The Low Carbon Communiversity
Jun 28th, 2008 by lowcarbondiary
The concept of a communiversity has appealed to me for several years now, I first heard of this concept of community learning in Connecticut and was told about one in Liverpool a couple of years ago. The idea is simple - a community can access learning and information via an education establishment - and share what they learn with others. I like the simplicity and prospect of collaboration the idea conjures up.
Recently I watched some interviews with some guys from Channel 4 on the 2gether08 website and I left a message which you can read here.
Davis Wilcox, on of the organisers got in touch and last week we met in London to discuss how the digital technologies currently being developed can support community action and involvement in issues. Watch the interview he recorded here
The idea has attracted lots of attention from communities and “ubergeeks” keen to share their knowledge and support others on the path to carbon reduction. I’m hoping that we can talk to some technical experts at 2gether08 to see how the tools that are available can support our conference in October. Ben Brangwyn, Shaun Chamberlin, Dave Briggs and Dave Hampton will be joining me at 2gether08 so we can show how low carbon / Transition communities can work together to share skills and knowledge.
The web should be seen as a tool to community empowerment, not just a conduit to information. Hopefully we’ll be able to use digital technologies to start some conversations between communities before the conference in October and build some long lasting relationships.
Why do we need a communiversity?
The first time I watched Age of Stupid I was struck by how many people said the film left them feeling disempowered and impotent - the scenario for a future where we don’t reduce our carbon emissions could be pretty bleak to put it mildly. For me the film was a revelation. You can read what Dave Hampton thinks of the on his website
What if you were able to watch a film, documentary or news report and then use the internet to access information and support - want to reduce your personal carbon emissions - watch a link to a short film showing how individuals can make a difference.
Want to know how communities can take action? Follow a link to a local project and start getting involved.
The possibilities are endless and there are already a number of tools we could use - if we knew how - 2gether08 is our opportunity to access the people with the knowledge and skills to help us.
How could we link to an education establishment?
The School of Everything already provides online access to teachers for almost anything, this could be extended to provide links to local community projects with positive and realistic examples of ways we can all reduce our carbon and our addiction to the convenience of cheap fossil fuels. Sites like Yoosk could enable us to ask our policy makers the questions we want answers to. The communiversity could be the perfect place to house all this and provide a forum to exchange ideas.
The possibilities are endless, I know what I would like to see and I’m sure you have ideas too, so get in touch and tell us.
[...] can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here [...]
Wonderful ideas; I think we first have to work on engaging folk to believe that this concerns them. There is the sense sometimes that it’s the usual suspects in these things. How do we work on those who ‘don’t get it’ or don’t feel that it applies to them or can’t be arsed/too busy etc etc. Do we risk preaching to the converted only? By all means we should offer these things and build on them but we mustn’t forget everyone else. I’m interested in ways of getting everyone to do a bit (however small) rather than offering something to the ‘10′ that are already committed to the green path - does that make sense?
Julie
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[...] her ideas for a ‘communiversity’ for low carbon communities. She writes about it here. We’re going to start off in my session, so Tracey and her colleagues can develop a strategy [...]