Published by Camilla on 12 Jun 2009 at 07:02 pm
FaceTime with your community
 |
As more and more communication is done electronically, face-to-face communication seems to be fading away. In traditionally high touch countries like Mexico, Italy, Greece and France, face to face interactions are still the norm. WiserEarth is gradually building a network of in-person gatherings, would you like to help? |
In low-touch countries including the US, Canada, the UK and Netherlands, there is an increasing dependence on electronic communication devices; text messaging, video conferences, blackberries, PDAs and of course email. Despite the speed of using these technologies and the fact that they neatly fit into our busy multi-tasking lives, they can never fully replace our need for human interaction.
During a recent online discussion, a couple of community members suggested that local face to face meet-ups would provide an important extension to the online networking tools present on the WiserEarth site. With this in mind, we started the WiserEarth Paris group with the aim of supporting networking among locally-based members. Shortly after, a WiserEarth UK group was set up.
Initial WiserEarth Paris gatherings have taken place in a number of local restaurants and within a collaborative workspace for social entrepreneurs called La Ruche. Discussions have ranged from using the semantic web, to translating WiserEarth into French, and exchanging best practices. A small UK gathering took place in Bristol last month discussing far reaching topics as ‘balanced view’ training, a bid to purchase a landmark site in Bristol for a community build project, and sharing networking stories.
What we learnt during these gatherings is that whoever came to these events were the right people to be there (this relates to the Open Space concept of running a gathering. We created a very open structure for these meetings and therefore had plenty of surprises. Some people were working on almost identical projects, but didn’t know it (and have since started collaborating). Some people were planning to attend the same event (this year’s World Social Forum) and ended up meeting up in Brazil. Others were just happy to be sharing a bottle of wine with people who share their values.
As one WiserEarth member said “I am inspired by the connections I am making here”. Clearly, WiserEarth needs to support more face to face communication and networking. In the words of Margaret Wheatley, “I can believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again.”
Are you inspired to get involved or set up a local or regional gatherings? Send an email to Camilla[at]wiserearth.org, or let me know if you or anyone else you know would like to join either our WiserEarth Paris or WiserEarth UK groups.
Related Post: Do you have the right balance of online/onlife communications?
| If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. |
Print Friendly
Tags: communication tools, community building, France, international, UK
8 Responses to “FaceTime with your community”
Leave a Reply |
Hi Camilla,
I actually started what I’ve called “A Good Gathering” of like minded people that I held at the Numi Tea Garden in Oakland, CA. I’ve done this twice (once in April, then June) and intend to do it every other month. Most of the attendees are social entrepreneurs, business owners or executives who believe in sustainability and social responsibility and nonprofit folks. I would like to invite local Wiser Earth members to the next one.
Kind regards,
Rose
Hi Rose, thanks so much for your posting and invitation. We are shortly gong to be setting up a Bay Area (CA) group so that we can invite local members to local meetups and gatherings. I will be in touch with you as soon as we have this set up as would love to find out more about ‘Good Gathering’ and extend an invitation to our WiserEarth members in this area.
oh camilla, i am so glad you wrote this article here. I am SO very much into creating local group meetings and focusing on them….. I still want to have this in the newsletter and maybe one thing we can do is provide a link to the blog where stories about local get togethers can be gathered …. the Transition movement is providing us here in Northern California with an impetus to assemble and a few people from Wiser (Michelle Moore of Global Oneness and now a WE volunteer) and Bruce Richards and Anita Fieldman are regularly meeting as we begin work on the Transition Mill Valley initiating group.
My next experiment with Wiser is going to involve a local community college and working with a professor to have a class use the Wiser database and create a group page to help design some aspects of powering down ….
Sent you an email in French earlier (didn’t even check my dictionary so its very, very raw (i’m five years out of study so ….) but I am so glad I joined your Wiser Paris group. I love getting the emails.
Great to have your feedback Deborah. I know you’re doing so fantastic work with the Transition movement. I look forward to sharing more about forthcoming events with you – both which I hope we can publish on the WE blog and newsletter.
I love the hear about how you are using Wiser in your classes – please don’t hesitate to share any feedback on what works well and what needs improving.
Thanks also for your WE message in French – your French is superb.
[...] you haven’t already, check out this post by Camilla Burg about how the WiserEarth community is exploring the potential of in-person events! Camilla’s [...]
As a follow up to this posting, we are going to be setting up some “Wiser Tuesdays” events around the world, starting off with an event in Paris in September.
————–
What are Wiser Tuesdays?
Wiser Tuesdays are free monthly gatherings where members of WiserEarth, nonprofits, social changemakers and web innovators can:
- share what they are working on as well as their passions and ideas for changing the world
- exchange and learn about best practices especially related to using web technology for social change
- share resources
- build friendships and alliances with likeminded people and with others working on similar issues
- work on initiatives or projects together
—————————-
Who are Wiser Tuesdays for?
Anyone working on or interested in environmental and social change issues (nonprofits, consultants, associations, social entrepreneurs, web innovators, students, professors…)
————————————
About WiserTuesdays:
WiserTuesdays are a collaboration between WiserEarth and NetSquared. They are based on NetSquared’s successful Net Tuesday events which already exist in over 40 countries around the world. These events provide a chance for all those interested in the intersection of social technologies and social change to exchange stories, build new relationships and collaborate. Find out more at: http://www.netsquared.org
———————-
Can I get involved in Wiser Tuesdays?
Let me know (Camilla) if you’d like to set up or get involved in Wiser Tuesdays events near you. Or join our Paris group, if you’re in the Paris area: http://www.meetup.com/WiserTuesdays/fr/
[...] posts: FaceTime with your community, A roundup of popular F2F [...]