Dante’s Blog

I feel like re-writing some kind of overview , from what I see and experienced in the last years – I have set some phrases into bold character in case you feel like scanning through it.

It could be called , overview of :

” I M YOUNG ,
HAVE AFFIRMED SOME NEGATIVE LIBERTY ,
AND AM DETERMINED TO BUILD OUR MUTUALLY EMPOWERED POSITIVE LIBERTY ”

Where , with whom , what to start with ? …

or towards ” using the internet to trans-connect to existing localized intentional networks anywhere. ”

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Hmm , perhaps the first step many of us go through , is to affirm our ” NEGATIVE LIBERTY ” ,
rejecting what feels meaningless or destructive and what is not intrinsically motivating , what does not make our life worth living for.

And then after going such a process , we might go through a process of finding out what has meaning for us , and what our intentions may be.

And when finding out , there still seems to be a long road towards empowering POSITIVE LIBERTY

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Here is a little overview , from this point on …

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Yes , it feels that out there there is a potentially huge ” intentional network ” ,
and some of us manage to connect and interact through the net.

Some of us are also gathering into ” intentional communities ” – such as Arcosanti , Auroville , and many other , smaller EcoVillages , where sometimes the ” intentional network ” comes and visit the ” intentional living community “.

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Sometimes ” intentional networks ” gather , through big meet ups – events ,  whether it are researchers , hackers , sports enthusiasts , music enthusiasts , hitch hikers , etc

yet I am still facing the question :

How to mutually empower intentional networks ,
into creating viable alternative systems , not only in certain areas / eco-villages / communities ,

but anywhere ?

And I guess that in some way or another it is a question many of us may be asking.

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Hospitality Networks ( such as http://couchsurfing.com . http://hospitalityclub.org , http://bewelcome.org ) have now members from almost every region in the world ,
and in some way it has facilitated , for me , an alternative lifestyle , and sharing all accross europe or the world if I wanted to.

Yet it is not an alternative society by itself , even if it includes many open and trusting individuals.

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The ” cluster ” model is becoming more and more popular in the way that businesses think of their development , or at least , their research and development.

I sometimes feel that we are creating some new kind of decentralized business ,
and that it is important for us to see the various resources , in various different fields of solution development , with the various intentional social networks ,

and find ways to more effectively empower each other , develop solutions , experiment , share best practices and multiply them.

I would be interested in facilitating the identification all the different ” hubs ” , and all the different ” intentional social networks ” that we could , as a first step , think of collaborating between each other.

The facilitate the emergence of tools so that they can understand or position each others questions , issues , visions , initiatives

and how they can learn together and collaborate

, and offer the same tools for and between individuals.
( some emerging solutions and softwares are being developped in this field – for example :
http://kluster.com/ –  and conference platforms such as http://www.ted.com/ are trying to spread some inspiring ideas and gather people arond them )

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Ecovillages , Schools , Universities , Cooperatives , … and all kinds of social networks related to some of the intentions being promoted by certain organizations.

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And I stress ” the social networks related to … ” , as I have experienced the huge difference between the social networks related to an organization , and the organization itself , as the power structures of an organization , by my experience , very often promotes its own internal structures of power , sometimes even to the extent of contradicting its own intentions / see for example some of my comments in relation to an organization I have been volunteering with for some time :
http://www.forum.fyeg.org/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=3272c0dc1cf65793791fd7c2d3828f01

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Offering open and transparent mutually empowered local production and solutions ,
as an alternative to the mainstream , everywhere.

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Biological farming has and is becoming more and more popular in western europe , yet is now being developed also by big corporations who apply to the conditions for the label ,

but have very different social structures as small biological farms.

I imagine a series of new labels to emerge , and I feel that both producer cooperatives and consumer cooperatives can work hand in hand ,

if and when we can set up the communication channels to facilitate it.

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As new intentional networks emerge or interconnect , the trust and potential for transactions between them may lead to alternative currencies , empowered by softwares such as http://ripple.sourceforge.net/

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I am very interested to understand the impact , on their surroundings , of intentional communities.

Do they close themselves on themselves , of do they have a greater reach ?

And what may be the parallels with , for example , monasteries in europe ( or elsewhere in the world ) in the middle ages ?

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So , yes , its a broad map … 🙂

And to be honest , I do not necessarily know where to start with 🙂

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Some day I feel I should start by touring and connecting schools , the other day I feel like working with cooperatives , another day I feel like creating inter-disciplinary communities of practice around questions between various students from various faculties , another day I feel like I should settle down and try to focus on learning programming – as to program yet one midst other starting points : some kind of mapping system in itself , …

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At the same time I feel that my strenght is to bridge networks , people , ideas ,
and push towards some broad trans-visions.  Which I feel is what connects many of us.

So sometimes I feel I should connect further with documentary making , …

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But …  to start with , I realize I need to find myself a place to come back to , with people awaiting me , … yet at the same time a place where people tend to converge , a hub.

So often I feel that one of the starting points and connections with the rest is … a space for gathering people with common synthesis intentions.

A intentional network ” base / hub ” of very mobile people that connect communities and spread practices , while facilitating processes of awareness raising , mutual learning , experimentation , and solution development. … … which again leads me to the same questions – where am I best capable of finding such environment ?   While at the same time making some kind of living with it ?

This is my current dilemma :-p

And to find a solution to it , I guess that I m trying to talk about it to people around me , to see who is interested , and what we can do together.

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When one does not have money / capital , using a nomadic strategy , hopping from one community to another ( one school to another , one cooperative to another , etc ) , feels like an effective way of extending and connecting each others circle of influence … which can then use its experience and dynamics , to report and further extend its reach through information technologies.

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But to start with , it feels best to ” engaged ” with more then our own selves 🙂
And somehow , I have found it rather difficult to find partners willing to live without , or with very little money.

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So there is some kind of turning into circles that needs to be broken –

… some funds need to come from somewhere , following smaller visions that need to be defined , by a small group of very enthusiastic friends.

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A few years ago , I was thinking about crowdfunding solutions ( old brainstorming : http://oikoumene.coforum.net/OpenWorld ).

Such kind of crowdfunding technical solutions / platforms are now , seemingly , starting to emerge.
( http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/MagicHat , http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/funding )

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I have met and got in touch with a lot of people in the last years ,
while trying to put together these different pieces of the puzzle , and while trying to find some next  ” starting point “.

I did not yet find an environment , that suited some of these needs , or more precisely , not an open environment , except here , on the internet.

No organization with power structures was open up enough –

I understand that the solution needs to come from our own interconnections , and if possible , without creating further power structures.

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From my own experience , Even projects that did not have an organization or official power structures , often ended up creating power structures related to its communication channels and ownership of communication channels.

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So one of the challenges I see is to be able to create alternative communication channels ,
around specific issues or questions ,
which can be effective , open communities of practice ,
and can facilitate the emergence of a miriad of communities of practice ,
between volunteers , but also between businesses , and paid employees ,
while creating a intrinsically motivating , and meaningful feeling.

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And for this , the starting point becomes a question , an issue ,
for which we might want to find solutions for together.

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Hmm , well , this starts to sound like … Minciu Sodas , or P2P foundation – convergence points , … 🙂
http://www.ms.lt/ – Laboratory of independent thinkers  ; http://p2pfoundation.net

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Then , perhaps the question becomes ” What issue to focus on first “ ?

And when one realizes they are all inter-connected , perhaps the question , and issue one might have is :

How can we become aware of the inter connections , and benefit more easily from inter-disciplinarity ?

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Visualizing the relations between the ideas , questions , issues , various resources , and the various different actors in such issues ( including the social networks that are interested in finding solutions to such questions ) ,

as to determine priorities , strategies , and actions between ourselves.

some related links : http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/referencemaps ;
http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/visualization , …

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Some of the intentional networks I found on the internet , including the one through which I may have connected / got introduced to some of your activities and interests ,
are great , yet they stay in the virtual world , and bridging the individuals related to these communication networks often would mean for me to go and meet them individually , in various different places , or to go to various punctual meet ups accross europe by hitch hiking , which I did.

It has its strenght , but it does not help me that much to really focus and work on a project.
For this I need ( socializing , entrepreneurial and creative ? ) people around me , to which I develop a strong friendship and bound with.

And as I am not a student , I do not have access to the kind of opportunities that certain kind of learning environments offer.

I actually fled the mainstream learning environments ( school , university )
as I felt it was tempering my … potential to learn , interact , discover , collaborate.

Most often , such mainstream learning environments still function according to a industrial paradigm ,
and very often there is no space , or very little space , for intrinsic motivation to learning to be developped ,
and one needs to be really lucky to have had the opportunity to discover before starting studies , what one is passionnate about.

In a world that is constantly facing new issues , our passion might well be a field that does not exist yet – one we might create.

How can we shift towards more open , trans-disciplinary , multi-environment learning networks and resources , based on CREATION and new initiatives ( mutually questioning , connecting and re-mixing existing knowledge according to needs ) instead of REPRODUCTION of knowledge and practices according to patterns imposed by a curriculum or head teacher.

… although , for university students not to get lost , such approach needs to be implemented from a very early age , building on the natural curiosity and intrinsic motivation for learning of children , instead of oppressing this natural tendency and associating the idea of learning to boding and oppressing reproduction of knowledge and practices.

I collect some links about learning on

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/alternativelearning

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/learning , …

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What I do have access to is learning and interacting through the internet – I have been rather successfull in using it.

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For example , I am now in Helsinki.

My intention was to try to connect to some groups of people and resources related to

http://www.helsinkivirtualvillage.fi/Resource.phx/adc/inenglish/index.htx

and its Art School.

http://www.taik.fi/en/

I know that one of their approaches includes trans-disciplinarity in innovation , urban development ,
and eventually also lifestyles.

Yet I realize it is not easy to connect with other individuals involved in such projects. – or to find our own position in relation to them to further interact and collaborate.

And it is even more difficult to find the people with whom we really get a long with and feel like working with.

In other words , finding opportunities to become friends.

There are some conferences , but they are mostly lectures.

There are some events , but they are punctual in time.

and when adressing myself to the bureaucracy related to such institutions , the answers tend to be that ” it does not match with their procedures ” – and to match procedures most often does not correspond to my profile , nor even to my objectives.

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But I have been using another medium : hospitality networks.

Through hospitality networks , I managed to connect with open and friendly people , some of which with whom I share common interests , and that suggested me to come to certain meetings.

Yet , these individuals themselves are most often students , and do not have many resources , or are very busy with their studies and/or work ( to pay their living ) , and can not take further some ideas they feel enthusiastic about.

Although at some point , if they continue their studies , they might have access to a doctoral grant , extend their social networks and access to resources through academia , and collaboration programs between academia and the business world – governmental organizations – non-governmental organizations , …

Which is great , but still too limited !

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Alright , this overview can go on and on …

Now I m faced to finding partners – at a time where I am getting tired of hitch hiking constantly , am not sure how I will finance my food within the next week , and am not sure if I should stay in Helsinki or use my last financial resources to move back to some other city where I may have more chances of finding a job … :-p

… and I end up being on the net , spending time deepening overviews and relations ,
while knowing that it may not lead much further.

And probably I am not the only one.

By connecting with each other we are trying to create opportunities with each other ,
trying to definine certain issues to work on ,

trying to define projects to apply for resources , …

and eventually create new solutions and economic resources to re-invest …

I interacted , over the last years , with many organizations ,
and yet dramatically mutually empowering each other and building outside of status quo is constantly discouraged as long as one faces power structures.

I ve attended courses , many seminars , youth organizations , …

but what I look forward to does not exist yet.

We are setting the visions , and now its about finding people willing to share visions ,
without falling back into power structures , and while deifning a open framework ,
not only through the internet , but with the internet to connect to existing localized intentional networks anywhere.

… beyond ” meet up ” 🙂
… beyond ” a cup of tea ” …

Greetings

Dante

Petition to chinese president for ” restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet “

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

over 1,65 million ( today , april 29 )

1 million target reached in just 7 days!

VS ?

China’s Grand Petition Against The Western Media

the site gathered approximately .53333 million signatures per day – about half a million signatures per day.

( http://publicplease.org/2008/04/07/chinas-grand-petition-against-the-western-media/ )

over 5,7 million ( 574 ten thousand ) on april 29 – although in an article of le monde – 24.04.2008 , they state ” near to 8 million online signatures “

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr?lp=zh_en&url=http://hi.news.sina.com.cn/news/xizang08/index.php?dpc=1

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/message/565

Hi Mogens ( cc: friends , traveling school of life , Global Villages , Working in Parallel )

in relation to the development and experimentation of connectivist approaches to learning ,
using existing infrastructure and environments ,

I would like to ask you all to get in touch with me if some of the following perspectives interest you , or put me in touch with anyone else you might know that might be interested , or already develops similar approaches , so that we could set up some kind of project and apply for funds ! / I m writing this to Mogens , who is a principal of a Folkhighschool in Denmark. – or if you are connected to a learning environment and would like to collaborate with me , I m willing to volunteer if you are able to host and feed me during my stay.

I ll paste this call for connecting with others on my blog :

http://dante.ecobytes.net

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Its Dante ( http://couchsurfing.com/dante )

I was one of your asia/europe ( related to asef grant ) students at brenderup ( 2003 ? )

As time has passed by ,
I m not sure if you are still working with folkhighschools today.
( I realized that one of my friends , Sabina from Latvia , attended the new school where you have become principal , about two years ago. )

If you are still passionnately active with Folk Highschools , I would like to consult you in relation to potential collaboration.

( for other friends reading this – more info on danish folkhighschools on :

http://www.hojskolerne.dk/the-danish-folk-high-school

and map : http://www.hojskolerne.dk/hoejskoler )

I do not know about latest developments in relation to what is happenning within and between folkhighschools – so I ll share some of my views and perhaps they might connect to other existing projects ?

For example , I like to dream about collaboration towards developping alternative experimental connectivist approaches hosted for a number of weeks , or months , at a folkhighschool , that would also revolve around the interaction itself , and alternative forms of learning , co-creation, governance , economics , production and lifestyles , which can include new opportunities brought by information technologies ,
and can then further be transferred to the communities itself.

… towards a culture of sustainable participative passion and peer enabled co-learning and co-creation , updated to developments in the emerging knowledge based economy ,

and applied to a variety of actual topics and solution development – from sustainable local forms of energy , food logistics , building , healthcare , alternative financial systems – or any topic for which new knowledge and solutions are needed for , and for which students , or even elder enthusiasts , could gather in one folkhighschool as to further facilitate the emergence of inspiring ideas and practices that could then be reproduced accross schools , universities , cooperatives , … and aimed at using technologies and practices in involving local communities and taylor new solutions , with the help of various regional and trans-regional intentional peer networks , that themselves can also emerge through the multiplication of practices accross various existing learning and interaction environments , eventually facilitated by networks of nomadic boundary spanners.

If I remember properly from what I learned through my experience at Brenderup and in Denmark , I believe some of these these open and inclusive aspects to learning and… creation ( ? ) are some of the basis of the philosophy of folk highschools ,
and of danish society itself , through the influence of Grundtvig.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundtvig

I know about other such kind of approaches and projects , albeit perhaps more exclusive – restrictive in the selection of its participants , such as http://www.kaospilot.dk/

I also know that such initiatives might be developped individually accross schools , yet most often restricted within a certain official curriculum , and not necessarily with the prospect of a permanent resource and collaboration networking platform. – even though this might be exactly what might be encouraged by certain european grants , which eventually could be applied for.
( ? … http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/grundtvig/index_en.html )

I would like to open up inspiring practices which could then easily be networked and multiplied through other learning and living interaction environments , such as any school.

I imagine that it could lead towards certain ” networked cluster ” models , yet not focused on direct profit making or on specific academic research ( such as EU bacled projects like http://openlivinglabs.eu ; http://www.livinglabs-europe.com/ ; ,

but more intended towards facilitating such a ” network society culture ” through peer learning and co-creation , and hopefully also towards peer and community empowered social entrepreneurship , for individuals of all ages.

by the way , I collect a number of links on alternative learning on :

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/alternativelearning?setcount=100

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/socialentrepreneurship?setcount=100

I feel like cc ing this to Michel Bauwens ( http://p2pfoundation.net ) , Marilyn Mehlmann , Julian Still , and other friends ,
hoping that this could generate a discussion , and perhaps , fueled by other gatherings such as the ” she ” gathering ( see below ) , to new , ( temporary ? ) co-creative environments.

Looking forward to hear of any suggestions ,

let me know if you or anyone else you know might be interested , so that together we can facilitate the emergence and further interconnection of idividuals interested in working on such kind of ideas.

Thanks ,

Cordially

Dante ( I am currently in Estonia , probably soon Finland )