[ox-en] getting online representation going to support meaningful work
- From: "Franz Nahrada" <f.nahrada reflex.at>
- Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 10:29:34 +0200
I share this post with several lists because I think it is utterly and
equally important and thoughts and concerns are parallel. Please only
reply to and on your own list.
Marcin Jakubowski is head and co-developer of Open Source Ecology in the
US, a form of third-generation intentional community whose goal is not
only support its members, but develop a schem of positive social change by
choosing the right livelyhood.
see http://www.sourceopen.org
I have recently promoted their first lettuce-based work result:
http://www.sourceopen.org/wiki/?pagename=OpenSourceEcology.Hydroponics
OSE people are commited to research and learning, they are at the
forefront of Neo-Subsistence which will replace the old Industrial System
in the speed of light - not only out of necessity, but because it is
simply the best and most sustainable lifestyle that you can live on this
planet. Neo-Subsistence is based on the revitalisation of rural areas and
the communal self-production of every aspect of life. This is much more
fun that it might originally sound, because it is a creative game with
possibilities we never had before!! NeoSubsistence is not limited no Low
Tech, it is a form of what Frithjof Bergmann called High Tech Self
providing - running miracles of self-replicating, biotope-morphed organic
feedback cycles whose possibilities to feed and support humans have almost
not been tapped into- because agriculture was dominated by an obsolete
linear model where abstract human labour was at the center.
One Aspect of NeoSubsistence is the constant research and exchange of
experiences done through the net. We do improve our knowledge and
fine-tune it by not keeping anything secret, but sharing openly. But
Marcin expresses the problems here, and I think we are at a new important
point in our learning curve. Basically it ties wonderfully into what
Andrius has learned from Samuel in Africa, that we need to establish
online representation of people that are relevant, but not able to follow
through the lists. Andrius thinks maybe rightfully that occasional lurking
is a form to run information exchange in our labs, but I think it is also
simply painful to have to follow that information stream. I am grateful
for Marcin to share that feeling with us: I can read only so many lists,
and those lists are competing for attention. The result is frustration.
Than is an incentive to run discussion lists more efficiently and
professionally, although never compromising the element of spontaneity.
Marcin Jakubowski and Andrius Kulikauskas are both at the same track of
evolutionary development when they require online representation as an
important structural element to promote our culture. Online representation
takes into accountthat the people doing relevent things might not be able
to "work openly" on the net out of varioius reasons.
I think one simple step and good example to resolve that problem would be
to ask for people close to Marcins site to help in the endavour to get
messages of meaningful nature out and in.
The site is in Osborne, Missouri,USA, see
http://www.sourceopen.org/wiki/?pagename=OpenSourceEcology.FacilityInOsbornMOUSA
It would require frequent visits, the deep understanding what is going on
there, and a deep enthusiasm for the spreading of knowledge and
"technologies for the masses productiveness". Is there any people who
might want to support this? Then read on:
I share what Marcin has written in the globalvillages group and I comment
it:
"marcin jakubowski" <marcin_ose hotmail.com> on Samstag, 1. Oktober 2005
at 4:51 Uhr [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED] wrote:
Franz and Others,
Regarding online presence, i would like to have someone represent me to
the
open source community. As Franz says, i spend most time talking to a
limited
network of people who are focused directly on related, real-life
projects.
Whenever i have anything useful or substantial, i like that to be shared
in
the open source community. The trouble for me isthat all the discussion
takes too much energy to follow. There is grave danger of mental
masturbation, and from my experience, after becoming land-based, i notice
that the physical reality brings in many different surprises and
perspectives. These are what i am exploring, and am open to total
transparency whenever i have anything to offer. But let not pure talk,
untested in the physical world, be my contribution.
I agree totally. The first hand experience and substantial nature of your
work has a lot of siginificance!!
I would not deny the role of thought and speculation, but in the long run
and the more we talk we want to see the things becoming real. That is your
gift to all of us and we appreciate it!
If we talk of online volunteers supporting OSE, how do we convert online
time to tangibles (real life physical goods and services)? One point that
i
need help with is Financial-Legal literacy that is essential to
reclaiming
properties back into the commonwealth. These include land as the most
basic
form of productive capital, and other forms. What we need is material
that
can serve to train people in resource development, where we acquire land
and
other forms of productive capital for sustainable stewardship and
productivity. This question is global. The goal is to understand exactly
the
same tricks that multinational corporations use, but only for a different
goal: distribution of wealth.
These are the skills rarely developed in our community. Benni Baermann has
recently asked in the NiA list: How much "Old" qualities must the "New"
have to suceed? I agree we must develop a sense of monetary sustainability
and assuring resources, most people in our context are working themselves
to death and not getting rewarded or supported for that. We are not yet at
the point where the result is effective, that we can live by the free
development of the sources of wealth that we have mastered to rightly
mount and hem. But until then we need to sustain the seeds of the new
within the old or as you point out even acquire the grounds on which they
can grow.
In practice, i'd like to develop a training manual that includes legal
and
financial tools for land acquisition, globally, to be held in trust.
Examples of tools include contracts, business models of stewardship,
charitable remainder trusts, etc. Perhaps what the greater global
community
can do is provide contacts of people who are interested in becoming
stewards
of an economy that involves production by the masses, the reinvention of
quality. At OSE, we are currently developing this curriculum, and will
soon
be in a position to take on OSE Fellows with a stipend. Perhaps a call
for
help is too early now, as the development of a Stewardship Program is a
focused activity, one that requires a physical campus, so i am at a loss
as
to how that would involve online volunteers.
Marcin, we have for example begun to think about a "Financial Toolshed" in
the Globalvillages context! Not everyone is needed to go to OSE and learn
growing lettuces. I think we are missing lots of opportunities here if we
do not get it right. I know for example when I have Andrius here he really
helps me promote the hotels development even though he does not do hotel
work. There is value in online and thought work at any stage! If you learn
to acknowledge the value of online work, the online workers will learn to
acknowledge the value of your groundwork.
Franz
"Thus to improve the situation more rapidly, we must develop not only a
"common basis for communication" but also a common basis for
communicating in a way so that we can work effectively to collectively to
put our ideas into practice." Jeff Buderer
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