I think one of the goals is to grow a bigger “we.”
But, while The WELL was that which I described, after awhile I grew frustrated with the limitations of the text-only software, no hyperlinks (too historically early still) and most everything being basically someone’s opinion. In wondering where to go with it, I left for a short time to work on French Minitel in a misguided attempt to address this, but not long after became passionate about joining online conversation to journalism. That led to me being hired by the SF newspapers to develop this vision in some form.
In that case it was commercially successful and it was really the same need-driven thing for me. It should be noted that much of my time spent in the corporate news world was me adapting my community skills to working inside the organization to build agreement, support and backing for my project.
(Big orgs can be a lot like political institutions like Congress. Much of how someone can exercise power is by quietly not allowing something to happen. Given the magnitude of the threat this new online world posed for the managers there, they had every reason to be suspicious of my motives. So I worked a lot to sort of soften the blow. In retrospect I think I probably should have been a more severe harbinger of what was coming. But that is sort of a digression…)
I love the way you have explained the vision of the OpenVillage. I believe there is a big need for similar spaces in the MENA region, where young people can feel like they are home, where they share common vision and values, where they can express and work on fresh ideas that would bring positive change in their communities, where they can interact with their peers not only in the physical space but around the world through the platform
What I may suggest is concerning the calissification of roles as this statement got my attention. I strongly believe that Partners and Stakeholders (Could be Public Administrations, Civil Society, Private Sector, Experts etc), have a very important role to play in the OpenVillage. The way I see it, and through the different stories I have read so far, there is a lot of Empowerment and Advocacy work, on several areas depending on the context of each region, need to be done in order to bring the desired positive change. It is difficult to do that without the support of different Partners and Stakeholders who have the expertise and the resources. So I think that it is essential that the OpenVillage community keep in mind they need to build up local network of partners and relevant stakeholders and that EdgeRyders can support local founders with that
Hi all, as point out by @hazem famility still count a lot for us. Yet, in the meantime we’re all looking to give a deep and exciting meaning to our life that does not limit to have a good job, kids, house and (of course) a partner. Hence, my personal aspiration is not to form a new ad-hoc community that will replace my other belonging but to find a network of “colleagues” or like-minded people that share the same approach, tools, resources and bonus have fun together.
Recently, I’m becoming a fan of medium.com stories of people, their struggle with their business & tech choices and issues. I’m looking for something similar to listen to the other’s experience but more concrete, with real meeting those people. Like a big global consultancy company of social entrepreneur that meet very oftenly to share their stories, have fun and improve their work.
Ok, that’s not exactly a village but a physical space is IMHO a requirement for something that will be like a permanent and/or iterative team-building/co-design workshop in some nice place with affordable sport and chilling activities… It should be not far away from an airport, one day travel maximum from any other place. After all it looks very much like a village in Tunisia ^^
Ok right now, I think that I speak too much like a consultant ^^
Even though it may be a little bit early for me to imagine how to classify the community of the OpenVillage as I am still figuring out its philosophy and reading the different posts, stories and thoughts on the platform, but I still think what @hazem has developed concerning the classification of the OpenVillage community is a great start. Here is my personal suggestion :
Enablers: They are the core team of EdgeRyder. They enable the progress in the targeted regions by: bringing together innovator individuals/members, connecting these members to their peers and to relevant organizations, facilitating expertise and ideas sharing and fostering collaboration between them through animating online and offline discussions etc.
Settlers: They are the founders of the spaces. These settlers work on implementing community spaces (coworking spaces, co-living spaces, hubs, makerspaces, hackerspaces, etc). Of course, as mentionned by @matthias in his post , Each of these spaces will have it is own identity, own business model and sustainability plan. However, I think they should have share and communicate the same values, mission and vision (besides ensuring that all spaces are on the same wavelength and work towards the same goals with common values and principles, it is also for MARKETING and PR purposes)
Doers (Local Community): who may be the entrepreneurs, community leaders, NGOs Leaders, who believe that the OpenVillage will contribute, in one way or another, positively in their work. They are already in action. OpenVillage will support them to ensure the sustainability of their work (through reducing the operational costs when working in collaborative spaces, sharing with them expertise, experiences or fresh ideas etc.)
Dreamers (Local Community): who may be the aspired entrepreneurs, young people who seek to change their realities, join initiatives that would bring positive changes into their communities etc. This category, mainly the youth, are still learning, participating in workshops and trainings, discovering, experimenting, gaining experience and looking for opportunities, however they do not have their own venture. this might be the largest population in the MENA region (We are talking about students who want to secure their future and jobless people who are looking to improve their realities). OpenVillage will support the “Dreamers” to become “Doers”
Supporters (Partners and relevant stakeholders): As I have already explained, Supporters have the expertise and the resources. They can play an important role especially when it comes to empowerment of the OpenVillage local communities and in advocacy for new regulations that would bring positive change (like the case of @Heba and her biking project)
I love how @hazem talked about the openvillage, and how he is still figuring his way as I can relate to that, I know how much courage it takes to refuse working in the Gulf and fancy jobs just because you don’t see youself fitting in there, it is simply not you… Yet, I don’t have any problem with calling it the MENA region, because it is the MENA region and maybe with the openvillage we can help people from all over the world get rid of the existing stereotypes related to this name…
Personally, I participated in other international programs, but the thing that even this is still just an online platform and we haven’t even met yet, this is my favorite program of them all! The interaction, the guidance, the support that all the members are trying to make is priceless, I loved what @Sohayeb classified the roles, I would say I see myself as a settler, if I had the space, and it is part of this great network, I will be happy that I will be able to share plenty of opportunity with people in Medenine, and enable them to be part of something bigger, and deeper, something that would show them what is going on out there, and help them see things from another perspective, this space will be a hub for opportunities for them! the platform is already contributing to my aspiration, as it is helping me shape more the idea, receive feedbacks, and PUSHING me to be more productive with the idea, I’d say I was having the idea in my mind, feeling like I am always not ready to launch the space, but then, after meeting you all, and after reading the proposal that @matthias made, I started to feel like I am not on my own! I have a supportive community and they are there for me.
This platform made me believe in my self more, be more confident about what I am passionate about, and mainly have this goal right now, which is starting this space by the end of this year.
I can relate to this @baderdean. The very assumptions that people everywhere are feeling lost and looking for meaning is indicative that this is a search and that a new kind of network should allow for that flexibility of roles - better yet, mobility throuhg the roles.
You might be one who grew up traditionally and for whom a jump into such a community would be too disruptive, so you would be joining as a nomad in the beginning. Then as one travels and attachments to people, places, projects grow, one can become a settler.
My personal aspiration is to be free to explore, but pay my dues - once in a role and understanding how the cog works in the machine, I would be committed to making the most of it.
About the contribution one puts in, I only see this working if everyone , across all roles / levels of clasification (nomads, settlers etc., but also co-founders, care takers etc.) supports the overall OpenVillage coordination.
Hello @nadia. I like how all the inspiring young minds are having their thoughts and ideas about more sustainable future with equal access to everyone. For me Open Village Houses concepts are very much practical because it can be an international arena to collaborate and learn with each other. I have studied social work and been involved in many NGO’s of my country. Somehow I always wanted to do something which practically helps people, something related to utilizing natural resources and skills, meeting people from around the world and creating an arena where youth can discuss, share and make connections. I have been lucky that my curious mind have lead me to few international conferences where I made good connections with like-minded people and share visions to unleash the potentiality I hold but there are many more whom we together can guide. Kathmandu is densely populated with students from rural villages, for them getting an opportunity to connect with world or to be supported with resources can be very meaningful. I want to make Open Village House a hub to initiate as well as implement innovative ideas. I see myself believing on those ideas and making them successful or at least try.
HOW?
“Lack of trust in youth potential” and “Lack of resources” have been great problem. I want to work on SMART vision and relate to more attainable goals. My goals are very simple, Co-housing place with sharing kitchen can be great for rural students to get adequate housing facility and enjoy global diversity. (This is very new concept in terms of Nepal).They will have encouraging environment free from stress of landlord or so. They can focus on what they are doing. Co-working space can bring small startups together. It can be IT (Information Technology) students working space. (My brother who is also an IT graduate always wonders if he have some platform where he can casually work with basic facilities to develop app and directly sell apps on market basis like an IT office). Like @hazem said Open Village can be a local community to solve the local challenges.The co-working space or Our Open House can be open for all Movers and Shakers. Coffee roastery will help utilise natural resources and encourage youths to do something in terms of agriculture.
I see many possibilities. One another crazy idea( don’t know how much feasible it is) is to help small startup grow on our network. For examples- Online business need spaces to store things, not everyone can have their own space. Our Open Village can help on it by providing certain space for those online business. I am also thinking to utilise the kitchen more by allowing small companies to use our kitchen for their business. Not for regular operation but for prep and storing like a chocolate/bakery company which don’t need regular need of kitchen. They can just prepare a batch according to their sales target and use again according to demand.
I am still new here… getting to understand how it works…
But if I want to think of it as an ideal village, I would be doing the change I wish to see in this world, as I try my best to implement it in my community on daily basis and spreading love and positivity in everything I do… which is something we are doing through Zyara, by promoting Oneness, self love and resilience.
Also, I would love to meet fellow creators from all over the world and contribute to positive change on a bigger scale.
What I like the most about the open village project is that we are spreading a new way of life, a new way to raise hopes in a region that suffers from the lack of opportunities , high rate of unemployment and of poverty, since this project is promoting social innovation and new ways of solving community problems by the community itself according to their needs and believes.
The most interesting thing is counting on a collective intelligence and thinking to solve global challenges in a different ways.
I strongly believe that this project will give more opportunities and visibility for innovative and small projects since nowadays funds are only available to known and big organization who are not necessarily impacting people lives.
For the categories, I suggest to launch Edgeryders Student Ambassadors in different universities with a main mission to promote EdgeRyders values among their peers and support innovative initiatives or projects in their campuses/universities @nadia@hazem@matthias@baderdean
I’m not a student anymore (still a permanent learner and curious that’s why I learn about edgeryders) though I love your idea of Ambassadors in universities. Btw, what do you mean by support? What concrete type of support could we provide?
Agreed about building and growing this we. I am reminded of the discussion that @baderdean started about storytelling. More specifically how it shapes what we end up focusing on.
Especially how we strengthen or break relationships needed to carry something like OpenVillage to it’s full potential as a transformative experience.
This is what makes the Twitterstorm exercise an important one. By weaving what has been said in this thread into the bigger story we are telling to/about ourselves and what we are doing - we are actively shaping the future. Because it becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Im also uncomfortable with this weird and arbitrary categorisation.