Friday, February 27, 2009
The Dark Side of Public Participation?
The ethics of participatory mapping is once again a frequent topic on list serves, with accusations that a current participatory mapping project in Mexico is unethical, what do you think?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Imagine Chicago Workshops
Hello Again,
I have never been able to afford them, but if you got the money I am betting any of these workshops will be more than worth your time (see below). IF you are not familiar with the incredible story of Imagine Chicago go to their web site or visit the Appreciative Inquiry Commons and read about this remarkable community development/engagement project!
Shared in the hope that someday we can all wallow in the knowledge one of us gained at one of these... Thanks for listening!
Imagine Chicago is pleased to announce some special training opportunities this spring starting in March.
I will be offering a series of 3 day masterclasses this spring entitled Transforming Community Imagination; a brochure and full description of which is attached (not avail on blog...).
March 12-14 Frameworks for Inspiring Community Engagement
Bliss Browne
March 19-21 Building on Community Strengths: AI and ABCD in Dialogue Bliss Browne & Jody Kretzmann
April 27-29 Building on Community Strengths: AI and ABCD in Dialogue
Bliss Browne & Jody Kretzmann
May 12-14 Transforming Imagination about Community
Bliss Browne & Andries Botha
These highly interactive capacity building courses are devoted to the theory, skills, mindsets and tools to activate imagination and transform communities. It is a great pleasure to be able to teach them with 2 incomparable leaders in the field. Jody Kretzmann is the pioneer of Asset Based Community Development. We have been friends for 30 years but are teaming up to teach together for the first time since our approaches are so complementary. It's an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in an immersion course in strength-based community development. In May, I am devoting attention to imagination itself, teaming up with Andries Botha, one of South Africa's leading artists and social innovators and a 30 year teacher of creativity.
As some of you know, Imagine Chicago is about to launch a comprehensive new website which will be a treasure chest of freely downloadable materials. I have spent two months working full time on producing them as a Valentine's present to the world. It;s been a much more massive undertaking than I envisaged. In the process I have rediscovered thousands of pages of curriculum materials, and AI protocols and agendas which I developed for use in community, youth and school applications .
I would love for them to be useful to others. I am therefore also launching this spring a series of one day hands-on skill building workshops in which participants will learn to understand, use and apply Imagine Chicagobs curriculum frameworks and tools, and the design principles behind them. Each workshop will focus on a particular set of applications. Cost includes training materials with permission to adapt them for use in other settings. Each relates directly to major Imagine Chicago proven program initiative.
One Day Skill Building Workshops Spring 2009
March 2 Listening to the Future: Engaging the Next Generation
in Appreciative Inquiry Bliss Browne
March 16 The Art of the Question
Bliss Browne
March 27 Creative Activities for Community Engagement
Bliss Browne
May 4 Strengthening School Community Partnerships
Bliss Browne
May 5 Empowering Citizen Leadership
Bliss Browne
May 6 Renewing the Heart of Teaching
Bliss Browne
Substantial early bird discounts for all courses apply only until February 28. Space will be limited to 15 participants. So if you know you are interested, I encourage you to register early!!
Online registration will be available on the brand new Imagine Chicago website (http://www.blogger.com/www.imaginechicago.org) when it is launched later this week, hopefully by February 18. Feel free to send me an email before that if you want to jump the gun :)
I have never been able to afford them, but if you got the money I am betting any of these workshops will be more than worth your time (see below). IF you are not familiar with the incredible story of Imagine Chicago go to their web site or visit the Appreciative Inquiry Commons and read about this remarkable community development/engagement project!
Shared in the hope that someday we can all wallow in the knowledge one of us gained at one of these... Thanks for listening!
Imagine Chicago is pleased to announce some special training opportunities this spring starting in March.
I will be offering a series of 3 day masterclasses this spring entitled Transforming Community Imagination; a brochure and full description of which is attached (not avail on blog...).
March 12-14 Frameworks for Inspiring Community Engagement
Bliss Browne
March 19-21 Building on Community Strengths: AI and ABCD in Dialogue Bliss Browne & Jody Kretzmann
April 27-29 Building on Community Strengths: AI and ABCD in Dialogue
Bliss Browne & Jody Kretzmann
May 12-14 Transforming Imagination about Community
Bliss Browne & Andries Botha
These highly interactive capacity building courses are devoted to the theory, skills, mindsets and tools to activate imagination and transform communities. It is a great pleasure to be able to teach them with 2 incomparable leaders in the field. Jody Kretzmann is the pioneer of Asset Based Community Development. We have been friends for 30 years but are teaming up to teach together for the first time since our approaches are so complementary. It's an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in an immersion course in strength-based community development. In May, I am devoting attention to imagination itself, teaming up with Andries Botha, one of South Africa's leading artists and social innovators and a 30 year teacher of creativity.
As some of you know, Imagine Chicago is about to launch a comprehensive new website which will be a treasure chest of freely downloadable materials. I have spent two months working full time on producing them as a Valentine's present to the world. It;s been a much more massive undertaking than I envisaged. In the process I have rediscovered thousands of pages of curriculum materials, and AI protocols and agendas which I developed for use in community, youth and school applications .
I would love for them to be useful to others. I am therefore also launching this spring a series of one day hands-on skill building workshops in which participants will learn to understand, use and apply Imagine Chicagobs curriculum frameworks and tools, and the design principles behind them. Each workshop will focus on a particular set of applications. Cost includes training materials with permission to adapt them for use in other settings. Each relates directly to major Imagine Chicago proven program initiative.
One Day Skill Building Workshops Spring 2009
March 2 Listening to the Future: Engaging the Next Generation
in Appreciative Inquiry Bliss Browne
March 16 The Art of the Question
Bliss Browne
March 27 Creative Activities for Community Engagement
Bliss Browne
May 4 Strengthening School Community Partnerships
Bliss Browne
May 5 Empowering Citizen Leadership
Bliss Browne
May 6 Renewing the Heart of Teaching
Bliss Browne
Substantial early bird discounts for all courses apply only until February 28. Space will be limited to 15 participants. So if you know you are interested, I encourage you to register early!!
Online registration will be available on the brand new Imagine Chicago website (http://www.blogger.com/www.imaginechicago.org) when it is launched later this week, hopefully by February 18. Feel free to send me an email before that if you want to jump the gun :)
Pondering the "I am" Question
Hazel's discussion of the power of the "I am" question at our meeting earlier this week brought Martin Buber flooding back into my head. Among other things (jewish), Buber wrote extensively on the nature of human dialog.
His theory, in short summation, cut right to the individual word, each one, we say. He said that each of our words is either an i-you word or an i-it word. If our words are i-you (truely respecting and respectful of the other) then we can achieve dialog. If our words are i-it (seeing the other as an object not fully human) then dialog is not possible.
It strikes me that the "I am" question, put forth in the proper setting and with the correct motivation (that "cradle" for dialog that I mentioned in our meeting), is an "i-you" question.
His theory, in short summation, cut right to the individual word, each one, we say. He said that each of our words is either an i-you word or an i-it word. If our words are i-you (truely respecting and respectful of the other) then we can achieve dialog. If our words are i-it (seeing the other as an object not fully human) then dialog is not possible.
It strikes me that the "I am" question, put forth in the proper setting and with the correct motivation (that "cradle" for dialog that I mentioned in our meeting), is an "i-you" question.
Voting the "public" off the island...
I just read an interesting article by Marten Scheffer and Frances Westley. It is from 2007 so some of you may have already read it. Here is a link: The Evolutionary Basis of Rigidity: Locks in Cells, Minds and Society
They make a number of important points, but the part I keep coming back to is their discussion about a study (Boulding 1964), in which groups who had a "devil's advocate" among their members consistently outperformed groups that didn't when solving complex problems. BUT, the "devil's advocate" was always the first person eliminated when the groups were asked to vote one person out of their group.
So, what does this mean for us public participaters...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
ThemeSeekr as Public Engagement Software
UW graduate student Erik Andrejko has gotten some much-deserved publicity for his innovative ThemeSeekr software. This program was developed in response to the UW Accreditation Project's significant success in eliciting tens of thousands of suggestions during its process... they needed a way to manage, track, and sort the information, so Erik wrote the software. Now, it appears to be getting used in a variety of contexts, including a project with (our own) Deb Gurke and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. As Erik put it in the interview:
“I think of this as public engagement software. As people participate in the collaborative process, they get unique insights into the data, rather than a computer telling you what the data says. A lot of things would be lost without the human interaction with this product.”
Let's keep that cross-fertilization going, folks!
Harry
“I think of this as public engagement software. As people participate in the collaborative process, they get unique insights into the data, rather than a computer telling you what the data says. A lot of things would be lost without the human interaction with this product.”
Let's keep that cross-fertilization going, folks!
Harry
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