Organizations: invisibleNetworks: Versionfest04

Sunday, November 23, 2003 - 01:06 PM

To encourage discussions of the methods and approaches we use to move into and out of the social, economic, artistic, political and technical networks we connect to and/or disconnect from. The Version>04: invisibleNetworks convergence mobilizes a diagram of these interconnections, entry and exit points and the transmissions that occur within them. Uncover and open channels of discussion, hidden orders, unseen hands, blackboxes, backdoors, wormholes and access points. Participants in Version>04: invisibleNetworks will function as nodes and hubs in this amorphous system and construct this years' decentralized convergence.

People: Citizen Deliberative Councils

Sunday, November 23, 2003 - 11:14 AM

The evolution in "'Citizen Deliberative Councils' can and should be used in a wide variety of ways to increase the potency of our democracy. Citizen Deliberative Councils can increase both the power of "We the People" and the quality of the decisions made and implemented with that power." -Tom Atlee, Co-Intelligence Institute

Blogs: Common Channels & more

Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 02:57 AM

Common Channels is a service for encouraging activity within and amongst online groups. Your group is welcome to sign up for the channels for free. They are working out the details how to set this up on a case-by-case basis. Sign your group up to a channel by providing an email address with permission to send letters to your group. Then let us know the channels that you desire! Write to Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas Laboratory.

Projects: Free & Open Source Education

Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 03:43 PM

Education, Open Source, Open Access Archives and..collections of free books and textbooks. An exellent example is Schoolforge, a foundry. Where you will find the information, the tools and materials you need to "forge" or make a school and all its parts. All free for the asking (or download), and, in the future, international in content and character, schoolforge is not a place or an organization, but a cause, and a collection of people and projects dedicated to it: bringing quality, affordable and dependable software and teaching materials to the people who need them around the world. As such, it is not a "service" so much as it is a community focal point, which, as much as anything else, represents an opportunity to get involved in one of its aspects.

Organizations: Managing Knowledge

Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 06:54 PM

MANAGING KNOWLEDGE: THE NEW FOUNDATION OF SOCIETY OR ANOTHER PASSING FAD? This article reviews the rise and fall of knowledge management, and then examines how the unique logic of knowledge requires organic, self-organizing systems. This more sophisticated approach is used to examine how universities could be transformed.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003 - 02:31 AM

The next planetwork Forum will be on Thursday, November 20th from 6:00 to 10:00 pm at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. (link to calendar item)

Planetwork is dedicated to the creation and maintenance of a digital commons, that will strengthen civil society by enabling people to connect, communicate, make transactions, and self-organize in a manner that is consistent with the highest principles of democracy and supports the sustainable restoration and stewardship of our planet.

Projects: Open Source E-voting Aussie-style

Monday, November 03, 2003 - 06:06 PM

While critics grow more concerned each day about the insecurity of electronic voting machines, Australians designed a system two years ago that addressed and eased most of those concerns: They chose to make the software running their system completely open to public scrutiny.

People: Social Entrepreneurship, Conscious Business & Conscious Capitalism [UPDATED]

Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 08:42 PM

Excerpt from Social Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalism, by Coolmel, March 2007

"Wikipedia defines social entrepreneurs as “someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.” Ashoka describes social entrepreneurs as “individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems.” The keywords here are “social problems” and “solutions.” In short, social entrepreneurs solve social problems (such as poverty, unemployment) to create a wide-scale social change without anticipation of substantial financial profit. In its attempt to define social entrepreneurship, the Stanford Social Innovation Review put it succinctly, “Social entrepreneurship signals the imperative to drive social change, and it is that potential payoff, with its lasting, transformational benefit to society, that sets the field and its practitioners apart.”

Conscious capitalism on the other hand is “creating a new paradigm for business,” to make corporations and businesses “conscious” about how they conduct their business. This includes infusing corporations and businesses with spirituality, corporate social responsibility (CSR), adoption of the triple bottom line (3BL) and other ethical business practices. In short, conscious capitalists (or business people engaging in conscious capitalism), put values first before profit. It's capitalism infused with “soul.” However, conscious capitalists are not necessarily recognized as entrepreneurs until they become “successful” with their business (see SSIR for details). And while conscious capitalists can also be social problem solvers, in general, conscious capitalists are exploiters of opportunity (or opportunity seekers) with a value proposition of gaining profit for themselves and/or for their investors, shareholders, and stakeholders.

Therefore, the main difference is: Social entrepreneurs are primarily (social) problem solvers without regard for profit. That's why many social enterprises are not-for-profit and have their grassroots planted in developing countries; While conscious capitalists are primarily opportunity seekers operating under the paradigm of conscious capitalism... "

©2007 Zaadz

Blogs: New Book on Sustainable Governance

Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 12:38 PM

Leading Change toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society. Recently met the author, Bob Doppelt at a introduction/presentation he gave at the University of Oregon.

Organizations: Social Networks and Online Community

Wednesday, October 08, 2003 - 12:29 PM

Something central to Imaginify is the awareness of community as a "network," and our response to the current trend of Social Network Analysis. This is a mathematical metaphor like imagining the universe is an automaton like mechanical clockwork, purely an abstraction for the purpose of simplicity and utility overlooking all the richness and complexity of real human and universal relationships.