Brenda's learning blog
Movement Action Plan
Summary:Links to a model of social change.
I was reminded recently of " Doing Democracy" , a book by Bill Moyer, the American activist who passed away in 2002 (not to be confused with the broadcast journalist Bill Moyers - I had them confused for years!).
I found the book on my bookshelf this weekend, and was entranced again by his descriptions of the stages that social movements go through. He was inspired by his experiences of seeing that activists were most discouraged, most certain they had failed, just at the moments when the movements [...]No comments....
Summary:A frustration at hearing only part of the conversation and some tips to share.
I've just discovered that people are talking and I didn't know.
I follow the blogs of Institute folks here at IGLOO closely - I have them on RSS feeds so I don't miss new posts. However, the RSS feed doesn't pick up when there's a new comment posted in response to a post. With a few spare moments, I decided to review some of the blogs, even though Google Reader told me there was nothing new.
But there were lots of new comments, to my posts and to many other people's blogs too. With lots of content. [...]Lost in the Swamp
Summary:Links about social networking, and frustration with the path(s).
I'm feeling overwhelmed.
I went looking for a web-based, open source solution to help Vibrant Communities monitor internet and print media, and ended up in a swamp of social networking information.
My first stop for anything technical is TechSoup. As always, I found stuff I didn't know I needed. Beth Kanter had posted a helpful article on what nonprofits should consider when considering participation in social networking sites.
Then I followed one of her links to Mashable, and found links to [...]Planning for Complexity
Summary:Can we adapt traditional planning concepts for changing, dynamic systems?
I've written a thousand plans in my life.
But lately, the tradiitonal "goal, objective, indicator" cycle or even the "output vs outcome" distinctions don't seem very helpful. Spending a lot of time writing traditional plans for systems that I know will change seems like wasted effort.
I even believe that plans and systems should change constantly, as that's what life does. The concept of developmental evaluation offers helpful tools for measuring learning and adapting your plan to suit, but [...]The Well - a deep subject
Summary:Reflections on an online community that has lasted 22 years.
I was just reminded that online communities have a lengthy, deep history.
A recent issue of Wired Magazine focused on The Well, an online community that started in 1985 as an online "BBS" or bulletin board and is still going strong with over 4000 members. Wired called it "The World's Most Influential Online Community" - read the article to find out why. Twenty-two years and still vibrant-- that's a lot more staying power than many other social movements I could name.
I remember [...]