Finally someone has come up with a (relatively) simple way to describe Web 2.0:
Finally someone has come up with a (relatively) simple way to describe Web 2.0:
Last night I had the pleasure of being part of the first San Francisco Social Media Club, which was produced by Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells and is part of a wave taking place in cities all over the world. Chris had asked the World Café to partner with him in creating an atmosphere of collaborative dialogue, and the result was subtly different than any other techie-oriented event I’ve ever attended.
People came from all over – there was a music blogger there from Alberta who’d flown in especially for the evening, a PR representative for Earthlink from Atlanta who just happened to be in town making a pitch to manage the new wireless SF, Andrea from Washington DC, who I believe was reporting on the group’s activities, a woman from Israel (who said she actually lived ‘online’) – but the crowd was mostly home grown, and it was very cool meeting so many vibrantly interesting new people in my field.
Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia) was there from his new business, Wikia, (informally, but it turned out they sponsored the event at the last minute by generously throwing in some money when the numbers rose steeply and Chris needed help buying pretzels & beer for the crowd). He started the conversation off by sharing some of the core values that hold the Wikipedia community together. He said the three things that had really mattered to them as their community developed were "Assume Good Faith", practice "Intentional Vulnerability", and promote "Accountability rather than Gatekeeping". These values are remarkably in keeping with the World Café principles, so Jimmy’s words got us off to a great start.
Having the interaction center around values, in World Café parlance, "Conversations that Matter", gave a very different flavor to this gathering, and the exchange got deeper as the evening progressed. Even though no one at any of my tables had heard of Zaadz or seemed to have any kind of spiritual orientation at all, it became clear very soon that we all share the social values which are more and more visible at the core of the web 2.2 or social media movement: fairness, transparency, open-heartedness, collaboration, generosity, collectivity. I’m excited about what’s in store for us as we begin to weave the connections and develop the enterprises that will bring these values to the forefront of the larger culture.
Driving home from the World Café Stewardship Dialogues yesterday, I had the honor of sharing a car and conversation with evolutionary dialogue pioneer George Por, who manages to find the time with everything else he is doing to write a fascinating blog on collective intelligence.
It was one of those conversations where one is almost swooning with the
pleasure of discussing out loud what one’s secret heart most desires.
In this case we were discussing the magic of aligned design – the
conscious use of line and form, light & color, to evoke and
catalyze awareness & a sense of connection between all beings – and
our mutual belief in the power of the internet to convey and awaken
consciousness of & for good.
I am still a bit overwhelmed with the internal resonance of this conversation and my delight in meeting such an aligned soul. For one of my deepest passions is using the internet as a conduit for thoughtful, consciously spirit-filled communication, a vehicle for awakening consciousness & illuminating Beauty in and around us.
This potential drives my desire to work towards evoking what I am calling ‘sacred space’ online. In less exalted terms, I’m motivated by the idea of creating an environment where there is the possibility of solace from the ‘noise’ of the everyday world, a quiet clear place to meet and work with others who share an intention to seed ‘good’ in the world, a place where collective wisdom can emerge and take conscious form.
This vision I have is very different from most of the chaotic information overload we’ve all seen online, although the experience of creating a transformative environment is familiar to many of us from our face-to-face work together.
My contention is that the way to invite sacred space online is not dissimilar to the way we seed it f2f… What’s needed is a clear intention and conscious invitation, a well-designed structure with beauty at the center always, a warm welcome and respect for each person that is drawn to respond to the invitation, and a knowing that each one is meant to be there and has something of value to share.
This whole sphere is something that is only just beginning to be imagined in this medium, and I see those of us who are investigating it as visionary pioneer guides, laying the paths and preparing to lead the way forward by applying what we have learned about all this (the online environment, creating sacred space, building community, etc.) so far.
There is a lot more to be said and done about this subject, and I hope I will be an active part of those conversations and actions, but I offer these musings as part of an ongoing collective conversation. I look forward to what is coming next for us all as Light continues to bounce around between us in cyberspace …
Welcome!