Greetings from Durham, England!

[ChrisC]

Hello

I’m Chris, aged 24, and I actually stumbled upon Edgeryders by accident! I’m going back to university in September to study a Masters in International Relations at the University of Leeds, and I stumbled upon Edgeryders whilst researching possible topics for my dissertation. I’m really glad to have done so! It’s funny how in the 21st century you can be a couple of ‘clicks’ away from finding like-minded people.

[noemi]

Hi @ChrisC and welcome to this home of ours,

Stumbling upon things is a beauty of the Internet isn’t it?
There are so many conversations going on over the years that it’s hard to say exactly what would be of help for you now. Is it a theoretical paper? Sounds like it’s more speculative…

Part of the Open Village conversation last year was also ethnographically coded, and so by looking at how other researchers read and analysed it you might get ideas. The list of codes and content which was tagged is open, so let us know. I am looking to share with you the preliminary report… When back to my pc I will post the link.

[alberto]

Welcome @ChrisC!

@ChrisC

I was born in Scotland, but was raised in Durham which is a small town in the North East of England. I’ve always found it difficult to find people in my local area concerned about the bigger picture. I’ve always wanted to break away from this ‘English people do English things mentality’ which is very much present in my region.

I can so relate to that. I also grew up in a small town. Except that was northern Italy, and the 1980s, so… no Internet. I ended up helping to start Edgeryders. And of course I got the hell out of there.

@ChrisC

So, I’m a little lost with regards to how I’ll be able to best utilise my Masters degree, given that the world of international development seems to be quite densely populated with big organisations taking up too much room.

Hey, we do international development stuff. If you want to try working with us, it can be arranged, subject to minimal conditions. We do not employ people, we act more like a collective of professionals. But you could be bidding for dev contracts as Edgeryders, inheriting ER’s corporate interface and track record.

[ChrisC]

Thanks for getting back to me Noemi

The papers is probably a mixture of both to be honest, but I’ve got lots of time to think, research and get together a better idea regarding he direction I want to take it.

I’ve been looking around the forum and i’ll try be active and see how I can be of use!

[ChrisC]

Hi Alberto!

Thanks for your reply

It would be great to be able to get involved and contribute to what you guys do!

I start my masters in September, so i’m looking to build up my knowledge of how the sector works, and I’m applying for internships with various NGOs for when I finish next year. Hopefully I’ll be successful and I’ll be able to get the ball rolling and get some experience.

[alberto]

No stress. Go learn. We’ll be here.

[noemi]

I can’t find the report from OpenVillage. @Alberto has it been published somewhere or was it used just for internal reporting?

Chris, if you were to take an internship do consider projects in the community. Many people are highly skilled and could use a helping hand! All those in the OpenVillage community are here.

[alberto]

Here Mostly data on engagement, a few slides on semantics.

[alex_levene]

Hi Chris,
and welcome to the ER community. A fellow countryman here and also a global citizen. You’re in good company here.
I read through your initial greeting and pulled out a few ideas and possible leads for community members you may wish to reach out to as you start your Masters course:

@ChrisC

using Edgeryders as a sort of model for what can and should be done when envisaging new ways to create development projects If anyone would like to suggest ideas on how I could use Edgeryders as an example that would be great!

well, you’ve already spoken with @noemi and @alberto who are both great starting points for understanding how Edgeryders can work with local regions to create interesting a bottom up solutions to development issues.
I recoomend checking out the work in Futurespotters to see how we’ve worked with UNDP in areas like Georgia to engage entrepreneurial citizens in rethinking public spaces: Futuremakers #Rustavi @inge is your point of call to find out more about the work they’ve done in that area.[quote=“ChrisC, post:1, topic:8813”]
how open villages could become hubs for local democracy in post-war communities
[/quote]

it may be worth you reaching out to both @thom_stewart and @gehan who are both doing their own things in Scotland and Ireland to help build new communities and rethink how decisions are made in these areas. Both organisations that they are part of are interesting beacons for how to solve local level issues in imaginative and bottom up ways. [quote=“ChrisC, post:1, topic:8813”]
I’m also planning on spending 2-3 weeks in Morocco in August before starting in September to perhaps get some inspiration before I have to go and live in a library for a year So, if anyone knows of any places where there are local NGOs, organisations, workshops, anything to do with local people, i’d be very interested in hearing about it!
[/quote]

the best person to ask about this is @anique.yael, who is looking at how we can continue to work with interesting organisations in Morocco. It could also be worth asking @matthias and @hazem who coordinated and ran the OpenVillage prototype out there. I spent a wonderful month there earlier this year, and i’m very positive about continuing to engage with action in this part of the world. My understanding is that there are a number of interesting groups doing on the ground work in this area, but i don’t know exactly who.

Hope some of this helps.
Welcome to the party