This is being posted elsewhere, but David Weinberger has co-written a little manifesto on the infrastructure of democracy for a conference in Madrid on terrorism, security and democracy. I especially like this line: “The best response to abuses of openness is more openness.” I agree with that and then some. The internet may form an important piece of the infrastructure of democracy, but this principle applies to all processes and techniques that humans use for communicating and collaborating, including conversational processes. Over the last week in Prince George I did a two day Open Space practice workshop with some young …
From four-year old Finn today: “Night comes when the earth yawns and the darkness comes down from space.” It’s nice to be back home after 8 days in Prince George. Great to reconnect with the little ones and be privy to this sort of wisdom.
Prince George, BC I’m in Prince George again, in the middle of a week of all kinds of work. Today is day two of an Open Space meeting with a group called Communities Against Sexual Exploitation of Youth (CASEY). CASEY is wrapping up a year long project by using OST to connect people and ideas to community based action on these issues. The theme for the gathering is “Lanterns of Hope” and indeed after the action planning today, there is a lantern making workshop which will precede a nighttime walk through an inner city neighbourhood to literally and figuratively bring …
Prince George, BC This week I’m here in Prince George, smack dab in the middle of British Columbia facilitating a two day roundtable conference on economic opportunities for Aboriginal communities. There are people all over BC here, and we’ve been treated to a performance tonight from Juno nominee (and new friend) Marcel Gagnon as well as tastings of the wines of Nk’Mip, North America’s first Aboriginal winery. As fun and interesting as all this is, today’s proceedings were stolen by several acts of overwhelming generosity. It all began in the evening news part of our program, during which I invited …
My four-year old son: Mom? My wife, Caitlin: Yes? Son: You know when you get really old? Caitlin: Yes. Son: And when you’re just about to die? Caitlin: Yeeeesss…. Son: Just in that moment… Caitlin: Yes? Son: Can you tell me where your wallet is? The kid’ll do anything for an advance on his allowance!