I just did! What I need now is a stream of possible projects that could conceivably be developed in the unmonastery. Or rather, let me rephrase that: we do this Edgeryders style. You can help me by writing a quuck description of what you personally would do in an Unmonastery (provided you do have the slack to actually disappear into one for a minimum of one month).
Project…
Well, how about budgeting for 3 months to build
a basic prototype ‘Complete Service Provision in a Box’…
for shared, sharded (distributed) collective memory…
to help ‘recovering’ societies rebuild trust and trade…
Meeting Matera
The wisdom that surfaces among the resposes, is that it is most responsible not to plan things from far away which are then to be mercilessly super-imposed upon a proud and honorable City of Culture. Better to go in gently and listen to the essense of the community’s most pressing concerns…
That said, is there an Edgeryder action that is a) highly or suitably visible, b) participatory, c) relatively easy to mount so that getting it done opens the door for subsequent projects?
Lo and behold, i think we have a proposal. At the last Unc session on the Saturday, some brief comments on the tendency for progressive initiatives to strand upon negative energies came up during an exchange between Rysiek and Nadia. Someone expressed the desire for an effective antidote that could neutralise this tendency in the form of complimentary ‘totems’; one to channel away the destructive energy like a lightening rod, the other as a place to gather the positive forces.
The next day, prodded by me, Rysiek and I convened a Sunday morning session to explore the qualities of these totems. I’ve written it up, and posted it somewhere in the discussion bloggs - but I’ll include it below as well.
Essentially, building these two poles and clothing them in approriate ritual, may make just the kind of starting place an ER embassy could be looking for. A month sounds about right, everyone can be included, if necessary it could be started up with a minimal crew - to the uninitiated it even looks like culture.
I’d gladly assume some kind of project leadership. If the right constellation of people happen to be in situ at the same time many wonderful things can be established around this simple gesture.
If necessary, I can augment this with other projects - my own writing and/or an open non-toxic propaganda consultancy for the Guptians and others.
Bembo
Edgeryders Toolkit #1
Totems for Meetings and Movements
converting inevitable energy traps into visionary balance
My work as the Society for the Promotion of Human Rites embraces conscious use of the tools of theatre and elements of ritual to augment the effectiveness of our meetings.-- Strategically applied, and beyond the sanctified field of art, moderately heightened rituals can inform the content and highlight the significance of our gatherings.
Polarities and Clarity
Activism occurs in a field of the unknown. The closer we approach reality, negative or draining bi-products of the struggle can impede the clarity of our vision.
To retain perspective, we suggest the construction of two ritual poles to be built and inaugurated at opposite ends of all Edgeryder sites: The Lightening Rod that serves to ground all misplaced discord, and the Visionary Beacon for fine tuning our mission.
background
At the recent Living on the Edge gathering of social activists in Strasbourg, one discussion circled around this need to defuse potential negative energy before it could capsize our efforts. The next day, a group of us convened a topic group to design a tool to do just this. Someone had called this a totem pole the day before, we gladly adopted this concept…
The closer one navigates to our deepest dystopian fears, the more one collides with people´s acute discomfort. This can be psychically costly. Aware of this cost, it is wise to design our gatherings and workplaces to channel the inevitable frustrations of practice and communication shortcomings into valuable awareness. Our recognition of our vulnerability becomes a major strength.
The LOTE topic group went to work establishing two polarities of constructive and destructive forces that haunt all people´s movements. The idea that evolved was to literally and ritually construct twin pillars at opposite sides of a working space. One pole was conceived of as a protective ´lightening rod´ – it´s chore to ground all negative energy and render it harmless. Around this pole we imagined: ceremonies to process moments of conflict. At the other end of the garden or workspace, we would erect a corresponding positive pole; here we would align our mission, renew the noblest of goals, and celebrate our palpable triumphs.
The quality of the dancing around each pole would differ significantly.
The desirable aspect of the concrete physical totem, steadfast in its place, is that when needed, it forces the assembled to examine any conflict not just as the issues themselves, but as a mechanism of life. We are not only examining today´s problem, but everything that has occurred since last we gathered in this position. Equipped with this perspective, one can then return to the issues at hand with renewed awareness.
Our proposal is that the idea of polar totems can be made adaptable to various kinds social change endeavor: from the internal group weekend workshop, to the ‘occupation’of a public square. Edgeryder members are currently exploring the establishment of Edgeryder Stations: nomadic residencies that can house hubs of our member´s activities while promoting cross-fertilisation with local community activists. Each of these stations should include twin totem poles to define, and refine, our awareness.
Mapplication work
I would be up for joining to do a spatial resource and use mapping of the town and for being creative ambassador, teaching workshops in dance and object manipulation locally while getting to know the lay of the cultural land there. Great way to meet the locals is via their children’s inspiration.
Also I would be interested in documenting the off mainstream developments in the locale, permaculture, energy tech, health resources etc.
Figuring out the local social currency so to speak.
Funny, got the same idea …
Just found this proposal of you after posting this above. Seems like we pretty much have the same view that there is unexplored or unknown potential in a city and that a mapping approach can help put it to use and to develop a local, synergistic economy.
As far as the mapping concerns abandoned spaces, it would be an idea of course to (also) contribute it to the [im]possibleliving portal of our fellow Edgeryders.
Food, Health and Open technologies
What do a group of art university graduates in Stockholm, HONF and Tim Ferriss have in Common?
Mixology is an eating event where participants engage in playful research into food combinations. On arrival guests are given labcoats to put them in an experimenting mood, notepads to document their culinary trials and a simple set of rules to follow. It is designed and implemented by a group of three graduates of Konstfack, a Stockholm-based art and design university.
House of Natural fibre is a Yogyakarta based collective that does interesting work at the crossroads of biohacking, community science and art. You can read more about them e.g. here.
Tim Ferriss is and does many things to do with lifehacking. He authored a self book called the four hour body which " reads as if The New England Journal of Medicine had been hijacked by the editors of the SkyMall catalog. Some of this junk might actually work, but you’re going to be embarrassed doing it or admitting to your friends that you’re trying it. This is a man who, after all, weighs his own feces, likes bloodletting as a life-extension strategy and aims a Philips goLite at his body in place of ingesting caffeine." (source).
I think what they have in common is that they engage in different approaches towards exploring and sharing knowledge about food. I am interested in this in the context of health and the effects of different foods on our well being. We know that our health is directly affected by what we put in our bodies, but beyond general knowledge for a layperson it is opaque at best....So I thought it might be interesting to explore this- especially now that open hardware opens up possibilities that were unimaginable a few years ago. There is a lot of indigenous knowledge about the effects of different foods on our physical and mental health that could be captured and doing something like this at the Edgestation or UNMonastery or whatever we decide to call it in the end would enable me to do this in an open way and participatory way. I would totally be up for doing this and I think it might be especially interesting to do this somewhere with a rich and well-developed culinary tradition.
soz, posted same comment 3 times
…now dont kniw how to delete it, so i edit ut into this
Mapping for the local economy
My proposal would be to prototype a “Local Resource Information System” software in Matera and then test it out and develop it further in the local economy of Matera. Had this idea in mind for some time now: it’s somehow related to Arthur’s “State services in a Box” proposal below and could be combined with it, yet adds a focus on promoting the local economy also before the crisis, while still making it resilient and partially autarkic as crisis preparation. Mapping out these local resources could also be a viable idea for a small social business (and might be a way to funds, albeit difficult). Some days ago, I’ve written up an initial proposal for a possible software design of this information system.
(Can’t promise to be part of the Unmonastery project yet, though it’s truly fascinating. But the understanding here is to collect examples for possible projects here, not commitments, right?)
video bridge
As an islander-edgeryder, I’d like to have a place for video & food. We share the conversation but the food is local to each. Half a table on each side of the screen. Maybe your half-table can be moved to the fablab workshop, or even to the farm. Or, of course, to the dance place.
Maybe AccessSpace - or whoever is closest to a working set up - can prototype that with two local halves, then just tell us how each of us could build the local half?
(Franz Narahda Franz Nahrada's Page - Global Villages Network has done some work with “videobridge” but surely technology has moved onwards not just on his side but everywhere else. I don’t know what he’s up to these days, but the concept surely stuck with me for years.)
wndw.net = wireless network for the developing world
Maybe as part of the mapping process there could be some students who would be glad to build the network there, gain some visibility, do some kickstarter-ish project? I’d put some coins towards that!
Alberto, you do know some people with that skillset, from the earthquake-related network you mentioned. But maybe there are others who’d be willing to help. It would be an extension of Smari’s work in Afghanistan.
Funny indeed
Yes true neodynos, it’s the same thing, I have been working on it for a while (4 years) , but I reckon the idea is so good that it’s impersonal and that lots of people are having it, check out pg 17 of ‘from nations to networks’ by David de Ugarte, check how the austro Hungarians used a tactic like this to come out from the dynastic rule of the time, it’s very funny indeed, the only difference is that we are not trying to present an ideal or fabricate a myth but rather just create a piece of software that shows the actual. So there’s two of us in this boat then? Good, it’s a start, two are so much better than any amount of specialis 
A calm site for authoring …
Another idea that comes to my mind for what I’d like to do in the Unmonastery: finishing a daunting authoring task. There might be others with such unfinished projects, be it open source software or a book about a topic that is dear to Edgeryders folks … . A small city without too much buzz, free food and accomodation and nice inspiring folks around seems like the perfect environment to come to term with such a project. In my current situation, I would need some (crowd-)funding to do it while covering running costs, and to raise these funds I’d need some time for publicity development that I hardly have … way better to just come to the Unmonastery space where everything is ready to start working right away …
(In my case, it’s about the EarthOS document, a compilation of free and open tech that aspires to be “complete” for all of life. I would take three or four months to complete this and give it a permanent home on the web where others can easily contribute more content in the future.)
Open Knowledge, Hackerspace, Polyeconony …
I would like help with connecting with http://oknf.org worldwide network and start openning access of all the common knowledger related to Mater for everyone.
http://www.meetup.com/OpenKnowledgeFoundation/
I would also like to help with bootstrapping a hackerspace with intentions similar to:
http://codeforamerica.org/ or bit more radical project i start http://hackers4peace.net or I’ve heard that Alberto also has something in this direction on backburner 
Of course all locals projects with aim of community benefit rather than financial profit could ask for technical support proffesionals working in such hacklab!
Besides that with great pleasure I would like to help with bringing more diversity in terms of economical tools providing various solid alternative to finances. I started drafting this concep at: http://polyeconomy.info and I plan to have more solid presentation and state of this website by mid of September when I should have possiblity to present it at Open Knowledge Festiva.
I hope it could keep me busy for couple of weeks 
Ireland is looking for solutions in this area
Hi Elf,
Sounds like there is a space for your expertise developing in Ireland, there have been three meet ups nine and in the real over the course of the last week all looking into how to effectively use alternative currencies.
In regard to open knowlege services, is this similar to what Matthias and I have mentioned with the LRIS and the mapplication work?
Eimhin
I would go there, like tomorrow
The idea of the unmonastery in Matera sounds cool! In fact it seems the perfect place for such a thing: the town is wonderful and a pleasure to live in for some time.
In 2009 I had the occasion to work right with the city of Matera for a cutting-edge project that was called A-Maze (here is a short video that shows it). It was great to work with the administration and also with the local creative community.
cant wait to get started
this is a fantastic idea. The unMonastery can act as a conduit of change that transfers to the rural side of society skills and training, bring their products to urban markets without an intermediary intervention making the process more sustainable and work within the urban landscape to make structural changes that are required to enable the change.
Boom!
Make your own food - Project
Things I’d really like to see and work on in the unmonastery are
- Permaculture and other advanced organic agricultural skills to set up gardens anywhere there is a free patch of land or in houses and schools .
- Project to make food and herbs in schools as well as a game to teach kids about how to do this from an early age
- Project to integrate this production into the food supply chain of schools and from there all over the city :)
You have hands on help here…
Hi Yatan,
I have looked into getting an organic grow project in my home town for the kids at the youth cafe , I would love the experience of helping you out. I spent my youth working the garden planting and harvesting the fruit and veg, but would like to learn more efficient methods. In short, I’d love to help.