Instructions for Starting Ning Groups on Transition Europe

[Les Squires]

Instructions for Starting Ning Groups on Transition Europe

If you are interested in starting or joining others to set up a networking site for the Transition group in your country and/or in your locality, please "sign in" to http://transition europe.ning.com/forum -- on this page you will find a list of European countries. Locate your country. Start a discussion in your country. Tell us what's happening in your local area. Help us locate the movers, shakers, and catalysts in your locality, and in your country. Share the links and resources that have been most useful. Describe your successes, and things you've tried that didn't work. Your "field notes" will be indispensable to emerging Transition Europe.

Feel free to invite locals from your area to join http://transitioneurope.ning.com/ and to contribute to these discussions. You can even invite Transitioners from other countries. Click on Invite on the main menu to issue your invitations.

Over time, as plans solidify, we propose to create a Transition Germany, Transition Croatia, Transition Russia, etc. for all participating countries. As new countries emerge, your local area will set itself up within your country.

Let us know if you have questions!

Les Squires

[Franz Nahrada]

A note: Transition Europe is meant as a way of communicating throughout Europe what you are doing, so we stick to English as the language of choice in here.

[Andreas Exner]

Hi Les Squires

Thank you for inviting me to describe our activities in some detail.

Until recently, the main project of the Social Innovation Network was to produce a popular and easy to read yet in-depth book on "The Limits to Capitalism. How We Fail on Growth". Hopefully, Island Press will publish it in the US. They have already translated some chapters into English in order to make a decision.

Currently, we are heavily net-working on four issues:

1. Initiating and organizing transition processes in the way of Energy Descent Action Plans (Rob Hopkins) on a local to regional scale
2. Developing foresight technology on fossil Peaks and resource bottlenecks; planning for change
3. Mapping and incubating Solidarity Economy
4. Extending media presence, channelled by our book, on the necessity and opportunities to change the way of producing and consuming

ad 1: Ernst Schriefl of the Social Innovation Network designed the project "Powerdown" that he also will lead and coordinate. "Powerdown" is funded by the Austrian Climate Fonds. The project involves a broad range of players and will focus on stakeholders and local governance. Beneath other tasks, we will initiate communication processes and develop a strategy for transition processes applicable to local and regional contexts in Austria. Other projects enter the application phase soon.
ad 2: We currently develop several projects that enter the application phase soon.
ad 3: Following the example of Brazil and Nordhessen (Germany), a mapping of Solidarity Economy in Austria as the main starting point for a transition from the side of the division of labor is planned. The core structure of a project team exists. Contacts to the research teams that mapped the Brazilian Solidarity Economy (the state secretary of the Brazilian government, lead by Prof. Paul Singer) and Solidarity Economy in Nordhessen (a team lead by Prof. Clarita Müller-Plantenberg) are established, methodological standardization is secured.
ad 4: Several mainstream media covered our book. More media coverage will hopefully follow. Our Weblog www.social-innovation.org has frequencies of views ranging from 100 to more than 200 per day (more than 600 at maximum). The list of contributors will be extended soon.

So I guess, that our activities have quite a potential to strengthen the Transition movement.

Hope our profile got clear enough.

How to proceed now? I guess, I'll try to sign in to the Forum you created. Please keep us up to date.

Cheers, Andreas

[Max Vittrup Jensen]

Hi Andreas,
I'm about to develop an Energy Descent Action Plan for a rural backwards area in Moravia, C.R. as part of my Msc. thesis
I'd be very happy to hear more about your approach during the past couple of months, and if you have any advice? The biggest hang-up here is the complete lack of awareness among the locals, (none-the-least the people in power), which makes it an illusion to copy the Totnes approach here...Any advice to that?
-And could you get me in contact with any Austrian 'transistors' under the age of 30 for a youth initiative application?

Thank you for your good work,
Max www.permalot.org

[Sandi Brockway]

I believe that this Instructions for Starting Ning Groups on Transition Europe is an extremely ineffectual way to facilitate the birth of Transition sites. People need to be immediately moved into already prepared ning sites with clear and simple instructions placed in those sites. Within that context, his INSTRUCTIONS might be a practical and effective introduction upon entering. Then add my recommendations for research links that will supply lists of their local organizations, individuals, and activities. This will get people on the ground running immediately.

I have developed STATES and COUNTRIES tabs with additional pages on my states sites for swift clicking between sites so site administrators can keep up with what other sites are doing and reconnect with the US site. People need easy access to their base, US or Europe for support and easy to follow information. The only forums necessary to facilitate this is one where people go to ask for assistance to setup a site, and others volunteer to help others setup a site, then an announcement of completed setup.

I have also setup a custom Google search widget at the sites I setup, a translator, and on the Minnesota site, an experimental map. Technically, a map could be setup to receive a feed of all new GROUPS from all transitions sites.

The custom Google search covers wiserearth.org, idealist.org, and all transition ning sites, and a few others. it would be great if it was directly addable when sites are established. If this was featured and explained at the main US and Europe sites for instance, then perhaps the job could be consolidated in order to take the least amount of time. Certainly there is someone amongst us that understand feeds and databases better than I do.

Also, Les insists that only the famous, mover, shakers, icons, well-known, be put in the position of CREATOR of the network. I find this a very classist basis to make a decision on who will administer the site - or get recognition for doing so. Also, who makes this decision, only him? I also find it extremely impractical - and potentially damaging. I almost quit because I was so insulted. Also, if people are made to languish in the basement of a temporary site, and are told to wait, we are wasting their time and energy. They want to get started and there really is no reason why they should not.

I am of the belief that it should be someone with some computer acumen. Already I know four appointments that Les made to CREATOR (and there could be many more), and the people know next to nothing about the Internet and must field questions to others who are knowledgeable. This is a very inefficient way to function. Most people coming to these sites while believe that the person who created the network is also the technician.

[Franz Nahrada]

Hi Sandi, that is very much at once. I appreciate both of your invaluable help for this whole thing.

1. In the case of forums, I see Les has a point. It is rather easy to set up the central site for Europe which I did on your advice and guidance, but there are no country or regional sites yet because they need to be created, also by people that I hope you both will guide. I did a humble beginning because I rely on the energy of both of you. But let me assure you we need national sites in their languages and thats the big difference between US and Europe.

2. If people are there to be early adopters of the idea in their country, you are both right. I mean you are right in the case that if a person like me had waited and we would not have done it, there still would not be a Transition Europe. I see NING and social network building as a positive wildfire disease. Its crazy that many of those I introduce to social networks start with their own the next day. But in this case, its probably a very beneficial sign that this technology is accepted like email as the next good and necessary thing. Les is right that with the position of the Creator comes some point of communicative power and we want people with the right qualities to exert that power. You cent democratize everything, you need to have people that you can rely on. BUT: If a maintainer screws up, the crowd will leave. Thats the VERY difference. So everybody who holds the power better be well-educated by communities to do it right or loose. I think that is great and exciting.

[Sandi Brockway]

I found out via NING: Any of us can transfer the CREATOR position to another person, as long as we do it with another ID and we have no other ning website on that ID. So, we can generate them all, with different IDs we invent, transfer them later to whoever we want to. Otherwise, if we have many sites on one ID, it cannot be done because all sites would have to be transferred at once. but we can create many IDs. If by some chance a CREATOR dies or proves to be a huge irresponsible jerk, how does he get dethrowned?

I was not suggesting US or EUROPE not be a base. It needs to put TECHs in touch with those with the grassroots initiative. I said that didn't i? I thought I was clear on that. But, if the system leaves people to languish for months in some buried subdirectory, as was with the MICHIGAN and TENNESSEE people I discovered, you will be losing people, and losing much time, and probably losing some of the best people for the job. IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME. They can be carefully parsed into states sites with technicians and guides. In fact, part of the instructions within the sites should address that, perhaps in the Q&A, in order to find out who had the tech abilities. It cuts so much duplication of efforts.

You can parse people into their sites right away, and it is just as monitorable as if it was buried in a subdirectory. What is the difference between them being in your your subdirectory, or being on their own ning site? How many times do they need to fill out profiles and register, and post to discussions groups about how they would like to have their own regional site? You can still monitor and assist. and if the CREATOR is under one of our names, and stays under our names, then we can decide LATER who to transfer it to when the site developes and more people show up. but by then, what is the point? because CREATOR is just a NAME, a false front, for someone who does not know anything about the internet apparently, that is if Les picks them.

I suggest we - the techhead facilitators - should create them all with our names owning them, and do separate IDs if at some time someone wants to transfer it, or has a good and rare opportunity to find that PERFECT person who is both a savvy internet person and local activist hero. But there is not many of us with all those qualifications who are ready to volunteer!!! Do you all really think that so many grow on trees? Hey, i am proud of my little groups of unknown young motivated chattanoogans!

Les was attempting to BAR AND BAN ME FROM SETTING UP ANY STATES or contributing anything useful because he is so shortsighted and a super control freak. I setup MINNESOTA, but somehow I am not qualified because i am not a Minnestoa local hero? I am not suggesting giving responsiblity to any stupid person a position. I want to make sure that the people I pick as administrators are capable and motivated, not just NAMES that do not know how to run a computer. CREATOR is just a label, usually reserved for a TECHNICIAN, and normally that is who people write to with all their tech issues. I asked the Tennessee person who offered to administer if he wanted the CREATOR position and he did not care.

My point is that the CREATOR does NOT have to be a LOCAL HERO as Les is so rigid to wait for. How many states and countries are there? If he was to decide everyone from every discussion group subdirectory, as well as insult, we would find no real administrators for the sites. they would be gone. I successfully moved people into 2 states, and appointed two administrators per site, the first two who agreed and of course, had some brains. I will go back frequently and check, if they do not work out, I ask them who else on the members list might work out better or investigate. But if you persist in giving no one a chance and stonewall efforts to put up a site, no one will come, and no one will try.

there will be MANY organizations, hopefully, drawn to the sites to share and discuss their work and campaigns, and mobilize regional initiative. MANY, not just one CREATOR LOCAL HERO. I suspect the vanity or vision of anyone who is seduced primarily as a status inticement. it makes not sense, and is false in most instances. setting up sites is natural for me. i have even wrote NING asking them if they could make it an optional feature, or have other choices besides CREATED BY.


Sandi

[Franz Nahrada]

Its just incredible how to great people can sometimes be so stubborn. You need both to work on this. Please spare some time for mediation, because we cant do it from here....and we need both of you.

[Sandi Brockway]

The program crashed on my last edit and did not save. I had conclusion to put at top.it must be because you were writing. so i lost a bunch.

I am very flexible, not stubborn, I am listening to the needs and desires of the members and the groups and trying to give them what they need to be creative.

I am suggesting that the criteria for CREATOR be broadened so it could include MORE INTELLIGENT INTERNET SAVVY people, and not just LOCAL HEROS that LES picks who have no internet experience. i think it is artificial and meaningles, and if i could get it off my sites i would. CREATOR IS TRANSFERABLE, and good administrators will not demonstrate themselves until in the site, and until we can read all the profiles and interaction. after visiting the bowels of the US site, i would be turned off if that had been my first experience. then to be told I cannot set up sites any more.

with well known groups as members, CREATOR should mean nothing, only a good facilitator and activist with some computer skill. Les has not listened to one word. Les has not even read my profile, and does not read most the messages left at these subdirectories. Already I hear complaints from others. He needs to learn to delegate responsibilities and not control everything, setup so it can fly.

[Sandi Brockway]

What would be the difference between clicking the state or nation subdirectories in a discussion group, to clicking that same link and it going to an already developed or in development ning transition regional site -- having its directory on your site ?

[Franz Nahrada]

In Europe its very obvious - its a question of language. But behind that I feel that the continental NING is more for the communication on a global scale and for the organisation of networking, whereas the national, regional or even local ones would be for implementation and working with the local projects.

[Sandi Brockway]

I have been working the shop all weekend. First time I checked in for a few days. Thought it might clear my head a little staying away. Also, I finally brokedown and ordered a new IBM computer. this think here is over 9 years old and i have used the hell out of it.

Actually, seems as if the language issue might make it more desireable to let members hit the ground running in a real ning site from the start but with built in translator. I think i read that NING is working on translators like Dragonfly has at my global-villages.info site.

My Tennessee is sort of an example of allowing just your average citizen to come and populate a site. It is working out great. Minnesota is an example of trying only to first get an organization or several organizations to spearhead a site. Mmmm. And Minnesota, compared to Tennessee, is a very progressive state. What is going wrong here? I really tried too. Sent out fifty invites.

Each site could have an announcement on front that we are looking for local citizen administrators of the sites, please sign in, and contact base site - so right away they are working between the two sites. Make sure all the links to the base site are programmed into the new ning, and a translator is in place, and all arrows and info they might need in the mother base sites like EUROPE, US, etc. in order to stay more academically informed and for national organizations with transitions orientation to use as a platform. larger national organizations could run special events. i see the them as being used for all sorts of media events. the tools necessary is TRANSLATER WIDGETS, CUSTOMIZED SEARCH WIDGETS, and maps, like i have in rudimentary way attempted on the minnesota site. it certainly could use greater sophistication, but a programmer who knew what he was doing go fine tune these gadgets and widgets. i have seem better translators than the one i have now. one large RSS stream that all sites were setup to recieve would help. I cleaned up the tabs, and put in STATES and COUNTRIES, in a very straight forward fashion - and broke through limitation by just using a PAGE with the links alphabetized.