[add image here]
So LOTE5 is upon us, having launched publicly last week, we’re ready to move forward towards the next steps. If you haven’t already read over this years theme,this is a good place to start, once you’ve got a sense of where we’re heading with the theme, you might want to join a team or if you’re feeling bold propose a session.
Last year we experimented with the idea of case studies, finding out about initiatives that match the objectives and theme that we’re working towards. Due to the efforts of [please add names of everyone who contributed case study in this group here] we managed to gather x case studies. These case studies generated a lot of discussions before, during and after the event. This is where most events stop: as a participant you are left to connect the dots into a bigger picture, which is impossible unless you have been in every single session and online discussion.
LOTE events are different- we build them as a learning process that begins long before we meet in person, and long after we close the doors to the event venue. We put a lot of effort into 1) making sense of what we learned and boiling it down to concise findings and 2) nurturing novel collaborations and projects inspired by what we learn together.
So to honor everyone’s contributions we went through all of the detailed documentation from every LOTE4 session (we’re really good at this), post, wiki and comment comment on the platform… and analysed it as ethnographic data using a new open source tool we developed with support from the Rockefeller foundation. This was boiled down into this easy to a deck of slides for anyone to use and remix as they please for pitching/presenting their work, fundraising for their initiatives etc:
We also went out and built a partnership around a new project called OpenCare which we will be launching at LOTE5 and which is open for community members to get involved in/partner with.
And so, the Case Study Adventures are on again! Starting next week [] will begin travelling Europe in order to experience the projects and initiatives that matter most to this years LOTE first hand but we need your help - where do we go? who should we speak to? what are the questions that we should be asking?
We want to engage people and projects that we think exemplify notions of taking risks and learning from failures, whether they be concerned with provision of health and social care, development, finance, culture or any number of initiatives that do not fit into caterogi. We’d like to find the initiatives that are confronting the difficult questions head on, both newly started and those with a long history. Despite our work over the last couple of years within EdgeRyders and the unMonastery project we recognise that our perspectives are still limited by the networks we’re most familiar with, we’d like to take this opportunity to broaden our horizons.
So how is this going to work? To start, we’ve set up this spreadsheet that anyone can add to, to decide on the locations we’ll be visiting and route we’ll take between projects, obviously this can change on the fly but it’d be good to have some structure. We’d like you to contribute and share this as widely as possible, so we can find out about as many projects and individuals as possible.
With each visit we plan to record a short interview, asking questions that are relevant to LOTE4 but also deeper questions that we’re likely to face together over the next few decades, such as; What does Stewardship of the commons mean in this moment? / What are the fundamental lessons from the past that we can learn from now? / What is an example of a heroic act in this moment? / We’re beginning to pull together questions for the interviews in this wiki, feel free to add yours.
Once we know where we’re going and who we’re meeting, we’ll need some places to stay and eat - hospitality is always welcome, so if you know of interesting projects in your city and have a place to stay let us know in the comments of the spreadsheet or leave us a message on this thread.
Next there’s the race to get everything online quickly, as we go, myself, Lauren and hopefully others who will join us on this adventure we be moving between locations rapidly, recording interviews with each encounter - uploading what we have at every possible moment. We’re hoping that @SamM and @NicoBis will be pitching in to edit the content into something that makes sense - if you’re reading this and have video editing skills feel free to help out (@mariabyck?)
The core objectives of this adventure is to learn from existing initiatives, to spread the word and invite people to LOTE4, generate a debate around the concept of ‘Stewardship’ and see where serendipity takes us. If you want to get involved or help, you can:
- Go and interview people running projects, join the adventure, this can be in your own city or places you’re already travelling to
- Add to the list
- Add questions
- Offer help in editing video
- Offer places to stay