Guest post by Carole Martin Sue Gardner of Wikimedia Foundation and Eugene Kim of Blue Oxen Associates paired up during Monday’s session to describe the approach they took during Wikimedia’s planning process. It quickly became obvious that by engaging a wide array of their volunteers in strategy formulation, they created an uncommon opportunity to educate community members about strategic thinking and inclusive processes in a networked world. Why does this matter? These skills are vital to … [Read more...]

  Guest Post by Stephen Downs The Mesh Laura Efurd sent this tweet during Lisa Gansky's discussion of the mesh concept at the GEO Growing Social Impact in a Networked World conference. Great, provocative question. Gansky's Mesh is based on the concept that unused value = waste and that information networks enable real-time brokering between customers and that unused capacity. So neighbors can share leaf lowers and snowblowers, companies can tap programmers for discrete jobs rather than … [Read more...]

Guest post from Barbara Kibbe The organization is still relevant but no longer the only unit of analysis. The new reality of organizations as parts of networks requires another lens and different perspective Both organizations  and networks can be means to ends. One reason to engage in networks is to enhance individual goals.They may or may not have programmatic goals. But it can't  only be about process. Network participants ( be they individual or orgs) still have a purpose for their … [Read more...]

Note from Beth: Since the concept of working in Networks is can be hard to explain to newcomers, learning from case studies, stories, and examples can be illuminating. The design was to share this learning was amazing. In the morning, each of the ten case study presenters gave a 5 minute "teaser" about their case study or what one presenter called "showing a little leg." After lunch, conference participants got to to choose two presenters to spend an hour with in a small group to ask … [Read more...]

Note from Beth: Since the concept of working in Networks is can be hard to explain to newcomers, learning from case studies, stories, and examples can be illuminating. The design was to share this learning was amazing. In the morning, each of the ten case study presenters gave a 5 minute "teaser" about their case study or what one presenter called "showing a little leg." After lunch, conference participants got to to choose two presenters to spend an hour with in a small group to ask questions … [Read more...]