Futurespotters dinner: rounding up this year’s work

[ana_ungurianu]

Hello world,

Some of us are making any excuse to hang out and stay in touch with each other! So how about we meet next week Tuesday 8 December at 19:00 @ Visini Hub, courtesy of @Bogdan_Alto?

We’ll catch up, cook a nice dinner and have mulled wine, enjoying each other’s presence.Some of us have been plotting and scheming since the summer, so we’ll hear ideas and new projects like:

1. The greater potential of civic platforms (@Ruxandra)
2. Mahala Community and Platform (@Alexandru Predoiu)
3. Project in the making: Y’ELLO (@Noemi)
4. What for our way forward? Where do members need help with? Should we call for monthly meetups from now on? Do we need community managers?

Since we’re self-organising, we’re asking everyone who’s coming to leave a confirmation below and say what you can bring with you (cooked food, ingredients, drinks, thoughts, ideas, projects etc). We’ll be cooking what we bring. Anyone wants to coordinate the cooking process?

Important question for you to answer. Please take the time to reflect on the following: in your professional dreams what has to happen after this year’s meetups and July workshop on collaboration?

Futurespotters: building grassroots collaboration for Bucharest 2021 from Edgeryders on Vimeo.

Date: 2015-12-08 17:00:00 - 2015-12-08 17:00:00, Europe/Helsinki Time.

[noemi]

My contribution

Thanks Ana, @Ruxandra, @Predoiu_Alexandru for setting the stage for conversations around projects. Mine is a community intervention in the making, and I’ll just leave you a hint:

I will bring the ingredients and my recipe for Masala Chai, as well as some veggies, you can never have enough of those.

In my dreams after this year’s gatherings Futurespotters will start operating as an open network focused on building things. This can happen if people take on active roles and set the example (propose projects, ask for help with their own work, organize meetups instead of waiting to be invited), so that good ideas have a better chance to shine and gather teams around them. I think we can be of help to each other if we were more open about our projects: not just the end results, but in the process.

[alberto]

News from Italy

From Matera 2019 web team a new network was born: Web Team Italia 2019, with the contribution of people in the web teams of other candidate cities. I guess the reasoning is similar: an open network, oriented towards action, potentially fundable, with a national reach. I told them that Edgeryders is interested in collaborating with them, in fact we will become a collective member of their association. Just something to think about!

[alex_stef]

My contribution

Hi guys!

How is everyone doing? I can’t wait to catch up at VișiniHub, I’ve missed you! I’m really curious about your thoughts and news, it’s hard to believe we’re days away from a new year…

I’ll bring some home-made hummus and red wine, for 'tis the season…

See you on Tuesday!

[simonaadam]

Hi everyone!

Noemi, thanks for the invitation and I look forward to meeting you all! I’m so excited about the synergies I’ve seen in this group!

I’ll bring homemade cheesecake and a new project idea for a platform on local authorities, health and budgetary transparency.

See you soon!

[catalina]

can’t wait to meet you!

Hello, everybody,

I am looking forward to meeting you on Tuesday. I am very interested in the subject of “The greater potential of civic platforms”. I’ll bring a jar of jam (dulceata de gutui) I made and crackers or something similar.

[ruxandra]

Surprise

Hi all,

can’t wait as well to see you… we have been trying to hold this meeting on civic platforms since this summer, so we are really happy to finally hold it. I do not know yet what I will bring, but I will definitely bring something home-made and vegetarian. I will leave it as a surprise See you next week.

Ruxandra

[_gabi]

Hello everyone!

Thanks, Noemi, for the invitation. Looking forward to meet you all. Can’t wait to hear your ideas on civic platforms.

I’ll bring some cookies and some bottled juice.

[noemi]

Address and contact

Looking forward to tonight.

Here’s Visini’s facebook page with address, and my phone no. just in case is 0755038718. See you all soon.

[noemi]

My notes from the meeting. Please share yours?

Posting here in random order to have some form of documentation:

1. There is agreement that we as society need to do better to enlarge access to civicness - using platforms already out there or new ones. The Meu Rio and Reykyavik models succeeded in large scale use because city halls and public institutions became involved. How did they start, do you need to start as an organisation, have people on the payroll? Not really.

• would like to join a project where we can really make an impact and it's clear how to make it; not join as a programmer, but guide people on how to do it (@_Gabi)
• interested in participation of usual citizens not just those already taking action- platform for the very end recipients of public services, the most marginalized ones (Alex Stef)
• would like a platform that matches skills with needs of people in and outside organisations, civil society but also companies (@Ana-Maria_Țoni); check www.debunavoie.ro or @OM's troc.ong?
• as programmers and engineers passionate about problem solving and getting stuff done, we need to be told exactly what you need - e.g. wiring you up in a comms network (@catileptic)
• passionate about open data and ideally would like to have regular events where we can get started and build chunks of a huge public dashboard explaining citizens how money is spent, how much their energy costs, resources, consumption, parallels with other countries etc. (@MANU_BABELE)
• the new Ministry of Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue are inventoring all public online platforms managed by ministries in order to make them more functional in communication: https://www.facebook.com/MarianIvan00/posts/932581470161645 (via @Catalina)
• all the >20 platforms we researched with Ruxandra, Ana Maria, and others chipping in are listed here, open to input!

2. Mahala - a platform in the making that would be accessed workers who need to better learn about their rights. especially low wage, unqualified workers need this because their rights are violated all the time; Alex Predoiu needs to contact lawyers for legal support of workers! #help

Yello! Fridge got a little funding from the Aspen Young Leaders Fellows Network (1000 eur) and will be prototyped in Cluj and Bucharest - most likely in January in the Obor area. If you want to help get in touch with @noemi! Here is a presentation we did for Aspen:

Yello! Fridge - first pitch from Noemi Salantiu

 

3. It’s hard to describe what the purpose of our network (Futurespotters) is. Getting together is meaningful for sure, but where do we want to go?

• We need to write a description of who we are, what we want to do in order to bring more people in? Not vetoing this, if someone wants to do it they can start. ping @Alex_Stef
• We are good as we are, with regular meetings and networking (@konrad_mihat, @Predoiu_Alexandru and to some extent @mgax); 
• It's hard to impose names and brands when not everyone has the exact aligned values. When opportunities arrive, we will seize them, if we are more and more committed to this and each of us makes some kind of pledge (@noemi)