamified?  Have you sounded the idea out with bars and cafés yet?  " 3,16457,2016-07-04T14:30:50.000Z,699,anon4000965159,anon4000965159,"Thanks @anon " 4,20130,2016-07-13T09:13:57.000Z,699,anon2223306613,anon4000965159,"Interesting and not that hard to hit target Hi! I really like your idea and I think it can work out very well. From what you presented and how funny it seems, I think people can easily take it as an adventure call and that’s nice. But I think you should pay attention so that the purpose of your project is understood: the fact that it’s referring to refugees groups. For example, is the app going to be in German? Or what other languages? Refugees might have difficulties learning German (and not only refugees, newcomers too)… How is the project evolving, by the way? :D " 5,23928,2017-02-13T09:14:50.000Z,699,anon2570532606,anon4000965159,"similar app in sweden (prototype) heyhey, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLGTsUj9jOc&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=AmandaPousetteW some similarities, no? I think the app doesnt really exist yet. but I think I could put you in touch with the person behind it all, Amanda...?! best, anon2570532606 " 6,24959,2017-02-13T11:48:04.000Z,23928,anon70625510,anon2570532606,"Opens with Robyn sample :) Hi Felix. Amanda's video was a bit slow and I didn't get how the app would work?  I think one some of challenges included are the cost of producing content as well as community management. @anon " 7,25390,2017-02-13T12:42:15.000Z,24959,anon2570532606,anon70625510,"thx! for the seeings, will forward to amanda!! ps: I am slightly confused abt the subject linke of your msg though...?! " 8,26021,2017-02-13T14:56:17.000Z,699,anon2570532606,anon4000965159,"thx! also slightly confused about how to delete my own comment :) (this one itself) " 1,758,2016-09-20T15:57:34.000Z,758,anon3895445472,anon3895445472,"What if we could create a network of independent, highly connected, care homes? They would be innovative, fairly priced and an integral part of their local community. They would be great places to work, and run for the benefit of all, not to maximize profit or subject to the whims of governments. That’s our dream.  A bit of background: The care industry in the UK is in crisis (the BBC recently called it the problem no one can fix).  It is a familiar story.  The demand for care is growing rapidly due mainly to an ageing population, with increasingly complex conditions, a breaking down of traditional community-provided care, and higher expectations amongst the elderly. At the same time, the ability of government-funded institutions to meet those needs is diminishing. They lack the resources, the responsiveness and the political will to deal with the population’s increasingly complex care needs. At the same, escalating asset prices are putting pressure on traditional providers, and attracting hedge funds and private equity looking for the ""growth opportunities”.  The result is that many care home are being run as a businesses more than as a service, meaning that profit and shareholder value is prioritised over the needs and well-being of residents or staff. Caring for Life is a diverse team has come together to seek a better solution. We are inspired by:
    • open source communities, that harness collective intelligence to find new solutions to old problems;
    • networked organisations, notably Buurtzorg, the community care provider in the Netherlands, that combine the benefits of being small with the benefits of being part of something large.
    • traditional community-based approaches to care-giving that are human-centred and sustainable.
    We intend to will achieve this in particular by taking over existing care home businesses and creating, one-by-one, a network of homes modelling the type of care we want to see.  Once we have established a small number of our own homes, we will reach out to other like-minded operators to create a broader community of homes around the UK. A key operating principle will be to involve all ""stakeholders"".  Buurtzorg (mentioned above) has an excellent model, illustrating the various levels of involvement, and whilst this is primarily looking at home care as opposed to care homes, it is a useful way of viewing the bigger picture. Care home residents come into care with social networks, habits, routines and pastimes, which are normally stripped away on entering care. As far as possible these should be maintained because these are part of the person's ""support system"". Involving the family and friends as well as the wider community will, whilst it may add to the complexity, lighten the burden of care and increase quality of life for all affected. Legal structure:  Our intention is to separate out the capital assets from the business of caring. The precise legal structure remains to be worked out but may be similar to a so-called community land trust (see http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/what-is-a-clt/about-clts) where one organisation (maanon1932026148 a charity) owns the freehold of the land and a social enterprise runs the care home.  There would be some element of employee ownership, which has been shown in many businesses to encourage higher than average levels of productivity and profitability. Getting started:  Our intent is to start by acquiring control of one care home.  In order to keep capital needs as low as possible in the early stages, the intention is to lease premises on a long-term lease rather than buying a home. An opportunity has been identified near the south coast of England and conversations have started with the owners.  This is an interesting opportunity, in particular because there is an chance to acquire the property and business for a low price.  The home is currently subject to ""special measures”, imposed by the Care Quality Commission. " 2,8093,2016-09-23T11:22:33.000Z,758,anon1526983854,anon3895445472,"Separate assets from activities This sounds very sensible. I am curious about the separation of assets from care activities. Could you say more about why you think that's necessary? " 3,15711,2016-09-27T20:52:59.000Z,758,anon3895445472,anon3895445472,"Separating assets from activities We have a particular problem in the UK, which is rising asset prices and particularly land and building prices. This is partly because we are a small crowded island and could do with more houses but it is also because we have an excess of money, and it tends to accumulate in the hands of a minority. In care, the result is that individuals and even the state find it increasingly hard to acquire care homes and they attract private equity and hedge funds who treat staff as human ""resources"" and patients as ""consumers"" of health care services, squeezing the system to extract wealth. This is, arguably, an extreme way of presenting the situation (after all, even hedge funds have to employ managers, many of whom are very professional and caring). However the fact is that having ""owners"" who have different drivers and values from the care-givers causes a tension that too often results in quality of care taking second place to ""delivery of health services"", which is quite a different thing. A useful parallel is the struggle many communities have to create affordable housing. An interesting and succesful innovation has been the community land trust, where land is acquired by or on behalf of the community and held in trust over the long term. They make the land available for affordable housing. Separating out the ownership of the land from the occupation of the land allows people who couldn't otherwise afford to occupy the land to come in and use it, subject to the conditions set down by the trust. We imagine a similar type of structure. To put it another way, using financial language, owning land has a different time horizon and a different risk profile  from owning a business. A care home that separates the two can attract different sorts of capital for the two different needs, and thus more closely match the interests of the investors with the interests of the stakeholders. That's the theory anyhow.   " 4,17506,2017-01-20T06:02:48.000Z,15711,anon1526983854,anon3895445472,"Reshuffling the cards Wow, @anon The way I understand it, managing real estate in an overheated real estate market like the UK's makes more money than producing care services. Hence the tension of these hedge funds that, as a result of being bottom-line oriented, focus on the buildings and not on the people.  The separation of assets from activities makes a ton of sense. I looked up community land trusts on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_land_trust), and I think I now understand how that might work. It seems to me there is an ""upstream"" problem: finding the money to take a valuable piece of real estate off the market forever, damn the capital gain. I don't see how this can be completely solved. The advantage of the CLT model is that you only have to do that ONCE. Once you have done it, the land is secure (except if the CLT goes bust, but I imagine CLTs are supposed to be very risk-averse). Am I getting this right? CLTs might be of interest to @anon " 5,18437,2017-01-23T21:35:46.000Z,17506,anon3895445472,anon1526983854,"yes, you're right Alberto yes, you have understood it well Alberto. Taking land out of private ownership into community ownership is a challenge. In Scotland there is some governent support for this (inspired by the population of the island of Eigg, who bought the whole island from the owner). In time I hope the UK government will become equally enlightened.  " 6,20540,2017-01-19T14:51:57.000Z,758,anon1491650132,anon3895445472,"Independent care home? @anon What do you mean by independent care homes? From the very little I know about the UK care system, many times services are provided by both NHS and affiliated trust foundations whose status is formally semi-autonomous. Also, many times services are signposted to third sector/ independent organisations, which makes me wonder if you see your new organisation working in similar partnerships? Do  you want to be independent in status or also in your practice - meaning little or no collaboration with the existing system as it is now? I'm curious about the positioning, and it can also be relevant for our research. Also anon3606750899g @anon " 7,24250,2017-01-23T21:40:13.000Z,758,anon3895445472,anon3895445472,"Inter-dependent care homes! Hi Noemi, in response  to your post, I would say we want to be inter- dependent,  not independent!    I guess I wrote the original post in rather a hurry, in response to the Open&Change  call, so  it probably didn't get it quite right.   I see our project as forging some third way between state or charity  ownership on the one hand, and private for-profit ownership on the other.  it anyway will succeed is to partner up with caregivers, doctors groups, and other independent care homes.  I envisage a movement of care homes,  highly networked,  helanon3606750899g and supporting each other and yet deeply rooted in their own community. It is a big vision and so we are  starting slowly :-) " 8,25112,2017-01-24T09:29:12.000Z,24250,anon1491650132,anon3895445472,"Autonomous, but connected I see, it's almost like they could be the care home version of the Reef! You probably need one great test case and then others in the current system can learn and be modelled on it.  Very excited about this, keep close..   " 9,26047,2017-01-31T15:23:19.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Care Home structure Definitely suggest a test case and liaising with local CGCs / councils... The sector is very heavily regulated by CQC (Care Quality Commission), and the mandatory requirements are quite intense in terms of staff training & numbers, facilities, type of care offered, activities, care planning, health & safety (including prevention of infection - limiting doing ""funky"" things with premises, unless one works really hard), etc. The idea of making endless profits by shoving people in a care home and doing nothing for them is a myth, as is the idea of private equity jumanon3606750899g in to the sector to clean up... (Look at the spate of the disposals and failures in the sector.) Trust me, as someone with knowledge and experience in the sector, there are a LOT easier ways to make money, especially by pure property plays. WHY would a new corporate go in to such a demanding area, unless they had experience or size advantages / consolidation to bring to it? Not sure how you'd bring in clients; if council funded, you'd definitely need to comply with regulations, equally if private you'd need to comply and attract customers. (Remember the market is competitive and low return, and council-funded clients will barely cover your minimum staffing and food costs.) Perhaps voluntarily attending such an entity would work? Yes - to the idea of intergenerational interaction and care, yes to more community involvement and interaction for residents; but also yes to actually researching the practicalities involved... Have seen good examples of ""care villages"" elsewhere, especially designed to deal with dementia and Alzheimer's cases - shops but no money needed, good levels of interaction, residents free to roam and be independent with staff around to monitor and care but not impose... Such things sound excellent, as do the existing experiments elsewhere with intergenerational care (e.g. students living in care premises and assisting, in return for free accomodation). There is a lot of knowledge and experience we are losing or wasting with our youth-orientated / advertising and spending power-focused society. (I'd suggest looking up CQC documentation - available online, together with detailed requirements for various levels of care e.g. residential without nursing, residential with nursing, dementia care, etc.) " 10,26959,2017-01-31T17:46:00.000Z,26047,anon1491650132,anon2488245166,"Good reality check! Hi @anon2488245166 and welcome to edgeryders and thanks for jumanon3606750899g in! I think @anon So if you're a corporate actor and play by the wrong incentives the market is looking up, but if you're driven by wanting to improve care there's only so far you can go in a competitive system? This is quite a straightforward way of putting it, but this is what I understand from your comment. What is your preffered setup then, from those successful ""care villages"" you mention? Social enterprising of sorts? Relying heavily on community goodwill and basically volunteerism?  " 11,27642,2017-02-01T15:11:58.000Z,26047,anon3895445472,anon2488245166,"First do no harm... Thanks Zazie, I appreciate your note of caution. I have heard this from others I have spoken to, and am not about to leap into something blindly. On the other hand, it is clear that a radical shake up will be needed over the coming years so thinking creatively will be desperatley needed. This may include, among other thnigs, challenging the way the CQC thinks and operates. At the moment, we are proceeding slowly and cautiously. I think the principle of ""First do no harm"" applies - we are not about to go out and buy a load of care homes and think we can instantly transform them. We are working with people in the field and looking for existing homes with open-minded owners  we can work with. If you want to stay informed, let me know your email address and I can add you onto our list. It sounds like you could add a lot of useful knowledge and experience so I may well want to get in touch at some stage and tap into that. Would that be OK? " 12,27817,2017-02-01T09:00:09.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Alternatives in care for the elderly Hi! (Just as background - have been handling compliance / regulatory issues in a small institution for a while now, in the UK.) Hopefully, we will see more innovative ways of care develop, especially with the idea of co-living / caring, that can benefit both parties, not just be an act of charity or goodwill / volunteering... The UK Government (and others) are looking at the issue as a major priority, given our aging population as the baby boom generation feed through and medical advances mean longer lives... Meeting the cost is a big debate here, especially in a time of ""austerity"" and widescale removal of central government funding. There is good reason for the regulatory framework, but the overhead for both parties (regulatory body and care institution) has become increasingly high and ever-changing, as with many top-down bureaucratic systems. (In the UK the body has gone through some changes after criticism regarding its efficacy , but it was formed from good intentions to stop care providers simply taking the money and ""housing"" the elderly or needy. There have been issues with maltreatment, theft, poor care, etc., just as there has in other social care areas, so some standards need to be set and monitoring carried out by a third party. Part of the issue is funding. Larger premises or chains do lead to economies of scale and can help with staffing (whereas a single, small institution may need to resort to agency staff on occasion - which can be very expensive). The other side of this is that large operators can seem to get away with things that a small or single premises operator would not, simply as to rebuke them or suspend their activities would result in chaos for service users, never mind the relationships that develop with a large care provider and a local council or clinical commissioning group. (I've seen examples of large corporates who provide home care services being inspected and noises being made by staff who complain they are not alloted time to travel between appointments, etc., yet nothing seems to be done, despite the obvious failings. I suspect some in Government aren't in a position or of a mind to focus on the service users at the moment, but rather see some dubious measures as essential cost-cutting / profit maximisation on the part of the corporate body. Another point to bear in mind is the connections between certain politicians, financiers, and industry - as with many sectors!) What I have seen from my exposure to a small institution is caring staff who are doing a good job and have good, close relationships with their service users. However, they are often distracted or overwhelmed by an ever-changing regulatory framework, as happens in other sectors such as teaching. Ultimately I would like to see the funding from lcoal councils topped up by central government, and this be accepted as the only way to provide decent care. More flexibility from the regulatory body would also help - allowing for more differences in care provision, especially in smaller, more intimate homes; as I've mentioned this does seem to be unlikely given the current standardised, bureaucratic, regulation and inspection by checklist... (Equally mixed communities and inter-generational interaction would help, but this is increasingly rare. Housing seems to be led by developers keen to focus on young families who have income to buy new-builds on new estates, and marketing focuses on the younger age groups that go our and spend their disposable income, hence society focuses around such people. What would help is a societal background that valued the more elderly or mature, for their experience, wisdom and human stories.) Perhaps a graduated move towards care premises would be good, whereby a suitable one could be found in the local community and the potential resident spends some time there to build connections and tie them to existing links in the community outside, rather than that person going through an instant switch involving the sale of their own house and them being suddenly moved in to a care premises. Ideally, children and other family would be near enough to visit and spend time there too, but again we need societal change in this area. We seem to be more keen on housing our elderly relatives in care homes in the UK than say, South East Asia or Southern Europe. More interaction should be encouraged. (I've seen some families who barely see their parents once they've been moved in to a care home!) I do feel interaction with local community institutions would also help - retaining an existing GP, interacting with local schools and even nurseries, community gardens, parks and the like - though obviously this would depend on the mental and physical fitness of the person concerned. Fundamentally we still see care homes as a last resort, rather than a good place to be, and a large part of that is due to the lack of community interaction. I see some sheltered or assisted housing, where there are good communal facilities and assistance available if needed, but the person is otherwise living in their own flat or rooms... Such premises could be combined with a more typical care home, so there is a mix of people within the institution, though this could present issues handling medical needs. Sizes of residential housing is also an issue. Many people now buy new-build houses with small rooms and little extra space compared to older homes, hence there isn't always the capacity to bring in an elderly relative. Again this comes back to the issue of housebuilding, supply and demand, selling off of social housing, developers maximising profits by building small homes on greenfield sites whilst ignoring the many brownfield sites or old, disused homes that could be brought up to standard... Nothing in this world is disconnected! :-) To return to the main points - I do think small care institutions can bring advantages, good personal care and rewarding relationships, but we do need to look at funding in this country. We also need to look at how we consider and treat the elderly in this country. These are big issues, but it is a matter of priority. I don't wish to turn this in to a political comment, but the current thinking seems to be aimed at small government, austerity and cutting services and council funding. Sooner or later we will have to accept more taxes if we want good social services. I do like the ideas initially expressed at the top of this thread, but it would seem to get these accepted and off-the-ground one would have to push for acceptance from the council, government or regulatory body concerned. I am sure there would be interest in alternative care provision, given the struggles in the sector at the moment, and I'm sure families of those needing care would be interested in such alternatives too. " 13,28467,2017-02-01T10:35:59.000Z,27817,anon1526983854,anon2488245166,"Very helpful Wow, @anon2488245166 , thanks a lot – this is really interesting stuff. Ping @anon " 14,28735,2017-02-03T15:48:07.000Z,28467,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Inspiring read Thanks for the headsup @anon I have a question. There are some practical examples of other possible ways (like the cohousing of elderly and students) that were succesful. How do these lessons find the ears of policy makers? If they do, how often does it get incorporated in policy? It is often the ambition of projects to serve as an example for others to be inspired. Do we need to move up a level; is the example a government needs, one of another government trying a new way of governing, rather than an example of people doing something differently (eg. elderly care). The latter would be 'just a policy decision', the former would be 'the way in which policy decisions are made' and perhaps more relatable to a government? " 15,28831,2017-02-03T18:55:13.000Z,28735,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Deeper than you'd think @anon " 16,28870,2017-02-04T21:19:25.000Z,28831,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Thanks @anon What are your thoughts on the subject? " 17,28889,2017-02-05T20:17:43.000Z,28870,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Difficult... The question is so great because it made me realize I do not know. Not really. I have been to many a conference where high-ranking civil servants are exposed to the trends and buzzes of the month. But does this information really trickle down to a City Hall's office?  Maanon1932026148 @anon " 18,29077,2017-02-03T22:30:45.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Care Homes - The Bottom Line For those in the UK, this programme was excellent! (A VPN may help those elsewhere...) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08c2mlk Shows how tight things are in the sector, and the difficulty of engaging with CCGs, local authorities, healthcare trusts in all their public / private permutations, budgets, etc. The issue of addressing bed-blocking, specifically elderly patients in expensive hospital beds not being able to be released due to cuts in necessary social care provision (e.g. home visits to check on the former patient, giving medication, or even just checking the patient has all they need in terms of feeding and other basic care essentials) is mentioned, along with the practical difficulty of addressing it using the common-sense idea of utilising much cheaper spare capacity in care homes. Another issue mentioned is the fact that people are often going in to care homes later in life, and when they need more care. (It's mentioned that residents used to arrive driving themselves to a residential care home!) It does seem the last resort now, with people hanging on as long as possible in their own homes, even if that means being on their own and struggling with shopanon3606750899g, cooking, etc.; less onus seems to be placed on the positives of being in a shared establishment with other people (company and activities, good facilties, cooking and cleaning taken care of, assistance on hand whenever needed, etc.) Is this reflective of our focus on youth and the ""invisibility"" of the elderly, our fear of aging and death nowadays, marketing, the cult of the self and independence, or somesuch? Programme description -: ""Care Homes - The care home business is heading for a crisis according to Evan Davis's guests in this edition of The Bottom Line. The cost of providing care in this labour-intensive business has increased significantly because of the introduction of the National Living Wage. The fees paid by local authorities on behalf of poorer residents no longer cover the cost of providing accommodation, food and staffing. Care homes make up the shortfall by charging higher fees to privately funded residents. Social care analyst William Laing tells Evan Davis that private payers subsidise publicly funded residents by, on average, £8000 per annum. But this is not an option in less affluent areas with a shortage of fee paying clients. John Ransford of the HC-One group provides care for mainly publicly funded residents. He tells Evan that 24 hour care for the elderly has to be provided for less than the cost of a night in a Travelodge. Evan's guests believe that the care sector's business model is unsustainable. Find out what they think will happen next. Dr. Jane Townson. Chief Executive Officer, Somerset Care Group John Ransford, Non-Executive Director, HC-One William Laing, Founder and a Director of Laing Buisson, Healthcare Intelligence Company""   " 19,29962,2017-02-03T22:59:31.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Cohousing @anon Again, I do think we need to start thinking about things in terms of the housing we are building. We can't just keep building homes for young families or ""trendy"" flats for young single people. We need to seriously consider social housing, mixed communities, purpose-built homes for the elderly, etc. Mixed housing should be mandatory for large-scale new build schemes, and not just a tiny number of ""affordable flats"" that the developer can negotiate to build in a completely different city (as is happening now in the UK!). Also social attitudes and culture need to move on; young people and families need to see a mixed community as an asset, that can bring wisdom and care for their own children within easy reach, rather than seeing it as something they wouldn't really be interested in. I'd listen to my previous post above on the actual issues of budgets, who pays for what when interacting with the powers-that-be, etc. What I can say from these initial cohousing projects is that they're a start, but don't yet seem to consider serious (legally covered) nursing care. (Are you aware of companies like McCarthy and Stone who build retirement homes, by the way? Perhaps schemes like that could be a way to progress the idea of cohousing and start people living together, with care facilities and good environments provided on top of their existing model.) (Final thought - have done some volunteer work in a day care centre for adults with learning difficulties before... Perhaps a similar model, with day facilities and night care facilities built separately, or being more intermingled than just nursing home residents gathered in their particular nursing homes 24/7, would be a good idea. Those who were more capable could use cooking facilities, make and create, etc. whilst in their ""day environment,"" and other age groups or people living in the local area could also come and use such facilities / interact / assist? Again, funding would be an issue, especially in our current environment of service cuts and the loss of community centres and other such facilities. However, in the long run, I do think such things could prove to save money by keeanon3606750899g people active and involved. (Been reading something else today on the fact that inadequate checks on the elderly costs the NHS £2bn per annum due to resultant falls! So even a weekly visit to a local centre, or some interaction / activity, could prevent such things and incorporate some very simple checks - asking how they are banon3760936673ce-wise, quick check on visual acuity...) Again - the major issue is the fact that we don't have joined up thinking, but increasing fragmentation in health and social care. Each individual element is asked to cut costs and reduce facilities, even if that results in massive costs elsewhere... I better stop at this point, or I'll get political again :-) Very happy to converse more on this area / subject of health, care for the elderly, cohousing, mixed housing, etc. @anon Have copied some links on cohousing in the post below...   " 20,30319,2017-02-04T21:03:45.000Z,29962,anon2954219769,anon2488245166,"The elements are in favour It seems to me the elements to change this up are in place: financial urgency, social urgency, large crowd of people, successful examples, ... It's interesting then to wonder what still needs to happen for a large scale shift. And who will lead it: citizens, government, private sector, ...? The potential is there and many (business or other) models are possible to tap into it. This calls for a catalyst I think: a party that is relatively uninvolved to help accelerate things in the right way, whatever that is, preferrably by facilitating implementation. " 21,30534,2017-02-05T20:09:47.000Z,29962,anon1526983854,anon2488245166,"File under ""prevention""? @anon2488245166 , co-housing for people that are not (yet) in need of personal, direct care makes sense to me. Because:
    1. It is prevention. Healthier, more connected lives make for fewer years in care homes. People who retain a degree of self-sufficiency might be able to stay at home longer is their home is social and intergenerational. Prevention has great ROI; but our health care systems spend almost all of their resources on response instead. My feeling is that, to reduce the costs of health care, you should start running and climbing clubs rather than hospital wards.
    2. It is something that communities can do very well. Comparative advantage kicks in: it makes more sense for smart communities to focus on the relatively health and help them stay healthy, and for professional, capital-intensive orgs to dealt with acute conditions and non-self sufficient individuals. 
    " 22,30613,2017-02-03T23:01:32.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Cohousing links     http://www.owch.org.uk/ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/16/co-housing-people-things-common-live-together-older-people https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/09/pollard-thomas-edwards-architecture-first-older-co-housing-scheme-owch-uk/   http://cohousing.org.uk/resource/introduction-senior-cohousing https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/senior-cohousing-communities-%E2%80%93-alternative-approach-uk http://www.which.co.uk/elderly-care/housing-options/property-downsizing/432093-cohousing http://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/Housing/HousingforOlderPeople/Cohousing/   " 23,31151,2017-02-05T14:29:57.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"The catalyst @anon Given the way things are going, perhaps we'll see this happening sooner rather than later; as you say there is a huge need out there! " 24,31537,2017-02-09T21:04:19.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"Co-housing @anon Definitely agree with the idea of addressing preventative measures as a priority - and across healthcare too. (Drives me mad that the public purse is spending billions on obesity, whilst big food corporates are profiting from cheap, sugary, snack sales...) The preventative works with mental health and capacity too - keeanon3606750899g active and interacting with others helps no end. There's been a lot of mention of finding new ways of addressing the issues with caring for the elderly in recent weeks, especially with the problems of capacity in A&E and more general hospital wards due to the lack of the necessary social care. Heard of a scheme in Wakefield the other day, where triage is used between various branches of care (hospital, local GP / nurses, local or community facilities such as care homes) which was proving very effective at managing need and ensuring ""efficient"" (for want of a better word) addressing of peoples' needs. (Some volunteer services, such as Help the Aged and the like were involved to help with transport and checking on a patient when they were ready to go home, rather than them waiting for ambulance services and staff from social care services to check on their immediate needs once back - but this did seem better than the individual concerned waiting unnecessarily in hospital, at huge cost.) Another benefit found was that building such local links ensured the elderly were ""monitored"" as in an eye was kept on their health and quality of life, and people could be referred to locally available facilities that they may not have been aware of or may have been reluctant to request or attend. Definitely think the time is ripe for new approaches, and also that a new willingness to try these is develoanon3606750899g on the part of CCGs, healthcare trusts and local councils. Hopefully this will extend to national government, and they will allow local solutions to develop from the ground up. They are doing so in other health sectors, so there is hope. The CQC - given its very specific mandate and structure - may be another issue! But we can but try!     " 25,31827,2017-02-12T20:30:15.000Z,758,anon2488245166,anon3895445472,"It's happening... https://news.derby.gov.uk/hospital-to-home-team-striving-for-a-healthier-and-happier-derby/ " 1,6119,2017-01-29T07:13:02.000Z,6119,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"We've considered organizing our Pop-Up Village within an existing event this year (we as Nadia, Noemi, me). After discussing it, the pros seemed obvious: less organizational hurdle and new opportunities to network for us, while we can bring on board a great event, strong community, our work, and resources. And we don't multiply similar events, I am now talking with Cohabitat (an event in Poland), and with SHA2017 - and we've got the news from the latter which make us question the logic of joining in. We were told that each person involved in SHA, as a participant, organizer, co-organizer, has to pay for their own ticket.  I do understand that independent event, which is not supported by funds, authorities and want to remain free from pressures and affiliations with uncomfortable partners, needs to charge a fee for participation. Yet, we have run our events very differently so far - counting on in-kind support, using community resources, and searching for affordable solutions, and crowdsourcing the organisation instead of charging high fees for the event. We also supported our community members with funds for travels when needed. The way we've done it has some downsides and will require regular rethinking, especially in a context of a Pop-Up Village which is to support initiaitves, but if an event charges so much for co-organisation, it seems more logical to keep on organizing our own - maanon1932026148 instead inviting other smaller events to join in, on more favourable conditions? " 2,7348,2017-02-06T13:17:39.000Z,6119,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"It's good that we're learning There is a lesson here for me, and that is - a brand and the hurdles of securing a venue cost, and we can't organise a traditionally free-of-charge event within one that sells tickets. Which is why any partner that we find running a larger event will need to understand the value of what we bring and bend *some rules*. Understandably, it needs more search. The faster way: LOTE already has somewhat of a brand attached, which means if we keep on with the focus on community and people working together, LOTE, even in a festival-more-than-conference format, will still not be your usual festival. " 3,15138,2017-02-11T10:35:10.000Z,6119,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Small LOTE pre-event within another larger one? This is something we cooked with @anon The alternative is a co-produced OpenCare Village pre-event, an Edgeryders + Partner collaboration for hands prototypes of health/ social care solutions, taking place at a major event. The magnitude for us is up to 5 care projects exhibited or demonstrated - from both our network and locally, and involving people from all over who want to contribute to the work. The budget is split between OpenCare funding which we have already secured for our main event (covers coordination, community management and exhibitors’ recruitment and preparations ahead) and co-funding from partners:
    • logistic support for prototypes + general conference hardware equipment
    • video documentation
    • team travels and accommodation for a week
    • catering/ mobile kitchen facilities and the likes
    • free access to the event for a number of people in our network, as we don’t charge for Edgeryders events. I have done some numbers for the pre-event only, and it should be around 35K in total, of which half falls on partner.
      " 1,701,2016-06-30T12:22:30.000Z,701,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"This is a story how a new initiative Soundsight Training promises help for blind and visually impaired gain more mobility and independence. The website for Soundsight Training is http://www.soundsight.ch   Develoanon3606750899g a technology that could sense and reconstruct reality for blind people can be one approach. But, a technology that enables blind and vision impaired to mediate their perception of their environment and interact with their surroundings is actually empowering then to be independent from aid devices. Many blind and partially sighted people of all ages are unable to lead independent lives because they are not getting the support they need. The needs of people who lose their sight are many and varied and the support provided must be personalized if it is to meet individual needs. Teaching the blind to see with hearing using echolocation would be a way to make the largest impact, beyond the use of sight.  The benefits of acquiring this skill changes the way you interact with your surroundings on a daily basis. It decreases limitations and opens the door to new opportunities. The Journey begins Irene Lanza, Management Engineer, CEO of SoundSight Training, knows it’s possible. Irene came in contact with the Scimpulse Foundation while participating in the Challenge Based Innovation program of Ides2quare at CERN in Geneva. The challenge was to design something that enabled blind people to perceive the surrounding environment. It was then the idea was planted.  Many opted for a mobile device approach, something else called the attention of Irene. Teaching the blind to echolocate themselves? Through this experience, Irene had the opportunity to interact with the visually impaired. Through working with mothers of blind children and getting to hear their stories, setbacks and concerns the more Irene wanted to do something to support and empower them. Guidance of blind and visually impaired people is a clear unmet need. However, most blind and visually impaired people want to go out and enjoy independent mobility. The environment in which we live is becoming increasingly complex. Even a journey across a city  requires a range of skills including being able to avoid obstacles on the pavement, to walk in the right direction, play a sport and the list goes on. These tasks may seem trivial, but for someone with a vision impairment, this is a challenge and a skill that needs to be learned. SoundSight enables the development of a hearing talent that compensates for the missing eyesight. See With Sound   SoundSight Training was developed to enable the blind to see with sound. Together, with Henrik Kjeldsen and Dr. Marco Manca the first prototype of an echolocation training system, was created.  It’s a virtual reality environment based on audio. The training is completed with practice in the real world until the student becomes fully independent from the simulation. Further explanation of how can be found here. SoundSight attracted the attention of the Italian government and a number of organisations and advocates that offered its support.  Among them were, Cecilia Camellini, Champion Paralympic Swimmer. When asked what she thought of SoundSight, “with training and effort athletes can improve performance.”   Experience the world more independently SoundSight Training is a sanon3606750899off of the Let Me See Project, the first from the ScimPulse Foundation  I.M.mortal research program. It was a 3 year journey that started from a workshop and now partners with governmental organizations to impulse the idea forward beyond the prototype stage. Now it has its own heartbeat. SoundSight Training designed to helanon3606750899g people explore the world more independently. “This software has the potential to enrich the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired. Everyone can learn this skill, it’s accessible to everyone and when we design for greater accessibility, everyone benefits.” says Irene Lanza.    Improving performance, challenging yourself, to overcome limitations, all of this effects humanity’s growth, expansion and well-being. The challenges for the visually impaired are enormous, so immense are the ramifications for those now living without sight, and so exciting is the initiative on the horizon. For more information about SoundSight initiative, please visit www.soundsight.ch " 2,7466,2016-07-12T09:10:06.000Z,701,anon2223306613,anon3708118144,"About the article and the idea... The article contains a few phrases I really liked and I would like to express my delight about them. I think of the “Can other senses compensate for sight deficiency?” problem which is asked at the beginning. Also, I think of the “a technology that enables blind and vision impaired to mediate their perception of their environment and interact with their surroundings” thing. This is such a nice, simple and healthy way of talking about the project and building it. I checked the website too and I liked the fact that it says a lot about the project and what's coming next. I would really like this to extend and I hope to hear more about this in the near future. Thanks for sharing!  " 3,14655,2016-07-12T14:30:40.000Z,701,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"I remember the kickstarter campaign @anon Have you guys managed to move beyond prototyanon3606750899g? Are results coming along nicely..? " 4,20231,2016-08-29T09:41:52.000Z,701,anon1089184890,anon3708118144,"Comparison with other tecnologies Lovely idea Maria, if someone was about to give some guidace to one who was about to become blind. How would this project put itself among many other possible technologies: Second sight artifical eye implant, a system telling what you see in front (cant remember the link) etc? Is there an objectiv comparitive review somewhere? " 5,23605,2017-02-07T08:41:06.000Z,701,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"follow-up Thank you for the comments regarding SoundSight. @anon Yes, there is a lot of work and research being done to find ways to improve life for partially-sighted and blind people. This software transforms lives for the better and will be available for everyone.  It’s a great step in improving the human race's understanding of its own vast and incomprehensible capabilities. There will a follow-up and we will share on the developments.       " 6,24829,2017-02-06T12:47:35.000Z,23605,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"Co-creation Will be looking forward to updates @anon Is there a business model behind, how will production costs be covered so that more people can acquire Soundsight  (or buy?)? " 7,26022,2017-02-07T09:03:38.000Z,701,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Co-creation @anon " 1,6132,2017-02-06T09:42:58.000Z,6132,anon70625510,anon70625510," On October 19-21, 2017, Edgeryders will open the doors to the OpenCare Village (OpenVillage) - A participant-built festival dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions.  This gathering offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for participants to meet, learn and shape the future with peers doing inspiring work around the globe:
    • Participate in community care-related talks, debates, workshops & business development
    • Explore new technologies, methodologies & collaboration opportunities in community care
    • Join a new opportunity to purchase community property for affordable living & working
    • Discover innovative new products and services in the exhibition.
    Who is it for? OpenCare project protagonists, Caregivers & recipients, researchers, local entrepreneurs, administrations, funders & ethical investors How to get a ticket: Tickets are available to people who contribute to making the festival a high quality, generative and rewarding experience. To secure a ticket you follow a simple registration process here. 

    Program 

    Similar to previous community events we're organising the conference and exhibition around tracks which represent different perspectives and angles by which to understand and build upon the overall concept of OpenCare ( more info here).
    • MEET THE OPENCARERS: We present findings from OpenCare a  2 year massive research project on community-driven health and social care. You will meet and learn from the leaders of promising projects in the existing OpenCare ecosystem such as [three examples here]. More info here
    • COMMUNITY PROPERTY.  OpenCare revealed the aspiration to a more communal living, where taking care of each other is easier and more affordable. How do we acquire and manage collective property for permanent affordable living and working? We will discover and learn from cases of existing financial, legal and governance models. More info here
    • THE FUTURE OF CARE: A POLICY AND INVESTMENT LAB. How do we make it attractive to finance community care ecosystems and what enabling infrastructures already exist that we can learn from? Implications for participants, investors and policy makers. More info here.
    The OpenCare Village will be a showcase of inspiring initiatives and strive to draw support around them. We will deploy community support to barnraise around them before, during and after the event.  For more information:  Come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact Design for the Pop Up Village event?     @anon I hope we get to meet soon, you know with an initial team of edgeryders we are dreaming up and doing location scouting for an event this September, a festival exhibition to show what communities are designing or coming up with to better take care of each other. It will be a culmination of all these encounters we've been having with groups in Galway, Berlin, Athens, Thessaloniki, Paris, Brussels and others who are doing pretty edgy things in social care and healthcare. Preps for this event would involve designing the space so as to host prototypes, demos etc. Would you be interested to get involved as an active contributor? We have a dedicated discussion group here, feel free to join!  " 3,16312,2017-01-26T21:48:00.000Z,807,anon1491650132,,"Learnings from the pre-unMonastery event? Reading all the latest posts from around Galway I realise almost everyone mentions the event at Cregg Castle from early December.. very curious what has come out of it? @anon " 1,562,2017-01-10T19:26:54.000Z,562,anon3760936673,anon3760936673,"Mary Ellen Copeland says about hope that – People who experience mental health difficulties can get well, stay well and go on to meet their life dreams and goals. I had a very happy childhood. I went to a rural all boys National School and was in a small class of 8 boys. My memories of that time are mostly of playing lots of sports and having the craic (Irish word for fun) with my fellow students. There was no bullying whatsoever, indeed bullying was something I didn’t know existed until I went to secondary school. This period in my life was the classic definition of Childhood Innocence. From my first year in secondary school I was quite successful academically. Even though I was quite happy at school I found the weekends and holidays from school difficult. I would never see my classmates at the weekends or at Christmas, Easter or summer holidays. This was the start of the first time I ever felt feelings of depression. It was before the time of email, or mobile phones or social media. These times were times of complete and utter isolation from my friends. In these dismal days I used to study hard, write melancholic poetry and just postpone my hapanon3606750899ess to when I would be finished my Leaving Cert (Irish exams) and be able to escape to a distant University. I did feel the presence of Hope. I felt I could suffer and suffer during those teenage years and that things would be better when I moved on to University. Where did my hope stem from? I was very academic and had dreams of becoming a mathematician or a poet or a political activist. I fantasised about being as prolific and brilliant as Yeats or Da Vinci. When I was awarded a place in Engineering in Trinity I moved to Dublin. I was unhappy with my Engineering course and after a few weeks stopped attending and instead just led a party life, drinking for the first time. I started to feel very isolated and depressed but I didn’t tell my family or friends the true extent of my feelings. I recall writing very black poetry at this time and feeling a strong sense of failure.  At that end of term I formally withdrew from the Engineering course and returned to home in Galway. While I was in Dublin I met Deirdre who was studying the same course as me. From the first meeting we hit it off and developed a very strong platonic relationship. Even though we both would end up being diagnosed with the same bipolar label Deirdre and I never discussed mental health issues. We would go to pubs and gigs together and discuss music, poetry, philosophy and other topics. When I moved back to Galway we corresponded by snail mail, sending each other long handwritten letters and photocopies of poems and inspiring song lyrics. While we didn’t discuss depression or medication Deirdre and I both were able to express to each other how black our lives could feel. I guess you could say we held Hope for each other. That Christmas my health deteriorated and I acquired glandular fever. After a short hospital stay I returned home to suffer months of crippling fatigue. I have battled with severe fatigue ever since.  I was ill for most of that year and was idle until I won a place in Information Technology in the University in Galway. Even though I was living at home I was very happy to attend this course. I found this University more relaxed and got on very well with my classmates. For some reason I suffered a breakdown during my final term of my degree. I didn’t tell friends or family but had meetings with some of the lecturers to see could I postpone my final exams. I found my mind was racing and I felt I needed very little sleep. I also used alcohol to help me relax and unwind from the racing thoughts. Since my father was Bipolar my parents recognised these symptoms and persuaded me to see a G.P. to deal with them. After a short meeting with my family G.P. he recognised the classic symptoms of mania and set up an appointment to see a psychiatrist. That psychiatrist whom I saw for 13 years admitted me to hospital. I suffer from Bipolar 1, meaning I suffer very high highs or mania, and very suicidal lows. When I get my highs medication seems to have very little effect on me. Instead it is a case of spending months in the safe confines of a hospital until the mania subsides. When I have my lows I get very suicidal and on two separate admissions for depression I have had to resort to Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) to treat my severe depression. There is quite a lot of controversy over ECT. I believe that it is a useful treatment of last resort. When a patient is in hospital and has been suicidal and catatonic with depression for many weeks with various medications being tried to no avail then I think ECT should be considered. In the past 14 years since my first hospital admission I have had perhaps 4 or 5 admissions for mania and 2 or 3 for depression. Thankfully I have managed to avoid admission to hospital for the past 6 years except for six nights in summer last year. Many of us have lost loved ones to suicide. The loss is devastating. I lost my father and my friend Deirdre to suicide. My father had been diagnosed with Bipolar and suffered from the condition from middle-age. Looking back I can see the times he was manic or high, singing loudly on the half hour drive to school where he taught every day. I vividly remember during my teenage years his first admission to psychiatric hospital my Dad weeanon3606750899g with hapanon3606750899ess when he was released home on leave for a few days at Christmas. Dad snapped one day in school and that was the end of his teaching career. From that point on he had two overdose attempts. He had gone undiagnosed for the physical illness Haemochromatosis for many years and this aggravated his severe arthritis. My father was in severe pain. Unfortunately his Consultant gave him the news that his arthritis was so severe that he wouldn’t be able to have necessary hip or knee replacements. From that point on my father lost all hope and was just biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to carry out his plans. The last time my father left psychiatric hospital for leave before his suicide he had a conversation with his physiatrist with our family present. The psychiatrist was trying to ascertain the risk of self-harm for my father when on home leave. My father said he wouldn’t try an overdose again, not saying he wouldn’t try another method. The psychiatrist said “Maanon1932026148 it will be third time lucky Liam!” That statement for me sums up how detached some medical professionals can be, maanon1932026148 it is how they protect themselves. After my father’s suicide things are a blur. It was as if all the happy memories were pulverized. Childhood milestones, holidays, special occasions all faded away. My only remaining image of my father is him with a pained ashen face, his eyes saying I can’t go on. You try to recall happy memories but all you can focus on is the finality of what happened. When you are feeling bad it is not too difficult to let someone else know this, however when you have lost all hope and a torrent of negative thoughts is leading you to actively plan your demise then the real insidious nature of suicide rears its head and the last thing you will consider doing is letting someone know just how lost you feel. My friend Deirdre was very successful academically but struggled feeling the engineering course she was doing was cold and soulless. In correspondence back and over we discussed how banal many of the subjects were and did she really want to end up as an engineer instead of something with more soul like a musician or writer. Deirdre took a year out in 3rd year and worked with IBM. She did well with IBM and returned to Trinity to finish her engineering course and did very well graduating with a first class honours degree. After graduating Deirdre and I didn’t stay in contact as much. A bit like my father I remember seeing her visit me when I was in the intensive unit in a psychiatric hospital in Dublin. I could tell she found it very hard to see me so unwell and I felt she must have wondered was there a risk of her becoming so unwell. Even though Deirdre had seen me in hospital she still never would discuss with me her own mental health or her hopes or fears. After many months of being out of contact with Deirdre I tried to get in touch with her. There was no reply to her phone or email address. Thinking she might have changed jobs I did an internet search for her name. To my horror I came across a Memorial website to Deirdre. Phoning her parents they confirmed the tragic news. Her father told me the story of Deirdre’s last days. Deirdre has been suffering low mood and nothing anybody could do seemed to help. Worried for her safely her parents asked her to come home to Wexford to visit them, otherwise they would have to insist on visiting her in Dublin. That weekend they did everything to try to lift her mood, visiting family and friends and going to shops and restaurants. However Deirdre went back to Dublin. That Monday her mother phoned her at lunch time. Deirdre said she was going to lunch with work colleagues. However the truth was Deirdre had taken a huge overdose of medication that morning, months’ worth of medication she has stopped taking. When her boyfriend returned home that evening Deirdre was dead. You can’t do an autopsy into someone’s state of mind. Deidre had a great job, a steady boyfriend and had just bought a new apartment. Since my teenage years I have had swings from wildly optimistic grandiose hopes to rock bottom loss of all vestiges of hope. Suicidal ideation can prosper in the absence of hope. Luckily during many of the extreme lows I just try and go into hibernation mode, having a strong belief that if I just get through the oncoming weeks and months then things will have to improve. On one occasion for some reason I lost this faith in the future. This wasn’t any kind of impulsive plan or drunken depression. Instead I gradually began to see the future without me as a part of it. I got rid of all my books, got rid of all my CDs and records. I closed bank accounts, I cancelled mailing lists. I booked an appointment with Free Legal Aid with the intention of creating a will. I didn’t want to cause trouble so my plans revolved around how I could plan my demise with the minimum of pain or distress for my family and friends. I didn’t want my family to have to discover me or call emergency services. So, as I thought, logically, I should get into a body-bag beside the morgue in the hospital. I would be discovered by somebody used to dealing with corpses and it would be a short move into the morgue. I find it hard to think back and know how I escaped from these suicidal plans. There is somehow Hope to be found at rock bottom depths of depression. From that lowest point I resolved to get well and stay well and to throw everything at the problem. I took personal responsibility for my mental health difficulties. Instead of just relying on medication to work on its own I added other tools to the mix. I did a long course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This helped with the crippling anxiety and negative thoughts I suffered from. I began to get a lot more exercise into my life. I walk my dog every day and go to the gym regularly. I did the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) course a few times until it became a regular part of my life and a great tool to help me every day. Supports are very important. I have always had great support from my family and friends. However it can sometimes be very difficult to discuss some of these topics with family and friends and I worry about burning them out by talking about the same old issues over and over. This is why I joined a mutual support mental health group called GROW. I joined GROW in April 2013. My Cognitive Behavior Therapy nurse had recommended it and felt the structured approach to problem-solving would suit me. I have been a very regular attendee at meetings and have led the meetings a number of times. I also enjoyed attending the weekly coffee meetings and the regional conference. In GROW we believe in providing leadership by taking on even small responsibilities. I have a strong interest in Cinema so I took up the responsibility of organising a weekly cinema outing for GROW members. This was a great success and GROW members from all around the country were able to meet up to enjoy a regular night out. I was thrilled to be asked to present a leadership paper at the National Conference during my first year with GROW. My confidence in my abilities has increased and I gladly took on the role of Group Recorder when the position arose. Because of GROW I gained enough confidence to apply for a volunteering position with Age Action to teach IT to the over 55s. I was the facilitator of my weekly GROW group for over two years and we hold Hope for each other. Last year I took up the opportunity of attending a creative writing class freely given by Galway writer Rita Ann Higgins primarily for GROW members. Our members got the chance to have their poems and short stories published in a booklet and I enjoyed reciting two of my poems at the GROW National Conference in Galway. During the past few years I have also been involved with Advancing Recovery in Ireland (ARI). Service users like myself have been working with HSE staff, and we have been planning the introduction of Recovery Colleges, Peer Support worker positions and Consumer Panels. Soon after my initial diagnosis my psychiatrist encouraged me to get involved in mental health advocacy work. It would be 15 years later before I did this and found the benefits of it. Last year I completed 12 weeks of training with 4 hours per week work with the Irish Advocacy Network. I am now in the early stages of serving on one of these Consumer Panels as secretary, representing the views of service users in the Galway mental health area. I am a co-founder of Cosáin. A wellness centre based in the city. Cosáin supports people with mental health challenges in identifying and pursuing their own pathways to recovery. Cosáin is peer led by people with their own experience of mental health challenges and recovery. We work in groups offering: - Recovery education - Recovery through creativity - Peer support This month I completed 7 days of training to be a WRAP facilitator. WRAP is a symptom monitoring, crisis planning and self-help mental health recovery programme. It was first developed by Mary Ellen Copeland in the States and was further developed by a group of people who experience mental health difficulties. I would like to close by reflecting on an element of Recovery we define in GROW. The road to recovery is not always a smooth journey, even lately I have had very anxious thoughts which threaten to cause me to avoid or abandon enjoyable events I had planned to attend. However in GROW we say although “old irrational feelings may return from time to time” in Recovery “they do not change your thinking or behavior”. To paraphrase Mary Ellen Copeland I feel that I have gotten well, I can stay well and I have confidence that I can go on to meet my life dreams and goals. I have Hope. Thank you. " 2,7098,2017-01-11T21:10:08.000Z,562,anon477123739,anon3760936673,"Hi anon3760936673, Thank you so much for sharing your experience and your story with us. I found your words enlightening and moving. It's great to see that you feel comfortable and confident sharing with us, and that what you are doing with Cosain, GROW and these other areas are not only helanon3606750899g you with the day-to-day steps that are required, but are also helanon3606750899g to improve the lives of others around you in your community. Mental health has been an interesting topic on Edgeryders during OpenCare. We had/are having an discussion around MH and creativity here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/under-pressure-on-the-relationship-between-creativity-and-emotional this has also led to an interesting project: https://edgeryders.eu/en/the-shit-show-a-mental-health-awareness-campaign It seems to me that many people are experiencing some of the stresses and strains of MH issues (to varying degrees and levels) and that many of us are missing the knowledge or practice to be able to work through these problems. Perhaps your training and experience can help guide the community towards some practical steps to help with improving MH for all of us. " 3,14475,2017-01-12T11:23:14.000Z,562,anon1491650132,anon3760936673,"My question to you @anon3760936673, I'm very happy to meet you. I needed a few good hours to read and re-read your post. It's one of those things about life you can't pretend to understand unless you lived them out yourself. I will say that I am grateful for your openness and honesty.  What would your advice be for people who witness their acquaintances struggling with a mental disease? Or seeing instability with/ without a medical diagnosis and not knowing what to do to be somehow useful? Because mental illness manifested in everyday lives,  outside hospital premises goes unacknowledged to a too great extent by our communities (maanon1932026148 Ireland is more sensitive to this..), I imagine and even witnessed it once that the tendency is avoidance or not dealing  with it. If you're not a close friend or relative of someone fighting this, the simplest may be to walk away.. Which is a pity because you are part of the same community, and the more support is made available the better all our lives. At least this is on my mind right now. There must be some room between being  a patient and being an advocate or activist..    " 4,20042,2017-01-13T05:37:06.000Z,562,anon1526983854,anon3760936673,"Helanon3606750899g others to heal ourselves Hello @anon3760936673 , and welcome. Thanks for your candor. Question: Soon after my initial diagnosis my psychiatrist encouraged me to get involved in mental health advocacy work. is this normal? I mean, is this recommended to many people that are diagnosed with mental health conditions? Because if it is, this would make a fantastic pattern of what we call open care. What ""open"" is about, is that the separation between producers and consumers becomes blurred. In open source software, you help improving the software that you use instead of buying a commercial project. In mental health, you improve your own condition as a patient by becoming a healer yourself. This makes plenty of intuitive sense, and has the additional advantage that it has a very sustainable economic model.  " 5,24011,2017-01-20T08:30:17.000Z,562,anon1932026148,anon3760936673,"hi @anon3760936673 thank you so much for sharing your inspiring story and ideas I think your story reflect what I am trying to say with my traumatour: that to be really helpful we should break down the walls between professionals  patients/clients. Instead we should sit together and share what we know and feel and can do to get better and stay well - as fellow human beings. Holding on to hope together is so much easier dan trying to do that on your own... I hope to meet you someday to practice the talking done here :-) Stay safe, Ybe " 7,26965,2017-01-22T00:26:49.000Z,26059,anon3760936673,,"thanks Thanks Sharon for your encouraging words.   Hope to meet soon.   Alan. " 1,811,2017-01-21T02:55:36.000Z,811,anon2828635509,anon2828635509,"Povestea mea cu Edgeryders e simpla. Am participat acum ceva timp la un workshop si mi-a placut foarte mult. Dupa am incercat sa ma implic in diverse activitati pe aici, dar cu timpul am pierdut legatura.  Acum ca vreau sa revin si as vrea sa ajut magazinele online din Romania. De ce? Pentru ca lucrez in domeniu si cred ca as putea sa ofer informatii utile magazinelor online aflate la inceput de drum. Sau oricui vrea sa vanda ceva pe internet. Fie ca e ceva facut de el, fie ca e o afacere pe care vrea sa o puna pe picioare. Nu stiu exact de unde sa incep. Trebui sa fac eu un proiect? Este deja o comuntate de omuleti creativi pe aici, care locuiesc in Romania si vor sa intre in online cu produsele lor? Trebuie sa fac eu comunitatea asta?  De ce scriu in Romana? Cum ziceam, tinta e magazinele online din Romania. Dar as putea sa fac si in engleza toata treaba asta, in conditiile in care o sa fie oameni care nu stiu limba si vor ajutor sau sa se foloseasca de informatiile de pe aici.  ------ -------- Si daca nu ne stim. Eu sunt Lucian Rotaru. Mutat din Iasi in Bucuresti acum vreo 2-3 ani. Lucrez la TRUSTED.ro, unde am lansat in 2016 proiectul Oanon3606750899ii de Incredere (un sistem de feedback pentru magazinele online din Romania). Pe langa munca de zi cu zi, incerc sa mai voluntariez la ApTI (Asociatia Pentru Tehnologie si Internet), sa mai ajut la afacerea familiei. A.... si imi place sa pierd timpul pe reddit si pe Instagram.   " 2,8634,2017-01-21T12:44:13.000Z,811,anon1491650132,anon2828635509,"Bine ne reauzim Hei @anon " 1,762,2016-09-22T13:57:04.000Z,762,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"

    Where:

    Hungary

    When:

    2013   Who: Róbert Csordás, Gergely Joós, Tibor Szabó   About: MobilECG is an opensource clinical ECG. It is designed to record with 2 to 10 wires for up to 5 days. The device can be connected to a mobile device wirelessly.     " 2,8871,2017-01-20T12:41:25.000Z,762,anon2442420827,anon1743371374,"Looks amazing Looking forward to seeing details of the second generation. If I talk to potential investers I will direct to your site. If there was some blog activity it would be reassuring for investers. Real-life examples of the product being used for diagnosis would also be a plus. " 1,783,2016-10-07T10:08:46.000Z,783,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"A couple of years ago i participated to a contest called ‘5 voor 13’ that gave people the challenge to find through use of new technology solutions for healthcare problems. It was organized C-Mine Genk, an innovation laboratory in the old coalmines of the Flemish region of Limburg. I got selected as one of the finalist for my solution for a solution for the intergenerational gab, commonly known as the kids that don’t visit grandma anymore because she is to old… For my solution I started by looking at the obvious part: intergenerational contact is good for the health of the elderly and also good for the development of the kids on multiple levels. So what was missing is a tool that brought them together. I grew up in a rather unconventional setting for people of my generation and later (90s kids like the internet would say) My parents and i shared the house with an elderly woman that wasn’t my grandmother but the godmother of my dad. She was rather cultivated woman with brought knowledge about geography, literature and history. She helped me out on my schoolwork and we shared our interest in reading the news. When she started having difficulties to move out of the house, I helped her staying young by introducing her to the then new technology called DVD and PS2. We played bowling on the Wii and if she would have stayed around longer, I’m sure she would have used my tablet. In opposite to my grandmother who was visiting us every week, my ‘mémé’ stayed young in her head, and i think it was patly thanks to our dayle exchanges. She would learn me about history and i would learn her about technology.   So when designing my idea i took this story and tried to create the mechanisms that made it work and what was needed to scale up. I found that people where already implementing wii’s in elderly homes to give them exercise. While this is a good idea for them to exercise, the intergenerational part was still missing. So how could we create a game where kids needed to come to the elderly without them having the feeling it was a burden? Well you know those games on your phone where you need to do repetitive tasks to go up levels to beat new monsters, like 99% of all mechanics of Role Playing Games? Why not extrude those mechanics of training to the elderly. Give them exercises they can do all day to gain skill points. Arm movements will help the Atk stat for example, Banon3760936673ce will help Def stat and so on. The twist is that the kids playing the game will need to go physically to the elderly to get their little guy leveed up. Want to beat a new boss, but you miss some skillpoint, well go to one of the elderly homes where they play the game and go talk with them. Maanon1932026148 the first time the discussion will be pure mechanical, but when returning a bound will be created between the people and discussions will be about more then only the game. You have to see it as an incentive to bring people together. After presenting this project i finished third and got 500 euro’s to spend on material for the project. At that time i was even less into the entrepreneurs world and i failed to continue this project.  I still think there are some logics and mechanisms that could be interested to work out. Anybody that is willing to use this is free to do anything with it, as long as he gives me a sign about it. It would be awesome to prototype it. " 2,7467,2016-10-07T13:33:54.000Z,783,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Activism, social biz cargo bikes, intergenerational care.. ..what else have you been involved in over the years Yannick? :-) You're carrying quite a toolbox of projects. I see cowork spaces and hubs going for gaming nights targeted at youth, but it would look even better if they opened up the participants' age to include older people - maanon1932026148 less pc and console games and more board games? The latter tend to be more social quicklier. Will keep your thoughts in mind. " 3,14632,2016-10-07T14:09:29.000Z,783,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"A toolbox filled yes :) the reaction give me the idea to share it with some people that i know organize game jams. It could be an interesting theme for them. Will see what comes out.  It was after the discussion with Lotfi and Alkasem about the elderly that this project popped back in my mind. Not everything can be a success story, but at least can be shared to become a learning moment :) " 4,20567,2017-01-20T05:28:54.000Z,783,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Something there.... Interesting story, @anon I wonder if anyone has tried to design games where the gameplay itself favour intergenerational teams. Imagine a detective game where you'd need to be familiar with both youth-friendly and older generation-friendly cultural references. These can be quite badass: my mother's slightly older cousins, who lived through WW2 at the age of about 10, could tell the weapon from the sound of gunfire, or whether an aircraft was doing reconnaisance or likely to bomb their asses based on the engine's whine. I would have no idea ho to make it interesting to the young kids, though...  " 1,805,2017-01-04T19:12:10.000Z,805,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"Dandelion ""Pissenlit"" roots for cure cacer, Yes it's possible and without fees!!  There are many different types of cancer any people get killed by it. It's enough we have found the cure for many of them ( prostate, intestine, lungs ,...) Many people aboard have been heal by this roots when they heard about it, they stop using chimiotherapy ( chimiotherapy = traitement used for having a long day of living, is not enough efficient!!! The bad effect of this treatment is not his non efficiency but also killing the healthy cells, even if he kill the cancer cells inside body.!!! From this treatment there are some bad effect like, appetiteless, loss of weight, weakness of antibody, ...)  Actually, 7 people here in Madagascar have been heal by this treatment when they heard about it, and follow the instructions. It's  a close friend of mine who have been sick by ""liver and intestine"" cacer. He was up to follow chimiotherapy  treatment so I told him to follow this natural treatment  first before he decided to spend  money on chimiotherapy. When I heard about this plant from Caanon70625510n friend, we decided to use it.  He was so happy when he gets cured after 1 week  of treatment, when he decided to drink infusion from dandelion's root. Doctors doesn't find any clue of cancer on him. Maanon1932026148 the phase of his cacer was primary and it's was easy to cure. So my conscience is restless when I heard that there are many people who suffer, dead from cancer ""it's like non assistance of people in danger"". I decided to share it with you.  -THIS IS THE YOU NEED TO FOLLOW.  1# You need to collect dandelion on a place where cars doesn't barely ride. 2# non chemical insecticides or related haven't been sprayed on the soil where you collect it.  -PREPARATION  Boil 1 liter of top water, when it's still boiling, ad 100 grams of  dandelion roots.  Leave it boiling  for 10 minutes ( never more never less than 10mn. It's has been calculate that ""active elements"" goes out at this moment.  If it's more than that, it's will kill those active elements.  When it's done let it get cold. This is your ""drinking water for one day"" the better moment for drinking much is before breakfast and dinner, also drinkable in middle time. Do it for 20 days and stop for 10 days. Keep do it again from the beginning as a cycle of one month (20 plus 10 days.)  If everything has been followed step by step in one week, we can find the changes ; inside pain goes out,  patient will find appetite, this is the major factor of this treatment and it's make a big different between it and chimiotherapy.  If I understand and correct me if I'm wrong!! chimiotherapy kills cancerous cells but also healthy cells. Patient get weak, lost appetite and doesn't have no much time for living,  It's a kind of catalyst inside body.  But this dandelion's  roots hunt and kill all cancerous cells inside body.  After you recognize that patient is completely cured, all we have to do is care about wound healing leave by the cancer inside the body. We can keep doing it by natural method using garlic.  Take one glass of hot water,  scratch 3 or 4 peaces of garlic and put it inside the glass of hot water.  Leave it for one night and drink it before breakfast,  keep do it until its gone,  or you can still buy some medecines in drug store if you want to heal  wound leaved by cancer.  I hope that everyone can find a way to cure and fight cancer on his own natural or chimical. If you have any questions about this, any suggestions or critics please don't hesitate to write bellow  Dear friends Edgeryders, I wish an Happy and successful new year to each every one of you.:-)    " 2,6684,2017-01-09T14:50:47.000Z,805,anon1491650132,anon2668029998,"Are your friends researching Hi @anon I missed this story, thank you for sharing it. The only thing I knew about dandelion tea is that it reduces inflammation..  Is anyone of you or friends participating in actual research about this, or at least be under some medical/scientific supervision? I remember @anon " 3,14143,2017-01-10T11:43:52.000Z,805,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"Research on botanical, and biogas & ecological energy Hi @anon That's right, I have a former colleague a botanist for being exact when I was working in the raining forest on the East of Madagascar whose work with a Professor called Daniel RAMAMPIERIKA. They search and apply on plants and biogas & ecological energy since 2013. The advice on how dandelion's roots come from that former colleague. The advantage of this research is we still have pure primary forest and the good positive point is they're trying to preserve those forest by researching and working on biogas and ecological energy.  " 4,20554,2017-01-19T16:09:57.000Z,805,anon2442420827,anon2668029998,"wet-the-beds Hi @anon If dandelion roots were a ""cancer cure"" that would be great, but I don't think the claim is valid without links to clear research. If that research is ongoing that's excellent, I'm excited to hear more. " 1,549,2016-10-28T12:00:14.000Z,549,anon1088780966,anon1088780966,"Fifteen years ago, I wrote an academic paper on the incipient technology of digital advertising screens, the way they were likely to change our experience of urban living and the challenges they posed to our conceptions of self, privacy and the public realm. At the time, such technologies were the stuff of science fiction movies – part of the classic ‘Blade Runner’ aesthetic of cosmopolitan dystopia. Most people did not anticipate their widespread adoption, and certainly did not consider their subtle social implications; but for those who did, perhaps the most haunting fear about their probable dissemination was the certainty that the social and psychological changes they engendered would quickly become the new status quo, unnoticed and unquestioned. Passing through Kobenhavn airport this morning, a digital advertising screen promoted this month’s ‘Presidents Summit’ on the topic of ‘Disruption’: “Disruption will change your job. Disruption will change your company. Disruption will change the world. Join our world leading summit and learn how to lead the change and make sure you are one of tomorrow's frontrunners.” That the idea of ‘disruption’ has moved from the radical edge of digital culture and post-2008 political insurgency to the topic of a plenary meeting of senior executives – featuring speeches by Apple’s Steve Wozniak and arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage – shows the degree to which the concept has spread through society to become the ‘new normal’; a sign, perhaps, of just how much the pace of social, technological and economic change has increased since I fretted about the novel impact of moving images on the urban populace. But it also raises the question of how much of this disruption is anon2590712900y cosmetic – or, rather, how much the very genuine disruption of ordinary lives only serves to bolster the established iniquities of our current economic and political status quo. If disruption is anon2590712900y another business opportunity from the playbook of ‘creative destruction’ capitalism, if the elite response to it is simply to fight harder to be one of ‘tomorrow’s frontrunners’ (while those who can’t keep up must, presumably, be left behind), then perhaps this is anon2590712900y another case of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. If so, what would genuine disruption look like? Is it possible that it might look like the opposite of all this? That it might look like a rejection of these kinds of disruption? The stories emerging from the OpenCare initiative suggest that this may be the case. Again and again, the tales that emerge are of a less hierarchical, more empowering approach to health and care; of individualised, human-scale responses to unique instances of wider social problems; of a movement away from the paradigm that measures ‘efficiency’ of care in terms of speed, throughput or numbers discharged – measured, in short, on how fast the system can cease to be in relationship with the citizens who have sought aid. True disruption, then, might not look like the world-spanning, high-octane revolutions beloved of the senior executives. It might look like slowness; like quietness; like a return to engagement at the scale of the human being. It might just turn out that old is the new new. My own involvement with OpenCare stems from a very particular form of healthcare, based on something very old, small and quiet – the Community Multibed Acupuncture Clinic (CMAC). Community Acupuncture is a new version of an old format of providing a very old form of medicine – using traditional East Asian methods, it eschews the one-to-one treatments most common in the West, instead adapting the traditional Chinese model of treating multiple patients at once in the same room. This enables treatment to be offered more cheaply, as well as creating a shared space of communal healing, so that healthcare becomes a site of community empowerment. There are now over 170 such clinics in the US and more than 50 in the UK (you can read about their history and ethos on the websites of POCA and ACMAC). As I detailed in my original Opencare blog post, I have been slowly evolving a CMAC of my own to serve a small and somewhat dysfunctional market town in the South-West of the UK. Through this process, a number of tough lessons and intriguing insights have emerged, with broader implications for the innovative provision of care in contemporary European societies. I subtitled my initial post “An Ongoing Mutation” both in reference to the overall development of the approach in the West and to my own experience of develoanon3606750899g a clinic. This experience has been one of trial and error, of creative response to practical and bureaucratic challenges, and of constant adaptation to feedback from – and through ongoing relationship with – the community; as I learn more about their needs and perspective, I have changed the way I am treating, the way I interact with patients, the hours treatment is offered and the venue it is offered in. To ask, as a state bureaucrat convinced of the usefulness of CMACs might, “how can we replicate this so that we can roll it out across the country at an official level?” rather misses the point; it is precisely by being embedded in the community that this process of creative mutation can occur, and precisely by meeting patients outside the usual structures of state-sanctioned medical authority that a more horizontal trust and respect can be created, and a more creative approach to healthcare provision enacted. Like many of the other projects featured in OpenCare, the flexibility of Community Acupuncture – light on infrastructure, expensive medical equipment or architectural requirements, reliant instead on the portable diagnostic and treatment skills of the practitioner – makes it well-suited to navigating a disrupted present and an uncertain future. Quite aside from its effectiveness at treating unexplained and chronic conditions (the kind mainstream Western medicine does not excel at curing), having the ability to treat without reliance on fragile, resource-intensive and environmentally-damaging industrial supply chains may well prove to be a great asset in the near future. Indeed, the worth of this is already being proven through the work of charitable foundations like World Medicine, who have set up successful CMACs in poor, rural areas of India, Palestine, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Problems still remain, not least with the institutional resistance to acupuncture – often based on little more than ill-informed prejudice against ‘alternative’ medicine. There are clashes within the acupuncture community, as well, on how best to treat, and issues with providing quality-assurance and redress to patients whilst working outside the usual channels and institutions of healthcare. Nevertheless, the popularity and effectiveness of CMACs speak for themselves. All too often, the state-established institutions of care remain locked into a post-imperial perspective, treating the body, the patient or the polis as the passive subject of a homogenised, top-down intervention. It is a little like a digital advertising screen, broadcasting a single, one-way message to a public who have no choice but to receive it. Just like a digital advertising screen, this kind of healthcare can seem cutting-edge, innovative and technologically impressive, but its values do not respect the uniqueness of individual or place, nor do they promote communal solidarity and empowerment. So long as this is the case, communities will continue to vote with their feet, seeking out new forms of adaptive Open Care that address their real mental, physical and social needs. *** I would love to see Community Acupuncture being integrated with some of the other projects and approaches detailed in OpenCare; to hear suggestions about how the CMAC model could be further improved and evolved; and, as ever, I am keen for people to educate themselves about acupuncture, to help fight against the misguided myths that have arisen about it, and to spread the word about this affordable, effective, environmentally-friendly and humane form of medicine! Steve Wheeler, Lic. Ac., MBAcC - steve@anon The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016." 2,8937,2016-11-02T11:30:40.000Z,549,anon1089184890,anon1088780966,"CPH @anon Id like to discuss Acupuncture more,  could it be integrated in a OpenCare - WeHandU approach? " 3,11802,2016-11-03T18:58:42.000Z,8937,anon1088780966,anon1089184890,"collaborative acupuncture Thanks, @anon Yes, I think there could be some very interesting cross-over with the WeHandU-type approach. Notwithstanding what I said in reply to @anon Indeed, the nature of Traditional East Asian Medicine is very collaborative already - patients can be given exercises to do, dietary changes, self-moxa kits, or herbal teas that all supplement and reinforce the acupuncture treatment, meaning that they are far more involved in their own journey back to wellness. One idea I had was to supplement the clinic with a once-a-week 'Moxa Club' where people could come and learn to safely use moxa on each other. Many more people could be treated simultaneously than is possible with just one acupuncturist; if partners, friends or family came together, they could then continue treatments at home; and the overall message - that people should be learning the skills to keep themselves healthy - would be inherent in the model. The BAcC is actually moving funding towards Proof-of-Concept studies for 2017; there might be some scope for creating a project that combined different aspects of Opencare in this sort of way. " 4,15894,2016-11-02T23:56:32.000Z,549,anon1526983854,anon1088780966,"What else is mutating? Hey @anon1088780966 – thanks for this. I went back to your original post: it does explain how you changed your pricing model to adapt it to the CMAC's community. But here you are saying you are also changing the business hours, and even the way you treat. Could you be more specific, especially on the subject of the way you treat?  " 5,17844,2016-11-03T18:46:52.000Z,15894,anon1088780966,anon1526983854,"changes Sure - the venue I was in had a lot of character, but also a steep staircase and difficulties in heating it sufficiently. Turns out there is a community centre on the other side of town that already has a lot of people passing through doing interesting community things. So I'm moving there for ease of access, easier parking and the synergies with other projects. I was doing the clinic during the day, but a lot of people had problems getting childcare or said they could not come because of their working hours, so I am thinking I will run it from the afternoon into the evening instead, to give people a chance to come along who otherwise couldn't. The other option would be Saturday morning, which would certainly get people in. There's also a good chance I will be combining forces with a western herbalism school, who will ahve student herbalists prescribing herbs under supervision in the same venue. How my treatments have changed is a little more subtle - one unexpected area is that I was previously attempting to be very 'collaborative' in my treatment style, not pushing people to commit to treatments unless they were self-motivated to do so, leaving it open for them to decide how deep they wanted to go with lifestyle changes etc. But it turns out that people actually want a bit more guidance / authority than that - perhaps this is just the legacy of hierarchical healthcare, that they feel more comfortable with a model that they are familiar with, or perhaps it is actually a greater part of being a therapist than I previously considered; that the nature of therapy is such that you need to have a degree of authority for the patient to productively assimilate the treatment. This obviously raises interesting questions about some of the 'horizontalist' projects featured in Opencare! " 6,18496,2016-11-03T22:29:46.000Z,17844,anon1491650132,anon1088780966,"Great insight from your treatment change experience. Talk about a slow revolution! It makes sense to me that we're hardwired to take univocal instructions more seriously, it shows that the doctor is not doubting his approach. Patient-doctor dynamics in healthcare is probably cultural too - we've heard stories from China where ambivalence or open endedness in medical consultations inspired fear more than confidence.      " 7,18779,2016-11-06T23:18:07.000Z,18496,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"Authority in health care I enjoyed reading your well written post @anon1088780966 ! I have a rich medical history and although I had a brief run in with acupuncture, I never really went for it. I'd still like try it out when the opportunity presents itself. It's an interesting remark on the authority of health practitioners @anon1088780966 and @anon I can complement this with my personal experience in the standard healthcare system in Belgium. For a little over 5 years I had a series of serious physical afflictions, which didn't ever seem to heal or resolve themselves and only got worse over the years. At the start I always left the clinic with a smile, which always disappeared in days, weeks or months as the situation deteriorated again. I experienced first hand that I was just a number, and that treating symptoms is faster and easier. Good thing for pharma companies, because endlessly treating symptoms sells more drugs. Finding the real cause takes longer, is harder and is more expensive, at least in the short term. I got pretty skeptical about the system by going from doctor to doctor and spending more time in physiotherapy than with my friends or family. Gradually I lost belief in the system. It was after I ultimately found the cause and cure (very simple ones at that) that whatever remained of my belief vanished. With that gone, there was no more common belief between me and the doctor, so the authority vanished. My language can't hide it: I found the solution, not a doctor or a system. For this specific illness, I will not lend authority very easily anymore either. I'm lucky, as I have a general idea of healthcare through my studies and know my body well by now, but this is clearly problematic for the general population when you hear similar stories with unhappy endings. Also interesting that (at least for me) a big part of the authority of the health practitioner is due to belief in the system, rather than a belief in the knowledge of the doctor (which I never really doubted). I think that might be a western thing, linked to what surfaced in the discussions with @anon2356835326 about differences in care with Syria: in the west we put our trust in and rely on systems rather than other people. In some other cultures, people probably put their belief mainly in a person, the doctor. Easier interactions through the internet, powerful search engines, a lot of people sharing experience and stories online, easy access to second oanon3606750899ions (in my country anyway)... Though they don't always provide correct information, these factors also lead people to challenge the authority in terms of knowledge of the practitioner in the classical doctor's office. I think both this challenging of knowledge and the failure of the system will inevitably lead to some fundamental changes in healthcare. Importantly, authority cannot simply disappear, the common belief has to shift to something else. Most stories of experimentation with new methods in the stories here on Edgeryders share some sort of community aspect. This illustrates a shift to lending authority to a collective rather than a system or a person. The collective can consist of patients, doctors or other caregivers and is likely a mixture ideally. In Syria the collective is mainly the family, according to Alkasem. Looking through this lens of authority is interesting and can be applied to many aspects of our daily lives. The matter is fresh in my head from a Dutch book I just finished reading, which I hope gets translated to English. If anyone is interested: the book builds on work by Hannah Arendt that you can certainly find :-) " 8,18817,2016-11-13T13:55:26.000Z,18779,anon1088780966,anon2954219769,"Separating authority from power Thanks for the comment, @anon Your distinction between authority and power is very useful. The point about different cultures reifying the system vs the person is also very relevant here - the problems around regulation and recognition of traditional acupuncture in the west can basically all be traced back to the original error of accepting the setting of the terms of debate around the technique 'acupuncture' rather than the practitioner. Indeed, I call myself an 'acupuncturist' because people are familiar with the term - but a doctor or physio who has done a few weekends training in the technique can also legitimately call themselves an acupuncturist. In reality, I am a 'traditional medicine practitioner' who uses a variety of techniques, including acupuncture. The main point of coming to me is for my knowledge of chinese medicine theory, my diagnostic skill and my years of training in using the needle [or cup, or hand] to effect change in the body. And there is an additional hurdle to overcome; I am using an unfamiliar medical paradigm and technique that people do not necessarily have trust in [at first] - and I am doing so outside of the usual recognised channels of 'medical authority'. So I have to simultaneously convince a patient of the soundness of the medical approach as a whole and of my own competence - when they may be used to thinking in terms of trust in the system and not the individual. This is why I was keen to have patients provide some of the impetus for engagement themselves - if they anon3003844599r in their trust of me or the medicine there is no institutional push for them to remain in treatment as there is in mainstream medicine. But evidently part of keeanon3606750899g them engaged is providing that sense of medical authority that they want. So now I'm thinking about how I can generate the kind of reassuring authority I need without falling into the established patterns of power relationships we are used to in the west. " 9,20101,2016-11-13T14:02:57.000Z,549,anon1088780966,anon1088780966,"Using vs creating community Just linking in @anon One thing it has brought into stark relief for me is the interplay between using Opencare projects to try to build community [as well as make people healthier], as is often the case with Community Acupuncture projects, and the sort of thing that is possible when strong bonds of solidarity [being poor, being Amish] already exist. Unfortunately, in much of Europe, it seems like many people have used rising living standards as a way of stepanon3606750899g out of engagement with community and society - and it is only when economic or other disasters strike that they are forced into connection with one another once more. The best way to deal with the uncertain futures ahead would be for people to start building those localised, horizontal connections beforehand - but the cynic in me suggests that they will always wait until necessity forces their hand. " 10,23866,2017-01-17T14:22:24.000Z,549,anon784612129,anon1088780966,"Not acupuncture but an interesting find about community https://youtu.be/3hwR6vQHiUY?t=1217 With an anthro perspective it turns out that the most important thing after a hear attack are your friends! " 11,26055,2017-01-19T12:40:31.000Z,549,anon1491650132,anon1088780966,"This story slowly contributed to changing my views I'm reminded of this take on medicine every time I read others acknowledging alternative therapies - somehow mediated by different values (human treatment, social medicine, flexibility, group therapy..): ""Success really came for me through trying alternative therapies such as bio energy, acupuncture and reiki."" @anon1088780966, meet @anon   " 2,8168,2016-10-11T05:41:35.000Z,789,anon1491650132,,"Anyone has experienced co-living with elderly? Hi @anon I only know of very sporadic activities that are intergenerational - and most happen around holidays: for example youth taking presents to care homes and spending time with their new grannies for a day or so. It seems to put a smile on people's faces, but of course its not substantial, as what you are talking about.  Curious if new (co)living models such as @anon " 3,15200,2016-10-11T12:04:00.000Z,789,anon1491650132,,"This is happening in the Netherlands. via the Internets So the lovely @anon It's really something: a project started in 2013 for a new elderly retirement home where students pushed back by unaffordable student housing can also live without paying rent, and in exchange volunteering 30 hrs of social activities per month. " 4,20476,2016-10-11T12:47:36.000Z,789,anon3088980631,,"Intergenerational Care Projects There are a number of interesting intergenerational care projects internationally - including: Present Perfect - USA & Fureai Kippu - Japan. The Deventer initiative is terrific. So, too, is the Hogeweyk community which involves young people living alongside people with dementia.  I understand there's an initiative in the US where older people are running their own care homes - if anyone comes across a URL leading to further information, please do share it.   " 5,24001,2016-10-11T20:37:38.000Z,789,anon2954219769,,"Reminds me of this Hey @anon In my home town we have a related story going on. The old movie theater  in the city centre, a beautiful building with a rich history and emotional meaning for a lot of people, was bought by project developers after bankruptcy. They plan to install service flats where elderly that are still okay can live in co-housing with people who need care, like other elderly or young people with a disability. Yet the whole project has a very commercial smell hanging around it. Do you meet similar stories, is there an impact on the sector? " 6,26052,2017-01-18T10:26:19.000Z,789,anon3708118144,,"Intergenerational care is necessary @anon This may also be of interest Connecting generations is not just a ""nice idea"" I think it’s necessary. For the younger generation who may have not had the presence of grandparents or the presence of older generations creating an influence in their life this is an added value for them, it connects the past, present and future in one conversation. Whether you’re at either end of life- there are similarities.  There are tremendous benefits of these connections. There is a lot of talk to help older people, but perhaps they can help the young. It's the experiences of life in a multigenerational, interdependent, abstract community that, more than anything else, teaches us how to be human. The older generation often is faced with isolation- which in turn creates the backdrop for cognitive decline. We all know that. If we can improve the standing of older adults in society, and nurture what they can bring through to the table, then we can achieve a better community with a better quality of life for all ages. With their practical knowledge, some may use the term wisdom, gained from experience, and because they carry with them a whole world lost to younger generation, they may well be our greatest social capital. There are some projects out there, but its a topic craving attention. In the US there is an initiative with this care model called Generations of Hope.     " 7,26962,2017-01-18T12:36:30.000Z,26052,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"Have you experienced it personally? Thank you @anon I believe this is a divide which in essence is heavily induced by the very policy discourse - in my country it's always been the fight between the leftist pensioneers favouring party versus the more liberal ones, and elections reflect just that. I've yet to see in my immediate surroundings good projects catering to this gap.. A similar point was made by @anon " 1,809,2017-01-14T10:08:34.000Z,809,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"This is a beautiful story. In an effort to save on rent, some Dutch college students are living at nearby nursing homes. In exchange for 30 monthly volunteer hours, the students get free housing in vacant rooms. It seems to be a win-win for everybody. Not only are the students living in better accommodations than student housing and not racking up as much student debt, but they’re providing a better quality of life for the eldest residents by socializing, helanon3606750899g them with tasks, and teaching them tech-savvy skills like using email, social media and Skype. The bonding created from spending time together is incredibly important for everyone. Social relationships are key to human well-being and in the maintenance of health. The intergenerational living model started in 2012, with a few more nursing homes follow.  Regular social interaction is necessary for mental health as well as social interaction. Read the complete story here:  https://goo.gl/LYUpPP " 2,7705,2017-01-15T13:23:21.000Z,809,anon1491650132,anon3708118144,"Spotted already Thanks @anon " 3,15148,2017-01-18T10:02:32.000Z,809,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"follow-up @anon " 1,512,2016-07-06T13:30:30.000Z,512,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Hello everyone,  as Wemake we would like to share more research around existing products that align with the concept of care.   This has been part of our co-design process, and we would like to expand the usefulness by sharing more ideas.  Below is a project called Maestro, it offers a new way of control, something which can be further used for solving care issued related to some phyical mobility challenges.  The posts to follow will elaborate on different technologies applied in open projects around the theme of care.   Maestro About:  Making your own fanon1056199097r mounted input device to control the cursor. Country: USA Year: 2015 By: Jonggi Hong - student of the course “Tangible Interactive Computing” taken by Professor Jon Froehlich at the University of Maryland, College Park.   It is not specified if this project solves a specific medical or social issue. But, surely, it can be a starting point for new projects which can help mobility-impaired people in their everyday issues. Maestro was made as part of the CS graduate course ""Tangible Interactive Computing"" at the University of Maryland, College Park taught by Professor Jon Froehlich. Maestro is an affordablle wearable input device using the orientation of the fanon1056199097r. During this course wearable small devices on the fanon1056199097r has been investigated to provide easy access to PC and surrounding environment (NailO, HandSight). Maestro enables user to do pointing and scrolling based on the orientation of the fanon1056199097r and contact between fanon1056199097rs. How is it open?
    • Maestro has the creative commons licence BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic).
    • Anyone can clone and fork it.
    • Source code and 3D printer files can be downloaded for free, some hardware components need to be bought to re-create the device though:
       BOM Link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Maestro-fanon1056199097r-mounted-input-device-to-control-the/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=JNPBKL6r3es         " 2,8686,2016-08-15T11:33:42.000Z,512,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"What would be even more interesting.. ..I believe is learning about if and how people are using it, and whether this can be connected with their medical charts, treatment and advice in any way. The problem identified by @anon The research contribute with important results, but obviously there is a problem of transferring the research results into the benefit of people with physical challenges - Doctor, could you hack me a neuroprosthesis please? " 3,16244,2016-08-20T22:25:05.000Z,512,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Technology push or demand pull Right on @anon 1. Often we (technicians) get carried away by fascinating possibilities of technology. Tech becomes interresting in it's own right rather than a means to solve a specific problem and @anon 2. Some years ago i converted an old pc mouse into a ""fanon1056199097r extensometer"". Drilling a hole, springloading the optical encoding wheel wrapped with some fishing line. The line goes out though the hole and in the other end it was attached to a rubberring. That ring could be put on the e.g. index fanon1056199097r.  The idea was to solve a clinical issue with a tool for the physiotherapist training fanon1056199097rextenstion of the impaired hand. (The typical hemiplegic hand after a stroke). Either the user could get a biofeedback when exercising fanon1056199097r extension, or it could be an evaluation tool to keeanon3606750899g track on the progress by providing objective measurement of amount of fanon1056199097r extension. If this 'Maestro' can do this task and if it is really easy to clone it could be a good candidate for this work (http://ifess.org/node/824). Currently there are some protocols (using expensive movement analysis labs), but if this could be a <50€ DIY instrument for a OpenCare rehabilitation it could be great. Anyone wants to continue the work? Who can make a pilot case study with a patient? (A validation of repeatability,reliability and correlation with a golden standard).  Stuff for an article (https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/quality-of-life-technologies-an-opportunity-for#comment-24005) " 4,20131,2017-01-16T12:32:33.000Z,512,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Taking it a bit further @anon http://www.neofect.com/en/ @anon " 1,517,2016-07-25T12:02:02.000Z,517,anon3594395480,anon3594395480,"This story of mine only wanted to come out through an interview carried out online by Noemi. Hopefully it gives you a peek inside the very personal experience of being part of a sort of grand thing – a network of people becoming active in the healthcare provision chain and caring for each other despite not having met.     Noemi: Introduce us to the time when the cytostatics network came about. Was someone ill able or unable to access treatment from healthcare providers? How did they go by? Sabina: It was the fall of 2009 when it all started for me: the dizziness, the fatigue, trouble breathing, walking, doing  basically anything. In October, I just put it on my crazy life style: mother of two, finishing the PhD, teaching at the Music University.  In November it was clear something else was going on. So I went to a private lab- the thought of a state hospital was too scary- and had a blood work done. Except it did not work the usual way: the results could not be read due to a strange characteristic of the sample. I knew it was a bad sign, so I turned to my adoptive grandmother, dr. Mirjam Bercovici. She figured it out in minutes, wrote me a recommendation letter and sent me to a real hospital. Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia – a very rare blood disease- was confirmed and three years of fighting it in Romania and Austria followed. How did she know and how does this relate to the problems of cytostatics in Romania? For many years, Mirjam, a hematologist, was the chief of the Pediatric Department in the oncologic ward of the biggest hospital in Romania: Fundeni. She was now long retired, but still having nightmares about kids who could not be saved. Because, you see, even though the treatment had clear indications about when and how to give the medicines, they were not always available. The doctors in her section did miracles. Curing cancer without the necessary drugs is indeed a miracle. The always missed some important dose, they could not offer the kids the standard treatment their colleagues in the West were used to. It was the communist era and everything was very difficult, even for the most important health care center in the country. So when she sent me there, she knew that I would receive the best possible care, but she was also aware of the limitations of a poor system, as populated with amazing doctors as it was. During my time in Fundeni, I spent lots of time with people dealing with forms of blood cancer. I was “lucky”: only had to buy once dexamethason for myself, but they were not so lucky:  either filling tones of papers to get the newest drugs (the usual line was: we are giving to you, but only with ”the dossier”), either they had to figure out how to obtain certain medication themselves. But two bone morrow aspirations and numerous transfusions later, when my condition worsened, there were talks about a treatment  reserved for Hodgkin's lymphoma, Mabthera, or Rituximab. Rituximab was not approved in AutoImmune Hemolytic Anemia in Romania at that time. It still isn’t. Was anyone inside hospitals listening or fighting back? The situation was rather strange. The drug was expensive, not approved for my AIHA, but available in theory. My roommates  with Lymphoma could get it based on the dossier (so not standard). But they were missing other drugs, cheaper cytostatics like Bleomicin, compensated 100% from the state! It was like in the times when Mirjam Bercovici was active, all over again. Like nothing had changed in 40 years. Frustration was working both sides, because treatments sessions were postponed, sick people and doctors being equally worried. All I knew was that doctors advised patients to figure out how to get the drugs. I had no idea how the people got it, as I was preoccupied with my own, at that time unsolvable, health issues.   Tell us how one would send or get medicine, about the network and how it worked. Were people afraid of the (il)legality of all this? Drained both mentally and financially, I moved to Vienna, became self employed, paid a high tax on healthcare, tried Rituximab with very little success, worked throughout my illness and also got a splenectomy when a terrible  relapse made it clear there is no other way out of this. A few months after, I read an article on a website: How I became a member in the cytostatic network. There were many similarities with my struggle: people not having access to medication as cheap as dexamethason, a description of the oldest Pharmacy in Vienna, which I knew so well, and most of all, the solidarity.  A few weeks later though, I joined the network of Cytostatics.  I was going home for a concert and my good friend Simona Tache shared a status form a Youngman who asked if someone is going to Bucharest from Vienna. I knew exactly what it was about, the dots were easy to connect. I met Vlad Voiculescu that evening, and the next day I followed the instructions and took the  transport to Bucharest. Basically, transportation worked like this: You take the medicines in a thermal bag, put it in the fridge and take them out only when you leave the house for the airport. At the security, you take it out and tell the officers you have sensitive medicine there. Sometime they ask you who is it for, sometimes they don’t. You are only allowed to have it for your self or  your family. For me, anyone suffering in Romania is family….so it never felt like lying. In Bucharest, you had Valeriu waiting for you at the airport, or you met him later in the day. Valeriu is a taxi driver who delivers the cytostatics to the Pavel Association – a NGO working for the children in Fundeni, or directly to the ones in need, sick people or caregivers. The news about the Network circulated by word of mouth. Some people knew about its existence, some didn’t. The only thing they knew is that there is someone in Vienna who buys medicines if you give him the prescription and that you can pay him when you can. There was no financial gain, on the contrary. Vlad would receive the prescriptions, buy the cytostatics out of his own pocket and then got the money later. Or much later. No deadlines, no pressure. Just the will to help. Were all members sufferers or family of sufferers? Was anybody other than Vlad in charge? When the article about the Network emerged, over 300 people joined the network through the website medicamente-lipsa.ro and found ways to bring home what was missing. Not all of them had sick members of their families. For most, it was just the little they could do in this horrible situation. The website was Med-Alert ‘s Association’ initiative, where Vlad is a founder, and there were more people involved in obtaining the cytostatics and other medicines. Still, Vlad is the one who got the dice rolling. He has the gift of inspiring others to do good, and it’s contagious. Even though the majority of people involved did not now about each other, and many still do not know until this day, as little contact between the carriers of the medicines has happened. Still, the ones who met in real life bonded immediately and I will always state that the main gain of the Network was the amazing friendships resulting from it. How did things eventually change and what’s the situation so far? After the article on Hotnews about the Network, a high number of interviews with the authorities filled the tv news evening after evening. The situation was indeed outrageous: you pay the taxes, you have medicine 100% compensated by the state because you pay those taxes, but when it comes to it, they are nowhere available in Romania, and you have to buy them outside the country.  Cornered by jurnalists, the Minister of Health made hundreds of promises, with some results. Things were sometimes better, and sometimes worse. The whole System in itself acted like a cancer: remissions and relapses. At the moment, Vlad Voiculescu is the new Minister of Health. After a tragic event in October 2015, known as the Colectiv fire, where 64 people died, the whole Government was changed and a lot of young – under 45- dynamic people were named in key positions. One of the actions that Vlad took in the short period of time he’s been in charge is to make a smart alliance with  more countries: Bulgaria, Moldova, Croatia, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia,  in order to get better access to medication. More countries means more people, so a much  bigger market, a fact that would discourage the Pharma companies to ignore it by withdrawing a medicine  by citing  small numbers in sales. What do you think was the reason for people to participate so actively? If it were another problem and not a deadly disease, would they mobilize as much? The Public oanon3606750899ion in Romania is, unfortunately, used to crises and bad situation concerning healthcare. The media is full of fundraising events for children or young people who need to get treatment abroad, the news are full of reports of malfunctions of the healthcare system. In all this mess, there will always be people willing to contribute in any way to the wellbeing of others. But maanon1932026148 the reason of this high rate participation in the network of cytostatics is older than we think, with roots in the communist era. Back then, there was a solution for everything: from lack of food to lack of clothes. Everyone knew someone who could help. The only area not available for this kind of help was healthcare. Both doctors and patients were helpless against a system that didn’t truly provide for its beneficiaries. So people developed a true phobia of hospitals, seen as horrible places, dirty and dangerous, a place where some medical act was provided, but where the family took care of the sick person in the most common sense of the term: from bed sheets to food and hygiene products. The 80s and the 90s were the worse years in terms of healthcare.  The money was less and less, the needs higher. The Network did not come out of nowhere. It came from a long series of malfunctions and struggles, from a time  filled with nightmares that still populates one of the best Romanian doctor’s dreams. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.     " 2,9763,2016-07-27T09:39:12.000Z,517,anon1526983854,anon3594395480,"Wow This is a dark, fantastic story @anon So people developed a true phobia of hospitals, seen as horrible places, dirty and dangerous. Maanon1932026148 Romanians would be more inclined to reverse the hospital model. For many conditions, you do not really need to be in a hospital all the time. If you are going to have to provide food and clean bedsheets for your ailing family member, you might as well do it at home. This leads to a lightweight system, based on clinics rather than hospitals. Are you aware of any attempts to do this? " 3,11109,2017-01-16T09:31:51.000Z,9763,anon784612129,anon1526983854,"My thoughts exactly funny I saw this post only now. I totally agree though - there are a lot of big trends - very many of which would point to moving the hospital to the patient and not the other way around. If Romania has a bad stationary hospital scene, then one could see that as very good conditions to make it a well funded (EU level?) pilot project that looks at devolving care into communities further. Romania has a very strong IT backbone which would certainly help as well. Some aspects of such a care system could also be funded from defense money - because mobile care (and operating under overload) are things they have to handle as well. But that is only one aspect.  @anon " 4,16281,2016-07-27T09:52:40.000Z,517,anon3594395480,anon3594395480,"Oh, yes Yes, @anon   " 5,17879,2016-07-27T12:36:17.000Z,16281,anon1526983854,anon3594395480,"Why not? I can see it being a solution. Setting up someone with an IV is not rocket science; many people can be taught, and then help their neighbors who were not taught. Like with defibrillators: the Community First Responders scheme in the UK teaches people how to defibrillate each other in 3 days: http://www.communityfirstresponders.org.uk/ " 6,21302,2016-07-28T12:33:25.000Z,517,anon3594395480,anon3594395480,"only for chronic illnes Yes, this is indeed a good solution for getting treatement.  But not for surgeries, or patiens coming from all over the country to the main universitary medical center, in the capital of Romania, patiens with special cases who need the most skilled doctors arround them until they have a diagnose.  Actually, the current Minister of health, Vlad, is also coming up with solutions to rebuild the hospitals into viable clean insititutions. " 1,804,2016-12-21T13:59:52.000Z,804,anon1502039949,anon1502039949,"My name is anon948101822ka. With Luca, Jacopo and Alice we started Dynamoscopio (""those who observe change""). We are a strange mix of designers, researchers, and practitioners of urban transformation. We are anthropologists, architects, economists. In 2012 we got interested in a neighborhood called Giambellino-Lorenteggio, in Milan. It was undergoing change, and a tension ran through it. Its eastern end is a heavily hipsterized area, with lofts and cool parties connected with the mighty Furniture Fair. To the west there are large industrial settlements (Vodafone Italia, for example). Line 4 of the Metro is under construction here. The value of real estate is going up, or soon will. But the neighborhood itself remains low-income, home to many marginalized people. 25,000 people here qualify for subsidized-rent accommodation. Many of them can survive only because they do live in subsidized housing. Many more would have a right to, but the city does not have enough apartments available. So they are stuck in a queue. The neighborhood was (and still is) vulnerable to gentrification. It only takes a small increase in rents to price many people out of the neighborhood. We took a political stance that people should not be driven out, and moved in. First we investigated the area, and put our findings into a documentary film (trailer). As we did so, we fell in love with the local market, Mercato Lorenteggio (henceforth ML). This market had a problem: in 2005 a large supermarket had moved into the area. Its competition was driving many local shops out of business – including several of those in ML. It was clear that the market was on its way out. By then, we had figured out that the neighborhood lacked resilience. Nonlocal Milanese never go there, and why would they? And even the locals do not form the thick web of social relationships you find in a healthy community. We knew one thing: working in Lorenteggio meant spending most of our time dragging people out of their apartments. We tried to draw a sort of map of desires and problems surrounding the market. We mapped the social actors around it: the local people, the municipality, the nonlocal Milanese, the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers seemed the most promising agent of change. They are local businesspeople: if the neighborhood does well, they do well. ML itself could serve as a focal point. If we could revive it, we could show the local community that it can work its way out of a bad situation. So we did several things.
    • With the shopkeepers, we redefined ML's unique value proposition. The supermarket would always beat us on price, and on opening hours. So we invented a brand we call DOP, Denominazione di Origine Popolare (People's Designation of Origin). This means local products – Milano is a farming city, with many farms to the immediate south of the city. It also mean ""new local"" products, for example we sell teff used in anon948101822trean and Ethiopian cuisine.
    • We made it clear that these businesses are the natural allies of the neighborhood. For example, we have solidarity campaigns. One is called ""Fai la spesa per la tua scuola"" (shop for your school). Shopkeepers donate part of their income to the local elementary school. Other local partners expressed interest in participating.
    • We mobilized the community on restoring the façade of the ML building. A Milan-based company donated the materials; the local people contributed manpower. Physical work on the space creates ownership and mobilization. Also, it was a great party (timelapse video)!
    • We pushed the mixed use of ML as a place for culture and socializing as well as commerce. For example, we organize courses of Arabic languages (requested by many migrant families), knitting events, etc. The market has wide corridors, and can host up to 1,000 people.
    • We moved in ourselves. Dynamoscopio runs a tiny cultural space (20 square meters) inside ML. We offer wi-fi too.
    In general, we are trying to reinvent the physical space of ML and the kind of local commerce that it offers. Who pays for this? We started out with grants. Milan is home to several charitable foundations, and some of them focus on the poorer neighborhoods. With time, we are moving towards a more sustainable mix of revenue streams. Even the shopkeepers, now, are chipanon3606750899g in: this is great, because it a sign of increased sustainability. Also, the work we do in Lorenteggio is good PR, and it helps Dynamoscopio get clients. We think we are carers, in a way. We care for the community as a whole, rather than for any one person in it. ""Taking care"" in this context means keeanon3606750899g ML open and thriving; and that, in turn, means contributing to them getting income. The shops in ML are holding the line of the viability of the whole community. We are not open by default, but we do use some of the strategies of the open source movement. Example: some migrant families from Arabophone countries wanted courses of Arabic for the children. We helped them set them up, and set them up in the market. The logic is this: if the market becomes an open platform for people to do stuff, more people will go there. This will create more business opportunities for the shops: you went for the Arabic lesson, it makes sense to do your groceries there too. Considering, our work with ML is going rather well. In 2012 it was on its way out, with several shops closed: in 2016 all stalls are in use, and the market is thriving. The space has become more beautiful and welcoming. Still, there are many things we would like to improve. For example, last year we organized two ""swap markets"", and they failed badly. Both events were popular, with a lot of people in attendance. But these were people from outside the neighborhood, many of them hipsters. This created tension, because the locals see them as harbanon1056199097rs that they will be priced out of the neighborhood. Another pain point is that we are unable to monitor our impact. Shopkeepers are reluctant to disclose how much money they are making. We do not even have a system to count the number of people present in the market. We would love to have some kind of tool, but somehow this sort of work always gets deprioritized, there is so much to do. Also, we are not sure how much longer we can afford to stay engaged with ML. But we worry. What happens when we stop pushing? Another example: for a while, a guy named Manon169343781el ran a vegetable garden outside ML. People loved it. But when Manon169343781el withdrew, the whole thing dried out. These dynamics look great, but they are not always sustainable. Do you know of any similar experience? We would love to compare notes. " 2,8881,2016-12-21T17:05:00.000Z,804,anon1526983854,anon1502039949,"Great work Welcome, @anon948101822ka_Lazzarino , and many thanks for the story. This idea of caring for a neighborhood, rather than a person, was what impressed me when we met in Milano last month.  This story, by the way, might be very interesting for @anon I am also intrigued by the ambiguous nature of success in Lorenteggio. The swap markets, you say, were popular, and brought to ML Milanese from outside the neighborhood. This was seen as a threat by the locals. So, it seems, there is no way to win! If people don't come, the neighborhood is isolated, economically fragile and ultimately unable to resist gentrification. If they do come, the locals do not like it and push back. Also, this creates tensions among the locals: Luca told me that the shopkeepers were happy to see new people (new customers! yay!), but the local people who are not shopkeepers were upset.  So here is a big question: when caring for a neighborhood, do you think that at some point you'll have to take sides?  " 3,14528,2017-01-12T16:35:05.000Z,804,anon3914374234,anon1502039949,"a productive tension between ""taking care"" and enterpreneurship

    I'm very interested in this side of the story...

    It seems to me that ML is the result of a true hybridization between “functions”, but especially between different types of operators. In a certain sense, the anthropologists that form Dynamoscopio become entrepreneurs, while ""traditional"" traders become innovators.

    What I note especially is that ML is driven by a subject (Dynamoscopio) who took a ""business risk"" somewhat analogous to traders: in this way business sustainability of ML as a whole becomes a lever for collaboration between Dynamoscopio and the traders.

    This is the big difference between ML and most of the projects where the promoters are responsible for carrying out activities/measuring impacts in the local context.

    For all these reasons, ML can be considered a special case in the city of Milan where the revitalization of the neighbourhood markets  (as lot of them have been closed or are not vital at all), has so far been addressed in a more conventional way. In fact, starting from a public tender aimed at reallocating empty spaces and at revamanon3606750899g local markets, some of those markets have been reopened, basically around the idea of hybridization between food trading, restaurants, entertainment, paying particular attention to the quality and fairness of the products (for example “zero kilometer” production philosophy). Good examples are “Mercato del Suffragio” or “Darsena”.

    In my view, ML goes much beyond this kind of vision and the virtuous link between economic value and social impact is a very interesting and challenging aspect also for the local administration that looks at this case with much interest.

    As far as sustainability is concerned, the political turn of 2011 with the election of new mayor (civic list, left wing) and the new generation of policies that emerged since then are taking seriously the issue of how to support new businesses that are capable to produce social impact, learning from the experiments coming from different types of stakeholders. @anon Thanks a lot to @anon948101822ca and the team of Dynamoscopio for becoming part of our project!

    " 4,17226,2017-01-13T13:55:33.000Z,14528,anon1526983854,anon3914374234,"How policy is born Very interesting, @anon This could be interesting for @anon " 5,18275,2017-01-15T13:43:33.000Z,17226,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Would smaller organisations have a chance in public tenders? I'm curious @anon " 1,502,2016-05-08T00:48:50.000Z,502,anon3879862898,anon3879862898,"  When we arrived to move into the house, we seemed like an unlikely crew. There were three lads living there already - Kieron, Dave and Billy. Kieron was the leader. He had a drill. Billy was very pale and very thin - kind of morose somehow while at the same time desperately optimistic. He looked like he hadn't seen a vitamin in months. Dave on the other hand, was just mad. At this point, quite obviously, even certifiably, mad. Just a week or so before he had actually escaped from the psychiatric hospital over the road, bringing to mind a scene from 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest'. And over the course of our time together, Dave told me a few stories about that place, that enlightened paragon of metal health provision which had held him body and soul for all of nine months. He told me how he preferred prison, because at least in prison you got a release date. He told me about the electric shock therapy, which left your mind totally scrambled for two or three days, then left you feeling more or less ok for two or three days but with no memory, after which they did it all over again. He told me about being chained to four big guys who were there to 'look after him', even when he went to the toilet. About how if he didn't go along with something that they wanted him to do, sooner or later he'd get held down and recieve a knock-out shot delivered to his buttock, which resulted in unconsciousness and a noticeable reduction in his ability to stand up for his rights. Essentially, he didn't have any rights. He was mad. They could do whatever they wanted to him. The detail that most appealed to my Kafkaesque understanding of faceless institutions, was that the refusal to accept that he was mad was taken as evidence that he was still mad. Refusing to take the pills that made him heavy and slow and stupid was seen as proof that his sanity had still not returned. Now you just try to imagine regaining your mental banon3760936673ce under this kind of perverse authority. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I'm not so sure I believe them. Dave's approach was to break out of the place and find himself a squat to live in with a couple of mates and several total strangers, one of whom had been recognised by Kieron from a free party, when they bumped into each other down at the job centre. Its amazing what gets hatched down at the job centre, and I'm not talking about anyone finding a job. But anyway, when we turned up at the squat, Dave was living on the sofa in the lounge in a haze of ashtray cigarettes and cheap cider, eyeing the curtains nervously and never far away from a large knife. You got the feeling he was pretty keen never to go back inside that place if there was anything he had to say about it. And he wasn't leaving the house, or even that room much at this time. Absconders from mental health institutions tend to be automatically served with arrest warrants by the local magistrates, and I don't suppose that was helanon3606750899g his mental health any either. Dave seemed to be doing pretty well as far as I could see, considering everything that he'd gone through so far in his life. He told me his Dad was always drunk and often violent. He said his mother had been killed, shot by a farmer standing in front of her dog trying to protect him while out for a walk. That was when he left home. He'd had a job as the look-out for a gang of thieves that robbed industrial units at the age of nine. A little later he'd gone to live with a family of Irish travellers who'd trained him to be a bareknuckle boxer, a discipline at which he was apparently quite talented. Some time after that he'd bought a house, back when they gave mortgages to people with no job, no credit rating and no intention whatsoever to make even a single repayment. That episode lasted a few months, during which time he acquired an addiction to crack and heroin, or 'brown n white' as it was known on the estate. That was when the mental health issues really kicked in. I could sometimes see the different personalities fighting for control inside Dave's head. So much suffering just couldn't be contained inside one self-image, so the ever resourceful ego just created a couple of others to help take the strain. I think it was fair to say that Dave was feeling the pressure. And of course, he couldn't go to get any medication, because he knew the Doctor would just arrange to have him arrested as soon as he arrived at his appointment.   On the one hand, Kieron and Billy were quite happy to have Dave and his knives living on the sofa. After all, this was a squat, and you never know what might go down. Sometimes you have to defend a place, and while Kieron liked his drill, that was about the limit of his handiness. And if anything serious went off you'd most likely find Billy in a cupboard. So Dave had his uses. And anyway, they were mates. But in this condition, he wasn't exactly easy company. So naturally, Billy and Kieron started to pal up a little. They shared a floor in the house with a kitchen in it, they went outside from time to time. They liked to get stoned together, and have a laugh. But this was unsettling to Dave somehow. He'd been mates with Billy for years, since the time he bought the house. He had no family left, no real friends after all the alcoholism, the drugs, the crime, and the madness. Billy was about all he had. And now he was feeling him drifting away. It all came to a head one full moon. It 'd been building for a while. You could feel it all through the house, under the neon strip lights in the corridors. Tension. The more Dave got wound up, the more Kieron and Billy retreated into their little flat. Sometimes you could hear him shouting incoherently in the lounge on his own. It wasn't very reassuring. But on this particular night, we found him shouting slightly more coherently, and it wasn't at himself. It was directed at Kieron. Dave was pacing the lounge, muttering to himself, wild-eyed. Then suddenly, something snapped. He grabbed his largest knife from under the cushions of the sofa and stormed out in the direction of the stairs. Larissa, sharp as ever, phoned Kieron fast and told him to lock his door. She was just in time.   'Yer fuckin big gay bastard! Open t'door.'   'Fuck off Dave' said Kieron, with his foot set hard against the door to keep his demented friend from getting in.   It wasn't looking good. Dave was stabbing the door repeatedly with his enormous blade, while Kieron, who fortunately for him liked to eat a hearty meal, was leaning against it with all his weight.   'Open t'door or I'll fookin kill yer both'   If I open t'door, that's when you'll fookin kill us both, was more what it looked like.   The rest of us were gathering downstairs in the lounge. We'd known these people a week, and this was the only place we had to live. We were not ecstatic about the situation. And besides, we were worried, as much for Dave as for Kieron and Billy. We really liked Dave. He was a lovely lad, underneath all the addictive behaviour, the paranoia and the threat of imminent violence. I'd had a good connection with him from the start. We both had Irish ancestry. We shared a dark sense of humour. Dave's kind of funny was to make unbelievably hot curries, knowing that Billy didn't like them, but that he had no money and that there was no other food in the house. And then to watch Billy eating them, as his face got redder and redder, and his expressions grew ever more absurd. That was like Dave's perfect joke. So anyway, I headed up the stairs, with Dom close behind. The stairwell was pulsating, neon, harsh light. Nowhere to hide. Kieron's door was closed now, with the giant knife stuck in it, wobbling, and Dave half-shouting half-sobbing, desperately scared of losing his friend, his mind, his freedom. I wondered about his family history, and how much comprehension he had of his own emotional reality. It can't have been easy for him. And I thought about my own safety. But however erratic he'd been acting, I didn't feel any kind of malicious intent would be directed towards me.   'Dave, Dave. Dave man, it's me.'   Dave was in his own world, and it was breaking down.   'Dave, what's up man? Why don't you put the knife down?'   He kicked the door a couple of times, just desperate now, more than dangerous. My heart broke for him.   'Dave, you're bleeding mate! Look. Let me see that hand.'   Dave looked at his palm, which had been cut by the knife as he had rammed it repeatedly into the door. It wasn't serious, but it was badly enough to make a fair mess. The sight of his own blood seemed to bring him back to himself. All the fight had gone out of him now. You could see he was ready to be taken care of.   'You should get that seen to Dave. You want me to come with you mate, we'll go down to the A&E dept at the bottom of the road?'   He let me lead him away, still staring at his bloody palm, and I placed my arm around his shoulders as Dom discretely removed the knife from the door and hid it out of sight. The crisis it seemed, was over. At least for now. But still, we had an evidently pretty broken human being on our hands, and what the hell were we going to do about that? " 2,7227,2016-05-09T09:20:49.000Z,502,anon1491650132,anon3879862898,"Ways to get out of this? What a story, @anon This really makes you wonder, reminded me of the Rosenhan experiment. The detail that most appealed to my Kafkaesque understanding of faceless institutions, was that the refusal to accept that he was mad was taken as evidence that he was still mad. Refusing to take the pills that made him heavy and slow and stupid was seen as proof that his sanity had still not returned. Now you just try to imagine regaining your mental banon3760936673ce under this kind of perverse authority. Do you have ideas on how to better the situation for someone like Dave? is a temp squat really doing anything good for him, or what would be a way to recovery that is dignifying? If you're involved in or know of systematic community efforts, do tell.   If you're more into the research and observation: we're struggling to put together a brief for stories about mental resilience, a set of questions that are solution-oriented and not intimidate people to share things that after all are very private in an online environment. Help if this is something of interest to you? " 3,14594,2017-01-13T09:17:28.000Z,502,anon1491650132,anon3879862898,"A story of hope you might enjoy Heya @anon " 1,6086,2017-01-02T16:55:42.000Z,6086,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"Today I and @anon
    • Write a short, clear description of a space we need and our requirements, as well as an offer and a plan on how this place would work. We will use a crowdfunding campaign format to craft it - both because it helps organize our thinking, but also because we will probably use it to run fundraising in the near future. Then we shoot a short video based on it. (to be done by the end of this week)
    • We have to recontact all possible hosts and partners in Thessaloniki, Lille, Galway, Milano in order to see if there is interest and possibility to cooperate with the local communities and find a space that would like to host edgeryders more permanently. (By the end of this week, Natalia is taking over Thessaloniki, Lile, and Milano). Some more places to add to the list? Brussels, Milano and Vienna possibly...
    • We'll contact the hacking summer camp in the Netherlands in order to combine their event with the Pop-up Village - this way we spare our time and effort at least partly on the logistics and offer an interesting addition to an existing event with an established audience. Once this is ready, we prepare a call for stories again - and those who will share their stories on the platform (and those who have already done this in the past), will be invited to join the event to showcase their work, use the crowdfunding opportunity, and/or participate in a hackathon. This way we can engage with ideas on various stages - those that are close to implementation but would use a bit of tweaking, those that work since a long time but might want to recalibrate and refresh, and anything in between. 
    • After that, probably in the next two weeks, we restart community calls and prepare social media campaign to help us promote and mobilize the community. We begin crafting the program of the event, possibly fundraise to help it happen. 
    Besides, we need to establish a Slack-like channel  set up an installation of Riot.im on our server in order for us to communicate faster and harvest ideas more easily. Our work will be continuously documented in Edgeryders WIkis and blogposts.  " 2,9329,2017-01-02T22:45:45.000Z,6086,anon70625510,anon1061021150,"Contacted Summer Camp in Netherlands re PopUp village collab Did  quick writeup of what we want to do, process etc. (shared doc with you). And have contacted the people I know who are involved in building SHA2017. Let's see what they respond :) Once we have the location and dates ready, then it's much easier to get momentum going. So I will push to make this happen before 9th Jan. Next is weekly calls. Got suggestion for day and time that works for you? I think Sat or Sun after 15:00 so also people with normal jobs and US based community members can participate.... " 3,16060,2017-01-03T12:01:48.000Z,6086,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"@anon " 4,19853,2017-01-11T12:41:55.000Z,6086,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"[call 11/1] Template partnership letter and upcoming tasks @anon
    Actionables for the two of us:
    • contact potential partners + community/openandchange members this week (both of us - help me fill in the sheet ""Network to contact..""?  I wrote a template invitation drawing from this group description and your previous comms. It needs to be adjusted for each person we contact..  for cities/ hosts: add more details about the space? for committed partners: add opportunities to shine
    • set up call(s) for next week to touch base with people who expressed interest (Natalia)
    • set up a collaborative environment here on edgeryders where we will be able to follow up - similar to openandchange (Noemi)
    " 5,23536,2017-01-11T20:53:58.000Z,6086,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"Lurking, reading but not much free time Just to let you all know that i'm very much paying attention and interested in doing what i can to help make all this work. I'm playing catch up with European life and i've got a trip to Thessaloniki (looking forward to meeting @anon " 6,24809,2017-01-12T07:48:47.000Z,23536,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"No worries Thanks for the help, and good luck in Greece <3 " 7,26927,2017-01-11T21:52:31.000Z,6086,anon4074474473,anon1061021150,"Very bad weather! @anon " 8,28444,2017-01-12T12:20:13.000Z,6086,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"We have a response from SHA, as expected, our message got lost. I will make sure we have some news from them within a week. I also recontacted Lile with a couple of questions and ideas - this is a very informal communication we're having since December. I hope to arrange a call for us for the next week about both the reef and the pop-up village. Also the response to my letters to members of Openandchange was very positive - i will be lining up short discussions with them for the next week.    " 1,708,2016-07-24T16:55:49.000Z,708,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"There’s not much focus on Asia in our research - therefore, I’d like to present you some inspiring initiatives from India and Nepal, which present a very different approach to delivering care: actually delivering it. First, of them is MV Akha, a floating clinic that travels along Brahmaputra Netri to the inhabitants of the saporis/the islands. One look at the map of the region is enough to understand how difficult for them it would be to access hospitals and doctors otherwise. 2500 islands sit on the Indian part of the river, which starts from the Tibetan mountains and flows through the Assam region, being a home to 3 million people, 10% of the region’s population. There are numerous reasons why providing these places with health care is particularly difficult: due to huge shortages of doctors in India to start with (0.7 per 1000 people), shifting territories of these islands, unstable population and difficult living conditions: they’re connected to the land by boats and suffer from frequent energy and drinking water deficit. Not to mention strikingly high numbers in maternal and infant mortality. Sanjoy Hazarika pitched the idea of floating clinics to the World Bank in 2000 and received their support - 20,000 dollars to start with. One year later the first boat sailed to bring care to the Assamese, and until today, 14 more followed. The project was eventually joined by the state, which established a public-private partnership with the trust and started funding the offered service. Each month around 20.000 people in total are reached by these facilities. Some of the doctors who joined the ships helped to improve their service. One of the keys to success is frequency - by ensuring that each island is visited at least once a month it is possible to take good care of immunization and condition of pregnant women. They also bring the basic medicine, which is cheap in India - but if one needs to hire a boat to get it, the costs soar. And the service provided by the boat is free - the funds provided by the state amount for 72 400 000 million rupees per year - which, after covering the costs of the boat and the staff, means that there are 480 rupees per person left. Around 5 dollars per year. More about the project here: http://www.c-nes.org/programmes/boat-clinics Photo comes from http://www.tehelka.com/2014/07/boat-clinics-provide-healthcare-to-3-million-people-in-assams-river-islands/ " 2,7189,2017-01-12T08:21:06.000Z,708,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Boat clinics for the win Hey, I now think this post may have slipped attention because it doesn't have ""boat clinics"" in its title! Thanks for getting the story, Natalia. I find it meaningful that while it was one small idea in the beginning, it has evolved into a public program due to involvement of district administration, WB and UNICEF - all of which helped it scale and work out a run-of-the-mill approach. I found this telling quote by a gov employee: ""The government has the resources and the mandate to create a thousand Ships of Hope that will bring health to people who are at the receiving end of a highly volatile and moody river. We need the  humility and the willingness to learn from those who know better"" " 1,550,2016-10-29T19:38:02.000Z,550,anon4074474473,anon4074474473,"Summer 2015. It was nearly the end of August when Kos Island turned into a battlefield during a registration procedure. Hundreds of protesting migrants demanding quick registration began blocking the main coastal road. The local police attempted to break up the crowd with batons and by spraying foam with fire extinguishers. An officer was being filmed slapanon3606750899g and shoving migrants queueing outside the local police station. My grandmother came to mind and her story as a refugee child from the area of Pontos (Northern Turkey) in 1922. I just couldn’t believe that something like that could happen again. Despite the fact that Greece, in the throes of its worst ever financial crisis, was straining to accommodate the inflow, most Greek islanders were doing their best. But still there was an ominous feeling in the air. And then I saw that photo. A young woman with her two frightened children hanging onto her arms. Walking to nowhere, barefoot. Beyond endurance, angry but determined to survive the crush. Fearless, though! Imperious! I got angry. I stood beside her, out there in the dust. I'm just one step away from being like her. That moment I realized that there isn’t any Deus ex Machina to save them. To save us. So, I started thinking… What would I need if I were there? What should I carry to help my children withstand it? What should I bring with me for a little break? ...and their feet! What will happen to their feet? And the sun? It's hard being a parent in peace. In war and in refuge, only a hero. I wrote a list* with the necessities. The obvious, the necessary, even those things that seemed unnecessary. The goal was to ease the burden of parents, to give a smile to children. A breath until the next aid. A hope... I post the list in my private facebook profile. I couldn’t imagine the impact of this simple action. In a few days people were coming to my place, bringing bags full of nearly everything! Friends, neighbors or strangers were coming to help. We‘ve been preparing backpacks and sending them to Idomeni, to the islands or anywhere they were needed. Many schools adopted the idea and soon the campaign went viral. In around 8 months, hundreds of people became mobilized and focused on helanon3606750899g this endless anon3003844599. It seems that we could tell a lot of stories about, and because of this, but the point now is what emerged from this need. There's a lot of information coming out in the aftermath of this experience. There’s a mountain of questions that we didn’t answer… Is there any kind of system in the world that could cope with that amount of people? What was wrong and why didn't anyone know how to react or to organize? Why weren't we ready? Why didn't governments, NGO’s and independent groups cooperate? And when they did, what happened? What socks are most appropriate for their long trek? How can we fit all the necessary items in a backpack? And what about the weight? How can we gather the right clothing from the world? Have you ever try to sort thousands of clothes? Is it true that women from Syria didn’t want to wear rain boots? And what about UNHCR’s wool blanket? And all those tons of food wrappers, wet wipes, bottles...? Sadly, it turns out that there was no rescue plan in place. Greece seems to be inefficient and Europe appears like an impregnable fortress. This brings up the question “What if a sudden disaster left millions of Greeks or other Europeans homeless and helpless?” Local authorities and their services operated superficially while the government was obviously unprepared. On the other hand, citizens reacted vigorously and passionately despite the fact that they didn’t mobilize immediately. It’s also notable that many conferences, workshops or unofficial brainstorming meetings took place and new technology-oriented groups were created.  New ideas and solutions were proposed and innovative applications were developed from people all over the world. However, most of those didn’t fall on fertile ground for wide use, thus must be investigated thoroughly in the future. Due to my profession as a fashion designer and manon169343781facturer, when I heard about all those calls for clothing needs I started wondering who will manage all these diverse supplies. When facing a disaster, food and medical aid are considered top priorities but it’s not widely known that wearing inappropriate clothing under extreme conditions can become life threatening. It’s noteworthy that if we focus on specific issues we can come to interesting conclusions e.g. Public misinformation by “official” announcements that were based on internet searching or common knowledge about clothing. As a result, there was a shortage of A-shirts (tank tops) while, considered useless, thousands of used socks were gathered although it costs less to buy new ones. Also, acrylic socks were suggested as the most appropriate. But when there’s no luxury of changing them anytime, other materials are more suitable like; wool, bamboo, cotton, tactel etc. Obviously, a problem, arisen from common everyday items, is more complicated than initially thought and requires an expert's oanon3606750899ion. So, without surprise, no one reached out to experts from the clothing sector for professional advice and assistance. Moreover both government and UNHCR ignored any proposals or contact efforts. Surely, the day after was going to be a nightmare. Inexperienced volunteers struggled to adequately classify, pack and distribute huge amounts of donations. Very often the same material had to be sorted again and again for multiple times. The inadequate coordination among government authorities, NGOs, solidarity groups and other stakeholders in combination with the anxiety of refugees led to a disappointing result. Large amounts of food, clothing, medicines and a lot of useless things (that could be a separate funny story), were being carried around Greece like a giant anon3606750899ball machine. Unnecessary shipments, aid wasted, corrupted by mold, insects or still remain in inappropriate warehouses. A serious waste of resources. In conclusion, the refugee crisis gave rise to a strong solidarity network and also an opportunity for local communities and the society in total. An innovative strategic plan seems to be a necessity, in order to coordinate and manage all the available resources successfully. We should focus on organizing and training ourselves for cases of emergency. Based on the strength of these sharing communities, we should work, in innovative ways, which could bring people together around common concerns, recognize and increase their skills and knowledge and instill in them a belief that they can make a difference. In addition, it’s important to develop a survival handbook with the aim to provide “how-to” guidance based on practical experience in combination with academic knowledge. And the challenge is to respond to all these arisen questions. Or add new. “Could humanitarianism be evolved as a profession or it could be a new way of living?” P. S. More than 1/5 of donations is unsuitable for the refugees, thus is channeled to other vulnerable groups directly or in cooperation with already existing structures. Most of the volunteers gave up, burned out or feeling unable to help. Meanwhile the main responsible for this failure get paid. More than 60.000 refugees stuck in Greece. The majority were transferred to military camps, old factory warehouses or other abandoned and unhealthy places. Out of sight, out of mind. Lost and forgotten.  *The winter list for children: Small backpack, waterproof poncho, aluminum blanket, flashlight, socks, rain boots, sports shoes or plastic clogs, underwear, a tracksuit or a change of clothes, cap, gloves, scarves, lunch box, plastic spoon, fork, knife, a bottle of water, cookies, nuts, dried fruit or other snacks, wet wipes (small package), tissues, toothbrush, samples (of sunscreen, shampoo, toothpaste etc.), a toy, note or drawing pads, crayons, pencil, sharpener, eraser, a whistle and a wish (!!) (We also ask for big scarves to use them as ring sling baby carriers or as sheets) The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,8405,2016-10-30T18:42:50.000Z,550,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"I'd love to discuss this some more I have a background in materials and engineering. I haven't done the trip but I spend time outdoors and walk some good distances with my little one, and often thought about the issue. I would probably add/change (not necessarily for children though): - cordage (e.g. paracord, even dental floss or duct tape can vastly improve temporary shelter, duct tape or other adhesive doubles as band aid), some shock cord (elastic) can also be very helpful. - alcohol for desinfection (e.g. the hand wash gel type) - another space blanket (very little weight high utility especially with some how-to, also good as toy), with your background you might find a way to rig it into a jerven bag like thing. - pieces of sleeanon3606750899g pads, probably sized to be large enough to sit on when folded once, becomes more useful with cordage. - Power for phones: booster for charging from small batteries, buck (alternative) for charging from car battery (1 has enough for 200 phone charges), should probably be ruggedized e.g. by dipanon3606750899g in candle wax. - for kids a hand warmer can help out a lot in increment weather (single use) - at temporary camps a rugged bluetooth speaker could really help the kids unwind - maanon1932026148 replace the gloves by more socks that can be worn on the hands as well - I would recommend 2 caps (beanies that go over the ear) if you have enough - some water bottles have a special kid friendly openings but attach to regular bottles. - In terms of shoes I think slightly oversize croc style (rooms for woolen socks, or maanon1932026148 inner soles?) are the best minimum stress options. I am mulling over a system that lets you improvise a ""suitcase on wheels"" with sticks and cordage. The parts you neet to have of course are the wheels (ideally in pairs, anything from skateboard to scooter will work - they all have 6 mm inner diameter). So this or this would be needed on site. But the two screws that ""go in"" would have to be replaced by something like 5mm (I think) threaded rod, which would become part of the axle. " 3,11600,2016-11-02T23:15:14.000Z,8405,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"Me too! @anon784612129 thanks for adding items and tips! The list you see at the post it was only for the open calls. I prefered  to keep it simple so the people could bring things from home as soon as possible. And something else important! Not asking questions! Most of the backpacks included more items and many of them prepared for adults so the list was different. When you gather things for the crowd it's more complicate than it seems. The people want to help but very often the misunderstand  the announcements and they want to ask for details. About months I was on line (every line!) nearly 24h. For example they could understand why we asked for plastic crocs style (I avoided the word ""crocs"" and use the word ""clogs"" because many people thought I'm trying to advertise them). Especially for this, a woman from a ""...welcome"" team laught at me and insult me in public. She told me that these type is useless when crossing the european rivers and she refused to share the posts if i didn't ask for rain boots or athletic shoes. I wasted (or maanon1932026148 not) about an hour to explain that this type of shoes are chosen because: it's easy to use them when you want to go to the bathroom at night, to wash your feet, to rest for a while when you have only one pair of shoes for walking, the are light weight, you can hang them out of the backpack, they are cheap e.t.c. So, you see, sometimes it's ....hard to explain... Anyway, the list I have in mind now it's going to be ...peace prepared :) So, I need every tip, tool, trick you know or imagine! We'll keep in touch! " 4,12568,2016-11-09T09:56:58.000Z,11600,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"I can imagine that Yeah - I can very well imagine the arguments (everybody has a slightly different background, experience, perspective, and very little time to communicate). Thanks a lot for being there for everyone though! Let me think out loud about the list a little. You need to give a lot of information in very little time. It is important that it can be understood quickly. It is also important that people understand why some things are better than other things. Here is what I would try: Try to use a combination of images and text, a little like a meme. The image is most important (says more than 1000 words) and will ideally explain most of the things that have been discussed in many hours before. Ideally the people who are really deep into the topic do a thorough image search and you pool them together, and then photoshop or redraw. Of course one image (even if it is very good) can't explain everything, that is why you need a little text (english, greek, arabic probably). Similar to this (called ""exploded view) or hygiene. You can make a sink with the space blanket and duct tape, or an old plastic ice cream package (1L weighs 30g). - for washing clothes you can use the space blanket. - I would recommend 3 (ziplock?) plastic bags with sugar (perhaps with stevia - more weight efficient), salt, and a piece of soap. One bag big enough for this hot water ""bottle"". Heating or use hot rock or sand. - sterile saline solution (smallest possible), if you need more desinfected water, you can also boil - a comb (or just half) - vasiline (part for real use, but more for ""magic cream"" placebo effect) - kids earplugs (use alcohol to desinfect!), probably smart to tie in a piece of string for safety. - antiseptic wipes (can be ""refilled"" with alcohol) - in terms of clothes I would try to reduce cotton. Wool is fine for warmth if you have a windbreaker, if you can have at least one set of synthetic undergarments as they dry much faster than cotton. - personally I love wool leg warmers combined with short wool socks in the outdoors. Socks can be swapped and kept dry without much extra weight. The warmers can be regulated while walking and can be also used in many different ways. I'm not sure if they work well for kids though. " 5,12941,2016-11-03T20:54:09.000Z,12568,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"@anon784612129 thank you! I 'll study all these carefully! We don' t do backpacks for the refugees anymore so we focus to backpacks that we can prepare for ourselves or other people and keep them for an emergency. So, we have to think about many diffirent things. For the refugees I've done this: But this is a draft. It needs something professional with the same style in a platform on line. When somebody wants to prepare a backpack could use specific items and also a list with more details for its item. What is this? How to use it e.t.c. " 6,13409,2016-11-03T12:54:57.000Z,11600,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"In terms of materials and organization If you want to upscale cost effectively you may have to look outside of the traditional materials selections. Something that is durable and available at large scale is Tyvek. I have an outer layer for a sleeanon3606750899g bag to make it rainproof which I suspect is of very similar material. For (DIY) backpacks which hold a little more here is an interesting channel: https://youtu.be/q8j051J51O8?list=PLZLagqylZ3j6bLG7hwcwE28Max5Kd9ZE-&t=564 this specific version may also work with the inline skate rolls without too much work. Regarding organization I had some thoughts (but mostly focused on immediately after a disaster) which may be more helpful for the refugees to get a little more organized (and perhaps interface with you better). It is a heuristic approach, so it is not intended to produce the optimal or ideal result - but to be reliably better than nothing, and it is mostly information focused.   " 7,13452,2016-11-03T20:55:53.000Z,13409,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"Like this! " 8,13469,2016-11-03T22:13:30.000Z,13452,anon1491650132,anon4074474473,"You guys made my day. Thanks!! This. @anon   " 9,13477,2016-11-04T08:18:35.000Z,13469,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Agree This kind of input really is helpful and i can already see a 'Citizens guide to supporting people in an emergency' style document that contains these kinds of ideas and responces. They key will be to get lots of people who have experience of working with refugees already, together with lots of people who have useful experience from other areas of life. Then both sides can bounce off each other. I still think that a hackathon like this would be best suited to taking place in Greece or Italy, where the incoming flow is still increasing and there is a high likelihood that another disaster may occur (i'm thinking about the recent Italian Earthquakes).  " 10,13483,2016-11-05T15:52:06.000Z,13477,anon784612129,anon477123739,"Istanbul is very high on my list In terms of earthquake and emergency response. But I agree Italy and Greece are too. I've toyed a lot with the idea of having two-stage events, where the travel becomes part of the (optional) first stage. For example if we meet somewhere in/around Athens for the second stage, you can have a distributed first stage start in Izmir (and continue on the ferry to Athens), or on/around some of the airports that fly into Athens (may not be the best example as air travel is very fractured time, unlike train or ferry). Just a thought.  Alternatively one could try to do 1-2 prior hangouts where we use Edgesense (and of course human input) to either stirr the pot, or find close matches (as people prefer). If feel like meetings can be far more helpful if we already warm people up beforehand and not go in ""cold turkey"". Also, people who cannot attend physically can still help with the hangout organizaton - and can try to partner up with an ""agent"" who will be attending physically. " 11,13486,2016-11-05T22:44:03.000Z,13483,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"Thessaloniki or an island Thessaloniki or a Greek island is better choice because people are more involved. And don't forget that is the project I 'm running now. So why, in Athens? " 12,13490,2016-11-06T09:39:53.000Z,13486,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"It was only an example It wasn't meant as suggestion. :) " 13,13497,2016-11-05T23:23:17.000Z,13477,anon4074474473,anon477123739,"This guide is one of the reasons I decided to establish the assosiation ""Cosmus diy"" (the bureaucracy part). Most of the people here have experience at Idomeni and still have at the camps. But I think it must be more wide. Not only about the refugees' anon3003844599 or about a specific place/country. Maanon1932026148 a few things can be the same but every place should have a diffirent guide. And then we can map and add people and skills or knowlenge.I also have an idea about the clothing problem and how we can do ""smart balls"" with clothes anywhere This is more complicated and I think it needs a video. " 14,13498,2016-11-06T09:25:14.000Z,13497,anon477123739,anon4074474473,"funding do we think that we could find a funding agency willing to cover some of the costs related to pulling this project together? I look around and see many people on here who have 1st hand experience of dealing with crisies and disasters around the globe. I assume all of us could reach out to at least 2 or 3 major organisations who would be interested in contributing to a large scale  useful project like this. i wonder if we could approach an organisation like Wellcome Trust as a humanities/health cross over project? What do you think @anon " 15,13499,2016-11-07T12:22:35.000Z,13498,anon784612129,anon477123739,"German / EU crisis reaction budget I've used this opportunity to dig into some of the recent German gov publications on such issues, and it turns out that . ""Die Kommunikation mit der Bevölkerung ist in Deutschland aktuell nicht Bestandteil von Notfallschutz-Übungen.In den zuständigen Behörden liegen in den meisten Fällen keine Krisenkommunikationskonzepte vor. Kommunika-tion über soziale Medien wird bisher nur unzureichend berücksichtigt."" ""Communication with the population in Germany is currently not part of emergency response exercises. In the competent authorities, there are in most cases no crisis communication concepts. Communication on social media has so far only been inadequately addressed."" (this comes from the radiation guys who are somewhat important historically). Also they see the need to coordinate better within the EU as quite simple events (big fire, toxic chemicals released) can overwhelm national stockpiles easily - especially if there were a series of such events. So if the event you plan could include this as a facet, then I think this could be potentially be budgeted. Also, here is a German centered (intl at bottom) list of emergency reaction organizations (mostly centered around ""Civil Protection"") and some other relevant organizations. If your event allows for it, I could try and see if there are a few that would be interested in dialing in and listening to how your discussion is going. Perhaps they could also answer some questions that may come up. " 16,13500,2016-11-07T13:54:00.000Z,13498,anon784612129,anon477123739,"Check out Potential info or participation: http://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/en/ethnologie/personenliste/voss/index.html  / https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Voss3 and http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.katastrophennetz.de%2F I would expect they could also point out funding opportunities. Perhaps one could divert some anti-terror money to useful activities in resilience? A simple way would be to coordinate with some of them: http://wordpress.katastrophennetz.de/masterstudiengaenge/ for a master thesis project. He was in charge of ""cross border support workshop""  (I'll update if I find something English, this is Austrian-German), and works with the gov civil protection. " 17,13501,2016-12-10T19:16:01.000Z,13498,anon4074474473,anon477123739,"@anon " 18,13502,2016-12-10T17:14:27.000Z,13501,anon477123739,anon4074474473,"I have sent you an email. I would suggest you remove your email address from the post above to protect your security " 19,13503,2016-12-10T19:15:32.000Z,13502,anon4074474473,anon477123739,"Ok! Thank you! " 20,13504,2016-11-06T18:29:55.000Z,13477,anon784612129,anon477123739,"""Citizens Guides"" exist Of course with some different focus groups and cases, but ""The Citizen"" does not exist. So what I'd think is crucial is the presentation format and delivery method. For example after a catastrophy (or on the march) very few people will have the time to read about it in Red Cross or USAid pdfs even though they would probably remember critical things much better than in a classroom. Some can understand scientific papers, and others cannot read. Generally, if you want to be prepared you need to invest some time into practicing or reading e.g. ""Where there is no Doctor"", or stocking some tools or supplies before shit hits the fan. Not many people are ready to do that. It is much less glamorous than posing with big guns and other stuff. Often people (correctly) feel it is unlikely that they would get a return on investment for their effort. Also, crises affect different regions (e.g. climate) in different ways, in those regions e.g. urban areas will be affected differently from rural, in those places different people (age, occupation, gender, minority) will again be affected differently in short to long term. Most documents I know are written in a linear fashion, either for ""the general populace"" or authorities, or a few select critcal professions. Research articles in the field are often a bit better (if you can get them and understand them) as they show more of the detail under the hood. There is quite a bit out there in English, German, and I am sure French language. I would expect that other languages can be a very mixed bag. Interestingly almost none of the materials I know are intended for reproduction and dissemination (perhaps modification) in the field, which I think is a critical shortcoming. Economically you often cannot but be largely unprepared for low frequency large impact events. If you could could start quickly copy-pasting stuff from a relatively few seeds once the event has come to pass, you would very quickly be able to deliver information and organize action far better. I think the most realistic forms of reproduction in the field are (including grid down, excluding perhaps nuclear EMP scenarios): - Copies via smart phone, either onto micro-sd card or using e.g. bluetooth file transfer. - Recording of spoken/played material via phone, perhaps eventually put into writing. - Pencil/coal stick/copy machine copies of simple illustrations/heuristics/nmemonics/ not more than a few lines in most cases. My suggestion would be a less linear and mostly digital collection of material (even if the grid will be down it will be relatively easy to charge a smartphone/tablet/etc from solar or car batteries). Ideally most of it can be accessed through different lenses - weighing urgent vs important, for the specific ""type"" of audience, in a (or several) appropriate formats. On the latter point I would strongly recommend inlcuding something that is audio based with separate illustrations (and check lists, e.g. in playing card deck, or digitally as ""album art"" format) and incremental navigation (e.g. if you need to know more on this topic press forward 9 times and you hear the announcement ""xyz""). An audio lecture then could be made up of a summary of 1. the most important things to know in a hurry, 2. the main content, 3. mnemonic take aways to repeat to yourself. Audio has the advantages that you do not need to drop everything you're doing, you can do it while walking, and you can do it in the dark. If you use 64kbps (clear spoken language) mono mp3 audio you need approximately 1 MB for every 2 minutes. If we assume 24h of spoken material that would be 720 MB. This fits into almost every memory card (or CD), mp3 player and can be copied using bluetooth version 3 in 5 minutes, and version 2 in 30 minutes. The most important things everyone needs to know should probably be available in different languages but be only 3-15 minutes in duration. Additional material can be provided in ebook format (which can be referenced in the audio) with very little space required. My schematic in the other comment is an example for non-digital content that can also be reproduced in the field, when you actually have demand. It could also be airdropped as leaflets of course. I wanted to make a heuristic approach to re-establish some skeletal form of organization which can catalyze coopreration (especially in the 48h hours of pro-social behavior mostly observed after an acute catastrophe). I thought this is necessary because very often there exists no effective interface to the local society that the ""professional care & aid circus"" can dock into, and many of the respective group's fuck-ups would be easier to avoid if there was such an interface. The idea is to establish channels on the ground within the local community which accumulate, curate (discuss), and disseminate critical information. Those information dense hubs can relatively easily be found and interfaced with the professionals. If the crises do not have a clear onset like an earthquale or flood, but is more creeanon3606750899g other approaches may be more effective though. The implied understanding that may motivate people is the following: Doing difficult situations alone is usually not a good idea*. Put 20% into helanon3606750899g each other, and if the majority survives you'll probably be among them. The simplified instructions: 1 of 5 connects and helps to coordinate. 1 in 5 helps to coordinate coordinators. Information must flow in both directions fast, and critical aspects need to be documented. Make a group in which you will quickly be able to trust, care, and communicate (so about 5). Then make groups of groups and dedicate 10-20% of your resources to communication & cooperation, about half ""upwards"" and half ""downwards"". *Something that rarely gets enough attention when you superficially glance at the prepper scene. Alone you are probably prey to your own stupidity, germs, or pack hunters. Your gun does not help when you are sleeanon3606750899g. " 21,13505,2016-11-06T21:49:49.000Z,13504,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"I think it's useless to repeat methods from the past. We have to think out of the box and create new ways of reaction. We can use all this survival kit lists just for wring/sift and/or update them. The point is not an endless list that nobody wants to read it but to find ways to train the people through their daily routines. And only a few things should be prepared especially for emergencies. " 22,13506,2016-11-07T10:33:46.000Z,13505,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"Resilience routines then? I agree that long lists and texts aren't very helpful most of the time (although there may be exceptions, like cities under siege, certain diseases, etc.). If you want to integrate activities that help prepare yourself for an acute or creeanon3606750899g emergency I think in many ways going camanon3606750899g, hiking, or something like the boy scouts are helpful to get people started. Basically you get used to the idea of getting by with less infrastructure. This of course does not address the myriad of other issues you may be facing, which can require quite different preparations. That is in part why I looked at ways of short term organization and info dissemination. The other thing that would be helpful and perhaps realistic for some poeple at least is to try to be able to provide a useful service during such emergencies. I would not want to dismiss methods from the past completely. Certainly many of them don't work very well, may be blindsided, or out of touch with realities. So I agree one should not accept them as last word on the issues (and note I may sound more drastic on this if I had seen official approach fail on the Greek Islands for months) - there sure is a necessity for trying out new things. Still official policies often have some useful elements to them (also depends on how far into the past one wants to look). " 23,13515,2016-11-03T15:13:43.000Z,11600,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"Smells Strongly scented soap, rosewater, essential oil (careful with skin contact) on a scarf dipped maanon1932026148 mixed with vasiline could could produce a pleasent or at least effectively masking smell. Vicks VapoRub supposedly also works as mosquito repellent, as well as medical uses. If you have small things that small you could fix them with a safety anon3606750899. Especially for women I could imagine the opposite could also be helpful in some situations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stink_bomb https://www.amazon.com/Stink-Bombs-42-0003-12-Boxes/dp/B001MKRQBS/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1478185871&sr=8-5&keywords=stink+bombs " 24,15649,2016-11-02T10:05:30.000Z,550,anon1491650132,anon4074474473,"Is there any kind of system in the world that could cope? To your first question, I am not too optimistic. What we're seeing over and over again is that large scale responses needed in these crises situations mostly come about ad hoc and like in Greece, it's citizens who end up training themselves for preparedness. Matthis and co. for example set up this manon169343781al for disaster relief management. Is that what you have in mind, but more detailed? But I am still amazed at how you, as an elected municipal councillor in Thessaloniki, prefered to take a step with community as main asset rather than with instruments you had available in your office. Did I get it wrong? " 25,17714,2016-11-02T23:22:21.000Z,15649,anon4074474473,anon1491650132,"No, you didn't! @anon About the ...hot stuff as an elected person I'll be back tomorrow. I think I have to explain a few things about the reality here in Greece. " 26,18440,2016-11-03T00:29:41.000Z,17714,anon1526983854,anon4074474473,"I want to know about this too! Huh... @anon In passing: I think we are looking at diversity trumps ability. When an activist-designer-manon169343781facturer like you, a material scientist like @anon784612129 and an open source hacker like @anon " 27,18586,2016-12-13T09:51:21.000Z,18440,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Heads up: new challenge ""Policies of Care"" @anon Because the role of administrations keeps popanon3606750899g up in many conversations in opencare, with the city of Milano we are now launching a campaign to understand how well meaning public servants and their office can collaborate, support or even set up better regulations endorsing community projects like yours and the others we know. Would you be interested in participating with a story? We could do it like this - organising a chat where you meet @anon The challenge is here, have a look and let me know what you think? (we're still polishing the wording, but it should give you an idea..) " 28,18798,2016-12-13T20:18:55.000Z,18586,anon4074474473,anon1491650132,"I was thinking about that... @anon " 29,18893,2016-12-13T20:48:41.000Z,18798,anon1491650132,anon4074474473,"It's ok, we can wait a few more days of course! Take the time you need, @anon " 30,20831,2016-11-02T11:36:04.000Z,550,anon1932026148,anon4074474473,"I am very moved by your story and I like the idea of including 'a wish' in every backpack so much. It reminds me of this project: https://www.facebook.com/weshallstandforlove/ of a fiend or me in Brussel: Dorothy Oger wrote the poem We shall stand for love in the aftermath of the Brussels terror attacks, and then the poem went viral and was translated in many many languages and now it is distributed for free on postcards with enough space to add a personal message; I allways have the poem with me to pass it on to friends, refugees,... " 31,22175,2016-11-02T23:52:46.000Z,20831,anon4074474473,anon1932026148,"@anon1932026148 the wish was one of the @anon Thank you for telling us about the poem. Amazing idea!    " 32,24595,2016-11-06T18:38:19.000Z,550,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"Notes to self - Thermosflask improvements (big & glass) - Hot air pump for sleeanon3606750899g bag " 33,26056,2017-01-11T09:48:01.000Z,550,anon784612129,anon4074474473,"I just saw the images of people waiting in line in the snow   @anon You'd only need an improvised ticket system and people could stay out of the bad weather unless it was their turn. There are many ways and materials to improvise these from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_dough ASIN B00O0PRFHM paper or clay (perhaps ""non-firing"") and number punches ( B01M1VBFNS )). The only thing you really need are the number punches. With them you can quickly improvise a (reusable) ticket system. The details of implementing it can be all kinds of ways - not necessarily a first come, first serve. What I could imagine works fairly well is having a clock-like indicator which groups of tickets are called for when, and if available a loudspeaker that can also call things out. One nice thing about the fimo stuff is that it is pretty easy to mix in a unique way, so making fakes is very difficult. And you have to look closely to see the number on it, which reduces fighting for the ""best numbers"" (you also do count downs vs count ups). A pack of 570g can easily be made into 570 tickets. Cost per 1000 such long lasting tickets would be around 30 EUR. " 34,26963,2017-01-11T21:44:36.000Z,26056,anon4074474473,anon784612129,"Camps We don't have contact with the refugees anymore, the camps ate far from the town and nobody listens to any ideas. So, the only thing I can do it's to keep it for my list. It's difficult to explain the situation here... " 1,5136,2015-12-27T22:18:46.000Z,5136,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Engineering meets biomatter. The squiggly squishy, compliant bits of biomechanics allow you to produce one size fits all. If someone has physical disability, like cerebral paulsy, giving them a little bit of improved mobility can have huge positive effects. Functionally grated structures: Inspired by Bird beaks: Hydrophobic proteins and high water content parts of the body.  Example where functional grating is applied: Cerebral palsy - Cost of therapy is very expensive because one on one time with specialists are very costly, and tech used is not modifiable. - so they build soft exoskeletons for actuators (for joints) using functional grating principles. Check out their ""Neucuff"" Another example where functional grating is used: Prosthetics Uses distributed force: see goats' feet as a reference/description of the principle used to build prosthetics. - Feets that are hard metal pads (hard actuators) does not allow you to compensate for unexpected events. - Also flies' spatulated hairs on their feet. N++1. Aron Parnell tries to mass manon169343781facture. Last example: Replacing atmospheric preassure in space suits with pneumatic preassure, shrinking them to fit human body. Problem: Spring effect. Solution: Don't make mechanical counterpressure suit in one go, but gradually? (not sure I got this right) " 2,6954,2017-01-11T09:13:13.000Z,5136,anon784612129,anon70625510,"Soft robotics is very interesting overall Be it inflated or just rubbery soft (silicone is a great material to play with at home!). One particularly interesting aspect is that it uses a different engineering paradigm I dare say. Usually things are treated as broken if they deform (past an elongation of 0.2% typically). If you look at the majority of what matters on this planet - deformations (sometimes quite large) are the norm! The reasons there is such a difference in approaches is to a large degree historical and does NOT make much sense for very many applications. In fact prothesis are a nice example of the old paradigm hit the wall pretty bad: If you replace a bone (which is pretty soft compared to what we usually design for in the engineering world!) with a much ""stiffer"" (technical term) artificial limb and you now jump with such a replaced bone things don't end well. While the artificial limb can (and does) take higher stresses - their neighboring bones typically do not - and eventually are wrecked. Fly feet, cockroach feet, gecko feet are also utterly fascinating subjects if you delve into them! " 1,790,2016-10-07T13:41:48.000Z,790,anon2356835326,anon2356835326,"[Curator's note] Alkasem was a doctor student in Syria, but had to flee the country for obvious reasons. He studied for four years at the university, but on arriving here he couldn’t continue his studies because of his status of refugee in Europe. Still he came to the workshop in Brussels and we are all really thankful for his disruptive thinking and propositions that helped us think out of the box and see our Western society from another perspective. About alternatives to our healthcare system: In Syria we have an ‘islamic solidarity’ in society that creates a kind of health system without organization, like you have to give a part of your money to the poor, you have social care system that is organized by the people itself. If you haven’t fastened for one day, you have to give food to 64 people. Every doctor works one day a week for free. That is how we can survive under a dictatorship.  We are already prepared for any kind of chaos, it is made for any kind of situation and is part of our cultural heritage. I want to see the whole of society as one body, but here everybody lives in his box, I call this ""boxpeople"". You live together but you don’t really live together. You are online, but not connected, we have to discuss, to see each other more. This is my new society, so i want to care as much about this now then how I cared about my society in Syria.  For exemple the old people are separated from the rest of the adults, they don’t have a connection. Why do you do that? We don’t talk about generational society, we don’t attach value to the older people here and that makes me worry. I hear a lot about that here we work a lot about societal diversity, but not generational diversity About people sleeanon3606750899g in the streets: One of the first things I noticed in Brussels is that a lot of people are living in the streets. Why are they living in the streets, don’t they have families to take care of them? Where are the families of the homeless people? I never saw anyone homeless in Syria, or living on a mattress. How did it happen? Some of the participants responded later on: 
    • the core family concept has been broken down - after uni and growing up you have to support yourself; so there is no glue which keeps family together
    • in North Africa systems are weak - so there has always been a cultural support; whereas in the West the system is supposed to take care of everything
    • ""Free, but alone."" vs. ""Belonging, but coerced"" Comparing systems-based  vs. family-based cultures of care (twitter link)
    About trust Everything moves around friendship. I have the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust. And without trust no skill can be shared. How can we create a better health system if we need all kind of difficult systems to create the trust that isn’t there really. In less then one day, Alkasem showed us that the things we find sometimes really obvious aren’t at all for everybody. He inpacted a lot of the discussions with his point of views and made it obvious that sometimes we are still a bit too etnocentric about the way we want to design solutions. Having completly different cultural heritages at the table makes a discussions so much richer. " 2,7704,2016-10-07T21:35:37.000Z,790,anon1526983854,anon2356835326,"Trust How can we create a better health system if we need all kind of difficult systems to create the trust that isn’t there really? Wow, @anon I never lived in the Middle East, so I do not have your experience. But it doesn't look like the West lacks trust. All our societies run on trust; and normally such trust is rewarded, because we are rule-abiders: we stand in queues, show up for work and at school (resaonably) on time, and do not really cheat. Cheating is quite rare. So: can you say more about the lack of trust you see? What is it that is done differently in Syria?  " 3,12087,2016-10-18T16:16:15.000Z,7704,anon2356835326,anon1526983854,"thanks Alberto ..I really don,t know I was born and I raised up like this untill we don,t think about it , belive me when I say : I started to wonder about those things here in Europe " 4,15792,2016-10-14T13:51:00.000Z,790,anon1491650132,anon2356835326,"The intergenerational divide Having met you in Brussels made me really grateful, @anon I wanted to say that the intergenerational support has a strong tradition in some places in Europe, and some practices are ongoing - I even wrote about how my grandma and grandgrandma before her come to live with her children at old age. What has changed I feel is that we perceive this to be a burden to some extent - and tend to see less the great potential for mutual support. The response to your question about children moving away to become independent is true, and so living with parents after a while can feel like taking a step back. Especially in cities and urban areas, we seem to have no time to engage in real conversations and see what new things we each have to say to each other or needs we have, even in a family..  " 5,18095,2016-10-18T16:27:30.000Z,15792,anon2356835326,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi me I think the issue is more simple , in the middle east we say we live in a big families because it is more warm , inherited consensus make it so easy , trust me , in Syria I never worried about what I,m gonna eat , who,s I,m gonna spend time with ( because of the agenda of duties for people , neighbours , family ) , I started to wonder about that only in europe :) " 6,18580,2016-10-19T09:40:09.000Z,18095,anon1491650132,anon2356835326,"Yuck, first world problems.. .. is what @anon " 7,18613,2016-11-12T10:41:50.000Z,18580,anon784612129,anon1491650132,"First world problems, first world opportunities... There are heaps of literature how this splintering and individualization of society allows for a reorganization that allows modern industrial society to operate much better. Of course if one sees many of the problems industrial society brings with it, a case could be made that we've partially overdone it, perhaps to the detriment of our (and other peoples) health and our environment. Regarding ""What am I going to wear today?"" - this is a very old story. It dates back many thousand years, and huge investment into clothes and especially ornament can be found with many hunter & gatherer cultures. But I am sure the subtle and not so subtle differences will start a lot of thought processes about things you've until now taken for granted. In Marseille I see quite different approaches to dressing and style whith street scenes looking quite different depending on day of the week or time of day. I find it quite interesting but don't spend much time on this myself. " 8,18807,2016-11-13T11:32:57.000Z,18613,anon1491650132,anon784612129,"A quote on wealth, consumerism and the real needs we try to meet To me what @anon2356835326 is saying has more to do with the way we spend our time and attention, the everyday decisions we make, of which many are more artificial than essential. Not to generalize of course, but materiality is definitely what makes today's West as far as I'm concerned. ""Why, then, if expensive things cannot bring us remarkable joy, are we so powerfully drawn to them? Because of an error similar to that of the migraine sufferer who drills a hole in the side of his skull: because expensive objects can feel like plausible solutions to needs we don't understand. Objects mimic in a material dimension what we require in a psychological one [] Our weak understanding of our needs is aggravated by what Epicurus termed 'idle oanon3606750899ions' of those around us, which do not reflect the natural hierarchy of our needs, emphasizing luxury and riches, seldom friendship, freedom and thought."" - Alain de Botton, Consolations of philosopy.  " 9,21579,2016-10-18T16:49:43.000Z,790,anon281534083,anon2356835326,"It may be generational too Speaking as an American at the age when living parents are all advanced seniors - and many of those seniors live in homes and facilities, while it can be said without danger of over-generalizing, that to many in my age group, having your late-age senior living with you is seen as an inconvenience.   But I think at least when it comes to that WWII generation in the US, a very large number of them want to keep their independence as long as humanly possible.  They don't want to live with the family and they don't want to cede authority over their ""space"" to any of their kids.  So, it isn't all neglect and self-interest.  I know a lot of people my age who have parents who don't want to move in, or they do it as a kind of last resort.   The ones who do, and take on a role in the family that I think is more like the model Alkasem describes, seem pretty happy though.  I admire it.   When I was younger living in San Francisco which has a very high Asian population, it seems like all of my asian friends had an elderly relative, usually a grandparent, living in their house.  Every time I went over to this one friend's house in Chinatown, granny was always in the kitchen cutting up vegetables or something.  I would see that and think, ""that isn't gonna happen at my house.""  Neither generation wanted it. " 10,21658,2016-10-19T10:15:44.000Z,21579,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"Choice is important Interesting to read you John, I know a couple of those who want to stick to their freedom, and that sounds understandable. I guess what matters is self determination and individual health, and if that is found separate from coliving in family that's just how it is. The impossibility seems to be in our inability to provide deeper care when people fall through the cracks - if someone is forced to change their life to adjust to scarcity, whether the ill, old or the caretaker her/himself.  I see people coanon3606750899g at most, because there is no real choice and assessment of the situation outside constraints.  " 11,23372,2016-10-19T16:38:56.000Z,790,anon281534083,anon2356835326,"Elder care and big generations My 1945-1960 ""boomer"" generation is now heading into retirement, fixed incomes, scant savings and other common attributes.  This has always been the case with elders as a whole, but with my generation and my kids' equally large ""millenial"" generation, the sheer numbers of people needing care are about to go sharply up and remain there for decades. In the USA, the fabled land of plenty where you are free to succeed and also free to fail, statistics show that the average life savings of my generation are barely enough to sustain them (us) for a year in anything like the standard of living now enjoyed.  And that stadard is lower already than our parents' WWII generation that was both smaller and wealthier, with a vastly larger middle class.  Then what will become of everyone? American Social Security is robust now but without a lot more care and feeding from a unified nation, it won't stay that way.  And the cost of urban living is going up fast all over America.  Sending seniors out to the country where the health care is worse and one has to drive everywhere isn't an answer. At least seniors in the USA have Medicare, but that alone won't cover the total cost of health care.   I think we are going to see a shift towards the generations recombining inoto households and compounds in the coming years.  The ""generation gap"" that very much existed for my generation and my parents was, and still is in a way, much greater that what we see with my gernation and my kids.  I have four kids, all well into adulthood.  Two of them let me know regularly that they are open to us combining households in later years.  Getting my own mother to agree to such a thing with me or my brothers is like pulling teeth. " 12,26050,2016-11-03T12:18:19.000Z,790,anon1526983854,anon2356835326,"A third model: ""elderly peers"" My mother is now fairly old (she was born in 1937). Women in the family seem to have good genes, though, and she, her two sisters and some female cousins in their late 70s and early 80s are still quite formidable. They are also close to one another. So, my mum does have another option, which is to move in with her sisters. This is not as crazy as it might sound, because by pooling their forces they can hold out much longer than each one of them in isolation. Also, they would probably find this psychologically less disempowering than having to fall back on us, because they would help each other rather than being only on the receiving side.  Like in John's description, my mother and her sisters and cousins are fiercely independent and would absolutely loathe becoming dependent, even on us.  " 13,27819,2016-11-13T10:05:49.000Z,790,anon477123739,anon2356835326,"Intergenerational divide in our politics and world view Politically, we can see a large divide in the aspiration and acceptance of 'outsiders' between the generations. My Grandmother (and many thousands her age) have become increasingly conservative in their world view. From what i can gather, their experiences growing up straight after WW2 in a culture that still had lots of echoes of the wartime propaganda left an indelible mark on their attitudes to the outsider.  I grew up in a multi-ethnic society, with children from multiple places around the globe. To me, there is no fear or mistrust in seeing people from other ethnic backgrounds around me. But for my grandparents, there is a lanon1056199097ring Nationalism, a lack of acceptance of 'otherness' - socially, sexually, racially. Brought up in the social strictures of oost-war Britain they reject the social liberalisation that they have lived through. One could argue that they didn't really get to experience the full force of the social liberalisation. Many married young and had children young, many women stayed as full-time child carers and had little interaction outside of the home. Many had large families in the models of their parents before them. Their children have experienced the social liberalisation fully (sexual revolution, oral contraceptives, relaxation of the divorce laws), they grew up with a few non-white faces around them because of Windrush (immigration to UK from newly Independent West Indies) or from Indian sub-continental immigration before and after Partition. Their children (my parent's generation) were also the first people to truely benefit from the way that membership of the EU opened up travel around Europe and the North African coastline. They experienced the realities of live in other countries and these experiences changed how they think. My grandmother has never been outside the UK in her entire life. Now, at the point when she is starting to struggle with self care (and here i definitely agree with @anon281534083 's view that there is a stubborness and irrational sense of personal independence in their generation) more of the banon3760936673ce of looking after her falls on her kids, whose lives have been so different from hers. My point then is a difficult one to conceed. Although my grandmother is my family and helped to raise me, i find spending time with her very difficult. Her views are borderline racist at times, her attitude to the world is very negative, her experience is narrow and her oanon3606750899ions old fashioned. I am expected to show respect and deference to her based purely on the fact that she is older than me, yet i know my experience of the world is richer and wider than hers. I wouldn't want to be forced into living in that straight-jacket in order to reduce care costs. I do think that there are some positive ideas coming through around intergenerational living though. It's not that i'm intrinsically against 'old people', i think the irony is that i'm not especially fond of MY 'old people'. I would be more than willing to help look after a number of more liberally minded old people. It comes down the idea first put forward in the Open&Change discussion in HuisVDH  ""Free, but alone."" vs. ""Belonging, but coerced""  For me, i'd rather free and alone. But i can also see the attraction of belonging. But not the coersion. Perhaps this strength of intergenerational bond in Middle Eastern culture is down to having a more cohesive and consistant view of the world than we have in the West. Our horizons have expanded to include views about social and personal freedom that still struggle to gain ground in more conservative cultures. " 14,28468,2016-11-13T13:57:46.000Z,27819,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Important point! Excellent point, @anon We propose that communities are good candidates for being caregivers, because they are fair (they share the burden across individuals), efficient (allocation of who takes care of whom is based on self-selection: low overhead, you give care when and where you are readiest/most motivated to do so, receive it in the time and domain of your greatest need), and retain a human touch that state-and private sector provided care cannot (you care for your own, etc.). This is predicated on the givers and receivers of care recognizing each other as one: everyone is part of the same ""we"". When a person is recognized as not part of the ""we"", the community's incentive to care for her fails.  And it would be unwise to put it down to human error or happenstance. Some scientists argue convingly that for humans to divide between ""us"" and ""them"" is innate, because in our hunter-gatherer past we evolved under selection pressure at the group level. A full argument is made by E.O. Wilson in The Social Conquest of Earth. Thanks to @anon " 15,29080,2017-01-08T11:29:33.000Z,790,anon2954219769,anon2356835326,"Family in Laos During my short time in Laos, I couldn't help noticing analogies to this story. If anyone finds this useful, I can try to condense some other impressions and stories from Laos. I ever only saw one beggar. He was a physically disabled man, unable to stand, having to crawl through the streets. At different times I saw him receiving food from the small food stalls on the street. I had befriended a local woman, let's call her Babs, through a common friend and I asked her about this man. Babs immediately knew who I meant. She said that there were not many beggars and homeless people in Savannakhet, a city of 120,000 people and second largest city in Laos. There used to be many people asking for money on the streets a few years earlier. Most of them came from large, poor families outside the city. One or two family members would go to the city to beg and send some money back home. Recently, the local government chased those people away back to the rural areas. The reasoning was that the families were able to sustain themselves growing crops on their small piece of land, so they should not come begging in the city. Responsibility to take care of each other rests on the family. This is the situation for most of the Lao: they can sustain themselves but they have almost nothing more and live in poverty. Begging in the city is one of the ways out. Babs said that now, there only remain a few homeless people who have mental or physical disabilities and no family to rely on. In other words, those who have no other options. The police condones them and they are usually helped by the community, like getting food from food vendors. Babs mentioned that there were plenty of mentally and physically disabled people due to a poor medical system, pointing out especially the issue of giving birth in rural areas. Most of them are cared for by their family. " 16,29547,2017-01-09T20:11:44.000Z,29080,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Makes sense.. It's become clearer that homelessness correlates much more with inequality (especially affordability in housing) than with a country's wealth, which is what might explain cultural shocks as one moves from east to west.. I'm reminded of a friend of mine studying in the US who simply couldn't get past having seen so many people living in the streets in San Francisco. I would be definitely interested to read about the specifics of family dynamics in Laos, so if you ever find the time do go for it. " 1,5658,2016-05-17T10:19:57.000Z,5658,anon1491650132,anon1491650132," From http://rubyetc.tumblr.com/tagged/mh (ht Pauline)  First thing that happens during our first ever community meeting online is that the technology doesn’t work. What follows is a hilarious 1.5 hr conversation conducted via a combination of voice, sign language, lip reading and chat. We were joined by @anon In our intros we discovered most of us approach mental wellbeing in terms of how to make support more accessible - by inventoring and designing solutions, by opening up a conversation. I saw two big strands in the conversation that can inform our search: A. Is it safer for an online conversation to only deal with the soft side of mental health? That is, exclude suicide and death?  Noemi mentioned how deep suicide is in Ireland both among males and females, as well as it is underreported - it’s not even ranking top in Europe (like former Soviet countries). Pauline added that in Sweden, suicide is the most common cause of death in people between 18-35. Costantino said this was dangerous to approach in OpenCare, even though we know it’s increasingly being flagged in the tech activist sector (see re:Publica session Hacking with Care). Team JUS was on board! They’re working on design that explores vulnerability: We want to research objects that people are handling or certain gestures they are doing while in therapy. Can we find a certain patterns in these behaviours or interactions? Maanon1932026148 we can do something with it? We found in the interviews/chats we started with our peers as well that it was very difficult for them to open up. We also had some observations how to create a sharing environment Their design will most probably involve
    1. Human connection - ""if you just throw your thoughts in the air without any feedback it is less interesting than if you are sharing with people with whom you have an intimate relationship"" (Nadia).
    2. Some external tokens to facilitate this, like objects (bridging connection between repetitive gestures and calming yourself down); maanon1932026148 space (pop-up confession booths).
    B. Or should we really push ourselves over the edge and experiment? Is there relief in black humor? This can be simply by asking people on the streets How are you? and then ""Really, how are you?"". More advanced versions include drawing inspiration from funeral traditions involving celebrations of sorts thru drinks, food, but also social grieving (Eastern Europe, Jewish culture, Italy, Germany were mentioned).  .. for the rest I will have to let the notes speak as I won’t do them justice) N: How would you design for maximum inappropriateness. What are the most inappropriate jokes you can make in a situation where someone is in pain? How do you piss people off at a Jewish funeral? How to make the grieving person forget about their sorrow and want to kill you instead? N: Because there is some relief in black humour. P: i love it. dealing with depression through humor and showing your feelings O: How do we choose who to talk to? P:'survivors'? O: I would talk to someone who had a similar experience and can connect with me and understand me. N: Anonymous emotionalists. ""let the crazy out in small pieces- not all at once"". XYKD did a fantastic comic on depression https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/14txdv/xkcd_honest/ O: 1 I would also talk to someone i know very little or not at all Ne: +1 ""What made you understand that you were depressed""? N: My partner said I should probably take a shower. P: but that's important too! finding the right kind of treatment; therapy varies alot depending on the person too, the treatment guy N: Inability to take any decisions. Decision to not go to shrink. Just getting stuck. P: the scale of our project is probably much smaller than the whole conversation you are interested in having on Edgeryders right? P: dark horse is there also C: this track to do with emotions and mind etc can be a long term track within opencare; Imperfect, super unreliable tools and unsuitable places to kill yourself. Placebo pills Homeopathic poison pill Please join our growing group and help build a sensible brief around emotional wellbeing here. " 2,9633,2016-05-17T12:24:41.000Z,5658,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Reddit conversation: ""Check in: How are you this week?"" For inspiration check the brief here on the right: https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/4j46cz/weekly_check_in_how_are_you_this_week/  I especially liked this: Our focus is on support rather than ""fixes"". If you are looking for a more solution-oriented community, check out/r/getting_over_it/ or /r/GetMotivated. or Do not post or respond with:
    • ""Tough love"" of any description.
    • General uplifting or ""it gets better"" messages. Encouragement is not helpful unless it integrates real, personal understanding of the OP's feelings and situation.
    • Anything explicit or inciting related to suicide or self harm.
    • Claims about the efficacy of any treatment or self-help strategy including religion.
    Thinking about our OpenCare brief in the making, or Pauline & Omri's project design: we need to signal the rules of the space somehow in order to build trust that the person sharing is in the right space: if it's for peer support vs if it's a project/solution space etc.  " 3,12059,2016-05-20T23:04:34.000Z,9633,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Support rather than ""fixes"" And here it is. This rings very true. No one can ""fix"" anyone else (unless in emergency surgery, probably). But humans excel at support, when we can be bothered!  " 4,16456,2016-05-19T03:55:11.000Z,5658,anon712028032,anon1491650132,"Really interested in this topic Ever since the election in the UK I've been doing a lot of vox pop on the streets (Liverpool, Paris, Brighton) and listening to people around the question of what do you long for in the place where you live? I've been trying out different ways of leading people towards this question, either through asking about their dreamlife or asking them to imagine themeselves into a future they would like to live in. Through these talks it came up again and again that a lot of people really were living through enormously challenging situations and traumas and very willing to normalise it in conversation and shrug it off. Listening to people simply as humans without any judgements around what kind of state they were in (eg. seeing all the people I met simply as humans experiencing the world, rather than classifying some as experiencing states that were ""abnormal"" or could be classed as ""mentally ill"") felt like a helpful thing - the urge to have one's experience understood unites everyone. I was thinking about networks that could help this (and thinking around digital networks - Airbnb / dating apps etc. and looked at some mental health apps ) I was mostly thinking about place and the fact that it is true of all places that there would be really wretched experiences in need of processing and how this reality is something that needed stepanon3606750899g up to.  I don't know of many political utopias that really take into account neurodiversity and conditions like dementia. This perspective is drawn from my experience of talking to a multitude of strangers these last few months and I realise there are many many issues when it comes to mental health. But I'll share my naive view as I've been considering the role that I'd taken up in wandering about listening to whoever wanted or needed to talk and about the emotional healing of groups of people and how we so inadequately meet that in product driven cultures. The experience left me thinking that peer support was exactly what was needed by a lot of people. Psychologists are too expensive for most and online tick boxes are not at all like being listened to or sharing experience. There is something in spoken expression, being listened to and accepted that is just vital for emotional processing. With a few technologists I prototyped some systems that used voice recordings to play back these ""real"" expressions to others. Again the emphasis was not on mental illness but on the similarities and the differences in the longings of the inhabitants of particular locations - the project was inspired by thinking about how it might be possible to make networks in Nepal that in some way help the expression and social processing of the shock around the earthquake. However, there had been a depth in the experience of the interchanges that had happened whilst making the recordings that were more interesting than the voice playback system. The interviews always came out of a ""live"" sharing of experience (ie. the interviewee's expeirences and my own) and involved risk, personal disclosure, agency and shared discovery in a way that listening to a recording does not. I am still wondering about digital systems that allow people to talk directly to each other in a structured way that could help them process their emotional situations. And I considered the various kinds of conversations people might want - just to speak or perhaps a more formal recorded conversation that involved making a commitment. Witnessed formal statements - like rituals - can create marker points in people's lives. Alchoholic's anonymous is probably a relevant example. I wondered about the Samaritans model which sets up this sense that you can make a telephone call if you are desperate and the ""Samaritan"" is steady, sane and absolutely OK. I wonder about a network that simply says: whatever you are going through is part of the human experience ie. there is no broken experience, but there certainly is incredibly challenging experience.   It feels like a given that two people who are in grief may find solace in sharing their real experience and connecting.  And yet, to generalise, Western communities often put empahsis on usefulness in society and direct those exhibiting signs of mental distress to simply ""be OK"" / go on medication / fix themeselves -  I totally agree with the point you are bringing out that ""the community"" is often woefully dysfunctional at supporting or accepting unusual emotional situations. I wonder about a network that links people as humans wanting to share something specific in a particular area of the world - so the region is the unifier, not the emotional suffering. Perhaps I'm thinking of a more generalised target audience than you are considering but my sense is after walking Liverpool, that everyone who lives in a distributed area is in someway involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place. I'm aware this is a poetic notion but I think various imaginative re-framings of the issue of mental health is what's needed. Maanon1932026148 this would only work as a three way conversation with someone trained and with really clear guidelines around use but my thinking here is that what's needed is not this expert / patient relationship but two humans sharing different experiences of living in a similar place.  My friend Denis Ngala at TICAH, the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health, an organisation in Kenya that works in linking health and cultural knowledge was telling me about the work that was being done in Kenya around victims of torture and reintegrating them back into society after they had given freedom again. The emphasis he was communicating was that recovery was not the problem of the victim of torture alone, but that it was the community's task. They were working to educate the community around how to support the individual live beyond what they had lived through. Real-life conversations from real experience in which neither party is an expert can be life changing. I work a lot with VR and seeing through another's eyes is certainly helpful but what really leads to change is honestly communicating difficult experience and listening to others and accepting their experience. There's some sort of validation in the honesty of that process that allows for shifts. There are lots of CBT, brain training, ""look at things brighter"" apps around but perhaps there's room for bold digital networks - with some serious legal tick boxes in place - that make possible structured honest relational experiences between people in a particular place. It feels like using the digital to practice honestly speaking and speaking in one's own name rather than anonymously would be helpful at this point. The histories of Snapchat et al. show the many superficial ways that communication can go, but there's a saviness emerging around structuring and limiting online encounter and creating a precise invitation that makes me think it's possible. Online experiences that move into relational and creative territory and away from the sense that mental difficulties have to be born alone like a scapegoat in the desert or solved once and for all like winning in a game - there's something about the unique experience of another person that is a random element that can startle out of insularity. An app for conversation for people in a particular country? A way of marking personal commitments to the self and receiving some real social validation for it? A whole raft of comedy solutions that normalise being in dire straights and make it feel like it's worth making the epic journey back to life? Not sure, but you're right that there is a real need for help with processing emotions and it's something that a healthy culture should be able to give.   " 5,18068,2016-05-20T23:16:29.000Z,16456,anon1526983854,anon712028032,"I barely grasp it... Well met again, @anon712028032! This is a hell of a comeback. There seems to be a deep intuition here. ""Something about the experience of another person..."" this is how we learn everything in Edgeryders, we discourage vouching oanon3606750899ions and encourage sharing stories (preferably one's own) because they are so much thicker and richer. This is across the board, not just around mental health – in fact we had not gone into discussing mental health so far, not really. What I don't understand is: are you thinking around some online space for this?  Wait, what? Nepal? Now that's a coincidence :-)   " 6,18565,2016-05-21T01:20:40.000Z,18068,anon712028032,anon1526983854,"I don’t know - I’m open - I was interested in this topic wanted to put down some thoughts. Instinctively I’m drawn to systems that allow people to vocalise, listen and be listened to in a particular place. Perhaps the digital simply helps to organise something which is then a “live” experience. There’s a long history of formal conversations as playing a vital part in processing atrocities - I will not write another long mail of examples! - but it made me wonder if that kind of designed experience (sharing experience, care, validation, human dignity) can be made into a more generic invitation.   There’s something in the idea about spending distinct and limited periods of time in group processes around emotional processing and communication. Feels like that is useful to all as you say - an often over-looked necessary act of hygiene perhaps. Particularly important for those trying to work and live in different ways - living on the edge takes some real practical and emotional resilience, as edgeryders articulates so well. When it comes to practical implementation, I’m setting up an experiment in Brighton for September around place and sharing experience & looking out for volunteer opportunities in psychotherapy group work. Just starting up a collab working with the Uni of Geneva Center for Affective Sciences on touch and emotions - though that’s not focussing on emotion processing from a cultural perspective, which is what grabbed me about the initiative above. A slow burner - personally, I need to gain some more active experience to be really useful on this - and very happy to follow this discussion & input if relevant.  & the Nepal connection… Worked on a small project in Liverpool after the Nepal earthquake, a Nepalese hornbill audio sculpture that explored how network technology could make audible the word on the street & the dreams people were having http://byzantium.chroma.space/about/  Was designed to be developed for Nepal, but it was vandalised so back to the drawing board with it… hope it will come through in time. Simple experience gained in the process of making the work around the dramatic power of shared expression for processing trauma & that network tech makes possible new ways of facilitating this. All sorts of problems around crowd sourcing psychotherapy - equal relations and shared experience feels like a stronger emphasis: designing systems for ""live"", sincere, courageous conversations which puts some trust back in the (extended) neighbourhood as equipped to hold together around the varieties of experiences endured on this earth.   " 7,18782,2016-05-21T08:23:01.000Z,18565,anon1526983854,anon712028032,"Ok... Ok, so here's the intuition I see in your comment, @anon712028032.
    • Take an online community with a commitment to constructive interaction – one with quite strong community management. 
    • It is not so far from a support structure based on human-to-human listening. You could probably hack your way from healthy community to support structure.
    Is that it? If so, it is quite actionable, therefore powerful.  " 8,18827,2016-12-16T10:24:26.000Z,18782,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Did this fall through the cracks? @anon712028032 I made a mistake in mentioning you, so that the platform did not send you the notification. I was wondering if you had the time to consider my tentative summary above... Thanks!  " 9,19040,2016-05-21T08:27:59.000Z,18565,anon1491650132,anon712028032,"Slow burning too. How else re: emotional health? Yours is already a very useful contribution @anon712028032, thanks so much. It signals we're on a good track - that we need to approach this with care, with focus on peer listening (already a strong point made by the folks cited in the notes above), and with some magic combination between digital and open ended conversations + structured/ generic/ maanon1932026148 even ritualized format of fostering exchanges.  You mentioned Geneva and therapy work, and reminded me to also include @anon " 10,21365,2016-05-19T15:15:54.000Z,5658,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"""that everyone who lives in a distributed area is in someway involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place"" Beautiful idea, it feels too beautiful to not be true. Like mathematic formulae. " 11,24665,2016-05-21T15:30:29.000Z,5658,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"Questions If you Google ""mental health support group"" and add Liverpool, London, Brighton, Brussels or just about any other location in the EU, you get a lot of links to groups already actively doing what is being described here (from what I gather, could be I'm missing something).  If you add ""online"" to that you still get relevant results, though far fewer. My question then is, how would what's being described, or at least hinted at, here be different or perhaps better than what is already going on.  Or, how can the exisiting activity be supplemented or improved?  Or, is the idea to use online communication to reach entirely other people than who uses these existing resources?    " 12,25283,2016-05-21T18:49:00.000Z,24665,anon1526983854,anon281534083,"I guess Following @anon712028032's train of thoughts, they exist but they do not listen. They say the wrong things. They try to ""fix"" people. Is that so, Kate? I have no experience of my own to contribute. From an OpenCare perspective: they exist. But are they provided by communities to themselves? Or is someone cast as the ""solution provider"" and someone else as the ""vulnerable group in need of help""? " 13,25297,2016-05-23T08:50:18.000Z,25283,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"This is more about shared learning imho This thread is part of an effort of arriving at the right questions to reveal new knowledge: knowledge of approaches, of projects out there, of ways that work and dont in terms of support (more than fixes). If we manage to draw in different people some of whom have experiential knowledge with projects you mention @anon281534083, even better. If some of the people joining the conversation are running an initiative and they can improve it on the basis of that new knowledge, even better.  if we, together, decide to take on new avenues as a continuation of the conversation (an OpenCare sanon3606750899off?), well that is the most outcome to come out, so who knows.. " 14,27794,2016-12-26T14:55:40.000Z,5658,anon4259720994,anon1491650132,"An example in Armenia Here's an example of ""community approach"" to mental health care in Armenia. It is a tiny drop in the sea but still I am excited to know it exists here, even though it's rather a ""provider vs vulnerable group"" approach as  @anon @anon " 1,803,2016-12-21T21:26:25.000Z,803,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Sharing this:the ibreastexam, low-cost point-of-care breast health test for use by community workers in low resource settings. This device is designed to address the rising incidence of breast cancer in develoanon3606750899g countries where women have limited or no access to breast cancer screening services.  This is the full article:  UE Lifesciences, a company with offices in the U.S. and India, has developed the ibreastexam, a low-cost point-of-care breast health test for use by community workers in low resource settings. This device is designed to address the rising incidence of breast cancer in develoanon3606750899g countries where women have limited or no access to breast cancer screening services. The test is painless and radiation free, and takes less than 5 minutes to complete. The device can be used by any doctor or health worker and the results are available at the point-of-care.ibreastexam assesses differences in tissue elasticity between malignant and non-cancerous breast tissue, and its tactile sensor measures shear stiffness and tissue compression when applied to the skin. A clinical study conducted in India reported that the test maintained high specificity and outperformed an expert clinician who conducted a conventional clinical breast examination. All malignant lesions were identified by the device, while the clinician failed to identify a non-palpable lesion. UE Lifesciences won the 2016 Hitlab world cup at the Hitlab Innovators Summit in New York for their ibreastexam system. This prize is awarded to a healthcare startup deemed to have made an outstanding contribution in improving the delivery and accessibility of healthcare worldwide. Matthew Campisi, CTO of UE LifeSciences made the following statement: “We are truly grateful to have won the HITLAB World Cup and to be part of such a terrific program. As we continue to scale our ibreastexam product offering, collaboration with partners like HITLAB will help create awareness and establish key partnerships.” Video: https://vimeo.com/75510451 " 1,6061,2016-12-10T16:43:52.000Z,6061,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Present: Natalia, Ana, Alex, Nadia, Noemi. This is a conversation summary and a wiki, so edit as you please. Nadia's slides - Added a slide around the process/proceedure. Noemi: Confirm how the PopUp village connects with the reef? Nadia: The Reef - Difficult political situation. Formal politics not leading to a better future or present If we want to change it’s not about political programs or manifestos. Change comes from the edge and seeps into the centre. If the edge and centre disconnect how do you create the conditions for change? These communities we are discovering need to be articulating demands which are somehow legible to politicians.
    1. You need to look towards satisfying material needs of those who are seeking these changes. People lose steam, no business model for this work (the equivalent of unMonastery)
    2. Many initiative reinvent the wheel, not learning from each other, and make unnecessary mistakes because collaboration between these initaitives are too time consuming
    3. The demands don’t gel together to create new constituentinces to drive political change (bring new people into politics ad remove the old)
    Communities try to fix their own worlds, based on what works for them. In order to solve the above, you need to have:
    1. unMonasteries or equivalent in communities for long enough to foster true collaboration and trust between community and innovators - especially in damaged communities
    2. Incentivise projects and people to work through ER ways (documentation and online communication), understand that the world is big and they have allies.
    3. Teaching people to use the collective intelligence methods to understand, articulate insights and make very concrete demands
    Health and social care is the number one destroyer or communities ability to be self sufficient. Care is such a point of vulnerability: the biggest challenge is getting time for a doctor/GP to see you. But it's also the fastest way to develop trust in a community to provide health services. Time and person to person contact.  How do we get there?
    1. Go out a meet groups that are already doing these things. Build relationships with them. We have to go see and share the truth and realities with others.
    2. Build local alliances with local funders and community leaders (informal)

    Build allies. Build a reef with a already attached community

    Noemi: Do we have to structure for how collaboration can pan out, how long it takes? Not everywhere we go and ideas sparkle we can make things happen. It takes time and a certain skillset to seize these opportunities. - Is Galway an example of develoanon3606750899g in a hands off way? Nadia: Yes, We have to have plan the growth and take time on the ground with communities. We have to be concrete and clear in our planning. People looking for guidance and a path. Desperate times. A plan will help bring people towards us. What is the Village? Meeting space for community groups. A place to teach documentation. Find spaces that can create permanent UnMon buildings. Short term - a festival, 3 week event where 1st week people are building their houses; demo spaces where people can walk in + living spaces; barnraising to build shared infrastructure: big building in the middle with kitchen, showers and all.. You need a building master.  Find land build tiny houses (1600E) for sleeanon3606750899g and running mini demos of initiatives. - The Edgeryders Caravanserai/ Travelling Circus.  Concept translated by Alex: The POPUP VILLAGE as a caravan where one can pitch in with small mobile spaces which come together and wagon up into a communal space. In the middle you build a shared space with communal parts. This builds communal shared interest in the space and creates a permanent base for operations in that space for the future. Barnraising both as metaphor and literally. Alex: Highly mobile, low cost traveling is a great way of seeding ideas, but as we go further into new places we will make visible deeper problems, more contextualized. There is no holistic way of building a series of unMonasteries, each will need to grow organically out of the place. Nadia: the concept of INCHOME: permanently affordable selfsufficient homes; it doesnt need to be for everyone, it needs to be for the driving forces of these initiatives, as the coordination costs nobody wants to shoulder; you need people that are ok with themselves to be ok with others.

    We need a plan: ""There's going to be a permanent space"" / with function, dates, timeline, deliverables.

    Do we reach out to cities for this? Natalia: it's about finding what's already there and highlighting it. Long term leases from cities. Needs space from the city. Must have permanence built in from the start. We need local allies in the place. Possible places: Portugal and lagging regions; UK but not for longterm;  The lagging places aren't those which dont really have active communities. There can be just motivation! Ana: Armenian ICA in Yerevan; lots of abandoned land and cheap houses in rural areas. Actionables: COMM PACKAGE + CALL FOR SPONSORS 1st newsletter of Jan outlines the PLAN + attachment Comm Pack and Sponsorship Pack (Do you want to finance this house?) Finance home by home; Let's build two more; Do shareholding. Note about crowdfunding for mini houses - If you contribute money towards the houses you get your name or face on a tile :P " 2,10215,2016-12-10T16:52:58.000Z,6061,anon70625510,anon477123739,"Step one: Design the process as a crowdfunding campaign Here's a template for designing and planning crowdfunding campaigns. We agreed that ahead of our next call we would each look at the template and do our individual attempts to fill the different part. Next call should be no later than end of next week imho... " 3,11994,2016-12-10T17:01:22.000Z,10215,anon477123739,anon70625510,"Maanon1932026148 Friday Will look at the template, look at the write up for the Call out and Set up another Doodle poll to get dates/times for next week/weekend. " 4,14117,2016-12-13T14:24:59.000Z,6061,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Follow up conversation Fill in the doodle if you would like to join the follow up conversation: http://doodle.com/poll/wyzmpbbryu8nf6hd @anon Plus any others who want to join this time around " 5,17103,2016-12-14T10:29:58.000Z,14117,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Just to add.. I can't make it, but wanted to connect you with @anon " 6,18220,2016-12-14T18:43:56.000Z,17103,anon2442420827,anon1491650132,"Thanks @anon " 7,18624,2016-12-14T23:25:55.000Z,18220,anon70625510,anon2442420827,"Hey you :) Glad to be chatting soon. Insane period right now, skype will be nice catch up <3 " 8,19126,2016-12-14T23:22:43.000Z,17103,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"I got it for both <3 " 9,20477,2016-12-16T17:23:21.000Z,6061,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Changes to the Skype Doodle Poll Hi @anon I've updated the doodle poll to include a few more options for our Skype call. I suddenly can't do the Sunday/Monday as i'm away from the internet those days. It currently looks like tomorrow afternoon/evening is best for some of us, but no date has more than 3 people available. Can you quickly fill in any availability for Tues/Wed days?  We'll finalise a date tomorrow. n.b. @anon http://doodle.com/poll/wyzmpbbryu8nf6hdvrc5rm8w/ " 10,24041,2016-12-19T19:45:32.000Z,6061,anon2442420827,anon477123739,"Hi, I'm getting a ""Not Found 404"" when I try to access the doodle poll link. " 11,25007,2016-12-20T08:54:35.000Z,24041,anon1526983854,anon2442420827,"Yes Confirmed. Ping @anon " 12,25407,2016-12-21T09:44:39.000Z,25007,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Sorry I got food poisoning on Monday night and have only just crawled out of bed. I'll change the dates to include some on Thurs and Friday as well and repost a link that works " 13,25558,2016-12-21T10:05:48.000Z,25407,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Link should work now http://doodle.com/poll/wyzmpbbryu8nf6hd " 14,25598,2016-12-21T12:09:32.000Z,25558,anon2442420827,anon477123739,"No worries Alex, hope your recovery is speedy. " 1,560,2016-12-21T09:06:42.000Z,560,anon1058307311,anon1058307311,"In my previous article I told the story of the ‘whats’ and the ‘hows’ that got me where I am today. Currently, the following is (mainly) what I am busy with: URGENCI – The Global Network for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Since June 2015 I am a member of the Urgenci kernel -the steering committee for the European part of the movement, and the European Research Group on CSA -with which we conducted the first ever European census on CSA -the report can be found here. Our second major undertaking for 2015-2016 was the creation of a European Declaration on CSA. This involved the research group drafting a first proposal which we had to take back to our respective countries for consultations and then collectivise everything again and come up with a final draft that was formally presented at the third European meeting on CSA (the report on that will be out soon, but here you can find out more about what we did in Ostrava). Here is the declaration and this is footage from the historical moment of its first announcement: https://www.youtube.com/embed/sQi1BKLFWzc The writing process for the declaration gave me the chance to organise a two-day event where those already working in CSAs in Greece had the chance to meet in person for the first time -a valuable experience. We also held ‘a CSA open day’ where a team of experts (accountant, lawyer, personal growth coach, farmers, CSA coordinators) had the chance to explain various aspects of the CSA idea. I am also very glad to say I was part in the inaugural meeting for the Mediterranean Network for Local-Based Solidarity Partnerships which we hope will strengthen the ties between our countries and projects. Action Research through participatory video making In the capacity of co-facilitator I am working together with Christabel Buchanan -from the Coventry Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience, on ‘Real Food Utopias’: an action research project mapanon3606750899g and tracking alternative food systems and economies in and around Thessaloniki. We made an open call inviting individuals from a variety of formal and informal groups. Through this process we came up collectively with a series of themes to be further explored. We then held training sessions on participatory video-making (from story boarding to collective editing) and then formed working groups for each theme. Then we organise public showings to get feedback and to instigate discussion and hopefully action by community members -like the creation of a Food Policy Council. Currently the themes we are working on are: -alternative currencies and food economies; -a look into peri-urban gardening in terms of autonomy and -the production cycle of vegetables as opposed to that of chicken farming within the project; -lessons learnt and struggles of existing projects: a critical view on hindrances to growth; -presentation of a social cooperative enterprise. The first videos are in the final editing process and will be ready soon. This is an ongoing project and you will be able to find out more about it here as we continue uploading information and new developments. Refugee Food Journeys As we all know Greece has been struck the hardest from the influx of refugees in recent years and we felt we needed to include them in our quest for food sovereignty. This part of our research focuses on matters of food consumption and food waste in refugee camps. This is our  first video on this issue: https://www.youtube.com/embed/F1pvIQ_MCA4 Solidarity Exports Together with Antonis Diamantidis, a fellow food sovereignty activist, farmer, and organiser of a CSA group of producers called ‘Corinthian Orchard’ we have just launched this scheme aiming to create direct links between small agroecological producers of Greece and CSAs, food coops etc in other European countries by providing each party with what they need in a fair and respectful way. Our goal is to not compete with the local farmers and thus we will only export produce that is consumed but does not grow in their regions -like citrus fruits and olive oil. Through this we will be actively supporting small Greek farmers, who suffer from land fragmentation and stand...at the bottom of the food chain with respect to the markets and the middlemen. We are also hoanon3606750899g to include ‘ugly fruits’ in this scheme raising even more awareness on food dumanon3606750899g/waste/loss issues. For more information on this please look here or write to Hellenic Network for Agroecology, Food Sovereignty and Access to Land     Since the crisis begun, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do anything in a formal, legal way. This is one of the main reasons why most groups here operate under the radar -which on the other hand is not necessarily a bad thing. But this means that growth comes in relatively slow steps and is hindered by the lack of access to funds and other resources. For example, setting up an NGO costs around €1000 and has an annual €1000 ‘trade tax’ (literally a levy to allow you to do business) -this applies to social enterprises too. And although this is not as bad as having to prepay 100% of next year’s taxation like with most small businesses (or 50% for farmers) it still might pose a problem for people who want to do exactly that: do something without business profit in mind. So in this context, I am happy to announce that we are currently in the process of setting up our grass-roots non-profit organisation to to help us with our endeavours in these fields. What we have in mind is summarized in the following fields of action:
    • Assist in the creation of a movement on food sovereignty in Greece; link existing initiatives with each other and with similar projects abroad; and promote FS in all ways possible.
    • In collaboration with other European partners (like La Via Campesina and CAWR) set up (a network of) Agroecological Training centres and knowledge exchange hubs. We need to find ways to make our farmers independent form fertiliser companies (even if organic), seed producers and certifying organisations. We need farmers who can stand on their own feet, be self sufficient and knowledgeable to deal with eventualities by using what nature provides.
    • Save Greek agricultural land from the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund and ensure its utilization through concession or purchase by our group in the context of communal ownership. This will be a major undertaking ensuring the right of small agroecological farmers to have access to land and safeguarding the land’s status as a common good.
    • Increase awareness and offer technical support, training, and tools to create CSA schemes around the country.
    • Promote the creation of Food Policy Councils around the country.
    • Become the official Greek hub for informal groups working on food sovereignty, enabling them to gain access to financial support, tools and other resources.
    • Increase awareness and educate farmers and consumers in order to become more conscious through seminars, campaigns and training sessions about sustainable farming methods and consumption patterns and the agroecological way of life. Also offer tools and training in communication and inner development that are crucial factors for the success of any endeavour (eg non violent communication, social permaculture and inner transition). Needless to say that schools and children will be pivotal in our schemes.
    So if all of this sounds interesting, if you feel the urge to get involved, or if you have information and contacts that can help, please contact me to join forces :) " 1,6068,2016-12-13T14:56:00.000Z,6068,anon1743371374,anon1743371374," Greetings, so after the successful show in Makerfaire Rome, InPe has been getting ready for testing phase. In our current status our electronics and code, are working with reasonable accuracy, however, we are missing crucial data from testing phase.  We have so far only tested inPe, in very simple ways in order to change the code:  Like holding InPe and throwing it at distance, but would it mean for someone wearing InPe, to shake hands with someone else, to lean on the wall, to walk with a stick or a cane? Would this trigger false alarm? or actually untrigger the alarm when needed? These are questions that we need to answer. In the current phase, Inpe, is designed as an arm band, similar to the ones runners put around their upper arms to hold their phones.   It comes in two buttoned layers, where it is easy to see the inside components, tweak, and fix. The same items could be used on the leg too. For the next iteration, we would love to keep the same idea of making the inside as open and as accessible as possible. Situations ranging from daily doing basic movements such as walking, sitting down, eating, all the way to more detailed situations such as climbing a stair, or sleeanon3606750899g, are scenarios that we plan to test in the upcoming 2 months.
     
    We have already published InPe’s dedicated website     http://inpe.opencare.cc, and will continue to add further testing stories, updates and data as we move on.   Stay tuned. More photos will follow in future post.
     
    " 2,7159,2016-12-14T12:27:39.000Z,6068,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"Near the center of mass? I can see how calibrating the accelerometer 's sensitivity would be a problem. If the purpose is to detect when the wearer falls, would it maanon1932026148 be better to position it near the centre of mass, rather than on a limb? I am sure you have already thought about it, I am just curious. " 3,10878,2016-12-14T13:57:18.000Z,7159,anon1743371374,anon1526983854,"belt was an option yes yup, designing inpe as a belt accessory kind of device, is something that we investigated.  Lets see how this goes with testing.  Although, given our testing scenarios, activities like sitting down, doing to bed, would also bear risk of accuracy with the central body location.  " 4,14447,2016-12-14T15:06:23.000Z,6068,anon904321944,anon1743371374,"I'm still waiting for this phase :-) Hello Moushira If I remember correctly, we were left with the promise to participate in the next phase of testing that would involve myself and other guests of the Residential Community in which I live. Do You think that it is still feasible, despite the difficulties, or both must defer to meet project deadlines? Let me know. See U soon :-) " 5,17293,2016-12-16T00:51:16.000Z,14447,anon1089184890,anon904321944,"A step further Check this idea https://www.google.it/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.cisjournal.org/journalofcomputing/archive/vol6no1/vol6no1_3.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiWsJ2qvffQAhUC2BoKHUNyA3cQFghBMAk&usg=AFQjCNGWv8ye9eDz8YbpRoss1KcMGNuXAg&sig2=UbefAdHIiZeESxyUpu6u6A A great idea of preventing harm when falling " 6,20226,2016-12-16T00:34:23.000Z,6068,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Where Well there are literature in abundance. I once worked with Ruth https://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/staff/index/id/779/alpha//header_search/+/from/searchall  And have some vague memories about why the thoratic region may be better  http://biomch-l.isbweb.org/archive/index.php/t-7395.html Also the latest siamoc 2016 conference had some interesting posters on algorithms and field data for fall detection apps that could be of inspiration. The project idea looks good and it could develop into a great alternative to actigraph? @anon " 7,21930,2016-12-16T10:32:21.000Z,20226,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Great resources! Well done @anon " 8,23832,2016-12-16T11:28:45.000Z,6068,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"A conversation about tech improvement of hardware This is (finally) a conversation about tech improvement of hardware. @anon " 9,26648,2016-12-16T12:36:31.000Z,6068,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"Small suggestion First off, congrats! Second, I remember the great video WeMake showed us in Milano about this prototype, with footage from a conversation and testing with Francesco. I missed it here in the post and on your website, it would look even better because it tells a beautiful story!  " 10,27214,2016-12-20T17:53:56.000Z,26648,anon1743371374,anon1491650132,"it is here the video is here just wrote a small update about it ;) " 11,28249,2016-12-16T17:33:05.000Z,6068,anon904321944,anon1743371374,"Proposta. Ciao a Tutti Mi chiedevo se le risorse interessanti suggerite da Rune ed il video non possano essere caricati sul web http://inpe.opencare.cc/. Credo che questo possa essere richiesto gentilmente a Costantino, Alessandro e a Moushira che hanno seguito gli step intermedi dello sviluppo di InPe'. Grazie " 1,6014,2016-11-20T21:13:43.000Z,6014,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"[TITLE OF THE PIECE] In 2017, we are seeking a host city to help us host and build the next Living On The Edge. LOTE is an international UnConference organised by community members from Edgeryders. It is a meeting of people from around the world who are exploring the leading edge of science, social policy, and modern living. So far, LOTE events have been organized in Italy, France, and Belgium; each bringing together over 60 activists, hackers, thinkers, artists, and makers from all around the globe. We have succeeded in creating a unique platform for online and offline meetings between stakeholders from the government, the successful start-up community, and the Edgeryders network. LOTE events are uniquely crafted to create synergies between hosting communities and a broad network of changemakers, both through offline meetings and through access to the vast database of knowledge that the initiatives gathered on the Edgeryders website provide. LOTE6: The Edge of Care will be the culmination of an 18-month international project called OpenCare. Through OpenCare we have discovered hundreds of projects changing the landscape of caregiving in their communities. We have been studying innovative aspects of care from around the world and want to come together to discuss, learn and investigate our findings. Most importantly we want to do it in your city. To serve the needs of all our participants and be consistent with our core theme- Care, LOTE6 will involve several separate but mutually cohesive tracks of enquiry: physical (body exercising, manon169343781al work, therapy etc.), personal (development and growth), and professional/intellectual enquiry. The details of these tracks will be developed and honed over the year by Edgeryders event management team in collaboration with our partners and you, our gracious hosts. What makes LOTE6 special and why do we need your support? For 2017 LOTE6 is taking a hands-on approach. Inspired by the Pop-up Care Village event carried out in San Francisco, (http://tinyurl.com/z6ast93, http://tinyurl.com/hjwfby8 ) we are looking to create an event that combines the Edgeryders’ online community resources and knowledge with local on-the-ground initiatives: The OpenCare PopUp village. The OpenCare PopUp village involves reaching out to local initiatives in your city and providing them with a chance to showcase their work in action as part of the big event. We want to find projects that approach social, personal, and physical care in new, exciting, and unconventional ways. We are looking to invite projects that tackle access to care; projects that bridge the housing gap, or are investigating the creation of sustainable communities; projects finding innovative ways to access affordable healthcare; and projects that are working on solutions to address the needs of the elderly, migrants, and/or those people in society current underserved or overlooked by the authorities. We believe that all our care needs must be re-addressed to keep pace with the rapidly changing social, economic, political, and cultural landscape of a 21st Century globe. We propose to invite those who are already pioneering work in these areas; improving the lives of people in the host city, in the wider country, as well as their peers from all over Europe and the rest of the world. They will come together as partners and co-creators of LOTE6 presenting the fruits of their effort and demonstrating the ability of civil society, social entrepreneurship, and open source innovations to accelerate the solving of complex issues. We have experience of connecting to these types of initiative through our work on the Open&Change project. We brought together groups of initiatives in Brussels, New York, Thessaloniki, and Berlin, now we are looking to extend our network into your city; helanon3606750899g you to raise international awareness of the great work that your citizens and organisations are undertaking in your city. Edgeryders event coordinators have skills at finding and reaching out to organisations and initiatives that operate on the franon1056199097s as well as in the mainstream. The OpenCare PopUp village will seek to engage public institutions and local businesses in a dialogue about how to provide the best method of access to these products, services, and spaces to disenfranchised members of their communities. As always, Edgeryders will be working on sustainable, long lasting ideas that can support these synergies after the main events end. Why are we reaching out to new places?

    Edgeryders care as much about physical spaces as we do about our online community platform. We have had great success working with cities around Europe on their European Capital of Culture bids; we ran the first prototype of the unMonastery project: rethinking and reimagining the stewardship of community assets for a digital age; and we have partnered with UNDP, UNESCO and the European Commission to run projects focussed on finding digital and social innovators and entrepreneurs in diverse countries such as Nepal, Georgia and Romania. Using Coral Reefs as our model, Edgeryders proposes a new kind of connective layer as an enabler of social and political renewal. One that is distributed, hyper-local and transnational at the same time. We are building a network of appropriate physical infrastructure in different locations, embedded in an online conversation and equipped with collective tools that help us make sense of our interactions. You can read more about our plans here: http://tinyurl.com/zc8egnc Our first Reef prototype is focused on supporting people and initiatives contributing towards making health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. We want your city to be a part of our Reef. The aim of the Edgeryders Reef is to set up in an international space where people can live a good life on little money. A space for up to 20 people, where community members would live and work. Some people will be based permanently, others will be doing temporary residencies to work on projects. The focus is on experience-based learning and key tracks will evolve through an ongoing relationship with, and contribution to the local community.     What benefits are there for the host city?

    1. Co-organization of a unique showcase of global innovations in the broad area of care, with documentation and ideas on how to implement some of these solutions on the ground. So far this kind of event has not been organised in Europe.
    2. Possibility to shape areas of the event program and highlight the most cutting-edge, relevant, important projects that exist in your city/area
    3. A space to prototype and test alternative funding opportunities to support care related initiatives in the city and beyond.
    What are we looking for?
    • One point person from the hosting institution or community to participate in the preparation and delivery of LOTE6 and The OpenCare PopUp village
    • Help with financial support towards the conference. This may include: event sponsorship by one or more of the host institutions/organizations (either directly or by enlisting local sponsors), grants or donations from local businesses or in-kind donations of needed supplies, food, equipment, grants for travels.
    • Access to a venue in which meetings and workshops could be conducted, as well as an area in the city where the village could be ""installed"" for the duration of the event
    • Two or more local coordinators to help ER design and deliver the event
    • Assistance with the local outreach and registration to the event
    What can you expect between now and LOTE6?
    • An initial planning session: a meeting between your contact people and members of the Edgeryders community who will be leading the delivery of LOTE. The meeting will also serve as the first local scouting and outreach mission, where we will use our methodology to find suitable initiatives in the area and invite them to the process of preparing and building The OpenCare PopUp village and LOTE6.
    • Parallel to that Edgeryders will start a selection of initiatives from all over the world to join us for LOTE6. We will also start finalizing the list of speakers who will take part in the unConference, gathering innovators and changemakers from all domains of care.
    • Finalized these processes by the end of February we will begin applications for financial support, event sponsors and travel and attendance bursaries.
    • February to September will be dedicated to fundraising, building the program for the conference, reaching out in the social media and media to potential participants, presenters, and attendees; and finalising the finishing touches to this three-day-long marathon event.

    How to apply?

     

    Send an email expressing your intention to host the event to Natalia: natalia@anon color:#333333;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>, please include any information on how you can provide the necessary support and infrastructure for the event. We are looking forward to hearing from you - the deadline for expressions of interest is 30th Janon169343781ary 2017.

    " 2,9139,2016-11-22T14:42:39.000Z,6014,anon70625510,anon1061021150,"Perhaps Lille Just did a presentation of what we want to do over the next period at Adaweek. It was well recieved. and someone proposed that we do it in her hometown, lille. And wants to get involved. Let's see :) " 3,11607,2016-11-22T15:25:15.000Z,9139,anon477123739,anon70625510,"I really like this analogy of the reef. It's smart and it makes sense. When i'm back in the UK i'm going to talk to the local mayor and see if there is a potential space in my home town. " 4,12544,2016-11-22T18:46:09.000Z,11607,anon70625510,anon477123739,"Thanks! The images used need a lot more work, they're mostly placeholders. Also I think we could do with an animation of what we want to build based on coral reef similar in style to the fabulous ones @anon " 5,15870,2016-11-22T17:20:53.000Z,6014,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"How about... @anon " 6,20962,2016-11-22T19:45:24.000Z,6014,anon4074474473,anon1061021150,"Good Idea! I think Thessaloniki is a good idea. I'll ask the mayor :)  asap! Maanon1932026148, I'll need more details. " 7,24254,2016-11-22T20:14:22.000Z,6014,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Open call => win I really like the idea. We can give LOTE6 to the community to place it where it is most wanted, and find new allies and friends in the city in the process. Well played, @anon If I can make a small suggestion, I would transform the ""two local volunteers"" into co-protagonists of the proposal. In other terms, the proposal would be made jointly by a city and two community members. What do you think?  " 8,25118,2016-11-23T04:44:05.000Z,24254,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Nice idea. Shares the load amongst protagonists in the city and provides ER with more support and possibilities. I've made a quick edit to suggest this. " 9,26925,2016-11-28T15:13:00.000Z,6014,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"Good evening everyone, sorry for the radio silence, but the forum just finished and i try to catch up with tasks. I was drafting a bit of questions and ideas on how to proceed, as I will be now preparing the tour (and hopefully parachuting again somewhere to put together the village). Sorry for mistakes, I use a tablet, not comfy. Noemi has already mentioned two routes for the tour, one around Spain and Portugal to Morrocco, and one from Romania to Greece (we could add Bulgaria here, we lack Bulgarians ;)). Considering the weather, I would go for the first tour in February, and second April. We would need a least two months before heading off to establish links and plan ahead. How long can the tours be? How many people do we intend to bring with us in the circus? Destinations are cheap, that helps.  I would already shape each of these tours as a small community capacity showcase, bringing along one or two members who participated in the open and change and could best illustrate what care is about, but also add a tangible component to the tour.  We need to think how, besides bringing stories and enriching the research, can we use this experience in building the reef. We can already experiment with some of the ideas that pop up village has been testing, such as pop up shop where consumers buy things for others (medicine for the sick, socks for the homeless), barbers for the sexual minorities, mobile showers and so on.  I will be outting together a list of cities and partners, but also ideas for activities - any information that could help here, contacts, tips, great actions that we could use are more than welcome. " 10,27311,2016-11-28T17:25:00.000Z,26925,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"The tours can happen at the same time. I think February is great..! I propose we have a skype call ahead mid December in order to pull together all the potential sites for February (as you said, we need to plan 2 months in advance) and groups around them in a dataset similar to the Case Study Adventure in 2014. Some of us have places we think are potentially interesting. Also, we have overlapanon3606750899g travel stuff already between those who have so far manifested interest to join the scouting: to give you an idea, in Jan/ February with Alex Levene we want to go to Thessaloniki, then to the Vault Fest London event + I might do a Georgia/ Armenia short tour on a difft account. An ER members shared calendar would come in handy. Do you know someone in Bulgaria Natalia? " 11,27445,2016-11-28T18:20:32.000Z,27311,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Also heads up I'm going to Thessaloniki mid Janon169343781ary. Vault festial events are in early February. In May i'm going to Armenia for the month to spend time at Yerevan ICA with @anon In June i go to Finland for the whole month for a Back to Basics arts residency (so will be out of contact for the whole month) I'm also looking at a possible trip to Abkhazia for March/April time, depending on other things in my diary. I'd love to join the scouting party, but February is the worst time for me. I'll be working in London for the festival. Don't let my absence changing the planning though. " 12,27507,2016-11-28T22:36:02.000Z,27445,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Got it! We'll see, many things are just now being planned. Maanon1932026148 we can accommodate your (i must say) pretty awesome schedule Alex! <3 " 13,27589,2016-12-17T15:06:12.000Z,27311,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"I do now :)) Someone working on Alt33c3 is from and based on Sofia. Tell me what you need. " 14,28442,2016-11-28T15:15:19.000Z,6014,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"@anon @anon @anon70625510, is there anything we could do with lille? Or we juts have to wait now;) " 15,28722,2016-11-28T21:33:33.000Z,28442,anon70625510,anon1061021150," Got in touch with Ayate who is from Lille about the visit just sent her a message asking if it's ok I connect you two to discuss. From Brussels lille is a short trainride away, so I could do it.... Also, Ronan'll probably want to be onboard also. Will ask him to create account so he can get in this conversation, planning etc. " 16,28823,2016-11-29T09:27:24.000Z,28722,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Ok connected you with Ayate Check inboxes in mail and Fb <3" 17,29011,2016-11-29T08:22:57.000Z,28442,anon4074474473,anon1061021150,"Yes, please! :) " 18,29528,2016-11-28T21:04:00.000Z,6014,anon4259720994,anon1061021150,"What tours? Sorry guys, I'm just trying to catch up.  @anon If you want to consider ICA's space in Yerevan, count us in as a potential space for LOTE6. " 19,29721,2016-11-28T21:12:55.000Z,29528,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Thanks dear! I don't know exactly, sometime February-March, UNDP stuff more than OpenCare as we are planning a follow up to Future Makers, and so the community dimension is there anyway.. so I thought it might be worth doing something on the side. Will email you the details in case we don't get to blog about this soon. " 20,29784,2016-12-01T17:19:02.000Z,29721,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Shared calendar => win Maanon1932026148 make it open, so that people can add themselves to it? BUT: please, do not just go out and make something. I think this needs to be ""done right"", like @anon " 21,29811,2016-12-08T16:04:00.000Z,29784,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"A shared google calendar Natalia and Alex both confirmed g calendars OK. I have set one up, see here. The problem with public calendars is that while they are visible, not anyone can automatically add to them. So I am adding people manon169343781ally upon request. Then syncing should not be a problem - but you do need to edit your own calendar events and assign them to the OpenCare PopUp Village Calendar. Guys, most of you are added already. " 22,29825,2016-12-17T15:07:26.000Z,29811,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Embed on a collaboration page (openandchange) that makes it visible and if we have some comment field below people can interact around it...No? " 23,30305,2016-12-03T14:03:06.000Z,6014,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"Redraft I spent today writing a brand new draft of the call out document. It combines the info written by @anon I would welcome any suggestions, or comments. As you can see it's quite long, but it is in depth about the what, the why and the how. I feel it is quite comprehensive. I've also split the structure so that the first pages deal with the 'story' of what we want to do and the last pages deal with the details. I've made the link open but comment only for now. If anyone wants edit rights just email me and request them: Ping: @anon http://tinyurl.com/j4ecy6f " 24,30876,2016-12-05T12:50:56.000Z,6014,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"Perhaps Birmingham? I read this article that someone wrote about my University city: https://provocations.darkmatterlabs.org/make-space-for-the-real-birmingham-36fdcb583d5e#.rlk1qd5ob I definitely think they are looking at ideas that fit with ER values. Perhaps we could reach out to them. Birmingham is a really interesting, exciting and cosmopolitan young city. I had a great 4 years living there and still go back to visit it regularly. " 25,31349,2016-12-05T14:02:31.000Z,6014,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"I have been there  and i really liked it;) do you have contacts there? i will try the same with my university city  and some of the 'rebel cities' whose politicians i have met at euroalter campus.  I have already written back to Lille but no response. @anon This way we have talks going on with Gallway  Lille thessaloniki and we start pitching in Uk and Poland. something will surely work out.  " 26,31433,2016-12-05T14:28:24.000Z,31349,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"I have a few contacts I could try reaching out them. @anon " 27,31694,2016-12-05T14:37:20.000Z,6014,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"Yes,it is not that different - i think we are pretty much happy with the shape of it at the moment? @anon " 28,31755,2016-12-05T14:40:12.000Z,31694,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"Shall i move it to the wiki above so it is easy to see the contents? " 29,31781,2016-12-05T15:07:53.000Z,31755,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Managed to update and keep the formatting Updated version is now available above " 30,31959,2016-12-05T15:33:28.000Z,6014,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"The special status of Milan At last week's consortium meeting in Milan I informed the consortium of what we are doing here.  They strongly support the idea that LOTE6 should take place in Milan. They also appreciate that an open call is a good way to do engagement. Just let's keep @anon " 31,32015,2016-12-06T07:44:29.000Z,31959,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Sow the seed If Milan are keen to be our host for LOTE6 then i would welcome that. There is certainly some sense to that partnership as Edgeryders have already invested time and work in the city, and some of the work of highlighting initiatives will be done. As the city is heavily invested in the OpenCare program, but didn't run a workshop during Open&Change there is some sense in it being a strong candidate. As you say @anon In the short term i agree that this is a good way of undertaking outreach to other cities. My gut feeling is that we could find LOTE 7/8/9 through committing now. It feels like the OpenCare project and what we have learnt from it will stay with us for a few years, so if we prototype the OpenCare PopUp village this year it may be a theme we return to for the next few years.  " 32,32194,2016-12-08T11:40:24.000Z,6014,anon70625510,anon1061021150,"A proposal for the pop up village While in Galway this weekend (writup coming soon), I met Pat (carpenter and permaculture/organic agriculture specialist) and we hatched an idea which I think is both fun, easier to finance and shortens the distance for us to go from pop-up into leaving behind useful infrastrucutre/ permanent structures.  Tiny houses.   If we were to set up tiny houses and dedicate each one to a specific topic/ kind of solution/or challenge... then it's probably going to be a lot easier to fundraise too :)  If we stretch the time of the event to a three week festival with following phases:
    • Week 1: People build tiny houses on an empty stretch of land. Some are for sleeanon3606750899g, some are for housing the ""exhibits/showcases"" of opencare projects
    • Week 2 &3 : People work to build the ""exhibits/showcases"" inside the tiny houses alllocated to them, do the whole co-living and hanging out this, plus more structured activities (e.g. lightening talks and discussions, etc)  in the evenings.
    • Week 4: Public facing part of the event opens to the general public. Lots of celebrations and planning next steps.
    Pat is up for guiding the work of preparing for and building the tiny houses. I think the tour could be about finding appropriate slots of land/locations and local partners.... What do you say? " 33,32376,2016-12-10T17:34:00.000Z,6014,anon904321944,anon1061021150,"Some important details! Guys, do not forget the heart of the initiative is the ""Take Care""! As regards the choice of where to hold this event, alongside the necessary evaluation, may I suggest a connection with reality is active both locally and internationally. I thought about it the network “Impact Hub” which, for its planning and operational dynamics purposes, could be an interesting collaboration. Relatively logistical and organizational aspects, suggest a greater focus on the physical and sensory accessibility of sites and content that, if neglected, could constitute an unacceptable discriminatory for Edgeryders ""disabled"" eager to concretize their participation in the event. It seems appropriate, therefore, to devote a minimum percentage of the project energy to the search for adequate space and for the realization of support activities to those who attend the event and only in need of some extra attention. If you were to opt for Milan, these are some tips to help the hospitality, operations and mobility: To close, in addition, it would be a major step in the implementation of care by making “alternative versions” of pre | during | post documentation and “material” event. Thank You " 34,32412,2016-12-17T08:41:45.000Z,32376,anon477123739,anon904321944,"Clarification Hi Francesco, I understand and fully agree with your second point (ensuring access to the LOTE site to encourage participation by people with various access requirements) The documentation you have provided is very useful, thank you. @anon With regards your first point about 'Impact Hub' i didn't understand what you are suggesting. Could you rephrase it? " 35,32534,2016-12-17T10:08:00.000Z,6014,anon904321944,anon1061021150,"Why Not? Sure Allex ""Impact Hub"" is an international network focused on joint planning and acellerating of sustainable self-employment and social innovation projects. U can make contact through the web address http://www.impacthub.net/ or http://milan.impacthub.net/ (in Italian). My suggestion would consist both in the realization of effective collaboration for the operation of LOTE6, having such organization spaces and an important visibility in Milan, both in the contamination as regards the approaches and good design practices for the realization of local initiatives, which in essence is the Edgeryders focus. With regard to Your question on the candidacy ""expert"" in accessibility and fruition issues ""4all"" during LOTE6, I believe that the writer can contribute. :-) Thank You " 1,6069,2016-12-13T17:53:30.000Z,6069,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"The Milan consortium meeting taught us that bringing the offline debate online is hard. So far, we have followed two different approaches:
    •  ScImpulse, WeMake and City of Milano focus on an engaging offline experience for participants. Conveners take notes, photos etc. They then editorialize them and upload them onto the platform.
    • Edgeryders focus on offering people with good stories help for them to put them on the platform. Workshops are organized not by Edgeryders itself (though we do take part), but by active community members. The same also provide most of the help. 
    Both methods are hard. Both have drawbacks. The first method is mostly failing. It is difficult to make sense of notes taken during the meeting. I had this experience during ""Taking care"", where I volunteered to take notes with Cristina. Afterwards, I could interpret my notes, but not hers (though we were using the same  Google Doc! ). I imagine the opposite was true for her. Many notes never make it online. Those that do take the form of a report: ""A said this, B said that"". The community tends not to engage with this type of format.  The second method has given better results.  Still, it discourages people who are not good communicators in writing, face language barriers etc.  How to move forward? The Milan meeting gave us two promising leads. The first one was offered by @anon2435658896 and @anon The second one results from something interesting that happened during ""Taking care"". This: people in the Bordeaux group at some point felt their contribution was unnecessary and possibly unwelcome. They withdrew from the workshop and moved to a different room. They kept working on opencare, but in the form of writing code to look at the conversation.  This resonates with an Edgeryders conversation thread that predates opencare. It says this: the ""meeting"" or ""assembly"" format claims to be inclusive, but in fact it is not. Instead, it rewards extrovert, confident, even narcissistic personalities. Introverts don't like to speak in public, certainly not without thinking things through. So they never speak. This issue has come to the fore in the hacker community, where many skilled developers identify as intros. Intros like online, where they can take time to think things through, and where they do not have to interrupt others to claim space. See for example this great comment by @anon784612129 and the thread that comes with it. As a result, offline spaces are exclusionary. They do not know it... because they exclude the people who never speak up.  The post-it workshop format has a second potential problem. It has no space for contributions in forms other than the speech (as Cicero describes in De Oratore). The role of facilitators is to ""standardize"" contributions. Some people (like @anon If this is true, a lot of design-based methods of engagement have a serious flaw. What's worse, an unacknowledged one. Given their popularity, this is serious. So, I propose we ""go deep"", doing research and producing one or more papers on:
    1. An ethnography of makers collaboration. How important is the space? How important is StackOverflow or similar? What constitues ""good"" collaboration (Alessandro: ""the less interactive and more efficient, the better"")? 
    2. A model of the interface between online and offline collaboration. We promised to build this anyway in the proposal.
    3. A critique of the post-it workshop as a technique for collective intelligence. 
    All of this should, in my oanon3606750899ion, have a design perspective. I propose that @anon Thoughts? " 2,7056,2016-12-14T07:57:54.000Z,6069,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Editorialising content to create stories A lot of what you say in the second half of this post makes sense but is very much outside my field of understanding or activity. I was stuck by some of the thoughts in the first half around creating content from discussions and events. Is the perhaps an area where an overlap with the citizen journalism scene may yield results. People are invited to participate in the event as a 'journalist' (distinct from a note taker), the objective is the try to capture the essence of the event, the connections between people and ideas etc (I'm thinking of the posts from @anon There is still an important space for note takers and people who try to capture the detail of what hapens and is said, but this is attached to a narrative or story that engages the audience. With regards finding ways of bringing intros into offline conversations, i'm not sure if there is a comfortable and efficient way of creating a solution withour being overly prescriptive about how an event or discussion is structured. One could pre-organise a series of questions that you want to answer and post them in a digital space so that whilst the discussion happens people can aso engage online to think of answers. But i worry that you start to dictate the flow of conversation too much in the offline world. It's a very difficult path to tread. " 3,10953,2016-12-15T11:50:00.000Z,7056,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Community journalists At LOTE4 and LOTE5 we used the concept of ""community journalists"", semi-organized note-takers. It worked like this:
    • People volunteered for the Documentation Team (LOTEs are ""no spectators event"", you have to volunteer for something to get a ticket). 
    • A team leader would set up Hackpads or other repositories for notes. Important: these need to support real-time collaborative editing, so a wiki like you have on wikimedia or edgeryders will not work.
    • The team would have its own briefing on the morning of the first day. People would sign up for the different sessions, trying to cover them all. They would also receive some format indications. A format I personally used is attributed first person quotes. Example:
    BEN – I went through a serious burnout period two years ago. Something that seemed to help was temporarily deactivate my Facebook account, because it took away the anxiety from being constantly poked and drawn back to interacting with others.  
    • In session, everyone would be encouraged to help with note-taking, but the documentation ream members took the lead. That made it easy for people less confident with note-taking to chip in maanon1932026148 just a little, adding some points here and there or even just correcting typos.
    • After the session, everyone was encouraged to go to the hackpad and make corrections as needed. If my point of view was misrepresented, I could correct for it. If you don't correct, it means you are OK with it (""open"").
    I imagine a documentation team could be guided to produce notes that make more sense from an ethnographer's point of view.  Notice that this is NOT storytelling, nor journalisme flaneur... though those are valuable too. First person narrative are preserved, at least when the community journalist do their job well. " 4,14343,2016-12-14T09:40:36.000Z,6069,anon3595237380,anon1526983854,"Back to 'le journalisme flaneur' Hey,  I read a peace lately , in french, about bringing back the 'journalisme flaneur', a person between a tourist (in the broader sence of the word) and note taker.  The way that person looks at an event is different, he or she is trying to give a sence to what he or she is seeing at the moment while moving between the conversations, it's a less objective note taking, but a richer experience for the reader i think.  And to link it with the offline , i think we need the same kind of person, a storyteller more then a speaker. Somebody that make a story live through his experiences. The term 'conteur' in french is the best word to describe that.  " 5,17100,2016-12-14T10:23:37.000Z,14343,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Yes to storytellers. Storytelling is also what I argued for, to Costantino and Alessandro in Milano: someone that translates what makers dont have the time into an accurate entry about their work. This is in less citizen journalism and engaging documentation that goes beyond note taking. While your citizen journalism idea is another way of adding a personal voice to the online conversation, the requirement for a structured research like OpenCare is that it needs to capture more viewpoints of more people who are in an offline environment. So a storyteller would bring their own, and incorporating some other points. What about the rest of the points which in our data strategy need to be attributed to distinct users? So what I recommended was a storyteller that plays the interviewer at the event, in a similar way that Natalia interviewed people on skype in OpenandChange and posted their stories in their name and language.  My assumption is that almost anyone, including a technical person, would be able to articulate even half baked ideas about how they work if asked pertinent questions over a friendly, informal conversation. @anon " 6,19944,2016-12-14T12:34:00.000Z,6069,anon1941345029,anon1526983854,"Initial thoughts and feedback I will start from Alberto’s post last two lines:  if considered useful, I would be happy to wrote something on “Building gateways between online and offline engagement” (I am not sure to understand which activities should I coordinate but, I am sure, some explanations will follow. Here few first thoughts/feedbacks on the Alberto’s post (more will follow). Premise 1: if the Milano consortium meeting taught participants that “bringing the offline debate online is hard” and that there are at least, “two different approaches”, it means that this meeting and workshop have been successful (as a matter of fact, at least of what the workshop was concerned, its goal was exactly to trigger a conversation on this point).   Premise 2: I understand that the OpenCare research asks for promoting on-line discussions on the issue of open care and, then, measuring, representing them as graphs and discussing these results.  NB: writing OpenCare I refer to this specific research – writing open care, I intend the issue of open caring activities in general (as I did in previous posts). 1. Alberto is right saying that the two different approaches he indicates emerged in the workshop conversations.  But, in my view, these two approaches are of quite different nature, and cannot be proposed as polarized answers to the same question. In fact, in general terms, the issue of care can be the subject of a wide range of conversations:
    • (A) some conversations aim at solving specific problems (we can call them “vertical conversations”, generating “vertical projects”);
    • (B) other conversations aim at creating environments  where other, vertical conversations can emerge and be enhanced (we can call them “horizontal conversations”, generating “horizontal projects”).
    2. In this framework, I would rephrase the two approaches emerged in the workshop, and the related questions, in this way: Approach (A)
    • opencare issue: (A.1): how to deal with, and possibly solve, specific care-related issues in an open way (for what regards both processes and results).
    • opencare issue: (A.2) how much of this open result-oriented activity can be done on-line and, therefore, how much measurable conversations can be generated.
    Approach (B)
    • opencare issue (B.1): how to engage in useful discussions on-line people who are interested/active in care-related issues.
    • opencare issue: (B.2) how these on-line conversations can be triggered and supported and, finally, how much measurable conversations can be generated.
    In my oanon3606750899ion, both (A) and (B) are relevant and should be considered, for the sake of the OpenCare research, the focus has to be on the point 2 (A.2 and B.2). NB but  it must be observed that there would be no need to have (B) if –at a given point - it would not generate (A) 3. I think that, for the sake of both open care and OpenCare, we should have a third level o in our questions, that is:
    • A.3/B.3 what are the advantages, in terms of care giving, of having rich on-line conversations like these A.2 and B.2 ones? How to make them more effective in practical terms and more capable to create a new culture of care?
    " 7,21824,2016-12-15T12:30:00.000Z,19944,anon1526983854,anon1941345029,"Positive vs. normative research questions @anon That said, I would like to suggest a different approach from the one you propose. You questions are obviously relevant, but I think we are not in a position to address them yet: we lack the necessary evidence. We have anecdotes (""people find writing difficult"", ""hackers are good collaborators"", ""good collaboration minimizes verbosity""), but no real research on the matter. So, I propose to move from normative to positive research questions. You ask ""how can we obtain something which is desirable, for example open care services?"" I would like to ask ""how do desirable results actually obtain?"".  There is little doubt that better, cheaper, faster coordination is conducive to better outcomes in all collaborative efforts, including open care (following your notation: open care is the care that happens out there and is open). von Hippel, for example, makes a strong case that what he calls ""free innovators"" systematically underinvest in diffusion efforts (documentation). He is supported by empirical research in six countries. So, I would start by building a micro model of how collaboration (building and making accessible documentation) actually happens. I would keep very close track of online-offline.  Example: one of the examples given by von Hippel is NightScout. In the story as he tells it, the collaboration happens entirely online, and is triggered by, of all platoforms, Twitter: On May 14 last year, he [Costik] tweeted a picture of his solution: a way to upload the Dexcom receiver’s data to the Internet using his software, a $4 cable and an Android phone. That tweet caught the eye of other engineers across the country. One was Lane Desborough, an engineer with a background in control systems for oil refineries and chemical plants whose son, 15, has diabetes. Mr. Desborough had designed a home-display system for glucose-monitor data and called it NightScout. But his system couldn’t connect to the Internet, so it was merged with Mr. Costik’s software to create the system used today. I am sure that's not the whole story. So, here's the paper I'd like you to write, possibly involving some students:
    1. Some in depth case studies of collaboration taken from open care initiatives. The case studies would go micro on collaboration: ok, so Desborough saw Costik's tweet. Then what? Did they meet? When? To do what? Did Costik redirect Desborough onto GitHub, or BitBucket? Did he email his own notes? What happened as the project scaled? Etcetera. There is an obvious partner for this: Patient Innovation. 
    2. Some field work on the same thing based on what OpenCare (the project) is doing. How do people collaborate in the WeMake lab and with the broader world (technical forums etc.)? How is free-form conversation conducive to people working more together? How is working more together conducive to creating better results? We have at least four cases of people ""doing things together"" that seem to have met through OpenCare, but researchers could also track some of the hundreds of initiatives that have been reported. 
    So. You (Ezio) could build a small team and direct them. This would result in a paper called something like ""Online and offline environments for collaboration in free innovation: the case of care services"", or similar.  Financially speaking, this thing could be funded by what we used to call the big Fellowships. Now they would entail being appointed by ScImpulse, but that's just a bureaucratic detail. @anon4116418727 promised to send me a draft of a possible call for expressions of interest, which we could direct according to what we decide to do here. The stroke of genius would be to embed some participant observation: get a member of the NightScout community to take responsibility for the NightScout case study, etc. This would ""embed"" OpenCare in those projects.  Makes sense? " 8,23578,2016-12-14T15:05:08.000Z,6069,anon1743371374,anon1526983854,"Interesting insights, @anon
    • An ethnography of makers collaboration. How important is the space? How important is StackOverflow or similar? What constitues ""good"" collaboration (Alessandro: ""the less interactive and more efficient, the better"")? 
    How do we define ""good""?  By the number readers? Number of comments? Actual resolution of the discussed problem? All? Defining what ""good"" engagement looks like, can determine the importance of the space. IMHO a solely quantitative metric could have misleading indications.
    • A model of the interface between online and offline collaboration. We promised to build this anyway in the proposal.
      • Can you please elaborate a bit on this?
    • In line with your thoughts, I still do think we need to analyze our previous experience of offline/online engamenet models. FWIW, we already documented an ongoing case here, and more will follow.
    Thanks!     " 9,26649,2016-12-15T10:39:00.000Z,6069,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"Looking at things from a distance And I mean a distance, because my background places me rather far from both care and ethnography. On a personal and cultural level, I easily link with Alberto's comment on the fact that offline (shall we say ""on-site"") engagement may be difficult for some people. Bringing your thought into public space is challenging. Personal differences (personality, language, culture) get amplified. Online forums are asynchronous, this is what gives you time and space to form your ideas and bring them into words. And it's true you don't have to ""fight"" to get to the end of your sentence :-) (Take it from a Caanon70625510n, living in Europe for quite a number of years, I had to learn how to ""fight"" and I am still quite bad at it ...). Also, engaging in synchronous space is difficult partly because participants have different background on the questions being discussed, some being specialists, other having ""real"" experience dealing with the issues being discussed ... etc. I suppose the best of the two worlds is to be able to mix synchronous and asynchronous interaction. -- More importantly, I wish to make a comment on another aspect of the question Alberto is putting on the table. My understanding is that there is added value in studying the engagement process (here the exchange of ideas between participants). Studying the process: being able to see ideas or knowledge collectively form. Now the process we study is, not only asynchronous and/or synchronous, it is distributed: occuring at different times and locations, involving different people in numerous parallel conversations. This is where we may hope to use a bit of technology to help us recover the dynamics and look at things. The direction we follow is to collect exchanges between people and use this as a fairly reliable trace of how the process developed. Having a longer piece of content summarizing the exchanges is not the same, as you cannot ""replay"" the exchanges -- although it certainly is valuable (don't get me wrong, I am not saying storytelling has no value). So in a sense, the problem is not having things online or on-site. Any trace allowing to replay the dynamics can be used to look at the collective process. If we'd have a (cheap, please) technology that would recognize people's voice signature, and reliably turn audio signal into text, we'd be fine and the opencare consortium would have saved itself time and energy struggling between online or on-site. We'd turn on this technology during on-site activities and feed whatever container (to make the exchanges available to others to hear live or listen to later (we'd even be able to make it avialble to the visually disabled!). People would be able to comment and keep discussing afterwards with people who were not necessarily on-site. We'd still need to offer both on-site (synchronous) and online (asynchronous) forms of exchanges though to increase the openess of the conversation. -- This is what we must aim for: a combined synchronous-asynchronous mode of exchanges deployed both on-site and online, with whatever is needed to keep the best posible traces of the process. Then go recursive: feed the process with whatever knowledge we can gain on the process itself, as it develops. -- Hey, I got to the end of this post and you read me through without interrupting! :-)   " 10,27215,2016-12-15T12:49:00.000Z,26649,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Crowdsourcing the costs of editorialising @anon2774142051 , thanks for this – a hell of a contribution!  I agree with your analysis (asynchronous and distributed vs. synchronous and centralized). I disagree with your solution, though, even if it were technically realistic. Dictation software would just take a ""snapshot"" of what people say as they say it. This would make for unreadable material: lots of ""ehms"" and ""ahs"", sentences that do not close, missing body language (like nodding when others speak).  The act of writing contains editorialisation. It is a real transcoding from one medium (speech) to another (writing), not just a copy-paste. Ethnographers know this well: they are used to working with recordings. By insisting on natively online conversation, we crowsdource the editorialisation, and that saves a lot of researcher time. Additionally, it empowers the participant, who takes control of the medium in which her content will be consumed by others. Chances of being misunderstood or misrepresented go way down. For example, if I say something with a light-hearted mood to a journalist in an interview, I trust that person with putting my light-hearted remark in the right context, and not making it sound like a serious one. But if I am blogging,  I can take care of that myself. I can also censor myself. And, believe me, I do.  So, no microphones in the room. Let's not make a reality show of a result-oriented conversation! :-) " 11,28250,2016-12-15T12:35:06.000Z,6069,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Is this a care conversation? Calling @anon This conversation we have here is very interesting, but what is it? People involved are the research teams but also two fellows (and I expect that @anon " 12,28636,2016-12-15T20:02:32.000Z,28250,anon1277226854,anon1526983854,"I'd like to code it if nothing else, to capture the conversations about methodology. I also have codes for ""definitions of care"" so aggregating those will be useful as well. I will use a limited number of tags for these kinds of conversations so it shouldn't create too much noise/distraction from the more overtly community-driven conversations. " 13,28793,2016-12-15T20:50:44.000Z,28636,anon1526983854,anon1277226854,"Added to the OE queue Way to go, @anon " 14,29384,2016-12-15T18:25:38.000Z,6069,anon904321944,anon1526983854,"Alcuni Spunti. Alberto   Concordo con Melancon sull'idea di utilizzare delle tecnologie semplici (economiche) per consentire l'unione tra il mondo sincronizzato (offline) e quello asincrono (online) durante gli eventi ed i dibattiti che costituiscono la realizzazione delle idee e dei progetti che nascono sulla Piattaforma Edgeryders, che si sviluppano attraverso il Progetto OpenCare attraverso il supporto dei suoi partners o che possano vedere la luce nel più ampio alveo del “Prendersi Cura”. Ritengo infatti che l'adozione di un sistema di trascrizione – indubbiamente ricercando soluzioni aperte laddove quelle commerciali possano costituire un ostacolo – possa contribuire alla “cattura” sia dei contenuti sia delle emozioni (gli “uhm”, i “bah” o gli “ehm”!) che non dovrebbero essere dispersi in funzione – se pur importante – dei dati etnografici e delle elaborazioni prettamente statistiche. A questo proposito faccio inoltre umilmente notare che durante le sessioni di co-design e nei lavori di gruppo del Workshop tenutosi a Milano sui tavoli c'erano audioregistratori professionali, utilizzati previo consenso e liberatoria firmata a suo tempo da tutti i partecipanti, la cui finalità immagino sia la documentazione di tutti i processi del Progetto e che potrebbe divenire base per una riflessione ulteriore. Credo pertanto sia opportuno non distrarre il focus di tutto questo lavoro che è – dovrebbe restare – la persona con tutte le sue “colorazioni”.   Concordo inoltre sull'importanza della “costruzione” della storia, materiale non elaborabile prerogativamente dai soli giornalisti o dagli esperti analisti, che in realtà contribuirebbe in modo sostanziale alla “fuoriuscita” della cultura aperta, libera e condivisibile della progettualità e del prendersi cura degli altri dal – forse sin troppo esclusivo? - mondo digitale nella quale rischia di rimanere relegata, laddove non già monopolizzata dai circuiti elaborativi caratterizzati da un pressoché assente coinvolgimento e partecipazione diretta delle persone “portatrici” legittime di istanze e di aspettative.   Chiudo queste mie osservazioni aggregandomi alla richiesta di Moushira circa la realizzazione di un modello di interfaccia per la collaborazione online-offline. Il quesito è se tale “oggetto”, oltre che un software oppure una applicazione orientata ai dati ed alle correlazioni, possa essere costruito come una struttura in grado di produrre contenuti “community generated” polimediale che possa garantire funzionalità “editoriali” e comunicative multicanale.   Rispondendo al Tuo quesito: Sì, questa è una conversazione che si prende cura delle persone che, a loro volta, si prendono cura degli altri attraverso la specifica sensibilità e le particolari attitudini! :-)   Grazie   PS: Mi scuso per l'esclusivo utilizzo della lingua italiana che, d'altra parte, mi consente di dare apporti (spero) maggiormente pertinenti ed approfonditi. " 15,29666,2016-12-15T20:59:19.000Z,29384,anon1526983854,anon904321944,"Francesco's main points Non preoccuparti, @anon Guys, Francesco basically agrees with Guy and disagrees with me. Transcription would work for him. Main reason: he likes the authenticity of emotional expression (pre-editorialization).  He points out that at Taking Care we had audio recorders, so the documentation is there (in audio form).  Finally, he thinks that this is indeed a conversation on care. He has quite an original formulation for this. His exact words (rendered to the best of my abilities) are: ""This is a conversation that cares for people as they, in their turn, take care of others through each one's specific sensitivities and abilities."" " 16,29901,2016-12-15T21:25:27.000Z,29384,anon1526983854,anon904321944,"My reply to Francesco @anon Trouble with that, there is a tradeoff between transcription accuracy and costs of data, so, ultimately, between transcription accuracy and number of informants that ethnographers can afford to have in a study. Already 10 years ago, in a relatively low-cost (Western) country like Italy, transcriptions cost 100 EUR per hour of recording. My colleagues at UNIMORE tried the time-honored academic move to deploy unpaid students as transcribers, but it did not work. The transcriptions were of too low quality. So, ethnography was always a small-numbers research techniques: 20 informants is a respectable number in a study. In opencare, with 50% of the project done, we have already 202.  Ethnography in its traditional form will continue to exist. But opencare is trying to repurpose it to serve it as a tool for collective intelligence. And collective intelligence needs... collective, i.e. fairly large numbers. The professional quality audio recordings of Taking Care, I think, go to prove my point. We have them. But no one, it seems, has the time and  interest to listen to them and transcribe them... so they stay unavailable. You could put them on SoundCloud without transcription, but I doubt many people would play them and engage with their content. Whereas I got in touch with Luca from Dynamoscopio, armed with my written notes, and we agreed to do a post on Mercato Lorenteggio in English together. We will publish, probably, it next week.  In fairness, though, there are people who like audio. @anon784612129 is one of them.  " 17,30194,2016-12-16T20:29:39.000Z,6069,anon904321944,anon1526983854,"Attenzione “Op3n Care” Community!!! Ciao a Tutti   Accolgo entusiasticamente l'iniziativa di dedicare uno spazio importante al Progetto OpenCare sulla Piattaforma Digitale Edgeryders! :-)   Tuttavia mi permetto di fare osservare alcuni aspetti di “criticità” di natura strategica e comunicativa: 1. Sovrapposizione web del Progetto – Esiste lo spazio raggiungibile su Edgeryders (https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home) ed uno apparentemente esterno ad esso (http://opencare.cc/). Questo comporta una potenziale confusione, prescindendo dalla legittimità e dalla “bontà” di entrambe le risorse, considerando la visibilità e le dinamiche di coinvolgimento e di identità sia per la Community sia per il Progetto medesimo. Eccesso di ansia e di scrupolo? :-/ 2. Incongruenze stilistiche e di nomenclatura – Allo stato all'interno delle varie conversazioni, oltre che nelle diverse implementazioni grafiche nei vari spazi web, si legge “opencare”, “OpenCare”, “Op3nCare” oppure ancora “Op3n Care” che lascerebbero intendere una eterogeneità di iniziative o di micro progetti correlati comunque ad una attività finanziata dalla Comunità Europea attraverso il Programma di Finanziamento Horizon 2020. Credo sia opportuno fare chiarezza. Un passato di dtp autodidattico e di “sviluppatore” web difficile da dimenticare! :D   Grazie   PS: Come si apre una nuova discussione sulla Piattaforma, in generale, e sullo spazio Op3n Care, nel dettaglio? " 2,6848,2016-12-13T16:46:20.000Z,558,anon1491650132,,"Hi @anon Is the liquid democracy application up somewhere, or have you tested it? I think you're spot on to assume people will only use new democratic tools if they are convenient. I believe this to be true even for those already educated in civic participation, and more broadly this also stands for engagement with most technologies - especially given the broad offer.  " 4,14196,2016-12-13T19:11:00.000Z,558,anon1526983854,,"On the role of conventions in human interaction Hello @anon I am quite passionate about the idea of electronic democracy (well, actually I know more about electronically facilitated government, or even governance). I personally ran some government projects that used social software, and even wrote a book about this stuff. In fact, Edgeryders itself was born as one of those projects!  The main takeaway from my experience of several years is this: it's not about the tech. The tech is important, of course, but it's the culture that the community builds around using the tech that drives the process. One of the most remarkable guys who hangs out Edgeryders, @anon281534083 , used to work for The WELL, the world's very first online community that was intentionally designed as such. He sent me a screenshot of the opening screen: Convenience? Not by our standards. And yet, it flourished. What's more, the different forums (""conferences"") had the exact same interface, but very different cultures. The parenting conference was caring and nurturing; the political conferences tended to be virtual places of aggression and shouting at each other. This story is narrated by @anon So, I think you are wise not to bank on the direct democracy software to sort everything out. In fact, I fear there is something in deliberation that erodes community... but this might just be me being too cautious. What are your experiences? " 6,18271,2016-12-15T22:19:29.000Z,17091,anon1526983854,,"""Naturally""... Hei, @anon What do I think? I am unsure about ""naturally"" in ""society will begin to banon3760936673ce itself naturally"". It is critical that at least a few people step up and take it upon themselves to educate themselves and others at fruitful interaction. This needs to be done very early in the game. @anon281534083 likes to say that once a culture has set in a community, it' almost impossible to dislodge it. And it is hard work, very.  But I think it's the work that really matters, that really makes the difference. I have even been doing some work about designing ""rules"" for healthy, constructive human-to-human interaction. I call it Protocol, and it emerged in the context of the unMonastery prototype. If you are interested, here it is: https://edgeryders.eu/en/unmonastery/protocol-01-engineering-human-to-human-interaction-for Two questions: how do I pronunce your name? And: can I ask you to re-load your avatar? Pictures instead of the default faceless man make our (now yours, too) site more attractive and personal. :-)  " 8,18826,2016-12-16T10:15:50.000Z,18649,anon1526983854,,"Steal away :-) I am glad you liked it, @anon The desire for change... yes, in many cases it is there. But it can take adversarial, nasty forms. Right now, @anon I will write you a private message re: the avatar.  " 1,6000,2016-11-08T08:54:31.000Z,6000,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"

    Instructions for this wiki

    Please add your presentation(s) to the steering committee meeting of Wednesday, November 30th. Please focus on the project's objectives (see below), not on the project management aspects – we have the reporting to take care of that. Tell us:
    • What have you been working on since Stockholm?
    • How does it contribute to the project's objectives?
    • What do you need from other partners to continute your journey?
    • [...]
     A good time would be 10 minutes per presentation, with the possibility that partners and/or WPs combine two presentations, let's say. Take one slot for each major thing you have been working on. The idea is to leave enough room for discussion. WeMake, as hosting partner, has last word on sequencing and the final agenda.

    List of the presentations

    I (Guy) suggest that we order presentations according to the WPs, to put ourselves into a mid-term reporting mindset. WP leaders should edit the wiki and add title, presenters' names, upload slides, etc.
    • Go back to the DoA, link your presentation with the WP's listed objectives and address them.

    opencare's objectives (from the proposal)

    Objective 1. Learn-by-doing how to deploy collective intelligence to design care services 1.1. Develop a how-to guide to convene, manage and harvest a large-scale online conversation as a care provision service design engine. The guide should be a result of learning-by-doing, building on previous experience and improving on it.  1.2. Develop a how-to guide to document testing activities in the field or in the lab/makerspace in such a way that documentation can be fed back to the online conversation. The guide should be a result of learning-by-doing, building on previous experience and improving on it.  Objective 2. Produce a realistic scenario of policy for community-driven provision of care services at scale 2.1. Consider the implications of applying community-driven design and delivery of care services to the context of European welfare states. Give special attention to the issue of fairness and ownership of the input contributed to open processes. 2.2. Identify best practice in community welfare, and in general care services designed and/or delivered through collectively intelligent processes, and learn from them.  Objective 3. Assemble a software stack to monitor and assist collective intelligence social dynamics in online communities  3.1 Further test, validate and if necessary extend OpenEthnographer in the context of the conversation on care (see section 1.3.5) 3.1 Further test, validate and if necessary extend Edgesense in the context of the conversation on care (see section 1.3.5) 3.3 Build and test a prototype of a tool for  semantic network analysis (see 1.4.2)

    ethics, data management plan and budget

    • If relevant, address how your work involves the ethics work package and/or the data management plan, what has been or still needs to be done.
    • You should also say a word about budget consumption -- everything going as planned, some actions started later than planned and budget not all consummed, etc.

    presentations

    WP1 (SCIMPULSE) - Learn, engage and disseminate
    • Lorep Ipsum
    WP2 (ER) - 
    • @anon
    • @anon
    WP3 (WeMake) - Prototype community-driven care services
    • Lorep Ipsum
    WP4 (EHFF) - Design and evaluation of community-based health/social policies at scale Brief Powerpoint on on cases, policy evaluation and design of survey WP5 (UBx) - Data processing for aggregating collective intelligence processes
    • @anon2774142051 Prototyanon3606750899g the SSNA dashboard / Supporting ethno-coding (2 x 10 min.)
    WP6 (UBx) - Lead, govern and manage the project
    • @anon
    CIty of MIlano might also want to report on their activities, please feel free to add a prez.   " 2,7691,2016-11-14T11:14:11.000Z,6000,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Ethno coding prez @anon " 3,14991,2016-11-14T19:22:20.000Z,6000,anon1277226854,anon1526983854,"On it Will do!  " 4,20418,2016-11-15T10:01:02.000Z,6000,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"WP6 - a wrap up of the individual meetings @anon " 5,24326,2016-11-23T10:39:42.000Z,6000,anon317670948,anon1526983854,"Comune di Milano Activities Hi @anon Thanks Franca " 6,25130,2016-11-23T11:39:34.000Z,24326,anon1526983854,anon317670948,"Cool! Great, @anon " 7,26923,2016-11-29T21:22:36.000Z,6000,anon2267245549,anon1526983854,"Wiki Hi guys, Nice seeing you again, and I again regret mismanaging my schedule and only being able to stay in Milan for one day. I have added the short powerpoint I was supposed to present on the Wiki anyway. Next week EHFF will also upload our second working paper on open care cases and policy lessons.  Best, Tino " 8,28441,2016-12-16T14:57:21.000Z,6000,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"About survey data @anon Note this links to reporting: where are your survey data stored? You will need to answer this question in the context of opencare's data management plan. It also links to milestone M10, ""Policy research feeding into the conversation"", that we had planned for October 2016. In order for this to happen, we'll need a synthesis of the research in blog form post; you can publish it on ER, then we will try to engage the community on it. I know you already wrote a post, so it should be simple to republish it on ER. Also anon3606750899g @anon " 9,29527,2016-12-16T15:59:18.000Z,6000,anon2656437829,anon1526983854,"Survey data Hi. Data will be stored on SSE servers. I have sent information on data and the survey to Luce as I could not find anywhere to put it in the reporting documents. I guess all the individual data management answers will be compiled to one for the entire project.    " 10,29720,2016-12-16T16:05:37.000Z,29527,anon1526983854,anon2656437829,"It's on github https://github.com/opencarecc/opencare-data-documentation @anon " 1,6074,2016-12-16T15:21:23.000Z,6074,anon70625510,anon70625510,"1904 applications. Many of them produced by well-resourced establishment players. With hundreds, possibly thousands of employees.  And then there's our loosely coordinated collective of misfits. Most of whom have never met one another in person. Held together by a tiny, anarchic group of nerds. Yes. Our OpenAndChange application made the cut: ""This initial screen focused on questions such as: are applications responsive to the questions we had posed? Do they conform to administrative requirements? Are they complete? Are the organizations involved legally able to receive funds? Are the projects the right scale for a $100 million grant?""  So now what, do we sit around and wait for the results? No. There is important work to do. Together. A lot of things have happened since we submitted the application in October. Many of us, and people about whom we care, are sad and scared. After pulling ourselves out of despair we realised that we already have a strategy and plan. We have beed develoanon3606750899g and prototyanon3606750899g oand have been for o. While politics may seem a far stretch from hacking health- and social care systems, they are closely related. I won't go into detail here, but I present it in detail here.   " 1,6062,2016-12-10T16:49:03.000Z,6062,anon70625510,anon70625510," template for building an effective crowdfunding campaign file_fid:16739 - Crowdfunding template" 1,6058,2016-12-10T13:01:42.000Z,6058,anon70625510,anon70625510,"My presentation during Ada week, which lays out the background reasoning and ""master plan"" of which lote /pup up village is one part. file_fid:16727 - A strategy and plan for building new politics together while building better lives for ourselves" 1,6050,2016-12-08T15:20:23.000Z,6050,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Earlier this week we received this message: Context: in October, 24 projects led by formal and informal groups have signed a partnership and submitted a proposal to 100andChange competition. We proposed a massively collaborative way of fixing health and social care, and in the process we taught ourselves to collaborate online with low costs (most partners haven’t met each other in real life!). We wish to continue working to realise the plan we all devised together. How we can move people and conversations in OpenandChange into concrete steps to advance their work as part of an active network? Do we try to fundraise further? Some have been asking about the future of opencare as a growing community. 

    In 2017 we will put on a show and tell the world what is possible with resources and physical infrastructure deployed collectively. We want to build a participatory and highly inclusive OpenCare community event as an opportunity to engage in local dialogues to accelerate our work. The event can happen in your city, or any city which wants to champion community innovation in health and social care.

    Just released: call for cities! The OpenCare PopUp village involves reaching out to local initiatives in your city and providing them with a chance to showcase their work in action as part of the big event. We want to find projects that approach social, personal, and physical care in new, exciting, and unconventional ways i.e. projects that bridge the housing gap, or are investigating the creation of sustainable communities; projects finding innovative ways to access affordable healthcare; and projects that are working on solutions to address the needs of the elderly, migrants, and/or those people in society current underserved or overlooked by the authorities.

    How any one of us can get involved in designing the event early on:

    1) Share the call with contacts in public administrations interested to support an international event on community health/social care. For more info ask Natalia in a comment to that call. 2) Join an open tour to connect opencare with promising infrastructure built by communities around the globe. Request access in a comment below and I’ll share the calendar below so you can add your own traveling activities or project events on the radar! We expect to structure this tour properly in Janon169343781ary. 3) Join a community call in the upcoming weekends to become part of a marvelous team building a radically open tour and event in 2017. Why should we do this together? We aim to mobilize resources around your project and that of others in the network, by making it easier to act collectively and not wait. Anyway, that's it. Please don't hesitate to ask questions and volunteer new ideas so we can get better at this. " 1,523,2016-08-22T09:36:29.000Z,523,anon3786846929,anon3786846929,"Counter Culture Labs in Oakland is a science-oriented community hackerspace, with a focus on biohacking. In one project taking place at the lab, members are engineering yeast to express milk proteins from non-animal sources - next generation of vegan cheeses and milk. Others are busy develoanon3606750899g an eco-friendly bacterial sunscreen. Open Insulin is one of these projects, and its goal is to make it simpler and less expensive to make insulin, starting by investigating some novel ideas for making insulin in e. coli using fewer, easier steps than in common industrial protocols. If successful, the members hope it can be a step towards making generic production more economical, and might also enable more participation in research related to insulin, or production of the medicine at smaller scale, closer to the patients who need it, further reducing costs and giving access to more patients who lack it. Counter Culture Labs was founded by a group of hackers with diverse backgrounds and interests in the period from 2011 to 2012, with some members coming from Sudo Room, another hackerspace in Oakland that I participated in founding. Many were also involved in Occupy Oakland, and wanted to establish a more permanent organization with the same community spirit and values. Other members came from Biocurious, another biohacking space in Sunnyvale, in the southern end of the Bay Area. I became involved both because I shared the desire to build a community-focused institution, and because I have diabetes type 1 myself, which means I live with the frustration of costly and tedious treatment regimens day in and day out, and I know how much the standard of care for diabetes patients lags behind what recent research suggests might be possible. So, for my own sake, and for the sake of the others with the condition, I sought to take whatever steps I could to close the gap between the research and what is available to patients on the market right now. About a year ago, some long-standing discussions around making a bioreactor to produce insulin, which had inspired a few previous attempts, turned more concrete when Isaac Yonemoto, another independent researcher of medical treatments, made some suggestions to us about interesting possibilities for innovation and improvement in existing protocols. We started organising regular meetings, and out of those we then organized a successful crowdfunding campaign, which then opened up connections to professionals who work on various aspects of the problem, both the science and engineering around insulin, and the questions of access to medicine. Through this it came to our attention that access to insulin lags far behind the need even now, and even in the most developed countries - costs of insulin are prohibitive even to many people in the US - and all in all, roughly 50% of those in the world who require it have no access to insulin at all, according to the 100 Campaign, a group working on improving access to insulin around the world. There is almost no generic insulin on the American market at the moment - the first one appeared on the market about two weeks after we finished our crowdfunding campaign last year, but it is a long acting type, which is only part of the therapy required by people with diabetes type 1 (about 15-20% of diabetics in USA have type 1; the rest have type 2). And for those who use an insulin pump, short acting insulin is necessary. The general problem in the first world is that the incentives and interests of producers and patient communities are not aligned. Right now we’re focused on achieving the first scientific milestones, which is to produce proinsulin, the precursor of the active form of insulin, in e. coli, in our small-scale community lab. Our lab runs mostly on donated and salvaged equipment and reagents and might be comparable in its capabilities to a lab in a less-developed area of the world where there is the least access to insulin. If we succeed, it would show the possibility that small-scale producers in remote areas might be able to make insulin to satisfy local demand, in places where centrally-manon169343781factured supplies can’t reach due to lack of infrastructure - where what roads there are, if any, do not let refrigerated trucks pass to ship needed pharmaceuticals in. Once we have a protocol that embraces everything from production to purification to near the level of purity of pharmaceutical grade insulin, we plan to approach established generics manon169343781facturers with a case for the economic feasibility of serving the unserved market for insulin, and to partner with them to do the rest of the work of achieving sufficient purity of the product and scaling the methods to production. As we proceed with our work, the main batch of patents around the various forms of insulin are expiring, which will further help us make the case for a comprehensive portfolio of treatments to potential generics manon169343781facturers. Provided all this goes well, we might then pursue another idea, closer to our original hope of a bioreactor that produces insulin, and a kind of ‘holy grail’ goal in the DIY bio world, which is a desktop biofactory, an analog of desktop 3D printers, but for proteins and biologics, which we might develop to first execute one of our protocols to produce insulin, but which we might also design with more flexibility in mind. This would consist of a bioreactor portion that could grow a culture of e. coli or yeast, and then extract and purify a product from it - very roughly speaking, the union of a fermenter with an FPLC, a piece of equipment that purifies proteins. If that is possible, supply of insulin could be placed very close to the demand of the diabetics around the world in a simple, economical package, and reliance on distribution infrastructure would be minimized. It would also reduce the need to have skilled technicians with years of lab experience to execute these protocols by hand. Ultimately, I hope that opening up the tools for research to more people can help to bring research on cures to patients, and not just treatments. Let me mention a few of the more promising ideas that have had some success in research settings. One approach is to implant functioning pancreatic cells from a donor and protect them from immune attack by various means - hard to scale if you need a constant supply of donors,but it might be possible to grow cultures of the cells in vitro to address this. Another approach is to get the immune system to cease its attack on pancreatic cells, and promote the regrowth of the body’s own insulin-producing cells, either in the pancreas, or in another tissue via gene therapy - a simpler approach to apply once it is developed. Some of the ideas use very inexpensive supplies such as adjuvants, the materials in vaccines that provoke an immune response - and there has been some success using adjuvants alone, or with carefully chosen additions, to get the bodies of diabetic patients to reduce or cease their autoimmune attacks. Other concepts address the metabolic changes behind type 2 diabetes. Several drugs between the research and commercial worlds of medicine can act directly on the metabolic control mechanisms of the body, changing its pattern of energy use and other aspects of metabolism back from the pathological state of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes to the normal, healthy base state. Some of them are small organic molecules, easier to make than proteins such as insulin, but due in part to reasons of cost and incumbency, are not mainstream treatments yet. At the most general level, what we seek to prove is that if an order of magnitude more people get involved in research and development of science and technology, medicine can progress much faster, and might no longer be held back by institutional constraints and perverse incentives in the economics of the institutions. Right now, we’re a group about half a dozen people working regularly on the project, with a few dozen more people in touch every now and then to help out, and a hundred or two in the extended community, ready to answer a question or call for help. Every week or two, someone new comes to the group, who just learned about the project via the media or our regular meetups, and wants to help. Some are complete beginners and end up taking our introductory classes to biohacking, some already have experience but got tired of the limits of the institutions where they worked, or have relatives with diabetes and want to contribute to progress. Though we’re building up a broader community of participation in research slowly, we hope our efforts can plant many seeds out of which future innovations will grow. Meanwhile, we are looking to broaden a circle of people who can advise us, experienced scientists and engineers who can help us troubleshoot issues that inevitably come up when investigating the unknown, but we also hope to inspire other groups to work independently in a broader community of innovation. We would like to set up a network of both institutional and DIY researchers living all around the world who have different approaches and ways of making insulin as well as tackling other diabetes and health related issues. Beyond producing drugs, participants might research questions of access to medicine, investigate what patient communities need the most, look at academic publications to identify the most promising research that is not making it out to serve patients, or help establish the effort to build the desktop biofactory. Part of our goal is to prove it’s possible and worthwhile for people outside institutions to take the initiative on these questions, and inspire others to take the lead in their own efforts and bring about the broader changes we seek. Do you have any projects in health, medicine, or biohacking that you’d like to work on, but lack people, knowledge, or resources to make it happen? Are you working on a diabetes-related solution? Or do you feel like a network of care biohackers is something you’d like to get involved with? Leave a comment and let us know. " 2,10213,2016-08-22T13:24:35.000Z,523,anon1491650132,anon3786846929,"277% funded!? Congrats for your work! The money quote for me is: what we seek to prove is that if an order of magnitude more people get involved in research and development of science and technology, medicine can progress much faster, and might no longer be held back by institutional constraints and perverse incentives in the economics of the institutions. So looking at your crowdfunding, people not only support, but actually fund scientific research in a crowdfunding campaign. And more so, research that is traditionally funded big time by big companies. I hope your time is also funded, as I've seen on the Counter Culture Labs site that it is volunteer led? How long do you expect it to take from producing the proinsulin to getting at serious talks with manon169343781facturers? Do you need more certifications or proofs of validity of sorts..or would they deal with this once they want to play ball? " 3,10742,2016-08-24T21:23:17.000Z,10213,anon3786846929,anon1491650132,"Crowdfunding and R&D / commercialization work We did have a fairly successful crowdfunding campaign, but it was not nearly enough to compensate anyone in the project for their time. The funds raised so far (about $15k) are just providing a small financial floor under us to cover the reagents we need to reach our first milestone and we will need to seek more funding after that to continue the work. It will be a matter of a few years before we might expect to have demonstrated enough success in the work to get the attention of generics manon169343781facturers, and in addition to the science/engineering work on the protocol we will need to get financials together concerning the economics of manon169343781facture at scale, and perhaps results of tests relevant to regulatory compliance. Orders of magnitude more money and resources will be involved. We are only taking the first steps toward bootstrapanon3606750899g to that level right now. But in doing so we have gotten the attention of larger organizations with more resources who might be able to help us in taking these next steps. " 4,12266,2016-08-26T11:25:50.000Z,10742,anon1491650132,anon3786846929,"I hope OPENandChange application can help I would love to see this collective bid help you figure out manon169343781facturing at scale. For the MacArthur foundation call  on which I'm hoanon3606750899g we'll work together, if we can sanon3606750899 the story to evidence the less experimental part of your work and a solid plan for reshaanon3606750899g markets it would be great. They're looking for durable solutions more than innovation, or so the briefing says. Either way, you win already just by being so daring.  Also, not sure if this is valid in your case, but it's possible that fame comes earlier than success - so getting attention by being in the right places and company can help your mission.Hang in there :-) " 5,14446,2016-08-25T21:19:11.000Z,523,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Network of contributors Thank you for sharing this interesting background info! I've been following the project from a distance for a while. I was wondering: which steps have you taken to involve people abroad or to build a network of contributors for working on this project in different locations? I'm sure there are lots of interested parties globally. The biohackerspace in Ghent, Belgium where I'm involved surely would be. " 6,17455,2016-11-16T06:43:25.000Z,14446,anon3786846929,anon2954219769,"Thanks for following Winnie! We've been occupied enough with holding the lab work together that we haven't gotten around to tackling the aspect of establishing partnerships with any sustained effort. Though perhaps a half-dozen potential collaborators with serious interest have reached out, we're still at the point of initial discussions. I'd love to discuss more about your hacker space in Ghent to see how you can get involved! " 7,18398,2016-11-19T12:27:07.000Z,17455,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Let's Skype Great! Let's talk on Skype if you're up for that @anon3786846929 . I read @anon784612129  is also interested in joining the discussion. You can find me under my name on Skype (or Twitter) and we can find a moment to call via there. " 8,18707,2016-11-19T18:49:17.000Z,18398,anon784612129,anon2954219769,"anon3606750899ged you on skype. on the account with the image " 9,19322,2016-11-16T22:09:28.000Z,14446,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"What a wonderful idea... Wow, @anon In the software world, we see this a lot. Turns out much software work is ""packetizable"": the whole is much more valuable than the sum of its parts, but a single part still has some value, and it can be built in relative independence from the other parts. Think Wikipedia: it is so great because it spans human knowledge, but I can work on my entry about, say, the Duchy of Modena with no need to coordinate with you guys as you edit the kin selection entry.  @anon3786846929 , is making open insulin that kind of work? Can it be broken down into pieces that Winnie could take and work on?  " 10,20068,2016-08-27T09:24:17.000Z,523,anon1526983854,anon3786846929,"A resilience argument This is great work, @anon3786846929 . Congratulations, really. I remember hearing from @anon Lucas even considered talking to local crystal meth manon169343781facturers: shady types, but the only people on the islands with any organic chemistry manon169343781facturing capacity (he decided against it, turns out their skill is insufficient to make insulin after all). A system of insulin production that is lighter on logistics and more reliant on local production is more robust to external shocks – an additional advantage to your idea. " 11,22018,2016-11-16T17:08:43.000Z,20068,anon3786846929,anon1526983854,"This is exactly the kind of scenario that motivates our work! To get there it seems we may need to move beyond a manon169343781al protocol to automating the production at a small scale though - as you mention, even professional underground organic chemists need a broader base of skill to express and purify proteins. " 12,23568,2016-11-30T17:43:47.000Z,523,anon1089184890,anon3786846929,"What about ethics?  @anon If I understand correctly we are talking about genetic manipulation to create an alternative to already fully disclosed, but patented medicine. Skipanon3606750899g clinical trials phases 1..4 to eventually offer this experimental product to the poor and  3world countries? Personally I'm not sure if this is an ethically acceptable approach. How can you be confident that your homebrew dna is safe when evidence based  research has to spend years and millions? Isn't it like giving guns to children? @anon3786846929 Why can't you just get proper NIH funding?   " 13,24843,2016-12-02T00:21:35.000Z,23568,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Can be paralysing... It's a valid point, @anon In practice, though, insulin is insulin. There are ways to test whether a chemical is, indeed insulin, or something else. And if it is, you are good: the same molecule should work in the same way, no matter its production process. Also, GMOs per se are not illegal in the U.S. Their attitude is very different from that of Europe.   " 14,26033,2016-11-30T22:13:50.000Z,523,anon3786846929,anon3786846929,"That's not quite the plan we've got planned for the project. We share your concern for questions of safety and ethics so we are only trying to accomplish a proof of concept right now. The goal is first to make normal human insulin using methods broadly similar to those used already, but keeanon3606750899g the information needed to do so open, avoiding proprietary restrictions on the work, and trying to take opportunities to keep things as simple, inexpensive, and easy to reproduce as possible. If we succeed on any of those points, we would then hope that an existing generics manon169343781facturer might be interested in taking up the work to bring a generic version to market, and we would try to partner with one to do the necessary work to ensure purity and safety. The general regulatory rubric this would fall under is the biosimilar regime, which is mid-way between the rigor required in vetting an entirely new drug and that required of a copy of an old one made with strictly chemical means. This was the plan we outlined in our original crowdfunding pitch and remains our current thinking. We'd welcome funding from the NIH or another large funding organization if they'd have us but, among many other reasons to be skeptical about such a  prospect, I doubt there would be enough that's novel about our work to qualify it as fundable science. " 15,27807,2016-12-01T19:32:29.000Z,523,anon2954219769,anon3786846929,"Testing a new way of funding biotech research is, for me, already a giant undertaking worth doing. Lots of perverse effects in biotech are a direct result of how research is structured, especially financially. Huge R&D capital requirements and high risks involved all along the process from idea to lab scale to factory scale to market. The time to market can easily be over 10 years, which adds to the complexity. (Sorry for the extremely short summary, a long analysis could fill a few books). This is, in my eyes, the most feasible and direct impact you can have with a project like Open Insulin. More background reading and stories from the news today: http://www.sciencealert.com/students-have-made-martin-shkreli-s-750-drug-in-their-chem-lab-for-just-2. The Shkreli story has been all over the web for a while now and shows exactly the perversities that are going on. And the real problem is summed up in a quote I read from Shkreli himself, which basically said what he did was common practise. And he's right. The obvious societal and ethical implications of having eg. insulin more accessible makes it worth pursuing as well... The insulin is a long way off being useful as a medicine and I've read most of the team is aware of this. The potential of open medicine is there in the long term however. It will need some serious conversation on ethical, medical, legal and other consequences. Luckily, the biohacker community has strong ethics and is open to have the conversation they are starting. It's one worth having in my eyes. Anyway, how about that Skype call @anon3786846929 ? I've messaged the OI account on Twitter, but no reply. " 16,28461,2016-12-02T00:23:28.000Z,27807,anon1526983854,anon2954219769,"Can we join? @anon3786846929 , @anon " 17,28731,2016-12-07T08:49:25.000Z,28461,anon2954219769,anon1526983854,"Next year I'll be offline until the end of December, looking forward to have a call after that. " 18,28830,2016-12-07T10:34:32.000Z,28731,anon784612129,anon2954219769,"Roger that Enjoy your offline time! " 1,5976,2016-10-25T10:37:23.000Z,5976,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    The Next Year: Concept, Pitch and Plans

    Concept: The Reef

    Using Coral Reefs as a model, Edgeryders proposes a new kind of connective layer as an enabler of social and political renewal. One that is distributed, hyper-local and transnational at the same time. We are building a network of appropriate physical infrastructure in different locations, embedded in an online conversation equipped with collective sensemaking tools.  Our first Reef prototype is focused on supporting people and initiatives contributing towards making health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.   Over the next year we want to:
    • Inventory Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia and North America  for promising bottom-up solutions running below the radar. Status: In progress.
    • Prototype a “reef"", a collaborative distributed thriving landscape of interoperable projects and processes. We start with a Pop-up Village as proof of concept.  Status:Call for cities to host first OpenCare Pop-Up village is open.
    • Equip local communities to build sustainable practices to satisfy material, social and directional needs of their members. Status: Plans for scoanon3606750899g tour underway.
    • Support participants to translate the experience-based insights about what works into constructive political demands backed by new constituencies. Status: We have already developed, deployed and validated the methodology and tools.
    • Develop an appropriate governance model and fair social contract. Status: Participatory design process involving first contributors and supporters is being drafted.
    • Raise funds to support/invest in the development of the Reef. Status: 100&Change grant application submitted, currently reaching out to foundations and investors.
    More information: Slide Deck,  Blogpost 1, Blogpost 2 , 2 page summary, 

     

    Step 1: Find a physical space and narrativize it around OpenCare (Oct - Dec 2016)

    Where are communities running spaces for providing care and contribute to wellbeing? Where is there new space available now for an Edgeryders base? What are people there interested in making happen, or work on locally together with Edgeryders? Who is willing to barnraise around LOTE? A scouting process involves a tour in the following countries (tentative, open to new suggestions):  *round 1* Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morrocco. *round 2* Bucharest, Greece.  Attributes of the future ER space: We're looking to set up in an international space where people can live a good life on little money. A space for up to 20 people, where community members would be living and working there. Some people will be based permanently, others will be doing temporary residencies to work on projects. The focus is on experience based learning and key tracks will evolve from it as ongoing contribution to the local community. LOTE happens in the city where we find the space, deeply plugged into the local OpenCare community. OFFER: ""You get us a space, we do the rest""  we can set up LOTE around a topic the community is interested in and draw international networks and support for direct local benefit TANGIBLE PERK: ""Host us at home, Join us in Hamburg!"" The tour ends with a LOTE6 / OpenCare assembly at CCC with spots given away to (ideally) LOTE6 organising team Actionables:
    • By 1st November - we need a QUESTION to our local networks, a MAP and a TOUR CALENDAR
    • Mid November - we need to buy minimum 10 tickets for CCC in Hamburg this December and 2 rooms x 6 bunk beds at the Generator Hostel
    • 30 December - terms of reference for a full LOTE team 
    • SAVE THE DATE: Lote6 Location and exact date announced Dec 30 - Jan 10. 
    Other activities: send out calls to community members we know in those areas; host weekly community calls for planning a local meetup;  interview local initiatives online and assist them to join OpenCare; Tour in December - meetups, conversations, visiting initiatives; First LOTE6 Team building and planning meeting at CCC; Plan fundraising strategy; Recruit a fundraiser

    Step 2: Finalize list of Tracks and Curators for the agenda (Jan 2017)

    A full list of themes and curators/ speakers will make for a high level program we can then fundraise around and add detail to. Attributes of LOTE6: In OpenCare we discover hundreds of projects changing the landscape of care giving in communities. We would like LOTE5 to barnraise around people's initiatives. In order to be serve participants and be consistent with the Care theme, the event has to approach several areas: physical (body exercising, manon169343781al work, therapy etc), personal (development and growth), and professional/ intellectual. Actionable:
    • Jan 20 Launch an open ended  ""Suggested theme & speaker"" call - pick an opencare theme and suggest a speaker for it, or add a new theme with proposals.

    Step 3: Participants onboarding through an OpenCare LOTE tour (Feb - ...)

    Local workshops in different places to socialize people into Lote6. People who volunteer to coordinate (eg LOTE team) will have a Plug&Play package to roll out. The events will move one step further than Open&Change workshops we did in Berlin, Thessaloniki etc - they will map in detail what is needed to barnraise around projects. 1) Show a map of OpenCare: what are people working on for wellbeing; pick a dimension and understand together what's needed to build systems around it 2) Help with the online registration and meeting the rest of the community.

    Step 4: Run the event (Sep 2017)

    ...

    ONGOING: Fundraise and Crowdfund (Jan - Sep 2017)

    Two funding goals: offline (early fundraising and during the February and spring events) and online (crowdfunding in the runup and until the end of LOTE). Our fundraising goal is 20K [insert here details about fundraising and role, timeline etc] " 2,10531,2016-11-07T15:59:02.000Z,5976,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Dropanon3606750899g this conference toolkit here for now.. OuiShare just released this downloadable version. I liked that:
    • at the speaker level - they have a combination of invited speakers and call for proposals
    • they have a team calendar in parrallel to the official event agenda - for overview of roles, responsibilities and checkins.
    • they have detailed briefs including for logistics and kitchen management!
    " 3,15457,2016-11-18T07:35:26.000Z,5976,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"I have an idea to add to LOTE6 - or maanon1932026148 an idea that could even determine the format. It's called Pop Up Care Village and it's organized by Lava Mae in San Francisco since a few years. it's an event that showcases available support for homeless people in the city and innovations around it, such as Lava Mae portable showers, barber shops offering free haircuts, or a pop-up shop that allows customers to purchase things that go directly to homeless people - Crack + Cider.  I think it would be fantastic to do something like this. Invite all the initiatives we know about, and make them not only talk, but actually demonstrate how change comes about and how little it takes to help others. It does not need to be only about homeless people - I can see a huge potential in building a great care event that provides a whole range of care related information and support to people.  I thought the location has been confirmed and it is Milano - has it changed? @anon Also, I can see you're preparing a map for a tour. I would be up for doing part of the journey and documenting ideas, I could visit some of the Slavic countries for example or the Baltics. And check the scene in Cyprus. I will keep my eyes open for relevant things in Indonesia as well - I hope to bring one or two great stories, especially because I am attending a Youth Forum for young entrepreneurs doing social business with participants from all over the world. There has to be some really exciting stuff coming.  " 4,17550,2016-11-18T08:22:26.000Z,15457,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Pop Up Care Village whoa Very edgy, thanks for sharing Natalia. Ping @anon I don't know if it is going to be Milano, it will depend on the fundraising opportunities and we'll probably go where there is the most support - whether it's Milano or somewhere else. @anon " 5,20678,2016-11-18T09:29:16.000Z,5976,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"I think it would be a fabulous event that some progressive city hall might be interested in supporting financially (maanon1932026148 Austria, or Germany?) but also it provides a great chance to fundraise, as people can chip in for the projects they can see actually working, not just being exhibited (although we surely can do both). We could make a call as well and try to use some networks of cities to call for a host - not sure how successful this tactic is, but if we think we have enough time, we could try.  " 6,22086,2016-11-18T10:46:02.000Z,20678,anon70625510,anon1061021150,"I think we should go ahead and do it. It's a great way of scouting locations for the settlement too :) Super idea @anon Are you up for leading on this? " 7,24121,2016-11-18T16:37:30.000Z,5976,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"Lava Mae I could go over and have a look at them in action.  Sometime after next week though.  On Monday we move my 91 yr old mother out of her house into a much smaller apartment.  She has been living there since 1986, and before that it was her parents' house since the 1940s.  It's full of stuff she can't take with her and she isn't too sharp in the best of times, so this whole process has been a bit of an ordeal for all of us.  I will stay with her for a few night next week and help her get more used to it all.  I will be relieved when it is over.  Should have happened years ago. " 8,26922,2016-11-20T21:15:02.000Z,5976,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"I've created a short call for host in the wiki - please take a look and let me know what to add, what to change, how to make it look better, maanon1932026148 pitch in some ideas. I will then create an event on fb out of it and send it out wherever I can.  " 9,27310,2016-11-21T08:28:07.000Z,26922,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"Made a few edits to the wiki Hi Natalia, I have done a proof reading of the Call, i think it's very good. Have just cleared up a few parts where it was awkwardly phrased or really long sentences. I'm not sure how you want to present this to potential client cities, but i would recommend putting the outcomes for the host higher up the document, certainly above what they have to provide. I think it would also work really well to send it out as a dedicated newsletter to the whole community. It would make most sense to have a lead organiser who is already an ER member. Perhaps there is a member somewhere who hasn't been on the platform for a while who is perfectly positioned to make this happen? " 10,28440,2016-12-02T12:42:00.000Z,5976,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Signaling (over)use of terms Just leaving this here as a mental note. Could come handy later.. The Reef as an overarching concept works great (thanks @anon The OpenCare PopUp village as a prototype also sounds super sexy. LOTE and Caring on the Edge and other terms might need reconsideration.. they add a little bit of noise in terms of what we want to do, at least for now. I would suggest we stick to max 2 good terms in the way we communicate. If I have a hard time reading through this and I supposedly get it, dont want to imagine others :-)   " 11,28721,2016-12-02T15:50:32.000Z,28440,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Agree I think that we need to have a clear distinction between the levels of our plans. I would suggest 3 seperate levels: The grand plan: The Reef. This can be the headline information, or (i would suggest) it is our justification or reasoning. The main event: LOTE/COTE - we need to clearly decide which of these titles we will use for the next gathering. My feeling is we stick to LOTE to have continuity of event name/brand identity, but we subtitle it something like The Edge of Care. So. LOTE6: The Edge of Care. However if we need to call it Caring on the Edge to fit into the OpenCare structure then we use that, but have to make a effort to use that in all our comms. If we use LOTE then we can tap into the heritage of the events that have come before and how they have led us to where we are now. Finally we want to talk about the central prototype plan: The OpenCare PopUp village. This is the interesting part that we really want to pitch. It's what makes LOTE/COTE 6 special and different from before. It combines everything that has been learned from 5 LOTE events as well as from the Open&Change workshops and the Open Care process. This is our core pitch to cities and what we want them to get excited about. I would structure it like this: (in brief) Hi City. We want you to help us run and host our next LOTE, an international unConference and meeting of people from around the world who are exploring the leading edge of science, social policy and living. This one is about Care. We have spent the past 18 months studying cutting edge aspects of care from around the world. We want to come together to discuss, learn and investigate our findings, and we want to do it in your city. What's so great for you? As part of LOTE/COTE we want to set up a brand new idea: The OpenCare PopUp village. This involves reaching out to local initiatives in your city and providing them with a chance to showcase their work in action as part of the big event. We have experience of connecting to these initiatives through our work with the Open&Change project that brought initatives together in Belgium, USA, Greece. We are looking to extend our network and also help you raise international awareness of the great work that citizens and organisations are undertaking in your city. We have a skill of finding and reaching out to organisations and initiatives that operate on the franon1056199097s as well as in the mainstream.  Why are we doing this/Why your city? This is where we explain the idea of The Reef. How it's about creating a physical network that matches our online network. How it's about creating relationships with local governments and citizens. How it's about being hyperlocal and globally connected.  That's my view. If people like it i'm happy to spend some time tomorrow updating the Wiki to this type of structure. " 12,29526,2016-12-02T15:04:20.000Z,5976,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"@anon @anon1491650132, got it - how about we simply skip the lote name and label it as its own event  especially as it is a prototype. can @anon I also replied to Gallway and Lille. lets see.  I will establish tomorrow a parallel wiki for the tour.  Thank you for all the feedbakc and help!   " 13,29719,2016-12-02T15:44:27.000Z,29526,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"@anon @anon " 14,30304,2016-12-03T00:04:52.000Z,5976,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"@anon What do you think Noemi? how do we pitch that? if you want we can have a call on Monday to discuss it, i will have connection then   " 15,30439,2016-12-03T14:07:07.000Z,30304,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"see my link and document in the other wiki page https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/25675#comment-25675  " 2,6600,2016-09-20T06:02:33.000Z,754,anon1491650132,,"How can we help? Hi @anon Is there anything that you are working on at the moment where Edgeryders can be of help? Right now many conversations here revolve around the question of how can groups of people and communities take better care of each other, with members sharing bits of their work or projects and hoanon3606750899g to find answers and advice. Have a look at the collection and see if there's something which interests you? " 3,14058,2016-09-20T11:51:41.000Z,754,anon3595237380,,"Ready to share your story this Saturday Hello @anon thanks to share your concern about this topic. On saturday we are organizing a workshop between people who want to better the system around care by sharing their vision and focus. Your imput would be wonderfull. If you can participate send me a message. All info can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/280924708934187/   " 4,21101,2016-09-29T07:35:41.000Z,754,anon489906876,,"thinking from the future I wrote my master thesis about the paradigm shift in the working environment triggered by the transformation into complexity (VUCA-World). In my journey to find answers for leadership I´ve learned about Otto Scharmer and Theory U. I love to find a project on that plattform which is connecting to that kind of thinking and using that approach. In our project flipped job market we also take on the challenge for a new mindset in order to live the full potential with lies in every one of us. " 5,21821,2016-12-01T16:53:37.000Z,21101,anon1526983854,anon489906876,"How well does it work? Hello @anon With a little help from Google Translate I looked into Flipped Job Market. It is really refreshing. What are your results so far, Henrike?    " 1,784,2016-10-07T10:51:35.000Z,784,anon280632739,anon280632739,"Ce texte est une pastiche qui n'a jamais été publié suite au faite que le jour de publication était le jour des attentat en France. J'ai rencontré Yannick qui m'a proposé de partager ce texte ici, car comme d'autre idée la réappropriation de l'espace commun a comme bénéfice des gens plus sain d'esprit dans la ville. Voici notre proposition:  Une nouvelle Maison du Peuple! Aujourd’hui est un jour historique pour Bruxelles. Après de longs mois d’incertitude, le conseil communal à enfin tranché: le Palais de la Bourse deviendra le lieu commun de tous les bruxellois. Ils ont à nouveau une Maison du Peuple! Ce temple architectural est évidemment d’abord un choix symbolique. Après y avoir accepté la très controversée exposition Behind The Numbers glorifiant le néo-liberalisme, la Ville s’est rendue compte qu’il fallait donner une autre destination à cet endroit que celle de pure spéculation commerciale et d'activité touristique. En transformant une partie de la Bourse en Maison du Peuple elle redonne une place aux Bruxellois au cœur du centre historique! Donnez la ville aux habitants, et tout le monde s’en portera mieux On ne comptait plus le nombre d’actions contre les plans de la Ville: plates-formes citoyennes, regroupements de commerçants, actions ludiques diverses... Qui ne se souvient du banc de 30 m déposé au milieu de la Grand place, ou des centaines de gens pique-niquant place de la Bourse, de l'action de revendication des escaliers de la Bourse comme tribune libre d'expression politique lors du KunstenFestivaldesarts? L’espace public était devenu un haut lieu de débat, mais paradoxalement ne recevait pas d’endroit adéquat pour le mener (une Agora). La participation ne remuait que du vent, les riverains ne se sentaient pas entendus. La ville était taillée sur mesure pour les eurocrates, les touristes Chinois, avec commerces ouverts le dimanche, tandis que le Bruxellois devait se contenter d’une ville certes prestigieuse, mais sans lieu où il fait bon vivre, une ville d'expériences individuelles juxtaposées, atomisées, sans liens. Le Beer Tempel projeté dans le Palais de la Bourse aura une entrée par l’arrière, et c'est très bien ainsi. Mais sans occuper tout l'espace, il comprendra une nouvelle Maison du Peuple, où chacun pourrait débattre de ce qui se passe dans la ville, où les initiatives bottom-up pourront croître, de nouvelles idées pour une ville meilleure surgir. Il importe de faire de ce lieu symbolique qu'est la Bourse un espace de libre débat, une Agora. Il s'agit de rendre la ville aux habitants pour que tout le monde en profite, pour que l’habitant s’y sente bien. Alors le touriste, le commerçant et tout les autres s'y sentiront bien aussi. La Ville espère avec cette Maison du Peuple calmer les tensions palpables par le biais d’une communication plus ouverte: un endroit de rencontre et d’écoute sera ainsi aménagé dans le bâtiment. En revitalisant de cette façon la Bourse, en lui donnant une échelle humaine, la Ville aide à fabriquer le tissu social des prochaines décennies. Bien sûr, le touriste y aura sa place, car la Maison du peuple sera ouverte a tous. Mais nous ne voulons pas que la centralité habitée soit confisquée par une vitrine à touristes. A la Maison du Peuple, les touristes pourraient rencontrer des Bruxellois, trouver des bons plans pour une visite de Bruxelles vue par ses habitants, trouver le plaisir culturel de ville plus qu'une consommation grégaire. Utopie et Réalité? Et maintenant vient la chute: on est encore bien loin de cette possible utopie à Bruxelles et c’est bien dommage. On dirait que la peur panique du désordre social jette la Ville dans les bras de la société du spectacle, attractive aux investisseurs, par la privatisation de l’espace public, le non-débat constant avec les acteurs locaux, un trafic encore plus monstrueux, et de plus en plus de gens en désaccord avec chacun mais encore plus avec la politique bruxelloise... Une souffle nouveau, un bref moment d’air frais pourrait nous sortir de là, donc amis Bruxellois, politiciens donnez-nous cette Maison du Peuple à la Bourse.  Sinon on la prendra! ;-)     " 2,7690,2016-10-07T21:22:51.000Z,784,anon1526983854,anon280632739,"Très jolie idée... ... mais est-ce que avez pensé comment elle se peut réaliser? Est-ce que il y a quelque chose que nous pourrions faire pour la rendre en peu plus proche?  " 3,16846,2016-11-07T14:57:37.000Z,784,anon1491650132,anon280632739,"Vraiment animé! Enchante, @anon Y a-t-il une partie du bâtiment Bourse qui n'est pas actuellement utilisée? Pourquoi avez-vous pensé à celui-là en particulier? C'est vrai, chaque fois que je suis à Bruxelles je vois beaucoup de mouvement de rue dans la zone, pour ainsi dire (rue piétonne, danseurs de rue etc). Est-ce que c'est ca la raison? " 4,19851,2016-11-29T19:51:00.000Z,784,anon1491650132,anon280632739,"Car-free streets? This article just came out about the rise of pedestrianism in Ghent and Brussels and the politics around it. It mentions a project in Ghent called Living Streets started in 2013, whereby ""if a resident got support from 70% of their neighbors, they could apply to make their street car-free a few hours a day over the summer. Do you know anything about this and how it works, @anon " 5,23524,2016-11-30T07:40:00.000Z,784,anon280632739,anon280632739,"Living Street Contact Els van Geenhoven was one of the persons behind Leefstraat Gent a couple of years ago, i think she is still behind it. @anon [email address edited out by admins for privacy] " 6,24824,2016-12-01T09:51:16.000Z,23524,anon1526983854,anon280632739,"Watch out for privacy please :-) @anon " 7,26049,2016-11-30T10:06:40.000Z,784,anon2954219769,anon280632739,"They are our neighbours Lab van Troje is the organisation behind the 'leefstraten'. They are our neighbours/co-inhabitants of the site where our lab is, so I know them and have a (relatively) good idea of what they do and how. I can only scratch the surface though. I believe they share their experience and expertise regularly and internationally, so you should definitely contact them. I've nudged Dries to the Edgeryders platform a while back and he seemed to be enthusiastic, but I don't think he has interacted yet. Shall I put you in touch with them directly, over mail or otherwise @anon " 8,26961,2016-11-30T10:43:28.000Z,26049,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Yes please Email would be great, I'm looking forward to meet Els and Dries. Thank you! " 1,555,2016-11-30T10:45:21.000Z,555,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"I read this story and found it of interest. In a remote clinic in Mbankomo a doctor attaches electrodes to the chest of a patient lying on an examining table and records the patient’s heart data on an African-designed touch screen medical tablet. The readings are then transferred wirelessly, over the mobile-phone network to specialists in distant urban centers for interpretation, diagnosis and prescribed treatment. Here is the full story: By making it possible to perform tests, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) in far-flung villages, the tablet is bringing high-quality cardiac care to remote and often poorly equipped countryside clinics where many Cameroonians go for their health care. It connects rural patients suffering from heart disease, many of whom do not have the means, the time, the contacts or the strength to travel to the big city, with Cameroon’s few, primarily urban-based cardiologists.
    The Cardiopad, developed by 26-year-old Cameroonian engineer, Arthur Zang, promises to bring high quality cardiac care to remote rural communities. It is built to withstand the humid climate and rough terrain of outlying villages. Equipped with a battery, it can run independently for around six hours at full power. (Photo: E. Harris/WIPO).
    The potentially life-saving Cardiopad – designed in Cameroon to address a Cameroonian problem, but which is also widespread across Africa – is the brainchild of 26-year-old engineer Arthur Zang. For now, the heart reading and interpretation are just a simulation – but that will change soon if Mr. Zang gets his way. The winner of numerous overseas awards and grants, Mr. Zang hopes that his invention – imagine an iPad with home-build software built for deployment in the African bush – will revolutionize cardiac care in Cameroon. And for him, his business is also personal. “There are a lot of people in my family who suffer from cardiac illness,” he says referring to the recent heart-related death of his uncle. “So personally, this has affected me but above all I would say it has impassioned me, because I know personally the daily existence of people living in the village … I lived myself in a village and I know how difficult it is to get specialist care.” According to Mr. Zang, Cameroon has only a few dozen cardiologists in a country of around 22 million people and these are clustered in urban centers like the capital, Yaounde, or the main seaport town of Douala. Roughly half of Cameroon’s population lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank, while many others live in urban areas that do not have access to heart specialists.

    Life-saving potential

    The young engineer saw a problem and set out to try to fix it. In 2009, while still a student, Mr. Zang began develoanon3606750899g a software product that could help doctors monitor the health of their patients’ hearts. He made contact with a Yaounde-based cardiologist, Professor Samuel Kingué, who helped him better understand the type of technical solutions required. With these insights, the young engineer finally wrote a program that he loaded onto an off-the-shelf device. But he soon realized he needed the flexibility of his own platform, and so turned to develoanon3606750899g his own hardware – the Cardiopad. – the first medical tablet in Africa, says Mr. Zang. The Cardiopad has a simple-to-use, touchscreen interface that is adapted to the needs of remote health workers who may lack familiarity with the latest computing devices and the know-how required to use them. In tests by the Cameroonian scientific community, the Cardiopad has proven 97.7 percent reliable. It is solidly built to withstand the humid climate and the shocks incurred while being carried over rutted, often unpaved dirt roads like the one leading to the clinic at Mbankomo. The device is also built to withstand the frequent power cuts experienced in Cameroon and across Africa. Equipped with a battery, it can run independently for around six hours at full power. With some 30,000 euros funding from the Cameroonian government, Mr. Zang was able to create a prototype and eventually travel to China, where he found a factory that could produce a limited run of Cardiopads while he searched around for partners to help fund his venture. Obtaining investments has been difficult. Finding the right contact in overseas companies is a challenge and the pitch is no easier. The device is designed to help Africans in rural, impoverished communities;  something that not all companies see as a promising prospect, Mr. Zang says. That’s why he intends to tap into a very modern financing model – crowd-funding on platforms such as Kickstarter, where users can donate funds to, or purchase shares in, fledgling firms. For now, he is searching for more funding, hoanon3606750899g to build upon the CHF 50,000 grant he received as a Rolex Award Young Laureate 2014. While funding issues have been a constraint, the pilot tablets he has been able to produce are now being tested in hospitals in Cameroon. Mr. Zang’s aim is to produce and sell his device for around 2,200 euros which is significantly cheaper than other commercially available, less portable devices. The hope is that hospitals purchasing the low-cost Cardiopad will be able to lower the price of medical examinations and speed-up medical diagnoses.
    (PHOTO: MIMORE MEDICAL)

    Patenting the Cardiopad

    He also turned to the intellectual property (IP) system to help advance his work. In December 2011, he applied for a patent via the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) in Yaounde [see box]. OAPI later granted him a patent (No. 16213) on his technology, covering some aspects of both the software and the hardware. Obtaining a patent was an important step for Mr. Zang. “I did it to reassure myself,” he said, “also to protect the product, and to have a lot more credibility in the eyes of, for example, partners with whom I wanted to sign contracts in order to be able to produce and then sell the product.” When funds permit, he also plans to register the Cardiopad, and his company, Himore Medical, which currently produces the tablet, as trademarks. “The intellectual property system can help us in Africa – it can add credibility to African products. And credibility has repercussions on the business plan because if you aren’t credible, it’s difficult to sell your product,” says Mr. Zang.

    Driving new developments

    The budding entrepreneur is already in collaboration with other young Cameroonian engineers to develop a range of additional medical devices and technologies for rural areas. He points to what he views as a disconnect in the innovation environment in Cameroon: in the medical space, in particular, many of the creators and inventors are young like him – roughly half of Cameroon’s population is under the age of 18 – so they rarely suffer from the diseases that products like the Cardiopad are designed to address. Further, with a rapidly urbanizing population, urban dwellers may all too easily overlook the specific needs of those living in remote rural areas. For Mr. Zang, innovation requires a flexible mindset, a deep understanding of an entire economic ecosystem and an ability to commercialize ideas. “You can’t only have engineering ideas,” he says. “We have to go further, into researching the problems confronting Africans and then pursue research into solutions, subsidize the creation of companies, create business incubators that can help nurture projects, researchers, engineers and really help them move from the laboratory to the factory.”

    Pursuing a dream

    Ultimately, Mr. Zang’s dream is to continue working to “improve life conditions” by branching out into other areas of medical technology, envisioning specially adapted devices for echography and radiology. In the Mbankomo clinic, the lack of these higher-end materials is evident. Surrounded by a tidy plot of well-brushed soil dotted with shade trees, the one-story clinic is austere. Patient consulting rooms are cooled by open windows, but little advanced machinery is on display. Mr. Zang says doctors at the facility are overwhelmed by the health needs of patients, which range from the mundane to the mortal. Connecting these clinics to better-resourced hospitals elsewhere via the mobile phone system is establishing a lifeline. Mr. Zang hopes ultimately to manon169343781facture the Cardiopad in Cameroon, and to help the country develop as a manon169343781facturing center for lower-cost devices specifically tailored to low-resource environments and markets, like those in West Africa. “This will help lower the cost of medical exams and the cost of good health across the regions, in the villages,” he says. “That’s it, that’s the dream that is smoldering in me.”   " 1,6025,2016-11-28T17:27:32.000Z,6025,anon2442420827,anon2442420827,"An Áit Eile in Galway, Ireland would like to invite you to a workshop on Monday the 5th of December from 2-5.15pm in conjunction with Edgeryders, at Ballybane Enterprise Centre. The purpose of this workshop is to record stories of community initiatives for the Edgeryders Horizon 2020 Opencare research project.
     
    We will ask participating groups/individuals to write their story using the framework of the following questions to guide them in the writing and recording process.  
    • How do you give and receive care?
    • How are people on the move caring and being cared for?
    • How are you using Open Source and DIY solutions to meet care needs?
    • How can we get better at boosting one anothers mental and spiritual health?
     
    We would value your participation and hope that you will benefit from meeting other caring community initiatives as well as being part of the Opencare research project. To book a place please email comment on the Edgeryders community call on improving how we support each others mental and spiritual health, I wondered if “everyone who lives in a distributed area is in some way involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place”. I feel a great potential for technological networks to create rituals and bring people together to process experiences in new ways. Generally, I'm talking about creative networks for coming back to life: networks that invite people into a social experience to care about themselves and other people, to keep hold of their hopes, to understand beyond their own spheres of experience and to find support in being the magician of their own life. This is speculative stuff, I realise, so I’ll anchor my offering to this strand in real examples and share work that I know of and am making. A frank admission to start: the subject of networks of care is relatively new terrain for me. I’m no expert and there are long histories and contexts that I cannot represent here.  I really welcome feedback, criticism, references and most of all, examples of working networks already in place. There are many excellent examples and the diversity of reports shared on this site - the variety of food sharing initiatives, performance and storytelling circles, maker spaces and innovative support systems - is informing my learning around this subject. One of the areas that show most clearly the positive effects that community interventions can have are post-conflict efforts. In this post, I want to tell you about the powerful work of theTrust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) who developed a program with survivors of the Nyayo House Torture Centre and other centres in Kenya. In a follow up piece I will look more at digital systems with a mind to exploring how elements of ritual and and formalised events for expression and listening might be tapped into in new ways to support communities through online means.  Facilitating Forgiveness: the hardest job there is? I met Denis Ngala when I was doing some work in Timbavati, South Africa. He is a tall, radiant and infectiously joyful character, utterly grounded and with a sense of spiritual authority having spent most of his twenties studying in a seminary. He told me a lot about the work that he was doing in Kenya with TICAH and the problems that faced victims of torture returning to society after they had been released.  Details of the intense suffering and the physical and mental abuse that went on in Nairobi’s Nyayo House torture chambers and other places of detention during President Moi’s regime are still emerging decades later. Ngala was working at facilitating meals for torture victims and their perpetrators where they could have honest discussions in an attempt to heal these old wounds. He told me that often the victims and perpetrators of the violence were people who grew up in the same village and had studied at neighbouring schools so he was often bringing together people who had known each other throughout their lives. The kind of emotional resolve and resources needed for either survivor or perpetrator to face the horror of the past and sit down together, share food and listen to each other’s stories is frankly extraordinary. But Ngala describes his methodology when convening these meetings as based on simplicity: “it is rooted in listening to one another and honouring each life story.” His role as the third party, guiding the conversation, ensuring that each person spoke and was listened to has had truly beneficial effects. He tells me that some who have gone through the process visit each other and share their childhood stories or are able to meet at public occasions. One very illuminating aspect of this work is that the focus goes beyond the individuals directly involved. TICAH has looked to help educate the wider community to understand what had happened and how to support it. This was necessary as without  intervention communities often closed up, and rather than accepting the survivor back into social contact they viewed the returning survivor with unease and distrust, creating a situation in which survivors sometimes found themselves ostracised, left to deal with the experience alone.  TICAH met this situation with interventions that emphasised embodied communication and the creative body. They invited those effected to walk a labyrinth together in a peace ceremony and organised body map workshops that brought together different survivors to share their stories. The body-mapanon3606750899g workshops use art skills to trace participants’ bodies and then map elements of their life stories onto this body map: visual elements are added that stand for the individual’s aims, what supports them, the traumas they have lived through and their strengths. These visual records are a way of introducing the details of what happened in captivity back into the community to be held by everyone. So the labyrinth walking and the body-mapanon3606750899g make the real lives, bodies and experiences of the victims a public experience and enable the wider community to listen to and appreciate how these survivors managed to live through painful and unbelievably challenging times.  The Human Element This is incredible work - through these interventions TICAH help communicate that the process of recovery is not the problem of the victim of torture alone, but is in a very real sense owned by the whole community. One striking aspect is the emphasis on accepting the seriousness of the situation - dealing with the very worst of what humans can do to each other - with vital, dramatic, expressive interactive meetings. The labyrinth walking is profoundly beautiful group ritual and the body mapanon3606750899g opens up the assembled individuals to listen to the challenges that others have lived through, and it does this in a joyful and creative way. Reconciliation over food feels innately right. The activities though almost timeless in their simplicity are unusual and unexpected, and generally unlike anything that any of the participants have done before. The act of doing something new is particularly suited to transforming problems as there are no painful memories attached; it opens up new horizons and is perhaps more likely to lead to a renewed present.  When I ask Ngala what networked technologies could do to help these efforts he replies that they could help facilitate expression: “In this work there are problems, most of them could be solved through sharing. When survivors are given opportunities to share their stories they heal fast. Networks would provide a good platform for people to share their experiences. Sharing could be done through writing or be spoken. Narrations could be recorded and later could be used to make short clips.” I think of just how possible this is as it is poses a clear and actionable technological problem, but looking at Ngala I wonder whether he realises how key his presence is to the process and the quality of the interaction. What forges the profound shifts in people’s experience is how their expression is received, listened to, validated and responded to. When speaking with Ngala, a man with vast generosity of soul and focused attention, you really do feel stronger. He beams at you and honours your presence in a way that is rare. In conversation with him you feel that your words matter, your life is respected and that miraculous healing is possible. Popular culture tends to talk about purging emotions, as if emotions are toxic material that needs ejecting from your system, but what Ngala’s work shows is that the magic is in the courage to speak honestly and the grace of being heard: that’s when emotions turn into understanding. The human catalysts at TICAH are so much a part of why these reconciliation attempts have been successful and any attempt to extend the work through technology needs to factor this in at the centre.  Simplicity of invitation, creative expression, embodied shared experience, working and listening to others, ritual time and focus, the unexpected, all these feel like good leads for designing a transformative care network. TICAH’s emphasis on shared humanity and that each person is a human being with a different story encourages survivors and perpetrators alike to stand strong in themselves, to understand the past and live a better day.  I think of post-conflict creative efforts like http://reflections.org.np/ that creatively depict the subjectivities of Nepali people in the aftermath of the earthquake. There is a courage in projects that present every person, even though they may have lived through horrendous circumstances, as a human being with a unique story and power. Digital Networks for Creative Care Strong mutual care is essential not only in places seeking to recover from atrocities, but generally for people working together and sharing space, especially if they are ""living on the edge"". Change is difficult and every group liable to conflict. E.C. Whitmont writes in The Symbolic Quest that “The seeming inevitability of conflict among the archetypal ""powers"" can cause us to experience life as a hopeless, senseless impasse. But the conflict can also be discovered to be the expression of a symbolic pattern still to be intuited.” There's a potential that we can reach into the intuitions that come out of difficult experience and grow understanding of group dynamics to create pathways that do not end in violence, abuse and waste. The sad cases of suicide, sabotage, ill health and conflict that we know of in digital tech, startup and hacker cultures show that forging wisdom in this area is important.  I feel the need for strange networks of care: unusual, compelling networks that don’t attempt to fix anyone but make healing and self-understanding an adventure and help individuals back into the simple joys of communion and creativity. To explore group dynamics and coherence in recent projects I’ve been involved in, I've worked with beans http://www.rootbeans.com/, with dreams (following the method of my mentor Apela Colorado) http://oneiricarchives.tumblr.com/ and with storytelling http://www.thehaguecenter.org/pathways-project-2/.  Back up in Liverpool we're improvising on Stafford Beer's work on group dynamics in public meetings. Whether it’s VR group therapy where you experience your own body and other people in highly unusual ways or group Skype rituals for reconciliation the whole notion of care networks is wide open for innovation and renewal. As a guiding design point I think the only answer to questions like how can ritual time be held online or how can digital networks provide the intensity of feedback of live interaction is bold creativity. If you have examples of creative online systems to faciliate group communication and support that go beyond a message board or online forum and become something more vital and ""live"" please share them.  I’ll be at 33C3 if there’s people from the Edgeryders community who want to meet around the theme of hacking strange networks of care. There’s also an option to organise a session: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Static:Self-organized_Sessions  Learning in Doing  There is a huge amount of trauma recovery material and contexts for group psychology that I do not know about. It is challenging terrain. As much as it’s essential to tread carefully, it is also necessary to create. The outpouring of emotional pain, anger and concern after the American election makes clear a need for strong communities of action and bold ways for participating in new stories. As worrying as is the prospect of making mistakes around mental health, the more worrying prospect is not creating networks to meaningfully connect up alienated, isolated or suffering individuals. Local actions, online networks and communities are all growing this November: each network has a different focus. Involving digital technology to reimagine group psychology and care (beyond Facebook) is just one of the potentials to help these evolving networks support themselves.  Ngala’s experience shows that targeted and bold ventures can reboot the community’s ability to support and that there is the possiblity of even the most horrific of violations healing. The greatest thing that I learnt from Ngala is the scale of his belief. When I ask him what has been the most illuminating discovery about human care through facilitating this work he replies: “The most amazing thing is we are all human who heal despite all the experiences we have met in life”.  His belief is born out by his experience. It is vital not to miss the transformative quality of having one person believe in another. I consider the enormous amount of work and transformation needed in the decades ahead to meet the problems of our time and then I think about three human beings sitting down for a meal in Kenya and have the sense that great tasks are possible if we learn to work together.  Links on article:  http://ticahealth.org/  http://www.ticahealth.org/files/TICAH-nyayo-house-torture-body-maps.pdfInterview with TICAH’s founder Mary Ann Burris with details on body mapanon3606750899g: http://practicalmattersjournal.org/2011/03/01/burris-interview/ https://twitter.com/TICAH_KE Photo: Denis Ngala in South Africa  The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,9118,2016-11-22T11:33:35.000Z,553,anon477123739,anon712028032,"really enjoyed this comment: ""Popular culture tends to talk about purging emotions, as if emotions are toxic material that needs ejecting from your system, but what Ngala’s work shows is that the magic is in the courage to speak honestly and the grace of being heard: that’s when emotions turn into understanding"" Certainly a lot to think about. Thank you for sharing your work with us and teachigng me about Denis' initiative. I wondered also if you were aware of the work Joshua Oppenheimer has done on film with http://dogwoof.com/theactofkilling and http://dogwoof.com/thelookofsilence on the Indonesian genocide? " 3,11634,2016-11-22T20:38:00.000Z,9118,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"""The Act of Killing"" I found that documentary very very scary in its realism and portrayal of cold blood grotesque crimes and the fact that there seemed to be no redemption whatsoever, no healing, no sense of humanity at all. Perhaps I need to watch it again, but there is no way I could make sense of what happened by the end of it.. I wonder if those inhabiting that space could. ever. and what that tells us. Thank you @anon712028032 for the piece, I hope you do get to write the second one and also that we'll meet at ccc. We seem to not be able to buy tickets this year because of high demand. Let's see. " 4,12609,2016-11-24T06:14:03.000Z,11634,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"Director's Cut I watched the Directors cut of the film and at nearly 3.30hrs it was one of the most confusing and harrowing experiences on film i've ever had. That said, there is a moment towards the end where you start to see under the mask of the protagonists. There is a moment when you realise that this really has affected them and they are questioning their decisions. It's really small but very powerful. I think that's why the filmmaker went back to the same subject to make a follow up film. Which i haven't seen yet. " 5,15934,2016-11-22T20:52:45.000Z,553,anon2954219769,anon712028032,"Thanks for the story & links This comment sums it up for me. Conversation and understanding turn coanon3606750899g into progress. The process can be a catalyst towards peace of mind and banon3760936673ce, which is a healthier attitude than striving for an unattainable bliss where there's no trace or memory of the negative experience. The former is resilient for the future, the latter is very fragile. When you start purging negative emotions, there's usually some collateral damage and you end up taking down good things as well. Thank you for sharing this Kate, and thanks for the extra links Alex. " 6,20994,2016-11-22T20:59:55.000Z,553,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Powerful @anon Just read your post over at https://edgeryders.eu/en/the-culture-squad/how-can-the-arts-side-of-culture-feed-into-the-work A great thread! How did you get on with the application?  It feels ridiculous in many ways for me to talk about innovating new digital networks when this year I have spent little time online (apart from a Facebook flurry during Brexit vote & November the 8th). I've missed a lot of posts & sharing. Too much work in VR headsets for too many years means that my stamina for interacting through screens is at an all time low. But the networks I have engaged with are some sessions I've been running on Hacking Reality and a group set up by Charlotte Pulver in London to get muddy and clear out springs on Hamstead Heath. The outdoor emphasis of my life at the moment shifts my interest in networked technologies - more emphasis on Augmented Reality, GPS for content, lasers and light, alternative communication systems… Feel you intuitions on care and art are on the right track. Hope some Edgeryders will be about at the Chaos Computer Club in Dec to meet on care and going forwards into 2017. Will share some more developments in the new year too & make a concerted effort to login.  " 7,24278,2016-11-22T21:17:29.000Z,553,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Thanks & tickets @anon @anon " 8,26057,2016-11-23T15:27:59.000Z,553,anon784612129,anon712028032,"Thanks for sharing! These stories here are so well written and impressive - and this one particularly so. It still took me a few attempts to endeavour it, because more often than not it'll tempt you to throw everything down and want to help with what the author is working on. This one is no exception. However this time I've been busy with something that could make a contribution that is interesting to your case ( @anon712028032 ) . I've been meaning to do it as a little story aswell but it really is only hobby format now - and I'd need someone with other background to apply it. To keep it really brief I'll just lay out the bare bones, though in application it could be tweaked in very different directions (education, journalism, anthropology/ethnography). In terms of concept think the opposite of broadcasting*, where one signal (on one schedule) goes out to everyone. Here I try to reach niches, perhaps indirectly, as much on their schedule & terms as possible, and I listen to them (ratio of listen/tell can be tweaked). In terms of hardware I am currently sitting on 10 cheapo mp3 players and some mp3 voice recorders. The idea is to put some audio content on a small memory card (perhaps also some visual content e.g. on playing card size). This costs 2-3 $ and can hold days worth of structured audio content. The strucure of the content is important because I hope to turn the play+listener into a temporary agent (a little tolkeen's ring style). So you would have incentives there for the player (or several) to traverse the community networks in a mix of chance, human behavior, and programming, and hopefully end up in someones lap who may have been incredibly hard to find using other methods. You can then get the recorder to this person (or have the person respond via a phone recording in a ""relatively 1st world context"") and document things in long form (8 GB - up to a week). Parts of this will be amiable for speech to text conversion. ( @anon Once you get the text corpus you can open it up the the digital domain ( @anon1277226854 can then probably mine this from an enthnograpic/anthropologic perspective) while it can remail fully anonymous. I also have a concept in mind for quantitative feedback which is similarly simple tech for users (colored beads on a string) but machine readable. That way you get quant + qual abstractions but you can still jump to the original content fairly easily (provided you speak the language). It ought to scale quite well, especially if you can reuse some of the players. The motivation for this came from a number of directions (OLPC grianon3606750899g, importance to capture emotion in human interaction, World Bank issues/capability building (two way!)) so I've played through a couple of different concepts that can perhaps be divided by organizational/technical aspects, content/didactic aspects, and info flow direction/volume. I'm currently working on putting together a prototype kit that could plausibly run for a couple of months (and with minor support perhaps years) as a replacement for a ""sit-in school"" in remote areas that have trouble with teacher absenteeism ( @anon70625510 perhaps interesting to Olivier @anon *that is why the working title is currently ""small casting"". Suggestions welcome :) " 9,26964,2016-11-23T20:44:35.000Z,26057,anon1526983854,anon784612129,"Small casting => pocket university? @anon784612129 this reminds me of the concept of ""pocket university"" proposed by @anon " 10,27320,2016-11-24T08:18:43.000Z,26964,anon784612129,anon1526983854,"Yeah they are related We combined our idea soups on the topic for the Nepal Hackathon but I think both of us had similar ideas bouncing around for year before that. Small casting is just another riff on the concept which would share a lot of the same hardware and some of the same content I assume. After reading around a lot of the World Bank issues it seemed to me a good MVP-style approach that could disintermediate and also flank their ongoing projects. One point that set it apart from PU is that this one is more geared towards information flow BACK to the party doing an intervention. The idea is that staff will get a handful of mp3 players (and colored pearls for stringing up) with say 2-3 different sets of ""directions"" to traverse the OFFLINE social networks to carry on them at all times. When they come across an ""interesting person"" (e.g. very altruistic behavior, subject to certain condition, etc.) they can, without a word, hand them the mp3 player and things can expand from there. With the right incentives (perhaps including m-pesa) there is potential for large amounts of very detailed quant (coded with the colored pearls) + qual that should be relatively undistorted. By default one could have most of the players in circulation doing more of a PU for poor young women with the appropriate content and a good amount of infotainment mixed in. And of course 1-2 tracks for repairing/charging etc. the players, 2-3 tracks for getting the feedback from the women, and perhaps another couple (later in the process) for building the capability to translate/record additional lectures into the local language. I currently have envisioned about 100 mp3 players (shared among 2-3 people each) with appropriate support to keep them going for a couple of months minimum in the field which runs slightly above 1000 USD. Of course it'll be critical to work on ways to reduce the technical attrition rate and banon3760936673ce/channel ""misuse"" into something arguably helpful. Then it would be interesting to see how results vary between a ""helicopter distribution"" vs ""digging into a niche"". And of course on the horizon is the ability to plug these collected monologues or discussion into a platform like ER. That way you're not only getting the ""word on the street"" but also the ""word at the water hole"" with some lag in very rural places. " 11,27569,2016-11-24T11:10:00.000Z,26964,anon3769417221,anon1526983854,"Nice one! Thanks for the pointer, Alberto. Actually @anon784612129 was the inspiration for the Rasoberry Pi local media servers after the Nepal earthquake last year, and this way also for Pocket University. Lots of inspiration coming from that guy :-) I'd be interested to utilize a small casting / pocket university like setup for teaching better coffee farming in Edit 1:     For extending smallcasting to two-way communication, it would of course be perfect to have a small cheap MP3 player with recorder. But does not exist as far as I know. Feedback recording via mobile phone is possible for >80% of people in low-infrastructure regions, but of course voice quality is an issue then. Most times, I get back to using old-ish smartphones since they are available for <15 EUR used in Europe. Battery capacity is an issue of course … Edit 2: Two hardware inspirations for @anon784612129 which I found for Pocket University: (1) there are 10-20 MP3 player models which can be fitted with an aftermarket open source firmware … of course good to mod / extend the player. (2) there are cheap MP3 players in neck-worn form factor, which to me seems the best to allow working while listening, without interfering with cables, or earplugs falling out all the time etc.. " 12,27590,2016-11-24T19:09:10.000Z,27569,anon784612129,anon3769417221,"Thanks fot the links I may not use them straight away, but who knows what is around the next bend. :) In terms of players I found a couple really cheap at banggood.com (with earplugs & cable!) but I had problems ordering so I used various amazons (B001B43J8E and B01LAE19D6 ) for now. I actually want very limited capability on the players to start with so that you have to listen through a lecture to get to the infotainment/music part behind it. The cheapo players are fine for that. The other thing that is partially a feature is their crappy 110mAh battery. Currently I am testing the common failure modes, and it also looks like it will be possible to run them without battery directly from either a bucked 12V battery, or a boosted low voltage source (AAA), and of course sunny PV. All of those options (and more) will be in a full kit. In terms of wearing them - they work fine under a hat or headscarf. With 15g they should not be much of a nuisance around the neck either. As for mp3 recorder I think you are right - there is no really cheap option. I've bought this ASIN B01G8OK1O6 for 20$ and it works very well so far. However at that cost I can't hand them out to just anyone, but I first have to find reliable candidates. Probably I'll also have to work with other recording formats in the beginning. There are a couple of other somewhat decent recorders around 10-15$ but they don't save into mp3 or aren't exactly inuitive. Regarding your translation (I assume mostly into audio format) this is what I would do: Go around at the schools and ask the teachers if they can recommend someone who has a nice voice and good pronounciation and English skills. Ugliness, bad eyesight, physical deformity, rural upbringing is all a big plus. Probably won't hurt if you let 3-5 try translating and recording the same piece. Then find someone above average knowledgeable in the actual field work who has a somewhat deeper understanding of the issues and let him/her review the recordings. That is your first team. Then make second team like that and use it to translate some sections of the first piece back into English. Eventually you will probably need a Nepalese speaker who picks up enough audacity (the software) to process this intermediate product into a decent lecture - this person can sit anywhere though. " 13,27822,2016-11-23T20:42:53.000Z,553,anon1526983854,anon712028032,"What is ""body mapanon3606750899g""? Apologies if it is clear to everyone else. Happy to follow a link if you give me one. " 14,28469,2016-11-24T06:29:03.000Z,27822,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"It wasn't clear to me, but if i have it correctly: You draw an outline of your body (real sized, or smaller) and then you connect personal experiences, traumas, memories etc to certain body areas by writing on them on the picture. For example, if you suffered a physical trauma to your right arm because of a car crash you might write Car Crash on the right forearm. It's a nice way of visualising the experiences that make up your life. Although they are highly personal, they can also create anonymity because they are pictures, not stories.  We carry our scars around with us, but unless you tell people the story (relive the experience) we don't know the difference between the person who broke their arm falling down stairs when drunk and the person who experienced brutality or torture. " 15,28968,2016-11-24T07:44:56.000Z,27822,anon784612129,anon1526983854,"see here http://reflections.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/jenny-sunil.jpg [is there a way that I can drag & drop images currently? I seem to have to upload them which takes a lot of clicks.] " 16,29082,2016-11-27T20:04:25.000Z,553,anon712028032,anon712028032,"body mapanon3606750899g   Hi @anon You can see examples of the some of the body maps created in this Youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wEdaCpT7lc Mary Anne explains TICAH’s process in more detail in this interview http://practicalmattersjournal.org/2011/03/01/burris-interview/ " 17,29964,2016-11-27T20:07:51.000Z,553,anon712028032,anon712028032,"Practical networks @anon784612129 @anon In an art context,  I’ve favoured systems that use cheap speakers & computing platforms - https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki/What-is-Bela%3F The ritualistic attempt to voice what has not been voiced feels suited to something more public like a sculpture - eg. recent attempt with small bird sculpture in Liverpool that had speakers inside it http://byzantium.chroma.space/about/ But you’re right that when it comes to spreading info & learning material, personal listening as you work is the way (& listening also cuts out the problem of not being able to study in the dark.) The mp3 system feels like it has really great potentials for education - and also distributing more taboo info like facts about AIDS and addiction treatment programmes.  @anon784612129 I will pass this on to Ngala and some NGOs working with addiction & will be in contact if there's interest. One question - why not distribute cheap phones rather than mp3 players? Is it battery considerations? Phones seem to be altogether more useful and could simplify the problem of how to get the audio back? On the subject of making the content accessible but also inspiring & interactive I think there's interesting creative questions. It’s pretty clear that ”digging into a niche” is going to be more effective as a distribution method (though realise this has to be proved if you’re doing an academic study.) When it comes to replicating the “human touch” that Ngala gave to his work through his supportive presence, it feels like powerful design of the audio experience can hold that sense of the encouragement and support of another person. Interested how you meet that creative design question? ie. recording compelling content and storytelling that addresses the listener in a way that encourages interaction. There’s a few decades of experiments with this personal & empowering mode of address in the self help / meditation / change your life audio genre… I reckon the other big creative challenge is a really accessible intuitive and compelling site that hosts all the monologues collected and that feels “alive” with the word of the community & updates often. Think there are some beautiful solutions evolving with immersive web and web VR. The clouds documentary http://cloudsdocumentary.com/  gives a nice example of fluidly exploring knowledge. But a challenge I’ve encountered is that curating and ensuring that the content remains relevant can be a full time job. However perhaps if you’ve got a strong interactive web design that role can be automated or distributed. @anon784612129 Do you envision asking listeners to speak back to a particular question? That feels like it would have some good focus to it.  On translating - I’m sure it’s a necessity to have local collaborators and fluent speakers of the language in the core team whenever this kind of knowledge share project runs. Perhaps also there’s something to learn from Duolingo and it’s method of getting language learners translating. There are so many language learning initiatives to encourage people back into learning languages other than english. If you can connect with people who are learning the language and you have the need for spoken translation, there's a useful match. Spreading info, language learning, cultural sharing and circulating cheap creative technology & making skills all feel like they go together well.  I’ve met a lot of people working with teaching languages that are dwindling in numbers. Teachers of the Maori language and the Khoisan languages of the San Bushman people. They have often complained how young people are led away from learning about their own culture by fascination in smartphones / iPads / all things modern. Combining cultural knowledge & language learning with what is considered aspirational tech can be a big motivator. I’ll expand on this in another post when further down the line with it.  Please anon3606750899g me if you post news on your projects & @anon784612129 I’ll connect you if I hear back from Ngala. " 1,5913,2016-08-22T09:54:22.000Z,5913,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"

    Table of contents

    Legal tactics

    Don't incorporate

    If you are not a legal entity, you are obviously exempt from any authorization regime, bureaucracy requirements etc. Your scope for action is limited only by the freedom of individuals in your legal system.  On the downside, unincorporated initiatives cannot easily use some of the services that legal entity can. They canot hold a bank account, sign a contract, rent an office etc. They rely heavily on the good will of the people who believe in them to maintain coherence, even  more so than incorporated ones.  The Helliniko Community Clinic is an example of a very effective care initiative that has decided not to incorporate.

    ""Squat, then negotiate""

    Many care projects need physical spaces, but buildings have an especially top-heavy regulatory regime in many countries. Rather than ask for authorizations, some groups find it easier to start  by illegally squatting their building of choice, then negotiating with the owner. The act of squatting creates a problem for the owner; an agreement with the squatters can be presented as the solution.  Belgium (and maanon1932026148 other countries too?) has a legally attenuated contractual form for people and organisations to temporarily occupy buildings. One of its advantages: industrial spaces or office buildings can be temporarily repurposed as living quarters. Loic is an expert in this area – see here.

    Logic of this document

    Starting with a phrase from woodbine-health-autonomy-center   “This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. “ To my understanding of OpenCare, then this is the very essence. Breaking out of ‘failed institutions’ https://edgeryders.eu/en/escaanon3606750899g-failed-institutions-through-evasive-entrepreneurship while staying clear of trouble. As @anon4116418727 remind us:  ...it will break.., but let's skip the simple logical stuff to which we all agree (Being ethical correct, Good Clinical Practice, Protect privacy, Helsinki declaration, Risk assessment…) and make some foothpaths in the illogical legal jungle, mapanon3606750899g the traps and dangerous animals. Let’s also stick to EU continent of bureaucratic beasts. Therefore this proposal of creating a living document to collect knowledge, references and safe practice (My initial title suggestion:) OpenCare Legal Evasion Guide or How to keep clear of lawsuits There is a start in the 100$ overview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NKc2bM1FnpQ9zCEveieFr7bIGA9JkI8U_adsBpyma1A/edit#heading=h.5obrk7n45hk3 but I think it would be better with a dedicated collaborative document. Draft for a table of content: * How to get around ensurance of responsibility etc.. * Can you reproduce a patent for non profit or private use? How do you work with or around licensures/certifications to provide safe care? (from :https://edgeryders.eu/en/woodbine-health-autonomy-center) * How do you interact with existing structures?   " 2,9978,2016-08-22T18:12:10.000Z,5913,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Can we afford to neglect this issue? We have some expert input here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/23839#comment-23839 so if @anon Other posts are also having some brilliant points that could be moved to the document. *So some regulatory framework is needed.. " 3,13940,2016-09-09T17:45:06.000Z,5913,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"This would deserve being turned into a guide sometime. @anon There are many points already being made in OpenCare about circumventing existing system regulations. Aside those you link to there is:   Stepanon3606750899g outside the commercial model in a donation based informal acupuncture clinic, by @anon1088780966. Helliniko clinic without legal or taxable status - which is one of the reasons why they are not accepting donations in money.   " 4,19741,2016-09-21T20:00:25.000Z,5913,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Starting the guide Personally I find this site/wiki is born messy and I propose turning to a google document solution https://drive.google.com/open?id=125lKsi-Wm4Gq0AWkIEHD2SAOGaiiV9C8VykS1bf-Jzc Please join in. I have already started inserting headlines and comments from @anon   " 5,23472,2016-09-20T16:17:27.000Z,5913,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Disappears from the ethnography @anon In theory it can be brought back in by assigning it to the Op3nCare Community, but when I do that I lose comments. Ideas? " 6,24803,2016-09-21T08:34:00.000Z,23472,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Then action needs to be taken @anon1526983854, I understand the point perfectly. Sorry. The issue is that I have evaluated how much time (40-80 hours) I have spent in edgeryderspace, and as I see it the site needs rethinking. 1. Its impossible to view and edit on mobile (and  It has severe accessibility problems, but thats another issue) 2. I really get lost in conversations because obsolete comments remains.  3. I've just started working with living documents and I have already esperiences of extreme effectiveness in collaborating online with google docs (hate to say they really got it right where M$ got it wrong) The plan is to upload the content of the doc here if possible. Until then I went for a practical solution to get things done now. What do you think?   " 7,25333,2016-09-21T12:43:51.000Z,24803,anon477123739,anon1089184890,"Messiness is part of the charm Hi Rune, I understand your frustration with the site, when i first came to Edgeryders i found that it was rather labyrinthine and not structured towards easy comprehension. The site has undergone a number of iterations to get to where it is now and i think that we have a site that is much smoother and more aesthetically pleasing than when i joined the community a year ago. I agree that the mobile access is a problem, and it seems there are people working in the background to solve that. My view is that when i log in on my mobile i just want to read a comment or post. I'm probably not going to sit and write a response on my phone because i prefer to think deeply about my responses and respond in depth. My view is that i don't need to site to act as a social media platform. I want depth of field, not speed here. I quite like that the 'obsolete comments' remain in the system. Every few weeks i spend a day digging through the old projects, conversations etc on the site. It helps me see how things have developed and where the issues have been. I gain a much greater understanding of the path, the battles and the 'big picture' when i get lost down the old blind alleys and dead ends. I think if we moved to a position where we only showed the finished product and not the working out we are giving a false impression, plus i imagine it would have negative impacts on both the 'openness' and the ability to analyse and extract quality data from the platform. But i wouldn't know anything about that specifically as i'm not a computer network scientist. I'm a poet and creative producer. I too am a big fan of the Google Docs set up. We use it to set up some of the Culture Team documents, and i think Alberto has had some successes using it for the OpenandChange application. It seems to work best for input from between 4-5 active collaborators though. I do think that it does decrease the number of people who engage with the document and there are some on ER that are disincentivised to use Google products. Where input is wanted from as many people as possible i think the messy solution on the site is still best for collecting that information from everyone. Those are my initial thoughts on your points. The Google docs link doesn't connect to a file so i can't participate in the process much further right now. " 8,25556,2016-09-21T20:03:41.000Z,25333,anon1089184890,anon477123739,"I'll try to correct the link Thanks for letting me know @anon (I think I was to quick saying nice things about google docs, I keeps giving error messages  tonight) " 9,25596,2016-09-23T00:11:00.000Z,25556,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"What are obsolete comments? I may have missed the point.. I get they are older comments, but why obsolete? @anon @anon " 10,25621,2016-09-23T23:59:00.000Z,25596,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"Sure I would Given the scarce resources available to create and improve this site, I think it works pretty well, though it definitely requires you to develop some new habits that are peculiar to this site, as a workaround to some of its inefficiencies.  This applies to the mobile and the desktop interfaces.  I don't use my phone for it, but a lot of people do and the challenges of creating great and sophisticated interfaces on very small screen real estate  are substantial.  As to the ""obsolete"" comments, there is no reason to get rid of any of the site's history and a lot of reason to keep it.  But to make it so this site is very smart about remembering where you are in any given conversation and taking you directly to it, that is something a smart and dedicated Drupal programmer could create and implement.  Absent the money to insure its creation, we offer encouragement to anyone who wants to take it on. " 11,25633,2016-09-24T15:51:22.000Z,25621,anon477123739,anon281534083,"i concurr More power to the arm of anyone who can and will make improvements. I would also benefit from the tool allowing me to jump back into a thread at the point i left it. I'm a strong beliver in John's 'omnivorous' approach to the website. I try to read all of it (even the parts i don't comprehend) " 12,25640,2016-09-25T10:31:28.000Z,25633,anon1089184890,anon477123739,"Offtrack I hoped this could be an entry point gathering information relevant for people starting an open care initiative.  Sigh I give up " 13,25643,2016-09-26T09:58:49.000Z,25640,anon784612129,anon1089184890,"Isn't it an entry point for that? Its just not the entry point, since this does not use a linear structure. Or am I misreading your intentions? " 14,25646,2016-09-26T09:55:51.000Z,25621,anon784612129,anon281534083,"I thought about mobile access a little... and you will generally have the problem of screen size and worse input via keyboard. On the other hand you usually have a camera on the mobile device nowadays. So the direction I would think in mobile access is the following: - image based comments (you take a picture of a sketch + a few words and upload that instead of text), this also allows participation of e.g. illiterate people and complements the predominantly text form data. - try to allow for a very simple yes/no answer function. - another common use case will be 2-3 lines of context explanation and a link (lots of data/info possible with little input) I would love to see hashtags integrated (https://www.drupal.org/project/hashtags) into the \#platform at some point as that would allow to restructures conversations. As far as I understand we can use them already - they just don't work yet. " 15,25648,2016-09-24T15:53:02.000Z,25596,anon477123739,anon1491650132,"i will think about your suggestion Until i know what connectivity i will have in Ethiopia i can't commit to anything this year.  But your hinted suggestion is noted and i'll have a serious think about it. " 16,25654,2016-11-26T21:25:46.000Z,25596,anon1277226854,anon1491650132,"challenge responses prioritised, others come later ....as evidenced by the fact that I'm coding this 2 months after the fact! I am prioritising challenge responses, so if you think things have important info in them that need to be coded sooner rather than later, designate them challenge responses. otherwise, they will (hopefully) be coded eventually, but are not a priority.  @anon " 17,25740,2016-09-21T12:49:31.000Z,24803,anon477123739,anon1089184890,"also Hi Hi Rune, we haven't engaged in any dicussion before, so i realised i should 'officially' say hello and welcome. It's really great that you're keen to help develop and improve the way the ER site works for users. Definitely a positive place to be. My ignorance in all areas 'code' is a large stumbling block. My skills are more in the soft/event arena. " 18,25761,2016-09-22T23:52:08.000Z,25740,anon1089184890,anon477123739,"hi @anon https://edgeryders.eu/en/edgeryders-dev/task-6800   " 19,26917,2016-09-21T08:27:24.000Z,5913,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Future direction Idea for discussion: OpenCare.CC could provide a ‘hub’ for triage of people seeking OpenCare solutions and who to contact @anon " 2,8632,2016-08-15T10:20:16.000Z,717,anon70625510,,"Building a community of users & contributors Ping @anon One of the challenges of alternative care provision is evolving tools that enable it around the needs of communities that use them, and support those who develop them. I had a conversation with Amir Hannan, a GP working in the UK, about how chronic care requires patients to self-manage for good health outcomes (writeup coming soon). Over 15 years he has built a practice based website to encourage an support his patents gain a better understanding of their health to better enable automy and self-care. You can see the site itself here: www.htmc.co.uk (especially the ""Common Problems you can solve yourself section - see menu on the left)""... After reading both this post and @anon What if the health resource centre you are building could have a distributed presence (and network of contributors) as a compliment to the physical space itself? And how could a community support the developers working on it? I think cracking this could unlock a lot of community knowledge and support, as well as free up resources for providing health and soccial care services to a currently underserved individuals/ communities. Plus it could care for the (far too few) people with deep tech skills that are dedicating themselves to building tools contributing towards fixing the kinds of community resilience challenges we are attempting to tackle... Another member of the community who might be interested in this is @anon" 4,13704,2016-08-22T15:37:22.000Z,8632,anon1089184890,anon70625510,"More please @anon " 5,13742,2016-08-30T07:06:41.000Z,13704,anon70625510,anon1089184890,"Connecting people with people? Hey @anon " 6,15560,2016-08-15T12:44:53.000Z,717,anon1526983854,,"Way to go! Buoy makes a ton of sense, @anon Question: would it make any sense to prototype this on Edgeryders? Probably not, we are too geographically sparse... any brilliant idea? By the way: I love the 200 anarchist-led refugees centres in Greece. I would love to see a writeup of that under opencare. @anon " 8,18401,2016-08-17T06:58:21.000Z,17588,anon1491650132,,"+1 to different ways of explaining what you do Hi and needless to say seeing the super response you're getting already, you guys rock. Just to agree that finding a common language might go a long way with groups that may not be as radical/ adamant in their approaches to not cooperate with state led operations, but rather expose them as irrelevant. I find this quite strong and while some edgeryders will resonate immediately, the rest of us may not know just how to engage even if they resonate with the premises (and keep a different view on the ways, for example me, I got the most out of the FLOSS vanilla interview).  Another group with which you guys could click immediately is the Tbilisi activists led by @anon " 9,19153,2016-08-17T08:49:56.000Z,17588,anon1526983854,,"Impressed More power to you, @anon I am definitely intrigued by the idea of trying it out when we next deploy in a geographically defined space: this could be Galway, actually. I see in your FAQs that you have already thought of Buoy as a suicide prevention tool. This meets a pressing need in Galway and the West of Ireland in general. Ping @anon I would never presume to undermine your militant stance. Whatever your reasons, they led you this far, and this is more than good enough as far as I am concerned.  " 11,19219,2016-08-18T13:02:10.000Z,19200,anon1526983854,,"Keep an eye out for opportunities With a bit of luck we might be doing stuff in Ireland in 2017. This might be a chance to scrape off some resources for a Buoy prototype, with would probably include a Drupal module. Let's stay alert.  " 12,19232,2016-08-18T20:37:15.000Z,19200,anon70625510,,"Drupal to buoy, maanon1932026148 the other way around? I know someone in the community produced a wordpress plugin from Edgesense, a piece of software which was only available as a drupal module. So they must have looked into the drupal-wordpress differences. @anon " 14,19236,2016-08-19T13:43:21.000Z,19234,anon70625510,,"ok thinking about the shelter bit I have a couple of ideas, will get back to you after fleshing them out a bit more. " 15,19237,2016-08-19T13:38:08.000Z,19232,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"""Map of emergence"" I do remember. The person in question is @anon " 16,19249,2016-08-18T20:33:23.000Z,17588,anon70625510,,"The social contract, self care etc Am checking out the links you shared above for where and how to contribute to buoy. Code is not possible for me. But I can try to keep a lookout for use cases and useful information/articles etc. Maanon1932026148 also do some advocacy for it by including it in public presentations (do you want me to mention your name when I do btw? Didn't at re:publica - @anon So two things. 1) I had a chat with the Woodbine crew about setting up an event at Woodbine around autonomy, health and interdependency. A convening, but not just for talking. A combination of showcasing/discovering some relevant OS tools, aggregating information resources and working out some social contract/model for supporting work on their further development. I am up for putting time into making it happen. 2) I came across an article which you/me/others may find useful. One of the comments had a link to an information resource that @anon ""This emergency response system was established in 2010 by Philippe Beaudette, the former director of community advocacy who recently left the Foundation to work at Reddit. On his LinkedIn profile, Beaudette notes that during his seven years overseeing the various Wikimedia communities, he and his team responded to almost 500 threats of suicide and other imminent harm to people and property. A recent report from the Foundation’s talent and culture team noted that, in one quarter, they handled five suicide cases that were escalated through the emergency email address. “It’s a stressful thing, for sure,” Earley says. “My blood pressure goes up. It can catch me at any hour of the day. I do feel the weight of dealing with that. But it’s definitely something that feels like it’s important to do. We have the technical infrastructure in place to make it as painless as possible on our end.” How do we effectively deal with the additional preassure, or emotional stress, that this kind of commitment brings into our lives?     " 18,19256,2016-08-19T10:42:04.000Z,19254,anon70625510,,"Signed up and yes re NYC Let me know if/when you will be heading there and we can try to work around that. I think I'll be in the US around last two weeks of september. Might be later though. " 20,19258,2016-08-19T10:52:38.000Z,19249,,anon70625510,"Oh, @anon " 21,20730,2016-08-16T13:38:02.000Z,717,anon1061021150,,"Thank you for this story, @anon And if you ever want a couch somewhere in Europe, I'd be happy to provide you with one;) I constantly move, but usually there is space for guests where I live.    " 23,23134,2016-08-17T00:02:28.000Z,20730,,anon1061021150,"Oh, and regarding ""what criteria"" I apply, I'm sorry, I forgot to answer: also what criteria do you apply when you pick some of these and make work?  The answer to this is also informal. There are only two criteria:
    1. Do I have the resources necessary actually produce an implementation, and
    2. Does the suggested feature empower end-users and vulnerable populations more than it empowers service providers or large institutions?
    With respect to number 1, if I do not have the resources (knowledge, time, money, shelter, mental well-being, etc.) necessary to actually produce an implementation then I create an enahncement/feature request ticket on the GitHub issue tracker. You can see all of these tickets (which effectively represent a to-do list) on GitHub here. If, on the other hand, I do have the required resources to implement a given feature, then I apply the second criteria. With respect to number 2, I make a personal judgement call about what I believe the impact of creating the feature will be. As part of this, I consider who is asking for the feature. If the feature is being suggested by a white man who works at a tech company and does not engage in much activist practice themselves, then I am bluntly far less likely to give that suggestion the benefit of the doubt. For example, almost all of the suggestions to ""integrate 911 and let people call the police"" have come from people matching this description. In contrast, when the suggestion comes from someone who I know as part of a local activist collective, as the example I gave in my previous reply about the Celly replacement, then I may not even bother to create a GitHub ticket because I simply immediately begin working on the feature. Another part of this number 2 criteria relates to how the implementation actually works. For example, the SMS/txt broadcast channel uses IMAP behind the scenes specifically so that non-Google/non-Microsoft email services can be used. While I expect most people will still use a GMail account or similar to enable this feature for their own teams, it's important to me that features built into Buoy do not force end-users towards proprietary, and thus obviously predatory, services. In other words, feature suggestions that necessitate the use of proprietary/predatory services over the use of technologies that can be self-owned and self-operated are more likely to find themselves unimplemented, because I will reject them philosophically. " 24,23226,2016-08-19T13:40:24.000Z,23134,anon1526983854,,"Ethical coding This is good sense ethical coding. Well played, @anon " 25,24641,2016-08-22T15:48:24.000Z,717,anon1089184890,,"Triage, clinical database and networking Forgive me for skimming and missing info already there but I have a question For providing good opencare  (check the post No Humane ghost in the machine) focus should be on shifting administrative tasks from healthcare professionals (called facilitators/mentors in our case), so maanon1932026148 an App (Buoy?) could let the participant (the patient) check in, filling e.g. private data (address etc), restricted data (pathology, symptoms etc) and public data (satisfaction data, achievements etc.) as well as allocating time slots. What's the state of the art of software for that (@anon " 27,25787,2016-08-25T17:00:25.000Z,24641,,anon1089184890,"Also, @anon " 28,26030,2016-08-25T17:21:20.000Z,717,anon1089184890,,"Got to look at it and a bug Thanks @anon Bug: @anon " 29,27804,2016-08-29T23:12:16.000Z,717,anon3670751854,,"Great resource @anon " 30,29071,2016-09-11T10:11:08.000Z,717,anon818599741,,"Software/Training collaboration I feel like we could work well together on software dev. We are both open source but perhaps our team and your team could collaborate.  We have also developed a compassionate responder training curriculum that may work well for friends who want to be more prepared to respond to eachother in crisis.  " 31,29544,2016-09-12T11:10:00.000Z,29071,anon70625510,anon818599741,"Mm design sprint at workshop in NYC on 2/10 Hi @anon818599741 @anon Ahead of that the 1 hr crowdconference on twitter later this month is a good opportunity to meet everyone, ask questions, draw in more people. So by the time we are in the room, we're already made some progress etc: https://edgeryders.eu/en/agora/crowdconference-to-tweet-and-share-openandchange-20-sep-at-1700 There's already people showing up with UI/UX skills. From a pm: ""I was looking over that buoy app ux test video. Have y'all been using it? I'd like to talk to y'all more about visual design for it. I mostly do digital/visual design in the fashion space, but I think my ui/ux could be helpful for this. Have you seen signal? That's friends of ours who developed and designed it; I think they did a really good job of user-accessibility though for a somewhat foreign concept of encryption, and have also been able to make a platform that can scale. Eitherway, we can talk more when you're in town. Hyped to hear more about edgeryders.""Also a friend of mine working with infosec will be joining us. " 32,29959,2016-11-23T22:35:54.000Z,717,anon784612129,,"Political economy of policing I haven't had time to go over all content here yet but I just came across this presentation that may be relevant for a number of reasons. Policing in Post-Conflict Societies, pulled from the transscript and slightly edited:
    6:03
    because when the Ugandan police force
    6:06
    was rebranded as the Ugandan National
    6:09
    Police a lot of people said to the
    6:12
    inspector general who is basically the
    6:13
    chief officer why not the Ugandan police
    6:16
    service and his reply was cross and i
    6:20
    quote cops are not waitresses
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA-TkdX2o8M " 1,799,2016-11-23T19:48:12.000Z,799,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Hello there,   I am copying a story on behalf of Filippo, a volunteer to the community of  pemphigus, an auto-immune disease that affects skin layers, causing them to detach, form blisters, among other complications.   Filippo will join the conversation, but we wanted to speed up the onboarding barrier, while link the story to other software volunteers whom we met at the MakerFaire in Rome.  Lets see how his works ;)
    "" Just as first input, a simple idea that is needed is a “scratching indicator”?
    This is something missing in the scenario, I mean some app that using a wearable device (like a apple watch or something designed ad hoc – a simple arduino like mb with an accelerometer should be sufficient) can identify the scratching movement of the arm an apply an indicator.
    The objective is to measure a quantity (a number) that indicate the duration and the intensity of scratching activity of te patient, building a sort of standard to be used for that  that kind of patoloty and patients to be used to analyze the efficacy of specific therapy on one of the worst and less understood symptoms, the itching. 
     
    This could be the starting point of this app for pemphigus/pemphigoid patients, (but not limited to them), that can be integrated with other functionalities aiming to “measure” efficacy of therapies granting an indication of the status of the patient.
     
    Do you think this could be a valid input to start the discussion?""
     
     
    " 1,798,2016-11-04T18:31:01.000Z,798,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Lately I’ve been having sudden cravings to get offline and do to things with my hands which don’t involve a keyboard. With several people in town we hosted a community dinner as a way to take action against something happening every day under our noses - massive good food throwaway. By households, restaurants, markets and especially supermarkets, by you, by your family, by your neighbor, by me. We collected food close to being dumped and got people to cook together and share a meal while interacting heavily around the issue. I won’t ramble about why it’s important we pay more attention to food overall - from where and how far it comes from, the cost of having nicely chopped avocados on a restaurant plate, to how we pick stuff off the supermarket shelves and never wonder where the brown bananas are going, to how we realize our canned peas are overdue after having been hidden in overstuffed fridges or pantries (it’s a trap!). You know this already, right? Food Waste Combat in Cluj (FWC) is a local collective experimenting with creative ways to address the issue, and I joined them for many selfish reasons, but mostly because I’d like to see food activism reach educated, resourceful urbanites. I’m one of them and I think as a group we can do better. We’re well positioned to use a tiny bit of our time doing something other than work, other than expensive hobbies, other than just consuming. It seems teaching each other how to eat is a pretty low hanging fruit. More photos here.

    We set up a 60 people afternoon event in a week, in a very lightweight mode.

    I think it’s worth sharing why and how we did it:
    • Context exists - a Repair Cafe Week full of activities in town and already talking about circular economy. That helped promote the event in only a few days time in a period quite busy for Cluj, helped it be part of a bigger mobilization and also get some media attention.
    • Large enough venue is available - The Paintbrush Factory, a former factory-turned-contemporary-art-collective has a cosy room for events equipped with minimal cooking infrastructure; we were able to bring add-ons with no problem (except the lights going off for like an hour, but well, can’t plan it all! :-))
    • Crazy levels of enthusiasm and capacity are just.. there! I don’t know if it’s the food effect, but so many people chimed in and brought own assets to the table: Cimbru, a local food truck with patient cooks helanon3606750899g everyone find a role; Casa de Cultura Permanenta, a local open house already prototyanon3606750899g circularity in every possible way! and their resident volunteers; FWC team coordinating on an online wiki to plan and split tasks; photographers supporting the cause; Local markets and a large shopanon3606750899g centre donating throw away food and also pretty decent one! It took us up to two hours to collect 35 kg of fruit and vegetables. You spend more time getting to and from locations than on the actual food collection.
    • Outstanding community connectors gently nudging everyone - how else could you mobilize effortlessly a team of teams?! @anon
    • Some pocket money is available - we spent 200 Romanian lei (<50 EUR) in cash shopanon3606750899g for extra ingredients. That’s it, the rest of the funding was in kind (think small contributions like cooking tools brought from home, venue and electricity offered for free, gas to get to the venue etc).
    • Saturday afternoon time - people were available, they came and enjoyed working in the kitchen or just hang out as you’d usually do on weekends.
    • Appetite for food, drinks, conversation - we had 5 lovely courses including desserts (will just say: La Bonbonniere :P), a variety of locally sourced drinks and pretty diverse people, although mostly young.
    We got hold of things like kiwis, lemons, green salad and baby sanon3606750899ach in too decent shape. Such good food is dumped every single day!

    We’d love more people to join, run events or just anon3003844599, from here and from the Internet.

    We’re thinking of hosting more intimate meals cooked from our own food surplus but for extended friends circles, then gradually expand so the new people coming in at every step are immersed in an already knowledgeable group. I have a hunch this favors deeper learning and behavior change. Another thing we’d like to do is move forward with Yello Fridge (community based, outdoor and public) an idea that only needs a neighborhood space to get started. I’d also be curious to hear if you’ve participated in similar food related events. Do you have advice for how to run community dinners regularly and outstandingly? " 2,6496,2016-11-07T22:44:25.000Z,798,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Great work Wow, excellent stuff! And, as a native of Emilia Romagna, I really want the ""Praise the Lard"" T-shirt the guy at the center of the photo is wearing. More seriously: this does sound as something that could be repeated, and possibly even made permanent or semi-permanent. The scarce resource is, as always, the conveners: the people who would bother to email and call and put up the wiki and phone the local supermarket manager who is happy to help but would definitely not get on the wiki or the Google group... even for you, it's fun to get out and do this, but will it still be fun next year if you do it every Saturday? What other fun things will you have to forego in order to do this?  I wonder if @anon " 3,10666,2016-11-08T10:01:00.000Z,6496,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Conveners very precious resource indeed The guy wearing the shirt is Nicu, he was actually the chef coordinating everyone :-) Regularity also means lowering coordination as you fall into some clear processes - now a lot of the time has gone into thinking about the concept, drafting invites etc. All this would be taken care of in future events.. But the people who seamlessly make stuff happen - like Cami aka Ponyo, or @anon Once you have the building blocks, stepanon3606750899g into a friendly strucure is much easier.  I surprised myself thinking about how cheap it is to be part of stuff like this:
    • Volunteering semi-anonymously is great. In this age and in the knowledge economy, I hardly know any people who don’t have an organisation or a project that’s their official “baby”. Everybody is a co-founder of something. So being able to squeeze great work in between one’s official hats makes for quite a breathing space.
    • If we could all volunteer 2-3 hours for someone’s project with no agenda whatsoever it would be so much easier to barnraise around highly ambitious things.
    • You don’t have to be an expert on food or run a civic organisation to claim a say in a pressing issue - the issue is 100% unresolved and no one can claim authority on it.. so: blank slate to experiment!
    " 4,14250,2016-11-10T18:55:46.000Z,798,anon2531056881,anon1491650132,"participant - very impressed with the event I'm Sabina, an Environmental Protection master's student from Cluj, Ro, who has attended the event. I was honestly very impressed with the event, I congratulate the initiative and the work behind it and even if I was there only to help with the preparing of the food, tasting of the delicious soup and amazing carrot cake, I couldn't help but notice and fully enjoy the community feeling roaming around while slicing potatoes and washing dishes while the food was being prepared by the chefs and volunteers. Even though my thesis is precisely on Food Waste, and I've gained knowledge on the issue while researching, I was so sad to find out about the baby sanon3606750899ach, lemon and other products that were left to rot next to one of the hypermarkets' dumpsters in town.  ... I can only be happy the Food Waste Combat team came 'to the rescue' and I hope I will be able to attend more of their events (and give a helanon3606750899g hand) that would slowly bring awareness regarding this burning issue that we only see the smoke of... yet. " 5,19863,2016-11-11T13:16:31.000Z,798,anon2954219769,anon1491650132,"There's a lot happening in Belgium A much-needed initiative and a fun night at that, congratulations! In Belgium there is a lot of stuff happening around food surplus. Plenty of young people are launching projects and little companies around the idea. Mainly in Brussels, but also in Ghent and other cities. There's a an overarching organisation that connects and supports all the initiatives: Food Surplus Entrepreneurs Network. They share experience, knowledge, connections and raise awareness. The last weeks they did a succesful campaign for recuperating surplus apples, Juice for Change. Fruit leftovers are a major problem for Belgian farmers at the moment. From idea to execution and launching their crowdfunding it took about one week, with plenty of volunteers pitching in. I hear similar community dinners popanon3606750899g up here and there, but I haven't been. " 6,21750,2016-11-11T14:58:57.000Z,19863,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Also, Disco Soupe Thanks @anon Also in Bxl, I remember we partnered up with Disco Soupe for Living on the Edge 5, and it was pretty cool. Very professionally managed event even though the setup was new to the team too! @anon2531056881 thanks for feedback! the next event is on Nov 26th, I wont be there but you know your way. If you want to volunteer a few hours with the team ahead of the actual event let me know and I'll hook you up. " 7,22592,2016-11-16T23:37:39.000Z,21750,anon2531056881,anon1491650132,"hook me up Thanks, @anon Please hook me up, I'd love to help, however much I can, prior to and during the event. " 8,23981,2016-11-17T08:06:02.000Z,798,anon1061021150,anon1491650132,"Thank you for compliments, @anon " 9,24982,2016-11-17T08:43:15.000Z,23981,anon477123739,anon1061021150,"This sounds fantastic. I'd love to visit thast next time i'm in Berlin (hopefully soon) I've been thinking about organising something like this in the UK. Especially with that sound/music/performance narrative to it. I will certainly check that out. " 10,25394,2016-11-17T09:36:21.000Z,24982,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Performative cooking :-) Sounds like the edge of dinners.. these aren't just leftover ingredients, but leftover food (potentially cooked) if I understand well! Whoa. Thanks for the reference, Natalia. " 1,779,2016-10-04T13:34:30.000Z,779,anon1089184890,anon1089184890," Recruiting people for testing a hybrid bicycle (see here), personal experiences were confirmed: mother nature gives us ideal conditions (Milano, Italy) such as sun, no wind and flat terrain. We are however trapped because private motor transport rules the roads and scares us. Are you a wheelchair user, mother/father with baby carriage, cyclist or pedestrian then you have a handicap. Traffic is dangerous and public transport is prohibitive….unless you already know your way. If you just use Google maps o Here maps for navigation you will be trapped. So we need to figure out a soft mobility map which can help us demonstrate that you don't have to stay home or take your car to the gym to work out. You can get around in many ways and keep fit at the same time. We need
    • navigation for soft mobility with possibility to set limitations
    • waypoints of broad interest (not just googles shops, restaurants and gas stations)
    • indications of feasibility on a user defined level (accessibility, interesting way, playgrounds, etc.
    Who's in? " 2,6722,2016-10-04T15:43:59.000Z,779,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Done that! In fact you were involved in that conversation... see the comments, too: https://edgeryders.eu/en/step-up " 3,15289,2016-11-16T17:24:35.000Z,779,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Different The above proposal is about an app for mobility navigation rather than a wheelchair issue. However a few people has contributed to a specifications doc. Next up is implementation. Anyone?  " 1,797,2016-10-28T10:22:42.000Z,797,anon2356835326,anon2356835326,"Saturday: baby milk bottle official price = 10 pounds Sunday: baby milk bottle not available in markets Monday: army goes down to the market with 30 million milk bottles, the price: 30 pounds, the media goes like: “the army saved our babies, long live the army” This is a routine scene in lands of horror. The previous scene sums up the role of our government in our lives, a direct enemy you try to avoid day by day, and freedom of expression is guaranteed on the walls of bathrooms in prisons. Faceless states and everything about it was dark. Based on the above, we had to find mechanisms to ensure us to life in the light of repression, but we are lucky, all we had to do is follow a system of solidarity that exists already in our values and upbringing. One of the basics of this system, the most simple rule of it, you find in the words of prophet Mohammad: ""he does not enter the paradise, he who whoever sleeps full of, while his neighbor is hungry"". You find also in our beliefs that god will be on your side as long as you are on the side of your brother. Mostafa Khalifa, the Syrian novelist, in “The cochlear” is talking about a young man who was arrested for twenty years, the charge - muslim brotherhood. The guy was a.. Christian. In the same novel: talking about a group of young people, call them silf (Fedayeen): their mission is receiving torture instead of the elderly and sick people and those who lost and those who lost their endurance, can you imagine that the (Fidayeen) were singing under torture: ""O prison darkness come, we love darkness, inevitably after this long night daybreak is coming"" By the way altruism is still there and it is main reason why the Syrians in Syria are still alive. Social solidarity is in its worst conditions in this war but still can feed the hungry and keeps warm to those who are cold. For example the project of ""grace conversation"" in Damascus which provides medicine for thousands of families from excess medication at other families, and also ""maoayed alrahman"" which are food tables spent by the Syrians with very high annual cost ( 50 million dollars) in 2014 through all the cities. In addition to internal displacement thousands of families are participating with their homes and food and many other live examples. The shape of our lives makes us one body: we know our relatives, enjoy their joys, get sad for their sadness. The satisfaction of our grandparents is as important as our parents. The poor celebrate double in our holidays because of a race for goodness, because the concept of ""Eid"" in the perception of Islam linked to ""Zakat"" which is basically the process of cleansing the money by giving the poor his legitimate right of the money which is 2,5 percent of annual profits in secret. If there is no secrecy Allah does not accept it . And many annual grants to the poor some of it linked to time, and some linked to personal events like ""Akika"" which is slaughtering two rams and distributing them to the poor when the child is born. Of course every rule has exception but the united community can overcome it. Every citizen has moral responsibilities and he is already indebted to the community. There is no perfection of course, being in Europe allows me to discover the value of freedom, human value, accept differences, respect the personal space, working hard. To be precise I have to admit that the western civilization is the mirror which we see the deterioration of our situation through it, and the image we want to be closer to. The respect for the human person, the system of rights and duties, which I respected from the first day. But living in the middle east gives you the chance to see the dark face of that world, the military training field I came from taught me to not believe the existing models, the part of relations of states specifically. I’m talking here about the weapons/arms markets, and other markets based on the dead bodies of other states. Especially after watching the news talking about Aleppo, Mosul … etc Cheap games to prolong the war, unlimited support for the parties of the conflict, in exchange for contracts and concessions we will know in the future. Transforming the world into struggles areas to gain wealth, and safe areas to enjoy the wealth. Religion also had a lion’s share in the misuse and legitimization of wars has nothing to do with religion and history is full of examples. The equation of religion and ignorance had a devastating impact through history and nowadays it is very clear that faith without understanding is more dangerous than earthquakes, with corrupt regimes support hate speech that all you need to have new Libya, and with governments are the direct enemy to their citizens you will have Syria or Iraq if you are lucky , and in order to not equate the killer with the victim, I blame the governments for expanding the circle of ignorance, and put the platforms in the service of semiconductor scientists and intellectuals. Under these conditions the best thing you can get to is the Egyptian model, with hungry ignorant people afraid to be like those in Syria or Iraq, governed by fascist goverments. But I believe in the communion of civilizations. The ashes of war go away by time, and civilization remains. For some reason we live short lives, nobody knows the reason more than you, nobody can tell you what is the ideal way of thinking, but for sure at least in the civilized world we can be like ants villages, be single hand for the good of future generations, to get a world does not force you to be a refugee, a world where mankind life in the first consideration, morality and intelligence to regulate relations. My message to the reader:
    1. Keep reading
    2. No one has a monopoly on truth, it is somewhere in the middle, I don’t have it, but I have part of it, we complete each other, you and me are pieces of the puzzle. Let’s talk with each others, accept each other.
    The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,8763,2016-11-01T05:40:44.000Z,797,anon1491650132,anon2356835326,"""altruism is still there"" Thanks for this piece, I am amazed at how optimistic you are @anon2356835326. If you can tell us more about the project ""Grace Conversation"" to share medicine in community it would be great. Or is there anywhere we can go to read about it? " 3,14061,2016-11-08T15:03:22.000Z,797,anon1526983854,anon2356835326,"Great piece! Can I help? Great work @anon2356835326 . Very insightful. It has potential to be one of the better posts on Edgeryders yet. Small thing: this would be even better if we clarified some parts of the translation (what does it mean to ""put the platforms in the service of semiconductor scientists and intellectuals""?). If you are up for it, we could organize a call between and someone who speaks both Arabic and English. This will make this post into a powerful testimony. What do you say? " 4,17304,2016-11-14T17:31:40.000Z,14061,anon1743371374,anon1526983854,"volunteer As an Arabic English speaker, am happy to volunteer for that. " 5,19783,2016-11-10T09:18:34.000Z,797,anon1932026148,anon2356835326,"a very powerful testimony indeed. took my breath away thank you for that @anon2356835326 " 2,10391,2016-09-19T16:33:19.000Z,747,anon1526983854,,"Intriguing, but... I can't read Greek! Hello and welcome, @anon Additionally, it seems you are listing yourselves (the parents) among the beneficiaries. This also very intriguing, and close to the vision we are pursuing with opencare: people self-organize in communities to take care of each other.  These are impressions based on this post. Did I get it more or less right? I checked out your links, but as I cannot read Greek I could not get any extra information. :-) " 3,14116,2016-11-08T19:38:42.000Z,747,anon1491650132,,"Readiness to reduce one's ""valuable"" time Nice to meet you @anon How do parents make this leap from being busy raising their child to working for greater community benefits - that also help raise their child, but not so obvious for many perhaps.. " 1,724,2016-08-25T01:02:28.000Z,724,anon722012516,anon722012516,"I am a member of the Inaugural Class of Minerva Schools at K.G.I., as well as Minerva’s, Mental Health Services Programs Coordinator for Berlin and Buenos Aries. Which sounds great, but seriously, what the heck does that even mean? Minerva is a new university that aims to reimagine the paradigm of higher education, based on the science of learning. All classes are seminars, with a flipped classroom structure. Meaning that we students, learn the content on our own and spend time engaging with the deeper concepts behind the material. Moving the emphasis away from the professor teaching and instead towards students learning. All of this is facilitated by Minerva’s online platform where all classes take place. Every student (no more than 20 per class) webcams into class, where the platform allows our professors to more easily check how much everyone is participating in the discussion, send us into breakout groups, and live poll the class. Beyond being of instructional benefit, the online format takes away much of the typical costs of facilities development and maintenance that traditional universities place upon their students. Additionally, it allows Minerva to be a genuinely international experience. Our student body is comprised of students from over 40 countries. We live and travel together to seven cities (in as many countries) in cohorts no greater than 150 students.   This unique structure has brought together an amazing community, with potential for changing many of the ways we view higher education. However, there is one factor of higher education that I work most with, and that is students’ mental health and wellness! Minerva students’ have necessarily high work loads, a variety of cultures and constantly transitioning lifestyles, which makes it the perfect edge case to gain insights on how to improve mental health care in universities. Accessibility of Resources: In the U.S., a 2014 study found that the average ratio of university mental health professionals to students is about 1:2080. This means that students in need of counseling services face long wait lists and a low amount sessions, resulting in care that is often literally too little too late. This has a simple fix: dedicate resources so that students who seek help can get it! The real challenge comes in getting students to value their own well being and to reach out when they feel they need mental support. 80% of students who commit suicide (the second leading cause of university student death) never come into contact with any staff from the counseling center. How do we address these issues? The answer is Cultivating Care through Community! This is where my work comes in. As a student working on the school’s mental health team I get work on changes that try and address mental health before it becomes an impediment to education. Currently, I am working on a training for students to learn how to better manage their self care and stress management. Additionally, we are adapting trainings from other universities to include aspects from the science of learning, and create a more lasting impact. A prime example of this is the Student Support Network Training (originally developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute), where students are nominated by their peers to learn how to better understand their own mental health, as well as support friends by caring for them in crisis and connecting to the resource they need. In addition, it’s no longer enough to focus solely on the counseling department’s efforts to improve students wellness. Our academic team offers periodic sessions with deans and professors to help students improve their writing, time management and other skills that can lead to increased stressed when not appropriately addressed. The Student Experience Team has created a series of traditions that brings the student body together as well, to fight the isolation that can commonly occur when students transition into college. Every monday evening a different student takes a leap of faith and give their “Minerva Talk”, by sharing the story of their life so far. On Wednesdays students gather in small groups for Supper Clubs where they all bring some food to share as they explore questions that push them to be vulnerable.   While we still working on figuring out a lot of how we address student well being (and build this university) it’s become clear that the future of student care must be holistic and not just reactive.   I’m curious to hear your thoughts and also what you are working on! Please connect with me or comment below. " 2,7096,2016-08-25T12:37:48.000Z,724,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Twitter chat formats Welcome, @anon I was doing a little research the other day into this group called WeCommunities  for health professionals - they organise dedicated regular twitter chats and  a recent one was ""What is it like being a student mental health nurse?"" They have it all archived should you want to have a look. I myself need to learn more about how it works, but it seems like there is a need for coanon3606750899g and sharing lessons as a professional too.   " 3,14631,2016-08-27T10:05:45.000Z,724,anon1526983854,anon722012516,"Online complicates matters Welcome, @anon " 4,17278,2016-08-28T21:26:38.000Z,14631,anon722012516,anon1526983854,"Communities are tricky. Internet definitely complicates things. Hello, @anon But for me the best online communities I've been in have used the fact the memebers are so spread out to there advantage. I think a good example of this is Under 30 Changemakers, which hosts discussions and training through google hangouts. Instead of having broad web-chats they pre-choose discussion topics based off of community interests or world events and invite their memebers to bring in their perspective. That way people come in already invested in the topic and feel more connected to the community by interacting with members who share their passions.  Also, another activity that seems to go well it when people sign up to be matched with another random member for a skype session. The excitment of not knowing who you'll met but that you have this one community incommon is pretty enaging.  Hope this helps! " 5,23700,2016-08-27T12:06:02.000Z,724,anon722012516,anon722012516,"Thanks! @anon   " 6,26034,2016-08-27T15:29:23.000Z,724,anon70625510,anon722012516,"Perhaps this approach designed by our students could help? This project was developed during Hacking Utopia - a three month course on product design for social and demographic change. The course format was developed by Prof. Susanne Stauch (@anon The Shit Show is an interactive pop-up exhibition designed to make the sensitive, 'taboo' issue of mental health more present and approachable to the public. Psychological struggles are still stigmatized, making it hard to reach out for help. We want to offer an alternative way for people to engage with the topic and develop mechanisms for support and resilience. Mental illnesses are one of the most widespread disabilities worldwide. In Germany alone, 4 million people are affected by issues like anxiety or depression. Yet, it’s a secret we all share. Seeking help for psychological struggles is still strongly associated with shame. Even being sad or stressed or unproductive is seen as personal weakness. As a result, many people find it difficult to talk about emotional problems – be it a missed project deadline, a loss in the family or an eating disorder. It’s easier to open up to someone who has similar problems and can empathize. But how to identify the people that can offer support when everyone tries to hide their struggles? Most people that are in emotional distress don’t decide to seek help until they have been in increasing pain for a prolonged amount of time. Only about 35% of people suffering from depression are receiving treatment. On average, 11 months have passed before even these few seek out professional help. The Shit Show is one approach towards addressing this pressing situation. The students : Omri Kaufmann, Pauline Schlautmann, Luisa Weyrich and Nele Groeger are in here so you can contact them directly) (@anon https://player.vimeo.com/video/177412523?portrait=0   " 7,26953,2016-08-28T21:40:07.000Z,26034,anon722012516,anon70625510,"Shit Show @anon Also, I am still a bit new to EDGERYDERS. Is there a way to contact all of the students together directly, like a group messaging feature? " 8,27317,2016-08-29T14:25:38.000Z,26953,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Nope, no direct group messaging I'm afraid @anon " 9,27449,2016-08-30T19:39:53.000Z,27317,anon722012516,anon1491650132,"Thank you! @anon " 10,27808,2016-11-07T20:34:48.000Z,724,anon1491650132,anon722012516,"Worrying data about Irish students Hi again @anon722012516!  I was reading this article and thought you might find it informative - results from a study on Irish students from 22 universities saying that a third go through mental distress and less than 1 in 4 look for support. So worrying. I'm now trying to get hold of the original study. A mental health community initiative in Ireland that we know of is Cosain - a an organic healing centre by peers of all ages, running as a prototype in the city museum! - curious what you think. Also new in the conversation since you were last online - a volunteer led organisation running twitter chats on mental health. Definitely check them out, maanon1932026148 you can do something together as they are always looking for hosts! " 1,795,2016-10-22T15:10:56.000Z,795,anon1932026148,anon1932026148,"'Are you on a mission? And how come that trauma - such a heavy word, such a serious matter - is your passion?' That is what people ask me when they hear about my tour, about me and my bus traveling through Europe to talk and teach about trauma and to try to soften the pain of trauma. 'No, I am not on a mission (that is a far too 'religious word for me to befriend with) - and yes, trauma is my passion, and I do have a message. I really believe that pain should come in the open. That it should be de-tabooed: we should know more about it, understand better what traumatic pain is, how it functions, how it takes possession of us, we should be able to look at it more closely, to be with it (for a while). Trauma, pain, fear ... we'd rather not experience it or watch it happen in someone else's life. It is like with 'death': we know it is part of our lives, we all have to deal with it, and yet we don't - because it's (too) uncomfortable. How to talk about human mistreatments, heavy physical pain, profound disrespect of your person, or situations where you felt like if your life was in danger? How to share the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness that go with such pain? We often do not know how to do that, and try to ban painful events and feelings from our minds, we want to forget about it. It is something in pain itself too. We're hardwired to avoid and suppress pain. It helps us survive, it helps us to go on. Avoiding, minimizing and denying pain is our most natural, short term solution to deal with pain. It is a survival mechanism. It often takes a while, from seconds to minutes, to physically feel the pain caused by an accident, a car crash or a broken leg. Not feeling the pain gives us more time to save ourselves, to get away from danger. Out of the car, walk away and call the ambulance f.ex. On the long term, however, not feeling isn’t very effective. Because it is impossible to heal from something we don't acknowledge. On the long term, suppressed pain comes back to us, like a boomerang. That is what trauma and traumatic pain is about: it is pain that doesn't seems to go away, pain that stays with us far too long, as a residue of what happened to us. I believe that this residual pain needs to be addressed more openly. Traumatic pain can be softened - and it should be. Because unresolved trauma makes us sick, depressed and heavy-hearted. It deregulates us, deeply and on many levels: mind, heart and body. We know that traumatic pain lies at the heart of most contemporary diseases, be they mental or physical, we know that trauma adds to almost every sickness as a major contributing factor. And yet ... the knowledge about trauma and how to address it to lower its dramatic impact on our lives is far from common. That is what my tour is about: I want the world to be trauma-informed. https://player.vimeo.com/video/184185350?color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 I want people to come and look at the pictures on the bus and ask questions. I want them to learn about trauma and realize that healing is possible. We can all learn best practices regarding talking and coanon3606750899g. We can all learn to calm down and regulate a body in fight, flight or freeze modus. We can all learn techniques to stop nightmares and flashbacks. We can all learn to help traumatized persons recover. It often takes not more than 15 minutes to help people sleep better: help them release tension before they go to bed, by offering a relaxing breathing exercise, or teach them to intervene in their dreams by using their imagination, by rehearsing a different ending for their nightmare f.ex. We are all on a mission: to a certain degree we all need to become trauma specialists. First, we need to deal with our own trauma's and those of the people around us. We need to dare to feel and face our pain instead of running away from it. Second, there's too much suffering in the world as to leave its resolution to the clinical field or therapeutic setting. Therapeutic knowledge should be accessible to all of us, it should not be protected and copyrighted. Therapeutic knowledge should be alive in the world, not only in shrinks’ offices. That is why I do what I do: share my knowledge about trauma with you, share insights, methods and techniques from the field of trauma healing ... so that we can all, together, ease and soften the pain in our world. I don’t know of any other projects sharing therapeutic knowledge in the way Trauma Tour does. But the idea of a trauma-informed world is related to a growing field of ‘self care’: taking responsibility for one's own (mental) health by reading self help books, attending self help groups, becoming experience experts, … It is long known that helanon3606750899g on this ‘equal’ level, is often more effective than any method or technique. It is also known that the relationship between ‘therapist’ and ‘patient’ is a major factor when it comes to healing. If we combine both, ‘helanon3606750899g expertise’ and ‘being equal’, it seems a very natural thing to come out of our offices and share therapeutic knowledge with those who suffer. It makes ‘us’ helpers and ‘them’ traumatized people equal human beings, fellow human beings. It restores humanity. I’m now in the middle of planning my first big tour: driving down the Balkan route and visit Greece in December 2016 / Janon169343781ary 2017. If you’re reading this and you want to support Trauma Tour, please check out my website, there’s a list of things you can do to help me : call me in for a training, be my local host on my way down to Greece, put me in contact with people who might need me … An easy and very effective way to support Trauma Tour is to make a financial contribution - I thank you for that! The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016." 2,8060,2016-10-26T07:04:26.000Z,795,anon1491650132,anon1932026148,"The thing I like most about the Trauma Tour ..is that it lowers the barriers to this type of knowledge. It is about learning and starts with conversations, not therapy, which sounds much heavier and almost like you have to be a ""patient"" or close to one to access it. Who wants to be a ""patient"" and can walk in confidently? Probably very few people, or not even those who need it the most. Even the word ""trauma"" is so heavy that I can see how a friendlier setup and human face can help break the ice. Don't know if it's a strict deontological choice, but you might want to try an experiment where you dont use the word at all in your communication (for example for an event), you'd only use ""pain that doesn't go away"" or something..Then you explain the proper terminology while at it. Who knows, maanon1932026148 you get even better results. Thank you for working on this piece Ybe. Quick heads up: your link to the list of things we can help with does not work.. so waiting. With @anon " 3,11782,2016-11-03T18:15:17.000Z,8060,anon1932026148,anon1491650132,"thx @anon for your suggestion and here's the link again http://www.traumatour.eu/2016/09/30/to-thessaloniki-and-back/ and also this one http://www.traumatour.eu/2016/11/01/last-call/ " 4,12726,2016-11-07T19:32:34.000Z,11782,anon1491650132,anon1932026148,"Done! As I'm not in Greece and my only contacts there are those you met already here on Edgeryders, I did the simplest thing and donated. But will keep on spreading the word, and looking forward to your eBook! Safe travels, Ybe. " 1,676,2016-05-07T17:42:54.000Z,676,anon4027728104,anon4027728104,"Hello everyone I am a full-time community mental health nurse based in Ormskirk Lancashire. Since 1998 online Have championed a conceptual framework - Hodges' model which was created to facilitate person-centered, holistic, integrated care and reflective practice. Currently I am researching the model at Lancaster University in Technology Enhanced Learning. My Part 2 project involves evaluating the model by creating a new web resource to prototype specific content types, gather data and create some research interest. I plan to use Drupal to create my research platform. I have just posted news of OP3N on my blog ""Welcome to the QUAD"" http://hodges-model.blogspot.co.uk/ - which also lists a bibliography: Jones, P. (2004) The Four Care Domains: Situations Worthy of Research. Conference: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication, Brighton, UK. Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109. Jones, P. (2009) Socio-Technical Structures, the Scope of Informatics and Hodges’ model, IN, Staudanon1056199097r, R., Ostermann, H., Bettina Staudanon1056199097r, B. (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Nursing Informatics and Socio-Technical Structures, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 11, pp. 160-174.< br /> Jones P. (2014) Using a conceptual framework to explore the dimensions of recovery and their relationship to service user choice and self-determination. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine. Vol 3, No 4, (2013) pp.305-311. You may find this model relevant to your respective projects, if so please get in touch... If you have any key papers, reports or conferences I'd be delighted to hear of your news. Best wishes in your work. Peter Jones Community Mental Health Nurse CMHT Brookside Aughton Street Ormskirk L39 3BH, UK & Graduate Student - Lancaster University: Technology Enhanced Learning Blogging at ""Welcome to the QUAD"" http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/h2cm " 2,7346,2016-05-09T18:55:08.000Z,676,anon1526983854,anon4027728104,"Welcome, Peter! Hello @anon4027728104, welcome to Edgeryders. I checked out briefly your blog: congratulations, you really are very active!  But where is the model? I read your 2004 paper: I am a non-professional and may simply lack the knowledge to process it, but what it looks to me is that you are discussing a model that was presented somewhere else. There is a link at the end of the paper, but it points to a site no longer active.  Would you have a ""Hodges model for dummies"" somewhere? Ping @anon4116418727, he'll know a lot more than me.  " 3,10970,2016-05-09T23:13:20.000Z,7346,anon4027728104,anon1526983854,"Hodges' model Hello Alberto, Thanks for your interest and response. Ah! It sounds like you have tried to access the old website p-jones.demon.co.uk which was valid from 1998 up to last summer when Demon closed as an ISP. Sorry about that. My current studies will include posting some introductory information. I've just organised new hosting. I'd be happy to try to answer questions and will add a note on my blog / and to the papers I have re. the expired website. Kind regards, Peter Jones   " 4,15679,2016-09-27T17:34:22.000Z,676,anon3136355993,anon4027728104,"Integral Care Hallo Peter! This looks very much like a care model relatet to integral aspects as in ""Integral Theory"". For insiders there ist not much to mention... you are on the right pass, following the right train of thougt. We do have a simolar model in Mind but not only focussing on health, rather integrating health, learning, knowlege and cohabitation into a larger scheme. So we want to encourage you to not only reserach this and create a virtual environment but work with real communities, who get supported by your ideas. Bert " 5,18117,2016-11-07T19:03:52.000Z,15679,anon1491650132,anon3136355993,"Real communities Hey @anon " 2,6617,2016-09-20T06:24:11.000Z,749,anon1491650132,,"Personal story? Hi @anon Did this happen already or is it an idea? I can see the argument working in some communities more than as a general campaign - for example where this care gap is degenerative in that it correlates with lack of self confidence in women, or housework burnout, or even domestic violence in the worst cases..   I haven't done awareness raising campaigns, but it could be that for the impact you're looking for a deep value based argument would be more easily turned around by anyone with a difft agenda.    If you can insert links to the stats or numbers you're referencing it would be great! " 4,17209,2016-09-22T07:48:35.000Z,14231,anon1491650132,,"Care workers at risk of poverty Thanks for sharing the links, from the ministry's communication I picked up on something new: ""The question of women's employment is thus closely linked to the question of the social organization of care work"" So the risk is that the more care work you do around the house, the more you risk being paid less because of inability to take up fulltime work and provide for yourself at an old age..? On the other side, unpaid care work it's somehting many of us do in our lives - out of love, pleasure, even a sense of duty as Alex pointed out in his story of refugee volunteering. For a lot of people care - and I've seen older generation women in my family, care is indeed something they ""can't switch off"" from because it is where they find meaning in their lives. After retiring, they, and not their husbands were the ones who were able to take on paid care roles (eg caring for small children) as those skills remain valued at an old age. Indeed underpaid, and yet the only surplus income in the family.  Do other policies like paternal leave work in Germany? In Romania it's currently at only 10% of fathers taking it :-(    " 5,20938,2016-09-28T11:02:34.000Z,749,anon70625510,,"In Sweden it's picking up but still there is a difference Not sure what the data is on what percentage of fathers take parental leave and how long. I'll as around if you want? " 6,24339,2016-11-03T11:41:00.000Z,749,anon1491650132,,"Care work is embedded in more formal work than you'd think I think you would enjoy this @anon Even in the days of Karl Marx or Charles Dickens, working-class neighbourhoods housed far more maids, bootblacks, dustmen, cooks, nurses, cabbies, schoolteachers, prostitutes and costermongers than employees in coal mines, textile mills or iron foundries. All the more so today. What we think of as archetypally women's work – looking after people, seeing to their wants and needs, explaining, reassuring, anticipating what the boss wants or is thinking, not to mention caring for, monitoring, and maintaining plants, animals, machines, and other objects – accounts for a far greater proportion of what working-class people do when they're working than hammering, carving, hoisting, or harvesting things. This is true not only because most working-class people are women (since most people in general are women), but because we have a skewed view even of what men do. As striking tube workers recently had to explain to indignant commuters, ""ticket takers"" don't in fact spend most of their time taking tickets: they spend most of their time explaining things, fixing things, finding lost children, and taking care of the old, sick and confused. Caring too much. That's the curse of the working classes. " 1,796,2016-10-27T09:29:22.000Z,796,anon1501565612,anon1501565612," Our challenge is to rewire neighbourhoods to take care of teenagers tending to the specific needs of their age, addressing the formation of social emotions, vocation and self knowledge. Europe's population decline must be addressed not only regarding maternity and natural population decrease, but also promoting the dynamic and innovative qualities the younger generations always contribute to society. Making young people relevant, inviting them to our social life, giving them a frame to belong in a European future is the necessary counterbanon3760936673ce for our aging and shrinking population. The rate of cultural change linked to technology has been constantly increasing and initiatives to educate our people must overcome institutional slowing down, if our societies are to participate significantly in the future.

    Education, learning & the value of teenagers

    Traditional educational systems are failing to take social changes into account. The inertia of national states behind educational institutions is failing to answer to the reality of communities that are experiencing social change at a faster than ever rate. The future we imagine cannot be reached following old pathways. Teenagers are left out of social life, with no appropriate spaces or other activities expected from them, apart from attending compulsory school until an age that keeps rising as the human life cycle prospers. In a phase of life characterized by passion and vocation, loads of energy and bluntness, teenagers in Europe find themselves institutionalized and irrelevant. «Future Tools» project is an acknowledgment of the value teenagers have for society: they hold our future in their hands. «Future Tools» is a space designed with caring attention to fit the needs of our young generation, aiming to connect them to a new world of opportunities by inviting them to work, to collaborate, to participate and to have a voice in their own community. We can now apply our knowledge about adolescence to provide a comprehensive environment in which teenagers can develop healthy social emotions, autonomous and egalitarian participation. Provide an alternative to corporate uses of technology through the culture of the commons; spread collaborative habits in neighborhoods; build activities rooted in intrinsic motivation that bloom in communal benefit are some of the ways «Future Tools» will engage people in fostering a society with greater equality, solidarity and sustainability. «Future Tools» is a common learning lab for teenagers. By offering youngster a place to gather and pursue their interests while promoting their autonomy, we aim to empower them to work for a better future. Sharing resources and interests in an alternative learning space, the culture of collaboration and the democratizing possibilities of technology, this place will have its roots in the neighborhood’s daily activities and funnel the parents’ interest in social promotion for their kids towards a more inclusive society. The abundance of open resources that can be freely accessed through personal learning environments to learn digital skills —such as computational thinking, governance software, UX design, in fact any skills that we may need to implement our projects in the world— is an opportunity, never known before to such a widespread extent, to empower our youngsters to build a better future.

    Neighboring environment

    The neighborhood as a community comes to relevance in the task of «helanon3606750899g grow adults». The age group that most closely matches the Secondary Education stage in our culture has in the neighborhood its spatial range of freedom, just one step away from the wide world they will live in as adults. Connecting these neighboring communities to the global emergence of the digital culture as makers and participants through their own teenagers is a pertinent, strengthening link between local and broader communities. It is urgent for these generations of parents and offspring to leap forward over institutional stagnancy and give ourselves the shared resources we can provide for our own borough, in every neighborhood, nurturing our tribe-prone teens from the gang to the team, by building around them the common ground for community. It is sometimes sad hear stating that what is being promoted for innovation in the field of education —on the basis of empathic personal exchange, attention to the tempo, sensibility for intrinsic motivations, in short: the wisdom of caring for each other— are outdated methodologies. Digital tools offers a new breeze to these methodologies, an opportunity to enhance the soft aspects of learning and allow us to cast aside production-line techniques when it comes to our kids: lecturing, memorizing, exams, ringing bell schedules, curriculums and subjects. We can now afford those luxuries our industrialized schools didn't plan for and, dragged by institutional inertia, won't anytime soon. " 2,8262,2016-10-28T08:23:00.000Z,796,anon1491650132,anon1501565612,"Already up and running? Hello again, @anon What stage is Future Tools at, can we help in any way? Are you in Spain now? I can't tell from the post.. " 3,15297,2016-10-30T15:47:07.000Z,796,anon2954219769,anon1501565612,"Changes in educational methods I like this idea of neighborhood driven education. In my home town we are also planning a project in this direction, so I will follow these stories with interest :).  The correlation between how you teach and what a child learns and ultimately which kind of person it becomes is a hard one. There's so many different oanon3606750899ions on what is the best way of educating and each seems to have its merits. In practise there's already quite some alternatives - at least in Belgium - like Steiner and Freinet schools. My experience with those schools is limited and I have not seen miracles. How does your philospophy relate to the existing alternatives? Like @anon However, more and more teachers accept change in the form of technological innovation because of this cult-like movement of STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education that is now taking over. I shouldn't complain, I am surfing that anon3003844599, but STEM has become a goal in itself. The A of Art is also too often left out of STEAM. The general idea of technological disruption is already rooted in many people's heads, so it's a small jump for people in the educational system to apply it to their field. Lots of schools in Belgium are implementing smart boards, apps, school fablabs etc. without much thought. Just new shiny tools, which in the end are not optimally used because there is no change in mindset. The teachers, the schools etc. rely on technology to avoid changing their behavior. Ironic, because reality is the opposite. We do new biology education and that is our trojan horse: we can hide a new method in the new technological content that we bring. This also means that these changes to the methods won't be too radical. What we do is accepted as a technological innovation, but hopefully the changes in method will add to the slow collective learning process on different methods. " 4,17580,2016-11-01T05:54:56.000Z,15297,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Teachers or newcomers into teaching? Enlightening take on technology education, I may be quoting you on twitter here and there, just a heads up :-) @anon   " 5,20565,2016-10-30T22:02:09.000Z,796,anon1526983854,anon1501565612,"The currency of attention I may have a nihilistic view, but it seems to me that there is no conclusive evidence for any educational method to be inherently superior to others. The typical story is this: young, smart, charismatic teacher becomes dissatisfied with how things are done in schools. He or she proceeds to start a new school that immediately outperforms the average existing school on all relevant parameters.  Maanon1932026148 the methodology really did the trick. This, however, does not explain why all methodologies seem to work so well: Montessori, Steiner, Ecole 42, home schooling... So, here's another possibility: young, smart, charismatic people who care so much about teaching to leave a secure job to invent their own way of doing it are likely to be better than average teachers. They would do well with any methodology.  This would explain at least one case: that of the abandonment of the ""notionist"" paradigm in the West, supported by solid research results. Children schooled in the new way, more attentive to develoanon3606750899g creativity and social skills, outperformed their traditionally schooled peers. But sure enough, 30 years later Western universities were flooded by graduates from very traditional Asian schools, and they kicked the Westerner's asses to kingdom come.  It does not make sense that creativity-oriented schooling is both superior and inferior to traditional cramming-oriented schooling. What's going on here could be regression to the mean. If you generalize any methodology to the mainstream you are going to get no more than average results, because this is what happens with average teachers teaching to average learners. I expect that the same will happen to generalized Arduinos in schools.  " 6,22212,2016-11-03T10:45:49.000Z,20565,anon1501565612,anon1526983854,"totally agree! I don't find what you say nihilist at all @anon " 7,22646,2016-11-03T11:35:08.000Z,22212,anon1526983854,anon1501565612,"Hard to argue with that Socialization is the elephant in the room and teenagers are in no mans land Well, this is for sure. I guess our school system was designed in a context where socialization happened outside the school and peer structures were robust. And maanon1932026148 they are not that robust anymore, and anyway teenagers have very little time. This, by the way, is danah boyd's take on teens and social media in It's complicated: families saturate teenagers time with what she calls adult-approved activities, and they escape into social media to Just Hang Out.  " 1,777,2016-09-30T14:53:28.000Z,777,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"

    Alzheimer’s Wristband <3

    Idea is about helanon3606750899g the families of the patients who have alzheimer's at last stage. We know that people who has alzheimer's has a bad habbit of running away of house or indoors to outdoors. Idea is about prototyanon3606750899g a Wristband with a LCD screen which gives the patient info about their home and family members basic infos. How they love him and want to see him now... At the same time the wristband will sent info about where the patient is,  what is his hearthbeat rates and how far did he goes via GPRS. We should tag the family with RFID so when they come close to the patient, Wristband recognise the family member and says calming infos and sentences to the patient in order to recognize them. What are the main aspects of this project? Our goal is to design a friendly wristband with an LCD monitor who works like a double agent, helps both the wandering person and the caregiver/family.

    How to?

    We can
    • use a CARD
    • ankle wearable
    • wristband

    Techology we can use:

    • Geo Fence
    • Arduino nano 
    • LCD Screen
    • GPRS 
    • RFID
    • iPhone app for the family which receives notifications when the patient runs away from home
     

    Storyboard:

    This skecth is from our brainstorm. 

    What have been done?

    http://www.medicalert.org/product/catalog/medical-ids http://www.alz.org/core/alzheimers-dementia-wandering.asp http://www.alzheimers.net/2014-02-20/technology-changes-future-of-alzheimers/

    Apps & Products on the market

    Project Lifesaver http://www.projectlifesaver.org/ Project Lifesaver International is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, the first pioneer to apply tracking technology for the search and rescue of individuals with cognitive disorders, and have remained the leader, the Gold Standard, in this field for the over 17 years. What makes our approach unique is that we have created an entire education and training program that includes; tracking techniques and technology. The PLI-1000 Locator System is the newest radio frequency based tracking system that is available to member agencies and to caregivers of loved ones who are prone to wandering. This is the same technology that our membership uses. The PLI-1000 Personal Locator System includes: One PLI-1000 receiver with attached Yagi antenna, one nylon case, one pre-preset 216 MHz 60 day transmitter with oval case, one 9V receiver battery, six transmitter batteries, six transmitter bands, one transmitter tester, and an instructional guide. Cost to the public is $799+plus shipanon3606750899g. SOO EXPENSIVE   ​GPS Smart Sole http://gpssmartsole.com/gpssmartsole/ GPS SmartSole® is a smartphone hidden and sealed in an insole. It uses the same GPS and cellular technology as your smartphone, is charged like your phone, and requires activation and a data service plan. Like your phone, it works cross country within cellular network covered areas.    ​Safe Link GPS http://safelinkgps.com/ Dependable tracking solution for wandering Dementia PocketFinder  Receives GPS location data from multiple satellites. PocketFinder sends GPS location as frequently as every 2-minutes through cellular network. Cellular carrier sends encrypted data to PocketFinder servers. End-user logs in to account using smartphone, tablet, or computer. End-user can manage everything for PocketFinder using smartphone. When PocketFinder goes in or out of zone, Alert is sent to end-users via text, email, & push notification. Revolutionary Tracker http://www.revolutionarytracker.com/ " 2,9056,2016-11-02T17:25:18.000Z,777,anon1526983854,anon3003844599,"Interesting! There are some interesting ""social"" features here. I mean, a GPS is a GPS, but I like the thinking around ""guiding"" the patient towards low anxiety when caregivers approach (they may not recognize them immediately in unfamiliar surroundings), etc. Did you manage to do a small test yet? " 1,770,2016-09-29T21:50:35.000Z,770,anon3003844599,anon3003844599,"Idea is about helanon3606750899g blind people about the outside world’s obsticles. Smart stick should have a simcard for navigation (GPRS) communication with friends, family and hospitals. Smart stick should have accelometre sensor to sense the obstickles in streets and roads. It should be used with earphone. It should converts envori- ments conditions to sound via APPs or API’s of google Maps. Normal people could use it too, it can be designed as 2 peaces (modular) People without disabilities can take the top part from the stick and put it in their bags (with earphones)   What are the main aspects of this project? Our goal is to help the blind people. Our perspective is to find a way to eleminate the difficulties they face everyday.   How to? We can - use a eyeglasses with earphones - headsets and eye bandages - blind smart sticks Techonolgy out there - infrared sensors - Arduino + 3 ultrasound sensors+ buzzer +motor - Another chipset + RFID + ultrasound sensor   Project Halo: - Rigid frame (I used a round embroidery frame) - Female headers (for the sensors) - Ultrasonic Rangefinders (Parallax Ping Rangefinders) - Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve-nient) - Glue - Twist ties to tidy up wiring - Soldering station - Male headers (for creating a bridge to feed 5v and ground - RJ-45-Term Screw Terminal (2) - RJ-45 Cable - Marker Motor Modules: - Vibration Motors (5) - Motot, VIB,3V/60mA, 7500RPM - Grid-Style PC Board - Male header anon3606750899s - Motor ""shroud"" (to prevent things getting sucked into the motor) Haptic Headband: - Headband - Sewing Kit - 5 Motor Modules - Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve-nient) - Safety Pins - Female headers - Soldering station - RJ-45-Term Screw Terminal (2) - RJ-45 Cable - Marker   Wiring the Microcontroller: - Arduino Mega 2560 - Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve- nient) - 5 LEDs - Darlington IC - ULN 2803A - 2 port screw terminal - 9v battery - 5v regulator   Building the Software: - USB cable - PC (for editing code and downloading to Arduino) - Arduino - Arduino development environment (www.arduino.cc) - Source Code, modified Ping.h library   Smart Blind Stick - Instructables An Arduino uno. A Ultrasonic sensor( HCSR04 ). A Mini breadboard. A 9 volt battery. A 9 volt battery connector. DC male power jack. A Buzzer. Some Jumper wire. An Broken cellphone from scratch. A Toggle switch. Other tools and parts used in this project : 3/4 inch diameter PVC pipe (used for making the stick). 3/4 inch diameter PVC elbow. Insulation tape. Some small screws for mounting Arduino. Screwdriver. Utility knife. Instant adhesive Glue. A Box to Put your Arduino and other electronics, or think about it later.   XploR cane The 'XploR' mobility cane was developed at Birming- ham City University It uses a camera and built-in sensors to scan for faces in a crowd If it recognises a face the cane vibrates and guides user with audio cues Sensors work up to 32ft (10 metres) and faces are stored on an SD card Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/science- tech/article-3090790/X- ploR-cane-uses-facial-recognition-spot-friends-family -crowd-guides-blind-user-exact-location.html#ixzz4L 51k7yJX   What have been done? - http://imwm.org/the-infeared-walking-cane-by-parasuraman-kannan/ - http://arduinoart.blogspot.it/2015/05/project-guide-stick-for-blind-people.html - http://www.instructables.com/id/Smart-Blind-Stick/ - http://www.instructables.com/id/Haptic-Feedback-device-for-the-Visually-Impaired/ - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3090790/X- ploR-cane-uses-facial-recognition-spot-friends-family-crowd-guides-blind-user-exact-location.html   " 2,9019,2016-11-02T17:12:15.000Z,770,anon1526983854,anon3003844599,"Is this a sort of benchmarking? Very interesting, @anon3003844599 . But there is something I do not understand: it seems you are going through similar projects done in the past and making a list of them. What's next? Do you want to modify and improve them? To make some and have visually impaired people in your own city try them? " 1,746,2016-09-17T20:27:51.000Z,746,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"I would like to share how complicated schooling and university education is in Madagascar, and how people are going about it, trapped between history and modernity. This big Island to the right of  Africa hosts20 million people, the majority still living under  1 £ a day. They have a lot of opportunities which still need to be explored. And those opportunities are in the hand of the future generations who need some rejuvenation.    Malagasy parents used to tell stories and legends to give wisdom, advice and knowledge to their children. When there were some schools appearing they thought that a story is not enough to raise their own child. Wisdom came before knowledge for Malagasy people. As Malagasy are saying ""Let your behavior be like a tree: if the roots are strong enough, leaves can shake as they want.""  Parents decided to send children to school and encourage them to go further as long as they can support them. In fact having a son or daughter graduate from University is an honor for parents and children, it means that both are successful. In that time, to accept a job opportunity easily, leaving the familial cid and flying with their own wings is easier. Nowadays, child education is a must until the 6th grade, to be exact. Knowing how to count, writing one’s name or read, that's enough in some suburban places. Somewhere in the South of Madagascar kids have to travel 3 hours through village or dunes. Sometimes walking 15 km from school and going back and forth, sometimes students get a half day of school. There has never been a bus school or transport, and even if students get a student car they don't get reduction.  It's happened that teachers don't get paid for three months, become lazy and don't teach classes. Sometime parents and someone in charge on school find a solution, telling parents to give some amount of money or telling his child to bring some rice for the canteen. In small villages school is far, college and high school is even farther, University is more in the province.  It's happened also that parents are less educated and don't know how to guide the child, in fact the essential for the children is to manage their own life insurance.  Graduating from University doesn't make sense anymore for young people.  As a young Malagasy person I know where we have been, but I don't know where are going...  After finishing your studies you need to line up behind millions of jobless for a job opportunity.  After investigation ; Many those young people struggle and move on the street working as a ""taxi phone"" mobile cheap call, bus driver, gold digger... any available job in general. Some get influenced by easy money called ""bizna"": it means selling anything, from a friend or relative, like cell phones, computers, tyres, cars. Those who have funds to run their business can invest into something short term or permanent like restaurants, jewelry, imports etc.  Let’s talk about it: 67 % of Malagasy people are about 15 to 25 years young.  Statistically 15 % of graduates get an exact job for the position that they prepared for in University, 65% remain jobless and 10 % know someone high placed and get to work for an unsuitable job and that they don't have any idea what it is about or how to do; about the last 5% have something  planned for, and finally the 5% remaining help  parents at home. Many foreign companies like to employ people from Sri Lanka or Indonesia because they are more skilled and less corrupted... We have more and more foreigners who are coming here to get rich. It's also another gate for economy and illnesses from both sides.  There are some good things in progress. Recently I met some people from Christian missionary called ADRA ""Adventist Development and Relief Agency""  using techniques to improve farming for those who have land or what to farming it was only a campaign. NGOs like USAID who have been here since 32 years to help Malagasy people to realize goals of development, recover from natural disaster like cyclones, health care like malnutrition, sponsoring on project used to be only for educational like ""youth and reproduction"",  ""Youth against HIV"". But it's only in the capital or on a regional campaign for few times and not long enough to be remembered by people. They are trying to give free training, help and support for young people in suburban areas but ... sometime with no success . Youth Volunteers like Peacecorps almost every year whose giving free teaching, help and give some supplies like pen and copy book, chalkboard  etc.. if they have something to give.  All those things are looking good for a while, but they have no impact on their lifetime. There is no precise political with systematization or screening. There is not enough community who cares especially for young Malagasy. Insecurity, infrastructure and corruption are principal factors which still exist since long time and drag in deep water the majority of those young people. When I was asking them to give their thoughts, they say: "" We felt abandoned by the government, they only thinking about how to full they pockets. As we learned from school: ""I"" is going first and ""YOU"" is after, that’s how people in government are thinking. Our daily duty is to wake-up, go outside chilling with friends, and go back home at lunch time”. Finally, Malagasy people cannot lean on their own government, it doesn’t have enough budget to overcome this or: the budget is going somewhere else which is more important, like towards health. Private school is plenty even if some of them don't have the right character as a normal school: no playing ground, no gates... Parents like it because the teaching method is quite modern and up to date, teachers are quite professional.  Some of those private schools belong to someone on the Government. The good thing is that teachers in private schools are at least able to do their job smoothly and actually finish school programs.  Malagasy people still believe that education is the best legacy.  How do you find ways to make a living as a young generation which government does not care for ? Please go ahead, ask questions and add your comments :) The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,10044,2016-09-18T17:36:45.000Z,746,anon4074474473,anon2668029998,"Alternative schools Hi @anon " 3,11993,2016-09-19T07:50:23.000Z,10044,anon2668029998,anon4074474473,"Ambiguity and initiative Hi @anon " 4,13915,2016-09-19T21:00:25.000Z,746,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"Pocket University? Wow, @anon All I can say is that the whole opencare thing is really not relying on government. The stories you read here are all stories of self-sufficiency somehow.  Education, peer to peer, in a develoanon3606750899g country: this sounds like a project @anon " 5,17106,2016-10-22T07:02:00.000Z,13915,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"The 58 ideas for businesses in Nepal might be worth looking into @anon " 6,20018,2016-10-31T20:08:42.000Z,746,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"Probably a huge step for big changes for Malagasy people. I know some friends who own small business like hardware store and probably interested about this @anon As I mentioned in my article some of us still using woods and charcoal as a combustion. This inventory that @anon Actually there is no ""wasted garbage"" here in Madagascar,  there is no specific garbage for glass,paper or plastic here, no recycling program.  Nowaday almost 8 of 10 Malagasy people are living under extreme poverty if  we refer to the UN statistics. In 4 years only,  a new cohort of population ( more than 24 %) was falling in extreme poverty. They search inside garbage and rubbish try to find some used bottle and stuff which still sellable. Statistically. It's about 5.6 million of people, more than the people on the capital and some suburban areas. In general, about 18 millions of Malagasy have to get 4 000 Ar per day less than ~ 1, 25 $ /1€ according to the International Pauverty Line.  What does such a sum for these very poor household ? Since a kilo of white rice grew 1 200 Ar /20 cent of euro  a bag of charcoal is about 20 000 Ar /5 €,  the scholarship of a child for the 1St grade is about 60 000 Ar / 15€  even in public school this amount is including supplies and other overhead ... Still, nothing concrete is well engaged to alleviate a little bit sufferings of this high proportion of the population. Change begin by everyone of us.  " 7,21834,2016-10-24T02:12:05.000Z,20018,anon3769417221,anon2668029998,"What to say? It's really difficult … @anon Instead, the EDGE Academy (""pocket university"") concept that @anon Perhaps you know of agricultural and / or handicrafts products from Madagascar that are interesting for export to Europe (storable, high value per weight)? I can tell you what we have found out about direct sales of food items from Nepal to Europe. Customs etc. is very doable, and revenues for farmers will be about 200% of what they get in the traditional trading system (and even that is very high for coffee because Nepali coffee is traded as a specialty … so it can be a 400-500% improvement for some ""more ordinary"" coffees from around the world). Let me know if you want any more infos on that. " 8,23803,2016-10-25T09:21:00.000Z,746,anon70625510,anon2668029998,"I came across a REALLY long article full of advice I read that one of the most pressing issues is the water crisis. Before anything else can work I suppose this is one key issue that needs to be addressed. A question is if there is a cheap desalination technology that could be applied at scale in one area, and then build on that. I'm asking around, but perhaps others. @anon784612129 might know? Recently I came across an article that points out a lot of practical advice for building livelihoods. But most of it is probably not applicable outside the US/Europe. That said here it is: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/70000-per-year-start-now-kevin-pezzi-md " 9,24896,2016-10-25T10:06:26.000Z,23803,anon70625510,anon70625510,"""Gaza man Fayez al-Hindi has created a small rooftop mounted device that can produce about 2.6 gallons of clean water per day"" www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ1NCW5eDNs https://www.youtube.com/embed/fJ1NCW5eDNs " 10,25788,2016-10-25T16:10:22.000Z,23803,anon784612129,anon70625510,"Not aware of any silver bullet re desal. Different options exist but most need lots of energy. Check Australia for viable approaches. The may be less centralzed options using air dehumidification (israeli tech?). You can also evaporate and chatch the ""distilled"" water - but you still need lots of energy (which possibly could come from desertec style overproduction). So instead of charging batteries you charge your cistern. Another issue is cost effective and clean transportation/distribution. There is a reason mankind mostly spread along rivers for a very long time." 11,26045,2016-10-26T07:12:51.000Z,746,anon70625510,anon2668029998,"The Bhungaroo water manaement system Had forgotten I met Biplab a couple of years ago. He was telling me about an approach they had developed for Gujarat (India). The way it works is ver simple: they pierce the ground with thin funnels that ""suck in"" water from the surface and stores it in an underground reservoir (during the rainy season/floods). So you don't get salt deposits on the topsoil which is the case if rainwater is left standing on it. During the dry season farmers use this reservoir of water to continue farming for up to eight months (according to Bipaul) after rainfall has stopped. The underground reservoir can hold up to 40 million litres of rainwater. https://player.vimeo.com/video/125792111 "" Drought is a serious issue in the western Indian state of Gujarat, particularly for underprivileged female farmers whose livelihood depends on the monsoon. Limited rainfall in the state leads to water logging in peak cropanon3606750899g season. For the rest of the year, farmers experience severe water scarcity. But thanks to a life-changing technology, poor farmers are now converting crises into opportunities. Bhungroo is a water management system that injects and stores excess rainfall underground and lifts it out for use in dry spells. "" Perhaps the schools could be a good distribution centre, including the building of these reservoirs as part of the childrens science education. Not giving the solution but having them figure out how to do it, with local materials etc. And then teaching their parents and others in the society. @anon " 12,26958,2016-10-26T10:25:42.000Z,26045,anon3769417221,anon70625510,"This is much better than desalination Before eventually tapanon3606750899g into desalination, it's best to do proper water management like in this example. Just let sun and rain do the desalination :) Plus, with proper forest cover, rainfall will increase as well, further decreasing the water shortage. It's amazing how much ecosystems can be restored with just a few water management techniques: erosion control, soil buildup, aquifer replenishment. I was a fan of high-tech solutions like desalination just a few years ago, but became more and more convinced we better collaborate with nature where possible. A friend recommended me this documentary about ecosystem restoration on a massive scale (30,000 km² in China). It's not that humanity is out of solutions. The problem is, as always, about spreading knowledge and organizing collective action on a massive scale. That's why I like that @anon " 13,27816,2016-10-31T04:39:39.000Z,746,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"The South side of Madagascar Thanks for your Idea @anon The government haven't find solutions until now.  People mix ashes with cactus for eating on dry season,donations and sanitation are more rare than raining in a year. The color of the collectable water is like mustard. Kids with big belly is not fat but undernourished or full of worms called "" tenia"",""ascanis"". It's really needs to get top water, some people pay 1€ for one gerican (20 liter) only on market day for it. Teaching sustainable technics is an issue, for me it's a key to overcome this situation.  With this Climate Change Impacts, there was a flood on that place a couple years ago, but people didn't think to store water ; We were occupied to save lives and giving hands to the survivors. As @anon   " 1,793,2016-10-18T10:38:49.000Z,793,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"""Podziemne Państwo Kobiet"" is both a documentary and a collection of abortion stories from Polish women who had illegal abortions in the past two decades. Poland most likely is the only country in the world that had abortions legal by law (1956-1993) and changed it ""backward"". We ended up having one of the most restrictive laws in the world, and the legislators were smart, by avoiding criminalizing women (with whom society would sympathize) and focusing instead on everyone else who assists with abortions (the penalties are up to 8 years in prison), creating a system of fear and paranoia.  The first thing that strikes about abortion in Poland is the statistics - according to Polish Ministry of Health in 2013, there were 744 legal abortions and 718 of them due to the risk of birth defects. 3 of them due to rape and 23 due to the risk posed to women health. In 2015 there were 1044 legal abortions. For a country with 38 million inhabitants, these numbers seem just wrong. In Spain or UK, these numbers are 200 or 400 times higher. And it's estimated that illegal abortions every year account for between 80.000- 200.000 cases in Poland.  So, what kind of abortions are available in the underground and how do women access it? Chirurgical abortions are one of the common ways. They usually happen in hidden spaces, often barely up to any standards, with basic equipment, sometimes only in the presence of doctor (women who come to get the abortion might end up assisting them). The price of an abortion is at least 2000 zl (500 euros), and it tends to go up with the standard. In some cases, when doctors are well connected, they can even perform them in hospitals, which would double the price. Many doctors who refused to perform a legal abortion are perfectly fine with doing it illegally after settling the price with their patients.  Considering that the minimal wage in Poland is 1850 zl, and the average is 4000 (yet many people struggle to get contracts, work on 3/4 of full time, or often work on irregular gigs earning even less than 1000 zł a month with no minimal wage per hour), the price is quite prohibitive and exclusive. Many women end up taking loans to pay off their abortions.  Nowadays, women contact pro-choice organizations to find out who can help them with abortion. Since the 90ties, press and internet advertisements were the ways to find doctors who'd perform them. Such services would be named as ""painless restoration of menstruation"" - and involve either chirurgical help or access to drugs, highly overpriced. In many cases a friend or a relative knows who does it in your town. The fear and paranoia remain anyhow - women are asked to leave the clinic right after the procedure is done, regardless of their condition, in order not to bring suspicion. They're asked to park their cars far away from the place of appointment.  Some of the informal groups specialize in organizing abortions abroad. Ciocia Basia, a group of volunteer activist, helps to organize legal abortions in Berlin. For a price of 290/390 euros, they arrange pharmacological and chirurgical abortions in clinics, help with translations and offer a couch for the women coming over. Another popular destination is Slovakia and Czech Republic - it's super easy to find websites in Poland of clinics in these countries that provide with professional and anonymous help. Prices are similar to those in Polish underground. And then you have the pharmacological abortion. There are two drugs containing misoprostol registered and available in Poland, one of which can be bought without the prescription. Women usually end up making up stories about stomach pain or rheumatic grandmothers to buy them. Sometimes both of them can be obtained from ""under the counter"", forums also advise to ask a man to help buy them. Misoprostol should be accompanied by mifepristone to increase effectiveness (the combination of both has 98% effectiveness, while only misoprostol alone is between 80-90%), but the latter drug is not registered in Poland. In this case organizations such as Women on Waves help to buy and ship them from other countries (they ask for donation of minimum of 70 euros, but they do support women in economic difficulties by providing them for free). It is well known that some of the doctors write prescriptions for these drugs (a pack of 12 costs 25 zl, but can be sold 10 or more times more expensive on the black market) and help women get access to them via advertisements. It's impossible to track as these drugs are not refunded by the state - therefore not registered anywhere.  Due to lack of widespread support, some of the women organize support groups on online forums. They look for other women who seek abortions or just had one, share their stories and explain to each other what happens to their bodies, how to access drugs, if nausea is a normal reaction to pills, etc. As in some cases, pharmacological abortion can lead to prolonged bleeding and even death, they offer each other a call of support during the abortion, which takes up to a day. It's recommended to call for an ambulance in case of emergency - doctors cannot tell if the miscarriage was illegally inducted or not, and that save lives in some instances of home abortions.  I am still reading some more about the abortion underground in Poland, and if I find some more interesting facts, I will updated this text. I also encourage you to share your stories on how women access abortion in countries with restrictive law.  " 2,10585,2016-10-19T07:20:00.000Z,793,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Who would have thought Poles have it that bad I didn't know the full extent of the situation when over the past weeks the world was following protests against anti abortion regulations..  I mean, having parents who lived through a communist pro natality decree and anti-abortion strict controls coupled with the shadyness of alternatives (one hears stories..)  does give me an idea.. But present times, whoa.  Thank you Natalia for sharing.  How do the informal groups survive in this scene? Is there low enforcement and little policing which allows them to circumvent laws?  Also,  are you hopeful after the so called success of the protests?  " 3,16930,2016-10-19T09:20:04.000Z,793,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"In fact, I think that the abortion underground functions so well purely because  and thanks to the hypocrisy of the Polish society. Probably after decades of liberal regulations to some extent women are aware of the fact that abortions are needed, but catholic brainwashing has been so effective, that they're trapped between the moral and the pragmatic views on abortion. Now what seems to prove this is that women are not interested in lobbying for their right to abortion - they somehow agree to comply with the rules by having them underground and accepting the stigma, rather than fighting for their rights. Imagine even if the lowest estimate of 80.000 women having illegal abortions a year is right, and 10 percent of them would be up to fight with the system on that, we'd have a pretty great leverage to change the law by now. But we don't. have that. Well, at least until now - but this remains to be seen because we also have a conservative revival going on and if the church steps in, you never know who'd stay on top of things. I'd rather not expect us going any more liberal than we're at the moment.  Another thing is that part of the available options just use the loopholes, they're not illegal. I guess you can't stop a woman from going abroad or having pills. And a lot of turning the blind eye on the doctors who i believe are well known for doing the abortions despite working underground. About the movement now, I think there is a chance for some momentum - but I'm not too optimistic about it. We're observing a bit mobilization of civil society ever since the new government came into power, but that rarely brought any results. At the end, they use their democratic victory to pass any decision they seem fit - and giving up on a project of an outrageous reform just to keep rather shameful status quo is not a huge failure for them I believe. We might be building awareness and capacity for the future right now. Let's see.  " 4,19626,2016-10-19T15:17:11.000Z,793,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Communities to the rescue! These stories are quite ghastly. The silver lining is that communities tend to step into giving care, and to do so more when the care problem is ""close to home"". In the end, reproductive health and control over one's body are an absolute, so prohibitions don't work. People go underground, organize informal networks, and things happen anyway.  And this means that, maanon1932026148, a good way to do public policy on care is just to let people free to provide for each other, then step in to help with those which are obviously the most pressing concerns, such as this one. Concerns are revealed by the efforts put into addressing them, even when that means breaking laws and running the risks associated with it.  Of course, my remarks refer to a theoretical world without politics, where all decision makers are serene, evidence-oriented and well-meaning. :-) " 5,23368,2016-10-19T16:24:00.000Z,793,anon3769417221,anon1061021150,"Can P2P create preventive solutions? While this story documents the power of underground networks to find pragmatic solutions, I am wondering if and why ""P2P care"" solutions do not equally pop up to create solutions through prevention (that is, preventing the pregnancies in the first place)? It could be that P2P solutions have a problem with collective motivation here, just as governments tend to rather react that act proactively, but more severe since P2P / underground solutions are so resource constrained. If so, that could point to a major issue with all P2P solutions into care (that is, making for a nice research focus). I'm pretty sure there is common ground to say prefentive solutions are preferrable (assuming that women who are undergoing abortion would have preferred not to, that is, not to have become pregnant in the first place). So, no need to refer to laws or morals. Even if the law allows it, there is still reason to prevent pregnancy. So even though contraception is widely available in Europe, on a society scale there are still this many unwanted pregnancies. What I'm wondering here is about the reasons for this, and what P2P initiatives can do and are doing here? Of course this will have to do a lot with slow-changing ""fuzzy targets"" like culture, taboos, sexual practices and preferences. A crazy story from Nepal about how all this impairs the use of ""normal"" contraceptives among the young generation is this one (Natalia found it some time last year). But in Europe …? What's going on here? " 6,24734,2016-10-19T20:00:12.000Z,23368,anon1526983854,anon3769417221,"On communities, unwanted pregnancies and laws of large numbers @anon Seen through this lens, community provision is fundamentally different, because the entity receiving the care is not an individual, but the (sub-Dunbar or equivalent) community, and that's the same as the payer. Hence the apparent lack of market failure in care provision among the Amish.  So what's going on with prevention of unwanted pregnancies? Public health people I have talked to tend to shrug and say it's endemic. The window of opportunity for stupid and careless behaviour is a little too wide, the drive for instant gratification over prudence is literally a biological imperative, and even the best contraceptives only have a 99.99% effectiveness. If, say, in Italy you have about 20 million couples, if 10% of them are having sex tonight and all of them use contraception, you are going to get 200 unwanted pregnancies tonight, in just one European country. Best you can do is reduce the incidence of such incidents, but no human society ever achieved zero unwanted pregnancies.  " 7,26054,2016-10-25T08:02:39.000Z,793,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"This article on Time explains how women access abortion in Ireland - basically, same as in Poland. It also adds an interesting research on how women feel about abortions after performing them.    ""Ninety-four percent of the 1,023 women who completed the at-home abortion said they felt grateful for the option, 97% said at-home mediation abortion was the right choice for them, and 98% said they would recommend the option to other women with unwanted pregnancies. When asked about their feelings after completing the abortion, 70% of the women said they felt relieved, which was the most common sentiment expressed, followed by 35% who said they felt satisfied.  “What I think is most striking is that women reported these clear benefits for their health and wellbeing and anatomy,” says Aiken. “I think it really demonstrates that women can make the best choice for themselves when it comes to their own reproduction. The only negative thing about this is that women reported they had to do it against the law, and they went through considerable stress and anxiety and secrecy and isolation and shame.”   " 1,539,2016-09-19T17:25:34.000Z,539,anon2908723368,anon2908723368,"Garden of Life We chose the name 'Garden of Life'  for our After School projects, as we believe that every child is like a different flower, and if nourished in mind, body and spirit, will blossom all together to make this world a beautiful garden. We understand that connecting with nature helps raise our consciousness and that brings out the best of everyone; our learning model raises our students mind, body and soul through sun, earth, technics in mindfulness, respect for one another, other living creatures, and themselves. Each flower needs watering and nurturing and for them to blossom, we need patience to let each one discover their own potentialities and dare to live them. Mission We are an International Academy and After School projects, empowering a new generation with life skills and tools to reach higher consciousness allowing them to discover the seed of genius that they are born to be. We encourage them to explore and find their passion through a strong connection with nature and one another, respect for themselves, alongside latest technology and a diverse array of opportunities to aid in bringing to light a banon3760936673ced, joyful, skillful, intelligent and compassionate Human Being enabling them True Prosperity. Vision Garden of Life Academy shall empower its students to find their passion and to have a banon3760936673ced, joyful, skillful, knowledgeable and compassionate life leading them to True Prosperity. Our academy will have presence world wide, creating a network (Garden Of Life Global Academy) as well as a teaching model easily replicable for those around the world who want to join us sharing this human and close to nature´s approach, that allows this model to be widely recognized as one of the best options for teaching life skills in After Schools.   Discerning Parents Are you disillusioned with your child's full education? Would you love for your child or children to learn in a family environment that personalizes rather than standardizes that extra education and where you are always welcomed to become involved? Would you wish for your child to not only be coached in academia from school, but also in ethics, life tools and how to connect to others, nature, growing and preparing healthy foods as well discover his or her full potential? Would you wish for your child an environment that brings out the genius we believe is within each and every one of us, through exposing them to many opportunities to explore what that is? Would you be thrilled if your child would learn not only to nurture others but themselves? The projects are for children from 6-12, whose parents wish for their child or children to have a full all round education that teaches those life skills that may not have been covered at school. The projects will provide a stimulating, yet family environment housed by those in the community that has a home that could accomadate 5/6 children after school. Someone that who would also benefit from this interaction. The training manon169343781al will cover all aspects of working with children to help them discover mindfullness and therefore their own true potential, growing gardens, activity and performing and visual Arts, The projects will wish to keep their numbers to a ratio of 5-6 children to each Garden of Life Teaching coaches or knowledgeable volunteers sharing their skills, from carpentry to journalism. Each project - The children will; Start  with clearing the mind and De-stressing  tools and create positive affirmations for themselves They will create,care and nurture gardens created in a small environment. Help prepare their own healthy snacks, learning to care and nurture themselves Learn from knowledgeable skilled Volunteers in diverse fields in the local area Play music, dance, enjoy performing and visual arts and sports using all their senses Explore group activities and group projects Become part of a growing Global Garden of Life network of other families and friends. and our ethos is: I hear I forget, I see I remember, I Do I understand We can best help children learn by making the world accessible to them and helanon3606750899g them explore Study without desire spoils the memory and it retains nothing - Leonardo de Vinci The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't always tell you what to see Children must be taught how to think, not always what to think Grades do not measure intelligence and age does not define maturity True Prosperity is a Life full of love, passion, joy, compassion, health and well-Being Tools to learn how to work with the inevitable change and stress in life, is as essential as food Every child is like a different flower, and if nourished in mind, body and spirit, will all together make this world a beautiful garden With these examples implemented in our projects we know children can master anything they show passion for, and find the intelligence to help them achieve the success that is needed for their individual dreams and importantly, help them achieve True Prosperity in their lives. Michele Claiborne 'As a Life Coach and Natural Healer for children and adults, I am so aware of the lack of life tools most have not been privy to learn. Everything from basic health and nutrition to people skills and coanon3606750899g with life's inevitable changes and stresses and how to follow their passions and live a life of what I call 'True Prosperity'. I am passionate, along with many others, to help the new generation in learning these tools. I have created an inspiring program for children through all my work and other renowned scholars, that truly makes a difference in the lives of the children, the families and eventually the planet. Give a child the right environment and the right approach to learning and I believe the child will blossom into his or her full potential, brimming with confidence, compassion, intelligence and passion for life. I feel privileged to have begun this challenge by opening up Garden of Life Academy After School projects first in New Orleans where it was founded but now it is ready to share this International vison!' I hope you join me, either as a sponsor, student, participant or becoming the principle of your own Garden of Life Academy After School Learning Center and enjoy the thrill with me in being part of aiding this New Generation.' True Prosperity for everyone, Michele Claiborne Pre- school teacher in England Suffolk for three years (including mothering  her own two children) Company Director of Claiborne Publications, creating educational publications for children.  Author of over 60 titles including the internationally successful magazine Play and Learn & Play and Learn for Tomorrows World Qualified as a Natural Healer, Counselor, Health and Life Coach Creator and host for a Radio educational program on BBC radio in England, Play and Learn for kindergarten children Summer camp director for Play and Learn summer schools in England The founder of H.E.L.P. Hands-on Education for Life Project in Africa teaching basic health, nutrition and Garden skills to children and mothers Co-founder of Love a Child foundation, a charity to support children from poor areas of the world who are refugees, abandoned, abused, exploited or orphaned Healing Arts International Festivals - Spain and New Orleans bringing the performing, visual and Healing Arts as a education program for all those who attended Founder of Edible City Gardens.com educating children and parents how to create edible gardens also helanon3606750899g New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center with summer camp Founder of the Garden of Life Academy project Nurture Mind,Body and Spirt GARDEN OF LIFE ACADEMY! At GARDEN OF LIFE ACADEMY  you will be taught by Michele Claiborne and eventually other faculty members with many years of experience, trained in our method of teaching and a vast array of qualified skilled volunteers from film makers to musicians and carpenters to editors. Here are some of the reasons that set us apart and we need funding for: We offer opportunities for each child to explore an array of life tools and experiences that are not offered at many schools Within our family environment (using local individuals or families that can facilitate 5/6 students) to enable to nurture each child truly believing that he or she is a genius within his or her own field and teach them how to find their passion and follow it and how to nurture not only others, but themselves We need funds to train others how to bring the best out of each child, ethically, practically and intellectually using the GOLA learning program helanon3606750899g children and young adults to find True Prosperity in their lives Our first GOLA After School project was successfully held at Edible City Gardens,  New Orleans, The Old School House, 417 Dakin Street on February 2014 starting 5th on Wednesdays, 4-530pm with accompaning parental or adult supervision .      " 2,7644,2016-10-24T13:26:52.000Z,539,anon1526983854,anon2908723368,"Welcome Hello @anon However, it looks like you copy-pasted some kind of promotional text, so that it can be hard for us to understand what's really going on behind the scenes. On the face of it, this can look like a holistic post-school care for rich kids. Can you tell us more as to which care needs you were trying address? Who are your, uh, clients I guess? Why did you feel this was needed? " 1,761,2016-09-20T18:42:56.000Z,761,anon199333460,anon199333460,"The ‘Big Bang Schools’ is a new educational approach and a new type of schools that are re-designed for an era of exponential technological advance and social change. The project seeks to create innovation labs for real human challenges and the planet, helanon3606750899g shape the future instead of repeating the past. It is considered as a catalyst for a new civilization paradigm of joining forces towards “upgrading humanity”. We used the name ‘Big Bang’ in a symbolic way to highlight the explosion of new ideas and the creation of brand new knowledge from scratch. A new Big Bang of Creation is about to start at Thessaloniki in the following 2 years (2018) hoanon3606750899g that the idea will expand to other Greek cities and abroad. A school where learning is accomplished experientially, in harmony and interaction with the natural environment, aiming to lead children on a wonderful quest. Central in our philosophy is that educational activities must take place within the natural environment and the whole procedure must be supported through workshops where pupils have the opportunity to discover and connect with new information. Our educational approach encourages the development of capacities through observation, flexibility, adaptability, evaluation, goal setting and self-confidence in order to create their own path of life. The Big Bang Schools are furthering the vision of our initial project, the “School of Nature and Colours”. This is an educational role model of creative self-management, in which pupils are taught beyond the curriculum how to learn in-depth, sing, dance, stage theatrical plays, raise funds for their school through a vegetable garden and make their activities and campaigns are known to the public using social media. In this framework, we organize a unique Creative Centre for our children which we called BIG BANG after SCHOOL’. This is a comprehensive program for elementary school children and kindergarten, where all participants are able to connect with music, cinema, dance, theater, arts as well as workshops in creative thinking, constructions, architecture and engineering. Additionally, we created a specific program for elementary courses such as science, history, philosophy and multilingualism. In this project, everyone is welcome to contribute in different ways besides financial support. This is a project designed to benefit children and parents who seek for alternative educational methods of learning and interacting with people and the natural environment. My name is Angelos Patsias, an educator on my 30s who aims to launch various innovative activities that will help create a new educational system that will meet the specific needs of each and every place. I started my studies in Primary Level Education at the Democritus University of Thrace and I am currently reading issues for an MA candidate at the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Crete. My philosophy of life encourages me to encounter every difficult circumstance as an opportunity, and at the same time, I strongly believe that returning to the simple meaning of life is an essential action. My partner, Veta Georgiadou has been a kindergarten teacher in public schools for 22 years. Our collaboration in “Big Bang Schools’ project started when she watched my TEDx speech about ‘Breaking the walls between school and society’. As she usually says: ‘Children are the best tutors because they believe in miracles, the life at a present time, are full of enthusiasm and are creating all the time’. She studied pedagogics, eventually becoming a wife and mother of three children and her constant self-searching voyage with pupils, parents, teachers, who never stop learning and reforming is still ongoing. The third partner, Yiannis Sotirakos, is a serial entrepreneur develoanon3606750899g projects and technologies towards “Upgrading Humanity”, and innovative educational and edutainment platforms to empower the youth. " 2,8081,2016-09-23T11:20:00.000Z,761,anon1526983854,anon199333460,"What is the most important difference Welcome, @anon If you were to point out the main difference between Bog Bang Schools and ordinary schools, what would it be?  " 3,16092,2016-09-29T07:13:21.000Z,761,anon489906876,anon199333460,"childlike curiosity and enthusiasm as I read about your project I startet to think about the way children see the world and take on challenges... when we grow older, we often loose the curiosity and enthusiasm we had as we were younger. Also the way we learn in school (at least as I remember it from my own schooldays) is based on facts and memorizing them. Getting to discover the miricales of life without judgement while seeking for ways to get further and learn to cope with difficulties is one of the most important thinks we got to teach each other... to challenge children to keep on thinking free and adults to get in that mood again. I love to see how your project is develoanon3606750899g :) " 4,21394,2016-10-17T13:34:51.000Z,761,anon1491650132,anon199333460,"Are you looking for partnerships abroad? @anon I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm curious if you also work with secondary and high schoolers? My mum teaches at a pretty mainstream school in Romania and was just telling me the other day that they would love to partner up with schools abroad for creative exchanges betweel pupils. Is that something you would consider? Also, if you're involved in international educational projects and could use a partner in this area, let me know!  " 2,10131,2016-10-17T12:50:13.000Z,781,anon1491650132,,"Anything we can support you with? Nice to meet you @anon What rural areas do you have in mind for deploying this technology? " 1,734,2016-09-08T11:32:48.000Z,734,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"a story how a team started a medical camp with the intention to help as amany people as possible who otherwise would have not received care, Medical camps have been running in partnership with the villages of Bupsa and Bumburi attract local people from miles around, many of whom walk for many hours and often days to attend the camps. These medical camps are led by Nepalese professionals who are assisted by qualified volunteers and medical and dentistry students from the UK. The long and expensive journey to the hospitals in Laksha and Kathmandu (sometimes taking days) are out-of-reach for the majority living in these low-income communities. Their main source of income is from subsistence farming and small profits are often shared throughout the community. So as you can imagine, when word gets out that these clinics are nearby, villagers flock to them in the hope of securing a cure for their health issues.  There are currently no permanent doctors in the region, which is home to a large, ethnically diverse population, spread over a number of rural communities made up of low income households. People lack access to basic health care and specialist treatment and have to walk for many days to attend the nearest hospital or else take the long and expensive journey to Kathmandu. The medical camps provide free consultation, treatment and advice from specialist qualified doctors as well as access to free medication. The goal is to one day provide the communities in these remote Himalayan villages with permanent medical care and qualified staff, rather than a temporary clinic run from an outbuilding of Bupsa’s monastery. The group that started the initiative were limited to leftover equipment from the previous clinics and a small amount of supplies that they carried in with them.  One of the most common problems witnessed were musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs are a widely spread problem facing porters and farming communities who endure hard physical labour day-in-day-out. Muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and nerves can all be affected, causing discomfort to intense pain. The reduction of these disorders caused through employment is a key objective of the EU through its Community Strategy, proving just how fortunate we are to benefit from accessible healthcare. Read the full story here:  http://wildernessmedicinemagazine.com/article.asp?id=1026 https://mmtrust.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/wilderness-medicine-in-nepal/ " 2,10424,2016-09-19T16:54:38.000Z,734,anon1395349008,anon3708118144,"Questions What a wonderful job you're doing. Having experience in the health system we know how frustating can be to see how people can suffer and die from deseases that could be trated. What can be done in order to make these communities sustein themselves?! " 3,16393,2016-10-16T09:50:57.000Z,734,anon784612129,anon3708118144,"Add on kit ideas I've worked on/brooded over some things that may be helpful in connection to this. 1. A minimal self-diagnosis kit, that can be extended by modules. The basic version would be perhaps something like ""where there is no doc/dentist"" in an adapted audiobook format. This would not require literacy and could be provided via extremely cheap mp3 player (sell for <1 USD) + memory card (2-3 USD for library size) + minimal solar charger to trickle charge the battery (1-5 USD). Next step up would be a recording function, a sampling kit, and a photo kit. Next step from that would be a full smartphone with some diagnostic hardware. The smartphone would be important to catch many of the cognitive bias pitfalls associated with self-diagnosis*. But both these could be intermittently provided via a long range drone delivery: 2. The drone would pick up samples and could do deliveries, and could intermittently cover a very large region. Its visit frequency would probably be limited mostly by charge time of the electric drive via solar (needs approx 1kWh for a 100 km flight with 3 kg payload). I've made two low budget rugged versions with slightly different concept of operations here https://cocreate.localmotors.com/nowbreakit/air-nurse/ and here https://cocreate.localmotors.com/nowbreakit/rminsul/ @anon " 4,21290,2016-10-16T10:21:14.000Z,734,anon784612129,anon3708118144,"*some context I found interesting on self-diagnosis Of course part of why I found it interesting is because it is an unrepresentative outlier. But still, outliers show potential. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/577/something-only-i-can-see?act=1#play If you contrast that with the wikipedia entry on self diagnosis, which say things like: ""One of the greatest dangers of self diagnosis in psychological syndromes, is that you may miss a medical disease that masquerades as a psychiatric syndrome. Self-diagnosis also undermines the role of the doctor-which is not the best way to start the relationship. Then there is the fact that we can know and see ourselves, but sometimes, we need a mirror to see ourselves more clearly. By self-diagnosing, you may be missing something that you cannot see. Another danger of self diagnosis is that you may think that there is more wrong with you than there actually is. Self-diagnosis is also a problem when you are in a state of denial about your symptoms."" I have to say it seems like there is something rotten in the state of Denmark. How much research money gets spent on improving methods of self diagnonsis exactly? Not much it seems: Pubs since 2015 https://scholar.google.no/scholar?as_ylo=2015&q=self+diagnosis+health+care&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 Pubs overall https://scholar.google.no/scholar?q=self+diagnosis+health+care&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5   " 2,9902,2016-10-16T09:21:42.000Z,773,anon784612129,,"Interesting stuff I & a friend have put some thought into care & self driving cars here (creative commons): https://cocreate.localmotors.com/RaMansell/healthy-movement/ I also have a couple of ideas regarding hygiene (shower mods), and had worked on a prototype of for electrical stimulation of muscle cells grown in a dish. I'd love to discuss those things with someone who has a little more care background than I do (materials science). " 1,785,2016-10-07T11:04:24.000Z,785,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"  This two part evaluation exercise is a follow up on the most discussed topic in our Brussels Workshop. We talked most of the day about collaboration and how we want to find better ways to create fruitful coaction. If we want to be abble to work together inside our value system, we need to understand how we work. If fruitful collaboration means working togheter while feeling good towards each other in a mutual environment of respect, these two thought bubbles could be for you. This article is a more personal post that came to mind after evaluating my own participation in two projects and how horizontal organizations can play mind tricks to your own involvement. Modern organizations, starting as a local and small group of people tend to go fast in an horizontal or flat organization structure. People are seen as equal and every role is important, it helps to feel involved, and makes the range of possibilities bigger. But without a leader the group misses sometimes direction and efficiency is less visible. Roles are then distributed and somebody becomes head of design, head of funds or head of communication. Productivity is flowing again, but for me a subtler barrier is still in the way. From idea to task you still need preparation, and that is something I’m completely lacking of. You could argument that everybody needs to do his part of preparation, and you can’t only be the philosopher, but I lean to see a collective as an ecosystem where each other strengths are put up front and we organize ourselves around this. Often I tend to fill the gaps as soon as I see them. If something practical isn’t been taken care of I jump to do it, because I’m good at last minute problem solving, but with my lack of preparation skills, if it is to much in amount it take all my energy and i’m doomed to fail, followed by personal and collective frustration. The Thinkers, the Preppers and the Doers So instead of blocking on my personal incompetence, I try to solve it by what I like doing: systemical thinking. I categorize all work inside an organization in three categories that flow in each other: Thinking, preparing and doing. Visualize your own strengths and weaknesses as a finite set of skill points like in a video game. In your short or long-lived life you earned skill points through events and big moments. You gathered your knowledge into one of those categories and how more you collect how more you can handle in that category, but other way around: tackling tasks inside a category you aren’t good is time and energy consuming with an inefficient consequence as a a result. Unless you are a superhuman that can do everything alone, in an organization it is rather intelligent to search for each other complementary skills. A thinker with a lot of energy to give to do will need a preparation master as his right hand. How bigger the group how more difficult it is to find a banon3760936673ce, but have five thinkers and one prepper you will never get the job done. The big difference with a vertical organization is that in a flat organization those three categories aren’t intended. Where you have specific roles inside a hierarchical organization build around power the thinker will always be above the prepper that will be above the doer. When you see everybody as equal we try to divide also the categories equal, but there is the catch: not a lot of people have throughout their lifetime chosen to equally distribute their skill points. What we need is better understanding about this kind of dynamic. Knowing this I’m intended to take lesser practical mid-long tasks and preparative tasks on me cause I never trained myself and communicate it with my teammates to see how we can find a better dynamic inside the collective. On the other side, give me a task, well explained that takes a certain amount of time, even repetitive, I’m your guy. " 2,8124,2016-10-10T18:09:44.000Z,785,anon2954219769,anon3595237380,"Makes sense What you write makes sense. People already think in this way to some extent, there are some good examples in our team of 'doers' that are very aware that they don't like to do the 'thinking' etc. I often hear people talk about themselves in these (general) categories and assume this awareness is already more widespread. Yet teams often still fail. Where lies the problem? Are we not taking the insight far enough? " 3,15147,2016-10-11T06:24:54.000Z,785,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Makes sense to me too. My two cents I remember talking with Celine in Bxl about the perks and not of a flat group organising. The hardest part I'm experiencing is with growing - if you have a small team starting up people are more than willing to do everything and teach themselves what they don't usually do in order to make it work. When numbers are in, it takes a conscious effort just to establish processes, or make norms more explicit i.e. double check understanding of the task at hand; make sure there is at least someone committed to the task; reinforcing that it's OK to ask for help; to fail etc. What I found that works is treating everything as a project in and of itself and assigning roles within the project. A making of sales, an event, a funded project, anything. In another one, roles can change, but as long as you have someone acting as a PM with that skillset (probably a prepper?) that takes on the responsibility to think about roles and enable them in the project team. A final point: a flat organisation has leaders of its own, even informal - I can't imagine not having leaders, even multiple ones, giving direction to the org. Don't you have them in your large group Yannick? Falkwanon1056199097, who wrote about making great ideas happen with many people contributing, was saying that managing day to day operations require ""one portion classic project management, one large portion of wisdom about conflict resolution, and one portion of methods on preserving the swarm’s goals, culture, and values as it grows."" OK, his Pirate Party was a swarm-like organisation which is not the same as flat but still pretty free, but also especially at risk of becoming chaotic. So having these hard+soft skills distrbuted within the leadership may help the general organisation and support others to fall into specific roles.. " 4,20914,2016-10-14T14:38:16.000Z,785,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Adjusting roles over time and situation @anon Here it is: there is a positive correlation between being good at different things, like thinking, prepanon3606750899g and executing in your scheme. Smart, hard working people tend to be better on all three (or n-) dimensions with respect to others. So, I very much share @anon This allows for some limited pairwise adjusting, too. I prefer pure research to middle management roles, and I prefer middlie management to leadership. Still, in many of my former projects I had to lead, because no one else would do it (or could do it). I led reasonably well, with some mistakes, and I would do it again if I cared enought about the project. But when I find a better leader, I gladly step down to become, I guess you would say, a doer.  " 5,24272,2016-10-14T19:07:43.000Z,785,anon477123739,anon3595237380,"Working across strands, separately At different points in my life i have found myself settling into each strand. I think that i'm lucky that i have a mixture of practical and esoteric skills that allow me to find a happy place doing a variety of tasks. I often find that the more 'mindless' a physical task is the more it opens my mind up to thinking about the bigger picture. That said, i have found that i only really excel when i'm allowed to focus on one area at a time. If i need to be a doer, then i can't also be a prepper. The same with preparing and leading; Leading and thinking. I do also think that 'thinking' and 'leading' are mutually exclusive properties. I believe that leaders emerge naturally from each section or strata. You see this kind of strategic leadership built into highly heirarchical organisations like the armed forces. You have 'doer' leaders and 'prepper' leaders and 'thinker' leaders.  " 6,25125,2016-10-15T13:05:57.000Z,24272,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"+1 focus on one area at a time Good words, Alex. Same for me. The trap is what to me is a deadly combination: a lot of flexibility and many roles to choose from, on one hand, and being a generalist .on the other hand. These two can sometimes get you to drift off and not focus on one area at a time -> hence some extra messiness in a flat organisation, as prompted by @anon " 2,9353,2016-10-15T12:28:04.000Z,775,anon1491650132,,"Anyone from the project around here? I'm curious what is an actionable proposal from the group and how it is being received..? Going straight into policy making seems like a titanic work, i'd be interested in how food waste is being approached at the policy level, if at all? This seems like a topic many people care about and which is already seeing promising small scale solutions, particularly in Germany.. with Foodsharing.de, Yunity, community gardens, pop up fridges and many others.  " 1,791,2016-10-10T12:57:56.000Z,791,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"Loic made a paper to analyse squat spaces that are more then meets the eye. In his conclussion he goes deeper in the possibilities of this kind of habitat. ""Dans le contexte actuel de crise aigue du logement et en considération du taux de vacance des immeubles bruxellois il nous parait manifeste que les projets d’occupation par l’habitat solidaire, tels que celui du « 123 rue royale », sont une réponse viable et durable. Elle est inclusive : personne n’est exclu d’emblée, les personnes rencontrées attestent d’une réelle mixité sociale, économique et culturelle. Plus qu’un toit elle offre à ses habitants une structure physique et sociale où s’épanouir. De plus elle a le mérite de répondre à ces deux problèmes fondamentaux à Bruxelles. Les activités au rez-de-chaussée créent une vie de quartier évitant toute ghettoïsation. Les ateliers permettent aux habitants d’apprendre, développer ou partager leurs connaissances et leur savoir-faire. Bien que la vie dans une communauté telle que celle du «123» peut devenir éprouvante par moments, elle permet d’éviter l’isolement des habitants les plus vulnérables et permet à ceux qui ne se retrouvent pas dans les solutions conventionnelles un moyen d'explorer de nouvelles pistes pour l'habiter en ville. Une médiation permanente des conflits qui apparaissent inexorablement dans une communauté aussi importante est nécessaire et figure parmi les conditions indispensables de réussite de ce genre d'expérience. Ainsi ces bénéfices se font au coût d’une gestion rigoureuse et d’une énergie considérable à déployer quotidiennement par les habitants pour la communauté. Nous avons réalisé à quel point l’inclusion des usagers d'un habitat est importante pour réussir un projet de logement, Le mouvement semble néanmoins en marche et l’association logements123 wonen a commence à transposer l’expérience à d’autres batiments avec d’autres habitants. Ceci en tirant parti des leçons apprises au 123, ainsi qu’au tagawa et au Gésu. Malgré le statut temporaire et incertain de l’occupation, il semblerait que plus que le béton du bâtiment, ce sont les habitants qui portent le projet du «123». «(…) les logements alternatifs ne sont pas abordables parce que l’ensemble des exigences qui y sont liées ne correspondent ni aux réalités qu’ils vivent, ni à leurs moyens (coût des matériaux, accès aux primes, confrontation aux normes de salubrité, sécurité, urbanisme…). Ce que les plus pauvres construisent au quotidien, ce sont des alternatives au logement, pour se garantir un habitat qui soit abordable financièrement et dont ils auront la maitrise» 57 ainsi que les l’importance des gains de la mutualisation de fonctions communes. Ces gains ne se chiffrent pas qu’en mètres carrés, mais surtout en contacts sociaux quotidiens, un partage des ressources et une économie en énergie. Ce modèle n’est néanmoins pas sans limitations. On peut craindre avec l’accroissement de la popularité du projet une gentrification des habitants. Aussi la liste d’attente pour trouver une place, même si moins longue que pour un logement social est là pour rappeler que l’occupation d’un seul bâtiment n’est pas une solution exhaustive au manque de logement. La nature urgente de la question du logement à Bruxelles demande un engagement des pouvoirs public dans une politique de favorisation de telles initiatives. Ceci en adaptant le cadre légal et en informant les propriétaires sur les avantages de telles initiatives. Ce travail nous permet de dégager trois points primordiaux pour le mise en place réussie de ce genre d'initiative: - L'implication active et quotidienne des habitants dans un projet commun. - La collaboration et l'information des propriétaires de bâtiments vides - La permissivité ou l'encadrement par les authorités."" You can find the complete publication here: www.academia.edu/16771654/LE_DROIT_à_LHABITAT_PAR_LOCCUPATION

    123 was a previously office building occupied by the French community which had been vacant for 15 years. Groups of squatters moved in and made a deal with the owner to run different workshops - bike fixing, woodwork, IT etc.

    Some interesting facts from his paper: -social housing in Bxl is much lower, 7 % compared to the 27% in the Netherlands -7 % of houses totally empty -1 000 000 sq metres of unused office space: 40% of empty offices have been empty for 7 years From squatting to a participatory process -  a public owned space (Community Francais) but community managed: from refugees to Irish artists to Flemish doctor students. Half the people (of 60) don't have any revenues, and everyone contributes a little - from 60 eur a month to approx. 150.  In Belgium it is possible to have a temporary legal occupation for an office, so you can live in an office space! It's an office building, which means people can change the layout easily. This makes it an interesting testcase for architects that are experimenting with commun space. The big difference between buildings for profit and the testcase of 123: Profit building is praised for being open while just having 7% of their space being used for community. 123 has almost 50% of community used space, but because of their 'illegal' status it isn't praised. Loic showed a detailed distribution of the types of spaces - at each floor you'd have facilities, workshops, library + distribution of private and communal space.  Important detail: Stairs are used instead of working elevators as a social control mechanism.  Loic is trying to give more visibility to housing solutions - it's not easy, he says, and it's important to make good contact with the owner! ""First you squat, then you talk"" is his moto. He wants to continue researching these kinds of houses. You can contact him through mail: loicdesiron@anon " 2,9086,2016-10-14T14:04:13.000Z,791,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"When squatting is the opposite of ghettoization I found the part about living in diversity most interesting - and I imagine some of the founders in 123 are real community governance experts having made it possible for people to pay differentially according to their financial status.  I don't understand how this case is not more referenced or visible online.. I only found a couple of youtube TV coverage videos.  " 3,15857,2016-10-14T14:50:00.000Z,791,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Practical learning I really enjoyed Loic's presentation. It was very practical: disable lifts so you can use the stairway to have social control while leaving the space open, out services at ground level, reuse office space as highly flexible living quarters... I think this could be a general purpose tool. A sufficiently large, flexible and central building can act like a coral reef from many life forms to use it and transform it. In 123 Rue Royale we see a community kitchen and a library, for example.  @anon " 4,21005,2016-10-14T19:18:56.000Z,791,anon477123739,anon3595237380,"Arts organistations It's definitely worth reaching out to arts organisations to see how they respond to these types of ideas as well. I don't know about the mainland european models, but with the drastic reduction in state subsidy and the lack of increase in American style donor funding, UK based performing arts organisations have become much more interested in the ways they can repurpose buildings for theatre, creative industries and wider arts based practices. An interesting case study would be Theatre Delicatessen in London: http://theatredelicatessen.co.uk/about/ They seem to only ever work in spaces that most others would move out of. Since they started they have had London bases in a disused factory in the West End (now a boutique hotel, i believe) then they moved into the recently abandoned Guardian newspaper head office, now they're moving across the river to an old Victorian library building. They're less interested in what the space was before than what it can be in the future. " 1,537,2016-09-17T13:23:52.000Z,537,anon102409432,anon102409432," ""Positive Voice"" is an association for People living with HIV/AIDS, founded in Athens in 2009 with the purpose of defending the rights of PLHIV, addressing the spread of HIV/AID and reducing its social and economic impacts in Greece. The association strives to ensure better prevention and renovation practices, care services and social care for patients and social groups who are sensitive to HIV. We promote social acceptance, solidarity, and support of these groups, addressing violations of dignity and their human rights, especially for those living in conservative societies. Additionally, we share ideas and human stories, offer free non clinical HIV / HBV and HCV tests in a very discrete way in our premises in Athens and Thessaloniki, named Checkpoints - you can read more here-, run annual events and campaigns for public awareness all over Greece and on the occasion of World Days of HIV/AIDS, Athens Pride or days dedicated to health prevention.  https://www.youtube.com/embed/T2mYNQbqQFY Our members’ main goal is to offer training, psychological and technical peer-to-peer support inside clinics, especially for patients who lack family support for whatever reasons. Moreover, we have programs for harm reduction to HIV-infected prisoners, transgender people, and drug users. Our “Red Umbrella” program is a non-scientific supportive/advisory center for sex workers, transgender people and all the vulnerable key affected population.  ""Positive Voice"" participates in international and European networks for the support of HIV-vulnerable social groups. The association is an official partner with several international organizations and Institutes such as AIDS Action Europe, HIV Europe, IPPF, KETHEA-Ithaca, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and much more. In collaboration with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) of America, we have coordinated the development open of the infrastructure for prevention, information and medical tests for HIV, Hepatitis B-C, and Syphilis. We are very proud of our devoted voluntary network which operates on prevention training, information sharing, precaution and empowerment of HIV-infected people and participating in training seminars in Greece and abroad. This volunteer network has been educated in order to support street work, such as the distribution of condoms to key affected and vulnerable populations in Thessaloniki. At the same time, a dedicated website and a Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram account, communicate all information that needs to be transferred to potential beneficiaries. #PositiveVoicegr serves students in public schools who have the opportunity to get informed and participate in training seminars about HIV/AIDS prevention. We also work with HIV-infected people who are involved in psychological support programs -in personal or team sessions- twice a week, conducted by psychologists on a voluntary basis, in order to establish a healthier functional framework. Our vision is to find an appropriate place to create a Centre beside the existing “Thess Check Point”, for health rapid non clinical tests (HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, C). This is where citizens will be able to get information about the proper sexual practice. The Centre will put an emphasis on sex workers, transgender people, and drug addicts. Moreover, it will provide psychological support for relatives and mates of the patients, to help eliminate the stigma and discrimination of HIV-infected people.  We wish to develop a patient-centric approach based on peer-to-peer education among HIV-infected people, in order to provide psychological and advisory support to their co-patients. This can take the form, for example, of reading books to patients who suffer from chronic illnesses, defective eyesight etc.  According to our human resources network, we are seeking ways to support financially our volunteer specialists (psychologists, sociologists), who provide invaluable professional services to the members of our association. And we continue the actions of helanon3606750899g more HIV-infected people in order to find a job and keep being productive, sociable and creative.    *Alexander Tanaskidis is the direct representative of the Department of Northern Greece working at the headquarters of ""Positive Voice"" in the city of Thessaloniki supporting a big amount of members on a daily basis. He has a degree in Political Sciences Seminars, Degree in Journalism and a diploma in Social support and Social behavior. In this context, he had participated in several patients’ supportive programs in cancer clinics such as Happy Clown and Laughter Therapy. Furthermore, he is connected to many international networks, such as Artists against AIDS, the European AIDS Treatment Group, the Network for Low HIV prevalence  and he is currently an editor in a Greek social portal. In regards to his duties at ""Positive Voice"", he works on media support, communication, fundraising and sponsoring, in collaboration with local and national mass media. Although he has participated in many training programs and seminars, he would like to improve his skills in the areas of empowerment, crisis, and behavioral management, which he considers significant educational fields in his job.   " 2,8150,2016-10-11T05:21:53.000Z,537,anon1491650132,anon102409432,"How do you know you are succeeding? Hello @anon Are you seeing your most vulnerable populations in Thessaloniki more empowered over the years or is your job getting more and more difficult (for reasons that maanon1932026148 don't have anything to do with your organisation's work)?   " 1,5947,2016-10-10T15:22:20.000Z,5947,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Hello open carers and community, This is to let you know we have our next cohort of Op3n Fellows, members on Edgeryders who have accepted to expand their work into a piece to be sent in for community review, then to be uploaded here and shared broadly with the Internets. Before introducing them, we’re on the lookout for a few more Edgeryders willing to up their writing skills and publish a story of care by mid November. If you’ve been active here and could use the Fellowship rewards, get in touch below and I’m sure we can sort it out! @anon Steve @anon1088780966 is an acupuncturist, facilitator and natural health consultant currently living in Devon in the South-West of the United Kingdom. He graduated from acupuncture college in 2012 and has since worked in single- and multi-bed practices in London, Dartmoor, India and Guatemala. He is in the process of setting up his own low-cost community clinic in Tiverton, Devon. In a time when the future of mainstream healthcare is uncertain, amid concerns about its financial and environmental sustainability, its dangers and side-effects, and the disempowering nature of its provision, Steve believes that the low-cost, low-impact form of community healthcare derived from Traditional East Asian Medicine offers an important alternative paradigm; one that promotes health rather than just treating sickness, and empowers individual and communities to improve and maintain their own well-being. Read more. Crystal @anon4098712251 has been lurking around OpenCare ever since we started - she is an anthropologist slash ethnographer currently based in Singapore and with a damn original research interest: young people and peer support during times of grief manifested in the digital realm in the most contemporary ways i.e. through facebook “deep liking” ?! (I first read about that from Crystal). Until she publishes her piece, you can ask her more about this here.   Anthony @anon3786846929’s story about OpenInsulin encapsulates the very core spirit of OpenCare - the team are bootstrapanon3606750899g the production of a core insulin component and trying to draw the attention of manon169343781facturers who would then expand this into new markets in less developed areas. The key insight is in how Open Insulin shows that open science can provide for those whose needs aren't met by existing institutions. Kudos for the project and offers to help are here, so head over. @anon Finally, @anon " 2,8138,2016-10-10T22:43:06.000Z,5947,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"I salute you! What a great bunch of people! One of the perks of working with Edgeryders is that we come within line of sight of all these super-interesting individuals. I have already interacted with most of them, and cannot wait to read more from all. Ad maiora.  " 2,7486,2016-10-07T13:42:25.000Z,787,anon1491650132,,"Isn't it easier to join an existing project? Hi @anon Bonne chance! " 1,786,2016-10-09T22:38:39.000Z,786,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Full story: http://digg.com/2016/women-on-web TL;dr According to WHO, 19 to 20 million unsafe abortions are performed every year (source) Rebecca Gompert served as the doctor of the good ship Rainbow Warrior. Impressed by the idea of a ""pirate ship"" defying legality for a good cause, she later started a clinic on a ship, Aurora, in 2001. It provided safe abortion, performed by qualifiied doctors and nurses, to places where abortion was outlawed (Ireland, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Morocco).  This service (Women On Waves) later moved to the web. Women on Web starts with an online consultation following WHO protocol. Once risks are deemed negligible, women are mailed medical abortion pills (Mifepristone and Misoprostol ), a very safe procedure.  20 staff answer 10,000 monthly emails anonymously and within 24 hours. There is also a peer-to-peer element, like the I had an abortion section of the website. Many difficulties remain, including customs. They are, however, being hacked. My own reflection: once again, when people need something they are going to get it for themselves. Anyone wants to investigate this further? @anon " 2,7928,2016-10-10T06:36:46.000Z,786,anon1061021150,anon1526983854,"@anon " 3,11177,2016-10-10T08:06:27.000Z,7928,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Poland! I thought about you because of the recent protests in Poland. The idea I'm getting is this: tracking ""shadow"", informal, semi-legal initiatives on care means mapanon3606750899g both need and capacity. It carries information on what people think is important, and on the amazing self-organising ability of communities.  What we need is a true voice. I got the info from an article. It is a good article, there's a good story but no one behind it we can go back to for more. I was hoanon3606750899g you'd be able to track someone who is personally involved in this service (or others, connected to reproductive health and well-being) who would jump in and comment, or share some more experience. Poland, I would say, is a good place to start.  " 1,720,2016-08-22T17:33:12.000Z,720,anon2602203119,anon2602203119,"

    What we do

    Demonstration of an OpenCare model of a ‘makerspace’, We propose a laboratory where people living with motor impairment due to e.g. multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke or sanon3606750899al cord injury (SCI) can meet and collaborate with other people. There will be mentors (physiotherapists, engineers and designers etc.) and together we will create solutions to personal needs in form of assistive devices. A cooperative model where citizens with various skills can work together on realizing devices for use in everyday life, that will improve or maintain individual functional capabilities. This model will explore ways to transfer research results directly to users (target participants). New and existing ideas will be challenged and transformed into methods and assistive technology for activities of daily living. Initial focus will be to demonstrate how the challenges of mobility can be resolved by helanon3606750899g people's creativity in a social environment. One challenges that people often meet is the need for adaptation of tools to be able to perform day-to-day tasks as .abilities change, In the WeHandU laboratory people will be able (and helped) to implement such changes.

    More participants = more results

    The basis of WeHandU is to be volitional participation of people with skills in various aspects of assistive technology. Solutions will vary from realizing simple mechanical aids to involvement of expert researchers. The new infrastructures of makerspaces (also known as fablabs or hackerspaces), allowing the do-it-yourself construction of objects, lend itself as a host for the WeHandU initiative. Here sophisticated devices can be prototyped using advanced machining processes (e.g. 3D printing). A lot of individuals create a personal DIY solutions. Those not marketed or provided by the health service can be manon169343781factured in the WeHandU framework. Likewise subsequent modifications can be easily be implemented as new needs arise. People challenged by MS, stroke and SCI will find help in peers, designers, engineers networking with clinicians as well as people with ‘soft’ skills in the socializing context of a makerspace. One of the concrete challenges to resolve is addressing the problem of dropped foot . With a vast practical experience we can guide people to select, try or even construct their foot drop correcting stimulator. A device that, despite solid proof of efficiency in scientific literature, has not been adopted by the healthcare systems. Another of the most important problems regards the vanishing hand function. Here a recently developed technology comes in. It’s a open source (meaning that all details of how to replicate are publically available) device for strengthening the hand, using FES (mecfes.wikispaces.com). It has been tested clinically for improving hand function in SCI, but there is no contraindications for applying it to people living with MS. Most important of all, this initiative in synergy with OpenCare will challenge the existing healthcare providers to adopt the model and provide a more user centered approach. The WeHandU idea is mainly concerned about preserving autonomy by assistive technology for the hand function and walking using state of the art technological inventions combined with simple do-it-yourself manon169343781facturing techniques in a socially engaging environment. Use of nowadays rapid-prototyanon3606750899g technologies(es. 3d printing), allows to bring creative people together for an effective low-cost collaboration process which brings real and efficient industrial solutions in relatively short time. " 2,10548,2016-08-23T07:39:05.000Z,720,anon1491650132,anon2602203119,"Let me get this straight @anon I read this and also the full project description, and I see it ties nicely to Rune's question from before: what it would be like for patients to work side by side with researchers and makers. But to be sure: are you working on a makerspace or on a series of activities to happen in one or more existing spaces? And where? " 3,12142,2016-08-23T11:13:17.000Z,10548,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"How and where Thanks @anon What: We have the technical knowledge  (of FES-Functional Electrical Stimulation) to  1 Create a wearable device that improves the hand function 2 Hack (or just buy) a device for drop foot (@anon then we know about a number of other solutions for other physical functions. When you work with people you find solutions.   Where: We need to start locally of logistic issues. Telematics are good but physical contact is better. As said, WeMake is close so if they agree, this is where we start. We need a hub to share ideas, thats where I hope OpenCare & Edgeryders come in.  Who: We will be dedicating our spare time to this. For some it overlaps our profession. We need to cover many diciplines (also just as contact persons). We will work to include. Participants will become experts (mentors and facilitators) Future: It MUST spread as makerspaces have spread. Hopefully with shared MISSION and VALUES, concepts of WHAT may differ as local resources differ.  Why: Because it will fill a need that the healthsector is not meeting. Personalized, responsible selfcare and building a DIRECT bridge between healthcare professionals/researchers and users.    " 4,12192,2016-08-24T17:47:05.000Z,12142,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Understood! Having seen Constantino resurfacing I get the connection now and have a much better sense of what you are up to, clearly on the side of OpenCare prototyanon3606750899g and testing the idea in practice. " 5,16892,2016-08-23T10:32:00.000Z,720,anon1089184890,anon2602203119,"Straighter Yes @anon " 6,21631,2016-08-23T10:45:21.000Z,720,anon1089184890,anon2602203119,"Background @anon This initiative is not intended as research, not intended as competing with hospital regulations. It's aim is to join experts (=people dedicating time to making mistakes) with newbees (people spending time adapting/improving to new/chronic physical conditions. " 7,23359,2016-08-23T11:37:51.000Z,720,anon1089184890,anon2602203119,"Philosophical background https://edgeryders.eu/en/doctor-could-you-hack-me-a-neuroprosthesis-please " 8,26032,2016-08-27T09:34:11.000Z,720,anon1526983854,anon2602203119,"This! Welcome @anon Note that this is not the same thing as ""patients working with researchers"". Pharma has this already. But it maintains a hard distinctions between patients and researchers, problem-bearers and solution-makers, consumers and producers. This is about patients being researchers, and viceversa.  " 9,26952,2016-08-30T20:50:21.000Z,26032,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Right on Thanks, @anon " 10,27806,2016-08-30T15:33:19.000Z,720,anon1061021150,anon2602203119,"@anon Let me know if you have a good idea;) " 11,28462,2016-08-30T20:42:38.000Z,27806,anon1089184890,anon1061021150,"Precision Thanks @anon " 12,28732,2016-09-01T10:08:58.000Z,28462,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Who do we know in Milano in medical care/ practice? I am hoanon3606750899g one of you can help connect Rune and his team to practitioners and patients interested to volunteer to explore how assistive technology can move forward and into use? @anon " 13,29072,2016-09-01T10:45:27.000Z,720,anon904321944,anon2602203119,"No exactly clinical expertise, but very interesting link! Hi Some time ago, just before the OpenCare Project's start, I had tried to involve the LEDHA (http://www.ledha.it/) that, as reference body for the associations of disabled people, could then and could today contribute to the construction of competent connections as parties concerned for the development of ""WeHandU"". I believe that the proposal to Rune can actively engage these people. Of course I agree on the role of WeMake as a reference point and work space! : D " 14,29545,2016-09-02T08:01:44.000Z,29072,anon1089184890,anon904321944,"tried to involve the LEDHA Tanks +Status, Next steps & join the party     We (+Costantino, +Alexander Shumsky) are working very hard on parallel activities. A. We are about to establish the first prototype session (prototyanon3606750899g the flow of encounters in WeHandU). A1. We are contacting candidate participants (people with tetraplegia/multiple sclerosis or stroke). B. Grant applications (we already got swedish, local and other funding + materials) - preparing 100k request ;-) C. Finishing instructables for solution for the hand.  D Launching the  WeHandU.IT site Any participation would be great fun (as in functional) for all. Especially on public relations (A1) management (B) and networking (D)     " 16,30611,2016-09-06T07:31:28.000Z,720,anon317670948,anon2602203119,"Dear all I spoke about this project also with other collegues that work in Fondazione Don Gnocchi (english presentation). Maanon1932026148 someone can contribute to this project. " 17,31150,2016-10-08T11:52:34.000Z,720,anon1089184890,anon2602203119,"Milan cycling event Kickoff event http://wehandu.it/it/fesbici/ ;-) " 2,7325,2016-10-07T10:23:34.000Z,782,anon1491650132,,"Welcome. Hi @anon " 1,541,2016-09-28T06:30:02.000Z,541,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"----------------------- Summary ENG + FR L'atelier a généré beaucoup de contenu que vous pouvez retrouver ici-bas. Mais pour ceux qui se focalisent avant tout sur les résultats, nous avons regroupé les points les plus importants ici : 1. Tout le monde souhaite plus de collaboration, mais a des difficultés à rendre cela concret. Après la première série de discussions, nous avons noté que les organisations de toute sorte sont prêtes à devenir plus collaboratives, mais qu'elles manquent d'outils pour y arriver étape par étape. Elles sont toutes conscientes de la force du travail collectif, mais n'ont jamais eu de succès sur le long terme. Dans cet atelier, nous avons essayé de trouver ce qui était important à réussir pour les collaborations, et ainsi nous en venons au deuxième point : 2. Comment créons-nous de la Confiance entre organisations inconnues, mais avec le même genre de pensée ? Nous avons eu un test grandeur nature : une quinzaine d'organisations, partageant des valeurs communes et disposées à collaborer et apprendre les unes des autres, mais qui venaient à peine de se rencontrer. Après d'autres débats, nous avons réalisé que la confiance était le principal problème. Nous avons donc essayé d’encadrer la création de confiance en nous avons constaté que c’était mieux d’avoir des petits projets entre les différents groupes afin de créer des liens entre les personnes. Ces projets peuvent être des petits projets réalisables en quelques minutes ou une heure. A partir de là chaque pas suanon3406688078t deviens une tache plus complexe que la précédente pour créer ainsi un lien plus fort.
    3. Donner de perspectives alternatives aux soins nous fait réfléchir sur notre propre structure de soins. Finalement nous avions un de participants qui nous a aidés à penser out of the box d’une manière perturbatrice. C’était un refugiée Syrien qui a dû reporter ses études de médicine pour fuir du pays et qui nous a donner beaucoup des choses à réfléchir. Il nous voyait comme des « boxpeople » , vanon3406688078t dans une bulle et plaçant des autres gens dans des bulles. Les personnes âgées, les sans-abri, les personnes avec des maladies psychologiques, etc. ; ils sont tous placés en dehors de la société. Il explique qu’en Syrie ils n’avaient peut-être pas un système de soins de santé efficace, mais il est beaucoup plus humain. Ceci nous a fait penser sur la façon comment nous voyons les soins en Europe. C’est aussi lui qui nous a signalé sur le problème de confiance qui est créé ici dans l’ouest.
    ------- The Workshop gave us a lot of content that you can find here. But for those who are result oriented we compiled the most important knowledge bubbels here. 1. Everybody is in search of collaboration solutions, but have difficulties realizing them. After the first round of discussions we noticed that all kind of organizations are ready to become more collaborative, but they are missing the step-by-step tools to achieve this. They all are conscious about the power of collaboration, but have never had successful long lasting experiences. The goal of this workshop was to find the key elements to make a collaborative initiative succeed, this leads us to the second point. 2. How do we create trust between unbeknown organizations that share the same way of thinking? We had a great test case: around 15 organizations that came together for the first time, all sharing the same ideas and willing to collaborate to learn from each other. After a lot of discussions we discovered trust was the main issue. So we tried to frame how trust is built and concluded that we needed to start with small projects with each other, these projects don’t need to be longer than a couple of minutes/hours, this way people start to bond. After that each following project can become more complex to create a stronger bodn between the participants. We listed a couple of thing each would do, to immidiate have a Proof Of Concept. 3. Giving other perspectives of care makes us think about our own caretaking structure Finally we had one person that helped think out of the box in a really disruptive way. He was a Syrian refugee that had to postpone his medical studies/Ph.D. To flee the country and gave us a lot of material to think about. He saw us as 'boxpeople', living in a bubble and putting others in bubbles. Elderly, homeless people, psychological ill are all given a space outside society. They maanon1932026148 didn't have the most efficient healthcare system, but he explained it was much more humane. It made us think a lot about how we see care in the west. He was also the person that pointed out the problem of trust we create in the west. ----------------------- Last Saturday we hosted a quit successful workshop in Brussels around the Open & Care thematic with local participants and workers of the designated field. We had a set up loosely based on the Berlin workshop and will go deeper into the methodology, the preparation, the participants and outcome in the following text. This article is a more organized version of the thinkpad we put online at the workshop and where people could transcribe what was being said.

    Preparation

    1. Reaching out
      1. Dutch, French & English invitations
    In the beginning of the preparation of the workshop I reached out to my network of socially involved people who could have interesting stories to add to the platform. It was sometime difficult to explain them the whole concept through mail, so I decided to meet the people who wanted more information. This gave me the following graphical content. Without surprise the most active and responsive people came from the makers and changemakers scene. They immediately connected to the higher goal and activated their network. The least responsive network where the politicians, coming back from their annual non-active period it was difficult to activate them. Every attempt ended up in a dead end.
    1. How to create the community
    But after a couple of weeks building up a community, a moment of panic occurred. The people where reacting positively towards the workshop, but hesitated to get more involved. The confirmed list of people was stagnating, so I opened a debate on the Edgeryders platform to see how we can resolve that issue. After getting some clarifications from the team that organized the Greek workshop and some tips from people that organized a lot of workshops i changed my method and opened up with a more general approach through mailing lists and facebook groups. The combination of both locally anchored contacts and general presentations of the workshop filled the last gaps. We had 28 confirmed people and around 40 interested contacts in a mailing list.
    1. One on One discussions / Text submissions
    Before the workshop occurred this where the people wanting to start already a conversation on their work around social and medical care. Some articles will be added in the future because they are still under construction.
    1. Xavier – Makestorming (French version, English version)
    2. Yannick – Huis VDH (Text 1, Text 2)
    3. Sigried – Repurposing space
    4. Ginette – Sidenote on the role of the gouvernement
    5. Laurent – DoucheFlux
    6. Maite – Infirmière de Rue
    7. Winnie – ReaGent (Text 1, Text 2)
    8. Intergenerational Care: A Game that never was
    9. Ybe – Traumatour
    10. Rozina – Belgium Design Council
    1. Preparing the space
    For the people at Huis VDH it was also a big challenge to prepare the space that was under construction for already two months. The house is being renovated and invented by a team of volunteers to become a hub for social, cultural and technological innovators. Each of the core members took a task to facilitate the workshop. Maria found a socially involved catering service, Sigried arranged the space to be workshop ready, Toha was responsible for the photographical documentation and Cecile prepared everything so the outcome would be documented in a nice visual style by using Toha’s skills and the templates. Yannick participated and worked as a transcriber at the workshop

    Methodology

    1. Berlin Workshop
    We based ourselves on the Berlin workshop that was filled with interesting methods to actively think about care issues in Belgium. We made our workshop a little less dense because we didn’t think we could go through all the materials they prepared.
    1. Brussels Version
    In the link above you can find our preparation of the Brussels version, like said before it is a watered down version of the Berlin workshop while also using some methods anon4157656950anos and Nadia came with. Both are experienced facilitators.
    1. Roles
      1. Workshop leader
    We decided that Nadia will take the lead on this workshop cause she is the most in touch with the OpenAndChange material and has a lot of experience doing so. She also presented the whole OpenAndChange project in the beginning of the day. Her firm method helped to not defer to long to side discussions and held us on the right pad.
    1. Facilitators
    anon4157656950anos proposed himself as a facilitator and helped us streamline our toughs throughout the day trying to condense all the ideas that where emerging in little post its on a white board. I helped out by translating the most difficult parts in French or English so anybody could speak there native language if needed. This facilitated the conversation.
    1. Documentation
    Cecile, Noemi and Toha played all an important role in the documentation. Noemi setting up the Thinkpad so we could transcribe live as a team what was being said the whole day. Cecile making a visual representation of the most interesting quotes combined with a picture of each made by Toha.

    Participants

    From the 28 confirmed, 17 people came by that day to discuss care related topics. Here is a short introduction of each of the participants. You can find some of their quotes, issues and solutions on this document made by Cecile and Toha. Contact info can be found here.
    1. Xander: Child Psychologist: Works with young children, works with behavioral problems and autism.
    2. Benoit: Is an all around inventor and changemakers, first member of the Huis VDH family and makes ‘finding solutions to complex problems’ his general duty.
    3. Selvi & Lotfi are a couple of active Belgian that had an home for the elderly for more than 20 years. Now they are dreaming of building a micro-city where all generations could interact with each other and where care would be more then only what the government gives.
    4. Alkasem is a Syrian refugee; he was 4 years in the doctor studies but couldn’t continue there. When arriving in Brussels he couldn’t start over here neither.
    5. Claire is also part of the Réseau Solidaire and wants to build a platform for people who give and receive informal care. Her goal is to make it a place where people can feel save and where receivers of care can themselves give care to others.
    6. Loic: Concerned Architect that worked on a paper about alternative housing that can be found here
    7. Noemi: Co-Initiator of Edgeryders.
    8. Winnie: Coming from Ghent, involved in DIY Biology (hacking and thinking outside of institutions and companies to make biology more accessible). At ReaGent people will get biological tools to build their solutions. We have equipment and a physical space and make sure that science is communicated in an accessible way. We put an emphasis on children and privileged groups, otherwise they don’t get access at all.
    9. Adeline: She is a newcomer in Huis VDH and in general interested in new solutions around society. She came by to be an observer but stayed to participated to the discussion.
    10. Jean: Is a member of the association ‘réseaux solidaires’: a group to help people with mental health issues and who are isolated from society. There is no website, everything is person related. He is a member because he is sick himself.
    11. Rozina: co-founder of Belgium Design Council and has a talent to bring people together. Was involved in the successfully funding of bar Eliza, a community project in Koekelberg and is now helanon3606750899g to structurize a youth football club Rittersclub.
    12. Gilles: Former medical representative, meeting with doctors made him realize that he was more interested in preventing health. Passionate about healthy food, he want to inspire people to cook more and created a platform called Zingmenu therefor.
    13. Sophie works for the non-profit organization En Route ASBL that help people rehabilitate after difficult psychological periods in their life.
    14. Marie-Ange works already 25 years in the field of ecology transition and moved now towards housing and mental care.
    15. Laurent founded DoucheFlux 4 years ago and is now preparing to move his project towards a 1600 m2 space. He wants to empower poor people through giving them access to basic needs like showers and involving them in organizing events.
    16. Yannick: Co-founder of Huis Vdh and worked some years ago on a video game around intergenerational care.

    Outcome

    1. Introduction to OpenAndChange by Nadia (Link to presentation)
    Edgeryders is an open source platform that combines online and offline moments to find through other ways than the mainstream solutions for sociatal problems. Mission is to support members to create self-sustaining projects. Edgeryders creates tools to manage all the content created by the 3500 members. Open ethnographic tools for example uses the data to see what discussions are well connected. The big question that is asked as a red line throughout the day: Can healthcare systems work like Wikipedia, StackOverflow or other massively coordinated systems with very limited control and overhead? Two mechanisms at stake: 1) self selection: individuals get involved in something because they want to, and contribute because they want to 2) social networks: people and groups which move fluidly across organisations and shaanon3606750899g the norms as they wish Case studies of how people access community care: - Clinics in Greece - Alternative to 911 in the US What is op3ncare in short: - A place where we can share stories about care - Where you can find people to support projects - Where you can create solutions without being in the same place
    1. Learning From Experience
    After the general introduction, the participants are asked to be devided into groups of maximum four people where they will discuss using a template about their projects. Each of them gets 10 minutes to introduce him or herself while somebody else takes notes and a third person ask questions and listens carefully. You can find the note of each of those roundtables here, some of them are in French and other in English. It is written by the participants and wasn’t cleaned up. Discussions
    1. Plenary
    Before the lunch we came together for an hour and shared what was remarkable about each other stories. Here you can find some of the insights Winnie: he noticed that every project has some community in it, but communities experience different ways of being in the world, different incentives for being in a community. Laurent: 3 different projects, which have something in common, with people being excluded by the system because they are poor or sick. Empowerment for these populations is at the core of each project. Behind each there is a diagnosis of how the excluded population can have lost access to institutional support. If something is possible, it is on the edge, where people can regain access to their lives. Lotfi: Nous étions trois entités, je suis avec Selvi, nous avons eu une maison de repos, Xander travaille avec des enfants autiste, Alkasem, il espère qu'il pourrait faire son métier de médecin. On a parlé d'intergénérationnel, comment créer des mini société ou il y a des échange. Au delà d'un certain âge: il y a pas de support. Alkasem a fait la parallèle de comment le système de soin ce passe en moyen orient, une culture musulman de l'entraide. On impose de donner de l'argent au pauvre. Tout le monde vie ici dans sa bulle, il n’y a pas de transversalité. Xander: the community aspect is really important, the human is seen as a kind of predator, humans are also caring beings. Alkasem: i have question to all of you: where are the families of the homeless people? I never saw anyone homeless in Syria, or living on a mattress. How did it happen? Some of the participants responded later on:
    • the core family concept has been broken down - after uni and growing up you have to carry yourself; so there is no glue which keeps family together
    • in North Africa systems are weak -so there has always been a cultural support; whereas in the West the system is supposed to take care of everything
    • Here (in the West) you are free, but alone!
    • ""Free, but alone."" vs. ""Belonging, but coerced"" Comparing systems-based vs. family-based cultures of care (twitter link)
    Jean: There is a desire of using new ways of technology to organize his place within the society je cherche a me socialiser, trouver une occupation profitable, mais je voudrais rester dans la marginalité. Find a meaning in his life, but stay at the edge of society. Claire: I want to create something can provide something that can give help to each other. It is very complicated to arrive there. With Laurent, Sophie, we have a point of connection, but we need to know each other better. I worked for several years around the project of self-care. I want to do something very new. We are creating to work on a project on different levels in December with Laurent, but it is really difficult to find what is most needed: partnership and collaboration. Adeline: Everybody here came with a need, to find ways to come up with a solution, tous le monde est venue avec un besoin, elle espère aider à trouver une solution. Gilles: Strongly believes in open source and data sharing solutions - everyone is looking for someone who can help them with a solution eg. to develop a website to help the project moving. Loic: The core needs he noticed in others is to learn information about what others are doing, get information about collaborations; and second, the need for visibility. Personally he has come here for housing project, but Winnie's story is useful to hear also professionally. Yannick: was in conversation with Kacim,Lotfi - the intergenerational interactions need to be looked into, because it is in only specific circumstances that we spend time together eg living in a house with my grandmother and the positive outcomes which came from that. SIDENOTE: Multiple times in the discussion a same metaphor that was introduced by Alkasem was used by the participants. He noted that our western society made us all ‘boxpeople’. He finds it so strange that we are all living next to each other, but that we aren’t interacting better. We put old people in a home and (mentally) sick people in a closed environment. I found that metaphor really strong and something to use when we are trying to connect multiple organizations. Question time After giving everybody the chance to share their view on the received input we gave everybody 5 minutes the time transcribe it in a question they wanted to solve in the second part of the day. These are the questions that came up: - How can communities become more visible and members interact more easily? - How do you make the actions of the community visible to the individuals? - How do you make individuals' actions more visible to the community? - How can we help individuals be independent from official caring services? - How do we invite more people to be part of the process and disseminate the documentation? - How can we find the right banon3760936673ce between keeanon3606750899g the effectiveness of the box with still being able to go out of the box/ - What is the metaphor of what we are trying to do? (anon4157656950anos) helps understand complicated things without - How do you build connectivity into each initiative or do you want connectivity only between initiative? If we all want to coordinate, what amount of time/ effort/ resources can we each put into learning to coordinate? - How could we open the debate about the strength of intergenerational care.
    1. Presentation Projects
    Some of the participants prepared a presentation of their projects. Three of them where DoucheFlux, Belgium Designers Council and Habitats 123: A testcase of alternative housing. A summary can be found here:

    Laurent d'Ursel / DoucheFLUX:

    4 years old project, we are opening a huge house to help people out of the marge, we will have 20 showers, 150 lockers, medical service, laundries, a pharmecy, and other needed services for this part of people, which is missing Second pillar is activities: DoucheFlux is 50m2 at the moment, so we work at other spaces, we make activities that promote self esteem for these people, they are totally embedded in the system, they can't escape what is happening about them, they find it difficult to get further, so their mechanism is that they just stop trying, because they don't feel empowered anymore Doucheflux helps them to get more self-esteem, but it is difficult because sometimes it feel that we are infantilizing them, and if you do that mistake they don't come anymore The challenge: another way to make social work, so not only people that studied for the social sector. To take the social dream out of the social field and bring it to other fields. Because they are fed up of all the social help, they just want a happy life: it is not only important to have an home, but also to create great moments. To create equal relationships. break racism against the poor.

    Rozina / Business Imporvements Design Belgium

    Living in Bxl for 15 years, an interior designer coming from a corporate background working in the hospitality business. She started her own design company and got more involved in strategic design thinking - now involved with the Belgium Design Thinking. Projects to make the sports clubs more inclusive because they were closed for refugees; also hardly accessible by children with special needs. So with other people they pushed for inclusivity and speaking to the Belgium Football Union, but also preparing a strategy for the next few years. Business Improvements Design Belgium (BIDs): they are about creating a new geographical zone and linking community businesses to it, ideal for private - public partnerships. She is lobbying for BIDs and wants to see where stakeholders can meet in the middle; seems idealistic especially since she's not from here. Has seen encouraging results after talking to her mayor, and right now she's trying to create a youth platform for citizenship and sports - an IDEO design type of commune. What changed after the football? People understood there is a strategy and structure, so they get a sense of belonging. If everybody contributes something, we become as a community.We educate the value of communication, transparency... Rozina would need help to connect with people working hands on with special needs populations.

    Loic / Right to Housing in Brussels

    Previously office building occupied by the French community which had been vacant for 15 years. Groups of squatters moved in and made a deal with the owner to run different workshops - bike fixing, woodwork, IT etc. Some interesting facts from his paper: -social housing in Bxl is much lower, 7 % compared to the 27% in the Netherlands -7 % of houses totally empty -1 000 000 sq metres of unused office space: 40% of empty offices have been empty for 7 years From squatting to a participatory process - a public owned space (Community Francais) but community managed: from refugees to Irish artists to Flemish doctor students. Half the people (of 60) don't have any revenues, and everyone contributes a little - from 60 eur a month to approx. 150. In Belgium it is possible to have a temporary legal occupation for an office, so you can live in an office space! It's an office building, which means people can change the layout easily. Difference between buildings for profit and the testcase of 123: Profit building is praised for being open while just having 7% of their space being used for community. 123 has almost 50% of community used space, but because of their 'illegal' status it isn't praised. Loic showed a detailed distribution of the types of spaces - at each floor you'd have facilities, workshops, library + distribution of private and communal space. Important detail: Stairs instead of working elevators as a social control mechanism. Loic is trying to give more visibility to housing solutions - it's not easy, take good contact with the owner! First you squad, then you talk.
    1. Collaboration Mosaic
    Now it is time to get into the concrete part of the workshop. Therefor everybody is put again into groups of maximum four people and asked to choose one of the skill cards on the table. From there they will explain why they chose that card and what skills they want to bring. Here are the skills we find in our most helpful people Winnie: - DIY and generally fixing things yourself - Mental support - Getting weird things you wouldn't normally find yourself - A delivery van - Someone to do a project with Jean: - Can discuss Existential problem - Commercial things and buying decisions Claire: - Making a conference atelier du capitalisme - Support people who are more fragile - Set up an association Marie Ange: - Linking Activities - Mental/ moral support - Social contacts Rozina: - Business - Experience and wisdom - Out-of-the-box thinking - Empathy - Government administration - Cultural awareness Adeline - Active listening and sensibility - Wisdom and pragmatism - Do it yourself, engineering as a way of seeing the world - Cars Lotfi - Fundraising and financial subsidies - Medical technical knowledge - Business modeling - Administration Gilles - Administration - Legal advice - Social business modeling - The WHY - Sharing economy - Scientific dieticians Xander - Friendship - Philosophy - Playing music - Word stuff anon4157656950anos - Order/ being orderly - Moral support and push to go forward and not backwards - Fun - The occasional hug SIDENOTE 2: Alkasem was again the most disruptive thinker in the group and gave us a lot to think. For him, everything moves around friendship. He has the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust. And without trust no skill can be shared. This intervention of him started a discussion about the meaning of trust and how we can build that. ‘Trust is an enabler to use the resources. How can that be created inside an eclectic group like this?’,asked Yannick. For Claire it is a text and rules of engagement and a clear path of conflict resolution, and a way to learn to treat each other better. Winnie reacted that your own people's trust is a constant, but gaining the network's trust is more difficult. Nadia tried to made a synthesis of the discussion 1) Working trust is very different from social trust; and there needs to be a boundary. 2) What also worked for her is deciding to work on even a small project. 3) A story that binds us together - understanding how our different activities are 4) Documentation: what does it mean? for us it has been in writing. Finding each other strengths and weaknesses by organizing small events with each other, and beginning with things that don't have something big at stake. Because then we can learn about each other. The importance of documentation in building trust: Leaving a story behind that people can follow.
    1. Trust Exercise
    When the discussion was coming to an end we all felt we had got a lot of information and the workshop was going to close. So Nadia came up with a good idea to end the workshop with something concrete. We all felt that one of the biggest issues in care is that we live to much on our own island and that if we want to make care better we need to share and collaborate. But to collaborate we need to create trust. So this exercise was given to every participant and will hopefully end up in solidifying the care network in Belgium. The following question was asked: What can i bring to another organization, that also better myself as a person and is easily realizable? - Loic wanting to work with the firm of Winnie - Yannick giving his game about intergeneralisation idea to Lotfi and Selvi - Marie-Ange wants to give information to Lotfi and Selvi also … Nadia Suggestion: meet in one month: Back in Huis VDH. We will invite new people to continue the conversation and structure the informal and formal networks of care. I would like to thank all the participants for this awesome day we spend reshaanon3606750899g care on a local level. I hope this is the start of something lasting. We invite all interested people and participants to fill this FrameADate link so we can organize the next gathering. At that event you will all be given a reworked paper version of the outcome of the workshop. If you have any propositions or ideas you can contact Edgeryders or myself: Thank you     Thanks to everyone who made it happen and took all the notes to write this report. It was an inspirational day and it's nice to read everything again! I can't see the Frameadate link in the text @anon " 3,11599,2016-09-28T10:43:39.000Z,9085,anon70625510,anon2954219769,"Cecile took photos of with the dates on them I think? Hey @anon So about the dates. People put up their possible dates on post its on the imaes and stories we printed and hung uo. I'm in Washinton DC at the moment and cannot access them. But I think Cecile took photos of them. If someone can go through them and aggregate the dates then we can send out a doodle with suggestions for people pick from. @anon " 4,12240,2016-10-05T14:31:37.000Z,11599,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Dates for a future meetup I have to fly back to Bxl in a month time and so would be great to reconnect! If anyone is following up with participants, do include me please :-) " 5,14331,2016-10-05T14:30:06.000Z,541,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"I'm glad I came. ""First you squad, then you talk""  - Loic's presentation was great, too bad we don't have the full story here to be able to connect more people to it. @anon     " 6,17162,2016-10-07T10:06:21.000Z,14331,anon3595237380,anon1491650132,"Yes there is a story in the making about it Will be published today or tomorrow " 1,703,2016-07-01T20:52:06.000Z,703,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"An experiment to encourage spontaneous creativity for making a living as a migrant A short brief of what we have been working on so far is this. With the many organizations already working with refugees in Berlin, we still felt a need for an approach from a different angle and also with a different focus: Most projects for refugees are designed to specifically help the arriving families, children and the single travelling women; but the majority of refugees is barely taken care of in the same manner: the young men. It is an illogical equation: The young male refugees are often regarded as healthy and fit, able to work and therefore are not treated as a priority in terms of care. However; of what use could these benefits be if there is nothing to do? In Germany, refugees are not allowed to pick proper work for the first three months of their stay. After that period, a working permit is needed to apply for a job. The permit, however, is only granted if the person is no longer living in a refugee camp. Needless to say, the said three months often pass without anything really happening and three months slowly turn into six months and into a year - during which there is nothing to do. We are currently working at the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) in Berlin- a former congress center that has recently been turned into a refugee camp. Even with the circumstances being unfavourable, the atmosphere at the ICC is quite the opposite: The interaction between the refugees and the staff and security is remarkably free and friendly. Volunteers playing with children; refugees and security joking around and everybody is eating at the same table. There is no hint of the provider/receiver-dilemma that you would witness in other establishments. We’ve been warmly welcomed by the people and the relationships have gradually grown more personal since our first visit. The place is led by the Malteser; we were shown around the place by one of their very nice volunteers. She then introduced us to a room of eight Syrians, four of which were ready to help us in our project and provided us with insights. Besides stories over everyday rituals like tea and Syrian home traditions, we were shown the little gimmicks to improve the bare rooms where they are living in at the moment: How they pulled out screws and nails from the walls to make clothing hooks; how you make a wall-mounted phone holder with just duct tape and a piece of wood; where to store the food; they showed us how they hack the beds to create more privacy and how to shield the light falling onto the upper beds with anon2590712900y pieces of wood and a blanket to a point where one could create an entire ceiling with just white cloth. We learnt quickly that the ideas of how to use the space could never occur to someone who has never been in that exact position:  It was evident that they know best about the needs and necessities in their very situation and environment. With the creative potential, the only problem lies in the lack of tools and materials. To see what would happen if material were available, we made a little experiment where we brought basics like duct tape, cable ties, string and durable cardboard and looked what they would think of building intuitively. Despite scepticism in the beginning, it was beautiful to witness the moment when everyone in the room joined to figure out the best construction for a wall-mounted shelf, built with mortise and tenon joints. The fact the project was dealt with in such a manner, shows the willingness to engage these kinds of challenges with seriousness and a certain claim to quality and that it is not only about practicality and pure function, for such a shelf could have been easily assembled withjust tape and cardboard. It was fun for us to join the working process and thinking with them about the construction and making, but more importantly, it was fun for them to be challenged in making something useful and to make that beautifully. Mohammed, who came up with the idea of using joinery, later joked saying he would love to make such shelves for the whole camp - and we hoped, it was not anon2590712900y a joke, but a mentality that we could continue to work with. In fact, we left all the spare materials in their rooms and by our next visit they had built another two shelves and a small storage for clothes under one of the beds. Work in progress: Building a shelf    Image above: One of the shelves that Mohammed made after we left. Mohammed’s mentality is exactly what we we’re looking for. The question is if more people in the camp would share the same enthusiasm. Ideally, a craftsman could be found to take the role of a tutor to guide the others into the basics of building. On our last visit in the camp we learnt that the the camp’s organizers are taking help of one of the refugees who used to be a tailor. He now has his working space (a table with a sewing machine) at the intern clothes depot and helps fixing the garments before they’re given out. We feel the answer to our problem lies in establishing and expanding that very concept in other camps as well - to involve people in the daily happenings and motivate them to do what they can do best. We will research the willingness amongst the refugees to join such a program as soon as soon as Ramadan is over. Our plan to help people improving their living situation by building their own furniture is a first step in that direction. We are working on a solution that doesn´t require proffessional skills or tools, but motivates people and gives them the feeling of doing something useful for them and the community. To establish this first step we are going to launch a fundraising campaign on StartNext in the next weeks and we are happy about any kind of support! If you have suggestions or similiar/different experiences: please share!  So we can make this happen, as good as possible :)   The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 3,16195,2016-07-03T18:24:08.000Z,703,anon1526983854,anon1831568896,"Young men and construction materials Thanks for sharing, @anon Exactly the same point about young men not being catered to was made by @anon However, authorities really dislike (one could almost say fear) such an outcome. Interesting stuff was built and deployed in The Jungle (even a theatre!), but then the people in charge started searching incoming vehicles for construction material. It was completely disallowed to bring anything to make anything into the camp.  How is the situation in Berlin? " 4,21499,2016-07-05T14:51:34.000Z,703,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"thanks for the feedback! @anon These are exactly the questions we are dealing with right now. We started off with honeycomb cardboard as you see on the pictures because its very easy to work with even if you dont have proffessional tools. The Problem though: it´s not long lasting. The stuff we build with the the refugees about a month ago is already loosing its shape. Thats why we´re currently working on prototyse out of chipwood tied together with cable ties. two cheap materials that you can get everywhere. The only tool needed is a drilling machine. One Set of wood panels can be assembled in three different ways according to the needs. The cable ties can be opened if the people want to build something else. How can we make it personal though? Are people still motivated if every Box looks the same in the end? @anon The Camp we are working in, is quite open. As long as its not dangerous in any ways people can bring whatever they want.  That seems to be another Problem: every camp has different rules, so its almost impossible to find a general context.          " 5,21728,2016-08-07T15:17:08.000Z,21499,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"Making personalized design @anon For ever new, exciting and personalized design, did you try talking to commercial furniture designers or the like.. a company that could help take this even forward somehow? Or maanon1932026148 the team at ROC21 can help?  This is a handmade table produced by the roma community living on the outskirts of my hometown, in a rubish dump <sigh>. The table was purchased by a hip bar downtown (I think that at an auction..) and is currently under great use. Photo from Made in Pata Rat facebook page. I will see if I can get in touch with someone who can better report on this story. " 6,23108,2016-08-29T14:50:03.000Z,21499,anon784612129,anon1831568896,"Some technical ideas If you want to personalize with few resources - try making your own paint. I recommend you use non-toxic pigment (and still use masks - just to spread awareness), and there are a bunch of non-toxic to fairly harmless liquids to mix stuff into (e.g linseed oil*). You can get a lot done with mortar and pestle for personalization scale. Other things that help are fabrics with nice haptic properties (you can sew together patch-work style). Needle skills are nice to have anyway if you want/have to live low budget. Just make sure you get good thread. Fabric will also improve overall acoustics. Pull broken head-phones out of the trash and fix them (9/10 are broken at the jack, you can fix them with almost nothing, if you are good you can re-use the solder that is already on them. Then you only need a lighter/candle and e.g. some liquid adhesive and string to fix things permanently. A quiet atmosphere and my (home) sounds around me help my mood a lot. LEDs are another option for color personalization instead of paint. If you DIY, just make sure you understand what resistor you need. You will need one unless you do plug in LED-bands which are relatively expensive (but still not bad, you could also cannibalize them). If treated right LEDs will last forever though. *Not sure how well that works on particle board though. Epoxy is the solution that will always work (and can also be used to fix a lot of other stuff) but is potentially somewhat toxic, moderately expensive (if you buy a big just past shelf life bucket), and needs some know-how and tools to avoid a utter uncleanable mess. Hit me if you want more details. " 7,23333,2016-08-29T15:03:37.000Z,21499,anon784612129,anon1831568896,"Repair Café? You could host a RC and perhaps keep some of the pieces for parts and training. Of course you can also encourage people to donate some semi-working things or decent enough tools (no one should work with shit tools!) " 8,23782,2016-07-15T06:27:37.000Z,703,anon1061021150,anon1831568896,"Hey @anon " 9,26024,2016-08-12T17:09:54.000Z,703,anon70625510,anon1831568896,"Well done, very proud of you @anon It's starting to get interesting :) https://twitter.com/S_Khatuna/status/764124326643765248 " 10,27799,2016-08-14T11:43:34.000Z,703,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"Thanks for the feedback! Hey everyone! We´re really happy about the feedback! thanks a lot :) From September i´ll be working at the ROC21 Project (http://roc21.openstate.cc). As I already gained a little bit experience at the SAVA project, they asked me to be part of the Team. I´m looking forward to that, because now we can think in bigger scales. We will try to build up a community inside the camp, where everyone is an active part. Thinks like an Urban Garden on top of the building or an actual woodworkshop are under discussion. But there are a lot of issues to face, for example how to motivate people @anon Besides that we still want to realise our modular furniture system at the ICC Berlin. The Malteser are very interested too and already said that 30 of them will be there and help with the workshop! We might get a sponsorship, but it would still be great if we could raise the money via our startnext Campaign. We´re still happy about support :)! https://www.startnext.com/sava  Also the ROC21 Project will benefit from the experience we´ll make at the Workshop.    " 11,28459,2016-08-14T12:29:04.000Z,27799,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"Very promising start! A \#win already..  Congrats for the future work!  Will try to give your start next campaign an even bigger push over the next weeks,  well done!  " 12,29067,2016-08-14T16:38:05.000Z,703,anon2805308645,anon1831568896,"Continue and learn yourself some programming skills :-) Dear lovely people :-) We started to create an online curriculum that can teach you programming and goes from ""what's a browser"" to ""how to build an app"". It's free and you can have online chat support and if you happen to be in berlin, on tuesdays and fridays you can have face2face support at a local meetup :-) In the future you will be equipped to start your self employed career - either by bootstrapanon3606750899g your own app/company or working as a freelance developer for agencies/clients/customer or whatever else you have in mind. You can work from anywhere if you have a laptop with an internet connection. Check: 1. The Curriculum https://www.youtube.com/playlist... 2. The Support Chat https://gitter.im/codingamigos/learners 3. The regular berlin bases support face2face meetup http://www.meetup.com/de-DE/codingamigos/ Don't count on the government to magically create jobs. Get yourself some digital skills and start RIGHT NOW! :-) Hope to see some of you people in the chat or in person at one of our regular meetups :-) " 13,29543,2016-08-29T14:27:19.000Z,29067,anon784612129,anon2805308645,"Nice, also if you want to do engineering... Get some fairly decent CAD skills without the cost. And share some of what you make with the rest of us. Onshape.com allows CAD straight from the browser (of a decent computer or notebook). Check out who is behind it, those are some of the CAD Urgestein folks, and everything is fully legit. Yes, it is a free/commercial program, but currently the deal is extremely fair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5asam5vmlr0 Here is the nuts % bolts video, it is not exactly easy to learn from 0 with 0 help though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ4ZNLANFWg " 14,29882,2016-08-29T14:59:28.000Z,29067,anon784612129,anon2805308645,"Learn to write the wikipedia? I've made a draft outline for a German centered effort to do this with the help of the refugees: (download and rename to .pdf - I could not upload easily otherwise) Hmm... didn't work :( PM me if you are interested. " 15,29957,2016-08-29T14:08:13.000Z,703,anon317670948,anon1831568896,"Interesting! hello @anon2805308645! Thanks for sharing! what you're doing it's really interesting! I would like to know something more... how many refugees are already involved? Which are the main results? Refugees need to have particular skills to start?    " 16,30316,2016-08-30T15:34:34.000Z,29957,anon2805308645,anon317670948,"great :-) thx. We currently have around a half a dozen refugees involved in our e-learning program that actually learn and some more in the community, but we are pre-launch. The refugeeswork.com platform has already ~400 refugees signed up and regular activity. Refugees dont need any skills to start. we start with ""whats a browser"" and ""how to create an email account"" and progress to how to build your own web app over the course of ~120 videos for now. More will follow soon to diversify what can be learned. The main results are refugees who started to build their portfolio pages and now know some programming and design. Other results include refugees who managed to get in contact with locals for paid gigs and/or voluntary activities to get to know locals. " 17,30442,2016-08-31T08:25:49.000Z,30316,anon1491650132,anon2805308645,"""Work is the best pathway to connect newcomers with locals"" Nice to meet you @anon2805308645, and what a good match with Franca.  She was saying elsewhere, in her own words, that language is key to connect newcomers to the new setting, but also arguing for activities like the ones you propose. Do you manage to break throguh the language barrier, or have people helanon3606750899g with that? Either way, well done, it seems there's a lot you have going on and quite some activity (checked your live chat, great one hehe). " 18,30484,2016-09-01T21:17:55.000Z,30442,anon2805308645,anon1491650132,"we dont encounter language barriers They all seem to speak english. Sometimes we have beginners, but we have other refugees around who help out. ...at least when it comes to teaching and IT skills. Sadly, in germany many people do not speak english well and feel very uncomfortable when speaking it, so they rather dont speak it and send everyone who doesnt speak good german home. We hope teaching digital skills will help them find remote jobs or real jobs abroad. " 19,30503,2016-09-04T19:47:42.000Z,30442,anon2131851816,anon1491650132,"Now I am also here Hello, I also joined the discussion. Will try to describe how we started and what we are doing a bit more in details and will send it to you as soon as possible. Like the community here. Will check and read about the projects and share them with the world :) " 20,30610,2016-08-29T15:08:59.000Z,703,anon784612129,anon1831568896,"MA, Studienfach Migration und Diversität in CAU If you are interested, there is now University program called ""Migration and Diversity"" in this University: https://www.studium.uni-kiel.de/de/studienangebot/studienfaecher/migration-und-diversitaet-ma I found that out when discussing things with the people who help out at a refugee center close to there. There ought to be some mutual interest in some of the activities... apparently it is a new thing - so there is probably a lot of learning for everyone involved. " 21,31149,2016-09-13T08:48:37.000Z,703,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"Submit to Idea Camp 2017 ? The Eur Cultural Foundation has a yearly programme for grassroots initiatives and a call for next year closing on Sep 20. The topic is ""Moving Communities"". @anon http://www.culturalfoundation.eu/idea-camp-2017 " 22,31536,2016-10-06T15:55:15.000Z,703,anon2131851816,anon1831568896,"Inspiring This is really nice to hear. Was just talking with 2 of my Syrian friends and they said it's very important to give some self inniciative push to the newcomers, because they are just being sent from a place to a place to fill this or that form and they become somehow passive, so helanon3606750899g them stay active and creative is super important. Like your approach a lot. I am working on this project  and would like to see how we could collaborate. Maanon1932026148 you could introduce them to online platfrom for connecting to other newcomers that are here a bit longer and are starting with their self employment or small business and need volunteers or potencial partners... or they can maanon1932026148 see what are local businesses searching here, to get a better feeling of what is smart to focus on for the future and what skills will they need to learn in order to build a nice future for themselves. Please, if you have time, check a bit what we do and I would be happy if we find some common points for collaboration :) " 1,769,2016-09-28T23:06:30.000Z,769,anon2131851816,anon2131851816,"We are a community of freelance developers and other digital professionals who work together online often purely over the internet. We started our project RefugeesWork to help newcomers to connect with locals who are looking for freelancers to outsource some work to them. It all started in August 2015 when lots of newcomers, mainly from Syria, arrived to Germany. It now turns out that it’s not very easy for them to find any kind of employment at all. German companies seem to not need the skills they bring to the table and even if they do have what they are looking for, they often reject people who do not speak German well. We decided to use our digital skills, first of all programming, to help them. We developed a marketplace app where on one side newcomers can register and describe their skills and on the other side local organizations can post their requests for freelancers. We believe work is the best pathway to connect refugees and locals and to date, we have over 300 registrations on the site and big community in Berlin and online. Those Syrians come from all walks of life and some have excellent background, or were running their own business. But we also realized that freelance requests are mostly for freelancers with web and mobile development background. These are the jobs freelancers can do online, they don't need to speak the local language and because all the organizations are trying to automate their processes, there is actually a big need for these professions. We checked our database and available statistics and figured out that most of newcomers are young, they just finished their high school or had to leave in the middle of their studies so they actually lack necessary skills to integrate into the highly specialized German job market. Freelancing would give refugees freedom from discrimination they would face otherwise and freelancers are usually paid way better. The tricky part is in making sure there is a regular flow of work. That is our experience. Therefore we decided to extend our Berlin based coding school for kids and use our experiences to create online e-learning platform to teach newcomers programming: from how to install browser to how to build your mobile app. All the learners can learn digital skills/programming no matter where they are, they get 24/7 support on the chat from mentors and other learners and later and they can apply for projects companies outsource through RefugeesWork. All the learners become part of digital collective Coding Amigos, that we started with international crew of developers with activist streak already 3 years ago. We meet in Berlin 2x a week and co-work together on client projects or our own apps that we in long term want to connect in a circular economy. For us - even though circular economy is usually connected to recycling - that means that supply chains form supply circles and money is not loaned by governments and other usual suspects and end up in always the same pockets who save it and don’t even know what to do with all the money. Currently we are also following the work of Sensorica in Canada and Enspiral in New Zeanon3760936673d. Our wish is to create a micro-holding co-ownership model. One part of the motivation is to shield these professionals from all kinds of discrimination that they might otherwise experience. It shields them, for example from the usual politicking among corporate employees who might tend to put such newcomers into a fairly low place. And another part of the motivation is exploring processes and legal ways for cooperation and decision making between many micro-holdings. We try to list all our initiatives inside of Github organization SquatUp. We try to keep all our work open and transparent for which we for now use Github.com, Gitter.im and Waffle.io which allow us versioned storing our documents, including code, working on issues on a kanban board and use open communication on a public chat. All our projects are made with zero budget so with pure love and dedication for our mission: open source & transparency, inclusiveness, digital literacy and open organization. It is not easy, but we don't want to waste our time chasing funding and investors or clients, but instead co-create the world we want to live in. And we believe right people and opportunities will come from that and from the people that share the mindset and want to join us. It’s hard to make a living with all of this, so we just try to live as cheap as possible and we work for a better future where society is organized differently utilizing radical transparency and open source. Until then we live from savings that we sometimes manage to build when working on paid projects. By empowering refugees with skills we hope they will later become our partners and continue to help us build an alternative work. On top of that, we might manage to get in projects on a more regular basis and outsource paid work to each other. So if you are a programmer, ”apptivist”, please consider reaching out and connect your apps to our ecosystem via API or help us build an open ecosystem of related apps. If you know anyone who did not yet start to learn programming, please tell them to join us in http://gitter.im/codingamigos/learners so they can get started for free immediately. We offer 24/7 support for free to get learners from zero to be able to create their first mobile app within a couple of weeks up to a few months given learners are disciplined and learn full time. And last but not least, if you can bring in paid IT projects to support our voluntary efforts, the community of learners and our effort to prototype alternative ways of organizing and working together, we would appreciate it a lot. Everyone who successfully brings in a project and helps us communicating with the customer during the project will be transparently included in the sharing of the revenue. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. Links: RefugeesWork - www.refugeeswork.com Online JavaScript school - www.wizardamigos.com Coding Amigos meetup - www.meetup.com/codingamigos Coding Amigos collective - www.codingamigos.com SquatUp - https://github.com/SquatUp/projects/blob/master/README.md Nina Breznik - @anon2131851816 Alexander Praetorius - @anon2805308645 " 2,9617,2016-09-29T12:02:35.000Z,769,anon477123739,anon2131851816,"Fascinating and powerful This sounds like a brilliant project. I really like how you saw that there was a matched experience between what you experience as young entrepreneurs and what the refugees experience arriving into the job market. More power to you. I will certainly follow your project very carefully.   I wonder also if you know about Empower Hack. I think it is a UK based organisation, but it is doing similar work with women and girls (http://empowerhack.io/) " 3,16844,2016-10-03T14:42:57.000Z,769,anon1491650132,anon2131851816,"Let's spread the word? Thanks @anon2131851816 and co.!  I'm just back online after a few days off the platform, and say we take these days to share your post. Also anon3606750899g @anon " 4,19982,2016-10-06T15:44:51.000Z,769,anon2131851816,anon2131851816,"Thanks guys Alex, this is so nice to hear, please stay in touch and let's push things forward... Thanks also for the link, will check them out and see how we could connect :D Noemi, cool, thanks. Sounds very interesting. Reading...   " 1,753,2016-09-19T17:09:48.000Z,753,anon1429306406,anon1429306406,"Hi all, My name is Frank Coughlin.  I'm based in New York City, NY, working as an Emergency Medicine doctor in the city's oldest public hospital.  I'm a member of 1882 Woodbine and one of the co-founders of the Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center.  We are an open access health resource center in the neighborhood of Ridgewood, NY.  We are involved in the creation of local health autonomy.  We are working to meld Western models and institutions of medicine with holistic and tradional skills.  Our goal is to build a foundation for health which allows us to use and manipulate health institutions to fit our needs, not to become dependent on them for our survival.  It is our aim that by addressing one of our basic human needs, health, it allows us the space to further ideals of revolutionary change in a world that seems designed to destroy us.  For more information on our projects, please see Woodbine Health Autonomy Center and After Occupy.   " 2,7126,2016-10-05T15:07:53.000Z,753,anon1491650132,anon1429306406,"Good to meet you! Hi Frank, thanks for introducing yourself and for joining OpenandChange project of projects so to speak, in such great capacity. Woodbine rocks :) " 1,689,2016-05-31T20:28:48.000Z,689,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Greetings everyone, the below challenge is based on the work done during the co-design session at WeMake.  We would like to share it as a challenge, to get feedback, give more visibility, and make it easy to collaborate on this idea, if someone is interested. The story is written by a third party (me!), while keeanon3606750899g privacy of the original problem poster safe :) If you are paralyzed, you are most likely using a wheelchair, and if you use a wheelchair, then you need someone to push the wheelchair in order to help you navigate through the city.   Not only does this make the challenged person feel like a burden, but it adds another layer of inconvenience, which is privacy.    Due to the nature of how most wheelchairs are designed, the person who aids the person who needs care, has to accompany this person everywhere, limiting the chances of being able to navigate the city or any place independently while enjoying privacy and a little independence.  The challenge gets worse in places like train stations, airports, metro stations, basically any place with stairs, an over crowded, and the requirement of different modes of motion.  Would it be possible to think of a mechanical system that can be attached to all “standard” wheelchairs,  that can revolutionize their functionality of the wheelchair, making it possible to access every place and surface easily with it, while keeanon3606750899g the expenses to do so, within limits?   Any thoughts? *Header image author Tim99~commonswiki, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. " 2,8631,2016-06-01T07:07:16.000Z,689,anon70625510,anon1743371374,"Have you seen the interview with Raul Krauthausen? I read this and was reminded of the conversation with  @anon They are taking a different approach in asking how to create environments which are    inclusive by design and not by label. Someone mentioned a website with a map of the city as seen from perspective of someone who has to navigate it with wheelchair: where there are no-go zones etc. Insight: many barriers are completely invisible to anyone not affected by them. They proposed some design intervention towards making barriers in a decentralised manner visible as a first step. My oanon3606750899ion: making barriers visible is great when you also have the means to do something about it then and there without too much effort. Like a workaround where you can put something in place to make a staircase accessible etc. Without having to rely on the city or the architect or whatever to get involved. This allows us to live out our better selves, rather than be guilted for yet another thing that someone else failed to do on our behalf. Or wait for change that never comes. My two cents. " 4,19845,2016-06-17T14:43:00.000Z,689,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"A similar approach in Italy The city of Lecce launched a hackathon with students, hackers and wheelchair-bound individuals to collaboratively map barriers to individuals in town (story, in Italian). The approach is slightly different from that of Wheelmap. Wheelmap assigns a tag to a single point: ""wheelchair"" = ""no"" Whereas they actually mapped objects using OSM Tracker, for example traffic light poles, and added codes to them according to the impact they had on mobility. So, accessibility relates to objects (""nodes"" or ""ways"") in OpenStreetMap rather than to coordinates. The results are stored as a layer in a CSV file on the city's open data portal and linked to OpenStreetMap via Umap. Maps are generated by dynamically superimposing OSM and the accessibility layer: http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/it/map/lecce-luoghi-accessibili-per-disabilita-varie-e-di_20512#15/40.3509/18.1826  This was done by the wonderful @anon " 5,23367,2016-08-23T13:03:03.000Z,689,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Wheecharingling to the stars or the moon @anon you ask for the stars, but if we realize the WeHandU, i'ts about what you ask. You join in with an idea for a solution/someone has a proposal, together we realize. You test the solution and you are happy , U reiterate improvements or abandon. Most important: We and U document opensource the result of the work for others to build on. It's not the stars but wouldn't it be getting you to the moon be good enough ? " 6,26020,2016-08-23T13:21:57.000Z,689,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Existing solutions Though wheelchairs not my speciality I have seen several solutions presented by scholars. For example:; Stairclimbing see:http://portale.siva.it/en-GB/databases/products/isoSearch?classification=122315 (so the NHS offers zero) In theory its simple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik286spRM1w why dont you just buy one of these? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZLoUYXDSs or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7otewMk9pc ( I actually saw one on the street the other day) Who dares hack a segway? And who dares using it?     " 7,26949,2016-08-24T18:03:38.000Z,26020,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"""because Segway is too mainstream"" LOL, talking about inclusiveness this fits right in and well, a bit over the board - I'm thinking of the need for hyper control over battery life and avoid being trapped somewhere.. " 8,27797,2016-08-25T08:53:41.000Z,689,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"@anon " 9,28458,2016-08-25T11:04:30.000Z,27797,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Stage @anon stage =  version 2.x forked from experience 1999. Hardware 11 & 2.0. (Sorry, It's an iterative process.) We are prototyanon3606750899g the concept within the next weeks. Let's have a chat/brainstorm. I'm very interested.   " 10,29065,2016-10-03T09:34:19.000Z,689,anon904321944,anon1743371374,"A ""simple"" idea. Indubbiamente, costruire basi di dati ed applicazioni mobili finalizzate alla mappatura del territorio ""accessibile"" e ""non accessibile"" pe quanti si avventurano nelle nostre città ed intendano usufruire dei loro molteplici servizi (vedi http://portale.siva.it/it-IT/databases/libraries/detail/id-455), incontra la mia più totale ammirazione e gratitudine. Tuttavia, sicuramente anche per un moto di orgoglio e per un inalienabile desiderio di libertà e di riconoscimento del mio essere cittadino, ritengo occorra adottare un approccio complementare che cerchi di risolvere le specifiche esigenze di ciascun individuo, laddove le barriere materiali sussistono e rinforzino quelle culturali, realizzando soluzioni che consentano al nostro ausilio di disimpegnarsi in sicurezza oltre che con efficienza. A questo scopo, nonostante non abbia competenze tecniche in materia, sto provando a realizzare un concetto partendo da questi esempi: 1. http://www.gennymobility.com/uk/genny/design; 2. http://www.newmobility.com/2015/06/stairclimbing-wheelchairs-fact-and-fiction/. L'idea di base è quella di realizzare un sistema di mobilità modulare, parzialmente cucito su misura per alcune tipologie di utenza, che possa superare le ""difficoltà"" del terreno e nel contempo costituire un concentratore di servizi e funzioni avanzate (comunicazione, monitorizzazione parametri, controllo ambientale di casa e postazione lavorativa, ecc.). Certo, questo è chiedere le stelle... ma potrebbe essere l'inizio costruendo quanto meno la rampa di lancio! --------------------------------------------------- Undoubtedly, build databases and mobile applications aimed at mapanon3606750899g the territory ""accessible"" and ""inaccessible"" eg those venturing into our city and intend to take advantage of their multiple services (see http://portale.siva.it/it- He / databases / libraries / detail / id-455), meets my utter admiration and gratitude. However, certainly for a surge of pride and an inalienable desire for freedom and recognition of my being a citizen, I believe we must adopt a complementary approach that seeks to address the specific needs of each individual, where the material barriers exist and reinforce cultural ones , creating solutions that allow to our aid to disengage safely than with efficiency. To do so, despite not having technical expertise in the field, I'm trying to create a concept starting from these examples: 1. http://www.gennymobility.com/uk/genny/design; 2. http://www.newmobility.com/2015/06/stairclimbing-wheelchairs-fact-and-fiction/. The basic idea is to realize a modular mobility system, partially sewn tailored to some categories of users, which can overcome the ""difficulty"" of the soil and in the same time constitute a concentrator of services and advanced features (communication, monitoring parameters , environmental control of the home and work place, etc.). Of course, this is to ask the stars ... but it could be the start of building at least the launching pad! " 11,29956,2016-10-04T14:50:02.000Z,689,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"Bello, molto! Grazie, @anon Il link a gennymobility risulta rotto.   " 12,30609,2016-10-04T18:40:42.000Z,689,anon904321944,anon1743371374,":D Ok, Alberto, probabilmente il ""meccanismo"" è un poco inusuale per dare mobilità alle persone, ma potrebbe essere comunque interessante partire da ciò che abbiamo a disposizione ...magari chiedendo ai ragazzi dell'ETH di Zurigo un aiutino! Per il collegamento, prova partire da http://www.gennymobility.com/it. " 1,736,2016-09-05T15:44:39.000Z,736,anon3325826017,anon3325826017,"We chose Thessaloniki as a good location for our workshop, due to the active social web that is active in the city since the financial crisis hit home in 2009. Being Greece's second biggest city, and the largest city of the country's North, Thessaloniki boasts with life, with a vibrant culture that is merging optimally the city's laid back flair, with its rich history, the university community and contemporary culture. In the last years, Thessaloniki is emerging as a lively incubator of several grassroots initiatives. The first urban gardening projects of Greece happened here, when a group of citizens occupied a former army camp. Social enterprises, consumers networks, activist groups and a significant arts scene are here at home. The workshop took place on September 3rd, 2016, inviting socially active citizens in the wider field of care. In many cases, these people are not strangers to each other. The city is neither too big, nor too small, and people that care are often meeting each other in the numerous gatherings, events and activities organised at the grassroots. Τhe workshop offered an open space to meet and discuss, using several tools for harnessing collective intelligence. Using various participatory methodologies, such as World Café, participants mapped out the status quo, how they would imagine Care in Greece in 10 years from now, while engaging into framing this transition. Mapanon3606750899g the status quo The current care system of Greece is characterised by mainstream centralised structures defined (and accepted) by the public health system, marked by chronic problems related to inefficiency, corruption and lack of funding. The severity of the ongoing financial crisis in Greece has further incapacitated the public care system, but it has given rise to a milieu of social, citizen-led projects who leverage volunteerism to care for the most under-privileged parts of the society. Besides public hospitals and private clinics, these structures harbour initiatives ranging from non-profit actions by international and domestic NGOs or philanthropic organisations (including the church), to volunteer initiatives and informal groups. Over the last years, such initiatives have focused on the distribution of primary need goods (ie. clothes, food, education), based on a strong narrative around the solidarity and exchange economy. In parallel with citizen-led initiatives, many city councils have launched municipal Social Grocery stores or Pharmacies. In many cases, local community action is combined with public social structures. Citizen imagine Care in Greece in 10 years Citizens were asked to engage into collaborative dialogue on the future of care in Greece, using the World Café method. Participants were divided in two groups and shared ideas on different and multi-level care structures. People from one group swapped with the other, in oder to cross-polinate their knowledge which was later harvested to reveal interesting connnections between different aspects of care. The new paradigm focuses on synergies at different levels, putting emphasis on notions and ideas that bring people together, build trust, strengthen relationships in communities. From the level of housing, neighbourhoods and schools, all the way to managing structures of public health and social care. Interesting ideas were shared from participants, for example how we can train care stuff in novel and specialised approaches such as ""preventive"" mourning. Others talk of the need for communal spaces in blocks of flat, where residents can share tools or creative moments, enhancing social interaction in the buildings they live. For the participants, the future of care innovation is closely connected to openess and the availability of public space. Not surprisingly, many people appreciated the power of urban gardening in offering green spaces, but also in building a sense of community in the neighbourhood.  The transition to such a system is not without obstacles, especially by virtue of the lack of political sense in the crisis-stricken country that is experiencing the deepest recession since World War II. Nevertheless, after 7 years of fighting the crisis, some cells inside the society start having a very clear idea about the pathway forward. To visualise these change dynamics, participants were asked to engage into Transition Framing, investigating aspects of the care system that should be continued, eliminated, improved or complemented. The care communities of Greece are the unsung heroes of this crisis. They formed quickly, evolve slowly and are present where both and the public sector fail: providing free, open care to the most sensitive target groups (ie. homeless, elderly, immigrants). Given the financial, political and administrative support they diserve, these communities could transform the game, and offer the hope of recovery to all Greeks, but also Europe as a whole. " 2,9578,2016-09-06T10:05:02.000Z,736,anon1491650132,anon3325826017,"Were you happy with the workshop? Hi @anon Did you think people could connect their stories with dimensions of care? For example, in the Improve and Complement sections, were there projects in the room already contributing to some of those areas? I'm thinking of the many ""civic led project leveraging volunteering"". I can imagine, for example that ""Schools supporting cooperativism"" is mapped well by @anon " 3,11806,2016-09-29T12:57:45.000Z,9578,anon3325826017,anon1491650132,"Flowing between projects My observation is that many actors in Thessaloniki are active in more than one initiative, so there is this type of ""fluid"" flowing from one project to the other. Most of these people are characterising themselves as people ""that care"", and there is a strong sentiment of solidarity. Different groups have different approached on running their projects. For example, there are a few of them that mistrust any type of institutional suppport. This makes some people also get engaged in another project. The result is a very diverse set of attitudes towards volunteer action and the wider frame of care, something that is making it difficult to map, engage and scale. This is probably the case also in Athens, however communities in the capital have more opportunities in terms of funding, interaction spaces and publicity. " 4,16569,2016-09-18T18:27:31.000Z,736,anon4074474473,anon3325826017,"We can cooperate Thessaloniki has the right size for mapanon3606750899g and get results quickly. The people who care know each other. Due to refugee anon3003844599 they gained more experience and identified common problems. @anon " 5,21194,2016-09-29T13:00:27.000Z,736,anon3325826017,anon3325826017,"Preventive Mourning During the workshop, there were interesting ideas around the topic of ""preventive mourning"". Maanon1932026148 @anon " 7,25291,2016-10-03T16:20:38.000Z,24446,anon1491650132,,"is it healthy or not?  Very interesting, perhaps you can qualify that in terms of how it helps or not those experiencing it? And can it be a collective process? With OpenCare at large, and Open&Change more specifically- it would be most remarkable to understand what task is there for communities to relief some of this experiences.. Have a look at Cosain - an initiative just starting in Ireland which is based on peer to peer support for mental health recovery, in very collective ways. Highly recommended partners for some of your activites I think..  " 1,765,2016-09-27T19:18:09.000Z,765,anon3136355993,anon3136355993,"

    Vision

     A holistic, integral, evolutionary, self-directed and self-integrated community (civilization).

    Purpose

    To continuously and consciously evolve toward our highest potential through resilient adaptation to experiential existence. To collaboratively design, develop, and implement the blueprint for an intentional need-fulfillment community where purposefully driven individuals are fulfilled in their development toward their highest potential state of human experience for themselves and all others.
    The CAPE Project has a low entrance barrier for collaborators, participators, and community builders. With that said, however, there can be a substantial learning curve when it comes to acquiring a comprehensive understanding of what is actually being proposed by the Project. It is important to remember that this community proposal represents an entirely different linguistic worldview than most (if not all) other worldviews present in modern society. Fundamentally, the Community’s design describes an entirely divergent way of living and of understanding reality than the many worldviews expressed among the current population of the planet. This can present a significant motivating challenge for those interested in this direction. The design specifications are dense in content and many individuals who read them for the first time feel like they are learning a new language and integrating a new worldview, which takes time and requires internal processing.

    First Steps and Key Features

    As a first step we are going to establish a “Training and Research Network” - primarily for tertiary education | higher education - to enable educators to understand and facilitate the train of thought of an integral, holistic, evolutionary, self-directed, self-integrated and self-civilization and are looking for places to establish training and cultural exchange centers. With tis comes an network of self organizing solidly co-habitational care Nuklei. As we have to exist within a framework of formal-operational rules (orange), at best early vision-logic (green), we have to establish a set of “organizational-bodies” to support the idea in the best way possible. The key features have to be adapted as part of part of a living organisation! To date, our core themes are:
    • New Learning
      • Creating Creative Learning (Spaces)
    • Communication
      • Art
      • integral News Communication
    •  Socio-Economic Development
      • New socio-economic systems that focus on resource availability;
      • experience an reserch a new way of care for each other including health care and social security aspects;
      • develoopment of strategies for mental health and healty living environments;
    • Integral Leadership, integral management systems
      • living- and holonic organizations, Assessment, creating “Selforganizing Open Hierarchical Order” Systems, (olocracy)
      • centre attention on the evolution of human values and consciousness as the crucial factors in changing course — from a race towards degradation, polarization and disaster to a rethinking of values and priorities so as to navigate today's transformation in the direction of humanism, ethics and global sustainability"" Ervin Laszlo
    • Sustainable Engineering and Application
      • Application of sustainable energy production;
      • High-Tech in ecological production processes.
    The design for the community is not yet sufficiently complete to plan its implementation. However, we presently have a ‘scope of work’, and we are in the process of converting it into a comprehensive project plan.
    We are initiateing multilingual communities and living space with people who focus primarily on inner development. Where we are working on our consciousness, because the crisis in our society is a crisis of consciousness. We shift our focus inwards, develop our relationship skills and transform our social programming. There should be as few fixed guidelines as possible concerning the personality and lifestyle of the members except the common to work toward a higher level of development. There are no ideologies, no dogmatic requirements and no fixed concepts.“
    CAPE  aims to build a social net for the members, enacts ""share & care"" principles and provides a framework (legal body) for cooperative economy as well as a space for inter-generational ""new"", action based, co-operative learning.
    CAPE should be a special place for members and learners to revive, a place to flourish, a place for young and old. Sustainable mental health is a result of continuous enthusiasm to our own development and a willingness reconstruct our beliefs.
    We, the initiators of CAPE LearnLust & Living think that the acceleration of our lives and the deluge of controversy, often absurd and paranoid information from an ailing socio-economic structure leads to the desire of many people for contemplation, inversion and a return to ethical values that are inherent to all human beings, but in ""our experienced world"" increasingly seem to disappear. Sincere joy, love for everything around us, to nature, compassion for each other, time to talk, to feel and enjoy, no longer being so tense and stretched - internally driven, yet not knowing where to go.
     
    Autonomous and healthy life for the young and the joyful old. To create the miracle called ""we"", which awakens us to renewed life! To unmask the process of maturing as ripening and getting wise. Therefore, we are now tackling this …
    What do we perceive? Today our society offers almost unlimited possibilities. This diversity can lead us humans to exhaustion, confusion and disorientation, to sensory overload, burnout! Therefore, every human being is faced with the challenge of finding answers to the following questions:
    • Who am I really?
    • Why am I here?
    • Who or what gives me meaning and footing?
    • What is my inherent value?
    • Where do I want to go?
    Our goal is to develop as a group to the extent that we understand each other at the height of the developmental stage now possible. These levels of human development are researched and described scientifically. It does not matter at what age we come together, it's fun and is exciting to get to know thyself and develop. As pioneers of a new action based, co-operative learning we share our special talents and skills with those interested. We are convinced that sustainable social change in the global community depends on the quality of personal development, training and the ability to effectively and constructively communicate with others. The focus is on interaction and cooperation, shared responsibility and authority, and the improvement of critical thinking. There is no 'teacher' in the traditional sense. Learning will be self-organizing, dynamically adjusted to needs and ideas of the ""learners"".
    " 2,10344,2016-10-03T11:39:06.000Z,765,anon1491650132,anon3136355993,"Welcome! Hello @anon Are you based in Greece? I’m not sure how I can help because I don’t understand the context, the problem which the CAPE project is trying to solve: “People feel lost in the cacophony of indusrial, per profit and political chatter” – this looks broad! I would recommend you check out someone @anon2575621423 and his piece about his community/ synergy hub in Mont Soleil.  Where would your living space be? Or is that already ongoing? " 3,16785,2016-10-03T13:09:31.000Z,765,anon3136355993,anon3136355993,"Thank you! In fact it is an ""international Idea"" of various people living around the globe but are somehow connected to developemental issues, many of them  who are in contact with ""Integral Theory"" and ""System Sciences""... There are Nuklei in formation in Germany, Spain and one possibility in Greece. This Nuklei schare common iseas about kooperative, solidary ideas about the next level of human development and are willing to act as facilitators and ""pioneering projects"" regarding new social and care models. So in it#s very own way CAPE is as well a synergy hub - which of course can be connected to others. Hope this will answer your question. I will check your recommendation as well. Other than the project you mentioned we are building a fuctional model with real people (CAPE) and make different kinds of ""open"" knowlege availabel for a broader group as well as develoanon3606750899g alternative strategies... (humaniversity project within CAPE). " 1,540,2016-09-22T12:19:44.000Z,540,anon4142159314,anon4142159314,"Imagine the City started in 2009 aiming to redefine the processes and relationships that shape the image and experience of contemporary Greek cities. An informal, open team of young people interested in design and architecture started to host weekly meetings to discuss issues such as: What are the criteria that define public works in Greek cities? Why do public spaces and urban environments in our country not reflect the creative human potential we have in the fields of design, architecture, and urban planning? How can we change the way citizens interact with and take care of the public space? In the past 7 years, the project has created a social platform in physical spaces, where citizens have the opportunity to be informed, discuss and consider the possibilities of improving their quality of life and imagine their city in a different way, with the higher aim to participate in decision-making processes about urban infrastructure and public works. Imagine the City develops public exhibitions in different Greek cities in which local architects, designers, urban planners and artists showcase their proposals, ideas, solutions, and plans for each city, enhanced by a series of parallel urban events. After the success of the first exhibition in the city of Chalkis in 2009, instead of accepting invitations to organize similar exhibitions in other cities, we created a digital manon169343781al documenting our experience, tools and guidelines, which was made openly available to other local teams to use and develop. The result is that Imagine the City has organically been developed in 13 Greek cities by interdisciplinary teams that bring together local authorities, businesses, universities and civil society groups. Exhibitions have hosted over 400 proposals by 650 creators. Two hundred parallel events have taken place and over 100.000 citizens have participated in the different activities. The manon169343781al is being evolved and includes from branding guidelines to fundraising and public engagement tips. The exhibits consist of material that participants have developed as students and researchers in the framework of academic projects in Greece or abroad, or as professionals with a social responsibility or interest to promote their work. The proposals suggest aesthetic and functional improvements of cultural, touristic or environmental importance through sketches, videos, and 3D models. The parallel urban events are developed exclusively for each city, focusing on the dissemination of information, knowledge, and perceptions to the local community, encouraging the participation of youth and children to experimental efforts to transform the urban space. Through debates, presentations, workshops and urban interventions we release knowledge about urban development, shed light on unknown sides of each city and create common ground for new partnerships to emerge at the local level.  The trans-local and self-organised character of Imagine the City has activated the dynamic involvement of academic and public institutions, formal and informal teams, local businesses and simple citizens. Beyond the discussions on local issues, Imagine the City has provoked a public dialogue of the political decision-making and planning processes in Greece, it has questioned the way we inhabit public spaces and has promoted a different urban culture in which citizens propose, evaluate, co-decide, activate and take care of the public space. At the same time, the community created the ground for a series of sanon3606750899-off projects: From IDEATOPOS, the first panhellenic conference on Place Marketing and Branding to SynOikia Pittaki, a participatory light installation that became a landmark of Athens, to Politeia 2.0, a platform for political innovation to redesign the Greek Constitution from the bottom-up. The need to scale up these projects led to the creation of the non-profit organization Place Identity, which acts as a cluster of projects for urban regeneration and political innovation. I initiated Imagine the City as a young designer interested in strategic and participatory design. Since then, it has evolved from a “think tank” to a “platform” to a “trans-local community”. Myself, as the initial “caller” and “facilitator” and other people that got involved in the project coordination, allowed for systematic experimentation and risk-taking. The collectives that gradually joined our mission gave an unexpected dynamic to the project. Every now and then, we attempted to identify and showcase the ingredients and values that released creativity and joy within our network, causing a multiplier effect in local communities. Throughout the years, we experienced many difficult moments and failures which nevertheless shaped our success. When we failed to gain official partnerships with Municipalities and Universities, we decided to reach directly to the academics, students, and citizens. When we failed to launch the digital Imagine the City platform, we decided to focus on the relationships and processes that are required in the physical space and it turned out this served our local teams better. Every collective challenge can become a step to a new collective insight and result in practical social innovation. In order to change the image and the experience of a city, you have to observe an entire system and not be afraid by its complexity. You need to face the public procurement processes for urban works, architecture competitions, political decision-making and the separation of powers. You need to rethink your role as the citizen, to understand deeply how a Democracy ought to function, to establish the political rights that you are not aware of. Otherwise, the city (polis) becomes an arena of conflicting material and psychological interests and soon gets out of control. Through communities of care that work for a common cause, you learn how to trust the other, and thus one’s self. Unfortunately, in our country, we show to one another and to our society more suspicion and blame than trust and empathy. Maanon1932026148 we keep reflecting society whatever we fail to manage within us. Maanon1932026148 this is why Greek society still fails to “grow up”. A community of change can only be facilitated if you are open, transparent and if you manage to demonstrate collective audacity while remaining the custodian of a team’s shared values. When success triggers humility and difficulties spark evolution. If you ask me about the future of Imagine the City, personally, I would like it to see it evolve into something I cannot even imagine today, just the way I could not imagine the way it would evolve to date since we first started. I wish it could catalyze holistic solutions for the challenges faced by contemporary cities. As for now, Imagine the City has reached the closure of a first cycle. Interest from new cities to join has decreased significantly and those teams that have been activated in the past are unable to scale their activities without systematic organizational and financial support. Due to the financial crisis, local businesses cannot afford financial or in-kind sponsorships to fund urban activities. At the same time, larger sponsors are not interested in supporting projects in smaller cities due to limited promotion opportunities. However, there is a growing interest in research and training opportunities related to Imagine the City and the processes that could truly empower and scale our trans-local community. We are considering to launch the Imagine the City Academy: a trans-local training program that will support local interdisciplinary teams who develop prototype urban regeneration projects focusing on citizens’ engagement. Building on past experience and existing local teams, we wish to promote action research on new models of managing public works to design holistic solutions that respond to the real needs of cities and local communities. The Academy could offer administrative, educational and financial support for local teams to exchange know-how, apply participatory tools, develop policy proposals and materialize prototype urban interventions. This program has been budgeted at 270.000€ for a period of 5 years. The first year would focus on mapanon3606750899g the results and analyzing the needs of local teams so far, as well as process design for the program. The second would entail an open call, dissemination campaign and activation of cross-sector partnerships at the local level. The actual training program and project development phase of local projects would be in years 3 and 4. In the last year, we would evaluate results of local projects and make participatory policy proposals to tackle the systemic issues that suffocate creativity and participation in urban planning in Greece. I work as a freelance designer and have a small company, theSwitch, which I co-founded in 2005 with a group of friends. While working on branding and designing professional spaces, I started working on methodologies of strategic and participatory design and I got involved in a series of social projects. In social projects, by design, I try to apply principles of self-organisation, self-sufficiency, sustainability, and independent financing but for the moment I cannot claim that I have managed to achieve the results I aim for… I think that in our country it is even more difficult due to the financial breakdown and the close networks of power. Often, sponsorships tend to manipulate projects or connect them to certain political agendas. We have also experienced funding programs that can destroy something truly innovative through their bureaucratic mechanisms or to make it easier for society to digest. I consider as my main personal goal to be professional, financially and politically independent so as to be open to collaboration, respecting a predefined set of values and encouraging substantial progress. My involvement in public affairs started from my teenage years, in the city where I grew up where I was part of the scout's community and a student magazine team. I have spent innumerable hours volunteering in my life, yet I am against “volunteering” as an end in itself, or as a “culture” that apparently needs to be cultivated. I believe that Greece was never short of “philotimo” (love of honor) and “meraki” (love in doing), solidarity and social care actions. However organized civil society is not recognized in our constitution and our institutions, its positive impact neither being acknowledged nor encouraged. What we need to cultivate today is a culture of holistic and creative problem-solving. Communities do not need volunteers but of citizens committed to solving problems – not just pointing out issues and ideas! I mean, solving problems in practice. If we do not take the responsibility of applying what we believe in, even in pilot projects, if we do not create new paradigms and do not experience political maturity, then we can keep talking politics (“politika”) but we cannot live as citizens (“polites""). Before sticking to political identities and ideologies, we need to achieve political rights and the freedom that will enable mixed policy and governance models. Instead of allowing closed networks of power to define our lives, these governance models could facilitate communities of action for the common good and the interests of the Polis. " 2,10425,2016-10-03T12:57:37.000Z,540,anon1491650132,anon4142159314,"Are more photos of interventions available? @anon How do you manage to stay independent if you’re involving such different groups and people? After a while if your “recipe” for events is compelling and people self-organise to follow it, your events will have a life of their own and may be able to move off the grid. Do you coordinate in any way? " 2,9527,2016-09-29T07:48:42.000Z,542,anon489906876,,"getting connected It was a great workshop with new and old friends. I loved the atmosphere there filled with passion and commitment. And also to see different perspectives and approaches of the other projects aiming for the same impact: to promote health.  thank you for caring and sharing! " 3,11965,2016-10-02T00:22:34.000Z,9527,anon1491650132,anon489906876,"Learning more about Flipped job market ? Nice to meet you @anon " 1,766,2016-09-28T11:00:58.000Z,766,anon955462850,anon955462850,"We are the families of the ""Oltrarno"", the other or wrong side of the Arno river in Florence, Italy. Facing a tough challenge - surviving in the Disneyland of the Renaissance, as a community. Right behind the Carmine church, where the Renaissance was born, families of the most varied background - both traditional and immigrant - run a garden which was donated to the population of the district by the American Red Cross in 1920 and has since been largely seized by a real estate speculator. A cross-section of ordinary people of every kind, who are beginning to work together to develop new ways of survival, friendship and beauty in an era where the ""state"" is no longer the key actor. As we discover our own needs, our strength, the power of working together, we find that we have a whole world of prospects before us, something much larger than the garden we started out with. We are here to listen and to learn, and of course we would be glad to show you around our side of Florence, should you ever drop by!       " 2,9265,2016-09-28T13:48:47.000Z,766,anon70625510,anon955462850,"Hi and welcome :) Sorry to hear about the park. Perhaps there is inspiration to be drawn from members of the community who are facing the  same struggles. So some people who immediatey come to mind are: @anon @anon This work of building and caring for communities is challenging.   As @anon1357151325 points out  @anon1357151325, @anon   " 3,16521,2016-10-01T14:26:30.000Z,766,anon1526983854,anon955462850,"Benvenuti (e alcune domande) Ciao @anon An Italian myself, I know Florence a bit and understand how it must feel to you. Great that you are taking action! So, from what I understand, your action revolves around coming together to maintain a community garden.  Can you tell us more about that? Is it mostly gardening, or do you do other activities too? Here in Edgeryders, we have a few experiences which are somewhat similar. One is Prinzesinnengarten in Berlin. They sell food, run a small café and give courses in gardening. Real estate speculation is a problem for them, too. Here is the full story: @anon1357151325 is one of its protagonists and could tell you more.  The other one is Vake Park in Tbilisi, Georgia. In this case, a community formed specifically to protect the park from speculation. Among its leaders were @anon Looking forward to hear from you!  " 4,21382,2016-10-01T17:58:49.000Z,766,anon955462850,anon955462850,"From the Nidiaci Thank you for your comments. Our garden is theoretically for children, then for their families. Which means that... The outstanding feature of our experience is the fact that we are not an intellectual or ""political"" movement, but the ordinary people of this district: a cross-section of families of both traditional and immigrant background, who take their children to the garden (basically a playground with trees). Everybody except the very, very rich. However, we opened this garden in a situation of conflict, an object lesson for everybody on gentrification and the ruthlessness of real estate speculation: we did not put the politics into it, they did, and everybody has learned the lesson. Communities can be built on imagining the past, children help us to imagine the future together and learn to build solidarity - we love our place and its history, but anybody from Senegal or from Germany who also loves them is welcome;  In this context, we do small things with major implications, for example: - markets where parents give and take children's clothes for free, which teaches one enormously important things about the wastefulness of our society; - violin lessons, chess and opera singing because we believe that ""beautiful"",""elegant"" and ""difficult"" things should not be the monopoly of a financial elite; - the only free football school in Florence, thanks to the unique Lebowski football team; - attempting to revive the dying crafts of Florence and discover the history of our district, with all its tremendous historical implications; - we are trying to find a way to set up a cooperative to give work to the many families who have skills, but are being driven off the job market; - we are beginning to develop more sustainable ways of consumption, in a gradual way that everybody can understand, also thanks to the fact that we have a child's birthday party nearly every day in our garden! And a child's birthday party is a much better place to deal with these issues, than a smoke-filled meeting hall... Whatever we do, we try to move together with as many other organisations as possible in our district - ranging from the parish church to the young people occupying an abandoned house, to small shopkeepers, to the very, very special Florentine institution of ""Calcio Storico"". We also want to provide the lowest level of basic services, which the ""state"" is dropanon3606750899g out of, and this is where the issue of health and other care interests us. The institutions first saw us as a harmless group of parents who wanted a place for their children to play, then more or less as enemies, then as a large group of voters who need to be humoured, as well as people who do for free what the state usually has to pay for. Which is alright, we neither hate nor love the dying institutions of our times. We love our people, our monuments, our trees, our bats and cats that come at night, and anybody else in the world who feels like us and realizes that this world should not belong to speculating private monsters or to cold public machines.  " 1,735,2016-09-08T20:39:00.000Z,735,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Discover our initiative in ten visual slides! Breathing Games (www.anon628128301.net) promotes respiratory health by encouraging each citizen to take care of their health. We create educational and therapeutic games, devices to measure the breathe, and distributed data systems to inform public health practices, and policies. We create a commons – collectively managed resources that are freely accessible and can be used and enriched by everyone – by spurring collaboration between people affected, caregivers, and passionate professionals to build on the collective intelligence. The games produced participatorily are meant to improve the quality and life expectancy of people with respiratory problems – by educating, transforming therapy into games, and promoting healthy habits. They can be reused and adapted by everyone to address local problems and needs, as long as the free/libre and open-source licences are maintained. We also develop open-source hardware such as flowmeter for domesic use. This material shall enable everyone, in all countries, to get indicators about his health (lung capacity tests), and shall also provide decentralized, anonimyzed data to advance public health research (blockchain/IPFS). On top of that we have been building a community of people to further develop and distribute the games. We successfully organized gamejams about cystic fibrosis and asthma in Switzerland and in Canada, and plan other events on breathing health and chronic respiratory diseases in the next months. The audience is huge: 1 out of 5 people in the world suffer from chronic respiratory diseases, and half of them do not follow the therapy as agreed with their caregiver. Key to the success of this initiative is the socio-economic, non-exclusive model we developed, as well as the platform we use to log contributions and make the collective effort visible. We use agile development methodologies and allow members to self-organise, so that we build on the collective intelligence and transform ideas into sustainable, scalable products and services. The participatory, inclusive approach enables us to build research-backed games that also are attractive and fun to play with. Interdisciplinarity helps us gain a multifaceted, holistic vision of healthcare and fosters collaboration between different parties, beyond institutions and countries. Breathing Games is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact and of the Open Source Initiative. Discover more about us at www.anon628128301.net " 2,6578,2016-09-09T18:51:03.000Z,735,anon1491650132,anon628128301,"What responses have you had? Hi @anon628128301, whoa you rock. How did the prototype testing go, I imagine this is the kind of practical solution that literally everyone loves?  PS Congrats for the large numbers of partners you managed to bring on board (I counted 18 on your website!) " 3,14057,2016-09-10T11:27:02.000Z,735,anon1526983854,anon628128301,"Second that Congrats @anon628128301 ! I also would like to know about the testing. opencare is about honest sharing of knowledge, including things that don't quite work as expected. In fact, failures (especially non-lethal) tend to be more interesting datapoints than successes, because we can learn more from them. :-) " 4,19731,2016-09-10T13:04:58.000Z,735,anon628128301,anon628128301,"Evolution and testing Hi @anon In 2014, we started with the positive expiratory pressure therapy for CF children. It was in fact not the best move as the exercice takes about 30 minutes daily, which would require a lot of resources to have interesting games, plus the fact that the exercice is quite strict, so challenging to make it interesting. We then thought about other, more free gameplays, which we have to develop. We are now working on mini-games for asthma, that are about triggers and how to take the medicine. We want to reuse the work done for CF to build short games for aerosoltherapy. Regarding tests, we did a prestudy with ten children in a hospital, to see their interest, and that was positive. We are preparing two studies with focus groups to test the games that have been improved. Many learnings were also about setting the collaboratife framework, platform, etc. We are writing a few articles about that, that should be released in the next month. The initiative mostly advances during events as our community is always small, but we start to have funding and are going to redistribute them, with the aim to mobilize contributors on the long run. One big challenge is also that our non-exclusive model is not easily understood by authorities, so it takes a lot of time to explain it, and many fundings are not available as most competitions support profit-driven organizations. So we are thinking about creating a specific structure to be able to access these resources. Another thing is to move from proprietary to free softwares, for example from Google docs to a wiki, or from Unity game engine to another one. So they are lots of interesing challenges at different levels. :) We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube, where we are going to release 15 interviews of what participants learned during the last gamejam. In the next months, we intend to do gamejams in Montreal, Geneva, and possibly Paris and Lima if you d'like to join there or remotely! " 5,21922,2016-09-14T06:21:36.000Z,19731,anon1491650132,anon628128301,"Subscribed! And look forward to the videos. It seems to me that gamejams and all the events where you are present are most useful for getting support. With anything involving technology the easiest is just to show how it works, so even inviting authorities/ potential funders to gamejams might do the trick.   " 6,24000,2016-09-15T10:32:12.000Z,735,anon2668029998,anon628128301,"Sanitation Nice work @anon Is there any level for  any step of lungs illness?  And is that need any assistance to check the evolution of the patient?  " 7,26038,2016-09-30T18:10:00.000Z,735,anon628128301,anon628128301,"First interview of participants released @anon @anon We are working on the outcomes to be shown, for example visualizing the evolution of lung capacity, effects of doing therapy or not, etc. " 8,27811,2016-09-29T15:21:52.000Z,735,anon102409432,anon628128301,"Breath is the Game @anon " 9,29074,2016-09-30T18:13:08.000Z,735,anon628128301,anon628128301,"We are part of a 85-minute documentary! What if working together for the good of all was the most common business model? Discover A new Economy, starring seven initiatives including Sensorica and ours. Thanks @anon " 2,6882,2016-09-20T16:23:34.000Z,756,anon1491650132,,"Do you manage to cover the running costs? @anon What you do is different than volunteering, you do entrepreneurship which I know - from working with Edgeryders - takes all of one  because it involves coordination, management, comms all at once and by limited number of people. Do you manage to cover the costs of the logistics of your work? What about paying yourselves for the hard work?  " 3,16323,2016-09-29T15:32:40.000Z,756,anon102409432,,"BLOODe is in our blood too. @anon " 1,760,2016-09-20T18:31:38.000Z,760,anon1614526513,anon1614526513,"FRONTIZO (“I care” in Greek) is an initiative taken in 2009, by some people who are either professional or have some relation to the elderly and disabled individuals in the city Patras. We saw that there were substantial needs to be covered, so we felt it was appropriate to make such a collective effort to mainly support individuals belonging to these vulnerable groups. With a rapidly increasing elderly population in Greece, our aim is to highlight and defend the rights of the elderly. There are many things that the wider public doesn’t know, such as specificities of various incurable diseases, so we started to create synergies and partnerships to cover these needs. Today, there are 200,000 patients with dementia in Greece, corresponding to 6% of the total elderly population. These figures are certainly expected to increase. Current projections double the number of elderly by 2050, something that will undoubtedly affect these numbers. Therefore, the services and efforts to be made collectively are large and need to be further strengthened. At the beginning, there was no clear knowledge on the issues and needs of elderly assistance. We could not identify these people, because in Greece there are no structures -and structured policy, in general- for dementia. Therefore, it was not easy for people to understand the benefits of our actions, which had to be communicated by word of mouth from scratch. Those initial difficulties were overcome as our interventions started becoming more visible, and as the spirit of cooperation developed with the patients and their caregivers over time. We are interested in entering the homes of these people because in most times they do not even get out of their homes. It's not the same to meet with them in a public institution, compared to entering into their homes. Since we cannot do many things by ourselves, establishing collaborations is imperative for the expansion of our operations and to ensure resources. We work with the local government, mainly the Region of Western Greece, and with associations of patients with whom we organize activities and events for the dissemination of knowledge and solidarity. Through those collaborations with diverse stakeholders, we acquire more knowledge in dementia, and the training of family carers. Our interventions occur in physical and mental level, helanon3606750899g the recovery process and educating caregivers on how they can give proper care. This is done by a team consisting of a social worker, a trainer, a physiotherapist and a nurse. The aim is to keep the patients’ good aspects, to maintain their functional and mental status (such as orientation, memory, etc.) and assist them with their behavior. Many times, these people have a lot of stress, anxiety or depression, so they calm through our intervention. Caregivers, who are not aware of basic issues before entering the program, receive training that allows them to continue their work after the end of the intervention, which always has a specific duration. These people are very actively looking for information and, as we enter their home, there is a direct interaction. We have observed a reduction of the stress and burden felt by of caregivers. Let us not forget that we live in a difficult time and they are people who have their own issues (family, finances, etc.), so the pressure is too high. Of course, all our services are free. We are very satisfied with the hitherto results of our initiative. Because from a point where there was nothing and the state has not been completely inactive in this field, we now see that more and more caregivers seek for our advice. Through the creation of partnerships and through hard work, this effort is now recognized. At the local level, the authorities understand the value of our work and want to support us to further evolve these services. What we also observe, is an increasing flow of volunteers. We continue to do actions within the community, targeting the general elderly population, and offering information and tips on healthy lifestyle, diet, and exercise. The beneficiaries may come in contact with our activities digitally, via the website and through social networks. In general, there is a lack of public understanding about the issue of dementia in Greece. Therefore, the response to our call was not so evident at the beginning, due to this ignorance. We had to face, of course, the classic issues the grassroots initiatives are facing in Greece. For example, the fact that the state was very slow in harmonizing the legislation on how organizations of civil society should operate. Since then, however, as our activities were broadly communicated and because the program is organized in 6-month long circles, there was an increase in the number of both beneficiaries and volunteers. We currently serve 20 people in each circle, and we have so far registered about 60 people (patients and their families). By the end the year, we estimate to have surpassed 3000 home visits. In FRODIZO, we are all young people and the whole intervention is non-medical. This is why at the beginning, there was suspicion towards our actions. Over time, we have generated significant experience, as well as a database of beneficiaries facing problems related to dementia, and their carers. Hence, we now feel more confident and secure, since we have been in direct contact with the challenge for so long. Also, we were able to get in touch with larger organizations, developed teamwork and discipline because these interventions must be always characterized by formality and consistency. Broadly speaking, we cannot cover all needs by ourselves, because they are huge. We want to attract more people around us to meet the challenge in the best possible way. Dealing with this kind of work is a special opportunity for young scientists who can provide major services to society, especially to its most vulnerable parts. These actions deserve to be recognized by the society, to be studied and supported. " 2,7760,2016-09-22T23:02:51.000Z,760,anon1491650132,anon1614526513,"I love your model Hey @anon You seem to place a lot of focus on partnering or complying with government regulations, why is that needed if you are providing services at home? is it only to gain the trust of the people needing the services? I think your 6 month cycle activities are brilliant for getting structured and stopanon3606750899g to evaluate. I've seen a similar initiative in COSAIN, an Irish initiative which is also community led and where authors are skillfully building a support base among formal care providers, communities in need and an unexpected large share of therapeutic art caregivers, which is very interesting - for the proof of concept they are using a museum's space once a week. I strongly encourage you to go in and say hello! " 3,16310,2016-09-29T15:28:06.000Z,760,anon102409432,anon1614526513,"Frodizo means Care in Greek @anon Continue the good work. We do support.  " 1,752,2016-09-19T15:53:30.000Z,752,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"In 2014, I had a solo museum exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. That project outlined the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River. The river was buried under the city of Buffalo in the 1800’s as a way to keep from dealing with the smell and pollution found in the water. Parts of the river remain buried and it continues to be polluted even as it is monitored by state and federal organizations.  My research and installation took about three years to put together, and it presented the complexity of how economy, government policies, lack of planning, lack of accessible information and climate change can dramatically erode an environmental and cultural asset. It was during this installation that I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows though the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. I was excited about extending my body of work beyond the Western Hemisphere and to working with a culturally diverse community. After initial discussions with professionals, museum staff and community members in Kathmandu, it was clear that there was a great deal of interest in me starting a new project investigating the Bagmati River. I was granted a residency at the Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Center a few months later, and my research began in earnest. Jason Dilworth joined the venture early in 2016 and his work has been integral to the project’s success. During Jason’s and my first trip to Kathmandu in March of 2016, we were able to strengthen past connections to the project while building a larger network of individuals and groups committed to improving conditions in the Kathmandu Valley and the communities outside the valley who live along the river. Support for the Bagmati River Arts Project has grown steadily from the beginning through the assistance of Hatchfund donors, travel support through SUNY Fredonia and a Burchfield Penney Art Center grant. It has continued to grow through the sales of the project’s publications and the sales of my artwork. The Bagmati River Arts Project includes: A. an exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery at Barbar Mahal Revisited in Kathmandu opening on November 20th, 2016. My artwork, water data from the Bagmati River and the video documentary will be presented on the second floor. The first will include artwork by Nepalese artists whose attention focuses with issues related to the Bagmati River. We are also working with the fine art faculty and students at Kathmandu University who will be creating work related to their cultural connections to the river. B. a book is being published (available in November 2016) that documents the importance of the Bagmati River, the cause for the pollution, climate change effects on the Kathmandu Valley and its groundwater, and plans to improve the condition of the river. The role of this publication, like the exhibition, is to use aesthetics as a way to make the scientific data accessible to a wider audience. Artists from the United States and Nepal will be included in the publication. The publication will be made available in Kathmandu at no cost to the residents to assure wide dissemination of its data to a diverse communities. It also will be available in the United States and sold as a way to fund other parts of this project and future projects. A link to this finished book is available on this website. C. a documentary video will document the project and include interviews with water quality and health professionals, community members as well a policy maker in Kathmandu. Songs by traditional Nepalese folk sanon1056199097rs are incorporated throughout the video including a commissioned song about the Bagmati River. A link to this finished documentary is available on this website. D. a brochure and poster written in Nepalese will also provide important accessible scientific and health data about the river. The poster and brochures will be distributed to the communities that live along the entire length of the river in Nepal. Members of the Bagmati River Expedition 2015 team, who created a comprehensive report about the river’s water quality, microinvertebrates, avian population and plastics data, have already established connections in these communities. We are working with Sujan Chitrakar and his graphic design students in designing the posters and brochures. Sujan is the Academic Program Coordinator and an Assistant Professor for Kathmandu University’s School of Art, Center for Art and Design. All elements of the project listed above will be finished and presented at the opening of the exhibition in November 20, 2016 when Jason and I plan to return to Kathmandu. An exciting extension to this project is the plan to ship the artwork, publication, documentary, brochures and posters back to the United States where it will tour around the country and, possibly, internationally. Water issues are a worldwide concern and the Bagmati’s perils are not unique. Our hope is that, by touring the exhibition and by combining it with site-specific exhibitions, audiences can create connections between their region and other global communities. There is a good deal that can be learned from the history of the Bagmati as well as from the grass roots efforts that created the Saturday Bagmati River clean-up program and the successful community health initiatives supported by the non-government organizations. All of these efforts has unified the underserved residents of the Kathmandu Valley to address the basic needs in their communities while creating hope and motivating government involvement.   The Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York is very interested in the merits of the project and they have volunteered to promote and organize the touring exhibition. For more information please contact anon1526983854@anon1526983854rey.com.  
      Project Leaders Alberto Rey – Distinguished Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Director and Founder of S.A.R.E.P. Youth Fly fishing Program, and Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide Jason Dilworth – Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and founder and director of several social design projects. More information available at: www.projectmlab.com/Jason-Dilworth and www.designersandforests.us   " 2,10627,2016-09-19T20:47:34.000Z,752,anon1061021150,anon1293448839,"@anon " 3,10812,2016-09-20T22:10:39.000Z,10627,anon3769417221,anon1061021150,"Lovely Bagmati @anon And @anon1526983854rey , about your initiative: the arts may indeed prove to be a key to get collective organizing going for river protection and cleanon169343781p. Example in question: I'm following a community in Mumbai doing regular cleanon169343781ps on a local beach. They pulled some 3000 metric tons of plastic garbage from the ocean, but obviously the city always provides more. So back in July, a friend from Mumbai was looking for ways to catch the garbage while it's carried in the river and before it reaches the shore, and together we found this barrier boom technology, produced locally in India by a company from Bangalore. So the tech part is solved in principle (and the barrrier can even be installed in a way that lets boats pass.) But we are at a loss how to organize people to get this thing purchased (or DIY made) installed. After reading about your approach, it seems to me that an arts and documentary project could be the missing social catalyst in a case like this. Showing people the progress they have made already, and how a river barrier is the logical next step for a lasting solution. Well, or that people stop littering, but let's be realistic for the near term :) " 4,14306,2016-09-21T02:40:51.000Z,752,anon1293448839,anon1293448839,"Lovely bagmati response  Yes the Bagmati does have its issues but it's cultural importance is intriguing. The residents of Kathmandu have been cleaning up the banks of the river for the past 150 Saturdays and they have not missed a single Saturday yet even during the earthquake which is  it is remarkable. Yes I think that the arts has a way of bringing together a lot of different groups and using aesthetics is a way to introduce complicated issues  in a accessible manner.  " 5,21206,2016-09-29T14:49:10.000Z,752,anon1061021150,anon1293448839,"@anon " 1,543,2016-09-29T09:33:55.000Z,543,anon3325826017,anon3325826017,"My studies in biology, agriculture and sociology took place in a time where the environmental, social and ethical problems related to the broken food system started becoming visible to more and more people across the world. Since about 10 years ago, food activism raised as our generations Woodstock, something that some of us like to call “Foodstock”. Therefore, the lines between political activism and an academic life started becoming very thin, and in times it felt -indeed- awkward to interact with two environments that hardly communicated to each other. Maanon1932026148 for a good reason. In 2007, I travelled to India for the first time, to do my MSc thesis in the Central Indian Himalayan belt, in collaboration with Navdanya, an NGO founded by renowned food and seeds activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva. In 2008, I published my first book on human-plant relations of tribal hill communities on the noble mountains of the Garhwal Himalaya. At the same time, returning to my university in Stuttgart, Germany, I helped found F.R.E.S.H. - the Food Revitalisation & Ecogastronomic Society of Hohenheim. F.R.E.S.H. was one of the very first student initiatives in Europe, trying to engage young agricultural students in a new, holistic, and self-reflective thinking about the future of the food system. We organised conferences, peaceful protests against unsustainable practices in the university’s canteens, a student garden and we even designed and fundraised for a new academic module on the Ethics of Food & Nutrition Security. Through community work in the campus, a group of young students from more than 15 countries from around the world, started building these much needed bridges between analytical thinking and solving the world’s problems. Around this time, in 2008, I attended Slow Food’s Terra Madre in Turin. This was a game changer, which allowed my friends and me see the wider picture, and to connect with hundreds of other youth. We saw the rise of the urban gardening movement and the food waste movement. We spoke of the need for intergenerational renewal in the agricultural sector, and we started connecting the dots. For us, good food and good farming almost became an obsession, and a latent hope that maanon1932026148 we can manage to improving the world, by improving our food and our quality of life. At the same year, still a student in Germany and doing my ethnobotanical research for my PhD in India, Thailand and China, I founded a Slow Food Convivium in Thrace, my home land in Northern Greece. Well before the financial crisis and the social havoc it evoked hit home, we started discussing about resilience, an organic transition, urban gardens, quality food production/consumption systems. Early days for such ideas in Greece, this action has raised plenty of scepticism, as no-one would expect what was coming. Our actions ranged from organising public social meals in squares in streets, campaigns, food fairs, etc. I have organised three delegations of small Greek producers to Slow Food fairs in Italy and Germany, and as the crisis was unfolding, I wanted to show that a difference Greece exists -other than the one presented by the media and blamed by politicians- and it was here.  In 2012, I produced an award winning short documentary, called “Farming on Crisis?”. This was the untold story of the Greek countryside, unfolding through a man's journey across the crisis-stricken country, uncovering the stories of young farmers and the prospects of revamanon3606750899g the economy through good farming and sustainable rural development. Building a bridge between the small and the large; the urban and the rural; the local with the global, the film used the case of Greece in order to touch urgent global challenges like food security, the environment and the future of our food. This movie travelled around the world, screened in several film festivals and opened a new dialogue: what future can we hope for, with only 6% of Europe’s farmers under the age of 35? We even got an award in Hollywood. As my life proceeded into this environment, I started venturing into good food entrepreneurship. From one side, I was launching global petitions for a better agricultural food system, to be presented at Rio+20, on the other hand I started discussing with my parents plans about revamanon3606750899g our family’s traditional olive grove in Northern Greece. At 2012, we created Calypso, a single varietal extra virgin olive oil made inside the ancient grove of my small village, Makri. Our purpose was (and still is), not only to produce a product of the utmost quality, but to champion innovative agroecological practices, trying to invite more farmers of the region in our journey towards sustainable quality. Soon after, I joined forces with another Italian friend from my former Slow Food years, and then we joined by another one, and another one, and we created We Deliver Taste. This is a small consultancy company connecting agriculture with gastronomy, hospitality and marketing. We are consulting good farmers and help them access new markets, while working with restaurant owners and chefs in order to close the loops in the “broken food system” that we all new is a major part of the problem. This is of utmost importance for Greece and its post-crisis future,  since the country has one of the largest per capita agricultural populations in Europe. We are now establishing new partnerships, working with ICT developers and experimenting on open data systems, with the aim of creating tools that bring more transparency and education in food supply chains, and shorten them in terms of communication and enhanced interaction among all peers. Having experienced these transformation at the personal and social level, I still continue doing a lot of community research in Greece. To me, my country has emerged as a testing ground for a new transformative future, what I like to call the “Plan C”. That is, if the “Plan A” is a Grexit, and “Plan B” is a devastating bankruptcy, then I think there is also space to investigate the possibility for another plant. The “Plan C” has to do with the design of a roadmap for advancing towards a real transition back to the Commons, based on civil engagement for participatory mapanon3606750899g and collective management of the assets that influence what is currently under attack: the everyday lives of the people. Inspired by the many different communities on the rise throughout the country, and concerned about the lack of resources and the disconnection between them, \#BackToCommons is my latest project. This is not an organisation (I don’t think there is a need to be one - there are so many organisations which we work with), but rather an informal network of young researchers who are trying to pull resources for creating systemic infrastructure in Greece. The aim is to give a new hope to a desperate society, but also connect this action with the world, knowing that a lot of people in the ground don’t have access to resources, due to many known barriers. Lack of funds and language are only two of them. I am not sure where the journey of \#BackToCommons is going to end, but I am convinced that it is heading towards the right direction. More and more people in Greece start believing on the power of commons-based action, and what is considered an “alternative” in other, more affluent economies of Europe in the world, over here is pretty much the only way forward. Despite the discontent, this offers a significant opportunity for working out transition solutions that I am sure are going to prove very useful for the international community. I know that given the political, organisational and financial support, realising this type of transition is  one of the few chances we have in order to achieving the very possibility of realising the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives mapped out at COP21. More importantly, as extremism is on the rise across the continent, what is needed more than ever before, are new narratives that connect our societies - not separate them. And in the absence of political sense, I think that we the people can still continue building them. " 2,9635,2016-09-29T12:21:19.000Z,543,anon477123739,anon3325826017,"Community land ownership Hi Pavlos, 'More power to your arm!' I found your point about the disconnect between wealthier Northern European countries and the reality of Greece particularly interesting and enlightening. What we consider to be 'alternative' approaches to the future should be our only way forward. i am reminded of the saying ""when things seem to be falling apart, perhaps they are falling into place."" It seems that the Greek community could benefit from something like the Scottish Community Right to Buy scheme (http://www.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/Rural/rural-land/right-to-buy/Community) Which would allow communities to invest money, tiem and energy into innovative community practices safe in the knowledge that the land they do this upon will not be taken from under them in the event of a systemic failure. I do not know how easy it is to create law in Greece (i imagine it's as difciult as anywhere else!) but is this something that could be advanced at a high level? Just a thought Alex " 1,750,2016-09-18T18:21:49.000Z,750,anon1058307311,anon1058307311,"  My name is Jenny Gkiougki and I am one of those Greeks that went back home during the crisis. (For an account of how I came about this decision and my take on the crisis please follow this link here on Edgeryders) During my residence abroad I was working as a business consultant and marketer. After ten years, I decided to return to my Greece to contribute to the local community and help with the bringing about of change. I am currently (amongst others) working on a project called “Real Food Utopia” as a co-facilitator with a foreign research partner, dealing with the mapanon3606750899g of alternative food systems in the region of Thessaloniki. (For a full list of all the projects I'm working on currently and the great and exciting things we are creating in Greece and in EU and links to many of them please look here at another of my posts). The workshops of the project are related to alternative economies, peri-urban gardening, refugees and food through a participatory procedure between people who belong to informal initiatives all around the city. This procedure also includes training in participatory video making and working on all its processes (ie. storyboards, editing) in order to create audiovisual material and share the technique with everyone who is interested in it. I am a member of the URGENCI International Network of Community Supported Agriculture, the European Research Group on CSA, and the European Movement for Food Sovereignty. I have been working as an activist on matters related to Food Sovereignty for 5 years and I am currently cooperating with a team of another three more advocates to create a legal entity to represent grassroots initiatives. In the near future, we would like to expand our network through an open call all over Greece and reclaim our existing collaborations and good synergies abroad. I am interested in self-sustainability and viable solutions with regards to how we live and thrive and hence I beleive that the future lies in the creation of new types of communities, ecovillages etc, and the promotion of practices like permaculture and the blue economy model of zero emissions that can create self-sufficient farmers and viable, circular economies that not only do not pollute, but actually create more resources instead of depleting them.  I am trying to encourage Greek people to be more involved in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes, to share risks with their farmers during the cultivating season and create a new concept of human relationship within the community they interact with. Additionally, the enhancement of CSA would support small-scale farmers who lack access to the local market and cannot (should not) get involved in complex food chains. We would like to address the needs of small-scale farmers who wish to obtain access to European food markets at fair prices, but also consumers of all ages who become more conscious about food production and consumption. I would like to engage in interactive campaigns and seminars that target informal collectivities who are interested in food sovereignty, but lack financial resources and technical support. Our community project will form a new hub that will host them and their projects. We are interested in creating a new agricultural production model in Greece, focusing on agroecology and self-sufficiency in the context of land and food management, considering limiting factors such as economic hardship. All in all, we pursue the transition to a new way of thinking and living through an “umbrella” project which consists of several innovative schemes. The main scope of the project is to empower rural farmers and inspire rural lifestyle, by combining traditions and technology, based on the principles of permaculture. We wish to enhance small-scale agriculture, in order to revive Greece’s rural areas and promote an economy that is based on social solidarity and alternative currencies. What we have in mind is summarized in the following fields of action:
    • Exporting network of agricultural products in Northern Europe (especially citrus, olive oil and “ugly” fruits) that are produced by small-scale farmers to solidarity collectivities at fair prices.
    • Promotion of food security and food sovereignty in Greece.
    • Respond to the mainstream challenges by using our anon1056199097nuity and creativity for social –nonpersonal- benefits.
    • Reduce food waste promoting “ugly” fruits and vegetables focusing on good quality.
    • Boost local economies and offer technical support to Community Supported Agriculture schemes.
    • Creation of an official Greek hub for non formal groups working on food sovereignty that lack financial support.
    • Saving of Greek agricultural land from the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund and ensuring its utilization through concession or purchase by our group in the context of communal ownership.
    • Increase awareness and educate farmers and consumers in order to become more conscious through seminars, campaigns and training sessions about sustainable farming methods and consumption patterns. Also, we are very interested in local pupils and students who are a significant target group.
    " 2,7537,2016-09-22T09:29:02.000Z,750,anon1491650132,anon1058307311,"How is the mapanon3606750899g going? Hi @anon Also, how are existing CSA schemes in Greece working? I'm guessing even at informal levels there are some, and I'm a fan of the model although I've seen in practice how hard it is to sustain itself in terms of long term trust and ability of consumers to deal with less good crops.     " 3,14990,2016-09-23T10:06:20.000Z,750,anon1058307311,anon1058307311,"Hi there,   I will try to answer you briefly and to the point as I just got back from hospital and I need my rest.  For the situation with CSAs in Greece please read my report here http://urgenci.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Overview-of-Community-Supported-Agriculture-in-Europe-F.pdf   As for AFDS in Thessaloniki, as we said our project is still underway and nowhere near its end, but I can say that there is a vast array of different projects ranging from 100% legitimised cooperatives to completely informal groups tending a small garden feeding the poor and refugees. And new initiatives are springing up all the time. It is a truly exciting endeavour mapanon3606750899g them all.    I hope this covers your questions :) " 4,20365,2016-09-23T11:06:53.000Z,750,anon1526983854,anon1058307311,"Reminds me of someone :-) @anon " 5,24307,2016-09-28T15:03:36.000Z,750,anon1497232120,anon1058307311,"Food Related Links Hi @anon " 1,524,2016-08-26T10:25:12.000Z,524,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"For the past few years I’ve been busy rethinking the way healthcare is delivered to patients and how health communication and prevention are being constructed as information for the benefit of the public. Being an adjunct professor lecturing Sociology of health at the University of Parma I have a good starting point - not exactly a healthcare expert person, but a sociologist with a huge passion for e-learning and innovation in education, working on the change from within. My idea is that the change should take place in the training and education sphere about how professionals and practitioners become such. Innovation and openness of knowledge must become the cutting edge paradigm within universities, hospitals and healthcare policies.   I’ve been granted research scholarships for the past years and I use them to bring change in two main areas of education: technologies and practices of innovation. It’s about bringing these two aspects, also existing in collaborative economies, communities, in hacker groups and activists promoting open access to knowledge, data and technology to stubborn, hermetic ecosystems of higher education.   My current project, a weblab named Puntozero (http://puntozero.github.io/), explores the ways in which teachers, professors, tutors and students -used to the traditional model of lecturing a class and equipanon3606750899g people with theoretical knowledge and in-field training- might integrate in a community of practice to innovate the way of learning. This year there are about 150 students involved. The brainstorming about proposals include more talking to the patients, who want to collaborate and surely want to see medicine more friendly, more efficient, more human. It is important to change the way we see health care - not as a prestigious, restricted profession for a selected group of professional, but as a practice that has been there for thousands of years, a huge amount of collective wisdom that pioneered and support what we call medicine and care right now.   It’s fascinating to play with the idea of a healthcare student classroom where, instead of feeding people with theories, teachers would create space where students meet makers of all sorts and discuss various technological innovations with them, and spend time with their patients, getting hands on experience in various cases. By encouraging sharing of data, more interdisciplinary collaboration, creativity and networking educational institutions could create a new breed of health professionals. Their work style would be more inclusive and horizontal, and they would be more interested in critical thinking and discussion, sharing and transparency.   At the moment I’m working with a couple of small innovations that could lead to improved communication between health professionals and patients. One of them is about involving three trainees in archiving and develoanon3606750899g a set of health-related caremojis, accessible in a open, less formal exchange, a tool improving communication and adoption of symbols to represent concepts of concern (e.g.: surgery tools, health conditions, symptoms, etc..). They will be soon ready to be used and evaluated by the students.   Another one is to replace yearly reports from traineeship by an online book, accessible to everyone and encouraging discussion. And it actually did. While i was working as professor I also skipped preparing tests and asked each pupil to come up with one multiple choice question, and out of 150 of them, were chosen random 20 questions set that became the test I made an exam. It was a very democratic, surprising step for students. I tend to be also available online for my students as much as possibile and I put a lot of stress on digital learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) - to save paper, to spare their pockets, to promote more openness, to bring more p2p learning. Finally, I try to skip the usage of huge, expensive books in the classrooms - instead, I look for good, open source materials, and if they’re in English, I ask my students to translate one page each and put it up in Italian as a wiki, available to everyone. There are all these ways in which students are forced to meet and talk, an essential practice, widely absent in the formal education.   I’m interested in joining the OPENandchange with the mission of tweaking and/or revolutionizing the classroom and the health care education and training. I want to create more opportunities for students to meet people who change the way care is given in different ways - by making devices, by creating informal institutions, in fablabs and elderly houses. I want to prepare workshops where makers and patients would be working along the health care providers on new solutions. And I want to empower alternative ways of giving care, outside of the formal profession, initiatives driven by values other than money - by the idea of being helpful, virtue of serving each other, and actual engagement.   Therefore i would like to engage other scholars, makers, educators, archivists, patients and who else inspired by an open paradigm of healthcare in contributing to a p2p learning project to advance healthcare professions curricula and innovate where possibile and to open knowledge filed the higher education for healthcare professions. Please add your comment to participate. " 2,7599,2016-08-27T16:03:39.000Z,524,anon1526983854,anon3341622463,"Link? Very interesting, @anon You forgot to include a link to Puntozero in your post.It would be nice to know who else is involved, how many students you have taught etc.  " 3,14715,2016-08-27T19:09:17.000Z,524,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"Link Thanks @anon I have just added the link to http://puntozero.github.io/ and the number of students involved (about 150 this year). While seems easier to involve patients, patrons and makers in open discussion about innovation and shared practices, the world of education and professionals themselves should undergo a rethinking towards wide collaboration and practicing in communities in the fast changing, seamless and heterogenous world we all live in. " 4,20397,2016-08-29T20:19:15.000Z,524,anon784612129,anon3341622463,"Very interesting! I'm very interested in what you're describing. I know a couple of people in the med field, but have a different background (materials) myself. Usually I can also bring something to the table though. Off the cuff a couple of pointers that you might find interesting: - Medical experience / learning in war and peace are somewhat different (perhaps you can borrow approaches as is convenient) - Over time (and hierarchy levels) there is also quite a shift in approach to matters (look up e.g. Florence Nightingale or Ignaz Semmelweis) - I think there is a lot in the medical field which is extremely bad to codify in(to) written language but can be learned face to face. I would think a ""social network of people who went through your problems"" would be useful particularly in regard to doctor-patient info responsibilities (the doctor is pressed for time and may not be able to relate to a patients situation as well as a ""veteran"" from the network). " 5,23739,2016-09-12T21:58:30.000Z,524,anon2954219769,anon3341622463,"Great! I got excited reading your piece @anon Are there any particular sources of inspiration you use to come up with new ways of teaching? Have your experiments ever backfired? " 6,26035,2016-09-27T20:34:13.000Z,524,anon3895445472,anon3341622463,"Inspiring Really encouraging to read this, Frederico. I am involved in an emerging group (we call it Caring for Life) looking to acquire care homes in the UK and start to liberate the staff and transform the way care is given. Like you, we are inspired by an open paradigm of care giving, as well as stories of self-managing organisations such as Buurtzorg. It is early days yet but when we have got a bit further, it would be good to hear more about your work and  approach.   " 7,27809,2016-09-28T09:20:56.000Z,524,anon3341622463,anon3341622463,"Thanks to all of you for the fruitful comments I apologise for not replying immediately to your comments. You are all giving a double feedback: a) it's an emergent issue the re-working of professions given the BIG changes in the fields of knowledge and sharing at large: b) your comments are of inspiration in develoanon3606750899g a wider and/but keen strategy. Yes, there are some first outcomes: a) the open infrastructure was presented at EMEMITALIA,  the national congress on e-Learning that in Modena on september 6th
    b) next academic year will probably include 7 Master instead of 5 in a open infrastructure and tutors will be trained by a ""open"" approach; c) least but not last, three trainees (all nurses) are collaborating online to create emojis on healthcare, diagnosis and surgery issues. More to come... Seen your interest it might be useful to share some thoughts and network a bit on such perspective together in a videoconference perhaps..
     
     
    " 1,528,2016-09-01T10:27:34.000Z,528,anon4119893904,anon4119893904,"Despite an image of desperate, crumbling Greece that some people might have nowadays, those who investigate alternative economies and societies, those interested in self-organisation and changing the status quo recognize the country’s revolutionary role. One of the finest examples is SC!FY, a young organization based in Athens which in the course of four years managed to get a lot of stuff done. My brother, George (Giannakopoulos) has been an Artificial Intelligence researcher who has worked both in Greece and the North of Italy for quite a few years and has had programming and IT consulting experience for over 15 years in the industry. He has been collaborating with researchers from both sides of the Atlantic. What he was experiencing as a researcher, was beyond his imagination. He puts it nicely: ""EU is spending billions of euros in research projects. Consortia of research institutes and big EU companies receive huge amounts of money to produce amazing technologies. Technologies that need only a few months of work to become great, potentially life­changing products. But most of them remain unused for years within the walls of the institutes that produce them. It seems absurd, but rarely does anyone undertake the little work that is required to bring top notch scientific results to our everyday lives. It is also common that researchers simply cannot grasp the direct impact a technology they create can have on everyday life, if applied in a friendly, accessible way."" He wanted to see it change - and so in 2012 he founded an organisation with a mission to publish and transform that knowledge into ready to use solutions. He could not take it any longer. So, he and his cordial friend Vassilis (Salapatas) decided to bridge this gap between research and society. In 2012 they formed SciFY (Science For You), an Not for profit organization that does exactly this: take scientific results, and then form a community of entrepreneurs, volunteers, researchers and end users to build useful final products to solve everyday problems. And they offer them for free. To all. For the first two years we strategically decided to prove that we are serious about what we do, we are able to deliver and … that we are not crooks (since trust towards NGOs has been very low in Greece after some scandals) We also had to prove we are using freely available results (these are more and more common in EU, which requires many of the research it funds to publish their findings on the most open licenses possible). In the last 2,5 years, we’ve started looking for funding and this is when plenty of things got done. We have been awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic, we’ve built collaborations with most of the major Greek institutions - foundations, institutes, universities etc. We have a feeling that our impact is rather disproportionate compared to our size ;) But we really think this happens thanks to our focus on communities and our passion for getting things done. You can read about our work in our annual report for 2015. The model that we’ve introduced to our work is to create communities around each of the ideas from the very beginning. We’re also often asked to solve a particular problem by the very communities. This is one of the keys to our success - we’re surrounded by people who want to see and use the results of our work. And they’re actively taking part in the process. It helps us create a space where ideas, needs, oanon3606750899ions circulate and are being taken into account. SC!FY is working now in four domains - areas of interest. The first area of interest is care-related and it focuses on creating assistive technologies for people with disabilities, and on offering them for free (and under open source licences). Among these are games for blind children, which have been developed in collaboration with schools for the blind - they helped us design them, tested and now use them. The process allowed us to bring together blind and non-blind people to work together. These games have more than 3,500 downloads from all around the world, got much media attention - and we constantly get positive feedback from people using them. So we continue develoanon3606750899g more games for the bind. :-) We’ve also created a smartphone app called ICSee for people with low vision that applies special filters to the video captured by the phone’s camera and allows users to read a restaurant menu or signs on the door. It’s also available for free and under open source licences on Google Play.. We’re finishing the development of Talk and Play, a platform for people with motor disabilities, that will kick-off in late September. This application will help people who can’t move or talk to communicate with their environment, watch videos, listen to music, or play games that support their rehabilitation. We have created more solutions in this area, that you can find here. The second area of our work is e- democracy. In this strand, we’ve built an open source platform DemocracIT that supports the process of public consultation, which is theoretically common in Greece, but tedious in reality. We’ve tested it and presented to the governmental bodies. Besides, there is also ActiveCommons platform, which we’ve designed to foster collaboration for the common good between It caters organisations, NGOs and groups of people who want to change something and need an effective tool for collaboration. The third scope of our work is supporting civil society with our IT skills. One of the results of such collaborations is a volunteer management platform - available for free, as well. And finally, the fourth pillar of our work is the Artificial Intelligence business. One of the outcomes of our work is NewSum that produces automated news summaries, and works in many languages. Or PServer application, that helps you personalise other applications.   How do you cope with finding financing outside your own country? Do you struggle building or managing communities that could support your work and contribute towards making it time and cost effective? What are the obstacles you face in terms of accessing and using scientific research? Talk to us by leaving a comment.   " 2,9055,2016-09-02T14:21:05.000Z,528,anon1526983854,anon4119893904,"Interesting Thanks for the vote of confidence, @anon4119893904 _-_ SciFY . And thanks also for this great experience. I was trained as an economist, and I find it easiest to think about what you do in terms of fixing a market failure. In a perfectly functioning market, the stuff that is only a few months away from being productive would be immediately picked up by somebody who spots an opportunity for gain. What do you think causes the market failure? Why is it that you can look at a paper and see the opportunity, while others cannot?" 3,11657,2016-09-05T11:57:36.000Z,9055,anon4119893904,anon1526983854,"The gap Hi Alberto! The two main reasons are the following: - many (not to say most of the) players join consortia to submit proposals for EU funding, looking just for either cash, or for a way to complete ""deliverables"" with the minimum effort required. This attitude does not deliver actual usable results - Most researchers are not ""market-savvy"". Most of the times they think that, since a technology exists, the problem is solved. But nothing is farther than the truth! Turning a technology into a product that solves a problem,and creating a supporting community is an exciting but difficult venture!    That's the gap we found... " 4,14069,2016-09-20T12:20:39.000Z,528,anon1089184890,anon4119893904,"Turning a technology into a product Nice post @anon4119893904 - SciFY Id like to know more about how you do it (the report seems to be missing) thats why we propose the WeHandU initiative, Maanon1932026148 we could collaborate? How do you 'recruit' your 'clients'?" 5,20815,2016-09-27T18:54:56.000Z,528,anon3136355993,anon4119893904,"recover the lost space of ""participation"" and ""knowlege"" Hallo Vassili, over decades we lost our acces to knowlege, public decision making (if there was ever such a thing?) and there is much need to create a base for organizational intelligence and social decision making. There are some tools available like wikipedia and e-govenance, gut to difficult to manage for the broad society and often higly manipulated by ""editors"". To find a way for decisionmaking, maintaining bottom up decision making by meta-rules that can be adjusted in an iterative democratic manner and making wisdom available not driven by profit intersts. I wish you good luck, because your issues have a high priority for societal development and as well for a socio-economic development. Bert " 2,8292,2016-09-24T09:34:10.000Z,748,anon1526983854,,"Great work.. Super-interesting, @anon Can you say more about the legal and organizational structure of the Center? You write that it is ""completely self-organised place, depending exclusively on volunteers’ work"". But there must be a legal entity behind it, because, as you write ""When the Public Electricity Company cut the power in the hostel due to high debt, we reconnected the supply to our name"". Who do you mean by ""we"" in this sentence? Is there a registered Migrants Social Center NGO? I am asking because we found some highly effective groups in Greece who have no legal existence at all: they are just spontaneous aggregations of citizens. I guess your local social solidarity clinic is one of them, certainly there is one in Helliniko, in the Athens area, which we visited last year.  Good luck with your efforts! And just one more thing: I could not find a ""Donate"" link on your website (I can't read Greek, but you have Google Translate integration and a English home page).  " 4,15277,2016-09-24T15:22:08.000Z,748,anon1491650132,,"Is there a social solidarity clinic in Thessaloniki? Welcome on board, @anon Thanks! " 6,19323,2016-09-25T00:17:57.000Z,15277,anon4074474473,anon1491650132,"@anon @anon " 2,9381,2016-09-05T14:29:00.000Z,529,anon1491650132,,"Dramatherapy and other activities suitable? Hey, this village reads like a novel approach to mental wellbeing and its openness in the sense of free choice - ""in 8 days can experience nine different approaches in order to arrive at what is the most compatible with their own interests"". I  am wondering what exactly people do during the session - is dramatherapy happening or other sorts of activities? I'm reading on your English language website that you also did music therapy, playtherapy, therapeutic horseriding..? Did those work out the way you envisioned? Ping @anon " 4,14858,2016-09-13T07:52:00.000Z,529,anon1932026148,,"Need for a traumaspecialist? hello @anon I am a traumaspecialist (an integrative one, relying on the works of Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Pat Ogden, e.o). I provide workshops on trauma, supervision and individual traumatherapy in my Trauma Tour Bus. In the winter I want to help in the refugee camps in Greece - since that will be a volunteer job, I am looking for paid work in the region too ... Are there opportunities at your village? Thx for replying @anon " 6,23722,2016-09-22T10:52:19.000Z,529,anon818599741,,"Lasting effect Hi @anon What followup do you provide/offer to ensure longterm positive outcomes?     " 1,5881,2016-09-11T19:43:48.000Z,5881,anon1526983854,anon1526983854," About two months ago, we set out to convene a smart swarm of grassroots initiatives to renew health and social care. The idea was big and ambitious: cast communities  as care providers, alongside the state and private business. We had decided to run for a 100 million dollars grant, the MacArthur's Foundation 100&Change. But not as an organization. We would run as a smart swarm of grassroots initiatives around care. We have researched ""care by communities"" in the opencare project. We fancy ourselves experts in the field. But this new task was not research: it was design. How could all those independent local initiatives combine a in a tentative system-level solution? No way this could happen through scaling grassroots initiatives. They are so fast end efficient because they mobilize local resources: skills, mutual trust, capital, institutions. They should scale as far as these resources extend, but no further. No, what we needed was an ecosystem, an organic mosaic of local solutions. We needed to think like biologists, not like engineers.  There was only one problem: you can't design an ecosystems. Ecosystems evolve. They are so fast, efficient, diverse and beautiful precisely because no one agency controls them. Hell, they die if you try to control them too tightly. So, we did not try to design care by community at scale. Instead, we designed a context that speeds up mutation, adaptation, exchange (both cultural and economic) and selection of grassroots initiatives. The key is to hardcode incentives for them to want to interact. With no interactivity there is no ecosystem; if it does not have links, it's not a network. I hate application forms just as much as the next guy, but this one was a lot of fun. It felt right, honest. It is so strange that we could see no point in trying to bullshit the judges into selecting us. We are proposing something different, and scary, and exciting. If they go for it, better they go with their eyes wide open.  But there is something else that makes me think we are on the right track. This: everybody hates the grant cycle. It just does not work, and it has to go. Putting money on the table attracts the sharks as well as the good guys, and the sharks have an advantage: they don't care about the problems, they only need to please the grant giver. Grant givers know this, so they respond by putting in place rules and control systems to keep the sharks away. But of course the sharks mutate, camouflage. They go to the right conferences. They talk to funders. They pick up the exciting new concepts and ape them, turning them into hollow buzzwords. So the grant givers erect new barriers, and so on. The result is an arms race. The losers are the doers, who need to spend more and more time differentiating themselves from the parasites. Some of them even give up, focus more and more on getting the next grant, and become parasites themselves. In the grant cycle nobody can hear you scream. This won't happen in Open&Change. For two reasons.  First, there is no incentive to become a parasite. If we win, we win as a swarm. MacArthur will perceive the swarm, not the single organizations. Our best path to prosperity is to avoid mission drift, use the swarm to get our initiative off the ground, and never have to chase a grant again.  Second, we are not alone. We share the grant with hundreds of peers. They can and should be our partners, suppliers, clients, friends. The grant brings us together, instead of driving us apart in a competitive logic.  Against all the odds, I am quite upbeat about Open&Change. It feels like we are onto something. Judge for yourself: we have published a draft application form in Creative Commons. You are welcome to read, comment, and help make it better. If you are a potential competitor feel free to use it, but please do credit us, as per the terms of the license.  Learn more on Open&Change " 2,7659,2016-09-22T14:17:05.000Z,5881,anon4219214615,anon1526983854,"to me...this is philosophy put into action i see the seeds of complexity langiage transformed in a real approach. this is a music which i never heard before    this is a lot of academic gold transofmerd not into bla bla but in a real opportunity. i am not saying it is perfect, i am nto sayd it will be working ;-) but it is the best attempt i know  " 3,11098,2016-09-22T23:39:38.000Z,7659,anon1491650132,anon4219214615,"So useful to hear. We're in time to make it better, and run with similar stuff in the future!    " 1,740,2016-09-12T14:06:06.000Z,740,anon1932026148,anon1932026148,"I have been working as a trauma therapist since 10 years. It’s not an area that many psychotherapists decide to explore in their daily practice, but ever since I can remember it was the most appealing area of psychotherapy for me. And one that is highly unexplored and somehow underrepresented.   One of the reasons why I decided to try Trauma Tour is my exchange with a patient over Twitter. We’ve been talking online for a very long time about her experience, as she cannot come and see me in Belgium. And then I thought, I should be able to go and see her.   We, psychotherapists, stay in our daily practices. We don’t move. We don’t reach out and explain things to people. We do things with individuals - why not try to work with a group, and talk to a group? This is what I’d rather do. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.   Eventually I bought a bus. My very first tour this week goes to Ghent, where I already have connected with potential participants. It will be a chance for me to see in what ways I can connect with groups. How to talk to people about trauma? How to equip them with knowledge and capacity to deal with their own experiences? And what could  be a possible model for sustaining the project, as I really want to go far with my tour, reaching the Balkans, Greece, visit communities out there. Ultimately, I’d also like to volunteer in refugee camps and serve with my knowledge and experience there (I do work in an asylum center in Belgium once a week).   During the preparation for the tour I have realised there is a big interest in the topic already - people really want to know more about trauma. I’ve already taken a step towards promoting awareness and dealing with the problem - I wrote a book about trauma last year. The book became quite popular, and it’s now being translated from Dutch to English. It will be available in Janon169343781ary, and it is based on common licence, along with the exercises included. This decision is based on my view that psychological knowledge, and therapeutical knowledge, are all based on dozens of years of collective practice and wisdom accumulated which should be available to everyone without limitations, certifications, individualisation...   I need to extend my network now in order to connect with communities and groups that would like to host me. I could be travelling from one place to another this way, knowing there would be support and people to talk to. I need to figure out best ways to sustain myself - travelling for long would cost me my patients, and a source of income. If you’d like to give me a tip, share an idea, help me prepare the tour - leave a comment.   " 2,7567,2016-09-12T15:45:30.000Z,740,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"The wandering therapist Hello and welcome, @anon1932026148 ! This is a suggestive image: a therapist driving her bus into the sunset, looking for traumatized people to help out. I am curious as any previous attempts of dealing with trauma in groups. I know nothing about psychotherapy, but I do recall that this problem was met by army psychologists in wartimes. Too many traumatized soldiers, not enough therapists. Therapy had to be done in groups (and here is where Wilfred Bion's intellectual journey starts) . Has this stabilized into standard practice? As for supporting your activity as a wandering psychotherapist, I guess you are down to two possibilities: charge for your services, and hunt for grants. The first one is by far the better one, for you. Do you foresee any problem in charging patients? Have you run the numbers to figure out how much revenue do you need to generate?  " 3,11020,2016-09-12T16:51:25.000Z,7567,anon1932026148,anon1526983854,"Hello Alberto, Thank you for your comment. Group therapy is a quite common part of  a therapy programm in clinical setting (psychiatric hospitals). What I like to do though is help individuals and communities to enhance their knowledge about trauma and foster their resilience in the face of trauma. I am convinced that being 'trauma-informed' can help us all cope better with traumatic events in our lives and in the world. We need to talk about trauma and pain more openly. We need to adress trauma and pain more directly, not only in the setting of a psychotherapeutical process. As for the financial aspects of my touring, I would like to be able to work also with people with little or no ressources. So, I plan to combine normal charging with pay-what-you-can fees. I also plan touring and helanon3606750899g in the refugeecamps of the mediterranean area - that part of my tour needs funding. I did not find extra financial support yet ... but I hope I will soon!   " 4,12336,2016-09-12T23:22:43.000Z,11020,anon1526983854,anon1932026148,"Maanon1932026148 we can help? I really like the idea of a mixed model. We are now in the middle of a crazy operation to find support for about 150 care-related initatives. Maanon1932026148 you could be one of them?  Info: https://edgeryders.eu/en/openandchange-coordination/your-openandchange-application-process " 5,12813,2016-09-13T08:11:19.000Z,12336,anon1932026148,anon1526983854,"yes ! Yes, I am submitting :-) Fanon1056199097rs crossed ! " 6,13679,2016-09-18T15:28:27.000Z,7567,anon1088780966,anon1526983854,"models of group trauma management Hi @anon A couple of examples of previous models spring to mind: - People used Somatic Experiencing techniques with survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami, and with social service workers after Hurricane Katrina, with some success. Here's a nice TV spot on it being used in a group setting post-Japan earthquake. - Somatherapy was developed during the military junta in Brasil as a combination of psychotherapy, capoeira and anarchist theory. It favours use of enjoyable, play-based physical activities and emphasises placing individual mental health within the larger political context. Predictably enough, given my day job, my bias is towards body-based practices, or at least forms of psychotherapy that incorporate some aspect of physical engagement - I don't know if @anon1932026148 already incorporates these ideas in her practice, and in any case other forms of psychotherapeutic intervention are also very effective. But the advantages of this kind of approach, as I see it, are: - They engage with the somatic anchoring of trauma, bringing quick results. - The physical nature of the practices can help overcome language difficulties, which might be useful in a scenario like Calais. - They can be applied efficiently in a group setting - rather than waiting their turn to speak, everyone engages in the practices at once. - Because individuals can continue to use the exercises outside the therapy session, fewer sessions are necessary, meaning lower costs and/or more people can be seen. - Somatherapy in particular also emphasises the importance of group work as part of building a community of solidarity and support in the face of potentially oppressive political situations; moving beyond reliance on external care to develop personal and political assertiveness. Of course, acupuncture is also used extensively in relation to trauma, either alone or as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Organisations like World Medicine run multibed acupuncture projects in places affected by natural disasters, war and poverty. I know of at least one British acupuncturist treating people in the Calais camp, but perhaps @anon   " 7,13769,2016-09-18T15:49:58.000Z,13679,anon1932026148,anon1088780966,"Thx @anon1088780966 for your comment. As for the somatic apporach, I totally agree. I often use somatic experiencing, especially for chock trauma. Before going to Calais, I need to look up soms good group exercices for the volunteers. Suggestions welcome. " 8,14937,2016-09-13T20:40:40.000Z,740,anon3325826017,anon1932026148,"Connecting you with @anon Hi @anon1932026148, have you read the story of @anon https://edgeryders.eu/en/village-psy-encounters-in-psychotherapy " 9,17335,2016-09-14T06:25:10.000Z,14937,anon1932026148,anon3325826017,"Hello Pavlos, thx. Yes I already read their story and and also the one of Aravella Salonikidou, I left a message for both of them and am waiting for their response. Looks like in Greece a lot of people are doing good work :-)         " 10,20332,2016-09-14T08:00:01.000Z,740,anon1491650132,anon1932026148,"Are there cultural differences to account for? @anon1932026148 I'm happy to meet you, my name is Noemi and while I haven't dealt with the issue at all, maanon1932026148 this is silly to ask: but I'm wondering if people in different places have own preferences to express themselves, or if language can be an obstacle? Have you tried getting in touch with Médecins Sans Frontières for a collaboration? I was reading about them offering psychological first aid, but apparently there are not nearly enough people on the ground. " 11,21964,2016-09-14T09:13:03.000Z,20332,anon2829317260,anon1491650132,"Connecting with local entities en route Dear @anon1932026148 - it's great to hear of your initiative! Following up on Noemi's suggestion - I agree that local organizations/groups/individuals on your trail could also be insightful in identifying groups in need of your services, offer insights on any cultural differences, or support you in a number of other ways (including in overcoming language barriers if existant). I was wondering if you have considered mapanon3606750899g your desired/planned route to facilitate connecting with local groups/individuals before you arrive - maanon1932026148 a very basic online map? I think it could facilitate reaching out to people on the route and could have potential as a planning tool.   " 12,22569,2016-09-14T10:48:47.000Z,21964,anon1932026148,anon2829317260,"indeed a good plan needs a map Thx @anon Ps Where are you living, maanon1932026148 I can come along and meet you? " 13,23874,2016-09-14T09:03:19.000Z,740,anon1932026148,anon1932026148,"I am another you, you are another me @anon1491650132e, thx for thinking along with me. In my experience (I work in a refugee center in Belgium) there are cultural differences, of course. But aside these differences, we all share humanity and the fact that, in some way or another, we all are familiar with pain, with trauma. Not sharing the same language can be difficult too, but I've helped many people talking in a language that is neither their not my mother language. Also, communication is larger than words: expression, visual support, eye contact and even touch can be means of understanding and helanon3606750899g too. When their is no common language, I work with a translator sometimes too. As for Medecins sans frontières, I applied for a position in the field - but was not accepted. Like many 'traditional' NGO's they have quite rigid and out-of-date conditions of admission - like requiring a master degree in psychology. I have a master in philosophy, 4 years of study in psychotherapy and a specialisation in psychotraumatalogy plus 10 years of experience. Nevertheless I do not meet the 'official' requirements. The recognition of psychotherapy as a valid profession is a complex issue and one that is colonized in Belgium by the medical professions, which is the mean reason why people like me, highly skilled psychotherapists,  are not recognized as such. It is a pity that organisations like MsF follow mainstream politics regarding this issue. " 14,24948,2016-09-14T10:53:59.000Z,23874,anon1491650132,anon1932026148,"Whoa. One reads about NGOs becoming institutions and not in a good way. This is very hard to digest in the real world, since your mission is supposedly to fix a problem. Sorry to hear about that unfortunate experience, we will be on the lookout for other options. " 15,26040,2016-09-15T16:36:39.000Z,740,anon477123739,anon1932026148,"Hello and welcome @anon1932026148. Thanks for sharing your story. I know for certain that your experience and skills would be really useful to the volunteer organisations working down at the Calais refugee camp. Many volunteers have been working out there for the last year and there is a real need for access to professional mental health care.  It will be required even more when the French Authorities start their planned clearance of the camp. At the moment we do not know when this will happen. But the volunteers current support nearly 10000 refugees on the camp and will probably put their lives on the line to help protect the refugees and their things during the eviction. It will certainly be highly emotional and very fraught. " 16,26955,2016-09-16T20:21:27.000Z,26040,anon1932026148,anon477123739,"@anon I would be happy to be of help for the Calais volunteers. How could we organise it? What do they need? Information about trauma and about helanon3606750899g traumatized people? 'Help with 'secondary' traumatisation (being traumatized by the suffering of others)? An in which way would it be doable - a workshop or a bring-your-questions informal  conversation? Should we provide time for individual help too?How many people are involved? I could come over for a day or two, or tree in october of november, before touring to the south. I am fluent in EN, DE, FR and NL. Would it be a good idea to skype and talk things through?   " 17,27318,2016-09-16T20:22:49.000Z,26955,anon477123739,anon1932026148,"Absolutely I suggest a Skype call early next week. Perhaps Tuesday. you can email me alexalevene[at]gmail[.]com I'm no longer at the camp but i can definitely put you in contact with the best people to organise with. I know they would be really greatful if you could go along for a few days.  The best use would probably be to spend a day talking to the management team and helanon3606750899g them develop an ongoing practice. Then a couple of days running large group training the daytime and one-to-one sessions in the evening. There are a lot of people there who have a lot of different personal mental health issues. Its probably a better use of your time to focus on this 'secondary' trauma, rather than working with people who have experienced it. Alex " 18,27567,2016-09-17T12:59:01.000Z,26955,anon1932026148,anon1932026148,"ok sounds like a good plan already I just send you an email. My mailadress is anon1932026148@anon   " 19,27812,2016-09-16T07:37:48.000Z,740,anon1089184890,anon1932026148,"Collaboration idea Hi @anon What do you think? " 20,28464,2016-09-16T20:22:50.000Z,27812,anon1932026148,anon1089184890,"@anon " 21,28733,2016-09-20T13:22:38.000Z,28464,anon1089184890,anon1932026148,"I'd love to exchange informations Dear @anon Others wanting to join, please send me a message.   " 22,29075,2016-09-22T10:49:46.000Z,740,anon818599741,anon1932026148,"Trauma healing for first responders Hi @anon " 1,694,2016-05-31T23:00:10.000Z,694,anon3925358310,anon3925358310,"“Don’t assume a person with a disability is easily offended.”                                                                                      —“Disability Etiquette” from Wikipedia.    At the beginning of the research, we asked ourselves, “What is disability?”According to Cerebral Palsy: A Guide for Care by Bachrach Miller, the terms regarding disability are defined as such: “Impairment is the correct term to use to define a deviation from normal, such as not being able to make a muscle move…Disability is the term used to define a restriction in the ability to perform a normal activity of daily living which someone of the same age is able to perform. … Handicap is the term used to describe a child or adult who, because of the disability, is unable to achieve the normal role in society commensurate with his age and socio-cultural milieu…All disabled people are impaired, and all handicapped people are disabled, but a person can be impaired and not necessarily be disabled, and a person can be disabled without being handicapped.”[1] Nowadays, more and more people begin to pay attention to how to address people with disabilities. The use of “people-first language”* in English aims to “avoid the subconscious dehumanization when discussing people with disabilities”[2]. However, as the researches continue and after we interviewed a few people with disabilities, we soon realized that language is not really a problem. Every person we interviewed all said that the word “disability” doesn’t bother them at all and they don’t mind being called “disabled” because it is a fact. (Interview with Raul Krauthausen by @anon So here is the question, if the language / term / vocabulary doesn't matter as much as we think, where does the problem really lies? Another example would be: why is it okay to say someone has dark hair but not okay to say someone is a gay or someone is a black especially in the western countries? It is because people who used these terms earlier in the history had a strong prejudice and discrimination in mind. In the end, language was created to describe things as how they are. There is nothing wrong with language itself if people don’t think otherwise to begin with. Could it be that some of us—people without physical disabilities—think that the current terms we use are offensive is because we are subconsciously offending them in the first place? So the question is not how to change the language, or other visible things. The question is how we can change people’s oanon3606750899ion.        * For example: use “a person with a vision impairment” instead of “a blind person” 1.http://gait.aidi.udel.edu/gaitlab/cpGuide.html 2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People-first_language   This is a group project on going \#able with @anon " 2,8596,2016-06-01T06:01:03.000Z,694,anon1491650132,anon3925358310,"Changing from the inside @anon3925358310 hi! Are you working with @anon You might want to get in touch with members in Milano for a slightly different problem and approach - they zoomed in on the problem of wheelchair mobility and how disabled people can't push their own wheelchairs and be on their own. Better designed wheelchairs would ideally increase one's autonomy and freedom to move. It takes out of the equation the need to be accompanied at any step, which is after all a practical reality identified by the group in discussions and something which can affect how others treat you.  It would be interesting to study how perspective differ - what goes on in people's heads when they see someone helped versus when they see someone being on their own. Not sure how much it ties with your (more educational) approach, but as a learning point here's the idea where you can get in touch for more info. " 3,11460,2016-06-01T22:12:04.000Z,8596,anon3925358310,anon1491650132,"Hi @anon Yes, I am working on the same project with @anon   " 4,13939,2016-08-23T12:31:29.000Z,694,anon1089184890,anon3925358310,"ICF Are you aware of the huge international work on ICF? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Classification_of_Functioning,_Disability_and_Health " 5,19688,2016-09-20T10:09:18.000Z,694,anon3895445472,anon3925358310,"Reminds me of how people respond to death I found this an interesting read. I remember meeting someone recently, an ex-soldier, who lost her leg in Iraq. Initially I felt awkward about acknowledging the (obvious) fact of her disability - but once I started talking to her, it felt natural to ask her whether she was still able to go running (something she had said she used to enjoy). Actually she said that her false limb was so good that she could still enjoy running. It felt very good to talk ina natural way about her disability. In speaking to her, I was encouraged by a memory of my experience many years ago, when someone close to me died. Afterwards, many close friends found it really difficult to talk about it with me - yet I was more than happy to talk about it, indeed it felt very unnatural not to. I suppose, in some ways, grief is a form of disability... Anyway, thank for posting. " 6,23507,2016-09-20T17:02:57.000Z,694,anon477123739,anon3925358310,"Interesting idea Patrick ""grief is a form of disability..."" I think this is a very interesting suggestion Patrick, that may benefit from great insight. I also read a very interesting acticle about how it is often harnessed by communities to help deliver change as well: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/cover_story/2016/09/pulse_and_the_power_of_lgbtq_grief.html Well worth a read " 1,671,2016-04-25T15:12:08.000Z,671,anon1088780966,anon1088780966,"Having worked at SourcePoint Community Acupuncture on Dartmoor in the South-West of the UK last year, I'm currently in the process of setting up my own clinic in a town nearby. Community/multibed acupuncture, if you are not familiar with it, is a new model of acupuncture provision based on the multibed model common in China and Japan. Costs are lower because multiple patients can be treated at the same time, in the same space (in the US, reclining garden chairs are commonly used to keep equipment costs even lower, as in the picture above). This is possible because this style of acupuncture mostly uses distal points on the arms and legs (no undressing required) and, after insertion and manipulation, the needles are left in to continue working for 20 minutes while the next patient is seen. [And if you are unfamiliar (or dubious) about what traditional acupuncture can treat, here are some research summaries from the British Acupuncture Council.] This area of the UK has a lot of rural poverty. The town in question used to be a centre of the textiles industry and still has associated businesses, but now is mostly well-known for being poor, backward and depressed in comparison to nearby Exeter or Taunton. A walk down the high street reals the unholy trifecta of economic malaise, high levels of obesity, ill-health and disability, and that indefinable loss of spirit in a town that convinces every young person of passion or ambition to leave the area at the earliest opportunity. The main message is that Community Multibed Acupuncture can be an incredibly powerful intervention in an area like this. The effect seems to come from a combination of: 1) Effective health care - I've lost count of the number of patients who have come in with stories of months or years of expensive National Health Service treatments that made no difference to their conditions, who then see a large reduction in their symptoms after only one or two acupuncture treatments. (Moves to provide acupuncture on the NHS over the last decades have been faltering and half-hearted, and are now suffering from a pushback against anything considered 'alternative' or 'optional' - which is a shame, as it could save the NHS millions). 2) Humane treatment - unlike the increasingly isolating and interventionist treatments common in industrial healthcare, the effectiveness of traditional acupuncture shows patients that good health can often be achieved through minimal intervention, through working with the body rather than against it, through self-help, and lifestyle and dietary changes. Demonstrating that a more humane approach to health is possible starts people thinking about what else they need to question. 3) Collective treatment - something about the nature of receiving shared treatment with other people seems to have an effect on people. Perhaps it cuts through the common Western idea of illness as something private, secret and shameful - whatever it is, sharing one's vulnerability and the act of seeking support and help with other community members seems to have a profound psychological charge. 4) Affordability - although health care is free ('at the point of use') in the UK, it is, in effect, rationed; waiting lists are getting longer again, and many NHS trusts are effectively bankrupt. C&MACs offer a form of healthcare without the expensive pharmaceuticals, electronics and salaried consultants. Most either offer a reduced rate (e.g. £20) or a sliding scale (e.g. £10-30, where you pay what you want). [I've found problems with both models - resistance to the idea of a sliding scale is very common, and often leads users to undervalue what is being offered. Given that it has taken the District Council 2 months (at this time of counting) to respond to what should be a simple request for licensing, and given that the licence terms for this district are insanely onerous, I have found a degree of freedom and enjoyment in simply offering treatments for free and explaining to patients what sort of average donation is necessary to keep the clinic open.] If all kinds of healthcare were funded equally, acupuncture would prove massively more cost-effective than many 'mainstream' modalities - not to mention less energy-intensive and ecologically-damaging. 5) Knock-on effects - people who come to the clinic see flyers and posters for other events while they are there. They buy a coffee in the cafe upstairs and bump into other people they know. They go into other shops seeing as they are in town already. People who had given up on the town are excited that something like this would happen there. Maanon1932026148 some people even wonder whether there is something they could do to get things happening in the local area. These are effects that are common to any community venture, many of which other ERs have mentioned elsewhere. As with education, art, reskilling, etc, the fact that users of the service are making positive changes in their lives, and are already feeling the benefit of being involved, seems to snowball this effect even more strongly. " 2,8207,2016-04-25T21:50:03.000Z,671,anon1526983854,anon1088780966,"""Community"" Hello @anon1088780966, welcome back! It's been a while.  I am not sure about acupuncture as such. On the other hand, I am very intrigued by what your model adds to acupuncture. You add:
    • Humane treatment. On this I have to disagree with Steven Novella. He says: ""All good doctors are empathetic and patient-centered."" And this is true, but it misses the point. Because most doctors work in systems which are not humane at all – and can't be, because they run on an industrial age paradigm. They derive efficiency from scale and standardization, and that requires patients are treated as production batches in manon169343781facturing. Many doctors absolutely hate this, but it's the only game in town. Acupuncture is out of this system, and therefore it can afford to at least try to be humane.
    •  Collective treatment and destigmatization. No brainer.
    • Affordability – always a good thing.
    It seems to me these are tenets of anything we can rightfully call open care.  Another interesting data point you have found is about licensing and regulation. Is two months a long time to get a license in the UK? If so, what do you think is going on, and how could it be fixed? (I don't buy knock-on effects really, because you'd have them also if you administered any other treatment than acupuncture (as well as not delivered in the patient's home).  " 3,11945,2016-08-22T11:22:06.000Z,8207,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"No Humane ghost in the machine Hello @anon1088780966 and @anon We often simplistic talks about good doctors. They have suffered the longest & toughest study and taken the Hippocratic oath. Only good people invest their intelligence and life so ‘insanely’, instead of pursuing personal wealth. Lately I’ve been several times patient(ly) at (4) hospitals. 95 % of the time you wait, pay tickets, try to get the right documents and wait for someone to (re)-type (using only the indexfanon1056199097r) your anagraphical details (already electronically registered). 5 % of the time a healthcare professional is actually seeing you. That time is again divided into 20% waiting for the doctor to read your documentation and check that you paid the ticket etc. 10% the actual examination/intervention 60% waiting for the DOCTOR to TYPE (with maanon1932026148 2 index fanon1056199097rs) your diagnosis/report in the secret language: docterish 10% where (s)he explain/discuss with you.   0.5% (10%*5%) of the time you feel some human treatment!!! 99.5% (100%-0.5%) you are just frustrated waiting for your final hour.  
    • I wonder: Before computers the doctors had a secretary doing paperwork and the doctor used his expertice 100% to speak and treat the patient. Who remembers if this is true?
    • claim: doctors are equally frustrated because they are not typists or bureaucrats and wants to do what they are trained to do. Cure
    • I accuse: Technocrats that have made healthcare more ‘efficient’ by buggy information technology. Legislators by substituting common sense and the hippocratic oath with rules, disclaimers, useless consent forms, lawsuits and barriers between professionals. US ALL for electing the people continuing this process of alienation of the patient and healthcare providers.   
    • I support: incubating open care initiatives
    " 4,12427,2016-08-30T17:55:50.000Z,11945,anon1061021150,anon1089184890,"@anon Last times were absurd to an extent that the doctor wouldn't even tell me what he thinks is wrong until I asked - and then the questions about medication followed, with an ironic response: oh, so you're interested in drugs?  I don't know what these doctors are actually frustrated with. I guess an inhumane amount of patients to see every day might be one of the reasons. Still, I would suggest there is a huge lack of empathy training during their studies and work, and maanon1932026148 this is why they're incapable of approaching their patients in a more personal, compassionate manner.  " 5,12857,2016-08-30T21:04:51.000Z,12427,anon1089184890,anon1061021150,"Extremely interesting Hmm, @anon " 6,13062,2016-08-31T08:24:28.000Z,12857,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Great idea ... and great discussion. Something to think about for the second year of OpenCare. A collaborative map of waiting vs. being given health care and empathy? Nice artifact. The idea of ""rules instead of Hippocratic oath => bad"" is intuitively very appealing. I think @anon " 7,13150,2016-08-31T08:47:50.000Z,13062,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Also: studying interventions for increased empathy I would be interested to see if some interventions can trigger more emphatetic treatments and how that affects patient wellbeing. Things like ""Hello my name is..."" campaign for practitioners to be more humane, or the other day I was reading about inserting empathy in the medical studies - ""What Medical Residents Learn from Art Museums"".  These things don't feel too sophisticated things to do for apparently very high returns. We all seem to agree that ""more empathetic"" is better for patients wellbeing, not just satisfaction which is more obvious.  " 8,13306,2016-08-30T21:15:14.000Z,12427,anon1089184890,anon1061021150,"ask you to try it out @anon A: It worked            B: It did'nt work. Was it due to chance or attributed to treatment? If everybody reported the result systematically it would be easy to identify best treatment. Unfortunately this info gets lost and nobody learns. This leaves it to the bias of where money gets invested for clinical trials. Another reason for a  review system.      " 9,13333,2016-08-31T14:04:58.000Z,13306,anon1061021150,anon1089184890,"Yes, you're right. Although some of my dermatologists I've seen plenty of times over years - they just kept on trying things on me, instead of looking for some other reasons why their treatment didn't work (probably they didn't address the issue at its core). Anyhow, then I have learned an interesting thing about prescribing people tests. It turns out in Poland each doctor is given a number of tests he can prescribe to people: blood, sugar, more sophisticated ones. BUT, if the doesn't spend them all, he gets PAID for each test he didn't give out. Anyway, it's just one of the pathologies of the system I've discovered - as my family is full of doctors, every time I open the discussion I am more and more stunned by how badly it was designed.  I am not enough of a sample I am afraid - I could only bring a couple of stories:) " 10,15329,2016-04-26T12:13:00.000Z,671,anon1088780966,anon1088780966,"yep Thanks, @anon But as the era of individualised medicine gathers steam, this is something that all forms of healthcare are going to have to grapple with. 2 months is an extremely long time (2 weeks would be more usual). I won't bore you with the details, but essentially, acupuncturists are licensed at the local level in the UK alongside tattooists and body piercers (which have far greater risks of injury, blood-borne contamination, etc, and are, clearly, not any kind of healthcare) - and are thus entirely at the mercy of whatever inappropriate regulations the district council chooses to impose. As I said, the knock-on effects are common to any such grassroots community project - but I do think that there is a particular momentum that comes from the project delivering a treatment that directly makes people feel emotionally and physically better; and, of course, the community clinic model is unique to acupuncture because you can't treat multiple patients at once with most other modalities! " 11,18017,2016-04-30T19:54:23.000Z,15329,anon1491650132,anon1088780966,"Can you easily go unnnoticed then? Hi @anon1088780966, Just to thank you for the contribution and to say I'm intrigued by what it means that you're operating while waiting for a license, is it dangerous or do you risk anything? Or is it more a matter of time.. and you will get it anyway, be in the books etc? Ever since we heard about the volunteers led clinic in suburban Athens and the potentially many similar ones, it makes you wonder what it is about these grey areas in between formality and informality. Maanon1932026148 involving people who are not health professionals in the system definition is a requisite for the kind of services you mention - precisely because the ones from the system are too trapped in it to get out alone." 12,18202,2016-05-07T10:52:16.000Z,18017,anon1088780966,anon1491650132,"Stepanon3606750899g outside the commercial model Hi @anon Well, working on a donation basis was my nod to being a non-commercial entity, which (as far as I know) means the clinic is not subject to licensing - similarly to people who volunteer in hospices, addiction recovery centres etc. I am conflicted on this - on the one hand, I recognise that some degree of regulation of healthcare is probably desirable to avoid malpractice and protect patients (or at least it was desirable before networked reputation economies became a possibility - who knows what alternative models might be possible now?). On the other hand, I was certainly struck by the degree to which stepanon3606750899g outside the commercial model of delivery freed me up to do things differently. It's also made it far easier to get 'buy-in' from the community so that they think of it as something that belongs to them, that they can collaborate with. The terms of interaction defined by our habits of commercial consumption go deep, and having some way to differentiate yourself from it seems very important in encouraging people to thnk and act differently. " 13,18617,2016-05-09T13:57:06.000Z,18202,anon1491650132,anon1088780966,"So some regulatory framework is needed.. While building trust in the service while ofering affordability and humane treatment is definitely a plus, the questions remains and it's for us to try to answer in the future looking at stories like yours (which is what OpenCare community essentially does): what happens when a number of such care services become available? We have great insights, yet risk running completely unprotected. The more they grow effective or meet a growing demand, the more attention they draw, the more concurential they become, the more they risk being antagonised by systems on more-or-less valid concerns. Uber being exhibit A..  @anon4116418727 maanon1932026148 has more interesting insights as to minium criteria which can make health services like these legit from system's perspective. " 14,18887,2016-08-22T18:16:17.000Z,18617,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"Good stuff for Can we afford to neglect this issue? link: Can we afford to neglect this issue? " 15,19025,2016-05-09T18:32:58.000Z,18202,anon1526983854,anon1088780966,"Great discussion guys! @anon1088780966, @anon Here's what I'm reading.
    1. Like other people in the space we are calling open care (small letters: the concept, not the project), you, @anon1088780966, are rewiring care services as community-driven. Your way to do so is the donation model. The Helliniko crowd's is the refuse to incorporate. What different ways have in common is this: they build trust and style these services as community-driven, and the communities as the owners. They also sidestep regulation, perceived as stifling. @anon
    2. Such radical thinking frees up creativity and enable bottom-up emergence of more care in society.
    3. However, it also means you guys are very vulnerable. Noemi is right on the money: if an ""Uber for health"" were to emerge, it would be sued into a smoking hole at the first signs of scaling. Which makes me think that not scaling is a better solution for survivability of open care: sueing thousands of small initiatives is harder and more costly than going for the one Uber. Hmmm.
    4. But Noemi is proposing regulation as some kind of shelter for these initiatives. Would this work? To a first approximation, I am doubtful. Uber has access to legal advice, and they undoubtedly ran checks on their model before going live. But then they get sued. The sueing party claims that something in that model should be interpreted like something else already in the legal system. For example ""an Uber driver is like the employee of a taxi company"" or ""if you rent out your spare room on Airbnb you become a hotel"". If it wins the case (as it tends to do), then the sentence becomes a precedent. European version: lobbyists get the law change the way they want it. So, these innovative, disintermediating solutions start off as legal, but then they are made illegal as they begin scaling. 
    All of which is pretty depressing, I must admit. Hope you guys can contradict me :-) " 16,19048,2016-08-31T14:45:00.000Z,19025,anon1061021150,anon1526983854,"In my oanon3606750899ion te cases against Uber and Airbnb are valid even if I love the ideas behind them. Uber is getting sued for not providing their drivers with essential support: health care, insurance, repair costs while being free to bring down the prices. And as Google is joining the race, prices will go down. Another problem with Uber is its hunger for monopolizing the markets around - which hopefully will be stopped as well, although this will happen most likely thanks to other giants.  About Airbnb, you are entitled to rent a spare room where you live - the case is against fake sharing, de facto homes and apartments that were emptied so the owners would make money on short term rentals. This changes the landscape of the city and has huge, negative effects.  probably the difference between scaling and monopolizing markets is one of the criteria here. These startups lost the reasonable idea of scale and infranon1056199097d territories. Hotels and taxi corporation will protect their share and lobby against these companies, which doesn't need to be good in results. But these battles amplified processes in the urban spaces which could have been happening more quietly before, and that's good. And made people think about sharing and new ways of the economy. Built trust.  I think the key here is not to let one giant to emerge, but to allow organic replicas to provide similar offers in their environments, without overarching the whole globe with a great huge fix. If the efforts remain decentralized, scattered, but also adapted to local needs and problems, I can't see a way in which this model would be bad (of course. pharmaceutical companies and other parties interested in ridiculing anything's that out of the system will try to fight it and there will be a need of great success stories that can be told to the people in order to change their attitudes towards alternative approaches to care. Maanon1932026148 it's not even too late, herbal medicine didn't completely disappear...) or harmful. I believe there should be manon169343781als and ways to ensure people providing help are capable of doing it, however, what kind of manon169343781als and to what extent, I have yet no idea.  " 17,19056,2016-09-09T18:25:00.000Z,19048,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"Non-profit non-regulated health providers difft from Uber @anon @anon " 18,19066,2016-09-10T10:44:08.000Z,19056,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Amen to that Agree with most everything @anon " 19,19386,2016-08-22T11:24:47.000Z,15329,anon1089184890,anon1088780966,"Evidence based medicine @anon " 20,19471,2016-08-22T19:44:17.000Z,19386,anon1088780966,anon1089184890,"acupuncture evidence Hi @anon True, acupuncture is largely regarded as 'alternative' - at least in the West; it is integrated into mainstream healthcare in China and other East Asian countries, and increasingly in places like Israel and Australia. I would put it a bit differently - it has not been 'becoming' evidence-based in the sense of people changing how they practice. It is more a case of practitioners, who have ample experience of the effectiveness of the treatments in their own practices, looking to find ways to produce acceptable evidence to back this up so it will be more widely accepted by the mainstream. As with all physical interventions, this is not easy! You can't really run a double-blind control study on a physical therapy where the patient can feel whether it's being done or not, and a lot of the resistance to accepting acupuncture involves either rejecting all the 'lesser' forms of evidence for its effectiveness, or designing 'sham' studies that don't really take into account how acupuncture works. All that said, there is still a lot of evidence for its effectiveness for a variety of conditions. The Acupuncture Now Foundation have an accessible summary here: https://acupuncturenowfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ANFwhitepaper2016.pdf Or you can look at their research page - https://acupuncturenowfoundation.org/doctors/studies/ - or at the factsheets on the BAcC website: http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/category/a-to-z-of-conditions/a-to-z-of-conditions.html I have Chinese colleagues who like to point out that this is just the tip of the iceberg - there are literally thousands of positive studies from China [and Japan, and Taiwan, and South Korea, if you're worried about the quality of communist science] that have never been translated into English... I don't have any evidence of the effectiveness of my own treatments specifically, though! I can't afford to hire a medical research team, so I'm reliant on the already-existing body of evidence and theory. :) " 21,19479,2016-09-20T15:14:40.000Z,19471,anon1089184890,anon1088780966,"EBM Dear @anon What I'm getting at here is that OpenCare should also consider establish a serious approach with double scope: avoiding infiltration of quackery and protect us from accusations of quackery.   What I'm asking the community for is to contribute with ideas of how to implement EBM in our approach, as in your clinic? What I think we can offer each other within OpenCare is the solution to ""can't afford to hire a medical research team"", surely we have the skills in this comunity.  So lets help each other. I've started a cook book over here   " 22,20523,2016-05-12T10:18:54.000Z,671,anon2656437829,anon1088780966,"Insight? I'm not familiar with the project and do not really immiedetly see what my contributon should be. References to previous insights on how private services are more customer oriented than public? " 23,22025,2016-05-12T10:28:23.000Z,20523,anon1526983854,anon2656437829,"Stealth mode No, other examples of care services that rewire themselves so as to (1) establish themselves as ""owned"" by the community and (2) bypass stifling regulation.  " 24,24458,2016-09-18T15:59:18.000Z,671,anon1932026148,anon1088780966,"traumatapanon3606750899g @anon1088780966, as an acupuncturist, do you know this tapanon3606750899g technique: http://peacefulheart.se/trauma-tapanon3606750899g-technique and do you think it is effective? " 25,25198,2016-09-18T16:35:07.000Z,24458,anon1088780966,anon1932026148,"tapanon3606750899g I haven't come across that exact technique - a quick google suggests it is a modified version of EFT suitable for people with more acute trauma. What I have heard from colleagues [and here] is that these tapanon3606750899g techniques work, but mostly because the tapanon3606750899g helps to distract/reorient the system to allow the trauma to be released, rather than because it is a specifically effective sequence of acupuncture points. That said, acupuncture points are areas that initiate particularly high physiological responses, so if you are going to be tapanon3606750899g yourself, arguably you might as well do it on acupuncture points to get an even better effect. And doing a sequence of points in all the areas of the body will ensure that no forgotten area retains the tension of the trauma. In short - it's probably worth giving it a try! " 2,9932,2016-06-09T05:48:07.000Z,506,anon1491650132,,"Documenting your design process.. .. looks like a very thorough work! It's incredible that none of these people seems to be cooks, and yet they are so knowledgeable about what cooking brings to one's life - and how that's a part of living a good, peaceful life.     " 3,15186,2016-06-27T09:15:37.000Z,506,anon4259720994,,"I can only emphasize the importance of shared cooking in communities, it's an essential part of socializing in Marrakech, Morocco where people gather in parks in the evenings and bring their tagine out to cook and mingle while enjoying the cool breeze from the Atlas mountains... " 4,17460,2016-06-27T11:36:17.000Z,15186,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Do you see diversity there? Heya, is this about the culture of going out or more of a policy or project for bringing people together? " 5,18382,2016-06-28T12:17:19.000Z,17460,anon4259720994,anon1491650132,"Hey @anon When people go to the countryside for weekends/holidays, they always take the clay pots to cook their own food in the nature...even though there are restaurants available everywhere.  " 1,725,2016-08-25T12:12:58.000Z,725,anon2267190817,anon2267190817,"The United Nations think that health care is the nub to development, and the forerunner to any of the other Sustainable Development Goals; that is for a country, or a continent...or Africa to develop strongly, there must be sound healthcare system first. I think that there are many suffering in Africa because of the unaffordable, inaccessible, and inadequate health care system, and I think that in order to keep the tolls of death low, perhaps people don’t need to wait for a revolution to the health sector, maanon1932026148 what we need is an easily accessible, and affordable health alternative. Because of the many polluted rivers, African children die daily from diarrhea. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that 2,195 children die EACH DAY from diarrhea. Due to the unaffordable health care system, many diabetic sufferers die without receiving proper medication or medical attention. Hence, many African countries like my country, Nigeria, have one of the highest diabetic sufferers and deaths. My name is Ivan Ezeigbo. I am 20 years old, and currently a sophomore at Minerva Schools at KGI, California, USA. I was inspired by Monica Marcu’s book, The Miracle Tree, to research with a team back in Nigeria on the blood regulatory power of the contents of the leaves of a very medicinal plant. It is a herbal plant that has just drawn a lot of attention in its potential to cure over three hundred ailments. This is the Moringa Oleifera. We experimented on Wistar albino rats. The idea was to inject alloxan intraperitoneally to all groups of Wistar albino rats with healthy working pancreas (alloxan increases blood sugar level, thus inducing hyperglycaemia or making them “pseudo-diabetic”). The bioactive agents of moringa leaves were extracted with ethanol and water, and two groups of the rats were treated each with these contents. An additional group was treated with synthetic insulin (insulin is a natural blood regulatory hormone that brings down blood sugar level), and all three groups were observed. We discovered that the group of Wistar albino rats treated with the bioactive agents of the moringa leaves extracted with water had a SIGNIFICANTLY SIMILAR blood sugar level as those treated with synthetic insulin, and less significant with those treated with ethanol. This unearthened two truths. First, moringa has powerful blood regulatory effects, almost equivalent to the natural insulin. Secondly, water is a better extraction agent than ethanol, unlike the case for many other plant leaves. Aside its blood regulatory power, moringa also cures diarrhea, and many other bacterial and fungal infections. It is also a healthy store for numerous nutrients, vitamins and amino acids. It also thrives very well in these tropical regions of Africa, especially the Southern Nigeria. Armed with this knowledge, I took up the entrepreneurial project of making moringa teas using tea bags because this would not only help a lot of poor people in Nigeria, and Africa in general, who cannot afford or obtain quality health care, but would be a cheap and accessible way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, since water is a good extraction agent for moringa, moringa teas would provide consumers the maximal health benefits. Even though, I have not had the necessary funding and have been self-funding this project, my motivation to help people live longer and healthier has kept this dream going, and I have not tired out in bringing this to fruition. I am still conducting researches and experiments on my tea, and I have just purchased about two plots of land for moringa farming. I would still need to set up an industry where these teas will be processed. This is good news to diabetic sufferers in Africa; it is good news to poor children and families in Africa who cannot afford quality health care. This is good news to hypertensive patients and the obese. This is good news to Africa. My dream is that this project greatly lowers mortality rate in Africa, and if we are not being too optimistic, perhaps...just perhaps, we may begin to realize stronger development. A link to the paper we published on the experiment with Wistar albino rats: http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.diabetes.20160503.02.html " 2,7535,2016-08-27T10:15:12.000Z,725,anon1526983854,anon2267190817,"Great work! Wow, @anon Question: how did you treat the rats? I suppose you did not give them tea... do you think sipanon3606750899g moringa tea will provide glucose regulation to the organism of the tea-drinker?  " 3,11034,2016-08-28T07:32:16.000Z,7535,anon2267190817,anon1526983854,"Thanks! Thank you @anon " 4,12330,2016-08-28T15:23:17.000Z,11034,anon1526983854,anon2267190817,"This looks like the main result Even better, @anon " 5,12808,2016-08-28T15:28:13.000Z,12330,anon2267190817,anon1526983854,"True, I agree. :) Thanks, @anon " 6,15625,2016-09-02T06:20:44.000Z,725,anon1491650132,anon2267190817,"Ivan, thanks! I learned something new today, and it didn't take many clicks on the Internet to see that moringa is being called a superfood. Hopefully you'll break new ground with herbal remedies as affordable treatment, and not just in Africa! " 7,17736,2016-09-05T06:18:43.000Z,15625,anon2267190817,anon1491650132,"Thanks, Noemi! Hopefully! :) It's an interesting area to look into. " 8,20937,2016-09-03T08:51:14.000Z,725,anon2954219769,anon2267190817,"Nice going! Hello Ivan, what a great research project you have going on! If you can push the research further and pour it into some kind of organisation for distribution, I bet it would have a large impact. How do you think you could make the tea reach the people who need it most but can't afford it, and avoid it only reaching the happy few (like the often prosperous superfood buyers as Noemi mentioned) who don't really need it but can afford it? " 9,22191,2016-09-05T08:41:06.000Z,20937,anon2267190817,anon2954219769,"Thanks! So this is a cheap herbal remedy. It grows really well in these tropical regions, and quite fast too. So it does not take up a lot of cost in production, except for its processing which could cost quite a bit. But this advantage allows us to produce en masse and a cost efficient rate, so we are able to give it out to the public at incredibly cheap prices - cheap enough to have daily supplies affordable by just anyone. Since these are teas in tea bags, it makes it even better. " 10,24291,2016-09-05T12:57:26.000Z,725,anon1089184890,anon2267190817,"Milestones that changes history This looks like one of those really simple things that improves the world.  Astonishing little things. Like this one: ""ERADICATING POLIO FROM THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH"". I'll donate now, everybody please do the same now. After UNICEF has ended polio, could they be using your project? " 11,24763,2016-09-20T14:46:01.000Z,24291,anon2267190817,anon1089184890,"Thanks Thank you @anon " 1,755,2016-09-20T05:47:59.000Z,755,anon3171126560,anon3171126560,"Sucre Blue is a program that strives to create a chronic disease health care model to bring affordable access to medical treatment to people with diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease in Bangalore. It’s a challenging setting to work in. One has to think that in these communities there is no doctors, hospitals or medical treatment in place. Access to treatment is  extremely limited (for diabetics as well - many forms are absent, some not always available, most of them too expensive anyway) and families earn 2 dollars per day. Many patients’ diabetes is caused by malnutrition, despite the common conception that it is a rich people’s condition. I often see blind children who lost their sight because their families lacked access to medication or means to purchase them. And all that in India, with the second fastest growth of diabetes in the world, and 70 percent of the population living in rural areas. Which makes it extremely difficult to identify those in need and ensure they’re given help. For the past years, I have lived in India - partly in a hospital, without being paid, and I had a chance to see how the system works. As a diabetic myself, I’ve experienced the hardships of managing my own illness and needed to adapt to available solutions. As an answer to this challenge, we are building a sustainable, and affordable model that could be replicated in other communities, across India and beyond. The service is based on dozens of patients and caregivers, who are being trained to provide other members of the community with door-to-door assistance. Our Community Health Workers in the pilot area conduct free screenings (sugar level, BMI, pressure monitoring) and check for diabetes and other health problems  - which they can later address according to the needs of each of the patients. An important component of this work is building relationships between the patients and the leaders - and help to establish links between those in needs and institutions that could provide them with further help. We also provide patients with free medicine. On top of that, we educate, bring awareness and help with early detection of potential issues. Many pre-diabetics in India could avoid becoming ill by changes in their dietary habits - and the diet is large to blame here. Such screenings would not only help to support those who suffer from diabetes but extend preventive care and potentially save millions of dollars in treating more complex effects of diabetes, such as dialysis and other complications. Beyond that, we’re helanon3606750899g some of the diabetics to overcome their poverty, as managing their problems costs ¼ of their income, pushing them to extreme poverty. Providing free treatment and medication is essential for them to improve their quality of life. On top of that, we equip our workers with SMS technology that allows them to collect the daily logs and patient's’ history - which will be stored in an open source database available to any researcher in the world. Otherwise, such information about chronically sick citizens of rural India is basically impossible to acquire. We plan to transform Sucre Blue into a model that could be replicated by communities all over the world - with a peer-based approach, designed to deal with chronic diseases. In India, we engage women in our work - mostly those who suffer from diabetes themselves. It is a way to change a bit disproportionate representation of men in healthcare - and it empowers women in the society.  Having their personal approach to diabetes allows us to change the oanon3606750899ion around the disease, often perceived as a curse, for example forbidding some of the ill to get married. " 2,6668,2016-09-20T09:13:09.000Z,755,anon1491650132,anon3171126560,"Can you clarify? @anon3171126560 it is lovely to read you, welcome to the community, and to OPENandChange bid - I saw you are formally onboard. From the description of the service being peer-led I understand that the people doing the screenings, the caregivers are trained citizens? Or do they have medical background? I'm asking because the first makes for a model we keep seeing and others are advocating for similar ones - where building alternatives to systems means training ourselves into becoming carers. Because the systems are understaffed or too rigid to provide low cost access to treatments with low overhead. You should definitely go in and meet the people at @anon818599741 training community dispatchers for the homeless, or at @anon " 1,538,2016-09-19T15:31:23.000Z,538,anon1522766639,anon1522766639,"There is a growing recognition about the negative effects stemming from commodifying innovation through restrictive I.P. protection and exclusivity, especially in the medical field. Open Source Development methodologies in software emerged as the dominant form of collaborative innovation in the late 90’s and the trend has been spreading to a wider sphere of work. The IT infrastructure of today’s world enables peers to connect, share and collaborate on solving common issues through use of collective knowledge. Commons-based peer production is the term that defines such collaborative efforts by peers. The collaborators act as the stewards of commonly held wealth and assets which could be anything ; monies, knowledge, equipment, reputations, social capital etc.The beauty of such networks is that development for one project can be mixed and remixed to suit a variety of other needs. Traditionally, such endeavors have been part of a gift-economy where peers do not seek tangible rewards for their contributions. However, for larger scale and mainstream economic model, gift economy is not a viable method for development. The question, then, is how do we keep track of contributions to inform fair rewards? That is where the Open Value Network model (OVN) comes in. An OVN is built around a core open source community, preserving its nature, and adds layers of governance, infrastructure and methodologies in order to make large scale, open innovation networks as predictable and accountable as traditional organizations, such as coops or limited liability corporations. In an OVN, contributions to a process, be it tangible items such as time and money or intangibles such as social capital, are recorded and whatever benefit is derived from this process is proportionally divided and distributed back to contributors. This makes open networks sustainable, by allowing the implementation of capturing and redistribution mechanisms. Networks have yet to gain public recognition, legitimacy and legality, but the jury is out already, the OVN model makes open networks fully capable socioeconomic agents. SENSORICA is the first instantiation of the OVN model. It originated in Montreal, in early 2011. The initial focus of the network was to develop open source scientific research equipment using commons-based peer production methodologies. Indeed, most of activities are coordinated from the SENSORICA Montreal lab, a physical location where local affiliates can meet and work together. However, the Network Resource Planning (NRP) tools that Sensoricans have developed lays the foundation of a strong decentralized community without geographical borders. It allows tracking of the flow of resources through the entire system, at both micro and macro levels. NRP is the mainstay of all SENSORICA projects, and enables SENSORICA to practically implement the ideologies of collaborative and open innovation in a transparent and equitable manner. The video bellow explains the idea in detail. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ixgp8_B9g5A The wellness of societies and communities also depend on the innovation of its peers. Over the past few decades, the care aspect of communities has also been commodified. Healthcare and Education, the basics of human needs, have slowly been removed from the sphere of communities and instead, been handed over to closed and elitist institutions, including companies for profit-maximization. The result is a disjointed system where even these basic necessities are the purvey of the well-off. Moreover, in health care the quest for new cures and treatments is a quest for profits, and resources are mainly deployed in research and development (R&D) that promises good returns on investments. The illnesses of a few are forgotten. Just like with technological innovation, we, as a society, need to free knowledge and break down barriers to participation. For that to happen, Open Science will play a big part, meeting the requirement of creating open source scientific equipment and research methodologies that enable peers to do R&D on issues most important to them. SENSORICA's position on Open Science See more on Open Science on SENSORICA's website. Guy Rouleau, the director of McGill University’s Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) announced recently in the Science Magazine that his institute was going to steer towards Open Science.
    “We think that it is a way to accelerate discovery and the application of neuroscience.” (…) “There is a fair amount of patenting by people at the institute, but the outcomes have not been very useful” (...) “It comes down to what is the reason for our existence? It’s to accelerate science, not to make money.”
    SENSORICA has already taken concrete steps towards implementing this vision. One of the first projects undertaken by Sensoricans was the Mosquito, a force-transducer with ability to detect micron-scale movements, designed for applications in biomechanics at the cellular level. Today, SENSORICA has over 15 projects for open source scientific instruments in different stages of development, some of them being used in University labs (see the full list). However, the main potential lies in the ability of the community to build upon these and many other devices and repurpose them to fit needs in diverse fields. SENSORICA's Mosquito system - by photo Daniel Brastaviceanon169343781 Open source scientific instruments cost only of a small fraction to produce and to maintain, compared to their proprietary equivalents. This reduces the costs of innovation and widens participation in research. Professor Joshua Pearce from Michigan Tech University, and contributor to the SENSORICA OVN mentions in one of his papers:
    A case study of a syranon1056199097 pump with numerous scientific and medical applications is presented. The results found millions of dollars of economic value from a relatively simple scientific device being released under open-licenses representing orders of magnitude in-crease in value from conventional proprietary development. The inescapable conclusion of this study is that FOSH development should be funded by organizations interested in maximizing re-turn on public investments particularly in technologies associated with science, medicine and education.
    During its six years in development, SENSORICA has prototyped formal relations with Universities and medical centers, demonstrating how the crowd and the institutional academia can successfully interface, opening wide and filtering participation in medical research, allowing discovery to go towards what matters to people, not just to Wall Street. The Mosquito sensor has been developed in collaboration with the Montreal Heart Institute and Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, the Manipulators have been developed in partnership with McGill University. Numerous students have done their internship within the SENSORICA lab, not only practicing their technical skills, but also learning how to operate in a network-type, highly collaborative environment. See SENSORICA’s Interns webpage.
    --> Lower cost open source scientific instruments lower the barrier to entry to medical research. --> Interfacing institutional academia with open networks frees research topics from the narrow profit motive and speeds up innovation
    In early 2015, SENSORICA partnered with Breathing Games to produce an open source therapeutic device for kids suffering from cystic fibrosis. But this project is very different. As we are designing the hardware device, we are also thinking about how the data generated from its use during therapy sessions will be managed. It turns out that the blockchain technology can truly revolutionize how therapy and medical care are administered, and how the medical data is managed, and SENSORICA has already embarked in blockchain applications development.
    --> blockchain and other p2p technologies create the possibility of new health care services
    The vision for SENSORICA is to demonstrate the economic viability and practical superiority of open innovation. Since innovation has been segregated from community for the better part of the last century, the possibilities of applications are endless. We are not claiming to have the solution all the problems that our health care system is facing, but our past experiences have allowed us to peer into a new realm of solutions, enabled by the new digital technology and the new socioeconomic processes it has made possible. There is a lot of criticism for commons-based peer processes pertaining to their ability to deliver large scale solutions, while being self-sustainable. In other words, the conclusions point to the persistent need of traditional forms of organizing innovation, production and distribution, in order to fuel these new processes: one needs to have a paid job to contribute to open source development. The flaw in these arguments is that they analyse these new practices within the traditional capitalist paradigm. Commons-based peer processes are part of a new socioeconomic paradigm, which prescribes its own underlying theory of value and its own capturing and redistribution mechanisms. Saying that open innovation is unsustainable is factually false, even within the capitalist regime. Arduino, for example, is a very successful commercial operation relying entirely on open source hardware and software technology. Most successful 3D printing and personal drone commercial operations also rely on open source, as well as operations that provide blockchain applications. All these new and disruptive technologies are dominated by these new types of ventures who know how to steward open networks. Something is going on here, for those who have eyes to see. And all these organizations are only hybrids, in the sense that their structure have capturing mechanisms that function in a market-driven economy, while relying on commons-based peer processes for innovation. SENSORICA has data that shows, perhaps for the first time, how capturing mechanisms that are fully compatible with the logic of the p2p economy can be gradually introduced within this transitory economy, to become dominant in a very near future. We do not have experience in pharmaceuticals. We cannot prescribe today a method through commons-based peer production to deliver a new drug, going through all the norms and regulations. The monetary costs associated with this type of ventures are huge, and if we transpose the challenge in an OVN setting it would require the deployment of an amount of resources and a complexity that we cannot sustain, at this point in time. But we do not see a hard barrier... As these systems scale, one day they will be capable of undertaking such challenges. Alternatively, we do have extensive experience with scientific instruments and less costly, and less regulated therapeutic devices. This is the path of least resistance for OVNs to infiltrate the care domain and gain strength. Joshua Pearce's conclusions show that once open source-based scientific instruments enter a market niche it totally disrupts it, putting traditional companies out of business, as they cannot sustain their operations at such low product prices. Operating at lower prices, the monetary rewards an organization gets for the product, doesn't mean that we are going towards poverty. The zero marginal cost tendency, driven by open innovation, only makes sense in the capitalist paradigm. These new organizations pull other benefits from non-market-based sources, which are forbidden to traditional for-profit enterprises. We need a different type of accounting in order to determine the wealth of network-type organizations, one that goes beyond monetary currency, because innovation, production and rewards are more and more driven and organized by new types of currencies, by new types of symbolic systems, by current-sees [a concept proposed by Abran Khalid and Tiberius Brastaviceanon169343781 --------------------------------------------------------- The text has been remixed from a post for a book made by Tibi. Please see here for the original text. " 2,6522,2016-09-19T22:11:44.000Z,538,anon628128301,anon1522766639,"A key support to dive into the knowledge / collaborative economy Sensorica has had a major impact on our initiative, not only by having engineers and passionate jack-of-all-trade help us create an open source breathing device, but also by showcasing a sustainable and transparent model for redistributing raised fund, which we adopted. We are looking forward to this adventure. " 2,6539,2016-05-23T09:13:00.000Z,683,anon1526983854,,"Excellent question! Well done, @anon It may be harder than just writing a step-by-step guide to starting a street food activity and translating it into several languages. I do not know Germany well, but in Italy the regulatory landscape is a lot tighter than what seems to go for Asian markets (eg Thailand). The moment you start serving food to the public, you need to comply with licensing, safety, hygiene regulations. Additionally, many market operate a fixed number of stalls: you cannot just add a food cart as you would in other parts of the world. All of this increases the fixed costs of starting an activity. Every year, as the summer comes and festival season kicks in, the police braces to fight off illegal hawkers (who are, for the most part, just people trying to make a living, many of them migrants). The legal ones are very vocal in demanding that the police shuts down their competitors on fairness grounds (""we have to comply with all these expensive regulations, whereas these guys just go gray economy"").  In passing: within Europe there are already subastantial regulatory differences. I live in Belgium, and here tiny restaurants with toilets in the basements, that you access through narrow and steep stairs, are very common. In Italy they would all be illegal: restaurants need to have wheelchair-friendly facilities, fire exits whose number and width depend on venue capacity, and so on. By my own guesstimate, about half of the restaurants in Brussels would have to shut down if the Italian regulation were ported to Belgium.  So, I guess a first step towards A Taste of Home is mapanon3606750899g out the regulation, and trying to figure out what the minimum investment needed to start a small food related activity would be. Makes sense? " 3,14420,2016-05-26T08:50:22.000Z,683,anon3595237380,,"Wonderful project I love this idea, and it would be interesting to see it develope in multiple cities around europe. Berlin is lucky for one part: you have bbq zones a bit everywhere. There can be a lot shared through BBQ and i saw it when i visited Berlin that all kind of social classes use it and make it feel lik, e home. This is important.  Problem for cities in europe is that they aren't designed to have multifunctional public spaces. It is starting to shift, but it is still a long way to go. in Brussels for exemple you can't BBQ anywhere but in your garden, that makes it difficult because gardens are becoming something more rare when people are starting to live in smaller and smaller spaces. So yes there needs to be a new regulation. I know for Brussels what could help is people hacking the system in big number, the legislation almost always follows up then. But you have to know how to play media and politics before, so it isn't easy for newcomers to have that background. Having a guide of succesful tests could be usefull yes. You could develop A Taste Of Home as a platform for those experiments anywhere in Europe, and if communicated well people will use it as a guide. And legislation will see, if succesful, that there is an urge in their space to work around that!  Good luck with the project and keep us up to date! " 4,17140,2016-05-26T09:43:29.000Z,14420,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"BBQs in public spaces Seriously? In Italy BBQs in the park are big – well, in Milano at least, now that I think of it I never saw it done in Emilia Romagna. I think the fad was started by the Peruvian community, who moved in in force. There are even web pages on ""the best parks to do BBQ in Milan"", or Rome, or whatever: http://www.viaggiamo.it/parchi-dove-fare-grigliate-a-milano/ This is fairly typical:  " 5,18277,2016-05-28T09:13:14.000Z,17140,anon3595237380,anon1526983854,"NO BBQ in Brussels :( Whaaa that would be a dream, but in Brussels for 'safety reasons' we can't BBQ in any park in the region, i'm really thinking about how to change that, but we are not enough. At this moment the open air pools is finally a worth a debat, so we concentrate on that. We don't have any open air pool in Brussels either :( " 6,18648,2016-05-28T09:28:47.000Z,18277,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"Unless you turn it into a festival.. Where I come from a funny thing is happening: everyone loves festivals, especially during this time of the year, May-June before students are out of town for holidays. We had very strict regulations about sitting on the grass in our central park, you know that kind of green space where you really want to spend time in nature but can't because it's too cosmeticized? Nowadays there's Jazz in the Park and the Big Hammock Day and these kinds of events which start as one offs but then create a demand and become a habit. What they have in common is that they start with a big push. " 8,22447,2016-09-19T19:45:56.000Z,20863,anon4074474473,,"What about municipality? @anon  " 9,23189,2016-09-19T20:43:45.000Z,20863,anon1526983854,,"Informal for the win You are probably not asking me, @anon " 2,9449,2016-09-16T21:51:10.000Z,744,anon1491650132,,"Ok, just another day at work. So your work/office space is a prison, members of your team are inmates, and it's not a one off because you are setting up a proper organisation to turn this into something sustainable, do I get it right? So many fiction-like cultural references come to mind :-) Really inspiring, and from reallife examples it reminds of the Brazilian Wasteland and how wasted human potential can be turned into art. If you are able to sanon3606750899 this into a social economy / professional re-insertion kind of venture where you make a case about skill training, you might be able to access resources easier than under artistic education or creative industry.. especially if Greece has some subsidies/ funding left for that field.  Also, is there anywhere online where the museum works can be seen? " 1,497,2016-04-15T09:36:52.000Z,497,anon1941345029,anon1941345029,"Since the beginning of human history, care has been exchanged (given and received) inside homogeneous, durable and relatively closed groups of individuals.  Families, clans, village communities, urban neighborhoods ...  In the past century, in parallel to that, care has also been delivered by dedicated institutions: hospital, kindergartens, elderly residences...   Today, for several reasons, the demand on care is growing and becoming more complex, while both the traditional and the modern offer of care are less and less capable of coanon3606750899g with it. In our fluid, hyper-individualized societies, families, village communities and urban neighborhoods are weakening (if not totally disappearing). Individuals, given their life structure, have less and less practical possibilities to take care of others (even when, in principle, they would do it).  Care institutions, which were supposed to substitute the traditional community’s and individual’s care, have fewer and fewer economic resources (and often political will) to do it.  The gap between the growing demand and the shrinking offer of care is the basis of the present care crisis: a lack of care that is practical (the caring system do not succeed in coanon3606750899g with the care demand) as well as psychological (the sense of loneliness deriving from the lack of sense of care throughout the whole society).  To overcome this crisis brand new care systems have to be imagined and enhanced. A first step is to better understand caring activities, considering their nature and diversity.  The practical/organizational side of care is particularly important because care is more than exchange of information and knowledge. Care requires proximity and action: doing something for each other, taking time and being committed. Care activities. Care activities are quite diverse: they can be performed by whoever could be willing to do it (as shopanon3606750899g for groceries for somebody who is temporarily sick); they can require a lot of time, attention, and assumption of responsibility (as taking care of the daily life necessities of somebody seriously ill); they can require timely actions by highly specialized experts (as performing surgery in very specific moments). And so on.    In general terms, these differences are characterized by a set of main parameters: 
    • Time: duration, frequency, flexibility, …
    • Space: virtual, hybrid, only physical, …
    • Competences: normal everyday life socialization, specific diffuse knowledge, specialized expert knowledge, …
    • Responsibility: very low; low, high, very high.
    Different care actions should be attentively analyzed and mapped using these parameters. Intuitively, we can already say that different care activities could be delivered by different actors in different modalities.  To imagine a new care system, we should recognize all the potential caregivers and consider them as resources. Either as effective care resources (when they are already active). Or as potential care resources (when they can be activated under certain conditions) Care resources. In principle, everybody can care for someone else. He or she can do it in different forms (depending on his/her expertise and time availability), but all of them require attention. In turn, given that attention is a limited resource (each person has a limit in his/hers capability to give attention), this is true also for his/her capability to care. Care (both the expert and non-expert one) is a diffuse but limited resource.  Presently, care systems are built on a mix of three main resources:
    • Institutional care givers (based on professional actors)
    • Third sector and charity organizations (based on both professional and nonprofessional actors)
    • Traditional care communities (as families, village communities, urban neighborhoods ).
    We know that, for different reasons, all of them are in difficulty to cope with the growing care demand. Therefore, the issue is to reshape the system in order to permit to new potential resources to emerge and become effective resources.    Mainstream and countertrends. We have said that, in principle, everybody, depending on his/her time and expertise, could give some forms of care. But we can observe that today, in the contemporary societies, this care potential, clashes with the dominant culture and practice. In the name of individual freedom and convenience, our culture tends to assume a careless approach to everything and everyone (the throwaway society extended from things to human relationships). And: a mainstream practice of living that makes it difficult to introduce care activities in the daily life (due to work constraints, to the evolution of families and to their being scattered in different places). Therefore, given the present structures of family and work, few people can commit to offering care, especially if this requires continuity, high responsibility and duration in time. Nevertheless, several examples tell us that there still are several people who could and would dedicate some time/energy/attention to well-defined caring activities - if and when an appropriate enabling system would permit them to do it in an easy and flexible way. This limited but diffuse caring availability is the potential resource that the socio-technical innovation should be capable to transform in an effective resource.   In other words, thanks to an appropriate socio-technical innovation, it should become possible to cultivate and harvest the limited individual caring resources of broader groups of subjects. That is, to catalyze and coordinate existing but not used care resources could be the key to overcoming the crisis of care in contemporary societies. Hypothesis and vision Hypothesis. If the close (social or institutional) organizations of the past cannot cope with the dimension and complexity of the present demand of care, they must be opened. That is: the care activities must be divided in smaller/lighter tasks, and allocated to a large number of actors, each one giving what he/she is capable/willing to give.  Vision. Open care is an ecosystem of care-related interactions, characterized by being distributed among a large number of individuals, groups and institutions, with different competence, responsibility and commitment:  from the highly specialized actors and institutions to family members, friends and neighbours with no specific knowledge and limited time availability.  Viability Social preconditions and enabling systems. To be viable, open care requires two main social preconditions:
    • The existence of a large number of other actors (relatives, friends, neighbors) willing to care for someone, even though they have practical limits (in terms of time and resource availability).
    • The existence of dedicated and specialized actors capable of intervening when their competencies are (really) needed.
    Given the previous social preconditions, the open care potentialities are made real thanks to the existence of a technological and organizational system capable of catalyzing  diffuse resources, coordinate them and give their action the needed continuity. More precisely, this enabling system should:
    • match different demands with different offers (in terms of competence)
    • give different care actions coherence and continuity (from the point of view of the care receiver)
    • promote and support both relational and the highly effective ones (i.e. the most specialized, professional interventions).
    • be organically part of a larger systems: the ecosystem of interactions that represents what today we can refer to as a local community. ​​
    Social innovation and open care The open care viability is based on the existence of a whole stream of social (and socio-technical) innovation that is already moving in a similar direction.  In fact, in the complexity of contemporary society we can find several promising cases (some of them are still social prototypes, some others have already reached a more mature stage). For instance:
    • Circles of care: groups of citizen facing the same problem (as: diabetes, allergies, obesity, … or simply the old age) who mutually support each other, with the supervision of a team of doctors and nurses (a well-known example is the Circle in UK: http://www.participle.net/ageing ).
    • Networks of care: coordinated networks of family members, friends and neighbors, who share and coordinate their efforts to care for a person with serious problems (a well-known example is Tyze in Canada http://tyze.com )
    • Intergenerational cooperation: organizations that supports the encounter of young and elderly people mainly around the theme of collaborative living (a well-known example is Prendi a casa uno studente (Take a student at home), in Italy: http://www.meglio.milano.it/pratiche_studenti.htm )
    • Collaborative inclusion: organizations of migrants and residents collaborating to produce both migrant’s inclusion and social values, for both the migrants and the whole community (an example is:  Dine with us, in Belgium: http://dinewithus.strikingly.com )   
    Considering these diverse examples, we can observe that they present three common characteristics: (1) some care activities are delivered by non-professional actors; (2) the overall care burden is shared between different subjects; (3) specialized interventions are asked only when they are really needed.   These examples are interesting because they give us an idea on how open care components could work. Nevertheless, in my view, they are not yet the full representation of the open care vision. To better approximate it, two steps should be taken:
    • To rethink each one of these service ideas adopting the radically open approach that characterizes the Open Care research.
    • To consider the whole socio-technical ecosystem, and to improve it in order to give all of them and a multiplicity of similar ones the possibility to flourish
    " 2,7955,2016-04-25T13:05:25.000Z,497,anon1526983854,anon1941345029,"OpenCare as a Wikipedia-type system Very interesting, @anon In principle, everybody can care for someone else [...] in different forms [...], but all of them require attention. Given that attention is a limited resource [...] care [...] is [also] a diffuse but limited resource.  This vision of care activities reminds me of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is quite a coherent object. It's also very decentralized in scope and authorship; and tasks are allocated across contributors by self-selection, without central control. Contributors are extremely diverse in their interests, experience, and in the time they contribute to Wikipedia. Some Wikipedians, like me, might fix a typos or repair a broken link here or there, and only very occasionally enter a factual information. Others take full stewardship for entries that are important to them. Others, still, make tens of edits a day. A lot of Wikipedia's advantage comes from the fact that it can use effectively small contributions.  Open care might be the same. A mature open care ecosystem, I propose, is one where the natural human impulse to care and help can be easily translated into a contribution. One, in other words, where, if you can only contribute 30 minutes, you can, and your contribution will make a small, but tangible difference. Works?   " 3,15881,2016-09-16T11:09:49.000Z,497,anon4219214615,anon1941345029,"social ecosystem my two cents to a great thinker... by profession I deal both with institutions and corporations and, as a citizen, with society and all the issues. each of this world have needs and questions but also resources but, despite rhetoric or good will, they just negotiate on few elements (budgets, regulations..) as counterparts. 2 by 2. if we mange to make the ""system"" work differently we would easily gain - low costs - a much better impact and effect ..helanon3606750899g the social brain to work in a more complex way, which is not harder. with this open care project we try to do something like that, making several forces co-operate and… if I  can sponsor a bit my part...having housing at the center (also with a good platform) can aggregate actions towards families networks as the center of policies, buildings, peer to peer care, local micro welfare we can enhance a social innovation     " 1,742,2016-09-14T05:30:20.000Z,742,anon157941944,anon157941944,"In April 2016, the production of industrial hemp was legalized by the Greek state after 60 long years of prohibition, introducing new opportunities and markets to a country that is trying to get back on its feet. It’s been a long known fact that Greece’s agriculture and farming sectors have significant growth potential, especially for organic production and niche products/markets. With the right climate, soil, and geographical diversity, we believe that hemp cultivation can flourish in Greece. As a result of recent legislation, we established KANNABIO, the first organic hemp social cooperative in the country, just a few days after the ministerial decision was signed. KANNABIO has as a mission to promote Greek hemp as a quality product of origin and assist the development of the industry in Greece. Our goal is to get involved in organic and cooperative farming and processing, to produce quality organic hemp products, to promote the social and solidarity economy and protect the environment. Moreover, we undertake participatory research on hemp cultivation and processing, raise awareness about the benefits of hemp for the economy and the environment, while providing expertise, networking and promotion opportunities to local farmers. Our founding members are involved in hemp trade since 1998 and are at the forefront of the legalization campaign in Greece since 2005. Two of the farmers-partners of KANNABIO are among the first three farmers to receive permission for hemp cultivation in Greece in 2016. Both of them owned hemp shops that were raided by police in 1998 and their products (clothes) were confiscated, while they faced a lengthy trial period for many years before they got acquitted but never compensated. KANNABIO’s vision for Greek organic hemp is to become an international standard of organic quality through cooperative cultivation and processing. We want to lay the foundations for the promotion and sustainable use of the plant, and we want to actively contribute to the establishment of a healthy and cooperative hemp market in Greece, by supporting sustainable agricultural practices and rural development. As such, we oversee the production of organic hemp oil extraction products, nutritional supplements, and personal hygiene products, as well as the production of hemp-lime for eco-friendly building materials. We want to promote cooperative principles and a philosophy of working collaboratively. We don’t focus narrowly on the commercial side of hemp, but our aim is to provide awareness, training, engagement, jobs and social consciousness, alongside the production of quality, organic health and nutrition products. In this effort, we aim to create novel healthy products that can contribute daily to the health of citizens, but also provide natural and accessible supplements to patients of various serious diseases. Currently, we are finalizing a business investment plan in order to attract investment for establishing a small-scale cooperative production unit of hemp oils, hemp nutritional and personal hygiene products. Our production target for 2017 is to sign contracts with farmers for 25 hectares. In parallel, KANNABIO hemp co-op has developed a more integrated vision for cooperative hemp cultivation and processing in Greece, to support the establishment of the Greek hemp industry. This includes the creation of a mobile Hemp Caravan Museum that will travel all around Greece visiting different cities, organizing public events with guest speakers and guided exhibition tours for key stakeholders (farmers, processors, traders, public officials) and the wider public. This action will bridge the knowledge gap that 60 years of hemp prohibition created and will contribute to capacity building and sensitization of farmers, professionals on the market and consumers about prospects of cooperative hemp cultivation and processing. Moreover, our cooperative vision includes the creation of a large-scale hemp processing unit producing fiber, shivs, flowers, seeds and dust, also including a production line of hemp insulation and construction material. Cooperative business plan The social cooperative will employ by priority unemployed, skilled youth and women, 35% of its net earnings will be reinvested in the cooperative, its employees and the creation of new jobs, while it will be governed by its shareholders. The shareholders will hold one vote each in the General Assembly, independently of the amount of shares they own (no more than 5% of the company share value for each shareholder). We strongly believe and we have proposed to state authorities that in Greece, we have the capacity and the potential for the creation of 10 cooperative processing units in 10 different regions, that will be able to process at least 2.500 hectares each, by utilizing abandoned industrial facilities all over the country. Our long-term vision is the Cooperative Greek Hemp Industry to cultivate and process 25.000 hectares of hemp in 10-15 years time, converting more land into sustainable practices. Finally, our cooperative plan includes the establishment of a non-profit Hemp R&D Foundation that will develop Greek hemp breeds by utilizing past and ongoing research and will provide technical support for cultivation and processing. The Foundation will also provide applied research and applications on cooperative schemes and practices for hemp cultivation and processing. " 2,8167,2016-09-14T10:35:00.000Z,742,anon1491650132,anon157941944,"How can we help? Hi @anon Have you attended the OPENandChange workshop in Thessaloniki? With Edgeryders we are trying to gather tens of projects working on community care, broadly understood, to apply for funding. If you're interested to be part of this, we are building partnerships until Sept 20th: http://openandchange.care If there's anything else we can do to help your initiative, let us know!   " 1,733,2016-09-05T08:32:27.000Z,733,anon3313365220,anon3313365220,"Tópio is empowering high-school students, training them to become the catalysts of change in their own neighbourhoods. We strongly believe that the re-use of public space can improve the physical, mental and psychological health of urban dwellers. For this reason, we focus on the importance of connecting healthy cities and “placemaking”. The pilot version of the project took place at the 19th High school of Thessaloniki from December 2015 to May 2016. The name of the project is a combination of the Greek words “Topío” (place) and “Tópi” (ball), which points to youthfulness, games and children. photo credits: Olympia Datsi stencils: Pop-Up & Paper Stories Our vision is to re-imagine the school as an open platform of discussion and interaction for the whole neighbourhood, where students lead the transformation both inside and outside its premises. We wish to get youngsters caring for their local community and public space, by initiating cultural and other activities. At first, these take place inside the school building and yard, and are then transferred out to the neighbourhood, eventually empowering them to invite the local community inside the school. Our team focuses on enriching original and location-specific ideas with data, information and constant interaction between the local community and the public space. Based on previous experience, we develop various educational tools for “placemaking” that are not previously known to the local communities. Although the whole process meets several obstacles, such as bureaucracy, we remain focused on our vision, trying to seek collaboration with the municipality and other local authorities. However, it is very important for us to preserve our self-organization and encourage bottom-up action. photo credits: Vivian Doumpa Who benefits from Tópio?
    1. Youth (school kids & university students) wishing to become catalysts of change in their own neighbourhood in collaboration with their teachers.
    2. Local communities wishing to contribute to social cohesion and upgrading the urban landscape.
    3. Everyone who wants to be active and participate in the development and co-formation of public spaces.
    Tópio kick-started as a pilot project within the framework of the START: Create Cultural Change, by Robert Bosch Stiftung conducted in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the Bundesvereinigung Soziokultureller Zentren e.V. (German Association of Sociocultural Centers). So far, the project has attracted the attention of the press and several European organisations. For example, we are very proud of our involvement in the project “The City at Eye Level” working with Dutch “Stipo” and other practitioners. We are reaching out to citizens through a dedicated website and our Facebook page, which includes all information that needs to be transferred to potential beneficiaries. photo credits: Callie Vei & Alexandr Emmanouilidis The people behind the idea My name is Vivian Doumpa and in my early 30s, I have a degree in Urban-Regional Planning & Development Engineering, and I am a post-graduate in Urban Geography specialised in music in public spaces. I have a long-life education in music, and I am currently participating in a project of the research team “Critical Music Histories”. I am also the co-founder of “Creativity Platform”, a non-profit, collective scheme, seeking to function as an interdisciplinary platform of exchanging ideas, actions, research and applications related to the “creative capital” and the “creative economy” in the city of Thessaloniki as well as the whole of Greece in general. Since 2016, Tópio is a significant part of this collective scheme. Being in charge of the project, I had the chance to enrich my professional experience with technical seminars in Project Management (Germany), in the field of Cultural Management. It was a great challenge to combine Urban-Regional Planning and enhancement of active citizenship with creative means. My partner, Olympia Datsi, works as a freelance trainer and mentor in the european/international volunteering field and non-formal education, co-ordinating youth projects. Moreover, her educational background based on Landscape Architecture, Interior Design and Fine Arts. She is in charge of the educational activities of Tópio, dealing with communication, training and empowerment of high-school students and citizens. Since 2013, she is also co-founder of the “Creativity Platform” and has a massive interest for sociology and public space. photo credits: Victoria Datsi As with all like-minded people, our professional relationship and friendship run on the basis of trust and respect. After all these collaborations in multiple projects, we have learned many things from each other’s capacities. We have taught ourselves what is the best way to move forward with the project: from sensing children’s needs and stimulating their interest in the public space, to approaching municipal stakeholders. This good spirit of synergy and way of thinking and acting helps us to make progress. And we enjoy this feeling of pleasure and satisfaction when people get motivated by our ideas. One of them is my mother, who is really supportive and active in our interventions in the neighbourhood. Although in the first place it was quite hard for her to understand what actually “placemaking” is about. photo credits: Vivian Doumpa Artworks: Theano G. & Felix Felis " 2,9342,2016-09-05T13:19:15.000Z,733,anon1491650132,anon3313365220,"Activities and tools you use in and outside schools Nice to meet you Vivian at @anon You mention various educational tools for “placemaking”. Do all your activities in the project involve public art of some sorts? Or do the kids learn other ways of engaging with the landscape?    " 1,530,2016-09-04T22:55:24.000Z,530,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Hello everyone, as a followup to my previous post on education, I want to dive a little deeper for our Fellowship post. ReaGent is an open biolab where anyone from any background can tinker with biology. We organize practical workshops for children from all backgrounds to get them in touch with biology in a fun way. We do this because the role of biological technologies will become increasingly bigger as we move towards a circular society. Education plays a fundamental role in allowing people to be a part of this process. Why are we doing this? My personal motivation is best shown through a memory from my biotechnological engineering studies. We went on a company visit to Monsanto. At the time, I was not particularly aware of the dirty business they were in. We got to see the production facility, water treatment installations and large glyphosate tanks, which are all used to produce Roundup. During the luxurious lunch, which Monsanto employees also attended, a fellow student whispered to me: “how can they sleep at night, considering they work for such a questionable company?”. That was the only thing that I heard about the issue from anyone at school, both teachers or students. I didn’t (now to my shame) know anything about Monsanto at the time and had to look it up myself afterwards. I was baffled and disgusted. What are we teaching our students? Aside from the perspective we teach, relevance is important as well. I hated biology in high school. If you had told me I’d be a bioengineer someday, I would have laughed in disbelief. The content of biology class often remains descriptive (you learn about the parts of a plant cell), while higher education and jobs are all about application (you use these plant cells to grow something useful, like a building). A child that likes engineering, design and coding should consider studying biology. This is fundamental if we want enough people to develop sustainable technologies for the future. ReaGent has been going for about a year. We’ve experimented with several ways to bring biology closer to society. We've had children work with enzymes, build their own microscope, extract DNA and much more. The coming year, we will expand to reach more children and this scale-up entails several challenges. Cell division As a first step, we have decided to continue the project under a new name: Ecoli. The DIY biolab in Ghent will stay as ReaGent, while Ecoli will provide biology education to children and underprivileged groups. A DIYbio space or biohackerspace and child education are not very compatible regarding administrative or legal aspects, like insurance and licenses. Another reason for the split is the different story we want to tell. The story to inspire a citizen scientist or biohacker is different from the story to inspire a child. Moreover, DIYbio has had issues with public perception. We find it important that knowledge is spread equally and that everyone can participate in an open discussion. We would not like a distorted image to shape decisions and oanon3606750899ions of people, leading them to self-censor and potentially miss out on learning opportunities. The creativity, mindset and ethics present in a DIYbio lab strengthen and form the way we educate. We feel like we get the benefits without the drawbacks if the DIY biolab and educational project are two separate entities. Funding education in a fair way The question that I posed in the initial post was on how to fund education outside of, but as an addition to, the traditional state-funded system. Making a project like this financially sustainable is a challenge. The groups where we have our biggest impact, and thus create the most value, are also least capable of paying for it. We have set up a way to partially fund this by doing workshops in the classical school circuit. Our impact there is equally important and they can afford to pay (a little) for our services. It remains to be seen if we can sustain ourselves in the long term. Chances are, we will have to find funds elsewhere –government or industry. Government is the obvious choice, since education falls under their responsibility. Though, as often with government, it would be naïve to count on funding. Additionally, it entails somewhat of an administrative burden (especially in Belgium and the EU) and it’s a slow process. So, do we want to cooperate with big biotech companies? How will this affect what we want to achieve with Ecoli? Do we risk that public oanon3606750899ion, or oanon3606750899ions of parents, ultimately influences what a child learns? Biotech has plenty of shortcomings –funding and market mechanisms, ethical, ecological and the list goes on. But it’s a technology, a tool that can be used for good and bad. The drawbacks that I mentioned are effects of the way it is used and not inherent to the technology. If we are scared of biotech, it is because we are scared of ourselves, and rightfully so. We still have the option of telling a nuanced story. Especially if we can highlight these issues during education, which is a rarity. My personal Monsanto experience is only one example. Caring with science More fundamentally, care is everyone’s responsibility in one way or another. Earlier this week, one of our team members went to visit an institute that accompanies people with a mental disability. He visited them to explain what we do and to offer them biology workshops for their audience, the responsible’s jaw dropped as she launched off in enthusiasm, pointing out all the ways we could cooperate. She said nobody ever thought of deeming their people worthy of science oriented workshops. Even if it’s just for entertainment, science or technology can be used for care. People have a tendency to underestimate capabilities of certain groups, like little kids or special needs people. On the other hand, there’s a tendency to overestimate the intelligence required to grasp or play with basic principles. The power lies in how it’s communicated. This is only one of plenty of groups that don’t get equal chances for quality education. It is part of the mission of Ecoli to provide those groups the opportunity to learn and discover. Beyond the tools We are likely at the start of a similar revolution like the digital revolution. That means we have the chance to try and anticipate this time round; to try and prepare people; to embed values, like openness and inclusiveness, that make sure we don’t need to fix the problems of accessibility and literacy afterwards. What we do can be considered an experiment and in many ways, it’s not necessarily about biology. We hope that, in addition to growing a basic biological literacy, we help to build a shift in attitude. When we watch global developments, it is clear that the biggest problems we face don’t require technological solutions. Even problems that are directly caused by a misuse of technology, like climate change, could be headed towards a solution by changing our attitude, especially when combined with more sustainable bio-based technologies. A change in behaviour is not likely to happen overnight, but if we can build institutions that promote caring, collaboration and trust, we might be on our way. We are engaging with the Edgeryders community because we hope our actions can be part of a bigger solution. One where different actors work on improving their respective fields. By sharing experiences of our project with the Edgeryders community we hope we can grow more resilience for everyone. We will be attending the workshop in Brussels on the 24th of September and would be delighted to meet you! If you connect to our story, let us know! We love feedback and discussing the subject. Here’s some other questions that occupy our mind. Should this type of initiative stay an addition to the state-funded system? Is this form of bottom-up activism, independent of the government or in spite of it, ultimately a desirable strategy? The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016. " 2,7536,2016-09-12T13:43:43.000Z,530,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"You seem to have adaptability embedded already Hey @anon With Edgeryders we had always had some controversy: when we were under the Council of Europe shell it took more work to be credible to activists; when we became independent and taking on also private clients someone would come in and question that; when we go into a room and be too radical someone on the other side will cranon1056199097. It's somewhat natural, as long as the work is aligned with our mission and speaks for itself. Or: Is bioengineering these days  so controversial that you need to be firm about what you are willing / not willing to do and who you're doing it for?  I would recommend you read a short piece about selling as a moral act by @anon " 3,15018,2016-09-14T08:06:41.000Z,530,anon2954219769,anon2954219769,"Perhaps I phrased it wrong Hey Noemi! Thanks for your reply. We don't feel the need to position ourselves so clearly. To the contrary: we would like to cooperate with as many diverse actors as possible. Being anti anything is what we try to avoid. We'd rather build something better together than criticize the old. However, I've noticed that in our field, making choices of who you work with and what you do, positions yourself clearly on a polarized spectrum no matter what. It's not always the case surely, but something that is there nevertheless. Thanks for sharing your experience. You're right; if what we do is in allignment with the values then the results will speak for themselves. This dilemma of choosing may well just be fear of shutting certain doors. Other doors will open and as long as our moral compass works, we'll get to where we want to be :) " 4,17366,2016-09-14T08:36:20.000Z,15018,anon1491650132,anon2954219769,"Ah, I see After all, choosing to make an investment in a grant application is different from making a sale, and requires different resource allocation and a strech anyhow - so of course choices at each time matter whether or not you are looking to position yourself or not. " 2,9428,2016-04-27T16:51:02.000Z,674,anon1526983854,,"Foodsharing The Foodsharing idea (https://project.yunity.org/about_foodsharing in English) just makes so much sense.  I am not completely sure we can classify it as ""care"", though. But perhaps it's not even  that important.  @anon " 3,16090,2016-04-28T05:54:35.000Z,674,anon2745723182,,"Good morning,  @anon I really liked the way you approach this issue, starting with traditional economics basis and then ending in something more like socia/ecological/inclusive economics and global welfare.  " 4,21417,2016-04-30T19:05:00.000Z,674,anon1491650132,,"Good attitude to start with.. Like @anon @anon https://www.youtube.com/embed/T1ZNDBv5Yj8 This wasn't moneyless though, and probably costs a lot of time and work. and only as a starting and learning point. We tried network building last year in Bucharest with a project called Futurespotters -wasn't food related but it was also about getting people who are very much aligned in values and agree on a lot of things that need to be solved, to meet each other and collaborate. But then a lot of other things are needed to make a network be self-supporting as you say (not sure if it can though), I don't even know where to start - leadership, vision, headspace to get out of your own bubble and hyper localized projects -there are so many great initiatives out there doing good. Someone once said to me that they're actually meant to be small, informal, cheap, and operating at any other scale would ruin it. This said, food sharing and looking at reducing waste sounds like it's part of the future, I dont see anyone here disagreeing, so you're on to something..! " 5,24581,2016-05-01T14:51:21.000Z,674,anon4201383930,,"Experimenting Alternative Economics in Cairo, Egypt I am researching the alternative economics initiatives to hold an event to experiments the different concepts here in Cairo. I was fascinated by the use of alternative currencies in some communities in Brazil and had the chance to meet someone from Banco de Bem. I basically have many things that I am interested to sell or donate. It has been 3 years since I started to reduce my belonging starting by donating more than half my wardrobe, old functioning computer, extra blanket, etc. Now I want to make some money, can exchange some items for other and donate a few. I started gardening. I planted zuccinis and pumpkins, have herbs and trying to expend :) I am interested in your initiative. I can open another discussion to get ideas for my event. What are the tools known as alternatives to the current economic system? Examples from around the globe? What should I be experimenting and spreading awareness through practice? How? I feel a little bit confused unable to cluster or organise these concepts: - Bartering - alternative currencies - BitCoin - Gift Economy - Swap - LETS etc. Finally what Oasis Game are you talking about? I am in. Dina" 6,26016,2016-05-01T15:01:44.000Z,674,anon4201383930,,"Egypt's poor a living on donations - Gift and share economy. Somewhere people were calling for money to buy food to be distributed on poor people during the Ramadan. I can't see how do you waste food. Do you cook food, eat and through the remaining away instead of storing it in the fridge for next day? " 7,26946,2016-05-02T10:27:00.000Z,26016,anon1491650132,anon4201383930,"The how is simple.. Food waste is largely about food that doesn't even end up in your fridge - it gets wasted before that. See example of supermarkets throwing away perfectly good food as a very common one.      " 8,27793,2016-09-13T07:12:06.000Z,674,anon1932026148,,"alternative economy I think a basic income for everyone would be a good start to an alternative economy. It would tackle the fear of not having enough. Thus, everyone of us could contribute freely to society providing things and services we're good at. For me (traumatherapist on wheels) it would be a perfect solution : be able to work / to give to the world without having to think about 'will I earn enough mony doing so?' In Finland, a basic income experiment is on its way - I am very curious what the outcome will be, and, eventually, how this wil change economy and society!   " 2,7598,2016-07-13T09:16:13.000Z,696,anon2223306613,,"Well done! Hello! I really like the fact that people are getting involved into this kind of initiative, especially because of the diversity (of people) promoted. I encourage you to ask for as more and diverse feedback as possible and try to engage as many different types of people as you can (different cultures, mentalities, needs when it comes to cooking etc.). I’m sure they would like to help you out with this, as it’s their interest too. Also, I think the way you test the land, step by step, may be very helpful. Are you planning to do any other initiative like the cooking with the minimal utensils one? Or to do it again, but involving other groups of people? Have you got any new conclusion based on this activity? Let me know, I’m curious.  " 3,14716,2016-09-12T17:49:36.000Z,696,anon3670751854,,"Conclusions for practice applications Really curious to know more about what conclusions you come to doing these experiments. We have a space where we cook weekly dinners for up to 40 people, but we have a relatively full functioning kitchen. We've talked about how we could take our skills of cooking for large groups into situations, such as occupations, blockade/encampments  or the street and do the same with limited equipment most efficently. Have you thought about creating something like a sort of toolkit with your findings about how to best cook in the street, recipes that you have discovered work well with these limitations, etc? Would be really great. Look forward to seeing where this goes. " 1,732,2016-09-04T11:18:22.000Z,732,anon1315297957,anon1315297957,"I started my journey as a science and economics student. After graduation, I spent years working for French and international industrial companies, after which I quit and went on to work in the humanitarian field throughout Southeast Asia. With the arrival of new technologies and the community approach using the Internet to connect people, it became clear to me that there are now widespread and relatively cheap tools of empowerment readily available. Upon my return to Europe, I decided to work on the development of such ideas. This led to the inception of the echOpen project. The idea started from a chat among friends, an engineer (Luc) previously employed in the ultrasound industry, a mathematician and physician (Mehdi) and a radiologist (Pierre). We discussed smartphones: widespread devices that are more sophisticated than the computers that sent people to the moon a few decades ago. How could we use this technology to improve health care, considering that now almost everyone have one in his/her pocket? This idea emerged as a combination of our passion for open technology and community engagement. Using technologies that have existed since the 70s,with a bit of tweaking, are cheap and perfectly functional to make this idea come true. We then give access to these tools and knowledge to anyone interested, and to encourage them to try new things out. This is how our mission came about. We plan to develop the very first Open Source, affordable ultrasound probe (echo-stethoscope) dedicated to diagnosis orientation, based on open source hardware and software principles. It will be cheaper than any of the fancy machines you can find on the market. There already are some ultraportable ultrasound scanners out there, but they cost several thousand Euros  our goal is to divide the price by 10-15 times. This device will be able to produce a medical image that you can then transport to your smartphone or laptop. It’s a device that every health care professional will want to carry in their pocket - allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis orientation, which means faster and better medical care. As a preventive tool, it will reduce the number of patients who need emergency help. It can save the lives of mothers who die in develoanon3606750899g countries during their pregnancies. Our tool will also spark more interactions between professionals and patients. We launched the project in late 2014, but the actual work really began in August 2015. Hosted by the hospital Hotel Dieu, right next to the Notre Dame in Paris, we have an open space with an interesting, eclectic ecosystem of researchers, community members, senior professionals working in the technical and medical areas of ultrasound technology, radiologists, experts in echography, medical laboratories, universities, and schools, etc. Earlier this year, we developed a functional prototype of the tool - it works, but the quality of the image is not satisfactory. With the involvement of more than 200 people, mostly from France but also in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, we are now improving the quality of echOpen. Our deadline to complete the new medical-quality prototype is this December. Our project has been supported by the Fondation Pierre Fabre, which believes in our approach and that our concept could be used in Africa, where doctors lack medical imaging devices. They provide financial support and other resources - and the more we have, the faster and more efficiently we can do our work. We are constantly looking for both funding and new profiles to get involved within the community, anyone from developers, to designers, engineers, legal experts, and community managers. We are also working on making our wiki more accessible to English-speaking members. If you have some ideas, tips, or want to share similar work with us - leave a comment or contact us. " 2,7382,2016-09-12T10:32:10.000Z,732,anon1491650132,anon1315297957,"How do you guys deal with safety and regulation issues? @anon I'm adding here two recent opensource projects that we know of for medical treatment, and which you might enjoy connecting with.
    1. Open source game apps as solutions to respiratory diseases!
    2. Efforts to open up software eg pacemakers for heart conditions to enable increased security by the logic of: more access -> more resilience and better quality. It would be very appreciated if you could jump in and tell us how you cover the regulatory issues so that your product can actually be used. For example, what part of your code will you certify and does the fact that it's opensource make it more reliable or not for its future uses?
    " 3,11010,2016-09-12T13:44:07.000Z,7382,anon1315297957,anon1491650132,"@anon Then i haven't heard about the group about exploring open alternatives in (e)health and healthcare support. Could tell me more ? Finally, thank you for both links, they are very interesting.  " 4,12316,2016-09-12T16:55:12.000Z,11010,anon1491650132,anon1315297957,"The group I meant is OPENandChange With this effort of reaching out and connecting groups doing outstanding work at the edge of health/ social care we are doing workshops in several cities in Europe, and one is in Paris on the 25th of September with more open science and tech projects. Will you be joining? @anon I'm in Brussels the day before and probably won't come, but still very interested. Oh, thanks for the reply. ""regulation by design"".. this is new to me and I hardly get what it means, so when you have some time do tell. " 5,14562,2016-09-12T10:34:35.000Z,732,anon1491650132,anon1315297957,"Also anon3606750899g Maria for future activities involving echOPEN @anon " 6,20094,2016-09-12T11:15:54.000Z,732,anon3708118144,anon1315297957,"Great project @anon     " 1,501,2016-05-03T21:39:36.000Z,501,anon904321944,anon904321944,"(note: English translation is available here)   Una rivoluzione copernicana a lungo attesa! Ecco, se dovessi riassumere in una frase breve e concisa, questo è quanto vivo e quanto vorrei trasmettere al lettore in merito al Progetto OpenCare. Diluendo più prosaicamente il complesso composto “chimico”, che costituisce al momento per me questo Progetto, non posso non focalizzare l'attenzione su alcuni elementi costituenti questa esperienza, attualmente agli esordi, che auspico veramente possa dare a ciascuno di noi la certezza di una rinnovata consapevolezza della capacità di ideazione, di progettazione e di realizzazione dei nostri desideri e delle nostre legittime istanze nonostante i luoghi comuni ed i pregiudizi tutt'ora radicati riguardanti le persone “portatrici di bisogni particolari”, piuttosto che “dis-abili”, “diversamente abili”, “handicappati”, “minorati”, “non autosufficienti” e tutto ciò che la storia culturale ha elaborato a suon di termini da etichetta continuino ad ostacolare il nostro incedere. Il primo elemento che individuo, già presente all'incipit, è sicuramente quello della sorpresa dovuta essenzialmente al fatto di essere chiamati in prima persona ad una azione “materica”, concreta, finalizzata alla costruzione di un oggetto piuttosto che di una più complessa soluzione che ci aiuti a superare una difficoltà quotidiana o ci consenta, più in generale, di raggiungere piccoli o grandi traguardi individuali in materia di autonomia, di integrazione, di partecipazione e di cittadinanza attiva attraverso il diretto coinvolgimento delle nostre conoscenze e delle nostre competenze. La storia del variegato quanto complesso arcipelago dei bisogni è infatti costellata da grandissime battaglie umane, sociali, civili e politiche che, nel corso degli ultimi decenni, hanno portato alla conquista di un riconoscimento degli individui quanto persone, in primis, di diritti e doveri alla assistenza, alla istruzione, alla integrazione nel mondo lavorativo e produttivo, più recentemente, sino alle più che attuali importanti lotte per una vita autonomamente gestita che riconosca definitivamente lo status dell'autodeterminazione - o della tutela - nel difficile contesto del vivere pienamente e realizzare compiutamente un progetto che vada oltre la “cura” da parte dei propri cari, oltre a quella delle istituzioni. Successi e difficoltà che tuttavia solo in questi ultimi anni hanno visto agire nei processi decisionali con un riconosciuto ruolo di protagonisti le persone direttamente interessate. Un cammino spessissimo difficoltoso, che richiede abnegazione oltre che motivazioni solide ed acquisite competenze sul campo, attuato da pochi in favore di molti spesso non consapevoli, iterando almeno per i secondi una sorta di continua delega in bianco in merito al proprio futuro. Un colpevolmente atteggiamento passivo, che caratterizza tutt'ora l'esistenza di chi bisognoso di particolari attenzioni, che la forza “destabilizzante” del Progetto può mutare risvegliando le coscienze di quei molti che potrebbero e dovrebbero veramente mettersi in gioco. Il secondo elemento intimamente correlato al precedente riguarda il ruolo dell'associazionismo “di categoria”, del terzo settore in generale, che in questi anni – ma anche oggi ed auspicabilmente domani – hanno garantito alle fasce deboli della popolazione una vita dignitosa e rispettosa attraverso la creazione, il consolidamento ed il faticoso mantenimento di soluzioni e processi sociali ed assistenziali in sostituzione di un apparato pubblico sempre più in difficoltà e molto spesso privo di sensibilità e visione rispettose dei bisogni individuali quanto povero di capacità strategiche in relazione ai profondi cambiamenti dei quali sono oggetto il sociale e l'amministrazione della cosa pubblica. Lo sforzo pluridecennale di queste realtà, che racchiude esperienze sia di gratuità che di iniziativa imprenditoriale e che attualmente è interessato da una profonda riforma istituzionale e normativa, nel correre del tempo ha prodotto purtroppo anche alcune storture, “deviazioni”, che se non in rarissime eccezioni contribuiscono nel complesso alla sopravvivenza di una cultura paternalista ed assistenzialista certamente responsabile del sensibile ritardo con il quale oggi affrontiamo le difficoltà globali e nel contempo cerchiamo di cogliere le opportunità offerte dalle tecnologie e dalle metodologie ampiamente utilizzate in molti ambiti delle nostre complesse società. Il Progetto OpenCare scardina completamente questo “visione”, ribaltandone completamente l'approccio, introducendo nei delicati ed un po' sclerotizzati meccanismi dell'assistenza e del supporto alla persona concetti e paradigmi mutuati dalla cultura generale delle risorse aperte e liberamente condivisibili da tutti, in una sorta di “fai da te” riveduto ed aggiornato attraverso la disponibilità di strumenti flessibili e potenti a costi estremamente contenuti, che in modo radicale consentono di riposizionare il singolo individuo nella centralità dell'azione trasformandolo da semplice oggetto fruitore di prodotti e servizi generalizzati e spersonalizzanti, oltre che poco economici nelle complesse implementazioni, a soggetto creatore di un sapere accessibile, condivisibile ed esportabile nella sua essenzialità. Una via percorribile, questo è il presupposto e nel contempo l'obiettivo del Progetto, che deve sicuramente sorprendere, sollecitare e coinvolgere soprattutto il “mondo” del bisogno, oltre a quello istituzionale ed economico sociale, per garantire un terreno “di coltura” favorevole all'avvio di iniziative e progetti che naturalmente rispettino l'integrità delle persone e delle loro legittime aspettative, che debitamente tengano conto del supporto e dell'impegno della collettività e che ne garantiscano l'azione solidale attraverso le buone pratiche di indirizzo e di governo locale, nazionale e transnazionale. Le più che consolidate tecnologie della comunicazione ed il movimento che si alimenta e ne contribuisce la diffusione e la pervasività consentono infatti oggi di realizzare una “democrazia liquida”, che sfugge completamente ai vecchi canoni conosciuti dalla storia, attuando con maggiore puntualità e concretezza possibili percorsi e processi virtuosi per la qualità globale della nostra vita.   Il terzo ed ultimo elemento riguarda la mia dimensione personale. Da alcuni anni, per via di una curiosità congenita e di una affinità professionale, osservo il mondo dei makers con crescente interesse alimentato costantemente dai “prodigi” dei prodotti complementari che consentono agli “artigiani del xxi secolo” di realizzare oggetti o soluzioni sorprendentemente efficaci quanto semplici. Arduino, orgoglio autentico del nostro “fare” italiano, insieme ad altri nomi e progetti di caratura internazionale letteralmente “rimorchiano” quanti, come lo scrivente, ad un primo stupore e ad una prima titubanza dettata dalla presunta inadeguatezza reagiscono con un progressivo coinvolgimento in azioni ed in attività che conducono ad una nuova percezione della realtà, via via più plasmabile a misura dei “bi-sogni”. La mia disabilità fisica motoria congenita non mi consente di fatto l'azione diretta tramite la manipolazione fisica degli oggetti precludendomi una ampia serie di sensazioni ed emozioni che percepisco vissute nelle persone intorno a me. Tuttavia la mia intelligenza, la mia sensibilità e la mia creatività sopperiscono in buona misura ai miei limiti dandomi comunque la possibilità di vivere compiutamente l'incontro con questi inaspettati compagni di viaggio, l'Associazione WeMake prima ed il Progetto OpenCare dopo, che potenzialmente potrà tradursi anche nel compimento di un sogno coltivato sin dai tempi della prima giovinezza – divenire creatore di oggetti funzionali oltre che esteticamente validi – insieme a quanto desiderato oggi – realizzare prodotti e soluzioni di alta tecnologia nell'ambito della residenzialità autonoma per le persone con vari deficit fisico motori e cognitivi – nutrendo inoltre la segreta aspirazione di trovare finalmente una strada sulla quale realizzare questa mia importante dimensione esistenziale, a lungo in attesa di una autentica rivoluzione. " 2,6827,2016-05-05T09:12:50.000Z,501,anon2435658896,anon904321944,"Benvenuto! ah bene bene! vedo con piacere che stai prendendo alla grnade confidenza con la EdgeRyders :) il tuo più che ben accetto protagonismo è prezioso (e competente!)  il secondo punto mi piace un bel po' ;)  @anon " 3,14228,2016-05-05T10:39:15.000Z,501,anon70625510,anon904321944,"Benvenuto Francesco Stoleggendo le vostre riflessioni, grazie per il tempo dedicato a condividerle. Mi ci vuole un po 'più tempo per scrivere in italiano, ma cercherò di condividere le mie esperienze in questo fine settimana! " 4,17118,2016-05-07T10:00:29.000Z,14228,anon904321944,anon70625510,"Grazie Nadia! :-) " 5,19885,2016-05-06T10:31:41.000Z,501,anon1526983854,anon904321944,"Prossimi passi? ... e grazie dei complimenti. OpenCare per ora è una bella idea. Per diventare un progetto importante deve crescere tanto. Speriamo di poterlo fare insieme.  Per te in particolare, quale pensi possa essere il prossimo passo? Cosa ti piacerebbe fare con WeMake e OpenCare?  " 6,21773,2016-05-07T09:57:00.000Z,19885,anon904321944,anon1526983854,"Nel corso della prima sessione di co-design avvenuto lo scorso mercoledì presso WeMake nell’ambito del Progetto OpenCare ho avuto modo di esplicitare due miei interessi particolarmente “complessi”, quali la mobilità e la residenzialità prevalentemente per le persone con disabilità fisico motorie, confrontandomi con le sensibilità e le aspettative dei miei “compagni” di gruppo, impegnandoci a sviscerare problemi, elencare ostacoli e ad escogitare idee risolutive. Al quesito di cosa possa fare WeMake, ma sopratutto il Progetto, potrei sicuramente e molto facilmente rispondere con una richiesta di rendere quanto più possibile concreti questi sogni. Tuttavia la migliore replica che potrei dare è quella, altrettanto “semplice”, di pormi nella condizione di sintetizzatore e di promotore dei miei bisogni, abbandonando le resistenze dettate da una forma mentis descritta nel mio post e che è molto difficile da cambiare anche per me. Credo sia questo il valore innovativo di questo percorso piuttosto che il prodotto o il servizio che andremo a progettare – e magari ad implementare – del quale comunque verrà considerata la capacità di cogliere una richiesta e di dare una risposta concreta. Sono arrivato a WeMake attraverso lo hipe di Arduino e con una visione limitata alla mia mobilità auspicando la realizzazione di una carrozzella elettronica più intelligente e predisposta ai miei bisogni reali quotidiani. Oggi comprendo che la vera sfida non concerne esclusivamente gli aspetti tecnologici, per altro non di poca rilevanza, quanto piuttosto il raggiungere uno obiettivo condiviso da più persone. Insomma, parafrasando una antica saggezza, il Progetto pone ciascuno di noi al centro di un viaggio in primo luogo interiore “soppesando” solo successivamente con la sensibilità e la determinazione di quanti presenti sul tracciato la valenza e le opportunità della meta. " 7,22513,2016-05-09T18:39:15.000Z,21773,anon1526983854,anon904321944,"Eh :-) Insomma, non stai più hackerando la sedia a rotelle, ma te stesso. Diventando tu stesso un maker, sposti la tua disabilità da condizione immutabile in problema da risolvere. Se è così, che dire, chapeau. Però, senti: nel mondo maker anche i viaggi interiori si fanno smanettando su progetti, no? In smanettamento veritas. E bisogna pure smanettare su qualcosa! Mi chiedevo solo se state ragionando di cosa fare nelle prossime settimane.  " 8,22788,2016-05-28T16:54:15.000Z,22513,anon904321944,anon1526983854,"Per il momento, considerando tutta una serie di difficoltà ""logistiche"", è mio desiderio misurarmi fattivamente sull'idea che decideremo il prossimo Mercoledì 1 Giugno a WeMake, nel corso della terza sessione di co-design del Progetto. Tuttavia, poiché l'appetito vien mangiando, non escludo di cimentarmi in futuro su idee e progetti ben più ""personali"" ...includendo la super wheelchair interattiva! :-) Replicando brevemente sul tema del cammino interiore, confesso di essere altrettanto sopreso e contento di come un lungo percorso ""sotterraneo"" - carsico - abbia trovato uno sbocco in modo così semplice e naturale. Evidentemente il coinvolgimento in un progetto di confronto e condivisione costituisce una vera e propria tecnica ""clinica riabilitativa"" per le nostre vite, troppo abituate a restare oggetto di valutazione - e di dispute - da parte di altri. " 9,23786,2016-05-28T10:18:57.000Z,501,anon3341622463,anon904321944,"coinvolgere soprattutto il mondo del bisogno E' molto interessante e conciso ciò che scrivi, soprattutto quanto segue: ""una via percorribile, questo è il presupposto e nel contempo l'obiettivo del Progetto, che deve sicuramente sorprendere, sollecitare e coinvolgere soprattutto il “mondo” del bisogno, oltre a quello istituzionale ed economico sociale, per garantire un terreno “di coltura” favorevole all'avvio di iniziative e progetti che naturalmente rispettino l'integrità delle persone e delle loro legittime aspettative, che debitamente tengano conto del supporto e dell'impegno della collettività e che ne garantiscano l'azione solidale attraverso le buone pratiche di indirizzo e di governo locale, nazionale e transnazionale."" Grazie @anon   " 10,24910,2016-05-28T16:58:37.000Z,23786,anon904321944,anon3341622463,"In realtà il mio timore è che tale esposizione risultasse davvero troppo fantasiosa, utopica, ed un pochino ""fuffosa"". Questo è perà ciò che penso realmente, nonostante poi la vita dispensi indicazioni e ""risultati"" di tutt'altro indirizzo e spessore. " 11,26017,2016-09-06T10:22:33.000Z,501,anon1089184890,anon904321944,"Is ‘Fuffa’ sterile or fertile? Reproductive or evolutive? Sei un grande poeta Many things to say….so i’ll just get to the point...and to do so I need some labels (‘etichetta’).   I am in the group of ‘suppliers’ who are supposedly helanon3606750899g ‘consumers’ My impression is that this network tissue is made of 99% ‘suppliers’ leaving the ‘Fuffa’ sterile. Although ‘fuffa’ tends mysteriously to grow by it self I believe we seriously need to involve some fertilizers and seeds.   Worth saying: where are the ‘consumers’ ? How can we involve the users (handicapped, diabetics, etc)? And I intend direct, firsthand involvement here like this https://edgeryders.eu/ka/node/6503.   My idea is a pledge for everybody to try to invite the ‘consumers’ to comment. We need a better landing page than opencare.cc (but I have no idea). In local languages. A way of triage connecting people with common issues as I have already pointed out elsewhere.  As OpenCare is pretty scattered we need some labels (like it or not)   What do you guys @anon   I am on my box againg because I have been sharing the link opencare.cc and https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home. Either people finds it too intimidating (like i did) or they don’t care. I’d like to know   Note: Fuffa is the unesthetic little wad of wool that forms on wool clothes or hot air   " 12,26947,2016-09-12T13:38:24.000Z,26017,anon904321944,anon1089184890,"Poesie in multilingua! Grazie Rune per il complimento ...e per l'incoraggiamento (a non esagerare!)... Entrando nel merito del Tuo post, ritengo anch'io occorra una ""localizzazione"" più sanon3606750899ta di questa piattaforma dato che purtroppo - almeno in Italia - la lingua inglese costituisce ancora un ostacolo importante e di fatto ""disarma"" qualunque buona intenzione. Non me ne vogliano i gestori ed i moderatori di questo strumento, ma credo che sia inoltre necessario ripensare in modo più ""usabile"" questo spazio di comunicazione e di condivisione. Relativamente alla questione del target ""utile"" per le varie iniziative, come da Te sottolineato, penso occorra pensare a strategie (ancora) locali di informazione, di sensibilizzazione e di coinvolgimento delle innumerevoli entità rappresentative dell'arcipelago delle disabilità che, purtroppo per ragioni storiche, sono realmente poco inclini a collaborare fattivamente con quanti (a torto, naturalmente!) ritenuti concorrenti se non avversari nel complicato sistema della visibilità e del riconoscimento istituzionale che si traduce sistematicamente  in sovvenzioni piuttosto che in vere e proprie convenzioni quasi sempre prive di oggettive valutazioni in tema di costi-benefici e di efficacia-efficienza in un contesto di progettazione e di pianificazione degli interventi e dei servizi. Personalmente, come scritto altrove, ho trovato poca predisposizione da parte di queste a me note organizzazioni a creare sinergie ed a mettersi in gioco in progetti che non si traducano in un immediato ""ritorno"" istituzionale. Tuttavia permango nell'idea (folle?) che questo approccio possa cambiare in favore di un atteggiamento più lungimirante e pragmatico, in funzione di una maggiore diffusione delle competenze, a vantaggio di una crescente reale rappresentatività  che possa prescindere dalle dinamiche (sfittiche quanto ricattatorie) che attualmente  imbrigliano prevalentemente i portatori dei bisogni con i vari livelli dell'amministrazione della cosa pubblica e del settore economico finanziario. Questo, più di ogni altra cosa, è uno dei ""must"" fondamentali di OpenCare! " 2,7688,2016-08-28T15:26:15.000Z,526,anon1491650132,,"More about Gymsana? Hello (again)! You've been so generous with describing your path that I can't but introduce myself too - here is my story as a fellow social change worker. I find interesting what you write about the need for different social change outfits that make the actual mission interesting to other sectors, and I recognize in this newer projects which have a sexier appeal to some audiences - to me, the best example is the invention of corporate social responsibility as a shortcut of the private sector spilling into the third sector. With all its limitations, I can see why it is appealing for companies. I'm curious: what do you think was a reason why Gymsana achieved validation and impact? You mentioned that it brought new standards of care for the elderly, do you mean in measurements ? (I browsed the website in French, but couldn't find anything about its impact). " 4,12475,2016-08-31T15:51:25.000Z,11386,,,"Maanon1932026148 can this interesting too? http://www.ipp.eu/en/topics/health-and-well-being/siel-bleu-project-fonds-danone-pour-lecosysteme/ http://www.ipp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/n16-notesIPP-janon169343781ary2015.pdf " 6,13026,2016-09-12T10:00:03.000Z,12878,anon1491650132,,"I see, thanks for the report! So Happier, an evaluation study on physical actitivity effects on elderly wellbeing, reports significant outcomes in terms of numbers of falls (one less with every 18 months). What would be even more interesting is to see if there are community led projects similar to these which are truly open : they cater to anyone who wants to, providing full open access to all stakeholders delivering or benefitting from the service: I see both Gymsana and Happier cater to a controlled target and study population - in this case people in nursing homes.  Ezio Manzini who is a service designer and community member, has written about open networks of care here. I'm linking to it because you wrote that you're interested in new ecosystems and intersections, which is exactly the topic we are exploring too! " 1,731,2016-09-03T12:31:08.000Z,731,anon2759845045,anon2759845045,"Urban vegetable gardens can grow in Thessaloniki entering the primary sector in the city and offering food, but also laying the foundations for the transition to a ""green"" economy. The ‘City as a resource’ is a proposal to create a network of urban vegetable gardens in the city of Thessaloniki. This project was the outcome of a workshop of the MLA Landscape Architecture School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The concept of the pilot project was to intervene in a residual urban space related to its residents, in a city (municipality) under economic hardship, with no access to infrastructure and funding. After the success of the pilot project which took place in the western part of the city of Thessaloniki (Lachanokipoi district), we decided to cooperate with the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Department of Urban Environmental Management for the creation of an innovative urban vegetable gardening project in the city center. After mapanon3606750899g all the possible vacant spaces in the city center, the new project finally took place in 2014 at Doxa district, right next to the urban vineyard as a symbolic gesture to the new sustainable lifestyle of the city. The group consists of 10 gardeners, who grow their own vegetables under our supervision and support in a cultivating area of 80 m2  (total area 300 m2).The name of the project ‘Kipos3’ comes from the Greek word “kipos” (garden) which points to the archetypal designed landscape and an aesthetical landscape aspect in the structured urban environment. Our vision is to re-imagine the city through the transformation of abandoned areas, residual spaces within the urban fabric, existing parks in need of renovation and re-design, uncovered terraces and buildings are places that could gain collective use. The city needs its residents. The success of an urban vegetable garden based on collective action depends on its social character and the participatory governance of multi- stakeholders especially the community. Residents cultivate their city! Our team focuses on enriching original and location-specific ideas with data, information and constant interaction between the local community and the public space. We are connected to many like-minded initiatives all over the world such as the French project ‘Kipos qui pousse’ and COST Organization for Urban Allotment Gardens in European Cities. Although the whole process meets several obstacles, such as bureaucracy mainly for technical issues, the reservedness of the neighbors due to the fact that they had previous bad experience with municipal actions, we remain focused on our vision, trying to seek collaboration with the municipality, other local authorities and the neighborhood itself. Our goal for 2017 is to construct a new vegetable garden in the same neighborhood in collaboration with the Municipality of Thessaloniki and create synergies with other like-minded initiatives abroad, learn from experts and adapt best practices grounded in Greek reality. In addition, we are going to preserve precious contacts with artists, architects, and agronomists we have met since the starting points of our project.   Who benefits from Kipos3?
    1. Residents of Thessaloniki getting activated in order to become catalysts of change in their own neighborhood.
    2. Local communities wishing to contribute to social cohesion, participatory governance and upgrading the urban landscape.
    3. Everyone who wants to be active and participate in the development and co-formation of vacant public spaces.
    4. Students of all educational levels, who gain environmental education and collective knowledge through field visits.
    Kipos3 has run as an urban gardening project within the framework of the Angelopoulos CGIU Fellowship by Angelopoulos Foundation since 2015. So far, the project has attracted the attention of the local press and several European organizations and research programs. We are reaching out to citizens through a dedicated website and our Facebook page, which includes all information that needs to be transferred to potential beneficiaries. For the participation in the garden activities, no special criteria are required. Everyone is welcome to contribute with his passion and willingness to the garden. Kipos3  is an urban gardening project beyond cultivation of land for food provisioning. The people behind the idea My name is Eleftheria Gavriilidou and in my early 30s, I have a degree in Architecture, and I am a post-graduate in the MLA Landscape Architecture School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I work as an architect and I contribute to the ‘Resilient Thessaloniki’ project as a participant of the ‘100 Resilient Cities’ pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. After getting a scholarship as a postgraduate student in 2014, I am in charge of the project ‘Kipos3’ working with many other partners. All these years, I had the chance to enrich my professional and academic experience participating in seminars, workshops, and conferences at national and international level. My partner, Maria Ritou, has a degree in Agriculture, and she is a postgraduate in the MLA Landscape Architecture School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki too. She is in charge of the design activities of Kipos3 whereas I am more concerned in ecological activities of the vegetable garden. Our professional relationship runs on the basis of trust, respect, and mutual understanding. After two years of collaboration, we realize that we have learned many things from each other’s capacities trying to construct a vegetable garden from scratch to approaching municipal and other local stakeholders. Also, we really enjoy this feeling of pleasure and satisfaction when people get motivated by our ideas and share our vision for a sustainable neighborhood/ city. We feel blessed being supported by our families and friends who are involved with fresh ideas and their physical presence in the garden.   In what ways are you using a city as a resource? What approaches have worked out well, and what made them succeed? Do you have an idea, suggestion, or a thought? Please leave a comment below.   " 2,7177,2016-09-12T08:29:00.000Z,731,anon1491650132,anon2759845045,"How does the collaboration with the city work? Hi @anon https://www.youtube.com/embed/_YEeSOoL8TE?list=PLVjndg_tw3Gkwdojf_9uJ0tjQFBFOLYjt But their relationship with the local authorities is nowhere near as good as yours. You can get some of the hints from their name :) they are trying to get the pedestrian areas secure from cars by setting up planting flowers and trees in second hand tires on the sidewalks. They get fined because officially it's considered littering and throwing garbage around. I understand this is not them acting offensively, but solving problems that authorities won't deal with. Curious: how did Kipos3 turn administration into an ally? " 2,7143,2016-09-12T07:29:52.000Z,730,anon1491650132,,"How does it work, this mix of services? @anon I'm curious how does the group mix food provision with spiritual support, and if it is the same people who receive these two different kinds of service. Alternatively, I can imagine people who have accessed new levels of mental wellbeing are in turn more inclined to pay it forward and do humanitarian actions, like in Maria's personal history. Also, have you participated in the OPENandChange workshop? I'm working with Natalia, Pavlos and others here and have been watching what is happening in Thessaloniki from afar, it's been great to see people very active on the ground! " 1,521,2016-08-11T01:38:34.000Z,521,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"

    Where we started

    Woodbine is a hub for building autonomy in the wake of a dying culture. Our mission is to expand collective material and organizational capacities in order to build revolution in the 21st century. With a workshop, library, kitchen, and meeting space, we focus on efforts to self-organize, connect, create infrastructures, and develop greater individual and collective efficacy.  The Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center is a communal space in the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens.  It is part of the Autonomy General Assembly, which is a gathering space for the different projects that are housed within Woodbine.  The idea behind Woodbine comes in the wake of Occupy, but takes its motivations from the Zapatistas in Chiapas, the ZADs in France, communities in Rojava, and all those who have struggled for liberation.   As we begin answering questions of autonomy, we are faced with the myriad of material obstacles in our way.  Health, or our lack thereof, can be seen as a crucial weakness in the revolutionary struggle.  We are tied to a “modern” health system that fundamentally removes our bodies from a larger physical reality.  We are made to become cells in revolt, aberrant genes, failed organs, physicalities riddled with disease.  Disease becomes individualized as “health” and “wellness” becomes commodified.  States of mental health become symbols of individualized weakness. Propensities toward depressed states, or anxious disorders, and “imbanon3760936673ces” in the brain necessitate chemical intervention, while never addressing the overwhelming emptiness of modern life.  An insane mind is the mind that can adapt to an insane society, and from the news today, we are surely going insane.  Insanity as the only rational response to an insane world, but what contemporary visions of “health” require of us, in order to perpetuate this economy, is that we be atomized, necessarily taking on our struggles alone, seeing them as the individual product of a weak, chemically imbanon3760936673ced mind. If we refuse this logic, begin to express the anger necessary for a health that recognizes the truly horrific nature of the time we’re living in and develop shared practices of care that diffuse that isolation, we can begin to grow the collective backbone we so desperately need. Apart from a critique of modern theories on health, we as a community have lost all control over our health.  Our individualized choices to workout, eat right, not smoke, etc are important, but wholly insufficient to answer the demands of this century.  In order to access healthcare, we are tied to jobs that are literally killing us, whether it be mental depravity or physical degradation.  Many people are in constant fear of losing this state granted access, but then are also in fear of having to access such a system, a system that is the cause of more than 50% of bankruptcies.  Because we have relegated health to these institutions, we have lost our ability to heal ourselves.  We no longer know the abundance of nature in helanon3606750899g to create health.  Most people cannot perform basic first aid or use simple techniques for health.  Many communities lack any cognizance or skill to handle the inevitable emotional collapse of our comrades.  In addition, these institutions fundamentally cannot address the issues of climate change, economic collapse, or disruption of key infrastructure.  They are as weak as we are, as evidenced by the effects of superstorms on the health infrastructure of New Orleans and New York.  How can these institutions help us when the very air we breath is killing us?  How do they help us adapt to a world without clean water?  To answer the sadness in our souls to live in a world where we have killed all the fish in the ocean?   To answer simply, they cannot.   They are tied to the same system we are, replete with the same fundamental limitations.  But we are not the same. While we are in chains, we are not of the system.   We have not always lived this way.   And to remember this fact is to regain our humanity.  

    Where we are now

    Within Woodbine, the struggle for autonomy has been broken down into specific “tracks”, meant to focus our attention on tangible obstacles to building functioning communities.  The health track is composed of a mix of health professionals and those with informal training in various health practices.  We place an emphasis on re-creating a sense of community wellness and the dissemination of skills.  We work to create ties with those who practice herbal medicines, massage, kinesiology, acupuncture, meditation, yoga and other forms of so called “alternative” medicine.  We work on owning our own definition of wellness, from the physical to the mental.  In addition, we investigate current systems of western medicine, skills, and ultimately, work to develop an ability to manipulate these institutions to serve our goals.  We do not reject modern methods of medicine, but rather recognize the need to detach the knowledge from the oppressive institutions that guard it. Food and the environment have a fundamental role in health, and because of this, will have their own tracks to address their wide breadth of knowledge.  Overall, this track allows us to answer the questions of how do we begin the process of removing our physical and mental minds from an oppressive system, to reclaim our control over health and use health to increase our collective autonomy.   Within the city, there is a public health infrastructure with clinics and hospitals.  While there are significant problems associated with these institutions, they do provide much of the emergency and chronic care in the city.  There are also spaces dedicated to holistic type medicine, although many of these are inaccessible to large portions of the population.  For these reasons, we started by building a health resource center within our Woodbine space.  The space is meant to be a means to involve community members, understand the care-related skills they have, and be an informational center.  We have public open times for the community, staffed by one of our members.  We also have begun offering a series of basic skills, including basic first aid, wound care,community health, food and nutrition, wellness, and many others.  Our goal is that participants can use the informational aspect to understand their disease process, find resources of different modalities, and either receive aid in navigating the health systems in place or find treatment within the space itself.  And finally, we have a preventative aspect, with our communal Sunday dinners, organic farm share, and weekly workout sessions, where we are beginning the process of owning our own health.

    Where we are going

    Our overarching goal is to examine what health autonomy would look like for us here in the city.  We are beginning with the basics by providing ways to interact with neighbors, to think of health in a communal sense, and to aggregate the people and resources from which to begin our journey.  Our short term goal is to continue with our introductory skill shares, create concrete ways to navigate the overwhelming health infrastructure that exists, and build a health community.  We are also beginning to experiment with providing care outside of the realm of state control.  This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance.  Our intention is always to heal, and so we must find ways to do so that protects providers and patients.  As we progress, we will consider creating a larger clinical space, with more emphasis on offering a range of clinical modalities.  Finally, as Woodbine looks to expand our sense of territory to upstate NY, we will look to an expansion of the project to include a more rural context, likely in the form of a functioning low-fee/no-pay clinic.     As we move through the journey towards health autonomy, we find ourselves in a context that has removed us from our ability to understand our reality .  We fight that disconnection and work to build the infrastructure that can allow us the space to envision a new existence.  We look forward to hearing your stories, to understand your struggles and to collectively create the foundations to answer these monumental questions.    

    My questions for peers doing related work elsewhere…

    • How do you create sustainability?  Donation based/grant based/fee based?
    • How do you interact with existing structures?
    • How do you work with or around licensures/certifications to provide safe care?
    Contact us: Woodbine.nyc Woodbine Health Autonomy FB group   " 2,8137,2016-08-11T11:43:23.000Z,521,anon4116418727,anon3670751854,"Just a first, liminal reflection... Thank you again @anon70625510 for pointing this out. I am not sure I fully grasped the purpose of this, as the text is touching on so many issues at once. I will just focus on the questions to the peers. 1. Sustainability can be achieved by any of the mechanisms you mentioned, and more (how about connecting a parallel currency to your activity, creating a membership parallel economy, the likes of Sardex?)... However, the key is that sustainability is not something that can be described in general terms. One has to map the entirety of value chain, and interfaces to surrounding ecosystems, to form an idea of how to become sustainable. 2. Again, much depends on what are the incumbents you are talking about, case by case (2 hospitals will react very differently, because their governance is managed by different individuals... even if the general administration may look the same), and by how much, and what kind of, intersection your activities have with theirs... Identifying a few ""ambassadors"", people that may even be critical but willing to engage and discuss, on both sides (also within your own community) is possibly the first step... verbal communication is easier than written, and maps or other interpretable/symbolic representations can help confronting the different narratives to converge... I would avoid interfacing two different communities by exchanging long texts first :) 3. In your case I am not sure why you would like to ""work around"" any of this... maanon1932026148 a specific case could help me focusing on a pragmatic reply. In general demonstrating a solid, well thought-of scheme of access to information, education/training, mentoring, and peer evaluation, helps convincing that the operations are sensible and aligned with the purposes of the law. However, there are many details one should consider only on a specific plan: what safety nets are needed for you and your community? Can you keep track of activities and consequences? etc... Registrations/certifications/licensing are in place as fences, one of the tools in the arsenal of safety in healthcare... it is possible to negotiate ways out when it is proven that safety is guaranteed never the less... this may imply lobbying and meetings with authorities, but one can find examples from prior cases that are useful... as instance medical students can practice some medical activities under mentoring before being graduated and licensed... but the University Hospital has a wide safety net set up... It's not impossible to find good solutions, and regulators are often discussing of innovation in this field of regulation, but there are no shortcuts...   " 3,11903,2016-08-22T10:13:47.000Z,8137,anon1089184890,anon4116418727,"No shortcuts...!!!!???? Maanon1932026148 I'm wrong but I though the OpenCare proposal was to shortcut. Shortcut waitlinglists Shortcut ineffective bureaucrazy Shortcut documents that separates people and not connecting them I thought that we were supposed to be innovative and find a solution. I got to find out if I'm in the wrong place here. ??? " 4,15136,2016-08-11T11:38:01.000Z,521,anon4116418727,anon3670751854,"maanon1932026148 worth mentioning... Although I am personally in favour of leaving behind the ""fences"" of responsibility, and of redesigning the system for accountability and ultimately more pervasive quality... maanon1932026148 it's time for me to be my own devil's advocate: Systems of fences (certification/licenses/etc) are not always an innovator's enemy. Dealing with responsibility is a lot easier (and often, paradoxically cheaper in the long run) than dealing with accountability. If your innovation is specialized, small in scale, or incremental (hence fitting well in the ecosystem where the incumbents are thriving), maanon1932026148 it's easier to figure out how to obtain certifications and licenses, than how to establish safety nets and sandboxes to work outside of them (formally, but within the purpose of defending your ""users""). Don't always start from the assumption that, because others complain about the regulations (often as a narrative to raise their prices), they are indeed an obstacle for you. Do your own due diligence, before thinking of how to work beyond (rather than around) them. " 5,17949,2016-08-22T10:21:27.000Z,15136,anon1089184890,anon4116418727,"Objective Costs @anon cost and times should be including applicants cost and time eg. CE marking a medical device (>100k€, 1 year) Approval  from the ministry of health for a medical device (15k€ >2 years) Patent (50k€, 4 years) and there is more       " 6,20474,2016-08-11T17:00:23.000Z,521,anon1526983854,anon3670751854,"On autonomy, prevention and bleeding out money Very interesting @anon Its implications are manifold (I have made a short summary here, but I would recommend reading the whole article if you have not done it already). But basically, it comes down to emphasizing prevention. Illness is not only bad for the individual, it is a burden for the community. You don't want that, so you try to take responsibility for your health. You adopt a healthy lifestyle: you still might get sick, but at least you'll have down your best, and you will know that the community knows. This is close to your own attitude, if I understand this right. Which brings me to a question: wellness, exercise, nutrition are the low hanging fruit, the place where you are likely to get most results per unit of effort. Why not stick to them? Why struggle with licenses and regulatory hurdles? And again: you mention sustainability, and well you should. Are your present activities sustainable? Or are they bleeding out money?   " 7,22039,2016-08-13T01:36:47.000Z,20474,anon3670751854,anon1526983854,"Interesting view on autonomy @anon Thank you again for the comments and I look forward to continuing the conversation!     " 8,24022,2016-08-15T06:42:31.000Z,521,anon1491650132,anon3670751854,"Your banon3760936673cing act Hi @anon At the same time you are adamant about the need for a radical, revolutionary approach, and this is where you make a very clear standpoint which to people like Marco above is intriguing.  As to your question ""How do you work with or around licensures/certifications to provide safe care?"" perhaps @anon1088780966 and his experience can help. He is in the process of setting up an acupuncture clinic at the edge of (commercial) regulations. " 9,26031,2016-08-15T11:07:50.000Z,521,anon1061021150,anon3670751854,"One more thing There is a very good story on the New York Times about a guy who dived into the accessible data about patients and used certain patterns to start fixing the most obvious failures of the health care system. For example, he looked at which buildings in the city received huge amount of emergency visits and hospital admissions - and started solving the problem by opening a practice inside the very building, where patients are taught about healthy habits and watched over regularly, successfully decreasing the number of emergencies and helanon3606750899g save a lot of money. It sounds very much like Bookchin to me: small communities tackling local problems, using collectives procedures and new technology.   fanon1056199097rs crossed for your work, it really looks promising;) " 11,29070,2016-08-22T11:58:18.000Z,521,anon1089184890,anon3670751854,"Startup Good story @anon " 12,29958,2016-08-29T23:25:21.000Z,521,anon3670751854,anon3670751854,"Basic Needs @anon " 14,30443,2016-08-30T08:41:26.000Z,30317,anon1526983854,,"Great debate Kudos @anon " 15,30515,2016-09-10T12:13:02.000Z,30317,anon70625510,,"Let's make this the topic/theme for the NYC workshop? Would you be up for articulating the question and posting it in a status update on the event page? This would help get the ball rolling. Maanon1932026148 like to this thread? I'm looking into the accomodation solutions btw. At this end we are actiely working towards settingup a phycial edgeryders space, some kind of coliving and working that would allow us to host people for extended periods of time as they work on their initiatives . i.e. time free from the tyranny of having to pay rent to just get on with the work that needs doing. It's something I would like to bring up at the workshop too- models for doing that sustainable and with very little money. " 1,706,2016-07-13T17:34:32.000Z,706,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"I'm Narindra Michel RAKOTOARISOA, I was born near of tropical forest in east of Madagascar, near by raining forest. I have an chronic asthma since when I was 2 due to a medical poisoning. My parents were there to make me extract some of it out of throat. Few days since those moments, when weather will have changing, I'm cough early 12 hours before its changing, a kind of meanon1201778428rological detector :-D More than that, there were 9 people leaving in a small house of 10m2. Majority of Malagasy people we use charcoal as combustion for cooking like us. So it was more and less enough ventilated for all of us. During my childhood I was suffering of heavy breathing and lungs whistling, the fact that I lived next to a forest having fresh air and help me to overcome this asthma until my adult life. I didn't know too much people who suffer with the same illness like mine until now... More than the half of the forest in my country has been cutted for combustion, furnitures, slash and burn,... Following population growth from 15 million to 20 during the last 30 years. Public health and sanitation are trying as they can and have to keep us healthy; with this growing population; open fire and carbonic gas are growing following this, carbonic gas from factories and cars... Nowadays, 80% of kids under 5 years seem asthmatic. I know that when I was asking the pediatrician in a pediatric hospital, where I brought my 3 years old nephew for lungs exam. For information, only few people who have enough money can afford treatment like aerosol ""inhale"", medicines,...  Rich and powerful people control the destiny and future of my country. Following this the Malagasy government has decided to stop using plastic bags last December without alternative until now. This is a good idea but the bad effect is some of our ""ravinala"" considered queen and symbolic tree of Madagascar is taking place of the plastic bags ; I heard a rumor that some people on our government brought back ""biodegradable "" plastic bag made with cassava, It's a kind of bag thick than one before. Without label or information about the factory whose made it, probably from one powerful people on the government.  Other than that, without mentioning the massive destruction of large area of primary forest caused by a multinational firm mine project since 2003. Actually it's our future generations lives is on the line metaphorically and literally. Nature and man can't be separated. As my thoughts, training for peasants for new method of rice planting unsteady of slash and burn. Biogas can replace the charcoal and wood used as  combustion of 80% of Malagasy people.  Education for all and ordinance and penalties can be applied for any means of illegal way.  It's just a small sand into the gears to overcome or slow down this fast truck. Michel RAKOTOARISOA " 2,7657,2016-07-13T18:28:03.000Z,706,anon2668029998,anon2668029998,"Related Pictures Sorry for some indecent pictures.    " 3,14837,2016-07-14T10:43:45.000Z,706,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"Can asthma treatment be open? Hello @anon I am wondering if asthma treatment would lend itself to cheap, open source, DIY treatment.
    • it is a chronic condition – plenty of time for the patient to learn to manage it
    • it is treated with well-understood drugs 
    • which are delivered with relatively simple machines (inhalers)
    • lifestyle and environmental modificiations also affect it – as Michel says, defend the forest, asthma management gets better for everyone living near it.
    This sounds like something communities could try to crack. Does this make sense, @anon4116418727 and @anon " 4,17289,2016-07-14T15:54:35.000Z,14837,anon2668029998,anon1526983854,"Actuality and prioritize Hey @anon Here is a picture of a doctor make you know how it's look like on administration building for public health.  It's happening they pay from there own money to get gloves.  " 5,18292,2016-07-15T08:10:29.000Z,17289,anon1491650132,anon2668029998,"That's right, not counting on medical healthcare ..hi @anon Have you already started with your solution of education for all? Can we help? By the way, another edgeryder here @anon Also, Jean Paul @anon   " 6,18670,2016-07-15T14:47:34.000Z,18292,anon2668029998,anon1491650132,"Many things are possible with some people. Hi @anon I didn't start yet with education for all because I don't have enough tools and I need to develop something that reattached on it, like who are the target as adults ,youth and childrens who are related to different services such as solar canteen, class room, school supplies, personnel and budget for this.  About @anon " 7,18836,2016-07-16T09:29:22.000Z,18670,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"Hang in there! Hang in there, @anon " 8,20729,2016-07-18T12:59:04.000Z,706,anon2435658896,anon2668029998,"nice to meet you and check this out :) Hi Michel, thanks for sharing.  While I'm looking for other possible solutions and experiences in the ""maker"" realm, please take a look at this project:  Arnav studied the causes and effects of asthma and came up with the AsthmaPi which uses a Raspberry Pi, a Sense Hat, an MQ-135 Gas Sensor, a Sharp Optical Dust Sensor and an Arduino Uno. It is programmed in Python and C++ and triggers email and SMS text message alerts to take medication and remind patients to go for review visits. There is also an accompanying booklet which describes the condition and how to treat it. The sensors on the SenseHAT are used to measure temperature and humidity and the MQ gas sensor detects smoke, nitrogen compounds and host of other airborne triggers. https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Dniuy4-D3M http://www.tech4goodawards.com/finalist/arnav-sharma/ @anon ciao :)   " 9,22124,2016-07-19T07:17:49.000Z,20729,anon2668029998,anon2435658896,"I'm impressed. Hi @anon It's looking great, this kid is a genius. Thank you for sharing this. It's really a huge step assistance for asthmatic people. I think that sms message will be the most popular reminder... While I'm just  worried and curious about the way to store it safely maanon1932026148 in a box ?! Some of those sensors don't need to be covered isn't it ?  If any part of the peace is broken or need any maintenance like ""over heating"", is not easy to fix and to find a new one here in Madagascar.  " 10,22653,2016-07-25T15:15:40.000Z,22124,anon1526983854,anon2668029998,"All components are standard and cheap What I don't understand is this: are we looking at a personal device, maanon1932026148 wearable, or at one that can be shared? Is it one kit per person or one kit per village, sending SMS alerts to several people? I'm betting one per village – CO2 levels are probably farily similar across the same village. Dust can be more of a localized problem. What do you think, @anon @anon In general, with this kind of project all components are cheap. If it is one kit per village, the easiest would be to buy three of everything, and simply replace a component as it breaks down.   " 11,23010,2016-08-15T09:28:54.000Z,22124,anon70625510,anon2668029998,"Maanon1932026148 ask the security wizard? :) Hi Michel, nice to read you. Regarding your question about the security aspects of AsthmaPI, maanon1932026148 @anon " 12,24601,2016-09-08T21:02:13.000Z,706,anon628128301,anon2668029998,"We build a free/libre and open source solution for asthma! Thanks for sharing @anon To follow @anon " 1,531,2016-09-07T07:10:21.000Z,531,anon1683563470,anon1683563470,"The vision of Families of Color Seattle (FOCS) is that our children of color are born into a loving community that is racially and economically just. To work towards this, FOCS’ mission is to build a strong community by supporting families of color through parenting programs, resource sharing and fostering meaningful connections. For example, programs include regular parenting groups led by trained parent facilitators of color, multi-cultural art classes for kids and adults, and community events and resources on relevant topics for families of color. FOCS is unique in providing safe spaces where families of color can build community with a focus on race, identity, culture and ethnicity through a lens of social and racial justice.  Since our founding in 2013, FOCS has evolved into an active base of over 1000 interethnic, intercultural families of color in South Seattle and the greater Seattle/King County area in Pacific Northwest of United States of America. . Born out of the desire for alternatives to mainstream parenting groups, FOCS tackles serious challenges head on. There is a lack of effective opportunities for community dialogues on race and family. Culturally-relevant and multiracial parenting resources are unknown or unwritten. Mainstream organizations aren’t committed to anti-racist policies and practices for our children of color. And families of color seek a safe community where shared experiences and cultural understanding are the norm. Today, FOCS is a nonprofit organization led by women of color including the Executive Director and Founder Amy Pak as well as FOCS’ 7-member board of directors. Prior to incorporation, core volunteers dedicated hundreds of hours to evolve and solidify the needs of our community based on what we’d be hearing from our families. We have grown from an all-volunteer start-up group to one that is led by .5 FTE staff, 2 interns, 1 Rainier Valley Corps Fellow, professional and diverse Board of directors and hundreds of dedicated family volunteers. It is critical to us that FOCS employs and utilizes the assets of our parents of color network for “peer to peer” learning and sharing. This builds strong community and ensures our voices are lifted up and valued.   Since 2013, 30 parent groups have been organized, providing weekly support and reduced social isolation for over 180 parenting group participants. FOCS ARTS cultural arts programming has engaged over 800 families in fun, interactive, multicultural learning opportunities. The FOCS online community forum involves resources sharing between over 430 families of color.  In 2015-16, FOCS successfully executed five dialogues in Seattle around issues of equity on race/multiracial identity, anti-bias education, reproductive justice, and transracial adoption and included a total of 500 people and 75 volunteers. Our reach is wide and it is getting stronger. FOCS was recently awarded the Ron Chisom Anti-Racism Award by the Seattle Services Coalition for our work in racial justice for families. The ceremony was June 1,2016 at City Hall, Seattle. FOCS, a non-profit, was eventually founded in 2013 and it is now a women-led organization which connects parents and builds a loving community of families of color in Seattle. We’ve discovered a growing demand from families of color, young parents, transracial adoptive families, multi-national,, multiracial families growing in Seattle, yet the city remains 70% white with growing displacement of families of color, immigrant and low income communities not being able to afford America’s city with the quickest rising cost of living in the nation. Seattle also boosts America’s largest multi-racial identifying people and also reflects where children of color are the majority nationally in Kindergarten.  FOCS fosters meaningful connects, engages parents and children with cultural arts, but also providing a platform where they can discuss everything, from returning work to breastfeeding, race, community, identity and social justice. It’s a powerful combination of professions, education, traditions and backgrounds. Our impact has been deep and quick, we have connected over 1000 families and trained and employed more than 35 parents as Parent Educators and Teaching Artists. FOCS initially opened Cornerstone Cafe in Fall of 2014. The space offered a drop-in child care, and a cultural arts program including capoeira and Hawaiian and Spanish talk story. We now operate FOCS ARTS cultural arts programming for 0-7 year olds with parents each week, facilitate community dialogues on race and family, parenting groups for newborns and waddlers and consult and provide race and equity workshops for parents and educators at preschools and elementary schools. We became part of commuinity led de-gentrification of South Seattle, where our community resources reflect the historical community of residents. Instead, FOCS members are connected by the culture of inclusivity, community building and play-centered learning. Our values are women of color and mother leadership, racial equity, economic impact, dismantling racism, education equity, and an intercultural interethnic community. We envision a world where children of color are born into a loving community that is racially and economically just.   One Filianon3606750899a American mother of mixed race Filianon3606750899o, Salvadorian and White two young boys said about FOCS, “I gave birth to my first son in 2010. My pregnancy was difficult, it was unplanned, my relationship was unstable, my partner was unemployed and I suffered internal bleeding during the first trimester resulting in an emergency surgery; I often cried during my prenatal appointments, and the midwives expressed concern that I was at risk for post-partum depression and they recommended joining a parent group when my baby arrived to build a supportive community. My son arrived 3 weeks early and the birth was long and ended in a c-section. When my baby arrived I continued to face difficulty. My son was very small but healthy, but he failed to gain weight as I was unable to produce the milk he needed, and he rarely slept more than 2 hours at a time for nearly the first 6 months of his life. I had never felt more scared, tired, or overwhelmed. After 6 months I went back to my midwife with signs of Postpartum Depression and worked with my health care providers and my partner on a plan to help me manage my symptoms and the stressors in my life. Looking back through this experience what was missing from my life was an opportunity to build authentic relationships and community with other mothers. I was part of a parent group, but never felt like I could be myself in these groups and share what was going on in mothering experience and within myself. I often felt lonely and isolated even in the presence of the group. I attribute this experience to having a space where both mothers and partners were included as well as the facilitation of the group which focused primarily on the baby and not on the identity or needs of the parent. When I joined a FOCS (Families of Color Seattle) group last Spring, after the birth of my second son, I knew I found the place I had yearned for earlier in my motherhood. The circumstances with the birth of my second were entirely different so I was in a better place emotionally, physically, and financially, but I know that every mother still needs support and community. What I found with FOCS was an intentional space to build authentic relationships and community. As mothers we are welcomed in and acknowledged as whole people with cultures, professions, fears and passions, not just as care taker of a child. FOCS openly discusses and acknowledges race, ethnicity, culture, language, and identity and its importance in motherhood, parenting, and raising children. In my experience these topics were left out of other traditional parenting groups in the community. When these topics are left out, people of color and their experiences are neglected and excluded. When FOCS brings our multiple identities to the forefront the result is more authentic conversation and relationship building. My first year with my second son has been extremely positive and I attribute much of this to my on-going connection with FOCS. I felt supported as an individual and mother, and was able to transfer the love I felt to the love I share with my child. It is so important to provide support for mothers so that we can be better mothers. I believe that the strength of the community that is being built is a testimony of the need that families of color in Seattle are looking for spaces to connect"". " 2,10145,2016-09-08T11:45:39.000Z,531,anon1491650132,anon1683563470,"Love the Cornerstone Cafe idea! Hi @anon1683563470, welcome to Edgeryders! How did you hear about us, I wonder? I think you're the first community initiative I've heard about in that area of the US..  so lovely to meet you. I'm not a mother (yet) but I can imagine the comfort in a period which can be very depressing for women for reasons that are not simple to grasp by mothers themselves, let alone by the community without a support structure. I see the cafe was crowdfunded. Is it working now after two years? I wonder if you've managed to grow your support base to not just families of color, but to others who are keen on hanging out in a more culturally aware environment..  And also: is your  " 1,714,2016-08-08T10:35:42.000Z,714,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Interesting read and thought to share: Two UPC students design and build a low-cost wheelchair for use in develoanon3606750899g countries. The wheelchair can be put together or taken apart in 15 minutes, costs €70 to make and is built out of two bicycle wheels, two supermarket trolley wheels and a PVC pipe to help address some of these unmet needs and make life easier for the people with motor disabilities who are most in need of assistance.  The design of the DIY wheelchair includes two sizes, Standard and Kids, and the weight of the assembled chair ranges from 15 to 20 kg. The useful life of either model is from three to five years under normal conditions of use.  Once put together, it performs like any conventional wheelchair and offers the same level of comfort. It has a seat cushion, footrest, push handle, backrest and wheels with handrims so the user can propel the chair and be more independent.   Read the full article: http://www.catanon3760936673newsagency.com/society-science/item/two-catanon3760936673-students-design-low-cost-wheelchair-for-develoanon3606750899g-countries Watch the video: http://www.diywheelchair.xyz/wheelchair.php " 2,7781,2016-08-29T09:25:58.000Z,714,anon1089184890,anon3708118144,"Intriguing story - is it realistic? Thanks for sharing @anon Byt, I feel that we have an ethical obligation to have a critical look at things. We must avoid encouaging engagement in risky business. Too often we create false hopes for those already challenged. I fear that we often superficially oversimplifying things to promote ourselves without realizing/measuring/acknowledge the possible positive or negative impact it may have. I've never been to Senegal so I have to use imagination to analyze the story. I put myself in the situation of a Senegalese who read the story and try to copy the concept, watching the video made by some 'rich' guys saying this cost only €70. I need a workshop: power Drill, bits, saw.... Ok it's initial investment may be covered if I intend producing lots as a business. I need to buy the materials: Pipe, glue etc. (Are hardware stores plenty and well stocked  in the target country? what prices do they practice?). However, I’m sitting comfortably in europe. Have several hardware nearby. There you spend a lot for small quantities. Just to get an estimate I used RS online to get an idea. Pipes:40€, 10 Elbows, etc, a whopanon3606750899g 7€ each, locktite glue 25 €.. Bicycle wheels??? Shopanon3606750899g cart wheels??? (we are not stealing are we?) Your shopanon3606750899g cart will cost me more than 200€.  (See note) Where do I want to go? I would like to see the description of the actual prototype session where someone in Senegal, actually goes through this maker process and constructs a solid wheelchair for another person, listing difficulties, actual costs (tools,time and transport included) Why? Because we have an ethical obligation not to lead people into false beliefs. Not to encourage them into a project that may cost them much more money and resources than they think. Not to encourage taking uncalculated risks and facing a (maanon1932026148 fatal?) failure.   Note I don't know if I looked up the right things, but if they arent I would have wasted further money and failed building the weelchair " 3,16336,2016-09-07T09:29:09.000Z,714,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"It's a start... @anon From what I read it cost the students €70 to build from “their” resources. The students developed the wheelchair design for users in develoanon3606750899g countries using whatever materials are most readily available in each region.  The idea is that people close to the end user should be able to build, assemble and disassemble it themselves. DIY Wheelchair can be built with the most affordable materials in each country: PVC pipes, bamboo etc.  This is a solution that is always be tried and tested, back in 1993 and many others. They’re aim was to develop an affordable solution to improve the lives of people. aims to promote inclusion and improve the mobility of disabled people with limited resources from develoanon3606750899g countries, where only a minority of those in need of wheelchairs has access to them. The DIY Wheelchair isn’t a product, but a toolkit with assembly instructions that can be downloaded and a video demonstration which lends the user to use their own resources in the region to  assemble the chair. It’s a start. However, there are challenges of an affordable design. This type of open design has some drawbacks, since it lets users alone. Without a support network including designers, for the ergonomics to be satisfied and, users could use badly the instructions or not use them at all. More work to done in this respect.   " 1,727,2016-08-28T17:50:17.000Z,727,anon331549993,anon331549993,"The beginning is quite weird ­ it's usually like that. In another life I’m an artist, and in that life, a decade ago, I have set up Collectif MANIFESTEMENT. The group’s unique goal is to organize a demonstration once a year and go to the streets with a theme. The matter is usually peculiar, weird or unexpected, and we spend a year, or even longer, preparing the different aspects of the protest. So, in 2010 we settled upon a subject that addressed the homeless people in Brussels. We did it without them, but for them ­ and invited them to join us. It was the first time we came to know some of this population, and the more discovered and understood about them, the more stories and testimonies we collected about their lives, the less sense it made to just wrap everything up and move on to something new. One of the follow­ups of this process was a book, in which we gathered and edited short stories from homeless people we’ve met. It was published in both Flemish and French, and it made many institutions hate us, as many people in that book frankly complained about their work. Ok, we have a bright and pretty broad vision of affairs. Now, what? We had to propose something, and the more I thought of it, the bigger it became in my head. It was overwhelming and ambitions, and I felt I can’t start. That was until I met a woman, who happened to be my former student from the French classes I teach. She was a perfect partner: Flemish, woman, and a businesswoman on top of it. Together we framed the project and made it ripe for implementation in early 2012. It started as a nonprofit in May 2012, but we still took a year to outline some of the details and propose a solid program. It remained complex and ambitious ­ and it’s important to keep it that way. The organization managed to raise money from private sources to buy and renovate a building in Brussels (in fact we are still short of renovation money, and we are looking for 500.000 to get the job done). The space is so huge (650 square meters) that we can both offer support to many homeless people and invite other organizations working on the topic to use it. There is another reason why we made it so big ­ if the place was small and crowded with homeless from, say, Morocco, a Belgian single homeless person wouldn’t enter, even if we offered what they needed. It would just feel overwhelming. The mission of DoucheFLUX is to promote self­-esteem and help homeless people regain a positive image of themselves. The activities we propose do not make them feel intimidated. We forbade the usage of the words such as ""culture"" or ""art"" in the space, as well. Together with these precarious people, we produce a magazine, that is published 4­5 times a year. We also release a monthly broadcast, organize meetings in schools and film debates. Recently, we’ve been busy designing a board game that allows regular people to understand and experience the hardships and challenges of homelessness. The idea wasn’t mine ­ one of the homeless people proposed it as a way to engage with passers­by. We are preparing the beta version to be ready for the Brussels Game Festival. After the opening of the building, which should happen by the end of the year, we will finally extend our services beyond going to the streets and establishing relations with the homeless. We will have 20 showers ­ 7 for women, 12 for men, and one for people on wheelchair. There will be also medical area and daily medical staff which our guests can appoint. This simple thing will hopefully fix once and for all the problem with access to showers in Brussels. We’re in the capital of Europe, but for people on the street there is only La Fontaine, which provides one shower per person a week, and you even have to be lucky to get it. Obviously, if we have showers, we need to have laundry. And the lockers. A huge problem among this community: there are virtually no lockers in Brussels, therefore people constantly get robbed and lose their things. As a result, they end up in a vicious circle of bureaucracy to get back whatever papers and permissions they need, and incredible insecurity. We will have 400 lockers, from super small for medicine and documents, to bigger ones. And finally, we would like to open a help desk at DoucheFlux one day. Which means we don’t want to become the only organization covering all their needs ­ but to provide them with information on where they could be offered help with other problems. We want this to be accompanied by the first centralized website, simple and intuitive so that people who don’t speak French or Flemish will be able to navigate it. It’s incredible how untransparent Brussels is to these people ­ they have no idea where to find a lawyer, where to sleep, eat, get their medicine or find work. This idea is supported by everyone from the field in the city. We are also facing some challenges around financing (we think we have reached the limits of private donations in the country at this point) and we consider turning the space into a public-­private entity. Our bargaining chip is all our achievement ­ we hope the formal institutions will see it as a necessity to support an initiative that has gone so far on its own. We have 50 volunteers, we employ and pay only one person (we want to extend it to at least 2­3), and all that without a single euro from the state. I’m optimistic about it ­ I don’t think anyone would like to see us closed at that point. Would you like to share you experience with work with vulnerable social groups? What are the hardships, common misconceptions, institutional obstacles you find exceptionally striking? What is your strategy to engage with these groups and help them overcome mistrust and lack of confidence? " 2,7759,2016-08-29T07:24:25.000Z,727,anon3595237380,anon331549993,"Good luck with finding the budget! Hello Laurent, thanks for sharing your story, really interesting to read about the inside of a collective that i hear a lot about in the last couple of years. I also read your article on Bruzz about the financing and i really wish you luck. I wanted to contact you if you would like to share this story at the workshop event we are holding on the 24th in Brussels? It would really be great to have you also participate in a moment where local organizations can interconnect and talk about care and how they organize. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/280924708934187/ Kindly regards,  Yannick   " 3,11594,2016-09-03T07:04:32.000Z,7759,anon331549993,anon3595237380,"ok, withe great pleasure, but not the all day ! dear Yannick, sorry for this late answer : you were my very first message on this plateform... Thank you for the invitation, it would be a pleasure for me, of course, to join, but a nephew has the terrible idea to get married this 24th of September, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave around 1 PM. Is it still possible ? And does this mean that the 24th of September replaces the 10-11 September worshop, Nadia spoke me about ? Yours Laurent " 4,12579,2016-09-06T09:31:25.000Z,11594,anon1491650132,anon331549993,"Sure, come! Hi @anon Indeed, the dates have changed so this workshop is the only one, and I'm sure you are welcome to join anyway. Looking forward to meet you! " 5,13412,2016-09-06T10:29:04.000Z,11594,anon3595237380,anon331549993,"Of course you are welcome Hello Laurent, of course you are welcome, you can always bring somebody else from your team with you, i just need to know how much people will come so i prepare the accomodation as good as possible.   " 6,15043,2016-08-29T15:36:30.000Z,727,anon1526983854,anon331549993,"SHWASHLOCK redux This reminds me of one of my favourite networked computing stories: back in 1990, the City of Santa Monica (California) launched a service called SHWASHLOCK (SHowers, WASHing machines and LOCKers). The idea for this service had come from a bunch of residents, some of whom were homeless, hanging out on the city's Public Electronic Network (PEN). At the time, of course, there was no Internet: PEN was a civic network accessible locally. SHWASHLOCK is the first public service designed on a computer network that I know of. Santa Monica's libraries had terminals connected to the PEN, and some homeless residents were using the libraries. This is how homeless and homed residents were able to come to share a common hangout, and design together a simple, but very useful service.  It turns out that online spaces are quite good at removing some of the social markers that make interaction across social groups so awkward (and more power to you, @anon “PEN is a great equalizer. No one on PEN knew that I was homeless until I told them. After I told them, I was still treated like a human being… the most remarkable thing about the PEN community is that a City Council member and a pauper can coexist, albeit not always in perfect harmony, but on an equal basis.” More info on SHWASHLOCK and its implications for public participation online: http://www.cottica.net/2012/08/29/the-computers-of-the-excluded/ " 7,17712,2016-09-03T07:13:47.000Z,15043,anon331549993,anon1526983854,"That's the first (strange) word Nadia uttered: SHWASHLOCK! I mean Nadia El-Immam, of course. And I think, dear Alberto, that a kind of SHWASHLOCK-DoucheFLUX partenership would be welcome... in the future. Because right now we are mainly running to get the 400.000 € missing to finsih the renovation of the future DoucheFLUX building. But, yes, the words of Donald Paschal you quoted are very inspiring. Thanks ! Laurent " 1,722,2016-08-25T10:17:32.000Z,722,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Excuseme the fowl language, but it’s appropriate here.  We all know (or will) the insane cost of them. We spend lots of money on them on the household and institutional budgets. Several times a day we throw away these 30 cents items, often without needing to. Every human will or have used them for years. For multinational corporations they are the sweet smell of money, for us…well it depends. Surely a disaster for the environment.  What are we talking about? This is the situation. You are a caring person and you see tears. What’s the problem? Parents know the drill. The usual detection algorithm starts. A check flowchart: pain? hunger? …. or is it the ‘bottom line’? The sweet or not so-sweet smell tells you what you have to do. You will also know about the silent-positive; no alarm and no change leads to a pain in the bottom. We dry the tears and invest in curing the wounds. Soon this leads you to adopt the institutional approach. The institutional approach is to change at specific times, whether needed or not. The vacant slot is usually before feeding and ofthen clean ones goes to pollute our dump-yard. What goes in, must come out and then the sh.t hits the fan. The unscheduled aftermath sometimes goes undetected (silent-positive). This scheme goes for our elderly as well. The poor person is left unchanged.  You know what we are talking about here, don’t you? DIAPERS. Those wonderful disposable ones that have released tremendous time resources, given mothers time to breathe, for which, we gladly pay the price.  What’s the problem? The issues are 1. many times diapers are changed un-necessarily and 2. many times they are NOT changed at the right moment. First case is a waste of money and environmental resources. Second case is health hazard (especially for the elderly). The theoretical solution is simple: Change when needed. In practice: you can’t go around sniffing there every 20 minutes, especially not as institutional employee. Solution: With cheap modern technology you could easily make a ‘pamper sniffer’ (please be aware of active patents). This 10€ sniffer would signal yellow (a drop of pee is absorbed so it’s not yet urgent) red (the sh.t has hit the fan, change now). Those IOT freaks will upgrade to an app telling the carer: what, who, and the GPS coordinates of the sinner.  Critical obstacle: You think Mr. Pumpers will sponsor a 50% reduction of his profit? Opportunity:  Someone could get very rich, society will save and environment spared. Personally I would gladly have paid 100€ for a 'pamper sniffer' when my kids were small. I’d happily pay 200€ as a gift for my dad and please go ahead charge my children 1000€ when the time comes where I’m in deep …. (provided the nurse obay the alarm). Bill of materials (draft). Moist sensor/gas sensor, battery, led/buzzer/xxx, microcontroller…   " 2,7867,2016-08-29T14:05:19.000Z,722,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Or letting go for good.. True to that. I suspect from how you approach this that the ecofriendly solutions are just smokescreen? I'm a bit swamped now, but if anyone is interested to go through numerous existing sensor apps and see if there is something there. " 3,11236,2016-08-29T20:51:06.000Z,7867,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"I like ecofriendly solutions The issue was another: Waste of resources due to untimely change and lack of timely change None have to do with the type of Diaper ;-)   " 4,15017,2016-08-29T15:20:25.000Z,722,anon784612129,anon1089184890,"I know people that left to diaper industry and I know some profs that work in an appropriate sensor field (e.g. Petra Pötschke in Dresden). Hit me if you'd like to sit down to brainstorm a little. " 5,17399,2016-08-29T20:58:11.000Z,15017,anon1089184890,anon784612129,"Hit Hi, @anon 1 controlling unit 2 disposable/washable sensor At the time I considered a simple humidity sensor (measuring the impedance in the diaper, but its only effective for urine. What is the current state of gas detectors? A small one that could detect some compound in feces?   " 6,20346,2016-08-29T15:28:43.000Z,722,anon784612129,anon1089184890,"I also have ideas regarding more efficient or senior friendly showering (hygiene) methods, mostly foam based. Recently I brainstormed for a self driving car mod (https://cocreate.localmotors.com/RaMansell/healthy-movement/) that could work in rehab as well, so some ideas are still warm. I had actually proposed to make it incontinence friendly as well. :) " 1,681,2016-05-16T17:24:04.000Z,681,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"The last two weeks we made some research at the Refugee Camp at ICC Messe Berlin. The very nice volunteer Beranon3406688078 showed us around and we had the chance to talk directly with the people. The first time we visited I was surprised how „good“ the atmosphere was. I somehow always thought a refugee camp would be a very sad place, but children were running around playing and everyone was kind of open and nice to each other (from my point of view).  The ICC Messe is a former congress centrum which was recently rebuilt to be a refugee camp. The Big Main Hall is segmented with thin white walls into something like 40 rooms that look like roofless boxes. Instead of doors there are blankets and towels covering the entrances. There are no windows; in this main Hall the light comes from tubes in the ceiling. Inside of each room there are 4 bunk beds, so in total 8 people per room (familys are usually separated and live in private rooms, also: the rooms are separated by gender). Usually the rooms don't have any kind of furniture inside, but the one we were sitting in had a big picnic table and a bench and also a bunch of office chairs. We got offered very sweet black Tea in plastic cups and started sharing stories.  Firstly we asked how people organize themselves in the room. The Camp is designed for people to stay around three months, but most of the people are staying six or more. There are only the bare necessities provided. For example there are no possibilities to unpack the backpacks or suitcases, which are probably unpacked since the beginning of the journey. Thats why the people find solutions, for example they pull out nails from the wall and hang their cloth on these nails. Or they found a piece of metal string which they also used to hang cloth from. There are also some card boxes used as bed table and chest. Hussam (who is diligently learning German) pointed at one of the card boxes saying „Kühlschrank“. We were laughing but it was true! tomatoes, cans of beans and a lot of eggs were stored there. Also under the bed was a lot of food (maanon1932026148 the darkest and coldest spot in the room). The reason for that is that they don't always like food by the caterer and of course you get hungry between the official „meals“. They boil the eggs in a water cooker by the way!  Another interesting observation was a little plastic cup full of washing powder.(they usually give the dirty cloth away to the washing and get them back clean) Hussam told us that he likes his shirts to be without creases and because there is no way to iron,he washes them with his hands and drys them in the room. That was eye opening for me because, yes they might have nothing but they have dignity and preferences! they start a living. Also very interesting is that in the bunk beds the bottom bed is the preferred bed because they can build a little privacy by hanging towels and sheets at the upper bed. The upper bed is always dependent on the main light system which is switched off at 11 in the night. Beranon3406688078 told us that in one room they build constructions out of a broken bunk bed so that also the upper bed could shield from the light. Another very striking construction was a piece of wood sticked to the wall with duct tape which was supposed to be a smartphone shelf, to watch movies at night. Also they put pictures from magazines on the wall to make the atmosphere a little more cosy. But still even if they find the possibility to hack something there is a lot of stuff just flying around in the room. There was a lot of creativity to make the most out of the given, bit still no tools or materials. Beranon3406688078 told us they used to give out tools, but because they never came back so there are no tools anymore. What if we could support the already existing creativity by opening a space for tools and materials? encouraging them with their ideas and hacks? " 2,9576,2016-05-17T11:14:27.000Z,681,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"The tool collection should not be difficult, but.. ..do you think you could get permission?  Another think that you might consider was pointed out by Alex (volunteer in Calais/ Dunkirk camps) in a response to Milan's similar efforts: ""My suggestion is first to ask them how you can help, rather than guessing. We talk to community leaders on the camp every 2 weeks and ask for suggestions so we can improve our processes""  That conversation is here, should you wish to exchange ideas. Very excited to see you guys doing so much practical research, keep it up! " 3,16163,2016-05-17T12:24:32.000Z,681,anon477123739,anon1831568896,"Not so much difference Hi Tomma, Thank you so much for sharing this. It's fascinating to see that there isn't a huge difference between the way people react to their spaces in an official camp and an unofficial camp like the Calais 'Jungle'. Noone ever likes the food that is provided. Are residents allowed out of the camp during the day? Are they allowed to bring anything they want back in with them? Or are they basically in detention? Because if the can leave and bring anything back in then why not provide a space nearby where they can come and collect donated items, tools etc in exchange for doing something else (e.g. cooking food for a cafe, running a cafe, teaching arabic, sharing their culture etc) Alex " 4,21277,2016-05-18T21:24:31.000Z,681,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"Hey Alex and Noemi! thanks for your support. To your questions Alex: Yes they are allowed to leave the camp. Its kind of hard for them to bring friends inside who dont live there though (pretty weird feeling because it was so easy for us to enter)  We actually had a little experiment today and brought materials like duckt tape, cable ties, strings, cardboard (materials that you dont necessarily need proffessional tools for) to one room to see what would happen. Just after a little time os insecurity they started finding solutions in terms of ""unpacking"". That seems to be the biggest issue.. The room is a organised mess and they wanted to have items to put their stuff in. It was a really cool experience to see how everyone together was solving problems. In the end we had two really nice shelf constructions! There is a lot of unused material inside the camp, that is going to be thrown away.. if there would be better communication between the organisation and the refugees they could probably use these too.. (to be fair: the Malteser who are running the camp are already having kind of good communication.. so far we only good positive feedback and lots of permissions!)  But i really like the idea of going out of the camp to get materials, also because in the end its about not only having the courage to hack the ""comfort zone"" but to feel able and free in the ""outside world"" (that is really a feeling of home)  " 5,22200,2016-06-04T08:37:16.000Z,21277,anon477123739,anon1831568896,"Hi Tomma,   You final comment here about wanting people to feel confident engaging not just in the 'safe space' but also in te wider world is something that i have been thinking a lot about. I frequently have conversations about the idea of 'agency' (in the sense of action or power) within the refugee community as so many of the relationships i see created and perpetuated are unnecessarily heirarchical (e.g. we give, you take/ we teach, you learn) Creating solutions that don't treat displaced people like children is really important to me. I look forward to hearing what happens next for your project. Alex " 6,22641,2016-06-04T21:11:30.000Z,22200,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Meanwhile.... I am trying to interest the EC's Policy Innovation Unit in the idea of a ""self-organized camp"", based on the intuition by @anon But, I am not holding my breath. I will keep you guys posted.  " 7,24325,2016-06-05T05:55:12.000Z,681,anon3341622463,anon1831568896,"What about training volunteers to welcome next refugees Hi there, i'm following this interesting discussion. I wonder if making possibile for the people inside the camp to be trained to welcome coming refugees (e.g.: moms helanon3606750899g with the arrival of next mothers in terms of understanding the needs, welcoming mothers, showing them around the camp and the area, taking contacts with the staff) and let them re-configure the camp as a collective action taken by the guests themselves to welcome better new refugees might help to overgo frustration and lack of communication. Having a daily goal -especially a shared one- might help and leaving one day the camp knowing that you did a part to make a better place of it would turn a ""senseless part of my life"" in a good memory of commitment and engagement. " 8,25129,2016-06-05T07:19:42.000Z,24325,anon1491650132,anon3341622463,"Ideally this would happen Alex and Tomma can of course give you a more informed view, but on the top of my head I ask myself what goes in the mind of someone who landed there and expects this to be temporary and short, only to see that days go by and turn into months. Volunteering is predicated on some sort of idle capacity - but would those trapped perceive that they have that time? with being busy to figure out their own situation and wanting to escape it.. (Alex makes the point of difficulty to engage here - fyi I very much liked the idea of going through community leaders to see what possiblilities are worth trying or not).  " 9,26018,2016-06-06T21:31:30.000Z,681,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"opencamp Hey everyone, thanks for your thoughts! The idea of an ""interactive camp"" whithout the usual hirachies seems like a very interesting alternative. We are staying in contact now with the people from ROC 21. They are working on new and better structures for refugee camps. Because its important not to separate the different ""problems"" from each other but to organize the camp differently from the very first: ""We will realize a dynamic and open space of opportunity, growth and co-creation. Everything will be developed participatively, combining the knowledge and cultural needs of refugees and the local population alike. Activating our diverse network of architects, facilitators, academics, designers and social innovators, we will draft a modern and sustainable set of interven- tions that can be combined according to the given needs."" and as it happens they are trying it right now here in Berlin! we are going to meet next week, I will report! (check them out here: http://www.roc21.net) The idea of using the the knowledge, the creativity that is already in the camp as the source to teach and learn is really nice. But I do get Noemis point that the people in the camps, (which are intended to be short term), probably wont be too motivated to start a big project, because actually they hope they can move to a better place as soon as possible.  But in fact people are having a lot of time! and they are really bored. But also very very worried. That must be a horrible state of mind. What can we do with it? The experience in the camp where we were building stuff all together, was really nice because we were doing something with our hands and totally forgot the situation around us.    " 10,27795,2016-08-29T16:29:31.000Z,681,anon784612129,anon1831568896,"Late to the party Hi @anon1831568896 I wrote you a PM. If there still is something I can perhaps help with give me a anon3606750899g. Regarding tools there are certain methods that use almost 0 tools but can still get a lot done. https://cocreate.localmotors.com/nowbreakit/epoxy-minimal-mess-small-footprint-approach/ Epoxy is not cheap (unless it is a day over shelf life - ask around at boat builders or wind power manon169343781facturers, perhaps in Rostock) but it can get a lot of stuff done. If you put some glass fiber (ask the same people for scraps) on the cardboard honeycomb it becomes very strong (but only moderately so in compression). You should not work where people live, and have good ventilation (wear glasses, gloves, read the fine print), but composites experience is very marketable, especially if you can work clean and precise. Is there magnetic stuff around (bed frames, parts of walls)? If yes you can buy a big batch of magnets (the strong ones are neodym) and use them to fix wall paper, fabric or similar. They can be pretty small and cheap and still get a lot done, also for improvised electronics. Do people use batteries a lot? Perhaps you can switch to rechargeable - with some help from Panasonic? You can build powerpacks for mobile electronics. A very basic kit will let you do a Repair Cafe and bring in more tools and parts (talk to Ifixit.com). A small amount of epoxy will also come in very handy there. " 1,721,2016-08-25T09:20:58.000Z,721,anon2575621423,anon2575621423,"As a global- world citizen I find Switzerland IDEAL for my needs to interact with others around the world. The internet and infrastructure is par excellent and although I dont speak much french or german I still mange to communictae well with others here who pass through this project as most have englsh as their seocnd language. Currently my viewpoint is that decentrlaisation or ism is the way forward for our humanity to go into. It is how we will save this planet from greed-exploitation and most of all ...false prop[aganda! - It is vital for me to work with people who are like minded and pragmatic. ..and who see the way ahead as visionaries..and I came across this project in Month Soleil two years ago...since then I have felt that I am doing something positive to bring in the NEW society. At mont soleil we are trying to create this new culture in the shadow of the old and become a model of what we all would like to see in the age to come. I have been involved in many differnet movemnet and when I discovered the decentralise now! movement which is based on the intelligent understaing and world view which I personally resonate with I am empowered to carry on the struggle.  " 2,7142,2016-08-25T13:11:51.000Z,721,anon1491650132,anon2575621423,"A reading you might enjoy Your mention of overcoming anachronism and the post-Occupy times we're living makes me think you should definitely meet the guys at BUOY, although they're based in the US - they are building technical platforms for coordinating group actions as their own response to the need for new culture.  " 3,14640,2016-08-27T10:08:34.000Z,721,anon1526983854,anon2575621423,"Which project? Great to meet you, @anon2575621423 . You speak of Mont Soleil as if we understood it... but we know nothing about it. Can you tell us more about it?  " 4,20239,2016-08-29T12:10:46.000Z,721,anon2575621423,anon2575621423,"mont soleil...MOUNTAIN OF SUN!!! well not all the time but we get the most sun in swiss..thats why we have the first solar park in europe here...    right..about the project. essentially we are a synergy hub for people who see that we need to strengthen the parallel reality..the "" normal"" - we work together to make these dreams come true... why do we protest? why do get angry at things? - ...and what good is that going to do when you know how the world is governed... that most of all we see is preplanned and we are just going along for the ride?// well... thats changing... people are waking up to the matrix... and yes... we are making a differnece..and yes we are turning back the tide... our quiet revolution is gaining momentum... and the establishment suddenly realise they wont have everything their own way anymore... we have a long - a very long way to go to raise the consiciousness....but we are doing it here...and with YOUR help... we can make this the EPI centre of that change... " 1,33727,2016-07-08T23:50:33.000Z,33727,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Where: USA (and everywhere in the world) When: 2014 Who: Group of parents with diabetic children Few lines description:
    • Is it a device / software / service
    NightScout is a software that allows users’ to have on time visibility of glucose levels of people suffering from diabetes type 1.
    • Type of community involved (elders, deaf/blind/autism… disability, etc)
    The project started from parents of children with Diabetes type 1, in order to fulfill the need of allowing the to leave a normal life without the necessity of being continuously together to check the glucose levels. It can be used by anyone who believes that its usage would be helpful.
    • What is the solution proposed
      • How is the project currently affecting users’ life?
    These data can be visualized on phone, smartwatch, pc, by using a cable and sending data to a server, and it doesn’t require the physical presence of the diabetic person.
    • Is the project developed or still in the development phase?
    The project is developed, meaning that it can be currently used by anyone. On the other hand there are still problems and bugs that need to be fixed but the project is fueled by a rich community.
    • How is it open?
      • What kind of license did they use to publish it? (links to documentation/repo are welcome)
    NightScout is completely open source and accessible to everyone, a license is not specified.
      • Can you clone/fork it?
    Nightscout repositories on github can be cloned and forked
      • Is it freely available?
    The software  is free, but it requires the costs for device (like smartphone, smartwatch) and cable to connect monitor and device.
      • Who is the owner of user data?
      • Is the community involved in the design process? If yes, how? (is the project offering a solution for the creator needs? Is the project offering a solution for someone close to the creator?)
    This project started as a bottom up need to make parents and diabetic children’s life easier. It is currently involving a wide range of people, who are mainly based on social media groups such as Facebook Pages. Everything is supported by the Night Scout no profit foundation.
    • How does it “care”?
      • Does it solve a medical issue?
      • Does it solve a social issue?
      • Does it solve an everyday issue for a specific (disadvantaged) community?
    Yes for questions 2 and 3, normally the glucose level can be checked only within 20 feet of distance from the diabetic person. In this way parents can feel more comfortable with giving space and indipendency to their children, having the possibility to monitor the level continuously remotely. Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/citizen-hackers-concoct-upgrades-for-medical-devices-1411762843 http://www.nightscout.info/ " 2,33766,2016-08-14T17:59:52.000Z,33727,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"Open source and DIY tools as the future.. Hi @anon It would be great to be able to contact one of the Night Scout community members (users), do you know someone or should we try to get in touch and invite them to OpenCare? We can do this by offering a writing fellowship opportunity. Let me know! " 3,33775,2016-08-25T08:49:08.000Z,33766,anon1743371374,anon1491650132,"Sounds interesting @anon " 4,33783,2016-08-28T14:41:50.000Z,33775,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"Invite sent. I messaged them on their website contact form, let's see. " 1,723,2016-08-24T22:32:40.000Z,723,anon3052868082,anon3052868082,"My story begins with my daughter Sonia. She was born in 2007 with an extremely rare and complex heart defect. We flew around the world to find a solution for her heart to function as close to normality and we found it. In 2008 in Boston, on the day she was discharged from the hospital with a fixed heart, we discovered she is profoundly deaf. Acquired deafness from the many medical procedures and medication she had for supporting her heart function in her first months of life. Right now she is a perfectly normal 9 years old and her hearing is provided by a cochlear implant. The journey to normality was not over yet. Cochlear implants provide only the access to sound, but the brain needs to get used to decoding the sounds it receives. So going down that tortuous road and understanding how a late diagnosis can make auditory-verbal rehabilitation much harder, I started thinking about solutions for children who are already diagnosed and also for those that will to be born and possibly suffer from congenital hearing loss.  In 2013 I started an NGO - Asociatia Sonia Maria, willing to get involved in providing solutions for children with hearing loss and congenital cardiac diseases. I counselled families of children born with congenital complex cardiac diseases in order to access health care abroad. I helped them transfer their children to a cardiac centre in Munich, Germany where their health issues met the needed medical care. Parents reached out to me for advice and support, I helped them contact the clinic and maintain the contact with medical staff abroad. Other times I just I brought medication that was not available in my home country or found a connections in countries where needed medication was available and managed bringing it to Romania. This saved my daughter’s life at birth, and other children further on. At times I flew with families to Germany, discussed with doctors and supported them during the hard times their children underwent complex surgeries. Once we started dealing with hearing loss, it broadened my area of issues that needed to be addressed.  In 2015 I opened Casa Koala, the first family centred auditory-verbal centre in Romania, with the help of an Australian speech therapist. Viktorija McDonnel relocated in Bucharest for two months to help us kick start the project. In Romania there is no other rehabilitation centre especially designed for children with hearing loss wearing cochlear implants. We hold individual weekly sessions in the centre and for children living in remote areas we provide tele practice. Children and their families have the opportunity to access this program especially created to help families of deaf children on their road to learning to listen and speak. With a team of three people we try to change the way in which families relate to therapy. We are trying to build a community of people who are informed, counselled and supported on their path to speech rehabilitation. Having access to information and seeing how much harder it is for children to acquire speech when they are diagnosed at a late age, I am making efforts to create a Bill that will implement mandatory neonatal hearing screening in all the maternities in Romania. This will mean that all the children born deaf will be diagnosed at birth and they will have the best chance in receiving the proper medical care, the devices that will give them full access to sounds and further on a fair chance in rehabilitation. " 2,6881,2016-08-25T07:58:02.000Z,723,anon3594395480,anon3052868082,"That is a brave innitiative Congrats, @anon I would like to know more about it. How do the families learn about your NGO? Does the medical stuff tell them or else?  How many children benefit from cochlear implants in Romania, is it something the state offers or do the parents search for private solutions?    " 3,14616,2016-08-27T09:59:24.000Z,723,anon1526983854,anon3052868082,"""Community""? Welcome, @anon Great initiative. I am curious about your community: is the community actually delivering part of the therapy? Or is it the therapists delivering the therapy, withthe community playing the role of informing the families seeking therapy?  " 1,716,2016-08-10T09:35:08.000Z,716,anon3243346271,anon3243346271,"I'm an Interior Architect, Business Woman, Mother and active citizen. I have been running my own Design business for the past 9 years ever since I have left the corporate hospitality world. I started with my company Design2Style in partnership with my Husband, designing residential & interiors and develoanon3606750899g brand design for companies. Over time, my interest and knowledge of design thinking and strategy increased, gaining experience in projects and from attending various conferences on the subject, which resulted in moving forward, evolving personally and professionally. I launched Belgium Design Council, which applies design thinking on the project's infrastructural level. This allowed me to move from aesthetic design to applying design thinking processes in ‘designing’ communities. We're working on several projects at the moment. I've got increasingly interested in Business Improvement District concept over the last couple of years, which existed since the 1960’s/70’s in the Northern America, and concentrated on socio-economical regeneration for business and communities as a whole. The combination of a geographical zone including businesses, community, people and the collaboration of those elements creating successful public, private and citizen partnerships, in order to enhance people's lives and environments. Creating sustainable socio/economic regeneration. BIDs and similar partnerships have been launched around the world - in Sweden, Scotland, Germany, England - and one of them is our non-profit organization of BIDs Belgium. We're also planning to launch BID EU in the near future, in order to create a platform for sharing best practices with each other and filter these down to ground level. I'm planning to concentrate on specific target groups - besides the regular social innovation aspect, there will also be the social inclusion of elderly, youth, special needs people and on ways in which we can involve them and make them feel more as a part of the community. There is a plan for the pilot version to be launched in September in my own community in Brussels, Koekelberg, in collaboration with the municipality. We will address the project to both 300 businesses of this district and 3 other neighboring districts. We have also been develoanon3606750899g and presenting the general information and interactive sessions for the BIDs in Brussels. We invited architects, developers, retailers, freelancers and members of the communities and explained the concept, but also ask them for feedback. There has been positive feedback and some are really keen on implementing, but they need guidance - and we want to prepare and adapt the framework which has been shared by other BID countries, which would be useful and simplify the launching of BIDs across Belgium. The model works this way: by defining the geographical zone, having a collaborative approach to working together as a community, whilst addressing the issue that is of priority and defining the projects for that area. BIDs can be supported by a levy that business owners, citizens, and the municipality contributes to. Crowd-funding has also been used to support local projects. Some cities have it already in Belgium, albeit these are a slightly different models - Mechelen and Ghent for example. The BID is a non-profit organization, with a task force representation with an open source, collaborative and transparent approach and it needs to be inclusive of the Open Care element. I also have a personal project close to my heart - in which Belgium Design Council works on also. It's about special needs children. As there is a personal background to it - one of my sons is nearly 11 yrs old and is autistic, with emotional and behavior regulation challenges. As we have been dealing with this since he was 2 yrs old, I have observed there is a big gap between what's available on the grassroots level for parents and at an institutional level. There is no support in the communities for parents with children with special needs for example. This personal project is about injecting more tools and awareness with creating more inclusive care in the communities themselves - also by using design thinking and visual tools, beyond pictograms available online. I have realized how much sensory input and additional energy my son needs and how much its presence could help him move around and understand things better - and visual designers and illustrators could greatly help such children. As Belgium Design Council we are planning now to fill this gap - one way is to work with the schools where children with special attend.  Our son will be changing to a further specialised school closer to our home now. I have spoken with the principal and he is very interested some of the creative inclusive projects I have suggested, but the school has no time to initiate these - I have the experience and the knowledge and wish gather some support from other parents and see if we can move forward. Same for the people in the municipality, who are very much interested in this kind of work. My Husband and I are also heavily involved in another nonprofit organization in Brussels and volunteer at a local football club, with over 300 youth from various backgrounds. We also have a goal of making this youth more inclusive and open - both for children with special needs, but also for refugees, who get refused from other football clubs around the city for example. We will introduce the first refugee children into the club for the coming season, which we are very proud of, as we see this as part of the wider community work we are involved in. It seems to me that the initiatives, such as BIDs, should, in fact, be initiated by the city itself - and whenever I speak with the politicians, they understand it but resources and knowledge bases are at times limited. It can be challenging when systems and organizations need to change, understand and adopt design thinking themselves in order to be open for such initiatives and collaborations between private, public and citizens. The concept and ideas can appear too complicated, too political, too new and disruptive, yet many cities around the world are seeing the value this can bring. This is why we decided to be active citizens, to get involved in various initiatives we are working on, pulling in our network and knowledge base - and turn things around by, inspiring, collaborating and sharing information, including enlisting more volunteers from the football club to the BIDs projects, showing that non-hierarchical organisations welcome everyone. It's important to talk, share, bring people together, because it's part of the process of change - and this is where OpenCare comes as a partner. Do you design better communities yourself? Do you have experience in different projects that solve problems of local groups by mobilizing them and the resources available at hand? Or maanon1932026148 you know of an interesting project that feeds into this challenge? Share your story by leaving a comment, or by submitting your own post here. " 2,7852,2016-08-10T10:24:53.000Z,716,anon477123739,anon3243346271,"Hello Rozina, Thank you for sharing the story with us. It seems that you have many great ideas about how to improve your local community. I have much experiene of the BID structure myself as my home town of Bedford in the UK was one of the first to adopt the structure and my father was the Director of the Board for many years before standing down last year. From a personal note we found that the local council/politicians were very happy to engage with and promote the work of the BID, but that it is wise to steer clear of encouraging them to run the projects. Partly this is because it is better being held in the hands of a non-party-alligned group of individuals. The main reason is that most politicians do not want to be seen to be increasing the taxation of local businesses. Because the BID system frequently demands that local businesses pay an annual subsidy or charge, if it is administered by the city then it is automatically seen by the citizens as a stealth business tax. It is much better for the BID groups to be politically autonomous and to save the time and energy of local politicians and civil servants. This way you get to use that time and energy on BID directed outcomes, rather than them spending it all in discussion and meetings. It really does help get things moving! I wish you all the best for you other initiatives too. Your aims are very laudable. Alex " 3,11534,2016-08-17T11:33:26.000Z,7852,anon3243346271,anon477123739,"Hi Alex,  Thanks for your insight and your positive comments.  Yes, I agree that it's best to run the BID projects with the BID task force community rather than soley relying on the politicians to lead. Although, at the moment it's still quite challenging for politicians here in Belgium to change the cultural mindset of opening up to public/private/citizen partnerships. Hence why some initiatives have been at grass roots level with the community itself. I sincerely hope this will change over time. I have linked to many of the UK BIDs and they have been incredibly supportive. Also, recently in Edinburgh there was the World Towns Leadership Summit, in which one of the organizers was BIDs Scotland along with IDA of Northern America. It was incredible to hear the stories of what some of the partnerships had indeed achieved in their communities. From Capetown to Copenhagen, it was quite an eye opener.  I hope you don't mind if I reach out to you, with your experience and knowledge of the BIDs in your area in the future. Thanks again!  Rozina  " 4,12578,2016-08-20T12:54:39.000Z,11534,anon477123739,anon3243346271,"Absolutely Hi Rezina, Please feel free to reach out if you need me. I can also link you in conversation to my Dad who has a much more detailed and in-depth knowledge of the whole system here in the UK. Alex " 5,15721,2016-08-17T13:00:33.000Z,716,anon3595237380,anon3243346271,"Care to join the Open&Change Workshop in Brussels Hello Rozina,  really nice to read about your approach to redesign communities and to get more involvement on a local level. Great that such initiative gets the respons of the local autority. Would you be interested to share your story at the Brussels Open&Change Workshop, it would be nice to hear your story and share it with other people to craft new durable solutions out of it. You can find the mapanon3606750899g of all contacted persons that i did at the moment here: https://metamaps.cc/maps/2175 , and you can contact me through mail if you want to discuss further. event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/280924708934187/ Kindly regards " 6,20058,2016-08-27T09:12:12.000Z,716,anon1526983854,anon3243346271,"Just to say ... that I resonate with the community approach. Care is about relationships, not artifacts. Well done @anon " 1,719,2016-08-18T18:52:48.000Z,719,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"I came across and interesting article thought I would share. Rural clinics in Nicaragua, as well as many other countries often lack a constant supply of electricity required for sterilization. Students designed a solar powered device, called Solarclave to combat this issue and promote healthy practices in rural medicine. Using local supplies that can be replaced and repaired by the user and enable heat to be generated well over the required minimum for sterilzaition. Without electricity- The solution: use the sun and creating an efficient and intuitive solar powered device. Read the full article and watch the video: http://www.techxlab.org/solutions/innovations-in-international-health-solarclave-solar-autoclave     " 2,7397,2016-08-27T09:06:02.000Z,719,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"MIT Anna Young is MIT D-Lab. I tried to find a page for the organisation pushing Solarclave, but it's kind of elusive. Officially it's Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa, in Nicaragua (now a cooperative) but their website does not mention Solarclave at all. Should we try to find these people?  " 2,33758,2016-06-18T10:08:27.000Z,33742,anon1526983854,,"Super-interesting ""Inclusion and accessibility are two different topics/areas"". This is a really interesting intuition. But... you forgot the picture! You can edit the challenge response to add it.  " 3,33788,2016-08-07T14:28:31.000Z,33742,anon1491650132,,"What has been the response? @anon I was browsing the Hacking Utopia site and came across your latest work - so you ended up settling with memory foam. Did you manage to assemble a prototype for the exhibition? and if so, what was the response? " 4,33798,2016-08-25T11:17:43.000Z,33788,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"Yet another good idea to try Looks promising @anon " 1,515,2016-07-25T09:44:02.000Z,515,anon317670948,anon317670948," Hello all, my name is Franca, I come from Italy. About me.. philosopher, interested in post-structuralism, new ways to do international cooperation, passionate about Geopolitics and China-Africa relations. I’ve worked a lot with refugees, doing legal orientation, helanon3606750899g them to find houses, jobs, but also writing projects to get funds to create new spaces of inclusion. For me it’s interesting to see how many edgeryders are interested in migration or refugee issues and what are the connections to spring up from the many well known problems of working with refugees. I think that it’s possible to underline some key issues when talking about care in this context .
    1. Helanon3606750899g Relationships vs Peer Relationships
    2. Know your rights vs Rights as a cage
    3. Intercultural problems and Empathy
    4. Inclusiveness in our society/community: avoid ideological and too theoretical approach
    A little bit about my experience: In particular I would like to speak about my working period during the so called “North  Africa Emergency” for 3 years. It was a really hard situation for our (Italian) reception system. We were in the paradoxical situation to tell them: “you are an asylum seeker, you HAVE to be an asylum seeker, if you want to have any chances to stay in Europe”. In effect after the Arab Spring Revolution (2011) everything changed. A lot of people that came from Horn of Africa or from other Sub Saharian regions and were in Libya for work decided to come in Europe. Gaddafi’s death meant the end of every agreement “Petrol vs Migrants” that Italian Government had signed with Berlusconi in 2009 (for more details, this     Guardian article). So you’d have more asylum seekers in Europe, but also different routes, different countries of origin, different reasons to leave their countries. In 2011 asylum seekers in Italy were more than 40.000 (4 times more than 2010, Eurostat) and Italy became the fourth country for the number of claims submitted, mainly from Nigeria,Tunisia, Ghana and Mali. Most of them have lived for many years in Libya, illiterate in their own native language, living in segregated conditions of work or in the terrible detention centers. The history is long and I’ don’t want to become boring, but only to say that it’s not possible to speak about refugees in general when trying to be of real help. We have to think about the countries where we are and where they come from (for example 90% of Syrian refugees that arrived in Italy decided not to ask asylum here, but in other north EU countries), the migration routes, the particular war conditions, but also the economical ones.. For all these reasons it was hard to prepare asylum seekers during North Africa Emergency because they came here for Lybian crisis and most didn’t leave their countries for reasons of “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political oanon3606750899ion” (Geneva Convention) or for war crisis in their countries (subsidiary protection). And so it was difficult to explain them that formally they have to be asylum seekers, that we need to find these elements in their stories. How could we help them? I usually do some group or individual meetings to inform them about procedures, about what does it mean to ask asylum and I prepare them for the Audition. How to help them to underline important elements in their stories, not lying... A lot of also ethical questions..(Legislation vs Reality) A relation of care: teaching a foreign language The relations between us is a relation of help. Sometimes you can help someone too much. The question is more to create opportunities for people to be really active (refugees as \#nospectators). There are language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, different contexts of life, different expectations. In this complex and nonlinear context of work that I would like to start from the first point: the challenge to learn a new language, the language of the recipient country. It could be difficult and, in some situations, also impossible, like a WALL. This could be because learning a language means that you accept to be in a country, you decide to start again your life. For a lot of vulnerable people that are victims of violence (in their countries of origin or during the migration travel) it could become a catalyst of bed experiences. So learning a language becomes the first step to say: “I’m here. I would like to take part in this new society and new community.” For all these reasons we needed to share knowledge and experiences about “how to teach in more effective way?”, we needed to create a community - or better to create a space for a community of italian schools! So we started with: www.milano.Italianostranieri.org It is a platform of the Municipality of Milan to help foreigners find a school of Italian; there are a lot of problems to find the right schools, also because there are a lot of schools but not connected. We saw that there is this tendency to work alone, providing a service but without  sharing knowledge, critical points.. We knew people that attend 3 different classes, for months,  but they couldn’t speak Italian! So we decided to open our website to every school, private, public, run by volunteers, by NGOs. It’s not simple to help, to take care of someone. It’s a relation full of responsibilities, and good intentions often aren’t enough. We noticed also some schools that are so active in helanon3606750899g their students, helanon3606750899g them in legal stuff or finding jobs.. But all these activities could be dangerous, create a bubble, a dependence relation, mixed with ideological thoughts .. Your students are not yours. To create a community we realized  real life meetings between teachers and schoolmakers. Every school has the possibility to post directly activities, news. So everyone can have an always updated map of time classes, levels, locations etc; But also a moment of exchange between teachers, methods and materials. The teachers all together wrote also an handbook for teachers (in Italian only). We also created an e-learning database to help people to find free resources on internet and a lot of videos (in 5 languages) to explain Laws. Education system...   I’ve been asked what projects I think can really make a difference: Projects that work on the concept of resilience, avoid that people identify themselves with their own pain. We saw a lot of people that 5 or 6 months after their arrival start to fade, to turn off. During the first months you hope that your rights became effective, job, home.. But nothing happens. Your life becomes full of complaints. A very interesting school that is part of the community is for example, Asnada. It’s a Montessori/Experimental school. The idea is to teach in a different way. Helanon3606750899g people to use this new language not as a “stranger” language. Usually you start to have 2 languages: the native one that is the language of feelings and relationships and a second language that is the language of bureaucracy. The idea is to teach a language that helps you to construct your new identity, “create your new life here in a new language”. So the lessons became a workshop where we, all together, construct the language, with different ways, methods (arts, music, plays..) and also being a community. So in my oanon3606750899ion it’s really important to be able to find new ways to take care, creating effective spaces of meeting, of real exchange. Work on resilience, opening workshops where people can create something (for ex. FabLabs, Makerspaces..) using open technologies (like Raspberry Pi) could become new ways to take care of people in really big troubles, with strong vulnerabilities and help them to start again. Maanon1932026148 Opencare, Edgeryders community could be the right place where to start!! What do you think? " 2,10365,2016-08-01T09:47:43.000Z,515,anon1491650132,anon317670948,"Something which escaped my mind I am wondering if the community would have gotten better if it was organised by the groups in question instead of the municipality. When talking about Italianostranieri you mentioned that it was useful as a coordination tool for schools - to help them come together and share knowledge. So they probably got better at teaching the language (not sure if you measured results?) But did it become easier to learn a language, from the point of view of struggling foreigners? Do you have a story from the other side too, @anon " 3,14084,2016-08-24T14:53:49.000Z,515,anon317670948,anon317670948,"self-organized! @anon Sorry for my late reply! The question if it could be better to be self-organized it’s a well-known question for us. It could be easier for some extents, but at the end we understood that it’s really important to have a “neutral” coordinator, that it’s not a service provider of Italian courses.  The coordinator is the Immigration Office of the City of Milan and so a service that tries to help migrants in general, in many ways (jobs, social benefits, reception centers..). So this view is interesting because permits to have an holistic view of the person. But the question remains open... There is a kind of self-organized network of schools, “Scuole senza Permesso” (“Schools without documents”), but it represents only a particular kind of schools. And yes, a lot of teachers testify that it’s really useful for their job to be in contact with other schools, teachers and approaches, but it’s not so easy to register the results of an improvement in the quality of teaching. This is because you need to have data about the situation before and after, in order to register the gap and there are a lot of other factors that can influence your way of teaching. For all these reasons what I could say it’s that there are refugees and asylum seekers happy to have had an Italian class also in August (because of Italianostranieri Community), but it’s not so simple to measure the improvement in the quality of teaching and I think also that it’s a long-term effect…but for sure it could be great to work on it… " 4,17007,2016-08-24T17:10:25.000Z,14084,anon1491650132,anon317670948,"Another way is learning the language of their destination I see, well can't say I'm surprised it's difficult to measure, especially if people are transiting. You may know of this already, it seems different services for refugees would start offering spontaneous language classes like this Baobab centre in Rome, which I've come across in another article. Basically you'd have German volunteers teaching people transiting via Roma some basic language in order to be better prepared by the time they reach Germany: she was saying that ""teaching them German (or anything else, really) gives meaning to the time they spend here."" I found it anon1056199097nious and practical. The original reference is here. " 2,8740,2016-08-15T12:34:39.000Z,5838,anon1526983854,,"""Appropriate technology""! Our friend @anon " 3,14042,2016-08-24T07:51:34.000Z,5838,anon2435658896,,"coool Lucia @anon This is really really cool. " 1,516,2016-07-25T11:23:21.000Z,516,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"

    Doctor.. could you hack me a neuroprosthesis, please?

    (The thoughts expressed here are a personal view and do not reflect the oanon3606750899ion of former or current employers) When I was a little boy, in 1973, Bob Marley was singing Get Up, Stand up for your rights and the article ""Functional electrical stimulation - A new hope for paraplegic patients?"" was published. Now, 40 year on, as a senior researcher in rehabilitation engineering I look back on things that are still true: people still fight and patients still hope. Can we improve life conditions, and how? A fundamental question is: do we meet the ‘clients’ needs? Just to give an example:  My mother suffered from a slipped disc so passing the vacuum cleaner was a low back pain for her. As a good boy I stated: ""When I grow up mom, I’ll invent a cleaning robot to do the job for you"". Someone beat me to it - the cleaning robot is a reality - it sells well, and substitutes the socializing cleaning woman once offered to the elderly. I see now that a cleaning robot is not what a mother really wants. She just wants a good boy saying: “mom, I'll do that part of the cleaning with you”, and do it right away. Until doing my masters, the disabled people were an unknown phenomenon to me. They were not seen, not talked about. I was introduced to young people suddenly wheelchair bound with very limited personal independence due to a sanon3606750899al cord injury.  They were really nice people and kindly explained about the complexity of such sudden change in abilities and about the need to regain some functional movements. First of all they told me where my ideas were no good and what research needed to be done. Together we coined a method, not an ambitious cure, just a simple idea that could help a bit and during my Ph.D dissertation, we demonstrated feasibility of restoring the hand function using electrical activation of the paralysed muscles. Not a fits all solution and not perfect, but as people say: when you have nothing, a little is a lot, and for some people it works well (see the video) We still research in restoration of walking in paraplegic patients and quite a few assistive devices have been marketed (braces, functional electrical stimulation and robots ). I have been active in the field for 20 years working at major rehabilitation institutions, but I’ve only rarely seen patients being offered these assistive technologies and more rarely seen them  used outside the hospital. Is the problem (as some people with SCI have entrusted me) that there is no such demand or ‘new hope’ for walking? After all, wheels are more efficient than legs - provided accessibility!!! Another hypothesis could be an issue of lack of flexibility of the healthcare system, not beeing able to provide state of the art technology to patients !? Still, for more than forty years we continue producing scientific publications with conclusions like: “…the work carried out so far proves that functional movements can be restored...We therefore believe that patients can benefit. Further research should be carried out”. Please, don’t get me wrong. The research contribute with important results, but obviously there is a problem of transferring the research results into the benefit of people with physical challenges. So far business oriented people responds that it’s because the solutions are not technically good enough, that they only fit a few thousand patients and we continue the research for enhancements to the technology and demonstrate clinically effectiveness. On the other hand less ambitious solutions have been available since the 60’ties, to alleviate the simple problem of foot drop. It applies to thousands of people living with stroke, multiple sclerosis or sanon3606750899al cord injury. It’s a little electrical device providing electrical impulses to the muscle that lifts the foot and I’ve encountered many people with stroke and multiple sclerosis who gained significantly in mobility (see this user statement). Despite demonstrated clinical efficiency and the immediate advantages it’s almost never proposed to the patients of the health care system (except for the UK [11]). Why??? So on the one hand we spend million dollar research to refine technology that is not widely used!!!!. Will our institutions and society implement the provision of such technology!? They need one solution that fits many, because the modern health care model reduce human life in cost/benefit analysis to numbers. However, as long as assistive technology is not used it’s difficult to identify exactly where to improve it.  We know that consumers must be involved early in the development, it’s difficult to do so in a realistic setting. We realize that marketing assistive technology is different than selling a robot vacuum cleaner. So a relatively simple method of restoring the hand function in people having broken their neck (cervical sanon3606750899al cord injury), that has been demonstrated useful in a large clinical trial has not become available to people who really need it because it does not fit the ‘business model’  of modern health care systems !? As an example we experienced that half the participants wanted to take the experimental device with them home. We are not allowed to do that. I’ve only spend around 50 euro to build the prototype in the laboratory, but we are not in the 1970’ies anymore. In the name of assuring ‘quality’, ‘safety’ etc,  we need to manon169343781facture, CE mark, register as a medical device and so on!.  To provide a patient with a medical device we need to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on paperwork!!! And who is then going to sell at a reasonable price.  Why should people, already challenged economically by loss of health, spend 5-10 k€  for a device that could be made much cheaper? That’s where the revolution of OpenCare –with a subset of community driven provision of assistive technology - comes in. Could we leave people with a physical handicap to become a maker, create their own assistive technology? Would it be possible for, for example, researchers to help people living with a disability to hack a dropped foot correcting device like connecting an Arduino with an extension board? Will doctors provide indications of how to find the assistive technology, which might solve your health issue? That would mean that people should take responsibility for their own rehabilitation devices. They would have full ownership. Clearly they must be guided by healthcare professionals and experts without conflict of interests to ensure that everything is done ethically, safe and sound. How? Maanon1932026148 if we reunite people living with physical challenges with researchers they would both benefit and research becomes action and functionally useful to the society? What do you think? July 2016                    Rune Thorsen                " 2,9562,2016-07-26T13:48:00.000Z,516,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Whoa. What about patients associations? Very insightful piece,  thanks Rune. When writing OpenCare we were inspired by the story of a visually impaired person in Milano building his own self standing cane as an everyday support for various tasks requiring both operative hands. He did this in a makerspace. @anon Reading carefully the above,  there's one thing that strikes me: how come patients associations don't lobby for provision of assisting technology outside the formalised hospital care? Isn't this the kind of thing that they would be best at, being on the *organised* patient and consumer side?  " 3,11841,2016-08-21T02:13:09.000Z,9562,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"Organizations Good point on the organizations @anon Regarding @anon In this hacking event we will help a person to create his/her neuroprosthesis to recover hand or foot function. This could be a kickoff workshop for a project the we call WeHandU - a hackerspace for people with sanon3606750899al cord injury,stroke, multiple sclerosis. It fits perfectly to a 100k grant coming up in september, but we need to recruit paricipants before time runs out. " 4,16243,2016-07-27T08:44:49.000Z,516,anon1526983854,anon1089184890,"Like that Good piece! It seems you are saying that, while pathology might lend themselves to classifications, patients are all different (@anon4116418727 always says this). My diabetes is different from yours, because you are not overweight and I am, etc. This calls for small batch solutions rather than cookie-cutter solutions. Makers are efficient at small batch, industry is efficient at cookie-cutter. So, for health care, it should be makers.  It should not be so difficult to set up something like a voucher system for disabled people. You've got a condition? Here's your voucher, head off to your local makerspace, someone will talk to you. There's a condition, though: you'll need to be an active participant, not a passive consumer. You'll need to help with design, testing, providing feedback. In other words, you will need to join a community of makers. Your exact role will depend on your skillset and enthusiasm: the harder you work, the better the outcome solution will fit your particular condition.  Right? " 5,17893,2016-08-21T02:24:06.000Z,16243,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"Barter economy Head on  Alberto. How can this voucher be implemented in an efficient way. Are there some tools? Our proposal is that it should be an 'association' of participants (the patients), mentors (patients who done it) and facilitators (e.g. us-researchers, clinicians, etc....) Participants come and see if WeHandU has a solution  that solves the problem. If yes, then they becomes associates with a moral obligation to become mentors (helanon3606750899g newbees). This part should be free. Eventually facilitators time has to be payed in some way (It's probably impossible to convince a professional therapist to work for free) Are there some projects we can learn from? " 6,19857,2016-08-08T07:07:16.000Z,516,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"I hope Eirini reads this It just occured to me that @anon4054968747 could be interested in this piece on resistance to cheap hitech assistive devices. Did your company get to work in the medical system per se or are you mostly marketing outside of it? " 7,23523,2016-08-08T10:37:26.000Z,516,anon4116418727,anon1089184890,"I would like to start from the bottom... ​Thank you @anon70625510 for pointing this out :) This is an interesting post, touching on a number of open questions, some receiving partial implicit answers in the same text, others remaining open at all. I would like to start from the bottom of it. Transforming patients (or their closest carers) into makers is an interesting perspective. We know from citizen science that this first hands involvement often offers a stimulus to personal studies, and reflection about the identity of the problem, and the problem holder. One could argue this is an even more important potential benefit than the access to the devices in itself. However, an important reflection should happen about quality and safety. If one cannot bring a simple solution to the market because of the iters for safety and quality certification, and this we agree is bad, the solution should not be ""ok, let's ignore this step and bypass it"". There are a number of issues here. 1st and foremost, one has to describe how safety and quality are reasonably assured, and what safety net would be put in place should something still happen (although we know they are not perfect, to use an euphemism, today a number of tools and services exist to cover for assistance, accidents' costs, etc on the side of providers). Of course, one could ignore this. Depending on the IP scheme, no safety nets would be needed (although it would nice to think of them), for example. But this brings us to a second issue, one that is almost ""ethical"": transforming every patient in a maker can leverage the citizen-scientist effect only if (this is presented as gut feeling here, but I am open to discuss it in depth later) the right IP scheme is adopted. And only if radical openness is adopted one can truly claim no responsibility over the final ""accidents"" that will always happen (only that which does not work, will not break). Should the creator preserve control of the IP for itself, one will always find a court that will consider the business model ""exploitative"", and enforce the order to establish the aforementioned safety nets (there is an interesting case about a fire happend in an AirBnB apartment that touches on this topic)... falling back to the problem one wanted to work around, just a bit later. So, what would be the general ecosystem' services that would keep this garden grow orderly? I don't see this answered (that's not an easy one, indeed) Research, and ""citizen science"", target the pioneers and early adopters... To scale beyond that, we need to think the entire ecosystem, and be humble. For the sake of our understanding, let me be pedant and allow me to stress that disabilities do not exist in silos. People have many things going on in their lives, and around them, of course also the disabled ones. They do not stop living when they change status. A few will want to pioneer, some will want to have new solutions, some others will not want any because... I am not sure they need a ""because"". I would like to not dig too deep in the question about why the current ""solutions"" are often not marketed/offered... just for the sake of reasoning together: if you had a clue about how to build an engine, and it would work once every 100 attempts after serious tinkering... would you be able to market it? Let's be honest with ourselves and remember that researchers are very optimistic people (I belong to the category, so this is self-criticism). They will produce proof of concepts, hardly ever demonstrators (although they usually confuse the terminology), and they don't normally ask themselves questions like ""how long will this work continuously?"", ""what will be the safety mechanism once it turns off, as instance because of battery exhaustion?"", how many scenarios are realistically recapitulated in the lab I used for the tests, and how well does this solution generalize?"",... Let's not dive in the argument of healthcare provision on this topic. Sometimes it is the right reflection to face, some other it is populistic... In these circumstances it reminds of the sentence I have recently read on twitter ""being poor means having too much end of the month""... it may steal a smile, but it's a classic example of ill-posedness. You will not solve poverty by trying to shorten the calendar.   " 8,25080,2016-08-18T07:00:26.000Z,23523,anon1491650132,anon4116418727,"How much access is real access than? Thanks Marco, many money quotes in your comment !! My understanding of Rune's post is that research admittedly needs to be refined (""as long as assistive technology is not used it’s difficult to identify exactly where to improve it"") in ways that are more just to the users than current commercial research and the incentives that exist in that space. Since research lab + home brewed medical inventions and tools exist already and provide healthy tinkering and reflection around problems, then the easier question is then how to enlarge access to this kind of knowledge, enable more people to be players. More access could mean better quality and approach to safeguards, and then markets (should) follow. Hopefully before research and money go down the drain or results made irrelevant. " 9,26026,2016-08-21T08:43:17.000Z,516,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Legal issues What @anon https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NKc2bM1FnpQ9zCEveieFr7bIGA9JkI8U_adsBpyma1A/edit#heading=h.5obrk7n45hk3 Maanon1932026148 you could elaborate?   " 10,27801,2016-08-23T11:35:24.000Z,516,anon1089184890,anon1089184890,"Implementation And here is the latest attempt to bridge the gap https://edgeryders.eu/en/wehandu-maker-space-for-develoanon3606750899g-solutions-for-cases-of-motor   " 11,29069,2016-08-23T16:31:46.000Z,516,anon2435658896,anon1089184890,"WeMake will back it So, the conversation with @anon1089184890 is going on since some time now.  As WeMake I'm pretty conviced to back this project in the opencare realm.  We're in the process of understanding the possible implementations but we're totally in. @anon   " 12,33426,2016-08-21T04:23:40.000Z,25080,anon1089184890,anon1491650132,"Response to Marco Thanks @anon I'll try to go through the points  * The transformation of cronic patients into makers is scientifically documented. Something like 50% of patients have been creating an innovative solution for their health problem (SocialMediaWeek Milan 2016) but, either I don’t understand what you mean by ‚stimulus to personal studies’ or I strongly disagree. Production of the device should simply be a joyful and possibly a beneficial process. Avoiding personal defeat is ethical top priority. * Lets make it clear: Quality is one thing, safety is another. Quality depends on the maker = participant. Safety is ensured by facilitator and mentors. Safety is a relative issue. Walking is risky – you may fall, therefore the neurologist may advice stop walking and use a wheelchair instead (a real casestory). As when we do clinical trials, the participant must be guided through a ‚risk assessment’ * What you say about ‚bypassing’ is actually the reason for hacking - for opencare. Once you certify your product is ‚frozen’. Yes it’s about bypassing >100k euro of CE marking expenses of a product which the user has to pay (https://edgeryders.eu/en/fes-for-foot-drop). You can't meet individual requirements because youll lose certification. However you have a point. Help us to find a way to ennsure that this is legal and how participants can be ensured in case of accidents. Please? * don't get your point about IP!???? We are in open context, free, * Responsibility and lawsuits. I can see you are a lawyer mind so please help out on this point? (Yes the idea is that the paricipant is fully responsible) How does the makerspaces go about this issue (@anon * ‚Disabled ones’ are in this case people, the participants, looking for a alleviation for lack of body function. In contrast to established health care ( were the patient is often a passive receiver patiently waiting for ....), the WeHandU (see above reply) philosophy is NOT to decide what is best for a patient. Rather a person living with an impairment is looking for a way to resolve that HE/SHE considers a problem and hopefully resolve/alleviate it in a creative environment (I am often contacted by such people). The ‚not-patient’ but participant is... a participant. People not ‚wanting any aid’ (and they are most) will not come in WeHandU. (BTW. Disabled people is not existing in the modern vocabulary) * Solutions not marketed is a complex one. As graduate student I believed (was taught) that if it works it will be sold. That’s not the way of business. Healthcare is business. Hard cold  business. A businees where 90%  of the healthcare budget is spend on a solution that does not work. 90% (EU data) is spend on treating cronic diseases. Why are they cronic? Because the cure we are paying is not working... ok I’m being cheeky here ;-)    If you study the dropped foot stimulators, invented 50 years ago, there is a ton of scientific work that demonstrates efficiency. Its provided by NHS in england, but not in the rest of europe. Why? * Optimistic research. No, rather pragmatic - If something does not work try something different. The different is to eliminate the last variable (confounder is the term) not yet controlled in 50years of research: FAILING INSTITUTIONS (article on edgeryders). What would you suggest as a cut off for a clinically relevant change? How many people regaining some hand function? How many people walking yet some years before they end in a wheelchair? Would 10 suffice or do we need 100.mio (A cervical sanon3606750899al cord injury cost society approx. 1mio$/year)  What if one of them was you? Would the existence of WeHandU space be justified it it could preserve you some personal independence? We have a choice here: continue spending millions on research refining (reinventing) technology (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/kf-kfa010716.php). Promising technology that has not been marketed or clinically relevant for many years? H0: We can demonstrate that it is useless by testing the last hypothesis (which is that OpenCare approach can solve the ‚marketing’ problem). What do you propose? " 1,33743,2016-07-08T23:12:24.000Z,33743,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lvb4aYvIyqw Where: USA Year: 2007 Few lines description: Nate Barshay prototyped the device, called eyeRobot, using and hacking the existing iRobot Roomba. EyeRobot guides blind and visually impaired users through cluttered and populated environments. The user indicates his/her desired motion by intuitively pushing on and twisting the handle. The robot takes this information and finds a clear path down a hallway or across a room, using sonar to steer the user in a suitable direction around static and dynamic obstacles. It is also a relatively simple machine, requiring a few inexpensive sensors, various potentiometers, some hardware, and of course, a Roomba Create. How is it open?
    • The project is downloadable on instructables.com platform under the licence Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). Anyone can download all the necessary elements for building it. Anyone can download the instructions.
    • Anyone can clone and fork it.
    • The code is available for free, a Roomba hardware needs to be bought.
    • EyeRobot still provides a much cheaper alternative than guide dogs, which cost over $12,000 and are useful for only 5 years, while the prototype was built for well under $400.
    • He didn’t prototype this project with a specific community, but he did it for a specific kind of users: blind and visually impaired people.
    How is it “care”?
    • It solves an everyday issue for blind and visually impaired people. It helps their movements in cluttered and populated environments.
    Link: http://www.instructables.com/id/eyeRobot---The-Robotic-White-Cane/ " 2,33757,2016-08-07T12:56:08.000Z,33743,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"Embedded the video to see how the cane actually works Hi @anon While browsing the web quickly I came across several recent articles introducing different robotic canes (including one equipped with a camera invented by a 16 year old), all equally cheap to make, that are still presented as prototypes. Wondering how come this hasn't, many years after, become more widespread..   " 3,33797,2016-08-23T11:33:28.000Z,33743,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Facts? Usercomments? Great idea @anon I'd like to hear what a blind owner of a dog says? Usually people are quite fond of their dogs (and they climb stairs, go outside) Roomba dosn,t pass even small obstacles.  Or is this the typically technocrats way to care (my recurrent question to myself)? What does th blinds community say?  " 2,8317,2016-05-12T07:53:48.000Z,679,anon1491650132,,"Playing with naming Well language is powerful, it carries and enforces assumptions even without someone intending to. It seems like there are few words we have as society to express care for those assumed to need it more than others - disability/ handicap/ disease.   Maanon1932026148 they don't need more care than others, as we are all disabled in a way. We all fall under categories of the state anyway and at some point need ""special"" considerations -for example student discounts carry the same type of distinction: you are a student, therefore you have less money, therefore you need extra help to access some services. Yet we call it ""discount for students"" not discount for poor students. Will keep thinking about this, and good luck with your design @anon " 3,15498,2016-05-12T18:36:03.000Z,679,anon1526983854,,"A gradient Disability is a gradient. Some humans can run marathons in under three hours. Me? No. Does it mean I am disabled? No. But if you could run a marathon in under three hours, and then for some reason (age, lack of training) you lost that ability, you would feel diminished.  Moreover, disability is multidimensional. Is Stephen Hawking disabled? Yes, in a way. His body is weaker than mine. But if you look at brains, fame, achievements...  who's the disabled guy here? Yet another example of when labels do not make sense.  " 4,21647,2016-08-23T11:31:18.000Z,679,anon1089184890,,"ICF Exellent posts @anon @anon " 1,711,2016-07-25T20:39:11.000Z,711,anon3578513464,anon3578513464,"In 2015 both of us have been diagnosed with different types of cancer. Ever since we were diagnosed with cancer until the end of our treatment we both were more than convinced our body could fight this and we eventually would win the battle. We were always pretty fanatic with sports and always had a focus on eating healthy. We immediately started to look for information on how to keep our body in the best shape during the chemo and radiation attack. During the first appointments we had at the hospital with a nurse specialized in cancer treatment, we received a lot of information on the treatment itself and its possible side effects. However, there was no information added on (healthy) food, which products to eat best during treatment or information on the possibility to continue exercising. At home our search started at the internet and we looked up questions like: Is it healthy to sport during treatment? What is the best food to eat? Should we be adding supplements to our daily meals? Who can help to keep my body in the best shape? Through the dietician working at the general practitioners office Carry got a first list of products, which could affect the treatment and also some products to prevent loosing too much weight. We did not know if we had to expect a weight loss, because that is what we all think chemo does to your bodies. What we forget is that you get a lot of medicines to fight the treatment side effects, which have again their own side effects, such as potentially gaining weight (take for example prednisone, one tends to store a lot of body liquids that could cause weight increase). The information from the GPs dietician was not sufficient, therefore we asked for the advice of a dietician at the hospital. During the first appointment we asked all kinds of different questions, but we were shocked by the answers. Before we were ill, we ate very healthy, fresh/fair products, now we got the advice of the hospital dietician to buy ready meals in case we would did not feel well enough to cook. Or in case you would lose weight to eat artificially manon169343781factured nutrition containing ingredients to increase weight. Currently there are all kinds of ‘food fanatics’ and ‘health hypes’. We are convinced that healthy food should not be a trend. We don’t want to focus on trends or hypes; our focus lies at informing people about healthy food and “back to basic”. We want to reach the target group of cancer patients, to help them in finding good food to fight the battle of their life. As we experienced ourselves, medical specialists at the hospital don’t have enough time to guide a patient in the best way and many dieticians follow the ‘old’ rules and are promoting the medical food of the pharmaceutics industry. We want to start a foundation, which will have a wide network of researchers, specialized food coaches, sport coaches and doctors to gather information and advice, on how to compose healthy menu’s for cancer patients and provide information on healthy ways of exercising during your illness. Not only in general, but also customized, for each individual. Our plan is to set up an overview listing healthy products to eat during your treatment, but also listing products, that are particularly unhealthy. Next to that we want build up a network to reach out to people who cannot cook or are not able to exercise (or just walk) on their own. Look around to your own environment. If you were aware that there is a single man/woman, who lives a couple of streets away, which is not able to cook because he/she is too ill, would you not cook (needless to say that this needs to be in line with the advice of the foundation) for that person? This is called community care.Focusing on the hospital food will be the second target (long-term). Once we start informing patients and start working with researchers, food coaches, sport coaches and doctors, we will eventually be able to slowly change the hospital food. Figuring out the healthiest ways to fight your battle by staying in direct contact with your target group is part of specialized care, which would be the future in health care. Not general, but focus on single patients with their own problems/questions and side effects. Challenge (Customized) advice serving cancer patients during treatment (chemo, radiation,…) to ensure optimal nutrition and exercise.
    1. focusing on natural instead of artificially produced ingredients
    2. emphasizing the importance of regular and moderately intensive exercise.
    Channels Short-term: online (info and community) Long-term: face to face (workshops on two main subjects) Activities:
    • develop and maintain a blog/website/platform with menu proposals containing healthy ingredients, working together with food coaches and researchers on this. It will be an interactive platform, on which people can also share their own experiences etc.,
    • contact points in the Netherlands on sports coaches to contact for guidance,
    • set up sports projects and readings about healthy food and sports for cancer patients,
    • create communities for healthy cooking, places where people can buy healthy food in case there are not able to cook themselves when they are very ill, or don’t have a partner.
    Type of community involved Community consists of cancer patients (no age restrictions or type of cancer) Solution proposed; effect on users life? Ensure optimal knowledge sharing to enable patients to continue the health-minded lifestyle of before their illness.   How is it open? It is accessible to anybody online (could be perceived as restricting because the community is language specific and starting with the Netherlands!)   How does it ‘care’? This platform contributes to care by offering a space where patients can share their knowledge and learn from each other concerning the subjects “healthy nutrition” and “exercise”. Also it allows easy access to expert knowledge. The platform is not supposed to replace or complement any scientific research sources. It is solely focusing on the easy access of exactly this information as well as the information shared amongst experts by experience. " 2,9737,2016-07-27T08:56:04.000Z,711,anon1526983854,anon3578513464,"Brilliant stuff! This makes a ton of sense. Everyone says that sport and healthy food are good for non-sick people: they should be even more important for people who are sick! I, too, lead a reasonably healthy lifestyle. I do not have cancer now, but – realistically – I will at some point. And I will want the same kind of advice that you also looked for.  I would totally support this idea! @anon4116418727 , you are a doctor. Any thoughts? " 3,11833,2016-08-21T01:32:46.000Z,9737,anon1089184890,anon1526983854,"The food paradox of hospitals As long as I remember we have been told to eat healthy / As long as I remember hospital food has had the reputation of being awful As long as I have been having my lunches in a hospital I’ve studied posters saying: avoid saturated fat, reduce salt & sugar, prefer fibres, vegetables and fresh fruit etc. As long as I have been having my lunches in a hospital the meals have always been salty, something fried, overcooked vegetables and the cheapest quality fruit. So starting at the hospital we are told one thing and given the opposite. The logical conclusion is that change should start at the hospital. It same goes for schools down to kindergardens.     " 4,16818,2016-08-02T15:32:38.000Z,711,anon1491650132,anon3578513464,"Collective intelligence as cure for controversy Nice to meet you @anon One of the most schizofrenic thing about medical treatments is, in my oanon3606750899ion, controversial advice. I always tell myself that the moment I will have a real condition I will need to ask for many many oanon3606750899ions in order to be satisfied with recommendations. Even with the ""healthy food"" trends which you remark, it is becoming harder and harder to find truth or specialists with real credentials. If hospital dieticians are in the wrong, then the only way seems to be more access to information, and at some point the more accurate one is filtered in. I like your approach, and maanon1932026148 reading about other online communities could be useful to your design: for example another edgeryder in Benin is running awareness raising for cardio vascular diseases on a massive facebook group, but the reason they manage to keep it relatively uncontroversial, as far as I understood, is that: 1) they don't deal with curative or palliative care, only preventative and 2) they have moderators ensuring a healthy and accurate stream of information. This is their story. Also, how can we help? " 5,17838,2016-08-20T18:03:12.000Z,16818,anon3578513464,anon1491650132,"Re: collective intelligence as cure for controversy Hi Noemi, Thanks for your reply, its much appreciated! You are definitely right about the controversiality of advice. Main cause of this is, in our oanon3606750899ion, the so-called island approach, where there is little space for a holistic view on the patient! Specialists tend to stay within the boundries of their area of expertise (even if the advice turns out not to be the best for the particular patient). We realize the challenge concerning our online platform as it is extremely important to ensure a reliable and relevant source of information, especially considering our target group!  Your already helanon3606750899g by sharing your thoughts, oanon3606750899ion and experience. We are happy to learn more from experts and get in touch with people that can provide relevant advice!  Carry and Denise " 6,18512,2016-08-22T09:43:11.000Z,17838,anon1491650132,anon3578513464,"Analysis layer for more credibility Having a platform where a lot of people talk to each other and share experiences that sometimes contradict each other is a lot like a forum, and making it difficult to arrive at sound advice. What would make it into real collective intelligence is research and analysis on nutrition. This would weigh a lot more than advice from a small groups of food experts (as Rune observes below). If you ever want to go that way and structure information online into a research dataset, or wish to include this in your support raising efforts, consider Edgeryders for partnering up. Alberto just wrote about how you can use network analysis and ethnography to analise texts and reach new knowledge that as a platform manager or user you can't readily see, especially if you have contributions in the orders of thousands. " 7,20297,2016-08-10T14:05:58.000Z,711,anon3325826017,anon3578513464,"Connecting the (food) dots Hi @anon I think it is important to also focus on the important of digestion/digestability of ingredients (eg. how it changes over age; how it relates with certain foods, the way they are cooked, the environment they are produced/consumed). This is often forgotten (way too often, I'm afraid), even by most ""food fanatics"" or ""health hypers"", who are looking for trendy or aesthetic standards, while forgetting the basics of what makes food. Taking the European population as an example, pasta and rice is not enough for healthy nutrition. A healthy and resilient diet also needs sorghum, buckwheat and quinoa. Modern food trends praise local food, but citizens also crave for bamboo and manioca leaves next to tomatoes and eggplants. Our urban realities demand apples and oranges and strawberries but also crave for anon3606750899eapple, lichees and papayas. How connected are we with the production-distribution process of these ingredients? How are they imported? Are they imported with care? How do agricultural and food policies affect health and nutrition?" 8,22262,2016-08-20T18:05:08.000Z,20297,anon3578513464,anon3325826017,"Re: Connecting the (food) dots Hi Pavlos, Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to our initiative! We agree that a varied diet is of big importance to any of us (not only cancer-patients). Can you provide us with more information/sources of research concerning the variety that you are referring to?  A core aspect that needs to be considered specifically when talking about ""anti-cancer"" nutrition is that carbs and sugar should be avoided or reduced to a minimum because they ""feed"" cancer cells. What we are trying to say with this goes hand in hand with our comment on Noemi's post: to come across as a reliable and relevant source of information, the platform needs to state very explicitly what it is focusing on concerning nutrition, still at one point you have to choose a certain framework of aspects which build the basis of, in our case, the platform. No one can ensure a 100% holistic approach, but you can already get a lot further by having this intention. In the end research today might state that milk (just as an example) is bad for us and tomorrow another research might state the opposite. Its all about the framework that you define and the beliefs you formulate as a basis.  Carry and Denise " 9,24439,2016-08-21T01:48:18.000Z,711,anon1089184890,anon3578513464,"Food for though - evidence based There seems to be as many ideas of what is healthy foot as there are people. Where do these ideas come from, how do they develop and are they true? New drugs have to test qual or better efficiency by stranon1056199097nt methods. Food (and established treatments) do not !? Once I searched medline (a database of scientific publications)  to find evidence for recomended daily intake (RDA how many mg of various vitamins etc we need) and found practically no research evidence. What we eat seems to be a result of a roundtable discussion of 'experts (taught by their professors, taught by their professors,,,,,)' . Can it really be that there is a enormous hole in healthcare research here? Could it be an OpenCare challenge to gather all data on diets, vitamins, lifestyle, lifequality ...and do some datamining to provide evidence of dietary recomendations?   " 10,25187,2016-08-21T19:09:58.000Z,24439,anon3578513464,anon1089184890,"RE: Food for though - evidence based
    Dear Rune, 
     
    Thank you for your comment. You are right by saying that there are many ideas on healthy food and it's very difficult to find evidence for recommended daily intake of various vitamines. Your suggestion to an OpenCare challenge to gather all data on diets etc is indeed also interesting. At this moment for us this scope would be too wide. We want to focus on the group of cancer patients, while we know that besides the battle of their illness they also struggle to gain the right information. As we mentioned in our reply to Noemi's response, we realise the challenge that it's extremely important to ensure a reliable and relevant source of information for this particular group.
     
    Denise and Carry
    " 1,707,2016-07-20T05:34:59.000Z,707,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Researcher José Gómez-Márquez whose big thoughts shapes Little Devices"", the lab he directs at MIT- uses toys to make affordable medical devices.The Little Devices lab takes a DIY approach to designing and building tools, mainly for healthcare.   A plastic gun can be to create an alarm that alerts nurses when a patient’s IV bag needs changing. And a box of Lego-like building blocks can be used to modify existing medical equipment in numerous ways. He creates devices that bridge the gap between absence of mechanical or electrical engineering or fundamentals of product design. Marquez talks about that toys can be the engineered piece or the mechanical bits and pieces that you can harvest and re-purpose. Gómez-Márquez happens to have the backing of MIT, yet he is joined by a large and often-unrecognized population of DIYers who are practicing low-cost innovation. Historically, the public has looked to research and development labs at multinational corporations, universities and government labs — and has grown accustomed to expensive, complicated devices used more often in elite hospitals than jungles or slums. Not surprisingly, those who make DIY medical devices encounter doubt and even derision constantly. Such attitudes are a problem, because the DIY tools dreamed up by backyard inventors, part-time tinkerers and academics like Gómez-Márquez could improve — and even save — thousands of lives everywhere, not only in inner cities but in communities everywhere. We need to toss out our false assumptions about how, and where, new ideas come from — and recognize that innovation is everywhere. Interesting video :  https://vimeo.com/43909074 " 2,9202,2016-07-20T19:16:04.000Z,707,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"It's all about the cost! What a great idea! ""Toys have great supply chains"", therefore they are cheap, despite not being cheap injection mould stuff anymore, despite having a significant engineering content.  And ""you may not have the courage to take a part a 1,000 dollars medical device, but youy definitely have the courage to take apart something that costs 5 dollars.""  Conclusion: for DIY to really work its magic, things have to be cheap. The cheaper the better.  " 3,11557,2016-08-18T07:03:14.000Z,9202,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Add junkyards and you got yourself a Med Makers revolution :-)  " 1,520,2016-08-08T15:40:37.000Z,520,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"Hello Edgeryders! For my fellowship I will write about Huis VDH, which I introduced earlier. In short: > Huis VDH wants to give time and resources to people to experiment, try, fail and succeed around new models for the present and future of Brussels. We are convinced that the magic happens by connecting citizen’s skills and needs. We aim to become a laboratory for urban change hosting citizens in search of anchor. But Huis VDH doesn’t fall from the sky. For me, being in good care in the city has always meant having a healthy living environment. To create such a good environment we need good city planners and a great vision on public space. Something Brussels is still lacking... ## Once upon a time, there was public space. From 2012 onwards, I got fascinated by the concept of public space and how to bring it back in the center of everyday life in the city. After reading a call by philosopher Philippe Van Parijs about the urge to design new ways to interact in public space because of the limits of private space in the city, I got involved in Pic Nic The Streets and Canal Park BXL that both asked the government to urgently work on citizen based public space to better the living conditions of each citizen. Both won the political battle, but the result wasn’t really what we were hoanon3606750899g for. Pic Nic The Streets led to a carfree city center, but so poorly planned that a strong movement of anti carfree people could rise and are now threatening to stop further reorganisation of the city center. Looking at the plans for the big park, we are scared that gentrification will become an even bigger issue now in the zone around Canal Park. We were hoanon3606750899g for an inclusive design knowing that a lot of poor people are living in that neighbourhood. Now we are continuing to work as an observer with a cargo bike installation called Canal d’Accroche (part of the project Vélo M2, explained here) in that neighbourhood, hoanon3606750899g to bring them some resilience. ## From Maison Du People to Huis VDH, a story about citizen centred design. Since I was a guide and learned about the architect Horta and his Art Nouveau Style, I’m fascinated with the Maison Du Peuple, a building from the end of the 19th century that housed all kind of projects and people wanting to better society. It was a place where ideals could grow, and people could come listen to each other in an open dialogue. I started working on an open call to repurpose the empty Bourse building into a new Maison Du Peuple, right in the hearth of the city. But just days after finishing the text the attacks in Bataclan occurred and life in Brussels changed dramatically for a couple of weeks… I gave it a rest and set my focus on a vacant building above the well-known music bar Bonnefooi: 4 floors, 500 m², and lots of potential, but also lots of work to be done. Without any budget or action plan, I started gathering people in the house, now called Huis VDH. The only thing I knew was that I wanted an inclusive project build from a common idea: Designing a semi-public space in such a way that the wellbeing of the neighbourhood / city improves. Huis VDH will therefore become a test case, because it isn’t the first or last vacant space above a shop in Brussels: there are more than 23,000 m² documented. So there we were, having a space, an open concept and a lot of potential. The first thing we did was taking time to create a common practice: we designed our way of gathering through a futurism session created by Fo.AM that allowed us to gather all ideas from each person who wanted to get involved and, like a funnel, filter only the most common. For us, it was important to make Huis VDH as open as possible, so that any new member with the right mind-set could easily become a full involved partner in the building process. After a philosophical six months, we had the sprout of an idea: Huis VDH was born. It’s all in the name, for Huis VDH it is no other. ‘Huis’ means ‘home’ in Dutch and that is what we are aiming to become for people that are drowning in a sea of complexity of city life. We try to not judge each other, but rather think solution oriented: Help out where we can, and bring the right people around the table. Our space is designed to welcome each kind of small organization working on local issues: cultural, social or technological. We try to design each space so it can be multifunctional and become a temporary rest spot for thosein search of an anchor. We believe like edgeryders: “ that the power of a community is bigger than the sum of all parts.” One big challenge we will be facing in the next couple of years is to use our talent to organize ourselves within crisis. Big problems are ahead and we need to build up resilience to react quickly to an ever changing surrounding. Huis VDH is trying to take that challenge inside our own development. For us resilience can be developed on four levels: knowledge, vulnerability, out of the box exercise, and modification. ## Shared knowledge Open Source is all around us, and also in Huis VDH. After living for 5 weeks in an open source innovation camp called POC21, I find solutions to every kind of problem through this model of thinking. Knowledge is there to be shared and if we create the right methodology we will find more easily solutions to any kind of problems. That is why we started mapanon3606750899g out every encounter we had through metamaps, we budget our work with cobudget and use a sharing file system inside the house. ## Showing your vulnerable self When working in a collective environment, we tend to show our better self, hiding our flaws in the first place. But a strong collective group is as strong as its weakest link, and therefore we find it important that we are open and honest to each other. Having personal problems is something common, but sharing them is less. We try to create a trust field around Huis VDH where personal development is as important as the common goal of the organization. Caring about each other as a human being before seeing it as a resource for a project. In order to bring this theory into practice, we have made the first floor as cosy as possible, so people can just hang around and talk freely to each other. We make meetings short and efficient so there is time to discuss at the bar the more intimate stuff, not with all, but with whom we trust. ## Putting ourselves outside the system In the first six months, I was convinced we could create a complete system without the need of money. Only through exchange we could rebuild the house. This gave us a clear barrier to work around, and even if after six months we partially let money in our system, we were trained to think about solutions without money by using the skills, knowledge and resources of one another. This is one of the many ways we try to build challenges to ourselves to constantly think out of the box. When crisis occurs, we need to think and find solutions fast. Creating these exercises in a calm period will help create resilience in all members. ## Modification as constancy Finally, another way resilience can be created is by being in a constantly changing environment. Therefore Huis VDH doesn’t have fixed spaces. Every room can be rearranged to have a different use. Having this as one of the ground rules, we create a constant reality of change that makes us well trained in the art of adaptation, a virtue needed in times of crisis. In September, we will be, thanks to @anon When working for Huis VDH, I have a phrase by Bachelard that always comes to mind: “Our House is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word” We can’t forget about the complexity of a home when we want to harmonize it. In cosmos, planets collide, new stars are born and a black hole sometimes sucks up even galaxies. This will be the same for people, ideas and principles. The most important for the wellbeing of this microcosm will be the search for constant banon3760936673ce. In September we will be co-hosting the Brussels OPENandChange Workshop and that will kick off our Huis VDH. In the follow up we are working on a concept called Pirate Kitchen: using the resources from dumpster diving or own grown combined with hobby cooks we want to bring each week around 10 people gravitating around the same interest / problem / field but don’t know or rarely meet. We wouldn’t give them any explanation about whom they will meet, only that they will have a dinner with interesting people. They will have to find out why they are all here, and what they could bring to each other. A sort of blind date for change makers. Could this be an interesting form, or does it already occur in some places? I’d appreciate any feedback in a comment below, and see you on 10-11 September for the workshop!   *The production of this article was supported by [Op3n Fellowships](/t/5296), an ongoing program for community contributors between May and November 2016.*" 2,7176,2016-08-08T15:43:36.000Z,520,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"i don't understand how to put it in the right categorie sorry @anon1491650132 and @anon1526983854 i think it got in the wrong place again... " 3,10891,2016-08-08T19:31:29.000Z,7176,anon1491650132,anon3595237380,"No worries. It's all good and formatted. Thanks Yannick, looking forward to circulate this story! " 5,20274,2016-08-10T12:43:15.000Z,520,anon3595237380,anon3595237380,"Thanks for the interesting links hello @anon " 7,26029,2016-08-11T14:52:04.000Z,520,anon541213121,anon3595237380,"Technical Questions Could you please share some details on the physical condition of the Bonifooi building and how, functionally, the space is intended to work? I looked at some street view pictures of the building and it looks in good shape but very old, though the windows look new. How are things on the interior? What is the composition of the building structure? What utilities are there, and are they updated? What sort of wiring and plumbing? How are the floors set out and are they partitioned? Do you have roof access and what is it like? How do you intended to use the space? Will people live there, in a coliving manner? Will there be a workshop, kitchen, studio, urban farm, etc.? Do you intend to do any sort of light production? Your experience with the N55 spacefram bike suggests you might be working with those and similar constructions. Does the city/landowner allow you to use wind and solar?  What sort of building resources do you have at-hand in your group. Is there fab lab access? People with wood or metalworking skills? Is there some good source of industrial cast-offs nearby?  " 8,26951,2016-08-11T17:52:20.000Z,26029,anon3595237380,anon541213121,"trying to answer all your questions thank you for the in dept questionary. We started doing the bigger work in the building the last couple of weeks. We were happely surprised that the water problem didn't harm the wood that hard. On the first floor we have a sort of chill room that is used as a backstage for the bar downstairs as well, a multi media room with possibility to watch movies or have podcast sessions, a closed room for private meetings and a toilet. The second space is used as recording and repetition space at the moment, but will graduatily become multifunctional too. On the third floor we have a big open space with lots of natural light and a working plumbing system. The electricity has been cleaned and we are installing now new wires. We will install a kitchen in low tech design there and we still have space for other things. On the fourth floor we have access to a roof of 40m2 and also a ceiling that was renewed not that long ago, we only have some problems of mushrooms there that need to be taken care of. On the long term we hope to have complete green energy providers , solar is possible. But also trying to create a consience for not using to much energy. On the fourth floor we hope to bring a sauna, sleeanon3606750899g capsules and also an urban garden on the roof, all this is being analysed at the moment. We have 2 handy mans, a designer, a woodworker and an interieur designer helanon3606750899g in the house at the moment. We also have access to different FabLabs around Brussels that will come help us later on. We maanon1932026148 going to try to contact the bellastock organization of brussels to work around the industrial resources.   " 9,27640,2016-08-12T17:47:36.000Z,26029,anon70625510,anon541213121,"Introductions maanon1932026148? Hello anon948101822c, and welcome to Edgeryders. It sounds like you have some experience or interest in setting up this kind of space :)  Maanon1932026148 consider introducing yourself to Yannick and/or the rest of the community in arrivals?   " 10,27803,2016-08-12T10:15:05.000Z,520,anon1526983854,anon3595237380,"Sharing plans Hey @anon We discovered that publishing the plans made everything clearer and more concrete, and generated a lot of excitement and emotional attachment. People also started to suggest really cool ideas for furniture.  " 1,5768,2016-07-12T15:40:22.000Z,5768,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"After some tinkering, I have more information about the data structure used by OpenEthnographer. There are two main entities: codes and annotations. 
    • Codes obtain by repurposing the Drupal entity called taxonomy term from the Taxonomy core module. OpenEthnographer creates and maintains a specific vocabulary of taxonomy terms called (you guessed it ) Open Ethnographer: https://edgeryders.eu/en/admin/structure/taxonomy/openethnographer . A code consists of a name, an ID, an optional description and a parent (obviously only for codes that are not at the top level in the hierarchy).
    • Annotations obtain by repurposing the Drupal entity called annotation from the Annotator module. An annotation consists of a person (author, aka the ethnographer) associating a snippet of text in a Drupal node or comment to a taxonomy term. The latter is identified via Tid in the database. You can join on Tid to find all the annotations associated to a specific code.
    I have made views that return all entities of both kinds in JSON format:
    • https://edgeryders.eu/en/openethnographer-codes
    • https://edgeryders.eu/en/openethnographer-annotations
    @anon2774142051 and @anon " 2,6521,2016-08-04T16:24:06.000Z,5768,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"ID missing in the ethno code json file The title says it all: IDs are missing in the ethno code json file. We get things like: node: { name: ""actors: communities"", Description: ""Annotation classifications added by Open Ethnographer users"", parentName: "" } " 3,10647,2016-08-04T16:43:48.000Z,6521,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Just bad data The view feeding the API is correctly configured. If you look at my test code, that was generated as a child of an existing code, you find it is reported normally. This is what I think happened: Spot The Future was done with an earlier, RDFa based-version of OE. It used text styles, not taxonomy terms, as a proxy for ethno codes. Since text styles are not per se hierarchical, the parent term was stuck in a prefix, so that the ethnographer would see all ""actors:XX"" close to each other in the style menu (only ethnographers would see these text styles, normal users could not see them).  What it comes down to is: we have two possibilities. Either we rearrange the taxonomy, creating parent codes (in this case: ""actors""), and then assign all codes of type ""actors:XX"" to be children of those parents; or we just ignore this stuff and generate fresh codes. Unfortunately, as we discussed. to generate fresh data we need some coding work on OE...  Tomorrow I will assess how much work I need to do to restructure STF codes. I will need something for the London conference, which by the way is confirmed and happening on September 15th.  " 4,14000,2016-08-05T07:22:27.000Z,5768,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"prefix instead of ids? Is that what you are saying? That these old ethno codes use text prefix to indicate child-parent relationship? What I pointed at is that codes do not have an id (no id field contrarily to what your initial post says). This means we cannot link back from annotations (in the https://edgeryders.eu/en/openethnographer-annotations view) to codes (in the https://edgeryders.eu/en/openethnographer-annotations view) using the ""Annotation ID"" field. ? " 5,19679,2016-08-05T15:44:00.000Z,5768,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Good news, bad news Good news: the Drupal interface supports rearrangement of ethno codes (technically: of taxonomy terms, since our ethno codes are the terms of the OpenEthnographer vocabulary). Also, hierarchies are supported. I went as far as four levels deep, I suspect that there is no limit to how many levels you can add in the hierarchy. I have done the following:
    1. created a top-level spotTheFuture term.
    2. created two children terms, actors and assets as category terms. The assignment is done navigating to the Taxonomy term page, clicking ""Relationships"" and selecting the parent node.
    3. renamed all codes marked actor:codename and asset:codename as codename , and selected actor and asset respectively as their parent node. 
    Note that a code can be a child to more than one parent. This means that the hierarchy of codes does not have to be a tree. For example ""environmental science"" could be a child both of ""environent"" and ""science"". I have tested this on my test tag. THe result looks like this:  Bad news: the codes for STF do not correspond to the code tree with the hierarchy that we produced in 2014. I think @anon In general, however, we will not need to have a hierarchy of codes that fans out from the project. There is no need. In fact, the whole idea of OE is that the codes can be shared across projects. When you want to grab a project from the API, you will use the annotations or the contentinstead:
    • Grab all codes, because you are going to need them.
    • Grab annotations, but filter out those that have not been made by the ethnographers who are part of your team. You can combine this filtering method by
    • Grab content. Now, filter out all annotations that refer to content without the scope of your project. For example, the APIs for opencare return only opencare content. OE annotations APIs will return annotations that refer to non-opencare stuff, but you can decide to filter them out.
    But in general, each ethnographer can use other ethnographer's annotations as a guide to finding more material on Edgeryders. For example, suppose I am coding a conversation and find people talking about debt. I might want to navigate to the ""debt"" code (taxonomy term) page, from there to annotations that encode ""debt"", and from there to the actial content where other ethnographers have found people talking about debt. This can be used as ""parallax data"" to give my research more debt.  To enable this, codes should be ""floating around"", detached from specific projects and ethnographer. We will want to write guidelines for this: it's not so much about using a piece of software, it's about turning ethnography into a massively collaborative endeavour.  I made this visualization of the data model in OE, that illustrates the roles of codes and annotations.  " 6,23413,2016-08-05T23:25:45.000Z,5768,anon2118839549,anon1526983854,"Fetching codes Hi @anon Yes, you are right. I created the hierarchy outside of ER platform for the STF study (as there was no OE prototype then...) I have a quick question: the ER website changed quite a lot since the last time I used OE. How do I download a codeset after I finish tagging?  https://edgeryders.eu/en/annotation/export does not work anymore (this is the link I used before, for the Stewardship ethnography). What should I try instead?  And another thing: as Digital Festival is the second project tagged by the same author (me), will I end up with a dataset that includes all my tags (this + Stewardship?), or will I be able to separate the new ones somehow prior to downloading?  " 7,26621,2016-08-06T08:27:04.000Z,5768,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"APIs Annotations and codes (not just yours) are exportable in JSON format via API. See the post that started this thread for the two links.  " 8,27202,2016-08-06T19:07:09.000Z,26621,anon2118839549,anon1526983854,"Thank you! Another question: how do I import it to rqda for further analysis? Maanon1932026148 @anon " 9,27402,2016-08-08T16:47:52.000Z,27202,anon1526983854,anon2118839549,"rjson I am not familiar with RQDA, but there is a package of R to deal with json files. It's called rjson: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2617600/importing-data-from-a-json-file-into-r  You might be able to save the annotations JSON from the API, open it in R through rjson and save it in a format that RQDA can digest.  We will have someone (coincidentally also called Jason!) to work on OE starting September. " 10,28229,2016-08-09T21:00:32.000Z,5768,anon2118839549,anon1526983854,"Missing the old OE version I've grabbed both json files to R,  but I can not use them for analysis because there is no link between anotations and codes. I could merge them together if both would have corresponding IDs, but they don't (or is there something I am not seeing?). What happened to the first OE version that I used for the Stewardship project? Is it possible to activate it at least for a day or two so I could fetch the coded data from the Digital Festival and finish the analysis asap? Or should I look for different solutions and workarounds? I can redo all coding in rqda as there is not too much data -- codes would correspond to the ones online -- but then it beats the purpose of coding online. Any thoughts or/and suggestions @anon " 11,28627,2016-08-09T21:44:39.000Z,28229,anon3769417221,anon2118839549,"Export URL @anon This is documented in the manon169343781al under ""How to export a file for further analysis?"", but admittedly it should get a UI element since it's a kind of ""hidden feature"" the way it is now … " 12,28789,2016-08-10T00:00:53.000Z,28627,anon2118839549,anon3769417221,"It was the first thing I tried, but... But all I get is this:     @anon " 13,28855,2016-08-11T14:54:03.000Z,28789,anon3769417221,anon2118839549,"It's a bug then Since the function provides a RQDA file to me, and did so for you last year, it must be a bug. Probably triggered by one of your annotations that is somehow different from ""normally"". (Not you fault obviously …). I don't really have the capacity to dive into debugging this right now. How can we organize this then, @anon " 14,28885,2016-08-11T16:15:32.000Z,28855,anon1526983854,anon3769417221,"Two possibilities There are two possibilities, @anon
    1. Easy (and recommended): just code offline. We will have a person to properly set up OE, but he will start working in early September. 
    2. Harder but more elegant: Inga had a point, my API for codes did not output the taxonomy term ID. But that was wasy to fix, because of course Drupal knows what the ID is, and in fact I fixed it. Moreover, the API for annotations already had a field for the code ID. I re-labeled ""Term ID"" for added clarity (and I used the same label for the codes API). The code can be associated to the annotation via the Term ID. So, the two JSONs contain everything needed to construct a RQDA file.
    For example, this annotation is associated to the Term ID ""982"":     {       ""node"" : {         ""Annotation ID"" : ""25"",         ""Author uid"" : ""5,672"",         ""Name"" : ""Inga_Popovaite"",         ""Date created"" : ""Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - 08:59"",         ""Date updated"" : ""Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - 08:59"",         ""Entity_id"" : ""3,593"",         ""Entity_type"" : ""node"",         ""Quote"" : ""Over the centuries, nation states all over the world have developed or acquired control of assets of all kinds. [...]         ""Tid"" : ""982""       } To find out what ""982"" means, you need to look up the codes JSON:     {       ""node"" : {         ""name"" : ""challenge: state struggle"",         ""Description"" : ""Annotation classifications added by Open Ethnographer users"",         ""parentName"" : "",         ""Term ID"" : ""982"",         ""Parent Term ID"" : ""0""       } So, it is ""challenge: state struggle"".  If I had an example of the file type RQDA accepts, I would maanon1932026148 be able to write a Python script that ""eats"" the JSONs and returns a RQDA file. Shall I try? Matt, do you have this stuff already documented somewhere? " 15,28898,2016-08-11T17:19:36.000Z,28885,anon3769417221,anon1526983854,"Would work, but fixing the bug is less effort then Option 2 may technically work indeed, and it is kind of documented in code / READMEs since I did the RQDA file conversion twice by now (once a script the CKEditor based prototype, once for OpenEthnographer). It's basically a SQLite file. Not too difficult to handle, yet also not that simple. But. Since your programming would duplicate most of the effort of what OpenEthnographer includes right now (with a bug), it's not really economical. We should just fix the bug instead, then. Maanon1932026148 let's post a project on Upwork (formerly oDesk) and see who applies? Mmmh no then I spend more time giving instructions than I would need fixing this myself … " 16,28902,2016-08-12T08:30:30.000Z,28898,anon1526983854,anon3769417221,"I can try and look at the documentation of your code? But the only language that I know is Python. Sometimes it is possible to fix anyway, if the code is simple.  But... Python. Of course there is a library that manages SQLite files; so a very high-level plan for option 2 would be to call APIs from a Python script, load all their content into objects, then store them as a SQLite file. Should not be too hard. especially with this tutorial. What do you think? This would make my work more reliable. I might still get stuck but it is much less of a shot in the dark. (I am always amazed at the sheer mass of high quality information available around open source software. It's kind of a minor miracle.) " 17,28911,2016-08-12T09:08:44.000Z,28898,anon1526983854,anon3769417221,"The task at hand Just to measure up the task: is it the case that the SQLite file needs to encode:
    • one table for the annotations + one table for the codes
    • in each table, a column for each field
    • IDs are considered strings: ""Term ID"" : ""982"" , not ""Term ID"" : 982
    • no need to worry about operations like indexing etc, because they will be handled by RQDA itself.
    If that is the case, I should be able to create the tables with the appropriate columns, then iterate on the Python objects and append records to the tables.  This would obtain a legitimate SQLite file, but not sure if RQDA imposes additional constraints. Unfortunately, the link to the schema in the documentation (http://www.inside-r.org/packages/cran/RQDA/docs/RQDATables)  does not work anymore (leads to a Microsoft page??) and I have not been able to find an alternative. " 18,29371,2016-08-11T17:21:07.000Z,5768,anon2118839549,anon1526983854,"Coding offline @anon Another thing I've noticed: last year I've mentioned that the https://edgeryders.eu/annotation/export lost about 10% of coded information: it returned just empty codes with no annotations associated with them. Now, I was going through all the coded material and I saw that some of the text that I definitely marked up before (the tags for that particular part of text are in the drop down menu) has marking no more. And it all happened after I tried to export annotations several times. Any ideas why this is happening?...@anon And than you both for your help!  " 2,33763,2016-04-25T08:49:00.000Z,33739,anon1526983854,,"And in fact Hello and welcome @anon
    • It brings people together. During LOTE5 (we had a workshop called Collaborative Inclusion, you would have liked it It think) we learned about a project in Belgium called DineWithUs. Elizabeth, the lady who started it, said: 
    ""Once a migrant has been processed and is ""legalised"" in Belgium there remains a wall between Belgians and newcomers. I was personally frustrated that I did not know any of them, and all my friends were white. Our idea is pretty simple, just share a meal, learn recipes and teach your own. We have now over 100 registrations, it's working OK but we need to grow.""
    • It has direct consequences on health – it is, in fact, health care. I recently learned that a medical school in the US started giving cooking classes to its students. The key person is a man called Tim Harlan, ""who is both a doctor and a chef"", and heads something called The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine. Theirs is an open care initiative, I think, because they teach mediacal students, doctors and the local community to cook in a tasty and healthy way. This way, they are making patients into caregivers (because patients cook too!) and even inventing a new shared language whith which doctors and patients can talk about health. ""We are not talking about nutrition: we are talking about food."" 
    https://www.youtube.com/embed/L0vWLn0lU5k?rel=0 " 3,33777,2016-04-25T15:20:40.000Z,33763,anon1088780966,anon1526983854,"Chinese Culinary Medicine Just to add to @anon A patient given a diagnosis (e.g. 'Excess metal constricting the breathing', or 'jing deficiency') can be treated with acupuncture and herbs, but can also adapt their diet to help reinforce those effects (e.g. eating more spicy food to open the lungs, or eating more dense, proteinous foods). I understand this is fairly common practice in China, where the terms of the medical paradigm are well-established in everyday life and language. Relevant to: the story I just posted on community acupuncture. " 4,33791,2016-04-25T09:26:05.000Z,33739,anon1491650132,,"Anything we can help with? @anon Ideally whenever you post a story make sure include a note asking for help, that helps others jump in with something you actually need :-) " 5,33807,2016-04-27T07:40:24.000Z,33739,anon70625510,,"Then there are those who take it a bit too far :)) Just as I had finished reading you post  @anon " 6,33816,2016-04-27T14:03:42.000Z,33739,anon2774142051,,"Food not a big thing in Europe ... ? As a former North American (left 25 years ago), I keep being flaggerblasted by how much food links people in France. Everywhere in France. I guess this is a country where everyone has a very personal perspective on how ""blanquette de veau"" should be made and is ready to debate about it even with the president of France. Food market is where you go not only for food, but to meet people. In my village, the Saturday morning market deploys its fantasies before a magnificent mixed style Roman-Gothic Cathedral with teraces filled with people chatting and laughing. The Saturday market is is a favorite meeting point. Going to the market is the supreme alibi to act as a ""cigale"" (it's only now I realize there is no english translation for this word ...), enjoy the sun and spend time with friends. This is where you go to distribute flyers and mobilize people for your evening concert, or politicians distribute tracts and shake hands to get reelected, ... The evening my wife delivered my daughter, we were discussing wine tastings with the obstetrician. The thing French people bring back from the place they visited on vacation: food, to share it with others. And do you know what French people talk about when they share a good meal: food, remembering the meal and wines they tasted together the last time ... I am ready to believe Germans prefer chatting about the weather. The French also talk about the weather, debating on how it will affect the harvest and quality of the next ""millésime"" ... :-) " 7,33820,2016-04-27T16:30:15.000Z,33816,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Italy, too Agree with @anon2774142051. And don't get me started about food culture in Italy, which is strictly regional rather than national.  Northern Europeans seem to make less of a big deal of it, though.  " 8,33821,2016-05-17T13:03:55.000Z,33739,anon477123739,,"Brilliant This sounds like a fantastic project! Perhaps we could encourage them to get involved with the (potential) Food on the Edge section of LOTE6? It's really interesting seeing the ways in which food culture is feeding into the OpenCare project. It almost seems like the 2 areas are symbioticly linked. " 9,33822,2016-05-17T14:26:07.000Z,33821,anon1491650132,anon477123739,"Food enterprise at LOTE6. Will keep the LOTE6 idea in mind, great one! I think our future Open Clinic, in the form of which it can come out as our dream sanon3606750899off from OpenCare, will have a large food component to it. Well, we never had an explicit conversation about food on edgeryders. In and of itself it's not actionable: everyone eats, a lot of people love it period. But because it can become an instrument of sorts it tends to pop up in conversations where you wouldn't expect it. It's a real resource: available, comes in handy and yet underanon3606750899s complex relations. Moreover, if we think in terms of food enterprises around care - should we ever decide to support one (maanon1932026148 a project in the making) - they already have a higher degree of sustainability embedded in it than most projects.   " 10,33823,2016-08-10T13:43:44.000Z,33739,anon3325826017,,"The Centrality of Food There are hundreds of variations of how people relate to food in different cultures of the world. The actual format might vary from culture to culture, however humans have evolved to have their food in the centre of the dining community. This Centrality of Food is physical (eg. dishes in the middle and people sitting all around them), but also has many other connotations. For example, the power of food systems and food supply chains in influencing/transforming landscapes, economies, territories, habits and human health. In this article, I stipulate this idea on how improving the food system can regenerate an economy in crisis in my country, Greece: http://bit.ly/2a8WhLY. On the power of cooking and actually investing personal time in sourcing your food, there is a very nice explanation by Michael Pollan on why it matters: http://bit.ly/1alPAAX." 1,5117,2015-12-22T17:03:11.000Z,5117,anon1086066384,anon1086066384,"SoundSight Training will help blind people honing their listening to be more aware of the space around them. Develoanon3606750899g a technology for blind people looked really challenging. At first we tried to develop something that could sense and reconstruct reality for them, a cane on steroids of sort. But while becoming closer, friends with them, our vision started changing: we were more and more exposed to their small habits, to their stories,  their successes and frustrations. And we realized that they didn’t need a technology that would mediate their perception of the environment, they really needed ways to interact with their surrounding as naturally as possible. But have I introduced us yet? We are @anon In boring technical details, it is an acoustic virtual reality that simulates in real time the diffusion, reflection and distortion of user emitted sounds in different environments, offering small variations to capture the consequent modulation of sound features in a trial and error learning process, mediated by appropriate feedback about the results. Our mission is to make this tool as accessible as possible, and open source, to be owned and tinkered around by its community, and for this reason we are slowly and organically onboarding hackers, and blind people alike, like our friends, Cecilia, Luca and Matanon1201778428. True to this vision, we have turned to crowdfunding as the fundraising strategy of choice, and we are trying to exploit the kickstarter campaign and press attention to mobilitate people, and to experience holding a stake into the success of this adventure. We aim at allowing millions of blind people to train their hearing, and to learn how to echolocate and navigate in living environments. So, down to the important question: would you like to help us? ;) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/960729924/soundsight-training-allow-blind-people-to-see-with  " 2,6898,2015-12-22T18:07:12.000Z,5117,anon1491650132,anon1086066384,"Fanon1056199097rs crossed Well done Marco, @anon I've only heard of teaching echolocation ""manon169343781ally"" via examples like Daniel Kish's (""Batman"") school for children. And through handheld devices and more recently a mobile app (?), but those are mediating the environment, as you rightly point out. Kudos for the open approach, and thinking about community members who might be interested in this. Maanon1932026148 Alison Smith from Pesky People..? hm. " 3,16500,2016-06-10T07:58:01.000Z,5117,anon70625510,anon1086066384,"Was too early at the time, but maanon1932026148 shoot for a fellowship? Hi Laura, I had managed to miss this as we were in deep preparation mode ahead of launching OpenCare. Are you up for trying something else? I have two suggestions to make 1) Repost the material from the kickstarter campaign in your post above (if you like I can do it for you). This will make it more appealing for an Op3n fellowship 2) I am just about to start pursuing a number of fundraising avenues including fellowships to support my own experimental work. We can collaborate on this if you like?   " 4,19768,2016-08-07T09:28:19.000Z,5117,anon70625510,anon1086066384,"Can you make it to one of the OPENandChange workshops? We're building the collective bid for the MacArthur Foundation's 100 million dollar grant with peers in several countries and I think you should be in it    http://tour.openandchange.care " 1,519,2016-08-06T15:43:22.000Z,519,anon70625510,anon70625510," " 1,705,2016-07-06T15:38:08.000Z,705,anon2086554329,anon2086554329,"Hi everyone!  This is my very first post here. I've been following the platform for a little while now (around 1 year) and I am still being amazed by your productivity and shared knowledge. I am currently working for Leeuwarden-Fryslân European Capital of Culture 2018 as part of the communication and marketing team, where I'm looking into setting up an online platform on which the communities surrounding our cultural programme can join forces and find eachother. This 'looking into' has developed into the subject of my bachelor thesis for the course Media and Entertainment Management.  In my research, I'm specifically looking into the interactions that take place on co-creative platforms and the dialogue between the organisation behind the platform and its users. Now, I know that with you guys the ownership of the platform itself is a lot more open than with a crowdsourcing platform such as, say, +Acumen or OpenIDEO. What you're doing builds more on the concept of open-source rather than crowdsourcing, and you're implementing it in every single part of your operation. Doing this with challenges that relate to society and that are produced because of an intrinisic motivation is very impressive! Most other platforms that try to achieve change or develop new concepts do this based on streamlined extrinisic motivations, such as Kickstarter's rewards or simply a cash prize for the best idea.  Thus, I would really like to use Edgeryders as a case-study for my thesis. I'm looking for at least two users of the platform to answer a few of my questions over Skype. The questions that I have are based on two models. Firstly, I am trying to find indicators for the quality of the interactions that take place on the platform based on the framework of Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) and, secondly, I am trying to create some insight into your overall co-creation activities based on a recent model of Malmelin and Villi (2015).         Even if you're not willing to be interviewed over Skype, it would be very helpful to me if you could describe how and why you are making use of the platform, and to which categories your activities on the platform fit or don't fit. Also, if you have any questions, tips, ideas, or remarks about everything I've told you so far or regarding the possible platform for Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018, please let me know!        " 2,10602,2016-07-07T07:23:19.000Z,705,anon1491650132,anon2086554329,"Newcomers always sum it up better! Hi again @anon Not sure if I sent this to you previously, but this post (should we incorporate?) from back when the organisation behind the platform was becoming an organisation and the debate in what was already a community is telling of the dynamics.  I already asked @anon Talk to you later. " 3,14005,2016-07-07T09:40:43.000Z,705,anon1061021150,anon2086554329,"Welcome @anon Welcome @anon " 4,19678,2016-07-07T10:15:19.000Z,705,anon477123739,anon2086554329,"Happy to help if i can Hi Jort, As Noemi said, i've been around on the Edgeryders platform for only a short time but i'd be happy to help you in any way i can. You might need to explain some of your theories and concepts as i'm more of an 'interested bystander' than a technical expert. Like Natalia, i can fit a Skype session in during the day early next week. Let me know if you want to speak. Alex " 5,23423,2016-07-07T15:00:31.000Z,705,anon1526983854,anon2086554329,"""Media and entertainment""? Hello @anon " 6,26025,2016-07-07T18:52:16.000Z,705,anon2086554329,anon2086554329,"Thanks everyone! @anon Hi, @anon And @anon Hi @anon   " 7,27800,2016-08-01T14:52:24.000Z,705,anon2086554329,anon2086554329,"Interview Hi @anon Would you be able to participate in an interview any time soon? I'd really love to learn from your experiences and have your input for my dissertation. I'm aiming to graduate at the beginning of september so if you could find some time to help me out soon that would be very much appreciated!  Please let me know,  Jort.  " 8,28460,2016-08-01T18:50:53.000Z,27800,anon1526983854,anon2086554329,"Sure! I am mostly available. Let's make an appointment on a private channel. Just go here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/user/34/contact (Edgeryders allows you to email members, while still keeanon3606750899g their email safe.  " 9,29068,2016-08-01T15:39:39.000Z,705,anon1061021150,anon2086554329,"Hey Jort, please add me on skype : notwistgirl  I should be available some time tomorrow, just anon3606750899g me;) " 2,9380,2016-07-01T10:18:37.000Z,700,anon1491650132,,"Your own investment Thank you for sharing this @anon I don't know much about FES, but looked it up on wikipedia. Are you using a commercial device (I saw they are pretty expensive at 5-6000 USD) or did you find a cheaper variant?  Is there anything community members around here can help with? Let us know if you're looking to learn something specific or just to share your experience, and hopefully we can be useful somehow.   " 3,16105,2016-07-25T14:08:44.000Z,700,anon1089184890,,"Dropped foot stimulation Many people surviving a stroke or living with multiple sclerosis are having difficulty of walking. Partly because they have lost control of the foot movement. When we walk we automatically lift the toes  of the ground or we will have a dropped foot (left picture).             The stimulator above is providing a more physiological way to correct this issue (right picture). The device is very simple and once the price was only around 300 euros. Now they have become quite expensive as @anon   " 4,18052,2016-08-01T09:38:35.000Z,16105,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"Thanks for the precise clarification. Appreciated! I do hope @anon " 1,5770,2016-07-15T07:38:27.000Z,5770,anon1526983854,anon1526983854," In an age of big data and algorithms, Edgeryders has chosen to walk the path of human-powered collective intelligence. We believe collective intelligence is interactional: smart, intellectually honest people are more likely to get closer to an accurate analysis, or to come up with a workable plan for something, when they are in conversation with each other. We exploit the property of open interaction to weed out errors and personal biases; this effect gives rise to Wikipedia's famous self-correcting properties.  Over the years, we keep being awestruck by the power of result-oriented conversations as a knowledge engine. People will turn a problem in their head, make conjectures, explore them, use each conjecture to quickly generate alternative ones and explore them too, look for supporting evidence to reference, try small experiments, involve others. They are unafraid of exploring poorly defined questions, if they are interesting enough (""how can we defeat the tyranny of the mortgage?""); in fact, they can help define it, and even turn the original question on its head (""what you are really asking is XYZ""). It's uncanny. Here's the problem: on the Internet (and in a friendly-but-tough, result-oriented social environment like Edgeryders) an open conversation very quickly becomes too large to keep in any individual human head. Since inception, we have needed ways to summarize the point of view not of individuals, but of the community in conversation, and to do it in a scientifically sound, accountable way.  Hence, ethnography. Ethnographers have the appropriate tools for the job. Just as importantly, they have the right research ethos for Edgeryders: ethnography's definitional attribute is ""no research on a group without encoding the point of view of the group"". This encodes a healthy degree of respect for the community trying to solve a problem, or to address a research question. We like that. Too many researchers have an extractive attitude towards ""the crowd"", seen as a rightless volunteer in collective intelligence exercises.  OpenCare, too, has found its ethnographer. I am proud to announce that Amelia Hassoun will be working with us on this project. Amelia is a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota; she has shown competence, integrity and an interest for the (still vaguely defined) vision of Massively Open Online Ethnography we are working towards. I am excited and honoured to welcome her on the team.  This is Amelia's ""hello world"" post on Edgeryders. Go say hello back.  Photo credit: Marco Giacomassi " 1,33744,2016-07-11T19:04:16.000Z,33744,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"What can you make with old plastic bottles? An way to draw cool air into homes using plastic bottles, using raw materials and the creating a benefit to the community: here's the story:

    How Bangladeshi inventors are making eco-friendly air conditioners from plastic bottles

    What can you make with old plastic bottles? A vase? A flowerpot? … an air-conditioning unit? Believe it or not, you can. When inventor Ashis Paul came up with an innovative way to draw cool air into homes using plastic bottles, his whole company got on board to help teach people living in rural Bangledesh to do the same. Since February this year, they’ve helped people to install these units-- which don’t need electricity to function-- in more than 25,000 households in develoanon3606750899g areas of the country. “Most people live in tin huts… in the summer, it’s like being in sauna in the Sahara”

    Jaiyyanon169343781l Huq

    Jaiyyanon169343781l Huq is a creative director with the Grey Group, the advertising company that spearheaded this social project.
    We are a flood-prone nation, so in rural Bangladesh, most people build their homes out of tin, instead of mud. About 70% of Bangladesh's population lives in these homes. But the problem with these tin huts is that they get unbearably hot in the summer, especially in northern and central Bangladesh. I’ve been in these huts. It’s like being in a sauna in the Sahara. One of our creative supervisors, Ashis Paul, started thinking about ways to bring relief to these people. He was turning it over in his mind when one day, he overheard his daughter’s physics tutor explaining to her how gas cools when it expands quickly. Ashis has an ""inventor"" mentality and he’s always been fascinated by science. So, he started experimenting. He told us about his idea of making an air-conditioner out of plastic bottles. The simplicity of the Eco-Cooler is incredible.
    Ashis Paul designed the Eco cooler. How to Make an Eco-Cooler
    To make an Eco-Cooler, you cut plastic bottles in half and then mount them on a board.
    Then, you place the board over a window, with the bottlenecks facing towards the inside of the house.
    The change in pressure that occurs when air enters the wider part of the bottle and comes out through the bottleneck cools the air. It seems uncanny, but the principle is simple. Blow on your hand with your mouth wide open. The air feels hot, doesn’t it? Now, blow on your hand with your lips pursed. It feels like a cool breeze. The Eco-Cooler doesn’t require any electricity to function! https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPuh8IFbIzQ
    ""We finalised it just as the weather was getting hot"" The Eco-Cooler can decrease the temperature by 5°C immediately. When it goes from 30°C to 25°C, I can tell you that it makes a difference. The Grey group decided to take it on as a pro-bono project. We like to give back -- it’s core to our company. We decided to make and distribute these units for free. We designed the first prototype in March last year and finally finalised it at the end of February this year. That’s just when the weather starts getting hot in Bangladesh. “The streets here are littered with bottles, so the raw materials are easy to find” To distribute the Eco-Coolers, we teamed up with Grameen Intel Social Business Ltd. because they work in a lot of villages in Bangladesh [Editor’s note: Grameen Intel is social business platform that’s a partnership between NGO Grameen and the company Intel]. We sent our teams out to the villages where Grameen Intel works to teach people how to make our Eco-Coolers.
    The beauty of it all is how easy these units are to make. First of all, the raw materials are easy to find: people don’t recycle here, so the streets are littered with bottles. We show people how to make them and then ask them to both do it on their own and to teach others. We also made a how-to pdf that’s up on our website and includes an easy step-by-step process. It’s free and people get immediate results!
    " 2,33760,2016-07-11T23:25:41.000Z,33744,anon477123739,anon3708118144,"Amazing This is a fantastic and fascinating story. I've already suggested this as a possible build project to help support people living in refugee shelters in Europe. I hope that we could find a way to implement it during the summer months. " 3,33790,2016-07-12T08:59:11.000Z,33744,anon2223306613,anon3708118144,"Thank you for sharing this wonderful and useful story! I honestly think this is a very interesting and practical idea. The ones involved in this activity didn’t only help those people be more comfortable with the weather conditions from there. You helped the environment too. (Now I’m thinking about the long time that it takes for plastics to biodegrade – such a well-known problem.) You basically killed two birds with one stone. I think this is the kind of initiative we all need to solve the problems around us. So happy for this! Well done! Also, are you planning to extend this project into other countries or regions? Do you have the resources? I’m very curious. " 4,33799,2016-07-12T10:56:39.000Z,33790,anon1491650132,anon2223306613,"Well, the founder is not here on the website ..but maanon1932026148 @anon " 5,33804,2016-07-13T16:46:40.000Z,33744,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Here is the scoop, from what I read... The initiative was taken over from the founder and a few volunteers from the Grey Dhaka group who took it on a pro bono project. Then teamed up with Grammen Intel to help teach the community to make them. Treating it as a human project rather than a copyright corporate idea. @anon " 6,33810,2016-07-14T10:31:31.000Z,33804,anon1526983854,anon3708118144,"Indeed a great story! ""A human project, rather than a corporate one."" Herein might lie one of they keys to open care. @anon " 1,704,2016-07-02T12:56:36.000Z,704,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"Besides the food, there is a whole chunk of attention devoted solely to climate change. As @anon Pavlos is involved with climatetracker.org, an international team of young writers and quite possibly the biggest environmental youth movement of people from all around the world. These are decentralized and nonhierarchical groups led by activists in the Carribean, Europe, Latin America. They cover events in UN or COPs but also do investigative journalism on a local scale. Their work unmasks lobbies and harmful practices and has been published in key media across the globe. They also organize webinars and campaigns and often encourage writers to concentrate on a certain issue in a given period of time.  And Pavlos has an idea. Greece can become a hotspot of international dialogue on sustainability and resilience. As the country struggles with, as Pavlos has beautifully put it, ""restoring the zombie economy"", it innovates and experiments along the way. The social innovation and solidarity, however highly spontaneous and uncoordinated, are the backbone for the change. What would be necessary now is to organize those in collaboration with the right minds from all over the world in order to use the whole potential of this change and build a national economy that is regenerative and sustainable?  Even though Greek politicians and intellectuals in many cases seem stuck decades ago and their resistance to change is huge, what's happening around proves its inescapable. Pavlos thinks the best for them would be to funnel the energy into protecting marginalized groups, including the refugees, to lower their costs of transition.  The Greek crisis has a side that not many people talk about - how would paying back the debt affects its environment. Pavlos believes paying off the money lent from the international institutions would create a huge ecological debt in terms of lack of sustainable land use and waste management.  Now, as the demos has been neglected and their voice hijacked during the last referendum, it's time to accept, at least tolerate, widespread civil disobedience that will drive the movement. 62% that disagreed has been silent so far, but it will have to speak soon. Even more, what seems to be an alternative idea, is not alternative anymore there - it's the only way out. Greece is exploring the open data tools and sharing knowledge, prototyanon3606750899g new was of accountability, transparency, decision making. And here the health and care appear again. Pavlos has seen plenty of interesting and viable practices and conclusions forming from the bottom-up, grassroots practice in Greece. These are the ways in which delivering health care has changed, in which social organization has challenged the systemic shortcomings. From those experiments and pieces emerges a complex, wide image of more inclusive future. It is built on the exchange of ideas and practices in an open manner. It rethinks the way we deliver care in a more decentralized way, more concentrated on prevention. It reframes urban food systems by educating people on the impact of what they eat on their health. Contemporary lifestyle jeopardizes 50 years of development in the health sector - food related diseases, new viruses, climate change, they all have a huge, negative impact on the quality of our lives. Technology and science, accompanied by open data and sharing, can prevent disastrous effects of those phenomena.  Finally, I asked how would he explain his entrepreneurial path to those opposing the market? He said a couple of things I find hilarious and worth considering. First of all, that activism is for city people - while he wanted to go back to his olive groves and do the farm life. Secondly, there is a dire need of changing the way people do business - in a sustainable way, with respect to diversity, with a different concept of what's valuable. It's not the price of land and potential golf courses, not the cheap fast forest. Thirdly, doing things like bread plates is not a rocket science - but if successful it points towards effective and regenerative entrepreneurship. Therefore, an entrepreneur doing such kind of work realizes the visions of an activist - by actually convincing a chain of restaurants to deliver local, better coffee or beer, by cutting off the middlemen. It means millions of people affected in a positive way. It takes a solid ethical concept and guts to take risks, but it pays off in many ways. And it fills the unemployment gap, which wastes the potential of a whole generation now. Interacting with the system is the way for Pavlos. And I really like the fact he's not used to failing.  You can read the first part of the article here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/transforming-food-systems-in-post-crisis-greece-conversation-with " 3,11826,2016-07-04T09:18:00.000Z,9577,anon3325826017,,"Greece is working out a Plan C for Europe. Definitely! There are several documentary crews coming over to Greece in the last 1.5 years with some really great questions. Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0KNbKvYn5w And here is my documentary ""Farming on Crisis?"" (2012), which shares the stories of young people returning to the land, in seek of ways out of unemployment. I do believe that in the context of \#Brexit, there are several interesting lessons to be learned from the social solutions prototyped by communities in Greece, what I like to call the ""Plan C"". Producing a positive, thoughtful documentary film for the transition process happening in Greece is an idea I am very keen in discussing further. " 4,12319,2016-07-13T15:03:24.000Z,11826,anon1491650132,anon3325826017,"Are the young agriculturers from two yrs ago still up& running? Thanks for sharing your short doc @anon " 5,16610,2016-07-05T08:22:16.000Z,704,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"But health care? @anon Pavlos has seen plenty of interesting and viable practices and conclusions forming from the bottom-up, grassroots practice in Greece. Can you say more about these practices? I, for one, would be interested.  " 1,513,2016-07-08T23:07:40.000Z,513,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"Where: Portugal Year: 2013 Who:BITalino - Hugo Silvia is one of the leaders BITalino is a low-cost modular body signal sensor kit that makes people able to learn and rapidly create wearables, quantified self apps, or biomedical devices. It enables anyone to create quirky and serious projects alike for wearable health tracking devices. The base kit includes sensors to measure your muscles, heart, nervous system, motion, and ambient light—and it includes a microcontroller, Bluetooth, power management module, and all the accessories needed to start working.   How is it open?  
    • BITalino is based on the Arduino open-source hardware platform but BITalino schematics are not available online and some parts of the documentation are copyrighted. The software is released under GNU
    • Anyone can clone and fork the software
    • The software is free while the hardware is sold on their website and other distributors: there are available different kind of toolkits, such as: Board Kit (149€), Freestyle Kit (159€), Plugged Kit (169€) and OpenSignals (free).
    • The kit, which costs €149 (£125), includes a set of physiological sensors that can easily detect bio-signals, and software that enables the user to visualise and record data. Usually, bio-signal-acquisition technologies cost about €10,000-15,000
    • The data is local
    • It is not clear whether a specific community was involved in the design process or not
      How is it “care”?  
    • It doesn’t solve a specific medical or social issue, but it allows users to build a do-it-yourself system to capture human physiology. It is designed for everyone, it's for students, teachers, makers, artists, researchers, corporate R&D because no electrical skills are required.
    Link: http://www.bitalino.com   " 2,7141,2016-07-09T18:51:43.000Z,513,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"Cool! What's the source? Hello Moushira, this looks really interesting. Where did you find it? Did you actually talk to Hugo or others in his team?  I ak because, in order to process this information into an ethnography, it is important to assess who is the source (the ""informant"", as ethnographers say), and how far removed he or she is from written text. More information is in our Data strategy. Especially p. 10-11 contain data quality-enhancing advice for cases in which the informant can't or won't themselves write their own story.  " 1,5758,2016-07-07T12:01:39.000Z,5758,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"We are trying out a new format for the community calls where each Monday, two or three people introduce us to their work, while others are documenting and uploading the content online after. This makes sharing online more low efffort, especially for those who find it easier to talk than to write :-) 

    First up: Meet Franca Locati!

    @anon Come meet Franca and \#askmeanything :-D How to join? Let us know in a comment below if you are coming or if you too are up for sharing your story.  The call happens online, at https://meet.jit.si/opencare (no need to log in, just click and you're in!) Where does it go? On your OpenCarer profile uploaded as a story from which the community can learn from. It will contain: Your Name   |  Twitterhandle  |  Project URL  | Photo  | Text describing your initiative/challenge, what you are doing next and a call for action from the reader. What do you get out of it: ! Your story makes you immediately eligible for OP3N FELLOWSHIPS ! Your story and your call to action makes it to the daily headlines we're sharing with the network - more exposure, more help for your work. ! Your story puts you on the OpenCare map and turns you into a full fledged community member, eligible for Caring On The Edge community event, 2017 See you Monday! Date: 2016-07-11 17:30:00 - 2016-07-11 17:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 2,6985,2016-07-08T16:41:00.000Z,5758,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Community call with Franca about refugee language learning This might be of interest to @anon " 1,5743,2016-07-01T11:12:20.000Z,5743,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    Monday's 4:30 PM CET call is dedicated to organizing a tour to discover care stories and protagonists!

    OpenCare is a global effort to bring together the many, less heard voices of caregivers and caretakers. It started in the beginning of 2016, and now over 100 brilliant people joined from all over, people who contribute to fixing things that are broken: hostility to migrants, European welfare, closed healthcare systems, and more. We meet online and engage with our personal stories, but mostly we are humans and would enjoy real life support and smiles too.. just look back at where we kickstarted this!

    Op3n Meetups Adventure is where we make it easier for people all over to contribute to a global care debate, share their story and pool together experiences to discover solutions.

    When is it happening? Between July - September. Where is it happening? All over Europe and beyond. Op3n Meetups are for:
    • People with an idea, story, technology or proposal about community care
    • People who wish to understand and join OpenCare, but can’t or won’t do so on the website
    • Facilitators and conveners who like to brain ache around big issues in cosy gatherings
    Where does it all go? We will collectively build a bid for 100 Million USD to fix the care crisis! See MacArthur Foundation’s call for projects at 100andChange.org (more about this in a few days). What’s the plan? In our next community call on Monday 4 PM CET we look at where we can go, who can drive this and what resources are available! Leave a comment with what you are interested in and we’ll discuss it on Monday. Everyone and anyone is welcome to join, we’re meeting here: https://meet.jit.si/opencare Date: 2016-07-04 17:30:00 - 2016-07-04 17:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 2,9526,2016-07-02T11:56:00.000Z,5743,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Some resources for local op3n meetups As we think about Op3n Meetups formats, here are two to consider: 1) Action oriented workshops - FeedForward methodology which we can apply by selecting snippets of stories from the online community and connect them with stakeholders in our cities. 2) Co-design workshops - the WeMake model documented in the opencare playbook - section How Can I Make a Workshop Happen? (thx @anon " 3,16308,2016-07-04T11:44:57.000Z,5743,anon317670948,anon1491650132,"connection problems.. Dear @anon Iwould like to join the call but I cannot open the link https://meet.jit.si/opencare. Is it normal? You can open the link only some minutes before? I'm working from a pc od the City of Milan and so maanon1932026148 we can have some problems.. Could you help me? Thanks! :) Franca " 4,17891,2016-07-04T11:53:28.000Z,16308,anon1491650132,anon317670948,"It works for me.. Keep trying and try also google hangouts. If the latter works we'll move there, just to make sure you can join :) " 5,21237,2016-07-04T12:01:06.000Z,5743,anon317670948,anon1491650132,"Thanks @anon The page says ""access denied. 403 error""... :( but ok for Hangouts see you late! " 6,24483,2016-07-04T14:26:48.000Z,5743,anon317670948,anon1491650132,"@anon " 7,26137,2016-07-04T14:56:41.000Z,5743,anon317670948,anon1491650132,"@anon I asked every kind of burocratical permission ... I hope to be able for the next time... sorry! :(( " 9,28487,2016-07-07T09:28:29.000Z,27886,anon1491650132,,"We talked about where Op3n Meetups fit in the engagement efforts Hi @anon With @anon Now: we have a basic Engagement strategy based on our project proposal. You can read it here (it's very short and mainly to guide partners efforts). Where we are having difficulties is in implementing it - due to some technicalities with the funder and our own challenges to coordinate all efforts and support the OpenCare conversation, which is the researh engine of the entire project (we are mandated to drive ""collective intelligence"" around community driven care solutions). A lot of this is detailed issues.. not sure if this is the place for what could also be boring stuff for people not involved in the operational side of opencare. What would be great as an actionable for me is to convene key stories to be told in the community calls and report on those with minimum effort online. We need to make it easier and cheap for people to share stories. So how about in the next community call we start with ourselves? Tiago, for you this is a quick way of fixing the time gap of your being away from ER :-) " 11,29564,2016-07-07T12:06:14.000Z,29134,anon1491650132,,"More like your story Basically an update of what you have been doing over the past years, to make it more cost effective for you to get back on track. Someone will document and post it online straight away, without you needing to make too much effort. That way it's easier to find opportunities for you in OpenCare - right now I have no idea what your aspirations are related to care and communities (broadly understood). Sharing key stories could also be interesting, don't let me stop you. Let me know eventually if you will make it on Monday, I created a new event with the same link as las time: https://meet.jit.si/opencare    " 12,30000,2016-07-07T20:24:46.000Z,5743,anon317670948,anon1491650132,"Welcome door @anon It seems to me a great idea. Maanon1932026148 the community call could be like a “Welcome door” for the platform. In effect in these last days I read a lot of different stuff on the platform, different topics, a lot of comments, of comments… So it could take a little bit of time to understand where and how to contribute. So if, at the end of the call, every one that is newcomer could have this link, this first post, he could start to write from there. Less confusing and more effective! Let’s try! ;) " 1,677,2016-05-08T22:52:37.000Z,677,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"Long before I was finally diagnosed with depression 1 year ago, I struggled with intense feelings of stress and self-loathing, feelings that were overwhelming me, because I could not really understand what and why I was experiencing. I consider myself privileged to be born into a comfortable middle class life, to have a supportive family and friends, no academic problems. In theory, I was supposed to be happy. So why was I feeling so paralysed and helpless? Considering there are so many people who have it much worse than me, feeling sad seemed irrational, unjustified and shameful. Everyone around me seemed to manage just fine, effortlessly juggling scholastic and social expectations. So I thought it must be my fault that I was barely holding it together. I was ashamed to admit that I was struggling and ask for help. When I finally gathered enough courage to talk openly about my problems with my friends and family members, I was stunned how much it resonated. Once I had shared my troubles, many of them would admit some of their own. These were people that I had known for more than 10 years, people that I thought I knew inside out, suddenly telling me about insecurities of theirs that I never even suspected them to have. Such moments of connection were a very special experience. However, at times it was also exhilarating. It's not easy for either party. Opening up, even to the people I trust most, took a great deal of mental effort. Then, I didn’t know how to properly express what I felt. And they didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what kind of reaction I was hoanon3606750899g for. I didn’t want to burden or worry anyone. How often did I find myself alone in my room bawling my eyes out, finally calling my mother or my best friend, just to hang up 5 minutes later even more frustrated and miserable and guilty than before. They were only trying to help me to the best of their abilities, but somehow all well-meant compliments and advice only made me feel worse. I didn’t think they could truly understand me and it was so difficult to communicate what I wanted to say, when I didn't even really know what that was myself. When they tried to relate their own experiences to mine, it felt like they were comparing a broken arm to a papercut. When they were trying to give me tips on health and well-being, it felt patronizing, as if I didn’t know and try that already. This was nothing that doing a round of Yoga or 8 hours of sleep or being more social could simply ‘fix’. Just thinking such things added to my guilt and shame, because it was like I was taking their attempts of help for granted. Devils circle. What helped me most in the end wasn’t necessarily talking about anything in those situations. Discussing these things with a neutral person such as a therapist was a much better framework for me to sort out my thoughts without the added complications of emotional attachment. The greatest help for me was just someone being there and giving me a hug. Telling me that they know it sucks and just sharing a little bit of the suckiness in that moment. EDIT: How do you deal with emotional issues? In what situations do you share your thoughts with others? How does this make you feel? What might prevent you from seeking support?  " 2,7523,2016-05-10T08:34:30.000Z,677,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"You're really lucky When I started reading your story I was already hearing the usual remarks people give - you know the worst thing to tell to someone who is depressed is ""pull yourself together""; or ""you have everything to be happy"". Yet it seems your close friends and family did find a way to reach out, however ineffective or patronising, as any advice can be after all, which is not to blame. What made you share this, @anon " 3,11003,2016-05-10T09:17:42.000Z,7523,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi,  thanks for getting back to me. I definitively consider myself lucky and realize that I have a very strong support system. The thing that struck me was that even in my comparatively 'good' situation, it was so difficult for me to communicate my feelings. For me, this was a huge added pressure and kept me from getting help for a long time. In our project group, we are investigating how young people, particularly in creative professions/fields of study, deal with issues of mental well-being, who they share their feelings with, or why they don't.  As we are still in the research phase, I actually wanted to stay away from thinking of a very specific solution already. There is a similar site called emotionalbaggagecheck.com, where you can either submit your thoughts anonymously or help someone who submitted a text by sharing a song and some kind words. The platform I was thinking of was more an idea of improving the communication between affected people, so that there is a lower threshold of reaching out for support when you feel bad. I was hoanon3606750899g to hear what experiences other people have had, what sort of stressors they struggle with and how they handle this. This doesn't have to be a 'full-blown' mental illness, but any thing that has weighed on them emotionally.  This was related to @anon " 4,12389,2016-05-10T19:55:00.000Z,11003,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Wording issues. This doesn't have to be a 'full-blown' mental illness, but any thing that has weighed on them emotionally.  @anon Guys, next Monday we are hosting an online conversation about emotional care, feel free to join in at 4:30 PM. PS Pauline I loved emotionalbaggagecheck.com, what a sweet project! thanks for sharing it. " 5,12885,2016-05-13T12:38:55.000Z,12389,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Emotional Health I think the wording is a good point. Mental health to me still carries very strong connotations that makes it an intimidating issue to deal with. It's very interesting to see what kind of care and support structures are available out there, how they are perceived and what causes what kind of people to approach them (or not). The note you made about it being easier to share something anonymously is also something we'll keep in mind and explore further. I'm looking forward to the online discussion on Monday, thank you for setting it up! " 6,13011,2016-07-07T11:19:13.000Z,12885,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Found it! Why strangers are better healers. re: my observation above. I was just listening to one of my favourite podcasts Invisibilia, and their latest episode talks about mental health patients and alternatives to failing recovery systems all over the world. Like some here already intuit, meaningful help can come from supportive community environments (interesting examples from a town in Belgium called Geel where families host ""patients"" for decades!, or housing sites in NYC with 40% mentally ill people living among the others). A key takeaway for me personally is this: in a lot of cases what breaks how we think about mental illness is the belief that it needs to be fixed, that patients need to go back to some initial state of wellbeing; families, through proximity and attachment, are most prone to exemplify this in the daily lives of someone recovering after treatment - through a way of expressing emotions like 1) criticism 2) hostility 3) emotional overinvolvement. The mechanisms seem complex (can be subtleties, or just body language..), but it turns out that all 3 point to how difficult it is for family to accept and empathize, and only load too much pressure on the person in question. Strangers, on the other hand, do not really care THAT much and can be better healers because they ""don't see you as a bundle of problems that need to be fixed"".  But: they do become kind of like a second family, so not complete strangers after all. I looked up some of the original studies attesting psychocultural effects on mental recovery - pdf here. Highly recommended.   " 7,15782,2016-05-13T19:33:52.000Z,677,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"Long waiting periods for getting help One important point I forgot to stress: actually getting help took long. Admitting to myself and to my friends that I had a problem took a great deal of energy, but nothing compared to the procedure that dragged on for months before I was able to get treatment. As a first contact, the university counsellor was a good help. However, the number of appointments one can have with them is very limited. Getting a place in therapy is difficult. There are annoying regulations in order to get the insurance to cover it. I had to be rejected at 10 different therapists until I found someone who still had a space. I was lucky that we were a good match, but others search for a long time until they find someone they feel comfortable with. I saw a doctor too, which did some tests to see that there are no physical causes to my symptoms. And then some more tests. And of course, appointments were only to be had 6 weeks in advance. The same went for seeing a psychiatrist about medication.  When you are depressed and little things like getting out of bed take you a seemingly impossible amount of energy, this effort is incredibly draining and frustrating. It seems like an insurmountable pile of hoops to jump through. There is this turning point where you decide that something needs to happen, that you need some kind of help now, because you don't know what to do anymore, and then you are told that the next possible appointment is in 8 weeks.  What am I going to do until then? Is it possible to somehow improve this process? What kinds of other temporary support structures might there be that could help people in distress?    " 1,702,2016-07-01T12:20:54.000Z,702,anon1061021150,anon1061021150,"It was a long, very interesting talk with Pavlos. We started with the reason why our meeting was delayed - and that was the first narrative of care I found in this hour-long discussion. The reason was food, or to be more precise - Maiolica, a new restaurant in Sifnos. Georgiadis has been involved with his company ""We Deliver Taste"" (http://wedelivertaste.com) in consulting the place, crafting the menu, making it local, affordable, Mediterranean. Their consultancy for food businesses connects small producers from all over Greece, trying to change the hospitality landscape in the country. Part of the idea is to tell people about the ingredients, the element of storytelling, which changes customers' relations to the product, and the gastro-landscape of the country. Pavlos is an ethnobotanist and for 12 years he devoted his career to science, researching for his Ph.D. in Thailand and China. He left this path four years ago to invest time and energy in agrifood and environment - the brainchild of this transition is We Deliver Taste, a company that investigates the food system, from seed to stomach, in which he was joined by two Italians and a Czech. They are not only interested in the processes that bring the food to our tables, but also in the cultures surrounding it, especially the Mediterranean dining customs and love for good food. In one of the side projects, funded by Horizon 2020, they're also concentrating on reforming the digital aspect of the food business by preparing pilot, open data systems, tools and applications that will make the path from the farmer to the customer/industry (hospitals, hotels) more clear, while at the same time keeanon3606750899g people informed and educated about the content of their plate.  By this multilayered, multifaceted enterprise Pavlos wants to change the paradigm. He believes that if the way we think about the time and space of food, meaning the time spent on preparation, growth, the human experience of food, it will have an impact on climate resilience, climate justice, biodiversity, water and soil conservation and will boost regenerative economies in rural areas.  Pavlos targets people in their 50-ties and 60-ties, those who have access to power and money, and believes that educating and informing them is crucial to driving the change. He consciously chose to become part of the market, be open for collaboration with government, and get involved with huge public procurement systems because he thinks demonizing the market is wrong. And because there is a dire need for change there. After years of scaling and working for their position, We Deliver Taste are now in serious talks with important actors.  On a smaller scale, there is an idea of creating an edible dish which could be used in the refugee camps. It's not that the idea is brand new, there are some Indian startups that have crowdfunded and done it already - but it's that importing such a product would be counterproductive. Instead, Pavlos wants to recreate the whole system necessary for producing such a dish - an industrial designer who'd made the moulds, a baker, ideally struggling to survive in the market, a flour producer, etc.  He also dreams of a website that would accompany this project. One could see there how much profit it created for the parties involved, work saved on waste management and how many refugees it catered. Besides, he wants to create a crowdfunding campaign to donate money to biodegradable plastic producers in Italy, who'd, later on, provide their product to the refugee camps in Greece. The stake is huge - 60.000 refugees, 2 meals a day, which makes a 100.000 dishes a day, and it will happen for years as maanon1932026148 even a half of them will stay in Greece for longer. That would fix the existing problem of waste and even produce compost in large communal digestors to feed the organic agriculture and parks.  ""We have to enter this market fast and with confidence right now. There is not much time for discussions - it's somehow already too late"".    The second part of the discussion coming briefly.  " 2,9542,2016-07-02T13:03:08.000Z,702,anon1491650132,anon1061021150,"""demonizing the market is wrong"" :-) Lovely to meet you @anon I look forward to reading more, as Natalia is now paiting us a picture of you doing consultancy in an ambitious way that incorporates incentive systems - targetting those with ""access to power and money"". That seems different from the other approaches we heard about, for example foodsharing by intentional communities and building grassroots movements - see @anon   " 3,11817,2016-07-04T09:09:02.000Z,9542,anon3325826017,anon1491650132,"Provide a service for an Agora After researching and working for several years with small scale, artisanal farmers and grassroots communities (ie. Slow Food & ARC2020) our team at We Deliver Taste decided to bring a transformative process into the market, because it is the markets that need to change. Our vision is to bring more transparency and education in food supply chains and the market, thus empowering all actors involved to become real game players. New technologies and open data systems are proving to be really strong allies, allowing for more personalised service, more market awareness and more efficiency, without having to sacrifice the taste quality and cultural story of food and its territory, in the name of ""competitiveness"".  The producers we work with are the real actors at the bottom. If they provide us with the right tools to work (eg. good quality, nutritiouts ingredients), then we are able to pass them over to talented chefs, who become themselves storytellers of these foods and their territories. We believe that this is a trully bottom-up process, where we as supply chain managers become the facilitators of this process. Our clients (from small family businesses to large companies) like this approach very much, because they understand that from one side there is more public awareness, on the other there is no much skill in the market to support this transition. Maanon1932026148 it is true that we ""provide a service for a market"", but it is also true that we see the ""market"" as an ""Agora"" which is not anon2590712900y a space for economic transaction, but rather a place for participation and dialogue. Connecting conscious consumers with the stories of responsible producers is proving to be very strong. It just happens to sell well, too, so we as researchers don't necessarily have to find a job for a large multi-national agrifood company, but rather try to provide incentives for us, our clients/friends and make the system work for everyone. In terms of criteria for selecting producers, thay are not really imposed by us, but rather suggested by the principles of agroecology, organic farming, social enterprising, family enterprise, with know benefits to the food market, ""from seed to soil"". " 4,12163,2016-07-07T08:54:20.000Z,11817,anon1491650132,anon3325826017,"Agora for market. storytelling for brand development I asked about the work with producers because it's not obvious from your website - which looks more like a pitch to clients. Very interesting, this bridging. I think I understand it, thinking too at how Edgeryders the organisation interfaces with clients and community as a facilitator. You operate under a novel model that respects market principles, but at the same time innovates in rewiring dynamics between traditionally disconnected stakeholders. And if you guys know how to package the story of localized food and taste, well you surely must be already riding this new market.  " 6,17859,2016-07-04T09:09:52.000Z,16131,anon3325826017,,"From Seed to Soil Most agencies/companies/communities etc, use the rather industrial/reductionist term ""from farm to fork"", thus missing two important aspects: ""from seed to farm"" (eg. biodiversity) and from ""fork to stomach"" (eg. digestion/human health & nutrition""). I totally agree with the exciting proposal ""from seed to compost/soil"", as this would really close the loop (eg. recycling). When designing menu concepts at We Deliver Taste, we have an acute focus on human digestion. This doesn't only have to do with the quality and transformation of ingredients (ie. the way a pasta dries influences the survival of certain enzymes that are beneficial to digestion and energy conversion in our body cells), but also taking into account different physiogeographic elements that are related to the kitchen (ie. how does temperature of the type of water in a certain location affects digestion)? When talking about ""food waste"" we usually focus on poor post-harvesting technologies, market anomalies, food choices, etc. But what if we extended our view at the molecular level of our food consumption, for example, how do our food choices affect our organism's ability to digest and thus convert energy for moving our muscles and brains? Looking at the modern, industrialized food systems, the biggest food wastage happens inside our bodies. Prototyanon3606750899g in the physical/cultural/digital/logistical aspects of the food supply chain, bringing transparency and education in the food supply chain -both locally and internationally- is, in my oanon3606750899ion, a very, very potent tool in improving wider social/political problems. Maanon1932026148 because food occupies the largest share of the global economy, so any change has considerable impact. Or maanon1932026148 because people just connect! Once this happens, when cities start looking at their supply chains in terms of an ""urban metabolism"" (ie. energy/food going in and out) then we can start designing supply chains that connect the urban with the rural in equal terms. " 7,18141,2016-07-07T08:56:36.000Z,17859,anon1491650132,anon3325826017,"So the Edge of \#FoodWaste is molecular consumption. Brilliant! " 8,21169,2016-07-03T18:31:32.000Z,702,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Make or buy Wow, interesting. But here's what I don't understand (and hopefully @anon Pavlos wants to recreate the whole system necessary for producing such a dish - an industrial designer who'd made the moulds, a baker, ideally struggling to survive in the market, a flour producer, etc. Why do you think this is better than importing? If this is a value chain that can efficiently deliver the dish, a small (social) advantage can be had by locating it in Greece rather than India, but at the end of the day everybody else (Italians, Germans, Austrians...) would still be importing... from the company at the fountainhead of this value chain. Or is it a sort of  open system, with each camp using open source knowledge to make its own?  " 9,22269,2016-07-04T08:41:01.000Z,21169,anon3325826017,anon1526983854,"Make! I have written to the maker from India, who told me that after the huge publicity they got last month (due to a short video going viral in social media) they could not start discussing a possible collaboration until October. One thing it that we cannot really wait, when there is such a huge demand/need already now. The most important, though, is that what we're trying to set up here is a positive example of closing the production/consumption/(non) waste loop by connecting small local actors that represent the links of this chain. Hopefully this will inspire more communities to think likewise, so I would say that the focus is on process design rather than the final product. Additionally, there is certainly extra (environmental) benefit from making the product locally, instead of transporting it from India. This would also require an import company, possibly also huge bureocracy from outside the EU. The whole idea of monitoring all the metrics involved can also be views as a social experiment, in our effort to better understand the lean economics of regenerative systems. These plate offer a pretty good use case, in my oanon3606750899ion. " 10,22689,2016-07-04T14:57:23.000Z,22269,anon1526983854,anon3325826017,"Roger that I really sympathize with this approach @anon " 11,24566,2016-07-05T09:07:44.000Z,702,anon3595237380,anon1061021150,"that's the key i think 'By this multilayered, multifaceted enterprise @anon Really love this way of thinking. Getting back in contact with the producers is one of the joys i found myself having the last couple of months. But how do you scale that up? Where do you set the time to deliver the knowledge to a lot of people? how can you coordinate that?   " 12,25245,2016-07-05T10:47:58.000Z,24566,anon3325826017,anon3595237380,"How to scale up regenerative food systems? I think the key lies on addressing the full spectrum of subsystems that effect food supply chains: physical - cultural - digital - logistical. It will certainly help if you get public procurement (ie. in urban areas) into the game, since their supply chains can really have a huge impact. In the EU only, every day there are 10 million public meals are served for free (hospitals, schools, jails, etc.), all paid by taxpayers money. This makes a strong case for asking for more organic, more local, more healthy, more climate-friendly. Our cities are going through a transition, and the hope is that as generational renewal is happening in city councils, this change will becoming more apparent. " 1,5749,2016-07-04T12:58:34.000Z,5749,anon1941345029,anon1941345029,"

    Where we started 

    OpenCare is a very particular research for both its topic and its modality. It wants verify the potentialities of collective intelligence and of a radical open approach to the topic of care.  Coherently with that, the definition of precise research questions (and related methodologies) has not been given a priori, but will emerge steps by step from the same research-related activities (as opposed to what happens with the standard research methodologies). Given that (that, by the way, is what makes OpenCare so interesting for me), I think that the positive tension towards understanding  where we are and where we are gong should be continuous and should be monitored step by step. On the basis of this tension research questions should be progressively better defined considering: the general research question where we started form, the commitment with UE, the first  ideas that are  emerging and, last but not least, a better understanding of who we are and what are the knowledge, skills and experiences we can use. 

    Shared visions and languages

    On the basis of the discussion I think, that, at least for who expressed themselves (see later, item 5), we agreed on these points:  1. The open care systems is an ecosystems: an environment where, in its best conditions, different care-related entities can emerge, live and thrive. These entities are very diverse in nature. They can be: care encounters, networks of care, enabling systems, different kinds of infrastructures, policies, norms, norms, ... ).  An ecosystem cannot be designed but can be enriched introducing new caring entities (with the double goal of offering more opportunities for both the caregivers and the care receivers, and for incising its systemic resilince. 2. The OpenCare croup and community specificity is that we deal with open care ecosystems having a particular experience and credibility on issue related to ""collective intelligence and radical open approach application"" (and not of care issues per se).  Given that we should orient our community's discussion on topics that coudl be defined like that: which problems and the opportunities arise when ""collective intelligence and radical open approach"" are applied to and issue as ""care"". 3. Discussing about openness applied to care issues, we have two main dimensions:
    • the openness in the processes thanks to which enabling systems (i.e the enabling products, services, places, infrastructures) are designed and realized
    • the openness of care-related services in use (i.e. the openness of the network of care created around the delivery of a service).
    Both these dimensions are important and could be considered separately. Nevertheless, it could also be very interesting to consider the interactions between the two.  4. Given what has been said in the point 2. and 3. an emerging research question could be: How and how much the openness of a design and production process influences the openness of service delivery. And vice versa.  Hopefully, other research questions, similar in nature to this one, will emerge. 5. In my view, the workshop participants who express themselves should agree with these 4 previous assumptions: can we ask them? The problem is that, at least half of the participants did not  openly expressed themselves. And this seems to me a bad signal. What ca we do to stimualte their oanon3606750899ion? " 2,9933,2016-07-04T13:04:18.000Z,5749,anon1526983854,anon1941345029,"Yes! I agree, @anon " 1,5721,2016-06-15T09:21:42.000Z,5721,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"The OpenCare project has already collected incredible, humbling stories of community-driven care. We expect more, many more, to be rolling in in the coming months. But here's the catch: these stories are extremely diverse. They all do have some vague resemblance, but it is surprisingly hard to come up with a clear set of criteria to parse what is open care from what is not. For most people, open care seems to be like pornography: easy to recognize, but hard to define. This workshop attempts to shine some light on the matter, helanon3606750899g the OpenCare team and community converge on a shared vision of just what it is that we are studying.

    Practical information

    The workshop is led by @anon Location: Stockholm School of Economics, Sveavägen 65 113 83

    How to prepare

    1. Read this, the minimal viable common ground.
    2. Choose one of the stories of care already accrued to OpenCare, and prepare to tell other participants why you think this is a story of open care. The ""care"" part is generally fairly obvious, so it comes down to saying what makes these initiatives open. You can find many stories and the conversations around them here and here. 
    3. More detailed instructions on how to prepare – including a detailed agenda – are here. 
    4. A background paper by Ezio. This expands on the post referred to in item 1 of this list. It is a short read, highly recommended. 
    Looking forward to this!  @anon Date: 2016-06-22 09:00:00 - 2016-06-22 11:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 2,10468,2016-06-15T11:31:05.000Z,5721,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Location and time I'm in and looking forward to it. Added the location in the event text and NB: time is 9 - 11 30 CET. Our site timezones don't work.. (for some reason on my screen I see 8 00 -10 30 CET). Sharing here for the meeting purposes some stories for people to read, just in case you don't know how to choose: " 3,14041,2016-06-16T13:25:28.000Z,5721,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"And my favourite OpenCare story is... I have decided to put here my ""homework"".  My favourite OpenCare story is still the first one: Greece's shadow health care system. I see a strong similiarity with the cytostatic network story in Romania, though I know less of it.  No point discussing why these are care stories, that's self-evident. It makes more sense to discuss why they are open.
    1. They are open in the trivial sense that they are not constructed on intellectual property rights.
    2. They are open in the sense that people can freely decide to step in and become a part of it. There is not even a real vetting process: the Helliniko clinic works by asking people to volunteer for a group, so that which individuals are paired with which group is driven by self selection. As for the cytostatic network, I guess that came down to people phoning up and saying ""hey, I'm flying to Bucharest next week, do you want me to carry anything?"". Implication: the people who are most likely to step in are the people who themselves need to use the system. The community serves itself.
    3. They are open in the sense that coordination and management processes are relatively fluid. People coordinate using minimal tech and whatever works (Google Groups in the case of Helliniko). This is in stark contrast to, for example, Airbnb or Uber, where every user and every provider interact in exactly the same ways, and these ways are encoded in the affordances of the respective platforms.
    4. Maanon1932026148 they are also open in the sense that the range of what gets done (or doesn't) is not written in stone, but emerges as a function of opportunity, motivation of people on the ground and perceived need. For example, Helliniko does not do the same things a hospital does: it does not do surgery, and it has no beds – it does less than hospitals here, because covering this need would increase complexity by an order of magnitude. Neither does it do first aid, because Greeks have a right to first aid even if they are long-term unemployed. On the other hand, Helliniko hands out free pharmaceuticals and even non-medical stuff like baby formula or food for (poor) people with food intolerances. So they do more than hospitals here. 
    When all is said and done, everything in these stories is constantly renegotiated: the means, the teams, the actions. Except one thing: the people being served. In the Helliniko story, this is the local folks who have lost access to public health care. In the cytostatic network, it's cancer patients and their families, who cannot get hold of certain pharmaceuticals. The service is built around their needs.  Finally: these two stories are exemplar also in the sense that they can use small contibutions, like Wikipedia (as argued here). You can help Helliniko even just putting word out on social media when the clinic needs a certain medicine, or the cytostatic network just by puntting a couple of boxes of medicines into your suitcase when flying to Romania. This does not make them more open, but it does make them better at taking advantage of being open.  " 4,19907,2016-06-18T16:24:29.000Z,5721,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Glitch... Also anon3606750899g: @anon @anon @anon2774142051 " 5,23683,2016-06-22T16:58:16.000Z,5721,anon3914374234,anon1526983854,"Open + Care with Ezio Manzini and online conversation Personally, but also from the point of view of the institution which I represent in the Opencare consortium (City of Milano), I feel I have not yet found the right ""levers"" to push people on the platform.  I'm also aware that for this reason we (City of Milan) risk to lose the opportunity to be effective in enriching the online conversation. We tried to do that, through reporting on offline activities, but maanon1932026148 this is not the best way (too indirect and ""scholastic""). The fellowships could work well, but maanon1932026148 we need also different tools, which are capable to affect the quantity and quality of the interactions. As we said this morning, one possibility could be to formulate more precise questions, focusing on different ""axes""/actions of OpenCare project. This could maanon1932026148 help us to “attract” people interested/competent in some specific area of our research/action and catalyse interactions and mutual learning. Does it make sense? Did you take any decision at the end of the workshop? Each partner has its own perspective and one of the challenging aspects of the project is “multiplicity in unit”, as Alberto wrote some days ago. For this I am trying to imagine how we could better position the perspective of each of us within the common frame of OpenCare. If I look at the ""local activities"" we have developed in Milan during the previous month I would start from these points: - What could be the added value of adopting a “maker/fablab” approach to “reframe” care systems pushing this kind of tools/skills/places into “community-driven” care systems? - Which role can play the public actor? - Which are the favorable conditions (context, type of communities, types of problem/demand of care…) in which this approach can be helpful and generative of innovation? - Other…. In my oanon3606750899ion, and adopting the perspective of Ezio Manzini (networks of care), the “fablab concept/approach” that we are following in the “milanese pilot” (which intersects care; skills/education (learning by doing); sustainable development, and surely other things…) could be one of the strategic assets within a broader ecosystem where more actors are included and play different roles (citizens as care recipients and care-givers, administrations, public health institutions and professionals, no profit organization and so on…). Following this argument, the “artefacts/services/devices” that WeMake will prototype at the end of the co-design sessions are not the final result of the process. In my mind final results (to be evaluated) are related to the questions listed above. “Communities” (and here I have in mind: something that is not “families”, not individuals, but people linked by a common interest/purpose; so I would say ""elective comunities"") are the propulsive force and nodes of the ecosystem. People act together as they are moved by a common challenge (not “need” if you don’t like the term) which is not answered by traditional/closed systems. Platforms (not only digital, but maanon1932026148 also physical) could help to organize and improve the ecosystem (I’ll come back to this point using the example of “Welfare di tutti” in Milan).   Thanks to Ezio and to all of you for the challenging discussion! ...and sorry for the amount of errors that you will find in this text. I'm going from one plane to another and I have no time for check :-) Rossana " 6,25058,2016-06-29T11:59:00.000Z,23683,anon1491650132,anon3914374234,"Completely agree with you, Rossana! Following this argument, the “artefacts/services/devices” that WeMake will prototype at the end of the co-design sessions are not the final result of the process. In my mind final results (to be evaluated) are related to the questions listed above. @anon  1) trust to get answers to these questions when the ethno/ network analysis is done - based on the stories of care that already mention intersections with regulatory systems: Examples ""You hear a lot about precarious funding, internal or outside conflicts, political and economic pressure, multitasking, impossible workloads, competition between projects. At the same time, dealing with complex and often rigid political and social institutions, community activists have to become self-trained experts in finances, public relations, lobbying, community-organizing etc. But these fights are long and complex and the institutions and their procedures require a patience that easily outlive the time, the physical and mental resources individuals and grassroots initiatives are able to mobilize."" (Prinzessinnengarten, Berlin). Or ​working on a donation basis was my nod to being a non-commercial entity, which (as far as I know) means the clinic is not subject to licensing - similarly to people who volunteer in hospices, addiction recovery centres etc. I am conflicted on this - on the one hand, I recognise that some degree of regulation of healthcare is probably desirable to avoid malpractice and protect patients (Acupuncture clinic in Mortdoor, UK) 2) Launch a Challenge specifically on your question: What role for public actors to reframe care systems? Have a look at the 4 challenges so far and let's work on a new one? It can be a description of Welfare di tutti and challenges you have. That would inspire others to open up too. I had a conversation with someone in Milano a few days ago working in healthcare and they were skeptical of sharing issues online because of damaging reputation. Setting a good example would go a loong way and inspire people to be open and constructive!  Once the brief intro story is online, we can join forces to reach out specifically to administrations. You could run an internal process in which you ask people to send theirs by email and we upload them in accounts created with their emails and a username they choose. This way you don't ask them to come online from the beginning and come across a scary or weird platform?  Let me know, I made the same offer to WeMake team a while ago but no brief... I also asked everyone in the team to share their personal stories of care and use them for engagement instead of linking to opencare.cc or generic pages.. Basically if we want conversations around something we need to start them and set the example.  Sorry for the rant :-) " 7,25794,2016-06-30T10:54:03.000Z,23683,anon1526983854,anon3914374234,"How to formulate a challenge In our experience, addressing communities works best when you ask them to share stories: experiential data. Asking for oanon3606750899ions or points of view is a bad idea. You get low quality information: half-baked abstractions, ideology, prejudice... we all are most interesting when we share things we have experienced directly. Experience is rich in content and deeply embedded in context. Looking at similar experiences (for example: being hospitalized) from many different points of view drives the ""collective"" in collective intelligence: the different experiences will combine into a community-validated point of view (for example, it becomes easy to recognize a single experience as an outlier if everyone else had a different experience on something).  Consider the following question, taken by @anon What could be the added value of adopting a “maker/fablab” approach to “reframe” care systems pushing this kind of tools/skills/places into “community-driven” care systems? This is not the kind of question you can directly ask a community. People will immediately go into wishful thinking mode: ""we should.."" (""bisognerebbe..."") and design irrealistic and broken systems that no one can implement. Individual citizens are not especially good at systems design. They are good at data processing. I have explained this at length in my book. You need to ask indirectly, in a way that encourages them to tap into their experience. The equivalent direct question should be something like: Tell us about how you, or people close to you, use a DIY approach to staying healthy or caring for each other. This immediately puts the person into a citizen expert mode. They have already attacked a problem. This will be highly specific (""a visually impaired electronic engineering student needed a way to design electrical circuits, so we did XYZ""). The system level knowledge will be extracted, later, by using ethnography to figure out what concepts, practices, culture etc. connect the different stories.  We are ready to assist you writing challenges.  " 8,26136,2016-06-23T12:29:18.000Z,5721,anon3612872438,anon1526983854,"There was a document for minutes @anon thanks! Zoe " 9,26995,2016-06-28T13:08:11.000Z,26136,anon1491650132,anon3612872438,"Documentation - 2nd Consortium Meeting @anon3612872438 just saw your message. See in the Open Care big team folder -> Sharing Research     @anon It could be very interesting for us to have your research as a general framework, to analyze better the main success/key factors. In fact, as you read before, we're thinking as City of Milan, with @anon Let us Know!! Thanks Franca " 1,698,2016-06-27T08:25:22.000Z,698,anon3594395480,anon3594395480,"I am Sabina Ulubeanon169343781, a 36 years old mother who also like to describe herself as „ just a composer”. In the autumn of 2009, at 30, I suddenly began to feel sick: very weak, short of breath and I became yellow. My daughter was 7, and my son was 2. I was still breastfeeding and thought I was just tired and stressed out. What came next was an avanon3760936673che of investigations and meetings with doctors form many hospitals. After ruling out all sorts of terrible diseases and trying different treatments with no success, I went to Vienna where my condition was confirmed: Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. The newest drug for AIHA (Rituximab)  was still not approved in Romania for this rare disease, so I basically moved to Vienna where thet gave it to me, with no positive outcome, and finally I had my spleen removed and got well. It happened in  March 2012. In November 2012 I was again in Vienna for artistic reasons (and the usual check-up). This is when I read for the first time about the Network of Cytostatics. Everything was familiar to me: the oldest pharmacy in Vienna, the office above Mariahilferstr, but mostly, the struggle to regain one's health.... It was too soon for me to get involved, tha trauma was too recent.  But in February 2013, a good friend, Simona Tache, shared on Facebook a status about needing someone going to Bucharest from Vienna.  It clicked something inside me and I responded.  What came next was overwhelming.  Yes, I travelled home with medicine, calmly taking them through security and bringing them to Valeriu, the taxi driver that distributed them to the ones in need. More important was the fact that doing a simple thing, an easy gesture, meant helanon3606750899g someone's health and fighting a system that seemed not to care about the people. Everyone I talked to about the network felt the same: it is the least we can do!  I truly believe people have the need to do good, to offer, to help each other. The Network was a way of getting people together for a good purpose. I think it is the main reason it worked so well. It responded the needs of others, but also our own need to give (time/ help/ encouragement). My own personal gain, though, was tremendous. Not only you feel good helanon3606750899g others, but I became very good friends with Vlad Voiculescu, the initiator if the Network, supporting each other in many other so called impossible projects or just knowing we are there at a click or phone call away. I got involved because I knew what it means to be helpless against a disease and I will remain involved for as long as I will live, because this Network might not be needed now for cancer drugs, but it created a gathering of great souls that will be for sure needed for many other aspects of our society that need deep and profound healing. " 2,8333,2016-06-27T12:07:41.000Z,698,anon1526983854,anon3594395480,"Great story Wow, @anon So, it starts with you seeing an update on Facebook. Did your friend mention that they needed someone to take medicines into Bucharest? Or just ""somone who travels from Vienna""? Then what? How did you in the Network coordinate? It looks like Valeriu was the one in charge of the final distribution; but how could a person in need of help access the Network? Was there a kind of coordinator (maanon1932026148 Vlad)? Sorry to ask so many questions, but this is just too interesting. " 3,15312,2016-06-28T13:14:30.000Z,698,anon3594395480,anon3594395480,"Hi Alberto, thank you for the comment Hi Alberto, thank you for your comment! The post on FB didn't mention anything, just the travel question. But I saw it was a share from Vlad Voiculescu, so I understood in a second, even if the article that I read in november 2012 did not state his real name. But it was really not hard to connect the dots. So in that evening we spoke for almost one hour on the phone :) , then we met and I took the medcines, that was the first encounter so to speak.  Basically, Vlad coordonated the whole thing, he bought the medicines at first, then he found a lot people willing to help with buying, from different cities in Europe and not only. Sometimes Valeriu would pick up people from the airport, sometimes just meet them in Bucharest and took the medicines to the ones in need. I don't know how it was for other cities, but there the distances are smaller and I guess people sorted it out in a similar way. Vlad also made a website: medicamente-lipsa.ro. People could acces it and find the missing drugs and the means to transport them.  Not least, a movie was made after the investigation in Hotnews (the website where I read the story in 2012) http://www.hbo.ro/movie/reteaua_-79271 You can see it here until september for free http://www.hbogo.ro/content/the-network-1053692950  :) I hope this helps!   " 4,17546,2016-06-28T10:31:00.000Z,15312,anon1491650132,anon3594395480,"In EU you can only transport your own medicine across borders As far as I know the reason why you wouldn't see explicit calls for drug transports is because legally you're not allowed to transport but your own. So this is a grey area -people needed to say it's their own if asked at the airport or borders, although technically they couldn't have been arrested on such grounds.. after all they weren't commercializing anything. Even if the s*** hit the fan, no one could publicly dispute this way of getting hold of medicine which was supposed to be provided by the system and covered by the medical insurance! For several years before, Romanians would be procuring citostatics from nearby countries anyway on their own expenses. This is anon2590712900y a more efficient and structured way of doing the same.  Still, the network was semi-legal, meaning it operated under no clear incidence of laws. It's why I remember reading about Vlad in various pseudonyms when the story broke in the media. Similarly, in the movie his face never shows.  From looking at the website, it seems the network worked based on collecting forms filled in by patients/family with requests for medicine - it's not clear though how much of the matchmaking was aided by the technology and how much was done manon169343781ally, through Vlad and his network. Anyhow, most people who were part of it didn't know each other IRL - like Vlad and Valeriu, who were key nodes in the network! @anon " 5,18375,2016-06-28T10:47:25.000Z,17546,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"So much for evasive entrepreneurship! Wow. Very, very interesting. Evasive, right @anon " 1,690,2016-05-31T20:46:40.000Z,690,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"The below story is written by a third party (Me!), on behalf of a participant at the WeMake codesign session. In any city you can find parking lots reserved for drivers with disaplibity.  In all cities!  However, the law is different, while some countries allow you to temporarily use the lot while your engine is still on, others don't even let you drive inside, and in both cases, other drivers, who are not disabled, give themselves the liberty to use the available parking lot dedicated for disabled, because the found it empty.   If you have a disabiliy and you end up never finding the places that are dedicated to you whenever you are trying to park.  Wouldn't it be much more fair for everyone, to create a system, that react to others who carelessly took your parking?   If you are lucky enough, maye the system can alarm the police to come and take action, if not, at least, the system can alarm others that someone without a disability is now stealing a disabled person's place.  Possibly, the social aspect is just as important as the legal fine.    What do you think? Header image by Tgv8925, this file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.         " 2,8369,2016-06-27T15:09:07.000Z,690,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"It may be of interest to Rune Hi @anon " 3,15330,2016-06-27T16:25:43.000Z,690,anon1089184890,anon1743371374,"Casestory-newcomer to OpenCare Hi Noemi, it was great talking to you using the online meeting room. It realy gave some insight to the possibilities for 'tele care'. As I told you we are working on a solution for people living with sanon3606750899al cord injury (http://mecfes.wikispaces.com/)  and I'd like to contribute with a casestory (like issues on transferring the technology into practical/clinical use).   I found out that our  project resonates with the OpenCare project by sharing a similar vision (http://mecfes.wikispaces.com/Mark)  vs. the story of Franko/Hacker comunity-driven care in the EU proposal. However there are some issues with the OpenCare (or is it Op3nCare?) site which I'd like to discuss or understand better.  Would it be the proper place to proceed in this discussion or is there a more appropriate/ preferred way?       " 4,17579,2016-06-28T12:58:08.000Z,15330,anon1491650132,anon1089184890,"You were right: clinical involvement most interesting Thanks for the links @anon  As for the whole of opencare on this site, to understand how it is designed I recommend reading first our Guide for OpenCare online community. Just a quick issue on the naming: OpenCare is the official name of the EU funded project that we are committed to run as per the proposal. While Op3nCare is also pretty much the same as you will read in the guide, designating the community conversations, the name and materials with this ""3"" spelling have the advantage of allowing more freedom - for example some participants are not from the European Union per se and may be inhibited if they see ""EU research project"" all over the website, so having an alternative brand umbrella can help. If you wish, it's a hack to keep the space open. For more technical design issues, I was saying that your user story, bug reporting and suggestions are welcome in the Technical development group. Please bear with the developers as they have a long list of things to fix still :-) " 2,9429,2016-06-05T07:56:00.000Z,695,anon1491650132,,"Real inspiration \#MaketheWorldaBetterPlate Thanks for sharing this with us @anon I was convinced of this approach ever since I heard Jeff, a community member in Athens telling us about Senait's Kitchen to actually provide employment for migrants - a little like a company shell. In a year they've gone through several iterations, bringing new migrants in the group of cooks, have catered to hundreds and are on their way of building a cooperative. Check out Options Foodlab: http://options.limited/about-options/ " 4,12481,2016-06-28T11:22:51.000Z,11750,anon1491650132,,"Also: Mazi Mas in London Just stumbled upon this social enterprise creating community and business opportunities for migrant women chefs - especially through popup kitchens. Mazi Mas means ""with us"" in Greek. ""In the kitchen we speak the same language"" they say.. A beautiful presentation video is here: http://www.mazimas.co.uk/our-story/  " 5,16177,2016-06-06T14:02:23.000Z,695,anon1526983854,,"Safety issues? Kitchens are kind of high-tech as home environments go. To function, they need powerful and potentially dangerous things like electricity, fire, and sharp blades. In some administrative cultures (Italy, for sure) camp administrators might feel more at ease if their ""guests"" are not allowed near them. Yet another case in which liability issues contribute to render people powerless.  @anon " 1,4951,2015-11-04T20:00:54.000Z,4951,anon70625510,anon70625510,"This is a repository where we aggregate all visuals required for producing materials for projects which the Edgeryders organisation is officially backing. We're highly decentralised in how we work, so we thought a guide would help us be somewhat coherent when presenting initiatives or ideas out into the world. If you feel something is missing or should be changed, post your proposed alternative in the comments below, and the teams driving the projects will consider it.

    OpenVillage

    Here's some examples of materials people can use to put in on their website their headers on FB, Twitter etc.
    [ Indesign File](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B81XQfRCH7JmcGNJUEtwWHB2aWc).
    [Indesign File](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B81XQfRCH7JmZXFIMlUwNlZmZjA)
    [Indesign File](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B81XQfRCH7Jmamt1b3BidE16Wnc)

    OpenCare

    The OpenCare Style Guide: GITHUB visual repo 2016-05-30 Other modifiable design files are all available HERE.

    COLOURS & TYPEFACE

    Purple: \#602480 | Blue: \#2dabe0 | White: \#e5e7f0

    FB HEADER BACKGROUNDS

    High resolution photos of team members:

    Videos:

    https://player.vimeo.com/video/162811723 Introducing Op3nCare from Edgeryders on Vimeo. https://www.youtube.com/embed/r6B0WF01afI

    Visualisations








    Logos:

    This should be adapted to style of visualisations above. You can download a modifiable version of the OpenCare logo icon here. Modifying the colors is ok, but please use typeface Helvetica Bold, ideally 24 px for the name itself.
    #OpenCare or Please include a ""consortium"" slide in all public presentations, making sure to include all the logos of the partner organisations. Please add your partner organisation logos in 200x 200 px format against transparent and white backgrounds.

    Edgeryders Community: Transparent BG Edgeryders Company: Transparent BG
    City of Milano: Transparent BG University of Bordeaux: Transparent Bg

    WeMake: Transparent BG
    Scimpulse Foundation: Transparent Bg


    Stockholm School of Economics: European Commission (for official documents and visuals *only*)

    Headers, Banners, flyers, calls for action..

    Please add yours below. Design files for previous Edgeryders visual communications material are available for reuse and modification here.
    Horizon 2020 does not have a logo. We are supposed to use the European Union flag instead (source and visual identity guide ).

    High resolution photos of team members/ event curators:

    Videos:

    OpenCare videos on Vimeo and YouTube Check out the Edgeryders Vimeo account and Youtube account for various videos.
    " 2,8505,2015-11-05T14:24:09.000Z,4951,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Do you have the white text against black background versions? Ping @anon Am trying to put all this stuff in one place to make it nice and easy for us all :) " 3,15595,2015-11-06T13:59:42.000Z,4951,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Added some Any pictures promoting OpenCare?     Anyone has pictures, something we could include in a short text promoting OpenCare? I wrote a short abstract my institution wants to put up their website and they are asking for an accompanying picture. Any help is welcome ... " 5,22024,2015-11-24T08:54:34.000Z,20529,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Flickr? Tell them to use the Flickr search function for Creative Commons material. That's what we did: htttps://edgeryders.eu/opencare/welcome-to-opencare " 6,23422,2016-01-12T11:11:14.000Z,4951,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Still missing logos with transparent backgrounds Hi Everyone! @anon I know everyone is super busy but can I ask you to please post the correct logos for your organisations in the wiki above? It will make life a lot easier for all comms work if all relevant materials are gathered in one place. Lucia: the logo for City of Milano has a white background which does not work for all communication materials- we need two versions of the logo with a transparent background (1) suitable for dark backgrounds (2) Suitable for bright backgrounds anon948101822k: Same as above, we have three versons but they have white and back backgrounds respectively in the logo itself- we need a png with transparent background so we can put logos on different coloured materials . Guy: Same thing again :) Instructions for how to do this: 1. make sure you are logged in on Edgeryders 2. Press ""Edit"" above to make changes to this wiki 3. In the editor look for the ""Image"" icon and upload the file on the serves, then right click and press the file's URL in the Image Properties window. This will insert your file. 4. To modify file dimension or text formatting click ""Switch to plain text editor"" below the editor and insert the parameters you want in the code. 5. Click Save. Thank you! " 7,26902,2016-01-15T09:41:36.000Z,4951,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"update visual identity of Opencare Hi Nadia, We're preparing a presentation in italian to introduce Opencare in communities in Milan together with Comune di Milano. It would be great to have an updated logo to add to keynote and communication as, we discussed, the one we have now it was taken from an open source repository and used by many other projects. Are you working on it or would you like we do a couple of proposals so we can proceed with setting up shared a visual identity? thanks! Zoe  " 8,27300,2016-01-16T11:13:31.000Z,26902,anon70625510,anon3612872438,"We are going to do an OpenCompetition This is a good way to kick off online engagement so I am asking you guys to hold off on any official design. The plan is to launch it on February 1 (still a lot of other comms related work/planning to sort out before). Use what you like for the event but that will not be the official visuals. " 9,28424,2016-03-29T18:44:58.000Z,4951,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Link to modifiable design files @anon Also, the Open Care Outreach google drive is gone missing? " 10,28710,2016-03-29T19:35:54.000Z,28424,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"They are in the same place for me? In any case the Outreach and Engagement folder for OpenCare is available here. The modifiable files are available here. The headers I produced using a software as service online called canva.com which is great for producing all kinds of flyers, headers banners etc quickly, you can get the opencare headers here (if you get an account I can share modifiable versions with you). " 11,29513,2016-03-31T11:50:50.000Z,4951,anon2971875139,anon70625510,"Template for deliverables Hi,  I put to your disposal a template for further reports / deliverables we will have to submit to the EC here (Opencare Admin folder). This template is shaped from the 1st documentation we submitted today to the EC. But we can still all go on and contribute for better graphics/visual arrangements. " 12,30292,2016-04-28T17:08:20.000Z,4951,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"Regarding typeface/font @anon WHat is the correct typeface to use to write Opencare? it is not clear in the information I read above. Is it Montserrat OR Helvetica Bold? You mention and use both above. I think we should stick with one typeface. best Zoe " 13,30867,2016-04-28T17:09:26.000Z,4951,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"How do we write OpenCare? It's not clear to me how the decision to use 3 instead of ""e"" came into being and what were the reasons. In the Consortium call there was not a clear idea about it.  In any case: for searchable (google search) reasons and uniformity of communication we should stick with ONE way of writing OpenCare regarding spaces, capital letters, numbers and fonts. it is not clear in the information I read above how we should do. My oanon3606750899ion is:
    •  we should not use two different versions for research and for community header, it confuses people. (Open Care and Op3n Care)
    • the use of numbers instead of letters is not so common outside geek culture. I would not use Op3n Care or Op3nCare or Op3ncare because we want to reach a lot of people who live outside of geek culture.  it's ok to have the twitter handle but using it on the front page is pretty strong.
    • If there are not clear legal reasons I would use OpenCare 
    • All partners should have clear on how to deal with this, otherwise we lose consistency 
    For sure we should do our best to avoid inconsistencies:
    • Op3nCare or Op3n Care  or OP3N CARE or OP3NCARE? You used all versions (with and without space) in the latest graphic banners we can see above and it gets confusing.
    thanks for feedback! @anon Zoe   " 14,31342,2016-04-28T17:34:45.000Z,4951,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Op3nCare there are many companies etc that are called opencare and different variations of that, it's already trademarkerd in some contexts/countries (Luce was kind enough to check it out a while back). We ran with op3ncare after and have done so for some time now because it is not taken by anyone else. Video is using op3ncare and twitter account has been @anon Re visuals: The philosophy we have been employing is that people can adapt the visuals as they like, remix etc. Reasoning: it is not realistic to demand that people stick to any one thing. Post what works for you above and people will adopt what they like. Or not.   " 15,31688,2016-04-28T18:18:50.000Z,4951,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"Consortium vs People I answer on the second part of your text because I want to check with @anon Regarding visuals: One thing is what we do as a Consortium and a totally another level is what people will do with the visuals as they are released in open source. You are mixing the two levels. The partners of the Consortium should be consistent in visual communication to be recognised as such. All the other participants should be provided with clear information of what is our visual style in order to decide if to follow it or not to follow it.  If I know the rules I can decide how to break them and explain also why, if there are no rules it all becomes noise. " 16,31753,2016-04-29T19:29:37.000Z,31688,anon1491650132,anon3612872438,"Moment for someone to step up? @anon3612872438, I understood from the consortium meeting that the team in Bordeaux can make some recommendations and then the rest of us sign off to them, did I get it right? If not, maanon1932026148 you guys in Milano can make a proposal if you have a vision for how visual design should be implemented? The proposal I'm seeing here (Nadia can correct me) is for us to use these as a base and if people like them, use them, if not, change or adjust. If there is a counterproposal on the table chances are people are happy to change behaviors - e.g. create a guide to visual design similar to our guide to building online community?" 17,31780,2016-04-30T09:12:42.000Z,31753,anon2774142051,anon1491650132,"Coming soon As agreed during the last hangout meeting, we (UBx) had a meeting with WeMake (Zoe) to discuss around these issues and come up with recommendations. I plan to publish this here as soon as I have everything written down (travelling to Quebec, I am writing from the airport now). In two words: we need to stick to a single spelling and we recommend OpenCare (no 3, no blank space, proper capital O and C), visuals, video channel, and autonomous landing page. Survival guide for easier use and compliance with these recommendations. More to come." 18,31792,2016-04-30T18:08:00.000Z,31780,anon1491650132,anon2774142051,"Yes, except.. Ok, so partners will have an answer and reference point when it comes to which name to use, typefaces etc or when in doubt. As for compliance, keep in mind that a lot of work has been done already in light of name considerations . For example with online accounts: opencare on twitter is taken, but in comms we do use \#Opencare hashtag; on facebook the same - page is still OpenCare). So this should make it easy to be more consistent without undo-ing great work. PS On Youtube OpenCare is also taken https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM3UsvL6RMbT_NAn0tz2YIA." 19,31798,2016-05-01T20:01:34.000Z,31780,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"So what changed? As I recall, op3ncare was adopted because there are several companies called OpenCare, and the brand is trademarked in some countries. Also, the Twitter account was taken. I propose:
    • We keep OpenCare in the official EU stuff – this is what's in the grant agreement.
    • We keep Op3ncare in public-facing communication
    • We use redirects to make sure  both variant URLs point to the same address: for example opencare.cc points to the same place as op3ncare.cc.
    In all cases, we are unwilling to redo the graphic work already done (video etc.). " 20,31800,2016-05-01T22:21:00.000Z,31798,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"Hey guys, gimme a break Hey guys, I told you I would come back soon, I just landed in Montreal enjoying a chat with my daughter, I promised I would prepare something soon, like tomorrow? :-)   " 21,31955,2016-05-03T13:38:30.000Z,4951,anon2971875139,anon70625510,"opencare communication recommendations Following our hangout meeting of Thursday, April 28th [@anon2774142051, @anon Several aspects were taken into consideration:
    • A number of things were already done on the communication front (great video from LOTE5 rushes, community and research pages on the edgeryders.eu portal, etc).
    • The activities taking place under the hat of opencare are twofold, they carry an intrinsic duality, that has recently been identified and distinguished under the terms “community” and “research”.
    • Partners all wish to be visible and seen as participating to the opencare EU funded initiative; they also wish the EU initiative to be visible as well on its own.
    • The funded initiative relates more to the research component than to the community component although we must recognize  (and stimulate!) the necessary and profitable synergy acting within this twofold structure.
      Our recommendations include:
    1. It is good practice, if not a necessity, to use a unique spelling for the project name.
    2. Although we are pushing for everything to take place online (in order to collect proper research material), we must not assume the crowd targeted by opencare to be as “digitally educated”. As a consequence, the use of digits should be avoided as it resonates as some geekness or weirdness to some. This has a number of consequences as discussed below.
    3. A series of channels have been identified (some new, some less new) and could be used in the following manner:
      • Keep using the @anon
      • This is already the case with the Facebook account pointing the op3ncare page (login) seen under the name opencare. We are not saying this Facebook account should only be used for research related stuff, we are suggesting it can comply with the above recommendations.
    4. Registration of these names has not been identified as urgent. When labelling our activity with the opencare label, the category (or class or activity type) rather than the name itself is as important. Because we adopt an open source strategy, we are protected against copyright infranon1056199097ment claims or ownership claims.  [Edit 02/05/2016 - By browsing the website for the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), it appears that the trademark OpenCare is already bought by a Japanese company for the product class we would be targeting (“consultancy, technological services and design”). The name OpenCARE is also registered by a German company, hence the corresponding twitter account.] 
    5. We therefore choose the name opencare, which is the simplest version available that also meets the recommendations we listed previously. 
    6. We maintain the use of the color and fonts that were adopted.   Blue and purple. We’ll need to make this as precise as possible for future use (RGB, HSL encoding).  We should stick to the use of Monserrat fonts.
    7. We need to have a channel where all project videos are published and made accessible, although some videos may also be published on other channels (Vimeo for instance, as is the case for the video shot at LOTE5).
    8. We recommend creating a Google+ account associated with the opencare brand (https://business.google.com/create). - To start a Google+ page, we have to create a Gmail address first (YouTube channel. - We may then follow the same @anon
    9. We need a landing page making the www.opencare.cc URL visible and distinct from the edgeryders.eu portal.
    • We keep this to a single page including:
    • Project name and “official” spelling, project logo (network + heart)
    • A one paragraph, elevator pitch, on the project
    • A clearly visible, attractive, clickable and catchy motto bringing people to one of edgeryders.eu landing page.
    • All EU and partners logos redirecting to each partner’s official website.
    • This page being distinct from edgeryders.eu makes it Drupal upgrade-proof.
      Additional remarks:
    • The adoption of the above recommendations may have a number of consequences on work that has already been done. We need to decide who can take care of doing a series of things:
    • The Facebook profile picture needs to be adjusted (to opencare)
    • The LOTE5 video needs to be edited, so it shows opencare (and not Op3ncare) – keep it to a minimum (maanon1932026148 only make sure the front image shows opencare instead of Op3nCare)
    • Anything else?
    • There does not seem to be any opencare (or OpenCare) GitHub account for now – just in case it would be useful to also have a GitHub account under the exact project name.
        " 22,32013,2016-05-03T12:56:22.000Z,31955,anon2435658896,anon2971875139,"update We're working on a Design Survival Guide coherent with @anon
    1. Working on The Facebook, and g+ and twitter, profile picture
    2. we created some graphics for Milan's video (uploaded on the google drive)
    3. Github organization already created
    4. working on the landing page 
    5. we'll share also some other graphics material we're working on right now.
        " 23,32040,2016-05-03T13:37:08.000Z,32013,anon2774142051,anon2435658896,"Great - I can't wait to see more -- " 24,32075,2016-05-03T15:40:05.000Z,31955,anon1526983854,anon2971875139,"Can we test this? I am not enthusiastic about having a landing page that links to another landing page. It seems more a political compromise than anything based on design principles. Why don't we do a real alternative landing page (linking to the relevant pages: how to participate, challenges etc.) and then test the performance of the two (or more) alternatives? I am not sure how that would work in practice. We normally do A/B testing with Google's Content Experiments, but that assumes you are staying within the same ""web property"". I think we could still do it like this:
    • Create an alternative landing page wherever you want.
    • Associate it to the existing Edgeryders web property and create the Google analytics tracking widget accordingly. 
    • Point opencare.cc and op3ncare.cc to one of the alternative landing pages. 
    • Choose a goal, for example the node creation page (https://edgeryders.eu/node/add/*)
    • Create an experiment, with all of the variants associated to it. 
    Works? " 25,32190,2016-05-03T15:18:52.000Z,4951,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"About social media accounts ... this is more or less the same strategy that all EU projects have adopted since the Internet became a thing. The result has been a big digital junkyard of nearly-unused accounts on social media, hosting contracts that expire as soon as the funding does etc. Luce may have a point that it ""looks good"" when the project is live to the reviewers (depends on the reviewer I guess). Just staying in the fantastic world of CAPS (FP7, so projects that have at least 2 years of mileage already), check out the YouTube account of WebCOSI or the Twitter account of IA4SI (active project). There is even a CAPS project called SciCafe 2.0 that returns broken links.  This does not happen because the people behind those projects are stupid, but because running social media accounts, blogs, websites etc. is hard work. Doing it well on a project that will only live two years is wasteful.  On the other hand, if we did score a resounding success, we would start a sanon3606750899off producing care services.  But then again we would probably run into copyright/trademark issue if that sanon3606750899off were called OpenCare.  So. Digital squatting is cheap – good idea to squat everything opencare.  On the other hand, our dedicated social media channels are hard to grow into useful tools. For now, we get much more mileage pushing OpenCare content on the Edgeryders Twitter account than on the OpenCare one. For now, we use the OpenCare one to put out a sort of ""corporate"" feed about the project, with most of the interaction done through Edgeryders or our personal Twitter accounts. Same thing for Facebook. I predict most of the social media traction will be exerted through the partners, rather than the project.
    Twitter followers, Facebook page likes
      OpenCare Edgeryders WeMake
    Facebook 134 2,915 4,420
    Twitter 144 3,579 1,581
    When you move beyond FB and Twitter, I do not think it's worth putting any work at all in keeanon3606750899g OpenCare social media accounts. Our web analytics show that other social networks bring in a negligible amount of traffic. Uploading stuff onto project accounts should be viewed as an admin activity, not a communication activity, and therefore should be kept to a minimum. Low overhead is the way to go.  " 26,32372,2016-05-03T16:10:39.000Z,4951,anon281534083,anon70625510,"Regarding ""landing pages"" > Why don't we do a real alternative landing page (linking to the relevant pages: how to participate, challenges etc.) - See more at: https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/22790#comment-22790 Gets right to the heart of the matter because a ""landing page"" has to be less like the frontispiece of a publication and more like a well-designed rail or air terminal where you, who are in a hurry and who has never been there before, can efficiently get to your destination as quickly as you wish.  Of course there are compromises because we don't want to put everything right there to the point that it is nothing but lists devoid of aethetics.   In all my 30 years in online networking, even with all the massive developments in visual and audio media, speed is still the most important thing.  More people use Facebook or Twitter to come to our site(s)?  Then it is even more true that whatever drove them here must fulfill for them their intention on their first visit.  One extra click could be, and often is, the thing that is just one task too many for someone on the move. So make it look good and label it so that one cannot mistake where one is, and make it useful right there. " 27,32410,2016-05-03T19:13:24.000Z,32372,anon70625510,anon281534083,"Makes sense. The world is full of sleek design etc but this does not move people. Even with mangy design what draws you in is cool people with whom you wish to engage. We have seen this play out many times over. A lot of it comes down to f2f interaction,  effective copy in the hands at exactly the right time that directs you to a person with whom you can interact. It's the social filtering to direct attention and energy. Meeting people= results. The return on investment from weaking and discussing design details yields diminishing returns.  " 28,32531,2016-05-04T12:58:00.000Z,4951,anon2774142051,anon70625510,"The right perspective The recommendations we have must be looked at from the right perspective. There is room to adjust things. Let's work together to find a consensual solution. [The best for me would be to have a face-to-face meeting on all this. I personally believe digital media not to be so good at solving the discussion we are entering. Why not put that at the agenda in June and make it an item to be discussed by the steering committe meeting. If June is too far away, let's make it a closed, official, mandatory meeting with steering committee members.] I encourage everyone to appreciate the efforts made to come up with these recommendations. That being said, Alberto is absolutely right: part of it is a political compromise. I personally would use the term ""institutional"". IDENTITY. On the identity side, the recommendations are right: for now, the use of different spelling is confusing. I agree with Zoe with the fact that the ""3"" is geek habit and can hinder our will to engage with ""ordinary"" people. The use by others of similar names, in similar context, has to be taken into account. This must be clarified and I am confident we will find a viable solution. NOT ONE, BUT TWO COHABITING PROJECTS. The situation also partly holds to the fact that there are two projects running in parallel and mixing together. The institutional, funded, partly academic one partners engaged into; and the one promised to live long after the EU initiative and run by EdgeRyders -- I admit it took me some time to realize this. And in fact, the EU initiative was triggered by EdgeRyders' fantastic capability to have people and ideas come together and great project emerge. LANDING PAGE. I am ready to comply with the experts and designers advice on the use/design of single/multiple landing page(s), etc. I guess one main issue is that the EU project and partners of this EU initiative are simply non visible on the actual websites (the pages hosted on the edgeryders porta). And this is a problem that must not be too easily discarded/ignored. I hear this sounds dramatically narcissic, but hey, academia lives on recognition and visibility -- that's what fuels the funds we will be able to get the next time we run a tender. That's what fuels the whole of academia, from the baseline researchers to the top institutionals in the organizational chart. I believe it might just be the same with non-academic partners that nevertheless mostly live on public funds. A distinct landing page looked like a good compromise to satisfy all these (narcissic) expectations. This distinct landing page is not about moving or having people meet, it has other ""intitutional"" aims, that are not addressed by the actual setting. SOCIAL MEDIA. What I hear from Alberto is that trafic anyway takes place on EdgeRyders accounts. That bringing trafic to these other ""opencare"" accounts is a lot of work -- I hear he asks whether we (and who?) are ready to put the efforts to keep these accounts alive. So the question is (asked to the steering committee?): do we want/need these ""institutional"" channels, and if so are we ready to invest the necessary resources? A question is asked about the relevancy of having a G+ channel (devoted to videos, from what I understood). Again, to be accepted, the answer must take the dual nature of opencare into account. Ok, that comment is far too long already. I hope its content makes sense. I'm looking forward to read all your constructive propositions. " 29,32564,2016-06-19T11:07:18.000Z,32531,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Multiplicity in unity I agree with most of what you are saying, Guy. It is very true that a EU project is two things, and this not only for us but for everyone, at least in theory. It is its own thing: a project with a pulse, practices, a management structure, rules etc. It is also a stepanon3606750899g stone to wherever its partners want to go. There are some organizations that treat EU funded research as a market, and see themselves as active in this market. They do projects just to do projects. From what I hear, the Commission is not happy about this at all, because the lack of ambition of these organizations translates into a lack of impact of EU taxpayer money poured into research.  On the other hand, the EC is a rule-based organization. Therefore, we do need to tick all the boxes. This leads to running two projects at once: one is, as you say, institutional and funded, and it will end on December 31st 2017. The other one is entrepreneurial and not funded, and it will live on or not. The two share some activities.  The activities most central to the entrepreneurial side of the project should, wherever possible, overdeliver. We committed to delivering 1,000 pieces of content (posts + comments) by the end of the year. We are already over 1,500 – no problem for the institutional project, the box is ticked. But for the entrepreneurial project, we would love to overshoot the goal: get to 3-4,000.  How is this achieved? By mobilizing people. ER is committed to mobilizing its own community (broadly intended). We believe this is, for us, the best use of our limited communication resources. And it's working out, given that most of 113 people who have contributed content to OC so far come from that direction. But everyone else is more than welcome to go fish for people and content in other spaces. We appreciate they may require different communication styles – even different philosophies of engagement. @anon The style guide is impressive work. We are grateful for it, and we will use it. But we will only use it when the benefits of doing so exceed the costs.    " 30,32577,2016-06-19T11:38:21.000Z,32564,anon2435658896,anon1526983854,"tho things? what exactly do you mean two things?  @anon @anon2774142051 ps:  I'll listen but as you know I strongly disagree " 31,32584,2016-06-19T18:38:24.000Z,32577,anon2774142051,anon2435658896,"Two things @anon It'll be interesting to share our thoughts about this. I'm not sure we'll have time to do it during the ""official"" steering committee, let's find some time off the official agenda. I find the ""two things"" perspective quite natural. The project (not the EU funded one, ""the"" project) can be thought of as a lifelong journey. The EU funded project is a vehicle you use at some point to speed up your travel from point A to point B, hoanon3606750899g it will fuel your ""project"" to help get where you want to go. ""Two things"" probably sounds differentyl to you. I am curious to better understand your view on ""things"" :-) " 32,32675,2016-05-04T19:38:38.000Z,4951,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"Social Media Hi, I have just a question because I don't understand @anon We accepted the decision you took and already agreed of giving our contribution on Facebook page and we can do it also on Twitter and we are happy to upload our videos on Youtube. We are just proposing to open up Youtube as a repository of all the videos we create so we can point people to 1 channel and find all the videos, otherwise they are spread around. It doesn't prevent all the partners to post each video on their own private channels if they want. best Zoe " 33,32756,2016-05-06T17:29:37.000Z,4951,anon2435658896,anon70625510,"Draft Graphic Style Guide_opencare Hi,  here a preview of the Graphic Style Guide aka Graphic Survival Guide for opencare partners aka Consortium. @anon https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2hvchbsK99qcFZ1MVcwQ2xqY2s ------ " 34,32776,2016-05-10T07:49:44.000Z,32756,anon1491650132,anon2435658896,"Appreciated! Thanks team WeMake! " 35,32785,2016-05-28T12:16:30.000Z,32776,anon2774142051,anon1491650132,"Using the right visuals and denomination @anon I hope posting this here will be useful, I can't relocate the post concerning the email notification you guys send. I saw that @anon Just thought I should mention it. " 36,32788,2016-05-29T09:03:36.000Z,32785,anon1491650132,anon2774142051,"Yes, some time needed I hear you. Natalia probably picked it up from the Op3nCare communtiy site, which has the same header.  If you or @anon " 37,32798,2016-05-29T10:54:42.000Z,32785,anon1061021150,anon2774142051,"which visuals should I be using then? @anon2774142051 - sorry if i create confusion, I wasn't aware  " 38,32799,2016-05-29T12:41:36.000Z,32798,anon2774142051,anon1061021150,"No problem at all, as @anon I might be late at the meeting though. @anon " 39,32800,2016-05-30T19:48:23.000Z,32798,anon2435658896,anon1061021150,"here an help https://github.com/opencarecc/OpenCareStyleGuide " 40,32801,2016-05-31T08:18:26.000Z,32800,anon2971875139,anon2435658896,"... and if you have access to the opencare google repository ... I have built up a folder named ""opencare visuals"" where you can find the opencare style guide, all members' logos and the communication recommendations. :) " 41,32859,2016-05-06T17:41:49.000Z,4951,anon2774142051,anon70625510,"We're getting there Thanks to the WeMake team for coming up with such a synthetic and clear guide. " 42,32927,2016-05-07T12:23:59.000Z,4951,anon2971875139,anon70625510,"Great job! Congratulations to the WeMake team and especially the ladies Silvia and Chiara for doing such a great job!  " 43,32974,2016-05-20T11:04:35.000Z,4951,anon400496570,anon70625510,"The new interactive version of the Style Guide has been posted! Hello! Please go to this link and give a look to the new version of the Style Guide ;)  https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/major-release-of-the-style-guide-interactive-version Best,  Silvia " 44,33019,2016-06-24T16:07:31.000Z,4951,anon2435658896,anon70625510,"opensourcing opencare During the cons meeting me and Alberto had a small chat about the ""brand"" opencare.  I mentioned the Serpica Naro experience ( @anon they registered (conventionally) the trademark and then they released it with a licence.  It's still a very unconventional choice (TM are different than copyrights so you can't use CC licence) here's the licence  - in italian:  http://serpica.tumblr.com/Licenza @anon " 2,10408,2016-06-14T13:59:13.000Z,693,anon1491650132,,"Most down to earth take on disability that I've read. @anon Fyi I was surfing the net and saw that Berlin received the Access City award from the EC in 2013 for removing barriers to disability, especially in urban planning and transportation. Surely public policies don't solve it, as Raul is saying, yet there is something about designing for the public space. It's interesting because it's so diverse - it's more neutral, and hosts encounters of all sorts of people. Just a thought. " 3,13987,2016-06-16T10:15:55.000Z,693,anon1526983854,,"Labels and grids, again (and Darwin) It looks like Raul is advocating the removal of special categories (""labels"") tagging underprivileged people. This means giving up our standard way of seeing the world by categories  that have administrative and legal relevance (""grids"" in the language of James Scott).  It seems to be a letimotiv in OpenCare.  I do see the potential for lock-in when administrative grids become involved. You get organisations that ""own a problem"": my organisation deals with blind people, yours with teenage pregnancies etc. As long as these categories have currency in the policy document and in the strategies of donors, the organisations serving them will prosper.   What I don't see is why label removal should be so hard intellectually. We have something we can replace categories with: frequency distributions. Instead of saying ""we need to accommodate the disabled"" we can say ""3% of humans cannot go up more than one step, and the step needs to be lower than 200 millimeters"". They can be disabled, but also simply old, or exhausted, or drunk. This is irrelevant. What's relevant is that it's just plain stupid to design a building that will not work every time!  This is the classic Darwinian move. Linnean biology tried to characterize a species by characterics: birds have beaks, pelicans have very large beaks, humans walk on two legs... wait, that would mean Raul is not human, since he does not walk. But neither is he a fish, though he presumably can swim. So what do we do? Do we make him his own species?  Darwin said ""look, a species is simply a frequency distribution across certain characteristics. For example, most ants do not have wings, but some (males) do. About 98% (I'm making the number up here) of humans walk on two legs, but a 2% does not."" The frequency distribution captures all the information a designer needs. What's so hard about using it? " 4,20208,2016-06-23T15:15:11.000Z,693,anon1061021150,,"This reminds me of a project The Invisible Labs/Chronically Driven http://theinvisiblelabs.com/news/ and https://medium.com/chronically-driven. A different take on various health issues, and how they make people's lives... better.  " 1,697,2016-06-17T16:49:41.000Z,697,anon641249244,anon641249244,"Recently we had a telephon interview with Peter*, whos child has certain limitations. As one of three kids Fabian* grew up in a endearing family, which gives him on one side as much personal and special support and on the other side treat him like his two older brothers.  Fabian lost half of his brain function after having a stroke, which lead to spastic hemiparalysis. Because of that further problems came up like a malposition of his hips and a curvature of the sanon3606750899e. When I met him he was full of power, running around, shaking everybodys hand and laughing. But most of the time he should sit in his wheelchair, in order to guard against swollen and painful knees. Because of a cognitive limitation Fabian is receiving all the stimuli. As we can focus on one thing and block our environment out, Fabian can not filter environmental information. That makes him most of the time an observer, someone who is rather watching than being in the focus of interest. Since one year his parents noticed an aggressivity against himself, because he starts to reflect on himself, his position and possibilties. A psychologyst told them that often kids with disabilities that are more supported are more reflecting themselves and know what limitations they have compared to kids that are not getting that well supported.  Getting that special and individual support is really important for them, that's why the parents decided to send Fabian to a school for physically handicapped kids. There they will have a class with about eight kids, one teacher and one pedagog. Trained assistants with different specializations like physiotherapist, care worker or ergotherapist are working in the school as well. Peter said that inclusion or integration is the actual content and sounds good, but it does not always work, as we can see in Fabians case. And that individuality makes it even difficult on playgrounds to build it barrierfree.  For Fabian, who can walk and run but not grab, force or push with his one arm, playgrounds would need to have different requirements than for other handicapped kids. Swinging is a really nice, exciting and relaxating activity. Swings with only a plank do not fit Fabian’s physical needs, since he is not able to hold himself with one arm. Laying on a birds nest swing is more easy for him. Slides are good to use in case the entrance is easy to reach. Climbing nets or round ladders makes it difficult for Fabian.  Water and Sand is an interesting sensorial material, that all childs love. Playing in the mud, splashing with the water, diging holes or baking sand cakes are activities that could be on hip height and done while sitting in a wheelchair. Getting this insight from a parents view leades us more in the direction of what kids with handicappes are able to do, what they like, what they prefer and what should have been thought from another perspective.   *Names changed to protect privacy " 2,7079,2016-06-18T09:35:03.000Z,697,anon1526983854,anon641249244,"Makers, again Wow, @anon The end of your post suggests Fabian (and others – many others, in fact) could benefit from customized playgrounds. This is not so difficult, as there are corners of the makers community that are both interested in it and able to do it. Controprogetto in Milano, for example, have at least once involved locals in a city called Taranto to design and build a whole (temporary) playground in the city center. The video is super-inspiring!  https://www.youtube.com/embed/31UyKjmwD3g?rel=0 The final 40 seconds or so of the video are an act of accusation to the municipality, which did not follow up on the work done and let the participatory work rot away. I guess this is another case for stewardship, a favourite topic in Edgeryders.  " 3,10937,2016-06-21T07:01:38.000Z,7079,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Yes for customized playgrounds! Great project, thank you for sharing. It's beyond me to see how the city can ever give up on ideas which work or generate enthusiasm. You'd think the smaller the city, the easier to make this kind of change and keep it going. I see how consistent my hometown is becoming when it comes to legitimizing its caretakers and picking up on good ideas (gave the example of the hammocks in the park which became legit). @anon ""Is it the disability itself, that disables people? Or is it the attitude and perception of the society and a non-barrier-free environment which actually disables?"" From your post this question is less important because at the end of the day, the problem is how to enable Fabian and others to enjoy play like any kid should. So while disability is indeed a gradient (we are all disabled at something or at some point!) and needs a change in perception, it is actions (building inclusive playgrounds) that really hit the nail on the head. At least this is how I see it. " 2,33759,2016-06-19T19:41:03.000Z,33741,anon1526983854,,"Risks of overdetermination I follow your work from a distance with great interest.  I think you will soon run into an issue of determination. What I mean by this is: the simplest the ""device"", the more the ways in which it can be used, the broader the range of abilities it accommodates. Take, for example, plasticine: You can do all sorts of stuff with it, from just playfully messing around to veritable art. So, in a way it is perfectly inclusive. But if you ever tried to play with plasticine with someone else, you know that disabilities are by no means the only important differentiator: children of different ages, for example, will want to do different things with plasticine. Everyone likes it (it is accessible for everyone), but it does not necessarily bring people together. It appears that accessibility does not lead per se to socialization. Your response might be to design in such a way as to restrict the ways to interact with the artefact. For example, there are not many things you can do with a merry-go-round (though children do try!). But then, you risk overdetermining the interaction, making your work uninteresting for everyone!  Hmm, interesting problem! Looking forward to your next moves. " 1,5685,2016-05-30T14:47:29.000Z,5685,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Health Care is Evolving
    For most of humanity's history, healthcare services were provided by communities:  family members, friends and neighbours. This was considered to be a natural network of collective support. The demand for professional care health care, social care, day-care for children and elderly care seemed infinite, but the resources the economy allocates towards it clearly are not enough. If we try to rationalize the system and extract more out of it, it only seems to dehumanize the people in need of care. The people in need of care end up getting treated like a number in a manon169343781facturing plant. Is there a solution that combines access to modern science and technology whilst creating a more accessible and human touch of community provided care? Embracing a collective approach OpenCare offers a solution with promise of bridging the gap between mainstream health care and community health care through embracing a collective approach. Recently, being granted 1.6 million euro for research to design and prototype new care services that directly effects humanity’s growth, expansion and well-being.  The Opencare project started in the first quarter of 2016 and is preparing for execution. However, we hope to see results this year after the online platform has generated meaningful conversations and researchers have documented their findings. The call for participation to enter proposals in underway.  The vision behind OpenCare is an alternative to the way patients and health providers interact. Health and social welfare as we know it is broken, squeezed between rising costs and impersonality, if not dehumanisation, of their provided services. OpenCare aims at deploying collective intelligence to design, prototype and evaluate care services by communities, for communities. The human right to health means that everyone has the right to the attainable standard of health and social care, which includes access to all medical services. Hospitals, clinics, medicines, and doctors’ services must be accessible, available, acceptable, and of good quality for everyone, where and when needed. This is a logical solution to reform health care; by creating a system that is guided by universal access, availability, acceptability and quality. Whilst remaining transparent and non-discriminatory. This is the typical pattern of acknowledging failure and trying to be constructive and do something about it that permeates the culture of so many dwellers of the edge of societies. With the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are needed.    Health and social care commands change in Europe What is health care? Who gives it? ""The state is the main health care provider"", say many Europeans. And sure, the welfare state is a major safety net in their societies. ""Business is the main health care provider"", reply many Americans. They have a point too: their insurance companies, hospitals and clinics – most of these are businesses. And yet, that's not the whole story. Health care models are failing: per capita health care expenditure is growing fast. We need to spend an ever-greater part of our resources just to stay well. Pervasive healthcare technology is one of the methods for meeting the challenges of an aging population in many countries, as well as an expected major shortage of healthcare personnel. Collective intelligence brings wisdom to health care The topic of health and social care is human and should be handled in a humane way. We want to understand how collective intelligence can be used to solve social and health care problems. Clearly, the time has come to take a fresh look and an alternative approach to healthcare. This is not a question of injecting more technical know-how. The world is changing and we can’t build walls around ourselves. We need to make space for new visions and create a fundamentally new approach to healthcare. The OpenCare Research Project consortium consists of a partnership with The Scimpulse Foundation, Edgeryders, the University of Bordeaux, the City of Milan, WeMake, and the Stockholm School of Economics.  The consortium consists of members with different backgrounds, radical thinkers and doers, and just normal people that want to make a difference. With the support from the European Commission OpenCare is moving forward under the Horizon 2020 EU Research and Innovation programme. OpenCare - a solution on the horizon to access and humanize European Health Care. To find out more about the OpenCare: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/project Join our Facebook community  https://www.facebook.com/op3ncare Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/op3ncare Maria Habets |  2016                                                             
      " 2,10364,2016-06-14T09:07:53.000Z,5685,anon3708118144,anon3708118144,"Care By Communities: Is It Possible? European healthcare is facing significant challenges.  With an aging population, expensive health care services and with the decline of the classic extended family, it’s of the utmost importance to research alternative solutions that will help face these challenges. Healthcare in Europe has been a forerunner in develoanon3606750899g new drugs and medical care to create the healthiest and longest-living society. But it comes at a huge cost. Countries throughout the European Union are looking at new ways of reforming the way healthcare is provided. Is community driven healthcare an option? Discover “OpenCare” OpenCare, the first online community driven project that addresses the social aspects of healthcare. This project is structured to re-design care services in a more sustainable way, taking advantage of the scattered collective knowledge of individuals and communities, then sharing it to improve the well-being of others. This open-to-all knowledge approach to care is the heartbeat of OpenCare with the intention to explore the conditions for communities to design and deliver their own healthcare services. Positive Disruption It’s time for positive disruption in health care, and in care services in general. Why? With the health costs on the rise, the system is under strain, and often, it reacts by denying care to those who need it most. This is morally unacceptable.  When the Metropolitan Community Clinic at Helliniko as well as many others, in the world of care has proven how much farther communities can go in taking care of their members when they are enabled to do it. This is a unique health care approach. It is regulated off the grid, run by volunteers, does not accept money and operates with no management. Time to challenge, engage and create alternative solutions. Expected Outcomes The OpenCare initiative is expected to help understand how to use the collective intelligence of communities concerning sustainable development and to explore community-driven healthcare. Edgeryders has partnered up with five world-class organisations in research University of Bordeaux, Stockholm School of Economics, ScimPulse Foundation, and City of Milan and WeMake to find, learn from, and enhance the experiences like the clinic in Hellinko all around the world. Their goal is a model of community-driven care services, based on modern science, open technology, low overhead and human touch that communities can provide, while large bureaucracies cannot. The OpenCare project, is in support from the European Union through its Collective Awareness Platforms (Horizon 2020). We are all touched by healthcare. Check out this video that explains OpenCare >>> https://vimeo.com/162811723    Photo credit: 
    Björn Weigelt 
     
      " 1,33740,2016-05-29T09:20:50.000Z,33740,anon3132280806,anon3132280806,"The situation for Armenia’s visually impaired has, in many ways, worsened, since the collapse of the USSR. Despite attempts at isolating people with disabilities, Soviet principles of equality inspired policies aiming to turn them into productive members societies as much as possible. They could thus benefit from some level of state assistance. This situation changed, as lack of funding, and general stigma against human imperfection, (ironically also inherited from the Soviets) have made it increasingly difficult for people with disabilities to reach their full potential. General apathy coupled with a lack of political will to tackle some of the issues related to people with disabilities, particularly, the visually impaired. This has lead to the rise of civil society organisations aiming to address these problems head-on on their own. Aside from some NGOs which have been fighting for the rights of the disabled, private sector solutions have also begun to take shape. Among those is the Seeing Hands massage studio. Seeing Hands came about as the result of my previous work with an NGO for the visually impaired, where I learned about all the challenges, socio-economic problems, and stigma that the beneficiaries faced. Through my work with an NGO for the visually impaired, I found that there are 6,000 blind people in Armenia, and only about 20-25 of them were permanently employed. Upon doing some research, i discovered a Soviet-era plan to train the visually impaired as therapeutic masseurs and built upon that Idea. Enlisting the help of my friend Liana Avetian, a trained and certified clinical masseuse, we began to train some willing pioneers. The basic concept was a massage studio that capitalises on the heightened tactile sense afforded by visually impaired citizens while creating respectable jobs by training and employing them as masseurs. We also received initial support from UNDP Armenia’s Kolba Labs to open our Massage Studio “Seeing Hands”, in a new location. Though challenging at first, Avetian found that students were fast learners; to compensate for the loss of sight, their other senses were enhanced. “The receptors in their fanon1056199097rs are very much developed, their hands are like their eyes, It’s perfect for them, but the biggest problem is that sometimes they’re not trusting you easily - because if you don’t see, you will not trust."" 'The organisation is, on one hand, a studio that provides high-quality massages for patrons, and on the other (seeing) hand, it's an opportunity for a too-often marginalised demographic to get access to jobs, training, and empowerment. Seeing Hands also took advantage of Armenia’s recent tech boom, which now employs thousands of IT professionals. This creates a new demographic of well paid middle-class people who spend their days hunched in front of a computer and often develoanon3606750899g back pain. This allows us to train more masseurs to meet such a demand. We currently have 4 full time masseurs: 3 men and one woman, and 2 more being trained.   This concept has also gotten attention outside of Armenia, and we are already in talks to franchise the model across the region, such as in neighbouring Georgia. We are also considering other private ventures, of Private-Public Partnerships to explore other ways in which people with disabilities can be active, and productive members of society.   I want to note that a disability could happen to anyone, as is the case with some of my workers, and that it could change a person’s entire life. But that didn’t  close all of their doors Such social businesses are a positive example to break stereotypes about people with disabilities [and their presumed] inability to work " 2,33765,2016-05-30T12:41:17.000Z,33740,anon1491650132,anon3132280806,"Physical wellbeing and relevance to techies @anon I looked up the employemnt stats because I wondered if you meant 25 per cent of all the impaired, instead of 25 in absolute. Couldn't find it, and found different numbers (total 25K impaired people), but this only testifies to the scale of the problem. I also came across another initiative called Culture House of the Blinds, which you probably know of already. Paging here @anon " 3,33794,2016-06-09T12:21:29.000Z,33740,anon3132280806,anon3132280806,"Daer @anon here is some source about visually impaied pp https://www.armenianow.com/society/health/50049/armenia_health_blind_eye_specialist " 1,5664,2016-05-20T08:05:33.000Z,5664,anon4116418727,anon4116418727,"Nadia: Hey Marco, have a look at these two and tell me if the methodology is helpful for what you wanted to do in OpenCare? Check out Marliekes talk and slides . https://www.youtube.com/embed/4fQqX81WEQo Marco: Have gone through the presentation and slides... what they do, once spoiled of all the lexicon, looks very much like what church oratories would do in the past. That model is interesting to me... however I am still struggling on how this should be implemented in internet era, to make it more friable and to make it count. I may have missed it, but it didn't struck me as if kennisland has taken any step in that direction. Can I ask you how did it capture your attention? Nadia: I am looking for a methodology to enable people in the broader edgeryders networks to contribute to the research project from wherever they are. Even if they do not have any technical skills. So I am thinking of an ""Active Learner"" role that could allow them to set up a similar process in their local community. And then contribute the documentation to the OpenCare online discussion Marco:  OK, if that is what you have seen in her presentation (that I missed :P), than I understand why you pointed it out. Yes, learner is a fantastic role. And there are deeper parallels between education and care than meets the superficial eye. I like the thinking Nadia: How were you thinking about the prototyanon3606750899g process (your bits)? What deliverables do you want from participants? Marco:  As documented exercises: educational role games (sort of).  Nadia: Because this part as I see it would be about active learners helanon3606750899g us to understand the environments in which existing projects are working. As well as where there are gaps, what could be built/improved. I.e. they would be defining the specs for the prototypes. Massimo: I see a great opportunity to join the approach scenario presented by Marlieke and the inclusive networking power of the Edgeryders platform, as we use it for the Opencare project. One thing that called my attention from Marlieke’s talk is that they “find difficult to connect people” and the Edgeryders platform is precisely designed for that. Now imagine if the chatter from the dynamics of Kennisland gets connected into the Opencare analytics …  Marco: I understand... but that is not a deliverable from laymen, is it? That would mean there is an auditor/anthropologist working with the community... Nadia: I think we can ""guide"" the happy amateurs. With good instructables/ templates. As well as through the weekly hangout meetings and 1 visit at the beginning to help them get going. Marco: I will confess that, unlike in clinical relationships, in this massive exercise, I will be learning with them :) Nadia: Can you help me to understand what you meant by an educational role game? Or rather why you want it/ what you want to do with that input after? Marco: That is the easiest way I see to have a deliverable directly from the ""uneducated"" (so to say) volunteers. It is like documenting a flaw in a software... but doing it in society. Can we all repeat the same failure experience? Nadia: But is it aimed at showing what is broken, what could work, both or something else? Also, who is the exercise for? Who is meant to take part, who is meant to read the ""results""? Marco: Mostly at what is broke - to inform the community of ""solvers"". Otherwise, what happens is the aristotelian debate about what has been written/said, and the solution is typically useless. Nadia: aha ok so it is meant to arrive at the same place as the kennisland exercise I pointed to above Marco: sort of, I really did not see it in them... they looked to me like telling anecdotes (the aristotelic exercise) Massimo: … and take advantage of the emergence of concepts and ideas to propose prototypes, to test the hypotheses. Everything the mind envisions feels different when you experiment doing a model of it and play the game. Like the children do when they build an imaginary house throwing a blanket over a couple of chairs, then they get under the blanket and play the act of living that “house”, they naturally experiment further, making changes, adding improving to the initial idea, playing scenarios. Nadia: Hmm ok. So you are looking for some set up in which people share experiences and figure out the ""game"" they are playing. A kind of massive user-generated monopoly board game where people add the steps as they go along.  What I learned from kennisland is that you do need something tangible and visible to people who are not going to engage online to begin with. You need a trigger: something fun which can get a conversation going in a public space...One example I reallly like is: http://creativetimereports.org/2014/04/07/does-capitalism-work-for-you/ We would need some way of recording what people say, and then doing speech to text synthesis so we have transcripts that can then be posted, discussed and made sense of on platform. Then you close the feedback loop by printing (condensed versions) of the online discussions and stories on paper. And then hanging those  papers up on a clothing line or on a wall in a public place. With some way for people to reply back/ contribute to the conversation even if they are not online.  Marco: Ahahaha! Ok, I was more into D&D (or secondLife) than Monopoly... but that works for me as well. Massimo: Eventually the game becomes the incubator of a new initiative, organization or even an enterprise. It’s easier if the initial experiments are done in a non-profit mode because then allows more freedom of thinking, less boundaries. Nadia: Do you think we could get some of the brainiacs at CERN to help us build a sign like that? Marco: I will have to arrange a brainstorming internally. I hope to do so next week. That would be a nice topic of the meeting. Let me get back at you with more details ASAP     " 2,6696,2016-05-24T12:58:00.000Z,5664,anon1491650132,anon4116418727,"I find Feed Forward inspiring Thanks for pointing us to this @anon Last year in Bucharest @anon Other than that, it seems that this is not a one timer thing, that conversations would need something like OpenCare Labs as platform events, where people can jump in because they are fairly regular.They could bring stories forward for collective analysis, the part I liked the most in FeedForward. The good thing about it is that we already have great stories here online to print and get started locally.  I think I would be up for trying this, with a very ""research like format"" + good perks for participants :-) " 3,11676,2016-06-04T09:41:42.000Z,6696,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Ok cool Do you want to make the first stab at an invitation/call? then the rest of us can come in and edit. It works well too with the process we had in mind for the cern workshop (Im writing the call this weekend) " 4,12574,2016-06-05T08:11:41.000Z,11676,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Will need to partner up with someone for a target audience I think a well defined audience makes for a good test case - because there is research involved, we need to think of who would be interested to figure these things out: 1) Learn from existing stories synthesised from the platform 2) Share their own to continue the process Can we talk about this during Monday's call maanon1932026148? " 1,500,2016-05-03T13:55:06.000Z,500,anon4000965159,anon4000965159,"Zum Einstieg einer umfangreichen Feldrecherche machen sich Philipp Heinke und Milan Siegers auf den Weg zur Flüchtlingsunterkunft am ehemaligen Flughafen Tempelhof. Unser Team aus zwei Produktdesignstudenten -das sind wir- und zwei Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikationsstudenten beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie man durch Interaktionen zwischen Refugees und Locals beide Seiten einander näher branon1056199097n kann.   - 10.30 Treffen: Philipp und Milan am Ubf. “Platz der Luftbrücke” - 11.00 Begutachtung der Refugee-Unterkunft im Hangar 1-4 (von außen) umzäunt und gesichert von schroffen Securities wirkt die Speer-Architektur      unpenetrierbar - 11.15 Wir lernen an der Sicherheitsschleuse zwei Frauen Anfang 30 kennen; Sie stellen sich als gute Schleuser heraus. Die Eine arbeitet bei THF Welcome und eröffnet in dem Komplex am Donnerstag ein Café der Begegnungen. Die Andere bietet vormittags einen Kaffeekoch-Workshop für 5 männliche Geflüchtete an. Zwei von den Geflüchteten sprechen wir zu späterem Zeitpunkt bei einer Zigarettenpause. - 11.30 Endlich können wir passieren und werden zum neuen Café neben der Kleiderkammer in Hangar 1 begleitet. Dort kommen wir in Kontakt mit Pierre Golbach. Er ist Leiter der Aktion “Tempelhof Hilft” von THF Welcome. Er meint, es mangele an Helfern in unattraktiven Bereichen, wie der Kleiderkammer. Außerdem würden vor Allem alleinstehende Männer aus mangelnder Empathie zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. Während wir im Café erste Eindrücke sammeln, wohnen wir der Abnahme durch den Senat bei. Diese werden von Anwesenden unter vorgehaltener Hand regelmäßig als komplizierte Bürokraten beschimpft. - 12.20 Interessiert lassen sich die 5 Geflüchteten die Philosophie des Kaffeekochens erklären. In einer Raucherpause sprechen wir mit zwei Kursteilnehmern namens Mohammed und Faris aus Syrien. Letzterer spricht bereits erste Worte deutsch und versteht auch schon einiges. Die Beiden erklären uns den Weg der Flucht über die Türkei nach Deutschland und sagen, Geflüchtete blieben für gewöhnlich 6 Monate in dem Flughafenkomplex. - 12.50 Die Security erlaubt uns für 10 Minuten Fotos in der riesigen Halle 1 neben dem Café zu machen. Die Halle steht - bis auf das Klosystem und drei Quarantene-Zelte - weitestgehend leer. Fotos mit Menschen sollen wir vermeiden. - 13.15 Pierre ruft für uns eine Helferin der Kampagne “Trialog” an. Diese sieht es als Aufgabe an die Bedürfnisse der Residents zu erfragen und nach außen zu vermitteln. Wir warten trotz angekündigten 20 Minuten rund anderthalb Stunden aufs Gespräch. Warten, so wird uns erklärt, sei hier Hauptbeschäftigung. - 14.50 Endlich kommt die Ansprechpartnerin von “Trialog” zu uns. Sie wirkt interessiert, warnt aber vor zu hochgesteckten Zielen. Priorität der Residents sei es, aus der Unterkunft raus und in Kontakt mit Berlinern zu kommen. Ein Projekt der “Trialog”-Gruppe sei es Partnerschaften zwischen Geflüchteten und “Deutschen” oder Vereinen zu knüpfen. Ein Problem sei, dass die Geflüchteten trotz umfassender Angebote oft zu faul seien, aktiv zu werden. Als Grund gab sie Unregelmäßigkeiten im alltäglichen Leben an. Sie hätte mit ihrem Team schon eine groß angelegte Interessensaufnahmen im Bereich “sportliche Aktivitäten” und “sonstige Interessen” gemacht. Einen Zugriff auf die Daten verweigerte sie uns. Sie versprach allerdings uns die Ergebnisse noch - grob zusammengefasst - zukommen zu lassen. Nach ihren Angaben leben rund 1400 Menschen im Flughafen Tempelhof. Ein Mal im Monat komme Amnesty International vorbei und gebe den Geflüchteten Tipps zu Bürokratie und Integration in Deutschland. - 15.30 Abschied von dem Flüchtlingsheim Tempelhof. Später machen wir uns auf den Weg zur Karl-Marx-Staße um mögliche Begegnungsorte für unsere Idee eines Pop-Up Cafés von und mit Geflüchteten ausfindig zu machen. Zum 1. Mai haben wir uns mit dem Konzept bei einem Wettbewerb zum Thema Begegnungen im Bezug auf Flüchtlanon1056199097 rund um die Karl-Marx-Straße beworben. " 2,6576,2016-05-03T13:58:25.000Z,500,anon4000965159,anon4000965159,"Team UDK Open Care Philipp Hainke (Produktdesign, BA) Milan Siegers (Produktdesign, BA) Jan Stassen (GWK, MA) Taina Sondermann (GWK, MA) " 3,14056,2016-05-03T18:43:24.000Z,500,anon477123739,anon4000965159,"Very interesting Hi Milan, This sounds like a great start for the project. I'm interested to hear more. If you want to know more about how these types of system work at the Migrant Camps in Calais or Dunkirk let me know. If you manage to take your idea further then i'd be interested to hear more and see if there is anything we can learn from your trial. Alex " 4,17150,2016-05-09T15:50:53.000Z,14056,anon4000965159,anon477123739,"Thanks Alex I´m very glad to see you responding to our first insight. I´m sorry to anwer this late, still getting used to edgeryders. Indeed your knowledge arround these other Migrant Camps could be very helpful. In our research we learned, that there are a lot of programs an projects for families but few for alone travelling men. Also these mostly syrian men tend to fall in a hole after travelling and having a stressful time. Do you know these problems? What do you think how we can empower them or get them focused on new goals? Are there specific challenges the migrants in Calais or Dunkirk are facing? Milan " 5,18225,2016-05-09T19:35:34.000Z,17150,anon477123739,anon4000965159,"Similar problems I have found the same problems in Calais. Support programs aim at engaging and helanon3606750899g children and women, but young men, who make up around 90% of the camp, are more difficult to engage. It's true that we see mental health issues on the camp, including depression. These people are currently not supported through any projects that i am aware of. We are also starting to see a growth in drug dependency amongst long-term residents on the camp, which is worrying. We also struggle with the fact that many of the men on camp do not see the camp, or France, as their final destination. So it is difficult to get them to engage in longer-term initiatives in Calais. We have some success with language classes in English and French. Also, construction projects are popular activities. Language exchange seems to be the best way to start engagement, after that i think it is food. Perhaps a community kitchen where they cook for you instead of always receiving support. My days at the camp are always full of offers to eat and drink food prepared by the residents. My suggestion is first to ask them how you can help, rather than guessing. We talk to community leaders on the camp every 2 weeks and ask for suggestions so we can improve our processes. They tell us how we can help them as much as we make our own decisions. " 6,19136,2016-05-10T12:09:48.000Z,17150,anon477123739,anon4000965159,"Fitness I have been talking to someone at Calais who has set up a free community gym at the Calais camp. It works really well for mental health, engaging young men and encouraging interaction and participation. Perhaps something like this would be worth exploring? " 7,19191,2016-05-10T18:12:09.000Z,19136,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"Can we learn more? This sounds really cool, Alex. A free gym... next up, skateboard, team sports and whatever.  Can we know more about mental and social health effects?  " 8,19215,2016-05-11T15:03:54.000Z,19191,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"Working on it I've asked for them to get me some links to documents that show the link between excercise and positive mental heath. They're going to get me some internet links so i can share the here " 9,19224,2016-06-04T08:49:33.000Z,19215,anon477123739,anon477123739,"Exercise is good for the mind A few links to websites (mostly from reputable/establishment sources in the UK/US) that offer links between physical excercise and improvements to mental health and wellbeing: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/p/physical-activity-and-mental-health http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/treatmentswellbeing/physicalactivity.aspx http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/ http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/12/exercise.aspx " 10,19752,2016-05-04T21:38:30.000Z,500,anon1491650132,anon4000965159,"What did you propose as project? Google translate is not very coherent, sorry! If you're thinking of a project for people to get involved in while they wait before and after Amnesty International efforts, you might want to consider waiting times in order to filter participants in and out. @anon " 11,21799,2016-05-09T16:19:50.000Z,19752,anon4000965159,anon1491650132,"Hey Noemi sorry for my late response and thanks for yours! Our group met today and we discussed our new challenges. Last week we applied for a contest wich is about encunters between refugee migrants and locals arround karl-marx-straße in berlin. we are still waiting for feedback. what we want to focus on as a target group are alone travelling men because we learned, that they don´t get enouth attencion or the offers are just not fitting good enough. They tend to have a loss of orientation after their jurney during their long waiting-times. Tomorrow we are going to make interviews with lot of people and hopfully get new input for design tasks. Stay tuned :) Milan " 1,691,2016-05-31T21:07:47.000Z,691,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"One more time,  I am writing this story on behalf of a WeMake codesign session attendee, in order to preseve their privacy. The older we grow the more limited our motion become, and the less capable we are of taking care of ourselves. At a certain age, an elderly would need near to 24/7 attention in order to ensure that they are doing fine.  Mainly, they didn't just slip and fall down, while harming themselves or going into coma.  As a care giver, it is very frustrating and very stressful not to e able to keep an eye on the people you care for, and because it might be literally impossible to keep company of the ones you care for all the time (even at the caretaking place), life will be easier if a certain device is attached to the ones we care for, and is able to alarm us if they fell down.   Then we can adjust functionalities of what reactions does this device do after the fall alaram.  Call a certain number? Call the police? Wait for the person to cancel the alarm and announce that they are fine.    A badly designed or less functional device will make it difficult for elderly ones to put it on and use.  Imagine if someone had a push button necklace that they can press to call the ambulance in case of danger, but because the mecklace looked silly, the person never put it on, and eventually they did die at a certain accident where they could have been saved by the neckalce.  Imagine, how the care giver feels?   Could you? We need a solution that is funtional and inviting where elderly people can put it on, use it, and keep themseleves safe, while lift off some of the concern of the ones who need to take care of them.?  Imagine? Header image by Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license   " 2,8823,2016-06-02T06:29:30.000Z,691,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"A favourite of mine, this alarm signaling device I don't know which of the three solutions proposed by the community in the co-design workshops won and will be prototyped, but this seems like widely useful and needed. Let's hope it won't be too advanced in what it can do :-) and risk something like with the baby monitors - they were first simple audio devices with a clear functionality and now they're IoT machines or what not, prone to hacking and violating privacy. Curious, will the people who have already participated in the initial phase be involved in the actual prototyanon3606750899g?  " 1,496,2016-04-12T18:43:12.000Z,496,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"Listening Triads - People on the move (English translation here). Hast du Erfahrung damit, on the move zu sein? Ich habe 5 Jahre lang in Guangzhou, China gewohnt – hanon1056199097zogen mit 12 – wegen der Arbeit meines Vaters. Wie kam es dazu, dass er dahin ziehen musste? Ihm wurde ein Job angeboten – wir haben dann entschieden bzw. meine Eltern, dass wir mitkommen, weil wir uns sonst nicht oft sehen würden und es auch eine Möglichkeit ist den Horizont zu erweitern – also waren wir people on the move. Wie war der Moment als du wusstest OK ich muss jetzt nach China ziehen? Hattest du vorher schon mal Kontakt zu China? Nein. Ich fand‘s gut – eigentlich. Meine Brüder fanden es richtig scheiße – haben geheult und hatten gar keine Lust. Ich war traurig mein Zuhause zu verlassen, aber habe es auch als Möglichkeit gesehen Neues zu erkunden, neue Sachen, neue Sprache, Kultur und so. Was kann ich noch sagen? Es gibt so vieles. Es war auf jeden Fall schwierig sich dort einzufinden, weil der Alltag und die Einstellung sehr anders waren als in Deutschland. Also insgesamt, wie die Leute gelebt haben. Kultur bedeutet ja nicht nur Tanz und Musik, das schlägt sich ja überall nieder: wie die Häuser aussehen, wie das U-Bahnnetz aufgebaut ist, wie sich Leute begrüßen… Hat man gemerkt, dass das Alter einen Unterschied macht? Deins und das Alter von deinem Vater, also wie man verschieden den Alltag wahrnimmt und sich integriert als Erwachsener und als Kind? Der größte Unterschied bestand bei mir und meiner Mutter. Mein Vater hatte ja dort schon Kollegen/Freunde…sein Alltag war nicht so anders. Meiner Mutter fiel es schwer Kontakte zu knüpfen. Wir Kinder sind ja über die Schule eanon1056199097bunden worden. Aber die Erwachsenen mussten sich selbst zurecht finden. Es gab auch Support -Organisationen, aber das waren dann kurze Willkommens-Veranstaltungen und dann ging es nicht weiter. Zudem ist es für ältere Menschen umso schwerer die Sprache zu lernen. Als Kind geht das noch leichter. Ich weiß nicht, ob das jetzt zu persönlich ist…aber was hat deine Mutter dort gemacht? Dein Vater hatte den Job und ihr Kinder die Schule, aber wie war das für deine Mutter? Sie hatte keine Arbeit….jetzt speziell. Aber über die Jahre hat sie sich selbst integriert in die Gesellschaft der Eltern, Nachbarschaft und Schule…sie war z.B. im Elternbeirat. Und sie hat dann viele gemeinnützige Projekte angefangen selber zu organisieren, selbst angefangen Willkommens-Treffen für neue Leute an der Schule zu organisieren, Wochenendausflüge für Eltern und Kinder und eine Fußball-Liga. Außerdem hat sie Bücher geschrieben, so Guide-Books, die die wichtigsten Danon1056199097 erläutern: Ärzte, die Englisch sprechen; wo man Schuhe findet, die groß genug sind, weil die Asiaten ziemlich kleine Füße haben, 38 findet man noch, aber mit 42 hat man kaum eine Chance, da muss man die Insider-Tipps kennen. Warst du auf einer normalen Schule? Wir waren auf einer internationalen Schule, als experts und sehr abgeschirmt von den locals. Was war das für eine Erfahrung? Gut oder schlecht? Beides! Ich fand es immer schon einen krassen Unterschied zwischen der chinesischen Kultur und meiner eigenen. Irgendwie ist es schon auch schade, dass man nicht so viel interagiert hat mit Chinesen. Aber durch die Schule habe ich auch die Option bekommen ganz viele verschiedene Kulturen kennenzulernen, auch die chinesische. Man ist viel rumgereist und hat auch schon einiges angenommen. Man hat sich aber schon  auch als Fremder gefühlt und wurde auch als Fremder angesehen. Ich weiß nicht ob das deine Frage so beantwortet… Hast du denn dann China generell als Land empfunden, das offen für sowas ist? Oder eher als ein nicht so offenes Land für Fremde? Mein Eindruck ist nochmal ein ganz anderer, als der meiner Mutter. Sie hat viel mit chinesischen Organisationen gearbeitet durch ihre Projekte. Ich hatte nie das Gefühl, das wir feindselig angeschaut wurden, aber es gab auch nicht nur Offenheit. China hat geschichtlich gesehen nicht nur die besten Erfahrungen mit Ausländern gemacht: Im 20 Jahrhundert wurden sie von verschiedensten Kolonialmächten ausgebeutet. Wie war es für dich dann nach Deutschland zurück zu kommen? Ich bin ja gar nicht direkt zurück, sondern erstmal nach England. Aber es war eigentlich, als wäre ich nie weg gewesen, weil wir auch immer in den Ferien in Deutschland waren. Deutschland ist irgendwie immer mein Zuhause gewesen.   Reflection - Care on the move  Gesundheit war ein Thema, bei dem der kulturelle Unterschied besonders offensichtlich wurde. Die Auffassung von Wohlbefinden hat sehr spirituelle und traditionelle Züge in der chinesischen Medizin. Man hört von riesigen Schwarzmarktgeschäften, die Haifischflossen und Teile anderer gefährdeter Tierarten für medizinische Zwecke anbieten. Auch andere ‚alternative‘ Heilpraktiken wie Akupunktur, Massagen, Pflanzenheilkunde und bestimmte Bewegungsformen wie Qigong sind sehr beliebt. Es ist ein ganzheitliches Konzept von Gesundheit verbreitet; alles hängt miteinander zusammen, Banon3760936673ce ist maßgebend. Die meisten Leute folgen Prinzipien der traditionellen Chinesischen Medizin, obwohl diese nicht auf wissenschaftlichen Fakten beruht und oft ineffektiv oder gar schädlich sein kann. Was hier manchmal als Aberglaube oder Hippiequatsch abgestempelt wird, wird dort weitgehend praktiziert. Weiter noch wird eher der westlichen Medizin und industriellen Pharmazie misstraut. Als Ausländer in China war es nicht immer einfach, die richtige Pflege zu bekommen. Kommunikation war die erste Hürde. Das Gesundheitssystem war ganz anders aufgebaut. Zudem musste man sich neu orientieren: man konnte nicht mehr einfach zu seinem altbekannten Hausarzt gehen, sondern musste erst mal neue Anlaufstellen finden. Es gab gewisse Kliniken und Zahnärzte, die unter den Expats verbreitet waren, wo die meisten hinganon1056199097n, weil dort Englisch gesprochen wurde oder man gar international Ärzte hatte. Doch größere Operationen ließ man dann doch lieber in Deutschland machen oder holte sich zumindest eine zweite Meinung in Hongkong ein, dass durch seine britische Besetzung einen sehr starken westlichen Einfluss aufwies. Wieso diese Art Missvertrauen zu den chinesischen Ärzten bestand, weiß ich nicht. Lag es nur an der Angst, sich nicht richtig verständigen zu können oder gab es generell kulturelle Unterschiede im Umgang mit Krankheit? Wie unterschiedlich war der Stand der Technik? Was ich weiß ist, dass meine Mutter bestimmte Medikamente zum Beispiel nur in Deutschland kaufen konnte – auf der anderen Seite waren in China Pillen ohne Rezept zu erstehen, die in Deutschland gar nicht verkauft werden durften. Die Regulationen und Kontrollen waren generell anders. Zudem hat man erfahren, dass Chinesen aus Höflichkeit nicht gerne ‚nein‘ sagen, auch wenn sie wissen, dass sie etwas nicht können. Wenn man sich verläuft, weil jeder, dem man nach dem Weg fragt, dich in irgendeine Richtung schickt, wenn er die richtige Antwort nicht weiß, ist das nervig. ALs Arzt könnte so etwas jedoch sehr gefährlich sein. Wie fließen solche Gewohnheiten in die Pflege ein? Wie kann man solche Verständnislücken identifizieren und überbrücken?   " 2,8853,2016-04-14T09:50:04.000Z,496,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Medical practices in China Hi @anon I'm not sure I got it right (used Google translate): in your last paragraph you say that the medical system tends to behave same as the social, meaning that doctors treat patients using cultural language in addition to medical language - more scientifical language - and that makes it that sometimes treatments are less acurate? very interesting indeed. " 3,11517,2016-05-13T13:11:41.000Z,8853,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi,  sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I have to admit that I can't exactly tell you what kind of language was being used in the Chinese medical system - mainly because the only contact I myself had with Chinese doctors was always in the context of institutions that somewhat catered specifically to Westerners. Being a child, I wasn't quite so aware of it, but from what I remember hearing in conversations between my parents and their expat friends, there was a sense of fear and mistrust in the Chinese system. The cultural communications issue was one worry, but there were also reservations about hygiene and safety standards. In general, the quality of medical care seemed to be perceived poorer than the Western methods. However, I am in no position to judge if these were actually justified assumptions or if it was more a matter of perception. " 4,16058,2016-04-16T16:56:05.000Z,496,anon1526983854,anon2594564133,"Patients must cooperate It comes down to this: patients need to actively cooperate with care givers for the system to work at all. As a Westerner in China, your patterns of cooperation did not match with those of the Chinese doctors and pharmacists. You could not collaborate effectively: a doctor would tell you ""yes, try this"" when they meant ""I don't know"" or ""there's nothing that can be done"". And you would not understand, and this would lead to misfiring and frustration.  I can only imagine how much worse this is for people on the move in a less secure position: economic migrants, refugees etc. They must find Western carers (doctors, nurses, social workers) very hard to read. " 5,17648,2016-05-13T19:35:32.000Z,16058,anon2594564133,anon1526983854,"Hi Alberto, sorry for taking so long to reply. You make an important point! This issue works the other way around as well of course, there has to be a mutual understanding between care givers and care takers. Do you know anyone who might know how the situation is in the context of refugees? I believe the project group of @anon " 6,18415,2016-05-13T13:27:17.000Z,17648,anon70625510,anon2594564133,"Yes I think Alex, Yara and Mousab might know? anon3606750899g @anon " 7,20163,2016-04-24T02:50:16.000Z,496,anon3925358310,anon2594564133,"An Insider's View Hi Pauline,  First of all, I am very happy to know that one of my classmates has been to my country and lived there for so long! Secondly, please trust me when I say I totally understand how much trouble and frustration you and your family might have faced. I have studied in the USA for over six years now, and it was very difficult for me in the beginning. However, at least America is organized and has more serious regulations. On the other hand, China is this crazy place with things that I don't even know how they work XD.  The healthcare system and medicine and food safety are two of the most serious issues that is occuring in China right now (along with hundreds of other ones...). If you think about it, China is a country that is both old and young. Modern medicine, science, social structure, and etc didn't become a thing until very recent in the history. The China now was established in 1949, and after that the country went through a four-year famine and a ten-year cultural revolution. By the beginning of 1980s, the entire country was behind on technology, education and many other things. Medicine -- a crucial area  -- unfortunately brought harm to many people due to the doctors' lack of professional knowledge. Many people in my generation, including one of my best friends, suffer hearing loss because of antibiotics over-use. I have a permenant arm injury myself because of the improper obstetrics practice.  Today, the relationship between the doctors and the patients are super intense in China. The patients and their families would blame everything on the doctors and the hospitals if they think they are not treated ""correctly"". There are even groups of so called ""professionals"" who are paid by the patients' families to make a mess at the hospital: break things and even physically harm the doctors.  I am not quite sure exactly how this works, but it seems to me that Chinese doctors like giving the patients all kinds of pills. It is very common in China to see a doctor just for a common cold, and you would recieve medicine for that (I never took anything when I was sick in America). People say that the doctors recieve benefits from giving medicine, but don't mark my words on this. I can definetly do more research later. And then, there is the question of how safe the drugs and vaccine in some places are. But I'm afraid that is out of my knowledge.  I'm not sure if any of this information is helpful. But one thing for sure, it is not just because you and your family are foreigners that getting a treatment is confusing and frustrating, it is becasue the entire system is a mess, even for locals like me.  Lujia " 8,21878,2016-04-24T10:25:47.000Z,20163,anon1526983854,anon3925358310,"Fascinating! Wow, thanks @anon3925358310, this is really good insight. I had no idea this stuff was going on in China. I am particularly interested in the conflictual relationship between doctors and patients. This could be a very serious drag on the system. Liability laws, even when they are well-meaning, end up disincentivizing doctors to intervene, especially on cases that are serious and desperately need help. One of my uncles, a gynaecologist in New York, once told me that his liability insurance was far and away his highest cost, and that patients would sue for absolutely anything. In America, you can sue for astronomically high sums, because they have a legal insititution called punitive damage. If somebody causes you trouble, you can sue not only to recover the costs of the damage done, but also to ""punish"" the offender. Punishment depends on subjective evaluation of the offense, i.e. on how deeply you have been made unhappy by the offense: the more unhappy, the more money you can demand. Unsusrprisingly,  most people say they are very unhappy, and demand a lot of money. In this situation, he explained, if you see a woman with a potentially troubled pregnancy, you'd better stay the hell away from her. If you try to treat her and she or the baby have issues, she'll sue you into a smoking hole. But if you don't touch her, then you are good. Of course, she might suffer from lack of treatment, and that's too bad but not really your problem. But doctors, mostly, choose this career because they want to heal patients, so some (including my uncle) buy expensive insurance and carry on. Eventually the premiums rose so high that he just decided to go out of business. In Europe, this problem is less exacerbated, also because we do not have punitive damage.  What is the situation like in China? Can you tell us more about these ""professionals""? Do you know of any community-based responses, like this one in Greece?  " 9,22610,2016-06-01T23:19:47.000Z,21878,anon3925358310,anon1526983854,"Hi @anon Thank you for your interests and sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately, I am not too familiar with this area. All the information I have came from the news and stories I hear. I don't recall if I have heard punitive damage in China but I will take a look at it.  With the little knowledge I have, and the experience of living in both China and the US for a long time, the impression--probably not accurate-- that I have on the health system in two countries is that in the States most problems are related to the high expense. Health insurance is expensive, calling an ambulance is expensive, there is always a long waiting in the hospital, and including what you mentioned--actions not being done to avoid suing. While in China, many problems are associated with lack of law enforcements and disrespect between people.  I will let you know if I find anything interesting.   " 10,23137,2016-05-13T13:32:10.000Z,20163,anon2594564133,anon3925358310,"Hi Luija, sorry for not replying so long. Thank you for your perspective, it was very enlightening! We studied 20th century China quite rigorously in school, so I had some idea of the political, social and technological developments, yet as an expat I always felt very much isolated from the life reality of the locals. As I said, I never really had much contact with the 'real', 'authentic' Chinese medical system, because there were so many reservations about it. The issues that we encountered in those clinics that specialized on Westerners sound harmless compared to what you talked about! Do you know if there is anything being done now to improve the system?  " 11,23200,2016-05-26T11:43:15.000Z,23137,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"If you're into how systems deliver health care.. .. well @anon " 2,8652,2016-06-01T07:11:12.000Z,692,anon70625510,,"Check out the work that weMake is doing in Milano? Hi Luise ( plus Moriel, Christine and Lujia), I saw from Susa that everyone has made great progress on their projects :) You may want to check out the work that @anon   " 3,11430,2016-06-01T11:47:37.000Z,8652,anon1743371374,anon70625510,"other projects There are also other stories in the same context of Milan codesign sessions https://edgeryders.eu/en/fatti-pi-in-l-or-step-aside, https://edgeryders.eu/en/in-p   " 4,15573,2016-06-01T20:56:10.000Z,692,anon1526983854,,"Check this out ""Disabled people need barrier-free environments, acceptance, suitable language and connection."" Hey, I need those things too. Everyone does. So: ""Disabled people need barrier-free environments, acceptance, suitable language and connection."" It comes down to making sure you do not build barriers by assuming some kind of norm. The norm is the barrier. " 1,5686,2016-05-30T20:01:31.000Z,5686,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"During the meeting we'll announce the first prototype WeMake will support in the next months.  Read more about the meeting here:  http://wemake.cc/2016/05/30/annunciamo-il-primo-prototipo-di-opencare/ Date: 2016-06-01 18:30:00 - 2016-06-01 21:00:00, Europe/Rome Time. URL: http://wemake.cc/2016/05/30/annunciamo-il-primo-prototipo-di-opencare/" 2,9719,2016-04-05T07:39:18.000Z,652,anon1491650132,,"Questions for all indeed! Hi @anon End of February in Brussels many of us edgeryders had a community event to look at what is out there and how people like us can be part of a constructive mobilization. We had a powerful case study from Armenia where @anon For me, the test is winning arguments with family and close friends whose oanon3606750899ions are a little far off from mine. What is your practical experience?  " 4,12157,2016-05-23T09:07:35.000Z,12132,anon1491650132,,"No worries about late response, glad to see you back. @anon   " 6,13009,2016-05-24T10:57:51.000Z,12739,anon1491650132,,"Well targeted, this HiMate initiative I appreciate its message to companies, makes it clear and quite convincing. Actually ""newcomers"" is the most generic, broad enough and also non-offensive term we came up with for this OpenCare challenge. It turns out that most of us have fit that category at some time in our lives. I only wanted to point out that projects looking at integration of sorts might need to acknowledge that those who are perceived as newcomers can already have strong cultural claims to a space because they are already shaanon3606750899g it e.g. working migrants, or foreign students settling to a space.  And so even this generous term falls short. Will keep thinking about this.  " 8,14055,2016-04-06T21:10:18.000Z,652,anon1526983854,,"""How can they happen without being forced?"" This, for me, is a really difficult design challenge. Years ago, I was living in Milan. I got frustrated because, though people from every corner of the world lived in the city side by side with me, almost all of my friends were white Italians like myself. WTF? With a small group of global friends, we responded by throwing a party. The idea was:
    • dance to world music, not just Euro Techno or Detroit House or whatever was in vogue in 2011;
    • stress the ""everyone welcome"" theme
    • the core group of non-italians, globalised Italians and second-generation Italians would advertise their presence. This was to let people know that (1) no matter where they came from, they would not be the only foreign-looking people in the room, and (2) no, this was not a party of the anon948101822trean community, or the Peruvian community; it was a party of the Milanese community, just some Milanese happened to be of anon948101822trean or Peruvian background. 
    I mentioned it in my blog: And so, with a small group of Milanese from all over the world we decided to organize a party to celebrate the diversity of our country and our city. We called it Vuka, which means “Arise!” or “Awaken!” in the Zulu language; and we are going to throw it tomorrow, Tuesday March 22nd at 10 p.m. sharp, at Casa del Pane di Corso di Porta Venezia 63 (map). We designed it as a club night for dancing to the sound of the most cutting-edge clubs of Lagos, Karachi and Barletta [a small town in the south of Italy]; and where the Milanese of any origin are welcome and respected. Join Medhin (Milano–Asmara), Nadia (Stockholm), Dan (Johannesburg), Davide (Verona-Sydney-Osaka) and myself to dance away to the world’s beat in a space where everyone’s welcome, and our many differences of living out Milano power up the party. It worked pretty well! But then, we left the country and could not continue with the experience  :-) " 9,17006,2016-04-06T21:53:30.000Z,14055,anon477123739,anon1526983854,"I wish i could have come to that party! It's sounds like so much fun " 10,18165,2016-04-06T22:30:00.000Z,17006,anon1526983854,anon477123739,"We can make one! It was great fun. But, hey – we know so many global people now! We can just make more parties like it. In fact, I have half a mind to throwing one in our place this summer... I am sure you can find a DJ in Calais, @anon I also still like the title: Vuka! (apparently it means ""arise"" in Zulu – or so our South African friend Dan maintained). It's a cool word. " 11,19778,2016-04-07T06:40:40.000Z,652,anon1061021150,,"It gets even worse when I talk to my friends who migrated from Poland and who, living surrounded by people from Arabic countries, India, Pakistan, radicalise even more. One of my friends, after 3 years of living and working in the UK, says that indeed, these people are sometimes good, but the best thing for all of us is to stay away from each other and keep our pure cultures and races. And that it worries him blond girls decide to sleep with black guys. I know I come from an extreme country, where 96% of the people are Poles, and we're all white and catholic - and now imagine even with this huge anon3003844599 of migration, only some of these people will bring back some good stories of the others. It really makes me wonder that if the stories do not help, if own experiences do not help (wait, I even have a friend living in Brussels who didn't join us on the LOTE evening because it was in Molleenbeck), then how do we make people trust each other and grow a positive, open, supportive, inclusive society?  It is also a challenge to create this environment for meetings that would not feel like encountering something exotic and different due to some voyerist instincts - I used to work in italy for an NGO and we organised human libraries there, but even though it is some sort of step for people to have a chat with migrants from Ghana and Bangladesh, to meet transvestites and gay community members, it felt a little bit like a show. These people run into each other on the streets, you see them every day - why so many of us decide not to interact, discover and understand them? It's a puzzle.  " 12,21716,2016-04-07T07:50:03.000Z,19778,anon1526983854,anon1061021150,"Whoa Well, your friend certainly got me wrongfooted. He thinks we should all keep separate to keep cultures pure, yet there he is, a catholic Slav in an Anglo-Celtic protestant country. He does not like the idea of blonde girls sleeanon3606750899g with black guys, but I am sure he, like most men of any shade, enjoys the sight of a pretty black woman. Very hard to argue on these basis.  We can only hope that the people bringing back the good stories will be more credible and cooler than those bringing back the bad ones. This way, we can win over more of the new generation – aim at cultural hegemony, in other words.  People who believe in cultural purityafter the age of 18? I am afraid they are a lost cause. I do not recommend investing time in trying to change their mind. That's their loss: they are going to miss the music and the food and the laughter and the glorious diversity in Vuka!  " 13,22652,2016-04-17T10:44:20.000Z,21716,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"On proving your close ones wrong @anon  I decided not to break a friendship when I saw a (rather distant) friend of mine was a supporter of a right wing extremist social group on facebook. I guess, like Alberto explains above, I was giving up on any possibility to change their mind. The fact of the matter is, and I've tested it before, that you can't beat emotional arguments with rationality. Honestly, that feels like a dead end.  But maanon1932026148 one still needs to at least make a case before deciding to tolerate attitudes around you that go deeply against your owns. Mea culpa. " 14,24385,2016-04-18T10:18:18.000Z,652,anon1061021150,,"I am not convinced about this particular choice I have made - in fact, I am mostly deeply irritated during these debates.But it helps me escape the bubble I live in, inhabited by people that agree with each other. Though, I am still pretty far from understanding why they think what they think.  " 15,26012,2016-04-24T12:02:18.000Z,652,anon106478308,,"wow that's a tough one Really hard one: We have a flag over our head, marking our belonging to a certain group of people with common ""values"", the first one being same nation based on tradition/culture, language and everything else (while in fact the flag only marks the territory owned by a certain power structure). Then the bigger group of religion and even bigger group of race. We have been conditioned to think in certain patterns (mostly as means of control and achieving power by few) and great majority of people don't have time/will to question all those things. Not even counting that, just take into consideration collective history, how many bad past experiences have their been? We Europeans have destroyed and dominated every other culture we encountered in our ""benign attempts to civilise them""(if we had means to do so). All those things are big obstacles, it will take a loooooong time i believe before we undo several thousands of years working against us. The only way to truly build bridges between communities is to  have them work together, eat together, talk and exchange knowledge about each other. (even then you might get an incredible reaction like ""hey Mohamed is such a nice guy...FOR a Morrocan"", so one stops regarding him as a foreigner but  he stays an exception, he is UNLIKE those others :). All those divisions are totally unnatural if you ask me, in fact it is beneficial for human species to mix as much as possible, greater mixture of genes leads naturally to better results and greater mixture of cultures/difference of experiences is of immense value. I dont really have a flag above my head, i am a human and i believe all humans have equal value but it took me years to realize that and bear in mind i question everything, even my own actions, thoughts, feelings. So maanon1932026148 travelling inwards might solve issues as well? Asking important questions to ourselves or others like: Why do i keep distance from this person? What is the origin of my fear, mistrust, why am i judgemental? Again, how does one accept the idea that he/she is wrong in some fundamental ways? Ego is an obstacle :). " 1,672,2016-04-25T16:51:07.000Z,672,anon1183368661,anon1183368661,"I'm Jean-Paul Dossou, from Benin in West-Africa.  Some wise people do perceive already the unsustainability of the current health care provision organization in western developped countries, but this is the dreamed model, that developanon3606750899g countries are running to. Is it possible to ""jump a generation"" in the organization of health care provision in developanon3606750899g countries? This is the underlying question of the ""modern"" collaborative care expriences we are going to share in this post about Coeur d'Or. As a short backgrund, Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) induce yearly about 17 millions of deaths. Over 75% of those deaths occur in LMICs where risk factors are highly prevalent and the health system is poorly adapted to deal with chronicle and highly expensive emergent conditions. In Benin, the prevalence of high blood pressure is about 30%. Health promotion on this poorly funded issue, in this limited resource setting, requires innovative communication tools. To this end, Cœur d’Or (www.facebook.com/groups/coeurdor/ ) was created in 2011, to test the feasibility of using social media for providing promotional and preventive care against CVD in Benin, in a collaborative way. We aim here to present briefly Cœur d’Or , and some lessons learned so far. We use a case study approach based on participatory observation, (in) formal in-depth interviews with different stakeholders and documents reviews on the solution.  Social media analytics tools are used for the quantitative analysis of the profiles of the solution users and activity. Cœur d’Or is an open Facebook group of 21615 members, mainly from Benin (West Africa). It runs as a tool of keeanon3606750899g in touch with a huge number of the community members, allowing for a double-sense communication, spreading cutting-edge information on CVDs and building a community-based leadership on CVD. The targets are young, mainly from urban and semi-urban areas, educated and active on social media. They connect to the platform using mainly smartphones.  A wide range of subjects related to CVDs and Non-Communicable Diseases are discussed from several perspectives. Members can initiate a discussion stream, receive inputs from several profiles of members and get a summary from a medical expert based on key evidence-based prevention measures against CVD. The group stands also as a social mobilization and community participation tools influencing the agenda setting at the national level. It is currently a member of the Multisectorial National Committee against NCDs in Benin, as a leading actor supporting the organization of national campaigns against CVD in Benin each year since 2011.  Using its online critical mass and its growing network in traditional media and several public and private institutions, the group is capable of mobilizing each year since 2013 material and financial resources up to 25,000 € to organize offline activities such as a walk (about 5000 participants each year), risk factors screening, interactive conferences during the world heart day. All those activities help at reaching people that are not active online and are done with the leadership of members that are not health workers. The rapid development of telecommunications improves the access of a growing number of people to Internet and social media. A critical mass of the group improves its political influence and creates a web tool that can help for a viral diffusion. Cœur d’Or demonstrates the feasibility of using social media as an innovative approach for offering promotional and preventive care on health issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It opens new windows for thinking and dreaming again for an effective community participation in all its dimensions in the global south. Thank you very much for your comments and questions. " 2,8193,2016-04-25T21:27:34.000Z,672,anon1526983854,anon1183368661,"Impressive! Welcome, @anon I wandered a bit within the group (also applied to join). It has all the glory and the traps of Facebook itself: super-easy to join (and that helps your numbers), very mobile-friendly, but also difficult to sort out, with important content mixed with personal stuff like birthday parties and  even spam (as I write this, someone calling themselves ""Marcel Enyonam"" is offering cheap loans on about ten posts). My main question is: do you get people exchanging about their experiences as patients (or perhaps care givers, like parents or adult children of patients)? How do they collaborate, and on what? I scrolled down a while, but I did not find much. But then, I am not a power user of Facebook, maanon1932026148 it's just me :-)  " 3,15220,2016-04-26T05:18:07.000Z,672,anon1491650132,anon1183368661,"Tell us about the walk Hi Jean-Paul, a warm warm welcome to Edgeryders, we didn't have a chance to meet in Brussels last Feb I think. Impressive indeed, how many community organisers are needed to cater for a group of >21000? What I like most about your initiative is that you organise offline gatherings like the walk, and I'm curious how they work, if you learn new stories. For example, some people here in the community mentioned how for them health- or social care is about reciprocity: People help other people in need and receive help when the time comes when they need it. Do you know how the people in your group relate to care? Is it a service or more a commmunity that they are part of? Thanks again! " 4,21489,2016-05-01T17:13:43.000Z,672,anon1183368661,anon1183368661,"Thanks Alberto and Noemi for your comments It is amazing to read you, as you raise sharply some key concerns that the group is facing. 1- How do we help? The facebook group is just one of the means/tools of the group. As a group, with the resources available for us and the main gaps identified at the national level, we focus on promotional and preventive care. We concentrate in this group, global and local evidence relevant for anyone to prevent cardiovascular diseases.   Beyond the key ""theoretical"" principles of WHO, we try to find out, how to raise and to support the motivation of people to change sustainably their dangerous behaviors. There is a need to find the right banon3760936673ce between specificity (focus on the main purpose of the group) and attractivity (diversity of topics and angle of view, pictures, news etc..) in such a way that users have a feeling of distraction while they are exposed to the key messages of prevention of CVD. I perceive that in my context, Facebook is first of all used in for distractive purposes.  The online facebook group, is not a tool for curative or palliative care such as online consultations with drug prescriptions. Medical doctors are involved in the discussions and if required, they can give offline, specific orientations to go for curative consultations; but discussions in the group, do not involve curative or palliative care. 2- How do we collaborate? Online, each member has the right to share what matter for him, that is related to the focus of the group. This can be a question, a picture, a video, a comment etc... The use of this right of free expression in such a group is not so high everytime of the year. If you scroll down further, you will find periods of high participation  on some specific subject with high interest and later some period of low or no engagement. This depends on several factors, that we are still learning about. I attach to this comment a screenshot that presents a collaborative construction of an answer to a question raised in the group. I can send to you the whole power point if you want. 3- Dealing with the traps of facebook, how? Facebook is the social media that lot of people use in sub-Saharan Africa. The way they use it, seems to be more diversified and intensive than in Europe for instance. Other social media like twitter have a much lower audience in sub-Saharan Africa. So we use Facebook as an important collaborative platform in Coeur d'Or, with the risks that you mentioned including spams. The facilitation team has a critical role to cure the wall of the group. This team has to approve all the primary posts, but can not approve comments before their publication. The team has, however, to be vigilant to remove all the inappropriate comments regularly. Private birthday posts are treated as not alway treated as inappropriate. We tolerate them some time for active members as a mean to reward them and to sustain their motivation to collaborate more in the group.  4- Offline events. We realized early in our learning process in the group, that online presence alone is not going to help us reaching our goals. We organize collaboratively offline events: physical activities (walks), risk factors screening, interactive conferences and workshops. All those events are organized by members of the group. We use the online tools to recruit members who want to collaborate in the organization. We share with them some key principles and support. We use the online tools as well for advertisement of the events. The access to all the physical event is free of charge. We use a collaborative process to raise the funding, using members of the group that has skills and key positions in potential funding structures. By doing so, we were capable of raising up to 25000 dollars in 2015 to organize physical events. This is happening in a context where the ministry of health do not have any internal budget for this kind of event. The local representation of WHO makes about 2000 dollars only available for this kind of event. In the organization of those offline events, community members hold a lot of power in the process. We still have a lot to learn, about this experience. Thanks for your attention. I'm very interested in learning from your reactions, analyses, and suggestions. Thank you for being here with me. " 5,21684,2016-05-03T17:22:21.000Z,21489,anon1491650132,anon1183368661,"Running like a well oiled machine Thank you for the detail, it seems you have figured a lot out over the years. Also, as you can see Alberto and I are very much into communities, so for me the question is always around the ""how"", how people organise, how you get things catering to such a large group. And I know from experience that moving from the online to running offline activities is suprisingly hard - some people to the first great, some people to the second one great, but being able to pull off both seems like a big win.  And the banon3760936673ce for you seems to be in doing prevention in a fun way: ""There is a need to find the right banon3760936673ce between specificity (focus on the main purpose of the group) and attractivity (diversity of topics and angle of view, pictures, news etc..) in such a way that users have a feeling of distraction while they are exposed to the key messages of prevention of CVD."" And in collaboration, which is our bet too for edgeryders. What do others think? " 6,23162,2016-05-17T17:45:01.000Z,21489,anon1526983854,anon1183368661,"Different online cultures... That's very informative, @anon It seems that in the USA and Europe there is a ""middle generation"": people that got on the Internet when it was still relatively new, let's say before 2006. Those people managed to see the tail end of the noncommercial Internet; and they remember what it means for using a website to to be ""hard"": slow dialup connections, textual interfaces, floppy disks with vintage browsers like Mosaic and Netscape. These people make good online collaborators; they go for content and community, and if they need to work a little harder to get it they will. This means they will forgive you websites like Edgeryders, that do not have the usability firepower of Facebook.  Younger people here are harder to engage. They have never known anything but superfast Internet with integrated video, always available on their smartphones. They do not miss the free, noncommercial web of the early days, an  have less patience for minor technical flaws.  From what you say, Africa skipped the early phase of the Internet. Almost everyone who is online now got online in the last 5 years. They have never known anything but Facebook. It is the only game in town.  Hmmm.  " 1,33738,2016-04-05T11:45:49.000Z,33738,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"War is like a dirty toilet that no one wants to clean someone said... Violence begets violence and war is the ugliest human invention. For the past  4 days our lives here in Armenia have turned upside down...Things are calm in Yerevan but the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is on everyone's mind. Most people know at least someone who is on the front lines, mostly 18-20 year old boys serving their mandatory 2 year service,  though hundreds of volunteers and army reserve forces are joining. It’s hard to shift my mind and concentrate on work at all in this situation...I've been idly browsing and refreshing the news (local - only official info that is of course censored, intl - absence of reaction and investigative journalism, and azeri- misleading statements and false accusations) since Saturday morning when the shootings began. Even though me and most of the people I know haven't really grasped the reality in this information blockade, this is war...this is what war looks like...and I do remember the consequences of the Karabakh conflict too well, even though I was only 6 when it started... First thing on my mind - I do not want my daugher to witness the horror we've been through...second thought - Armenian and Azeri people should gather at the border in masses and have free hugs...third thought - war is inevitable, this is the reality, people too brainwashed by their governments, full of false patriotism, nationalism and machism...peacemaking failed once again... We dance and send our children to fight the enemy, this is the only way...both sides consider each other agressors and feel the necessity to protect themselves/reclaim their lands....false declarations of ceasefires, provocative war crimes, rejoicing in the losses of ""the enemy"" just like in a football match and asking the gods to protect our boys on the frontline...and the international community that can only do so much  as to ""condemn"" the violence... Thoughts and prayers are not enough here. An escalation of this situation may lead to a full blown war that can set this region back for decades. As I am too paralized to form my own thoughts, I'll just quote some of the most objective and reasonable comments I've seen on the internets in the ocean of misleading and incorrect information for the past couple of days. We need all the attention and help we can get to spread the message out to the world to ""illustrate that an oil-rich country whose leader sucks the blood of his own people to add to his growing personal coffers, who stifles freedom of speech and thought, who imprisons human rights activists and journalists, who spews anti-Armenian hate, who refuses to negotiate from a place of integrity is not a trustworthy partner. Show the world how Turkey has vowed to support Azerbaijan till the end. Remind them of our history and tell them our story. Our story through the millennia. Our story of struggle and survival and for our right to have our place on this fragile planet."" Maria Titizyan ""The timing of these events should not be a surprise. Azerbaijan's economy is in terrible shape right now. Their currency dropped 40% in value against the dollar in Janon169343781ary. Their entire economy is almost completely tied to oil and oil prices are at the lowest point in a decade. Mass protests against corruption and a depressed economy in Azerbaijan have increased in recent months. Invading Nagorno-Karabagh is an attempt to boost nationalism and act as a distraction from real problems at home. All that plus Russia's deteriorating relationship with Turkey, a strong political ally of Azerbaijan, creates a terrible condition for Azerbajian to act aggressively against Nagorno-Karabakh.""  anon948101822k Yesayan ""Armed with the knowledge of the history of this conflict, it is easy to discern that it is not in Artsakh’s interests to break the peace and renew hostilities. Instead, it is Azerbaijan that wishes to retake control of land which, due to the political maneuvering of a third higher power, temporarily fell into its hands but over which it has no legitimate claim."" Aram Hovasapyan Right now both sides agreed on a temporary ceasefire while Armenia's president is meeting OSCE in Vienna and Azeri PM is in Iran to attend a meeting with foreign ministers of Iran and Turkey...hope this will de-escalate sooner than later... Additional reading: https://goo.gl/ci3lFU http://goo.gl/x4XTSJ http://goo.gl/j6jqUe http://goo.gl/1jv07R " 2,33769,2016-04-05T17:59:24.000Z,33738,anon477123739,anon4259720994,"Heartbreaking This is awful news given all the psoitive information you were sharing with us at LOTE5. I'm upset (but not surprised) that this issue is receiving absolutely no attention in UK. I will do what i can to share stories Alex " 3,33780,2016-04-05T19:59:12.000Z,33769,anon4259720994,anon477123739,"Thank you @anon Thank you @anon " 4,33796,2016-04-06T08:45:10.000Z,33738,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"Panama Papers In Azerbaijan and Armenia " 5,33808,2016-05-16T12:51:59.000Z,33738,anon4259720994,anon4259720994,"Why has peacemaking in the Karabakh conflict failed? Answering that question requires examining the roots of the conflict, the context in which it arose, and the factors that have kept it going. This study offers some frank evaluations of the efforts made over the years to resolve the conflict, some of which have not been discussed publicly except in the partisan narratives of one side or the other. " 6,33811,2016-05-17T14:46:47.000Z,33808,anon1491650132,anon4259720994,"Thanks for sharing the study. Keep it up and stay safe, Anna! " 1,665,2016-04-15T09:50:10.000Z,665,anon4144941096,anon4144941096,"Despite being child to parents who had both been refugees themselves, that part of their past has never been openly talked about in our house.They told me once in full detail and never since. Once in a while, they would share bits and pieces of memories from all the way from Vietnam to Germany: How my grandmother took my mother to the docks in the middle of the night. The boats. The sea. How my father was captured by the Navy. The ""re-education camp"". The second try... the good people at the boarding home they were allowed to stay at. Fellow refugee children they made friends with. Attending school in a totally foreign language at day. Learning that very foreign language in the evenings. Working - and eventually not only being able to make their own living, but being able to make another person's living as well - in other words, not only having a child, but ensuring a safe and promising future for that child. That being told, I must confess, I couldn't imagine how it must be to find oneself in such a situation. If I don't know their needs and wishes, how could I possibly dare saying that I'm helanon3606750899g with whatever I think that would help them? If a refugee wishes for work, it almost automatically seems like a matter of impossibility: ""We cannot even provide our own people with jobs, how do you think you would fit into that picture?"" Maanon1932026148, that was a misunderstanding. Maanon1932026148, what was meant was rather: ""I'm tired of sitting around all day. I want to feel useful again. I don't want to be helped only. I also want to be in a position of helanon3606750899g others!"" I once helped supplying refugees with clothes. Our group of volunteers carried box after box and it would happen that some of the refugees ask to help us. We would refuse their offers and told them that it's okay to go rest and let us do the work. I didn't realise at that time that we treated them like children, belittling them, taking their integrity and giving them the feeling of uselessness. Out of arrogant goodwill. So how can we care, without degrading them? How can we help re-establishing self-esteem and self-awareness, instead of belittling them? It's clear that they know better about their situation than we do, so how can we support them in finding their own solutions and learn from them, instead of imposing our solutions on something that we have absolutely no clou of? " 2,9249,2016-04-15T13:32:04.000Z,665,anon1491650132,anon4144941096,"The ""beneficiary"" model Unfortunately this dichotomy between provider/ receiver of services is still very common in the non-profit sector. Just look at how funding applications for initiatives supporting refugees are framed. It seems that the moment you define them as category in need- no matter the language variations, you have a problem already. Curious if our friends in Milano who are now doing many workshops to engage with groups in the city are seeing this kind of differentiation felt at the very level of individuals who are ""in need"" of care? Ping @anon3612872438 @anon " 3,15984,2016-04-15T14:58:45.000Z,665,anon1526983854,anon4144941096,"It should not be that hard Hello @anon4144941096, welcome! You are  a designer – you tell me! I guess it starts by stripanon3606750899g ourselves and others of labels (I am a volunteer, you are a refugee, she is a person in need...) and decide we are all people, and we have got some job to do. If we do that, we can design the capacity of the people we are supposed to help into the action itself. For example, suppose that you want to erect a really large tent or an anon1936256132 in a refugee camp in Lesbos. How many people you need? If you think of the refugees as resource, you only need yourself to drive into the camp with the materials. Once there, you can ask for help, and chances are you'll find it!  " 4,20040,2016-04-22T18:49:44.000Z,665,anon477123739,anon4144941096,"Similar Hi Dennis, We see this same problem with many of the short term volunteers in Calais. A lot of very well meaning people want to come to 'help' and 'care', but they act in a way that robs the people they want to help of their agency; their freedom to act normally. When i first started working on the camp i fell into the same trap. I was helanon3606750899g to build shelters, but i was also a little scared for myself: my safety, my equipment, 'getting the job done correctly'. It was only by standing back from the action and just talking to some of the camp residents who were trying to help us that i found out more about them. Many of them had been engineers or builders before they embarked on their journey to a safer life. I realised that these people were more qualified than i was, had more reason to make sure the shelter was built well and could be trusted with our equipment because it was of great value to them that we had brought it to the camp. I had to turn off the switch in my head that was about 'me' and truely be there for them. But it could only be done by firstly opening a dialogue, then through mutual understanding and cooperation. As the day went on the residents who were working with us drifted away (to do tasks like cooking, eating, prayer, preparation for the nighttime, talking to family at home/friends in other countries) and we found ourselves continuing the work as our orginal team. That was the moment that we really started to help them. We could treat this task as a job, we could committ 100% of our time and resources to finishing the job quickly, because that's why we had come out there. As a result 16 people had a drier, warmer place to sleep that night. But we could have walked on site, dropped all the materials and equipment off and sat drinking chai and talking to the residents for the whole afternoon whilst they built the shelters themselves and we would have been just as helpful, just as caring, just as useful to the people. People first, mission second. " 5,23723,2016-04-24T00:35:22.000Z,665,anon3925358310,anon4144941096,"It's a two way street Hi Dennis, My comment has little to do with refugees, but this project I did last semester back in New York was about the relationship between the provider and the receiver as well.  The area I focused on was disability. I interviewed a few people on the street who were in a wheelchair, and did a half day experiment rolling myself in a wheelchair. It was quite an experience I have to say. I suddenly found myself shorter than everyone else -- both physically and psychologically. Many people offered me help, and of course I told them the truth, but I felt if I were really disabled, I wouldn't simply say yes because I wouldn't want to trouble others and would want to be as independent as possible. On the other hand, when I see a handicapped person, and a few of my classmates agreed on this, sometimes I am not sure if I should help him/her because I don't want to assume that they can't perform certain actions and offend them.  As time goes on, I realize the unbanon3760936673ce in the relationship between the abled and the disabled. The abled is always the benefit provider and the disabled is always the benefit receiver. Hence, this automatically, like you mentioned, ""belittled"" the handicapped. Therefore I began to think some solutions that can make the disabled offer something back so that the relationship between these two group could be even. We didn't spend much time on this project so my answer to my question might sound cheesy.  I focused on wheelchair only, and added a heart-rate monitor on the handle so that the person who pushes the wheelchair could use that time to work out.  Here is the link to the commercial I made for the product. Hope this gives you some inspirations :).  https://vimeo.com/142760828 Lujia " 6,24875,2016-04-24T10:33:52.000Z,23723,anon1526983854,anon3925358310,"Thinking in the right direction I am no expert, but I think you are on to something @anon3925358310. This idea of everyone being simultaneously care giver and care receiver is the cornerstone of OpenCare. The commercial is cute too!  " 7,26014,2016-05-10T17:37:58.000Z,665,anon4144941096,anon4144941096,"Imposed Boredom & The Autonomy to Act Hi Everyone! Thank you all for your responses! I'm afraid, I haven't yet caught up with the whole routine, so sorry for my impoliteness of answering late.. We (the project group I'm part of) have been visiting a refugee camp in Berlin and had the chance to get in touch with a number of the people there. It seems like most projects with refugees focus on families and children, whereas the young men are being left out. How is the situation in other places? Has anyone made the same experiences? If that were the case, we would frame our research around working together with these young men. Right now, we're in contact with a group of Syrians, around 25-32 of age, who have given us insights on daily life in the camp but also daily life in Syria and we have spoken about the small moments that create the feeling of home. Since they are living in these rooms, which basically consist of for walls, no ceiling and four double beds, they themselves had already hacked the space in a way that would make their environment feel a bit more homey (or at least more practical). Seeing them already understanding the space and having the ideas to improve it, what more could they do and make, were they only given the material and the tools? Boredom and the feeling of not being able to progress seems to be the biggest problem, so they were welcoming the idea of getting active and being able to do something - anything - and when there's a result that is useful in their very situation, it's even better. At this stage, it's not about practical matters anymore, but it seems more like a search for emotional autonomy. " 8,26945,2016-05-16T14:26:12.000Z,26014,anon2594564133,anon4144941096,"Community Garden Hey Dennis, there is a community garden called Himmelbeet in Wedding that might be an interesting project for you to check out! Volunteers can just come in during the opening hours and just see what kind of work there is to do - usually always something, from gardening to building stuff to preparing workshops. They have alot of projets going on and would be more than happy to talk to you, I am sure. I believe that some refugees work there too, or would be very welcome at least!  Actually, I just started volunteering there some weeks ago. For their Spring Opening Fest, I helped set up and supervise a little stall for people to make Stockbrot. At first, it was us preparing the bread for the guests and then they would cook it over the fire. However, some of the refugees that were there were very interested in the process, so I started to teach them how to make it. Turns out one of them had been a baker in Syria, which was great, because he showed me some tricks on how to handle the dough more easily and he could translate to the others the different types of wheat and seeds we had laid out to sprinkle on the dough. Others were preparing more sticks or making wood fore the fire. Soon, all the 'volunteers' were the ones sitting around the fire and eating bread. Hope this helped you a little! " 1,678,2016-05-10T08:52:48.000Z,678,anon3976716513,anon3976716513,"I was lonely for most of my life, I don't have anything too complicated with my family and I had a few friends while growing up but I'd never let anyone in. I had never exposed myself or talked about my feelings. As time went by I got better and better at it. A very good listener my friends called me. Even today I still find myself shifting the subject of the conversation whenever it gets to me. I tried to act like I was Ok, or maanon1932026148 I was just not aware. I had an eating disorder and a sleeanon3606750899g disorder and it got pretty bad at some points. Almost every night I'd stay in bed awake waiting for my family members to go to sleep, then I'd storm the fridge eating like 4 hungry people, go back to bed feel horrible and couldn't fall asleep. I lived like that for many years, sometimes it was better sometimes worst. I can't tell what drove into seeking help but around the age of 22 I told my mother I think I need help. She was very happy that it came from me rather than her as she was thinking the same. I started going to therapy. It took me nearly 4 months to gain the trust I needed to open my heart but with time my therapist and I became closer and through our conversations I slowly began to understand what my life was missing: love, family and friends. Yeah I've had my loving family, a few friends and a number of short romances but none of it real because I didn't allow it to be, I've never been me. 4 years later I'm studying industrial design and doing Erasmus in UdK Berlin. As part of our human centered design course ""Hacking Utopia"", my partner Pauline and I are focusing on the challenge how we might boost each other's mental and spiritual resilience. After posting here story to Edgeryders, our team member Nele was recommended in a comment to watch Brene Browns Ted talk, The Power of Vulnerability. We have found it so inspiring, it was exactly what we were talking about. At the moment we are trying not to have any idea of how our product will look like so that we can have a neutral research and hopefully a surprising result, but we are looking in the direction of a design intervention that will encourage people to be vulnerable and share their feelings with their loved ones. Both Pauline and I went through therapy and we both agree that what was missing in our lives was the ability to share our difficulties with our close ones. We discovered that both of us had to use objects in order to speak to our therapists. I had to put a cushion over my knees and Pauline was always keeanon3606750899g her hands busy by playing with hair bands or ripanon3606750899g pieces of paper, avoiding eye contact. We were wondering whether you might have made any similar interesting experiences/observations to share with. Do you feel comfortable sharing your feeling with others? Can you get people to open up to you? We are trying to gain insight on what kinds of stressors people find difficult to talk about and how we might make it easier for people to overcome shame and share their feelings, drawing inspiration from any culture, any time. Also, if you have any other Ideas, thoughts, articles, projects, products or whatever you think can inspire us further please let us know. Thank you so much for reading so far, Team JUS. P.s. - We really liked this short video and wish we could make a sofa that feels as good as the hug in the picture above. " 2,7551,2016-05-10T09:27:01.000Z,678,anon2594564133,anon3976716513,"JUS Team Here are the links to @anon https://edgeryders.eu/en/on-being-a-self-entrepreneur https://edgeryders.eu/en/jus-sharing-is-scary " 3,11024,2016-05-10T09:55:34.000Z,7551,anon3976716513,anon2594564133,"sehr gut :) " 4,14743,2016-05-10T10:25:24.000Z,678,anon70625510,anon3976716513,"Caring for one another in death and in life Hi Omri and Pauline, this is an interesting question. A couple of years ago I met someone whom I hadn't seen in a long time, a university pal. We had a long conversation about death because his Dad was unwell. Without thinking much of it I wrote a post about our encounter here. Check out the comments, you may find them of interest. When younger I found it quite difficult to even acknowledge feelings let alone talk about them. Especially not if it was a space where I knew I would be meeting the same people again and again. Something about not being able to shed skin and then move on made it feel like a trap. Then something snapped last year. I felt unable and unwilling to not be sad and let others know what was going on and what I needed to be ok + how they could interact with me. I unpublished it from my personal blog, but if it's helpful to you I can republish it here. Let me know.   " 5,17299,2016-05-10T13:41:53.000Z,14743,anon3976716513,anon70625510,"Repiblishing We would love to hear it unless you are uncomfortable. JUS " 6,18288,2016-05-10T15:30:55.000Z,17299,anon70625510,anon3976716513,"""Some days are harder"" ""Some may call it depression. Let’s say I am wary about medicalisation of the human condition, so to me it is just sadness. When I was younger these dips were more profound. Debilitating even. At some point a psychiatrist prompted me to take medication. I refused, opting instead to deal with what I thought might be the root causes….by changing my profession, lifestyle and social environment. Eventually I developed some resilience towards these inexplicable bouts of sadness. I would channel the nervous energy into doing meaningful work, and supporting the efforts of others in trying to do something that matters to them. With hindsight it has been a better choice for me than spending a fortune I don’t have on having a shrink try to figure out what is the matter with me…and how to fix it. Last week, the sadness returned. This time I am unable to find solace in the work. I am unsure as to why. It is not dramatic and there is no cause for alarm. However, I’ve noticed that the less time I spend on online, the better I feel. In part I think it is because communication for work purposes and to stay in touch with people about whom I care increasingly happen in the same channels. Which is not sustainable in the long run. So I am leaving Facebook, Twitter and linkedin for now. I will not cancel my accounts, but will not be checking them on a regular basis or keeanon3606750899g them updated. If you wish to stay in touch with me you have several choices: 1) To be kept up to date with information about Edgeryders, unMonastery and future projects and opportunities I am involved in building, subscribe to Nadia at Work. 2) If you are interested in reading me on more general topics like culture, tech, politics, art, religion, science, travels and life in general, subscribe to  News from Nadia. 3) If you want to hang out you can always call me on skype (my alias is: niasan) or come visit me in Brussels, where I now live. I do hope you will choose to stay in touch one way or another. To those of you who choose otherwise, thank you for the time we have spent together- I do wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again sooner rather than later. With love, Nadia"" " 7,18722,2016-05-14T13:44:52.000Z,18288,anon3976716513,anon70625510,"Thanks for sharing Your insights are important to team JUS. " 8,20198,2016-05-10T10:56:57.000Z,678,anon1526983854,anon3976716513,"All about humans Great sharing, JUS team and @anon I am out of my depth: I have been sad but never depressed, exhausted but never burnt out. I have emotions, but they never seem to become medical conditions somehow. Lucky me.  But many people seem to think it's the human touch that makes the difference in care. Even the best designed sofa will not make you any less lonely.  The point is made (towards 12.00) by @anon https://www.youtube.com/embed/uuLxaDIOVZE?rel=0 " 9,22165,2016-05-14T14:08:32.000Z,20198,anon3976716513,anon1526983854,"Thank you for your kind words This talk is very intersting  " 3,14906,2016-05-10T15:21:39.000Z,504,,,"LET´S TRY IT OUT! What about a picknick? everybody could bring something to ear / drink will interaction take place:)? " 4,17481,2016-05-12T10:31:57.000Z,14906,anon70625510,,"When? Maanon1932026148 Create a Meetup so we can push it out? Hi Marie, this looks interesting, I am back in Berlin on the 17th-27th and would certainly join you if you did it on any day except for the 18th when I am at an all day meeting.  To get more people on board I suggest creating an event on the Meetups page, and we can use social media to let Berlin know about it :so more people join :) The instructions for how to add another event to the page are at the bottom. Ask if you need help!  " 6,18700,2016-05-13T09:10:59.000Z,18381,anon70625510,,"Oh not a big event, just letting a diverse group of people know I just thought it would be a nice way to meet new people and just hang out in a natural, uncontrived way if people can easily invite their friends... " 1,5651,2016-05-12T15:10:10.000Z,5651,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"This is mostly for @anon2774142051, but in the spirit of working out loud... OpenCare will produce some software to look at online conversations. The first step is to build a simple (non-semantic) social network representation of the OpenCare conversation, which is a subset of the Edgeryders one.  The problem: the OpenCare conversation is spread across three places.
    1. The OpenCare Research Group, originally simply called OpenCare
    2. The Op3nCare Community Group, created on 2016-02-19 as it became clear that the original group was mixing administrative stuff and content stuff.
    3. The new Challenge Response type nodes (here). 
    The solution: 
    1. Go through the Research group and assign non-admin content to the Op3n Care community group. Convert into Challenge responses the posts that look more like open care stories.
    2. Keep all of the content in the Community group.
    3. Keep all the content in the Challenge Responses.
    This is now done. Guy and I have created views to export the content database thus selected in JSON format. Accessing the views requires admin powers.
    • users: https://edgeryders.eu/en/admin/structure/views/view/clone_of_users_for_edgesense/edit
    • content: https://edgeryders.eu/en/admin/structure/views/view/guy_content/edit
    • comments: https://edgeryders.eu/en/admin/structure/views/view/guy_comments/edit
    Results are encouraging. At the time of writing, we have:
    • 54 different users involved in the conversation (includes the OpenCare team!)
    • 156 between challenge responses, posts, wikis, events.
    • 1,104 comments
    " 2,9018,2016-05-13T14:46:39.000Z,5651,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Associating old stuff to the Op3ncare community group @anon " 3,11582,2016-05-14T10:38:01.000Z,9018,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Probably Nadia It's not me.  The reason should be that we need to populate channels in order to make it easier for people to browse the website and retrieve older content by looking at topics. Now, the solution I see to not mix up non-OpenCare content with OpenCare is: if there is a way to assign older posts to groups different than Op3nCare, but still convert them into challenge responses (to benefit from channels assigned), that would be ideal! " 1,662,2016-04-12T19:07:54.000Z,662,anon2594564133,anon2594564133,"1) What is the problem/question you’re trying to solve? How does the concept of care change within non-traditional family models and alternative living situations? 2) State the ultimate impact you’re trying to have Give people the feeling that they are being cared for. 3) What are some possible solutions to your problem?                                                          Multigenerational living concepts, community meals, platform/space for interaction and communication (games, workshops, events, service exchange…) 4) Write down some of the context and constraints that you’re facing Demographic differences in the definition of ‘family’ and ‘care’ 5) Does your original question need a teak? Try it again. How can we give people the feeling of being cared for when apart from a traditional (ideal) family structure? " 2,7055,2016-04-21T11:44:19.000Z,662,anon1491650132,anon2594564133,"Temporary projects/ services or complete lifestyle redesign? Hi @anon Since you're into family care I thought Alberto's post about 3 adult couples going into an alternative living situation together might help. They are doing this as a personal project and a way of tweaking their own needs. Here it is, let us know if you want to connect to other people who have experienced this or new models, as a way to go deeper into your design. I don't know if this is about family per se anymore. Most often I hear about initiatives where you have supplementary support offered to a group - through projects that are services, like co-work/ living spaces for mobile travellers (although it doesnt get to solving the deeper care problem). A more interesting movement I keep coming across is around downshifting and how that redefines the way we relate to the very idea of family and connections - the latest I've read about is @anon Ultimately, what we crave are more meaningful moments and life-experiences; more time to spend following our curiosity. Time to build nourishing relationships and friendships. Time to enjoy the simple things in life and really experience the world. Time to be present with our loved ones, our friends, acquaintances and the strangers we meet along the way. Yet too often our jobs starve us of what is most precious — the time and space to express who we truly are — social, curious, playful and purposeful humans. [..] We believe that there is a growing demand for smart villages where we can design our ideal banon3760936673ced lives. Places where we can live in harmony with nature. We can create a safe and happy home for our families. And we don’t have to sacrifice our careers and dreams to make this happen. We can continue to build and participate in virtual companies, occasionally travelling to cities for important meetings or conferences. " 3,11545,2016-05-13T13:53:18.000Z,7055,anon2594564133,anon1491650132,"Hi Noemi, again, sorry for taking so long to reply. I'll try to be better with catching up on comments (somehow I don't seem to be getting notifications when somebody comments my post and then I forget very quickly). Thank you for your input! As you might have seen, our project group have now settled on a slightly different topic as part of the mental and spiritual resilience challenge. Still, I think we wilI keep these reflections in mind, particularly the idea of smart villages. I'm not sure I quite understand how it works yet, I'll have to look into it. Yet too often our jobs starve us of what is most precious — the time and space to express who we truly are — social, curious, playful and purposeful humans. [..]. We believe that there is a growing demand for smart villages where we can design our ideal banon3760936673ced lives. Places where we can live in harmony with nature. We can create a safe and happy home for our families. And we don’t have to sacrifice our careers and dreams to make this happen. We are still a little unsure what direction we are headed in, but I do think this relates to the question of emotional wellbeing and the starting point that @anon " 1,5646,2016-05-11T00:39:57.000Z,5646,anon295122297,anon295122297," Hello there, Edgeryders-- I signed up a few weeks ago after a conversation with @anon281534083 . I was super busy at that time, and even though I was following along on the new discussions, I was waiting until I finished a big project so I'd have time to participate more once I introduced myself: I'm Brady, and I live in San Francisco. I am currently the CEO of The WELL, the wonderful 31-year-old online community where I met John. A group of longtime users bought the community a few years ago from the corporation that owned it before us in order to make sure we could keep the historic community going. Aside from running The WELL, I am also a playwright and a theatre arts educator. I have a background in circus (I trained with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus) and as a performer, but most of my work these days is from backstage. It was some of the recent discussions in the Op3ncare group that inspired me to finally come and say hello, so I won't be a mysterious stranger if you see me commenting elsewhere. I teach as an artist-in-residence in the public schools, as well as teaching improvisation and physical theatre to adults. I'm in the very early stages of develoanon3606750899g a new project that will use the kind of theatre work I've been doing with teenagers and  young adults to strengthen emotional health in disrupted communities. I am looking forward to seeing you around this site and reading up on what you are all working on, and hopefully we'll all meet somewhere or another one of these days. (I'm happy to get messages in French or Italian, although I am not very good at writing or speaking. Reading works!)     " 2,8149,2016-05-11T10:42:05.000Z,5646,anon1526983854,anon295122297,"Respect The WELL is the topic of fireside stories here in Edgeryders, and it was already before we met @anon281534083. So be welcome, very very welcome, here.  OpenCare and theatre must be a thing. @anon " 3,15230,2016-05-12T07:19:01.000Z,5646,anon1491650132,anon295122297,"Lovely to read you, Brady. Glad you found the time for an introduction, but no worries - drop by in any conversation whenever! With Op3nCare accelerating over the next months, if you're having trouble finding info, posts or people you know where to find me. I'll be happy to take you on a tour so to speak. " 2,6845,2016-05-05T09:13:55.000Z,5623,anon1491650132,,"Nice take on a very specific group Liked the way you combined a project talk with music and dancing, and with tech - seems like a good recipe for breaking the ice. Instead of bringing people to listen about OpenCare, you recreate their usual setting and infuse it with OpenCare elements for greater learning.   " 3,14249,2016-05-05T12:19:11.000Z,5623,anon2435658896,,"side talk @anon   " 1,5621,2016-05-03T14:21:09.000Z,5621,anon3914374234,anon3914374234,"Here are some key-points of Citizen Engagement Strategy, to be followed by brief Reports on off-line events aimed at engage local communities.   Milan Citizen/Community Engagement (Feb-April 2016) Milan-pilot (February to July 2016)   Goals:
    • Enabling citizens with the project tools and opportunities, to frame and solve care-specific problems (off line presentations and workshops);
    • Facilitating conversation between partners, stakeholders, citizens (on-line storytelling/challenge framing and local activities reporting);
    • Mobilizing collective intelligence to address problems of public policy.
      Specific goals:
    • To present Opencare as an opportunity to develop personal ability to make their own care representation/decisions;
    • To get insights from users (for selecting topics and work objects);
    • To invite them to participate in co-design sessions.
      Who: Local Open Care team (City of Milan and WeMake) meets “active” communities: citizen/groups of people used to collaborate in order to find solutions to emergent social needs or care-related solutions; some of them are “territorialized” communities (as their practices are embedded in specific areas of the city).  
    • Elderly people with a common passion: dancing “liscio ambrosiano”
    • Parents of disabled children
    • Migrants
    • A “Social street”
      How: We’ll root OpenCare approach within existing networks of care, helanon3606750899g them to move further steps towards community-driven solutions.   We intentionally excluded methods of engagement such as institutional meeting or round table with stakeholders/organizations representing specific targets or interests. Conversely, we consider “clusters” of practices to identify and engage people starting from their direct experience and considering them in a way “experts” of their everyday life and the related “care needs”, without the intermediation; We’ll encourage “soft” intermediation of the Third Sector, where needed.   General guidelines:   1 | Simple   Issues (and concepts) facing Opencare can be complex (collective intelligence, collaborative approaches, openness, etc…), but the actions needed to be taken or the messages to be understood need to be simple. Within citizen engagement, participation and co-design methods, a usually reported challenge is related to bridging and translating professional and technical terminology into a language that can be easily understood and that people can connect to their daily lives and problems.   2 | Reciprocal   “Giving for getting”. Especially when a Public Administration try to engage citizens asking them to contribute to a project, it faces the problem to incentivize them with concrete benefits in exchange for their time, effort or behavioural change, signing a sort of implicit “pact”. Particular attention should be paid to this aspect, in order to avoid misunderstandings and unfulfilled expectations. OpenCare engages citizens on care-specific challenges and envisages implementing concrete solutions to be co-designed by citizens themselves and prototyped by wemake.   3 | Inclusiveness   Different approaches are needed to outreach and engage a wider public, including migrants, the elderly, disabled people and other social groups. To engage effectively with citizens, one needs to ensure that the process is genuinely open to heterogeneous groups, not only the digitally confident. This must be organically embedded from the beginning.   4 | Push approach, not pull   To involve people, and in particular specific demographic groups, we need to go where those people are, instead of assuming they will come to us. Instead of a pull approach where for instance a traditional consultation assumes that the people will go the place assigned to be (either physically or virtually) to engage citizens, OpenCare needs to go where the people are really. These are maanon1932026148 unusual locations for public administration to go.   5 | Online-Offline banon3760936673ced interventions   Online apps and platforms can be useful to engage citizens and collect input. Face-to-face and group interaction is likewise valuable for driving discussion and co-creating solutions, particularly with non-digitally savvy groups. Online and offline approaches also come with different expectations that must be considered. There are many examples of both used for diverse ends. The nature of the online and offline interaction is very different. Online information enables the quick sharing of an important amount of content and enables swift short reactions, while offline approaches are necessary to reach less digitally savvy groups such as the elderly or less educated citizens that might not be otherwise included. Offline engagement also allows face-to-face discussions, sharing of feelings and perception, the building of trust, impressions, making a sense of community, sympathy and empathy, as well as co-creation and solution building. Particular attention should be paid to understand benefits and limits of different settings.   Timeline:
    • March, 12th 2016,  Milano - Arci Olmi:
    Opencare meets an older age group used to dance old-fashioned style (in collaboration with Mare Culturale Urbano)  
    • March, 17th 2016, Milano - Villa Pallavicini:
    Opencare meets a group of Migrants  
    • March, 30th 2016, Milano - WeMake:
    Opencare meets a group of Parents of disabled children (joined to x Vivaio Association)  
    • April, 19th 2016, Milano - Spazio “Welfare di tutti”:
    Opencare meets the members of S. Gottardo Social Street " 2,6720,2016-05-04T11:38:50.000Z,5621,anon1526983854,anon3914374234,"Sounds great Ok, thanks for this.  In practice, all of these things struggle with the issue of incentives. I used to deal with structurally similar situations, when I was the director of a government initiative supporting creative projects in Italy's Mezzogiorno. The Italian govt placed a high priority on enterprise/job creation in the south. We had plenty of money. And yet, the more we tried to ""do it right"" (we chased fledgling entrepreneurs in small villages and underprivileged areas, we put money on the table), the more we found ourselves talking to, somehow, the wrong people. Monetary incentives brought out the sharks. Targeting vulnerable groups fostered an unhealthy relationship, with the people in question assuming a dependent relationship. Reciprocal, inclusive, sure, but how?  In practice, we ended up doing two things. They did not constitute an elegant solution, but it was a decent hack.
    1. We refused to hand out any money. We could, and did, point to many initiatives funding creative projects. We pointed out that, for people to want to pay for your ideas, you need to do up front work to make that idea clear and robust, and we could help with that. We were offering a free service, and keeanon3606750899g it separated from the actual funding. We did do a challenge, with a monetary reward a year. I think the small amounts in OpenCare are very much in that tradition: they signal respect, but are not big enough to distort incentives. In the startup scene, incentives are very distorted – there are even jokes about it. But the dark world of ""incentivi alle imprese"" is no joke. 
    2. We focused on what you call ""pushing"" only in the very first step of the engagement process. We would go out of our way to go where the creatives (whatever that meant) met, to make ourselves available and encourage: but after that, we would allow people to self-select. The rationale is this: like my project of 2008, OpenCare does not need to appeal to absolutely everybody. It needs to appeal to the people that build the care services which, then, will appeal to everybody. The Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic was not dreamed up by long-term unemployed Greeks: the first mover was a senior doctor in Rhodes. The clinic itself, though, is open: not only it targets unemployed people, but it allows them to help run it.
    " 3,14179,2016-05-05T09:38:05.000Z,5621,anon1491650132,anon3914374234,"Community connectors as allies Another idea is to grow appeal and legitimacy within certain groups by bringing on board of OpenCare people who are informal community leaders, or the first who really seem to get the value of OpenCare for that group. Then they become your liaison in that space, spokesperson or connectors on the ground who can adjust the message and keep it simple. That very much depends on the resources you have of course, just an idea. It also lowers the burden for you going in as outsiders. In the elderly group, maanon1932026148 Mare Culturale Urbano worked as that kind of ally? " 1,5618,2016-05-02T06:29:32.000Z,5618,anon70625510,anon70625510,"   After a talk she held at \#32c3, I asked for Marie Moe's help in shaanon3606750899g a frame of enquiry on Hacking and Making to meet one's own care needs. The reason being that we both are part of a movement to make health- and social care accessible, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.  It turns out that, when faced with care challenges, communities rise to meet them. By doing so, they step outside of our current paradigm, one of provision of care services by a combination of the state and private business. This changes the game completely to one of decentralization and reciprocity. Initiatives such as Diy Orthodontics and Diabetes Pumps are just the tip of the iceberg. In Benin, Jean Paul Doussou has run an impressive grassroots initiative to improve cardiac health using a Facebook group and Edgeryders-like community management techniques. In Greece communities are going so far as to run a shadow zero-cash health care system. In Dorotea, a small village in mid-northern Sweden, citizens have squatted the hospital facilities and started running health services for locals on a voluntary basis . Everywhere we look we are seeing a lot of radical experimentation.   Which raises some questions… 
    • How do these initiatives manage to navigate the legal, administrative, and cultural obstacles to their widespread adoption?
    • How do we ensure that the devices which keep us healthy are safe and that there is an acceptable social contract for the code that runs in our bodies?
    • Do we even know what we mean when we talk about care?
    These services and solutions often display an uncanny degree of efficiency. But they cannot easily be added to our existing care system. They are too strange: ad hoc, blurry at the edges, often existing in legal gray areas. Also many of them are small, very specific services run on volunteer basis. This has its challenges. One of which is providing continuity and coherence over a long periods of time as we learned from our delve into Stewardship.

    Let’s take the example of Dementia.

    The goal in Alzheimer’s disease treatment is rehabilitation. This requires a lot of patience- figuring out what can the person can’t do anymore, and identifying the right kind of tool to support them. If they have had a stroke and are weak on one side this may mean a cane, or a walker. But equally important, you also figure out what can the person still do, about 98 % of people “want to live at home with dementia, so the goal here is to maximize the person’s functioning independence and embed them in an environment that supports them. Right now Edgeryders is pioneering a new initiative in which we design and test a community-driven model for social and health care. We are doing this together with a number of partners which include the City of Milan (they've been looking in this direction for some time now). We start by finding and understanding some of the care services that communities are providing - right now to people that the state and private business have let down. We then ask how we, as societies, would need to change for them to continue to exist, and to scale where possible. We are discussing, among other things:
    • The economic truism that ""health care costs can only go up, never down"", and why that's a fallacy.
    • The difficult relationship between care giving and management culture.
    • Greece's shadow health care service. 68 clinics with no legal status, don't accept money and provide free health care to people out the public health care system. 
    • A makerspace in England with a diverse user base, where people find meaning (and income) through engaging with open technologies.
    • a decentralized 9-1-1 alternative built for and by people who are not well served by existing emergency response services.
    • How we (you and me and everyone we know) can help tackle some of the messy challenges involved 
    We cannot, and should not, do this alone. Edgeryders mission is to complement, no compete with, existing initiatives and people doing important work. So we are supporting busy people active in community care space to join this common conversation. We fund people running existing projects to monitor themselves and share their knowledge and learn from each other. If Helliniko had assesment that health economist could read they could have reached goal of influencing how public health system works. Their experience would be more legible and helpful to others who wish to set up similar initiatives elsewhere. Possibly even influence policymakers to change disfunctional elements in health- and social care systems: in Greece and beyond. Want to get involved? Check out the Op3n Fellowship Program at http://bit.ly/1SqgtX2. Don't hesitate to ask questions or for help with develoanon3606750899g your contribution - it's what we are here for.  You can tweet @anon More info about the research project http://bit.ly/26JAEZv " 2,6599,2016-05-03T14:31:05.000Z,5618,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Reference about the 911 adhoc response system? @anon Curious if we have any link to the story, for further info?  Good luck tomorrow at re:publica <3   " 1,5599,2016-04-27T05:10:12.000Z,5599,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"1) Are you navigating deep changes in your community and want to make sense of them? 2) Interested in communities-provided care services (social, health, technology based)? 3) Want to connect with peers and chat about actual solutions? OpenCare is a project run in collaboration with cities, maker spaces, research institutes, academia, communities on the ground in Europe, and especially individuals, which means each and every one of us. Starting now and throughout the next year we are building a community of Fellows with genuine interest in care and availability to share their experience and projects in different corners of the world. We'll dedicate Monday's online meetup to explain, ask and learn more about the Op3nCare Fellowship program awarding writing and research awards of up to 20 000 euros during the next year. As usual, the time for our call is Monday at 4:30 PM CET here: https://meet.jit.si/opencare (courtesy of edgeryder Eirinimal!)  Date: 2016-05-09 17:30:00 - 2016-05-09 18:30:00, Europe/Amsterdam Time." 1,673,2016-04-26T10:54:34.000Z,673,anon70625510,anon70625510,"The team: High resolution Photos + Updated 1 paragraph bios in profile. Noemi Sanon3760936673tiu: community manager since 2012 with skills in online coordination and helanon3606750899g people find their way. Runs Op3nHangouts, our weekly community calls.  Nadia EL-Imam: UX designer and creative strategist, with experience in develoanon3606750899g ambitious narratives and building global collaborations. Runs OpenCare social media channels. Natalia Skoczylas: our hyper mobile project manager; experienced in proposals writing, partnership building and finding funding opportunities across the network. Runs OpenCare weekly newsletters. ..you? Get in touch if you want to join Op3nCare communication team!

    Timeline for key OpenCare engagement activities in 2016-2017

    add here 1 slide / visualization

    Regular activities you can participate in

    1. CountOnMe for social media: You get an email with 3 headlines, you share them with your networks and send in your own news in return through a simple email reply. These are picked up by the official ER social media accounts (>3400 followers on facebook and twitter alike) and become the next day’s network headlines which are again spread by everyone in the list.. It’s fast and cheap. Sign up for CountOnMe here. 2. The weekly newsletter: Goes out to the whole Edgeryders community to engage them in the project. The Newsletter is sent out every Saturday morning with news for the coming week. You are expected to add your own project - related news. How:  find the upcoming newsletter-in-progress in the Social Media Group. Add your own OpenCare news (events happening the NEXT week) in the comments. 3. Translate OpenCare.cc static pages: We need project copy in another language, consider uploading your own in the google drive and it will go online. 4. Frame a Challenge about Care: From April to November we will keep launching new challenges - about one or two a month, asking the community to contribute their stories and become Op3nCare Fellows. Challenges are not limited to a number or topics, so you can improve their copy or propose entirely new  ones. 5. One Working out Loud blogpost each month: summarizes Op3n Care events led by various community members or team members; shares insights from the online conversation and ends with a Call to action explaining how anyone can get involved at that stage. 5. One trimestrial Webinar each: Please come up with an \#opencare related topic for a webinar to be held by you. This is important because it is ""goodies"" like these that power an effective engagement campaign. The presentation can be a version of what you presented during LOTE5/The first consortium meeting.  6. Challenge Responses: Please upload your own contribution to the challenges active now. Submit a new story (see Menu on the left).

    A birds eye view of an OpenCare month of communication and outreach

    No action required. " 1,33726,2016-04-05T09:26:18.000Z,33726,anon1731172575,anon1731172575,"## Leoni befragt Philipp Also ich muss sagen, dass ich nicht in dieses Projekt gegangen bin und mich mit Care beschäftigt habe. Eher habe ich mich mit Hacking Utopia beschäftigt. Also was wäre ein Utopia und wie könnte man das Hacken? Also wie könnte man Utopien entwickeln. Pflege ist für jemanden da zu sein. Wohlwollend für jemanden da zu sein, wohlwollend auf jemanden einzuwirken. Ein sehr persönliches Bsp. Wäre von meinen Großeltern. Mein Opa ist an Alzheimer erkrankt. Das hat sich über drei oder vier Jahre hanon1056199097zogen. Meine Mutter wollte es so stemmen, dass sie zuhause bleiben und nicht ins Altersheim kommt. Und Pflegebedürftig bedeutet Macht abzugeben. Und pflege heißt in diesem Fall abrufbar zu sein und so zu priorisieren, dass sich alles um die eine Person dreht. Manchmal bedeutet, dass Oma Nachts mit Taschenlampe einzusammeln. Oder Situationen im Haushalt, wo sie den Herd einfach angelassen hat und etwas Feuer fängt. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das gut einschätzen kann, inwiefern es mein Leben beeinflusst hat. Ich war ja relativ jung, als es mein Leben beeinflusst hat. Wir sind bei den Großeltern eanon1056199097zogen. Meine Mutter fand das gut, dass ich auf dem Land aufwachsen konnte und ich als Kind versorgt wurde. Und dann sind die Großeltern älter geworden. Mein Opa ist gestorben und meine Oma demenzkrank geworden. Der Pflegebegriff, den ich mit dem Alter verbinde ist nochmal ein anderer als der von Kindern. Aber beide Arten von Pflege – also Pflege generell ist mit Liebe verbunden. Meine Mutter hat mich geliebt, genauso wie sie ihre Eltern geliebt hat. Diese Liebe gibt einem auch Kraft und die braucht man auch. Sonst ist das ja schwer zu stemmen. In unserem System wird das Verhältnis dann durch Geld kompensiert. Aber da sieht man ja auch, dass es Mängel gibt. Da sieht man z.B., dass Pfleger die Zeit sehr eng sehen – sie sind für 10 min. da und nicht länger. Und dieses schnell-schnell homediensten oder Karitas, das sehe ich auch bei uns im Dorf. Da sind mal ältere Leute und da kommt ein Auto vorbeigehuscht und das steht dann mal da für 10 min. und ist dann wieder weg. Da stehen größere Unternehmen dahinter, da geht es um Jobs, da geht es um Geld. Die haben ihren durchgetakteten Plan. Der Begriff „Pflege“ ist der gleiche nur der Inhalt ist anders. Der Glaube – also nicht im religiösen Sinne – der Glaube daran, dass die Person es doch noch alles mitbekommt, was um sie passiert ist auch wichtig. Man denkt ja, dass solche Personen gar nichts mehr mitbekommen. Und da hatten wir auch Glück. Wir haben eine Pflegerin über das Internet gefunden, die meine Oma schon im frühen Stadium kennengelernt hatte. Und ich habe gemerkt, dass sie sich gut verstehen, als sie meine Oma zum Lachen gebracht hatte. Das darf man auch nicht unterschätzen. Meine Oma hatte auch sehr helle Tage. Aber das war alles sehr abrupt. Plötzlich hat sie nicht mehr reagiert. Und ich würde es daran messen, dass die Pflegerin mit meiner Oma wirklich Scherze machen konnte. Als ich meine Oma in der Situation im Schnee reinholen musste, als sie dachte, dass sie Milch holen wollte. Und ich will nicht lügen, es war für mich als kleiner Junge auch wie ein Abenteuer da im Schneegestöber rauszugehen. Und ein bisschen Angst hatte ich auch. Als ich die gefunden hatte, war ich sehr wütend – einfach nur wütend. Aber dann habe ich verstanden, dass sie einfach in einer andere Art Zeitzone war manchmal. Sie sprach von ganz anderen Danon1056199097n. Sehr konkret hing das Alzheimer mit dem Tod meines Großvaters zusammen. Früher gab es sehr strikte Rollenverteilungen. Als mein Großvater verstarb ist ihre elementare Stütze weggebrochen. Und sie konnte es nicht mehr verarbeiten. Sie hatte auch eine Art Schlaganfall, bei dem sie auch öfter meinen Namen gerufen hat. Sie war da auch länger im Krankenhaus. Danach hat sie immer mehr abgebaut. Die ganze Zeit über drei Jahre hatte lustige Situationen, schöne Situationen aber auch ganz klar traurige Situationen. Lustig war bspw., dass Haushaltsgegenstände versteckt wurden und dann an Orten aufgetaucht sind an denen man es nicht erwartet hätte. Meine Mutter besaß Kaschmirpullower, die meine Oma in die Kochwäsche geschmissen hatte. Meine Mutter war sehr ruhig in solchen Situationen Bügeleisen angelassen, Kabel verschmolzen. Da muss man eben schnell reagieren. Und auch Verwechslungen, bei denen meine Oma Menschen verwechselt hat. Meine Mutter ist Grundschullehrerin. Sie hat versucht mich relativ aus diesen Umsorgungen herauszulassen. Aber wenn sie auf Elternabenden war, musste ich mich bspw. um Oma kümmern. Im frühen Stadium konnte man noch Brettspiele mit ihr spielen. Sowohl die Pflegering als auch der jetztige Mann (damals Freund) meiner Mutter haben sich sehr aufopfernd mitgekümmert. Wenn wir uns der Aufgabe nicht angenommen hätten, dann wäre es für meine Mutter eine schlimme Last gewesen, dass sie es nicht gewollt oder gekonnt hätte. Meine Oma im Altersheim zu lassen wäre sehr schwierig gewesen für meine Mutter – mit der Gewissheit zu leben, dass sie nicht da war. Für meine Mutter war die Situation natürlich schwierig. Es gab große Einschränkungen im Alltagsleben. ## Honey befragt Leoni **Wie glaubst du könnte man Pflege in unserer Heutigen Welt angehen?** **In der näheren Umgebung?** Ich muss niemanden pflegen. Es ist pflege sich mit Freundin zu unterhalten. **Bei dir selbst?** Sich bewegen, den Körper Pflegen. Die Psyche Pflegen. **Warum musst du dich pflegen?** Damit ich gesund bleibe. **Ist es ein Problem das Menschen dieses Bedürfnis nicht haben?** Unterschiedlich. Solange du keine Probleme hast musst du dich nicht darum kümmern. Es kann passieren, dass du MS hast. Ich wie? nicht ob eine Leib, Seele Trennung Sinn macht. Man kann im Gehirn zeigen, das psychische Probleme sich Körperlich Häusern. Wir haben sie nur noch nicht verstanden. Man kann Körper und Geist nicht trennen. **Körperkult?** Sport und Bewegung ist Pflege, aber man muss unterscheiden. Dreimal die Woche rennen gehen kann nicht gesund sein. Für manche Menschen eventuell schon. Es geht um die reine Bewegung Für die Durchblutung, den Sauerstoffgehalt, die Haut, die Sonne bekommt. Für den ganzen Körper. **Bewegungsunfähigkeit.** Ich hatte eine Bekannte die im Rollstuhl saß. Sie musste alle zwei Stunden nach Hause an eine Ladestation. Eigentlich könnte sie Laufen, doch sie hat Spastiken und traut sich nicht ohne den Rollstuhl zu laufen. Sehr motivierend finde ich die Läufer der Paralympics. **Stellst du deine Pflege vor die Pflege anderer?** Das steht in einem Jing-Jang Verhältnis. Wenn im Flugzeug der Druck fällt, wird dir auch gesagt, dass du zuerst selbst die Maske anziehen sollt und dann anderen. Nur in wenigen Situationen wiederspricht mein Pflegebedürfnis dem der anderen. Das Problem ist wenn Leute nicht genug bekommen. **Wir helfen der Menschheit damit?** Nein, das Mittlere Management, macht nichts anderes als andere Leute zu beobachten. Ich denke die Meisten Menschen wollen etwas Sinnvolle tun. **Wie verändert das das Verhältnis zu anderen, Familie.** Es ist ein Wechselspiel. In einer Großfamilie ist es egal ob zu einem Pflegebedürftigen Kind noch ein alter dafür kommt. Menschen sind eher dafür gemacht in Rudeln zu leben. Es muss ja nicht Zwangsläufig die Familie sein sondern eine Gruppe Menschen, der man sich anschließt. Pflege ist ein Verhältnis. Menschen machen nichts, was sie unerträglich finden. Auch bei kleinen Kindern. Wenn du dir das Objektive Betrachtest ist es sehr hart. Rund um die Uhr Betreuung, Nachts Ausstehen. Pflege ist nie Einseitig. ## Philipp befragt Honey Habe noch nie mitbekommen dass es transdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit gibt Thema war sekundär Jede Interaktion mit der Umwelt ist Pflege Pflege beruht auf Erfahrung und die haben wir in uns, man kann den Umgang mit der Umwelt antrainieren, wenn ich mit der Weise wie ich mit der Welt umgehe zufrieden bin, dann ist es auch wie eine Pflege für mich selbst Insgesamt ist das kapitalistische System in uns ein Chaos ausgelöst Wir stehen als Generation ständig im Mittelpunkt Gesellschaft wertet ständig und Geld bewertet Danon1056199097 Man kann keine Verantwortung für 300 Leute übernehmen und man sucht sich schon genau aus zu wem man seine Verbindung aufbaut Ich rede mit mir selbst über Zeitmanagement obwohl das eigentlich natürlich sein sollte Die Intuition wird immer schwächer, man muss immer eine Grundlage von Pro und Contra für alle seine Entscheidungen haben Wirtschaft beeinflusst die Politik sodass die die Leute beeinflussen schneller in den Hamsterkäfig zu gelangen. In unseren Studiengängen entwickelt man dazu schnell ein Bewusstsein und versucht dagegen anzugehen. Tendenz zur Meconomy immer mehr Freiberufler weil die Leute realisieren dass sich die Aufgabe für Menschen die sich nicht um mich kümmern? Das gleiche gilt auch für die Pflege, man würde ja nicht irgendwelche Leute pflegen die einen permanent fertig machen, es sei denn da ist wieder Geld als Kompensation Ich beschäftige mich sehr stark damit ob man auch ein gesundes Unternehmens-Mitarbeiter-Verhältnis hat, der Mensch kann nicht mehr als 150 Leute in seinem Umkreis verstehen. Deswegen beschäftige ich mich auch viel mit Holokratie, wo sich alle in kleineren Holons verbinden. Sogar die Gründer arbeiten in Holons. Aber die Tendenz ist dass es wenige große Konzerne gibt, die alle Konkurrenz schlucken. Damit liegt die Entscheidungskraft bei wenigen Leuten die sehr komplexe Entscheidungen treffen. Das funktioniert vielleicht bei Lebensmitteln die immer gebraucht werden wo sich dann wenige Konzerne die Macht teilen Die großen Konzerne haben keine Empathie mehr und daher werden sie sehr skrupellos. Du muss ständig vernetzt sein und die Außenwelt fordert das auch die ganze Zeit von dir Es gibt so eine Sperrrate, ab 750.000 oder mehr kriegst du das nicht mehr mit, Geld ist dann nur noch Macht und es gibt nur noch diese Parameter zum darin denken. Sie oder er (der Manager/in) die pflegen ihren Machtstatus. Das ist eine einseitige Interaktion alles dazu herum ist Leere, ein schwarzes Loch. Menschen um sie herum sind alle nur noch Zahlen, egal ob es jetzt der Ehepartner oder die Assistentin ist." 2,33764,2016-04-25T11:39:24.000Z,33726,anon1491650132,anon1731172575,"Caring for loved ones (Alzheimer, dementia..) Thanks for sharing this @anon She was lucky because she had a large family and they all shouldered this, but for the two people who lived side by side with her it was immensely difficult. I don't know if it has to do with the medical infrastructure in a place, but where I come from it's always the family who takes care of ill members, never long term professional services, mostly out of duty and love. You say you don;t know how it has affected your life,  but maanon1932026148 you know how it has affected your mom's life? To give you an idea, my family was so unprepared to cope with this that the new roles they were finding themselves in completely messed up the family. It had to do with matriarchal/ patriarchal figures not being so present anymore and then younger ones having to cope with a ton of things and make decisions that they felt unprepared for.  A takeaway point from your story: love and laughter, the authentic ones, make for an important variable in any care relationship, just to keep that in mind. " 2,7849,2016-04-25T09:18:50.000Z,668,anon1526983854,,"In practice, though... Well, hard to disagree with what you write here. I am curious about the practice of care, though. What does it look like for you? How do you personally give and receive care? Is it babysitting for a friend? Is it spending time with a sick relative? How does that experience influence your views? " 2,7803,2016-04-25T07:13:12.000Z,669,anon1491650132,,"Working in groups? Hi @anon Also, @anon How can we, others in the community, help?  " 2,9446,2016-04-16T16:58:46.000Z,663,anon1526983854,,"So why? Hello @anon " 4,12342,2016-04-24T21:23:00.000Z,11090,,,"How can learn people in this society to be tolerant and patient with others. These are characteristics that I see missing for example in the context of design. " 5,16089,2016-04-17T10:10:56.000Z,663,anon1491650132,,"Does your personal experience help your thinking? @anon   " 1,4913,2015-10-26T10:43:16.000Z,4913,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"**_Available in: :gb: [English](#en) / :it: [Italian](#it)_** ---------- ## :gb: **_English version_** ![img](/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b38947b9c8a456b26cb6fea0880dc2bc60122fd3.jpg) You enter the [Metropolitan Community Clinic at Helliniko](http://www.mkiellinikou.org) from a nondescript parking lot in suburban Athens, in an area that hosts a decommissioned American military base. It does not look like much. But it is. It is a very big deal indeed. The MCCH saves people. It provides health care to down-on-their-luck Greeks who have no access to public health care and no money to pay for private clinics. There are many such people, because in Greece access to the national health service is tied to employment. When Greeks lose their jobs, they have a grace period of one year: they'd better find another job within that period, because if they don't they are out of health insurance. If they fall sick, they have to come up with something, or die. It's not just Greeks. It turns out in every European Union countries but the United Kingdom and Italy, employment is a pre-requisite for access to health care. But Greece was hit hardest by the 2008 crisis: many more people than elsewhere have turned into long-term unemployed. Everyone is struggling: “We had poor people ten years ago, too – shrugs Maria, a psychologist volunteering at MCCH – but at that time people could fall back on their families, or their neighbors, for help. Not anymore: their families and neighbors are themselves in trouble, and there's little they can do. People are getting desperate.” In 2011, some senior doctors started comparing notes, and they saw a perfect health care storm brewing at the horizon. “We knew something very bad was coming, and people would die – says Maria – so we decided we must do something.” “Something” in this case turned out to be the MCCH itself. This is a very strange animal as health care providers go. * [b]It has no legal existence[/b]. Its literature proudly proclaims: “ MCCH is a volunteer organization without Legal or Taxable status and it is not a 'Non-Profit-Making-Organisation'.” Maria: ""We are technically illegal"". * [b]It does not accept donations in money[/b]. It does accept donations in kind: medicines, equipment, blood sample analyses. * [b]It operates from a building that belongs to the Municipality of Helliniko-Argyropoulis.[/b] Though none of its employees works in the building, the Municipality still pays the electricity and phone bills that the MCCH generates. My heart goes out to the anonymous “bureaucrat hacker” that entrusted a government building to an informal group of citizens, which by definition cannot sign contracts or participate in tenders. * [b]It is very autonomous with respect to institutions and power[/b]. MCCH was recently proposed for the European Parliament European Citizen's Prize 2015, but they very publicly turned it down. Reason: ""Europe is an important cause of the problem we exist to address. Don't give us awards, change your policy"". * [b]It treats only people who have no access to the public health care system[/b]. One exception: low-income families with many children, who are living hand-to-mouth on 450 euro a day and simply cannot afford to buy medicines (Maria: “It happens”). * [b]On top of diagnosis/prognosis, MCCH supplies free medicines, baby food and nappies.[/b] * [b]It has 300 volunteers[/b], of which a little over half are doctors of various specialisations and pharmacists. * [b]It operates with practically no hierarchy and no management[/b]. People decide by themselves what role to play, by joining one of several groups (about 10 members to a group) which exist to carry on specific tasks (like onboarding new patients). An organising committee does its best to keep people on the same page. A weekly meeting votes on general issues. A mailing list deals with specific matters. * When they are not volunteering with MCCH, [b]volunteers exchange services and small favours through a time bank[/b]: two massages against one hour of English lessons etc. [b]There are now 68 such clinics in Greece[/b]. Take a moment to think about what this means: in four years, thousands of enterprising Greeks with no money, no command structure and who do not even know each other have created a parallel health care system that succeeds where the public health service and private sector services both fail: it keeps reasonably safe the poorest strata of the population. Notice that the Greek health care budget in 2011 was over 6 billion euro. Wait. Self-organised people with no money and no organisation that beat credentialed, moneyed professionals at their own game? We've seen this before. It was Wikipedia outcompeting Encyclopedia Britannica. It was OpenStreetMap pushing to the curbs Garmin and TomTom. It was Facebook groups coordinating disaster relief after the Nepal 2015 earthquakes and the Tbilisi 2015 flash flood, way before the government and NGOs could get their act together. It was Internet-coordinated young newcomers changing the rules of the political game, and even bringing down entire regimes who seemed to have all the power and all the money, in Egypt, Tunisia and Ukraine. We have a word for these phenomena: we call them disruption. They are associated with supplying goods or services in a new way, that substitutes collective intelligence and distributed effort for vertical organisations. This new way happens to be vastly more efficient than the old ones. I think the time has come for disruption in health care, and in care services in general. Why? Because, as the OECD pointed out, per capita health care expenditure grows much faster than GDP. In 1970, health care absorbed a respectable 5.2% of the GDP of the average OECD country. In 2008, it absorbed 10.1% (source). The system is under strain, and often – like in Greece, it reacts by denying care to those who most need it. This is morally unacceptable, wasteful and stupid – especially when the Metropolitan Community Clinic at Helliniko and so many other experiences like it, in the world of care and outside it, has proven how much farther communities can go in taking care of their members when they are enabled to do it. So, we are getting involved. Edgeryders has partnered up with five world-class organisations in research (University of Bordeaux, Stockholm School of Economics, ScimPulse Foundation), welfare policy-making (City of Milan) and digital fabrication (WeMake) to find, learn from, and enhance the experiences like MCCH all around the world. Our goal is a model of community-driven care services, based on modern science and open technology, but with the low overhead and human touch that communities can provide and large bureaucracies cannot. Our project is called OpenCare; the European Commission has generously agreed to support it through its Collective Awareness Platforms programme. Whoever you are you are welcome to join us. After all, if you are human, you have considerable experience of giving and receiving care, and that makes you an expert. If you want to participate, or simply to know more, [start here](https://edgeryders.eu/t/welcome-to-opencare/4858). Photo: Theophilos Papadopoulos on flickr.com ---------- ## :it: **_Italian version_** Si entra alla Metropolitan Community Clinic di Helliniko da un anonimo piazzale di parcheggio alla periferia di Atene, in un'area che ospitava una base militare americana, oggi abbandonata. Non sembra molto impressionante. Ma lo è. È un luogo molto importante. La MCCH salva vite. Fornisce assistenza sanitaria a persone sfortunate che non hanno accesso alla sanità pubblica, né denaro per pagarsi quella privata. Ci sono molte persone in questa situazione, perché in Grecia l'accesso al servizio sanitario nazionale è legato all'occupazione. Quando un greco perde il lavoro, mantiene l'assistenza sanitaria per un anno: se dopo un anno non ha trovato un altro lavoro, perde il diritto di accesso al servizio sanitario nazionale. Se si ammala, deve inventarsi qualcosa, o morire. Non sono solo i greci. In tutti i paesi europei, tranne il Regno Unito e l'Italia, la condizione di occupato è un pre-requisito per accedere all'assistenza sanitaria. Ma la Grecia è stata colpita più duramente dalla crisi del 2008: molte più persone che altrove si sono trasformate in disoccupati a lungo termine. ""C'erano poveri anche dieci anni fa – ci dice Maria, una psicologa che fa volontariato a MCCH – ma a quel tempo le persone in difficoltà potevano chiedere aiuto alle famiglie, o ai vicini. Oggi anche le loro famiglie e i loro vicini sono in difficoltà, e non possono fare molto per aiutare gli altri. La gente è disperata."" Nel 2011, alcuni medici hanno cominciato a confrontare le loro esperienze, e hanno visto una tempesta perfetta prepararsi all'orizzonte. ""Sapevamo che qualcosa di molto brutto era in arrivo, e che della gente sarebbe morta – racconta Maria – Quindi abbiamo deciso che dovevamo fare qualcosa. ""Qualcosa in questo caso è risultato essere la MCCH stessa. Si tratta di uno strano animale nello zoo dell'assistenza sanitaria.
    • Non esiste legalmente. Il suo materiale proclama fieramente: ""MCCH è un'organizzazione volontaria senza status legale e non tassabile, e non è una 'organizzazione not for profit'."" (Maria: ""Tecnicamente siamo illegali"".)
    • Non accetta donazioni in denaro. Accetta invece donazioni in natura: medicine, attrezzatura, analisi di campioni di sangue.
    • Occupa una palazzina di proprietà del Comune di Helliniko-Argyropoulis. Nonostante nessuno dei suoi dipendenti lavori lì, il Comune paga le bollette dell'elettricità e del telefono generate da MCCH. Il mio cuore batte per l'anonimo ""burocrate hacker"" che ha consegnato un edificio pubblico a un gruppo informale di cittadini, che per definizione non può e non vuole firmare contratti o partecipare a bandi.
    • È molto autonoma rispetto alle istituzioni e al potere. MCCH è stata proposta per un riconoscimento del Parlamento Europeo chiamato European Citizen's Prize 2015, ma l'ha rifiutato in modo molto pubblico. Motivazione: ""L'Europa è una delle cause del problema che esistiamo per risolvere. Non dateci premi, cambiate la vostra politica.""
    • Tratta solo pazienti che non hanno accesso al servizio sanitario nazionale. Un'eccezione: famiglie numerose a basso reddito, che vivono con 450 euro al mese e semplicemente non hanno denaro per le medicine. (Maria: ""Succede."")
    • Oltre a diagnosi/prognosi, MCCH fornisce medicine, cibo per neonati e pannolini gratis.
    • Ha 300 volontari, di cui un po' più della metà sono medici di varie specializzazioni e farmacisti.
    • Funziona praticamente senza gerarchie e senza managers. Ciascun volontario decide da solo in quale ruolo impegnarsi. Lo fa unendosi a un gruppo: ciascun gruppo ha circa 10 membri e esiste per occuparsi di svolgere un compito specifico (per esempio c'è un gruppo di accoglienza nuovi pazienti). Un comitato organizzativo fa del suo meglio per tenere ciascun gruppo informato e allineato con gli altri. Una riunione settimanale vota su temi generali. Una mailing list si occupa di temi specifici.
    • Quando non fanno volontariato con MCCH, i volontari si scambiano servizi e piccoli favori attraverso una banca del tempo: due massaggi contro un'ora di lezione di inglese etc.
    Oggi ci sono 68 cliniche organizzate così in Grecia. Prendetevi un momento per assorbire le implicazioni di questo fatto: in quattro anni, migliaia di greci intraprendenti, senza denaro, senza una struttura di comando, senza neppure conoscersi, hanno creato un servizio sanitario parallelo che riesce dove il servizio sanitario pubblico e la sanità privata falliscono: mantiene in relativa sicurezza gli strati più poveri della popolazione. Da notare: lo stato greco ha speso in sanità oltre 6 miliardi di euro nel 2011. Aspetta un attimo. Masse di persone auto-organizzate, senza soldi e senza organizzazioni, che battono professionisti attentamente selezionati e ben pagati sul loro terreno? Scena già vista. Era Wikipedia che strabatteva Encyclopedia Britannica. Era OpenStreetMap che, reganon3760936673do i propri dati, vaporizzava il business di Garmin e TomTom. Erano gruppi su Facebook che coordinavano le iniziative di soccorso poche ore dopo il terremoto in Nepal e l'inondazione di Tbilisi di questa primavera. Erano i giovani inesperti e coordinati via Internet che cambiavano le regole del gioco politico, arranon3406688078do ad abbattere interi regimi in Egitto, Tunisia e Ucraina. Abbiamo una parola per questi fenomeni: li chiamiamo disruption. Sono associati con la produzione di beni o servizi in un modo nuovo, che sostituisce le organizzazioni verticali con l'intelligenza collettiva e lo sforzo distribuito. Accade che questo modo nuovo è enormemente più efficiente di quelli vecchi. Credo che sia arrivato il tempo della disruption nell'assistenza sanitaria, e nei servizi di cura in generale. Perché? Perché, come ha spiegato l'OCSE, la spesa sanitaria pro capite cresce molto più in fretta del reddito prodotto. Nel 1970, la sanità assorbiva un rispettabile 5.2% del PIL del paese sviluppato medio. Nel 2008 ne assorbiva il 10.1% (fonte). Il sistema è sotto stress, e spesso – come in Grecia – reagisce negando i servizi a chi ne ha più bisogno. Questo è moralmente inaccettabile, dissipativo e stupido – specialmente quando la Metropolitan Community Clinic di Helliniko, e molte altre esperienze simili, hanno mostrato la capacità delle comunità di prendersi cura dei propri membri quando si permette loro di farlo. Quindi, ci mettiamo in gioco. La mia nanoimpresa sociale, Edgeryders, si è associata con cinque organizzazioni di classe mondiale nella ricerca (Univeristà di Bordeaux, Stockholm School of Economics, ScimPulse Foundation) nelle politiche sociali (Comune di Milano) e nella fabbricazione digitale (WeMake) per trovare le esperienze come MCCH in tutto il mondo, imparare da loro, e se possibile perfezionarne il modello. Il nostro obiettivo è contribuire a un modello di servizi di cura community-driven, basati sulla scienza e la tecnologia moderna, ma con i bassi costi amministrativi e il tocco umano che le comunità hanno e le grandi burocrazie, sia pubbliche che private, no. Il nostro progetto si chiama OpenCare; la Commissione Europea ci ha creduto abbastanza da sostenerlo attraverso il programma Collective Awareness Platforms. Chiunque tu sia, sei il o la benvenuta a unirti a noi. Dopo tutto, noi umani, tutti, abbiamo un'esperienza considerevole nel dare e nel ricevere cura, e questo fa di noi degli esperti. Se vuoi partecipare , o semplicemente saperne di più, parti da qui. Foto: Theophilos Papadopoulos su flickr.com" 2,10231,2015-10-26T11:56:16.000Z,4913,anon3612872438,anon1526983854,"Care beyond the concept of ""clinic"" and hospital Hi all, interesting example, the self-organizing of the greeks. I would push the concept a bit further. Some years ago, I listened to a talk by John Thackara about how hospitals and clinics were becoming unsustainable for many reasons and he explained how we should move forward and think about a distributed type of care, re-design care without hospitals. The talk I'm sharing with you is the one he did at Mayo clinic and it's worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRMYGBNIv_4 (here's a infovis he shows in the video about Obama Care http://kevinanon295122297.house.gov/uploadedfiles/obamacarechart.pdf ) He explains how ninety five percent of healthcare happens outside hospital or the doctor’s surgery - in the home, and in the community. Collaborative service networks are emerging- from child care, to dementia support - that empower people to work in equal and reciprocal relationship with professionals and without needing hospitals. He also gives the example of Cuba and how they spend on 5% of what americans spend and reach the same level of health. Then shows how he applied design thinking in UK working on Alzheimer and dementia and starting from the point of view that health and wellbeing are properties of social-ecological-context and not a something you ""deliver"" like a pizza.  Communities need to be nurtured and supported and it's by being ""in them"", not by doing things ""to them"" that change happens. I didn't have time to look for documents of his research, but im sure there's something more on the topic, we could collect. best Zoe   " 3,16546,2016-04-19T11:17:25.000Z,4913,anon3088980631,anon1526983854,"Cooperative Integral Catalunya Interesting - thanks - another example which might be worth a look: http://cooperativa.cat/en/cooperative-public-system/health/  " 4,17235,2016-04-23T14:09:33.000Z,16546,anon1526983854,anon3088980631,"Some broken links... Thanks @anon " 6,21856,2016-04-23T14:06:46.000Z,20113,anon1526983854,,"Exactly Welcome, @anon But what do you mean by ""skilled and well placed partners who are willing and able to act as brokers within the system to get things done""? Do you have any example in mind? " 1,5570,2016-04-19T09:03:55.000Z,5570,anon1491650132,anon1491650132," Present: @anon4054968747 @anon1526983854, @anon413297907 @anon3914374234 @anon1743371374 @anon1491650132 @anon3895445472 @anon2435658896, Silvia Agenda for the call: 1. Alberto’s Big Picture for Open Care Year 1: we need to collectively contribute to a post publicly outlining our work this year. If no one wants to do it, Alberto volunteers to write it Related topic here: Documentation. Even from last weeks call we discussed some of the constraints in bringing stories from the very ground (In Milano) online and the barriers to participation. Alberto: It is worrying that documentation is perceived as hard to get, as we wrote it in the proposal and now have to execute. Rossana: We are waiting to hear from people we are engaging and who would be more comfortable to tell us things that may be private. On the 4th of May we are starting activities of co-design with Milano communities and it would be a better time to collect stories. Also, video operator needs time to process the material etc. Costa: we are not active on the website, but we will as soon as we have confirmation from the community and partners we engage. The offline activities are not aligned at the moment with online activities. Our 1 hour events are not enough to onboard them - Milano events are not conversations yet, they go one way. These activities are more of a warmup, our hope is to get their attention in the co-design sessions. Eirini: I know of this EU funded project (crappy UX> sorry). http://www.innovvoice.com/ it's platform where you can post your challenge/problem and then receive comments and collaborate further on the develpment of some projects (the hacking @anon 2. Costa & Co. proposal for a new Open Care landing page (complementary to the one we have now) A very hard project because it is a meta-project: we strive not to build something, but first understand what is the right approach to solving a problem. We propose a new landing page above the content and landing pages already there. A one page website - very simple and clear and explain OpenCare in one minute to anyone. Link to proper resources so people can get more involved. Hosted outside of edgeryders.eu . Example: https://openideo.com/ Alessandro: user story example “If I’m a developer and want to dig right into the code - I should be able to access the github rep immediately” Needs to answer key questions: What is OpenCare? How can I find more info? Who is doing it? Tools have to be as simple as possible. WeMake are preparing a clear HowTo guide mapanon3606750899g the environment of relevant projects in the Care field (DYI, Maker world). Should speak to people who are not accustomed to online tools, but also the more skilled in using Internet tools. the reason of a landing page
    • this is a redirect, that helps people find relevant information, and we aren't creating a new destination.
    • the ""elevator pitch"" is hard to get
    • it is hard to find answers to these questions:
      • what is opencare?
      • how do I get involved?
      • who is doing it?
    landing page design criteria
    • it shows in a brief intuitive way what the project is and it redirects to online spaces of the project
    • it will answer these questions:
      • what is opencare?
      • how do I get involved?
      • where can I find more info?
      • who is doing it?
    • picture
    • statement that describes the project
    • call to action button: share your story
    • call to action links:
      • opencare community page
      • opencare research page
      • (github repo)
      • (youtube channels)
    • twitter feed
    • partners logos
    to do & roadmap
    • we'll use github pages (as a start using WeMake organization page)
    • the repo can later be transfered to Opencare organization page on github
    • we have a nice template (similar to OpenIdeo)
    • we'll post it on the research page and we'll manage the issues using the repo issue un github
    • only in english for now (a simple page is easier to be translated)
    • before the next community hangout will be publish and shared on the research page
    Alberto, Patrick, Noemi were OKish with building a new page, and paging here @anon70625510 for input too. Advantages: removes the technical constraints imposed by Drupal. Disadvantages: Content Experiments cannot be used – testing of comparative performances of different landing pages impossible. One more thing that can break and needs maintenance. Edgeryders does not take responsibility for web pages outside of its website. This was about it. Everyone, let us know what you think as we're collecting input before and after each meeting, so that we save some time (one hour is not enough to get everyone's oanon3606750899ions on topics). Next call is on Monday, 16:30 CET. (check the Meetups page for updated event) PS @anon4054968747 can you please re-post the link to the online room we will be using and any other useful info? I will make sure to include it in the event page. Thanks so much, and again, let us know if this conversation made sense to you at all :-)" 2,9962,2016-04-19T09:54:11.000Z,5570,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"OpenCare landing page @anon2435658896 / @anon3612872438 / @anon Hello everyone, It's a shame I missed this community call, because, ahem, well... I starting creating an OpenCare landing page myself. I developed it recently to see what and how we could do to provide info on the project to the public. I had hoped to present it to you very soon, once its layout would have been done for good - but since you mention it, why not discussing it right now and see how we can go. The page has some of the criteria you listed so far, and can still be developed. It is still under construction (need to add a footer with all credits / logos etc. for example), but the structure and the pages are done. Every information you see on the pages are excerpts from OpenCare's Description of Action (Annex 1 GA). You can visit it here: https://www.labri.fr/perso/lchiodel/opencare/ It is a Wordpress-based website, which I did with my very modest means. I share it so that we may either further use it and develop it at a higher level or get inspired from it. For now it is hosted on my personal website at the University of Bordeaux, but the website and its back office can be transfered to another server anytime." 3,11974,2016-04-19T12:00:24.000Z,9962,anon1491650132,anon2971875139,":-) Hi @anon2971875139, thanks for sharing your work with us. So it seems we have a bunch of designer heads around :-) Myself, I am not one, so I basically welcome all these proposals if you think they speak better to the communities we have to engage. What's important is that they link to the conversation website on edgeryders and attempt to bring people in, so that we're not putting too much effort in informative materials, but keep focusing on their engagement function. Of course, engagement can mean different things to us partners. The way I see OpenCare is that we don't need to speak to a general ""public"", there is no public. There are people who could be community members, contributors etc, and landing pages should speak to them. The way we quantify online engagement is by site visits and conversion into online activity posts and comments. One thing proposed at the call was to test these pages and measure the results after some time. Anyway, hope you guys can agree on this." 5,13531,2016-04-20T14:44:44.000Z,9962,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"Sweet :) It's lovely Luce, thanks for taking the time to put it together. I'll have a look in a couple of hours how to incorporate some of the elements onto http://opencare.cc " 6,16440,2016-04-19T10:23:51.000Z,5570,anon4054968747,anon1491650132,"Open Source teleconferencing tool It's https://meet.jit.si You simply add: /*name_of_the_chatroom* For example you can include this in the event page: https://meet.jit.si/opencare and people should be able to join. (it might need some page refresh when a new person joins in). I've had a call with up to 20people.   " 7,17988,2016-04-19T11:20:18.000Z,16440,anon1526983854,anon4054968747,"Thanks! Thanks, @anon4054968747, definitely worth trying out.  " 8,21399,2016-04-19T11:48:00.000Z,5570,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"For the record I am grateful to @anon1526983854_simonetti, @anon1743371374 and @anon2971875139 for input. But I implore you: do not spend more than a few hours on it. When all it's been said and done, OpenCare is a difficult project. It requires very active participation from people. Doing landing pages might help incrementally, but will not change this situation. Commercial design techniques are a bad match for this kind of problem, because they assume that ""the user"" has a 20 seconds attention span (Alberto mentioned an exact number, which might even be smaller, I forgot what it was), and requires immediate gratification. It also assumes, critically, that each ""user"" that walks away is a loss to the project. In a commercial setting, all of this is true, because the ""user"" is there to be shown advertisements. The OpenCare kind of stuff assumes that the ""participant"" is an intelligent adult, who is measuring up with a big problem and enjoys the challenge. She is not scared of ugly interfaces and even command-line ones. She understands that it will take hours of deep reflection and engagement to even make meaningful contribution, let alone solve anything. And if she is not prepared to do that, she should walk away. We are doing no favour to her, nor to ourselves, by keeanon3606750899g people engaged who do not like our terms of engagement. This experience, at least for me, goes back to 2008 (Costantino remembers Kublai, and that in turn stood on the shoulders of a simpler projects in 2006-2007). What I have learned is that smart, committed people gravitate to smart, committed people: that a challenging environment repels some, but signals to the others that they are being treated as thinking adults, and brings out the best in them; and that there is no way to build engagement other than handholding, seeking out actively the smartest people and leading by example – for example uploading your own care stories onto the platform. And that's where the bulk of your time and effort should go. Not artifacts, but process: community management and dogfooding. Meanwhile, plenty of Euro projects have tried all sorts of designs and failed miserably to attract any kind of real engagement. The extent of this failure is hard to believe. It basically tanked a whole program, called E-Participation (paper). Meanwhile, Edgeryders – for all its faults – was avoiding these pitfalls. This is why we were mentioned as an example in the working paper by Fabrizio Sestini, the CAPS program officer, and the overall failure of E-Participation is one of the reasons why CAPS looks the way it does. I really do not recommend to walk the same path as the (smart, professional, motivated) people in E-Part." 9,22370,2016-04-19T13:40:58.000Z,21399,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"imho, it's more about legibility at first sight It's not that much about being commercial or non-commercial. Having an entry point that solely bound to the OpenCare project name is a plus, just as having info about how's who in a glimpse. (And I won't hide you it is useful on the admin/reviewing side.)   " 10,23180,2016-04-20T05:03:45.000Z,21399,anon2435658896,anon1526983854,"Alessandro Contini != Alberto Simonetti Alessandro Contini @anon413297907 was present in the last conference call and also during the consortium meeting in Brussels.He works for WeMake. Alberto Simonetti @anon1526983854_simonetti was not present in the last community call. He works for Comune di Milano." 11,23244,2016-04-20T05:42:07.000Z,23180,anon1491650132,anon2435658896,"Mea culpa. You're right, sorry. Alberto was present last week, hence the confusion. " 12,24623,2016-04-20T06:45:07.000Z,5570,anon2435658896,anon1491650132,"being short - keeanon3606750899g my resources Hi @anon1526983854, you rember well the empiric law 1000-100-10. As we're using the social network to interact with the future, the possible, the not-already-here community, we have to talk in many linguistic registers as wide as possible. If you want to filter out people from first layer, this is not our case. These years of makerspace activity taught us how to be as inclusive as possible, and try to lower the barriers to participation and engagement . We keep triyng and we improve every day how to do it. Sleakness has not to be a ""commercial"" thing. it is just effective. I don't really understand your friction and here we're talking of minor changes and improvement considering that @anon413297907 and @anon1743371374 have some experience too in user interface and community management. (not using more time on this in order to be efficient)" 13,25269,2016-04-20T08:13:47.000Z,24623,anon70625510,anon2435658896,"Timing. 29 days to respond/propose alternatives? ""If you are unhappy with that landing page, by all means produce a new landing page and all the related pages (design, copywriting, concept etc) and send it to me by the end of the week. We can do an A/B test for the landing page and loo[k] at conversions. But I require the answers [t]o the questions I and Noemi have already asked, but not yet recieved responses to."" https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/22041#comment-22041 " 14,25458,2016-04-20T10:42:29.000Z,25269,anon2435658896,anon70625510,"fields of action your timing proposal was a little passive-aggressive  ""and send it to me by the end of the week"" also considering the we (me and zoe) pointed out that we where in China.  Over this there is also other consideration:  - hard to be precise on little task / topic (as the landing page is) without a clear big picture view - it's a moving target (the development of the community site was ""unscheduled"" from our point of view)  - it's not our primary role, we try to rise question and issue (plan a) if nothing happen we make some extra work (plan b) The point is still:  I expected some concise and understandable explanations about the Outreach strategy for a while then I tried to rise the flag kindly posting this post.  - See more at: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/strategy-wp1-and-wp2#sthash.kM2CkDjf.dpuf   " 15,25554,2016-04-20T14:39:08.000Z,25458,anon70625510,anon2435658896,"Explicit communication, pace and active participation. This is a fast moving project- online engagement/social dynamics have a pace of their own and do not follow anyone's schedule. It is like riding a anon3003844599, it's up to you to stay on top of things. If you don't make a convincing case, or concrete enough suggestion in a timely manner then things move on. Some general/vague requests were made from your side. A counterproposal was posted. No response: neither questions asked from your side nor a suggested alternative time/date for follow-up discussion. And then: "" it's not our primary role, we try to raise question and issue (plan a) if nothing happens we make some extra work (plan b)""  - To me it signals you want the kind of hand-holding which no one can afford.  You would not be the first person to have a hard time keeanon3606750899g up with the fast pace with which we get things move. It is up to each one of us to take individual responsibility for staying on top of things:
    1. Be proactive in building answers to your questions well in time. Rather than vanishing fo long stretches of time and then expecting everyone to scramble when you finally bother to show up. 
    2. Participate actively in the weekly community calls/hangouts as a quick way to catch up whenever you feel ""lost"". Put things on the agenda, make creative proposals, etc. Or better yet, actively put in coordination work to actively convene the partners in calls etc. Instead of waiting for e.g. Alberto, Noemi or myself to do it. 
    3. Produce the content/material/code or whatever you feel is missing yourself. Accept that it may have become irrelevant or that people no longer have time to engage with your demands if you are too slow. You have all the material you need to produce whatever it is you want if you are unhappy with what is there for any reason. If you feel you do not understand the project or how it is meant to work, please reread the actual proposal as well as the information already produced and pointed to. 
    Regarding your demands/questions/complaints:
    1. Your demand/question ""that has been kindly flagged"" has already been responded to: https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/22518#comment-22518
    2. The engagement and outreach strategy has not changed from what was presented during the consortium meeting: Fellowship program - to be eligible you need to complete challenges and you were invited to cocreate the challenges themselves. After no engagement from you for over a month, again we invited you to get involved. Not much action there either.
    3. It has also been communicated on multiple occasions including during the consortium meeting, that coordination and alignment of communication and outreach happens during community calls, the contents of which are documented and posted online. The discussion about outreach and engagement strategy took place several weeks ago. You did not participate in it ( in spite of our having re-scheduled the day and time around your request). The documentation was posted online and responded to by others. Again no questions asked from you regarding outreach and communication: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/hangout-4-planning-open-care-outreach-efforts
    4. Had you actually read and acted upon the documentation from the call you would have seen:
      " 16,25882,2016-04-20T11:56:57.000Z,24623,anon1526983854,anon2435658896,"Go right ahead! No friction, Costa. I already wrote that you (and Luce, and any other designer out there) is welcome to go ahead and improve things. That's really not a problem. My comment is titled ""Thank you"", and I mean it.  In the call, we have been discussing something that is much more worrying to me, and does have the potential for friction: this project, as most European research projects, risks losing coherence, as partners drift apart form each other. I wrote about this already last week, and hopefully we can discuss it in the next call. I just wanted to signal that, in my oanon3606750899ion, this a much more important risk than the landing page, and that it deserves much more of your attention.  " 1,5470,2016-03-18T08:30:42.000Z,5470,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Hi,  the conversation about the Engagement/enrollment/building the community is pretty scattered.  collection of Nadia's proposals. https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/how-to-participate-in-op3ncare https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/how-op3ncare-works https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare  challenges ? https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3ncare-communications-planning https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/film-video-planning https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3ncare-resources https://edgeryders.eu/en/groups/opencare/how-op3ncare-works-work-in-progress https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/op3n-hangout-2-how-do-we-navigate-the-tension-between-asking Recap of the Consortium Meeting https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/opencare-kickoff-preliminary   [Fellowship Program] Timeline and rewards each partner can offer https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/fellowship-program-timeline-and-rewards-each-partner-can We're analysing all these material to react/collaborate.  Is there anything NEW to be considered? Costantino @anon70625510 @anon1491650132 " 2,10527,2016-03-18T10:47:03.000Z,5470,anon2971875139,anon2435658896,"Thanks Costantino for summarizing it all ! Can you please ask to your post the following info related to the Consortium? https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/opencare-domain-names-and-trademark https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/consortium-qa Luce " 3,16915,2016-03-19T12:17:37.000Z,5470,anon70625510,anon2435658896,"Join the call next week? Hi Costantino :) During the consortium meeting I suggested could do a fellow ship program as a way of acknowledging and rewarding different kinds of participation in the project. The above  are the components of information that need to be in place in order for a participant to understand the project and know how to participate in it if we are going to go ahead with the Fellowship. But I feel that we did not get a clear response as to whether the rest of the partners are behind this or not...including weMake? Noemi and I proposed that we ought to run theme-issue focused campaign, and started discussing some possible topics. Halfway through I realised that something was still missing.  I came to London to connect with Patrick, test some ideas I had and to have a deeper conversation with Ezio about direction and curation. I have summarised what I think I understood from our conversation here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/22010#comment-22010 So perhaps it is time to join one of the call to tighten up coordination of communication and engagement efforts? " 4,19616,2016-03-20T21:08:59.000Z,5470,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"next hangout Hi @anon on Tuesday afternoon me and @anon3612872438 will be on a plane to Shenzhen.  I really understand that we all (see https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/open-care-as-radical-socio-technical-innovation-reflecting-on#comment-22016) are talking of core things.  But I really appreciate something like a clear (or at least simple, essential) landing page that can be not scary for  newcomers.   Is the work in progress in the Op3ncare section goes in that direction?  The landing page on the workspace right now is pretty confusing I'm not good to design these  kind of things but the friction to jump in is a little too high in my oanon3606750899ion.  About this I'd suggest:  let's focus on a streamline landing page with the essentials. Later on we'll implement all the add-on information that will came from the further advancement. One last thing about the Topic/Room that i suggest to implement in some way in the workspace. The flow of the posts is very very diverse (from admin issue, to strategic and core discussion, to Local Activity ....) and therefore, in my oanon3606750899ion, messy.  Is there a way to have topic / hashtag to differentiate the view for a general public?  " 5,23363,2016-03-21T07:41:15.000Z,5470,anon3612872438,anon2435658896,"Weekly calls During consortium meeting we discussed about weekly online meeting and we decided not to have them. That's why I interpreted the weekly google hangouts you proposed ,as meeting you were organizing for new people to be involved, and not internal meeting. If we want to discuss specific topics let's do a doodle to see when's the best moment to hangout. I agree with Costantino on the fact that  it would be very important for communication strategy to allow people to distinguish what is internal/team communication and  what is communication to involve new people and understand more about the project. That's because we, as a consortium team, are develoanon3606750899g a specific language and insights discourse that are becoming often unclear to whom are not in the topic or didn't follow the discussion since the beginning.   " 6,24737,2016-03-21T12:04:00.000Z,23363,anon70625510,anon3612872438,"Open Project With respect to web presence there are two separate but linked spaces A  Project Workspace ( internal/team communication): https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare A Project Participation Space (communication to involve new people and understand more about the project) : https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home In order to finalise and be able to go live with the Project Participation Space, we need  to ensure that we have a coherent engagement engine to power participation in it. From you and all the other partners we need to understand the following
    1. which topics and questions to drive the conversations/participation around. We have proposed 3 ones to begin with here, please leave a comment with a yes/no/maanon1932026148 so and helpful reflections about them here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/22010#comment-22010 https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/suicide-prevention-dementia-refugee-health-please-validate
    2. what kind of participation/contribution you need, at what times and how you intend to reward those efforts: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/fellowship-program-timeline-and-rewards-each-partner-can
    3. we also need to receive the call for participation for partner's activities much further in advance than has been happening so far. please post all your intended activities as events here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3n-meetups
    4. We need much better documentation from the partners events than people have been posting so far. As this helps people to both understand and build research insights from the contents of those events.  Think LOTE5 type documentation. We need both transcripts of what was said/discussed as well as more reflective, thoughtful blogposts for each event). As a reference please have a look at:  https://edgeryders.eu/en/lote5-doc.
    5. At the consortium meeting we proposed pooling together required contributions, activities etc and rewards into a fellowship program that can be offered to would-be participants. This would need to be tweaked again to meet the requirements of the partners, but roughly: https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/the-op3ncare-fellowship-program
      " 7,25314,2016-03-21T21:50:14.000Z,24737,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Calls are tuesdays at 16:30 CET This is the time we have agreed we can be available. Any and all topics for discussion can be had during those calls. They are for the coordination of the work, but in the spirit of truly open those calls are open for anyone who wishes to drop in. If there are questions or ssues or things to work on together, that is the available slot. We do this to cut down coordination costs, doodles etc. Same day same time every week. " 8,25518,2016-03-21T22:09:22.000Z,25314,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"when was agreed? unfortunately i'll never be able to participate because I have a similar call for another project on the same day of the week at same time :( when did the decision take place and in which thread? You say ""we"" meaning the consortium or edgeryders? best Zoe " 9,25578,2016-03-22T13:42:10.000Z,25518,anon70625510,anon3612872438,"During LOTE5 I think it was during the actual consortium meeting. 16:30 CET is a time that works well across several timezones.  I am hosting the weekly calls and only working one day a week on OpenCare. If you prefer the Monday instead that is also an option. I don't care which day, only that it is the same day same time every week otherwise things get very messy very quickly. And early in the week = can plan for rest of it. " 10,25610,2016-03-22T13:47:49.000Z,25578,anon70625510,anon70625510,"NB curt responses today Attention being pulled in multiple directions because of Brussels incidents. Tone reply /= anything other than need for speedy comms. " 11,26604,2016-03-21T20:34:18.000Z,5470,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"Namig I know it's not super super  important but I suggest to go with  Opencare (main site)  and  Op3ncare as Project Workspace if my previous proposal of having topic/hashtag or onother kind of structure of this workspace is not possible or very difficult.   As said before: I'll priorityse a simple streamline page with as less (and clear) information as possibile and enrich it along these week. agile.  " 12,27194,2016-03-21T21:45:12.000Z,26604,anon70625510,anon2435658896,"Redirect domain vs redo a lot of work We are not going to change all the content of the opencare group. What we can do is redirect the opencare.cc domain so it points to https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home Regarding categorisation/ structuring of the workspace this is on the way, but the priority is finalising all the content of the public facing website i.e this: https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home If you are unhappy with that landing page, by all means produce a new landing page and all the related pages (design, copywriting, concept etc) and send it to me by the end of the week. We can do an A/B test for the landing page and loo at conversions. But I require the answers o the questions I and Noemi have already asked, but not yet recieved responses to. " 13,28215,2016-03-23T13:01:38.000Z,5470,anon1491650132,anon2435658896,"A How To Hi all, first thanks for your points addresing the online spaces and where we lack clarity. Listening to the comments, like @anon As the person primarily responsible with community management - includes the OpenCare people already on Edgeryders but also new ones in the team and the broader network - I am putting together a community management plan that helps us: 1) navigate the project space ourselves (a routine as per Zoe's suggestion in Brussels; incorporate also hash-tags as per Costa's suggestion)  2) understand how to welcome new people (we are all community builders in OpenCare and I suspect we will learn to do it better and better, even if you don't yet see yourselves as such). It is here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/guide-for-building-our-online-community (check for a consistent version on April 1st) It should be more relevant as we finish the public participation space (Op3nCare) where simple information will be posted to help you guys welcome people into the project. But that is dependent on your answers to the questions listed by Nadia above.. so looking forward! We will slowly move into our team routines as that info becomes clearer. " 14,28621,2016-04-20T11:59:55.000Z,28215,anon70625510,anon1491650132,"Link to Guide for building online community is broken https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/guide-for-building-the-opencare-online-community " 15,29362,2016-04-20T06:29:09.000Z,5470,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"collecting bits of information Hi,  only now we’re starting to understand the implementation of these actions.  This approach was really hard to understand for many reasons:  - during the consortium meeting you announced to us that you’re working on a bunch of documents and a prototype of the websites - during the last weeks there were some posts asking for feedbacks on single pieces of this bigger plan (not having the proper feedback as you probably noticed)  - the folder Op3nCare Outreach and Engagement in the Opencare consortium shared Drive was not visible (at least to me) not giving me the opportunity to see that all these documents (and feedback) was part of a bigger thing During the consortium meeting we explained to you WeMake’s roadmap, doing our best to summarize at least the  following months (these months) in a single slide of our presentation I expected some concise and understandable explanations about the Outreach strategy for a while then I tried to rise the flag kindly posting this post.  I think that we really need to have some moments or tools or format (written or live) to let the other partners be informed about the next months implementations of the project having the 10 miles overview in order to allow us to plan participation.  We, as a consortium, have already planned the next open call of April 28th.  I hope to find better (in terms of effectiveness) and more fluid (frictionless) information strategy.   Costantino " 16,29657,2016-04-20T08:34:27.000Z,29362,anon70625510,anon2435658896,"Specific questions? The weekly calls and the documentation from them is how we fine tune coordination and align our various efforts.  This where we discussed outreach including dates: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/hangout-4-planning-open-care-outreach-efforts - you are very welcome to leave questions, comments add your own schedule/important dates etc  This is the guide for how we build the online community: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/guide-for-building-the-opencare-online-community     " 17,30179,2016-04-20T12:51:23.000Z,5470,anon1526983854,anon2435658896,"Here is a recap I re-read the proposal (recommended, it's very very useful) and put together a short description of the engagement strategy, mapped onto the delivery structure contained in our Grant Agreement:  https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/the-opencare-engagement-strategy-at-a-glance I hope that's clearer now.  " 1,661,2016-04-12T14:22:22.000Z,661,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"Globalization made us move and travel a lot. people are changing countries all the time. When you take a closer look at these people you realize how different the motivations of moving are, and  depending on the motivation how different the goals and approaches are.  If you decide to go into another country because you are interested in the culture you will most definitely integrate yourself and be open for the odds and difference you will come across. If you are forced to move though, for example because there is a war in your home country the situation is completely different.  So on one hand we have the people who are moving maanon1932026148 even because it looks good in your cv if you have lived in Stockholm for a while and then we have people who are forced to leave their countries for economic reasons or/and because its dangerous for them to stay. So lets think about the people who are forced to leave their countries, lets say they move to Germany. Maanon1932026148 because they have heard of Germany somewhere but maanon1932026148 even out of a coincidence because the help Organisation they first came across was German and then they where broad to Germany. If you think about coming into a country without even finding the culture interesting beforehand you can imagine that there are a lot of weird things and habits you will come across. Also from seeing the other culture you will change the view on your own culture. seeing the differences will make you understand your own culture from a new point of view. like for example if you see people eating with knife and fork and you usually eat with chopsticks thats a moment where you separate from the others and realize just what your culture is actually about.  This I find very interesting these cultures in cultures. I feel like there might even be a completely new interpretation of your own country. I can only think about food examples right now, like if you go to a restaurant and get „typical food“ and then you go to the country and they will never serve you that food, because its a new invention born out of a new interpretation from your own country and culture. What I find really interesting also is the second Generation. They are born in a society and raised by two probably completely different point of views. They inhabit two cultures, two languages, two patterns of behavior. I see it as a great advantage but also it must be super hard to find yourself between these two poles. So hard to make stuff „right“ especially if right here and right there are the compete opposite. If I think about my friends who are born in two cultures i have a deep respect for why they have already been through sometimes already in their childhood and what they are now. Its so amazing if you are able to understand two cultures and then maanon1932026148 even distance yourself and analyze the differences. Take the pieces that you like most and combine them. Its definitely a creative task. Well thats maanon1932026148 my naive way of seeing it because im not that much involved and even if i have been traveling a lot its very superficial and maanon1932026148 far from really understanding something. What i´m asking myself is how to show what a great advantage the fusion of two culture can be. Not a clash of culture more a mergence. If you think about this in a really basic way a completely different point of view could probably open your eyes and make you creative.  Hacking and Making To approach this task its important to firstly hack the habits of a culture. Seeing stuff through the eyes of someone else is a really good step. When i visited my grandma this weekend i broad an old friend with me. My grandparents house is something so familiar to me that i lost the ability to see how interesting they actually are and how much cultural value they have. My friends curiosity had a huge impact on me. We had a very close look at all the objects in the house and talked a lot to my grandma about the past.  I understood my own origin in different way. And saw my culture through the eyes of someone else. SO the questions that I'm asking myself are: How can we show how great the merging of two cultures can be? fusion not clash of cultures How can we overcome prejudice? or make use of prejudice? How can we manifest respect and acceptance? How can we be at eye level with one another ? How can we make people look through the eyes of someone else? How can we use the odds and peculiarities of a culture in a creative way? and probably a lot more to come.. " 2,8668,2016-04-13T19:07:43.000Z,661,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"""Culture in culture"" Heya, thanks for the piece of thought.  It reminded me of the story of Rete G2 shared by @anon I find that food and arts are great equalizers in terms of making room for different identities to co-exist in a way that birthes new ones. " 1,5485,2016-03-23T12:58:21.000Z,5485,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"The purpose of this document is to help OpenCare project team and community members learn and master basic practices to help build a global network around the project. We outline core processes and tools deployed via https://edgeryders.eu and encourage anyone to step up and use these resources.

    Table of Contents

    Main OpenCare communication channels

    We maintain two separate but linked spaces on the web: A Research Workspace: edgeryders.eu/opencare-research
    • displays basic information about Open Care as an EU funded project;
    • contains all team communication threaded discussions
    • interactive, live feed of the project
    • designed in the spirit of openness (anyone can come in and share content) and ""working out loud"" (format which the team is committed to)
    A Community space: opencare.cc
    • for community members, old and new people or anyone wishing to understand more about how to participate in the project
    • highly curated information about the project
    • designed to explain to the broader community what opportunities the project provides
    • redirects visitors to a space on edgeryders.eu and is also easily accesible from the main menu of the website (see it on the upper left side)

    Workspace: how to navigate it

    A proposed routine for quickly finding relevant info by project partners:
    • Check your email notifications from contact@anon
    • On the platform, start from the workspace. Filter content by clicking on ""Posts"", ""Wikis"", ""Tasks"" etc. so you only see those.
    A proposed routine for making sure others see your content:
    • Use the platform mentions in your texts - ""@anon
    • To make it easier to find content in the working group, consider naming your new posts using the following structure (it makes it easier to find content by using the search form on Edgeryders): [tag: Meta | Comms | Logistics | Events | Consortium | Reporting | Urgent etc] + title of the post

    Community space: how to onboard partners, collaborators, members

    The simplest way is to point people to the Community site. If someone learns about the project and lands on Edgeryders, there are several ways in, described in the How To Participate page: they can sign up on our mailing list, create a user account on the platform and follow or produce content to become involved. For people who prefer voice interaction, we have Meetups and a weekly Community Call through VOIP. All these are listed on the Meetups page.  All people who are signed up on edgeryders.eu become community members and agree to the Edgeryders official user, privacy and content licensing policy, made visible to them upon signup. Members can post on the website, a point at which they are officially welcomed by community managers. @anon OpenCare is building its own consent funnel for participation. This is being developed by ScImpulse. If you want to learn about Edgeryders community management practices, would like to share the work or become a community manager yourself join us here. However, most Open Care project partners are someone's contact point for the project i.e. when we speak about OpenCare in public presentations, events, open consortium meetings, or when simply sharing information online. Open Care will be different things to different people - it will be general i.e. a way to come together around new care systems; or specific i.e. research looking into dementia and supporting the carers. And so on. It's your own responsibility to gauge potential interest from someone and point them to relevant information. If there isn't relevant information available online, don't wait for others to do it! Go ahead and set up a post proposing a copy to be added to the Community base and edgeryders.eu admins will do it. 

    Challenges and stories: the main collective intelligence vehicle

    As we are spread all over the world, we meet and interact with Open Care community members here online, more than in any other settings. Publishing posts, reading each other and leaving comments to one another's contributions is how most of the interaction happens.  Content in OpenCare in shared in response to challenges. Challenges are assignments: we describe a problem (for example: what is your experience of giving and receiving care?) and ask the community to respond.  Good practice that you can adopt as much and as often as possible:

    Submitting stories

    Only users who have created an account on Edgeryders and are logged in with their username and password can submit stories. When submitting a story, the user is taken through a number of steps in order to clarify which challenge the story is answering, what personal question is the person trying to figure out, who would be an audience that they prefer, and what general topics they want to file the story under. The editing interface makes it possible to input text, links, to upload images or to embed video or audio files (using the HTML source). When users create a new piece of content, the other community members who have contributed previously in OpenCare will receive an email notification. Same is true when someone comments other stories.

    Euro English as language

    For a project with such a strong social networking element, it is absolutely essential that people can interact without mediation nor delay: having someone translate everything we post would be not only impossibly expensive: it would dampen interaction and feedback, making the Open experience quite miserable. To get around this problem, we have agreed to encode some rules in the social bargain of Open Care. These are:
    • you are welcome to write in your own language. People can always get the gist of what you are writing by running it through Google Translate; however, we encourage you to write in Euro English, the lingua anon317670948 the majority of young Europeans use when they move about. I wrote Euro English, and I specifically don't mean the Queen's English: the former is an inclusive, connecting language that most youth speak enough to communicate, the latter is just another language, with its own solid grammar, pronunciation niceties and idiosyncrasies. There are many more people that speak Euro English, than people who speak the Queen's English.
    • Community members agree to be tolerant of each other's grammar or spelling mistakes. No one is allowed to look down at anyone else for this. We are not stupid or under-educated, we are just writing in a foreign language. Our effort to communicate deserves respect.
    • Community members who are native speakers of English are kindly requested to keep in mind they are part of a global community, and make their own effort to write in a simple, clear manner. 

    Right to privacy and anonymity

    Given the sensitivity of a topic like care, we are encouraging members to feel confortable writing online, but we are aware that this may not be the case for everyone. All our team members are aware of this setback and make it possible for people to submit materials or write their personal stories in two ways: 1) creating a user profile which is not linked in any way to their real identity and uploading content from that account or 2) emailing stories and have one of the Open Care curators upload for them.

    Research data

    All written content submitted in the OpenCare online spaces will be aggregated, coded and analysed by researchers and in agreement with our Data Strategy. For details about the Open Care research, see our original proposal available here (pp.18-19).

    Other Online engagement tools and practices

    Meetups

    Meetups are offline or offline activities and events where community gets together. OpenCare partners and members are encouraged to run OpenCare activities and announce them as Meetups on the Community Space. They can be as small as a presentation at an conference, or a community Meet and Greet.  Partners are already receiving invitations to tell about OpenCare in conferences, university lectures, hackathons etc. Our criterion for accepting or rejecting these invitations is their potential for engagement. We do not recommend accepting last-minute invitations: allow a minimum of two weeks lead time. This way, all of us involved can spread the news that someone in our team is going to be presenting in venue X on day Y, and reach out to others who might join you.  Please post all your intended activities (online/offline, public meetings, conferences etc) as events in the Community space:    1. Click here.  2. Enter the information you have prepared for your session. Make sure you also include an image to act as a logo, it will make your event look better on the page. Logos for events are available here. 3. Enter your preferred date and time in the relevant fields.  4. Click Save, you're all set. The event will be listed on the Op3nCare Meetups page. Now the next step is to build interest and discussion around your event, email and share the link in your own networks. Use \#op3ncare so we can help spread it through the Op3nCare social media accounts.

    Hangouts

    Hangouts are weekly, online and open events where anyone can join. As of April 2016, hangouts happen every Monday at 4:30 PM CET. We are still looking for that perfect open source videoconferencing solution, so check the Events page and follow the instructions there. Also known as Op3nCare community calls, they serve two purposes at the same time: team coordination and welcoming new people. If you're attending the next, make sure to set the agenda by leaving comments to them. Every weeks call will be listed on the Op3n Meetups page.  If you would like a call exceptionally scheduled, feel free to propose it, write, upload it, and run it (see Communicating your events above). If you are running an activity in Open Care that needs a separate community event, feel free to propose it, write it, and run it (see Meetups section above). 

    Working out loud

    The OpenCare research team is committed to publishing regular public posts to help community members keep track of what is going on and be able to plug in at any time. Posts in the OpenCare workgroup marked as such in their title (e.g. [Working out loud] Name of post). They are summaries of what needs your attention every 2 weeks, feeding in and out of the community calls. Written by @anon

    Mailing lists

    An OpenCare list of supporters and interested people is growing. We send curated content collaborated by community to the list members no more than once a month. Sign up here. If you want to include something in it, get in touch with Noemi.

    Social media channels

    Communication in Open Care is not centralized, it is distributed among all consortium partners, so we are using the channels collectively. To get access to the login info, get in touch with Nadia.  Shared project identity visuals, cover photos, thumbnail, partners logos etc are listed publicly here. Feel free to use, modify, re-purpose them as you wish (see License below).

    Shared documentation

    A live repository of project updates is the workspace:OpenCare Research.  A repository of project documentation (including Consortium Agreement), copy, materials, photos, cover pages and other miscellaneous is located in the OpenCare shared Disclaimer The oanon3606750899ions expressed in this website are the responsibility of their author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of Edgeryders as a company, its directors, members or the organisations cooperating with it.

    License

    OpenCare by OpenCare Consortium is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. " 2,8795,2016-03-31T09:31:33.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"April 15th - another deadline coming Hi everyone,  We have another deadline (upcoming deliverable) : WP2, Deliverable 2.1: Deployed, tested OpenCare online space on the production server What we need to submit : presentation of the platform (structure, motives, scientfic outcomes) + links to the Op3nCare workspaces When: by April 15th (if possible). We are already late - just let me know if this date sounds realistic or not.    " 3,11471,2016-03-31T09:41:38.000Z,8795,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"Why late? The online space is live: http://opencare.cc what other work you are seeing being done is tweaks. Unless I am completely missing something? Presentation of the platform: Do you have a template or questions we need to answer more specifically? It will not take long to do this and certainly before April 15 should not be a problem. " 4,15606,2016-03-31T10:27:48.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Presentation We are late according to the EC, since the platform was planned in the Annex 1 of the GA to be fully operational by the end of February and we should have submitted information by that time. I think the delay may be acceptable by the EC, since we can explain in our reports that the platform was mainly ready in due time, that edgeryders introduced it during the kick-off, with extra adjustments related to users' comments/experiences being carried out in March. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific template nor guidelines about the way we should present the plateform, the content is free. We could prepare some short presentation (1 to 2 pages) using these themes: structure, motives, scientfic outcomes. It could then relate to the Description of Action and could be used again for public dissemination (maanon1932026148?).   " 5,17609,2016-03-31T10:41:39.000Z,15606,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"Ok Ill set up a deck of slides and we can put in the stuff we need there. Will try to get done by monday. " 6,20758,2016-03-31T11:00:31.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Great, thanks ! Just let me know when you are ready. :)   " 7,24664,2016-04-06T12:18:50.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Any news ? Hi Nadia,  Any news concerning the platform presentation ? I know you've been busy those days - if you need more time, just let me know :) " 8,25278,2016-04-06T13:48:24.000Z,24664,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"yes busy. sorry. Back at end of week. " 9,25457,2016-04-06T13:52:18.000Z,25278,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Necessary? @anon " 10,25553,2016-04-06T20:39:32.000Z,25457,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"Not sure – but here's an idea The deliverable is the platform itself, not a report about the platform.  Here's a suggestion: this very wiki could serve as the documentation to that deliverable. We clearly need it, so time spent on it is not wasted; and it tells users and the team how to navigate the OC community space. So maanon1932026148 stick a Horizon 2020 logo into it; add a couple of screenshots (Nadia's slides, I guess), and send the EC, I don't know, a good-looking PDF file containing the link to the wiki?  @anon " 11,25594,2016-04-07T05:03:09.000Z,25553,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"See things as a reviewer Here is my view of things, and I am sure this is what Luce has in mind when asking any of us to provide reviewing material. @anon The idea is to go as smoothly as possible with the reviewing process. The platform and its content -- as suggested by Alberto -- of course tells the story by itself, it's all there ! And it is a living thing, you see the organism in full if you take time to look at it in action. But, but, *reviewers* (and I ask you to believe me, I've played that role quite a few times). You have to put yourself in the skin of a reviewer when deciding what/how/why to deliver. Think of this person, reading about OpenCare a week before the review (sometimes more, but reading ahead of time doesn't mean giving more time reviewing the project). Think of this person who wants to get information in a synthesized way, yet who wants to get a ""feeling"" about what's going on. So, my take is, it's worth to put up a short, crisp, one or two pager that gives an overview of the deliverable. That tells this person where to go on the portal and what is to find there. You guys are professionnals at communicating ideas with so much enthusiasm. I am sure you all know what I am talking about. I know time flies like an arrow. Reviewers don't like to dig for information, they don't like it when they need to summarize things themselves. Plus, when letting them do the work there is a risk that they don't focus on the right thing -- because yes, they come with their own set of glasses, with their domain of expertise that do not necessarily fit ours a 100% percent ... and well, OpenCare is quite a unique ""assemblage"" of people, isn't it? " 12,25619,2016-04-07T07:29:00.000Z,25594,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"We have that You misunderstand me, Guy. I propose to point [reviewers, the Commission] not to the platform itself, but to this wiki. Which is a 1200 words document that describes the processes – exactly your two pager. But with one advantage: we need it anyway, so it is in our best interest to write it clearly. This gets us rid of the hollow feeling of writing a deliverable that no one cares about, just another box ticked, that I have sometimes felt when doing funded research.  Makes sense now? " 13,25632,2016-04-07T07:41:10.000Z,25619,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"Well then -- -- we are on the same anon3003844599length (sounds French, ""sur la même longueur d'ondes""). I shouldn't be surprised after all :-) A two-pager wiki works fine. @anon Anyway the point I make remains relevant for all subsequent deliverables. Adopting a reviewer-compatible standpoint makes reviewing material more efficient. " 14,26912,2016-04-07T07:52:30.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"One important aspect Guy, I agree with you, we have to put ourselves in the reviewers' shoes when we have to submit information on the project to the Commission.  Alberto, if you wish to use the content of this wiki, this is fine with me, but my point is the following: this mini-presentation  is also a mean now to come clear to the Commission but also to the public about the scientific interest of putting up this platform. When I mean public, I do think of the people already following the project, who may find the wiki just fine, but I also think that each partner could further use this documentation to bring people here together, using our own networks.   " 15,27305,2016-04-07T08:02:10.000Z,26912,anon1526983854,anon2971875139,"Agree Ok, settled then:
    1. We improve the wiki.
    2. We point the Commission to the wiki
    3. We spread its content. We normally spread content in the form of links: in practice, it means that you share (by email, or Twitter, or whatever) a short message that says ""We have made XYZ, it's really interesting. Check it out here: [link]."" If the [link] points to our own online space, even better: people who are intrigued can very easily find out more, and even start participating.
    @anon " 16,28433,2016-04-07T08:54:36.000Z,5485,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Questions on the wiki I have done a first editing pass. I have some question. The most important: we are now live, but our consent funnel is not ready. ScImpulse has designed it, but not yet deployed. Is this OK? @anon4116418727, what do you say as the person in charge of ethics? General question: it seems the wiki is written with the OpenCare team in mind, but in the beginning it says  The purpose of this document is to help OpenCare project team and members joining edgeryders.eu [...] Less important: what do we mean by ENGAGEMENT TOOLS WE ARE USING - DASHBOARD? There is no dashboard other than this, but that has got nothing to do with social media, meetups etc. I propose to eliminate that.  @anon " 17,28717,2016-04-07T11:16:55.000Z,28433,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Engagement dashboard Thanks for updating the wiki with more relevant info. The dashboard was meant to be a nice page/visualization with all the places people can engage with. At the moment this is probably all the community space - with its different pages. Scraanon3606750899g the formulation from the wiki then.  " 18,29010,2016-04-11T08:12:52.000Z,28433,anon2971875139,anon1526983854,"Ready to go? Hello,  As I see you keeanon3606750899g the wiki updated - just tell me when we are good to go with the delivery to the EC. Thanks ! :) " 19,29028,2016-04-12T10:28:21.000Z,29010,anon1491650132,anon2971875139,"This iteration done! anon3606750899g @anon " 20,29036,2016-04-12T12:05:26.000Z,29028,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Great ! I'll double-check and submit it :) Thanks again,  Luce " 21,29521,2016-04-08T17:47:57.000Z,5485,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"Make this wiki more prominent? Given its improtance, shouldn't this wiki be linked around the top of the OpenCare Research page?  ALso, I would put a link to Nadia's recent presentation someplace prominent as well. As Guy said about what reviewers want and don't want, it's also crucial to always remember how fresh eyes will see the site and what actions they are likely to take once they get here. " 22,30299,2016-04-08T18:11:00.000Z,5485,anon281534083,anon1491650132,"I found it on the other OC page https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare-community/resources I have to admit I get them sort of mixed up.  But I can also see that if you go to the ER homepage, then click projects you can see the two choices.  But now I would say, given the importance of OC, why not put a discreet link to it righ there on the first page and avoid that extra clicking? " 23,30437,2016-04-09T11:34:53.000Z,30299,anon1491650132,anon281534083,"Thanks for the suggestion Added on the Op3nCare homepage! I guess I was expecting this wiki to reach more structure and consistency. If there are things we're missing or questions we should answer in it don't hesitate to add them. " 24,30872,2016-04-13T12:38:31.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"One last thing to do Hello,  @anon I will therefore need you to explain in a paragraph why links to the OpenCare platform are submitted in in April instead of February (planned in the DoA). As I already posted, it sounds acceptable to explain that the platform was mainly ready in due time, that edgeryders introduced it during the kick-off by the end of February, with extra adjustments related to users' experiences being carried out in March.  You also have to describe the impact this delay has on your activity as foreseen for WP2 (using more person-months, needing extra staff, or else).       " 25,30986,2016-04-13T13:36:32.000Z,30872,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"We decided to prioritise the work of doing outreach As part of our outreach and engagement work, Edgeryders brokered an agreement with the College of Architecture, Media and Design at Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) around a new course in which we involve students in the OpenCare research project: http://hackingutopia.cre8tives.org/about/ The agreement was finalised in mid february. While the website was already online by then as agreed, we decided to prioritise preparation of the course as an effective outreach and engagement opportunity and to finalise validation of the website design and contents based first experiences of using it as the primary collaboration, interaction and documentation space for the course activities. My documentation from the first day of the opening 4-day workshop: https://edgeryders.eu/en/you-and-me-and-everyone-we-know-the-many-faces-of-care The Final exhibition has now been announced http://www.designtransfer.udk-berlin.de/en/projekt/hacking-utopia/ Exhibition has now been announced here:   " 26,31346,2016-04-18T14:52:51.000Z,5485,anon2971875139,anon1491650132,"Submitted ! WP2, Deliverable 2.1: Deployed, tested OpenCare online space on the production server - SUBMITTED :) A copy of the document is stored under the OpenCare Admin file, see Deliverables. " 27,31691,2016-04-18T15:26:16.000Z,5485,anon2774142051,anon1491650132,"Good work Thanks Luce for reporting on the successfull submission of deliverable 2.1 It's not as if I did not know about it :-) I added a few words myself to the accompanying document. I invite all to have a look, the few additions I made to Nadia and Alberto's text aimed at facilitating the work of reviewers: helanon3606750899g them to get the idea, identify the relevant resources and in this case easily access them on the web. " 1,5563,2016-04-18T10:22:42.000Z,5563,anon3895445472,anon3895445472,"This is described as ""a dialogic event for Health and Social Care Professionals and concerned Citizens who want to work together to transform Care in the UK.""   Date: 2016-04-27 10:45:00 - 2016-04-27 11:15:00, Europe/London Time. URL: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-power-to-create-the-new-story-of-care-tickets-22646477223" 1,655,2016-04-05T09:36:32.000Z,655,anon1566739727,anon1566739727,"English translation here. Was bedeutet für dich care? Ich würde sagen dass es auf jeden fall dieser gedanke mich wahnsinnig fasziniert, ganz stark ganz individuell bei uns selbst anzufangen und erstmal dafür zu sorgen dass wir in der glücklich sind mit dem was wir machen um das auf andere menschen zu übertragen und überhaupt in der lage zu sein diese unterstützung weiterzugeben an diejenigen die uns umgeben. Weil ich an mir selber einfachm merke dass ich wenn ich selber überfordert bin oder nicht glücklich bin, dass ich dann komplett zumache und gar nicht so zugänglich bin für die menschen um mich herum und ihre bedürfnise wahrnehmen kann und meine rolle erfüllen würde so wie ich das wollen würde. Und das hat für mich auch ganz viel mit den strukturen in denen wir uns bewegen zu tun. Ich beschäftige mich viel mit dem gedanken wie will ich leben und wie will ich arbeiten weil ich das selber noch nicht weiß. Weil die modelle in meiner arbeit oder uni mich nicht erfüllt haben und ich nicht das gefühl habe mein potenzial nicht voll ausfüllen zukönnen. Weil ich mich frage: für wen mache ich das eigentlich? Das war meist in meinem leben: andere zufrieden zu stellen, also meine eltern oder die erwartungen der gesellschaft zu erfüllen. Also eine gewisse rolle zu spielen. Und ich merke dass ich da einfach immer so an diesen punkt komme dass ich so blockiere und so einen shutdown kriege und dann einfach zwei wochen nicht weiterarbeiten kann – weil ich die relevanz einfach auch nicht habe etwas zu tun, das eben auch nicht gesellschaftlich wirksam ist. Diese trennung von leben auf der einen und arbeit auf der anderen seite finde ich persönlich ganz schwierig weil wir den größten teil unseres lebens ja mit arbeit verbranon1056199097n müssen oder auch wollen aber das heisst dass die arbeit die wir tun, sollte ja auch irgendwie integriert sein in unser leben und ich habe das gefühl dass sie es eben nicht tun. Hast du ne idee wie das für dich funktionieren könnte? Ja, also auf jeden fall fnde ich so ansätze wie die sicherung der existenz, sei es in form von nem grundeinkommen, dass du einfach etwas tun weil du es einfach tun möchtest. Ich glaube daran dass wir menschen schon das bedürfnis haben etwas zu tun, an etwas zu arbeiten, nicht primär weil wir geld verdienen wollen, sondern weil es etwas ist was wir tun möchten. Und das rauszufinden, was wir wirklich tun wollen, das wäre wichtig für mich. Was würde ich tun wenn ich nichts tun müsste? Ich glaube, dass wir nie in diesen Zustand wirklich kommen weil wir uns immer darum sorgen müssen, wie bezahle ich meine miete, wie bezahle ich mein essen ... es bleibt kein raum mehr dafür danon1056199097 zu tun die wir tun würden wenn wir uns nicht darum sorgen müssten, was wir tun müssen um zu überleben. Gut und überleben... wir befinden uns ja schon in nem system das uns unser existenzminimum mehr oder weniger sichert, was ber immer auch verbunden ist mit barrieren und einem gewissen stigma.... Das du dann auch zu wenig geld hast und zu wenig selbstvertrauen um das zu tun was du tun willst. Auch wenn du hartz 4 beziehst musst du dich permanent rechtfertigen für deine situation, du musst xy viele bewerbungen schreiben um dich zu bemühen, irgendwie eanon1056199097gliedert zu sein und kannst jetzt nicht irgendwie sagen ich beziehe hartz 4 und mache jetzt kunst und schreibe ein buch, weil das system einfach nicht funktioniert. Care wäre für mich ein zustand von selfcare und dann ausgehend davon zeit und ressourcen zu eröffnen um für andere da zu sein oder andere in irgend einer form zu bereichern für das was ich selber tun kann. Also erst indem du für dich selbst sorgst kannst du auch für jemand anderen sorgen? Ja, also erst wenn du nicht abhängig bist von bestimmten sachen bist du erst in der lage dazu, für andere da zu sein und dein potenzial auszuschöpfen. Vor allem auch zeit, die zeitressource ist ein wichtiger faktor, um für andere da zu sein.   " 2,9505,2016-04-17T10:25:19.000Z,655,anon1491650132,anon1566739727,"What is your entourage like? Oh, this is familiar. I've read so many stories on Edgeryders where young people ask this very same questions, myself included.  Then what helped me was spending time with others and realising that we're all in the same boat and this is not a personal dillemma, it's a collective one. Finding each other really gives you a sense of support, somehow it helped my mind get over the fact that there is a problem. Then things would only get easier in time, because you surround yourself with people who are like you - not only that they feel the same (most everyone does!) but that they talk about it in the same uncompromising way. What is your entourage like? Have you read @anon Oh an @anon " 1,5559,2016-04-15T10:00:58.000Z,5559,anon70625510,anon70625510," You may remember that some time ago I mentioned that @anon More specifically the frustration with outdated design education that ill prepares students to be able to do meaningful work with their skills and talents. We feel that this should start already during their education so by the time they have graduated they are already up and running their own exciting projects that really contribute towards tackling some of the bigger challenges which affect us all.  After a lot of work over the past couple of months, especially by Susa, the partnership agreement between Edgeryders and UDK was finalised and last week we launched the first ever edition of this course with a four-day intense workshop. Over the next six months each student will be working on design research and product development process that departs from the OpenCare topic and methodologies. They will be doing it in synch with the phases of the larger OpenCare research project. The course participants' documentation and individual reflections from each day are uploaded in the Op3nCare Community Homebase where you are very welcome to leave comments helanon3606750899g them develop their thinking and projects. Or better yet: follow the course and take on the tasks yourself! it's a fun way to unleash some of your creative urges while maanon1932026148 picking up some new skills...and contributing to the common good :) You may even be eligible for the new fellowship program we are building! Why do this? You get to see the OpenCare topic and challenges from many different perspectives and help shape the students research and product development work so they really are contributing to the Opencare research project. For the students getting feedback from you is an unparalleled way to discover new knowledge and broaden their horizons about what is happening in the fields relevant to all our work. The results of the students work will be exhibited in Berlin at Designtransfer UDK and it looks like some of them might run crowdfunding campaigns on StartNext. Opening: Wednesday, 20 July, 19.00 Exhibition: 21 July– 24 July, 10.00–18.00  Address: Designtransfer UdK,  Einsteinufer 43-53, 10587 Berlin Concept: GastProf. Susanne Stauch/ID2 & Nadia EL-Imam/Edgeryders Team: GastProf Dr. Martin Kiel/GWK, Prof. Jozef Legrand, KM Sarah-Lena Walf, KM Johanna Dehio, Valentina Karga, Svenja Bickert-Appleby, Ludwig Kannicht, Laura Straßer, Björn Weigelt

     

    Date: 2016-07-20 19:00:00 - 2016-07-24 18:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time." 1,659,2016-04-09T17:12:46.000Z,659,anon1612430491,anon1612430491,"  1. What is the problem/question you are trying to solve/explore? Frame it as a design question! How to not push someone to a place or activity but make it come to them? What actually pulls you towards something, towards doing something? 2. State the ultimate impact you would like to have. What would make you feel like you did something meaningful with your time? We would like to understand what motivates people to do stuff that they enjoy doing. 3. What are some possible solutions to your problems or ways to answer your question? Think broadly. It's fine to start a project/learning process with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for surprises. What does personal motivation in general mean? What makes people like (care for) something? What sparks interest and motivation in people? What creates flow? How can we break the logical answer mechanism in people? What interview techniques spark an elaborate answer beyond „because I like it!“ 4. Write down some of the context and constraints that you are facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based, or have to do with the population you’re trying to reach. Since we haven’t decided on a population that we would like to support, we might face these constraints later. Though we don’t have a precise question that could lead to a fuzzy challenge. We still need to find a point to start a design intervention from. 5. Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again. What are the mechanics behind the moment/process of people being driven towards doing something they care about. It is about the point between an intrinsic intention and an action.   " 2,7992,2016-04-10T16:15:50.000Z,659,anon1491650132,anon1612430491,"A recommended reading Hi @anon There are more insights from working in Nepal which might be of help to you. Here it is: Earthquakes create movements - but can we? " 3,11202,2016-04-10T20:15:42.000Z,7992,anon1612430491,anon1491650132,"Thanks! @anon Thanks Noemi! I will look into it!!! " 3,14782,2016-04-09T11:55:07.000Z,5518,anon1491650132,,"How to create events in the community space Hi @anon For reference, maanon1932026148 the Guide we set up will help you in the use of the online environment " 4,20197,2016-04-09T13:13:03.000Z,5518,anon2435658896,,"For the past events Hi @anon1491650132,  do you think we need to create Meetups post also for past events?      " 5,23762,2016-04-09T13:39:05.000Z,5518,anon2435658896,,"Meetups issue Hi,  is it possible to allow comments to Meetups? Hi think that it's the right place to post question or comments about the Meetups!  What do you think?  @anon " 6,24916,2016-04-10T16:37:40.000Z,23762,anon1491650132,anon2435658896,"I don't know I was wondering too. The reason why comments are now disabled in the Meetups is to focus all conversations there on stories (Challenges page) with all the pages read-only for easy navigation by first time users.. Ideally we post documentation after the events in our research group.  This is still open for ideas, there's no best solution, what do you think? " 1,660,2016-04-10T13:32:56.000Z,660,anon200914115,anon200914115,"what does care mean to you? Umsorgen, Allgemeinwohl - wenn es Teilen einer Gesellschaft schlecht geht, für sie gesorgt wird (im Optimalfall von denen den es besser geht) - nicht nur wenn es irgendwelchen Menschen schlecht geht, sondern allgemein für das Allgemeinwohl zu sorgen   Wie achtest du auf Andere oder wie willst du, dass auf dich geachtet wird? - nicht nur, dass mir geholfen wird wenn es mir schlecht geht sondern, dass darauf auch geachtet wird - ich habe immer das Gefühl, dass Care der Staat durch Krankenkassen dafür zuständig sind - ich denke immer an meinen Nachbarn, der ein psychologisches problem hatte, aber sich keiner darum gekümmert hat   Wie carest du? - ich care so, als dass ich sensibel auf mein Umfeld bin - utopisches Endziel ist: dass es alle aufeinander aufpassen und niemand allein gelassen wird - wenn der Carebedürftige ein Gesicht bekommt und ich eine Beziehung zu der Person aufbauen kann, wird besser gekehrt   Wann ist care keine Last? - Aufgaben spielerisch verpacken - Verantwortung verteilen - Perspektive: Aufteilung Notleidender und Helfender… dass die Rollenverteilung immer so fest ist   wie trägst du dazu bei, dass der Einstieg von Leuten in eine Gruppe vereinfacht wird? - Austauch - wieder: Rollenverteilung: extern intern " 2,7942,2016-04-10T15:06:14.000Z,660,anon1491650132,anon200914115,"Look forward to learn more Hi @anon Good luck with your course!       " 1,5540,2016-04-09T18:28:18.000Z,5540,anon3227838693,anon3227838693,"BRIEF \#2 HU = Hacking Utopia Project UDK OC = OpenCare Research Project   Task#1: Team meeting   Deliverable: HU Time: 1.5 hours Deadline: asap Watch: Marlieke Kieboom http://bit.ly/1qE4EFW Instructions: 1. considering the theme you picked for your FEED FWD research, identify the people you want to design for and where you can find them.  2. think of a welcoming, trust building ""open office"" idea you could easily pop up in the environment where you will do your research. 3. prepare some questions according to our FEED FWD INTERVIEW GUIDE (LINK) to help you understand more about the people's context. 4. Define roles in the team: preparation, documentation (written/foto/video), transcription, upload - - - - Task#2: Feed Fwd Field Trip Deliverable: HU/OC Time: collect 10-15 stories Deadline: Monday, 9.5. (ideally a couple of days before, see Task#3) Make: Build Open Office Instructions: 1. go out and do it! 2. stay in your roles within one interview but make sure to switch roles throughout the task (1 person speaks, 1 person takes notes, 1 person takes photo/video) 3. take notes about the process: what went well, what failed, why, discuss it in the team, learn and share in the next group meeting. - - - - Task#3: Transcription of Interviews & Upload Deliverable: HU/OC Time: 1-2 days Deadline: Monday, 9.5. Instructions: 1. check out the interview guideline (HERE) and do your transcription accordingly 2. 3.   - - - - Task#5: (ongoing) Research- General/Intuitive    Deliverable OC / HU Time: open Deadline: Monday 9.5. Instructions: 1. Based on the topic and question defined in your design challenge, do online research looking for relevant and inspiring Groups, Projects, Places, Products, Technologies, Tools, Services or Infrastructures. 2. Collect everything in a thoughtful text with images and links, if possible by 25.4. 3. Upload the post as a first step towards building your case studies here bit.ly/23gdz1i  4. If you want feedback, further references etc on what you presented during day 1, just upload your speaker notes- we’ll sort out the rest. 5. Please respond to questions and feedback from your peers as well as members of the edgeryders/opencare community team who can help you to develop sharp case studies through their input - - - - " 1,5539,2016-04-09T17:52:11.000Z,5539,anon3227838693,anon3227838693,"

    BRIEF \#1

    HU = Hacking Utopia Project UDK OC = OpenCare Research Project Task#1: sign up for project (missing information) Deliverable HU Time: 2 minutes Deadline: Sunday, 10.4. Instructions: Community manager's not: URL removed for privacy - - - - Task#2: Personal Profile    Deliverable OC Time: 1/2 hour Deadline: Sunday, 10.4. Instructions: Make it easier for us to connect you with one another based on complimentary interests and skills by completing your personal profile on edgeryders.eu: 1.    Login to the platform https://edgeryders.eu/en/user/login 2.    Go to your profile page: bit.ly/1MilNyk 3.    Upload your picture (the portraits that Bjorn took are all available to download here) 4.    Update your bio with the following information (from the collaboration mosaic exercise we did on the last day of the workshop: http://bit.ly/23kttrx)     a.    Your practical skillset (pick from list / add what's missing)     b.    What you are interested in learning during this course     c.    What you are interested in offering/contributing - - - - Task#3: Upload content from workshop Deliverable OC / HU Time: 1 hour Deadline: Tuesday, 12.4. Instructions: 1.    Pull out your documentation from the listening triads on care (exercise from day 1 when you were split into groups of three)  2.    Open a word processing document and write down your reflections around one or more of the following themes in the context of care (if you didn't talk about care or one of the questions we had on the wall, repeat the conversation on skype or talk to yourself):     1.    People on the move.     2.    Boosting one another’s mental and spiritual resilience     3.    Hacking and Making     4.    Open Science and Technologies     5.    Communities & interpersonal relationships     6.    Food cultures     3.    Copy-paste and upload your reflections here bit.ly/1VcakTB     - - - - Task#4: Frame your design challenge Deliverable OC / HU Time: 1 hour Deadline: Tuesday, 12.4. Read: HCD Field Guide p. 31-33 (http://www.designkit.org/resources/1 or dropbox) Instructions: 1.Repeat the exercise ""Frame your design challenge"" by picking one of the questions from the list we came up with on day 2 (http://bit.ly/1N10AsZ) and uploading your responses to the questions on this page: bit.ly/1oGV3fw 2. Please respond to questions and feedback in the comments as we will give you feedback on your question  3. Refine your question by the 25.4. - - - - Task#5: Research- General/Intuitive    Deliverable OC / HU Time: open Deadline: Monday 2.5. (if possible Monday 25.4.) Instructions:       2.    Based on the topic and question defined in your design challenge, do online research looking for relevant and inspiring Groups, Projects, Places, Products, Technologies, Tools, Services or Infrastructures.      3.         4.    Collect everything in a thoughtful text with images and links, if possible by 25.4.     5.    Upload the post as a first step towards building your case studies here bit.ly/23gdz1i     6.    If you want feedback, further references etc on what you presented during day 1, just upload your speaker notes- we’ll sort out the rest.     7.    Please respond to questions and feedback from your peers as well as members of the edgeryders/opencare community team who can help you to develop sharp case studies through their input - - - - Task#6: Personal Profile on cre8tives.org Deliverable HU Time: 1 minute Deadline: Sunday, 24.4. Instructions: sign up on cre8tives.org and we do the rest   " 1,5535,2016-04-09T13:16:52.000Z,5535,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"The second free hands-on workshop of the \#opencare series will take place this next Thursday 7 april in Milan at ‘5 Forum delle politiche sociali’. Come and learn how to create an \#IoT \#opensource service to monitor and take care of your loved ones remotely.  Here Forum program  in italian: http://mediagallery.comune.milano.it/cdm/objects/changeme:56745/datastreams/dataStream1980833562874032/content?pgpath=/SA_SiteContent/PARTECIPA/FORUM_INIZIATIVE/Forum_delle_politiche_sociali/5_Forum If you have the possibility to come, drop us a line: opencare@anon   Date: 2016-04-07 14:00:00 - 2016-04-07 14:00:00, Europe/Rome Time." 1,650,2016-04-04T21:13:53.000Z,650,anon3227838693,anon3227838693,"What is care? To start with such a question a lot comes to mind. Especially after this intense first day of our project kick-off at Sauen, with all these great thoughts, ideas and reflections about what it means to be a human being. I am personally fascinated by the cognitive dissonance I find myself stuck in. This applies to so many aspects of my life. Yes, talking is easy, acting takes effort. It's the same with design, having a nice idea over a glass of wine in the evening? No big deal. But bringing it into life, really doing it and going against all obstacles is a totally different thing. It needs energy, dedication, belief, trust, confidence, help. You need to CARE about it enough to put it into action. So that's one aspect of care. That something/someone has enough value or meaning for somebody to be considered with putting real physical action into it. Usually this is the fact when we are affected personally. When it's a personal thing. When we are involved. When we are touched. When we are concerned. The expression ""taking care of something"" as a German is a rather rational, dry and goal-oriented task. It somehow misses the core of its literal meaning which is a soft, emotional and gentle interaction. So how do we define this word? How does the culture we live in put it into action? How is it valued, honored? Who should we care for, what should we take care of and most importantly: what is so dear to us that we want to take care of it? Are we being taken care of enough to give something back? We discussed the question of how can something seemingly burden full turn into a joyful engagement. How can we overcome this cognitive dissonance and what is that undefined obstacle that holds us ​back. Because it's not laziness. It's not carelessness. Maanon1932026148 it's a combination of helplessness (of where to start, what to focus), being overwhelmed (by one's own life and tasks) and alone (with an ambition too big for one person). And maanon1932026148 the answer of today is community. " 3,14454,2016-04-07T21:22:48.000Z,650,anon1491650132,anon3227838693,"The grey areas Thanks @anon " 1,493,2016-04-01T09:06:06.000Z,493,anon959394994,anon959394994,"_Post was originally authored by Dougald Hine on 2013-10-30 08:39:00 +0100_ In one of his darkly observant essays on the fall of the Soviet Union and its lessons for present-day America, Dmitri Orlov advises against being a successful middle-aged man : > When their career is suddenly over, their savings gone and their property worthless, much of their sense of self-worth goes as well. They tend to drink themselves to death and commit suicide in disproportionate numbers. Since they tend to be the most experienced and capable people, this is a staggering loss to society. (Reinventing Collapse, p.122-3) The spike in mortality that accompanied the fall of the Soviet Union has few parallels in history. Between 1987 and 1994, life expectancy dropped from 70 to 64, and the group whose likelihood of dying increased most sharply was, indeed, working age men. In other words, despite the material hardships of the period, it was not the weakest and most vulnerable who died in greater numbers, but the physically strong: what was most deadly about the collapse was not the disappearance of the means of staying alive, but the lack of ends for which to stay alive. Europe is not going through a Soviet-style collapse. (Or not yet: a report from UBS Investment Research in September 2011 estimated the costs of a break-up of the Eurozone at 40-50% of weaker countries’ GDP in the first year and 20-25% of the GDP of countries like Germany. For comparison, the total fall in GDP during the break-up of the USSR is estimated at 45%, spread over the years from 1989 to 1998.) The point I want to draw from Orlov, however, is that there is a powerful and complex interrelation between how we make a living and how we make sense of our lives. The consequences of an economic crisis can both lead to and be made worse by the crisis of meaning experienced by those whose lives it has derailed. If this is the case, however, perhaps it is also possible that action on the level of meaning might stem and even reverse the consequences, personal and social, of failing economic systems? The figure of the ‘graduate with no future’, identified by Paul Mason, has the advantage of youth, yet in other ways she resembles Orlov’s successful middle-aged man. People are capable of enduring great hardship, so long as they can find meaning in their situation, but it is hard to find meaning in the hundredth rejection letter. The feeling of having done everything right and still got nowhere leads to a particular desperation. Against this background, the actions of those who might identify with Mason’s description - whether as indignados in the squares of Spain, or as Edgeryders entering the corridors of Strasbourg and Brussels - are not least a search for meaning, for new frameworks in which to make sense of our lives when the promises that framed the labour market for our parents no longer ring true. Four years ago, in ‘The Future of Unemployment’, I suggested that it might be helpful to distinguish three types of need which, broadly speaking, we have looked to employment to provide. I want to return to this model as a way of structuring a search for examples of effective action on the level of meaning. Departing slightly from the original terms, I would summarise these types of need as follows:
    1. Economic/Practical: How do I pay the rent?
    2. Social/Psychological: Who am I in the eyes of others?
    3. Directional: What do I get out of bed for in the morning? And where do I see myself in the future?
    Those who find it difficult to access the labour market are also likely to find answering these questions more difficult. The stories shared on the Edgeryders platform during 2011-12 illustrate the variety of ways in which young people find their access the labour market limited: not only through unemployment, but underemployment, casualisation and the prevalence of short-term contracts, the increasing cost of education in certain countries, the role of unpaid internships as a path to accessing certain industries. Where skills and qualifications have been acquired through formal education, many find themselves unable to secure work that makes use of these; where skills are acquired informally, the challenge is to represent these effectively to potential employers. Above all, the situation is defined by the interaction between two major processes: a long-term change in the structure of European labour markets, offering new entrants a poorer deal than had been the case for their parents’ generation, has been exacerbated by the effects of the economic crisis that began in 2008. If the situation of those struggling to access the labour market can be expressed in terms of the three types of need set out above, we might note that the last two belong primarily to the domain of meaning: our ability to answer them is closely related to our ability to make sense of our lives. Based on this, I suggest that we look for two stages in projects that might constitute effective action on the level of meaning: first, the ability to substitute for employment in providing social identity and a sense of direction; and, second, the potential for this to lead to new means of meeting practical needs. With this structure in mind, I want to consider briefly a few examples which I think offer clues to what this may look like in practice. Centers for New Work: During the collapse in employment in the US auto industry in the early 1980s, the philosopher Frithjof Bergmann worked with employers, unions and community organisations in Flint, Michigan to create the Center for New Work. ‘We are in the beginning of a great scarcity of jobs,’ Bergmann argued, ‘but not of work.’ Instead of making redundancies, he proposed that employers share out the remaining jobs on a rotating work schedule. Workers would alternate between extended periods in traditional industrial work and similar periods pursuing ‘New Work’. The latter included local production to meet practical needs, but also the right of everyone to spend a significant amount of their time pursuing a personally meaningful project. Access Space: In Sheffield, England - another post-industrial city, similarly hit by unemployment in the early 1980s - the artist James Wallbank and friends set up what has become the UK’s longest-running free internet learning centre. As described by NESTA, ‘The centre brings together old computers and new open source software to create a radical, sustainable response to industrial decline and social dislocation.’ In conversation, Wallbank has emphasised to me the importance of the social and directional role of participation at Access Space: for those who have been long-term unemployed, the change in the shape of their lives on becoming a regular participant is often huge; by comparison, the change from being a regular participant to entering employment is relatively small. From my own observation, another key aspect of the Access Space model is the power of its insistence on self-referral: this means that participants are drawn from a range of social and economic backgrounds, rather than exclusively from a target group identified by its deprivation. This means that participation at the centre provides an alternative to - rather than a reinforcement of - a negative social identification. West Norwood Feast: In 2010-11, the agency I founded led a project to co-create a community-owned and -run street market in south London. This experience reaffirmed my sense of the power of what people can do when they come together to work on something that matters to them. In particular, talking to those involved, I was struck by how positively many of them experienced using their skills as part of the Feast, when compared to their experience in regular employment. Might it be that work that takes place outside of employment is more likely to be experienced as meaningful? And, if so, why? Several possible answers exist. The psychologist Edward Deci famously demonstrated that being paid for a task tends to decrease our intrinsic motivation, a phenomenon he explains in terms of the shift of the ‘locus of motivation’. Meanwhile, as I argued in ‘The Future We Deserve’, the logic of maximising productivity has made industrial-era employment an unprecedentedly anti-social form of work. More practically, though, are there ways we can build a better relationship between meaningful work and our ability to pay the rent? House concerts: The music industry has been through huge disruption since the 1990s, not least as a result of the rise of filesharing. The solo bass player Steve Lawson is an example of an independent musician who has spent his career develoanon3606750899g new models for making a living and documenting the realities of this on his blog. He sells downloads of his albums on a pay-what-you-want basis and makes ‘house concert’ tours on which he plays in the front rooms of fans, many of whom have first met him online. Reading his accounts of this, two things are clear: first, that these models, drawing on the strengths of networked technologies, allow for a far more meaningful relationship with his audience than was possible in the music industry of the pre-Napster era; and, second, that house concerts also make touring economically viable for independent musicians in a way that was harder when playing traditional venues. Are there other areas in which socially-embedded grassroots economies can thrive where high-overhead conventional economies struggle? (For another take on the potential of low-overhead economic models, see Kevin Carson’s The Homebrew Industrial Revolution.) The Unmonastery: One of the projects to emerge from the first phase of Edgeryders was a proposal for something called an Unmonastery: ‘a creative refuge bound to host problem solvers and change makers, who together work to solve (g)local problems, in exchange for board and lodging.’ At present, this proposal is being developed by a group that met through the Living on the Edge events in 2012. The initial response suggests that young people are willing to take a step down in their material expectations, if this is banon3760936673ced by sufficient security and autonomy to pursue work which they believe matters. The challenge will be to develop a vehicle for this willingness which is capable of ‘interfacing’ with existing institutions and accessing resources, which can achieve a reasonable degree of stability, and which does not devolve into a mechanism for exploitation. Daunting as this sounds, it is likely that we will see more experiments along these lines in Europe in the years ahead. (Edventure: Frome, which launched in October 2012, has parallels to the Unmonastery model, although framed in educational terms.) Five years into the current crisis, the default future for much of Europe is a world of longer hours and lower wages. Economic regeneration as we have known it could hardly keep up with the social costs of industrial decline, even during periods of sustained growth. That economic collapse can lead into and become entrenched by a collapse of meaning is not just a post-Soviet story, but one that can be traced in many of Europe's former industrial regions, not least the areas of South Yorkshire where I once worked as a journalist. The scale and harshness of those realities makes me hesitate: I do not want to overstate the case for the examples I have discussed here. Yet I would suggest that they may offer clues, at least, towards another kind of regeneration: what might be called a ‘regeneration of meaning’. There is no guarantee that this will happen, nor that, if it does, it will take the kind of form we would wish to see. However, for those who consider the possibility worth exploring, I have a few questions:
    1. What would it take for this to coalesce into something serious?
    2. How far along is it already? (Is it further than we/others assume, due to its illegibility?)
    3. Where are the other examples that would build the case?
    4. What are the dangers? (For example, could the Unmonastery inadvertently become the workhouse of the 21st century?)
    Image credit: Listening to the Walls - Photo by Bembo Davies, Institute of non-toxic propaganda" 2,6719,2016-04-06T21:48:48.000Z,493,anon1526983854,anon959394994,"It goes back to communities Great post :-) It seems to me that the experiences you describe are all community-based. It's always people, it's always peer-to-peer. People give each other acceptance, encouragement, sense of direction. This a lot more resilient than being socially validated by how much money you make – if only because the people in these experiences have two ways to get acceptance and validation, one through material achievement and one through the community.  So, probably, this is the best path to making all this become ""somethings serious"": invest on develoanon3606750899g as many ways as possible for people to regenerate meaning and validation for each other.  " 3,14419,2016-04-07T20:04:25.000Z,493,anon1491650132,anon959394994,"Timeless piece of writing This is informing so many directions in which Edgeryders have been looking and approaches that we've supported over the past years. Paging @anon " 5,18389,2013-01-30T11:53:00.000Z,17595,anon1526983854,,"a friendly anarchic reply Petros, this is really a friendly anarchic reply! I commend you, sir. :-) And yet, I disagree. If you spent three years getting FreeLab off the ground, you are NOT going to be happy if you come under pressure to move it somewhere else. Not everything is costlessly mobile… " 6,15588,2013-01-30T12:59:00.000Z,493,anon1526983854,anon959394994,"question 4 I’d like to have a go at your question 4. The immediate danger seems to me that of an ever-deepening disconnect between insiders and outsiders, people that live according to the job paradigm and people that do not. It is easy to imagine public budget officials with an “austerity or die” mandate do the math: let people like Petros at Freelab do their thing! This way, they won’t come to us asking for welfare services, and it’s not like they are ever going to pay much taxes anyway. But then, of course, there is no reason for any of the two groups to be loyal versus the other one. Given that two mutually unloyal tribes occupy the same physical space, things could get ugly. Am I being too paranoid? " 8,20760,2013-01-30T17:50:00.000Z,493,anon3197531486,anon959394994,"Great to see you’re here :) Hi Dougald, Great to see you’re here :) First of all I feel compelled to start with your last sentence and the reference to ‘the Workhouse of the 21st century’. My home town has one of the few and the best preserved workhouse of the country. Recently there has been a bid the renovate and repurpose the space as a diaspora and geneological centre. I freely consult with the consultant on this project, a tipperary councillor named Brian Rafferty. I approached the team originally from the perspective that the heritage and true history of the situation would have to be honored if the project was to be a success and that in certain ways it must become the antidote to the perception of hardship that most people percieve it as being (and which, in all honesty, is an accurate perception of the elusive reality of that history). The point that was important for me to make was that the workhouses were publically announced as the first form of organized social welfare in the country. That they served a community purpose and that in the remaking of this space there should be a strong element of that social aspect. I will not get nto the injustices in Irish history here, thats not my aim at all, and yet that is not to say that I am not fully aware of the situation as it was in reality. I suggested to the team a number of plausable possibilities. One was that, given the proximity of the workhouse to one of the poorest housing estates in the town, that there could be a Montessori school that operates according to the social enterprise of a specified successful Dublin company who are part of the SETF (Social Enterprise Task Force) in Ireland. I also suggested, having picked spuds for local organic farmers back in the day, and having heard how they interact with the bigwigs of Tescos and SuperValue, that a local Community supported market could operate in the courtyard; that the Irish should follow the Greek Potatoe Revolution. As chance would have it I read yesterday on my friend Lisa’s facebook that she bought a bag of organic potatoes at my formeer employers organic shop for €2 less than the supervalue equivalent. My comment in reply was “Community supported markets, local produce, undercut Tesco, nuff said!” In addition to this the idea has been raised to me that a forest would be good to banon3760936673ce the atmosphere in the surrounding area. Some 3000 bodies (probably more) are buried in the fields aling the rear and side of the building. A ceremony, a tree planting, and a forest made in the fields available to the rear is an event that can give a whole community, indeed a nation, a sense of meaning, and can serve an honorary and calming purpose and service to its site and situation. I have spoken with Slow Food Youth Ireland and to other members of the Cloughjordan Ecovillage (where Vinay lives quite a bit – hi Vinay) aswell as to members of a volunteer/selfemployment company called Local-Switch about their possible interaction with any potential project that could come of this also. Naturally, Edgeryders came up, and Brian was vaguely interested but I’m not sure that he understands the potential of the situation. He agreed that the vision is there, but claimed that there was a lack of focus…that I could not “be all things to all men”. The old generation of project manager are still in linear process and thinking hierarchically in too sharp a focus. Given your examples above concerning participation versus payed work I can see how the reallocation of resources in a distributed manner can fuel a distributed process whereby each of the participating entities can work together to achieve the best result. In the local setting you have to work with whats actually there. And so figuring that out is paramount (thats my answer to question 1 *ushaiddi/netention). Once we know whats there we need some kind of intermediary, like an Unmonastery who can go in and actually apply the medium for that primary issue and bring the people concerned to the same table with some notion of a potential reality, or a series of potential realities for them to work toward. It appears that the beuraucrats cannot think like this, they need to, at the very least, see its potential and deregulate and/or reregulate as necessary. When you ask how far along this is already I would say that it is very far along, and that through digital loops such as Edgeryders and the various thinker and tinkerer networks emerging online there will soon be an emergent software to cater to the needs of these communities to map assets and resources in ways that will far accelerate certain modes of production, namely socio-cultural production within circular economies where products become services and work becomes life (again) Given Alberto’s concern I would like to offer that yes, there are two distinguishable interest groups emerging…and yet it is in the interest of both to actually survive. Once thats assured, at least, there is still the concern of surviving without persisting in some crisis nightmare where even the highest amongst the ‘have’s’ are worriedly watching. For the neccesary banon3760936673ce to occur the system has to be let find its own level, a level currently beyond the banon3760936673cing power of the present socio-productive organization. Ideally, it can be recognized that different is not adverse, and that new is not to be feared, that just because its different doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it or that you may not actually come to learn and grow of the experience. People forget the passion that got them to their ‘comfort’. We still need infrastructure, power, sustenance, education, culture, health services etc… Same-same… But different. You ask what are the dangers? I won’t direct my attention there. Whats the use when there’s so much potential to work with in the space of life between? People get aggressive over contradictive ideology, but when it comes to social situations and the proof of the collective pudding the lesson that history teaches us is that, so far at least, things have been getting steadily better for people. If we can move with the times and with the ‘decisive technology’, then we can shed our preoccupation with the abstract personal and with the symbolic and move into a deeperly lived, and more fully conscious, Life. Personally I believe that the route leads through culture and is a move, with the help of the head, to and through the heart and hands. I’m working on a little something north of Berlin in May that will hopefully help me understand (and show a whole bunch of others at the same time) how different cultural groups can come together in a mutually supportive space to exchange values, and value, and crosspolinate to create a new space that is equally educational, packed with arts and culture, and productive of socially changent ripples. More about that later…I think its a very good example of what you ask for in your third question. Thanks for this Dougald, its a fine contribution. See you on the round. " 9,24129,2013-02-04T13:35:00.000Z,493,anon1839840820,anon959394994,"Storify Here is my storify of comments leading up to, and devolving from this link being sent to me. http://storify.com/exiledsurfer/thoughts-on-regenerating-meaning" 11,26170,2013-02-06T10:12:00.000Z,493,anon1689441345,anon959394994,"I was speaking to a Spanish friend about this article. He was saying that even if “economic growth” returns to Spain, it will only work for those people who were encouraged during the boom to climb as far as they can on the higher education ladder to get “graduate jobs”. In fact, those who could afford to do so have kept climbing during the crisis – using Master/Phds as “waiting rooms” while they were unemployed, and using their parent’s homes & support as “waiting rooms” to avoid paying a premium on the crisis (i.e. high interest loans, flat evictions, etc). They’ve accumulated social & financial capital that provides a cushion. Those, however who were encouraged to leave school and go straight into the boom industries like construction, now have no industry or education to fall back onto and for the most part, given their parents were also employed in boom industries, they have no financial / support cushion either. What struck both of us was the irony of the situation, that people talk about the need to re-focus on the real economy (“making stuff”) to avoid a future boom & bust. Yet those with the skills to “make & build stuff” are not only at a disadvantage because their industries have crashed, but because they haven’t accumulated enough educational capital to compete even for jobs that haven’t required this (most barman in Barcelona are graduates). The Center for New Work, West Norwood Feast & Access Space are all examples of mobilising skills which involve “making stuff” so perhaps for this to coalesce into something serious is to create these spaces in communities which have been dependent on manon169343781al industries which have since died and find a way of supporting not just young people to develop & resource these spaces, but their families too? (Some areas like in ex-mining villages have kept a community self-resourcing approach as a result of young people & families working together, but many areas don’t have this) " 1,648,2016-04-01T08:20:09.000Z,648,anon1526983854,anon1526983854,"Four years ago, as we were planning our move to Brussels, Nadia and I decided to look for flatmates. Most of our friends and family members were rather puzzled: not many couples decide to share their apartment, though they can afford not to. We, however, thought it completely logical. Nadia is Swedish and I am Italian: at the time we lived in Strasbourg, France. That made us a migrant nuclear family, completely cut off from the network of emotional and material support that our friends and families of origin could offer. We were simply too isolated in our Strasbourg apartment, nice though it was; and we decided to try something different. So, we rented a much bigger apartment than we needed and asked the Internet for someone to share it with. Four years on, we think the experiment worked. For the last three years we have been living with Kasia and Pierre, a young couple of expatriates (Kasia is Polish, Pierre French). We really enjoy the co-habitation: the home feels more animated, and not a day goes by that we don't chat at least a little bit, over coffee or breakfast. We enjoy the big, airy living room overlooking the city. And, frankly, we appreciate that our lifestyle is really good value for money: thanks to the economies of scale implicit in family life, we pay a reasonable rent for a really nice space. Along the way, we discovered that what makes our living together so enjoyable is that we are so different from each other. We come from four different countries; we are of different ages (Pierre, the youngest, is 19 years younger than me, the oldest); we have very different jobs (Kasia is a dental nurse, Pierre is the manager of a fashion boutique, whereas Nadia and I both belong to the ""what is it that you do, again?"" tribe); Nadia and I travel a lot, whereas Kasia and Pierre tend to be in town most of the time. This works well on many levels. On a purely practical level, when we travel we love the thought that the home is not empty, and in the event of some misfortune (think plumbing failure) they can intervene; and I am sure they enjoy the privacy and the extra space. We pay for electricity, phone and the Internet, they pay for the cleaning services – less paperwork to do. We have an extra room, which normally serves as Nadia's and my office; but it doubles up as a guest room for the guests of all of us. But there is more to co-habitation than practicality. Kasia and Pierre are lovely people: and, crucially, they are different people from Nadia and myself. We live out the city in different ways. We have different takes on almost everything, from French politics to Belgian beer. Comparing notes with them is always interesting, and I really value their insights and wisdom. Not that we spend all that much time together. I think our co-habitation unfolded in the right sequence: we started by a default attitude of rigorous mutual respect of each other's privacy and spaces. Then, over time, we grew closer, started to share the occasional meal, the occasional outing; we met each other's friends and families, lovely people to the last one. Guess what: we have built a sort of familial-like arrangement in a foreign city, among people who were originally complete strangers to one another. It's working well. So well that, when a year ago our landlord announced that he was reclaiming his apartment and we would have to move out in the summer, we decided to stay together, and to look for a new place as a four-people household. Eventually, we got more ambitious and thought, what the hell, we might as well grow the family. If four people can live so well together in a larger apartment, how would it work with five, or six, or seven in an even larger one? It works well, it turns out. We moved to a lovely loft, and were joined by a third couple (Belgian-Italian). Giovanni and Ilaria have since moved on for family reasons, but we enjoyed their company while we lived together. Their place has been claimed by Thomas, a young French engineer.  We do this for totally egoistic reasons: we enjoy each other's company, we save money, we live in style. At the same time, we are aware that we are working our way through solving a global problem. Planet Earth has 230 million international migrants; intra-EU migrants like us are 8 million. Many of Europe's young people simply cannot afford to hold their ground: their work, education paths, and love lives lead them to migrate. When they do, they, like us, lose their supporting networks, and it is really hard to rebuild them. Living together, especially in diversity – the older with the younger, the sporty with the mobility-challenged, the academic with the blue-collar worker – becomes a platform for sharing our different abilities, and being able, as a household, to solve many different problems, both emotional and practical. None of this is new. You have heard it all before – at social innovation conferences and workshops, for example, and typically by people who live in middle-class nuclear families. But we have decided to walk this particular talk; it will probably not be the right choice for everyone, but it is the right choice Nadia, Kasia, Pierre and myself; and I strongly believe it might be right for many others. I encourage you to at least consider it for yourself: as more of us make this choice, the real estate market will respond, giving us more spaces suited to our particular lifestyle (in Brussels, for example, is very difficult to find large apartments with 3 or more bathrooms!). So, who wants to join? " 2,8933,2016-04-01T09:18:44.000Z,648,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"Curious how this could work for less resourceful newcomers Hi @anon So: together when you want to be, but apart when you want to be apart. It seems like your group has found just the right banon3760936673ce between couple intimacy and social sharing of the space, which is something that would scare many of us grownups. There is something about growing mature that makes one more and more into their own ways, and less willing to take on 'adventurous' lifestyles. Maanon1932026148 it's not obvious now how that pays off tenfold in the long term (i.e. family surrogates).  Do you think this setup can work if not all of you were middle class (as precarious or as unstable as middle class can be)? If someone joins but they soon fall off because of too low earnings, will the rest be able to catch them? " 3,10701,2016-04-06T21:22:49.000Z,8933,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Not in this case Direct income support is not part of the package in our group – at least not at this stage. We do help each other financially, but this is mostly a consequence of the economies of scale that exist in family life. The other part is a willingness to cut each other slack; this all started with us accepting to sub-rent to recent migrants, who did not have jobs yet. We trusted them to make it happen, and they did. Later, when we grew from four to six, same thing again: one of the two new people did not have a job, but we took them in all the same.  But in the long run, the deal is that you have to pull your weight. Maanon1932026148 in the future we will have become so attached that we will change the deal. Who knows? Certainly this setup gives us a couple of shots before we have to give up completely. For example, we could sub-rent the extra room, and take the additional income from everyone's rent. Maanon1932026148 the reduced privacy would be a sacrifice worth making to keep each other close, already now. Depends who you ask, I guess :-)   " 4,14141,2016-04-07T05:50:02.000Z,648,anon4259720994,anon1526983854,"Love it! Some case studies showcasing the benefits of shared living. " 1,656,2016-04-06T17:10:44.000Z,656,anon2331944500,anon2331944500,"1. What is the problem/question you are trying to solve/explore? Frame it as a design question! How do the differences between family relationships influence the concept of care?  Family is the space in which we learn to care about other people and in optimal situations are being care for from others. Apart from the abstract idea of a close all-loving family, the reality often looks different and a multiple of imbanon3760936673ces can arise within and across different families. Viewing care as a fundamental good necessary to every human being, different family structures influence the social life of people and create misunderstandings across all the ecosystem. Someone who does not, for whatever reason, have access to care from his “natural” family, has to seek somewhere else, but meets the difficulty to be part of a society in which different types of care are structure and differentiated, i.e. typically hard emotional situations that need a specific type of care are dealt with the family members. Outside of these close circle, misunderstanding arise as why people should care and how to communicate the need for it.  Different family-backgrounds often produce individuals who deal with their emotional life differently. We live in a time where family relationships are being redefined and even though alternative families (single mother, single father, same gender marriages, etc.) are officially being more accepted in the open discourse, the psychological and practical implications are being overlooked. For example, turning your friend or lover into the main care giver—role officially being taken by your parents and/or brother/sisters—still carries social stigmas and difficulties in assessing the fluid role-relationship in play.  2. State the ultimate impact you would like to have. What would make you feel like you did something meaningful with your time? Re-think the traditional role of the family as a protection-space and care-giver; deconstruct its traditional proposes and definitions and underanon3606750899 the imbanon3760936673ces, paradoxes, holes in the system. Center care as an extremely important aspect of our lives, a fundamental good which can have a domino-effect on all other aspects of our lives when not dealt with properly. Create a common linguistic understanding of different family backgrounds and correlate them to the psychological and social implications they carry out. Care is a fluid good and can be shared without the traditional format of a family. 3. What are some possible solutions to your problems or ways to answer your question? Think broadly. It's fine to start a project/learning process with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for surprises. The definition of family might be broaden or the caring role and relationship be redefined. At the end, the important aspect is to awaken a conscious thinking about caring and its connection to vital energy, well-being and social possibility with other people. The intimacy by which we hide some aspects of our emotional life must be addressed with the hope a post-traditional exchange system can born out of it. 4. Write down some of the context and constraints that you are facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based, or have to do with the population yo're trying to reach. Initially the question should be limited geographically and anthropologically to the western world. In future, a more global approach could be used.  5. Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again. How do the differences between family relationships influence the social life and exchange of care between individuals? " 2,6682,2016-04-06T20:54:24.000Z,656,anon1526983854,anon2331944500,"DIYing the family? Hello @anon I am not sure I understand you completely, but you seem to be saying something like: what you call the natural family is the default locus of care. But some people do not have access to that. They have to make their own, so that they can reproduce that locus. The traditional way to do this was this: you would leave your parents' house, marry, settle down with your spouse and have children. This produced a ""one size fits all"" world, with most families were very similar to each other in composition. You seem to be saying that now this is untenable, and families should be (and in part are) allowed to be more diverse, like a Lego construction made of different-looking pieces. A DIY sort of family, heavily customized. Is this broadly correct? Because if so, you might be interested in my own quasi-familial thing in Brussels. I love my original family very much, but none of them live in the same country as I do!  https://edgeryders.eu/en/living-social-in-brussels-co-living-as-a-lifestyle-for-grown-ups " 1,5524,2016-04-06T14:14:13.000Z,5524,anon1743371374,anon1743371374,"
    I am Moushira. One of the OpenCare crew from WeMake, and it is time to introduce myself :).  Once upon a time I was an architect, building and exploring alternative building techniques with communities in the desert of Morocco and the mountains of Sinai in Egypt.  Three years ago, I got a masters in interaction design, and then Arduino started to change my life :). Since then, I have been working on different things, including a project for an opensource laser cutter, called Risha, that operates via mobile phone.   I am also working on another project that helps introduce Bedouin women and kids in the mountains to smart textiles, and I am a consultant to the Wikimedia Foundation (the one that runs Wikipedia), working on helanon3606750899g find out what readers want (because no body knows yet, imagine!).  
    As part of OpenCare team from WeMake, where I am working on both the strategy and the harvesting of the online community and helanon3606750899g the people define projects that they want to implement. Moving on, I will help with physical prototyanon3606750899g aspects.  I believe Opencare is a wonderful initiative,  that reminds us of simple solutions that can make a difference in our lives, yet nobody thinks about them, because nobody knows those exists at first place.  Many thanks to @anon  
    I speak Arabic, English, French and Spanish (proficiency is in the same order :).  I am Egyptian, and these days I live between Alexandria and Dahab (a small city in Sinai)  
    Nice to meet you everyone, please let me know if you have any questions. Moushira
    " 2,6492,2016-04-06T15:06:40.000Z,5524,anon2971875139,anon1743371374,"Welcome :) Hi Moushira,  Welcome to the team ! Hope we'll get to know you soon :) Luce " 3,10652,2016-04-06T18:03:43.000Z,6492,anon1743371374,anon2971875139,"Thanks! Lets see how we can grow a happy OpenCare community :) " 4,13986,2016-04-06T19:52:53.000Z,5524,anon477123739,anon1743371374,"Welcome Thanks for introducing yourself. I look forward to hearing more about your project and seeing what WeMake! Alex " 5,19654,2016-04-06T20:10:25.000Z,5524,anon1491650132,anon1743371374,"Join our weekly call? Hi @anon Hope to see you on Monday at our regular online hangouts 16:30 cet? https://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3n-meetups " 6,21681,2016-04-06T20:50:24.000Z,19654,anon1743371374,anon1491650132,":) Nice meeting you ""virtually"" as well, @anon " 7,23395,2016-04-06T20:41:06.000Z,5524,anon1526983854,anon1743371374,"Welcome, too :-) @anon " 1,651,2016-04-04T21:54:20.000Z,651,anon1831568896,anon1831568896,"what can we as designers do? designing not only objects, but situations, society designing society. how can we create a community where everyone respects each other? helps each other? don’t loose the fun!  if i am happy i can give so much more love to other people. What People? who am i in contact with?  am I caring with a smile? how much does my smile give to the bus driver? what makes me happy? caring doesn’t only mean to give but also to be able to receive. to connect stay in touch.  be authentic, honest. never loose the ability to laugh about yourself.    I am not going to change the world.    too negative   I want to think about solutions that are sustainable and lead our society to better approaches.    better.   We need to be working together and help each other. thats actually the only way to get out of this fucked up World.  " 2,10611,2016-04-06T14:31:40.000Z,651,anon1491650132,anon1831568896,"Looking forward to read more. Thanks for your thoughts @anon My name is Noemi, and myself learning to live daily with a smiling face. Not very easy, but I enjoy being in my home environment - and the feeling of safety which it gives. Here is my story, looking forward to read you. By the way you can Edit your post anytime should you want to add more info about yourself. Cheers! " 2,10561,2016-04-06T14:14:24.000Z,495,anon1491650132,,"What do you currently do? Hi @anon I look forward to visiting again, art festivals there are a favourite of mine. " 2,10160,2016-04-05T18:22:35.000Z,5465,anon1491650132,,"Anyone to contact for sharing a story? Hi @anon I'm thinking it would be helpful to get a sense of how people you engage are responding and what we can offer as a community. " 2,9977,2016-04-05T11:21:00.000Z,649,anon1491650132,,"Failure can be a path to activism, nicely said. Nice to meet you @anon I don't speak German so I used google translate to understand your post (English translation here). If I got it well, you have said wise words: we don't need to reach the care utopia with normalized approaches, but with trial and error. Are simulator workshops something to look into with more detail then? Any other tells or resources you know, do tell. that would be useful to OpenCare where we are supposed to look into promising ideas and prototype them - but prototyanon3606750899g in the ""lab"" so to speak could mean a due dilligence fail test (?) hm.   " 1,654,2016-04-05T08:42:57.000Z,654,anon1612430491,anon1612430491,"
    Wie glaubst du könnte man Pflege in unserer Heutigen Welt angehen? In der näheren Umgebung? Ich muss niemanden pflegen. Es ist pflege sich mit Freundin zu unterhalten. Bei dir selbst? Sich bewegen, den Körper Pflegen. Die Psyche Pflegen. Warum musst du dich Pflegen? Damit ich gesund bleibe. Ist es ein Problem das Menschen dieses Bedürfnis nicht haben? Unterschiedlich. Solange du keine Probleme hast musst du dich nicht darum kümmern. Es kann passieren, dass du MS hast. Ich wie? nicht ob eine Leib, Seele Trennung Sinn macht. Man kann im Gehirn zeigen, das psychische Probleme sich Körperlich äußern. Wir haben sie nur noch nicht verstanden. Man kann Körper und Geist nicht trennen. Körperkult? Sport und Bewegung ist Pflege, aber man muss unterscheiden. Dreimal die Woche rennen gehen kann nicht gesund sein. Für manche Menschen eventuell schon. Es geht um die reine Bewegung Für die Durchblutung, den Sauerstoffgehalt, die Haut, die Sonne bekommt. Für den ganzen Körper. Bewegungsunfähigkeit. Ich hatte eine Bekannte die im Rollstuhl saß. Sie musste alle zwei Stunden nach Hause an eine Ladestation. Eigentlich könnte sie Laufen, doch sie hat Spastiken und traut sich nicht ohne den Rollstuhl zu laufen. Sehr motivierend finde ich die Läufer der Paralympics. Stellst du deine Pflege vor die Pflege anderer? Das steht in einem Jing-Jang Verhältnis. Wenn im Flugzeug der Druck fällt, wird dir auch gesagt, dass du zuerst selbst die Maske anziehen sollt und dann anderen.  Nur in wenigen Situationen wiederspricht mein Pflegebedürfnis dem der anderen. Das Problem ist wenn Leute nicht genug bekommen. Wie helfen der Menschheit damit? Nein, das Mittlere Management, macht nichts anderes als andere Leute zu beobachten und zu kontrollieren. Ich denke die Meisten Menschen wollen etwas Sinnvolles tun. Wie verändert das das Verhältnis zu anderen, Familie. Es ist ein Wechselspiel. In einer Großfamilie ist es egal ob zu einem Pflegebedürftigen Kind noch ein Alter dafür kommt. Menschen sind eher dafür gemacht in Rudeln zu leben. Es muss ja nicht Zwangsläufig die Familie sein sondern eine Gruppe Menschen, der man sich anschließt. Pflege ist ein Verhältnis. Menschen machen nichts, was sie unerträglich finden. Auch bei kleinen Kindern. Wenn du dir das Objektive Betrachtest ist es sehr hart. Rund um die Uhr Betreuung, Nachts Ausstehen. Pflege ist nie Einseitig. Pflege hat viele Gesichter und ist längst kein einseitiges Ding, keine Einbahnstraße. Alle Interviews die wir heute geführt haben unterscheiden sich stark voneinander im Stil aber die Ergebnisse und Antworten sind alle sehr persönlich.  Die Details der Geschichten variieren und der Schwerpunkt, das eine ist politischer als das andere.
      " 1,653,2016-04-05T08:33:19.000Z,653,anon2331944500,anon2331944500,"The following is a transcript of a dialog held during a Workshop on Open Care in Sauen, Germany. Jan is a student of social and business communication, while is a Dennis product design student, both at the Berlin University of the Arts. We focus on the skills our academic background could contribute to the project, and how our different approaches and skill-set can cooperate in a fruithfoul way. Dennis asks, Jan answering D: Wie siehst du unser Seminarthema aus GWK-Perspektive? J: Für mich ist das alles nichts neues, es entspricht dem, was wir im Studium zum Inhalt haben. Wir erarbeiten oft Ideen und Konzepte im Framework,um wirtschaftlich funktionieren zu können. Z.B. finde ich das Unmnastery Projekt interessant. Ein Austausch sollte stattfinden, so dass jeder davon profitieren kann. Best for both. Ich wünsche mir mehr praktisch zu arbeiten, damit ich etwas Neues kennen lerne, vielleicht wäre es einfacher bereits eine Idee vorgegeben zu bekommen und diese umzusetzen. Die Kommunikation zwischen GWK und Designer sollte stätig stattfinden,um das Projekt zu optimieren. Man kann Marketing nicht nach Regeln durchführen, es gibt kein Rezept, mann muss versuchen neue Wege zu finden und kreativ zu werden. Learning by doing wist immer wieder ein interessanter Ansatz. D: Überschneidet sich die Motivation des Auftraggebers auch mal mit derjenigen des GWKlers? J: Das unterscheidet sich von Fall zu Fall. Es gibt zwei Fälle: Man arbeitet zusammen und hat die gleiche Motivation am Projekt, nur daß einer eher die Idee und die Vision hat, während der andere sich um das Praktische kümmert; um die Kommunikation. Beidseitiges Interesse amselben Projekt ist quasi der ideale Fall. Wenn das nicht der Fall ist, ist der Marketer bloßer Dienstleister, der nicht hinter der Sache steht.  " 1,494,2016-04-04T21:08:33.000Z,494,anon70625510,anon70625510,"Today I had the pleasure of meeting and introducing students from GWK and UDK to the OpenCare project themes and the design (presentation slides available here). What follows are my notes from the final round of discussions in an intense day. Each quote is the transcription of what one individual said. I will be writing a separate post, or possibly even series of posts as the conversations were very rich and offered a lot of things to think about and explore around care. “It was a good experience, I liked meeting people from different backgrounds and the possibility for working together… Discovering what we each are good and not good at, and how they can fit together.  As well as what these different backgrounds creates as a perspective towards the project” “For me exploring new projects and ways of working is not new, so changing my setup is not new. Converting ideas to communities. Setting up a framework that people can work within. But for product designers is not the case. I could understand Nadia’s language well..It could be good to translate the language and vocabulary used by the OpenCare project into language easier to use for product designers. Designers are mostly visual, other disciplines less so. Some bridging of languages could be helpful.” “We were discussing the questions on the wall- what care means on fundamental level to us. Under which conditions care is being granted in a community and what that means for us. When discussing integration of people into a group, the separation you make in the beginning affects the integration project...You say there is an external person who should adapt to the community itself, instead of thinking about creating something new from scratch out of the welcoming community and new individials. Especially when you talk about care...you always do the labelling that there is someone who needs help, and I am one to provide help. Maanon1932026148 getting rid of these labels is important. Also we talked about how social relations to certain people are necessary for providing some kinds of care. And how to solve challenges of providing care for people we don’t already know. You touch people physically (as we did in the opening session today) and it changes relationship immediately e.g. free hugs in public spaces: This changes something very fast. Especially in regards to refugee topic….Before helanon3606750899g there should be a contact, a communication with people before offering help whether you know they need or not.” “ We started different no thinking about projects, but our own experiences being people on the move. 
    • Being somewhere where you chose to go
    • Being somewhere you didn't’ pick: job, being refugee,  being moved by parents...how it affects your mindset
    What is the difference between these two in terms of care on the move? One person was talking about being in china for job of her father to experience completely difft culture and not being free to decide to go there….vs choosing to move to a new city voluntarily in a city where many different cultures in Kreuzberg. Just getting to know different food and culture at a very young age and getting to know this in a playful way without much prejudice in your head” “We started off by talking about situations in our lives where we have given care, or seen other people receiving care. Who are those people who have taken on traditional care of caregiving? We quickly started talking about feminist issues and women being caregivers through history. We also talked about the rewards, how giving care is valued, if valued at all or you get financial remuneration…” “We were all answering the question of why we chose the different topics and why we chose them. Mine was about being on the move and the point that is for me very importan is the idea of doing something fo the first time and you have to cope, no matter if you have to do a job or ...you are always doing for the first time. Found a sory in newspaper about caregivers and they tried to set up school for nurses where they given puppets they have to be with for weeks before working with humans. Switch perspective. I found a flyer which was something like a manon169343781al for shopanon3606750899g in supermarket in the fifties..they were handing flyers out about how to behave and shop in he supermarket and now people are complaining about refugees not knowing  how to behave the first time...there is an arrogance... What is possible with products etc to switch perspective and lose embarrassment etc around doing something for the first time. People “misbehave” because. The first time I met a Syrian guy was during the refugee crisis, it was first time experience for both of us, no just him.” “We were mostly talking about first time experience of meeting some guys from syria. How can we start meeting people on a high level and not relationship that we are giving, and they are receiving donations. That we are both receiving and giving care.” “We started talking about experiences and what think about care, or what we need for our self to be cared for or give care. I found that we had really different ways of talking or explaining. I had difficulties to say what I was thinking and they only understood me when I made examples. And they totally understood me. But when Nema started talking, she could really articulate herself without giving examples. It’s really interesting as a product designer.” “We talked about personal experiences. Because of this we came to many topics- like how it is to be a European or come from another continent. It was nice because we had an open chat with one another, so we had some long discussions. It was nice to hear about other people’s stories because sometimes you don’t talk about it for long, but when you do it for one hour and you have some perspectives on how to give care for refugees but also what it’s like to be a foreigner in Germany.” “Unter sich haben sie die kulturellen Unterschiede nicht wirklich gemerkt, wenn man gemeinsam mit vielen Kulturen aufwaechst. Der einzige Unterschied, der immer da bleibt, und erfahrbar ist, ist der kulinarische Unterschied. Vielleicht ist die Perspektive eines Kindes die beste: Unvoreanon1056199097nommen Danon1056199097 aufnehmen, ohne sie direkt zu beurteilen. Gerade als Kind ist es eine grosse Bereicherung, auf so viele unterschiedliche Kulturen zu treffen. Fuer die Erziehung und die Ausbildung der eigenen Persoenlichkeit ist es absolut foerderlich, in Konfrontation mit vielen Kulturen aufzuwachsen.” “We had a discussion about “stranger danger”. Which I have recently been having with people from older generations. When it comes to refugee crisis , even people I know that normally would act very human and never put themselves above another suddenly are afraid when refugees come to the country. In part it is because of the lack of contact; they don’t come naturally to a place where exchange could happen in an uncontrived way. How could this be set up, or how could it happen? We talked about how younger people can be a connector, how it needs a connector...there are many of us who want to engage but don't because the connection is needed and doesn’t happen without being designed. When travelling connecting is very easy, but in your own town you rarely have deep conversations with people you don’t know. Openness as a mindset is very interesting to see how society is structured n our head. How this huge fear that comes out of nowhere. Media says you should have fear now, that the new is threatening. I love my Grandma but when it comes to this topic I think omg we should not even talk about this topic and I have no idea how to change things. I think it’s a lot of empathy, we had a huge fight...it was all about him not letting what’s happen...not wanting to feel it...keeanon3606750899g it theoretical. The next day there was a change of perspective. It’s also overwhelming for many people, related to make yourself vulnerable and allowing yourself to feel. It’s a very delicate and sensitive how to do this contact and get them in touch with their feelings.” “We were talking about different languages. To map out what we can as GWK and product designers (UDK) and to figure out what is the responsibility towards what we are studying. Until now what designers were doing and what we were studying was just about making things beautiful. Are we even responsible towards building towards big visions the way  OpenCare is doing? As designers we are always looked upon in a very belittling way - as though we are not capable of contributing to the big issues. But I believe it is part of our responsibility as designers to do this work, because ideally we are focusing not on profiting from it but we can do it just to help. Everyone knows we should help, but no one really does it and people still have prejudices and discriminate. Not many of us know how it is to lead a refugee’s life. How many of us have been discriminated against? For me I was born in Germany, but for a moment I thought well all the refugee circus that is going on has nothing to do with me and I thought it is the responsibility of larger organisations like NGos and the Government to deal with...I asked myself what capacity do I realistically have to help. Then I realised that as someone born in Germany, I walk around the street I hear people discriminating against Asians. And I realised it does affect me, and it is my responsibility to help...It is about the right to be a creative and work not just for profit, but  to help others and how this is deeply human at its core.” “I think it is always important to find new symbiotic relationships between people. One Project I’ve come across is one in which there were two groups: one group who wanted to learn English but didnt have connections to do so, and the other group was old lonely group from America. These two groups were able to talk to each other via skype. The Old people had the joy of talking to somebody who was interested in learning. And the young people learned English. It’s very nice to see people caring about each other that way.” “For me it was very interesting to hear what makes something seem foreign and why we feel home. What makes this happen?” “We were still thinking about what is th goal of being a designer and what is a design process...what is the difference to art or to management/managers job? We came to the point that an artist is focusing on showing problem and designer is trying to find solution and manager is more focused on company’s project and not so much on helanon3606750899g people. It’s a beginning of a discussion.” “We were not talking about the differences between student areas. It was interesting seeing how there was a lot of variation in how interviews were conducted in the different groups as well as within the group were different. I think what I found was that we had very different styles of leading interviews and how different results. I realised I am used to lead an interview and how it has become my only way for me. And it was really interesting to see there are different kinds of ways to lead an interview. I learned how to lead interviews in design thinking...you are asking for stories and ask 5 times why. It’s completely differnt thing when trying to understand a person. It was a very good experience. And apart from that my main insight is that care is always interactional, its not a one way street. The system of capitalism is making it a one way street because there s wlays money in and something out. It’s not evolutionary.” “We talked about the relationships that we have with people from Syria that we know and the experiences we have with them. We try to know why German people are so scared of foreigners and why the German people are sometimes so closed also in a friendship. For example my first time was not so easy to make friends here, german people are really closed the first time..they are not so open to stangers.” “It was really intersting hearing about your experiences and the difficulties you had. Very interesting to talk from a personal perspectives and the fears you have.” “We discussed the five questions we were given. What I noticed te most that care is a very difficult term. We couldn;t find a term for care in german. This is one part that makes the discussion very interesting but also very difficult. A whole lot of people are going in a direction towards the refugee topic, that seems to be very close to people. I heard about a book from two journalists about political language: some words and terms that are used are producing certain realities. When you use some words regularly especially in the media, it becomes a reality and then there is no alternative. Translating care into a german word, and speaking about it means very different thing.”  “We also tried to approach the topic from a more general angle, what care really means for us. We came to conclusion that care, giving and receiving, is a basic human need and a human right. It’s not a one-way street, but we need to talk about care as a devalued thing in our society. There are people who really love to give are and do not have the right to get something for it. We thought about how to make people who give care more visible. How can we provide some kind of reward or value for the volunteers. And of course we went in the feminist direction but I think it is a really important thing to value care as a huge thing in society.” “Care which we translated into Pfleger. Has not only to do with caring about other people and also for yourself. Is it important to care for yourself first or the other way around? It’s a challenge to care for huge number of people at once. Monetization and how it affects our view on people around us: that we cannot be more intuitive because we think about how we can be most effective.This question where german politicians are saying we have to take care of our people, and not just give everything away. Same thing at a different scale. We have to look at how we distributed in different ways. I would like to see politicians say how they care for themselves, I would like to see them living a lifestyle which shows people how to live a healthy life.”   " 1,5479,2016-03-21T14:56:22.000Z,5479,anon70625510,anon70625510,"After discussing with colleagues and community members in Edgeryders, I propose we “zoom in” from care in general to three specific instances. This will make the discussion more concrete and more relevant to the people out there whom we wish to connect and work with. The price we pay is that we might discourage people with interesting cases that do not fall into this taxonomy (eg. Helliniko). We suggest:  
    1. Social and or health care of refugees in Europe (Challenge brief here)
    2. Prevention of Suicide in the hacker community (Challenge brief here)
    3. Helanon3606750899g both caregivers and care receivers in dealing with dementia (Challenge brief here)
      They are a good match for OpenCare, because:  
    • They involve people in vulnerable situations where dynamics in community connections, or lack of, play a significant role. Can Guy/Alberto's network science perspective help us to make visible and understand these social flows?
     
    • They involve some interaction with the formal health and social care system, conditions as well as norms/behaviors in society at large. Can anon948101822k and Tino's approach help us make sense of this and translating it into institutionally comprehensible language?
     
    • They involve and require a deep understanding of healing and medical practice, especially the ethical considerations for both caregivers and care recipients. Can Marco, Massimo's and other's work in the field and in the lab help us to identify and understand how to deal with these issues? In the research as well as in the intiatives themselves?
     
    • The city as a place and institutions is where all of these interactions and relationships live (or do not). Can Lucia and Rossana and others in the city of Milano help us understand how a city can make visible and enable promising approaches and nurturing the people who drive them?
     
    • Can we design interventions offer workarounds to the obstacles these intiatives, and the indivuals they attempt to support (caregivers and care recipients)? What forms could these interventions take in order to unlock more care in the different situations (artefacts, communication, services, processes, upskilling, administrative and legal hacks, policy changes and or something else? Here I think the anon1056199097nuity and very particular skillset of Costantino, Zoe and others in the weMake constellation could make a very important contribution.
      Please validate them or counterpropose others. We need to move on. " 2,6774,2016-03-21T17:37:03.000Z,5479,anon3612872438,anon70625510,"comments on two domains Hi Nadia, We agree with what you propose, we have a couple of comments regarding two of the domains:
    • social/health care to refugees
    Why focus only on refugees and not on migrants in general? Or if we don’t want to call them migrants and refugees, let’s call them something like people in movement without papers: Sans-Papier
    • Prevention of Suicide in the hacker community
    This target is a bit too tight on hackers and becomes then necessary define what is a hacker and we think we could get stuck in this conversation (ie. why only hackers and  not makers? what are really hackers?) . Why don’t we focus on the domain of mental distress (or psychological distress) in high-tech service sector? best Zoe " 3,10741,2016-03-21T18:29:00.000Z,6774,anon1526983854,anon3612872438,"Mostly agree Opening domains allows us to capture potentially more great examples. For example, there is probably nothing to be gained by restricting to hackers the suicide prevention story (we are looking into it as part of a different piece of work we are doing in Galway: apparently, suicide is endemic in the West of Ireland). If we just look into suicide prevention, we can still fetch all of the stories coming from the hacker community.  On the other hand, suicide prevention is more suited to community-driven solution than treating mental distress. Why? Because it's about someone being there at the right time, pulling the suicidal person away from the brink. This presents interestingly specific challenges. In this case we might lose some focus if we move over to ""mental distress"".  " 4,13542,2016-03-21T18:29:34.000Z,6774,anon70625510,anon3612872438,"Agreed, thanks. First up- dementia Ok, People on the move makes a lot of sense. It includes people who move for any number of reasons. But we then need to give people some examples of what might fall under that, e.g. People fleeing war, People moving abroad to study, working mostly online and living in different parts of the world etc. I'll prepare the  docs for the other two, for now, have a look and contribute to shaanon3606750899g the brief to would be participants for the dementia related initiatives in this shared document? Another  helpful contribution would be to share your own reflections on this after the workshop we both participated in during lote5. I'm doing the same further below in the same document   " 5,15411,2016-03-30T14:42:49.000Z,5479,anon1491650132,anon70625510,"Reaching out to medical practitioners In order for briefs to be efficient in terms of engaging people to relate deeply and submit stories, they need to be rock solid in providing background information about the topic - short and well packaged, but to the point and credible. It is that background info that helps us contextualize issues and ask very good questions. It seems that especially for dementia and suicide, it would be great to have people with medical training sharing information or pointing us to useful resources. Any way you guys can share the drafts linked above with your networks asking people what is it that they find most important to ask when it comes to coming up with effective, community solutions? Also, let me know if you know professionals that are also good writers whom we can approach for writing stories in response to the themes - personal experiences and takes on the issue (example of a contribution)   " 1,5463,2016-03-15T21:12:54.000Z,5463,anon70625510,anon70625510," During today's call  @anon281534083 , @anon
    • We discussed three cases:
      • The Diabetes implant: What was an illegal hack in 2012, is now a solution that is available for others. How did this happen? What kind of legal hoops did they have to jump through?
      • Im many EU countries the welfare infrastructure was designed for populations with planned groth. With more refugees arriving you both have an increase in number of people to care for, and different kinds of needs which is being framed as the source of "" chaos in the system"". Perhaps it would make sense to look at how health- and social care is being managed both in the camps and temporary receoption centres, as well as in the mainstream healthcare providers.
      • Is there a distincting between the NHS overall (long term) and the temporary refugee situation:  Is it just a question of money, or are/were there some things that can be improved? How does a clinic in Brixton cope with a situation in which you have five hundred people who have just walked to Calais and have broken feet? In addition to the Epidemological situation.
      • We need raw data about how the healthcare situation is currently being managed, but from first hand sources...ie go out and ask people on the ground. How many doctors, nurses and others are currently active in caring for the new arrivals? Where are the resources coming from, is it mainly charities? Is this information already out there and is anyone aggregating information about the different intiatives providing care services to people?
    Some early ""conclusions"":
    • When it comes to DIY solutions to health- and social care problems, there is a key tension between asking for permission and asking for forgiveness. Who/how can and should we convene around finding legal/administrative hacks for existing DIY solutions to health- and social care problems?
    • An obvious path towards achieiving impact is to find, acknowledge and draw support towards people who already are doing important work. This has to happen online on the edgeryders.eu platform in order for us to fullfull our obligations and to stay true to our mission. Does it make sense to run the project in 3-month cycles consisting of the following steps?
      • People reach out to little known but promising initiatives and ask them about their work and post the documentation on platform where we can help edit them into really compelling stories. These stories are designed as informative case studies with a specific call for action from the broader community.
      • We share their stories online and engage the internet in making sense of the challenges they face, as well as identifying fixes/hacks/solutions/new projects. Part of this is sharing specifications, doing requirements engineering and the necessary background research to determine viability of different proposals.
      • We build a number of small, focused events in which people existing intiatives with designing and build the identified fixes/hacks/solutions and projects. Kind of like the workshop on Collaborative Inclusion...but taking place over a couple of days, in a hacker or makerspace, where you leave having built something that works. Two projects to begin with: BBC Frontline Documentary on Two UK Doctors Helanon3606750899g Refugees | Dutch Volunteer Turns Refugee Boats and Life Jackets Into Backpacks .
      • BBC Frontline Documentary on Two UK Doctors Helanon3606750899g Refugees - See more at: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/bbc-frontline-documentary-on-two-uk-doctors-helanon3606750899g-refugees#comment-21988
      • BBC Frontline Documentary on Two UK Doctors Helanon3606750899g Refugees - See more at: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/bbc-frontline-documentary-on-two-uk-doctors-helanon3606750899g-refugees#comment-21988   
    " 2,10261,2016-03-15T23:45:00.000Z,5463,anon888039120,anon70625510,"Hangout ideas Hangout was good. Started in 'appear.in' but it was really laggy so we moved to Google hangouts. My feeling was that I'd be more likely to put effort into the open care thing if I believed it would come up with concrete results (e.g. helanon3606750899g people / reducing suffering) , if it was just making a big document that got read and largely ignored, I'd feel it was a waste of time, and I think everyone will share this feeling. I think Nadia agreed, and said that we could/should try to get some concrete change from this project (as well as fulfilling the minimum requirements of providing the research / ideas / documentation.) For the research part, I thought the only way to actually know what is going on would be to go to places where health care is needed, and talk to people first hand. Get a feel for their situation. (Rather that trusting info sources from others). So I think we could get people to visit anywhere that seems like it might lack good health care and talk to people in need, and the people giving the care. e.g. Refugee camps, impoverished inner city areas where there are too many people and not enough doctors / hospitals. Rural areas where it's hard for people to get health care. Go to places, talk to people get first hand accounts, do surveys and get numbers. For stats / raw data , I'd want to know: * How many doctors/clinics/hospitals there are in the area. * How the health care is funded: (is it governments paying with taxes? Charities? The communities themselves dealing with the problems, without outside help?) * How do people get to the health care when they need it? distance? cost? * How long do they have to wait? satisfaction with the care they receive? * How many people need care and are not getting it? etc. Someone (forgot name) asked an important question: Does our client (client?) care about the situation in America, or because it's EU money do they not care about far away places, with maanon1932026148 completely different situations / cultures? For the UK, an important question i would like answered is: 'how good is the NHS?' Are they doing the right thing, and only limited by lack of money, Or could their methods / efficiency be improved? If so, how? How could they improve? Better software / organisation? a change in culture? (I know they wasted a ton of money on software, cos they gave money to some lame suit and tie company instead of getting real hackers that smoke weed. But I guess that's really a separate issue.) To me, the most exciting idea would be to get hackers involved in health care. Healing people is (often / can be) easy when you apply creativity and radical tech and hacker problem solving mentality. I think an important question raised was 'is the legal side preventing this from happening more? Or will it get in our way?' Maanon1932026148 hackers are put off operating on people cos they might get sued if it goes wrong? Or 'pretending' to be a dentist is illegal and only people with official training should be allowed to mess with teeth? (Issues with stuff like law getting in the way of common sense hacking with pacemakers cos of stupid patent laws / lack of open software ?) Nadia said we can find people with expert legal knowledge, and see what the situation is. (Common wisdom is that dentistry is very difficult and takes 7 years training, or whatever. I can see why this makes sense. It *is* very difficult and can get very bad results if it goes wrong, so obviously 'amateurs' should not hack teeth. However, I actually think this is not as obvious as some may think. When talking about starting a radical hacker community on an island, one of the points that came up, is can we really mange without any outside help? What if someone has tooth problems, should we consider this when deciding on location? I said 'we can't do dentistry, it's too hard' but some in our crew actually thought it was not beyond the realms of possibility. He would have to spend a few hours reading, and time making specialised equipment (drills, maanon1932026148 X-ray machine, etc) and make our own morphine (actually that's the easy bit, but general anaesthetic can be tricky/dangerous). So anyway, I'm not suggesting it will be common place in the near future for people to get their teeth fixed at hackerspaces. Just wanted to point our that genius hackers can do amazing / crazy high tech things if they have the time. Nothing is beyond us. So I imagine it could be very feasible for hackers to help with more simple aspects of health care, and there is no reason that they should not be allowed to do so. ) Also mentioned: hackers making rucksacks for refugees. What about shelters for homeless? I've always been keen on squatting, using tech knowhow to get abandoned buildings into liveable states. This is not directly health care, but you can argue prevention is better than needing to cure. E.g. if people are living on the streets or extreme poverty where they can't keep warm and dry, and wash, of course they are more like to get sick and have many health problems. So the thing that excites me the most is getting hackers involved in radical change like this. Nadia said that actually getting positive change was something we could and should be doing (even though technically we don't have to DO anything, just provide research / ideas). So she suggested that I could help organise an event in London, where we get hackers together, and see what we can do. So I think a big event with lots of hackers would be good. Nadia mentioned planing to do something in London, and in June. Not sure why London (just cos I was keen to help, and i know London?) or were you thinking of doing something in London anyway? and why June? dunno. but anyway, that seems feasible. The minimum i would expect from this, is just lots of brainstorming / ideas by smart hackers that we can document and add to the report. The best case, would be if something more long term came out of it, and they ended up improving health care in London. London hackspace would be the logical place to host it (and I know the members and trustees very well). So if you guys think that sounds like it's worth doing, I will contact them and see what they feel and if there is any support / excitement about the idea. They would probably allow the space to be used for free, but if we wanted a lot of people and for more than one day, it could be a nice gesture to offer to donate some money from the grant for use of the space. (it's entirely non-profit and run by members) (they did look into charity status, but decided against it) Normally it's members only, but they will make exceptions for special events (and a lot of the people interested would be members anyway). I know one or two members that are involved in edgeryders, so I would also contact them. What do you think? " 3,12058,2016-03-16T14:39:58.000Z,10261,anon888039120,anon888039120,"Another location idea EMF is August 5th - 7th 2016, Guildford. https://www.emfcamp.org/ We could do something there. @anon " 4,12424,2016-03-30T00:08:23.000Z,12058,anon390916512,anon888039120,"EMF Just caught this @anon888039120 - don't know if @anon I've been considering emfcamp.  I'm part of a mobile hackspace/workshop project and back in Janon169343781ary made the proposal to do something with our workshop at EMF, but nobody else appeared interested.  I've been thinking about doing some kind of fantastical area at an event for a while, something inspired by madmax, solarpunk and https://archive.org/details/NomadicEcoVillages - not quite sure how/if that would fit in with OpenCare, although I guess it could?  anon3606750899ging @anon   " 6,13703,2016-03-16T17:39:28.000Z,10261,anon888039120,anon888039120,"When the left gets funded " 7,13880,2016-03-17T14:51:28.000Z,10261,anon70625510,anon888039120,"On the road Peter thanks for taking the time to post your nots above. Would like to really read and reply to your questions, share reflections etc but am on the road till Sunday. Will post in soon " 1,5491,2016-03-24T17:10:06.000Z,5491,anon3612872438,anon3612872438,"@anon The title is Know thyself and our world in the digital era and focuses  on the increasing knowledge through personal sensors, and how this form of open learning in a digital era can be applied to an area of shared concern – the environment.  the meeting will focus on the ubiquity of and the knowledge to be gained from personal sensors, and how this information can be applied to address issues of real concern.   the 3-day meeting is part conference and part hands-on. We're in the Innovation in open science project team and we'll: ""Explore hacker/maker space projects in digital health and the environment.  Imagine a gathering where we will tackle the theme of the Assembly by making something together in a state-of-the-art maker space.  Luanon3606750899g Xu and Francois Grey, with the help of esteemed leaders in the maker world such as David Li and anon948101822c Pan, will guide participants in a brainstorming session to build software or make objects in a space with equipment such as 3-D printers, sewing machines with conductive thread, microcontrollers, sensors, the works! "" The team will be lead by Luanon3606750899g Xu and Francois Grey (active in open hardware community at canon1932026148rlab - read more here  http://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2016/11/News%20Articles/2137964?ln=en ) , and will actively engage with the maker spaces in Shenzhen. More after the event. In the meanwhile some bits about Sage Bionetworks and also the reason why we accepted invitationa and we'll talk about Opencare: Inspired by open-source software models, Sage Bionetworks co-founder Stephen Friend builds tools that facilitate research sharing on a massive and revolutionary scale: https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_friend_the_hunt_for_unexpected_genetic_heroes John Willibanks of Sage Bionetworks about medical data https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data?language=en   " 2,7364,2016-03-24T18:41:04.000Z,5491,anon281534083,anon3612872438,"The CERN link Says ""denied"" when I try to go there.  The TED links work ok. " 3,14604,2016-03-25T02:36:15.000Z,5491,anon3612872438,anon3612872438,"Try this http://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2016/11/News%20Articles/2137964?ln=en   Copy and paste in browser " 4,20087,2016-03-25T02:43:51.000Z,5491,anon281534083,anon3612872438,"That works thanks! " 2,8496,2016-03-09T09:28:41.000Z,5432,anon70625510,,"Photos or it didn't happen :)) Kidding aside. Very curious how you are structuring this event, what communication materials you have sent to whom and then what people actually say/do during the event. The reason being that if we can learn from one another, then we can help others maanon1932026148 do the same workshops/event where they are based.... " 4,15487,2016-03-09T11:43:54.000Z,5432,anon1491650132,,"Great promotional gif Loved it and added it to our visual     " 5,20873,2016-03-10T09:04:20.000Z,5432,anon2435658896,,"Liscio Ambrosiano with Claudio Merli Claudio will be our rockstar!! https://www.youtube.com/embed/38kYygIvfzk" 1,5462,2016-03-15T18:10:34.000Z,5462,anon281534083,anon281534083,"http://www.rferl.org/content/lesbos-migrants-turning-boats-into-backpacks-dutch-volunteers/27587663.html is a link to a story about a Dutch woman who made a super clever hack of the junk boat and lifejacket parts to make backpacks out of them using a few simple tools, which she then taught to the refugees.  An excellent maker story solving a real problem without having to get too high tech or even ask for wither permission or forgiveness.. " 2,6917,2016-03-21T20:46:43.000Z,5462,anon2435658896,anon281534083,"cool This is very cool, we should bring Nagler into the conversation!  @anon " 1,5469,2016-03-17T14:19:47.000Z,5469,anon281534083,anon281534083,"https://securitybrief.com.au/story/information-security-professionals-may-not-be-prepared-iot-after-all/ As you might expect, the IoT is fraught with security holes and a growing population of users who are rather unconcerned about it - mainly because they don't know and don't think about it enough.  But do you want someone hacking into your Google Car?  This article points out that many IoT devices and projects don't even know all that connect to them. " 2,10467,2016-03-17T15:02:06.000Z,5469,anon888039120,anon281534083,"Yeah I'm more worried about people hacking into my computer. My computer is part of me / my brain. OSs have always been exploitable. The fact that everything is connected to internet all the time makes the problem worse, but not a new thing. I don't care so much if they hack my car. What are they gonna do? Make it drive off a cliff? Unlikely. Yeah, sure, it's a bit scary if someone can hack into your pacemaker and switch it off remotely, but how many people are this evil? Not so many. If you wanna be evil and kill people, it's not difficult to get a gun. That's just a fact of life, humans are weak and vulnerable. So my point is: This IoT security panic is being blown out of proportion. It's nothing new. Sure we will fix it, but it's probably going to take A.I. There is no easy solution. Telling everyone to stop using Microsoft would be a good start, if you care about security. " 3,16891,2016-03-19T01:57:30.000Z,5469,anon888039120,anon281534083,"case in point http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/15/hackers-could-take-over-your-dildo-and-make-it-go-berserk-expert-warns-5754496/ " 1,5471,2016-03-18T09:15:43.000Z,5471,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"The first free hands-on workshop of the \#opencare series will take place this next Friday 18 March in Milan at ‘Fa la cosa giusta’. Come and learn how to create an \#IoT \#opensource service to monitor and take care of your loved ones remotely. here in italian:  http://wemake.cc/2016/03/15/opencare-a-fa-la-cosa-giusta/ if you have the possibility to come drop us a line:  hello [at] wemake.cc with @anon413297907 @anon Date: 2016-03-18 16:00:00 - 2016-03-18 20:00:00, Europe/Rome Time." 2,10502,2016-03-18T09:17:01.000Z,5471,anon2435658896,anon2435658896,"on Facebook you can share this link https://www.facebook.com/wemake.cc/posts/1150451201640742 " 1,5461,2016-03-15T17:32:18.000Z,5461,anon281534083,anon281534083,"http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/10/frontline-doctors Is a link to a writeup on an hourlong BBC documentary I watched while I was in Amsterdam last week.  I didn't see a link to watch it online, though the synopsis is very good.  It would be interesting to follow up with those doctors to see what they are doing about all this now. " 2,10128,2016-03-15T18:06:30.000Z,5461,anon477123739,anon281534083,"it was a very good documentary Hi John, I watched it when it was on TV in the UK. It was very powerful and interesting, certainly worth following up with them. The link to watch it through the UK BBC iPlayer service is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073jh6b  I think it's only available to UK IP addresses, but i'm sure that won't hold you back, a simple VPN will get past that. You can also follow the link and buy it as a video download for about $2/2Euro if you're feeling generous. It s a couple of months old (they did their journey at the beginning of the year) so they visited the Calais camp which is now very different and in the process of being forcibly cleared by French Police and government officials. Sadly this will just mean that it's even more difficult to treat and assess the conditions of the refugees as they are most dispersed around the area and the clinic and social services that had been set up by volunteers and 3rd Sector orgs have been dismantled and closed. If you wanted to organise a meeting or discussion with them i'd be happy to act as an intermediary, or scribe so we could share with the rest of the community. Alex " 3,11986,2016-03-15T19:42:10.000Z,10128,anon70625510,anon477123739,"Are they in the UK? Hiyah Alex, was just writing up my notes from the call and saw this. I'm going to be in London from tomorrow through to Sunday. 1) there's a dinner Im hosting (Ezio will be there as well) if you you'd like to join us. I've rented an airbnb so if you need a place to crash you're welcome to stay there too 2) I'd love to meet them, with you also if you have time? I've no problem getting to where they are and if you'd like to join me that would be even better :) Let me know? <3   " 4,12695,2016-03-16T14:36:50.000Z,11986,anon477123739,anon70625510,"Damn! Hi Nadia, That would be amazing, but i think i have to work tonight and tomorrow daytime which means i can't do anything. I'm waiting to hear back, in which case i might be able to come down tonight, but it's 50/50 at the moment. I'm busy from early friday morning as i'm going to the wilds of Scotland for a week to write poetry and read EU cultural documents! Alex " 1,5460,2016-03-15T08:04:19.000Z,5460,anon784612129,anon784612129,"OpenCare Kick-off Meeting   February, 25th 2016, Brussels

    Participants:

     
    Institution Name
    University of Bordeaux (UBx) Luce Chiodelli Guy Melançon Adeline Barre Olga Ivanova
    Edgeryders (ER) Alberto Cottica Nadia El-Imam Noemi Sanon3760936673tiu Ezio Manzini John Coates Sam Muirhead
    WeMake (WM) Costantino Bongiorno Zoe Romano Cristina Martellosio Elisabetta Mori Alessandro
    SCImPULSE Foundation (SF) Marco Manca Massimo Mercuri
    Stockholm School of Economics (EHFF) anon948101822k Lakomaa Tino Sanadaji
    Comune di Milano Rossana Torri
     

    Minutes:

    Kick-off meeting agenda:

     

    Source: https://edgeryders.eu/en/groups/opencare/february-25th-first-consortium-meeting-a-proposed  

    Epic goals - Introduction by Alberto (ER)

      Review of proposal objectives - as expected by the EC because listed in the DoA and real objectives of the OpenCare project: High-impact paper on community-driven care & welfare reform -> wikinomics -> book? -> Influencing the world + Sanon3606750899-off of the project -> OpenCare clinic? + Introduction of the hackers’ culture into EU research projects     Learn by doing to deploy collect intelligence to design care services EC interest in funding the programme -> how to summon collective intelligence for policy-making -> Provide a scenario on a realistic scale -> Software stack   Use hackers as a model – why? 1. Low-level of formality between partners 2. Written communication – traces of conversations easy to find and collect 3. Avoid e-mail for transparency and common knowledge (sharing experiences) 4. Skype meetings every 2 weeks – to be confirmed 5. Everything except private information shall be posted on the forum = we have to think about the way we communicate online.   Partners shall use the online forum but also organize it, using tags/subgroups. Possible to uncheck the groups for which partners receive notifications, if they wish to make it stop.    

    Tools, procedures: project management - by Luce (UBx)

      Detailed information on grant management in the powerpoint presentation held by UBx.   Partners mostly beginners with EU research projects (all partners except UBx + Comune di Milano) UBx engages to:
    1. Upload resources for project management:
    Survival kit to the EC requirements (coming soon – draft to be revised) + Time sheets examples + Template of a Data Management Plan as provided by H2020 +Gantt with deliverables
    1. Inform partners of important milestones/events (such as when the payment will be done). Information will be provided online on the OpenCare workspace to avoid similar recurrent questions from all partners.
    2. Get in touch with partners to review their plans of using the funds (staff costs, use of other direct costs, and eligibility of expenses) either during the kick-off meeting or through Skype meetings.
      Alberto (ER) will take care of the DMP update for submission in June 2016. EC template posted in the GDocs   EC review: could be organized in October / November in Lisbon (information given by Loretta). To be organized in Brussels with the PO + expert evaluator of the EC  

    Ethics – by Marco (SF)

      Scimpulse Foundation = Responsible for ethics.  
    1. Ethics Advisory Board: one person is appointed, another one to be recruited (work in progress).
    2. Consent form: Questionnaire to de designed and filled in for each participant (to make sure he/she knows the frame of the project) -> draft in progress, inspired by other similar documents. Its submission has to match the launch of the OpenCare platform.
      Self-evaluation form - Objectives: keep it as lean and understandable as possible, while keeanon3606750899g it legally viable. Transparent and dynamic solution that would preserve the community ownership of the conversation/information space.

     

    Security of data – by Alberto (ER)

      - Data storage: on the ER server located in Germany - Data secured through https - Matthias = contact person.   Sensitive data will be put on a specific server - diagram of the process to be sent by Marco.   Previous information on the topic posted by Alberto on the ER online forum:  
    • Data stored on ER own server.
    • Server in Germany – best data protection law in Europe.
    • https all around (end-to-end encryption)
    • Data handled by a stack of software which is open-and-free (so the code can, in principle, be audited) and stewarded by substantial development communities (Drupal, MySQL, PHP, Apache and Linux – so the code is audited in actuality). 
    • ER moderators policing the activity feed every day, several times of day.
    • ER explicit terms and conditions - see 
    • One known security bug: https://edgeryders.eu/en/edgeryders-dev/task-1508 (Fix that spammers can add posts, edit wikis as anonymous users)
    • Does not affect credentials, and is easy to fix on a case-by-case basis reverting to the latest legit version of the wiki.
      Source: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/task-6025 (Let Marco know about privacy and data protection on Edgeryders)  

    Presentation of partners

     

    Comune di Milano – by Rossana Torri

      Detailed information in the powerpoint presentation held by Comune di Milano.   City of Milan aims at develoanon3606750899g business models:
    • Labours policies, development policies -> sharing economy to help city's goals, maximize the potential of projects
    • Digital environment, fab labs -> to help empower people
      OpenCare within the framework of Welfare di Tutti -> Milan local incentive. City of Milan is associated with WeMake as local pilots for empowering people -> include group of citizens to help them become protagonists of the project
    • Reconnect society and overcome target-oriented approach by groups of needs
    • Simplify access to services
    • Support collaborative services delivery
    Portal by Comune di Milano -> WEMI (Welfare di Milano)   City of Milan -> engages local users as a specific task. Active communities already involved and used to collaborate to tell about needs of care -> strongly embedded in specific areas of Milan Give support to existing networks of care -> towards development of new community-driven social care Location for implementation: Villa Pallavicini - Culture and social issues center. Italian language courses, bike classes, prepare driving licenses (from users’ demands).   How to engage people?
    • Intentionally exclude institutional meetings (round-tables etc.), starting from the habitat and status of the people concerned by the incentive.
    • Clusters of practices to identify and engage people from their current needs.
    • Soft intermediary for other agencies (associations)
      Janon169343781ary to June 2016 -> engaging 2 to 3 communities for workshops
    • March for exhibition in Milan on sustainable lifestyle to make dissemination of the project
    • April - Social policy
    2 co-design sessions with people from these communities to make heterogeneous groups (students, hackers, social workers) to have feedback also from other participants -> will help select ideas for prototyanon3606750899g   Main goals:
    • Public administration: OpenCare = good opportunity to reconnect traditional system with communities in need
    • Test concrete tools
    • Leveraging collective intelligence
    • New public policy rooted in OpenCare approach
    • Help reform local welfare in Milan
       

    WeMake – by Zoe and Costantino

      Detailed information in the powerpoint presentation held by WeMake.   WeMake = lab for experimentation and innovation to build a new type of job.
    1. People-oriented
    2. Tech-oriented
      Aims:
    • Help people learn by themselves (horizontal learning)
    • Open Source at the basis of WeMake (WM rule: something is not really shared if not documented and put online)
    • Collaboration with institutions, schools, young people,
    • Helanon3606750899g companies and people develoanon3606750899g prototypes,
    • Bridge between culture(s), technology
    • Social impact
      Design, prototyanon3606750899g, documenting Sharing documentation is caring and creating engagement through dissemination Documentation for WM is allowing people with no tech background to access technology Graphics, schemes, videos, storytelling, images, etc.   Epic goals:
    • One prototype living beyond the project without injection of public funds
    • Playbook (manon169343781al on how to do prototypes)
    • Help others contribute
    • Plug-in -> another stakeholder wanting to invest to create conditions to prototypes on a larger scale
    • Consolidate process of knowledge to be able to design and keep technology-designed care services on the market
      Next activities: warming up local communities, foster online discussions Codesign sessions in May 2016    

    EHFF – by anon948101822k and Tino

      Detailed information to be provided by EHFF (powerpoint presentation to be shared).   Presentation of economic models related to health care industry – increase of health costs / increase of demand from population though apparent better efficiency at treating diseases. Next consortium meeting 20th-21st of June?    

    Edgeryders – by Nadia and Alberto

      Mini-website for the project hosted by ER – almost complete, cache version on the ER servers during development. Implementation soon (Feb/March 2016)   Question of language and integration: local communities involved in the project (community around WeMake for ex.) are not necessarily familiar with English. How to integrate them into the community?    

    University of Bordeaux – Scientific aspects by Guy

     
    • Cartographic analysis
    • SNA / SSNA - semantic analysis of conversations
    • Maintain OpenCare platform
    • Ethnographic analysis of conversations
    • Using Tulip and Detangler tools
    • Also references to Edgesense conversation network analysis tool developed by ER
    • Masters of Network for LOTE5 : Presentation of Tulip, Detangler and method to be implemented during the OpenCare project
       

    Engaging communities – launch of the OpenCare platform

     
    • Nadia -> engagement based on motivation of people, social filtering of good ideas according to engagement and development.
    • Ezio -> define open care - legitimation to give advice to people = people who have some knowledge on care.
    • What does define opening care?
    • Higher-level of consciousness about opening care
    • Define the concept of open care
    • Define the use and structure of platform - showing personal stories of what it can be
    • Alessandro -> guidelines to help everyone think on how to design prototypes. Community manifesto?
    • Ezio - try to simply communication - common language?
    • Glossary, discussion rules
    • Take some cases, select some of them which are telling stories the best
    • Accept different interpretations of care - need for 3/4 examples to justify why they are the fixed point on which to have a conversation
    • No formal definition but permits everyone to contribute
    • Select the ones that are the less ambiguous in telling a story
    • ER will get some stories and examples
     

    Next meetings

     
    • Next meeting in Stockholm: foreseen the week of 20-21 June (but difficult for Guy)
    • Meeting in Milan: originally planned in October, should be organized in November (Costantino to confirm)
     

    To-do-list as agreed during the kick-off meeting

     
    Action to be taken Partner in charge Deadline
    • Ethics Advisory Board
    		Scimpulse February
    • Consent form
    		Scimpulse March
    • Collect stories and examples of interpretation of care
    		Edgeryders March
    • Launch of the online OpenCare platform
    		Edgeryders March
    • Dissemination of the OpenCare project through local workshops
    		WeMake + Comune di Milano March
    • Review grant management with all partners according to their specific needs
    		UBx March
    • Verify the existence of trademarks on different versions on the project name: Opencare, OpenCare, Op3ncare, Op3nCare, Op3nC@anon
    		UBx March
    • Upload resources for grant management on the OpenCare workspace
    		UBx March
    • Grant access to all partners on the EMDesk platform
    		UBx March
    • Confirm asap the date of the next meetings
    		EHFF and WeMake March
     

    Upcoming deadlines (see DoA – Annex 1 GA)

     
    Milestone MS14 WP6 SCImPULSE Two ethics advisors appointed Feb 2016 Feb 2016
    Delivrable D61 WP6 SCImPULSE Consent funnel March 2016 March 2016
    Milestone MS1 WP1 Edgeryders Onboarding structure up and running March 2016 March 2016
    Milestone MS5 WP2 Edgeryders Conversation-ready online space March 2016 March 2016
    Milestone MS15 WP6 SCImPULSE Consent to participation and use of data approved and published March 2016 March 2016
                      " 2,9901,2016-03-15T08:06:23.000Z,5460,anon784612129,anon784612129,"@anon " 3,11877,2016-03-15T08:56:53.000Z,9901,anon2971875139,anon784612129,"Thanks @anon784612129 ! " 1,5440,2016-03-10T09:34:20.000Z,5440,anon2774142051,anon2774142051,"[Moving forward with WP5 Tasks 5.2] http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/ We have mentioned it would be interesting to provide sentiment analysis feedback to those who would monitor conversations taking place on the forum. I am interested in finding an appropriate sentiment landscape, I thought the experiment by C. Healy would be worth trying. You enter words, the app scrapes twitter for you and then displays a cloudpoint (points correspond to tweets). Go play! I am also interested in your feedback about the utility of such a viz. How would you intuitively use such a represntation? Just look at it? Drive the navigation between posts (here tweets) from that viz? Query the posts and get back to the authors' neighborhood (in the crowd of all authors)? Etc. " 2,15809,2016-03-10T16:56:33.000Z,5440,anon2774142051,anon2774142051,"Be sentimental Open your heart. Imagine you read posts, you are trying to understand what is going on in the Op3nCare crowd, maanon1932026148 looking how newcomers are doing, maanon1932026148 looking for places where lively debates take (took) place. How does the sentiment scale used in the demo serves your search? How would you go from the sentiment map to the data you are looking for? Come on guys, be generous, tell me all -- I need it to fuel WP5. Thanks!   " 3,20919,2016-03-10T17:26:44.000Z,5440,anon70625510,anon2774142051,"Include a customised offer into the fellowship package? See discussion here? https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/fellowship-program-timeline-and-rewards-each-partner-can " 4,24285,2016-03-10T23:46:20.000Z,5440,anon1526983854,anon2774142051,"Not for me I am no fan of sentiment analysis.  I tried with several words (""edgeryders"", ""edgeryders OR opencare"", ""stewardship"", but I can't seem to learn anything of substance.  Hope that was not too disappointing, @anon2774142051... " 5,25117,2016-03-11T09:17:00.000Z,24285,anon2774142051,anon1526983854,"When sentiment analysis hits the fan @anon My guess is you don't see value in sentiment analysis because up to now you have been able to track almots every and each of the users, and probably every and each post/comment on edgeryders.eu -- this is no surpirse, it's your job as a community manager! What if the community grows, what if the volume of excange makes it so that you cannot afford to track each individual or post? Maanon1932026148 ""sentiment"" is not the good way of thinking about how to use this technology. And maanon1932026148, it's true, sentiment coloring is not that useful. Let's give it a second chance. - What if, on top of the topics that people discuss, I can tag some posts/comments as being ""oanon3606750899ions"", ""knowledge sharing"", ""second"", ""contradict"", etc.?   " 6,33416,2016-03-11T10:51:22.000Z,25117,anon1491650132,anon2774142051,"Me, I'm a content freak I would potentially find it useful only if it can complement the semantic analysis - so on top of us finding what concepts are related and talked about most, we also have a map of feelings around those concepts that puts care priorities in a whole different light. Or the layers you mention (""oanon3606750899ion"" ""contradict"" etc). But if you have an ethnographer analysing the more in-depth conversation, isn't that covered? @anon3077117708 is involved in mapanon3606750899g tweets in online consultation processes, maanon1932026148 he has some insights for how insightful twitter conversations can be for research purposes? http://localnets.org/ " 1,5438,2016-03-09T23:02:37.000Z,5438,anon390916512,anon390916512,"
    Imported back from the hackpad: https://lote5.hackpad.com/FRI-1100-1230-Interoperability-or-Death-Talk-by-Meredith-Patterson-npSydPvJjk4 Thanks to all note takers.
     
    FRI 11:00 - 12:30 |  Talk by Meredith Patterson
     
    This session was about Protocols for Human to Human interaction.  The Meatspace equivalent to conflicts in internet history is process lock-in and lack of common language.
     
    Meredith suggests that we bake in failure-handling:
     
    • Figure out error codes and named exceptions: What kinds of errors would you be dealing with?
    • Hardware exceptions: Are they resumable or non-resumable (recoverable or non recoverable- error from which we can recover?)
    • Exception handling: unwinding stacks (first in last out). Rewind back to just before things exploded and then play them really slowly to understand how things went wrong
    • To create conditions for manageable failures, use progressive enhancement: start simple and then build on that
    • Have a way to determine and close failed projects/ dead projects.
    • Understand that collapse is also a form of self-organized criticality (not only when iniialives take off) 
    • Learn to identify Anti-patterns: THE SOLUTION THAT LOOKS OBVIOUSLY RIGHT BUT IS ACTUALLY WRONG.
     
    Pragmatics in linguistic research.
     
    Lessons learned from 40 years of software development
    - Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations
    -Organisations act to defend their incentives. When people are going to fight over protecting their incentives, the turf they will be doing it on,  landscape of contention, will be interoperability.
    - Reference: Conway’s law
     
    NIST  (standard body in US that certifies cryptographic technology): They have a very formal and rigorous process. Turned out DUAL PC RBG was backdoored and NSA manipulated NIST into certifying it.
     
    Lots of ways to fail (in Engineering)
     
    • Open: Means you can still pass things through when control fails. E,g, Valve gets stuck open and all water flows through it
    • Closed: When control fails, all traffic is blocked
    • Safe: what causes minimal harm, is a question that can only be answered if  you know what in the system can cause harm
     
    1. Interoperability. 
    Video of Eddie Izzard on the church of england.
    If asked to choose between cake or death? Clearly you would pick death.
    But when it comes to getting people interact/cooperate it sometimes seems like people would pick death, rather than learn to interoperate.
     
    sandstorm.io cloud based collaboration tool with good fine grained security
     
    1. Interoperable, adj. Capable of being used or operated reciprocally.
    2. Reciprocity?
    When two or more people understand what the other one is capable of doing, what they have the time and resources to do= legibility.  e.g. web services 
    Reliability is a big concern.
     
    3. How about in technologies? - Interfaces that communicate above in a clear and structured way (APIs. usage (), WYSIWG, language references)
    - Robustness: the absence of unmitigable surprise. It’s a field of study.
    - Explicit is better than implicit e.g “The Zen of Python”
     
    The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters 
     
    Beautiful is better than ugly. 
    Explicit is better than implicit. 
    Simple is better than complex. 
    Complex is better than complicated. 
    Flat is better than nested. 
    Sparse is better than dense. 
    Readability counts. 
    Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules. 
    Although practicality beats purity. 
    Errors should never pass silently. 
    Unless explicitly silenced. 
    In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess. 
    There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it. 
    Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch. 
    Now is better than never. 
    Although never is often better than *right* now. 
    If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea. 
    If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea. 
    Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those! 
     
    4. So how did we get here? A deep dive into the history of internet (tech-related) conflicts and how they were resolved...
     
    1970’s Protocol interoperability : formally defining machine protocols was very useful in the Bell labs environment.
     
    protocol is an agreement between machines about how to interact
     
    - How to solve conflict? Editor wars (vi/emacs) (still ongoing)
    - Parallels to protocol interoperability in meatspace is process. May be explicit or implicit. People have to agree on how they’re going to do a thing if they’re going to do it together, before they start doing.
    - Common knowledge: I know that you know the I know, over and over. Formal definition of common knowledge is infinite regress
     
    The protocol/process of this session is a lecture - everyone is happy to  sit and listen to Meridith for an hour - in a different context Meredith talking for an hour would not be acceptable.
     
    The 1980s Architectural compatibility
    IBM defined a hardware format for the PC - it was easy to copy. Apple has done the same, but tightly controls hardware, you cannot buy their components on the market.
    IBM tried to protect through courts and eventually lost.
     
    - meatspace: how you are going to set standards within the organizations.
     
    The 1990s Presentation-layer compatibility
    Each browser manon169343781facturer was coming up with their own dialects of html and layout and styling of webpages.
    Microsoft tried to dominate the protocol making process.
    Embrace (internet is great were gonna help) Extend (look at all these great new features) Extinguish (you cant know how they work)  They lost.
     
    You use different language depending on who you are trying to express to (the Pope, a squatter, your gran).  
    People react depending on how things are presented  depends on what you say and who is the audience.
     
    part of what makes collaboration hard. It’s not just what you say, it’s also how your audience is primed to receive it.
     
    The 2000s DRM wars
    Meme: oh you like the kindle?
     
    meatspace equivalent = process lock-in.  Process (and understanding of language) develops based on what works danger that it stops at some stage and does not develop following the context in which it develops.
     
    Error correction  exception handling  
    one in software is unwinding the stack the last one in is the first one out.
    Pull things off until you find something that works 
     
    IN meatspace  try and rewind to before the conflict and replay and see if you can sort it out  has worked well for Meredith.
     
    Canon1932026148r crime laws in the US are a good example of laws(process) not develoanon3606750899g written for how things used to be.
     
    …And back to today
    - stuff mostly just works.  Dont have to look at a manon169343781al or look at the help.
     
    - Mainly because of common language, Http. Parallels to Elio’s suggestion
    - There is a lot going on under the hood that you don’t see
     
    All the big stuff today
     
    Twitter, Facebook,Reddit, Slack
    All centralized  they work, make money (from advertising)
    centralized and are vulnerable 
    if you not paying you the product
    -Centralisation works, makes money and is vulnerable.
     
    DIGG: Pulled down post containing dvd encryption key. Community went nuts. - almost every post had the key pasted in it.
    REDDIT: Firing of employee who ran AMA made users go beserk, users hit back by making content private. 
    TWITTER: Troll problems
     
    " 2,8996,2016-03-10T00:56:02.000Z,5438,anon1526983854,anon390916512,"What a bad miss Thank you so much for posting this, Darren. I am heartbroken to have lost this session. It relates to my own work on Protocol: https://edgeryders.eu/en/unmonastery/protocol-01-engineering-human-to-human-interaction-for I'll ask Meredith in person...   " 1,5431,2016-03-08T22:42:01.000Z,5431,anon3612872438,anon3612872438,"Hi all, we are excited and preparing last things for the press conference taking place on the 9th of March at 11am at Palazzo Marino (Milan's major palace) with Comune di Milano team and WeMake team.  After the event we're going to share a report here on Edgeryders. best Zoe " 3,11354,2016-03-09T09:11:00.000Z,8436,anon70625510,,"Small correction Ciao Alberto, thanks for sharing the slides. Due cose. Edgryders ha piu di 3000 members. E poi e intergenerazionale, non solo giovane :) " 4,13624,2016-03-09T09:30:16.000Z,8436,anon2971875139,,"Hi Alberto,  Great presentation ! I would like to point at just one tiny detail - Could you please add in your presentation (maanon1932026148 at the end?) the following information? - European Commission logo (available here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxnwAmGNB9t9N2x0UE9ZeUx5eVE)  - The project credits : ""This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670."" All partners within the project are compelled by the European Commission to display them on every communication related to the project. Thank you ! Luce " 5,13751,2016-03-09T10:26:18.000Z,13624,anon70625510,anon2971875139,"Helpful info I'm preparing some template slides with standardised information about the project where people can then add their own content for their public presentations. So we all know we're ""safe"" in terms of fullfilling grant agreement requirement for comms while still enabling decentralised workflow :)) " 6,13794,2016-03-09T10:29:31.000Z,13751,anon2971875139,anon70625510,"Great idea, thanks ! I could also lend you a hand with this - just let me know :)   " 8,13846,2016-03-09T14:39:44.000Z,13840,anon2971875139,,"My bad - here is another link Hi @anon Sorry for the bad link - You can get the whole EC package of logos in JPEG format from here: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/services/visual_identity/img/standard/standard-pos-jpg-high-all.zip Source: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/services/visual_identity/index_en.htm " 9,15328,2016-03-09T09:06:20.000Z,5431,anon70625510,anon3612872438,"Ok tweeted about this Looking forward to hearing what happened, especially how you guys introduced the project (got slides or presentation notes?) and which questions people asked! " 11,24113,2016-03-09T16:18:31.000Z,5431,,anon3612872438,"WeMake Slides - Press Conference @anon " 12,26603,2016-03-09T17:50:16.000Z,5431,anon1526983854,anon3612872438,"Great job! You guys in Milano rock. Well done!   " 1,5405,2016-03-03T16:11:36.000Z,5405,anon70625510,anon70625510,"
    Talk to me excercise:
    the point of the excercise is that there are some implicit information about care. 
    The group slit up in 3 people groups
    one people ask question 
    one people answer question
    one people is documenting
    each session is 20' 
     
    Workshop Notes (Contributed by Pauline)
     
    Going from the personal and going global to create 
    • Common ground (everywhere)
    • Connection → Empathy
     
    Providing care is providing empowerment for you and the other, helanon3606750899g build steps to autonomy.
    Create expectations?
    Responsibility?
     
    When does storytelling create empathy? What are the conditions? That it create a connexion to the other person’s circumstances. 
     
    Common experiences – if I have been through an experience, am I more equipped to support the other facing that experience?
    → If I was a combatant, I can share my story first then be better equipped to support the combatant I work with. 
    → Create a link through storytelling fro better care?
     
    The connexion depends on each particular case – dependency? There is a very personal experience.  It is very different when your web of personal experiences are involved. 
    → The relationship to distance and care is not as simple; it may be easier to care for someone who is not personally involved. 
    → Idea of proximity and whether it is helpful or not
     
    Idea of expectations from a particular context: only support certain things in certain circumstances. You only want to care about certain things at certain times so there is the question of:
    • Timing
    • Context when shared?
     
    Important concepts for care (therefore to include into storytelling practice):
    • Communion
    • Compassion
    • Self-care
    • Awareness
    • Why you help and whether you are more helped yourself. 
     
    Burden of care should be spread among people. 
     
    Sharing care experiences. 
     
    What does this mean for narratives of care?
     
    • Create a context for storytelling. 
    → Get to know each other + basic needs?
    → Expectations
    → Communication and identity/sculpture
     
    • Showcase the offer and manage expectations. But how?
    → Communication around culture
    → Storytelling could also be the basis on which you build the context for care. 
    • Frame it as a tool for empowerment. 
    • Shared intentions and part of context.
    What stories?
    • Does the narrative approach scale as well as we think it does?
    → Can you actually bring it global? Yes if you recognize the identity and scaling issue?
     
    • Availability heuristic
    • Narrative pattern – ‘imagine a world where…. Oh yeah by the way it already exists…’
    • Carriers of narratives – Fiction of narratives, fables, archetypes or a story pattern (David and goliath, or the fool, the hero who goes on a quest). Look at propaganda in the LRA.
    → Are there universal stories?
    → But is it personalized better?
    → Note on George Lucas mythologist
     
    • David Hume
     
    Conclusion:
    Space for care includes a variety of aspects that one should banon3760936673ce nut still take action.
    • Intention
    • Expectations
    • Context-setting
    • Storytelling as a tool not a universal answer
    • Parties
     
    Passive, Active, Proactive
    Give - Receive | Request - response = Communication space around care (actively caring)
    They are a lot of difficulties in communicating around care.
    Stories – legends - can be a tool to not directly address the issue but rely and build on universal stories. 
     
    What then would be 5 steps to design your context of care?
    → Current future vs ideal future
     
     
    " 2,7673,2016-03-04T14:47:00.000Z,5405,anon3041581084,anon70625510,"This was a surprisingly effective approach I had used the 3-person 'storytelling' approach before (possibly at another LOTE?) but I really found it effective here. Maanon1932026148 because our current societal view of care can at times be very practical and mechanical: you take a symptom to a professional, and procedure or medication is applied... There's not often much chance for deep reflection. So this was a nice chance to gradually eke out insights from our collective experience, we started on a relatively basic level and then by the end we had covered a lot of ground, a sense of trust and intimacy was developed we got into some very interesting questions (and answers!) Here are my notes from the first interview, with Constantino asking Lorenzo about his experiences with care.   " 3,14804,2016-03-04T18:04:02.000Z,5405,anon1526983854,anon70625510,"Impressive! Either Lorenzo has a very clutter-free brain or you took great notes. Or both. Either way, this is really insightful.  " 4,20248,2016-03-06T19:35:30.000Z,5405,anon2435658896,anon70625510,"yes that session was quite impressive !! " 1,5255,2016-02-03T10:49:18.000Z,5255,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"

    There's a reason you want to come to Brussels ... so where will all the gold nuggets we collectively dig out go to after LOTE5?

    Have you ever been involved in a conversation or event where you solve all the challenges of the world (or at least the most important ones) - particularly late at night at the pub? Your head explodes with fireworks, you find all the solutions and you know exactly what to do - then you wake up the next morning and you've forgotten everything? Harvesting (which is a term from ""The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter"") is an attempt to collect and make sense of our collective conversation and the patterns that emerge from them. Documenting what you learned helps other participants, who either couldn't attend the very session, because they attend one happening parallely, and it lowers everyones *fomo*. And you create a lot of value for those who can't attend LOTE5 at all - how does that sound? So here we go ...

    The Self Organisation Tool for Documentation and Harvesting

    Topic/ Session Who's documenting Where to find the notes/ video/ photo other material
    Day 1 - Thursday
    Preflections: Exploration into the social soil of LOTE5 - what brings you to Bxl? Kaja Why the hell am I going to Bxl? (discussion link so far, definite link with summary of answers will be provided later)
    Fuck up night Brussels, let's get into the groove! Pictures album here on facebook and here.
    whatever else you'd like to document that happened on thursday (chose your own title and erase my blabber below)
    possibility: pictures of what happened on thursday
    possibility 2: my travel fails
    possibility 3: what I learned already on day 1 and happily want to share with the LOTE crowd
    etc.
    LOTE5. First impressions. ""Am I staying?"" Hannes tbc
    Day 2 - Friday
    Session your name + contact link to the material
    C A R E
    How to cope with meltdowns in communities (John Coate) @anon Hackpad John's speaker notes
    Collaborative inclusion. How migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. A reflexive design exercise. (Ezio Manzini et al.) Evajoy Session Documentation by @anon1526983854
    Collaborative inclusion. Part 2 @anon
    Collaborative inclusion. Part 3
    OpenCare files: system failures in health and social care and how to go about it (tba) @anon Hackpad
    F I N A N C E / C U L T U R E
    unFailing Massive Collaboration: Open-Sourcing Everything (Tom Markam) @anon Hackpad
    Interoperability Or Death? (Meredith Patterson) @anon
    How can we dare to fail more? workshop with Daniel Kerrigan Evamus Hackpad: How can we..
    D E V E L O P M E N T
    The pedagogy of development in the Global South, workshop by Piotr Dzialak @anon to be determined
    Failure of Israeli - Palestinian negotiations: the peace industry and the endless peace process, discussion with Omar Shehabi Diana Dan ?
    unFailing to improve the refugee care system in Armenia, talk by Anna Kamay @anon4259720994 On Edgeryders platform
    The Tyranny of Benevolence - Moving beyond charity based approaches in reception and inclusion of refugees (Nadia EL-Imam
    Failures in development in Colombia - sneak preview and talk with the director (Jochem Casier) Diana Dan Noemi Hackpad (by N.)
    Soirée Molenbeek
    whatever else you'd like to write about
    please add your own title as in ""what the birds told me on the way to the venue"", ""my interview with person X"" or whatever
    Day 3 - Saturday
    Session your name + contact link to the material
    C A R E
    MASTERS OF NETWORKS: NETWORKS OF CARE hackathon for network scientists, doctors and patients to make sense of collective intelligence using network science and data (Led by Guy Melançon and the University of Bordeaux) @anon Hackpad: Masters of Networks
    MASTERS OF NETWORKS
    MASTERS OF NETWORKS
    Open Care Files On Edgeryders
    DEMOCRACY/FINANCE/CULTURE & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
    The EU and its people: a failure in democracy, talk by Walter van Holst and Kirsten Fiedler @anon
    Death and the organisation - stories from beyond the grave, sharing session with Patrick Andrews @anon to be defined
    Fail lessons from European Capitals of Culture. An open discussion with Robert Palmer, Ilaria d'Auria, Raluca Ciuta, Niall O'Hara, Magda Bucur Noemi, Alberto Session Notes: unFailing European Capitals of Culture (includes unconference session)
    D E V E L O P M E N T
    Let’s build a damn dam! workshop by Piotr Dzialak
    Shark Infested Waters: Publicizing Failures in Development. Talk and discussion with Christine Pu
    Living in a megacity: Cairo as a patchwork of individual solutions. Workshop with Hegazy Mohamed
    Glocal bottlenecks in complementary currencies, panel discussion: Marek Hudon and representatives of Belgian sharing economy
    Disco Soup & Burn Your FuckUps
    Day 4 - Sunday
    Storytelling workshop: Narratives of Care 2016 (all day) Nadia, Pauline On Edgeryders
    more space for participants' reflections of ""Narratives of Care""
    more space for participants' reflections of ""Narratives of Care""
    'Destroy Your Idea - Can You Change Your Mind’ workshop by Kira Van den Ende Hannes tbc, intenting to document one session 'properly'
    Failure in Doing Good - Effective Altruism’ talk and workshop by Kris Martens, KULeuven
    Distributed architectures for decentralized data governance Fabrizio Sestini Post
    LOTE5 - Eating McKinsey's Breakfast Jimmy's personal reflections Post
    After \#lote5: Where do we even begin to talk about failures in care? Nadia's personal reflections Post
    ""What was LOTE5 for me?"" Hannes tbc
    Merel tbc

    Hello and welcome to the ""Harvesting and Documentation Department"" of LOTE 5!

    You will find out sooner or later, so I can as well tell you right away: I love questions and the power they carry. I thought the documentation/harvesting process could benefit from the following ones, before we dive deeper into ""how? who? when?"":

    • What would be useful for me to remember from the time we spend together and learn?

    • What is useful for us as a community to remember from the 3,5 day that we are going to spend together?

    • What do we need to share/feed-back and to whom?

    • What is useful for our longer term learning and what would be useful to share with others / similar networks etc.?

    • How widely could our learnings serve?

    In this wiki you will find some information (and a little instruction on how the data collection is going to be organised, please read below) about how we're going to capture what's going to happen in Brussels. Harvesting can happen on the level of creating a record or memory (the purpose of this wiki, mostly) - as well as looking for emerging patterns and meaning (will happen on site, primarily). I'm excited to harvest the crops we've been tending to and will water and nurture in the course of the following weeks!

    Possible Roles

    The roles are suggestions. Find your own and preferred way to document - and let us participate in each others learnings! If you have an idea for another role - please share. This is just the beginning and I'm eager for (and we are dependent on) your input. :) *session journalist (got it, he? You document one or several sessions that you attend. Everyone who couldn't come, but is interested in the material, will be a grateful bunny and love you forever.) *day journalist, who captures the flow and what happened besides the sessions/talks (This event isn't only about what's been talked about during the sessions. So much happens in between, and it would be wonderful to have a couple of people who would like to write a little bit about the flow of the day. Yes, it's cool to go back to the sessions' material after some weeks, but it's also very valuable to read through the flow again and remember the moments in between. Isn't that what un-conferences are about ...?) *photographer *video journalist *investigative interviewer of someone who caught your interest during the event Bios of participants will be made available on site. Pick someone and ask them what you'd like to investigate on further. If you're into trying out something new: Pick someone you're least likely to talk to, normally. *seekers for questions, patterns and nuggets The Art of Powerful Questions - very worth reading: click me! If you're in a hurry and just want an idea on the power of good questions: just a little something on questions *whatever other way you're going to come up with and whatever you feel called to collect (I have seen harvesting in form of poems, songs, best dirty jokes from the smokers corners ... whatever you find worth spreading / adding to the information pool / being remembered and carried forth. Remember to have fun and look for what inspires you. If you get bored by what you're documenting, you should probably pick another point to look from. Another question that really calls you. Something that iches and wants to be explored. Find your own point to look from and let us participate in what you see.)

    How to collect the harvest?

    1. attend LOTE. That would help. 2. takes notes/record things in whatever format that works for you best (written, pictures, video footage ...) 3. upload your harvest in whatever form you prefer: edgeryders.eu/lote5-doc The upside of creating a posting/document and link it: The discussion of the sessions can continue in the very thread, add their gold nuggets etc., so the pool of wisdom (ha, how does that sound?!) can potentially grow. If you document one of the sessions, please make sure the session title is also part of the post title. 4. document with others in realtime: lote5.hackpad.com/ (you may need to create an account to see the full list of pads in the lote5 collaction)

    When is this due?

    It can be tough for some people (like me) to juggle being fully present at the event and delivering the outcome asap. So don't stress out during LOTE itself. The goal would be to have the material uploaded until approx. 2 weeks after the event.

    Please add yourself to the wiki!

    If you'd like to document a session (woohoooo!!), please add your name next to the session title. In case more session are being added and aren't on the wiki yet, add it! (if the wiki runs out of rows at some point and you don't know how to edit, give @anon If you'd like to document something that is no session, please find a title for it yourself, add it and also write down your name. This is not a binding contract. Play with it and be courageous. Add your shiny selves and dare to share your learnings. Worst case: You fail. Which would be good, especially if you share it, so the rest of us can get a bit of relief from our own fears of fucking things up. You'd do me a favour, at least. And you'd earn the courage crown! :) Thank you for joining the documentation and harvesting team! It would be wonderful if you filled your name in as early as possible, so us documentation and reflection freaks can chill out about this. Thanks! :) علاج الصداععلاج الزكام طبيعيا في المنزل يقول البعض انه ليس هنالك علاج الزكام بطريقة طبيعية في المنزل ولكن هذا ليس صحيحا هناك طرق طبيعية تعالج الزكام بسهولة علاج وجع الراس علاج الكحهطبيعيا في المنزل الكحة او السعال هي واحدة من أكثر المشكلات الصحية شيوعا عندما يكون هناك انسداد في الحلق أو الممرات الهوائية العليا علاج الحمىعلاج الحمى في المنزل الحمى هي ارتفاع درجة حرارة الجسم أعلى من المعدل الطبيع لحرارة الجسم . درجة حرارة الجسم الطبيعية هي مختلفة عن الأطفال من البالغين علاج القرحة علاج قرحة المعدة طبيعيا في المنزل قرحة المعدة هي قرحة أو آفة تتطور في بطانة المعدة ويمكن أن يحدث أيضا في الجزء العلوي من الأمعاء. تخفيف الوزن طريقة صنع عصير الليمون والشاي لتخفيف الوزن الناس أصبحوا الان أكثر وعيا من الآثار الصحية تجاة الوزن الزائد ويبحثون عن وصفات مبتكرة يمكن أن تساعدهم على فقد بعض من الوزن علاج الزكامعلاج الزكام طبيعيا في المنزل يقول البعض انه ليس هنالك علاج الزكام بطريقة طبيعية في المنزل ولكن هذا ليس صحيحا هناك طرق طبيعية تعالج الزكام بسهولة" 2,6693,2016-02-09T05:43:35.000Z,5255,anon1526983854,anon1491650132,"Collaborative real-time note taking Hello @anon I would like to suggest a way to organize the session journalism. I will definitely use it when I document – I guess I might start with John Coate's session. Let's see if you like it. 
    1. Create a Hackpad with the same title as the session (like this). Do this well ahead of time. Hackpads are a mix betweeen a word processor and a wiki. You write into it as you would in a word processor; it has revision history and supports multiple authorship like wikis. The difference is that many people can edit it at the same time. There are many such tools: Google Docs, PiratePads, TitanPads etc. They are all OK, though ideally it's best to use just one for the whole conference. We used Hackpads at LOTE4 and it went quite well. If you want, I can elaborate on why I think it turned out to be an appropriate tool.
    2. When the session starts, point the documentation team people in the room to the Hackpad. If there is more than one person, we can take notes together on the same document. That's a lot of fun, because you see the notes grow before your eyes: people intuitively synchronize (if you are already writing something I leave it alone and add something else I had not had the time to note before, etc.)
    3. Connect all Hackpads so that it is easier to navigate from one to the other, I need to look better into their data model: maanon1932026148 this can be done by making a collection; or maanon1932026148, like at LOTE4, you can have a single Hackpad per conference day, with pre-made headers for each session. 
    " 3,10711,2016-02-09T09:25:22.000Z,6693,anon1491650132,anon1526983854,"LOTE5 workspace on hackpad The collection @anon It is public, but in order to edit it people need to log in. Some try and ask for an invite?  @anon " 4,13711,2016-02-17T17:37:54.000Z,6693,anon2599889874,anon1526983854,"Hack that pad ... Hello @anon I like the suggestion, since I guess you're suggesting it, because worked at previous LOTEs, so go ahead! Why change a running system. Just some comments & questions: 1. Sounds good, will you post every single link to the wiki then in advance, too (or is it one link for all sessions, referring to \#3?)? Will there be a little time in the very beginning of the event when everyone is gathered so that you could walk people through a short introduction into Hackpad? I expect lots of people to join the documentation team kinda spontaneously on the spot, so they might appreciate a short ""how to"", if they never heard of Hackpad (the name alone can be a bit intimidating, as it *slightly* implies you gotta be techy). I'm thinking of the pen and paper crowd here and of how to best invite people in case this is a new form of doing things for them. 2. Good idea for people who like the communal documenting idea. I'd like to add that people should still be encouraged to find a good banon3760936673ce between trying this if they like, but not feel pushed if they prefer to do it in another way. For me, it would be very distracting to listen to the session while co-documenting with others. I would easily get lost in trying to read other people's contributions - and have a lot of fun doing it - but get distracted. So yes, point to the Hackpad, and leave space for alternatives, so that people can do it the way they do it best. Who would do this ""pointing out"", then? Can the speakers be asked to refer to the Hackpad link / Documentation thread in the beginning? No one of us will be around at every session, so how can this work best for all? Would it help to have a ""how to document / Hackpad"" poster in the room as a backup plan, so people can look up the basics there? Like this, for example: - Like co-documenting with others? Go to: https://lote5.hackpad.com/ and find the session. Group Hackpad on! - Like to document individually? Enjoy. After you're done, please upload this here: ""link in forum to be defined where the postings about sessions will be set up"" and find the session you'd like to contribute your documentation to. Or so ...? Don't know. How did you do it in the past so that it was clear where the documentation goes to? Before every session? Once at the very beginning of the event? 3. Would that mean that it's one large hackpack-document in the end? Would it then still be possible to link to individual parts of it, for example to add a link to the hackpad for session X to thread about session X? More on general documentation/harvesting questions/coordination in next comment. Cheers Kaja " 5,13726,2016-02-18T20:10:00.000Z,13711,anon1491650132,anon2599889874,"Ok, bullet pointing UPDATED: Or we could set up a new group on Edgeryders ""LOTE5 Harvest""? I love how thorough you are. Ok so:
    • I've asked Alex to put the link to the hackpad on the back of nametags. The LOTE5 hackpad is a collection of pads (documents). One is able to create a different pad for each session, with its own link and content about the session. Its individual link we can add here in your table afterwards.
    • We'll be explaining documentation at the beginning of the event + ask the people who volunteered here to remind others in the individual sessions (we should have a small gathering earlier on Thursday before LOTE starts and it gets crowded).
    • Great idea for How To posters in each room, it's on my to do list..!
    " 6,13793,2016-02-20T18:40:38.000Z,13726,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"on time (thursday) Hey Noemi regarding: ""We'll be explaining documentation at the beginning of the event + ask the people who volunteered here to remind others in the individual sessions (we should have a small gathering earlier on Thursday before LOTE starts and it gets crowded)."" Just for the planning of when to explain documentation (and the harvesting aspects): I will have to attend a organisational call for an Art of Hosting event between 7 and 8:30 pm on thursday, so I won't be available during those 1,5 hours. Looking at the programm, the general introduction is between 5 and 6 pm. If we gather the docu crowd right afterwards, we can well be finished with that before 7 pm. Works? Or anytime before that, of course. And if day wasn't full enough already, of course, I cook on thursday ;) (but hope to do it as early as possible, preferably even before the afternoon.).   " 7,13813,2016-02-20T19:48:09.000Z,13793,anon1491650132,anon2599889874,"Between 6 and 7 sounds OK @anon Sorry I havent answered your last email, have been drowning a bit trying to answer other stuff. @anon " 8,13820,2016-02-20T20:35:21.000Z,13813,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"drowning too ... *sigh* And see, how good I am at staying away from the forum in order to get some rest? ;) Damn!! Wednesday at 10 sounds good for me! Just on a note that doesn't belong here, but if you talk to Ireinga about times anyway ... if it's more practical that one dish gets cooked on Wednesday evening, I can also do that, if enough help is around.     " 9,16914,2016-02-17T18:09:40.000Z,5255,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"on space and sharing learning Hey again Two questions (for the moment), anon3606750899g @anon1491650132:

    On space:

    I read that the venue is a maze :) It would be very good to have a big wall for the things that will be written on post-its etc., so this now is about the pen and paper side of the game ... It would be perfect if there was enough space next to that wall so people could form - more or less spontaneous - chair circles if they feel like sharing something (or if someone like to invite, which I for example like doing, sometimes, but it can of course also be opened by anybody else). It is nice to have a space for these things. Is that something you happened to planned for? Like a retreat area or so?

    On sharing the learning:

    In the program it says ""share your learning"", at the end of the day. What did you plan to do there? I mean ... will it be hosted in any way or will people be given time to socialize and things will happen on their own? Just curious what that programm point means :) If you don't want to spoil the mystery, that's okay, too ;) I like surprises. Have a good evening, everyone! Kaja " 10,17128,2016-02-18T19:54:46.000Z,16914,anon1491650132,anon2599889874,"Hm @anon Share your learnings: nothing planned in particular, it's usually that at the end of the day it makes sense to reconvene. We don't have formal ""curators"" to round things up, but @anon " 11,18239,2016-02-19T09:36:32.000Z,17128,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"Link Okay, thanks! See you on wednesday then. Logistics wiki: So far, the link for uploading is the [LOTE5 workspace](/c/workspaces/lote5), will there be a sub-section like ""/docu"" or so? Otherwise, I imagine the threads will be scattered all over the forum and it'll be hard to find them. Posterwise: I'd like to alter the wording a bit, because ""enjoy"" can be interpreted in the slightly cynical direction of ""well, if you think that's a good idea, enjoy yourself!"" :) I didn't mean it that way, when I wrote it, and I'd like to be clear and apprechiative about what people chose to do. What I meant was to encourage people to do what they want, so please change to ""That's great, too!"" instead of ""Enjoy."" Suggestion for wording: > ""Like to document in another way? That's great, too! After you're done, please upload your material here: [LOTE5 workspace](/c/workspaces/lote5) > > Look whether a post for the session already exist there. > > If so, add you material to the post. > > If not, open one and start the documentation of that session. > > Tadaah! Tadaah probably optional, but I hope you get the idea. ;) Intention: make process as easy and clear for everybody, also those who either weren't present at introduction or couldn't be bothered then, but then get interested in contributing afterwards and can't remember what was said about the ""how to"". Or am I making this more complicated than necessary? Previous lote experiece based feedback welcome! Logistics \# 2: Since you liked the posters idea ... For the overview of what is being documented and making things as easy as possible: Would it be possible to also have a printed version of the documentation wiki excel where people add their names to the sessions? That would be hanging somewhere on a well visible wall and people can walk up there and add themselves spontaneously. Again, for the pen and paper crowd who're not into checking everything online all the time. The ""worst"" thing that can happen is that we have people parallely signing up online and on the paper version." 12,18640,2016-02-19T11:27:04.000Z,18239,anon1491650132,anon2599889874,"Better than subsection of LOTE5.. ..a new group: LOTE5 Harvest. Basically when clicking there all posts/wikis/documents will be documentation only. I also assigned this wiki to that group. So we have a clean slate. Works? @anon " 13,18819,2016-02-19T13:13:00.000Z,18640,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"you are the pro reg. the techy side of things ... ... so I think a group is perfect. I most probably meant that when writing ""sub section"", hehe. Still not totally getting the forum's structure. One request @anon There is a difference, which I don't expect to be clear yet (because I didn't break it down in detail probably, and it's a little tough to find the right words right now due to time shortage), but it's important for me to rather point to the documentation side for now, even though it might seem I'm splitting hair. :) In a nutshell: how to document is on track already and it seems like it's going to work. Harvesting, on the other hand, is a process that is not going to happen in its full potential at LOTE (as I had to realize), due  to different reasons (number of people present at LOTE with AoH harvesting experience, process design compatibility ...). So what's going to happen are some sprinkles of harvesting. It will rather be flower picking than harvesting the entire field,  if that allegory helps. Yes, I know, I called it ""harvesting"" myself, in a moment of overestimating (ignoring?) possibilities.  Typical utopians trap! *sigh* Therefore, I expect the amount of documentation threads to dominate - so it would be more correct to call the group accordingly. I'm not be able to explain this in more detail right now, sorry, even though I'd love to. Looking forward to talking about this to you in person. Thanks! Kaja " 14,19632,2016-02-18T09:20:18.000Z,5255,anon2178703328,anon1491650132,"HOw to add myself? Hi, I'd like to help document the Master of Networks session, but I can't edit above. How do I do it? " 15,21676,2016-02-18T10:20:00.000Z,19632,anon1491650132,anon2178703328,"Edit button above the menu Hey, hope this helps: " 16,22574,2016-02-20T12:53:21.000Z,21676,anon2178703328,anon1491650132,"Thanks! Thanks Noemi, it worked! Now I still have to figure out the hackpad thingy. I'm a little confused, can you confirm me that it is going to be part of the edgeryder group? " 17,23005,2016-02-20T13:03:53.000Z,21676,anon2178703328,anon1491650132,"Hackpad also figured out " 18,23097,2016-02-19T09:38:54.000Z,19632,anon2599889874,anon2178703328,"Yay! Thanks for joining the session journalists :) Looking forward to reading all about that session, which I probably won't be able to join, myself. You're actively lowering my fomo - phew! " 19,23430,2016-02-18T15:17:09.000Z,5255,anon821296424,anon1491650132,"My contribution Hello all, Nice to meet you. I just joined, and would like to let you know that I am willing to document (let me say I will be a session journalist, but also seeking questions, patterns and the flow of) the workshop on ""The pedagogy of development in the Global South"".  I hope that doesn't coincide with the ""Collaborative inclusion"" session, as that was my main reason to attend.  But we shall see when we come to that. Looking forward to see you on Thursday. Annick PS: sorry for posting it as a comment but I have no idea how to otherwise let you know what I can contribute here. " 20,26911,2016-02-20T20:36:39.000Z,5255,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"The Art of Powerful Question I added it to the Wiki, but just in case there's no notification: If you're interested in The Art of Powerful Questions, please this way. Enjoy! " 22,29520,2016-02-25T09:43:08.000Z,5255,anon1491650132,anon1491650132,"Meetup documenters 18:00 today Merab room Hi all, it seems we have ourselves a team!  With @anon If you are at SmartBe for LOTE launch on Thursday, right after we will meet in Merab room, at 18:00 or immediately after the welcoming and before dinner. See you there!  " 23,30298,2016-03-04T10:43:53.000Z,5255,anon2599889874,anon1491650132,"wow, all the action ... Hejhej! I'm really impressed to see how effortlessly the notes are flowing in and how the documentation is taking shape and growing steadily. Seeing all that action on the docu team is awesome! :) As always, someone has to lag behind, and that's going to be me, damnit! I'm trying to ignore a flu while working double shifts to make up for my last week's absence because at Lote and next week's because of Art of Hosting Karlskrona. Will try to be back a little later in March with typed up notes and reflections on the event in general ... after jumanon3606750899g on another tree for a week!     " 1,5196,2015-12-07T10:13:30.000Z,5196,anon1941345029,anon1941345029,"
    In collaboration with:

    About

    The migration issue is here to stay. Europe is the place-to-go for several millions of women and men. This will not change in the next decades. The challenge is to think about this not as a threat, but as an opportunity. That is, to imagine how migration can become a driver of innovation towards a younger, more dynamic, more cosmopolitan and, at the end of the day, more resilient Europe. No one knows whether, and how, this positive perspective could become real. The only wise move to do is to consider this broad view, i.e. the possibility of a new cosmopolitan Europe, as a design-orienting scenario: a shared vision on the basis of which to experiment local solutions, to discuss them and to use them to feed a broad social learning process. And this is what we attempt here. ""Collaborative inclusion"" is a reflexive design exercise to explore how collaboration between migrants and residents can strengthen the social fabric. More precisely, we look at what kinds of collaborative services (intended as result-oriented collaborations among different actors) can produce social, cultural, economic value. Answering this question will lead us to another one: how to conceive and/or evaluate collaborative service capable to produce such multiple value? This reflexive design exercise adopts three simple evaluation criteria. A service is considered ""better"" when:
    1. Each migrant has more scope to express his/her ideas, and to choose what to do and how.
    2. He/she is active and uses better his/her sensitivity, skills and knowledge in the service.
    3. He/she produces more, better results for him/herself, for other migrants and for the whole resident community.
    These three criteria, which come from design for social innovation experiences in different fields of application, are quite simple. We suspect that most services deployed in Europe to dealing with migration fail all three, quite spectacularly.

    Who should participate

    We only ask that participants do their best be critical, creative and committed. No specific information or competence on migration issue is required. We believe we all have firsthand experience at coming to terms with migration. Many of us are migrants (especially in Brussels!); the others are part of host communities. We are all citizen experts. Additionally, some of us have extra skills (design) or experiences (hosting newcomers in their homes). We specifically welcome:
    • refugees or ex-refugees.
    • people who can translate to and from Arabic.
    • people who are involved in projects aimed at facilitating the welcome and insertion of migrants and refugees (example: there are many projects in the Techfugees project directory).
    • designers.
    We already have some participants in all these categories, but the more the better!

    When, where and how to participate

    Collaborative inclusion is part of the Living On The Edge 5 community gathering. It takes place on February 26th 2016 in Brussels, at SmartBE. To participate, click the ""Attend"" button on the top right if the page, then download the Notes for Participants and have a look at them before the event.

    Background notes: designing for social innovation

    Design question: given European problems and the way they are perceived in Europeans’ everyday life, how migrants can be part of these same problems solution? How can migrants and other resident actors collaborate to improve their quality of the life? Hypothesis: In the complexity of the present society we can already find promising examples of migrants-residents collaboration: collaborative initiatives demonstrating how the search of migrants’ inclusion can be turned in a collaborative service, and therefore, in the exploration of new ways of living and working. Methodology: The exercise is in two steps: (1) to consider and discuss a number of promising examples, and (2) to improve them and/or use them as triggers for brand new proposals. Specificity: We build on our previous experience in design for social innovation, and aim to verify its usefulness in creating value for both the migrants and the whole society. This leads us to work in three main directions, that translate into three main criteria for the conception and evaluation of the services the group will come up with:
    • User-centered approach (as precondition): solutions must consider each migrant as a free individual. That is, it must be based on his/her right and concrete possibility to express ideas, and choose what to do and how.
    • Capability approach (as main design guideline): solutions must be based on migrants’ active participation. More precisely, they should enable them to use at best their sensitivity, skills and knowledge.
    • Multiple-value production (as result to be achieved): solutions must achieve some practical and social results for all the involved actors (migrants and residents) and for society as a whole (in terms of physical and social commons improvement).

    Aims

    The aim of the workshop is not to invent new solutions (it will be impossible to do it in a serious way in this context) but to start form some existing promising practices, to imagine and present ideas and actions to amplify their potentialities. Where:
    • Promising practices are initiatives that are already operating in the collaborative inclusion spirit. That is, living examples of how collaboration between migrants and local communities can solve problems and generate values for all (the same migrants and the whole society).
    • To amplify potentialities means to give promising practices visibility and support. That is, (1) to increase their possibility to be positively recognized by larger number of people (among both migrants and residents), and (2) to improve the (social, cultural, normative, technical, and economic) environment so that it could become easier for the given promising practices to consolidate and last in time, and for other similar initiatives to start and flourish.
    Ideas and actions means everything can be conceived in terms of communication, services, places, events and performances that could give that specific practice, and its produced values more visibility and/or that could produce for that same practice, or for other similar ones, a more supportive environment

    Workshop structure

    The workshop is organised in three moments:
    • 10.00 Setting the scene and promising practices presentations
    • 11.00 Group work (in 5 parallel groups) (including lunch)
    • 15.00 Group presentations and discussion
    • 16.00 End

    Working groups brief

    A facilitator will help each working group for extra speed, fluidity and fun. Each group will work on one promising case study of a service for refugees and migrants. Given this, each group outline one or more ideas/actions to amplify its potentialities. The focus can be on:
    • Visibility, to make the values a given promising practice (directly and indirectly) produces more visible and attractive.
    • Support, to make its environment more favourable, for the same promising practice and for other similar ones.
    Expected results for workgroups are:
    • Each group conceive 2-3 ideas/actions and the communicative artefacts needed to present them. These ideas/actions must be motivated and presented indicating the main involved actors, outlining their organization and their technical and economic viability.
    Activities of working groups activity will be divided into three phases: Phase 1: Understanding and representing (the case, its actors and its values)
    • Outlining the promising practice organization form, focusing on the values it produces (for the migrant and for the local community)
    • Identifying the involved actors, focusing on migrants (and creating personas).
    • Defining the related journey of experience, focusing on its main touch points
    Phase 2: Generating ideas (on how to give visibility and support to the case)
    • In-depth discussion of the produced values, focusing on their strengths and weakness.
    • Generation of ideas (for example, each group member indicates an idea. These individual ideas are clustered in groups with similar meanings and discussed by the working group to find the first 2-3 better ones.
    • Ideas consolidation, with the definition of: main involved actors, outlining their organization and their technical and economic viability.
    Phase 3: Making visible (producing communicative artefacts to present the group results)
    • Group members prepare the 2-3 ideas/actions presentation, considering the need of a very short, 5’ presentation.

    Before the workshop

    Each participant is invited:
    • to search for promising case and select, at least, one example that, in his/her view, is (totally or at least partly) coherent with the three previously indicated criteria of conception and evaluation.
    • to write a short presentation of the selected example (name, place, main promoters, goals and values produced for the migrants and for the society), add a photo and edit the whole in an A4 format (only one sheet). Upload it in the website and bring a paper copy to the workshop venue.

    Possible references:

    Reading the references is not obligatory at all! But it may help you to get into the flow and enjoy it more. Design&society:
    • Ezio Manzini, Design when Everybody Designs”, MIT Press 2015
    • John Thackara, How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today, Thames&Hudson Ltd, 2015
    Migration&innovation:
    • http://citiesofmigration.ca
    • https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/socialinnovationeurope/it
    • http://www.techfugees.com
    Feel free to suggest more!

    Team