Hi Zara, nice to hear from you.
Hope all is well with you and thank you for reaching out to us. I thought about the questions you sent me about the work and compiled this wiki describing it in more detail with concrete examples. Does it answer your questions?
Hello EdgeRyders, Armenia is Calling 
Hello, EdgeRyders,
I am Amalia. I joined EdgeRyders community a year ago. Initially, I was trying to make out this new, not-ordinary and exciting project by trying to be active: commenting on intersting posts and ideas; contributing to the Spot the Future group by sharing an exciting story. However, within time I became more a passive follower trying to grasp the essence of Edgeryders. So, when I got the email on this project I knew this Is the chance to truely get to know how Edgeryders work /after all, I always complete what I started once/ by actively engaging in the project, learning new things and acquiring new skills /especially, connected with working with online community/, as well as, utilising the skills of mine that can be useful for the project /language, writing, analytical, networking, communication skills/. The most exciting part for me in this project isā finding interesting things and activities in our local environmentā that can inspire others to take up an initiative. So, a whole three months full of finding āsourcesā of inspiration, being inspired yourself and insiring others. Cool! Yes. I say Yes! I want to be ENGAGED!
Amalia, hi!
Lovely to hear back from you. Howās life?
Yes, Edgeryders is one of those spaces where you learn by being actively involved and it is hard to get a general idea from āoutsideā. Iāve been thinking about your comment and Zaraās questionsā¦plus others we received while building past projects. I boiled it all down a kind of introduction/expectations management document here. Have a look and let me know what you think/if anything else is still unclear?
Hi, Nadia!
Iām doing great, thanks.
Thank you for the Wiki piece, itās really useful. The examples displayed tell a lot. Stiil, commitment and enthusiasm are the keywords. 
Country Engagement Manager
Hello Nadia and Neomi,
This is Samar Ali from Egypt and Iād like to join as an engagement manager in Egypt.
Iāve a good experience through working as a community manager for two cowork spaces in Egypt, Helm in Mansoura and QafeerLabs in 6 of Octobers. Also I know most of the social startups that doing good impact in Egypt as Iām doing one already for healthcare.
Iād like to be hearing from both of you.
Hi Samar
Welcome to Edgeryders
Checked out your co-working spaces online, which I had had time to visit in person when I was last in Egypt but the time was too short. Maybe next time
Iām curious how you interpret the community management role in your work? Does it look something like how we work in Edgeryders?
Country Manager from Egypt
Dear Nadia and Neomi,
It will be my pleasure to join your amazing team as a Country Manager from Egypt. With my relevant work experience with GIZ and UNHCR, I believe I am qualified for this position in your project.
I have a strong desire to make a positive difference in peopleās lives and I believe I would be an asset to your project if given the opportunity.
You can contact me any time.
Ahlan
Hello and welcome to Edgeryders Fatma.
Maybe have a look at the detailed description of how we work and see if it matches your expectations/interests?
Ahlan
Yes,Ā The description of the job matches my profile, skills andĀ experienceĀ perfectly, and it will be myĀ pleasureĀ to help you in Egypt.
So you have my mail and looking forward to moreĀ detailsĀ about hoe we canĀ cooperate.Ā
Hi Fatma, see my comment below?
The final step is for people to answer two questions and pick a timeslot for a skype call with me.
Interesting
Hi,Ā
Iām Mohamed Hegazy, an Egyptian technologist with an interest in how digital changes how we do things.Ā
I likeĀ Edgeryders approach to consulting: A Data-based digital-platform Ā connecting Netizens. It is in line with today.
I would like to apply to the Country Manager Position; what I lack in professional community organising I make up in motivation, data-literacy & professional network.
Cheers
Startups are part but not all
Hi Mohamed, welcome to Edgeryders and thank you for taking the time to get in touch.
Curious about how you found out about the project. In any case since you are new to the community I think having a look at the expectations manager wiki I put up might be helpful in getting a sense of what the work really involves. Check it out here and post any questions you may have in the comments?
I agree
Thanks Nadia,Ā
A friend on your mailing list forwarded the project to me. The Power of Networks
I took a look on the work on stewardship and am quite intrigued by the use of Ethnographer. However, Iām left wondering about what a time analysis of the semantic development would reveal, i.e. how did the conversation during LOTE4 actually develop over time? As all fruitful conversations eventually do, Iām sure it ended differently from how it started.
Going on to your expectations for the eventual Engagement Manager: I am assuming you are currently in the early stages of planning for LOTE 5 and want to get the process started?
Cheers
Possibly
This was a first test of the OpenEthnographer in alpha/beta. If you want to see how network conversation developed over time there is edgesense to play around with (use lote4 or possibly some of the ethnographic tags Inga used).
Re connection to getting LOTE5 going- there isnāt one If people want to get involved in driving LOTE5 that as well thatās great, but itās a different project and conversation from this one. lote events are completely designed by the participants and they go wherever participants want to take them (including setting the theme and location- who does the work calls the shots). The project we are recruiting for is one done in collaboration with UNDP and UNV and several parameters are set by factors outside our control- itās part of what makes this work so interesting. Essentially what we are learning to do collectively is building generative interfaces between self-selecting and largely self-regulating networks, and institutional actors that have many rules, obligations and priorities to balance.
There is some spill over people involved in one or more of the projects also get involved in the other projects and activities in the community but this is never something we push, if it happens itās because people see value in staying in touch and building together. More on this in the call.
Lots to discuss
Seems like thereās lots to discuss, looking forward to that call
Available for Armenia
Hi all,
I see that you already have candidates from Armenia. Thatās great. Please count me as well I joined Edgeryders 2 years ago I think, but I got acquainted with you IRL only last year October in Matera.
A short update on what I am doing right now: I am a student at American University of Armenia (so I get in touch with many students and student organizations daily). I am board member of Wikimedia Armenia and project manager of Utopianlab (coworking space). Thanks to this two organizations I know a quite broad network of people in Armenia, mostly young and aspiring people, who are interested in media and technology, social innovation and activism.
I also (in many cases personally know) people from other similar organizations in Armenia and have the experience of working with media companies here (TV, radio, press). So if I can be useful to this project, please let me know
Hey, long-ish time!
Nice to hear from you Vachagan. Somehow we did not manage to have a proper chat at lote4, hopefully this year it will be different
Ok so I have boiled down the practices/routines for doing this work into an overview here. Have a look and see if it is aligned with your expectations?
I hope so too, I also hope to be present at least one Edgyders event this year and meet you guys again.
The list of activities is pretty much what I love to do, so I will follow your guidelines below and, think about 3 projects
Gaumarjos!
Hi all! Great to see last yearās initiative is taken a step further! Georgiaās been doing great on the projects part, and people are still eager to come to the meet-ups I organize, not always a lot of people, but always people with great ideas to share.
I am writing this right now from my kitchen table with a 4 day old baby next to me! We got home from the hospital yesterday :)). Little Leonard will join the futurespotters community right away!
So whatās been happening in Georgie? Well, to start with, I am slightly biased as I got a part time advisor position at Iare Pekhit (the pedestrian rights organization) to help them set up a membership based association (funded by undef). So whatās happening on the pedestrian rights front I now know all about ;). Actually, today thereās an event where the winner of a public art contest will be revealed. Unfortunately I will not be able to join, but Iāll make sure to post some pics to the Georgia group later on.
For a few months different public space related grass roots organizations joined efforts in order to stop the building of a shopping mall and cable cart in old town under the name ERTAD (together). Several meet ups and one large protest march were organized. Unfortunately the group fell apart due to some miscommunications amongst the members, but for as long as it lived it showed great progress. I guess in the future with other large projects which may harm the urban space, this will be able to be set up again.
The last few months an artist duo has been tagging the city with phrases which should make people think about the space they live in. Itās an art and social development project by Mariam Natroshvili and co. Itās really cool to be in the suburbs somewhere and see a prhase and know itās them. The other day I was hiking (when I still could 
) in the hills behind our flat and found a text stenciled on an abandoned trailer in the middle of nowhere. Itās very powerful. It would be great to find out more about the project and the artistsā goals.
What else? Oh yes, in fall several people came together (elva, undp, remi from cospot, me, charlotte from new ngo chaikhana, eric from jumpstart) to brainstorm about setting up a social innovation hub. We held several different meetings about how and what and were offered a place in the national scientific library. By January we were convinced we would somehow be able to make this happen, when the director of the library told us he had gotten a large sum of the government to renovate the place themselves, we would not be able to use the space permanently as a result. Although this was disappointing, UNDP offered the library to help them set up a workshop to see what users would like the library to be (co-creating). The Social Innovation Hub has been a bit quiet since, but thatās ok. In the mean time we have learned of several other different hubs being set up: one at a university, and one by a local youth NGO with the support of businesses. There may even be more, but I cant tell you from the top of my head ;).
There are many more interesting developments, such as the creation of the NGO chaikhana, which supports journalists; several different small social start-ups have seen the light; and probably many many more.
So, why this summary of how Georgia is doing? Well, as many of you know I was Georgiaās community builder last year for the Spot the Future project. I loved doing the work (it doesnt even feel like work!). And, I would love to take on the role again. I have time as well, as I ditched some projects pre-birth that I didnt like, to have more positiveness in my life. And, as I already know from last year how it works (I do know there are several different changes, but nothing to major as I understand), I will be able to work efficiently! :))
Now, this is a quick post from my kitchen table, still a bit sore from giving birth, but I could not NOT reply ;). Anyway, shoot if you have any follow up questions. Iāll be following the group closely and see whatās happening.
Congratulations
Wow. Is lola jealous? Yes I guess you saw the wiki I posted already?
There are some differences from last year for one thing we will not organise a large-ish meetup this time around and will expect engagement managers to share responsibility of running the weekly community calls.
The main challenge is really engaging ourselves, both the existing network of people and projects and new ones, in articulating a shared program for new ways to support grassroots initiatives (based on findings from STF). These ways need to be co-designed by the community so as to encourage collaboration, and not distort incentives or otherwise ruin whatever it was that made the initiatives promising in the first place. We also need engage people working on projects about which we do not know, and who may not comfortable working/communicating online into participating in the calls as a soft landing.