Facilitating Change

Germaine Martin, 1937

23. November 2009

I hate Facebook. And yet I love Facebook. Because some distant cousin sent my mom several photos of my grandmother, Germain Martin, from the late 30s. This one is my favorite. It was taken in Clarence Creek, Ontario, in 1937. She was about 19.

Rite of passage for Liam as he turns 13

20. November 2009

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So many of us now are hybrids. In between. With that comes freedom. But also the loss of a sense of connection to something bigger and that can contain us in a comforting way. Like a parent's embrace. The rituals that marked passage and grounded and gathered communities are fading away. I believe that acknowledging and celebrating the milestones in our lives is important and can help us transition and accept change.

Porte Parole at Pecha Kucha

18. November 2009

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Annabel Soutar, co-founder of the amazing Porte Parole, will present at Pecha Kucha Montreal tonight. Care about democracy? Citizen engagement? Clear your schedule and be there!

L’accompagnement

16. November 2009

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What's important is the ability to gather with others and the possibility to be accompanied in your work. To be able to ask questions and bounce around ideas. I've been thinking for some time that public-access venues and coworking spaces are connected. This is why. They provide access to helpful people — librarians, dinamizador@s, infomediaries, the-guy-sitting-across-the-table-from-you.

Naada Yoga: Something for my nothing

19. October 2009

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So somewhere in June everything fell apart. I was falling and falling. Shattered. Scattered. Lost. Yes, that's the main feeling: loss. Layers upon layers of it — some new, some old. Accompanied by self-loathing, deep deep sadness, hopelessness, and rage. All combining into a perfect dizzying downward spiral.

The getting of knowledge should be smelly

6. September 2009

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Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It's-it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.

Communications: Thinking about a better way

31. July 2009

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“We do so much but no one knows about it. We have to do a better job of telling our story.” I've heard this again and again. So, why's it so hard? I've come to suspect that part of it has to do with the structure of communications within organizations. The centralized structure is a problem. We need to figure out how to make a distributed model work.

Identica: Open microblogging & recipes in 140 characters or less

17. July 2009

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Identica's commitment to open standards is hot. And all good technology shares this characteristic: People can figure out how to make it work for them. It's hackable. Just look at Twyka in Kenya and Naijapulse in Nigeria. And as for me? Tonight I discovered a group that shares recipes in 140 characters or less. Bliss.

Delicious wordle & shifting perspectives

16. July 2009

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Visualization is powerful because it gives you a different perspective. Which helps you think differently. I like to tell my friends that I've figured out what enlightenment is: It's the ability to see all different perspectives simultaneously.

Extending empathy forward

4. July 2009

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I got this expression from the first One Giant Leap film. From the section on time and the 10,000-year clock. I use it in my knowledge sharing work — when trying to explain why it's important to document, tag, give context. The idea is to make it easier to build on each other's work.

Is changing names enough when you post images online?

13. June 2009

1 Comment

I tried to leave this comment on Ethan Zuckerman’s blog. But apparently Captcha thinks I’m not human, so posting it here with a few edits. Jonathan Torgovnik’s photographs of children born of rape during the Rwandan genocide. By Mia Fineman, Slate Magazine Powerful article about a photo series, focusing on the children of rape in Rwanda. The [...]

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Germaine Martin, 1937

Rite of passage for Liam as he turns 13

Porte Parole at Pecha Kucha

L’accompagnement

Naada Yoga: Something for my nothing

The getting of knowledge should be smelly

Communications: Thinking about a better way

Identica: Open microblogging & recipes in 140 characters or less

Delicious wordle & shifting perspectives

Extending empathy forward

Is changing names enough when you post images online?

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