Models of Collaboration in the Network World

[Michael Maranda]

Joshua, thanks for posting the Sustainapedia document.   To clarify:  Is that effort stalled out?  Is it proceeding with the same name?  

I've been making some notes towards a blog post, and encountered a nice paper focussed on collaboration in another field that I thought would be good as comparative reference - it described a "structured network" approach, and has a number of features in common with my Open  Stewardship model. ( More on that later ) ... here's the link http://www.massglobalaction.org/projects/Making%20Networks%20Work.pdf

[Chris Watkins]

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 17:12, Michael Maranda <m...@michaelmaranda.net> wrote:

Joshua, thanks for posting the Sustainapedia document.   To clarify:  Is that effort stalled out?  Is it proceeding with the same name?  

There's an overview here: http://www.appropedia.org/Sustainapedia

Basically, when they realized that Appropedia was already doing something very similar to their central idea of a green wiki, we started working together. IIRC, OSN was actually born out of a desire by a few people, especially Ryan Legg of Sustainapedia, to reach out and collaborate more widely. 

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[Mitra Ardron]

I think its time to skip the theory about how it should theoretically
work and apply some decent permaculture principals .... observe, see
what IS working and then figure out how to adapt it to this environment.

Wikipedia pretty much works (with Appropedia or Sustainapedia being the
adaptations), maybe there is a better alternative but if so lets hear
about a working example rather than a theoretical one. Otherwise lets
figure out what isn't working with Appropedia (if people think its not
working) and fix it.

For example I find too many gaps in any category for it to be a place I
go and look for information - e.g. there are only 4 entries under Food
Production.

- Mitra

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[Michael Maranda]

Mitra, I am not clear on your comment regarding theory - the model in the paper on structured networks is a practical one used by another group/field.   I do think we can learn something from their approach.  Since it has already been tried, it's not just "theory"

But I do think your practical comments of exploring what is not working with specific example are of benefit to the possible improvement of Appropedia.

MM

[Michael Maranda]

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 2:49 AM, Chris Watkins <chrisw...@appropedia.org> wrote:

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 17:12, Michael Maranda <m...@michaelmaranda.net> wrote:

Joshua, thanks for posting the Sustainapedia document.   To clarify:  Is that effort stalled out?  Is it proceeding with the same name?  

There's an overview here: http://www.appropedia.org/Sustainapedia

That page gives some good history.  Interesting to see the fate of the .com and .org domains for Sustainapedia in different hands.  I've typically ignored .com acquisition for my projects, but maybe I should not be so frugal and idealistic. It looks like the .com owners (web of hope) don't redirect, and it sits on an inactive wiki. 

Thanks, Chris!

[Chris Watkins]

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 19:08, Mitra Ardron <mitra...@mitra.biz> wrote:

 I think its time to skip the theory about how it should theoretically work and apply some decent permaculture principals .... observe, see what IS working and then figure out how to adapt it to this environment.

I like that - hadn't thought of the permaculture principles in this context before. As Michael said, it could be very helpful here.

Wikipedia pretty much works (with Appropedia or Sustainapedia being the adaptations), maybe there is a better alternative but if so lets hear about a working example rather than a theoretical one.  Otherwise lets figure out what isn't working with Appropedia (if people think its not working) and fix it.

For example I find too many gaps in any category for it to be a place I go and look for information - e.g. there are only 4 entries under Food Production.

Thanks Mitra, for a very practical example. There's actually much, much more there on food production, as I'll explain later, but it's true there are many gaps.

Think of Appropedia not just as a resource, but as a platform. That is, it's a space for you and the world to share. If there's an article that should be on Appropedia about permaculture or a design for a self-watering pot, and you have that knowledge, then how will that information be shared unless you share it?

When I first saw Appropedia it had 14 pages. It now has well over 3500. Will you help us keep building?

Now, how to fix an important category with little information? This is a chance for a little how-to on using Appropedia :-). Try these:

1.  Find other pages on the wiki and add them to the category. I just went to Category:Agriculture (which has 19 subcategories and over 200 pages) and added [[Category:Food production]] at the bottom. Anyone could have done that (it's open edit), but I was prompted by Mitra's post, and I knew there was more about food production, somewhere.
Note that Category:Food production now has 4 articles directly, but 5 subcategories with many articles.
2. Add your knowledge. Start new pages and expand existing pages.

 

Now, what IS working for Appropedia? I'd like to hear others before I answer :-).

Chris

--

[Michael Maranda]

BTW - I'm interested if anyone has other models/strategies of collaboration/coordination to share, whether they are in use or just proposed/theory.

MM

[paul horan]

Michael, Mitra, Chris, et al.,

Michael, I'm up to page 17 of the "Making Networks Work" and getting great value from it. Will offer more in depth response soon along w/ a possible 'model/strategy'.

Mitra, I love your suggestions = employ permaculture principles as a lens for observing what works, what doesn't work and what improvements can be made. In terms of "skip the theory", I disagree. Let's instead develop both theory & practice simultaneously; after all, nothing's quite so practical as a good theory and best theories derive current, functional wisdom from best practices.

Chris, You Da Man!!!

Ciao for now,

paul

[paul horan]

Michael, Chris, Joshua, Mark & Mitra,

Michael, once again, thanks for the "structured network" link = I love this kind of good news! Here are some key terms, phrases, etc. that particularly ring my bell =

" serve as a social laboratory, self-consciously experimenting" p. 5 

"voluntary, reciprocal and horizontal patterns of communication and exchange ... networks as defined primarily by their frames." p. 8 & 9

"cross-organizational team leadership." p. 9

"in the presence of active trust" p. 10

form following function (in my own words) p. 12 & 13

"envisioned as a seedbed" p. 15

"the principle of subsidiarity" p. 17

"Ten practices stand out, with each addressing perennial social movement concerns: accountability, participation, knowledge, responsiveness, efficiency, dialogue, resources, growth, movement building, and communication." p. 17 thru 25

"promote transparency" p. 19

"netiquette" p. 30 & 31

Perhaps there's a fit with your "Open  Stewardship model", this "structured network" approach my/our interest in supporting High School Students to have fun helping one another learn about the elegant structures and efficient functions of real live ecosystems.

As per models that work well for me, Dana Klisanin's work on evolutionary guidance media is inspired by one of my intellectual heroes, Bela H. Banathy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_guidance_media

And David Cooperrider's work on appreciative inquiry is inspired by another such hero Geoffrey Vickers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appreciative_inquiry

As per an example of a strategy I'd love to brainstorm w/ y'all, I'll post one soon via the wave you got goin' on ...

Chris & Joshua, I appreciate the links to appro/sustainapedia's common history.

Mark, I trust you're not referring to me (since I'm feeling way more spaced-out than "sage"-ish : ) 

Mitra, FWIW, I had the pleasure of briefly meeting your colleague Lili almost 2 years ago as we waited on line during the Bioneers/Biomimicry intensive lunch break.

Ciao for now,

paul

[Ivana Z.]

Hi!

My name is Ivana Zelenika and I'm a grad student from Queen's
University working under supervision of Dr. Pearce. I have been
reading the posts for a while now and figured to chime in the
discussion if I may. My thesis topic is on Open Source Appropriate
Technology - looking for ways to expedite sustainable development and
innovation through collaboration and using principles of open access/
open source. In my research I have spoken with as many academics,
researchers and organizations working in lieu of A.T. and development
as possible to gauge as wide array of opinions on barriers and ways to
solve them. For example I have been lucky to get feedback on barriers
to app. tech from Chris and Lonny from Appropedia, Directors or
research of ITDG, Appropriate Tech Collaborative, Compatible Tech.
International, IDRC and etc

It is undeniable that the power of internet and networking websites
has tremendous potential for knowledge dissemination and making it
easier for NGOs, academics, researchers (and for people for whom
technologies are intended for) to work together, find information and
create knowledge. Appropedia is a great example - but not everyone is
on appropedia or knows about it - why? The same goes for even trickier
databases to find and decipher. Plus there are tons of other sites and
organizations with similar databases and forums - how can we fuse this
knowledge (or should we?) and how do we make it easier to find data,
post data and collaborate - basically these are the main questions to
my thesis and I am really interested in what people on the OSN list
think about this... I am just about ready to pluck out main themes
from biblio and interviews and start writing - In the spirit of open
source collaboration I would be more than happy to share some main
thoughts and findings on this network if you would like - all and any
feedback would only enhance the paper and bring exposure to real
problems at hand.

From what I can see good things are happening: I know there is still a
long way to go but I cannot help but feel optimistic: the key is to
establish platforms for collaboration and knowledge access and engage
people working in the development field to come and share their
expertise - which of course is another problem as sometimes people
think they have nothing of value to offer - or cannot find the time,
or don't know the place to go and share. But more and more people are
coming online, open source/open access paradigm is gaining awareness
and popularity in mainstream AND people are recognizing the potentials
of the online networking: for example in my latest talk with ASME
(American society of mech engineers) it was revealed they are working
on a $2 Mil dollar OS knowledge repository funded by the EWB US and
IEEE. This is the beta version of the site: http://www.engineeringforchange.info/
with the final website ready for launch by end of the year. They are
looking for ways to merge existing knowledge from related databases if
anyone is interested.

As Michael mentioned earlier I too am interested in examples where
collaborative/ open access work has made a difference, or where lack
of such collaboration has had awful results...

That's all from me for now

Ivana

[Mark Roest]

Hello Ivana,

 

I am glad to see your posting. David Alan Foster and I developed an idea that responds to the question, "how can we fuse this knowledge (or should we?) and how do we make it easier to find data, post data and collaborate?," coming out of the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth at UC Berkeley, in June 2007, and brought it into the company we then formed, Design Earth www.DesignEarth.net. 

 

The idea is to organize knowledge (and wisdom) around the ecosystems we live in and the cultures that developed in their context. The World Wildlife Fund and National Geographic sponsored an approximately 2-year research project that polled about 1200 ecologists and other scientists around the world to map the boundaries of 667 ecosystems, which in some cases get down to soil types.

 

This is fine enough granularity that discussions of how to solve problems impacting ecosystems and the people who inhabit them can become meaningful and clear. A simple example is the progressive destruction of vegetative cover in mountain environments in the Sahara Desert, due to nomadic shepherds or goatherds using what trees there are for cooking fires. The initial answer is clearly solar cookers. A deeper investigation could be conducted meaninfully; even if it looked at other ecosystems the herders pass through to learn what they might be most open to doing, it is still a manageable problem scope.

 

With this approach, you identify all the ecosystems a solution or problem definition may apply to, and code or tag it for all of them. As in Bayesian logic, knowledgeable people can also assign credibility or certainty levels to a solution, so they can be readily compared by the computer and the best (highest-rated) ones can be presented. Multiple values can be assigned, such as environmental impact of creating the solution, cost, whether it can be produced from the surplus resources of the ecosystem (or a neighboring ecosystem, or one that herders pass through and can trade for), social equity, etc. In addition to expert evaluation, there can be parallel "reputation and trust" systems such as Jack Park mentions in his August 21 posting. (His whole project building on IBIS is a great complement to the system I am writing about, by the way.)

 

From a marketing or purchasing (supply chain, distribution channels) perspective, the ecosystem- and culture-tagging approach surpasses even the most effective targeting systems of commercial advertising, and reaches anyone looking for the specific solution (if they have a need) or market (if they have a solution). (This is a system which benefits strongly from the 'network effect', when it becomes common knowledge that the answer to almost any 'real' problem is likely to be found in it.) It is appropriate technology for linking the communities of science and the communities on the ground around common interests (problems and resources specific to particular ecosystems).

 

It also supports social action networks like JamiiBora (300,000 people in Kenya) who need to assist and organize impoverished people living in diverse ecosystems (and who have migrated to the cities that have drained the ecosystems and impoverished the economies of their own cultures) to become entrepreneurs or form effective cooperatives that complement each other as whole systems approaches to building sustainable economies.

 

I am thinking of this as being implemented in WorldWind (NOAA's open source digital earth imaging / geographic information systems platform). I would be interested in talking with the people you met at ASME; perhaps this could serve as an introduction. Then it would be good to introduce them to Michael Maranda and the project he initiated, which is the context of this thread. I am hoping that these projects and networks can be woven together in a large, structured context that is an effective local and global tool for broad collaboration and participation.

 

 

To complement the knowledgebase that resides on the Net, we (humanity) could have radio and tv programs aimed at teachers in each of their languages (USAID funded things like this years ago), combined with radio and tv programs aimed at mothers and fathers and children, in each of their native languages, which are regular shows on a weekly basis, with people coming in and talking about how they use tools or solve problems of living, and how they think and collaborate creatively.

 

We can combine this with partnering with the Commonwealth Of Learning (www.col.org) to create what they call Open and Distance Learning (ODL) modules in each local language, for teaching people relevant solutions to important problems. We can also combine it with the empowering curricula that Edward Cherlin is coordinating development of; he is at eche...@gmail.com.

 

Another powerful platform that can complement what I wrote about is the open source and free version of the U.S. Veterans Administration's hospital and clinic information management system. It is developed on the front lines of care delivery, extremely powerful, and available from www.WorldVistA.org; check out the HardHats page. Work is being done to enable its records to be geo-coded and have their privacy secured -- this facilitates using it as a public health system that is not restricted to specific facilities (important for rural, poor economies), and using it for outcomes research, to drive changes in the health care paradigm.

 

Probably more than enough for now ...

 

Regards,

 

Mark Roest

Regards,

 

Mark Roest

MarkL...@gmail.com

[Michael Koch]

Hi Ivana,

Its exciting to see others working on this area, especially in academia!

From my own research for my MS, one of the main issues I felt needed to be addressed in OS Appropriate Tech and Design was simply providing engineers the tools to easily collaborate and share knowledge. In open source software there are plenty of web apps readily available to programmers with sites like Github or SourceForge. However, in the engineering design realm, there are few tools that are robust and accessible to the end-user, especially sites that include a robust toolset and are focused on project management.

In order to fill this void, our team looked to the OS Software realm for inspiration, particularly at the different web applications that were available. We ended up settling on Redmine, an OS project management infrastructure with a host of project-specific tools like wikis, blogs, file upload, repos, budgets/timesheets, forums, etc etc. Currently, the site can be found at www.openpario.net and is free for anyone to use. OSEcology and other groups working in OSAT have been using the site for development. I'd love to expand use of the site, so if you have any suggestions for how we can improve, I'd love to hear them.

In terms of sharing information between sites, I agree this is of major importance. We've been working with Appropedia and hope in the future that the 2 sites will be able to communicate. As part of this, we're looking at ensuring the site can easily communicate with other platforms as well. Though, as with anything, it takes time, expertise and funding. Moving forward on this, there are some  technical barriers that I believe can be fixed with APIs. As a MechE though, my expertise is limited in how to actually accomplish such feats.

The ASME site you mention sounds interesting. Do you have more information on this?

Also, I used Zotero to organize my research. Are you using a similar tool to organize your sources? I could share mine with you, if you're interested.

Either way, I'd be interested in talking with you more about your work and anywhere I can help. Alot of these ideas get rather complicated and explaining through email cause a lot to lost in translation!

Regards,
Mike

--
Michael Koch
Cell: 417.483.4244
Fax: 973.924.1682

On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Ivana Z. <ivana.zele...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ivana Z.]

Hi Mark and Michael

Thank you both for your feedback and info on organizations and sites!
As Prof. Pearce mentioned we would be more than happy to share our
group's AT and OS biblio - unfortunately I had not yet had the time to
export everything to Zotero with interviews being my main priority
this summer but will sync everything up shortly - in meantime feel
free to look over our appropedia bibliography @
http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Appropriate_Technology

As for more info on ASME - the beta site is engineering for change.org
- the final version goes online by end of year and they are looking
for anyone with AT knowledge to sync up with. The idea is to establish
an OS platform for development/ knowledge repository/ collaborative
tool. They hope to make the whole database OS so people can add/
enhance and build the site as they wish - the key idea being in that
they know they don't know everything: what will people want and need
so they are hoping to learn fast and for the site to be flexible and
evolve to meet those needs...a pretty neat idea!

Will stay in touch

Ivana

On Sep 13, 3:46 am, Michael Koch <michael.david.k...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Ivana,
>
> Its exciting to see others working on this area, especially in academia!
>
> From my own research for my MS, one of the main issues I felt needed to be
> addressed in OS Appropriate Tech and Design was simply providing engineers
> the tools to easily collaborate and share knowledge. In open source software
> there are plenty of web apps readily available to programmers with sites
> like Github or SourceForge. However, in the engineering design realm, there
> are few tools that are robust and accessible to the end-user, especially
> sites that include a robust toolset and are focused on project management.
>
> In order to fill this void, our team looked to the OS Software realm for
> inspiration, particularly at the different web applications that were

> available. We ended up settling on Redmine <http://www.redmine.org>, an OS

> project management infrastructure with a host of project-specific tools like
> wikis, blogs, file upload, repos, budgets/timesheets, forums, etc etc.

> Currently, the site can be found atwww.openpario.netand is free for anyone

> to use. OSEcology and other groups working in OSAT have been using the site
> for development. I'd love to expand use of the site, so if you have any
> suggestions for how we can improve, I'd love to hear them.
>
> In terms of sharing information between sites, I agree this is of major
> importance. We've been working with Appropedia and hope in the future that
> the 2 sites will be able to communicate. As part of this, we're looking at
> ensuring the site can easily communicate with other platforms as well.
> Though, as with anything, it takes time, expertise and funding. Moving
> forward on this, there are some  technical barriers that I believe can be
> fixed with APIs. As a MechE though, my expertise is limited in how to
> actually accomplish such feats.
>
> The ASME site you mention sounds interesting. Do you have more information
> on this?
>
> Also, I used Zotero to organize my research. Are you using a similar tool to
> organize your sources? I could share mine with you, if you're interested.
>
> Either way, I'd be interested in talking with you more about your work and
> anywhere I can help. Alot of these ideas get rather complicated and
> explaining through email cause a lot to lost in translation!
>
> Regards,
> Mike
>
> --
> Michael Koch
> Cell: 417.483.4244
> Fax: 973.924.1682
>

> > open-sustainability...@googlegroups.com<open-sustainability-network%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > .

[Ivana Z.]

Oops - the OSAT Biblio is @
http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Appropriate_Technology_Literature_Review

Cheers!

On Sep 14, 7:43 pm, "Ivana Z." <ivana.zelenika.zo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Mark and Michael
>
> Thank you both for your feedback and info on organizations and sites!
> As Prof. Pearce mentioned we would be more than happy to share our
> group's AT and OS biblio - unfortunately I had not yet had the time to
> export everything to Zotero with interviews being my main priority
> this summer but will sync everything up shortly - in meantime feel

> free to look over our appropedia bibliography @http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Appropriate_Technology

> > Currently, the site can be found atwww.openpario.netandis free for anyone

[Ben de Vries]

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I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.
 - John Cleese

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake: One of her characters asks, "As a species we're doomed by hope, then?" By hope? Well, yes. Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes, which in turn create ever more dangerous messes. Hope elects the politician with the biggest empty promise; and as any stockbroker or lottery seller knows, most of us will take a slim hope over prudent and predictable frugality. Hope, like greed, fuels the engine of capitalism.

[Chris Watkins]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 06:43, Ivana Z. <ivana.zele...@gmail.com> wrote:

As for more info on ASME - the beta site is engineering for change.org

Oops, some spaces got in the way :-). IIUC the beta site is http://beta.engineeringforchange.org/ (though not loading for me at the moment) & interim site is http://www.engineeringforchange.info/

Chris

- the final version goes online by end of year and they are looking
for anyone with AT knowledge to sync up with. The idea is to establish
an OS platform for development/ knowledge repository/ collaborative
tool. They hope to make the whole database OS so people can add/
enhance and build the site as they wish - the key idea being in that
they know they don't know everything: what will people want and need
so they are hoping to learn fast and for the site to be flexible and
evolve to meet those needs...a pretty neat idea!

Will stay in touch

Ivana

[iana aranda]

Greetings all,

Thank-you to Ivana for posting info on Engineering for Change (E4C),
we appreciate it very much. Chris, i hope the page loaded for you and
we're looking forward to our chat. Mike, we would be interested in
speaking with you about your work and exploring collaborative
opportunities. Please ping me directly: ara...@asme.org if you are
inclined.

Thanks again for your help all.
Cheers,
iana

On Sep 15, 12:27 am, Chris Watkins <chriswater...@appropedia.org>
wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 06:43, Ivana Z. <ivana.zelenika.zo...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > As for more info on ASME - the beta site is engineering for change.org
>

> Oops, some spaces got in the way :-). IIUC the beta site ishttp://beta.engineeringforchange.org/(though not loading for me at the
> moment) & interim site ishttp://www.engineeringforchange.info/