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The mighty @markomanka, after some lengthy discussions with others (including myself), has produced a very interesting document. It is an explicit social contract, of the sort we imagine is hovering over the best community-care initiatives we have seen in the two years of opencare. I find it very, very thought provoking; it seeks a way that we can promise to do our best, which is all that communities can do, while still taking responsibility. It somehow brings home the unwavering gaze at our human fallibility, our perennial underfunding, our precarious organisational structures, and still the excellence, still the empathy, still the grit to soldier on.
\n\nReading made me think of the Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic, or of the Woodbine Health Autonomy Center, or of @alex_levene\'s and the other volunteers\' work at the Jungle in Calais.
\n\nI am sharing it here, hoping for comments from all of you \u2013 starting from @gehan, @woodbinehealth, @winnieponcelet and @patrick_andrews. In fact, I am thinking of making a non-care specific version that would cover all community initiatives. But then again, maybe all community initiatives have an element of care.
\n\nA much longer, commented version is here.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a #nospectators event. Each talk, workshop or exhibit is contributed by participants. The program is thoughtfully assembled by curators who work with session leaders to make the most out of the interests and learning expectations of each:
\n\nFrancis Coughlin - Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center. A medical doctor, resident in a public hospital in NYC and a member at woodbine.nyc, Frank is a revolutionary doctor working to build infrastructure at the community level, for people to reclaim their health and reduce their dependency of oppresive systems. At woodbine, they are organising discussions, running workshops (i.e. introduction in health systems) and learning events (i.e. skillshare) where the colective develops skills, practices and tools needed to approach health in a holistic manner. Say hi to Frank here.
\n\nAreas of expertise: #healthsystem #ER #Medicine #firstaid #communal #autonomy #wellness #alternativemedicine #mentalhealth #fitness
\n\n\n\nWinnie Poncelet - Reagent, Ekoli & OpenInsulin A mix of engineer, biologist, entrepreneur and storyteller. ReaGent, Ekoli and other educational non-profits he co-founded in Ghent, Belgium, mainly work on rendering science and technology more accessible to diverse groups. A big focus is on the way in which they do it, always trying to stimulate cooperation and other values. In Edgeryders he\'s now coordinating the OpenInsulin global group. Looking at things from diverse perspectives is a competence Winnie values highly. Say hi to him here.
\n\nAreas of expertise: #openscience #citizenscience #engineering #diy #biomaterials #interdisciplinary #collaboration
\n\n\n\nGehan Macleod - Galgael A hoarder of bits of thinking and disruptive thoughts with occasional bouts of fundamentalism about things that should be simple. Lives in Glasgow, Scotland where she co-founded the GalGael Trust, which she prefers to think of as a social solidarity organisation rather than a charity engaged in traditional forms of community development. The collective works together on the demanding common tasks that demonstrate ways of living with more humanity in our times. Say hello to Gehan here.
\n\nAreas of expertise: #woodbuilding #community #activism #marginalization #publicpolicy #wellbeing #therapy #mentalhealth
\n\n\n\nMatthias Ansorg \u2013 Edgeryders & PayCoupons An open source hacker who refuses to believe that his work borders on magic (it does!). Among other projects, he is currently working on a moneyless mass collaboration tool called PayCoupons and a new marketplace with six smallholder farmers from Nepal shipping coffee beans to Europe with no intermediaries. Say hi to Matt here.
\n\nAreas of expertise: #diyEverything #resilience #economy #development #opensystems #computing #EarthOS
\n\n\n\nNoemi Salantiu - Edgeryders, Food Waste Combat A social science background coupled with soft skills honed in the digital realm, Noemi is one of Edgeryders co-founders from back in 2011. She\'s consistently pulling off balancing acts of working online and on the ground to enable care by communities caught in complex systems. Finds that residency at Edgeryders Reef will fill in the gaps brought by the promise of the digital as an instrument to provide support and real care to change makers around the globe. A believer in strong work ethics and human kindness.
\n\nAreas of expertise: #communitybuilding #onlinecommunities #peer #humancare #socialcontracts #fairness #networkweaving #facilitation
\n\n
Eric Osiakwan - Chanzo Capital Entrepreneur and Investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership across Africa and the world. Eric was part of the team that built the TEAMS submarine cable in East Africa - he has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. Some of these companies and organizations are Angel Africa, Angel Fair Africa , Ghana Cyber City, PenPlusBytes, African Elections Portal, FOSSFA, WABco, GISPA, AfrISPA, GNVC, Internet Research, InHand, Ghana Connect. He serves on the board of Farmerline, Forhey , Teranga Solutions, Siqueries , Amp.it, SameLogic, eCampus, Bisa App, SeeSayDo and Wanjo Foods, - some of which are his investments. Eric is a Poptech, TED, Stanford, MIT and Harvard fellow.
\n\n
Marco Manca - CERN & Scimpulse Foundation A Medical Doctor by education, with more than 10 years of research and clinical practice in Internal Medicine, and a long history of volunteer activities, including providing medical services for free in refugees shelters in South of Italy, and in social-care centres for troubled children. CoFounder, and Chairman of the Board of SCImPULSE Foundation, a sandbox and incubator Foundation dedicated to philanthropic projects ranging from financial inclusion, to the future of medicine. Senior Research Fellow of the Director for Medical Applications at CERN, the European Nuclear Physics Organization, where he has experienced the complex ways of International Diplomacy, and the facilitating role of science and education.
', u'post_id': 6337, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-17 09:27:14', u'title': u'OpenVillage Festival Curators'}, {u'content': u'\n\n2017: welcome to The Reef, from Nadia and Noemi!\n\nA few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Ready-to-go, affordable health and social care was \u2013 and still is \u2013 unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done.
\n\nWe see people coming together, stepping into the breach. Communities are taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They are doing amazing things. Hackers make open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drive them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients find and help each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers are trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. Activists in America encourage each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together.
\n\nWe started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
\n\n\n\n\n\nIt\'s all about humans.
\n\n
Community provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nThis intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. Collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. Any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nWe dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a gate to keep the wolves out, but a bridge to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other.
\n\nWe have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped it in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. The most important lesson was this: a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learnt how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times.
\n\n
2014: Lunch in the sun at the unMonastery Matera
\n\nBut the unMonastery also got many things right. The one I am proudest of is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning.
\n\nSo, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. We are trying a second iteration. Right now.
\n\nWe are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters).
\n\nLike coral reefs, our new space will draw strength in diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events.
\n\nAnd like coral reefs, our new space is going to be an ecology \u2013 a network. There are many ways to take part in it. Some people will want to live there full time, others will show up once or twice a month, or a year. Some will use it on building projects with us, and with each other. Others will work on shared learning and professional development. Of course, we already have a network: the Edgeryders online community itself. This will not go away, in fact it will become ever more important. But now The Reef will give it a permanent offline presence. Reef members will be the kernel of the Edgeryders community. Everyone is free to join the kernel or not; everyone is free to play the role she feels most at home with.
\n\nWe ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @Noemi , @Nadia and I are going to be full-time residents; one more room will host temporary residents. We are going live on May 1st 2017, and try it out for one year. We are already looking for a (much) larger space to move into in spring 2018 if the experiment goes well.
\n\nAre you considering being part of the experiment, or just curious about it? There are three things you can do.
\n\nSo: a place-based symbiosis of some inhabitants of the edge, a mutant company, and no book to do it by. It\'s not going to be easy. But it has the vibe I was looking for: the excitement of building, and the pleasure of doing it with good, solid people. It is in the sweet spot between ambition and achievability. And I, for one, am going to give it all I\'ve got.
', u'post_id': 6272, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-26 13:09:09', u'title': u'Spawning The Reef Brussels: Re-inventing communal working and living (again)'}, {u'content': u'[Proposal for biosphere(x) session]
\n\nReproductive sovereignty is paramount to our freedom. This workshop will explore the knowledge lost surrounding reproductive care and planning, both ancestral and contemporary, the alienation of women from their bodies, and the implications of regaining this knowledge in our modern world. We will discuss how to create individual, localized, and decentralized birth control and reproductive health care that is safe, secure, and most importantly -- outside state and institutionalized medicine. To demystify the practice, we will go over skills and potential methods that can be used by people who are compelled to take back control.
', u'post_id': 34452, u'user_id': 3798, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-17 12:04:51', u'title': u'Session Proposal: Nonnegotiable: Reproductive Sovereignty as One Key to Resilient Communities'}, {u'content': u'We are slowly weaving our learnings in #opencare as part of the #OPENandChange bid for the MacArthur Foundation\u2019s call. Reminder: we are mounting (and very publicly!) an application to propose community led care services as the solution to the world\u2019s broken care systems.
\n\n25 projects, organisations and informal networks have joined to be part of our swarm application so far. The call is still open and you are very welcome to join it. Learn more at OPENandchange.care
\n\nIn addition to collaboratively building grant applications, we come together as a community to build broad support for members\' activities. You can contribute by: reading one of these inspiring stories, sharing them with your network, and leaving a thoughtful comment to help move the thinking forward! Some of the latest:
\n\nBuoy Coordinated Crisis Response and Community-based Mutual Aid, without a State
\n\nWoodbine Health Autonomy Center After Occupy, Sandy and Katrina - Developing structures to empower community health, access to resources, and preventative medicine
\n\nTeam Able: Deep conversations about accessibility and inclusion with Raul Krauthausen, Rosalie, and her parents
\n\nNew Technology! Soundsight - enables blind and vision impaired to be independent from aid devices by boosting nonvisual senses
\n\nNatalia: Greece as a hot-spot of transformative future (conversation with Pavlos Georgiadis, part 2)
\n\nEzio\u2019s Manzini - Can collaborative care services help us to overcome the care crisis?
\n\nDougald Hine - The Regeneration of Meaning: Mitigating the negative consequences of unemployment on psychological and social health of the individual
\n\nNew Space! - Setting up Huis Vdh as a community open home and making of weekend sessions!
\n\n\xc9ireann Leverett - Securing our medical data to avoid it flowing around the world to companies that may or may not be protecting it
\n\nNew Product! Cloudi - a swing designed to encourage more playground interaction between children with disabilities and those without
\n\n.. and more. Check them all out here.
\n\n| How we honour your contributions \\#100andChange \\#OPENandChange |
|
thank you 
its amazing to witness people who respect their commitments
My favourite kids in their temporary house in the outskirts of Yerevan on arrival from Suruc camp in Turkey where they stayed over a year (without a possibility to attend school) after fleeing their home in Kobane, Syria. Photo credit James Aram Elliott on assignment to the Armenian Redwood Project
\n\nArmenia is\xa0the third European country with the biggest number of displaced people from Syria. Read more
\n\nThere are many organisations claiming they help the refugees in Armenia but the impact is very little so most of the times the newly arrived refugees are not aware about available services and assistance which results in the majority of them leaving the country in disappointment and failure to find a job/accommodation (the ones that manage to get a visa go to Europe/Canada and the ones who don\'t have money go back to Syria).
\n\nI\'ve helped several newly arrived vulnerable families to integrate, acting like a social worker, finding them accommodation, placing the kids at schools and orientation/training for the adults to find jobs to become sustainable in the long run.\xa0In my work I often come across the fact that refugees become overly dependent on our aid when we get too involved. It is very hard to find a balance when we want them to become self-sustainable in the long run. How long shall we provide the housing subsidies? How to help the refugees to become self-sustainable in the long run? What criteria should be used to qualify the family? How can social workers stay objective in evaluating each case? What if after 3-6 months of support none of the family members are able to find a job? What if the available jobs are hardly enough to pay the rent?
\n\nE.g. A single father with 4 kids(one of them is mentally disabled) and he just has no way to work even though his disabled son started attending an art therapy workshop(from 10AM to 2PM) he still needs to cook, clean and do house chores during that time. There is no part time job available for him and he is not motivated to look for one neither; he needs psychological help but he refuses it. The government can not offer him a stipend(40 Euros per child/month) since he is not yet a citizen of Armenia and even if he receives the stipend it will not be enough to sustain his family.
\n\nAnother problem we are facing in Armenia is the facilitation of information communication for the refugees: we got many organisations that offer different kind of assistance but it seems like refugees do not have access to the information and feel lost when they need help(healthcare, housing, employment, food/clothing, etc).\xa0
\n\nI am currently doing a desk research about how to improve the social services for the refugees here in Armenia. The aim is to mobilize all the organisations working with refugees to create an independent unit of trained social workers(including many Syrian-Armenians as it would provide them with a job and they are naturally motivated to help other refugees) and create an effective system to deal with the issues of Syrian refugees in Armenia.
\n\nHere\'s a recent article about the hardships many refugees face in Armenia and another one about why Armenian organisations should work together to ensure resiliency in the face of the Syrian migrant crisis.
\n\nComing soon.\xa0
\n\nComing soon.
\n\nReading the references is not obligatory at all! But it may help participants to get into the flow and enjoy it more.
\n\nFeel free to suggest more!\xa0
\n\nTickets for this event do not cost money, but you need to complete some small tasks. It\'s easy!\xa0
\n\nIf you don\'t already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here:\xa0http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ
Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come!
Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket!
When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket
See you at the workshop
Date: 2016-02-27 11:30:00 - 2016-02-27 11:30:00, Asia/Yerevan Time.
', u'post_id': 5042, u'user_id': 2201, u'timestamp': u'2015-11-26 13:44:37', u'title': u'Refugee care system in Armenia and how to improve it'}, {u'content': u'I am Thomas Herv\xe9 Mboa Nkoudou from Cameroon. My background is in biochemistry and used to be a biology teacher for secondary school. Currently I am a researcher in the field of Open science with a focus on the maker movement and biohacking in the African context. I am also the President of the Association for the Promotion of Open Science in Haiti and Africa (APSOHA).
The maker movement and biohacking interest me deeply, due to their potential to overcome most of challenges the African Health system faces (e.g. many hospitals lack the basic materials, like microscopes). The possibility to modify hardware (e.g. connect a solar panel to a PCR machine and so on) is an advantage.
In order to promote this potential, I have organised this conference : \u201cBiohacking in the medical field: perspectives for developing countries\u201d, Yaound\xe9, Cameroon, Mai 2017
Even if the potential benefits are high, the maker movement and biohacking are subjects of critics, since : practices are very Western oriented, local knowledge is not acknowledged (it\u2019s classified as superstition or culture) and values are often not put into practice as they should. My paper entitled \u201cBenefit and the hidden face of the maker movement: Thoughts on its appropriation in African context\u201d was written from the critic perspective.
In Africa, the maker movement and biohacking is facing many difficulties: 1) the vision differs fundamentally from the usual makers/biohackers. When I ask Western biohackers \u201cwhy do you make this?\u201d, it\u2019s usually just for fun, like a hobby. In Africa, it is not the same, geeks are hacking to solve a problem, and to help people. 2) the machines that are usually made, are not prototyped in an African context. Although there are exceptions, often they are not useable. Therefore I promote biohacking in Africa in collaboration with electrotechnicians etc., so things can be tested and used. 3) The basic electronic components which are not easily affordable and available in Africa. Even the raspberry pi and Arduino are not easy to get; you have to order it from China. 4) The capitalistic system is another hurdle, because even if the prototype is good, there is standards defined by the WHO so that prototypes or materials to be used in hospitals, should fit with a standard. These standards are defined by the big companies. You cannot, as a biohacker, fight the establishment. They define the standard. This critique is addressed to the system managing health: it does not let people do it themselves. 5) Biohacking is not completely new to Africa, but it remains not supported by African Governments. People behind the project suffered a lot eg. The geek who made a cardiopad, was supported only when the state saw that media everywhere in the world, talk about this cardiopad invention (CNN, BBC, ...).
\n\nHowever, some strategies and support can help to overcome these difficulties: 1) Government support, by the implementation of national policies on Open science. This is our biggest obstacle, not money or other things. 2) International organisations can be used as a vehicle of Open science. Because there is a kind of epistemic and colonial alienation which makes that our leaders trust in International Organization (because of money) and they are very open to discuss with white people. The reality is all things coming from the white people, West and NGO\u2019s are \u2018good\u2019, while they don\u2019t listen to their own people. 3) Due to these realities, most of the geeks engaged in biohacking are successful because they are connected with Western geeks and lab.
There are not many fablabs, makerspaces or \u2018protofablabs\u2019 in Africa. Some of them are promoted by personal efforts, association or companies. The Woelab in Togo is well known and has success. In Cameroon there is the fablab Ongola Lab, supported by Orange and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie. But communities seem not deeply involved due to their perception of these spaces. That is why the science shop model has a lot of potential to change the African conception of fablab, rather than replicate the western model.
In my community, I conducted some project to give better life to people by hearing their needs and build solutions together. Like safe water to drink as I did in my village several years ago. I am not supported even by the state or by the rural council. If the pump is broken or whatever, I pay money to keep it going. I cannot ask villagers for money because they don\u2019t have it.
I did other projects as well. Together with my wife, a teacher in nutrition, we did some research to reduce children malnutrition in rural zone; since many mothers cannot afford the right meals. We have created a formula using local ingredients, to help them give a balanced diet to their baby. All the work is freely accessible here (https://www.zenodo.org/record/57037/export/xm#.WcauGoxSxPY) and it\u2019s being used in our direct environment. We can help for a local problem, for 10 or 20 children, but cannot do it for the whole village. For a larger impact, it needs to be spread. We don\u2019t get the support we need to do this.
A powerful weapon is education. Imagine: introduce biohacking in the curriculum. What would happen after 10 years, 20 years? How could we do this, since our governments seems inactive? For me the first thing is to hack textbooks by writing ourselves. I did it through this platform : http://www.fabrel.org/.
Without national and/or international support, I feel tired and not sure that I will continue.
I\u2019d love to come to the OpenVillage Festival in October because I want to share my experience with others, continue to build a strong African community of biohacking, shape strategies for the use of Open science in healthcare and mostly, learn from others\u2026
What follows is a long story documenting some of\xa0my experiences working as a caregiver on the Calais camp during March - May 2016.
\n\nThe first thing that strikes you about the Calais camp is the smell. In the beginning you assume it comes from the camp itself. After prolonged exposure to it you realise it comes from the chemical plant next door. It pours a strange chemical tang over the surrounding area. I will never forget that smell. It masks the true nature of the camp.
\n\nI use this image to emphasise the unsanitary conditions of the site, and how you become desensitised to them.
\n\nEach morning at the l\u2019Auberge des Migrants Warehouse between 40-200 volunteers arrive to help with the day\u2019s tasks. It is one of 2 or 3 three aid organisations in the area serving the needs of the camp.
\n\nThe number varies depending on the day of the week or the time of year. The tasks at the warehouse vary in difficulty and duration. Some people may find themselves chopping firewood for a day, or sorting through clothing donations. Those that can only volunteer for a day or two will do these jobs that base them at the warehouse. Volunteers that are available for a week or more will join the clothing or food distribution team. This involves spending a lot of time on the camp working face-to-face with refugees.
\n\nVolunteers available for a month or more find themselves joining the \'Aid Distribution\' or \'Vulnerabilities\' team.
\n\nThese teams work on the camp every day. Travelling from shelter to shelter to assess aid requirements and taking clothes and food to vulnerable people (children, elderly, injured). When i started at the Calais camp these teams didn\u2019t exist. I helped to set up, test and structure the team program. Now, 5 months later the teams are indistinguishable from the basic structures that i helped to set up.
\n\nWorking days are long and filled with waiting. Long-term volunteers have to balance time considerations to get the most work done. Volunteers arrive early. UK volunteers have early Channel ferries to pack a full day in. Or the locals from Belgium and France are more balanced towards early starts. As a result the warehouse opens early with many arriving around 8am to start working.
\n\nOn the other end of the spectrum the refugees on the camp rarely rise before 11am. Many have been up for most of the night; making attempts to get into the port area, travelling to lorry parks nearby; etc. The camp itself comes to life at about 4pm with the most people around between 4pm and 10pm.
\n\nThis means days often start with a lot of waiting. They often extend further into the evenings for the long-term volunteers. 12hr+ days without proper breaks are par for the course, particularly for the volunteers working on the camp with the refugees.
\n\nThose working in the Aid Distribution team have to work in intimate personal spaces. The role requires you to enter into the shelters and tents of refugees to communicate with them. Preferably, this requires a translator, but most communication is through non-verbal, gesture and eye-contact. Even with a total language barrier, the way the refugees welcome you into their personal space is heart warming. The experience is unlike anything I have experienced elsewhere. For many British volunteers this immediate intimacy from strangers can be strange and disorienting. It feels odd to accept food, drink and hospitality from people who have so little already. Yet, rejecting the offer also seems heartless. It is difficult to balance these conflicting emotions. I often struggle to balance my desire to be \u2018efficient\u2019 at the task, with being \u2018friendly\u2019 to the people I\u2019m helping. I could spend a whole day working with only 10-15 people: Eating food with them; making notes about vulnerabilities; listening to the needs of their community and drinking sweet milk chai. Then I remember that there are thousands of people on the camp. If I spend the same amount of time with each group it would take years to finish the simple tasks.
\n\nIn these small, intimate moments people open up to you. Some share stories, opinions on the camp or photos from their phones. Some photos are of family and home. Some photos are graphic images of violence and bloodshed. You never know if these images are from their own experience, or if they are from external sources. Almost every refugee can connect to the internet and people share images amongst groups. You know it would be rude to ask for verification. You are frequently reminded not to push anyone to tell you about their life before, or their journey. You are not a therapist and reliving traumatic experiences can re-traumatise them.
\n\nThese moments also show you how angry people are. Refugees stop you in their shelters, or on the paths around the camp. Inter-community tensions seeps out through small cracks. The walls and fences of the Calais port don\u2019t discriminate between nations. So neither does the camp. Afghanis rub up against Iranians, Indians, Sudanese and Syrians. Some communities are better established on the camp. Some manage their resources and people better than others. Some communities have established \'leaders\' who act as a lynchpin for fellow countrymen. I met a young Indian refugee who was angry there was no Indian community leader. I explained to him he was the first refugee from India i had met on the camp. He was de facto the community leader for his nation.
\n\nRace, religion and resource issues overlap in a fraught and challenging space. It is surprising that it doesn\'t descend into violence more often. The fact it doesn\'t is a testament to the work done by volunteers, and faith and community leaders on the camp.
\n\nWhen it does break down like this it is scary and totally unexpected. You can never relax into to the role. Every day demands that you prepare to be surprised. You can be disarmed by a moment of pure joy and positivity from a happy young man. Around the next corner you could be challenged by an angry refugee, or a major medical injury.
\n\nSometimes the pressure comes from the armed police that surround the camp. At every entrance a bus full of armed police waits. They stop all vehicles going on to the camp. Sometimes they\'re friendly, sometimes officious, always confrontational. When there are problems on the camp or the nearby Motorway they respond with CS gas canisters. They fire them at will over the whole camp. Dispersing refugees into shelters. The canisters overheat when they let the gas out, this causes fires in the camp. Often the police target refugee communal areas like restaurants and shops. They try to use the gas to burn them down. I will never forget walking through the camp, under a thick fog of CS gas, my throat raw, shielding my watering eyes from the gas with a scarf.
\n\nIn the end you start to live like the refugees on the camp: day-to-day, expecting the unexpected, desperate to get away to the \u2018real world\u2019 but somehow unable to move on.
\n\nYou find yourself under the same strain as the refugees. You get emotionally attached to their quest. You want them to succeed at making it across the Channel. But when they leave the camp to try you feel a gut-wrenching fear for them. You\u2019ve heard too many bad stories \u2013 about the armed police; about the fascist skinheads that patrol around the ferry ports; and refrigerated lorries. Whilst I was there I met two people I later found out fell under the wheels of a moving lorry, or became trapped in airless lorry containers; suffocating to death.
\n\nSometimes you hear someone you work alongside for months has made it across to the UK. You feel overwhelmingly happy for them. Then you feel sad and angry that you don\u2019t get to see them anymore. Then you feel guilty for being selfish.
\n\nIn the end there is either hope, or hopelessness; Chance or no Chance. Both suffocate you and the refugees. It clouds all your conversations and interactions.
\n\nMentally, the camp comes back with you into the volunteer spaces. Most volunteers are young people between the ages of 18 and 25. They are mostly students and temporary/seasonal workers. A lot of long-term volunteers work in the UK music festival community.
\n\nMental health for the volunteers is a concern. Everyone lives on a knife-edge. Most volunteers self-finance their time working in Calais. They live frugally, stretching their money out. This means they end up living on top of each other. The warehouse team has a caravan park attached to the building. Volunteers with no money can stay there. Living up to 6 people in a caravan, with limited access to hot water and personal space. Volunteers who live in this enclave have a different experience to those who stay in private accommodation or hostels.
\n\nEveryone experiences some form of trauma. Most experience exhaustion. Often trauma comes from being in scary situations that you aren\'t trained to deal with. Occasionally volunteer social workers, therapists and psychologists stop by the volunteer camps. They offer their services for free. As always, the people who need it the most are most likely to not take advantage of these services.
\n\nI met a few long term volunteers who had become caregivers 24/7. They would work long hours on the camp or managing the warehouse. In the evening they would sit listening to the emotional and personal problems of volunteers. They might operate on only 5-6 hours sleep per night and then do another 18hr day of work. Every day. Every week.
\n\nDays off from the work of the warehouse and camp are encouraged, and even scheduled. But they are ignored, rescheduled, or simply don\'t happen. People feel responsible for the people on the camp. They can\'t switch off.
\n\nThe management team at the warehouse made some great improvements even in the short time I was there. More training for long term volunteers on conflict resolution and dealing with difficult people. More training on how to self care and look after each other. The warehouse caravan park was designated an alcohol-free zone. Resident meeting were set back up. A weekly \'safe space\' for free and open personal discussion was created in the warehouse. Weekly film screenings were restarted.
\n\nOver all this positive improvement still hangs the uncertainty of the future. Volunteer numbers have decreased. Aid donations have slowed. Some organisations struggle to fundraise the money needed to provide services on the camp - for the first time since last year refugees on the camp report hunger and malnutrition.
\n\nIn the face of this adversity volunteers get up every day and go onto the camp to help. They meet people new and old, hear new stories, discover new problems and show a friendly face to those in need. Not because it\'s their job, but because they feel a duty to help.
\n\nA 16yr old Afghani boy i worked with every day for 2 weeks asked me a question one night: \u201cWhy is the world so faithless?\u201d
\n\nI didn\'t know how to respond at first. What did he mean? Was he asking about religion? I couldn\'t answer. So i thought for 10 minutes
\n\nFinally, i responded:
\n\n"I don\'t think it is. The world is full for people who are scared. This fear drives their actions. But there are always others who respond to fear with love. This love is faith." He gave me a look that said \'strange European man, you know nothing of the world!\'
\n\nYet i stand by my answer. Every day hundreds of volunteers from all over Europe travel onto the Calais camp to show this love. They come with gifts and open hearts. They leave exhausted, frustrated and heartbroken. And they come back the next day, and the next. That has to be something positive.
\n\nDo you have similar experiences working with refugees in other parts of Europe?
\n\nDo you have any useful experience that might help the volunteers at the camp?
\n\nDo you have any ideas for how the Calais refugee situation could be re-structured after the evictions?
\n\nAre there any other parts of my experience that you would like to learn more about?
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016
', u'post_id': 536, u'user_id': 2569, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-16 14:35:13', u'title': u'Care on the camp - A Calais story'}, {u'content': u'19-20-21 OCTOBER
\n\nBRUSSELS
\n\n\n\n\n\nThe #OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions (" opencare "). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.
\n\n# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail.
\n\nOur Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000\u20ac to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the #OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).
\n\n1.
\n\nRead what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work.
\n\n2.
\n\nArticulate a burning question to move everyone\'s work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme.
\n\n3.
\n\nReach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the #openvillage festival.
\n\nWe now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the #OpenVillage Festival.
\n\nHow to Apply:
\n\nWe believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives.
\n\nAiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - June 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 \u201cstudents\u201d to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use \u201cstudents\u201d in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status.
\n\nWhat you will get if selected:
\n\nProcess and timeline:
\n\nWho can participate?
\n\nAnyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good.
\n\nSelection Criteria
\n\nWe will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as "opencare") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners):
\n\nWhat happens if I am selected?
\n\nYou will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017.
\n\nHow to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
\n\nOnce you are done use #opencare and #scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work!
\n\nThere is no deadline for the applications, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances - we will consider them on the rolling basis!
\n\nFor more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 6242, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-10 19:12:45', u'title': u'Are you our next Community Fellow? Apply now! (call closed)'}, {u'content': u'19-20-21 OCTOBER
\n\nBRUSSELS
\n\n\n\n\n\nThe #OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions (" opencare "). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.
\n\n# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail.
\n\nOur Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000\u20ac to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the #OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).
\n\n1.
\n\nRead what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work.
\n\n2.
\n\nArticulate a burning question to move everyone\'s work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme.
\n\n3.
\n\nReach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the #openvillage festival.
\n\nWe now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the #OpenVillage Festival.
\n\nHow to Apply:
\n\nWe believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives.
\n\nAiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - May 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 \u201cstudents\u201d to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use \u201cstudents\u201d in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status.
\n\nWhat you will get if selected:
\n\nProcess and timeline:
\n\nWho can participate?
\n\nAnyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good.
\n\nSelection Criteria
\n\nWe will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as "opencare") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners):
\n\nWhat happens if I am selected?
\n\nYou will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017.
\n\nHow to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
\n\nOnce you are done use #opencare and #scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work!
\n\nThe deadline for applications is May 5th 2017, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances!
\n\nFor more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 569, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-11 08:20:36', u'title': u'Are you our next Community Fellow? New deadline 2017-05-31 (call closed)'}, {u'content': u'\n\nTwo stories about patterns of failure in EU policy-making that happen to affect our rights in an increasingly digital society. One illustrates the way the institutions fall short, the other how civil society sometimes is part of the problem as well. We also want to explore questions like:
\n\nTo not give away too much, a sneak into the contents of this session from the Chaos Communication Congress #32c3 is here.
\n\nSpeakers
\n\n
Kirsten Fiedler, managing director of European Digital Rights (EDRi) | @Kirst3nF
\n\nWalter van Holst, ICT laws practitioner by day, digital rights activist by night | @whvholst
\n\nHow you can register for this session
\n\nThis session takes place at 9:30 AM on Saturday, February 27th.
\n\nIf you don\'t already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here: http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ
Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come!
Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket! When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket.
See you at the workshop
Image credit: Photographer unknow, sourced from Greenville Post
\n\nDate: 2016-02-27 09:30:00 - 2016-02-27 10:45:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5258, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-03 13:35:45', u'title': u'The EU and its people: a failure in democracy'}, {u'content': u'Background to the story
\n\nTo those of us in the UK the Calais \u2018Jungle\u2019 has become synonymous with the migration and asylum crisis that has occurred in Europe over the past 2 years. It is frequently in our papers and on our televisions, yet beyond the UK and the direct environment of Calais the Calais camp has not received the kind of attention it deserves.
\n\n\u2018The Jungle\u2019, as it has become known, is a large camp on the edge of the Calais port area. It sits on top of a series of sand dunes, small lakes and wastelands on the very edge of the French coastline, right by the lorry parking area at the port. Before it was settled it was an industrial dumping ground, and previous checks of the ground have found traces of heavy metallic elements like Cobalt, as well as large amounts of old asbestos panelling that had broken down.
\n\nOn top of all this sits a huge camp for migrants and displaced people from around the world. At last count it stood at around 4900 people, most of whom are trying to claim asylum in the UK.
\n\nAt it\u2019s largest point shortly after Christmas the camp had over 6000 residents. Living in very harsh, cold conditions through the Northern Europe winter.
\n\nOriginally the camp was made up of tents and very temporary structures. But from around September last year a number of new charity organisations and volunteer structures made it their plans to help improve the quality of the camp [http://www.ahomeforwinter.org/].
\n\nThe camp is largely made up of young men, although there are small numbers of families, women and young children as well as around 350 unaccompanied children between the age of 12-16. A number of organisations sprang up that work with the women and children on site, provided youth clubs, teaching and English lessons. [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/camp-initiatives] [http://www.calaisjungleyouth.com/]
\n\nThe camp has grown up, physically and mentally, over the last 5 years, but has really become a focal point since around 2012. The camp has grown hugely during this time, as well as moving around from site to site.
\n\nAlongside the humanitarian and social aid there are library and reading services [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/jungle-books-library], theatre and arts activities [http://goodchance.org.uk/], community kitchens [https://www.facebook.com/OneSpiritAshramKitchen/][https://www.facebook.com/The-Belgian-Kitchen-1736739086546935/], hot food distribution, dry food goods distribution and daily clothing distributions provided from a central warehouse [http://www.laubergedesmigrants.fr/], amongst many others [http://time.com/4233206/calais-jungle-shops/].
\n\nYou can find out more about a numbers of the organisations that work on the site by visiting [http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/breaking-news] or by reading the No Borders document [https://welcometocalais.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/welcome-to-calais-booklet_eng_updatedoct15.pdf]
\n\nAlthough MSF, GWB and Unicef run services on the site, and have provided some care to the camps the site itself is not officially recognised by the French or UK governments, and as such has no requirements to meet basic human rights, or follow local building or health and safety guidelines.
\n\nAs a result, no single government or NGO organisation has responsibility for the activities and structures on camp. Everything that has grown up has happened through self-organisation, communication and collaboration between new and existing charities both French-based and in the UK.
\n\nIncreasingly we are seeing aid, and charities from further afield in Europe coming to Calais to help, creating a multi-national series of solutions that have grown up without any direct hierarchy or guidance.
\n\nIn March the French prefecture with the support of the CRS cleared the oldest, largest section of the camp in the south. The intention was to rehouse all of the residents in to a number of local official options; including the La Vie Active container camp [http://julesferry.vieactive.fr/]; the brand new official refugee camp in Dunkirk [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12186407/Frances-first-ever-internationally-recognised-refugee-camp-opens-near-Dunkirk.html] or into asylum/detention camps around France.
\n\nThe majority of residents in the camp chose to not take these options as they are not looking to seek asylum in France, but are trying to get to the UK to reconnect with families. This disconnect between what the French authorities want to achieve with the residents and what the residents themselves want to achieve goes a long way toward explaining the conflict and central problem at the camp.
\n\nAbout what i have been doing
\n\nFor the past 3 weeks I have been working as a volunteer through the central warehouse, L\u2019Auberge des migrants.
\n\nL\u2019Auberge acts as the central aid and food distribution services for the camps across Northern France, including Calais, Dunkirk and a number of smaller camps around the area.
\n\nL\u2019Auberge exists solely on donations, providing daily hot food deliveries, daily dry food deliveries to allow residents to cook for themselves, clothing drops, and since my arrival a mobile distribution service that goes from shelter to shelter, assessing individual and community needs and providing aid in the form of blankets, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, lights and a number of other personal items.
\n\nAll of these services are coordinated by long to medium term volunteers, who spend their own money and time to care for the people on camp without receiving any direct pay. Sometimes fundraised money is spent to provide accommodation and travel expenses to volunteers but a large majority of people live out here entirely on the own funds.
\n\nThe warehouse was initially set up by a French charity but is now run and \u2018staffed\u2019 by a UK charity HelpRefugees [http://www.helprefugees.org.uk/what-we-do/], who bring in funding and support from around the EU to help provide humanitarian services.
\n\nhttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/03/burying-refugees-die-calais-jungle-160329071028796.html
\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.....
\n\nhttps://twitter.com/search?q=%23CALAIS
', u'post_id': 39328, u'user_id': 2569, u'timestamp': u'2017-11-14 11:34:08', u'title': u"Welcome to 'The Jungle' - We've got fun and games"}, {u'content': u'As it is officially one week since my workshop today, I have to give you the low down on the microbio results (lower your expectations, sorry!)!
\n\n', u'post_id': 38825, u'user_id': 3704, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-27 14:46:48', u'title': u'Results of the DIY lab analysis of water contamination in Brussels'}, {u'content': u'Do I want to live a regular, somewhat boring life, or an interesting life? Can I put myself in a greater-than-life service, or do I learn to better care for myself before I care for the world? These questions have been lingering for years, and became more profound after I moved in with my co-workers into The Reef Brussels, edgeryders first home base.
\n\nI just spent a few good days near Nieklitz (Germany) in a gathering organized by Open State, the professional camp builders who built POC21 and Refugee Open Cities. The camp, funded by Advocate Europe, offered a rare occasion to 30 something activists to slow down and reflect on our work; with yoga, meditation, ecstatic dance intermissions (sic!), and no hard commitment to produce an artefact by the end. One could wander and ponder about whether pairing people with radically different political worldviews changes their civic behavior, but also chat about good apps for practicing mindfulness (I hear it\u2019s Headspace).
\n\nOf 40 people around the camp, about half of us were \u201cparticipants\u201d, while the other half were organisers and hosts, an extensive team affiliated to Open State and the place.
\n\nIt was the Place which really made my camp experience. With scarce Internet and mobile signal, vague appearances of machines, we found ourselves in a nature park with a history, at a two-hour train ride en route from Berlin to Hamburg. Wir Bauen Zukunft (translates We Build Future) aka \u201cthe Nieklitz crew\u201d is a collective that in the beginning of 2016 bought 18 hectares of land with a loan from a generous private person. This was previously a biology park, a multi million euro technical project of a local architect in the late 90s which failed to bring in enough visitors or people to fill spacious workshops. The ensemble had severely deprecated due to lack of maintenance and use. Since 2016, the Nieklitz crew rebuilt most of it, with a lot of attention for craft and design. It is quite an experience to walk between The Hive main hall and kitchen, the Scent House and House of Flowers, all equipped with a few dozen beds, toilets, indoor and outdoor shower(s); or to walk the green paths between large workshops and storage spaces, old trailers, camping and camp fire spots. See it for yourself:
\n\nIt is my understanding that the group works for Earth sustainability, with a mission of co-working in nature (the lack of working Internet was temporary). They partially use geotermal energy (underground pipes for heating); research water efficient biogas stoves (to work through methanization); plan an upcoming earthship; organise renovation and building camps on the land. All these build up a sustainable space, with awareness that \u201ceverything we produce we need to sell\u201d, as someone said to me. All would then call for how-to innovation workshops, for others to learn how to do it. They also host organisations/ events to make temporary use of the space, and encourage deeper exchange: permaculture meetings would teach everyone new practices, while experimenting on the Nieklitz land. Like most skilled communities I have seen, the boundaries between those who host and those who cross their path are purposefully blurred.
\n\nIt also reflects in the group\u2019s structure. Formally, it is a cooperative (in German the legal term is genossenschaft) where members buy-in an amount of 5K to co-own the property. There are 18-20 of them, with many active supporters - Open State itself has contributed large share of the camp funding to equip the space for future uses. About 10 people also live in the space, putting their time and skills into servicing it, but needing to make ends meet in the real world still.
\n\nI asked everyone I got the chance about their involvement and how the community develops. The points below are valuable takeaways for me and hopefully for edgeryders OpenVillage in-the-making:
\n\n1. Reaching out to fitting partners in a strategic way. Securing the resources to get started involved 3 questions: What\u2019s the topic? Who\u2019s around to partner up with? Where does the money come from? It could be that the OpenVillage solves 2) and 3) by being hosted temporarily in a community whose values are aligned, which has the space for us: could be an industrial park, an eco-village, a farmland and so on.
\n\n2. Time set aside for planning, group structuring and reflection. The core group had known each other for about 3 years prior and intersected in various projects. The cooperative model looks promising because in it, members share clear rights, but they also share the responsibility in a way that doesn\u2019t break the structure when someone drops out. Everyone participates in weekly meetings and they apply sociocracy 3.0 to all decision making. Reportedly, it is not easy, but the collective understands that it\u2019s a process and gets help when needed (professional coaches).
\n\n3. A healthy mix of working, living, and the space in between In the Nieklitz group, I found a surprising combination of brain meets the heart meets the hands. It is not a hackerspace with living quarters, nor is it a hippie commune. Or if it is any of them, it escaped me, as I was talking to such diverse people - designers, artists, cooks, planners and highly skilled builders. The space reflects that: as part of the package one can try three different kinds of showers \u2013 the inside shower, the outside shower, and the love shower
My own questions about making a life for oneself lingered. It seemed that the deep personal investment of people is not only in making a project happen. Someone I spoke to framed it as having a chance to live the lives we want, outside the oppression experienced in the city. Wir Bauen Zukunft and their extended loving arms like Open State are building future, in much needed radical, but gentle ways. Chapeau!
\n\nThank you so much Anja, Lale, Laurent, Kyra, Felix, Kari, Cristoph, Ele and everyone for the time we spent together. I look forward to meeting again!
', u'post_id': 36387, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-16 11:01:27', u'title': u'Wir Bauen Zukunft: learning from a community with 3 kinds of showers'}, {u'content': u'Hello, I am Ghada Abbes (22 years old), an entrepreneur from Tunisia. I am computer science engineering student and embedded system developer. I want to share with you some of my projects.
\n\nLife Guardian
\n\nLife Guardian, is a health self monitoring, extends the traditional practice of medicine in a new challenging approach using IT and the latest powered technologies to establish a smart and reliable medical network for exchanging valuable information about your health status.
The idea of "Life Guardian" has started since 2016 for the first time with MIT Entreprise Forum Pan Arab Competition (it was for me as unbelievable jump). It was selected Top 20 among 6000 applications from over the world in the idea Track, we was the youngest entreprenurs (19-20 years old). It was a honourable experience as beginning. Then, we made it to final two times in ArabNet ( ArabNet Beirut and ArabNet Riadh ) as Finalists but we couldn\'t afford the travel expenses. Then, the prestigious Conference "Gitex Technology Week" but unfortunately we didn\'t get the Visa. After that and with the same project, I was selected among Top 200 in the WeMENA program held by the World Bank as young female entrepreneur and founder.
Thankful for the amazing dynamic team and the progress that we have made during this period, we are selected now as finalist in Social Impact Award Tunisia 2017.
This startup could change the healthcare forever and save lives! I let you discover it from the video link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9X6dwPOsT4
Now, we are selected in the national competition Social Impacy Award if you like it please support us, help us get to final in the Social Impact Award International Summit in Belgrade, Serbia. Here the link of vote: http://socialimpactaward.tn/
School in Hospital
\n\nAlso, i am the founder of social initiative \xabSchool in Hospital\xbb The aim of this initiative is to establish a structure, bringing together volunteer teachers, whose aim is to enable young patients hospitalized for a long period to continue their education. This initiative launched on 23 of April 2016 in collaboration with the organisation International Institute of Debate "IIDebate".
\n\nVascapa Tunisia
\n\nFinally, i am planning with Hamdi Achour, an active member and the only ambassador of the international association VASCAPA (Vascular Anomaly Patient Association in Brussels, Belgium, to open a branch of VASCAPA in Tunisia. So, we can help patient with vascular anomaly from Africa and the Middle East.
\n\nI hope you that you find my projects of interest. I find this plateform a great opportunity for exchange, so, i am ready if you have questions or suggestions. Also, i want to share with you and encourage you to apply participate those competitions that i take part in because it changed my perspective on life.
', u'post_id': 35574, u'user_id': 3936, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-05 23:29:36', u'title': u'What about changing the healthcare system?'}, {u'content': u'I remember very well, two summers ago, when I first attended an Edgeryders workshop in Brussels. It brought together local people working on open care solutions. Nearing the end of the session, we discussed our reflections and it came to the issue of collaborating.
\n\nI brought up the question \u201cconnecting and collaborating takes substantial time, often too much for this type of projects. So should projects themselves make this risky investment, or is there an external initiative that takes the lead to invest time and resources in it?\u201d.
\n\nIt was clear to me then that it is a matter of investing upfront, before there\u2019s any tangible outcomes that propel each individual project forward. When the collaboration is rolling, when the incentives are clear, it should be pretty self-sustaining. So the question can be reframed as: who makes the upfront investment?
\n\nLast week, the OpenVillage Festival gave us an immersive and powerful experience. Exchanging with such a diverse group of people from all walks of life, thinking deeply, making concrete plans and having fun in a genuine setting. It was grand, quoting Anthony.
\n\nOn the day after the festival, some of us came together to assess how we could continue the work we\u2019ve been doing. I have been knee deep in trying to make my own projects work, being in survival mode the last months. I had lost track of the bigger picture that was in front of me.
\n\nWe have all contributed to the journey to OpenVillage that started months ago: the community members, the OpenCare project and the Fellows. But Edgeryders has contributed by far the most and saw the need to get people moving in the same direction. I can\u2019t imagine many would disagree with the value they have gotten out of it so far. Only now, while synthesizing notes several days later, it dawns on me. Everything that has been done, where Edgeryders took a leading role, has been the investment. Will we put to use what has been built?
\n\nDuring the first hours of the Festival, we sat down in groups of three to talk to each other. In their stories, both of my conversation partners posed the question if Edgeryders would be better at walking the talk. Better than who? The system? Our own projects? However it may be, there were clear expectations of the Festival, of Edgeryders.
\n\nOn the evening of day 2, I sat down again with one of my earlier conversation partners. I asked how his thinking had evolved since the start. He said that he realised the situation was more nuanced than that. \u201cI\u2019ve come to realise we are all Edgeryders, we should step up.\u201d
\n\nI think that is the essence of where we are at. My own projects have evolved, not in small part thanks to Edgeryders and the Fellowship. We have the capacity for others to benefit from what we have built, with concrete actions. We can give, help others to grow like we did and will step up.
\n\nAs OpenVillage unfolds, I\u2019m looking out how to contribute and hope to see you there!
', u'post_id': 38830, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-27 15:41:01', u'title': u'OpenVillage: sharing capacity'}, {u'content': u'As I have been encouraged to write a blog post (but when I went to a place where it said \'blog\' I got an error saying that tag is only allowed for certain people) I will start one here with some reflections on the great festival!
I am very glad Winnie invited me, something that maybe should go without saying, but I will start with that anyway! Thanks!!
From the complexities of water presentation by Alberto Rey, to the super fun Urban Games (yay, Hippos!), to the open insulin work and the workshops and masterclasses, it really was so interesting. Of course I am sorry I missed out on Bernard M\'s discussion and the details about data protection from the afternoon of the second day, but hope somehow (in these pages?) I will manage to catch up! It is incredibly cool that we finished with Matt M (who my daughters would also really love) and John C (so cool he is advising this group!) giving their take on things, and the final documentary, well I already talked about that elsewhere, but it was really great.
\n\nAs I got on the plane home, I realised that my current book, Heureux les heureux, by Yasmina Reza, is also very applicable to these topics of open care, open sourcing and open science even - and esp knowing each other... There are even vignettes with people waiting in the doctor\'s office, being brave and pathetic, all at once... The title is from Jorge Luis Borges, and I will quote: \'Felices los amados y los amantes y los que pueden prescindir del amor. Felices los felices.\'
\n\nMaybe we can all call ourselves happy just to have been together for those few days, but I am hoping that there will be more to come, even thought I know getting to Morocco to start off next year is certainly not going to happen for me! 
Still I look forward to hearing about it all!
And seeing at least some of you (for real, not just in facebook) in the not too distant future!
Now, if I could just find out what those instruments were, that were played during the party (well, at least for one song, outside of the sound check... 
!
Thanks again to everyone for their contributions and organisation!
', u'post_id': 38707, u'user_id': 3704, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-25 08:26:48', u'title': u'Reflections on the festival'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made by @alberto during the "Harvesting Session", at the end of the first day of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @matthias]
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 38811, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-27 13:04:36', u'title': u'Harvesting Session on OpenVillage Festival Day 1'}, {u'content': u'.
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We are nomads, troubles makers, philosophers, witches, technoshamans, from all over the world, but also activists, hackers, economist, entrepreneurs, ethnologists, Pirate radio hosts, artists, performers, biohackers, feminists, engineers, community builders, medical doctors, academics, urbanists and scientists/wizards of all colors and continent. A subtle mix of individuals >> for once NOT ONLY TALKING about the fake sharing economy and how do we make money in these transitional times or how silicon valley is such a great model for the world to copy, or how technologies and transhumanists are going to save the world.... it\'s important to notice that we are not in 2000 anymore because our world have become pretty dystopic now...we need other stories and incentives, I think Edgeryders is onto something and it took me some times to realise...seeing all these beautifull people was refreshing...I was not borred
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NO I think we realy tried to be MORE HUMANS...at least that\'s what I felt in this event... people conscious of their potential and influences wanting to connect their powers to create utopians projects, connecting knowledge and technologies, building islands of resistance...yes join the resistance, against bigotery, rascism, all sort of fascism (facebook?), neo liberalism, lets build more communities online, offline, dive with us and come play/party, your bizness plan is your community, from now on that\'s all that matter
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Quick photo overview of the last Open village festival in Brussels organised by us at edgeryders, with such diversity
with some Biohacking Safari (Paris) / Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (Boston) / Pechblenda (Barcelona) / Notre Dame des Landes (Nantes) / Youth Fly Fishing (nyc) / Open Insulin (Oakland CA) / The Well (Bay Area) / ReaGent (Gent) / Hackarium (Lausanne) / Cern (swiss) AND SO MUCH MORE from Cairo to Tunisia/Morocco or Cameroun/Haiti/Ghana...
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stay safe, Peace \xaf_(\u30c4)_/\xaf
.
The most pressing need now is to set up a patient cooperative for Open Insulin and how to prototype it.
And clear out the international collaboration that is now emerging in the open insulin research.
Early 2015 in Counter Culture Labs, biohacker collective in Oakland, developed consensus around the idea that we could make insulin in a lab like their. The idea is worth pursuing, the technology is there. First it was a technical motivation, afterwards it was clear that insulin was a social and economical issue.
\n\nMany people don\u2019t have access, it\u2019s bad in the US. Only a few companies have the oligopoly on production globally (US, France, Denmark based).
\n\nThere\u2019s also the fragility of the supply chains. Only major producers in the West, which means that supply is easily disrupted in less developed or accessible regions. We need to rely less on shipping insulin around and maintaining eg. a cold chain. This is a major barrier to getting insulin out where it needs to be. In short, we need to decentralise production.
\n\nScience and engineering:
Went through one proof of concept iteration in an E. coli bacteria (for troubleshooting methods). Took about a year. We made a precursor protein to insulin. Bacteria however is not able to convert the precursor into insulin, so since early 2017 we\u2019re looking at yeast, because that organism can do everything inside the organism. The protocol needs to be simple and easily reproduced.
6 months - 1 year we will have engineered the strain that does everything. Then we can move to using the strain and producing or scaling up. So the question is now: how do we structure the legal entities to govern the production.
\n\nTeams from Ghent (ReaGent) and Sydney (BioFoundry) joined the project. International collaboration is unfolding. We need to organise this better and set up some legal frameworks for sharing the IP that gets generated, keeping the goals of the project in mind, we want to have a commons framework. Allowing entities to use it, but making sure that they do so in keeping with commons principles.
\n\nThe organisation needs to ultimately be accountable to diabetes patients. It can\u2019t be a misalignment like we have now with the large producers that mainly have a large profit motor. They just keep diabetics dependent, charge high prices, and don\u2019t innovate much otherwise. Prices went up by 1000%, even though production got cheaper.
\n\nMany semi-independent manufacturing efforts that are localised, but sharing knowledge.
A [diabetes] patient coop would be able to decide how much effort to put into prevention or researching cure vs manufacturing.
The FDA is the biggest player in making this a reality. Big part of this is making a rigorous case and showing the costs of illness and the benefits of our alternative. Depending on how their own incentives work, they might not care.
\n\nWe have 2 goals, proposal is to split in two groups:
\n\nA cooperative as a platform where patients would be the main stakeholders.
The patent is not to stop other people from doing it, but to protect the
Characteristics of the agreement:
\n\nRate of profit determined by patients
Where it is invested is determined by patients.
Example of medical cannabis cooperatives. Maybe we can use it as a template for our organisation. Tailor this to the local jurisdiction.
\n\nWe need some kind of global scale organisation that holds the IP in custody. Perhaps a Swiss foundation. A public benefit corporation.
\n\nForging alliances with city governments. Show that production at city scale is feasible and show that economic implications they have can be addressed. Eg. problem of people going to emergency rooms, which is a cost for the city, so open source insulin would make the hospital work better.
Lucas Gonzales. Epidemiologist. His job is to prepare for flu pandemics in the canary islands. As part of preparing the plan, he found out there\u2019s 8000\u2019s diabetics in the CI and there is no capacity on the island (comes from Germany). So in case of pandemic, they are screwed. This could be an angle.
Synthetic pancreas people. Firewall of FDA and then they appealed to free speech. They don\u2019t sell, yet share the schematics.
\n\nMake it look less like a market transaction, and more like a club: participating in the testing.
\n\nAnalogy to Open Source Ecology. Centralized body of knowledge, localized operation to build machines by doing workshops etc.
\n\n\n\nReview the agreement of Chris.
\n\nHave an inside trusted partner when you pitch this, so that\u2019s it\u2019s not 50 50 in they liked it not. Clear action plan with timelines. Open to input. Jump in early for a premium. Weigh the pro\u2019s and con\u2019s of premium. Winnie can talk about it with the head of strategy for the City of Ghent.
\n\nIn Oakland: never got to the head, always mid or low level managers. You need to get people in power to not necessarily endorse it, but mainly not stop it. An endorsement would really help though. A paragraph and collect signatures of \u2018innovation, super cool project\u2019.
\n\nAs i mentioned to everyone in the session.
\n\ncache of volunteer guides zines and resources.
\n\nEMA zine one is our one.
\n\nEMA mixtape is a podcast selection that could be useful for new people getting involved.
@alex_levene
@powermakesussick @ramykim
[Editor note: The following notes were made during the "Woodbine and ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nWe are a collective in NYC, \u201cagainst the end of the world\u201d = against the nihilism across the country, the end of American empire, the end of a world
A revolution is a line that we draw in the present not the future.
50% of individual bankruptcies are due to a medical bill. More than 50% of Americans can\'t cover the bill for an ER
(Podcast skillshare
Land upstate)
Namid, Liliana, Sara, Claire
\n\nLand occupation set up to fight an airport project, in a struggle for 15 yrs. The occupation movement exists only for 8 yrs, created through a call out. 10 square km, as big as the biggest villages in France. 200-300 people who made the choice to live there. Several thousands involved. Organizing without state infrastructures. How to avoid relations of domination, hierarchy, specialization. Collective autonomy. Diversity of thoughts, but fascists not welcome.
\n\nThey built a lot of infrastructure: spaces for tractor mechanics, woodwork, preservation spaces. Weekly newspaper, radio, website zad.nadir.org, welcome houses, internal telecom network. No police, no justice. Conflict mediation group. Autonomous health care. Some people don\'t have health insurance, no legal papers, or access to cars or phone to do paperwork in the city. Fugitives, people traumatized by the medic system.
\n\nLa transfuse cabin for first aid, Trailer Medic for free/cheap medical assistance, Varies Rouge medical house a collective living there similar to a hospital, Medicinal Cabin for storing and drying medicinal plants.
\n\nSees 10 25 people a week, medical problems or who want a tattoo for their dog. At least 1 person available that can do care - a mix of self aid and accompanying medical surgeries - opened wounds, dog attacks, police.
All materials are donated, i.e. by hospitals, medicine are free prices, tinctures are one tenth of retails, support group of professional. We\'re not trying to do everything or be the heroes, but there\'s a lot we can do.
We help people without papers to get into medical institutions, and take responsibility for it.
\n\nCARE for people caught in armed conflicts I.e. with the police in demonstrations - rubber bullet injuries, grenades. Fight the part of the state that is intentionally hurting its people.
\n\nShort, for life vital help and first aid. 9 day for people in the zed, in a certain region so afterwards they can work together in their city, for example in demonstrations.
A network of people who\'ve been through these trainings (80) so they can call out to the other groups. Easier to organize together because they have the same protocols.
We grow our own medicine in the medicinal garden and harvest them. Use them in consultations for chronic problems.
Regular Drop in clinics for exchanges, training and giving care at the same time.
No filter, anyone can come when they want. We\'re now at the step of collecting information and finding professionals support.
\n\nWhy do we do this? To take control of what happens with our lives, put ourselves on a learning path. The person who has the power to decide is not the same as the person who has the knowledge about their body.
\n\nWe are not experts. In emergency situations, it\'s important to be 2.
To build a base of knowledge to be collectively autonomous. Yes we live 20mins away from the hospital, but do they come in 20mins? No.
[Editor note: The following notes were made during the "The Edge of Funding - Sustainability and Financial Models", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n
With Paola, @Noemi and @Heba
Takeaway: ideally you find an angle which helps make some aspect of your work attractive to a funder. This validates the project and you, Once you got in the first time then its easier in the next times.
Paola: my theory is that collaboration is super expensive. Is should be paid because it is a lot of investment. We can convince foundations or orgs to pay people to collaborate.
\n\nHeba: When people have no idea how to make a product, how do you do it?
\n\nP: What inspired me is community organising. It happens for the sake of community. Same with collaboration.
\n\nThe reason we do it is because we want to, not necessarily for an outcome.
You bring your own perspective: you ask questions, how tech and openness and care interact. First try to diagnose what collaboration is possible, we are creating a framework with which we can operate.
Q: What happens when an organisation like ACLU gets empowered through technology? (Data for Justice project). That was a question that starts it, You have the organisation and the community, so you promise to create a framework, That makes the funders to understand that they are creating a tool.
\n\nIts also a guide for how to design a project.
\n\nHeba: still starting her project, doesnt know how to write a proposal. Working in a hard context in Egypt where its hard for civil society to work. Shes working on her project and not getting paid, but she has a support community which she can rely.
Now collaborating with Hazem to write a concept not for the project to create a cycling infrastructure in Alexandria.
She wants to gather activists, see what they can do and put it out there to the community, then assess.
\n\nP: There are urban fellowships to create this. IE Women cyclists scene - your output would be normalizing the attitudes.
Friend who was a bicycle strategist in Mexico. The fundable project could also be: looking at how other cities did it.
Noemi: can you hop from project to project, while you are already giving most of your time to a core organisation, similar to a full time job?
\n\nQ: What do you think of the civic tech. Civic hacking scene?
Paola: worked with or for the Mexico Innovation lab, or Code for America. They try to substitute the government, but the gov doesnt work. So its practical, but its not long term. The gov gets away with problems they dont have to solve, because the hackers do it and do it for free.
[Editor note: The following notes were made by @lucian during the "Policy redesigned", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArticle 77
\n\nProblem with Au Quai (where we are at present):
Francesco (from Milan) could have been invited, but it was not accessible
\u201cThink about the new consumers if it is accessible\u201d
Reputation effects.
Milan council: different districts have different reputations.
Recruiting: went through associations
Accessibility not just an issue for the disabled, also e.g. parents with strollers
Q: Was there resistance in the different departments?
\n\nThe policy was clearly top-down, designed without consulting audience. New buildings respond to universal accessibility. Defensive attitude in drafting the appilication of the policy. Convened meetings bring sides together to discuss language etc.
\n\nChallenge about competences: if engineers wrote policies, they are not skilled in service design. Team is trying to foster and hybridise competences.
Departments are silos.
Isola district is limited part of the city, good compliance
Intention within the project does not include scaling up for city policy
Law applies only to shops on the ground floor.
They try to be transparent in the design process.
Needed to simplify and focus collaboration with the user.
Community research, theory of commons \u2026 Barriers between people. How can the rampette be considered a public good, as street lighting is already? Prototyping the policy is the challenge. Related to participatory action research?
\n\n\n\nTried a participatory approach for e.g. sharing economy. Started from draft document on Google Drive. Invited people to modify and comment the document. Final document was approved by the city council. Less nice: participation of 250 people in a city of over a million inhabitants. It was made as easy as possible, but many challenges.
Very relevant for the Edgeryder community.
Also important to pre-design the participation process. Should be developed through the process itself. No one method of participation that works in every situation.
\n\nRedesigning playgrounds of schools \u2026 difficult to communicate \u2026 e.g. sharing photos was too boring. They just went out to play, and tried things out. Threw out preconceived ideas and just watched them playing.
\n\nReferenda cost millions of Euro.
', u'post_id': 38785, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:18:23', u'title': u'Policy redesigned'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made by @cindy during the "Infrastructures of autonomy and dynamic equilibrium of collaboration", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nWorked with communities In Cabo San Lucas fishing village of 300 people in Baja California, Mexico - it had a 20% growth rate by cca 2010. People were running day to day services - medical, legal etc. Cindy was working to integrate those networks in the masterplan of the town.
\n\nLater she worked in the Ontario Public Service research group - enable students to gain credit in their course but applied at the community level i.e. work with an organisation or group. Cindy\u2019s group built their capacity - to being understanding, to have facilitation workshops, grow empathy etc, complementing i.e. engineering skills.
\n\nNow based in London, runs Citizens Without Borders, using improvisation methods to build enthusiasm and playfulness in taking initiative.
[Editor note: The following notes were made by @harrison during the "Everyone should be able to adopt (lifesaving) health innovation", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nBy Bernard Dugas + Fabio Balli
\n\nSome data about Respiratory Health:
Daily we breath the quantity of air of a Hot air balloon, 1/5 persons is affected with respiratory diseases Asthma is the most common for children and COPD is more with the adults.
One death over 6 is due to COPD, is one of the biggest disease in the UK
We propose a different approach to see death, disease and wellness.
If you see them connected in a line (see the image in the presentation), we right now just treat the disease instead we can invest in awareness education and growth, promotion and prevention.
There is also an opportunity on health innovation for example:
There are 165000 health apps available, the digital health industry is increasing
and also we can produce more and more tools and devices.
Breathing Games to treat Respiratory disorder.
We started with a video game Hackathon at Concordia
And we did that various time, we started calling them Health Game Jams, usually we have 20/30 people together splitted in team.
It was interesting to mix: Research team + Hardware team + Visual sound and programming + Game designer
Our goal was to treat disease but also to make people learn about respiratory diseases.
\n\nIf we look at our story a key moment was when we decided to share and put all the contribute online.
This summer we did a residency in Milan (\u2105 We Make) and we develope our device, our \u201ccontroller\u201d for the games.
Right now we have a library of game prototype, which is open and free for everyone.
\n\nA thing that we discover with the residency was that in order to have a device that works well you have to test it regularly (in medical environment it\u2019s a daily routine), so we decided to develop also the pump that could calibrate the device.
We add to the first device also other measurement (the first one was detecting just the pressure) but now we can detect different data (and on doing enrich the game experience): the flow, the pressure, the volume of the breath and if the flow in in or out.
The idea was to have a modular thing so we can test different sensors, all the 3d model are available and you can print it, and we builded a 3 liter pump calibration.
\n\nThere were key element that the develop:
\n\nFree software, that can be adapted and studied and shared. We used GitLab, Rocket.Chat to work online and discuss, Zotero for the research and Godot which is a videoGame engine, very similar to Unity.
Copyfair licensing
We used AGPL3 protects the software that is in services, we use hardware from the University of Geneva and CC and P2P production License, the advantage is that it doesn\u2019t enable companies to take your product (not really proved in tribunals).
Accessible documentation
Chats for hosting, Wikimedia for databases, inclusion and Open Journal.
Research.
We tried to do participatory research, having a discussion with people and moving towards, it\u2019s a cycle instead of a line. Personal commitment is the key. And another difference is that when you do medical research you don\u2019t have an ethical commitment, in this case you want to share your results.
Contribution System
Economic part, we are thinking about creating tokens so you can make decision in the collective, and also the use of data that you collect with our games could be valuable.
The data are very valuable, that can inform the policy maker, we want to produce a collective common.
\n\nProblems that you see for your future?
One problem is how to involve more people, and ask them free time, and also we have some struggle with financing our self, right now we accessed research funding but the growing of the project is slow and steady.
Different suggestion arrives from the participant:
A mixed revenue system, imagine solution and games that could be available in the market, like designing a kit that could detect your breath and give you back data about you (also if you don\u2019t have illness), there is a very active movement that is into breathing right now, also yoga and mindfulness.
Use the jams as a way to improve with big steps your development process (useful also for OpenVillage)
Design and commercialize pre-assembled kit available for people that suffer from respiratory disease
[Editor note: The following notes were made during the "Ethics and Data Protection in Open Source, Community Based Projects", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nIn 2018 a new law is going to enter in function in eu , regulate data
\n\nThe issue is the 1st time focuses Europe accountability and responsibility.
Tiy would be clear to justify why this data is needed for your service.
A person that will be independent from the board, and with his/her team is responsible for your data.
\n\nSmall organisations will have it harder to comply with the law, because it does not make sense for them to have an independent manager of privacy.
\n\nEg. now that the WAP2 protocol has been exposed as vulnerable, as a small business, you would need to get a new router right away, not wait for an update from the seller. Otherwise, by a literal interpretation of the law, you would be liable if data is leaked through a hack. But this does not make sense, there will need to be precedents in court, that interpret the law considering the scale of the organisation and the scale of the vulnerability or breach.
\n\nThe law applies to everyone that is active in the European region, even those based outside of it. The US does not have a data protection responsible.
\n\nIt\u2019s hard for the government to do open date, because it is always possible to make links by cross referencing with other data sets. Basically, they would need to anonymize it to the extent that it is not usable.
\n\nThe telecom companies think about the data they collect as \u2018their data\u2019. According to the law, however, it is your data.
\n\nTelecom companies for example thinks about the traffic data as its own data on how they work, although by law they are personal data.
\n\nHow to enforce?
\n\nAbout privacy, it seems like a fragile system, if only one goes down, then you are also at risk. Everyone needs to be watertight for it to be work.
This could be done by the new law you must identify why you are collecting your data.
Is there a way to broker in a market way the data?
Exchange consent to use your data in return for a payment (phone, $5, ...).
In practical ( alberto), not having emails in spreadsheets for example, unless you tell people and enable a methodology for them to delete, as this is going to be pricy, [ encrypt or if you don\u2019t do it if you don\u2019t need it ]
\n\nHow to check where data is going?
As a small person blogger, where do you go for help in safing up your data handling ?
1st, question, the companies should appoint someone to do so according to the new law.
\n\nAs a blogger, then this should be done by the company that runs the blogs, ( wordpress or so ) unless you are self hosted, then you have to do it yourself. You would have to monitor your infrastructure and this is not easy, but I presume if taken to court, a judge would rule you have no responsibility, but if you are running a platform with 200 contributor
May be it is about what data you are collecting
You are responsible equally on personal data, whatever it is.
Then if you have no obligation in collecting actual names and emails then you have no sensitive data.
If a company is taken to court for not giving someone his data?, can they go for many people ?
Depends on the percentage, if the whole europe brought Fb to court , that\'s something but if one person, then its one person.
Recenlty there was an experiment in us uni, over 90% of students express extreme importance of data security ...and outside 100% gave all there data to get a free pizza at a stand just outside.
\n\nOn the IOT, barcelona ?
\n\nThe problem of IOT , like environmental sensors that are inside homes,
[..................]
Rise of citizen science projects and DIY data connection
If they work with Europeans according to law they should abeid by the new law, if applicable.
Citizen science has an advantage, as they are communities not companies. As you will find lots of experts in between communities.
\n\n[...........]
Even if the community has their own rules and ethics, but once they publish something then they become visible and must justify the process.
In data ethics , 1st
The commitment of doing no harm.
This can not be trusted
But if they are enforced ?
\n\nThe issue of they are committed and must do this.
When you are running an activity making sure to be transparent that you commit to protect the data from risks that can be now or in the future, in a transparent process.
So GDRP is extremely paralyzing in one way, but there is a rational behind it, and transparency and being open is a part from a plausible plan.
\n\nFROM now till May, what is being done?
We are now already in a grey zone, the text was published last year.
Currently, lawyers are making some consultancies.
Brussels for example data and groups come together every 2 weeks to discuss , including data experts, lawyers and so, and possibly in every other place.
What about the open source software and platform, like discourse, but what happens in these situation?
\n\nOpen Source in principle says it comes as it is, unfortunately it becomes the problem of who\u2019s running it. Otherwise you will have to do it yourself.
\n\nHow did this law came about to be ? ( John Coate as this didn\u2019t pull up in the US )
\n\nValue chain map as a better alternative for SWOT.
', u'post_id': 38782, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:14:06', u'title': u'Ethics and Data Protection in Open Source, Community Based Projects'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made during the OpenVillage Festival. Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n14.00 - 15.30: Friday 20th October 2017 @ OpenVillage Festival, Brussels
\n\nSession began with 12 people approx in the room horizontally resting. Healthy situation already existing in the context of busy, intense couple of days. Participants invited to do gentle breathing exercise before sitting upright.
\n\nGetting to know each other a little better through movement, throwing a ball around, and questions to aimed at revealing commonalities and skillsts.
\n\nSlideshow of Bernard\u2019s experience of creating healthy situations in Galway, Ireland; food garden on the grounds of a primary school, engagement with policy makers, cultural events with multiple groups participating, trialing and developing a Galway \u201cMonastery\u201d.
\n\n\u201cWhat makes a space healthy?\u201d
\n\nIsn\u2019t that obvious? Nature, greenery, sustainable ecological practices, etc.?
Not necessarily. How we interact with each other is more significant. Laugher is important. If there is no laughter or potential for laughter then it is not a healthy space.
Space for an individual to be alone. Somewhere quiet away from noise.
There are so many things, is the question too broad?
Add a word, \u201cwhat makes a space healthy for everyone?\u201d / \u201cwhat makes a space healthy for an individual?\u201d Wheelchair accessibility. Fair economy, the situation in Egypt. Space to be creative.
Key cards \u201churdles\u201d from the methodology kit: Distractions, roles, workplace.
Suggested additional card that was not found in the pack: Self-care.
Session ends with a short guided, seated meditative breathing exercise, aimed at acknowledging and dealing distraction. The room was bright, spacious, comfortable with good acoustics. Mild to moderate external noises.
', u'post_id': 38781, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:13:15', u'title': u'Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made by @albertorey during the "Complexities of Water", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWas working with fishermen, and they want clean water but they do affect the water?
\n\nJust a comment as the people don\u2019t know how was the river being clean, we are also for example don\u2019t know how was it before money .
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 38780, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:12:13', u'title': u'Complexities of Water'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made by @johncoate during the OpenVillage Festival. Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nFocus is on openvillage, edgeryders and reef
\n\nThe whole premise of openvillage is that the entire network benefits from every single one in it.
\n\nBenefits:
Exchanging ideas that lead to action, helping each other professionally, taking care of each other.
There is no single path in doing this.
Who am I , john describing his journey in the us and how the Tennessee community started from a bus ride across the US in the 70s during the Vietnam war, then deciding to continue living as a community after that, bought some cheap land in there, and started building it.
\n\nJust a comment on why he is called Tex in email 
found a cowboy hat in an old car, he was a car mechanic, and people started calling him Tex
Went to the south Bronx in NYC , squatted a building in the poorest neighborhood there, because of their experience, they decided to take care of each other and provide our own health care.
\n\nOne got the idea of going and making an ambulance for the people around. As there were no doctors and poor health care around. This worked for 6 years, he was supporting and setting up this not the medical person.
They had to deliver their own babies. Regenerate the midwifery movement.
Then to Washington DC, collaborated with some doctors to initiate the first bilingual clinic there.
\n\nThen Back to California, fixing cars, then went to work at the WELL, and the whole earth catalogue. Supposed to work on customer support and marketing in time I became to
\n\nJohn became what is now known as an online community manager. He basically invented the field. He had an intense living-working experience.
\n\nIn 1994 John co-founded the first online news website, SFGate. Combine news articles with community dialog. Help journalism be better, help the community be smart. A hybrid of opinions with fact checked professionally written material.
\n\nWhat makes the Open Village and The Reef different?
\n\nDoing online community, living space and working space together is rare. This is authentic pioneering work. This hybrid of virtual and physical community. Not having them be separate entities, but blend seamlessly into each other. Each depend on each other. They need to be connected.
\n\nOpen Village is a network of houses with an autonomous network affiliation. The Reef is one of those spaces. The communities need to be shaped by the active participants, yet there are some general things in common.
\n\nJohn offers a toolkit to improve our likelihood of success and how to not screw it up.
\n\nIt\u2019s all about relationships. John wanted to make the online experience as meaningful as possible, foster deep relationships, in the online community. Working honestly and compassionately in the open with each other. It had not been proven, but John had a conviction it would work.
\n\nA culture of sharing and respect. It must express online and offline in word, deed, ??.
It has to be clearly evident to everyone who shows up, lives, works, stays. It\u2019s a commitment and has to be corrected if there are deviations.
You have to want the togetherness. You need to be committed. Or the ups and downs will get to you.
Share
Don\u2019t let things escalate. Keep it up. Share is a verb, an action, do it, initiate it, don\u2019t wait for someone to do it. It is bad to let things lead to an eruption of conflict.
Be Open and Honest
Talk about what limits you want to set. Don\u2019t get mad if someone asks what\u2019s going on. \u201cOh, nothing\u201d is not an answer.
Provide Service
Your attention and effort goes beyond your own job, projects and personal interests. If you see something that needs to be done, you pay attention to it and take the initiative to lead it.
Don\u2019t be a Complainer, Grouch, Jerk (or worse)
Everyone has their moods. Do they drive you, or do you drive them? Don\u2019t let them drive you.
Make Time for Fun
If it\u2019s no fun, no group will be working for the long haul.
The magic of affirmation. Encourage someone. Finding something you like in another person and lift him up by telling them. Not like a \u2018like\u2019 on Facebook. Show that you\u2019re paying close attention to a person. You can help grow more of that in the other person by expressing it, bringing it out. Never fake it, if you don\u2019t see it, don\u2019t say it. Be honest. Keep it real, don\u2019t overstate it. \u201cI see your better self in yourself, but what you just said or did does not really express it very well\u201d. It\u2019s not about stoking up ego or building self esteem. Not \u201cyou are great\u201d but \u201cwhat you just did or said is great\u201d.
\n\nLiving Arrangements, maintenance, sustainability. You have to make some decisions about how you maintain things and manage yourselves. Take time to have a conversation about it. Find skills, strengths, go into it with an open mind. It might take some time to do it what works well for everyone, but not doing it will lead to problems down the line. You want to put out a clear sense of being positive people that are an asset to the nearby community.
Decent power, good food, good sanitation. A lot of landlords of pretty lax. Someone needs how to not get shocked or overflow the plumbing. Sanitation can kill your community. One richer community failed due to overflowing toilets.
Grow strong human connections and commit to those.
About the money. No money = no projects, no food, \u2026 Grants do not pay for operations. Sometimes projects net a profit, sometimes not. You need to come up with ways to provide for yourself and this will test the community. Who\u2019s owed, what is owed? What\u2019s on him? You can\u2019t mess this up, or it\u2019s a big hole in your boat. What\u2019s your own money, what\u2019s the group money?
You and the group need to decide how the rent will be paid. Are you willing to pool your money and then decide to spend it? John lived without any own money for 12 years.
The projects that make the money. Is everyone in the kitchen the chef? How much ownership do you have over projects? Is there commercial potential? Do you know how to read a contract?
How would you feel like it\u2019s your job to make money for the group, rather than working on your own ideas and projects? Or is the well-being of the whole group more important for you? Are you willing to set aside your own project for a time? Are you able to set yourself aside for a while, working for the whole? Over the long haul, roles can change and reverse at times. John worked a long time \u2018sacrificing for the whole\u2019, working as a mechanic, maintaining appliances. But then he raised seed money for the clinic. You just never know what\u2019s going to happen. You need to pay attention, be committed, and it may just fall on you to be the catalyst that turns the key.
Can you think of ways to combine projects? Be more than the sum of the whole.
Leave your ego at the door.
Who decides what? Will you decide through one person? Consensus? Decide on yourself. Be thorough and not attached to just your own personal desires. Who is good at what? What about chores? Everybody should be involved in basic household work and (the usually more fun) project work. If you see something that needs to be fixed, don\u2019t just walk away: step up.
The project leader is not necessarily the leader in the living arrangements (important for working-living situations). Perhaps individuals with natural leadership, but it is not a given that this authority carried over to the home situation. It\u2019s about claiming or granting an authority role.
Stay healthy. People living together share a lot of germs. Pay attention to basic hygiene. What if everyone gets the flu?
John has a hepatitis B story. Someone came and cooked, infected everyone. Bad stuff, could barely function.
Privacy and personal space. At what point does your personal space spill over to the common? Where do you draw the lines? John lived in a complete transparency, mental nudist community. It served him well as an experience in every community situation afterwards.
\n\nDon\u2019t escape into your Phone. Don\u2019t obsess to remove yourself from the group. Or you\u2019ll miss it. Alienation can begin in the tiniest things.
\n\nVisitors*. You want to convey a business like feeling. There needs to be a reason for someone to hang out longer.
\n\nLiving and Working. The online space. Have physical meetings. Have parties. The people who are not face to face, but are online, still benefit from the bonding that the people who do meet physically have done. Magical! And vice verse. The whole network gets stronger from different relationship building. The online is a good diary, everything is searchable, but the diary needs to be available by serious documentation and linking and structuring.
\n\nManaging online community. Someone will be main point person, but everyone needs to know how to do this stuff well. There needs to be consistency. Even when there is debate online. Finding commonalities by discussing differences. You want your online self to be close as possible to who you are in person. Not knocking roleplaying; but this is how Edgeryders does it. You can\u2019t be too casual on how you accomplish that. You want your work to be as if your speaking naturally, but you are crafting your words so that it seems like you\u2019re spontaneously communicating. You need to compensate for the loss of that you can\u2019t communicate through words. That takes effort. Make your communication \u2018hyperreal\u2019. Project yourself deliberately. Being real is important, and consciously set out to achieve this to get to a place of deeper connection.
\n\nModel the behavior you want to see in others. Zen master: the main point is to keep trying. That\u2019s why they call it practice. The online environment is restricted to words, pictures, videos, but there is an emotional subcarrier that goes out together. And they will be received and felt by the people at the other end. Hippies called it the \u2018vibes\u2019.
\n\nBe Someone everybody trusts. Vouch for people and they will vouch for you. Ultimately trust is the basis for everything functioning. Otherwise everything falls on the ground. Many people who are smart and socially capable, had however not experienced the community feeling, the bigger picture. Yet it is the essential part of coming together. John was the trusted person that initially brought everything together. This was a crucial way that this group of talented people became something they themselves called a community.
\n\nLeader
Give all a place to talk, meet and collaborate. Yet Edgeryders is not a democracy. Someone is responsible at the end. You have responsibilities as leader
Participant
You participate, even as you maintain your leader status. You need to participate well, then you will also lead the group to deeper understanding.
Mediator
Arguments happen. Usually it resolves without intervention. But when you do intervene, do it without expression of your own opinion.
Helpdesk
There will be people who don\u2019t know how to do something. Help them, or they will go away.
Librarian
You need to know where things are, link to related material. Help people find out things.
Analyst
How many people do you have? How do they participate? How long are they here? Weave them into the story you tell to people who support or fund you.
The Devil is in the details. You can\u2019t really multitask in real time. Your brain just does really fast switching, not really multitasking. When you wear multiple hats, you\u2019re going to have to be really good at switching. Full attention here, then quickly somewhere else.
People involved in \u2018visionary\u2019 work, often don\u2019t like admin. Yet it needs to be done well, it can endanger projects. It is pivotal. There can\u2019t be mistakes or the consequences will be big. If you\u2019re good at it, you should step up. Pay attention to the details. Being good at the admin details will net you respect from people who are more business or financially minded.
Authority versus authoritarian. Authority is recognized by others and reinforced. Authoritarian is processes and rules that enforce without optimizing for what actually is important for the community. Make sure that, when you grab the wheel, you know what you\u2019ll be doing. Don\u2019t act like you\u2019re right all the time, just because you\u2019re the \u201cmanager\u201d. Admitting your mistakes and striving not to repeat them, actually builds more trust you\u2019ll need to do your work.
\n\nIRL (In Real Life). In fact it\u2019s all real life. You want to be as close to your real self as you can get. You can to project onto others what you think is the best of yourself. Show that you\u2019re being honest and your intentions are good, that you\u2019re part of something bigger.
\n\nRegarding negativity. Conflict and negativity are inevitable. Yet it does not need to dominate any group. It is not healthy to suppress unexamined feelings or thoughts if they are unpleasant or inconvenient. Get objective enough about the negative to prevent it from spreading, and to fix it. Not about being fake happy, but separating what you want to say from the emotion you are experiencing that is driving you to say it. Don\u2019t make it worse by projecting the full load of negative feelings you may have: mindfulness. Don\u2019t let it go too far. Everyone knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of a rant. Everyone experiences a bad mood. How do you straighten it out? First: separate informational content from the emotion of it.
\n\nConflict. Easy to get in, hard to get out. It applies everywhere, online and offline. It seems like people are calibrated to misunderstand each other. We need to figure out how to rise above it. Good news: conflict can strengthen bonds (as well as weakening it). Your bond is stronger if you know that can resolve it, because you have in the past. It is important to carry this with you. You will always know that you have done this. Do not seek conflict, yet do not avoid it if you have to go there.
\n\nWhen do you talk about it? What is your business, what is someone else\u2019s business and not yours? Sometimes it does work without addressing it. Relationships often have a \u201choneymoon\u201d phase. Where everything is \u201cawesome\u201d. The longer you know someone, the more things you find you don\u2019t actually like that much. You want to avoid a buildup of irritation that becomes to hard to sort out, because you have lost the trail where it got sorted. Can you let it go, or do you need to talk about it? Some people are just not aware that what they do bothers other people, and they don\u2019t mind being told. But you don\u2019t want to be the behavior police, straightening people out. As a default, it\u2019s better to say things than not say them.
\n\nAm I the problem, or are you the problem? Ask yourself before you blurt out. Problems in a relationship are never 100% one or the other.
\n\nReceiving feedback can be hard. Sometimes giving it is even harder. Getting defensive, it\u2019s difficult to have empathy. It\u2019s hard to give this feedback in an open and trusted way You can\u2019t erupt. You need to work on it together? Have compassion for the person who is trying to give that feedback. If both people understand that equation, it will go better.
\n\nOversupply understanding. This is central. The art of listening. Cut people some slack. Try to understand where they\u2019re coming from. If they\u2019re having a hard time expressing things. Be diplomatic: the essence of being a diplomat means that if you\u2019re at a table with 9 other people, you\u2019ll talk 10% of the time and the rest you listen.
', u'post_id': 38779, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:11:04', u'title': u'Building OpenVillage masterclass building healthy and productive online-offline communities'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made during the "Building OpenVillage", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nHazem, Anique, Baderdean, Thomas Mboa, Alex levene
\n\n[Editor note: The following notes were made during the "An Ethnography of OpenCare: Live Demo of New Software and Research Results", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\nHow can the tool be used by Policy makers to drive change in your community.
Looking at the graph will show the links between problems and potential solution. Shows answers without having to read all of the posts/comments. An application of the data. Can be used by clients (outsiders to the community) to see without the deep information.
Because we can do this it means we can generate resources to run projects like OpenVillage/OpenCare. We will be presenting this idea and this tool to the World Bank as part of the OpenVillage MENA project.
Have you explored how to translate the online data into offline conversations. Do we explore the way between the two?
\n\nTalk - action.
Talk is not a form of action. Community building is part of the sharing and consultation. Meet space structures are highly structured spaces, led by the conveners sense of what they want to get out. With this we aren\u2019t bounded by preconceived answers. The connections and response grow naturally out of the threads.
Peer to peer is very important. Skill sharing has happened cross vast geographical spaces.
Key themes that have emerged:
\n\nThe right resources, but in the wrong places - Crossing borders, navigating the systems that are in the world, but keeping the open nature of ideas and needs.
\n\nE.g
\n\nTensions:
\n\nWhat have we learnt:
\n\nSelf care only takes us so far.
Institutional care only takes us so far..
Questions:
\n\nWith tensions. These tensions are evidenced within the conversations online. These are the lines that people have been wrestling with.
We yesterday talked about:
Fining the tags that coexist together frequently, but where there is a tension between the two ideas/concepts.
\n\nThe vs. is not a true representation. The tension is not in direct opposition They can sit together.
\n\nWe will often find these tensions within threads, because of the nature of the community - some very keen to push against, some well within the institutions who see ways of working from inside. These conversations occur
These communities often don\u2019t talk to each other outside of ER platform. - SWASHLOCKER link, on the internet no-one knows you\u2019re a dog. More diverse interaction than offline. This makes it more inclusive.
Storytelling, the division between talking and action - what is the culture of conversation? How does it happen. The conversational culture of ER. How does this look through this system.
People are not totally autonomous because they care about stuff. The care shows the links. People are dedicated to a cause or group. They aren\u2019t here just to talk to people.
Engaging in CONSTRUCTIVE dialogue is why people are here. No trolling, no name calling even though people come from very different sides of a perceived divide.
Communities of interest
The %age of conversations with value are really high.
\n\nWould be interesting to see how these thing fit in with each other. Finding where things are based on \u2018activism\u2019 or on self-driven goals. Validation for their own existing drives, vs looking for guidance.
', u'post_id': 38777, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-26 23:06:02', u'title': u'An Ethnography of OpenCare: Live Demo of New Software and Research Results'}, {u'content': u"There are 3 different main communities I am working in and on-
\n\nThe big question which haven\u2019t solved is Care. In co-housing they are very good at governance. co housing. Other networks are focusing on the technical stuff. Edgeryders is focusing down on the Care. Edgeryders is talking about care: where is the structure? where is the actual scaffolding? Care is a really sensitive issue. People don\u2019t like intrusion and people don\u2019t like isolation. In my community beyond the house and the village ,there is no intermediate scale of care. There is a well being lack in our community.People are not having their needs met or not getting on down with the individuals. That's not a very caring way of doing it. Some of us can look after our own needs alone, but its very difficult. A village context is exactly where I can see it happening
\n\nIn my co-housing community because there are not formal structures for care and well-being: its all informal.
[/quote]
\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0
", u'post_id': 38604, u'user_id': 3746, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 07:04:29', u'title': u'Together for inclusive CARE: Chris'}, {u'content': u'[Editor note: The following notes were made by @harrison during the "The Dunbar Number", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n(From New York)
\n\nWork done in NYC
\u201cIs it relevant to European context?\u201d
\n\n(Nabeel question: cultural context, Western centrism of some numbers?) - Something about people being healers?
\n\nGoals (extract):
\n\nFirst, why scales? what does scale mean?
\n\nWhat is the Dunbar number?
\n\nHuman \u201cFibonacci sequence\u201d (just an analogy)
\n\nSize of human groups impacts groups dynamics:
\n\nSizes of \u201ccircles\u201d
\n\n5 minutes of \u201cRamp up time\u201d per person means that you can only could have 15 people in your circle
\n\nHealth:
\n\nOpen Village is a way of making an international community. In terms of Open care, maybe it is a way of making us more empowered and ultimately more healthy. I am a biologist, esp involved in an open science group called Hackuarium. Our cells are really important aspects of our health and the health of future generations. There are lots of things that we do that we could choose to do differently. Genomic integrity = DNA as dynamic (and in concert with all the molecules of cells)! not super fixed in stone. There's damage and repair of DNA and reg of DNA expression, for example. At least half of all cancers could be prevented. Stem cells and mutations and cancer, because all of our cells have to mutate in different ways. Genomic integrity. The idea at Hackuarium is that there are simple methods to look at DNA damage that people could do with groups and with other people. With a toothbrush you could do a lot of inner cheek cells to look at! \xf2ne guy who was a smoker, and his nucleus even looked bigger than ordinary?? want to get lots of data to see if any observations really hold.Could contribute by trying to convince people to make our futures better. Hackuarium is totally volunteer, no one has extra money, we tend to mix engineers and biologists and designers, and therefore we have a really transdisciplinary practice. we prefer DIT, not DIY, getting more from learning continually...
", u'post_id': 38584, u'user_id': 3704, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 03:29:38', u'title': u'Hackuarium: Rachel'}, {u'content': u'[Editor\'s note: The following notes were made by @michael_dunn during the "Learning from Emergency Mutual Aid", of OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017). Quotes are not verbatim but summarize what was said. If you feel something is mis-represented, please tell us in a comment or with the "Flag \u2192 Something Else" feature and a mod will fix it. \u2013 @anu]
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQ: What did you do?
\n\nFootcare..bunions & ppl with scabies, problems with people who were sleeping rough.
\n\n\n\nQ: How was the need determined?
\n\nA: 7 of us worked in Calais. We had the object before we knew what we were going to build. And asking the persons if they wanted that.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQ: What is the status, do the migrants want to go home?
\n\nIntros
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 38738, u'user_id': 3686, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-25 16:07:30', u'title': u'Learning from Emergency Mutual Aid'}, {u'content': u'Notes from the Listening Triad session with @heba during OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38572, u'user_id': 3826, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-19 15:25:27', u'title': u'Power of positive vibes: Heba'}, {u'content': u'Georgina at OpenVillage Festival (October 19th, 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38724, u'user_id': 3756, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-25 12:23:45', u'title': u'CARE for Individuals : Georgina'}, {u'content': u'Taraneh at OpenVillage Festival (19th October, 2017):
\n\nOpenVillage: How I came to it
\n\n\n\nI am curious to know more about \u2026
\n\n\n\nI can bring \u2026
\n\nShe says she needs to understand what OpenVillage is better first. She is coming from another temporary community trying to solve problems about redistribution of resources and how care figures into it, and, as chronically ill person, only has so much energy.
\n\nShe has been working with artists and groups organized around care on re-envisioning infrastructures for care and how to find relief under systems that extract from rather than add to wellbeing.
\n\nProjects and Actvities
\n\n"Sick time, Sleepy time, Crip time: Against capitalism\'s temporal bullying" was a project that thinks about the body\'s states of illness and rest and disability and how time gets organized in capitalism. How to re-imagine, how to be together through how we allocate time during day.
"Canaries": She is a member of "Canaries". Canaries as in "canary in the coal mine". It is a collective of women, trans people and gender non-conforming folks with auto-immune conditions.
(Three quarters of auto-immune patients are women.) It is an informal support group and art collective. Bio-medicine doesn\u2019t know much about these diseases, so diagnosis and relief is hard. Bio-medicine can be very narrow minded, not spending much time thinking about what is creating the issues. The idea behind autoimmune diseases is that they may be genetic or may be caused by what we, as human actors, are doing to our environment. So, while Canaries are particularly
affected / sensitive, they are a litmus test of what is happening more broadly. Also the group is trying to understand their own bodies by using lateral knowledge (working around hierarchy and the expertise of bio-medicine, rethinking what expertise is). Art is a useful space for understanding abstract systems and and re-envisioning it.
When I visited Berlin-based artist and hacker Bengt Sj\xf6len\u2019s studio earlier this week he was developing the hardware for of OpenDrop: an open source digital platform for controlling small droplets of liquids using electro-wetting technology. It struck me that we ought to be looking at open wetware and synthetic biohacking in Opencare. Because there is a lot of scope for DIY and citizen science to actually make advances in developing new care solutions. There are many areas where this could help us to solve pressing problems like antibiotics resistance.
\n\nBengt mentioned an experimental initiative to use some of the properties of silk produced from recombinant bacteria to break quorum sensing. This means you break cell-cell communication within and across bacterial species. It matters because this is a contributing factor to a number of clinically relevant things like making harmless bacteria produce enzymes which attack host tissues, produce toxins, stick to hosts and protect themselves while outside hosts. It may also be a way to break their antibiotic resistence\u2026.
\n\nThe reasoning is that antibiotics typically kill or prevent proliferation of bacteria by targeting biomolecules involved in such essential processes as cell wall synthesis, DNA proliferation, or protein synthesis. Treating large populations of bacteria with such agents inevitably selects for a few resistant mutant cells. These proliferate, mutate further, and give rise to antibiotic resistant populations. So you want to get at the entire propulation and since the ability to communicate with one another affects behavior of the entire community....
\n\nWhat makes these kinds of intiatives especially interesting is that they are being done in hackerspaces and garages using equipment that anyone can put together from recycled materials.
\n\nThere are already examples where unleashing scientific experimentation amongst the citizenry at large has exceeded expectations.The Malaria Box was an experimental initiative in which 400 diverse compounds with antimalarial activity were distributed in a bid to catalyse drug discovery and research for neglected diseases such as malaria. At a recent medical conference I heard that this initative resulted in several breakthroughs and a number of patents shortly after it was launched.
\n\nI\'ve only begun to scratch at the surface and have come across the Registry of Standard Biological Parts - a growing collection of genetic parts use for building biological devices and systems and IGEM (\u201cwhere future life scientists go to get their freak on\u201d). You can see the mind boggling list of what participants have come up with here (click on "team abstracts" from previous iGem competitions here).
\n\nWhat could be achieved if many more people were engaging in this kind of open experimentation? How can existing care initiatives better achieve their goals in collaboration with their peers doing exciting work in open science and technologies?
\n\nJoin us for OpenVillage [was OPENandChange] for this kind of project development sprint to explore how open science and technologies can improve your community care-related project! We\'re mounting a collective funding application and you\u2019ll get to work with brilliant scientists and your peers from different fields, while moving your project forward. We\'re also going on a tour in several cities in Europe this September and you can drop by!
\n\nIt\u2019s first come first served, so don\u2019t wait or risk missing out!
\n\nImage credit: unknown, sourced from the Human Futures website
', u'post_id': 5649, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-12 08:38:18', u'title': u"Hacking and Making Care: What's happening with OpenWetware, Biohacking and DIY Science in general?"}, {u'content': u'From the Listening Triad session with @albertorey, during OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38714, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-25 10:15:01', u'title': u'Complexities of Water \u2013 Investigating Clean water for Community'}, {u'content': u'I was thinking about it the other day, and I think it is finally time to tell a story. For those of you who don\'t know me, I\'m Open Care\'s ethnographer --- I have been reading everyone\'s stories, growing increasingly more inspired, and making sure that the important connections you all are making do not get lost. A lot of the time, ethnographers consider themselves to be research instruments -- so maybe think of me as another technology, like the platform itself or the cool visualisations the research team has been producing
But it has become increasingly difficult for me to feel I am fulfilliing my role as an ethnographer, because one of the central tenets of ethnographic practice is participant-observation. Now, I\'ve certainly done plenty of observing. But I think I have been dropping the ball slightly on the participant part! Talking about my own positionality is important to making sure that I am filtering everyone else\'s through lenses that don\'t distort them.
\n\nSo here\'s one of my Open Care stories.
\n\nI have two related questions: how do we care for people in our communities who aren\'t visibly ill, yet whose lives are made more difficult by invisible illnesses keeping them from living life the way they want to? And how can we look outside current medical frameworks to help people whose illnesses haven\'t been successfully helped by existing medical frameworks? This issue of invisible illness particularly affects labor, which as many of you have noted, is both a crucial part of what it means to be human (working on things that enrich us, feeling like we have autonomy and are masters of our own destiny) but also something that can cause us pain (when we have to do jobs we don\'t like, or can\'t find employment in this rapidly changing world).
\n\nThese questions hit particularly close to home for me. I suffer from vestibular migraines (also called migraine-associated vertigo). This means that about three out of seven days a week, I feel dizzy for part or all of the day. If you\'ve ever felt motion sick, you\'ll be able to understand the feeling, although it\'s difficult to describe if you haven\'t. The way I often laughingly put it: It\'s like being drunk, but without the fun parts. During these episodes, I am very nauseated and is really unpleasant to look at screens, read, or generally do anything except stare at a wall. Sometimes the episodes will be extreme: like the whole world is spinning, and I can\'t tell which way is up.
\n\nWhen this first started happening, about a year ago, it was terrifying. I would panic, which would make it much worse.
\n\nIn the first six months, I tried everything. I went to my GP, who referred me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist (ENT). I had to wait months to see her, and she ran all kinds of tests on me: I was put in a dark room, spun around in a chair, water was ran through my ears. Inconclusive--- I had inner ear damage, yet my body was correcting for it. I was referred on to a neurologist (another long waiting period), who told me that vertigo is really hard to do anything about. She diagnosed me with vestibular migraines, and then proceeded to try out 5 separate drugs over 5 months. For weeks I\'d try something new, have terrible side effects, without improvement. I learned that most drugs have side effects, and a lot of drugs are used to treat secondary conditions but the primary use has serious effects (they tried anti-depressants, which can help but made me feel awful, for example).
\n\nFinally, after 2 trips to the emergency room in 2 months, she recommended I try a blood pressure medication. That was the last straw for me---- I looked at the bottle, read the side effects (I already had low blood pressure--- so the side effects were, you won\'t believe it, DIZZINESS). I decided to give up on medication for a while. I want to add here that most of this journey took place in the USA, so the medical bills were beginning to pile up.
\n\nSo I turned to the internet, and found many people suffering like me, without help from medication, and with the same exact symptoms. I don\'t have any wonder cure to report here---- but it was nice to know that other people were there, and were also frustrated by the medical system. I also took solace in my family in the times I was able to see them, who would come and sit with me when an episode hit. Talking to others, taking my mind off of it, helped.
\n\nBut one of the hardest things was not wanting to tell people, because I didn\'t want them to see me differently or treat me like I was infirm. I didn\'t want to lose my job, and I didn\'t want my PhD supervisors to stop pushing me and giving me new opportunities. I felt that short-term illnesses people are compassionate about, but when there is no end in sight, eventually your lowered performance is no longer a case for compassion, regardless of the cause. I empathised with this position, knowing how frustrating it would be to have a colleague or a friend who disappeared for days at a time. Perhaps most of all, I didn\'t want anyone to treat me like I was disabled. I didn\'t want anyone to treat me differently at all, and I wanted their expectations of me to remain high.
\n\nOn the other hand, my illness was invisible. No one could see my suffering, so no one knew to reach out and help. Sometimes we do need to be treated differently, and sometimes we just can\'t go it alone. I told my supervisor at last, and told him that I wanted to move back to the UK --- my home, and a place which, though the medical system was struggling, had universal healthcare and wouldn\'t charge me to get the help I could need in the future. I wouldn\'t have to be scared to go to the emergency room after a day of excruciating pain and nausea. So he ended up supporting me immensely with my goal of transferring my PhD, and I\'m moving back soon.
\n\nI\'ve started down a new path, now. I don\'t know if it will be helpful, but I\'m starting to acknowledge that I might never be "cured," and that maybe that rhetoric ignores the way that most people with illnesses end up living their lives despite it, rather than conquering it. I think there are a lot of us out there learning how to live in peace with our unruly bodies, and I have found a lot of support and solidarity from friends, who after I confide in them, end up telling me secrets of their own. One has IBS, and has near-constant stomach problems. She told me a story: I don\'t think of myself as disabled, I think of my body as a Maserati. Sure, I have to be really careful about what I fill myself up with, but that\'s because my body is a luxury car! I laughed when she said it, and I carry that story with me. I am filling up my arsenal with other stories of resilience in spite of medical systems which offer no answers, or the wrong ones, and in spite of bodies that don\'t behave.
\n\nI have also learned to be mindful of the fact that other people around me are probably struggling with something they\'re not saying. I don\'t give angry looks at people on the tube who sit in priority seats---- what do I know about their conditions? Instead of being upset with friends who cancel plans, or co-workers who seem to show up less, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Who knows what they\'re dealing with.
\n\nAll in all, I see the stories I have heard as an ethnographer in past projects on technology and health and social care with new eyes, and I feel more strongly about projects to build social solidarity and informal networks more than ever. I for one will continue to do research and publish on these issues, and help design better systems. People are the answer. Keep up the good work, everyone
Dynamics around healthcare on the Zad
\n\nShared experience and common desire brought into existence several dynamics around healthcare based in the Zad of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Here we present four of them : the organisation of street medics, the medic team of the zad, the herbalism project and the group who organises street medic trainings.
\n\nThese dynamics share several common bases. There is a desire to reappropriate knowledge around healthcare, because we find it important to decentralize knowledge related to our bodies, but also as a response to the difficulties in relationship to classical institutions of healthcare : the ambulances blocked by law enforcement, the routine collaboration of hospitals with police, and the disdain and non-respect of consent lived by some. There is the desire to learn and share knowledge about more holistic ways of healing and which is not dependent on the pharmaceutical industry. There is the desire to reinforce social movements by propagating knowledge about emergency care and to form new groups.
\n\nThese projects are independent but they are all entangled with elements of herbalism introduced into our street medic practices, trainings which bring new participants into the medic teams, and our experiences on the ground which nourish the content of the trainings.
\n\nThe street medics
\n\nAs soon as we show disagreement in concrete ways, or we block the smooth unfolding of increasing profit, repression quickly follows. Whether for the duration of a demonstration or because we live together on an outlawed zone , or when we are labeled \xab undesirable \xbb or \xab protestors \xbb, the State wounds and kills at the hands of law enforcement.
\n\nConsious of these risks, in many countries revolutionary groups and activist movements have developed their own medical support networks for demonstrations or direct actions. This dynamic is different than humanitarian practices like the Red Cross, because we don\u2019t pretend to be neutral. We take a clear political stance and an active role in the conflict, and in the support that we bring to our comrades in struggle.
\n\nIn a demonstration, street medic teams try to be present on the scene as early as possible to be able to provide emergency care to people who ask for it , and to evaluate the needs of the situation before an ambulance arrives, which is sometimes blocked or diverted by the police. There is also an assessment of the legal risks in the case of recourse to official emergency care : for example, identity controls and arrests inside the hospitals to take in people without papers, people with outstanding warrants, or just because the simple fact of being wounded makes someone a suspect.
\n\nLaw enforcement regularly update their equipment dedicated to repression with new chemical, electrical and physical weapons. As street medics, we try to respond by spreading techniques of defense developed on the ground and shared across the world for preventing, protecting, and healing.
\n\nFor us, medical knowledge is accompanied by a political reflection in how we put it into practice, to avoid reproducing as much as possible relationships of domination, administration, and dispossession that the medical institution exerts. Our desire as street medics is to put the first priority on the consent of injured people and to give them the information to make clear and informed choices for themselves. \t
\n\nThe street medic team of the Zad
\n\nOn the zad there is a medic team which represents an autonomous medical presence during demonstrations and actions, including during past and possible future evictions, but also being present on the ground for medical emergencies when they happen. The medic team brings together people who are interested in that role, with or without official training (there are very few people with professional backgrounds). We organize together to get the knowledge and the material necessary to be able to be autonomous in actions or demonstrations.
\n\nDaily healthcare plays an important part in our work. There is a house with a living collective where many medics live, and people can pass through with their injuries or health problems for material, care, advice, and contacts. We evaluate the person and depending on their desires and the capacity of the individual who is treating them (knowledge in first aid, conventional medicine, or herbalism), either we treat them or we direct them to further care. For this we have contacts with medical professionals we trust (nurses, doctors, osteopaths, homeopaths\u2026) who are in exchange and relationship with us.
\n\nThere is also a medic trailer, to make sure that we are not the only way tfor people to have access to medical materials. It is left open, and stocked with first aid materials to use there, and material and information for harm reduction linked to drug use and sexual practices.
\n\nWe also are part of a network of healthcare workers involved in the struggle against the airport. During the evictions of autumn 2012, a number of healthcare professionals came to support the medics on the ground. Over the years, we have worked together to prepare logistical and communications strategies, and to have the materials necessary in the case of eviction attempts or other police intervention. We also have regular discussions, and regular reciprocal trainings.
\n\nThe herbalism projects
\n\nFor the past six years, a dynamic around medicinal plants has been developing and made concrete by the creation of a medicinal garden, a dispensary, the creation of an autonomous phytotherapy school, the organisation of plant walks, and of trainings on the uses of plants and how to prepare them. There is a clinic project in the early stages, with regular individual consultations for chronic conditions, and drop in clinic days for more acute illness.
\n\nAs many other projects which co-inhabit this zone, care by plants is rooted for us in a logic of long term struggle and autonomy, in conflict with the State and capitalist logics. As we try different ways to live, to resolve conflicts without legal intervention, to organize with many people with a diversity of positions and practices in the same territory, we take the liberty to be autonomous in care. We don\u2019t want the world of the pharmaceutical industry, and of the disempowerment of bodies by a vertical and imposed system. We want to play an active r\xf4le in the expansion of a method of accessible, understandable, and participative care which opens up new paths towards more knowledge of our bodies and the plants that surround us.
\n\nWith a local support group we have built a cabin which serves as a lab for making and storing medicine, a place for distribution, for care, and passing on knowledge. From this place we offer different forms of consultations- individual, but also other times where we see people in a more collabotative exchange, to be able to share skills and learn together with the person seeking care, while having access to the dispensary so that we move together beyond a theoretical level.
\n\nStreet medic trainings
\n\nThe training group was created after realizing that the militant french networks were relatively poorly organized in terms of street medics, in comparison with other European countries or in North America. The street medic trainings are intended as a tool for improving our capacity to self-defence by contributing to the existence and multiplication of street medic teams in france and neighboring countries.
\n\nThe trainings are done for specific geographic areas, to encourage the creation of local groups who can continue to practice and organize together.
\n\nThe group was formed around self-training in relationship to first aid ; it consists of mainly non healthcare professionals involved in social struggles, with diverse levels of skill and experience.
\n\nThe complete nine day trainings focus mainly on the most likely injuries in the case of demonstations or riots, the possible complications or aggravations of illness in these moments (stress, fatigue, cold, etc.) as well as psychoemotional injury. We have added a part about the weapons used by law enforcement and about advice for medics in action situations (organization, prevention\u2026), as well as moments dedicated to harm reduction in sexual practices and in drug use. The content is based on classical western emergency care, with (for now) a partial integration of techniques of herbalism.
', u'post_id': 36154, u'user_id': 3992, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-13 20:03:08', u'title': u'Dynamics of Autonomous Healthcare on the ZAD'}, {u'content': u'What Protocol for the individual inside a collective?
\n\nThis article is my preparation for one of the sessions at OpenCare Village: Infrastructure for autonomy
Through analyse of some of the structures I\u2019m or was part of, I want to set a parameter of personal care. I think I will have more questions then answers at the end of the ride, but lets still try to make a fruitful read.
First, you have to know i was diagnosed with mild borderline personality disorder a couple of years ago. While the most extreme outrages are now under control i still can have anxiety attacks that will block me, for a couple of days and i will be unreliable to contact or connect with. Knowing that most of my job is organizing events, being a project manager in small or larger groups, makes it quite a challenging. I learned to organize my life in such way that other people are bothered the least possible way and can enjoy my highs as much as possible. Some people in my entourage understand very well this liability, but in formal or new structures it is sometimes difficult to be at ease.
\n\nThrough my reflection, I came across organic, collectively growing and peer to peer organization as the most suitable for myself as a person but also for people in need of a more humane approach inside organizations. In absolute terms, I see these collective entities as a machine fed by every participant regardless of the level of energy they put in, but giving back to a general audience: the collective or even broader: society. They are well engineered by core members but give place for anybody else to check in and out without to much of a change of creating conflicts, something I personally can quite difficultly manage. It\u2019s not \u2018the end by al means\u2019, but succeeding the goal while the people inside are respected as an entity. Because why would we be frustrated if at the end collectively the goal succeeded even if the energy wasn\u2019t spread evenly between the participants. True: it sounds less engaging, but it opens a world post-individuality, where you don\u2019t need strong individual leaders all the time, but an organic set of connections between a larger group believing in the higher goal altogether.
\n\nIn the next couple of paragraphs, I will present to you a couple of organizations I had the pleasure to work with, create or follow up. Each with their own structures, positive sides and biases. I will try to speak from a personal angle without criticizing any other member as I find it an important thinking exercise to help build the structure were within the people can thrive and not criticize the members for the way you want the collective to be.
\n\nSoft Revolution / Pic Nic The Streets
\n\nThese were my first experiences with organic organizations. The first was an artist collective drenched in the Do It Yourself spirit created by myself and a bunch of friends. We organized festivals, created a board game, wrote a book and made some meta-expositions. Through almost ten years of working together we learned from each other flaws and only worked on something when it was suitable for the whole group. What kept us going was our kindness towards each other, our understanding of the human being. But when we arrived at the crossroad between continuing an amateurish journey or professionalizing our collective we chose the second one. Not knowing the stressful implication, it had within the group while we all were stepping into our professional work environment (we started our collective when we were 16-17 till we were 24-25), we couldn\u2019t deliver the last couple of installations and had to dismantle our collective. I still hold great strengths and knowledge from this time and use it as important building stone for any other organization. Understanding each other flaws and not judging them but embracing them is something I would love to share with anybody else. We are always eager for perfection and showing the best. But if to get to that best, you have to care less about the other then it hasn\u2019t any meaning for me. It\u2019s not an absolutism, but a constant work in balance.
\n\nAnother story happening around the same time goes with Pic Nic The Streets, a citizen movement started in 2012 that wanted to fight for more public space by picnicking on the main boulevard Anspach. For a couple of years, we organized systematic pic nicks, resulting in a carfree central lane, but also in spin-offs like Canal Park for a big park at Porte De Ninove and Cyclo Guerilla for more bike lanes. It was a thriving time for City activists but ended up in a lot of ego-fights and underlying conflicts between activist groups that maybe wanted the same, but had a nuanced approach that resulted in conflicts. I was really saddened about this rivalry between people wanting to look for each other and better the world. Sometimes it became a toxic environment where people found it more important to be right then to care for his or her fellow activist. That is where my enthusiasm for classic activism stopped. But luckily for me there were lots of alternatives.
\n\nPOC21 / Edgeryders
\n\nIn the summer of 2015, one of my projects (V\xe9lo M2) was selected for the 5-week innovation camp in an abandoned castle near Paris. I wasn\u2019t prepared at all for the mind-blowing experience that would impact the way I think and live from then on. POC21 was a temporary place where every day around 100 people lived and worked together around 13 projects. The symbiosis that occurred there was one of kind. I think the biggest reason of their success was the creation of an immediate trust between all participants. We were into it for the same narrative and will do it together. By creating a taskboard with everything that was needed to do to keep the machine rolling without taking account that everybody gave equal amount of energy it created another way of working. Not guild trapping you in doing it, but giving you the space for the things you wanted to do. Of course it wasn\u2019t always as perfect and I think the architects of the project had a lot of conflicts, but almost all the time it occurred in an open discussion. There was the space to doubt, to fail, to negotiate the coming or not of the president of France, \u2026
\n\nHaving met really great people at POC21 I came in touch with Edgeryders, where I started writing occasionally for. While it wasn\u2019t at a first glance the most intuitive platform, I loved the vibe coming from the comments while writing pieces. No easy comments, but moments of thoughtful sharing. I was invited for LOTE4 and continued to engage into the conversation. The word \u2018conversation\u2019 is for me the best way to describe what Edgeryders is, a constant conversation with fellow humans about deeper subjects. I know how hard some of the Edgeryders core members fight for the organization, but what I always loved about the structure is the easy switcheroo between being active and passive in the organization. I curated an event around care at Huis VDH for them and learned much about the organization as about my own skills. Without any problem, I was able to switch to being a passive member again while feeling no pressure to do more or be more involved. That organic feel is something I really appreciate. I understand those core members are an important asset, but giving the opportunity for others to wander around inside the collective is a great way to care for our members.
\n\nCIN / V\xe9lo M2
\n\nWhere the first example was a background introduction and the second a more or less ideal situation, the third kind of organizations are the one I search the most answers for. Civic Innovation Network is a platform where I\u2019m now an occasional \u2018scenarist\u2019 for and V\xe9lo M2 is a project I created with a couple of engineers. Both have a massive potential, both are now connected through a possible fund I helped creating, but in both I can\u2019t find my ideal place as an individual. I asked myself multiple times why I wasn\u2019t able to fit the narrative. When for example I got more and more involved in CIN my anxieties where getting higher and less manageable. CIN is achieving great things, but every time I\u2019m hesitating in what my place is in it. The demanded structure at V\xe9lo M2 with weekly meetings and monthly working sessions made me feel trapped and again scared. And then the question occurred: in an environment where Open Source, collectiveness but also growth is a key feature is it the individual that needs to adapt towards the collective or is it the collective that has to be flexible towards each individual it encounters. For growing and likewise still learning entities it looks like it\u2019s important to create long-lasting mechanisms, structures that helps stabilize the organization for a fruitful future.
\n\nBut then the ethical questions arise, what do we do with those that can\u2019t, or are less able to manage a structured, framed context and need the flexibility. Is it a task for the collective to look after them, to simply understand them, and loose maybe some momentum because of the lacking stability or is it the individual that needs to understand or made clear what he or he can\u2019t do? In the couple of years I\u2019m struggling with my anxieties I often chose the second one. For example at my main job at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival it took me almost three years to create the right balance between creating my own agenda following my ups and downs, trying to explain that to my colleagues and knowing that in the two week period of the festival I need to fight ANY possible anxiety because of the fact that I manage 150 guests for that period of time. At Fermenthings, a shop I own with a friend, before starting I gave him one task that I would not work on from minute one: it was paperwork. I don\u2019t understand the logic of the bureaucracy and it simply blocks me to work on anything else. I know it would be a stumbling-block for the whole organisation. Thanks to a lot of attempts and fails I\u2019m starting to understand better what my role can be. I love to create, to enthusiasm people and structure vision, but I need organized and stable people around me to compensate my lack of consistency.
\n\nI felt so often overwhelmed and helpless trying to understand myself. I would have loved to find people, feeling the same struggles or questions willing to create the right protocol, so maybe through this OpenCare Village festival we could open the discussion about care of the individual inside the collective. I didn\u2019t expect to write such a personal paper, and for those I made unease with it, I apologies. But my only hope through this is a better understanding of each others \u2018condition humain\u2019 and maybe we would find collective answers for the individuals through this mean.
', u'post_id': 37973, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-09 20:16:42', u'title': u'What Protocol for the individual inside a collective?'}, {u'content': u'\n\n#documentary #art #cleanwater #flyfishing #filmmaking #sciencecommunication
\n\nAlberto is an Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York in Fredonia, has been the founder and director of a youth fly fishing program for 18 years and is a fly fishing guide. For the past 20 years he has been working on art that tries to reconnect communities to their local bodies of water to become more sensitized to the complex issues that affect them.
\n\nDuring an exhibition on the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River in Buffalo , New York, I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows through the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. I was excited about extending my body of work beyond the Western Hemisphere and to working with a culturally diverse community.
\n\nThe project was a success and resulted in a documentary, a book written in English and Nepali, an exhibition, website and a poster.
\n\nThe fly fishing program is another way of reconnecting people to their local environment. It has educational and therapeutic benefits. I\u2019m working with youth to get them more engaged with their environment and to instill a sense of stewardship. I also organize a conference on this topic to help educators connect science, art and literature through fly fishing.
\n\nAt the OpenVillage, I will give a lecture about the Bagmati River Project and a brief overview of the other projects that led up to it. It is an active session with visuals, sound and video. I\u2019d like to open a discussion about the topic afterwards.
\n\nWe will also do a fly fishing demo with a group of children and participants of OpenVillage. We will combine this with citizen science experiments on water quality and stream biology. This format can be documented and reused by schools who would like to implement a similar project in their curriculum.
\n\nAlberto\u2019s lecture and demo are part of the Citizen Science track at #OpenVillage. You can get in touch with him and join the conversation here.
', u'post_id': 33636, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-27 09:55:18', u'title': u'Meet the Edgeryders: Alberto Rey (documentary, art, clean water, education \u2026)'}, {u'content': u'Calling mostly @WinniePoncelet .
\n\nI propose that the mighty @markomanka leads a session on ethics and data protection\xa0\xa0in citizen science/open source projects. Regulation on ethics in research and data protection is taking shape, with the GDPR coming into force in less than a year in the EU. Marco thinks there is potential for this new regulation to make anyone except very large and well-moneyed orgs viable to do research and data protection. This would be done by making the costs of compliance very high.
\n\nExample: if you use algorithms (say, a recommendation\xa0algorithm for books) you are supposed to be able to make a case that it is ethical: you are not, for example, systematically recommending books by white authors over minority ones, or male authors over female ones, whatever Bayesian updating might have to say. Which is fine, but where does this leave open source? What happens if I install WordPress on my server, and WordPress comes with a search algorithm? Do I have to audit the code to be compliant with the GDPR?\xa0
\n\nThe outcome of the session could be an ethics/data protection wiki for citizen science projects in care: guidelines that tell projects like OpenInsulin what to do when.\xa0
\n\nWhat do you think?
', u'post_id': 6479, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-07 15:40:39', u'title': u'Session proposal: ethics and data protection in citizen science/open source projects'}, {u'content': u'From my understanding, I am a very very new member of Edgeryders. I am still getting acquainted to Open Village. I was introduced to it.
\n\nI joined last couple of weeks. Winnie came to Oakland and introduced the idea to join. Open Village what I understand is a physical manifestation of what happens on the digital collaboration with members from Edgeryders. I relate to it because I work on community building and that is local, but my scope is always much broader, and the only way to collaborate in a broader sense is to be open to digital collaboration. I am already working on multiple things, all my work relies on cross-functional collaborations.
\n\nI am in public health, and one very recent project that I am involved in, is visualizing data for ritual awareness in health. It could be visualizing led exposure data, this encompasses, deals with the interactions with our built environment, and how it affects our health. I am an environmental health consultant. For one of my hobbies, I do applied mycology, and am a member of counterculture labs where, in Oakland, I met Winnie about a month ago, and he told me about Edgeryders and the Open Village festival, and he said it would be perfect for me. I worked on another group called Open Oarkland, which is Code for America brigade, and we work on civic technology, which is using open data to increase civic engagement. For example, you want to know how much of the city\u2019s budget is going towards education. Collaboration is central to all of the work that I do and I would like to use the ideas of decentralization with Open Village projects.
', u'post_id': 38590, u'user_id': 4034, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 04:15:12', u'title': u'Importance of Collaborations: Ramy'}, {u'content': u'Notes from the listening triad session at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38606, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 07:13:28', u'title': u'Intellectual Development: Winnie'}, {u'content': u'Hi All, Harrison from Biosphere(x) here. Would people be interested in a workshop such as this?
\n\nWhat is a human scale? Our new social patterns brought upon by technology suggest we can be comfortable navigating millions innumerable online profiles and groups, while a culture of quantified self help pushes us towards a solitary pursuit of personal meaning and growth. Far from being disparate issues, this session will establish that the dilution of connections and the anxiety induced by quests of self improvement are 2 sides of the same coin.
\n\nIn the 1990s, anthropologist Robin Dunbar proposed a number which lies between 100 and 250 (150 is commonly used) as the amount of relationships a person can comfortably maintain. As the Dunbar Number is just a suggested cognitive limit, we will explore its implications for well being without wading into dogma. What does awareness for the Dunbar number do for our personal ability to care for ourselves and each other? We will attempt to formulate strategies for healing, learning from ancestral and contemporary precedent, and leave with tools that hopefully can scale in our native environments.
', u'post_id': 34451, u'user_id': 3804, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-17 12:01:13', u'title': u'Session Proposal: The Dunbar Number: Implications and strategies for community health'}, {u'content': u'@noemi: About a place and a space. We have to be somewhere. Not a matter of need Identifzy with the place, difference between home and house?
\n\nChris: My open village would my home I leave in Scotland but don t know if this is my home now
\n\n\xa0
\n\n@noemi: **What is open? What is open or close?
\n\nChris: Internet is open because there is no control to control.Telling others what to do, be able to say no .It s about being open and close.Associative is not a collective (government, company) people do not participate in it, they are alienated to them. Open village are associative.Part of the foundation, we need to have the right metaphysical foundation. Book zen and the art of motorcycle.The art of it is the question about and / or either or Stall-man and opensource / free.In Scotland in a trial, you can be guilty, not guilty or unproven.Everything we do is about an agreement. Law is code.For me I want to do write the code of a protocol to allow anybody to live.Care is not valued.Debt, shares are instruments Instruments can be obsolete.If you got the land, you got the resources, why do you need money.
\n\n\xa0
\n\n@noemi: Do you Practice?
\n\nChris: I am busy to by a common property. I organize the film. The art of flirting (not floating). We try do make it without money. About risk sharing and producing value.
', u'post_id': 38626, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 11:20:09', u'title': u'Noemi and Chris Interview'}, {u'content': u'Notes form the Listening Triad session with @powermakesussick at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n\n\nWhile the quote is attributed to @powermakesussick, it does not mean it is something written or said by the user verbatim. Rather, it comes from live notes taken by somebody else during the listening triad session. Take with a grain of salt and understanding
Open Village Festival
@alberto: Can you tell us why Woodbine has invested so much in this?
@alberto : Your economic vision translates into \u2013 when you bump into a need, if your network is a good one-- able to deploy some sort of solution. Two years ago, we were doing some work in Nepal, two days later, earthquake, we pivot and we joined the response effort with significant technical skills. That experience taught us some stuff \u2013 two months later, flash flood in the capital in Georgia. We know guerilla gardening groups \u2013 they knew us and they created a successful Facebook group \u2013 in no time there were 8000 people in the group. We found a program to provide mobile phones for disaster response. We hope to build an open source turn-key solution] I think that is becoming very clear that the State cannot handle these crises and will not handle them. Given that these other models have to be created.]
', u'post_id': 38608, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 07:23:21', u'title': u'Growing network of localized nodes: Frank'}, {u'content': u'Open Village Festival October 19, 2017
\n\n', u'post_id': 38602, u'user_id': 3798, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 06:50:33', u'title': u'Finding way of Scaling: Liz'}, {u'content': u'Questions: How do you effectively collaborate from local to global contexts? How do we rapidly deploy projects across borders without losing decentralized identities?
\n\n\n\n\n\n
Question: How do you move forward with a common goal and not get distracted by group dynamics?
\n\n\n\nQuestion: What legal and economic standards do we need to change in order to ensure health for all? Why do we sit in rows and not in a circle?
HOW DO YOU RELATE TO IT?
A chat with Paola Villarreal during Open Village Festival 19th October 2017
Notes from the Listening Triad session with @eric at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38586, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-20 03:45:50', u'title': u'Shared Contributions: Eric'}, {u'content': u'hello! my name is nicole and i\'m a member of Woodbine Health Autonomy. I came to the group after years of intensive academic work, existing in cut throat, very hierarchal institutions, and ignoring my own well-being inevitably caught up with me. i was forced to reckon with how the professional and cultural spaces we value most in our society push the labor of social reproduction into the private, individual sphere--even as feminist academics talk about a lot about care, and even as "health" and "wellness" are now pervasive buzzwords and boutique amenities accessible to those who can afford them. i\'m a writer, scholar, and an amateur herbalist. these days i think a lot about the history of the body under capitalism--in particular about gender, trauma, desire, and increasingly the history of medicine. Woodbine Health Autonomy has given me a space to think about anti-capitalist infrastructures of care as we move toward building our own. Please ask me any questions you might have, and I really look forward to planning, convening, and scheming with all of you!!
', u'post_id': 34003, u'user_id': 3780, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-04 23:43:28', u'title': u'An introduction \U0001f44b\U0001f3fb'}, {u'content': u'Galway project \u2013 Monastery.
\n\nInspired less by the tech side of the work, interested in the positive aspects of the religious side of monasteries. Working against the
Spiritual end of the idea is of interest
How do you do this without the Dogma?
\n\nListening to others ideas and adapting them to the Irish situation. Seeing where progress has happened and where blocks have appeared. Tying together with how \u2018the arts\u2019 and culture more widely fits in. Bringing in wellness to arts, building communities, how we adapt to existing infrastructure. Learning from intentional communities. Sharing info about the idea of The Reef in Ireland. Learning about the small scale ideas, finding a way through the beucracy.
\n\nThey are \u2018cagey\u2019.
Projects require critical mass behind them to grow.
Notes from the Listening Triad session with Alex, at OpenVillage Festival (19th October 2017):
\n\n', u'post_id': 38571, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-19 14:56:33', u'title': u'Next step towards change: Alex'}, {u'content': u'Dear all -- as our time together is quickly approaching and will be quite brief, I wanted to connect ahead of time with anyone who is working as an artist or curator with / in / around the topic of women\'s reproductive health. I am currently collaborating on a project called How to Perform an Abortion which explores systems for self-managed women\'s healthcare. Does anyone\'s work align with this project, which examines both "medical" and "herbal" approaches to managing fertility?
\n\nI will also be traveling in the UK (Oct. 22 - 25) and the Netherlands (Oct. 25 - 29) so if anyone has any recommendations for people I should reach out to who are doing similar / mission-aligned work, please let me know!
\n\n~ Eugenia Manwelyan
School of Apocalypse
A group of citizen scientists at Counter Culture Labs, a hacker space in Oakland, California has been developing an open-source protocol to make insulin for about a year and a half. The world needs more economical sources of insulin because 1 in 2 people who need it lack access to insulin worldwide, and this burden falls disproportionately on the poorest communities. Longer term, we hope that by starting with insulin we can broaden our scope to develop more general protein engineering capabilities and provide a practical foundation for small-scale\xa0groups working in distributed fashion\xa0to experiment with and produce other biologics.
\n\nWe\'re very near to reaching our first milestone of producing and isolating proinsulin, after which we\'ll be redoubling our efforts to develop a simple, end-to-end protocol to produce insulin. We\'ve had several collaborators join our effort in the meantime, including a group at ReaGent in Belgium, another at Biofoundry in Sydney, and another here with us in the Bay Area at Fair Access Medicines.
\n\nOur team has benefitted from participation from people with a broad diversity of backgrounds and interests - from veterans of producing biologics at pharmaceutical companies, to people with PhDs and years of work experience in relevant fields, to college students and total beginners who are just interested in starting to learn\xa0and contribute. The sharing of knowledge and responsibilities\xa0within our group thus mirrored what we were seeking to support beyond the group.
\n\nWe originally raised a little over $15k to get started via a crowdfunding campaign, a small budget that has nonetheless proven adequate. We\'ve been fortunate that we\'ve been able to stretch our financial resources a long way with donated and deeply discounted second-hand equipment and reagents, and the contributions of skilled volunteers to keep our equipment running. Thus we have no recurring expenses, which has proven to be the most important way to conserver resources and keep the project sustainable in its high-risk seed phase. This has put us on a firm foundation to\xa0reach our first milestone, the production and isolation of proinsulin, the first major step on the way to making the mature, active form of insulin. Once that is done, we plan to pursue our next steps and undertake whatever further fundraising effort we may need to do so, possibly involving a distributed ownership structure and holding and sharing of the fruits of our efforts under some sort of peer production license\xa0to ensure we develop a viable commons around our work.
\n\nChallenges we still face are keeping continuity in the work of the group and preservation and transmission of knowlege as members join and leave the project, something that is becoming more urgent with our developing international collaborations. The urgent questions of distributing the work effectively and making good use of everyone\'s time and enthusiasm and providing all involved with the support they need has us eager to develop better organization and get people with better organizational skills involved; let us know if you can contribute in these ways!
\n\nWe have learned more about how much we don\'t know about the complex geopolitics and economics around insulin than about how to directly address the policy dimensions of access to insulin and access to medicine in general. But the fact remains that our fundamental rationale for our work is economical, and has to do with the impact that decentralized production could have immediately and how it could change the landscape of incentives in the longer term to favor better policies.\xa0
\n\nWe hope our work will have several effects. First, by enabling more production of insulin by more groups, it can increase competition in the market for insulin, which is currently dominated by 3 large manufacturers who face\xa0criticisms of acting as an oligopoly and lawsuits credibly accusing them of illegally colluding to fix prices. Increased competition might quickly lower costs, bringing insulin into reach for more people, and decentralized production might avoid problems with supply chains reaching parts of the world where it\'s currently uneconomical to ship centrally-produced insulin. Second, in the longer term, reducing profits from sales of insulin could help to shift economic incentives towards developing better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for diabetes rather than the\xa0highly costly and inconvenient chronic treatment that those with diabetes must currently live with. This should synergize with the third effect, mentioned before, of making it easier to experiment with biologics by putting the tools for protein production and purification in more hands.
\n\nThen, with these realigned economic incentives around insulin and a cure for diabetes, we can revisit policy questions from a more favorable position, advocating for policies that favor innovation from small-scale groups and revoke the legal privileges large manufacturers have won to protect their oligopolies.
', u'post_id': 859, u'user_id': 3370, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-04 22:33:35', u'title': u'Organizing the open science behind open insulin'}, {u'content': u'\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cA Resolution\u201d points to the sparks that are creating a new light in the growing darkness: the revolutionary wave that spread from Tunis to New York; the Kurdish freedom struggle and the war against ISIS in Rojava; the riots and blockades sparked by the killings of Mike Brown and Eric Garner; and the retooling and remaking of life with \u201ccivilization starter kits\u201d and \u201cremoving the dust\u201d from indigenous knowledges and practices. \u201cWe, the people who work every day, who think we \u2018don\u2019t have time\u2019 - we are the only ones who can do this,\u201d said a Woodbine co-founder. \u201cNo one\u2019s going to do this for us\u2014no politician, no technological innovation, no international agreement. If we want a different future, we are going to have to make it, from where we are and in every place.\u201d
\n\n
Our goal is to examine what health autonomy would look like and how to begin to build it for ourselves here in New York city. We are beginning by providing ways to interact with neighbors, to think of health and care as a communal process, and becoming a point of aggregation where people can come together and share resources. We currently facilitate health related skill shares, create concrete ways to navigate the overwhelming health infrastructure that exists while lessening our dependence on it, in order to build an autonomous health community.
\n\nWe are beginning to experiment with providing care outside of the realm of state control. This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. Our intention is always to heal, and so we are finding ways to do this that protects providers and patients.
\n\nWithin Woodbine, the struggle for autonomy has been broken down into categories of the most urgent material necessity, meant to focus our attention on tangible goals toward building power within our community. Health autonomy is a crucial part of this. The health resource center is run by a mix of health professionals and those with informal training in various health practices. We want to re-create a sense of agency over health through a focus on the dissemination of usable, teachable skills. We are working with peers who practice herbal medicine, massage, feldenkrais, acupuncture, meditation, yoga and other forms of so called \u201calternative\u201d medicine. We are creating our own definition of wellness, one that is congruent with the realities of our time. There is also a large focus on prevention of illness, of re-fostering the idea of a healthy life, not merely the absence of disease. This is how we begin the necessary process of removing our physical and mental health from systems that would damage them further, to reclaim control over health and use it to increase our collective autonomy.
\n\nWe do not reject modern methods of medicine, but recognize the need to detach its knowledge from the oppressive institutions that guard it. We are attempting to change our orientation to institutions of western medicine to one of use over dependence; a manipulation of the systems that surround us. While there are significant problems with the city\u2019s public health infrastructure, they do provide much of the emergency and chronic care here. We realize that there needs to be support for people needing to navigate these without the fear of accruing a huge amount debt, alongside the emphasis of practices that will ultimately lessen dependence on them. The spaces dedicated to holistic medicine or alternative care are largely inaccessible to large portions of the population because they exist for those who can afford them. For these reasons, our center is meant to involve community members, help us understand the care-related skills we already have, and be an informational resource for accessing all types of health modalities. We have public open times for the community, staffed by one of our members, to assist in that process.
\n\nOur skills workshops so far have included basic first aid, wound care, acupressure and intro to traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and an intro to medicinal plants. Coming up we will have workshops on navigating existing healthcare systems, nutrition, addiction and ongoing fitness skillshares. Our goal is that participants can use the resource library to learn about things relevant to their own health, potentially explore different modalities, and either receive aid in navigating the health systems in place or find treatment within the space itself.
\n\nAs we gain ground in the journey towards health autonomy, we see just how disempowered we have become when it comes to being able to give and receive the kind of care necessary. We have to fight that disconnection and build the infrastructure in order to give ourselves the space to envision a new existence. We look forward to hearing your stories, to understand your struggles and to collectively create the foundations to answer these monumental questions.
\n\n\xa0Editor\'s note: We\xa0are building a\xa0collaborative bid for the MacArhur Foundation\'s 100 Million USD with our peers in 40 + countires. You are very welcome to join us if\xa0you are doing work at the intersections of care, open knowledge and\xa0technologies, and communities. Learn more at\xa0\xa0http://openandchange.care.
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 5886, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-14 06:33:38', u'title': u'After Occupy: How we are developing structures to empower community health, access to resources, and preventative medicine'}, {u'content': u'I could tell my story as a sort of Janus-headed narrative.
I like this god of beginnings, gates, transitions, duality and endings, with his two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. But maybe also to all the kind of opposites and contrasts our society is so rich of.
I am a doctor: I studied in Rome, where I observed the changement in a health system under my eyes. From a national health system capable of paying you even thermal therapy to one where if you need to see a specialist for a serious disease you can wait for months ...or just book an appointment for the next day if you can pay the private-practice fee.
I moved to Brussels for specialising in Pediatrics -(access to specialised training in different countries could be another interesting topic, but too many things to say for resuming everything in one post!)- and had the chance to work in different multicultural contexts: Brussels city-center, Antwerp travel clinic, Burundi\'s rural hospital.
What really caught my attention was how children health was related to some very specific cultural-related aspects. There are of course the well-known social determinants of health, but that\'s not all, or at least the way we deal with them as health worker is trivial.
Am I doing my job as a Pediatrician if I am not doing something for empowering mothers, for helping them in creating social networks, in having access to instruction, to healthy nutrition, safe shelter, gender equality?
I strongly believe Health is a social result and my job as a doctor will never be accomplished if I do not go out from hospitals, clinics, cabinets, if I do not act firstly as a citizen.
Then let\'s have a look to the other face. I am a patient too, as anyone is at a certain moment in life -hopefully just a transient moment!-.
I was confronted to the weaknesses of Occidental medicine: when I see a specialist that only looks to my blood results and never to my eyes do I feel heal? He will probably solve my medical problem, but where is caring? Is that enough? Aren\'t we loosing something with this dichotomy? Sometimes, in spite of a very scientific vision of life, I prefer to look for alternative medicines as a patient, exactly because of this need for an holistic vision.
I often think to the ancient hawaiian healing practice of Ho\u02bboponopono. The definition in the Hawaiian Dictionary is: "To put to rights; to put in order or shape, correct, revise, adjust, amend, (...); to make ready, as canoemen preparing to catch a wave." Illness is considered as a problem of the whole family (or even society), and the solution is then thought as a social practice too.
What could we learn from that?
From a very practical point of view I am sure that a lot can be done, and thinking about how to create and empower social networks is one of the keys for improving health.
I think loneliness is one of the stronger social determinant of health in more and more industrialised societies: no solution can be thought without a systemic and partecipative vision. From what to start?
Tweet-like description of the project:
Modules for voice display
Need or problem you are attempting to solve:
Read numerical display with a voice, without having to use the sight.
Beneficiary, single person and/or community:
People with disabilities, like blind or people unable to read.
People with difficulties or impediment in reading a value on a display.
Solution, brief description of the project
Voice module for electronic instruments and sensors, able to say numbers and short sentences. Specifically designed for small devices like multimeters or domotics.
This module was born to read, through a loudspeaker, values that are normally shown on the instrument display.
It is composed by an hardware (that reads data), a software library (that can compose pronunciation according to the data) and some guidelines to make the project a speaking one.
Technologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt
Small MicroController like Atmel or PIC;
Audio Player Module like WTV020 or Mini DF Player;
Mini Speaker.
WebSite (or socials)
\t/
License, that you are planning to use:
\t/
Current status/stage of the project. Considering your project, please point out the project stages that you have already accomplished.
The majority of electrical equipment currently available on the market consists of a visual output device, that communicates and interacts with the user through a visual display. Some devices, however, are also equipped with a voice interaction system, that allows users to utilize this technology without using their sight.
Nevertheless, the totality of these electrical devices equipped with an alternative interface is very narrow and confined and is often regarding popular customary appliances, such as smartphones, domestic or medical scales.
In Italy, therefore, finding \u201cvoice instruments\u201d (as weather stations, domestic thermostats, washing machines or digital multimeters) is quite difficult, if not impossible.
Initially, while working in a chemistry lab, I thought about building a measuring instrument particularly useful in these contexts: a speaking pH-meter.
\n\nThe first prototype of this innovative instrument has been carried out through an analog pH sensor, an audio module WTV020, both controlled by an Arduino Uno board, the core of the device.
\n\nThe first version of the speaking pH-meter can pronounce sequentially the entire part, if necessary the word \u201ccomma\u201d and the decimal portion of pH value when the probe is immersed in a liquid.
\n\nIn the following versions, after carrying out some research, I thought about using a Mini DF Player as an audio module, rather than a WTV020 (more troubled and sophisticated to manage), while I decided to use an AtMega 328 as a control unit, streamlining the whole system.
\n\nThe key point of the subsequent developments was the possibility to use the pH-meter vocal system on other instruments, such as a barometer, an ammeter or even a dishwasher.
In order to meet these requirements it is necessary to know how to manage a huge amount of information and values, differently from the pH measurement, that ranges from 0 to 14.
To achieve this it is necessary to subdivide the value or the information in the different parts that compose pronunciation, and subsequently manage microcontroller\u2019s routine in order to play audio tracks.
\n\nThe last step of the project consists of creating a case to contain all the electronic components. As for the small devices, in order to cut costs, I have decided to work with laser cutter machine, puncturing and customizing standard boxes, whenever possible. While, regarding particular devices, I have decided to cut and assemble the different sides of the case.
', u'post_id': 34145, u'user_id': 3775, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-08 13:12:26', u'title': u'MIR application - Voice Instruments'}, {u'content': u'Hi folks!
\n\nMy name is Henry. I met @noemi briefly at the Open State of Politics Camp in northern Germany and after the camp read her article on the camp. This is how I found out about OpenVillage festival. I caught fire on the spot and was instantly keen on coming. So I dropped Noemi a message and now it\'s happening
A few words on my background:
\n\nI\'m born 1978 in Dresden, studied Math in Berlin, worked at a fairly large international company in the clinical research industry until I got super fed up by the top down management style and the general ethics in this field. I quit and then worked in Web Development and Graphics Design as a freelancer full time (I started this as a side project when I was studying) and helped developing the campaigning system of campact - one of the larger German NGO\'s.
\n\nAfter living abroad in Canada and Australia for a while I got on the natural building train, attended the Earthship Academy in the States and after coming back to Berlin in 2013 founded the Earthship Deutschland Network together with two fellow Earthship Lovers who I happened to meet in Berlin. After one year of networking and another winter down in Australia helping organizing natural building workshops with the Agari Crew I got involved with the build of the first German Earthship at the community Schloss Tempelhof. This is where the idea for the Wir bauen Zukunft project was born amongst participants of the quite amazing building workshop. That was end of 2015. Since I\'m heavily involved with the development of the Wir bauen Zukunft project. I still work as a freelance Web Developer and Graphics Designer to rake in the money. Further more I organize and run natural building workshops and seminars together with Lale Rohrbeck under the label down2earth. We also teach at Technical University Berlin.
\n\nMy favourite topic is relationships. How do humans relate to each other? What is a healthy relationship? What role do dependencies play? From my perspective only through relating to other humans and/or to animals, plants, things we are able to evolve. To relate raises potential for growth in the form of challenge. We are challenged to overcome behavioral patterns through personal change, through lifting unconscious reactions to a conscious level in order make active decisions. Hence to relate is a means to be free. This - I think - is why building communities is so essential to move on from the century of self.
\n\nOn the festival I\'m happy to introduce the Wir bauen Zukunft project. A little rundown on the history of the project, where we at, why we are doing what we\'re doing and our vision. It would be a short presentation with Q&A. Let me know if that resonates with you and fits into your program.
\n\nApart from that I would love to host a little workshop on how relationships foster our personal growth, employing the Case Clinic method I learned during a U.Lab Session two years ago. This will give the participants of the workshop the opportunity to learn about the Case Clinic format and about active listening apart from getting a better understanding of the nature of relationships. Let me know if that resonates with you.
\n\nLooking forward to get to meet you all and to have a fantastic time at OpenVillage Festival
Much love
Henry
The Festival program has been assembled in a participatory way, in a slow cooking mode. At its core are pillars of the OpenCare two year research on community alternatives to health and social care. Everywhere we look, from the hyperlocal to the international, people are committed to building solutions. There is a nascent, ambitious, and effective ecosystem of care that is developing in response to the failures of the current models. We aim to highlight and support that development.
\n\nThe structure of the program brings together sessions built around three themes: Open Science, Architecture of Love, and Revolutionary Care. The themes blend and build on one another, reflective of the fundamental interdependence of care. Three fellows were selected from the variety of participants to help curate and develop the three themes as well as the festival itself.
\n\nOne of OpenCare\u2019s core themes has been citizen science and Open Science. Many projects are producing highly promising products and outputs. "We have no capital, no investors, no shares" - Winnie Poncelet has lined up a number of both researchers and champions of affordable and accessible technology for care who are on a learning path to improve coordination and distribute team efforts and value accordingly.
\n\nArchitectures of Love is evoking an important thematic tension between policy and values. Gehan Macleod condensed her question to an essential perspective, asking what foundational parts of a culture contribute to a caregiving society that go beyond formally enforced policies. Experiences from the City of Milano, from community groups in Galway and Glasgow are a few ways to understand what are enablers for citizen-led care responses.
\n\nRevolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy is the third theme of the festival. As we talk about care, we are working to understand how we can live together and how we can develop our lives in commune. We ask the questions around responding to crisis, responding to our needs, and building generational models of care. Finally, as we face the destruction around us, we strive to highlight care as a fundamentally revolutionary act. The Woodbine Health Autonomy collective (represented by Nicole Demby and Frank Coughlin) based in New York City, has curated this theme.
\n\nWe know this festival will be more than another \u201cpassive\u201d conference. The lines between presenter and audience are purposefully blurred and as we have worked to build the Edgeryders community, we will take the information and use it to build tangibly. The first two days will highlight the work of different projects and groups around the world. We look to meet new friends, share embraces with old ones, and learn together. On the third day, we will experiment together as we continue in the process of building new worlds that place our collective well-being at the forefront.
\n\nWe look forward to walking this path with you.
\n\nGehan, Noemi, Nicole, Frank, Winnie
\n\nPower Makes us Sick (PMS) is a creative research project focusing on autonomous health care practices and networks from a feminist perspective. PMS seeks to understand the ways that our mental, physical, and social health is impacted by imbalances in and abuses of power. We can see that mobility, forced or otherwise, is an increasingly common aspect of life in the anthropocene. PMS is motivated to develop free tools of solidarity, resistance, and sabotage that respond to these conditions and are informed by a deep concern for planetary well-being. \xa0PMS is working together to forge an accountability model of health that can function multilocally and without requiring place-based fixity or institutional support.
\n\nThis accountability model for health - mental, physical, and social - will operate irrespective of place, and for all bodies seeking health care in assistance with all ailments and disempowerments. This tool would be informed by the integrated model of health implemented by the clinic at Bio.me in Thessaloniki and the mental health questionnaire developed by the Icarus Project in NYC, and other relevant tools we continue to encounter along the way. Inspired by the Bio.me system, our model functions as a\xa0triage system that helps participants understand the complete picture of a person\u2019s health first through a longform interview, followed by periodic \u2018check-ins\u2019 or urgent calls with the committed group. \xa0case \u2018health practitioners\u2019 are understood as those who share the responsibility of one another\u2019s health. This means that accountability works in all directions and that if we uphold certain procedures, everyone is capable of providing care. Following the initial long interview, a \u2018health card\u2019 is generated and shared among the team, which includes the care seeker. This serves as a health record that can be added to over time and that the care seeker can use in emergencies. Through long term support and awareness of individual and social patterns, the health care practitioners can connect health care seekers with local resources, provide consultation,\xa0and solidarity.
', u'post_id': 826, u'user_id': 3589, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-30 14:36:41', u'title': u'Power Makes Us Sick'}, {u'content': u'\n\nFor the session I will give a lecture of 40 min on making complex information accessible. It is an active session with visuals, sound and video. After the lecture, there is room for discussion. The movie about water issues at Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal can also be shown, to serve as an example.
\n\nFly fishing is another way of making environmental issues accessible. It also has educational and therapeutic value that has been used in several organizations in the United States to works with individuals recovering from breast cancer or PTSD. It is also used to get children outside and connect them to their environments.
\n\nWe will do a demo workshop on fly fishing, involving a local school and participants of the festival can also join. The group will go to a body of water close by and learn fly fishing techniques. The fly fishing is also a way into learning about environment, physics, biology and your surroundings.
\n\nThe session can be supplemented with citizen science research on water quality, through biotic index (measuring water quality through the type and amount of living organisms in the water) or microbiotic activity (measuring the type and amount of micro-organisms).
\n\nAs the group will be diverse and there are multiple things to do, we\u2019ll work with a rotation, so that everyone gets to do a little of everything.
\n\nThe session should not be limited to the festival for its impact. It would be good if this format can be reused by other schools. Communicate about it with pictures, videos, etc. beforehand, during and after so that there is a lot of documentation: a mini website.
\n\nWhat we still need for the session:
\n\nAn issue I experienced is finding opportunities to let people know that what we are doing. There will probably be others active in similar fields, so a session/workshop that creates a concrete output on this topic to take home would be nice!
', u'post_id': 6429, u'user_id': 3422, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-21 03:44:21', u'title': u'Session: Complexities of Water - Investigating Clean Water for Community'}, {u'content': u'\u201cLocal authorities are no longer perceived as the only party expected to solve complex issues in cities\u201d (source)
\n\nThis post follows a conversation between Pieter Deschamps (www.labvantroje.be/en) and @Noemi and aims to provide ideas about effective urban mobilization and partnership building between cities and citizens.
\n\nLiving Streets is a project in Ghent, Belgium, where neighbors collaborate to temporarily redesign their streets for a couple of months, when neighborhood parking areas are marked down away from the street. You would see safe playgrounds built, or new green meeting spaces, or social, communal activities. A flagship project of the Trojan Lab non-profit, it went on for 4 years now, involving more than 25 streets, but as an experiment, it also had an expiration date: the end of 2017. An experiment as it was, its eyes were always on the prize: exploring a new approach of public space, finding alternatives for street parking and reworking people\u2019s relationship with city officials.
\n\n\n\nThe story begins with the city administration itself: in 2011 it was part of a European program\xa0about the transition to a climate neutral city. The result was that we should rethink the mobility system in order to become climate neutral. Beginning of 2012, the city of Ghent started a transition arena. Pieter was one of the 20 people involved in this arena, as he used to work for the National Railway Company and involved in sustainable mobility development. These 20 people were brought together, and\xa0had the opportunity to be critical on the current system but also had the power of imagining a future vision, how it could be better.
\n\nIn this process, after six months, the arena developed a transition agenda for sustainable mobility in Ghent, where a couple of critical choices were identified,\xa0that needed to be made to achieve that vision. \u201cHard choices\u201d they called them: two of them were the basis for the Living Street project. So:
\n\n1) The arena had the vision
\n\n2)\xa0They determined some critical hard choices, policy making decisions
\n\n3)\xa0At that point the arena had developed about 10 ideas for how this can be put in practice. Living Streets was one of these ideas.
\n\nPieter: \u201cAfter 6 months we pitched these ideas and while the city\u2019s work was done at the time, we didn\u2019t feel we were done. I will always remember that night. These 20 people sat in a bar and said \u201chow can we make our ideas real\u201d. That\u2019s how it all started.\u201d
\n\nThe group didn\u2019t have a status at the time, they weren\u2019t the government neither a NGO. It was just a group of people that went on and organized in 2013 the first Living Streets in 2 streets. The city of Ghent helped by giving the permission to experiment with a new kind of street.
\n\nPieter: \u201cWe evaluated it with the city administration and wanted to carry on. We needed a legal status for two reasons: first, to be legally covered when things go wrong, and be able to protect ourselves and the project. A second is that we were starting to work with money, we had private sponsors and companies saying they were interested in what we are trying to discover. We organized an NGO, very close to the city organisation, because we wanted to change the system.\u201d
\n\nThe mission of that NGO (The Trojan Lab) was - within the timeframe of 5 years, and importantly, in between 2 elections - organizing as many as possible experiments and gather lessons, see what dynamics all this can start. We\u2019ll stop before the elections to make sure that every political group has the possibility to take the lessons and translate them into the government system.
\n\nThe Living Street experiment has 3 strategic goals:
\n\n1) How can we evolve from street park to neighborhood parking?
\n\n2)\xa0How can we turn grey streets to more lively/colorful streets?
\n\n3)\xa0If we create spaces on street level where people can meet each other and come together in a peaceful way, will this strengthen social cohesion in the neighborhood?
\n\nEvaluation was in-built, it had to do with the process of arriving at a Living Street.
\n\nPieter: \u201cWe started engaging people with the question \u201cWhat if?\u201d; mapping the ideas and also the interests of people. \u201cHow do I look at my neighborhood?\u201d from the perspective of social security, traffic, safety, more green in the streets,... For each remark we mobilize our network and creativity to support initiators from each street to find solutions. After that process is done, the people come up with a vision for their living street, that will be implemented in practice. Evaluation is an ongoing process, so things can be changed during it.\u201d
\n\nThe project is driven by the communities in the city. The Trojan Lab started the mapping and year after year new people were interested to help and lead the process, or involve others. The quality check was always done by the organization.
\n\nPieter: \u201cIn terms of social cohesion, it\u2019s crystal clear after 51 Living Street-processes in Ghent, we created a new space at street level that improves relations between residents, between the city government and his residents and we discovered innovative solutions to redesign the street and park the car at a neighborhood parking.
\n\nThe Trojan Lab and the volunteers from the Living streets are now helping the local government to think about and rethink how Living Streets would look like without the role of the Trojan Lab. What\u2019s in it for the city administration: it involves bringing different public stakeholders together with those who have participated from the streets, to think how it can continue in the upcoming years. Are you also dreaming of a living street? Share your stories with the pioneers of Ghent.
\n\nWebsite: \xa0www.livingstreet.eu
\n\ninfo@livingstreet.eu
', u'post_id': 33746, u'user_id': 3564, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-02 21:04:09', u'title': u'Living Streets: experimenting with the city of tomorrow?'}, {u'content': u'
One of the projects I\u2019m looking forward to learning more about at the Festival is Open Rampette. Matteo Matteini is part of the OpenCare team at the City of Milan bringing his background in urban sociology to the project. In my original theme proposal I\u2019d set out a hope to explore the role of policy within the context of a networked and complex world. What if policy isn\u2019t an effective tool to deliver a course of action any more? Before their involvement in OpenCare this might have been a suggestion that would have been supported by experience in Milan. In early 2015, the City of Milan passed a law requiring all commercial and public premises bordering the road to provide access to people with limited mobility or disabilities. Fifteen months later, only 10% of businesses had complied with the new regulations. However, I was curious to learn during a call with Matteo that this was not as simple as demonstrating the limited efficacy of policy. He went on to describe the processes that OpenCare project partners had used to help turn round that low compliance rate.
It seems that by adopting a multi-stakeholder approach involving a range of partners from multiple perspectives along with facilitating processes that bring collective intelligence into play, that policies can be rendered effective tools that achieve the desired outcomes - in this case greater accessibility by those with mobility issues. For those who haven\u2019t yet caught Matteo\u2019s post on how we can implement policies through collaborative processes - you\u2019ll catch that here. Working with WeMake to co-design a process that would facilitate listening and cultivate relationships based on mutual understanding seems to have been key.
\n\n
\n\nOpen Rampette\u2019s strong partnership approach will be evident at the Open Village session as Matteo will be joined by Lucia Scopelliti, Head of Economic Planning at Comune di Milano and Costantino Bongiorno of FabLab WeMake. They will share diverse perspectives on the project and its successes.\n\n
One of the criteria for the successes now being achieved through Open Rampette seems to be process design and deliberate steps to include all stakeholders; those holding different roles within the public administration, at various levels of seniority as well as shopkeepers and business owners and of course members of the public with mobility issues impacted by the lack of access to shops and other facilities. A particular challenge seems to have been engaging all the \u2018actors\u2019 within the public administration - something that was only achieved through persistent engagement to form the necessary relationships. Shopkeepers were another distinct stakeholder group - when the project team started talking to them they found that by and large they were willing to comply with the regulation and make their shops accessible, but they couldn\u2019t afford technical expertise to implement a solution. This was another role that WeMake were able to fill. They helped facilitate a process of co-design to include all the stakeholders in finding technical solutions, including a means by which those with mobility issues could contact the shopkeepers to alert them to their arrival.
Matteo also described the issues that can arise for lawmakers who devise regulations in isolation from those affected by the implications of implementation. In this case, the regulation created some complex protocols with which shopkeepers and businesses had to comply. This in itself was a barrier, quite apart from any other considerations such as cost, technical expertise and inconvenience. alessandro_contini agrees; \u201cIt\u2019s very common for bureaucratic procedures to be designed in a way that first off satisfies bureaucracy needs.\u201d Costantino and Alessandro have brought a social design to public policy as Costantino describes in his post as agile policymaking; \u201cSmall iterations, user research, interviews are few elements that guided our design process. While those concepts and tools are well accepted in the world of the industry..., in the domain of policymaking, regulations, and administration of city they haven\'t been quite discovered yet. We believe that some of the techniques we adopted can be translated in the exciting domain of the city regulatory system.\u201d
As a result of OpenCare, Matteo sees some lasting changes in the form of new approaches; \u201cOur mindset as an administration has changed due to OpenCare and its influencing how other departments work too. We are learning to deal with people differently through OpenCare.\u201d Partners from Milan will share their learning during a session on day 2 of Open Village.
Posts from the team are well worth a read:
A panel session moderated by Eric Osiakwan
\n\n#OpenVillage, 19-21 October, Brussels
\n\nYou want to sustain the good work you are doing. In a resource-strained world, you need to be smarter in how you search for and acquire resources. What models are most future proof? Funding is perhaps an obvious means but is getting harder to access and research funding often is focused on serving particular sets of interests.
\n\nThis session will take a broader look at how to sustain our work in a rapidly changing context. Panel members will share their expertise, followed by Open Space to give participants an opportunity to explore particularly relevant ideas or models in more detail.
\n\nThis session has been developed to span all the themes at Open Village, from open science to collective living and working, to culture and policy. What kind of sub topics do you want to see covered in this panel? We want your thoughts on this as well as the kind of panel members you\'d love to hear from.
\n\nWhile we build the lineup, feel free to put yourself forward as an active contributor and get a ticket to #openvillage!
\n\n\n\n| \n Paola Villarreal \n\nPaola will contribute her experience in doing programming for the greater good and the challenges of financing the work. Paola started applying for fellowships in 2014 (she was a Mozilla Open Web Fellow), and developed a personal strategy to get funding. Her experience has to do with training oneself to find out the funders\' perspective and possible adjusting one\'s research to increase the odds to get a project supported. \n\n Some background reading:\n\n | \n\n Chris Cook \n\nChris has had an unconventional career path that takes in the UK Department of Trade and Industry; market regulation and development as a Director of the International Petroleum Exchange and then a Dot Com entrepreneur in the world of global markets. This path came to an abrupt end when he blew the whistle on oil market shenanigans and since then he has been researching more enlightened - peer-to-peer - approaches to the flawed system he had left.\n\n Some background reading:\n\n Meet the Market Developer: A Conversation with Chris Cook\n\n \n\n | \n
| \n Eric Osiakwan \n\nEntrepreneur and Investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership across Africa and the world. Eric was part of the team that built the TEAMS submarine cable in East Africa - he has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. He serves on the board of several organisations like Farmerline, Forhey and many more - some of which are his investments. Eric is a Poptech, TED, Stanford, MIT and Harvard fellow. \n\n \n\n\n | \n
Following the suggestion from @noemi I would love to share and propose to realize an Urban Game during the first afternoon of the Festival both as a strategy to faster enter in touch with the participant and also as a way to explore the #opencare themes in a non-conventional and non-\u201cconferential\u201d way.
\n\nAn Urban Game is usually a playful activity that takes place in public spaces, here is a comprehensive list of urban games (from street games to pervasive games) and some definition.
\n\nIn the past I\u2019ve contributed to create various urban games that managed to start conversations around complex topics and enlarged the community interested on that.
\n\n__
\n\nMaybe is interesting to share a case study, which is the Basilicata Border Games, that we designed and produced in the summer of 2013 in Basilicata, Italy.
\n\nBasically the goal of the game was to spread themes and topics that were part of the Matera 2019 candidacy also to those segment of the society that usually weren\u2019t involved in the conversation.
\n\nWe decided to design and set up a pacific and creative invasion of 4 Basilicata\u2019s major cities, occupying the city center and playing in the various neighborhood during the day.
\n\nGames and tasks that we played weren\u2019t directly connected to the Matera Candidacy Dossier contents, but because of the shock and non alignment of the performance, we managed to bring the people in the street and THEN starting the conversation about the candidacy.
\n\n
I think that a similar strategy could work also during the OpenVillage Festival, but maybe we can push a little further the experiment and try also to perform activities and games directly related to the topic of the Festival.
\n\nNoemi states \u201cour aim with the game is to collectively learn and demonstrate in practical ways different aspects of care - new and open practices, products, relationships between participants in an ecosystem.\u201d
\n\nA format that we already tested various times and we could adapt for the Festival is called Incognito Battleclash, is an urban game in which teams (made by 10 to 15 people) compete against the time with the main goal of completing a set of creative and interactive tasks.
\n\nGame Dynamics
Every team will receive a secret envelopes where they will find the list of tasks that they have to complete, with a fixed score. Envelopes will be delivered in 5 times in 5 different locations of the city. Every team will testify the accomplishment of the tasks through the use of a sport camera (GoPro) and their own mobile devices (we could use WhatsApp or Telegram to collect all the materials).
Duration and timing
The experience will last for a total of 4 hours, divided as the following: Intro > rules, team creation, tools test > 30 minutes Game > 5 envelopes in 5 different locations > 2.30 hours (one envelope every 30 minute) Closing > Chill out time, mission\u2019s review, prize moment, 45 minutes It must to be considered at least a 15 minutes delay gap.
Urban Route
In order to fit the Open Village format, the game could start in the location of the Festival (the easiest way to have all the participants ready to go), and finish at a dinner location or a pub, where the player could have the opportunity to interact, share stories and chill out. The Open Village location could also be a great ending locations, players could leave their things there and play more freely, and we will then explore the surroundings of the area.
Usually checkpoint are located at 15 to 20 minutes walking distance and connected with path that could cross public spaces, parks or pedestrian areas.
Name
Incognito Battleclash is not exactly in line with the goal that we want to reach, so maybe could be cool to come up with a different name?
Tasks
The tasks design will be based on the Open Village contents in order to achieve a tasks-list of 25 missions, divided between the 5 envelopes and organized in a crescendo.
Health, citizen science, care, body fitness will be mixed with funny and interactive tasks, to involve also passer-by and citizens.
Output
We will have a massive amount of video/pictures and other player generated materials that could be helpful to describe and share the topics of the Festivals.
BIG OPEN QUESTION
The tasks/creative missions are the core of the game, and could lead the experience in one or in the other direction (simple fun vs serious game).
Then probably the best way to understand that is starting throwing ideas about the tasks lists and see how far or how close we are from the Festival topics.
\n\nOPEN QUESTION
Incognito Battleclash is an already tested format (we did it in Roma few month ago with 50 people), but we can also imagine something more complex (single urban games in the different Checkpoints?).
I\u2019m a designer, nurse, yoga teacher, food grower and performer, currently studying Business Enterprise and Community Development with Equal Ireland. I\u2019m lucky to have had many learning opportunities, and the freedom to let that knowledge merge.
\n\nI volunteer at a community/school garden (Soil Chro\xed \xcdosa) with Transition Galway and was a writer/editor and designer for our \u201cA Vision for Galway 2030\u201d document.
\n\nI\u2019m also Resilience Coordinator with An \xc1it Eile (The Other Place), a cultural organisation in Galway, with an amazing network of collaborators. In 2015 I was invited to open meetings by An \xc1it Eile (A\xc1E), mapping potential groups who could potentially fill a community led cultural hub in Galway. Some of the groups I\u2019m active with matched perfectly, so they were an easy fit. I developed the idea as part of my college work, with input from A\xc1E.
\n\nNext was \u201cPilgrim\u201d, again collaborating with A\xc1E, entered for the European Capital of Culture 2020 bidbook for Galway. Working around 3 thematics, Monastery (inspired by unMonastery), Meitheal (Irish term for a work party) and Pilgrimage.
\n\nIn October we done this...
\n\n\n\nKeeping momentum, we tested unMonastery/Monastery in early December, 2017. 4 days at Cregg Castle, PreMonastery; a Rural Reconnaissance. A range of skilled individuals involved with a range community groups and initiatives, and collaboration with @Nadia (EdgeRyders LBG). We\u2019ve just submitted our report to Galway 2020. Many outcomes during and after the event including the adding of stories to Opencare.
\n\nWe\u2019re hoping to roll out Pilgrim: Year One this year. The provisional plan feels epic. Joining the med-hack revolution and design/build small spaces looks like a promising direction. Sharpening existing knowledge/skills, then application and outcomes.
\n\n', u'post_id': 812, u'user_id': 3433, u'timestamp': u'2017-02-03 17:36:31', u'title': u'Freeflow Creativity'}, {u'content': u'My name is Nabeel Petersen, a South African citizen on a mission to design and test novel methods for Science Communication, Research and to foster collaboration and stimulate dialogue. I have been employed in the non profit sector as a Project Manager on various projects, after having explored and tested theatrical/drama techniques and incorporating that into Science Communication and Health Messaging. And let me tell you, I am completely motivated and inspired by this community and others toward this goal and Public Engagement.
\n\nMy experience as a process facilitator includes various participatory methods including: photovoice, drama, collaborative/participatory video, workshop design and events design. I\'ve resigned from my formal job in order to test additional methods which I believe have the power to stimulate dialogue, forge relationships across difference sectors and reach larger audiences in organic, fun and interactive means.
\n\nSince resigning from my formal employment, I\'ve begun developing concepts using Street Arts and collaborations to install live arts installations driven toward Public Engagement. Now, Public Engagement as a term itself is not void of ambiguity and misuse for the purpose of funding or green-stamping our professional works. This isn\'t anyone\'s fault as it\'s a field that is developing. We should strive for full participation in our works, not merely using the term as a stamp of approval. My project aims to forge relationships with very different bodies of knowledge and social status, i.e. biomedical professionals/scientists, community members and artists, all of whom I argue have equally important and necessary knowledge to combat illness, increase the status of general Public Health and, simply put, fight a battle using a full arsenal of knowledge and weapons.\xa0
\n\n
Allow me to rewind, ever so slightly to paint a picture. I\'ve previously sought to test photovoice as a participatory method by forging relationships with community members from an under-resourced community in Cape Town, South Africa, and Scientists from the University of the Western Cape. The project sought to bring these varied parties together in a participatory workshop process, after which community members were trained on DSLR cameras and instructed to capture the lived experience of food in their everyday lives. They could capture anything related but not limited to\xa0the purchase, consumption or disposal of food. This project revolved around Cardiovascular disease and the Scientists involved were Seniors at the Cardiovascular Research Unit at the University of Stellenbosch. The array of visual material and accompanying narrative was phenomenal and utterly beautiful. It shed light on the constant negotiation of food and consumption in these communities, including the availability of food, what kind of food was deemed healthy or not, when it was suitable for food to be disposed, food as celebration and community building etc. To me, and the Scientists involved, this process unveiled knowledge on food consumption behaviour and more structural issues imposed on these communities. It was never simply a "I want KFC and I shall buy KFC". This food choice is always compounded by budget, compromise, available options, time of the month, etc. People are consciously and constantly negotiating and re-negotiating choices. My heart broke when a Senior member of the project sample pulled me aside mid-project and told me ...
\n\n"Nabeel, I\'ve suffered from Type 2 Diabetes for 15 years. At least thats what the doctors told me. They gave me medication and send me away each month. But never before has anyone told me what Diabetes is in a way that I understand. Never before have they taken time to talk with me. But now I have these scientists in my backyard. And they can\'t leave until I know my body"...
\n\nIt\'s necessary to point out that even though this community has an approximate population of 100 000 it only has one superstore that either of us would immediately turn our back on. Most food products are sourced from small kiosks on the corners. Yes, I am still in shock. How and why are the most vulnerable excluded from knowledge and provision of services? An alarm bell rang in my head that I could not ignore since I resigned. We\'ve been running projects with a very specific agenda which more often than not in the non-profit sector provides an income and life for the administering organization. The sad truth is peoples knowledge are not given the kudos and respect it desperately needs. And in this battle, that may just be our most prize weapon.\xa0
\n\nFastforward 8 months and I\'ve developed a concept which: 1. aims to bring 3 very different bodies of knowledge together in a participatory,\xa0collaborative and egalitarian process; 2. forge relationships between these traditionally-deemed exclusive fields, i.e. arts and science and; 3. test organic and participatory processes to create events and arts installations that extends this knowlege to a broader audience in a fun interactive means.
\n\nNow. Back to my current project...\xa0
\n\nI have recently collaborated with the University of Cape Town\'s Swallowing the World project which is a curatorial project focused on the lived experience of TB. My team of graffiti artists and I joined the festival, set up 2.5 x 2.5m canvas in the middle of campus and contributed to this project on International TB Day. As the focus of the fest was on Destigmatization, we followed suit and allowed interaction between the audience and ourselves to influence or define the artpiece. A\xa0short video of our work:
\n\n\xa0\n\nThis project will be installed in South Africa, India and Botswana simultaneously and attempts to use culturally- and community-sensitve street art forms. As such, we are holding participatory principles as central to the success of the project as we would like to design the project trajectory, outcomes and art installations/events with all participants. You may be thinking that no Funder finds this ideal. Alas, we\'re all wrong. We have had alot of interaction with a potential funder who chose to view the testing phase on UCT in livetime. This live time viewing feature of our project is something we would want to function very much like Edgeryders as it allows for collaborations and creativity between individuals and entities that may not traditionally interact.\xa0
\n\nThis leaves me at your feet as I\'d love feedback, interaction and potentially consider collaborations with not only this project but others moving forward. I\'d love to work in varying contexts and establish relationships between and across scientists, community members and artists from varying countries. This will be my next step. Apart from the actual arts installations and events, as products, we will be developing a best practices publication focused on the entire project in each 3 countries. I will also carry my "researcher" hat for the duration of this project as I wish to study: the interaction;\xa0immediate knowledge transfer between scientists, community members and artists; retained knowledge and overall impact. I would openly accept any suggestions or feedback...\xa0
\n\nFor now I continue on my mission to test community- sensitive and -relevant means of expression and trying to find ways of using those tried and tested methods as communication tools. After all, what we want are healthier , expressive and inclusive communities whether you choose to define that territorially or otherwise. Only together can we progress...\xa0
\n\n
This exercise is an opportunity to reflect on what you skills would like to develop in the course of building a product or service with others. As well as which skills you can offer those who could use a little help.
\n\nShare a little information with your peers about yourself and what you especially enjoy doing. You don't need to be an expert, a little experience is enough.
\n\nThink about what something you would like to learn. Have a look at the list below. Think about
\n\nLast October, during the Makerfaire in Rome, the opencare WeMake team was exhibiting in front of project Hubotics! \xa0\xa0A DIY solution that provides customized physiotherapy at home. \xa0Composed of 3D printed parts, and a simple mobile app, the solution works in a way that makes it easy to stimulate muscles and nerves of the patient who needs therapy, with customized motion and power. \xa0\xa0
\n\nA wonderful family was in the Hubotics booth. \xa0I had a chance to interview Luca, the project co-founder, who was demonstrating the project and openly shared the story of his solution below.
\n\nThe project is still in development and is in need of testers, read the story and see if you can take part in the project in its current status.
\n\n1. \xa0How did you start the project? What were your motivations?
\n\nThe Hubotics project started in late 2013. At that point I was about to finish my Master\u2019s studies and I wanted to add a practical side to my technical skills as an engineer and as a passionate DIYer by developing accessible technologies and aids which could have helped improving independence for people suffering from motor disabilities. Actually, the reason why I decided to study engineering and became a builder and hacker stemmed from my personal experience with my sister Chiara, who suffers from a motor disability.
\n\nI remember, as a child, my parents used to buy plenty of super expensive devices, as computer headsets, mice, keyboards or having to travel back and forth between clinics and private medical studios to have access to the \u201clatest\u201d rehabilitation techniques. After having hacked wheelchairs, remote controls for doors and televisions inside our house and having realized several other robotic contraptions, I realized that achievement of independence through the use of one\u2019s own body is one of the most gratifying experiences everyone could hope for, that\u2019s how the idea of creating an exoskeleton to be used in everyday\u2019s life was born.
\n\n2. Did you start alone? How long did it take to develop the initial prototype? How was it funded?
\n\nAround that time, I started speaking about these ideas with Roberto, a friend with whom I had studied between Torino and Milano. Together, we started brainstorming and discussing and we finally converged on the idea of developing a low-cost, 3D printed exoskeleton for rehabilitation and assistance of upper-limbs, directly at people\u2019s homes.
\n\nThe idea was proposed at the Telecom Italia WCAP accelerator in Catania that believed in the project and decided to fund us. This allowed us to buy the 3D printers and the components to build and iterate on our ideas and prototypes. The first reliable prototype of the device, finalized in one year, consisted of a wearable, smartphone-controlled, elbow exoskeleton.
\n\nAfter showing the device at the MakerFaire 2015 in Rome and gathering plenty of positive feedback, we understood that the project had plenty of potential and decided to keep working on it.
\n\nWhat is your current status now?
\n\nToday, together with Roberto and Chiara, we keep on improving our devices and iterate on the designs in order to achieve a concept as usable and useful as possible while maximizing customizability and accessibility. Our latest device consists of an exoskeleton with 3 active degrees of freedom for controlling the shoulder abduction/adduction, shoulder flexion/extension and elbow flexion/extension of its wearer.
\n\nThe device can be controlled by means of a smartphone app or by a program with predefined motions/tasks.
\n\n5. How do you see it moving forward? What kind of help/expertise/data that is missing for moving to a next phase?
\n\nOur main objective in the near future is running experiments with potential users of the exoskeleton and their relatives, in order to gather further feedback and improve our devices based on this.
\n\n\xa0Additionally, we are brainstorming on possible models that would allow the project to keep its philosophy of openness and accessibility while making it economically sustainable. For example, how to fund the project in order to promote further development? How to enable open/low-cost and customizable solutions capable of reaching end-users? How to ensure that these devices would work (and keep working) at users\u2019 houses (services?), all these are open questions that we will be working on for the next phase.
', u'post_id': 806, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-06 09:27:53', u'title': u'The story of Hubotics -- A DIY physiotherapy kit'}, {u'content': u'I met Sigried some years ago when I was working on a Parc project in Brussels and we had long discussions about the way she looks at the balance between public and private space. Between then and now she experimented around public \u2013 private space in Istambul, the Netherlands, Brussels and chose to practice her philosophy with her boyfriend, a product designer by living small (We\xa0Live\xa0Small\xa0is an on-going experiment developing tools to make living in\xa0small space possible.)
\n\nWhen we meet again she comes back from a week working in her apartment and starts explaining why they chose to live small. For her living in a condensed space within the city is ideal if you design it well. In Belgium people have the reflex to buy fast, and you feel a societal pressure around it. Because buying in the city become impossible, people find big houses farther away from the city. But big houses means a lot of possessions, and it means working harder in desk jobs in the city, which means again more stress. So the logical decision to stop this infernal spiral for them was to choose to live small, really small, and use the exterior as complementary.
\n\nThe secret of living decently in the city is to manage space and time differently, but she is aware that it becomes more difficult. Public space isn\u2019t anymore a space for everybody, but a space for nobody. A cleaned-out space that only looks pretty. Because our fascination for more sterile environments we lost the skills to interact with each other. Who needs to interact with your neighbour if you have all the space you need inside your private home. Living small could bring back the necessity of interaction and borrowing stuff from your neighbours, helping create a much-needed social fabric to your neighbourhood.
\n\nWhen she works for the semi-public private space project Huis VDH she finds the same logic. Creating common spaces that gives the feeling of a home, but are able to invite people over to use it in certain ways. Why have a big living room with kitchen for social events that you organize four times a year at home when you could share such space with other people. Some things can be privatized but not everything. In the same line of thought she sees empty spaces above shops or pubs and restaurants as an opportunity to create common spaces for people living small. You could think: why not set bigger apartments above those places? That could immediately make it difficult for the bar or restaurant holder to continue his night live activities, and also this plays an important role in the city.
\n\n\u2018But how could it directly be linked with care?\u2019, i asked her. She takes the example of elderly care, also discussed in the interview with Ginette where people even if they live in big houses don\u2019t have the time anymore to care for their elderly and put them into homes, from own experience we conclude that the home isn\u2019t the best designed space to give good care. Making effort to create a nice environment for the elder people could help them feel well longer. We know from studies that interaction is a key in stopping elderly dementia. So having public spaces designed around giving care and sharing part of your lives with unknown people could be a major incentive for our future problems with ageing population.
\n\nWhen living in Istanbul it occurred to her that people interacted much more easily with each other in the street, even complete strangers could discuss with each other when waiting for the bus. She doesn\u2019t know exactly why it occurred much more often in Istambul then in Brussels but she had the feeling the way we use time was part of the solution. Living small gives you much more time to just sit around, be outside and make you car independent. Only this simple part, of not having a car makes you much more able to interact with the people you see. But don\u2019t be alarmed; this discussion didn\u2019t became a \u2018everything was better in the past\u2019 discussion.
\n\nCascoland was another project where she worked around public and private space. One of the tasks she had was to implement a sharing community inside a mixed neighbourhood. Like in Germany or Suisse they printed out little signs of objects anybody could put on their door to show they can lent this out. What was interesting was the conclusion: when explaining the concept to people with only Dutch roots they answered almost all the time: but I have nothing to share. For them it was a difficult step to share something of their belongings with their neighbours. When explaining the concept to people with Arab roots for example they didn\u2019t have a problem with sharing and where found of the idea, but had a problem with the fact the stickers would become an opportunity for other people to come inside. Inside their community they already had all the needed interaction and didn\u2019t want something external extra. A compromise could be the organization Tournevie that puts in disposal several tools for the community. A semi-private public space, as we understand it.
\n\nWe conclude on the fact that the creation of digital tools will not alone be the solution, what we need are well thought of spaces that give people the possibility to live at a descent standard without needing to fall in the spiral of a purely private ownership.
\n\nSigried will be participating to the Open&Change Workshop in Brussels and will be working on the scenography of the place to give it a welcoming space to be creative about care solutions. \xa0
', u'post_id': 745, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-15 17:28:13', u'title': u'How is living space related with care? Meet Sigried, an Interior Designer devoted to changing how we look at space'}, {u'content': u'"All of us, regardless of our background, have a major role to play in addressing the challenges to a sustainable future. It is by \'doing science together\' that we combine our resources and expertise to raise awareness, build capacity, and innovative lasting solutions grounded in society." This is the motto of our project TogetherScience.eu.
\n\nHello Everyone! It is with great excitement that I join the first #OpenVillage in Brussels. At OpenVillage I look forward to meeting and learning from you all and being inspired by your ideas, approaches, joy for life, and drive. I also look forward to roll-up my sleeves and connect, hands-on, with projects that seek to engender meaningful change socially and personally.
\n\nAs many of you reading this, I wear \'several hats\', pulling knowledge, ideas, and resources from various sources and experiences to create engaging spaces/conditions for enriching exchanges. My hats: I am a research associate at the Extreme Citizen Science research group with Prof Muki Haklay at University College London. Here I develop and promote techniques for public engagement in Do-It-Yourself science and technology. My research focuses on the taken-for-granted process of inquiry that underlie all exploration and discovery and which represent ownership over learning and action: figuring things out by oneself, experimenting, seeking knowledge, and questioning the state of things to find potential solutions to local concerns. I have also developed frameworks for the understanding of factors influencing our engagement in inquiry and initiative-taking at the personal, organisational, and societal levels. I am also a London-based community organiser for the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, a not-for-profit organisation and community that creates accessible, low-cost civically engaged monitoring methods. As community organiser I work with communities, researchers, and stewards on the use and development of DIY tools for environmental monitoring. I am also co-founder of Citizens without Borders, a London-based group dedicated to creating spaces for exchange that build the public\u2019s capacity to act as civic agents. I am founder of \'Science has no Borders\', an initiative through our project TogetherScience.eu, which is committed to science that benefits from community and aims at creating an environment for networked engagement to learn, connect, and gain feedback on ideas, prototypes, and projects. Together with my team at UCL we lead on the Horizon 2020 EU project, "Doing It Together Science" - TogetherScience.eu, which aims to bridge the gap between civic agency in science/technology and policy. In this project I focus on consortium management, development of public engagement activities in Biodesign and Environmental Sustainability, the formative evaluation of the project, and the capacity building, self-care, and well-being of science event facilitators and \'DIY science educators\'. For the latter, we are creating online resources on shared good practice, gaining meaningful feedback, engagement, outreach, science communication, and inclusion techniques.
\n\nI\'ll be participating in the Infrastructures for Autonomy panel discussing sustainability of initiatives and organiser\'s self-care. I will be also video-documenting your learning and experiences at the festival - look out for a video camera if you\'d like to share your voice (and discuss how the videos will be used)!
', u'post_id': 36576, u'user_id': 3958, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-19 08:52:53', u'title': u'Another introductory hello: Organisational capacity & self-care as infrastructure for autonomy'}, {u'content': u'Last week, the Republican Party here in the U.S. failed in its last attempt to repeal Obamacare\u2014though that isn\u2019t stopping the Trump administration from trying to systematically undo ACA\u2019s provisions. Meanwhile, last month Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill for universal, single-payer health insurance that has drawn unprecedented levels of support from a broad coalition of democrats.
\n\nThere are those enduring acute crises\u2014citizens of Puerto Rico facing an immediate future without electricity and clean water, those suddenly robbed of a loved one in Las Vegas\u2014but for many, life toggles between the perpetual reminders of how bad things are on the news and some more mundane reality. Even for those for whom the everyday is an enduring state of crisis\u2014the undocumented mother, the uninsured person with a grave illness, the opioid addict, the trans person living in the wrong city\u2014life takes on its daily, unspectacular rhythms, settles into its stabilities.
\n\nThere is a lot of doomsday sentiment floating around these days that transcends class and political affiliation. A devout state policeman who engaged us in conversation when our car ran out of gas on a Virginia freeway said standing by as white nationalists clashed with Antifa in Charlottesville bolstered his belief that the prophecies of Revelations were underway. Silicon Valley billionaires are designing their post-apocalyptic contingency plans. The \u201cprepper\u201d industry is thriving. But, while some live in immediate anticipation of societal collapse, Sanders\u2019 bill reminds us that there is also the capacity for major reform. The barrage of monster storms and renewed nuclear brinksmanship under the reign of a \u201csentient bathroom swastika with the personality of a yeast infection\u201d has snapped even the complacent into some new level of alertness, yet for many, fear and discontent organizes itself around to the liberal horizon of the 2020 presidential elections.
\n\nLike others on the radical left, we at Woodbine probably fall closer to the doomsday camp. Yet, as we take pains to build and broaden our vision, we should imagine not only some Murphy\u2019s Law future of hegemonic fascism or imminent disintegration, but also what the best-case scenarios might be within the present system. Doing so will help us better delineate the strategic nature of our struggle, and to better articulate the imperative for a truly alternative future. We should ask ourselves the question: is there a difference between futures that some of us could live with and a universally livable future?
\n\nArmchair radicals are quick to distance themselves from anything that smells of the dreaded reform, rather than revolution. Yet, that these radicals tend to be single, white men with limited care duties should make us skeptical of snide, wholesale dismissals. Expanded state welfare is a good thing. Yet it is also far from the be all end all of our struggle. In order to understand why, it helps to turn to the devastating critiques leveled by those who have always been systematically abjected from capitalist society in all its iterations, such as Afropessimists who know that Blackness is what is structurally negated, or Marxist feminists who understand that capitalism will always relegate aspects of care or social reproduction to the realm of the unwaged or onto the shoulders of the most marginalized. Likewise, health is not simply denied by any one lobby or administration; it is what is negated by capitalist society. This negation may not be a structural condition in the same way as the extermination of blackness and the subordination of women; in industrial society, capitalism had to take ensure the body of the worker had enough of what it needed to keep returning daily to work. Within late capitalism, it is the body of the consumer that must be maintained (or the body of the potential angry horde that must be assuaged). Yet the negation of health has always been one of capitalism\u2019s de facto effects. The body it preserves is one robbed from us and remade in all its parts according to the profit motive, one pumped full of industrial poisons, one fashioned according to a productive, compliant, white heterocissexist ideal.
\n\nWe can\u2019t let the embattling of our rights defensively delimit our terms. Take, for instance, the relentless attack on reproductive rights currently underway in this country. This week, the Trump administration put forth rules that would expand the rights of employers to deny women coverage for birth control. But should we simply fight to restore the universal coverage mandate for contraceptives under Obama? If we want women to truly have control over their bodies, we must acknowledge that hormonal birth control\u2014designed to suppress naturally-occurring androgens and so to reduce body hair and acne, often given to teenagers without their full understanding of its effects\u2014is part of a regime that regulates gender and functions within a provider-consumer model of care that robs people of agency over their bodies (as Luiza Prado de O. Martins explains, these \u201csexopolitical\u201d medications can also be \u201c(mis)used to articulate new ways of doing gender,\u201d but these ways deviate from the medicalized norm). We need to do more than argue for the restoration or the expansion of a system that has enabled liberation for some (with liberation being the freedom to join the workforce), while cruelly oppressing others\u2014think of the eugenicist policies U.S. institutions have carried out against Native, Latin, and Black Americans.
\n\nIn August, my gig as a graduate student will be up and I will lose my health insurance. So I do in all earnestness think it would be cool if this country instituted universal Medicare. But I\u2019m also wary of doing what Alyssa Battistoni describes in her article cautioning against an unqualified acceptance of the idea of a Universal basic Income, or UBI: not \u201cfighting off the dystopian future,\u201d but \u201csettl[ing] into the interregnum of the present, with all its morbid symptoms.\u201d I\u2019m wary of the grip of what Lauren Berlant calls \u201ccruel optimism\u201d: attachment to ways of being that enable us to tread water from day to day and thus temper the acuteness of crisis\u2014yet ways of being that actively inhibit our individual and collective flourishing.
', u'post_id': 37908, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-08 22:43:23', u'title': u'Revolutionary Care: Alternate Futures, "Best-Case" Scenarios (fellowship reflections post #3)'}, {u'content': u'user journey experience
interviews: preparation and interviews
prototyping
Users:
\n\nCustomer with food allergies
Other customers
Waiters
Kitchen staff
Moments analyzed:
\n\nArrival at the restaurant
Customers sitting at their table
Taking the order
Writing the order for the kitchen
Observations:
\n\nWhen the waiter collects the order and writes it down for the kitchen, a series of information are transmitted:
\n\nCostumer\u2019s state of health
ingredients that are present in the food
How the dishes are prepared
The waiter that is not prepared on the menu has to ask information to the kitchen staff
The waiter who is not aware of the ingredients in the dishes, who does not know how to advise customers with food allergies and who has repeatedly to ask information to the kitchen, produces a delay in the taking the order.
\n\nAll customers who eat at the same table undergo the same delay.
\n\nAll users know \u201cAllego K\xec\u201d
\n\nCustomer with food allergie
Other customers
Waiters
Kitchen staff
Moments analyzed:
\n\nBooking through \u201cAllego K\xec\u201d app
Arrival at the restaurant
Customers sitting at their table
Taking the order
Writing the order for the kitchen
Table service
Observations:
\n\n\u201cAllego K\xec\u201d for the restaurateurs comes in a kit containing:
\n\nGuidelines for the menu
Table allergies indicator
A smart guide for coaching the restaurant staff
Personalized order book
Restaurant\u2019s business cards for customers who do not know \u201cAllego K\xec\u201d project.
Food safety manual
With these tools, the restaurateur is able to train the staff and reduce pre-order times and also replace all the information orally transmitted between client and waiter by a visual code (icons).
\n\nAt the same time the customer with food allergies is able to indicate, thanks to the device, his allergies and show his position at the table.
\n\nThe waiter at this point can use the personalized order book to write down where the allergic person is seated, what type of allergies he has and pass all the information to the kitchen. Staff in the kitchen know how to prepare the food safely (without contamination) guaranteeing security for those suffering allergies.
\n\nFor customers at the table the waiting time is limited to the phase between the order and the table service.
\n\nUsers:
\n\nCustomer with food allergies does not knows \u201cAllego K\xec\u201d
Other customers do not know \u201cAllego K\xec\u201d
Waiters
Kitchen staff
Moments:
\n\nArrival at the restaurant
Customers sitting at their table
Taking the order
Writing order for the kitchen
Table service
Observations:
\n\nThe device at the table becomes a tool for the customer who can indicate his allergies and show his position at the table.
\n\nThe preprinted order will help the staff during the entire process; from the taking of the order for the kitchen to the table service avoiding misunderstandings in the passage of information.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 33754, u'user_id': 3597, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-15 18:10:54', u'title': u'Allergo K\xec | User journey experience, interviews and prototyping'}, {u'content': u'When you\u2019re interested in particular issues and engaged in associated networks, there are people who are on your radar but that you never get to know too well. @michael_dunn is one of those people. He\u2019s been at events and workshops I\u2019ve attended, \u2026 and he\u2019s usually engaged in issues I\u2019d not yet thought about too much. One of the last times I\u2019d spoken to him he was organising around precarious workers issues. The next I came across Michael was through Edgeryders. His post raised some thought provoking points - what might be gained by seeing the migrant crisis as a training ground for other crisis? We met for a chat at a cafe so I could write up this intro and it was the first real opportunity I\u2019d had to find out a bit more about Michael\u2019s background.
\n\nSo I asked him how he came to get involved in migrant solidarity and the other issues I knew he\'d worked on. Michael was studying economics at university when he first got involved in environment justice campaigns. He started to see the way in which many of these issues linked up at a structural level. The budgets to fund nuclear submarines and missiles such as those based just outside Glasgow could be diverted to tackle necessary climate measures.
\n\nMichael was involved in founding Plane Stupid Scotland - a campaign airport extension as the fastest growing cause of climate change. While there were successes that came from the campaign; the targeted airport expansions didn\u2019t go ahead - the campaign didn\u2019t achieve the growth of a movement that it had hoped might come about. Towards the end of the campaign people were left pretty exhausted - that topic of burnout that seems a pretty familiar theme on the Edgeryders platform. Michael experienced these tough times when you had to rest up from exhaustion as not all bad but as an opportunity to reflect, to learn and adapt. His resilience is rooted in gratitude even when things are hard going.
\n\nFrom there Michael got involved in the Climate camps; Heathrow, Kent, Blackheath, Edinburgh and Mains Hill at the tail end of the anti-globalisation movements. The camps involved a lot of collective learning and opportunities to do things on a bigger scale. They were places to get exposed to new ideas and feel connected to other people in throughout the UK & EU. Michael understands their importance more as being a means to give people a taste of large scale communal protest experiences. He acknowledges they had less impact on climate issues but sees the camps as an empowerment process that fed in to other ventures and movements.
\n\nThen he saw the wave of hope and optimism that was Copenhagen 2009 rise and fall. His memories of the experience were pretty bleak. This confirmed a change of direction that was away from protest politics towards more direct means to deliver change. He deliberately sought out issues that he\'d researched as likely to become increasingly problematic in future years.
\n\nThese two factors led him in to migrant solidarity. He got involved with the Unity Centre in Glasgow. This involved lots on legal case work, anti-deportation, and people in detention and housing rights. There Michael helped out with Unity\'s newly formed charity, which distributed clothes and other necessary items to those in need and with founding the Unity Cafe - a soup kitchen and food bank. Michael was involved with helping to house migrants before there were any night shelters in Glasgow. It was another period where he saw too few people doing too much. But he has warm memories - describing times when there were always people round for dinner. When they got by \'on their wits\u2019 by \u2018skipping\' for food (rescuing food waste from the dump) and the sense of companionship and agency that came from finding a way to solve problems as they arose, finding another plate of food or another bed on the floor - at a time before these kind of actions became more popular.
\n\nA logical progression from this work came in the form of the Golden Trailer. A few friends watched Storming Sarajevo - and hatched an idea. It took two years between idea and implementation. They put useful skills like engineering, mechanics, nursing together with an abandoned trailer they\u2019d come across. They kitted the trailer out to offer basic medical aid, music, respite and a cinema to migrants in Italy and Serbia. You can read more about this on Michael\u2019s post here [link]. Some of the challenges were staying motivated while the idea got off the ground and started to take shape and pulling in untied funding. Funding that wasn\u2019t conditional enabled the trailer to respond to needs as they came across them - they weren\u2019t tied to a specific place and they could identify areas where other aid wasn\u2019t getting through and target these.
\n\nThe experiences Michael had with the trailer were an opportunity to observe events first hand but he told me he\'d started researching related issues prior to setting off. His research covered areas such as disaster sociology which suggests there is no such thing as a \'natural disaster\u2019 - rather there are always social factors that contribute to crisis. Other themes that drew Michael\'s interest included the influence that crisis can have on people\u2019s behaviours and responses - the well known tendency for people to take responsibility and demonstrate more solidarity during disasters. How could this tendency be cultivated beyond times of catastrophe?
\n\nThese are the kind of topics Michael hopes to explore as part of the Emergency Mutual Aid session on Day 2 of the Open Village. What are the barriers to this form of direct response and how do we overcome these? How might we turn hard-won personal experience in to collective expertise to up-scale a collective response? He has some ideas and has started to develop some resources; podcasts and zines and he\u2019s keen to create space for collaboration with others with similar experiences to explore what else can be done.
', u'post_id': 35132, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-31 08:54:08', u'title': u'Michael Dunn: Emergency Mutual Aid session host'}, {u'content': u'Hello soon-to-be festival friends! First off, I want to express gratitude to all who have put in so much care/labor to make this convening happen. Due to some bouts with illness amidst relocation to Europe, I am a bit late to the game. Our comrades from Woodbine invited me to contribute ideas a while back and I am just now getting to this as the official program has been decided. I would like to introduce myself still in case this helps facilitate a coming together with those with like concerns, possibly in the freestyle sessions (or even more informally after meals and the like).
\n\nAs a curator, citizen, human, I\u2019ve focused my attention primarily on the interrelatedness of groups, subjects, and objects within various social and political systems and, particularly, institutional bodies. Last year I realized that I was at a crucial point where focused time outside of the imperatives and logics of an institution could facilitate a necessary perspectival shift in the work I was doing, one that would inevitably alter the way I\u2019ve been working though the convergence of contingency, labor, administration and planning within organizational bodies in the arts. Just as I slowed down, I got sick. This is how the ongoing curatorial project \u201cSick Time, Sleepy Time, Crip Time: Against Capitalism\u2019s Temporal Bullying\u201d began, out of this lived experience. (Note: \u201cCrip\u201d is a political reclaiming of the derogatory label cripple.)
\n\n\u201cSick Time\u201d argues that care for the body in states of debility and disability (particularly their temporalities) can help us to re-imagine the ground necessary for collectivity. It proposes that better incorporation of the temporal states of rest, illness, sleep, and aging into society works against the Eurocentric conception of progressivist linear time that finds its corollary in neoliberal capitalist logics and drains humans of their life blood. Dragging on, circling back, with no regard for the stricture of the work week or compulsory ablebodiness, sick time is non-compliant. It refuses a fantasy of normalcy measured by either-in-or-out thresholds and demands care that exceeds that which the nuclear family unit can provide. (A set of curatorial notes/manifesto can be found here and more info about the first exhibition in the series can be found in the PR here)
\n\nI\u2019d hoped to offer a bodily communication workshop centered around how we communicate about illness, but perhaps some of the artist\u2019s practices/experiments in this show might be interesting to discuss. Much of the work being done by the artists and communities of care in \u201cSick Time\u201d relates to a distinction articulated by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten in their 2013 book between policy vs planning. In short, policy comes from above and pronounces others as incorrect, while planning invents the means [of social reproduction] in a common experiment. \u201cPlanning in the undercommons is not an activity, not fishing or dancing or teaching or loving, but the ceaseless experiment with the futurial presence of the forms of life that make such activities possible. Planning is rooted in a black radicalism, which hopes against hope...in order to survive in the deplorable present" As Harney and Moten further detail, \u201cManagement looses not in workplace but economic management can not win in realm of social reproduction...here, management encounters forms of what we will call planning. In the undercommons of the social reproductive realm the means, which is to say the planners, are still part of the plan."
\n\nOne example to look at might be the Canaries. Canaries is a support group and art collective for people with autoimmune diseases that operate on crip time amidst a scarcity of language to address rapidly unfolding chronic illnesses. For the publication project, Notes for the Waiting Room they contributed texts and images addressing the question: \u201cHow do you take care of yourself during a flare-up of your symptoms?\u201d The resulting publication, distributed in art contexts as well as in doctor\u2019s waiting rooms, challenges the unilateral and hierarchical transmission of information from doctor to patient and, much like the overall art and advocacy work of Canaries, fosters solidarity and embodied knowledge sharing instead. Or another example is the work Cassie Thornton has done. She has investigated the impact of economic systems on public affect and behavior for some time and, like Canaries, is currently exploring methods of social healthcare by testing a model for de-financialized care that responds to the experience of crisis.
\n\nBy constituting new cultural rituals and creating provisional non-hierarchical infrastructures, these artist\u2019s works question the very borders of a body and provide myriad radical possibilities for gaining agency and negotiation with the problems of the body by using a political relational model that views dependency with others positively. While the space of the arts has long been a site for new modes of self representation, critique, cross-disciplinary experimentation, the envisioning of alternatives, and challenging the dominance of mind-centered epistemologies that dislodge us from our bodies, it could be interesting to discuss how it allows for a reconfiguration of structures of care that then does or does not trickle out. Of course there is a certain experimentation of forms that is germane to the arts, but there is also the way arts critiques just helps institutions optimize under neoliberalism etc to consider\u2026
\n\nLooking forward to discussing this and more!
', u'post_id': 37342, u'user_id': 4078, u'timestamp': u'2017-10-02 16:13:53', u'title': u'Introduction: Planning versus Policy--Provisional Architectures for Care and Somatic Healing in the Arts'}, {u'content': u'My name Aymen Masmoudi, I\u2019m 30 years old, and since I was a child I have been loving and following technology and everything related to it.
\n\nIn 2006, I obtained my Baccalaureate Diploma in Mathematics, and then I have decided to get into the virtual world and have started learning by myself through the web.
\n\nI have been trying to learn many things including design, videos mounting, net security, and development. That was not as easier as I thought, but it is funny to do what you love and to create your own world.
\n\nI developed my experience by working as a Freelancer in many companies around the world including France, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
\n\nIn 2015, I was nominated to get the \u201cGolden Quality and Innovation Prize\u201d in Paris, and in 2016, I got the Price of the best mobile application in Tunisia.
\n\nIn my life, my biggest aiming is to contribute on resolving the people\u2019s problems around the world in order to make their life easier and more comfortable.
\n\nActually, I\u2019m working as a mobile developer in a Tunisian Company, but my dream is to get my own Business and to become an International Entrepreneur.
\n\nFor that reason, AuxiLife came out to my mind: a social network that gives to the persons with deep physical disabilities the ability to hire the suitable \u201cPersonal Care Assistant\u201d to assist them in their daily activities.
\n\nAuxiLife would be the most used social network all over the world to help persons with disabilities to enjoy their lives, so that they get more autonomy to go anywhere and to do whatever they want without waiting for the charity of the other. This network would allow persons with disabilities the possibility to request for an assistance by posting the details of the activity that they want to do, and get propositions of the Personal Care Assistants through the platform, and then they will choose the best proposal according to criteria that they identify.
\n\nAuxiLife will reduce time and energy consumption to look for the \u201cPersonal Care Assistant\u201d to be with the person with disabilities.
\n\nThis was the humble story of Aymen Masmoudi, a mobile developper and a young social entrepreneur from Tunisia, who expect your awareness, your encouragement and your awareness.
\n\nHere you find also some pictures and videos
\n\n15/07/2016 closing ceremony of MDev (Mobile Development) with the First Minister Mr Habib Essid
\n\n', u'post_id': 34574, u'user_id': 3821, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-21 20:54:55', u'title': u'AuxiLive: We are here, just for you'}, {u'content': u'I often wonder if it is my disposition to always be pensive and borderline depressive. Or if it is my association with a more type A personality, always striving to be efficient, productive, serious? Or if it is a reflection of the world that surrounds us? I feel like an old time blues singer, asking \u201cwhy do I always have to sing the blues\u201d. Perhaps this is a roundabout way of asking for patience with my oftentimes apocalyptic tomes.
\n\nI\u2019m here in the US, sitting in a cafe in NYC, watching the daily commute of walkers and bikers. It\u2019s a beautiful fall day, one of those days that reminds you of all the joys of the summer, giving you that last bit of warmth, but with the tiniest bite of cold in the evening that tells your body to get ready for the hibernation. Those days that make you feel happy to just let the sun wash over your face, warm but not hot, comforting but not overwhelming. The day holds a sense of happiness and hope. But for many in the US, this past month has shown clearly that while we may relish in the joy of what has passed, winter truly is coming.
\n\nOur month started off with the terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. For those not aware, a secret white supremacist rally was held on a Friday night at the campus of UVA. It was filled with hundreds of angry white men, complete with tiki torches (yes really) and chats of \u201cblood and soil\u201d, a key slogan for the Nazi regimen. Counter protestors were brutally attacked and the police were nowhere to be seen. The next day, a large gathering of white supremacists went to a central park for a sanctioned (i.e. legal) march. They were met by an even larger group of counter-protesters. Conflict between the groups quickly escalated, and as video evidence has shown, the violence was clearly started by the white supremacists. Non-violent counter-protesters were defended by anarchists, anti-fascists, communists, and other groups who embraced self defense and black bloc tactics. The white supremacist march was shut down, and during a period of celebration and regrouping, a young white supremacist drove his car into the crowd, injuring dozens and killing a protester, Heather Heyer. Other counter protesters were beaten with pipes in broad daylight. Militia men walked through the streets of Charlottesville as if they were walking the streets of some foreign land, M-16\u2019s and body armor ready. Throughout it all, the police were nowhere to be seen, \u201cprotecting the perimeter\u201d. Solidarity demonstrations erupted across the country. Trump offered a clear support of the growing fascist movement in the country, unwilling to push away his political base. The liberal media is at a loss, unable to condemn the self-defence of the counter protestors but unwilling to acknowledge that the foundations of our society are crumbling. The American Civil Liberties Union protects the fascists and white supremacists in the name of \u201cfree speech\u201d while the alt-right is clearly co-opting the tactics of liberalism and nationalism to increase their political power.
At the end of the month, as the debate in the mainstream media about Russia and tax codes and debt burdens trolled on, the rise of massive \u201csuperstorms\u201d loomed on the horizon of our southern coast. Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, was hit by the most amount of rain to ever hit the US. Large swaths of the city are still underwater, a week after the hurricane. Many people have died, and it is clear that the devastation to the city is just beginning. Many are arguing that Houston represents the paradigm of massive growth and infrastructure development without any thought to environmental concerns, adding the massive destruction. In addition, almost a quarter of the refined gas supplied to the US comes through the refineries in Houston, many of which have been damaged. Mixed with the flood waters runs gas and oil and untold other toxic chemicals, creating the beginnings of an environmental catastrophe. 
As the conversation around Hurricane Harvey shifts toward rebuilding, Hurricane Irma is on a straight path towards Miami, Florida. Miami chronically suffers from daily flooding, again an example of development within floodplains without consideration to climate factors. Who knows what damage a category 4 hurricane will do to the city. Our thoughts go to the safety of the residents and all other life there. Perhaps Irma will miss Florida, ironically a state where the government cannot use the term \u201cclimate change\u201d. But right behind Irma is Hurricane Jose, their cousin Katia is battering the eastern coast of Mexico and who knows what other family members will show their face during this hurricane season. In addition, the west coast of the US is on fire, with massive uncontrolled wildfires running across the mountain ranges. In Bangladesh, a third of the country was flooded, suffering landslides that have killed hundreds of thousands. As has been clearly shown throughout history, those affected the most by the ravages of capitalism are not the beneficiaries of these systems.
The question of care looms behind all these thoughts. How are we to provide care in the broadest sense when people drive cars into crowds? When unsanctioned militia men walk armed down the street? When we are being ravaged by storms that are literally larger than the entire state being hit? The liberalism that infects this country, of trying to find compromise in everything and promotes a sense of powerlessness runs rampant in our culture. We watch \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d rather than think that perhaps we have our own white walkers. We worry about our careers and our next vacation. I watch the people out of the window heading of to work, assuming that since NYC represents such a nidus of capitalism, that their job somehow continues to facilitate my own destruction. I think of my own work in an ER, is my job any different? Am I also continuing to worry about my own individual world, desperately trying to walk a fine line of caring about the world but not letting those thoughts actually influence my life? I ask myself, if I truly think that the fundamental structure of our economics and society are being threatened, why am I paying back my school loans?
\n\nYet through all this depression, there is always hope. Not that shitty optimism of the hippies or the progressives that are destroying our cultural sense of power. Not the general hope that everything will be ok, which is such a comfort for the petit bourgeois of this country. But a hope that we can find each other. That we can have the courage to face this destruction, and while I do not wish for the superstorms and the violence, it is here and is not going away. So let us embrace the fact that these represent potential vulnerabilities to the heart of neoliberal capitalism. That the police will not protect us, that our careers will not save us.
"We have nowhere to return to... And this is a conscious choice."
', u'post_id': 35807, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-08 15:13:21', u'title': u'Revolutionary Care through Chaos: Fellow Reflections #2'}, {u'content': u'September was a month of being on the road. I spend some time working from Bratislava and went to the US for a 3 week visit.
\n\nOn September 9, I arrived in San Francisco. I was staying in a hostel in an edgier part of town (at least at night), because of the many social services in the area. All sorts of people who visit those during the day, hang out there at night, sleeping on the streets, nowhere else to go. A grim view of the US, which didn\u2019t get better later.
\n\nWalking through the city the next morning, there were tens of homeless people every block. With massive skyscrapers in the background, the effects of the incumbent system are apparent: it produces winners and losers. Or as John put it: freedom to succeed, freedom to fail.
\n\nA bit later, in Boston, we got talking to two African American guys who ended up giving us a bunch of T-shirts. Mine sums up most of the talks on politics I had in the US.
As a counterweight to the darkness, I got to hang out a lot in Oakland and Counter Culture Labs (CCL). CCL is located in the Omni Commons, a large community space that is an old Italian social club. It has a large ballroom, boxing ring, basements and multiple big rooms hosting organisations. CCL is one of those organisations and the full list is here (https://omnicommons.org/index.html#about). With names like Food Not Bombs and Liberated Lens you can get a sense of the vibe. There was also the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair while I was there, which attracted plenty of people for zines, workshops and books.
Goodbye San Francisco, hello Oakland
I had the pleasure to meet plenty of amazing people at CCL. All with more ideas than they have time to do, but loads of energy to have fun experimenting away with biology anyway. I helped out with some yeast lab work and attended several social & project meetups. One of the highlights was a workshop I hosted on mycelium materials together with Bay Area Applied Mycology (BAAM). It attracted 20+ people, all highly interested and motivated to get down to business with the technology. Due to limited resources, we had to hack some things together, which made it all the more interesting. First time I used a cheese grater for science.
Per coincidence I ended up at the 10 year anniversary party of Noisebridge, the infamous hackerspace in San Francisco, where I finally learned how to lockpick (I\u2019m still pretty mediocre).
\n\nWe discussed and planned for where to go with Open Insulin. The idea of a patient coop to steward the protocol (and the gains from it) gained traction, so we\u2019ll be looking into that during Anthony\u2019s session. We continued the talks at the Global Community Bio Summit, the 4 day event I travelled to Boston for.
The Bio Summit
The event in Boston was a transformative experience. That was the reaction of most people, including myself, at the end of our time together at the MIT Media Lab. Even the seasoned biohackers, active for many years, had similar sentiments. The Summit brought together 150+ people from all over the world in an inspiring four days.
\n\nI was there with two friends with whom I started the biohackerspace in Ghent. The program was packed with anything and everything across the spectrum of diverse initiatives in the biohacking scene. We visited one of the biggest synthetic biology companies in the world, as well as a local permaculture farm. We went to huge makerspaces, local community biolabs and had a great party. There were talks on feminism, VC funding, open source hardware and biodiversity. The people in attendance showed excellent qualities you\u2019d want from a community like that: talent, open mindedness and high energy to change things up.
\n\nWe learned about community engagement. Many successful labs were inward looking communities, providing mainly for their members and the shared resources. In ReaGent we have looked outwards most of the time, trying to service the broader public. Seeing other communities at work was instructive and we\u2019ll be applying certain lessons to our own activities back in Belgium. We\u2019ll definitely put our own fun first more often, which was sometimes traded for servicing other people.
\n\nEveryone is open to collaborate and share resources, but no one does it. Over the course of the event, the message did get through to most: we can share more globally to help each other with the hard stuff, like finances. Sharing workshop formats and devices are a direct benefit to many labs\u2019 bottom lines. It just takes asking each other, or contributing to a shared online resource.
\n\nWe have a sophisticated financial model (or framework) as opposed to most spaces. We did not get the chance to share much in depth, since there was no time in the schedule. Most conversations on the topic were relatively superficial and in the unconference formats it is not so conducive of conversation to hog the speaking time. I see however the merit to synthesize some of our practices into something that is more easily accessible for other spaces.
\n\nThat, or we overthink it.
\n\nThe event was very diverse, props to the organizers for making sure. That way we got to meet people from every continent. Especially South-East Asia and South America were strongly represented.
\n\nJoi Ito challenged us in the opening talk: are we a movement? After spending these days together, everyone was convinced: we are a diverse, global movement and poised to play an important role in the future of biotech.
With more groups, more possible research directions can be pursued. We can also work together better on the same direction, by brainstorming together and distributing the execution of experiments.
\n\nThere are several initiatives being taken to look more into economics, governance of the IP, policy etc. With a global distribution, different options can be explored and different opportunities can arise. I\u2019m looking forward to ride this learning curve more!
\n\nIn these hectic weeks leading up to OpenVillage Festival, and our continuous efforts to stay afloat with projects locally, there is little time to process and report deeper on the rapid succession of experiences. I hope to share more live, as a participant at the Festival!
This blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation.
Chaos. It\'s the best feeling I can describe when thinking about my first month as a fellow for the OpenVillage festival. I am working with the Woodbine Health Autonomy group and my co-fellow Nicole. We are based in Queens, NY.
\n\nChaos, like anarchy, are usually viewed as negative terms in our society. They denote disorder and structurelessness. They are usually states of being from which we wish to escape or wish to flee from. But looking at the seeming chaos of storms or of human physiology, it is clear that often times it is the incubator for something even more profound. Be it Einstein\u2019s hair, the genius behind insanity, or the warmth provided by a fire, they all produce \u201ca something\u201d out of chaos. And so in the past month as we dove head first into the chaos of the Edgeryders platform and communication methods, I see something profound being produced.
\n\nCommunication
Our first experience with Edgeryders and OpenCare was more than a year ago when we were contacted by members from OpenCare. They had seen a video we produced and were touched by the message. We wrote a blog post and we\'re soon overwhelmed with the format of communication. As one who has weaned himself off of social media and strives to check email once a day, the up-to-the minute communication and breadth of people was overwhelming. Since then, we have had some interaction with OpenCare and were asked to apply for the fellowship in June, of which we were awarded.
As above, the communication methods have always been an obstacle for me. I\u2019ve often wondered why that was the case. On the one hand, I\u2019m of the generation that is most comfortable with social media and the internet. I\u2019ve spent literal years of my life diving into social media platforms and online conversations. For me though, and perhaps one of the founding aspects of Woodbine is a rejection of the internet mentality. Not to critique its usefulness, but more of a comment on technology\u2019s role in our lives. For many in the US with counter-cultural ideas of anti-capitalism and revolutionary tendencies, the internet offers a way to create a community. Similar to Edgeryders, many leftist communities arise on the internet, lending to an ability to share ideas, experiences, and fellowship. For myself, some of these communities were paramount and life-giving. One of the lessons from Occupy though was the power of true human interaction. The mass gatherings, the communal dinners, the encampments all provided a new concept for our internet generation; that it was the building of tangible community that could be the most powerful. For those who started Woodbine and previous iterations, there was a goal to create a space in which we could remove ourselves from our internet avatars and commune with people in the flesh. So a big goal of our project was to transition ourselves from thinking of meeting online to meeting in person, to create projects developed from long-term presence and being. So in that process, I have personally been trying to move away from internet-based means of communication (although I often spend too much time on email!). It has been a process to begin thinking of the constancy of internet communication and responding to blog comments as the formation of a community. And I think that is what will make the festival such a success. That with the continuation of these festivals where people can meet face-to-face, it will form the basis of a much more solid connection than just emails and messages. Inevitably in our world today, there is always the struggle between the local and the international. While all true work must come from the local, we are facing massively connected systems of oppression, so we must be ready to fight on that level as well.
\n\nThe role of words
As a collective, one of our goals with taking on this fellowship was the ability to add to the growing Edgeryders community, benefit projects that we wish to deepen connections, and stay true to the message we are trying to formulate. It that vein, I will be transparent in my thoughts throughout these reflections. I do not mean anything as a critique, but as a way to open doors to conversations and bridges through misunderstanding.
Woodbine was started as a way to build the material means for revolutionary lives. We don\u2019t say this sarcastically or pathetically. Our goal is to build collective power and create a path for a revolutionary life. It denotes a process, not some distant utopia to be gambled upon.
\n\nWording is important. Often the term \u201crevolution\u201d has been used to excuse horrific atrocities and recently has been co-opted by neo-capitalists for their marketing campaigns. Even terms now used like \u201cautonomy\u201d are signaled by entrepreneurs to co-opt revolutionary language, instead representing the newest \u201ctech\u201d idea or pure individualism. So one of our struggles has been to elucidate and elaborate on what we understand these words to mean. It is a process of creating a vision for a new world. The words of the past have meaning, which is why neoliberalism is so intent on co-opting our collective histories.
\n\nWe were recently in a great conversation about the role of wording in our title. The original title of the theme we are to curate was \u201cLiving and working well together\u201d. We then changed it to \u201cLiving Communism, Spreading Anarchy\u201d, which was a reference to a book written by comrades in France who have been influential to us. There were comments around the terms \u201ccommunism\u201d and \u201canarchy\u201d, essentially arguing that perhaps these words are too \u201ccoded\u201d or have too much negative connotation. After some thought, we changed the title to \u201cRevolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy\u201d. We recognized that we are new to the online community and the larger European history of these words, which maybe have different connotations in the US. But it also brought up questions around being specific about what we as the Edgeryders/OpenCare community are trying to do. With regards to care, do we view the OpenCare project as a means to fix the problems of state produced care? Or do we view care as a basic right that is oppositional to the current global model of capitalism and the exclusionary notion of citizenship? Are we trying to reform neo-liberalism with apps or are we trying to fundamentally remove ourselves from its grip so that we can build the power necessary to destroy it? The crisis we face as a community dedicated to care are caused by an exploitative means of viewing the world, be it climate change, the migrant crisis, and the rise of proto-fascist policies in our countries. How can we as a community avoid the \u201cSilicon Valley\u201d trap of convincing ourselves we are saving the world through a techno-utopia? Are we capital-based entrepreneurs or do we wish to build a world in which humanity can flourish? I bring these questions up as a response to a general tendency in progressives circles to not want to create opposition to power. So we soften language or we try to be on the middle ground. But recent events and elections have pointed us to the idea that people are ready for strong language and great visions. Not all visions lead to totalitarianism. In the Americas, the indigenous struggles have clearly given us a path from which to follow. They are clear in their language that they reject the extractive mentality of this culture. For them, to be for the land and the people is to be anti-capitalist, and the path for their revolution is the daily struggle to build a new world. Can we as a community be as courageous as them to use the strong language that will make us a beacon to a world of nihilism and distraction?
\n\nCommunity
Overall, the experience of building this international community has been humbling and inspiring. From working with Noemi (thank you for being patient with my delays and mishaps!), Nadia, Marco and the rest of the team helping the fellows! My co-fellows Gehan and Winnie have been such a wealth of information and thought around the festival, happy to be working with them. And in NYC, Nicole and I are the public faces of a much larger group of folks who are helping behind the scenes with ideas, group suggestions, research, etc. Much thanks to them all.
@amelia for her post about Invisible Illness was a great way to describe the covering up of anxiety and angst as a trauma itself. Care as providing a way to create solidarity must be paramount!
\n\n@duey for their inspirational account of Social, circus, community. As Emma Goldman says, \u201cA revolution without dancing isn\u2019t a revolution worth having.\u201d
\n\n@georgie for the humbling account of creating health without walls, without the infrastructure we are trained in. True health autonomy will always come from the community, from those who have nothing to lose. The place you are at is the best place to begin.
\n\nSo many more posts we\u2019ve read and thought about. Please keep up the amazing work and help us share your work, so please contact us. Let us know what you think and we look forward to the continuing the revolutionary work of building a new world, a world based on care for each other.
\n\n-Frank
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today we enter eclipse season. It\u2019s a notorious time of flux and upheaval, closures and openings. On tonight\u2019s full moon I will go out with a friend I\u2019ve made this year through my work at Woodbine and gather mugwort to bind into smudge sticks. As summer begins its end here, this medicinal plant, which grows abundantly out of the lots and cracks in the sidewalk in Bed-Stuy, is just coming into the height of its magical powers; mugwort, or artemesia vulgaris, has been used traditionally as a stimulator of vivid dreams and a third-eye-opener.
\n\nI\u2019ve begun my involvement with Woodbine Health Autonomy, and now with OpenCare, in the midst of a life transition. I\u2019ve spent the past year orienting away from something that has circumscribed my understanding of myself\u2014who I am, what I\u2019m doing, and where I\u2019m going\u2014for a while now, toward a future that is more unknown. For the last five years I\u2019ve been pursuing a PhD in art history. By the end of my fourth year, however, the promises of academia had begun to ring hollow for me. On the face of it, everything in the academy seems to be running as usual. Universities keep reiterating the same forms: liberal arts educations, PhDs, lectureships and professorships, grants and post-docs. Yet, at the very same time as they reiterate their merit and prestige in rhetoric and brochures, with the other hand universities are systematically undermining these entities in the course of running increasingly brazenly like large corporations. Young academics cling to notions of critical discourse and transformative pedagogy even as they are forced to churn out work ever more rapidly and are saddled with heavier teaching and administrative workloads. We reflexively assume the eventuality of a bright and stable future even as the university cuts tenure-track jobs and many end up out of work or living near the poverty line without benefits as adjuncts for years. We are talking about social and economic justice as we watch the university function as a debt machine and factory for reproducing the wealth that has access to it in the first place. In other words, we\u2019re stuck playing out an atrophied and anachronistic story, attached to ideas that have already expired.
\n\nI\u2019ve been thinking a lot lately about genre. By genre I mean the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and the categories these stories fall into. Genre is the way our individual narratives conform to certain tropes because what\u2019s possible is delimited by historical circumstances and situational constraints. Genre is how these tropes gather inertia and reproduce themselves, because it\u2019s easier to maintain a sense of constancy by slotting your life into a recognizable picture than it is to exist with shattering indeterminacy.
\n\nIn his book on the historical novel, the Hungarian Marxist theorist Gy\xf6rgy Luk\xe0cs talks about moments of what he calls a \u201cparting-of-the-ways.\u201d Despite the heavily determining effects of class conflict and modes of production in the lives of individuals and societies, there are moments of pivotal decision that emerge when the inherent contradictions produce a \u201ccertain crucial sharpening of social or personal circumstances.\u201d Luk\xe0cs brings a quote from the German drama Herodes and Mariamne: \u201cTo every man there comes a moment when the pilot of his star hands him the reins. The misfortune is he does not know the moment, each which passes by may be the one.\u201d
\n\nThings have stopped working on a mass scale and no elected official\u2014no liberal, conservative, not even a socialist\u2014can salvage them. At best they can mitigate the damage provisionally\u2014expand healthcare so more people can live to fight for dwindling jobs imperiled by automation, dole out a universal basic income to distract the ranks of the unemployed, support big corporate green energy projects that displace indigenous people from their land, reform prisons, relax immigration, even as carceral capitalism and state violence continues apace, etc. There\u2019s no going back to the welfare state: \u201cThe transition from the citizen/worker model to the citizen/consumer/customer one means the transition from a welfare regime, based on the enforcement of social and fundamental rights, to social policies intended as the \u2018management\u2019 of social problems. As subaltern \u2018customers\u2019 and/or \u2018needy,\u2019 we are deprived of full subjectivity and self-determination.\u201d
\n\nEven as this past year saw new and frightening forms of rupture and instability worldwide, there\u2019s a way in which things also feel perversely stable. The market ebbs and flows, wealth continues to concentrate in the streets and gleaming towers of New York, London, Shanghai, Dubai. We keep waiting for our political offices to straighten themselves out, to straighten things out. We keep going to work, looking for work, buying groceries, watching TV, picking our kids up from school. We find ways of stabilizing, find stability in what Lauren Berlant calls the crisis ordinary. She speaks about how genres can function as holding patterns, how we attach ourselves to stories that enable us to move forward\u2014or at least to tread water\u2014even as the these stories are actively harming us and inhibiting our flourishing. And how could we not cling to narratives that afford us at least a provisional sense of constancy when we have no better option, when we need to pay the rent and put food on the table, when no matter how bad things get they never seem to tip into full-blown collapse?
\n\nIt is impossible to give up our attachments to outdated, conservative, and harmful stories alone. If, as Bourdieu says via @Gehan\u2019s wonderful citation, \u201cour denial, the source of social alchemy is, like magic, a collective undertaking," so too is overcoming this denial. It isn\u2019t a matter of simply disabusing ourselves of ideology, of becoming woke, but of building the infrastructures that will enable us to radically reconfigure our narratives of where our individual lives are headed, of what life might mean over the next ten, thirty, one hundred years, without feeling like we are jumping into the void alone. This is one definition of what revolutionary care means to me.
\n\nI don\u2019t actually have a very good future imaginary. While some possess much more prescient minds, for better or for worse I\u2019m mostly stuck analyzing what exists in the here and now. As a historical materialist, I\u2019m especially aware that the limits to our political imaginations aren\u2019t creative, but structural. The very categories we have to work with\u2014the ways we conceive of time, the past, our bodies and minds and the bodies and minds of others, our assumptions about what has value, what is progress\u2014have been formed in and by the political economic system we are trying to varying degrees to contend with. We see this play out all the time; development schemes and NGO\u2019s propagating neo-imperialist dynamics, activists caught in a capitalist work ethic, so-called radicals reproducing racialized and gendered dynamics of power and violence.
\n\nI think moving toward a truly better future together will entail deep and sometimes brutal examinations of our attachments. It will mean giving up some of our most closely held notions about ourselves, conceding that things will change in ways we cannot predict, letting others in to a degree that is necessarily uncomfortable. It will mean agreeing on provisional grounds of commonality knowing that our ideas will morph and evolve, that things will be revalued, that categories we can\u2019t yet imagine will emerge and be swallowed again in the course of things. It means conceding that we don\u2019t have The Answer\u2014it isn\u2019t an app or a crypto-currency or a rural commune or an urban farm, though revolutionary change may involve all of these things.
\n\nI know these are incredibly broad, abstract thoughts. I\u2019m afraid I have many more like them. But in the coming weeks and months I hope to think with greater specificity about what they mean in relation to my participation with OpenCare, to the goals of Woodbine Health, to our engagement with the many amazing groups and individuals cohered by this unwieldy and exciting platform, and for the conversations I hope we will have together in October.
\n\nAs a wayward conclusion to a wayward post, I\u2019ll just say that I like weeds because they\u2019re the abject, valueless. They\u2019re a reminder to me that the good stares us in the face all the time but we don\u2019t or can\u2019t experience it as such because we\u2019re busy or in pain or because it might not look like a product and maybe we don\u2019t have words or a framing story for it yet.
\n\n-Nicole
', u'post_id': 34103, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-07 21:07:33', u'title': u'Fellowship Post: Reflections and Wayward Thoughts'}, {u'content': u'Hello Edgeryders (veteran and pioneer),
\n\nI was going through the draft program of the event and I would like to share about two concepts that I learned during and after my studies and have been pretty important to me in my work as a peace worker/educator. The fun part about them is that numerous individuals from all walks of life and practitioners from different professions/disciplines have contributed to the development of a solid body of knowledge spanning 20+ years.
\n\nInfrastructures for Peace: \u2018dynamic network of interdependent structures, mechanisms, resources, values and skills which, through dialogue and consultation, contribute to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in a society\u2019.
\n\nEstablishing a national or MENA \u2018Infrastructure for Peace\' may include:
\n\nSuch an infrastructure can help a fragile, divided, transitional or societies recovering from violent conflict build and sustain peace by:
\n\nEssential components of peace infrastructures can include:
\n\nBased on past practice it\'s features could be:
\n\nThe fun part about Infrastructures for Peace is that it can be established top-down, through governmental policies and coordination structures, or bottom-up (as I prefer :D) via local initiatives such as peace committees that may or may not be connected to a national infrastructure, but through a distributed network of Open Care Centers, for example. I am happy to share some case studies in case someone would like to to learn more about the practical experiences in diverse contexts.
\n\nThis is a pretty cool concept borrowed from the healthcare and bioethics. Primum non nocere (first, do no harm) is the Hippocratic Oath that all medical students are taught in school. Back in early 90\'s, CDA, a peacebuilding NGO, developed a framework for analyzing the impact of aid on conflict\u2014and for taking action to reduce negative impacts and maximize positive impacts of their work. The \u201cDo No Harm Framework\u201d came from the experiences of people participating in CDA consultations and feedback workshops, including other NGOs, experts, donors, and policy makers collaborated through the project to identify common patterns of interaction between aid and conflict.
\n\nThe Six Lessons of Do No Harm in this brilliant book
\n\nThe fun part about Do No Harm is that there is no formulaic approach to using this tool. It cannot substitute for knowledge or thinking, but it is something a thinking person can use to improve his/her work.
\n\nDNH has been used by peacebuilders in the following ways:
\n\nIn a workshop held on september 18th at WeMake I could disseminate and share some elements of the ethnographic research as well as some sounds from previous researches in the hard sciences, anthropology and ethnomusicology.
The question we moved from was: how could sounds be important for social research about health and for opencare?
Among the participants there were anthropologists, DJs, WeMake staff all interested in sound studies about opencare
\n\nIn first place sounds make evident the dominance of a visual human dimension and the ocular centrality. Trying to move beyond a ocular centrality means to connect to a much open world of perceptions. On a further level researching on sounds problematise the care universe by different perspectives at home, in a healthcare environment in the physical worls as online.
Experiences in diverse cultures show how much emotions, beliefs and practices can be connected to sounds. Sounds are not only connected to a well being, but are structural in certain social contexts and by certain perspectives we cannot deny.
The presence of hackers, designers and makers in the opencare awareness european initiative represents not only an occasion to deal with how designers and makers shape care in different and unexpected ways, but on how reality of care can be declined and understood in many different ways.
\n\n
Hear the negotiation between two makers (one of the two blind) while setting a software for the voice instruments\' Maker In Residence project
An input from Sound studies\'perspective might be fruitful and challenging in researching about issues such as Quality of Life, health environment design, healthcare without harm, blind people, or whoever might benefit from sounds or silence. Here are the slides with all the working links to the resources.
\n\n \n\n', u'post_id': 36674, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-20 11:28:38', u'title': u'Making sense by opencare sounds'}, {u'content': u'This is the kind of title a social scientist comes up with, and to no surprise social science is what we do. We-- Gabriela A. Sanchez and Dana Mahr from the University of Geneva (https://twitter.com/citizensciences)--want to propose a session where we contextualize socially and historically how civil society has intervened and impacted biomedical knowledge and health care in Western societies. Cases such as the Women\u2019s Health Movement in the 1970s, the Deaf Culture Movement, the Anti-vaccination Movement, and the Pro-anorexia Movement. These explorations helps us understand how social movements can challenge and alter the ways we provide definitions (scientifically and culturally) for things like expertise, health, disease, bodies, and care. The purpose of this reflection is to situate Health Social Movements (HSM) in 2017 and to sketch some of the potentials and pitfalls they face with current social and technological trends like: Big data driven medicine and care, the automatization of health care work, scientific citizenship, the re-emerging discourse of empowerment and participation, the right (or duty) to make individual lifestyle/medical choices, the growing medicalization of many aspects of modern life and its oppositional (but somehow complementary) trend of dissenting established medical practices (like vaccines and pharmaceuticals).
\n\nAgainst the background of these contemporary developments we want to discuss how OpenCare and the themes we discussed during the #openvillage gathering could be positioned in the continuous effort of HSM to alter both, the public discourse about care and its policies. We want to open up the debate with questions like: Why do we believe open science and citizen science are helpful in health care? Is participation, openness and choice inherently good? How do we envision shifting dynamics of power between physicians, care-givers, and (informed) patients? Who do they empower?
\n\nWe propose to do a 15 min presentation introducing the session, present basic social concepts and analyze selected examples of HSMs to open a 45 min discussion about possible (un)foreseen failures of contemporary HSMs in creating an inclusive, participatory, individualized, and caring health care movement/infrastructure and develop strategies to properly address them. We believe participants in this session will gain valuable insights into how social movements work by changing the discourse, practice or policies in health care and effect real change. We hope this discussion will also raise new questions and concerns, as well as deep reflexivity of the roles and responsibilities we hold as activists, developers, patients, family caregivers, health-care professionals, policy-makers, etc.
\n\nhealth social movements 
(de)medicalization normalization of bodies and minds pseudo-medicine the ethico-politics of care othering intersectionality partaking vs dissent vs alternatives illness as a culture health as a lifestyle
Hi Edgeryders,
\n\nI was wondering there were any examples of alternate models of health insurance that aren't based on total pooling of collected dues? In the US, our insurance system is provided by a few companies that sell packages, which penalize people who are unemployed or in freelance/ non-traditional modes or employment. Universal healthcare is quite a political spectacle, and not many people are holding their breath up for something to pass soon.
\n\nDo people know examples of where health insurance is based on small scale local pooling of monetary resources, which then is accepted by sympathetic health care professionals? Or something similar?
\n\nAlso if you know of even more creative models I'm all ears.
\n\nThanks!
", u'post_id': 36474, u'user_id': 3804, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-17 16:32:49', u'title': u'Models of Health Insurance?'}, {u'content': u'An #OpenVillage Festival theme
\n\nWhat have you learned about having citizens define and help advance your research project? Research is an important driver for progress in healthcare. It brings us cheaper medicine, cures to seemingly incurable diseases and better therapies. Yet research methods have not evolved much at all to better reflect the needs of patients and citizens. The people whom the research is essentially meant for, are largely left out of the process, with outcomes often shielded behind intellectual property law or unaffordable prices. Citizen science and open science are research philosophies that offer an alternative. This theme at the OpenVillage Festival brings together people and projects with hands on expertise to build on each other\u2019s knowledge in order to push the boundaries further.
\n\nTo learn more, check the festival program in the making here.
\n\n#OpenVillage Festival: 19-21 October \n\n
\n\nGet in touch: #OpenVillage on twitter | Community@edgeryders.eu
When it comes to social care, it is important to create links between the social movements, in a way they continuously support and feed back to each other, finding solutions that are creative, radical and practical at the same time.
\n\nThis is what is happening with a visionary project that is linking alternative and cooperative economy with the needs of refugees in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is a project of a group of people interested in the building of a cooperative economy network, in which I participate as an activist and a researcher of alternative economy. Having completed my PhD in economics in the last spring, I am now interested in continuing research, exploring links between solidarity economy and refugee solidarity movements in wider Greece.\xa0
\n\nThis cooperative project is called \u2018Refugees to Refugees (R2R) Solidarity Call Center\u2019 and it is a project run by refugees for fellow refugees. Its objective is to provide information and advice for various kinds of issues related to either transit, temporary stay or settlement of refugees in Thessaloniki, but also in wider Greece. At the same time, through its services, it hopes to create linkages between refugee communities and the wider solidarity movement, in order to break the exclusion and isolation that refugees are feeling, as a result of being crammed in concentration camps. Strong solidarity networks already exist within the cities, in which teams of lawyers, doctors, translators and networks of families offering hospitality in their homes, are offering voluntary support and practical solutions, whenever needed.
\n\nThe project is inspiring in its own right, but what makes it even more important and intriguing, is the fact that it is further linked with the efforts to create a new, fair and solidarity economy on a larger scale. Having such a vision, the group of refugees and solidary comrades that are supporting them on this, have built a collaborative network between the cooperative R2R call center and cooperative grocery stores in the area of Thessaloniki, where the refugee operators of the call center can cover most of their food and other basic needs, using a digital, alternative currency that is called Faircoin.
\n\nThe building of a network of alternative economy is being supported by FairCoop on a global level, and in the area of Thessaloniki it seems to be of special value as it can be directed to service needs of refugees. It is certainly not an easy task to achieve and it requires a lot of networking and cooperation, but already a cooperative store and collectives of producers are participating, while there is interest and plans for more to join very soon. What is also very important is that the cooperative stores participating in this network distribute high quality food products, produced by fellow cooperatives in Greece or imported through fair trade distributions channels.
\n\nIn Thessaloniki and more generally in Greece, there is currently a rise of the cooperative movement, especially as a result of the effects of the ongoing economic crisis, but unfortunately these new initiatives are up to now largely disconnected from each other. To create links between them, means to expand the spaces where solidarity is being practiced, in other words to fill the gaps with ever-increasing solidarity!
\n\nMy role in this project as an activist is to work closely with the group of refugees and locals to support the building of the project which requires a lot of work on communication and cooperation, in order to continue and expand successfully. As an independent researcher, I have presented the results of this ongoing project at a conference in Lesvos and hope to continue documenting its progress as well as to explore other similar initiatives in Greece.
\n\nOne last but very important point is that the funds for this ambitious project are being raised through an international campaign of crowdfunding in both euros and faircoins, which are being used to cover incomes of the refugees working in the project and their home rent. Being a cooperative initiative, this means that all the incomes are being equally distributed among the members, currently four in number, three men from Gambia, Egypt and Morocco, and a woman from Syria.
\n\nIf you would like to support the R2R solidarity call center and at the same time help expand the bridges between the refugee solidarity movement and the solidarity economy movement, please consider to donate using our \u2018coopfunding\u2019 platform or share about the project with your solidarity networks! If you work with refugees in Greece or other countries, interested in the call center\u2019s services or interested in building similar initiatives in the countries where they live, please share the phone line\u2019s number and communication e-mail!
\n\n\n\nPhoto credits: Maria Orfanou
\n\nCall center tel: 0030 23111 80903
\n\n\xa0E-mail: Greece@callcenter.coop
\n\nWeb: Callcenter.coop
\n\nFacebook: Refugees to Refugees R2R Solidarity Call Center
', u'post_id': 792, u'user_id': 3404, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-14 00:10:59', u'title': u'R2R call center: a cooperative developed from refugees to refugees'}, {u'content': u'In August 2015, as the first large waves of refugees started landing on the Greek shores and stuck along the border of Idomeni, I started this initiative of collecting and filling backpacks with first need items for refugees. At first, this has started very modestly, with a few friends organizing clothing donations through the Facebook https://www.facebook.com/%CE%A3%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%A0%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%86%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BDBackpacks-for-the-RefugeesSolutions-for-Homeless-148172338861553/?ref=bookmarks . At the beginning, I wasn\u2019t expending such a big response to my call, but volunteers -known and unknown- started visiting my clothing shop in Thessaloniki, bringing clothes and helping out to fill in the backpacks.
\n\nWithin two months, this action spread virally all over Greece. Over time, I networked with other grassroots initiatives active in refugee care, such as the Alternative Immigrant Centre of Thessaloniki (@To-Steki) and Oikopolis. In some cases, people followed our instructions and respected our philosophy of unconditional giving, but there have also been problematic cases because there were also people that tried to hijack the process for personal gain.
\n\nI have learned to live with the dynamics, and I started helping out at Oikopolis, to create a clothing storage, explaining an internationally used methodology of inventorying, so refugees were able to serve themselves on their own. This system still works, where refugees can come, try and take the clothes they need for free.
\n\nWhile continuing to work with clothes, I now focus on providing school items for children and the campaign has shifted focus. From just catering for refugees, we also provide care for native homeless people. Through a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/519478964902645/, we are trying to organize volunteers who adopt the schooling needs/items of children in need. These needs may be covered through a donation of items or money, and this is open to everyone. So far, the stock gathered so far through donations, is enough for about 250 kids. In parallel, I am organizing seminars and crash courses on repairing clothes and upcycling old objects to create, for example, pencil boxes.
\n\nThere is another task, which is more time-consuming and complex, in terms of research. I\'m in the team-building process that will eventually become a non-profit legal entity, to develop a Handbook for the Management of Material and Resources, in cases of emergency. For example, due to my professional background, I know how to sort and store thousands of clothing items. Somebody else might have other skills. This is also connected with the sharing of knowledge of alternative treatments, practices or hacks, that might offer cheap and practical solutions to people in need. For example, using cocoa powder as a shampoo, or other uses of baking \xa0soda, salt, etc.
\n\nI come from Thessaloniki, and my ancestors were refugees. Initially, the response from my immediate environment has been disappointing. My job is in the clothing sector, however, being an elected Municipal Councillor at the City of Thessaloniki, people know my public activity so it was easy to build trust. Furthermore, I am sitting at the Management Board to the Municipal TV100 station. Having many contacts with journalists helped to communicate the action widely. All this combined has resulted in the massive spontaneous response of a community of 1500 citizens from all walks of life. Including people from Europe and the US, who donated waterproof jackets and blankets.
\n\nAs s municipal councilor, I am in contact with local authorities. Sadly the Municipality responded very poorly, compared to what it could do. Same goes with the Ministry of Immigration Policy. We talked to the consultants, they appreciated our effort, but there was no practical result.
\n\nUnfortunately, the public sentiment is negative. Mass media shape the opinion that the refugees stopped crossing borders, so people believe that they stopped coming. Others falsely believe that refugees are to blame for anything wrong. And since the beginning of the summer, most volunteers disappeared. This has, inevitably, resulted in a fatigue in the area of refugee care.
\n\nNevertheless, I have no other option but continue. I wish to launch a crowdsourcing campaign, so the venture can continue. I imagine of a list of people with different skills, who -in the case of need- will be ready to take up a certain role. A type of inventory of what human assets exist and what everyone can contribute.
', u'post_id': 737, u'user_id': 3402, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-09 08:04:24', u'title': u'COSMUS (diy) - One to One: Donating backpacks full of care'}, {u'content': u'\u201cPeople who have allergies or sensitivities to certain food additives should check labels carefully.\u201d
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/food-additives/en/
Allergo K\xec is a project developed in the frame of MIR (Maker In Residence) activity for opencare at WeMake. A team of designers came out with a project for a round display designed for restaurants to represent allergies to food and customers needs in case they are allergic to specific kind of food.
After the post called AllergoKi | Agile kick off at WeMake, on july 31st a post titled Allergo K\xec | User journey experience, interviews and prototyping was published. Then a post about Allergo K\xec | How to represent allergens with icons describing the study on the icons, and on august 10th a post named Allergies challenging restaurants by open design followed, deepening on some social critical aspects about the situation allergic people must face if they decide to lunch in a restaurant. What is really of concern here is the attention to this topic given by people involved or simply interested in opencare represented by a quite above average numbers of reads.
FAO 2001 \u201cEvaluation of Allergenicity of Genetically Modified Foods\u201d Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Allergenicity of Foods Derived from Biotechnology 22 \u2013 25 January ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y0820e/y0820e00.pdf
\n\nMills EN, Mackie AR, Burney P, Beyer K, Frewer L, Madsen C, Botjes E, Crevel RW, van Ree R. 2007 \u201cThe prevalence, cost and basis of food allergy across Europe\u201d. Allergy. 62: 717-22
\n\nStar, SL 1990 \u201cPower, Technology and the Phenomenology of Conventions: On being Allergic to Onions\u201d, The Sociological Review, 38: 26-56
\n\nWAO 2013 White Book on Allergy, http://www.worldallergy.org/wao-white-book-on-allergy
', u'post_id': 35325, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-03 16:24:52', u'title': u'Designing beyond allergies \u2013 Allergo K\xec for thought'}, {u'content': u'Members of School of Apocalypse would be thrilled to join OpenCare at the OpenVillage Festival -- we believe we walking a parallel path ... here\'s a bit on what we could offer:
\n\nTitle
Here you Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space
Abstract
How do we come to understand space through bodily experiences? How does the environment we build shape the way we feel and interact? This interactive session explores the ways that architecture shapes our physical, social, emotional bodies. In offering a series of exercises designed to help us reclaim our right to behave and move freely in the spaces we inhabit, this work aims to innovate the vocabulary for embodied architecture that sensitize us to our surroundings.
About School of Apocalypse
School of Apocalypse (SoA) examines the connections between creative practice and notions of survival. In light of growing cultural, ecological and technological phenomena that challenge basic assumptions about human existence, SoA offers courses and programming that seek to develop new modes of inquiry and apply broader levels of experience to intellectual investigation. SoA has no fixed definition of survival, but engages with the fundamental questions that the themes provoke. We understand the creative potential of a school to be a space in which shared experience generates deeper insights and can lead to alternative cultural systems. The school invites a range of thinkers, artists and scientists to present programming on related themes. Subjects of study are theoretical as well as hands on, and emphasize the integration of observational and material practices found in mystical traditions, creative modalities and scientific field work.
Workshop Description
Space has a strong impact on the ways our bodies move. It\u2019s design is rarely arbitrary, and yet its power over us so often remains invisible. The presenters offer a series of instructions to explore any space with our bodies in order not to fall victim to mindless obedience within it. The group has produced a soundtrack and manual that can be used by anyone at anytime to investigate the ways in which architecture and the environment influence the body and vice versa. Expanding the vocabulary used to describe this experience can then enable us to have productive conversations about the power of our surroundings and designing to optimize agency.
This session explores different ways of learning, helping participants widen their awareness and expand their openness to the inputs of the world around us. The body is an exceptional vessel to receive and inform the wisdoms of space.
\n\nParticipant Engagement
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to engage both mentally and physically throughout the session. The workshop is constructed in three parts. In part one, the presenters will introducing the goal of the group\u2019s work - to better understand and more actively engage with the ways that space impacts the body, and vice versa. The facilitators will provide context and case studies for the this research, and will then share their research methodology. Part two will give workshop participants the opportunity to enact the research. A fifteen- or thirty-minute audio piece will guide the workshop facilitators and participants alike through a series of prompts and sounds which will expose the ways in which the space that contains this very workshop provides the groundwork for certain kinds of thought patterns, behaviors, and experiences. (Here is the link to a 5-minute version of the audio piece: https://soundcloud.com/bodiesintersectbuildings). During part three, participants will discuss the ways in which the soundtrack, and the ideas presented over the course of the workshop, were and were not effective in growing awareness and interest in sensitizing their given professional fields to the body. All participants will leave the workshop with a manual entitled \u201cHere You Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space.\u201d
Till soon!
Eugenia Manwelyan
Choreographer, Ecologist, Founding Faculty of School of Apocalypse
Hi Edge Ryders! We were introduced to you guys by the Woodbine Hub in NYC. We wanted to introduce ourselves and hopefully get more involved with this epic OpenCare endeavor. We are eager to learn and share at the same time.
\n\nBiosphere(x) is a group effort towards permanent culture[s]. A dedicated cadre of people with different histories and common visions, we strategize to leverage existing infrastructures, cutting edge research, obscure histories (from the point of view of our common mother cultures), and practical direct action in order to create new possibilities within the dominant one.
\n\nWith a vision of a world that is better than we found it, we believe it\u2019s imperative to remember the root all problems are social, and they require social solutions to address.
\n\nIn the past couple years, Biosphere(x) has focused in a couple of areas. In our physical practice of Permaculture design, we operate 3 separate sites where we have implement small scale holistic land management. Community food events are also weekly occurrences which range from fermentation parties, spice making, weekly meal preparations. We design and fabricate bespoke tools and structures both out of necessity and principle. Each indoor aquaponics operation and mycelium cultivation system we build and operate provide us with insight for the next iteration. One public facing service we offer through the engineering and fabrication wing of b(x), BxM, is building loft structures for friends and friends of friends. Many of the members of b(x) practice intentional physical movement as a reaction to modern sedentary expectations. This has led to an emergence of weekly calisthenic exercise groups in the various parks of NYC, more focused movement clinics for interested non-Biosphere(x) peoples, and team practice of field tactics. With this non-exhaustive list of programs we aim to maintain a readiness to address uncertainties of the future, as well as stay rooted in the present.
\n\nIt\u2019s evident to us that changes are predicated upon small consistent steps. Between every monthly public facing project are smaller daily practices and rituals. For every harvest there are many sowings, for every skill share there are numerous meal preps. It\u2019s not that we have discovered something new, but more an acknowledgement of the long now. It\u2019s our hope that as a group we will ultimately construct the reality we seek, and be able to be of service to other individuals and groups in a common struggle against industrial complexes and spiritual death.
\n\nWe look forward to interacting with people on here leading up to the OpenCare event. Feel free to reach out to @liz_biospherex and I if you guys are in our neck of the woods. More info can be found on our website: www.biospherex.org
\n\nA
', u'post_id': 34374, u'user_id': 3804, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-15 18:10:08', u'title': u'A Hello from New York City: Biosphere(x) Introduction'}, {u'content': u'Questions that patients have don\u2019t always get answered- What can I do to keep my body in the best shape? What food is best to eat during treatment? These are a few of the many questions that require answers. In the standard 15 minute doctor visit it hard to dig deep and get these answers.
\n\nIt all began with three words. "You have cancer."
The most dreadful words anyone can hear. Denise Sliepen and Carry Hendrix heard those words.
When Denise was diagnosed with in 2015 she had support from family and friends, but still found that they couldn\'t fully understand what she was going through. It was only by chance that Denise crossed paths with Carry Hendrix who was going through a similar diagnosis. An interaction at the gym brought these women to share the same space. Their friendship started and strengthened, and from that bond, it eventually led them to an idea of starting CoreCareCollective. An initiative to support the emotional and social needs of people living with cancer. This initiative promises to create a network of support dedicated to ensuring all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community.
\n\nTheir story was shared in the SCimPulse Blog, and we know it\u2019s necessary to share the \u201cWhy\u201d behind the initiative. Their intent is to provide a tool to support a collaborative dialogue between patients for sharing experiences and offering support. As these early conversations are the backbone of any project. I had the opportunity to speak with Denise over a coffee and she shared with me the motivation behind their initiative.
\n\n 
A Recollection- I asked a few questions and this was the result of our conversation.
\n\n\u201cAfter meeting Carry and getting to know one another and sharing the challenges and realizing they were similar including the internet for answers. We realized that information was scattered and more importantly we realized there must be others just like us. Searching for answers and support or exchange of conversation.
If something works for us, maybe it could help someone else who is in that unknown space. Sharing valuable information and treatment options are things that we would welcome. We thought we there must be others who were searching for answers as well. Nothing should be left up to chance. We decided that we wanted to help the next person who was affected and change the way people deal with cancer\u201d.
I can recall an appointment at the hospital, where we were going to speak with a dietician for advice-which ended up not with insufficient information. We asked various questions, and shocked by the answers\u201d.
We both loved sports, maintained a healthy diet and wanted to retain as much of our daily lives as possible prior to diagnosis while undergoing treatment. So we went online and the journey began\u201d.
\n\nWhat prompted the action? \u201cWe wondered if all cancer patients struggled with the information provided on nutrition and exercise during treatment. We knew healthy eating and nutrition support can improve a patient\'s quality of life during cancer treatment. But we could not find a platform to discuss these issues, exchange experiences and see what works for someone else. We all could learn from one another. So we put our thoughts together and experiences so far and decided to start a community that could benefit from each other\u201d.
\n\nWhat is the mission of CoreCareCollective? \u201cOur mission is to empower anyone who has been affected by cancer. To provide a space with the ability to connect and share personal experiences about cancer with others who understand. Our community would be 100% user-generated and engages all who are involved in a person\u2019s cancer fight: the survivors, fighters, supporters, and caregivers\u201d.
\n\n\u201cEvery person who faces cancer has a story. This would be a space where the individual and collective voices impacted by cancer can be heard and shared to meet the social and emotional needs of patients, families, and caregivers throughout their journey\u201d.
\n\nI had asked who else would be in collaboration, this was her response, and \u201cThe platform will honour the individual experience and create a community of understanding that extends to the entire health care delivery system\u201d.
\n\nWho do you want to reach? \u201cPeople around the world that want to share their experiences and sharing their strength\u201d.
\n\nDenise and Carry have the vision to improve how cancer patients receive care and to collaborate and create a cancer support community that empowers people to take control of life before, during and after treatment. This support is crucial in allowing survivors, fighters and caregivers to share experiences with foods, treatment, side effects, long term effects and more.
\n\nIt is their hope that every person and family battling cancer will reach out to the many others who want to help and get connected to a community that cares. Sharing the stories each with a promising and innovative approach to reinvent healthcare.
\n\nI should end on a note with the essence of transparency, Denise and Carry, two strong and powerful women had their lives turned upside down decided to take their time and focus on feeling well and take an active role in improving their well-being. They decided to take a step back to move forward, at their own pace. So at present CoreCareCollective is waiting to be birthed. There are a plethora of platforms available to cancer patients and their families. But not all are created equally or intended to serve the same purpose. Updates on this project will be shared as they develop.
', u'post_id': 35902, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-10 15:04:28', u'title': u'CoreCareCollective \u2013 a snippet of the story behind the initiative'}, {u'content': u'How are we to live in this world? How do we create communal lives? We want to be free from physical want, we want pleasure and connection with those around us, and we want purpose. We want to laugh over good food, to have the time and mental space to enjoy a sunset, to feel good about our children\'s future, to take care of our loved ones and be taken care of in turn, to commune with the natural world around us. And we must be clear, in their real, rather than commodified, exclusionary form, these desires are inherently revolutionary. They are incompatible with a capitalist world that atomizes us as individuals, divides us as members of precarious classes, and makes us physically and mentally ill.
\n\nThe question is not why, it is how. How do we build a life with those around us? How do we create a world in the ruins of the old?
\n\nBuilding a life together means we must reconsider every aspect of our lives. Our urban gardens, our communes, communal dinners, elder-care, child-care practices, mental health practices, the riots, the side hustles for money, manipulations of institutions, shoplifting habits.
\n\nHow do we deal with money? How do we create beauty? How do we struggle through patriarchy and oppression within ourselves? How do we provide care? What structures do we need to create? What lessons can we learn? What inspires us? What are we scared of? How can we create optimal conditions for our children and our elderly? How can we stop being so scared of each other?
\n\nAs the indigenous around the word have been showing us, we must call out our own \u201cBasta ya!\u201d (\u201cEnough is Enough\u201d) and fight for a \u201cworld in which many worlds can fit\u201d.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a #nospectators event. Each talk, workshop or exhibit is contributed by participants. Curators work with session leaders to make the most out of interests and learning expectations. Contribute to how sessions shape up by engaging in discussion threads below the originating post. Or see below for how to go about proposing a session.
\n\n| The Edge of Funding - Sustainability and Financial Models You want to sustain the good work you are doing. In a resource strained world, you need to be smarter in how you search and acquire resources. What models are most future proof? A panel + open space discussion! Join the conversation, help shape the session  \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t\t Session Title... Add session description here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below.
 \t\t\t | \t\t\t Session Title... Add session description here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below.
\t\t\t | \t\t
| Session Title... Add session description here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below.
\t\t\t | \t\t\t Session Title... Add session description here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below.
\t\t\t | \t\t\t Session Title... Add session description here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below.
\t\t\t | \t\t
\n\n
OPEN NOW: Call for sessions! To propose one, take these 3 simple steps:
\n\nMore information:
\n\n#OpenVillage Festival: 19-21 October
\n\nVenue: Brussels @ The Reef (TBC)
\n\nGet in touch: #OpenVillage on twitter | community@edgeryders.eu
', u'post_id': 6403, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 07:48:50', u'title': u'Festival Theme #3: Revolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy'}, {u'content': u'By understanding the experiences of patients and reflecting on their conversations and interactions gives us insight that led to their initiative. This is a snippet of the early phase of CoreCareCollective
\n\nQuestions that patients have don\u2019t always get answered- What can I do to keep my body in the best shape? What food is best to eat during treatment? These are a few of the many questions that require answers. In the standard 15 minute doctor visit it hard to dig deep and get these answers.
\n\nIt all began with three words. "You have cancer."
The most dreadful words anyone can hear. Denise Sliepen and Carry Hendrix heard those words.
When Denise was diagnosed with in 2015 she had support from family and friends, but still found that they couldn\'t fully understand what she was going through. It was only by chance that Denise crossed paths with Carry Hendrix who was going through a similar diagnosis. An interaction at the gym brought these women to share the same space. Their friendship started and strengthened, and from that bond, it eventually led them to an idea of starting CoreCareCollective. An initiative to support the emotional and social needs of people living with cancer. This initiative promises to create a network of support dedicated to ensuring all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community.
\n\nTheir story was shared in the SCimPulse Blog, and we know it\u2019s necessary to share the \u201cWhy\u201d behind the initiative. Their intent is to provide a tool to support a collaborative dialogue between patients for sharing experiences and offering support. As these early conversations are the backbone of any project. I had the opportunity to speak with Denise over a coffee and she shared with me the motivation behind their initiative.
Carry Hendrix & Denise Sliepen (pictured above)
A Recollection- I asked a few questions and this was the result of our conversation.
\n\n\u201cAfter meeting Carry and getting to know one another and sharing the challenges and realizing they were similar including the internet for answers. We realized that information was scattered and more importantly we realized there must be others just like us. Searching for answers and support or exchange of conversation.
If something works for us, maybe it could help someone else who is in that unknown space. Sharing valuable information and treatment options are things that we would welcome. We thought we there must be others who were searching for answers as well. Nothing should be left up to chance. We decided that we wanted to help the next person who was affected and change the way people deal with cancer\u201d.
I can recall an appointment at the hospital, where we were going to speak with a dietician for advice-which ended up not with insufficient information. We asked various questions, and shocked by the answers\u201d.
We both loved sports, maintained a healthy diet and wanted to retain as much of our daily lives as possible prior to diagnosis while undergoing treatment. So we went online and the journey began\u201d.
\n\nWhat prompted the action? \u201cWe wondered if all cancer patients struggled with the information provided on nutrition and exercise during treatment. We knew healthy eating and nutrition support can improve a patient\'s quality of life during cancer treatment. But we could not find a platform to discuss these issues, exchange experiences and see what works for someone else. We all could learn from one another. So we put our thoughts together and experiences so far and decided to start a community that could benefit from each other\u201d.
\n\nWhat is the mission of CoreCareCollective? \u201cOur mission is to empower anyone who has been affected by cancer. To provide a space with the ability to connect and share personal experiences about cancer with others who understand. Our community would be 100% user-generated and engages all who are involved in a person\u2019s cancer fight: the survivors, fighters, supporters, and caregivers\u201d.
\n\n\u201cEvery person who faces cancer has a story. This would be a space where the individual and collective voices impacted by cancer can be heard and shared to meet the social and emotional needs of patients, families, and caregivers throughout their journey\u201d.
\n\nI had asked who else would be in collaboration, this was her response, and \u201cThe platform will honour the individual experience and create a community of understanding that extends to the entire health care delivery system\u201d.
\n\nWho do you want to reach? \u201cPeople around the world that want to share their experiences and sharing their strength\u201d.
\n\nDenise and Carry have the vision to improve how cancer patients receive care and to collaborate and create a cancer support community that empowers people to take control of life before, during and after treatment. This support is crucial in allowing survivors, fighters and caregivers to share experiences with foods, treatment, side effects, long term effects and more.
\n\nIt is their hope that every person and family battling cancer will reach out to the many others who want to help and get connected to a community that cares. Sharing the stories each with a promising and innovative approach to reinvent healthcare.
\n\nI should end on a note with the essence of transparency, Denise and Carry, two strong and powerful women had their lives turned upside down decided to take their time and focus on feeling well and take an active role in improving their well-being. They decided to take a step back to move forward, at their own pace. So at present CoreCareCollective is waiting to be birthed. There are a plethora of platforms available to cancer patients and their families. But not all are created equally or intended to serve the same purpose. Updates on this project will be shared as they develop.
', u'post_id': 35903, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-10 15:10:45', u'title': u'Community Conversations with CoreCareCollective'}, {u'content': u'First off, I have been here before, got pissed off with process, left, and now am coming back to share solid insight and process based on my own interim work, work of doing, having done, and haviing no doubt about continuing in the doing of same.
\n\nIn 2008 I got Crohns disease my time in Edgeryders was a morphed up, healing, and reaching out, of creative capacity; in a muddle of sick and post multiple surgery period during which my surgeon constantly reminded me of \'mortality issues\'. It took 3 years to learn what to eat, and another 3 to learn the truth of \'you are what you eat\' , and at this stage I would assert that you are also HOW you eat, as in - how you supply sustenance to self and kindred.
\n\n2016 was the first year since 2008 that I was not hospitalised, and going strong since, the reason for this has been the slow acknowledgement that "we are the soil", or in more precise terms, our health depends on the bacterial ecology of the gut and this depends on the health and bacterial ecology of the soil (all of which is \'the ancestor\' if you think about it deeply enough). Food shaped food , grown in chemical soup, with only 3 of 62 micronutrients, will not cut it.
\n\nIn 2014 I secured the first 8k of funding from Plunkett and Carnegie on their Growing Livlihoods Program, we started in March of 2015 with a quarter acre under 6 foot of mess and brambles, littered with litter, broken glass, and surface detritus. Beneath all of that though, there was a gold untouched by the chemical agriculture model whose manure had come from organic fields during the 300 year history of its use as an urban kitchen garden.
\n\nToday, based on the near-basic-income of a post surgical disability allowance from the government, with passion, hard work, reasonable communication skills, and a whole lot of help in the driving of it, we have a beautiful space, feeding participants in our \'food commons\' , and working projects with the community mental health centre, intellectual disability groups, schools, rehabilitative care clinics, and the general public. We also run research trials with DIT\'s Engineers Without Borders on biochar, built 9 biodigestors on the island in 8 days with nat-geo explorer TH CULHANE, welcomed OS Ecology inventor Daniel Connel for wind turbine workshops, grow food for conscious creativity events, started a local cottage market to support small scale producers, initiated a local inter green schools program, a community woodland, a community garden in a neighbouring village, an ecotouristic bee project, education and training with the national education network, etc.-and-ting.
\n\nSo far we raised over 20 k for what is a relatively small project, now three urban and social gardens, and are looking to greater heights for the work to come on what will be our residential site at Tullanisk, a three acre walled garden with four bedroomed house, space for a yurt, and rich earth to bring to fruition in the service of the land, it\'s people, their health, resilience, and joy in what will otherwise be hard times for a country importing 98% of their vegetal foodstuffs.
\n\nA point on the why...Within months of the Normans coming to Ireland it is noted that "they became more irish than the irish themselves". In effect, your consciousness is cumulative and you contain billions of \'individual\' life forms (there is no such thing as individual but for the whole you see). The normans ate from the soil, and became of the land. This is health and rectitude. The modern human is disconnected from others, from true self, from the land via work and food, and from the earth and all of its depth thereby.
\n\nFor quite some time I have urged the tech community to put down roots. To date I have figured out the techniques of doing this, both practical, having trained with the legend Jim Cronin for 9 months, and structurally through time on the Community Land Trust research and development group at the Royal Institute of Architects, Ireland. I currently work with PJ FITZPATRICK, a leading software and app developers and former high finance exec. whom I met in hospital the last time I was there, me for post surgical rehydration, he to have his bowel removed, a process I had been through years earlier.
\n\nThere would be no such things as Crohns, IBC, colitis, etc if not for our building into the world the shortcomings of our own nature. These are centralist, they deny the value of untramelled nature and simple work, they demand privilege and power over submission to the greater order of this earth, and they will get us all in big trouble in the very short term. We have open and honest work to do in which we take long hard looks at ourselves and what we are at, take the self-protectorate lens off, and begin to do what, and as, needs be done.
\n\nThings team Edgeryders might note - a \'venture\' was the name given to the expedition of the \'adventurer\', who formed a \'company\' of mercenaries, and continued to plunder the material resources of others for their own and their masters profit. Those who \'invested\' in the \'shareprice\' of such \'ventures\' divided amongst themselves the spoils of these journeys of rape pillage and murder without thought of the moral \'externalities\' protected in the eyes of the law by \'royal patent\'. I am not a venturer, nor a company-man, nor an investor, nor do I want any part of it all as one cannot build white houses of black bricks. By your admission of having \'some ideas about non-extractive business models\' you openly acknowledge the extractive nature of your current setup. Intellectual and creative resource is little different to the material.
\n\nWhile this approach exists, I will take no part in the doing. But if you can approach the Regenerative, and as principle of action, then I will work with you, and train your growers in the how and why of the soil such that they might feed you as you do your thence good work.
\n\nWe have site and situation for the training, and it is not only how to x, but as anything connected deeply, it will ever be how to x in relation to the entire alphabet of the present predicament. We also have partners through which to engage higher order structural approaches.
\n\nContact me directly at birrgrowery@gmail.com
', u'post_id': 35053, u'user_id': 147, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-30 10:59:54', u'title': u'Food Health Work Soil (in reverse order) Getting your shit together'}, {u'content': u'I am working on two major projects: Engineering Comes Home and Vital. Always environmentally focussed, broadly in care.
\n\nEngineering Comes Home ask the question of \u201cHow can communities of non experts be involved with infrastructure designers to make infrastructures that meet their needs?\u201d It is in development as a co-design toolkit for new infrastructure design (food, energy, waste, water). It brings together ethnography, workshop practice and rapid prototyping. It is mainly aimed at citizens and infrastructure designers. The project is realised in collaboration between iilab, University College London and Newcastle University.
\n\nAmong other things, we developed a prototype \u201ccalculator\u201d to measure environmental impact to look at the possible resources people can steward in their neighbourhood.
\n\nThe first iteration of the project was done with one community in London, with good results in terms of infrastructure outcomes and satisfaction and feedback from community stakeholders. We gained insights into involving citizens in a complex subject matter and increasing their over their stake in it. A first implementation of rainwater stewardship has been installed in collaboration with KloudKeeper, and during the final workshop we came up with a plan for increasing the scope of rainwater stewardship by the community that can move forward with minimal support from the ECH team.
\n\nVital is a collection of processes to interrogate our relationship with food. Delivered as a series of workshops, techniques include DIY micronutrient analysis as well as mindful eating (eg. aesthetic experience), forum theatre and foraging. The process ends with participants co-creating installations and interventions for an exhibition that synthesises these perspectives on food, allowing participants to explore what sparks their interest to create something new and internalise the knowledge.
\n\nIn the first iteration of the project, preliminary feedback shows that engagement with these processes has changed the attitudes of the participants towards food. The group of young people who participated started out caring only about the calorie content of food. After seven weeks their attitudes had changed and they were reflecting on their personal eating habits, cultural and aesthetic aspects of eating, as well as bringing to the fore social and financial inequalities that affect the availability of different food, which emerged from the participants\u2019 drawing on everyday life experience. Next up is a collaboration with a DIY spectrometer project to measure better micronutrient content. The aim is not to measure toxins, but to make a deeper appreciation for food and the environment.
\n\nI\u2019m a big believer in experiential and collaborative working to create change. This is part of the design in the projects and art work. All these projects are open source, with documentation being put online over the summer.
\n\nDuring a session I would share experiences and showcase these projects, and if there\u2019s interest I can also demo a workshop from ECH or Vital.
\n\nIf people are excited about it, we can adapt the infrastructure co-design toolkit during a longer workshop, so that it can be used for different communities to co-design their infrastructure/living environment. I\u2019d also like to discuss opportunities to roll Vital out more widely around the globe.
\n\nAlongside the specifics of these projects, I\u2019d also like to discuss strategies to make these kinds of projects self-sustainable. For instance, a few years ago I participated in an Edgeryders conference with the Open Droplet project. The goal was a device to non-invasively measure water flow. The data was owned by consumers, rather than companies. It led to lobbying for more open data and community stewardship of resources within UK water policy. The project is now on hold as it didn\u2019t find a way to get the required funding, though it morphed a little into the Engineering Comes Home project. I\u2019d like to explore funding more with others during the festival, drawing on discussions I\u2019ve been having with other DIY science pracitioners.
\n\nAnother issue is how to disseminate outputs of projects, like exhibits, conferences etc. It\u2019s a lot of work and feels like a drop in the ocean sometimes. It\u2019s hard to reach central actors like the European Commission or other government, who can create real change, which is the goal.
', u'post_id': 33560, u'user_id': 2362, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-25 11:56:44', u'title': u'Proposal for a session'}, {u'content': u'Description: A panel on different models for how to build mental health care into the structures of communities, such as universities, cohousing projects, and neighborhoods. I see this session operating in two possible ways.
\n\nThe first way is for several people who have worked on creating support systems to introduce their communities, as well as what frameworks they have used. When discussing their frameworks, they should talk about advantages/disadvantages, the process involved in implementing these plans and how they have adapted them to their communities. Followed by an audience Q&A.
\n\nIf other possible participants haven\u2019t used any framework or plan and instead worked addressing their community needs as they noticed the need (which is not uncommon in many communities), the other option would be for all of us to introduce our communities. And then I would discuss the JED Foundation\u2019s Framework for Success and how we adapted it to Minerva (my university). From there we could discuss how this framework could be used and tailored to each community represented on the panel. Followed by an audience Q&A.
\n\nTakeaways: One or more frameworks for developing the mental health care of your community. And advice on strengths and pitfalls of each from people who have used them.
\n\nNeeds: Additional Panel Participants willing to share their experiences. A better understanding of the scope of the Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences session to make sure they are strong complements and don\u2019t overlap.
\n\nMy Background: I\u2019ve worked in my university\u2019s Mental Health Team as an intern for almost two years. In that time I got to help in developing our support system plans in three countries.
\n\nWho Might be Interested in this Session: Those working and living in communities of care, other universities, and people in the mental health field. (i.e., @thom_stewart, @asimong, @woodbinehealth, @concrn, @pauline)
\n\nTheme: Architectures of Love or Revolutionary Care, I\u2019m not sure which this fits under better and would defer to the curators.
', u'post_id': 34108, u'user_id': 3374, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-08 05:59:22', u'title': u'Session Proposal: Panel Discussion: Building Structures of Mental Wellness in Communities'}, {u'content': u'I grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Gunn High School in 2008. When I was 15, I was\xa0accepted into the Palo Alto Police Department\u2019s first student police academy and then became police explorer upon graduation. Over the next 6 years I volunteered with the Palo Alto police\xa0department in a many capacities. Through hundreds of hours of riding along with the police I got\xa0a deep understanding of law enforcement infrastructure. I saw numerous people challenged by\xa0homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse who were caught in the revolving door of the\xa0criminal\xa0justice/emergency medical system. A year after aging out of the explorers program I lost\xa0a former high school friend to suicide.
\n\nWhen I was 23 I did a ride along with \u2018CAHOOTS,\u2019 (crisis assistance helping out on the streets)\xa0an organization that does civilian crisis response in Eugene, OR. CAHOOTS provides special\xa0care to people who are stuck in the revolving door and through its intervention, break the cycle.\xa0CAHOOTS provides alternatives to incarceration and hospitalization for people with wellness\xa0issues.\xa0This ride along catalyzed me and my buddy Doug\xa0creating \xa0\u2018Concrn\u2019 a company that builds mobile apps and\xa0software to assist compassionate response communications infrastructure.\xa0
\n\nWe are now a compassionate social service network that connects people in need to responders trained in crisis de-escalation. We offer an alternative to 911 for non-violent crises and respond using the harm reduction model. Concerned citizens can download our mobile app on iPhone or Android or call us directly to access our services. We make it easy for both witnesses and victims of nonviolent crises to create a report and directly dispatch our network.
\n\n\n\nWe believe that this \u201cCompassionate Response\u201d model is more humane, harm-reducing, and cost-effective than a law enforcement approach to non-violent crises. Our coordinated teams of responders help connect individuals challenged by homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse, to the resources they need. These resources include local mental health, physical health, and shelter services. In addition, our ongoing case management program encourages clients to maintain their connection to these support services by promoting clients\u2019 sense of self-worth through alternative methods like art and music collaboration.
\n\n', u'post_id': 728, u'user_id': 3390, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-02 11:02:40', u'title': u'Creating a Compassionate Alternative to 911'}, {u'content': u'Hey there everybody!
\n\nMy name\'s Kenneth and I\'m based in Galway in the west of Ireland.
\n\nI\'m keenly interested in the myriad of ways that Internet of things projects can be applied. I grew up with my father as a Network Sys Admin and general electronics affectionado so from an early age I had a love for IT and computing in general.
\n\nI\'d never wanted to learn to code until I found the Raspberry Pi as it gave me a means to an end to achieve something physical with a device. That\'s when it all changed for me and a lot of the barriers I\'d made for myself and a love for making came along.
\n\nThe Pi, using a version of Linux, Raspian, which is based on Debian {which I\'d worked with alongside my father} then meant I was able to hit the ground running and really get a kick out of IoT dev boards. I\'ve participated in several of the Hackathons in one of Dublin\'s colleges, DCU and very much got the bug.
\n\nI had a group of friends that had just started a Social Enterprise whereby they had gotten permission to take a brownfield site in the center of Dublin and then construct an 11 x 5 metre geodesic dome, in which they would both have a community space, while also having it be an intensive food producer by having an over head hydroponics system, controlled with IoT devices.
\n\nI\'d worked out an array of analogue sensors linked to an arduino, which would then feed their data over to a MYSQL database hosted on the raspberry pi. Then there was a website which would interpret and display that database onto a website hosted on the same pi. This then enabled more awareness of the growing space and control through remote intervention through the use of reporting and the likes of relay switches to turn devices on and off.
\n\nhttp://www.thegrowdomeproject.com/
\n\nI\'d like to learn more about what people are doing and perhaps to see what I could become involved with too {}
Hi Guys
\n\nThis is about the big announcement we are making about the OpenVillage Festival on Twitter. It\'s called a twitterstorm, it\'s happening on Saturday (16/9) and we need your help to make it happen. Please do the following
\n\nFollow @edgeryders with #openvillage
On Saturday we announce the OpenVillage to the world in style. Through a Twitterstorm!
\n\nFor those of you who are unfamiliar with this format it\'s like a massive press conference where everyone is talking to everyone on twitter. Think of it as a flashmob on the internet
\n\nThe audience participates by opening two twitter windows. One in which they are following the @edgeryders account. In the second one they do a search for the #openvillage hashtag and watch the search results.
People who follow the @edgeryders twitter account get the big story about what is happening for those who have never heard about it - told in one 140 character sentence at a time.
People who follow the #openvillage hashtag search results get a large amount of tweets from many different accounts talking about the same thing. They get a big diversity of tweets from twitter accounts because different members of the community are telling their own version of the story focusing on what is especially relevant or interesting about the OpenVillage project and festival for them and their audience.
\n\nGood for you: You can feature your own project as part of a massive conversation where many people are paying attention. Because you can quickly meet others in the community and get an overview of what is happening. Because together we draw a lot of attention to the bigger story and collective effort to make social impact - you can show how your own work is an important part of big movement and that it should be supported!
\n\nGood for everyone: This action is a good way to show people who are struggling to make the world a better place that they are not alone. That there are many ways in which peers are working on the same challenges, and many ways to support one anothers\' efforts.
\n\nRight Now: Go to the spreadsheet where we are preparing the materials and make your own contribution in the form of 3 or more tweets here.
On Saturday at 10:30 - 11:30 CET make sure you are logged into Twitter and open 2 tabs. One where you have search results for the #openvillage hashtag. Another where you can post your status updates. At 11:00 CET , start posting your tweets and reply to comments or questions that pop up int the #openvillage search results.
Yayy! Help spread the word about the twitterstorm. Invite friends to join us by sharing this update and flyer on twitter:
\n\n\n\n \nSee you Saturday?! Everything you need to know about the people and projects joining #OpenVillage. We lay out our grand vision for the festival and what comes next in a 30 minute mini-conference on Twitter. More here: http://openvillage.edgeryders.eu/tweetstorm/
\n \n', u'post_id': 36125, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-13 10:53:28', u'title': u'Call for All Festival Participants! Need your help by friday 15/9!'}, {u'content': u'\n\nThe apocalypse is often thought of as the end of times. For School of Apocalypse, the proverbial end of times offers a glimpse into the beginning of a new one.
\n\nSchool of Apocalypse (SoA) is a New York City based radical learning community. They find their inspiration from the emerging feeling so many of us have about fundamental shifts that are occurring in the world. The idea of the apocalypse is not so much a cataclysmic event, but the sense that the time we are inhabiting is ending and that something new must emerge. Their goal is to dive into that feeling, unpack its hidden dimensions, and create the cultural language to help us define it. As they describe, \u201cFor us, apocalypse isn\'t quite a destination but a horizon, an idea that always exists somewhere in the near future, just ahead of us. As we look towards it, it reflects back our fears and desires. Thinking through apocalypse can therefore foreground creativity and survival, and strip away our pretensions to reveal truths about what is essential.\u201d They have no definition for survival, but rather are interested in the questions that arise from it. What is essential for us today? Tomorrow? Is survival enough? And since death and change are both inevitable, what do we mean when we say survival?
\n\nFor them, school is a broadly defined notion that provides a framework for shared knowledge to emerge. Through pedagogy that is \u201cplace-based, participatory, experiential, and collaborative,\u201d knowledge is not an accumulated as a set of facts, but is instrumentalized to create new models of thought, behavior, and culture. As they go through this process of \u201cschool,\u201d they investigate what it means to be part of a community of learning.
\n\nOne of the ways this school convenes courses is through working groups, which are self-directed autonomous groups that come together around a topic for a 3 month period and share their findings with the rest of the SoA community through a final project (which can take any form). Some recent working groups include:
\n\nChoreographies for Survival: \u201cinvestigates the resilient body and the generative culture space that emerges between bodies that engage in creative acts together.
\n\nSurvival Library: \u201caims to consolidate and contribute to an ongoing collection of publications and media works centered around the personal narratives of W/Q/T/POC.\u201d
\n\nBodies Intersect Buildings ii: \u201cdevelops a choreography for raising body awareness in space.\u201d
\n\nGreenhouses and Bio-art Systems: \u201cexplores the various different aspects of how artistic practice and theory aids in the development of human-centric ecosystems, their biological functionality and the implementation of a living artistic form as a tool for habitat survival and stability.\u201d
\n\nSoA brings together artists, thinkers, doers, makers, creatives, among others to think through the chaos of the Apocalypse, hoping that a new cultural imagination is on the other side.
\n\nTo learn more and find out about the next SoA meeting (always free and open to the public), visit them online: School of Apocalypse
\n\nAlso see their proposal for the OpenVillage Festival: "Here You Are: How to Experience Your Body in Space"
', u'post_id': 36167, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-13 22:28:57', u'title': u'School of the Apocalypse'}, {u'content': u'Hey all,
\n\nJust wanted to introduce a podcast that we\'ve started through the Woodbine Health Autonomy group. It\'s being supported by Mask.fm. Please check it out, let me know what thoughts you have, and if you have any suggestions for an episode. Please email woodbinehealth@gmail.com. Once we get capacity for Skype interviews, there are so many of your projects we\'d like to highlight, so be ready
Podcast Description: "This way of life is a war against our bodies. The air polluting our lungs, our breast milk filled with toxins, and our mental angst driving us to suicide. Proposed health cuts increase our general precarity in relation to a failing health system, a health system that fundamentally furthers our objectification and dependency on capital. Therefore the steps we make to gain and share skills and develop subterranean practices of care can return some of the agency we\u2019ve lost to the professionalization of medicine and the profitable mystery that is our bodies. As we think about expanding our capacity, we don\u2019t want to just \u201cfill in the gaps\u201d of public health infrastructure. We need to slowly break our dependence on these institutions in all the ways that we can and also look for ways to use them to our advantage. We think this happens through sharing knowledge and skills, an emphasis on preventative care, and finding ways to manipulate existing structures to allow us to move forward on this path of autonomy. We believe in the utter necessity of revolution, of the development of material lines of power. Questions of care and health autonomy are pivotal to that progression. From the Greek solidarity clinics to the Zapatistas \u201chealthcare from below\u201d to Black Panther Clinics and GynPunks, there is inspiration for this path all around us. We begin by finding each other. This podcast will be a step in that journey."
\n\nHealth Autonomy at the End of Empire
\n\n', u'post_id': 35814, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-08 15:54:01', u'title': u'Health Autonomy at the End of Empire Podcast'}, {u'content': u'Parallax Press just published The Idealist\'s Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout,\xa0a "tool kit" designed to support nonprofit staff, volunteers, activists and all those engaged in social\xa0social change and humanitarian work.
\n\nA kind of "unGuide to doing good stuff and keep sane".\xa0
\n\nPeople with daring vision and edgy ideas pour their soul into their projects. We strive for meaning and fulfilment and we can\'t do that on a 9 to 5 schedule. So we are freelancers, change-makers, entrepreneurs, activists, humanitarians. Riding the edge.\xa0On the edge the temperature rises sometimes...and if we are not careful and get too close "to the sun", just like Icarus, we risk burning "our wings".\xa0We run out of steam and enthusiasm. We become jaded and cynical. In other words we burnout.
\n\nWhat many people ignore is that burnout is a problem of the system, of the "community", not just of the individual.\xa0
\n\nWhen individuals burnout it is a symptom that they are part of a community that is not caring for its people. We see this problem among "do-gooders" who tend to focus on fixing things out there and pay little attention to the emotional texture of life.\xa0
\n\nStewardship of assets will not change the world, if we forget to care for one another.
\n\nHere\'s how to keep burning without burning out.\xa0
', u'post_id': 622, u'user_id': 2288, u'timestamp': u'2014-08-17 15:29:59', u'title': u"The Idealist's Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout"}, {u'content': u'Hello @nadia i\'m mostafa from egypt
i really happy to hear about openvillage Idea
because i start to represent this idea and share it in 5 TV Show and more than 15 Newspapers from 2 years 
my Idea is to build a community from Egyptian creative Youth in an island
To create a successful model of creative youth
By creating common workspaces
And projects that are not harmful to the environment
And use A clean energy only on the island
and these are some details about my idea :
I. PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
1. A successful model of 1000 Egyptian youth gathered together on the idea of \u200b\u200bdeveloping Egypt.
2. Increase the percentage of internal investment.
3. Development of internal and external tourism through model work for the Maldives, Malaysia and Thailand in Egypt. (Tourism islands) and these are the most places where the Egyptians in their travel.
4. Establish agricultural and industrial projects without harm to the environment and not rely solely on tourism.
II. THE CAUSE OF THE SELECTION OF JIFTUNE ISLAND:
1- The length of the island of Jiftun is 18 km and the length of its coast is 43 km.
2 - away from Hurghada 11 km and this makes it easy to take advantage of the services available in Hurghada.
3 - Includes 14 sites of the most beautiful diving sites.
4 - receive about 188 thousand tourists annually and therefore do not need to campaign for a large awareness of the place.
5. Exploitation of the island comes from entrance fees only island.
Third: The reason for exploitation of natural islands and reserves in Egypt:
IV. How to choose 1000 young people:
The 1,000 young people from all over the country will be selected by a dedicated HR team
The lesson in selection criteria are:
1. Ethics.
2. Ambition.
In order to avoid the negatives resulting from the poor morals and frustrations that exist in society now
\u2022 After selecting individuals
Each member of the island has a membership card and the card has a number of points and if the person has committed any offense
The number of points owned shall be deducted according to the type of violation committed (of course, the sanctions regulation) and if the individual has exhausted the number of points owned by him
He is thankful for his time spent on the island.
The number of points is also increased for individuals who are positive in helping the people of the island and thus giving them greater advantages based on their positivity
\u2022 The island is not limited to 1000 young people only, but they represent the population in the General Assembly of the island in accordance with the regulations of the team of human resources.
\u2022 The expected number of people on the island will be reduced to 50 thousand and jobs will be provided to them in the available fields.
V. ELECTRICITY:
Only clean energy generated from:
1. Solar energy.
2. Winds.
3. Water rush.
4. Power generation by movement (bike).
VI. WATER:
Studies in Egypt have proved that if we move away from the Nile River 70 km, desalination is the economic option
Therefore, seawater desalination will be used to provide water for drinking and agriculture.
VII. Sanitation
Sewage will be treated to be suitable for irrigation of gardens and agriculture.
VIII. Means of transportation:
You will be able to use environmentally friendly transportation such as bicycles and golf cars that are powered by electricity
IX. HOUSES:
Wooden houses is the perfect choice that has been chosen for various reasons:
1. Do not harm the environment.
2 - Economic price interview with concrete houses.
3 - her aesthetic view.
4 - the ability to withstand the various environmental factors more than others.
and now i make start-up company in carpooling field to solve transportation crisis, traffic, and Car air pollution in the Egyptian society.
', u'post_id': 35613, u'user_id': 3887, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-06 11:30:09', u'title': u'A community of Egyptian creative youth on Jiftun island'}, {u'content': u'There are a number factors that contribute to organisational sustainability. In my experience some key ones are:
\n\nFinancial sustainability has remained a persistent task for GalGael, as it is for many organisations. This was a particular challenge during August and mostly likely for some months to come. It\u2019s an issue that regularly features in posts on the Edgeryders platform and I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be plenty of experience to share at the Edge of Funding panel planned for OpenVillage.
\n\nSupporting the development of program content and other curating work has been welcome respite from these challenges. The fellowship itself affords a bit of time to step back and consider the \u2018less urgent\u2019 things about the work. Being caught up in the \u2018urgent stuff\u2019 as we so often are in smaller organisations and groups is the space of burnout. We become sucked in to a relentless pattern of activity to secure our survival or just because there are too few people to cover all that needs done. Other forms of organisational and personal sustainability seem less important and while time management tools encourage us to move out of the \u2018urgent quadrant\u2019 and spend more time on the important aspects of our work, the reality of achieving this can feel perversely elusive.
\n\nThe three original themes have been blended for Open Village program to reflect the overlap and interconnection. The fellowship allows me to continue following the thread of the Architectures of Love theme \u2013 I\u2019m still curious about where it might lead and what it might reveal. I guess that curiosity stems from a sense of something \u2018important\u2019 happening out of the corner of my eye and while all my attention is consumed with numbers, spreadsheets and plans \u2013 I\u2019ve never had much chance to give this my full attention. I\u2019m curious to see what would be revealed if we paid more attention to creating the conditions to bring about desired outcomes - such as health in our organisations - rather than see these as \u2018outputs\u2019 of our clever plans and policies?
\n\nMargaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze\u2019s book Walk Out Walk On describes the principle of \u2018start anywhere, follow it everywhere\u2019. In a world of constant flux it seems like a useful approach and one which they describe as generating changes in education, public safety, arts, ecology and food in Joubert Park in Johannesburg. They make the point that this is a more productive approach than forms of social change dependent on assumptions that large and complex issues must be addressed one by one, with institutions and experts who specialise in that particular problem.
\n\nSo in \u2018following it everywhere\u2019 I\u2019m continuing to look for insights on this topic through conversations, books and reading posts that will help to flesh out the list of \u2018enabling factors\u2019 for Opencare/citizen led care suggested early on in the fellowship:
\n\nOne pattern I\u2019ve noticed is the role that language and assumptions play in either creating or shutting down the interior and exterior spaces within us and between us. Both language and assumptions influence all of the factors listed. The language we use is in direct relationship with our assumptions. The words we choose can give away the assumptions we are operating from while at the same time shaping our perceptions. In Ivan Illich\u2019s words; \u201cthe present is built on assumptions we haven\u2019t yet found names for.\u201d - they shape our sense of self and others and inform our worldview. They subtly contribute to or degrade the conditions we create. A perspective reinforced by Abeba Birhane\u2019s tweet quoting Bakhtin; \u201cThe deepest layers of our assumptive world are probably those where we unreflectingly conceive the nature of time and space\u201d. Assumptions are the hidden architecture but they impact the world around us in ways that are very real.
\n\n\n\nIn the Right to Useful Unemployment, Illich describes \u201clanguage as the most fundamental of commons\u201d \u2013 a commons that perhaps requires more of our attention. Like other commons many terms and words have themselves become enclosed or hijacked; \u2018innovation\u2019, \u2018resilience\u2019 and \u2018empowerment\u2019 are all cases in point. There are many more we could list that have been co-opted for certain agendas. Some words are simply \u2018hollowed out\u2019 \u2013 words that through mis-use and over extraction lose value and meaning.
\n\nWithin the care sector, language subtly defines relationships and power. To reference Illich again; \u201clanguage is about the organisation of power\u201d. Language use informs relationships that either confer agency or create dependency. Perhaps our use of language is the first condition that creates either \u2018power with\u2019 or \u2018power over\u2019 - something to consider in our care services?
\n\nThere are clear possibilities that could arise from working consciously with these factors. I\u2019d be curious to hear from others who have intentionally worked with the soft structures that shape our world. My hunch is that this could dramatically increase the scope for radically innovative work that isn\u2019t merely badging new developments with a hollowed out word.
', u'post_id': 35561, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-05 18:11:30', u'title': u'Fellowship Post 3: hidden structures of language and assumption'}, {u'content': u"please point me to the best item to 'share' about everything in facebook (both for my personal one, and at Hackuarium)! will look for a program summary...
Also, please let me know if there is something special I can do!
I\'m happy to introduce a new edgeryder! Paola will be joining us in Brussels October 19-21.
She recently joined Creative Commons as Director of Product Engineering, designing a search engine that supports the organisation to advance culture of openness into social behavior, beyond using the licenses: "I want to build a more usable commons, a more vibrant commons so people can benefit from its openness. This creates a virtuous cycle where people collaborate and are grateful to each other."
Paola is joining a panel at #OpenVillage festival. I asked her to share insights into how she and others who do programming for the greater good can finance work dedicated to solving pressing societal issues. Paola started applying for fellowships in 2014 (she was a Mozilla Open Web Fellow), and developed a personal strategy to get funding. Her experience has to do with training oneself to find out the funders\' perspective and possible adjusting one\'s research to increase the odds to get a project supported.
\n\nMore about her work: http://paw.mx/
\n\nYou can hangout with Paola by joining The Edge of Funding on October 20th!
', u'post_id': 35963, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-11 07:27:12', u'title': u'Meet Paola Villarreal at OpenVillage Festival (Creative Commons, technology, justice, \u2026)'}, {u'content': u'Hey all,
\n\nSome updates about the ever-evolving program! You can see the most updated version of the program here.
\n\n\n\n\nAs the OpenVillage project and MENA project develop, the structure of the program has been slightly altered. As stated before, the general themes of the festival (Open Science, Architectures of Love, and Revolutionary Care) will be woven throughout the festival.
\n\nDay 1 will be an introduction to the general themes, as well as a way to present some theoretical views of care. This process will allow us to ease into the conversations and the urban game will be a way to loosen our bodies and our minds with each other.
\n\nDay 2 will focus more on the practical. It will highlight ways that projects have taken the theoretical and developed them into daily practices and infrastructures.
\n\nDay 3 will focus on the visionary. It will be a combination of introduction to the OpenVillage projects, but also looking at the process of other collectives around creating community. Overall, we aim for it to be a capstone conversation to the previous two days. How do we create the structures of care needed in our local worlds while also creating the tangible villages to experiment? We will use the MENA project as an experimental space to visualize the logistics as well envision the dreams of a new world, a world capable of answering the pressing catastrophe around us. We hope all participants stay for Day 3 and that you bring your most creative and visionary selves to the process. We will need all of you to make it work!
\n\nAs we continue to develop the program, we ask all participants and presenters to have patience with us! While we want to give everyone the time to present formally, there may be some changes to the formal presentation schedule. But Day 3 will be left more informal and we desire that folks feel empowered to present their work in small groups. Also, if you do have work that you feel encouraged to present informally, we hope that it can be included in Day 3. Lastly, if there are still formal proposals for sessions, please post them on the blog! It will always be helpful for the larger community to hear about your work and there is no telling how many other projects you can inspire! We will plan on having a formalized schedule by September 15th. So please continue sharing and participating. We hope to see you all in Brussels!
\n\nFestival Curators
', u'post_id': 35166, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-31 22:04:16', u'title': u'Program Updates'}, {u'content': u'Abeba Birhane is researching cognitive science at University College Dublin. She tweets and blogs about embodied cognition and the enactive approach to cognitive science, which is how I came across her work, when Marco shared a link to her post on Aeon. Abeba\u2019s interest in a more relational understanding of personhood and dialogical approaches informed by the likes of Bakhtin, could bring a useful perspective to understanding the enabling conditions for community-led Opencare. While her work is not specific to the field of care, there are clear connections between the field of her research and how we think about a person and the challenges around health that OpenCare is wrestling with. The extent to which our Cartesian mindset goes unquestioned can be seen in the way which our health and social care systems have developed and our responses to solving the big challenges in public health that have faced society.
\n\nAbeba interests lie in the problematic conceptions of selfhood that arise from the influence of Descartes on psychology, the modern mind and ways of understanding our place in the world. She draws on Ubuntu and African philosophy for richer conceptions of the self and on the work of Bakhtin. Bakhtin\u2019s study of philosophy led him to develop the concept of dialogism - a concept that went on to influence fields beyond language and communication. European social psychologists have applied Bakhtin\'s work to the study of human social experience, preferring it as a more dynamic alternative to Cartesian dualism. Abeba\u2019s research interests lie in the emerging fields of embodied and enactive cognition, which are similarly finding greater potential in dialogic models of the self. She is researching the ways in which our personhood is "always on the move, is relational and communal\u201d. Sharing these insights may contribute to a sense of what a relational health and social care system might look like. Where patients are no longer treated as self-contained units in need of some form or intervention within conduit models of service delivery and greater health is generated through greater interconnection with others, with community and society.
\n\nI\u2019m hoping Abeba will post some thoughts and that conversations will develop that will provide insights as to the assumptions our current care systems are founded on - conversations that may continue as part of the open sessions at the Open Village in October. What happens when we explore and shift our assumptions, when we work consciously with these, beyond designing care interventions and health apps confined by the boundaries those assumptions create?
', u'post_id': 35378, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-09-04 16:54:55', u'title': u'Abeba Birhane: Cognitive science, dialogism and care?'}, {u'content': u'This is a work in progress idea for the OpenVillage.
\n\nBig Question:
\n\nHow can Britain and Europe work together, post-Brexit, to provide a humane and safe environment for asylum seekers and refugees across the continent?
\n\nMy background:
\n\nWorked on the Ground in Calais 2016. OpenCare fellow. Wrote about my experience here.\xa0
\n\nNow, I am a Regional Coordinator for Help Refugees. The UK largest grassroots refugee charity. Initially a reactionary humanitarian charity. Sending volunteers from UK out to support projects in France and beyond. Now, works to support projects in areas across Europe. Working with local organisations doing charitable/humanitarian work in Northern France, Greece mainland and islands, Serbia, Italy, Turkey and Lebanon. Fundraisers and political change-makers \u2013 lobbying UK government and civil service/NGOs.
\n\nStarting to work on the ground in the UK. Eyes turned towards putting our own house in order. Undertaking an asset mapping of\xa0refugee services in UK. Desperate to avoid overlap or duplication. More about connecting and supporting existing services with volunteers and funds. Ethos is heavily on grassroots, non-NGO, Non-Political, but partisan actors. Working with refugees IS a political act. Predominantly Young volunteers, and young people within central team. Mix of UK and local European partner volunteers working in projects on the ground \u2013 strong split 50/50.\xa0
\n\nHow could the event work?
\n\nReach out to Help Refugees organisers. Bring in people running\xa0the groups they support around Europe. Could pitch it as a Help Refugees European summit for grassroots and citizen-led refugee projects, working with EdgeRyders to connect to a wider audience.
\n\nHow might it work?
\n\nIn an ideal world i would ask the team from Good Chance Theatre\xa0to bring their theatre to the city for the weekend. We would use the space inside it to run a series of open group discussions, keynote talks, breakout discussions and evening entertainment.
\n\nDiscussions\xa0I would like to see people having:
\n\nSpeakers and Orgs I would like to hear talks from
\n\nNGO/Government:
\n\nUNHRC (ch/sw)\xa0
\n\nEuropean Commission: Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (eu/bel)
\n\nCreative Europe culture team (eu/bel)
\n\nRefugees International (USA)
\n\nEuropean Council of Refugees and Exiles
\n\nGrassroots/Charity:
\n\nBreaking Barriers (uk)
\n\nCitizen\u2019s Platform for Refugee Support (be)
\n\nRefugee Open Cities (ER members - @Tomma ) (de)
\n\nRefugees Work (ER members - @ninabreznik ) (de)
\n\nEmpowerHack (uk)
\n\nRISE: REFUGEES\' IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS FOR EUROPE\xa0Greek Forum of Refugees (Advocate Europe project winner 2016)
\n\nRefugio Berlin (De)
\n\nThe Orange House (gr) (ER members and Help Refugees funded)
\n\nRefugees to Refugees R2R Solidarity Call Center (gr) (@ChristinSa )
\n\nHelp Refugees (uk)
\n\nUtopia 56 (fr)
\n\n\n\nCulture:
\n\nAnyone who won the Creative Europe awards in 2016
\n\nPlatforma (counterpoint arts) (UK)
\n\nArt Refuge Uk (uk)
\n\nYoung Roots (uk)\xa0\xa0 \xa0
\n\n@Iriedawta \xa0and The Armenia Refugee Project
\n\nA long list of potential groups that may be encouraged to participate. The hope would be that ER existing members would be encouraged along to meet as a group and that a number of new organsiations would join. Adding their stories to the project. On top of this the hope would be to reach out to the volunteer and refugee support community in Brussels. Also, (if we can make it happen) the large theatre space would be a visable beacon to members of the public.
\n\nIt\'s a big idea. It could be scaled down if required. It has the potential for a lot\xa0of moving parts, but i think it\'s achievable given the timescale. The biggest hurdles would be securing buy in from Good Chance Theatre to create the space, and finding ways to support grassroots volunteers to travel to, and stay in, Brussels to meet, share and talk.
\n\nTypical ER problems i guess.
\n\nLet me know any thoughts you have about the idea. Happy to reframe, or revisit any ideas here based on input.
', u'post_id': 6282, u'user_id': 2569, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-01 14:03:24', u'title': u'Helping Refugees: An OpenVillage strand?'}, {u'content': u'bottom up crisis management.
\n\nThrough the cold war we saw disaster situations managed through large scale civil defence. Even at the end of the cold war the mass migration that followed was handled with a military humanitarianism.
\n\nWith the rise of global austerity since 2008, civil defense with the\xa0care sector in general has been get eroded. Cuts to public services reduce there capacity to respond.
\n\noverall the public respond well to disasters,\xa0but new formations of disaster management are not without complications.\xa0
\n\nhow can gaps be filled more effectively?
\n\nhow can training\xa0be provided that meets unkown needs?\xa0
\n\nhow do we prevent difficulty from becoming dispair?
\n\nI have been doing research through actions. Seeing the migrant crisis as a training ground for the crisis of the future. Working with a mobile footcare clinic and trying to extract the best practice as we moved through the small camps of italy and down to serbia. dealing with medical issues and truck logics\xa0
\n\nhow do we repilcate skilling up?
\n\nhow do we deal with elite panic? ie large organisations in dissarray due to poor leadership.
\n\nhow do we get people to thrive in high stress enviroments?
\n\nmost of us can think of times when we have risen to the challenge of tough situations.
\n\nwhat are the emotions and logistics behind\xa0that happening?
', u'post_id': 6470, u'user_id': 3686, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-05 10:37:47', u'title': u'Emergency mutual aid'}, {u'content': u'Notes from our community call ahead of #OpenVillage Fest, with:
\n\nMichael - curious about The Reef and would like to drop by in Brussels.
\n\nBernard - piloting a new Unmonastery. Building cloches for growing food in urban areas. Three people hoping to come along to Open Village. Measuring soil humidity for better gardening (Ken in Ireland) http://www.aae.ie/ait-eile-monastery-2017/
\n\nJohn - likes the open source, self management tools. DIY control of your stuff - needs to be open source; Raspberry Pi: board for remote controlling stuff, with microports; you can make kiosk videos; it will plug into a lot of ports; Lile Arduino. Great application to practical tasks. Including medical. Getting some hackers/DIY electronics people at the festival would be cool.
\n\nAlberto- Buffalo NY. Working on water quality and using fly fishing as a way for integrating citizen science and working with schools. Building environmental stewardship
\n\nWinnie - citizen science theme for the Festival, working with Alberto, involved in open biology lab here in Belgium
\n\nNoemi- has been working to curate OpenVillage program
\n\nGehan - Glasgow, involved in Galgael.
\n\nAre we over-investing in one way of producing change? That being through policy.
\n\nHow do we create a culture that creates an environment, an ecology of care?
\n\nBernard: spent time with Transition Galway, actively involved in doing things; Bernard and his group are involved in Galway 2020 which means they can go ahead with a little funding and act under the banners of culture. Especially in mental health - they managed to get a centre open besides the hospital (see Cosain for more info).
\n\nThat\u2019s by getting into anything that is public participation, getting lots of groups together.
\n\nGalway City Community Network (CCCN) - they tried to influence the council. Galway got a Greenleaf award - there were events promised, funding,... and nothing happened. Currently all the environmental groups are putting pressure for something to actually happen, by going international: \u201cBecause we\u2019re officially registered we wrote to the Council through Galway\u2019s CCCN. The next stage is to go directly to the Greenleaf in Europe\u201d.
\n\nGehan: what is comes down to is dropping this idea that creating jobs is important, and explore\xa0decoupling work from jobs. Jobs have come to monopolise work in a way that is not necessarily conducive to the kind of future we\u2019d want.
\n\nNoemi: Help with feedback on the programme pls?\xa0https://edgeryders.eu/openvillage/program
\n\nOpen Policy making group in Milano as they work on\xa0Collectively enforcing a mobility policy. How do you make people comply with this? Its cheaper for shop owners to pay the fine. Working with social designers, ethnographers. Collective law enforcement. Is it about understanding constraints at a system level? A live debate\u2026? Let Noemi know what is needed to go deeper on this theme.\xa0
\n\nDo a search on the network and see what work is happening on policy and explore gaps. Send invitation to get people to participate in a panel- starting with @Luciascopelliti @Matteo & co.
\n\nSimon from England - be useful to try to get his engagement. Lancaster co-housing. Not working. But builds in lots of protection for you. Sliding scale - when you live with people, how much are you keeping for yourself. It really comes into play when you have kids. That\u2019s when it gets interesting. The parenting dynamic can become tense. It\u2019s always a conversation between the individual and the collective. It might be interesting to hear more about how they\u2019ve doing.
\n\nCommunity in Milano - Bovisa Co-housing. Post on Edgeryders. Premise when we got there was not as anticipated. Lack of understanding at the beginning that this was a communal project. Spectrum between family and \u2018sociality\u2019. Moved over time to sociality but not deliberately. Self-selection. Very organic.
\n\nConnected to sharing everything - vs - sharing common values. Design, expectation, governance.
\n\nWHAT WOULD BE AN ASPECT OF COMMUNITY SPACES LIVING/WORKING/LEARNING THAT YOU WANT TO LEARN AT OPENVILLAGE?
\n\nBernard: Water supply - testing water. Trying to live with off grid. Reed beds. There are people working on this that we can network with. Several proposals have touched on the importance of water, there is energy to work with. or is it also more practical - like plumbing - that you\'re after? Winnie:\xa0some guys pretty active in the tiny houses here in Belgium. He came to us for info on a fungal filter for his water at some point
\n\nNoemi: How people learn to live together while also making a contribution in the world. Lifestyle - impact relationship.
\n\nGehan: In GalGael: we don\u2019t live together but we work together. Drug & alcohol policy but this doesn\u2019t keep people safe. Collective policing versus authoritarian policing - still limited; how to go beyond the reach of policy - perhaps by creating working principles that guide day to day interactions and relations?
\n\nJohn: underlying theme would be just asking them what are ways to form alliances without a pre-defined outcome. What is the commitment when people do decide to come/live together? \xa0\xa0
\n\nWhat about you? What would you like to learn about?
', u'post_id': 6415, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-16 11:30:45', u'title': u'"Creating conditions for open care" means creating culture, influencing policy, learning from collectives\' work'}, {u'content': u'As we continue to struggle in NYC, many changes have come about since we last wrote of the Woodbine Health Autonomy Center and our thoughts After Occupy. The chaos of the world seems to grow larger, pushing us to further investigate the materiality of autonomy. The growing migrant crisis in Europe, the rise of proto-fascist forces across the world, the election of Trump here in the US. The continual melting of glaciers. The mundanities of crushing debt, the anxiety of our culture, and the everyday loneliness of the city. And for us here at Woodbine, the loss of a dear friend and comrade who was traveling to support the indigenous resistance at Standing Rock.
\n\nWe don\u2019t bring these up to merely add to the general devastation. But because they are our reality. They exist and to not acknowledge that is to cover ourselves with superficial banalities. The crises that continue to arise are merely symptoms of the disintegration of a way of being in the world that is becoming rapidly untenable. So when we think of care, we must take on the task of being a bridge to a new way of being. \xa0
\n\nAt Woodbine, we are continuing to develop a path toward health autonomy. We are looking to meld many different modalities of health. \xa0We have been experimenting with different projects and finding ways to build community. We\u2019ve had a garage gym with weekly fitness classes, open hours in our Resource Center, and ongoing public workshops. Our series of \u201cskill shares\u201d, has included subjects from acupuncture to foraging urban medicinal plants, to workshops on first aid and large discussions questioning what communal health really requires. Autonomous mental health infrastructure seems to be the most pressing immediate need of our community. This is a key place we are focusing our energies at the moment. We find that the act of sharing responsibilities, allowing for new innovation, and practicing vulnerability with our comrades are the first steps to addressing these larger questions of health and care.
\n\nWith the proposed health care cuts as well as the general trend our government is taking, we fear that some heightened level of austerity will be upon us. As resources to critical health infrastructure are being threatened, as evidenced by Planned Parenthood cuts, the war on women\u2019s health, and the potentials for immigration officials to use health institutions as a screening tool, we are increasingly seeing a need to provide clinical as well as educational resources. Because of the immense cost and regulatory difficulty of providing clinical care in NYC, we need to seek and develop work-arounds. As we see the needs increasing, cuts being made and draconian measures to make non-violent actions to protect water punishable with prison sentences, we can only imagine a future where care for ourselves and our fellows will become increasingly criminalized. Therefore the steps we make to gain and share skills and develop subterranean practices of care can return some of the agency we\u2019ve lost to the professionalization of medicine and the profitable mystery that is our bodies. As we think about expanding our capacity, we don\u2019t want to just \u201cfill in the gaps\u201d of public health infrastructure. We need to slowly break our dependence on these institutions in all the ways that we can and also look for ways to use them to our advantage. We think this happens through sharing knowledge and skills, an emphasis on preventative care, and finding ways to manipulate existing structures to allow us to move forward on this path of autonomy. \xa0
\n\nWe believe in the utter necessity of revolution, of the development of material lines of power. Questions of care and health autonomy are pivotal to that progression. \xa0From the Greek solidarity clinics to the Zapatistas \u201chealthcare from below\u201d to Black Panther Clinics and GynPunks, there is inspiration for this path all around us. \xa0We begin by finding each other. \xa0
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6376, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-02 14:06:13', u'title': u'Health Autonomy at the End of the World'}, {u'content': u'\n\nIn August we synthesized strategic work we have done in ReaGent and Ekoli in July, we are taking some important steps with Open Insulin and we are moving into the next phase with the OpenVillage Festival.
\n\nJuly was an instructive month for the teams at ReaGent and Ekoli, the two nonprofits that share the open biolab in Ghent. We held three strategic sessions (one for Ekoli and two for ReaGent), to determine our focus points for the coming year(s). We had been building plenty of science related content, activities and infrastructure since we started (2 years ago for ReaGent, just short of 1 year for Ekoli). We had been mainly acting on gut feel so far, but the time had come to evaluate and improve our actions.
\n\nSeveral factors are the base of this: our rent will increase, we are growing and some aspects are professionalizing. The latter is particularly challenging in an environment where the people who need help the most, don\u2019t have financial means, and there is a mix of volunteer and paid work.
\n\nI invited Filip Dani\xebls, a systems thinker and visualizer, to join us during the sessions and help make sense of the complexity we\u2019ve created in sharing resources between two organisations.
\n\nFrom the sessions we\u2019ve learned that we\u2019re doing quite okay and are very aligned in terms of values. We did lack some collective vision and the practical details of implementation were not always aligned. Discussion on the latter topic ironed out the details and got us going on the right track again.
\n\nWe had to think more economically than before. The costs to cover are substantial. Luckily, we have built so much content and expertise that can be exchanged for money somehow. The difficulty lies in the short term that it has to succeed, and the dependency on personal investment of a few people. Yet after simulations, it\u2019s looking feasible. It is tempting to draw conclusions about how to really, and resiliently run a community space like ours, but I don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s time yet.
\n\nAre there general takeaways for other projects? Can we generalize what we observed with our projects? Not so much. Doing these sessions is the most important takeaway. So is looking from different angles and thinking from the perspective of an ecosystem, rather than an individual project.
\n\nIn the sessions for ReaGent, what is an advantage for Ekoli was considered a benefit for ReaGent and vice versa. It is interesting how dependencies and assistance evolve over time. Ekoli used to be dependent on ReaGent, but now it is evolving to be an equal relationship, or over slightly the other way around when it comes to paying the rent. This is sure to change in the future.
\n\nWhat makes us able to do collaborate like this? Is it the fact that a big part of the team is active in both organisations? Is it the shared values? The shared space? Something else? I\u2019m not sure at this point, though the first point is probably the biggest factor. I\u2019m looking forward to future developments, where both organisations keep co-evolving through whatever ties them together. There are plans to formalize the link, as well as the links with other organisations that are heavily involved as our partners.
\n\nOpen Insulin powers on. Good progress is being made in Oakland and we have also started lab work in Ghent.
\n\nIt is still clear that more time and effort by more people is needed, and that we need to invest in the habits and digital infrastructure to make it possible. Hence my trip to Oakland will be important to implement the digital infrastructure, and I\u2019ve been in touch with several team members there to prepare that.
\n\nThere is a computational dimension of the project that is also very promising. It will involve the sharing and processing of scientific data by citizens all over the world, much like the celebrated Hubble telescope citizen science project.
\n\nI\u2019m planning to travel to Cork to meet the team there in November, as they are starting their own Open Insulin efforts. With four groups globally, it is important to be on the same page and invest in synergies early on.
\n\n\n\nThe lab work in Ghent took off, after a long search and waiting period due to logistics and legal constraints. We\u2019re now reproducing the experiments in E. coli bacteria and designing a new yeast genetic construct, which is in line with the direction that Oakland is taking.
\n\nWe have been supported in a major way by a department at the University of Ghent, and the team of volunteers here is putting many hours into the project. I think a congratulations and thank you to everyone is in order, for hanging in there since we started a few months ago
After an intense sprint in early summer, and a quieter period in August, the OpenVillage program is in its final forms and the communication efforts are ready to begin. It\u2019s been a hell of a ride, chaotic and a lot of work. Even though it\u2019s a while to the final party, it\u2019s already satisfying. Co-fellows @gehan and @woodbinehealth have pulled off some amazing work!
\n\nOnwards, lots of work and travels around the world. Writing this from a friend\u2019s place in Bratislava, where I\u2019m away from everything to do some deep work. Then to Oakland for Open Insulin and a global DIYbio conference in September, where I\u2019ll be meeting community members who are working on similar things! Yay!
', u'post_id': 34920, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-28 14:45:57', u'title': u'Fellowship Blog: Strategy & Labwork in August'}, {u'content': u'I\u2019d like to propose a session around a recent new project \u2013 the DIY Science Network \u2013 with a lot of parallels with Opencare. It would be great to connect these efforts where it makes sense.
\n\nI\u2019m one of the volunteer organisers of a community of science hackers in Berlin. Since 2013 we\u2019ve been running a local edition of the hackathon Science Hack Day which brings together scientists, artists, designers, engineers, developers and other enthusiasts with an open brief to collaborate, ideate and hack together. We\u2019ve grown a really amazing community of passionate and talented interdisciplinary folks and we\u2019d love to be able to develop some more ambitious civic or cultural projects. But we\u2019re already at the limit of what we can achieve as volunteers. It\u2019s a classic Catch 22 volunteer trap \u2013 we need money to buy us more time, but we don\u2019t have enough time to work on finding money.
\n\nTHE PROBLEM
\n\nFrom talking to friends in the wider network of DIY and community-based science projects (many related to issues of care) it seems this is a very common problem. From diybio community labs and bioart collectives, to civic environmental monitoring projects, to patient activism groups, to interdisciplinary science hacking communities \u2014 we all face similar challenges in growing and maintaining ourselves as sustainable civil society initiatives.
\n\nFinding the right balance to sustain a healthy community, share knowledge, and support co-creation is hard. And funding around grassroots citizen science can be particularly challenging, if not unfair: researchers that study us receive more funding than we do ourselves. And, whilst large amounts of public science funding are allocated to \u2018citizen science\u2019 at the both European and National levels, there is very little possibility for non-institutional citizen science communities to access it.
\n\nJOINING FORCES: THE DIY SCIENCE NETWORK
\n\nThe DIY Science Network has grown out of a number of conversations around these topics. We exploded into existence last autumn fueled by some rather difficult and inequitable interactions with institutional partners, but are now focussed on channeling our energy into positive action. It is a meta network between DIY science initiatives: part \u2018P2P: sharing best practices\u2019 and part \u2018advocacy for access to public research funding\u2019. So far most of the work we\u2019ve done has been about growing the network and finding our identity.
\n\n\n\n
OUR PROGRESS
\n\nWe took part in the Mozilla Global Sprint earlier this month with a focus on the P2P side of the project. However, for now we think the priority should really be to get an advocacy platform up and running as soon as possible in the hope that we might still be able to have some influence on agenda setting for FP9. In the short term we hope soon to secure funding to gather 4-5 European community/project organisers together for a co-design sprint to lay the foundation for the network \u2013 describe our identity, values, mission, begin to craft our advocacy arguments and roadmap next steps \u2013 and build a basic website.
\n\nAt #Openvillage, we would like to keep our focus on the advocacy side of the project:
\n\nMAIN CHALLENGE
\n\nHow do we encourage funders to support DIY science initiatives now? And, longer term, how can we foster a funding culture that is supportive of non-institutional science?
\n\nQUESTIONS TO ADDRESS
\n\nAs yet we don\u2019t have a clear idea for a format for #openvillage - it will depend on what stage we are at by the time of the festival. But in general, we are very open to talk about how to bring in this topic in the most constructive way possible for everyone.
', u'post_id': 6427, u'user_id': 3708, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-19 18:04:10', u'title': u'DIY Science Network - advocating for community access to research funding'}, {u'content': u'Hi I am Gilad Gom\xe9,
Currently Biologist in residence at media innovation lab at the inter disciplinary center milab.idc.ac.il
in 2016 I started an independent mission to open Zika Virus Diagnostics in Brazil.
experiment.com/zikalika
I am interested in connecting with new people and opening more biodata to anyone.
I am especially interested in creating tools that allow people to "read" DNA\\RNA.
Thank you,
\n\nGilad.
', u'post_id': 34621, u'user_id': 3831, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-23 10:22:05', u'title': u'Biologist Activist'}, {u'content': u'Hidayet Ayadi
A new world awaits
My name is hidayet ayadi, I am 24 years old.
I have lived 16 years in Egypt, I came to Tunisia to attend high school.
It was hard, I didn\u2019t know the language, the cultural and also, I was the freak of the school.
I got to know really good people that helped me get through that time.
Fortunately, in Egypt I was in a French school, so when I came here I was at the top of the class which helped me pick my university.
Now I am an engineering student and I have a dream which is creating a company that will do lots of good in Tunisia, it might sound dreamy but I believe in it.
My story begins when I started studying IT and discovered that my sister has dyslexia, it is a genetic illness that causes problems in education.
I started doing some research and gathering info and in the end, I got the idea to create an app that uses 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality to help improve education in general and help kids with special needs in particular.
My project is a startup that specialises in the 3D technologie , we go by the name of \u201cDevolution\u201d.
The idea began when we heard about the reading in blocks problem that kids have: They do not know how to read a word based on syllables or letters but they memories the appearance of the word.
In addition, having a little sister suffering from dyslexia plays a big role to move on and take actions to start developing the application .
Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence.Different people are affected to varying degrees.Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.Often these difficulties are first noticed at school.When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia.The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn.
Our first project , is a mobile application that helps kids read , it takes stories found in ordinary books , and shows them to the kid in full 3D using the augmented reality , which means , we use the papers as platform , but also we use the virtual reality , so the vr headset.
The idea is to create an app that has 3D stories, with a voice off that reads the actual story.
Our perspective is using augmented reality in education in way to make learning a safe and fun experience for all.
Augmented reality is a technology based on image recognition and 3d . We use a piece of paper and a smartphone that recognizes the paper and puts on it a 3d object .
We will be using this technology to project a small 3d animation with voice that reads the story . the paper we will be using will be the reading books used in school education in tunisia .
With animation on the words something like karaoke , the kids will be able to read the stories , learn and have fun.In addition to this , the app will have special animation in words and the stories to suit the needs of special kids , like the dyslexique ones .
That was the reading feature , also the app will have a game zone that will help children play to learn basic things like numbers and letters but this time using another technology that helps bring 3d objects in the real word without using the paper , something like pokemon go and lots of other features to help improve the imagination of the children
Now we are a team of four engineers:
\n\nMyself, I am a book lover , a game player . I am active in the social life as a vice president in the junior chamber international. And I am the founder of devolution
\n\nSaif eddine Ben achour ,He is a game developer , an amazing person , active , hard worker , a little perfectionist and very passionate about Devolution
\n\nOussama Maatouk ,, also a game developer , he is a fast worker and kind of genius
\n\nSouhail Houssein , in a word , an artist , he is an amazing 3d artist , also a game developer and one with amazing imagination
\n\nHamza Ben Abdessalem , 3d artist , 2d designer , Friendly and helpful person, he is the one we always turn to when we have a problem .
\n\nWe are different but united , a big family with one ambition and 5 wheels to ride to it
\n\nThe idea is here and very promoting, since we are all engineers, and even though we had an accelerated course in finance and how to run a startup, we found it hard to do it all since we want to have an international start up.
What we really need to be the SUPER TEAM is a person specialized in finance who will help us to raise funds and manage better the financial flow of our startup to land on the shore of success .
This is just a link and not an own project of mine. But, it fits right in here and is at the same time useful and hilarious. So, here it goes, the latest article from Low Tech Magazine:
\n\n"Non-Electric Hearing Aids Outperform Modern Devices"
\n\nMoney quote:
\n\n', u'post_id': 34705, u'user_id': 5, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-24 23:23:29', u'title': u'Ear trumpets and speaking tubes: no moving parts, no electronics, better performance'}, {u'content': u'"Since the nineteenth century, the main criterium for a hearing aid is no longer its effectivity but its discretion and compactness. Nevertheless, those who can overcome their vanity can revert to technology that has proven to work."
ReHub glove experimenting and developing processes are going hand in hand on two fronts:
* Textile
* Technology
ReHub Team is at work during OpenCare - MIR to analyze and redesign the glove, improving the weak aspects of the old prototype:
\n\nTextile
We are defining a new pattern for the glove: a surface of stretch material that covers the top of the hand and holds to it by soft elastic bands on the bottom. Tailoring a glove is not easy stuff, this new model is designed to be easily reproduced with digital fabrication and basic sewing knowledge. Most important: this kind of glove can be easily worn also by those who have difficulty wearing normal gloves (stretching fingers and so on).
To make it functional and completely customizable we are working on a digital/parametric version: we studied hands dimensions to deliver a measurements chart that could be filled to modify the glove (we are looking for hands, by the way). The output will be a .dxf file that can be laser-cutted at any makerspace.
Here the very first experiment:
\n\nTechnology
Technologic development during OpenCare MIR was about searching for a micro controller worthy of the new glove, version 4.0, described above.
We selected curieNano micro controller of DFRobot, the evolution of Arduino Curie\'s board developed on Intel\'s SoC.
A technological aspect we discovered is that the number of ADC inputs of the selected microcontroller is lower than the number of analog sensors on the glove.
To solve this problem we are developing an I2C interface board from which a microcontroller can acquire two analog sensors and transfer captured data with the I2C to the main microcontroller. Using I2C technology we can add many sensors that communicate with the Intel Curie Through a defined hexadecimal address. This technique allows to have many sensors connected to the glove and only 4 wires between each I2C and the glove brain (curieNano).
Here a sample of the system we will use to connect the tiny microcontrollers.
Soon for further developments!
Mauro & Sara
Hidayet Ayadi
A new world awaits
My name is hidayet ayadi, I am 24 years old.
I have lived 16 years in Egypt, I came to Tunisia to attend high school.
It was hard, I didn\u2019t know the language, the cultural and also, I was the freak of the school.
I got to know really good people that helped me get through that time.
Fortunately, in Egypt I was in a French school, so when I came here I was at the top of the class which helped me pick my university.
Now I am an engineering student and I have a dream which is creating a company that will do lots of good in Tunisia, it might sound dreamy but I believe in it.
My story begins when I started studying IT and discovered that my sister has dyslexia, it is a genetic illness that causes problems in education.
I started doing some research and gathering info and in the end, I got the idea to create an app that uses 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality to help improve education in general and help kids with special needs in particular.
My project is a startup that specialises in the 3D technologie , we go by the name of \u201cDevolution\u201d.
The idea began when we heard about the reading in blocks problem that kids have: They do not know how to read a word based on syllables or letters but they memories the appearance of the word.
In addition, having a little sister suffering from dyslexia plays a big role to move on and take actions to start developing the application .
Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence.Different people are affected to varying degrees.Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.Often these difficulties are first noticed at school.When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia.The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn.
Our first project , is a mobile application that helps kids read , it takes stories found in ordinary books , and shows them to the kid in full 3D using the augmented reality , which means , we use the papers as platform , but also we use the virtual reality , so the vr headset.
The idea is to create an app that has 3D stories, with a voice off that reads the actual story.
Our perspective is using augmented reality in education in way to make learning a safe and fun experience for all.
Augmented reality is a technology based on image recognition and 3d . We use a piece of paper and a smartphone that recognizes the paper and puts on it a 3d object .
We will be using this technology to project a small 3d animation with voice that reads the story . the paper we will be using will be the reading books used in school education in tunisia .
With animation on the words something like karaoke , the kids will be able to read the stories , learn and have fun.In addition to this , the app will have special animation in words and the stories to suit the needs of special kids , like the dyslexique ones .
That was the reading feature , also the app will have a game zone that will help children play to learn basic things like numbers and letters but this time using another technology that helps bring 3d objects in the real word without using the paper , something like pokemon go and lots of other features to help improve the imagination of the children
Now we are a team of four engineers:
\n\nMyself, I am a book lover , a game player . I am active in the social life as a vice president in the junior chamber international. And I am the founder of devolution
\n\nSaif eddine Ben achour ,He is a game developer , an amazing person , active , hard worker , a little perfectionist and very passionate about Devolution
\n\nOussama Maatouk ,, also a game developer , he is a fast worker and kind of genius
\n\nSouhail Houssein , in a word , an artist , he is an amazing 3d artist , also a game developer and one with amazing imagination
\n\nHamza Ben Abdessalem , 3d artist , 2d designer , Friendly and helpful person, he is the one we always turn to when we have a problem .
\n\nWe are different but united , a big family with one ambition and 5 wheels to ride to it
\n\nThe idea is here and very promoting, since we are all engineers, and even though we had an accelerated course in finance and how to run a startup, we found it hard to do it all since we want to have an international start up.
What we really need to be the SUPER TEAM is a person specialized in finance who will help us to raise funds and manage better the financial flow of our startup to land on the shore of success .
26 years ago, when I came to this world, I have found myself with a physical deficiency \u201cSpina Bifida\u201d (spinal cord injury and paraplegia), which has caused a partial loss of sensation and control of my legs. Growing up with such disability is not very relevant: looking on others playing, running, jumping, and swimming, while you may not do the same as they do only because of your disability! As I grew up, life for me was getting harder, both public and private places were almost inaccessible and not sufficiently adapted to people with disabilities.
\n\nAs a result, you could not go wherever you want, barriers are everywhere (in addition to how is the society looking on you). Where you move you find that your disability is not taken into consideration in transportation, in libraries, schools, in municipalities, in banks and even in the street. With a very weak adaption of access to people using crutches, canes, wheelchairs, white canes, and sign language, people use to spend a long time to find a suitable restaurant or a coffee-shop where you can get in by themselves, or at least where people can help you with the minimum of difficulties.
\n\nIn fact, I discovered later that around 13.5% of the population in Tunisia and around 15% of population in all over the world are encountering such issues. As a disability rights advocate, and a Computer Science Researcher, I was looking for addressing the issue of accessibility since it is a fundamental element towards the social inclusion. Resolving this problem means protecting the dignity, the autonomy and the security of people who have deficiencies and find themselves in a disability situation only because the environment including the society are not considering them.
\n\nThis has been the main idea of the initiative that I came up with: "HandYwiN\u201d, which is a web based platform, based on crowd-sourcing and geo-localization technologies that determine and rate the level of accessibility and adaptability of the public and private places for people with disabilities and particularly, those who are using wheelchairs. Through this platform, people can rate places around them, in a participatory map, according to official criteria and norms of accessibility. The map shows then to its users the closest and accessible place that they need or they want to go. It determines also if a particular place is accessible and what are its affordances in terms if accessibility
\n\nFurthermore, the platform will promote for places that are handicap friendly, public or private, while the social responsibility is becoming a corner stone in a modern economy and an obligation of all. This is in addition to the fact that by law, accommodation in public and private places to people with disabilities is obligatory. Therefore, in a country where a new democracy is being born, all people should be taken into consideration, including persons with disabilities.
\n\nThanks to my Computer Science Masters degree and the funding that I received from the French Institute (Institut Fran\xe7ais) due to my participation in SafiLab program in France during two excellent weeks that I spent in Paris. So that I was able to create a team of 5 members (Arbi Chouikh, Tarek Guelmami, Aymen Masmoudi, Azzen Abidi and Vanessa Adouani) who have developed the beta version of the platform. The platform will be well tested and several updates and improvements will be made relying to the users reviews during the one-month essay period.
\n\nI am looking forward to keep fundraising to launch the final version of the platform and turn it into a sustainable social enterprise that contributes on guaranteeing the the wellbeing and the social inclusion of people with disabilities not only in Tunisia, but also in the world. HandYwiN is not only a mapping tool, it is also can be a valuable accessibility referential that compile the Good Practices of giving the possibility to everyone to go to places where is the autonomy, the security and the dignity. It would also alert the authorities about the inaccessible places and be an Advocacy tool.
\n\nThis was the humble story of Arbi Chouikh, a disability rights advocate and a young social entrepreneur from Tunisia, who expect your awareness, your encouragement and your awareness.
\n\nTo learn more about the project, please see https://www.facebook.com/HandYwiNCommunity/
\n\nHere you find also some interviews about the project:
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 34541, u'user_id': 3772, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-20 10:09:30', u'title': u'HandYwiN: Map to let them go further'}, {u'content': u'In the last post we left you with a form and an invitation to share with us your opinion: the goal was to choose, among the 4 presented proposals, the most suitable sticker to identify the shops involved in open rampette project and the accessible shops in general.
\n\nThroughout the dialogue with the shopkeepers and the final users what has recurrently emerged is the need for an effective communication. So the sticker has two different roles: it is a way to transfer the message clearly making the community more aware, but it is also a collective activation element to improve the accessibility experience in the city.
\n\nWe received a lot of feedback, several positive comments, suggestions for improvement and also some critical advice, in particular regarding the two-color proposals, which may be confused with a prohibition sign because of the diagonal cut passing through the center of the circle. According to our purpose - use the sticker to communicate accessibility - this reversal of meaning was a quite considerable issue.
\n\nSo, treasuring your advices, we worked on a new version of the sticker.
\n\n
Considered the many feedback regarding the importance of having a representation of the ramp under the icon, we lowered the diagonal line dividing the two colors, creating a sturdy white ramp.
\n\nThe color combination has been also reviewed to maximize the contrast and make the icon as recognizable as possible.
\n\nLast but not least we reduced the size of the text \u201crampette.opencare.cc\u201d, to put more emphasis on the icon that is quite self explanatory.
\n\nHope you like the new version of the sticker!
', u'post_id': 33905, u'user_id': 3767, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-02 08:39:04', u'title': u'Open rampette - THE CALL - sticker: last update'}, {u'content': u' \n\n\nTo know more about us as the Zyara Makers please watch our trailers and behind the scenes videos.
We contribute to the world through cinematic arts
Promoting love over fear
Meet The OpenCarers (DAY 1) - 0\u20ac.\xa0Tickets to the Meet the OpenCarers track on 19 October\xa0are free of charge, but require that you contribute three\xa0things: 1)\xa0Create an edgeryders account\xa0(login if you already have one) 2) Read and comment 3 stories to get to know other participants\xa0and 3)\xa0Share your own story.\u200b\xa0Once you have completed these three steps write to community@edgeryders.eu to claim your ticket.
\n\nFull Access Pass (DAY 1- 3) - 300\u20ac.\xa0This ticket gives you access to\xa0the entire OpenVillage Festival; all three tracks, project clinics, community dinners, parties etc.
\n\nFull Access Pass (DAY 1- 3)\xa0- 0.00\xa0\u20ac\xa0for Members of The Reef, our program for supporting members\' personal and professional development as changemakers. Learn more and become a member\xa0here.
\n\n\n\nWe are offering five full festival passes and / or travel support for in-kind contributions to the Openvillage.\xa0These are set aside for participants who shape the event, by coming to weekly calls (see below) and completing key tasks from here on until October (Add an exhibit, talk or workshop proposal,\xa0Curate a Theme\xa0,\xa0Communicate and Engage).
\n\nPasses and travel support are\xa0offered on a case by case basis, so the sooner you get involved the better.
\n\nYou have three options in order of speed:
\n\nRecently the worst fears of Romanian medical state infrastructure came true. Hexi Pharma, a major company selling disinfectants to hospitals all over the country was discovered to have diluted their products even 10 times from the labelled concentration, to the point of causing infections of thousands of patients in the system over the last years (news\xa0here).
\n\nThis is just scratching the surface and confirms deep system fail: (1) underfunding and horrendous infrastructure making large numbers of young doctors leave - to give you an idea, more Romanian doctors are working in other EU countries (>20K) than in Romania (10-13K) (2) the perverse circle of paying under the counter - there is no way out: if you\u2019re not paying as a patient, you risk not being watched over; if you\u2019re a doctor and refuse the \u201cgift\u201d, you show weakness and worry patients; you\u2019re also a threat for colleagues because you\u2019re messing up with their system. \xa0
\n\nThis post is not a rant about the system, it\'s to share\xa03 stories and how they connect with it as much as we like to escape it. Special thanks to @Moushira for contributing questions along the way <3
\n\nFirst story: One of my best friend\u2019s brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While being made to wait long hours in Romanian hospital hallways, he felt his morale was going down even before embarking on the painful journey that cancer treatment is. Having Hungarian citizenship as well, they immediately chose a clinic in Budapest (also public) - more quiet, and with greater concern for patients wellbeing, both physical and mental. What struck me the\xa0most is seeing\xa0my friend driving her brother for 6 hours every other week for many months, repeating this in cycles until the disease receded. Her own time, subjecting him to this tiring ride and random\xa0B&Bs\xa0were altogether more desirable choices than putting him through the pains of systemic healthcare.
\n\nSecond story: While I was growing up, my (then) very young parents took grand-grandma in, who had just moved in from the countryside as she had no one left there. She helped my parents a great deal as they were both working and raising me and my sister. She would cook, take us to the kindergarten, contribute her pension to domestic expenses too, so that, in her words, she would not be too much of a burden on the family. When she fell very ill my grandma (her daughter) took her in, cared for her in ways some would say only professional help should care for a patient, and finally she went.. in a familiar bed. So here you have, like in the story reported by @HoneyMk family shouldering the full burden of care. You also have, like @steelweaver \xa0mentioned, humane treatment.
\n\nFast forward twenty something years, and my widower grandma now, too, lives with my parents. This kind of housing arrangement is common practice, as private home cares cost at least twice\xa0a pension. And while there is perceived duty from children to care for their elderly, I\u2019m convinced this is not the way, I see now\xa0how much\xa0my\xa0big family picture (idealized!) has\xa0changed. It is a solution that comes from the need to avoid alienation coupled with saving costs for both sides. My grandma\u2019s rental apartment provides half a salary more and helps my folks support themselves - up until now, my dad was unemployed for the past 4 years. So this is a barter with love, but with too much daily pressure and more to come - my parents are still young (50yrs old) and my grandma\u2019s health is only getting worse. So it can\u2019t be that a generation later, the solutions are still so archaic. \xa0
\n\nWe make these long term investments in relationships and stand ready to pay our dues when\xa0time\xa0comes - in love, care, financial support, anything that we can.
\n\nWhat if my friend\'s brother could have waited differently, learning something with\xa0other patients in the first hospital?
\n\nWhat if my grandma had serious\xa0help in caring for her mother, at home so she could still feel a good daughter?
\n\nWhat if my parents don\'t have to psychologically prepare for their future where their daughters won\'t be able to care for them (my sis lives abroad, and I have never had a job)?\xa0but maybe\xa0could save a little money at a time and put them in a collective pot, like a trusted\xa0health insurance?\xa0
\n\nWhat if people would be willing to make proper\xa0care investments?
\n\nWell, there is one dramatic, yet telling story of\xa0crisis-born solutions (and\xa0effective\xa0partly\xa0because of that).
\n\nThird story:\xa0Starting 2009, Romania became the EU country with the cheapest drugs, which screwed up pricing arrangements - it made providers offer small prices to the state agency purchasing and distributing drugs to medical\xa0institutions; the profit margin was so low that they stopped producing, especially cancer drugs; the regulations were so weak that there was no punishment for breaking contracts. This left hospitals all over with serious shortages of essentially cheap cytostatics. An underground support network was created by young economist Vlad Voiculescu living in Vienna at the time. Vlad was seeing desperate calls for help from home and offered to buy the drugs from pharmacies in Austria and in Hungary, flying them in by himself or through friends, acquaintances and, as the network grew, helpful strangers or tourists. The delivery chain ended up including even taxi drivers as intermediaries dropping off drugs at patients\u2019 homes and picking up the cash. All this was aided by the online community platform set up where people would report shortages, and led to strong, media-supported advocacy which eventually improved the supplies.
\n\nI would ask Vlad to join and tell us the whole story, but I know he is busy. As of this week he is the newest Romanian Ministry of Health, in a situation where grassroots meets hope for system change.\xa0
\n\n', u'post_id': 685, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-26 11:33:29', u'title': u'When do you decide that running from a failed medical system is no longer an option?'}, {u'content': u'During the last years, restaurants have been undergoing a sort of \u201cmaquillage\u201d.
\n\nThere has been an improvement in variety and design of food and interiors, while services and customers have been standardized to fit a \u201cglamour\u201d experience of dining out. In fact, the development of the attention to the detail of what is being offered in the menus changed definitely the way we eat out of home. Nowadays, eating in a restaurant is seen and lived not only as a way to satisfy biological needs and to spend own leisure time or to break from work at lunchtime, but as a \u201ctrendy\u201d form of experience and entertainment.
\n\nThe space-time we spend in restaurants can be understood as a network of symbols, matter (edible or not) and relationships. All this appears as a system that works well, satisfies us, but that to tell the truth we are actually satisfying.
\n\nIf the quantity of products in the portions has considerably reduced, it is often the form or combination of extreme attention to quality and taste that rules. That is, we are often in the presence of a inconsistent innovation in forms and colors, in the ways of presenting food, at the expense of a needed revolution that should have included attention to the specific needs of the pluralism of the customers.
\n\nA revolution in care of the customers as eaters.
\n\n\n\nRestaurants should inter operate today with cultures, beliefs, personal needs. Unfortunately, all these elements are excluded a priori in the construction of the professional identity of chefs and in the management of the cuisine experience we live any time we enter in one of such wonderful temples of taste.
\n\nThis is the scenario from which the Maker in residence activity of Monica and Nicoletta, two designers of Vicenza, started their interesting and useful project named Allergo K\xec.
\n\nPlease, read more about the project Allergo K\xec
\n\nThe first peculiar aspect of the Allergo K\xec project is to present the theme of allergies in the context of the restaurants not as a problem, but as a solution. Daily troubles experienced by eaters with allergies is still lived by restaurants as a temporary incident that should not happen and that is an exceptional need.
\n\n\n\nAllergo K\xec makes a philosophy centered on the inclusion of customers with allergies. The experience for those who are sensitive to certain foods should be designed and included in the catering facilities also to promote and facilitate the social life of citizens with allergies. At play there is a power dynamic based on inclusion/exclusion, transforming the theme of allergies into a problem of food rights. Another fundamental theme is the one of identity, since having allergies can not be considered something that is not inherent in daily, relational, personal life.
\n\nThe solution offered by Allergo K\xec is deployed in the materiality of the physical details of a device (round place card) and symbolism for a guided experience for both the customer and the operator, waiter, chef, etc. This leads to rethink the experience by overcoming the lack of information and knowledge by integrating it with the round place card that has the most comprehensive and complex representation in the classification and ad hoc symbols of allergies.
', u'post_id': 33838, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-31 10:57:30', u'title': u'Allergies challenging restaurants by open design'}, {u'content': u'The last four weeks seem a bit of a blur and I\u2019m still making sense of the conversations that took place in relation to the theme I curate. Balance is a continuous challenge; balancing ongoing work with fellowship duties, balancing online and offline activity, balancing time spent gathering information and making connections with time to synthesise all this into something useful and shareable. I will give these more attention in the coming months.
A little over twenty years ago, GalGael received a letter from the tax man - recognising our charitable status. A week ago we held an event to celebrate all we\u2019d learned over the twenty years that have passed since then. Receiving a letter from the taxman, was something of an ironic landmark to celebrate as I\u2019ll explain. As the years have unfolded, we\u2019ve been more confident about sharing our unconventional beginnings. GalGael first constellated around a protest fire in a dark woodland on the edge of one of Glasgow\u2019s housing schemes - Pollok; the first of four such schemes in response to inner city slum conditions. It\u2019s an area that has been shaped by successive waves of regeneration policy, some that have recently been identified as contributing to the \u2018Glasgow effect\u2019 - Glaswegians\u2019 higher risk of premature death.
\n\nWhile protesting a motorway that would cut off those in the \u2018scheme\u2019 from parkland, we learned much about how to create community in a difficult space. We had to learn how to create a place of relative safety in the midst of an area of \u2018excess morbidity\u2019. It was an exciting time; edgy and full of possibility. Videos uploaded to Youtube over the years capture some of that. We declared a Free State. We created our own passport, our own stamps, our own university.\n\n
Somehow the symbolic opened up so much possibility that wasn\u2019t there before. Looking back now, perhaps it was our co-creation of an alternative reality that revealed our normal mode of complicity with the set of assumptions and beliefs that comprise the dominant reality or socioeconomic structures of the present day.
One of this month\u2019s conversations with Douglas Robertson, a sociology professor at Stirling University brought me to this quote from Bourdieu; \u201cour denial, the source of social alchemy is, like magic, a collective undertaking". Colin Macleod, my late husband, who spent much of his childhood in Pollok Park escaping the \u2018scheme\u2019, later described the Free State where he set up camp as an \u2018art installation\u2019 and a \u2018leading question\u2019.
Despite all this possibility, we lost the campaign and the motorway was built. But we had no wish to throw away all we\u2019d learned - often through excessive hardships. GalGael was our vehicle to continue working with those hard-won lessons and shift from being about what we didn\u2019t want to what we did want. There was a clear founding intention that this was not about establishing a charity but rather reconvening peoplehood - what it means to be a people. And that for me is why it\u2019s a little ironic that the landmark we celebrated constitutes our recognition as a charity. Peoplehood is fundamentally about relationship, identity and culture - all characteristics that institutions, not even charitable ones demonstrate particularly well (in my book at least).
The problems of institutional responses is a thread I\u2019ve noticed running through a number of the conversations I\u2019ve engaged with these past four weeks. It\u2019s been a very live issue as I\u2019ve observed GalGael developing. There are certain pressures on an organisation as it matures to become \u2018mainstream\u2019 - often that\u2019s how we define success. The challenge I think we\u2019ve partly overcome is how an entity can sustain itself without becoming institutionalised. What Graham Leicester of International Futures Forum refers to in his book Transformative Innovation as a \u2018creative integrity\u2019 seems to be a more useful description of GalGael as an organisation.
Living in times when we have a myriad of products and services to meet every conceivable need, through GalGael we have witnessed that beyond this people have a greater need - to simply be \u2018needed\u2019 for who they are - to belong. I understand it as people who due to income deprivation cannot consume and acquire status also finding themselves dependent on institutions and statutory services to meet an ever increasing amount of their needs. No longer producing or serving our own needs and those of our families or neighbourhoods creates a devastating vacuum of meaning. This contributes to poor physical and mental health and a profound loss of self - far beyond the \u2018self confidence\u2019 prescribed for the workless by well-meaning professionals. It critically damages Antonovsky\u2019s sense of coherence that is fundamental to health and that he defines as a person\u2019s situation being comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. My guess is this is an epidemic that stretches into the employed population too.
So what does this tell us about the conditions that create health and wellbeing? For us in GalGael, in our workshop craft defines our relationships. It creates a purposeful workspace where you are not objectified as the \u2018service user\u2019 in need of help but an active agent - the focus becomes the object you\u2019re working on, often beautiful or useful, and new forms of identity get bound up in this act of creation. The sense of agency generated through the craft process is immensely important. Grayson Perry said: \u201ccraft is the physical manifestation of \u2018I can change the world\u2019\u201d The craft gestures themselves - chiseling, sawing, hammering - create new neural pathways, working with the brain\u2019s plasticity to erase negative past patterns. But it\u2019s also something about the immediacy of the experience; its embodied; its not abstract that is immensely important. And that you are engaged in producing something where you have a relationship to the end use in ways that is no longer so often the case in our global marketplaces. This is of course particularly true of the boats that slide from workshop to water for both literal and metaphorical journeys. Each stroke of the oar generates not only speed but agency, coherence and meaning as you inhabit the river that otherwise passed you by.
Radical monopolies
Relating where this takes us to the theme of my fellowship - I see relationships as fundamental to creating the conditions for care and DIY welfare. The nature and scale of institutions make them inhospitable to the quality of relationship called for. @matteo described the problems this causes, as uncovered through the course of Open Rampette - the detachment of legislators can lead to regulations that are hard to enforce because the lack of relationship leads to blindness in the legislation as to the realities of implementation. Quality of relationships also featured strongly in my conversations with Anthony McCann who describes himself as a \u2018thoughtful practitioner\u2019 - suggested by @dougald as someone who has been exploring care for some time. Both Anthony and Marco spoke of the problems that have been generated by a welfare system based on a trauma care model. The efficiency of a \u201cconduit model of service\u201d works well for emergencies and disease. The problems arise when this displaces the home care or mutual and self care that used to be common place. Illich refers to this as \u2018radical monopoly\u2019 but it\u2019s also pervasive medicalisation of increasing areas of our health that becomes a problem, no longer the solution - in what Illich describes as the second watershed of modern times in his important book Tools for Conviviality.So to bring this post to some sort of conclusion - quality of relationships are a condition for health. These relationships form the substructure of the architectures of love, to continue with that metaphor. I\u2019ll finish this post with a quote from Eduardo Galeano, the Uruguayan writer, which captures perfectly the kind of relationship that underpins our work at GalGael;
\u201cI don\'t believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.\u201d
As a parting thought - this quote also captures the implicit power dynamic in our relationships and perhaps this is a further condition for DIY welfare in the context of OpenCare. Either way, I look forward to more insights and learning generated through being in relationship and conversation with others through the course of this fellowship.
', u'post_id': 33930, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-03 12:59:11', u'title': u'Fellowship Post #2: Some reflections'}, {u'content': u'INFRASTRUCTURES FOR AUTONOMY and the dynamic equilibrium of collaboration
\n\nA panel session moderated by @nicole Demby of Woodbine Autonomous Health Centre
\n\nOpenVillage, 19-21 October, Brussels
\n\nCollaboration is more needed than ever to solve complex problems in care. Yet it can be expensive in time and energy when working outside formal grids, or on a voluntary basis, or in emotionally demanding environments. This kind of work calls for new governance structures and ways of making decisions together based on values that sometimes seem at odds - like self-management and autonomy. This session brings together people who have experience of wrestling with these issues to find an equilibrium which makes it possible for us to work together well.
\n\nThis session will take a broader look at how to sustain our work through collaboration and organisational frameworks and practices. Panel members will share their expertise, followed by open discussion to give participants an opportunity to explore particularly relevant ideas or models in more detail.
\n\nThis session has been developed to have broad relevance for participants at Open Village. What kind of sub topics do you want to see covered in this panel? We want your thoughts on this as well as the kind of panel members you\'d love to hear from.
\n\nWhile we build the lineup, feel free to put yourself forward as an active contributor and get a ticket to #openvillage!
\n\n| \n John Coate \n\nJohn is one of the early movers at The Farm, a US hippie commune back in the days, who went on to become a pioneer in online community management. He understands the dynamics of living and working in a large intentional community, and the boundaries between self-sufficiency and embeddedness in the outside world. John can offer insights from experience in a range of settings and organisations.\n\n Some background reading:\n\n Meet John Coate: A wizard among us\n\n When You Live With Your Co-workers \n\n\n\n\t\t\t \n\n \n\n\t\t\t | \n\n\n\n \n\n Yannick Schandene \nYannick started working with organic structures through his collective Soft Revolution. He later had a prominent role inside PicNIcTheStreets, a citizen movement to demand more public space in Brussels. He worked with variant groups on that topic: CanalPark BXL for a park near the center, V\xe9lo M2, an open hardware project with cargobikes and HuiS VDH on repurposing empy spaces above shops. Through this experiences Yannick learned a lot about group dynamics and the human scale inside positive changement groups. \n\n \n\n\t\t\t\n \n\n \n\n\t\t\t | \n\n\n\n \n\n Cindy Regalado \nCindy Regalado is a research associate at University College London developing and promoting public engagement methodologies of \u2018do it yourself\u2019 (DIY) and \u2018doing it together\u2019 science practice. She is a London-based community organiser for the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science training communities, activists, and stewards on the use of DIY tools for environmental monitoring. She is co-founder of Citizens without Borders, a London-based group committed to building the public\u2019s capacity to act as civic agents. She leads on the initiative \'Science has no Borders\' through the EU Horizon 2020 project \u2018Doing It Together science\u2019, which aims to bridge the gap between public engagement and policy action on Responsible Research and Innovat51.\n\n \n\n\n | \n
Hi,
\n\nProduct Design category discussion are mainly discussion coming from UDK workshop.
\n\nCan we change the name of this category in something like UDK workshop?
', u'post_id': 33887, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-01 16:39:56', u'title': u"Isn't this category naming wrong?"}, {u'content': u'I first met Chris about 7 years ago at an alternative economy conference in Inverness. Chris has had a pretty unconventional career path that takes in the UK Department of Trade and Industry; market regulation and development as a Director of the International Petroleum Exchange and then a Dot Com entrepreneur in the world of global markets. This path came to an abrupt end when he blew the whistle on oil market shenanigans and since then he has been researching more enlightened - peer-to-peer - approaches to the flawed system he had left.
\n\nCollecting business models
He says he collects business models like some might collect butterflies. But unlike a butterfly collector - these aren\u2019t pinned down in glass cases. He\u2019s breathed life in to a number of them - prototyping enterprises where there were no existing examples. This has led to ventures as diverse as raising the local pub from the ashes, literally (The Star and Garter in Linlithgow) to producing a short film.
His prototyping of corporate forms and instruments adopts a fractal approach - one foot in the existing and one foot in the possible. He has discovered that complementary solutions may be found via an \u2018adjacent possible\u2019 through a process of testing agreements and structures. The word \u2018agreement\u2019 comes up a lot in Chris\u2019 chat.
\n\nI was hearing, that to make it as a prized corporate structure in Chris\u2019 collection, it would need to be simple, flexible, have an element of being scalable without encountering conflicts of interest and be founded on agreements. And perhaps most prized of all - created a structural alignment of all interests.
\n\nPractical applications and prototyping
He\'s tried a simple structure, an Unincorporated Association, based on a two-page governance document - this was instrumental in regenerating the much-loved local pub.
He appreciates the infinite flexibility of a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) for asset holding and use. But perhaps, if I understood correctly, it is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) that possesses most of the sought-after characteristics for bringing people together to develop assets to be held in perpetuity and in common within a CLG.
\n\nThe development structure he calls a \'Capital Partnership\' produced a short film with a launch party in Soho, London from nothing but a concept, a willingness to work together and free capacity. All those involved were members; actors, directors, agreement writers. They weren\u2019t issued ownership shares of \xa31.00. They received \u2018nths\u2019; that is a percentage of the future revenue of the film produced.
\n\nThis offer wasn\u2019t so acceptable to suppliers of essential equipment such as cameras and lights. So the LLP needed cash. This is where the funding innovation came in. Two capital partners invested the \xa330,000 in cash in return for an agreed percentage of the film\'s revenue if there was any.
\n\nAligning interests of all stakeholders
Capital partners do not participate in net profits after costs - they simply participate directly - as genuine partners - in any gross revenue. I think the emphasis here is they were participating - and it was in their interest to participate in ensuring the film was a success. All stakeholders interests were in alignment. This contrasts sharply with both bank debt and with typical venture capital which extracts profits - and where more often than not, it can be more in their interest to screw everyone in the pursuit of those profits.
So while the structure supported the film production, unfortunately this film didn\u2019t have a happy ending. The director (the founder and driving force) had a melt down and left for South Africa and the film was never marketed. But nobody got hurt. No employees got stuffed. Everyone went in to it with their eyes open. Film investors know they only make money on one-in-ten films and they had a genuine tax loss to ease the pain. The LLP hadn\'t contracted with anyone and didn\'t own anything - it was simply a framework or a wrapper that enabled people to come together for the common purpose of creating a potentially productive asset - in this case a film.
\n\nWhat works for a film would also work for developing or acquiring any type of productive asset - land, buildings, wind turbines and of particular relevant intellectual property such as that produced through Open Care. Its a financing structure that enables the creation of new flows of use value - whether that\u2019s care, rent, production, energy, pizza or beer.
\n\nThen he pulled from the pocket of his jacket two sticks.
\n\n
He told me these were tally sticks - an accounting mechanism that pre-dated double entry bookkeeping. All those counter-intuitive credits and debits!
\n\nHe said it was a way to record a transaction.
\n\nNotches are cut in a stick, and a record made in writing to identify the people and what the notches represent. The stick is then cut into two, with one piece longer than the other. A transaction between two parties may be recorded by splitting this \'tally stick\' into two - with one party retaining the long stick, and the other the short stick.
\n\nHe told me they were used in two ways. The first was to record a PROOF of payment, also called a memorandum tally. This was like a receipt of past value transfer. The second was more interesting. The second was as a record of a PROMISE and was also called a loan tally which enabled finance to be raised through the exchange of value now against a promise of provision of value later. Naturally this offer of credit required trust that the beneficiary would provide value in the future.
\n\nApparently, these tally sticks were used by kings who always needed money (or money\'s worth of goods and services) before taxes or rents were due. The tally sticks enabled a funding mechanism by which rent or tax payers who had spare resources or had created some surplus could pre-pay their taxes - which of course they would only do if they received a discount.
\n\nWhen the agreement to prepay taxes or rents was made the tax/rent payer received a loan tally as a record of the pre-payment . When the time came to pay his taxes or rent he then returned the tally stick promise to Exchequer where it was matched using the notches (and of course the grain of the wood) to the other half of the split tally stick. This cancelled the tax obligation and is the origin of the expression \'tax return\' for our annual accounting with the tax man!
\n\nThis return of promises also gave rise to the expression \'rate of return\u2019. This represents the rate over time at which the tokens or sticks could be returned to the promissor who issued them. In simple terms - you take the discount (or profit) and divide by time. There\u2019s no compound interest - there\u2019s simply a swap of money\'s worth going on.
\n\nPromises and agreements as a funding mechanism
So how is this relevant to today? What\u2019s interesting is that anyone can issue these promises or credit instruments. They become a way of funding an asset or an enterprise. There is no permanent dividend. You could sell 5 years of future production, rent or revenues. Unlike interest on a loan, all/both parties share risk and reward. In a bad year the investor/s gets nothing but in a good year they\'ll do well too. What this opens up is a new funding option for anyone without the need for shares. It is simply pre-payment at a discount.
Chris was able to give a couple of good examples of places where this had worked in practice. He told me about a deli in NY State in the U.S. The owner wanted to borrow money for a new pizza oven but conventional forms of capital knocked him back. Then a customer offered to pay in advance for a pizza and this gave him an idea. He issued $10,000 of promises in exchange for $8,000 in cash - pre-payment at a discount - and these $1 Deli promises soon began to circulate as a form of currency which he called DeliDollars.
\n\nSo it would seem that this suggests that we don\u2019t need money. We need an agreement (there\u2019s that word again) which in this case is some way of keeping score. Beyond that we simply need land or location, intellectual value (know-how, know-who) and design. And a will to work together.
\n\nBoth Open and Closed
Chris went on to explain the agreements we need are neither open or closed. Or perhaps they are both open and closed. He said - as a model for sustaining operations - open doesn\u2019t work because anyone can take your work and quite simply you\u2019ll starve or at least you\'ll struggle to continue your work. Yet, the open source community is a response to \'closed\' or proprietary models where value is extracted by rent-seekers aiming to screw as much as possible from all other stakeholders. Perhaps the ideal are forms or structures that are neither (or both) - like a club which may be both open and closed as dictated by club rules or agreements. Closed because only members may participate: but open because anyone who agrees to the club rules may join.
Club rules begin with aims and extend to members, standards, dispute resolution and so on. But fundamentally a club is a two-way agreement, being interactive and participative so that interests become aligned.
\n\nSo I could understand how this all worked when there was pizza involved - just! But I couldn\u2019t understand how this model was applicable to future, indirect benefits or outcomes - such as those that arise from social innovation or in the field of citizen science. In this example, Chris explained that the productive asset - which in the case of citizen science is IP - are held by all the stakeholders collectively with someone (typically a founder whose vision the IP was) designated as custodian of the ethics and aims.
\n\nIn addition to the custodian, you have people with rights of use, people who invest in future rights of use and a trusted third party (someone who took care of any conflict resolution, and perhaps holds the money). This model can apply to land, energy and even IP like open source insulin. The rights to open source insulin would be held by a custodian in keeping with the values of open source but not necessarily \u2018open\u2019 to those who operate on exploitative practices. A platform cooperative agreement could then be set up to act as a framework for the creation and use of productive assets. Think of it like a platform for all the stakeholders.
\n\nThere was a ton of other interesting stuff he said - like the business model created by James Watt. But my brain is still struggling to process this. So perhaps this is enough to chew on for now.
\n\nI\'d be interested to hear thoughts from others as to whether this has any interest in relation to the Edge of Funding session. @winnieponcelet @noemi Seems it also may relate to the session proposal on Ethics & Data Protection @markomanka @alberto
\n\nChris is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at University College London where his action-based research focuses on a new and complementary generation of networked markets and instruments. In parallel to this research, his work at the Nordic Enterprise Trust, Scotland sees him developing new partnership-based enterprise models and financing or funding instruments.
http://www.opencapital.net/
http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Chris_Cook
Some thoughts on my activities in open biotech in the past month.
\n\n\n\nBiohackathon in Amsterdam, 8-9 July 2017
\n\nAt the end of June, I attended a workshop by the EUIPO on strategies to educate youngsters about IP. About 60 people below 30 from all 28 countries were attending at the headquarters in Alicante. I had already attended the first workshop last summer.
\n\nThe discussion fell largely into two categories: how to help vulnerable smaller or starting artists and how to help new entrepreneurs. Despite efforts by the organisation, open alternatives (CC, open source, public domain) were not part of the conversation so much. The generally prevailing mindset is protecting rather than sharing.
\n\nThough, the attendees were brimming with energy as they learned about IP and were making plans to set up awareness raising projects in their respective countries. If we can show youngsters to be conscious about the impact IP has on their daily lives, we\u2019re already one step forward.
\n\nAn advantage of outlier views is that people know the few proponents in their organisation - \u201cOpen Source? Go talk to that guy\u201d. That\u2019s how I got talking to Malcolm Bain, a lawyer, lector and advisor specialised in open source software. On a beach party in Alicante, of all places.
\n\nMalcolm seemed happy with how open source software has evolved into a fundamental, albeit relatively invisible, part of our digital lives. He cited how most software is built on top of open source digital infrastructure. And that companies like Microsoft, IBM and Google are big contributors to open source software, contrary to what people might think. Whatever those numbers may mean, this can make an optimist hopeful.
\n\nI asked Malcolm about the evolution from open source software to hardware and now wetware. He had not thought of open source biotech and was happily surprised. In his view, from seeing the open source software field mature, you need several basic things in place to develop open source biotech into a meaningful field.
\n\nThe first are the basic tools you need in order to do biotech. As it stands, there are ample open lab hardware projects around, as well as affordable basic instruments like the Bento Lab. Furthermore, the BioBricks Foundation is committed to growing a database of standard synthetic biology parts called \u2018BioBricks\u2019.
\n\nAre we at the point where enough people can easily get going? Probably not, although DIYbio labs are helping. Legislation on GMOs (which is not necessarily a bad thing) is another hurdle that prevents people to easily contribute to a project like Open Insulin, as the project revolves around engineering microorganisms. Our own struggles to find a certified lab in Belgium are a testimony of the extra barrier.
\n\nSecond are people. A critical mass of contributors to biotech fundamentals is needed in order to make real progress, to make the efforts enjoyable and to keep going. A great example of a community driven effort in making biotech accessible is the annual iGem contest. And DIYbio labs are localised community hubs that play an important role as enablers and breeding grounds for open biology.
\n\nLastly, Malcolm mentioned that you need to crowdsource or -fund all the effort being done to get rid of closed off knowledge. As an example, he referred to groups of lawyers systematically fighting patent by patent to open up knowledge for the public. This requires a degree of coordination.
\n\nThe latter is where most projects are lacking, including Open Insulin. The Oakland group is organised well enough locally to progress, but it\u2019s not resilient and the collaboration does not scale well, locally and internationally. Coordination is expensive in time and/or money. It is where I am investing most of my time at the moment.
\n\nA few months ago, when starting Open Insulin, I had predicted that the global collaboration would be autopilot mode due to the clear incentives of sharing information and experience across teams globally. The difficulty would mainly be to keep the local collaboration going. I referred to the overhead costs and energy that goes into putting people and resources together productively.
\n\nReality so far has been the opposite: the international collaboration has proven more difficult than the local one. The main reason is an obstructed flow of information. One of the theoretical advantages of joining a project, rather than starting a new project, is that there is plenty of work to start from.
\n\nYet, if the information is not curated, this can be a hindrance rather than an advantage. In an environment with limited organisation of information, only those involved from the beginning have a good enough overview (from legacy) to have access to all the right information. Anthony from Open Insulin in Oakland mentions in his OpenVillage session proposal that the latter is a local problem as well.
\n\nFor us in Belgium, picking up where CCL was at, meant incomplete information and overlay in communication. These delays did have an effect on the morale in the team in Ghent. BioFoundry in Sydney decided to take a whole new approach from scratch, and they are now moving forward with research at a more rapid pace.
\n\nIn search for solutions, I\u2019ve looked into Aquarium, a lab automation tool in development at the University of Washington, and the Open Science Framework (OSF). On OSF, there are other open, large scale global collaborations such as the Reproducibility Project: Psychology and Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology. They can serve as good examples of how to organise similar projects.
\n\nOn 8 and 9 July, Waag Society & Digi.bio hosted the first Amsterdam biohackathon. It brought together biohackers from the Netherlands and surrounding countries like Belgium & Germany, but even Canada. All in all it was an international bunch, which made it a pleasant biohacking community gathering.
\n\nWe were there with a Belgian delegation of 5 people, all involved with the Open Insulin project group in Ghent. We came to get to know and play around with the microfluidic chips developed by digi.bio. Microfluidic devices have the potential to accelerate the way biotechnology research is done, and the open source version makes it possible for communities such as biohackerspaces to reap the same benefits.
\n\nI was also planning to meet Tom, who is developing cell-free extracts. In essence, this extract allows people to do genetic engineering with the soup that\u2019s inside a bacteria, without the actual living microorganism. Legally, this is big, as working with live microorganisms often means legal & financial barriers. Yet anyone can work legally and simply with cell-free extract.
\n\nFor Open Insulin, and open source protein engineering in general, this technology offers opportunities. If we can somehow make the potential reality for the open source community, it\'s a solid step towards democratization of scientific research. In other words: plenty to talk about at the hackathon.
\n\nWhen thinking of a collaboration on using cell-free extracts for Open Insulin, we quickly came to the known issue: how do we collaborate efficiently in open.citizen science projects?
\n\nWe sat down with a few people to discuss & brainstorm. The group came up with a plan outline that we will try to implement over the next months in the hopes it boosts the Open Insulin collaboration. Hopefully, other citizen.open science projects can also benefit from the approach as we test it out.
\n\nOn the train ride back from Amsterdam, I read this work on putting science in perspective. Then I read this captivating article on how large publishers rose to power. The system is not conducive of science done primarily for the greater good. It runs on other incentives: those of publishing, patenting and money. What we do as biohackers and with projects like Open Insulin is political, and needed.
\n\nIn 2001, then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux \u201ca cancer\u201d. Today, as a mastodont company whose legacy is primarily built on proprietary software, Microsoft is embracing open source more and more. Let\u2019s see where this biotech thing goes.
\n\nIn the next weeks I continue to study open science collaborations, looking at success factors and guidelines to copy. I\u2019m planning to visit Counter Culture Labs in Oakland, home of the original Open Insulin group, in September to help organise the collaboration.
\n\nThis blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation.
', u'post_id': 33844, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-31 13:35:49', u'title': u'The onset of open biotech'}, {u'content': u'On july 27th we gathered again with the open rampette community to share the final results of the project.
\n\nWe presented the final prototypes of the solutions designed around the 2 topics we have been working on, namely \u201cthe call\u201d and \u201cthe procedure\u201d, moreover while working on the two topics, we realized that there was a third topic emerging \u201cthe communication\u201d.
\n\nThe Call
Regarding the call we shared with the community the feedbacks we got from the usability testing of the prototype (you can read more about it here). And we let people experience the
improved/final version of it.
The Procedure
The day before the event we had the chance to test the prototype in some real shop around isola neighborhood (read more about the test results here). The collective event was the perfect moment to share what we learned from it.
The communication
Although the theme partially overlaps the two themes already discussed we decided it had so much importance it required to be treated alone.
The topic addresses some questions we already asked ourselves during the research:
How do I recognize if a shop is accessible?
How do I know where to find an accessible shop in town?
How can Minerva explicit the fact that they are well equipped to welcome dioniso?
We believe that communicating the right message in terms of accessibility is as important as filing all the paperwork required to be \u201clegal\u201d.
In fact, as discussed also during the user test with the doorbell, the very simple sticker we designed gives Dioniso the confidence that he will feel ok pressing that doorbell.
After presenting the development about the three topics here, we finished our presentation mentioning a couple of global take aways we wanted to share with the community.
\n\nInside out: from the details to the global scale
Makers usually have this kind of approach; you start making something and than you reflect on the impact that the thing you are making might have and how you can improve your design.
Thinking practically in terms of solutions in the beginning of the design process gives you a solid starting point you can use to test your assumption and discuss your ideas from the very beginning.
At the same time you are continuously pushed at thinking about how your solution might fit in the context and how it can link to the other pieces of the system.
Tangible solutions
Letting people touch with their hands some prototypes and experience a potential improvement regarding their issues is not just the best way to collect feedbacks; but it is also a super effective way to demonstrate policy makers that things can be changed and improved.
Multiple voices/experiences and new communication channels
Along the project we created an environment open to critiques and ideas coming from different perspective. The active participation momentum gave us the opportunity to engage offices and functions of the municipality not directly linked to the project (i.e. ufficio suolo pubblico and urbanistica)
Testing and iterations for an agile policymaking
Small iterations, user research, interviews are few elements that guided our design process. While those concepts and tools are well accepted in the world of the industry (in the startup world as well as in the most robust companies), in the domain of policymaking, regulations, and administration of city they haven\'t been quite discovered yet.
We believe that some of the techniques we adopted can be translated in the exciting domain of the city regulatory system. Agile can be applied to policymaking and at WeMake we would be more than happy to open a table with the municipality to understand how.
Hello open rampette followers!
\n\nThe last update was about the prototypes selection, now we would like to share with you what\u2019s happened in the last period.
\n\nWe have been quite busy lately doing what makers do: programming, soldering, 3d printing etc\u2026 we built several doorbell prototypes and an app that let the user perform the call via Bluetooth.
\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom July 19 to July 26 it has been a super intense week, during which we started a new experience with the community. We have got in touch with several shopkeepers based in Isola district in Milan who already have \u201caccessible\u201d shop, and we asked them the availability to take part in the user testing of the prototypes. Once they accepted our proposal, we gave them all the technical information and we installed in their shops the devices:
\n\nTESTING THE DOORBELL WITH THE SHOPOWNERS
During the week the shop owners and the citizens had the opportunity to test the system proposed and reflect on advantages and the pain points.
At the end of the seventh day we interviewed the shopkeepers and about their experience with the new prototype. It was a very precious moment to collect a lot of interesting feedback to better understand what features should be improved and what already works well. In summary, the doorbell was valued quite positively from the shop owners:
TESTING THE DOORBELL WITH DIONISO
On the same day we met one of our Dioniso, he reached us in order to test our solution in two different ways:
In both these cases, the process worked smoothly and Dioniso was pleased to give us his impressions.
Generally speaking, the device was appreciated by our Dioniso: He highlighted that the proposed solution is way more effective than the former doorbell:
Dioniso confirmed our assumption regarding the app:
\n\nWe couldn\u2019t test the app with any user that uses voice commands to control his smartphone, but the test done at the lab using Android Accessibility Features with voice control went very well. We were able to use the app and call for assistance without touching the screen at all
FUTURE IMPROVEMENT
The test helped us also realize that some features that seemed very important during the user research were not so relevant in the end.
Generally speaking the most important confirmation we had from the prototype was about the importance of effectively communicating the accessibility of the shop.
While we really like the doorbell we designed, it could be interesting to try an hybrid and definitely \u201ccheaper\u201d solution using the sticker with an off the shelf wireless doorbell already adopted in many in of the town.
Next week Wednesday the 2nd of August @ 7pm we\'re meeting at the lab where we can do the lab work. We\'ll make agreements, get an introduction to the lab and an intro to safety guidelines. We\'ll meet at HoGent campus Schoonmeersen in front of building C.
\n\nIt would be good if those who want to do lab work at some point are there, as otherwise we need to do the safety intro again at another time. Those with a biotech background also need to do the intro, no escape .
This addition to the festival draws on my experience as a traveler in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Me and two of my friends, fellow lecturers from the University Muhhamadiyah Malang, went to explore hidden communities of different Dayak Tribes.
\n\nThe exhibition will include pictures of different long homes - exploring their special architectural features and purposes, as well as different designs for different communities. It will include videos of customs and cultural events, as well as explanations about their particular economy, philosophy, attachment to nature and pride deriving from their connection with the jungle. There will be pieces about the eclectic religious beliefs of the Dayaks, as well as about the modern ways in which sustainable businesses are being developed and financed around Kalimantan, striving to preserve the nature while giving people opportunities to improve their conditions.
', u'post_id': 33635, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-27 09:22:51', u'title': u'Exhibition - Communities of Kalimantan'}, {u'content': u'I am very excited to have stumbled upon your community to hear more about open access health care. I am a junior doctor in the UK, currently 3 years out of med school, with an MSc in Humanitarian Studies. Coming from an academic angle I am very much aware of the limitations and formalised structures of my knowledge and learning so far.
\n\nI am taking a couple of years out of formal training to take part in the wider world of health, healthcare and healthcare delivery. I have recently returned from Belgrade, Serbia supporting an unofficial camp of around 800-1200 migrants, majority Afghan, all male, squatting in the city centre. I teamed up with a creative and passionate trauma nurse practitioner from the states, who had a lot of involvement in the squat clinics in Athens, and together we built a small clinic tent (literally gazebo and tarpaulin) and set about delivering health care to the community. One of the earliest challenges we faced was how to deliver healthcare where there was no infrastructure in place, not even a basic clean, safe and private space to consult or examine patients. In this setting the lack of infrastructure allowed us to be more creative and fluid about the way we delivered healthcare. Challenging the limited view that healthcare intervention revolve solely around the quick consolation, examination of patients and distribution of pharmaceuticals. In fact these are the last stages of healthcare and may only be offering a quick fix to a much broader problem. I think it is so important to be a part of the wider community outside of clinic walls.
\n\nThe second interesting thing for me was the recognition of environmental factors and how significantly they affected peoples health. We had serious problems with poor sanitation and hygiene and the inevitable infestation of scabies and body lice. Tackling these issues wasn\'t about treated their medical symptoms (although hopefully we try to achieve that too), it was about recognising the source of the problem and working out ways to overcome or improve the problems. Work such as this prompts you to talk to different voluntary groups and communities about the work they\'re doing, the infrastructure they\'re building and their impact on the "camp". Bringing a collective ethos to the action and work that everyone was participating in. We also delivered or tried to deliver public health information and education to the community about why they were suffering and how they may be able it help themselves to overcome it (ie. itching and washing). Breaking down the perception that you can solve everything with a pill and encouraging people to recognise the environmental, social and political factors that have an impact on their health. Hoping to encourage peoples independence, knowledge and agency in self care.
\n\nHaving spent the majority of my life so far in school, I haven\'t had much opportunity to take part in activist or anarchist action. As a beginner, newby or a novice as yet I can\'t define myself by either of the above. The world at times feels like a dark place, as the planet heats up, the weather fluctuates to greater extremes, there is an increase in natural disasters, war, famine and draught still devastate and kill it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I would love to take part in a community where, despite the heavy dose, cynicism does not prevail. Where in the face of adversity we hope to find some cooperation, creativity, and compassion. To talk about events, learn develop and evolve my own understanding and hopefully share some of my knowledge, experience and thinking too.
', u'post_id': 33523, u'user_id': 3756, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-24 11:52:21', u'title': u'An introductory hello, delivering healthcare in the absence of infrastructure'}, {u'content': u'Hello, new update from the open rampette project - the procedure!
\n\nWe left with user research results during the last episode (link). Insights that were useful for the team at WeMake to start prototyping a new interface, a digital tool to make the regulation procedure more intuitive, easier to fill out, faster, pain and frustration-free.
\n\nIn order to guarantee accessibility, cross-compatibility and to enable easy iterations and future implementation we decided to prototype a tool in the form of a web app.
\n\n\n\nHere are the key factors that led us to designing a tool that was user driven instead of bureaucracy driven:
\n\nComplexity
\n\nIt\u2019s very common for bureaucratic procedures to be designed in a way that first off satisfies bureaucracy needs. In our case, for instance, the way the information is organized doesn\u2019t really take into considerations the way Minerva (our shop owner) would think about solving the accessibility problem, but it put things into the perspective of solving a bureaucratic issue from the point of view of the person who would review the filled module.
\n\nAs a consequence, the first thing we did was creating a logic chart of the questions that Minerva would ask herself while approaching the accessibility problem.
\n\n\n\nThe questions that would more easily push Minerva out of the procedure were put upfront. This might sound strange for some of you, as if we are helping shop owners skipping the procedure, but of course this is not what we want... Let\u2019s try to wear Minerva shoes for a sec, would you be happy or frustrated to be notified that there is another procedure for shops that are currently under renovation after the procedure have asked you to measure the sidewalk, the obstacle and you have looked for a ramp online? Something tells me you would be quite frustrated...
\n\nIt\u2019s with this approach that we did our best to guide Minerva exactly to the areas of the procedure that would fit her specific situation and to let her skip all the rest.
\n\nComprehension
\n\nA big issue of the procedure that resulted from user research was technical language.
\n\nAfter reading and re-reading all the documents the approach we have taken in this case is two-folded:
\n\nAssistance
\n\nIn line with the simplification of the procedure\u2019s logic and the restructuring of the data flow, we decided to give the tool the form of a series of questions, just as if Minerva was being interviewed and assisted by an employee of the municipality during the filling of the procedure.
\n\nPleasure
\n\nLast but not least, we wanted to give the interface a fresh but very simple look. We decided to use the guidelines from the opencare project, but we stressed on:
\n\nYou can test the prototype here and give us feedback.
\n\nYour help would be invaluable to design a better tool!
\n\nIn the next episode we will share what we learned from the usability testing and start a conversation there on how we can make it better
\xa0
\n\nFIRST STEP
\n\nIcons from Food Allergy Italia web site:
\n\n\n\nResults
Icons recognizability \u22cd40%
Considerations
\n\nIn our opinion, icons have a low level of recognizability because images represent a sample taken from biological classification of a given allergen.
\n\nFor example: the \u201cmollusk\u201d allergen is represented by a snail, an invertebrate animal belonging to the mollusk phylum.
\n\n\xa0
\n\nSECOND STEP
\n\nResults
Icons recognizability \u22cd90%
Considerations
\n\nWe have developed a new icons set, looking for and then pointing out the allergen food mostly used in recipes of mediterranean diet.
\n\nFor example, we have represented the \u201cmollusk\u201d allergen as mussels, frequently used in recipes of italian cuisine, as starter and main courses.
\n\nIn summary, we have displaced the signifier into the food field.
\n\nTO DO
- Re-design icons.
- Select color pallet.
- Add new five icons to represent molecules that cause food intolerance (tot. 22 icons).
Please support the Allergo K\xec research by doing a simple survey.
', u'post_id': 33868, u'user_id': 3597, u'timestamp': u'2017-08-01 12:20:25', u'title': u'Allergo K\xec | How to represent allergens with icons'}, {u'content': u'Hello everybody, here\'s an update from openrampette project.
\n\nThe event of June 21 was an interesting moment to give voice to the community.
We shared with people 7 different prototypes (you can find more information here) and we asked them to evaluate the different solutions answering these questions:
After collecting all the feedback we have analysed them, trying to understand on which prototypes keep working and which ones discard.
At the end of the process we selected 4 of the 7 presented solutions:
a sticker to identify accessible shops: the sticker identifies the shops that are taking part in the open rampette project, and in general the accessible shops.The sticker is explicit but is not the standard wheelchair sign. It is a sign of prestige for the shop exhibiting it (like the tourist guide stickers).
WHY? It is impossible to recognise the shop accessible via temporary ramp if no sign is present.
a doorbell with improved usability: the custom doorbell has the sticker on it that identifies the project. Dioniso receives a visual feedback when his call is received by Minerva.
WHY? The ad-hoc doorbell highlight the fact that Dioniso is welcomed in the shop.
a custom device to receive the doorbell call: Minerva receives a notification on a portable device, which can produce light, vibrate and/or sound. By pressing a button on the device, Minerva can notify Dioniso that the call was received and will shortly go out with the ramp.
WHY? A device with a single feature is more reliable than an app. It can be used by multiple people running the shop.
a smartphone app to ask for assistance when you are in front of a shop: A device (fitted with beacon technology) advertises the presence of an accessible shop. Dioniso receives a notification on his smartphone and he can call for assistance if in the range of the shop.
WHY? People with limited arm movement capabilities can use smartphones fitted with ad hoc controllers (e.g. vocal controller).
So now it\u2019s time to develop the final prototypes in order to be ready for the user testing phase!
Stay tuned
Woah, interesting open meeting. Realise you\u2019ve been talking about this for months & I don\u2019t know the web that\u2019s been weaving all this time between you all but my reflections:
\n\nYour focus on learning about how to do autonomous healthy caring community through a bold, experiential meeting of people is bang on. Focusing productive engagement at a mobile health village on care, resilience, fitness, mental health, spirituality, communal living\xa0+ space + wild imagination & hacking + radical economics all sounded needed by the many different community ventures and community interventions\xa0that are rising in 2017.\xa0\xa0
\n\nIt already sounds like a bold invitation to people to join, collaborate and go for it but the questions about the\xa0the precision of the invitation & the precision of the activity feels important. Brought to mind the many excellent social initiatives that fo.am has spawned over the years https://fo.am/activities/\xa0and\xa0communicated so clearly.
\n\nYou asked me about events that I had experience of & I\u2019m not sure I answered that well. But events that combine focused invitation with a mix of supportive structure & improvisation so that people can creatively participate with\xa0purpose work for me.\xa0 Even better events that through the meeting itself prototype & meet a specific question of care: this shifts depending\xa0on the context and where the meeting is.\xa0 If you pivot the whole thing to Morocco - then there\u2019s a different care need\u2026 \xa0
\n\nOn a Games tip, it made me think of the Brighton Cascade project I set up with Felix http://cascade.network/ & the unfulfilled plan we never found funding for which was first on our list for what we wanted to do after the COP21 had settled\xa0 which was \u201cCity Game & Action Residency\u201d http://cascade.network/five/. The aim was an action residency & living differently with each other across a number of days on a different economic exchange whist tying it in with a food lab, sleep lab, creative lab open to the public and sharing tools/ knowledge and supported in the spirit of play by a city wide game inviting people into living differently. But you know what it needed to really make it work was one\xa0clearly understood focus.
\n\nThe reason the cascade.network went dormant is 1. people had jobs & the workshop aims were easier to achieve 2. people wanted leadership & focus to create in reaction too and give it shape - I didn\u2019t recognise that and kept on seeking to accomodate everyone\'s interests & waiting for a consensus which never came 3. (and this is the big one!) it was not clear how, apart from being fun and creative, this would actually actively help the climate situation.\xa0
\n\nReflecting on this today I agree with what Nadia said on the call - that a certain state of trust is necessary. To be bold and make the experiment with a leap of faith and make sure to learn from it in an organised way. We never know\xa0where any creative act leads. In a very basic way setting up creative healthy spaces that are emboldening, empowering and give people great information, new ideas and a lived sense of new potentials has an effect that is meaningful, rich, valuable.\xa0
\n\nHowever what I like about Edgeryders is your pragmatic focus on what is actually of communal use and has actual power to change people\u2019s lives for the better. & care is a vital goal. Enacting possibilities with a sense of play towards a focused purpose of enlarging our skills for care & supportive community is\xa0useful.
\n\nSo a mix of game + pragmatic focus\xa0on care +\xa0working with aspects of real community (whether it\u2019s living together differently, or working with the realities of the wider city / region) inspired me. & using playful techniques in the city - I don\'t personally have time to produce an audio journey but there are more spontaneous acts - like clowning - that don\'t need much prep ie. going out on the streets and giving people gifts.\xa0
\n\nI\u2019ve got to hand my PHD draft in September & will work out what I can bring to this meeting - workshops or VR project & very open to connect\xa0with Gehan / Bernard / Frank about health / mental health / spritituality / love .\xa0\xa0Available for calls if you need me. I unfortunately don\u2019t have a block of time before the event to build something but perhaps it\u2019s the beginning of a longer journey.\xa0
\n\nI\u2019ll be there in October - wherever it is held - and participate with all I got.\xa0
', u'post_id': 33306, u'user_id': 2754, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-19 18:20:47', u'title': u'Open Village Call 19 July 2017'}, {u'content': u'In the direct continuity of the last community call, we propose another seance of online and interactive demo showing GraphRyder, and especially how we use it to visualise what the EdgeRyders\' community (hey, that\'s you!) is talking about, and what we try to extract from all this content.
\n\nIf you have been unable to follow the last call, no worries, @WinniePoncelet has compiled a series of notes retracing the whole event (while keeping the technical problems on the low, thanks for that!). Plus, we do not have any immutable plan for next week\'s demo as we would like to adapt the content to the observers.
\n\nIf the audience is already familiar with the platform, then we will continue where we left off last time, that is, at the Detangler view.
\n\nObviously, whether you have played around with GraphRyder before or not, if you have questions about the whole process, some feedback about the tool or if you are just curious about it, come and join us to discuss about it.
\n\nThe whole call is happening on Wednesday the 26th at 18:00 (6pm) UTC+02:00 on Google Hangout. All you have to do to join us is use this link (no login required).
\n\nAlso leave us a comment if you have any special requests for the demo.
\n\nDate: 2017-07-26 18:00:00 - 2017-07-26 18:00:00, Europe/Berlin Time.
', u'post_id': 33305, u'user_id': 3342, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-18 18:04:39', u'title': u'Community Call 26/7 at 1800: Play date with GraphRyder! (episode 2: return of the ethnographic codes)'}, {u'content': u'Hello followers of the openrampette project.
\n\nHere is a brand new update about the procedure track: results and insights from the usability testing of the prototype.
\n\nWe left last week with an update on the design and development of the prototype for the regulation procedure. This procedure will let a shop owner make an accessible shop in the City of Milan comply with the local government\u2019s building regulations.
At the moment the procedure is entirely paper based, not easy to follow and fill. We tried to digitalize the most part of the process so a shop owner would only need a browser to complete the procedure.
See this post (link) if you want to know more about the prototype of the webapp and about the research that led to this solution.
So what do you do after you create a prototype? You test it!
On the 12th of July we set up a public meeting were shop owners and other citizens could try and test and give feedback about the prototype.
After introducing the user research results and the reasoning behind the design of the prototype, we set up 3 testing stations, each fitted with a laptop and a member of the team taking notes.
We tested with 9 people, half of which were shop owners (our Minervas), one person with mobility impairment (our Dioniso), and other citizens that showed up because interested in the project.
We decided to run two different kinds of tests depending on the tester:
\n\nUNMODERATED. Minervas were just told to try to fill the procedure as if they were doing it for their own shop, and commenting aloud or asking questions if blocked
MODERATED. Dionisos and other people were given some mock data in advance (obstacle height, sidewalk width\u2026), and were asked to complete specific tasks as if they were impersonating Minerva
During the tests we received very useful feedback on many different aspects: information architecture, user interface, navigation, text comprehension, tone of voice, need for assistance.
\n\nHere are some key quotes from the testers:
\n\nSATISFIED QUOTES
\u201cThe math to calculate the slope is very useful\u201d
\u201cThe automatic generation of the measured project would solve my issue\u201d
IDEA QUOTES
\u201cIt would be cool to have a preview of the filled procedure before downloading so you can double check your data is correct\u201d
\u201cI DON\u2019T UNDERSTAND\u201d QUOTES
\u201cIn the screen where you are supposed to input the data is not clear if you need to take the dimension of the ramp or the sidewalk...\u201d
\u201cHow do I proceed to the next screen?\u201d
UNSATISFIED QUOTES
\u201c30 mins to complete is too long time...\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m not gonna buy a ramp if I\u2019m not 100% sure it will make me comply to the regulation\u201d
Besides what the testers were saying we could observe interesting patterns in their use of the app:
User Interface
Most of the testers faced issues in the navigation, they couldn\u2019t find a call to action when this is below the browser window\u2019s fold
60% of the testers were able, at first try, to understand and use the interactive elements throughout the flow
\xbb Wording
Most of the testers didn\u2019t properly read the full text before clicking the call to action, too long
Most of the testers couldn\u2019t find a significative difference in the description of some of the different ramps one could choose
Most of the testers have issues understanding which one is the right solution for them, even after reading the descriptions
\xbb Information architecture
Most of the testers didn\u2019t understand it was necessary to look for a ramp online before being able to input the ramp\u2019s dimension in the procedure
\xbb Wishes
Most of the testers showed interest in using this tool to fill all of the different procedures to regulate the shop for accessibility, and not only the one for temporary ramps
\xbb Preoccupations
Many testers were worried of a ramp slope (15%) that, despite its congruity with the regulation, would imply for them to help Dioniso to enter/exit the shop
All the results above were collected and analyzed. This pool of data gave us a starting point to iterate our prototype fixing the architecture and the user interface on one hand, and take note of details that would need to be evaluated and discussed for a possible future re-design of the procedure in its entirety on the other hand.
\n\nYou can also try the final prototype here (Italian only) and give us feedback below, thanks!
', u'post_id': 33632, u'user_id': 3143, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-27 08:13:11', u'title': u'Openrampette - THE PROCEDURE - usability testing'}, {u'content': u'The ethnographic research at WeMake is finally delivering some first outcomes.
The first meeting out of three held place on the 12th july. It was a useful set to present the aim of the research design and the methodology.
By my side, I could share the academic background about STS (Science, Technology & Society) and my experience in two different contexts of healthcare (hospital and university). Then, it came the time to present the first insight of the research as experience and explaining how I have started combining and giving meaning to data collected on the field. A matrix about online/offline and design/making practices has been helpful to map the different and many practices enacted by the staff involved in opencare at WeMake. Such practices happen mostly in a hybrid integrated space of physical and digital actions, where applications and software are implied in the pursuit of tasks. Some members of the staff work sometimes remotely and videoconferencing is rather a common practice. Although WeMake workplace is definitely a technological environment, the human element seems still important in finding mistakes or re-schedule and re-arrange things to be done.
Interesting questions were asked about the research and the involvement of WeMake in the opencare project.
A second part of the presentation was scheduled about working in groups on the published elements (pictures, sounds and notes). Anyway, a change of the program happened spontaneously given the matter of the meeting: understanding how daily morbid living is being changed in and by WeMake practices. Maker in residence and Openrampette were mentioned as having an important part in the development of the qualitative data of the research given their experimental and participative design parts.
\n\nThereafter, the participants started an interesting discussion about the role of maker spaces in redefining the concept of care in different sets and social worlds. There were two key elements to boost interesting discussion about how roles and rules are felt as costraint not only by patients and laypeople, but by social and healthcare services themselves.
', u'post_id': 33580, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-25 17:58:03', u'title': u'After Fab life event about makers commitments for opencare'}, {u'content': u'Street Nurses (Infirmiers de Rue): How do we help people living in the street for more than 10years?
\n\nThe non-profit organization Street Nurses was formed in April 2005, following a year and a half of field studies. Two Nurses realized that, despite there being many medical and social organizations in Brussels (Belgium), there were still a great number of homeless people in the Belgian capital. They noticed that personal care and health were major issues for homeless people and were convinced that they could solve these problems.
\n\nThe organization has three primary goals: field work, trainings and tools.
\n\nField work: Street Nurses takes to the streets to meet patients directly in their environment, without asking for payment. We take care of them, earning their trust, and we motivate them to take charge of their personal care and health by accompanying them to specific care facilities, by actively listening to their needs and giving them advice.
\n\nOur work is also based on prevention and the dissemination of health information. We are medical and social intermediaries between, on the one hand, persons who live in an extremely precarious situation and on the other, healthcare professionals and social workers.
\n\nThe follow-up of patients ends with the integration of the patient in accommodation where he or she is regularly supported by professionals and volunteers of Street Nurses, and a network of social associations.
\n\nWe aim to assist persons who live in extremely precarious situations by offering them a home and by permanently reintegrating them into society. This medium- to long-term goal is achieved by improving the living conditions and the hygiene of these individuals, as well as their self-esteem.
\n\nTrainings: Street Nurses organizes different types of awareness-raising sessions and training courses in French or Dutch on \u2018hygiene and precariousness\u2019 and \u2018basic first aid\u2019.\xa0 These trainings are address to any target group that is likely to come into direct contact with homeless people or that works with people who live at home and have major hygiene issues. Our nurses organize sessions on site \u2013 in schools, in the offices of security guards and social workers, clinics etc.
\n\nTools: Street Nurses develops prevention tools and information packages to raise awareness among homeless persons about the importance of personal care and health, to give them better access to care and to facilitate their medium - to long-term rehabilitation. Certain tools, however, are aimed at raising awareness among the general public about the situation of homeless people. Examples: list of showers in Brussels, map of fountains and free public conveniences, symptoms and interventions in case of hypothermia, Frostbite prevention poster, Heat stroke prevention poster
\n\nSince 2005 the non-profit organization Street nurses has grown and its projects are continuously developed. Today, Street Nurses has the equivalent of 13,84 full-time staff members and approximately 60 volunteers.
\n\nWe saw the call by the Mac Arthur Foundation too, but we tough we were way to small to try and get it so we were very happy to receive the information trough DoucheFLux that this kind of initiative exists. We are mostly organized to search every year for new funds. We try to find the good balance between private, public and foundation funds but because of our high costs of wages it is difficult to fund foundations that are willing to support us. Most of them give only money for material or structural projects, not for day to day tasks, and that is what Street Nurses is all about.
\n\nSince a couple of years we opened our work to an even more inclusive service. We have a collaboration going on with Social housing agencies in Brussels to try to give homeless people a decent home at the end. We participate to the program Housing First Brussels.
\n\nWe have a good network within the association field in Brussels, but when we go to specific funds we are not transcribed in their goals. For example, they help by giving furniture for kids, or funds for kid projects. But our main audience, people living on the street between 8 and 20 years is often forgotten.
\n\nSomething rather unique in the social field is that we have one of our colleagues that is paid by two different organizations, ours and another non-profit organization. This makes it possible to create a solid bridge between both organizations and have a great information flow. We think there is bright future is this way of work.
\n\nFinally we organize a colloquium the 20th of October in Brussels that has as goal to eradicate homelessness in Brussels for ever. With the mindset: if even we can find homes for the most difficult audience, you can too! We want to share our experience in the field. It takes time and dedication for each of our people to do the whole process, from getting the confidence, to willing to have a stable home. But we want to show that the hard work also has direct results, and if we rally our forces we can go for a total abolishment of homelessness in Brussels!
', u'post_id': 767, u'user_id': 3440, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-28 11:07:52', u'title': u"Street Nurses: get off the street, it's possible!"}, {u'content': u'These days edgeryders will be moving onto a new platform using discourse (exact date tbc).
\n\nFor #OpenVillage Festival, this means we lose this minisite we set up with festival information aggregated in one place:
\n\nWe need help setting up a website whose main goal is to communicate effectively about the event to the people who registered and newcomers - visually attractive and containing the most important and up to date information. The site is all static, but should include a page which links to edgeryders.eu festival coordination.
\n\nPrimary materials to use:
\n\n\n\nStructure of pages/ sections
\n\nOrganised by - embed video: https://vimeo.com/181764358
OpenVillage Festival
Follow us: Facebook Twitter Newsletter
General inquiries: contact@edgeryders.eu
Contributions & Partnerships: company@edgeryders.eu
Day 1 (in progress)
Organised by - embed video: https://vimeo.com/162811723
Day 2 (in progress)
Day 3 (in progress)
Who\'s coming? bios+ photos (Noemi has them)
A preview - videos of our previous events: https://vimeo.com/112143480 , https://vimeo.com/82554988 , https://vimeo.com/138055115
Other ideas for materials which can be used for information and styling:
\n\nOther ideas:
\n\n..
\nTo complete this task, leave a comment below with your availability and what you can help with - coding the website, synthesis of information, producing new videos or other visual materials etc.. Any effort is appreciated! Once the work completed we will send you the festival ticket!
', u'post_id': 33297, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-15 09:38:40', u'title': u'Get your ticket to #OpenVillage: Help set up a website for event communication and outreach'}, {u'content': u'OpenCare Lab is a new course produced as a collaboration between UDK and The OpenCare consortium as represented by Edgeryders. The slides from the introductory presentation on day 1 are available for all to reuse and remix here.
\n\nThe videos that were included in the presentation are:
\n\nTake a few moments to reflect on your experiences and thoughts during the four days we have spent together before they get distracted ad are lost in the everyday rush. Open a word processing document and just let your thoughts flow.
\n\nFind an image that you feel is appropriate (JPG, min 600x400).
\n\nWhen you feel done, log into edgeryders.eu, click on the add my story button and upload your image + text.
', u'post_id': 33491, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-22 12:51:13', u'title': u'Introduction: How to share your reflections from "Hacking Utopia"'}, {u'content': u'In this exercise you are required to take a care-related question of your own choosing, and develop it into a design challenge. Not sure what a design challenge is? Have a look at p.31-33 of the Human Centred Design Field guide before you start building it by answering 5 questions:
\n\nWhat is the problem/question you are trying to solve/explore? Frame it as a design question!
State the ultimate impact you would like to have. What would make you feel like you did something meaningful with your time?
What are some possible solutions to your problems or ways to answer your question? Think broadly. It\'s fine to start a project/learning process with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for surprises.
Write down some of the context and constraints that you are facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based, or have to do with the population yo\'re trying to reach.
5. Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again.
\n\nTo complete this task pick your question (GWK and UDK students select one question each from this list), open a word processing document, and write your answers to the questions above in it. Next, find an image you feel is related to your design challenge (JPG format, 600\xd7400 or larger).
\n\nWhen you are happy login to edgeryders.eu, click on the "Add my story button" below and upload your contribution. If you have any questions email noemi@edgeryders.eu
', u'post_id': 33490, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-22 12:46:17', u'title': u'Introduction: How to frame your challenge'}, {u'content': u'In this phase of the project we collaborate around research needed if we are to develop proposals for interneventions, improvements, or design new concepts/products/services rooted in people\'s everyday realities, needs, and lifestyles. Each participant does their own research on a care-related topic of their choosing, and explores what others already are doing or have done. Everyone shares their results here and we do a round of gathering feedback/input online. This enables everyone to make well-informed decisions to shape their steps forward. This is the first of two research tasks.
\n\nAll over Europe and beyond people are building a new world together. Amazing projects demonstrate hope for the future and visions of the world which is possible when we work together. In Cairo, residents brought along bulldozers and just started building their wikicity. In the United States a 16 year old boy who couldn\'t afford braces just went ahead and 3-d printed his own orthodontics. In another part of the world a concerned parent got tired of the constant worrying about whether their diabetic four year old son\'s blood sugar levels are ok, so they hacked the diabetes monitor\'s software code and wrote a simple program that transmitted the monitoring data to an online spreadsheet he could view on a Web browser or mobile phone. Their actions are now part of an entire open source ecosystem, from sensors to apps to insulin, emerging from patients. Many people living their dreams together are changing their corner of the world, one small intiative at a time.
\n\nIn this challenge we conduct research to discover what is already out there and what is needed by existing projects/places/products/services and the people they serve. In doing this collaboratively we increase our collective knowledge. We also encourage peers to acknowledge one another\'s good work and build on it, rather than waste resources duplicating or competing with existing initatives. The focus of our research efforts in the context of OpenCare are initiatives that exist at the intersections of care, communities and open science and technologies that allow anyone to make and modify the things they want...without needing permission.
\n\nWhat do we mean by OpenCare? Seen from here the definition of Care is nurturing interactions between humans; the open part is about fluidity in the roles and relationships of the humans involved. Food cultures, cultural practices, the artefacts we use and the ways in which we use them etc; the field is broad and you are free to look in whatever direction that engages you.
\n\nThe Challenge: Produce case studies on existing initiatives, interventions, products, or services that are relevant to your care-related challenge or question.
\n\nHow to complete this challenge:
\n\nWhat makes a good Case Study? Content Guidelines:
\n\nFocus on methodology, actions, motivations and insights. Look at this interview, this story as well as this one to get an idea of what we are looking for. If you want to attract help and support from othr participants, then we suggest that you adopt a working-out-loud approach. This means opening your working process and reflections to others at regular intervals. We run weekly google hangouts every Monday at 16:30 CET where you can connect with, and ask for help from, other participants. You ar very welcome to join whenever you like. For more information email noemi@edgeryders.eu or tweet @edgeryders
\n\nA good\xa0proposal will\xa0include 1) a description of your work 2) reflections around your experiences working in community,\xa0as well as 3) a burning question or challenge you would like\xa0to explore during\xa0the event.\xa0
\n\nTo submit a proposal you are invited to write a\xa0post with some initial thoughts and then publish it in our shared workspace.\xa0Here is a brief you are required to answer*.\xa0Once your proposal is posted, other community members will leave thoughtful comments to help refine it. The Program team will contact you for next steps within two weeks from the time of posting.
\n\n\xa0 \u200b
\n\n* On Briefs:\xa0When we launched the OpenCare conversations last year we had several questions we asked the community\xa0- all the stories contribute to finding\xa0answers to those questions. Here are the briefs\xa0(accessible from the main menu - OpenCare stories).
\n\nTogether we are building a unique program in which every\xa0talk, workshop and co-design session is an excellent, generative experience for everyone involved. You can help by reading and leaving thoughtful comments on the proposals below...
\n\nAll background\xa0information and status of proposals is collected by the team\xa0in a shared spreadsheet.
\n\nProposals are turned into the official program when:
\n\n1) Team members agree with the proponents on the final\xa0title, summary, format, scheduling, hi res photos etc. Proponents are signed up to share #OpenVillage consistently\xa0on their\xa0social media.
\n\n2) Team members set up individual event pages\xa0on edgeryders.eu containing\xa0the agreed details \xa0
\n\n3) An official\xa0Program\xa0page is updated with links to individual sessions.
\n\n*** Travel support is made available on a case by case basis for most active contributors, both\xa0session leaders and OpenVillage participants in general.
\n\nSchedule
\n\nWork in progress. Approved sessions are added by the program team on a rolling basis.
\n\n| Session | Who?\xa0 | Learn more |
| DAY\xa01:\xa0Talks and Project Demonstrations 09:00 - 18:00 | ||
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description\xa0 | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name & 1 sentence biography of session leader\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| DAY 2: Fishbowls, Workshops & Masterclasses | ||
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Title of session &\xa01 short paragraph description | Name and 1 sentence bio of session leader\xa0 | URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Day 3: Co-design Sprints and Project development coaching | ||
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description\xa0 | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| Project Name\xa0 | 1 paragraph description | Project Story URL on Edgeryders.eu |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
Follow us:\xa0Facebook\xa0\xa0\xa0Twitter\xa0\xa0\xa0Newsletter
\n\nGeneral inquiries:\xa0contact@edgeryders.eu
\n\nContributions & Partnerships:\xa0company@edgeryders.eu
', u'post_id': 6301, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-05 23:39:04', u'title': u'Program proposals! (work in progress)'}, {u'content': u"Hi, I\u2019m Duana, commonly known as Duey Sol.
\n\nI\u2019m always happy to connect with like-minded people from all over the world, especially those working towards a common goal of making the world (or their small part of it) a better place.
\n\nI grew up in the countryside in Ireland with veg, fruit, herb gardens and trees, lots of trees. That was my foundation. I moved to Galway City when I was about 8. I was lucky to go to an alternative 'Educate Together' primary school. They teach people to care about people and planet and to think for themselves. I went to a typical Irish secondary school which I left at 16 to do a horticulture course for two years.
\n\nI then took a variety of courses, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I studied massage for two years and practiced for a while but I took a step back from that. I hope to get back to it one day, I like healing people.
\n\nWhen I was 22 I started volunteering in the Galway Community Circus teaching kids contemporary circus arts (no animals!) and learning skills myself. I taught and learned there for two years. It was so important in my journey; I discovered my first hobby, first sport, my circus freak family and my love of working with children. I'm massively interested in 'Social Circus'. I believe recreation activities, hobbies, and the social and personal development aspects of these are hugely beneficial to people.
\n\nFor a few years friends and I trained together. We occasionally did circus shows and workshops at festivals and events.
\n\nNow we have a performance group in training called Hoopla Troupla. We have performed and done workshops at a number of charity and community events and festivals in Ireland. My favourite disciplines are fire dancing and being a human puppet. I also practice/teach hula hoop and poi. And I dance. A lot. My stage name is Dancing Duey.
\n\nI started doing social media work 5 years ago. One of my creations is a facebook group 'House Hunting Galway (for sound people)\u2019, facilitating people to network to find housing and house mates. It\u2019s really important to have a safe space to live with people who suit you. The group grew to 26,000 people and counting. Another facebook group I started is Galway Underground Gigs, which has 6,000 members. I\u2019m always connecting people with the right people, projects and events. Galway is a magic place that draws people here from all over the world, and I get to meet the most inspirational people.
\n\nI worked as a youth work assistant for a year and now I\u2019m doing a degree in Business, Enterprise and Community Development. I never thought I'd do third level education, being a more practical, hands-on learner, but this degree is helping me to merge my ideas and skills with community development, enterprise, youth work and circus.
\n\nMy dream is to create an alcohol-free social and entertainment venue in Galway. Ireland desperately needs alcohol-free spaces. An inclusive space for people to come together with music, dancing and activities, with rooms for workshops, classes and meetings.\xa0
\n\nFinally I really want to get back to nature for some grounding and get back to my roots. Taking part in An \xc1it Eile\u2019s pre-unMonastery event, a \u201cRural Reconnaissance\u201d at Cregg Castle reminded me of that. Nature is life.
", u'post_id': 808, u'user_id': 3535, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-12 21:19:00', u'title': u'Social, Circus, Community'}, {u'content': u'We\'re meeting again at Timelab this Wednesday July 19th at 8pm. We\'ll go over some practical stuff for starting the lab work in August. As posted before, we are going to the lab at UGent where we can do work with the plasmids on August 2nd, 7pm.
\n\n@flinty will be there to share with us her limitless knowledge on making lab magic happen
Maybe a visit to the Gentse Feesten afterwards? Let\'s see!
', u'post_id': 33303, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-17 19:43:21', u'title': u'Open Insulin meeting July 19th'}, {u'content': u'Hey Edgeryders,\xa0
\n\nI\'m developing a course to become an energetic master and conscious creator. It\'s a self care course to become aware of how beliefs and perceptation relate to how you feel. Here\'s a first video I shot last week.\xa0
\n\n\n\nConscious creator from Ewoud Venema on Vimeo.
\n\nYou can find a more elaborate on my Academy where I\'ll continue to share these courses (probably). I hope you find it inspiring and clarifying. If you like them, you can subscribe to my newletter or follow me on vimeo.\xa0
\n\nLet me know how you feel!
\n\n\n\n\n\nBen Moore
', u'post_id': 876, u'user_id': 3643, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-01 18:07:54', u'title': u'Self care and conscious creation'}, {u'content': u'The research activity consists in describing the multiverse ways by which the concept of care is re-defined among makers and what makers \u201cmake\u201d for opencare in the context of a fablab.
\n\n\n\nA concept i\'m working on is about the \u201ctransmogrifying of morbid living\u201d as possibile research of the development on how knowledge of life and knowledge of living are differently generated (Wahlberg, 2014). It is important to understand how and how much opencare practices are represented by makers as a situated practice, at the same time contingent and shared in a different way and by different approach from other healthcare settings.
\n\nIn the circular triangulation of three important concepts about life, living and technology, b\xecos, zo\xe9 and t\xe9chne are hereby considered relationships, identities and actions negotiated in other disciplined and this undisciplined context of care production. Such tension is deeply tacit in the fab lab where experimental practices of design, making and delivering are useful to change (to transmogrify) the concept of care itself.
\n\nCheck the information about "Transmogrifying morbid living" workshop in Milan at WeMake
\n\nWhile a lot of\xa0contributions and sessions\xa0happen in skype calls behind the scenes, this can be an easier way for socializing new people in edgeryders and the festival. Can we support them to understand the common work and be seen by the broader\xa0community? Can we also shine some light on the great work of current\xa0festival participants? (especially if they havent head their personal story posted).
\n\nGet in touch with someoen, and write a thoughtful story featuring the person and their open care work. What did you learn about them and\xa0their work? What questions does it raise? Should we expect to meet them in Brussels? \xa0Check back with the person to see if they feel confortable with the text.\xa0\xa0
\n\nWhen you are ready, post your story in the OpenVillage coordination group and make sure to include a hi res photo of the person. Works as a weekly routine? One\xa0team member = one weekly post?
', u'post_id': 33298, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-15 10:11:40', u'title': u'Shine a light: weekly "Meet the Edgeryders" posts'}, {u'content': u'There have been some ideas floating around on a new possible avenue of research for the Open Insulin project. Anthony and me got in touch with Federico from digi.bio, who are developing an open source microfluidic device. I\xa0only got to writing a summary of the conversation now.
\n\nIt boils down to this.\xa0There is someone in CCL planning to generate a bunch of genetic sequences that could be potentially interesting as linkers for bringing the insulin A and B chain together more effectively. Hopefully this would result in many viable options, that have to be tested in lab experiments.
\n\nTesting many options would be very resource intensive, and this is where the microfluidics chips come in. A small demo at one of the Digi.bio events can be found here\xa0(cool video!). If optimized, the chips would allow for much cheaper and automated testing of the generated sequences.
\n\nThe optimization part is something that we could work on\xa0here in Belgium. Federico is based in China/Amsterdam, so he is around close enough to help us get started and betatest his chip. This would give a new dimension to replicating the work previously done by CCL, if we could test culturing the bacteria on the chips. If it works, it would even be pretty valuable step towards opening up biotech research in general.
\n\nThis is getting more and more interesting... Any thoughts @ritavht | @stevenvv90 ?
\n\nI dug up some specs of the device (approximates) that Federico shared:
\n\nCiao,\xa0
\n\nOliver please meet Fabio,
\n\nFabio is a Canadian researcher that is @ WeMake with some mates (Bernard, Pov and Athena) involved in the Opencare Maker in Residence (you can read about it here\xa0or\xa0here).
\n\nFabio is looking for information and knowledge about:\xa0
\n\nknowledge about device that can be uses in clinical studies
certification of medical device (or how to circumvent it) \xa0
I think your projects need to be in touch cause you\'re approaching similar topics and issue!\xa0
\n\nIt\'ll be great if you wanna talk here (if possible) because many of the community and projects can leverage from this discussion.\xa0
\n\nCheers
\n\nCostantino
\n\n@fabioballi ,\xa0
\n\n@Olivier \xa0?
', u'post_id': 879, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-06 16:06:36', u'title': u'Echopen and breathing games- meet each other!'}, {u'content': u'\n\nFacilitator at #OpenVillage Festival
\n\n#genetics #opensource #neuroscience #biohacking #DoItTogether #research #learning
\n\nI\u2019m a biologist and my big passion is looking into the different things that we can choose to avoid, that aren\u2019t good for our health. The concept of \u201dgenomic integrity\u201d is supposed to be a dynamic big picture concept, not simply about DNA sequence, but all the molecular genetic details of cells. Protection of genomic integrity can also be thought of as behavioral. For instance, we know that sunlight affects DNA; so if you avoid it, it\u2019s easier to reduce the risk of melanoma\u201d.
\n\n@Rachel joined edgeryders after meeting Winnie at the Biofabbing convergence at CERN earlier in spring. She\u2019s a research scientist with a PhD in microbiology (UW, Seattle, USA) and one of the Co-Presidents at Hackuarium, an open biolab hosted by UniverCit\xe9, a \'hub of innovation\u2019 in Renens, Switzerland, including a MakerSpace, FabLab and co-working space.
\n\nAt #OpenVillage, Rachel is hosting a workshop on DIT (do it together) micronucleus testing, where participants are paired up to assess their baseline levels of DNA damage and help each other analyse results. She says anyone can participate by collecting cells with toothbrushes, staining and observing them. The bigger challenge is to make sure to count enough cells for statistical analysis (500 to 1000).
\n\nWhat\'s the potential of opensourcing DNA damage tests?
\n\nThis is relevant for health protection. We would understand better how the choices we make influence our health, and risks associated with it. At the very basic level, people who start doing it might think about: \u201chow can I change my lifestyle?\u201d Just like you use a Fitbit app (tracks your physical exercising), you might think: \u201coh, how many micronuclei do I have today?\u201d
\n\nWhile it is educative, the method has some way to go to be self-contained. The reasons have to do with the complex correlations with lifestyle choices and also data analyses. Another issue is confidentiality - participants would need to provide as much information as they think is relevant for a correlative analysis. But we are still learning what might impact genomic integrity most. For instance, smoking damages DNA directly and prevents its repair, another reason it is most highly-correlated risk factor for both ageing and disease. Not least, taking this testing further also means figuring how to avoid using compounds that might damage the environment themselves. For instance, the methylene blue used to stain cheek cells to see micronuclei might also impact genomic integrity, so should not just be poured down the drain. We are trying to make protocols based on \u2018kitchen sink ingredients\u2019 that will still allow us to do the micronucleus assay and another test for DNA breaks in cells, the comet assay.
\n\nRachel\u2019s workshop is part of the Citizen Science and Open Science track at #OpenVillage. Get in touch with her and join the conversation here!
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 33304, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-18 09:01:28', u'title': u'Meet the Edgeryders: Rachel Aronoff (genetics, open source, biolab, DoItTogether, learning)'}, {u'content': u'I live in a eco-cohousing community of 40 homes, and over 60 adults. we have smallish separate PassivHaus homes; car sharing; a "Common House" where people cook and eat together; shared community tasks; and organisation and governance by consensus. It\'s quite large as cohousing goes, and while several values are common, there is also much diversity. Some minority groups find a home here: in our case, including vegans. We try to be inter-generational, though there are more older people than younger. That\'s partly due to economic factors.
\n\nIt is a surprisingly complex little society, and any group like this has its own life, its own character, which would take a long time to describe. For Opencare, I\'d like to focus just on one of the challenges that I see here: how we engage with our own and each other\'s well-being. We have at present no special provision for caring for each other: it happens in some ways at some times, informally.
\n\nSharing some non-mainstream values, and a vision that is not yet shared by the majority of people, there seems to be some kind of assumption that we will provide a safe space for "people like us", a haven from the strain of being minorities who are disregarded, or even criticised, elsewhere. This need for a sense of psychological safety does appear in various ways, sometimes surprisingly. This is often hidden in the rest of society. Otherwise, our needs are probably similar to most people\'s.
\n\nWe do have methods for dealing with conflict, but the challenge seems to be to get people to engage with them. Recently, a small group of members underwent training in Restorative Circles [https://www.restorativecircles.org/]. If we all understood and participated in this, it might help deal with issues that have surfaced. Relatedly, several members have developed, to differing degrees, along the path of Nonviolent Communication [https://www.cnvc.org/]. If we all interacted with each other following NVC principles, maybe that would be a highly positive influence on our community culture, and the well-being of all of us. But how does one persuade a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and histories to engage in one practice like NVC? What about other practices, like co-counselling?
\n\nThis brings me to outlining the challenges that I, personally, see for our cohousing group. How do we collectively approach the issue of mental and spiritual well-being, with little common ground to start with? How can we then grow (in) a culture that effectively supports the well-being of individuals, and of the group as a whole? How can we be sure that an individual will receive the care that they need? Can we rely on informal relationships, or should we organise this in some way? Part of our well-being is the sharing of common purpose: how can we frame and agree our common purposes, from members whose values diverge? Are we fixed with the vision of the founders, or can we (and do we want to) move on?
\n\nThese are hard questions to answer, but I have the sense that we will need to answer them more and more, if we are to develop the resilience that we will need as mainstream politics and economics unravel. We need now to care for each other\'s resources of time, energy and good will, and as we age, we will increasingly need to look after our health and strength if we are to achieve what we want to achieve, being a positive transformative influence in the world.
', u'post_id': 830, u'user_id': 200, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-06 08:26:44', u'title': u'How to share care in a living community'}, {u'content': u'Je pense ne pas \xeatre le seul, en disant qu\u2019une fois tous les x-temps dans le milieu socioculturel, \xe9v\xe9nementiel ou de l\u2019entrepreneuriat social tu te demandes : pourquoi suis-je en train de mettre toute mon \xe9nergie dans un projet collaboratif quand personnes ne collabore vraiment. Est-ce que je n\u2019arr\xeate pas tout pour faire mon truc dans mon coin, sans les autres, car la seule personne sur qui je peux conter c\u2019est moi ? Une logique peu constructive mais tellement facile qu\u2019elle nous \xe9loigne du vrai probl\xe8me : pourquoi n\u2019apprenons nous pas la culture de la collaboration \xe0 partir du plus jeune \xe2ge ?
\n\nNous l\u2019entendons partout : nous sommes dans une p\xe9riode transitionnelle, qu\u2019elle soit positive (\xe9mergence d\u2019\xe9conomie collaborative, renouveau des mod\xe8les low-tech, cr\xe9ation d\u2019outils num\xe9riques de gestion d\xe9centralis\xe9e, \u2026) ou n\xe9gative (\xe9mergence d\u2019organisations extr\xe9mistes, renouveau des partis populiste-fasciste, cr\xe9ation de tactiques num\xe9rique de propagande,\u2026) nous voyons que l\u2019importance de se retrouver sous un arbre de valeur est d\u2019une grande importance en ce moment. Les outils sont l\xe9gions : Trello pour les fanas de post-it digital en mode collaboration, Slack comme forum organique et le saint graal de la collaboration d\xe9centralis\xe9s : Github. Tous ont une arm\xe9e de fans, mais tous ont le m\xeame probl\xe8me : si il n\u2019y a pas une base de valeurs collaboratives sur quoi travailler, ces outils restent un beau d\xe9cor. C\u2019est comme donner des outils de permaculture \xe0 un fermier industriel : si il ne voit pas que les valeurs partag\xe9es sont un atout majeur, il restera avec ces m\xe9thodes classiques.
\n\nComme n\u2019importe quelle autre id\xe9e soci\xe9tale, elle devient omnipr\xe9sente quand elle est vue comme une partie de notre \u2018culture\u2019. Mais aucune id\xe9e n\u2019a fait partie de la soci\xe9t\xe9 sans avoir \xe9t\xe9 confectionn\xe9e d\u2019une mani\xe8re ou d\u2019autre. Un premier pas pour aller vers cette \u2018Culture de la collaboration\u2019 est de voir l\u2019information comme un bateau qui doit arriver \xe0 bon port. Ca ne sert \xe0 rien de tenir l\u2019information pour soi, partage la avec la bonne personne, passe les bonnes id\xe9es comme si c\u2019\xe9tait un plateau de charcuterie \xe0 une soir\xe9e raclette. Chaque personne prendra bien soin de choisir l\u2019info qui lui convient le plus.
\n\nCar une information qui v\xe9hicule librement aide \xe0 am\xe9liorer le deuxi\xe8me point : Ne perdez plus d\u2019\xe9nergie \xe0 r\xe9inventer la roue mais essayer de contribuer avec des projets d\xe9j\xe0 existant. C\u2019est en ajoutant de nouvelles grilles de lectures, en rentrant dans un projet avec un autre angle ou d\u2019autres informations qu\u2019on apprend beaucoup. Rester dans son enclos n\u2019aide personne, m\xeame si le r\xe9flexe protectionniste se comprend : vous voulez contr\xf4ler votre id\xe9e contre un opportunisme qui pourrait se cacher derri\xe8re chaque recoin. Mais si nous acceptions, comme c\u2019est d\xe9j\xe0 le cas dans les recherches universitaires, d\u2019avoir un syst\xe8me de mentions g\xe9n\xe9rales pour la collaboration de projet, nous devrions avoir moins peur de cet opportunisme.
\n\nCar voil\xe0, le grand probl\xe8me qui se cache derri\xe8re cette peur inn\xe9cessaire de la protection d\u2019information: on \xe0 perdu notre membrane de confiance entre humain. Tout dans notre entourage nous dit de se m\xe9fier de l\u2019autre. Car comme disait ce bon vieux Sartre: L\u2019enfer c\u2019est les autres. Mais si nous relisons la th\xe9orie du Darwinisme social nous voyons que c\u2019est notre aptitude \xe0 collaborer qui \xe0 fait que nous avons surv\xe9cu aux animaux dix fois plus grand que nous, aux p\xe9riodes glaciaire et aux famines.
\n\nPour recr\xe9er cette membrane de confiance nous ne devons pas croire dans \u2018les grand mouvements\u2019, car comme les grandes histoires, elles sont mortes avant d\u2019entrer dans la p\xe9riode post Moderne. Soyons comme Enspiral, un r\xe9seaux de petit groupes. Cr\xe9ons des petits faits, pour r\xe9apprendre \xe0 se faire confiance. On ne doit pas d\xe9crocher la lune, mais simplement savoir aider son voisin. La petite pierre que j\u2019apporte \xe0 cet \xe9difice est de prendre le caf\xe9 chaque matin avec quelqu\u2019un d\u2019autre, d\u2019\xe9couter son histoire et de voir ou je peut faire du lien.
\n\nDans notre soci\xe9t\xe9 contemporaine nous donnons encore et toujours trop de place \xe0 l\u2019ego, qui l\u2019emporte souvent en discussion de l\u2019id\xe9e. Mais voil\xe0 si nous voulons vraiment cr\xe9er une culture de la collaboration nous devons mettre en place des freins \xe0 l\u2019ego. De pouvoir \xeatre fier de l\u2019ajout qu\u2019on a donn\xe9 \xe0 une id\xe9e. Ne plus voir la collaboration comme une simple \xe9conomie du (mauvais) couple, ou chacun donne et qu\u2019on fait les comptes quand \xe7a ne va pas, mais se focaliser sur l\u2019id\xe9e et les valeurs v\xe9hicul\xe9es en commun.
\n\nPour \xe7a la collaboration doit se faire par les faits et non par les mots. Trop souvent la r\xe9union pr\xe9c\xe8de la participation, mais c\u2019est en faisant qu\u2019on apprend plus de la personne, que chaque personne est mise \xe0 nue. Une expression invent\xe9e par Nicolas de OpenFab trouve ici parfait \xe9cho: nous devons cr\xe9er l\u2019atome de FAIRE.
\n\nUn prochain pas pourrait \xeatre de redonner dans notre \xe9ducation collective une vraie place \xe0 la collaboration. Pas de travail- en groupe forc\xe9 qui mal organis\xe9 nous prouve que l\u2019enfer c\u2019est vraiment les autres, mais une culture de la collaboration ancr\xe9 dans le syst\xe8me d\u2019\xe9ducation g\xe9n\xe9ral.
\n\nSi vous avez des ressources la-dessus je suis preneur.
\n\nHoward Rheingold | Who Said Collaboration Wasn\u2019t Sustainable
\n\nJason Louv |The Next Buddha Will Be a Collective
\n\nDaniel Christian Wahl | Collaboration and empathy as evolutionary success stories
\n\n', u'post_id': 33747, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-26 13:34:28', u'title': u'Cr\xe9ons la culture de la collaboration : pourquoi apprend-on \xe0 se concurrencer et pas \xe0 collaborer?'}, {u'content': u'A meeting was held this week at La Stecca, a social hub in Milan, to facilitate users to fill the form for the enhancement of accessibility of the shops by their owners.
\n\nBy contrast, the place is shaded by the high buildings of the Vertical forest in the modern, stilish and accessible open area of Piazza Gae Aulenti.
\n\nThe designers of WeMake staff could present the state of the art of the project and \u201chow\u201d and \u201cwhy\u201d openrampette was being developed in such peculiar ways.
\n\n\n\nTo cover all the aspects and to design meeting presentations and activities almost a dozen of people were involved daily for months. I could follow on site and online the openrampette growing design. Activity has been so intense that were scheduled daily online meetings called \u201copenrampette stand up\u201dat 10 am on Stack instant messagging.
\n\nParticipants and designers had the occasion to meet, discuss and share visions for the future of accessibility in Milan. So many ideas and opinions about what looks like a cold bureaucratic and standard issue. Different people have different needs, situations and values, but \u201copening the \u201crampette\u201d issue could bring so much curiosity and interest from different sides. A so called \u201cboundary object\u201d in the terms of openrampette as matter of discussion and negotiation enough structured and selfsustaining, but at the same time a concept accessibile and by a possibile informatic metaphor \u201cpatchable\u201d.
\n\nIt is a good add to the hypothesis on how is being taken action to change the concept of care into a daily and shared practice, i.e. how by the transmogrifying of morbid living care becomes a social issue and play. The closed world of social and healthcare services accessible only as individual citizens and patients is seen here in a different way. In the case of openrampette, the normative and reverse salients sides become useful tools to test the possibile changes to access shops in Milan.
\n\nDesign and/as dialogue was enacted between people and designers by the support of this online form https://share.proto.io/7VVRQ5/
\n\nIt was an occasion to discuss not only the issue about openrampette, but to know better each other, to take contact and to spend 3 hours in a different and vivid way.
', u'post_id': 33290, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-15 08:38:16', u'title': u'Opening the rampette as vivid design in Milan'}, {u'content': u'A one hour\xa0online demo and interactive event\xa0where participants learn to read\xa0the opencare community network graph!\xa0
\n\nGraphRyder\xa0is opensource, web based, and\xa0meant to be\xa0a resource for network scientists,\xa0researchers, community managers and citizens at large -\xa0graphryder.opencare.cc\xa0
\n\nOur goal for this first session is to help people get familiar with it. Anyone\xa0interested can come, learn how to navigate graphically and conceptually our community\xa0database, and ask questions. We hope\xa0to get useful feedback on the tool to help us adjust the views that need improvements.
\n\nGuy Melancon is a professor and researcher at University of Bordeaux and the uni\xa0computer science research lab (LaBRI). A mathematician and expert in network visualizations, with a knack for interdisciplinary collaboration and learning events (Masters of Networks),\xa0Guy is leading the team\xa0building\xa0GraphRyder as a\xa0compelling interface for open care community data.
\n\nI get involved as much as I can in tech and intellectual transfer action towards the industry. I dream every citizen would be able to handle, mine and visualize open data to defend their cause.
\n\nJason Vallet. works with melancon, bpinaud at the\xa0University of Bordeaux to\xa0provide expertise in visualization for the opencare conversations.
\n\nAmelia Hassoun. A digital and medical\xa0anthropologist, and PhD student at Oxford\xa0University,\xa0Amelia has been coding over. I\'m secretly hoping she\'ll\xa0become\xa0Edgeryders in-house ethnographer.\xa0
\n\nFederico Monaco. Teaching at Universita degli Studi di Parma, Federico is currently opencare\'s\xa0ethnographer in residence at WeMake makerspace in Milano.
\n\nThis Wednesday at 18:00 CEST in the google hangout - click here for direct\xa0access (no login required).
\n\nYou don\'t need to prepare ahead of the call, just bring an open mind.
\n\nInterested to attend? Press the blue button "Attend" or leave a comment below so we can do a proper head count, thanks!
\n\nDate: 2017-07-12 19:00:00 - 2017-07-12 19:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 6483, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 11:16:07', u'title': u'Community Call 12/7: Play date with GraphRyder!'}, {u'content': u'Our two-week OpenCare residence at WeMake Milano was a success!
\n\nWe were able to do a review of literature, develop a modulable kit to test different pressure and flow sensors, build a pump to calibrate the sensors, and enhance our website.
\n\nWatch the presentation to get all details!
\n\nThe articles gathered, electronics designs, 3d models, and other elements can be found in our repository and on GitLab. The work is released under a Peer production license.
\n\nIn the next weeks, we are going to finalize the research protocol to test the sensors in canadian hospitals, and write a scientific article to share the key learnings of the residence. We will present these outcomes during the OpenVillage festival in Brussels.
\n\nKeep posted, follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
', u'post_id': 33289, u'user_id': 3400, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-12 17:18:52', u'title': u'Successful maker in residence for Breathing Games!'}, {u'content': u'Dear Edgeryders,\xa0
\n\nI\'d like to share an experience about resilient community practices. Last year I organized a series of meetings in Utrecht, The Netherlands. First they were about Free living and money, later they were about freedom and transforming trauma\'s through awareness as I felt a desire to treat a more direct approach about individual transformation. I call these meetings "Circles of openness".\xa0
\n\nSome of the meetings were extremely fruitful and transformative. Others were okay and sometimes a bit boring. What determined the quality of the meetings was the openess and willingness to share from an honest and authentic place, and to really be curious to share what feels exciting and challenging to someone. During the meetings where the mayority of the participants was willing to listen and feel into what\'s relevant at that time, there was a magical openness and connection among the group. I truly enjoyed these meetings and they were one of the most beautiful shared moments of my life. What I also enjoyed is the power to transform through awareness. By expressing a doubt or a challenge and openly looking at it, it became possible to take distance from the perspective and let go of it. Also the awareness of the group seemed to stimulate and hold space for sharing these vulnerable perspectives.\xa0
\n\nWhat didn\'t work so well was:
\n\nwhen people spoke in general terms and theoretically/ hypothetically without really feeling the question.\xa0
when people didn\'t really want to be there
What did work well was:\xa0
\n\nsharing from your own experience
listening and asking questions to explore the perspective
holding space: being open to the perspective without taking it personally, listening with from an open space
using a talking stick, so one could speak at the time.\xa0
a good host and facilitator who\'s comfortable with (almost) everything and ready to set some guidelines, such as: speaking from the heart, speaking from your personal experience, no interuptions and the talking stick.\xa0
In my experience these circles of openness help build relationships of trust and create a vital space for transformation.\xa0
\n\nLet me know if you want to find out more. I\'m playing with the idea to organize new "Circles of openness" over the next months.\xa0
\n\nThanks for reading!
\n\nWarm regards,\xa0
\n\nEwoud
\n\n@Noemi you might find this interesting!
', u'post_id': 6401, u'user_id': 3643, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-13 14:59:03', u'title': u'Circles of openness'}, {u'content': u'SCimPulse Foundation and Edgeryders welcomes Winnie Poncelet and Gehan Macleod, Community Curator and OpenCare Fellows. Winnie and Gehan will be facilitating a series of themed sessions at the upcoming OpenVillage Festival in Brussels, Belgium, on October 19-21, 2017.\xa0
\n\n
W innie Poncelet - Engineer, Biologist, sustainable change maker, and Co-founder of the first DIYbio lab in Flanders.\xa0 He\u2019s been active in several different fields including engineering,\xa0 game theory, arts, sustainability, biotechnology, and education. Winnie has an unrivaled talent for inciting cooperation, deconstructing and combining diverse perspectives. His knack for capturing the overall picture and its diversity are sure to add a refreshing wave of change.
\n\nHe is coordinating the OpenInsulin research group at Edgeryders. The digital workspace for the Belgian chapter of the Open Insulin project, with the researchers collaborating online.
\n\n\n\nGehan Macleod - disruptive innovator, activist, social entrepreneur and Founder of GalGael Trust. GalGael Trust is an organization providing learning experiences anchored in practical activities for helping people whose lives have been emotionally battered and challenged by unemployment, or economically inactive, depression or addiction.
\n\nThese projects require collaborative efforts from co\u2013working, either in the carpentry workshop or the timber warehouse. The completed projects are sold through social enterprise helping people carve their future. One of the ways this is accomplished is by involving the community in traditional skills, such as boat building and restoration. Rekindling work and meaning in communities where there is little of either.
\n\nOpenVillage, a 3-day event encompassing various themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we care for one another where old models of care systems fail. It\u2019s a participant built event dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a showcase of a new health and social care system powered by open source and community-driven solutions.
\n\n\n\nWhat is going on in your community or in the world to help shape an Open Care environment? What skills do you have to bring community practices into reality?\xa0Learn more about you could get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here.
\n\nInterested in joining Winnie and Gehan as an OpenCare Fellow
\n\nIf you\'re involved with care related initiatives in your community and imagine alternatives for better medical and social care, this could be an opportunity to\xa0impact social change.\xa0\xa0Read more how you can participate\xa0in the OpenCare Fellowship Program\xa0and sharing\xa0community-based services.
\n\n\n\nOpenCare the early conversations
\n\nThrough the many initiatives that are connected with OpenCare, there are as many stories that are untold. Stories that are deserving to be shared and explored to discover how conversation weaved together is the canvas for these projects. How communities, people, family, random strangers add value to creating a solution. In those random conversations are the seeds of change often discovered? You can read them here and have a glimpse of those early collisions of discussions that Irene Lanza was privileged to experience to help move SoundSight forward. Or, the physiotherapist that by sharing his challenges changed the course of reHub.
\n\nInterested in creating change in health care, or you have a story how use you are using open source science to meet care needs? Or, you want to share your experience of giving or receiving care? Join OpenVillage and Propose a Session or Get a Ticket Click here!
\n\nFollow the developments\xa0on Twitter! #opencare #openvillage #scimpulse
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6410, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 15:42:50', u'title': u'Welcome New OpenCare Fellows!'}, {u'content': u'The concept of genomic integrity, basically including all the molecular genetic details of cells,\xa0was developed in about 2009 as a means to encourage public awareness of the many things we can choose to avoid doing, for our health. \xa0 Thus, prevention (to\xa0avoid health care issues) rather than actual care is my key passion. \xa0The non-profit association AGiR! Action for Genomic integrity through Research! was begun about\xa04 years ago to promote this idea. \xa0I am very interested in the open village plans for next fall, and will start with a short post as I am still looking into the best way\xa0to fit in! \xa0For instance, my experience with the AGiR! \'art call\' (http://www.genomicintegrity.org/art-call) could\xa0be interesting to discuss\xa0in Alberto Rey\'s session, as might some\xa0microbial water sampling on Lake Geneva. \xa0We have just started a second round to see if we can replicate last summer\'s data: http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Microto_Macro_Water_Pollution.\xa0
\n\nI\xa0learned about the local biohacker group, Hackuarium, when co-organising a biosensor course in the context of the EU project BRAAVOO, and was very excited by the energy and possibilities. \xa0The big AGiR! project at Hackuarium currently is about developing open source methods to look at your own cells\xa0for DNA damage. \xa0More info can be found here:\xa0http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity \xa0I have been hoping use of Foldscopes will be one solution to allow international networks to collect data, even perhaps using fluorescence. \xa0http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Foldscope \xa0
\n\nWe are also trying to design a \'cheek cell chip\' for both micronucleus and comet data collection.
\n\nMaybe we could do a micronucleus workshop in October? \xa0Encouraging quantitative methodology is one of the\xa0challenges around these topics.
\n\nLooking forward to further discussion.
', u'post_id': 863, u'user_id': 3704, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 06:39:02', u'title': u'Citizen Science: water microbial analyses, personal testing for DNA damage, and art for public understanding'}, {u'content': u'I started this\xa0simple wiki for beginners and experts alike to get oriented in contributing to the Open Insulin project. For beginners it should be\xa0a starting point to learn more about the technology. It should help everyone better navigate the information we have archived on the Google Drive.
\n\nThis wiki contains:
\n\nAnyone who wants to help build this can join in. SImple things\xa0you can do:
\n\nYou are a beginner or a (bio)scientist: everyone is\xa0welcome to join! We can use your brains, energy\xa0and creativity regardless of your prior knowledge.
\n\nAs a beginner or non-bioscientist, you may be interested in learning more about the technology. It is super interesting stuff and it will also help you to contribute to the project at a technological level. Take a look at the technology basics below.
\n\nAs a bioscientist trained in the field, you can jump right in. Take a look below at the research status and introduce yourself on the forum or at one of the live meetings (see introduction post for the latest\xa0info).
\n\nYou can also help us by donating materials or money, and we\'d be forever grateful!\xa0Get in touch to discuss how it\xa0could work.
\n\nCurrent step: awaiting the arrival of the plasmid samples from the team in Oakland.
\n\nNext step: use the plasmids to transform E. coli, in order to replicate the work of Oakland and set a reference point for further optimization.
\n\nUpdates from the Oakland team can be found on their website.
\n\nMOOC on production of medicines, with insulin as a case. Not currently online but @arnepauwels has notes.
\n\nThis MOOC on synthetic biology will require some additional study (eg. looking up terms on Wikipedia)\xa0but guides you through the basics.\xa0
\n\nMIT offers a very extensive range of\xa0biology courses (some of which are written in comic sans). One of them is this solid introduction to biology on edX. Choose recent courses, knowledge is outdated fast as the field changes rapidly.
\n\nCan anyone recommend other specific courses?
\n\nOn the Google Drive, and we\'re working on organizing it! (we\'re limiting access to team members, get in touch if you\'re interested).
\n\nIt is not currently openly available (see the discussion\xa0below).
\n\nNo. The goal (for now) is a production protocol for the insulin molecule.
', u'post_id': 6412, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 19:51:42', u'title': u'Open Insulin: Getting Started'}, {u'content': u'Join in to take the lead on communication for OpenVillage Festival and make yourself eligible for one of the 5 Full Passes we are offering in exchange for knowledge and support.
\n\nInterested? Let us know by telling us about your project/ interests in a story below. Wait to get confirmation from community managers (we have limited memberships for this role). In any case, here\'s what the work involves:
\n\n30 mins task. Curate social media digests - in practice this means you produce 3 headlines every day that will get sent to our list of 70+ people in the opencare community. They all spread the word! Start building the headlines by editing / commenting here.
1 hour task. Run the official opencare social media accounts (cca 5 posts daily). We manage them using buffer.com, in a decentralized manner. Read more and request access here.
2 hour+ task. Produce a twitter press conference to communicate OpenVillage and your participation in it. Start by sharing your thoughts here.
NB: We are flexible with your choice of tasks. If you have a different skillset that you wish to deploy in order to get a membership, post about it in our OpenVillage Coordination group.
', u'post_id': 33222, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-12 10:42:50', u'title': u'Crowdstorm the news (for limited Open Village passes!)'}, {u'content': u'Some weeks ago, after presenting the first run of prototypes to our community, we voted the ideas that have the potential of drastically improve the user experience of the temporary ramp.
\n\nOne of the selected ideas\xa0is a sticker that marks the accessible shops in the neighbourhood. It\u2019s the most low-tech solution we presented, but it tries to solve in a very straightforward way an important issue emerged during our research:
\n\nHow do I understand if a shop is accessible or not?
\n\nThe sticker proposed identifies the shops that are taking part in the open rampette project\xa0and in general all the accessible shops. Here some key aspects of the sticker:
\n\nHelp us pick the right one.
\n\nWe created multiple graphics variation of the sticker and we would like to understand from you which one do you like the most?
\n\nYou can vote your favourite one here
', u'post_id': 33288, u'user_id': 3674, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-11 09:23:14', u'title': u'Open rampette | la chiamata | help us choose the right sticker'}, {u'content': u'Everywhere we feel it; the spreading anxiety, the growing precarity, our social media feeds enclosing around us. The news haunts us, a new crisis is ever arising, our jobs take over our lives.
\n\nAnd we\u2019re so tired, all the time busy and tired.
\n\nIt\u2019s the air we breath and yet no one ever talks about it. So we become depressed, use drugs, spend money on \u201cwellness practices\u201d, individualize ourselves, focus on dead end careers and retirement plans. Or worse, we\u2019re arrested, assassinated, become refugees, become displaced. This is no way to live and we all know it; we all feel it in the deepest parts of our spiritual being.
\n\nHow are we then to live in this world? We must go back to our physical beings. We want to be free from physical want, we want pleasure and connection with those around us, and we want purpose. We want to laugh over good food, to have the time and mental space to enjoy a sunset, to feel good about our children\'s future, to take care of our loved ones and to be taken care of in turn, to relate to the natural world around us. And we must be clear, these desires, in their true, uncommodified and non-exclusionary form, are inherently revolutionary. They cannot be compatible with the dominant capitalist world view that atomizes us, makes us sick in body and mind, and places the luxury of time and wellness out of the reach of the vast majority.
\n\nTo invest in the question is to become revolutionary.
\n\nHelp us build this path together. We want to hear from you. Share what experiences you have undergone.
\n\nAt Woodbine, we have been working to create the material conditions for autonomy and revolution in New York City. Through the OpenVillage festival, we want to connect with you, build networks together, hear your successes, your failures, and everything in between. There are already so many examples, from the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Asimong discussing communal care, Cosain talking about peer based mental health practices, John examining decades of communal living, Calafou\u2019s post-capitalist eco-industrial colony, and The Reef project in Brussels.
\n\nBuilding a life together means we must examine every aspect of our lives. Our urban gardens, our communes, communal dinners, elder-care, child-care practices, mental health practices, the riots, the side hustles for money, manipulations of institutions, shoplifting habits.
\n\nEverything.
\n\nHow do we deal with money? How do we create beauty?
\n\nHow do we struggle through patriarchy and oppression within ourselves?
\n\nHow do we provide care? What structures do we need to create?
\n\nWhat lessons can we learn? What inspires us? What are we scared of? How do we stop being so scared of each other?
\n\nHow can we create optimal conditions for our children and our elderly?
\n\nAs the indigenous around the word have been showing us, we must call out our own \u201cBasta ya!\u201d (\u201cEnough is Enough\u201d) and fight for a \u201cworld in which many worlds can fit\u201d.
', u'post_id': 6478, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-07 14:16:17', u'title': u'Revolutionary Care: Building Health Autonomy- Call for Submissions for OpenVillage Festival'}, {u'content': u'Share your experiences of giving and receiving care \u2013 we are collecting stories of care here! We hope to get to a shared view of what people are doing to cope when official systems fail.
\n\n\n\nWhat is care? Who gives it?
\n\n"The state is the main care provider", say many Europeans. And sure, the welfare state is a major safety net in their societies. "Business is the main care provider", reply many Americans. They have a point too: their insurance companies, hospitals and clinic \u2013 most of these are businesses.
\n\nAnd yet, that\'s not the whole story. Care models are failing: per capita health care expenditure grows faster than GDP. We need to spend an ever-greater part of our resources just to stay well. Under pressure to get care, the edges of society (the young, the nomads and migrants, the precariat) respond by getting creative. There are many ongoing experiments, large and very small.
\n\nAlong this journey, they (and we all) face deep questions about what care really is. Is it services? Is it human attention and warmth? Is it trying to fix what\'s wrong with people in need of care? Is it accepting everybody for what they are, with their strengths and weaknesses?
\n\nOn October 19-21 at #openvillage, we bring these experiences and initiatives together into a demo of a new health and social care system.
\n\nDo you have a story of care? Please, share it with us.
\n\nIf you do not have anything to share, but are interested, please help others reflect on their own journeys by commenting on the experiences shared by others.
\n\nGood for you: When you post a story you get a ticket to the MEET THE OPENCARERS track of OpenVillage Festival 2017. You also become eligible for an OpenCare Fellowship.
\n\nHow to participate: Click on the "Add my story" button below and write a little about yourself and your own experiences around giving and receiving care. Just let it flow freely, don\u2019t worry about getting it \u201cright\u201d in any way - this is a no judgment space. Alternatively, choose a story from the ones below and leave a thoughtful comment.
\n\nNeed help getting started? Some questions others have been answering as a starting point for their reflections.
\n\nHow are you using DIY and open source solutions to improve care? Can we bring projects to learn from each other, demonstrate how they work, what is possible in the field? Can we identify all stakeholders involved in Open Source and DIY solutions to health- and social care, with their capacities and obstacles?
\n\n\n\nMarie is inviting hackers to break her heart. She is on a mission to ensure that life-critical devices, like her own pacemaker, are technically safe. Her work draws our attention to the Importance of building a social contract for the software that runs in our bodies.
\n\nLike the son of John behind the Diabetes Pump, Anthony has Diabetes type 1. He is working to make insulin more affordable through networked collaboration. His project OpenInsulin is on its way to decentralising the science, engineering and production of a vital medical treatment.
\n\nOlivier went from industrial company to work being passionate about the humanitarian field. His team is using open hardware to build empowering technology: echOpen, the affordable \'smartphone\' for ultrasound scanning (echo-stethoscopes).
\n\nYou have a motor impairment and want to make or customise your own assistive devices. Because you can not afford commercial alternatives, or they may just do not work well for you. Rune and Alexander are dreaming up WeHandU at makerspace medical researchers can practically cater to patients by enlisting tech communities for faster prototyping.
\n\nEverywhere we look we are seeing a lot of radical experimentation. Which raises some questions ...
\n\nAs part of our preparations for the Openvillage Festival we are working with under-the-radar projects. By October 19-21 we aim to:
\n\nGOOD FOR YOU: When you post you will get a ticket to Openvillage: Meet the OpenCarers.
', u'post_id': 111, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:16', u'title': u'About the DIY & Open Source Solutions category'}, {u'content': u'Let\'s figure out together how to run relief services and improve coordination at donors-grassroots-policy levels.
\n\n\n\n"What if a sudden disaster left millions of Greeks or other Europeans homeless and helpless?" Is what Aravella was thinking as she started to assemble Backpacks for refugees . All the way from the Kos Island to Thessaloniki and to the Idomeni border, Hundreds of enterprising Greeks spawn a whole network of "shadow" clinics .
\n\nYBE, another community member and psychoterapist, went on to Trauma Tour from Belgium To provide mental health assistance to anyone in need.
\n\nMeanwhile, young programmers or design students in Berlin are offering free programming courses at RefugeesWork , or developing a Newcomer app, or build furniture to foster new skills and creativity.
\n\nIn our conversations over the past year, several inconsistencies and roadblocks came up Which make it more difficult to continue the work:
\n\nAs part of our preparations for the Openvillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem. By October 19-21 we aim to:
\n\nOpen a new document and write down what you are doing or have learned. Do not worry about getting it "right" in any way - this is a no judgment space. When ready, upload your contribution through the "add new topic".
\n\nGood for you: When you post you will get a ticket to Openvillage: Meet the OpenCarers .
\n\nGood for everyone: Your input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report Which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century.
', u'post_id': 110, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:16', u'title': u'About the Caring for Newcomers category'}, {u'content': u'Many individuals and groups are figuring out how to grow emotional, psychosocial and mental health support. They are difficult topics, especially since some of us are coping with one or more of the issues, and have ourselves been at odds with systemic care. This conversation is meant to develop how we think about the responses needed, what daring community projects are looking into this and where we can join efforts.
\n\n\n\nSome critical points topping our conversations over the last months:
\n\nAs part of our preparations for the OpenVillage Festival we aim to shine light, learn from and support under-the-radar, community based projects around mental health and wellbeing. By October 19-21 we aim to:
\n\nOpen a new document and write down what you are doing or have learned as a result of asking around. Just let it flow freely, don\u2019t worry about getting it \u201cright\u201d in any way - this is a no judgement space. When you feel \u201cdone\u201d, login to edgeryders.eu and upload your contribution through the \u201cadd my story\u201d button below
\n\nGood for you: When you post you will get a ticket to OpenVillage: Meet the OpenCarers.
\n\nGood for everyone: Your input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century.
', u'post_id': 109, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:16', u'title': u'About the Boosting Mental Health category'}, {u'content': u'We design a wide spectrum of care-related items, using good design processes.
\n\nOrganized by Nadia (nadia@edgeryders.eu) and students of UDK.
', u'post_id': 105, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:16', u'title': u'About the Product Design category'}, {u'content': u'What is the new role that the Public Administration is called to have on care? What does \u201copen\u201d mean in policy making?
\n\n\n\nChallenge launched by the Municipality of Milan, partner of Opencare.
\n\nMilan\'s Smart City Office intends to nurture not only the digital and technological component of our city, but also to promote economic development, social inclusion, innovation and training, research and participation as key elements of a \u201csmart\u201d city.
\n\nMoreover we see a non coordination among different resources: Municipality, Government, Local Public Health Agencies, INPS (National Insurance Contributions).
\n\nIt\u2019s been long time that is clear that the Welfare System answers less and less, and in non suitable way to the new Citizens\u2019 demands for Care, because of a strong decrease of resources but also because the traditional services are organized on standardized services that cannot fit in properly the new needs of citizens.
\n\nOn the other hand we are seeing both in Milan and, at a broader level, thanks to Edgeryders community, the development of many experiences of care that arise from the community, involving new actors and new approaches.
\n\nFor example in the project OpenCare the City is facing the makers addressing the issue of care with a different and original approach, proposing a direct engagement of citizens, persons in need in order to design and prototype solutions to some specific Care problems. (see the first prototype, INPE\u2019)
\n\nIn this new context, the public administration becomes increasingly only ONE of the actors and not the only actor providing care services.
\n\nBut what is the new role that the PA is called to have? We would like to understand better how to support the common good in the new networks of Care, how to share responsibilities in this new scenario.
\n\nIn particular we would like to start a fertile dialogue around the definition of a policy-making process that is open to the contributions of relevant local actors:
\n\nOpening a dialogue on this issue is certainly important for us, the City of Milan, but it can also encourage your local government to reflect on its policies and share experiences and knowledge!
', u'post_id': 90, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:15', u'title': u'About the Policies of Care category'}, {u'content': u'Here is where you can apply to opencare\'s Maker In Residence programme.
\n\nIt is a funded programme to enable creators to boost their project, prototype or concept idea by working on site at WeMake in Milan. For details please check the Call For Makers.
\n\nThe application process will require 15 to 20 minutes. Before you start be sure you can provide personal data of all the applicants and can provide in-depth description and media about your concept / project.
\n\nStep 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account
\n\nStep 2 - go to Add my story button at the bottom of this page and write about your project:
\n\nStep 3 - follow this link and fill the form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22
', u'post_id': 86, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:15', u'title': u'About the Maker In Residence at WeMake category'}, {u'content': u'This is the digital workspace for coordination and discussion on the Belgian chapter of the Open Insulin project. The global project is being executed in local biohacking labs across the globe, with the researchers collaborating online.
\n\nDo you want to get involved and contribute to the project? Read these simple steps on how to!
\n\nPhysical meetups happen every two weeks on Wednesdays at 8pm CET in the ReaGent lab in Ghent. Everyone is welcome to join.
\n\nNext physical meetup: August 2nd, 7pm at Campus Schoonmeersen, building C
\n\nCalls with the international team happen every two weeks on Mondays at 9am CET. Pop Winnie an email to join: winnie [at] breakitdown [dot] eu. Next international call: July 31st, 9am on Zoom
\n\nAccess to affordable insulin is not a given. Many people in poorer communities or developing countries have no way of getting appropriate treatment for diabetes. This leads to serious ilnesses such as blindness, amputations, cardiovascular disease and ultimately coma or death.
\n\nThere is no generic insulin on the market and prices are kept high by patent strategies of the few companies that control the market. We\'re trying to change this by open sourcing the knowledge required to produce insulin.
\n\nAs an obvious result this would allow production of cheaper insulin by generic suppliers. It might also enable home brewing of insulin or local microfactories in remote areas. Moreover, it can serve as a fertile soil for more open innovation and citizen science in research.
\n\nStill, the scope of this project is narrowly defined: develop and validate a production method for insulin. Patient testing and further engineering are not on the table before this important milestone.
\n\nThe original Open Insulin team from Counter Culture Labs started out by attempting to modify E. Coli bacteria to produce the precursors of human insulin, which has proven successful. Next steps are purification and turning it into human insulin.
\n\nThe actual lab work is done locally and the open conversation takes place online. This is the workspace for the Ghent group and we invite everyone to participate as we get the lab work underway.
\n\nWant to take part? Drop by at one of the open lab spaces in Oakland (US), Sydney (AUS) or Ghent (BE) or ping a team member to join the fortnightly conference call on Sunday/Monday.
\n\nTo join this online workspace you can create an edgeryders account here. Edgeryders is a global network working to affect change in local and global environments. We use this open internet platform (self-hosted) to collaborate on different projects.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 85, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 18:33:15', u'title': u'About the Open Insulin category'}, {u'content': u'Hello, here is an update about the other research track of the open rampette project: the procedure.
\n\nYou should be familiar with Dioniso and Minerva by now (Dioniso representing the desires and issues of people with reduced mobility willing to enter a shop and Minerva representing all the shop owners that want to welcome everyone in their shops).
\n\nDioniso might wonder what is actually Minerva doing to make her space accessible to everyone while designers @ WeMake are working hard on tech solutions to smoothen the calling process out.
\n\nUnfortunately Minerva cannot just buy a ramp and a doorbell, she needs to follow a bureaucratic procedure to let the Municipality of Milan check:
\n\nThe procedure is not exactly straightforward, so we set up a public meeting where we asked shop owners of the Isola neighborhood in Milan (our Minervas) to try completing the procedure under our own eyes, as you can see from the follow-up post at this link.
\n\n
We received good insights that led us to the preparation of user interviews to be ran with shop owners at their shops.
\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to understand when it\u2019s necessary to turn to a professional\u2026\u201d
\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get the info about the size of the ramp, length, width and inclination. How do I calculate that? How do I know my calculation is correct?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWe checked their own specific situations and asked questions like:
\n\nPlanning and running interviews was a lot of work but it also was extremely helpful from a design perspective. It helped us understanding a lot of nuances about the shop owners\u2019 issues when reading and trying to fill the procedure and their needs, desires and commitment in solving the accessibility problem of their shops.
\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d love to let anyone come into our shop\u201d
\n\n\u201cFirst off we will try to solve this issue on our own, and build the ramp ourselves. Only if necessary we will eventually contact a professional to do the work for us\u201d
\n\n\u201cI think it would be great to have the possibility to fill the procedure online, maybe on the website of the Municipality of Milan, with a tool that does the calculation while you enter your data\u201d
\n\nBelow you can see a radar chart showing the topics we covered during the interviews, any of the shapes is a representation of the profile of a shop owner we interviewed. By stacking the shapes you can see topics (issues, needs) that are more relevant (the highest relevant towards the outside of the radar).
\n\n\n\nBelow you can see another chart that re-thinks the Minerva profile we initially invented, adding the real issues and needs of the shop owners we interviewed. Finally we have a real life Minerva profile that we can design a better procedure for!
\n\n\n\nWhy was this helpful? Because it\u2019s only with this knowledge that we can proceed in designing a tool to make the process for regulation procedure easier.
\n\nAt the moment we\u2019re using all this insights to create a prototype that we will show and test publicly in Milan on Wednesday, the 12th of July.
\n\nPlease come at the meeting to share with us your questions and feelings, they will be extremely helpful and needed to design a solution that better fits you.
', u'post_id': 882, u'user_id': 3143, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-10 09:59:11', u'title': u'Open rampette - THE PROCEDURE - User research'}, {u'content': u'Notes from our community call 5th July. Present: Gehan, Winnie, Frank, Costantino, Fabio, Bernard, Jason, Noemi, Owen, John Coate
\n\nConstantino, WeMake in Milano - in opencare are working with the City to organise design workshops and now they are running Makers in Residency program to prototype care products
\n\nBreathing Games team - 4 people; working on tech to control lung capacity and games for respiratory diseases; residents at WeMake and running one of the more advanced proj in the residency program
\n\nBernard: engineer, working as technician; doing calibration of sensors
\n\nFabio: in the beginning they were only working on the pressure sensor, then figured they also need to measure the flow, the incoming pressure; worked in Geneva
\n\nTeam\u2019s experience: distributed teams; managing collaborations online - offline to advance fast development and engage more people - http://breathinggames.net/?q=en
\n\nJason, University of Bordeaux - works with Guy, Bruno, Luce; they provide expertise in visualization for the opencare conversations. Platform that allows you to look at all the information on Edgeryders.
\n\nFrank @Woodbinehealth - what does a revolutionary life look like, create a life at the end of living. Dealing with the materiality of what we\u2019re living with. Communication. We created a health autonomy track. How do you combine wellness approaches with our need for institutions? Guide through institutions - social capital.
\n\nLiving together: Community as a mental health treatment - building community as a response to a need, esp in the US where there is overarching anxiety around precarity. To contradict that with the corporate welness model - self care.
\n\nWinnie - citizen science theme. For the Festival - looking at different aspects, distill common learning on things such as - how to do it better, sharing of knowledge, funding etc.
\n\nOwen - social media, pushing out stories, creating imagery and banners
\n\nJohn - US Independence Day\u2026. US is in an identity crisis, very conflicting visions, how and what we should get paid for, v hard not to pay attention to the national dialogue thats going on right now. When I first thought about the math models about how many people there were in the world and how much resources there were - I remember thinking wow, I wonder what that\u2019s going to be like! Well here we are. That\u2019s why I\u2019m in this community.
\n\nJason took us on a quick tour.. here is the live dashboard.
\n\n\n\nInterested? Leave a comment below or participate here: https://edgeryders.eu/en/openvillage-coordination/open-village-session-sustainability-funding
\n\nFrank - some people at Woodbine have been studying things like cryptocurrency etc and can feed in ideas about possible contributors.
\n\nJohn - we all have this kind of experience, been to a lot of events and seen a lot of panels. People want to get funded and people with the expertise to help them to do that. If we do bring in \u2018experts\u2019 they would be people who are very good at conversing with people about their specific situation - almost brainstorming. Suppose it\u2019s like last year - varying levels of expertise. What is the main thing people want to come away with?
\n\nOpenCare itself is a really complicated funding model.
\n\nGehan: Funding is one strategy - but starting from the need question is crucial: what do we need to be able to sustain ourselves and our work? That opens up more radical strategies for exploration.
\n\nCostantino: For fablabs, 3 funding channels:
\n\nMixed revenue stream is important strategy for financial sustainability.
\n\nBreathing Games: Interest in the open money.
\n\nOptimisation of resources - where are they and who can access them. We have 2 major problems: 1 is the copyright which creates competition between people and doesn\u2019t allow us to innovate; 2 is the economic system which allows appropriation of the resources by the few.
\n\nIt seems the current monetary system doesn\u2019t provide resources for citizen science. Use local money. When you want to use the machine. Working for a not-for-profit association. Using many skills and volunteer time. We have a game where you can try transaction - based on gift, mutual credit and so on. You can see how much you can create in each system. Copyright & economic system - which values competition and appropriation of resources for a few. See Open Source Everything manifesto from last year.
', u'post_id': 6474, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-06 11:45:49', u'title': u'Next up in #openvillage: which aspect of funding projects do you want to learn about?'}, {u'content': u'The OpenVillage Festival: 19-20-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nWe are making the good life happen for us in the post-industrial economy.
\n\nMeet the people who are doing it already. Learn how to do it. Build it together.
\n\nA UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
\n\nWe will have several roles: session leaders, curators, support team. But not spectators.
We will have diverse kinds of activities: Project Talks and Panels to get on the same page, Fishbowls/ Workshops/ Masterclasses to dive deep, Co-design Sprints and work-together sessions to transform knowledge into outcomes. Not least, self-organised evening sessions will fill up the schedule.
The event is designed to: encourage maximum manageable diversity of participants in a process engineered to ensure respectful and constructive interaction between everyone involved.
\n\nTHEMES
\n\nHow do we take care of one another as welfare models and systems are failing us? The program is curated to cover community questions and areas of inquiry which have emerged over the last 18 months of conversations, workshops, project collaborations. Each theme approaches care provision from a different angle and includes several sessions in-the-making.
\n\nOpen Science and Citizen Science for more inclusive healthcare
How are people all over the world using open knowledge, open source hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? What are we learning about citizens helping advance groundbreaking research?
Curated by Winnie Poncelet (Reagent, Ekoli, Open Insulin global). A mix of engineer, biologist, entrepreneur and storyteller. Works to render science and technology more accessible to diverse groups, including the traditionally marginalized.
\n\nArchitectures of Love: Creating the conditions for open care
\n\nWe\u2019re collecting deep insights from citizen-led care to illuminate the enabling factors that encourage our natural impulses as human beings to care for one another. How might these insights reshape how we understand the role of policy so it enables rather than displaces peer-to-peer care.
\n\nCurated by Gehan Macleod (GalGael Trust). A community organiser who co-founded GalGael - a social solidarity organisation whose collective works together on the demanding common tasks that demonstrate ways of living with more humanity in our times. Gehan lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
\n\nHealth Autonomy: Living and working well together
Learning from the people and projects who experiment with new tools and practices embedded in communal living and working. How do we build autonomy, sustainability in the backdrop of failing health systems, political and socioeconomic crises?
Curated by Francis Coughlin (Woodbine.nyc). A medical doctor, resident in a public hospital in NYC and a member at Woodbine, Frank is dedicated to build infrastructure for generative communal health care.
\n\nPROGRAM
\n\nThe most up to date program is announced here.
\n\nAlso: A Note from the Curators.
\n\nWant to lead a session or host an event? Submit your proposal here! Registering a session starts with posting online reflections about your work and where you see the role of communities in advancing it. Once your proposal is posted other community members will leave thoughtful comments to help refine your proposal. When The Program team will contact you with a proposal for allocated time within two weeks from the time of posting.
\n\nTICKETS
\n\nTo get your ticket create an edgeryders account, then write to community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\n#OpenVillage Festival
\n\nFollow us: Facebook Twitter Newsletter
\n\nGeneral inquiries: contact@edgeryders.eu
\n\nContributions & Partnerships: company@edgeryders.eu
\n\nWe are a global community working together to make health and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.
\n\n
OpenCare is a research project executed by a global consortium of partners. It starts from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
Upcoming: the OpenVillage Festival.
\n\nHello,\xa0
\n\nI updated the OpenVillage Fest\xa0program page. So far we have two community curators handling two key themes which emerged out of opencare conversations throuhgout last year:
\n\nArchitectures of Love: Creating the conditions for open care\xa0led by @Gehan
Open Science and Citizen Science for more inclusive healthcare\xa0led by @WinniePoncelet
Next up:
\n\nWe need a good outline for the theme + fitting sessions. I tentatively assign this task to Woodbine because it seems this is up their street. More than a space where for co-habitation or learning together, they are involved in running a place where activities are directed at providing care - preventative, through peer learning and building capacity which system healthcare lacks.
\n\nThe sessions, demos and panels can be built from the following key stories (.. and more out there, not yet on edgeryders!):
\n\nHow to curate a theme?
\n\nProcess and instructions for curators are here.
\n\nTaking on this task gets you a Full Pass to the festival and potentially a Fellowship. Guys, let me know what you think? The rest of us, can we spread the word?\xa0
', u'post_id': 6409, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 14:58:04', u'title': u'Write description and line up sessions for new Festival theme: Living and Working Well Together'}, {u'content': u'\n\nIn April 2017 I was selected as an OpenCare Community Fellow by SCimPULSE Foundation and Edgeryders. The goal: curate a theme on citizen and open science at the OpenVillage Festival on October 19-21. This series of blogs is an ongoing report.
\n\nJune has been an instructive and productive month. The OpenVillage program is becoming concrete, my own learning is accelerating and the projects I\u2019m involved in are going through a transition phase.
\n\nThe OpenVillage program I had in mind when starting my curation task has completely changed and keeps doing so. Well, yes and no. The people and projects come and go, however the questions remain the same. We really are all in the same boat when it comes to the obstacles we face.
\n\nOlivier from echOpen\xa0summed up their issues in a conversation we had. They nicely cover most obstacles:
\n\nThese have been the issues of many open.citizen science projects, including ones I am involved in. Even beyond citizen.open science this is true. On June 28th we had a community call to discuss common threads across the themes at the festival. Focus points will be funding and funding policies and coordination overhead.
\n\nThere is however another issue that many of us don\u2019t think of immediately. It takes a more long term perspective: funding policy. The DIY Science Network seeks to address this, as separate projects most often don\u2019t have the time, network or expertise to invest. Through conversations with Lucy Patterson, two questions emerged:
\n\nThe DIY Science Network will work on these questions over the summer, at the OpenVillage Festival and hopefully long after that.
\n\nThese are just some of the sessions that have taken shape in the last weeks. At the moment, the sessions in the theme look like this.
\n\nMeanwhile, my learning path is gratifying. I\u2019m getting a better feel of the field by talking to a diverse set of people, getting out there at different events and synthesizing what I see and hear in posts like this. For my curation work, it has been important: I ask better questions. While buried in the daily tasks of keeping a project afloat, this would have been impossible.
\n\nAnother rich learning aspect is my involvement in the Open Insulin project. I experience the dynamics, obstacles and opportunities in a complex citizen science project firsthand, much more explicit than in any project I have done before. The lessons have not fully formed yet, but my initial assumptions have certainly been challenged. I hope to clear this out in the next months and report on it.
\n\nAnthony pointed out one of the aspects in a preparation call for his session at OpenVillage. No one in the team has the time to put into organising or documenting information. So with people dropping in and out (especially experts), knowledge gets lost easily. Counter Culture Labs has made efforts in finding a solution, such as involving an organisational expert, yet without lasting effects.
\n\nWith global collaboration on Open Insulin taking off, this becomes a necessary improvement. Luckily for CCL, it does not cause much trouble within their team. It is a relatively minor obstacle they have at the moment.
\n\nThe projects I am involved in (ReaGent, Ekoli & Break it Down) are going through transition phases. This requires us to take a step back and deconstruct what we\u2019re doing. It comes at a good time when I\u2019m doing such in depth work with other, often similar projects for OpenVillage.
\n\nWe break down many of the processes that we have, eg. logistics for running the lab space as a community, with the purpose of building new ones. This process unearths dynamics that would otherwise be harder to spot for the community, such as the difference between being an open lab and being a shared lab. And then what that means for being an open, shared lab.
\n\nMid June we had a workshop with the ReaGent team to look closer at our strategy and implementation for the shared lab space. It was fruitful and is the first of several sessions this summer across our organisations to get everyone aligned. In our next location, the financial pressure from the rent will be higher. We need to prepare. Set up our business models and synergies between all organisations. Design the next iteration for resilience.
\n\nIn July I\u2019m attending a Biohackathon in Waag in Amsterdam, where I\u2019ll meet many protagonists in citizen.open science & DIYbio. Over the next weeks, we\u2019re also moving into logistic planning for the sessions at the festival and picking up communication efforts.
\n\nThis blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation.
', u'post_id': 6459, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-30 15:45:52', u'title': u'Curating and learning by doing'}, {u'content': u'Hi all,
\n\nsome info for the meeting tomorrow.\xa0@ritavht has received the plasmid samples (they\'re in her freezer!) + we got the vector maps and @flinty did work on the protocols. We\'ll make an experiment planning to set the lab work in motion.
\n\nHope to see you there!
', u'post_id': 6467, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-04 16:22:08', u'title': u'Open Insulin meeting July 5th'}, {u'content': u'\n\nIn an interview with Open Democracy, Birgitta J\xf3nsd\xf3ttir of Iceland\u2019s Pirate Party mentions starting \u201c...to talk about [things] at times when it still seems weird.\u201d There is something about weird conversations that tell you that you\u2019re in new territory.
\n\nThe first four weeks of my time as an OpenCare Community Fellow has been made up of those kinds of conversations both off and online. Given that this involves curating a theme in response to a challenge as huge as welfare system failure across Europe perhaps this was to be expected. It\u2019s a complex issue that demands new insights, new perspectives and where better to draw these from than the web of connections between grassroots engaged activity that is often taking place persistently and having to learn and adapt unendingly - just to sustain itself.
\n\nMy early encounters with the Edgreryders platform, I\u2019ll be honest, have been confusing. That said there is something in this that reflects the incredible diversity of the members and their contributions. Engaging with this complexity requires a new set of skills and senses. Absorb, stumble, unravel, gather. It is at times frustrating - it\u2019s at odds with standard linear project trajectories and ways of working. So perhaps I\u2019m simply experiencing the necessary pain we all encounter as we grow the inner muscles and capacities to cope with the complexity at the edge of wicked problems. It also feels necessarily a slow process of absorption before I can begin to synthesise and produce.
\n\nIt\u2019s unsettling and creates some vulnerability. But in being open to the confusion and discomfort - I\xa0sense I\u2019m creating space for something new. This is my learning. I\u2019m open to being challenged by as well as offering challenges to all I\u2019m encountering - I guess this is a process of\xa0peer validation.\xa0
\n\n\n\nConversations over the first month have helped to refine the theme from how I\u2019d originally outlined it. This now focuses in more on insights from citizen-led responses to illuminate the enabling factors\xa0that support our natural impulses as human beings to take care of ourselves and one another. These insights will shape how we understand the kind of conditions that grow and sustain grassroots\xa0care initiatives. They will help to define the \u2018microclimates\u2019 that animate or inhibit this kind of self organised activity. My intention is that this will start to inform how we understand the role of policy in the\xa0more disbursed ecology of care called for in response to\xa0growing health needs.
\n\nEnabling factors
\n\nConversations started to pinpoint some of these\xa0enabling factors:
\n\nSimon (@asimong) suggested a useful categorisation for enabling factors\xa0that I\u2019ve amended slightly using\xa0insights from others:
\n\nComing across @Alex_Levene\'s\xa0immense proposal Helping Refugees - the first category connects to one of the discussion points he outlines \u201cPractices for developing cohesion and integration.\u201d It strikes me that the notion of practices seems more useful than\xa0\u2018good practice\u2019, which appears\xa0prescriptive by comparison. Perhaps the idea that practices\xa0create the conditions for collective action, while good practice is an instrument of policy would be worth further discussion.
\n\nSimon makes another interesting point - that these kind of skills are \u201cnot learned, [rather] picked up from living in a culture where they are norms, through a process you could call \u2018enculturation\u2019.\u201d\xa0
\n\nThe fourth category\xa0connects with what Dougie Strang of Dark Mountain referred to during our chat as \u2018deep encounters\u2019 and this is something that I\'m keen to\xa0explore further. How do we facilitate these kind of experiences?\xa0Might this be one mode of Simon\'s \'enculturation\'?\xa0\xa0(This might be worth a separate blog post...)
\n\nRoles & responsibilities
\n\nAll interesting insights on which to build. Another\xa0area that is opening up through these conversations starts to re-evaluate\xa0the relationship between citizens and the State. State care responses are dependent on and delivered by institutions designed and built in a different era and on a different world view. Consideration of citizen-led care responses will take us into a process of renegotiating the roles and responsibilities of the citizen and the state.\xa0
\n\nA number of threads of\xa0conversation\xa0touched on this issue of responsibility. @Alberto\xa0referenced the Amish refusal of health insurance on the grounds that it \u2018de-responsibilises\u2019 people. Conversation with Wendy Ball explored her recent intervention in a street fight and how \u2018externalising responsibility\u2019 for care creates dependency on state responses -\xa0turning us into passive subjects. This lack of agency can become crippling and is a symptom of how \'de-responsibilised\' we\'ve become.
\n\nEarly considerations on role of policy
\n\nWhere policy sits in relation to this also came up in conversation. Simon commented that \u201cmisguided policy can be worse than no policy\u201d\xa0and we agreed that this wasn\u2019t to dismiss the efforts of policymakers altogether. Policy is by its nature \u2018top-down\u2019 and in conversation with @Luke_Devlin we couldn\u2019t not notice the etymological connection between the words Policy/Police/Politic - polites is citizen, polis is city or state (as well as Glasweigan for police!). But the word policy itself means \u201cway of management\u201d and the discussion is perhaps - what ways of managing the health and social care of citizens are most appropriate given what we now know about how the world works has shifted considerably since the times of ancient Greece or 14th C France. The current mechanics of government need reform if they are to cope with the scale and complexity of current challenges.
\n\nOver the coming months and through the Open Village program, more of these conversations and questions will refine an understanding of the enabling factors for OpenCare - drawing largely on the multitude of posts by the Edgeryders community that detail\xa0real life experience and precious lessons learned about what works and what doesn\'t work.\xa0In the process clues will be gathered that start to\xa0deconstruct policy and re-imagine new tools that are more generative in relation to the health and wellbeing of citizens. And beyond this perhaps how we reconfigure the role of the State to re-calibrate responsibility and the role of citizens in ways that create greater agency as a foundation to health.
', u'post_id': 6462, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-01 18:12:01', u'title': u'Fellowship Post #1 - weird conversations and early insights'}, {u'content': u'Hello we are Monica and Nicoletta Allergo K\xec team project.
\n\nTogether with Alessandro and Costantino, from the WeMake - OpenCare MIR team, we explored the main steps of the Agile Planning, which made us able to focus more on our project. We had already heard about the Agile methodology and on this occasion we tested it.
\n\n01_Why are we here
\n\nAfter a brief brainstorming we realized that we are here to WeMake for these 3 reasons:
\n\n# 1_ We want people with food allergies to eat out without problems.
\n\n# 2_ Exchange and share ideas on the topic of food allergies.
\n\n# 3_ Realize our idea
\n\n\n\n02_The elevator pitch
\n\nFor people who are diagnosed with an allergy or intolerance in adulthood.
\n\nWho These people experience trauma because they have to change their eating habits. In addition to physical illness, food allergy also causes psychological problems causing significant trauma and further pathologies such as neurosis and depression.
\n\nThe AllergoKi is an integrated communication project to help people with food allergies to eat out without problems. Not as it is today in restaurants.
\n\nOur project, providing visual media, wants to create a channel for effective communication between restaurateurs and people with food allergies.
\n\n\n\n03_The Not list
\n\nDuring the meeting we decided not to develop: the search engine and mobile app.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n04_Meet you neighbours
\n\nWe wrote down a list of the \u201cactors\u201d:
\n\nPeople with food allergies Associations (parents, sick person, trainers )
Restaurateurs (waiters, providers) friend and collegues
05_ What keeps us up at night:
\n\n# 1 Block Project: impossibility to continue planning
\n\n# 2 Find the "right" communication channel among the main actors
\n\n# 3 Restaurateurs not interested in the project
\n\n\n\n06_Size it up (time planning)
\n\n', u'post_id': 878, u'user_id': 3597, u'timestamp': u'2017-07-04 17:35:22', u'title': u'Allergo K\xec | Agile kick off at WeMake'}, {u'content': u"\u2018What people experiencing mental health difficulties need most is to be shown compassion, empathy, a voice, to be listened to, to be believed in, somewhere to go where they will be given hope of a more meaningful life.\u2019
\n\nCos\xe1in Community Wellness is a recent\xa0initiative to develop a peer-led community-based support system for people with emotional distress and mental health issues, and to promote wellness for all. Cos\xe1in is the Irish word for \u2018pathways', reflecting our belief in different paths not single roads, and the guidance, wisdom and support that we can find in the stories of each others individual journeys. All quotes within this article are from research performed by Galway Mental Health Services Consumer Panel, the local representative body of mental health service users for the geographic region.
\n\nGMHSCP advocates for supports and services which are fit for purpose from the perspective of service users, and the integration of users of services into the design, \xa0development and delivery of services, working in partnership with the Irish Health Services (HSE) based on the value of our lived experience of current systems of care, and the evidence of our own healing processes.
\n\n\u2018The most effective help I have experienced over the years, having had years of medication, psychotherapy, hospitalisation, is the support of peers, where I am treated as normal, with kindness, not judged, and not expected to conform to the medical model of treatment.\u2019
\n\nWhere progress was slow or absent within the system, we took\xa0it upon ourselves to prototype and demonstrate how necessary supports could be delivered in partnership and collaboration between health providers, community groups, and local authorities based on a cooperative ethos of mutual support. We believe our approach will be of value and benefit because
\n\n\u2018it's a community based project concerned with 'well-being' which is preparing fertile ground for the empowerment and transformation of people, individually and as a group. It's organic growth reflects the personalities and desires of the people involved, making it of and for the people.\u2019
\n\nOur belief is that properly resourced and equipped communities can provide more effective intervention in cases of crisis,\xa0care in a more person-centred and human manner, and both at a lower cost than the dominant acute-oriented, clinical and biomedical approaches. We believe that only approaches that are grounded in local communities and emerge from their dreams and aspirations\xa0can meet the needs which we are presented with in the time that we have.
\n\n\u2018My experience of large organisations is that the individual gets lost in the system and become just another number\u2026 I\u2019m sick and tired of waiting for the HSE to offer people the support they want\u2019
\n\nWe also believe that the act of mutual support is amongst the most therapeutic of acts, transforming relationships from ones of being a recipient and subject of care, to a space of\xa0autonomy, collective development, peer provision and mutual reliance that involves people in generating their own solutions.
\n\n\u2018Being with people who are doing whatever we can to have our lives the way we want them, seeing the evidence that people can succeed, that we can make a difference \u2013 all this has a positive effect on my own mental health, self-esteem and my ability to shape my life the way I want it.\u2019
\n\nWe developed our initiative over the course of the Galway 2020 Bid process, using \xa0participatory design exercises that brought together a range of groups and individuals including\xa0independent therapists,\xa0health professionals, service users and patients,\xa0and other interested parties who are seeking to develop new models of community-based health promotion and care.\xa0We then used the blank canvas of a disused city building, visioning and combining elements of artspace, green makerspace, and wellness supports that were brought together using the concept of an\xa0integrated cultural and community hub. During this time we came into contact with EdgeRyders and the Opencare research project, and welcomed the opportunity to form productive partnerships at European level with groups and initiatives with similar ethos.
\n\nOur current operating model exists with the support of Galway City Museum, who have provided us with the use of a room one day a week for prototyping and co-design. This is taking place as part of the Galway City Cultural Strategy, which seeks to use \xa0cultural resources and infrastructure for wellness supports and public health.\xa0These sessions were an extension of the earlier co-design process, deployed in a real-life environment for feedback from stakeholders and re-design. Our sessions to date have included artistic and creative process, peer support and educational sessions, based on the demand from service users.\xa0
\n\nCurrently delivered on a volunteer basis for proof of concept, our intent is to progress towards a cultural space and \u2018crisis cafe\u2019 on a social enterprise model, with a welcoming cafe-type front-of-house drop-in space that can be used as an open studio and learning space, with a supportive backstage of more intensive interventions, therapies and supports for those people in emotional distress. Our model is grounded in the value and authenticity of provision of supports and services that are delivered by people with the direct personal experience of the situations in question, and the expressed need based on our research for appropriate creative outlets that support emotional wellbeing and generate meaning and community for the participants.
\n\n\u2018in Irish culture mental health tends to be seen as a failing by an individual, of an individual, in an individual. This attitude views the natural processes of emotional distress and recovery through a lens of pathology, individualised blame, guilt and shame.\xa0In contrast, rather than attempt to seek what Zygmunt Bauman called \u2018individual solutions to collective problems\u2019, an impossible task, we felt the need for the sake of our collective sanity, to use an approach based on collective support and interdependence.
\n\nOur story is just beginning.
", u'post_id': 757, u'user_id': 3067, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 15:54:04', u'title': u'Cosain Community Wellness'}, {u'content': u'Makers in residence are supposed to deliver and publish on the web the output of their experience at WeMake.
\n\nFinding the right way to record and develop a innovative and open experience seemed therefore a matter of concern in designing the opencare MIR program.
\n\nDuring the last weeks GitHub, a social network for developers, became a obliged point of passage for some people at WeMake.
\n\nGithub allows to create repositories, communities and webpages (gh_pages), among the main features. Putting a project on github makes possibile for members to contribute remotely and for anyone to view and download it.
\n\n\n\nNot only makers, but some service designers involved had to take class on GitHub as well.
\n\nThe idea was to instruct participants and support them to create by github repositories and pages.
\n\nAlthough github is very known and used, not everybody there at WeMake is familiar with it.
\n\nI\'ve been knowing Github for some years, but is interesting to follow conversations and see how different persons see and use it.
', u'post_id': 868, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-19 06:06:02', u'title': u'MIR residents learning about Github - a rite of passage'}, {u'content': u'Our OpenCare residence at WeMake Milan is moving forward! We have been building and testing different sensors to mesure the pressure and flow, using 3d printing, Adafruit electronics, and other elements.
\n\nMore in our main document. Feel free to contact us to contribute!
\n\nBreathing Games is a member of the Open Source Initiative.
\n\nRead our previous posts
\n\nHi there!
\n\nThe open rampette project has quickly moved forward to the design phase. We just finished a week-long design sprint with the goal of presenting 7 new concepts to the community meeting on June 21st.
\n\nThe prototypes were inspired by the insights collected from the user research conducted with the online and offline community. \xa0You can find a report about the main insights here.
\n\nIt was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it: in general, it is very difficult with non-designers to talk about concepts, but when you have some prototypes in your hand everyone is capable of expressing their opinion and give constructive feedback.
\n\nI\u2019d love to let you all experience the prototypes, but unfortunately here on edgeryders I can only describe them in words and show some picture. Please ask question if something is not clear and use the comments below to provide your feedback.
\n\nWe divided the concept and prototypes presented in 4 different categories:
\n\n1) How do I find accessible shops in my area?
\n\n2) How do I recognize the shops that are accessible with temporary ramps?
\n\n3) How do I call the shop for assistance?
\n\n4) How does the shop owner receive the call?
\n\nFor each category, several prototypes/concepts have been produced:
\n\n1.a An app to discover accessible shops in the city
\n\n2.a A sticker to identify the accessible shops in town
\n\n3.a A doorbell with improved usability and gives feedback to the user\xa0
\n\n3.b A device (fitted with beacon technology) that advertises the presence of an accessible shop and allows the user to call for assistance with his own smartphone
\n\n3.c A custom device that understands (via bluetooth e beacon) when it is close to the shop and can be used to call for assistance\xa0
\n\n4.a A custom doorbell receiver (small and wearable) on which you can choose how to get the notification (sound/vibration, light)
\n\n4.b Receive the doorbell call on your smartphone.
\n\nIf you want to know more about the features, the usage and reasons that are behind each concept You can have a look at a summary on\xa0this pdf,\xa0
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t be shy and give your feedback on the proposed ideas. Which one do you think will produce the biggest improvement on the actual context? Which one is the most desirable?
\n\n\xa0After analyzing your feedback and the one given by the community we will update you with a final prototype plan.
Here you can have a look at the slides\xa0presented during the public event of June 21 @ La Stecca.\xa0
\n\n\n\nHere is the photo gallery of the event.
\n\nCode\xa0and cutting files of the prototypes are already on github!\xa0
', u'post_id': 875, u'user_id': 3674, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-30 09:57:02', u'title': u'Open rampette - THE CALL - here come the prototypes 21-05-2017'}, {u'content': u'I am putting together a 6 page\xa0handout with a synthesis of the festival - focus is on opencare research\xa0and the festival contents.\xa0This follows an increasing need to do storytelling around what we are building and equip ourselves with resources we can hand out to those we engage.
\n\nSee and make suggestions/ edits here?\xa0
\n\n@Nadia let me know if this works for OuiShare..?\xa0
\n\nAnyone interested, feel free to chip in!
', u'post_id': 6455, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-29 21:58:27', u'title': u'#OpenVillage Handout'}, {u'content': u'Yesterday, during the Opencare Consortium meeting in Bordeaux, Costantino from WeMake presented and answered questions about openrampette (here all the project in italian and the gitgub repository).
\n\nI have been following the design, the meetings, the long discussions among designers and the public for a while. All the project is being put into delivery step by step, part by part with a lot of expertise, will for experimenting and considering all possible ways..
\n\nSo, here is the full video i shot from the presentation, with a intro about the simulation of fire evacuation we had to take part the day before, as guests in the Bordeaux University.
\n\nThe presentation was very articulated and explaining from different points of view the steps, salients and elements that constitute the caleidoscopic design of such a challenging and useful project. In short, the project aims to redefine the roles of citizens (especially shop owners and customers on wheelchairs) in finding solutions for accessability of shops. It\'s technology, but also dialogue, design, but also awarenes, standards and overall people taking collective decisions. The role of the Municipality of Milan in the project is fundamental in making all this possible.
\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/ISdhijO8RmM
', u'post_id': 874, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-29 11:47:56', u'title': u'Openrampette full update at Consortium Meeting in Bordeaux'}, {u'content': u'A couple of weeks ago after collecting all the data from the public event of may 11th, we also produced an online questionnaire to better understand the user experience of a Dioniso facing the temporary ramp.
\n\nYou can download a summary of the responses to the questionnaire\xa0here or look at the raw data here
\n\nI want to highlight here the most important insights collected:
\n\nDioniso mainly focuses on the presence of ramp or the presence of the \u201caccessibility\u201d sticker to recognise an accessible shop.
\n\nIf none of those is present s/he doesn\u2019t even bother ringing the bell and goes to a different place.
\n\n\u201cI feel comfortable shopping at the mall, it has no barrier and I can move around freely\u201d Dioniso
\n\n\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa02. How do I find an accessible shop?
\n\nSometimes Dioniso uses technological tools like Google StreetView to verify if a place is accessible before heading there and avoid unhappy surprises.
\n\n\u201cI use Google street map because it allows me to plan my experience\u201d Dioniso
\n\n\xa0\xa0\xa03. \xa0How is the experience of using the doorbell to call for assistance? :-/
\n\n\xa0\xa0\xa04. Little awareness about the regulation and the accessibility issue.
\n\nGiven this precious insights we move forward to designing and prototyping some novel concepts that address two main issues:
\n\nA second post about the concepts developed and the prototypes will follow shortly. Stay Tuned!
', u'post_id': 872, u'user_id': 3674, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-29 09:59:31', u'title': u'Open rampette - la chiamata - insights from the questionnaire'}, {u'content': u'Hi Edgeryders and opencare community!
\n\nWe are Sara & Mauro, reHub team. You can learn more about us and our project on our Open Call! Maker in residence at WeMake in Milan
\n\nLast week we had the chance to start our residency at WeMake.
\n\nOur experience will be different from those of ResQ and Breathing Games.
\n\nWe\u2019ve been makers at WeMake since the makerspace opened and we will not stay overnight or work everyday for 2 weeks in a row, we will have to manage to do everything when we have the chance to meet: wednesdays and saturdays from now to august.
\n\nOur first approach to the residency was with Chiara, from the opencare MIR team. She welcomed us with the MIR welcome pack and defined our first activity: Agile Planning.
\n\n\n\nResQ group already explained Agile planning steps as you can read here.
\n\nSo we will focus on the outcome of our planning:
\n\n1_ why are we here:
\n\nDuring this first step Chiara asked us to write, separately, what we expect from this experience.
\n\n\n\nWe found out we were well aligned on our expectations.
\n\nSurely our first interest is in meeting communities of people interested in trying and developing with us our new prototype.
\n\n2_ the elevator pitch
\n\nThis step was very useful to clarify our project main aspect.
\n\n\n\nThe resulting sentence was:
\n\nReHub project is an online platform and open source kit that allow the monitoring of fingers and hand movement for athletes, rehabilitation patients and music instrument students that needs a certain and digital data to monitor the exercise. Unlike Neofect project our project is open source and open hardware.
\n\n3_ the product box
\n\nFour reasons why people should use our product are:
\n\nOur small advertisement to be streamed on media/social is:
\n\nReHub: Improve your hands
\n\n\n\n4_the not list
\n\nDuring \u201cthe not list\u201d step, together we wrote down the activities backwards, from the one necessary to deliver a finished product/service to the one we are working on.
\n\nThis is the result:
\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the "last activities" we are supposed to do we focused mainly on the realization of the kit and the communication of it on the website, to renew the software 3D and organize events to promote the project.
\n\n"Earlier activities" involves technical issues like sensors testing and pcb developing, textile sampling and digital pattern development for the glove. Our interest is also directed to communities: physiotherapists and their patients, but also other people interest into the hand movements and their monitoring.
\n\nProject plan and business plan are also 2 main activities we are not able to face with our knowledge, so we will need help also on those activities.
\n\nChiara\u2019s scheme helped us define the priorities of the activities we defined:
\n\n\n\n\n\nWe decided to develop first what we defined as \u201cearlier activities\u201d and leave our \u201clast activities\u201d after the MIR.
\n\n5_ meet your neighbours
\n\nHere we define the communities we would like to meet during our MIR.
\n\n\n\nPhysiotherapists and patients, but also Communities of makers, designers, web developer and electronic experts.
\n\n6_ What keep us up at night
\n\nOur biggest threat is time. Also lack of money and specific knowledge are our nightmares.
\n\n\n\n7_ Size it up (Time planning)
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTogether with Chiara, that helped us with our long term calendar, we defined when and what kind of activity we are supposed to do during our MIR.
\n\nSoon more updates about our work at WeMake- opencare MIR!
\n\nSara & Mauro
', u'post_id': 581, u'user_id': 3516, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-28 15:43:39', u'title': u'reHub _ Agile kick off at WeMake'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 551, u'user_id': 3477, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-02 15:43:04', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'In Cameroon, parent children discussion on sex education is a taboo. When ever an adolescent brings up a topic around \xa0reproductive health or sex \xa0education, they are usually severely punished \xa0and regarded as been disrespectful to their elders. Due to this absence of discussion on sex education, many adolescent young girls face lots of challenges and stigma at their puberty stage, especially during menstruation.Most parents in Cameroon especially in the rural and grassroots areas, don\'t know that they have to provide pads for their girl children during menstruation. They don\'t even give their girls advice when these children even summon a little courage to inform them that something abnormal is happening with them .According to many parents, these children are very immature and still very young to be able to handle understand and process issues on puberty , reproductive health and menstruation. Because of this lack of discussion between parents and children on sex education, many of these girls, during menstruation are forced to stay away from school because of stigma from boys who often notice blood stains on their uniforms and also the unpleasant odor which \xa0cames out of the bodies as a result. \xa0Their staying away from school, makes them not to be performant as they ought to be like the boys and this plays a key role for their poor performances. Some stay away for two weeks and others for a month, just to avoid this stigma. As a youth advocate to encourage parent children dialogue on sex education and advoacting for Access to reproductive health knowledge, i have had time to hold some trainings with a few groups of adolescent girls to tell me about their experiences. \xa0As a result of lack of menstrual hygiene, due to absence of \xa0dialogue between them and their parents, \xa0i was amazed by the stories i got. Some said, as they approached their parents \xa0when\xa0they noticed boold stains on their pants, they were thoroughly scolded and driven away and warned never to discuss any thing on menstruation. Some said, they were forced to carry dry dust and sand to\xa0insert into their vaginas in order to stop the bleeding as they knew not what was happening to them. Other stories came up like using \xa0dirty clothes to pad themselves, which was very in hygienic and gave them some genital infections. \xa0As a result of this lack of knowledge on reproductive health for adolescent girls, many have dropped out of school because of unintended pregnancies, some have contracted sexually transmissable infections and others have been forced into early marriages , to the boys that impregnated them. Many of these \xa0adolecents have lost hope for a better future, because they are now in condtions due to necglect and lack of reproductive health knowledge. \xa0so i am hoping to enlightened parents and the community about the importance of sex education and also advocating for this curriculum to be taught in primary and secondary schools in Cameroon. I am hoping, to equally train these adolescent girls on matters of gender equality, menstrual hygiene , family planning and reproductive health as a Whole. In Africa, there is an ardage which says "Charity begins at home" if \xa0discussions between parents and children are initiated at home on sex education, it will go an extra mile to enable parents understand their daughters and support them effectively , so that they will not be statistics of unwanted pregnancies , school drop outs and poor academic performance in school. If Access to knowledge on reproductive health is improved upon \xa0for parents and adolescent girls, then sustainable development will be ensured. I believe that women and girls form an essential link in sustainable development.
', u'post_id': 849, u'user_id': 3639, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-24 00:22:06', u'title': u'Improving access of reproductive health knowledge for adolescent girls in Cameroon'}, {u'content': u'August 2016, Breathing Games took part to the Open & Change Care application to MacArthur\'s Foundation.
\n\nApril 2017, we were selected for a two-weeks residence in Milan, organized by EdgeRyders, WeMake and OpenCare.
\n\nWe document our residence in following spaces. Feel free to contact us to contribute!
\n\nFurther articles on EdgeRyders
\n\nOther threads on EdgeRyders
\n\nThese are some notes of the call we have every two weeks with CCL (Oakland) and BioFoundry (Sydney) on Monday at 9am CET. Anyone is welcome to join in, just drop a line in this thread.
\n\nCCL has done the last round of lab work for a while, due to holidays.
\n\nThey have a mixture of protein attached to insulin & gfp. When testing the mixture with gelelectrophoresis, they have one band (indication of the presence of a protein) that is the right size (40kDA) for the desired insulin-gfp-protein molecule, which is encouraging. However, they also have a band that is a bit shorter (30kDA).
\n\nThey've been troubleshooting issues with the purification column. They want to research better ways for production now, so they will revise the construct for a better production process and higher yield. There are two new phd'ers on board who bring some fresh talent.
\n\nWe (Belgium group) should get good yields of the gfp-insulin molecule a few days after we receive the shipment. The protocols have been thoroughly tested. CCL is\xa0preparing for shipping & sending over the protocols.
\n\nRemark on the IP: as far as Anthony knows, it's more the formulation that's patented (eg. how they make long acting insulin), rather than the production method. They are using a vector\xa0which might be protected (unsure) and the gfp might be as well. It's worth checking out, especially for the next steps.
\n\nAnthony asked us to write a blog post to tell our story of why we participate, what we plan to do etc.
", u'post_id': 6258, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-17 20:40:03', u'title': u'Update: Global Skype notes April.2'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 533, u'user_id': 3408, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-14 18:43:03', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Some ideas for a theme at the OpenVillage event, work in progress.
\n\nI\u2019d like to involve projects that are dedicated to citizen science in care. I think one interesting question\xa0to explore\xa0is \u2018How do we solve resource intensive and technically complex issues in care as communities?\u2019. I\'d involve projects with different angles to have diversity, a broader view and hopefully validate\xa0observations/lessons. I\'ve formulated\xa0some subquestions at the bottom of this post.
\n\nProjects that would fit into this theme:
\n\nSome program ideas specifically for Open Insulin:
\n\nI\u2019d also think it would be interesting to make the\xa0link with the other themes mentioned on the OpenVillage wiki by presenting our experience with the quest to secure long term existence of the lab space ReaGent. We have been\xa0setting up structures to ensure financial sustainability and independence, providing people with a meaningful job, while keeping the societal mission intact.
\n\nOne aspect that is relevant and interesting to go deeper into is how we are figuring out models to the share a community space, the lab, and how these can be applicable to other initiatives.
\n\nThis returns in some questions that we\xa0pose to ourselves\xa0for our local projects:
\n\nThanks for the remarks and ideas so far! \xa0As we flesh this out further over the next weeks: what are some questions you would like to have answers to?
', u'post_id': 6211, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-24 16:57:12', u'title': u'OpenVillage theme: citizen science in care'}, {u'content': u'http://paris.ouisharefest.com/schedule/
\n\n"IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT POLITICAL TURMOIL, CITIES AND CITIZENS ARE AT THE HEART OF THE NEXT GREAT TRANSFORMATION."
\n\nThere sees like lots of relevant connections to be made at this event. Is anyone going? Its not far off but I\'m considering it...
', u'post_id': 6440, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-23 13:47:55', u'title': u'Oui Share Fest: 5-7 July - anyone from the Edgeryders community going?'}, {u'content': u'During last night\'s community call, we discussed the need to connect the different themes of the festival to each other as to not lose the advantage of the diversity represented. A way to do it is clustering around big questions that many of us have, and then involving different perspectives to find answers during more generalized\xa0sessions.
\n\nWe decided that we shouldn\'t spend too much time on discussion, as some sessions are now being made concrete, and finalize this during an extra community call. To get things\xa0moving we meet this\xa0Tuesday the 27th at 6:30 pm\xa0in the\xa0community hangout here.
\n\nSome questions that have come up in the citizen.open science projects I\'ve been in contact with:
\n\nping @Gehan
To everyone: what are your big questions? Do you see any overlap with others? Please add concrete, simple questions that anyone understands..\xa0
', u'post_id': 6439, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-22 14:42:47', u'title': u'Connecting common questions'}, {u'content': u'I\'ve cut and paste the text below\xa0from the web - just wondered if anyone had existing links as it sounds as though there\'s potential connections for OpenCare in general?
\n\n"Southcentral Foundation is a non-profit health care organisation serving a population of around 60,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people in Southcentral Alaska, supporting the community through what is known as the Nuka System of Care (Nuka being an Alaska Native word meaning strong, giant structures and living things).
\n\n\n\nNuka was developed in the late 1990s\xa0after legislation allowed Alaska Native people to take greater control over their health services, transforming the community\u2019s role from \u2018recipients of services\u2019 to \u2018owners\u2019 of their health system, and giving them a role in designing and implementing services. Nuka is therefore built on partnership between Southcentral Foundation and the Alaska Native community, with the mission of \u2018working together to achieve wellness through health and related services\u2019. Southcentral Foundation provides the majority of the population\u2019s health services on a prepaid basis."
', u'post_id': 6441, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-23 14:31:04', u'title': u'Nuka? Anyone have connections with the Nuka System of Care Alaska?'}, {u'content': u'Notes diligently taken by @WinniePoncelet and @Gehan,\xa0Wednesday 21st June.
\n\nAttending: @Noemi, @WinniePoncelet, @Gehan, @Simon Grant, @Bernard, @Owen
\n\nNoemi:
\n\nWinnie:
\n\nhttps://katausten.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/portfolio_nov2015_small.pdf\xa0
\nBernard:\xa0
\n\nBernard\xa0has many things to choose from:
\n\nGehan: still thinking deeply about the theme
\n\nOwen:\xa0reminder of our video campaign ad, open to submissions:
\n\nHi all, I propose to meet each other at Geuzenhuis\xa0at 8pm this Wednesday the 21st for the open insulin meeting. We might as well combine the get together\xa0with a drink. Hope to see you there!
Title: Creating Situations for Healthy Experiences
\n\nAbstract: What is a healthy experience and how can we create more of them? This session explores what exactly we consider to be healthy through questions, conversation and a look at what\'s happening in the West of Ireland. The struggles and the successes are part of it, but how we connect is what makes us whole.
\n\nAbout the network in Galway, Ireland: It\'s diverse. It has many groups who\'ve been providing care in there own ways now beginning to come together. Initially through celebration, then collaboration, sharing space and resources. A melting pot of creativity pointing towards cultural progression, hope and healing. A snapshot of some of the Irish groups who\'ve contributed to OpenCare is part of the picture. An \xc1it Eile (The Other Place) make it their business to provide situations for coming together in healthy ways. It\'s the small interactions that are key, but planetary connections are also vital.
\n\nParticipant Engagement: Catch and speak, a way of getting to know each other.
What skills and experiences do we share? After hearing a little about the Irish situation, time for a deeper look at "What makes a space healthy?".
In 2014, I, Alberto Rey, had a solo museum exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. That project outlined the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River. The river was buried under the city of Buffalo in the 1800\u2019s as a way to keep from dealing with the smell and pollution found in the water. Parts of the river remain buried and it continues to be polluted even as it is monitored by state and federal organizations.\xa0 My research and installation took about three years to put together, and it presented the complexity of how economy, government policies, lack of planning, lack of accessible information and climate change can dramatically erode an environmental and cultural asset while creating insafe health issues to underserved populations.
\n\nIt was during this installation that I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows though the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. After initial discussions with professionals, museum staff and community members in Kathmandu, it was clear that there was a great deal of interest in starting a new project investigating the Bagmati River. I was granted a residency at the Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Center a few months later, and my research began in earnest. Jason Dilworth, a colleague at the State University of New York and a graphic designer, joined the venture early in 2016 and his work has been integral to the project\u2019s success. During Jason\u2019s and my first trip to Kathmandu in March of 2016, we were able to strengthen past connections to the project while building a larger network of individuals and groups committed to improving conditions in the Kathmandu Valley and the communities outside the valley who live along the river. Support for the Bagmati River Arts Project has grown steadily from the beginning through the assistance of Hatchfund donors, travel support through SUNY Fredonia and a Burchfield Penney Art Center grant. It has continued to grow through the sales of the project\u2019s publications and the sales of my artwork.
\n\nThe Bagmati River Arts Project (http://www.bagmatiriverartproject.com/) includes exhibitions, lectures and a website that houses a project\xa0 overview, daily of blog of research in Kathmandu, sketchbooks, data, videos and links to the project\'s publication and documentary:
\n\nAll elements of the project listed above were finished and presented at the opening of the exhibition on November 20, 2016 at the Siddhartha Gallery in Kathmandu, Nepal.
\n\nAn exciting extension to this project is to have the artwork, publication, documentary, brochures and posters tour the United States and internationally. The Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York is very interested in the merits of the project and they have volunteered to promote and organize the touring exhibition.Water issues are a worldwide concern and the Bagmati\u2019s perils are not unique. Our hope is that, by touring the exhibition and by combining it with site-specific exhibitions, audiences can create connections between their region and other global communities. There is a good deal that can be learned from the history of the Bagmati as well as from the grass roots efforts that created the Saturday Bagmati River clean-up program and the successful community health initiatives supported by the non-government organizations. All of these efforts has unified the underserved residents of the Kathmandu Valley to address the basic needs in their communities while creating hope and motivating government involvement.
\n\nFor more information please contact alberto@albertorey.com.
\n\nProject Leaders
\n\nAlberto Rey \u2013 Distinguished Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and for the past 18 years has been the Director and Founder of Children in the Stream Youth Fly fishing Program (https://albertorey.com/s-a-r-e-p-youth-fly-fishing-program/). He is also an Orvis endorsed fly fishing guide and is an environmental activist. (https://albertorey.com/)
\n\nJason Dilworth \u2013 Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and founder and director of several social design projects.
\n\nMore information available at:\xa0www.projectmlab.com/Jason-Dilworth and\xa0www.designersandforests.us
\n\nPast, Present and Future
\n\nFor the past decade, I have been working on site-specific installations that examine the local bodies of water near the exhibition venues and their relationships to enviornmental and health issues. When the regional investigations are included with other investigations from regions around the country and the world, the audience can make connections between their local region and other parts of the world. These installations are complex, ambitious, and include informational publications and with extensive text panels that outline the issues related to the bodies of water. The panels and publications include maps of the bodies of waters being investigated; water samples with scientific data outlining their chemical breakdown and pollutants; and images, graphs and videos from the data collection sites.
\n\nWe have recently partnered with the United States Forest Service and will begin the process of documenting the stories that outline the importance of clean accessible water in communties and the organizations that are helping communties by protecting this valuable resource.
\n\nAfter the first submission, our original project "doc.doc" (https://edgeryders.eu/en/node/7847) got some feedbacks and contributes that conviced us to implement those inspirations that eventually\xa0turned out the early project in ResQ!
\n\nIn particular was pointed out how the core concept of our proposal could have been way more effective if applied in critical healthcare context (such as\xa0emergency hospitals and refugees reception centers) where the language barriers affect the quality and efficacy of the medical treatment.
\n\n\xa0Following is the brief description of our updated project, ResQ, we would love to hear your thoughts about it!
\n\nResQ is an app for physicians working in emergency contexts, that digitalise the health information of patients, so to make them easily available for colleagues.
\n\nCurrently, the first aid provided to refugees arriving in Italy is effective in terms of solving the main health issues (healing of hurts due to the journey, or state of fever), but at the same time is not very efficient because of the superficial anamnestic research that physicians are compelled to make in such situations.
\n\nIn addition, the information gathered about the health state of each patient, are stored in simple paper sheets, preventing a further the potential of a pervasive sharing that a digital format would easily allow.
\n\nThe current way of working shows the following problems:
\n\nResQ is conceived to ease the communication among physicians (involved in critical context such as emergency hospitals and refugees reception centers) regarding the health state of foreigner patients who don\u2019t know the language of the hosting country. In this way, the tool is designed for physicians, but the main benefits will come for migrating patients whose this services is dedicated to.
\n\n\xa0https://www.youtube.com/embed/MZSMi316E-Y
\n\nResQ is a mobile management tool that improves the communication among healthcare workers (especially physicians, but also volunteers, nurses etc etc...), getting as a result the reduction of the language barrier that very often doesn\u2019t allow foreign patient to fully explain their symptoms or their own pathologies.
\n\nThe personal pathological condition besides being a psychological kind of weight, for instance when a patient has to explain multiple times his/her condition to a series of different medical specialists, it could also lead to misinterpretation and diagnosis issues when there might be a language barrier.
\n\nResQ is conceived to to be used mainly during the period in which the migrant still doesn\u2019t own a \u201cCodice Fiscale\u201d (personal unique fiscal code), but only a STP card (Straniero Temporaneamente Presente), that makes her/ him able to benefit from the main national healthcare services (for 12 months maximum).
\n\nThe reception centers that provide the STP card and give the first medical assistance, have to deal with a very high number of people in a stressful situation that often lead to a superficial treatment.
\n\nIn this way we designed an agile gathering data tool that saves time and in few minutes would be able to fulfill a complete health history of the patients. Also, the digitalization of such a document would make possible an extensive sharing with colleagues that later will take care of the same patient.
\n\nTherefore the physician will have the chance to communicate autonomously among themselves without misunderstanding through the management tool.
\n\n\n\nThe tool we are designing will be developed in order to be accessible from the main devices available on the market. Therefore we envision applications possibly developed in their native languages as Java or Android and Objective-C foe iOS ambients.
\n\nEven though we believe a mobile tool might be most suitable solution for the specific usage context we are working on, we would like to provide also a multi-platform responsive app developed in HTML5.
\n\nThe cloud service might be developed in NodeJS, with database in MongoDB and MySQL.
\n\nUnder construction.
\n\nOpensource
\n\nJune the 13, 2017
\n\nTogether with Chiara e Silvia, from the WeMake - OpenCare MIR team, we explored the main steps of the Agile Planning, which made us able to focus more on our project ResQ.
\n\nFor those who are not familiar with this methodology, Agile is an effective way of working that helps teams in identifying their unique value proposition, and how to make it real.
\n\nTherefore we went through the following steps:
\n\nAs following a deeper view on each one.
\n\nDuring this first step each member of the team wrote down on a Post-it its own expectations about outcomes, both for themselves and for the group, that the projects might will produce.
\n\nDoing this exercise clarified our visions and interests about our ultimate goal.
\n\nTherefore we found out that as a group we are very aligned in our aims, in fact, everybody pointed out how crucial are motivations as the personal development and the social impact of our project.
\n\nThis exercise consists in completing a brief sentence that should summarize the main aspect of the project involved.
\n\nIn particular the fixed terms of the sentence are:
\n\nThe final result of this activity has been:
\n\nResq is an application that makes easier the communication between physician in critical context and migrants who need healthcare services. Unlike the current situation, our service speeds up and eases the sharing of medical data.
\n\nThe product box is the creation of a small advertisement of the product/ service as it has to be streamed on the media.
\n\nResq: Behind the boundaries!
\n\n\n\nEveryone wrote down the activities we should accomplish in order to get our goal in the end of these two weeks of residence at WeMake.
\n\n\n\nWe all agreed that we should have used this time to focus more on the research of the context and therefore an the analysis of the data gathered so far, rather than on the development of the software itself.
\n\n\n\nTo point it out even more clearly, we separated the activity we will accomplish for sure, from those we are already sure we won\u2019t be able to do, finding also a little place for \u201chope\u201d
The exploration of the closest communities of people we should and we will be surrounded of, since we are working in such a project. Also, these are the communities we will work for and from which we could benefit as well.
\n\n\n\nOr, in other words, the most worrying threats we think we might stumble in during our work.
\n\n\n\nWith the support of Chiara and Silvia we eventually analyzed each items, in order to constructively see if the concern was realistic and/ or how to tackle with it, thus to solve it.
\n\nAfter having defined the activities to accomplish in two weeks, we started to resize them for every day. In this way was easier to find an agreement on what to do exactly each day and how much time we should dedicate them.
\n\nThe agile method also suggests to host a so-called \u201cstand-up meeting\u201d every workday morning, in order to keep up on what has been accomplished and has been delayed.
', u'post_id': 580, u'user_id': 3596, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-20 09:59:52', u'title': u'ResQ | Agile kick off at WeMake'}, {u'content': u'Main aspect of this project is to create an environment that deaf people can open up to the world through T-shirts...
\n\nMore people use T-shirts, deaf people have a voice. This is also an\xa0awareness project about the isolation the deaf people.\xa0Because only friend\'s t-shirts can capture the sign language. (through the gloves)
\n\n', u'post_id': 545, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-30 15:03:37', u'title': u'T-shirts 4 Open Communication'}, {u'content': u'Waag Society and Digi.bio are organising a biohackathon on July 8-9 in Amsterdam. They asked if we are up for joining with a team of 4-5 people. We will be able to experiment with the open source microfluidics chips Digi.bio has developed.
\n\nThe event will be a mix of presentations and hands-on work, with a focus on the latter. Many experts in the field will be there. Waag Society itself is of course also worth a visit!
\n\nThis is a good occassion to get some more input on the plans we have regarding microfluidics.
\n\nWe can already go on the evening of the 7th to avoid early travels and to enjoy the\xa0evening in Amsterdam.
\n\nAs we discussed in the meeting of June 7th, we could\xa0try to replicate some of the work we do with the plasmids on the chips.
\n\nWho\'s up for joining? Any other ideas?
I\'d like to propose\xa0a theme that I\'ve been curious about for some time. How do we create the conditions for\xa0#opencare in our organisations and our communities? How do we design communities and organisations that are care-full, and promote health and flourishing? I\'m curious about the interplay between policy and culture (as in ways of doing things rather than music and art). Are policies simply\xa0agreements about what we think works and what is right at any given time? Moreover how are they implemented at government or\xa0regional levels and in organisations, if they are to be more than good intentions? Do they end up needing enforced or policed by someone? Are they a tool of old ways of doing things built on hierarchy and power over? What role can they play in\xa0creating the conditions for\xa0opencare or for that matter for love and acceptance and generating\xa0the sense of coherence that Antonovsky describes in salutogenesis\xa0and its approach to study what creates health and well being rather than researching dis-ease?
\n\nMy work through the GalGael Trust based in the Govan area of Glasgow has offered some hints that actively generating\xa0a healthy\xa0culture is perhaps more effective in achieving in an anchored way the \'good intentions\' of policy. Strong values guide actions, decisions and\xa0behaviour, influence language and how we treat one another. Our workshop sees people working, for the most, part side by side. We\u2019ve had people with violent histories, people who suffer agoraphobia, depression and addiction. Yet something about the space we\u2019ve created has meant that people largely get on, there\u2019ve been no violent incidents in our 20 year history and people describe their doctor taking them off medication, sometimes for the first time in many\xa0years.\xa0
\n\nIt\u2019s not a silver bullet. People lapse. They fall back in to the darkness at times. But there is something undeniable about the environment we\u2019ve created and actively generate that has a therapeutic affect. While some of our participants and volunteers have said \u2018the work is the therapy\u2019 - this refers to the hands on purpose they find in their labours not the work we do with them. So is this as a result of policy or culture? What is it that creates the conditions for an environment of open care? How do we understand the architectures of love that are called for to create a more care-full society?
\n\nWe\u2019ve recently spent a year curating a collaborative process to explore what it means to \u2018be GalGael\u2019. It saw us going back to our beginnings and drawing on the learning from our days as an anti-motorway protest camp. We wrestled with our assumptions - which were shared and which were disputed?\xa0We explored whether our purpose was actually underneath it all - to bring about greater love. This contributes to our being in a good place to\xa0explore this theme more widely in our own organisation\xa0and its practical application in more depth.
\n\nThrough the process we would like to connect and learn from other organisations exploring this theme.\xa0
\n\nWhat kind of structures and processes are essential building blocks or make up the \u2019hardware\u2019?
\n\nWhat kind internal capacities and approaches make up the \u2018software\u2019 that keep a healthy organisation, healthy community or healthy societies humming with human flourishing?
\n\nThe theme could also link to other themes that explore how we create the conditions such as:
\n\ncitizens income and the politics of time;
nature of collaboration and how we exercise our freedoms and capacities;
the nature of work in care-full societies;
forms of leadership and personal capacity called for.\xa0
I\u2019m very new to Edgeryders and I\u2019ve not had much time to develop this so would appreciate feedback and thoughts as to whether this might be a theme of interest to others. \xa0
', u'post_id': 6304, u'user_id': 3613, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-06 19:08:27', u'title': u'Theme/Session proposal: Architectures of love - policy vs culture in creating the conditions for #opencare'}, {u'content': u'There have been many changes during the last week...
\n\nCaracol, a designer studio, moved its big 3D printers out the building and left an empty big room at the upper floor. Yesterday, the designers of ResCure arrived, the first group "in residence" that will live here till june 25th and accelerate their project thanks to WeMake know-how and its shared spaces.
\n\n\n\nThere are many people around now, many machines and tables too; there is not a fixed way to deal with spaces. At least, functionality and results make spaces lived by people and changed time to time. Some machines are heavy, but I have seen the 3D printers and other stuff moved easily from one side of the place to the other, or more tables mounted for the newcomers in few minutes. There are also many classes and participants around; so many tables, activities, computers, cables and..of course, people. There is a heterogeneity at work that makes such peculiar activities possible;\xa0 half way instructional, half way productive. When it comes to prototyping, mocking-up, or discussing how to define something that is not standard, or mass produced, there is an involvement on different levels and by different actors. It reminds more of a home life than a factory; there are no written rules about how to deal with spaces and home rules as well, as far as I have understood. Anyway everything seems very well organised and scheduled: MIR guests arrived yesterday, but had already two classes: one about AGILE approach by @alessandro_contini and one about Github by @Costantino .
\n\nIt is important that everybody here uses and delivers contents using the same tools and integrating to others within the bigger tasks. Me too, i had to live this "rite of passage".
\n\nThere are two considerations now. First, big changes in constituted order of space may bring changes in the way work is organised. Second, there is not a better way than changing the program, or modifying the shopfloor, to see how people react and enact in other ways, de-routinizing the ethnomethods shared at WeMake and whoever may access its social world.
\n\n\n\nThe arrival of ResCure-ers brings opencare work at WeMake to a new level. Different local settings can be understood now as network localities coexisting and sharing the same space-time dimensions. The classes are shared with WeHandU and inspire more makers at once. The understanding of how others work give a day by day and specific shape to own projects. By what they talk about and what they do, \u201cMaking for opencare\u201d discourse becomes a visible and touchable meaningful concept for different people involved in such exchange of knowledge. A large community is at work these days here...I have counted about 40 people..It\'s amazing! Teens, Senior Makers, opencare staff, makers and designers, students and trainees..all together.
', u'post_id': 864, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-13 13:51:22', u'title': u'Makers making community'}, {u'content': u'As we navigate through different layers of space - personal, communal, public, private; physical or immaterial - we find that each has its own unique dynamic that is conditioned by ownership, access and attitudes of the people inhabiting them. How we live with one another and how we make sense of the interactions when factoring in power relations, newer arrivals, meshing of spaces or other elements that constantly challenge the basis of our relationships?
\n\nYou can do this mission in either of two ways:
\n\nAlternatively:
\n\nDig deeper into the topic
\n\nGood for you:\xa0If you\u2019re an indigenous person, reflecting on this can help you learn how to welcome new arrivals; if you\u2019re a newcomer, reflecting on this can help you learn the tricks to accommodate to the new home and make the transition smoother. \xa0
\n\nGood for everyone:\xa0Your contribution can educate others to cherish new places and out-of-the-box relationships and open up to the value of communities that are dynamic, adaptable or rich in diversity.
\n\nIt\u2019s easy!\xa0submit your contribution\xa0by sharing your story.
\n\nIf you\xb4re not already signed in to the Edgeryders platform you can do it\xa0here. Remember to\xa0get the bigger picture on\xa0Living together.
', u'post_id': 867, u'user_id': 3622, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-16 09:57:55', u'title': u'The Rules of the Space'}, {u'content': u"As today we record as a great success the fact that growing multiculturalism, migration and movement of people with varied and different cultural backgrounds are considered usual and an ever growing phenomenon. A lot has been done in the field until now however, still a lot to do in the field. It is important to notice that there is still great animosity within local communities as well as a lot of prejudices. A lot of issues also arise as people of local communities do not acknowledge the issues at hand which creates more and more divide which is not being addressed. Those stereotypical thoughts are mainly generated as a result of the absence of adequate communication, education and the influence of the society through all types of mediums.
\n\nWhithin those toughts and seeing what is happening even amongs my friends, I got an idea to approach cultural identity questions, self and other's perception through a different lens as well as to raise awareness about cultural integration, positivity and motivation to create positive patterns and a sense of belonging. As the name is suggesting, it's about speaking and creating save space for that using spoken word poetry, creating space to improvise as well as to bring experience into already existent scene.
", u'post_id': 33752, u'user_id': 3082, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-04 10:24:04', u'title': u'Cultural integration through spoken word poetry'}, {u'content': u'The meeting with citizens like @Francesco_Maria_ZAVA \xa0\xa0, @Rossana_Torri \xa0 from the Municipality of Milan, the Trade association Confcommercio, shops owners and the openrampette team of WeMake Fab lab took place on may 23th at La Stecca facility in Milan.
\n\nThe openrampette team worked for weeks in order to plan and deliver a well balanced session that included hard design needs by a user research approach and an easy, neat approach meant for anyone.
\n\nAs the participants arrived, they gathered in 4 informal groups to have some chatting.
\n\n@Costantino introduced the activity, while @ChiaraFrr -both from WeMake- presented all the steps of the activity for the roleplay based on the idea that a winery owner (Minerva) must undergo the procedure by filling forms and, in a further moment, highlight by different colors, gaps and hard-to-understand parts of the form. The goal was to understand more on how about enforcing the regulations about an access ramp before the shop that can be removed when is not needed. The participants committed nicely by discussing in couples. There was a good collaborative and motivated atmosphere around.
\n\n\n\nAs facilitators, the openrampette team walked around to help and suggest to the participants how to tackle certain details. A load of pictures was taken around to witness the session. By my side, I was interested in taking pictures as well, even though my perspective was different, more focused on how the session was enacted and how a intersubjective level could emerge from and by the interaction of actors.
\n\nEven though the time was up, participants were willing to discuss more on biases on the forms and about the procedure itself.
\n\nThere was a break with drinks and food for a evening snack. Then, the openrampette team collected the filled forms by the participants and the idea was to find out for patterns and common salients. The paper sheets were layed on the floor and a feedback was given, while @silviad.ambrosio -another openrampette teamer- patched post-its on a frame poster. The most important part followed. Costantino showed some slides about the contradictions and unclear steps in the procedure, like that -for instance- the ramp \u201cbell\u201d to call who is inside the shop, is mentioned only once on the website of the Municipality and is an important part needed to communicate between the customer, that might be someone who needs to access by a wheelchair, or a mother with a baby buggy.
\n\n\n\nNow, some considerations..
\n\nFirst of all, a kind of participatory assessment, based on a broad and heterogeneous participation was appreciated also by @alessandro_contini -the designer in charge of the user research meant for shop owners only that will follow this event. What emerged are unexpected cases in-between and common and shared interests among stakeholders. The social dimension emerged as a shared need to construct a substantial and workable objectivity, by a keen and multidimensional analysis of the formal objectivity embedded in the procedure and the script articulated in the fields of the form. What citizens could make visible where aspects of the dimensions for access that usually remain invisible when filling a form or being counseled by a technical advisor.
\n\nMakers have a peculiar perspective and bird\'s eye to hack technology and open it. There was great interest around such a technical procedure and bureaucratical details.
\n\nA participant even talked about how power be embedded in institutions when it comes to filling forms to satisfy some requirements and how institutions make things difficult.
\n\nOpen care is certainly related to the dimensions of access to practices, but also to information not as end-users, but as editors and reviewers. The evening was a good example of viable and inspired assemblage of citizens, institutions, norms and devices for the public.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 850, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-24 10:09:07', u'title': u'Opening the dimensions of access by openrampette'}, {u'content': u'For the past decade, Alberto Rey has been working on site-specific art installations, websites, books and videos that examine bodies of water around the world and their relationship to social conditions. These works are complex, ambitious, and often include combinations of publications, documentaries, websites, paintings, drawings, maps, water samples with scientific data outlining their chemical breakdown and pollutants as well as images, graphs and videos from the data collection sites. Alberto will discuss ways to make complicated issues interesting and accessible to a wide audience. The lecture will also outline how this process evolved and his most recent projects in the Nepal and the United States (https://albertorey.com/site-specific-projects/).
\n\n\n\nAbove: video from the Basmati River Project\xa0
', u'post_id': 6315, u'user_id': 3422, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-10 13:36:04', u'title': u'Using Art as a Way to Access Complicated Social and Scientific Issues'}, {u'content': u'In relation to what i bring on to the open village festival, i intend to lay out the underlying reasons why we have a lot of youths engaged in drug abuse in africa and its social-economical effects of developing-world countries.
\n\ni would to demonistrate the importance strong communities towards combating the drug menace and eventually creating awereness with views eradication of the drug menace.
\n\nradicalisation is spreading fast among drug users who are easy targets for terrorist activities in the coastal city of Mombasa.if we are at aposition of curbing the issue at hand, then we will be able to address the global effects of terrorism.which not only affects us in Kenya but now a major issue in Europe, middle east and the USA.
\n\nwe hope to grow a strong network out of the presentation at the festival so as to broaden our scope of understanding and welcome some experts in social-counseling who may helps in rehabilitating these youth into leading productive lives within the communiting.
\n\napproach of presentation
\n\nNOTE : the presentation may take 30-45 minutes
\n\nat the festival i hope to learn more on collaboration and experiences in europe which may help us advance our urge to transform our local communities to provition of global solution to our local challenges.
', u'post_id': 6407, u'user_id': 3702, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 11:47:26', u'title': u'Combating drug use and abuse :a case of mombasa kenya'}, {u'content': u'On Wednesday 31st of May there was the closure of the CALL FOR MAKERS | opencare Maker in Residence. \xa0
\n\nThe application process wasn\u2019t easy at all! It required three main steps. The reason why of this process lies on our opencare vision: we strongly believe that a collaboration is also possible within online and offline communities, composed by professionals, doctors, researchers, practitioners, economists, social media experts, designers, activists but also real users, citizens, people with special needs, students, makers, tinkers and many other stakeholders interested in building encounters.
\n\nBy clicking on this link you can read all the stories \xa0which applied to the MIR within the 3 topics : \xa0
\n\nAllright makers, time to stow the gab and announce the accepted projects.
\n\nThe opencare team, based at WeMake, is glad to announce that the following projects will be officially part of the first edition of opencare Maker in Residence:
\n\nWeHandU |\xa0
\n\nThe Question:
\n\nPerform simple and everyday tasks independently.
\n\nThe Problem:
\n\nA person with amputee hand and locked elbow.
\n\nThe Solution:
\n\nA helping device held in the hand, capable of interacting with multiple items
\n\nContinue to read the Story of WeHandU on EdgeRyders.
\n\nReHub | by Mauro Alfieri and Sara Savian @rehub
\n\nThe Question:
\n\nIs there a quantitative tool to monitor the hand rehabilitation?
\n\nThe Problem:
\n\nThe lack of a tool able to provide a digital feedback on the progress of proprioceptive physiotherapy.
\n\nThe Solution:
\n\nA wearable glove that can record and transmit data thanks to a sensor system.
\n\nContinue to read the Story of ReHub on EdgeRyders.
\n\nResQ | by Luca Tarasco Nushin Alishahi Emanuela Pucci Francesca Previati @resq\xa0
\n\nThe Question:
\n\nHow to help refugees in getting a more efficient healthcare service?
\n\nThe Problem:
\n\nLanguage barriers often lead to misunderstanding and psychological weight for foreigner patients.
\n\nThe Solution:
\n\nResQ is an app that connects physicians over common patients, providing a complete overlook to minimise language barriers.
\n\n\xa0Continue to read the Story of ResQ on EdgeRyders.
\n\nBreathing Games | by Fabio Balli, Povilas and Duglas
\n\nThe Question:
\n\nHow to ensure that (lifesaving) health innovation benefits all?
\n\nThe Problem:
\n\nCompetition and copyrights hinder the free use and adaptation of health innovation.
\n\nThe Solution:
\n\nWe co-create knowledge and technologies that can be used and adapted by everyone, in all countries.
\n\nContinue to read the Story of Breathing Games on EdgeRyders.
\n\nAllergoKi | by Nicoletta Faltracco and Monica Zambolin
\n\nThe Question:
\n\nThere are a lot of people with food allergies and/or intolerances, that too often are forced to renounce to have dinner outside because they are afraid to feel bad.
\n\nThe Problem:
\n\nPeople with food allergies and/or intolerances feel immense embarrassment every time they have to tell their health condition.
\n\nThe Solution:
\n\nAllergoKi wants to create a visual/tech \u201csystem\u201d placed in the restaurants or any food court, in order to have a comfortable and convivial atmosphere for anyone.
\n\nContinue to read the Story of AllergoKi on EdgeRyders.
\n\nIn the next days we are going to meet each team, in order to set a specific schedule in terms of calendar, resources, activities and much more.
\n\n\xa0opencare Maker in Residece | WeMake team
', u'post_id': 865, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-14 10:11:42', u'title': u'Maker in Residence | Welcome teams!'}, {u'content': u'Hi everyone!
\n\nI\u2019m Pieter, an information designer living and working in Ghent.\xa0I\u2019ll design the infographics for the Open Insulin project. Before I can start we need to define the content and the target of the graphics. \xa0
\n\nI like the idea from Niek that most of the people\xa0in\xa0Flanders know\xa0diabetes as \xa0\u201cThe Sugar\u201d This could be a good start to attract people to the graphics with something they are already familiar with. This could be used in a big title that immediately draws the attention.
\n\nA few points I would like discuss:
\n\nI would make a difference between 2 targets: children (-18) and adults (18+), each with a different mood. Is there a difference between children diabetes and adult diabetes? Does it affect the development of the child?
\n\nI would design 2 infographics (as a start), one for the adults and one for the children. Each infographic should contain 5 key questions with a few lines of info\xa0to avoid an information overload.\xa0
\n\nI would use a landcape A4 format so it can be easily shared and read on social media. I will design a small document with the "corporate identity"\xa0so the the communication of the project will be internally and externally consistent and clear for everyone.
\n\nAny thoughts? What key questions about Diabetes should we address?
\n\nbest,
\n\nPieter
', u'post_id': 6277, u'user_id': 3584, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-27 10:34:09', u'title': u'Infographics for the Open Insulin project'}, {u'content': u"Co-creating new realities. Imagine what it would be like to solve every challenge we face. Imagine you could talk to anyone you need to and you can help everyone you want to. Imagine you're being connected to everyone, spiritually as well as through the internet. Imagine you can raise every question. Share every idea and improve them. Build together. Imagine you can create any reality you want to. What would you do? Where will you find them? How do you address this challenge? Imagine the internet will help solve everything. As quickly as possible. Imagine ideas being filtered by their quality, and you can set the filter, you can change the algorithms to work for you, intentionally. Serving you.\xa0
\n\nImagine a platform like this. Will you help me develop this idea and make it into a reality?\xa0
\n\nCould it be as simple as sharing challenges?\xa0
\n\nLike: self-sufficient and abundant cities. Hosting the topic and solve it?\xa0
\n\nHomes for everyone, support and care for anyone who needs, organize needed funding and create a reality of support.\xa0
\n\nSimply designing new practices and distributing it, gifting it, and creating a culture of gifting eachother forward into abundance for all.\xa0
\n\nSimple? Naive? Tell me? Want to explore this with me?\xa0
", u'post_id': 845, u'user_id': 3643, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-19 23:01:33', u'title': u'Co-creating new realities'}, {u'content': u'Sempre di pi\xf9 patologie complesse necessitano della collaborazione tra molti specialisti della cura.
\n\nA questi diversi professionisti manca per\xf2 la possibilit\xe0 di comunicare e condividere informazioni su una piattaforma dedicata.
\n\nL\u2019attuale procedura di lavoro evidenzia i seguenti problemi:
\n\nDelega al paziente la responsabilit\xe0 nel fornire le corrette informazione relative al proprio caso.
Rende complicato il confronto fra i diversi specialisti riguardo aspetti controversi delle diagnosi.
Non permette ai medici di essere aggiornati sugli sviluppi clinici di un determinato paziente, se non all\u2019incontro con lo stesso.
Doc.doc fornisce quindi una piattaforma tramite la quale i medici possano raccogliere e informarsi autonomamente riguardo i pazienti in cura.
\n\nInoltre la progettazione UX \xe8 stata specificatamente orientata alla facilitazione della comunicazione tra medici, semplificando le azioni che permettono di interagire con un collega tramite una telefonata, un messaggio istantaneo o un\u2019email.
\n\nIl prodotto \xe8 pensato per i medici, ma i maggiori benefici andranno ai pazienti.
\n\nDoc.doc infatti migliora la comunicazione tra i vari operatori sanitari, ottenendo come risultato un miglioramento delle condizioni lavorative degli stessi (pi\xf9 pianificazione, pi\xf9 chiarezza, quadri clinici completi e organizzati), ma soprattutto consentendo ai pazienti dei medici che faranno parte del sistema doc.doc, di essere seguiti da un network di specialisti sempre in contatto e sempre aggiornati sui vari mutamenti dei quadri clinici su cui stanno lavorando.
\n\nDoc.doc si propone essenzialmente come un aggregatore di informazioni, un unico database medico nel quale possano essere convogliati e organizzati i dati dei pazienti che si hanno in cura. In questo modo il medico pu\xf2 affrontare ogni nuova visita avendo gi\xe0 chiara l\u2019anamnesi pregressa del paziente in questione. Doc.doc inoltre fornisce tutti i contatti degli specialisti che hanno condotto una determinata visita in precedenza, e rende estremamente semplice (un clic) la possibilit\xe0 di mettersi in contatto con un collega per richiedere un chiarimento o un parere rispetto ai dettagli di una certa una cartella clinica.
\n\nInoltre, in una fase successiva, sar\xe0 possibile strutturare doc.doc come strumento di ricerca pura, grazie all\'aggregazione di dati demoscopici dei pazienti e alla loro\xa0categorizzazione per patologia.
\n\nLo strumento che abbiamo progettato si esprimer\xe0 attraverso un\u2019applicazione mobile per ambienti Android e iOS, che verr\xe0 quindi sviluppata secondo i linguaggi di programmazione di riferimento (verosimilmente verranno utilizzati rispettivamente Java e Objective-C per realizzare app native). Abbiamo privilegiato questo tipo di approccio per rendere l\u2019utilizzo del software il pi\xf9 immediato possibile. E\u2019 comunque ipotizzabile lo sviluppo di una web app responsive in HTML5 che consenta un utilizzo trasversale multiplatform.
\n\nIl servizio cloud potr\xe0 essere sviluppato in NodeJS, con basi dati MongoDB e MySQL.
\n\nIn fase di pianificazione.
\n\nOpensource
\n\nIl progetto attualmente consta in un prototipo sviluppato attraverso la piattaforma proto.io.
\n\nPrima di ottenere questo risultato abbiamo sostenuto una approfondita analisi UX che ci ha consentito di effettuare scelte precise circa lo sviluppo di certe funzionalit\xe0.
\n\n1.0 Scoperta
\n\n1.1 Osservazione del contesto
\n\nDoc.doc nasce dalla constatazione di quanto siano spesso frammentate le informazioni che i diversi specialisti possiedono riguardo un certo paziente. Attraverso un processo di ricerca abbiamo evidenziato come un approccio olistico, che a colpo d\u2019occhio fornisca un quadro clinico completo, comporterebbe indubbi vantaggi a medici e pazienti.
\n\n1.2 Acquisizione di idee, spunti, intuizioni
\n\nLo spunto iniziale che ha dato l\u2019avvio al progetto \xe8 scaturito da una serie di interviste condotte tra medici e pazienti. Questi ultimi in particolare lamentavano la scarsa preparazione del medico rispetto al loro specifico caso clinico, delegando pertanto al paziente stesso, la responsabilit\xe0 nel fornire informazioni dettagliate circa la patologia da affrontare.
\n\n1.3 Definizione del problema
\n\nIl problema che abbiamo affrontato pu\xf2 essere definito come una carenza di comunicazione. I diversi professionisti della cura non possiedono, ad oggi, uno strumento semplice e veloce che possa tenerli aggiornati rispetto alla progressione clinica di ogni loro paziente. Le informazioni sanitarie sono disgregate e appartengono allo specialista che le ha prodotte attraverso la propria visita. Queste informazioni tendenzialmente non hanno altro modo di essere condivise, se non attraverso il paziente stesso, cui si delega il compito e la responsabilit\xe0 di fornire tali informazioni allo specialista successivo.
\n\nDoc.doc si propone essenzialmente come un aggregatore di informazioni, un unico database medico nel quale possano essere convogliati e organizzati i dati dei pazienti che si hanno in cura. In questo modo il medico pu\xf2 affrontare ogni nuova visita avendo gi\xe0 chiara l\u2019anamnesi pregressa del paziente in questione. Doc.doc inoltre fornisce tutti i contatti degli specialisti che hanno condotto una determinata visita in precedenza, e rende estremamente semplice (un clic) la possibilit\xe0 di mettersi in contatto con un collega per richiedere un chiarimento o un parere rispetto ai dettagli di una certa una cartella clinica.
\n\n2.0 Definizione
\n\n2.1 Analisi delle soluzioni
\n\nIn seguito ad una estesa sessione di una particolare forma di brainstorming, il brainwriting, sono stati vagliati diversi possibili approcci per affrontare il tema proposto dal bando OpenCare. Questi sono stati categorizzati in modo sistematico secondo la tecnica detta delle 4Cs (le quattro\u201dc\u201d: components, characteristics, challenges, characters) e quindi circoscritti in macro-aree che puntavano ad un certo specifico orientamento verso la risoluzione delle problematiche riscontrate in ambito sanitario.
\n\n2.2 Ideazione del concept
\n\nIn seguito ai risultati scaturiti dalle tecniche di brainstorming, \xe8 stato realizzato un questionario da sottoporre ad un certo numero di pazienti, parenti dei pazienti e professionisti della cura (non solo medici, ma anche infermieri, farmacisti, fisioterapisti etc\u2026).
\n\nQueste interviste si sono rivelate cruciali nel definire il percorso che doc.doc avrebbe intrapreso.
\n\nInfatti, abbiamo riscontrato presso la maggior parte dei pazienti intervistati, una sostanziale insoddisfazione riguardo i processi di comunicazione con i propri medici. In particolare, nel caso di patologie particolarmente complesse, dove \xe8 necessario il coinvolgimento di molteplici specialisti, spesso i medici coinvolti sono parzialmente o totalmente all\u2019oscuro riguardo i progressi dei colleghi nei confronti di uno specifico aspetto nella cura della patologia. La comunicazione di queste informazioni, avviene, ma quasi esclusivamente per mezzo del paziente, il quale \xe8 costretto ad assumersi la piena responsabilit\xe0 dell\u2019accuratezza e completezza delle informazioni fornite.
\n\n2.3 Proposta della soluzione
\n\nIn seguito alla ricerca svolta, \xe8 stato quindi logico cominciare a pensare alla progettazione di uno strumento gestionale che permettesse ai medici di avere immediatamente disponibili tutte le informazioni concernente un certo paziente, comprese le informazioni di contatto dei colleghi responsabili di una certa visita.
\n\nAbbiamo cos\xec progettato uno strumento gestionale che facilita l\u2019organizzazione degli appuntamenti di un medico, ordina in maniera chiara le cartelle cliniche dei pazienti per tipologia e cronologia, permette in un clic di contattare un collega tramite telefono, chat o email, infine rende pi\xf9 efficiente la visita stessa poich\xe9 doc.doc consente al medico curante di aggiornarsi circa i progressi del proprio paziente nei minuti precedenti alla visita.
\n\nDoc.doc infatti pu\xf2 essere programmato per concedere uno spazio di tempo (tendenzialmente 10 minuti) tra una visita e l\u2019altra, che permetta al medico di prendere visione della cartella clinica del paziente che sta per incontrare.
\n\n3.0 Sviluppo
\n\n3.1 Progettazione e prova del prototipo
\n\nDoc.doc allo stato attuale consiste in un prototipo interattivo realizzato attraverso la piattaforma proto.io.
\n\nPrima di ottenere questo risultato abbiamo sostenuto una approfondita analisi UX che ci ha consentito di effettuare scelte precise circa lo sviluppo di certe funzionalit\xe0.\xa0In particolare, attraverso tecniche di Brainwriting e alcune empathy map abbiamo circoscritto l\u2019ambito di lavoro.
\n\nA seguito di alcune interviste di orientamento con pazienti e professionisti sanitari abbiamo definito ulteriormente gli obiettivi del progetto, concentrandoci su una \u201cone primary task\u201d, che nel caso di doc.doc consiste nell\u2019aggregazione semplificata dei dati di ogni paziente. Considerando quindi alcuni ipotetici scenari di utilizzo del nostro servizio (presso specialisti\xa0o medici di base, in studio o in visita a domicilio etc\u2026) abbiamo sviluppato una prima logica di user flow e infine la sua realizzazione grafica interattiva, della quale si pu\xf2 avere una tangibile esperienza d\u2019uso qui: http://bit.ly/2oOXbmK (una volta scaricata l\'intera\xa0cartella \xe8 sufficiente aprire il file index.html con il proprio browser, meglio se Chrome).
\n\nInoltre in seguito allo sviluppo del prototipo \xe8 stato condotto un piccolo usability testing\xa0che ha evidenziato piccole problematiche, immediatamente risolte con il rilascio della versione successiva, di cui si pu\xf2 prendere visione al link sopracitato.
\n\n3.2\xa0Prova della fruibilit\xe0
\n\nE\u2019 stato condotto un piccolo usability testing, parzialmente moderato, che ha sostanzialmente confermato tutti gli obiettivi di usabilit\xe0 stabiliti a monte. In particolare i nostri utenti test sono stati, per la maggior parte, in grado di portare a termine le operazioni richieste, quali: 1. Consultare una cartella clinica, 2. Consultare la rubrica pazienti e professionisti, 3. Aggiungere un nuovo appuntamento, 4. Contattare un collega. In questa fase abbiamo ritenuto prematuro considerare ulteriore metriche di controllo oggettive quali tempi e statistiche di errore, concentrandoci piuttosto su misurazioni di gradimento soggettive e mantenendo come unico conteggio obiettivo il numero di operazioni portate a buon fine.
\n\nSono stati riscontrati alcuni problemi nella fruibilit\xe0 dei dati della cartella clinica e delle funzionalit\xe0 ad essa collegate (\xe8 infatti possibile anche iniziare una conversazione\xa0con un collega). L\u2019organizzazione dei contenuti di quella determinata schermata \xe8 stata quindi modificata sulla base dei feedback ricevuti, cos\xec come l\u2019intero look&feel dell\u2019applicazione \xe8 stato rivisto coerentemente rispetto alle modifiche apportate.
\n\n4.0 Rilascio
\n\n4.1 Completamento del prodotto/servizio
\n\nIl prototipo \xe8 gi\xe0 stato testato, ma andrebbe ulteriormente verificato su un campione pi\xf9 esteso di utenti, seguito eventualmente da un A/B testing.
\n\nConclusa la fase di usability testing sul prototipo, si proceder\xe0 quindi con lo sviluppo di programmazione vero e proprio, la\xa0cui funzionalit\xe0\xa0verr\xe0\xa0verificata\xa0ad ogni milestone raggiunta.
\n\nInfine, verranno concepite strategie di distribuzione, idealmente con il coinvolgimento delle ASL locali, per permettere un capillare ed effettivo utilizzo del servizio.
\n\n4.2 Rilascio finale
\n\nE\u2019 in fase di definizione una timeline di sviluppo che presenti le milestone necessarie al completamento del prodotto, secondo specifiche tempistiche.
\n\n4.3 Produzione
\n\nIl team di sviluppo tecnico \xe8 ancora da definirsi, ma stiamo valutando una collaborazione con I-SEE\xa0(http://www.i-seecomputing.com), specialisti nell produzione di software in ambito medico/ sanitario.
', u'post_id': 33729, u'user_id': 3596, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-03 14:39:04', u'title': u'MIR application - doc.doc (now ResQ)'}, {u'content': u'Our next meeting is on June 7th, 8 pm @ ReaGent. Maybe we will\xa0have to move to a location close by, as we are in the process of moving.
\n\nI though I\'d share a tentative agenda beforehand:
\n\nPleaase add to these is anything is missing. Are there things to be discussed about the education / communication? @NiekD | @CatherineS | @Angela_Pisani | @Scigrades\xa0
', u'post_id': 6373, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-01 10:23:13', u'title': u'Open Insulin meeting June 7th'}, {u'content': u'Notes from our community call yesterday, contributed by Alex, Noemi & co. Edit the wiki to correct or add things we missed!
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Community members Gehan, Winnie, Noemi, Alberto, Steve...
\n\nDoing cohousing and interested in technical ideas; experienced in governance and also how to deal with community care and self care within communities. Lives in a setup with 41 households, an ecological house. Member of a tech cooperative doing learning technology; technical standardization; experience in consensus governance. Cohousing is less intense than a commune: interested in governance and wellbeing side of that, various aspects of therapy.
\n\nAt #OpenVillage: for a session what I would need is an conversation with other people, to talk it through. Winnie: The Reef is already being prototyped in Brussels, talk to @Nadia &co. There\'s maybe already some questions that have turned up that you could shed some light on, Simon?
\n\nBased outside of Buffalo in NYC, artist, professor, flyfishing guide. Water and communities through arts projects. Worked in Kathmandu looking at the story of a river as one of the holiest bodies in Nepal. Pollution and importance. How do they come together. At OpenVillage hopes to forge links to build similar services to other groups. Making complicated issues more accessible. Bringing the stories and projects together and building a network of interest and potential clients for the same work - through exhibitions, publications, videos, documentaries.
\n\nAt #OpenVillage he\u2019s interested to host a panel session on clean water, where invited experts speak and then open it to new people; problem is many are in Kathmandu and harder to get them to Brussels. Winnie: \u201cthere\'s an active subscene in DIYbio working on water quality. diy analysis methods, open source hardware. Will look up contacts in Lausanne, Switzerland\u201d
\n\nDesigner nurse and community growing, a BA in business enterprise and community development, volunteers in a school garden. Outdoor classrooms. Making rural areas more part of the community. Coliving, co working and retreat, mixing mental health, art therapy, yoga/movement and ecology. Beginning to step into Open Source. In last weeks they did a project where they went to visit Cregg Castle (unused): framed as unMonastery, a co-living and coworking retreat over a short period, through the European Capital of Culture 2020 which Galway won. \u201cMy problem is I do too many things\u201d
At #OpenVillage he doesn\u2019t know what he is able to host, as he\u2019s just out of running an event locally. Most relevant is unMonastery.
\n\nAn acupuncture practitioner; holistic fitness and practices of working with the body, relaxation and breath work, Tai Chi, Hichibuku.. and others. Started his own clinic initially around Dartmoor in SouthWest of England, but will have a new one up and running in the summer as he\u2019s moving to Bridport. Also shows how it can be useful for people with mental health
\n\nAt #OpenVillage wants to do more than a presentation, a demo: actually treat someone and demonstrate how healthcare can work in its more traditional model - more attention to human care. Alex: \u201cI\'d love to see you run the space for people in the morning and then perhaps in th afternoon do a presentation about the process. That way you will have people in the room who have also experienced it\u201d.
\n\nAlso, walk the talk - make sure onsite there\u2019s a little space built in for people to take care of themselves. Alex: I\'d like to see if we could set up something like this: https://harrygiles.org/portfolio/chill-out-corner/
\n\nBio lab and bio space. Open to public. Developing Educational non-profit in the community to push science education to under resourced groups. Helping researchers and orgs to communicate better with each other and public. Generally interested in sustainable models for running a physical community space.
\n\nFor OpenVillage he is curating and looking for people to introduce projects on citizen science and open science, starting with the OpenInsulin global team which he is coordinating in Europe.
\n\nCreative producer, working in theatre. I write and perform poetry, as well as storytelling and playing games. EdgeRyders and OpenVillage ties in with my work with refugees. I\'m a Regional Co-Ordinator for Help Refugees, UK\'s largest Grassroots charity working with refugees in Europe and ME. My interest is in how communities and groups are approaching grassroots and how community led organisations are looking to deal with refugees and asylum seekers within communities around Europe.
\n\nFor OpenVillage session(s) \u201cfor me useful things would be: connections with on-the-ground refugee organisations working in/around Brussels\u201d
\n\nAn American-Egyptian, into educational partnerships on the edge and data analytics for evaluation. Helps run a mental health support programme for students, as he is enrolled himself at the online Minerva university in Buenos Aires, in a 4 years program where the first six months are in Argentina, then one gets to move in seven different countries, from US all the way to Europe and Asia.
\n\nContribute to our Open Programming spreadsheet to make sure you\'re part of the official program and you get the logistics in place, as well as being on track for travel support if you need it.
\n\nIf you\'re new to Edgeryders and not sure how to get started, just leave a comment below, or come to our next community call on Wednesday, at 18:00 PM CET HERE.
', u'post_id': 6360, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-25 08:44:42', u'title': u'Who you will meet at OPENVILLAGE and how we\u2019re doing open programming!'}, {u'content': u'An #OpenVillage Theme
How can we better understand citizen-led responses within the context of government health and social care service provision? We want to illuminate the enabling factors that create communities where health and social care is founded on our natural impulses the human beings to take care of ourselves and one another. Insights as to how to create the conditions for peer-to-peer care, will also reshape how we understand the role of policy in meeting growing health needs. A better understanding will help to create government and regional policies that support and nurture citizen responses rather than displace them and create over-dependency on stretched public institutions, without reducing the responsibilities of the state in relation to the health and well being of its citizens.
The OpenVillage Festival is a #nospectators event. Each talk, workshop or exhibit is contributed by participants. Curators work with session leaders to make the most out of interests and learning expectations. Contribute to how sessions shape up by engaging in discussion threads below the originating post. Or see below for how to go about proposing a session.
| The Edge of Funding - Sustainability and Financial Models You want to sustain the good work you are doing. In a resource strained world, you need to be smarter in how you search and acquire resources. What models are most future proof? A panel + open space discussion! Join the conversation, help shape the session \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t\t Emergency Mutual Aid Medics and mechanics came together to fix up a trailer to support migrants passing through Serbia. Drawing on this, we invite you to share in exploring ways to turn individual experience into collective expertise. Seeing the migrant crisis as a training ground for the crisis of the future - what can we learn about DIY welfare? Join the conversation, help shape the session \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t | \t\t\t Creating Healthy Experiences Drawing on interdisciplinary work from the West of Ireland, this session will involve both conversation and embodied practice in the form of yoga to explore the work of An \xc1it Eile (The Other Place), PreMonastery Galway, Transition Galway, Cos\xe1in Community Wellness and other Galway stories shared in Opencare. Join the conversation, help shape the session \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t
| Policy Redesigned - collaborations to rewire policy The City of Milano and WeMake makerspace are stewards of open care: they run activities where online conversations meet real life, where the city is co-designing with citizens improvements in mobility policies, where people with motor impairment can come together with researchers to develop open source neuroprosthetics. \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t\t Your Session? No spectators - build it as we go! Your session description could be here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below. \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t\t Your Session? No spectators - build it as we go! Your session description could be here.... propose a session by following the steps outlined below. \t\t\t\t\t\t | \t\t
OPEN NOW: call for more sessions! To propose one, take these 3 simple steps:
More information:
#OpenVillage Festival: 19-21 October
\n\n
\n\nVenue: Brussels @ The Reef (TBC)
\n\n
\n\nGet in touch: #OpenVillage on twitter | Community@edgeryders.eu
\xa0In our previous post, we concluded that nobody had really ideated SoundSight all alone\u2026 no solitary genius working on an ingenious solution, no hero. A collision of honest and upfront conversations about existential experiences and a research of numerous solutions that had yet to be exploited in a certain context, rethinking their business models.
\n\nAt this point, SoundSight was a completely new initiative. A virtual gym to train echolocation, and while the idea of features and UX design accumulated quickly, the team pursued a proof-of-concept and something that others could think of as a minimum viable product.
\n\nThe first prototype was a mess. To the users invited to a test, it must have seemed unbelievable how a software engineer could have thought that a piece of software reverberating in a fixed environment and artificial sound would have been enough to suggest how the platform would work. Not to mention, a command line interface, and a rather lengthy procedure to change the position within the simulated environment. But thanks to the outgoing and always positive outlook of Irene, they never thought of disinvesting: SoundSight was an experience for them.
\n\nThe team worked hectically on Irene\u2019s feedbacks, and a really workable proof-of-concept finally became available around Spring 2015.
\n\nLet\u2019s leave it again to Irene\u2019s recollection:
\n\nIrene: \u201cHello Mario[1], we are here again\u2026 this time I promise you will be impressed\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cHi Irene, it\u2019s a pleasure\u2026 and rest assured, last time I was already impressed, although maybe not as you hoped for\u2026 with my friends we have been laughing a lot about your engineer\u2019s idea of a prototype!\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cOh no, Mario\u2026 don\u2019t abuse him, or who knows when we will find another person with the same talent and will to do something meaningful even with no immediate profit in sight! I am counting on you to keep certain things\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cDon\u2019t worry Irene, I have only told the story to one or two\u2026 hundreds of people\u2026 ahahah!\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cDoh! \u2026ok Mario, then to pay you back, today\u2019s text will be extra tough!\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cI am ready for the challenge!\u201d
\n\nIrene sets up the simulation
\n\nIrene: \u201cOK Mario, it\u2019s ready. I would like to ask you to try the first round without me sharing with you any information\u2026 I want you to focus on your impressions only, tell me how it feels\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201clet\u2019s start\u201d
\n\nThe simulation is run, Mario is moved to several places in a cathedral in this virtual world, and listens to the echoes of a tongue click
\n\nMario: \u201cIndeed there have been a lot of improvements, it is smooth now\u2026 last time it was a bit of an annoyance to have to wait for so long every time you wanted to move the position. However, listening to a prerecorded tongue click\u2026 are you sure these are simulations?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cYes Mario\u2026 we know it still requires a bit of imagination, but I assure you this is a real time simulation. Later during the tests, I will offer you the possibility to move the position arbitrarily, and you should notice it. It is definitely on our list of priorities to introduce real-time input of user generated tongue clicks\u2026 we are just not there yet\u2026 you are one of our very early testers, and I cannot thank you enough for that\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cDon\u2019t, I enjoy this experience, and I really like the concept. Somehow contributing to its realization makes me proud. However, you need my honest opinions, and I think the ability to exploit the user\u2019s own tongue click will improve the experience terrifically. I have realized that you have made me move through wide and small environments\u2026 but I haven\u2019t been able to identify where I was.\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cThat\u2019s already quite good Mario! I have only given you one point for each environment, and you have already been able to tell something about them\u2026 you are the best! We will focus on learning curves and performances later again, can you tell me anything else about your general impressions at the moment?\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to tell you more from just this\u2026 maybe we can move to the next exercise?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cYes, here we go. Get ready, and now I will let you walk through the environment of today, and you will hear repeated clicks\u2026 try to guess what it would be\u201d
\n\nJust a quick run of the new scenario on the simulator
\n\nMario: \u201chmmm\u2026 the smoothness has improved a lot\u2026 but I really could not tell you what it is. It seems a large environment, I have been getting away from a wall and after getting closer to another?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cI had told you would not have an easy life, after those jokes about our engineer Mario! But you did quite well. It was a cathedral\u2026 now that I have told you, could you confirm it or would you still be doubtful?\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cLet me try to listen again\u201d
\n\n\u2026the simulator runs again shortly
\n\nMario: \u201cYes Irene, now that I know, it could well be\u2026 I had some doubts, with no context it could have been a theater or a large gym, \u2026\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cIndeed\u2026 now I would like you to do a few exercises\u2026 I will tell you this time what you are going to listen to, precisely, and you will have to focus on the features\u2026 later there will be a test\u2026\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cFor me or for the software?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cFor both, Mario, don\u2019t try to escape your responsibilities\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cAhahah\u201d
\n\nThey run the training set
\n\nMario: \u201cWell Irene, we will see how I perform later\u2026 but you should consider developing an interface to feed information about structures, volumes, and positions, directly to your users\u2026 it is nice to chat with you, but if you really think of this as a tool for making echolocation training accessible to anyone, the fact that you need to have by your side another person as your interface to the system doesn\u2019t add up\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cYou are right. Together with the real-time acquisition of users\u2019 clicks, this interface is at the top of our list of priorities. We are thinking of using a simple tablet of mechanically executed needles to offer a map of the space being tested and a natural interface\u2026 or some haptic 3D interface, but that may be more expensive and complicated. We have not yet looked into that enough\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cYou would need a lot of needles to offer a useful interface\u2026 you can try prototyping something quick maybe with Arduino\u2026 but I would be a lot more curious about the haptic interface. I have seen some applications with holograms and they looked impressive.\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cWe will keep this in mind. Of course, we need to make it as simple and cheap as possible, but still functional\u2026 and we hope the prices of that hardware will be democratized soon. Now that we have taken a small break\u2026\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cWhat break? Are you not letting me off yet?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cMario, let\u2019s just take the test before the coffee\u2026 I will let you off then, for today\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cOk, ok\u2026 a no is not possible anyway, isn\u2019t it?\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cIt\u2019s always possible, but I will insist with a smile\u201d
\n\nThey run the tests
\n\nIrene: \u201dif we compare today\u2019s performances to those from the last tests, both with the software and in the lab with the moving panels, you have really gotten better Mario!\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cBut Irene, how can I be sure if I have truly learned? I mean\u2026 we should arrange tests where there are coupled with some sort of benchmark\u2026 maybe similar tests in real world, you could imagine a mobile lab to do so\u2026 or even just arrange competitions among users\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cThat\u2019s a really good idea, Mario! We will seriously reflect on how to arrange this, but for the time being\u2026 do you think your partner would like to try it out against you?\u201d
\n\nMario: \u201cBut she sees\u2026\u201d
\n\nIrene: \u201cit should not be an advantage, and I promise you I will not show her the screen\u201d
\n\nThis is now a different story\u2026 but after being initially baffled, Mario\u2019s partner took it to her heart to seriously compete with him, and in the end, she won one of the tests, confirming anyone can learn this skill.
\n\n1\xa0Please be reminded that Mario is a blind guy. However, the language of sight is so ingrained in our culture\u2026
', u'post_id': 578, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-11 17:55:07', u'title': u'Collision of Conversations Part 2-Soundsight'}, {u'content': u'With modern day communication technology sharing through email, social media and Skype it rarely encourages people to share the evolution of their project. We often list, number, bullet point, but seldom do we engage in informal discussions where we share knowledge and reflect. It\u2019s in the reflection that we witness human capital being the driving force behind our projects. It\u2019s worth taking a look at SoundSight, whose story has sparked curiosity in co-creating care solutions. \xa0There are many factors that determine the direction of our projects. For\xa0SoundSight\xa0it has been an ongoing commitment of the human capital to bring forward this project.Experiencing co-creation is a method to bring value to patients in a personalized way with the intention to benefit patients in coping with their health and enhance their quality of life. Looks as though co-creating is the road where the community is defining the destination, planning the journey and sharing the drive. \xa0Let\u2019s hear from Irene\u201d
\n\n\u201cI can never thank the Reggio Emilia blind people union enough for accepting me in their community and interacting with me so sincerely and proactively. Let me say that 2 years ago I started spending some time with them, to enquire about their daily challenges, and to shadow some of them (who kindly volunteered) during their daily routines, I had conceived this as any other didactic activity of my university education, excitingly on the field, but not more special\u2026 how wrong could I have been!
\n\nLong story short, I had reached out as part of a design thinking exercise, after brainstorming with my colleagues over social and technical literature to find solutions to the challenge of blind people navigation through living environments, \u201csimply\u201d to extract narratives about what we thought their problem to be and, thus, tune our solutions\u2026 We had succeeded obtaining the information we wanted, we had lists of the defeating features of currently existing solutions, descriptions of use cases, but while working on the desired features, something started to emerge for some of us in the team: another narrative had been seeping through our conversations with the blind volunteers, that we did not consider in advance. Most of the blind people we had talked to, despite agreeing to the obstacles imposed by visual impairment, did not consider that a defining condition and were rather cold to any assistive technology they tested or we described. Instead, narratives of empowerment, education, disintermediation, were flowing through most of their replies, even when our conversations were explicitly biased towards solutions\u201d.
\n\nLet this sink for a moment. And remember that the number one challenge of helping another person is falling in love with the solution one wants to offer, losing sight of the\xa0person\xa0in exchange for the\xa0problem.
\n\nSo we asked Irene to recollect her most significant conversation for us:
\n\nIL (Irene Lanza): \u201cGood morning Maria[\xa0I would like to thank you already for your time\u2026 it is truly precious to me to be able to talk with you\u201d
\n\nMBC (Mother of an 11years old blind child): \u201cGood morning Irene. I have heard about you from my friends and fellows from the blind union\u2026 they say you are a very polite and smart girl\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cAww\u2026 how much will they ask me to pay, now? \u2026haha\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201chaha\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cDid they also already tell you about what I would like to talk today?\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cvaguely\u2026 apparently, you are working on a new technology to assist blind people in their daily life\u2026?\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cThat is fairly accurate, but luckily they did not spoil our fun by letting you in too many details. In facts, we are working at the proof-of-concept of a wearable device that could analyze the surroundings in real time and feed information about objects, their velocities, and positions to a visually impaired user, to allow him/her moving naturally through a living environment\u2026 our challenge is to allow a blind person to play a football game competitively against people with normal vision\u2026 well, we would still not provide talent though\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cSo, are you thinking of something like those apps on the smartphones?\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cWell, not really\u2026 we would have dedicated hardware, and we would like to collect your opinions about how to design the user interface\u2026 a smartphone app would be a proof-of-concept compared to the kind of product design we are pursuing\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cI don\u2019t like this kind of assistive technology much\u2026 you never know it will let you down. So many factors: the signal may be lost, the battery may go down, the app could crash\u2026 what should I do then?\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cThis is exactly what I am here to listen to\u2026 you see, we will collect all these opinions, and try to prioritize features in our design concept\u2026 so, have you already tried some of those?\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cI am constantly exploring and searching for new tricks and tools that could help Mario, so I often talk about this topic with my friends at the union, and I try some them after reading their reviews or hearing their presentations. Most of them are quite far away from real life, for they are very specialized on single use cases, and they rely on infrastructural investments that in our Country are stagnating for too long already. Mario\u2019s problems extend well beyond walking through an airport or a shopping mall or reading the label on a tomato can. The only tool I really find useful is the reader with vocal synthesis on the smartphone: it works pretty well and it\u2019s so precious to be able to listen to any book when audiobooks are still not the norm\u2026\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cSo could you tell me more about Mario\u2019s experience? What do you think are the most commonplace barriers he experiences when going to school? How does he roam around?\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cHe is training with the stick. Many people dislike it, but it is rather dependable and attracts sufficient attention to ensure that other people will be more cooperative and safely behaved. However everyday life can become very problematic. Architectures are often hiding traps that would surprise for the naivety of those who designed the spaces: you would never imagine the feeling of dread when you have just seen your son missing an unprotected element from a window, protruding out of a wall with its sharp corners\u2026 and the use of the spaces themselves can be even more challenging! Hanging wires, doors opening directly on stairs, elements built in non-shock-resistant glass. Many of these, if you ask me, would be dangerous to any child, but if you factor in the inability to forecast what you are going to meet next\u2026 The risk of bad practices escalates quickly!\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cSo school is not a safe haven for Mario\u2026?\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cNot just that\u2026 most activities are not structured to include children like Mario. Schoolbooks are more difficult to find as eBooks for the vocal synthesizer than others. Even then, many graphics, whether didactic or there for testing purposes, remain inaccessible\u2026 and even the teachers, despite being adorable with Mario, are not informed about methods for inclusive teaching\u2026 For example, my husband is a musician, and he has always tried to exploit musical theory to organize our family games (she mocks for me a couple of games based on recognizing the tones, or what an object at home could be based on analogies of noises). We constantly try to use acoustics as a tool to explain concepts, and risks to our child\u2026\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201c\u2026and this, of course, doesn\u2019t happen at school\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cNot even closely. School sometimes becomes a very frustrating experience\u2026 a place of isolation to remind Mario of his diversity. Irene, you are young, you must remember your lectures of geometry, for example\u2026\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cyes, indeed\u2026 mostly graphics are drawn on the blackboard\u2026 I see what you mean\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201ceven our language is geared for the idea that\xa0seeing is believing. Mario often tells me that he has seen a schoolmate with a certain outfit or some event that he is going to tell me about\u2026 he does enormously to find his place in society. And my husband and I do our maximum to help him surpass the social barriers: we teach him games that he can play with his friends, we accompany him to familiarize with the places where he will have to interact with his mates, and we drill into him, constantly, how to react to the unexpected, hoping that panic will never prevail. Technology, instead of these half-baked attempts at substituting vision for simple tasks, should take on education\u2026 there is so much more that is lost in our societies when one cannot see than just reading on a can whether it is tomato or green peas, and nurturing those skills that we all have as fellow humans, rather than focusing on what we lack, would be so much more empowering.\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cwhat you say is very inspirational\u2026 so you believe education is the true mean of supporting Mario\u2026 and what is the place of technology in your vision?\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cwe live in a time obsessed with technology, and we forget that it is just a tool. I have not hidden from you, I am not a big supporter of the idea. For example, we use the e-reader with voice synthesizer\u2026 the problem is extremely important, but not mission critical, and so the technical solution makes sense\u2026 I am not sure I would delegate to technology, or to other humans for what is worth it, many other things on a regular base\u2026 what would be the meaning of life, if you give up on the very experiences that make it worth sharing and living? We are social animals, someone more important than me said once\u2026\u201d
\n\nIL: \u201cMaria, thank you really for letting me peer into your family life\u2026 and thank you for your kind guidance. I hope that we will be able to live to your expectations, but I can already promise you that we will at least try our best!\u201d
\n\nMBC: \u201cIt has been my pleasure Irene, it is so nice to meet a young person trying with enthusiasm to tackle a problem we have to deal and cope with every day. I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to hearing about your progress!\u201d
\n\nWhen Irene went back to the team after this conversation, she was confused, for having just experienced the most confrontational conversation about their project. Irene was moved emotionally by the passion and interest expressed by the mother. An experience that would leave her forever changed and stretched.
\n\nWith Irene insisting, a small group of three people from the original team started diverging from the original path of designing a wearable \u201csmall world\u201d navigation system. They started brainstorming wildly about educational concepts.
\n\nIndependently from the rest of the team, which opposed the need to bring to completion the academic assignment, they sought a new agreement with their mentor and started optimal\xa0thinking at 360\xba. Using 3D ultrasound-based haptic interfaces to offer interactive geometry education or simulators for practical tasks that would completely substitute visualization for acoustic and tactile feedbacks? Most of the early ideas were dropped when their mentor, or people not involved in the team that he suggested to talk to, would object other low-tech solutions (e.g.: wooden models for 3D geometry) could deliver almost the same experience, significantly undercutting the complexities of the projects.
\n\nIt was during this na\xefve and intense search, that their mentor showed them a video of a blind person using tongue clicks to echolocate while biking (!!!). The rest, as they say, is history, and we will share with you a few details about the early testing in a next post\u2026 so follow us \xa0
The challenges for the visually impaired are enormous, so immense are the ramifications for those now living without sight, and so exciting is the initiative on the horizon.\xa0
\n\n*To protect the privacy of individuals the names and identifying details have been changed. \xa0There was a brand indicated, which we discovered is trusted among the blind community, but we do not think it is relevant here.
\n\nThe past year I published on opencare a story about PUNTOZERO, a web lab for healthcare professionals I developed as project for the University of Parma.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOnly after some months I came back to check the post and i found that someone ( @Rune ) replied with a comment. So, I got in touch with Rune and planned to meet at Master of Networks that took place at WeMake in Milan.
\n\nWe could discuss for long and shared many points of view.
\n\nSince then we have been talking about a common little project and how to realize the shared idea of open care to involve and empower patients. We even agreed on writing a academic paper together.
\n\nThanks to the digital ethnography the first results of the network analysis were the metrics about involvement of users. Opencare staff users were the most present and with a higher number of posts and comments.
\n\nThe most active two persons on opencare infrastructures, but not from the staff, were @Federico Monaco (ranks 7th by in-degree) and @Rune (ranks 13th) (for further information check: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/the-wonder-of-open-notebook-science-opencare).
\n\n\n\nThe involvement of Federico Bortot- @Frankie_Bortot - an engineer interested in 3D printing and open assistive technologies could bring in useful skills. The discussion grew as the project about how research could benefit from such breakthrough experiences, especially in the field of assistive technologies and scalable manufacturing. Enrico from WeMake has brought support and enthusiasm in printing assistive prototypes like the one you see in the above picture.
\n\nNow, we are collaborating online (Google Calendar and Google Docs mostly) and offline, meeting quite often at WeMake to design and deliver a local project with common goals....more to come
Is interesting to remark that we are -more or less- following the trajectory represented in the matrix developed during the meeting in Geneva, with the different steps going from 1A to 6F.
', u'post_id': 862, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-07 14:35:21', u'title': u'OpenCare brings people together \u2013 How I met Rune and then committed together to action'}, {u'content': u"Bearing in mind that Serbia is extremely patriarchal country that many many people primarily uneducated, ignorant, limited by dogma, the church has a strong influence, the police is on the side who persecute\xa0LGBTQ,\xa0laws are not adopted nor respected,\xa0even the media are not friendly.
\n\nBeing different in any sense means to be condemned, discriminated against, rejected. Like\xa0it is not enough that we have to\xa0deal with our\xa0demons and problems, and that's not enough, we have to fight with the rest of the world. And what is worse it is futile struggle, doomed to fail.\xa0
\n\nI'm not a member of\xa0\xa0\xa0LGBTQ,\xa0I can not imagine what is happening in their soul,\xa0I believe it's scary and it's hard, extremely hard.\xa0\xa0I am someone who looks soul who hears the words and I really am not interested in anything else, really can not understand why anyone would be bother by\xa0LGBTQ, I ask why?
\n\nWe are free, to do what we want, right? So why,\xa0Some give themselves the right to determine how we should behave, what to eat, who to love, how to dress, to be socially acceptable, and why we shoud care about their opinion.\xa0Unfortunately these moralists are the majority in our country, fake moralists who point out other people's mistakes to cover up their own, chasing people only that they would not be marginalized, persecution, condemn so they would not be convicted, these are people who also suffer, but they\xa0damage others and society as a whole, ALL of that can be cured.\xa0
\n\nFirst, people need to understand that we are all different, but equal, we all have the right and that nobody has the right to endangers or give us verdict\xa0how we're going to live, that everyone should be looking at themselves and their own\xa0life, to solve their problems and \xa0not to care about other people's problems.
\n\ntell me how\xa0wedding and adoption of a child endanger other families, how sex change threatens others, or dresses \xa0make \xa0someone uncomfortable ????
\n\nImagine\xa0pain of \xa0LGBTQ and you, with your limited minds\xa0consider them ill and reject them and persecute, torture and abuse
\n\n\xa0Our society have to change from the root, I regret and\xa0I am ashamed because I live in such\xa0society and \xa0that situation is not changing
\n\nWe have to change family, education, political estambilsmenta, police,
\n\nthe mind is like a parachute works only when it is open
\n\nit is easier to break an atom than a prejudice
\n\nWe need to do the impossible
\n\nI believe that we can, step by step, it will not be easy,but we simply have to change everything , this is not a life and it is not worth to live like that
", u'post_id': 857, u'user_id': 3680, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-31 11:36:12', u'title': u'LGBTQ in Serbia'}, {u'content': u'Attended: Csengele, @Damiano , @Shajara , @WinniePoncelet , @albertorey \xa0can you please add your notes and thoughts with what\'s next for you? leave\xa0a comment?
\n\nCsengele: heard about OpenVillage from the Internet, isnt sure. Student at Waldorf school, "I\xa0don\u2019t work in health\xa0field. In the last year I organized an int\u2019l youth conference for graduates" \u2013 the topic was \u201chow can we create a new world\u201d? How can we see the system that we are now in, step out from highschools, and how to make a change?\u201d
\n\n-How Banks are working and whats the difference with ethical banks;
\n\n-How can we build up communities? \u201cI\u2019m in a gap year\u201d
\n\nDamiano: studied biotech in Rome, 3 main interests: Sharing Economy (FairBnb); Biotech and edu;\xa0Created this association called Net Innovation for a new inno lab \u2013 biohackerspace and broader;
\n\n-We will organize an event in Rural Hub in education near Salermo (Oui Share Summit 2 yrs ago there).
\n\n-Orthoponics in circular economy \u2013 does aquaponics and combines hydrocultivation with the waste from fish
\n\n-Filtered bubbles on Internet: doing a PhD;
\n\n-in general interested in creating connections
\n\n-SAVVY: new platform coop about healthcare \u2013 they won a grant\xa0they connect patients, orgs and researchers
\n\nAlberto: artist, videographer; uses stories and video installations to make complicated i.e. environmental issues more accessible to the public
\n\nShajara: Student at an Argentinian based online uni;
\n\n-Installed solar power streetlights in Brazil
\n\n-Data science in\xa0free time
\n\nAt OpenVillage
\n\nAlberto: We are often preaching to the converted and need to reach to the groups we work for. Try to use aesthetics to seduce the viewer who might not be interested in social issues \u2013 to look at the project as an asthetic work, so they can make their own decisions.\xa0
\n\nWhat outcomes? How communities learn?
\n\n-A few organisations that have done things and continue to be very effective.
\n\n-Alberto: other research project coming up as well, needs to know OV details to finalize travel plans. What support available?
\n\nDamiano:
\n\n-Discussion starting generally, and then what platform can become faircoop? PLATFORM AS A COMMON, community as a shareholder; hopefully it will be ready to launch!
\n\n-Where do we draw the line in what the event is about? It\u2019s an edge event, but under the banners - Social care and healthcare, we need to signal for example\xa03 bigger topics
\n\n[discussion about what is care/ how openscience and education meet...]
\n\nCitizen science and education meet where the educational value of citizen science is taken into account. In the traditional sense, this educational value would be used as a justification for scientists to do citizen science: the masses may learn from participating in research, even if this is done in a menial way. Yet the reasoning should be the other way around: how do we make scientific education resemble citizen science? It promotes skills like creativity, problem-solving and civic mindedness. This connects to other educational reform initiatives that seek to promote the same values, as well as other soft skills.
\n\nCsengele: has seen educational events working with environment projects \u2013 participants working with water; trying to tell students that there is another option, how we shouldn\u2019t stick to what we learn
\n\nAlberto: mentions flyfishing education inserted as an activity in an edu program in the US. Relevant for Damiano, Winnie, ... can be shared for OpenVillage?
', u'post_id': 6372, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-31 18:54:00', u'title': u'Notes from Community Call 31/5'}, {u'content': u'hello Edgeryders,
\n\nI am part of the golden foot collective. we took a mobile independent footcare clinic\xa0and cinema\xa0from scotland to italy and serbia. \xa0To help in the migrant crisis. there were\xa08 of us and we had 2 nurses and 2 mechanics. everyone had done\xa0some international migrant solidarity before. This was a process of upscaling what we were doing. dispite many obsticale.\xa0 it all worked well. \xa0since Then i have been increasingly intrested in best practice. how do we get people to operate well in high stress enviroments?
\n\nreduce there expectations of situations to allow them to see what is happening? how do we get people to learn rapidly as this is the only way to stay on top of quickly changing situations? how can more of the knowledge and expertise that has been aquired be passed on more effectively? \xa0in the long term how do we cultivate high levels of mental resilence so we can face the future well? how does mass empowerment break down into actionable steps in the crisis to come?
\n\ncoming from scotland we live in an end destination. how \xa0can we have effective solidarity with those that live on transit routes as well as those in transit?
\n\nI am producing zines and perhaps in the future i will do a podcast but i come here with alot of questions.
', u'post_id': 860, u'user_id': 3686, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-07 10:08:40', u'title': u'Mobile independent clinic'}, {u'content': u'The World Wide Web is increasingly useful to experiment, produce and research for identities, relations and objects in the field of "Healthcare & Innovation" such as Open Source, Open Access, 3D printing and Additive manufacturing, HCWH (Health Care Without Harm), Augmented and Virtual Reality, Co-Working, Workscaping and other important and emerging issues. The bet of PUNTOZERO is to call for interest and shape a networking model motivating healthcare professionals in sharing experiences and co-driving innovation and care programs together with patients and open networks.
\n\nRead our agenda.
\n\nThe idea at the core of PUNTOZERO is that there are still often missing masses -mainly issues and narratives stood and promoted by citizens and patients- in healthcare sets and education curricula. Such issues turn to be interesting especially when dealing about and advocating for innovation, open source and access, DIY, networking, collaboration, communities of practice, etc... Healthcare professions students handle and study subjects and programs about "healthcare", but often are not trained and motivated in practice to collaboration and innovation, for a better understanding of the society and such fast-changing world. The web represents a formidable "umwelt" for those who like to experiment, network and collaborate even in the field of health information, prevention and biomedical research. It is time to promote open care practices in medical schools, nurse schools and hospitals as well.
\n\n\n\nThe project includes a accessible site via the github pages and the social networks\' groups and profiles; at the same time it supports activities, communication and resources for about 150 students of 5 healthcare professions Masters on 5 e-Learning communities of the University of Parma, in Italy. The MOODLE environment used by students and tutors is shared open source and downloadable from here.
\n\nFree to comment, join and collaborate with us!
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[] Community [] Contact[] e-Learning[] Research [] Social[] Tutorials
\n\n', u'post_id': 686, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-29 10:28:57', u'title': u'PUNTOZERO WEBLAB about innovation and healthcare professions'}, {u'content': u'In 2010 Pakistan was subjected to overwhelming floods which wreaked havoc in the country. More than 20 million people and over 650,000 houses were at the receiving end of this destruction as per Pakistan\u2019s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) report. The province of Punjab was greatly affected, the district of Layyah, in Southern Punjabin particular. Rivers of this region overflowed due to the enormous downpour and 15 union councils (UCs) of Layyah were devastated.\xa0
\n\nIn order to reduce the suffering of people from diseases and hunger, a program was developed to\xa0promote agricultural and helath development in the region and also make stratigies to overcome in future too, Relief International (RI) carried out a thorough assessment in this region. Following the assessment, RI has embarked on a project titled \u2018Rapid Livelihoods Rebuilding via Agriculture & Health\xa0based Livelihood initiatives\u2019 (RL-RALI), in collaboration with the British Asian Trust (BAT) for the rebuilding of agriculture based livelihoods in District Layyah of Punjab, Pakistan. The main goal of this project was to\xa0reconstruct\xa0livelihoods as well as health care and encouraging positive economic development in regard to the population of Layyah district affected most by\xa0flooding.
\n\nOBJECTIVES\xa0
\n\nProject implementaion and stratigies
\n\nProgress Summary\xa0
\n\nThe main goal of this project is/was the reconstruction of livelihoods and encouraging positive economic development in regard to the population of Layyah district affected most by the flooding. Its a good experience to work with community through its local plate form of Community based organizations.We got a positive response in this sense that all community based plate form established their rural health centers/demo plots and mobilized the community for this income generation activity of kitchen gardening. This income generation activity was not only adopted by CBOs but also adopted by other communities and all the voulteers of CBOs are working with the RI team as volunteer and own the work with full participation.
\n\nAlthough we have started this project in July 2012 with limited team but we have achieved majority targets of project in the short period of time that\xa0\xa0not only show the better planning of project but showed the excellent participation of CBOs and community also.
\n\nCntribution is needed now more than ever to ensure livelihood of the farmers with\xa0 Program continues to serve those in most need. ( Farmers expections)
', u'post_id': 855, u'user_id': 3682, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 21:29:39', u'title': u'Rapid livelihoods rebuilding via agriculture & health based livelihoods initiatives'}, {u'content': u'Tutto \xe8 nato da una nostra esperienza
\n\nMonica: \u201cNicoletta? Andiamo a mangiare una pizza?\u201d\xa0
\n\nNicoletta: \u201cCerto! Prenoto per due al solito posto dove puoi mangiare anche tu?\u201d\xa0
\n\nM.\u201cOk!\u201d.
\n\nRistoratore: \u201cBuona sera Signore, avete prenotato?\u201d
\n\nN. \u201cS\xec, per due; nome Nicoletta\u201d. -
\n\nEccoci, sedute al tavolo, scegliamo dal menu la pizza e il cameriere viene a prendere l\u2019ordine.\xa0
\n\nN.\u201cPer me una prosciutto e funghi\u201d
\n\nM. \u201cIo invece..premetto: sono intollerante al glutine e al lattosio...\u201d il cameriere annuisce \u201c...ho letto sul menu che oltre alla pasta senza glutine potete sostituire la mozzarella di latte vaccino con quella di riso...\u201d
\n\nC.\u201cS\xec signora\u201d\xa0
\n\nM.\u201dBene, quindi per me una pizza con farina senza glutine, la mozzarella di riso, crema di zucca e porcini\u201d
\n\nC. \u201cDa bere?\u201d
\n\nN. \u201dUna birra per me!\u201d
\n\nC.\u201dE lei?\u201d
\n\nM.\u201dIo? Che cosa posso bere che non sia acqua?\u201d
\n\nC.\u201dAbbiamo due birre senza glutine\u201d
\n\nM.\u201dQuali?\u201d
\n\nC.\u201dLa Daura e la Peroni\u201d.
\n\nGiro lo sguardo verso Nicoletta con un\u2019espressione rassegnata e penso \u201d...sempre quelle...\u201d
\n\nPassano pochi minuti e al tavolo si ripresenta il cameriere dicendo che la crema di zucca \xe9 terminata e che il pizzaiolo propone una crema di porro in sostituzione. Sgrano gli occhi e penso che non sia proprio il mio giorno fortunato e che la pizza, forse, non avrei dovuto mangiarla. Ho fame per\xf2 e voglio trascorrere una serata serena insieme alla mia amica. A malincuore accetto la proposta del pizzaiolo - \u201cChiss\xe0\u201d.
\n\nArriva la pizza e a quel punto, mi assale lo sconforto pi\xf9 profondo e un senso di disagio che non avevo mai provato; guardo la mia pizza, poi quella di Nicoletta, poi di nuovo la mia, la sua, la mia...
\n\nNon ce la posso fare...assaggio...pare buona...ho tanta fame...dai che mangio...fame, fame, fame: mangio!
\n\nN. \u201cMonica? Mi fai assaggiare?\u201d
\n\nM.\u201dCerto!\u201d
\n\nN.\u201d...Mmm...il sapore non \xe8 male ma questa non \xe8 una pizza! Ha una strana consistenza, si presenta come una pietanza da ospedale. \xc8 proprio triste...\u201d\xa0
\n\nM.\u201c...Gi\xe0...\u201d
\n\n---------------------------------
\n\nQuesta serata per Monica e Nicoletta non \xe8 stata l\u2019unica; altre l\u2019avevano preceduta e altre ancora ne seguirono.
\n\nAd ogni occasione conviviale, presso qualsiasi locale di ristorazione, lo schema che si ripete pare essere sempre lo stesso:
\n\nE in tutto questo? Nicoletta osserva esterefatta e non si capacita di quanto tutto questo provochi un disagio alla sua amica e a tutti quelli che, come lei, hanno allergie e intolleranze alimentari. All\u2019interno dei locali queste persone (malate) vengono spesso confuse con altri clienti che seguono diete vegetariane o vegane frutto di una libera scelta personale e non ad uno stato di salute.\xa0 \xa0
\n\nQui in allegato la pizza di Monica
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 824, u'user_id': 3597, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-22 12:20:21', u'title': u'AllergoKi'}, {u'content': u"All of my studying and experiences encouraged me to learn more about the world we live in, particularly its population, demographic trends, societies, economies, cultures and the environment .With a growing interest in issues such as migration, climate change, environmental degradation and social cohesion, the present is a perfect time to be involved in a subject that literally touches everybody. We also must know and understand the characteristics of the population and problems. Gender Equality is an issue that increasingly attracting attention and I'm glad that it is so, because we have to face with problems in intention to solve. Especially in the Balkans because of the tradition, male dominance and patriarchy dogma, we can`t even speak about gender equality. Violence against women is a common phenomenon, discrimination in employment, obtaining dismissal due to pregnancy, sexual harassment at work, on the street, not to mention the Roma communities, where women have almost no rights, the situation is bad, and even alarming.
\n\nWomen are treated as less valuable, challenging their basic human rights. The right to education, freedom of movement, the right to vote, the right to decide about their marriage, not to be forced, mutilated or rejected by family, society if they do not abide by traditional rules and norms, teen marriage, teen pregnancy, violence against a woman, more often situation.
\n\nThe violence being perpetrated against girls and women it takes on epidemic proportions.
\n\nAnd instead of every day a woman to be given more heed, honored, a pillar of society and the family, it is at the margin, not only neglected but also abused, physically and mentally exhausted,, without the right to fight for themselves ,their \xa0life, their well-being.
\n\nWomen who are the most oppressed are precisely those without education, personal income . How many women and girls were sexually exploited, raped ...
\n\nWhat are the primary tasks?
\n\n\xa0To be primarily pledge any form of violence and abuse, to provide education, training. Selection of partners is free will, the right to contraception, the right to health care, the right to equal pay, the right to be employed, not to be discriminated just because it's a woman, it does not get fired when she went on maternity leave, to receive compensation while pregnant, the right to social protection, in health insurance and care.
\n\nThe right to engage in politics of his country, to participate in the economy, not only as a worker, but also as an entrepreneur, manager, trustee
\n\nTo be more women in science, the arts, that were not created just to take care of home, children, family, that are free to read, write, engage in teachings, scientific research\u2026.
\n\nMany seem that women seek the impossible, seek the same thing does not belong to them. Women do not seek a special status, not seeking privileges.
\n\nWomen \xa0demand the respect that every human being deserves, looking for the opportunity to be the best version of yourself, achieve talents, looking for an opportunity to live freely, go towards achieving its objectives without fear that they will be attacked, abuse, put down, ridiculed\u2026 crippled
\n\nMany studies have shown the importance of women in large companies and how important it is to have greater participation of women in the labor,\xa0The whole society has benefits and profit from that, also\xa0economic empowerment of women can give them the strength and the power to fight for their rights.\xa0What is I have to emphasis\xa0totally crazy, to fight for something that is obvious and should be guaranteed.\xa0But since we live in such a country and such a world, which I will say freely that's gone completely crazy.
\n\nThe first thing we have to teach girls, because some things are taught from childhood, that the slap is not love, that no one have right to beat you, there is no reason to be afraid. You have\xa0to forget that terrible sentence, you're a girl, you you have to let go, you have to listen, \xa0you must be good,\xa0obedient
\n\nWell, \xa0you do not have to do anything
\n\nBe good and obedient and you'll be good and obedient patients
\n\nIf you're a girl, you do not have to do anything that you do not like, house, kids, kitchen, It is not your job by default, \xa0you can be scientist, pilot, astroanut, everything you want
\n\nOf course, a question of love, partners, children, number of children, or abortion, should be your choice, initiation of sex and number of partners is also your thing, \xa0to love, to be loved, free, jealousy is not proof of love, respect and friendship are very important, you have a right to do what you want when you want and not worry about social norms, because only happy persone have good thoughts and \xa0works good, Society where women are sitting home and deal with the housework is dead. We need all the strengths and capable\xa0and smart and successful women, because obviously while men are leding,\xa0we can not talk about peace and prosperity, we should agree to disagree, to respect and appreciate each to give\xa0positive example because children learn from their parents, scattered on the model, so change must start from family, parents, environment, kindergartens, schools ... this is serious story , a wide and large, but the success is guaranteed if we work together, jointly, it is not enough to have a law that sanctioned violence, because in every segment of society and at every step of women suffer some form of discrimination, some form of abuse, violence, really suffer if they are young and pretty, and if they are ugly and old, have always been the subject of ridicule, gossip, and never good enough and ther is \xa0always something wrong , they have to be perfect to be loved because they are \xa0upbringing in that manner, it is a huge burden, that burden must be rejected, it's okay to be imperfect it's okay to have a bad day, to smilie\xa0and \xa0to be good...
\n\nIt is a great theme, and very serious and \xa0requires indispensable\xa0large and big steps to make the change, so we\xa0won't\xa0any more\xa0read about dark statistics or to be a part of it,
\n\nI forgot about inadequate or not existing\xa0 health status of women and treating them, how horrible gynecologist acting,\xa0a large number of cancers that are not detected at time, shame, \xa0when they\xa0give birth listen insults and so on...
\n\n\xa0I want you to understant situation in my country, importance of the problem and that action is needed, that will not be easy, but it is something that must do\xa0because it is not a choice any more it is our obligation.
", u'post_id': 858, u'user_id': 3680, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-31 10:56:08', u'title': u"Women's rights on paper only, the situation in Serbia"}, {u'content': u'WeHandU aims to establish an online platform, where users can share, browse and modify projects\xa0capable of helping people affected by disability.
\n\nWeHandU tryes to solve the problem everyone with disability encounters: prosthesis are not personalized and often need to customized in regard of each personal need.
\n\nThe target is everyone intersted in or affected by disability, ready to learn, design, share and produce their personal device to deal with one (or more) disability.
\n\nWeHandU consists of a site where users can browse a database of existing solution, and can share their own ideas. A group of chosen user, called MENTORS, will help develop ideas that look promising, granting a solid know-how in many field (design, engineering, law, medicin, etc.).
\n\nWeHandU will be an online site, but the focus is on customised items, thus it will be strongly connected to 3D printing technology.
\n\n\n\nCreative Commons license
\n\nThe project is still gathering minds to achieve its goals. The site is online, but it\'s still an early build with very few functionalities.
\n\nWeHandU is at the development stage: we need to put in practice our ideas!
', u'post_id': 835, u'user_id': 3634, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-11 14:06:08', u'title': u'[MIR application] WeHandU - Kickoff Event'}, {u'content': u'Dopo la presentazione pubblica del progetto open rampette, un\u2019iniziativa pilota per il miglioramento dell\u2019accessibilit\xe0 degli esercizi commerciali promossa dal Comune di Milano e da WeMake | fablab e makerspace all\u2019interno del progetto opencare, gioved\xec 11 maggio si \xe8 tenuto il primo incontro di co-progettazione.
\n\nL\u2019incontro ha avuto luogo dalle 18.30 alle circa 21.00 presso LaStecca3.0, uno spazio innovativo ed accogliente per la socializzazione e la condivisione di diversi progetti legati al quartiere Isola di Milano e non solo.
\n\nIncentrato sull\u2019approfondimento dell\u2019esperienza legata all\u2019accessibilit\xe0 in un esercizio commerciale tramite gli elementi di pulsante \u2013 chiamata \u2013 rampa, il focus della co-progettazione \xe8 stato condotto ed analizzato sia da parte di chi deve effettuare la chiamata per accedere (tramite campanello) e sia da parte di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l\u2019accesso al proprio negozio.
\n\nClicca qui per accedere e scaricare la presentazione slide e qui per visualizzare la galleria fotografica.
\n\nDopo la presentazione ed introduzione al progetto open rampette, i\xa0partecipanti sono stati divisi nei due gruppi di interesse: il gruppo Dionisio (incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve effettuare la chiamata per accedere all\u2019esercizio commerciale) e il gruppo di Minerva (incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l\u2019accesso al proprio negozio).
\n\nEntrambi i gruppi sono stati supportati e facilitati dai membri dello staff di WeMake e dal Comune di Milano, proponendo per ciascun gruppo: 1 moderatore, 1 assistente moderatore, 1 osservatore, 1 maker e 1 rappresentante del Comune di Milano.
\n\nI due tavoli di discussione sono stati gestiti in due stanze separate, per poter permettere libera e serena condivisione delle proprie problematiche e riflessioni. Durante la gestione dei tavoli sono stati utilizzati diversi strumenti: la \u2018Storia di Dionisio\u2019 e la \u2018Storia di Minerva\u2019, una lista di domande atte a generare una discussione aperta e mirata e una mappa di post-it realizzata sul momento per captare intuizioni ed opinioni salieni al tema da trattare.
\n\nLa lista di domanda \xe8 stata strutturata partendo da una parallela discussione online tramite la piattaforma di EdgeRyders.
\n\nIl tema della CHIAMATA, legato all\u2019utilizzo degli elementi di pulsante \u2013 chiamata \u2013 rampa, \xe8 solo uno dei tanti temi che verranno proposti ed esplorati durante i diversi e prossimi appuntamenti di open rampette.
\n\nClicca qui per leggere il report del gruppo di Dionisio, e qui per il gruppo di Minerva.
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 842, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-16 13:47:38', u'title': u'Open rampette | la chiamata | incontro 11.05 @ LaStecca3.0'}, {u'content': u'Community Conversations can have an impact in various ways, from discussing challenges, catalyzing collaborations or changing the direction of the project and creating new initiatives.
\n\nThis was the case for Sara\xa0Savian\xa0and Mauro Alfieri, creators of reHub. The glove designed for proprioceptive rehabilitation and to recover movement fluidity after an injury.\xa0 It allows the patient to record and report exercises, data- such as hand position and fingertips pressure.
\n\nIn 2014 Sara\xa0Savian\xa0and Mauro Alfieri started their journey with a \u201ctest on sensors \u201cand they had presented their first prototype at the Arduino User Group & Wearables community at WeMake. The purpose for this to share projects, knowledge and create discussions on Arduino and Wearables and smart textiles.\xa0 The intent was to explore how it can be used? How can it add value and be of use socially?\xa0 What could be built on this foundation? These discussions could change the course for many participants.
\n\nSara and Mauro not only had many questions answered, but they left with the idea of going back to the drawing board and creating something that would be beneficial to society.
\n\nA conversation between a physiotherapist and someone suffering from hand disability created inquiry for Sara and Mauro. They exchanged and shared thoughts on their project, how could it be of use and that led to further discussion. It was the trigger point for them and a stepping stone for their project. We can\u2019t capture every discussion that took place as dialogue is woven into many discussions. But this one interaction planted the seed for what is now reHub.
\n\n\xa0We asked Sara to recollect this conversation:
\n\nJohn: "I suffer from a hand disability that limits my activities of daily life. Self-sufficiency is greatly reduced and hinders the quality of life for me. Constant monitoring of my movements and joints must be done frequently to evaluate my progress by and going back and forth as an outpatient for evaluations. This interferes with my daily activities\u201d*
\n\nPhysiotherapist: \u201cThere has been an advancement in technologies in the rehabilitation to help patients achieve maximum recovery outcomes. In Italy, physiotherapists have no access to digital tools to evaluate rehabilitative progress for hand movements. Having instant access to this therapy anytime would be greatly beneficial.*
\n\nWe asked Sara and Mauro how this conversation altered the course for reHub.
\n\nSara: \u201cThis made us re-evaluate our project in a variety of ways and prompted us to think in broader terms and combine the "test on sensors" with solving a problem. We know that there is a lot of learning that needs to be done when you put the device in the hands of people that are just things you would not expect".\xa0
\n\nMauro: From this discussion, Sara and I saw the opportunity offer a solution and an experience of an emerging area of wearable technology together with the sensing technology and decided to create a device that could be delivered in a rehabilitation approach to support patients\u2019 and to monitor hand rehabilitation. From listening to challenges that are faced on a daily basis, and realizing how painful it is for the patient and family. We need to work with them to help co-create with us\u201d.
\n\nWith the project in its early stage, Sara wanted to share this:
\n\nSara: \u201cThere is much work to do including working with actual users and receiving their feedback. With the goal of making it open source, fully customizable and adaptable, a community of user is required. We are solving the problem of monitoring the progress of rehabilitation therapy and the people directly impacted must be included.\u201d
\n\nWe asked what\u2019s next for reHub.
\n\nSara: "We know that rehabilitation is time-consuming and demotivating and we plan to change that with a reHub device to empower patients through their therapy. Rehabilitation is often costly, by making it open source, it\u2019s affordable and accessible for people who are living with limitation and this could drastically improve their mental well-being during the road of recovery\u201d. This will allow the vast majority of patients to be sent home with a rehabilitation program to practice on their smartphone or tablet."
\n\nThe reHub team is taking a broad approach in this area and looking for users and a community that will benefit and help develop different options: sport, gaming, educational, medical.
\n\nWhy is it important to work with the community to further develop reHub?
\n\nSara: "Spending time with a community, or patients that will benefit from what you\u2019re creating is looking at the problem in a human-centered way and it highlight\u2019s what\u2019s needed instead of just relying on responses to questions. Spending time with people in the area of use is a really important step in the design process. So we\u2019re back to the drawing board. We need to know what from the user\'s perspective so we can design with them in mind."
\n\nCo-creation, it matters. There is the emotional and functional connection that people have to a medical device. As far as functional, understanding how people use things, what they need to get done daily. \xa0When we think of medical devices we initially think of accuracy, consistency, making sure it delivers the expected results. These are crucial reasons why design should be human oriented.
\n\nMauro Alfieri: \u201cWe thank all the physiotherapists we have had a chance to meet with \xa0which could effectively confront the future of this project, orienting it to a continuous use in proprioceptive physiotherapy."
\n\nIf people can\u2019t achieve expected results due to a design issue or flaw, then that\u2019s obviously going to have a clinical impact. From a functional aspect, understanding how people use things does matter. This is where engineering, design and the community will benefit and need to work hand in hand to understand these components. It\u2019s crucial to consider human emotions when designing medical products. Often, it\u2019s the emotional connections that people have with respect to the design. Is it flexible? The weight, how it feels, is it aesthetically appealing?
\n\nThen, of course, cost and accessibility that make people gravitate toward certain devices as opposed to others. With the joined forces of diverse backgrounds of Sara and Mauro, reHub will be addressing all these concerns.
\n\nreHub-goal-oriented effective rehabilitative treatment and experience that will help patients return to family, job, community and resume regular daily activities.
\n\nMore updates to follow.
\n\n*The name of John and Physiotherapist have been used to maintain privacy.
', u'post_id': 861, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-06 11:19:24', u'title': u'Community Conversations -reHub'}, {u'content': u'This week the opencare team of WeMake welcomed a new member.
\n\nLorenzo Romagnoli (http://lorenzoromagnoli.me/) is an interaction designer that will be in charge of developing the mock-up and co-designing with users and other makers the needed prototypes for the projects openrampette and MIR.
\n\nAs first mission Lorenzo will be in charge of the \u201ccall\u201d part of openrampette; i.e. the device, or the solution meant to call the shop attendants. The result should be a \u201cgood\u201d mock-up to be discussed on in the next meeting of \u201cuser research\u201d with the shop owners themselves. The design side is improving now that the projects have been developed and could involve and motivate many people. It\'s the turning point from design thinking to the making.
\n\n\n\nThere is a hard work on coordinating activities, plans, schedules, people, and it can be done only in a shared and collaborative way. Infact, the issue i\'m currently working on is about leadership.
\n\nA liquid and seamless leadership making possible such performance made up of details and roles taken time by time by the many here around. There are skills, shifts and duties that can be interchanged; other are very specific and will need a bit of training, or briefing.
\n\nJust today, I was considering how much decisions are based on situations and how much situations are shaped by the technological means used by the team. Chats, online files, networks and software are such a heterogeneous and complex network to face the complexity of turning design sessions into events, actions and artifacts.
', u'post_id': 852, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 16:07:57', u'title': u'Design thinking, Design making... a big difference!'}, {u'content': u'Hi all, yesterday (2nd of June) I had a Google Hangout with Noel Carrascal on designing the insulin construct. Relevant to @WinniePoncelet, @BramDeJaegher.
\n\nPost-translational insulin consists of two chains (A and B) that are bonded through disulfide bonds. In humans this is obtained through post-translational modification of a single peptide chain. Such machinery is not available in an E. coli host. Noel is studying how to design the construct for insulin such that a the two parts can reliably find each other.
\n\nHis design is based on the strong affinity between barnase and barstar. Barnase (resp. barstar) are connected to one of the insulin chains using a linker. When the barnase-barstar complex is formed, insulin should form by proximity. This also circumvents the risk of the formation of two chains of the same kind bonding (A-A or B-B).
\n\nSuch insuline-barnase-barnstar complexes should aggregate into a large complex of many such molecules, from which pure, functional insulin can easily be cleaved. Admittedly, I did not follow this 100%.\xa0
\n\nThe challenge here is to design such linker as such the complex can be formed. To this end, Noel writes his own software to do mechanistic molecular modelling. He computes all the molecular (polar, Vanderwaals, \u2026) interactions between amino acids to finally obtain the stability of a complex. For a given linker, this is represented by a set of (sparse) matrixes quantifying the strength of the interactions between the amino acids.
\n\nThis is the point where machine learning comes into play:
\n\nMichiel out!
', u'post_id': 6379, u'user_id': 3641, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-03 08:37:46', u'title': u'Meeting Noel Carrascal on molecular modelling'}, {u'content': u'Tell us what you are doing to get #openvillage tickets, fellowships and more!
\n\n
"Reagent is a term used in chemistry to describe a process in which one determines a presence of a substance by sparking a chemical reaction with it."\xa0\n\n
Edgeryder member Winnie Poncelet is\xa0working at\xa0Reagent Lab, an open space designed to spark interest in the sciences, and\xa0doing so by the intersection of biology and open source technology.
\n\nReagent aims to replace outdated methods of teaching biology with a renewed focus on developing sustainable solutions for the future using\xa0accessible\xa0and open scientific methods and technology.
\n\nReagent\xa0offers paid and free programs, with the former as well as memberships\xa0used to sponsor free applicants coming from underprivileged\xa0backgrounds.\xa0
\n\n"Places like ReaGent spark creativity in sciences by working in an accessible, open and flexible manner. Their mission now is to give access to this type of education to the whole of Flanders, and extend their network by inviting for example designers to come and create biodegradable materials."\n\n
Reagent is currently working on the Open Insulin project, a collective open source project to research less expensive ways of making insulin, which you can read more about\xa0here. You can follow all their other projects at\xa0reagentlab.org
\n\nAs part of our preparations for the OpenVillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem.
\n\nBy October 19th to the 21st we aim to:
\n\nGood For You
\n\nWhen you post you will get a ticket to OpenVillage: Meet the OpenCarers. When you post you become eligible for the Open Fellowship.
\n\nGood For Everyone
\n\nYour input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century.
', u'post_id': 6383, u'user_id': 3622, u'timestamp': u'2017-06-05 12:30:19', u'title': u'ReaGent: Bringing quality biology education to every child equally'}, {u'content': u'Where do young people go to when they grief? Do they cry alone in their bedrooms? Do they logon to the internet? How do young people in grief find each other? Do they phone a friend? Do they enter a counselling centre? Do they search through hashtags and websites?
\n\nDeath has never been more public than in the age of the internet. Alongside waves of #RIP[insertcelebrity] tributes and #[nameofvictim] police shooting activism proliferating on social media are viral posts of everyday people approaching grief and documenting their experience on the internet: recounting a person\u2019s final days, parting words and gratitude from the deathbed, captures of assisted suicide and \u201cright to die parties\u201d, and families commemorating the deceased.
\n\nThese experiences of death and loss have been augmented and prolonged with the growth of social media use. More specifically, the ways in which a social media platform is structured and the dominant culture of its users has allowed people in grief to process their loss in innovative ways \u2013 new spaces of affect are created, new paralanguage vocabularies are innovated, and new transient networks of care are formulated.
\n\nResearch has emerged in various disciplines focusing on internet memorial pages (in which the deceased and/or their funeral is commemorated on a public page), digital altars and graves (in which the living pay respects to the dead via technological mediations), afterlife digital estate management (in which the transfer and privacy of internet artifacts belonging to the deceased are negotiated), and even RIP trolling (in which trolls hijack Facebook memorial pages with abusive content). There is even an academic journal and a handful of institutes dedicated to \u201cDeath Studies\u201d.
\n\nFor instance, monuments.com enables clients to personalize cemetery headstones with a QR code. By scanning the QR code with a smartphone, users are led to an interactive website where they may upload images and text of well wishes to the deceased and their family, or contribute to building their family heritage through stories or family trees. Users are also able to re-share their post on more mainstream social media.
\n\nAs an anthropologist and ethnographer of digital culture, I have a comprehensive understanding of such practices. But when my younger sister passed away earlier this year, the ways in which her friends expressed and managed their grief in digital spaces led me to discover a rich repertoire of coping mechanisms, exchange of affect, and mutual aftercare in a vernacular created by young people who grew up with the internet - these really moved my heart and encouraged me to examine young people and grief in digital spaces.
\n\nBut\xa0just what is mutual aftercare? Often after a global grieving event such as large-scale natural disasters or spates of violence, strangers would gather in public spaces that transform into transient sites of solidarity. With candles, flowers, and written tributes in tow, strangers come together to process their grief, share their grief, and lend support to those in grief. Bodies who are not familiar with each other are motivated by the immediate, tangible, and tactile presence of other bodies in an enclosed space to disperse emotions they would usually restraint, and dispense care they would usually withhold when the group\u2019s motivations are briefly aligned. Sociologist Emile Durkheim refers to this as \u201ccollective effervescence\u201d. This is \u2018aftercare\u2019, or the care one offers to others after a hurtful experience. When people come together to publicly acknowledge their pain and simultaneously offer care and concern to fellow others in pain, this becomes a network of \u2018mutual aftercare\u2019. Young people seem to be doing similar things in digital spaces, and I wanted to find out how.
\n\n*
\n\nBeing a young person in my mid-twenties for whom the internet and social media is second nature, I seamlessly took to my blog to make sense of my grief and loss. I wrote about my experiences of \u201cholding space\u201d for my sister in her final days (see also Heather Plett), and about learning to declutter physical artifacts despite my abstract emotional attachment to these things. I also wrote about how I felt when Facebook friends began \u201cdeep-liking\u201d my old posts on grief and how it impeded my progress and recovery. As much as I felt hurt and disappointed by these peers, I could not justify my anger knowing that digital etiquette is not universal \u2013 knowing how to approach someone in grief on social media or how to express grief on social media is not actually \u201ccommon sense\u201d. Digital etiquette varies across personal beliefs and cultural norms, and is highly dependent on the context of interpersonal relationships and the norms of a social media platform. In other words, digital etiquette surrounding grief has to be taught, learnt, and practiced.
\n\nI was both a young person managing grief in digital spaces and an ethnographer invested in understanding everyday practices through intimate anthropological inquiry. To do this, I conducted personal interviews with young people who self-reported using digital media (i.e. the internet, social media, devices and artifacts, non-analogue spaces) to manage their grief. I started with friends in my sister\u2019s social groups, made open calls to undergraduates in local universities, and amassed informants via snowball sampling.
\n\nI wanted to understand what young people did on the internet to recover and how this differed from analogue coping mechanisms pre-social media. I wanted to learn how they constructed solidarity, conveyed empathy, and maintained networks of mutual aftercare. Some also showed me their smartphone apps so that I could study how they crafted content, ranging from emotive Instagram captions of meaningful photographs to extensive digital catalogues of every tactile item the deceased has ever touched.
\n\nI learnt that a vocabulary of grief was quietly emerging among young people. For instance, emoji and emoticons were especially significant as a paralanguage. Some reported that \u201cwhen words fail\u201d, or when they \u201chad no strength\u201d to craft responses back to friends who had sent them condolences, they would mobilize emoji or emoticons to acknowledge receipt, demonstrate reciprocity, or express gratitude. One person who had lost his father to a critical illness said that while \u201cthe adults\u201d in his family did not seem to articulate their grief and loss to each other (\u201cthey strictly never said anything about it in the house\u201d), those in his generation such as his cousins took to Facebook to comfort each other via status updates and follow-up comments. Another young person began a groupchat on the messaging app WhatsApp and recruited friends of the deceased from all walks of life into the chat. They used the groupchat as a semi-private outlet to share their thoughts without having to worry about self-censorship \u2013 many of them felt Facebook was \u201ctoo public\u201d, that email was \u201ctoo impersonal\u201d, and that meeting in person was \u201ctoo soon\u201d, \u201ctoo painful\u201d, or \u201ctoo awkward\u201d. As such, the space of a groupchat accorded them the freedom to process grief more transparently among empathetic others in a safe space; the groupchat became a space of mutual aftercare.
\n\n*
\n\nThe need to understand young people\u2019s grief in digital spaces became clearer to me as I began consulting and conversing with healthcare professionals in palliative care. One hospice nurse expressed that as a patient approaches their end of life, most family members would single-heartedly focus all their effort and affect on that one person. Upon the death of their loved one, many people are suddenly hit with grief all at once and are unable to transit into care for each other, or \u201ccare for the living\u201d. In other words, despite social workers and counsellors preaching the value of \u201ccare chains\u201d, many people who are deep in grief simply do not have the mental capacity and physical resources to plan for self-care or mutual aftercare.
\n\nAnother doctor reported seeing an increasing number of young patients in their late teens or early-to-mid twenties. Sorrowfully recounting a memorable incident in which her young patient instructed her to post a specifically-worded status update on his Facebook after death, she came to realize that young people deeply valued their digital estates as platforms to communicate gratitude and farewells even on their deathbed. In a handful of other instances, young patients requested for their doctors and counsellors to add them on Facebook or to read their blog in order to access sentiment they felt incapable of articulating in person, in physical spaces, via traditional media
\n\nDespite the very crucial work that such palliative staff engage in, much of this work is negotiated ad hoc on-the-go as they \u201cplay by ear\u201d. Most staff do \u201cwhat feels right\u201d based on their individual relationships with their patients, or on their personal concepts of etiquette and ethics. In other words, once we have a better understanding of how young people grief in digital spaces, palliative healthcare workers can be equipped to guide their young patients and clients using their preferred coping mechanisms, devices, and vocabulary. To a generation for whom death and grief are increasingly public spectacles, such care will be crucial to preserving the mental well being of cohorts to come.
\n\n*
\n\nHave you ever commemorated the death of a loved one in digital spaces? What did you do? How did others respond to you?
\n\nWhenever you witness someone sharing their grief on social media, how do you feel? Does it motivate you to respond to the person in particular ways?
\n\nHow can we use social media more conscientiously so as to create spaces for mutual aftercare?\xa0What can we do for each other in digital spaces whenever a global grieving event occurs?
\n\nWe would love to hear from you.
\n\n*
\n\nThis article was written by Dr Crystal Abidin for OpenCare Research, Edgeryders. Crystal can be contacted at wishcrys.com. The production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 548, u'user_id': 3397, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-11 11:51:58', u'title': u'Young People and Grief in Digital Spaces'}, {u'content': u'Ciao Edgeryders, \xa0
\n\nIl progetto open rampette \xe8 adesso pi\xf9 che mai in rampa di lancio! Avremmo bisogno di un piccolo contributo dalla community!\xa0
\n\nPremessa:
\n\nL\u2019incontro dell\u201911 maggio, di cui trovate report qui, \xe8 stato molto interessante e ci ha permesso di costruire una buona mappatura dell\u2019esperienza del Dioniso e Minerva che si trovano a confrontarsi quotidianamente con le problematiche dell\u2019accessibilit\xe0 degli spazi pubblici. \xa0
\n\nScopo del post:
\n\nPer raccogliere ulteriori osservazioni e considerazioni relative all\'esperienza di utilizzo della rampetta temporanea e del relativo campanello di chiamata, abbiamo preparato un questionario sulla base della traccia delle domande utilizzate durante l\u2019incontro dell\u201911 aprile.
\n\nNello specifico vogliamo approfondire il punto di vista di Dioniso (leggi la storia di Dioniso), colui che vuole accedere ad un esercizio commerciale ma \xe8 impossibilitato da un ostacolo di tipo fisico (ad esempio lo scalino dei negozi che impedisce l\'accesso a persone in carrozzina, con mobilit\xe0 limitata, ecc.).
\n\nCome puoi aiutarci:
\n\nTi sei mai trovato nei panni di Dioniso? Come ti sei comportato? Raccontaci la tua esperienza compilando il form qui\xa0e/o condividi il questionario nel tuo network.
\n\nLink: https://goo.gl/forms/ob7SBC5Om4VAHXLH2\xa0
\n\nProssimi passi:
\n\nLe storie e i dati che raccoglieremo saranno alla base della progettazione che verr\xe0 portata avanti nelle prossime settimane.
', u'post_id': 851, u'user_id': 3674, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 14:34:53', u'title': u'Open rampette | la chiamata | Questionario utilizzo della rampa mobile a chiamata'}, {u'content': u"Respected,
\n\nIt is my pleasure to introduce myself. Unique experiment of nature, kind, sweet, cheerful, positive, charismatic, did I mention good looking? I have a couple of certificates\u2026\u2026and so on\u2026 curious and creative, eager to learn, to travel, have fun\u2026
\n\n\xa0 I live in Serbia, the Balkans, reason enough to be interested in current events in the world and region. Turbulent past, dynamic present and an uncertain future, burdensome by intolerance and conflicts in the region, which I personally found not only unnecessary but also totally crazy, because we all have the same desires and dreams, to live freely, love unconditionally, have fun, learn, be independent, travel, have amazing adventures, the best parties \u2026. without regard to national and religious affiliation, skin color, eye color\u2026 there are too many prejudice, inequality, unprotected and vulnerable people, there is gender inequality, intolerance, social injustice, poverty, hunger, disease, non-existent or inadequate health care, problems of refugees, racism\u2026. I do not know why and I`m trying to understand. Injustice affects me terribly. We learn history in order to avoid the mistakes which were made and were pretty catastrophic, and to me it seems like we constantly repeat the same errors. I have learned not to judge in advance, that all deserve respect, a smile, a kind word, that the mind is like a parachute works only if it is open, that in the period of globalization, IT progress, revolutionary discoveries, scientific achievements, robotics, nanotechnology \u2026 we must not think about limits, all barriers and borders exists\xa0 only in our heads., I perfectly understand what it means conflict, and detest it, I hate arguing, hate conflicts. I watch the news, read a newspaper and follow social networks and\xa0 I can say there is too much violence, too much suffering, too much of everything negative, the constant threat of war, terrorism\u2026just too much. I want a better world, a better society, a better life for all, it is important to take care of others, to be open-minded. I want more, I need more, no one should be afraid for ones lives, children must not be hungry, barefoot, on the streets, women must not be abused, people should not be expelled from their homes, the world gone crazy and we desperately need all people of good will who want and have the knowledge and strength to fight, not only to philosophize and criticize, but also commit to work, to improve our society, day after day, devotedly\u2026
\n\nThey tell us that as individuals we cant do anything, at least anything important, that we are still small, young and inexperienced, but adults forget, and sometimes reduces our value, ignored it, forget it under the weight of today circumstances. We are thirsty for knowledge and education, we might be weak, but snowflakes are gentle and weak until they connect, then they become strong. We need to connect, as snowflakes, the youth of the region and the world, only united we can be strong, important, perhaps adults hear us and listen. When children quarrel, they quickly reconcile because its not important to be right, but to be happy. We should accept that we do not have to agree on everything, sometimes can agree to disagree, but we have to respects others' way of life, other people's opinion, that we can discuss about everything, not argue, talking in order to generate ideas, information, positive energy.. To find the solution for all problems and dilemmas, make projects, succeed.
Somehow it feels despair and uncertainty it should not be so, we are young, we have desire and we can change everything that we do not like.
\n\nIt is essential to connect, and I read that nothing brings people together as well as living a happy accident, if it is true, We, all\xa0 in this region, the Balkans, we have more opportunities to be close, strong and organized than anyone else in the world, everything we've been through good and bad, sometimes on opposite sides, unfortunately, but we survived, war and killing, and we must never repeat it, we also\xa0 sang and celebrated and rejoice together, it was perhaps more sadness and unhappiness, but if there is justice in life, in future we should have only lucky days, happiness. Good neighborly relations like friendship and trust builds, slowly and gradually, all that is good and valuable in life, takes time. First we need to forgive. Forgiveness is possible only with understanding, that is why this camp is super idea, to understand together what had happened, impartial, draw lessons from history, in order to continue, this time better, smarter.
\n\nThe goal is to make the world a better and more humane place, sustainable, use space in the best possible way, with full respect of nature and population needs, because that's the point of studying, find the best way to reconcile nature and society to meet human needs, give vision of the future, the objectives of the future development.
\n\nEverything is connected and the problems must be considered as a system, If one part of the system does not work properly, it reflects on other parts of the system.
", u'post_id': 854, u'user_id': 3680, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 18:17:44', u'title': u'Other aspects of behavior patterns of humans'}, {u'content': u'Reagent is a term\xa0used in chemistry to describe a process in which one determines a presence of a substance by sparking a chemical reaction with it.
\n\nIn Ghent, ReaGent is a space opened by enthusiasts of bioengineering in order to spark interest and passion for natural sciences among the citizens of the city. And to prove that the increasing know-how will play a huge role in innovation and future of technology, also with a local focus.
\n\nPeople are more and more aware that biology will shape future technology, by improving its performance and making it more sustainable. Yet both researchers and students lack access to knowledge about it - especially in a form of a laboratory, where everyone is free to experiment, try, learn, exchange and meet. Biology education is becoming outdated and we need students able to design the sustainable solutions of the future.\xa0The situation has been changing in the past years across Europe - many graduates, biology enthusiasts, opened biolabs equipped with instruments that they built themselves or that companies were giving away. Surprisingly, it\u2019s a rather common situation - for many of the businesses the costs of maintenance or even disposal of these sophisticated machines is higher than just giving them away to whomever would be interested to use it.
\n\nI have been involved in ReaGent since over a year. The space offers both paid and unpaid access and program - the privileged ones fund this way free classes for poorer children. Part of the funding comes also from the memberships, which guarantee access to the lab 2 days a week.
\n\nPlaces like ReaGent spark creativity in sciences by working in an accessible, open and flexible manner. Their mission now is to give access to this type of education to the whole of Flanders, and extend their network by inviting for example designers to come and create biodegradable materials.
\n\nAs OPENandchange allied, ReaGent would bring about the same qualities to the application: they would bring scientific education, which in turn would be used in innovation and hacking applicable in care.
\n\nIf you have advice or\xa0another project which is relevant, let\'s discuss it here. A question to get the discussion going: what is the fairest way in the long term to\xa0fund\xa0education outside of, but\xa0as an addition to, the traditional state-funded system\xa0- from who\xa0and how?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 715, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-09 21:14:46', u'title': u'ReaGent: Bringing quality biology education to every child equally'}, {u'content': u'On September 8th 2016, I have initiated an online campaign called \xa0#PlantAtreeChallengeBD\u201d The reason behind this was very simple. A country like Bangladesh, which is constantly facing threats of so many kinds of natural disaster, is being increasingly ignorant about its natural conservation. This country has only 17% of forests within. This by the way is getting narrower. Even the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans, which is an internationally recognized world heritage site, is also facing terrible manmade disasters and constant environmental pollutions. It has reached such a zenith, that the global-ecosystem is threatened with the loss of a majority of all species, by the end of this century. Everyone knows, but some chose to ignore it, some choose to remain silent about it. But I thought the simplest solution to address this problem is just plant more trees. It\u2019s a simple yet most productive solution to involve the youth, who first of all should be concerned about it; secondly should take initiatives to mitigate this problem. The idea to run an online campaign came to me due to the massive participation of youth in social media. My goals were very simple, engaging the youth to talk about the problem or at least make them realize how important it is to address the issue. Secondly, mobilize my community to take an initiative in real space so that they feel the necessity to do something about this particular problem.
\n\nAlong with few friends, I started inviting people over facebook to join the event. All they had to do is plant 5 trees and nominate 5 other friends on facebook to replicate the same. This way it will work like a chain reaction and we will be able to see a huge number of trees getting planted in a short period of time. The campaign is still going on and more people are joining. I know it has not gone viral and the number is not that high. Because in reality if you want to mobilize your community for a good cause, you have to ensure some motivations for them. Social norms are something that people tend to follow. Online campaign is there to help create a buzz, to create an objective. Which means if someone can bring out the movement from online space to offline, it moves faster and better. This is exactly why I have planned to run this campaign both online and offline.
\n\nPrimarily I even offered few things extra to carry on with the campaign. Since I am an online based entrepreneur and I have a client tale which is 3 years old, we kind of have a personal trust relationship with each \xa0other. So I personally offered my clients, I\'ll plant trees on behalf of them for every sell worth $10.
\n\nTo bring the campaign to reality, a part of that plan involves talking to the civil society and involving them. Therefore, we are in touch with mayor\u2019s office to propose an idea to tell the citizens, if they plants 5 trees, they\'ll get a discount on their TAX. The CEO\u2019s of top notch companies to take part in this initiative where we want them to initiate a tree plantation program as a part of their CSR activities. Encourage their employees to plant trees so that they can get a better record at the end of the year in the ACR. We\'ve asked the Headmasters of local schools to run the campaign along with the students, whoever plants more trees and takes care of them properly, will get an excellence award & certificate from the school. Recently our PM received the award of CHAMPION of the Earth for her outstanding initiative on\xa0increasing forests and going green. I am simply trying to follow her path to make a change. Because I believe, OXYGEN is the most needed thing on earth and one can not simply buy a healthy environment with money. It takes proper plan and interest to create a land full of trees and a lot of patient. I got inspired by watching BHUTAN be the very first carbon negative country.
\n\n\n\nThere is a chinese proverb saying \' The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. \' So, I believe in trying for a good cause. To save our galaxy. We only have one home, planet earth. You should start too.
\n\nBecause, if not now, when? If not me , who will?
', u'post_id': 848, u'user_id': 3664, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-22 22:18:14', u'title': u'One simple solution for global warming, to save my country : #PlantAtreeChallengeBD'}, {u'content': u'Got some news that CCL is ready to ship us the plasmids within the week, and maybe the organisms. @ritavht has been looking up the stuff for growing up the organisms if they come as a culture. Now there\'s also the possibility that we\'ll start from the plasmids, so we should prepare for that as well.
\n\nWithin the week means I\'ll be out of action due to medical reasons. We can use this as a strength as I\'ll be home all day for sure to receive the samples . Is anyone up for leading the first rounds of lab work to get going with the plasmids/cultures?
We can use this thread to further coordinate the lab work.
\n\nSome pings for sharing the news:
\n\n@NiekD | @GLS9000 | @stevenvv90 | @CatherineS | @arnepauwels | @Angela_Pisani | @mboto | @Alberto
', u'post_id': 6325, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-15 14:32:17', u'title': u'Lab thread'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 801, u'user_id': 3514, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-20 19:43:21', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Hello old and new edgeryders, this is a task you can complete and get a ticket to our community\xa0Festival later this year (Oct 19-21)!\xa0
\n\nSteps to complete it:
\n\n1) Leave a comment below with the name and affiliation\xa0of\xa0an expert\xa0you want to invite - someone\xa0you know is doing inspiring work,\xa0or dream of meeting! Wait for our\xa0confirmation to go ahead.
\n\n2)\xa0Contact/ Email the\xa0expert. Below is an invitation\xa0to OpenVillage which you can use or remix. Also see the Comments with more templates.\xa0\xa0
\n\n3) If they accept to come, we\'ll send you the ticket to the event!
\n\n\xa0
\n\nOpenVillage is a participatory built festival gathering outstanding community projects from all over the world which are on their way to a\xa0new health and social care ecosystem. The Festical is structured in three parts: a speedy\xa0discovery of promising projects from around the world; hands on work on business modeling and sustainability; finally, technical knowledge sharing and learning\xa0new skills from health practitioners, data analysts,\xa0policy makers, investors etc:
\n\nDay 1\xa0|\xa0Meeting protagonists of revolutionary health and social care projects\xa0
\n\nDay 2\xa0|\xa0Business modeling: hands on discussions and intimate networking with selected projects
\n\nDay 3\xa0|\xa0Technical learning and knowledge sharing around health data, policy and investments (example sessions:\xa0Healthcare Paradoxes; Collaborative Design and Inclusion of Migrants, Masters of Networks for advanced data visualization\xa0and analysis, and more).
\n\nWe\u2019d like to bring you in for the whole festival, as a guest curator providing support for the business track we call\xa0Financing care. You would be involved in a\xa0low effort in the runup to the event, and our in-house community curators are tasked with keeping you up to speed and point you in\xa0the direction of most\xa0relevant projects.
\n\nA process for working together with community Curators
\n\nAugust\xa0|\xa0Community curators prepare\xa05 solid sessions & 1 blog post with a synthetic outline which you will receive
\n\nSeptember | Preliminary call: Community + Guest Curators
\n\nSeptember-October\xa0|\xa0Guest Curators leave comments online with feedback to relevant sessions
\n\n#OpenVillage Pre-event\xa0|\xa0Power Pitch Masterclass with curators and session leaders to optimize delivery at the Festival TBC
\n\n#OpenVillage Main Event 19-21 Oct |\xa0Guest Curators attend sessions and provide support and evaluation
\n\nIf this sounds interesting for you, a first thing to do right\xa0now is to send us a photo and\xa0a short biography. We will announce your participation in a post like this one.
', u'post_id': 6364, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-29 12:12:46', u'title': u'Get an OpenVillage ticket by inviting your intellectual hero at the event'}, {u'content': u'In April I received the happy news that I was selected as an OpenCare\xa0Community Fellow by SCimPULSE Foundation and Edgeryders.
\n\nIronically, in the month that marked the start of the fellowship, I was struck by several illnesses. As a Belgian citizen, I can get the best care for next to zero financial cost for myself. Though, what is mainly just a nuisance for me, can be dramatic for those in more precarious situations. Those here outside the healthcare system and those in areas with weaker or no social security.
\n\nThe track I curate\xa0at the festival investigates the role\xa0science and research can play in a more resilient care system. Specifically we will zoom in on open science and citizen science in all their forms, and learn from real-life projects.
\n\nExploring the ecosystem
\n\nThe past weeks have been an exploration of what is out there, which you don\'t get to do nearly enough when buried deep in your own project. It was a period of trying to spot connections, common issues and creative solutions. Talking to people and connecting them to each other. Outreach has been difficult at times. Being too busy truly is a sign of our times, all the more so for people exploring new ways. Things take time at the edge.
\n\nThe people that I did have the pleasure to speak with, however, proved that there is a plethora of possible solutions, and challenges. Among them are an interdisciplinary researcher stewarding data on walking mechanics for indigenous communities\xa0and an activist developing a way for individuals to\xa0manufacture their own medications. They have issues with legal battles and attracting talent, respectively.
\n\nBiohacking Valhalla
\n\nIn mid May I attended the BioFabbing Convergence. Many European biohackers, citizen scientists and experts gathered in CERN, Geneva at Ideasquare. The conversations I had and the presentations I attended offered insight into running community science spaces, education and science activism on the edges.
\n\nAmong participants, plans were made to take concrete action towards improving citizen science practices, one of which is the\xa0DIY Science Network.
\n\nChallenges
\n\nChallenges I\u2019ve faced have been time related. Between being ill, crisis management for own projects and working with people scarce on time, getting concrete things done is difficult. It goes to show that being active in the fields that we are, does also mean being more vulnerable to factors outside of your control.
\n\nGoing from interesting conversations in real life to stories on the platform, has also proven difficult. The Edgeryders platform is, quote, \u201chard to navigate or have an overview\u201d. We have noticed the same with people participating in the Open Insulin research. Part of the solution is getting a hang of it, another part are improvements to how people navigate the site, which the Edgeryders team is constantly doing.
\n\nNext up
\n\nThere have been inspiring stories on the platform already for a while, some of which I have reached out to and will assist in drafting a session proposal over the next weeks. The community calls are a nice way to connect with everyone and discuss new ideas.
\n\nAfter the community call of earlier today, the first sessions should be ready for scheduling over the next week. Additionally, I\u2019ll be getting more external people into the existing discussions, and inviting more people to share stories and session proposals.
\n\nAny help with the latter is welcome: if you know of any inspiring people active in the field, let\u2019s get in touch!
\n\nThis blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation.
', u'post_id': 6371, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-31 18:51:52', u'title': u'My first month as an OpenCare Community Fellow'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 856, u'user_id': 3681, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 22:25:12', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Food Security for All .......
\n\n1- Training\xa0
\n\n2- Capacity Building\xa0
\n\n3- Open Discussion\xa0
', u'post_id': 6369, u'user_id': 3682, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-30 23:10:26', u'title': u'Sustainable Food Production'}, {u'content': u'I grew up in Thessaloniki but always had a deep want to travel, see and live in other places. Which I did. My sporadic encounters with my native Greece always brought to mind the lyrics from a\xa0famous Greek song\xa0which I shall badly try to translate here:
\n\n\u201cOh Hellas I love you,
\n\nand I thank you deeply,
\n\nfor you taught me and I know
\n\nhow to breathe wherever I find myself,
\n\nhow to die with every step I take
\n\nand how to just not be able to stand you\u201d
\n\nThese words are the preface for my MBA thesis for which I had to interact with Greek officials -and hence got a first hand experience of the stagnant and chaotic ways of its bureaucracy.
\n\nGreece is a place of extreme and diverse beauty, almost 1/3 is under Natura protection. Within such a small geographical place there is a dose of everything (apart maybe from glaciers): snowy mountaintops for skiing, desert-like dunes, volcanic islands, prehistoric forests and countless hot springs! It feeds your soul with joy, light and clarity and you see why the term philosophy was coined up here. On the other hand, interaction with the system and the people can drive you mad in nanoseconds.
\n\nIn late 2010, I had been on the road for the best part of a year, not keeping track of politics and news and had missed the handing over of the country to the IMF and the banksters. One day I heard someone say: \u2018Oh you\u2019re Greek! My condolences: your country has gone bankrupt and is in tatters\u2019..(!).. So, I thought I\u2019d check back a bit and see what goes on.
\n\nEspecially after the 2004 Olympics every time I was back I felt \u2018like a fly in a glass of milk\u2019 as we say in Greek, like I do not fit in. It was as if they\u2019d all undergone mass hypnosis; everything was new, shiny, posh and expensive; credit cards arriving in the mail without having applied for one; people, euphoric and dull-eyed, going on constant shopping sprees. I felt like I was in a twilight zone surrounded by consumerist zombies!
\n\nWhen I went back \xa0a few weeks later, two things happened: a. the country was not in ruins as I was led to believe: people were out shopping and had food on their table, public transport was regular, water and electricity were still there, as were public hospitals (none of which is the same nowadays). But something was brewing, brooding even. Which leads us to b. something was different\u2026 I couldn\u2019t exactly put my finger on it, but something was a-changing.
\n\nThe proof came in May 2011 and the infamous \u2018indignation\u2019 or \u2018occupy the squares\u2019 movement. I was there from the very first day, and although it was very amateuristic and problematic in various levels (and has been widely exploited for political gain) still, it was a strong, life-changing experience for most of us involved. I had never before (except from history books) seen Greeks come together in such ways and with such plurality and diversity. God-fearing pensioners working alongside young budding anarchists; apolitical housewives and disillusioned political-party members, all stepping out and taking initiative, organising, sharing openly their feelings and their food, showing solidarity, standing hand-in-hand to face the teargas and police brutality... The zombies had a heart!
\n\nThe next cornerstone came in August 2011 when I was fortunate enough to be part of the Greek delegation for the\xa0first Nyeleni Forum on European Food Sovereignty. That was it for me. I decided to stay. And help. With all my strength. Since then, I dedicated myself and all my resources to bringing about change -and what a ride it\u2019s been! I can honestly say that I have never before worked as hard and with such persistence -even when I was working for a paycheck! Of course that meant many sacrifices on my part and a complete change of lifestyle as I immersed myself in the gift economy and found out how it is to have your needs met without money being the first resort.
\n\nSince then I got involved with and instigated the creation of various groups, collectives, anti-privatisation initiatives etc. In October 2011 I co-organised the first Greek meeting on Food Sovereignty. In 2014 I organised the Permaculture Caravan -roaming the country for six weeks with Permaculturist Peter Cow spreading the ideas of autonomy and self sustainability and creating a new hype for Permaculture around the country. I joined \u2018Neighbourhoods In Action\u2019 -a group of eco-activists that managed to get elected in local government council of Thessaloniki -and played an important role in our municipality signing the\xa0Milan Urban Food Policy Pact\xa0for the creation of Food Policy Councils. I am currently trying to put our municipality in the\xa0European Network for Cities for Agroecology, and I am the focal point for Greece -ie contact person, for the\xa0European Food Sovereignty Movement\xa0and\xa0URGENCI -the Community Supported Agriculture Movement.
\n\nI am interested in creating a new agricultural production model, focusing on agroecology and self-sufficiency and I believe we need to pursue the transition to a new way of thinking and living. We live in a time of confluence where the old and the new are still co-existing and that creates a very challenging atmosphere, so people need support, tools and skills to make it through.
\n\nWe need to get involved with things like Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); sharing risks, responsibilities and rewards between growers and eaters of food, creating a new concept of human relationships, and new kinds of communities. Out of the ten million inhabitants of Greece almost half live in the area around Athens and one in Thessaloniki. There are whole regions -especially in the mountainous parts of the country, filled with ghost towns. The cities are dying due to the continuous austerity packs that suffocate entrepreneurship and chances of finding work. We need to revive rural areas by promoting small-scale agriculture, empowering farmers and inspiring rural lifestyle, by combining traditions and technology, and promote an economy based on social solidarity and alternative currencies. \xa0
\n\nThis is also, in its heart, a political issue: we need to emancipate ourselves as political beings, as citizens and as consumers and we need to create a new way for governing and caring for our societies and be responsible custodians of the abundance of nature for ourselves and all other species and for the generations to come. \xa0\xa0
\n\n*For my take on the crisis as a \u201cvirtual crisis\u201d and what it means for our food, please watch my\xa0short speech\xa0during\xa0Solikon Berlin\xa0(The Solidarity Economy European Congress 2015) last year.
\n\n\n\nIf you are unaware of what Food Sovereignty is all about you can watch\xa0this.
\n\n\n\nSo if all of this sounds interesting, if you feel the urge to get involved, or if you have information and contacts that can help, please contact me to join forces
To see what I am currently involved in and all the exciting things we are creating at present in Greece and around Europe, please follow this link
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by\xa0Op3n Fellowships\xa0- an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 559, u'user_id': 3417, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-14 12:52:14', u'title': u'Crisis? What crisis? ...The journey back to my eco-roots'}, {u'content': u'As an Island located in southern Emispher, between the Indian Ocean and Africa. Madagascar is on target of cyclones which is born in the Ocean Indian. The number of this natural catastrophe was changing recently from 4 to 18 or more. All of those cyclones doesn\'t passed through the Island but only the strongest, those who doesn\'t get weak by the way 2 or 3 sometimes . The climate changing from human consumption: forest, petroleum and gas that we spread out (carbonic gas, chemical gas, etc) is growing since the last 50 years. It\'s also a fact of cyclones generator, from Northern Emispher to Southern accompanied by climate changing.\xa0
\n\nEvery year starting on October until February according to the old cyclonic season we have to be also ready for change caused by climate changing. Fixings doors and windows, put some bags of sand one the roof. Get some supplies for those who can afford ( dry food, medicines, batteries, candles and matches, water purifier etc...). Those things are looking like routine for those who knows, It\'s really Important for all of us.\xa0
\n\nNature is really uncontrollable. It\'s happened constantly that crops and plantation are also victim from this natural catastrophe. After "the passage " of cyclon, food rupture and malnutrition are next challenge followed by sickness from dirty water, death.\xa0
\n\nIs there any way to overcome or slowing down this fast extinction?\xa0
', u'post_id': 800, u'user_id': 3340, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-14 05:51:36', u'title': u'Natural disaster'}, {u'content': u"A common issue I have is\xa0how to design, collect and analyze quantitative data for program evaluation. I'm curious what are some best practices that people in community abide by and if others feel they would benefit from a session on it? Are there methods we could outline that would be\xa0especially helpful for smaller projects that possibly don't have a dedicated data scientist onboard? Possible key points of focus:
\n\n-How to estimate the counterfactual (what would have happened without your intervention)
\n\n-What assumptions different analytical models make and when appropriate to use them.
\n\n-Best practices for saving and sharing data (keeping with the open source nature of everything!)
\n\nPlease comment with your thoughts and ideas!
", u'post_id': 6262, u'user_id': 3374, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-20 07:06:09', u'title': u'How do you handle your data?'}, {u'content': u'I would like to propose a discussion panel for the OpenVillage Festival 2017.
\n\nDuring the last six months, I have been attending almost all the event on Platform Cooperativism in Europe.
\n\nEven tough is exciting what is happening, there isn\'t a model that reached a dimension that can be compared to any dominant platform, and some points are missing from the global discussion.
\n\nPlatform Cooperativism promotes shared ownership among users of the platform in order to create non-extractive alternatives to current platforms.
\n\nThe digital economy produces enormous amounts of wealth that become profit (often non-taxed) for few billionaires. This money could be used to power the welfare state, nonprofit projects or a collaborative economy.
\n\nIn the last 5/10 years, our economy has been "platformed."
\n\nThe "disruption" didn\'t allow proper reflection and to take action to create the most desirable platforms for users.
\n\nWe have enough data on the externalities of this platforms and the extent of the impact on our economies, it\'s now possible to analyze what brought us here, the opportunity that we should investigate and the challenges that we need to face.
\n\nBeing part of the Fairbnb project helped me to focus on important questions related to the digital economy.
\n\nHow can we create non-extractive alternatives platforms that can compete with the existing one?
\n\nIs it possible to create platforms that are "commons"?
\n\nCan we use the wealth unlocked by this technology to fund non-profit community projects?
\n\nHow can an organization be both efficient and competitive without losing in inclusiveness and openness?
\n\nTo answer this questions, there are many guests that it would be useful to invite:
\n\nInternet of ownership: The Internet of Ownership is a resource for the emerging online democratic economy. Its purpose is to advance platform cooperativism\u2014a vision for online platforms that share democratic ownership and governance among the people who rely on them, especially those who contribute their labor and personal data.
\n\nGuest: Nathan Schneider
\n\nFairmondo: Fairmondo wants to create a scalable fair ecommerce platform and is one of the pioneering platform cooperatives with an innovative redistribution scheme that honors unpaid contributions.
\n\nGuest: Felix Weth
\n\nEcosia: Is a search engine that plants trees with the value that you generate through your digital actions
\n\nGuest: Christian Kroll
\n\nFaircoop: Fair.coop is an open global cooperative, self-organized via the Internet and remaining outside nation-state control. Its aim is to make the transition to a new world by reducing the economic and social inequalities among human beings as much as possible, and at the same time gradually contribute to a new global wealth, accessible to all humankind as commons.
\n\nGuest: Enric Duran
\n\nPlatform Design Toolkit: Is a set of open-source tools to design digital and non-digital platforms with ease.
\n\nGuest: Simone Cicero
\n\nOther Guests: Sangeet Paul Choudary is a platform strategist, probably one of the most skilled person on this planet in understanding platform
\n\nOf course, other founders of Fairbnb could join the discussion and hopefully we could launch the platform during the event.
\n\nWith this broad variety of guests, we will have enough competencies to generate a debate that could be fascinating and could help to further the global discussion on those important thematics.
', u'post_id': 6300, u'user_id': 3605, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-05 22:01:11', u'title': u'Platforms as commons'}, {u'content': u'Can we look at Care as a form of maintenance instead of as an emergency call for chronic issues? Can we look at Care as something to cultivate rather than to delegate?
\n\nNew health issues are increasing rapidly, due to environmental conditions and GMOs as well as for the newly acquired technical ability to test for them. For many (new) health issues there is yet little knowledge. Often the research is guided by profit-driven decisions, in the interest of big pharmaceutical corporations or exclusively within the analytic tradition.
\n\nTo look at care as a life practice. We take a health issue like histamine intolerance as a concrete example for which it is clear and mandatory that food intake and lifestyle are determining the severity of the health condition. In defining \u201cCare\u201d I would like to work around the question: Is our diet and lifestyle shaped around products or can we brake out of this path and empower ourselves in designing products - an app in this case - that help us define which food and lifestyle combination is better for each unique person? Can a tool help eventually finding one\'s way to still eat or drink that food by combining it differently and so on?
\n\nNeed or problem you are attempting to solve*
\n\nHow can one learn to listen to her body and track, compare, and be systematic with the help of technology. The idea is to help people to be more in touch with their body rather than alienate from it. How to empower users with a system that guides them in tracking aliments and environmental reactions, observe cross behaviors, and share that information with other users. A guided digital diary can be very helpful in a case like histamine intolerance where the combination of foods, cooking and food preservation, as well as lifestyle, and environmental conditions, all play a great role, in an intricate and complex combination. Histamine intolerance has been chosen as a concrete case to work with because it\'s a health condition I suffer from myself and for which I would like to have a tool that helps me deal with it. From a developer standpoint it will be a tool that I can test in first person. Next to it, there are more and more friends who have found they are affected by this condition, so it will be as well easy to find a group of people for preliminary usability testing.
\n\n\u200bBeneficiary, single person and/or community*
\n\nBeneficiary will be both single persons and the community in a mutual exchange between users affected by the health condition and those who want to participate and make use of the app like doctors, researchers, practitioners and more.
\n\nSolution, brief description of the project*
\n\nA first version of the app will be essentially A GUIDED FOOD DIARY.
\n\nObtain information and make your own list of safe foods, referring to a build-in food list of: high-histamine, anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory and cross- check it with a list of typical symptoms and reactions.\xa0The idea is to allow users to add #tag foods, behaviors, and symptoms with the intention to generate knowledge and work in the direction of creating a community and use data-analysis for a second version of the app.\xa0The food diary can help create awareness and be a systematic tool in finding out which foods provoke reactions and to which degree.\xa0It can help to expand one\'s diet, follow elimination diet systems, help re-introduce single foods, and monitor whether these provoke any reactions or not. It can help apply more logic to why certain symptoms occur and when. It can be used to help one\'s general practitioner or specialist in doing more targeted testing. It can be a great support in case of multiple intolerances as well.
\n\n\u200bTechnologies already adopted or that you are planning to adopt*
\n\nWe are a two-women team whit design and development skills. We will start with IOS , and consequently adapt for Android.
\n\n\u200bWebsite (or socials)
\n\nWe are planning a dedicated website that will follow all the steps of the project.
\n\n\u200bLicense, that you are planning to use
\n\nOpen-source
\n\nCurrent status/stage of the project
\n\n\u200b1) Setting the theoretical ground with references to relevant texts for this idea from thinkers like: Michael Foucault, Silvia Federici, Cristina Morini, Yuk Hui, Donna Haraway, among others. Based on this theoretical ground I would like to gain insight and discuss the approach with experts from the OpenCare network as well as with possible users from the local community.
\n\n2) Observing the context - UI-UX and Algorithms, comparative analysis and design: by looking at existing apps, like: "Food Intolerances", "All I Can Eat", "Your food Intolerance", and other food intolerance apps, as well as other apps on different health issues, as for example, the menstrual cycle tracking app, \u201cClue\u201d.
\n\n3) Sketch out of a wireframe flow for a testable minimum viable product\xa0or prototype. The wireframe will also address issues like users privacy and handling of private health information
', u'post_id': 837, u'user_id': 3615, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-12 23:15:17', u'title': u'Take Care (app) histamine'}, {u'content': u'Marted\xec 23 maggio ha avuto luogo il secondo appuntamento di coprogettazione con l\u2019obiettivo di approfondire l\u2019esperienza legata alla procedura per l\u2019abbattimento di barriere architettoniche con rampe e scivoli.
\n\nDurante il primo appuntamento (11.05) abbiamo cercato di analizzare la tematica dell\u2019accessibilit\xe0 degli esercizi commerciali e, pi\xf9 nel dettaglio, l\u2019utilizzo della rampa a chiamata, sia dal punto di vista del commerciante (Minerva), sia dal punto di vista del cliente (Dioniso). Clicca qui per leggere il report completo del primo incontro.
\n\nDurante questo secondo incontro, abbiamo svolto un\u2019indagine sulla tematica della procedura attraverso un\u2019attivit\xe0 di role-playing, ovvero un gioco di ruolo:
\n\n\u201cDimentichiamo per un momento chi siamo e cosa facciamo. Questa sera siamo tutti Minerva, ed abbiamo un solo obiettivo: svolgere la procedura per poter dotare il nostro negozio, Vineria Minerva, di una rampa mobile a chiamata\u201d.
\n\nScopo dell\u2019attivit\xe0:\xa0Ottenere spunti e informazioni utili al miglioramento (della comprensione) della procedura e sistematizzare le difficolt\xe0 riscontrate nella compilazione.
\n\nSvolgimento:\xa0I partecipanti hanno lavorato in coppie e l\u2019attivit\xe0 si \xe8 stata divisa in due momenti:
\n\nNel corso dell\u2019attivit\xe0 i partecipanti hanno avuto modo di reperire facilmente alcune informazioni grazie ai documenti che gli abbiamo fornito, in altri casi tuttavia questo non \xe8 stato possibile. A tal proposito, abbiamo chiesto ad ogni gruppo di annotare sul Modulo A1 come fare per reperire tali dati nella vita reale e su post-it, cosa dover fare per completare la procedura.
\n\n\xa0Tempo a disposizione: 20 minuti (compilazione + analisi)
\n\nAl termine dell\u2019attivit\xe0, abbiamo ritirato tutti i moduli compilati e li abbiamo raggruppati in colonne a seconda delle note e riflessioni riportate da ogni coppia. Successivamente, abbiamo condiviso le note in evidenza in una sessione di plenaria e sintetizzato ulteriori commenti su un cartellone. Quest\u2019ultimo ci permetter\xe0 di riprendere i punti emersi durante l\u2019incontro e di portarli al livello successivo di progettazione all\u2019interno di open rampette. \xa0
\n\n\n\nAll\u2019interno delle slide trovate spiegazioni tecniche utili per comprendere pi\xf9 facilmente alcuni elementi della procedura.
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 853, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-29 14:21:17', u'title': u'Open rampette | la procedura | incontro 23.05 @ LaStecca3.0'}, {u'content': u'Almost six years ago I took a gap year and, I decided to spend some time away from Italy, in Australia. Back there I found a guy that told me about this movement: the biohacking. Basically, a bunch of tinkerers started to use their garages as biotechnology laboratories with the aim to make those biological technologies available to everyone.
\n\nFrom that moment I started a path that led me to follow many movements and initiatives that are trying to create alternatives to existing power infrastructures.
\n\nMy name is Damiano Avellino, I\'m 24 years old. I\u2019m one of the founders of Fairbnb and of other non-profit initiatives that seek to create a more inclusive and fair society.
\n\nDuring my years at the University, where I studied biotechnology, my curiosity was fed by great Professors during the day and by biohackers geeks on the internet during the night.
\n\nMy first attempt to create a biohacker space dates at my freshman year, as you can imagine the excitement of my colleagues vanished due to the pressure of our studies and the difficulty of the journey.
\n\nThe problem wasn\u2019t related to the goodness of the project, both other colleagues and professors seemed thrilled by the idea of having an open source lab for biotechnology. What stopped the initiative was the lack of support and guidance from existing organizations incapable of grasping and helping to fund new ideas.
\n\nIn general, there\u2019s a tendency for new initiatives to struggle in the initial fundraising. It\u2019s easier to get funded if you are already big or active enough.
\n\nIf you have applied for any grant, you know how competitive these things can be, and
\n\nprobably you understand how the abundances of projects and the lack of funding
\n\ntend to lower the diversity of the ecosystems and sometimes discourage innovative ideas - This doesn\u2019t apply to for-profit start-ups that can rely on other types of financial support (VC, Business angels, etc) -.
\n\nAnyway, this part of my story is not what I\u2019m here to write about.
\n\nI\u2019m here to write about emerging opportunities we have to finance bottom up initiatives, that are not exploiting, related to a viable strategy to transform existing sharing economy platforms in a mechanism to perpetually fund non-profit projects and grassroots initiatives.
\n\nThis story is about an ongoing project that could pilot a new model of sharing economy that by succeeding could lead to the flourish of a new collaborative economy.
\n\nFairbnb is in an early stage, we didn\u2019t launch the beta yet, but I\u2019m convinced for some reasons that I will briefly explain at the end, that it represents a huge opportunity to change the digital economy.
\n\nWhy should we attempt to change the digital economy?
\n\nWell, during the last ten years our economy has\xa0been completely \u201cplatformed\u201d: the largest taxi company doesn\u2019t own any cars\xa0(Uber), the world\u2019s biggest media owner creates no content (Facebook) and so on. In almost every sectors a single player with a \u201cplatform business model\u201d dominates.
\n\nThere are two main problems with this:
\n\n1) Platforms that succeed are the best for investors not for users\xa0 (the growth is achieved thanks to massive investments), therefore are extractive, so Amazon takes % on the little bookstore sales, Airbnb takes % on your house, etc.
\n\n2) Platforms tend to become a natural monopoly due to the network effect.
\n\n(I\u2019m not mentioning how we lost our privacy and the possibility to have control over\xa0the data that we generate because it could lead us too far)
\n\nMy intention to create an alternative to this model grew with time and thanks to some precise experiences.
\n\nI firstly became interested in platforms thanks to Eugenio Battaglia (Platform Design Toolkit) with whom I share the passion for biohacking.
\n\nHe gave me the Pentagrowth report and fulfilled my head with other absorbing materials and thoughtful conversations that shaped my platform thinking.
\n\nThe second crucial event happened last year when I was selected to participate in the Global Changemakers summit.
\n\nThe rough idea that was floating in my mind, since probably a couple of years, had the chance to become a real project.
\n\nThe idea to use part of the money generated by our online activities to redistribute wealth to local projects as an opposite model to the present one, that uses part of the wealth generated by our online activities to enrich billionaires, was simple and not probably not even that original.
\n\nBut the fact that I had to attend a summit with 60 young activists all very influential in their communities and from all over the world gave me the chance to think concretely about a model for a particular platform that relies on crowdsourcing, and that could work.
\n\nThe event took place in June 2016; there I brought the rough idea of a project called Solbnb (Solidaritybnb).
\n\nSince then the project merged with two other initiatives, which were also trying to create an alternative to Airbnb in Amsterdam and Barcelona, under the name of Fairbnb. Nine co-founders from five different countries and with an age range that goes from 24 to 50 are working together to build the platform along with a growing community.
\n\nThe platform with shared ownership and control will be non-extractive, inclusive and cooperative.
\n\nThe peer2peer accommodation market produces every year more than 1.5 billion dollars of revenues (the extracted part).
\n\nIf Fairbnb will be able to take even a little share of the market, an incredible number of non-profit initiatives could be funded.
\n\nWe want to use as little as possible of the revenues to keep up the platform and give back the majority of this money to communities through local projects thanks to a crowdfunding-like mechanism.
\n\nIf we succeed thousands biohackers spaces, social streets, art exhibitions, solidarity initiatives, refugees projects, etc. could be funded.
\n\nAs Janella Orsi highlight in this article https://goo.gl/0XK6Nu\xa0 \u201cThat rumored $20 billion company valuation relies largely on the loyalty of users. Like I said, thin air.\u201d
\n\nYes.. a non-extractive P2P accommodation platform most likely is the best opportunity that we have to pilot a new model of sharing economy that could produce positive externalities at an unprecedented scale.
', u'post_id': 829, u'user_id': 3605, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-05 20:40:47', u'title': u'How sharing economy platforms could power a new collaborative economy'}, {u'content': u'Hi everyone!
\n\nThis Wednesday I will be hosting the meeting for the OpenInsuline project and I myself would like to\xa0focus on the outreach, as started in this post.
\n\nI\'d like to think with you\xa0about three things:
\n\nA couple of people made the case for prevention, with @GLS9000 and @Alberto making some great points, which I think is important as well and very relevant for this topic. So I think we should try to accomplish this with the above. I think we also should aim to induce an understanding of the disease and it\'s effects, since this will build a strong case for prevention, demonstrating the need.
\n\nPeople who aren\'t intrested in the outreach aspect are more than welcome to come as well of course, we can work in two groups and exchange at the end of the night or something
So I look forward to seeing you guys Wednesday the 10th at 8pm!\xa0
', u'post_id': 6308, u'user_id': 3426, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-08 12:22:16', u'title': u'OpenInsuline meeting Wednesday 10th May'}, {u'content': u'Sometimes I feel like my friends can\u2019t quite take me seriously when I tell them how much art school is stressing me. When I hear myself describe to them what we do in our courses (like dressing up and dancing around cardboard sculptures of alien Christmas trees), I sometimes find it difficult to take myself seriously. However, as most people that work in a creative field would probably tell you, it really is stressful. Being creative is intense. Apart from the financial uncertainty and competitiveness that tend to run in these professions, the work itself is very demanding, mentally and emotionally. It is very easy to become personally invested in a project, some might even call this is a necessity. Because they are so closely intertwined, it is often difficult to separate between the professional and the personal. How does this affect the way we deal with issues of mental and emotional wellbeing in this context?
\n\nIn Product Design, we are constantly brought to question our surroundings, our decisions, and most importantly, ourselves. There has been a crisis point in almost any project where this turned into seriously doubting myself and hating all the work I had done. Sometimes, it led to absolute public meltdowns. To me it is a strange and uncomfortable feeling to share such intimate moments with people I work with.
\n\nMany of my friends that study creative subjects have told me about similar experiences in their lives, particularly about struggles with insecurity and stress of varying degrees. Are these emotional strains simply an occupational hazard that we as creatives have to accept? Are they something we should embrace, something we actually need to produce meaningful work? There seems to be a romanticized idea of the tragically ailed, mad genius, based on the stories of countless artists like van Gogh or Beethoven that produced some of their best work during periods of Depression or Hypomania. Joshua Walters proposes in his Ted Talk \u2018On being just crazy enough\u2019, that those suffering from mental conditions might just be more sensitive to the world than others and that we can use our \u2018skillness\u2019 to our advantage. Many scientific studies suggest in fact, that there is a link between creativity and mental illness. One theory is that those with strong creative inclination perceive the world with a heightened awareness and tend to be more reflective and ruminate in their thoughts.
\n\nFor me, a host of questions and problematics arise out of this. How do these factors influence people in creative fields in reaching out when in distress? At what point does these different pressures stop aiding creativity and start impeding it? What are your thoughts?
', u'post_id': 680, u'user_id': 3253, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-16 14:25:10', u'title': u'Under Pressure: On the relationship between creativity and emotional/mental health'}, {u'content': u'First Interview/Brainstorm (german):
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0Thema Sharing / DIY / P2P Frage nach allgemeinem Wohlbefinden der Leute /Community kann das mit gesch\xe4ftlicher Art und Weise zusammen gebracht werden, oder ist es ehre soziale Geschichte, private Zeit f\xfcr andere geben, wie kann man eine Symbiose mit Mehrwert f\xfcr mich und andere schaffen?
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Thema alte Menschen App mit jungen Menschen zusammen Zeit
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0M. \xc4hnlich: Junge Menschen aus der ganzen Welt haben alte Menschej in USA angeschrieben: Austausch / WinWin alte Leute haben Kommunikatin / Junge lernen Eng. / Beide Seiten profitieren / anders als bei kommerziellen Projekten + m\xf6glichst gro\xdfe Gruppe daf\xfcr schaffen
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0Es geht um symbiotischen Austausch/Interessensvertretung / In welchen Bereichen funktioniert das noch \xfcberhaupt nicht und welche Anreize kann man da schaffen / Worauf hat keiner Bock, was ist schei\xdfe bezahlt oder hat zuwenig Leute die das machen wollen?
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Technische Mittel der Kommunikation M.: alles was online gemacht werden kann wird dort gemacht, wegen niedriger Hemmschwellen / Weg auf sich zu nehmen um in ein Altenheim zu fahren macht keiner, ZB Hemmschwelle Geruch
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0What is care for you? M. \xdcbersetztung ins Dt. schwierig/mehrdeutig, sich um jdn k\xfcmmern?, nicht nur v\xf6llig sozial und selbstlos, muss auch etwas f\xfcr mich geben, kann auch nur Spa\xdf sein oder Gef\xfchl etw Gutes zu tun, Dankbarkeit, irgendetwas muss ich zur\xfcck bekommen, und auch anderes herum, wenn sich jemand um mich k\xfcmmert will ich so reagieren, und wenn nicht direkt dann an dritte weiter geben, Sozialwesen, das macht den menschen als human aus
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Realit\xe4t: Sozialsystem nicht darauf ausgerichtet
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0M. ist bekannt....ist einfach echt schei\xdfe bezahlt! Es geht in\xa0 sehr sehr vielen Lebensberiechen um Geld und das ist schade, es ist einfach so dass Leute, die gutes tun kein geld daf\xfcr bekommen / paralleles System etablieren \u2013 ich habe ein Ferienhaus in den alpen, in liste eintragen, alle k\xf6nnen hin, gro\xdfe gruppe bezahlt / pures egoistische \xfcberwinden,
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0um das zu \xfcberwinden, vllt begriff von eigentum \xfcberwinden
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Akte der Solidarit\xe4t nicht als B\xfcrde / Wie? / Arbeitsgedanke / Warum nicht Spa\xdf?
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0M. konkretes Bsp. Treppenhaus sauber halten / Hausgemeinschaft, L\xf6sung: Aufteilung oder der der es immer sauber macht bekommt den schl\xfcssel zum dach oder man entw. Produkt das das treppen sauber machen zum adrenalin erlebnis macht, fahrzeug, \u2013> treppe als rutsche benutzen // S. Spielansatz / Last
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0M. das ist etwas dass man nicht in seinen Lebenslauf schreiben kann
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. gemeinscaften / wie unterscheiden sie sich voneinander / wenn neue mitglieder rein kommen, wie integrierst du sie?
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0-M. grunds\xe4tzlich ziemlich interessiert, die bringen ja auch was neues rein / uni: Gruppen binden sich aus Interesse, wenn da jmdn neues kommt muss ich mich nicht \xfcberwinden Kontakt aufzunehmen
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Stressfull things into opportunities? / M. Ort wo sich Menschen gegenseitig helfen, gemeinsam fluchen heulen k\xf6nnen daraus neue Freundschaften das w\xe4re jawohl ein win??!?! / Ich habe echt wenig Sachen die mir \xfcberhaupt kein spa\xdf machen, liegt vllt daran, dass davon fast alles mich betrift
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0\u2043\xa0\xa0 \xa0S. Gibt es waren Altroismus? M. Ich glaube sozial handeln schlie\xdft auf ein selbst zur\xfcck / ist auch gut f\xfcr mich
\n\nThe first questions I have were:
\n\nHow can you get people to make symbiotic connections with each other by combining their intrest? How can you get people out of their comfortzones by increasing them? Can you make society act more social by making their their help more recognized? Are there new ways to make joyless but neccessary work more enjoyable? Nudging: should we manipulate people in a good way? Do we have to? Aren\xb4t we doing it all the time anyway? Is there a way to defeat hypocritisy in some areas of social life?
\n\nI let you know the anwers I get. Stay tuned!
\n\nMilan
', u'post_id': 670, u'user_id': 3244, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-24 16:45:12', u'title': u'First thoughts and reflections on Open Care'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 838, u'user_id': 3638, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-12 23:17:33', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 764, u'user_id': 3380, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-26 12:07:24', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u"Bangladesh is not only one of the most densely populated countries in the world (with 926 persons per square kilometer) but also located in the world's largest delta, facing the Himalayas in the North, bordering India in the West, North and East, Myanmar in the Southeast, and the Bay of Bengal in the South.
\n\nNo comprehensive empirical study has been conducted at present to determine the incidence and prevalence of disabilities in Bangladesh. The few studies that have been conducted reflect a medical rather than a social model of disability, and they are also limited in geographical coverage. While no reliable national data exist, anecdotal information and a number of micro studies generally suggest a disability prevalence rate of between 5 to 12 per cent. This is close to the WHO estimate, which states that 10 per cent of any given population can be considered to have some or other form of disability.
\n\nIgnorance and wrong beliefs surrounding disability, compounded with a negative and derogatory attitude of the community (including family members) have contributed to the marginal development in the disability sector in Bangladesh.
\n\nAs Bangladesh makes progress in implementing its health policies on infant mortality rate, immunization coverage, and general health care, there is likely a lowering of incidence of disabilities. However, the gains due to improved health care can be outweighed by the triple effects of increased number of surviving children with disabilities, increased number of people incurring disabilities due to old age (e.g., cataracts and arthritis), and widespread malnutrition. Disabilities due to natural calamities and road traffic accidents imply that the prevalence of people having disabilities in Bangladesh is likely to continually rise over-time, although the nature and distribution of disabilities are also likely to change considerably.
", u'post_id': 840, u'user_id': 3617, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-17 17:25:00', u'title': u'Persons with Disabilities Health Care System in Bangladesh'}, {u'content': u'\n\nTell us what you are doing to get #openvillage tickets, fellowships and more!
\n\nWhat is it that creates the conditions for an environment of open care?\xa0Gehan Macleod proposes a session at OpenVillage to tackle an important question\xa0that goes beyond the field of preventative\xa0or wellness\xa0care by asking\xa0"how do we understand the architectures of love that are called for to create a more care-full society?"
\n\nGehan is the co-founder of\xa0the GalGael Trust,\xa0an organisation of social solidarity based in Glasgow, Scotland. Taking its roots\xa0from\xa0a communal protest camp against a planned\xa0motorway in the local area, the trust developed into a community building effort involving craft-making, rural event organising, boat building and timber work.\xa0
\n\nThrough her experience with the trust, Gehan proposes a session that explores the conditions, or as she empathetically\xa0describes \'the architectures of love\',\xa0that can\xa0foster an environment of open care in communities.
\n\n"My work through the GalGael Trust based in the Govan area of Glasgow has offered some hints that actively generating a healthy culture is perhaps more effective in achieving in an anchored way the \'good intentions\' of policy. Strong values guide actions, decisions and behaviour, influence language and how we treat one another. Our workshop sees people working, for the most, part side by side."
\n\nEvoking an important thematic tension between policy and values, Gehan condenses\xa0her\xa0question to an\xa0essential\xa0perspective,\xa0asking what foundational parts of a culture contribute to a caregiving society that go beyond formally enforced policies.\xa0Read more about Gehan\'s session proposal\xa0here.
\n\nAs part of our preparations for the OpenVillage Festival we are discovering how under-the-radar projects could be better supported in an ecosystem.
\n\nBy October 19th to the 21st we aim to:
\n\nGood For You
\n\nWhen you post you will get a ticket to OpenVillage: Meet the OpenCarers. When you post you become eligible for the Open Fellowship.
\n\nGood For Everyone
\n\nYour input goes into the OpenCare research project - the findings are shared in the form of a report which we hope will be useful for everyone interested in care for the 21st century.
', u'post_id': 6357, u'user_id': 3622, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-24 10:14:12', u'title': u'How do we create the conditions for #opencare in our organisations and our communities?'}, {u'content': u'A social enterprise beer brewing club.
\n\nSt. James\u2019 Hospital,\xa0Dublin,\xa0commissioned a service design project\xa0in search of\xa0\xa0a non-clinical, community based service design solution to the problem of particularly poor overall personal health locally. The aim is to focus on reducing\xa0the number of inpatients over fifty years of age with entering the hospital with preventable ailments such as heart disease, high cholesterol, dementia, and lung cancer.\xa0
\n\nThe hospital is based\xa0in The Liberties in Dublin, which got its name in the 12th century due to its location just outside Dublin City\'s walls \u2013 lands united with the city, but still keeping their own jurisdiction (hence "liberties"). The area\'s history is still very relevant to the health of its residents.
\n\nBeing outside the city walls, the Liberties became a hub for trade and craftsmen. The 19th century saw the Liberties become dominated by large brewing and distilling families, most notably Guinness who built the world\'s largest brewery there. With this industrial wealth, however, came dire poverty and slum living conditions. Today the Liberties\xa0is a city neighbourhood of opportunities and innovation, but its history -\xa0positive and negative -\xa0pervades. Although having undergone much urban regeneration as well as gentrification,\xa0the Liberties still embodies that juncture between being a centre for enterprise and commercial life as well as being home to large blocks of inner city social housing. Homelessness, drug use, and lower than average life expectancy are some of the problems facing\xa0in the Liberties today.\xa0
\n\nOn researching in the area first-hand, it was observed that there was a distinct lack of male presence in local community centres, as well as a high number of men drinking alone in pubs. The Liberties Local Health project draws on this observation to engage those lone drinkers to become members of a local brewing club, where beer is brewed by locals, for locals.
\n\nThe\xa0project takes its inspiration from the highly successful Men\u2019s Sheds mental health initiative whose\xa0motto is, \u201cmen don\u2019t talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder.\u201d
\n\nThe\xa0brewing club for men over fifty\xa0in the locality \u2013 where they create a low percentage beer brewed by locals,\xa0for locals \u2013\xa0harnesses existing local\xa0skill sets of the hundreds of Guinness factory retirees.
\n\nThe brewing club, "Sl\xe1inte", takes it name from the Irish word for "cheers", also meaning "health". The aim of the club is to\xa0encourage\xa0more responsible drinking through\xa0appreciation of the brewing process\xa0as well as forming a sense of pride and comradery among members. The project was commended by health industry professionals after its presentation at Dublin\u2019s Active Age Conference 2012.
\n\nWith Ireland\'s craft beer market having hit\xa0\u20ac59 million in 2016 (up form \u20ac40 million in 2015) and volumes of beer from Irish microbreweries having increased by 415% between 2011 and 2015, the brewing club "Sl\xe1inte" has high viability potential to run itself as a social enterprise overseen by members, bringing with it a sense of pride, achievement, and overall better health.
\n\n
Access to potable water is a severe and increasingly pressing health issue for many countries. An affordable solution for poor water quality that will improve health within developing countries.\xa0Communities will be taught how\xa0to make the\xa0filter and the purification drops - made from\xa0clay, water, saw dust and small amounts of silver. Then it will become a source of local enterprise from the sales of the filter and drops.\xa0\xa0
\n\nInteresting read:\xa0http://innovatedevelopment.org/2014/05/13/the-madidrop-an-affordable-easy-to-use-water-purification-tablet
\n\n\n\nAccess to potable water is a severe and increasingly pressing issue for countries in the Global South. Due to a confluence of factors including overuse, population growth and climate change, an estimated two-thirds of the world\u2019s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025. One recent innovation that could potentially revolutionize water purification in poor, rural communities is the MadiDrop.
\n\nThe MadiDrop is a porous ceramic disc that has been infused with silver or copper. When dropped in water, the tablet releases ionic silver or copper that strips away bacteria and pathogens to produce clean, drinkable water. Each tablet is capable of treating 10 to 20 litres of water for up to six months. The result is an affordable, easily distributable and long-lasting alternative for families who lack access to a safe, potable water source.
\n\nThe MadiDrop is the second water treatment technology developed by PureMadi, an organization formed by a group of interdisciplinary students from the University of Virginia. Their first project was the creation of a ceramic water filter factory in South Africa. The filters use local labour, readily available materials (clay, sawdust and water) and are treated with a dilute solution of silver nano-particles that effectively filter out common waterborne pathogens. The PureMadi ceramic filters were designed to create a cheap and sustainable point-of-use water purification solution for low-income households. To date, they have been well-received and highly effective among families in Limpopo province, South Africa.
\n\nThe impetus for the MadiDrop was to apply this successful model to create an even cheaper point-of-use water treatment technology. The MadiDrop can be used in a variety of water storage containers, and at only a few dollars per drop, can provide families with purified water for an extended period of time. Lab results look promising but extensive field testing is still required to determine whether the MadiDrop is a sustainable and culturally appropriate solution. With any luck, the MadiDrop will eventually be widely used to improve clean water access and curb the spread of waterborne diseases in low-income communities.
', u'post_id': 710, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-31 22:10:07', u'title': u'An Affordable, Easy-to-Use Water Purification Tablet'}, {u'content': u'Welcome!
\n\nThis is the team for you If you want to discover great people and promising projects, help get their message out into the world, and help draw support to their work.\xa0
\n\nWe are mainly interested in people, projects and places that help us to reimagine how we care for one another in the 21st century. This is a global community, with participating people and projects located in more than 50 countries. It connects inspiring people from all walks of life, each one bringing with them new information, knowledge, skills and opportunities. Our communication efforts aim to make their initiatives visible to one another and to the world at large.\xa0
\n\nMembers also document\xa0of what happens during the event, make detailed notes from key sessions writeups of key sessions, summarise\xa0the conclusions and ways forward so that we can continue to learn and collaborate once the event is over.\xa0
\n\nIf you are up for contributing to make this a great experience for you and your peers, let\'s collaborate. Like everything on Edgeryders, this is driven by social interactions. Things only become active when you post something, so if you think something needs to happen, step in and drive it, and others will follow
Do design\xa0(flyers, visualisations, interfaces, physical objects e.g. prototypes)
\n\nConduct an interview and publish it
\n\nTell the story of a change-making project
\n\nDocument a conference session
\n\nInformation design | Copywriting
\n\nCreate a story of the #openvillage festival in tweets, for the twitter press conference
\n\n..or propose a new task if you want to contribute with something else!
\n\nEach ticket is worth a number of tasks. They take no more than 30 minutes each and can be done whenever you like:
\n\nUse the comments below to communicate with the team to let us know once you have completed your tasks. Or if you have questions etc.
', u'post_id': 6340, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-18 12:02:29', u'title': u'Design, Storytelling and Documentation'}, {u'content': u'\n\n(Community Curator and OpenCare Fellow)
\n\n#woodmaking #community #activism #marginalization\xa0#publicpolicy #wellbeing #therapy #mentalhealth
\n\nA hoarder of bits of thinking and half formed disruptive thoughts with occasional bouts of fundamentalism about things that should be simple. Lives in Glasgow, Scotland where she co-founded the\xa0GalGael Trust , an organisation which provides learning experiences anchored in practical activities that offer purpose and meaning.
\n\nThey run a large physical space consisting of a large carpentry workshop, metal working room, co-working stations for makers, and\xa0timber warehouse.\xa0People whos lives have been battered by storms such as worklessness, depression or addiction work on demanding projects which require collaborative efforts. Some of the products are then sold through the social enterprise - their traditional wood\xa0longboats are widely recognised as the best on the market.\xa0
\n\nGehan is curating a track at the OpenVillage Festival in Brussels this October. It is a participant built event\xa0dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community-driven solutions ("opencare").\xa0We are interested in what our peers already already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.\xa0
\n\nAre you interested in how to build healthy organisations, communities or healthy societies humming with human flourishing?\xa0Perhaps you might like to join us?
\n\nLearn more about Gehan\'s work and how you could\xa0get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here.
\n\nImage Credit: Scottish Field
', u'post_id': 6356, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-23 13:12:18', u'title': u'Meet the Edgeryders | Gehan Macleod - woodmaking, community, activism, marginalization, policy, wellbeing, therapy, mental health'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 847, u'user_id': 3650, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-22 09:42:49', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\n\n(Community Curator and OpenCare Fellow)
\n\n#openscience #engineering #diy #biomaterials\xa0#interdisciplinary #collaboration \xa0
\n\nA mix of engineer, entrepreneur, biologist and storyteller. The organizations he co-founded in Ghent, Belgium mainly work on science and technology, but a big focus is on the way in which they\xa0do it. Working across education, research and communication, they\xa0alway\xa0try to stimulate cooperation, openness, inclusiveness and other\xa0values. In Edgeryders he\'s now coordinating the\xa0OpenInsulin\xa0research group.\xa0Looking at things from diverse perspectives is a competence Winnie\xa0values highly.
\n\nWinnie is also curating a track at the OpenVillage Festival in Brussels this October. It is a participant built event\xa0dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community-driven solutions ("opencare").\xa0We are interested in what our peers already already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.\xa0
\n\nAre you using opensource science, knowledge, hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? Perhaps you might like to join us?
\n\nLearn more about Winnie\'s work and how you could get involved in the OpenVillage Festival here.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6355, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-23 09:08:46', u'title': u'Meet the Edgeryders | Winnie Poncelet - openscience, engineering, diy biomaterials and interdisciplinary collaboration'}, {u'content': u'Hello peeps,
\n\nThis is my first post in this community\u2026.
\n\nSo no completely sure yet how it works or what kind of responses I will get.
\n\nHere my story and my question:
\n\nBecause I took into my household 1,5 years ago, a 17 year old Iraqi boy (refugee) I am becoming, a little bit against my own will" src="https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v8/zfb/1/16/263a.png">, a go to, ask to, for other Iraqis, around the globe\u2026
His mother, on her way to Belgium, Brussels, on a \u201cfamily reunion visa\u201d, was professor in History at the Mosul university. His uncle, doing a PHD in medical micro biology \u2013 molecular micro biology - immunity in England, Leicester.
\n\nThey are both asking me for help in finding\xa0a job at universities or doing a (another) PHD in Europe.
\n\nHis uncle, so he does not have to return to Iraq after his PHD finnishes in Leicester. His mother, to feel use full while waiting to go back to her country one day.
\n\nSo her my question: Where, how and what can they do to have the best results in their search for a university job or sudy? As I never did a PHD or worked at universities it is still a blank canvas for me.
\n\nThanks for taking the time for providing me with tips and tricks.
\n\nMaria
', u'post_id': 831, u'user_id': 3599, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-07 15:11:23', u'title': u"PHD's in Europe for asylem seekers from Iraq"}, {u'content': u'In the following months few makers, designers and innovators will be invited as temporary collaborators to the project opencare and will live at WeMake. In the upper floor of the building there are two rooms, two bathrooms, a big open space with the kitchen and a balcony. The idea about Maker in Residence (MIR for short) is that -after a selection- chosen candidates will join WeMake and will get the proper on-site support to develop and accelerate their own project, if it fits to the opencare world.
\n\nSo, here is a brief ethnography about some talks that emerged during the meetings to organize and plan MIR.
\n\n\n\nA meeting of the staff - from left to right: Alessandro, Chiara, Costantino, Francesco and Silvia
\n\nIn the past weeks two of the most recurrent questions by the makers and the staff of WeMake have been: "what is opencare? What does fall under this category?"
\n\nThis came out during the drafting of the call and after reading the applications. You can read more about the call here: http://wemake.cc/opencare/maker-in-residence-en/
\n\nSince the beginning it was clear that either designing an object, like doing \u201ccity guerrilla\u201d was certainly not corresponding to taking action about care.
\n\nBut \u201cif such an object is loaded by local care is opencare\u201d.
\n\nBoth have an impact on care about the territory, but the second does it with such a goal. It\'s not a matter of considering shared and open means, or connecting the health and the social.
\n\n\u201cIt\'s a matter of meaning for us\u201d.
\n\n\u201cWe found ourselves in many situations where this was absolutely not immediate to be understood\u201d.
\n\nAbout the call.
\n\nDuring the early meetings the staff of WeMake discussed some issues came to discussion. The first one was: \u201chow broad is care?\u201d
\n\nUnderstanding and agreeing on the extension of the concept of care seemed a very important point to put into achieve the MIR project. Although it seems quite a philosophical question, this had a very functional consequence: it made possible to draft the call and also to select the candidates.
\n\nA second discussion came on how much physical should have stayed the designed object.
\n\nThe call itself is based (it has a record) on the physicality (fisicit\xe0) of the object, as it was a result of the main experience of WeMake with opencare, given that all services needed new design and that service and hardware may reach a ratio definitely in favour of the services (service 90%; hardware 10%).
\n\n\u201cEven if the prototyped object is not material, in a makerspace, a dash of impact for completeness is however needed on the project\u201d It has to do with the way makers think; very creative and very material thoughts are always in the air here. I feel lucky to follow and take notes and records of what is happening and how things are in the making about MIR initiative. I\'m looking forward to discussing with the coming makers in residence about it.
', u'post_id': 574, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-08 09:51:10', u'title': u'Making of Maker in Residence'}, {u'content': u'THE OPTIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PAGE ARE ENGAGING ONLY THE AUTHOR. The Malagasy people seem to have lost the desire to resist standing up to defend their rights, even though they are being trampled on a daily basis. According to statistics, 92% of Malagasy lived below the poverty threshold but no one rose up. When social pressure is too much, the point of rupture is not far, and the accumulation of frustration and deprivation often results in bloody explosions. However, this can be avoided. Just put yourself to nonviolent civil resistance! Nowadays, the Malagasy people are tired of going down to the streets to claim their rights as citizens. Why make the strike if it is to have each time the same scenario: Teaser bombs, lost bullets and blood flowing, as was the case in 1972, 2002, or in 2009? Why manifesting because it is the politicians who benefit in the end? Today, people prefer to stay at home and rant about the social network instead of expressing their frustration in public and questioning their leaders. And yet, it is not the subjects of contestation which are wanting. Traffics of all kinds, corruption, bad governance, lack of accountability of elected officials, non-respect of laws, hamper development of the country. It is now essential that the Malagasy rediscover that power belongs to them and that they learn how to fight against injustice, without dilatory maneuvering of the politicians, and without violence. As Martin Luther King Jr pointed out, active nonviolence is not a method for cowards. On the contrary, it is a real resistance. It is the art of using non-violent power to achieve sociopolitical objectives, especially through symbolic protests. This practice was popularized from 1921 by exemplary personalities like Gandhi in India, by Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko in South Africa, or Martin Luther King Jr in his fight against segregation. The Malagasy also experimented with nonviolent civil resistance, for example through publications in satirical journals under colonization, but the practice gradually lost face to the rise of the military and police repression, but Also facing the weariness of the main concerned - the citizens. Contemporary movements such as Wake-up Madagascar are now trying to awaken citizens\' consciences and to revive non-violent civil resistance. Short-lived symbolic actions that do not create crowds and are therefore not illegal are regularly organized to denounce the fact of society that make jasper. Expose empty plates to say that the Malagasy are hungry, to walk in the streets of Antananarivo to demand the ratification of a charter on democracy or to make the dead on the place of independence in the city center of the capital to denounce the words which undermine the country are for example, part of the non-violent civil resistance. It is precisely to spread this philosophy on the desire for change through non-violent actions that many projects such as LIANA or Learning Initiative Aiming at Non Violent Action which was initiated by Wake Up Madagascar, Liberty 32 and the WYLD program Women and Youth\'s League for Democracy with the support of the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict. Since the 70\'s during the 1st Republic in Madagascar, Malagasy people have been manipulate and influenced by politicians who wants a place on government by force. This article is about about my own personal opinion. You can add a comment, give suggestions or critics
@Noemi (I believe you\'re the person to tag for this)
\n\nSo I\'ve been thinking about what an\xa0opportunity the OpenVillage is for bringing a large portion of the Edgryders community together, and IN PERSON! And I was wondering if there are any plans for community building activites around the conference schedual that were focused, directly on the community, not just everyone\'s work?\xa0
\n\nI know that conferences like this will naturally bring people together, and especailly with the outlined plan people will be listening for what projects speak to them, to partner with and learn from each other. But I was curious if there is any programming being put together just to connect people on a human level?
\n\nSome ideas as to how to this could be done around the conference schedual:
\n\n-Early morning hike, for those who are early risers and would like to work in some fresh air and activity before cognitive work of conferencing.
\n\n-Evening of Inquiry (adapted from my university), people sign up to be put in random, small groups (5-8 people) and take turns answering personal, premade questions around motivations, hopes, fears, dreams, obsticals over come, etc. (Possibly with wine and some snacks).
\n\n-Edgeryders Match (adapted from Under30 Changemakers), have members of the community (who choose to) fill out a form about a variety of their interests and passions. And then match them another member, so that they can videochat in the weeks leading up to the OpenVillage. This way there is at least one familar face when they arrive!
\n\nAre things like these already in the works? Or maybe there are contraints I don\'t know about? Additional thoughts/reflections/feedback, please comment!
', u'post_id': 6323, u'user_id': 3374, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-13 17:14:05', u'title': u'How to use #OpenVillage to connect the Edgeryders Community?'}, {u'content': u'Hey dear fellow edgeryders!
\n\nHow can we create the most amazing world by being all of ourselves? How can we explore more of our loving and creative potential as well as create a world that reflects this inner beauty and love?\xa0
\n\nThese are two vital questions for me and why I\'m\xa0"Creating new realities". There\'s this beautiful play between the physical world and the non-physical (spiritual), which goes beyond words and at the same time can be very simple in heart. In my experience we are learning to trust and act upon our hearts\' desires and letting go of the certainties of the known. Learning to be fully into life and at the same time peacefully creating the life that\'s feels really good, often being unpredictable, confronting with new challenges along the way of growth. Yet, totally clear from another perspective, which is often only afterwards understood.\xa0
\n\nTo me there\'s roughly two aspects to creation, finding love and expressing it. In whatever way feels most relevant. So creating new realities is about this expression. Expressions of love, expressions of fascination, of being intrigued by a question. This passion, like life can often only be looked upon afterwards. Yet is highly stimulating during the process. At the same time, we can experience a deep peace from within. Growing and integrating. Expressing and being silent. Creating new realities requires both in my experience. Going into something, almost blindly. Being into the question, into life, almost unconsciously. Letting go of what I already know. And at the same time being fully aware of what\'s happening, even when I don\'t know where I\'m going. I\'m fully aware of what I\'m experiencing, all of the feelings and sensations, getting to know myself. To me, creating is about holding space and love, it\'s also about exploring new states of being. More expansive versions of myself. Going into the unknown. Creating new realities, riding the edges, exploring new perspectives, and at the same time, taking care of each other, holding space, accepting all of yourself and everyone around you. Knowing the lows to accept the others and overcoming doubt, finding highs to thrive and create a more amazing life.\xa0
\n\nSo can we\xa0do that?
\n\nCreate new realities and find deeper love within and for each other? Can we create and hold space? Can we set up a world that\'s a reflection of the love and creative potential? Can we shine light on some of the systems that enslave us (like the way money is used to control us) and create new systems that support the dynamics of our potential? Can we let go of heavy concepts and perceptions such as ownership? Can we create a world that\'s natural and harmonious, yet inspiring and unknown? Can we co-create out of passion rather than looking for security? Can we step into the unknown and create with love? So how do we deepen the understanding of ourselves and our behaviours? And more importantly, how can we let go of everything that doesn\'t serve us. Can we accelerate into loving ourselves? Which techniques can we use? Which perspectives can we take? And physically how can we create lifes that actually feel inspiring and authentic?
\n\nOver the last years I\'ve been organizing several series of meetings about personal transformation and\xa0living from the heart\xa0(for instance;\xa0Vrij met Geld/ Free with Money). Also I\'ve worked and lived with changemakers communities, for instance at the Synergyhub in Rotterdam and several ecovillages/ ecocenter\'s, as well as intensely researched the topic of enlightenment and spiritual growth and the physical world. Over the last months I\'ve started writing a book: Step into creation - guidebook for a co-creative universe. Recently I\'ve started a platform "Creating new realities". One of the important lessons I learned is: "you can\'t co-create if you don\'t resonate" and "a little shift in perspective" is often all you need to get back into flow. When I stop resisting, things happen. "When I let go, I know". Behind the known is a infinite field of potential. There lies true excitement. There is infinite inspiration at our disposal. And at the same time, it\'s nice to play with the physical. So to make the world a reflection of our spiritual growth. To let both go hand in hand. To grow and deepen the quality of relationships and communities. To develop the society and create things that represent our love for the world and the mystery of creation. These are some of my most important reflections over my experiences. That\'s what I\'d love to inspire and catalyze! To create realities that are infinitely inspiring and joyful.\xa0
\n\nLooking forward to co-create with you!
\n\nEwoud
', u'post_id': 846, u'user_id': 3643, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-19 10:27:39', u'title': u'Creating new realities'}, {u'content': u'A new issue I could deal with, during these last weeks, has been the additive manufacturing (known by the most of us as 3D print).
\n\nPart of the work at WeMake is done thanks to the 3d printers, machines that materialize objects from digital projects and templates. There are different types of 3D printers according to the type of material, process and size of manufacturing. The additive manufacturing is one of the most commons; the material i\'ve seen so far is a kind of plastic wire warmed and turned into layers added on a base on which in few hours any object can take shape. There are prototypes and test objects all over the scaffolds and tables. After a while you get used to such unusual presence and start to think of materializing by print whatever. Really.
\n\nIn the past week Costantino and I went to Fondazione Bassetti in Milan to listen to Professor Jos Malda from Utrecht University about 3D printing in the biomedica sector.
\n\nMoreover, I could discuss with some of the makers about possibile uses of printing cells and what are the scenarios about it. We talked also about the possibility to print food.
\n\nWhen it comes to 3D printing everybody is open to discussion here.
\n\nA meeting with Rune and other collaborators turned in a interesting discussion about including patients in the process of manufacturing hands, or prothesis to grab forks and spoons to make people who miss some fingers, the hand or an arm, autonomous with eating. There are so many different applications and by 3D print it seems a viable way to save costs and have a just in time do it yourself scalable production of whatever the patient needs.
\n\nOf course there are many issues about copyright, legal implications, safety, patenting and certification. What is sure is the interest not only at WeMake and other fab labs, but from the bigger community of innovators taking action inside opencare framework.
', u'post_id': 839, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-15 12:10:51', u'title': u'3D printing for healthcare applications'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 6321, u'user_id': 3638, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-13 00:11:03', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Il gruppo di Minerva, incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve ricevere la chiamata e garantire l\u2019accesso al proprio negozio, \xe8 formato da: \xa0
\n\nSubito dopo la formazione del tavolo, la co-progettazione ha avuto inizio con la lettura della \u2018Storia di Minerva\u2019, proprietaria di una vineria in pieno centro citt\xe0:
\n\n\u201c [...] Ogni mattina Minerva prende la rampetta mobile dal retrobottega, la posiziona affianco all\u2019ingresso dietro la colonna, in modo che non sia di intralcio, pronta all\u2019uso nel caso se ne presentasse l\u2019occasione. Minerva sa benissimo dove \xe8 situata la rampetta, visibile ai suoi occhi tutto il tempo dal bancone, ma non si \xe8 mai accorta che dalla posizione di ingresso, di fronte all\u2019entrata \xe8 invisibile ai passanti.\xa0
\n\n[...] Proprio come \xe8 successo a Dioniso infatti, che in ritardo e in cerca disperata di una bottiglia di vino da offrire ai suoi festeggiati si \xe8 recato alla Vineria Minerva, ha notato di non poter superare l\u2019ostacolo di ingresso e ha cercato invano l\u2019attenzione di Minerva o dei clienti all\u2019interno del negozio che Minerva stava servendo in quel momento. Avendo atteso diversi minuti per cortesia \xe8 poi per\xf2 dovuto correre a casa, la pioggia iniziava a scrosciare, non riuscendo a comprare il Chianti che tanto desiderava per la serata. \u201c
\n\nClicca qui per accedere alla \u2018Storia di Minerva\u2019.\xa0
\n\nSubito dopo la lettura, il moderatore ha aperto la discussione chiedendo a ciascun partecipante la tipologia del proprio esercizio commerciale. Al gruppo di Minerva hanno partecipato proprietari di diversi esercizi: da studi di architettura, grafica pubblicitaria a negozi di sartoria e riparazioni per calzature a gioiellerie ed atelier.\xa0
\n\nSi \xe8 poi passato all\u2019analisi specifica, per ciascun esercente, dell\u2019accessibilit\xe0 o inaccessibilit\xe0 del proprio negozio, osservando che gli ostacoli sono di diversa entit\xe0: marciapiede piccolo, gradino alto, porta d\u2019ingresso stretta, doppia porta, porta chiusa per necessit\xe0 del lavoro all\u2019interno del negozio, sotto negozio, pulsante piccolo e mal funzionante e cos\xec via.\xa0
\n\nClicca qui per leggere la minuta del gruppo di Minerva.\xa0
\n\nDal tavolo sono dunque emerse diverse tematiche, quali:
\n\nRiferimenti utili:\xa0
\n\nLink - Report generico primo incontro di open rampette - LA CHIAMATA
\n\nLink - Storia / Challenges di open rampette sulla piattaforma di EdgeRyders, per coinvolgere ed avviare una parallela discussione online con i partecipanti e membri del progetto europeo opencare.
\n\nLink - Report gruppo di Dionisio
', u'post_id': 844, u'user_id': 3209, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-16 14:18:18', u'title': u'Open rampette | la chiamata | incontro 11.05 | GRUPPO MINERVA'}, {u'content': u'Il gruppo di Dionisio, incentrato sulle riflessioni di chi deve effettuare la chiamata per accedere all\u2019esercizio commerciale, era formato da:
\n\nSubito dopo la formazione del tavolo, la co-progettazione ha avuto inizio con la lettura della \u2018Storia di Dionisio\u2019, cittadino alla ricerca di una bottiglia di vino:
\n\n\u201c Dioniso \xe8 pronto per la festa di questa sera, ne sar\xe0 il cerimoniere!
\n\nSolo appena prima di uscire si accorge di aver finito il vino, quindi di non poterlo omaggiare ai festeggiati. Quale scempio, Dioniso senza vino\u2026
\n\nDecide di uscire per andare a comprare del buon vino sulla via per andare alla festa.
\n\nPer strada passa davanti alla Vineria Minerva, la vetrina abbonda di bottiglie di ottima annata, i migliori vini della citt\xe0.
\n\nDioniso si avvicina all\u2019entrata e solo all\u2019ultimo pu\xf2 notare l\u2019ostacolo, un misero gradino, decisamente basso per altro, ma che in ogni caso non gli permette di accedere all\u2019interno del negozio. \u201c
\n\nClicca qui per accedere alla \u2018Storia di Dionisio\'.
\n\nSubito dopo la lettura della \u2018Storia di Dionisio\u2019, ha inizio un giro di tavolo per conoscere gli interessi e le aspettative di ciascun membro. Al gruppo di Dionisio, hanno partecipato sia cittadini portatori di bisogno e sia cittadini interessati alla causa per comprendere al meglio le problematiche relative a questa complessa normativa.
\n\nLa discussione ha inizio con la condivisione, da parte dei cittadini disabili, della propria esperienza di shopping in citt\xe0. Le esperienze variano da persona a persona, ma soprattutto dipendono dall\u2019entit\xe0 degli ostacoli presenti all\u2019esterno e all\u2019interno dell\u2019esercizio commerciale. Tali ostacoli forzano infatti relazioni e incomprensioni non volute sia da parte di chi vorrebbe accedere al negozio, sia da chi si trova nelle vicinanze e sia da chi si sente responsabile di questa non accessibilit\xe0.
\n\nClicca qui per leggere la minuta.
\n\nDal confronto dei partecipanti del tavolo di Dionisio sono emerse diverse tematiche che verranno poi riprese durante i prossimi appuntamenti di open rampette:
\n\nRiferimenti utili:
\n\nLink - Report incontro di open rampette - LA CHIAMATA 11.05 @ LaStecca 3.0
\n\nLink - Storia / Challenges di open rampette sulla piattaforma di EdgeRyders, per coinvolgere ed avviare una parallela discussione online con i partecipanti e membri del progetto europeo opencare.
\n\nLink - Report gruppo di Minerva
', u'post_id': 843, u'user_id': 3002, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-16 14:12:24', u'title': u'Open rampette | la chiamata | incontro 11.05 | GRUPPO DIONISO'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 836, u'user_id': 3631, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-11 23:17:38', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 575, u'user_id': 3630, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-10 08:07:17', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\n\nPic source:\xa0DITOs Twitter
\n\nOn May 10 & 11 one of my #lifegoals came true: to visit CERN. I studied physics at university 8 years ago, but dropped out after the first year. The awe for physics and the mythical status of CERN did outlive\xa0my short-lived career as a physicst.
\n\nTogether with @Massimiliano I went to the Biofabbing Convergence (tagline Fabrications & Fabulations) . He was asked to give a presentation about his quest to understand DIYbio and brought me along to co-present some real life observations (and as his \'species\' ). A\xa0philospher doing a phd on synthetic biology, studying a phenomenon mainly studied by sociologists, Massimiliano is\xa0a bit out of place in many ways, making his perspective all the more interesting.
The venue, Ideasquare, is the perfect setting for an event\xa0that\'s part\xa0academic conference, part unconference, part hackathon. I was happy to discover the latter two parts had the upper hand and that everyone that I met had an interesting story to tell as to why they were there.
\n\nAfter arriving later than expected (we have much to learn about Swiss buses), we could join the first\xa0few short plenary sessions. Quickly though, everyone was invited to propose their own sessions or to join the hacking in one of the meeting rooms-turned-hacklabs.
\n\nNo time for that in my case, as over the short two days, I went from one interesting conversation to another. To be expected with such a high\xa0concentration of the most active biohackers in Europe and beyond. Discussing more inclusive education with Bethan from Bento Lab and open source, DIY medicine with Michael from Four Thieves Vinegar\xa0among others who are doing amazing things. It is certain: there is much to be learned from each other, and we should encourage this more.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival theme on citizen science\xa0aims to do exactly that: learn from each other. On day 2 I presented the questions I had raised initially and our ways of tackling them with ReaGent, Ekoli & Break it Down. The need to find answers was\xa0further confirmed by reactions, other presentations and conversations offline and online. Many communities have\xa0the same issues:
\n\nIt was not all seriousness and\xa0we ended exploring weird ideas like what to do with tonsils after they are removed (Adam Zaretsky gave me a detailed protocol after I asked him about how to make\xa0tonsil burgers; this was not even that far out there compared to the ideas\xa0he presented the next day) and laughing at the fact that someone is actually getting paid for\xa0jamming minced meat in lab glassware.
\n\nAs I\'m writing this back in Belgium, the discussion is still going on at the event and on the online forum. With so much combined experience and brains, some interesting next steps\xa0should come out of it. I\'m motivated to find solutions by\xa0sharing our experiences,\xa0learning from others and connecting dots between\xa0fields and initiatives. For anyone interested, our joint presentation can be found here.
\n\nIf these questions resonate with you and your project, let me know. I\'d like to visit some spaces over the summer to exchange experiences and work on new solutions.
', u'post_id': 6320, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-12 15:38:43', u'title': u'Learning about sustainable biohackerspaces at Biofabbing Convergence 2017'}, {u'content': u'\n\nSupport the Shit Show on Startnext!\xa0startnext.com/theshitshow
\n\nWe have been studying it for 3 months, we have been dealing with it most of our life, we are highly aware of the importance of engaging with it but we still find it incredibly hard to talk about.
\n\nPauline and I are both product design students and together with Nele and Luisa who study communications we are team UP. In the context of "Hacking Utopia", a human centered design project at the University of Arts Berlin, we are investigating mental health. This article explains our approach of boosting mental resilience and give you the chance to get involved in our project.
\n\nIn our previous contributions on Edgeryders we described how we started off with the question of making sadness, unproductivity and inefficiency less shameful. We discovered two TED talks that influenced us greatly: The power of vulnerability by Brene Brown and Depression, the secret we share by Andrew Solomon. As later confirmed by the psychologists we interviewed, these talks made us understand that sharing our feelings is a key step towards mental resilience. Establishing a sustainable, personal connection this is necessary for recovery and growth. When we hide our condition, we ignore it, it becomes worse.
\n\nUSER INTERVIEWS
\n\nThe issue of mental health is especially important in the context of youth. Young adults are increasingly affected by issues like anxiety or depression. Their circumstances make them particularly susceptible to psychological stress. As many leave the familiar framework of home and school and move into an uncertain future, the newly independents have to find alternative support structures. New living situations, potentially in a new city or even country, starting university or a job, all these developments entail a multitude of mental pressures. In a time where social media is so influential, standards of self-representation are an added factor. According to one of the psychological guidance counsellors at Studentenwerk Berlin; stress, loneliness and self-image issues are very common results among many students.
\n\nAs part of our research, we interviewed several university students from different backgrounds about negative emotions like these. One question was how they handle situations of feeling sad, stressed or lonely. The main insight was that everyone experienced this shit, but no one liked to deal with it. A prominent theme in the conversations was the difficulty to talk about emotional problems \u2013 be it a missed project deadline, a loss in the family or an eating disorder. It was mentioned\xa0that it was easier for them to open up to someone who had similar problems and could empathize. However, it is difficult to identify the people that can offer support\xa0when everyone tries to hide their struggles.
\n\nAs a result, most people\xa0don\u2019t decide to seek help until they had been in increasing pain for a prolonged amount of time. Yet at this point of outreach, recovery is still far. As we learned from our interviews, it can take months to find care that is suitable to the individual and more months to see any progress. While there is a great spectrum of available options, the general idea of psychological treatment is still stigmatized. It is often not even perceived as a possible solution. The psychologists we interviewed mentioned that many of their patients came to them only after being referred by a general practitioner or friends who had tried therapy themselves.
\n\nYet, we cannot force people to seek help. Keeping quiet about insecurities is a justified mental defence mechanism. When we share our feelings, we are vulnerable, exposed. Oftentimes, the recipient is simply not equipped to offer a good, empathic response. This could almost be described as a societal incompetence,\xa0stemming from a general lack of awareness.
\n\nOUR GOAL
\n\nWe want\xa0to challenge the current attitude towards psychological care. Our project tries to de-stigmatize psychological pain and make the sensitive, \'taboo\' issue of mental health more present and approachable to the public. We believe that udnerstanding and empathy is vital to provide good care for people that are suffering from emotional distress. We want to make it clear\xa0that feeling shitty is nothing to be ashamed of, but actually a very common thing. Also, we want the impact of these feelings to be understandable, so that more people can offer informed, helpful responses. When this happens, the threshold of reaching out is lowered, which in return allows problems to be addressed before they develop into serious mental conditions.
\n\nINSPIRATION
\n\nThere are a number of inspiring projects who deal with exactly this issue of awareness. One clever way artists are spreading awareness is over the internet. Tumblr users like Rubyetc, Beth Evans or Sarah\u2019s Scribbles have gained quite a following with their funny, relatable comics about everyday struggles. Seeing that you are not alone in your suffering can be very comforting. Recently, illustrator Gemma Correll created a series of drawings as part of an online awareness campaign for Mental Health America to visualize what #mentalillnessfeelslike. Their campaign encourages people to open up about their conditions and harvest the power of sharing.
\n\nA related approach can be found in the various devices that exist to simulate old age. Suits like \u2018GERT\u2019 are designed to make the wearer feel the impairments that come with aging: stiffness and limited mobility, decreasing strength, blurred sight, muffled hearing. The concept was originally developed to enable caretakers of elderly people to better understand the needs and fears of their patients. Now, gadgets with similar effects, designed by students at Weimar University, are being exhibited at the Hygiene Museum in Dresden, allowing the public to gain the same understanding.\xa0\xa0
\n\nIn general, public exhibitions are a valuable source of inspiration when it comes to reaching people and conveying information. A prime example is the \'Happy Show\', set up by design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Verging somewhere between art and education, the show throughly explores the theme of happiness in a graphic, creative and interactive manner. Another show that encourages people to actively engage with the exhibit is Erwin Wurms \'Bei Mutti\'. Visitors are isntructed to interact the artefacts on display, effectively becoming a piece of the art themselves.
\n\n\n\nPROJECT PROPOSAL
\n\nIn order to achieve our goal we propose a combination of an interactive exhibition and an information booth. This pop-up stall can easily be set up at universities events like open days and conferences.
\n\nWe will exhibit various sadness simulators, wearable objects for the crowd to try which simulate the effects of being depressed, stressed or anxious. These objects have been inspired by an online survey we have conducted in order to find out how people physically feel when they are in emotional distress. Out of dozens of responses we have extracted the most common themes: weight on the shoulders, head pulling down, brain fog and a general discomfort in one\'s body feeling: hot, sticky and itchy. With these results we have designed various objects: A neck bender, a very heavy device to carry on his back being forced to lean forward. A helmet made of tinted transparent acrylic that simulates looking through a veil and muffles the sound of the surroundings and a really uncomfortable ill-fitting coat made of a super itchy and stiff fabric. We have more ideas but for now we have realized these three.
\n\nThose who are\xa0brave enough to test our simulators will receive a positive feedback. They will get to choose between 3 gifts: Stickers that encourage everyday task such as: "got out of bad", "took a shower" and "washed my laundry" in order to demonstrate how difficult these tasks can be to certain people. They could also choose comforting cynical tea bags that they can grant a friend in need on a rainy day or shit shaped chocolate pralines to compensate for the horrors they have just been through. The exhibition will also include an interactive board in which participants can share their feelings caused by the simulators or just generally and a second board presenting useful information regarding mental issues: how to identify, approachable treatments, support groups and other solutions. The first exhibition will take place during Berlin University of the Arts Semester end\'s exhibition and we hope it will continue to other universities around berlin and even in other cities in Europe.
\n\nIf you hope so as well you are welcome to join us in a number of ways:
\n\nSupport our Startnext campaign going online July 20th! Help us fund the first ever Shit Show and enjoy our moody merchandise (link tba)
Spread the word! Our first intention is to raise awareness of mental health issues. Please share our ideas and solutions, you might even help someone.
(It will also be nice if you would share our Startnext campaign once it\'s up
Pauline Schlautmann: p.schlautmann@udk-berlin.de
\n\nOmri Kaufmann: omri207@gmail.com
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 511, u'user_id': 3253, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-30 21:00:12', u'title': u'The Shit Show - A Mental Health Awareness Campaign'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 833, u'user_id': 3624, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-09 18:27:28', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Cities are experiencing a growing social crisis: lacking in social cohesion; insufficient public services; decreasing support by traditional social forms (as families and neighbours); growing sense of loneliness. The gap between the growing demand and the shrinking offer of care is the basis of the present care crisis. To overcome this crisis a brand-new care systems has to be imagined and enhanced. It is possible to imagine communities of care and their socio-technical enabling ecosystems, capable to sustain and coordinate people\u2019s caring and collaborating capabilities and doing so, creating new forms of care-related communities.
\n\nThis process exacerbates in those areas of the city that suffer sudden transformations and even more where a large chunk of the city change its function.
\n\nThis was the case of Bovisa district in Milan that undergone a dramatic change in the 90s\u2019 when the dismissed industrial area (Ex-gasometri) left place to the current Bovisa Politecnico University. In the words of one of the professor at Politecnico \u201cit\u2019s like if a massive alien spacecraft has unexpectedly landed\u201d.
\n\nThis is considered a general upgrading of the district but no doubt resulted in a subsequent change in the social life.
\n\nThe newly established School of Design attracted some 4,000 students which increased the demand for daily, standard, low cost services. That is what today Bovisa offers for the most, since the majority of the students live somewhere else. When students are off the district it changes its face: bookshops, fast food, bars, copy centres are closed and leave the district lifeless.
\n\nThere are good practices for people aggregation like the local weekly street market, the cultural association Scighera, the social initiative Coltivando or the multiservice caf\xe8 Mamusca, but students show little interactions with it. It seems a missed opportunity.
\n\nThe aforementioned pushed the Politecnico University to challange itself asking \u201chow can our student transitional community and residents develop positive interactions and give new life to the district?\u201d.
\n\nThis is what the course \u2013 PSSD 2017 Networks of Care Collaborative encounters in/around the Bovisa campus \u2013 is about.
\n\nEzio Manzini and Liat Rogel, with Susanna De Besi wanted this to be the focus of their students\u2019 work for this year. And they suggested the students to interact with the edgeryders community as their works progress.
\n\nToday introduction ended with the following questions to students:
\n\nReferring to your everyday interactions with Bovisa, when are you in need for care? \xa0And when are you willing to provide care to somebody else?
\n\n@Ezio_Manzini @Social_Open_Campus @Rossana_Torri @Liat @Social_Open_Campus\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0
', u'post_id': 832, u'user_id': 3520, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-08 15:35:01', u'title': u'How can transitional communities take care of their host neighborhood?'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 834, u'user_id': 3625, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-09 20:50:19', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'FairCoop is, in fact, a lot of projects with a unifying mission behind all of them: to build alternative, grassroots-driven economy, which will be participatory, fair and belong to the people. All of the members of our global collective want to see that happen.
\n\nThe FairCoop Thessaloniki is a local group linked to the global movement. We\u2019re all dealing in different ways with the establishment of tools and processes that would bring about alternative, cooperative economies.
\n\nIn the case of our city, to some extent, it\u2019s done by implementation of alternative cryptocurrency, faircoin, developed by the FairCoop. We try to understand ways in which this currency, and a local currency introduced after the crisis, can coexist and supplement each other. In any case, the goal is to free ourselves from proprietary technologies and capitalist banking systems - by creating a parallel circular model, ideally connecting and supporting a whole ecosystem of projects locally and globally.
\n\nThere is also the ambition to create a health care system within the communities by implementing the same solutions and building autonomous, community managed and driven scheme, highly independent from the existing one. For example, it could be done by using the percentage of community\u2019s income to fund health care. It could even in the future take shape of an autonomous security system. Considering the increasingly ubiquitous 3D technology, many of the medical tools can be soon printed cheaply by anyone. Small ethical pharmaceuticals will be able to produce their own medicine. And all the wealth that is sucked up from the communities will stay there, making them stronger and independent. It is already the case in Spain, where after 6 years of experiments in the communities of all kinds a lot of generated income has been fed back and used to build, support projects, create systems of all kinds.
\n\nWe also plan to replace the public system with a cooperative one. For now, it\u2019s a hurdle - but in the future, it will be possible. The condition? The strong community behind it.
\n\nFairCoop exists since 2 years, and in Thessaloniki, it started a few months ago. We have links with dozens of cooperatives, organizations, initiatives and communities - such as Bitcoin community, P2P foundation, Catalonia Cooperative, etc. We\u2019ve brought on board more than 1000 people so far. Yet, there\u2019s still a lot to be done. We need to connect and build stronger alliances even in the cities - in Thessaloniki, many existing initiatives remain disconnected from each other. We need to develop models of integral cooperation on different levels. Bring decentralized technologies to local communities to make them more resilient. And seed the idea of cooperation, which will replace competition.
', u'post_id': 741, u'user_id': 3404, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-12 16:26:33', u'title': u'FairCoop - Spreading the seed of cooperation to replace competition'}, {u'content': u'I made a quick network sketch of the OpenInsulin conversation and how it fits in OpenCare as a whole. This is you:
\n\n\n\nAnd this is OpenCare as a whole. The visual identity of nodes is preserved by keeping them in the same position across the two graphs. Color means degree, with redder nodes being more connected.
\n\n', u'post_id': 6305, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-07 11:21:31', u'title': u'... and this is you!'}, {u'content': u'I would like to propose a talk and demo for the OpenVillage Festival 2017\xa0of my social networking platform: Remarkable Lives.
\n\nThe timing of the Festival will fit\xa0very well (I hope!) with my\xa0platform\'s development stage as it proceeds from Beta to community roll-out. In fact, OpenVillage Festival 2017 could be the stage for its European launch.\xa0
\n\nLet me explain a bit more about Remarkable Lives...and forgive me for using the third person (I\'m new here\xa0and\xa0not 100% sure how this community works yet).
\n\nRemarkable Lives is the App for Ageing Well: a new social network that celebrates and shares the life stories and achievements of older people, improving society\u2019s connectivity with later life.
\n\nFounded by Social Entrepreneur, Owen McNeir, Remarkable Lives helps to change society\u2019s perceptions of later life, aiming to combat loneliness and isolation, improve health and wellbeing, and benefit care providers and community groups by offering real-life solutions to challenges confronting the care sector and an ageing society.
\n\nWhy it matters
\n\nRemarkable Lives addresses these challenges to create\xa0a positive social impact:
\n\nBuilding a community platform
\n\nAn award from UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, and a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter are supporting the development of an operational platform that will take Remarkable Lives forward to engage care providers and community networks\xa0with a system that offers easy-to-use personal web profiles using photographic, audio-visual and written reminiscence.
\n\nTo raise awareness and build a community of interest around the enterprise while the platform is in development, Owen is\xa0conducting life-story sessions in care homes, hospices, community centres and with individuals in their own homes.\xa0 Using photographic and oral reminiscence techniques, he is opening a window on the past, giving older people a renewed sense of identity, dignity and meaning.
\n\n\n\nThe results are short life-story moments, edited and published on a dedicated photo-blog: www.remarkablelives.uk . These stories, easily accessible online, are also designed to help those who care for older people to better understand and connect with them. Carers and nurses are rushed off their feet, so Remarkable Lives provides a quick to read, personal history to help them form a picture of the individual in one click. Care homes who have participated in this stage of the project even add the stories to their residents\' Care Plans, all of which is resulting in improved staff satisfaction.
\n\nOwen\xa0says, \u201cMy mission is to help society stay in touch and age well together by providing a positive, safe and empowering environment; an online gathering place. Remarkable Lives offers a refreshing perspective of old age that rolls back the years to celebrate our most memorable moments and helps to change society\u2019s perceptions of later life.\u201d\xa0
\n\nHe adds, \u201cWe are building something special with Remarkable Lives: we are combining creativity with innovation, harnessing the powerful medium of storytelling with the familiarity and connectivity of a social networking platform to create a positive social impact.\u201d
\n\nEvidence that Remarkable Lives makes a difference
\n\n\u201cUnLtd is convinced that innovative social entrepreneurs like Owen hold the key to ageing well.\xa0 We are delighted to have the opportunity to support him to increase and deepen the impact of Remarkable Lives.\u201d \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Julie Carthy, Award Manager, UnLtd
\n\n\u201cWhat you are doing has such value and importance. It\u2019s things like this that make our world better and kind, putting humanity into statistics.\u201d \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Nicci Gerrard, Author & Founder of John\u2019s Campaign
\n\n\u201cWith Remarkable Lives the emphasis moves on to their lives, experiences and skills and away from dependency and disability.\u201d \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Rob Fountain, regional\xa0CEO of Age UK
\n\n\u201cRemarkable Lives has strengthened our staff / resident relationships \u2013 we know them better and have a deeper understanding.\u201d\xa0\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Peter Gardiner, General Manager The Hollies Care Home
\n\nThis short 3 minute film from Owen\'s recently completed\xa0Kickstarter campaign helps to convey the essence of Remarkable Lives.\xa0
\n\nI hope my enterprise is of interest to the EdgeRyders community. Please feel welcome to connect with me - I\'d love your feedback. Thank you.
\n\n\xa0
', u'post_id': 6289, u'user_id': 3604, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-03 13:40:28', u'title': u'Proposal for Talk / Demo: Introducing Remarkable Lives - the App for Ageing Well'}, {u'content': u'We base the OpenVillage on three pairs of fellows and curators.
\n\nAdditionally, fellows are encouraged to go on\xa0Wanderjahre. These\xa0are not literally three years and one day of wandering (wikipedia): we see it as a trip across Europe to meet people with open projects around care, and connect them to the OpenVillage. Blogging during these trips will make for very, very interesting read.\xa0
\n\nWhat do you guys think? @WinniePoncelet , who would be your "dream" curator?\xa0
', u'post_id': 6279, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-28 13:12:14', u'title': u'A note on the architecture of the OpenVillage team'}, {u'content': u'Community-based initiatives contribute in a lot of different ways to the well-being of a community and the people participating. These contributions can take the form of directly supporting people and communities through giving them access to education, healthy food, social support, nature, informations about political and administrative procedures. Indirectly they also allow the development of a culture of mutual help, sharing and empowerment. This post is a description of what we have learned about care structures in communities during our years as community activists building Prinzessinengarten an urban garden in Berlin.
\n\nBut let\u2019s start from the beginning\u2026.
\n\nAt Moritzplatz, a busy roundabout in the center of bustling Berlin-Kreuzberg, well over a thousand supporters have helped the site to grow, turning a lot that was vacant for 60 years into a flourishing garden. Without specific expertise, with little money and motivated by the idea of a communally used garden in the center of the city, we began in summer 2009 to put down the first roots of a flourishing garden between cement and rubble. By now, a huge diversity of plants is growing here as well as a diversity of social relations. People of different origins and of different ages meet and exchange their knowledge and their experience.
\n\nThe Prinzessinnengarten is a communal project; our vegetable beds are shared without anyone claiming individual ownership. Over the course of four years, supporters from the local community have dirtied their hands in order to. This takes place in a neighborhood that is one of the most densely developed and socially most vulnerable in the city. Here a garden evolved that can sustain itself financially and that grew into a locus of social exchange and mutual learning.
\n\nPrinzessinnengarten, as well as other urban gardens in Germany, have been able to develop small economies around its activities. Prinzessinnengarten has been able to support 15 full-time jobs during it seasons, being financially independent through its economic activities such as horticulture, the tending of a small caf\xe9, selling its products, as well as giving training in gardening, ecology or the planning of further gardens. At the same time, it has been able to offer high quality, healthy and ecological food at affordable prices.\xa0
\n\nIn cooperation with local institutions, with universities and international partners, the Prinzessinnengarten became a laboratory for resilient forms of urban development. In a pragmatic manner, we have been asking questions on how to deal with urgent issues such as climate change, dwindling resources, food sovereignty and the loss of biodiversity. The answers being experienced and experimented on all strive toward the creation of a resilient city, not only taking global challenges such as climate change into consideration\xa0but also incorporating local actors in the building of practical and local solutions. \xa0\xa0
\n\nThe success of the garden has been vividly mirrored in vast press coverage: Since 2009, well over a thousand supporters have helped the site to grow \u201efrom an ugly vacant lot to a paradise\u201c (Die Zeit). 60,000 visitors come to Moritzplatz each year to see this \u201ebiotope and sociotope with a model character\u201c (Tagesspiegel), this \u201eutopia in miniature\u201c (Berliner Zeitung)\xa0
\n\nDespite the garden being a celebrated pioneer project and undisputed value even by official sources, in 2012 the Berlin Property Fund was commissioned to sell the plot of land on which the garden stands. We only had an annually renewable lease, leaving no prospects for long-term planning. Through the immense support of our public and an increasingly motivated government, the Berlin government decided to return the property the Borough of Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain. The Prinzessinnengarten has been able to establish its model character as a locus of social, ecological and urban change.
\n\nTo discuss questions arising from this kind of community engagement, Elizabeth Calderon-L\xfcning, Marco Clausen, and Asa Sonjasdotter initiated the Neighbourhood Academy in 2015:a self-organized open platform for urban and rural knowledge sharing, cultural practice and activism. This bottom-up academy combines different knowledge- and experienced-based formats: non-standardized knowledge, hands-on know-how, sensuous narratives and research methods. People, organizations, and projects from different neighborhoods come together. Participants can come from Berlin-Kreuzberg or the region around Berlin just as likely as from Detroit or rural areas in Greece to find common ground for learning and teaching.\xa0
\n\nIn taking over responsibilities in issues that affect the whole society - refugees, climate change, social and ecological justice, to name just a few - community-based and grassroots initiatives play an increasing role in tackling these challenges and their effects on the local level. They are breeding grounds for social innovations and new bottom-up-strategies. Often people take initiative when traditional or institutional forms of care and support decline or do not meet people\u2019s needs. Community gardens and urban agriculture- the field in which I am personally engaged- can serve as a good example. Without being part of planning, or political programs, these places are mostly created by local, self-organized initiatives. Based on local engagement and alternative forms of economy and often without public or financial support, community gardens contribute to the well-being, social inclusion, healthy and sustainable lifestyles, biodiversity, the physical- as well as the social climate. Not only they contribute to the physical health of their participants, but also to their sense of dignity and self-esteem.
\n\nThere is also a downside to community engagement. While community organizations have to promote themselves with success stories to get recognition, political- and financial support, the negative aspects are often less visible. You hear a lot about precarious funding, internal or outside conflicts, political and economic pressure, multitasking, impossible workloads, competition between projects. At the same time, dealing with complex and often rigid political and social institutions, community activists have to become self-trained experts in finances, public relations, lobbying, community-organizing etc. But these fights are long and complex and the institutions and their procedures require a patience that easily outlive the time, the physical and mental resources individuals and grassroots initiatives are able to mobilize.
\n\nOver time, this situation can result in what you might call an \u201eactivism-burnout\u201c. When this happens, physical, mental, and social damages are far too often just seen as a personal or biographical drama. These individual burn-outs are likely to be accompanied by a weakening or even a collapse of the organizations and initiatives that are often carried by the engagement of single individuals. The disintegration can lead to a situation where an organization loses knowledge, expertise, networks, and spirit.
\n\nFor the reasons mentioned above, community care should also include structures to support the people that are directly invested in it. It should create securing and supporting networks. Instead of competing, it should allow people from different initiatives in different fields of engagement to share their knowledge of failure. There should be at once structures of collective learning and consultancy, which at the same time help the individuals to find spaces of trust and recreation. With the Neighborhood Academy, we started informal meetings with members of different groups and initiatives, not only to exchange experience and knowledge and to broaden networks and alliances, but also to deal with stress, conflict, fear, doubt, and failure on a more personal level. Even though this is just a tentative beginning, we experience a need for this kind of care and support structures, which was previously not expressed. Often issues related to the stressful conditions of organizations and community initiatives are externalized into the private and infuse personal relations . Therefore on a structural level, we see these caring structures also as a\xa0form to win even when you lose.
\n\nCommunity groups often focus on single questions, spaces, conflicts. They often react under economic and time pressure to immediate problems. They act within marginalized or weak political and economical communities. They deal with institutions and stakeholders with more time, much power, and resources whereas they rely on limited personal resources or precarious funding. Simultaneously there are a lot of joy, learning and personal empowerment involved as well as a sense of a meaningful life and community relations. However, the risk of failing is high, which can lead to frustration and disintegration.
\n\nCommunity care structures can help to ease this stress not only in giving support but also in a form of what we call \u201ecollective learning\u201c. They can work as an archive for the knowledge, the experiences and know-how being created in grassroots and community initiatives. Thus, they allow activists to see themselves not only as part of a\xa0singular local fight that you might win or lose\xa0but as contributors to a collective living memory.
', u'post_id': 507, u'user_id': 3326, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-13 21:01:09', u'title': u'Community Care and Care Structures for Community Activists'}, {u'content': u'Notes from the gathering on 26.04.2017. We had the pleasure to meet Guido ( @GLS9000 ), who produces\xa0scientific content at the Diabetes Liga.\xa0
\n\nGuido:\xa0Insulin is very well organized in EU. Belgium is 14th\xa0(out of 30) in the European index. The medicine doesn\u2019t cost much here. Pumps, sensors etc. come with the package patients get from convention centers. The Diabetes Liga\xa0sells some stuff like glucometers, sensors, strips. It doesn\'t make sense to sell other stuff, since they get it cheaply from convention centers. The convention centers are an intermediary between hospitals and the government health services.
\n\nMaria (@mboto ): it\'s the same in Spain, it\'s almost free.
\n\nGuido: The problem is clearly different in the US vs. here. In the US the price is a problem. Here the problem is more type 2 diabetes, specifically the\xa0prevention, as it\'s a lifestyle diseases. Many organizations work on that. Diabetes still costs the government way too much money because of it: checkups, dietary stuff, ... Type 2 diabetes here is also tied to poverty. The best way to reach these poorer people is the doctor, but they usually have no time.
\n\nMaria: it would be best to focus on this type, because it\u2019s an actual problem here. It\u2019s hard to reach these poor groups, we could help there. An art project would be a good medium in general to spread awareness to the public.
\n\nThrough the non-profit Ekoli, we do come into contact with poorer and vulnerable groups of children in Belgium. This ties in with the idea of @NiekD \xa0for educational outreach. It would be a way to assist with the pressing matters here.
\n\nVincent: someone is paying for the insulin here. Probably tax payers. Guido: yes, there are intermediaries that gain a lot from the government. In the US that is much more. There was a scandal not too long ago: big companies were making deals. Walmart is now also bringing back an old version of insulin to sell it cheaper. People here are spoiled though:\xa0they are always asking for faster, better insulin. They wouldn\u2019t settle anymore for older types.
\n\nOther info around the Diabetes Liga. They have about 80.000 patient members and 2.000 professionals. The members determine what the organisation does, and cheaper insulin simply isn\'t a policy point here. Guido mentioned the Open Insulin project at the office, but it was not a priority at all.
\n\nPieter will design some infographics that can be used for communicating about the issues surrounding diabetes/insulin. The International Diabetes Foundation has some good ones already, these can be used as well or serve as\xa0a starting point.
\n\nThanks a lot\xa0Guido for the interesting input! I\'m\xa0interested to hear what others think. How can we shape the project so that it also meets the needs of the Belgium situation?
\n\nThe next gathering is in two weeks: Wednesday 10 May at 8pm @ ReaGent
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6278, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-28 07:43:21', u'title': u'Insulin/diabetes situation in Belgium (Team meeting notes 26.04.2017)'}, {u'content': u'Description:
\n\nStress is inevitable. It walks in and out of our lives on a regular basis. A burnout is a mixture of professional exhaustion, and disillusionment with other people, the organization, or the career, over the long term.
\n\nFortunately, there are many things you can do to minimize and cope with stress and learn how to avoid a burnout.
\n\nMain Aims:
\n\nCareer guidance and counselling
Combating failure in education
Fight against school/university failure & link school/university and work
Inclusive approaches
Pedagogy and didactics
School/university improvement & quality evaluation
Specific objectives of the course are: \uf0b7 Introduce holistic model of stress and raise understanding of stress causes, mechanisms and effects \uf0b7 Raise understanding of how stress impacts teaching ability \uf0b7 Provide the participants with practical tools for dealing with stress \uf0b7 Reduce the consequences of stress (such as poor health, absenteeism, lack of creativity, ineffective communication, inability to focus, more conflicts etc.) and develop healthy ways of dealing with everyday work demands \uf0b7 Prevent burn-out syndrome in educators \uf0b7 Enhance emotional self-awareness \uf0b7 Introduce practical tools for coping with difficult emotions \uf0b7 Improve the participants\u2019 emotional balance \uf0b7 Help the participants to identify their stress triggers and emotional triggers at work context and come up with new, more resourceful strategies \uf0b7 Enhance in the participants the ability to relax \uf0b7 Broaden the understanding of health
\n\nProgramme Elements:
\n\nIntroduction and course overview
Ice breaking
Individual expectations
What is stress?
Definitions
Understanding the stress response (fight/flight versus prolonged stress)
Physical, emotional, mental and behavioural symptoms of stress
Relation between our thinking and stress
Effective and ineffective ways of dealing with stress
Relaxation exercises that help to manage stress effectively \u2013 part 1
The impact of emotions on teaching and learning ability
Tools for dealing with disturbing emotions
Effects of stress in educational setting
Assessing your personal stress triggers
Changing not resourceful strategies
Self-talk awareness
Relaxation exercises - part 2
How can I be more mindful and resourceful in the classroom? \u2013 action plan
Summary, course evaluation and closure
ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT BY THE PARTICIPANT
\n\nBefore
\n\nParticipants will receive a list of study material prior to their arrival for the seminar along with the links for the websites which are relevant to the content of the course.
\n\nDuring
\n\nThe course will provide theory necessary to understand the nature of stress as well as practical tools for managing stress and difficult emotions. Attention will be given on how to implement the findings and skills in real life situations after the seminar.
\n\nMethods such as debate, role play, body movement, individual mind management technologies, pair and group exercises and mini -coaching will be used throughout the course.
\n\nThe methodology of the course includes learner \u2013 centered approach and utilizes self-learning methods.
\n\nThe aim of the course is not to produce ready-made solutions (passive learning), but to inspire the participants to search creatively for knowledge and effective solutions which are connected with their needs and challenges (active learning). In this way the participants take responsibility for their own learning process and act as active partners of the course.
\n\nAfter
\n\nThe participants will be encouraged to form a network in order to continue an exchange of ideas and support one another. Up to 6 months after completion of the workshop, the participants will have an opportunity to ask for advice (via email or Skype) if they face obstacles in using the new skills or if they have any questions or concerns.
', u'post_id': 6293, u'user_id': 3082, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-04 09:54:24', u'title': u'Handling Stress and Avoiding Burnout'}, {u'content': u'I\'m about ti explain shortly my story. It starts with the topic the Phoenix Spirit which also describes all my way till here. Struggling with several experiences and job possitions, building and colliding several bussineses, reached the experience to build a new company Phoenix Connections and set my soul on it. In Phoenix Connections agenda we have projected an Agro-Technological project called Agro-Bot which will help farmers and Agriculture reach higher scala of yields, productivity and enlarging the farming land.\xa0http://www.phoenixconnections.net
', u'post_id': 571, u'user_id': 3606, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-04 21:22:04', u'title': u'The Phoenix Spirit'}, {u'content': u'For this second tool (Tool 1) i want to come back to the end discussion of the Brussels workshop we held on 24th of September. Alkasem, a doctorstudent and Syrian Refugee started a really important conversation about collaboration: how can we collaborate if there is no trust? Lets go back to this conversation and look at what came out of it
\n\nCitation from the workshop:\xa0
\n\nSIDENOTE 2: Alkasem was again the most disruptive thinker in the group and gave us a lot to think. For him, everything moves around friendship. He has the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust.\xa0And without trust no skill can be shared. This intervention of him started a discussion about the meaning of trust and how we can build that.
\n\n\u201c\u2018Trust is an enabler to use the resources.\xa0How can that be created inside an eclectic group like this?\u2019,asked Yannick.\xa0 For Claire it is a text and rules of engagement and a clear path of conflict resolution, and a way to learn to treat each other better.\xa0
\n\nWinnie reacted that your own people\'s trust is a constant, but gaining the network\'s trust is more difficult.
\n\nWith the help of Nadia we\xa0made a synthesis of the discussion
\n\n1) Working trust is very different from social trust; and there needs to be a boundary.\xa0
\n\n2) What also worked for her is deciding to work on even a small project.
\n\n3) A story that binds us together - understanding how our different activities are related
\n\n4) Documentation: what does it mean? for us it has been in writing.
\n\nFinding each other strengths and weaknesses by organizing small events with each other, and beginning with things that don\'t have something big at stake. Because then we can learn about each other. The importance of documentation in building trust: Leaving a story behind that people can follow.
\n\nWhen the discussion was coming to an end we all felt we had got a lot of information and the workshop was going to close. So Nadia came up with a good idea to end the workshop with something concrete. We all felt that one of the biggest issues in care is that we live to much on our own island and that if we want to make care better we need to share and collaborate. But to collaborate we need to create trust. So this exercise was given to every participant and will hopefully end up in solidifying the care network in Belgium. The following question was asked:
\n\nWhat can i bring to another organization, that also better myself as a person and is easily realizable?
\n\nThis question will be asked again at the next meeting we are organizing. If you want to join, fill in the framadate and put your contacts in comment. We will update this discussion at that point and see how we have concretized the thrust issue.
\n\nhttps://framadate.org/gWB9QN65MCyedmrL
', u'post_id': 788, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-07 13:06:44', u'title': u'Collaborative Tools 2: The Trust Issue'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 535, u'user_id': 3409, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-15 20:43:34', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u"It was in 8th grade I think, when I heard my former best friend Tina say: \u201eTicking off to-do-lists makes me happy.\u201c I still feel the irritation that came along with those words. I just couldn't understand what she was referring to. Did she really enjoy this? Immediately I \u2013 as teens do \u2013 started to question myself: Why wasn't I that self-organized structure-loving girl that always got everything right, made reasonable decisions and planned her life 5 months beforehand?
\n\nAs the years went by, I began to understand that it was not the fact that Tina loved ticking off to-do-lists that\xa0 seemed so strange to me. It was the logic of efficiency, that I began to see everywhere. Peers trying to \u201eget it all right\u201c, to \u201eavoid failing\u201c. To master their own life as it was some kind of stress test. And to always be ready for the next job interview, a smooth and pleasing CV at hand.
\n\nI was and I am a part of that. And it strikes me that this kind of neoliberal thinking of \u201eyour life (and your success/failure) is your responsibility\u201c leads us sometimes to very harsh assumptions about ourselves and our peers.
\n\nI can now see all of that in a broader socio-economic context of destabilized markets and societies. We are all, in a way, facing much more uncertain futures than our parents did (while it is extremely difficult to get a full understanding of how this is just a perceived thing or really the case).
\n\nAgainst this backdrop, the topic of mental and emotional resilience seems really a thing we should put our minds to. What does \u201ereal\u201c self-care mean when we are all trained to function? When spiritual practices like yoga and meditation are already a part of improving ourselves, being a good self-entrepreneur who, after a good yoga-session, can function even better, work even longer hours?\xa0
\n\nI think sharing our vulerabilities and insecurities around failing, missing out and not wanting anymore is crucial at this point. Although there are already some great projects bringing these issues into awareness it seems that for a majority of people the stigma around for example mental illness, burnout etc. is still too big to cope with on their own.
\n\nHow can we turn sadness, unproductivity and inefficiency into an accepted part of life and how can we help people to cope with expectations they can't and don't want to meet?
", u'post_id': 666, u'user_id': 3255, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-15 15:22:56', u'title': u'On being a self-entrepreneur'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 657, u'user_id': 3246, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-09 16:57:48', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 751, u'user_id': 3418, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-18 18:27:57', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Asnada is an association born in 2010 inspired from the strong desire of investigating the role of the language in integration processes. Through our social and educational work, we try to answer a question: how can we live together taking care of our specific differences?\xa0 Far from the identity concept, we make the most of our similarity, using the new language (Italian) as a common ground. We have opened a first school for refugees and asylum seekers and, some years later, a school for unaccompanied minors. We are now nine (eight women and a man) coming from different backgrounds (Journalism, Pedagogy, Classical Studies, Education, Psychology, Cultural mediation, Languages) and ages (from 25 to 55).\xa0
\n\nOur schools are the places where we try to build up familiar relationships and a sense of community, but also the place where we try to understand, together, the contradictions of the world we live in. The learning group has here an essential role because it\u2019s the context in which every single student find his place, support and the courage to express himself. The variety of writing and speaking levels we look for in the student group is meant to lead to a free and informal circulation of knowledge and language skills, creating a context where the directory of teaching is also transversal, not only vertical.
\n\nThe language we teach is not only the language of the daily routine, but an intimate language which allows people to reshape and rename their past and present experience, together with their aspirations and future projects. In order to allow everybody to have the opportunity to express himself or herself, we don\u2019t only use the spoken and written language: theatre exercises, songs, handcraft workshops, games, silent books, pictures and images, silk-screen printing, short films are the means through which explore the new language and ourselves.\xa0
\n\nMontessori\u2019s instruments give an important support to the learning process, as they help reading and writing but also studying grammatical and syntactical structures. We both use original instruments (for example, sandpaper letters, movable alphabet, set analysis and grammar symbols) and readapted tools we calibrated on purpose for the whole group.
\n\nDuring these years we\u2019ve been meeting more than six hundred people coming from all over the world. This exchange of unconscious knowledge constantly creating new ways of schooling and in these years made us organize specific projects based on students real needs or passions:\xa0
\n\nFrom 2016, Asnada collaborates with the groups Nuovo Armenia and Gina Films. The City of Milano has assigned to us a farmstead (Cascina) situated in the centre of Dergano, a neighbors in the north of the city, in order to build up a place where migration issues could be faced through a cultural production, developed with the foreign communities themselves.\xa0
\n\nOur goal is to reshape the collective perception of the migration issue with the direct experience of a possibile living together, in order to avoid the usual relationships based on charity or humanitarian help. The \u201cCascina\u201d will be the place where, besides our schools, will be held a multilingual cinema where foreign and Italian people will watch movies in original languages, but also a cafeteria (with controlled prices) and a coworking area. The collaboration of schools and cinema\xa0wants\xa0to start a process of thought consciousness by crossing these two situations: italians dealing with foreign languages, and foreign people dealing with Italian and other foreign languages.
\n\nThe \u201cCascina\u201d will be also a place for permanent education in intercultural field, where we will set meeting, readings, conferences and workshops open to all citizen, with a particular regard to the foreign communities of the neighbors.\xa0
', u'post_id': 828, u'user_id': 3550, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-03 17:14:19', u'title': u'Language, culture and cinema for an alternative imagery of immigration and integration'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 810, u'user_id': 3533, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-18 21:18:53', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Public places have to be accessible to all regardless their mobility capacity. The City Administration regulated the matter for new buildings as well as existing ones. The latter faced a variety of unforeseen problems that resulted into a 10% compliance rate in 15 months since the law passed. In the common understanding, this means a public effort not hitting the target, a cracked relationship between the City Administration and private businesses and ultimately disadvantaged people still vulnerable.
\n\nThe story begins in 2015 with the City of Milan to pass the Building Regulation article 77 that required all bars, shops, restaurants and craft activities bordering the road, to provide easy access to people with limited mobility or disabilities (the National Institute of Statistic in 2007 assessed 13.189 people with mobility disabilities in Milan). This normative action was the instrument that City of Milan deployed to overcome architectural barriers and provide universal free access to public places by 2017.
\n\n
In November 2016, 12 month after the law passed the City of Milan assessed only 2.000 businesses compliant over 18.000. An article on la Repubblica, the second most read Italian newspaper, by the 5 January 2017, published these data and opened a public discussion on the subject.
\n\nLisa Noja (delegate of the Major for accessibility policies) said: We have to make sure that very quickly all businesses comply. This year we want to get to the full application of a rule of civilization and to do that you cannot only use repressive strategies.
\n\nIt was a beginning of a twist in the Municipal strategy and the start of a speculation about the most effective way to enforce a regulation. The new thinking included working with trade associations, like Confcommercio, as well as promoting campaigns to engage business holders.
\n\nCristina Tajani (City Councillor for labour policies, businesses, trade and human resources) said: places that show attention to the disabled are also easily accessible to children, parents with strollers and the elderly. This does not mean that they will not be submitted to controls, but we want help the business understand that the adjustment should not only be seen as an obligation. It is also a business opportunity.
\n\nThis is when OpenCare approach came handy. Local staff including WeMake was involved and started talking to as many people as possible, to understand what was not working and tentatively get it streight.
\n\nListening\xa0it was vital to start from the pieces of the City Administration that were involved from the beginning like the Major Cabinet, the Urbanistic Department, the Public Soil Occupation Office and lately Urban Economy and Work department. We have understood that the building legislation was conceived in a department and the implementing regulation was written in a different one (and of course published through another one). That gave a lot of room to officers for interpretations and tightening the instructions for businesses to prevent opportunistic behaviors. \xa0\xa0
\n\nIncluding as the collaboration with the trade association got closed we\u2019ve understood more of the problems that businesses are facing to comply with the regulation, such as: high costs, complex red tape, lack of understanding of the most suitable solution and existing solutions too standardized. Since red tape is partially due to complex implementing regulations and the unclear communication follows, we started facilitating a mutual dialogue between pieces of public administration, businesses and associations. Regarding costs and production related problems, we can take it into the arena of manufacturing 4.0 by including also designers, makers, social innovators, businesses and utilizers.
\n\nGoing where innovation beats\xa0we have started organizing an experimentation called Open Rampe (Rampe means Ramps/Slides) in a limited area of the city that has everything it takes. The Quartiere Isola in fact has a functioning District for Urban Commerce, a civic center devoted to urban regeneration, art and crafts workshops (ADA stecca), active businesses and a long tradition of civic participation. Our idea is to engage business individually and through a public event by 11th April. Involving them into\xa0co-design sessions pivoting around their necessities may generate unexpected outcomes.
\n\nDealing with collective intelligence\xa0is what we have just started doing by sharing this story here. Any input from the community could be brought into our experimentation and add value to it. It would be interesting to study this collaboration as it happens and share it.
\n\nThis is where we stand now and the next steps are:
\n\nCo-designing / mobilizing resources\xa0of course we will not predefine outputs, but rather keep the sessions open to any outcomes.
\n\nPrototyping policies\xa0by monitoring and evaluating this experimentation.
\n\nWe are aware that talking about \u201cenforcing\u201d a policy collaboratively may sounds an oxymoron. Since article 77 of the building regulation fits in the EU and the National legal frameworks, it is certainly a top down process.\xa0Nevertheless, the Open care approach might help policy makers, (non)compliant businesses, users and citizens to achieve simpler, cheaper and faster solutions.
\n\nIt would be interesting to know who else has been involved in a similar process and managed it collaboratively. Or not.
', u'post_id': 819, u'user_id': 3520, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-23 16:58:00', u'title': u'Enforcing a policy "collectively"'}, {u'content': u'The other day cycling home, I saw a person, probably living with spinal cord injury using his hands to pedal, a really rare sight in Italy. I\u2019m a keen cyclist for transport and leisure, but my profession is also research in devices enhancing the mobility for people with physical limitations. Therefore I feel an obligation to spread the news about recent advancements in cycling for physically challenged. Have you heard about FES cycling?
\n\nFES - short for functional electrical stimulation - can be used to activate paralyzed muscles by impulses imitating the nervous system in the most natural way possible. We have come a long way with our research and it is possible to use this technique to let people with paralyzed legs cycle again. For some reason there are very few people who know about this so I\u2019d like to share this knowledge with you.
\n\nWe cycle to move, but also to maintain fit. It can be both fun and functional. But, if your legs don\'t obey you anymore, you will probably not consider it a possibility. Paralyzed legs can result from an accident breaking your back, a stroke or a sneaking disease like the multiple sclerosis. \xa0
\n\nPeople caring for and curing you need to be very pragmatic, and you with them. Mobility then becomes reduced to passive transport, a dietetic approach to avoiding getting fat and medication of pressure sores and other side effects from lack of physical exercise. That\u2019s where the publicly unknown FES research comes into play. Years of clinical research have consolidated the benefits, but we need to spread the news and understand more about it. Some people may already have heard of handbikes. They allow you to cover greater distances than manual wheelchairs. They are special tricycles where you use the hands for pedaling.
\n\nFES, on the other side, is applied via adhesive electrodes or incorporated in bicycle shorts. The stimulus activates the muscles of the buttocks and thighs in sync with the ride. \xa0However only the leg muscles can challenge the cardiovascular system to get physically fit. Some people with for example spinal cord injury (paraplegia) may be able to use FES for activating these large muscles. \xa0With FES cycling they can cover greater distances with greater speed and due to activation of large muscles they get (bene-)fit and feel physical well-being. The research community has tried to promote a more widespread use of FES cycling by arranging races (see here) and publications with the user\'s statements of the pros and cons\xa0(see here).
\n\n\n\nHow can we build research into practice or at least make options much more accessible?
\n\nThe question is how to help people who have become paraplegic or their families know about the existence of such possibilities. FES bikes are quite expensive so where to go to try them? Many places and cycle lanes are missing so it requires some changes to infrastructure as well. But as long as nobody uses them it\'s a vicious circle. Therefore we need more awareness to reduce cost, change infrastructure and increase inclusion in the cycle community
\n\nEven handbikes which are more popular can\u2019t be bought in a normal bicycle shop, but rather directly from a few specialized companies. The lack of marketing incurs high costs to manufacturers and hence to clients.
\n\nMy own group\u2019s response as research and practitioners is to create a culture to promote this change, a project in the making. How can we promote actual experience based dialogue between users (who are maybe hackers) and researchers? There is an international community of researchers, so there should be a good chance of of finding local experts. As someone with a disability, you could connect with them and hack - evolve - test collaboratively cheap functional solutions in a healthcare hacking space. Dr Fitzwater, who is both a researcher and FES cycler, reports on the need to make benefits enjoyable in addition to positive medical outcomes: \u201cThe FESC function should be capable of being used on the open road with or without friends and family and be easily usable without any more assistance than that already required for the activities of daily living\u201d.
\n\nWhy should you, me or anyone care about the future of research? you want to see your tax money spent well, don\u2019t you? And most importantly, this could be you or a relative who would like to go for a ride and have drastically limited options. Check out the coming cybathlon for more information and help us spread the news.
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 759, u'user_id': 3331, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 16:16:37', u'title': u'Cycling for people with paralysis: how do we researchers and citizens contribute to more testing and usability of technologies like FES?'}, {u'content': u'This is an interview with Mobile Medic, an organisation working on delivering care in the developing world through mobile phones.\xa0
\n\nMobile Medic were approached through the OpenCare Twitter mapping process.
\n\nCan you tell us a bit about the background of Medic Mobile?
\n\nMedic Mobile builds mobile and web tools for health workers, helping them provide better care that reaches everyone. Operating as a nonprofit technology company, we develop free and open-source tools that can be adapted for specific uses, backed by evidence. Health workers currently use Medic Mobile to register every pregnancy, immunize infants against illnesses, track disease outbreaks faster, keep stock of essential medicines, and communicate about emergencies. Our platform is built for the last mile of healthcare, supporting over 12,000 community health workers in 23 countries.
\n\nWe currently have 52 staff and three hubs: San Francisco, USA; Kathmandu, Nepal; Nairobi, Kenya. Not all of our staff works out of these hubs - about \u2153 of the team is remote. We spend a lot of time on Slack!
\n\nOur approach has its roots in service and human-centered design. A lot of people are using these ideas now. Seven years ago, when we started, they were not so well known. We have a whole team of designers, including regional designers who use a participatory, ethnographic, HCD approach. They do in-depth site visits and investigate the context in which the apps will be used, and use a variety of techniques to do so: system mapping, role playing, in-depth interviewing. Some questions they might ask: \u201cWhat is the current workflow? Ideal workflow?\u201d, \u201cWhat is the day-to-day like for end users?\u201d It\u2019s an intensive and essential process.
\n\nWe\u2019re inspired by a whole host of organizations in this space, including IDEO, Acumen, etc. 100% of our staff do a HCD crash course. Specifically for our designers, we have our own design curriculum, and many of them come from an HCD or anthropology background.
\n\nWhat are the services that Medic Mobile provides?
\n\nMedic believes that health is a human right. We know that global health disparities around the world are vast, and it\u2019s estimated that one billion people will never see a doctor in their lifetime. In many places around the world - especially low and middle income countries - community health workers (CHWs) are closing that gap. CHWs are community members - sometimes volunteers, but ideally paid - who provide basic AND complex health care for their neighbors. Our vision is to equip these CHWs with mobile technology and the right tools to increase their impact.
\n\nFor example, a community health worker can support in the following ways:
\n\nIn many of these scenarios, community health workers serve as first responders, so that patients can start getting treatment quickly.
\n\nMedic Mobile\u2019s tools are oriented around specific evidence-based use cases that have a clear impact logic. For example, we know that if we support a pregnant woman receiving a full course of antenatal care, she is more likely to deliver in a facility and survive child birth. Our use cases currently are:
\n\nWhat the means is that in above areas, we have a ton of evidence and experience that our tools work. For a new use case - say, an area of health services or protocol that we\u2019re not as familiar with - we have to do a lot of design. The design and product development teams are very tightly integrated.
\n\nAs far as tools, we have tools for basic phones and smartphones (Android exclusively). We work with implementing partners and/or governments to equip health workers with these tools.
\n\nI was interested that you mentioned delivering advanced/complex care this way?
\n\nBroadly, when you\u2019re dealing with delivering care for complex health conditions in resource-poor settings, there\u2019s two issues:
\n\n1) Practically, you need what Paul Farmer calls \u201cstaff, stuff, space, systems.\u201d You need expert knowledge. For example, to treat cancer, you need a professionalized cadre, you need certain goods like chemotherapy drugs, etc. All of that won\u2019t be delivered solely through community health workers.
\n\n2) Where community health workers can come in for complex health conditions is in coordinating access, screening, and adherence to treatment. For example, with HIV. Thirty years ago, the World Health Organization suggested that delivering HIV care to the ultra poor was \u201ctoo difficult, that there wasn\u2019t enough money, it was too difficult to get people to adhere to medications out in the community.\u201d Partners In Health (whose work is very influential for us) showed that community health workers can support people in adhering to HIV medication.
\n\nSame for TB. They proved that if you make the drugs available, you can even support the treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant TB through CHWs\u2013 where you have to take drugs daily for almost two years (and they have terrible side effects). Again, this is through trained community health workers in a process they call \u201caccompaniment,\u201d where CHWs are following up every day, providing support and guidance and ensuring that people are taking meds. In India, there\u2019s been a lot of success with the Home Based Newborn Care protocol which provides guidance to community health workers around the first 45 days of life and navigating the major risks to a child\u2019s life during that period.
\n\nCommunity health workers are starting to be used in the US, too \u2013 in Harlem, First Nation communities, and the rural South. So CHWs can definitely support health issues that are complex and difficult, and in fact, can probably do so more effectively and with more touch points than a physician could.
\n\nDo health workers have to be literate to use Medic tools?
\n\nIdeally, yes, but we\u2019ve worked with many CHWs\xa0that have mixed or low literacy. For example, the Female Community Health Volunteer (FCHV) network in Nepal has mixed literacy. We\u2019ve equipped them with basic phones where the FCHV can text something very basic like \u201cP 12 Jill\u201d to mean \u201cJill is pregnant, her last menstrual period (LMP) was 12 weeks ago.\u201d Then, Medic Mobile will send the health worker SMS messages, reminding her to remind Jill about her antenatal care checkups. Someone with a low level of literacy can still use these messages, and we provide booklets/guides to make sure they can remember how. We also have a thorough training process, where we start with teaching these health workers (if needed) how to turn on their phones, how to enter characters, everything from soup to nuts. In Nepal specifically, many FCHVs have reported feeling more empowered and motivated after being trained to use these mobile tools for their work.
\n\nHow are your tools evolving?
\n\nThat\u2019s a very timely question. We are combining what we\u2019ve learned over the last 6-7 years and developing apps that support key shifts that we\u2019re seeing in global health care delivery.
\n\nWe are moving beyond data collection to decision support. Previously, our tool was often a substitute for form filling (ie. registering a pregnancy), but more and more, we are helping community health workers make decisions \u2013 around complex protocols for under 5 child health, for example. We\u2019re moving towards supporting integrated performance management of CHWs, managing CHW targets and providing support for supervisory meetings between community health workers and their managers. Also, integrated health systems require integrated technology tools that will support families over time and across a variety of health issues. If we simply organize health information by specific conditions or by form, we could miss opportunities to provide longitudinal support, leave out important social and historical context, and create unintuitive workflows.
\n\nIn general, we know that reactive systems that rely on sick patients showing up at facilities don\'t achieve equitable health outcomes. Health systems should be proactive and timely by design: mobile tools have an important role to play in bringing health workers to families\' doorsteps often and early.
\n\nHow do you coordinate with local government and politicians?
\n\nWe are usually working with long term community-based partners. Ideally, organizations who already work\xa0with the local government. At some point, we want the local government to take over our mobile tools; the goal is always for the ministry to take over. We also sit on advisory committees and advise national eHealth and mHealth strategy in many of the countries where we work. We are committed to sustainable use of our tools. For that, we have to work hand in hand with local and national governments.
\n\nIs it open source? Can I deploy my own?
\n\nAll our software is open source. You can certainly deploy our tools yourself, especially our DIY toolkit. All of our code is available online at Github.
', u'post_id': 564, u'user_id': 2394, u'timestamp': u'2017-02-09 11:46:51', u'title': u'Mobile Medic - mobile phones for health care in the developing world'}, {u'content': u'#reHub #glove is a tool used to monitor hands movements. Collected data can be applied to a various range of fields.\xa0
\n\nreHub is an interface of interaction man-machine. It can be used in various areas for example the evaluation of dexterity, sport, music & gaming.
\n\nOur beneficiaries are all those people who needs to have an experience feedback concerning the hand movements.
\n\nreHub glove is a tool designed for proprioceptive rehabilitation, to recover movement fluidity after an injury: provided by the physiotherapist, it allows the patient to record and report exercises data such as hand position, finger flexion and fingertips pressure. Recorded data are displayed through a software that reproduces a 3D hand, its movements and detected values. Through the software a physiotherapist is able to evaluate the therapeutic process and possibly change it. Thanks to reHub exercises can be done in physiotherapist presence or at a distance.
\n\nReHub acquires informations about fingers movements from flex and pressure sensors. It uses a 6DOF sensor to define the position of the hand in space.
\n\nreHub glove is the result of a meeting between electronics enthusiasts, a physical therapist and a hand rehabilitation patient to find a way to solve the problem of monitoring the progress during rehabilitation therapy. During this meeting we found out there are no digital devices to monitor the hand rehabilitation and we decided to develop one.\xa0
\n\nTo define our project we didn\u2019t started from a theoretical concept. We started to make the prototype and to test it.\xa0
\n\nThe development of reHub working prototype has been at the heart of our design process.
\n\nAs described on www.rehub.pro, the definition of the prototype is subdivided into 4 time frames of research and development. The first steps of the team have moved in electronics and design.
\n\nAfter testing the very first glove we decided to create an integrated system with a self-produced/maker pcb. Our design has always been oriented, and always will be, to integrate all electronics on the top of the glove. Another aspect of our prototype is that the glove itself must be comfortable for the patient. At a later time, once we knew that the glove was able to transmit data to the computer, we focused on the development of a software allowing patients and physiotherapists to evaluate the glove\u2019s collected data through a graphical interface and cartesian charts.
\n\nWe are looking for our final user(s), who will try our product and help us develop different options:
\n\nWe want to built a community and start a business strategy.
\n\nWe will publish tutorials, kits and software to make your glove.
\n\nEverything to improve the glove solution.
\n\nWe want to develop 4 different kits to sell:
\n\ncomponents
\nWebsites & Social
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 33751, u'user_id': 3516, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-03 09:12:09', u'title': u'reHub - rehabilitation glove'}, {u'content': u'\n\nI am actively involved in alternative ways of doing research as one of the initiators behind ReaGent, a publicly accessible biolab that allows citizens to do research independent of institutions. I facilitate and participate in open research projects and teach children and adults alike about biosciences.
\n\nResearch is an important driver for progress in healthcare. It brings us cheaper medicine, cures to seemingly incurable diseases and better therapies.
\n\nYet research methods have not evolved much at all to better reflect the needs of patients and citizens. The people whom the research is essentially meant for, are largely left out of the process. Moreover, the outcomes are often shielded behind intellectual property law or unaffordable prices. Citizen science and open science are research philosophies that offer an alternative.
\n\nCitizen science as an approach is overwhelmingly commonly reduced to an alternative method for collecting data. I was at a conference dedicated to citizen science a few months ago; a full programme, even quite diverse for most standards, and data collection and data quality were all anyone wanted to talk about.
\n\nInsight only progresses if\xa0we ask the right questions.
\n\nAt the conference not a word was spoken about better ways of actively listening to citizens every step of the way. Closely involving patients was missing from virtually every research agenda.
\n\nIn OpenCare I saw plenty of initiatives that are successful at taking citizen-led and open research to the next level. Biohackers are producing open source insulin, researchers in Greece are putting almost-forgotten research to use for everyone and people with motor impairment are coming together with researchers to develop open source neuroprosthetics in maker spaces.
\n\nIn the grand scheme of things however, these examples are few and far between. But we need more of them. For this, we need to share best practices, learn from each other and ultimately implement real life solutions. I curate a theme on open science and citizen science at the OpenVillage Festival so that we may do so.
\n\nThis theme at the OpenVillage Festival brings together people and projects with hands on expertise to build on each other\u2019s knowledge in order to push the boundaries further.
\n\nWe will answer questions like
\n\nDo you want to be part of this?
\n\nGoing through these steps will get you a ticket to the festival straight away:
\n\nHead over to Registration for more information.
\n\nDo you want to share a valuable insight? Do you want to solve your most pressing issues together with the participants of the festival?
\n\nPost a proposal for an interactive session at the OpenVillage festival in the OpenVillage coordination group. During the session you should\xa0also look for answers to your most pressing needs. Strengthen your proposal by discussing with other community members.
\n\nThis blogpost has been realised as part of the OpenCare Community Fellowship Program with the support of SCImPULSE Foundation.
', u'post_id': 6281, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-29 16:46:20', u'title': u'Call for open science and citizen science protagonists: how do we build ourselves fairer and more inclusive healthcare?'}, {u'content': u'These notes and pictures were taken at WeMake in Milan during the meetings held on april 11th 2017 for the openrampette project
\n\nAt WeMake people have being busy with a opencare project about customized ramps to make more shops accessibile to wheelchairs in Milan. It is called openrampette and is being developed with the Comune di Milano, another opencare partner.
\n\n...
\n\nThe group has a discussion about best ideas on the prototype and how to involve citizens of Milan in the design phase. There\xa0 are also needs to develop an app for openrampette.
\n\nThe discussion goes deep in understanding whether the job consisted in reviewing (advanced prototyping) or development. The problem is that there are not enough indoor skills to develop for mobile. Even IoT (Internet of Things) would have been interesting, but there were no news from the groups.There is a proposal about creating a course for app developers and an internship, but it doesn\'t seem feasible. The UX (User eXperience) approach is a main issue, but a simple \u201cnice, try, next\u201d way cannot work. There is agreement on the fact that the ramp should stay light and not, for instance, 40 kgs heavy.
\n\nIn a presentation of the project there is a interesting discussion about understanding what is not included in the procedures (the rules enforced by the Municipality), and in the advantage of accessing the database mapping the ramps in the city.
\n\nSome hypothetical cases are discussed.
\n\nThe idea to work on is about a \u201cramp on call\u201d that occupies the ground for a very little time, the one needed for the disabled to access the shop and buy stuff.
\n\nOtherwise there is the average ramp, already available where big shops, or post offices are.
\n\nThe results from the questionnaires about the absence of the ramps before many shops in Milan are considered.
\n\nThere is need to talk with two type of publics; on one side the shop retailers, on the other the customers on wheelchairs. There is the proposal of a survey before and after the meetings.
\n\nSome last work is put on schedule for the end of august, as prototyping, the website, documents, the wiki, the video, etc..
\n\nAll the effort is designed for the local side of the city and then it might be replayed in further city contexts.
\n\nA solution for \u201ccalling\u201d the ramp would be to create a button to push.
\n\n\n\n
Communication and promotion issues in co-designing engagement of citizens (disabled and retailers mostly) are a priority.
\n\nThe idea of a call is being discussed; a container in order to face by degrees what is to be included. The context is opencare so MIR (Maker In Residence) could be included by creating a challenge based on this framework.
\n\nThe idea is to use edgeryders as development platform and have some surveys about UX and UI (User Interface).
\n\nThe viable solution seems to stay focused on the issue of accessibility in the milanese context for wheelchairs. It is something on which all the participants agree.
\n\n
Insight
\n\nThe project is being discussed often in meetings (at WeMake and online with remote collaborators) and is run daily as a main activity. It is very interesting to follow the different steps about the making of the project as openrampette is not a simple issue when it comes to the technical and the social. On openrampette many questions are raised about how dealing with the processes. The shared decision making process is quite often adopted here.
\n\nThe group has a lot of trust in ideas from individuals and in including the \u201cpublics\u201d in the discussion by focus group activities.
\n\nDiscussions are necessary to share opinions and stay aware of the limits of proposals from individuals, but putting things together in a responsible way following a collective logic seems quite common here.
\n\nThere is consideration for a need of a collective dimension about the research section of open rampette, anyway different from co-design, \u2026a group discussion among participants.
\n\nFor further information:
\n\nhttp://wemake.cc/tag/openrampette/
\n\nThe procedure to participate (in italian): click here
', u'post_id': 33749, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-02 14:50:43', u'title': u'Openrampette makes questions about co-designing'}, {u'content': u'19-20-21 OCTOBER
\n\nBRUSSELS
\n\n\n\n\n\nThe #OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions (" opencare "). We are interested what participants already are doing in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.
\n\n# OpenVillage is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail.
\n\nOur Community Fellowship Program awards bursaries of up to 15000\u20ac to 2 individuals who help us to shape a thoughtful program to draw meaningful and diverse participation at the #OpenVillage Festival (19-21 Oct).
\n\n1.
\n\nRead what other participants are working on and share your own experiences/work.
\n\n2.
\n\nArticulate a burning question to move everyone\'s work forward, and turn it into a proposal for a festival theme.
\n\n3.
\n\nReach out to people from whom you wish to learn or collaborate, and invite them to join us at the #openvillage festival.
\n\nWe now invite you to submit your proposals for co-curation, engagement and communication for the #OpenVillage Festival.
\n\nHow to Apply:
\n\nWe believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place on October 19-21, 2017 in Brussels and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives.
\n\nAiming to deepen community collaboration, during April - May 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 \u201cstudents\u201d to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use \u201cstudents\u201d in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status.
\n\nWhat you will get if selected:
\n\nProcess and timeline:
\n\nWho can participate?
\n\nAnyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good.
\n\nSelection Criteria
\n\nWe will consider individuals who have demonstrated an interest in and alignment with Diy Welfare (referred to as "opencare") in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners):
\n\nWhat happens if I am selected?
\n\nYou will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017.
\n\nHow to get started? Join the process of building the OpenVillage!
\n\nOnce you are done use #opencare and #scimpulse to draw our attention to your comments, story and proposal for the program. This will encourage others to get in touch and build support for your work!
\n\nThe deadline for applications is May 5th 2017, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances!
\n\nFor more information come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET here or contact community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 570, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-05-01 16:43:29', u'title': u'Are you our next Community Fellow? Apply by 2017-05-05'}, {u'content': u'Is community-based and participatory health care sufficient?
\n\nThe World Health Organization (2003) states that "Effective treatment for chronic conditions requires [...] a system that is proactive and emphasizes health throughout a lifetime."
\n\nFor us, three conditions are required to "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" by 2030, a United Nations Global Goal:
\n\nDo you agree? Would you see other essentials?
\n\nWatch the practice we develop at Breathing Games.
19-20-21 OCTOBER
\n\nBRUSSELS
\n\n\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is dedicated to dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions.\xa0We are interested what participants\xa0already are doing\xa0in different parts of the world, and what we can do together.\xa0
\n\n# OpenVillage\xa0is a no-spectators event: All content is contributed by participants. The program is curated around a number of themes, each approaching from a different angle the question of\xa0how we take care of one another as old welfare models and systems fail.
\n\nContribute towards creating an inspiring, generative and fun experience for all.\xa0
\n\nHelp us to shape a theme\xa0in exchange for a free full access pass to the #openvillage in 3 simple steps! \xa0
\n\nStep 1:
\n\nShare thoughtful feedback to move our initiatives forward!\xa0We ask everyone to read and comment stories about 3 other participants\'\xa0intiatives. In part it\'s to ensure that people know about what others are doing, as well as to start building generative relationships between peers. Pick a story from those listed\xa0here, read it and post a thoughtful comment.\xa0Do this for two more stories.
\n\nStep 2:
\n\nSuggest one care related theme or burning question that is highly relevant for your professional and personal development! Can it be somehow exhibited at the event?\xa0Tell us how this would look in practice, what resources you have and what is needed from the other participants.Upload a description of the theme and discuss in our\xa0Coordination group.
\n\nStep 3:
\n\nPropose and engage one speaker on the theme/topic/burning question!\xa0Know someone who is doing groundbreaking work in care and should participate or exhibit at\xa0the Village? Invite them along and let\'s feature them in the program. Report back by posting an update\xa0in our\xa0Coordination group.
\n\nGot questions, reflections or general suggestions? Post them here for a response within 24 hours!
', u'post_id': 827, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-30 08:16:32', u'title': u'What would you like to build, explore or learn on DIY welfare when systems fail? Tell us what to include in the OpenVillage festival!'}, {u'content': u'I\'ve met \xc9ireann for the first time a couple of months ago, during LOTE5 in Brussels. I mostly remember him for knowing probably all brand new, absurd Twitter accounts, and being able to quote quite a lot of their content.
\n\nThen I have learned a bit more - and the more unveiled, the more impressive it got. There is a great reason for us to team up and work on the challenge together: Hacking, internet security, and medical devices. He knows a lot about that stuff.
\n\n\xc9ireann with his friend, Dr. Marie Moe started investigating the security of pacemakers - as Marie\'s life actually depends on a little instrument that generates each of her heartbeats. And runs\xa0on a proprietary code. This means she has to implicitly trust the programmers, and despite her and Eireann\u2019s years of assessing devices for security holes, they wouldn\u2019t normally be \u201callowed\u201d to investigate the security of such devices.
\n\nThis implies how little a regular customer of similar devices is informed about the ways they work, what protocols and tools they use, where their data is stored, etc. It has everything to do with person\'s safety - and still, companies keep most of the key information secret from the users, making them more vulnerable.
\n\nI suggest you watch this great video from 32C3, where Marie and \xc9ireann tell about their journey.
\n\nObviously, the issue of safety transcends this case and applies to a whole range of tools that increasingly improve our quality of life and longevity. The security flaws are potentially causing exactly the opposite, making for a health/life hazard. There are concerns about privacy too, where your medical data flows around the world to companies that may or may not be taking measures to protect it.
\n\nBut that\'s not all - \xc9ireann works also as an advisor for European Network for Cyber Security (ENISA), has founded http://www.concinnity-risks.com/, and works as a Senior Risk Researcher at Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies. He is loosely affiliated with I Am The Cavalry, a cyber security movement, whose motto is \u201cSafer. Sooner. Together.\u201d
\n\nHe contributes to our OPENandChange application vast expertise in the security of medical devices, and embedded devices. He will be helping DIY makers, programmers, and engineers with training on how to build safer code, and what standards they will want to comply with to produce products for different markets. He\'s also offering insight into vulnerability research and standards-based research, contributing safety and transparency knowledge to this huge, open swarm OPENandChange wants to become. Lastly, he loves the idea of preparing a consumer training and equipping people who rely on medical devices with knowledge and clear questions they can ask about their own devices.
\n\nFinally, \xc9ireann has just been announced an Open Web Fellow for Privacy International and he will be taking the word out about our idea while advocating for open cyberspace.
', u'post_id': 712, u'user_id': 3180, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-03 11:41:57', u'title': u"\xc9ireann Leverett, the security wizard who's joining OPEN&Change"}, {u'content': u'\n\nWhat is it:\xa0A 3-day conference and expo on the topic of health\xa0and social innovations by communities. The event showcases their ingenious solutions to real-world problems\xa0through a process that encourages and highlights collaboration and sharing.
\n\nWhy:\xa0Resilient solutions are key to fixing access, support, investment and acknowledgement in the domain(s) of care. This event is dedicated to showcasing what is in place and modelling an encompassing ecosystem of care - via exhibitions, discussions and workshops.
\n\nWho is it\xa0for:\xa0Project protagonists, Caregivers & recipients, entrepreneurs, public administrations, funders & investors.
\n\nWhat is in it for partner organisations: Derive new insights, new opportunities and deep understanding. Discover a new field gathering exciting actors at the intersections of civic innovation, healthcare and open science & technologies.\xa0
\n\nWhat\u2019s in it for participants: Creating tangible activities and products to help\xa0your project make an impact.\xa0New contacts, opportunities and deep understanding. Access to the\xa0OpenCare Fellowship Program.
\n\nFor more information:\xa0Contact nadia@edgeryders.eu. Or come to one of our informal online video chats: Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 18:00 CET\xa0here\xa0.
\n\nFor most of humanity\'s history, care services \u2013 which today we call health and social care \u2013 were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other\'s children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations.
\n\nThis new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people\u2026) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manufacturing process.
\n\nWhat if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care?
\n\nThe purpose of the OpenCare PopUp Village is to demonstrate that this is indeed possible.
\n\nDuring the past 12 \xa0 months, we have driven a transnational research project on the future of health and social care. Through OpenCare we have connected with hundreds of partners, investigating radical solutions to social and healthcare systems under strain, failing to cater to the needs of growing and ageing populations.
\n\nThese solutions are often under-the-radar initiatives - from open source devices for echography to peer-to-peer suicide prevention schemes; from building alternatives to expensive proprietary medical instruments to decentralising the science and production of essential drugs such as insulin.
\n\nMany of them involve neither state\xa0nor private sector support or funding. Some are completely informal, some being run by only one hard-working individual. They hunger for peer support and opportunities to collaborate; during the year we have seen them forming partnerships and sharing their ideas and practices, all as a side effect of meeting on our online platform.
\n\nWith members in over 30 countries and 4 continents, we\xa0are currently building a network of opencare cities to scale up the initiative with us. As well as committed partners willing to bring in their own resources as an investment in an exciting new venture.
\n\nThe OpenCare PopUp Village will be a series of participant built festivals, with project demonstrations and a vibrant community spirit. Our ambition is to connect local actors in your country, with peers from all over the planet. Before the physical gatherings even start, a lot of preparation happens openly online. This means there is plenty of room for partners and attendees to shape the content, or for taking ownership of spotlight themes.
\n\nFor more information: Contact\xa0community@edgeryders.eu, or come to one of informal weekly online\xa0video calls: Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 18:00 CET\xa0here\xa0.
', u'post_id': 6188, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-07 15:08:47', u'title': u'Open Call for Cities and Regions'}, {u'content': u'Francis is new to the project and arrived a little earlier to give his input. He can help us with mass spectrometry and other analysis methods to determine if we\u2019re working with insulin. He does have some technical questions about purity and the kind of buffer of the samples.
\n\nThis is partially answered by the fact that we will start from the bacteria, so we do the extraction of the molecules and hence control the buffer and purity.
\n\nFrancis thinks the legal aspect will play a big role. In his biotech job, patent blocking is a very common thing. He thinks some of the methods mentioned in the documents are already not available without having to pay for licenses. We should clear this out at some point.
\n\nA discussion on the communication aspect of the project: the main takeaway is that it has to be for a specific goal. It seems like now, we can get by with almost no budget. We can get a lot of stuff via-via, if all options go through. There\u2019s no point in doing eg. a crowdfunding for very low amounts. We don\u2019t have a real call to action yet, so we risk wasting opportunities. We\u2019re still \u201ctalking about things we\u2019re about to do but are still a little uncertain\u201d, rather than \u201cthings we\u2019ve done/are doing\u201d. The story misses some power for now and we need to clear stuff out.
\n\nWhen we need serious budget, and have a concrete call to action, we should plan things carefully to time them right, tell the right story. Arne points out the importance of having a website, an email address and perhaps a legal structure when there is more money involved. This in order to look more legit and to not burden other organizations with the administrative aspect.
\n\nAngela and Massimiliano think that talking about the history of insulin and diabetes, with fascinating stories, will work well for the educational aspect.
\n\nWe drafted a rough timeline in ideal conditions:
\n\nWe\u2019ll try to minimize delays by leaning on the practical experience CCL already collected, to avoid failures in lab work.
\n\nWinnie will find out protocols/shipping
\n\n@arnepauwels will figure out if OBL will be available when the samples arrive and in the summer
\n\n@Rita will collect the consumables when we know more about the protocols
\n\nNext time we meet on April 26th, 8pm @ ReaGent!
', u'post_id': 6253, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-13 10:54:09', u'title': u'Team meeting notes 12.04.17'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 822, u'user_id': 3576, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-11 21:02:32', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Hi everyone!
\n\nI\'d like to set up a discussion on the outreach aspect of the project. I feel like people have heard about insulin and diabetes and they vaguely know it has something to do with sugar and stabbing yourself (In Flanders, when people have diabetes, they have \'The Sugar\').
\n\nSo we have the opportunity to address that through this project.
\n\nThe way I see it, the content would fall within these 3 categories and I think it would be cool to do one project in each:
\n\nI think it will also be important to have the outcome of each category refer to the other ones, if we decide to tickmark every category. If we write a blog, we can urge to \'check out this silly thing we made\'; if we write a song, the interested can find more info in our wiki, etc\xa0
\n\nSo maybe we can start with coming up with some options for each category and build from there?
\n\nHoping\xa0to have been constructive,
\n\nGreets
\n\nND
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6234, u'user_id': 3426, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-06 12:59:03', u'title': u'Open Insulin - Educational Outreach'}, {u'content': u'\n\nJoin the #openvillage drop in video chat ! Today and every Wednesday at 18:00 CET here
\n\nOpenVillage is a participant-run festival. We know everyone is busy, so we make it easy and fun for everyone who wants to contribute.
\n\nThe video chat is a nice way to quickly get an overview of what is going on and why we are so excited about it. Plus you meet others in the community!
\n\nIf you cannot make it to the call, or want to go ahead we have prepared a number of this that need doing this week. If you have any questions or want to let us know you are working on one of them, just leave a comment below...
\n\nHow you can help? Pick one of the threads below, read stories people have posted about their experiences and share your thoughts around a possible theme \xa0(see Winnie\'s example to get an idea)...
\n\n2. Write one thoughtful\xa0blog post each\xa0in which we introduce ourselves to one another by sharing our\xa0care-related experiences and projects here.
\n\nWant to help with any of this? Not sure how to get started?
\n\nJust leave a comment below or write to community@edgeryders.eu.
', u'post_id': 6256, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-15 12:33:54', u'title': u'April 17-23: What we are doing to build the OpenVillage this week and how you can help!'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 6251, u'user_id': 3260, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-13 08:21:26', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 823, u'user_id': 3581, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-11 21:02:40', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'The Reef at the #OpenVillage Festival!
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\n\n\nProvision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support.
\n\nSo, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts.
\n\nThese technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nBuilding The Reef is where we, together, design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some \u201cskin in the game\u201d by becoming Founding Members.
\n\nWhat you get out of being a Founding Member\xa0of the Reef\xa0is access to\xa0unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
\n\nWhat you will learn
\n\nWhat each one of us contributes
\n\nOur approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.\xa0
\n\nMembers are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities\xa0in order to meet each other\'s needs.\xa0If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.
\n\nJoin us now! Become a Founding Member!
\n\nYour contribution is used to cover\xa0the costs involved: venue & equipment rental,\xa0third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders\' fees.
\n\nYou can make your financial contribution in several ways:
\n\nWrite to community@edgeryders.eu to register as a member of The Reef.
\n\n| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | ||
| \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 | Activities
|
In this event we meet their protagonists and present findings from a massive 2 year research project on community driven care.
\n\nMEET THE OPEN CARERS
\n\nA track within the OpenVillage Festival
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nOpenCares are a global community of individuals working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.\xa0We start\xa0from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
\n\nFor most of humanity\'s history, care services \u2013 which today we call health and social care \u2013 were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other\'s children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations.
\n\nThis new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology.\xa0However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people\u2026) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manufacturing process.
\n\nWhat if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care?
\n\nWe are attempting to do just that. Meet the OpenCarers will showcare the results of OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services. \xa0By the end of this project we will have:
\n\nThis is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we are doing it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process is \u2013 and will stay \u2013 open to anyone who wants to participate. We operate under a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution; we do not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers.
\n\nCare is deeply human. Everyone has\xa0first hand\xa0experience of it. Even those of us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and\xa0recieving\xa0care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent\xa0prototypes.
\n\nIn Meet The OpenCarers, a track within the OpenVillage Festival, we will:
\n\nTo get a ticket to this part of the OpenVillage Festival is easy:
\n\nThis track of the OpenVillage has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 6246, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-11 08:40:25', u'title': u'Meet the OpenCarers'}, {u'content': u'\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Future of Care: An Investment and Policy Lab
\n\n#OpenVillage Festival
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nA suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work.
\n\nWe invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them.
\n\nTo get a ticket:
\n\nA few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was \u2013 and still is \u2013 unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done.
\n\nWe saw people coming together, stepping into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together.
\n\nWe started a research project\xa0to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
\n\nIt\'s all about humans.
\n\nCommunity provision of care services needs humans: \xa0more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. \xa0Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nThis intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there\'s a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nWe dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other.
\n\nWe have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a live/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times.
\n\nThe unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning.
\n\nSo, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now.
\n\nWe are calling it The Reef.
\n\nCoral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters).
\n\nLike coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start.
\n\nWe ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work.
\n\nWe are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard.\xa0@Noemi\xa0,\xa0@Nadia\xa0and @Alberto are going to be full-time residents; one more room will host temporary residents. We are going live on May 1st 2017, and try it out for one year. We are already looking for a (much) larger space to move into in spring 2018 if the experiment goes well.
\n\nIf you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a "Building the Reef" track within the \xa0OpenVillage Festival where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some \u201cskin in the game\u201d by becoming founding members.
\n\nWhy become a founding member?
\n\nWhat we individually get out of a membership in the Reef is access to\xa0unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others. Partner organisations gain access to early stage opportunities for investing in new ventures born out of global network of 3000+ hackers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, artists, activists and more:
\n\nWhat you will learn
\n\nWhat each one of us contributes
\n\nOur approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.\xa0Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities\xa0in order to meet each other\'s needs.\xa0If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.
\n\nJoin us now! Become a Founding Member!
\n\nLook at the list of resources available below, pick one and contribute the right amount. Your contribution is used to cover\xa0the costs involved: venue & equipment rental,\xa0third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders\' fees
\n\n| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | ||
| \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 | Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year\'s edition is the OpenVillage Festival. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0 Get this membership \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Pledging 600 Eur/year (70\xa0Euro/ Month) or more also gives you access to The Reef Guest room* + coworking space
| |
| \xa0 | \xa0 |
\xa0\xa0
\n\nThe Future of Care: An Investment and Policy Lab
\n\nA track within the OpenVillage Festival
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nA suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work.
\n\nWe invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them.
\n\nTo get a ticket:
\n\nTo receive OpenVillage festival updates and be in touch directly,\xa0join our global\xa0#CountOnMe\xa0team.
\n\nA few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was \u2013 and still is \u2013 unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done.
\n\nWe saw people coming together, stepping into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together.
\n\nWe started a research project\xa0to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
\n\nIt\'s all about humans.
\n\nCommunity provision of care services needs humans: \xa0more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. \xa0Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nThis intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there\'s a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nWe dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other.
\n\nWe have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a live/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times.
\n\nThe unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning.
\n\nSo, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now.
\n\nWe are calling it The Reef.
\n\nCoral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters).
\n\nLike coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start.
\n\nWe ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work.
\n\nWe are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard.\xa0@Noemi\xa0,\xa0@Nadia\xa0and @Alberto are going to be full-time residents; one more room will host temporary residents. We are going live on May 1st 2017, and try it out for one year. We are already looking for a (much) larger space to move into in spring 2018 if the experiment goes well.
\n\nIf you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a "Building the Reef" track within the \xa0OpenVillage Festival where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some \u201cskin in the game\u201d by becoming founding members.
\n\nWhy become a founding member?
\n\nWhat we individually get out of a membership in the Reef is access to\xa0unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others. Partner organisations gain access to early stage opportunities for investing in new ventures born out of global network of 3000+ hackers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, artists, activists and more:
\n\nWhat you will learn
\n\nWhat each one of us contributes
\n\nOur approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.\xa0Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities\xa0in order to meet each other\'s needs.\xa0If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.
\n\nJoin us now! Become a Founding Member!
\n\nLook at the list of resources available below, pick one and contribute the right amount. Your contribution is used to cover\xa0the costs involved: venue & equipment rental,\xa0third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders\' fees
\n\n| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | ||
| \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 | Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year\'s edition is the OpenVillage Festival. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0 Get this membership \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Pledging 600 Eur/year (70\xa0Euro/ Month) or more also gives you access to all of the above + access to The Reef Guest room* and\xa0coworking space
|
\xa0\xa0
\n\nBuilding The Reef: A Community Property For Everyone
\n\nA track within the OpenVillage Festival
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nCommunity provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support.
\n\nSo, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts.
\n\nThese technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts. At Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nBuilding The Reef is where we, together, design the physical space, its financing model, and the activities therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some \u201cskin in the game\u201d by becoming Founding Members.
\n\nWhat you get out of being a Founding Member\xa0of the Reef\xa0is access to\xa0unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
\n\nWhat you will learn
\n\nWhat each one of us contributes
\n\nOur approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.\xa0
\n\nMembers are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities\xa0in order to meet each other\'s needs.\xa0If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.
\n\nBecome a founding member right now!\xa0
\n\nLook at the options below, pick one and make your financial contribution. \xa0If you pledge 300 Eur (25 Eur/month) or above your immediate benefits include:
\n\n| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | ||
| \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 | Founding Members Pledge 300 Eur/year\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Your contribution secures a spot for you and your project in one 2-day Masterclass a year like this one on Storytelling for Conversion. You also get invitations to Evening Talk & Dinner dinners like this one in which we learn about the state of the art in different fields from members of our community. Also, you get a full access pass to our annual community summit. This year\'s edition is the OpenVillage Festival. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0 Get this membership \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Pledging 600 Eur/year (70\xa0Euro/ Month) or more gives you access to all of the above + access to The Reef Guest room* and\xa0coworking space
| |
| \xa0 | \xa0 |
MEET THE OPEN CARERS
\n\nA track within the OpenVillage Festival
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\nAt the OpenVillage Festival you will meet protagonists of\xa0initiatives\xa0working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, privacy-friendly, secure and participatory....
\n\n| Open Science & Technology | Mental and Spiritual Health | Migration and robustness to Rapid Change |
| How are people all over the world using open knowledge, open source hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? | What can we learn from off-the-radar Initiatives about how we can boost one another\'s\' mental and spiritual health? and more..! | What new or unconventional solutions can protect us from consequences of "chaos in the system" when we are most vulnerable i.e. refugee crises? |
To get your ticket\xa0create an\xa0edgeryders\xa0account, then write to\xa0community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\nFollow us:\xa0Facebook\xa0\xa0\xa0Twitter\xa0\xa0\xa0Newsletter
\n\nGeneral inquiries:\xa0contact@edgeryders.eu
\n\nContributions & Partnerships:\xa0company@edgeryders.eu
\n\nFor most of humanity\'s history, care services \u2013 which today we call health and social care \u2013 were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other\'s children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations.
\n\nThis new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people\u2026) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manufacturing process.
\n\nWhat if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care?
\n\nWe are attempting to do just that. Meet the OpenCarers will showcare the results of OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services. By the end of this project we will have:
\n\nThis is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we are doing it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process is \u2013 and will stay \u2013 open to anyone who wants to participate. We operate under a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution; we do not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers.
\n\nCare is deeply human. Everyone has first-hand experience of it. Even those of us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and recieving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent prototypes.
\n\nThis track of the OpenVillage has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 6236, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-06 16:18:37', u'title': u'Meet The OpenCarers Track'}, {u'content': u'A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was \u2013 and still is \u2013 unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done.
\n\nWe saw people coming together, stepping into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together.
\n\nWe started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
\n\nIt\'s all about humans.
\n\nCommunity provision of care services needs humans: \xa0more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. \xa0Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nThis intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there\'s a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nWe dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other.
\n\nWe have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times.
\n\nThe unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning.
\n\nSo, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out a second iteration. Right now.
\n\nWe are calling it The Reef.
\n\nCoral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters).
\n\nLike coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start.
\n\nWe ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work.
\n\nWe are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @Noemi , @Nadia and @Alberto are going to be full-time residents; one more room will host temporary residents. We are going live on May 1st 2017, and try it out for one year. We are already looking for a (much) larger space to move into in spring 2018 if the experiment goes well.
\n\nIf you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a "building the Reef" track within to OpenVillage where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development. The track is open to people who, like us, are willing to put some \u201cskin in the game\u201d by becoming founding members.
\n\nWhat we get out of a membership in the Reef\xa0is access to\xa0unique opportunities to develop skills and behaviours needed for living and working well with others:
\n\nWhat you will learn
\n\nWhat each one of us contributes
\n\nOur approach towards community and support-building implies trust and a spirit of generosity, rather than transactional relationships.\xa0Members are contributors and not service recipients. This means the focus stays on accommodating each other to the best of our possibilities\xa0in order to meet each other\'s needs.\xa0If and when scheduling conflicts appear for lodging or other calendar events, we put our heads together to come up with creative solutions.
\n\nTo Become a Founding Member of the Reef You Pledge 300 Eur\xa0(25 Eur/month)
\n\n\n\nYou get:
\n\nYour contribution is used to cover\xa0the costs involved: venue & equipment rental,\xa0third party services (audiovisuals, tech assistance), staff time and masterclass leaders\' fees.
\n\n', u'post_id': 6235, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-06 13:25:56', u'title': u'The Reef'}, {u'content': u'19-21 OCTOBER 2017, BRUSSELS, #OPENVILLAGE
\n\nMeet the people who are doing it.
\n\nLearn how to do it.
\n\nBuild it together.
\n\nPOWERED BY COMMUNITY
\n\n\xa0\n\n| PROJECT SHOW & TELL | SUSTAINABILITY & SCALING | INVESTMENT & POLICY WORK |
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Meet great people and projects in a global network of 4000+ members!
\n\nBuild new relationships, opportunities and collective intelligence powered insights!
\n\nGet peer and expert input, hack challenges that matter to you, together!
\n\nSupport one another\'s personal and professional development as changemakers!
\n\nTo get your ticket,\xa0create an edgeryders account, then write to\xa0community@edgeryders.eu.
\n\n"The state is the main care providers," say many Europeans. And sure, the welfare state is a major safety net in their societies. "Businesses are the main providers" many Americans reply. They too have a point: their insurance companies, hospitals and clinics - most of these are businesses.
\n\nAnd yet, that\'s not the whole story. Care models are failing: The per capita health care expenditure grows faster than GDP. We need to spend an ever-greater part of our resources just to stay well. Under pressure to get care, the edges of society respond by getting creative.
\n\nThis event is part of OpenCare, a research project on how to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.\xa0We start from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new\xa0open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
\n\nAt the\xa0Openvillage festival\xa0we bring together many #opencare projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community-driven solutions.We are interested in what you already are doing, and what we can do together.
\n\nMeet the Opencare Research Team
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\'s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no 688670
\n\n\n\nFollow us:
\n\n\xa0Facebook \xa0\xa0Twitter \xa0\xa0Newsletter
\n\nGeneral inquiries:
\n\n\n\nContributions & Partnerships:
\n\n\n\n\xa0
', u'post_id': 821, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-06 12:56:43', u'title': u'OpenVillage Festival (imported from former Drupal group)'}, {u'content': u'While we are adding final touches to the OpenVillage launch, we plan a personalized message to our partners that includes:
\n\n1) Save the Date and register for OpenVillage
\n\n2) Take on Communication and Business modeling (?) roles in preparation for it:\xa05\xa0memberships available (opencall upcoming)
\n\n3) Take on Curation role: Fellowships (see main menu link)
\n\n4) Maker Residency in Milano (see main menu link)
\n\nThese are the concrete\xa0opportunities for continuing the work which has been done in\xa0openandchange.
\n\nAm I missing something?
', u'post_id': 6217, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-27 12:15:43', u'title': u'[Event launch] Follow up with OpenandChange partners'}, {u'content': u'Context
\n\nIn recent years Milan citizens have developed needs that the City of milan is no longer able to cope with. Available data tell us that welfare services are directed to a minority of citizens, creating a gap with all the others.
\n\nBut what are the main changes taking place?
\n\nThe aging population;
The reduction in resources due to the economic and financial crisis;
The changing role of the family, its components and its characteristics;
The question of the role of youth in society;
The increasing multiculturalism.
In particular in Milan:
\n\nSENIOR CITIZENS
\n\nIn Milan, the ultra elderly residents aged over 60 are 394 673 (about 30%), mostly women (233,863). Of these 25% are people alone, who then often they face the last part of life in solitude.
\n\nAmong these are the "very elderly" (over 80) are 94,330.
\n\nThe elderly non self-sufficient are about 40,000 and they have a lot of care needs and the main caregivers are \xa0familiars (usually sons) and health and social services.
\n\nThese numbers also explain the growing significance of the phenomenon of the informal care market, the caregivers for elderly people.
\n\nThe phenomenon is significant in Milan if you consider that in the city are estimated around 32,000 caregivers, both legal and illegal.
\n\nIt \'also important to note that only 25% of the 39,000 non self sufficient elderly people living in Milan receive formal care provided by Municipality.
\n\nWHERE ARE THE OTHERS?
\n\nTHE ROLE OF WOMEN
\n\nThe role of women/ mother in Milan \xa0is increasingly complex. Just think that in Milan, in 2011, appear to be residents 383,221 women aged between 25 and 65 years and that the female employment rate in the city is 62.70%.
\n\nThe above described demographic change also determines a situation where women who are 40 years old today can expect to share about 22 years of their lives with at least one elderly parent, 4 years longer than those born in 1960 and 10 years more than women born in 1940.
\n\nThe Milanese women are, therefore, for most working women, whose problems of conciliation between family and work are even more marked than women of other cities of Italy.
\n\nChildren in Milan between 0 and 6 years old are 83,605 of which only 6,902 are enrolled in pre-schools or nurseries and only 5,600 are enrolled in pre-school services and after-school primary school.
\n\nWHERE ARE THE OTHERS?
\n\nFRAGMENTATION OF RESOURCES
\n\nWe also found a strong fragmentation between public funds used for care and a \xa0lack of coordination. 43% of these resources comes from the State, Region, Municipality and Local Public Health Agency, \xa0the other part are cash resources that come from INPS (National Insurance Contributions).
\n\nThe project \u201cWelfare of all\u201d
\n\nThe idea is to create the conditions to make sure that everyone has access to opportunities provided by the welfare, regardless of economic conditions, and that anyone can have an active role \xa0in the welfare and thus responsible for the improvement of society. Therefore the name of the project: Welfare of all.
\n\nThis approach seems to us really innovative. Adolfo Ceretti and Roberto Cornelli (partner of our project with the National Centre for Prevention and Social Defence) told us: "The claim of recognition of civil and social rights, after having supported the gradual expansion of the Western democracies, becomes more and more an individual claim that tends to exclude, in the name of "my own right", those of others. "My" right to public housing, the provision of "my" child daycare, and even the right to receive adequate medical care is seen in contrast with the rights of others. We prefer to support the removal from the list of those who "are not as much citizen as I am "- rather than to claim services that reach everyone.
\n\nIn a context where human relationships are more rarefied, the solidaristic relations are weak, the gap between social segments is dangerously exploding. Insecurity and uncertainty have made the idea of \u200b\u200bcommunity something relative and fragile. "
\n\nWemi is developing an online platform that enables simple access to home care services of the City, making it possible for citizens to request new services, or in different ways, creating new solutions together, giving you the chance to find personalized answers.
\n\n\n\nWe realized also two territorial platforms, ie two listening spaces for citizens in the aim to promote the sharing of offers and needs among citizens. The territorial platforms perform the same function of the digital platform but in three different physical locations.
\n\nIn these spaces people are helped to find the services they need, but also they are encouraged to share needs and services between groups of citizens, in the aim to aggregate the needs and provide shared answers . These services then work directly with families and traditional third sector associations.
\n\nOnline and physical platforms are innovative tools because they force the entire system to rethink: the City of Milan has to change its vision of citizens and the world of the third sector needs to open up to new citizens and think again an adequate business model.
\n\nFinally thanks to some ideas \xa0received during some design sessions WEMI is implementing two pilot projects: \u201cApartment Block Welfare\u201d, with apartment block caregivers/home helps, and \u201cSchool Welfare\u201d, working with local schools, with a view to better integrating welfare provision.
\n\nApartment Block Welfare
\n\n\n\nFinancial education for social operators
\n\n\n\nWhich are the main difficulties that we found?
\n\nWe found different kind of difficulties.
\n\nFrom the point of view of the City of Milan we\u2019re working with new tools that are very different from the typical ones. For example, we had to think about a new way to communicate services to citizens, trying to build a new visual identity system with the Department of Design at the Politecnico. Moreover we need to build a new language with the traditional actors (cooperatives, NGOs..) that can be understood by citizens \xa0(not technical language).
\n\nAnother difficulty has been to help no profit organizations to think new kind of products, beyond their traditional services in order to be able to answer to new and different needs. \xa0
\n\nSo the biggest challenge is to get out from traditional logic, in relation to how we think, how we communicate and we distribute services.
\n\nWe believe that this new way of thinking services might lead to great opportunities, but we still need to prove that this idea is true. So we need to be brave and really believe and work on this idea.
\n\nIn this sense the role of the Municipality is important because only Municipality can take the risk of innovation and make an investment that the private social agencies alone could not do, as they are forced to face objective difficulties also linked to a long economical crisis.
\n\nWhat do you think? Do you know similar projects? Do you have suggestions for us?
\n\nAll comments will be useful for building together this difficult road of Welfare innovation.
', u'post_id': 563, u'user_id': 3517, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-16 14:49:51', u'title': u'Wemi:City of Milan is going to re-think Care Services in order to create a new Community Welfare'}, {u'content': u'We can have the bacteria soon already. Winnie has heard from CCL that they have a partner who has experience in shipping globally. BioFoundry confirms for their case.
\n\nWe need to plan so that we are prepared to receive them. What is the minimum we need?
\n\nList:
\n\n--> The above would account to <100\u20ac
\n\n--> This might be more expensive to buy
\n\n--> At Open BioLab? Other organisation?
\n\nWe need to do the lab work in a Level 2 lab, so in Open BioLab in Brussels. If we succeed in culturing the bacteria, this is already a good validation of the previous research from CCL. We can do the same for the new method BioFoundry is doing.
\n\nIn the next stage things will get more expensive. We need to digest the protein, purify it and validate if it\u2019s insulin.
\n\nRita: we have no purification skills yet
\n\nOthers: we can ask questions to professors/experts on the topic
\n\nRita: HPLC is the easiest option by far.
\n\nNiek: we can try cheaper methods for validating if the protein is the correct insulin. I\u2019ll look up if blotting is possible. Perhaps there an ELISA kit for this? (looks up online: there is an insulin ELISA kit at \u20ac500 for 96 tests). We\u2019ll also need a way for showing gfp expression. The CCL protocols will come in handy.
\n\nWinnie: is the process a black box from start to end, when we ultimately validate if what we\u2019ve made is insulin? Because if there\u2019s something wrong, we won\u2019t know where it went wrong.
\n\nRita: we could look at the patents, if there\u2019s mention of detection methods. We can use those if it\u2019s just for validation in this stage.
\n\nWe will ask around for prices/help from our network as we will need to buy materials at some points. This is not always easy in ReaGent\u2019s experience. ReaGent has a supplier that will sell to them, but the supplier doesn\u2019t have everything. Others don\u2019t even answer. We can get some stuff viavia though.
\n\nConcluding thoughts: we can easily receive the samples, so we\u2019ll get that done asap. As the next stage is more expensive, we need to plan a crowdfunding or other initiative to look for some money.
\n\nWe need more detailed information on the protocols of CCL to make better estimates of required materials and costs.
', u'post_id': 6233, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-05 21:14:59', u'title': u'Brainstorm notes 05.04.2017'}, {u'content': u'Arne - Money can probably be found. I have some experience in asking donors.\xa0
\n\nQ. Can we know more about the actual process?
\n\nWinnie: the body makes a protein with 4 component: a leader sequence, the A-chain, the C-chain (a spacer, facilitating the A- and B-chains to connect to each other) and the B-chain. In the end, insulin is only made of an A- and B-chain. Manufacturing just A- and B-chains will work, but is very very inefficient, because these two chains do not react with each other easily. The challenge of making insulin is that of increasing the efficiency of this reaction.\xa0
\n\nThe CCL innovation to do that is something called a Leucine zipper, that attaches to both chains (which are produced by two different genes), and attracts copies of itself like a magnet. Leucine zipper helps A- and B-chains find each other.\xa0
\n\nRound of presentations. Lots of bioengineers-biochemists.\xa0
\n\nAlberto: How is it going to work? Do you guys specialize in one phase of the process?\xa0
\n\nWinnie: CCL would like us to purify and validate with HPLC. That also means validating that their bacteria (E. coli with DNA insertion) breed true in our lab as well as theirs. One problem is: how do we get the bacteria to begin with? The Sydney lab has solved this problem, we have not tackled it yet. There are legal restrictions. Maybe we could go through Open BioLab, which is part of a university.\xa0
\n\nFederica: do we have access to CCL results?
\n\nWinnie: yes. Everything is on Google Drive. We need to ask what the policy for access is. We also need to be clear on the license of this stuff, i.e. terms of reuse for publications etc.\xa0
\n\n(Technical discussion of the process as developed by CCL. The gist of it: making proinsulin seems easy, but cutting out the relevant part and purifying the resulting insulin from the junk is going to be harder).\xa0
\n\nArne: how long does this take? Engineering efficient microfactories looks like a very big deal.\xa0
\n\nWinnie: we are not engineering yet. We are going for a proof of concept. Our proof is complete when we have a viable open sourced process for making insulin that works in the lab. Making it work in production is not on the table yet. CCL got about halfway through it in 18 months. Imagine another 12-18 months to complete the proof of concept.
\n\nWinnie: the next steps I gathered from the conversation were to:
\n\nWinnie: you should see more documentation popping up in the Drive over the next few days as I get them from CCL. They might be able to give us some info on the shipping as well.
', u'post_id': 6230, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-04 08:31:13', u'title': u'Kickoff meeting notes'}, {u'content': u'This is the digital workspace\xa0for coordination and discussion on the Belgian chapter of the Open Insulin project. The global project is being executed in local biohacking labs across the globe, with the researchers collaborating online.
\n\nDo you want to get involved and contribute to the project? Read these simple steps on how to!
\n\nPhysical meetups\xa0happen every two weeks on Wednesdays at 8pm CET\xa0in the ReaGent lab in Ghent. Everyone is welcome to join.
\n\nNext physical meetup: July\xa05th, 8pm at Timelab
\n\nCalls with the international team\xa0happen every two weeks on Mondays at 9am CET. Pop Winnie an email to join: winnie [at] breakitdown [dot] eu. Next international call: July\xa010th, 9am on Zoom
\n\nAccess to affordable insulin is not a given. Many people in poorer communities or developing countries have no way of getting appropriate treatment for diabetes. This leads to serious ilnesses such as blindness, amputations, cardiovascular disease and ultimately coma or death.
\n\nThere is no generic insulin on the market and prices are kept high by patent strategies of the\xa0few companies that control the market. We\'re trying to change this by open sourcing the knowledge required to produce insulin.
\n\nAs an obvious result this would allow production of cheaper insulin by generic suppliers. It might also enable home brewing of insulin or local microfactories in remote areas. Moreover, it can serve as a fertile soil for more open innovation and citizen science in research.
\n\nStill, the scope of this project is narrowly defined: develop and validate a production method for insulin. Patient testing\xa0and further engineering are not on the table before this important milestone.
\n\nThe original Open Insulin team from Counter Culture Labs started out by attempting to modify\xa0E. Coli bacteria to produce the precursors of\xa0human insulin, which has proven successful. Next steps are purification and turning it into human insulin.
\n\nThe actual lab work is done locally and the open conversation takes place online. This is the workspace for the Ghent group and we invite everyone to participate as we get the lab work underway.
\n\nWant to take part? Drop by at one of the open lab spaces in Oakland\xa0(US), Sydney (AUS) or\xa0Ghent (BE) or ping a team member to join the fortnightly conference call on Sunday/Monday.
\n\nTo join this online workspace you can create an edgeryders account here.\xa0Edgeryders is a global network working to affect change in local and global environments. We use this\xa0open internet platform (self-hosted) to collaborate on different projects.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 820, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2017-04-03 22:12:51', u'title': u'Open Insulin research group'}, {u'content': u'The\xa0opencare Maker in Residence is the first edition of a special residency programme that provides support, assistance, resources and acceleration to Makers - from all over the world - who are interested in developing / validating / iterating an open source project in the health and care field. Makers can live and work on-site at WeMake\xa0for a period of time that may vary from\xa0minimum\xa02 to maximum 8 weeks, providing an opportunity for intense collaboration, creativity, and learning to improve their project.
\n\nThe Maker in Residence will also be the framework in which WeMake will cooperate with local opencare chapters like the milanese one (ping @Rune @Francesco_Maria_ZAVA ).
\n\nIt will take place from April to July 2017 (dates will be scheduled according to applicants\u2019 availability).
\n\nThrough this special edition of residency we are trying to create an active and participatory link between the online and offline collaboration.\xa0On one hand online collaboration is a great experience: you can get inspiration by reading stories, learning from all around the world experiences, finding technical documentation, forking and contributing to different projects.\xa0On the other hand, the live (aka "offline") experience (working in a makerspace / fablab) will add some other things:
\n\n\nonline + offline = GREAT THINGS!
\n\nStep 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account
\n\nStep 2 - go to Add my story and write about your project, following closely the instructions on that page.
\n\nStep 3 - follow this link and fill in the form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22
\n\nFor more information, explanations and support with the application process:\xa0read this\xa0page or please contact: opencare@wemake.cc
\n\n', u'post_id': 6206, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-22 10:01:34', u'title': u'Call for Applications: OpenCare Maker in Residence (call closed)'}, {u'content': u'A few years ago we started paying close attention to care. Available, affordable health and social care was \u2013 and still is \u2013 unavailable. Not for some unknown person in some distant land, either. For friends and family members, people in our communities, right here. Something had to be done.
\n\nWe saw people coming together, stepping into the breach. Communities were taking up the role of care providers, making it work where neither the state nor private business could. They were doing amazing things. Hackers were making open sourced, internet-enabled glucose monitors for children with diabetes. Belgian trauma therapists set up mobile studios and drove them to refugee camps in Greece, to help bereaved refugees. Bipolar 1 patients found and helped each other fight back suicidal tendencies. Biologists and biohackers were trying to invent a cheap, open source process to make insulin. American activists were encouraging each other to eat healthy food and exercise by doing it together.
\n\nWe started a research projects to take a good look inside these and many other stories. We wanted to learn what these initiatives have in common, and how we could make more. That project is called OpenCare; it is now in its second year. Results are still coming through, but one thing is already clear:
\n\nIt\'s all about humans.\n\n
Community provision of care services needs humans: \xa0more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. \xa0Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nThis intuition is fundamental. It goes even beyond care. And it makes sense: we are, after all, the 99%. We have little money and power. We have no large companies, fancy foundations, prestigious universities. But we do have each other. We will thrive, if we can collaborate. But there\'s a problem: collaboration is expensive, and hard to monetise. So, any technology that makes it more efficient is going to make a difference.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nWe dream of a new kind of space, that can be the hearth for our families but still be open to the broader world. Where the door is not a barrier to keep the world out, but a gateway to a global network. Where we can live, and work, and sometimes work with the people we live with, and live with our co-workers. Where people are welcome to stay for one day, or a lifetime. Where spending even just an hour in good heart ensures you will never be a stranger again. Where we can develop our talent, learn new skills, get better at what we do. Where we can create for each other a healthy, friendly, cosmopolitan environment and, yes, take care of each other.
\n\nWe have dreamt this dream before. In its previous iteration, we called it the unMonastery. We prototyped in 2014, in the Italian city of Matera. That experience taught us much. We learned that\xa0a life/work space can not be too close to the needs of a single client. Neither can it be dependent on the grant cycle. It needs to be financially self-sustaining, and benefit several projects and lines of business. We also learned\xa0how important it is to be diverse, open and outward-looking for fresh air and fresh ideas to circulate at all times.
\n\nThe unMonastery also got many things right. The most important one is this: we went ahead and tried it. Planning and due diligence are necessary, but trying things out makes for richer learning.
\n\nSo, we are not going to keep dreaming about a new space. Instead, we have decided to roll out\xa0a second iteration. Right now.
\n\nWe are calling it The Reef. Coral reefs are structures built by tiny animals, corals. They serve as the home, anchoring point, hiding place, hunting ground to thousands of species. Algae, seaweeds, fish, molluscs all cooperate with, compete with, eat, feed each other. As they do so, they benefit the corals, who gain access to nutrients (reefs exist in nutrient-poor tropical waters).
\n\nLike coral reefs, our new space will draw strength from diversity and symbiosis. Different people will bring in different skills, access to different networks, different personalities. And Edgeryders itself (a social enterprise, so a creature of a different species) will live in symbiosis with the space and the individuals that live in it. It will pay rent, subsidising those who live there; in return, it will be able to use the space for its own purposes: office, coworking space, venue for small events. We also want to offer some form of access to a broad network of people right from the start.
\n\nWe ran the numbers and we are sure we can make it work. We are going to start with a small-scale prototype: a Brussels loft, with four bedrooms, common living area, office, courtyard. @Noemi , @Nadia and I are going to be full-time residents; one more room will host temporary residents. We are going live on May 1st 2017, and try it out for one year. We are already looking for a (much) larger space to move into in spring 2018 if the experiment goes well.
\n\nIf you are considering being part of the experiment, or curious about learning more, get in touch. We are planning a "building the Reef" track within to OpenVillage where we, together, will design the physical space, its financing model, and the activites therein \u2013 from business to fitness and personal development.
\n\n[PRACTICAL INFO GO HERE]
', u'post_id': 6215, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-26 19:01:35', u'title': u'Proposed text for launch of Reef track'}, {u'content': u'// [Work in Progress]: This wiki is where we prepare information about the events that will be held in the Reef for members, 2017-2018. Please add/help edit the information about the event you are organising or leading.\xa0//
\n\n"Power Pitch Weekend: \xa0", A 2-day Masterclass lead by August Pirovano and Matteo Uguzzoni in Brussels, Belgium on May 26-27.\xa0More info here.
\n\n"How to use co-design of healthy food systems to regenerate\xa0communities", An\xa0Evening talk & Dinner featuring\xa0Susanne Stauch and Virginie Gailing \xa0in Brussels, Belgium on May xx-xx. Background Information.
\n\n"Masters of Networks - How online interaction fosters action": A workshop with [name][name] in Bordeaux, France on June 28 at hh:mm.\xa0Previous edition held at\xa0CERN.
\n\nOctober 19-21 | Meet the OpenCarers: We present findings from a 2 year massive research project on community driven health and social care. The conference and exhibition will bring together promising\xa0projects into a demo of a new care system powered by open source, community driven solutions. We will imagine and enact the future of care together.
\n\nOctober 19-21 | Building the Reef: A Community Property for Everyone.OpenCare revealed the aspiration to a more communal living, where taking care of one another is easier and more affordable. How do we acquire and manage collective property for permanent, affordable living and working? We will discover and learn from cases of existing financial, legal and governance models.
\n\nOctober 19-21 | The Future of Care: A Policy and Investment Lab.\xa0How do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and what enabling infrastructures already exist that we can learn from? Implications for participants, investors and policy makers.
\n\n[Add image here]
\n\nIn 2008, Edgeryders community members Augusto Pirovano\xa0and Matteo Uguzzoni started working on []. Critical City won every competition there was to win. They now help others to do the same.\xa0
\n\nEdgeryders are in the business of developing and deploying new initiatives at the edge of context. Many of which come at the problem from a completely new perspective. \xa0We need to provide opportunities for personal development to ourselves. So we are commissioning Augusto and Matteo to run a 2-day storytelling Masterclass and project clinic.
\n\nThe Power Pitch weekend is a unique opportunity to rapidly develop your storytelling skills, and take your project to the next level. It takes place on May 26-27, in Brussels at the Reef.\xa0
\n\nAnd a third reason to choose Augusto/Matteo ("Dyson sphere: we try to keep the money in the community")
\n\nWhy should people put money into the workshop?
\n\nCritical City won every competition there was to win. They are selling presentation preparation to big corpses.
\n\nAlso. Social entrepreneurs. I know them since 2008. Good people. Part of the community.\xa0Not your average biz guru bullshitter
', u'post_id': 6222, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-29 10:34:45', u'title': u'Community events 2017-2018'}, {u'content': u'Can you help with this?\xa0https://edgeryders.eu/en/membership-perks
', u'post_id': 6216, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-26 19:39:44', u'title': u'Help improve the text describing membership'}, {u'content': u'MEET THE OPENCARERS
\n\nThe event is dedicated to learning from the protagonists and projects in the existing opencare ecosystem. We will be presenting findings from the opencare massive two year research project.\xa0
\n\nPROGRAM: a full day of high quality talks, conversations and networking as we try to answer questions like:
\n\nHow do communities\xa0cope with needs of providing for\xa0individuals in vulnerable situations when official systems fail?\xa0
\n\nCan networks of shadow clinics and innovative care homes ensure a fairer access to health services?\xa0
\n\nWhat happens when every mental health patient is given a chance to become a healer for others?
\n\nCan cities uphold innovative policies of care by engaging more openly with bottom up\xa0care\xa0providers i.e.\xa0informal communities?
\n\nThe event is public and free of charge. In order to register follow the next steps:
\n\nCreate an account or Log in on https://edgeryders.eu.
Submit your story as a reflection on the questions above.
Leave a comment on 3 other stories.
MEET THE OPENCARERS\xa0is part of the OpenVillage Festival, 19-21 October. \xa0Learn more.
\n\nSupported by:
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6212, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-25 16:36:36', u'title': u'Meet the opencarers'}, {u'content': u'\n\n\n\n\n\n
Quite a few curious people who participate in the OpenCare conversation\xa0about care\xa0end up engaging with the research team in a different conversation: the one\xa0about OpenCare as a research project.\xa0This is a lovely\xa0side effect of OpenCare\'s radical transparency. We practice a sort of open notebook science.\xa0We don\'t publish only results, but also questions, doubts, within-team disagreements, half-baked ideas. This is made more effective by a specificity of OpenCare:\xa0the community and the team are in separate "rooms" of the same online platform, edgeryders.eu. People who hang around it\xa0can\'t help noticing the stream of research project updates. Some of them engage.\xa0
\n\nThis was expected. But I was not expecting the magnitude of the effect. 81 people have contributed at least one comment to the research team space. The team\'s own numerosity fluctuates, but it\'s about 20. The others are just people from the community who drop in to ask questions or make suggestions. And they outnumber us three to one.
\n\nIn the network diagrams, nodes are color- and size coded by in-degree. You can think of in-degree as a measure of the interest that the person\'s contribution elicits in the conversation. By this metric, it is clear that self-selected community members who just jump in\xa0are making a major contribution to the OpenCare research effort. The highest in-degree individuals who are not affiliated with any of the partners are @Federico_Monaco (ranks 7th by in-degree), @Rune (ranks 13th) and @Francesco_Maria_ZAVA (ranks 16th).\xa0
\n\nThe conversation about\xa0OpenCare as a project (to the right of the picture)\xa0is of the same order of magnitude as that about open care as a potential pathway to societal well-being (to the left). It needs to be said, however, that the former has a lot of menial content: agreeing about a time and place to meet, requesting administrative information etc. \xa0
\n\nWhat are the consequences of all this activity? More diversity in research. More space for participation. With a bit of luck, more and higher quality scientific output.\xa0My favourite story is this: a community member, the already mentioned Federico Monaco, has proposed we do a paper together. He had found a call for papers in a journal he follows, and thought it a good fit. His proposal stirred the rest of the team into action. His thread received over 50 comments. A\xa0draft abstract was then uploaded onto a public wiki\xa0for community scrutiny and feedback.
\n\nMany people sent contributions large and small. The large ones (example: that of\xa0Ezio \u2013 here) did most of the heavy lifting. But the process had a role also for smaller ones. People like myself, who did not feel confident to step in as co-authors, were able to offer some small help\xa0without having to take responsbility for the whole thing. Federico led with a firm but light touch, asking everyone who volunteered any thought what role they wanted to play in the paper. For example, @Yannick \u2013 also\xa0not\xa0a member of the OpenCare team \u2013 was offered co-authorship (but declined). All of this happened out in the open. As you\xa0read the whole thread, you can see ideas form through the discussion of the co-authors. Collective intelligence about collective intelligence!\xa0
\n\nInterdisciplinarity happened quite naturally as a result of the open process. The final submission listed five authors: Federico himself (a medical anthropologist); @Ezio_Manzini (a designer for social innovation); @Noemi (a social scientist); @Amelia (an ethnographer); myself (a network scientist). How cool is that?
\n\nAnother advantage of doing things this way is increased accountability to the people who take part\xa0in the main conversation, the one about care. Through the research team forum, they can ask question and make proposals. This should mitigate the perceived risk of researchers taking an exploitative attitude towards people\'s contributions. The operative word here is "perceived". We have the best intentions, but we recognize this is not enough. We are determined to demonstrate them to the community, and transparency goes a long way towards doing it.\xa0
\n\nI think that, together, we are making OpenCare... open. I had never had the luxury of running a research project with such transparency. I like it a lot, and hope to keep doing so in the future. What do others think?\xa0
', u'post_id': 6175, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-02 14:03:29', u'title': u'The wonder of open notebook science: OpenCare community vs. OpenCare team'}, {u'content': u'\xa019 - 21 OCTOBER\xa02017, BRUSSELS, #OPENVILLAGE
\n\n| Open Science & Technology | Mental and Spiritual Health | Robustness to Rapid Change |
| How are people all over the world using open knowledge, open source hardware and software solutions to meet care needs? | What can we learn from off-the-radar initiatives about how we can boost one anothers\' mental and spiritual health? | What new or unconventional solutions can protect us from consequences of \u201cchaos in the system\u201d when we are most vulnerable? |
...and much more
\n\n\xa0Access our\xa0Fellowship Program!
\n\nMeet great people and projects in a global network of 4000+ members!
\n\nBuild new relationships, opportunities and\xa0collective intelligence powered insights!
\n\nGet peer & expert input, hack challenges that matter to you, together!
\n\nSupport one another\'s personal & professional development as changemakers!
\n\nAre not free of charge, but cannot be bought for money.
\n\nWrite to community@edgeryders.eu
\n\nor drop in to\xa0a community call, wednesdays at 18:00 CET here.
\n\n"The state is the main care provider", say many Europeans. And sure, the welfare state is a major safety net in their societies. "Business is the main care provider", reply many Americans. They have a point too: their insurance companies, hospitals and clinic \u2013 most of these are businesses.
\n\nAnd yet, that\'s not the whole story. Care models are failing: per capita health care expenditure grows faster than GDP. We need to spend an ever-greater part of our resources just to stay well. \xa0Under pressure to get care, the edges of society respond by getting creative.
\n\nThis event is part of OpenCare, a research project on how to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.\xa0We start\xa0from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
\n\nAt OpenVillage festival we bring together many opencare projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions. We are interested what you already are doing, and what we can do together. \xa0
\n\nMeet the Opencare Research Team
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 6207, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-22 12:44:02', u'title': u'OpenVillage Festival'}, {u'content': u'The opencare Maker in Residence is open!
\n\nThe opencare Maker in Residence is the first edition of a special residency programme that provides support, assistance, resources and acceleration to Makers - from all over the world - who are interested in developing / validating / iterating an open source project in the health and care field. Makers can live and work on-site at WeMake\xa0for a period of time that may vary from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 8 weeks, providing an opportunity for intense collaboration, creativity, and learning to improve their project.
\n\nThe opencare Maker in Residence will take place from April to July 2017 (dates will be scheduled according to applicants\u2019 availability).
\n\nThrough this special edition of residency we are trying to create an active and participatory link between the online and offline collaboration.
\n\nOn one hand online collaboration is a great experience: you can get inspiration by reading stories, learning from all around the world experiences, finding technical documentation, forking and contributing to different projects \u2026
\n\nOn the other hand, the live (aka "offline") experience (working in a makerspace / fablab) will add some other things:
\n\n\nonline + offline = GREAT THINGS!
\n\nHow to apply
\n\nStep 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account
\n\nStep 2 - go to Add my story and write about your project, following closely the instructions on that page.
\n\nStep 3 - follow this link and fill in the form: https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22
\n\nFor more information, explanations and support with the application process, go to the page or please contact: opencare@wemake.cc
', u'post_id': 818, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-22 10:37:20', u'title': u'Call for Applications - opencare Maker in Residence'}, {u'content': u'We are looking for individuals and/or teams of makers (artists, designers, coders, tinkerers\u2026) who are working on an open source and care-related concept or project, and are willing to give it a boost.
\n\nAs an essential part of the process they will join both the online and offline community of opencare, in an active mechanism of development and collaboration.
\n\nThe selected makers will get a tangible opportunity to prototype their idea on cutting edge digital fabrication equipment, get feedback from experts, connect with a creative community, tap into Milan\u2019s design events and crowd, experience new business models and display and showcase the project to a wide audience.
\n\nDisclaimer: Everything that is not listed above should be considered at the expense of the participant (excluding special circumstances and eventual participant\u2019s special needs, that will be discussed on a case by case basis)
\n\nProject development - Reach project\u2019s intermediate and end goals that we have defined together at the beginning of the Residency.
\n\nKeep a log of the activities and create documentation about results. When possible create tutorials for future users and/or contributors.
\n\nOpen Source - Participants are encouraged to embrace open source and are asked to publish at least one part of their project (preferably the whole project) using an open source license. Guidance will be offered for the definition of the license according to the specific project.
\n\nTransparency - Participants are invited to be transparent in their work and to document and share not only the final result but also the process with the opencare community.
\n\nCommunity involvement - Last but not least, direct and vivid involvement with the opencare community will result in a more constructive outcome for all parties involved.
\n\nApplications will be accepted between March 17th and May 15th\xa0EXTENDED TO MAY 31st\xa0(23:59 CET) on an ongoing basis, and will be considered according to the following criteria:
Applicants will be notified maximum 15 days after the submission of the Story (see step 2) and the Form (see step 3).
\n\nFor more information, explanations and support with the application process, please contact: opencare@wemake.cc
\n\nThe application process will require at least 15 to 20 minutes.
\n\nBefore you start be sure you can provide personal data of all the applicants and can provide in-depth description and media about your concept / project.
\n\nStep 1 - go to Edgeryders.eu and create a new account
\n\nStep 2 - go to Add My Story page and write about your project, following closely the instructions on that page.
\n\nStep 3 - follow this link and fill in the form:\xa0https://goo.gl/forms/TIVGWuxdd0FYbfk22
\n\nSince 2014 WeMake has been organizing a \u201cMaker in Residence\u201d (MIR) programme, an initiative focused on experimenting new approaches around open source hardware, distributed manufacturing and open design, together with makers, designers and artists, residing for a period of time at WeMake.
\n\nThis special edition of the residency falls within the framework of opencare (www.opencare.cc), an international project started in 2016 and funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
\n\nopencare is a project and a global community working together to make health and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.
\n\nIt emerges from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
\n\nWeMake, partner of the opencare consortium, officially invites people and collectives working on grassroot solutions for care needs based on digital tools, to submit their project and collaborate with us.
\n\nFor more information, explanations and support with the application process, please contact: opencare@wemake.cc
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 6198, u'user_id': -1, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-17 14:49:54', u'title': u'Maker in Residence program'}, {u'content': u'The City of Milan is organizing a seminar on thursday 23th of February from 2pm to 5 pm at WeMake / Milan, in order to present Open Care to a network of civil servants from European cities. The event is part of a three days Eurocities\' Study Visits focused on Social Entrepreuneurship.
\n\n[The Study Visit detailed programme will be available asap].
\n\nMilan has founded Eurocities in 1986 together with Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon and Rotterdam. The network today brings together 130 of Europe\'s largest cities and 40 partner cities, that between them serve 130 million citizens across 35 countries. Eurocities consists of a platform for sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas through six thematic forums, a wide range of working groups, projects, activities and events.
\n\nMilan is taking part in the working group Social Affairs > Smart Social Inclusion, working out solutions to a better spending and for better social outcomes.
\n\nParticipants in this working group discuss subjects such:
\n\nHow to respond to reduced public spending and higher demand for social services, investing in a smarter and innovative way?
What is the role of cities in promoting social entrepreneurship and social economy?
Participants will be invited from Municipalities of Acharnes, Amsterdam,\xa0 Antwerp,\xa0 Athens, Barcelona, Belfast,\xa0 Besiktas,\xa0 Beylikd\xfcz\xfc,\xa0 Birmingham,\xa0 Bonn,\xa0 Brno,\xa0 Bydgoszcz, Cardiff, Copenhagen, Dresden, Essen, Brussels, Gdansk,\xa0 Geneva,\xa0 Genoa,\xa0 Ghent,\xa0 Gothenburg,\xa0 Helsinki,\xa0 Katowice,\xa0 Leeds,\xa0 Lisbon,\xa0 Ljubljana,\xa0 Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Nantes, Netwerkstad, Twente, Newcastle-Gateshead, Nice Cote d\u2019Azur, Nicosia, Osmangazi, Ostend, Porto, Rennes Metropole, Riga,\xa0 Rome,\xa0 Rotterdam,\xa0 Sheffield,\xa0 Stockholm,\xa0 Stuttgart,\xa0 Tallinn, Turin, Turkish Cypriot community of Nicosia, Uppsala, Utrecht, Vantaa, Warsaw, Zagreb, Zurich.
\n\nIf you are interested in taking part at the seminar feel free to send an email to milano_smartcity@comune-milano.org
\n\nDate: 2017-02-22 13:00:00 - 2017-02-24 00:45:00, Europe/Paris Time.
', u'post_id': 6108, u'user_id': 3520, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-18 10:25:42', u'title': u'OPENCARE social entrepreneurship seminar'}, {u'content': u'On January 21-22 I participated in NOW, a 2 day event bringing together mayors from cities and towns receiving the largest numbers of refugees from Syria as well as activists and individuals currently seeking asylum in Europe. I will dedicate this post to a brief summary of the key issues highlighted by participants, followed by proposals for how we could contribute towards building actionable and sustainable solutions.
\n\n
The first part of the event consisted in a kind of intense briefing of the situation in countries closest to Syria. In a short time the populations of small countries in the region, Lebanon and Jordan, have grown manyfold (1.1 Million refugees in Lebanon, 630,000 in Jordan - in addition to Palestinian refugees already there). Some reading materials with up to date, detailed information:
\n\nArmenia:\xa0Anna\u2019s report from Yerevan is a good introduction.\xa0
\n\nJordan: Five Years On | Syria Crisis-related needs and vulnerabilities in Jordan. \xa0
\n\nWhile many of the cities and towns receiving refugees face similar challenges there is a significant difference. Some are transit locations, which asylum seekers pass on their way on to other destinations. They include major cities in Greece, Italy and Turkey, as well as small coastal towns from which people leave on boats to take their perilous journey across the sea. There, volunteers do their best to care for their immediate physical needs and the mandated administrative/security procedures to grant them entry onto the mainland.
\n\nOther cities and towns \xa0are receiving the newcomers on a more long term basis. This happens in two different phases, each one posing its own \xa0political, administrative and infrastructural challenges for the hosting communities. The first one is the period of time between arrival and the approval or rejection of the person\u2019s application for refugee status. This period could be very long, as in the case of the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, or that of Mr. Teferi in Norway. The second one is the period that begins once an individual has secured refugee status. In this period, the challenge is navigating the difficult period between receiving the papers and being fully established in the social and economic life of the host new community.
\n\nWhile the details differ, the problems and needs mentioned by mayors, NGOs and activists fall into one or more of the following:
\n\nOne of the outcomes of the conference was that Mayors from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Austria signed a declaration\xa0to work together in solidarity across borders:
\n\n
Politically, this is an important signal. However the event didn\u2019t get into the part I find the most interesting- how they expect to go from intention to implementation.
\n\nSo what is needed in order for this commitment to be delivered on? Based on discussions with mayors, activists and refugees it looks like the participants at NOW need:
\n\nIn practice this would require:
\n\nTake a minute to think about what this means.
\n\nIf the participants in the event want to see the transnational cooperation happen in practice, then they will have to learn to think and work as networks of individuals interacting inside, outside and all around different organisations. Each working at the hyperlocal, micro-level, while sharing and learning with others working in different contexts as a natural part of the everyday workflow\u2026 not just something afforded to people who can travel and spend 2 days talking with one another at a conference. And all of this done in ways that build granular, immediately relevant and continuously updated institutional memory accessible to all. Affecting behavioral change at this scale is hard, but it can be done.
\n\nI think we can contribute in two ways.
\n\n1. At LOTE5 we are organising this reflexive design exercise on Collaborative inclusion: how migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. The event is run by Ezio Manzini, one the world\'s leading designers for social innovation. You can partner with us\xa0if you want to help make it into a workshop on addressing specific problems tied to reception and inclusion of asylum seekers. Or just sign up and participate.
\n\n2. We also have a way to produce cheap, accurate ethnographic data around problems like the ones mentioned above, with a focus on surfacing creative and actionable solutions. This would enable you to engage a large number of participants (thousands) in a participatory process for designing solutions to meet their own needs. This methodology is being employed/supported by a growing number of actors including the current Swedish minister of Nordic cooperation and strategic foresight, the European Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Volunteers as well as the cities of Milan and Matera in Italy, and of Bucharest in Romania. We have developed a methodological guide for doing this - email me if you would like a copy (cannot post online): nadia@edgeryders.eu.
', u'post_id': 5234, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-01-27 23:40:09', u'title': u'After #NowConf | How can mayors, funders and activists collaborate to #unfail the "refugee crisis"?'}, {u'content': u'As an incredibly diverse community, the range of experience and knowledge about building economically sustainability projects amongst members ranges from "where do I even begin" to "I just sold my 3rd company". Also, there are many different interpretations of "economic sustainability" and strategies for achieving it. Moneyless crowdfunding with Makerfox anyone?
\n\nA recurring topic is one David De Ugarte dove into in this Las Indias\'s piece on generating revenue through sales. Especially in purpose/value driven contexts, this topic is often controversial and deeply unsettling: []\xa0our \u201cconscience\u201d and the \u201cprivate logic\u201d will join forces to tell us \u201cwe are not good at it\u201d, and that this \u201cit\u201d \u2013 selling \u2013 is very close to deceiving. But this is false.\xa0
\n\nMost initiatives fail to generate monetary resources not because they don\u2019t manage to develop and deliver a product to the market; they fail because they develop and deliver an experience, service or product that no customers want or need enough to pay for. This is not magic though, it is something that you learn to do.\xa0
\n\nMany of the projects we see popping up on Edgeryders, are collaborative and decentralised initiatives. Perhaps it makes sense to structure a process which everyone can participate in to build economic sustainability into projects in a decentralised way:
\n\nI am just about to launch an initiative on behalf of the social enterprise supporting the community. For those who want to learn the skills, this offers an excellent opportunity to learn-by-doing with me.
\n\nLet me know you are interested by leaving a comment below or emailing me: nadia@edgeryders.eu
', u'post_id': 4195, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2015-03-02 12:00:09', u'title': u'How to build a revenue stream to support your activities - part 1'}, {u'content': u'Let\'s take two examples of successful community engagement around an ambitious goal: OpenAndChange and Alt33c3. I think the success of both depended on a few critical factors
\n\n1. Clear, attractive offer. OpenAndChange: Save time ( 2.5 hours \xa0to participate in large funding bid instead of min. 1 month full time work). Alt33c3: Get benefits of a much loved, sold out, event through a parallel event situated in the same building instead of just being at home. Work in progress here\xa0and here\xa0(you can see that we are not there yet if you look at the communication here)
\n\n2. Clear process, low threshold to entry: OpenAndChange: Do these 5 steps with clear instructions (retweet once a day, fill in this simple form etc ). Alt33c3: contribute money in exchange for rewards (main one being the ticket to the event). Work in progress here.
\n\n3. Centralised coordination. You need a small core group that breaks down bigger challenges into small tasks, recruit people to do it, and organise onboarding events. We have done a lot of background work here. But we need to connect it to rewards and communicate this very clearly and succinctly.
\n\nThis week\'s Community Calls are dedicated to completing the above three challenges. See you tomorrow\xa0Tuesday 28/2 (9 AM CET)\xa0and\xa0Thursday\xa0(3 PM CET)\xa0here.
\n\nPing @Noemi and @Natalia_Skoczylas
', u'post_id': 6168, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-02-27 08:34:16', u'title': u'Community Call #1: Creating a simple offer and process for participants'}, {u'content': u'Change #1/4 - Headers v.1:\xa0\xa0OV_Banner_1024x146.jpg
\n\nChange #2/4 - Poster v.1: OV_Poster.jpg
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Change #3/4 - Program Banner v.1:
\n\n\n\n\n\n- Change signature colours from Red| Grey to the official OpenCare project\u2019s colours (only for this specific track to distinguish it from the rest of the event as the only one which is EU funded): Purple: #602480 | Blue: #2dabe0
\n\n#OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo
\n\nWhat if every mental health patient is given a chance to become a healer for others?
\n\nCan biohacking labs and citizens around the globe join forces to produce cheap, open source pharmaceutics?
\n\nHow can cities engage more openly with bottom-up care providers i.e. informal communities?
\n\nMEET THE OPEN CARERS
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\n\n\n#OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo
\n\nIt\'s all about humans.\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0
\n\nCommunity provision of care services needs humans: more, better prepared, volunteers. People prepared to teach each other skills. Therapists to help volunteers in need of trauma support. So, the highest-impact technologies are those that help bring people together. Share knowledge. Distribute human resources across different care contexts. These technologies are connectors: they help string together and coordinate human efforts.
\n\nAt Edgeryders, we have resolved to put this lesson into practice. We are doing it by hacking the most fundamental connecting technology of all: the home.
\n\nBUILDING THE REEF: a community property for everyone
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\n\n\n#OPENVILLAGE + OpenVillage Logo
\n\nHow do we make it attractive to finance community ecosystems and networks of social clinics for the future?
\n\nA suicide, a careerist losing out for becoming a family caregiver, a high school dropout, a veteran affected by PTSD turning tramp, and so many others, are all ultimately failures of welfare. This is often a larger failure of society, of its culture of cohesion and mutuality. Many OpenCare initiatives succeed at providing better care for their members, by wielding knowledge, open science and technologies, and abundant volunteering work.
\n\nWe invite policy makers, health and social care professionals, community leaders and investors to support new interactions and relationships that enable promising approaches and nurture the people who drive them.
\n\nThe Future of Care: An Investment & Policy Lab
\n\n19-21 October 2017, Brussels
\n\n\n\nExample: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A5dhmw7Cn8XsmyhhVkYC3Tf1m8G-Ev_D4IOYZo-mPm4/edit#heading=h.qdrxo63kh359
\n\n-Opencare logo + text "opencare" Logo here:\xa0https://github.com/opencarecc/OpenCareStyleGuide/blob/master/OC-Style_guide_20160519.pdf
\n\nCommunity Fellowships
\n\nWe now invite participants to submit proposals for curation, engagement and communication for the OpenVillage Festival, 19-21 October 2017. The Festival is the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that engaged hundreds of original initiatives.
\n\nFellows will receive bursaries of up to 15,000 EUR, a travel budget of up to 5,000 EUR, and the opportunity to learn from and connect\xa0working solutions in community-driven care.
\n\nHow to Submit:
\n\nWe are looking for Fellows who are passionate, curious and driven, as well as willing to collaborate using online platforms and community building methodologies.
\n\nIf this is you, we want to hear from you.
\n\nQuestions or comments? Tweet #opencare!
\n\nMore info: edgeryders.eu/communityfellowships \xa0
\n\nConsortium partners logo in footer:\xa0https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare-research/visual-material-logos-banners-headers-videos-etc
\n\nOrange: #f15c32\xa0 | Black:
\n\nPurple: #602480 | Blue: #2dabe0 | White: #e5e7f0 | Montserrat Regular + Bold.
\n\nThursday - Saturday, 19-21 October, Brussels, https://edgeryders.eu/openvillage
This is a wiki where participants can post visual communication materials to help spread the word about the event. Feel free to make new versions of the material on this wiki.\xa0Good to know: there is a visual guide for the opencare\xa0research project where you will find logos, colour codes, videos etc. We also have a repository of animations which we can share on agreement that they are properly credited when used.
', u'post_id': 6182, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-06 13:58:08', u'title': u'Add Visual Materials Here'}, {u'content': u'\n\nHello all!
\n\nAfter a bit of silence, shortly before we hear back from MacArthur Foundation, I wanted to share a few ideas we\u2019re working on and ask about your opinion and possible participation.
\n\nFirst of all, this autumn/late summer we will host our annual gathering with a different format, shifting towards hands-on work (even if not fully embracing it yet:)). We call it OpenVillage Festival and we want it to be a showcase of initiatives like yours. We envision it as a space to meet, present our projects to each other and wider communities (like-minded people, but also regular folks who could be your clients/funders in the future). On top of that, we will use it as an engine to crowdfund, learn how to fundraise and improve our work during hackathons with members of our community. That\u2019s a lot of great minds with plenty of knowledge.
\n\nWe\u2019re looking for a place to host this! There\'s interest from Milano, Thessaloniki, Lile and other partnering cities and events. We will keep you posted. And maybe your city could help us make it happen? Ping us if so.
\n\nLet us know if you want to be part of the village. What could you do to help us prepare and deliver a great experience, and what would you expect from it as an outcome?
\n\nAt the same time, we\u2019re dreaming of a more permanent space called The Reef Brussels. Or, more precisely, even more than one space, where we will be putting our hands on building \u201creal life\u201d communities, altogether called "OpenVillage". It would be a house, a huge flat, a farm, or a former Olympic village which we can purchase collectively or lease for decades and use as a space for collaboration, experimentation and an engine of change.
\n\nThere is already a space in Brussels which might become the very first Reef (read more about it here). And again, we want to ask if you\u2019d be interested in joining? What kind of contribution would you like to offer (in terms of time, skills, material, knowledge) and what kind of support would you expect from this space to generate for your work and life? Or do you know a space that would seem like an ideal destination for us?
\n\nI\u2019d be very grateful to hear from you about both, or any, of these calls. You can comment / add a new thread about The Reef here. And on the OpenVillage Festival, under this topic.
\n\nOr simply write me back: natalia@edgeryders.eu
\n\nLooking forward to hearing from you!
', u'post_id': 6097, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-06 13:28:27', u'title': u"We're building the OpenVillage Festival (and The Reef Brussels)!"}, {u'content': u'In tuesday\'s call and the online discussion after it, \xa0we bounced around several ideas around collectively investing in physical spaces\xa0for sustainable co-living and co-working.
\n\nWe asked: what is a good membership offer that is both attractive and financially fair?
\n\nTo \xa0keep the discussion concrete, we have put together a skeleton crowdfunding text which we then build on\xa0together during and after today\'s community call. See you here at 15:00 CET.
', u'post_id': 6174, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-03-02 13:42:41', u'title': u'Community Call #2: Building the first Crowdfunding campaign'}, {u'content': u'Open Insulin is one of many projects at Counter Culture Labs, a biohacker space in Oakland, CA. Counter Culture Labs was founded around 2011-2012 by a group of hackers with diverse backgrounds and interests. Members joined us from Sudo Room, another hacker space in Oakland, and Biocurious, a biohacker space in Sunnyvale. Many were also involved in Occupy Oakland, and wanted to establish a more permanent organization with the same community spirit and values. Eventually, the community we built in the hacker space reached a critical mass of knowledge and interest around the idea of starting to producing insulin with a manual protocol, but one designed to be simpler and less expensive than existing methods. We named the project \u201cOpen Insulin\u201d to reflect a commitment to make the results freely available to any interested party and publish our methods openly. The name was a deliberate reference to open source software.
\n\nOpen source, as many readers may know from the software world, is the practice of making all information necessary to produce and modify a product publicly available along with the product itself. It started in software as an alternative to the practice of providing only machine-readable copies of programs, which can\u2019t be understood or practically changed by users of the software. Without access to human-readable code, users and other stakeholders were shut out of their own tools. Open source methods of production are relevant not just to aligning incentives and improving the economics of software development, but also to scientific reproducibility and transparency, and in both software and science, open source can enable more participation and progress than trying to hold secrets close. In medicine in general, and diabetes treatments in particular, I think it holds one of the keys to breaking through the barrier between promising research and a stagnant market of treatments available to patients, just as it made software much more efficient to produce and use and enabled a great deal more innovation than was otherwise possible.
\n\n
Open source software and the hacker culture that makes it was a major inspiration for biohackers to organize as such. \u201cBiohacker\u201d derives from the term \u201chacker\u201d in the sense used in the communities of early pioneers of computing, where it\u2019s a term used to refer to people who seek to understand how things work on the inside, instead of just using products as a consumer. Hackers are people who seek to modify things to serve their own purposes, instead of just accepting them as being limited to their originally intended purposes. It\u2019s an approach that emphasizes the philosophical concepts of phronesis and techne, which describe an embodied, contextualized, practical approach to things, applied to science and technology. Biohackers are people who take a practical approach to understanding and engineering biological systems, and look beyond appearances and inside the black boxes of commercial products to understand the substance and true implications of things.
\n\nIf we can achieve the creation of open source insulin, it could contribute to at least three important goals - first, by making insulin production more economical at a smaller scale, and opening up manufacturing to much more competition, it could improve cost and access for patients. Second, we hope the protocol will serve as a basis for future research into improvements to insulin - variants that are longer acting, shorter acting, more temperature stable, and so on - that address different concerns that arise in treatment. Third, we hope it might serve as a basis for research and production of other proteins by small groups, and open up participation in research and development to accelerate progress in other aspects of diabetes treatment besides insulin and other areas of science and medicine besides diabetes treatment.
\n\nCurrently we\u2019re working on a novel method to produce human insulin, which is not patented, and as far as I know is not patentable. There are variations on normal human insulin to make them longer or shorter acting, which involve very small changes to the sequence that codes for human insulin.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019ve been working in the lab for about 10 months, and we\u2019re just seeing the first signs of success on our first major milestone, the production of proinsulin, which is the precursor to insulin. Once we\u2019ve verified our success there, we\u2019ll move on to making the final form of insulin.
\n\n\n\nWe face two main challenges. First, while we are a group of talented and curious folks, most of us are learning challenging lab protocols from scratch, and second, we\u2019re working with limited amounts of time and money, fitting the work into gaps in our schedules left by work or school, and mainly relying on surplus equipment and reagents that add delays and uncertainties to our work. So progress can be slow and involve a lot of detours on top of those implied by the already uncertain nature of scientific investigation, and we have to dig deep to figure out what to do next when something goes wrong. We do our best to learn fast, but it\u2019s difficult to follow up on everything we should with our limited time and resources and background knowledge. There\u2019s a lot of practical wisdom around making insulin that doesn\u2019t show up directly in the papers published in scientific journals, and we\u2019re learning these nuances of making things work as we go. Much of the value we hope to provide to the community is documenting as much of this practical wisdom as we can, and perhaps eventually automating the kind of work we\u2019re doing by hand right now.
\n\nIf all goes well, we hope our techniques will be available to people with diabetes, especially to help meet the needs of people in resource-poor and lower-income countries. However, it\u2019s hard to say at this point when we might be able to deliver a result useful for making a pharmaceutical-grade product. After the scientific work, which might take a few years, there will be the work of seeking business partnerships and going through more engineering work and the biosimilar approval process in the US. In other areas of the world, it may be simpler, but might also involve more unusual local political considerations. We\u2019re hoping that our work will inspire others to move in parallel alongside us and increase the chances that one group will succeed quickly, and there are some preliminary signs that this is happening, which could yield results sooner. But there\u2019s no doubt we\u2019re at the start of a very long and winding road.
\n\nWe\u2019ve had the good fortune to have many experts in relevant fields reach out to advise us to smooth out our path, but many important questions remain, and the most important ones remain for us to find new answers. Scientists who are reading this \u2013 can we count on you to contribute your expertise in protein expression and purification? Organizers \u2013 can you share with us your vision for expanding these efforts into a movement with participation from parallel groups like ours around the world?
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by\xa0Op3n Fellowships\xa0- an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 552, u'user_id': 3370, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-09 08:57:58', u'title': u'How Open Insulin works to open-source science and medicine'}, {u'content': u"Since summer 2009, 30 families started living together in the first \u201cofficial\u201d co-housing in a periferic neighborhood in Milan, and probably of whole Italy. To my knowledge, the phenomenon has been often recorded by the Media (radio, tv, magazines and newspapers) and Polytechnic of Milan (Ph.D. and Master dissertations) as a first and original case. For some months and years, people liked to come and visit, check, make interviews about an experience that, in those years, sounded strongly innovative and now is consolidated. Some other co-living \u201cresidences\u201d (but not many) of this kind have been promoted and started in the north of Italy and not only in Milan.
\n\nWhat made this so new? Italy has a long story of small communities, both in the countryside (above all in the agricultural areas) and in urban areas. And we were about 70 people who didn't know each other before, who didn't share any identity or common belonging and who decided that co-housing could be a very good way to live. We have a shared living with semi professional kitchen, a small garden in the center of the building, shared laundry, bike space and hobbies area, and a terrace with swimming pool.
\n\nIt took almost two years (2007-2009) of co-creation and creating bonds between the members. Meanwhile, we've projected (thanks also to facilitators' support) some of the physical aspects of the building which allowed \u201cpersonalization\u201d by the community and facilitated the\xa0envisioning of a\xa0\u201cway of living\u201d. We agreed on some basic rules, attitudes, priorities and so on. Co-housing is about these two elements: the physical (spaces, objects, homes and shared areas) and relationships.
\n\nWhere are we about 7 years later?
\n\n100 meetings +
\n\ncountless B-Day parties and shared lunches and dinners, bbqs
\n\n4 kids +
\n\n3 cats +
\n\nthe building is fixed
\n\nrules of living have been adjusted through the real life experience
\n\ngroup email and WhatsApp group still alive and working properly (communication is deep and useful to keep connection and support)
\n\nmicro-welfare and mutual support include a lot of different situations (child care / homework/ vacations, home trouble fixing, information, shopping for the neighbor, shared purchases, savings, medical support, emergency support, skills sharing\u2026)
\n\nstill volunteering in groups (garden caring, swimming pool fixing, legal affairs, food purchase)
\n\nfew people moved away but rented the house (just in case they come back)
\n\nan association created to manage share expenses and service and to deal with town council and other local associations
\n\nsharing knowledge and experiences (cooking course, dancing school, movies calendar, book presentations, pics competition/games, summer kids caring..)
\n\nopening up to local events, well known in the neighborhood, networking with local associations
\n\nMany aspects should be analyzed for a precise assessment, some are probably specific to this very situation, some can be generalized. Of course only general considerations should be done, a detailed story would be more interesting as we have passed through several phases which coincided with the local and historical events (for example, the economic crises affected some of the member families; the city of Milan has been evolving; the arrival of new members - children; the Expo 2015 in Milan hosted nearby us\u2026). But that would be very long.
\n\nWhat I'd like to focus on instead is the startup, the real \u201clifestyle storming\u201d, the community forming, the association phase, the community's opening up to the local area, the maturation phase, and the What\u2019s Next?...
\n\nI can\u2019t say everything we've done was perfect but surely many lessons have been taken. \xa0
\n\nThe \u201clight community\u201d has grown and changed adapted. At the beginning, we met very often to decide on things. We've probably put too \xa0much relevance in fulfilling the physical needs, while we should have been looking for ways in which we can balance different speeds for those who \xa0wanted to live this experience and adjust the levels of engagement\u2026 The preparation phase (2007-2009) \xa0could not \u201cprepare us\u201d for the real thing.
\n\nThe big point is the continuous discussion among people (meeting, email, \u201cworking\u201d groups) which is the backbone of this lifestyle, but also takes time and energy. We did probably too much of it at the beginning.
\n\nMany difficulties have been fought together as we've been creating a big space, with many problems to be fixed (electricity, legal, walls, gardens, technological infrastructure..). The social project was on top of that. None of us was particularly aware of good planning.
\n\nThe kids have been a strong \u201cglue\u201d among the family with kids and others, who became kind of uncles, grandpas or grandmas. And a topic of discussion for the other ones.
\n\nWe had to come by with a legal framework to a situation unknown by Italian law (we had to govern it in the traditional way). The paid professional legal \u201cadministrator\u201d has changed three times\u2026 It is hard for them to deal with a real counterpart with proposals and ideas for innovation.
\n\nThe usage of shared spaces, or of the mailing list, have changed through the time as we understood our needs in by practice.
\n\nThe opening up phase is probably one of the most interesting, as we tried to have our living room used by visitors. We have also created an association to manage the shared expenses (like a food purchase group, eventually a car), but also to prepare a project for the small park in front of home together with other associations.
\n\nThis was exactly the kind of situation that sociological literature likes to call a \u201cgated community\u201d . bu we never felt like that. \xa0we started as a non-group, we have become a light community with different sensibilities and priorities, we've engaged with the neighborhood in several ways, we took part in local decision making, social action, and so on\u2026
\n\nIt is still difficult to take care of a community when everybody has its own life and duties, and probably some external help and supervision would have helped in moderating tension, in identifying new solutions... Goodwill is never enough.
\n\nWe'd also gladly make use of a practical tool, perhaps a platform, to share materials, ideas, needs, etc. And being part of a bigger network to compare notes, support each other, share more, and maybe be connected with the town council infrastructure (cars, electricity, water, events, \u2026)
\n\nAnyhow, both visitor and inhabitants of the place are still surprised by the aesthetic, the connection, the quality of living which is hugely superior to any normal flat experience in a city (and even in countryside) they experience here. And we are frequently asked if any apartment is on sale or for rent.
", u'post_id': 743, u'user_id': 116, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-15 09:04:29', u'title': u'Co-living in Milan'}, {u'content': u'When discussing society\u2019s biggest questions I like to have a discussion with Ginette Bauwens, a figure of the activist scene in Brussels and well-spoken about any subject. She has the looks of a friendly grandmother but the vivacity and energy of a young activist that believes in the power of humans. She played an active role in the recent car free shift of the centre of Brussels but made sure it didn\u2019t become a gentrified zone. She majored in philosophy and made the choice to work all her live half time so she could invest her time in local or global movements.
\n\nFirst when I asked her to give a short opinion about the bottom up imitatives organizing care related projects she responded: I only believe people can give care when it comes from love and friendship. All other forms need to be done by the government to be effective. I was really surprised by this ballsy argument so I invited over for a drink on the hottest day of the year (35\xb0C!) and we had a tomato juice and a great conversation.
\n\nWe dived immediately into the subject. Care is a government issue for\xa0 her that isn\u2019t at all taken care (pun intended) of. Why does the government give as much power to the pharmaceutical industry for example? Why can Nestl\xe9 become the number one partner of a government organization called \u2018Kind En Gezin\u2019 that helps parents of new-born through the first year? For her our role as activist and change makers is to put pressure on the government to make change on a big scale possible.
\n\nI explain her how local initiatives are bending the system like the open insulin, chemotherapy in Romania or ways that people are hacking neuroprosthetis. Even if she find them great initiative she is scared that it will not be scalable, for her if the government doesn\u2019t follow, nothing will change on the long term. I ask her why even within this idea people are rather trying to find solutions themselves then going in the street and pressuring the government. It makes sense, she says, you have an illusion doing something more meaningful while starting a project, then putting pressure on a government where the reward will (maybe) be given after many years. Instant gratification is much more popular, and with bureaucratic complexification people are less temped to get into a long battle with the government.
\n\nBut Ginette isn\u2019t the person to only be sceptic and give critic towards ideas. She likes finding solutions. So before I explain her the principle of the workshop we talk a bit further on the big problems ahead. For her everything can be put into three categories: poverty, elderly care and work ethics. Poverty makes it impossible to take care of each other; it is a vicious circle that is difficult to get out of. Even with the best projects, people without money will not get towards it. Elderly care is also a big problem in European countries, care became profit and it is all about efficiency. Only a rearrangement about how we look at elderly care can get us out of this problem. Finally there is the way we look at work and how it makes us sick: burn out is one of the biggest epidemics of this century and involves pulls the whole family downwards. Not one political party is discussing these problems on a larger scale and that is problematic for her. The resources are there, but the unwillingness of changing is bigger. Politicians aren\u2019t trained to be vectors of change; they are the ones that bring continuity. It\u2019s the civilians that need to push the change and politics to implement it.
\n\nDark times ahead? Maybe, but this discussion made me think more clearly about the workshop and what we need to take notice of when bringing care-project together. Like within the makers movement it is important to find a balance between corporate and counter culture partners, within care it is also important to have an open approach towards policy makers. Yes we are in a ruff path at the moment, and trust is at an all time low towards politicians. But therefor it is the moment to open our arms to welcome them towards new ways of organizing care. We need much more and easier collaboration between projects. We need especially that knowledge of the government to tackle complex problems with multiple partners. We need to take them by the hand and show them what there is possible within an open care system
\n\nThe discussion I want to open towards the community is: Is involving the policy makers important, or will it be obsolete in the future? What kind of dialogue can care taking projects take towards it?
', u'post_id': 726, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-26 13:32:05', u'title': u'Little Side note: What is the role of the Government in this Bottom-up Open Care project?'}, {u'content': u'The second project started in the Himalayas in Nepal but now has spread to six other countries in developing world. Himalayan Cataract Project is a brain child of Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon, who invented a cheap and simple method to operate cataract and restore vision. The organization was later on started by Dr. Tabin, American eye specialist who fell in love with the project while on holidays in Himalaya. The duo is now leading the world\u2019s biggest project aiming at removing cataract for the poorest:\xa0through\xa0a ten minute microsurgery with\xa0articial lens\xa0implantation.
\n\nThe project is extraordinary and has been documented in media all over the world. My favorite aspects of it are:
\n\nThis simple idea turned out incredibly effective and is tested now in other countries.
\n\nhttp://www.cureblindness.org/eye-on-the-world/press
\n\n\n', u'post_id': 709, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-24 17:00:47', u'title': u'Delivering Care - Cure Blindness in Nepal'}, {u'content': u'After a very long research phase me and my team from Newcomer now have conceptualized a smartphone-app, which familiarizes not only refugees but any newcomers with their environment. Our team is working in the Hacking Utopia project at UDK (University of Arts) in Berlin. We are two product designers and two communication students.
\n\nMain target group are refugees why we mostly talked to young men from syria. Of course they are facing a lot of problems and some are probably more serious tha the one we are trying to solve. We found out that -waiting for german bureaucracy to give them the needed papers and learning german- a lot of them feel lost in their new environment. Although our focus is on refugees Newcomer is for everyone, who is new in the city.
\n\nOur App combines different types of challenges in a city-rally taking place in Berlin. They make them explore the town and talk to people. So for exapmple it asks them to take a photo of something, that reminds them of their origin. Also we are inviting Institutions like Bars, Caf\xe9s and Eventspaces be a part of our project. So for example we lead a participant to a caf\xe9 and ask him to drink a coffee with someone. Both drinks are half priced so they get in contact by using this discound. With a growing community different app-users could match and meet to solve tasks together and have a nice experience.
\n\nSo our app definitely is no tourist guide. It is more like a motivation-tool to go out and socialize. In two weeks we are starting a crouwdfunding-campaign on start next. Until then we clarify our concept and test it with people. If you have questions or suggestions please feel free to comment.
\n\nMilan/Newcomer
', u'post_id': 699, u'user_id': 3244, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-28 16:20:00', u'title': u'Newcomer - an app that connects people in a playful way'}, {u'content': u'What if we could create a network of independent, highly connected, care homes? They would be innovative, fairly priced and an integral part of their local community. They would be great places to work, and run for the benefit of all, not to maximize profit or subject to the whims of governments. That\u2019s our dream.\xa0
\n\nA bit of background: The care industry in the UK is in crisis (the BBC recently called it the problem no one can fix). \xa0It is a familiar story.\xa0 The demand for care is growing rapidly due mainly to an ageing population, with increasingly complex conditions, a breaking down of traditional community-provided care, and higher expectations amongst the elderly.
\n\nAt the same time, the ability of government-funded institutions to meet those needs is diminishing. They lack the resources, the responsiveness and the political will to deal with the population\u2019s increasingly complex care needs.
\n\nAt the same, escalating asset prices are putting pressure on traditional providers, and attracting hedge funds and private equity looking for the "growth opportunities\u201d. \xa0The result is that many care home are being run as a businesses more than as a service, meaning that profit and shareholder value is prioritised over the needs and well-being of residents or staff.
\n\nCaring for Life is a diverse team has come together to seek a better solution. We are inspired by:
\n\nWe intend to will achieve this in particular by taking over existing care home businesses and creating, one-by-one, a network of homes modelling the type of care we want to see. \xa0Once we have established a small number of our own homes, we will reach out to other like-minded operators to create a broader community of homes around the UK.
\n\nA key operating principle will be to involve all "stakeholders".\xa0 Buurtzorg (mentioned above) has an excellent model, illustrating the various levels of involvement, and whilst this is primarily looking at home care as opposed to care homes, it is a useful way of viewing the bigger picture.
\n\nCare home residents come into care with social networks, habits, routines and pastimes, which are normally stripped away on entering care. As far as possible these should be maintained because these are part of the person\'s "support system". Involving the family and friends as well as the wider community will, whilst it may add to the complexity, lighten the burden of care and increase quality of life for all affected.
\n\nLegal structure:\xa0 Our intention is to separate out the capital assets from the business of caring. The precise legal structure remains to be worked out but may be similar to a so-called community land trust (see http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/what-is-a-clt/about-clts) where one organisation (maybe a charity) owns the freehold of the land and a social enterprise runs the care home. \xa0There would be some element of employee ownership, which has been shown in many businesses to encourage higher than average levels of productivity and profitability.
\n\nGetting started:\xa0 Our intent is to start by acquiring control of one care home.\xa0 In order to keep capital needs as low as possible in the early stages, the intention is to lease premises on a long-term lease rather than buying a home. An opportunity has been identified near the south coast of England and conversations have started with the owners.\xa0 This is an interesting opportunity, in particular because there is an chance to acquire the property and business for a low price.\xa0 The home is currently subject to "special measures\u201d, imposed by the Care Quality Commission.
', u'post_id': 758, u'user_id': 104, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 15:57:34', u'title': u'Caring for Life - a dream of fixing the care home crisis in the UK'}, {u'content': u'We\'ve considered organizing our Pop-Up Village within an existing event this year (we as Nadia, Noemi, me). After discussing it, the pros seemed obvious: less organizational hurdle and new opportunities to network\xa0for us, while we can bring on board a great event, strong community, our work, and resources. And we don\'t multiply similar events,
\n\nI am now talking with Cohabitat (an event in Poland), and with SHA2017 - and we\'ve got the news from the latter which make us question the logic of joining in. We were told that each person involved in SHA, as a participant, organizer, co-organizer, has to pay for their own ticket.\xa0
\n\nI do understand that independent event, which is not supported by funds, authorities and want to remain free from pressures and affiliations with uncomfortable partners, needs to charge a fee for participation. Yet, we have run our events very differently so far - counting on in-kind support, using community resources, and searching for affordable solutions, and crowdsourcing the organisation instead of charging high fees for the event. We also supported our community members with funds for travels when needed. The way we\'ve done it has some downsides and will require regular rethinking, especially in a context of a Pop-Up Village which is to support initiaitves,\xa0but if an event charges so much for co-organisation, it seems more logical to keep on organizing our own - maybe instead inviting other smaller events to join in, on more favourable conditions?
', u'post_id': 6119, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-29 07:13:02', u'title': u'Organising an event within an event'}, {u'content': u'This is a story how a new initiative Soundsight Training promises help for blind and visually impaired gain more mobility and independence.
\n\nThe website for Soundsight Training is http://www.soundsight.ch
\n\nDeveloping a technology that could sense and reconstruct reality for blind people can be one approach. But, a technology that enables blind and vision impaired to mediate their perception of their environment and interact with their surroundings is actually empowering then to be independent from aid devices.
\n\nMany blind and partially sighted people of all ages are unable to lead independent lives because they are not getting the support they need. The needs of people who lose their sight are many and varied and the support provided must be personalized if it is to meet individual needs. Teaching the blind to see with hearing using echolocation would be a way to make the largest impact, beyond the use of sight. \xa0The benefits of acquiring this skill changes the way you interact with your surroundings on a daily basis. It decreases limitations and opens the door to new opportunities.
\n\nThe Journey begins
\n\nIrene Lanza, Management Engineer, CEO of SoundSight Training, knows it\u2019s possible. Irene came in contact with the Scimpulse Foundation while participating in the Challenge Based Innovation program of Ides2quare at CERN in Geneva. The challenge was to design something that enabled blind people to perceive the surrounding environment. It was then the idea was planted. \xa0Many opted for a mobile device approach, something else called the attention of Irene. Teaching the blind to echolocate themselves?
\n\nThrough this experience, Irene had the opportunity to interact with the visually impaired. Through working with mothers of blind children and getting to hear their stories, setbacks and concerns the more Irene wanted to do something to support and empower them. Guidance of blind and visually impaired people is a clear unmet need. However, most blind and visually impaired people want to go out and enjoy independent mobility.
\n\nThe environment in which we live is becoming increasingly complex. Even a journey across a city \xa0requires a range of skills including being able to avoid obstacles on the pavement, to walk in the right direction, play a sport and the list goes on. These tasks may seem trivial, but for someone with a vision impairment, this is a challenge and a skill that needs to be learned. SoundSight enables the development of a hearing talent that compensates for the missing eyesight.
\n\nSee With Sound
\n\nSoundSight Training was developed to enable the blind to see with sound. Together, with Henrik Kjeldsen and Dr. Marco Manca the first prototype of an echolocation training system, was created.\xa0
\n\nIt\u2019s a virtual reality environment based on audio. The training is completed with practice in the real world until the student becomes fully independent from the simulation. Further explanation of how can be found here. SoundSight attracted the attention of the Italian government and a number of organisations and advocates that offered its support. \xa0Among them were, Cecilia Camellini, Champion Paralympic Swimmer. When asked what she thought of SoundSight, \u201cwith training and effort athletes can improve performance.\u201d \xa0
\n\nExperience the world more independently
\n\nSoundSight Training is a spinoff of the Let Me See Project, the first from the ScimPulse Foundation \xa0I.M.mortal research program. It was a 3 year journey that started from a workshop and now partners with governmental organizations to impulse the idea forward beyond the prototype stage. Now it has its own heartbeat. SoundSight Training designed to helping people explore the world more independently.
\n\n\u201cThis software has the potential to enrich the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired. Everyone can learn this skill, it\u2019s accessible to everyone and when we design for greater accessibility, everyone benefits.\u201d says Irene Lanza. \xa0\xa0
\n\nImproving performance, challenging yourself, to overcome limitations, all of this effects humanity\u2019s growth, expansion and well-being. The challenges for the visually impaired are enormous, so immense are the ramifications for those now living without sight, and so exciting is the initiative on the horizon.
\n\nFor more information about SoundSight initiative, please visit www.soundsight.ch
', u'post_id': 701, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-30 12:22:30', u'title': u'Helping The Blind See With Sound'}, {u'content': u'\n\nOn October 19-21, 2017, Edgeryders will open the doors to the OpenCare Village (OpenVillage) - A participant-built festival dedicated to bringing together existing projects into a demo of a new health and social care system powered by open source, community driven solutions. \xa0This gathering offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for participants to meet, learn and shape the future\xa0with peers doing inspiring work around the globe:
\n\nWho is it for? OpenCare project protagonists, Caregivers & recipients, researchers, local entrepreneurs, administrations, funders & ethical investors
\n\nHow to get a ticket:\xa0Tickets are available to people who contribute to making the festival a high quality, generative and rewarding experience. To secure\xa0a ticket you follow a simple registration process\xa0here.\xa0
\n\nSimilar to previous community events\xa0we\'re organising the conference and exhibition around tracks which represent different perspectives and angles by which to understand and build upon the overall concept of OpenCare ( more info\xa0here).
\n\nThe OpenCare Village will be a showcase of inspiring initiatives and strive to draw support around them. We will deploy community support to\xa0barnraise around them before, during and after the event.\xa0
\n\nFor more information: \xa0Come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET\xa0here\xa0or contact\xa0community@edgeryders.eu.\xa0
', u'post_id': 6132, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2017-02-06 09:42:58', u'title': u'OpenVillage Festival | Communities. Innovation. Healthcare'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 807, u'user_id': 3534, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-12 17:54:15', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Mary Ellen Copeland says about hope that \u2013 People who experience mental health difficulties can get well, stay well and go on to meet their life dreams and goals.
\n\nI had a very happy childhood. I went to a rural all boys National School and was in a small class of 8 boys. My memories of that time are mostly of playing lots of sports and having the craic (Irish word for fun) with my fellow students. There was no bullying whatsoever, indeed bullying was something I didn\u2019t know existed until I went to secondary school. This period in my life was the classic definition of Childhood Innocence.
\n\nFrom my first year in secondary school I was quite successful academically. Even though I was quite happy at school I found the weekends and holidays from school difficult. I would never see my classmates at the weekends or at Christmas, Easter or summer holidays. This was the start of the first time I ever felt feelings of depression. It was before the time of email, or mobile phones or social media. These times were times of complete and utter isolation from my friends. In these dismal days I used to study hard, write melancholic poetry and just postpone my happiness to when I would be finished my Leaving Cert (Irish exams) and be able to escape to a distant University. I did feel the presence of Hope. I felt I could suffer and suffer during those teenage years and that things would be better when I moved on to University. Where did my hope stem from? I was very academic and had dreams of becoming a mathematician or a poet or a political activist. I fantasised about being as prolific and brilliant as Yeats or Da Vinci.
\n\nWhen I was awarded a place in Engineering in Trinity I moved to Dublin. I was unhappy with my Engineering course and after a few weeks stopped attending and instead just led a party life, drinking for the first time. I started to feel very isolated and depressed but I didn\u2019t tell my family or friends the true extent of my feelings.
\n\nI recall writing very black poetry at this time and feeling a strong sense of failure.\xa0 At that end of term I formally withdrew from the Engineering course and returned to home in Galway.
\n\nWhile I was in Dublin I met Deirdre who was studying the same course as me. From the first meeting we hit it off and developed a very strong platonic relationship. Even though we both would end up being diagnosed with the same bipolar label Deirdre and I never discussed mental health issues. We would go to pubs and gigs together and discuss music, poetry, philosophy and other topics. When I moved back to Galway we corresponded by snail mail, sending each other long handwritten letters and photocopies of poems and inspiring song lyrics. While we didn\u2019t discuss depression or medication Deirdre and I both were able to express to each other how black our lives could feel. I guess you could say we held Hope for each other.
\n\nThat Christmas my health deteriorated and I acquired glandular fever. After a short hospital stay I returned home to suffer months of crippling fatigue. I have battled with severe fatigue ever since.\xa0 I was ill for most of that year and was idle until I won a place in Information Technology in the University in Galway. Even though I was living at home I was very happy to attend this course. I found this University more relaxed and got on very well with my classmates. For some reason I suffered a breakdown during my final term of my degree. I didn\u2019t tell friends or family but had meetings with some of the lecturers to see could I postpone my final exams.
\n\nI found my mind was racing and I felt I needed very little sleep. I also used alcohol to help me relax and unwind from the racing thoughts. Since my father was Bipolar my parents recognised these symptoms and persuaded me to see a G.P. to deal with them. After a short meeting with my family G.P. he recognised the classic symptoms of mania and set up an appointment to see a psychiatrist. That psychiatrist whom I saw for 13 years admitted me to hospital.
\n\nI suffer from Bipolar 1, meaning I suffer very high highs or mania, and very suicidal lows. When I get my highs medication seems to have very little effect on me. Instead it is a case of spending months in the safe confines of a hospital until the mania subsides. When I have my lows I get very suicidal and on two separate admissions for depression I have had to resort to Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) to treat my severe depression. There is quite a lot of controversy over ECT. I believe that it is a useful treatment of last resort. When a patient is in hospital and has been suicidal and catatonic with depression for many weeks with various medications being tried to no avail then I think ECT should be considered.
\n\nIn the past 14 years since my first hospital admission I have had perhaps 4 or 5 admissions for mania and 2 or 3 for depression. Thankfully I have managed to avoid admission to hospital for the past 6 years except for six nights in summer last year.
\n\nMany of us have lost loved ones to suicide. The loss is devastating. I lost my father and my friend Deirdre to suicide. My father had been diagnosed with Bipolar and suffered from the condition from middle-age. Looking back I can see the times he was manic or high, singing loudly on the half hour drive to school where he taught every day. I vividly remember during my teenage years his first admission to psychiatric hospital my Dad weeping with happiness when he was released home on leave for a few days at Christmas.
\n\nDad snapped one day in school and that was the end of his teaching career. From that point on he had two overdose attempts. He had gone undiagnosed for the physical illness Haemochromatosis for many years and this aggravated his severe arthritis. My father was in severe pain. Unfortunately his Consultant gave him the news that his arthritis was so severe that he wouldn\u2019t be able to have necessary hip or knee replacements. From that point on my father lost all hope and was just biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to carry out his plans. The last time my father left psychiatric hospital for leave before his suicide he had a conversation with his physiatrist with our family present. The psychiatrist was trying to ascertain the risk of self-harm for my father when on home leave. My father said he wouldn\u2019t try an overdose again, not saying he wouldn\u2019t try another method. The psychiatrist said \u201cMaybe it will be third time lucky Liam!\u201d That statement for me sums up how detached some medical professionals can be, maybe it is how they protect themselves. After my father\u2019s suicide things are a blur. It was as if all the happy memories were pulverized. Childhood milestones, holidays, special occasions all faded away. My only remaining image of my father is him with a pained ashen face, his eyes saying I can\u2019t go on. You try to recall happy memories but all you can focus on is the finality of what happened.
\n\nWhen you are feeling bad it is not too difficult to let someone else know this, however when you have lost all hope and a torrent of negative thoughts is leading you to actively plan your demise then the real insidious nature of suicide rears its head and the last thing you will consider doing is letting someone know just how lost you feel.
\n\nMy friend Deirdre was very successful academically but struggled feeling the engineering course she was doing was cold and soulless. In correspondence back and over we discussed how banal many of the subjects were and did she really want to end up as an engineer instead of something with more soul like a musician or writer. Deirdre took a year out in 3rd year and worked with IBM. She did well with IBM and returned to Trinity to finish her engineering course and did very well graduating with a first class honours degree. After graduating Deirdre and I didn\u2019t stay in contact as much. A bit like my father I remember seeing her visit me when I was in the intensive unit in a psychiatric hospital in Dublin. I could tell she found it very hard to see me so unwell and I felt she must have wondered was there a risk of her becoming so unwell. Even though Deirdre had seen me in hospital she still never would discuss with me her own mental health or her hopes or fears. After many months of being out of contact with Deirdre I tried to get in touch with her. There was no reply to her phone or email address. Thinking she might have changed jobs I did an internet search for her name. To my horror I came across a Memorial website to Deirdre. Phoning her parents they confirmed the tragic news. Her father told me the story of Deirdre\u2019s last days. Deirdre has been suffering low mood and nothing anybody could do seemed to help. Worried for her safely her parents asked her to come home to Wexford to visit them, otherwise they would have to insist on visiting her in Dublin. That weekend they did everything to try to lift her mood, visiting family and friends and going to shops and restaurants. However Deirdre went back to Dublin. That Monday her mother phoned her at lunch time. Deirdre said she was going to lunch with work colleagues. However the truth was Deirdre had taken a huge overdose of medication that morning, months\u2019 worth of medication she has stopped taking. When her boyfriend returned home that evening Deirdre was dead. You can\u2019t do an autopsy into someone\u2019s state of mind. Deidre had a great job, a steady boyfriend and had just bought a new apartment.
\n\nSince my teenage years I have had swings from wildly optimistic grandiose hopes to rock bottom loss of all vestiges of hope. Suicidal ideation can prosper in the absence of hope. Luckily during many of the extreme lows I just try and go into hibernation mode, having a strong belief that if I just get through the oncoming weeks and months then things will have to improve.
\n\nOn one occasion for some reason I lost this faith in the future. This wasn\u2019t any kind of impulsive plan or drunken depression. Instead I gradually began to see the future without me as a part of it. I got rid of all my books, got rid of all my CDs and records. I closed bank accounts, I cancelled mailing lists. I booked an appointment with Free Legal Aid with the intention of creating a will.
\n\nI didn\u2019t want to cause trouble so my plans revolved around how I could plan my demise with the minimum of pain or distress for my family and friends. I didn\u2019t want my family to have to discover me or call emergency services. So, as I thought, logically, I should get into a body-bag beside the morgue in the hospital. I would be discovered by somebody used to dealing with corpses and it would be a short move into the morgue.
\n\nI find it hard to think back and know how I escaped from these suicidal plans. There is somehow Hope to be found at rock bottom depths of depression. From that lowest point I resolved to get well and stay well and to throw everything at the problem. I took personal responsibility for my mental health difficulties. Instead of just relying on medication to work on its own I added other tools to the mix. I did a long course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This helped with the crippling anxiety and negative thoughts I suffered from. I began to get a lot more exercise into my life. I walk my dog every day and go to the gym regularly. I did the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) course a few times until it became a regular part of my life and a great tool to help me every day. Supports are very important. I have always had great support from my family and friends. However it can sometimes be very difficult to discuss some of these topics with family and friends and I worry about burning them out by talking about the same old issues over and over. This is why I joined a mutual support mental health group called GROW.
\n\nI joined GROW in April 2013. My Cognitive Behavior Therapy nurse had recommended it and felt the structured approach to problem-solving would suit me. I have been a very regular attendee at meetings and have led the meetings a number of times. I also enjoyed attending the weekly coffee meetings and the regional conference. In GROW we believe in providing leadership by taking on even small responsibilities. I have a strong interest in Cinema so I took up the responsibility of organising a weekly cinema outing for GROW members. This was a great success and GROW members from all around the country were able to meet up to enjoy a regular night out. I was thrilled to be asked to present a leadership paper at the National Conference during my first year with GROW. My confidence in my abilities has increased and I gladly took on the role of Group Recorder when the position arose. Because of GROW I gained enough confidence to apply for a volunteering position with Age Action to teach IT to the over 55s.
\n\nI was the facilitator of my weekly GROW group for over two years and we hold Hope for each other. Last year I took up the opportunity of attending a creative writing class freely given by Galway writer Rita Ann Higgins primarily for GROW members. Our members got the chance to have their poems and short stories published in a booklet and I enjoyed reciting two of my poems at the GROW National Conference in Galway. During the past few years I have also been involved with Advancing Recovery in Ireland (ARI). Service users like myself have been working with HSE staff, and we have been planning the introduction of Recovery Colleges, Peer Support worker positions and Consumer Panels.
\n\nSoon after my initial diagnosis my psychiatrist encouraged me to get involved in mental health advocacy work. It would be 15 years later before I did this and found the benefits of it. Last year I completed 12 weeks of training with 4 hours per week work with the Irish Advocacy Network. I am now in the early stages of serving on one of these Consumer Panels as secretary, representing the views of service users in the Galway mental health area.
\n\nI am a co-founder of Cos\xe1in. A wellness centre based in the city. Cos\xe1in supports people with mental health challenges in identifying and pursuing their own pathways to recovery. Cos\xe1in is peer led by people with their own experience of mental health challenges and recovery. We work in groups offering:
\n\nRecovery education
Recovery through creativity
Peer support
This month I completed 7 days of training to be a WRAP facilitator. WRAP is a symptom monitoring, crisis planning and self-help mental health recovery programme. It was first developed by Mary Ellen Copeland in the States and was further developed by a group of people who experience mental health difficulties.
\n\nI would like to close by reflecting on an element of Recovery we define in GROW. The road to recovery is not always a smooth journey, even lately I have had very anxious thoughts which threaten to cause me to avoid or abandon enjoyable events I had planned to attend. However in GROW we say although \u201cold irrational feelings may return from time to time\u201d in Recovery \u201cthey do not change your thinking or behavior\u201d.
\n\nTo paraphrase Mary Ellen Copeland I feel that I have gotten well, I can stay well and I have confidence that I can go on to meet my life dreams and goals. I have Hope.
\n\nThank you.
', u'post_id': 562, u'user_id': 3528, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-10 19:26:54', u'title': u'Losing Hope & Gaining Hope'}, {u'content': u'Povestea mea cu Edgeryders e simpla. Am participat acum ceva timp la un workshop si mi-a placut foarte mult. Dupa am incercat sa ma implic in diverse activitati pe aici, dar cu timpul am pierdut legatura.\xa0
\n\nAcum ca vreau sa revin si as vrea sa ajut magazinele online din Romania. De ce? Pentru ca lucrez in domeniu si cred ca as putea sa ofer informatii utile magazinelor online aflate la inceput de drum. Sau oricui vrea sa vanda ceva pe internet. Fie ca e ceva facut de el, fie ca e o afacere pe care vrea sa o puna pe picioare.
\n\nNu stiu exact de unde sa incep. Trebui sa fac eu un proiect? Este deja o comuntate de omuleti creativi pe aici, care locuiesc in Romania si vor sa intre in online cu produsele lor? Trebuie sa fac eu comunitatea asta?\xa0
\n\nDe ce scriu in Romana? Cum ziceam, tinta e magazinele online din Romania. Dar as putea sa fac si in engleza toata treaba asta, in conditiile in care o sa fie oameni care nu stiu limba si vor ajutor sau sa se foloseasca de informatiile de pe aici.\xa0
\n\nSi daca nu ne stim. Eu sunt Lucian Rotaru. Mutat din Iasi in Bucuresti acum vreo 2-3 ani. Lucrez la TRUSTED.ro, unde am lansat in 2016 proiectul Opinii de Incredere (un sistem de feedback pentru magazinele online din Romania). Pe langa munca de zi cu zi, incerc sa mai voluntariez la ApTI (Asociatia Pentru Tehnologie si Internet), sa mai ajut la afacerea familiei. A.... si imi place sa pierd timpul pe reddit si pe Instagram.
', u'post_id': 811, u'user_id': 2787, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-21 02:55:36', u'title': u'Vreau sa ajut magazinele online din Romania (cumva)'}, {u'content': u'Hungary
\n\n2013
\n\nWho:
\n\nR\xf3bert Csord\xe1s, Gergely Jo\xf3s, Tibor Szab\xf3
\n\nAbout:
\n\nMobilECG is an opensource clinical ECG. It is designed to record with 2 to 10 wires for up to 5 days. The device can be connected to a mobile device wirelessly.
', u'post_id': 762, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-22 13:57:04', u'title': u'Mobile ECG'}, {u'content': u'A couple of years ago i participated to a contest called \u20185 voor 13\u2019 that gave people the challenge to find through use of new technology solutions for healthcare problems. It was organized C-Mine Genk, an innovation laboratory in the old coalmines of the Flemish region of Limburg. I got selected as one of the finalist for my solution for a solution for the intergenerational gab, commonly known as the kids that don\u2019t visit grandma anymore because she is to old\u2026
\n\nFor my solution I started by looking at the obvious part: intergenerational contact is good for the health of the elderly and also good for the development of the kids on multiple levels. So what was missing is a tool that brought them together.
\n\nI grew up in a rather unconventional setting for people of my generation and later (90s kids like the internet would say) My parents and i shared the house with an elderly woman that wasn\u2019t my grandmother but the godmother of my dad. She was rather cultivated woman with brought knowledge about geography, literature and history. She helped me out on my schoolwork and we shared our interest in reading the news. When she started having difficulties to move out of the house, I helped her staying young by introducing her to the then new technology called DVD and PS2. We played bowling on the Wii and if she would have stayed around longer, I\u2019m sure she would have used my tablet. In opposite to my grandmother who was visiting us every week, my \u2018m\xe9m\xe9\u2019 stayed young in her head, and i think it was patly thanks to our dayle exchanges. She would learn me about history and i would learn her about technology.
\n\nSo when designing my idea i took this story and tried to create the mechanisms that made it work and what was needed to scale up. I found that people where already implementing wii\u2019s in elderly homes to give them exercise. While this is a good idea for them to exercise, the intergenerational part was still missing. So how could we create a game where kids needed to come to the elderly without them having the feeling it was a burden?
\n\nWell you know those games on your phone where you need to do repetitive tasks to go up levels to beat new monsters, like 99% of all mechanics of Role Playing Games? Why not extrude those mechanics of training to the elderly. Give them exercises they can do all day to gain skill points. Arm movements will help the Atk stat for example, Balance will help Def stat and so on. The twist is that the kids playing the game will need to go physically to the elderly to get their little guy leveed up. Want to beat a new boss, but you miss some skillpoint, well go to one of the elderly homes where they play the game and go talk with them. Maybe the first time the discussion will be pure mechanical, but when returning a bound will be created between the people and discussions will be about more then only the game. You have to see it as an incentive to bring people together.
\n\nAfter presenting this project i finished third and got 500 euro\u2019s to spend on material for the project. At that time i was even less into the entrepreneurs world and i failed to continue this project.\xa0 I still think there are some logics and mechanisms that could be interested to work out. Anybody that is willing to use this is free to do anything with it, as long as he gives me a sign about it. It would be awesome to prototype it.
', u'post_id': 783, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-07 10:08:46', u'title': u'The healthgame that never was: using gamification to shorten the gap between generations'}, {u'content': u'Dandelion "Pissenlit" roots for cure cacer, Yes it\'s possible and without fees!!
\n\n\xa0There are many different types of cancer any people get killed by it. It\'s enough we have found the cure for many of them ( prostate, intestine, lungs ,...)
\n\nMany people aboard have been heal by this roots when they heard about it, they stop using chimiotherapy ( chimiotherapy = traitement used for having a long day of living, is not enough efficient!!! The bad effect of this treatment is not his non efficiency but also killing the healthy cells, even if he kill the cancer cells inside body.!!! From this treatment there are some bad effect like, appetiteless, loss of weight, weakness of antibody, ...)\xa0
\n\nActually, 7 people here in Madagascar have been heal by this treatment when they heard about it, and follow the instructions. It\'s \xa0a close friend of mine who have been sick by "liver and intestine" cacer. He was up to follow chimiotherapy \xa0treatment so I told him to follow this natural treatment \xa0first before he decided to spend \xa0money on chimiotherapy. When I heard about this plant from Canadian friend, we decided to use it.\xa0
\n\nHe was so happy when he gets cured after 1 week \xa0of treatment, when he decided to drink infusion from dandelion\'s root. Doctors doesn\'t find any clue of cancer on him. Maybe the phase of his cacer was primary and it\'s was easy to cure. So my conscience is restless when I heard that there are many people who suffer, dead from cancer "it\'s like non assistance of people in danger". I decided to share it with you.\xa0
\n\n-THIS IS THE YOU NEED TO FOLLOW.\xa0
\n\n1# You need to collect dandelion on a place where cars doesn\'t barely ride.
\n\n2# non chemical insecticides or related haven\'t been sprayed on the soil where you collect it.\xa0
\n\n-PREPARATION\xa0
\n\nBoil 1 liter of top water, when it\'s still boiling, ad 100 grams of \xa0dandelion roots. \xa0Leave it boiling \xa0for 10 minutes ( never more never less than 10mn. It\'s has been calculate that "active elements" goes out at this moment. \xa0If it\'s more than that, it\'s will kill those active elements. \xa0When it\'s done let it get cold. This is your "drinking water for one day" the better moment for drinking much is before breakfast and dinner, also drinkable in middle time. Do it for 20 days and stop for 10 days. Keep do it again from the beginning as a cycle of one month (20 plus 10 days.)\xa0
\n\nIf everything has been followed step by step in one week, we can find the changes ; inside pain goes out, \xa0patient will find appetite, this is the major factor of this treatment and it\'s make a big different between it and chimiotherapy.\xa0
\n\nIf I understand and correct me if I\'m wrong!! chimiotherapy kills cancerous cells but also healthy cells. Patient get weak, lost appetite and doesn\'t have no much time for living, \xa0It\'s a kind of catalyst inside body.\xa0
\n\nBut this dandelion\'s \xa0roots hunt and kill all cancerous cells inside body. \xa0After you recognize that patient is completely cured, all we have to do is care about wound healing leave by the cancer inside the body. We can keep doing it by natural method using garlic. \xa0Take one glass of hot water, \xa0scratch 3 or 4 peaces of garlic and put it inside the glass of hot water. \xa0Leave it for one night and drink it before breakfast, \xa0keep do it until its gone, \xa0or you can still buy some medecines in drug store if you want to heal \xa0wound leaved by cancer.
\n\n\xa0I hope that everyone can find a way to cure and fight cancer on his own natural or chimical.
\n\nIf you have any questions about this, any suggestions or critics please don\'t hesitate to write bellow\xa0
\n\nDear friends Edgeryders, I wish an Happy and successful new year to each every one of you.\xa0
Fifteen years ago, I wrote an academic paper on the incipient technology of digital advertising screens, the way they were likely to change our experience of urban living and the challenges they posed to our conceptions of self, privacy and the public realm.
\n\nAt the time, such technologies were the stuff of science fiction movies \u2013 part of the classic \u2018Blade Runner\u2019 aesthetic of cosmopolitan dystopia. Most people did not anticipate their widespread adoption, and certainly did not consider their subtle social implications; but for those who did, perhaps the most haunting fear about their probable dissemination was the certainty that the social and psychological changes they engendered would quickly become the new status quo, unnoticed and unquestioned.
\n\nPassing through Kobenhavn airport this morning, a digital advertising screen promoted this month\u2019s \u2018Presidents Summit\u2019 on the topic of \u2018Disruption\u2019: \u201cDisruption will change your job. Disruption will change your company. Disruption will change the world. Join our world leading summit and learn how to lead the change and make sure you are one of tomorrow\'s frontrunners.\u201d
\n\nThat the idea of \u2018disruption\u2019 has moved from the radical edge of digital culture and post-2008 political insurgency to the topic of a plenary meeting of senior executives \u2013 featuring speeches by Apple\u2019s Steve Wozniak and arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage \u2013 shows the degree to which the concept has spread through society to become the \u2018new normal\u2019; a sign, perhaps, of just how much the pace of social, technological and economic change has increased since I fretted about the novel impact of moving images on the urban populace.
\n\nBut it also raises the question of how much of this disruption is merely cosmetic \u2013 or, rather, how much the very genuine disruption of ordinary lives only serves to bolster the established iniquities of our current economic and political status quo. If disruption is merely another business opportunity from the playbook of \u2018creative destruction\u2019 capitalism, if the elite response to it is simply to fight harder to be one of \u2018tomorrow\u2019s frontrunners\u2019 (while those who can\u2019t keep up must, presumably, be left behind), then perhaps this is merely another case of plus \xe7a change, plus c\'est la m\xeame chose.
\n\nIf so, what would genuine disruption look like? Is it possible that it might look like the opposite of all this? That it might look like a rejection of these kinds of disruption? The stories emerging from the OpenCare initiative suggest that this may be the case. Again and again, the tales that emerge are of a less hierarchical, more empowering approach to health and care; of individualised, human-scale responses to unique instances of wider social problems; of a movement away from the paradigm that measures \u2018efficiency\u2019 of care in terms of speed, throughput or numbers discharged \u2013 measured, in short, on how fast the system can cease to be in relationship with the citizens who have sought aid.
\n\nTrue disruption, then, might not look like the world-spanning, high-octane revolutions beloved of the senior executives. It might look like slowness; like quietness; like a return to engagement at the scale of the human being. It might just turn out that old is the new new.
\n\nMy own involvement with OpenCare stems from a very particular form of healthcare, based on something very old, small and quiet \u2013 the Community Multibed Acupuncture Clinic (CMAC).
\n\nCommunity Acupuncture is a new version of an old format of providing a very old form of medicine \u2013 using traditional East Asian methods, it eschews the one-to-one treatments most common in the West, instead adapting the traditional Chinese model of treating multiple patients at once in the same room. This enables treatment to be offered more cheaply, as well as creating a shared space of communal healing, so that healthcare becomes a site of community empowerment. There are now over 170 such clinics in the US and more than 50 in the UK (you can read about their history and ethos on the websites of POCA and ACMAC).
\n\nAs I detailed in my original Opencare blog post, I have been slowly evolving a CMAC of my own to serve a small and somewhat dysfunctional market town in the South-West of the UK. Through this process, a number of tough lessons and intriguing insights have emerged, with broader implications for the innovative provision of care in contemporary European societies.
\n\nI subtitled my initial post \u201cAn Ongoing Mutation\u201d both in reference to the overall development of the approach in the West and to my own experience of developing a clinic. This experience has been one of trial and error, of creative response to practical and bureaucratic challenges, and of constant adaptation to feedback from \u2013 and through ongoing relationship with \u2013 the community; as I learn more about their needs and perspective, I have changed the way I am treating, the way I interact with patients, the hours treatment is offered and the venue it is offered in.
\n\nTo ask, as a state bureaucrat convinced of the usefulness of CMACs might, \u201chow can we replicate this so that we can roll it out across the country at an official level?\u201d rather misses the point; it is precisely by being embedded in the community that this process of creative mutation can occur, and precisely by meeting patients outside the usual structures of state-sanctioned medical authority that a more horizontal trust and respect can be created, and a more creative approach to healthcare provision enacted.
\n\nLike many of the other projects featured in OpenCare, the flexibility of Community Acupuncture \u2013 light on infrastructure, expensive medical equipment or architectural requirements, reliant instead on the portable diagnostic and treatment skills of the practitioner \u2013 makes it well-suited to navigating a disrupted present and an uncertain future. Quite aside from its effectiveness at treating unexplained and chronic conditions (the kind mainstream Western medicine does not excel at curing), having the ability to treat without reliance on fragile, resource-intensive and environmentally-damaging industrial supply chains may well prove to be a great asset in the near future. Indeed, the worth of this is already being proven through the work of charitable foundations like World Medicine, who have set up successful CMACs in poor, rural areas of India, Palestine, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
\n\nProblems still remain, not least with the institutional resistance to acupuncture \u2013 often based on little more than ill-informed prejudice against \u2018alternative\u2019 medicine. There are clashes within the acupuncture community, as well, on how best to treat, and issues with providing quality-assurance and redress to patients whilst working outside the usual channels and institutions of healthcare.
\n\nNevertheless, the popularity and effectiveness of CMACs speak for themselves. All too often, the state-established institutions of care remain locked into a post-imperial perspective, treating the body, the patient or the polis as the passive subject of a homogenised, top-down intervention.
\n\nIt is a little like a digital advertising screen, broadcasting a single, one-way message to a public who have no choice but to receive it. Just like a digital advertising screen, this kind of healthcare can seem cutting-edge, innovative and technologically impressive, but its values do not respect the uniqueness of individual or place, nor do they promote communal solidarity and empowerment. So long as this is the case, communities will continue to vote with their feet, seeking out new forms of adaptive Open Care that address their real mental, physical and social needs.
\n\nI would love to see Community Acupuncture being integrated with some of the other projects and approaches detailed in OpenCare; to hear suggestions about how the CMAC model could be further improved and evolved; and, as ever, I am keen for people to educate themselves about acupuncture, to help fight against the misguided myths that have arisen about it, and to spread the word about this affordable, effective, environmentally-friendly and humane form of medicine!
\n\nSteve Wheeler, Lic. Ac., MBAcC - steve@whiteoakhealth.co.uk
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 549, u'user_id': 393, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-28 12:00:14', u'title': u'The Slow Revolution: Community Acupuncture & Social Medicine'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 789, u'user_id': 3462, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-10 13:14:14', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'This is a beautiful story.
\n\nIn an effort to save on rent, some Dutch college students are living at nearby nursing homes. In exchange for 30 monthly volunteer hours, the students get free housing in vacant rooms.
\n\nIt seems to be a win-win for everybody. Not only are the students living in better accommodations than student housing and not racking up as much student debt, but they\u2019re providing a better quality of life for the eldest residents by socializing, helping them with tasks, and teaching them\xa0tech-savvy skills like using email, social media and Skype.\xa0The bonding created from spending time together is incredibly important for everyone. Social relationships are key\xa0to human well-being and in the maintenance of health.\xa0The intergenerational living model started in 2012, with a few more nursing homes follow. \xa0Regular social interaction is necessary for mental health as well as social interaction.
\n\nRead the complete story here: \xa0https://goo.gl/LYUpPP
', u'post_id': 809, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2017-01-14 10:08:34', u'title': u'Dutch Nursing Combats Social Isolation And Depression Among The Elderly'}, {u'content': u'Hello everyone,\xa0 as Wemake we would like to share more research around existing products that align with the concept of care.\xa0\xa0 This has been part of our co-design process, and we would like to expand the usefulness by sharing more ideas.\xa0 Below is a project called Maestro, it offers a new way of control, something which can be further used for solving care issued related to some phyical mobility challenges.\xa0 The posts to follow will elaborate on different technologies applied in open projects around the theme of care.
\n\nMaestro
\n\nAbout:\xa0 Making your own finger mounted input device to control the cursor.
\n\nCountry: USA
\n\nYear: 2015
\n\nBy: Jonggi Hong - student of the course \u201cTangible Interactive Computing\u201d taken by Professor Jon Froehlich at the University of Maryland, College Park.
\n\nIt is not specified if this project solves a specific medical or social issue. But, surely, it can be a starting point for new projects which can help mobility-impaired people in their everyday issues. Maestro was made as part of the CS graduate course "Tangible Interactive Computing" at the University of Maryland, College Park taught by Professor Jon Froehlich. Maestro is an affordablle wearable input device using the orientation of the finger. During this course wearable small devices on the finger has been investigated to provide easy access to PC and surrounding environment (NailO, HandSight). Maestro enables user to do pointing and scrolling based on the orientation of the finger and contact between fingers.
\n\nHow is it open?
\n\n\xa0BOM
\n\nLink: http://www.instructables.com/id/Maestro-finger-mounted-input-device-to-control-the/
\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=JNPBKL6r3es
', u'post_id': 512, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-06 13:30:30', u'title': u'Related care research -- first case, Maestro!'}, {u'content': u'This story of mine only wanted to come out through an interview carried out online by Noemi. Hopefully it gives you a peek inside the very personal experience of being part of a sort of grand thing \u2013 a network of people becoming active in the healthcare provision chain and caring for each other despite not having met. \xa0
\n\nNoemi: Introduce us to the time when the cytostatics network came about. Was someone ill able or unable to access treatment from healthcare providers? How did they go by?
\n\nSabina: It was the fall of 2009 when it all started for me: the dizziness, the fatigue, trouble breathing, walking, doing\xa0 basically anything. In October, I just put it on my crazy life style: mother of two, finishing the PhD, teaching at the Music University.
\n\n\xa0In November it was clear something else was going on. So I went to a private lab- the thought of a state hospital was too scary- and had a blood work done. Except it did not work the usual way: the results could not be read due to a strange characteristic of the sample.
\n\nI knew it was a bad sign, so I turned to my adoptive grandmother, dr. Mirjam Bercovici. She figured it out in minutes, wrote me a recommendation letter and sent me to a real hospital. Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia \u2013 a very rare blood disease- was confirmed and three years of fighting it in Romania and Austria followed.
\n\nHow did she know and how does this relate to the problems of cytostatics in Romania?
\n\nFor many years, Mirjam, a hematologist, was the chief of the Pediatric Department in the oncologic ward of the biggest hospital in Romania: Fundeni. She was now long retired, but still having nightmares about kids who could not be saved. Because, you see, even though the treatment had clear indications about when and how to give the medicines, they were not always available. The doctors in her section did miracles. Curing cancer without the necessary drugs is indeed a miracle. The always missed some important dose, they could not offer the kids the standard treatment their colleagues in the West were used to. It was the communist era and everything was very difficult, even for the most important health care center in the country.
\n\nSo when she sent me there, she knew that I would receive the best possible care, but she was also aware of the limitations of a poor system, as populated with amazing doctors as it was.
\n\nDuring my time in Fundeni, I spent lots of time with people dealing with forms of blood cancer. I was \u201clucky\u201d: only had to buy once dexamethason\xa0for myself, but they were not so lucky:\xa0 either filling tones of papers to get the newest drugs (the usual line was: we are giving to you, but only with \u201dthe dossier\u201d), either they had to figure out how to obtain certain medication themselves.
\n\nBut two bone morrow aspirations and numerous transfusions later, when my condition worsened, there were talks about a treatment\xa0 reserved for Hodgkin\'s lymphoma, Mabthera, or Rituximab. Rituximab was not approved in AutoImmune Hemolytic Anemia in Romania at that time. It still isn\u2019t.
\n\nWas anyone inside hospitals listening or fighting back?
\n\nThe situation was rather strange. The drug was expensive, not approved for my AIHA, but\xa0available in theory. My roommates\xa0 with Lymphoma could get it based on the dossier (so not standard). But they were missing other drugs, cheaper cytostatics like Bleomicin, compensated 100% from the state! It was like in the times when Mirjam Bercovici was active, all over again. Like nothing had changed in 40 years. Frustration was working both sides, because treatments sessions were postponed, sick people and doctors being equally worried.
\n\nAll I knew was that doctors advised patients to figure out how to get the drugs. I had no idea how the people got it, as I was preoccupied with my own, at that time unsolvable, health issues.
\n\n\n\nTell us how\xa0one would send or get medicine, about the network and how it worked. Were people afraid of the (il)legality of all this?
\n\nDrained both mentally and financially, I moved to Vienna, became self employed, paid a high tax on healthcare, tried Rituximab with very little success, worked throughout my illness and also got a splenectomy when a terrible\xa0 relapse made it clear there is no other way out of this. A few months after, I read an article on a website: How I became a member in the cytostatic network. There were many similarities with my struggle: people not having access to medication as cheap as dexamethason, a description of the oldest Pharmacy in Vienna, which I knew so well, and most of all, the solidarity.\xa0
\n\nA few weeks later though, I joined the network of Cytostatics.\xa0 I was going home for a concert and my good friend Simona Tache shared a status form a Youngman\xa0who asked if someone is going to Bucharest from Vienna. I knew exactly what it was about, the dots were easy to connect.
\n\nI met Vlad Voiculescu that evening, and the next day I followed the instructions and took the\xa0 transport to Bucharest. Basically, transportation worked like this: You take the medicines in a thermal bag, put it in the fridge and take them out only when you leave the house for the airport. At the security, you take it out and tell the officers you have sensitive medicine there. Sometime they ask you who is it for, sometimes they don\u2019t. You are only allowed to have it for your self or\xa0 your family. For me, anyone suffering in Romania is family\u2026.so it never felt like lying.
\n\nIn Bucharest, you had Valeriu waiting for you at the airport, or you met him later in the day. Valeriu is a taxi driver who delivers the cytostatics to the Pavel Association \u2013 a NGO working for the children in Fundeni, or directly to the ones in need, sick people or caregivers. The news about the Network circulated by word of mouth. Some people knew about its existence, some didn\u2019t. The only thing they knew is that there is someone in Vienna who buys medicines if you give him the prescription and that you can pay him when you can. There was no financial gain, on the contrary. Vlad would receive the prescriptions, buy the cytostatics out of his own pocket and then got the money later. Or much later. No deadlines, no pressure. Just the will to help.
\n\nWere all members sufferers or family of sufferers? Was anybody other than Vlad in charge?
\n\nWhen the article about the Network emerged, over 300 people joined the network through the website medicamente-lipsa.ro and found ways to bring home what was missing. Not all of them had sick members of their families. For most, it was just the little they could do in this horrible situation. The website was Med-Alert \u2018s Association\u2019 initiative, where Vlad is a founder, and there were more people involved in obtaining the cytostatics and other medicines. Still, Vlad is the one who got the dice rolling. He has the gift of inspiring others to do good, and it\u2019s contagious. Even though the majority of people involved did not now about each other, and many still do not know until this day, as little contact between the carriers of the medicines has happened. Still, the ones who met in real life bonded immediately and I will always state that the main gain of the Network was the amazing friendships resulting from it.
\n\nHow did things eventually change and what\u2019s the situation so far?
\n\nAfter the article on Hotnews about the Network, a\xa0high number of interviews with the authorities filled the tv news evening after evening. The situation was indeed outrageous: you pay the taxes, you have medicine 100% compensated by the state because you pay those taxes, but when it comes to it, they are nowhere available in Romania, and you have to buy them outside the country.\xa0 Cornered by jurnalists, the Minister of Health made hundreds of promises, with some results. Things were sometimes better, and sometimes worse. The whole System in itself acted like a cancer: remissions and relapses.
\n\nAt the moment, Vlad Voiculescu is the new Minister of Health. After a tragic event in October 2015, known as the Colectiv fire, where 64 people died, the whole Government was changed and a lot of young \u2013 under 45- dynamic people were named in key positions.
\n\nOne of the actions that Vlad took in the short period of time he\u2019s been in charge is to make a\xa0smart alliance with\xa0 more countries: Bulgaria, Moldova, Croatia, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia,\xa0 in order to get better access to medication. More countries means more people, so a much\xa0 bigger market, a fact that would discourage the Pharma companies to ignore it by withdrawing a medicine\xa0 by citing\xa0 small numbers in sales.
\n\nWhat do you think was the reason for people to participate so actively? If it were another problem and not a deadly disease, would they mobilize as much?
\n\nThe Public opinion in Romania is, unfortunately, used to crises and bad situation concerning healthcare. The media is full of fundraising events for children or young people who need to get treatment abroad, the news are full of reports of malfunctions of the healthcare system.
\n\nIn all this mess, there will always be people willing to contribute in any way to the wellbeing of others.
\n\n\n\nBut maybe the reason of this high rate participation in the network of cytostatics is older than we think, with roots in the communist era. Back then, there was a solution for everything: from lack of food to lack of clothes. Everyone knew someone who could help. The only area not available for this kind of help was healthcare. Both doctors and patients were helpless against a system that didn\u2019t truly provide for its beneficiaries. So people developed a true phobia of hospitals, seen as horrible places, dirty and dangerous, a place where some medical act was provided, but where the family took care of the sick person in the most common sense of the term: from bed sheets to food and hygiene products. The 80s and the 90s were the worse years in terms of healthcare.\xa0 The money was less and less, the needs higher.
\n\nThe Network did not come out of nowhere. It came from a long series of malfunctions and struggles, from a time\xa0 filled with nightmares that still populates one of the best Romanian doctor\u2019s dreams.
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 517, u'user_id': 3333, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-25 12:02:02', u'title': u'The Cytostatics Network seen through the eyes of a member'}, {u'content': u'My name is Erika. With Luca, Jacopo and Alice we started\xa0Dynamoscopio\xa0("those who observe change"). We are a strange mix of designers, researchers, and practitioners of urban transformation. We are anthropologists, architects, economists.
\n\nIn 2012 we got interested in a neighborhood called Giambellino-Lorenteggio, in Milan. It was undergoing change, and a tension ran through it. Its eastern end is a heavily hipsterized area, with lofts and cool parties connected with the mighty\xa0Furniture Fair. To the west there are large industrial settlements (Vodafone Italia, for example). Line 4 of the Metro is under construction here. The value of real estate is going up, or soon will. But the neighborhood itself remains low-income, home to many marginalized people. 25,000 people here qualify for subsidized-rent accommodation. Many of them can survive only because they do live in subsidized housing. Many more would have a right to, but the city does not have enough apartments available. So they are stuck in a queue.
\n\nThe neighborhood was (and still is) vulnerable to gentrification. It only takes a small increase in rents to price many people out of the neighborhood. We took a political stance that people should not be driven out, and moved in.
\n\nFirst we investigated the area, and put our findings into a documentary film (trailer). As we did so, we fell in love with the local market,\xa0Mercato Lorenteggio\xa0(henceforth ML). This market had a problem: in 2005 a large supermarket had moved into the area. Its competition was driving many local shops out of business \u2013 including several of those in ML. It was clear that the market was on its way out.
\n\nBy then, we had figured out that the neighborhood lacked resilience. Nonlocal Milanese never go there, and why would they? And even the locals do not form the thick web of social relationships you find in a healthy community. We knew one thing: working in Lorenteggio meant spending most of our time dragging people out of their apartments.
\n\nWe tried to draw a sort of map of desires and problems surrounding the market. We mapped the social actors around it: the local people, the municipality, the nonlocal Milanese, the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers seemed the most promising agent of change. They are local businesspeople: if the neighborhood does well, they do well. ML itself could serve as a focal point. If we could revive it, we could show the local community that it can work its way out of a bad situation.
\n\nSo we did several things.
\n\nIn general, we are trying to reinvent the physical space of ML and the kind of local commerce that it offers.
\n\nWho pays for this? We started out with grants. Milan is home to several charitable foundations, and some of them focus on the poorer neighborhoods. With time, we are moving towards a more sustainable mix of revenue streams. Even the shopkeepers, now, are chipping in: this is great, because it a sign of increased sustainability. Also, the work we do in Lorenteggio is good PR, and it helps Dynamoscopio get clients.
\n\nWe think we are carers, in a way. We care for the community as a whole, rather than for any one person in it. "Taking care" in this context means keeping ML open and thriving; and that, in turn, means contributing to them getting income. The shops in ML are holding the line of the viability of the whole community.
\n\nWe are not open by default, but we do use some of the strategies of the open source movement. Example: some migrant families from Arabophone countries wanted courses of Arabic for the children. We helped them set them up, and set them up in the market. The logic is this: if the market becomes an open platform for people to do stuff, more people will go there. This will create more business opportunities for the shops: you went for the Arabic lesson, it makes sense to do your groceries there too.
\n\nConsidering, our work with ML is going rather well. In 2012 it was on its way out, with several shops closed: in 2016 all stalls are in use, and the market is thriving. The space has become more beautiful and welcoming.
\n\nStill, there are many things we would like to improve. For example, last year we organized two "swap markets", and they failed badly. Both events were popular, with a lot of people in attendance. But these were people from outside the neighborhood, many of them hipsters. This created tension, because the locals see them as harbingers that they will be priced out of the neighborhood. Another pain point is that we are unable to monitor our impact. Shopkeepers are reluctant to disclose how much money they are making. We do not even have a system to count the number of people present in the market. We would love to have some kind of tool, but somehow this sort of work always gets deprioritized, there is so much to do.
\n\nAlso, we are not sure how much longer we can afford to stay engaged with ML. But we worry. What happens when we stop pushing? Another example: for a while, a guy named Manuel ran a vegetable garden outside ML. People loved it. But when Manuel withdrew, the whole thing dried out. These dynamics look great, but they are not always sustainable.
\n\nDo you know of any similar experience? We would love to compare notes.
', u'post_id': 804, u'user_id': 3515, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-21 13:59:52', u'title': u'Mercato Lorenteggio (Milan), an intersection of care practices'}, {u'content': u"When we arrived to move into the house, we seemed like an unlikely crew. There were three lads living there already - Kieron, Dave and Billy. Kieron was the leader. He had a drill. Billy was very pale and very thin - kind of morose somehow while at the same time desperately optimistic. He looked like he hadn't seen a vitamin in months. Dave on the other hand, was just mad. At this point, quite obviously, even certifiably, mad. Just a week or so before he had actually escaped from the psychiatric hospital over the road, bringing to mind a scene from 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest'. And over the course of our time together, Dave told me a few stories about that place, that enlightened paragon of metal health provision which had held him body and soul for all of nine months. He told me how he preferred prison, because at least in prison you got a release date. He told me about the electric shock therapy, which left your mind totally scrambled for two or three days, then left you feeling more or less ok for two or three days but with no memory, after which they did it all over again. He told me about being chained to four big guys who were there to 'look after him', even when he went to the toilet. About how if he didn't go along with something that they wanted him to do, sooner or later he'd get held down and recieve a knock-out shot delivered to his buttock, which resulted in unconsciousness and a noticeable reduction in his ability to stand up for his rights. Essentially, he didn't have any rights. He was mad. They could do whatever they wanted to him. The detail that most appealed to my Kafkaesque understanding of faceless institutions, was that the refusal to accept that he was mad was taken as evidence that he was still mad. Refusing to take the pills that made him heavy and slow and stupid was seen as proof that his sanity had still not returned. Now you just try to imagine regaining your mental balance under this kind of perverse authority. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I'm not so sure I believe them. Dave's approach was to break out of the place and find himself a squat to live in with a couple of mates and several total strangers, one of whom had been recognised by Kieron from a free party, when they bumped into each other down at the job centre. Its amazing what gets hatched down at the job centre, and I'm not talking about anyone finding a job. But anyway, when we turned up at the squat, Dave was living on the sofa in the lounge in a haze of ashtray cigarettes and cheap cider, eyeing the curtains nervously and never far away from a large knife. You got the feeling he was pretty keen never to go back inside that place if there was anything he had to say about it. And he wasn't leaving the house, or even that room much at this time. Absconders from mental health institutions tend to be automatically served with arrest warrants by the local magistrates, and I don't suppose that was helping his mental health any either. Dave seemed to be doing pretty well as far as I could see, considering everything that he'd gone through so far in his life. He told me his Dad was always drunk and often violent. He said his mother had been killed, shot by a farmer standing in front of her dog trying to protect him while out for a walk. That was when he left home. He'd had a job as the look-out for a gang of thieves that robbed industrial units at the age of nine. A little later he'd gone to live with a family of Irish travellers who'd trained him to be a bareknuckle boxer, a discipline at which he was apparently quite talented. Some time after that he'd bought a house, back when they gave mortgages to people with no job, no credit rating and no intention whatsoever to make even a single repayment. That episode lasted a few months, during which time he acquired an addiction to crack and heroin, or 'brown n white' as it was known on the estate. That was when the mental health issues really kicked in. I could sometimes see the different personalities fighting for control inside Dave's head. So much suffering just couldn't be contained inside one self-image, so the ever resourceful ego just created a couple of others to help take the strain. I think it was fair to say that Dave was feeling the pressure. And of course, he couldn't go to get any medication, because he knew the Doctor would just arrange to have him arrested as soon as he arrived at his appointment.
\n\nOn the one hand, Kieron and Billy were quite happy to have Dave and his knives living on the sofa. After all, this was a squat, and you never know what might go down. Sometimes you have to defend a place, and while Kieron liked his drill, that was about the limit of his handiness. And if anything serious went off you'd most likely find Billy in a cupboard. So Dave had his uses. And anyway, they were mates. But in this condition, he wasn't exactly easy company. So naturally, Billy and Kieron started to pal up a little. They shared a floor in the house with a kitchen in it, they went outside from time to time. They liked to get stoned together, and have a laugh. But this was unsettling to Dave somehow. He'd been mates with Billy for years, since the time he bought the house. He had no family left, no real friends after all the alcoholism, the drugs, the crime, and the madness. Billy was about all he had. And now he was feeling him drifting away. It all came to a head one full moon. It 'd been building for a while. You could feel it all through the house, under the neon strip lights in the corridors. Tension. The more Dave got wound up, the more Kieron and Billy retreated into their little flat. Sometimes you could hear him shouting incoherently in the lounge on his own. It wasn't very reassuring. But on this particular night, we found him shouting slightly more coherently, and it wasn't at himself. It was directed at Kieron. Dave was pacing the lounge, muttering to himself, wild-eyed. Then suddenly, something snapped. He grabbed his largest knife from under the cushions of the sofa and stormed out in the direction of the stairs. Larissa, sharp as ever, phoned Kieron fast and told him to lock his door. She was just in time.
\n\n'Yer fuckin big gay bastard! Open t'door.'
\n\n'Fuck off Dave' said Kieron, with his foot set hard against the door to keep his demented friend from getting in.
\n\nIt wasn't looking good. Dave was stabbing the door repeatedly with his enormous blade, while Kieron, who fortunately for him liked to eat a hearty meal, was leaning against it with all his weight.
\n\n'Open t'door or I'll fookin kill yer both'
\n\nIf I open t'door, that's when you'll fookin kill us both, was more what it looked like.
\n\nThe rest of us were gathering downstairs in the lounge. We'd known these people a week, and this was the only place we had to live. We were not ecstatic about the situation. And besides, we were worried, as much for Dave as for Kieron and Billy. We really liked Dave. He was a lovely lad, underneath all the addictive behaviour, the paranoia and the threat of imminent violence. I'd had a good connection with him from the start. We both had Irish ancestry. We shared a dark sense of humour. Dave's kind of funny was to make unbelievably hot curries, knowing that Billy didn't like them, but that he had no money and that there was no other food in the house. And then to watch Billy eating them, as his face got redder and redder, and his expressions grew ever more absurd. That was like Dave's perfect joke. So anyway, I headed up the stairs, with Dom close behind. The stairwell was pulsating, neon, harsh light. Nowhere to hide. Kieron's door was closed now, with the giant knife stuck in it, wobbling, and Dave half-shouting half-sobbing, desperately scared of losing his friend, his mind, his freedom. I wondered about his family history, and how much comprehension he had of his own emotional reality. It can't have been easy for him. And I thought about my own safety. But however erratic he'd been acting, I didn't feel any kind of malicious intent would be directed towards me.
\n\n'Dave, Dave. Dave man, it's me.'
\n\nDave was in his own world, and it was breaking down.
\n\n'Dave, what's up man? Why don't you put the knife down?'
\n\nHe kicked the door a couple of times, just desperate now, more than dangerous. My heart broke for him.
\n\n'Dave, you're bleeding mate! Look. Let me see that hand.'
\n\nDave looked at his palm, which had been cut by the knife as he had rammed it repeatedly into the door. It wasn't serious, but it was badly enough to make a fair mess. The sight of his own blood seemed to bring him back to himself. All the fight had gone out of him now. You could see he was ready to be taken care of.
\n\n'You should get that seen to Dave. You want me to come with you mate, we'll go down to the A&E dept at the bottom of the road?'
\n\nHe let me lead him away, still staring at his bloody palm, and I placed my arm around his shoulders as Dom discretely removed the knife from the door and hid it out of sight. The crisis it seemed, was over. At least for now. But still, we had an evidently pretty broken human being on our hands, and what the hell were we going to do about that?
", u'post_id': 502, u'user_id': 3289, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-08 00:48:50', u'title': u'Care in the Community'}, {u'content': u'Today I and @Nadia discussed the tasks for the upcoming weeks that will bring us closer to establishing both the permanent space for Edgeryders somewhere in Europe and help us build the annual event. In the next weeks we will:
\n\nBesides, we need to establish a Slack-like channel\xa0\xa0set up an installation of\xa0Riot.im\xa0on our server in order for us to communicate faster and harvest ideas more easily. Our work will be continuously documented in Edgeryders WIkis and blogposts.\xa0
There\u2019s not much focus on Asia in our research - therefore, I\u2019d like to present you some inspiring initiatives from India and Nepal, which present a very different approach to delivering care: actually delivering it.
\n\nFirst, of them is MV Akha, a floating clinic that travels along Brahmaputra Netri to the inhabitants of the saporis/the islands. One look at the map of the region is enough to understand how difficult for them it would be to access hospitals and doctors otherwise. 2500 islands sit on the Indian part of the river, which starts from the Tibetan mountains and flows through the Assam region, being a home to 3 million people, 10% of the region\u2019s population.
\n\nThere are numerous reasons why providing these places with health care is particularly difficult: due to huge shortages of doctors in India to start with (0.7 per 1000 people), shifting territories of these islands, unstable population and difficult living conditions: they\u2019re connected to the land by boats and suffer from frequent energy and drinking water deficit. Not to mention strikingly high numbers in maternal and infant mortality.
\n\nSanjoy Hazarika pitched the idea of floating clinics to the World Bank in 2000 and received their support - 20,000 dollars to start with. One year later the first boat sailed to bring care to the Assamese, and until today, 14 more followed. The project was eventually joined by the state, which established a public-private partnership with the trust and started funding the offered service. Each month around 20.000 people in total are reached by these facilities.
\n\nSome of the doctors who joined the ships helped to improve their service. One of the keys to success is frequency - by ensuring that each island is visited at least once a month it is possible to take good care of immunization and condition of pregnant women. They also bring the basic medicine, which is cheap in India - but if one needs to hire a boat to get it, the costs soar.
\n\nAnd the service provided by the boat is free - the funds provided by the state amount for 72 400 000 million rupees per year - which, after covering the costs of the boat and the staff, means that there are 480 rupees per person left. Around 5 dollars per year.
\n\nMore about the project here: http://www.c-nes.org/programmes/boat-clinics
\n\nPhoto comes from\xa0http://www.tehelka.com/2014/07/boat-clinics-provide-healthcare-to-3-million-people-in-assams-river-islands/
', u'post_id': 708, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-24 16:55:49', u'title': u'On delivering care - MV Akha in Assam'}, {u'content': u'Summer 2015. It was nearly the end of August when Kos Island turned into a battlefield during a registration procedure. Hundreds of protesting migrants demanding quick registration began blocking the main coastal road. The local police attempted to break up the crowd with batons and by spraying foam with fire extinguishers. An officer was being filmed slapping and shoving migrants queueing outside the local police station.
\n\nMy grandmother came to mind and her story as a refugee child from the area of Pontos (Northern Turkey) in 1922. I just couldn\u2019t believe that something like that could happen again. Despite the fact that Greece, in the throes of its worst ever financial crisis, was straining to accommodate the inflow, most Greek islanders were doing their best. But still there was an ominous feeling in the air.
\n\nAnd then I saw that photo. A young woman with her two frightened children hanging onto her arms. Walking to nowhere, barefoot. Beyond endurance, angry but determined to survive the crush. Fearless, though! Imperious! I got angry. I stood beside her, out there in the dust. I\'m just one step away from being like her.
\n\nThat moment I realized that there isn\u2019t any Deus ex Machina to save them. To save us.
\n\nSo, I started thinking\u2026 What would I need if I were there? What should I carry to help my children withstand it? What should I bring with me for a little break? ...and their feet! What will happen to their feet? And the sun? It\'s hard being a parent in peace. In war and in refuge, only a hero.
\n\n\n\nI wrote a list* with the necessities. The obvious, the necessary, even those things that seemed unnecessary. The goal was to ease the burden of parents, to give a smile to children. A breath until the next aid. A hope...
\n\nI post the list in my private facebook profile. I couldn\u2019t imagine the impact of this simple action. In a few days people were coming to my place, bringing bags full of nearly everything! Friends, neighbors or strangers were coming to help. We\u2018ve been preparing backpacks and sending them to Idomeni, to the islands or anywhere they were needed. Many schools adopted the idea and soon the campaign went viral. In around 8 months, hundreds of people became mobilized and focused on helping this endless wave.
\n\nIt seems that we could tell a lot of stories about, and because of this, but the point now is what emerged from this need. There\'s a lot of information coming out in the aftermath of this experience.
\n\nThere\u2019s a mountain of questions that we didn\u2019t answer\u2026
\n\nIs there any kind of system in the world that could cope with that amount of people?
\n\nWhat was wrong and why didn\'t anyone know how to react or to organize?
\n\nWhy weren\'t we ready? Why didn\'t governments, NGO\u2019s and independent groups cooperate? And when they did, what happened?
\n\nWhat socks are most appropriate for their long trek?
\n\nHow can we fit all the necessary items in a backpack?
\n\nAnd what about the weight?
\n\nHow can we gather the right clothing from the world?
\n\nHave you ever try to sort thousands of clothes?
\n\nIs it true that women from Syria didn\u2019t want to wear rain boots?
\n\nAnd what about UNHCR\u2019s wool blanket?
\n\nAnd all those tons of food wrappers, wet wipes, bottles...?
\n\nSadly, it turns out that there was no rescue plan in place. Greece seems to be inefficient and Europe appears like an impregnable fortress. This brings up the question \u201cWhat if a sudden disaster left millions of Greeks or other Europeans homeless and helpless?\u201d
\n\nLocal authorities and their services operated superficially while the government was obviously unprepared. On the other hand, citizens reacted vigorously and passionately despite the fact that they didn\u2019t mobilize immediately.
\n\nIt\u2019s also notable that many conferences, workshops or unofficial brainstorming meetings took place and new technology-oriented groups were created.\xa0 New ideas and solutions were proposed and innovative applications were developed from people all over the world. However, most of those didn\u2019t fall on fertile ground for wide use, thus must be investigated thoroughly in the future.
\n\nDue to my profession as a fashion designer and manufacturer, when I heard about all those calls for clothing needs I started wondering who will manage all these diverse supplies. When facing a disaster, food and medical aid are considered top priorities but it\u2019s not widely known that wearing inappropriate clothing under extreme conditions can become life threatening.
\n\nIt\u2019s noteworthy that if we focus on specific issues we can come to interesting conclusions e.g. Public misinformation by \u201cofficial\u201d announcements that were based on internet searching or common knowledge about clothing. As a result, there was a shortage of A-shirts (tank tops) while, considered useless, thousands of used socks were gathered although it costs less to buy new ones. Also, acrylic socks were suggested as the most appropriate. But when there\u2019s no luxury of changing them anytime, other materials are more suitable like; wool, bamboo, cotton, tactel etc.
\n\nObviously, a problem, arisen from common everyday items, is more complicated than initially thought and requires an expert\'s opinion.
\n\nSo, without surprise, no one reached out to experts from the clothing sector for professional advice and assistance. Moreover both government and UNHCR ignored any proposals or contact efforts.
\n\nSurely, the day after was going to be a nightmare. Inexperienced volunteers struggled to adequately classify, pack and distribute huge amounts of donations. Very often the same material had to be sorted again and again for multiple times. The inadequate coordination among government authorities, NGOs, solidarity groups and other stakeholders in combination with the anxiety of refugees led to a disappointing result. Large amounts of food, clothing, medicines and a lot of useless things (that could be a separate funny story), were being carried around Greece like a giant pinball machine. Unnecessary shipments, aid wasted, corrupted by mold, insects or still remain in inappropriate warehouses. A serious waste of resources.
\n\nIn conclusion, the refugee crisis gave rise to a strong solidarity network and also an opportunity for local communities and the society in total. An innovative strategic plan seems to be a necessity, in order to coordinate and manage all the available resources successfully.
\n\nWe should focus on organizing and training ourselves for cases of emergency. Based on the strength of these sharing communities, we should work, in innovative ways, which could bring people together around common concerns, recognize and increase their skills and knowledge and instill in them a belief that they can make a difference.
\n\nIn addition, it\u2019s important to develop a survival handbook with the aim to provide \u201chow-to\u201d guidance based on practical experience in combination with academic knowledge. And the challenge is to respond to all these arisen questions. Or add new.
\n\n\u201cCould humanitarianism be evolved as a profession or it could be a new way of living?\u201d
\n\nP. S.
\n\nMore than 1/5 of donations is unsuitable for the refugees, thus is channeled to other vulnerable groups directly or in cooperation with already existing structures.
\n\nMost of the volunteers gave up, burned out or feeling unable to help. Meanwhile the main responsible for this failure get paid.
\n\nMore than 60.000 refugees stuck in Greece. The majority were transferred to military camps, old factory warehouses or other abandoned and unhealthy places. Out of sight, out of mind. Lost and forgotten.\xa0
\n\n*The winter list for children: Small backpack, waterproof poncho, aluminum blanket, flashlight, socks, rain boots, sports shoes or plastic clogs, underwear, a tracksuit or a change of clothes, cap, gloves, scarves, lunch box, plastic spoon, fork, knife, a bottle of water, cookies, nuts, dried fruit or other snacks, wet wipes (small package), tissues, toothbrush, samples (of sunscreen, shampoo, toothpaste etc.), a toy, note or drawing pads, crayons, pencil, sharpener, eraser, a whistle and a wish (!!) (We also ask for big scarves to use them as ring sling baby carriers or as sheets)
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 550, u'user_id': 3402, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-29 19:38:02', u'title': u'Backpacks for the Refugees-The Day After'}, {u'content': u'Engineering meets biomatter. The squiggly squishy, compliant bits of biomechanics allow you to produce one size fits all. If someone has physical disability, like cerebral paulsy, giving them a little bit of improved mobility can have huge positive effects.
\n\nFunctionally grated structures:\xa0Inspired by Bird beaks: Hydrophobic proteins and high water content parts of the body.\xa0
\n\nExample where functional grating is applied: Cerebral palsy
\n\nCost of therapy is very expensive because one on one time with specialists are very costly, and tech used is not modifiable.
so they build soft exoskeletons for actuators (for joints) using functional grating principles. Check out their "Neucuff"
Another example where functional grating is used: Prosthetics
\n\nUses distributed force: see goats\' feet as a reference/description of the principle used to build prosthetics.
\n\nFeets that are hard metal pads (hard actuators) does not allow you to compensate for unexpected events.
Also flies\' spatulated hairs on their feet. N++1. Aron Parnell tries to mass manufacture.
Last example: Replacing atmospheric preassure in space suits with pneumatic preassure, shrinking them to fit human body. Problem: Spring effect. Solution: Don\'t make mechanical counterpressure suit in one go, but gradually? (not sure I got this right)
', u'post_id': 5136, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-27 22:18:46', u'title': u'Session at #32c3: Soft Robotics with Matthew from Super-releaser'}, {u'content': u'[Curator\'s note] Alkasem was a doctor student in Syria, but had to flee the country for obvious reasons. He studied for four years at the university, but on arriving here he couldn\u2019t continue his studies because of his status of refugee in Europe. Still he came to the workshop in Brussels and we are all really thankful for his disruptive thinking and propositions that helped us think out of the box and see our Western society from another perspective.
\n\nAbout alternatives to our healthcare system:
\n\nIn Syria we have an \u2018islamic solidarity\u2019 in society that creates a kind of health system without organization, like you have to give a part of your money to the poor, you have social care system that is organized by the people itself. If you haven\u2019t fastened for one day, you have to give food to 64 people. Every doctor works one day a week for free. That is how we can survive under a dictatorship. \xa0We are already prepared for any kind of chaos, it is made for any kind of situation and is part of our cultural heritage.
\n\nI want to see the whole of society as one body, but here everybody lives in his box, I call this\xa0"boxpeople". You live together but you don\u2019t really live together. You are online, but not connected, we have to discuss, to see each other more. This is my new society, so i want to care as much about this now then how I cared about my society in Syria.
\n\n\xa0For exemple the old people are separated from the rest of the adults, they don\u2019t have a connection. Why do you do that? We don\u2019t talk about generational society, we don\u2019t attach value to\xa0the older people\xa0here and that makes me worry. I hear a lot about that here we work a lot about societal diversity, but not generational diversity
\n\nAbout people sleeping in the streets:
\n\nOne of the first things I noticed in Brussels is that a lot of people are living in the streets. Why are they living in the streets, don\u2019t they have families to take care of them? Where are the families of the homeless people? I never saw anyone homeless in Syria, or living on a mattress. How did it happen?
\n\nSome of the participants responded later on:\xa0
\n\nAbout trust
\n\nEverything moves around friendship. I have the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust.\xa0And without trust no skill can be shared. How can we create a better health system if we need all kind of difficult systems to create the trust that isn\u2019t there really.
\n\nIn less then one day, Alkasem showed us that the things we find sometimes really obvious aren\u2019t at all for everybody. He inpacted a lot of the discussions with his point of views and made it obvious that sometimes we are still a bit too etnocentric about the way we want to design solutions. Having completly different cultural heritages at the table makes a discussions so much richer.
', u'post_id': 790, u'user_id': 3465, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-07 13:41:48', u'title': u'How cultural differences can make us understand our flaws in the care sector better'}, {u'content': u'
From\xa0http://rubyetc.tumblr.com/tagged/mh\xa0(ht\xa0Pauline)\xa0
\n\nFirst thing that happens during our first ever community meeting online is that the technology doesn\u2019t work. What follows is a hilarious 1.5 hr conversation conducted via a combination of voice, sign language, lip reading and chat.
\n\nWe were joined by @Pauline and @Omri_Kaufmann from UDK Berlin, @Costantino \xa0and @ChiaraFrr in Milano, @Nadia\xa0and a new community member - Christina whose mission with The Meraki People is to restore and preserve the cultural heritage of mount Parnonas in Greece by turning it into a green production and cultural oasis.
\n\nIn our intros we discovered most of us approach mental wellbeing in terms of how to make support more accessible - by inventoring and designing solutions, by opening up a conversation. I saw two big strands in the conversation that can inform our search:
\n\nA. Is it safer for an online conversation to only deal with the soft side of mental health? That is, exclude suicide and death?\xa0
\n\nNoemi mentioned how deep suicide is in Ireland both among males and females, as well as it is underreported - it\u2019s not even ranking top in Europe (like former Soviet countries). Pauline added that in Sweden, suicide is the most common cause of death in people between 18-35. Costantino said this was dangerous to approach in OpenCare, even though we know it\u2019s increasingly being flagged in the tech activist sector (see re:Publica session Hacking with Care).
\n\nTeam JUS was on board!\xa0They\u2019re working on design that explores vulnerability: We want to research objects that people are handling or certain gestures they are doing while in therapy. Can we find a certain patterns in these behaviours or interactions? Maybe we can do something with it? We found in the interviews/chats we started with our peers as well that it was very difficult for them to open up. We also had some observations how to create a sharing environment
\n\nTheir design will most probably involve
\n\nB. Or should we really push ourselves over the edge and experiment? Is there relief in black humor?
\n\nThis can be simply by asking people on the streets How are you? and then "Really, how are you?". More advanced versions include drawing inspiration from\xa0funeral traditions involving celebrations of sorts thru\xa0drinks, food, but also social grieving\xa0(Eastern Europe,\xa0Jewish culture,\xa0Italy, Germany were mentioned). \xa0.. for the rest I will have to let the notes speak as I won\u2019t do them justice)
\n\nN: How would you design for maximum inappropriateness. What are the most inappropriate jokes you can make in a situation where someone is in pain? How do you piss people off at a Jewish funeral? How to make the grieving person forget about their sorrow and want to kill you instead?
\n\nN: Because there is some relief in black humour.
\n\nP: i love it. dealing with depression through humor and showing your feelings
\n\nO: How do we choose who to talk to?
\n\nP:\'survivors\'?
\n\nO: I would talk to someone who had a similar experience and can connect with me and understand me.
\n\nN: Anonymous emotionalists. "let the crazy out in small pieces- not all at once". XYKD did a fantastic comic on depression https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/14txdv/xkcd_honest/
\n\nO: 1 I would also talk to someone i know very little or not at all
\n\nNe: +1
\n\n"What made you understand that you were depressed"?
\n\nN: My partner said I should probably take a shower.
\n\nP: but that\'s important too! finding the right kind of treatment;\xa0therapy varies alot depending on the person too,\xa0the treatment guy
\n\nN: Inability to take any decisions. Decision to not go to shrink. Just getting stuck.
\n\nP: the scale of our project is probably much smaller than the whole conversation you are interested in having on Edgeryders right?
\n\nP: dark horse is there also
\n\nC:\xa0this track to do with emotions and mind etc can be a long term track within opencare;
\n\nImperfect, super unreliable tools and unsuitable places to kill yourself.
\n\nPlacebo pills
\n\nHomeopathic poison pill
\n\nPlease join our growing group and help build a sensible brief around emotional wellbeing here.
', u'post_id': 5658, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-17 10:19:57', u'title': u'Notes from community call on emotional health and possibly inappropropriate conversation'}, {u'content': u'Sharing this:the ibreastexam, low-cost point-of-care breast health test\xa0for use by community workers in low resource settings. This device is designed to address the rising incidence of breast cancer in developing countries where women have limited or no access to breast cancer screening services.\xa0
\n\nThis is the full article:\xa0
\n\nUE Lifesciences, a company with offices in the U.S. and India, has developed the ibreastexam, a low-cost point-of-care breast health test\xa0for use by community workers in low resource settings. This device is designed to address the rising incidence of breast cancer in developing countries where women have limited or no access to breast cancer screening services.
\n\nThe test is painless and radiation free, and takes less than 5 minutes to complete. The device can be used by any doctor or health worker and the results are available at the point-of-care.ibreastexam\xa0assesses differences in tissue elasticity between malignant and non-cancerous breast tissue, and its tactile sensor measures shear stiffness and tissue compression when applied to the skin.
\n\nA clinical study\xa0conducted in India reported that the test maintained high specificity and outperformed an expert clinician who conducted a conventional clinical breast examination. All malignant lesions were identified by the device, while the clinician failed to identify a non-palpable lesion.
\n\nUE Lifesciences won the 2016 Hitlab world cup at the Hitlab Innovators Summit in New York for their ibreastexam\xa0system. This prize is awarded to a healthcare startup deemed to have made an outstanding contribution in improving the delivery and accessibility of healthcare worldwide.
\n\nMatthew Campisi, CTO of UE LifeSciences made the following statement:
\n\n\u201cWe are truly grateful to have won the HITLAB World Cup and to be part of such a terrific program. As we continue to scale our ibreastexam\xa0product offering, collaboration with partners like HITLAB will help create awareness and establish key partnerships.\u201d
\n\nVideo:\xa0https://vimeo.com/75510451
', u'post_id': 803, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-21 21:26:25', u'title': u'Low-cost point-of-care breast health test : ibreastexam-wireless scanner for use by community workers in low resource settings'}, {u'content': u'Present: Natalia, Ana, Alex, Nadia, Noemi.\xa0This is a conversation summary and a wiki, so edit as you please.
\n\nNadia\'s slides - Added a slide around the process/proceedure.
\n\nNoemi: Confirm how the PopUp village connects with the reef?
\n\nNadia: The Reef - Difficult political situation. Formal politics not leading to a better future or present
\n\nIf we want to change it\u2019s not about political programs or manifestos. Change comes from the edge and seeps into the centre. If the edge and centre disconnect how do you create the conditions for change? These communities we are discovering\xa0need to be articulating demands which are somehow legible to politicians.
\n\nCommunities try to fix their own worlds, based on what works for them. In order to solve the above, you need to have:
\n\nHealth and social care is the number one destroyer or communities ability to be self sufficient. Care is such a point of vulnerability: the biggest challenge is getting time for a doctor/GP to see you. But it\'s\xa0also the fastest way to develop trust in a community to provide health services. Time and person to person contact.\xa0
\n\nHow do we get there?
\n\nNoemi: Do\xa0we have to structure for how collaboration can pan out, how long it takes? Not everywhere we go and ideas sparkle we can make things happen. It takes time and a certain skillset to seize\xa0these opportunities.\xa0- Is Galway an example of developing in a hands off way?
\n\nNadia: Yes, We have to have plan the growth\xa0and take time on the ground with communities. We have to be concrete and clear in our planning. People looking for guidance and a path. Desperate times. A plan will help bring people towards us.
\n\nWhat is the Village?
\n\nMeeting space for community groups. A place to teach documentation.
\n\nFind spaces that can create permanent UnMon buildings.
\n\nShort term - a festival, 3 week event where 1st week people are building their houses; demo spaces where people can walk in + living spaces; barnraising to build shared infrastructure: big building in the middle with kitchen, showers and all.. You need a building master. \xa0Find land build tiny houses (1600E) for sleeping and running mini demos of initiatives.
\n\nConcept translated by Alex:\xa0The POPUP VILLAGE as a\xa0caravan where one can pitch in with small mobile spaces which come together and wagon up into a communal space.
\n\nIn the middle you build a shared space with communal parts. This builds communal shared interest in the space and creates a permanent base for operations in that space for the future. Barnraising both as metaphor and literally.
\n\nAlex:\xa0Highly mobile, low cost traveling is a great way of seeding ideas, but as we go further into new places we will make visible deeper problems, more contextualized. There is no holistic way of building a series of unMonasteries, each will need to grow organically out of the place.
\n\nNadia: the concept of INCHOME: permanently affordable selfsufficient homes; it doesnt need to be for everyone, it needs to be for the driving forces of these initiatives, as the coordination costs nobody wants to shoulder; you need people that are ok with themselves to be ok with others.
\n\nDo we reach out to cities for this?
\n\nNatalia:\xa0it\'s about finding what\'s already there and highlighting it.
\n\nLong term leases from cities. Needs space from the city. Must have permanence built in from the start. We need local allies in the place.
\n\nPossible places: Portugal and lagging regions; UK but not for longterm;\xa0
\n\nThe lagging places aren\'t those which dont really have active communities. There can be just motivation!
\n\nAna:\xa0Armenian ICA in Yerevan; lots of abandoned land and cheap houses in rural areas.
\n\nActionables:
\n\nCOMM PACKAGE + CALL FOR SPONSORS
\n\n1st newsletter of Jan outlines the PLAN
\n\nNote about crowdfunding for mini houses - If you contribute money towards the houses you get your name or face on a tile 
In my previous article I told the story of the \u2018whats\u2019 and the \u2018hows\u2019 that got me where I am today. Currently, the following\xa0is (mainly) what I am busy with:
\n\nURGENCI \u2013 The Global Network for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
\n\nSince June 2015 I am a member of the Urgenci kernel -the steering committee for the European part of the movement, and the European Research Group on CSA -with which we conducted the first ever European census on CSA -the report can be found here. Our second major undertaking for 2015-2016 was the creation of a European Declaration on CSA. This involved the research group drafting a first proposal which we had to take back to our respective countries for consultations and then collectivise everything again and come up with a final draft that was formally presented at the third European meeting on CSA (the report on that will be out soon, but here you can find out more about what we did in Ostrava). Here is the declaration and this is footage from the historical moment of its first announcement:
\n\n\n\nThe writing process for the declaration gave me the chance to organise a two-day event where those already working in CSAs in Greece had the chance to meet in person for the first time -a valuable experience. We also held \u2018a CSA open day\u2019 where a team of experts (accountant, lawyer, personal growth coach, farmers, CSA coordinators) had the chance to explain various aspects of the CSA idea.
\n\nI am also very glad to say I was part in the inaugural meeting for the Mediterranean Network for Local-Based Solidarity Partnerships which we hope will strengthen the ties between our countries and projects.
\n\nAction Research through participatory video making
\n\nIn the capacity of co-facilitator I am working together with Christabel Buchanan -from the Coventry Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience, on \u2018Real Food Utopias\u2019: an action research project mapping and tracking alternative food systems and economies in and around Thessaloniki. We made an open call inviting individuals from a variety of formal and informal groups. Through this process we came up collectively with a series of themes to be further explored. We then held training sessions on participatory video-making (from story boarding to collective editing) and then formed working groups for each theme. Then we organise public showings to get feedback and to instigate discussion and hopefully action by community members -like the creation of a Food Policy Council.
\n\nCurrently the themes we are working on are:
\n\n-alternative currencies and food economies;
\n\n-a look into peri-urban gardening in terms of autonomy and
\n\n-the production cycle of vegetables as opposed to that of chicken farming within the project;
\n\n-lessons learnt and struggles of existing projects: a critical view on hindrances to growth; -presentation of a social cooperative enterprise.
\n\nThe first videos are in the final editing process and will be ready soon. This is an ongoing project and you will be able to find out more about it here as we continue uploading information and new developments.
\n\nRefugee Food Journeys
\n\nAs we all know Greece has been struck the hardest from the influx of refugees in recent years and we felt we needed to include them in our quest for food sovereignty. This part of our research focuses on matters of food consumption and food waste in refugee camps. This is our\xa0 first video on this issue:
\n\n\n\nSolidarity Exports
\n\nTogether with Antonis Diamantidis, a fellow food sovereignty activist, farmer, and organiser of a CSA group of producers called \u2018Corinthian Orchard\u2019 we have just launched this scheme aiming to create direct links between small agroecological producers of Greece and CSAs, food coops etc in other European countries by providing each party with what they need in a fair and respectful way. Our goal is to not compete with the local farmers and thus we will only export produce that is consumed but does not grow in their regions -like citrus fruits and olive oil. Through this we will be actively supporting small Greek farmers, who suffer from land fragmentation and stand...at the bottom of the food chain with respect to the markets and the middlemen. We are also hoping to include \u2018ugly fruits\u2019 in this scheme raising even more awareness on food dumping/waste/loss issues. For more information on this please look here or write to antonis@perivolikorinthou.gr
\n\nHellenic Network for Agroecology, Food Sovereignty and Access to Land
\n\nSince the crisis begun, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do anything in a formal, legal way. This is one of the main reasons why most groups here operate under the radar -which on the other hand is not necessarily a bad thing. But this means that growth comes in relatively slow steps and is hindered by the lack of access to funds and other resources. For example, setting up an NGO costs around \u20ac1000 and has an annual \u20ac1000 \u2018trade tax\u2019 (literally a levy to allow you to do business) -this applies to social enterprises too. And although this is not as bad as having to prepay 100% of next year\u2019s taxation like with most small businesses (or 50% for farmers) it still might pose a problem for people who want to do exactly that: do something without business profit in mind.
\n\nSo in this context, I am happy to announce that we are currently in the process of setting up our grass-roots non-profit organisation to to help us with our endeavours in these fields. What we have in mind is summarized in the following fields of action:
\n\nSo if all of this sounds interesting, if you feel the urge to get involved, or if you have information and contacts that can help, please contact me to join forces
Greetings, so after the successful show in Makerfaire Rome, InPe has been getting ready for testing phase. In our current status our electronics and code, are working with reasonable accuracy, however, we are missing crucial data from testing phase. \xa0We have so far only tested inPe, in very simple ways in order to change the code: \xa0Like holding InPe and throwing it at distance, but would it mean for someone wearing InPe, to shake hands with someone else, to lean on the wall, to walk with a stick or a cane? Would this trigger false alarm? or actually untrigger the alarm when needed? These are questions that we need to answer.
\n\n\n\n
In the current phase, Inpe, is designed as an arm band, similar to the ones runners put around their upper arms to hold their phones. \xa0\xa0It comes in two buttoned layers, where it is easy to see the inside components, tweak, and fix. The same items could be used on the leg too. For the next iteration, we would love to keep the same idea of making the inside as open and as accessible as possible.
\n\n
Situations ranging from daily doing basic movements such as walking, sitting down, eating, all the way to more detailed situations such as climbing a stair, or sleeping, are scenarios that we plan to test in the upcoming 2 months.
\n\nWe have already published InPe\u2019s dedicated website http://inpe.opencare.cc, and will continue to add further testing stories, updates and data as we move on.
\n\nStay tuned. More photos will follow in future post.
\n\n[TITLE OF THE PIECE]
\n\n\n\nIn 2017, we are seeking a host city to help us host and build the next Living On The Edge. LOTE is an international UnConference organised by community members from Edgeryders. It is a meeting of people from around the world who are exploring the leading edge of science, social policy, and modern living. So far, LOTE events have been organized in Italy, France, and Belgium; each bringing together over 60 activists, hackers, thinkers, artists, and makers from all around the globe. We have succeeded in creating a unique platform for online and offline meetings between stakeholders from the government, the successful start-up community, and the Edgeryders network. LOTE events are uniquely crafted to create synergies between hosting communities and a broad network of changemakers, both through offline meetings and through access to the vast database of knowledge that the initiatives gathered on the Edgeryders website provide.
\n\n\n\nLOTE6: The Edge of Care will be the culmination of an 18-month international project called OpenCare. Through OpenCare we have discovered hundreds of projects changing the landscape of caregiving in their communities. We have been studying innovative aspects of care from around the world and want to come together to discuss, learn and investigate our findings. Most importantly we want to do it in your city.
\n\n\n\nTo serve the needs of all our participants and be consistent with our core theme- Care, LOTE6 will involve several separate but mutually cohesive tracks of enquiry: physical (body exercising, manual work, therapy etc.), personal (development and growth), and professional/intellectual enquiry. The details of these tracks will be developed and honed over the year by Edgeryders event management team in collaboration with our partners and you, our gracious hosts.
\n\n\n\nWhat makes LOTE6 special and why do we need your support?
\n\n\n\nFor 2017 LOTE6 is taking a hands-on approach. Inspired by the Pop-up Care Village event carried out in San Francisco, (http://tinyurl.com/z6ast93, http://tinyurl.com/hjwfby8 ) we are looking to create an event that combines the Edgeryders\u2019 online community resources and knowledge with local on-the-ground initiatives: The OpenCare PopUp village.
\n\n\n\nThe OpenCare PopUp village involves reaching out to local initiatives in your city and providing them with a chance to showcase their work in action as part of the big event. We want to find projects that approach social, personal, and physical care in new, exciting, and unconventional ways. We are looking to invite projects that tackle access to care; projects that bridge the housing gap, or are investigating the creation of sustainable communities; projects finding innovative ways to access affordable healthcare; and projects that are working on solutions to address the needs of the elderly, migrants, and/or those people in society current underserved or overlooked by the authorities. We believe that all our care needs must be re-addressed to keep pace with the rapidly changing social, economic, political, and cultural landscape of a 21st Century globe.
\n\n\n\nWe propose to invite those who are already pioneering work in these areas; improving the lives of people in the host city, in the wider country, as well as their peers from all over Europe and the rest of the world. They will come together as partners and co-creators of LOTE6 presenting the fruits of their effort and demonstrating the ability of civil society, social entrepreneurship, and open source innovations to accelerate the solving of complex issues.
\n\n\n\nWe have experience of connecting to these types of initiative through our work on the Open&Change project. We brought together groups of initiatives in Brussels, New York, Thessaloniki, and Berlin, now we are looking to extend our network into your city; helping you to raise international awareness of the great work that your citizens and organisations are undertaking in your city. Edgeryders event coordinators have skills at finding and reaching out to organisations and initiatives that operate on the fringes as well as in the mainstream. The OpenCare PopUp village will seek to engage public institutions and local businesses in a dialogue about how to provide the best method of access to these products, services, and spaces to disenfranchised members of their communities. As always, Edgeryders will be working on sustainable, long lasting ideas that can support these synergies after the main events end.
\n\n\n\nWhy are we reaching out to new places?
\n\n\n\nEdgeryders care as much about physical spaces as we do about our online community platform. We have had great success working with cities around Europe on their European Capital of Culture bids; we ran the first prototype of the unMonastery project: rethinking and reimagining the stewardship of community assets for a digital age; and we have partnered with UNDP, UNESCO and the European Commission to run projects focussed on finding digital and social innovators and entrepreneurs in diverse countries such as Nepal, Georgia and Romania.
\n\n\n\nUsing Coral Reefs as our model, Edgeryders proposes a new kind of connective layer as an enabler of social and political renewal. One that is distributed, hyper-local and transnational at the same time. We are building a network of appropriate physical infrastructure in different locations, embedded in an online conversation and equipped with collective tools that help us make sense of our interactions. You can read more about our plans here: http://tinyurl.com/zc8egnc
\n\n\n\nOur first Reef prototype is focused on supporting people and initiatives contributing towards making health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. We want your city to be a part of our Reef.
\n\n\n\nThe aim of the Edgeryders Reef is to set up in an international space where people can live a good life on little money. A space for up to 20 people, where community members would live and work. Some people will be based permanently, others will be doing temporary residencies to work on projects. The focus is on experience-based learning and key tracks will evolve through an ongoing relationship with, and contribution to the local community.
\n\n\n\n\xa0
\n\n\n\nWhat benefits are there for the host city?
\n\n\n\nCo-organization of a unique showcase of global innovations in the broad area of care, with documentation and ideas on how to implement some of these solutions on the ground. So far this kind of event has not been organised in Europe.
\n\nPossibility to shape areas of the event program and highlight the most cutting-edge, relevant, important projects that exist in your city/area
\n\nA space to prototype and test alternative funding opportunities to support care related initiatives in the city and beyond.
\n\nWhat are we looking for?
\n\n\n\nOne point person from the hosting institution or community to participate in the preparation and delivery of LOTE6 and The OpenCare PopUp village
\n\nHelp with financial support towards the conference. This may include: event sponsorship by one or more of the host institutions/organizations (either directly or by enlisting local sponsors), grants or donations from local businesses or in-kind donations of needed supplies, food, equipment, grants for travels.
\n\nAccess to a venue in which meetings and workshops could be conducted, as well as an area in the city where the village could be "installed" for the duration of the event
\n\nTwo or more local coordinators to help ER design and deliver the event
\n\nAssistance with the local outreach and registration to the event
\n\nWhat can you expect between now and LOTE6?
\n\n\n\nAn initial planning session: a meeting between your contact people and members of the Edgeryders community who will be leading the delivery of LOTE. The meeting will also serve as the first local scouting and outreach mission, where we will use our methodology to find suitable initiatives in the area and invite them to the process of preparing and building The OpenCare PopUp village and LOTE6.
\n\nParallel to that Edgeryders will start a selection of initiatives from all over the world to join us for LOTE6. We will also start finalizing the list of speakers who will take part in the unConference, gathering innovators and changemakers from all domains of care.
\n\nFinalized these processes by the end of February we will begin applications for financial support, event sponsors and travel and attendance bursaries.
\n\nFebruary to September will be dedicated to fundraising, building the program for the conference, reaching out in the social media and media to potential participants, presenters, and attendees; and finalising the finishing touches to this three-day-long marathon event.
\n\nHow to apply?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\xa0
\n\n\n\n\n\nSend an email expressing your intention to host the event to Natalia: natalia@edgeryders.eu, please include any information on how you can provide the necessary support and infrastructure for the event.
\n\n\n\nWe are looking forward to hearing from you - the deadline for expressions of interest is 30th January 2017.
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 6014, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-20 21:13:43', u'title': u'OPENcare Pop-up Village - call for a host city'}, {u'content': u'The Milan consortium meeting taught us that bringing the offline debate online is hard. So far, we have followed\xa0two different approaches:
\n\nBoth methods are hard. Both have drawbacks.
\n\nThe first method is mostly failing. It is difficult to make sense of notes taken during the meeting. I had this experience during "Taking care", where I volunteered to take notes with Cristina. Afterwards, I could interpret my notes, but not hers (though we were using the same \xa0Google Doc! ). I imagine the opposite was true for her. Many notes never make it online. Those that do take the form of a report: "A said this, B said that". The community tends not to engage with this type of format.\xa0
\n\nThe second method has given better results.\xa0\xa0Still,\xa0it discourages people who are not good communicators in writing, face language barriers etc.\xa0
\n\nHow to move forward? The Milan meeting gave us two promising leads.
\n\nThe first one was offered by @costantino and @alessandrocontini . They pointed out that the mechanics of makers collaboration is not so social. You go to the forum, ask a question, get a pointer, solve the problem and move on. It may be difficult to track it through an online forum.
\n\nThe second one results from\xa0something interesting that happened during "Taking care". This: people in the Bordeaux group at some point felt their contribution was unnecessary and possibly unwelcome. They withdrew from the workshop and moved to a different room. They kept working on opencare, but in the form of writing code to look at the conversation.\xa0
\n\nThis resonates with an Edgeryders\xa0conversation thread\xa0that predates opencare.\xa0It says this: the "meeting"\xa0or "assembly" format claims to be inclusive, but in fact it is not. Instead, it rewards extrovert, confident, even narcissistic personalities. Introverts don\'t like to speak in public,\xa0certainly not without thinking things through. So they never speak. This issue has come to the fore in the hacker community, where many skilled developers identify as intros. Intros like online, where they can take time to think things through, and where they do not have to interrupt others to claim space.\xa0See for example\xa0this great comment\xa0by @trythis\xa0and the thread that comes with it. As a result, offline spaces are exclusionary. They do not know it...\xa0because they exclude\xa0the people who never speak up.\xa0
\n\nThe post-it workshop format has a\xa0second potential problem. It has no space for\xa0contributions\xa0in\xa0forms other than the speech (as Cicero describes in\xa0De Oratore). The role of facilitators is to "standardize" contributions. Some people (like @Noemi in "Taking care") feel that this negates serendipity and predetermines results.
\n\nIf this is true, a lot of design-based methods of engagement have a serious flaw. What\'s worse, an\xa0unacknowledged\xa0one. Given their popularity, this is serious.
\n\nSo, I propose we\xa0"go deep", doing research and producing one or more papers on:
\n\nAll of this should, in my opinion, have a design perspective. I propose that @Ezio_Manzini coordinates the activities and writes one or two papers under items 2 and 3.\xa0ER would be happy to support this.\xa0And I would love to see WeMake and ScImpulse appoint an ethnographer to look into item 1.\xa0
\n\nThoughts?
', u'post_id': 6069, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-13 17:53:30', u'title': u'Building gateways between online and offline engagement: do we have a design crisis?'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 558, u'user_id': 3503, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-13 14:15:54', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Please add your presentation(s) to the steering committee meeting of Wednesday, November 30th. Please focus on the project\'s objectives (see below),\xa0not\xa0on the project management aspects \u2013 we have the reporting to take care of that. Tell us:
\n\n\xa0A good time would be 10 minutes per presentation, with the possibility that partners and/or WPs combine two presentations, let\'s say. Take one slot for each major thing you have been working on.\xa0The idea is to leave enough room for discussion.
\n\nWeMake, as hosting partner, has last word on sequencing and the final agenda.
\n\nI (Guy) suggest that we order presentations according to the WPs, to put ourselves into a mid-term reporting mindset. WP leaders should edit the wiki and add title, presenters\' names, upload slides, etc.
\n\nObjective 1. Learn-by-doing how to deploy collective intelligence to design care services
\n\n1.1. Develop a how-to guide to convene, manage and harvest a large-scale online conversation as a care provision service design engine. The guide should be a result of learning-by-doing, building on previous experience and improving on it.\xa0
\n\n1.2. Develop a how-to guide to document testing activities in the field or in the lab/makerspace in such a way that documentation can be fed back to the online conversation. The guide should be a result of learning-by-doing, building on previous experience and improving on it.\xa0
\n\nObjective 2. Produce a realistic scenario of policy for community-driven provision of care services at scale
\n\n2.1. Consider the implications of applying community-driven design and delivery of care services to the context of European welfare states. Give special attention to the issue of fairness and ownership of the input contributed to open processes.
\n\n2.2. Identify best practice in community welfare, and in general care services designed and/or delivered through collectively intelligent processes, and learn from them.\xa0
\n\nObjective 3. Assemble a software stack to monitor and assist collective intelligence social dynamics in online communities\xa0
\n\n3.1 Further test, validate and if necessary extend OpenEthnographer in the context of the conversation on care (see section 1.3.5)
\n\n3.1 Further test, validate and if necessary extend Edgesense in the context of the conversation on care (see section 1.3.5)
\n\n3.3 Build and test a prototype of a tool for \xa0semantic network analysis (see 1.4.2)
\n\nWP1 (SCIMPULSE) -\xa0Learn, engage and disseminate
\n\nWP2 (ER) -\xa0
\n\nWP3 (WeMake) -\xa0Prototype community-driven care services
\n\nWP4 (EHFF) -\xa0Design and evaluation of community-based health/social policies at scale
\n\nBrief Powerpoint on on cases, policy evaluation and design of survey
\n\nWP5 (UBx) -\xa0Data processing for aggregating collective intelligence processes
\n\nWP6 (UBx) -\xa0Lead, govern and manage the project
\n\nCIty of MIlano might also want to report on their activities, please feel free to add a prez.
', u'post_id': 6000, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-08 08:54:31', u'title': u'Partners presentations: what we will talk about in Milano'}, {u'content': u'1904 applications. Many of them produced by\xa0well-resourced establishment players. With hundreds, possibly thousands of employees.\xa0
\n\nAnd then there\'s our loosely coordinated collective of misfits.\xa0Most of whom have never met one another in person. Held together by a tiny, anarchic group of nerds.
\n\nYes. Our OpenAndChange application made the cut:
\n\n"This initial screen focused on questions such as: are applications responsive to the questions we had posed? Do they conform to administrative requirements? Are they complete? Are the organizations involved legally able to receive funds? Are the projects the right scale for a $100 million grant?"\xa0
\n\nSo now what, do we sit around and wait for the results? No. There is important work to do. Together.
\n\nA lot of things have happened since we submitted the application in October. Many of us, and people about whom we care, are sad and scared. After pulling ourselves out of despair we realised that we already have a strategy and plan. We have beed developing and prototyping oand have been for o. While politics may seem a far stretch from hacking health- and social care systems, they are\xa0closely related. I won\'t go into detail here, but I present it in detail here.
', u'post_id': 6074, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-16 15:21:23', u'title': u'We made the first 100&Change cut! Now what?'}, {u'content': u'\xa0template for building an effective crowdfunding campaign
\n\nfile_fid:16739 - Crowdfunding template
', u'post_id': 6062, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-10 16:49:03', u'title': u'A template for planning crowdfunding campaigns'}, {u'content': u'My presentation during Ada week, which lays out the background reasoning and "master plan" of which lote /pup up village is one part.
\n\nfile_fid:16727 - A strategy and plan for building new politics together while building better lives for ourselves
', u'post_id': 6058, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-10 13:01:42', u'title': u'The Reef: Building'}, {u'content': u'Earlier this week we received this message:
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Context: in October, 24 projects led by formal and informal groups have signed a partnership and submitted a proposal to 100andChange competition. We proposed a massively collaborative way of fixing health and social care, and in the process we taught ourselves to collaborate online with low costs (most partners haven\u2019t met each other in real life!).
\n\nWe wish to continue working to realise the plan we all devised together.
\n\nHow we can move people and conversations in OpenandChange into concrete steps to advance their work as part of an active network? Do we try to fundraise further? Some have been asking about the future of opencare as a growing community.\xa0
\n\nJust released: call for cities!
\n\nThe OpenCare PopUp village involves reaching out to local initiatives in your city and providing them with a chance to showcase their work in action as part of the big event. We want to find projects that approach social, personal, and physical care in new, exciting, and unconventional ways i.e. projects that bridge the housing gap, or are investigating the creation of sustainable communities; projects finding innovative ways to access affordable healthcare; and projects that are working on solutions to address the needs of the elderly, migrants, and/or those people in society current underserved or overlooked by the authorities.
\n\n1) Share the call with contacts in public administrations interested to support an international event on community health/social care. For more info ask Natalia in a comment to that call.
\n\n2) Join an open tour to connect opencare with\xa0promising infrastructure built by communities around the globe. Request access in a comment below and I\u2019ll share the calendar below so you can add your own traveling activities or project events on the radar! We expect to structure this tour properly\xa0in January.
\n\n3) Join a community call in the upcoming weekends to become part of a marvelous team\xa0building a radically open tour and event in 2017.
\n\n\n\nWhy should we do this together? We aim to mobilize resources around your project and that of others in the network, by making it easier to act collectively and not wait.
\n\nAnyway, that\'s it. Please don\'t hesitate to ask questions and volunteer new ideas so we can get better at this.
', u'post_id': 6050, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-12-08 15:20:23', u'title': u'News about our OpenandChange application and how we win anyway!'}, {u'content': u'Counter Culture Labs in Oakland is a science-oriented community hackerspace, with a focus on biohacking. In one project taking place at the lab, members are engineering yeast to express milk proteins from non-animal sources - next generation of vegan cheeses and milk. Others are busy developing an eco-friendly bacterial sunscreen.
\n\nOpen Insulin is one of these projects, and its goal is to make it simpler and less expensive to make insulin, starting by investigating some novel ideas for making insulin in e. coli using fewer, easier steps than in common industrial protocols. If successful, the members hope it can be a step towards making generic production more economical, and might also enable more participation in research related to insulin, or production of the medicine at smaller scale, closer to the patients who need it, further reducing costs and giving access to more patients who lack it.
\n\nCounter Culture Labs was founded by a group of hackers with diverse backgrounds and interests in the period from 2011 to 2012, with some members coming from Sudo Room, another hackerspace in Oakland that I participated in founding. Many were also involved in Occupy Oakland, and wanted to establish a more permanent organization with the same community spirit and values. Other members came from Biocurious, another biohacking space in Sunnyvale, in the southern end of the Bay Area. I became involved both because I shared the desire to build a community-focused institution, and because I have diabetes type 1 myself, which means I live with the frustration of costly and tedious treatment regimens day in and day out, and I know how much the standard of care for diabetes patients lags behind what recent research suggests might be possible. So, for my own sake, and for the sake of the others with the condition, I sought to take whatever steps I could to close the gap between the research and what is available to patients on the market right now.
\n\nAbout a year ago, some long-standing discussions around making a bioreactor to produce insulin, which had inspired a few previous attempts, turned more concrete when Isaac Yonemoto, another independent researcher of medical treatments, made some suggestions to us about interesting possibilities for innovation and improvement in existing protocols. We started organising regular meetings, and out of those we then organized a successful crowdfunding campaign, which then opened up connections to professionals who work on various aspects of the problem, both the science and engineering around insulin, and the questions of access to medicine. Through this it came to our attention that access to insulin lags far behind the need even now, and even in the most developed countries - costs of insulin are prohibitive even to many people in the US - and all in all, roughly 50% of those in the world who require it have no access to insulin at all, according to the 100 Campaign, a group working on improving access to insulin around the world. There is almost no generic insulin on the American market at the moment - the first one appeared on the market about two weeks after we finished our crowdfunding campaign last year, but it is a long acting type, which is only part of the therapy required by people with diabetes type 1 (about 15-20% of diabetics in USA have type 1; the rest have type 2). And for those who use an insulin pump, short acting insulin is necessary.
\n\nThe general problem in the first world is that the incentives and interests of producers and patient communities are not aligned.
\n\nRight now we\u2019re focused on achieving the first scientific milestones, which is to produce proinsulin, the precursor of the active form of insulin, in e. coli, in our small-scale community lab. Our lab runs mostly on donated and salvaged equipment and reagents and might be comparable in its capabilities to a lab in a less-developed area of the world where there is the least access to insulin. If we succeed, it would show the possibility that small-scale producers in remote areas might be able to make insulin to satisfy local demand, in places where centrally-manufactured supplies can\u2019t reach due to lack of infrastructure - where what roads there are, if any, do not let refrigerated trucks pass to ship needed pharmaceuticals in. Once we have a protocol that embraces everything from production to purification to near the level of purity of pharmaceutical grade insulin, we plan to approach established generics manufacturers with a case for the economic feasibility of serving the unserved market for insulin, and to partner with them to do the rest of the work of achieving sufficient purity of the product and scaling the methods to production. As we proceed with our work, the main batch of patents around the various forms of insulin are expiring, which will further help us make the case for a comprehensive portfolio of treatments to potential generics manufacturers.
\n\nProvided all this goes well, we might then pursue another idea, closer to our original hope of a bioreactor that produces insulin, and a kind of \u2018holy grail\u2019 goal in the DIY bio world, which is a desktop biofactory, an analog of desktop 3D printers, but for proteins and biologics, which we might develop to first execute one of our protocols to produce insulin, but which we might also design with more flexibility in mind. This would consist of a bioreactor portion that could grow a culture of e. coli or yeast, and then extract and purify a product from it - very roughly speaking, the union of a fermenter with an FPLC, a piece of equipment that purifies proteins. If that is possible, supply of insulin could be placed very close to the demand of the diabetics around the world in a simple, economical package, and reliance on distribution infrastructure would be minimized. It would also reduce the need to have skilled technicians with years of lab experience to execute these protocols by hand.
\n\nUltimately, I hope that opening up the tools for research to more people can help to bring research on cures to patients, and not just treatments. Let me mention a few of the more promising ideas that have had some success in research settings. One approach is to implant functioning pancreatic cells from a donor and protect them from immune attack by various means - hard to scale if you need a constant supply of donors,but it might be possible to grow cultures of the cells in vitro to address this. Another approach is to get the immune system to cease its attack on pancreatic cells, and promote the regrowth of the body\u2019s own insulin-producing cells, either in the pancreas, or in another tissue via gene therapy - a simpler approach to apply once it is developed. Some of the ideas use very inexpensive supplies such as adjuvants, the materials in vaccines that provoke an immune response - and there has been some success using adjuvants alone, or with carefully chosen additions, to get the bodies of diabetic patients to reduce or cease their autoimmune attacks. Other concepts address the metabolic changes behind type 2 diabetes. Several drugs between the research and commercial worlds of medicine can act directly on the metabolic control mechanisms of the body, changing its pattern of energy use and other aspects of metabolism back from the pathological state of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes to the normal, healthy base state. Some of them are small organic molecules, easier to make than proteins such as insulin, but due in part to reasons of cost and incumbency, are not mainstream treatments yet.
\n\nAt the most general level, what we seek to prove is that if an order of magnitude more people get involved in research and development of science and technology, medicine can progress much faster, and might no longer be held back by institutional constraints and perverse incentives in the economics of the institutions. Right now, we\u2019re a group about half a dozen people working regularly on the project, with a few dozen more people in touch every now and then to help out, and a hundred or two in the extended community, ready to answer a question or call for help. Every week or two, someone new comes to the group, who just learned about the project via the media or our regular meetups, and wants to help. Some are complete beginners and end up taking our introductory classes to biohacking, some already have experience but got tired of the limits of the institutions where they worked, or have relatives with diabetes and want to contribute to progress. Though we\u2019re building up a broader community of participation in research slowly, we hope our efforts can plant many seeds out of which future innovations will grow.
\n\nMeanwhile, we are looking to broaden a circle of people who can advise us, experienced scientists and engineers who can help us troubleshoot issues that inevitably come up when investigating the unknown, but we also hope to inspire other groups to work independently in a broader community of innovation. We would like to set up a network of both institutional and DIY researchers living all around the world who have different approaches and ways of making insulin as well as tackling other diabetes and health related issues. Beyond producing drugs, participants might research questions of access to medicine, investigate what patient communities need the most, look at academic publications to identify the most promising research that is not making it out to serve patients, or help establish the effort to build the desktop biofactory. Part of our goal is to prove it\u2019s possible and worthwhile for people outside institutions to take the initiative on these questions, and inspire others to take the lead in their own efforts and bring about the broader changes we seek.
\n\nDo you have any projects in health, medicine, or biohacking that you\u2019d like to work on, but lack people, knowledge, or resources to make it happen? Are you working on a diabetes-related solution? Or do you feel like a network of care biohackers is something you\u2019d like to get involved with? Leave a comment and let us know.
\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 523, u'user_id': 3370, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-22 09:36:29', u'title': u'Open Insulin'}, {u'content': u'Using Coral Reefs as a model, Edgeryders\xa0proposes a new kind of connective layer as an enabler of social and political renewal. One that is distributed, hyper-local and transnational at the same time. We are\xa0building a network of appropriate physical infrastructure in different locations, embedded in an online conversation equipped with collective sensemaking tools.\xa0
\n\nOur first Reef prototype is focused on supporting people and initiatives contributing towards making health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. \xa0
\n\nOver the next year we want to:
\n\nMore information: Slide Deck, \xa0Blogpost 1, Blogpost 2\xa0, 2 page summary,\xa0
\n\nWhere are communities running spaces for providing\xa0care and contribute to wellbeing?
\n\nWhere is there new space available now for an Edgeryders base?
\n\nWhat are people there interested in making happen, or work on locally together with Edgeryders?
\n\nWho is willing to barnraise around LOTE?
\n\nA scouting process involves a tour in the following countries (tentative, open to new suggestions):\xa0 round 1 Spain, Portugal,\xa0Italy, Morrocco.\xa0round 2\xa0Bucharest, Greece.\xa0
\n\nAttributes of the future ER space: We\'re looking to set up in an international space where people can live a good life on little money. A\xa0space\xa0for up to 20 people, where community members would be living and working there. Some people will be based permanently, others will be doing temporary residencies to work on projects. The focus is on experience based learning and key tracks will evolve from it as ongoing contribution to the local community.\xa0LOTE happens in the city where we find the space, deeply plugged into the local OpenCare community.
\n\nOFFER:\xa0"You get us a space, we do the rest" \xa0we can set up LOTE around a topic the community is interested in and draw international networks and support for direct local benefit
\n\nTANGIBLE PERK: "Host us at home, Join us in Hamburg!"\xa0The\xa0tour ends with a LOTE6 / OpenCare assembly at CCC with spots given away to (ideally)\xa0LOTE6 organising\xa0team
\n\nActionables:
\n\nOther activities: send out calls to community members we know in those areas; host weekly community calls for planning a local meetup; \xa0interview\xa0local initiatives online and assist them to\xa0join OpenCare;\xa0Tour in December - meetups, conversations, visiting initiatives; First LOTE6\xa0Team building and planning meeting at CCC; Plan fundraising strategy;\xa0Recruit a fundraiser
\n\nA full list of themes and curators/ speakers will make for a high level program we can then fundraise around and add detail to.
\n\nAttributes of LOTE6: In OpenCare we discover hundreds of projects changing the landscape of care giving in communities.\xa0We would like LOTE5 to\xa0barnraise around people\'s initiatives. In order to be\xa0serve participants and be consistent with the Care theme, the event has to approach\xa0several areas: physical (body exercising, manual work, therapy etc), personal (development and growth), and professional/ intellectual.
\n\nActionable:
\n\nLocal workshops\xa0in different places to socialize people into\xa0Lote6. People who volunteer to coordinate (eg LOTE team) will have\xa0a Plug&Play package to roll out. The events will move one step further than Open&Change workshops we did in Berlin, Thessaloniki etc - they will map in detail what is needed to barnraise around projects.
\n\n1) Show a map of OpenCare: what are people working on for\xa0wellbeing; pick a dimension\xa0and understand\xa0together what\'s needed to build systems around it
\n\n\n\n2) Help with the online registration and meeting the rest of the community.
\n\n...
\n\nTwo funding goals: offline (early fundraising\xa0and\xa0during the February and spring events)\xa0and\xa0online (crowdfunding in the runup and until the end of LOTE).\xa0Our fundraising goal is 20K
\n\n[insert here details about fundraising and role, timeline etc]
', u'post_id': 5976, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-25 10:37:23', u'title': u'Brainstorming LOTE6 roadmap with roadtrips, meetups and crowdfunding'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 754, u'user_id': 3425, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 20:19:22', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Ce texte est une pastiche qui n\'a jamais \xe9t\xe9 publi\xe9 suite au faite que le jour de publication \xe9tait le jour des attentat en France. J\'ai rencontr\xe9 Yannick qui m\'a propos\xe9 de partager ce texte ici, car comme d\'autre id\xe9e la r\xe9appropriation de l\'espace commun a comme b\xe9n\xe9fice des gens plus sain d\'esprit dans la ville. Voici notre proposition:\xa0
\n\nUne nouvelle Maison du Peuple!
\n\nAujourd\u2019hui est un jour historique pour Bruxelles. Apr\xe8s de longs mois d\u2019incertitude, le conseil communal \xe0 enfin tranch\xe9: le Palais de la Bourse deviendra le lieu commun de tous les bruxellois. Ils ont \xe0 nouveau une Maison du Peuple!
\n\nCe temple architectural est \xe9videmment d\u2019abord un choix symbolique. Apr\xe8s y avoir accept\xe9 la tr\xe8s controvers\xe9e exposition Behind The Numbers glorifiant le n\xe9o-liberalisme, la Ville s\u2019est rendue compte qu\u2019il fallait donner une autre destination \xe0 cet endroit que celle de pure sp\xe9culation commerciale et d\'activit\xe9 touristique. En transformant une partie de la Bourse en Maison du Peuple elle redonne une place aux Bruxellois au c\u0153ur du centre historique!
\n\nDonnez la ville aux habitants, et tout le monde s\u2019en portera mieux
\n\nOn ne comptait plus le nombre d\u2019actions contre les plans de la Ville: plates-formes citoyennes, regroupements de commer\xe7ants, actions ludiques diverses... Qui ne se souvient du banc de 30 m d\xe9pos\xe9 au milieu de la Grand place, ou des centaines de gens pique-niquant place de la Bourse, de l\'action de revendication des escaliers de la Bourse comme tribune libre d\'expression politique lors du KunstenFestivaldesarts? L\u2019espace public \xe9tait devenu un haut lieu de d\xe9bat, mais paradoxalement ne recevait pas d\u2019endroit ad\xe9quat pour le mener (une Agora). La participation ne remuait que du vent, les riverains ne se sentaient pas entendus. La ville \xe9tait taill\xe9e sur mesure pour les eurocrates, les touristes Chinois, avec commerces ouverts le dimanche, tandis que le Bruxellois devait se contenter d\u2019une ville certes prestigieuse, mais sans lieu o\xf9 il fait bon vivre, une ville d\'exp\xe9riences individuelles juxtapos\xe9es, atomis\xe9es, sans liens.
\n\nLe Beer Tempel projet\xe9 dans le Palais de la Bourse aura une entr\xe9e par l\u2019arri\xe8re, et c\'est tr\xe8s bien ainsi. Mais sans occuper tout l\'espace, il comprendra une nouvelle Maison du Peuple, o\xf9 chacun pourrait d\xe9battre de ce qui se passe dans la ville, o\xf9 les initiatives bottom-up pourront cro\xeetre, de nouvelles id\xe9es pour une ville meilleure surgir. Il importe de faire de ce lieu symbolique qu\'est la Bourse un espace de libre d\xe9bat, une Agora. Il s\'agit de rendre la ville aux habitants pour que tout le monde en profite, pour que l\u2019habitant s\u2019y sente bien. Alors le touriste, le commer\xe7ant et tout les autres s\'y sentiront bien aussi.
\n\nLa Ville esp\xe8re avec cette Maison du Peuple calmer les tensions palpables par le biais d\u2019une communication plus ouverte: un endroit de rencontre et d\u2019\xe9coute sera ainsi am\xe9nag\xe9 dans le b\xe2timent. En revitalisant de cette fa\xe7on la Bourse, en lui donnant une \xe9chelle humaine, la Ville aide \xe0 fabriquer le tissu social des prochaines d\xe9cennies. Bien s\xfbr, le touriste y aura sa place, car la Maison du peuple sera ouverte a tous. Mais nous ne voulons pas que la centralit\xe9 habit\xe9e soit confisqu\xe9e par une vitrine \xe0 touristes. A la Maison du Peuple, les touristes pourraient rencontrer des Bruxellois, trouver des bons plans pour une visite de Bruxelles vue par ses habitants, trouver le plaisir culturel de ville plus qu\'une consommation gr\xe9gaire.
\n\nUtopie et R\xe9alit\xe9?
\n\nEt maintenant vient la chute: on est encore bien loin de cette possible utopie \xe0 Bruxelles et c\u2019est bien dommage. On dirait que la peur panique du d\xe9sordre social jette la Ville dans les bras de la soci\xe9t\xe9 du spectacle, attractive aux investisseurs, par la privatisation de l\u2019espace public, le non-d\xe9bat constant avec les acteurs locaux, un trafic encore plus monstrueux, et de plus en plus de gens en d\xe9saccord avec chacun mais encore plus avec la politique bruxelloise...
\n\nUne souffle nouveau, un bref moment d\u2019air frais pourrait nous sortir de l\xe0, donc amis Bruxellois, politiciens donnez-nous cette Maison du Peuple \xe0 la Bourse.\xa0
\n\nSinon on la prendra!
I read this story and found it of interest.\xa0In a remote clinic in Mbankomo a\xa0doctor attaches electrodes to the chest of a patient lying on an examining table and records the patient\u2019s heart data on an African-designed touch screen medical tablet. The readings are then transferred wirelessly, over the mobile-phone network to specialists in distant urban centers for interpretation, diagnosis and prescribed treatment.
\n\nHere is the full story:
\n\nBy making it possible to perform tests, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) in far-flung villages, the tablet is bringing high-quality cardiac care to remote and often poorly equipped countryside clinics where many Cameroonians go for their health care. It connects rural patients suffering from heart disease, many of whom do not have the means, the time, the contacts or the strength to travel to the big city, with Cameroon\u2019s few, primarily urban-based cardiologists.
\n\nThe Cardiopad, developed by 26-year-old Cameroonian engineer, Arthur Zang, promises to bring high quality cardiac care to remote rural communities. It is built to withstand the humid climate and rough terrain of outlying villages. Equipped with a battery, it can run independently for around six hours at full power. (Photo: E. Harris/WIPO).\n\nThe potentially life-saving Cardiopad \u2013 designed in Cameroon to address a Cameroonian problem, but which is also widespread across Africa \u2013 is the brainchild of 26-year-old engineer Arthur Zang. For now, the heart reading and interpretation are just a simulation \u2013 but that will change soon if Mr. Zang gets his way.
\n\nThe winner of numerous overseas awards and grants, Mr. Zang hopes that his invention \u2013 imagine an iPad with home-build software built for deployment in the African bush \u2013 will revolutionize cardiac care in Cameroon. And for him, his business is also personal.
\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of people in my family who suffer from cardiac illness,\u201d he says referring to the recent heart-related death of his uncle. \u201cSo personally, this has affected me but above all I would say it has impassioned me, because I know personally the daily existence of people living in the village \u2026 I lived myself in a village and I know how difficult it is to get specialist care.\u201d
\n\nAccording to Mr. Zang, Cameroon has only a few dozen cardiologists in a country of around 22 million people and these are clustered in urban centers like the capital, Yaounde, or the main seaport town of Douala. Roughly half of Cameroon\u2019s population lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank, while many others live in urban areas that do not have access to heart specialists.
\n\nThe young engineer saw a problem and set out to try to fix it. In 2009, while still a student, Mr. Zang began developing a software product that could help doctors monitor the health of their patients\u2019 hearts. He made contact with a Yaounde-based cardiologist, Professor Samuel Kingu\xe9, who helped him better understand the type of technical solutions required. With these insights, the young engineer finally wrote a program that he loaded onto an off-the-shelf device. But he soon realized he needed the flexibility of his own platform, and so turned to developing his own hardware \u2013 the Cardiopad. \u2013 the first medical tablet in Africa, says Mr. Zang.
\n\nThe Cardiopad has a simple-to-use, touchscreen interface that is adapted to the needs of remote health workers who may lack familiarity with the latest computing devices and the know-how required to use them. In tests by the Cameroonian scientific community, the Cardiopad has proven 97.7 percent reliable. It is solidly built to withstand the humid climate and the shocks incurred while being carried over rutted, often unpaved dirt roads like the one leading to the clinic at Mbankomo. The device is also built to withstand the frequent power cuts experienced in Cameroon and across Africa. Equipped with a battery, it can run independently for around six hours at full power.
\n\nWith some 30,000 euros funding from the Cameroonian government, Mr. Zang was able to create a prototype and eventually travel to China, where he found a factory that could produce a limited run of Cardiopads while he searched around for partners to help fund his venture. Obtaining investments has been difficult. Finding the right contact in overseas companies is a challenge and the pitch is no easier. The device is designed to help Africans in rural, impoverished communities; \xa0something that not all companies see as a promising prospect, Mr. Zang says. That\u2019s why he intends to tap into a very modern financing model \u2013 crowd-funding on platforms such as Kickstarter, where users can donate funds to, or purchase shares in, fledgling firms.
\n\nFor now, he is searching for more funding, hoping to build upon the CHF 50,000 grant he received as a Rolex Award Young Laureate 2014. While funding issues have been a constraint, the pilot tablets he has been able to produce are now being tested in hospitals in Cameroon.
\n\nMr. Zang\u2019s aim is to produce and sell his device for around 2,200 euros which is significantly cheaper than other commercially available, less portable devices. The hope is that hospitals purchasing the low-cost Cardiopad will be able to lower the price of medical examinations and speed-up medical diagnoses.
\n\n(PHOTO: MIMORE MEDICAL)He also turned to the intellectual property (IP) system to help advance his work. In December 2011, he applied for a patent via the Organisation Africaine de la Propri\xe9t\xe9 Intellectuelle (OAPI) in Yaounde [see box]. OAPI later granted him a patent (No. 16213) on his technology, covering some aspects of both the software and the hardware.
\n\nObtaining a patent was an important step for Mr. Zang. \u201cI did it to reassure myself,\u201d he said, \u201calso to protect the product, and to have a lot more credibility in the eyes of, for example, partners with whom I wanted to sign contracts in order to be able to produce and then sell the product.\u201d
\n\nWhen funds permit, he also plans to register the Cardiopad, and his company, Himore Medical, which currently produces the tablet, as trademarks.
\n\n\u201cThe intellectual property system can help us in Africa \u2013 it can add credibility to African products. And credibility has repercussions on the business plan because if you aren\u2019t credible, it\u2019s difficult to sell your product,\u201d says Mr. Zang.
\n\nThe budding entrepreneur is already in collaboration with other young Cameroonian engineers to develop a range of additional medical devices and technologies for rural areas. He points to what he views as a disconnect in the innovation environment in Cameroon: in the medical space, in particular, many of the creators and inventors are young like him \u2013 roughly half of Cameroon\u2019s population is under the age of 18 \u2013 so they rarely suffer from the diseases that products like the Cardiopad are designed to address.
\n\nFurther, with a rapidly urbanizing population, urban dwellers may all too easily overlook the specific needs of those living in remote rural areas. For Mr. Zang, innovation requires a flexible mindset, a deep understanding of an entire economic ecosystem and an ability to commercialize ideas.
\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t only have engineering ideas,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to go further, into researching the problems confronting Africans and then pursue research into solutions, subsidize the creation of companies, create business incubators that can help nurture projects, researchers, engineers and really help them move from the laboratory to the factory.\u201d
\n\nUltimately, Mr. Zang\u2019s dream is to continue working to \u201cimprove life conditions\u201d by branching out into other areas of medical technology, envisioning specially adapted devices for echography and radiology.
\n\nIn the Mbankomo clinic, the lack of these higher-end materials is evident. Surrounded by a tidy plot of well-brushed soil dotted with shade trees, the one-story clinic is austere. Patient consulting rooms are cooled by open windows, but little advanced machinery is on display. Mr. Zang says doctors at the facility are overwhelmed by the health needs of patients, which range from the mundane to the mortal. Connecting these clinics to better-resourced hospitals elsewhere via the mobile phone system is establishing a lifeline.
\n\nMr. Zang hopes ultimately to manufacture the Cardiopad in Cameroon, and to help the country develop as a manufacturing center for lower-cost devices specifically tailored to low-resource environments and markets, like those in West Africa.
\n\n\u201cThis will help lower the cost of medical exams and the cost of good health across the regions, in the villages,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s it, that\u2019s the dream that is smoldering in me.\u201d
', u'post_id': 555, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-30 10:45:21', u'title': u'Cardiopad: Reaching the Hearts of Rural Communities in Africa'}, {u'content': u'An \xc1it Eile\xa0in Galway, Ireland would like to invite you to a workshop on Monday the 5th of December from 2-5.15pm in conjunction with Edgeryders, at Ballybane Enterprise Centre. The purpose of this workshop is to record stories of community initiatives for the Edgeryders Horizon 2020 Opencare research project.
\n\nWe will ask participating groups/individuals to write their story using the framework of the following questions to guide them in the writing and recording process.
\n\nWe would value your participation and hope that you will benefit from meeting other caring community initiatives as well as being part of the Opencare research project. To book a place please email bernardmcglinchey@gmail.com
\n\nDate: 2016-12-05 14:00:00 - 2016-12-05 17:15:00, Europe/Dublin Time.
', u'post_id': 6025, u'user_id': 3433, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-28 17:27:32', u'title': u'Caring Community Initiatives - Workshop in Galway'}, {u'content': u'How can we get better as groups at learning from the experiences we go through? I have been wondering about new approaches to care and this question has been much in my mind since interviewing members of the public during a project about the \u201cword on the street\u201d in Liverpool in 2015. It was a sobering month in which I came to know personally\xa0just how disaffected and disenfranchised the public felt about anything changing for the better in England.\xa0 In a comment on the Edgeryders community call on improving\xa0how we support each others mental and spiritual health, I wondered if \u201ceveryone who lives in a distributed area is in some way involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place\u201d. I feel a great potential for technological networks to create rituals and bring people together to process experiences in new\xa0ways. Generally, I\'m talking about creative\xa0networks for coming back to life: networks that invite people into a social experience to care about themselves and other people, to keep hold of their hopes, to understand beyond their own spheres of experience and to find\xa0support\xa0in being\xa0the magician of their own life. This is speculative stuff, I realise, so I\u2019ll\xa0anchor my offering to this strand in real examples and share work that I know of and am making.
\n\nA frank admission to start: the subject of networks of care is relatively new terrain for me. I\u2019m no expert and there are long histories and contexts that I cannot represent here.\xa0 I really welcome feedback, criticism, references and most of all, examples of working networks already in place. There are many excellent examples and the diversity of reports shared on this site - the variety of food sharing initiatives, performance and storytelling circles, maker spaces and innovative support systems\xa0- is informing\xa0my learning around\xa0this subject.
\n\nOne of the areas that show most clearly the positive effects that community interventions can have are post-conflict efforts. In this post, I want to tell you about the powerful work of theTrust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) who developed a program with survivors of the Nyayo House Torture Centre and other centres in Kenya. In a follow up piece I will look more at digital systems with a mind to exploring how elements of ritual and and formalised events for expression and listening might be tapped into in new ways to support communities through online means.\xa0
\n\nFacilitating Forgiveness: the hardest job there is?
\n\nI met Denis Ngala when I was doing some work in Timbavati, South Africa. He is a tall, radiant and infectiously joyful character, utterly grounded and with a sense of spiritual authority having spent most of his twenties studying in a seminary. He told me a lot about the work that he was doing in Kenya with TICAH and the problems that faced victims of torture returning to society after they had been released.\xa0
\n\nDetails of the intense suffering and the physical and mental abuse that went on in Nairobi\u2019s Nyayo House torture chambers and other places of detention during President Moi\u2019s regime are still emerging decades later. Ngala was working at facilitating meals for torture victims and their perpetrators where they could have honest discussions in an attempt to heal these old wounds. He told me that often the victims and perpetrators of the violence were people who grew up in the same village and had studied at neighbouring schools so he was often bringing together people who had known each other throughout their lives. The kind of emotional resolve and resources needed for either survivor or perpetrator to face the horror of the past and sit down together, share food and listen to each other\u2019s stories is frankly extraordinary. But Ngala describes his methodology when convening these meetings as based on simplicity: \u201cit is rooted in listening to one another and honouring each life story.\u201d His role as the third party, guiding the conversation, ensuring that each person spoke and was listened to has had truly beneficial effects. He tells me that some who have gone through the process visit each other and share their childhood stories or are able to meet at public occasions.
\n\nOne very illuminating aspect of this work is that the focus goes beyond the individuals directly involved. TICAH has looked to help educate the wider community to understand what had happened and how to support it. This was necessary as without\xa0 intervention communities often closed up, and rather than accepting the survivor back into social contact they viewed the returning survivor with unease and distrust, creating a situation in which survivors sometimes found themselves ostracised, left to deal with the experience alone.\xa0
\n\nTICAH met this situation with interventions that emphasised embodied communication and the creative body. They invited those effected to walk a labyrinth together in a peace ceremony and organised body map workshops that brought together different survivors to share their stories. The body-mapping workshops use art skills to trace participants\u2019 bodies and then map elements of their life stories onto this body map: visual elements are added that stand for the individual\u2019s aims, what supports them, the traumas they have lived through and their strengths. These visual records are a way of introducing the details of what happened in captivity back into the community to be held by everyone. So the labyrinth walking and the body-mapping make the real lives, bodies and experiences of the victims a public experience and enable the wider community to listen to and appreciate how these survivors managed to live through painful and unbelievably challenging times.\xa0
\n\nThe Human Element
\n\nThis is incredible work - through these interventions TICAH help communicate that the process of recovery is not the problem of the victim of torture alone, but is in a very real sense owned by the whole community. One striking aspect is the emphasis on accepting the seriousness of the situation - dealing with the very worst of what humans can do to each other - with vital, dramatic, expressive interactive meetings. The labyrinth walking is profoundly beautiful group ritual and the body mapping opens up the assembled individuals to listen to the challenges that others have lived through, and it does this in a joyful and creative way. Reconciliation over food feels innately right. The activities though almost timeless in their simplicity are unusual and unexpected, and generally unlike anything that any of the participants have done before. The act of doing something new is particularly suited to transforming problems as there are no painful memories attached; it opens up new horizons and is perhaps more likely to lead to a renewed present.\xa0
\n\nWhen I ask Ngala what networked technologies could do to help these efforts he replies that they could help facilitate expression: \u201cIn this work there are problems, most of them could be solved through sharing. When survivors are given opportunities to share their stories they heal fast. Networks would provide a good platform for people to share their experiences. Sharing could be done through writing or be spoken. Narrations could be recorded and later could be used to make short clips.\u201d I think of just how possible this is as it is poses a clear and actionable technological problem, but looking at Ngala I wonder whether he realises how key his presence is to the process and the quality of the interaction. What forges the profound shifts in people\u2019s experience is how their expression is received, listened to, validated and responded to. When speaking with Ngala, a man with vast generosity of soul and focused attention, you really do feel stronger. He beams at you and honours your presence in a way that is rare. In conversation with him you feel that your words matter, your life is respected and that miraculous healing is possible. Popular culture tends to talk about purging emotions, as if emotions are toxic material that needs ejecting from your system, but what Ngala\u2019s work shows is that the magic is in the courage to speak honestly and the grace of being heard: that\u2019s when emotions turn into understanding. The human catalysts at TICAH are so much a part of why these reconciliation attempts have been successful and any attempt to extend the work through technology needs to factor this in at the centre.\xa0
\n\nSimplicity of invitation, creative expression, embodied shared experience, working and listening to others, ritual time and focus, the unexpected, all these feel like good leads for designing a transformative care network. TICAH\u2019s emphasis on shared humanity and that each person is a human being with a different story encourages survivors and perpetrators alike to stand strong in themselves, to understand the past and live a better day.\xa0 I think of post-conflict creative efforts like http://reflections.org.np/ that creatively depict the subjectivities of Nepali people in the aftermath of the earthquake. There is a courage in projects that present every person, even though they may have lived through horrendous circumstances, as a human being with a unique story and power.
\n\nDigital Networks for Creative Care
\n\nStrong mutual care is essential not only in places seeking to recover from atrocities, but generally for\xa0people working together and sharing space, especially if they are "living on the edge". Change is difficult and every group\xa0liable to conflict. E.C. Whitmont writes in The Symbolic Quest that \u201cThe seeming inevitability of conflict among the archetypal "powers" can cause us to experience life as a hopeless, senseless impasse. But the conflict can also be discovered to be the expression of a symbolic pattern still to be intuited.\u201d There\'s a potential that we can reach into the intuitions that come out of difficult experience and grow understanding of group dynamics to create pathways that do not end in violence, abuse and waste. The sad cases of suicide, sabotage, ill health and conflict that we know of in digital tech, startup and hacker cultures show that forging wisdom in this area is important.\xa0
\n\nI\xa0feel the\xa0need for strange networks of care:\xa0unusual, compelling networks that don\u2019t attempt to fix anyone but make healing and self-understanding an adventure and help individuals back into the simple joys of communion and creativity. To\xa0explore\xa0group dynamics and coherence in\xa0recent projects I\u2019ve been involved in, I\'ve worked with beans http://www.rootbeans.com/, with dreams (following the method of my mentor Apela Colorado) http://oneiricarchives.tumblr.com/\xa0and with storytelling http://www.thehaguecenter.org/pathways-project-2/. \xa0Back up in Liverpool we\'re improvising on Stafford Beer\'s work on group dynamics in public meetings. Whether it\u2019s VR group therapy where you experience your own body and other people in highly unusual ways or group Skype rituals for reconciliation the whole notion of care networks is wide open for innovation and renewal.\xa0As a guiding design point I think the only answer to questions like how can ritual time be held online or how can digital networks provide the intensity of feedback of live interaction is bold creativity. If you have examples of\xa0creative online\xa0systems to faciliate group communication and support\xa0that go beyond a\xa0message board or online forum and become something more vital and "live" please share them.\xa0 I\u2019ll be at 33C3 if there\u2019s people from the Edgeryders community who want to meet around the\xa0theme of hacking\xa0strange networks of care. There\u2019s also an option to organise a session: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Static:Self-organized_Sessions\xa0
\n\nLearning in Doing\xa0
\n\nThere is a huge amount of trauma recovery material and contexts for group psychology that I do not know about. It is challenging terrain. As much as it\u2019s essential to tread carefully, it is also necessary to create. The outpouring of emotional pain, anger and concern after the American election makes clear a need for strong communities of action and bold ways for participating in new stories. As worrying as is the prospect of making mistakes around mental health, the more worrying prospect is not creating networks to meaningfully connect up alienated, isolated or suffering individuals. Local actions, online networks and communities are all growing this November: each network has a different focus. Involving digital technology to reimagine group psychology and care (beyond Facebook) is just one of the potentials to help these evolving networks support themselves.\xa0
\n\nNgala\u2019s experience shows that targeted and bold ventures can reboot the community\u2019s ability to support\xa0and that there is the possiblity of even the\xa0most horrific of violations\xa0healing. The greatest thing that I learnt from Ngala is the scale of his belief. When I ask him what has been the most illuminating discovery about human care through facilitating this work he replies: \u201cThe most amazing thing is we are all human who heal despite all the experiences we have met in life\u201d.\xa0 His belief is born out by his experience. It is vital not to miss the transformative quality of having one person believe in another. I consider the enormous amount of work and transformation needed in the decades ahead to meet the problems of our time and then I think about three human beings sitting down for a meal in Kenya and have the sense that great tasks are possible if we learn to work together.\xa0
\n\nLinks on article:\xa0
\n\n\n\nhttp://www.ticahealth.org/files/TICAH-nyayo-house-torture-body-maps.pdfInterview with TICAH\u2019s founder Mary Ann Burris\xa0with details on body mapping:\xa0http://practicalmattersjournal.org/2011/03/01/burris-interview/
\n\n\n\nPhoto:\xa0Denis Ngala\xa0in South Africa\xa0
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 553, u'user_id': 2754, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-21 15:42:40', u'title': u'Vital Networks: the work of transforming experience into understanding'}, {u'content': u'If you are not a legal entity, you are obviously exempt from any authorization regime, bureaucracy requirements etc. Your scope for action is limited only by the freedom of individuals in your legal system.\xa0
\n\nOn the downside, unincorporated initiatives cannot easily use some of the services that legal entity can. They canot hold a bank account, sign a contract, rent an office etc. They rely heavily on the good will of the people who believe in them to maintain coherence, even \xa0more so than incorporated ones.\xa0
\n\nThe Helliniko Community Clinic is an example of a very effective care initiative that has decided not to incorporate.
\n\nMany care projects need physical spaces, but buildings have an especially top-heavy regulatory regime in many countries. Rather than ask for authorizations, some groups find it easier to start \xa0by illegally squatting their building of choice, then negotiating with the owner. The act of squatting creates a problem for the owner; an agreement with the squatters can be presented as the solution.\xa0
\n\nBelgium (and maybe other countries too?)\xa0has a legally attenuated contractual form for people and organisations to temporarily occupy buildings. One of its advantages: industrial spaces or office buildings can be temporarily repurposed as living quarters. Loic is an expert in this area \u2013 see here.
\n\nStarting with a phrase from woodbine-health-autonomy-center\xa0\xa0
\n\n\u201cThis practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. \u201c
\n\nTo my understanding of OpenCare, then this is the very essence. Breaking out of \u2018failed institutions\u2019 https://edgeryders.eu/en/escaping-failed-institutions-through-evasive-entrepreneurship\xa0while staying clear of trouble.
\n\nAs @markomanka remind us: \xa0...it will break.., but let\'s skip the simple logical stuff to which we all agree (Being ethical correct, Good Clinical Practice, Protect privacy, Helsinki declaration, Risk assessment\u2026) and make some foothpaths in the illogical legal jungle, mapping the traps and dangerous animals. Let\u2019s also stick to EU continent of bureaucratic beasts.
\n\nTherefore\xa0this\xa0proposal of creating a\xa0living document to collect knowledge, references and safe practice
\n\n(My initial title suggestion:) OpenCare Legal Evasion Guide or How to keep clear of lawsuits
\n\nThere is a start\xa0in the 100$ overview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NKc2bM1FnpQ9zCEveieFr7bIGA9JkI8U_adsBpyma1A/edit#heading=h.5obrk7n45hk3 but I think it would be better with a dedicated collaborative document.
\n\nDraft for a table of content:
\n\n* How to get around ensurance of responsibility etc..
\n\n* Can you reproduce a patent for non profit or private use? How do you work with or around licensures/certifications to provide safe care? (from :https://edgeryders.eu/en/woodbine-health-autonomy-center)
\n\n*\xa0How do you interact with existing structures?
', u'post_id': 5913, u'user_id': 3331, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-22 09:54:22', u'title': u'OpenCare Legal Evasion Guide: mortal issues for humans helping out'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 717, u'user_id': 3363, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-15 00:29:20', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Hello there,\xa0\xa0 I am copying a story on behalf of Filippo, a volunteer to the community of\xa0 pemphigus, an auto-immune disease that affects skin layers, causing them to detach, form blisters, among other complications.\xa0\xa0 Filippo will join the conversation, but we wanted to speed up the onboarding barrier, while link the story to other software volunteers whom we met at the MakerFaire in Rome.\xa0 Lets see how his works
Lately I\u2019ve been having sudden cravings to get offline and do to things with my hands which don\u2019t involve a keyboard. With several people in town we hosted a community dinner as a way to take action against something happening every day under our noses - massive good food throwaway. By households, restaurants, markets and especially supermarkets, by you, by your family, by your neighbor, by me. We collected food close to being dumped and got people to cook together and share a meal while interacting heavily around the issue.
\n\nI won\u2019t ramble about why it\u2019s important we pay more attention to food overall - from where and how far it comes from, the cost of having nicely chopped avocados on a restaurant plate, to how we pick stuff off the supermarket shelves and never wonder where the brown bananas are going, to how we realize our canned peas are overdue after having been hidden in overstuffed fridges or pantries (it\u2019s a trap!). You know this already, right?
\n\nFood Waste Combat in Cluj (FWC) is a local collective experimenting with creative ways to address the issue, and I joined them for many selfish reasons, but mostly because I\u2019d like to see food activism reach educated, resourceful urbanites. I\u2019m one of them and I think as a group we can do better. We\u2019re well positioned to use a tiny bit of our time doing something other than work, other than expensive hobbies, other than just consuming. It seems teaching each other how to eat is a pretty low hanging fruit.
\n\n\n\nMore photos here.
\n\nI think it\u2019s worth sharing why and how we did it:
\n\nWe got hold of things like kiwis,\xa0lemons, green salad and baby spinach in too decent shape. Such good food is dumped every single day!
\n\nWe\u2019re thinking of hosting more intimate meals cooked from our own food surplus but for extended friends circles, then gradually expand so the new people coming in at every step are immersed in an already knowledgeable group. I have a hunch this favors deeper learning and behavior change. Another thing we\u2019d like to do is move forward with Yello Fridge (community based, outdoor and public) an idea that only needs a neighborhood space to get started.
\n\nI\u2019d also be curious to hear if you\u2019ve participated in similar food related events. Do you have advice for how to run community dinners regularly and outstandingly?
', u'post_id': 798, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-11-04 18:31:01', u'title': u"How we hosted a Food Waste Combat community dinner and why it's time to make it a habit"}, {u'content': u'Recruiting people for testing a hybrid bicycle (see here), personal experiences were confirmed: mother nature gives us ideal conditions (Milano, Italy) such as sun, no wind and flat terrain. We are however trapped because private motor transport rules the roads and scares us. Are you a wheelchair user, mother/father with baby carriage, cyclist or pedestrian then you have a handicap. Traffic is dangerous and public transport is prohibitive\u2026.unless you already know your way. If you just use Google maps o Here maps for navigation you will be trapped.
\n\nSo we need to figure out a soft mobility map which can help us demonstrate that you don\'t have to stay home or take your car to the gym to work out. You can get around in many ways and keep fit at the same time.
\n\nWe need
\n\nWho\'s in?
', u'post_id': 779, u'user_id': 3331, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-04 13:34:30', u'title': u'Can we hack or tweak maps to help where infrastructure fails for soft mobility (people with special needs, cyclists, pedestrians)?'}, {u'content': u'Saturday: baby milk bottle official price\xa0= 10 pounds
\n\nSunday: baby milk bottle not available in markets
\n\nMonday: army goes down to the market with 30 million milk bottles, the price: 30 pounds, the media goes like: \u201cthe army saved our babies, long live the army\u201d
\n\nThis is a routine scene in lands of horror.
\n\nThe previous scene sums up the role of our government in our lives, a direct enemy you try to avoid day by day, and freedom of expression is guaranteed on the walls of bathrooms in prisons.
\n\nFaceless states and everything about it was dark.
\n\nBased on the above, we had to find mechanisms to ensure us to life in the light of repression, but we are lucky, all we had to do is follow a system of solidarity that exists already in our values and upbringing.\xa0One of the basics of this system, the most simple rule of it, you find in the words of prophet Mohammad: "he does not enter the paradise, he who whoever sleeps full of, while his neighbor is hungry".
\n\nYou find also in our beliefs that god will be on your side as long as you are on the side of your brother.
\n\nMostafa Khalifa, the Syrian novelist, in \u201cThe cochlear\u201d is talking about a young man who was arrested for twenty years, the charge - muslim brotherhood. The guy was a.. Christian.\xa0In the same novel: talking about a group of young people, call them silf (Fedayeen): their mission is receiving torture instead of the elderly and sick people and those who lost and those who lost their endurance, can you imagine that the (Fidayeen) were singing under torture: "O prison darkness come, we love darkness, inevitably after this long night daybreak is coming"
\n\nBy the way altruism is still there and it is main reason why the Syrians in Syria are still alive.
\n\nSocial solidarity is in its worst conditions in this war but still can feed the hungry and keeps warm to those who are cold. For example the project of "grace conversation"\xa0in Damascus which provides medicine for thousands of families from excess medication at other families, and also "maoayed alrahman"\xa0which are food tables spent by the Syrians with very high annual cost ( 50 million dollars) in 2014 through all the cities.\xa0In addition to internal displacement thousands of families are participating with their\xa0homes and food and many other live examples.
\n\nThe shape of our lives makes us one body: we know our relatives, enjoy their joys, get sad for their sadness. The satisfaction of our grandparents is as important as our parents.
\n\nThe poor celebrate double in our holidays because of a race for\xa0goodness, because the concept of "Eid"\xa0in the perception of Islam linked to "Zakat"\xa0which is basically the process of cleansing the money by giving the poor his legitimate right of the money which is 2,5 percent of annual profits in secret.\xa0If there is no secrecy Allah does not accept it .
\n\nAnd many annual grants to the poor some of it linked to time, and some linked to personal events like "Akika"\xa0which is slaughtering two\xa0rams\xa0and distributing them\xa0to the poor when the child is born.
\n\nOf course every rule has exception but the united community can overcome it.
\n\nEvery citizen has moral responsibilities and he is already indebted to the community.
\n\nThere is no perfection of course, being in Europe allows me to discover the value of freedom, human value, accept differences, respect the personal space, working hard. To be precise I have to admit that the western civilization is the mirror which we see the deterioration of our situation through it, and the image we want to be closer to.
\n\nThe respect for the human person, the system of rights and duties, which I respected from the first day. But living in the middle east gives you the chance to see the dark face of that world, the military training field I came from taught me to not believe the existing models, the part of relations of states specifically.
\n\nI\u2019m talking here about the weapons/arms markets, and other markets based on the dead bodies of other states. Especially after watching the news talking about Aleppo, Mosul \u2026 etc Cheap games to prolong the war, unlimited support for the parties of the conflict, in exchange for contracts and concessions we will know in the future.
\n\nTransforming the world into struggles areas to gain wealth, and safe areas to enjoy the wealth.
\n\nReligion also had a lion\u2019s share in the misuse and legitimization of wars has nothing to do with religion and history is full of examples. The equation of religion and ignorance had a devastating impact through history and nowadays it is very clear that faith without understanding is more dangerous than earthquakes, with corrupt regimes support hate speech that all you need to have new Libya, and with governments are the direct enemy to their citizens you will have Syria or Iraq if you are lucky , and in order to not equate the killer with the victim, I blame the governments for expanding the circle of ignorance, and put the platforms in the service of semiconductor scientists and intellectuals.
\n\nUnder these conditions the best thing you can get to is the Egyptian model, with hungry ignorant people afraid to be like those in Syria or Iraq, governed by fascist goverments.
\n\nBut I believe in the communion of civilizations.
\n\nThe ashes of war go away by time, and civilization remains.
\n\nFor some reason we live short lives, nobody knows the reason more than you, nobody can tell you what is the ideal way of thinking, but for sure at least in the civilized world we can be like ants villages, be single hand for the good of future generations, to get a world does not force you to be a refugee, a world where mankind life in the first consideration, morality and intelligence to regulate relations.
\n\nMy message to the reader:
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by\xa0Op3n Fellowships\xa0- an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 797, u'user_id': 3465, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-28 10:22:42', u'title': u'Solidarity in Middle East'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 747, u'user_id': 3415, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-18 15:16:41', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'I am a member of the Inaugural Class of Minerva Schools at K.G.I., as well as Minerva\u2019s, Mental Health Services Programs Coordinator for Berlin and Buenos Aries. Which sounds great, but seriously, what the heck does that even mean?
\n\nMinerva is a new university that aims to reimagine the paradigm of higher education, based on the science of learning. All classes are seminars, with a flipped classroom structure. Meaning that we students, learn the content on our own and spend time engaging with the deeper concepts behind the material. Moving the emphasis away from the professor teaching and instead towards students learning.
\n\nAll of this is facilitated by Minerva\u2019s online platform where all classes take place. Every student (no more than 20 per class) webcams into class, where the platform allows our professors to more easily check how much everyone is participating in the discussion, send us into breakout groups, and live poll the class. Beyond being of instructional benefit, the online format takes away much of the typical costs of facilities development and maintenance that traditional universities place upon their students. Additionally, it allows Minerva to be a genuinely international experience. Our student body is comprised of students from over 40 countries. We live and travel together to seven cities (in as many countries) in cohorts no greater than 150 students. \xa0
\n\nThis unique structure has brought together an amazing community, with potential for changing many of the ways we view higher education. However, there is one factor of higher education that I work most with, and that is students\u2019 mental health and wellness! Minerva students\u2019 have necessarily high work loads, a variety of cultures and constantly transitioning lifestyles, which makes it the perfect edge case to gain insights on how to improve mental health care in universities.
\n\nAccessibility of Resources:
\n\nIn the U.S., a 2014 study found that the average ratio of university mental health professionals to students is about 1:2080. This means that students in need of counseling services face long wait lists and a low amount sessions, resulting in care that is often literally too little too late.
\n\nThis has a simple fix: dedicate resources so that students who seek help can get it! The real challenge comes in getting students to value their own well being and to reach out when they feel they need mental support. 80% of students who commit suicide (the second leading cause of university student death) never come into contact with any staff from the counseling center. How do we address these issues?
\n\nThe answer is Cultivating Care through Community!
\n\nThis is where my work comes in. As a student working on the school\u2019s mental health team I get work on changes that try and address mental health before it becomes an impediment to education. Currently, I am working on a training for students to learn how to better manage their self care and stress management. Additionally, we are adapting trainings from other universities to include aspects from the science of learning, and create a more lasting impact. A prime example of this is the Student Support Network Training (originally developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute), where students are nominated by their peers to learn how to better understand their own mental health, as well as support friends by caring for them in crisis and connecting to the resource they need.
\n\nIn addition, it\u2019s no longer enough to focus solely on the counseling department\u2019s efforts to improve students wellness. Our academic team offers periodic sessions with deans and professors to help students improve their writing, time management and other skills that can lead to increased stressed when not appropriately addressed.
\n\nThe Student Experience Team has created a series of traditions that brings the student body together as well, to fight the isolation that can commonly occur when students transition into college. Every monday evening a different student takes a leap of faith and give their \u201cMinerva Talk\u201d, by sharing the story of their life so far. On Wednesdays students gather in small groups for Supper Clubs where they all bring some food to share as they explore questions that push them to be vulnerable.
\n\nWhile we still working on figuring out a lot of how we address student well being (and build this university) it\u2019s become clear that the future of student care must be holistic and not just reactive.
\n\nI\u2019m curious to hear your thoughts and also what you are working on! Please connect with me or comment below.
', u'post_id': 724, u'user_id': 3374, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-25 01:02:28', u'title': u'Using the University that is Rethinking Higher Education to Rethink Mental Health Care for Students'}, {u'content': u'\'Are you on a mission? And how come that trauma - such a heavy word, such a serious matter - is your passion?\' That is what people ask me when they hear about my tour, about me and my bus traveling through Europe to talk and teach about trauma and to try to soften the pain of trauma. \'No, I am not on a mission (that is a far too \'religious word for me to befriend with) - and yes, trauma is my passion, and I do have a message.
\n\nI really believe that pain should come in the open. That it should be de-tabooed: we should know more about it, understand better what traumatic pain is, how it functions, how it takes possession of us, we should be able to look at it more closely, to be with it (for a while). Trauma, pain, fear ... we\'d rather not experience it or watch it happen in someone else\'s life. It is like with \'death\': we know it is part of our lives, we all have to deal with it, and yet we don\'t - because it\'s (too) uncomfortable. How to talk about human mistreatments, heavy physical pain, profound disrespect of your person, or situations where you felt like if your life was in danger? How to share the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness that go with such pain? We often do not know how to do that, and try to ban painful events and feelings from our minds, we want to forget about it.
\n\nIt is something in pain itself too. We\'re hardwired to avoid and suppress pain. It helps us survive, it helps us to go on. Avoiding, minimizing and denying pain is our most natural, short term solution to deal with pain. It is a survival mechanism. It often takes a while, from seconds to minutes, to physically feel the pain caused by an accident, a car crash or a broken leg. Not feeling the pain gives us more time to save ourselves, to get away from danger. \xa0Out of the car, walk away and call the ambulance f.ex. On the long term, however, not feeling isn\u2019t very effective. Because it is impossible to heal from something we don\'t acknowledge. On the long term, suppressed pain comes back to us, like a boomerang. That is what trauma and traumatic pain is about: it is pain that doesn\'t seems to go away, pain that stays with us far too long, as a residue of what happened to us.
\n\nI believe that this residual pain needs to be addressed more openly. \xa0
\n\nTraumatic pain can be softened - and it should be. Because unresolved trauma makes us sick, depressed and heavy-hearted. It deregulates us, deeply and on many levels: mind, heart and body. We know that traumatic pain lies at the heart of most contemporary diseases, be they mental or physical, we know that trauma adds to almost every sickness as a major contributing factor. And yet ... the knowledge about trauma and how to address it to lower its dramatic impact on our lives is far from common.
\n\nThat is what my tour is about: I want the world to be trauma-informed.
\n\n\n\nI want people to come and look at the pictures on the bus and ask questions. I want them to learn about trauma and realize that healing is possible. We can all learn best practices regarding talking and coping. We can all learn to calm down and regulate a body in fight, flight or freeze modus. We can all learn techniques to stop nightmares and flashbacks. We can all learn to help traumatized persons recover. It often takes not more than 15 minutes to help people sleep better: help them release tension before they go to bed, by offering a relaxing breathing exercise, or teach them to intervene in their dreams by using their imagination, by rehearsing a different ending for their nightmare f.ex.
\n\nWe are all on a mission: to a certain degree we all need to become trauma specialists. First, we need to deal with our own trauma\'s and those of the people around us. We need to dare to feel and face our pain instead of running away from it. Second, there\'s too much suffering in the world as to leave its resolution to the clinical field or therapeutic setting. Therapeutic knowledge should be accessible to all of us, it should not be protected and copyrighted. Therapeutic knowledge should be alive in the world, not only in shrinks\u2019 offices. That is why I do what I do: share my knowledge about trauma with you, share insights, methods and techniques from the field of trauma healing ... so that we can all, together, ease and soften the pain in our world. \xa0
\n\nI don\u2019t know of any other projects sharing therapeutic knowledge in the way Trauma Tour does. But the idea of a trauma-informed world is related to a growing field of \u2018self care\u2019: taking responsibility for one\'s own (mental) health by reading self help books, attending self help groups, becoming experience experts, \u2026 It is long known that helping on this \u2018equal\u2019 level, is often more effective than any method or technique. It is also known that the relationship between \u2018therapist\u2019 and \u2018patient\u2019 is a major factor when it comes to healing. If we combine both, \u2018helping expertise\u2019 and \u2018being equal\u2019, it seems a very natural thing to come out of our offices and share therapeutic knowledge with those who suffer. It makes \u2018us\u2019 helpers and \u2018them\u2019 traumatized people equal human beings, fellow human beings. It restores humanity.
\n\nI\u2019m now in the middle of planning my first big tour: driving down the Balkan route and visit Greece in December 2016 / January 2017. If you\u2019re reading this and you want to support Trauma Tour, please check out my website, there\u2019s a list of things you can do to help me : call me in for a training, be my local host on my way down to Greece, put me in contact with people who might need me \u2026 An easy and very effective way to support Trauma Tour is to make a financial contribution - I thank you for that!
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 795, u'user_id': 3403, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-22 15:10:56', u'title': u'A Bus Tour for a Trauma-informed World'}, {u'content': u'Hello everyone
\n\nI am a full-time community mental health nurse based in Ormskirk Lancashire. Since 1998 online Have championed a conceptual framework - Hodges\' model which was created to facilitate person-centered, holistic, integrated care and reflective practice. Currently I am researching the model at Lancaster University in Technology Enhanced Learning. My Part 2 project involves evaluating the model by creating a new web resource to prototype specific content types, gather data and create some research interest.\xa0I plan to use Drupal to create my research platform.
\n\nI have just posted news of OP3N on my blog "Welcome to the QUAD"
\n\nhttp://hodges-model.blogspot.co.uk/
\n\nJones, P. (2004)\xa0The Four Care Domains: Situations Worthy of Research. Conference: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication, Brighton, UK.
\n\nJones, P. (2008)\xa0Exploring Serres\u2019 Atlas, Hodges\u2019 Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109.
\n\nJones, P. (2009) Socio-Technical Structures, the Scope of Informatics and Hodges\u2019 model, IN, Staudinger, R., Ostermann, H., Bettina Staudinger, B. (Eds.),\xa0Handbook of Research in Nursing Informatics and Socio-Technical Structures, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 11, pp. 160-174.< br /> Jones P. (2014) Using a conceptual framework to explore the dimensions of recovery and their relationship to service user choice and self-determination.\xa0International Journal of Person Centered Medicine. Vol 3, No 4, (2013) pp.305-311.
\n\nYou\xa0may find this model relevant to your respective projects, if so please get in touch...
\n\nIf you have any key papers, reports or conferences I\'d be delighted to hear of your news.
\n\nBest wishes in your work.
\n\nPeter Jones Community Mental Health Nurse CMHT Brookside Aughton Street Ormskirk L39 3BH, UK
\n\n& Graduate Student - Lancaster University: Technology Enhanced Learning Blogging at "Welcome to the QUAD" http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/h2cm
', u'post_id': 676, u'user_id': 3285, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-07 17:42:54', u'title': u"Hodges' Health Career (life chances) Care Domains Model"}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 749, u'user_id': 3420, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 13:35:20', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u"Our challenge is to rewire neighbourhoods to take care of teenagers tending to the specific needs of their age, addressing the formation of social emotions, vocation and self knowledge.
\n\nEurope's population decline must be addressed not only regarding maternity and natural population decrease, but also promoting the dynamic and innovative qualities the younger generations always contribute to society. Making young people relevant, inviting them to our social life, giving them a frame to belong in a European future is the necessary counterbalance for our aging and shrinking population.
\n\nThe rate of cultural change linked to technology has been constantly increasing and initiatives to educate our people must overcome institutional slowing down, if our societies are to participate significantly in the future.
\n\nTraditional educational systems are failing to take social changes into account. The inertia of national states behind educational institutions is failing to answer to the reality of communities that are experiencing social change at a faster than ever rate. The future we imagine cannot be reached following old pathways.
\n\nTeenagers are left out of social life, with no appropriate spaces or other activities expected from them, apart from attending compulsory school until an age that keeps rising as the human life cycle prospers. In a phase of life characterized by passion and vocation, loads of energy and bluntness, teenagers in Europe find themselves institutionalized and irrelevant.
\n\n\xabFuture Tools\xbb project is an acknowledgment of the value teenagers have for society: they hold our future in their hands. \xabFuture Tools\xbb is a space designed with caring attention to fit the needs of our young generation, aiming to connect them to a new world of opportunities by inviting them to work, to collaborate, to participate and to have a voice in their own community. We can now apply our knowledge about adolescence to provide a comprehensive environment in which teenagers can develop healthy social emotions, autonomous and egalitarian participation.
\n\nProvide an alternative to corporate uses of technology through the culture of the commons; spread collaborative habits in neighborhoods; build activities rooted in intrinsic motivation that bloom in communal benefit are some of the ways \xabFuture Tools\xbb will engage people in fostering a society with greater equality, solidarity and sustainability.
\n\n\xabFuture Tools\xbb is a common learning lab for teenagers. By offering youngster a place to gather and pursue their interests while promoting their autonomy, we aim to empower them to work for a better future. Sharing resources and interests in an alternative learning space, the culture of collaboration and the democratizing possibilities of technology, this place will have its roots in the neighborhood\u2019s daily activities and funnel the parents\u2019 interest in social promotion for their kids towards a more inclusive society.
\n\nThe abundance of open resources that can be freely accessed through personal learning environments to learn digital skills \u2014such as computational thinking, governance software, UX design, in fact any skills that we may need to implement our projects in the world\u2014 is an opportunity, never known before to such a widespread extent, to empower our youngsters to build a better future.
\n\nThe neighborhood as a community comes to relevance in the task of \xabhelping grow adults\xbb. The age group that most closely matches the Secondary Education stage in our culture has in the neighborhood its spatial range of freedom, just one step away from the wide world they will live in as adults. Connecting these neighboring communities to the global emergence of the digital culture as makers and participants through their own teenagers is a pertinent, strengthening link between local and broader communities.
\n\nIt is urgent for these generations of parents and offspring to leap forward over institutional stagnancy and give ourselves the shared resources we can provide for our own borough, in every neighborhood, nurturing our tribe-prone teens from the gang to the team, by building around them the common ground for community.
\n\nIt is sometimes sad hear stating that what is being promoted for innovation in the field of education \u2014on the basis of empathic personal exchange, attention to the tempo, sensibility for intrinsic motivations, in short: the wisdom of caring for each other\u2014 are outdated methodologies. Digital tools offers a new breeze to these methodologies, an opportunity to enhance the soft aspects of learning and allow us to cast aside production-line techniques when it comes to our kids: lecturing, memorizing, exams, ringing bell schedules, curriculums and subjects. We can now afford those luxuries our industrialized schools didn't plan for and, dragged by institutional inertia, won't anytime soon.
", u'post_id': 796, u'user_id': 3468, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-27 09:29:22', u'title': u'Future tools'}, {u'content': u'Idea is about helping the families of the patients who have alzheimer\'s at last stage. We know that people who has alzheimer\'s has a bad habbit of running away of house or indoors to outdoors. Idea is about prototyping a Wristband with a LCD screen which gives the patient info about their home and family members basic infos. How they love him and want to see him now... At the same time the wristband will sent info about where the patient is, \xa0what is his hearthbeat rates and how far did he goes via GPRS. We should tag the family with RFID so when they come close to the patient, Wristband recognise the family member and says calming infos and sentences to the patient in order to recognize them.
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nOur goal is to design a friendly wristband with an LCD monitor who works like a double agent, helps both the wandering person and the caregiver/family.
\n\nWe can
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
This skecth is from our\xa0brainstorm.\xa0
\n\nhttp://www.medicalert.org/product/catalog/medical-ids
\n\nhttp://www.alz.org/core/alzheimers-dementia-wandering.asp
\n\nhttp://www.alzheimers.net/2014-02-20/technology-changes-future-of-alzheimers/
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Project Lifesaver
\n\nhttp://www.projectlifesaver.org/
\n\nProject Lifesaver International is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, the first pioneer to apply tracking technology for the search and rescue of individuals with cognitive disorders, and have remained the leader, the Gold Standard, in this field for the over 17 years. What makes our approach unique is that we have created an entire education and training program that includes; tracking techniques and technology.
\n\n
The PLI-1000 Locator System is the newest radio frequency based tracking system that is available to member agencies and to caregivers of loved ones who are prone to wandering. This is the same technology that our membership uses. The PLI-1000 Personal Locator System includes: One PLI-1000 receiver with attached Yagi antenna, one nylon case, one pre-preset 216 MHz 60 day transmitter with oval case, one 9V receiver battery, six transmitter batteries, six transmitter bands, one transmitter tester, and an instructional guide. Cost to the public is $799+plus shipping.
\n\nSOO EXPENSIVE
\n\n\u200bGPS Smart Sole
\n\nhttp://gpssmartsole.com/gpssmartsole/
\n\nGPS SmartSole\xae is a smartphone hidden and sealed in an insole. It uses the same GPS and cellular technology as your smartphone, is charged like your phone, and requires activation and a data service plan. Like your phone, it works cross country within cellular network covered areas.\xa0
\n\n
\u200bSafe Link GPS
\n\n\n\nDependable tracking solution for wandering Dementia
\n\n
PocketFinder\xa0
\n\nReceives GPS location data from multiple satellites. PocketFinder sends GPS location as frequently as every 2-minutes through cellular network. Cellular carrier sends encrypted data to PocketFinder servers. End-user logs in to account using smartphone, tablet, or computer. End-user can manage everything for PocketFinder using smartphone. When PocketFinder goes in or out of zone, Alert is sent to end-users via text, email, & push notification.
\n\nRevolutionary Tracker
\n\nhttp://www.revolutionarytracker.com/
\n\n', u'post_id': 777, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-30 14:53:28', u'title': u"Alzheimer's Wristband"}, {u'content': u'Idea is about helping blind people about the outside world\u2019s obsticles. Smart stick should have a simcard for navigation (GPRS) communication with friends, family and hospitals. Smart stick should have accelometre sensor to sense the obstickles in streets and roads. It should be used with earphone. It should converts envori- ments conditions to sound via APPs or API\u2019s of google Maps. Normal people could use it too, it can be designed as 2 peaces (modular) People without disabilities can take the top part from the stick and put it in their bags (with earphones)
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nOur goal is to help the blind people. Our perspective is to find a way to eleminate the difficulties they face everyday.
\n\nHow to?
\n\nWe can
\n\nuse a eyeglasses with earphones - headsets and eye bandages
blind smart sticks
Techonolgy out there
\n\ninfrared sensors
Arduino + 3 ultrasound sensors+ buzzer +motor - Another chipset + RFID + ultrasound sensor
Project Halo:
\n\nRigid frame (I used a round embroidery frame)
Female headers (for the sensors)
Ultrasonic Rangefinders (Parallax Ping Rangefinders) - Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve-nient)
Glue
Twist ties to tidy up wiring
Soldering station
Male headers (for creating a bridge to feed 5v and\xa0ground
RJ-45-Term Screw Terminal (2) - RJ-45 Cable
Marker
Motor Modules:
\n\nVibration Motors (5) - Motot, VIB,3V/60mA, 7500RPM
Grid-Style PC Board
Male header pins
Motor "shroud" (to prevent things getting sucked into\xa0the motor)
Haptic Headband:
\n\nHeadband
Sewing Kit
5 Motor Modules
Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve-nient)
Safety Pins
Female headers
Soldering station
RJ-45-Term Screw Terminal (2) - RJ-45 Cable
Marker
Wiring the Microcontroller:
\n\nArduino Mega 2560
Wire (Wires with male and female leads are conve- nient)
5 LEDs
Darlington IC - ULN 2803A - 2 port screw terminal
9v battery
5v regulator
Building the Software:
\n\nUSB cable
PC (for editing code and downloading to Arduino)
Arduino
Arduino development environment (www.arduino.cc) - Source Code, modified Ping.h library
Smart Blind Stick - Instructables
\n\nAn Arduino uno.
\n\nA Ultrasonic sensor( HCSR04 ).
\n\nA Mini breadboard.
\n\nA 9 volt battery.
\n\nA 9 volt battery connector.
\n\nDC male power jack.
\n\nA Buzzer.
\n\nSome Jumper wire.
\n\nAn Broken cellphone from scratch.
\n\nA Toggle switch.
\n\nOther tools and parts used in this project :
\n\n3/4 inch diameter PVC pipe (used for making the stick).
\n\n3/4 inch diameter PVC elbow.
\n\nInsulation tape.
\n\nSome small screws for mounting Arduino. Screwdriver.
\n\nUtility knife.
\n\nInstant adhesive Glue.
\n\nA Box to Put your Arduino and other electronics, or think about it later.
\n\nXploR cane
\n\nThe \'XploR\' mobility cane was developed at Birming- ham City University
\n\nIt uses a camera and built-in sensors to scan for faces in a crowd
\n\nIf it recognises a face the cane vibrates and guides user with audio cues
\n\nSensors work up to 32ft (10 metres) and faces are stored on an SD card
\n\nRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/science- tech/article-3090790/X- ploR-cane-uses-facial-recognition-spot-friends-family -crowd-guides-blind-user-exact-location.html#ixzz4L 51k7yJX
\n\nWhat have been done?
\n\nhttp://imwm.org/the-infeared-walking-cane-by-parasuraman-kannan/
http://arduinoart.blogspot.it/2015/05/project-guide-stick-for-blind-people.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Haptic-Feedback-device-for-the-Visually-Impaired/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3090790/X- ploR-cane-uses-facial-recognition-spot-friends-family-crowd-guides-blind-user-exact-location.html
I would like to share how complicated schooling and university education is in Madagascar, and how people are going about it, trapped between history and modernity. This big Island to the right of \xa0Africa hosts20 million people, the majority still living under \xa01 \xa3 a day. They have a lot of opportunities which still need to be explored. And those opportunities are in the hand of the future generations who need some rejuvenation.\xa0
\n\nMalagasy parents used to tell stories and legends to give wisdom, advice and knowledge to their children. When there were some schools appearing they thought that a story is not enough to raise their own child. Wisdom came before knowledge for Malagasy people. As Malagasy are saying "Let your behavior be like a tree: if the roots are strong enough, leaves can shake as they want." \xa0Parents decided to send children to school and encourage them to go further as long as they can support them. In fact having a son or daughter graduate from University is an honor for parents and children, it means that both are successful. In that time, to accept a job opportunity easily, leaving the familial cid and flying with their own wings is easier.
\n\nNowadays, child education is a must until the 6th grade, to be exact. Knowing how to count, writing one\u2019s name or read, that\'s enough in some suburban places. Somewhere in the South of Madagascar kids have to travel 3 hours through village or dunes. Sometimes walking 15 km from school and going back and forth, sometimes students get a half day of school. There has never been a bus school or transport, and even if students get a student car they don\'t get reduction.\xa0
\n\nIt\'s happened that teachers don\'t get paid for three months, become lazy and don\'t teach classes. Sometime parents and someone in charge on school find a solution, telling parents to give some amount of money or telling his child to bring some rice for the canteen. In small villages school is far, college and high school is even farther, University is more in the province.\xa0
\n\nIt\'s happened also that parents are less educated and don\'t know how to guide the child, in fact the essential for the children is to manage their own life insurance.\xa0
\n\nGraduating from University doesn\'t make sense anymore for young people.\xa0
\n\nAs a young Malagasy person I know where we have been, but I don\'t know where are going...\xa0
\n\nAfter finishing your studies you need to line up behind millions of jobless for a job opportunity. \xa0After investigation ; Many those young people\xa0struggle and move on the street working as a "taxi phone" mobile cheap call, bus driver, gold digger... any available job in general. Some get influenced by easy money called "bizna":\xa0it means selling anything, from a friend or relative, like cell phones, computers, tyres, cars.\xa0Those who have funds to run their business can invest into something short term or permanent like restaurants, jewelry, imports etc.\xa0
\n\nLet\u2019s talk about it: 67 % of Malagasy people are about 15 to 25 years young. \xa0Statistically 15 % of graduates get an exact job for the position that they prepared for in University, 65% remain jobless and 10 % know someone high placed and get to work for an unsuitable job and that they don\'t have any idea what it is about or how to do; about the last 5% have something \xa0planned for, and finally the 5% remaining help \xa0parents at home. Many foreign companies like to employ people from Sri Lanka or Indonesia because they are more skilled and less corrupted... We have more and more foreigners who are coming here to get rich. It\'s also another gate for economy and illnesses from both sides.\xa0
\n\nThere are some good things in progress.\xa0Recently I met some people from Christian missionary\xa0called ADRA "Adventist Development and Relief Agency" \xa0using techniques to improve farming for those who have land or what to farming it was only a campaign. NGOs like USAID who have been here since 32 years to help Malagasy people to realize goals of development, recover from natural disaster like cyclones, health care like malnutrition, sponsoring on project used to be only for educational like "youth and reproduction", \xa0"Youth against HIV". But it\'s only in the capital or on a regional campaign for few times and not long enough to be remembered by people. They are trying to give free training, help and support for young people in suburban areas but ... sometime with no success . Youth Volunteers like Peacecorps almost every year whose giving free teaching, help and give some supplies like pen and copy book, chalkboard \xa0etc.. if they have something to give.\xa0
\n\nAll those things are looking good for a while, but they have no impact on their lifetime. There is no precise political with systematization or screening. There is not enough community who cares especially for young Malagasy. Insecurity, infrastructure and corruption are principal factors which still exist since long time and drag in deep water the majority of those young people. When I was asking them to give their thoughts, they say: " We felt abandoned by the government, they only thinking about how to full they pockets. As we learned from school: "I" is going first and "YOU" is after, that\u2019s how people in government are thinking. Our daily duty is to wake-up, go outside chilling with friends, and go back home at lunch time\u201d.
\n\nFinally, Malagasy people cannot lean on their own government, it doesn\u2019t have enough budget to overcome this or: the budget is going somewhere else which is more important, like towards health. Private school is plenty even if some of them don\'t have the right character as a normal school: no playing ground, no gates... Parents like it because the teaching method is quite modern and up to date, teachers are quite professional. \xa0Some of those private schools belong to someone on the Government. The good thing is that teachers in private schools are at least able to do their job smoothly and actually finish school programs.\xa0
\n\nMalagasy people still believe that education is the best legacy.\xa0
\n\nHow do you find ways to make a living as a young generation which government does not care for ?
\n\nPlease go\xa0ahead, ask questions and add your comments :)
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 746, u'user_id': 3340, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-17 20:27:51', u'title': u'How do you find ways to make a living as a young generation which government does not care for?'}, {u'content': u'"Podziemne Pa\u0144stwo Kobiet" is both a documentary and a collection of abortion stories from Polish women who had illegal abortions in the past two decades. Poland most likely is the only country in the world that had abortions legal by law (1956-1993) and changed it "backward".\xa0We ended up having one of the most restrictive laws in the world, and the legislators were smart, by\xa0avoiding criminalizing women (with whom society would sympathize) and focusing instead on everyone else who assists with abortions (the penalties are up to 8 years in prison), creating a system of fear and paranoia.\xa0
\n\nThe first thing that strikes\xa0about abortion in Poland is the statistics - according to Polish Ministry of Health in 2013, there were 744 legal abortions and 718 of them due to the risk of birth defects. 3 of them due to rape and 23 due to the risk posed to women health. In 2015 there were 1044 legal abortions. For a country with 38 million inhabitants, these numbers seem just wrong. In Spain or UK, these numbers are 200 or 400 times higher. And it\'s estimated that illegal abortions every year account for between 80.000- 200.000 cases in Poland.\xa0
\n\nSo, what kind of abortions are available in the underground and how do women access it?
\n\nChirurgical abortions are one of the common ways. They\xa0usually happen in\xa0hidden spaces, often barely up to any standards, with basic equipment, sometimes only in the presence of doctor (women who come to get the abortion might end up assisting them). The price of an abortion is at least\xa02000 zl (500 euros), and it tends to go up with the standard. In some cases, when doctors are well connected, they can even perform them in hospitals, which would double the price. Many doctors who refused to perform a legal abortion are perfectly fine with doing it illegally after settling the price with their patients.\xa0
\n\nConsidering that the minimal wage in Poland is 1850 zl, and the average is 4000 (yet many people struggle to get contracts, work on 3/4 of full time, or often work on irregular gigs earning even less than 1000 z\u0142 a month with no minimal wage per hour), the price is quite prohibitive and exclusive. Many women end up taking\xa0loans to pay off their abortions.\xa0
\n\nNowadays, women contact pro-choice organizations to find out\xa0who can help them with abortion. Since the 90ties, press and internet advertisements were the ways to find\xa0doctors who\'d perform them. Such services would be named as "painless restoration of menstruation"\xa0- and involve either chirurgical help or access to drugs, highly overpriced. In many cases a friend or a relative knows who does it in your town. The fear and paranoia remain anyhow - women are asked to leave the clinic right after the procedure is done, regardless of their condition, in order not to bring suspicion. They\'re asked to park their cars far away from the place of appointment.\xa0
\n\nSome of the informal groups specialize in organizing abortions abroad. Ciocia Basia, a group of volunteer activist, helps to organize legal abortions in Berlin. For a price of 290/390 euros, they arrange pharmacological and chirurgical abortions in clinics, help with translations and offer a couch for the women coming over. Another popular destination is Slovakia and Czech Republic - it\'s super easy to find websites in Poland of clinics in these countries that provide with professional and anonymous help. Prices are similar to those in Polish underground.
\n\nAnd then you have the pharmacological abortion. There are two drugs containing\xa0misoprostol registered and available in Poland, one of which can be bought without the prescription. Women usually end up making up stories about stomach pain or rheumatic grandmothers to buy them. Sometimes both of them can be obtained from "under the counter", forums also advise to ask a man to help\xa0buy them. Misoprostol should be accompanied by mifepristone to increase effectiveness (the combination of both has 98% effectiveness, while only misoprostol alone is between 80-90%), but the latter drug is not registered in Poland. In this case organizations such as Women on Waves help to buy and ship\xa0them from other countries (they ask for donation of minimum of 70 euros, but they do support women in economic difficulties by providing them for free). It is well known that some of the doctors write prescriptions for these drugs (a pack of 12 costs 25 zl, but can be sold 10 or more times more expensive on the black market) and help women get access to them via advertisements. It\'s impossible to track as these drugs are not refunded by the state - therefore not registered anywhere.\xa0
\n\nDue to lack of widespread support, some of the women organize support groups on online forums. They look for other women who seek\xa0abortions or just had one, share their stories\xa0and explain to each other what happens to their bodies, how to access drugs, if nausea is a normal reaction to pills, etc. As in some cases, pharmacological abortion can lead to prolonged bleeding and even death, they offer each other a call of support during the abortion, which takes up to a day. It\'s recommended to call for an ambulance in case of emergency - doctors cannot tell if the miscarriage was illegally inducted or not, and that save\xa0lives in some\xa0instances of home abortions.\xa0
\n\nI am still reading some more about the abortion underground in Poland, and if I find some more interesting facts, I will updated this text. I also encourage you to share your stories on how women access abortion in countries with restrictive law.\xa0
', u'post_id': 793, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-18 10:38:49', u'title': u'The Underground State of Women'}, {u'content': u"Garden of Life
\n\nWe chose the name 'Garden of Life' \xa0for our After School projects, as we believe that every child is like a different flower, and if nourished in mind, body and spirit, will blossom all together to make this world a beautiful garden. We understand that connecting with nature helps raise our consciousness and that brings out the best of everyone; our learning model raises our students mind, body and soul through sun, earth, technics in mindfulness, respect for one another, other living creatures,\xa0and themselves. Each flower needs watering and nurturing and for them to blossom, we need patience to let each one discover their own potentialities and dare to live them.
\n\nMission
\n\nWe are an\xa0International Academy and After School projects, empowering a new generation with life skills and tools to reach higher consciousness allowing them to discover the seed of genius that they are born to be. We encourage them to explore and find their passion through a strong connection with nature and one another, respect for themselves, alongside latest technology and a diverse array of opportunities to aid in bringing to light a balanced, joyful, skillful, intelligent and compassionate Human Being enabling them True Prosperity.
\n\nVision
\n\nGarden of Life Academy shall empower its students to find their passion and to have a balanced, joyful, skillful, knowledgeable and compassionate life leading them to True Prosperity.
\n\nOur academy will have presence world wide, creating a network (Garden Of Life Global Academy) as well as a teaching model easily replicable for those around the world who want to join us sharing this human and close to\xa0nature\xb4s approach, that allows this model to be widely recognized as one of the best options for teaching life skills in After Schools.
\n\nDiscerning Parents
\n\nAre you disillusioned with your child's full education? Would you love for your child or children to learn in a family environment that personalizes rather than standardizes that extra education and where you are always welcomed to become involved? Would you wish for your child to not only be coached in academia from school, but also in ethics, life tools and how to connect to others, nature, growing and preparing healthy foods as well discover his or her full potential? Would you wish for your child an environment that brings out the genius we believe is within each and every one of us, through exposing them to many opportunities to explore what that is? Would you be thrilled if your child would learn not only to nurture others but themselves?
\n\nThe projects are for children from 6-12, whose parents wish for their child or children to have a full all round education that teaches those life skills that may not have been covered at school. The projects will provide a stimulating, yet family environment housed by those in the community that has a home that could accomadate 5/6 children after school. Someone that who would also benefit from this interaction. The training manual will cover all aspects of working with children to help them discover mindfullness and therefore their own true potential,\xa0growing gardens, activity and performing and visual Arts, The projects will wish to keep their numbers to a ratio of 5-6 children to each Garden of Life Teaching coaches or knowledgeable volunteers sharing their skills, from carpentry to journalism.
\n\nEach project - The children will;
\n\nStart \xa0with clearing the mind and De-stressing \xa0tools and create positive affirmations for themselves
\n\nThey will create,care and nurture\xa0gardens created in a small environment.
\n\nHelp prepare their own healthy snacks, learning to care and nurture themselves
\n\nLearn from knowledgeable skilled Volunteers in diverse fields in the local area
\n\nPlay music, dance, enjoy performing and visual arts and sports using all their senses
\n\nExplore group activities and group projects
\n\nBecome part of a growing Global Garden of Life network of other families and friends.
\n\nand our ethos is:
\n\nI hear I forget, I see I remember, I Do I understand
\n\nWe can best help children learn by making the world accessible to them and helping them explore
\n\nStudy without desire spoils the memory and it retains nothing - Leonardo de Vinci
\n\nThe best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't always tell you what to see
\n\nChildren must be taught how to think, not always what to think
\n\nGrades do not measure intelligence and age does not define maturity
\n\nTrue Prosperity is a Life full of love, passion, joy, compassion, health and well-Being
\n\nTools to learn how to work with the inevitable change and stress in life, is as essential as food
\n\nEvery child is like a different flower, and if nourished in mind, body and spirit, will all together make this world a beautiful garden
\n\nWith these examples implemented in our projects we know children can master anything they show passion for, and find the intelligence to help them achieve the success that is needed for their individual dreams and importantly, help them achieve True Prosperity in their lives.
\n\nMichele Claiborne
\n\n'As a Life Coach and Natural Healer for children and adults, I am so aware of the lack of life tools most have not been privy to learn. Everything from basic health and nutrition to people skills and coping with life's inevitable changes and stresses and how to follow their passions and live a life of what I call 'True Prosperity'. I am passionate, along with many others, to help the new generation in learning these tools. I have created\xa0an inspiring program for children through all my work and other renowned scholars, that truly makes a difference in the lives of the children, the families and eventually the planet. Give a child the right environment and the right approach to learning and I believe the child will blossom into his or her full potential, brimming with confidence, compassion, intelligence and passion for life. I feel privileged to have begun this challenge by opening up Garden of Life Academy After School projects first in New Orleans where it was founded but now it is ready to share this\xa0International vison!' I hope you join me, either as a sponsor, student, participant or becoming the principle of your own Garden of Life Academy After School Learning Center and enjoy the thrill with me in being part of aiding this New Generation.'
\n\nTrue Prosperity for everyone, Michele Claiborne
\n\nPre- school teacher in England Suffolk for three years (including mothering \xa0her own two children)
\n\nCompany Director of Claiborne Publications, creating educational publications for children. \xa0Author of over 60 titles including the internationally successful magazine Play and Learn & Play and Learn for Tomorrows World
\n\nQualified as a Natural Healer, Counselor, Health and Life Coach
\n\nCreator and host for a Radio educational program on BBC radio in England, Play and Learn for kindergarten children
\n\nSummer camp director for Play and Learn summer schools in England
\n\nThe founder of H.E.L.P. Hands-on Education for Life Project in Africa teaching basic health, nutrition and Garden skills to children and mothers
\n\nCo-founder of Love a Child foundation, a charity to support children from poor areas of the world who are refugees, abandoned, abused, exploited or orphaned
\n\nHealing Arts International Festivals - Spain and New Orleans bringing the performing, visual and Healing Arts as a education program for all those who attended
\n\nFounder of Edible City Gardens.com educating children and parents how to create edible gardens also helping New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center with summer camp
\n\nFounder of the Garden of Life Academy project
\n\nNurture Mind,Body and Spirt GARDEN OF LIFE ACADEMY!
\n\nAt GARDEN OF LIFE ACADEMY \xa0you will be taught by Michele Claiborne and eventually other faculty members with many years of experience, trained in our method of teaching and a vast array of qualified skilled volunteers from film makers to musicians and carpenters to editors.
\n\nHere are some of the reasons that set us apart and we need funding for:
\n\nWe offer opportunities for each child to explore an array of life tools and experiences that are not offered at many schools
\n\nWithin our family environment (using local individuals or families that can facilitate 5/6 students) to enable to\xa0nurture each child truly believing that he or she is a genius within his or her own field and teach them how to find their passion and follow it and how to nurture not only others, but themselves
\n\nWe need funds to train others how to\xa0bring the best out of each child, ethically, practically and intellectually using the GOLA learning program helping children and young adults to find True Prosperity in their lives
\n\nOur first GOLA After School project was successfully\xa0held at Edible City Gardens, \xa0New Orleans, The Old School House, 417 Dakin Street on\xa0February 2014 starting 5th on Wednesdays, 4-530pm with accompaning parental or adult supervision .\xa0
", u'post_id': 539, u'user_id': 3405, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 17:25:34', u'title': u'Garden Of Life Academy'}, {u'content': u'Happy to introduce our new recruits!
\n\n\n\nYbe Casteleyn alias @ybe is a Belgian therapist specializing in trauma and pain and is now starting her own\xa0bus tour\xa0journey to offer affordable services in places where people most need them. It must take some bravery as a professional to say "Medical diagnosis and treatment are often very \'traumatic\' = overwhelmingly disturbing". So now Ybe is\xa0connecting\xa0with community members in Greece to give a hand to displaced people in Greece!
\n\nwww.traumatour.eu
\n\n\n\n@Alkasem is a medical student from Syria and\xa0someone we met in Brussels during the OPENandChange workshop last month. He surprised us all by\xa0holding\xa0a mirror against\xa0us by asking where are the families of homeless people living in the streets of Brussels? Don\'t they have families to care for them? There are things we can learn from Islamic solidarity, and looking forward to read Alkasem these days.
\n\n\n\nThe @Woodbinehealth collective\xa0in New York City\xa0are building (health) autonomy in the wake of Occupy: "We are also beginning to experiment with providing care outside of the realm of state control. \xa0This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. \xa0Our intention is always to heal, and so we must find ways to do so that protects providers and patients."\xa0If you haven\'t seen it yet, this shivering video makes the case in question much better than I ever could:
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 5969, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-21 10:43:03', u'title': u'Meet the latest Op3n Fellows: that we may all be non-specialist care givers'}, {u'content': u'The \u2018Big Bang Schools\u2019 is a new educational approach and a new type of schools that are re-designed for an era of exponential technological advance and social change. The project seeks to create innovation labs for real human challenges and the planet, helping shape the future instead of repeating the past. It is considered as a catalyst for a new civilization paradigm of joining forces towards \u201cupgrading humanity\u201d.
\n\nWe used the name \u2018Big Bang\u2019 in a symbolic way to highlight the explosion of new ideas and the creation of brand new knowledge from scratch. A new Big Bang of Creation is about to start at Thessaloniki in the following 2 years (2018) hoping that the idea will expand to other Greek cities and abroad. A school where learning is accomplished experientially, in harmony and interaction with the natural environment, aiming to lead children on a wonderful quest.
\n\nCentral in our philosophy is that educational activities must take place within the natural environment and the whole procedure must be supported through workshops where pupils have the opportunity to discover and connect with new information. Our educational approach encourages the development of capacities through observation, flexibility, adaptability, evaluation, goal setting and self-confidence in order to create their own path of life.
\n\nThe Big Bang Schools are furthering the vision of our initial project, the \u201cSchool of Nature and Colours\u201d. This is an educational role model of creative self-management, in which pupils are taught beyond the curriculum how to learn in-depth, sing, dance, stage theatrical plays, raise funds for their school through a vegetable garden and make their activities and campaigns are known to the public using social media.
\n\nIn this framework, we organize a unique Creative Centre for our children which we called BIG BANG after SCHOOL\u2019. This is a comprehensive program for elementary school children and kindergarten, where all participants are able to connect with music, cinema, dance, theater, arts as well as workshops in creative thinking, constructions, architecture and engineering. Additionally, we created a specific program for elementary courses such as science, history, philosophy and multilingualism. In this project, everyone is welcome to contribute in different ways besides financial support. This is a project designed to benefit children and parents who seek for alternative educational methods of learning and interacting with people and the natural environment.
\n\nMy name is Angelos Patsias, an educator on my 30s who aims to launch various innovative activities that will help create a new educational system that will meet the specific needs of each and every place. I started my studies in Primary Level Education at the Democritus University of Thrace and I am currently reading issues for an MA candidate at the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Crete. My philosophy of life encourages me to encounter every difficult circumstance as an opportunity, and at the same time, I strongly believe that returning to the simple meaning of life is an essential action.
\n\nMy partner, Veta Georgiadou has been a kindergarten teacher in public schools for 22 years. Our collaboration in \u201cBig Bang Schools\u2019 project started when she watched my TEDx speech about \u2018Breaking the walls between school and society\u2019. As she usually says: \u2018Children are the best tutors because they believe in miracles, the life at a present time, are full of enthusiasm and are creating all the time\u2019. She studied pedagogics, eventually becoming a wife and mother of three children and her constant self-searching voyage with pupils, parents, teachers, who never stop learning and reforming is still ongoing.
\n\nThe third partner, Yiannis Sotirakos, is a serial entrepreneur developing projects and technologies towards \u201cUpgrading Humanity\u201d, and innovative educational and edutainment platforms to empower the youth.
', u'post_id': 761, u'user_id': 3432, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 18:42:56', u'title': u'Big Bang Schools see children as tutors because they believe in miracles'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 781, u'user_id': 3451, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-05 06:18:48', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'a story how a team started a medical camp with the intention to help as amany people as possible who otherwise would have not received care,
\n\nMedical camps have been running in partnership with the villages of Bupsa and Bumburi attract local people from miles around, many of whom walk for many hours and often days to attend the camps. These medical camps are led by Nepalese professionals who are assisted by qualified volunteers and medical and dentistry students from the UK.
\n\nThe long and expensive journey to the hospitals in Laksha and Kathmandu (sometimes taking days) are out-of-reach for the majority living in these low-income communities. Their main source of income is from subsistence farming and small profits are often shared throughout the community. So as you can imagine, when word gets out that these clinics are nearby, villagers flock to them in the hope of securing a cure for their health issues.
\n\n\xa0There are currently no permanent doctors in the region, which is home to a large, ethnically diverse population, spread over a number of rural communities made up of low income households. People lack access to basic health care and specialist treatment and have to walk for many days to attend the nearest hospital or else take the long and expensive journey to Kathmandu. The medical camps provide free consultation, treatment and advice from specialist qualified doctors as well as access to free medication.\xa0The goal is to one day provide the communities in these remote Himalayan villages with permanent medical care and qualified staff, rather than a temporary clinic run from an outbuilding of Bupsa\u2019s monastery.
\n\nThe group that started the initiative were limited to leftover equipment from the previous clinics\xa0and a small amount of supplies that they carried in with them.\xa0 One of the most common problems witnessed were musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs are a widely spread problem facing porters and farming communities who endure hard physical labour day-in-day-out. Muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and nerves can all be affected, causing discomfort to intense pain. The reduction of these disorders caused through employment is a key objective of the EU through its Community Strategy, proving just how fortunate we are to benefit from\xa0accessible healthcare.
\n\nRead the full story here: \xa0http://wildernessmedicinemagazine.com/article.asp?id=1026
\n\n\n', u'post_id': 734, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-08 11:32:48', u'title': u'Rural Medical Camps'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 773, u'user_id': 3380, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-30 13:28:00', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'This two part evaluation exercise is a follow up on the most discussed topic in our Brussels Workshop. We talked most of the day about collaboration and how we want to find better ways to create fruitful coaction. If we want to be abble to work together inside our value system, we need to understand how we work. If fruitful collaboration means working togheter while feeling good towards each other in a mutual environment of respect, these two thought bubbles could be for you.
\n\nThis article is a more personal post that came to mind after evaluating my own participation in two projects and how horizontal organizations can play mind tricks to your own involvement.
\n\nModern organizations, starting as a local and small group of people tend to go fast in an horizontal or flat organization structure. People are seen as equal and every role is important, it helps to feel involved, and makes the range of possibilities bigger. But without a leader the group misses sometimes direction and efficiency is less visible. Roles are then distributed and somebody becomes head of design, head of funds or head of communication. Productivity is flowing again, but for me a subtler barrier is still in the way. From idea to task you still need preparation, and that is something I\u2019m completely lacking of.
\n\nYou could argument that everybody needs to do his part of preparation, and you can\u2019t only be the philosopher, but I lean to see a collective as an ecosystem where each other strengths are put up front and we organize ourselves around this.
\n\nOften I tend to fill the gaps as soon as I see them. If something practical isn\u2019t been taken care of I jump to do it, because I\u2019m good at last minute problem solving, but with my lack of preparation skills, if it is to much in amount it take all my energy and i\u2019m doomed to fail, followed by personal and collective frustration.
\n\nThe Thinkers, the Preppers and the Doers
\n\nSo instead of blocking on my personal incompetence, I try to solve it by what I like doing: systemical thinking. I categorize all work inside an organization in three categories that flow in each other: Thinking, preparing and doing.
\n\nVisualize your own strengths and weaknesses as a finite set of skill points like in a video game. In your short or long-lived life you earned skill points through events and big moments. You gathered your knowledge into one of those categories and how more you collect how more you can handle in that category, but other way around: tackling tasks inside a category you aren\u2019t good is time and energy consuming with an inefficient consequence as a a result.
\n\nUnless you are a superhuman that can do everything alone, in an organization it is rather intelligent to search for each other complementary skills. A thinker with a lot of energy to give to do will need a preparation master as his right hand. How bigger the group how more difficult it is to find a balance, but have five thinkers and one prepper you will never get the job done.
\n\nThe big difference with a vertical organization is that in a flat organization those three categories aren\u2019t intended. Where you have specific roles inside a hierarchical organization build around power the thinker will always be above the prepper that will be above the doer. When you see everybody as equal we try to divide also the categories equal, but there is the catch: not a lot of people have throughout their lifetime chosen to equally distribute their skill points.
\n\nWhat we need is better understanding about this kind of dynamic. Knowing this I\u2019m intended to take lesser practical mid-long tasks and preparative tasks on me cause I never trained myself and communicate it with my teammates to see how we can find a better dynamic inside the collective. On the other side, give me a task, well explained that takes a certain amount of time, even repetitive, I\u2019m your guy.
', u'post_id': 785, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-07 11:04:24', u'title': u'Collaborative Tools 1: Why flat organizations still need honest role division'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 775, u'user_id': 3380, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-30 14:42:07', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Loic made a paper to analyse\xa0squat\xa0spaces that are more then meets\xa0the eye. In his conclussion he goes deeper in the possibilities of this kind of habitat.
\n\n"Dans le contexte actuel de crise aigue du logement et en consid\xe9ration du taux de vacance des immeubles bruxellois il nous parait manifeste que les projets d\u2019occupation par l\u2019habitat solidaire, tels que celui du \xab 123 rue royale \xbb, sont une\xa0r\xe9ponse viable et durable.
\n\nElle est inclusive : personne n\u2019est exclu d\u2019embl\xe9e, les personnes rencontr\xe9es attestent d\u2019une r\xe9elle mixit\xe9 sociale, \xe9conomique et culturelle. Plus qu\u2019un toit elle offre \xe0 ses habitants une structure physique et sociale o\xf9 s\u2019\xe9panouir. De plus elle a le m\xe9rite de r\xe9pondre \xe0 ces deux probl\xe8mes fondamentaux \xe0 Bruxelles. Les activit\xe9s au rez-de-chauss\xe9e cr\xe9ent une vie de quartier \xe9vitant toute ghetto\xefsation.
\n\nLes ateliers permettent aux habitants d\u2019apprendre, d\xe9velopper ou partager leurs connaissances et leur savoir-faire. Bien que la vie dans une communaut\xe9 telle que celle du \xab123\xbb peut devenir \xe9prouvante par moments, elle permet d\u2019\xe9viter l\u2019isolement des habitants les plus vuln\xe9rables et permet \xe0 ceux qui ne se retrouvent pas dans les solutions conventionnelles un moyen d\'explorer de nouvelles pistes pour l\'habiter en ville. Une m\xe9diation permanente des conflits qui apparaissent inexorablement dans une communaut\xe9 aussi importante est n\xe9cessaire et figure parmi les conditions indispensables de r\xe9ussite de ce genre d\'exp\xe9rience. Ainsi ces b\xe9n\xe9fices se font au co\xfbt d\u2019une gestion rigoureuse et d\u2019une \xe9nergie consid\xe9rable \xe0 d\xe9ployer quotidiennement par les habitants pour la communaut\xe9. Nous avons r\xe9alis\xe9 \xe0 quel point l\u2019inclusion des usagers d\'un habitat est importante pour r\xe9ussir un projet de logement, Le mouvement semble n\xe9anmoins en marche et l\u2019association logements123 wonen a commence \xe0 transposer l\u2019exp\xe9rience \xe0 d\u2019autres batiments avec d\u2019autres habitants.
\n\nCeci en tirant parti des le\xe7ons apprises au 123, ainsi qu\u2019au tagawa et au G\xe9su. Malgr\xe9 le statut temporaire et incertain de l\u2019occupation, il semblerait que plus que le b\xe9ton du b\xe2timent, ce sont les habitants qui portent le projet du \xab123\xbb. \xab(\u2026) les logements alternatifs ne sont pas abordables parce que l\u2019ensemble des exigences qui y sont li\xe9es ne correspondent ni aux r\xe9alit\xe9s qu\u2019ils vivent, ni \xe0 leurs moyens (co\xfbt des mat\xe9riaux, acc\xe8s aux primes, confrontation aux normes de salubrit\xe9, s\xe9curit\xe9, urbanisme\u2026). Ce que les plus pauvres construisent au quotidien, ce sont des alternatives au logement, pour se garantir un habitat qui soit abordable financi\xe8rement et dont ils auront la maitrise\xbb 57 ainsi que les l\u2019importance des gains de la mutualisation de fonctions communes. Ces gains ne se chiffrent pas qu\u2019en m\xe8tres carr\xe9s, mais surtout en contacts sociaux quotidiens, un partage des ressources et une \xe9conomie en \xe9nergie. Ce mod\xe8le n\u2019est n\xe9anmoins pas sans limitations. On peut craindre avec l\u2019accroissement de la popularit\xe9 du projet une gentrification des habitants. Aussi la liste d\u2019attente pour trouver une place, m\xeame si moins longue que pour un logement social est l\xe0 pour rappeler que l\u2019occupation d\u2019un seul b\xe2timent n\u2019est pas une solution exhaustive au manque de logement. La nature urgente de la question du logement \xe0 Bruxelles demande un engagement des pouvoirs public dans une politique de favorisation de telles initiatives.
\n\nCeci en adaptant le cadre l\xe9gal et en informant les propri\xe9taires sur les avantages de\xa0telles initiatives. Ce travail nous permet de d\xe9gager trois points primordiaux pour le mise en place r\xe9ussie de ce genre d\'initiative:
\n\n- L\'implication active et quotidienne des habitants\xa0dans un projet commun.
\n\n- La collaboration et l\'information des propri\xe9taires\xa0de b\xe2timents vides
\n\n- La permissivit\xe9 ou l\'encadrement par les authorit\xe9s."
\n\nYou can find the complete publication here: www.academia.edu/16771654/LE_DROIT_\xe0_LHABITAT_PAR_LOCCUPATION
\n\nSome interesting facts from his paper:
\n\n-social housing in Bxl is much lower, 7 % compared to the 27% in the Netherlands
\n\n-7 % of houses totally empty
\n\n-1 000 000 sq metres of unused office space: 40% of empty offices have been empty for 7 years
\n\nFrom squatting to a participatory process -\xa0 a public owned space (Community Francais) but community managed: from refugees to Irish artists to Flemish doctor students. Half the people (of 60) don\'t have any revenues, and everyone contributes a little - from 60 eur a month to approx. 150.\xa0\xa0In Belgium it is possible to have a temporary legal occupation for an office, so you can live in an office space!
\n\nIt\'s an office building, which means people can change the layout easily. This makes it an interesting testcase for architects that are experimenting with commun space. The big difference between buildings for profit and the testcase of 123:
\n\nProfit building is praised for being open while just having 7% of their space being used for community. 123 has almost 50% of community used space, but because of their \'illegal\' status it isn\'t praised.\xa0Loic showed a detailed distribution of the types of spaces - at each floor you\'d have facilities, workshops, library + distribution of private and communal space. \xa0Important detail: Stairs are used instead of working elevators as a social control mechanism.\xa0
\n\nLoic is trying to give more visibility to housing solutions - it\'s not easy, he says, and it\'s important to make good contact with the owner! "First you squat, then you talk" is his moto. He wants to continue researching these kinds of houses. You can contact him through mail:\xa0loicdesiron@gmail.com
', u'post_id': 791, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-10 12:57:56', u'title': u'How can vacant spaces bring care to people outside the system? An analysis of 123 Rue Royale by Loic D\xe9siron'}, {u'content': u'\n\n"Positive Voice"\xa0is an association for People living with\xa0HIV/AIDS, founded in Athens in 2009 with the purpose of defending the rights of PLHIV, addressing the spread of HIV/AID and reducing its social and economic impacts in Greece. The association strives to ensure better prevention and renovation practices, care services and social care for patients and social groups who are sensitive to HIV. We promote social acceptance, solidarity, and support of these groups, addressing violations of dignity and their human rights, especially for those living in conservative societies. Additionally, we share ideas and human stories, offer free non clinical\xa0HIV / HBV and HCV\xa0tests in a very discrete way in our premises in Athens and Thessaloniki, named Checkpoints - you can read more here-, run annual events and campaigns for public awareness all over Greece and on the occasion of World Days of HIV/AIDS, Athens Pride or days dedicated to health prevention.\xa0
\n\n\n\nOur members\u2019 main goal is to offer training, psychological and technical peer-to-peer support inside clinics, especially for patients who lack family support for whatever reasons. Moreover, we have programs for harm reduction to HIV-infected prisoners, transgender people, and drug users. Our \u201cRed Umbrella\u201d program is a non-scientific supportive/advisory center for sex workers, transgender people and all the vulnerable key affected population.\xa0
\n\n\n\n"Positive Voice"\xa0participates in international and European networks for the support of HIV-vulnerable social groups. The association is an official partner with several international organizations and Institutes such as AIDS Action Europe, HIV Europe, IPPF, KETHEA-Ithaca, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and much more. In collaboration with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) of America, we have coordinated the development open of the infrastructure for\xa0prevention, information and medical tests for HIV, Hepatitis B-C, and Syphilis.
\n\n\n\nWe are very proud of our devoted voluntary network which operates on prevention training, information sharing, precaution and empowerment of HIV-infected people and participating in training seminars in Greece and abroad. This volunteer network has been educated in order to support street work, such as the distribution of condoms to key affected and vulnerable populations in Thessaloniki. At the same time, a dedicated website and a Facebook page,\xa0Twitter account and Instagram account,\xa0communicate all information that needs to be transferred to potential beneficiaries.
\n\n\n\n#PositiveVoicegr\xa0serves students in public schools who have the opportunity to get informed and participate in training seminars about HIV/AIDS prevention. We also work with HIV-infected people who are involved in psychological support programs -in personal or team sessions- twice a week, conducted by psychologists on a voluntary basis, in order to establish a healthier functional framework.
\n\n\n\nOur vision is to find an appropriate place to create a Centre beside the existing \u201cThess Check Point\u201d, for health rapid non clinical\xa0tests\xa0(HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, C). This is where citizens will be able to get information about the proper sexual practice. The Centre will put an emphasis on sex workers, transgender people, and drug addicts. Moreover, it will provide psychological support for relatives and mates of the patients, to help eliminate the stigma and discrimination of HIV-infected people. \xa0We wish to develop a patient-centric approach based on peer-to-peer education among HIV-infected people, in order to provide psychological and advisory support to their co-patients. This can take the form, for example, of reading books to patients who suffer from chronic illnesses, defective eyesight etc.\xa0
\n\n\n\nAccording to our human resources network, we are seeking ways to support financially our volunteer specialists (psychologists, sociologists), who provide invaluable professional services to the members of our association. And we continue the actions of helping more HIV-infected people in order to find a job and keep being productive, sociable and creative.\xa0
\n\n\n\n*Alexander Tanaskidis is\xa0the direct representative of the Department of Northern Greece working at the headquarters of "Positive Voice"\xa0in the city of Thessaloniki supporting a big\xa0amount of\xa0members on a daily basis. He has\xa0a degree in Political Sciences Seminars, Degree in Journalism and a diploma in Social support and Social behavior. In this context, he had\xa0participated in several patients\u2019 supportive programs in cancer clinics such as Happy Clown and Laughter Therapy. Furthermore, he is\xa0connected to many international networks, such as Artists against AIDS, the European AIDS Treatment Group, the Network for Low HIV prevalence \xa0and he is\xa0currently an editor in a Greek social portal. In regards to his\xa0duties at "Positive Voice", he\xa0works\xa0on media support, communication, fundraising and sponsoring, in collaboration with local and national mass media. Although he\xa0has\xa0participated in many training programs and seminars, he\xa0would like to improve his\xa0skills in the areas of empowerment, crisis, and behavioral management, which he\xa0considers significant educational fields in his\xa0job.
\n\n', u'post_id': 537, u'user_id': 3411, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-17 13:23:52', u'title': u'Positive Voice Greece: Creating peer-to-peer networks and open infrastructure to help HIV/AIDS patients'}, {u'content': u'Hello open carers and community,
\n\nThis is to let you know we have our next cohort of Op3n Fellows, members on Edgeryders who have accepted to expand their work into a piece to be sent in for community review, then to be uploaded here and shared broadly with the Internets.
\n\nBefore introducing them, we\u2019re on the lookout for a few more Edgeryders willing to up their writing skills and publish a story of care by mid November. If you\u2019ve been active here and could use the Fellowship rewards, get in touch below and I\u2019m sure we can sort it out!
\n\n@Aravella_Salonikidou is one of the most active members from Greece who came on board with the occasion of our collective funding application on OpenandChange. She talked about she \u201cstarted this initiative of collecting and filling backpacks with first need items for refugees\u201d, and how that went on to engage thousands of volunteers. She also connected with numerous Edgeryders since then, engaging with their stories and showing up to the twitter conference we held a few weeks back. Meet and greet Aravella here.
\n\n\n\nSteve @steelweaver is an acupuncturist, facilitator and natural health consultant currently living in Devon in the South-West of the United Kingdom. He graduated from acupuncture college in 2012 and has since worked in single- and multi-bed practices in London, Dartmoor, India and Guatemala. He is in the process of setting up his own low-cost community clinic in Tiverton, Devon. In a time when the future of mainstream healthcare is uncertain, amid concerns about its financial and environmental sustainability, its dangers and side-effects, and the disempowering nature of its provision, Steve believes that the low-cost, low-impact form of community healthcare derived from Traditional East Asian Medicine offers an important alternative paradigm; one that promotes health rather than just treating sickness, and empowers individual and communities to improve and maintain their own well-being. Read more.
\n\n\n\nCrystal @wishcrys has been lurking around OpenCare ever since we started - she is an anthropologist slash ethnographer currently based in Singapore\xa0and with\xa0a damn\xa0original research interest: young people and peer support during times of grief manifested in the digital realm in the most contemporary ways i.e. through facebook \u201cdeep liking\u201d ?! (I first read about that from Crystal). Until she publishes her piece, you can ask her more about this here.
\n\n\n\nAnthony @dfko\u2019s story about OpenInsulin encapsulates the very core spirit of OpenCare - the team are bootstrapping the production of a core insulin component and trying to draw the attention of manufacturers who would then expand this into new markets in less developed areas. The key insight is in how Open Insulin shows that open science can provide for those whose needs aren\'t met by existing institutions. Kudos for the project and offers to help are here, so head over.
\n\n@Thom_Stewart is someone who builds networks gracefully and understands working together. His care initiative is called Cosain and lives in Galway - and it using cultural resources to provide peer wellness support, including existing infrastructure re-deployed for its activities (the Galway City Museum). Cosain\u2019s applications in public health are numerous, and more than being a community project, it is a partnership between groups on the ground and the Mental Health Services Consumer Panel. Check it out for yourself here.
\n\nFinally, @Jenny_Gkiougki is currently mapping food systems in Greece, from legitimized cooperatives to completely informal groups: \u201cI would like to encourage Greek people to be more involved in the procedure of the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme, to share risks with their farmers during the cultivating season and create a new concept of human relationship within the community they interact with. Additionally, the enhancement of CSA would support small-scale farmers who lack access to the local market or get involved in complex food chains\u201d. Jenny\u2019s different areas of interest are described here, and I\u2019m hoping in her upcoming post she will zoom into just one and satisfy our curiosity.
', u'post_id': 5947, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-10 15:22:20', u'title': u'Meet the Op3n Fellows | Community clinics, medical drugs manufacturing, digital griefing and more'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 787, u'user_id': 3459, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-07 12:03:12', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Full story:\xa0http://digg.com/2016/women-on-web
\n\nTL;dr
\n\nAccording to WHO, 19 to 20 million unsafe abortions are performed every year (source)
\n\nRebecca Gompert served as the doctor of the good ship Rainbow Warrior.\xa0Impressed by the idea of a "pirate ship" defying legality for a good cause,\xa0she later started a clinic on a ship, Aurora, in 2001. It\xa0provided safe abortion, performed by qualifiied doctors and nurses, to places where abortion was outlawed (Ireland, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Morocco).\xa0
\n\nThis service\xa0(Women On Waves)\xa0later moved to the web. Women on Web starts with an online consultation following WHO protocol. Once risks are deemed negligible, women are mailed medical abortion pills (Mifepristone and Misoprostol ), a very safe procedure.\xa0
\n\n20 staff answer 10,000 monthly emails anonymously and within 24 hours. There is also a peer-to-peer element, like the I had an abortion section of the website.
\n\nMany difficulties remain, including customs. They are, however, being hacked.
\n\nMy own reflection: once again, when people need something they are going to get it for themselves. Anyone wants to investigate this further? @Natalia_Skoczylas maybe?
', u'post_id': 786, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-09 22:38:39', u'title': u'Women On Web, providing abortion services where states forbid it'}, {u'content': u"Demonstration of an OpenCare model of a \u2018makerspace\u2019, We propose a laboratory where people living with motor impairment due to e.g. multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke or spinal cord injury (SCI) can meet and collaborate with other people. There will be mentors (physiotherapists, engineers and designers etc.) and together we will create solutions to personal needs in form of assistive devices. A cooperative model where citizens with various skills can work together on realizing devices for use in everyday life, that will improve or maintain individual functional capabilities. This model will explore ways to transfer research results directly to users (target participants). New and existing ideas will be challenged and transformed into methods and assistive technology for activities of daily living. Initial focus will be to demonstrate how the challenges of mobility can be resolved by helping people's creativity in a social environment. One challenges that people often meet is the need for adaptation of tools to be able to perform day-to-day tasks as .abilities change, In the WeHandU laboratory people will be able (and helped) to implement such changes.
\n\nThe basis of WeHandU is to be volitional participation of people with skills in various aspects of assistive technology. Solutions will vary from realizing simple mechanical aids to involvement of expert researchers. The new infrastructures of makerspaces (also known as fablabs or hackerspaces), allowing the do-it-yourself construction of objects, lend itself as a host for the WeHandU initiative. Here sophisticated devices can be prototyped using advanced machining processes (e.g. 3D printing). A lot of individuals create a personal DIY solutions. Those not marketed or provided by the health service can be manufactured in the WeHandU framework. Likewise subsequent modifications can be easily be implemented as new needs arise. People challenged by MS, stroke and SCI will find help in peers, designers, engineers networking with clinicians as well as people with \u2018soft\u2019 skills in the socializing context of a makerspace. One of the concrete challenges to resolve is addressing the problem of dropped foot . With a vast practical experience we can guide people to select, try or even construct their foot drop correcting stimulator. A device that, despite solid proof of efficiency in scientific literature, has not been adopted by the healthcare systems. Another of the most important problems regards the vanishing hand function. Here a recently developed technology comes in. It\u2019s a open source (meaning that all details of how to replicate are publically available) device for strengthening the hand, using FES (mecfes.wikispaces.com). It has been tested clinically for improving hand function in SCI, but there is no contraindications for applying it to people living with MS. Most important of all, this initiative in synergy with OpenCare will challenge the existing healthcare providers to adopt the model and provide a more user centered approach.
\n\nThe WeHandU idea is mainly concerned about preserving autonomy by assistive technology for the hand function and walking using state of the art technological inventions combined with simple do-it-yourself manufacturing techniques in a socially engaging environment. Use of nowadays rapid-prototyping technologies(es. 3d printing), allows to bring creative people together for an effective low-cost collaboration process which brings real and efficient industrial solutions in relatively short time.
", u'post_id': 720, u'user_id': 3327, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-22 17:33:12', u'title': u'WeHandU - maker space for developing solutions for cases of motor impairment'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 782, u'user_id': 3457, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-06 18:58:18', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Summary ENG + FR
\n\nL\'atelier a g\xe9n\xe9r\xe9 beaucoup de contenu que vous pouvez retrouver ici-bas. Mais pour ceux qui se focalisent avant tout sur les r\xe9sultats, nous avons regroup\xe9 les points les plus importants ici :
\n\nApr\xe8s la premi\xe8re s\xe9rie de discussions, nous avons not\xe9 que les organisations de toute sorte sont pr\xeates \xe0 devenir plus collaboratives, mais qu\'elles manquent d\'outils pour y arriver \xe9tape par \xe9tape. Elles sont toutes conscientes de la force du travail collectif, mais n\'ont jamais eu de succ\xe8s sur le long terme. Dans cet atelier, nous avons essay\xe9 de trouver ce qui \xe9tait important \xe0 r\xe9ussir pour les collaborations, et ainsi nous en venons au deuxi\xe8me point :
\n\nNous avons eu un test grandeur nature : une quinzaine d\'organisations, partageant des valeurs communes et dispos\xe9es \xe0 collaborer et apprendre les unes des autres, mais qui venaient \xe0 peine de se rencontrer. Apr\xe8s d\'autres d\xe9bats, nous avons r\xe9alis\xe9 que la confiance \xe9tait le principal probl\xe8me.\xa0Nous avons donc essay\xe9 d\u2019encadrer la cr\xe9ation de confiance en nous avons constat\xe9 que c\u2019\xe9tait mieux d\u2019avoir des petits projets entre les diff\xe9rents groupes\xa0 \xa0afin de cr\xe9er des liens entre les personnes. Ces projets peuvent \xeatre \xa0des petits projets r\xe9alisables en quelques minutes ou une heure. A\xa0partir de l\xe0 chaque pas suivant deviens une tache\xa0 plus complexe que la pr\xe9c\xe9dente pour cr\xe9er ainsi un lien plus fort.
\n\n3.\xa0 \xa0Donner de perspectives alternatives\xa0 aux soins nous fait r\xe9fl\xe9chir sur notre propre structure de soins.
\n\nFinalement nous avions un de participants \xa0qui nous a aid\xe9s \xe0 penser out of the box d\u2019une mani\xe8re perturbatrice. C\u2019\xe9tait un refugi\xe9e Syrien \xa0qui a d\xfb\xa0 reporter ses \xe9tudes de m\xe9dicine pour fuir du pays et qui nous a donner\xa0 beaucoup des choses \xe0 r\xe9fl\xe9chir. Il nous voyait comme\xa0 des \xab\xa0boxpeople\xa0\xbb , vivant dans une bulle et pla\xe7ant \xa0des autres gens dans des bulles. Les personnes \xe2g\xe9es, les sans-abri, les personnes avec des maladies psychologiques, etc.\xa0; ils sont tous plac\xe9s en dehors de la soci\xe9t\xe9.
\n\nIl explique qu\u2019en Syrie ils n\u2019avaient peut-\xeatre pas un syst\xe8me de soins de sant\xe9 efficace, mais\xa0 il est beaucoup plus humain. Ceci nous a fait penser\xa0 sur la fa\xe7on comment nous voyons les soins en Europe. C\u2019est aussi lui qui nous a signal\xe9 sur le probl\xe8me de confiance qui est cr\xe9\xe9 ici dans l\u2019ouest.
\n\nThe Workshop gave us a lot of content that you can find here. But for those who are result oriented we compiled the most important knowledge bubbels here.\xa0
\n\n1.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Everybody is in search of collaboration solutions, but have difficulties realizing them.
\n\nAfter the first round of discussions we noticed that all kind of organizations are ready to become more collaborative, but they are missing the step-by-step tools to achieve this.\xa0They all are conscious about the power of collaboration, but have never had successful long lasting experiences. The goal of this workshop was to find the key elements to make a collaborative initiative succeed, this leads us to the second point.
\n\n2.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0How do we create trust between unbeknown organizations that share the same way of thinking?
\n\nWe had a great test case: around 15 organizations that came together for the first time, all sharing the same ideas and willing to collaborate to learn from each other. After a lot of discussions we discovered trust was the main issue.\xa0 So we tried to frame how trust is built and concluded that we needed to start with small projects with each other, these projects don\u2019t need to be longer\xa0 than a couple of minutes/hours, this way people start to bond. After that each following project can become more complex to create a stronger bodn between the participants. \xa0We listed a couple of thing each would do, to immidiate have a Proof Of Concept.
\n\nFinally we had one person that helped think out of the box in a really disruptive way. He was a Syrian refugee that had to postpone his medical studies/Ph.D.\xa0 To flee the country and gave us a lot of material to think about. He saw us as \'boxpeople\', living in a bubble and putting others in bubbles. Elderly, homeless people, psychological ill are all given a space outside society. They maybe didn\'t have the most efficient healthcare system, but he explained it was much more humane. It made us think a lot about how we see care in the west. He was also the person that pointed out the problem of trust we create in the west.
\n\nLast Saturday we hosted a quit successful workshop in Brussels around the Open & Care thematic with local participants and workers of the designated field. We had a set up loosely based on the Berlin workshop and will go deeper into the methodology, the preparation, the participants and outcome in the following text. This article is a more organized version of the thinkpad we put online at the workshop and where people could transcribe what was being said.
\n\nIn the beginning of the preparation of the workshop I reached out to my network of socially involved people who could have interesting stories to add to the platform. It was sometime difficult to explain them the whole concept through mail, so I decided to meet the people who wanted more information. This gave me the following graphical content. Without surprise the most active and responsive people came from the makers and changemakers scene. They immediately connected to the higher goal and activated their network. The least responsive network where the politicians, coming back from their annual non-active period it was difficult to activate them. Every attempt ended up in a dead end.
\n\nBut after a couple of weeks building up a community, a moment of panic occurred. The people where reacting positively towards the workshop, but hesitated to get more involved. The confirmed list of people was stagnating, so I opened a debate on the Edgeryders platform to see how we can resolve that issue. After getting some clarifications from the team that organized the Greek workshop and some tips from people that organized a lot of workshops i changed my method and opened up with a more general approach through mailing lists and facebook groups. The combination of both locally anchored contacts and general presentations of the workshop filled the last gaps. We had 28 confirmed people and around 40 interested contacts in a mailing list.
\n\nBefore the workshop occurred this where the people wanting to start already a conversation on their work around social and medical care. Some articles will be added in the future because they are still under construction.
\n\nFor the people at Huis VDH it was also a big challenge to prepare the space that was under construction for already two months. The house is being renovated and invented by a team of volunteers to become a hub for social, cultural and technological innovators.\xa0 Each of the core members took a task to facilitate the workshop. Maria found a socially involved catering service, Sigried arranged the space to be workshop ready, Toha was responsible for the photographical documentation and Cecile prepared everything so the outcome would be documented in a nice visual style by using Toha\u2019s skills and the templates. Yannick participated and worked as a transcriber at the workshop
\n\n\n\nWe based ourselves on the Berlin workshop that was filled with interesting methods to actively think about care issues in Belgium. We made our workshop a little less dense because we didn\u2019t think we could go through all the materials they prepared.
\n\nIn the link above you can find our preparation of the Brussels version, like said before it is a watered down version of the Berlin workshop while also using some methods Stefanos and Nadia came with. Both are experienced facilitators.
\n\nWe decided that Nadia will take the lead on this workshop cause she is the most in touch with the OpenAndChange material and has a lot of experience doing so. She also presented the whole OpenAndChange project in the beginning of the day. Her firm method helped to not defer to long to side discussions and held us on the right pad.
\n\nStefanos proposed himself as a facilitator and helped us streamline our toughs throughout the day trying to condense all the ideas that where emerging in little post its on a white board. I helped out by translating the most difficult parts in French or English so anybody could speak there native language if needed. This facilitated the conversation.
\n\nCecile, Noemi and Toha played all an important role in the documentation. Noemi setting up the Thinkpad so we could transcribe live as a team what was being said the whole day. Cecile making a visual representation of the most interesting quotes combined with a picture of each made by Toha.
\n\nFrom the 28 confirmed, 17 people came by that day to discuss care related topics. Here is a short introduction of each of the participants. You can find some of their quotes, issues and solutions on this document made by Cecile and Toha. Contact info can be found here.
\n\nEdgeryders is an open source platform that combines online and offline moments to find through other ways than the mainstream solutions for sociatal problems. Mission is to support members to create self-sustaining projects.
\n\nEdgeryders creates tools to manage all the content created by the 3500 members. Open ethnographic tools for example uses the data to see what discussions are well connected.\xa0
\n\nThe big question that is asked as a red line throughout the day: Can healthcare systems work like Wikipedia, StackOverflow or other massively coordinated systems with very limited control and overhead?
\n\nTwo mechanisms at stake:
\n\n\xa01) self selection: individuals get involved in something because they want to, and contribute because they want to
\n\n\xa02) social networks: people and groups which move fluidly across organisations and shaping the norms as they wish\xa0
\n\nCase studies of how people access community care:
\n\n\n\nWhat is op3ncare in short:
\n\nA place where we can share stories about care
Where you can find people to support projects
Where you can create solutions without being in the same place
After the general introduction, the participants are asked to be devided into groups of maximum four people where they will discuss using a template about their projects. Each of them gets 10 minutes to introduce him or herself while somebody else takes notes and a third person ask questions and listens carefully.
\n\nYou can find the note of each of those roundtables here, some of them are in French and other in English. It is written by the participants and wasn\u2019t cleaned up.
\n\n\n\nBefore the lunch we came together for an hour and shared what was remarkable about each other stories. Here you can find some of the insights
\n\nWinnie: he noticed that every project has some community in it, but communities experience different ways of being in the world, different incentives for being in a community.
\n\nLaurent: 3 different projects, which have something in common, with people being excluded by the system because they are poor or sick. Empowerment for these populations is at the core of each project. Behind each there is a diagnosis of how the excluded population can have lost access to institutional support.\xa0If something is possible, it is on the edge, where people can regain access to their lives.\xa0
\n\nLotfi: Nous \xe9tions trois entit\xe9s, je suis avec Selvi, nous avons eu une maison de repos, Xander travaille avec des enfants autiste, Alkasem, il esp\xe8re qu\'il pourrait faire son m\xe9tier de m\xe9decin. On a parl\xe9 d\'interg\xe9n\xe9rationnel, comment cr\xe9er des mini soci\xe9t\xe9 ou il y a des \xe9change. Au del\xe0 d\'un certain \xe2ge: il y a pas de support. Alkasem a fait la parall\xe8le de comment le syst\xe8me de soin ce passe en moyen orient, une culture musulman de l\'entraide. On impose de donner de l\'argent au pauvre. Tout le monde vie ici dans sa bulle, il n\u2019y a pas de transversalit\xe9.\xa0
\n\nXander:\xa0 the community aspect is really important, the human is seen as a kind of predator, humans are also caring beings.\xa0
\n\nAlkasem: i have question to all of you: where are the families of the homeless people? I never saw anyone homeless in Syria, or living on a mattress. How did it happen? Some of the participants responded later on:\xa0
\n\nJean: There is a desire of using new ways of technology to organize his place within the society je cherche a me socialiser, trouver une occupation profitable, mais je voudrais rester dans la marginalit\xe9. Find a meaning in his life, but stay at the edge of society.\xa0
\n\nClaire: I want to create something can provide something that can give help to each other. It is very complicated to arrive there. With Laurent, Sophie, we have a point of connection, but we need to know each other better. I worked for several years around the project of self-care. I want to do something very new. We are creating to work on a project on different levels in December with Laurent, but it is really difficult to find what is most needed: partnership and collaboration.\xa0
\n\nAdeline: Everybody here came with a need, to find ways to come up with a solution, tous le monde est venue avec un besoin, elle esp\xe8re aider \xe0 trouver une solution.\xa0
\n\nGilles: Strongly believes in open source and data sharing solutions - everyone is looking for someone who can help them with a solution eg. to develop a website to help the project moving.\xa0
\n\nLoic: The core needs he noticed in others is to learn information about what others are doing, get information about collaborations; and second, the need for visibility. Personally he has come here for housing project, but Winnie\'s story is useful to hear also professionally.
\n\nYannick: was in conversation with Kacim,Lotfi - the intergenerational interactions need to be looked into, because it is in only specific circumstances that we spend time together eg living in a house with my grandmother and the positive outcomes which came from that.\xa0
\n\n\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 SIDENOTE: Multiple times in the discussion a same metaphor that was introduced by Alkasem was used by the participants. He noted that our western society made us all \u2018boxpeople\u2019. He finds it so strange that we are all living next to each other, but that we aren\u2019t interacting better. We put old people in a home and (mentally) sick people in a closed environment. I found that metaphor really strong and something to use when we are trying to connect multiple organizations.
\n\nQuestion time
\n\nAfter giving everybody the chance to share their view on the received input we gave everybody 5 minutes the time transcribe it in a question they wanted to solve in the second part of the day. These are the questions that came up:
\n\nHow can communities become more visible and members interact more easily?
How do you make the actions of the community visible to the individuals?
How do you make individuals\' actions more visible to the community?
How can we help individuals be independent from official caring services?
How do we invite more people to be part of the process and disseminate the documentation?
How can we find the right balance between keeping the effectiveness of the box with still being able to go out of the box/
What is the metaphor of what we are trying to do? (Stefanos) helps understand complicated things without\xa0
How do you build connectivity into each initiative or do you want connectivity only between initiative? If we all want to coordinate, what amount of time/ effort/ resources can we each put into learning to coordinate?
How could we open the debate about the strength of intergenerational care.\xa0
Some of the participants prepared a presentation of their projects. Three of them where DoucheFlux, Belgium Designers Council and Habitats 123: A testcase of alternative housing. A summary can be found here:
\n\n4 years old project, we are opening a huge house to help people out of the marge, we will have 20 showers, 150 lockers, medical service, laundries, a pharmecy, and other needed services for this part of people, which is missing\xa0
\n\nSecond pillar is activities: DoucheFlux is 50m2 at the moment, so we work at other spaces, we make activities that promote self esteem for these people, they are totally embedded in the system, they can\'t escape what is happening about them, they find it difficult to get further, so their mechanism is that they just stop trying, because they don\'t feel empowered anymore
\n\nDoucheflux helps them to get more self-esteem, but it is difficult because sometimes it feel that we are infantilizing them, and if you do that mistake they don\'t come anymore
\n\nThe challenge: another way to make social work, so not only people that studied for the social sector. To take the social dream out of the social field and bring it to other fields. Because they are fed up of all the social help, they just want a happy life: it is not only important to have an home, but also to create great moments. To create equal relationships. break racism against the poor.\xa0
\n\nLiving in Bxl for 15 years, an interior designer coming from a corporate background working in the hospitality business. She started her own design company and got more involved in strategic design thinking - now involved with the Belgium Design Thinking. Projects to make the sports clubs more inclusive because they were closed for refugees; also hardly accessible by children with special needs. So with other people they pushed for inclusivity and speaking to the Belgium Football Union, but also preparing a strategy for the next few years.
\n\nBusiness Improvements Design Belgium (BIDs): they are about creating a new geographical zone and linking community businesses to it, ideal for private - public partnerships.
\n\nShe is lobbying for BIDs and wants to see where stakeholders can meet in the middle; seems idealistic especially since she\'s not from here.
\n\nHas seen encouraging results after talking to her mayor, and right now she\'s trying to create a youth platform for citizenship and sports - an IDEO design type of commune.\xa0
\n\nWhat changed after the football? People understood there is a strategy and structure, so they get a sense of belonging. If everybody contributes something, we become as a community.We educate the value of communication, transparency...
\n\nRozina would need help to connect with people working hands on with special needs populations.\xa0
\n\n\n\nPreviously office building occupied by the French community which had been vacant for 15 years. Groups of squatters moved in and made a deal with the owner to run different workshops - bike fixing, woodwork, IT etc.
\n\nSome interesting facts from his paper:
\n\n-social housing in Bxl is much lower, 7 % compared to the 27% in the Netherlands
\n\n-7 % of houses totally empty
\n\n-1 000 000 sq metres of unused office space: 40% of empty offices have been empty for 7 years
\n\nFrom squatting to a participatory process -\xa0 a public owned space (Community Francais) but community managed: from refugees to Irish artists to Flemish doctor students. Half the people (of 60) don\'t have any revenues, and everyone contributes a little - from 60 eur a month to approx. 150.\xa0\xa0In Belgium it is possible to have a temporary legal occupation for an office, so you can live in an office space!
\n\nIt\'s an office building, which means people can change the layout easily.
\n\nDifference between buildings for profit and the testcase of 123:
\n\nProfit building is praised for being open while just having 7% of their space being used for community. 123 has almost 50% of community used space, but because of their \'illegal\' status it isn\'t praised.
\n\nLoic showed a detailed distribution of the types of spaces - at each floor you\'d have facilities, workshops, library + distribution of private and communal space.\xa0
\n\nImportant detail: Stairs instead of working elevators as a social control mechanism.
\n\nLoic is trying to give more visibility to housing solutions - it\'s not easy, take good contact with the owner! First you squad, then you talk.
\n\nNow it is time to get into the concrete part of the workshop. Therefor everybody is put again into groups of maximum four people and asked to choose one of the skill cards on the table. From there they will explain why they chose that card and what skills they want to bring. Here are the skills we find in our most helpful people
\n\nWinnie:
\n\nDIY and generally fixing things yourself
Mental support
Getting weird things you wouldn\'t normally find yourself
A delivery van
Someone to do a project with
Jean:
\n\nCan discuss Existential problem
Commercial things and buying decisions
Claire:
\n\nMaking a conference atelier du capitalisme
Support people who are more fragile
Set up an association
Marie Ange:
\n\nLinking Activities
Mental/ moral support
Social contacts
Rozina:
\n\nBusiness
Experience and wisdom
Out-of-the-box thinking
Empathy
Government administration
Cultural awareness
Adeline
\n\nActive listening and sensibility
Wisdom and pragmatism
Do it yourself, engineering as a way of seeing the world
Cars\xa0
Lotfi
\n\nFundraising and financial subsidies\xa0
Medical technical knowledge
Business modeling
Administration
Gilles
\n\nAdministration
Legal advice
Social business modeling
The WHY
Sharing economy
Scientific dieticians
Xander
\n\nFriendship
Philosophy
Playing music
Word stuff
Stefanos
\n\nOrder/ being orderly\xa0
Moral support and push to go forward and not backwards
Fun
The occasional hug
SIDENOTE 2: Alkasem was again the most disruptive thinker in the group and gave us a lot to think. For him, everything moves around friendship. He has the feeling that a lot of people in western society start of with mistrust. If you start with mistrust it is difficult to create trust.\xa0And without trust no skill can be shared. This intervention of him started a discussion about the meaning of trust and how we can build that.
\n\n\u2018Trust is an enabler to use the resources.\xa0How can that be created inside an eclectic group like this?\u2019,asked Yannick.\xa0 For Claire it is a text and rules of engagement and a clear path of conflict resolution, and a way to learn to treat each other better.\xa0
\n\nWinnie reacted that your own people\'s trust is a constant, but gaining the network\'s trust is more difficult.
\n\n\n\nNadia tried to made a synthesis of the discussion
\n\n1) Working trust is very different from social trust; and there needs to be a boundary.\xa0
\n\n2) What also worked for her is deciding to work on even a small project.
\n\n3) A story that binds us together - understanding how our different activities are\xa0
\n\n4) Documentation: what does it mean? for us it has been in writing.
\n\nFinding each other strengths and weaknesses by organizing small events with each other, and beginning with things that don\'t have something big at stake. Because then we can learn about each other. The importance of documentation in building trust: Leaving a story behind that people can follow.
\n\nWhen the discussion was coming to an end we all felt we had got a lot of information and the workshop was going to close. So Nadia came up with a good idea to end the workshop with something concrete. We all felt that one of the biggest issues in care is that we live to much on our own island and that if we want to make care better we need to share and collaborate. But to collaborate we need to create trust. So this exercise was given to every participant and will hopefully end up in solidifying the care network in Belgium. The following question was asked:
\n\nWhat can i bring to another organization, that also better myself as a person and is easily realizable?
\n\nLoic wanting to work with the firm of Winnie
Yannick giving his game about intergeneralisation idea to Lotfi and Selvi
Marie-Ange wants to give information to Lotfi and Selvi also
\u2026
\n\nNadia Suggestion: meet in one month: Back in Huis VDH. We will invite new people to continue the conversation and structure the informal and formal networks of care.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I would like to thank all the participants for this awesome day we spend reshaping care on a local level. I hope this is the start of something lasting. We invite all interested people and participants to fill this FrameADate link so we can organize the next gathering. At that event you will all be given a reworked paper version of the outcome of the workshop. If you have any propositions or ideas you can contact Edgeryders or myself: yannick.schandene@gmail.com\xa0
', u'post_id': 541, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-28 06:30:02', u'title': u'Open&Change: Workshop Brussels \u2013 A symposium'}, {u'content': u'An experiment to encourage spontaneous creativity for making a living as a migrant
\n\nA short brief of what we have been working on so far is this.
\n\nWith the many organizations already working with refugees in Berlin, we still felt a need for an approach from a different angle and also with a different focus:
\n\nMost\xa0projects for refugees\xa0are designed to specifically help the arriving families, children and the single travelling women; but the majority of refugees is barely taken care of in the same\xa0manner: the young men.\xa0It is an illogical equation: The young male refugees are often regarded as healthy and fit,\xa0able to work and therefore are not treated as a priority in terms of care. However; of what\xa0use could these benefits be if there is nothing to do? In Germany, refugees are not allowed\xa0to pick proper work for the first three months of their stay. After that period, a working\xa0permit is needed to apply for a job. The permit, however, is only granted if the person is no\xa0longer living in a refugee camp. Needless to say, the said three months often pass without\xa0anything really happening and three months slowly turn into six months and into a year\xa0- during which there is nothing to do.
\n\nWe are currently working at the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) in Berlin- a former congress center that has recently been turned into a refugee camp. Even with the circumstances being unfavourable, the atmosphere at the ICC is quite the opposite: The interaction between the refugees and the staff and security is remarkably free and friendly.\xa0Volunteers playing with children; refugees and security joking around and everybody is eating at the same table. There is no hint of the provider/receiver-dilemma that you would witness in other establishments.\xa0We\u2019ve been warmly welcomed by the people and the relationships have gradually grown more personal since our first visit.
\n\nThe place is led by the Malteser; we were shown around the place by one of their very nice volunteers. She then introduced us to a room of eight Syrians, four of which were ready to help us in our project and provided us with insights.
\n\nBesides stories over everyday rituals like tea and Syrian home traditions, we were shown the little gimmicks to improve the bare rooms where they are living in at the moment: How they pulled out screws and nails from the walls to make clothing hooks; how you make a wall-mounted phone holder with just duct tape and a piece of wood; where to store the food; they showed us how they hack the beds to create more privacy and how to shield the light falling onto the upper beds with merely pieces of wood and a blanket to a point where one could create an entire ceiling with just white cloth.
\n\nWe learnt quickly that the ideas of how to use the space could never occur to someone who has never been in that exact position:\xa0
\n\nIt was evident that they know best about\xa0the needs and necessities in their very situation and environment.
\n\nWith the creative potential, the only problem lies in the lack of tools and materials.\xa0To see what would happen if material were available, we made a little experiment where\xa0we brought basics like duct tape, cable ties, string and durable cardboard and looked\xa0what they would think of building intuitively. Despite scepticism in the beginning, it was\xa0beautiful to witness the moment when everyone in the room joined to figure out the best\xa0construction for a wall-mounted shelf, built with mortise and tenon joints. The fact the\xa0project was dealt with in such a manner, shows the willingness to engage these kinds of\xa0challenges with seriousness and a certain claim to quality and that it is not only about\xa0practicality and pure function, for such a shelf could have been easily assembled withjust tape and cardboard. It was fun for us to join the working process and thinking with\xa0them about the construction and making, but more importantly, it was fun for them to be\xa0challenged in making something useful and to make that beautifully. Mohammed, who\xa0came up with the idea of using joinery, later joked saying he would love to make such\xa0shelves for the whole camp - and we hoped, it was not merely a joke, but a mentality that we\xa0could continue to work with. In fact, we left all the spare materials in their rooms and by our next visit they had built another two shelves and a small storage for clothes under one of the beds.
\n\n\n\n\n\nWork in progress: Building a shelf
\n\n\xa0\xa0\n\nImage above: One of the shelves that Mohammed made after we left.
\n\nMohammed\u2019s mentality is exactly what we we\u2019re looking for.
\n\nThe question is if more people in the camp would share the same enthusiasm. Ideally, a craftsman could be found to take the role of a tutor to guide the others into the basics of building. On our last visit in the camp we learnt that the the camp\u2019s organizers are taking help of one of the refugees who used to be a tailor. He now has his working space (a table with a sewing machine) at the intern clothes depot and helps fixing the garments before they\u2019re given out.
\n\nWe feel the answer to our problem lies in establishing and expanding that very concept in other camps as well - to involve people in the daily happenings and motivate them to do what they can do best. We will research the willingness amongst the refugees to join such a program as soon as soon as Ramadan is over.
\n\nOur plan to help people improving their living situation by building their own furniture is a first step in that direction. We are working on a solution that doesn\xb4t require proffessional skills or tools, but motivates people and gives them the feeling of doing something useful for them and the community. To establish this first step we are going to launch a fundraising campaign on StartNext in the next weeks and we are happy about any kind of support! If you have suggestions or similiar/different experiences: please share!\xa0\xa0So we can make this happen, as good as possible
The production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 703, u'user_id': 3242, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-01 20:52:06', u'title': u'Fostering Productive Potential in Refugee Camps'}, {u'content': u'We are a community of freelance developers and other digital professionals who work together online often purely over the internet. We started our project RefugeesWork to help newcomers to connect with locals who are looking for freelancers to outsource some work to them.
\n\nIt all started in August 2015 when lots of newcomers, mainly from Syria, arrived to Germany.
\n\nIt now turns out that it\u2019s not very easy for them to find any kind of employment at all. German companies seem to not need the skills they bring to the table and even if they do have what they are looking for, they often reject people who do not speak German well.
\n\nWe decided to use our digital skills, first of all programming, to help them. We developed a marketplace app where on one side newcomers can register and describe their skills and on the other side local organizations can post their requests for freelancers. We believe work is the best pathway to connect refugees and locals and to date, we have over 300 registrations on the site and big community in Berlin and online. Those Syrians come from all walks of life and some have excellent background, or were running their own business.
\n\nBut we also realized that freelance requests are mostly for freelancers with web and mobile development background. These are the jobs freelancers can do online, they don\'t need to speak the local language and because all the organizations are trying to automate their processes, there is actually a big need for these professions. We checked our database and available statistics and figured out that most of newcomers are young, they just finished their high school or had to leave in the middle of their studies so they actually lack necessary skills to integrate into the highly specialized German job market. Freelancing would give refugees freedom from discrimination they would face otherwise and freelancers are usually paid way better. The tricky part is in making sure there is a regular flow of work. That is our experience.
\n\n\n\nTherefore we decided to extend our Berlin based coding school for kids and use our experiences to create online e-learning platform to teach newcomers programming: from how to install browser to how to build your mobile app. All the learners can learn digital skills/programming no matter where they are, they get 24/7 support on the chat from mentors and other learners and later and they can apply for projects companies outsource through RefugeesWork. All the learners become part of digital collective Coding Amigos, that we started with international crew of developers with activist streak already 3 years ago. We meet in Berlin 2x a week and co-work together on client projects or our own apps that we in long term want to connect in a circular economy. For us - even though circular economy is usually connected to recycling - that means that supply chains form supply circles and money is not loaned by governments and other usual suspects and end up in always the same pockets who save it and don\u2019t even know what to do with all the money.
\n\nCurrently we are also following the work of Sensorica in Canada and Enspiral in New Zealand. Our wish is to create a micro-holding co-ownership model. One part of the motivation is to shield these professionals from all kinds of discrimination that they might otherwise experience.
\n\nIt shields them, for example from the usual politicking among corporate employees who might tend to put such newcomers into a fairly low place. And another part of the motivation is exploring processes and legal ways for cooperation and decision making between many micro-holdings.
\n\nWe try to list all our initiatives inside of Github organization SquatUp.
\n\nWe try to keep all our work open and transparent for which we for now use Github.com, Gitter.im and Waffle.io which allow us versioned storing our documents, including code, working on issues on a kanban board and use open communication on a public chat.
\n\nAll our projects are made with zero budget so with pure love and dedication for our mission: open source & transparency, inclusiveness, digital literacy and open organization. It is not easy, but we don\'t want to waste our time chasing funding and investors or clients, but instead co-create the world we want to live in. And we believe right people and opportunities will come from that and from the people that share the mindset and want to join us.
\n\nIt\u2019s hard to make a living with all of this, so we just try to live as cheap as possible and we work for a better future where society is organized differently utilizing radical transparency and open source. Until then we live from savings that we sometimes manage to build when working on paid projects. By empowering refugees with skills we hope they will later become our partners and continue to help us build an alternative work. On top of that, we might manage to get in projects on a more regular basis and outsource paid work to each other.
\n\nSo if you are a programmer, \u201dapptivist\u201d, please consider reaching out and connect your apps to our ecosystem via API or help us build an open ecosystem of related apps.
\n\nIf you know anyone who did not yet start to learn programming, please tell them to join us in http://gitter.im/codingamigos/learners so they can get started for free immediately. We offer 24/7 support for free to get learners from zero to be able to create their first mobile app within a couple of weeks up to a few months given learners are disciplined and learn full time.
\n\nAnd last but not least, if you can bring in paid IT projects to support our voluntary efforts, the community of learners and our effort to prototype alternative ways of organizing and working together, we would appreciate it a lot. Everyone who successfully brings in a project and helps us communicating with the customer during the project will be transparently included in the sharing of the revenue.
\n\nThe production of this article was supported by Op3n Fellowships - an ongoing program for community contributors during May - November 2016.
\n\nLinks:
\n\nRefugeesWork - www.refugeeswork.com
\n\nOnline JavaScript school - www.wizardamigos.com
\n\nCoding Amigos meetup - www.meetup.com/codingamigos
\n\nCoding Amigos collective - www.codingamigos.com
\n\nSquatUp - https://github.com/SquatUp/projects/blob/master/README.md
\n\nNina Breznik - @ninabreznik
\n\nAlexander Praetorius - @serapath
', u'post_id': 769, u'user_id': 3396, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-28 23:06:30', u'title': u'RefugeesWork: programming skills for a new generation of freelancers to change the ecosystem and how we work together'}, {u'content': u'Background
\n\nThere are tons of reasons that makes baby cries. Baby might be hungry, sleepy, diaper dirty or more and more. While the baby is crying, mom has to check what the exact problem is, and before mom solves it, the baby won\u2019t stop crying. In this period, mom might feel anxious, stressful or panic that from the crying sound, herself or others. This mental situation might influence mom\u2019s decision making or education for the baby.
\n\nIn some case, mom has to leave her baby to cry.
\n\nWhat if these all happen in a silence public such as an airplane, train, office or a good restaurant et.? To prevent this kind of situation happened, lots of parents even avoid to go to those places with their baby or even stay\xa0at home.\xa0
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nWith the baby crying sound reducer\xa0parents can have more choice to go with their baby. It can also reduce the stress that comes from the stranger beside and creates a better quality of life for parents and people together in the same space.\xa0
\n\nHow to?
\n\nMain Function\xa0
\n\nActive Noise Cancellation Technology
Baby soothing materials
Secondary Function\xa0
\n\n+Volum control
\n\nWhat have been done?
\n\nThere hasn\u2019t been anything specific active noise\xa0cancellation product that has been designed for baby and parents. Most of the\xa0active noise\xa0cancellation technology are used in earphone and space.\xa0
', u'post_id': 776, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-01 23:55:11', u'title': u'Baby Crying Sound Reducer'}, {u'content': u'Hi all,
\n\nMy name is Frank Coughlin. \xa0I\'m based in New York City, NY,\xa0working as an Emergency Medicine doctor in the city\'s oldest public hospital. \xa0I\'m a member of 1882 Woodbine and one of the co-founders of the Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center. \xa0We are an open access health resource center in the neighborhood of Ridgewood, NY. \xa0We are involved in the creation of local health autonomy. \xa0We are working to meld Western models and institutions of medicine with holistic and tradional skills. \xa0Our goal is to build a foundation for health which allows us to use and manipulate health institutions to fit our needs, not to become dependent on them for our survival. \xa0It is our aim that by addressing one of our basic human needs, health, it allows us the space to further ideals of revolutionary change in a world that seems designed to destroy us. \xa0For more information on our projects, please see Woodbine Health Autonomy Center and After Occupy. \xa0
', u'post_id': 753, u'user_id': 3424, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 17:09:48', u'title': u'Revolutionary medicine idealist'}, {u'content': u'Greetings everyone, the below challenge is based on the work done during the co-design session at WeMake. \xa0We would like to share it as a challenge, to get feedback, give more visibility, and make it easy to collaborate on this idea, if someone is interested.
\n\nThe story is written by a third party (me!), while keeping privacy of the original problem poster safe
If you are paralyzed, you are most likely using a wheelchair, and if you use a wheelchair, then you need someone to push the wheelchair in order to help you navigate through the city. \xa0\xa0Not only does this make the challenged person feel like a burden, but it adds another layer of inconvenience, which is privacy. \xa0\xa0\xa0Due to the nature of how most wheelchairs are designed, the person who aids the person who needs care, has to accompany this person everywhere, limiting the chances of being able to navigate the city or any place independently while enjoying privacy and a little independence. \xa0The challenge gets worse in places like train stations, airports, metro stations, basically any place with stairs, an over crowded, and the requirement of different modes of motion. \xa0Would it be possible to think of a mechanical system that can be attached to all \u201cstandard\u201d wheelchairs, \xa0that can revolutionize their functionality of the wheelchair, making it possible to access every place and surface easily with it, while keeping the expenses to do so, within limits? \xa0\xa0Any thoughts?
\n\n*Header image author Tim99~commonswiki, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
', u'post_id': 689, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 20:28:48', u'title': u'Step up'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 780, u'user_id': 3451, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-04 15:24:24', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 778, u'user_id': 3451, u'timestamp': u'2016-10-04 13:06:29', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'We chose Thessaloniki as a good location for our workshop, due to the active social web that is active in the city since the financial crisis hit home in 2009. Being Greece\'s second biggest city, and the largest city of the country\'s North, Thessaloniki boasts with life, with a vibrant culture that is merging optimally the city\'s laid back flair, with its\xa0rich history, the university\xa0community and contemporary culture. In the last years, Thessaloniki is emerging as a lively incubator of several grassroots initiatives. The first urban gardening projects of Greece happened here, when a group of citizens occupied a former army camp. Social enterprises, consumers networks, activist groups\xa0and a significant arts scene are here at home.
\n\nThe workshop took place on September 3rd, 2016, inviting socially active citizens in the wider field of care.\xa0In many cases, these people are not strangers to each other. The city is neither too big, nor\xa0too small, and people that care are often meeting each other in the numerous gatherings, events and activities organised at the grassroots.
\n\n\u03a4he workshop offered an open space to meet and discuss, using several tools\xa0for harnessing collective intelligence.\xa0Using various participatory methodologies, such as World Caf\xe9, participants mapped out the status quo, how they would imagine Care in Greece in 10 years from now, while engaging into framing this transition.
\n\nMapping the status quo
\n\nThe current care system of Greece is characterised by mainstream centralised structures defined (and accepted) by the public health system, marked by chronic problems related to inefficiency, corruption and lack of funding. The severity of the ongoing financial crisis in Greece has further incapacitated the public care system, but it has given rise to a milieu of social, citizen-led projects who leverage volunteerism to care for the most under-privileged parts of the society.
\n\nBesides public hospitals and private clinics, these structures harbour initiatives ranging from non-profit actions\xa0by international and domestic NGOs or philanthropic organisations (including the church), to volunteer initiatives and informal groups. Over the last years, such initiatives have focused on the distribution of primary need goods (ie. clothes, food, education), based on a strong narrative around the solidarity and exchange economy. In parallel with citizen-led initiatives, many city councils have launched municipal Social\xa0Grocery\xa0stores or Pharmacies. In many cases, local community action is combined with public social structures.
\n\n\n\nCitizen imagine Care in Greece in 10 years
\n\nCitizens were asked to engage into collaborative dialogue on the future of care in Greece, using the World Caf\xe9 method. Participants were divided in two groups and shared ideas on different and multi-level care structures. People from one group swapped with the other, in oder to cross-polinate their knowledge which was later harvested to reveal interesting connnections between different aspects of care.
\n\nThe new paradigm focuses on synergies at different levels, putting emphasis on notions and ideas that bring people together, build trust, strengthen relationships in communities. From the level of housing,\xa0neighbourhoods and\xa0schools, all the way to managing structures of public health and social care. Interesting ideas were shared from participants, for example how we can train care stuff in novel and specialised approaches such as "preventive" mourning. Others talk of the need for communal spaces in blocks of flat, where residents can share tools or creative moments, enhancing social interaction in the buildings they live.
\n\nFor the participants, the future of care innovation\xa0is closely connected to openess and the availability of public space. Not surprisingly, many people appreciated the power of urban gardening in offering green spaces, but also in building a sense of community in the neighbourhood.\xa0
\n\n\n\nThe transition to such a system is not without obstacles, especially by virtue of the lack of political sense in the crisis-stricken country that is experiencing the deepest recession since World War II. Nevertheless, after\xa07 years of fighting the crisis, some cells inside the society start having a very clear idea about the pathway forward.
\n\nTo visualise these\xa0change dynamics, participants were asked to engage into Transition Framing, investigating aspects of the care system that should be continued, eliminated, improved or complemented.
\n\n\n\nThe care communities of Greece are the unsung heroes of this crisis. They formed quickly, evolve slowly and are present where both and the public sector fail: providing free, open care to the most sensitive target groups (ie. homeless, elderly, immigrants). Given the financial, political and administrative support they diserve, these communities could transform the game, and offer the hope of recovery to all Greeks, but also Europe as a whole.
', u'post_id': 736, u'user_id': 3338, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-05 15:44:39', u'title': u'#OPENandChange Thessaloniki: Greeks imagine the future of care'}, {u'content': u'\xa0A holistic, integral, evolutionary, self-directed and self-integrated community (civilization).
\n\nTo continuously and consciously evolve toward our highest potential through resilient adaptation to experiential existence.
\n\nTo collaboratively design, develop, and implement the blueprint for an intentional need-fulfillment community where purposefully driven individuals are fulfilled in their development toward their highest potential state of human experience for themselves and all others.
\n\nAs a first step we are going to establish a \u201cTraining and Research Network\u201d - primarily for tertiary education | higher education - to enable educators to understand and facilitate the train of thought of an integral, holistic, evolutionary, self-directed, self-integrated and self-civilization and are looking for places to establish training and cultural exchange centers. With tis comes an network of self organizing solidly co-habitational care Nuklei.
\n\nAs we have to exist within a framework of formal-operational rules (orange), at best early vision-logic (green), we have to establish a set of \u201corganizational-bodies\u201d to support the idea in the best way possible.
\n\nThe key features have to be adapted as part of part of a living organisation! To date, our core themes are:
\n\nThe design for the community is not yet sufficiently complete to plan its implementation. However, we presently have a \u2018scope of work\u2019, and we are in the process of converting it into a comprehensive project plan.
\n\nImagine the City started in 2009 aiming to redefine the processes and relationships that shape the image and experience of contemporary Greek cities. An informal, open team of young people interested in design and architecture started to host weekly meetings to discuss issues such as: What are the criteria that define public works in Greek cities? Why do public spaces and urban environments in our country not reflect the creative human potential we have in the fields of design, architecture, and urban planning? How can we change the way citizens interact with and take care of the public space?
\n\nIn the past 7 years, the project has created a social platform in physical spaces, where citizens have the opportunity to be informed, discuss and consider the possibilities of improving their quality of life and imagine their city in a different way, with the higher aim to participate in decision-making processes about urban infrastructure and public works. Imagine the City develops public exhibitions in different Greek cities in which local architects, designers, urban planners and artists showcase their proposals, ideas, solutions, and plans for each city, enhanced by a series of parallel urban events.
\n\nAfter the success of the first exhibition in the city of Chalkis in 2009, instead of accepting invitations to organize similar exhibitions in other cities, we created a digital manual documenting our experience, tools and guidelines, which was made openly available to other local teams to use and develop. The result is that Imagine the City has organically been developed in 13 Greek cities by interdisciplinary teams that bring together local authorities, businesses, universities and civil society groups. Exhibitions have hosted over 400 proposals by 650 creators. Two hundred parallel events have taken place and over 100.000 citizens have participated in the different activities. The manual is being evolved and includes from branding guidelines to fundraising and public engagement tips.
\n\nThe exhibits consist of material that participants have developed as students and researchers in the framework of academic projects in Greece or abroad, or as professionals with a social responsibility or interest to promote their work. The proposals suggest aesthetic and functional improvements of cultural, touristic or environmental importance through sketches, videos, and 3D models. The parallel urban events are developed exclusively for each city, focusing on the dissemination of information, knowledge, and perceptions to the local community, encouraging the participation of youth and children to experimental efforts to transform the urban space. Through debates, presentations, workshops and urban interventions we release knowledge about urban development, shed light on unknown sides of each city and create common ground for new partnerships to emerge at the local level. \xa0The trans-local and self-organised character of Imagine the City has activated the dynamic involvement of academic and public institutions, formal and informal teams, local businesses and simple citizens.
\n\nBeyond the discussions on local issues, Imagine the City has provoked a public dialogue of the political decision-making and planning processes in Greece, it has questioned the way we inhabit public spaces and has promoted a different urban culture in which citizens propose, evaluate, co-decide, activate and take care of the public space.
\n\nAt the same time, the community created the ground for a series of spin-off projects: From\xa0IDEATOPOS, the first panhellenic conference on Place Marketing and Branding to\xa0SynOikia Pittaki, a participatory light installation that became a landmark of Athens, to\xa0Politeia 2.0, a platform for political innovation to redesign the Greek Constitution from the bottom-up. The need to scale up these projects led to the creation of the non-profit organization\xa0Place Identity, which acts as a cluster of projects for urban regeneration and political innovation.
\n\nI initiated Imagine the City as a young designer interested in strategic and participatory design. Since then, it has evolved from a \u201cthink tank\u201d to a \u201cplatform\u201d to a \u201ctrans-local community\u201d. Myself, as the initial \u201ccaller\u201d and \u201cfacilitator\u201d and other people that got involved in the project coordination, allowed for systematic experimentation and risk-taking. The collectives that gradually joined our mission gave an unexpected dynamic to the project. Every now and then, we attempted to identify and showcase the ingredients and values that released creativity and joy within our network, causing a multiplier effect in local communities.
\n\nThroughout the years, we experienced many difficult moments and failures which nevertheless shaped our success. When we failed to gain official partnerships with Municipalities and Universities, we decided to reach directly to the academics, students, and citizens. When we failed to launch the digital Imagine the City platform, we decided to focus on the relationships and processes that are required in the physical space and it turned out this served our local teams better. Every collective challenge can become a step to a new collective insight and result in practical social innovation.
\n\nIn order to change the image and the experience of a city, you have to observe an entire system and not be afraid by its complexity. You need to face the public procurement processes for urban works, architecture competitions, political decision-making and the separation of powers. You need to rethink your role as the citizen, to understand deeply how a Democracy ought to function, to establish the political rights that you are not aware of. Otherwise, the city (polis) becomes an arena of conflicting material and psychological interests and soon gets out of control.
\n\nThrough communities of care that work for a common cause, you learn how to trust the other, and thus one\u2019s self. Unfortunately, in our country, we show to one another and to our society more suspicion and blame than trust and empathy. Maybe we keep reflecting society whatever we fail to manage within us. Maybe this is why Greek society still fails to \u201cgrow up\u201d.
\n\nA community of change can only be facilitated if you are open, transparent and if you manage to demonstrate collective audacity while remaining the custodian of a team\u2019s shared values. When success triggers humility and difficulties spark evolution.
\n\nIf you ask me about the future of Imagine the City, personally, I would like it to see it evolve into something I cannot even imagine today, just the way I could not imagine the way it would evolve to date since we first started. I wish it could catalyze holistic solutions for the challenges faced by contemporary cities. As for now, Imagine the City has reached the closure of a first cycle. Interest from new cities to join has decreased significantly and those teams that have been activated in the past are unable to scale their activities without systematic organizational and financial support. Due to the financial crisis, local businesses cannot afford financial or in-kind sponsorships to fund urban activities. At the same time, larger sponsors are not interested in supporting projects in smaller cities due to limited promotion opportunities. However, there is a growing interest in research and training opportunities related to Imagine the City and the processes that could truly empower and scale our trans-local community.
\n\nWe are considering to launch the Imagine the City Academy: a trans-local training program that will support local interdisciplinary teams who develop prototype urban regeneration projects focusing on citizens\u2019 engagement. Building on past experience and existing local teams, we wish to promote action research on new models of managing public works to design holistic solutions that respond to the real needs of cities and local communities. The Academy could offer administrative, educational and financial support for local teams to exchange know-how, apply participatory tools, develop policy proposals and materialize prototype urban interventions. This program has been budgeted at 270.000\u20ac for a period of 5 years. The first year would focus on mapping the results and analyzing the needs of local teams so far, as well as process design for the program. The second would entail an open call, dissemination campaign and activation of cross-sector partnerships at the local level. The actual training program and project development phase of local projects would be in years 3 and 4. In the last year, we would evaluate results of local projects and make participatory policy proposals to tackle the systemic issues that suffocate creativity and participation in urban planning in Greece.
\n\nI work as a freelance designer and have a small company,\xa0theSwitch, which I co-founded in 2005 with a group of friends. While working on branding and designing professional spaces, I started working on methodologies of strategic and participatory design and I got involved in a series of social projects. In social projects, by design, I try to apply principles of self-organisation, self-sufficiency, sustainability, and independent financing but for the moment I cannot claim that I have managed to achieve the results I aim for\u2026 I think that in our country it is even more difficult due to the financial breakdown and the close networks of power. Often, sponsorships tend to manipulate projects or connect them to certain political agendas. We have also experienced funding programs that can destroy something truly innovative through their bureaucratic mechanisms or to make it easier for society to digest. I consider as my main personal goal to be professional, financially and politically independent so as to be open to collaboration, respecting a predefined set of values and encouraging substantial progress.
\n\nMy involvement in public affairs started from my teenage years, in the city where I grew up where I was part of the scout\'s community and a student magazine team. I have spent innumerable hours volunteering in my life, yet I am against \u201cvolunteering\u201d as an end in itself, or as a \u201cculture\u201d that apparently needs to be cultivated. I believe that Greece was never short of \u201cphilotimo\u201d (love of honor) and \u201cmeraki\u201d (love in doing), solidarity and social care actions. However organized civil society is not recognized in our constitution and our institutions, its positive impact neither being acknowledged nor encouraged.
\n\nWhat we need to cultivate today is a culture of holistic and creative problem-solving. Communities do not need volunteers but of citizens committed to solving problems \u2013 not just pointing out issues and ideas! I mean, solving problems in practice. If we do not take the responsibility of applying what we believe in, even in pilot projects, if we do not create new paradigms and do not experience political maturity, then we can keep talking politics (\u201cpolitika\u201d) but we cannot live as citizens (\u201cpolites"). Before sticking to political identities and ideologies, we need to achieve political rights and the freedom that will enable mixed policy and governance models. Instead of allowing closed networks of power to define our lives, these governance models could facilitate communities of action for the common good and the interests of the Polis.
', u'post_id': 540, u'user_id': 1086, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-22 12:19:44', u'title': u'Facilitating communities of action for the common good and the interests of the Polis'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 542, u'user_id': 3380, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-28 16:36:35', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'We are the families of the "Oltrarno", the other or wrong side of the Arno river in Florence, Italy.
\n\nFacing a tough challenge - surviving in the Disneyland of the Renaissance, as a community.
\n\nRight behind the Carmine church, where the Renaissance was born,\xa0families of the most varied background - both traditional and immigrant - run a garden which was donated to the population of the district by the American Red Cross in 1920 and has since been largely seized by a real estate speculator.
\n\nA cross-section of ordinary people of every kind, who are beginning to work together to develop new ways of survival, friendship and beauty\xa0in an era where the "state" is no longer the key actor.
\n\nAs we discover our own needs, our strength, the power of working together, we find that we have a whole world of prospects before us, something much larger than the garden we started out with.
\n\nWe are here to listen and to learn, and of course we would be glad to show you around our side of Florence, should you ever drop by!
', u'post_id': 766, u'user_id': 3439, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-28 11:00:58', u'title': u'Surviving as a community among the tourist flood in Florence'}, {u'content': u'Discover our initiative in ten visual slides!
\n\nBreathing Games (www.breathinggames.net) promotes respiratory health by encouraging each citizen to take care of their health. We create educational and therapeutic games, devices to measure the breathe, and distributed data systems to inform public health practices, and policies.
\n\nWe create a commons \u2013 collectively managed resources that are freely accessible and can be used and enriched by everyone \u2013 by spurring collaboration between people affected, caregivers, and passionate professionals to build on the collective intelligence.
\n\nThe games produced participatorily are meant to improve the quality and life expectancy of people with respiratory problems \u2013 by educating, transforming therapy into games, and promoting healthy habits. They can be reused and adapted by everyone to address local problems and needs, as long as the free/libre and open-source licences are maintained. We also develop open-source hardware such as flowmeter for domesic use. This material shall enable everyone, in all countries, to get indicators about his health (lung capacity tests), and shall also provide decentralized, anonimyzed data to advance public health research (blockchain/IPFS).
\n\nOn top of that we have been building a community of people to further develop and distribute the games. We successfully organized gamejams about cystic fibrosis and asthma in Switzerland and in Canada, and plan other events on breathing health and chronic respiratory diseases in the next months. The audience is huge: 1 out of 5 people in the world suffer from chronic respiratory diseases, and half of them do not follow the therapy as agreed with their caregiver.
\n\nKey to the success of this initiative is the socio-economic, non-exclusive model we developed, as well as the platform we use to log contributions and make the collective effort visible. We use agile development methodologies and allow members to self-organise, so that we build on the collective intelligence and transform ideas into sustainable, scalable products and services.
\n\nThe participatory, inclusive approach enables us to build research-backed games that also are attractive and fun to play with. Interdisciplinarity helps us gain a multifaceted, holistic vision of healthcare and fosters collaboration between different parties, beyond institutions and countries.
\n\nBreathing Games is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact and of the Open Source Initiative.
\n\nDiscover more about us at www.breathinggames.net
', u'post_id': 735, u'user_id': 3400, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-08 20:39:00', u'title': u'Worldwide, 1 in 5 people has a respiratory disease \u2013 We co-create freely available respiratory health games and devices'}, {u'content': u'Breast Cancer Recognizer
\n\nIdea is about detecting the breast with a prototype which have a skin recognition and accelometre to map the breast. It is necessary because every women and men needs to check their breasts once a month. And the techniques of detecting the breast cancer early is so complicated. First with 2 fingers you should message your arm pit. With 3 fingers you should rub down your breast in a circle to the niple... We can optimize this with a prototype.
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nOur goal is to detect the cancer in early stage. Our perspective is \u201cit can happen to anyone\u201d It is an awareness and caring project. So we encourage all the people to look after theirselves with our prototype and catch the cancer before it is too late.
\n\nHow to?
\n\nWe should show supervisors the research and prototype of Yemen University\u2019s to think about more simple ways to make this prototype happen. Because their system is so complex and difficult to built with only Arduinos.
\n\nhttp://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2014/Lisbon/BIOENV/BIOENV-20.pdf
\n\n\n\nReleated Work done by Yemen University
', u'post_id': 774, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-30 14:20:20', u'title': u'Breast Cancer Recognizer'}, {u'content': u'Autistic children have limited behaviours about social connections and they can easily get confused from hearing more than one sound when they are outside. We want to help the children to get out into the world without fear. Usually children get very scared of loud noises and it a ects their behaviour. They nd it very intimidating. We propose to care for them by designing a device that lets them hear their parent\u2019s and other familiar voices, phasing out other sounds like those of tra c, crowd, machines etc.
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nThe main aspect of this project is to use technology that is not only advanced but also very much user friendly. The prototype will be able to have speech recognition so that it detects the sounds of certain people and lets them through but not intimidating sounds like those of tra c and machines
\n\nHow to?
\n\nWe can
\n\n-use noise cancelling technology and speech recognition software to design the prototype
\n\n-introducing simple gestures to use and control the headphones
\n\nLinks for reference:
\n\nhttp://oureverydaylife.com/use-headphones-children-autism-12460.html
\n\nhttp://www.got-autism.com/blog/?tag=headphones-for-kids-with-asd
\n\nWhat have been done?
\n\nThere hasn\u2019t been anything speci c that has been designed for autistic children that serves the purpose we intend to solve. There have been independent approaches to speech recognition through software and headphones through software.
', u'post_id': 772, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-29 22:23:45', u'title': u'Autistic children headphones for outdoors'}, {u'content': u'We want to provide care for people living in neighbour- hoods with lot of noise around them. Noise can a ect physical and mental health of people. Noise pollution in the cities can take a toll on the quality of life of the people. Research has shown that noise pollution can cause problems like heart diseases, stress, lack of sleep and hearing loss to some extent. The average recom- mended noise exposure limit is 55 decibels. However, tra c accounts for 70 decibels and construction machin- ery accounts for about 120 decibels. These are the major generators of sound in the city and well beyond the average exposure limit. We want to provide care to the people living with so much noise around them by using technology.
\n\nWhat are the main aspects of this project?
\n\nThe main aspect of this project is to use technology to provide care for the people so that they have a healthy lifestyle
\n\nHow to?
\n\nWe can
\n\n-use transducers on the walls or windows of the house. -sensors that sense the movement of people in the house, detecting whether to switch the device on
\n\n-LCD screen showing the decibel levels outside
\n\nLinks for reference:
\n\nhttp://www.explainthatstu .com/noisecancellingheadphones.html
\n\nhttp://doctord.dyndns.org/Pubs/POTENT.htm
\n\nWhat have been done?
\n\n\n\nhttp://www.ippinka.com/blog/sono-peace-quiet-home/
\n\nhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wnc/whisper-the-noise-canceler
\n\nhttps://www.indiegogo.com/projects/muzo-personal-zone-creator-w-noise-blocking-tech-sound-sleep#/
', u'post_id': 771, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-29 21:55:50', u'title': u'Indoor Noise Cancelling'}, {u'content': u'Parkinson\'s, as we all know, is a serious ailment for which there has not been a cure yet. What makes the ailment\xa0even more intimidating is that the symptoms keep varying\xa0from person to person and we never know in what way is going to affect the patient. Wave, as our team is called, is trying to make someone suffering from parkinson\'s and their caregiver\'s lives easier using technology that we have today at our disposal.
\n\nThe first signs of someone having parkinson\'s are the motor symptoms. These symptoms include essential tremors in hands and other parts of the body. These symptoms further advance overtime enough that it makes it difficult for them to perform the easiest of daily tasks.\xa0The symptoms occur when the level of dopamine, the chemical responsible for body movement coordination, reduces in the brain. Medication is used to replenish the dopamine levels or fake the action of the dopamine.
\n\nWith our prototype, we propose to make the lives of someone with parkinson\u2019s simpler. Our prototype will be wearables that can monitor the motor symptoms of the patient.\xa0Our prototype will monitor the common symptoms like tremor and stiffness in the human body, and if the symptoms are showing an uncommon behaviour, the prototype can beam the information to the smartphone to remind the patient or the caregiver to take the medicines to or to see the neurologist.
\n\n\n\nOur goal is to help someone who has recently started showing symptoms of parkinson\u2019s to track their motor symptoms and also prolong the initial stage as much as possible.
\n\nA lot of research-based apps and services are available today that help in better understanding the symptoms of Parkinson\u2019s. Apps like mPower and Parkinson\u2019s Central are monitoring the patient\u2019s health from their rdaily movements and tasks along with daily or weekly surveys. With our prototype, we not only propose to help in tracking symptoms to better understand the disease but we also want to help the patient in the best way possible.
', u'post_id': 768, u'user_id': 3448, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-29 21:50:37', u'title': u"Helping Someone with Parkinson's - Part 1"}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 756, u'user_id': 3430, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 13:12:27', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 760, u'user_id': 3431, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 18:31:38', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'In 2014, I had a solo museum exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. That project outlined the history and present conditions of the Scajaquada River. The river was buried under the city of Buffalo in the 1800\u2019s as a way to keep from dealing with the smell and pollution found in the water. Parts of the river remain buried and it continues to be polluted even as it is monitored by state and federal organizations.\xa0 My research and installation took about three years to put together, and it presented the complexity of how economy, government policies, lack of planning, lack of accessible information and climate change can dramatically erode an environmental and cultural asset.
\n\nIt was during this installation that I was approached to consider doing a similar project about the Bagmati River that flows though the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal. I was excited about extending my body of work beyond the Western Hemisphere and to working with a culturally diverse community. After initial discussions with professionals, museum staff and community members in Kathmandu, it was clear that there was a great deal of interest in me starting a new project investigating the Bagmati River. I was granted a residency at the Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Center a few months later, and my research began in earnest. Jason Dilworth joined the venture early in 2016 and his work has been integral to the project\u2019s success. During Jason\u2019s and my first trip to Kathmandu in March of 2016, we were able to strengthen past connections to the project while building a larger network of individuals and groups committed to improving conditions in the Kathmandu Valley and the communities outside the valley who live along the river. Support for the Bagmati River Arts Project has grown steadily from the beginning through the assistance of Hatchfund donors, travel support through SUNY Fredonia and a Burchfield Penney Art Center grant. It has continued to grow through the sales of the project\u2019s publications and the sales of my artwork.
\n\nThe Bagmati River Arts Project\xa0includes:
\n\nA. an exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery at Barbar Mahal Revisited in Kathmandu opening on November 20th, 2016. My artwork, water data from the Bagmati River and the video documentary will be presented on the second floor. The first will include artwork by Nepalese artists whose attention focuses with issues related to the Bagmati River. We are also working with the fine art faculty and students at Kathmandu University who will be creating work related to their cultural connections to the river.
\n\nB. a book is being published (available in November 2016) that documents the importance of the Bagmati River, the cause for the pollution, climate change effects on the Kathmandu Valley and its groundwater, and plans to improve the condition of the river. The role of this publication, like the exhibition, is to use aesthetics as a way to make the scientific data accessible to a wider audience. Artists from the United States and Nepal will be included in the publication. The publication will be made available in Kathmandu at no cost to the residents to assure wide dissemination of its data to a diverse communities. It also will be available in the United States and sold as a way to fund other parts of this project and future projects. A link to this finished book is available on this website.
\n\nC. a documentary video will document the project and include interviews with water quality and health professionals, community members as well a policy maker in Kathmandu. Songs by traditional Nepalese folk singers are incorporated throughout the video including a commissioned song about the Bagmati River. A link to this finished documentary is available on this website.
\n\nD. a brochure and poster written in Nepalese will also provide important accessible scientific and health data about the river. The poster and brochures will be distributed to the communities that live along the entire length of the river in Nepal. Members of the Bagmati River Expedition 2015 team, who created a comprehensive report about the river\u2019s water quality, microinvertebrates, avian population and plastics data, have already established connections in these communities. We are working with Sujan Chitrakar and his graphic design students in designing the posters and brochures. Sujan is the Academic Program Coordinator and an Assistant Professor for Kathmandu University\u2019s School of Art, Center for Art and Design.
\n\nAll elements of the project listed above will be finished and presented at the opening of the exhibition in November 20, 2016 when Jason and I plan to return to Kathmandu.
\n\nAn exciting extension to this project is the plan to ship the artwork, publication, documentary, brochures and posters back to the United States where it will tour around the country and, possibly, internationally. Water issues are a worldwide concern and the Bagmati\u2019s perils are not unique. Our hope is that, by touring the exhibition and by combining it with site-specific exhibitions, audiences can create connections between their region and other global communities. There is a good deal that can be learned from the history of the Bagmati as well as from the grass roots efforts that created the Saturday Bagmati River clean-up program and the successful community health initiatives supported by the non-government organizations. All of these efforts has unified the underserved residents of the Kathmandu Valley to address the basic needs in their communities while creating hope and motivating government involvement.\xa0\xa0
\n\nThe Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York is very interested in the merits of the project and they have volunteered to promote and organize the touring exhibition.
\n\nFor more information please contact alberto@albertorey.com.
\n\nProject Leaders
\n\nAlberto Rey \u2013 Distinguished Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Director and Founder of S.A.R.E.P. Youth Fly fishing Program, and Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide
\n\nJason Dilworth \u2013 Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia and founder and director of several social design projects.
\n\nMore information available at:\xa0www.projectmlab.com/Jason-Dilworth and\xa0www.designersandforests.us
', u'post_id': 752, u'user_id': 3422, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 15:53:30', u'title': u'Complexities of Water - Investigating Clean Water for Community'}, {u'content': u'My studies in biology, agriculture and sociology took place in a time where the environmental, social and ethical problems related to the broken food system started becoming visible to more and more people across the world. Since about 10 years ago, food activism raised as our generations Woodstock, something that some of us like to call \u201cFoodstock\u201d. Therefore, the lines between political activism and an academic life started becoming very thin, and in times it felt -indeed- awkward to interact with two environments that hardly communicated to each other. Maybe for a good reason.
\n\nIn 2007, I travelled to India for the first time, to do my MSc thesis in the Central Indian Himalayan belt, in collaboration with Navdanya, an NGO founded by renowned food and seeds activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva. In 2008, I published my first book on human-plant relations of tribal hill communities on the noble mountains of the Garhwal Himalaya. At the same time, returning to my university in Stuttgart, Germany, I helped found F.R.E.S.H. - the Food Revitalisation & Ecogastronomic Society of Hohenheim.
\n\nF.R.E.S.H. was one of the very first student initiatives in Europe, trying to engage young agricultural students in a new, holistic, and self-reflective thinking about the future of the food system. We organised conferences, peaceful protests against unsustainable practices in the university\u2019s canteens, a student garden and we even designed and fundraised for a new academic module on the Ethics of Food & Nutrition Security. Through community work in the campus, a group of young students from more than 15 countries from around the world, started building these much needed bridges between analytical thinking and solving the world\u2019s problems.
\n\nAround this time, in 2008, I attended Slow Food\u2019s Terra Madre in Turin. This was a game changer, which allowed my friends and me see the wider picture, and to connect with hundreds of other youth. We saw the rise of the urban gardening movement and the food waste movement. We spoke of the need for intergenerational renewal in the agricultural sector, and we started connecting the dots. For us, good food and good farming almost became an obsession, and a latent hope that maybe we can manage to improving the world, by improving our food and our quality of life.
\n\nAt the same year, still a student in Germany and doing my ethnobotanical research for my PhD in India, Thailand and China, I founded a Slow Food Convivium in Thrace, my home land in Northern Greece. Well before the financial crisis and the social havoc it evoked hit home, we started discussing about resilience, an organic transition, urban gardens, quality food production/consumption systems. Early days for such ideas in Greece, this action has raised plenty of scepticism, as no-one would expect what was coming. Our actions ranged from organising public social meals in squares in streets, campaigns, food fairs, etc. I have organised three delegations of small Greek producers to Slow Food fairs in Italy and Germany, and as the crisis was unfolding, I wanted to show that a difference Greece exists -other than the one presented by the media and blamed by politicians- and it was here.\xa0
\n\nIn 2012, I produced an award winning short documentary, called \u201cFarming on Crisis?\u201d. This was the untold story of the Greek countryside, unfolding through a man\'s journey across the crisis-stricken country, uncovering the stories of young farmers and the prospects of revamping the economy through good farming and sustainable rural development. Building a bridge between the small and the large; the urban and the rural; the local with the global, the film used the case of Greece in order to touch urgent global challenges like food security, the environment and the future of our food. This movie travelled around the world, screened in several film festivals and opened a new dialogue: what future can we hope for, with only 6% of Europe\u2019s farmers under the age of 35? We even got an award in Hollywood.
\n\nAs my life proceeded into this environment, I started venturing into good food entrepreneurship. From one side, I was launching global petitions for a better agricultural food system, to be presented at Rio+20, on the other hand I started discussing with my parents plans about revamping our family\u2019s traditional olive grove in Northern Greece. At 2012, we created Calypso, a single varietal extra virgin olive oil made inside the ancient grove of my small village, Makri. Our purpose was (and still is), not only to produce a product of the utmost quality, but to champion innovative agroecological practices, trying to invite more farmers of the region in our journey towards sustainable quality. Soon after, I joined forces with another Italian friend from my former Slow Food years, and then we joined by another one, and another one, and we created We Deliver Taste. This is a small consultancy company connecting agriculture with gastronomy, hospitality and marketing. We are consulting good farmers and help them access new markets, while working with restaurant owners and chefs in order to close the loops in the \u201cbroken food system\u201d that we all new is a major part of the problem. This is of utmost importance for Greece and its post-crisis future,\xa0 since the country has one of the largest per capita agricultural populations in Europe. We are now establishing new partnerships, working with ICT developers and experimenting on open data systems, with the aim of creating tools that bring more transparency and education in food supply chains, and shorten them in terms of communication and enhanced interaction among all peers.
\n\nHaving experienced these transformation at the personal and social level, I still continue doing a lot of community research in Greece. To me, my country has emerged as a testing ground for a new transformative future, what I like to call the \u201cPlan C\u201d. That is, if the \u201cPlan A\u201d is a Grexit, and \u201cPlan B\u201d is a devastating bankruptcy, then I think there is also space to investigate the possibility for another plant. The \u201cPlan C\u201d has to do with the design of a roadmap for advancing towards a real transition back to the Commons, based on civil engagement for participatory mapping and collective management of the assets that influence what is currently under attack: the everyday lives of the people.
\n\nInspired by the many different communities on the rise throughout the country, and concerned about the lack of resources and the disconnection between them, #BackToCommons is my latest project. This is not an organisation (I don\u2019t think there is a need to be one - there are so many organisations which we work with), but rather an informal network of young researchers who are trying to pull resources for creating systemic infrastructure in Greece. The aim is to give a new hope to a desperate society, but also connect this action with the world, knowing that a lot of people in the ground don\u2019t have access to resources, due to many known barriers. Lack of funds and language are only two of them.
\n\nI am not sure where the journey of #BackToCommons is going to end, but I am convinced that it is heading towards the right direction. More and more people in Greece start believing on the power of commons-based action, and what is considered an \u201calternative\u201d in other, more affluent economies of Europe in the world, over here is pretty much the only way forward. Despite the discontent, this offers a significant opportunity for working out transition solutions that I am sure are going to prove very useful for the international community.
\n\nI know that given the political, organisational and financial support, realising this type of transition is\xa0 one of the few chances we have in order to achieving the very possibility of realising the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives mapped out at COP21. More importantly, as extremism is on the rise across the continent, what is needed more than ever before, are new narratives that connect our societies - not separate them. And in the absence of political sense, I think that we the people can still continue building them.
', u'post_id': 543, u'user_id': 3338, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-29 09:33:55', u'title': u'#BackToCommons: Building new narratives that connect our societies - not separate them'}, {u'content': u'My name is Jenny Gkiougki and I am one of those Greeks that went back home during the crisis. (For an account of how I came about this decision and my take on the crisis please follow this link here on Edgeryders) During my residence abroad I was working as a business consultant and marketer. After ten years, I decided to return to my Greece to contribute to the local community and help with the bringing about of change. I am currently (amongst others) working on a project called \u201cReal Food Utopia\u201d as a co-facilitator with a foreign research partner, dealing with the mapping of alternative food systems in the region of Thessaloniki. (For a full list of all the projects I\'m working on currently and the great and exciting things we are creating in Greece and in EU and links to many of them please look here at another of my posts).
\n\nThe workshops of the project are related to alternative economies, peri-urban gardening, refugees and food through a participatory procedure between people who belong to informal initiatives all around the city. This procedure also includes training in participatory video making and working on all its processes (ie. storyboards, editing) in order to create audiovisual material and share the technique with everyone who is interested in it.
\n\nI am a member of the URGENCI International Network of Community Supported Agriculture, the European Research Group on CSA, and the European Movement for Food Sovereignty. I have been working as an activist on matters related to Food Sovereignty for 5 years and I am currently cooperating with a team of another three more advocates to create a legal entity to represent grassroots initiatives. In the near future, we would like to expand our network through an open call all over Greece and reclaim our existing collaborations and good synergies abroad.
\n\nI am interested in self-sustainability and viable solutions with regards to how we live and thrive and hence I beleive that the future lies in the creation of new types of communities, ecovillages etc, and the promotion of practices like permaculture and the blue economy model of zero emissions that can create self-sufficient farmers and viable, circular economies that not only do not pollute, but actually create more resources instead of depleting them.\xa0 I am trying to encourage Greek people to be more involved in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes, to share risks with their farmers during the cultivating season and create a new concept of human relationship within the community they interact with. Additionally, the enhancement of CSA would support small-scale farmers who lack access to the local market and cannot (should not) get involved in complex food chains.
\n\nWe would like to address the needs of small-scale farmers who wish to obtain access to European food markets at fair prices, but also consumers of all ages who become more conscious about food production and consumption. I would like to engage in interactive campaigns and seminars that target informal collectivities who are interested in food sovereignty, but lack financial resources and technical support. Our community project will form a new hub that will host them and their projects.
\n\nWe are interested in creating a new agricultural production model in Greece, focusing on agroecology and self-sufficiency in the context of land and food management, considering limiting factors such as economic hardship. All in all, we pursue the transition to a new way of thinking and living through an \u201cumbrella\u201d project which consists of several innovative schemes.
\n\nThe main scope of the project is to empower rural farmers and inspire rural lifestyle, by combining traditions and technology, based on the principles of permaculture. We wish to enhance small-scale agriculture, in order to revive Greece\u2019s rural areas and promote an economy that is based on social solidarity and alternative currencies.
\n\nWhat we have in mind is summarized in the following fields of action:
\n\nFor the past few years I\u2019ve been busy rethinking the way healthcare is delivered to patients and how health communication and prevention are being constructed as information for the benefit of the public. Being an adjunct professor lecturing Sociology of health at the University of Parma I have a good starting point - not exactly a healthcare expert person, but a sociologist with a huge passion for e-learning and innovation in education, working on the change from within.
\n\nMy idea is that the change should take place in the training and education sphere about how professionals and practitioners become such. Innovation and openness of knowledge must become the cutting edge paradigm within universities, hospitals and healthcare policies.
\n\nI\u2019ve been granted research scholarships for the past years and I use them to bring change in two main areas of education: technologies and practices of innovation. It\u2019s about bringing these two aspects, also existing in collaborative economies, communities, in hacker groups and activists promoting open access to knowledge, data and technology to stubborn, hermetic ecosystems of higher education.
\n\nMy current project, a weblab named Puntozero (http://puntozero.github.io/), explores the ways in which teachers, professors, tutors and students -used to the traditional model of lecturing a class and equipping people with theoretical knowledge and in-field training- might integrate in a community of practice to innovate the way of learning. This year there are about 150 students involved. The brainstorming about proposals include more talking to the patients, who want to collaborate and surely want to see medicine more friendly, more efficient, more human. It is important to change the way we see health care - not as a prestigious, restricted profession for a selected group of professional, but as a practice that has been there for thousands of years, a huge amount of collective wisdom that pioneered and support what we call medicine and care right now.
\n\nIt\u2019s fascinating to play with the idea of a healthcare student classroom where, instead of feeding people with theories, teachers would create space where students meet makers of all sorts and discuss various technological innovations with them, and spend time with their patients, getting hands on experience in various cases. By encouraging sharing of data, more interdisciplinary collaboration, creativity and networking educational institutions could create a new breed of health professionals. Their work style would be more inclusive and horizontal, and they would be more interested in critical thinking and discussion, sharing and transparency.
\n\nAt the moment I\u2019m working with a couple of small innovations that could lead to improved communication between health professionals and patients. One of them is about involving three trainees in archiving and developing a set of health-related caremojis, accessible in a open, less formal exchange, a tool improving communication and adoption of symbols to represent concepts of concern (e.g.: surgery tools, health conditions, symptoms, etc..). They will be soon ready to be used and evaluated by the students.
\n\nAnother one is to replace yearly reports from traineeship by an online book, accessible to everyone and encouraging discussion. And it actually did. While i was working as professor I also skipped preparing tests and asked each pupil to come up with one multiple choice question, and out of 150 of them, were chosen random 20 questions set that became the test I made an exam. It was a very democratic, surprising step for students. I tend to be also available online for my students as much as possibile and I put a lot of stress on digital learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) - to save paper, to spare their pockets, to promote more openness, to bring more p2p learning. Finally, I try to skip the usage of huge, expensive books in the classrooms - instead, I look for good, open source materials, and if they\u2019re in English, I ask my students to translate one page each and put it up in Italian as a wiki, available to everyone. There are all these ways in which students are forced to meet and talk, an essential practice, widely absent in the formal education.
\n\nI\u2019m interested in joining the OPENandchange with the mission of tweaking and/or revolutionizing the classroom and the health care education and training. I want to create more opportunities for students to meet people who change the way care is given in different ways - by making devices, by creating informal institutions, in fablabs and elderly houses. I want to prepare workshops where makers and patients would be working along the health care providers on new solutions. And I want to empower alternative ways of giving care, outside of the formal profession, initiatives driven by values other than money - by the idea of being helpful, virtue of serving each other, and actual engagement.
\n\nTherefore i would like to engage other scholars, makers, educators, archivists, patients and who else inspired by an open paradigm of healthcare in contributing to a p2p learning project to advance healthcare professions curricula and innovate where possibile and to open knowledge filed the higher education for healthcare professions. Please add your comment to participate.
', u'post_id': 524, u'user_id': 3310, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-26 10:25:12', u'title': u'Rethinking Healthcare Professions Curricula in a Open Knowledge frame'}, {u'content': u'Despite an image of desperate, crumbling Greece that some people might have nowadays, those who investigate alternative economies and societies, those interested in self-organisation and changing the status quo recognize the country\u2019s revolutionary role. One of the finest examples is SC!FY, a young organization based in Athens which in the course of four years managed to get a lot of stuff done.
\n\nMy brother, George (Giannakopoulos) has been an Artificial Intelligence researcher who has worked both in Greece and the North of Italy for quite a few years and has had programming and IT consulting experience for over 15 years in the industry. He has been collaborating with researchers from both sides of the Atlantic. What he was experiencing as a researcher, was beyond his imagination. He puts it nicely:
\n\n"EU is spending billions of euros in research projects. Consortia of research institutes and big EU companies receive huge amounts of money to produce amazing technologies. Technologies that need only a few months of work to become great, potentially life\xadchanging products. But most of them remain unused for years within the walls of the institutes that produce them. It seems absurd, but rarely does anyone undertake the little work that is required to bring top notch scientific results to our everyday lives. It is also common that researchers simply cannot grasp the direct impact a technology they create can have on everyday life, if applied in a friendly, accessible way."
\n\nHe wanted to see it change - and so in 2012 he founded an organisation with a mission to publish and transform that knowledge into ready to use solutions.
\n\nHe could not take it any longer. So, he and his cordial friend Vassilis (Salapatas) decided to bridge this gap between research and society. In 2012 they formed SciFY (Science For You), an Not for profit organization that does exactly this: take scientific results, and then form a community of entrepreneurs, volunteers, researchers and end users to build useful final products to solve everyday problems. And they offer them for free. To all.
\n\nFor the first two years we strategically decided to prove that we are serious about what we do, we are able to deliver and \u2026 that we are not crooks (since trust towards NGOs has been very low in Greece after some scandals)
\n\nWe also had to prove we are using freely available results (these are more and more common in EU, which requires many of the research it funds to publish their findings on the most open licenses possible). In the last 2,5 years, we\u2019ve started looking for funding and this is when plenty of things got done.
\n\nWe have been awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic, we\u2019ve built collaborations with most of the major Greek institutions - foundations, institutes, universities etc. We have a feeling that our impact is rather disproportionate compared to our size But we really think this happens thanks to our focus on communities and our passion for getting things done.
You can read about our work in our annual report for 2015.
\n\nThe model that we\u2019ve introduced to our work is to create communities around each of the ideas from the very beginning. We\u2019re also often asked to solve a particular problem by the very communities. This is one of the keys to our success - we\u2019re surrounded by people who want to see and use the results of our work. And they\u2019re actively taking part in the process. It helps us create a space where ideas, needs, opinions circulate and are being taken into account.
\n\nSC!FY is working now in four domains - areas of interest.
\n\nThe first area of interest is care-related and it focuses on creating assistive technologies for people with disabilities, and on offering them for free (and under open source licences). Among these are games for blind children, which have been developed in collaboration with schools for the blind - they helped us design them, tested and now use them. The process allowed us to bring together blind and non-blind people to work together. These games have more than 3,500 downloads from all around the world, got much media attention - and we constantly get positive feedback from people using them. So we continue developing more games for the bind. :-)
\n\nWe\u2019ve also created a smartphone app called ICSee for people with low vision that applies special filters to the video captured by the phone\u2019s camera and allows users to read a restaurant menu or signs on the door. It\u2019s also available for free and under open source licences on Google Play..
\n\nWe\u2019re finishing the development of Talk and Play, a platform for people with motor disabilities, that will kick-off in late September. This application will help people who can\u2019t move or talk to communicate with their environment, watch videos, listen to music, or play games that support their rehabilitation.
\n\nWe have created more solutions in this area, that you can find here.
\n\nThe second area of our work is e- democracy. In this strand, we\u2019ve built an open source platform DemocracIT that supports the process of public consultation, which is theoretically common in Greece, but tedious in reality. We\u2019ve tested it and presented to the governmental bodies. Besides, there is also ActiveCommons platform, which we\u2019ve designed to foster collaboration for the common good between It caters organisations, NGOs and groups of people who want to change something and need an effective tool for collaboration.
\n\nThe third scope of our work is supporting civil society with our IT skills. One of the results of such collaborations is a volunteer management platform - available for free, as well.
\n\nAnd finally, the fourth pillar of our work is the Artificial Intelligence business. One of the outcomes of our work is NewSum that produces automated news summaries, and works in many languages. Or PServer application, that helps you personalise other applications.
\n\nHow do you cope with finding financing outside your own country? Do you struggle building or managing communities that could support your work and contribute towards making it time and cost effective? What are the obstacles you face in terms of accessing and using scientific research? Talk to us by leaving a comment.
', u'post_id': 528, u'user_id': 3388, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-01 10:27:34', u'title': u'OPENandchange: SC!FY aplies and offers scientific knowledge for free'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 748, u'user_id': 3416, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-18 18:09:59', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'When current regulations are obsolete, one solution may be to evade rather than to reform or abide by potentially stifling rules. Evasive entrepreneurship refers to circumventing institutional obstacles as part of novel activity. It is not illegal: it\u2019s done by using new technologies, finding room in existing regulations or working in the gray zone. If successful, it can make the institution being sidestepped irrelevant, or even provoke reform by highlighting its inefficiency. Evasive entrepreneurship is potentially a tool that can aid institutional reform in Europe, in particular in areas where institutions are obsolete or ineffective but where political reform is slow in response.
\n\nI use this framework to discuss how initiatives which stem from communities can bring about change. An example used to illustrate this is the Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic in Greece, a large volunteer effort which provides health care to low-income patients. The self-organized clinic referred to as the people\u2019s \u201cAlternative Health System\u201d has served thousands of patients parallel to the existing (but ill functioning) health care system.
\n\nAll this is nothing new. Economic and social development often results from entrepreneurs responding to problems or opportunities and enacting change. While high-tech business firms are everyone\u2019s favourite example, this entrepreneurship need not be profit-driven nor abide by existing rules.
\n\nInstitutional entrepreneurship refers to how entrepreneurs are influenced by and influence institutions. It is a field that greatly interest me. Entrepreneurship typically refers to business activity. More fundamentally however it includes all innovative activities aimed at change, not only firms. Other categories include \u201csocial entrepreneurs\u201d who create non-profit organizations, \u201cpolitical entrepreneurs\u201d who recombine resources in the policy arena to bring about reform and \u201ccommunity entrepreneurs\u201d who organize to provide local public goods.
\n\nAccording to Schumpeter, the defining characteristic of entrepreneurship is not earning profits but disrupting the current equilibrium \u2013 the \u201corder of things\u201d inherited from the past. Business entrepreneurs who change the market equilibrium with new technologies, products or organizations are one important group, but the term can be applied to other actions which bring about dynamic change.
\n\nThis post discusses these concepts theoretically as well as giving examples of how specific projects can be viewed within this framework.
\n\nA case illustrating political entrepreneurship is the People\'s Assembly in Estonia, an online platform for crowdsourcing ideas for reforming electoral and political laws. The public was free to suggest proposals, which were reviewed by experts and discussed by a randomly chosen assembly of a few hundred voters. The People\'s Assembly was initiated and organized by civil society voluntaries dissatisfied with democratic institutions in Estonia. It uses modern IT-tools to mimic classical democratic associations in smaller polities which allowed for face-to-face discussions and open proposals.
\n\nOne interesting example of \u201ccommunity entrepreneurship\u201d is Prinzessinnengarten, a large urban garden in the middle of Berlin founded and managed by local volunteers. The garden was built in a poorer part of Berlin to experiment with green urban gardening but also as a social initiate. Both the Prinzessinnengarten and the People\'s Assembly are entrepreneurial in that they are novel responses to opportunity, but clearly not business firms.
\n\nSocial entrepreneurship was also the driving force behind several much larger institutions. The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant is not famous for his private investments but for founding of the Red Cross, for which he received the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. More recent example of non-profit entrepreneurs includes Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger who in 2001 created Wikipedia. The Red Cross and Wikipedia were innovative initiatives which changed the world as much as any entrepreneurial firm and which also required novel ideas, alertness to opportunities, risk taking and organizational effort.
\n\nThe People\'s Assembly, Prinzessinnengarten, The Red Cross and Wikipedia are examples of novel and to various extents disruptive entrepreneurship, but not of evasive entrepreneurship. These are examples of innovations in practices, technology or organization carried out within the existing institutional framework.
\n\nEntrepreneurs act within the rules of society we call institutions, sometimes defined as \u201cthe humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction\u201d. Formal written institutions include laws, property rights and regulations whereas informal unwritten institutions include as traditions, cultural practices and norms. In the last few years there have some interesting work on how institutions affect entrepreneurs and how entrepreneurs may in turn influence institutions. I have previously written about the interaction of entrepreneurship and institutions.
\n\nInstitutions such as property rights, rules, market structure, the political system and social norms largely regulate society and influence the extent to which entrepreneurial talent is directed toward productive or unproductive activity. Entrepreneurs can in turn work to abide, evade or alter institutions.
\n\nThe common response is to institutions and work whiting the current framework. Altering institutions can take the form of social activism aimed directly at influencing policy makers to reform laws and regulations, such as the environment movement. A perhaps more intriguing way in which entrepreneurs interact with institutions is through evasive entrepreneurship aimed at circumventing formal institutions. Unlike activism, evasive entrepreneurship is not aimed directly at changing institutions by influencing policy makers but at devising ways to work around them.
\n\nOne example includes rides-for-hire application companies such as Uber and Lyft which enable their users to circumvent regulations in the local taxi market. Another example aimed at circumventing intellectual property right and monopoly power includes file-sharing platforms such as The Pirate Bay. An important recent study by Elert and Henrekson discusses evasive entrepreneurship in depth:
\n\n\u201cA well-established idea in the entrepreneurship literature is that entrepreneurs generally abide by institutions, which are therefore seen as the main determinants of entrepreneurship and economic growth. We challenge this idea by providing the first formal definition of evasive entrepreneurship, and argue that it is an important yet underappreciated source of innovation and change in the economy, especially because evasive entrepreneurs through their actions in the market may spur institutional change with potentially important welfare effects\u2026This type of entrepreneurship is a means to test and provoke the existing institutional frameworks, and it also indirectly results in adaptations within those frameworks\u201d.
\n\nSocial activism takes place in the policy arena and deals with unwanted institutions by creating opinion and influencing politicians to directly reforming the institution in question. Evasive entrepreneurship by contrast accepts the institution but devices method to de facto work around it in the real economy. Elert and Henrekson discuss the distinction:
\n\n\u201cUnlike institution-altering entrepreneurs, evasive entrepreneurs do not use political means to change institutions, but instead affect them through their activities in the market [...] they do not directly try to change institutions through political means at the higher levels of the institutional hierarchy\u201d
\n\nAn entrepreneur who devises clever ways to evade taxes by using tax-havens may cause harmful economic effects. An early definition of evasive entrepreneurship is efforts in \u201cevading the legal system or in avoiding the unproductive activities of other agents\u201d. Adam Smith had this figured out already in 1776. He wrote that individuals could circumvent institutional constraints unfavorable to commerce, and added that the effort of individuals to better their condition is \u201cnot only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operation\u2019\u2019.
\n\nElert and Henrekson agree. Evasion can be both a bad and a good thing, depending on the specifics.
\n\n\u201cIf evasive entrepreneurship circumvents institutions that are welfare enhancing, it is likely to decrease welfare, but if there are other motives behind these institutions or if they have become obsolete (act as impediments) due to technical and/or organizational change, evasive entrepreneurship is likely to raise welfare\u201d.
\n\nIt is more likely that evasive entrepreneurship act as a vehicle of regulatory change by provoking it when the institutions being evaded is obsolete or inefficient. In these cases, evasive entrepreneurship has the additional benefit of pointing to inconsistencies in regulation.
\n\nPolicy-makers may indeed welcome evasive entrepreneurship in many situations. The interest of politicians and society do not always perfectly coincide, for example in settings characterized by rent seeking, corruption, lobbying or group conflict. This can lead to institutional designed to further private interests of politicians or special interests despite being ineffective for society at large. Not all institutional inefficiency is however intentional. In other cases, inefficiency reflects complexity and the fact that optimal policies constantly shift due to technological and social change. In this situation,evasive entrepreneurship palys a Hayekian role by utilizing local information that is known in communities affected by policies but which policy makers in centralized decision making do not have full access to.
\n\nAnother major problem in devising institutions is uncertainty, not the least when dealing with new technologies. When there are large uncertainties, evasive entrepreneurs can serve as an educational source for policy makers by demonstrating by experimenting and testing boundaries, demonstrating on a smaller scale what works and what does not. This is particularly true when there are active communities which self-organize to actively bring knowledge to the surface. In recent years, policymakers have become more aware about the benefits of using self-organized communities as a source of smalls scale experimentation and innovation as a complement for large scale for bureaucracy. Many initiatives fail, but the cost of failure is small, unlike state activity, and easily outweighed by the gains from even a few successful experiments.
\n\nAn example of such innovative initiatives who I recently came into contact with is the tech community Edgeryders, which experiments with open access enterprises to deal with institutional failure in Europe. One fascinating case in evasive entrepreneurship which interested me is in the Greece health care sector.
\n\nHealth care provision is one of the major problems facing the economy. Studies in the field of health economics has documented the difficult problem of health inflation, where expenditure on health care consistently increases faster than the rest of the economy, which puts pressure on public and private finances in both the U.S and Europe. There are however few satisfactory answers to what can be done about this.
\n\nThe Greek health care system in addition collapsed following the economic crisis. Edgeryders works with a very interesting case study on evasive entrepreneurship in the Greek health care sector. Health care provision in Greece faces major difficulty following the financial crisis, with brought the public to the brink of bankruptcy and in addition led to many Greeks losing their jobs in a country where the national health service is tied to employment. This led to many unemployed Greeks losing their insurance virtually lacking access to public health care and no money to pay for private clinics.
\n\nOne response to institutional failure was Metropolitan Community Clinic, a self-organized initiative evading existing institutions to provide health care to those lacking health care. Edgeryders write:\xa0
\n\n\u201cThis is a very strange animal as health care providers go. It has no legal existence. Its literature proudly proclaims: \u201cMCCH is a volunteer organization without Legal or Taxable status and it is not a \'Non-Profit-Making-Organisation\'.\u201d Maria: "We are technically illegal". It does not accept donations in money. It does accept donations in kind: medicines, equipment, blood sample analyses. It operates from a building that belongs to the Municipality of Helliniko-Argyropoulis. Though none of its employees works in the building, the Municipality still pays the electricity and phone bills that the MCCH generates\u201d
\n\nTraditional economic theory might in the past have concluded that this arrangement is impossible, but work in New Institutional Economics by Elinor Ostrom and others have shown that self-organized governance systems can use norms, internal trust and reciprocity even when formal structures and property rights are lacking. The MCCH may serve as an illustration of Ostrom\'s Law: \u201cA resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory\u201d
\n\nThere are apparently several similar health-care clinics in Greece circumventing the institutional framework as a response to policy failure. I find this an interesting example of evasive entrepreneurship, and plan to evaluate the MCCH as a case of evasive entrepreneurship as a response to institutional failure together with my college Erik Lakomaa. Elert and Henrekson in their study focus on for-profit evasive entrepreneurship, but conceptually nothing precludes non-profit evasive entrepreneurship.
\n\nIn discussed above, the benefits of evasive entrepreneurship are particularly important in situations when existing institutions do not function well, which makes Greece a suitable case study. This and other cases are interesting to evaluating if evasive entrepreneurship may be utilized to identify, resolve or reform obsolete institutions in Europe. \xa0
\n\nPhoto credit: Charles Knowles on flickr.com
', u'post_id': 509, u'user_id': 3165, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-20 22:42:36', u'title': u'Escaping failed institutions through evasive entrepreneurship'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 529, u'user_id': 3393, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-03 11:36:45', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\n\nAbout two months ago, we set out to convene a smart swarm of grassroots initiatives to renew health and social care. The idea was big and ambitious: cast communities \xa0as care providers, alongside the state and private business. We had decided to run for a 100 million dollars grant, the MacArthur\'s Foundation 100&Change. But not as an organization. We would run as a smart swarm of grassroots initiatives around care.
\n\nWe have researched "care by communities" in the opencare project. We fancy ourselves experts in the field. But this new task was not research: it was design. How could all those independent local initiatives combine a in a tentative system-level solution? No way this could happen through scaling grassroots initiatives. They are so fast end efficient because they mobilize local resources: skills, mutual trust, capital, institutions. They should scale as far as these resources extend, but no further. No, what we needed was an ecosystem, an organic mosaic of local solutions. We needed to think like biologists, not like engineers.\xa0
\n\nThere was only one problem: you can\'t design an ecosystems. Ecosystems evolve. They are so fast, efficient, diverse and beautiful precisely because no one agency controls them. Hell, they die if you try to control them too tightly. So, we did not try to design care by community at scale. Instead, we designed a context that speeds up mutation, adaptation, exchange (both cultural and economic) and selection of grassroots initiatives. The key is to hardcode incentives for them to want to interact. With no interactivity there is no ecosystem; if it does not have links, it\'s not a network.
\n\nI hate application forms just as much as the next guy, but this one was a lot of fun. It felt right, honest. It is so strange that we could see no point in trying to bullshit the judges into selecting us. We are proposing something different, and scary, and exciting. If they go for it, better they go with their eyes wide open.\xa0
\n\nBut there is something else that makes me think we are on the right track. This: everybody hates the grant cycle. It just does not work, and it has to go. Putting money on the table attracts the sharks as well as the good guys, and the sharks have an advantage: they don\'t care about the problems, they only need to please the grant giver.\xa0Grant givers know this, so they respond by putting in place rules and control systems to keep the sharks away. But of course the sharks mutate, camouflage. They go to the right conferences. They talk to funders. They pick up the exciting new concepts and ape them, turning them into hollow\xa0buzzwords. So the grant givers erect new barriers, and so on. The result is an arms race. The losers are the doers, who need to spend more and more time differentiating themselves from the parasites. Some of them even give up, focus more and more on getting the next grant, and become parasites themselves. In the grant cycle nobody can hear you scream.
\n\nThis won\'t happen in Open&Change. For two reasons.\xa0
\n\nFirst, there is no incentive to become a parasite. If we win, we win as a swarm. MacArthur will perceive the swarm, not the single organizations. Our best path to prosperity is to avoid mission drift, use the swarm to get our initiative off the ground, and never have to chase a grant again.\xa0
\n\nSecond, we are not alone. We share the grant with hundreds of peers. They can and should be our partners, suppliers, clients, friends. The grant brings us together, instead of driving us apart in a competitive logic.\xa0
\n\nAgainst all the odds, I am quite upbeat about Open&Change. It feels like we are onto something. Judge for yourself: we have published a draft application form in Creative Commons. You are welcome to read, comment, and help make it better. If you are a potential competitor feel free to use it, but please do credit us, as per the terms of the license.\xa0
\n\nLearn more on Open&Change
', u'post_id': 5881, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-11 19:43:48', u'title': u'Smart swarms for the win: the Open&Change draft application is online'}, {u'content': u'Italy
\n\n2013
\n\nWho: Marco Sangiorgio, Vincenzo Iadisernia, Antonio Ianiero (Unterwelt)
\n\nUGO is a home automation system which allows users to control home devices through speech recognition technology. Few examples: turn on and off the light, lift or lower a rolling shutter, signal gas leak, exc.
\n\n(http://hackaday.com/2013/08/11/voice-controlled-home-automation-uses-raspberry-pi-and-lightwaverf/)VoicePod (http://www.voicepod.com/videos/), AmazonEcho (http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-echo-review/)
\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j02W99Z8GNI
\n\nI have been working as a trauma therapist since 10 years. It\u2019s not an area that many psychotherapists decide to explore in their daily practice, but ever since I can remember it was the most appealing area of psychotherapy for me. And one that is highly unexplored and somehow underrepresented.
\n\nOne of the reasons why I decided to try Trauma Tour is my exchange with a patient over Twitter. We\u2019ve been talking online for a very long time about her experience, as she cannot come and see me in Belgium. And then I thought, I should be able to go and see her.
\n\nWe, psychotherapists, stay in our daily practices. We don\u2019t move. We don\u2019t reach out and explain things to people. We do things with individuals - why not try to work with a group, and talk to a group? This is what I\u2019d rather do. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
\n\nEventually I bought a bus. My very first tour this week goes to Ghent, where I already have connected with potential participants. It will be a chance for me to see in what ways I can connect with groups. How to talk to people about trauma? How to equip them with knowledge and capacity to deal with their own experiences? And what could \xa0be a possible model for sustaining the project, as I really want to go far with my tour, reaching the Balkans, Greece, visit communities out there. Ultimately, I\u2019d also like to volunteer in refugee camps and serve with my knowledge and experience there (I do work in an asylum center in Belgium once a week).
\n\nDuring the preparation for the tour I have realised there is a big interest in the topic already - people really want to know more about trauma. I\u2019ve already taken a step towards promoting awareness and dealing with the problem - I wrote a book about trauma last year. The book became quite popular, and it\u2019s now being translated from Dutch to English. It will be available in January, and it is based on common licence, along with the exercises included. This decision is based on my view that psychological knowledge, and therapeutical knowledge, are all based on dozens of years of collective practice and wisdom accumulated which should be available to everyone without limitations, certifications, individualisation...
\n\nI need to extend my network now in order to connect with communities and groups that would like to host me. I could be travelling from one place to another this way, knowing there would be support and people to talk to. I need to figure out best ways to sustain myself - travelling for long would cost me my patients, and a source of income. If you\u2019d like to give me a tip, share an idea, help me prepare the tour - leave a comment.
', u'post_id': 740, u'user_id': 3403, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-12 14:06:06', u'title': u'Trauma Tour'}, {u'content': u'\u201cDon\u2019t assume a person with a disability is easily offended.\u201d
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \u2014\u201cDisability Etiquette\u201d from Wikipedia.\xa0
\n\nAt the beginning of the research, we asked ourselves, \u201cWhat is disability?\u201dAccording to Cerebral Palsy: A Guide for Care by Bachrach Miller, the terms regarding disability are defined as such:
\n\n\u201cImpairment is the correct term to use to define a deviation from normal, such as not being able to make a muscle move\u2026Disability is the term used to define a restriction in the ability to perform a normal activity of daily living which someone of the same age is able to perform. \u2026 Handicap is the term used to describe a child or adult who, because of the disability, is unable to achieve the normal role in society commensurate with his age and socio-cultural milieu\u2026All disabled people are impaired, and all handicapped people are disabled, but a person can be impaired and not necessarily be disabled, and a person can be disabled without being handicapped.\u201d[1]
\n\nNowadays, more and more people begin to pay attention to how to address people with disabilities. The use of \u201cpeople-first language\u201d* in English aims to \u201cavoid the subconscious dehumanization when discussing people with disabilities\u201d[2]. However, as the researches continue and after we interviewed a few people with disabilities, we soon realized that language is not really a problem. Every person we interviewed all said that the word \u201cdisability\u201d doesn\u2019t bother them at all and they don\u2019t mind being called \u201cdisabled\u201d because it is a fact. (Interview with Raul Krauthausen by @Moriel).
\n\nSo here is the question, if the language / term / vocabulary doesn\'t matter as much as we think, where does the problem really lies?
\n\nAnother example would be: why is it okay to say someone has dark hair but not okay to say someone is a gay or someone is a black especially in the western countries? It is because people who used these terms earlier in the history had a strong prejudice and discrimination in mind. In the end, language was created to describe things as how they are. There is nothing wrong with language itself if people don\u2019t think otherwise to begin with.
\n\nCould it be that some of us\u2014people without physical disabilities\u2014think that the current terms we use are offensive is because we are subconsciously offending them in the first place? So the question is not how to change the language, or other visible things. The question is how we can change people\u2019s opinion.\xa0
\n\n1.http://gait.aidi.udel.edu/gaitlab/cpGuide.html
\n\n2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People-first_language
\n\nThis is a group project on going #able with @Moriel, @ChristineOehme and @Luise Kr\xf6ning\xa0\xa0
', u'post_id': 694, u'user_id': 3265, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 23:00:10', u'title': u'Trying Too Hard?'}, {u'content': u'Having worked at SourcePoint Community Acupuncture on Dartmoor in the South-West of the UK last year, I\'m currently in the process of setting up my own clinic in a town nearby.
\n\nCommunity/multibed acupuncture, if you are not familiar with it, is a new model of acupuncture provision based on the multibed model common in China and Japan. Costs are lower because multiple patients can be treated at the same time, in the same space (in the US, reclining garden chairs are commonly used to keep equipment costs even lower, as in the picture above). This is possible because this style of acupuncture mostly uses distal points on the arms and legs (no undressing required) and, after insertion and manipulation, the needles are left in to continue working for 20 minutes while the next patient is seen.
\n\n[And if you are unfamiliar (or dubious) about what traditional acupuncture can treat, here are some research summaries from the British Acupuncture Council.]
\n\nThis area of the UK has a lot of rural poverty. The town in question used to be a centre of the textiles industry and still has associated businesses, but now is mostly well-known for being poor, backward and depressed in comparison to nearby Exeter or Taunton. A walk down the high street reals the unholy trifecta of economic malaise, high levels of obesity, ill-health and disability, and that indefinable loss of spirit in a town that convinces every young person of passion or ambition to leave the area at the earliest opportunity.
\n\nThe main message is that Community Multibed Acupuncture can be an incredibly powerful intervention in an area like this. The effect seems to come from a combination of:
\n\n1) Effective health care - I\'ve lost count of the number of patients who have come in with stories of months or years of expensive National Health Service treatments that made no difference to their conditions, who then see a large reduction in their symptoms after only one or two acupuncture treatments. (Moves to provide acupuncture on the NHS over the last decades have been faltering and half-hearted, and are now suffering from a pushback against anything considered \'alternative\' or \'optional\' - which is a shame, as it could save the NHS millions).
\n\n2) Humane treatment - unlike the increasingly isolating and interventionist treatments common in industrial healthcare, the effectiveness of traditional acupuncture shows patients that good health can often be achieved through minimal intervention, through working with the body rather than against it, through self-help, and lifestyle and dietary changes. Demonstrating that a more humane approach to health is possible starts people thinking about what else they need to question.
\n\n3) Collective treatment - something about the nature of receiving shared treatment with other people seems to have an effect on people. Perhaps it cuts through the common Western idea of illness as something private, secret and shameful - whatever it is, sharing one\'s vulnerability and the act of seeking support and help with other community members seems to have a profound psychological charge.
\n\n4) Affordability - although health care is free (\'at the point of use\') in the UK, it is, in effect, rationed; waiting lists are getting longer again, and many NHS trusts are effectively bankrupt. C&MACs offer a form of healthcare without the expensive pharmaceuticals, electronics and salaried consultants. Most either offer a reduced rate (e.g. \xa320) or a sliding scale (e.g. \xa310-30, where you pay what you want). [I\'ve found problems with both models - resistance to the idea of a sliding scale is very common, and often leads users to undervalue what is being offered. Given that it has taken the District Council 2 months (at this time of counting) to respond to what should be a simple request for licensing, and given that the licence terms for this district are insanely onerous, I have found a degree of freedom and enjoyment in simply offering treatments for free and explaining to patients what sort of average donation is necessary to keep the clinic open.] If all kinds of healthcare were funded equally, acupuncture would prove massively more cost-effective than many \'mainstream\' modalities - not to mention less energy-intensive and ecologically-damaging.
\n\n5) Knock-on effects - people who come to the clinic see flyers and posters for other events while they are there. They buy a coffee in the cafe upstairs and bump into other people they know. They go into other shops seeing as they are in town already. People who had given up on the town are excited that something like this would happen there. Maybe some people even wonder whether there is something they could do to get things happening in the local area. These are effects that are common to any community venture, many of which other ERs have mentioned elsewhere. As with education, art, reskilling, etc, the fact that users of the service are making positive changes in their lives, and are already feeling the benefit of being involved, seems to snowball this effect even more strongly.
', u'post_id': 671, u'user_id': 393, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-25 15:12:08', u'title': u'Community Acupuncture - an ongoing mutation'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 506, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 11:02:50', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'The United Nations think that health care is the nub to development, and the forerunner to any of the other Sustainable Development Goals; that is for a country, or a continent...or Africa to develop strongly, there must be sound healthcare system first. I think that there are many suffering in Africa because of the unaffordable, inaccessible, and inadequate health care system, and I think that in order to keep the tolls of death low, perhaps people don\u2019t need to wait for a revolution to the health sector, maybe what we need is an easily accessible, and affordable health alternative. Because of the many polluted rivers, African children die daily from diarrhea. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that 2,195 children die EACH DAY from diarrhea. Due to the unaffordable health care system, many diabetic sufferers die without receiving proper medication or medical attention. Hence, many African countries like my country, Nigeria, have one of the highest diabetic sufferers and deaths.
\n\nMy name is Ivan Ezeigbo. I am 20 years old, and currently a sophomore at Minerva Schools at KGI, California, USA. I was inspired by Monica Marcu\u2019s book, The Miracle Tree, to research with a team back in Nigeria on the blood regulatory power of the contents of the leaves of a very medicinal plant. It is a herbal plant that has just drawn a lot of attention in its potential to cure over three hundred ailments. This is the Moringa Oleifera. We experimented on Wistar albino rats. The idea was to inject alloxan intraperitoneally to all groups of Wistar albino rats with healthy working pancreas (alloxan increases blood sugar level, thus inducing hyperglycaemia or making them \u201cpseudo-diabetic\u201d). The bioactive agents of moringa leaves were extracted with ethanol and water, and two groups of the rats were treated each with these contents. An additional group was treated with synthetic insulin (insulin is a natural blood regulatory hormone that brings down blood sugar level), and all three groups were observed. We discovered that the group of Wistar albino rats treated with the bioactive agents of the moringa leaves extracted with water had a SIGNIFICANTLY SIMILAR blood sugar level as those treated with synthetic insulin, and less significant with those treated with ethanol. This unearthened two truths. First, moringa has powerful blood regulatory effects, almost equivalent to the natural insulin. Secondly, water is a better extraction agent than ethanol, unlike the case for many other plant leaves. Aside its blood regulatory power, moringa also cures diarrhea, and many other bacterial and fungal infections. It is also a healthy store for numerous nutrients, vitamins and amino acids. It also thrives very well in these tropical regions of Africa, especially the Southern Nigeria. Armed with this knowledge, I took up the entrepreneurial project of making moringa teas using tea bags because this would not only help a lot of poor people in Nigeria, and Africa in general, who cannot afford or obtain quality health care, but would be a cheap and accessible way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, since water is a good extraction agent for moringa, moringa teas would provide consumers the maximal health benefits. Even though, I have not had the necessary funding and have been self-funding this project, my motivation to help people live longer and healthier has kept this dream going, and I have not tired out in bringing this to fruition. I am still conducting researches and experiments on my tea, and I have just purchased about two plots of land for moringa farming. I would still need to set up an industry where these teas will be processed.
\n\nThis is good news to diabetic sufferers in Africa; it is good news to poor children and families in Africa who cannot afford quality health care. This is good news to hypertensive patients and the obese. This is good news to Africa. My dream is that this project greatly lowers mortality rate in Africa, and if we are not being too optimistic, perhaps...just perhaps, we may begin to realize stronger development.
\n\nA link to the paper we published on the experiment with Wistar albino rats: http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.diabetes.20160503.02.html
', u'post_id': 725, u'user_id': 3382, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-25 12:12:58', u'title': u'The Answer to Africa?'}, {u'content': u'Sucre Blue is a program that strives to create a chronic disease health care model to bring affordable access to medical treatment to people with diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease in Bangalore. It\u2019s a challenging setting to work in. One has to think that in these communities there is no doctors, hospitals or medical treatment in place. Access to treatment is \xa0extremely limited (for diabetics as well - many forms are absent, some not always available, most of them too expensive anyway) and families earn 2 dollars per day. Many patients\u2019 diabetes is caused by malnutrition, despite the common conception that it is a rich people\u2019s condition. I often see blind children who lost their sight because their families lacked access to medication or means to purchase them. And all that in India, with the second fastest growth of diabetes in the world, and 70 percent of the population living in rural areas. Which makes it extremely difficult to identify those in need and ensure they\u2019re given help.
\n\nFor the past years, I have lived in India - partly in a hospital, without being paid, and I had a chance to see how the system works. As a diabetic myself, I\u2019ve experienced the hardships of managing my own illness and needed to adapt to available solutions.
\n\nAs an answer to this challenge, we are building a sustainable, and affordable model that could be replicated in other communities, across India and beyond. The service is based on dozens of patients and caregivers, who are being trained to provide other members of the community with door-to-door assistance. Our Community Health Workers in the pilot area conduct free screenings (sugar level, BMI, pressure monitoring) and check for diabetes and other health problems \xa0- which they can later address according to the needs of each of the patients. An important component of this work is building relationships between the patients and the leaders - and help to establish links between those in needs and institutions that could provide them with further help. We also provide patients with free medicine. On top of that, we educate, bring awareness and help with early detection of potential issues. Many pre-diabetics in India could avoid becoming ill by changes in their dietary habits - and the diet is large to blame here.
\n\nSuch screenings would not only help to support those who suffer from diabetes but extend preventive care and potentially save millions of dollars in treating more complex effects of diabetes, such as dialysis and other complications. Beyond that, we\u2019re helping some of the diabetics to overcome their poverty, as managing their problems costs \xbc of their income, pushing them to extreme poverty. Providing free treatment and medication is essential for them to improve their quality of life.
\n\nOn top of that, we equip our workers with SMS technology that allows them to collect the daily logs and patient\'s\u2019 history - which will be stored in an open source database available to any researcher in the world. Otherwise, such information about chronically sick citizens of rural India is basically impossible to acquire.
\n\nWe plan to transform Sucre Blue into a model that could be replicated by communities all over the world - with a peer-based approach, designed to deal with chronic diseases. In India, we engage women in our work - mostly those who suffer from diabetes themselves. It is a way to change a bit disproportionate representation of men in healthcare - and it empowers women in the society. \xa0Having their personal approach to diabetes allows us to change the opinion around the disease, often perceived as a curse, for example forbidding some of the ill to get married.
', u'post_id': 755, u'user_id': 3427, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-20 05:47:59', u'title': u'Sucre Blue'}, {u'content': u'There is a growing recognition about the negative effects stemming from commodifying innovation through restrictive I.P. protection and exclusivity, especially in the medical field. Open Source Development methodologies in software emerged as the dominant form of collaborative innovation in the late 90\u2019s and the trend has been spreading to a wider sphere of work. The IT infrastructure of today\u2019s world enables peers to connect, share and collaborate on solving common issues through use of collective knowledge. Commons-based peer production is the term that defines such collaborative efforts by peers. The collaborators act as the stewards of commonly held wealth and assets which could be anything ; monies, knowledge, equipment, reputations, social capital etc.The beauty of such networks is that development for one project can be mixed and remixed to suit a variety of other needs. Traditionally, such endeavors have been part of a gift-economy where peers do not seek tangible rewards for their contributions. However, for larger scale and mainstream economic model, gift economy is not a viable method for development. The question, then, is how do we keep track of contributions to inform fair rewards?
\n\nThat is where the Open Value Network model (OVN) comes in. An OVN is built around a core open source community, preserving its nature, and adds layers of governance, infrastructure and methodologies in order to make large scale, open innovation networks as predictable and accountable as traditional organizations, such as coops or limited liability corporations. In an OVN, contributions to a process, be it tangible items such as time and money or intangibles such as social capital, are recorded and whatever benefit is derived from this process is proportionally divided and distributed back to contributors. This makes open networks sustainable, by allowing the implementation of capturing and redistribution mechanisms. Networks have yet to gain public recognition, legitimacy and legality, but the jury is out already, the OVN model makes open networks fully capable socioeconomic agents.
\n\nSENSORICA is the first instantiation of the OVN model. It originated in Montreal, in early 2011. The initial focus of the network was to develop open source scientific research equipment using commons-based peer production methodologies. Indeed, most of activities are coordinated from the SENSORICA Montreal lab, a physical location where local affiliates can meet and work together. However, the Network Resource Planning (NRP) tools that Sensoricans have developed lays the foundation of a strong decentralized community without geographical borders. It allows tracking of the flow of resources through the entire system, at both micro and macro levels. NRP is the mainstay of all SENSORICA projects, and enables SENSORICA to practically implement the ideologies of collaborative and open innovation in a transparent and equitable manner.
\n\nThe video bellow explains the idea in detail.
\n\n\n\nThe wellness of societies and communities also depend on the innovation of its peers. Over the past few decades, the care aspect of communities has also been commodified. Healthcare and Education, the basics of human needs, have slowly been removed from the sphere of communities and instead, been handed over to closed and elitist institutions, including companies for profit-maximization. The result is a disjointed system where even these basic necessities are the purvey of the well-off. Moreover, in health care the quest for new cures and treatments is a quest for profits, and resources are mainly deployed in research and development (R&D) that promises good returns on investments. The illnesses of a few are forgotten. Just like with technological innovation, we, as a society, need to free knowledge and break down barriers to participation. For that to happen, Open Science will play a big part, meeting the requirement of creating open source scientific equipment and research methodologies that enable peers to do R&D on issues most important to them.
\n\nSENSORICA\'s position on Open Science
\n\n\n\nSee more on Open Science on SENSORICA\'s website.
\n\nGuy Rouleau, the director of McGill University\u2019s Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) announced recently in the Science Magazine that his institute was going to steer towards Open Science.
\n\n\u201cWe think that it is a way to accelerate discovery and the application of neuroscience.\u201d (\u2026) \u201cThere is a fair amount of patenting by people at the institute, but the outcomes have not been very useful\u201d (...) \u201cIt comes down to what is the reason for our existence? It\u2019s to accelerate science, not to make money.\u201d\n\n
SENSORICA has already taken concrete steps towards implementing this vision. One of the first projects undertaken by Sensoricans was the Mosquito, a force-transducer with ability to detect micron-scale movements, designed for applications in biomechanics at the cellular level. Today, SENSORICA has over 15 projects for open source scientific instruments in different stages of development, some of them being used in University labs (see the full list). However, the main potential lies in the ability of the community to build upon these and many other devices and repurpose them to fit needs in diverse fields.
\n\n
SENSORICA\'s Mosquito system - by photo Daniel Brastaviceanu
\n\nOpen source scientific instruments cost only of a small fraction to produce and to maintain, compared to their proprietary equivalents. This reduces the costs of innovation and widens participation in research. Professor Joshua Pearce from Michigan Tech University, and contributor to the SENSORICA OVN mentions in one of his papers:
\n\nA case study of a syringe pump with numerous scientific and medical applications is presented. The results found millions of dollars of economic value from a relatively simple scientific device being released under open-licenses representing orders of magnitude in-crease in value from conventional proprietary development. The inescapable conclusion of this study is that FOSH development should be funded by organizations interested in maximizing re-turn on public investments particularly in technologies associated with science, medicine and education.\n\n
During its six years in development, SENSORICA has prototyped formal relations with Universities and medical centers, demonstrating how the crowd and the institutional academia can successfully interface, opening wide and filtering participation in medical research, allowing discovery to go towards what matters to people, not just to Wall Street. The Mosquito sensor has been developed in collaboration with the Montreal Heart Institute and Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, the Manipulators have been developed in partnership with McGill University. Numerous students have done their internship within the SENSORICA lab, not only practicing their technical skills, but also learning how to operate in a network-type, highly collaborative environment. See SENSORICA\u2019s Interns webpage.
\n\n--> Lower cost open source scientific instruments lower the barrier to entry to medical research.\n\n\n\n--> Interfacing institutional academia with open networks frees research topics from the narrow profit motive and speeds up innovation
In early 2015, SENSORICA partnered with Breathing Games to produce an open source therapeutic device for kids suffering from cystic fibrosis. But this project is very different. As we are designing the hardware device, we are also thinking about how the data generated from its use during therapy sessions will be managed. It turns out that the blockchain technology can truly revolutionize how therapy and medical care are administered, and how the medical data is managed, and SENSORICA has already embarked in blockchain applications development.
\n\n--> blockchain and other p2p technologies create the possibility of new health care services\n\n
The vision for SENSORICA is to demonstrate the economic viability and practical superiority of open innovation. Since innovation has been segregated from community for the better part of the last century, the possibilities of applications are endless. We are not claiming to have the solution all the problems that our health care system is facing, but our past experiences have allowed us to peer into a new realm of solutions, enabled by the new digital technology and the new socioeconomic processes it has made possible.
\n\nThere is a lot of criticism for commons-based peer processes pertaining to their ability to deliver large scale solutions, while being self-sustainable. In other words, the conclusions point to the persistent need of traditional forms of organizing innovation, production and distribution, in order to fuel these new processes: one needs to have a paid job to contribute to open source development. The flaw in these arguments is that they analyse these new practices within the traditional capitalist paradigm. Commons-based peer processes are part of a new socioeconomic paradigm, which prescribes its own underlying theory of value and its own capturing and redistribution mechanisms. Saying that open innovation is unsustainable is factually false, even within the capitalist regime. Arduino, for example, is a very successful commercial operation relying entirely on open source hardware and software technology. Most successful 3D printing and personal drone commercial operations also rely on open source, as well as operations that provide blockchain applications. All these new and disruptive technologies are dominated by these new types of ventures who know how to steward open networks. Something is going on here, for those who have eyes to see. And all these organizations are only hybrids, in the sense that their structure have capturing mechanisms that function in a market-driven economy, while relying on commons-based peer processes for innovation. SENSORICA has data that shows, perhaps for the first time, how capturing mechanisms that are fully compatible with the logic of the p2p economy can be gradually introduced within this transitory economy, to become dominant in a very near future.
\n\nWe do not have experience in pharmaceuticals. We cannot prescribe today a method through commons-based peer production to deliver a new drug, going through all the norms and regulations. The monetary costs associated with this type of ventures are huge, and if we transpose the challenge in an OVN setting it would require the deployment of an amount of resources and a complexity that we cannot sustain, at this point in time. But we do not see a hard barrier... As these systems scale, one day they will be capable of undertaking such challenges. Alternatively, we do have extensive experience with scientific instruments and less costly, and less regulated therapeutic devices. This is the path of least resistance for OVNs to infiltrate the care domain and gain strength. Joshua Pearce\'s conclusions show that once open source-based scientific instruments enter a market niche it totally disrupts it, putting traditional companies out of business, as they cannot sustain their operations at such low product prices. Operating at lower prices, the monetary rewards an organization gets for the product, doesn\'t mean that we are going towards poverty. The zero marginal cost tendency, driven by open innovation, only makes sense in the capitalist paradigm. These new organizations pull other benefits from non-market-based sources, which are forbidden to traditional for-profit enterprises. We need a different type of accounting in order to determine the wealth of network-type organizations, one that goes beyond monetary currency, because innovation, production and rewards are more and more driven and organized by new types of currencies, by new types of symbolic systems, by current-sees [a concept proposed by @artbrock" target="_blank">Arth Brook].
\n\nWritten by Abran Khalid and Tiberius Brastaviceanu
\n\nThe text has been remixed from a post for a book made by Tibi. Please see here for the original text.
', u'post_id': 538, u'user_id': 514, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-19 15:31:23', u'title': u'SENSORICA and health care'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 683, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-22 20:49:23', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 744, u'user_id': 3410, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-15 16:16:44', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Since the beginning of human history, care has been exchanged (given and received) inside homogeneous, durable and relatively closed groups of individuals.\xa0
\n\nFamilies, clans, village communities, urban neighborhoods ...\xa0
\n\nIn the past century, in parallel to that, care has also been delivered by dedicated institutions: hospital, kindergartens, elderly residences... \xa0
\n\nToday, for several reasons, the demand on care is growing and becoming more complex, while both the traditional and the modern offer of care are less and less capable of coping\xa0with it. In our fluid, hyper-individualized societies, families, village communities and urban neighborhoods are weakening (if not totally disappearing). Individuals, given their life structure, have less and less practical possibilities to take care of others (even when, in principle, they would do it).\xa0
\n\nCare institutions, which were supposed to substitute the traditional community\u2019s and individual\u2019s care, have fewer and fewer economic resources (and often political will) to do it.\xa0
\n\nThe gap between the growing demand and the shrinking offer of care is the basis of the present care crisis: a lack of care that is practical (the caring system do not succeed in coping with the care demand) as well as psychological (the sense of loneliness deriving from the lack of sense of care throughout the whole society).\xa0
\n\nTo overcome this crisis brand new care systems have to be imagined and enhanced.\xa0A first step is to better understand caring activities, considering their nature and diversity.\xa0
\n\nThe practical/organizational side of care is particularly important because care is more than exchange of information and knowledge. Care requires proximity and action: doing something for each other, taking time and being committed.
\n\nCare activities. Care activities are quite diverse: they can be performed by whoever could be willing to do it (as shopping for groceries for somebody who is temporarily sick); they can require a lot of time, attention, and assumption of responsibility (as taking care of the daily life necessities of somebody seriously ill); they can require timely actions by highly specialized experts (as performing\xa0surgery in very specific moments). And so on. \xa0\xa0
\n\nIn general terms, these differences are characterized by a set of main parameters:\xa0
\n\nDifferent care actions should be attentively analyzed and mapped using these parameters. Intuitively, we can already say that different care activities could be delivered by different actors in different modalities.\xa0
\n\nTo imagine a new care system, we should\xa0recognize all the potential caregivers and consider them as resources. Either as effective care resources (when they are already active). Or as potential care resources (when they can be\xa0activated under certain conditions)
\n\nCare resources. In principle, everybody can care for someone else. He or\xa0she can do it in different forms (depending on his/her expertise and time availability), but all of them require attention. In turn, given that attention is a limited resource (each person has a limit in his/hers capability to give attention), this is true also for his/her capability to care. Care (both the expert and non-expert one) is a diffuse but limited resource.\xa0
\n\nPresently, care systems are built on a mix of three main resources:
\n\nWe know that, for different reasons, all of them are in difficulty to cope with the growing care demand. Therefore, the issue is to reshape the system in order to permit to new potential resources to emerge and become effective resources.\xa0
\n\nMainstream and countertrends. We have said that, in principle, everybody, depending on his/her time and expertise, could give some forms of care. But we can observe that today, in the contemporary societies, this care potential, clashes with the dominant culture and practice.\xa0In the name of individual freedom and convenience, our culture\xa0tends to assume a careless approach to everything and everyone (the throwaway society extended from things to human relationships). And: a mainstream practice of living that makes it difficult to introduce care activities in the daily life (due to work constraints, to the evolution of families and to their being scattered in different places).
\n\nTherefore, given the present structures of family and work, few people can commit to offering care, especially if this requires continuity, high responsibility and duration in time.
\n\nNevertheless, several examples tell us that there still are several people who could and would dedicate some time/energy/attention to well-defined caring activities - if and when an appropriate enabling system would permit them to do it in an easy and flexible way.
\n\nThis limited but diffuse caring availability is the potential resource that the socio-technical innovation should be capable to transform in an effective resource. \xa0
\n\nIn other words, thanks to an appropriate socio-technical innovation, it should become possible to cultivate and harvest the limited individual caring resources of broader groups of subjects. That is, to catalyze and coordinate existing but not used care resources could be the key to overcoming the crisis of care in contemporary societies.
\n\nHypothesis and vision
\n\nHypothesis. If the close (social or institutional) organizations of the past cannot cope with the dimension and complexity of the present demand of care, they must be opened. That is: the care activities must be divided in smaller/lighter tasks, and allocated to a large number of actors, each one giving what he/she is capable/willing to give.\xa0
\n\nVision. Open care is an ecosystem of care-related interactions, characterized by being distributed among a large number of individuals, groups and institutions, with different competence, responsibility and commitment: \xa0from the highly specialized actors and institutions\xa0to family members, friends and neighbours with no specific knowledge and limited time availability.\xa0
\n\nViability
\n\nSocial preconditions and enabling systems. To be viable, open care requires two main social preconditions:
\n\nGiven the previous social preconditions, the open care potentialities are made real thanks to the existence of a technological and organizational system capable of catalyzing \xa0diffuse resources, coordinate them and give their action the needed continuity. More precisely, this enabling system should:
\n\nSocial innovation and open care
\n\nThe open care viability is based on the existence of a whole stream of social (and socio-technical) innovation that is already moving in a similar direction.\xa0
\n\nIn fact, in the complexity of contemporary society we can find several promising cases (some of them are still social prototypes, some others have already reached a more mature stage). For instance:
\n\nConsidering these\xa0diverse examples, we can observe that they present three common characteristics: (1) some care activities are delivered by non-professional actors; (2) the overall care burden is shared between different subjects; (3) specialized interventions are asked only when they are really needed. \xa0
\n\nThese examples are interesting because they give us an idea on how open care components could work. Nevertheless, in my view, they are not yet the full representation of the open care vision.
\n\nTo better approximate it, two steps should be taken:
\n\nT\xf3pio is empowering high-school students, training them to become the catalysts of change in their own neighbourhoods. We strongly believe that the re-use of public space can improve the physical, mental and psychological health of urban dwellers. For this reason, we focus on the importance of connecting healthy cities and \u201cplacemaking\u201d.
\n\nThe pilot version of the project took place at the 19th High school of Thessaloniki from December 2015 to May 2016. The name of the project is a combination of the Greek words \u201cTop\xedo\u201d (place) and \u201cT\xf3pi\u201d (ball), which points to youthfulness, games and children.
\n\n\n\nphoto credits: Olympia Datsi
\n\nstencils: Pop-Up & Paper Stories
\n\nOur vision is to re-imagine the school as an open platform of discussion and interaction for the whole neighbourhood, where students lead the transformation both inside and outside its premises. We wish to get youngsters caring for their local community and public space, by initiating cultural and other activities. At first, these take place inside the school building and yard, and are then transferred out to the neighbourhood, eventually empowering them to invite the local community inside the school.
\n\nOur team focuses on enriching original and location-specific ideas with data, information and constant interaction between the local community and the public space. Based on previous experience, we develop various educational tools for \u201cplacemaking\u201d that are not previously known to the local communities.
\n\nAlthough the whole process meets several obstacles, such as bureaucracy, we remain focused on our vision, trying to seek collaboration with the municipality and other local authorities. However, it is very important for us to preserve our self-organization and encourage bottom-up action.
\n\n\n\nphoto credits: Vivian Doumpa
\n\nWho benefits from T\xf3pio?
\n\nT\xf3pio kick-started as a pilot project within the framework of the START: Create Cultural Change, by Robert Bosch Stiftung conducted in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the Bundesvereinigung Soziokultureller Zentren e.V. (German Association of Sociocultural Centers). So far, the project has attracted the attention of the press and several European organisations. For example, we are very proud of our involvement in the project \u201cThe City at Eye Level\u201d working with Dutch \u201cStipo\u201d and other practitioners.
\n\nWe are reaching out to citizens through a dedicated website and our Facebook page, which includes all information that needs to be transferred to potential beneficiaries.
\n\n\n\nphoto credits: Callie Vei & Alexandr Emmanouilidis
\n\nThe people behind the idea
\n\nMy name is Vivian Doumpa and in my early 30s, I have a degree in Urban-Regional Planning & Development Engineering, and I am a post-graduate in Urban Geography specialised in music in public spaces. I have a long-life education in music, and I am currently participating in a project of the research team \u201cCritical Music Histories\u201d. I am also the co-founder of \u201cCreativity Platform\u201d, a non-profit, collective scheme, seeking to function as an interdisciplinary platform of exchanging ideas, actions, research and applications related to the \u201ccreative capital\u201d and the \u201ccreative economy\u201d in the city of Thessaloniki as well as the whole of Greece in general. Since 2016, T\xf3pio is a significant part of this collective scheme. Being in charge of the project, I had the chance to enrich my professional experience with technical seminars in Project Management (Germany), in the field of Cultural Management. It was a great challenge to combine Urban-Regional Planning and enhancement of active citizenship with creative means.
\n\nMy partner, Olympia Datsi, works as a freelance trainer and mentor in the european/international volunteering field and non-formal education, co-ordinating youth projects. Moreover, her educational background based on Landscape Architecture, Interior Design and Fine Arts. She is in charge of the educational activities of T\xf3pio, dealing with communication, training and empowerment of high-school students and citizens. Since 2013, she is also co-founder of the \u201cCreativity Platform\u201d and has a massive interest for sociology and public space.
\n\n\n\nphoto credits: Victoria Datsi
\n\nAs with all like-minded people, our professional relationship and friendship run on the basis of trust and respect. After all these collaborations in multiple projects, we have learned many things from each other\u2019s capacities. We have taught ourselves what is the best way to move forward with the project: from sensing children\u2019s needs and stimulating their interest in the public space, to approaching municipal stakeholders.
\n\nThis good spirit of synergy and way of thinking and acting helps us to make progress. And we enjoy this feeling of pleasure and satisfaction when people get motivated by our ideas. One of them is my mother, who is really supportive and active in our interventions in the neighbourhood. Although in the first place it was quite hard for her to understand what actually \u201cplacemaking\u201d is about.
\n\n\n\n\n\nphoto credits: Vivian Doumpa
\n\nArtworks: Theano G.\xa0& Felix Felis
', u'post_id': 733, u'user_id': 3387, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-05 08:32:27', u'title': u'T\xf3pio: Engagement \u2013 Empowerment - Expression'}, {u'content': u'Hello everyone, as a followup to my previous post on education,\xa0I want to dive a little deeper for our Fellowship post.
\n\nReaGent is an open biolab where anyone from any background can tinker with biology. We organize practical workshops for children from all backgrounds to get them in touch with biology in a fun way. We do this because the role of biological technologies will become increasingly bigger as we move towards a circular society. Education plays a fundamental role in allowing people to be a part of this process.
\n\nWhy are we doing this? My personal motivation is best shown through\xa0a memory from my biotechnological engineering studies. We went on a company visit to Monsanto. At the time, I was not particularly aware of the dirty business they were in. We got to see the production facility, water treatment installations and large glyphosate tanks, which are all used to produce Roundup. During the luxurious lunch, which Monsanto employees also attended, a fellow student whispered to me: \u201chow can they sleep at night, considering they work for such a questionable company?\u201d. That was the only thing that I heard about the issue from anyone at school, both teachers or students. I didn\u2019t (now to my shame) know anything about Monsanto at the time and had to look it up myself afterwards. I was baffled and disgusted. What are we teaching our students?
\n\nAside from the perspective we teach, relevance is important as well. I hated biology in high school. If you had told me I\u2019d be a bioengineer someday, I would have laughed in disbelief. The content of biology class often remains descriptive (you\xa0learn about the parts of a plant cell), while higher education and jobs are all about application (you use these plant cells to grow something useful, like a building). A child that likes\xa0engineering, design and coding should consider\xa0studying biology. This is fundamental if we want enough people to develop sustainable technologies for the future.
\n\n\n\nReaGent has been going for about a year. We\u2019ve experimented with several ways to bring biology closer to society. We\'ve had children work with enzymes, build\xa0their own microscope, extract DNA and much more.\xa0The coming year, we will expand to reach more children and this scale-up entails several challenges.
\n\nCell division
\n\nAs a first step, we have decided to continue the project under a new name: Ecoli. The DIY biolab in Ghent will stay as ReaGent, while Ecoli will provide biology education to children and underprivileged groups. A DIYbio space or biohackerspace and child education are not very compatible regarding administrative or legal aspects, like insurance and licenses. Another reason for the split is the different story we want to tell.
\n\nThe story to inspire a citizen scientist or biohacker is different from the story to inspire a child. Moreover, DIYbio has had issues with public perception. We find it important that knowledge is spread equally and that everyone can participate in an open discussion. We would not like a distorted image to shape decisions and opinions of people, leading them to self-censor and potentially miss out on learning opportunities.
\n\nThe creativity, mindset and ethics\xa0present in a DIYbio lab strengthen and form the way we educate. We feel like we get the benefits without the drawbacks if the DIY biolab and educational project are two separate entities.
\n\nFunding education in a fair way
\n\nThe question that I posed in the initial post\xa0was on how to fund education outside of, but as an addition to, the traditional state-funded system.
\n\nMaking a project like this financially sustainable is a challenge. The groups where we have our biggest impact, and thus create the most value, are also least capable of paying for it. We have set up a way to partially fund this by doing workshops in the classical school circuit. Our impact there is equally important and they can afford to pay (a little) for our services. It remains to be seen if we can sustain ourselves in the long term.
\n\nChances are, we\xa0will\xa0have to find funds elsewhere \u2013government or industry. Government is the obvious choice, since education falls under their responsibility. Though, as often with government, it would be na\xefve to count on funding. Additionally, it entails somewhat of an administrative burden (especially in Belgium and the EU) and it\u2019s a slow process.
\n\nSo, do we want to cooperate with big biotech companies? How will this affect what we want to achieve with Ecoli? Do we risk that public opinion, or opinions of parents, ultimately influences\xa0what a child learns? Biotech has plenty of shortcomings \u2013funding and market mechanisms, ethical,\xa0ecological\xa0and the list goes on. But it\u2019s a technology, a tool that can be used for good and bad. The drawbacks that I mentioned are effects of the way it is used and not inherent to the technology. If we are scared of biotech, it is because we are scared of ourselves, and rightfully so.
\n\nWe still have the option of telling a nuanced story. Especially if we can highlight these issues during education, which is a rarity. My personal Monsanto experience is only one example.
\n\nCaring with science
\n\nMore fundamentally, care is everyone\u2019s responsibility in one way or another. Earlier this week, one of our team members went to visit an institute that accompanies people with a mental disability. He visited them to explain what we do and to offer them biology workshops for their audience, the responsible\u2019s jaw dropped as she launched off in enthusiasm, pointing out all the ways we could cooperate. She said nobody ever thought of deeming their people worthy of science oriented workshops. Even if it\u2019s just for entertainment, science or technology can be used for care. People have a tendency to underestimate capabilities of certain groups, like little kids or special needs people. On the other hand, there\u2019s a tendency to overestimate the intelligence required to grasp or play with basic principles. The power lies in how it\u2019s communicated.
\n\nThis is only one of plenty of groups that don\u2019t get equal chances for quality education. It is part of the mission of Ecoli to provide those groups the opportunity to learn and discover.
\n\nBeyond the tools
\n\nWe are likely at the start of a similar revolution like the digital revolution. That means we have the chance to try and anticipate this time round; to try and prepare people; to embed values, like openness and inclusiveness, that make sure we don\u2019t need to fix the problems of accessibility and literacy afterwards.
\n\nWhat we do can be considered an experiment and in many ways, it\u2019s not necessarily about biology. We hope that, in addition to growing a basic biological literacy, we help to build\xa0a shift in attitude. When we watch global developments, it is clear that the biggest problems we face don\u2019t require technological solutions. Even problems that are directly caused by a misuse of technology, like climate change, could be headed towards a solution by changing our attitude, especially when combined with more sustainable bio-based technologies. A change in behaviour is not likely to happen overnight, but if we can build institutions that promote caring, collaboration and trust, we might be on our way.
\n\nWe are engaging with the Edgeryders community because we hope our actions can be part of a bigger solution. One where different actors work on improving their respective fields. By sharing experiences of our project with the Edgeryders community we hope we can grow more resilience for everyone.
\n\nWe will be attending the workshop in Brussels on the 24th of September and would be delighted to meet you!
\n\nIf you connect to our story, let us know! We love feedback and discussing the subject. Here\u2019s some other questions that occupy our mind. Should this type of initiative stay an addition to the state-funded system? Is this form of bottom-up activism, independent of the government or in spite of it, ultimately a desirable strategy?
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 530, u'user_id': 3362, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-04 22:55:24', u'title': u'Bringing quality biology education to every child equally'}, {u'content': u'This is an opportunity to discover the amazing projects that\xa0your peers are involved in, from\xa0Helliniko Metropolitan Community Clinic\xa0dispensing free health care to the many Greeks who, having lost their job, also lost their access to public health care; to\xa0the\xa0Urban Shepherd of Stockholm, inducing a\xa0neighborhood to come together through\xa0husbandry; to\xa0the\xa0Cytostatic Network\xa0where unsung heroes provided cancer patients with life-saving drugs unavailable in Romania; to\xa0the\xa0OpenInsulin\xa0project reshaping the drug market for\xa0diabetes patients. And so many others!
\n\nIf you are part of OPENandChange, or wish to join; or simply have lost track of the work and could use a quick summary...\xa0this is a unique\xa0opportunity!Instructions for joining the fun (and getting lot of new friends and followers).
\n\nIf you\xa0already are part of OPENandChange..
\n\n.. your story is up or you\'ve been in touch, please help by preparing tweets in advance in your own language so @edgeryders can them pick up.
\n\nWe\'re working in this shared document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DtzdpKPUuyUwPW3XDWehEu3gGvqaepF3uMfMt_lWUUU/edit?usp=drive_web
\n\nDate: 2016-09-20 17:00:00 - 2016-09-20 18:00:00, Europe/Bucharest Time.
', u'post_id': 5860, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-31 15:55:52', u'title': u'Crowdconference to tweet and share #OPENandChange! 20 SEP at 17:00 CET / 11:00 EST'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 674, u'user_id': 3220, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-27 07:01:18', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 696, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-02 12:50:55', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'I started my journey as a science and economics student. After graduation, I spent years working for French and international industrial companies, after which I quit and went on to work in the humanitarian field throughout Southeast Asia. With the arrival of new technologies and the community approach using the Internet to connect people, it became clear to me that there are now widespread and relatively cheap tools of empowerment readily available. Upon my return to Europe, I decided to work on the development of such ideas. This led to the inception of the echOpen project.
\n\nThe idea started from a chat among friends, an engineer (Luc) previously employed in the ultrasound industry, a mathematician and physician (Mehdi) and a radiologist (Pierre). We discussed smartphones: widespread devices that are more sophisticated than the computers that sent people to the moon a few decades ago.
\n\nHow could we use this technology to improve health care, considering that now almost everyone have one in his/her pocket?
\n\nThis idea emerged as a combination of our passion for open technology and community engagement. Using technologies that have existed since the 70s,with a bit of tweaking, are cheap and perfectly functional to make this idea come true. We then give access to these tools and knowledge to anyone interested, and to encourage them to try new things out.
\n\nThis is how our mission came about. We plan to develop the very first Open Source, affordable ultrasound probe (echo-stethoscope) dedicated to diagnosis orientation, based on open source hardware and software principles. It will be cheaper than any of the fancy machines you can find on the market. There already are some ultraportable ultrasound scanners out there, but they cost several thousand Euros \xa0our goal is to divide the price by 10-15 times. This device will be able to produce a medical image that you can then transport to your smartphone or laptop. It\u2019s a device that every health care professional will want to carry in their pocket - allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis orientation, which means faster and better medical care. As a preventive tool, it will reduce the number of patients who need emergency help. It can save the lives of mothers who die in developing countries during their pregnancies. Our tool will also spark more interactions between professionals and patients.
\n\nWe launched the project in late 2014, but the actual work really began in August 2015. Hosted by the hospital Hotel Dieu, right next to the Notre Dame in Paris, we have an open space with an interesting, eclectic ecosystem of researchers, community members, senior professionals working in the technical and medical areas of ultrasound technology, radiologists, experts in echography, medical laboratories, universities, and schools, etc.
\n\nEarlier this year, we developed a functional prototype of the tool - it works, but the quality of the image is not satisfactory. With the involvement of more than 200 people, mostly from France but also in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, we are now improving the quality of echOpen. Our deadline to complete the new medical-quality prototype is this December.
\n\nOur project has been supported by the Fondation Pierre Fabre, which believes in our approach and that our concept could be used in Africa, where doctors lack medical imaging devices. They provide financial support and other resources - and the more we have, the faster and more efficiently we can do our work.
\n\nWe are constantly looking for both funding and new profiles to get involved within the community, anyone from developers, to designers, engineers, legal experts, and community managers. We are also working on making our wiki more accessible to English-speaking members. If you have some ideas, tips, or want to share similar work with us - leave a comment or contact us.
', u'post_id': 732, u'user_id': 3349, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-04 11:18:22', u'title': u'echOpen - Open Source handheld Echo-st\xe9thoscope'}, {u'content': u'(note: English translation is available here)
\n\nUna rivoluzione copernicana a lungo attesa!
\n\nEcco, se dovessi riassumere in una frase breve e concisa, questo \xe8 quanto vivo e quanto vorrei trasmettere al lettore in merito al Progetto OpenCare.
\n\nDiluendo pi\xf9 prosaicamente il complesso composto \u201cchimico\u201d, che costituisce al momento per me questo Progetto, non posso non focalizzare l\'attenzione su alcuni elementi costituenti questa esperienza, attualmente agli esordi, che auspico veramente possa dare a ciascuno di noi la certezza di una rinnovata consapevolezza della capacit\xe0 di ideazione, di progettazione e di realizzazione dei nostri desideri e delle nostre legittime istanze nonostante i luoghi comuni ed i pregiudizi tutt\'ora radicati riguardanti le persone \u201cportatrici di bisogni particolari\u201d, piuttosto che \u201cdis-abili\u201d, \u201cdiversamente abili\u201d, \u201chandicappati\u201d, \u201cminorati\u201d, \u201cnon autosufficienti\u201d e tutto ci\xf2 che la storia culturale ha elaborato a suon di termini da etichetta continuino ad ostacolare il nostro incedere.
\n\nIl primo elemento che individuo, gi\xe0 presente all\'incipit, \xe8 sicuramente quello della sorpresa dovuta essenzialmente al fatto di essere chiamati in prima persona ad una azione \u201cmaterica\u201d, concreta, finalizzata alla costruzione di un oggetto piuttosto che di una pi\xf9 complessa soluzione che ci aiuti a superare una difficolt\xe0 quotidiana o ci consenta, pi\xf9 in generale, di raggiungere piccoli o grandi traguardi individuali in materia di autonomia, di integrazione, di partecipazione e di cittadinanza attiva attraverso il diretto coinvolgimento delle nostre conoscenze e delle nostre competenze.
\n\nLa storia del variegato quanto complesso arcipelago dei bisogni \xe8 infatti costellata da grandissime battaglie umane, sociali, civili e politiche che, nel corso degli ultimi decenni, hanno portato alla conquista di un riconoscimento degli individui quanto persone, in primis, di diritti e doveri alla assistenza, alla istruzione, alla integrazione nel mondo lavorativo e produttivo, pi\xf9 recentemente, sino alle pi\xf9 che attuali importanti lotte per una vita autonomamente gestita che riconosca definitivamente lo status dell\'autodeterminazione - o della tutela - nel difficile contesto del vivere pienamente e realizzare compiutamente un progetto che vada oltre la \u201ccura\u201d da parte dei propri cari, oltre a quella delle istituzioni. Successi e difficolt\xe0 che tuttavia solo in questi ultimi anni hanno visto agire nei processi decisionali con un riconosciuto ruolo di protagonisti le persone direttamente interessate. Un cammino spessissimo difficoltoso, che richiede abnegazione oltre che motivazioni solide ed acquisite competenze sul campo, attuato da pochi in favore di molti spesso non consapevoli, iterando almeno per i secondi una sorta di continua delega in bianco in merito al proprio futuro.
\n\nUn colpevolmente atteggiamento passivo, che caratterizza tutt\'ora l\'esistenza di chi bisognoso di particolari attenzioni, che la forza \u201cdestabilizzante\u201d del Progetto pu\xf2 mutare risvegliando le coscienze di quei molti che potrebbero e dovrebbero veramente mettersi in gioco.
\n\nIl secondo elemento intimamente correlato al precedente riguarda il ruolo dell\'associazionismo \u201cdi categoria\u201d, del terzo settore in generale, che in questi anni \u2013 ma anche oggi ed auspicabilmente domani \u2013 hanno garantito alle fasce deboli della popolazione una vita dignitosa e rispettosa attraverso la creazione, il consolidamento ed il faticoso mantenimento di soluzioni e processi sociali ed assistenziali in sostituzione di un apparato pubblico sempre pi\xf9 in difficolt\xe0 e molto spesso privo di sensibilit\xe0 e visione rispettose dei bisogni individuali quanto povero di capacit\xe0 strategiche in relazione ai profondi cambiamenti dei quali sono oggetto il sociale e l\'amministrazione della cosa pubblica. Lo sforzo pluridecennale di queste realt\xe0, che racchiude esperienze sia di gratuit\xe0 che di iniziativa imprenditoriale e che attualmente \xe8 interessato da una profonda riforma istituzionale e normativa, nel correre del tempo ha prodotto purtroppo anche alcune storture, \u201cdeviazioni\u201d, che se non in rarissime eccezioni contribuiscono nel complesso alla sopravvivenza di una cultura paternalista ed assistenzialista certamente responsabile del sensibile ritardo con il quale oggi affrontiamo le difficolt\xe0 globali e nel contempo cerchiamo di cogliere le opportunit\xe0 offerte dalle tecnologie e dalle metodologie ampiamente utilizzate in molti ambiti delle nostre complesse societ\xe0.
\n\nIl Progetto OpenCare scardina completamente questo \u201cvisione\u201d, ribaltandone completamente l\'approccio, introducendo nei delicati ed un po\' sclerotizzati meccanismi dell\'assistenza e del supporto alla persona concetti e paradigmi mutuati dalla cultura generale delle risorse aperte e liberamente condivisibili da tutti, in una sorta di \u201cfai da te\u201d riveduto ed aggiornato attraverso la disponibilit\xe0 di strumenti flessibili e potenti a costi estremamente contenuti, che in modo radicale consentono di riposizionare il singolo individuo nella centralit\xe0 dell\'azione trasformandolo da semplice oggetto fruitore di prodotti e servizi generalizzati e spersonalizzanti, oltre che poco economici nelle complesse implementazioni, a soggetto creatore di un sapere accessibile, condivisibile ed esportabile nella sua essenzialit\xe0.
\n\nUna via percorribile, questo \xe8 il presupposto e nel contempo l\'obiettivo del Progetto, che deve sicuramente sorprendere, sollecitare e coinvolgere soprattutto il \u201cmondo\u201d del bisogno, oltre a quello istituzionale ed economico sociale, per garantire un terreno \u201cdi coltura\u201d favorevole all\'avvio di iniziative e progetti che naturalmente rispettino l\'integrit\xe0 delle persone e delle loro legittime aspettative, che debitamente tengano conto del supporto e dell\'impegno della collettivit\xe0 e che ne garantiscano l\'azione solidale attraverso le buone pratiche di indirizzo e di governo locale, nazionale e transnazionale.
\n\nLe pi\xf9 che consolidate tecnologie della comunicazione ed il movimento che si alimenta e ne contribuisce la diffusione e la pervasivit\xe0 consentono infatti oggi di realizzare una \u201cdemocrazia liquida\u201d, che sfugge completamente ai vecchi canoni conosciuti dalla storia, attuando con maggiore puntualit\xe0 e concretezza possibili percorsi e processi virtuosi per la qualit\xe0 globale della nostra vita.
\n\nIl terzo ed ultimo elemento riguarda la mia dimensione personale.
\n\nDa alcuni anni, per via di una curiosit\xe0 congenita e di una affinit\xe0 professionale, osservo il mondo dei makers con crescente interesse alimentato costantemente dai \u201cprodigi\u201d dei prodotti complementari che consentono agli \u201cartigiani del xxi secolo\u201d di realizzare oggetti o soluzioni sorprendentemente efficaci quanto semplici. Arduino, orgoglio autentico del nostro \u201cfare\u201d italiano, insieme ad altri nomi e progetti di caratura internazionale letteralmente \u201crimorchiano\u201d quanti, come lo scrivente, ad un primo stupore e ad una prima titubanza dettata dalla presunta inadeguatezza reagiscono con un progressivo coinvolgimento in azioni ed in attivit\xe0 che conducono ad una nuova percezione della realt\xe0, via via pi\xf9 plasmabile a misura dei \u201cbi-sogni\u201d.
\n\nLa mia disabilit\xe0 fisica motoria congenita non mi consente di fatto l\'azione diretta tramite la manipolazione fisica degli oggetti precludendomi una ampia serie di sensazioni ed emozioni che percepisco vissute nelle persone intorno a me. Tuttavia la mia intelligenza, la mia sensibilit\xe0 e la mia creativit\xe0 sopperiscono in buona misura ai miei limiti dandomi comunque la possibilit\xe0 di vivere compiutamente l\'incontro con questi inaspettati compagni di viaggio, l\'Associazione WeMake prima ed il Progetto OpenCare dopo, che potenzialmente potr\xe0 tradursi anche nel compimento di un sogno coltivato sin dai tempi della prima giovinezza \u2013 divenire creatore di oggetti funzionali oltre che esteticamente validi \u2013 insieme a quanto desiderato oggi \u2013 realizzare prodotti e soluzioni di alta tecnologia nell\'ambito della residenzialit\xe0 autonoma per le persone con vari deficit fisico motori e cognitivi \u2013 nutrendo inoltre la segreta aspirazione di trovare finalmente una strada sulla quale realizzare questa mia importante dimensione esistenziale, a lungo in attesa di una autentica rivoluzione.
', u'post_id': 501, u'user_id': 3185, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-03 21:39:36', u'title': u'OpenCare \u2013 Il mio personalissimo startup'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 526, u'user_id': 3384, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-28 06:46:13', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 731, u'user_id': 3395, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-03 12:31:08', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 730, u'user_id': 3394, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-03 12:06:26', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Woodbine is a hub for building autonomy in the wake of a dying culture. Our mission is to expand collective material and organizational capacities in order to build revolution in the 21st century. With a workshop, library, kitchen, and meeting space, we focus on efforts to self-organize, connect, create infrastructures, and develop greater individual and collective efficacy. \xa0The Woodbine Health Autonomy Resource Center is a communal space in the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens. \xa0It is part of the Autonomy General Assembly, which is a gathering space for the different projects that are housed within Woodbine. \xa0The idea behind Woodbine comes in the wake of Occupy, but takes its motivations from the Zapatistas in Chiapas, the ZADs in France, communities in Rojava, and all those who have struggled for liberation. \xa0
\n\nAs we begin answering questions of autonomy, we are faced with the myriad of material obstacles in our way. \xa0Health, or our lack thereof, can be seen as a crucial weakness in the revolutionary struggle. \xa0We are tied to a \u201cmodern\u201d health system that fundamentally removes our bodies from a larger physical reality. \xa0We are made to become cells in revolt, aberrant genes, failed organs, physicalities riddled with disease. \xa0Disease becomes individualized as \u201chealth\u201d and \u201cwellness\u201d becomes commodified. \xa0States of mental health become symbols of individualized weakness. Propensities toward depressed states, or anxious disorders, and \u201cimbalances\u201d in the brain necessitate chemical intervention, while never addressing the overwhelming emptiness of modern life. \xa0An insane mind is the mind that can adapt to an insane society, and from the news today, we are surely going insane. \xa0Insanity as the only rational response to an insane world, but what contemporary visions of \u201chealth\u201d require of us, in order to perpetuate this economy, is that we be atomized, necessarily taking on our struggles alone, seeing them as the individual product of a weak, chemically imbalanced mind. If we refuse this logic, begin to express the anger necessary for a health that recognizes the truly horrific nature of the time we\u2019re living in and develop shared practices of care that diffuse that isolation, we can begin to grow the collective backbone we so desperately need.
\n\nApart from a critique of modern theories on health, we as a community have lost all control over our health. \xa0Our individualized choices to workout, eat right, not smoke, etc are important, but wholly insufficient to answer the demands of this century. \xa0In order to access healthcare, we are tied to jobs that are literally killing us, whether it be mental depravity or physical degradation. \xa0Many people are in constant fear of losing this state granted access, but then are also in fear of having to access such a system, a system that is the cause of more than 50% of bankruptcies. \xa0Because we have relegated health to these institutions, we have lost our ability to heal ourselves. \xa0We no longer know the abundance of nature in helping to create health. \xa0Most people cannot perform basic first aid or use simple techniques for health. \xa0Many communities lack any cognizance or skill to handle the inevitable emotional collapse of our comrades. \xa0In addition, these institutions fundamentally cannot address the issues of climate change, economic collapse, or disruption of key infrastructure. \xa0They are as weak as we are, as evidenced by the effects of superstorms on the health infrastructure of New Orleans and New York. \xa0How can these institutions help us when the very air we breath is killing us? \xa0How do they help us adapt to a world without clean water? \xa0To answer the sadness in our souls to live in a world where we have killed all the fish in the ocean? \xa0
\n\nTo answer simply, they cannot. \xa0
\n\nThey are tied to the same system we are, replete with the same fundamental limitations. \xa0But we are not the same. While we are in chains, we are not of the system. \xa0
\n\nWe have not always lived this way. \xa0
\n\nAnd to remember this fact is to regain our humanity. \xa0
\n\nWithin Woodbine, the struggle for autonomy has been broken down into specific \u201ctracks\u201d, meant to focus our attention on tangible obstacles to building functioning communities. \xa0The health track is composed of a mix of health professionals and those with informal training in various health practices. \xa0We place an emphasis on re-creating a sense of community wellness and the dissemination of skills. \xa0We work to create ties with those who practice herbal medicines, massage, kinesiology, acupuncture, meditation, yoga and other forms of so called \u201calternative\u201d medicine. \xa0We work on owning our own definition of wellness, from the physical to the mental. \xa0In addition, we investigate current systems of western medicine, skills, and ultimately, work to develop an ability to manipulate these institutions to serve our goals. \xa0We do not reject modern methods of medicine, but rather recognize the need to detach the knowledge from the oppressive institutions that guard it. Food and the environment have a fundamental role in health, and because of this, will have their own tracks to address their wide breadth of knowledge. \xa0Overall, this track allows us to answer the questions of how do we begin the process of removing our physical and mental minds from an oppressive system, to reclaim our control over health and use health to increase our collective autonomy. \xa0
\n\nWithin the city, there is a public health infrastructure with clinics and hospitals. \xa0While there are significant problems associated with these institutions, they do provide much of the emergency and chronic care in the city. \xa0There are also spaces dedicated to holistic type medicine, although many of these are inaccessible to large portions of the population. \xa0For these reasons, we started by building a health resource center within our Woodbine space. \xa0The space is meant to be a means to involve community members, understand the care-related skills they have, and be an informational center. \xa0We have public open times for the community, staffed by one of our members. \xa0We also have begun offering a series of basic skills, including basic first aid, wound care,community health, food and nutrition, wellness, and many others. \xa0Our goal is that participants can use the informational aspect to understand their disease process, find resources of different modalities, and either receive aid in navigating the health systems in place or find treatment within the space itself. \xa0And finally, we have a preventative aspect, with our communal Sunday dinners, organic farm share, and weekly workout sessions, where we are beginning the process of owning our own health.
\n\nOur overarching goal is to examine what health autonomy would look like for us here in the city. \xa0We are beginning with the basics by providing ways to interact with neighbors, to think of health in a communal sense, and to aggregate the people and resources from which to begin our journey. \xa0Our short term goal is to continue with our introductory skill shares, create concrete ways to navigate the overwhelming health infrastructure that exists, and build a health community. \xa0We are also beginning to experiment with providing care outside of the realm of state control. \xa0This practice may involve working outside the structure of licenses, certifications and insurance. \xa0Our intention is always to heal, and so we must find ways to do so that protects providers and patients. \xa0As we progress, we will consider creating a larger clinical space, with more emphasis on offering a range of clinical modalities. \xa0Finally, as Woodbine looks to expand our sense of territory to upstate NY, we will look to an expansion of the project to include a more rural context, likely in the form of a functioning low-fee/no-pay clinic. \xa0
\n\nAs we move through the journey towards health autonomy, we find ourselves in a context that has removed us from our ability to understand our reality . \xa0We fight that disconnection and work to build the infrastructure that can allow us the space to envision a new existence. \xa0We look forward to hearing your stories, to understand your struggles and to collectively create the foundations to answer these monumental questions. \xa0
\n\nContact us:
\n\n\n\nWoodbine Health Autonomy FB group
', u'post_id': 521, u'user_id': 3367, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-11 01:38:34', u'title': u'Woodbine Health Autonomy Center'}, {u'content': u'I\'m Narindra Michel RAKOTOARISOA, I was born near of tropical forest in east of Madagascar, near by raining forest. I have an chronic asthma since when I was 2 due to a medical poisoning. My parents were there to make me extract some of it out of throat. Few days since those\xa0moments, when weather will have changing,\xa0I\'m cough early 12 hours before its changing, a kind of meteorological detector More than that, there were 9 people\xa0leaving in a small house of 10m2.\xa0Majority of Malagasy people we use charcoal as combustion for cooking like us. So it was more and less enough ventilated for all of us. During my childhood I was suffering of heavy breathing and lungs whistling, the fact that I lived next to a forest having\xa0fresh air and help me to overcome this asthma until my adult life. I didn\'t know too much people who suffer with the same illness like mine until now...
More than the half of the forest in my country has been cutted for combustion, furnitures, slash and burn,... Following population growth from 15 million to 20 during the last 30 years. Public health and sanitation are trying as they can and have to keep us healthy; with this growing population; open fire and carbonic gas are growing following this,\xa0carbonic gas from factories and cars... Nowadays, 80% of kids under 5 years\xa0seem\xa0asthmatic. I know that when I was asking the pediatrician in a pediatric hospital, where I brought my 3 years old nephew for lungs exam. For information, only few people who have enough money can afford treatment like aerosol "inhale", medicines,...\xa0
\n\nRich and powerful people control the destiny and future of my country.
\n\nFollowing this the Malagasy government has decided to stop using plastic bags last December without alternative until now. This is a good idea but the bad effect is some of our "ravinala" considered queen and symbolic tree of Madagascar is taking place of the plastic bags ; I heard a rumor that some people on our government brought back "biodegradable " plastic bag made with cassava, It\'s a kind of bag thick than one before. Without label or information about the factory whose made it, probably from one powerful people on the government.\xa0
\n\nOther than that, without mentioning the massive destruction of large area of primary forest caused by a multinational firm mine project since 2003.
\n\nActually it\'s our future generations lives is on the line metaphorically and literally. Nature and man can\'t be separated.
\n\nAs my thoughts, training for peasants for new method of rice planting unsteady of slash and burn. Biogas can replace the charcoal and wood used as \xa0combustion of 80% of Malagasy people. \xa0Education for all and ordinance and penalties can be applied for any means of illegal way. \xa0It\'s just a small sand into the gears to overcome or slow\xa0down this fast truck.
\n\nMichel RAKOTOARISOA
', u'post_id': 706, u'user_id': 3340, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-13 17:34:32', u'title': u'My first sharing'}, {u'content': u'The vision of Families of Color Seattle (FOCS) is that our children of color are born into a loving community that is racially and economically just. To work towards this, FOCS\u2019 mission is to build a strong community by supporting families of color through parenting programs, resource sharing and fostering meaningful connections. For example, programs include regular parenting groups led by trained parent facilitators of color, multi-cultural art classes for kids and adults, and community events and resources on relevant topics for families of color. FOCS is unique in providing safe spaces where families of color can build community with a focus on race, identity, culture and ethnicity through a lens of social and racial justice. \xa0Since our founding in 2013, FOCS has evolved into an active base of over 1000 interethnic, intercultural families of color in South Seattle and the greater Seattle/King County area in Pacific Northwest of United States of America. .
\n\nBorn out of the desire for alternatives to mainstream parenting groups, FOCS tackles serious challenges head on. There is a lack of effective opportunities for community dialogues on race and family. Culturally-relevant and multiracial parenting resources are unknown or unwritten. Mainstream organizations aren\u2019t committed to anti-racist policies and practices for our children of color. And families of color seek a safe community where shared experiences and cultural understanding are the norm.
\n\nToday, FOCS is a nonprofit organization led by women of color including the Executive Director and Founder Amy Pak as well as FOCS\u2019 7-member board of directors. Prior to incorporation, core volunteers dedicated hundreds of hours to evolve and solidify the needs of our community based on what we\u2019d be hearing from our families. We have grown from an all-volunteer start-up group to one that is led by .5 FTE staff, 2 interns, 1 Rainier Valley Corps Fellow, professional and diverse Board of directors and hundreds of dedicated family volunteers. It is critical to us that FOCS employs and utilizes the assets of our parents of color network for \u201cpeer to peer\u201d learning and sharing. This builds strong community and ensures our voices are lifted up and valued. \xa0
\n\nSince 2013, 30 parent groups have been organized, providing weekly support and reduced social isolation for over 180 parenting group participants. FOCS ARTS cultural arts programming has engaged over 800 families in fun, interactive, multicultural learning opportunities. The FOCS online community forum involves resources sharing between over 430 families of color. \xa0In 2015-16, FOCS successfully executed five dialogues in Seattle around issues of equity on race/multiracial identity, anti-bias education, reproductive justice, and transracial adoption and included a total of 500 people and 75 volunteers. Our reach is wide and it is getting stronger. FOCS was recently awarded the Ron Chisom Anti-Racism Award by the Seattle Services Coalition for our work in racial justice for families. The ceremony was June 1,2016 at City Hall, Seattle.
\n\nFOCS, a non-profit, was eventually founded in 2013 and it is now a women-led organization which connects parents and builds a loving community of families of color in Seattle. We\u2019ve discovered a growing demand from families of color, young parents, transracial adoptive families, multi-national,, multiracial families growing in Seattle, yet the city remains 70% white with growing displacement of families of color, immigrant and low income communities not being able to afford America\u2019s city with the quickest rising cost of living in the nation. Seattle also boosts America\u2019s largest multi-racial identifying people and also reflects where children of color are the majority nationally in Kindergarten. \xa0FOCS fosters meaningful connects, engages parents and children with cultural arts, but also providing a platform where they can discuss everything, from returning work to breastfeeding, race, community, identity and social justice. It\u2019s a powerful combination of professions, education, traditions and backgrounds. Our impact has been deep and quick, we have connected over 1000 families and trained and employed more than 35 parents as Parent Educators and Teaching Artists.
\n\nFOCS initially opened Cornerstone Cafe in Fall of 2014. The space offered a drop-in child care, and a cultural arts program including capoeira and Hawaiian and Spanish talk story. We now operate FOCS ARTS cultural arts programming for 0-7 year olds with parents each week, facilitate community dialogues on race and family, parenting groups for newborns and waddlers and consult and provide race and equity workshops for parents and educators at preschools and elementary schools.
\n\nWe became part of commuinity led de-gentrification of South Seattle, where our community resources reflect the historical community of residents. Instead, FOCS members are connected by the culture of inclusivity, community building and play-centered learning. Our values are women of color and mother leadership, racial equity, economic impact, dismantling racism, education equity, and an intercultural interethnic community. We envision a world where children of color are born into a loving community that is racially and economically just.
\n\nOne Filipina American mother of mixed race Filipino, Salvadorian and White two young boys said about FOCS,
\n\n\u201cI gave birth to my first son in 2010. My pregnancy was difficult, it was unplanned, my relationship was unstable, my partner was unemployed and I suffered internal bleeding during the first trimester resulting in an emergency surgery; I often cried during my prenatal appointments, and the midwives expressed concern that I was at risk for post-partum depression and they recommended joining a parent group when my baby arrived to build a supportive community. My son arrived 3 weeks early and the birth was long and ended in a c-section. When my baby arrived I continued to face difficulty. My son was very small but healthy, but he failed to gain weight as I was unable to produce the milk he needed, and he rarely slept more than 2 hours at a time for nearly the first 6 months of his life. I had never felt more scared, tired, or overwhelmed. After 6 months I went back to my midwife with signs of Postpartum Depression and worked with my health care providers and my partner on a plan to help me manage my symptoms and the stressors in my life.
\n\nLooking back through this experience what was missing from my life was an opportunity to build authentic relationships and community with other mothers. I was part of a parent group, but never felt like I could be myself in these groups and share what was going on in mothering experience and within myself. I often felt lonely and isolated even in the presence of the group. I attribute this experience to having a space where both mothers and partners were included as well as the facilitation of the group which focused primarily on the baby and not on the identity or needs of the parent. When I joined a FOCS (Families of Color Seattle) group last Spring, after the birth of my second son, I knew I found the place I had yearned for earlier in my motherhood. The circumstances with the birth of my second were entirely different so I was in a better place emotionally, physically, and financially, but I know that every mother still needs support and community.
\n\nWhat I found with FOCS was an intentional space to build authentic relationships and community. As mothers we are welcomed in and acknowledged as whole people with cultures, professions, fears and passions, not just as care taker of a child. FOCS openly discusses and acknowledges race, ethnicity, culture, language, and identity and its importance in motherhood, parenting, and raising children. In my experience these topics were left out of other traditional parenting groups in the community. When these topics are left out, people of color and their experiences are neglected and excluded. When FOCS brings our multiple identities to the forefront the result is more authentic conversation and relationship building. My first year with my second son has been extremely positive and I attribute much of this to my on-going connection with FOCS. I felt supported as an individual and mother, and was able to transfer the love I felt to the love I share with my child. It is so important to provide support for mothers so that we can be better mothers. I believe that the strength of the community that is being built is a testimony of the need that families of color in Seattle are looking for spaces to connect".
', u'post_id': 531, u'user_id': 3398, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-07 07:10:21', u'title': u'Connecting Parents to Build a Loving Community of Families of Color'}, {u'content': u'Interesting read and thought to share: Two UPC students design and build a low-cost wheelchair for use in developing countries.\xa0The wheelchair can be put together or taken apart in 15 minutes, costs \u20ac70 to make and is built out of two bicycle wheels, two supermarket trolley wheels and a PVC pipe to help address some of these unmet needs and make life easier for the people with motor disabilities who are most in need of assistance.
\n\n\xa0The design of the DIY wheelchair includes two sizes, Standard and Kids, and the weight of the assembled chair ranges from 15 to 20 kg. The useful life of either model is from three to five years under normal conditions of use. \xa0Once put together, it performs like any conventional wheelchair and offers the same level of comfort. It has a seat cushion, footrest, push handle, backrest and wheels with handrims so the user can propel the chair and be more independent.\xa0\xa0
\n\nRead the full article:\xa0http://www.catalannewsagency.com/society-science/item/two-catalan-students-design-low-cost-wheelchair-for-developing-countries
\n\nWatch the video:\xa0http://www.diywheelchair.xyz/wheelchair.php
', u'post_id': 714, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-08 10:35:42', u'title': u'Students design low cost wheelchair for developing countries'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 727, u'user_id': 3385, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-28 17:50:17', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'To all opencare consortium and community members: we have received an invitation for papers on Quality-Of-Life technologies. They would be published on the journal of the IEEE Computer Society, on a special issue on, well, Quality-Of-Life technologies.\xa0
\n\nThis might be a good match for the likes of @Costantino and @Rune and @maymay , perhaps?\xa0
\n\nMore information here. If you see an opportunity for yourself, write to\xa0Katarzyna Wac (you will find her email at the bottom of the web page), she will assist you in making the decision on whether to submit. In your e-mail, mention that you are involved in the opencare project, which in turn is part of the CAPSSI \xa0program (CAPSSI means "Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation"); she has been specifically seeking out contributions from projects like ours.\xa0
', u'post_id': 5848, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-20 10:34:26', u'title': u'Quality Of Life technologies: an opportunity for publishing an academic paper'}, {u'content': u'I\u2019m happy to introduce our new Fellows, community members who have contributed to the OpenCare debate and are now off to writing more about how their work connects with, well ... mine and yours!
\n\n@WinniePoncelet\xa0introduced us to Reagent Lab in Ghent and experimental ways of providing alternative education. Coming from him is this piece on why it matters to bring quality biology education to every child equally. Winnie thinks that the role of biological technologies will become increasingly bigger as we move towards a future circular society. And education is crucial in this process, which we must keep inclusive and, guess what: relevant.
\n\nC\u2019mon, show some love \xa0Here\u2019s what you can tweet/share to support Winnie:
Winnie is Bioengineering the\xa0way to the future of #education | ReaGent lab http://bit.ly/2bi33Pa #opencare #biohacking #OPENandChange
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
@Rune Thorsen\xa0and @Alexander_Shumsky \xa0are two\xa0of the core advocates in the community for bridging research on medical devices for\xa0motor impaired people with\xa0actual use through more availability and\xa0affordable purchase costs. The money quote is definitely the following, which we\u2019re tweeting to show support and find more people/projects with aligned interests:
\n\nbit.ly/2aiEOmU #opencare #opensource #MS #research #OPENandChange
\n\n\n\nNina Breznik (@ninabreznik)\xa0and Alexander Praetorius (@serapath): their work intrigued me with their timely intervention introducing www.refugeeswork.com\xa0platform for online\xa0learning of web &\xa0programming skills.\xa0I asked them to do a longer writeup and reflect on the rationale behind their work, and especially how they strike the balance between\xa0seeing daily\xa0enthusiastic people and small wins\xa0vs. making\xa0a compelling argument about\xa0newcomers actually enter the (a?) job market.
\n\n#RefugeesWork: Don\'t count on the government to magically create jobs. http://bit.ly/2bXAbvf #programming #opencare #OPENandChange
\n\n\n\n@Michel Rakotoarisoa wrote a piece a while ago about an idea of his to raise awareness about ecological agriculture because of the current health damages it produces. 80% of kids under five in Madagascar are asthmatic, and for once this is not poverty\u2019s fault.
\n\nLet\u2019s send some love to the Malagasy people!
\n\nFix rice planting, prevent #asthma and improve the ratio of doctors to patients. Needed in Madagascar: http://bit.ly/2a6Srq6 #opencare #OPENandChange
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
@Alex_Levene has spent a lot of this year doing work in the Calais/ Dunkirk camp and inspired by the model of organisation in responding to needs of the displaced people: decentralised, volunteer-led and highly collaborative, with no single NGO or government running it. Next I asked him to blog about the intricacies of being on the side that not many people tak about, the\xa0carers\' side.
\n\nAlex is sharing solutions to refugee care: decentralised systems, volunteer-led initiatives and listening directly to needs of the group http://bit.ly/1MwxuBD
\n\n\n\nLearn more and join in: edgeryders.eu/opencarefellowships
', u'post_id': 5863, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-09-05 08:53:04', u'title': u'Meet the latest Op3nCare Fellows: from accessible and inclusive access to care to the secret lives of carers'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 527, u'user_id': 3384, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-30 06:49:39', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u"Excuseme the fowl language, but it\u2019s appropriate here.\xa0
\n\nWe all know (or will) the insane cost of them. We spend lots of money on them on the household and institutional budgets. Several times a day we throw away these 30 cents items, often without needing to. Every human will or have used them for years. For multinational corporations they are the sweet smell of money, for us\u2026well it depends. Surely a disaster for\xa0the environment.\xa0
\n\nWhat are we talking about?
\n\nThis is the situation. You are a caring person and you see tears. What\u2019s the problem?\xa0Parents know the drill. The usual detection algorithm starts. A check flowchart: pain? hunger? \u2026. or is it the \u2018bottom line\u2019?
\n\nThe sweet or not so-sweet smell tells you what you have to do.
\n\nYou will also know about the silent-positive; no alarm and no change leads\xa0to a pain in the bottom. We dry the tears and invest in curing the wounds. Soon this leads you to adopt the institutional approach.
\n\nThe institutional approach is to change at specific times, whether needed or not. The vacant slot is usually before feeding and ofthen clean ones goes to pollute our dump-yard. What goes in, must come out and then the sh.t hits the fan. The unscheduled aftermath sometimes goes undetected (silent-positive).\xa0This scheme goes for our elderly as well. The poor person is left unchanged.\xa0
\n\nYou know what we are talking about here, don\u2019t you? DIAPERS. Those wonderful disposable ones that have released tremendous time resources, given\xa0mothers time to breathe,\xa0for which, we gladly pay the price.\xa0
\n\nWhat\u2019s the problem? The issues are 1. many times diapers are changed un-necessarily and 2. many times they are NOT changed at the right moment. First case is a waste of money and environmental resources. Second case is health hazard (especially for the elderly).
\n\nThe theoretical solution is simple: Change when needed.
\n\nIn practice: you can\u2019t go around sniffing there every 20 minutes, especially not as institutional employee.
\n\nSolution:
\n\nWith cheap modern technology you could easily make a \u2018pamper sniffer\u2019 (please be aware of active patents). This 10\u20ac sniffer would signal yellow (a drop of pee is absorbed so it\u2019s not yet urgent) red (the sh.t has hit the fan, change now). Those IOT freaks will upgrade to an app telling the carer: what, who, and the GPS coordinates of the sinner.\xa0
\n\nCritical obstacle:
\n\nYou think Mr. Pumpers will sponsor a 50% reduction of his profit?
\n\nOpportunity:\xa0
\n\nSomeone could get very rich, society will save and environment spared. Personally I would gladly have paid 100\u20ac for a 'pamper sniffer'\xa0when my kids were small. I\u2019d happily pay 200\u20ac as a gift for my dad and please go ahead charge my children 1000\u20ac when the time comes where I\u2019m in deep \u2026. (provided the nurse obay the alarm).
\n\nBill of materials (draft). Moist sensor/gas sensor, battery, led/buzzer/xxx, microcontroller\u2026
", u'post_id': 722, u'user_id': 3331, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-25 10:17:32', u'title': u'Shit, sweet smell of money, who cares and time to change !?'}, {u'content': u"The last two weeks we made some research at the Refugee Camp at ICC Messe Berlin. The very nice volunteer Berivan showed us around and we had the chance to talk directly with the people.
\n\nThe first time we visited I was surprised how \u201egood\u201c the atmosphere was. I somehow always thought a refugee camp would be a very sad place, but children were running around playing and everyone was kind of open and nice to each other (from my point of view).\xa0
\n\nThe ICC Messe is a former congress centrum which was recently rebuilt\xa0to be a refugee camp. The Big Main Hall is segmented with thin white walls into something like 40 rooms that look like roofless boxes. Instead of doors there are blankets and towels covering the entrances. There are no windows; in this main Hall the light comes from tubes in the ceiling.\xa0Inside of each room there are 4 bunk beds, so in total 8 people per room\xa0(familys are usually separated and live in private rooms, also: the rooms are separated by gender).
\n\nUsually the rooms don't have any kind of furniture inside, but the one we were sitting in had a big picnic table and a bench and also a bunch of office chairs. We got offered very sweet black Tea in plastic cups and started sharing stories.\xa0
\n\nFirstly we asked how people organize themselves in the room.
\n\nThe Camp is designed for people to stay around three months, but most of the people are staying six or more. There are only the bare necessities provided. For example there are no possibilities to unpack the backpacks or suitcases, which are probably unpacked since the beginning of the journey. Thats why the people find solutions, for example they pull out nails from the wall and hang their cloth on these nails. Or they found a piece of metal string which they also used to hang cloth from. There are also some card boxes used as bed table and chest. Hussam (who is diligently learning German) pointed at one of the card boxes saying \u201eK\xfchlschrank\u201c. We were laughing but it was true! tomatoes, cans of beans and a lot of eggs were stored\xa0there. Also under the bed was a lot of food (maybe the darkest and coldest spot in the room). The reason for that is that they don't always like food by the caterer and of course you get hungry between the official \u201emeals\u201c. They boil the eggs in a water cooker by the way!\xa0
\n\nAnother interesting observation was a little plastic cup full of washing powder.(they usually give the dirty cloth away to the washing and get them back clean) Hussam told us that he likes his shirts to be without creases and because there is no way to iron,he washes them with his hands and drys them in the room. That was eye opening for me because, yes they might have nothing but they have dignity and preferences! they start a living.
\n\nAlso very interesting is that in the bunk beds the bottom bed is the preferred bed because they can build a little privacy by hanging towels and sheets at the upper bed. The upper bed is always dependent on the main light system which is switched off at 11 in the night.
\n\nBerivan told us that in one room they build constructions out of a broken bunk bed so that also the upper bed could shield from the light.
\n\nAnother very striking construction was a piece of wood sticked to the wall with duct tape which was supposed to be a smartphone shelf, to watch movies at night.
\n\nAlso they put pictures from magazines on the wall to make the atmosphere a little more cosy.
\n\nBut still even if they find the possibility to hack something there is a lot of stuff just flying around in the room.
\n\nThere was a lot of creativity to make the most out of the given, bit still no tools or materials. Berivan told us they used to give out tools, but because they never came back so there are no tools anymore.\xa0What if we could support the already existing creativity by opening a space for tools and materials? encouraging them with their ideas and hacks?
", u'post_id': 681, u'user_id': 3242, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-16 17:24:04', u'title': u'Home, sweet Home'}, {u'content': u'As a global- world citizen I find Switzerland IDEAL for my needs to interact with others around the world. The internet and infrastructure is par excellent and although I dont speak much french or german I still mange to communictae well with others here who pass through this project as most have englsh as their seocnd language. Currently my viewpoint is that decentrlaisation or ism is the way forward for our humanity to go into. It is how we will save this planet from greed-exploitation and most of all ...false prop[aganda! - It is vital for me to work with people who are like minded and pragmatic. ..and who see the way ahead as visionaries..and I came across this project in Month Soleil two years ago...since then I have felt that I am doing something positive to bring in the NEW society. At mont soleil we are trying to create this new culture in the shadow of the old and become a model of what we all would like to see in the age to come. I have been involved in many differnet movemnet and when I discovered the decentralise now! movement which is based on the intelligent understaing and world view which I personally resonate with I am empowered to carry on the struggle.\xa0
', u'post_id': 721, u'user_id': 3379, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-25 09:20:58', u'title': u'How i made the change!'}, {u'content': u'Where:
\n\nUSA (and everywhere in the world)
\n\nWhen:
\n\n2014
\n\nWho:
\n\nGroup of parents with diabetic children
\n\nFew lines description:
\n\nNightScout is a software that allows users\u2019 to have on time visibility of glucose levels of people suffering from diabetes type 1.
\n\nThe project started from parents of children with Diabetes type 1, in order to fulfill the need of allowing the to leave a normal life without the necessity of being continuously together to check the glucose levels. It can be used by anyone who believes that its usage would be helpful.
\n\nThese data can be visualized on phone, smartwatch, pc, by using a cable and sending data to a server, and it doesn\u2019t require the physical presence of the diabetic person.
\n\nThe project is developed, meaning that it can be currently used by anyone. On the other hand there are still problems and bugs that need to be fixed but the project is fueled by a rich community.
\n\nNightScout is completely open source and accessible to everyone, a license is not specified.
\n\nNightscout repositories on github can be cloned and forked
\n\nThe software \xa0is free, but it requires the costs for device (like smartphone, smartwatch) and cable to connect monitor and device.
\n\nThis project started as a bottom up need to make parents and diabetic children\u2019s life easier. It is currently involving a wide range of people, who are mainly based on social media groups such as Facebook Pages. Everything is supported by the Night Scout no profit foundation.
\n\nYes for questions 2 and 3, normally the glucose level can be checked only within 20 feet of distance from the diabetic person. In this way parents can feel more comfortable with giving space and indipendency to their children, having the possibility to monitor the level continuously remotely.
\n\nLink: http://www.wsj.com/articles/citizen-hackers-concoct-upgrades-for-medical-devices-1411762843
\n\n', u'post_id': 33727, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-08 23:50:33', u'title': u'NightScout'}, {u'content': u'My story begins with my daughter Sonia. She was born in 2007 with an extremely rare and complex heart defect. We flew around the world to find a solution for her heart to function as close to normality and we found it. In 2008 in Boston, on the day she was discharged from the hospital with a fixed heart, we discovered she is profoundly deaf. Acquired deafness from the many medical procedures and medication she had for supporting her heart function in her\xa0first months of life. Right now she is a perfectly normal 9 years old and her hearing is provided by a cochlear implant. The journey to normality was not over yet. Cochlear implants provide only the access to sound, but the brain needs to get used to decoding the sounds it receives. So going down that tortuous road and understanding how a late diagnosis can make auditory-verbal rehabilitation\xa0much harder,\xa0I started thinking about solutions for\xa0children who are already diagnosed and also for those\xa0that will to be born and possibly suffer from\xa0congenital hearing loss.\xa0
\n\nIn 2013 I started an NGO - Asociatia Sonia Maria, willing to get involved\xa0in providing solutions for children with hearing loss and congenital cardiac diseases. I counselled families of children born with congenital complex cardiac diseases in order to access health care abroad. I helped them transfer their children to a cardiac centre in Munich, Germany where their health issues met the needed medical care. Parents reached out to me for advice and\xa0support, I helped them contact the clinic and maintain the contact with medical staff abroad. Other times I just I brought medication that was not available in my home country\xa0or found a connections in countries where needed medication was available and managed\xa0bringing it to Romania. This saved my daughter\u2019s life at birth, and other children further on. At times I flew with families to Germany, discussed with doctors and supported them during the hard times their children underwent complex surgeries. Once we started dealing with hearing loss, it\xa0broadened my area of issues that needed to be addressed.\xa0
\n\nIn 2015 I opened Casa Koala, the first family centred auditory-verbal centre in Romania, with the help of an Australian speech therapist. Viktorija McDonnel\xa0relocated in Bucharest for two months to help us kick start the project. In Romania there is no other rehabilitation\xa0centre especially designed for children with hearing loss wearing cochlear implants. We hold individual weekly sessions in the centre and for children living in remote areas we provide tele practice. Children and their families have the opportunity to access this\xa0program especially created to help families of deaf\xa0children\xa0on their road to learning to listen and speak. With a team of three people we try to change the way in which families relate to\xa0therapy. We\xa0are trying to\xa0build\xa0a community of people who are informed, counselled and supported on their path to speech rehabilitation.
\n\nHaving access to information and seeing how much harder it is for children to acquire speech when they are diagnosed at a late age, I am making efforts to create a Bill that will implement mandatory neonatal hearing screening in all the maternities in Romania. This will mean that\xa0all the children born deaf will\xa0be diagnosed at birth and\xa0they will have the best chance in receiving the proper medical care, the devices that will give them full access to sounds and further on a fair chance in rehabilitation.
', u'post_id': 723, u'user_id': 3381, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-24 22:32:40', u'title': u'Creating an alternative rehabilitation system for children wearing a cochlear implant in Romania'}, {u'content': u'I\'m an Interior Architect, Business Woman, Mother and active citizen. I have been running my own Design business for the past 9 years ever since I have left the corporate hospitality world. I started with my company Design2Style in partnership with my Husband, designing residential & interiors and developing brand design for companies. Over time, my interest and knowledge of design thinking and strategy increased, gaining experience in projects and from attending various conferences on the subject, which resulted in moving forward, evolving personally and professionally. I launched Belgium Design Council, which applies design thinking on the project\'s infrastructural level. This allowed me to move from aesthetic design to applying design thinking processes in \u2018designing\u2019 communities.
\n\nWe\'re working on several projects at the moment. I\'ve got increasingly interested in Business Improvement District concept over the last couple of years, which existed since the 1960\u2019s/70\u2019s in the Northern America, and concentrated on socio-economical regeneration for business and communities as a whole. The combination of a geographical zone including businesses, community, people and the collaboration of those elements creating successful public, private and citizen partnerships, in order to enhance people\'s lives and environments. Creating sustainable socio/economic regeneration. BIDs and similar partnerships have been launched around the world - in Sweden, Scotland, Germany, England - and one of them is our non-profit organization of BIDs Belgium. We\'re also planning to launch BID EU in the near future, in order to create a platform for sharing best practices with each other and filter these down to ground level. I\'m planning to concentrate on specific target groups - besides the regular social innovation aspect, there will also be the social inclusion of elderly, youth, special needs people and on ways in which we can involve them and make them feel more as a part of the community. There is a plan for the pilot version to be launched in September in my own community in Brussels, Koekelberg, in collaboration with the municipality. We will address the project to both 300 businesses of this district and 3 other neighboring districts.
\n\nWe have also been developing and presenting the general information and interactive sessions for the BIDs in Brussels. We invited architects, developers, retailers, freelancers and members of the communities and explained the concept, but also ask them for feedback. There has\xa0been positive feedback and some are really keen on implementing, but they need guidance - and we want to prepare and adapt the framework which has been shared by other BID countries, which would be useful and simplify the launching of BIDs across Belgium. The model works this way: by defining the geographical zone, having a collaborative approach to working together as a community, whilst addressing the issue that is of priority and defining the projects for that area. BIDs can be supported by a levy that business owners, citizens, and the municipality contributes to. Crowd-funding has also been used to support local projects. Some cities have it already in Belgium, albeit these are a slightly different models - Mechelen and Ghent for example. The BID is a non-profit organization, with a task force representation with an open source, collaborative and transparent approach and it needs to be inclusive of the Open Care element.
\n\nI also have a personal project close to my heart - in which Belgium Design Council works on also. It\'s about special needs children. As there is a personal background to it - one of my sons is nearly 11 yrs old and\xa0is autistic, with emotional and behavior regulation challenges. As we have been dealing with this since he was 2 yrs old, I have observed there is a big gap between what\'s available on the grassroots level for parents and at an institutional level. There is no support in the communities for parents with children with special needs for example. This personal project is about injecting more tools and awareness with creating more inclusive care in the communities themselves - also by using design thinking and visual tools, beyond pictograms available online. I have realized how much sensory input and additional energy my son needs and how much its presence could help him move around and understand things better - and visual designers and illustrators could greatly help such children. As Belgium Design Council we are planning now to fill this gap - one way is to work with the schools where children with special attend. \xa0Our son will be changing to a further\xa0specialised school closer to our\xa0home now. I have spoken\xa0with the principal\xa0and he is very interested some of the creative\xa0inclusive projects I have suggested,\xa0but the school has\xa0no time to initiate these - I have the experience and the knowledge and wish gather some support from other parents and see if we can move forward. Same for the people in the municipality, who are very much interested in this kind of work.
\n\nMy Husband and I are also heavily involved in another nonprofit organization in Brussels and volunteer at a local football club, with over 300 youth from various backgrounds. We also have a goal of making this youth more inclusive and open - both for children with special needs, but also for refugees, who get refused from other football clubs around the city for example. We will introduce the first refugee children into the club for the coming season, which we are very proud of, as we see this as part of the wider community work we are involved in.
\n\nIt seems to me that the initiatives, such as BIDs, should, in fact, be initiated by the city itself - and whenever I speak with the politicians, they understand it but resources and knowledge bases are at times limited. It can be challenging when systems and organizations need to change, understand and adopt design thinking themselves in order to be open for such initiatives and collaborations between private, public and citizens. The concept and ideas can appear too complicated, too political, too new and disruptive, yet many cities around the world are seeing the value this can bring.
\n\nThis is why we decided to be active citizens, to get involved in various initiatives we are working on, pulling in our network and knowledge base - and turn things around by, inspiring, collaborating and sharing information, including enlisting more volunteers from the football club to the BIDs projects, showing that non-hierarchical organisations welcome everyone. It\'s important to talk, share, bring people together, because it\'s part of the process of change - and this is where OpenCare comes as a partner.
\n\nDo you design better communities yourself? Do you have experience in different projects that solve problems of local groups by mobilizing them and the resources available at hand? Or maybe you know of an interesting project that feeds into this challenge? Share your story by leaving a comment, or by submitting your own post here.
', u'post_id': 716, u'user_id': 3368, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-10 09:35:08', u'title': u"Designing communities of care - Belgium Design Council's story/OPENandchange"}, {u'content': u'I came across and interesting article thought I would share. Rural clinics in Nicaragua, as well as many other countries often lack a constant supply of electricity required for sterilization. Students designed a solar powered device, called Solarclave to combat this issue and promote healthy practices in rural medicine. Using local supplies that can be replaced and repaired by the user and enable heat to be generated well over the required minimum for sterilzaition. Without electricity- The solution: use\xa0the sun and creating an efficient and intuitive solar powered device.
\n\nRead the full article and watch the video:\xa0http://www.techxlab.org/solutions/innovations-in-international-health-solarclave-solar-autoclave
', u'post_id': 719, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-18 18:52:48', u'title': u'Helping offgrid health clinics in need of sterilized medical instruments'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 33742, u'user_id': 3247, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-18 06:14:05', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Hello all, my name is Franca, I come from Italy.
\n\nAbout me.. philosopher, interested in post-structuralism, new ways to do international cooperation, passionate about Geopolitics and China-Africa relations. I\u2019ve worked a lot with refugees, doing legal orientation, helping them to find houses, jobs, but also writing projects to get funds to create new spaces of inclusion.
\n\nFor me it\u2019s interesting to see how many edgeryders are interested in migration or refugee issues and what are the connections to spring up from the many well known problems of working with refugees. I think that it\u2019s possible to underline some key issues when talking about care in this context .
\n\nA little bit about my experience: In particular I would like to speak about my working period during the so called \u201cNorth \xa0Africa Emergency\u201d for 3 years. It was a really hard situation for our (Italian) reception system. We were in the paradoxical situation to tell them: \u201cyou are an asylum seeker, you HAVE to be an asylum seeker, if you want to have any chances to stay in Europe\u201d.
\n\nIn effect after the Arab Spring Revolution (2011) everything changed. A lot of people that came from Horn of Africa or from other Sub Saharian regions and were in Libya for work decided to come in Europe. Gaddafi\u2019s death meant the end of every agreement \u201cPetrol vs Migrants\u201d that Italian Government had signed with Berlusconi in 2009 (for more details, this Guardian article). So you\u2019d have more asylum seekers in Europe, but also different routes, different countries of origin, different reasons to leave their countries.
\n\nIn 2011 asylum seekers in Italy were more than 40.000 (4 times more than 2010, Eurostat) and Italy became the fourth country for the number of claims submitted, mainly from Nigeria,Tunisia, Ghana and Mali. Most of them have lived for many years in Libya, illiterate in their own native language, living in segregated conditions of work or in the terrible detention centers.
\n\nThe history is long and I\u2019 don\u2019t want to become boring, but only to say that it\u2019s not possible to speak about refugees in general when trying to be of real help. We have to think about the countries where we are and where they come from (for example 90% of Syrian refugees that arrived in Italy decided not to ask asylum here, but in other north EU countries), the migration routes, the particular war conditions, but also the economical ones..
\n\nFor all these reasons it was hard to prepare asylum seekers during North Africa Emergency because they came here for Lybian crisis and most didn\u2019t leave their countries for reasons of \u201crace, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion\u201d (Geneva Convention) or for war crisis in their countries (subsidiary protection). And so it was difficult to explain them that formally they have to be asylum seekers, that we need to find these elements in their stories. How could we help them? I usually do some group or individual meetings to inform them about procedures, about what does it mean to ask asylum and I prepare them for the Audition. How to help them to underline important elements in their stories, not lying... A lot of also ethical questions..(Legislation vs Reality)
\n\nA relation of care: teaching a foreign language
\n\nThe relations between us is a relation of help. Sometimes you can help someone too much.
\n\nThe question is more to create opportunities for people to be really active (refugees as #nospectators). There are language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, different contexts of life, different expectations.
\n\nIn this complex and nonlinear context of work that I would like to start from the first point: the challenge to learn a new language, the language of the recipient country. It could be difficult and, in some situations, also impossible, like a WALL.
\n\nThis could be because learning a language means that you accept to be in a country, you decide to start again your life. For a lot of vulnerable people that are victims of violence (in their countries of origin or during the migration travel) it could become a catalyst of bed experiences.
\n\nSo learning a language becomes the first step to say: \u201cI\u2019m here. I would like to take part in this new society and new community.\u201d
\n\nFor all these reasons we needed to share knowledge and experiences about \u201chow to teach in more effective way?\u201d, we needed to create a community - or better to create a space for a community of italian schools! So we started with: www.milano.Italianostranieri.org
\n\nIt is a platform of the Municipality of Milan to help foreigners find a school of Italian; there are a lot of problems to find the right schools, also because there are a lot of schools but not connected.
\n\nWe saw that there is this tendency to work alone, providing a service but without \xa0sharing knowledge, critical points.. We knew people that attend 3 different classes, for months, \xa0but they couldn\u2019t speak Italian!
\n\nSo we decided to open our website to every school, private, public, run by volunteers, by NGOs.
\n\nIt\u2019s not simple to help, to take care of someone. It\u2019s a relation full of responsibilities, and good intentions often aren\u2019t enough. We noticed also some schools that are so active in helping their students, helping them in legal stuff or finding jobs.. But all these activities could be dangerous, create a bubble, a dependence relation, mixed with ideological thoughts ..
\n\nYour students are not yours.
\n\nTo create a community we realized \xa0real life meetings between teachers and schoolmakers. Every school has the possibility to post directly activities, news. So everyone can have an always updated map of time classes, levels, locations etc; But also a moment of exchange between teachers, methods and materials. The teachers all together wrote also an handbook for teachers (in Italian only). We also created an e-learning database to help people to find free resources on internet and a lot of videos (in 5 languages) to explain Laws. Education system...
\n\nI\u2019ve been asked what projects I think can really make a difference: Projects that work on the concept of resilience,\xa0avoid that people identify themselves with their own pain.
\n\nWe saw a lot of people that 5 or 6 months after their arrival start to fade, to turn off. During the first months you hope that your rights became effective, job, home.. But nothing happens. Your life becomes full of complaints.
\n\nA very interesting school that is part of the community is for example, Asnada. It\u2019s a Montessori/Experimental\xa0school. The idea is to teach in a different way. Helping people to use this new language not as a \u201cstranger\u201d language. Usually you start to have 2 languages: the native one that is the language of feelings and relationships and a second language that is the language of bureaucracy. The idea is to teach a language that helps you to construct your new identity, \u201ccreate your new life here in a new language\u201d.
\n\nSo the lessons became a workshop where we, all together, construct the language, with different ways, methods (arts, music, plays..) and also being a community.
\n\nSo in my opinion it\u2019s really important to be able to find new ways to take care, creating effective spaces of meeting, of real exchange.
\n\nWork on resilience, opening workshops where people can create something (for ex. FabLabs, Makerspaces..) using open technologies (like Raspberry Pi) could become new ways to take care of people in really big troubles, with strong vulnerabilities and help them to start again.
\n\nMaybe Opencare, Edgeryders community could be the right place where to start!!
\n\nWhat do you think?
', u'post_id': 515, u'user_id': 3324, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-25 09:44:02', u'title': u'Italianostranieri: why learning and teaching a foreign language for refugees is a form of CARE'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5838, u'user_id': 3364, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-11 08:33:12', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'(The thoughts expressed here are a personal view and do not reflect the opinion of former or current employers)
\n\nWhen I was a little boy, in 1973, Bob Marley was singing Get Up, Stand up for your rights and the article "Functional electrical stimulation - A new hope for paraplegic patients?" was published. Now, 40 year on, as a senior researcher in rehabilitation engineering I look back on things that are still true: people still fight and patients still hope. Can we improve life conditions, and how? A fundamental question is: do we meet the \u2018clients\u2019 needs?
\n\nJust to give an example: \xa0My mother suffered from a slipped disc so passing the vacuum cleaner was a low back pain for her. As a good boy I stated: "When I grow up mom, I\u2019ll invent a cleaning robot to do the job for you". Someone beat me to it - the cleaning robot is a reality - it sells well, and substitutes the socializing cleaning woman once offered to the elderly. I see now that a cleaning robot is not what a mother really wants. She just wants a good boy saying: \u201cmom, I\'ll do that part of the cleaning with you\u201d, and do it right away.
\n\nUntil doing my masters, the disabled people were an unknown phenomenon to me. They were not seen, not talked about. I was introduced to young people suddenly wheelchair bound with very limited personal independence due to a spinal cord injury. \xa0They were really nice people and kindly explained about the complexity of such sudden change in abilities and about the need to regain some functional movements.
\n\nFirst of all they told me where my ideas were no good and what research needed to be done. Together we coined a method, not an ambitious cure, just a simple idea that could help a bit and during my Ph.D dissertation, we demonstrated feasibility of restoring the hand function using electrical activation of the paralysed muscles. Not a fits all solution and not perfect, but as people say: when you have nothing, a little is a lot, and for some people it works well (see the video)
\n\nWe still research in restoration of walking in paraplegic patients and quite a few assistive devices have been marketed (braces, functional electrical stimulation and robots ).
\n\nI have been active in the field for 20 years working at major rehabilitation institutions, but I\u2019ve only rarely seen patients being offered these assistive technologies and more rarely seen them \xa0used outside the hospital. Is the problem (as some people with SCI have entrusted me) that there is no such demand or \u2018new hope\u2019 for walking? After all, wheels are more efficient than legs - provided accessibility!!!
\n\nAnother hypothesis could be an issue of lack of flexibility of the healthcare system, not beeing able to provide state of the art technology to patients !?
\n\nStill, for more than forty years we continue producing scientific publications with conclusions like: \u201c\u2026the work carried out so far proves that functional movements can be restored...We therefore believe that patients can benefit. Further research should be carried out\u201d.
\n\nPlease, don\u2019t get me wrong. The research contribute with important results, but obviously there is a problem of transferring the research results into the benefit of people with physical challenges.
\n\nSo far business oriented people responds that it\u2019s because the solutions are not technically good enough, that they only fit a few thousand patients and we continue the research for enhancements to the technology and demonstrate clinically effectiveness.
\n\nOn the other hand less ambitious solutions have been available since the 60\u2019ties, to alleviate the simple problem of foot drop. It applies to thousands of people living with stroke, multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury. It\u2019s a little electrical device providing electrical impulses to the muscle that lifts the foot and I\u2019ve encountered many people with stroke and multiple sclerosis who gained significantly in mobility (see this user statement).
\n\nDespite demonstrated clinical efficiency and the immediate advantages it\u2019s almost never proposed to the patients of the health care system (except for the UK [11]). Why???
\n\nSo on the one hand we spend million dollar research to refine technology that is not widely used!!!!. Will our institutions and society implement the provision of such technology!?
\n\nThey need one solution that fits many, because the modern health care model reduce human life in cost/benefit analysis to numbers. However, as long as assistive technology is not used it\u2019s difficult to identify exactly where to improve it. \xa0We know that consumers must be involved early in the development, it\u2019s difficult to do so in a realistic setting. We realize that marketing assistive technology is different than selling a robot vacuum cleaner.
\n\nSo a relatively simple method of restoring the hand function in people having broken their neck (cervical spinal cord injury), that has been demonstrated useful in a large clinical trial has not become available to people who really need it because it does not fit the \u2018business model\u2019 \xa0of modern health care systems !?
\n\nAs an example we experienced that half the participants wanted to take the experimental device with them home. We are not allowed to do that. I\u2019ve only spend around 50 euro to build the prototype in the laboratory, but we are not in the 1970\u2019ies anymore. In the name of assuring \u2018quality\u2019, \u2018safety\u2019 etc, \xa0we need to manufacture, CE mark, register as a medical device and so on!. \xa0To provide a patient with a medical device we need to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on paperwork!!! And who is then going to sell at a reasonable price. \xa0Why should people, already challenged economically by loss of health, spend 5-10 k\u20ac \xa0for a device that could be made much cheaper?
\n\nThat\u2019s where the revolution of OpenCare \u2013with a subset of community driven provision of assistive technology - comes in.
\n\nCould we leave people with a physical handicap to become a maker, create their own assistive technology?
\n\nWould it be possible for, for example, researchers to help people living with a disability to hack a dropped foot correcting device like connecting an Arduino with an extension board?
\n\nWill doctors provide indications of how to find the assistive technology, which might solve your health issue?
\n\nThat would mean that people should take responsibility for their own rehabilitation devices. They would have full ownership. Clearly they must be guided by healthcare professionals and experts without conflict of interests to ensure that everything is done ethically, safe and sound. How?
\n\nMaybe if we reunite people living with physical challenges with researchers they would both benefit and research becomes action and functionally useful to the society?
\n\nWhat do you think?
\n\nJuly 2016 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Rune Thorsen\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0
', u'post_id': 516, u'user_id': 3331, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-25 11:23:21', u'title': u'Doctor.. could you hack me a neuroprosthesis, please?'}, {u'content': u'Who needs care? Who receives care? Who gives care? Who is getting benefits?
\n\nWhen I first thought about care- care giving- care receiving, I thought about the people who need care. Old people, Kids, disabled people. People who are helpless without us \u201enormal\u201c people helping them, I thought. But there are a lot more ways of caring. Everyone has a disability (translating it to german its also: Unf\xe4higkeit, Inkompetenz, Unverm\xf6gen- i think these words are really important to know when you speak about Disability). I need your care/help when I need to lift up heavy things, when I have personal problems, when trying to deal with soldering in the workshop, when I fail to motivate myself, and heaps of other things. I do have problems and I want someone to care about me.
\n\nCaring is always an interaction between two or more people. And no matter if you are the care giver or receiver you are always getting benefits. \xa0
', u'post_id': 675, u'user_id': 3257, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-02 12:28:24', u'title': u'Who needs care?'}, {u'content': u'\n\nWhere: USA
\n\nYear: 2007
\n\nFew lines description: Nate Barshay prototyped the device, called eyeRobot, using and hacking the existing iRobot Roomba. EyeRobot guides blind and visually impaired users through cluttered and populated environments. The user indicates his/her desired motion by intuitively pushing on and twisting the handle. The robot takes this information and finds a clear path down a hallway or across a room, using sonar to steer the user in a suitable direction around static and dynamic obstacles. It is also a relatively simple machine, requiring a few inexpensive sensors, various potentiometers, some hardware, and of course, a Roomba Create.
\n\nHow is it open?
\n\nHow is it \u201ccare\u201d?
\n\nLink: http://www.instructables.com/id/eyeRobot---The-Robotic-White-Cane/
', u'post_id': 33743, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-08 23:12:24', u'title': u'The eyeRobot'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 679, u'user_id': 3247, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-11 16:36:02', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'In 2015 both of us have been diagnosed with different types of cancer. Ever since we were diagnosed with cancer until the end of our treatment we both were more than convinced our body could fight this and we eventually would win the battle. We were always pretty fanatic with sports and always had a focus on eating healthy. We immediately started to look for information on how to keep our body in the best shape during the chemo and radiation attack. During the first appointments we had at the hospital with a nurse specialized in cancer treatment, we received a lot of information on the treatment itself and its possible side effects. However, there was no information added on (healthy) food, which products to eat best during treatment or information on the possibility to continue exercising.
\n\nAt home our search started at the internet and we looked up questions like: Is it healthy to sport during treatment? What is the best food to eat? Should we be adding supplements to our daily meals? Who can help to keep my body in the best shape?
\n\nThrough the dietician working at the general practitioners office Carry got a first list of products, which could affect the treatment and also some products to prevent loosing too much weight. We did not know if we had to expect a weight loss, because that is what we all think chemo does to your bodies. What we forget is that you get a lot of medicines to fight the treatment side effects, which have again their own side effects, such as potentially gaining weight (take for example prednisone, one tends to store a lot of body liquids that could cause weight increase).
\n\nThe information from the GPs dietician was not sufficient, therefore we asked for the advice of a dietician at the hospital. During the first appointment we asked all kinds of different questions, but we were shocked by the answers. Before we were ill, we ate very healthy, fresh/fair products, now we got the advice of the hospital dietician to buy ready meals in case we would did not feel well enough to cook. Or in case you would lose weight to eat artificially manufactured nutrition containing ingredients to increase weight.
\n\nCurrently there are all kinds of \u2018food fanatics\u2019 and \u2018health hypes\u2019. We are convinced that healthy food should not be a trend. We don\u2019t want to focus on trends or hypes; our focus lies at informing people about healthy food and \u201cback to basic\u201d. We want to reach the target group of cancer patients, to help them in finding good food to fight the battle of their life. As we experienced ourselves, medical specialists at the hospital don\u2019t have enough time to guide a patient in the best way and many dieticians follow the \u2018old\u2019 rules and are promoting the medical food of the pharmaceutics industry.
\n\nWe want to start a foundation, which will have a wide network of researchers, specialized food coaches, sport coaches and doctors to gather information and advice, on how to compose healthy menu\u2019s for cancer patients and provide information on healthy ways of exercising during your illness. Not only in general, but also customized, for each individual. Our plan is to set up an overview listing healthy products to eat during your treatment, but also listing products, that are particularly unhealthy.
\n\nNext to that we want build up a network to reach out to people who cannot cook or are not able to exercise (or just walk) on their own. Look around to your own environment. If you were aware that there is a single man/woman, who lives a couple of streets away, which is not able to cook because he/she is too ill, would you not cook (needless to say that this needs to be in line with the advice of the foundation) for that person? This is called community care.Focusing on the hospital food will be the second target (long-term). Once we start informing patients and start working with researchers, food coaches, sport coaches and doctors, we will eventually be able to slowly change the hospital food.
\n\nFiguring out the healthiest ways to fight your battle by staying in direct contact with your target group is part of specialized care, which would be the future in health care. Not general, but focus on single patients with their own problems/questions and side effects.
\n\nChallenge
\n\n(Customized) advice serving cancer patients during treatment (chemo, radiation,\u2026) to ensure optimal nutrition and exercise.
\n\nChannels
\n\nShort-term: online (info and community)
\n\nLong-term: face to face (workshops on two main subjects)
\n\nActivities:
\n\nType of community involved
\n\nCommunity consists of cancer patients (no age restrictions or type of cancer)
\n\nSolution proposed; effect on users life?
\n\nEnsure optimal knowledge sharing to enable patients to continue the health-minded lifestyle of before their illness.
\n\nHow is it open?
\n\nIt is accessible to anybody online (could be perceived as restricting because the community is language specific and starting with the Netherlands!)
\n\nHow does it \u2018care\u2019?
\n\nThis platform contributes to care by offering a space where patients can share their knowledge and learn from each other concerning the subjects \u201chealthy nutrition\u201d and \u201cexercise\u201d. Also it allows easy access to expert knowledge. The platform is not supposed to replace or complement any scientific research sources. It is solely focusing on the easy access of exactly this information as well as the information shared amongst experts by experience.
', u'post_id': 711, u'user_id': 3353, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-25 20:39:11', u'title': u'Health care community with focus on "nutrition" and "exercise" to support cancer patients'}, {u'content': u'Researcher Jos\xe9 G\xf3mez-M\xe1rquez whose big thoughts shapes Little Devices", the lab he directs at MIT-\xa0uses toys to make affordable medical devices.The Little Devices lab takes a DIY approach to designing and building tools, mainly for healthcare.\xa0 \xa0A plastic gun can be to create an alarm that alerts nurses when a patient\u2019s IV bag needs changing. And a box of Lego-like building blocks can be used to modify existing medical equipment in numerous ways. He creates devices that bridge the gap between absence of mechanical or electrical engineering or fundamentals of\xa0product design. Marquez talks about that toys can be the engineered piece or the mechanical bits and pieces that you can harvest and re-purpose.\xa0G\xf3mez-M\xe1rquez happens to have the backing of MIT, yet he is joined by a large and often-unrecognized population of DIYers who are practicing low-cost innovation. Historically, the public has looked to research and development labs at multinational corporations, universities and government labs \u2014 and has grown accustomed to expensive, complicated devices used more often in elite hospitals than jungles or slums. Not surprisingly, those who make DIY medical devices encounter doubt and even derision constantly.\xa0Such attitudes are a problem, because the DIY tools dreamed up by backyard inventors, part-time tinkerers and academics like G\xf3mez-M\xe1rquez could improve \u2014 and even save \u2014 thousands of lives everywhere, not only in inner cities but\xa0in communities\xa0everywhere. We need to toss out our false assumptions about how, and where, new ideas come from \u2014 and recognize that innovation is everywhere.
\n\nInteresting video : \xa0https://vimeo.com/43909074
', u'post_id': 707, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-20 05:34:59', u'title': u'The Next Generation of Medical Tools May Be Home-Brewed'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 684, u'user_id': 3243, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-27 16:36:55', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Hello Edgeryders
\n\nFor my fellowship I will write about Huis VDH, which I introduced earlier.\xa0In short:
\n\n\u2018Huis VDH wants to give time and resources to people to experiment, try, fail and succeed around new models for the present and future of Brussels. We are convinced that the magic happens by connecting citizen\u2019s skills and needs. We aim to become a laboratory for urban change hosting citizens in search of anchor.\u2019
\n\nBut Huis VDH doesn\u2019t fall from the sky. For me, being in good care in the city has always meant having a healthy living environment. To create such a good environment we need good city planners and a great vision on public space. Something Brussels is still lacking...
\n\nOnce upon a time, there was public space.
\n\nFrom 2012\xa0onwards, I got fascinated by the concept of public space and how to bring it back in the center of everyday life in the city. After reading a call by philosopher Philippe Van Parijs about the urge to design new ways to interact in public space because of the limits of private space in the city, I got involved in Pic Nic The Streets and Canal Park BXL that both asked the government to urgently work on citizen based public space to better the living conditions of each citizen. Both won the political battle, but the result wasn\u2019t really what we were hoping for. Pic Nic The Streets led to a carfree city center, but so poorly planned that a strong movement of anti carfree people could rise and are now threatening to stop \xa0further reorganisation of the city center. Looking at the plans for the big park, we are scared that gentrification will become an even bigger issue now in the zone around Canal Park. We were hoping for an inclusive design knowing that a lot of poor people are living in that neighbourhood. Now we are continuing to work as an observer with a cargo bike installation called Canal d\u2019Accroche (part of the project V\xe9lo M2, explained here) in that neighbourhood, hoping to bring them some resilience.
\n\n\n\nFrom Maison Du People to Huis VDH, a story about citizen centred design.
\n\nSince I was a guide and learned about the architect Horta and his Art Nouveau Style, I\u2019m fascinated with the Maison Du Peuple, a building from the end of the 19th century that housed all kind of projects and people wanting to better society. It was a place where ideals could grow, and people could come listen to each other in an open dialogue. I started working on an open call to repurpose the empty Bourse building into a new Maison Du Peuple, right in the hearth of the city. But just days after finishing the text the attacks in Bataclan occurred and life in Brussels changed dramatically for a couple of weeks\u2026
\n\nI gave it a rest and set my focus on a vacant building above the well-known music bar Bonnefooi: 4 floors, 500m2, and lots of potential, but also lots of work to be done. Without any budget or action plan, I started gathering people in the house, now called Huis VDH. The only thing I knew was that I wanted an inclusive project build from a common idea: Designing a semi-public space in such a way that the wellbeing of the neighbourhood / city improves. Huis VDH will therefore become a test case, because it isn\u2019t the first or last vacant space above a shop in Brussels: there are more than 23 000 m2 documented.
\n\nSo there we were, having a space, an open concept and a lot of potential. The first thing we did was taking time to create a common practice: we designed our way of gathering through a futurism session created by Fo.AM that allowed us to gather all ideas from each person who wanted to get involved and, like a funnel, filter only the most common. For us, it was important to make Huis VDH as open as possible, so that any new member with the right mind-set could easily become a full involved partner in the building process. After a philosophical six months, we had the sprout of an idea: Huis VDH was born.
\n\nIt\u2019s all in the name, for Huis VDH it is no other. \u2018Huis\u2019 means \u2018home\u2019 in Dutch and that is what we are aiming to become for people that are drowning in a sea of complexity of city life. We try to not judge each other, but rather think solution oriented: Help out where we can, and bring the right people around the table. Our space is designed to welcome each kind of small organization working on local issues: cultural, social or technological. We try to design each space so it can be multifunctional and become a temporary rest spot for thosein search of an anchor. We believe like edgeryders: \u201c that the power of a community is bigger than the sum of all parts.\u201d
\n\nOne big challenge we will be facing in the next couple of years is to use our talent to organize ourselves within crisis. Big problems are ahead and we need to build up resilience to react quickly to an ever changing surrounding. Huis VDH is trying to take that challenge inside our own development. For us resilience can be developed on four levels: knowledge, vulnerability, out of the box exercise, and modification.
\n\nShared knowledge
\n\nOpen Source is all around us, and also in Huis VDH. After living for 5 weeks in an open source innovation camp called POC21, I find solutions to every kind of problem through this model of thinking. Knowledge is there to be shared and if we create the right methodology we will find more easily solutions to any kind of problems. That is why we started mapping out every encounter we had through metamaps, we budget our work with cobudget and use a sharing file system inside the house.
\n\nShowing your vulnerable self
\n\nWhen working in a collective environment, we tend to show our better self, hiding our flaws in the first place. But a strong collective group is as strong as its weakest link, and therefore we find it important that we are open and honest to each other. Having personal problems is something common, but sharing them is less. We try to create a trust field around Huis VDH where personal development is as important as the common goal of the organization. Caring about each other as a human being before seeing it as a resource for a project. In order to bring this theory into practice, we have made the first floor as cosy as possible, so people can just hang around and talk freely to each other. We make meetings short and efficient so there is time to discuss at the bar the more intimate stuff, not with all, but with whom we trust.
\n\nPutting ourselves outside the system
\n\nIn the first six months, I was convinced we could create a complete system without the need of money. Only through exchange we could rebuild the house. This gave us a clear barrier to work around, and even if after six months we partially let money in our system, we were trained to think about solutions without money by using the skills, knowledge and resources of one another. This is one of the many ways we try to build challenges to ourselves to constantly think out of the box. When crisis occurs, we need to think and find solutions fast. Creating these exercises in a calm period will help create resilience in all members.
\n\nModification as constancy
\n\nFinally, another way resilience can be created is by being in a constantly changing environment. Therefore Huis VDH doesn\u2019t have fixed spaces. Every room can be rearranged to have a different use. Having this as one of the ground rules, we create a constant reality of change that makes us well trained in the art of adaptation, a virtue needed in times of crisis. In September, we will be, thanks to @Nadia, hosting the Open Care Weekend for Brussels.We see it as an opportunity to use our space for a common goal and adapt it while having people using the space. It will be our first external happening and we are really excited.
\n\nWhen working for Huis VDH, I have a phrase by Bachelard that always comes to mind: \u201cOur House is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word\u201d We can\u2019t forget about the complexity of a home when we want to harmonize it. In cosmos, planets collide, new stars are born and a black hole sometimes sucks up even galaxies. This will be the same for people, ideas and principles. The most important for the wellbeing of this microcosm will be the search for constant balance.
\n\nIn September we will be co-hosting the Brussels OPENandChange Workshop and that will kick off our Huis VDH. In the follow up we are working on a concept called Pirate Kitchen: using the resources from dumpster diving or own grown combined with hobby cooks we want to bring each week around 10 people gravitating around the same interest / problem / field but don\u2019t know or rarely meet. We wouldn\u2019t give them any explanation about whom they will meet, only that they will have a dinner with interesting \xa0people. They will have to find out why they are all here, and what they could bring to each other. A sort of blind date for change makers. Could this be an interesting form, or does it already occur in some places?
\n\nI\u2019d appreciate any feedback in a comment below, and see you on 10-11 September for the workshop! \xa0
\n\nThe production of this\xa0article was supported by\xa0Op3n\xa0Fellowships\xa0-\xa0an ongoing program for community contributors\xa0during May - November 2016.
', u'post_id': 520, u'user_id': 3293, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-08 15:40:37', u'title': u'Huis VDH: how can we build vacant spaces into home-like structures to build up resilience'}, {u'content': u'After some tinkering, I have more information about the data structure used by OpenEthnographer.
\n\nThere are two main entities: codes and annotations.\xa0
\n\n
\n\n
\n\n
Tid in the database. You can join on Tid to find all the annotations associated to a specific code.I have made views that return\xa0all entities of both kinds in JSON format:
\n\n@melancon and @Amelia and @danohu \u2013 the latter might correct me if I am wrong.
', u'post_id': 5768, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-12 15:40:22', u'title': u'Fetching OpenEthnographer codes and annotations in JSON format'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 33739, u'user_id': 3270, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-24 23:30:42', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5117, u'user_id': 3014, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-22 17:03:11', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'', u'post_id': 519, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-06 15:43:22', u'title': u'Call to Action: Share Your Experience'}, {u'content': u'I came across this great article on how the Amish culture and their approach towards healthcare\xa0in the United States. The Amish -\xa0a culture of independance and thrift may be a way to balance community support and individual responsibility. A cost-conscious,\xa0community-based take on American healthcare may be able to teach the general population a thing or two about dealing with a broken healthcare system. Health care practices vary considerably across Amish communities and from family to family. Many Amish use modern medical services, but others turn to alternative forms of treatment within their community. \xa0The Amish society accepts responsibility for their own actions and chooses not to depend on services offered by the state and Amish communities opt out of the government-funded insurance. Opposed to commercial insurance and they pride themselves on taking care of their own. To assist one another, they willingly offer donations when a member of their community becomes ill.\xa0It may not fit in this area, but I thought it was an interesting read a thought I would share. \xa0
\n\nExcerpt from the article: \xa0
\n\nPlain communities are highly interested in health education and disease prevention.\xa0Coming from an ethic of thriftiness, many Plain people distrust the motives of hospital administrators and even doctors themselves. They believe a profit motive can influence courses of treatment. They are also keenly attuned to unnecessary expenditures within the system.
\n\n\u201cIn the Amish world, healthcare is seen as a ministry,\u201d says Wengerd, \u201cwhich is exactly what healthcare in the [non-Plain] world used to be.\u201d Remember apprenticeships and house calls? The doctor used to be viewed like a minister who sacrificed his life for the patient, but there has been a shift. \u201cThe patient now sacrifices his livelihood for the doctor\u2019s wellbeing.\u201d \xa0
\n\nRead the full article here : \xa0http://qz.com/695101/the-amish-understand-a-crucial-element-of-modern-medicine-that-most-americans-dont/
\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 713, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-08-05 20:00:29', u'title': u'Amish culture and their approach towards healthcare in the US'}, {u'content': u'
Hi everyone!\xa0
\n\nThis is my very first post here. I\'ve been following the platform for a little\xa0while now (around 1 year)\xa0and I am still being\xa0amazed by your productivity and shared knowledge. I am currently working for Leeuwarden-Frysl\xe2n European Capital of Culture 2018 as part of the communication and marketing team, where I\'m looking into setting up an online platform on which the communities surrounding our cultural programme can join forces and find eachother. This \'looking into\' has developed into the subject of\xa0my bachelor thesis for the course Media and Entertainment Management.\xa0
\n\nIn my research, I\'m specifically looking into the interactions that take place on co-creative platforms and the dialogue between the organisation behind the platform and its users. Now, I know that with you guys\xa0the\xa0ownership of the platform itself is a lot\xa0more open than with\xa0a crowdsourcing platform such as, say,\xa0+Acumen or\xa0OpenIDEO. What you\'re doing builds more on the concept of open-source rather than crowdsourcing, and you\'re implementing it in every single part of your operation. Doing this with challenges that relate to\xa0society and that are produced because of an intrinisic motivation is very impressive! Most other platforms that try to achieve change or develop new concepts do this based on streamlined extrinisic motivations, such as Kickstarter\'s rewards or simply a cash prize for the best idea.\xa0
\n\nThus, I would really like to use Edgeryders as a case-study for my thesis. I\'m looking for at least two users of the platform to answer a few of my questions over Skype. The questions that I have are based on two models. Firstly, I am trying to find indicators for the quality of the interactions that take place on the platform based on the framework of Prahalad and Ramaswamy\xa0(2004)\xa0and, secondly,\xa0I am trying to create some insight into your overall co-creation activities based on a recent model of Malmelin and Villi (2015).\xa0
\n\n\n\n\n\nEven if you\'re not willing to be interviewed over Skype, it would be very helpful to me if you could describe how and why you are making use of\xa0the platform, and to which categories your\xa0activities on the platform\xa0fit or don\'t fit. Also, if you have any questions, tips, ideas, or remarks about everything I\'ve told you so far or regarding the possible platform for Leeuwarden-Frysl\xe2n 2018, please let me know!\xa0
', u'post_id': 705, u'user_id': 3078, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-06 15:38:08', u'title': u'Creating an open co-creation platform for Leeuwarden-Frysl\xe2n ECoC 2018'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 700, u'user_id': 3336, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-29 15:05:08', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\u0644\u0642\u062f \u0642\u0631\u0631\u062a \u0645\u0624\u0633\u0633\u0647 "\u0645\u0627\u0643-\u0627\u0631\u062b\u0631" \u0627\u0646 \u062a\u0642\u062f\u0645 \u062f\u0641\u0639\u0647 \u0642\u0648\u064a\u0647 \u0628\u0627\u062a\u062c\u0627\u0647 \u062d\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0634\u0627\u0643\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0627\u0643\u062b\u0631 \u0635\u0639\u0648\u0628\u0647 \u0648\u062a\u0634\u0627\u0628\u0643\u0627 \u0641\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0627\u0644\u0645 \u0639\u0646 \u0637\u0631\u064a\u0642 \u0627\u0644\u0628\u062d\u062b \u0627\u0644\u062c\u0627\u062f \u0639\u0646 \u0645\u0646\u0638\u0645\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0647 \u0642\u0627\u062f\u0631\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u062d\u0644\u0648\u0644 \u0648\u0627\u0642\u0639\u064a\u0647 \u0644\u0623\u0649 \u0645\u0634\u0643\u0644\u0647 \u0648\u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u0644\u0647\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u0627\u0631\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0637\u0644\u0648\u0628\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u062f\u0639\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0627\u062f\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0630\u0649 \u0642\u062f \u064a\u0635\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0649 100 \u0645\u0644\u064a\u0648\u0646 \u062f\u0648\u0644\u0627\u0631.
\n\n\u0641\u0649 \u0646\u0641\u0633 \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0642\u062a, \u0644\u0642\u062f \u0643\u0646\u0627 \u0646\u0641\u0643\u0631 \u0628\u062c\u062f\u064a\u0647 \u062a\u062c\u0627\u0647 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0635\u062d\u064a\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0627\u0639\u064a\u0647 \u0639\u0627\u0644\u064a\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062c\u0648\u062f\u0647 \u0648\u0631\u062e\u064a\u0635\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062b\u0645\u0646 \u0644\u0644\u062c\u0645\u064a\u0639 \u0648\u0646\u0639\u062a\u0642\u062f \u0627\u0646 \u0644\u062f\u064a\u0646\u0627 \u062d\u0644 \u0645\u0642\u062a\u0631\u062d \u0648\u0647\u0648 \u0639\u0646 \u0637\u0631\u064a\u0642 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u062e\u062f\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0639\u0646 \u0637\u0631\u064a\u0642 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0639\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0632\u0648\u062f\u0647 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0639\u0631\u0641\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0643\u0646\u0648\u0644\u0648\u062c\u064a\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0641\u062a\u0648\u062d\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631, \u062d\u064a\u062b \u0627\u0646 \u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0639\u0627\u062a \u0642\u0627\u062f\u0631\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u062f\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0642\u0627\u0626\u0645\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0642\u0646\u064a\u0627\u062a \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u062f\u064a\u062b, \u0628\u0646\u0641\u0633 \u0627\u0644\u062c\u0648\u062f\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0649 \u062a\u0642\u062f\u0645 \u0645\u0646 \u0642\u0628\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0643\u0648\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0642\u0637\u0627\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0627\u0635, \u0648\u0644\u0643\u0646 \u0645\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0641\u0627\u0638 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062a\u062e\u0641\u064a\u0636 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0641\u0642\u0627\u062a \u0648\u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0627\u0642\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0627\u0646\u0633\u0627\u0646\u064a\u0647, \u0645\u062b\u0644 \u0645\u0639\u0638\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u062f\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0649 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u0631\u0647\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0639\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0642\u0644\u064a\u062f\u064a\u0647.
\n\n\u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0644\u064a\u0633\u062a \u0645\u062c\u0631\u062f \u0641\u0643\u0631\u0647. \u0644\u0642\u062f \u0642\u0645\u0646\u0627 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0641\u0639\u0644 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0627\u062a\u0635\u0627\u0644 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0634\u0631\u0627\u062a \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0628\u0627\u062f\u0631\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0649 \u062a\u0642\u0648\u0645 \u0628\u0630\u0644\u0643, \u0648\u0646\u0639\u062a\u0642\u062f \u0628\u0648\u062c\u0648\u062f \u0645\u0626\u0627\u062a \u0628\u0644 \u0631\u0628\u0645\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0622\u0644\u0627\u0641 \u0627\u062e\u0631\u0648\u0646, \u0648\u0646\u0634\u0647\u062f \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0641\u0639\u0644 \u062d\u062f\u0648\u062b \u0627\u0644\u0639\u062f\u064a\u062f \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0641\u0627\u0639\u0644 \u0648\u062a\u0628\u0627\u062f\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0639\u0631\u0641\u0647 \u0648\u0646\u0639\u062a\u0642\u062f \u0627\u0646 \u0647\u0630\u0627 \u064a\u0639\u062f \u0628\u062f\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0644\u062f\u0648\u0631\u0647 \u0645\u0646 \u062a\u0637\u0648\u064a\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0645\u0627\u0630\u062c \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062e\u062a\u0644\u0641\u0647 \u0648\u0645\u0639 \u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0639\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u062a\u062f\u0627\u0645 \u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0648\u0631\u0647 \u064a\u0645\u0643\u0646 \u062a\u0637\u0648\u064a\u0631\u0647\u0627 \u0644\u062a\u0643\u0648\u064a\u0646 \u0646\u0638\u0627\u0645 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0645\u0628\u0646\u0649 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0647\u064a\u0643\u0644 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0639\u0631\u0641\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0643\u0646\u0648\u0644\u0648\u062c\u064a\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0641\u062a\u0648\u062d\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631, \u0648\u0642\u0627\u0628\u0644 \u0644\u0644\u062a\u062c\u0631\u0628\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0646\u0637\u0627\u0642 \u0627\u0648\u0633\u0639 \u0642\u0628\u0644 \u0627\u0646 \u064a\u0646\u0647\u0627\u0631 \u0646\u0638\u0627\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0627\u0644\u0649.
\n\n\u0648\u0647\u0630\u0627 \u0645\u0627 \u0646\u0631\u064a\u062f \u0627\u0646 \u0646\u0641\u0639\u0644\u0647. \u0646\u0631\u064a\u062f \u0627\u0646 \u0646\u0642\u062f\u0645 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u0646\u062d\u0647 \u0627\u0644100 \u0645\u0644\u064a\u0648\u0646 \u062f\u0648\u0644\u0627\u0631 \u0628\u0647\u0630\u0627 "\u0627\u0644\u062d\u0644". \u0648\u0644\u0643\u0646 \u0644\u0646 \u0646\u0642\u062f\u0645 \u0648\u062d\u062f\u0646\u0627, \u0646\u062e\u0646 \u0646\u062a\u0637\u0648\u0639 \u0644\u062a\u0646\u0633\u064a\u0642 "\u0637\u0644\u0628 \u0644\u0627\u0645\u0631\u0643\u0632\u0649" "decentralized application" \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0634\u0627\u0631\u0643\u0647 \u0645\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0626\u0627\u062a \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0639\u0627\u062a \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0646\u0638\u0645\u0627\u062a ( \u0627\u0644\u0643\u0628\u064a\u0631\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0635\u063a\u064a\u0631\u0647) \u0644\u062a\u0643\u0648\u064a\u0646 \u0633\u0631\u0628 \u0645\u0646 \u0645\u0642\u062f\u0645\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0644\u0648\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062e\u062a\u0644\u0641\u0647 \u0644\u0645\u0634\u0627\u0643\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0635\u062d\u064a\u0647 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0627\u062c\u062a\u0645\u0627\u0639\u064a\u0647.
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In an age of big data and algorithms, Edgeryders has chosen to walk the path of human-powered collective intelligence.\xa0We believe collective intelligence is interactional: smart, intellectually honest people are more likely to get closer to an accurate analysis, or to come up with a workable plan for something, when they are in conversation with each other. We exploit the property of\xa0open\xa0interaction to weed\xa0out errors and personal biases; this effect gives rise to\xa0Wikipedia\'s famous self-correcting properties.\xa0
\n\nOver the years, we keep being awestruck by the power of result-oriented conversations as a knowledge engine. People will turn a problem in their head, make conjectures, explore them, use each conjecture to quickly generate alternative ones and explore\xa0them\xa0too, look for supporting evidence to reference, try small experiments, involve others. They are unafraid of\xa0exploring\xa0poorly defined questions, if they are interesting enough ("how can we defeat the tyranny of the mortgage?"); in fact, they can help define it, and even\xa0turn the original question on its head ("what you are really asking is XYZ"). It\'s uncanny.
\n\nHere\'s the problem: on the Internet (and in a friendly-but-tough, result-oriented social environment like Edgeryders)\xa0an open conversation very quickly becomes too large to keep in any individual human head. Since inception, we have needed ways to summarize\xa0the point of view not of individuals, but of the community in conversation, and to do it in a scientifically sound, accountable way.\xa0
\n\nHence, ethnography. Ethnographers have the\xa0appropriate tools for the job. Just as importantly,\xa0they have the right research ethos for Edgeryders: ethnography\'s definitional attribute is "no research\xa0on\xa0a group without encoding the point of view\xa0of\xa0the group". This encodes a healthy degree of respect for the community trying to solve a problem, or to address a research question. We like that. Too many researchers have an extractive attitude towards "the crowd", seen as a rightless volunteer in collective intelligence exercises.\xa0
\n\nOpenCare, too, has found its ethnographer. I am proud to announce that Amelia Hassoun will be working with us on this\xa0project. Amelia is a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota; she has shown competence, integrity and an interest for the (still vaguely defined) vision of Massively Open Online Ethnography we are working towards. I am excited and honoured to welcome her on the team.\xa0
\n\nThis is Amelia\'s "hello world" post on Edgeryders. Go say hello back.\xa0
\n\nPhoto credit: Marco Giacomassi
', u'post_id': 5770, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-15 07:38:27', u'title': u'The wisdom and the crowd: Amelia Hassoun joins Edgeryders'}, {u'content': u'What can you make with old plastic bottles? An way to draw cool air into homes using plastic bottles, using raw materials and the creating a benefit to the community:
\n\nhere\'s the story:
\n\nWhat can you make with old plastic bottles? A vase? A flowerpot? \u2026 an air-conditioning unit? Believe it or not, you can. When inventor Ashis Paul came up with an innovative way to draw cool air into homes using plastic bottles, his whole company got on board to help teach people living in rural Bangledesh to do the same. Since February this year, they\u2019ve helped people to install these units-- which don\u2019t need electricity to function-- in more than 25,000 households in developing areas of the country.
\n\n\u201cMost people live in tin huts\u2026 in the summer, it\u2019s like being in sauna in the Sahara\u201d
\n\n
Jaiyyanul Huq is a creative director with the Grey Group, the advertising company that spearheaded this social project.
\n\nWe are a flood-prone nation, so in rural Bangladesh, most people build their homes out of tin, instead of mud. About 70% of Bangladesh\'s population lives in these homes. But the problem with these tin huts is that they get unbearably hot in the summer, especially in northern and central Bangladesh. I\u2019ve been in these huts. It\u2019s like being in a sauna in the Sahara. \n\n\n\nOne of our creative supervisors, Ashis Paul, started thinking about ways to bring relief to these people. He was turning it over in his mind when one day, he overheard his daughter\u2019s physics tutor explaining to her how gas cools when it expands quickly. Ashis has an "inventor" mentality and he\u2019s always been fascinated by science. So, he started experimenting.
\n\nHe told us about his idea of making an air-conditioner out of plastic bottles. The simplicity of the Eco-Cooler is incredible.
\n
\n\nAshis Paul designed the Eco cooler.
\n\nHow to Make an Eco-Cooler
\n\n
\n\nTo make an Eco-Cooler, you cut plastic bottles in half and then mount them on a board.
\n\n
\n\nThen, you place the board over a window, with the bottlenecks facing towards the inside of the house.
\n\n
\n\nThe change in pressure that occurs when air enters the wider part of the bottle and comes out through the bottleneck cools the air.
\n\nIt seems uncanny, but the principle is simple. Blow on your hand with your mouth wide open. The air feels hot, doesn\u2019t it? Now, blow on your hand with your lips pursed. It feels like a cool breeze.
\n\nThe Eco-Cooler doesn\u2019t require any electricity to function!
\n\n\n\n"We finalised it just as the weather was getting hot"\n\n', u'post_id': 33744, u'user_id': 3279, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-11 19:04:16', u'title': u'In Bangladesh heat relief is brought to the community to benefit their lifestyle'}, {u'content': u'The Eco-Cooler can decrease the temperature by 5\xb0C immediately. When it goes from 30\xb0C to 25\xb0C, I can tell you that it makes a difference.
\n\nThe Grey group decided to take it on as a pro-bono project. We like to give back -- it\u2019s core to our company. We decided to make and distribute these units for free. We designed the first prototype in March last year and finally finalised it at the end of February this year. That\u2019s just when the weather starts getting hot in Bangladesh.
\n\n\u201cThe streets here are littered with bottles, so the raw materials are easy to find\u201d
\n\nTo distribute the Eco-Coolers, we teamed up with Grameen Intel Social Business Ltd. because they work in a lot of villages in Bangladesh [Editor\u2019s note: Grameen Intel is social business platform that\u2019s a partnership between NGO Grameen and the company Intel]. We sent our teams out to the villages where Grameen Intel works to teach people how to make our Eco-Coolers.
\n\n\n\n
The beauty of it all is how easy these units are to make. First of all, the raw materials are easy to find: people don\u2019t recycle here, so the streets are littered with bottles. We show people how to make them and then ask them to both do it on their own and to teach others. We also made a how-to pdf that\u2019s up on our website and includes an easy step-by-step process.
\n\nIt\u2019s free and people get immediate results!
\n
Besides the food, there is a whole chunk of attention devoted solely to climate change. As @Pavlos\xa0said, since he was a kid he saw degradation all around - his little coastal hometown, in North-Eastern Greece, surrounded by olive orchards, was always the reference point of a good life in a good space. Seeing the country devastated by urban sprawl, beaches consumed by villas and bars, and people being happy about this, worried him since a long time. So, after receiving education in Scotland, Germany, and researching native tribes of China and Thailand, he didn\'t only come back to Greece to rethink its food culture. He also decided to work on the climate.\xa0
\n\nPavlos is involved with climatetracker.org, an international team of young writers and quite possibly the biggest environmental youth movement of people from all around the world. These are decentralized and nonhierarchical groups led by activists in the Carribean, Europe, Latin America. They cover events in UN or COPs but also do investigative journalism on a local scale. Their work unmasks lobbies and harmful practices and has been published in key media across the globe. They also organize webinars and campaigns and often encourage writers to concentrate on a certain issue in a given period of time.\xa0
\n\nAnd Pavlos has an idea. Greece can become a hotspot of international dialogue on sustainability and resilience. As the country struggles with, as Pavlos has beautifully put it, "restoring the zombie economy", it innovates and experiments along the way. The social innovation and solidarity, however highly spontaneous and uncoordinated, are the backbone for the change. What would be necessary now is to organize those in collaboration with the right minds from all over the world in order to use the whole potential of this change and build a national economy that is regenerative and sustainable?\xa0
\n\nEven though Greek politicians and intellectuals in many cases seem stuck decades ago and their resistance to change is huge, what\'s happening around proves its inescapable. Pavlos thinks the best for them would be to funnel the energy into protecting marginalized groups, including the refugees, to lower their costs of transition.\xa0
\n\nThe Greek crisis has a side that not many people talk about - how would paying back the debt affects its environment. Pavlos believes paying off the money lent from the international institutions would create a huge ecological debt in terms of lack of sustainable land use and waste management.\xa0
\n\nNow, as the demos has been neglected and their voice hijacked during the last referendum, it\'s time to accept, at least tolerate, widespread civil disobedience that will drive the movement. 62% that disagreed has been silent so far, but it will have to speak soon. Even more, what seems to be an alternative idea, is not alternative anymore there - it\'s the only way out. Greece is exploring the open data tools and sharing knowledge, prototyping new was of accountability, transparency, decision making. And here the health and care appear again. Pavlos has seen plenty of interesting and viable practices and conclusions forming from the bottom-up, grassroots practice in Greece. These are the ways in which delivering health care has changed, in which social organization has challenged the systemic shortcomings. From those experiments and pieces emerges a complex, wide image of more inclusive future. It is built on the exchange of ideas and practices in an open manner. It rethinks the way we deliver care in a more decentralized way, more concentrated on prevention. It reframes urban food systems by educating people on the impact of what they eat on their health. Contemporary lifestyle jeopardizes 50 years of development in the health sector - food related diseases, new viruses, climate change, they all have a huge, negative impact on the quality of our lives. Technology and science, accompanied by open data and sharing, can prevent disastrous effects of those phenomena.\xa0
\n\nFinally, I asked how would he explain his entrepreneurial path to those opposing the market? He said a couple of things I find hilarious and worth considering. First of all, that activism is for city people - while he wanted to go back to his olive groves and do the farm life. Secondly, there is a dire need of changing the way people do business - in a sustainable way, with respect to diversity, with a different concept of what\'s valuable. It\'s not the price of land and potential golf courses, not the cheap fast forest. Thirdly, doing things like bread plates is not a rocket science - but if successful it points towards effective and regenerative entrepreneurship. Therefore, an entrepreneur doing such kind of work realizes the visions of an activist - by actually convincing a chain of restaurants to deliver local, better coffee or beer, by cutting off the middlemen. It means millions of people affected in a positive way. It takes a solid ethical concept and guts to take risks, but it pays off in many ways. And it fills the unemployment gap, which wastes the potential of a whole generation now. Interacting with the system is the way for Pavlos. And I really like the fact he\'s not used to failing.\xa0
\n\nYou can read the first part of the article here:\xa0https://edgeryders.eu/en/transforming-food-systems-in-post-crisis-greece-conversation-with
', u'post_id': 704, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-02 12:56:36', u'title': u'Greece as a hot-spot of transformative future (conversation with Pavlos Georgiadis, part 2)'}, {u'content': u'Where: Portugal
\n\nYear: 2013
\n\nWho:BITalino - Hugo Silvia is one of the leaders
\n\nBITalino is a low-cost modular body signal sensor kit that makes people able to learn and rapidly create wearables, quantified self apps, or biomedical devices. It enables anyone to create quirky and serious projects alike for wearable health tracking devices. The base kit includes sensors to measure your muscles, heart, nervous system, motion, and ambient light\u2014and it includes a microcontroller, Bluetooth, power management module, and all the accessories needed to start working.
\n\nHow is it open?
\n\nHow is it \u201ccare\u201d?
\n\nWhere:
\n\nBarcelona, Spain
\n\nWhen:\xa02014
\n\nWho:\xa0Mauricio Cordova
\n\nFew lines description:
\n\nFairCap is a device produced with open source technologies.
\n\nThe project is designed to make drinkable water for everyone, but keeping an eye on those people (around 1 billion) who don\u2019t have access to drinkable water and therefore are characterized by premature deaths due to this reason.
\n\nFairCap is a 3D printed filter, the instructions to build it are available to anyone and all the files are easy to download. The project is not completely developed yet, but it is currently available in its basic version. Therefore it is difficult to evaluate the effect on users\u2019s life.
\n\nThe project is still in the development phase, anyone can have access to the files and improve them. The team is currently trying to design a filter for bacteria and viruses, and is trying to reduce the cost for producing it to 1$.
\n\nThere are several: SolarBag \xae (http://www.puralytics.com/html/solarBag.php), SOL Water (http://www.coolhunting.com/travel/sol-water-purifying-bag), Solar Water Purifier (http://3dprint.com/15917/3d-printed-water-purification/)
\n\nWhy:
\n\nFairCup is completely open source, available to download and released under Creative Commons licence.
\n\nYes
\n\nThe source files are downloadable for free
\n\nThe estimated price is around 5$, currently. In the future it will be reduced to 1$. Not even comparable to existing patented and commercialized water filters.
\n\nThe founder and designer comes from Peru, he experienced in 90s a massive colera outbreak. The diffusion of diseases like colera often happens through contaminated water.
\n\nYes for questions 1 and 3, it helps 3rd world countries drinking clean filtered water, giving them access to this primary good and avoiding getting viruses and diseases.
\n\n\n\nhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Open-Source-3D-Printed-Water-Filter/
', u'post_id': 33728, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-08 23:52:35', u'title': u'Faircap'}, {u'content': u'We are trying out a new format for the community calls where each Monday,\xa0two or three people introduce us to their work, while others are documenting and uploading the content online after. This makes\xa0sharing online\xa0more\xa0low efffort,\xa0especially for those who find it easier to talk than to write \xa0
@Franca works for the Municipality of Milan - Smart City Office. She has\xa0worked a lot with refugees, doing legal orientation, helping them to find jobs, houses\u2026 but also trying to find innovative ways to be a community. A while ago she set up\xa0this project for the City called Italiano Stranieri,\xa0a platform to\xa0help\xa0migrants\xa0living in Milan\xa0find language schools. Not without challenges though..
\n\nCome meet Franca and #askmeanything
How to join?
\n\nLet us know in a comment below if you are coming or if you too are\xa0up for sharing your story.\xa0
\n\nThe call happens online, at\xa0https://meet.jit.si/opencare\xa0(no need to log in, just click and you\'re in!)
\n\nWhere does it go?
\n\nOn your OpenCarer\xa0profile uploaded as a story from which\xa0the community can learn from.\xa0It\xa0will contain:
\n\nYour Name \xa0 | \xa0Twitterhandle \xa0| \xa0Project URL \xa0| Photo \xa0| Text describing your\xa0initiative/challenge, what you\xa0are doing next and a call for action from the reader.
\n\nWhat do you get out of it:
\n\n! Your story makes you immediately eligible\xa0for OP3N FELLOWSHIPS
\n\n! Your story and your\xa0call to action makes it to the daily headlines we\'re sharing with the network - more exposure, more help for your work.
\n\n! Your story puts\xa0you on the OpenCare map and turns you into a full fledged\xa0community member, eligible for Caring On The\xa0Edge community event, 2017
\n\nSee you Monday!
\n\nDate: 2016-07-11 17:30:00 - 2016-07-11 17:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5758, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-07 12:01:39', u'title': u"How to get involved in OpenCare with no writing time or skills: share your story in Monday's community call 4:30 CET"}, {u'content': u'OpenCare is a global effort to bring together the many, less heard voices of caregivers and caretakers. It started in the beginning of 2016, and now over 100 brilliant people joined from all over, people who contribute to fixing things that are broken: hostility to migrants, European welfare, closed healthcare systems, and more.
\n\nWe meet online and engage with our personal stories, but mostly we are humans and would enjoy real life support and smiles too.. just look back at where we kickstarted this!
\n\n\n\nWhen is it happening? Between July - September.
\n\nWhere is it happening? All over Europe and beyond.
\n\nOp3n Meetups are for:
\n\nWhere does it all go?\xa0We will collectively build a bid for 100 Million USD to fix the care crisis! See MacArthur Foundation\u2019s call for projects at 100andChange.org (more about this in a few days).
\n\nWhat\u2019s the plan?\xa0In our next community call on Monday 4 PM CET we look at where we can go, who can drive this and what resources are available! Leave a comment with what you are interested in and we\u2019ll discuss it on Monday. Everyone and anyone is welcome to join, we\u2019re meeting here:
\n\n\n\nDate: 2016-07-04 17:30:00 - 2016-07-04 17:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5743, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-01 11:12:20', u'title': u"Community call: Let's talk about Op3n Meetups Adventure"}, {u'content': u"Long before I was finally diagnosed with depression 1 year ago, I struggled with intense feelings of stress and self-loathing, feelings that were overwhelming me, because I could not really understand what and why I was experiencing. I consider myself privileged to be born into a comfortable middle class life, to have a supportive family and friends, no academic problems. In theory, I was supposed to be happy. So why was I feeling so paralysed and helpless? Considering there are so many people who have it much worse than me, feeling sad seemed irrational, unjustified and shameful.
\n\nEveryone around me seemed to manage just fine, effortlessly juggling scholastic and social expectations. So I thought it must be my fault that I was barely holding it together. I was ashamed to admit that I was struggling and ask for help. When I finally gathered enough courage to talk openly about my problems with my friends and family members, I was stunned how much it resonated. Once I had shared my troubles, many of them would admit some of their own. These were people that I had known for more than 10 years, people that I thought I knew inside out, suddenly telling me about insecurities of theirs that I never even suspected them to have. Such moments of connection were a very special experience.
\n\nHowever, at times it was also exhilarating. It's not easy for either party.\xa0Opening up, even to the people I trust most,\xa0took a great deal of mental effort. Then, I didn\u2019t know how to properly express what I felt. And they didn\u2019t know how to react. I didn\u2019t know what kind of reaction I was hoping for. I didn\u2019t want to burden or worry anyone. How often did I find myself alone in my room bawling my eyes out, finally calling my mother or my best friend, just to hang up 5 minutes later even more frustrated and miserable and guilty than before. They were only trying to help me to the best of their abilities, but somehow all well-meant compliments and advice only made me feel worse. I didn\u2019t think they could truly understand me and it was so difficult to communicate what I wanted to say, when I didn't even\xa0really know what that was myself. When they tried to relate their own experiences to mine, it felt like they were comparing a broken arm to a papercut. When they were trying to give me tips on health and well-being, it felt patronizing, as if I didn\u2019t know and try that already. This was nothing that doing a round of Yoga or 8 hours of sleep or being more social could simply \u2018fix\u2019. Just thinking such things added to my guilt and shame, because it was like I was taking their attempts of help for granted. Devils circle.
\n\nWhat helped me most in the end wasn\u2019t necessarily talking about anything in those situations. Discussing these things with a neutral person such as a therapist was a much better framework for me to sort out my thoughts without the added complications of emotional attachment. The greatest help for me was just someone being there and giving me a hug. Telling me that they know it sucks and just sharing a little bit of the suckiness in that moment.
\n\nEDIT:
\n\nHow do\xa0you deal\xa0with emotional issues? In what situations do you share\xa0your thoughts with others? How does this make you feel? What might prevent you from seeking support?\xa0
", u'post_id': 677, u'user_id': 3253, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-08 22:52:37', u'title': u'JUS: Sharing is scary'}, {u'content': u'It was a long, very interesting talk with Pavlos.
\n\nWe started with the reason why our meeting was delayed - and that was the first narrative of care I found in this hour-long discussion.
\n\nThe\xa0reason was food, or to be more precise - Maiolica, a new restaurant in Sifnos. Georgiadis has been involved with his company "We Deliver Taste" (http://wedelivertaste.com) in consulting the place, crafting the menu, making it local, affordable, Mediterranean. Their consultancy for food businesses connects small producers from all over Greece, trying to change the hospitality landscape in the country. Part of the idea is to tell people about the ingredients, the element of storytelling, which changes customers\' relations to the product, and the gastro-landscape of the country.
\n\nPavlos is an ethnobotanist and for 12 years he devoted his career to science, researching for his Ph.D. in Thailand and China. He left this path four years ago to invest time and energy in agrifood and environment - the brainchild of this transition is We Deliver Taste, a company that investigates the food system, from seed to stomach, in which he was joined by two Italians and a Czech. They are not only interested in the processes that bring the food to our tables, but also in the cultures surrounding it, especially the Mediterranean dining customs and love for good food. In one of the side projects, funded by Horizon 2020, they\'re also concentrating on reforming the digital aspect of the food business by\xa0preparing pilot, open data systems, tools and applications that will make the path from the farmer to the customer/industry (hospitals, hotels) more clear, while at the same time keeping people informed and educated about the content of their plate.\xa0
\n\nBy this multilayered, multifaceted enterprise Pavlos wants to change the paradigm. He believes that if the way we think about the time and space of food, meaning the time spent on preparation, growth, the human experience of food, it will have an impact on climate resilience, climate justice, biodiversity, water and soil conservation and will boost regenerative economies in rural areas.\xa0
\n\nPavlos targets people in their 50-ties and 60-ties, those who have access to power and money, and believes that educating and informing them is crucial to driving the change. He consciously chose to become part of the market, be open for collaboration with government, and get involved with huge public procurement systems because he thinks demonizing the market is wrong. And\xa0because there is a dire need for change there. After years of scaling and working for their position, We Deliver Taste are\xa0now in serious talks with important actors.\xa0
\n\nOn a smaller scale, there is an idea of creating an edible dish which could be used in the refugee camps. It\'s not that the idea is brand new, there are some Indian startups that have crowdfunded and done it already - but it\'s that importing such a product would be counterproductive. Instead, Pavlos\xa0wants to recreate the whole system necessary for producing such a dish - an industrial designer who\'d made the moulds, a baker, ideally struggling to survive in the market, a flour producer, etc.\xa0
\n\nHe also dreams of a website that would accompany this project. One could see there how much profit it created for the parties involved, work saved on waste management and how many refugees it catered. Besides,\xa0he wants to create a crowdfunding campaign to donate money to biodegradable plastic producers in Italy, who\'d, later on, provide their product to the refugee camps in Greece. The stake is huge - 60.000 refugees, 2 meals a day, which makes a 100.000 dishes a day, and it will happen for years as maybe even a half of them\xa0will stay in Greece for longer. That would fix the existing problem of waste and even produce compost in large communal digestors to feed the organic agriculture and parks.\xa0
\n\n"We have to enter this market fast and with confidence right now. There is not much time for discussions - it\'s somehow already too late".\xa0
\n\nThe second part of the discussion coming briefly.\xa0
', u'post_id': 702, u'user_id': 137, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-01 12:20:54', u'title': u'Transforming food systems in post-crisis Greece (Conversation with Pavlos Georgiadis, part one)'}, {u'content': u'OpenCare is a very particular research for both its topic and its modality. It wants verify the potentialities of collective intelligence and of a radical open approach to the topic of care.\xa0
\n\nCoherently with that, the definition of precise research questions (and related methodologies) has not been given a priori, but will emerge steps by step from the same research-related activities (as opposed to what happens with the standard research methodologies).
\n\nGiven that (that, by the way, is what makes OpenCare so interesting for me), I think that the positive tension towards understanding \xa0where we are and where we are gong should be continuous and should be monitored step by step. On the basis of this tension research questions should be progressively better defined considering: the general research question where we started form, the commitment with UE, the first \xa0ideas that are \xa0emerging and, last but not least, a better understanding of who we are and what are the knowledge, skills and experiences we can use.\xa0
\n\nOn the basis of the discussion I think, that, at least for who expressed themselves (see later, item 5), we agreed on these points:\xa0
\n\nAn ecosystem cannot be designed but can be enriched introducing new caring entities (with the double goal of offering more opportunities for both the caregivers and the care receivers, and for incising its systemic resilince.
\n\nThe OpenCare croup and community specificity is that we deal with open care ecosystems having a particular experience and credibility on issue related to "collective intelligence and radical open approach application" (and not of care issues per se). \xa0Given that we should orient our community\'s discussion on topics that coudl be defined like that: which problems and the opportunities arise when "collective intelligence and radical open approach" are applied to and issue as "care".
Discussing about openness applied to care issues, we have two main dimensions:
Both these dimensions are important and could be considered separately. Nevertheless, it could also be very interesting to consider the interactions between the two.\xa0
\n\nHopefully, other research questions, similar in nature to this one, will emerge.
\n\nThe problem is that, at least half of the participants did not \xa0openly expressed themselves. And this seems to me a bad signal. What ca we do to stimualte their opinion?
', u'post_id': 5749, u'user_id': 3045, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-04 12:58:34', u'title': u'What is "open" in open care? Reflections on the Stockholm workshop'}, {u'content': u'New month, new exciting connections! This is to introduce five more community members who are contributing their work to the opencare research and global conversation.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Yannick Schanden\xe9, a tech-savvy activist, self proclaimed amateur urbanist and recent blogger for edgeryders, is reporting on his efforts to build Huis VDH in Brussels in true community fashion: a collaborative house in the making that started from a personal urge to repurpose empty space and give it to projects or people I believe in and is becoming an experimental hub on every level to test out new models of organization, collaboration, construction and economy. Creating a space as an example on how social and cultural dynamics in empty spaces can empower the wellbeing of the people from the community.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
We learned about Prinzessinnengarten at the heart of Berlin a few years ago from @Caroline (veteran edgeryder!), and now Marco Clausen\xa0is taking us on a journey telling about the struggles behind the curtains. I asked Marco to address this at length in his next piece, as it seems we\u2019ve only been teased so far: While community organizations have to promote themselves with success stories to get recognition, political- and financial support, the negative aspects are often less visible. You hear a lot about precarious funding, internal or outside conflicts, political and economic pressure, multitasking, impossible workloads, competition between projects. [] Over time, this situation can result in what you might call an \u201eactivism-burnout\xa0(read more)
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Natalia Skoczylas and Pavlos Georgiadis are doing a series of pieces telling the story of how Pavlos, a returning agro-ecology researcher and entrepreneur, is building movements in the Greek \u201czombie economy\u201d. We know Natalia best for her adventurous spirit and the ability to be in more than a place at once! and of course for her fearless take over Kathmandu in post earthquake Nepal last year. Also, I\u2019m intrigued by the details of Pavlos\u2019s narrative of care, as he seems to be taking Greece by storm, working on both small and (especially) big scales: He consciously chose to become part of the market, be open for collaboration with government, and get involved with huge public procurement systems because he thinks demonizing the market is wrong. And because there is a dire need for change there. More about\xa0his venture We Deliver Taste - here.
\n\n\n\nLast but not least and\xa0perhaps most straightforwardly tied to care, we met Sabina Ulubeanu two weeks ago, as she told us how she became involved with a semi-formal, non medical network providing actual treatment to patients suffering from cancer. Sabina is a composer, visual artist and co-founder of an international new arts festival in Bucharest (among many other hats!), yet it is her personal story of a young mother and patient which brings her to opencare: Yes, I travelled home with medicine, calmly taking them through security and bringing them to Valeriu, the taxi driver that distributed them to the ones in need. More important was the fact that doing a simple thing, an easy gesture, meant helping someone\'s health and fighting a system that seemed not to care about the people. Everyone I talked to about the network felt the same: it is the least we can do! (read the short story)
\n\nI look forward to read and meet @Yannick, @marcoclausen,\xa0@Pavlos, @Natalia_Skoczylas,\xa0@Sabina_U with\xa0the first chance we have! Edgeryders peeps, feel free to dive in and say hello, you surely have a range to pick from Up until July 31st you are welcome to join the conversation and submit your own Op3nCare story. \xa0
More about our ongoing Op3n Fellowships here.
\n\nAbout other\xa0Op3nCare\xa0Fellows here.
', u'post_id': 5746, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-07-04 08:49:46', u'title': u'Op3nCare Fellows! | Brussels and Berlin urban activism, Greek agrifood rewiring, cytostatics shadow delivery in Romania'}, {u'content': u'The OpenCare project has already collected incredible, humbling stories of community-driven care. We expect more, many more, to be rolling in in the coming months. But here\'s the catch: these stories are extremely diverse. They all do have some vague resemblance, but it is surprisingly hard to come up with a clear set of criteria to parse what is open care from what is not. For most people, open care seems to be like pornography: easy to recognize, but hard to define.\xa0This workshop attempts to shine some light on the matter, helping the OpenCare team and community converge on a shared vision of just what it is that we are studying.
\n\nThe workshop is led by\xa0@Ezio_Manzini and lasts about three hours. It is organized for the OpenCare research team, but, within reason, open to the community and the public. If you wish to participate, let us know by leaving a comment below.
\n\nLocation:\xa0Stockholm School of Economics,\xa0Sveav\xe4gen 65\xa0113 83
\n\nLooking forward to this!\xa0
\n\n@Costantino @melancon @LuceChiodelliUB @Lakomaa @Tino_Sanandaji @Massimo @zoescope @Rossana_Torri @Noemi
\n\nDate: 2016-06-22 09:00:00 - 2016-06-22 11:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5721, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-15 09:21:42', u'title': u'What makes care open? A workshop led by Ezio Manzini'}, {u'content': u"I am Sabina Ulubeanu, a 36 years old mother who also like to describe herself as \u201e just a composer\u201d.
\n\nIn the autumn of 2009, at 30,\xa0I suddenly began to feel sick: very weak, short of breath and I became yellow. My daughter was 7, and my son was 2. I was still breastfeeding and thought I was just tired and stressed out.
\n\nWhat came next was an avalanche of\xa0investigations and meetings with doctors form many\xa0hospitals. After ruling out all sorts of terrible diseases and trying different treatments with no success, I went to Vienna where my condition was confirmed: Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia.\xa0The newest drug for AIHA (Rituximab) \xa0was still not approved in Romania for this rare disease, so I basically moved to Vienna where thet gave it to me, with no positive outcome, and\xa0finally I had my spleen removed and got well.
\n\nIt happened in \xa0March 2012.
\n\nIn November 2012 I was again in Vienna for artistic reasons (and the usual check-up). This is when I read for the first time about the Network of Cytostatics. Everything was familiar to me: the oldest pharmacy in Vienna, the office above Mariahilferstr, but mostly, the struggle to regain one's health....
\n\nIt was too soon for me to get involved, tha trauma was too recent.
\n\n\xa0But in February 2013, a good friend, Simona Tache, shared on Facebook a status about needing someone going to Bucharest from Vienna.
\n\n\xa0It clicked something inside me and I responded.\xa0
\n\nWhat came next was overwhelming.
\n\n\xa0Yes, I travelled\xa0home with medicine, calmly taking them through security and bringing them to Valeriu, the taxi driver that distributed them to the ones in need.\xa0More important was the fact that doing a simple thing, an easy gesture, meant helping someone's health and fighting a system that seemed not to care about the people. Everyone I talked to about the network felt the same: it is the least we can do!
\n\n\xa0I truly believe people have the need to do good, to offer, to help each other.
\n\nThe Network was a way of getting people together for a good purpose. I think it is the main reason it worked so well.
\n\nIt responded the needs of others, but also our own need to give (time/ help/ encouragement).
\n\nMy own personal gain, though, was tremendous. Not only you feel good helping others, but I became very good friends with Vlad Voiculescu, the initiator if the Network, supporting each other in many other so called impossible projects or just knowing we are there at a click or phone call away.
\n\nI got involved because I knew what it means to be helpless against a disease and I will remain involved for as long as I will live, because this Network might not be needed now for cancer drugs, but it created a gathering of great souls that will be for sure needed for many other aspects of our society that need deep and profound healing.
", u'post_id': 698, u'user_id': 3333, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-27 08:25:22', u'title': u'How I got involved in the Cytostatics Network'}, {u'content': u'The below story is written by a third party (Me!), on behalf of a participant at the WeMake codesign session.
\n\nIn any city you can find parking lots reserved for drivers with disaplibity.\xa0 In all cities!\xa0 However, the law is different, while some countries allow you to temporarily use the lot while your engine is still on, others don\'t even let you drive inside, and in both cases, other drivers, who are not disabled, give themselves the liberty to use the available parking lot dedicated for disabled, because the found it empty.\xa0\xa0 If you have a disabiliy and you end up never finding the places that are dedicated to you whenever you are trying to park.\xa0 Wouldn\'t it be much more fair for everyone, to create a system, that react to others who carelessly took your parking?\xa0\xa0 If you are lucky enough, maye the system can alarm the police to come and take action, if not, at least, the system can alarm others that someone without a disability is now stealing a disabled person\'s place.\xa0 Possibly, the social aspect is just as important as the legal fine.\xa0\xa0\xa0 What do you think?
\n\nHeader image by Tgv8925, this file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
', u'post_id': 690, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 20:46:40', u'title': u'\u201cFatti pi\xf9 in l\xe0\u201d or Step Aside'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 695, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-02 13:56:24', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'This is a repository where we aggregate all visuals required for producing materials for projects which the Edgeryders organisation is officially backing. We\'re highly decentralised in how we work, so we thought a guide would help us be somewhat coherent when presenting initiatives or ideas out into the world. If you feel something is missing or should be changed, post your proposed alternative in the comments below, and the teams driving the projects will consider it.
\n\nHere\'s some examples of materials people can use to put in on their website their headers on FB, Twitter etc.
Indesign File.
The OpenCare Style Guide: GITHUB visual repo 2016-05-30
\n\nOther modifiable design files are all available HERE.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPurple: #602480 | Blue: #2dabe0 | White: #e5e7f0
\n\n
FB HEADER BACKGROUNDS
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIntroducing Op3nCare from Edgeryders on Vimeo.
\n\n\n\n
This should be adapted to style of visualisations above. You can download a modifiable version of the OpenCare logo icon here. Modifying the colors is ok, but please use typeface Helvetica Bold, ideally 24 px for the name itself.
\n\n#OpenCare
\n\n\n\nor
\n\n\n\nPlease include a "consortium" slide in all public presentations, making sure to include all the logos of the partner organisations. Please add your partner organisation logos in 200x 200 px format against transparent and white backgrounds.
\n\nEdgeryders Community: Transparent BG Edgeryders Company: Transparent BG
\n\n
City of Milano: Transparent BG
\n\n\n\nUniversity of Bordeaux: Transparent Bg
\n\n
WeMake: Transparent BG
\n\n
Scimpulse Foundation: Transparent Bg
\n\nStockholm School of Economics:
\n\n\n\nEuropean Commission (for official documents and visuals only)
\n\nPlease add yours below. Design files for previous Edgeryders visual communications material are available for reuse and modification here.
\n\nOpenCare videos on Vimeo and YouTube
\n\nCheck out the Edgeryders Vimeo account and Youtube account for various videos.
\n\nRecently we had a telephon interview with Peter*, whos child has certain limitations. As one of three kids Fabian* grew\xa0up in a endearing family, which gives\xa0him on one side as much personal and special support and on the other side treat him like his two older brothers.\xa0
\n\nFabian\xa0lost half of his brain function after having a stroke, which lead to spastic hemiparalysis.\xa0Because of that further problems came up like a malposition of his hips and a curvature of the spine.
\n\nWhen I met him he was full of power, running around, shaking everybodys hand and laughing. But most of the time he should sit in his wheelchair, in order to guard against swollen and painful knees. Because of a cognitive limitation Fabian\xa0is receiving all the stimuli. As we can focus on one thing and block our environment out, Fabian\xa0can not filter environmental information. That makes him most of the time an observer, someone who is rather watching\xa0than being in the focus of interest. Since one year his parents noticed\xa0an aggressivity against himself, because he starts to reflect on himself, his position and possibilties. A psychologyst told them that often kids with disabilities that are more supported are more reflecting themselves and know\xa0what limitations they have compared to\xa0kids that are not getting that well supported.\xa0
\n\nGetting that special and individual support is really important for them, that's why the parents decided to send Fabian\xa0to a school for physically handicapped kids.\xa0There they will have a class with about eight kids, one teacher and one pedagog. Trained assistants with different specializations\xa0like physiotherapist, care worker or ergotherapist are working in the school as well. Peter\xa0said that inclusion or integration is the actual content and sounds good,\xa0but it does not always work, as we can see in Fabians\xa0case.
\n\nAnd that individuality makes it even difficult on playgrounds to build it barrierfree.\xa0
\n\nFor Fabian, who can walk and run but not grab, force or push with his one arm, playgrounds would need to have different requirements than for other handicapped kids.
\n\nSwinging is a really nice, exciting and relaxating activity.\xa0Swings with only a plank do not fit Fabian\u2019s physical needs, since he is not able to hold himself with one arm. Laying on a birds nest swing is more easy for him.
\n\nSlides are good to use in case the entrance is easy to reach. Climbing nets or round ladders makes it difficult for Fabian.\xa0
\n\nWater and Sand is an interesting sensorial material, that all childs love. Playing in the mud, splashing with the water, diging holes or baking sand cakes are activities that could be on hip height and done while sitting in a wheelchair.
\n\nGetting this insight from a parents view leades us more in the direction of what kids with handicappes are able to do, what they like, what they prefer and what should have been thought from another perspective.
\n\n*Names changed to protect privacy
", u'post_id': 697, u'user_id': 3257, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-17 16:49:41', u'title': u'Interview 4.0 #able'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 33741, u'user_id': 3247, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-18 06:01:34', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Health Care is Evolving
\n\n
For most of humanity\'s history, healthcare services were provided by communities: \xa0family members, friends and neighbours. This was considered to be a natural network of collective support. The demand for professional care health care, social care, day-care for children and elderly care seemed infinite, but the resources the economy allocates towards it clearly are not enough.
\n\nIf we try to rationalize the system and extract more out of it, it only seems to dehumanize the people in need of care. The people in need of care end up getting treated like a number in a manufacturing plant. Is there a solution that combines access to modern science and technology whilst creating a more accessible and human touch of community provided care?
\n\nEmbracing a collective approach
\n\nOpenCare offers a solution with promise of bridging the gap between mainstream health care and community health care through embracing a collective approach. Recently, being granted 1.6 million euro for research to design and prototype new care services that directly effects humanity\u2019s growth, expansion and well-being.\xa0
\n\nThe Opencare project started in the first quarter of 2016 and is preparing for execution. However, we hope to see results this year after the online platform has generated meaningful conversations and researchers have documented their findings. The call for participation to enter proposals in underway. \xa0The vision behind OpenCare is an alternative to the way patients and health providers interact. Health and social welfare as we know it is broken, squeezed between rising costs and impersonality, if not dehumanisation, of their provided services. OpenCare aims at deploying collective intelligence to design, prototype and evaluate care services by communities, for communities.
\n\nThe human right to health means that everyone has the right to the attainable standard of health and social care, which includes access to all medical services. Hospitals, clinics, medicines, and doctors\u2019 services must be accessible, available, acceptable, and of good quality for everyone, where and when needed. This is a logical solution to reform health care; by creating a system that is guided by universal access, availability, acceptability and quality. Whilst remaining transparent and non-discriminatory.
\n\nThis is the typical pattern of acknowledging failure and trying to be constructive and do something about it that permeates the culture of so many dwellers of the edge of societies. With the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are needed.
\n\nHealth and social care commands change in Europe
\n\nWhat is health care? Who gives it? "The state is the main health care provider", say many Europeans. And sure, the welfare state is a major safety net in their societies. "Business is the main health care provider", reply many Americans. They have a point too: their insurance companies, hospitals and clinics \u2013 most of these are businesses.
\n\nAnd yet, that\'s not the whole story. Health care models are failing: per capita health care expenditure is growing fast. We need to spend an ever-greater part of our resources just to stay well.\xa0Pervasive healthcare technology is one of the methods for meeting the challenges of an aging population in many countries, as well as an expected major shortage of healthcare personnel.
\n\nCollective intelligence brings wisdom to health care
\n\nThe topic of health and social care is human and should be handled in a humane way. We want to understand how collective intelligence can be used to solve social and health care problems.\xa0Clearly, the time has come to take a fresh look and an alternative approach to healthcare. This is not a question of injecting more technical know-how. The world is changing and we can\u2019t build walls around ourselves. We need to make space for new visions and create a fundamentally new approach to healthcare.
\n\nThe OpenCare Research Project consortium consists of a partnership with The Scimpulse Foundation, Edgeryders, the University of Bordeaux, the City of Milan, WeMake, and the Stockholm School of Economics. \xa0The consortium consists of members with different backgrounds, radical thinkers and doers, and just normal people that want to make a difference. With the support from the European Commission OpenCare is moving forward under the Horizon 2020 EU Research and Innovation programme. OpenCare - a solution on the horizon to access and humanize European Health Care.
\n\nTo find out more about the OpenCare: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/project
\n\nJoin our Facebook community \xa0https://www.facebook.com/op3ncare
\n\nFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/op3ncare
\n\nMaria Habets | \xa02016 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0
\n\n
The situation for Armenia\u2019s visually impaired has, in many ways, worsened, since the collapse of the USSR. Despite attempts at isolating people with disabilities, Soviet principles of equality inspired policies aiming to turn them into productive members societies as much as possible. They could thus benefit from some level of state assistance. This situation changed, as lack of funding, and general stigma against human imperfection, (ironically also inherited from the Soviets) have made it increasingly difficult for people with disabilities to reach their full potential.
\n\nGeneral apathy coupled with a lack of political will to tackle some of the issues related to people with disabilities, particularly, the visually impaired. This has lead to the rise of civil society organisations aiming to address these problems head-on on their own. Aside from some NGOs which have been fighting for the rights of the disabled, private sector solutions have also begun to take shape.
\n\nAmong those is the Seeing Hands massage studio. Seeing Hands came about as the result of my previous work with an NGO for the visually impaired, where I learned about all the challenges, socio-economic problems, and stigma that the beneficiaries faced. Through my work with an NGO for the visually impaired, I found that there are 6,000 blind people in Armenia, and only about 20-25 of them were permanently employed.
\n\nUpon doing some research, i discovered a Soviet-era plan to train the visually impaired as therapeutic masseurs and built upon that Idea. Enlisting the help of my friend Liana Avetian, a trained and certified clinical masseuse, we began to train some willing pioneers. The basic concept was a massage studio that capitalises on the heightened tactile sense afforded by visually impaired citizens while creating respectable jobs by training and employing them as masseurs.
\n\nWe also received initial support from UNDP Armenia\u2019s Kolba Labs to open our Massage Studio \u201cSeeing Hands\u201d, in a new location.
\n\nThough challenging at first, Avetian found that students were fast learners; to compensate for the loss of sight, their other senses were enhanced. \u201cThe receptors in their fingers are very much developed, their hands are like their eyes, It\u2019s perfect for them, but the biggest problem is that sometimes they\u2019re not trusting you easily - because if you don\u2019t see, you will not trust."
\n\n\'The organisation is, on one hand, a studio that provides high-quality massages for patrons, and on the other (seeing) hand, it\'s an opportunity for a too-often marginalised demographic to get access to jobs, training, and empowerment.
\n\nSeeing Hands also took advantage of Armenia\u2019s recent tech boom, which now employs thousands of IT professionals. This creates a new demographic of well paid middle-class people who spend their days hunched in front of a computer and often developing back pain. This allows us to train more masseurs to meet such a demand. We currently have 4 full time masseurs: 3 men and one woman, and 2 more being trained. \xa0
\n\nThis concept has also gotten attention outside of Armenia, and we are already in talks to franchise the model across the region, such as in neighbouring Georgia. We are also considering other private ventures, of Private-Public Partnerships to explore other ways in which people with disabilities can be active, and productive members of society. \xa0
\n\nI want to note that a disability could happen to anyone, as is the case with some of my workers, and that it could change a person\u2019s entire life. But that didn\u2019t \xa0close all of their doors
\n\nSuch social businesses are a positive example to break stereotypes about people with disabilities [and their presumed] inability to work
', u'post_id': 33740, u'user_id': 3295, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-29 09:20:50', u'title': u'Seeing Hands'}, {u'content': u'Nadia: Hey Marco, have a look at these two and tell me if the methodology is helpful for what you wanted to do in OpenCare? Check out Marliekes talk and slides\xa0.
\n\n\n\nMarco: Have gone through the presentation and slides... what they do, once spoiled of all the lexicon, looks very much like what church oratories would do in the past. That model is interesting to me... however I am still struggling on how this should be implemented in internet era, to make it more friable and to make it count. I may have missed it, but it didn\'t struck me as if kennisland has taken any step in that direction. Can I ask you how did it capture your attention?
\n\nNadia: I am looking for a methodology to enable people in the broader edgeryders networks to contribute to the research project from wherever they are. Even if they do not have any technical skills. So I am thinking of an "Active Learner" role that could allow them to set up a similar process in their local community. And then contribute the documentation to the OpenCare online discussion
\n\nMarco: \xa0OK, if that is what you have seen in her presentation (that I missed :P), than I understand why you pointed it out. Yes, learner is a fantastic role. And there are deeper parallels between education and care than meets the superficial eye. I like the thinking
\n\nNadia: How were you thinking about the prototyping process (your bits)? What deliverables do you want from participants?
\n\nMarco: \xa0As documented exercises: educational role games (sort of).\xa0
\n\nNadia: Because this part as I see it would be about active learners helping us to understand the environments in which existing projects are working. As well as where there are gaps, what could be built/improved. I.e. they would be defining the specs for the prototypes.
\n\nMassimo: I see a great opportunity to join the approach scenario presented by Marlieke and the inclusive networking power of the Edgeryders platform, as we use it for the Opencare project. One thing that called my attention from Marlieke\u2019s talk is that they \u201cfind difficult to connect people\u201d and the Edgeryders platform is precisely designed for that. Now imagine if the chatter from the dynamics of Kennisland gets connected into the Opencare analytics \u2026\xa0
\n\nMarco: I understand... but that is not a deliverable from laymen, is it? That would mean there is an auditor/anthropologist working with the community...
\n\nNadia: I think we can "guide" the happy amateurs. With good instructables/ templates. As well as through the weekly hangout meetings and 1 visit at the beginning to help them get going.
\n\nMarco: I will confess that, unlike in clinical relationships, in this massive exercise, I will be learning with them
Nadia: Can you help me to understand what you meant by an educational role game? Or rather why you want it/ what you want to do with that input after?
\n\nMarco: That is the easiest way I see to have a deliverable directly from the "uneducated" (so to say) volunteers. It is like documenting a flaw in a software... but doing it in society. Can we all repeat the same failure experience?
\n\nNadia: But is it aimed at showing what is broken, what could work, both or something else?\xa0Also, who is the exercise for? Who is meant to take part, who is meant to read the "results"?
\n\nMarco: Mostly at what is broke - to inform the community of "solvers". Otherwise, what happens is the aristotelian debate about what has been written/said, and the solution is typically useless.
\n\nNadia: aha ok so it is meant to arrive at the same place as the kennisland exercise I pointed to above
\n\nMarco: sort of, I really did not see it in them... they looked to me like telling anecdotes (the aristotelic exercise)
\n\nMassimo: \u2026 and take advantage of the emergence of concepts and ideas to propose prototypes, to test the hypotheses. Everything the mind envisions feels\xa0different when you experiment doing a model of it and play the game. Like the children do when they build an imaginary house throwing a blanket over a couple of chairs, then they get under the blanket and play the act of living that \u201chouse\u201d, they naturally experiment further, making changes, adding improving to the initial idea, playing scenarios.
\n\nNadia: Hmm ok.\xa0So you are looking for some set up in which people share experiences and figure out the "game" they are playing. A kind of massive user-generated monopoly board game where people add the steps as they go along. \xa0What I learned from kennisland is that you do need something tangible and visible to people who are not going to engage online to begin with.
\n\nYou need a trigger: something fun which can get a conversation going in a public space...One example I reallly like is: http://creativetimereports.org/2014/04/07/does-capitalism-work-for-you/
\n\nWe would need some way of recording what people say, and then doing speech to text synthesis so we have transcripts that can then be posted, discussed and made sense of on platform. Then you close the feedback loop by printing (condensed versions) of the online discussions and stories on paper. And then hanging those \xa0papers up on a clothing line or on a wall in a public place. With some way for people to reply back/ contribute to the conversation even if they are not online.\xa0
\n\nMarco: Ahahaha! Ok, I was more into D&D (or secondLife) than Monopoly... but that works for me as well.
\n\nMassimo: Eventually the game becomes the incubator of a new initiative, organization or even an enterprise. It\u2019s easier if the initial experiments are done in a non-profit mode because then allows more freedom of thinking, less boundaries.
\n\nNadia: Do you think we could get some of the brainiacs at CERN to help us build a sign like that?
\n\nMarco: I will have to arrange a brainstorming internally. I hope to do so next week. That would be a nice topic of the meeting. Let me get back at you with more details ASAP
', u'post_id': 5664, u'user_id': 854, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-20 08:05:33', u'title': u'Open Research: How do we enable people contributing to the research project from wherever they are?'}, {u'content': u'Zum Einstieg einer umfangreichen Feldrecherche machen sich Philipp Heinke und Milan Siegers auf den Weg zur Fl\xfcchtlingsunterkunft am ehemaligen Flughafen Tempelhof. Unser Team aus zwei Produktdesignstudenten -das sind wir- und zwei Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikationsstudenten besch\xe4ftigt sich mit der Frage, wie man durch Interaktionen zwischen Refugees und Locals beide Seiten einander n\xe4her bringen kann.
\n\n- 10.30 Treffen: Philipp und Milan am Ubf. \u201cPlatz der Luftbr\xfccke\u201d
\n\n- 11.00 Begutachtung der Refugee-Unterkunft im Hangar 1-4 (von au\xdfen)
\n\numz\xe4unt und gesichert von schroffen Securities wirkt die Speer-Architektur \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0unpenetrierbar
\n\n- 11.15 Wir lernen an der Sicherheitsschleuse zwei Frauen Anfang 30 kennen;
\n\nSie stellen sich als gute Schleuser heraus. Die Eine arbeitet bei THF Welcome und er\xf6ffnet in dem Komplex am Donnerstag ein Caf\xe9 der Begegnungen. Die Andere bietet vormittags einen Kaffeekoch-Workshop f\xfcr 5 m\xe4nnliche Gefl\xfcchtete an. Zwei von den Gefl\xfcchteten sprechen wir zu sp\xe4terem Zeitpunkt bei einer Zigarettenpause.
\n\n- 11.30 Endlich k\xf6nnen wir passieren und werden zum neuen Caf\xe9 neben der Kleiderkammer in Hangar 1 begleitet.
\n\nDort kommen wir in Kontakt mit Pierre Golbach. Er ist Leiter der Aktion \u201cTempelhof Hilft\u201d von THF Welcome. Er meint, es mangele an Helfern in unattraktiven Bereichen, wie der Kleiderkammer. Au\xdferdem w\xfcrden vor Allem alleinstehende M\xe4nner aus mangelnder Empathie zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. W\xe4hrend wir im Caf\xe9 erste Eindr\xfccke sammeln, wohnen wir der Abnahme durch den Senat bei. Diese werden von Anwesenden unter vorgehaltener Hand regelm\xe4\xdfig als komplizierte B\xfcrokraten beschimpft.
\n\n- 12.20 Interessiert lassen sich die 5 Gefl\xfcchteten die Philosophie des Kaffeekochens erkl\xe4ren.
\n\nIn einer Raucherpause sprechen wir mit zwei Kursteilnehmern namens Mohammed und Faris aus Syrien. Letzterer spricht bereits erste Worte deutsch und versteht auch schon einiges. Die Beiden erkl\xe4ren uns den Weg der Flucht \xfcber die T\xfcrkei nach Deutschland und sagen, Gefl\xfcchtete blieben f\xfcr gew\xf6hnlich 6 Monate in dem Flughafenkomplex.
\n\n- 12.50 Die Security erlaubt uns f\xfcr 10 Minuten Fotos in der riesigen Halle 1 neben dem Caf\xe9 zu machen.
\n\nDie Halle steht - bis auf das Klosystem und drei Quarantene-Zelte - weitestgehend leer. Fotos mit Menschen sollen wir vermeiden.
\n\n- 13.15 Pierre ruft f\xfcr uns eine Helferin der Kampagne \u201cTrialog\u201d an.
\n\nDiese sieht es als Aufgabe an die Bed\xfcrfnisse der Residents zu erfragen und nach au\xdfen zu vermitteln. Wir warten trotz angek\xfcndigten 20 Minuten rund anderthalb Stunden aufs Gespr\xe4ch. Warten, so wird uns erkl\xe4rt, sei hier Hauptbesch\xe4ftigung.
\n\n- 14.50 Endlich kommt die Ansprechpartnerin von \u201cTrialog\u201d zu uns.
\n\nSie wirkt interessiert, warnt aber vor zu hochgesteckten Zielen. Priorit\xe4t der Residents sei es, aus der Unterkunft raus und in Kontakt mit Berlinern zu kommen. Ein Projekt der \u201cTrialog\u201d-Gruppe sei es Partnerschaften zwischen Gefl\xfcchteten und \u201cDeutschen\u201d oder Vereinen zu kn\xfcpfen. Ein Problem sei, dass die Gefl\xfcchteten trotz umfassender Angebote oft zu faul seien, aktiv zu werden. Als Grund gab sie Unregelm\xe4\xdfigkeiten im allt\xe4glichen Leben an. Sie h\xe4tte mit ihrem Team schon eine gro\xdf angelegte Interessensaufnahmen im Bereich \u201csportliche Aktivit\xe4ten\u201d und \u201csonstige Interessen\u201d gemacht. Einen Zugriff auf die Daten verweigerte sie uns. Sie versprach allerdings uns die Ergebnisse noch - grob zusammengefasst - zukommen zu lassen. Nach ihren Angaben leben rund 1400 Menschen im Flughafen Tempelhof. Ein Mal im Monat komme Amnesty International vorbei und gebe den Gefl\xfcchteten Tipps zu B\xfcrokratie und Integration in Deutschland.
\n\n- 15.30 Abschied von dem Fl\xfcchtlingsheim Tempelhof.
\n\nSp\xe4ter machen wir uns auf den Weg zur Karl-Marx-Sta\xdfe um m\xf6gliche Begegnungsorte f\xfcr unsere Idee eines Pop-Up Caf\xe9s von und mit Gefl\xfcchteten ausfindig zu machen. Zum 1. Mai haben wir uns mit dem Konzept bei einem Wettbewerb zum Thema Begegnungen im Bezug auf Fl\xfcchtlinge rund um die Karl-Marx-Stra\xdfe beworben.
', u'post_id': 500, u'user_id': 3244, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-03 13:55:06', u'title': u'Recherche im Fl\xfcchthafen Tempelhof'}, {u'content': u'One more time,\xa0 I am writing this story on behalf of a WeMake codesign session attendee, in order to preseve their privacy.
\n\nThe older we grow the more limited our motion become, and the less capable we are of taking care of ourselves. At a certain age, an elderly would need near to 24/7 attention in order to ensure that they are doing fine.\xa0 Mainly, they didn\'t just slip and fall down, while harming themselves or going into coma.\xa0 As a care giver, it is very frustrating and very stressful not to e able to keep an eye on the people you care for, and because it might be literally impossible to keep company of the ones you care for all the time (even at the caretaking place), life will be easier if a certain device is attached to the ones we care for, and is able to alarm us if they fell down.\xa0\xa0 Then we can adjust functionalities of what reactions does this device do after the fall alaram.\xa0 Call a certain number? Call the police? Wait for the person to cancel the alarm and announce that they are fine.\xa0\xa0\xa0 A badly designed or less functional device will make it difficult for elderly ones to put it on and use.\xa0 Imagine if someone had a push button necklace that they can press to call the ambulance in case of danger, but because the mecklace looked silly, the person never put it on, and eventually they did die at a certain accident where they could have been saved by the neckalce.\xa0 Imagine, how the care giver feels?\xa0\xa0 Could you?
\n\nWe need a solution that is funtional and inviting where elderly people can put it on, use it, and keep themseleves safe, while lift off some of the concern of the ones who need to take care of them.?\xa0 Imagine?
\n\nHeader image by J\xe9r\xe9my-G\xfcnther-Heinz J\xe4hnick This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
', u'post_id': 691, u'user_id': 3069, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 21:07:47', u'title': u'In p\xe8'}, {u'content': u'Listening Triads - People on the move (English translation here).
\n\nHast du Erfahrung damit, on the move zu sein?
\n\nIch habe 5 Jahre lang in Guangzhou, China gewohnt \u2013 hingezogen mit 12 \u2013 wegen der Arbeit meines Vaters.
\n\nWie kam es dazu, dass er dahin ziehen musste?
\n\nIhm wurde ein Job angeboten \u2013 wir haben dann entschieden bzw. meine Eltern, dass wir mitkommen, weil wir uns sonst nicht oft sehen w\xfcrden und es auch eine M\xf6glichkeit ist den Horizont zu erweitern \u2013 also waren wir people on the move.
\n\nWie war der Moment als du wusstest OK ich muss jetzt nach China ziehen? Hattest du vorher schon mal Kontakt zu China?
\n\nNein. Ich fand\u2018s gut \u2013 eigentlich. Meine Br\xfcder fanden es richtig schei\xdfe \u2013 haben geheult und hatten gar keine Lust. Ich war traurig mein Zuhause zu verlassen, aber habe es auch als M\xf6glichkeit gesehen Neues zu erkunden, neue Sachen, neue Sprache, Kultur und so. Was kann ich noch sagen? Es gibt so vieles. Es war auf jeden Fall schwierig sich dort einzufinden, weil der Alltag und die Einstellung sehr anders waren als in Deutschland. Also insgesamt, wie die Leute gelebt haben. Kultur bedeutet ja nicht nur Tanz und Musik, das schl\xe4gt sich ja \xfcberall nieder: wie die H\xe4user aussehen, wie das U-Bahnnetz aufgebaut ist, wie sich Leute begr\xfc\xdfen\u2026
\n\nHat man gemerkt, dass das Alter einen Unterschied macht? Deins und das Alter von deinem Vater, also wie man verschieden den Alltag wahrnimmt und sich integriert als Erwachsener und als Kind?
\n\nDer gr\xf6\xdfte Unterschied bestand bei mir und meiner Mutter. Mein Vater hatte ja dort schon Kollegen/Freunde\u2026sein Alltag war nicht so anders. Meiner Mutter fiel es schwer Kontakte zu kn\xfcpfen. Wir Kinder sind ja \xfcber die Schule eingebunden worden. Aber die Erwachsenen mussten sich selbst zurecht finden. Es gab auch Support -Organisationen, aber das waren dann kurze Willkommens-Veranstaltungen und dann ging es nicht weiter. Zudem ist es f\xfcr \xe4ltere Menschen umso schwerer die Sprache zu lernen. Als Kind geht das noch leichter.
\n\nIch wei\xdf nicht, ob das jetzt zu pers\xf6nlich ist\u2026aber was hat deine Mutter dort gemacht? Dein Vater hatte den Job und ihr Kinder die Schule, aber wie war das f\xfcr deine Mutter?
\n\nSie hatte keine Arbeit\u2026.jetzt speziell. Aber \xfcber die Jahre hat sie sich selbst integriert in die Gesellschaft der Eltern, Nachbarschaft und Schule\u2026sie war z.B. im Elternbeirat. Und sie hat dann viele gemeinn\xfctzige Projekte angefangen selber zu organisieren, selbst angefangen Willkommens-Treffen f\xfcr neue Leute an der Schule zu organisieren, Wochenendausfl\xfcge f\xfcr Eltern und Kinder und eine Fu\xdfball-Liga. Au\xdferdem hat sie B\xfccher geschrieben, so Guide-Books, die die wichtigsten Dinge erl\xe4utern: \xc4rzte, die Englisch sprechen; wo man Schuhe findet, die gro\xdf genug sind, weil die Asiaten ziemlich kleine F\xfc\xdfe haben, 38 findet man noch, aber mit 42 hat man kaum eine Chance, da muss man die Insider-Tipps kennen.
\n\nWarst du auf einer normalen Schule?
\n\nWir waren auf einer internationalen Schule, als experts und sehr abgeschirmt von den locals.
\n\nWas war das f\xfcr eine Erfahrung? Gut oder schlecht?
\n\nBeides! Ich fand es immer schon einen krassen Unterschied zwischen der chinesischen Kultur und meiner eigenen. Irgendwie ist es schon auch schade, dass man nicht so viel interagiert hat mit Chinesen. Aber durch die Schule habe ich auch die Option bekommen ganz viele verschiedene Kulturen kennenzulernen, auch die chinesische. Man ist viel rumgereist und hat auch schon einiges angenommen. Man hat sich aber schon \xa0auch als Fremder gef\xfchlt und wurde auch als Fremder angesehen. Ich wei\xdf nicht ob das deine Frage so beantwortet\u2026
\n\nHast du denn dann China generell als Land empfunden, das offen f\xfcr sowas ist? Oder eher als ein nicht so offenes Land f\xfcr Fremde?
\n\nMein Eindruck ist nochmal ein ganz anderer, als der meiner Mutter. Sie hat viel mit chinesischen Organisationen gearbeitet durch ihre Projekte. Ich hatte nie das Gef\xfchl, das wir feindselig angeschaut wurden, aber es gab auch nicht nur Offenheit. China hat geschichtlich gesehen nicht nur die besten Erfahrungen mit Ausl\xe4ndern gemacht: Im 20 Jahrhundert wurden sie von verschiedensten Kolonialm\xe4chten ausgebeutet.
\n\nWie war es f\xfcr dich dann nach Deutschland zur\xfcck zu kommen?
\n\nIch bin ja gar nicht direkt zur\xfcck, sondern erstmal nach England. Aber es war eigentlich, als w\xe4re ich nie weg gewesen, weil wir auch immer in den Ferien in Deutschland waren. Deutschland ist irgendwie immer mein Zuhause gewesen.
\n\nReflection - Care on the move\xa0
\n\nGesundheit war ein Thema, bei dem der kulturelle Unterschied besonders offensichtlich wurde. Die Auffassung von Wohlbefinden hat sehr spirituelle und traditionelle Z\xfcge in der chinesischen Medizin. Man h\xf6rt von riesigen Schwarzmarktgesch\xe4ften, die Haifischflossen und Teile anderer gef\xe4hrdeter Tierarten f\xfcr medizinische Zwecke anbieten. Auch andere \u201aalternative\u2018 Heilpraktiken wie Akupunktur, Massagen, Pflanzenheilkunde und bestimmte Bewegungsformen wie Qigong sind sehr beliebt. Es ist ein ganzheitliches Konzept von Gesundheit verbreitet; alles h\xe4ngt miteinander zusammen, Balance ist ma\xdfgebend. Die meisten Leute folgen Prinzipien der traditionellen Chinesischen Medizin, obwohl diese nicht auf wissenschaftlichen Fakten beruht und oft ineffektiv oder gar sch\xe4dlich sein kann. Was hier manchmal als Aberglaube oder Hippiequatsch abgestempelt wird, wird dort weitgehend praktiziert. Weiter noch wird eher der westlichen Medizin und industriellen Pharmazie misstraut.
\n\nAls Ausl\xe4nder in China war es nicht immer einfach, die richtige Pflege zu bekommen. Kommunikation war die erste H\xfcrde. Das Gesundheitssystem war ganz anders aufgebaut. Zudem musste man sich neu orientieren: man konnte nicht mehr einfach zu seinem altbekannten Hausarzt gehen, sondern musste erst mal neue Anlaufstellen finden. Es gab gewisse Kliniken und Zahn\xe4rzte, die unter den Expats verbreitet waren, wo die meisten hingingen, weil dort Englisch gesprochen wurde oder man gar international \xc4rzte hatte. Doch gr\xf6\xdfere Operationen lie\xdf man dann doch lieber in Deutschland machen oder holte sich zumindest eine zweite Meinung in Hongkong ein, dass durch seine britische Besetzung einen sehr starken westlichen Einfluss aufwies. Wieso diese Art Missvertrauen zu den chinesischen \xc4rzten bestand, wei\xdf ich nicht. Lag es nur an der Angst, sich nicht richtig verst\xe4ndigen zu k\xf6nnen oder gab es generell kulturelle Unterschiede im Umgang mit Krankheit? Wie unterschiedlich war der Stand der Technik?
\n\nWas ich wei\xdf ist, dass meine Mutter bestimmte Medikamente zum Beispiel nur in Deutschland kaufen konnte \u2013 auf der anderen Seite waren in China Pillen ohne Rezept zu erstehen, die in Deutschland gar nicht verkauft werden durften. Die Regulationen und Kontrollen waren generell anders. Zudem hat man erfahren, dass Chinesen aus H\xf6flichkeit nicht gerne \u201anein\u2018 sagen, auch wenn sie wissen, dass sie etwas nicht k\xf6nnen. Wenn man sich verl\xe4uft, weil jeder, dem man nach dem Weg fragt, dich in irgendeine Richtung schickt, wenn er die richtige Antwort nicht wei\xdf, ist das nervig. ALs Arzt k\xf6nnte so etwas jedoch sehr gef\xe4hrlich sein.\xa0Wie flie\xdfen\xa0solche Gewohnheiten in die\xa0Pflege\xa0ein? Wie kann man solche Verst\xe4ndnisl\xfccken identifizieren und \xfcberbr\xfccken?
', u'post_id': 496, u'user_id': 3253, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-12 18:43:12', u'title': u'Care as an Expat living in China'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 692, u'user_id': 3313, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 21:17:17', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'
"
\n\nPictures above: Omri, Pauline, Kate, Tomma
\n\n1. Team UP: Pauline Schautmann (@Pauline )\xa0and @Omri_Kaufmann are product design students at UDK in Berlin and breaking new ground in the OpenCare research by starting a deep conversation around mental and emotional health. They genuinely took their own personal experiences and turned them\xa0into\xa0design frames. Mental health is not easy to approach, and not once have I heard lately how sharing a deeply personal story in public feels scary. Kudos for a daring attitude:
\n\nOur goal is to make the complex, \'taboo\' issue of mental health more tangible and approachable to the public. It aims at fostering empathy and understanding towards those that are suffering from emotional distress. Read more:\xa0Designing for Vulnerability
\n\n2. Kate Genevieve (@kate_g)\xa0is an artist and researcher at the intersections of domains, of the physical and virtual (own worded bio\xa0here). Her approach to mental care which I liked a lot is a community rewiring of listening and offering support, "that everyone who lives in a distributed area is in someway involved in processing the emotions experienced in that place". I\u2019m hoping her piece will explore connection to inhabited spaces, using the digital as a space for honesty - more details to come.
\n\nReal-life conversations from real experience in which neither party is an expert can be life changing. I work a lot with VR and seeing through another\'s eyes is certainly helpful but what really leads to change is honestly communicating difficult experience and listening to others and accepting their experience. There\'s some sort of validation in the honesty of that process that allows for shifts. There are lots of CBT, brain training, "look at things brighter" apps around but perhaps there\'s room for bold digital networks - with some serious legal tick boxes in place - that make possible structured honest relational experiences between people in a particular place. - Kate in her thoughtful contribution.
\n\n2. Team \u201cmake it up\u201d: Dennis Nguyen\xa0(@dennis), Tomma Suki Hinrichsen\xa0(@Tomma),\xa0Liza Schluder (@Liza )\xa0and Simon\xa0Messmer (@simon.messmer )\xa0are another group of students at UDK doing practical research in refugee camps in Berlin. I have a feeling this is no longer a student assignment, as they confessed to really enjoy hanging out there, making friends and throwing dinner parties. If you read their piece below, you\u2019ll see that the people they talked to are called by a name and are not just \u201cvolunteer\u201d or \u201crefugee\u201d. As the scouting progresses for creative activities and ideas to put people\u2019s skills to good use during the long wait in the camp, the team came up with insights that only make us want to learn more: We have been visiting a refugee camp in Berlin and had the chance to get in touch with a number of the people there. It seems like most projects with refugees focus on families and children, whereas the young men are being left out (Home Sweet Home).
\n\nSo there they are, our Op3nCare Fellows. They are the first to explore community led care in depth, aided by a small financial reward and learning opportunities in 2016-2017 (more about our ongoing Fellowship program here). Everyone, feel free to dive in the readings and say hello. Up until July 1st community members and new Edgeryders are welcome to join the conversation and submit Op3nCare stories. If you already posted in March, April, May, don\u2019t worry, your submission is valid and will still be considered.
', u'post_id': 5696, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-06-01 14:40:55', u'title': u'Meet the first Op3nCare Research Fellows to (co-)author pieces on community led care'}, {u'content': u'The aim of this project is to implement inside a window manager (as XFce on Linux) a system that use the eyes to move the mouse.
\n\nThis system will allow a disabled person to use his computer with eyes only.
\n\nWhen a person will focus a point on the screen, the window manager will detect that point by using the webcam. Then, the window manager will draw a cursor on that point.
\n\nThe Window manager will propose a split screen.
\n\nOn the top screen, the window manager will display the usual windows. On the bottom, a virtual keyboard will be displayed.
', u'post_id': 33237, u'user_id': 3559, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-31 22:00:00', u'title': u'From Eye to Mouse'}, {u'content': u'During the meeting we\'ll announce the first prototype WeMake will support in the next months.\xa0
\n\nRead more about the meeting here:\xa0
\n\nhttp://wemake.cc/2016/05/30/annunciamo-il-primo-prototipo-di-opencare/
\n\nDate: 2016-06-01 18:30:00 - 2016-06-01 21:00:00, Europe/Rome Time.
\n\nURL: http://wemake.cc/2016/05/30/annunciamo-il-primo-prototipo-di-opencare/
', u'post_id': 5686, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-30 20:01:31', u'title': u'Co-design session: announcing prototype01'}, {u'content': u'Monday afternoon is when the OpenCare crew, community and anyone interested to learn about the project meets online for a one hour of
\n\nWe document the sessions and post them online in weekly blogposts about what is going on, and where people can jump in to help each other.
\n\nThe call takes place at 16:30 CET in this\xa0online room:\xa0https://meet.jit.si/opencare
\n\nLet us know you\'re coming by pressing "Attend" below (make sure you are logged in).
\n\nDate: 2016-06-27 17:30:00 - 2016-06-27 17:30:00, Europe/Bucharest Time.
', u'post_id': 5682, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-29 08:38:05', u'title': u'OpenCare regular call Monday 16:30 CET: open to project team, community and all newcomers'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 652, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 22:39:40', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'I\'m Jean-Paul Dossou, from Benin in West-Africa.\xa0
\n\nSome wise people do perceive already the unsustainability of the current health care provision organization in western developped countries, but this is the dreamed model, that developping countries are running to. Is it possible to "jump a generation" in the organization of health care provision in developping countries? This is the underlying question of the "modern" collaborative care expriences we are going to share in this post about Coeur d\'Or.
\n\nAs a short backgrund, Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) induce yearly about 17 millions of deaths. Over 75% of those deaths occur in LMICs where risk factors are highly prevalent and the health system is poorly adapted to deal with chronicle and highly expensive emergent conditions. In Benin, the prevalence of high blood pressure is about 30%. Health promotion on this poorly funded issue, in this limited resource setting, requires innovative communication tools. To this end, C\u0153ur d\u2019Or (www.facebook.com/groups/coeurdor/ ) was created in 2011, to test the feasibility of using social media for providing promotional and preventive care against CVD in Benin, in a collaborative way.
\n\nWe aim\xa0here to present briefly\xa0C\u0153ur d\u2019Or , and some lessons learned so far. We use a case study approach based on participatory observation, (in) formal in-depth interviews with different stakeholders and documents reviews on the solution. \xa0Social media analytics tools are used for the quantitative analysis of the profiles of the solution users and activity.
\n\nC\u0153ur d\u2019Or is an open Facebook group of 21615 members, mainly from Benin (West Africa). It runs as a tool of keeping in touch with a huge number of the community members, allowing for a double-sense communication, spreading cutting-edge information on CVDs and building a community-based leadership on CVD. The targets are young, mainly from urban and semi-urban areas, educated and active on social media. They connect to the platform using mainly smartphones.\xa0 A wide range of subjects related to CVDs and Non-Communicable Diseases are discussed from several perspectives. Members can initiate a discussion stream, receive inputs from several profiles of members and get a summary from a medical expert based on key evidence-based prevention measures against CVD.
\n\nThe group stands also as a social mobilization and community participation tools influencing the agenda setting at the national level. It is currently a member of the Multisectorial National Committee against NCDs in Benin, as a leading actor supporting the organization of national campaigns against CVD in Benin each year since 2011.\xa0 Using its online critical mass and its growing network in traditional media and several public and private institutions, the group is capable of mobilizing each year since 2013 material and financial resources up to 25,000 \u20ac to organize offline activities such as a walk (about 5000 participants each year), risk factors screening, interactive conferences during the world heart day. All those activities help at reaching people that are not active online and are done with the leadership of members that are not health workers.
\n\nThe rapid development of telecommunications improves the access of a growing number of people to Internet and social media. A critical mass of the group improves its political influence and creates a web tool that can help for a viral diffusion.
\n\nC\u0153ur d\u2019Or demonstrates the feasibility of using social media as an innovative approach for offering promotional and preventive care on health issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It opens new windows for thinking and dreaming again for an effective community participation in all its dimensions in the global south.
\n\nThank you very much for your comments and questions.
', u'post_id': 672, u'user_id': 3273, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-25 16:51:07', u'title': u'"Coeur d\'Or": collaborative efforts for promotional and preventive cardiovascular care in West-Africa'}, {u'content': u'War is like a dirty toilet that no one wants to clean someone said...
\n\nViolence begets violence and war is the\xa0ugliest\xa0human invention. For the past \xa04 days\xa0our lives here in Armenia have turned upside down...Things are calm in Yerevan but the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is on everyone\'s mind. Most people know at least someone who is on the front lines, mostly 18-20 year old boys serving their mandatory 2 year service,\xa0\xa0though\xa0hundreds of volunteers and\xa0army reserve forces are joining.
\n\nIt\u2019s hard to shift my mind\xa0and concentrate on\xa0work at all in this situation...I\'ve been idly browsing and refreshing the news\xa0(local - only official info that is of course censored, intl - absence of reaction and investigative journalism, and azeri- misleading statements and false accusations)\xa0since Saturday morning when the shootings began.
\n\nEven though me and most of the people I know haven\'t really grasped the reality in this information blockade, this is war...this is what war looks\xa0like...and I do remember the consequences of the Karabakh conflict too well, even though I was only 6 when it\xa0started...
\n\nFirst thing on my mind -\xa0I do not want my daugher to witness the horror we\'ve been through...second thought -\xa0Armenian\xa0and Azeri people\xa0should gather at the\xa0border in masses and have\xa0free hugs...third thought - war is inevitable, this is the reality, people too brainwashed by their governments, full of false patriotism, nationalism and machism...peacemaking failed once again...
\n\nWe dance and send our\xa0children to fight the enemy,\xa0this is the only way...both sides consider each other agressors and feel the necessity to protect themselves/reclaim their lands....false declarations of ceasefires, provocative war crimes, rejoicing in\xa0the losses of "the enemy" just like in a football match\xa0and asking the gods to protect our boys on the frontline...and\xa0the international community that can only do\xa0so\xa0much \xa0as to "condemn" the violence...
\n\nThoughts and prayers are not enough here. An escalation of this situation may lead to a full blown\xa0war that can set this region back for decades.
\n\nAs I am too paralized to form my own thoughts, I\'ll just quote some of the most objective and reasonable comments I\'ve seen on the internets in the ocean of misleading and incorrect information\xa0for the past couple of days.
\n\nWe need all the attention and help we can get to spread\xa0the message out to the world\xa0to "illustrate that an oil-rich country whose leader sucks the blood of his own people to add to his growing personal coffers, who stifles freedom of speech and thought, who imprisons human rights activists and journalists, who spews anti-Armenian hate, who refuses to negotiate from a place of integrity is not a trustworthy partner. Show the world how Turkey has vowed to support Azerbaijan till the end. Remind them of our history and tell them our story. Our story through the millennia. Our story of struggle and survival and for our right to have our place on this fragile planet." Maria Titizyan
\n\n"The timing of these events should not be a surprise. Azerbaijan\'s economy is in terrible shape right now. Their currency dropped 40% in value against the dollar in January. Their entire economy is almost completely tied to oil and oil prices are at the lowest point in a decade. Mass protests against corruption and a depressed economy in Azerbaijan have increased in recent months. Invading Nagorno-Karabagh is an attempt to boost nationalism and act as a distraction from real problems at home. All that plus Russia\'s deteriorating relationship with Turkey, a strong political ally of Azerbaijan, creates a terrible condition for Azerbajian to act aggressively against Nagorno-Karabakh." \xa0Erik Yesayan
\n\n"Armed with the knowledge of the history of this conflict, it is easy to discern that it is not in Artsakh\u2019s interests to break the peace and renew hostilities. Instead, it is Azerbaijan that wishes to retake control of land which, due to the political maneuvering of a third higher power, temporarily fell into its hands but over which it has no legitimate claim." Aram Hovasapyan
\n\nRight now both sides agreed on a temporary ceasefire\xa0while Armenia\'s president is meeting OSCE in Vienna and Azeri PM is in\xa0Iran to attend a meeting with\xa0foreign ministers of Iran\xa0and Turkey...hope this will de-escalate sooner than later...
\n\nAdditional reading:
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n', u'post_id': 33738, u'user_id': 2201, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-05 11:45:49', u'title': u'[Media] Wars / Peacemaking fails'}, {u'content': u'Despite being child to parents who had both been refugees themselves, that part of their past has never been openly talked about in our house.They told me once in full detail and never since. Once in a while, they would share bits and pieces of memories from all the way from Vietnam to Germany: How my grandmother took my mother to the docks in the middle of the night. The boats. The sea. How my father was captured by the Navy. The "re-education camp". The second try... the good people at the boarding home they were allowed to stay at. Fellow refugee children they made friends with. Attending school in a totally foreign language at day. Learning that very foreign language in the evenings. Working - and eventually not only being able to make their own living, but being able to make another person\'s living as well - in other words, not only having a child, but ensuring a safe and promising future for that child.
\n\nThat being told, I must confess, I couldn\'t imagine how it must be to find oneself in such a situation. If I don\'t know their needs and wishes, how could I possibly dare saying that I\'m helping with whatever I think that would help them?
\n\nIf a refugee wishes for work, it almost automatically seems like a matter of impossibility: "We cannot even provide our own people with jobs, how do you think you would fit into that picture?" Maybe, that was a misunderstanding. Maybe, what was meant was rather: "I\'m tired of sitting around all day. I want to feel useful again. I don\'t want to be helped only. I also want to be in a position of helping others!"
\n\nI once helped supplying refugees with clothes. Our group of volunteers carried box after box and it would happen that some of the refugees ask to help us. We would refuse their offers and told them that it\'s okay to go rest and let us do the work.
\n\nI didn\'t realise at that time that we treated them like children, belittling them, taking their integrity and giving them the feeling of uselessness. Out of arrogant goodwill.
\n\nSo how can we care, without degrading them? How can we help re-establishing self-esteem and self-awareness, instead of belittling them? It\'s clear that they know better about their situation than we do, so how can we support them in finding their own solutions and learn from them, instead of imposing our solutions on something that we have absolutely no clou of?
', u'post_id': 665, u'user_id': 3245, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-15 09:50:10', u'title': u"A new chapter in Other People's Story Books"}, {u'content': u'I was lonely for most of my life, I don\'t have\xa0anything too complicated with my family and I had a few friends while growing up but I\'d never let anyone in. I had never exposed myself or talked about my feelings. As time went by I got better and better at it. A very good listener my friends called me. Even today I still find myself shifting the subject of the conversation whenever it gets to me.
\n\nI tried to act like I was Ok, or maybe I was just not aware. I had an eating disorder and a sleeping disorder and it got pretty bad at some points. Almost every night I\'d stay in bed awake waiting\xa0for my family members to go to sleep, then I\'d storm the fridge eating like 4 hungry people, go back to bed feel horrible and couldn\'t fall asleep.
\n\nI lived like that for many years, sometimes it was better sometimes worst. I can\'t tell what drove into seeking help but around the age of 22 I told my mother I think I need help. She was very happy that it came from me rather than her as she was thinking the same.
\n\nI started\xa0going to therapy. It took me nearly 4 months to gain the trust I needed to open my heart but with time my therapist and I became closer and through our conversations I slowly began to understand what my life was missing: love, family and friends. Yeah I\'ve had my loving family, a few friends and a number of short romances but none of it real because I didn\'t allow it to be, I\'ve never been me.
\n\n4 years later I\'m studying industrial design and doing Erasmus in UdK Berlin.
\n\nAs part of our human centered design course "Hacking Utopia", my partner Pauline and I are focusing on the challenge how we might boost each other\'s mental and spiritual resilience. After posting here story to Edgeryders, our team member Nele was recommended in a comment to watch Brene Browns Ted talk, The Power of Vulnerability. We have found it so inspiring, it was exactly what we were talking about.
\n\nAt the moment we are trying not to have any idea of how our product will look like so that we can have a neutral research and hopefully a surprising result, but we are looking in the direction of a design intervention that will encourage people to be vulnerable and share their feelings with their loved ones.
\n\nBoth Pauline and I went through therapy and we both agree that what was missing in our lives was the ability to share our difficulties with our close ones. We discovered that both of us had to use objects in order to speak to our therapists. I had to put a cushion over my knees and Pauline was always keeping her hands busy by playing with hair bands or ripping pieces of paper, avoiding eye contact.
\n\nWe were wondering whether you might have made any similar interesting experiences/observations to share with. Do you feel comfortable sharing your feeling with others? Can you get people to open up to you?
\n\nWe are trying to gain insight on what kinds of stressors people find difficult to talk about and how we might make it easier for people to overcome shame and share their feelings, drawing inspiration from any culture, any time.
\n\nAlso, if you have any other Ideas, thoughts, articles, projects, products or whatever you think can inspire us further please let us know.
\n\nThank you so much for reading so far,
\n\nTeam JUS.
\n\nP.s. - We really liked this short video and wish we could make a sofa that feels as good as the hug in the picture above.
', u'post_id': 678, u'user_id': 3271, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-10 08:52:48', u'title': u'JUS: Design for vulnerability'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 504, u'user_id': 3250, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-09 21:09:48', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'This is mostly for @melancon, but in the spirit of working out loud...
\n\nOpenCare will produce some software to look at online conversations. The first step is to build a simple (non-semantic) social network representation of the OpenCare conversation, which is a subset of the Edgeryders one.\xa0
\n\nThe problem: the OpenCare conversation is spread across three places.
\n\nThe solution:\xa0
\n\nThis is now done. Guy and I have created views to export the content database thus selected in JSON format. Accessing the views requires admin powers.
\n\nResults are encouraging. At the time of writing, we have:
\n\n1) What is the problem/question you\u2019re trying to solve?
\n\nHow does the concept of care change within non-traditional family models and alternative living situations?
\n\n2)\xa0State the ultimate impact you\u2019re trying to have
\n\nGive people the feeling that they are being cared for.
\n\n3)\xa0What are some possible solutions to your problem?\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0
\n\nMultigenerational living concepts, community meals, platform/space for interaction and communication (games, workshops, events, service exchange\u2026)
\n\n4) Write down some of the context and constraints that you\u2019re facing
\n\nDemographic differences in the definition of \u2018family\u2019 and \u2018care\u2019
\n\n5) Does your original question need a teak? Try it again.
\n\nHow can we give people the feeling of being cared for when apart from a traditional (ideal) family structure?
', u'post_id': 662, u'user_id': 3253, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-12 19:07:54', u'title': u'Frame your Design Challenge #1 - Family Care'}, {u'content': u'Hello there, Edgeryders--
\n\nI signed up a few weeks ago after a conversation with @johncoate . I was super busy at that time, and even though I was following along on the new discussions, I was waiting until I finished a big project so I\'d have time to participate more once I introduced myself:
\n\nI\'m Brady, and I live in San Francisco. I am currently the CEO of The WELL, the wonderful 31-year-old online community where I met John. A group of longtime users bought the community a few years ago from the corporation that owned it before us in order to make sure we could keep the historic community going.
\n\nAside from running The WELL, I am also a playwright and a theatre arts educator. I have a background in circus (I trained with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus) and as a performer, but most of my work these days is from backstage. It was some of the recent discussions in the Op3ncare group that inspired me to finally come and say hello, so I won\'t be a mysterious stranger if you see me commenting elsewhere.
\n\nI teach as an artist-in-residence in the public schools, as well as teaching improvisation and physical theatre to adults. I\'m in the very early stages of developing a new project that will use the kind of theatre work I\'ve been doing with teenagers and\xa0 young adults to strengthen emotional health in disrupted communities.
\n\nI am looking forward to seeing you around this site and reading up on what you are all working on, and hopefully we\'ll all meet somewhere or another one of these days.
\n\n(I\'m happy to get messages in French or Italian, although I am not very good at writing or speaking. Reading works!)
', u'post_id': 5646, u'user_id': 3228, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-11 00:39:57', u'title': u'A belated HELLO!'}, {u'content': u'OpenCare is a project run in collaboration with cities,\xa0maker spaces, research institutes, academia, communities on the ground in Europe, and most of all individuals with deep, genuine experiences, which means each and every one of us.\xa0Starting now and throughout\xa0the next year we are building a community\xa0with\xa0genuine interest in care and\xa0availability to share\xa0and get closer to peers around the world.
\n\nThis Monday we are hosting\xa0a themed online community call around\xa0new approaches to mental, spiritual, emotional health.\xa0
\n\nSeveral edgeryders have brought this topic in the centre of attention, even without the OpenCare team promoting it:
\n\nWe are onto something, but to figure things out we need even deeper conversations.\xa0
\n\nOn Monday we go though the questions we are asking ourselves about selfcare, depression, medication, peer support, alternatives to living a stressful life and so on.\xa0We will\xa0try to put it all together to make a bigger picture and launch a proper Challenge.
\n\nEveryone is welcome to join this call, simply enter this live video and chat room:\xa0\xa0https://meet.jit.si/opencare.\xa0
\n\nIf you have time ahead of the call, let me know in a comment below if you think emotional distress is something worth approaching like this. We might be far off!
\n\n\n\nDate: 2016-05-16 17:30:00 - 2016-05-16 18:30:00, Europe/Berlin Time.
', u'post_id': 5645, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-10 19:50:13', u'title': u'How do we start new OpenCare campaign about emotional health? Join the Community call 16 May 16:30 CET'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5623, u'user_id': 3202, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-04 10:24:43', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Here are some key-points of Citizen Engagement Strategy, to be followed by brief Reports on off-line events aimed at engage local communities.
\n\nMilan Citizen/Community Engagement (Feb-April 2016)
\n\nMilan-pilot (February to July 2016)
\n\nGoals:
\n\nSpecific goals:
\n\nWho:
\n\nLocal Open Care team (City of Milan and WeMake) meets \u201cactive\u201d communities: citizen/groups of people used to collaborate in order to find solutions to emergent social needs or care-related solutions; some of them are \u201cterritorialized\u201d communities (as their practices are embedded in specific areas of the city).
\n\nHow:
\n\nWe\u2019ll root OpenCare approach within existing networks of care, helping them to move further steps towards community-driven solutions. \xa0
\n\nWe intentionally excluded methods of engagement such as institutional meeting or round table with stakeholders/organizations representing specific targets or interests.
\n\nConversely, we consider \u201cclusters\u201d of practices to identify and engage people starting from their direct experience and considering them in a way \u201cexperts\u201d of their everyday life and the related \u201ccare needs\u201d, without the intermediation;
\n\nWe\u2019ll encourage \u201csoft\u201d intermediation of the Third Sector, where needed.
\n\nGeneral guidelines:
\n\n1 | Simple
\n\nIssues (and concepts) facing Opencare can be complex (collective intelligence, collaborative approaches, openness, etc\u2026), but the actions needed to be taken or the messages to be understood need to be simple.
\n\nWithin citizen engagement, participation and co-design methods, a usually reported challenge is related to bridging and translating professional and technical terminology into a language that can be easily understood and that people can connect to their daily lives and problems.
\n\n2 | Reciprocal
\n\n\u201cGiving for getting\u201d. Especially when a Public Administration try to engage citizens asking them to contribute to a project, it faces the problem to incentivize them with concrete benefits in exchange for their time, effort or behavioural change, signing a sort of implicit \u201cpact\u201d.
\n\nParticular attention should be paid to this aspect, in order to avoid misunderstandings and unfulfilled expectations.
\n\nOpenCare engages citizens on care-specific challenges and envisages implementing concrete solutions to be co-designed by citizens themselves and prototyped by wemake.
\n\n3 | Inclusiveness
\n\nDifferent approaches are needed to outreach and engage a wider public, including migrants, the elderly, disabled people and other social groups.
\n\nTo engage effectively with citizens, one needs to ensure that the process is genuinely open to heterogeneous groups, not only the digitally confident. This must be organically embedded from the beginning.
\n\n4 | Push approach, not pull
\n\nTo involve people, and in particular specific demographic groups, we need to go where those people are, instead of assuming they will come to us. Instead of a pull approach where for instance a traditional consultation assumes that the people will go the place assigned to be (either physically or virtually) to engage citizens, OpenCare needs to go where the people are really. These are maybe unusual locations for public administration to go.
\n\n5 | Online-Offline balanced interventions
\n\nOnline apps and platforms can be useful to engage citizens and collect input. Face-to-face and group interaction is likewise valuable for driving discussion and co-creating solutions, particularly with non-digitally savvy groups. Online and offline approaches also come with different expectations that must be considered. There are many examples of both used for diverse ends. The nature of the online and offline interaction is very different.
\n\nOnline information enables the quick sharing of an important amount of content and enables swift short reactions, while offline approaches are necessary to reach less digitally savvy groups such as the elderly or less educated citizens that might not be otherwise included.
\n\nOffline engagement also allows face-to-face discussions, sharing of feelings and perception, the building of trust, impressions, making a sense of community, sympathy and empathy, as well as co-creation and solution building.
\n\nParticular attention should be paid to understand benefits and limits of different settings.
\n\nTimeline:
\n\nOpencare meets an older age group used to dance old-fashioned style (in collaboration with Mare Culturale Urbano)
\n\nOpencare meets a group of Migrants
\n\nOpencare meets a group of Parents of disabled children (joined to x Vivaio Association)
\n\nOpencare meets the members of S. Gottardo Social Street
', u'post_id': 5621, u'user_id': 2913, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-03 14:21:09', u'title': u'#Milano | Citizen engagement | Rationale'}, {u'content': u'
After a talk she held at #32c3, I asked for\xa0Marie Moe\'s help in shaping a frame of enquiry on Hacking and Making to meet one\'s own care needs. The reason being that we both are part of a movement to make health- and social care accessible, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.\xa0
\n\nIt turns out that, when faced with care challenges, communities rise to meet them. By doing so, they step outside of our current paradigm, one of provision of care services by a combination of the state and private business. This changes the game completely to one of decentralization and reciprocity.
\n\nInitiatives such as\xa0Diy Orthodontics\xa0and\xa0Diabetes Pumps\xa0are just the tip of the iceberg. In Benin, Jean Paul Doussou has run an impressive grassroots initiative to improve cardiac health using a Facebook group and Edgeryders-like community management techniques. In Greece communities are going so far as to run a\xa0shadow zero-cash health care system. In Dorotea, a small village in mid-northern Sweden, citizens have squatted the hospital facilities and started running health services for locals on a voluntary basis . Everywhere we look we are seeing a lot of radical experimentation. \xa0
\n\nWhich raises some questions\u2026\xa0
\n\nThese services and solutions often display an uncanny degree of efficiency. But they cannot easily be added to our existing care system. They are too strange: ad hoc, blurry at the edges, often existing in legal gray areas. Also many of them are small, very specific services run on volunteer basis. This has its challenges. One of which is providing continuity and coherence\xa0over a long periods of time as we learned from our delve into\xa0Stewardship.
\n\nThe goal in Alzheimer\u2019s disease treatment is rehabilitation. This requires a lot of patience- figuring out what can the person can\u2019t do anymore, and identifying the right kind of tool to support them. If they have had a stroke and are weak on one side this may mean a cane, or a walker.\xa0But equally important, you also figure out what can the person still do, about 98 % of people \u201cwant to live at home with dementia, so the goal here is to maximize the person\u2019s functioning independence and embed them in an environment that supports them.
\n\nRight now Edgeryders is pioneering\xa0a new initiative in which we\xa0design\xa0and test\xa0a community-driven model for social and health care. We are doing this together with a number of partners which include the City of Milan (they\'ve been looking in this direction for some time now).
\n\nWe start by finding and understanding some of the\xa0care services that communities are providing - right now to people that the state and private business have let down. We then ask how we, as societies, would need to change for them to continue to exist, and to scale where possible. We are\xa0discussing, among other things:
\n\nWe cannot, and should not, do this alone. Edgeryders mission is to complement, no compete with,\xa0existing initiatives and people doing important work.\xa0So we are\xa0supporting busy people active in community care space to join this common conversation. We fund people running existing projects\xa0to monitor themselves and share their knowledge and learn from each other. If Helliniko had assesment that health economist could read they could have reached goal of influencing how public health system works. Their experience would be more legible and helpful to others who wish to set up similar initiatives elsewhere. Possibly even influence policymakers to change disfunctional elements in health- and social care systems: in Greece and beyond.
\n\nWant to get involved? Check out the Op3n Fellowship Program at\xa0http://bit.ly/1SqgtX2.
\n\nDon\'t hesitate to ask questions or for help with developing your contribution\xa0- it\'s what we are here for.\xa0\xa0You can tweet @edgeryders or write to\xa0community@edgeryders.eu\xa0 \xa0(please use hashtag #op3ncare so we know what it\'s about).
\n\nMore info about the research project\xa0http://bit.ly/26JAEZv
', u'post_id': 5618, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-05-02 06:29:32', u'title': u'How can we provide health- and social care where the state and private sector are failing?'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 499, u'user_id': 3275, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-29 07:20:15', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'1) Are you\xa0navigating deep changes in your community and want to make sense of them?
\n\n2) Interested in\xa0communities-provided care services (social, health, technology based)?
\n\n3) Want to connect with peers and chat about actual solutions?
\n\nOpenCare is a project run in collaboration with cities,\xa0maker spaces, research institutes, academia, communities on the ground in Europe, and especially individuals, which means each and every one of us.\xa0Starting now and throughout\xa0the next year we are building a community of\xa0Fellows with\xa0genuine interest in care and\xa0availability to share\xa0their\xa0experience and projects in different corners of the world.
\n\nWe\'ll dedicate Monday\'s online meetup\xa0to explain, ask and learn more about the Op3nCare Fellowship program awarding writing\xa0and research awards of up to 20 000 euros during the next year.
\n\nAs usual, the time for our call is\xa0Monday at 4:30 PM CET here:\xa0https://meet.jit.si/opencare (courtesy of edgeryder\xa0Eirinimal!)\xa0
\n\nDate: 2016-05-09 17:30:00 - 2016-05-09 18:30:00, Europe/Amsterdam Time.
', u'post_id': 5599, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-27 05:10:12', u'title': u'All you need to know about OpenCare Fellowships: community call 9/5 at 4:30 PM CET'}, {u'content': u'The team: High resolution Photos + Updated 1 paragraph bios in profile.
\n\n\n\nNoemi Salantiu: community manager since 2012\xa0with skills in online coordination\xa0and helping people find their way. Runs Op3nHangouts, our weekly community calls.\xa0
\n\nNadia EL-Imam:\xa0UX designer and creative strategist, with experience in developing ambitious narratives and building global collaborations.\xa0Runs OpenCare social media channels.
\n\nNatalia Skoczylas:\xa0our hyper mobile project manager; experienced in proposals writing,\xa0partnership building\xa0and finding funding opportunities across the network. Runs OpenCare weekly newsletters.
\n\n..you? Get in touch if you want to join Op3nCare communication team!
\n\nadd here 1 slide / visualization
\n\n1. CountOnMe for social media:\xa0You get an\xa0email with 3 headlines, you share them with your networks and send in your own news in return through a simple email reply. These are picked up by the official ER social media accounts (>3400 followers on facebook and twitter alike) and become the next day\u2019s network headlines which are again spread by everyone in the list.. It\u2019s fast and cheap. Sign up for CountOnMe here.
\n\n2. The weekly newsletter:\xa0Goes out to the whole Edgeryders community to engage them in the project. The Newsletter is sent out every Saturday morning with news for the coming week. You are expected to add your own project - related news. How: \xa0find the upcoming newsletter-in-progress\xa0in the Social Media Group. Add your own\xa0OpenCare news (events happening the NEXT week) in the comments.
\n\n3. Translate OpenCare.cc\xa0static pages: We need project copy\xa0in another\xa0language, consider uploading your own in the google drive and it will go\xa0online.
\n\nFrame a\xa0Challenge about Care: From April to November we will keep launching new challenges - about one or two a month, asking the community to contribute their stories and become Op3nCare Fellows. Challenges are not limited to a number or topics, so you can improve their copy\xa0or propose entirely new \xa0ones.
One Working out Loud blogpost each\xa0month: summarizes Op3n Care events led by various community members or team members; shares\xa0insights from the online conversation and ends with a Call to action explaining how anyone can get involved at that stage.
One trimestrial Webinar each: Please come up with an #opencare related topic for a webinar to be held by you. This is important because it is "goodies" like these that power an effective engagement campaign. The presentation can be a version of what you presented during LOTE5/The first consortium meeting.\xa0
Challenge Responses: Please upload your own contribution to the challenges active now. Submit a new story (see Menu on the left).
No action required.
', u'post_id': 673, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-26 10:54:34', u'title': u'Comms Dashboard'}, {u'content': u'Leoni befragt Philipp
\n\nAlso ich muss sagen, dass ich nicht in dieses Projekt gegangen bin und mich mit Care besch\xe4ftigt habe. Eher habe ich mich mit Hacking Utopia besch\xe4ftigt. Also was w\xe4re ein Utopia und wie k\xf6nnte man das Hacken? Also wie k\xf6nnte man Utopien entwickeln.
\n\nPflege ist f\xfcr jemanden da zu sein. Wohlwollend f\xfcr jemanden da zu sein, wohlwollend auf jemanden einzuwirken. Ein sehr pers\xf6nliches Bsp. W\xe4re von meinen Gro\xdfeltern. Mein Opa ist an Alzheimer erkrankt. Das hat sich \xfcber drei oder vier Jahre hingezogen. Meine Mutter wollte es so stemmen, dass sie zuhause bleiben und nicht ins Altersheim kommt. Und Pflegebed\xfcrftig bedeutet Macht abzugeben. Und pflege hei\xdft in diesem Fall abrufbar zu sein und so zu priorisieren, dass sich alles um die eine Person dreht.
\n\nManchmal bedeutet, dass Oma Nachts mit Taschenlampe einzusammeln. Oder Situationen im Haushalt, wo sie den Herd einfach angelassen hat und etwas Feuer f\xe4ngt.
\n\nIch wei\xdf nicht, ob ich das gut einsch\xe4tzen kann, inwiefern es mein Leben beeinflusst hat. Ich war ja relativ jung, als es mein Leben beeinflusst hat. Wir sind bei den Gro\xdfeltern eingezogen. Meine Mutter fand das gut, dass ich auf dem Land aufwachsen konnte und ich als Kind versorgt wurde. Und dann sind die Gro\xdfeltern \xe4lter geworden. Mein Opa ist gestorben und meine Oma demenzkrank geworden.
\n\nDer Pflegebegriff, den ich mit dem Alter verbinde ist nochmal ein anderer als der von Kindern. Aber beide Arten von Pflege \u2013 also Pflege generell ist mit Liebe verbunden. Meine Mutter hat mich geliebt, genauso wie sie ihre Eltern geliebt hat. Diese Liebe gibt einem auch Kraft und die braucht man auch. Sonst ist das ja schwer zu stemmen. In unserem System wird das Verh\xe4ltnis dann durch Geld kompensiert. Aber da sieht man ja auch, dass es M\xe4ngel gibt. Da sieht man z.B., dass Pfleger die Zeit sehr eng sehen \u2013 sie sind f\xfcr 10 min. da und nicht l\xe4nger. Und dieses schnell-schnell homediensten oder Karitas, das sehe ich auch bei uns im Dorf. Da sind mal \xe4ltere Leute und da kommt ein Auto vorbeigehuscht und das steht dann mal da f\xfcr 10 min. und ist dann wieder weg. Da stehen gr\xf6\xdfere Unternehmen dahinter, da geht es um Jobs, da geht es um Geld. Die haben ihren durchgetakteten Plan.
\n\nDer Begriff \u201ePflege\u201c ist der gleiche nur der Inhalt ist anders. Der Glaube \u2013 also nicht im religi\xf6sen Sinne \u2013 der Glaube daran, dass die Person es doch noch alles mitbekommt, was um sie passiert ist auch wichtig. Man denkt ja, dass solche Personen gar nichts mehr mitbekommen. Und da hatten wir auch Gl\xfcck. Wir haben eine Pflegerin \xfcber das Internet gefunden, die meine Oma schon im fr\xfchen Stadium kennengelernt hatte. Und ich habe gemerkt, dass sie sich gut verstehen, als sie meine Oma zum Lachen gebracht hatte. Das darf man auch nicht untersch\xe4tzen. Meine Oma hatte auch sehr helle Tage. Aber das war alles sehr abrupt. Pl\xf6tzlich hat sie nicht mehr reagiert. Und ich w\xfcrde es daran messen, dass die Pflegerin mit meiner Oma wirklich Scherze machen konnte.
\n\nAls ich meine Oma in der Situation im Schnee reinholen musste, als sie dachte, dass sie Milch holen wollte. Und ich will nicht l\xfcgen, es war f\xfcr mich als kleiner Junge auch wie ein Abenteuer da im Schneegest\xf6ber rauszugehen. Und ein bisschen Angst hatte ich auch. Als ich die gefunden hatte, war ich sehr w\xfctend \u2013 einfach nur w\xfctend. Aber dann habe ich verstanden, dass sie einfach in einer andere Art Zeitzone war manchmal. Sie sprach von ganz anderen Dingen.
\n\nSehr konkret hing das Alzheimer mit dem Tod meines Gro\xdfvaters zusammen. Fr\xfcher gab es sehr strikte Rollenverteilungen. Als mein Gro\xdfvater verstarb ist ihre elementare St\xfctze weggebrochen. Und sie konnte es nicht mehr verarbeiten. Sie hatte auch eine Art Schlaganfall, bei dem sie auch \xf6fter meinen Namen gerufen hat. Sie war da auch l\xe4nger im Krankenhaus. Danach hat sie immer mehr abgebaut.
\n\nDie ganze Zeit \xfcber drei Jahre hatte lustige Situationen, sch\xf6ne Situationen aber auch ganz klar traurige Situationen. Lustig war bspw., dass Haushaltsgegenst\xe4nde versteckt wurden und dann an Orten aufgetaucht sind an denen man es nicht erwartet h\xe4tte. Meine Mutter besa\xdf Kaschmirpullower, die meine Oma in die Kochw\xe4sche geschmissen hatte. Meine Mutter war sehr ruhig in solchen Situationen
\n\nB\xfcgeleisen angelassen, Kabel verschmolzen. Da muss man eben schnell reagieren. Und auch Verwechslungen, bei denen meine Oma Menschen verwechselt hat.
\n\nMeine Mutter ist Grundschullehrerin. Sie hat versucht mich relativ aus diesen Umsorgungen herauszulassen. Aber wenn sie auf Elternabenden war, musste ich mich bspw. um Oma k\xfcmmern. Im fr\xfchen Stadium konnte man noch Brettspiele mit ihr spielen. Sowohl die Pflegering als auch der jetztige Mann (damals Freund) meiner Mutter haben sich sehr aufopfernd mitgek\xfcmmert.
\n\nWenn wir uns der Aufgabe nicht angenommen h\xe4tten, dann w\xe4re es f\xfcr meine Mutter eine schlimme Last gewesen, dass sie es nicht gewollt oder gekonnt h\xe4tte. Meine Oma im Altersheim zu lassen w\xe4re sehr schwierig gewesen f\xfcr meine Mutter \u2013 mit der Gewissheit zu leben, dass sie nicht da war.
\n\nF\xfcr meine Mutter war die Situation nat\xfcrlich schwierig. Es gab gro\xdfe Einschr\xe4nkungen im Alltagsleben.
\n\nHoney befragt Leoni:
\n\nWie glaubst du k\xf6nnte man Pflege in unserer Heutigen Welt angehen?
\n\nIn der n\xe4heren Umgebung?
\n\nIch muss niemanden pflegen.
\n\nEs ist pflege sich mit Freundin zu unterhalten.
\n\nBei dir selbst?
\n\nSich bewegen, den K\xf6rper Pflegen. Die Psyche Pflegen.
\n\nWarum musst du dich Pflegen.
\n\nDamit ich gesund bleibe.
\n\nIst es ein Problem das Menschen dieses Bed\xfcrfnis nicht haben?
\n\nUnterschiedlich. Solange du keine Probleme hast musst du dich nicht darum k\xfcmmern.
\n\nEs kann passieren, dass du MS hast.
\n\nIch wie? nicht ob eine Leib, Seele Trennung Sinn macht. Man kann im Gehirn zeigen, das psychische Probleme sich K\xf6rperlich H\xe4usern. Wir haben sie nur noch nicht verstanden. Man kann K\xf6rper und Geist nicht trennen.
\n\nK\xf6rperkult?
\n\nSport und Bewegung ist Pflege, aber man muss unterscheiden. Dreimal die Woche rennen gehen kann nicht gesund sein. F\xfcr manche Menschen eventuell schon. Es geht um die reine Bewegung F\xfcr die Durchblutung, den Sauerstoffgehalt, die Haut, die Sonne bekommt. F\xfcr den ganzen K\xf6rper.
\n\nBewegungsunf\xe4higkeit.
\n\nIch hatte eine Bekannte die im Rollstuhl sa\xdf. Sie musste alle zwei Stunden nach Hause an eine Ladestation. Eigentlich k\xf6nnte sie Laufen, doch sie hat Spastiken und traut sich nicht ohne den Rollstuhl zu laufen. Sehr motivierend finde ich die L\xe4ufer der Paralympics.
\n\nStellst du deine Pflege vor die Pflege anderer?
\n\nDas steht in einem Jing-Jang Verh\xe4ltnis. Wenn im Flugzeug der Druck f\xe4llt, wird dir auch gesagt, dass du zuerst selbst die Maske anziehen sollt und dann anderen.
\n\nNur in wenigen Situationen wiederspricht mein Pflegebed\xfcrfnis dem der anderen. Das Problem ist wenn Leute nicht genug bekommen.
\n\nWir helfen der Menschheit damit?
\n\nNein, das Mittlere Management, macht nichts anderes als andere Leute zu beobachten. Ich denke die Meisten Menschen wollen etwas Sinnvolle tun.
\n\nWie ver\xe4ndert das das Verh\xe4ltnis zu anderen, Familie.
\n\nEs ist ein Wechselspiel. In einer Gro\xdffamilie ist es egal ob zu einem Pflegebed\xfcrftigen Kind noch ein alter daf\xfcr kommt. Menschen sind eher daf\xfcr gemacht in Rudeln zu leben. Es muss ja nicht Zwangsl\xe4ufig die Familie sein sondern eine Gruppe Menschen, der man sich anschlie\xdft.
\n\nPflege ist ein Verh\xe4ltnis. Menschen machen nichts, was sie unertr\xe4glich finden. Auch bei kleinen Kindern. Wenn du dir das Objektive Betrachtest ist es sehr hart. Rund um die Uhr Betreuung, Nachts Ausstehen. Pflege ist nie Einseitig.
\n\nPhilipp befragt Honey:
\n\nHabe noch nie mitbekommen dass es transdisziplin\xe4re Zusammenarbeit gibt
\n\nThema war sekund\xe4r
\n\nJede Interaktion mit der Umwelt ist Pflege
\n\nPflege beruht auf Erfahrung und die haben wir in uns, man kann den Umgang mit der Umwelt antrainieren, wenn ich mit der Weise wie ich mit der Welt umgehe zufrieden bin, dann ist es auch wie eine Pflege f\xfcr mich selbst
\n\nInsgesamt ist das kapitalistische System in uns ein Chaos ausgel\xf6st
\n\nWir stehen als Generation st\xe4ndig im Mittelpunkt
\n\nGesellschaft wertet st\xe4ndig und Geld bewertet Dinge
\n\nMan kann keine Verantwortung f\xfcr 300 Leute \xfcbernehmen und man sucht sich schon genau aus zu wem man seine Verbindung aufbaut
\n\nIch rede mit mir selbst \xfcber Zeitmanagement obwohl das eigentlich nat\xfcrlich sein sollte
\n\nDie Intuition wird immer schw\xe4cher, man muss immer eine Grundlage von Pro und Contra f\xfcr alle seine Entscheidungen haben
\n\nWirtschaft beeinflusst die Politik sodass die die Leute beeinflussen schneller in den Hamsterk\xe4fig zu gelangen. In unseren Studieng\xe4ngen entwickelt man dazu schnell ein Bewusstsein und versucht dagegen anzugehen.
\n\nTendenz zur Meconomy immer mehr Freiberufler weil die Leute realisieren dass sich die Aufgabe f\xfcr Menschen die sich nicht um mich k\xfcmmern? Das gleiche gilt auch f\xfcr die Pflege, man w\xfcrde ja nicht irgendwelche Leute pflegen die einen permanent fertig machen, es sei denn da ist wieder Geld als Kompensation
\n\nIch besch\xe4ftige mich sehr stark damit ob man auch ein gesundes Unternehmens-Mitarbeiter-Verh\xe4ltnis hat, der Mensch kann nicht mehr als 150 Leute in seinem Umkreis verstehen.
\n\nDeswegen besch\xe4ftige ich mich auch viel mit Holokratie, wo sich alle in kleineren Holons verbinden. Sogar die Gr\xfcnder arbeiten in Holons.
\n\nAber die Tendenz ist dass es wenige gro\xdfe Konzerne gibt, die alle Konkurrenz schlucken. Damit liegt die Entscheidungskraft bei wenigen Leuten die sehr komplexe Entscheidungen treffen.
\n\nDas funktioniert vielleicht bei Lebensmitteln die immer gebraucht werden wo sich dann wenige Konzerne die Macht teilen
\n\nDie gro\xdfen Konzerne haben keine Empathie mehr und daher werden sie sehr skrupellos.
\n\nDU muss st\xe4ndig vernetzt sein und die Au\xdfenwelt fordert das auch die ganze ZEit von dir
\n\nEs gibt so eine Sperrrate, ab 750.000 oder mehr kriegst du das nicht mehr mit, Geld ist dann nur noch Macht und es gibt nur noch diese Parameter zum darin denken.
\n\nSie oder er (der Manager/in) die pflegen ihren Machtstatus. Das ist eine einseitige Interaktion alles dazu herum ist Leere, ein schwarzes Loch. Menschen um sie herum sind alle nur noch Zahlen, egal ob es jetzt der Ehepartner oder die Assistentin ist.
', u'post_id': 33726, u'user_id': 3765, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-05 09:26:18', u'title': u'Befragung'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 668, u'user_id': 3270, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-24 22:57:14', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 669, u'user_id': 3270, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-25 00:16:38', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 663, u'user_id': 3250, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-12 20:17:32', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Si entra alla Metropolitan Community Clinic di Helliniko da un anonimo piazzale di parcheggio alla periferia di Atene, in un\'area che ospitava una base militare americana, oggi abbandonata. Non sembra molto impressionante. Ma lo \xe8. \xc8 un luogo molto importante.
\n\nLa MCCH salva vite. Fornisce assistenza sanitaria a persone sfortunate che non hanno accesso alla sanit\xe0 pubblica, n\xe9 denaro per pagarsi quella privata. Ci sono molte persone in questa situazione, perch\xe9 in Grecia l\'accesso al servizio sanitario nazionale \xe8 legato all\'occupazione. Quando un greco perde il lavoro, mantiene l\'assistenza sanitaria per un anno: se dopo un anno non ha trovato un altro lavoro, perde il diritto di accesso al servizio sanitario nazionale. Se si ammala, deve inventarsi qualcosa, o morire.
\n\nNon sono solo i greci. In tutti i paesi europei, tranne il Regno Unito e l\'Italia, la condizione di occupato \xe8 un pre-requisito per accedere all\'assistenza sanitaria. Ma la Grecia \xe8 stata colpita pi\xf9 duramente dalla crisi del 2008: molte pi\xf9 persone che altrove si sono trasformate in disoccupati a lungo termine. "C\'erano poveri anche dieci anni fa \u2013 ci dice Maria, una psicologa che fa volontariato a MCCH \u2013 ma a quel tempo le persone in difficolt\xe0 potevano chiedere aiuto alle famiglie, o ai vicini. Oggi anche le loro famiglie e i loro vicini sono in difficolt\xe0, e non possono fare molto per aiutare gli altri. La gente \xe8 disperata."
\n\nNel 2011, alcuni medici hanno cominciato a confrontare le loro esperienze, e hanno visto una tempesta perfetta prepararsi all\'orizzonte. "Sapevamo che qualcosa di molto brutto era in arrivo, e che della gente sarebbe morta \u2013 racconta Maria \u2013 Quindi abbiamo deciso che dovevamo fare qualcosa.
\n\n"Qualcosa in questo caso \xe8 risultato essere la MCCH stessa. Si tratta di uno strano animale nello zoo dell\'assistenza sanitaria.
\n\nOggi ci sono 68 cliniche organizzate cos\xec in Grecia. Prendetevi un momento per assorbire le implicazioni di questo fatto: in quattro anni, migliaia di greci intraprendenti, senza denaro, senza una struttura di comando, senza neppure conoscersi, hanno creato un servizio sanitario parallelo che riesce dove il servizio sanitario pubblico e la sanit\xe0 privata falliscono: mantiene in relativa sicurezza gli strati pi\xf9 poveri della popolazione. Da notare: lo stato greco ha speso in sanit\xe0 oltre 6 miliardi di euro nel 2011.
\n\nAspetta un attimo. Masse di persone auto-organizzate, senza soldi e senza organizzazioni, che battono professionisti attentamente selezionati e ben pagati sul loro terreno? Scena gi\xe0 vista. Era Wikipedia che strabatteva Encyclopedia Britannica. Era OpenStreetMap che, regalando i propri dati, vaporizzava il business di Garmin e TomTom. Erano gruppi su Facebook che coordinavano le iniziative di soccorso poche ore dopo il terremoto in Nepal e l\'inondazione di Tbilisi di questa primavera. Erano i giovani inesperti e coordinati via Internet che cambiavano le regole del gioco politico, arrivando ad abbattere interi regimi in Egitto, Tunisia e Ucraina.
\n\nAbbiamo una parola per questi fenomeni: li chiamiamo disruption. Sono associati con la produzione di beni o servizi in un modo nuovo, che sostituisce le organizzazioni verticali con l\'intelligenza collettiva e lo sforzo distribuito. Accade che questo modo nuovo \xe8 enormemente pi\xf9 efficiente di quelli vecchi.
\n\nCredo che sia arrivato il tempo della disruption nell\'assistenza sanitaria, e nei servizi di cura in generale. Perch\xe9? Perch\xe9, come ha spiegato l\'OCSE, la spesa sanitaria pro capite cresce molto pi\xf9 in fretta del reddito prodotto. Nel 1970, la sanit\xe0 assorbiva un rispettabile 5.2% del PIL del paese sviluppato medio. Nel 2008 ne assorbiva il 10.1% (fonte). Il sistema \xe8 sotto stress, e spesso \u2013 come in Grecia \u2013 reagisce negando i servizi a chi ne ha pi\xf9 bisogno.
\n\n
Questo \xe8 moralmente inaccettabile, dissipativo e stupido \u2013 specialmente quando la Metropolitan Community Clinic di Helliniko, e molte altre esperienze simili, hanno mostrato la capacit\xe0 delle comunit\xe0 di prendersi cura dei propri membri quando si permette loro di farlo.
\n\nQuindi, ci mettiamo in gioco. La mia nanoimpresa sociale, Edgeryders, si \xe8 associata con cinque organizzazioni di classe mondiale nella ricerca (Univerist\xe0 di Bordeaux, Stockholm School of Economics, ScimPulse Foundation) nelle politiche sociali (Comune di Milano) e nella fabbricazione digitale (WeMake) per trovare le esperienze come MCCH in tutto il mondo, imparare da loro, e se possibile perfezionarne il modello. Il nostro obiettivo \xe8 contribuire a un modello di servizi di cura community-driven, basati sulla scienza e la tecnologia moderna, ma con i bassi costi amministrativi e il tocco umano che le comunit\xe0 hanno e le grandi burocrazie, sia pubbliche che private, no. Il nostro progetto si chiama OpenCare; la Commissione Europea ci ha creduto abbastanza da sostenerlo attraverso il programma Collective Awareness Platforms.
\n\nChiunque tu sia, sei il o la benvenuta a unirti a noi. Dopo tutto, noi umani, tutti, abbiamo un\'esperienza considerevole nel dare e nel ricevere cura, e questo fa di noi degli esperti. Se vuoi partecipare , o semplicemente saperne di pi\xf9, parti da qui.
\n\nFoto: Theophilos Papadopoulos su flickr.com
', u'post_id': 4913, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-10-26 10:43:16', u'title': u"Care by communities: Greece's shadow zero-cash health care system"}, {u'content': u'\n\nThe migration issue dominates the European political debate. The influx of migrants, some people say, will break the European welfare system. Any new person coming in is reducing the amount of care that others can get. Care is supposedly a zero-sum game. Is this really the case?
\n\nIt turns out that, when faced with care challenges, communities rise to meet them. By doing so, they step outside of our current paradigm, one of provision of care services by a combination of the state and private business. This changes the game completely to one of decentralization and reciprocity. These services often display an uncanny degree of efficiency. So no, care provision does not need to be zero-sum. There are unexploited resources in the system.\xa0 But they cannot easily be added to our existing care system. They are too strange: ad hoc, blurry at the edges, often existing in legal gray areas. Unfundable.
\n\nIn this talk\xa0at re:Publica, we explore some of the amazing care services that communities are providing - right now \xa0- to people that the state and private business have let down. We then ask how we, as a society, would need to change for them to continue to exist, and to scale where possible.\xa0
\n\nWe will discuss, among other things:
\n\nThis talk takes place in Berlin onWednesday, May 4 at 11:15.\xa0
\n\nSession information and registration on the event website:\xa0https://re-publica.de/16/session/care-communities-non-zero-sum-provision-health-and-social-care. NB: We have a \xa0limited number of\xa0tickets available for Edgeryders community members. For more information let me know you are interested in coming by hitting the attend button and I\'ll get in touch with you.
\n\nDate: 2016-05-04 11:15:00 - 2016-05-04 11:45:00, Europe/Berlin Time.
\n\nURL: https://re-publica.de/16/session/care-communities-non-zero-sum-provision-health-and-social-care
', u'post_id': 5581, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-22 11:12:11', u'title': u're:Publica | Care by Communities: non zero-sum provision of health and social care'}, {u'content': u'Present: @eirinimal\xa0@Alberto,\xa0@alessandro_contini\xa0@Rossana_Torri @Moushira @Noemi @Patrick_Andrews @Costantino, Silvia
\n\nAgenda for the call:
\n\n1. Alberto\u2019s Big Picture for Open Care Year 1: we need to collectively contribute to a post publicly outlining our work this year. If no one wants to do it,\xa0Alberto volunteers to write it
\n\nRelated topic here: Documentation.\xa0
\n\nEven from last weeks call we discussed some of the constraints in bringing stories from the very ground (In Milano) online and the barriers to participation.
\n\nAlberto: It is worrying that documentation is perceived as hard to get, as we wrote it in the proposal and now have to execute.
\n\nRossana: We are waiting to hear from people we are engaging and who would be more comfortable to tell us things that may be private. On the 4th of May we are starting activities of co-design with Milano communities and it would be a better time to collect stories. Also, video operator needs time to process the material etc.
\n\nCosta: we are not active on the website, but we will as soon as we have confirmation from the community and partners we engage.
\n\nThe offline activities are not aligned at the moment with online activities.
\n\nOur 1 hour events are not enough to onboard them - Milano events are not conversations yet,\xa0they go one way. These activities are more of a warmup, our hope is to get their attention in the co-design sessions.
\n\nEirini: I know of this EU funded project (crappy UX> sorry). http://www.innovvoice.com/ it\'s platform where you can post your challenge/problem and then receive comments and collaborate further on the develpment of some projects (the hacking @alessandro). quite familiar idea (crowdsourcing innovation). but this is what you are actually proposing as far as I understand\xa0maybe take some ideas from those guys in order to facilitate this sharing and co-creating
\n\n2. Costa & Co. proposal for a new Open Care\xa0landing page (complementary to the one we have now)
\n\nA very hard project because it is a meta-project: we strive not to build something, but first understand what is the right approach to solving a problem.
\n\nWe propose a new landing page above the content and landing pages already there. A one page website - very simple and clear and explain OpenCare in one minute to anyone. Link to proper resources so people can get more involved. Hosted outside of edgeryders.eu .
\n\nExample: https://openideo.com/
\n\nAlessandro: user story example \u201cIf I\u2019m a developer and want to dig right into the code - I should be able to access the github rep immediately\u201d
\n\nNeeds to answer key questions: What is OpenCare? How can I find more info? Who is doing it?
\n\nTools have to be as simple as possible.
\n\nWeMake are preparing a clear HowTo guide mapping the environment of relevant projects in the Care field (DYI, Maker world). Should speak to people who are not accustomed to online tools, but also the more skilled in using Internet tools.
\n\nthe reason of a landing page
\n\nlanding page design criteria
\n\nto do & roadmap
\n\nAlberto, Patrick, Noemi were OKish with building a new page, and paging here @Nadia for input too.\xa0Advantages: removes the technical constraints imposed by Drupal.\xa0Disadvantages: Content Experiments cannot be used \u2013 testing of comparative performances of different landing pages impossible. One more thing that can break and needs maintenance. Edgeryders does not take responsibility for web pages outside of its website.
\n\nThis was about it.\xa0Everyone, let us know what you think as we\'re collecting input before and after each meeting, so that we save some time (one hour is not enough to get everyone\'s opinions on topics).
\n\nNext call is on Monday, 16:30 CET. (check the Meetups page for updated event)
\n\nPS @eirinimal can you please re-post the link to the online room we will be using and any other useful info? I will make sure to include it in the event page. Thanks so much, and again, let us know if this conversation made sense to you at all
Hi,\xa0
\n\nthe conversation about the Engagement/enrollment/building the community is pretty scattered.\xa0
\n\ncollection of Nadia\'s proposals.
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/home
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/how-to-participate-in-op3ncare
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/how-op3ncare-works
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare \xa0challenges ?
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3ncare-communications-planning
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/film-video-planning
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/op3ncare/op3ncare-resources
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/groups/opencare/how-op3ncare-works-work-in-progress
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/op3n-hangout-2-how-do-we-navigate-the-tension-between-asking
\n\nRecap of the Consortium Meeting
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/opencare-kickoff-preliminary
\n\n[Fellowship Program] Timeline and rewards each partner can offer
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/fellowship-program-timeline-and-rewards-each-partner-can
\n\nWe\'re analysing all these material to react/collaborate.\xa0
\n\nIs there anything NEW\xa0to be considered?
\n\nCostantino
\n\n', u'post_id': 5470, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-18 08:30:42', u'title': u'Strategy - WP1 and WP2 (?)'}, {u'content': u"Globalization made us move and travel a lot. people are changing countries all the time. When you take a closer look at these people you realize how different the motivations of moving are, and\xa0 depending on the motivation how different the goals and approaches are.\xa0
\n\nIf you decide to go into another country because you are interested in the culture you will most definitely integrate yourself and be open for the odds and difference you will come across. If you are forced to move though, for example because there is a war in your home country the situation is completely different.\xa0
\n\nSo on one hand we have the people who are moving maybe even because it looks good in your cv if you have lived in Stockholm for a while and then we have people who are forced to leave their countries for economic reasons or/and because its dangerous for them to stay.
\n\nSo lets think about the people who are forced to leave their countries,\xa0lets say they move to Germany. Maybe because they have heard of Germany somewhere but maybe even out of a coincidence because the help Organisation they first came across was German and then they where broad to Germany. If you think about coming into a country without even finding the culture interesting beforehand you can imagine that there are a lot of weird things and habits you will come across. Also from seeing the other culture you will change the view on your own culture. seeing the differences will make you understand your own culture from a new point of view. like for example if you see people eating with knife and fork and you usually eat with chopsticks thats a moment where you separate from the others and realize just what your culture is actually about.\xa0
\n\nThis I find very interesting these cultures in cultures. I feel like there might even be a completely new interpretation of your own country. I can only think about food examples right now, like if you go to a restaurant and get \u201etypical food\u201c and then you go to the country and they will never serve you that food, because its a new invention born out of a new interpretation from your own country and culture.
\n\nWhat I find really interesting also is the second Generation. They are born in a society and raised by two probably completely different point of views. They inhabit two cultures, two languages, two patterns of behavior. I see it as a great advantage but also it must be super hard to find yourself between these two poles. So hard to make stuff \u201eright\u201c especially if right here and right there are the compete opposite.
\n\nIf I think about my friends who are born in two cultures i have a deep respect for why they have already been through sometimes already in their childhood and what they are now. Its so amazing if you are able to understand two cultures and then maybe even distance yourself and analyze the differences. Take the pieces that you like most and combine them. Its definitely a creative task. Well thats maybe my naive way of seeing it because im not that much involved and even if i have been traveling a lot its very superficial and maybe far from really understanding something.
\n\nWhat i\xb4m asking myself is how to show what a great advantage the fusion of two culture can be. Not a clash of culture more a mergence. If you think about this in a really basic way a completely different point of view could probably open your eyes and make you creative.\xa0
\n\nHacking and Making
\n\nTo approach this task its important to firstly hack the habits of a culture.
\n\nSeeing stuff through the eyes of someone else is a really good step. When i visited my grandma this weekend i broad an old friend with me. My grandparents house is something so familiar to me that i lost the ability to see how interesting they actually are and how much cultural value they have. My friends curiosity had a huge impact on me. We had a very close look at all the objects in the house and talked a lot to my grandma about the past.\xa0
\n\nI understood my own origin in different way. And saw my culture through the eyes of someone else.
\n\nSO the questions that I'm asking myself are:
\n\nHow can we show how great the merging of two cultures can be? fusion not clash of cultures
\n\nHow can we overcome prejudice? or make use of prejudice?
\n\nHow can we manifest respect and acceptance?
\n\nHow can we be at eye level with one another ?
\n\nHow can we make people look through the eyes of someone else?
\n\nHow can we use the odds and peculiarities of a culture in a creative way?
\n\nand probably a lot more to come..
", u'post_id': 661, u'user_id': 3242, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-12 14:22:22', u'title': u'Not a clash of culture but a merge of culture'}, {u'content': u'On 4 and 11 May, WeMake and the City of Milan\xa0will present the first co-design session for OpenCare project. This two-day\xa0session is based on designing of collective solutions on care needs.
\n\nRead more here (in italian)\xa0
\n\nhttp://wemake.cc/2016/04/18/opencare-primo-incontro-di-co-progettazione/
\n\nOpencare co-design session in Milan
\n\n4 and 11 May - from 6pm to 9.30 pm
\n\nWeMake Fablab Makerspace
\n\nVia Privata Stefanardo da Vimercate, 27/5
\n\n20128 Milano, Italy
\n\nInfo:\xa0-\xa0opencare@wemake.cc
\n\nDate: 2016-05-04 18:00:00 - 2016-05-04 21:30:00, Europe/Paris Time.
', u'post_id': 5573, u'user_id': 2481, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-19 10:58:15', u'title': u'OpenCare Co-design session | 4 and 11 May 2016 - Milan #Localactivity'}, {u'content': u'test
', u'post_id': 498, u'user_id': 3143, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-19 10:16:26', u'title': u'Test project post'}, {u'content': u'The purpose of this document is to help OpenCare project team and community\xa0members\xa0learn and master\xa0basic practices\xa0to help build\xa0a global network around the project. We outline\xa0core processes and tools deployed via https://edgeryders.eu and encourage\xa0anyone to step up and use these resources.
\n\nWe maintain two separate but linked spaces on the web:
\n\n\n\nA Research Workspace: edgeryders.eu/opencare-research
\n\nA Community space: opencare.cc
\n\nA proposed routine for quickly finding relevant info by project partners:
\n\nA proposed routine for making sure others see your content:
\n\n[tag: Meta | Comms | Logistics | Events | Consortium\xa0| Reporting |\xa0Urgent etc] + title of the post
\nThe simplest way is to point people to the\xa0Community site.
\n\nIf someone learns about the project and lands on Edgeryders, there are several ways in, described in the How To Participate page: they can sign up on our mailing list, create a user account\xa0on the platform and follow or\xa0produce content to become involved. For people who prefer voice interaction, we have Meetups and a weekly Community Call through VOIP. All these are listed on the Meetups page.\xa0
\n\nAll people who are signed up on edgeryders.eu become community members and agree to the Edgeryders official user, privacy and content licensing policy, made visible to them upon signup.\xa0Members\xa0can post on the website, a point at which they are officially welcomed by community managers. @Noemi is primarily in charge of welcoming most users as they sign up and\xa0answer any questions they might have about using the space or different projects.\xa0
\n\nOpenCare is building\xa0its own consent funnel for participation. This is being developed by ScImpulse.
\n\nIf you want to learn about Edgeryders community management practices,\xa0would like to share the work or\xa0become a community manager yourself join us here.
\n\nHowever, most Open Care project partners are\xa0someone\'s\xa0contact point for the project i.e. when\xa0we speak about OpenCare\xa0in public presentations, events, open consortium meetings, or when\xa0simply sharing information online.\xa0Open Care will be different things to different people - it will be general i.e. a way to come together around new care systems;\xa0or specific i.e. research looking into dementia and supporting the carers. And so on. It\'s your own responsibility to gauge\xa0potential interest from someone and point them to relevant information.
\n\nIf there isn\'t relevant information available online, don\'t wait for others to do it! Go ahead and set up a post proposing a copy to be added to the Community\xa0base\xa0and edgeryders.eu admins\xa0will do it.\xa0
\n\nAs we are spread all over the world, we meet and interact with Open Care community members here online, more than in any other settings. Publishing posts, reading each other and leaving comments to one another\'s contributions\xa0is\xa0how most of the interaction happens.\xa0
\n\nContent in OpenCare in shared in response to challenges. Challenges are assignments: we describe a problem (for example: what is your experience of giving and receiving care?) and ask the community to respond.\xa0
\n\nGood practice that you can adopt as much and\xa0as often as possible:
\n\nOnly users who have created an account on Edgeryders and are logged in with their username and password\xa0can submit stories.
\n\nWhen submitting a story, the user is taken through a number of steps in order to clarify which challenge the story is answering, what personal question is the person trying to figure out, who would be an audience that they prefer, and what general topics they want to file the story under. The editing interface makes it possible to input text, links, to upload images or to embed video or audio files (using the HTML source).
\n\nWhen users create a new piece of content, the other community members who have contributed previously in OpenCare will receive an email notification. Same is true when someone comments other stories.
\n\nFor a project with such a strong social networking element, it is absolutely essential that people can interact without mediation nor delay: having someone translate everything we post would be not only impossibly expensive: it would dampen interaction and feedback, making the Open\xa0experience quite miserable. To get around this problem, we have agreed to encode some rules in the social bargain of Open Care.
\n\nThese are:
\n\nGiven the sensitivity of a topic like care, we\xa0are encouraging members to feel confortable writing online, but we are aware that this may not be the case for everyone. All our team members are aware of this setback and make it possible for people to submit materials or write their personal stories in two ways: 1) creating a user profile\xa0which is not linked in any way to their real identity and uploading content from that account or 2) emailing stories and have one of the Open Care curators upload for them.
\n\nAll written content submitted in the OpenCare online\xa0spaces will be\xa0aggregated, coded and analysed\xa0by researchers\xa0and in agreement with our Data Strategy. For details about the Open Care research, see our original proposal available here\xa0(pp.18-19).
\n\nMeetups are offline or offline\xa0activities and events where community gets together.\xa0OpenCare partners and members are encouraged to run OpenCare activities and announce them as Meetups on the Community Space. They can be as small as a presentation at an conference, or a community Meet and Greet.\xa0
\n\nPartners are already receiving invitations to tell about OpenCare in conferences, university lectures, hackathons etc. Our criterion for accepting or rejecting these invitations is their potential for engagement.\xa0We do not recommend accepting last-minute invitations: allow\xa0a minimum of two weeks lead time. This way,\xa0all of us involved can spread the news that someone in our team is going to be presenting in venue X on day Y, and\xa0reach out to others who might join you.\xa0
\n\nPlease post all your intended activities (online/offline, public meetings, conferences\xa0etc)\xa0as events in the Community space:\xa0\xa0\xa0
\n\nClick\xa0here.\xa0
Enter the information you have prepared for your session. Make sure you also include an image to act as a logo, it will make your event look better on the page. Logos for events are available\xa0here.
Enter your preferred date and time in the relevant fields.\xa0
Click Save, you\'re all set. The event will be listed on the Op3nCare Meetups page.
Now the next step is to build interest and discussion around your event, email and share the link in your own networks. Use #op3ncare\xa0so we can help spread it through the Op3nCare social media accounts.
\n\nHangouts are weekly, online and open events where anyone can join.
\n\nAs of April 2016, hangouts happen every Monday at 4:30 PM CET. We are still looking for that perfect open source videoconferencing solution, so\xa0check the Events page and follow the instructions there.
\n\nAlso known as Op3nCare community calls, they serve two purposes at the same time: team coordination and welcoming new people. If you\'re attending the next, make sure to set the agenda by leaving comments to them.\xa0Every weeks call will be listed on the Op3n Meetups page.\xa0
\n\nIf you would like a call exceptionally scheduled, feel free to propose it, write, upload it, and run it (see Communicating your events above).
\n\nIf you are running an activity in Open Care that needs a separate community event, feel free to propose it, write it, and run it (see Meetups section above).\xa0
\n\nThe OpenCare research team is committed to publishing regular public posts to help community members keep track of what is going on and be able to plug in at any time.\xa0Posts in the OpenCare workgroup marked as such in their title (e.g. [Working out loud] Name of post). They are\xa0summaries\xa0of what needs your attention\xa0every 2\xa0weeks, feeding in and out of the community calls. Written by @Noemi and other community managers (an example here).
\n\nAn OpenCare list of supporters and interested people is growing. We send curated content collaborated by community to the list\xa0members no more than once a month. Sign up here.
\n\nIf you want to include something in it, get in touch with Noemi.
\n\nCommunication in Open Care is not centralized, it is\xa0distributed among all consortium partners, so we are using the channels collectively. To get access to the login info, get in touch with Nadia.\xa0
\n\nShared project identity visuals, cover photos, thumbnail,\xa0partners logos etc are listed publicly\xa0here.\xa0Feel free to use, modify, re-purpose them as you wish (see License below).
\n\nA live repository of project updates\xa0is the workspace:OpenCare Research.\xa0
\n\nA repository of project documentation (including Consortium Agreement), copy, materials,\xa0photos,\xa0cover pages and other miscellaneous is located in the OpenCare\xa0shared google drive (for Consortium Partners). Make sure if you have new ones to upload them there as well. They become common resource for Open Care community.\xa0
\n\nThe opinions expressed in this website are the responsibility of their author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of Edgeryders as a company, its directors, members or the organisations cooperating with it.
\n\nOpenCare\xa0by\xa0OpenCare Consortium\xa0is licensed under a\xa0Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
', u'post_id': 5485, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-23 12:58:21', u'title': u'Guide for building the OpenCare online community'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5564, u'user_id': 3202, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-18 13:16:55', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'This is described as "a dialogic event for Health and Social Care Professionals and concerned Citizens\xa0who want to work together to transform Care in the UK."
\n\nDate: 2016-04-27 10:45:00 - 2016-04-27 11:15:00, Europe/London Time.
\n\nURL: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-power-to-create-the-new-story-of-care-tickets-22646477223
', u'post_id': 5563, u'user_id': 104, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-18 10:22:42', u'title': u'Our power to create the new story of care - London 27 April 2016'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 655, u'user_id': 3238, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-05 09:36:32', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\n\nYou may remember that some time ago I mentioned that\xa0@Susa\xa0 and I ( @Nadia ) had dreamt up a\xa0new product design course format for product design students at UDK, one of the better design and art universities in Germany. It\'s called\xa0Hacking Utopia- #OpenCare for social and demographic change\xa0and was born out of our shared experiences as designers.
\n\nMore specifically the frustration with outdated design education that ill prepares students to be able to do meaningful work with their skills and talents. We feel that this should start already during their education so by the time they have graduated they are already up and running their own exciting projects that really contribute towards tackling some of the bigger challenges which affect us all. \xa0After a lot of work over the past couple of months, especially by Susa, the partnership agreement between Edgeryders and UDK was finalised and last week we launched the first ever edition of this course with a four-day intense workshop.
\n\nOver the next six months each student will be working on design research and product development process that departs from the OpenCare topic and methodologies. They will be doing it in synch with the phases of the larger OpenCare research project. The course participants\' documentation and individual reflections from each day are uploaded in the Op3nCare Community Homebase where you are very welcome to leave comments helping them develop their thinking and projects. Or better yet: follow the course and take on the tasks yourself! it\'s a fun way to unleash some of your creative urges while maybe picking up some new skills...and contributing to the common good You may even be eligible for the new fellowship program we are building!
Why do this? You get to see the OpenCare topic and challenges from many different perspectives and help shape the students research and product development work so they really are contributing to the Opencare research project. For the students getting feedback from you is an unparalleled way to discover new\xa0knowledge and broaden their horizons about what is happening in the fields relevant to all our work.
\n\nThe results of the students work will be exhibited in Berlin at Designtransfer UDK and it looks like some of them might run crowdfunding campaigns on StartNext.
\n\nOpening: Wednesday, 20 July, 19.00
\n\nExhibition: 21 July\u2013 24 July, 10.00\u201318.00\xa0
\n\nAddress:\xa0Designtransfer UdK, \xa0Einsteinufer 43-53, 10587 Berlin
\n\nConcept: GastProf. Susanne Stauch/ID2 & Nadia EL-Imam/Edgeryders
\n\nTeam: GastProf Dr. Martin Kiel/GWK, Prof. Jozef Legrand, KM Sarah-Lena Walf, KM Johanna Dehio, Valentina Karga, Svenja Bickert-Appleby, Ludwig Kannicht, Laura Stra\xdfer, Bj\xf6rn Weigelt
\n\nDate: 2016-07-20 19:00:00 - 2016-07-24 18:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5559, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-15 10:00:58', u'title': u'Exhibition in Berlin: Hacking Utopia \u2013 Design concepts for social transformation'}, {u'content': u'Looks like one for @Nadia.\xa0
\n\nDeadline for registration is gone, but it can probably be hacked.
\n\n\n\nDate: 2016-04-14 11:45:00 - 2016-04-14 11:45:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5554, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-14 09:57:42', u'title': u'The case for investing in health within the developing world'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 664, u'user_id': 3249, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-12 21:15:43', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'If you give them a ride, but also if you take them in or even\xa0feed them you could be prosecuted.
\n\n\n\n\nAnd this is a list of the many recent laws passed by European nations regarding refugees:
\n\n\n\n\nI know this is a huge problem with no easy solutions and I do not wish to have simple-minded views about it. \xa0But some of these laws seem rather bizarre to me, such as:
\n\nHow to not push someone to a place or activity but make it come to them?
\n\nWhat actually pulls you towards something, towards doing something?
\n\nWe would like to understand what motivates people to do stuff that they enjoy doing.
\n\nWhat does personal motivation in general mean? What makes people like (care for) something? What sparks interest and motivation in people? What creates flow?
\n\nHow can we break the logical answer mechanism in people? What interview techniques spark an elaborate answer beyond \u201ebecause I like it!\u201c
\n\nSince we haven\u2019t decided on a population that we would like to support, we might face these constraints later. Though we don\u2019t have a precise question that could lead to a fuzzy challenge. We still need to find a point to start a design intervention from.
\n\nWhat are the mechanics behind the moment/process of people being driven towards doing something they care about. It is about the point between an intrinsic intention and an action.
", u'post_id': 659, u'user_id': 3236, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-09 17:12:46', u'title': u'The forces that motivate us'}, {u'content': u'The second free hands-on workshop of the #opencare series will take place this next Thursday 7 april\xa0in Milan at \u20185 Forum delle politiche sociali\u2019. Come and learn how to create an #IoT #opensource service to monitor and take care of your loved ones remotely.\xa0
\n\n\n\nHere Forum\xa0program \xa0in italian:
\n\n\n\nIf you have the possibility to come, drop us a line:\xa0opencare@wemake.cc
', u'post_id': 5518, u'user_id': 2481, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 09:08:48', u'title': u'#LocalActivity: PRENDERSI CURA CON STRUMENTI OPEN SOURCE WORKSHOP @ 5\xb0 Forum delle politiche sociali'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 660, u'user_id': 3251, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-10 13:32:56', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'BRIEF #2
\n\nHU = Hacking Utopia Project UDK
\n\nOC = OpenCare Research Project
\n\nTask#1: Team meeting
\n\nDeliverable:\xa0HU
\n\nTime: 1.5 hours
\n\nDeadline:\xa0asap
\n\nWatch: Marlieke Kieboom\xa0http://bit.ly/1qE4EFW
\n\nInstructions:
\n\nconsidering the theme you picked for your FEED FWD research, identify the people you want to design for and where you can find them.\xa0
think of a welcoming, trust building "open office" idea you could easily pop up in the environment where you will do your research.
prepare some questions according to our FEED FWD INTERVIEW GUIDE (LINK) to help you understand more about the people\'s context.
Define roles in the team: preparation, documentation (written/foto/video), transcription, upload
Task#2:\xa0Feed Fwd Field Trip
\n\nDeliverable:\xa0HU/OC
\n\nTime: collect 10-15 stories
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Monday, 9.5. (ideally a couple of days before, see Task#3)
\n\nMake: Build Open Office
\n\nInstructions:
\n\ngo out and do it!
stay in your roles within one interview but make sure to switch roles throughout the task (1 person speaks, 1 person takes notes, 1 person takes photo/video)
take notes about the process: what went well, what failed, why, discuss it in the team, learn and share in the next group meeting.
Task#3:\xa0Transcription of Interviews & Upload
\n\nDeliverable:\xa0HU/OC
\n\nTime: 1-2 days
\n\nDeadline: Monday,\xa09.5.
\n\nInstructions:
\n\n2.
\n\n3.
\n\nTask#5: (ongoing)\xa0Research- General/Intuitive\xa0\xa0\xa0
\n\nDeliverable\xa0OC / HU
\n\nTime:\xa0open
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Monday 9.5.
\n\nInstructions:
\n\nBased on the topic and question defined in your design challenge, do online research looking for relevant and inspiring Groups, Projects, Places, Products, Technologies, Tools, Services or Infrastructures.
Collect everything in a thoughtful text with images and links, if possible by 25.4.
Upload the post as a first step towards building your case studies here\xa0bit.ly/23gdz1i\xa0
If you want feedback, further references etc on what you presented during day 1, just upload your speaker notes- we\u2019ll sort out the rest.
5.\xa0Please respond to questions and feedback from your peers as well as members of the edgeryders/opencare community team who can help you to develop sharp case studies through their input
\n\nHU = Hacking Utopia Project UDK
\n\nOC = OpenCare Research Project
\n\nTask#1:\xa0sign up for project (missing information)
\n\nDeliverable\xa0HU
\n\nTime: 2\xa0minutes
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Sunday, 10.4.
\n\nInstructions:\xa0Community manager\'s not: URL removed for privacy
Task#2:\xa0Personal Profile\xa0\xa0\xa0
\n\nDeliverable\xa0OC
\n\nTime:\xa01/2 hour
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Sunday, 10.4.
\n\nInstructions:
\n\nMake it easier for us to connect you with one another based on complimentary interests and skills by completing your personal profile on\xa0edgeryders.eu:
\n\n1.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Login to the platform\xa0https://edgeryders.eu/en/user/login
\n\n2.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Go to your profile page:\xa0bit.ly/1MilNyk
\n\n3.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Upload your picture\xa0(the portraits that Bjorn took are all available to\xa0download here)
\n\n4.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Update your bio with the following information\xa0(from the collaboration mosaic exercise we did on the last day of the workshop: http://bit.ly/23kttrx)
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0a.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Your practical skillset (pick from list / add what\'s missing)
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0b.\xa0\xa0 \xa0What you are interested in learning during this course
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa0c.\xa0\xa0 \xa0What you are interested in offering/contributing
\n\nTask#3:\xa0Upload content from workshop
\n\nDeliverable\xa0OC\xa0/ HU
\n\nTime:\xa01 hour
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Tuesday, 12.4.
\n\nInstructions:
\n\n1.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Pull out your documentation from the listening triads on care (exercise from day 1 when you were split into groups of three)
\n\n\xa02.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Open a word processing document and write down your reflections around one or more of the following themes in the context of care\xa0(if you didn\'t talk about care or one of the questions we had on the wall, repeat the conversation on skype or talk to yourself):
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa01.\xa0\xa0 \xa0People on the move.
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa02.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Boosting one another\u2019s mental and spiritual resilience
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa03.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Hacking and Making
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa04.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Open Science and Technologies
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa05.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Communities & interpersonal relationships
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa06.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Food cultures
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa03.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Copy-paste and upload your reflections here\xa0bit.ly/1VcakTB
\n\nTask#4:\xa0Frame your design challenge
\n\nDeliverable\xa0OC / HU
\n\nTime:\xa01 hour
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Tuesday, 12.4.
\n\nRead: HCD Field Guide p. 31-33 (http://www.designkit.org/resources/1\xa0or dropbox)
\n\nInstructions:
\n\n1.Repeat the exercise "Frame your design challenge" by picking one of the questions from the list we came up with on day 2 (http://bit.ly/1N10AsZ) and uploading your responses to the questions on this page:\xa0bit.ly/1oGV3fw
\n\nPlease respond to questions and feedback in the comments as we will give you feedback on your question\xa0
Refine your question by the 25.4.
Task#5:\xa0Research- General/Intuitive\xa0\xa0\xa0
\n\nDeliverable\xa0OC / HU
\n\nTime:\xa0open
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Monday 2.5.\xa0(if possible Monday 25.4.)
\n\nInstructions:\xa0\xa0
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa02.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Based on the topic and question defined in your design challenge, do online research looking for relevant and inspiring Groups, Projects, Places, Products, Technologies, Tools, Services or Infrastructures.\xa0
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa03.\xa0\xa0 \xa0
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa04.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Collect everything in a thoughtful text with images and links, if possible by 25.4.
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa05.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Upload the post as a first step towards building your case studies here\xa0bit.ly/23gdz1i
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa06.\xa0\xa0 \xa0If you want feedback, further references etc on what you presented during day 1, just upload your speaker notes- we\u2019ll sort out the rest.
\n\n\xa0\xa0 \xa07.\xa0\xa0 \xa0Please respond to questions and feedback from your peers as well as members of the edgeryders/opencare community team who can help you to develop sharp case studies through their input
\n\nTask#6:\xa0Personal Profile on\xa0cre8tives.org
\n\nDeliverable\xa0HU
\n\nTime: 1\xa0minute
\n\nDeadline:\xa0Sunday, 24.4.
\n\nInstructions:
\n\nsign up on\xa0cre8tives.org\xa0and we do the rest
', u'post_id': 5539, u'user_id': 26, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-09 17:52:11', u'title': u'BRIEF #1 for Hacking Utopia Project UdK'}, {u'content': u'The second free hands-on workshop of the #opencare series will take place this next Thursday 7 april\xa0in Milan at \u20185 Forum delle politiche sociali\u2019. Come and learn how to create an #IoT #opensource service to monitor and take care of your loved ones remotely.\xa0
\n\n\n\nHere Forum\xa0program \xa0in italian:
\n\n\n\nIf you have the possibility to come, drop us a line:\xa0opencare@wemake.cc
\n\nDate: 2016-04-07 14:00:00 - 2016-04-07 14:00:00, Europe/Rome Time.
', u'post_id': 5535, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-09 13:16:52', u'title': u'PRENDERSI CURA CON STRUMENTI OPEN SOURCE WORKSHOP @ 5\xb0 Forum delle politiche sociali #LocalActivity'}, {u'content': u'What is care? To start with such a question a lot comes to mind. Especially after this intense first day of our project kick-off at Sauen, with all these great thoughts, ideas and reflections about what it means to be a human being. I am personally fascinated by the cognitive dissonance I find myself stuck in. This applies to so many aspects of my life. Yes, talking is easy, acting takes effort. It\'s the same with design, having a nice idea over a glass of wine in the evening? No big deal. But bringing it into life, really doing it and going against all obstacles is a totally different thing. It needs energy, dedication, belief, trust, confidence, help. You need to CARE about it enough to put it into action. So that\'s one aspect of care. That something/someone has enough value or meaning for somebody to be considered with putting real physical action into it. Usually this is the fact when we are affected personally. When it\'s a personal thing. When we are involved. When we are touched. When we are concerned.
\n\nThe expression "taking care of something" as a German is a rather rational, dry and goal-oriented task. It somehow misses the core of its literal meaning which is a soft, emotional and gentle interaction. So how do we define this word? How does the culture we live in put it into action? How is it valued, honored? Who should we care for, what should we take care of and most importantly: what is so dear to us that we want to take care of it? Are we being taken care of enough to give something back? We discussed the question of how can something seemingly burden full turn into a joyful engagement. How can we overcome this cognitive dissonance and what is that undefined obstacle that holds us \u200bback. Because it\'s not laziness. It\'s not carelessness. Maybe it\'s a combination of helplessness (of where to start, what to focus), being overwhelmed (by one\'s own life and tasks) and alone (with an ambition too big for one person). And maybe the answer of today is community.
', u'post_id': 650, u'user_id': 26, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 21:13:53', u'title': u'Care = Community'}, {u'content': u'Post was originally authored by Dougald Hine on 2013-10-30 08:39:00 +0100
\n\nIn one of his darkly observant essays on the fall of the Soviet Union and its lessons for present-day America, Dmitri Orlov advises against being a successful middle-aged man :
\n\n\n\nWhen their career is suddenly over, their savings gone and their property worthless, much of their sense of self-worth goes as well. They tend to drink themselves to death and commit suicide in disproportionate numbers. Since they tend to be the most experienced and capable people, this is a staggering loss to society. (Reinventing Collapse, p.122-3)
The spike in mortality that accompanied the fall of the Soviet Union has few parallels in history. Between 1987 and 1994, life expectancy dropped from 70 to 64, and the group whose likelihood of dying increased most sharply was, indeed, working age men. In other words, despite the material hardships of the period, it was not the weakest and most vulnerable who died in greater numbers, but the physically strong: what was most deadly about the collapse was not the disappearance of the means of staying alive, but the lack of ends for which to stay alive.
\n\nEurope is not going through a Soviet-style collapse. (Or not yet: a report from UBS Investment Research in September 2011 estimated the costs of a break-up of the Eurozone at 40-50% of weaker countries\u2019 GDP in the first year and 20-25% of the GDP of countries like Germany. For comparison, the total fall in GDP during the break-up of the USSR is estimated at 45%, spread over the years from 1989 to 1998.) The point I want to draw from Orlov, however, is that there is a powerful and complex interrelation between how we make a living and how we make sense of our lives. The consequences of an economic crisis can both lead to and be made worse by the crisis of meaning experienced by those whose lives it has derailed. If this is the case, however, perhaps it is also possible that action on the level of meaning might stem and even reverse the consequences, personal and social, of failing economic systems?
\n\nThe figure of the \u2018graduate with no future\u2019, identified by Paul Mason, has the advantage of youth, yet in other ways she resembles Orlov\u2019s successful middle-aged man. People are capable of enduring great hardship, so long as they can find meaning in their situation, but it is hard to find meaning in the hundredth rejection letter. The feeling of having done everything right and still got nowhere leads to a particular desperation. Against this background, the actions of those who might identify with Mason\u2019s description - whether as indignados in the squares of Spain, or as Edgeryders entering the corridors of Strasbourg and Brussels - are not least a search for meaning, for new frameworks in which to make sense of our lives when the promises that framed the labour market for our parents no longer ring true.
\n\nFour years ago, in \u2018The Future of Unemployment\u2019, I suggested that it might be helpful to distinguish three types of need which, broadly speaking, we have looked to employment to provide. I want to return to this model as a way of structuring a search for examples of effective action on the level of meaning. Departing slightly from the original terms, I would summarise these types of need as follows:
\n\nThose who find it difficult to access the labour market are also likely to find answering these questions more difficult. The stories shared on the Edgeryders platform during 2011-12 illustrate the variety of ways in which young people find their access the labour market limited: not only through unemployment, but underemployment, casualisation and the prevalence of short-term contracts, the increasing cost of education in certain countries, the role of unpaid internships as a path to accessing certain industries. Where skills and qualifications have been acquired through formal education, many find themselves unable to secure work that makes use of these; where skills are acquired informally, the challenge is to represent these effectively to potential employers. Above all, the situation is defined by the interaction between two major processes: a long-term change in the structure of European labour markets, offering new entrants a poorer deal than had been the case for their parents\u2019 generation, has been exacerbated by the effects of the economic crisis that began in 2008.
\n\nIf the situation of those struggling to access the labour market can be expressed in terms of the three types of need set out above, we might note that the last two belong primarily to the domain of meaning: our ability to answer them is closely related to our ability to make sense of our lives. Based on this, I suggest that we look for two stages in projects that might constitute effective action on the level of meaning: first, the ability to substitute for employment in providing social identity and a sense of direction; and, second, the potential for this to lead to new means of meeting practical needs.
\n\nWith this structure in mind, I want to consider briefly a few examples which I think offer clues to what this may look like in practice.
\n\nCenters for New Work: During the collapse in employment in the US auto industry in the early 1980s, the philosopher Frithjof Bergmann worked with employers, unions and community organisations in Flint, Michigan to create the Center for New Work. \u2018We are in the beginning of a great scarcity of jobs,\u2019 Bergmann argued, \u2018but not of work.\u2019 Instead of making redundancies, he proposed that employers share out the remaining jobs on a rotating work schedule. Workers would alternate between extended periods in traditional industrial work and similar periods pursuing \u2018New Work\u2019. The latter included local production to meet practical needs, but also the right of everyone to spend a significant amount of their time pursuing a personally meaningful project.
\n\nAccess Space: In Sheffield, England - another post-industrial city, similarly hit by unemployment in the early 1980s - the artist James Wallbank and friends set up what has become the UK\u2019s longest-running free internet learning centre. As described by NESTA, \u2018The centre brings together old computers and new open source software to create a radical, sustainable response to industrial decline and social dislocation.\u2019 In conversation, Wallbank has emphasised to me the importance of the social and directional role of participation at Access Space: for those who have been long-term unemployed, the change in the shape of their lives on becoming a regular participant is often huge; by comparison, the change from being a regular participant to entering employment is relatively small. From my own observation, another key aspect of the Access Space model is the power of its insistence on self-referral: this means that participants are drawn from a range of social and economic backgrounds, rather than exclusively from a target group identified by its deprivation. This means that participation at the centre provides an alternative to - rather than a reinforcement of - a negative social identification.
\n\nWest Norwood Feast: In 2010-11, the agency I founded led a project to co-create a community-owned and -run street market in south London. This experience reaffirmed my sense of the power of what people can do when they come together to work on something that matters to them. In particular, talking to those involved, I was struck by how positively many of them experienced using their skills as part of the Feast, when compared to their experience in regular employment. Might it be that work that takes place outside of employment is more likely to be experienced as meaningful? And, if so, why? Several possible answers exist. The psychologist Edward Deci famously demonstrated that being paid for a task tends to decrease our intrinsic motivation, a phenomenon he explains in terms of the shift of the \u2018locus of motivation\u2019. Meanwhile, as I argued in \u2018The Future We Deserve\u2019, the logic of maximising productivity has made industrial-era employment an unprecedentedly anti-social form of work. More practically, though, are there ways we can build a better relationship between meaningful work and our ability to pay the rent?
\n\nHouse concerts: The music industry has been through huge disruption since the 1990s, not least as a result of the rise of filesharing. The solo bass player Steve Lawson is an example of an independent musician who has spent his career developing new models for making a living and documenting the realities of this on his blog. He sells downloads of his albums on a pay-what-you-want basis and makes \u2018house concert\u2019 tours on which he plays in the front rooms of fans, many of whom have first met him online. Reading his accounts of this, two things are clear: first, that these models, drawing on the strengths of networked technologies, allow for a far more meaningful relationship with his audience than was possible in the music industry of the pre-Napster era; and, second, that house concerts also make touring economically viable for independent musicians in a way that was harder when playing traditional venues. Are there other areas in which socially-embedded grassroots economies can thrive where high-overhead conventional economies struggle? (For another take on the potential of low-overhead economic models, see Kevin Carson\u2019s The Homebrew Industrial Revolution.)
\n\nThe Unmonastery: One of the projects to emerge from the first phase of Edgeryders was a proposal for something called an Unmonastery: \u2018a creative refuge bound to host problem solvers and change makers, who together work to solve (g)local problems, in exchange for board and lodging.\u2019 At present, this proposal is being developed by a group that met through the Living on the Edge events in 2012. The initial response suggests that young people are willing to take a step down in their material expectations, if this is balanced by sufficient security and autonomy to pursue work which they believe matters. The challenge will be to develop a vehicle for this willingness which is capable of \u2018interfacing\u2019 with existing institutions and accessing resources, which can achieve a reasonable degree of stability, and which does not devolve into a mechanism for exploitation. Daunting as this sounds, it is likely that we will see more experiments along these lines in Europe in the years ahead. (Edventure: Frome, which launched in October 2012, has parallels to the Unmonastery model, although framed in educational terms.)
\n\nFive years into the current crisis, the default future for much of Europe is a world of longer hours and lower wages. Economic regeneration as we have known it could hardly keep up with the social costs of industrial decline, even during periods of sustained growth. That economic collapse can lead into and become entrenched by a collapse of meaning is not just a post-Soviet story, but one that can be traced in many of Europe\'s former industrial regions, not least the areas of South Yorkshire where I once worked as a journalist.
\n\nThe scale and harshness of those realities makes me hesitate: I do not want to overstate the case for the examples I have discussed here. Yet I would suggest that they may offer clues, at least, towards another kind of regeneration: what might be called a \u2018regeneration of meaning\u2019. There is no guarantee that this will happen, nor that, if it does, it will take the kind of form we would wish to see. However, for those who consider the possibility worth exploring, I have a few questions:
\n\nImage credit: Listening to the Walls - Photo by Bembo Davies, Institute of non-toxic propaganda
', u'post_id': 493, u'user_id': 15, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-01 09:06:06', u'title': u'The Regeneration of Meaning'}, {u'content': u'Four years ago, as we were planning our move to Brussels, Nadia and I decided to look for flatmates. Most of our friends and family members were rather puzzled: not many couples decide to share their apartment, though they can afford not to. We, however, thought it completely logical. Nadia is Swedish and I am Italian: at the time we lived in Strasbourg, France. That made us a migrant nuclear family, completely cut off from the network of emotional and material support that our friends and families of origin could offer. We were simply too isolated in our Strasbourg apartment, nice though it was; and we decided to try something different. So, we rented a much bigger apartment than we needed and asked the Internet for someone to share it with.
\n\nFour years on, we think the experiment worked. For the last three years we have been living with Kasia and Pierre, a young couple of expatriates (Kasia is Polish, Pierre French). We really enjoy the co-habitation: the home feels more animated, and not a day goes by that we don\'t chat at least a little bit, over coffee or breakfast. We enjoy the big, airy living room overlooking the city. And, frankly, we appreciate that our lifestyle is really good value for money: thanks to the economies of scale implicit in family life, we pay a reasonable rent for a really nice space.
\n\nAlong the way, we discovered that what makes our living together so enjoyable is that we are so different from each other. We come from four different countries; we are of different ages (Pierre, the youngest, is 19 years younger than me, the oldest); we have very different jobs (Kasia is a dental nurse, Pierre is the manager of a fashion boutique, whereas Nadia and I both belong to the "what is it that you do, again?" tribe); Nadia and I travel a lot, whereas Kasia and Pierre tend to be in town most of the time.
\n\nThis works well on many levels. On a purely practical level, when we travel we love the thought that the home is not empty, and in the event of some misfortune (think plumbing failure) they can intervene; and I am sure they enjoy the privacy and the extra space. We pay for electricity, phone and the Internet, they pay for the cleaning services \u2013 less paperwork to do. We have an extra room, which normally serves as Nadia\'s and my office; but it doubles up as a guest room for the guests of all of us.
\n\nBut there is more to co-habitation than practicality. Kasia and Pierre are lovely people: and, crucially, they are different people from Nadia and myself. We live out the city in different ways. We have different takes on almost everything, from French politics to Belgian beer. Comparing notes with them is always interesting, and I really value their insights and wisdom. Not that we spend all that much time together. I think our co-habitation unfolded in the right sequence: we started by a default attitude of rigorous mutual respect of each other\'s privacy and spaces. Then, over time, we grew closer, started to share the occasional meal, the occasional outing; we met each other\'s friends and families, lovely people to the last one. Guess what: we have built a sort of familial-like arrangement in a foreign city, among people who were originally complete strangers to one another.
\n\nIt\'s working well. So well that, when a year ago our landlord announced that he was reclaiming his apartment and we would have to move out in the summer, we decided to stay together, and to look for a new place as a four-people household. Eventually, we got more ambitious and thought, what the hell, we might as well grow the family. If four people can live so well together in a larger apartment, how would it work with five, or six, or seven in an even larger one?
\n\nIt works well, it turns out. We moved to a lovely loft, and were joined by a third couple (Belgian-Italian). Giovanni and Ilaria have since moved on for family reasons, but we enjoyed their company while we lived together. Their place has been claimed by Thomas, a young French engineer.\xa0
\n\nWe do this for totally egoistic reasons: we enjoy each other\'s company, we save money, we live in style. At the same time, we are aware that we are working our way through solving a global problem. Planet Earth has 230 million international migrants; intra-EU migrants like us are 8 million. Many of Europe\'s young people simply cannot afford to hold their ground: their work, education paths, and love lives lead them to migrate. When they do, they, like us, lose their supporting networks, and it is really hard to rebuild them. Living together, especially in diversity \u2013 the older with the younger, the sporty with the mobility-challenged, the academic with the blue-collar worker \u2013 becomes a platform for sharing our different abilities, and being able, as a household, to solve many different problems, both emotional and practical.
\n\nNone of this is new. You have heard it all before \u2013 at social innovation conferences and workshops, for example, and typically by people who live in middle-class nuclear families. But we have decided to walk this particular talk; it will probably not be the right choice for everyone, but it is the right choice Nadia, Kasia, Pierre and myself; and I strongly believe it might be right for many others. I encourage you to at least consider it for yourself: as more of us make this choice, the real estate market will respond, giving us more spaces suited to our particular lifestyle (in Brussels, for example, is very difficult to find large apartments with 3 or more bathrooms!).\xa0So, who wants to join?
', u'post_id': 648, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-01 08:20:09', u'title': u'Living Social In Brussels: co-living as a lifestyle for grown-ups'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 656, u'user_id': 3235, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-06 17:10:44', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'As part of OpenCare team from WeMake, where I am working on both the strategy and the harvesting of the online community and helping the people define projects that they want to implement. Moving on, I will help with physical prototyping aspects.\xa0 I believe Opencare is a wonderful initiative,\xa0 that reminds us of simple solutions that can make a difference in our lives, yet nobody thinks about them, because nobody knows those exists at first place.\xa0 Many thanks to @Costantino for offering me this opportunity.
\n\n\xa0I speak Arabic, English, French and Spanish (proficiency is in the same order :).\xa0 I am Egyptian, and these days I live between Alexandria and Dahab (a small city in Sinai)
\n\n\xa0Nice to meet you everyone, please let me know if you have any questions.
\n\nMoushira
\n\nwhat can we as designers do? designing not only objects, but situations, society
\n\ndesigning society.
\n\nhow can we create a community where everyone respects each other? helps each other?
\n\ndon\u2019t loose the fun!\xa0
\n\nif i am happy i can give so much more love to other people. What People? who am i in contact with?\xa0
\n\nam I caring with a smile? how much does my smile give to the bus driver?
\n\nwhat makes me happy?
\n\ncaring doesn\u2019t only mean to give but also to be able to receive. to connect stay in touch.\xa0
\n\nbe authentic, honest.
\n\nnever loose the ability to laugh about yourself.\xa0
\n\nI am not going to change the world.\xa0
\n\ntoo negative
\n\nI want to think about solutions that are sustainable and lead our society to better approaches.\xa0
\n\nbetter.
\n\nWe need to be working together and help each other. thats actually the only way to get out of this fucked up World.\xa0
', u'post_id': 651, u'user_id': 3242, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 21:54:20', u'title': u'Questionmark'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 495, u'user_id': 3250, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-05 23:13:02', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Tomorrow the second meeting with the Milanese community will take place. Comune di Milano and WeMake, in collaboration with the association "Villa Pallavicini" have organized a presentation of OpenCare to engage\xa0a\xa0local migrant community. \xa0
\n\n
Thursday 17 march - 7.30 pm
\n\nVilla Pallavicini
\n\nVia Meucci 3
\n\nMilano
\n\n', u'post_id': 5465, u'user_id': 2481, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-16 13:14:06', u'title': u'OpenCare Outreach Events | Meeting with migrant community, 17 March 2016, Milan - 7.30 pm #LocalActivity'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 649, u'user_id': 3237, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 17:29:37', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Wie glaubst du k\xf6nnte man Pflege in unserer Heutigen Welt angehen? In der n\xe4heren Umgebung?
\n\nIch muss niemanden pflegen.
\n\nEs ist pflege sich mit Freundin zu unterhalten.
\n\nBei dir selbst?
\n\nSich bewegen, den K\xf6rper Pflegen. Die Psyche Pflegen.
\n\nWarum musst du dich Pflegen?
\n\nDamit ich gesund bleibe.
\n\nIst es ein Problem das Menschen dieses Bed\xfcrfnis nicht haben?
\n\nUnterschiedlich. Solange du keine Probleme hast musst du dich nicht darum k\xfcmmern.
\n\nEs kann passieren, dass du MS hast.
\n\nIch wie? nicht ob eine Leib, Seele Trennung Sinn macht. Man kann im Gehirn zeigen, das psychische Probleme sich K\xf6rperlich \xe4u\xdfern. Wir haben sie nur noch nicht verstanden. Man kann K\xf6rper und Geist nicht trennen.
\n\nK\xf6rperkult?
\n\nSport und Bewegung ist Pflege, aber man muss unterscheiden. Dreimal die Woche rennen gehen kann nicht gesund sein. F\xfcr manche Menschen eventuell schon. Es geht um die reine Bewegung F\xfcr die Durchblutung, den Sauerstoffgehalt, die Haut, die Sonne bekommt. F\xfcr den ganzen K\xf6rper.
\n\nBewegungsunf\xe4higkeit.
\n\nIch hatte eine Bekannte die im Rollstuhl sa\xdf. Sie musste alle zwei Stunden nach Hause an eine Ladestation. Eigentlich k\xf6nnte sie Laufen, doch sie hat Spastiken und traut sich nicht ohne den Rollstuhl zu laufen. Sehr motivierend finde ich die L\xe4ufer der Paralympics.
\n\nStellst du deine Pflege vor die Pflege anderer?
\n\nDas steht in einem Jing-Jang Verh\xe4ltnis. Wenn im Flugzeug der Druck f\xe4llt, wird dir auch gesagt, dass du zuerst selbst die Maske anziehen sollt und dann anderen.
\n\n\xa0Nur in wenigen Situationen wiederspricht mein Pflegebed\xfcrfnis dem der anderen. Das Problem ist wenn Leute nicht genug bekommen.
\n\nWie helfen der Menschheit damit?
\n\nNein, das Mittlere Management, macht nichts anderes als andere Leute zu beobachten und zu kontrollieren. Ich denke die Meisten Menschen wollen etwas Sinnvolles tun.
\n\nWie ver\xe4ndert das das Verh\xe4ltnis zu anderen, Familie.
\n\nEs ist ein Wechselspiel. In einer Gro\xdffamilie ist es egal ob zu einem Pflegebed\xfcrftigen Kind noch ein Alter daf\xfcr kommt. Menschen sind eher daf\xfcr gemacht in Rudeln zu leben. Es muss ja nicht Zwangsl\xe4ufig die Familie sein sondern eine Gruppe Menschen, der man sich anschlie\xdft.
\n\nPflege ist ein Verh\xe4ltnis. Menschen machen nichts, was sie unertr\xe4glich finden. Auch bei kleinen Kindern. Wenn du dir das Objektive Betrachtest ist es sehr hart. Rund um die Uhr Betreuung, Nachts Ausstehen. Pflege ist nie Einseitig.
\n\nPflege hat viele Gesichter und ist l\xe4ngst kein einseitiges Ding, keine Einbahnstra\xdfe. Alle Interviews die wir heute gef\xfchrt haben unterscheiden sich stark voneinander im Stil aber die Ergebnisse und Antworten sind alle sehr pers\xf6nlich. \xa0Die Details der Geschichten variieren und der Schwerpunkt, das eine ist politischer als das andere.
\n\nToday I had the pleasure of meeting and introducing students from GWK and UDK to the OpenCare project themes and the design (presentation slides available here). What follows are my notes from the final round of discussions in an intense day. Each quote is the transcription of what one individual said. I will be writing a separate post, or possibly even series of posts as the conversations were very rich and offered a lot of things to think about and explore around care.
\n\n\u201cIt was a good experience, I liked meeting people from different backgrounds and the possibility for working together\u2026 Discovering what we each are good and not good at, and how they can fit together. \xa0As well as what these different backgrounds creates as a perspective towards the project\u201d
\n\n\u201cFor me exploring new projects and ways of working is not new, so changing my setup is not new. Converting ideas to communities. Setting up a framework that people can work within. But for product designers is not the case. I could understand Nadia\u2019s language well..It could be good to translate the language and vocabulary used by the OpenCare project into language easier to use for product designers. Designers are mostly visual, other disciplines less so. Some bridging of languages could be helpful.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were discussing the questions on the wall- what care means on fundamental level to us. Under which conditions care is being granted in a community and what that means for us. When discussing integration of people into a group, the separation you make in the beginning affects the integration project...You say there is an external person who should adapt to the community itself, instead of thinking about creating something new from scratch out of the welcoming community and new individials. Especially when you talk about care...you always do the labelling that there is someone who needs help, and I am one to provide help. Maybe getting rid of these labels is important. Also we talked about how social relations to certain people are necessary for providing some kinds of care. And how to solve challenges of providing care for people we don\u2019t already know. You touch people physically (as we did in the opening session today) and it changes relationship immediately e.g. free hugs in public spaces: This changes something very fast. Especially in regards to refugee topic\u2026.Before helping there should be a contact, a communication with people before offering help whether you know they need or not.\u201d
\n\n\u201c We started different no thinking about projects, but our own experiences being people on the move.\xa0
\n\nWhat is the difference between these two in terms of care on the move?
\n\nOne person was talking about being in china for job of her father to experience completely difft culture and not being free to decide to go there\u2026.vs choosing to move to a new city voluntarily in a city where many different cultures in Kreuzberg. Just getting to know different food and culture at a very young age and getting to know this in a playful way without much prejudice in your head\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe started off by talking about situations in our lives where we have given care, or seen other people receiving care. Who are those people who have taken on traditional care of caregiving? We quickly started talking about feminist issues and women being caregivers through history. We also talked about the rewards, how giving care is valued, if valued at all or you get financial remuneration\u2026\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were all answering the question of why we chose the different topics and why we chose them. Mine was about being on the move and the point that is for me very importan is the idea of doing something fo the first time and you have to cope, no matter if you have to do a job or ...you are always doing for the first time. Found a sory in newspaper about caregivers and they tried to set up school for nurses where they given puppets they have to be with for weeks before working with humans. Switch perspective. I found a flyer which was something like a manual for shopping in supermarket in the fifties..they were handing flyers out about how to behave and shop in he supermarket and now people are complaining about refugees not knowing \xa0how to behave the first time...there is an arrogance... What is possible with products etc to switch perspective and lose embarrassment etc around doing something for the first time. People \u201cmisbehave\u201d because. The first time I met a Syrian guy was during the refugee crisis, it was first time experience for both of us, no just him.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were mostly talking about first time experience of meeting some guys from syria. How can we start meeting people on a high level and not relationship that we are giving, and they are receiving donations. That we are both receiving and giving care.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe started talking about experiences and what think about care, or what we need for our self to be cared for or give care. I found that we had really different ways of talking or explaining. I had difficulties to say what I was thinking and they only understood me when I made examples. And they totally understood me. But when Nema started talking, she could really articulate herself without giving examples. It\u2019s really interesting as a product designer.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe talked about personal experiences. Because of this we came to many topics- like how it is to be a European or come from another continent. It was nice because we had an open chat with one another, so we had some long discussions. It was nice to hear about other people\u2019s stories because sometimes you don\u2019t talk about it for long, but when you do it for one hour and you have some perspectives on how to give care for refugees but also what it\u2019s like to be a foreigner in Germany.\u201d
\n\n\u201cUnter sich haben sie die kulturellen Unterschiede nicht wirklich gemerkt, wenn man gemeinsam mit vielen Kulturen aufwaechst. Der einzige Unterschied, der immer da bleibt, und erfahrbar ist, ist der kulinarische Unterschied. Vielleicht ist die Perspektive eines Kindes die beste: Unvoreingenommen Dinge aufnehmen, ohne sie direkt zu beurteilen. Gerade als Kind ist es eine grosse Bereicherung, auf so viele unterschiedliche Kulturen zu treffen. Fuer die Erziehung und die Ausbildung der eigenen Persoenlichkeit ist es absolut foerderlich, in Konfrontation mit vielen Kulturen aufzuwachsen.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe had a discussion about \u201cstranger danger\u201d. Which I have recently been having with people from older generations. When it comes to refugee crisis , even people I know that normally would act very human and never put themselves above another suddenly are afraid when refugees come to the country. In part it is because of the lack of contact; they don\u2019t come naturally to a place where exchange could happen in an uncontrived way. How could this be set up, or how could it happen? We talked about how younger people can be a connector, how it needs a connector...there are many of us who want to engage but don't because the connection is needed and doesn\u2019t happen without being designed. When travelling connecting is very easy, but in your own town you rarely have deep conversations with people you don\u2019t know. Openness as a mindset is very interesting to see how society is structured n our head. How this huge fear that comes out of nowhere. Media says you should have fear now, that the new is threatening. I love my Grandma but when it comes to this topic I think omg we should not even talk about this topic and I have no idea how to change things. I think it\u2019s a lot of empathy, we had a huge fight...it was all about him not letting what\u2019s happen...not wanting to feel it...keeping it theoretical. The next day there was a change of perspective. It\u2019s also overwhelming for many people, related to make yourself vulnerable and allowing yourself to feel. It\u2019s a very delicate and sensitive how to do this contact and get them in touch with their feelings.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were talking about different languages. To map out what we can as GWK and product designers (UDK) and to figure out what is the responsibility towards what we are studying. Until now what designers were doing and what we were studying was just about making things beautiful. Are we even responsible towards building towards big visions the way \xa0OpenCare is doing? As designers we are always looked upon in a very belittling way - as though we are not capable of contributing to the big issues. But I believe it is part of our responsibility as designers to do this work, because ideally we are focusing not on profiting from it but we can do it just to help. Everyone knows we should help, but no one really does it and people still have prejudices and discriminate. Not many of us know how it is to lead a refugee\u2019s life. How many of us have been discriminated against? For me I was born in Germany, but for a moment I thought well all the refugee circus that is going on has nothing to do with me and I thought it is the responsibility of larger organisations like NGos and the Government to deal with...I asked myself what capacity do I realistically have to help. Then I realised that as someone born in Germany, I walk around the street I hear people discriminating against Asians. And I realised it does affect me, and it is my responsibility to help...It is about the right to be a creative and work not just for profit, but \xa0to help others and how this is deeply human at its core.\u201d
\n\n\u201cI think it is always important to find new symbiotic relationships between people. One Project I\u2019ve come across is one in which there were two groups: one group who wanted to learn English but didnt have connections to do so, and the other group was old lonely group from America. These two groups were able to talk to each other via skype. The Old people had the joy of talking to somebody who was interested in learning. And the young people learned English. It\u2019s very nice to see people caring about each other that way.\u201d
\n\n\u201cFor me it was very interesting to hear what makes something seem foreign and why we feel home. What makes this happen?\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were still thinking about what is th goal of being a designer and what is a design process...what is the difference to art or to management/managers job? We came to the point that an artist is focusing on showing problem and designer is trying to find solution and manager is more focused on company\u2019s project and not so much on helping people. It\u2019s a beginning of a discussion.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe were not talking about the differences between student areas. It was interesting seeing how there was a lot of variation in how interviews were conducted in the different groups as well as within the group were different. I think what I found was that we had very different styles of leading interviews and how different results. I realised I am used to lead an interview and how it has become my only way for me. And it was really interesting to see there are different kinds of ways to lead an interview. I learned how to lead interviews in design thinking...you are asking for stories and ask 5 times why. It\u2019s completely differnt thing when trying to understand a person. It was a very good experience. And apart from that my main insight is that care is always interactional, its not a one way street. The system of capitalism is making it a one way street because there s wlays money in and something out. It\u2019s not evolutionary.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe talked about the relationships that we have with people from Syria that we know and the experiences we have with them. We try to know why German people are so scared of foreigners and why the German people are sometimes so closed also in a friendship. For example my first time was not so easy to make friends here, german people are really closed the first time..they are not so open to stangers.\u201d
\n\n\u201cIt was really intersting hearing about your experiences and the difficulties you had. Very interesting to talk from a personal perspectives and the fears you have.\u201d
\n\n\u201cWe discussed the five questions we were given. What I noticed te most that care is a very difficult term. We couldn;t find a term for care in german. This is one part that makes the discussion very interesting but also very difficult. A whole lot of people are going in a direction towards the refugee topic, that seems to be very close to people. I heard about a book from two journalists about political language: some words and terms that are used are producing certain realities. When you use some words regularly especially in the media, it becomes a reality and then there is no alternative. Translating care into a german word, and speaking about it means very different thing.\u201d\xa0
\n\n\u201cWe also tried to approach the topic from a more general angle, what care really means for us. We came to conclusion that care, giving and receiving, is a basic human need and a human right. It\u2019s not a one-way street, but we need to talk about care as a devalued thing in our society. There are people who really love to give are and do not have the right to get something for it. We thought about how to make people who give care more visible. How can we provide some kind of reward or value for the volunteers. And of course we went in the feminist direction but I think it is a really important thing to value care as a huge thing in society.\u201d
\n\n\u201cCare which we translated into Pfleger. Has not only to do with caring about other people and also for yourself. Is it important to care for yourself first or the other way around? It\u2019s a challenge to care for huge number of people at once. Monetization and how it affects our view on people around us: that we cannot be more intuitive because we think about how we can be most effective.This question where german politicians are saying we have to take care of our people, and not just give everything away. Same thing at a different scale. We have to look at how we distributed in different ways. I would like to see politicians say how they care for themselves, I would like to see them living a lifestyle which shows people how to live a healthy life.\u201d
", u'post_id': 494, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-04 21:08:33', u'title': u'You and me and everyone we know: The many faces of care'}, {u'content': u'Local staff of opencare (Comune di Milano and WeMake) meets some parents of boys and girls with different abilities.\xa0The presentation will take place @ WeMake (Via Stefanardo da Vimercate 27/5 in Milan - MM1 Gorla) on 30 march 2016. h. 4.00 pm
\n\n
For most of humanity\'s history, care services \u2013 which today we call health and social care \u2013 were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other\'s children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations.
\n\nThis new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people\u2026) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not. Additionally, any attempt to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manufacturing process.
\n\nWhat if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care?
\n\nWe are going to attempt to do just that. We are launching OpenCare, a two-year, 1.6 million euro research project to design and prototype new care services. We will:
\n\nThis is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we\'ll do it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process will be \u2013 and stay \u2013 open to anyone who wants to participate. We are working on a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution, and will not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers.
\n\nCare is deeply human. Everyone has first-hand experience of it. Even those if us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and receving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the subsequent prototypes. If you want to be involved you can stay up to date through the newsletter,\xa0sign up to Edgeryders and come talk to us on our workspace.
\n\nOpenCare is led by YOU, and assisted by a world-class partnership: Edgeryders, the University of Bordeaux, the City of Milan, WeMake, ScImpulse Foundation and the Stockholm School of Economics. We are grateful for the support of the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme.\xa0
', u'post_id': 5510, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-04-01 10:45:48', u'title': u'Intro'}, {u'content': u'After discussing with colleagues and community members in Edgeryders, I propose we \u201czoom in\u201d from care in general to three specific instances. This will make the discussion more concrete and more relevant to the people out there whom we wish to connect and work with. The price we pay is that we might discourage people with interesting cases that do not fall into this taxonomy (eg. Helliniko). We suggest:
\n\nThey are a good match for OpenCare, because:
\n\nPlease validate them or counterpropose others. We need to move on.
', u'post_id': 5479, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-21 14:56:22', u'title': u'Suicide prevention, dementia, refugee health: Please validate the cases for Op3nCare'}, {u'content': u'\n\nDuring today\'s call\xa0 @johncoate , @Natalia_Skoczylas , @phm and I had the first real project co-design session. A summary of what was discussed [please add what I have missed]:
\n\nSome early "conclusions":
\n\nThis year is the 10th anniversary of Be-Cause health, a network consisting of different organisations either involved or interested in healthcare in Belgian development cooperation. I participated in their annual convening. My main takeaways:
\n\nThe rest of this post is an aggregation of some resources that may be of use for our work within\xa0Opencare
\n\nProjects to learn more about
\n\n
@Costantino\xa0and me are here in Shenzhen at Tsinghua University, invited\xa0 to partecipate to\xa0 the sixth in a series\xa0of Sage Bionetworks\u2019 events on open innovation. (read more here\xa0http://shenzhenassembly.org/ )
\n\nThe title is Know thyself and our world in the digital era and focuses\xa0 on the increasing knowledge through personal sensors, and how this form of open learning in a digital era can be applied to an area of shared concern \u2013 the environment.\xa0 the meeting will focus on the ubiquity of and the knowledge\xa0to be gained from personal sensors, and how this information\xa0can be applied to address issues of real concern.\xa0\xa0
\n\nthe 3-day meeting is part conference and part hands-on. We\'re in the\xa0Innovation in open science\xa0project team and we\'ll:
\n\n"Explore\xa0hacker/maker space projects in digital health and the environment. \xa0Imagine a gathering where we will tackle the theme of the Assembly by making something together in a state-of-the-art maker space.\xa0 Luping Xu and Francois Grey, with the help of esteemed leaders in the maker world such as David Li and Eric Pan, will guide participants in a brainstorming session to build software or make objects in a space with equipment such as 3-D printers, sewing machines with conductive thread, microcontrollers, sensors, the works! "
\n\nThe\xa0team will be lead by Luping Xu and Francois Grey (active in open hardware community at cyberlab\xa0- read more\xa0here\xa0\xa0http://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2016/11/News%20Articles/2137964?ln=en\xa0) , and will actively engage with the maker spaces in Shenzhen.
\n\nMore after the event.
\n\nIn the meanwhile some bits about Sage Bionetworks and also the reason why we accepted invitationa and we\'ll talk about Opencare:
\n\nInspired by open-source software models, Sage Bionetworks co-founder Stephen Friend builds tools that facilitate research sharing on a massive and revolutionary scale:\xa0https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_friend_the_hunt_for_unexpected_genetic_heroes
\n\nJohn Willibanks of Sage Bionetworks\xa0about medical\xa0data\xa0https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data?language=en
', u'post_id': 5491, u'user_id': 1442, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-24 17:10:06', u'title': u'Shenzhen Assembly - Know thyself and our world in the digital era'}, {u'content': u'Congratulations, you\'ve made it to retirement age, and without a pension or investment plan, you\'ll have to hack your way through your golden years like you did your youth. Have no fear, with a little bit of innovative thinking and peer collaboration, you can seamlessly cruise through your elder dementia in style!
\n\n
Many precarious workers do manage to make it to retirement, and it just might happen to you. Some Americans have turned to "outsourcing eldercare" by shipping their parents off to India, to live like a Maharaja on $2000/month. In Japan, the film "Mezon do Himiko" tells the story of a retirement home for elderly transvestites and homosexuals. They managed to fund their retirement from a successful Tokyo nightclub and wealthy donors.
\n\n
But are Ledgestriders\u2122 so well prepared for their retirement? Do you really think people will want to read your funding applications when you\'re wearing a diaper? It\'s time to start exploring options for people who aren\'t part of the rank and file society before it\'s too late.
\n\nBut you are now 96 years old and your robotic care assistant accidentally sucked up your dentures into the #opensource vacuum cleaner because the IoT fridge and stove were chatting away and inadvertently knocked the robot offline.
\n\nIt\'s really not a problem because a neighbour in your HackGrace has a 3D printer and (after downloading a free 3D file off Thingiverse) you manage to print a new set of teeth. Unfortunately, they are not the right size and you wind up gumming your food at that evening\'s Disco Soup event, getting chunks of organic radish all over your sustainable milk-fiber bib. Since your robotic helper is on the fritz, you decide to wash yourself off in the hipster bathing facility but slip and break your hip.
\n\nAgain, your mates have this problem covered and start using 3D printed bones to grow you a new leg. Unfortunately, the operation doesn\'t go well and you get an infection, however, there is a cure for those with sufficient computational capacity: you can manufacture your own patent-free medicine based on your individual DNA.
\n\n
Hooray! You win! you have advanced to the next level of retirement: that of constantly badgering your kids to come and visit you! But not everyone will be so lucky in the future, so it is time to explore the different possibilities that can be made to exist for people outside the "system".
\n\nSoon we\'ll be exploring the different options that exist or will exist and extending the conversation to experts in specific fields to get a better picture of how the world will be when we\'re old and no one loves us anymore! \xa0Over the next two years Edgeryders, Stockholm School of Economics, The City of Milan,\xa0The University of Bordeaux and WeMake are working together to:
\n\nThis is way too ambitious for us to do alone, so we\'ll do it with everybody, leveraging collective intelligence. The whole process will be \u2013 and stay \u2013 open to anyone who wants to participate. We are working on a social contract to acknowledge each and every contribution, and will not make participants into a crowd of rightless volunteers.
\n\nCare is deeply human. Everyone has firsthand experience of it. Even those if us who are not doctors or nurses or caregivers are occasionally patients (even doctors!); we all have first-hand experience of giving and receiving care. So, everyone is welcome to join the conversation and the building of subsequent prototypes.\xa0
\n\nWant to get involved? Great! Getting started is easy. Just pick one of the challenges and go for it here.
\n\nWelcome to Op3nCare!
\n\nText adapted from an editorial piece commission from Jeffrey Andreoni.
', u'post_id': 5493, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-24 18:08:56', u'title': u'Welcome to retirement!'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5432, u'user_id': 3202, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-09 09:17:56', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'\n\nis a link to a story about a Dutch woman who made a super clever hack of the junk boat and lifejacket parts to make backpacks out of them using a few simple tools, which she then taught to the refugees. \xa0An excellent maker story solving a real problem without having to get too high tech or even ask for wither permission or forgiveness..
', u'post_id': 5462, u'user_id': 2915, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-15 18:10:34', u'title': u'Dutch Volunteer Turns Refugee Boats and Life Jackets Into Backpacks'}, {u'content': u'\n\n\nAs you might expect, the IoT is fraught with security holes and a growing population of users who are rather unconcerned about it - mainly because they don\'t know and don\'t think about it enough. \xa0But do you want someone hacking into your Google Car? \xa0This article points out that many IoT devices and projects don\'t even know all that connect to them.
', u'post_id': 5469, u'user_id': 2915, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-17 14:19:47', u'title': u'Security Problems with the Internet of Things'}, {u'content': u'The first free hands-on workshop of the #opencare series will take place this next Friday 18 March in Milan at \u2018Fa la cosa giusta\u2019. Come and learn how to create an #IoT #opensource service to monitor and take care of your loved ones remotely.
\n\nhere in italian:\xa0
\n\nhttp://wemake.cc/2016/03/15/opencare-a-fa-la-cosa-giusta/
\n\nif you have the possibility to come drop us a line:\xa0
\n\nhello\xa0[at]\xa0wemake.cc
\n\n
with @alessandro_contini @Cristina_Martellosio @Rossana_Torri @Costantino @Silvia_D\'Ambrosio @ChiaraFrr
\n\nDate: 2016-03-18 16:00:00 - 2016-03-18 20:00:00, Europe/Rome Time.
', u'post_id': 5471, u'user_id': 1003, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-18 09:15:43', u'title': u'PRENDERSI CURA CON STRUMENTI OPEN SOURCE WORKSHOP @ FaLaCosaGiusta #LocalActivity'}, {u'content': u'http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/10/frontline-doctors
\n\nIs a link to a writeup on an hourlong BBC documentary I watched while I was in Amsterdam last week. \xa0I didn\'t see a link to watch it online, though the synopsis is very good. \xa0It would be interesting to follow up with those doctors to see what they are doing about all this now.
', u'post_id': 5461, u'user_id': 2915, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-15 17:32:18', u'title': u'BBC Frontline Documentary on Two UK Doctors Helping Refugees'}, {u'content': u'OpenCare Kick-off Meeting
\n\nFebruary, 25th 2016, Brussels
\n\n| Institution | Name |
| University of Bordeaux (UBx) | Luce Chiodelli Guy Melan\xe7on Adeline Barre Olga Ivanova |
| Edgeryders (ER) | Alberto Cottica Nadia El-Imam Noemi Salantiu Ezio Manzini John Coates Sam Muirhead |
| WeMake (WM) | Costantino Bongiorno Zoe Romano Cristina Martellosio Elisabetta Mori Alessandro |
| SCImPULSE Foundation (SF) | Marco Manca Massimo Mercuri |
| Stockholm School of Economics (EHFF) | Erik Lakomaa Tino Sanadaji |
| Comune di Milano | Rossana Torri |
Source: https://edgeryders.eu/en/groups/opencare/february-25th-first-consortium-meeting-a-proposed
\n\nEpic goals - Introduction by Alberto (ER)
\n\n\n\nReview of proposal objectives - as expected by the EC because listed in the DoA and real objectives of the OpenCare project:
\n\nHigh-impact paper on community-driven care & welfare reform
\n\n-> wikinomics -> book? -> Influencing the world
\n\n+ Spin-off of the project -> OpenCare clinic?
\n\n+ Introduction of the hackers\u2019 culture into EU research projects
\n\nLearn by doing to deploy collect intelligence to design care services
\n\nEC interest in funding the programme -> how to summon collective intelligence for policy-making
\n\n-> Provide a scenario on a realistic scale
\n\n-> Software stack
\n\nUse hackers as a model \u2013 why?
\n\n1. Low-level of formality between partners
\n\n2. Written communication \u2013 traces of conversations easy to find and collect
\n\n3. Avoid e-mail for transparency and common knowledge (sharing experiences)
\n\n4. Skype meetings every 2 weeks \u2013 to be confirmed
\n\n5. Everything except private information shall be posted on the forum = we have to think about the way we communicate online.
\n\nPartners shall use the online forum but also organize it, using tags/subgroups.
\n\nPossible to uncheck the groups for which partners receive notifications, if they wish to make it stop.
\n\nTools, procedures: project management - by Luce (UBx)
\n\n\n\nDetailed information on grant management in the powerpoint presentation held by UBx.
\n\nPartners mostly beginners with EU research projects (all partners except UBx + Comune di Milano)
\n\nUBx engages to:
\n\nSurvival kit to the EC requirements (coming soon \u2013 draft to be revised)
\n\n+ Time sheets examples
\n\n+ Template of a Data Management Plan as provided by H2020
\n\n+Gantt with deliverables
\n\nAlberto (ER) will take care of the DMP update for submission in June 2016.
\n\n\uf0e0 EC template posted in the GDocs
\n\nEC review: could be organized in October / November in Lisbon (information given by Loretta).
\n\nTo be organized in Brussels with the PO + expert evaluator of the EC
\n\nEthics \u2013 by Marco (SF)
\n\n\n\nScimpulse Foundation = Responsible for ethics.
\n\nSelf-evaluation form - Objectives: keep it as lean and understandable as possible, while keeping it legally viable.
\n\nTransparent and dynamic solution that would preserve the community ownership of the conversation/information space.
\n\nSecurity of data \u2013 by Alberto (ER)
\n\n\n\n- Data storage: on the ER server located in Germany
\n\n- Data secured through https
\n\n- Matthias = contact person.
\n\nSensitive data will be put on a specific server - diagram of the process to be sent by Marco.
\n\nPrevious information on the topic posted by Alberto on the ER online forum:
\n\nSource: https://edgeryders.eu/en/opencare/task-6025 (Let Marco know about privacy and data protection on Edgeryders)
\n\nComune di Milano \u2013 by Rossana Torri
\n\n\n\nDetailed information in the powerpoint presentation held by Comune di Milano.
\n\n\xa0
\n\nCity of Milan aims at developing business models:
\n\nOpenCare within the framework of Welfare di Tutti -> Milan local incentive.
\n\nCity of Milan is associated with WeMake as local pilots for empowering people -> include group of citizens to help them become protagonists of the project
\n\nPortal by Comune di Milano -> WEMI (Welfare di Milano)
\n\n\xa0
\n\nCity of Milan -> engages local users as a specific task. Active communities already involved and used to collaborate to tell about needs of care -> strongly embedded in specific areas of Milan
\n\nGive support to existing networks of care -> towards development of new community-driven social care
\n\nLocation for implementation: Villa Pallavicini - Culture and social issues center. Italian language courses, bike classes, prepare driving licenses (from users\u2019 demands).
\n\n\xa0
\n\nHow to engage people?
\n\nJanuary to June 2016 -> engaging 2 to 3 communities for workshops
\n\n2 co-design sessions with people from these communities to make heterogeneous groups (students, hackers, social workers) to have feedback also from other participants
\n\n-> will help select ideas for prototyping
\n\n\xa0
\n\nMain goals:
\n\n\xa0
\n\n\xa0
\n\nWeMake \u2013 by Zoe and Costantino
\n\n\n\n\xa0
\n\nDetailed information in the powerpoint presentation held by WeMake.
\n\nWeMake = lab for experimentation and innovation to build a new type of job.
\n\n\xa0
\n\nAims:
\n\n\xa0
\n\nDesign, prototyping, documenting
\n\nSharing documentation is caring and creating engagement through dissemination
\n\nDocumentation for WM is allowing people with no tech background to access technology
\n\nGraphics, schemes, videos, storytelling, images, etc.
\n\n\xa0
\n\nEpic goals:
\n\n\xa0
\n\nNext activities: warming up local communities, foster online discussions
\n\nCodesign sessions in May 2016
\n\n\xa0
\n\n\xa0
\n\n\xa0
\n\nDetailed information to be provided by EHFF (powerpoint presentation to be shared).
\n\n\xa0
\n\nPresentation of economic models related to health care industry \u2013 increase of health costs / increase of demand from population though apparent better efficiency at treating diseases.
\n\nNext consortium meeting 20th-21st of June?
\n\n\xa0
\n\nEdgeryders \u2013 by Nadia and Alberto
\n\n\n\n\xa0
\n\nMini-website for the project hosted by ER \u2013 almost complete, cache version on the ER servers during development.
\n\nImplementation soon (Feb/March 2016)
\n\n\xa0
\n\nQuestion of language and integration: local communities involved in the project (community around WeMake for ex.) are not necessarily familiar with English. How to integrate them into the community?
\n\n\xa0
\n\n\xa0
\n\nUniversity of Bordeaux \u2013 Scientific aspects by Guy
\n\n\n\n\xa0
\n\n\xa0
\n\n| Action to be taken | Partner in charge | Deadline |
| Scimpulse | February |
| Scimpulse | March |
| Edgeryders | March |
| Edgeryders | March |
| WeMake + Comune di Milano | March |
| UBx | March |
| UBx | March |
| UBx | March |
| UBx | March |
| EHFF and WeMake | March |
Upcoming deadlines (see DoA \u2013 Annex 1 GA)
\n\n\n\n| Milestone | MS14 | WP6 | SCImPULSE | Two ethics advisors appointed | Feb 2016 | Feb 2016 |
| Delivrable | D61 | WP6 | SCImPULSE | Consent funnel | March 2016 | March 2016 |
| Milestone | MS1 | WP1 | Edgeryders | Onboarding structure up and running | March 2016 | March 2016 |
| Milestone | MS5 | WP2 | Edgeryders | Conversation-ready online space | March 2016 | March 2016 |
| Milestone | MS15 | WP6 | SCImPULSE | Consent to participation and use of data approved and published | March 2016 | March 2016 |
[Moving forward with WP5 Tasks 5.2]
\n\nhttp://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/
\n\nWe have mentioned it would be interesting to provide sentiment analysis feedback to those who would monitor conversations taking place on the forum.
\n\nI am interested in finding an appropriate sentiment landscape, I thought the experiment by C. Healy would be worth trying. You enter words, the app scrapes twitter for you and then\xa0displays a cloudpoint (points correspond to tweets). Go play!
\n\nI am also interested in your feedback about the utility of such a viz. How would you intuitively use such a represntation? Just look at it? Drive the navigation between posts (here\xa0tweets) from that viz? Query the posts and get back to the authors\' neighborhood (in the crowd of all authors)? Etc.
', u'post_id': 5440, u'user_id': 2464, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-10 09:34:20', u'title': u'Sentiment analysis -- play the game'}, {u'content': u'1. Interoperable, adj. Capable of being used or operated reciprocally.
\n\nWhen two or more people understand what the other one is capable of doing, what they have the time and resources to do= legibility.\xa0 e.g. web services\xa0
\n\n1970\u2019s Protocol interoperability : formally defining machine protocols was very useful in the Bell labs environment.
\n\n- Parallels to protocol interoperability in meatspace is process. May be explicit or implicit. People have to agree on how they\u2019re going to do a thing if they\u2019re going to do it together, before they start doing.
\n\nIBM defined a hardware format for the PC - it was easy to copy. Apple has done the same, but tightly controls hardware, you cannot buy their components on the market.
\n\npart of what makes collaboration hard. It\u2019s not just what you say, it\u2019s also how your audience is primed to receive it.
\n\n- stuff mostly just works.\xa0 Dont have to look at a manual or look at the help.
\n\nDIGG: Pulled down post containing dvd encryption key. Community went nuts. - almost every post had the key pasted in it.
\n\nREDDIT: Firing of employee who ran AMA made users go beserk, users hit back by making content private.\xa0
\n\nHi all,
\n\nwe are excited and preparing last things for the press conference taking place on the 9th of March at 11am at Palazzo Marino (Milan's\xa0major palace) with Comune di Milano team and WeMake team.\xa0
\n\nAfter the event we're going to share a report here on Edgeryders.
\n\nbest
\n\nZoe
", u'post_id': 5431, u'user_id': 1442, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-08 22:42:01', u'title': u'Opencare Press Conference in Milan!'}, {u'content': u"Providing care is providing empowerment for you and the other, helping build steps to autonomy.
\n\nCommon experiences \u2013 if I have been through an experience, am I more equipped to support the other facing that experience?
\n\nThe connexion depends on each particular case \u2013 dependency? There is a very personal experience.\xa0 It is very different when your web of personal experiences are involved.\xa0
\n\nHave you ever been involved in a conversation or event where you solve all the challenges of the world (or at least the most important ones) - particularly late at night at the pub? Your head explodes with fireworks, you find all the solutions and you know exactly what to do - then you wake up the next morning and you\'ve forgotten everything?
\n\nHarvesting (which is a term from "The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter") is an attempt to collect and make sense of our collective conversation and the patterns that emerge from them. Documenting what you learned helps other participants, who either couldn\'t attend the very session, because they attend one happening parallely, and it lowers everyones fomo. And you create a lot of value for those who can\'t attend LOTE5 at all - how does that sound? So here we go ...
\n\n| Topic/ Session | Who\'s documenting | Where to find the notes/ video/ photo other material |
| Day 1 - Thursday | ||
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Preflections: Exploration into the social soil of LOTE5 - what brings you to Bxl? | Kaja | Why the hell am I going to Bxl? (discussion link so far, definite link with summary of answers will be provided later) |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Fuck up night Brussels, let\'s get into the groove! | \xa0 | Pictures album here on facebook and\xa0here. |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| whatever else you\'d like to document that happened on thursday (chose your own title and erase my blabber below) | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| possibility: pictures of what happened on thursday | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| possibility 2: my travel fails | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| possibility 3: what I learned already on day 1 and happily want to share with the LOTE crowd | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| etc. | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| LOTE5. First impressions. "Am I staying?" | Hannes | tbc |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Day 2 - Friday | ||
| Session | your name + contact | link to the material |
| C A R E | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| How to cope with meltdowns in communities (John Coate) | @Alberto | Hackpad\xa0 John\'s speaker notes |
| Collaborative inclusion. How migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. A reflexive design exercise. (Ezio Manzini et al.) | Evajoy | Hackpad: Collaborative inclusion Transferred on Edgeryders |
| Collaborative inclusion. Part 2 | @Merel | \xa0 |
| Collaborative inclusion. Part 3 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| OpenCare files: system failures in health and social care and how to go about it (tba) | @Nadia | Hackpad |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| F I N A N C E / C U L T U R E | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| unFailing Massive Collaboration: Open-Sourcing Everything\xa0 (Tom Markam) | @Darren | Hackpad |
| Interoperability Or Death? (Meredith Patterson) | @Nadia | \xa0 |
| How can we dare to fail more? workshop with Daniel Kerrigan | Evamus | Hackpad: How can we.. |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| D E V E L O P M E N T | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| The pedagogy of development in the Global South, workshop by Piotr Dzialak | @Briller_loin76 | to be determined |
| Failure of Israeli - Palestinian negotiations: the peace industry and the endless peace process, discussion with\xa0Omar Shehabi | Diana Dan | ? |
| unFailing to improve the refugee care system in Armenia, talk by Anna Kamay | @iriedawta | On Edgeryders platform |
| The Tyranny of Benevolence - Moving beyond charity based approaches in reception and inclusion of refugees\xa0 (Nadia EL-Imam | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Failures in development in Colombia - sneak preview and talk with the director\xa0(Jochem Casier) | Diana Dan Noemi | Hackpad\xa0(by N.) |
| Soir\xe9e Molenbeek | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| whatever else you\'d like to write about | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| please add your own title as in "what the birds told me on the way to the venue", "my interview with person X" or whatever | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Day 3 - Saturday | ||
| Session | your name + contact | link to the material |
| C A R E | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| MASTERS OF NETWORKS: NETWORKS OF CARE\xa0hackathon for network scientists, doctors and patients to make sense of collective intelligence using network science and data (Led by Guy Melan\xe7on and the University of Bordeaux) | @RossellaB https://edgeryders.eu/en/users/RossellaB | Hackpad: Masters of Networks |
| MASTERS OF NETWORKS | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| MASTERS OF NETWORKS | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Open Care Files | \xa0 | On Edgeryders |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| DEMOCRACY/FINANCE/CULTURE & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| The EU and its people: a failure in democracy, talk by Walter van Holst and Kirsten Fiedler | @wpet (Wolfgang) | \xa0 |
| Death and the organisation - stories from beyond the grave, sharing session with Patrick Andrews | @Kaja | to be defined |
| Fail lessons from European Capitals of Culture. An open discussion with Robert Palmer, Ilaria d\'Auria, Raluca Ciuta, Niall O\'Hara, Magda Bucur | Noemi, Alberto | Hackpad: unFailing European Capitals of Culture (includes unconference session) |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| D E V E L O P M E N T | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Let\u2019s build a damn dam! workshop by Piotr Dzialak | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Shark Infested Waters: Publicizing Failures in Development. Talk and discussion with Christine Pu | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Living in a megacity: Cairo as a patchwork of individual solutions. Workshop with Hegazy Mohamed | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Glocal bottlenecks in complementary currencies, panel discussion: Marek Hudon and representatives of Belgian sharing economy | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Disco Soup & Burn Your FuckUps | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Day 4 - Sunday | ||
| Storytelling workshop: Narratives of Care 2016\xa0(all day) \xa0 | Nadia, Pauline | On Edgeryders |
| more space for participants\' reflections of "Narratives of Care" | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| more space for participants\' reflections of "Narratives of Care" | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \'Destroy Your Idea - Can You Change Your Mind\u2019 workshop by Kira Van den Ende | Hannes | tbc, intenting to document one session \'properly\' |
| Failure in Doing Good - Effective Altruism\u2019 talk and workshop by Kris Martens, KULeuven | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| Distributed architectures for decentralized data governance | Fabrizio Sestini\xa0 | Post |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| LOTE5 - Eating McKinsey\'s Breakfast | Jimmy\'s personal reflections | Post |
| After \\#lote5: Where do we even begin to talk about failures in care? | Nadia\'s personal reflections | Post |
| "What was LOTE5 for me?" | Hannes | tbc |
| \xa0 | Merel | tbc |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
| \xa0 | \xa0 | \xa0 |
You will find out sooner or later, so I can as well tell you right away: I love questions and the power they carry. I thought the documentation/harvesting process could benefit from the following ones, before we dive deeper into "how? who? when?":
\n\nIn this wiki you will find some information (and a little instruction on how the data collection is going to be organised, please read below) about how we\'re going to capture what\'s going to happen in Brussels. Harvesting can happen on the level of creating a record or memory (the purpose of this wiki, mostly) - as well as looking for emerging patterns and meaning (will happen on site, primarily).
\n\nI\'m excited to harvest the crops we\'ve been tending to and will water and nurture in the course of the following weeks!
\n\nThe roles are suggestions. Find your own and preferred way to document - and let us participate in each others learnings! If you have an idea for another role - please share. This is just the beginning and I\'m eager for (and we are dependent on) your input.
*session journalist
\n\n(got it, he? You document one or several sessions that you attend. Everyone who couldn\'t come, but is interested in the material, will be a grateful bunny and love you forever.)
\n\n*day journalist, who captures the flow and what happened besides the sessions/talks
\n\n(This event isn\'t only about what\'s been talked about during the sessions. So much happens in between, and it would be wonderful to have a couple of people who would like to write a little bit about the flow of the day. Yes, it\'s cool to go back to the sessions\' material after some weeks, but it\'s also very valuable to read through the flow again and remember the moments in between. Isn\'t that what un-conferences are about ...?)
\n\n*photographer
\n\n*video journalist
\n\n*investigative interviewer of someone who caught your interest during the event
\n\nBios of participants will be made available on site. Pick someone and ask them what you\'d like to investigate on further. If you\'re into trying out something new: Pick someone you\'re least likely to talk to, normally.
\n\n*seekers for questions, patterns and nuggets\xa0
\n\nThe Art of Powerful Questions - very worth reading:\xa0click me!
\n\nIf you\'re in a hurry and just want an idea on the power of good questions:\xa0just a little something on questions\xa0
\n\n*whatever other way you\'re going to come up with and whatever you feel called to collect\xa0
\n\n(I have seen harvesting in form of poems, songs, best dirty jokes from the smokers corners ... whatever you find worth spreading / adding to the information pool / being remembered and carried forth. Remember to have fun and look for what inspires you. If you get bored by what you\'re documenting, you should probably pick another point to look from. Another question that really calls you. Something that iches and wants to be explored. Find your own point to look from and let us participate in what you see.)
\n\n1.\xa0attend LOTE.\xa0That would help.
\n\n2. takes notes/record things in whatever format that works for you best\xa0(written, pictures, video footage ...)
\n\n3. upload your harvest in whatever form you prefer:\xa0edgeryders.eu/lote5-doc
\n\nThe upside of creating a posting/document and link it:\xa0The discussion of the sessions can continue in the very thread, add their gold nuggets etc., so the pool of wisdom (ha, how does that sound?!) can potentially grow.\xa0If you document one of the sessions, please make sure the session title is also part of the post\xa0title.
\n\n4. document with others in realtime:\xa0lote5.hackpad.com/\xa0(you may need to create an account to see the full list of pads in the lote5 collaction)
\n\nIt can be tough for some people (like me) to juggle being fully present at the event and delivering the outcome asap. So don\'t stress out during LOTE itself. The goal would be to have the material uploaded until approx. 2 weeks after the event.
\n\nIf you\'d like to document a session (woohoooo!!), please add your name next to the session title. In case more session are being added and aren\'t on the wiki yet, add it! (if the wiki runs out of rows at some point and you don\'t know how to edit, give @Kaja a shout.)
\n\nIf you\'d like to document something that is no session, please find a title for it yourself, add it and also write down your name. This is not a binding contract. Play with it and be courageous. Add your shiny selves and dare to share your learnings. Worst case: You fail. Which would be good, especially if you share it, so the rest of us can get a bit of relief from our own fears of fucking things up. You\'d do me a favour, at least. And you\'d earn the courage crown!
Thank you for joining the documentation and harvesting team! It would be wonderful if you filled your name in as early as possible, so us documentation and reflection freaks can chill out about this. Thanks!
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', u'post_id': 5255, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-03 10:49:18', u'title': u'Documentation / harvesting of LOTE5: what? why? how?'}, {u'content': u'\n\n| In collaboration with: |  |
The migration issue is here to stay. Europe is the place-to-go for several millions of women and men. This will not change\xa0in the next decades. The challenge is to think about this not as a threat, but as an opportunity. That is, to imagine how migration can become a driver of innovation towards a younger, more dynamic, more cosmopolitan and, at the end of the day, more resilient Europe. \xa0\xa0
\n\nNo one knows whether, and how, this positive perspective could become real. The only wise move to do is to consider this broad view, i.e. the possibility of a new cosmopolitan Europe, as a design-orienting scenario: a shared vision on the basis of which to experiment local solutions, to discuss them and to use them to feed a broad social learning process. And this is what we attempt here.
\n\n"Collaborative inclusion" is a reflexive design exercise to explore how collaboration between migrants and residents can strengthen the social fabric. More precisely, we look at what kinds of collaborative services (intended as result-oriented collaborations among different actors) can produce social, cultural, economic value.
\n\nAnswering this question will lead us to another one: how to conceive and/or evaluate collaborative service capable to produce such multiple value? This reflexive design exercise adopts three simple evaluation criteria. A service is considered "better" when:
\n\nThese three criteria, which come from design for social innovation experiences in different fields of application, are quite simple. We suspect that most services deployed in Europe to dealing with migration fail all three, quite spectacularly.\xa0
\n\nWe only ask that participants do their best be critical, creative and committed.\xa0No specific information or competence on migration issue is required. We believe we all have firsthand experience at coming to terms with migration. Many of us are migrants (especially in Brussels!); the others are part of host communities. We are all citizen experts. Additionally, some of us have extra skills (design) or experiences (hosting newcomers in their homes). We specifically welcome:
\n\nWe already have some participants in all these categories, but the more the better!
\n\nWhen, where and how to participate
\n\nCollaborative inclusion is part of the Living On The Edge 5 community gathering. It takes place on February 26th 2016 in Brussels, at SmartBE. To participate, click the "Attend" button on the top right if the page, then download the Notes for Participants and have a look at them before the event.\xa0
\n\nBackground notes: designing for social innovation
\n\nDesign question: given European problems and the way they are perceived in Europeans\u2019 everyday life, how migrants can be part of these same problems solution? How can migrants and other resident actors collaborate to improve their quality of the life?
\n\nHypothesis: In the complexity of the present society we can already find promising examples of migrants-residents collaboration: collaborative initiatives demonstrating how the search of migrants\u2019 inclusion can be turned in a collaborative service, and therefore, in the exploration of new ways of living and working.\xa0
\n\nMethodology: The exercise is in two steps: (1) to consider and discuss a number of promising examples, and (2) to improve them and/or use them as triggers for brand new proposals.\xa0
\n\nSpecificity: We build on our previous experience in design for social innovation, and aim to verify its usefulness in creating value for both the migrants and the whole society. This leads us to work in three main directions, that translate into three main criteria for the conception and evaluation of the services the group will come up with:\xa0
\n\nThe aim of the workshop is not to invent new solutions (it will be impossible to do it in a serious way in this context) but to start form some existing promising practices, to imagine and present ideas and actions to amplify their potentialities.
\n\nWhere:
\n\nIdeas and actions means everything can be conceived in terms of communication, services, places, events and performances that could give that specific practice, and its produced values more visibility and/or that could produce for that same practice, or for other similar ones, a more supportive environment\xa0
\n\nThe workshop is organised in three moments:
\n\nA facilitator will help each working group for extra speed, fluidity and fun. Each group will work on one promising case study of a service for refugees and migrants. Given this, each group\xa0outline one or more ideas/actions to amplify its potentialities. The focus can be on:
\n\nExpected results for workgroups are:
\n\nActivities of working groups activity will be divided into three phases:
\n\nPhase 1: Understanding and representing (the case, its actors and its values)
\n\nPhase 2: Generating ideas (on how to give visibility and support to the case)
\n\nPhase 3: Making visible (producing communicative artefacts to present the group results)
\n\nEach participant is invited:
\n\nReading the references is not obligatory at all! But it may help you to get into the flow and enjoy it more.
\n\nDesign&society:
\n\nMigration&innovation:
\n\nFeel free to suggest more!\xa0
\n\nContact alberto [at] edgeryders [dot] eu if you want to join the team.
\n\nTickets for this event do not cost money, but you need to complete some small tasks. It\'s easy!\xa0
\n\nIf you don\'t already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here:\xa0http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ
Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come!
Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket!
When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket
Khalas! See you at the workshop
Date: 2016-02-26 10:00:00 - 2016-02-26 16:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5196, u'user_id': 3045, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-07 10:13:30', u'title': u'Collaborative inclusion: how migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. A reflexive design exercise'}, {u'content': u'On February 28, we came together in Brussels for the first Narratives of Care Storytelling workshop.
\n\nWhat started with a simple question which developed into deep conversations that are still ongoing days after everyone went home.\xa0Pauline kindly contributed her notes from the discussions and I uploaded them here. Also Ezio summarised his own reflections around care from a different, but related, discussion here.
\n\nFrom the different conversations I draw the conclusion that a big part of building effective storytelling for our individual care-related initiatives is designing contexts for care that work for us. As care givers and receivers:
\n\nHow to do this effectively? Is it the same for regardless of which kind of initiative you are communicating around, or not? Are there significant cultural differences around care and communication that need to be taken into account or no?
\n\nThis brunch is an opportunity to research and prototype answers to these questions\xa0 together in a nice and relaxed environment with delicious things to eat!
\n\nBring yourself, your project and anyone you want to invite along. Just let me know a day in advance so I can plan for enough food :))
\n\nDate: 2016-03-12 11:00:00 - 2016-03-12 11:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5408, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-03 17:51:54', u'title': u'Narratives of Care: Op3n Brunch in Brussels'}, {u'content': u'On February 28, we came together in Brussels for the first Narratives of Care Storytelling workshop.
\n\nWhat started with a simple question developed into deep conversations that are still ongoing days after everyone went home.\xa0Pauline kindly contributed her notes from the discussions and I uploaded them here,\xa0 Ezio Manzini summarised his own reflections around care from a different, but related, discussion here.
\n\nFrom the different conversations I draw the conclusion that a big part of designing narratives is designing contexts for care that work for us. As care givers and receivers.
\n\nHow to do this effectively?Is it the same for regardless of which kind of initiative you are communicating around, or not? Are there significant cultural differences around care and communication that need to be taken into account or no?
\n\nThis brunch is an opportunity to research and prototype this together in a nice and relaxed environment with delicious things to eat
Date: 2016-03-12 11:00:00 - 2016-03-12 11:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5406, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-03 16:17:29', u'title': u'Narratives of Care: Op3n Brunch in Brussels'}, {u'content': u'\n\n\nThis is pretty amazing: an entire open source\xa0ecosystem, from sensors to apps to insulin, emerging from patients.\xa0
\n\nWhere do we want to store all this stuff?
', u'post_id': 5392, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-01 16:55:59', u'title': u'Hacking diabetes'}, {u'content': u'https://www.youtube.com/embed/2-9z0i5fuvE?rel=0
\n\nCare happens in networks.\xa0People take care of each other. They seek advice, medical help and moral support from each other. They exchange knowledge and share resources. They meet, interact, and work together.\xa0And, of course, no human can live well if he or she disconnects from the fabric of society at large (in recent times, care also happened in big bureaucracies, but that approach has issues. Here we look for something better).
\n\nWe think that this ceaseless exchange is collective intelligence at work.\xa0Network analysis is a useful tool to understand this process, and perhaps find ways to improve upon it. Thinking in networks\xa0is a great way to generate fresh, relevant questions.\xa0How do you know your network is going in the right direction? What is a \u201cdirection\u201d in this context? Is everyone following the same path? Do people group into sub-communities? What are the focus of these (sub) communities?\xa0
\n\nWe come together to find out how networked humans can better take care of each other.\xa0
\n\nTo do this, we study result-oriented conversations. Conversations are networks: people are its nodes, and the exchanges are its links. It you don\'t believe us,\xa0click here to explore the Edgeryders conversation network (allow a few seconds for the data to download). But conversations are networks also in another sense: each exchange contains some concepts. Example of concepts useful in care are: well-being, syringe, diabethes, fitness, prosthetics, etc. We can represent concept in a conversation as a network. Concepts themselves are its nodes; two concepts are linked if\xa0they are in the same exchange.\xa0
\n\nPerson-to-person conversation networks tell us who is talking to whom. Are there individuals who act as "hubs"? Why? Can we use hubs to improve the process, for example asking them to spread important knowledge?\xa0
\n\nConcept-to-concept conversation networks tell us how the different concepts connect\xa0to each other. Are there surprises? Do apparently unrelated concepts tend to come up in the same exchanges? Anomalies might mean something interesting is going on. In fact, spotting anomalies is how John Snow\xa0invented epidemiology in 1854.\xa0
\n\nThe fascinating part is this: by looking at the network, we can extract information that no individual in the network has. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Collective intelligence!\xa0
\n\nWe look at conversation data taken from Edgeryders and\xa0build them into a network. We use open source software for network analysis. We then visualize\xa0and\xa0interrogate the network to see what we can learn. Our final aim is to prototype methodologies for extracting collective intelligent outcomes from conversations.
\n\nOne great output from the workshop would be to unleash our imagination, and\xa0specify design & requirements:
\n\nThe workshop is a unique opportunity to have a design participatory workshop -- we want it to be a source of inspiration to design and build the next generation EdgeSense dashboard!
\n\nWho should come
\n\nMasters of Networks is open to all, and especially friendly to beginners. Patients, network scientists, doctors, hackers and so on all have something to contribute. But in the end\xa0we are all experts in this domain. We all\xa0give and receive care\xa0in the course of our lives, and all humans are expert conversationalists. \xa0There\'s an extra bonus for beginners: networks are easy to visualize. And when you visualize them, as we will, they are\xa0often beautiful and intuitive.\xa0
\n\nTrust us. We have done this before (check out the video above).
\n\nWe have a dataset drawn from a large conversation that took place on the Edgeryders platform in 2014. It consists of 161 posts and 910 comments, authored by 128 different people. All posts and comments have been annotated by a professional ethnographer. This leaves us with an ontology of relevant concepts: we can use it to build the network.\xa0
\n\nThat\xa0conversation was not about care. We will need to be clever, and use different data to figure out a methodology to apply to a future conversation about care.\xa0
\n\nThe agenda is simple:
\n\nVisualization challenge. Create informative and beautiful visualizations starting from our data. Skills needed: design, dataviz, netviz. Coordinator: @melancon (you can call me Guy)
\n\nInterpretation challenge. How many conclusions and hypotheses can we "squeeze" from the data? Skills needed: social research, ethnography, network science. Coordinator: @Noemi?
\n\n
Quality challenge. Can we think of simple criteria to filter the data for the highest-quality content only (eg: only posts with a minimum number of comments, or of minimum length)? Does the filtering change the results? Coordination: @Alberto
\n\nAnd more. But we insist that every group has a coordinator, who takes responsibility for driving it, sharing the relevant material (examples: software libraries, notes for participants, pseudo code...). If we only have two coordinators, we\'ll only have two groups. If you think you can lead a group, get in touch with us!
\n\nMasters of Networks 4: Networks of Care is part of LOTE5. It takes place on Saturday, 27th February 2016 at Brussels Art Factory, SmartBE. Sign up by clicking the "attend button. Leave a comment below to let us know what your skills are, we\'ll put them to good use! We particularly need people to help us with the documentation of what is done.
\n\nHave a look at Detangler, and play with the map just to get a feeling of what can be done. If you have questions, write them as comments to this post.\xa0
\n\nA project called OpenCare will convene a large-scale conversation about care. The work in OpenCare will make good use of the insights generated during Networks of Care.
\n\nDate: 2016-02-27 08:30:00 - 2016-02-27 08:30:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
', u'post_id': 5260, u'user_id': 2464, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-03 18:22:35', u'title': u'Masters of Network 4: Networks of Care'}, {u'content': u'Imported from the hackpad:\xa0https://lote5.hackpad.com/SAT-0930-1045-MASTERS-OF-NETWORKS-NETWORKS-OF-CARE-hackathon-for-network-scientists-doctors-and-patients-to-make-sense-o-vxaFSnxaNTg. Thanks to all note takers, especially Rossella B.
\n\nThis is the main conversation\xa0
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/en/lote5/masters-of-network-4-networks-of-care
\n\nYou can download Tulip from here
\n\nhttp://tulip.labri.fr/TulipDrupal/
\n\nYou can download the data file here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7HgdYQcOLwncWhwQ3lKdmZXMmM/view
\n\nThe data we have are about edgeryders users, which posts they posted and who reacted\xa0
\n\nwe want to see how they interact, so we want to link them to one another
\n\nIf you click on "user to post" in tulip, you see emphasized the users that have written the original post, and which posts they wrote, linked to that user.
\n\nIf you click on one of the posts you see information about the post, the text, the date, the title, plus some information that is internal to the software and is not so interesting for us.
\n\nEdgeryders supports in-platform etnographic tagging. Ethnography is a qualitative method to analyze texts and attach tags to the texts that represent what the text says. The tags have to be standardized, so different researchers can be consistent in the use.\xa0
\n\nIn the past ethnographic researches where limited because it was costly to gather the texts via interviews and transcripts. They are not statistically representative.
\n\nEdgeryders supports in-platform etnographic tagging. Of course, most content in Edgeryders is NOT ethnographically tagged: ethnography is expensive, and we only do it as part of contracts in which ethnography is used to lift collective expert advice from the conversation.
\n\nOnline the texts are already written, so they don\'t need to be transcribed, and the ethnographers\' codes can be kept together with the texts.
\n\nThese tags are composed of super-classes (f.i. "Topic" or "Place") and they can be nested, and for each super-class you can entry different values (f.i. "Charity" or "Cairo").
\n\nAn example: the users writes "Our task will be to explore how we may then model interaction beween users," -> the ethnographer attaches the tag "interaction" . This tag is added in the html code of the platform, directly linked to the original text.
\n\nWhen this happens, a semantic layer is added to Edgeryders content. \xa0We can add semantics to the social network representation of the Edgeryders conversation: not just "who is talking to whom", but, adding semantics, "who is talking to whom about what".
\n\nOn Edgeryders, the ethnographic data are linked to other kind of data, like the profile of the users (age, location etc), the circumstances surrounding the text. We have these ethnographer-coded data only for a specific conversation (because we had financing to gather it). We want to do this again in Open Care.
\n\nOf course you do not have all the information about the context of a conversation, for instance you don\'t know what happened besides the online platform. We will still miss a lot, and make misinterpretations.
\n\nQuestion (Ezio Manzini): what is the object that you are observing? Is it a conversation on Open Care or is it a conversation on Open Care in the context of the Edgeryders platform, and such and such.
\n\nA problem about "large scale conversations": a large number of users does not imply that many people will participate in the conversation. In the course of a EU project called CATALYST we learned that almost no threads have more than 10 participants, even in "large communities" like Loomio, with 10K users.
\n\nWe should rephrase the question says Ezio, one that is more precisely the question that can be answered by this tool. Yes, but we need to use the tool to discover the question. You have some questions and in the process you will discover more questions.
\n\nWe have users who initiate posts and reply to posts with comments. We have ethnographers who will tag some of the texts. We want to discover how people interact and what the conversations will be about.
\n\nWhen you click
\n\nHere you an see if a tag was interesting and if it was important. When people share something or comment is a different thing. Relevance can become important as well. (This previous has to do with sentiment analysis) But it is not the core of what we want to do in Open Care. It can be important to single out the people who talk about a topic.
\n\nidealistic idea of human interaction. Deep conversation, rather than big data.
\n\nUser-to-tags networks are not easy to interpret. Guy and Benjamin Renoust introduced semantic edges show me only the edges that include "real action" as tag. another idea is visualising two networks, one of people to people and one of tags to tags. if you \'lasso" a topic you sese the network of people who talked about it. if you lasso two topics you see the people who talked about either (but you can switch view and see who talked about both). if the people have been talking to each other about the tag then the edge becomes red as well, otherwise only the node. If you select a user you can see the tags he\'s been talking about.
\n\nIn this version of the network, people are connected if one of them reacts to the other\'s post of comment. If someone reacts to a comment to somebody\'s else\'s post, then he\'ll be connected to the author of the comment but not to the author of the post. It is possible with these data to make different choices.\xa0
\n\nStart from a tag, say "open-source software" and
\n\nThe present data are "post-mortem" of the conversation. The ideal situation is to be able to analyze the conversation with this tool almost "real-time", let\'s say on a daily basis. This, however, has the problem that ethnographic research does not really work that way: ethnographers find it easier to maintain consistency if they work in batch.\xa0
\n\nGuy: The tool could influence people to do more if it was available. It can be a user tool, besides a research tool. Alberto: However the Edgesense tool was made available to the community, and there do not seem to be that many people looking at it.
\n\nhttps://edgeryders.eu/sites/all/modules/contrib/edgesense/static/dashboard.html
\n\nThe color coding are the nodes that are more connected to each other that to other members of the group. If you are very active you have "your own" group. For instance Noemi, her group is not exactly a star but very central.
\n\nThe links are directional: two nodes can be linked by two curved lines, one from node a to node b, the other in the opposite direction.
\n\nYou \xa0can show by degree (number of connections), select only the edges that link to and from the moderators. You can also hide them and see that the network is still holding. Some people fall out, but the giant component remains.
\n\nThis example also helps clarify Ezio\'s question above. What is the question that this network representation can answer? The sociology of the network. It helps manage the group. The network we saw on Tulip, it might be worth spending some time to find a bridge between what the tool can do, and the general question "what is open care". IN which ways can it be helpful?
\n\nThis network is updated real-time. What would be a proper time frame for a semantic coding? The coding needs some consistency. So the ethnographer will say you make a conversation and then we tag it. The project on open care does not include a real-time semantic coding. That is a lot of work and would be a big addition to the project, needing its own financing.
\n\nKeywords. Quality tracking. Network authoritativeness. You could use the latter to filter what the ethnographer has to code, so the method becomes scalable. Not by using robots (not working with ethnography) but because you use network math to filter the content.
\n\nAuthor generated tags can work if implemented with auto-prompting and proper incentives, Harry Halpin has published on this about Delicious. Ethnography would not agree, Alberto believes., we can\'t trust it, although we can try it. But the added values is in small numbers, because then it can be used by smaller communities as well.\xa0
\n\nEzio: the tool also needs to help develop some intervention. For instance spotting the emergent group of experts could be a useful intervention for the Comune di Milano. We need to develop a narrative like that about the tool we saw in Tulip for Open Care. Alberto believes he has a narrative, a strong hypothesis. Collective intelligence. Small scale collective intelligence. Problems are local, resources are local. So if we have a permanent think-tank on a platform and a cheap way to harvest from it, then we have a tool for a local community to use. You can identify the emergent groups of experts on specific topics and look at them rather than having to make a large scale study.\xa0
\n\nInstead of going up, going big I\'m trying to go down, go deep, focus on a small group of people, without drawing a line around them (because then you\'d loose the openness).
\n\nEzio: I\'ve never posted. It would be different if someone would ask around if they have something to say. Now I am here and I talk to people, I feel committed. But now I understand that we have to write because if we talk now we cannot register what we say. Alberto: This is the open. You commit to make the things you said available to people you did never even meet.
\n\nEzio: we are collectively writing a document. You should know who the contributors are. At a certain point, you can say this is the book we wrote and these people wrote. The way this book was written has made it possible to work in a certain way. Alberto: yes, in the end, the ethnographic report will say we had these number of people and...\xa0
\n\nEzio: if I want to participate I have to write and I have to be very attentive. Alberto: you can also choose to be a marginal author, just have a role along the side. And you still are a coauthor. Also the cook who made the lunch at the Lote5 meeting mattered in the making of the book.
\n\nEzio: co-design process. These tools could be part of the solution. We are now a network and there could then be a network of nurses doctors etc. This discussion can in a similar way happen among care-givers? Costantino: the conversation will not be the result of this group, but of a larger group. But the network of care-givers might be not committed, skilled, or motivated to use an online tool.\xa0
\n\nAs an example it is possible to use the results of the ethnographic study to feed the discussion at the Comune di Milano. Alberto: Ideally you bridge across. Costantino: this is the hard part. If the discussion is not well documented and published in the coming days, then the online community will miss it. And viceversa. So the tricky part is right here. How can we bring them across each other. In terms of artifact, in terms of codesign, our committment is to at least make transparent what are the needs of the people that we are meeting, how are the codesign sessions organised. Upload the design of a artifact online so that other people can contribute. Many levels: design, conversation... We are going far beyojnd ER as it was right now. We are not only creating a book or a report we are also committed to create real prototypes. So we need to go one step forward, so that we have the tools to manage not only the online conversation but also the other levels. But the online conversation is key to all this.
\n\nAlberto: we are not trying to invent a new methodology, just trying to do it well. The online community is key because of permanency, findability, linkability...
\n\nA discussion about Wikipedia, the major difficulty is that we do not own that platform so we can\'t control. I\'m in a village and need info, i go to wikipedia, and ER might use that.\xa0
\n\nYou can\'t brief too much in terms of what will emerge in terms of design.\xa0
\n\nPeople in Milano have clear problems: Where do I leave my kids. You try to solve, and the solutions kind of work and we try to use this process to make it better.
\n\nThe process that we are following here is not the prototype. The prototype we talk about is some care solution. Online the local problem in Milano goes global and someone from France can intervene in the conversation. The prototyping part is in Milan, but care issues are similar all over the world.\xa0
\n\nIn the Spot the Future project we saw the the international interaction was very valuable. The capability of transferring the knowledge by solutions found abroad to other context is exactly the point that makes it possible to finding new solutions.
\n\nTwo groups: quality of data and Wikipedia data
\n\nWe used Tulip and Detangler to explore a semantic network dataset similar to the one that will be used for Open Care. We filter our data according to two proxies for quality:
\n\nThe hypothesis is that the reduced semantic social networks would not be much different from the non-reduced ones. If that is confirmed, the methodology is scalable: if you get a ton of content, just filter it for quality, and work only on the top-quality 15%.\xa0
\n\nWe walked through the exercise and found that our reducing code works. However, we found inconsistencies in the data (many comments and posts with apparently no text \u2013 though, when we checked them on the Edgeryders platform, of course the text was there!). We do not feel confident to draw any conclusion. The group resolved to redo the exercise starting from a fresh extraction. Guy Melan\xe7on is taking the lead for this.\xa0
\n\nWe made a sketch of a graphic representation of the medical articles on wikipedia in all languages. The larger the node, the more often a page has been visited and links represent the hyperlinks between pages. We use this representation to explore the data and look at emerging patterns. For instance we will compare the structure of the networks in the different language to see if there might be cultural or geographical properties that can lead to interesting research questions.
\n\nThe code for the Wikipedia session can be found here: https://github.com/spaghetti-open-data/visualizing-self-diagnosis
', u'post_id': 5403, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-03-03 14:07:54', u'title': u'Documentation | MASTERS OF NETWORKS: NETWORKS OF CARE'}, {u'content': u'\n\nIn any community, conflict is inevitable.\xa0It can be destructive or it can be an opportunity.\xa0
\n\nHow a group, and the individuals in it, deal with conflict is often the difference between the kind of breakthroughs that make a community stronger or the kind of meltdowns that turn an endeavor into a \u201clate great.\u201d\xa0In this session we\u2019ll explore how to cope with meltdowns to optimize opportunities and avoid self-destruction.
\n\nThis Keynote will be held by\xa0John Coate, an original member of the Farm community (Wikipedia), the largest and most successful hippy commune ever (still in existence, and doing great, though it is now a cooperative rather than a collective). Because of his experience at community organising, he was recruited into the WELL, Stewart Brand\'s and Larry Brilliant\'s groundbreaking virtual community \u2013 and so became the world\'s first professional online community manager. He then went on to found and direct SF Gate, the world\'s first big city news website. Later still, he moved on, becoming Development Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and on again.
\n\nHow you can register for this session
\n\nThis session takes place at 9:15 AM on Friday, February 26th.\xa0
\n\nIf you don\'t already have one, sign up for an edgeryders account here:\xa0http://bit.ly/1SKCYtZ
Leave a comment below to introduce yourself and let us know you want to come!
Someone will say hello and suggest some small tasks you should complete for a ticket! When you finish the tasks, we will send you the ticket.
See you at the workshop
Image Credit: Photographer unknown, sourced from this site.
\n\nDate: 2016-02-26 09:15:00 - 2016-02-26 10:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.
\n\nURL: http://johncoate.com
', u'post_id': 5139, u'user_id': 2915, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-28 16:34:47', u'title': u'How to Cope With Meltdown in Communities'}, {u'content': u'Narrative: OpenCare
\n\nWe meet a number of credible, committed and qualified people taking responsibility for fixing problems. Each presents how they are dealing with a (problematic) situation related to health- and social care, science and technologies and or communities.
\n\nForeground: Text- Full Name, Professional title and organisational affiliation, Country (location, not nationality)
\n\nVoiceover:
\n\n1. Meet [name of person].
\n\n2. He/She is a [professional role/title/identity].
\n\n3. That means he/she does a,b,c and helps you to avoid e,f,g.
\n\n4. [Name of person] is currently in situation h : e.g. "Marie has a pacemaker due to a genetic condition"
\n\n5. He/She has discovered that [ alarming or surprising thing]
\n\n6. [Name of person] is asking [some question relevant to opencare: e.g. in marie\'s case it is "What is the social contract for the code running in our bodies?"
\n\nWhat\'s your story- maybe you have questions you would like to explore with others ?
\n\nMeet [Name of Person] and the rest of the OpenCare community at www.opencare.cc
\n\nVoice over: They see a number of trends which together form future we are ill-equipped to deal with. For most of humanity\'s history, care services \u2013 which today we call health and social care \u2013 were provided by communities: family members, friends and neighbours would check on each other to make sure everyone was fine, keep an eye on each other\'s children or elderly parents, even administer simple medical treatments. Starting from the second half of the 20th century, developed countries switched to systems where the care providers were professionals, working for the government and modern corporations.
\n\nThis new solution has achieved brilliant results, based on the deployment of scientific knowledge and technology. However, over the past 20 years it has come under growing strain:
\n\n- Trend 1: the demand for professional care (health care, social care, daycare for children, care for elderly people\u2026) seems limitless, but the resources our economies allocate to it clearly are not.
\n\n- Trend 2: many attempts to rationalise the system and squeeze some extra productivity out of it seems to dehumanise people in need of care, who get treated as batches in a manufacturing process.
\n\n- Trend 3: Privacy and security concerns in the age of ubiquotous connectivity. Increasingly intimate data generated about us and shared beyond our control, or that of the institutions meant to protect our rights.
\n\nAnimation: current situations --- current ways of doing things-----> current (negative) futures.
\n\nWhat if we could come up with a system that combines the access to modern science and technology of state- and private sector-provided care to the low overhead and human touch of community-provided care? This is what they, and thousands of others are setting out to do.
\n\nNew knowledge, prototypes and economic models.
\n\nAnimation: current situation ---OpenCare-----> closer to ideal futures via these steps (on a staircase):
\n\nOutreach and exchange of experiences
Collaborative sense making
Narrative building
Prototyping and testing
Prizes 6. Exhibition and Summit
Voice over (describing each step of staircase):
\n\nOutreach and exchange of experiences: It all starts with an invitation for you and others around the world to share personal experiences, observations and examples on the challenge topic. You will share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health-or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care.
\n\nCollaborative sense making: Once the the goals of OpenCarers, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of (wiki-style) collaborative writing of the OpenCare fund mission and guidelines. This phase links OpenCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals. This strategy ensures that both are firmly grounded in real-life, first-person experiences.
\n\nProject Narrative and calls to action: We collaboratively synthesise the results of our sense making into a narrative structure for OpenCare, that is going to set the scene for our interactions with one another. This includes co-designing a fair social contract and ethical guidelines for members. It also includes defining role structures (for example: participants can register as \u201ctrailblazers\u201d sharing stories or \u201cmentors\u201d that help making sense of it), motivational engines (for example: badges, karma points or other forms of recognition for active users), strategic partnerships, style and aesthetics.
\n\nPrototyping and testing: t.b.d
\n\nPrizes: t.b.d
\n\nExhibition and Summit: #lote 6 takes place in September 2017, in Milan.
\n\nVoice over and text: To learn more about OpenCare and how you can be a part of it, go to www.opencare.cc or write to community@edgerders.eu
\n\nNeed to be revosed to give us the right material for script above!
\n\nYou can get an inside view of the OpenCare European funded project (2016-2017). There is a\xa0discussion group where the curators\xa0coordinate work, organise, plan, evaluate and so on. Anyone is welcome to join. To visit or participate go here.
\n\nOPENandChange\xa0|\xa0August-September 2016: we\xa0have applied for the 100 million dollar grant with a \u201cdecentralized application\u201d, with hundreds of communities, and organizations large and small, a swarm\xa0of solution providers working on a cloud of problems related to the provision of health and social care.
\n\nFellowships for Storytelling | April-November 2016:\xa0we have supported 20 community members to editorialize their experiences of care and share them on the opencare platform.
\n\nThe original proposal | Find it here. OpenCare is firmly committed to radical openness, so we are publishing our winning proposal under a\xa0Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
\n\nDesign Materials |\xa0Visuals\xa0-\xa0Logos, Banners, Headers, Videos for OpenCare Research Project
\n\nFocus stories\xa0by community members | Care by communities: Greece\'s shadow zero-cash health care system,\xa0The Regeneration of Meaning\xa0and Living Social in Brussels- Coliving\xa0as a lifestyle for adults
\n\nHow-to Guides | Guide for building the OpenCare online community\xa0(by Edgeryders), opencare Playbook: a practical guide for emphatic explorers\xa0(by WeMake)
\n\nMedia articles | An ongoing reading list
\n\nSocial OpenCare |\xa0on facebook \xa0| on twitter | on Pinterest | newsletter
\n\nAnderson, C. (2012). Makers: the new industrial revolution. Random House.
\n\nBarab\xe1si, A. L., & Albert, R. (1999). Emergence of scaling in random networks. science, 286(5439), 509-512.
\n\nBerg, J. E., & Rietz, T. A. (2003). Prediction markets as decision support systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 5(1), 79-93.
\n\nBogost, I. (2007). Mobile persuasion: 20 perspectives on the future of behavior change (Vol. 1). B. J. Fogg, & D. Eckles (Eds.). Standford, CA: Stanford Captology Media.
\n\nBorgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009). Network analysis in the social sciences. Science, 323(5916), 892-895.
\n\nBurt, R. S. (2009). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Harvard university press.
\n\nByko, Maureen (2004). "SpaceShipOne, the Ansari X Prize, and the materials of the civilian space race." JOM Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society 56.11 (2004): 24-28.
\n\nCottica, A. (2010). Wikicrazia: l\'azione di governo al tempo della rete: capirla, progettarla, viverla da protagonista. Navarra.
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', u'post_id': 5373, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-23 13:15:21', u'title': u'OpenCare Resources'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 5223, u'user_id': 3027, u'timestamp': u'2016-01-25 22:54:38', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Op3nCare is an open collaboration platform hosted by Edgeryders. Join our global community to make health- and social care open source, privacy-friendly and participatory.\xa0
\n\nOp3nCare\'s vision is to deploy collective intelligence to the problem of designing care services by communities, for communities. This mean blurring the distinction between researchers, designers, caregivers and care receivers. \xa0
\n\nConsistently with this vision, the Op3nCare consortium has decided to make its own meetings open for anyone interested to participate. The ethos is "one day of talking, one day of doing": for every day spent on administration issues, we are setting aside another day to do hands-on stuff like design workshops, network data analysis, or hardware hacking, with doors thrown wide open. Additionally, we\xa0intend to use our meetings to partner up with, and contribute to, events organised by existing communities already working on care, collective intelligence, open source hardware and software hacking.\xa0We are aware that this marks a clean break with the tradition of closed-doors consortium meetings in European-funded research, even for projects that publish their results with open licenses, and that we are venturing in uncharted territory. But then again, that\'s why they call it "research".
\n\n26/2, Brussels, 09:00 -10:00\xa0|\xa0How to cope with meltdowns in communities,\xa0Keynote by John Coate.
\n\n26/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 |\xa0Collaborative inclusion.\xa0How migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. A reflexive design exercise. With Ezio Manzini, Yara\xa0Al Adib, Gido Van Den Ende and the Syrian New Kids on the Block.
\n\n26/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 | THE OPEN CARE FILES -\xa0Welfare through the looking glass.\xa0Panel hosted by Marco Manca, CERN. With Julia Reda, MEP and Lucia Scopelliti, City of Milan.
\n\n27/2, Brussels, 09:30 -16:15 |\xa0MASTERS OF NETWORKS: NETWORKS OF CARE hackathon for network scientists, doctors and patients to make sense of collective intelligence using network science and data.\xa0Led by Guy Melan\xe7on and the University of Bordeaux.
\n\n27/2, Brussels, 14:00 -17:00 |\xa0Storytelling workshop: Narratives of Care 2016, led by Nadia EL-Imam, Edgeryders and Angelo Di Mambro, journalist and communications consultant.
\n\n27/8, Brussels, 14:00 -17:00 |\xa0The long path from invention to innovation. Led by Lorenzo Paolozzi, CERN.
\n\n4/4 - 7/4, Berlin, 10:00 - 20:00 | OpenCare Labs - Hacking Utopia. Product design workshop. Led by Susanne Stauch, UDK and Nadia EL-Imam, Edgeryders.
\n\n18/5, Berlin, ??:?? -??:?? | CAPS2020 community meeting.\xa0Not an official Op3n\xa0meeting, but some of us should go.\xa0
\n\nStockholm | Exact date t.b.c. Program under construction.
\n\nMilan | Exact date t.b.c.\xa0Program under construction.
\n\nGeneva | Exact date t.b.c.\xa0Program under construction.
\n\nBordeaux |\xa0Exact date t.b.c.\xa0Program under construction.
\n\nMilan |\xa0Exact date t.b.c.\xa0#LOTE6 | Open Care. Program under construction.
\n\nlast week I met with Angelo Di Mambro (journalist, video producer and communications consultant based in Brussels).
\n\nWe had a really interesting conversation about Storytelling for engagement. Especially when it involves introducing your intended audience to some new concept or way of doing things, this can be very difficult.
\n\nSo we started looking at previous efforts to do this. We started by analysing our experiences of having worked with communication for over 10 years. Then we explored how much respected storytellers such as George Lucas and my first mentor, award winning Swedish Director Roy Andersson, go about building engaging stories.
\n\nIt was so much fun that Angelo has decided join me in leading this workshop.\xa0Later today Angelo and I are meeting again. One of the topics we will be discussing is how to use myths and archetypes in effective storytelling for engagement.\xa0An interesting aspect for a transnational community is which myths and narratives are culturally specific and which ones seem to resonate with everyone. It taps into something which I think is very relevant to the design of the OpenCare engagement process. Bear with me as I try to articulate what is no more than\xa0an early intuition...
\n\nAt the turn of this year\xa0I had a brief exchange with\xa0Evan Roth, one of the early movers in net art and fellow activist. Like many others who grew up on the Internet and who have been fighting against the erosion of civil liberties, he was heartbroken and disenchanted after\xa0the Snowden revelations. A kind of collective depression was tangible in the scene, a lot of people for whom this was the first experience of engaging with mainstream politics just dropped out.\xa0
\n\nOthers have been engaging\xa0with the significant challenge of making the techno-social debate accessible, and engaging, to people outside the tech scene and Brussels bubble. This is sorely needed. Kirsten Fielder,\xa0Julia Reda, Walter Van Holst, our own Erik Lakomaa\xa0(all coming to #lote5) and Amelia Andersdotter have\xa0first-hand experiences\xa0of the difficulties involved.\xa0Amelia in particular has been very active in the debate around data security and patient privacy in Sweden.
\n\nEvan\'s talk at #32c3 is a poetic description of how he tried to make this overwhelming, abstract infrastructure something with which he could engage as an artist (\xa01hr video).\xa0Julian Oliver\'s creative practice comes at things more from a critical engineering perspective: he has built\xa0functional objects which both critique and circumvent the offending practices or technologies e.g\xa0http://transparencygrenade.com/
\n\nThose of us working on OpenCare will be facing the similar challenge\xa0of making\xa0difficult (or\xa0abstract) topics/debates and insights\xa0more accessible. Both to\xa0people who are curious, but need a "soft" way into the conversations...as well as\xa0to community members, practitioners and relevant decision-makers e.g legislators. So I thought it\xa0might be interesting to engage product designers to make some of the more difficult or abstract topics/debates "easier" to approach through the lens of critical design (as an example see\xa0http://www.backslash.cc/). Maybe even produce an exhibition at the final event taking place in Milan. This could fit into the prototyping phase of the project. Or it could be a separate parallel strand. Prof. Susanne Stauch and myself have been discussing this in the context of a product design course we will be holding at Berlin University of the Arts\xa0UDK
', u'post_id': 5344, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-20 08:37:11', u'title': u'Narratives of Care: Reflections ahead of the workshop and OpenCare project design'}, {u'content': u'OpenCare is an EU funded program made up of three things:
\n\nThe aim is to bring together people, virtually or physically, to gather and share stories, ideas and insights. Out of this will emerge new ideas, new solutions and new connections that benefit all.
\n\nThere are two main roles:
\n\nWe (the curators) have devised a four stage process, described below. We invite you to engage at all and any stage. Every single contribution is valued, whether it is telling a story, leaving a thoughtful comment, bringing cake to a community gathering or helping to build a prototype.
\n\n| March 2016 - August 2016 | |||
| Project phase | What we are focusing on | How to participate | |
Collaborative Sensing: Who and what is already out there? | Individual Stories (100) | Contribute a story: Say hello and introduce yourself Participate in Op3n Meetups ( to receive invitations to future events, complete an Op3n Challenge) | |
| Objective: Discover, understand, acknowledge what people are already doing Activities: Sharing your own personal stories, interviewing people affected by the challenge topics and sharing successful initiatives or analogous examples from other areas. | It all starts with an invitation for you and others around the world to share personal experiences, observations and examples on the challenge topic. You will share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health- or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care. | ||
| July 2016 - September 2016 | |||
Collaborative Sense Making: Where are we going? Where would we like to be going instead...and how can we get there? | Case Study Stories (20) | Join fellow Op3nCare Active Learners Join fellow Op3nCare Practitioners Join the Op3nCare Partnership | |
| Objective: Analyse and structure the information shared in our conversations in such a way as to support op3ncarers desire and ability to constructively engage in society. Activities: Using appreciative enquiry methods and playing with tools like Edgesense to find surprising connections between your experiences and those of other participants. | Whether it is because you want to solve local problems, keep governments accountable, avoid expensive mistakes or learn new things about the world in which you live, knowledge is power. This phase links Op3nCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals. | ||
| September 2016 - April 2017 | |||
Prototyping and Testing: How do our ideas work in practice? | Self-evaluation reports | Join the Op3nCare Partnership | |
| Objective: t.b.c Activities: t.b.c | Once the goals of Op3nCare participants, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of hands-on, intensive peer-to-peer help. We look at each initiative and work together to connect it with the people, knowledge skills, and resources to take it to the next level. | ||
| April 2017 - September 2017 | |||
Impact: How do we take the work forward? | Caring on the Edge event, Milan High Impact Publications Strategic Partnerships Spin-off Projects | It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a conference in September 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives. | |
| Objective: It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a festival on October 19-21, 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives. Activities: t.b.c | We collaboratively synthesise the results of our sense-making, prototyping and testing for OpenCare. This includes co-designing a fair social contract and ethical guidelines for all stakeholders including practitioners, policymakers, funders and investors. | ||
This is a wiki. Please edit, add etc. at will.
\n\nEach session is introduced by someone. Please prepare your introductions, and let us know how much time you need for it. 20 minutes is a good time for and introduction. People to make introductions are suggested, but if you want to make one step forward and say so.\xa0
\n\nEach session is documented in real time. Please everyone contribute to shared note-taking (see below).\xa0
\n\nPlease note: Edgeryders have booked a camera person to take short interviews of each of you. We\u2019ll use them for the project\u2019s minisite. This will happen at the Storytelling Workshop on Sunday 28th. Please flag it if you are not staying, we\u2019ll find a solution.\xa0
\n\nWe are organising a team dinner on the evening of the 24th. Save the date, information is coming.
\n\nWe will be using Google Docs to take notes of what is being discussed during the meeting. It helps us take notes collaboratively, minimizing effort and time spent passing notes around. All notes are automatically saved, and in one place.
\n\nOur shared folder is this: Documentation - 1st Consortium Meeting:\xa0http://goo.gl/c9Ha92
\n\nDear fellow participants of Fail - un#Fail at the end of this month in Brussels!
\n\nFailure. Success. Wow, what a wide and rich topic.
\n\nMy guess is, since you\'re about to spend 3,5 days of your life in this area of inquiry, it touched something. You might be as intrigued as me, because something wants to be explored on an intellectual or emotional, collective or personal level. What we apparently share is an interest for failure (success?) and I assume that we also share a common interest in "let\'s make more sense of this!". I might as well be wrong, and that\'s exactly what I\'m trying to find out.
\n\nSo, would you please let me know
\n\nI can tell you my "why". If you\'re challenged by emotional content, leave this page NOW. Then better don\'t read, just reply Don\'t tell me I didn\'t warn you.
I\'m very excited to meet you all soon, but what the "why" brought up for me, hasn\'t been an easy ride so far. As soon as I stepped into the topic of failure, my relationship to it got a lot clearer and it was not always pretty to face. I had not been aware how much of a chicken I was, how eager I was to avoid failing (or what I perceived as such).
\n\nOne example: I teach a very efficient self-help method to release stress and other emotional baggage. Some years ago, I was asked by the manager of our local branch of a huge swedish clothing company to coach their team, so they could handle the daily stress in the store better. I was over the moon - and dead shit scared. Too scared. GODDAMNIT!!
\n\nWhen reflecting now on the topic of success vs. failure, I realized: This thing called failure, that many of us fear, but to a different degree, is what has kept me from doing lots of things in the past. Wasn\'t this one of my "biggest" failures so far: letting the fear of it take control? I believe so.
\n\nThis is what brings me to Brussels. I want to de-demonize the "F", address it more directly and with others instead of within my isolated brain. Talk about it. Listening deeply to others and share the humanness behind the story of failure/success, find the questions that open up new spaces, look at the assumptions we hold individually and collectively and mold this thing called "failure" into another form. Rewrite the story of success and make more peace with this perceived threat. In the end, it\'s my decision which story I live in, what failure means to me and how I let the meaning I give it affect my life.
\n\nThat\'s why I\'m coming. Partly. It was, what caught my attention. Now I\'m really happy that other topics I care about are being touched: Care, for example. I\'m very interested in the topic of how to unfail "care", since I work in this area, and I\'m not on the edge, but far far off it. And the 3. "why" is that I want to have a blast with all of you
And why are you coming? In case you think you gotta soul strip now, too: naah! I just want to know what is "in the room" already. Partly because that\'s an aspect of harvesting during the event. (Check the Documentation/Harvesting wiki out, it\'s what the cool kids do!)
See you soon and have a nice weekend
\n\nKaja
', u'post_id': 5267, u'user_id': 3025, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-06 16:07:50', u'title': u'Why the hell am I going to Bxl?! Let the harvest begin! Step 1: soil sampling'}, {u'content': u'\n\nWe need to become better at designing collaborative services. We dream of a welfare built and delivered by communities, alongside the state and the market. We all, at some point in our life, give and receive care. We are all citizen experts, with firsthand knowledge. The question is: how do we access that knowledge and turn it into action?
\n\nWe asked Ezio Manzini, perhaps the world\'s most senior academic designer for social innovation, to mount a workshop that does just that. Everyone is welcome. People who attend will use their experience of care to imagine and prototype ways that existing services could be improved. We decided to focus on services to refugees and migrants: we know several and feel for them, and there is a lot \xa0of room for improvement.\xa0
\n\nA beautiful thing happened: people got in touch with us offering to help. We ended up with a dream team of designers: @Yara_Al_Adib, @Mousab_Alshikh, @Rand_Abu_Fakher, @Orwa_Isaac, @Vishall_Jankie,\xa0@Stefanos_Monastiridis\xa0and @Gido_Van_Den_Ende. Four of them are from Syria, arrived as refugees; three are still in the process of obtaining refugee status. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes; and\xa0Namahn, one of Belgium\'s leading design agencies, is strongly supporting the effort. We can promise a very, very good workshop.\xa0
\n\nEzio and the team are adamant: no reinventing the wheel. We want to start from existing services, and look for ways that smart communities could improve them. We are in contact with several people who are running services and initiatives targeted at helping these newcomers (thanks Yara!), but we could use a few more (we\'ll split into working groups). So, here\'s how you can help:
\n\nThe workshop is free, but registration is required. Go here to register. There is also a Facebook page.\xa0
\n\nI would love for @Iriedawta\xa0to tell us about the "landing strip" for Syrian refugees in Armenia. And for @Medhin_Paolos\xa0to explain to us how the (community-delivered) \xa0network of solidarity for Eritreans in Italy works. I am also personally fascinated by Freifunk and their wi-fi operation. Does anybody know Florian Altherr, or somebody in that space?\xa0
', u'post_id': 5281, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-10 23:19:51', u'title': u'Wanted: projects helping refugees/migrants for design acceleration'}, {u'content': u'We believe that the future of health and social care is community-based and participatory. We are committed to the idea that care should not necessarily be handed down from institutions to the people but can emerge organically from the people according to their needs.
\n\nThe OpenVillage Festival is a highly participatory festival showcasing working solutions and demos produced by community members, as well as pathways for working together towards their sustainability. It will take place in 19-21 October 2017 in Brussels\xa0and represents the culmination of the OpenCare 18 month research that involves hundreds of original initiatives.
\n\nAiming to deepen community collaboration, during March - April\xa0May 2017, the SCImPULSE Foundation will appoint 3 \u201cstudents\u201d to support communication and engagement for the OpenVillage. We use \u201cstudents\u201d in the Latin sense, of people that will apply themselves to the subject, as fellows of SCImPULSE Foundation, and not in any sense as an indication of career status.
Who can participate? Anyone with a story of an open and participatory project of health/social care, who is interested in online and offline collaboration for social good.
\n\nWe will consider individuals who have demonstrated interest in and alignment with opencare in the following ways (each item will receive a score from 0 the minimum, to 5 the maximum, which will be summed to define the final score used to choose the winners):
\n\nYou will be working closely with the Edgeryders team to build the OpenVillage. Allocate a minimum of 3 days per week to fulfill your commitment and make sure you are available to attend the event in October 2017.
\n\nThe applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but the sooner you start and complete your application, the higher your chances!\xa0
\n\nFor more information\xa0come to our weekly online community gatherings on Wednesdays at 18:00 CET\xa0here\xa0or contact\xa0community@edgeryders.eu.\xa0
\n\nThis page was last updated on May 9th\xa02017.
\n\nFor details about the previous\xa0Fellowship program in 2016 go here.
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 5329, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-10 23:46:56', u'title': u'The OpenCare Community fellowship program'}, {u'content': u'Opencare is an EU funded program that has come out of a Edgeryders community conversation on the future of care. It is\xa0a\xa0PLATFORM to share stories, ideas and insights,\xa0make new connections, coordinate the work; a\xa0diverse COMMUNITY or network of individuals and groups, mainly in Europe but including the whole world, exploring alternative, more long-term sustainable solutions to healthcare; a\xa0PROCESS that brings people\xa0together\xa0to share, inspire, connect and collaborate. OpenCare is the community we are building in symbiosis with the research project, but is distinct from it and is meant to continue long after the research project has ended.
\n\nThe aim is to bring together people, virtually or physically, to gather and share stories, ideas and insights. Out of this will emerge new ideas, new solutions and new connections that benefit all.\xa0Our challenges, projects, and programs are modeled on Edgeryders collective intelligence methodology. This means that we enable our community to develop solutions rooted in people\'s everyday realities, needs, and lifestyles.
\n\nROLES
\n\nThere are two main roles:
\n\nWe (the curators) have devised a four stage process, described below. We invite you to engage at all and any stage. Every single contribution is valued, whether it is telling a story, leaving a thoughtful comment, bringing cake to a community gathering or helping to build a prototype.
\n\n1. Read, comment and post responses to challenges:\xa0We\xa0share stories of individuals and groups who are building alternative alternatives to existing health- or social care, as well as of others whose attempts were frustrated. The purpose of this is to build a shared repository of stories, each one embedding strategies for improving health- and social care. Some will resonate more than others with participants, and that will signal to the community that a grain of truth has been found. Collectively, we will build knowledge about new approaches towards health- and social care. ONGOING: PARTICIPATE HERE!
\n\n2. Make sense and build new knowledge:\xa0Whether it is because you want to solve local problems, keep governments accountable, avoid expensive mistakes or learn new things about the world in which you live, \xa0knowledge is power.\xa0This phase links OpenCare stories to the social, economic, political and legal context in which they happen: were they enabled by something in particular? Were they hindered by it? What change in could have made the alternative happen, or happen more successfully? By asking and tentatively answering these kinds of question, participants in the process will build shared knowledge and goals.\xa0ONGOING: PARTICIPATE HERE!
\n\n3. Develop new ecosystems and see how they work in practice:\xa0Once the goals of OpenCare participants, a range of possible strategies towards them and the obstacles in the way are reasonably clear, the project enters a new phase of hands-on, intensive peer-to-peer help.\xa0We look at each initiative and connect it with the people, knowledge skills, and resources to take it to the next level.\xa0ONGOING CALL FOR FELLOWS AS CURATORS.
\n\n4. Defining how we take the work forward:\xa0It is too early to say exactly how the work will be taken forward. It will depend on the outcomes of the previous stages. What is fixed is a conference in October 2017 that will bring together all the various strands of work, and can also serve as a launchpad for new initiatives.\xa0ONGOING CALL FOR REGISTRATION AT OPENVILLAGE.
', u'post_id': 5328, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-10 22:40:11', u'title': u'How to participate'}, {u'content': u'We are a global community working together to make health- and social care accessible for all, open source, privacy-friendly and participatory. It starts from the assumption that state and private institutions will be unable to meet the demands for care in the 21st century and that new, more open, participatory, community-based methods are required.
\n\nCome to the OpenVillage Festival on 19-21 October, in Brussels! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and shape the future with\xa0inspiring people using opentech and science to reimagine how we care for one another.
\n\nFirst create an account on Edgeryders.eu. Now complete the following steps:
\n\n
Lots of things are happening in Edgeryders. Many of us have a hard time keeping track of everything. This is a general update on where we are; what we learned; what we expect to be doing next; and how you can be involved in it. Warning: it\'s quite long, about 2,600 words. Expect about 10 minutes reading time. Here we go! \xa0
\n\nLet\'s set the start of the latest work cycle at November 1st 2014. During the previous summer we had concluded the Spot the Future project. In October the Italian city of Matera, home of the first unMonastery and one of our key partners, was crowned European Capital of Culture 2019. In late October we returned to Matera for Living On The Edge 4. We allowed ourselves a small celebration and started looking around for what was next. And that turned out to be:
\n\nEdgeryders is so new and strange that I can\'t tell whether it\'s headed for stardom or disaster. Both, maybe. Either way, it\'s an interesting journey, and I look forward to finding out where it ends.\xa0
', u'post_id': 5263, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2016-02-05 08:31:12', u'title': u"Edgeryders 2.0.1.6 : where we are and what's coming next"}, {u'content': u'Some time ago we agreed to schedule our kickoff meeting at the same time as the Living On The Edge 5 Edgeryders event, to take advantage of that particular effort. That means 25-28 February 2016.
\n\nWhat\'s missing is a schedule of our activities, and time is getting tight if we are to engage with other people out there (and we are). I propose we do two things.
\n\nOne day of talking. This would be a closed-door meeting for the consortium only. Closed-doors means we all are welcome to invite external people (for example with a view to future partnerships), but other than that we will just have a regular meeting. We will cover collaboration procedure and tools; admin; and detailed planning on the first six months of so of the project. We will also schedule the second consortium meeting.
\n\nOne day of doing. This would be an open-door event scheduled within LOTE5, which anybody can attend \u2013 the more the merrier. Call it the first of the OpenCare onboarding workshops. Here we have several possibilities. I see at least three very attractive things we could do:
\n\nMy preference would be for doing all of the above, and perhaps even more. Maybe @Costantino\xa0and @zoescope\xa0can think of some maker-related stuff to do? But of course these things eat up time. There is no point in doing a hackathon in less than a full day\'s work, for example. So, if we do everything, the program could look like this:
\n\nWhat does everyone think?\xa0
', u'post_id': 5013, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-11-18 10:52:55', u'title': u"Let's launch! Making decisions on the OpenCare kickoff meeting"}, {u'content': u'Have you ever answered a question like "What are you working on?" or "So, who do you work with?" with "Well, uhm, it\'s complicated"? Then,\xa0this workshop is for you.
\n\nAre you profoundly empathetic, an amazing out-of-the-box thinker or a deep analytical thinker?
\n\nThen, this workshop needs you.
\n\nAs part of the Storytelling Workshop: Narratives of care 2016, @Thomas Goorden will be leading an experiential and intensive workshop loosely based on Joe Edelman\'s "Hyperactive Listening" format.
\n\nYou can participate as either "Story" or as "Storyteller":
\n\nYour "story" will become the center of an investigative group exercise. The messier your "story", the better the workshop will be. Perhaps you are working on a project, but aren\'t really sure what it is or have difficulty explaining it to people? Perhaps you are stuck in some kind of dilemma or conflict that you find difficult to get past? Perfect! We will take a significant amount of time to figure out what is going on and help you get on your way (again).
\n\nThe outcome of the workshop (for you) will be text, diagrams, video and pictures that you can use to explain your story when those questions come up once more.
\n\nWhat kind of story? any story, but reflect on how it ties to\xa0health/social care+ technology +communities
\n\nA good storyteller is in the first place someone who can listen to someone\'s story (even if it is your own). You\'ll then get to ask questions, investigate, analyze, try to distil the essence of a story, receive feedback and start from the beginning again. Until we get it "right".
\n\nYou\'ll learn and practice all sorts of skills valuable for telling your own stories when they need it. And of course you will discover all sorts of projects other people are working on. But mostly, you will have the deep satisfaction of having been able to help someone.
\n\nPlease follow the instructions on the event page:\xa0Storytelling Workshop.
\n\nWe will practice some experimental identity/co-counseling methods in between story sessions. The goal here is to see if you can discover new, profound truths about your own story.
\n\nYou will also be invited to provide feedback on the workshops methods themselves. Since they are quite new and/or relatively unknown, we welcome improvements and commentary.
\n\nAt the end of the day, we will have fleshed out together a\xa0number of strong narratives on care.\xa0In this case, this means engaging\xa0stories that participants can showcase later on to build support for their project. The person behind the "story" will gain:
\n\nFor the video, we will add a "scribe" and a "confessional" (video) booth. Only one participant can really be the focus during a certain period (I\'d say min 30 minutes), so it restricts how many projects could be "processed". However, that also means people can participate without being the "focus", \xa0by being simply storytellers.\xa0
\n\nAll material produced, including notes from the session.. will be published under a creative commons license on\xa0edgeryders.eu\xa0\xa0(we\'ll need a signed release form from each participant at beginning of workshop)
\n\nIdeally, a laptop per story, so we can start writing them down straight away and maybe publish by the end of the day some of them. (Natalia)
\n\nfacilitators, add here, please. (DSLR cameras, special clothing etc)
\n\nOn January 21-22 I participated in NOW, a 2 day event bringing together mayors from cities and towns receiving the largest numbers of refugees from Syria as well as activists and individuals currently seeking asylum in Europe. I will dedicate this post to a brief summary of the key issues highlighted by participants, followed by proposals for how we could contribute towards building actionable and sustainable solutions.
\n\n\n\nThe first part of the event consisted in a kind of intense briefing of the situation in countries closest to Syria. In a short time the populations of small countries in the region, Lebanon and Jordan, have grown manyfold (1.1 Million refugees in Lebanon, 630,000 in Jordan - in addition to Palestinian refugees already there). Some reading materials with up to date, detailed information:
\n\nArmenia: Anna\u2019s report from Yerevan is a good introduction.
\n\nJordan: Five Years On | Syria Crisis-related needs and vulnerabilities in Jordan.
\n\nWhile many of the cities and towns receiving refugees face similar challenges there is a significant difference. Some are transit locations, which asylum seekers pass on their way on to other destinations. They include major cities in Greece, Italy and Turkey, as well as small coastal towns from which people leave on boats to take their perilous journey across the sea. There, volunteers do their best to care for their immediate physical needs and the mandated administrative/security procedures to grant them entry onto the mainland.
\n\nOther cities and towns are receiving the newcomers on a more long term basis. This happens in two different phases, each one posing its own political, administrative and infrastructural challenges for the hosting communities. The first one is the period of time between arrival and the approval or rejection of the person\u2019s application for refugee status. This period could be very long, as in the case of the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, or that of Mr. Teferi in Norway. The second one is the period that starts what happens once individual has secured refugee status. In this period, the challenge is navigating the difficult period between receiving the papers and being fully established in the social and economic life of the host new community.
\n\nWhile the details differ, the problems and needs mentioned by mayors, NGOs and activists fall into one or more of the following:
\n\nOne of the outcomes of the conference was that Mayors from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Austria signed a declaration to work together in solidarity across borders:
\n\n\n\nPolitically, this is an important signal. However the event didn\u2019t get into the part I find the most interesting- how they intend to go from intention to implementation.
\n\nSo what is needed in order for this commitment to be delivered on? Based on discussions with mayors, activists and refugees described it looks like the participants at NOW need:
\n\nIn practice this would require:
\n\nTake a minute to think about what this means.
\n\nIf the participants in the event want to see the transnational cooperation happen in practice, then they will have to learn to think and work as networks of individuals interacting inside, outside and all around different organisations. Each working at the hyperlocal, micro-level, while sharing and learning with others working in different contexts as a natural part of the everyday workflow\u2026 not just something afforded to people who can travel and spend 2 days talking with one another at a conference. And all of this done in ways that build granular, immediately relevant and continuously updated institutional memory accessible to all. Affecting behavioral change at this scale is hard, but it can be done.
\n\nI think we can contribute in two ways.
\n\nAt LOTE5 we are organising this reflexive design exercise on Collaborative inclusion: how migrants-residents collaboration can produce social values. The event is run by Ezio Manzini, one of the world\u2019s top-notch designers for social innovation. You can partner with us if you want to help make it into a workshop on addressing specific problems tied to reception and inclusion of asylum seekers in some of the cities and towns represented at the conference. Or just sign up and part
We also have a way to produce cheap, accurate ethnographic data around problems like the ones mentioned above, with a focus on surfacing creative and actionable solutions. This would enable you to engage a large number of participants (thousands) in a participatory process for designing solutions to meet their own needs. This methodology is being employed/supported by a growing number of actors including the current Swedish minister of Nordic cooperation and strategic foresight, the European Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Volunteers as well as the cities of Milan and Matera in Italy, and of Bucharest in Romania. We have developed a methodological guide for doing this - email me if you would like a copy: nadia@edgeryders.eu.
At Edgeryders we are racing to set different puzzle pieces into place so that people from all over the world who wish to come and meet each other face to face can do so despite money obstacles. We are going to unFail in finance.
\n\nHere is a list of where we can each reach out and how.. if you have more ideas please share them below.
\n\n1) UN agencies: we have contacted the UNDP offices Edgeryders has worked with in order to ask for scholarships covering travel and accommodation. You can do the same if you have a UNDP, UNESCO, or UNICEF office in the region, there\'s a template letter ready for being adapted to your context.
\n\n2) Foreign embassies in Brussels: same here, we\'re translating a letter to ask for support and adjusting it for cultural nuances. Template here, already in five languages, so come help.\xa0
\n\n3) European Cultural Foundation:\xa0ongoing scholarships to "fund up-and-coming artists and cultural workers (giving priority to individuals up to 35 years and/or in the first 10 years of their career) to travel between EU and countries bordering the EU". Ideally you would have a project that LOTE can contribute and help you develop, just asking them to pay for your participation at a conference is not eligible. You need to fill in an online form, make a budget for your project Full application guide is available, and\xa0here are some of the projects financed, to give you an idea.
\n\n4) Pick one of the topics in failure around which the program is organised and reach out to your past/ present collaborators to see if they would sponsor a citizen journalist really digging into a topic - eg for helping the organisation with future funding applications.\xa0
\n\nUp for helping? Register for a dose of LOTE: Fail unFail in Brussels! Also pick up one of the above or come to the next community call. You\'ll see first hand how you can be part of building an event entirely in and with community, with or without large sponsorship.
', u'post_id': 5075, u'user_id': 3, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-13 11:22:51', u'title': u'Fundraising on the edge: find travel support for #LOTE5 with help from a global team'}, {u'content': u'
So you are not exactly a nine-to-five, safely employed, 2.3 children type. Maybe you are trying to do your bit for this lovely blue planet and its slightly dysfunctional dominant species; maybe you are following your own need to express yourself through art, or some other creative channel; maybe you are trying to build businesses that will do good, rather than just make money; maybe you are just exploring your own life hacks. Either way, you live on the edge of society \u2013 like most of us on Edgeryders. Will welfare be around for you when you need it? Most of us are very. Damn. Sceptical.\xa0
\n\nStates and the private sector are struggling to provide everyone with high-quality, affordable health and social care. For now, the most likely outcome is a dual society, with insiders having access to 20th century-style welfare and an ever-growing precariat left to provide for itself. The welfare put in place by previous generations is failing. Time to learn how to make our own.
\n\nLOTE5 is the perfect place to explore the issue. We do so through a workshop called\xa0Let\u2019s co-create our own welfare: how to design collaborative care services. The basic question we explore: can communities build sustainable, adequate care services for their own members? How can we take care of each other in a way that is resilient to systemic crises, political fads, budget cuts and so on? Consistently with LOTE ethos, we take a "no spectators" approach and treat everyone who decides to attend as a designer.\xa0The workshop is led by Ezio Manzini, one of the world\'s most prominent experts in design for social innovation. Participation is free, but registration is required. To register, follow these steps.\xa0
\n\nIn the next weeks, we shall be zeroing in on some service that we can work on as an example of the "care by communities approach". One idea is to look at services for refugees. Here in Belgium (and, I suspect, elsewhere too) refugees are processed by government bureaucracies in an "old industrial" way: people are treated like a flow of some raw material, and funneled into a production line. From anecdotal evidence we are collecting, it seems such production line is bureaucracy at its worst; different steps must be done in sequence and not in parallel; "hurry and wait" dominates; refugees sit through interviews in which they are\xa0never\xa0asked what they can do, how can they contribute to the host society; they can be vouched for by social workers who have never seen them before, but not by the Belgian people they live in the homes of, etcetera.
\n\nThis seems like a major fail. But we refuse to design a service for refugees without the participation of refugees as designers, even as an exercise. If you are interested in this problem and can bring first-hand experience, get in touch, and we\'ll see what we can do together.\xa0
', u'post_id': 5068, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-12-07 10:58:52', u'title': u'Co-creating our own welfare: a #LOTE5 workshop led by Ezio Manzini and how you can be part of it'}, {u'content': u'
\n
In January, Edgeryders will be starting a new project, called OpenCare. The vision behind it goes like this: welfare as we know it is broken, squeezed between rising costs and impersonality, if not dehumanisation, of the services provided. OpenCare aims at deploying collective intelligence to design, prototype and evaluate care services by communities, for communities.\xa0
\n\nIf it sounds familiar, it is. This is the typical pattern of acknowledging failure and trying to be constructive (if sometimes radical) and do something about it that permeates the culture of so many dwellers of the edge of societies. It fits perfectly into Living On The Edge 5. So, we in the OpenCare consortium decided to join the LOTE5 effort. We see benefits both for OpenCare and for LOTE5.
\n\nOpenCare gets to flex its openness muscle. EU-funded research tends to be organisationally conservative: closed-door meetings, emails, waterfall management architecture, and many, many boxes to tick. In other words, they work like a corporation, plus or minus the evil pointy-haired boss. \xa0OpenCare was written with online open collaboration at its core, so not only we get away with radical openness: we are\xa0committed\xa0to it. LOTE5 will allow us to run an experiment in openness: have a meeting of the consortium with the doors throw wide open. Anybody who wishes to contribute, learn or teach something is welcome. We call this open meetings.\xa0
\n\nLOTE5 gets a whole new track, dedicated to failing/unFailing in health and social care. OpenCare has considerable expertise to share. We are planning at least:\xa0
\n\nThe draft program is online, and we will be updating it as we go.\xa0More good things are to come.\xa0See you in Brussels.\xa0
\n\nPhoto Credit:\xa0Nathan Rupert on flickr.com
', u'post_id': 5053, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-11-30 09:33:12', u'title': u'Fail/unFail in health and social care: the OpenCare project joins LOTE5'}, {u'content': u'
"Tired of waiting for a monitor for his diabetes, Tim\xa0Omer made his own. He\xa0is one of a growing number of patients circumventing medical companies in favour of a homemade healthcare revolution"
\n\nhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/26/health-hackers-patients-taking-medical-innovation-into-own-hands
', u'post_id': 4909, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2015-10-26 09:19:53', u'title': u'Check out this article on health hacking in UK'}, {u'content': u'The OpenCare consortium consists of:
\n\n\n\nWe formed around a need that emerged within the Edgeryders community in the course of an event called Living On The Edge 4. The main idea was, and still is, that hacker culture and the availability of cheap and open but advanced technology (not only software, but hardware and wetware too) can contribute to ideating and providing care services \u2013 at a time Europe badly needs innovation in this domain. Furthermore, services designed and deployed by skilled communities of hackers are likely to be very different from those provided by the state and the private sector. The discussion proved that tackling the issue of community-drive care required a strongly interdisciplinary approach, covering many areas of expertise. We identified the main ones as follows:
\n\nThe team adopts a working out loud practice throughout the project and coordinates in an open group. Join here.
\n\nThis project has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 688670
\n\n', u'post_id': 5377, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-10-26 10:54:25', u'title': u'Partners'}, {u'content': u'In the first time of Future Makers Nepal, we were mostly concerned with assisting the relief work after the earthquake (for obvious reasons \u2026). This is slowly coming to an end, and we wanted to share with you some updates we prepared that summarize what we learned about "grassroots-organized disaster response", in Nepal and in general.
\n\nThe first part of what we learned is what actually happened on the ground: who were the disaster response volunteers, how many, what did they do etc.. Please find our research updates published below. We will replace this with a link to the proper research paper where we discuss these findings, once UNDP publishes it.
\n\nContributing authors: Meena, Matthias, Natalia.
\n\nTable of Contents
\n\n1. Introduction
\n\nSituation Overview
Methods and Data
Findings
4.1. Characteristics of Dialogue and Collaboration Initiatives
\n\n4.2. The Rise of New Civil Society in Nepal?
\n\n5.1 Kathmandu Living Labs: Creating Dialogue and Coordination Spaces
\n\n5.2. Milan Rai and Friends: Building Camp Toilets
\n\n5.3. Immediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal: Assisting Far-Off Villages
\n\n5.4. Community Service of Nepal: Organizing help locally and internationally
\n\n6.1. Method Review
\n\n6.2. Relevance for Professional Disaster Responders
\n\n6.3. Relevance for Disaster Response R&D
\n\nEdgeryders\u2019 Future Makers Nepal project was initiated by UNDP Nepal with the aim to research, contact and connect alternative leaders in Nepal using an online platform. As part of this work, we had to carry a \u201cmapping of existing virtual dialogue spaces in Nepal\u201d, the findings of which we detail in this report.
\n\nOur start of the work in Nepal coincided with the 25 April 2015 earthquake, after which a huge number of existing web-based dialogue and collaboration spaces was re-purposed for community-driven disaster response, and a similar number of new spaces and initiatives was created for this purpose. These were the most vibrant online communities of alternative leaders in Nepal in the weeks past the earthquake, so we have put particular emphasis on mapping them in the following report.
\n\nWe find and analyze in detail how after the 25 April earthquake, mostly young volunteers came to the fore, creating their own dialogue and collaboration spaces and on-the-ground initiatives to tackle the effects of the disaster. Effectively, a spontaneous movement of community-driven earthquake response initiatives formed. About half of the initiatives involved formed spontaneously after the earthquake, and a portion of them will transform into new, sustainable dialogue and collaboration spaces in Nepal;s civil society, beyond the current context of earthquake relief. We were lucky to be able to capture the formation of these nascent dialogue and collaboration spaces in this mapping report.
\n\nThe analysis is devised based on an online database that is created for keeping track of people and organizational initiatives involved in the disaster response activities. It focuses on aspects such as nature of the initiatives, focus of the initiatives, the activity location and the scale of activity. Offline and online dialogue between citizen driven disaster response initiatives and alternative leaders form the basis of analysis in assessing the level of community-engagement. The online dialogue spearheads the understanding of the importance of grass-root efforts in the disaster response. It serves as a unique platform to discuss and learn how people work and coordinate at times of crisis, what motivates them and how they reflect upon their initiatives. This ultimately helps\xa0in strengthening and developing a stronger civil society base which can devise constructive solutions to problems, develop sustainable collaboration between people and relief organizations and prepare Nepal for unforeseen circumstances in the future.
\n\nThis report provides an overview of some of\xa0the\xa0community driven responses to the recent crisis\xa0in Nepal. For the purpose of this study we define \u2018community-driven responses to disaster\u2019 as any disaster-related\xa0response activities that are\xa0not initiated by professionals officially designated to do relief work (including security forces, governmental structures, UN system, INGOs and NGOs among others). The Future Makers Nepal team did a preliminary mapping of 121\xa0volunteer driven disaster responses that emerged in Nepal in a span of a month following the earthquake.\xa0The following findings are a result of a two-week-long analysis of the data available online, combined with conclusions derived from informal meetings with people engaged in the relief efforts.
\n\nA 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on\xa0the\xa025\xa0April 2015 and was followed by numerous aftershocks left thousands dead, injured and properties worth millions ravaged. The earthquake also destroyed\xa0some of the\xa0most important cultural heritage of Nepal. The government report shows that over 35 of the 75 districts are affected in the Central and Western Regions including the Kathmandu Valley and 14 of these districts were identified as \u2018priority affected districts\u2019\xa0depending upon the severity of the damage. Reportedly, Gorkha, Dhading, Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur are the districts that are highly affected by the earthquake. As of 31 May, the Home Ministry reported a total of 8,693 deaths, 22,221 people injured and over 505,000 homes fully destroyed and another 275,000 partially destroyed.[2]\xa0The earthquake also ravaged more than 70 percent of the cultural heritages of Nepal listed in the UNESCO heritage site.[3]\xa0In addition, the official estimates put forth by the World Health Organisation show that 8.1 million people out of a population of 28 million have been affected by the earthquake, amongst which 1.7 million are children.
\n\nNepal\u2019s Ministry of Education estimates that 23,644 classrooms have been damaged or destroyed, and an additional 10,922 classrooms have received minor damages in the priority affected districts alone.[4]\xa0For a country like Nepal, prior to the earthquake tackling an alarming number of issues pertaining to political tensions, slow economic progress, poverty, unemployment, energy crunch, among others, the task of rebuilding now turns out to be a herculean one. The country now faces another major setback in its development trajectory and what is needed at this hour of crisis is a good leadership and above all the collective strength of common people.
\n\nHowever, the way the young Nepalese took up the task of reaching out to the victims speaks a lot about the concern they have shown towards their society, thus projecting\xa0a sense of natural \u2018community resilience\u2019. While majority of the people remained outside houses for numerous days, there were these certain groups of individuals and organizations that took charge. They worked day and night to give to the living by voluntarily rendering whatever support they could. Some crowd-sourced funds for immediate relief or transported relief materials to the affected areas, while others took up the task of setting up platforms for disseminating crucial information outside the traditional modes of communication, and a significant number of youths collaborated with government authorities. The preliminary mapping for this report recorded 121 voluntary disaster response initiatives out of probably more than 250 voluntary disaster response initiatives that have published anything online, and many more who did not. It will be years before Nepal recovers from this catastrophe, however, the country is fortunate to have motivated youths, bounded with an unprecedented sense of collective responsibility, community spirit and social consciousness to rebuild Nepal.
\n\nThe data pertaining to community-driven initiatives after the 25th of April\xa0earthquake and subsequent aftershocks are gathered through online and offline sampling. Most of the data was extracted manually from publicly available, unstructured Internet content published by the respective initiatives. This method was fast and efficient to stay within project constraints, and lead to relatively complete results. The alternative of inviting initiatives to a survey would have lead to somewhat more exact data, but would have been slower, taking time away from actual relief efforts and thus only a low turnover could have been be expected.
\n\nAn online database of individuals and initiatives that were involved in various types of post-earthquake disaster response endeavours is devised to collect certain type of information the research focuses on. Based upon this dataset, initiatives are selected and featured in the Future Makers Nepal online platform through interviews and are invited to take part in the online dialogue that this virtual community supports. The method also uses case studies as a basis of qualitative analysis in examining the initiatives, their nature, scope and challenges. These case studies are further taken as a basis for formulating an analysis for the post- earthquake disaster response carried out by people and institutions.
\n\nAt this stage, the database contains 121 records of community-driven disaster response initiatives. Initiatives are further analyzed by devising categories to measure the intensity and diversity of their earthquake relief responses and recording this information in the database.
\n\nThe first criterion concerns the activities carried out by the community-driven initiatives. Categories for this are largely aligned with the UN cluster system\xa0for comparability. However, sub-categories for activities have been added where required, allowing a more detailed analysis of interesting aspects not covered by a UN cluster system categorization. For instance, the information management category is further divided into crisis mapping and volunteer placement, and the relief supplies category is further segregated by type of supplies.
\n\nThe location of the initiatives has been analyzed on a district level. Where more specific information was not publicly available, initiatives that operate location-independent (e.g. fundraising campaigns) have been assigned the 14 government designated priority affected districts.[5]
\n\nThe initiatives and projects are also analyzed based upon their nature, that is to say if they have emerged spontaneously following the 25th of April earthquake or if they derived from the pre-existing organization structures that diverted their focus after the earthquake.
\n\nFinally, the scale of the initiatives has been recorded, using categories that could be easily inferred from publicly available information and are meant to gauge the internal coordination complexity of the initiatives; namely, if the initiative was an individual effort, or a work done by one team, multiple teams, or multiple teams using multiple base locations.
\n\n4.1. Characteristics of Dialogue and Collaboration Initiatives
\n\nActivities
\n\n\n\nEach community-driven earthquake response initiative was sorted into all types of response activity categories. The current dataset shows the following significant clusters of activity:
\n\nBeyond the these major activities above, community-driven initiatives focused on various other areas. The categories used for these activities are:
\n\nImage 1:\xa0Relative frequency of activities carried out by community-driven disaster response initiatives.[6]
\n\nService Locations
\n\n\n\nThe community-driven initiatives\xa0by individuals and pre-existing organisations\xa0were distributed throughout the locations that were severely affected by the earthquake. With 70 records\xa0(58 percent)\xa0of initiatives as per the database, Kathmandu turned out to be the center location for most of the disaster response activities, followed by Dhading (65 records), Nuwakot (60 records), Sindhupalchok (53 records), Rasuwa (48 records) and Gorkha (48 records). These can be considered the focus areas of the volunteer initiatives. Given that many number of initiatives rendering volunteer service are centered in Kathmandu and other periphery areas, we can easily infer that the geographical terrain and accessibility still stands as a determining factor for any kind of post- disaster relief operations. Other priority affected districts like Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Makwanpur and Okhaldhunga, and also some less affected districts\xa0like Pokhara, Lamjung, Solukhumbu also saw several activities of volunteer initiatives carried out in the earthquake affected areas though at slightly lesser scale. Okhaldhunga saw the least number of community-driven disaster response initiatives (26 percent of initiatives covered it). This might point to difficult terrain in this hilly district, the distance from Kathmandu as a hub location for initiatives, and / or a perceived low level of damages.
\n\nImage 2:\xa0Deployment locations of community-driven disaster response initiatives\xa0at district level among the 14 priority affected districts. (Totalling 651 locations by 121 initiatives.)
\n\nThe community-driven responses to the earthquake were carried by individuals / organisations that emerged spontaneously in the wake of the crisis (58 records) and by pre-existing organizations shifting their focus to disaster response (63 records). The emergence\xa0of significant number of new engaged individuals and initiatives in the wake of crisis\xa0paints a positive picture of community resilience and civil society activity. For example, 30 of the 58 spontaneously\xa0emerged disaster response initiatives directed their activity towards supplying immediate relief materials and 31 towards information management (incl. crisis mapping and volunteer placement; see image 3). There were also significant number of spontaneous initiatives that worked in the area of shelter (15 records), health (14 records) and fundraising (10 records).
\n\nImage 3:\xa0Absolute uptake of activities (number of initiatives involved out of 121 in total; split by nature of initiative)
\n\nScale of Initiatives
\n\n\n\nWith 56%\xa0of initiatives carried out by one team, working in small groups was the major mode how community-driven disaster response was organized.\xa0All larger-scale initiatives combined accounted for 36%. Generally, smaller-scale organizations were more frequent than larger-scale\xa0ones (compare image 4). This organization size distribution is to a degree universal \u2013 it is also found, for example, for company\xa0sizes.[7]\xa0For the surveyed disaster response initiatives, there is one major exception from this rule: single-person initiatives\xa0as the smallest organization forms account for just 8%, which is much less than the next larger scale category has. This means that team work clearly stands as the spirit and mode of function of community-driven disaster response.
\n\nImage 4:\xa0Scale of Community-Driven Disaster Response Initiatives
\n\n4.2. The Rise of New Civil Society in Nepal?
\n\n\n\nWhen it might have been thought that the country which was already in tatters due to its decade long Maoist conflict and the subsequent political turmoils, reeling problem of corruption and underdevelopment will further divulge in a situation of hopelessness following the recent natural disaster, it was fascinating to see the outpouring of citizen engagement and the rise of new community organisations. What made this rise of \u2018public sphere\u2019 more interesting is the nature of their emergence, that is to say the spontaneity of their rise in the wake of crisis. The findings show that 52% of the mapped organisations that were engaged in disaster response activities were the ones that already existed while 48% of initiatives emerged spontaneously after the crisis. There seems to be a significant number of voluntarily driven citizen engagement endeavors with their focus on supplying immediate relief materials and more importantly, on information management. This is heading towards an emergence of tech savvy, philanthropic new civic leadership. As per the findings, about half (29 of 58) of newly emerged initiatives tasked themselves with general information management (coordination and need assessment), and several more took on crisis mapping or volunteer placement, in most cases additionally. Based upon these findings we can see a rise of new civil society in Nepal: Besides the conventional civil society activities, largely related to politicised mass mobilisations, there is now a new model of self-directed citizen engagement. The next challenge that lies ahead is to enable this \u2018new public sphere\u2019 to effect lasting social change: rebuilding communities, rehabilitating victims and most importantly, reestablishing enduring trust in government by coordinating effectively with it.
\n\n5. Case studies: People and Initiatives Making a Difference
\n\n\n\nBased upon the online dialogue\xa0that takes place on our edgeryders.eu platform, some of the surveyed initiatives are presented here in more depth as typical examples for different varieties of initiatives, differing by activities (here information management, health, fundraising and providing immediate relief supplies) and scale (here one or multiple teams). Some but not all of the initiatives presented here emerged spontaneously after the disaster, so they also differ in history.
\n\n5.1 Kathmandu Living Labs: Creating Dialogue and Coordination Spaces
\n\n\n\nKathmandu Living Labs[8]\xa0is a tech group that existed before the earthquake. It has been using mobile and internet based technology in order to enhance urban resilience and civil engagement in Nepal and it has been doing exactly this after the earthquake. It created an online, as well as offline, map to assist earthquake relief workers and volunteers by mapping the affected villages, thus helping relief operations to reach the affected areas. Quakemap[9]\xa0is an initiative led by Kathmandu Living Labs.\xa0It was set up as an immediate response to coordinate the relief efforts of volunteers and volunteer-driven initiatives. They provide a wide range of information, including identification of affected districts, the needs of affected people, and acting as a bridge between the relief providers and the relief seekers.
\n\nImage 5:\xa0Main screen of quakemap.org by Kathmandu Living Labs[10]
\n\n5.2. Milan Rai and Friends: Building Camp Toilets
\n\n\n\nAn enthusiastic young adult, Milan Rai and his team, built more than 140 temporary toilets in camps in Kathmandu and other affected areas. Confused initially as to how to react to such a grave crisis, Rai took up the lead by urging people to go to a safe place and to ask others to do the same. For Rai,\xa0there was no sitting back and panicking. He cycled all the way to the hospital at 3 am to help the needy. After surveying around Kathmandu where people have camped, Rai found out that there were no toilets at all. Worse, he found girls complaining that they had to wait for the night to relieve themselves. Milan along with some of his friends therefore thought of fulfilling their part of the relief work\xa0by setting up temporary toilets. For them,\xa0setting up toilets was\xa0not merely about ensuring health, hygiene and sanitation, it was also related to self-esteem and dignity of the people. They built the toilets with tarp and bamboo, which required less time to install and could be easily transported and fitted. With some voluntary support by army members, they were able to build 47 toilets during their first day.\xa0Milan and his like-minded team are on a \u201chelping spree\u201d: after setting up temporary toilets, they are now promoting growing vegetables and planting seeds. As they grow mature with their disaster response endeavours they have been able to better organise their work and ensure more sustainable solutions.[11]
\n\nImage 6:\xa0Temporary Toilet Building by Milan Rai and Friends
\n\n\n\n| \u201cWe saw a lot of people in the public spaces where they were camping but there were no toilets. Especially the girls complained that they had to wait for the night in order to relieve themselves. We realized that if we were unable to tackle this issue then this would be the source of epidemic outbreak\u201d. \u2013 Milan Rai |
5.3.\xa0Immediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal: Assisting\xa0Far-Off\xa0Villages
\n\n\n\nImmediate Earthquake Relief for Rural Nepal\xa0is a group of friends from diverse backgrounds who came together spontaneously to carry out relief work in earthquake affected rural parts of Nepal. They started their relief initiative by reaching out to a village in Nuwakot through a personal contact and were largely sought-after by villagers and asked for help. While they received accolade, they utilized the trust placed into them to raise funds and relief materials to be distributed to the affected people. So far, this group has assisted people with relief materials worth around $23,000, covering 44 villages in nine districts. They headed an organised disaster response endeavor, coordinating with government authorities to locate the vulnerable areas and people. Their activities included need assessment, ensuring accountability\xa0and looking into\xa0the nooks and crannies\xa0that usually go unnoticed. One important lesson this group teaches is that of community resilience \u2013 the ability to anticipate risk, limit impact and bounce back quickly in the face of turbulent changes.[12]
\n\n\n\n| \u201cWe were out of the house three days after the earthquake. I think it was pure emotion initially. We could either have stayed quiet or we could have worked. There is an emotional drive after you see people in need. You cannot not do something.\u201d\xa0\u2013 Rakesh Shahi |
5.4. Community Service of Nepal: Organizing help locally and internationally
\n\n\n\nAfter the 25 April earthquake, the greatest challenge that stood ahead of Madhav Bhandari and his team was to provide relief materials to people affected by the earthquake in a widely scattered village in Sindhupalchok. With almost 6000 people homeless in only three inaccessible villages of the districts, Community Service of Nepal\xa0\u2013 a registered non-profit community organization that does charity and humanitarian work \u2013 took up the initiative to distribute tents to the homeless people. Within a couple of days after\xa0the quake, they were able to locate a source that donated them with 1000 tents to be delivered to the affected people.
\n\nHaving distributed tents and other relief materials to those in need, the next\xa0challenge that lies ahead of the organization is to provide the homeless with corrugated metal sheets which are in high demand. Another task for this humanitarian initiative is to seek support from \u2018cluster of contacts\u2019 for different types of aid designed by the United Nations and the government of Nepal in carrying forth the disaster response to materialise their goal of reaching larger group of affected people through the distribution of food, shelter and medicines. They have been doing every possible thing, from connecting into the official network of aid, to finding possible ways to make it easy to drop off relief materials in areas inaccessible by road to exploring ways, to address the demands and concerns of the affected to make sure that thousands of homeless people have a place to stay.[13]
\n\n\n\n| \u201cThe corrugated iron is much more expensive than tents, but the people know what they need much better than we do because they are the ones who need to live in their own situation. We need to change all of our fund-raising appeals to corrugated iron, and we need to find a cheap source of the iron sheets.\u201d \u2013 Lisa Bates |
The chosen method was reasonably effective and efficient to detect key characteristics of the community-driven disaster response movement after the earthquake in Nepal, including activities, location, group nature and scale. It also worked well to inform research questions for follow-up work. However, the nature of the data and data collection prevented us to work out some of the more subtle properties of the movement. Specifically, the limitations arose from:
\n\nFor a more complete picture of the significance of community-driven earthquake response, potential further research should answer the following question: How much did the different types of responders contribute to total relief and reconstruction work after the earthquake? This relates to self-help, neighborly help, community-driven disaster response at village level, community-driven disaster response at regional and national level, government and security forces, and disaster response by the international community of donors and response professionals (incl. UN system). This question cannot be answered by mapping using public information as in this study, but would require a field study in randomly chosen settlements, followed by statistical estimation.
\n\nThe second major limitation is that of quantitatively analyzing key facts about initiatives does not grant insights into their inner working models, processes and challenges. Follow-up research should employ qualitative methods like ethnography to acquire these insights.
\n\n6.2. Relevance for Professional Disaster Responders
\n\n\n\nThe findings relating to community driven response to the earthquake in Nepal can be a basis for professional disaster responders to facilitate broad based local preparedness for long-term emergency response and other local efforts. By devising frameworks and conducting trainings for information management, crisis mapping, assessing local power structures, needs evaluation, conflict-resolution skills, supplies management methods, and community-profile development, these professional disaster responders would ultimately contribute by informing the citizens that their involvement is essential to local development well beyond times of disaster. This will in due course of time ultimately foster well-planned and effective reconstruction activities. Likewise, more similar grassroot mobilisation can be planned for, and responded to in the aftermath of the disaster. Furthermore, processes such as bringing together diverse local groups, formation of local groups for planning, establishing long term vision and goal setting for disaster preparedness / recovery and recruitment of experienced local citizens can to lead the reconstruction. They could further also contribute by establishing an alliance between local groups that have been affected from the same areas and set a stage for more effective resource and responsibility sharing during times of crisis. Such alliance can therefore serve as a liaison between local grassroot efforts and more formal structures. Professional disaster responders could ultimately fill in the gaps by rendering support in areas which were not covered by the voluntary institution primarily due to inadequate professional expertise. For instance by providing staff for medical emergencies and treatments.
\n\n6.3. Relevance for Disaster Response R&D
\n\n\n\nDisaster response is under increasing scrutiny to work efficiently, transparently and accountable. Thus, it is worth keeping an eye on recent developments in technology, social changes, and grassroots innovations.
\n\nThis study identifies and analyzes community-driven disaster response as one of the grassroots innovations that can help to improve current disaster response mechanisms. In its movement-scale form observed in Nepal, community-driven disaster response can be considered an application of Internet-enabled peer-to-peer communication, collaboration and funding mechanisms \u2013 a latest addition to recent disruptive innovations like collaborative\xa0economy platforms, knowledge sharing platforms\xa0and digital collaboration platforms.[14]\xa0Obviously, such a development was only possible after widespread Internet uptake, now a given in urban Nepal.
\n\nDesigning a tool that further empowers community-driven disaster response and enables efficient coordination and collaboration with professional disaster responders is a task beyond the scope of this project. Relevant research questions for further work include:
\n\nFor such future work, the database and analysis of initiatives provided here is a viable basis. Informed by it and extrapolating from current technological developments, here is an idea-stage list of possible design aspects of such a tool:
\n\n[1]\xa0We thankfully acknowledge funding of this research by UNDP Nepal, via contract UNDP/INST/012/2015.
\n\n[2]\xa0Government of Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction Portal, http://www.drrportal.gov.np/, accessed 31 May 2015.
\n\n[3]\xa0Rajneesh Bhandari, Jonah M. Kesse: Rescuing Nepal\u2019s Relics, 20 May 2015,\xa0nytimes.com/video/id/100000003695666/video.html, accessed 31 May 2015
\n\n[4]\xa0Government of Nepal: Ministry of Education: School Building Preliminary Damage Assessment, version of 22 May 2015, moe.gov.np/allcontent/Detail/374, accessed 31 May 2015
\n\n[5]\xa0This seems a good approximation, since only very few location-bound initiatives operate in districts beyond the 14 priority affected ones: Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchok, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Makwanpur, Dolakha, Kavrepalanchok, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Okhaldhunga. Source: tinyurl.com/nepal-affected-districts
\n\n[6]\xa0Each initiative could carry out multiple types of activities. Thus, values differ from activity uptake / coverage percentage numbers mentioned in the text.
\n\n[7]\xa0Compare for example: U.S. Census Bureau: Statistics about Business Size (including Small Business) \u2013 Employment Size of Firms, census.gov/econ/smallbus.html#EmpSize, accessed 2015-06-08
\n\n[9]\xa0See http://quakemap.org/
\n\n[10]\xa0Shows map imagery from OpenStreetMap, \xa9 OpenStreetMap contributors. OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). See http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright\xa0for details.
\n\n[11]\xa0For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4744
\n\n[12]\xa0For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4704
\n\n[13]\xa0For more details see: https://edgeryders.eu/node/4632
\n\n[14]\xa0For a database of over 9,000 different collaboration and sharing platforms, see Meshing.it, http://meshing.it/categories.
\n\n[16]\xa0See https://data.hdx.rwlabs.org/
\n\n[17]\xa0See http://ckan.org/
\n\nThis is a wiki and anyone logged in can and is invited to Edit. If you come across articles or media worth checking out, add it please or post about it in a comment below.
\n\n"a number of conversations have started\xa0springing up, talk of distributed pension plans, hacker care homes and intergenerational meetups. (Just imagine if the EdgeRyders community management team was composed of your grandparents generation, it actually begins to make a lot of sense.) \xa0Disruptive innovation often comes from unexpected places and perhaps nothing could be more unexpected in this moment than an intergenerational alliance focused on social innovation."
\n"it is time to explore the\xa0different possibilities\xa0that can be made to exist for people outside the "system".\xa0What options are there?\xa0How will this be financed?\xa0What can/will the state do? Private corps?\xa0What technological solutions will there be?"
\n"When a community becomes the main actor taking care of shared assets, instead of waiting for help from a state, it can be beneficial, as we see from the case studies. But it needs to be stressed that even if a community becomes the main caretaker and stewards common assets, it does not exist in a vacuum. Thus it needs to be in a constant dialogue and communication with local authorities and policy makers." (p.17/18 as of April 19th)
\nThe island has not escaped the Greek economic crisis and around 40% of its inhabitants are unemployed. Nearly everyone grows their own food and many produce their own wine. There is also a strong tradition of solidarity among Ikarians.[]\xa0After the war, thousands of communists and leftists were exiled to the island, bringing an ideological underpinning to the Ikarians\' instinct to share. As one of the island\'s few doctors told Buettner, "It\'s not a \'me\' place. It\'s an \'us\' place."[]
\n\n"We keep the old people with us. There is an old people\'s home, but the only people there are those who have lost all their family. It would shame us to put an old person in a home. That\'s the reason for longevity."
\n
A big part of my family is Ethiopian. This is also the main reason I packed my bags and headed off to Addis Ababa
\n\n... to participate in my beautiful cousins\u2019 weddings.
\n\nMy cousin made clear I was expected to show up in a Habesha Kemis. So on arrival I headed off to Shiro Meda to find a tailor.
\n\n
I liked it so much I ended up getting a second one made.
\n\nThe wedding itself was a ball. With our family being spread across the globe it is rare for so many of us to be in one place at the same time. I really appreciated being able to spend time together in celebration of the most important element of a happy life... love.
\n\n
On the ride to venue where we would dance and try to keep the groom from picking up the bride (yes, literally- tradition), we came into the topic of religion.
\n\nI was asked about my religious beliefs which struck me as quite an odd question. .
\n\n... Until I found myself in the middle of a massive Timket (Epiphany) procession in a different part of the country a week later.
\n\n
The same thing happened on numerous occasions in different parts of the country.
\n\nSo Ethiopia is home to oh about 200 ethnic groups and around 80 languages. However diverse I knew the country was, in my mind always was associated with Christianity and Judaism... a long history that began over 2000 years ago. The Hebrew influence and identity is pretty clear when you wander around Gondar and Lalibela, especially if you dig into historical information about different dynasties that ruled and shaped Ethiopia throughout the centuries.
\n\n
So I was surprised to learn just how large a proportion of the population the Muslim minority is. Almost 40 percent, if I\u2019m not mistaken. And that the one Jewish person in the Bet-Israel village is the guy running the museum frequented by tourists on pilgrimages. Where is everyone?! Oh yeah. Pretty much everyone was evacuated to Israel after the massive drought in the 80s.
\n\nI feel a link to this diaspora, all diaspora really. There is something those of us born with feet in many worlds discover sooner or later. That we are not one or the other, but something else.. ours are third, remix, cultures. Religion is one of those sensitive areas we have to develop mechanisms for navigating.
\n\nWithin my family there are ties to several mega-cities of Africa and Asia where more than half of the world\u2019s 1.3 billion Muslims, and around sixty percent of the world\u2019s 2 billion Christians, live. I was born and have lived in different parts of a Western liberal Europe not sure how to deal with growing tensions between different social groups.
\n\nHere and there, what we think of as religious and or ethnic conflicts are often intimately tied to underlying conflicts over resources like land or water.
\n\nRwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa and the pressure on land has often been put forward as an important factor in the 1994 genocide. I cannot remember where I heard that in the case of Rwanda there were more intra-ethnic murders than between different ethnic groups... the genocide was partially fueled by the need to free up resources. If memory serves me, they had a system ( currently being reformed) in which all land would be passed on to the first son. Which left a class of landless, disenfranchised young men with no hope of accessing a brighter economic future unless some of that land could be freed up...
\n\nIsrael and Palestine is another example. At the source of this conflict, according to Bo Rothstein, lies mixing of religious rhetoric with what is essentially a fight over assets. He claims that you would create the foundation for lasting peace by focusing on resolving the land/economic disputes with compromises for everyone (Swedish article): http://www.svd.se/\u2026/markavtal-kan-stoppa-valdet_3777014
\n\nOther examples of legacy injustice include (thanks @Jaycousins ):
\n\nEgypt - land is divided amongst all children so within a couple of generations everyone has a tiny patch they can\'t profit from - the result is illegally constructed tower blocks on most of the rare and fertile land in Egypt and a lot of in-family tensions.
\n\nLikewise In England or any other Western Country, the peasantry had their inheritance stolen out from under them long before the lords and merchants started robbing foreign soil.
\n\n\u2026 There is much to be learned from Ethiopian history about the importance of tackling inequalities in distribution of property and use rights for building lasting peace. Especially in societies where formal property laws and customary property rights arrangements exist in parallel. I believe some of those lessons are also relevant in societies where land rights are secure but ownership of property is highly concentrated.
\n\n
Justice is a prerequisite for peace. While the murderous fascist regime known as the Derg got a lot of things wrong, they did push through land right reforms.
Prior to the civil war against the old feudal order (Haile Selassie, also known as Ras Tefari), the Muslim population was excluded from being able to access land as they were passed along hereditary lines. So your family had to own land in order for you to have hope of owning land. This was the Ristegna system.
\n\nThen there was the Gultegna, the nobility, which were granted the right to a fat chunk of the surplus from the land tended by farmers. Basically a rentier class that contributed little or nothing to the development of the country and life of their fellow Ethiopians.
\n\nBoth were upended by the revolution and land redistributed and finally nationalised. Why?
\n\nOne of the persistent calls for social justice in the revolution, also during the Derg period, was \u201cland to the tiller\u201d. All the different interest groups got behind this reform as a fundamental requirement. The military dictators could not back out on this demand as they would loose legitimacy amongst the soldiers, many of whom hailed from the southern parts of the country where the problems of unfair distribution of land was particularly strong for historical reasons.
\n\nThere are still problems, and new ones. Ethiopia is also undeniably doing a lot better than many of the other countries in the region- my impression was that there is a fundamental belief that things are improving, also for those at the wrong end of the power spectrum. Clearly the picture painted depends on who you ask but I could see for myself that e.g. infrastructure is much better in many parts of the country than it used to be.
\n\n
Most of all people are very aware of how fragile and important peace is. The story of a popular revolution co-opted by a military regime that then did its best to murder an entire generation is still fresh in the collective memory. I am reminded of this every time I hear any talk of revolution: the move towards a western style liberal democracy is not one that Ethiopians I spoke to value highly. Rather, it is economic rights and development that seem to be at the heart of their concerns.
\n\nIf we are to achieve peace at home, we need to think about how we tackle legacy injustices against people in different parts of a globalised world. The central pillar is property law and ownership. As Ethiopians learned, it makes sense to start there and not let up till an acceptable solution is reached.
\n\nThere will be losers. However if they are taking up so much space that it threatens the ability of others to survive. Well, they... all of us, may end up losing a lot more than excess capacity.
', u'post_id': 4134, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2015-02-13 10:22:57', u'title': u'Ethiocracy: Love, land and peace'}, {u'content': u'Hello all Future Carers. @Stefano_Maffei write to me that Politecnico is overcommitted and can\'t allocate the time to write its part of the proposal. While we are sad to see them go, we are thrilled to introduce to a new partner that is fully qualified to take the lead on what we have been calling "the prototyping layer": everyone, meet WeMake. WeMake is not a university, but a honest-to-God makerspace, located in Milan, with an enviable experience on open hardware hacking and strong professional and personal ties to Arduino. Co-founders @Costantino and @zoescope have been members of the Edgeryders community for years (and may I add that they are close personal friends); Future of Care will be followed by project managers @Chiara_Bongiovanni, @Cristina_Martellosio and Roberta Ribero. Chiara will represent WeMake at Monday\'s call.
\n\nWith the addition of KITE as consortium leader and the replacement of Politecnico with WeMake, we have a perfectly balanced partnership consisting of three universities and three SMEs. "Balanced" in this context means that it has both the scientific and technological credibility of academia and the hands-on experience and attitude of the hacker scene. I am quite happy with it. Onwards!
', u'post_id': 4133, u'user_id': 4, u'timestamp': u'2015-02-12 23:59:24', u'title': u'Change of partners in Future of Care: say hi to WeMake'}, {u'content': u'Latest surface scan with color textures by slo 3D creators on Sketchfab
\n\nHi Everyone, I came across this article today and thought it may be of interest to the group:
\n\n"Thanks to Sketchfab, Mike was able to send the 3D model of his wife\u2019s skull to surgeons at both hospitals. Johns Hopkins claimed that their only recourse would be a full scalping to drill through the portion of his wife\u2019s forehead above her eyebrow. UPMC, though, agreed to do it."
\n\nRead full article here: http://goo.gl/nJlSXp
', u'post_id': 4112, u'user_id': 8, u'timestamp': u'2015-02-03 14:47:47', u'title': u'Article: 3D Printing Helps Husband Seek Treatment for Wife\u2019s Brain Tumor'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 1438, u'user_id': 102, u'timestamp': u'2012-04-12 10:07:59', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 1518, u'user_id': 102, u'timestamp': u'2012-05-09 18:02:31', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}, {u'content': u'Based in the heart of Sheffield, Access Space is the UK\u2019s longest-running free internet learning centre, with thousands of participants making use of it every year \u2013 and it has achieved this without spending a penny on computers or software. Its model has inspired centres across Europe, while MetaReciclagem \u2013 a Brazilian initiative directly informed by Access Space \u2013 has now grown to a network of almost a hundred centres.
\n\nI founded Access Space in 2000 - but I had the idea in 1996 - when I started an arts project called "Redundant Technology Initiative". I\'m an artist, and I wanted to use my art practice to show the true situation in Sheffield, the city where I live. Sheffield has suffered structural problems from massive industrial change - the city used to be based on Coal mining and the Steel industry. Now the coal mines are closed, and the Steel mills are manned by robots. There is a very high level of unemployment in the city, and much of the employment that there is is in the public sector - most adults work for the government!
\n\nWorking as an artist, I saw that the city was failing to adapt to the emerging information economy - South Yorkshire had the lowest uptake of information technology in the UK. Meanwhile, I was making art from trash that I found in skips. Not only was the trash free (yes!) it seemed to me to be the most suitable material with which to make art about urban decline.
\n\nThen I started to find computers in the trash. I collected them, with the idea that I would make robot sculptures and other crazy artworks. I was amazed to discover, after some experimentation, that most of the PCs I recovered actually worked! I started to think about why people were throwing these machines away - when the city had a low level of engagement with information technology.
\n\nSo I started an arts group, "Redundant Technology Initiative" with one rule - we would be the people who would be creative with trash computers. But ONLY trash computers! We would refuse to pay for any technology, and only use what we could get for free. (This was lucky, because me and my friends were unemployed or unpaid artists, and thus completely skint.) We had a few exhibitions, and each time we exhibited, people brought us more computers. Being artists, we made them into "an art installation". (Other people might think, with some justification, that what we had made was was just "a huge pile".)
\n\nBy 1998 we had rented a warehouse which was scheduled for demolition. One good feature of industrial decline is that space is cheap. We had more than 1000 computers (!!!) some of which worked, some of which could work, and some of which were broken. We made a HUGE installation for a digital arts festival... and then more and more people gave us computers. After a few weeks we had more than 2000 machines.
\n\nWe started to realise two things:
\n\n(1) We didn\'t have any shortage of computers.
\n\n(2) We did have a shortage of skill, expertise and creativity.
\n\nWe learned how to rebuild and reprogram computers really fast, and we found students who also wanted to help. A local college sent us their trainees on "work placement" - and they learned as they helped us to repair the massive numbers of machines. But we then had a very embarrassing problem for an art group. We just weren\'t creative enough. We couldn\'t think of cool things to do with more than about 100 computers - we needed to think of cool things to do with 100 computers PER MONTH.
\n\nSo we designed "Access Space" - a digital lab where people can walk in and show us how they could be creative and productive with trash technology. It took 2 years to raise enugh money to start, and after we started, we managed to get ERDF funding to match our initial funds. (NOTE that there was no way we could have accessed ERDF funding with our levels of experience. We came in as a minor delivery partner, insulated from the frightening bureaucracy of the project by more experienced lead partners. This was very lucky for us - and could start a whole new conversation.)
\n\nSo, in 2000 Access Space opened. We believed it would be a good model to help people get engaged with technology. We invite every visitor to define their OWN objectives with trash technology - it could be making images, sounds, music, robots, websites, designs, photo galleries... It could be building a business, making new networks, rebuilding computers, or whatever. Our key test is that people THEMSELVES set their agenda. We don\'t work with a curriculum. And we don\'t have teachers. Instead, we ask participants to help each other - and because they\'re all working on "cool stuff" not "boring stuff" then people are usually happy to help - and maybe gain ideas, skills and expertise from the experience.
\n\nWe provide a free, open access digital lab, doing all sorts of things, from computer analysis, repair and recycling to art exhibitions, workshops, peer-learning activities, enterprise incubation, social support and more. We set up this lab as a response to unemployment, urban decline and the transformation of the job market. What we\'ve established is an innovative methodology to invest time, not money, in ICTs. This has huge potential to address worklessness and lack of opportunities. It\'s worth reflecting that many of our participants in Access Space experience the kind of precarity which you are investigating with Edgeryders.
\n\nAccess Space has a very wide range of participation.
\n\nIf you split them into three groups, <25years, 25-50years, >50 years, then those groups are roughly similar in size.
Roughly 1/3 of our participants are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Around 1/3 of our participants have a university education.
Almost 2/3 of our participants are unemployed, or under-employed.
Around 1/5 of our participants have some form of disability or long-term illness - particularly learning difficulties, like Asperger\'s Syndrome (associated with high intelligence) and mental health difficulties, such as depression.
1/10 of our participants have a serious problem with housing. Either they\'re homeless, or they are living in insecure, or temporary accommodation.
We had more than 2000 people use the space in 2011, which added up to more than 12000 hours of usage. Helping and facilitating this number of people, particularly when some of them have difficulties, is a huge job.
\n\nWhen it comes to funding, the significance of Access Space\'s budget is how small it is for the outcomes it delivers. Access Space principally sustains itself by saving money. A typical annual budget is only around \xa3100K. We have survived by raising funds, and by saving money. We save around \xa330000 each year by only using recycled computers and free, open source software. We have a very small core team (now usually 6, now 7 people, mostly part-time) who are on short-term contracts.
\n\nOur special power with funding is the huge range of benefits that Access Space brings. We help people:
\n\nMake creative progress - by engaging with digital creativity.
Make technical progress - learning new high-tech skills.
Make social progress - by helping each other, and by working together, people learn crucial soft skills, and develop more useful networks.
Make progress with employability and enterprise. (These we see as the ultimate extension of all the types of progress people make.)
This means that we have a wide range of stakeholders. We have been funded to:
\n\nIncrease high-tech skills for local enterprises.
Get people involved with the digital arts.
Help people become "digitally included".
Research and test new models for peer learning.
Develop and incubate micro-enterprises.
Develop high-tech skills with innovation potential.
Help people to become included in mainstream society, and become more employable.
What do we want? Funding, of course! However, we are aware that models based on funding are becoming increasingly under pressure. So we have started a "Friends" scheme, to ask our participants, and anyone else who thinks that the free opportunities we deliver are a good thing, to contribute.
\n\nBut we also need more participation by people who understand the challenge, and want to help. We want people who are interested to help us facilitate the community, build functioning social and economic networks, and experiment with how we can mobilise the talents and skills of the larger and larger number of unemployed people we encounter.
\n\nWe realise now that the most valuable technology that is being discarded by our society is PEOPLE. We are seeing talented, skilled people unmobilised, and we think that this is a criminal waste. We also see deeply uninspiring, value-free jobs (like working in call centres) as the only structural answer put forward by mainstream business and industry, and we want people to work with us to develop more inspiring, creative, engaging, and socially valuable jobs as an alternative.
\n\nWe need:
\n\nMore volunteers who are interested to work with a wide range of people, and are interested to challenge social exclusion and division.
Enterprising people who are interested in starting their own business and can see the potential to work in a social, creative and technical context.
Open source software enthusiasts who want to help us spread the word. We have a number of specific software and hardware challenges which we could use help with.
Other spaces across Europe who would like to collaborate with us to develop a network of social, technical and creative spaces. We have contacts already, but many spaces are just "technical and social" or "creative and technical" or "social and creative". We are looking for groups that want to be "technical, social, AND creative".
This would be the gist of what we\'re doing with this project. If you are passionate about techs and open source software, let me know and maybe we can collaborate. Also, if your\'re around Sheffield and would like to visit our establishment, also drop a line; We\'re currently working with x volunteers, but would be happy to take you in if you\'re up for this!\xa0
\n\nFind us at:
\n\n\n\n\nhttp://www.facebook.com/accessspace
\n\nhttp://twitter.com/AccessSpace
\n\nFinally, to see our work in action, I leave you in the company of this video of the Recycle Mid-Weekend we organized in March last year:
\n\n\n\nNow with added pizza! - Timelapse Video of Access Space Mega Recycle Mid-Weekend, March 2011 - V2 from Richard Bolam on Vimeo.
', u'post_id': 1710, u'user_id': 14, u'timestamp': u'2012-03-13 19:54:24', u'title': u'Access Space, A New Model for Individual and Community Development'}, {u'content': u'Undisclosed content', u'post_id': 1473, u'user_id': 102, u'timestamp': u'2012-04-23 18:20:40', u'title': u'Undisclosed title'}]
