Comments for OpenKollab

Comment on social enterprise pooled fund by Samuel Rose

Samuel Rose — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:10:17 +0000

Let me know what date you schedule this for..

href=”mailto:jos.meji@gmail.com”>jos.meji@gmail.com href=”mailto:openkollab@googlegroups.com”>openkollab@googlegroups.com

Comment on group discussion is now displaying on the blog homepage by admin

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:42:55 +0000

I'm thinking we could have a 'featured project' in the top of the right column. I could have a graphical representation of the video there, which would invite visual-minded folks to click through.

I might see if I can expand the width of that right-hand column, so i can have a decent-sized video player or slideshow there.

/NEED wordpress web design advice

What is the best way to add a box above the blog feed but below the name and tagline?

/NEED google groups subscription widget help

Also, if someone knows a way to allow people to subscribe to the google group directly from a wordpress page, it would help facilitate new readers of the group.

Cheers,
MC

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 9:03 PM, Suresh Fernando <suresh@radical-inclusion.com> wrote:

Hey Matt,

I think it's a good idea to bring the discussion front and center as this is what is most dynamic about OK.

That said, I definitely want to have pages that highlight the Pooled Fund and Project Matching . I know that these pages exist, but due to the way the blog is structured they seem somewhat hidden. For example, the video you are working on needs to be really prominent. I'd like to see it visible on the homepage if its possible to display both the video and the discussion simultaneously.

Suresh

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Matt Cooperrider <mattcooperrider@gmail.com> wrote:

http://mudball.net/openkollab/

Alex Linsker did a neat hack that publishes discussion group posts to a Wordpress. I had hidden this in favor of a traditional blog, but just restored it because:

1. It's unlikely we'll manage to keep up a blog
2. It's a small but novel way to display our openness. I'm going to add some text on the homepage that calls attention with this.

Thoughts?

--
Matt Cooperrider, Consultant
BLOG: http://mattcoop.com
SITE: http://collabforge.com
TWITTER: @mattcoop
PHONE: 774.487.8152
M.O.: http://notanemployee.net/

Comment on social enterprise pooled fund by Jim Benson

Jim Benson — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:38:39 +0000

Sounds like a conference call is in order.
--
Jim Benson
Performance Through Collaboration - http://moduscooperandi.com
Personal Kanban - Personal Organization your brain will actually like - http://personalkanban.com
My Blog - http://ourfounder.typepad.com | Twitter, Skype, - ourfounder
Phone US +1.206.383.6088
Add Me on Linked In - http://linkedin.com/in/jimbenson

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 11:27 PM, Tegy Thomas <tegythomas@verizon.net> wrote:

I would also like to be on the call as well. My skype name :ttrage007

Tegy Thomas
SuperNova7 Productions
917-376-1132
Twitter ID:#supernova7
From: Suresh Fernando <suresh@radical-inclusion.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:07:48 -0800
To: Jose R. Mejia<jos.meji@gmail.com>
Cc: Matt Cooperrider<mattcooperrider@gmail.com>; <tegythomas@verizon.net>; Samuel Rose<samuel.rose@gmail.com>; Manuel Rosaldo<manuel@dowser.org>; openkollab<openkollab@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: social enterprise pooled fund

Jose,

Thanks for the interest. I'd be interested in connecting on Skype and having a quick chat at your convenience.

My Skype ID is sureshf.

If that works for you, let me know your availability.

Suresh

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 8:00 PM, Jose R. Mejia <jos.meji@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey all --

My most recent experience in this field has been over the past year and a half, helping generate publicity and networking opportunities for www.sparkseed.org,
a nonprofit that connects college-aged social entrepreneurs with seed money and mentors to help foster both the endeavor and the spirit behind it, ensuring that
these bright young minds continue to innovate and strive to make an impact in the future.

I'm definitely interested in this sphere of the entrepreneurial realm; as I've discussed with Matt, I don't see a reason why there isn't already a system in place
which can cast a wide net to capture the flurry of people and ideas out there and facilitate drawing connections between them... so I'm glad to see something
like that arising here.

Anything I can do to help, feel free to ask!

Best
---Jose.

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Suresh Fernando <suresh@radical-inclusion.com> wrote:

Matt,

Thanks for the intro! Welcome to OpenKollab to the rest. The larger mission of OpenKollab is to create a community of practive, develop processes and develop tools to help projects that are might be able to collaborate to find each other and to start working together. Here is some further detail that should explain things.

OpenKollab Pooled Fund
Further details about the Pooled Fund Project can be found here.

What is unique about our funding strategy is that we are seeking to finance ecosystems of projects; groups of projects that have natural synergy. The nature of this synergy is to be determined. It could be that the groups are collaborating already, share a common longer term goal, share a particular set of clients, share a technology architecture etc. The essential element is that they are related to each other in a manner that mitigates risk for investors. We are open to the specifics.

We are also seeking social ventures. Our definition of a 'social venture' is pretty loose. What is important is that the primary focus of the project is to bring about positive social change. A secondary condition is that the project must have some revenue model with anticipated cash flow break even in roughly a year. This is not a hard and fast rule.

The reason that we are approaching things from this perspective is, as is outlined in the presentation, because I believe that it is necessary as we move forward, to create a new class of institutions; those that are both self sustaining and contribute positive social value.

Let me know if you think your project fits these criterion.

Project Matching
Another element in our larger vision is to create an infrastructure that will allow projects to find each other; to proactively drive collaboration across boundaries. To this end, we believe that an infrastructure that creates both visibility as well as project metadata to link projects will be a step in the right direction.

Details on this idea can be found here.

Tegy, due to your focus on open data to connect social entrepreneurs, I would be greatly interested in your thoughts and in exploring ways in which we might be able to work together.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Suresh

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 9:31 AM, Matt Cooperrider <mattcooperrider@gmail.com> wrote:

Tegy,

Thanks for the in-depth write up. You've really been driving hard on this! We'd love to find a way to work with you. I'm including on this discussion:

the openkollab google group (86 members) - http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab/

Suresh Fernando - OpenKollab founder and leader of the pooled fund project
Manuel Rosaldo of not-yet-released social enterprise site Doswer.org (I just met Manuel last night - maybe intro yourself and your project Manuel?)

Sam Rose of the Forward Foundation, who's helping source and coordinate pooled fund candidates
Jose Mejia, one of the organizers of the OpenNY forum who has also done a lot of work in the social enterprise space (maybe intro yourself and your work?)

All, see below for more about Tegy's project

Sorry to throw you all into the pot like this, but I feel like I've stumbled on a new ecology in the last few days. I'd like to get this conversation going strong before I leave for Australia on 1/2/2010.

Also, if you haven't seen it, here's a DRAFT video of the pooled fund concept. PLEASE DON'T SHARE IT YET.
http://mudball.net/openkollab/pooled-fund-2/

Best,
Matt

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Tegy Thomas <tegythomas@verizon.net> wrote:

Hey Matt,

Really great stuff!!! Let's definitely talk more. Here is what I have been working on.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Below is a link of the competition I entered called NetSquared based in CA. http://www.netsquared.org/projects/nebula

The mission of SuperNova7 Productions is to incite global grassroots action through the empowerment of social entrepreneurs.

SuperNova7 Productions provides an internet-based open source ecosystem called Nebula7, an interactive, transparent, measurable program offering real-time information for social entrepreneurs worldwide. Nebula7 seamlessly integrates mobile applications and comprehensible metrics enabling social entrepreneurs to create, collaborate, and implement projects on a grander scale. By identifying individuals, resources, and organizations with common goals, Nebula7 results in a larger coordinated impact.

Here is a our first prototype. http://bit.ly/5zQqr (created by a undergraduate from the University of California-Berkeley)

Another contest we were in called Apps for Democracy Community Edition : this contest was created by the former Chief Technology Officer of Washington, DC (now Chief Information Officer of the White House-Vivek Kundra)- http://bit.ly/DLszD

Below is a list of submissions to competitions and panels that I have entered.

• Ashoka / We Media Challenge (Global)-2008>Was invited to the "Pitch It" gallery at the University of Miami

• LIEN i3 Challenge- Lien Center of Social Innovation- Singapore Management University (Global) -2009

• Global Social Benefit Incubator- Center for Science, Technology, & Society Santa Clara University (Global)– 2009

• National Arts Marketing Conference (Rhode Island) -2009 > Accepted to present in November in Rhode Island

• Net Squared Challenge – Tech Soup Global (Global)- 2009 >Lead with most votes and comments in the "Change the Web" category

• Apps for Democracy (Washington, DC) - 2009 > Lead with the most votes and comments

• Calling all Innovators by Nokia (Global)- 2009

• South by Southwest Music, Film, & Interactive (Global)- 2009

• Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase (Washington, DC) -2009

• NYC Big Apps Ideas (New York City) -2009

• India Social Entrepreneurship Journey by Just Means (Global) -2009

• The Economist Media Convergence Forum (Global) -2009

• Y Combinator Startup School (UC Berkeley, CA) -2009

• Motion Graphics Festival (Washington, DC) -2009

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology 100K Entrepreneurship Competition (Cambridge, MA) -2009

• Think Social @ The Paley Center for Media (Global) -2009

• The Founder Institute (New York City) -2009

To know more about Nebula 7 concept go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq9L0LkQc04&feature=player_profilepage

Tegy Thomas
SuperNova7 Productions
917-376-1132
Twitter ID:#supernova7
From: Matt Cooperrider <mattcooperrider@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:55:01 -0500
To: <tegythomas@verizon.net>
Subject: social enterprise pooled fund

hey tegy,

jose explained to me last night the part of your project where you collect runner up social enterprises from various contests and try to get them collaborating. i'm working on something similar with some very cool people

here's a draft of a video i'm creating to explain our "pooled fund" concept.

http://mudball.net/openkollab/pooled-fund-2/

we're also looking to create a database of projects. lemme know what you think about potentially collaborating.

best,
matt

--
Matt Cooperrider, Consultant
BLOG: http://mattcoop.com
SITE: http://collabforge.com
TWITTER: @mattcoop
PHONE: 774.487.8152
M.O.: http://notanemployee.net/

--
Suresh Fernando
WEBSITE: http://radical-inclusion.com
WEBSITE: http://wiki.openkollab.com
BLOG: http://sureshfernando.wordpress.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/sureshf
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/suresh.fernando
604-889-8167

--
=================================
jose r. mejia
jos.meji@gmail.com
1 917 838 8057
=================================
current location --------------------> new york city
=================================

--
Suresh Fernando
WEBSITE: http://radical-inclusion.com
WEBSITE: http://wiki.openkollab.com
BLOG: http://sureshfernando.wordpress.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/sureshf
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/suresh.fernando
604-889-8167

Comment on group discussion is now displaying on the blog homepage by Suresh Fernando

Suresh Fernando — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:03:13 +0000

Hey Matt,

I think it's a good idea to bring the discussion front and center as this is what is most dynamic about OK.

That said, I definitely want to have pages that highlight the Pooled Fund and Project Matching . I know that these pages exist, but due to the way the blog is structured they seem somewhat hidden. For example, the video you are working on needs to be really prominent. I'd like to see it visible on the homepage if its possible to display both the video and the discussion simultaneously.

Suresh

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Matt Cooperrider <mattcooperrider@gmail.com> wrote:

http://mudball.net/openkollab/

Alex Linsker did a neat hack that publishes discussion group posts to a Wordpress. I had hidden this in favor of a traditional blog, but just restored it because:

1. It's unlikely we'll manage to keep up a blog
2. It's a small but novel way to display our openness. I'm going to add some text on the homepage that calls attention with this.

Thoughts?

--
Matt Cooperrider, Consultant
BLOG: http://mattcoop.com
SITE: http://collabforge.com
TWITTER: @mattcoop
PHONE: 774.487.8152
M.O.: http://notanemployee.net/

Comment on social enterprise pooled fund by FX Lab

FX Lab — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:12:58 +0000

Guys you are doing an incredible job ...: quite impressed ..!!

Jose , Manuel re you spanish ?

bestt,

Xavier

--- On Fri, 18/12/09, Tegy Thomas wrote:

From: Tegy Thomas
Subject: [OK] Re: social enterprise pooled fund
To: "Matt Cooperrider"
Cc: "Suresh Fernando" , "Samuel Rose" , "Manuel Rosaldo" , "Jose Mejia" , "openkollab"
Date: Friday, 18 December, 2009, 20:24

Thank you Matt for the introductions!! Great to meet you all and looking forward to being involved with the work you all are doing. I met Matt and Jose @ the NY Open Summit last weekend. Originally from NYC/NJ and live currently in Silver Spring, MD.

The contests and panel submissions this past year was a great learning experience for me. My next phase is to integrate a function which matches open data sets to social entrepreneurs on domestic/international levels using mobile technology in a open source ecosystem. As a delegate, I have attended the Skoll World Forum for the last two years and have been working some alumni from Oxford Business School to help cultivate this new movement.

Looking forward to your thoughts/experiences.

Tegy Thomas
SuperNova7 Productions
917-376-1132
Twitter ID:#supernova7

From: Matt Cooperrider

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:31:35 -0500

To:

Cc: Suresh Fernando; Samuel Rose; Manuel Rosaldo; Jose R. Mejia; openkollab

Subject: Re: social enterprise pooled fund

Tegy,

Thanks for the in-depth write up. You've really been driving hard on this! We'd love to find a way to work with you. I'm including on this discussion:

the openkollab google group (86 members) - http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab/

Suresh Fernando - OpenKollab founder and leader of the pooled fund project

Manuel Rosaldo of not-yet-released social enterprise site Doswer.org (I just met Manuel last night - maybe intro yourself and your project Manuel?)

Sam Rose of the Forward Foundation, who's helping source and coordinate pooled fund candidates

Jose Mejia, one of the organizers of the OpenNY forum who has also done a lot of work in the social enterprise space (maybe intro yourself and your work?)
All, see below for more about Tegy's project

Sorry to throw you all into the pot like this, but I feel like I've stumbled on a new ecology in the last few days. I'd like to get this conversation going strong before I leave for Australia on 1/2/2010.

Also, if you haven't seen it, here's a DRAFT video of the pooled fund concept. PLEASE DON'T SHARE IT YET.
http://mudball.net/openkollab/pooled-fund-2/

Best,
Matt

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Tegy Thomas <tegythomas@verizon.net> wrote:

Hey Matt,

Really great stuff!!! Let's definitely talk more. Here is what I have been working on.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Below is a link of the competition I entered called NetSquared based in CA. http://www.netsquared.org/projects/nebula

The mission of SuperNova7 Productions is to incite global grassroots action through the empowerment of social entrepreneurs.

SuperNova7 Productions provides an internet-based open source ecosystem called Nebula7, an interactive, transparent, measurable program offering real-time information for social entrepreneurs worldwide. Nebula7 seamlessly integrates mobile applications and comprehensible metrics enabling social entrepreneurs to create, collaborate, and implement projects on a grander scale. By identifying individuals, resources, and organizations with common goals, Nebula7 results in a larger coordinated impact.

Here is a our first prototype. http://bit.ly/5zQqr (created by a undergraduate from the University of California-Berkeley)

Another contest we were in called Apps for Democracy Community Edition : this contest was created by the former Chief Technology Officer of Washington, DC (now Chief Information Officer of the White House-Vivek Kundra)- http://bit.ly/DLszD

Below is a list of submissions to competitions and panels that I have entered.

• Ashoka / We Media Challenge (Global)-2008>Was invited to the "Pitch It" gallery at the University of Miami

• LIEN i3 Challenge- Lien Center of Social Innovation- Singapore Management University (Global) -2009

• Global Social Benefit Incubator- Center for Science, Technology, & Society Santa Clara University (Global)– 2009

• National Arts Marketing Conference (Rhode Island) -2009 > Accepted to present in November in Rhode Island

• Net Squared Challenge – Tech Soup Global (Global)- 2009 >Lead with most votes and comments in the "Change the Web" category

• Apps for Democracy (Washington, DC) - 2009 > Lead with the most votes and comments

• Calling all Innovators by Nokia (Global)- 2009

• South by Southwest Music, Film, & Interactive (Global)- 2009

• Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase (Washington, DC) -2009

• NYC Big Apps Ideas (New York City) -2009

• India Social Entrepreneurship Journey by Just Means (Global) -2009

• The Economist Media Convergence Forum (Global) -2009

• Y Combinator Startup School (UC Berkeley, CA) -2009

• Motion Graphics Festival (Washington, DC) -2009

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology 100K Entrepreneurship Competition (Cambridge, MA) -2009

• Think Social @ The Paley Center for Media (Global) -2009

• The Founder Institute (New York City) -2009

To know more about Nebula 7 concept go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq9L0LkQc04&feature=player_profilepage

Tegy Thomas
SuperNova7 Productions
917-376-1132
Twitter ID:#supernova7

From: Matt Cooperrider <mattcooperrider@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:55:01 -0500

To: <tegythomas@verizon.net>

Subject: social enterprise pooled fund

hey tegy,

jose explained to me last night the part of your project where you collect runner up social enterprises from various contests and try to get them collaborating. i'm working on something similar with some very cool people

here's a draft of a video i'm creating to explain our "pooled fund" concept.

http://mudball.net/openkollab/pooled-fund-2/

we're also looking to create a database of projects. lemme know what you think about potentially collaborating.

best,
matt

--
Matt Cooperrider, Consultant
BLOG: http://mattcoop.com
SITE: http://collabforge.com
TWITTER: @mattcoop
PHONE: 774.487.8152
M.O.: http://notanemployee.net/

--
This is a message from the OpenKollab Google Group located at http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en
To post to this group, send email to openkollab@googlegroups.com

Comment on Conflicts Arising From Generative Open Collaboration Spaces – possible mitigating mechanisms by david pinto

david pinto — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:21:14 +0000

well said

alex

you hit all the points :)

following multiple strategies is essential

a useful by-process of non-argument is

less talk

more action

a distinction i find useful is conflict v confrontation

conflict is unnecessary intellectual and emotional noise

confrontation is essential intellectual and spiritual engagement
the later is necessary if we want to have solutions that work :)

and as you say

the confrontation is best tested in reality through experimentation

let the results speak for themselves

rather than argue about it before hand

jump in

give it a try

especially if we are conducting small scale (in time and space) projects

be well

david

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 1:35 AM, Alex Linsker <alexlinsker@gmail.com> wrote:

Matt, :) thanks, that means a lot to get positive feedback like that from you.

Suresh, I'd definitely like to chat and think things through. I'm available this Saturday, Monday 7:30pm+ EST, and afternoon and evening Tues and Wed EST.

Hi Sam, good to meet you too.

Hey Seb,

I like how you write:

>I think it's very interesting that the starting point of this
>conversation is conflict. In my view, conflict is actually good when
>it arises, because it provides visible points of "creative friction"
>and lets participants each refine what exactly it is that they are
>after. In a way, by hashing out a disagreement, you define yourself.
>Only by showing yourself, what you are into, and what you value, can
>networking work appropriately for you - that is, bring the right
>people and projects towards you. In other words, good self-
>representation leads to good connections.

I think there is bad conflict, which might be called miscommunication/lack of clarity about who is responsible for what, and what the underlying purpose is. And then there is good conflict. Good conflict could also be called competition, or experimentation, or trial and error, with the ability to experiment with minimal risk on a small scale, and then scale up what works, or "let's in our subgroup try something out, and someone in another subgroup will try their thing out, etc., and let's keep the experiments pretty separate, so flaws and core beliefs and people in one will be different from the others, and so each can succeed on their own, we can observe who does the best, and then groups can choose to imitate other groups." As you say, it lets participants refine what they're after, take good risks that they're responsible for which affect those who choose to share in the risk and reward, thus making good connections.

Alex
organizational democracy

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Seb Paquet <sebpaquet@gmail.com> wrote:

On Dec 16, 9:38 am, Suresh Fernando <sur...@radical-inclusion.com>
wrote:

> Seb,
>
> Welcome to OK! Thanks for the great input! See below. It seems like you've
> been thinking about these issues for some time...

Thanks for the warm welcome, Suresh.

> > One idea that keeps coming back to my mind is that of "knowledge
> > territories". We each have a piece of turf we know about and a
> > vocabulary to talk about it. It's great to have a space to each define
> > our territories. Once that is done, though, if we adopt a
> > collaborative stance, we will want ways of identifying overlap between
> > those territories, ways of matching up concepts between us, and ways
> > to agree on a shared language. I think that when this is achieved in a
> > disciplined way, it becomes easier for individuals to adhere strongly
> > to a shared vision or goal and move forward together with confidence.
>
> I think you're right about this. The devil is now in the details. How would
> you suggest we go about this?

My personal view is that it has to happen bottom-up. Rrrreally bottom-
up.

As in: just you and I sit down and we figure out a way to align our
vocabularies. Meanwhile, others do the same. Then I repeat the process
with another person, and try to make things converge - letting my
first alignment effort bleed into the second one. Eventually, one can
hope, there will be a number of words that are well-aligned among
three people. These three people sit down one-on-one with others, and
so on. (By the way, the sit-downs aren't scripted, they happen
naturally.)

Let this process run for long enough and eventually I'm guessing (1)
the participants will have evolved human methodologies for efficiently
aligning vocabularies; (2) there will be sizable pockets of people
talking about very similar things using different, but internally
quite consistent vocabularies. Then people in the various pockets will
inevitably mix together. If they are driven to use the methods in (1),
the total number of words used can reduce in size without sacrificing
richness and proper descriptiveness.

I realize this is still a fuzzy description. But I think the process I
describe has actually been happening for a long time, and I believe
one of our challenges right now is to find ways to speed it up.

One way forward might be for a group of people to attain vocabulary
alignment on point (1) - agreeing on words that explicitly describe
what it is that we do when we align vocabularies. Once we have that,
we can build (or identify) a diversity of user-friendly technologies
that helps humans build shared language more efficiently.

> This definitely needs to be a part of the strategy. We are working on
> getting a block up and running that will make the face of OK more
> presentatble.

I believe this is abolutely critical. OK is not "inviting" enough as
it shows itself now. It's hard to find talented designers who
understand or care about these kinds of goals, or to become one, but
it needs to happen.

Presentability / "invitationality" is not an OK-specific issue: it is
a core issue in thousands of change-oriented initiatives. So any
significant progress here can potentially help lots of things get off
the ground.

Seb

Comment on Tiki wiki by Chriswaterguy

Chriswaterguy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:10:39 +0000

Intriguing - it prompted me to start this page on Appropedia: Wiki community development (input please!)

I'd be interested in the perspectives of those with OSS experience.

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 09:35, MarkDilley <markwdilley@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Folks,

This open source project is pretty amazing, including an open commit
route - almost as easy as a wiki -

http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/abs/html/mags/so/2009/06/mso2009060004.htm

Best, Mark

Comment on How might Minciu Sodas be a useful spoke of Open Kollab? by Suresh Fernando

Suresh Fernando — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:53:21 +0000

Andrius,

Thanks for the kind words! See below.

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 10:20 AM, Andrius Kulikauskas <ms@ms.lt> wrote:

Suresh Fernando,

I congratulate and all of the thoughtful people you've brought together,
including Michel Bauwens, Sam Rose, Steve Bosserman, Seb Paquet, Nathan
Cravens, Alex Linsker, Phoebe Moore, David Pinto, Tom Crowl, Matt
Cooperrider. It's quite an achievement to link together people from
different networks.
http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab

Yes, we are fortunate... hopefully we can also all work together to grow this list.

I'll fill out my Pooled Fund Project Profile
http://wiki.openkollab.com/wagn/Minciu_Sodas
Minciu Sodas is a business and so I'm interested in your Open Kollab
Pooled Fund

Thanks very much! Will take a closer look later today.

http://wiki.openkollab.com/wagn/OK_Pooled_Fund
a partnership between Open Kollab and Forward Foundation
http://www.forwardfound.org

Do you already have or envisage a source for these funds? One thought
is that there are existing "good capital" funds like Good Capital (Kevin
Jones et al) http://www.goodcap.net that might be interested in taking
up and supporting your collaborative infrastructure.

I have some funding contacts due to having done some past work in the social venture area. I do know some people at Good Capital (not Kevin Jones), the Calvert Foundation etc. in the US. I also have some funding contacts in the UK. Incidentally in my past life I was an investment banker so have some inroads into the financial world.

Once we are ready to present an investment case, we will present it to all our investment contacts and seek others if necessary obviously.

Just so you know, what is unique about the Pooled Fund Initiative is that we are seeking to finance an 'ecosystem'; a group of projects that already have some natural connection. Sam has some projects lined up for us to examine but we are still looking for the right case. To my knowledge there are no groups in the finance world that are taking a systems approach to finance. Clearly this is in line with our larger mission to connect organizations together. Part of what we will let investors know is that we have the collaborative expertise, systems development expertise etc. to pull all of this together and to support the organizations that they finance. We will add a lot of value that will mitigate investment risk.

Minciu Sodas doesn't need investors but rather clients and paid work for
our global teams. What might we do to help each other find such
clients? These clients hire us because they think that it's a smart
investment in terms of their social capital. Why waste your time and
energy on people who just want a fleeting money-based relationships when
you can have a lifelong personal relationship with people who care about
you and your values? That's the sell.

Coincidentally Sam, Matt, Michel and myself got off a call a couple of hours ago where we discussed this very issue. i would love to learn more about Miniciu Sodas and to explore ways in which we can work together. You may be aware that I am also a part of a group called Radical Inclusion, and I am in the process of rolling out a consulting strategy that will teach the principles of open collaboration to businesses. Details can be found in this presentation which you may have seen.

Figuring out how to collaborate and leverage our collective network to drive consulting business is something we are all interested in.

I'm glad that you're overcoming obstacles to open, inclusive
collaboration. I've formulated my thoughts on the minimum criteria for
working together as my draft of the Worknets charter
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?Charter

Will study this...

For example, if we're to work together, then I believe that our content
needs to be in the Public Domain for all to use freely. It doesn't make
sense for me or others to invest ourselves in content that is trapped
under some license, copyright or copyleft. That is not a "commons" and
it is not prepare for the day when the host shuts down and the content
needs to be hosted by new hosts.

Definitely. This is a part of the model we are working towards. All content that I generate, for example, others can freely use.
I should probably be more formal and describe the specific licensing agreement, but have not felt the need to do so as yet.

How can we support our internal economy? I'm trying to organize an
"economy of dreams" where we help each other directly to achieve our
dreams. This includes a chat room http://www.worknets.org/chat/ which
we staff to work on tasks http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?Tasks I
appreciate help to make that work.

Thanks for sharing this and the rest of your material. I will definitely review it all closely!

I suppose my general question is, How can we include each other's
networks? How can we tell each other (or even critique each other) so
that we might work together. For example, I have a need for custom
programmers to help improve our websites as we need for our projects.

There are a couple of ways of thinking about how resources can be redistributed within networks that might help to address this problem.

Needs/Resources Matching: A key idea for us is to build an infrastructure that allows groups that have needs (like yours for programmers) to match with organizations that have programmers to offer. What you will need to think about is what you have to offer in return (if not money).

Clearly in order to get this system working we need many groups to input their project data and to become a part of the overall OpenKollab system so that we have visibility into the groups.

Alternative Currency Mechanisms: Another mechanism is the introduction of an alternative currency that could be used as a mechanism of exchange. If OK is also making some money there could be a provision, for example, where at the end of the year those that have earned the most virtual dollars get a certain amount of real dollars from OK. The details of this sort of system have to be worked out obviously.

Other networks have programmers but that doesn't help us, especially
because they're not interested to do custom work.

Hmm... you'd think that there would be developers somewhere that would be willing to help you.

Whereas Minciu Sodas
has demonstrated on-the-ground "social good" accomplishments like the
Pyramid of Peace http://www.pyramidofpeace.net and most networks don't
have such conclusive achievements to show, as if they're never
relevant. What keeps us from working together?

What does it mean for Minciu Sodas to be a spoke of a hub like Open
Kollab? What are other spokes that we might start working with?

This is what we are trying to figure out and we could use your ideas!

Andrius

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@ms.lt
+370 699 30003

Comment on Conflicts Arising From Generative Open Collaboration Spaces – possible mitigating mechanisms by Suresh Fernando

Suresh Fernando — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:38:09 +0000

Seb,

Welcome to OK! Thanks for the great input! See below. It seems like you've been thinking about these issues for some time...

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 6:11 AM, Seb Paquet <sebpaquet@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

Let me try to summarize what's being said as I understand it and then
try to put my shoulder to the wheel. I'm new to the list, so I guess
this will be my self-introduction at the same time.

* Summary

1. We are imagining a "hub", a kind of "third place" that supports
collaborative processes at all scales.

Yes.

2. The hub is not a project in the usual sense: It doesn't look easy
to arrive at a very definite, agreed-upon goal and deadlines for the
hub itself. Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe the right metaphor is more
a lab or incubator.

This is an interesting distinction. The reason that I use the Hub metaphor is that I would like to scale the communications insfrastructure so that we are connected with many people and groups. I think of incubators in the traditional sense; as providing support for a defined set of projects that they help to develop. I would certainly like OK to provide support functions that are analogous to an incubator in time.

3. This hub will be a substrate, a social space that incorporates a
wide diversity of participants.

Yes

4. If I'm a participant, the hub:
a) enables me to connect to get new initiatives started (matchmaking
function)

Yes

b) enables me to get help understanding the collaborative processes
and tools I could benefit from using (learning function)

Yes

5. If I'm a participant, my contribution:
a) enriches the hub by adding diversity and new collaboration
potential

Yes!

b) helps the hub learn what it is that participants need
c) helps the strangers I will connect with to reach their goals

yes and yes

Comment on Conflicts Arising From Generative Open Collaboration Spaces – possible mitigating mechanisms by Samuel Rose

Samuel Rose — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:23:52 +0000

Hi Alex, nice to meet you!

I think this is actually what we are doing.

On the part of Forward Foundation, I would say it is not valid to say that OK “represents” us. Instead, as stated here: http://wiki.openkollab.com/wagn/Pooled_Fund_Project Forward foundation is *partnering* with OK.

Forward Foundation is involved in this Pooled Fund Project, not because we cannot do it on our own, but because we think it is a better use of time and resources to do it with others.