"Patterns of Infectious Good" Workshop at Wellesley College Club, Aug 7,8 2006

[http://www.wellesley.edu/Collegeclub/Pictures/lakeflower.jpg] The Uplift Academy is holding workshop a workshop August 7,8 2006: "How do we create Patterns of Infectious Good? We will be meeting on the outskirts of Boston at the [Wellesley College Club | http://www.wellesley.edu/Collegeclub/], situated on 500 acres of pristine woodlands, meadows, ponds, hills and footpaths overlooking Lake Waban. The workshop will explore ways of discoveriing patterns of uplift, and using emerging network technologies to amplify and replicate these patterns. We will be blending both a theoretical discussion of the roles of networks and their effects, with practical "on the ground" application of these ideas. The workshop is supported in part by a grant from the [Omidyar Network | http://omidyar.net] for the [NanoFinance Project | http://www.omidyar.net/group/cfp/news/12/] proposal. [Jeffrey Ashe | http://www.omidyar.net/user/u361689940/], Manager of Community Finance at Oxfam America as well as adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University will be presenting his experiences with introducing savings-led microfinance activities. [Frances Moore Lappé | http://www.smallplanetinstitute.org/about_us/frances_lappe/] of [Small Planet Institute | http://www.smallplanetinstitute.org/], author of [Democracy's Edge | http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787943118/qid=1126211661/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0753071-8577522?n=507846&s=books&v=glance] as well as [Hope's Edge | http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585422371/qid=1116530109/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-0753071-8577522?n=283155] will be presenting some of her ideas and experiences since writing [Diet for a Small Planet | http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345321200/sr=8-1/qid=1153867784/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0753071-8577522?ie=UTF8]. June Holley of [Network Weavers | http://www.networkweaving.com/june.html] will be present some of her experiences with creating networks for social good. [Howard Greenstein | http://howardgreenstein.com/blog/] of NYU and former director of the Twin Towers Fund will present some his perspectives on leading edge web technologies (Web 2.0) for communicating patterns, such as the [Better World Network | http://upliftacademy.org/podcast]. Mark Frazier of [Openworld | http://www.openworld.com/] will talk on peer-to-peer educational systems. We will be exploring NanoFinance as prototype pattern of uplift, looking specifically at how we might use the network to communicate and amplify this particular activity. We will also be looking at the more general issues of supporting a broader range of patterns. Naava Frank of [Knowledge Communities |http://knowledgecommunities.org/] will be facilitating the workshop, which will have presentations in the morning as well as open space discussions in the afternoon. An informal pre-workshop dinner will start Aug. 6 at 6PM. The workshop is intended to be a small, conversational group of 30 people... if you are interested in attending, please send a message to munnecke@gmail.com This is building on previous workshops: * [Pattern Language Workshops at Ben Lomond, CA | http://givingspace.org/patterns/announcement.htm] * [ChiliPlop conference of the Hillside Group at Carefree, Az | http://givingspace.org/papers/chiliplop2004.rtf] * [Workshop in Boston: What Would an Uplift Network Look Like? | http://www.omidyar.net/group/netchange/news/42] and [here | http://upliftacademy.org/node/21] and [here | http://upliftacademy.org/node/19] * [Workshop in Paris: "How can we use the network to help 6 billion people help each other help themselves?" | http://upliftacademy.org/parisvideos] and [here | http://upliftacademy.org/parisnotes]. Participants will be an eclectic mix of folks deeply interested in communications networks and their social effects; pattern theory , and the "transformational sector" - humanitarian/development activities, health care, or education. The goal of the workshop is to continue the discussion of innovative models of creating an uplift network, as well take first steps towards describing a pattern describing the NanoFinance activity.