Author Archives: orlaadmin
Nov
Barefoot Guide 4
The Barefoot Guide 4 writeshop, and accompanying virtual workshop, were hugely productive. The work is ongoing – follow the activities on the dedicated website here. The associated hackpad where you can contribute your ideas and follow the detail of the discussions is here.
Nov
Contribute to Barefoot Guide 4: Exploring the real world of social change
The Barefoot Guide Connection is a global and local community of social change leaders and practitioners, from many countries, sharing diverse practices to deepen and develop approaches and initiatives to contribute to a changing world.
The Barefoot Guide Connection has its foundations in the on-going writing and publication of Barefoot Guides which focus on a variety of social change practices. They have been translated into several languages, e.g. Swahili, Chinese, Bahasa, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Arabic. The guides gather stories, analyses, approaches and resources for interesting practice from around the globe. Each Barefoot Guide is written by a collective of practitioner writers and published in an illustrated format that is simple and lively. A typical Barefoot Guide is a practical, do-it yourself book or guide. It has a supporting website, with resources, exercises, readings etc, including tried and tested concepts, approaches and activities.
Barefoot Guide 4 focuses on “Exploring the Real Work of Social Change”. This will present and illustrate examples of multi-actor social change in different contexts, exploring not just the stories and activities, but digging deeply to discover what the practice and real work are.
YOUR contribution is needed. If you can’t make the Writeshop from 18th-22nd November 2013 in Johannesburg, please consider attending the virtual meeting on 21st November, at 08:00 GMT until 09.30 GMT. All you’ll need is your energy, experience, an internet enabled computer and a headset. During this meeting, we’ll review progress at the Writeshop and generate additional contributions/stories on the theme of Social Change. Sign up here (free) to receive further information and login details.
Oct
Virtual training for virtual facilitation!
The next Technology of Participation virtual conversation ‘boot camp’ starts on January 10th 2014. For more information and an early bird discount code see the brochure here.
Oct
Virtual inclusion or digital disenfranchisement session minutes
#ofu13 #facweek #virtualinclusion. Notes from today’s session are available here: https://ofu2013.hackpad.com/Digital-democracy-or-a-new-source-of-disenfranchisement-lDBNcoCpJdf. Many thanks to all who participated. Please feel free to add to the notes!
Oct
Virtual conversation on “digital democracy or a new source of disenfranchisement?”
25th October 2013 at 4pm BST 3pm UTC 8am Pacfic via Adobe Connect, and from now on twitter #ofu13 & #virtualinclusion.
Digital democracy or a new source of disenfranchisement?
Session Host: Orla Cronin
Given these new ways of enabling individual’s voices to be heard, how can we ensure that we are not inadvertently perpetuating power imbalances? How do we ensure that “digital poverty” and technological illiteracy do not compound existing imbalances e.g. between voices in the global North and those in the South, between those who are literate and those who are not, those who Anglophone and those who may speak 5 or 6 languages, of which English is a long way down the list.
From small examples, such as which time zone dictates the meeting, and whether participants are welcomed with a good morning or a good afternoon, to major barriers such as bandwidth limitations in rural Africa, every decision we make has implications for who is heard and who is silenced.
Participants in this reflective and solution oriented session will share specific stories of where virtual conversations mitigated or amplified structural power imbalances of various kinds, and use these to generate practical suggestions for maximising inclusion in virtual activities.
Register at Eventbrite. http://virtualinclusion.eventbrite.com/
This session will run via Adobe Connect. You will need to run the diagnostic here: http://admin.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm and accept download of any small apps requested. In particularly, you will need to accept the most recent version of Adobe Flash. Adobe Connect runs on XP, Mac, IOS and Android platforms. You will need a dedicated headset, an internet connection, and a ‘clean computer’ which has been restarted, and does not have any applications running in the background, particularly email, online backup software or software updates. Skype will be used as an emergency backup – please connect with orlacronin.
The adobe connect link is http://top.adobeconnect.com/virtualinclusion/
PLEASE TRY TO ENTER HALF AN HOUR BEFOREHAND TO CHECK YOUR COMPUTER SETUP. Once you are onboard, you can then either chat or do something else until the meeting starts.
The session will also run asynchronously via twitter from now on @croninorla twitter account with hashtags #ofu13 and #virtualinclusion.
Contact orla@orlacronin.com with questions
Oct
Online Facilitation Unconference 2013
Looking forward to taking part in the Online Facilitation Unconference 2013 – #ofu13 @ofu2013 this week – an event of the International Association of Facilitators International Facilitation Week
Oct
Group Facilitation Methods training, Manchester, 4-5/12/2013
Places still available on the Group Facilitation Methods training course in Manchester on 4th & 5th December 2013. Suitable for new and experienced facilitators, this course teaches you to use Focused Conversation and Consensus Workshop methods.
More information and book available here – please mention my name when you book.