Holding onto Syria

Syria is in the news every day now. Every day, and it seems like there will not be an end to it anytime soon. Every day, and I think of my friends there, and the people I met who opened their arms in welcome and hosted me at their tables and in their homes. Every day, and the Syria we know and love is slipping beneath a shadow of violence and politics, into an uncertain future.

I hold to the vision of my Syria, and invite you to hold to it with me. Let's meet at the Bab Touma gate, and walk through the streets of Old Damascus. We can sit at the Nowfara, drink coffee, and listen to the Hakawati tell stories of princes, magic, and faraway lands.

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Playing around with jam2jam for special access music workshops

One of the greatest pleasures of my life is trying out new stuff, and working out how it can be used for enhanced learning. In the last week or so I've been playing around with jam2jam, an application with a simple graphic interface that allows participants to mix and play with image and sound. The two things I like best about jam2jam are how easy it is to get started with, and the potential to have a networked jam with participants on more than one machine, in more than one location. Thanks to Steve Dillon, Andrew Brown and the team for making the software available.

One of the other greatest pleasures in my life is working on the special access music program for adults with a disability, at the Powerhouse Museum's Thinkspace. We'll be introducing jam2jam into some of the activities for these groups starting tomorrow. It'll be a slow introduction, just embedding it into sound and image making activities that the groups are already used to working with. I thought I would play around with live camera feed, to get an idea of how the software actually mashes and mixes the two feeds together.

Finn O'Keefe is doing incredible work in these workshops - in truth he's a bit inspiring. He has been working on introducing Live, and doing real time mixing of a whole heap of stuff using different midi inputs. We've been riffing off the idea of live performance as the new focus for these workshops, and Thinkspace supremo Peter Mahony has been driving both the creative and technical processes. We are all really excited to see how this will all pan out with our groups tomorrow.

I recorded some of my jam2jam "jam". I was only really working with the video or image mashup tool, so the soundtrack stays pretty much the same the whole time. There's a feed from the isight camera on my macbook, being mixed with a second piece of video from one of the "scenes" in jam2jam. I am controlling the "webcam" icon with my mouse. The blue icons on the top and right menu bars control which vidoe tools are in operation. I wasn't really going for a creative result, I was just trying out the different tools in combination to see how they worked, and how I might introduce them to the groups.

SI camp Edinburgh - CSI report

After my trip to Edinburgh, I wrote a short report for the Centre for Social Impact, that they've included on their website and newsletter. Thanks to CSI for their support of this trip and the recent publicity for my work.

Report from SI Camp Edinburgh

After the Social Innovation camp here in Sydney last year, I headed to Edinburgh, keen to experience more of the great mix of people, ideas and action that come together for a Social Innovation Camp. The UK team have done several of these over the last few years, and they have the organisation pretty well sorted. There were about 60 people participating in the camp, mostly from Scotland and the UK, working on 6 ideas, turning them into working prototypes. Working away at their own SI Camp over the weekend were a groups in Korea, and we maintained a video link with them throughout the weekend.

What really struck me right away was the range of diversity of the ideas which were presented and selected for the camp. You can check them out here. All the participants gathered on Friday night, and after a quick intro to all the ideas, we were left to our own devices to mingle, chat, and get to know one another. Before I left for Edinburgh, Glen Mehn, one of the SI Camp organisers, had been in touch, and had suggested that I might like to work on the Invisible Ramps team. The idea behind Invisible Ramps is to create a way for people with cognitive and psychological disabilities to engage in a dialogue with each other, as well as designers and service providers, to identify issues and problems that arise in their everyday lives, and, most importantly solutions.

Right from the start the Invisible Ramps team worked really well together. We were led by Andy, the idea originator, who had come up with this idea based on his own experiences, and on the Saturday we were given a really great introduction about the issues faced by our target audience by Kath. Both Andy and Kath have Autism Spectrum Disorders, so working with them meant that we had a rich source of stories, experience and knowledge informing our work at every juncture. It also had a profound impact on the way that we functioned as a group. The usual highly driven, tense and sometimes explosive environment of working with strangers under such tight time restraints was mediated by our group's commitment to working in a way in which both Kath and Andy could feel comfortable and participate fully. This heightened sense of respect and adherence to some basic time management and communication protocols that we established right at the beginning of our work together brought about an environment of quiet, thoughtful productivity, very different to any other I've come across in a collaborative environment like this, and was commented on by the organisers and other teams. This is something I'll take away from my experience of the Camp as much as anything else, because it surprised me, and showed me a way of doing things that I really enjoyed.

After 2 very full-on days, we all gathered on Sunday afternoon to see what everyone had come up with and celebrate our collective achievements. Exciting! Every project was able to show a working prototype and present a working project, based on the ideas that we had started with. Some the ideas had undergone quite radical transformations. Their were prizes awarded to some of the projects, but every one of the projects is well on its way to being a social innovation enterprise in its own right. Awesome. I'm still in touch with the Invisible Ramps team, working out how I can play a role in continuing to develop this project. It has strong interest from several health service providers in Scotland, and a bright future. Without the opportunity to workshop it at the SI Camp, it might have stayed just an idea in Andy's head.

Thanks to the wonderful people who I worked with on the Invisible Ramps team, Anna and Glen from SI Camp, AuSIX and The Centre for Social Impact.


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Introducing Snook - Scottish service designers doing seriously good things

On my recent trip to Edinburgh for the Social Innovation Camp, I had the great pleasure of meeting some of the team from Snook (@wearesnook), a service design outfit based in Glasgow. After the camp I popped over to Glasgow for "picnic lunch" in their offices, to learn a little more about who they are, what they do, and to soak up some more of the Snook vibe.

Snook are led by the awesome duo Sarah Drummond (@rufflemuffin) and Lauren Currie (@redjotter), and are joined by the very able crew of Kirsty Sinclair, Karen Maxwell, and Andy Young. They do service design based on co-production with community and stakeholders, and are working on a number of projects all over Scotland. If you want to check out their work, you'll find it all on their lovely website.

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On the very wet Glasgow afternoon that I went to see them, the Snook team were up to their elbows working on a revitalisation project for King Street, Stirling, tentatively titled "Startup Street". Working with Stirling City Council and other partners, the Snook team are engaging community, corporate and commercial interests to creating social enterprises to revitalise the empty shopfronts, and create an alternative life and vision for King Street and Stirling, that brings new skills, enterprises and opportunities to an area faced with high unemployment and community disenfranchisement. Their vision, creativity, passion, openness and skill is evident in their work, which hums with energy, great ideas and a "can-do" attitude.

From my time I Snook I came away with a very important lessons that I wanted to share. Snook are experts in understanding and using the power of the story. Several of the Snook team have visual arts/design backgrounds, and this really shows. They are all about the story in their work - whether it's identifying problems, engaging communities, creating strategies, envisioning futures or selling solutions - and they do this very well. They find good themes, keep them simple, create great visuals and powerful metaphors; in their hands storytelling becomes an awesome tool for community action and social change. I was privileged to watch them brainstorm on the afternoon I was there, and it was inspiring.

Thanks to the Snook team for letting me into their world. This young team are doing seriously good things - I hope we can find a way to bring a little Snook magic to Australia some time soon.

 

 

In the square outside MACBA, Barcelona.

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One of my favourite spots in Barcelona is the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art MACBA. It sits in the heart of El Raval, one of those districts that mixes narrow straights and old buildings with cool little stores and bars, immigrants and young people. I've stayed in this area both times I've been in Barcelona, and have been lucky to be with Marcus, my bro, who is pretty much a local. I love the energy of the streets, and I think this video highlights it.

From Social Innovation Camp Edinburgh - reflections on learning

I’ll be reporting elsewhere in more formal terms about the SI Camp that I’ve been attending here in Edinburgh, but I wanted to take the time here to share my personal experience, and reflect on my some of own learning so far.

I’ve been working with a team on a project called “invisible ramps”. I liked this idea when I first saw it, and was really pleased to be assigned to work on this project. The team (there are nine of us all together) is excellent. Everyone is really great, working well together, and the combination of skills in the team is wonderful. I have really been enjoying my role in the team, doing a bit of facilitation, keeping track of time and tasks, and helping out where needed.

Underlying all aspects of the work that we are undertaking as a group this weekend are the abilities and needs of people with cognitive and psychological disability. As well as being the key audience and stakeholder group for the site, two key members of our team are on the autistic spectrum. This has had a profound impact on the group, and the way that we are working together - things that I’d like be able to draw on and bring into facilitation and team situations in the future.

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Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge the amazing efforts of Andy and Kath, who have communicated honestly and with much good grace and patience, the ways in which we could work together as a group that would best serve all our skills and abilities. By asking us all to carefully consider the ways in which we are working together and the impact of our actions on the people around us, we have created one of the most harmonious and satisfying teamwork situations that I have worked in, even given the highly charged atmosphere that goes along with the whole bootcamp experience.

There are some specific things that I have noticed that we are doing in our group that I believe are contributing to the success of our group effort:

  • when working as a group, only one person speaks at a time. As a facilitator, I have tried to implement this countless times and in countless ways in group situations. To see it actually working quite organically, out of mutual respect, takes it to a whole new level. When done properly, it is really effective, it’s not just matter of courtesy.
  • when addressing individuals, taking a second to call them by name and establishing a connection with them before you ask a question or begin a discussion.
  • name tags are important.
  • narratives are important. People feel empowered when they can bring their experience to the group and have it acknowledged.
  • vary activities regularly and allow for individuals to work through things on their own as well.
  • keep outside interference to a minimum. Distractions are not only time-wasters, they can be difficult or distressing for some people. If someone is going to join the group for any length of time, introduce them properly, explain the interaction scenario and give everyone time to adjust.


Now that I’ve written these things in a list, it seems pretty simple, but these are all things that I might not have paid enough attention to in other situations. So thanks to Andy and Kath, I have developed some “invisible ramps” in my facilitation and groupwork practice. A real world outcome for me on this project before we’ve finished the website. That’s social impact.

Computer Lab in a Wheelie Bin - introducing the iStreetLab

Over the next year I'm going to be working on some really interesting projects for Group X and QUT in Queensland. While I was up in Brisbane last month, I was lucky enough to catch up with Mervin Jarman at The Edge, and hear more about Mervin's work on the iStreetLab project.

 

The Edge, QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and a couple of other interested parties are working with Mervin and the local community in Inala, South Queensland, to embed an iStreetLab mobile computing lab into the community. Mervin's vision is for the community to fit out the bin with what would best suit their needs, but he and his partner, Richard-Pierre Davis, have made some of these already, and they are powering away in London and Jamaica.

 

Mervin's got a compelling story to tell about what this project is about, and it comes straight out of his experiences of youth culture in his home town in Jamaica, and the role that art and technology have played in his life. This project is more about community and empowerment than the technology, about putting the technological means of production onto the streets where the young people gather, and, as Mervin puts it, "it comes to space, it makes the space". The labs should be professional quality, so that the contrast between the "rubbish" bin, and what's inside it is absolute. It's a powerful statement, and as much about the young people this project is reaching as anything else. A completed lab should be able to create high quality music, video, graphic and web outcomes, and provide an income to the young people running it. They should also be able to operate as mobile classrooms, offering skills based workshops wherever the need arises.

 

Home of the Stylin' UP indigenous owned Hip Hop, RnB and dance music festival, Inala is the first of what we hope will be several of these across Queensland. Mervin and Mick Byrne, from The Edge in Queensland have been working hand in hand with the community to put together a wheelie bin and a program that meets the needs of that community, and allows them to reach out to other communities in South East Queensland. I'm hoping to work with Mervin and Mick on extending the learning and education outcomes of iStreetLabs, particularly the community workshop programs. It's part of my work with Group X to create IT and ICT opportunities for young people in Queensland.

 

As you might be able to make out from  the two images below, the completed wheelie bin will an independently powered, fully equipped computer lab, fitted out with seriously good gear including a Macbook Pro (in the lid), several Macbooks, high end projector, high res printer and scanner, audio mixer, speakers and whatever else the community can come up. The only BYO component is headphones.

 

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Thanks to Mervin and Mick for looking after me on my recent visit to Brisbane. I'll be back soon to work on this with them some more, and in the meantime, I'm looking forward to catching up with Rich in London and seeing an iStreetLab in action. Watch this space!