This is a direct follow on from an initial rant about "social innovation". At the end of that I went on a rant about how social change is a marathon not a sprint and that the 'load' has to be shared. There's an article, very astute, by a Development Aid specialist that I read as... Continue Reading →
“Social innovation” acceleration and the belling of cats
So, my intellectual energies have been mostly devoted to the Active Citizenship Toolkit, which is a project of the group I am part of - Climate Emergency Manchester. I've researched and written a couple of novice's guides - to Manchester City Council's budget process, and to the thorny question of allyship. Other two page guides... Continue Reading →
Online meetings as skeuomorphs – the old pathologies imported, affordances not afforded (cyber)space
If you suck at designing and facilitating meatspace meetings, then - everything else being equal - you are probably going to suck big hairy dog's balls at online meetings. Is it just me? (1) Am I the only one who has been in several really painfully bad online meetings during this lockdown? Where the organisers... Continue Reading →
Brilliant facilitation “patch” at #AFoI2018
Sometimes small tweaks can have big impacts, and can sidestep showdowns with the powerful and their (often) big brittle egos… At the Adelaide Festival of Ideas (of which more later) today, I saw a brilliant little facilitation trick/hack/patch/whatevs (1). It’s so simple, so elegant and – today at least – so effective that I’m a... Continue Reading →
Generosity and conviviality in the age of algorithmic oppression: #Manchester #odmnoble
This was a superb event. A diverse audience of somewhere between 80 and 90 attended a truly excellent event on 'algorithms of oppression' yesterday in Manchester. The event, hosted by Open Data Manchester with the support of The Federation and Manchester School of Art, was centred on a lecture and q and a with Dr Safiya... Continue Reading →
Canute in reverse: Macron’s climate summit
Today thousands of the great and the good will gather in Paris for the latest in a long line of climate summits. Initiated in July by French President Emmanuel Macron, it falls on the two year anniversary of the Paris Agreement. With three goals - "Take tangible and collective action, innovate, support one another" -... Continue Reading →
Lobbying, lies, prostitution, disruption #climate – extraordinary truth-telling
The problem with studying the rich (well, one of many) is that access is hard. So you end up relying on leaks and whisteblowers. Both can be deeply problematic. But every so often the curtain DOES get pulled back. With Australia and climate change two great examples are a) the leaking of the minutes of... Continue Reading →
What may Jay say? The alternative @JayWeatherill speech for #Openstate
The following document fell through a wormhole from an alternative universe, landing as a smoldering set of singed papers, with a comedy thump, on my desk. It purports to be an account of the speech given by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill at the launch of the “2017 Open State Program.” Standing at the podium... Continue Reading →
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
From page 19 of this excellent report of an intriguing-sounding event.
“Entrench warfare” or “why I don’t bother with one-off trainings” #smugosphere #inertia
A few years ago I organised a one-off training session on research for activists. It went well and had ... no discernible impact on how anyone did anything. So it goes. I reflected on this - and other training I have been part of as a punter. And I came to the conclusion that unless... Continue Reading →
