I was interested in going and did some correspondence that actually features a nice recap of what I've done so far this year. A resume of sorts. You can see the event invite here: http://cdn.changemakers.com/sites/default/files/diy_economy_retreat_full_invite_4.pdf
Though I didn't end up going to that event, I don't mind because I ended up Chatham, New York spending six weeks working in the new economy instead as a participant in the Emerging Leader Labs project where I am now. Furthermore, I am working closely for these 6 weeks with a personal coach who was the facilitator of the DIY Economy retreat, and also works for the Mycelium School, a partner in the retreat, along with Ashoka and Rebuild The Dream. An amazing story unfolding :)
Hi ____,
Absolutely it's just the start of this budding movement, exciting times!
I don't know exactly what your target qualities or experiences that you're looking for in attendees, but I'll tell you what I think is relevant. In general, I would say I'm someone who's already doing an intense amount of work in the global new economy network, surprising as that may sound being my age.
Of particular note, to give a sense of my involvement, and of what kind of input I would be able to bring, I was very recently very involved in a series known as the Quilligan Seminars in London UK, or 'the emergence of a commons-based economy.' I worked closely with the School of Commoning, and the Christian Council for Monetary Justice there, George Por, Peter Challen, James Quilligan and others, and traveled to 12 different locations in London in 12 days, investigating commons-based economics from a whole variety of perspectives and fields. Of course, a commons-based economy is the 'DIYeconomy' by another name. For 14 days from May 6 to May 20th I studied with the likes of the New Economic Foundation, the Finance Lab, Henry George Foundation, Civil Society Forum, Institute for Public Policy Research, Indy Johar at Hub Westminster, and more. Prior to that I was in Copenhagen for ten days, and spent time at the Mind Lab public policy innovation lab, and with Katarina Juselius of the recently opened INET Centre for Imperfect Knowledge Economics. Now that I'm back in Canada, I remain a Youth Ambassador for the School of Commoning, a community interest company that's tagline is 'education for commons culture and social renewal'. This is significant because it represents my desire also to be an ambassador for my generation in the new economy movement, as I did in London at an event that felt very significant, but not very accessible to young people. I found that in London I was able to act as a touchstone and a reminder of all the 'big ideas' that were being tossed around of what the implications might mean to my generation, an important aspect to consider, as it is to us that this new economy will be left. I invested the money to do this whole trip voluntarily as a personal learning endeavour and adventure. If you go to this IndieGoGo page http://www.indiegogo.com/CommonsEconomyRising?c=gallery you'll find me as both a 'team member' of the fundraising initiative for the series, but also a picture of me as a speaker in the House of Commons in London if you scroll to the bottom.
Here in Waterloo, in my 'normal life', I'm a guinea pig student in a cutting edge program here at the University of Waterloo called Knowledge Integration. It's designed to prepare students not with deeply engrained, but shortly outdated skills and knowledge, but with an advanced capacity for learning itself. That is, a program for learning to learn. We study critical 21st century skills like design thinking, systems thinking, critical and creative thinking, and strong group process for collaboration.
However, even that in the last two years has proven to be not cutting edge enough, and I've cut back to part classes, in order to have more time for independent learning, web design work to pay for it all, and a greater amount of time to dedicate to the core learning arena for me, the intentional household research project that I'm also a participant in. Above all else, it is here that I learn about a commons-based economy, a p2p economy, a diyeconomy, as we explore these concepts explicitly together here, including from personal lived experience ( which is in my opinion the best way to reallly learn about something!).
These are just some factors that might contribute to my appropriateness for the DIY economy retreat.
It feels pertinent to note that I have a lot of knowledge about open-source programming (as I do some!), hacker and maker spaces, coworking, collaborative consumption (I've programmed for an online platform wizenation.com) , etc.
I don't know who specifically you're looking to have at the event, but I know that I would love to be there and that I am I think, a fairly ideal participant, being easygoing, good to work with, light hearted, passionate, and committed as much as anyone to the new economy movement. Whether I can come or not, I'm excited that it's happening, and I want to stay at the edge of whats happening so that I can make the biggest impact that I can.
Glad you're doing this work!
___________________________________
Here's an image that came out of the event.
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