Authenticity Online at Shine this Sunday

Some tickets are still available for the Shine Unconference for social entrepreneurs this weekend in London. Having just heard I will be running a session on Sunday, seems a good idea to let people know about it.

Do come in and contribute to the discussion if you are there, take home some new insights, find a path on which to travel. Rather an expansive and wonderful topic. Many of us touch on these core issues and opportunities – or are hit over the head with them. Now here is a chance to go deeper.

Tickets are still available and start from just £20 per day. There is much to be learnt and passionate, happening people to meet.

Authenticity in the New Online World

* Who: Libby Davy
* When: 2:00pm – 3:00pm SUNDAY
* Where: Classroom

Description

How to be yourself and make your social media become a path for learning and becoming – for personal, team and enterprise expression.

To show your facebook page or not? How to be real without looking like a prat.

How to use your blog as a magnificant learning tool, that helps you find and travel your path, plus connects you with likeminded people along the way.

RSA (Renewal, Sharing, Advancement)

Gra and I went up to the Royal Society for the Arts recently to hear Charlie Leadbeater talk about his new book We Think. We were also keen to find out more about the RSA as they have approached me to become a Fellow.

Mum bought a copy of We Think while she was visiting… keen to get her head around the space we are in, and perfect for her ilk, among others. There are many major ommissions and doesn’t come much from deep, personal experience (Charlie doesn’t blog or facebook), but is a fine point of reference for many at this point in time. I am recommending it widely.

Highlights of the evening were…

Blogging as Gardening

Talking with Charlie and Tessy Britton afterwards about blogging. Our message that “the first audience for your blog is you” (blogging as a reflective, learning tool or private/public path on which to travel) got Charlie mentioning “zero-audience blogging” and gardening as a metaphor for why and how some people blog, ie. the cultivation of your blog is a meditative pleasure in itself, towards the cultivation (and harvesting?) of the self… plus others can stroll by and enjoy it too.

Mary Harrington (aka Seb Mary) from School of Everything has talked about this in the past and present too. Interestingly, her garden is out back and not visible to others except when invited in. Mine’s a bit like that too. Maybe I could do with a bit of improvement out front (aka let’s finish the upgrade!

What’s Happening in The RSA

Looking around the crowd afterwards, I spotted Felix Velarde from Underwired. (To be honest, I was just looking for a model to do a nice juxtaposition shot and vox pop, note: interesting facial hair and piercings). He had many positive things to say about the benefits of RSA membership, as did Tessy, who we spent an expansive evening with.

The RSA, it turns out, are making special efforts to attract new media folk, new paradigm folk to their hallowed halls. When I first got their letter, I thought it was a mass marketing effort. Turns out they are serious about engaging Fellows (erk, the feminist in me gasps) in opening up debate and moving forward a very progressive, authentic, connected vision.

There is much emphasis on education which resonates deeply Glad to see Roland Meighan and friends trying to keep them on track as outspoken agitators working from within… Ian Cunningham is also a Fellow.

They are about “removing the barriers to social progress” and state their recently revised manifesto challenges as:

• Encouraging Enterprise
• Moving Towards a Zero-Waste Society
• Developing a Capable Population
• Fostering Resilient Communities
• Advancing Global Citizenship

If we were courting each other, I would have to say the feelings are strongly reciprocal and we will be getting hitched, if for no other reason that to follow Richard Sennett’s call in The Craftsman to cultivate our skills and higher self in the company of like-minded people.

I used to think the UK was impossibly BIG. Now the multiple connections between RSA, School of Everything, Richard Birkin (Biff), Ian Cunningham, Richard Sennett, Michael Fielding, Tessy, Roland, John Grant, Andy Gibson, Seb Mary, MA in Person Centred Education, blogging, progressive education, and Everything are so rich in the potential patterns they create – it’s almost fractal in it’s beauty. Feeling very connected and safe within the spaces opening up and the paths between them. In permaculture terms, there is edge, there is diversity, the soil is rich, the system is in harmony.

Spring has sprung.

Free School (of Everything) Tomorrow Night – London

What do you want to learn?

Looking forward to meeting up with the School of Everything (SOE) folk (Andy Gibson, Sebastian Mary Harrington and compadres) tomorrow night at Free School. We’ve been talking about fun, expansive stuff in the informal education space together lately and found many friends and values in common

They helped set up Social Innovation Camp with Dr Dan, Nesta and all, and are now all systems go with real funding from people like philanthropist and visionary Esther Dyson, plus Rocco Pellegrinelli, JP Rangaswami and Channel 4 Education. Their charter is to make learning and teaching much more accessible and human, in the spirit of Ivan Illich. (Interesting to note Illich’s shared use of ‘convivial’ with Slow Food Movement, another passion). They were kind enough to invite me to be their Feature Teacher last month.

I won’t go on about it too much, but suffice to say I am deeply inspired by what they are about, by what they are creating. It links up with so much of what we have been looking at over the last decade, culminating in the MA in Person Centred Education journey. See more on the previous blog Learning.

Social media, social enterprise and education all come together. Sparks are flying! Wherever I go right now – Team Everything are there. The list of friends/colleagues in common, random path crossings and thought trains is getting too spooky to mention.

I’ve been asked to do a short show and teach at Free School, plus it’s a good chance to meet up, and my London digs are in Bethnal Green anyway.. too easy! I’m guessing it will be a great and somewhat intense evening of like mindedness and learning. Real learning. Plus Sarah Cheal is coming down from The Foundry to join in, which is a grand bonus prize.

Where? Gallery Cafe, Old Ford Rd, Bethnal Green

When? 6-9pm on Tuesday 29 April.

Here’s how Seb Mary described it earlier. Nice and informal:

“The idea is to get interested local people, friends, fellow social-enterprisers and other lovely people together for a few hours regularly to swap skills, find out what we can teach each other, and of course eat cake. And go to the pub afterwards.

The format of the evening is: cake (of course), nice people, a friendly cafe, and a Free School signup sheet. This is basically a piece of paper where you can add what you want to learn, or what you can teach, and see if anyone else matches up. It always results in new friends, and surprisingly often in skill-swapping.

We also like having a mini-teaching session or two on something people might find interesting…. might you be interested in running a mini-session on blogging for social enterprises?”

Free School will also be running at the Shine Unconference for Social Entrepreneurs on 9-11 May. Authentic Blogging / Presence Labs will also be at Shine, and might be offering a session too. Will keep you posted.

More on Free School with SOE here…

Can’t make it, or want to swot up before or after?

“A Taste of Social Media” (web 2.0, mass collaboration and creativity, blogging, flickr, facebook etc) for individuals, activists, organisations, artists, any and all.

Plus many many more short sessions where you can learn or teach for free.

For a preview of “what is social media?“, start with the wiki definition. Social media par excellance.

Try out a ning social network here. Join if it’s you – and post your thoughts and questions.

Enjoy the wonderful We Think animation to introduce Charlie Leadbeater’s new book of the same name and start getting your head around social media again, and again, and again…

“Stay hungry, stay foolish” – dip into the Well

Just when you think someone is “The Enemy”, maybe even “The Other“.. up springs a lovely, unifying surprise. Yep, it’s (still) all connected.

I’ve just joined The Well. Found myself wanting to get stuck into Bruce Sterling types again (rant rant nihilistic, post-modern, partiarchal “Technology is God” tossers).. still downloading from the LIFT experience. But then I realised I did not know enough about him or more to the point, what “he” represents to do this with a clear(er) conscience, more considered opinion.

Of course his very special wife, feminist activist/writer/film maker Jasmina Tesanovic was a red herring stuck in my rising bile – and should have alerted me to there being some potenial yin & yang in the equation.

Then I went to Brucey’s Wikipedia entry, his website, (intrigued by the shortness and meaning of the domain name) and then linked it back to… The Well. Well well well. What a place

I have come home after another long journey, and I smell nice things cooking.

I’m diving in. The Well describes itself as:

“a gathering that’s like none other — remarkably uninhibited, intelligent and iconoclastic.

“The regulars in this place include noted authors, programmers, journalists, activists and other creative people who swap info, test their convictions and banter with one another in wide-ranging conversations.”

Yeah yeah, you’re all fab. Alles Gutte. But it was when I saw the roots of it coming from The Whole Earth Catalog that my heart and mind were won over. Many things clicked into place. Bruce couldn’t be all bad, maybe just a bit misguided or misunderstood! There was more to reveal. It looked like a place for my integrated/complementaty thinking/being to emerge into more light. The Yin & Yang thing again. Science and Gaia, unified?

Steve Jobs was also an early adopter:

“When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation…. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.” During the commencement speech Jobs also quoted the farewell message placed on the back cover of the 1974 edition of the catalog: “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” (from Wikipedia entry)

Now I can see the origins of my internet addiction, indeed why I married my husband Graeme Sutherland, as he woo-ed me with utopian visions of appropiate, world changing technology.

I grew up with The Whole Earth Catalog (then Whole Earth Review > now Magazine). I was young, but it was ever so formative, as were the joints and conversations around the table of that expansive, bohemian childhood. It was THERE, everyhere. As ubiquitous and omnipotent as the bible, more so (hey Steve, you stole my line). I am having an epiphany right now just thinking about it. Must find out if Tim Berners-Lee read it before he invented the WWW.

Well… it looks like there is more to know about Bruce and his very much extended community. If any of you have Well stories or WEC>R>M to tell, do tell. I shall restrain myself from posting a Bruce-esque diatribe until I get a better context.

In the meantime, here’s the umpteenth profile I have submitted this year. I have most definitely joined Well. Interesting to see all these different selves we portray isn’t it. Thank goodness I have Buddhism and meditation to help me discover who I really am / am not. Ha! Another cosmic joke.

I particularly enjoyed writing this one, I think because I had a better idea of who the community was and how I am right now, having just come through a very heavy bit of navel gazing. All very self-indulgent and self-referential, but I wrote it for myself first I guess.

“Hello hello. I’m a West Australian-born woman who has finally made it back to Europe. We chose (digital / gay / pagan / close to London / Gatwick etc) Brighton, just like Second Life has – but for very, very different reasons. We chose Europe, or it chose us. I have a 7 year old girl and am well into looking at the world as her generation’s advocate. My card says “I help people express, connect, learn” because we teach what we most want to learn. I love learning > evolving. I am an educator / activist / social entrepreneur / Buddish-pagan / future-aware / whimsical / eccentric / meditating / social constructivist / idealistic realist / Leunig, Harold Maude, Nick Cave, Schubert lover with a real hope that humanity can get it’s shit together FAST and move on from the “Technology / Man is God” paradigm towards more integrated, creative, intelligent, kind, humble, interconnected ways of being and relating… before Gaia swallows us whole.”

There is just one tiny issue of the massive ego’s in question here, and the place of humility in the search for real wisdom. But we’re working on that, aren’t we Brucey.

Fresh Writing Classes in Brighton

For Beginners & Professionals

Express * Create * Connect * Learn * Grow * Play

A chance to let your words rip and flow. Fun, fresh activities will make these classes one of the highlights of your week.Perfect for anyone who uses the written word to communicate, eg. social enterprise folk, creatives, geeks, government folk, artists, writers, journalists, communications professionals, business people, activists, eco-warriors, peaceniks, bloggers. Come one and all!

“Fun, interesting and worthwhile – personally and professionally. I’m glad I took time out of a lousy schedule to do this class. Now I can rite reel good.”

“It’s been easier to write. I’m jotting down ideas again and having more of them. It’s the creative convalescence, soon I’ll be back at full strength.”

Find out what else regular participants are saying about them here…

Great writing exercises and games that build confidence, dissolve writers block and get your fingers flying across the page or keyboard.

* Connect with your real voice
* Enjoy expressing yourself again (or for the first time?)
* Give the ferocious editor (or “inner critic”) a holiday and let your words flow freely
* Learn how to write effectively for different audiences, and even for yourself
* Write authentically and learn to connect, be heard and seen by others for who you are

* Stand out from the crowd and compete in the “Attention Economy” of the new world order
* Enjoy writing like a person, not a corporate-speak, “we’re not listening anymore” brochure.
* Get help editing and planning your writing projects
* Join our fab new online space and share youre words, projects, ideas – get extra resources (all students eligible to join).

Your teacher Libby Davy from Authentic Blogging has a background in creative and professional writing, editing, education and strategic communications.

Venue:

The Werks
45 Church Road
Hove
BN3 2BE
www.werkshop.org.uk

Bike, bus or drive if you must. Parking is only a quid for two hours

When?

10.30 – 12.30

1 July

15 July

Put them in your diaries now if you have a positive intention to come and learn / create / express / play.

£13 per session (on the day) or £20 for last two.

Still offering first class free to permanent desk spacers at The Werks and friends of students.

Leave a comment if you would like to know what we will be going in Autumn or to make suggestions…

Please help this grow by spreading the word to those that might be interested.

Contact Libby Davy on 07968 687 107 or libby@nodestone.com

Some folk already starting to book in and watch what’s happening at Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/402221/

About Libby
Hello there. I have a degree in communications and have taught writing, editing, publishing and strategy at a university and community level. I am a published and awarded short-story writer (very low-key to be honest) and have had work broadcast on national radio. For many years I have been studying education and involved in a range of education projects, in addition to my own teaching practice. Completed part one of an innovative new Masters programme in Person-Centred Education at Sussex University, and may even return one day.

For many years, I consulted in strategic communications and marketing, and business coaching – with an increasing emphasis on ethical, sustainable / environmental and social enterprise.

In essence, I am a fun, friendly, Australian mother with a passion for creative expression, business, education and human potential – including yours!

http://nodestone.com/2008/05/29/fresh-writing-each-fortnight/

http://nodestone.com/2008/03/28/new-dates-for-fresh-writing-plus-spring-tips/

Free E-Book on the Essence of Authentic Blogging

Here’s a living document I prepared for our first three groups of budding bloggers. I feel a collaborative book coming on.

Not sure I see myself in the same light as the company I am keeping in this collection, but some wonderful people to be gaining inspiration from all the same. David Bohm, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, Natalie Goldberg, Julia Cameron, The Cluetrain folk, Scoble, Meerman Scott (in some order of importance).

We see this as essential reading for anyone on a quest for personal and professional growth through blogging, but it is a very first draft. Stay tuned for more…

Have a read and let me know which quotes resonate most for you…

FREE E-BOOK on the Essence of Authentic Blogging
More posts on writing to help get your words flowing…

Bob Dylan & Social Media Get Hitched – blogging just got sexier

Bob Dylan’s releasing a new album. His marketing people have seen the benefit of social media and launched a facebook application to help him. It’s available for anyone on facebook to play with and have Bob promote their own message.

So if we are already friends on Facebook, just check out my profile to see how sexy Bob can make blogging look, or make a friend request – and if you show me your private life, I’ll show you mine.

If you have not yet been seduced by the Fascist Dystopia that is Facebook (according to Ivan Pope via Tom Nixon), then go play. It really is worth experiencing. But read the health warning first, and a shout out for the next big (and braver new world) social media thing…

Our blogs

Wow, just sent a list of our blogs to Brighton Bloggers for inclusion. It’s getting a bit long. Hadn’t realised just how much blogging Gra and I (mainly Gra) have been doing over the last few years. So here it is…

www.authenticblogging.com – the place for a deep, authentic and truly happening approach to blogging in all it’s potential and ripeness. Blogging courses and an emerging new community – here we are!

www.barkingowl.com/learning – began with documentation of our early learning project and moved on from there into person-centred education, blogging and beyond… still sometimes active and ranks well with Google, loads of good stuff to check out and comment on, but have largely moved across to authenticblogging now

www.gravyland.net – our personal, family blog (including some contributions from Bea age 6, eg. this lovely picture she drew. Still not entirely sure how open I should be online, but this, like everything, is a work in progress.

http://blog.scouta.com – Scouta is our online media recommendations venture. Regularly featured on Techcrunch, actually.

http://presencelabs.com – Business blog for our main consulting vehicle, Presence Labs Ltd.

http://aplacecalledprovidence.com – A group blog for the co-working
office space at 50 Providence Place in the New England Quarter (where Gra is based, while I am at home hanging out the washing in between brain flashes and mad typing). Includes contributions from such neo-reno’s as Snipperoo’s Ivan Pope and the lovely Dom Stockdale.