Patterns in Action

 
Public Thinking Public Health Practicums 1: Overview

This is the first of four articles focused on the Liberating Voices practicums conducted for the two Public Thinking Public Health classes held at Evergreen College at the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010.  The actual tools, templates, session plans and reports are available from the Download tab of this site. This article focuses [...]

 

I’m still woefully behind on completing a report on the practicums I’ve been conducting at Evergreen College. Nevertheless, I’m posting a selection of tools and templates I used for exploring the practical application of Liberating Voices patterns, partly to support the teams of students who are working with local organizations this quarter. While most of [...]

 

Just contributed a comment to another great conversation over at Tim Kastelle’s Innovation Leadership Network blog about “Personal Filter, Aggregate, and Connect Strategies,” and felt that I should expand a little here while the creative juices were still bubbling. For reference, here’s my comment: Now I’m realizing that there’s yet another dimension or perspective beyond [...]

 
Anonymity as the Seed of Transparency

Time for corrective action.  I have stood and continue to stand among those calling for greater transparency in the public sphere, and particularly in the workings of government. I operate under the assumption that whatever I place online or in email is ultimately available for all to see, by accident or intention.  Everything I post [...]

 
Social Media as Engagement

What is social media and why is it so important right now? Rather than aggregating a selection of the amazing wisdom and insight already available across the ‘Net (especially note the fantastic conversation taking place on Venessa Miemis’ posting, “What is social media [the 2010 edition]“), I’m going to adopt more of a personal witness [...]

 
Twitter as collective stream of wisdom, tipping point, and network activator

Since starting to tweet earlier in the year, I’ve been driving many of my friends on FaceBook nearly nuts as I’ve explored one or another use of Twitter, while once in a while providing explanations with varying degrees of coherence, yet ever-growing enthusiasm. [Quick learning: It's NOT generally helpful to automatically have Twitter update your [...]

 
A baker's dozen pump priming options for using Twitter

Twitter is one of those unique environments that defies simple categorization: kind of like a blog, or a telegram, or instant messaging, or a wire service, but somehow distinct, deceptively simple, and surprisingly protean, in the sense of shaping a wild frontier of information within the flow (and steadily accumulated log) of 140-character messages. Its [...]

 

This provides a useful overview of the dimensions of public engagement, as well as a good application of DebateGraph.

 
Network weavers as the stewards of emergent community

A series of recent conversations with a colleague on the potential role of community “stewards” to empower public advocacy efforts reminded me of earlier discussions on network or community weavers. For advocacy today may be more than providing a stronger voice; neighborhoods have need of new eyes, new ears, fresh energy at multiple levels to [...]

 

OK, quick, name your top five comfort foods, the meals you count on to relieve some of the anxiety of uncertain times. Umm, the flavors, aromas, textures, and probably not-so-subtle spices of times gone past, the everyday, home-cooked meals, with “secret” ingredients, like mustard in macaroni and cheese, that you sat down to at the [...]

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