I'm sending my thoughts from the GivingSpace.org workshop that I wrote
about, which included a day on Social Software. After my "thank yous",
I'm including thoughts on the role of social software in helping
HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa, especially "lists of projects", "webs of
references" and "packaging projects-stories-patterns". Andrius
Kulikauskas, ms@ms.lt, http://www.ms.lt (01)
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I'm very grateful to Tom Munnecke of GivingSpace.org for making it
possible for me to attend his workshop "Imagining Iraq" in Santa Cruz,
California. Thank you! (03)
Aside from Tom, I got to meet several people I know from the Blue Oxen
lists http://www.blueoxen.net including:
- Shawn Murphy http://www.nooron.org (knowledge base built on OKBC and
Zope Page Template garments with special application to documenting
pattern languages)
- Jack Park http://www.nexist.org/j4j/ (he spoke on his Topic Maps
aggregating RSS feeds)
- I also met Al Selvin in White Plains, New York
http://www.compendiuminstitute.org/tools/compendium.htm (an
Issue-Based-Information-System that nicely coordinates multiple views
and URL driven atoms). (04)
My very special thank you to Eric and Chris - I've greatly benefited
from Blue Oxen. (05)
Of all the projects at the workshop, I found the work to help HIV/AIDS
orphans to be urgently caring. Chellie Kew http://www.qfund4aids.org
makes plain what even one person can do! Joy Tang gives me hope that
such people, both in Africa and the United States, will get our help to
do their work. Thank you all who join us today, and I invite us to
pursue our thoughts and works here that arose from Tom's workshop.
Peace, Andrius (06)
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Joy Tang of http://www.onevillage.biz asked me for some thoughts that
might help her as she prepares for a meeting with a congresswoman next
week. We appreciate your thoughts, too! Here's mine: (08)
A) We should always give preference to local solutions. Solutions that
rely on distant resources cost extra energy to maintain. Architect
Christopher Alexander explains in "The Timeless Way of Building" that a
building has life when it encourages self-maintenance. This happens
when it is built from patterns that are locally optimized, that is, when
forces are locally resolved. (09)
B) Whenever there are two intiatives that address similar purposes, the
intiative that draws on more distant resources (and may have an unfair
short term advantage) should be respectful, supportive and inclusive of
the more local initiative, and share resources, people and strategy. (010)
C) Funding should be considered as shared work, a meeting half-way,
where both parties are working together and the money simply evens the
accounts. Look for people who already have their own projects, and offer
to pay them to modify them to address your wishes. Both parties should
invest in long term relationships with the idea that "wealth is
relationships". Parties should be encouraged to make use of those
relationships for both non-commercial and commercial opportunities as
they arise. (011)
D) Proposals should grow out of local projects, not out of funders'
missions. There needs to be a way to present local projects so that
anybody who wants to might fund them, starting with local resources,
then looking further out. Such projects should be available for all to
view their description, related stories and patterns of uplift. The
Internet should have open lists of such projects. (012)
E) Funders should select from such projects rather than ask for
applications. Currently, the application process is very destructive
because it is focused on the funders' mission, and forces projects to
present themselves accordingly, for the "efficiency" of the funder, but
not the project. Local projects should be encouraged to present
themselves without regard to particular funders. (013)
F) Funding should be channeled directly to self-directed individuals.
They are the people who offer an alternative that others can respond to.
They have their own agenda and therefore will NOT be overly influenced
by funders. They have integrity. It is more productive to fund an
anti-American with integrity (there are many reasons to be
anti-American) than a pro-American without integrity.
Note: Our laboratory is experienced at organizing such
self-directed individuals. We can identify them by their willingness to
openly "work for free" on their own projects. We build teams: 30 people
for a total of $2,000; 20,000 people for a total of $2,500,000 etc. See: (014)
G) Funding should be directed by a wide number of self-directed
individuals. Distribute $1 billion across 100,000 self-directed,
self-educated, understanding-of-others, independently thinking people in
the United States. Let them be chosen from all walks of life based on
the original work they've already done for free. Let them each have
authority over $10,000 which they might give out to projects on the open
lists that they find worthwhile. Do not restrict them in any way -
select them for their qualities, give them free reign, and they will
certainly contribute their own resources.
Note: Our laboratory is experienced at identifying such people by
their willingness to openly "work for free" on their own projects. (015)
H) Build an open web of references on the Internet, in particular, a
network of databases that indicate who maintains relationships with who,
and collect instances in email archives, etc., of "kind words" that help
establish and build people's reputations. Such a web of references
should allow anybody in the United States to help a child in Africa, for
example, by showing who helps who all along the way. The child is
helped by relatives/teachers/doctors; who are helped by their mentor
teachers/doctors; who might have mentors in hospitals or universities in
the major cities; who might know people in regional professional
organizations that have email discussion groups; who might know people
in international professional organizations; who know participants in
all manner of organizations in the United States; who know local
doctors, teachers, professionals, etc.; who know their friends and
neighbors. Encourage the development of a network of such databases
that would encourage these relationships to be leveraged in rational ways.
Note: Our laboratory has been hired by XpertWeb to help build
such a network (for other commercial purposes). We could use funding to
apply our network to helping Africa. (016)
I) Help establish local centers throughout Africa that would encourage
self-directed individuals, share success stories, look for patterns.
Use the centers as outposts for social networks, providing access to
email discussion groups, supporting local uplift scholars, and giving a
place to stay for visitors. Spend $1 billion for 10,000 centers at
$10,000 each for 10 years.
Note: Our laboratory can help design, organize, associate and
sustain such centers. (017)
J) Funding should encourage personal relationships. Distribute $1
billion in the form of 1,000,000 travel grants of $1,000 to encourage
United States residents travel to Africa. Stimulate the United States
airline industry and all manner of tourism in Africa. (018)
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This message is archived at: (019)
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=tools-yak&i=3EBBD2C7.8080204@ms.lt (020)
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