Paper | Rough analysis of selected stories

Work in progress, comments welcome. Please dont share.

As part of writing a scientific paper collaboratively, some of us took homework to analyse 5 stories coded by Amelia with “connection made on site” where participants met and the conversations gave signs of collaboration.

1. The journey back to my eco roots

2. R2R call center: a cooperative developed from refugees to refugees

3. COSMUS (diy) - One to One: Donating backpacks full of care

3a. Backpacks for the refugees: the day after

4. Fostering Productive Potential in Refugee Camps

5. Home, sweet Home

The Journey Back to my ecoRoots.

  1. What is the nature of the connection made? What kinds of people have connected, and around what particular topic/aspect of the story?

Sharing views about growing food in more sustainable ways as active citizens.
The exchange played out as an ideological and information exchange, connecting ideas and people.
Particular aspect: growing food, food sovereignity, politics, autonomy, citizen movements, coffee

  1. What further action was taken? (e.g. Skype call, in person meeting, etc).
  1. What are the main themes of the story, and what kind of call to action is the orignal story making?
    The call of the author is for more awareness of individuals around the topic.
    Jenny in a comment: “I believe that every action has a political meaning -picking up my fork, paying for whatever I decide to buy is done to fill my stomach, but without realising it much it is also a highly political action. Because with every bite and every buy I choose and I shape the world I want to live in.

  2. Did the original storyteller ask for help of any kind to further their project? If so, what kind?

No, but there was a request for tips, made by a community manager: “In Edgeryders, we are considering getting our own space, and we would like to grow part of our own food. But that does not seem easy at all. Any tips? ”
The request was not precisely answered to.

**R2R center **

  1. What is the nature of the connection made? What kinds of people have connected, and around what particular topic/aspect of the story?
    People who work in refugee care across Greece and abroad connected with each other:
    Aravella:“I’d like to know more details and how I can help.”
    Christine: I know about the great work of ‘RefugeesWork’ initiative as we collaborate with them through FairCoop on a global level. I am not sure they know about our local call center project in Thessaloniki, but I am glad that this article and your comment gave the opportunity for this ‘connection’

Someone who is a therapist connected with other professionals in Greece:
Christine to Ybe: I am in contact with people working in alternative health and spiritual health projects here in Greece so I could put you in contact with them, if you are interested.

On a broader level, the connections made involved sharing experiences of refugee camps, sharing new projects of which participants didn’t know about previously: ex a projects of making bags from discarded materials, by refugees in Lesbos.

  1. What further action was taken? (e.g. Skype call, in person meeting, etc).
    Christine: I am also involved with some of the groups at Steki so we could perhaps meet there sometime, or at Micropolis, another social space nearby where this R2R call center project is based. I would love to see how we could possibly collaborate and help each other and I am sure that there is a lot to share/learn from the work that we and other people in our networks, are doing. I will connect with you on facebook to stay in touch!

Alex_Levene: Visiting in January
I am planning on coming to Thessalonki in the middle of January. (15th-19th) Part of the trip will be touch volunteers and get to know what is being done there by Help Refugees (who i worked with in Calais this year). I’d also love to meet up with you and see your projects. If anyone has any suggestions for cheap places to stay whilst we’re out there please let me know.

  1. What are the main themes of the story, and what kind of call to action is the orignal story making?
    The main theme is solidarity and cooperation.

The main calls to action are requests for sharing, information, contacts in Greece.

  1. Did the original storyteller ask for help of any kind to further their project? If so, what kind?

Yes, they asked readers to donate to the project.

Cosmus

  1. What is the nature of the connection made? What kinds of people have connected, and around what particular topic/aspect of the story?
    People connected around meeting up and sharing information about the problems in tackling the refugee crisis, the condition of volunteers, of problems posed by unfit or slow government action.

  2. What further action was taken? (e.g. Skype call, in person meeting, etc).
    Some participants planned and agreed to meet in Greece.

Hello Aravella , I am in the middle of organizing and planning my tour to Greece. I would like to fix date(s) with you. What do you need from me? What could I offer? To the Thessaloniki projects you’re in i? Maybe have a skype conversation this week? I would like to fix dates for the beginning of december. Would that be allright with you?
contact me by mail ybe@traumatour.eu or skype chez_filly19
thx - I look forward meeting you!

  1. What are the main themes of the story, and what kind of call to action is the orignal story making?
    Main themes: providing help to stranded human beings; working in crisis mode; mobilizing more citizens to help

  2. Did the original storyteller ask for help of any kind to further their project? If so, what kind?
    Yes, she asked for advice.

Backpacks for the refugees (29 OCT)

(event nature) 4. Conversation for action: a sequence of interactions related to a given matter of concern, aiming at changing the state of things.
(event goal) c. Knowledge creating: actions aiming at producing original care-related knowledge. e. Product designing/realizing: actions to collaboratively conceive and realize care-related products.

The conversations range from the bottom up effort of organizing help, to the uncertainty factors and social dynamics underpinning the refugee crisis. They go more in depth with respect to the public institutions role on coordinating responses and funding.
Two conversations in the conversation show explicit exploration and intent for collaboration: one where people discuss what is an effective list and way of packing things for incoming refugees (trythis and Aravella), the other is about meeting up in Thessaloniki (Alex and Aravella). They are joined together in the idea of creating an event to build a ‘Citizens guide to supporting people in an emergency’ (trythis, Alex and Aravella)

1)Trythis: Let me think out loud about the list a little.
You need to give a lot of information in very little time. It is important that it can be understood quickly. It is also important that people understand why some things are better than other things. Here is what I would try [](9 NOV)

2) Aravella: @Alex Levene when will you visit Greece? Let me know your plan so maybe I can help. (10 DEC)
Alex: I have sent you an email.
3)Alex: I still think that a hackathon like this would be best suited to taking place in Greece or Italy, where the incoming flow is still increasing and there is a high likelihood that another disaster may occur (i’m thinking about the recent Italian Earthquakes).

Predominant ethnotags: list of needs for refugees, funding
Other participants: Ybe, Noemi, Alberto
Ybe: I am very moved by your story and I like the idea of including ‘a wish’ in every backpack so much. (2 NOV)

Comparative considerations

  1. Across your stories, can you sense any kind of common theme? Topically? Structurally? In terms of the call to action?

With the exception of one, all stories were focused on practical actions or projects taken on by the authors. In these stories, interlocutors seem to be interested to share information and experiences.
The common theme is activism in a structural, deep way. Topically, it comes delivered more or less specifically in conversations about awareness of key refugee issues and cooperation for better results at the society level.

Another common theme is crowd support (crowdfunding, crowdsourcing… ) for initiatives.

Another common theme is politics, seen through the normative role ascribed by participants to governments. While the first arguments are made to research solutions, support projects and call for donations – the issue of cooperation and taking actions in more effective ways often spills over into deeper discussions about the government’s role.

  1. Did the stories follow any kind of pattern?

• The community managers made the first step to tell authors of the original post about other initiatives… From one point on the people connected with each other across and beyond the immediate response to a community manager’s request for more info, details etc.
• This means often more conversations play out in parallel.
• The authors all made bold statements about the problems they/ their projects are confronted with. their calls to action often emphasized a state of crisis and emergency. This departs from their localized problems, but the problems and the way individuals contextualize them places the core of the issue at a bigger level – the network, societal level. A proof of this is the fact that people from other countries resonate deeply with the issues described by the original post authors.
• Politics as a second level structural theme: the emergency of the situations turn participants voices into activist, solution oriented champions, but in deeper discussions they all seek more political fairness and efficient government responses to the problem of refugees, food production, new and cooperative economies.
• While all discussions kept a critical, serious tone, none was polemic. There was rather broad agreement between participants on most topics. → shared values?

  1. Are there common users across the stories? Is there a particularly active user or group of users?
    Community members based in Greece: especially Aravella, and Edgeryders platform team members.