Another hello, and invitation
Rolf Kleef
I'm Rolf, living in Amsterdam, and came across Habib (again) some
weeks ago, and then read about the concept of "network weaving". It
turned out to be a mix of things I do already and things I want to
become better at, so that was quite interesting to read. And I finally
found a bit of time to catch up with some of the discussions here.
My main area of work is "online collaboration for non-profits in
international development and environment". It's a challenging sector
that would benefit from better partnerships and coalitions, to take on
such global issues as peace, poverty, and climate change.
In my previous job we often worked on creating strategies to build
communities of practice and partnerships, trying to help organisations
become more strategic in their network thinking (an interesting
reading is "Movement as Network" from One/NW's Gideon Rosenblatt,
http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/movement-as-network)
Right now, I'm concentrating more on hands-on/practical tools and
techniques that fit in with approaches such as for instance
"netcentric campaigning", http://netcentriccampaigns.com/ -- and
experimenting a bit with for instance the "friend explorer" that helps
you map out your network on Facebook (http://www.friendexplorer.net).
...
So, the invitation... if this mix of "online" and "social change"
appeals to you, I encourage you to have a look at the Web of Change
conference (http://www.webofchange.com). I'm going there again this
year, as I find it's a very nurturing and inspiring event to learn and
to network, and who knows an opportunity to meet more of you :-)
Looking forward to further talks and exchanges here!
/-- Kind regards,
/--- Rolf.
tutormentor
Rolf,
Thanks for introducing yourself and providing these links. I'm
impressed with the "friend explorer". I have a database of more than
15,000 contacts and I've been trying to find a way to map the network
so that I and others could understand it better, and make it more
effective.
I visited the Web of Change conference site and see that you have a
participation list. I host a conference in Chicago in May and
November and at http://www.tutormentorconference.org/RegistrationList/
you can see that I've made the attendee list interactive. I view a
conference as an opportunity to create public awareness for a cause,
through the build-up prior to the event, and through the networking of
participants after the event. During the two days of most conferences
people can only attend one workshop per time frame, and will only
randomly meet a few of the people who are also attending. Thus, by
building the attendee list, and creating on-ling forums that encourage
people to network, my hope is that we help more participants meet the
people they might want to work with, and that we help them stay
connected after the event, so that more of the ideas discussed
actually get put into action.
On the conference site you'll also see that I link to an eConference
page, and to the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org page. If you
browse the T/MC page you'll find a database of Chicago program, maps
that show where poverty is concentrated in Chicago, and where tutor/
mentor programs are needed, and links to more than 1000 organizations
that are in Chicago and around the world, representing other tutor/
mentor programs, capacity building resources, models of business
involvement, etc. Thus, while we draw people together to learn from
each other via the conferences, we support the long-term learning via
the resources we host on the web site.
I encourage you to add the links to the "friend explorer" and Web of
Change Conference to the Links sections of the T/MC library where you
think they fit. For instance, there is an entire section focused on
innovation, creativity,collaboration and process improvement.
All of these actions demonstrate my own role as a network weaver. In
fact, if you view http://www.lend-a-hand.net you'll see one more role
that I take that I'd like to see more network weavers take. I've
helped create a program in the Chicago Bar Association that recruits
money and volunteers from the legal community to support volunteer
based tutor/mentor programs in the city. Without the money or
volunteers, all of the good ideas of the conference are difficult to
implement.
I'll look forward to networking with you, and to connecting networks
with you.
Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Chicago
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com