Trying to understand the various Hubs , and the various project layers , and approach in relation to control

[Dante-Gabryell Monson]

Hi Simone and All ( cc: Imaging the Hub - http://groups.google.co.uk/group/imaging-the-hub )

in this mail , two aspects - first a short presentation of a project initiated ( yet unfortunatly interrupted ) 4 years ago ,
as to set some perspective to my experience in relation to projects , and their relation to the hub , its multiple layers , and further clarity about various approaches of various layers related to hub projects.

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at first  ,

I would like to share with you a project initiated by my Japanese friend Sumiko ( who currently lives in London after finishing studies at LSE ) and I ( also see attachments ) ,

As it relates very much to the intentions and approach that some people related to the hub ( http://the-hub.net/home.html ) seem to be developing ,
towards building up intentional networks and communities of practice around common intentions and issues.

The project Sumiko and I initiated , in partnership with European and Japanese International Youth Organizations , was a project aiming at developing a platform for multi-lateral cooperation for sustainable development , sharing best practices and opening up communication channels and synergy opportunities , between NGO s , Gov, Businesses , and the people -
in Japan and the EU.

In the last years , other projects might have had the same intentions , and today I notice that the Hub is also being active ( institutionalizing ??? ) such approach.

Some remains of the process can still be seen on the yahoo groups :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peopletopeople/messages/1?l=1

and in attachment , you will find the project descriptions and paper work aimed at asking financial support from the EU ( and later , through other papers ,  from Japanese Foundations ) thanks to the determination and sleepless nights of Sumiko.

In attachment , you can find project descriptions - taken from the archived files on the people to people group.

We also had a parallel group , more prep team focused :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/prepteam_p2p/messages/1


Unfortunatly , the project had to be dropped , after receiving grant money from the EU , and from japanese organizations.

It was dropped after the new executive commitee of one of our main partners was appointed.

We did not have the time to lobby the new EC , and one of the members of the new EC lobbied against the project.

Officially the project was dropped as we still lacked 20 000 euros ( one sixth of the project ) but we still had enough time to get these funds and , personally , I felt confident it would not stop the implementation of the project.

But more likely , the real reasons for the project being dropped related to internal politics related to this partner organization.
( details I ll not explain here - and are in part related to power and legitimacy dynamics of EC members within the organization , and in part to the re-focusing of efforts along the EU-Mediterrenean instead of EU-Japan )

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I also want to share with you some of my lessons in relation to this experience ,
which also explain some of my approaches in the last years.

In the last years , I was aiming at developing a more netroots , open , collaborative and transparent approach.

I have further integrated some memes from the hacker movements , which is also today being integrated and promoted by movements such as the p2pfoundation , Collaborative Commons ( initiated by Howard Rheingold ) , ...

I saw potential also in hospitality networks , yet after getting somewhat involved relaized that the same power structure patterns re-emerged and exploited the work done by a open community of volunteers. ( example : couchsurfing might receive several hundred thousand dollars in donations this year alone )

I understand how important communication channels are , and believe in using open transparent communication channels , such as , for example , mailing lists in which members can post to.

I also understand how important this is to reduce overload of a few people that would otherwise " be in charge " , spreading capacity for new initiatives and facilitating information about activities , needs , questions , among a community , through asynchronous , web based communication.

Communication channels being only one part of governance and control related to projects.

I am enthusiastic about The Hub project , but it is still not clear for me who would control what , after investing further my energy in it.
I prefer not repeating experiences I went through with certain NGO s , or with certain Social Networks.

There are many different layers related to " The Hubs " activities , all inter related , and supporting each other.

The " shared office space " , and " conference facilities " aspect of the hubs being only one aspect.


The building of social networks , and the control on the communication channels related to communication between these social networks , the " brand building " of the communication channels , and the tools developed around the communities of practices to facilitate visualization of synnergies and of collaborative problem solving ,

all have their own value ,

and all the data converged around them will further increase attractiveness and value.

I would prefer it to be open sourced. - yet , as with other open source projects ( ie mozilla foundation ? )  , it would be important to understand where power may lie - and how , for example , money matters are being managed.

It is important for me that ideological aspects of this project are being set clear ,

as to understand what kind of ethics the " Hub Projects " and layers embody.

When this can become clear to me , I will be in a better position to understand with what I can and want to contribute to , and where my complementarities are to be found - and how to best collaborate with other real world convergence spaces , or other convergence and broad overview organizations ( such as the http://www.uia.be ? )

Cordially

Dante

http://en.hitchwiki.org/Dante

[Dante-Gabryell Monson]

Note : I was meant to reverse the order of priority of the two parts of my last letter - please read the second part of the mail first if you have limited time. ( its after the /// )

Thanks

Dante