New Frontiers
in Participatory Knowledge Development

by | Mar 5, 2008 |

Fielding Graduate University’s Institute for Social Innovation Announces Groundbreaking Research Partnership with the World Café

By Thomas J. Hurley for the World Café Community Foundation

An exciting new partnership brings together Fielding Graduate University’s Institute for Social Innovation and the World Café Community Foundation to develop and disseminate the World Café as a methodology for participatory research and collective knowledge evolution, and to explore applications of the World Café in key areas such as change leadership, organizational development, and societal learning.

Cooperatively discovered in 1995, the World Café is an innovative
approach to hosting and harvesting collaborative conversations about
questions that matter. The process is designed to evoke and make
visible the collective intelligence of a group, increasing
participants’ capacity to create shared meaning, discover new
knowledge, and foster innovation across organizational, social, or
cultural boundaries that ordinarily get in the way of collaboration.
Today, this research-based and field-tested approach to strategic
dialogue, multi-stakeholder engagement, intergenerational
collaboration, and cooperative action has been enthusiastically
embraced by people around the world, in virtually every field and all
sectors, who are working to catalyze positive change. Through their
efforts, innovative approaches to critical issues in socially
responsible business, health care, education, environmental protection,
social welfare, conflict resolution, sustainable development, and many
other fields are being discovered and implemented.

The
newly-announced partnership is especially appropriate given the
singular role that the Fielding Graduate University has played in the
development and dissemination of the World Café. Juanita Brown’s 2001
dissertation at Fielding was the basis for her award-winning book The
World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
(Berrett-Koehler, 2005), now available in seven languages. Fielding
Trustee Bo Gyllenpalm, a member of Juanita’s doctoral committee
(chaired by Libby Douvan), has used the World Café with Fielding
students and faculty and pioneered the development of virtual dialogues
based on the World Café process and design principles in the M.A.
Program in Organization Management and Development. Current and former
faculty members Fred Steier, Don Bushnell, Will McWhinney, Sara Cobb,
and others have played key roles in the conceptual development of the
World Café and its use as a research methodology.

“I’m excited
that the work I began in my dissertation now has the opportunity to be
developed in creative ways that will support both high-quality,
grounded research and more powerful action in the service of
life-affirming futures,” said Juanita Brown. “Around the world, there’s
a growing recognition that conversation, community formation, and
innovation are the living roots of transformative change in every field
and system, and that the power to re-make our world lies in everyone’s
hands.”

The partnership between the Institute for Social
Innovation and the World Café Community Foundation will strengthen the
development of the World Café as a valid methodology for co-evolving
social knowledge with a strong epistemological foundation. Faculty,
students, and leading practitioners from the global World Café network
will collaborate on a wide range of initiatives, including
dissertations that use the World Café as a primary research
methodology; monographs and peer-reviewed publications; case studies;
development of the next generation of World Café process tools;
meetings of theorists, researchers, and practitioners, and seminars for
students, faculty, and Fielding program associates. We also anticipate
exploring how the World Café can contribute to special projects
sponsored by the Institute for Social Innovation, such as the Democracy
Action Project, the Transformative Learning and Social Justice program,
and the Information Society and Knowledge Organization concentration.

“Like
action research and appreciative inquiry, the World Café is a process
with deep conceptual foundations that can support new and powerful
approaches to research on human and organization development,” said Bo
Gyllenpalm. “This partnership will strengthen both Fielding as an
institution and the World Café as a social innovation in the global
academic and social change communities.”

The partnership also
recognizes that the World Café is both a process that fosters social
innovation (catalyzing insights and generating new knowledge through
interlinking conversations about questions that matter) and a social
innovation itself, in terms of how the World Café process and
principles, based on living systems thinking, have spread throughout
the world and given rise to a rapidly growing, global community of
practice. As such, a deeper understanding of the World Café’s
organizing principles and patterns can contribute to the quests for new
forms of leadership, new tools for innovation, and creative approaches
to positive whole systems change.

For more information, please contact Bo Gyllenpalm or Samantha Tan.

World Café Europe in Bilbao, 2008

by | Mar 5, 2008 |

Hotel

From June 5 – 7, Bilbao, Spain will provide a unique setting for
conversations that matter about the on-going challenge of renewal.

Come join the WORLD CAFÉ conversations with citizens of Bilbao, people
from all over Europe and the world to explore this year’s topic: Seeing Renewal with New Eyes – The Bilbao Experience

Bilbao, Spain is recognized all over the world as a city which has
successfully transformed itself.  It has inspired World Café Europe to
hold the 2nd World Café European Gathering in this city.


Register early and save 30% on your registration!

Planningteam

The Planning Team from World Café Europe in Bilbao, all over Spain and
Europe have been collaborating to create a unique experience of the
city by exploring the topic of renewal.  Through both conversations and
experiences of the cityscape of Bilbao, the participants will consider
the question:

What role does renewal play to address the challenges in our communities, organizations and businesses today?

This 3-day Gathering has been designed for experienced hosts as well as
individuals new to the WORLD CAFÉ.  It explores cutting–edge approaches
to design, hosting and harvesting of a WORLD CAFÉ conversation.


Enjoy the cultural milieu of Bilbao
The Gathering begins with a social evening in a local cultural
institution in Bilbao on Wednesday, June 4th. During this evening of
Basque pintxos and wine, participants will be able meet people from all
over Spain, Europe and the world in an informal atmosphere.   


Experience the city of Bilbao through conversations that matter to them
The Gathering continues on Thursday, June 5th with an exploration of
the city through a series of 12 local WORLD CAFÉS, hosted by
representatives from all sectors of Basque society: education,
business, health, media, economic development, municipal government and
the arts. These conversations will be held all over the city in
locations unique to this Basque city. Participants will be able to
experience as many as two conversations, one in the morning and another
in the afternoon. Conversations will be held bi-lingually or in
Spanish.

In the evening after the local WORLD CAFÉS, participants will gather at
the Sociedad Bilbaina, a cultural institution established in Bilbao in
the early 19th century. Our Bilbao partners from all the the local
WORLD CAFÉS will be joined by the Gathering’s participants to celebrate
the power of conversations in communities.


See the renewal of Bilbao with new eyes
The large scale WORLD CAFÉ conversation on the topic of renewal will
take place in the Palacio Euskalduna on Friday, June 6th and Saturday,
June 7th.  Its award-winning design pays homage the ship building
industry which stood there before the renewal process of the city began
10 years ago.

Bilbao

These WORLD CAFÉ conversations have been designed to provide the
participants with new insights about the renewal process. It will
provide them with concrete ideas and knowledge to lead the renewal
process in their own communities, organizations and businesses.

For the first time, World Café Europe will capitalize on the richness
of the participants coming from all over the Spanish-speaking world by
hosting the WORLD CAFÉ conversations bi-lingually. This design of our
conversation in English as well as Spanish will foster a cross –
pollination of both culture and language.

On Friday evening participants will be able to see the renewal process
of the greater metropolitan Bilbao area en route to a traditional
tavern (Sidrería) in the Basque countryside. Partipants will enjoy the
sounds of traditional music as they enjoy dining together.


Expand your understanding of the World Café principles through conversations
The Gathering concludes on Saturday afternoon with a series of “Coffee
Shop Conversations”.  These conversations will explore issues of
importance to the on-going development of the WORLD CAFÉ together with
experienced WORLD CAFÉ hosts.  People new to the WORLD CAFÉ will be
able to get an in-depth introduction to its seven core principles. The
Coffee Shop conversations will also provide experienced WORLD CAFÉ
hosts with a unique platform to exchange and develop new ideas about
the WORLD CAFÉ with one another.

Graphic


An early bird price (plus VAT) is being offered until March 15th
World Café Europe is offering an early bird rate (For-Profit € 395 ,
Non-Profit € 295, Student  € 150) to encourage a wide range of
individuals – both experienced as well as young professionals – to
attend the Gathering. A limited number of discounted rooms at the Sheraton Bilbao (across the
street from the Palacio Euskalduna) are also available until March
18th.


Ensure your place at the table by registering now!


Help spread the word about the Gathering by sending a virtual
invitation to colleagues and professional networks worldwide … Download Invitation2Bilbao.pdf (141.5K)

Rockridge Institute World Cafe in Second Life

by | Mar 4, 2008 | ,

Secondlife
Creating online World Cafés that are based on the same principles and practices as in-the-flesh Cafés and access the same collective intelligence, or ‘magic in the middle’ is a project I and others have been working on for a while now, using a variety of online tools and methods. Here’s a story about a World Café I hosted using one of those tools, Second Life:

Second Life is what’s called a ‘virtual world’; a 3-D environment where anything that happens in ‘real life’ (and more) can be played out. One popular business use is rapid prototyping, and innovative models for new social behaviors can also be quickly

formulated and pioneered there. Many technologically savvy companies and organizations already have a presence in this Brave New World, and recently one of them contacted us to see if we could help host a conversation ‘inworld’ after a ‘live’ presentation they were delivering via conference call.

That organization was George Lakoff’s Rockridge Institute, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to work with Director of Public Affairs, Sherry Reson to design and host a World Café in Second Life on how virtual worlds might be used to further progressive values in real life.

There have been other brief World Café forays into Second Life, but this was the first I know of that used a process so close to the ‘real’ World Café format.

Together, we set up a hospitable World Café space near the Rockridge Second Life offices, complete with 6 round tables with vases of flowers, each surrounded by 4 comfy chairs. We arranged the tables within ‘earshot’ so we could use the collective ‘chat’ feature for the introduction and harvest in the large group, and we utilized group IM chats for the table conversations, each round anchored by a host.

The only thing we were missing were tablecloths that we could ‘doodle’ on, and the ability to watch a ‘real time’ graphic recorder create a visual harvest right before our eyes. But World Café GiGi (Girl Geek) Nancy White (Choconancy Lupino in Second Life) served as our graphic recorder, and she created this gorgeous graphic from our harvest, which she immediately posted to Flickr:

Nancysgraphic
 

One of the unique benefits of a Second Life World Café is that there is a transcript automatically produced of the entire contents of each conversation. This potentially lends itself to some creative future harvesting possibilities, but for now the ‘raw’ files are available and you are welcome to read them.

This World Café was actively supported by our friends at Grove International; Michelle Paradis, who worked with Sherry and I in setting up the space, and David Sibbet, who attended and served as host for his table. David, whose Grove Consultants International has done extensive building in Second Life, has offered a dedicated space in the beautiful Grove International galleries for World Cafés. We look forward to exploring the collaboration with him and more ‘inworld’ World Cafés in the future.

If you are interested in having a World Café as part of your event in Second Life, or working with the World Café team to provide hosing support, please contact me by email, or find me inworld as “Lucida Skytower”. You can go into the World Café page in the Second Life wiki to learn more, and if you have an avatar in Second Life, please join the World Café group there!

Seeds of Compassion and Compassion Circles

by | Mar 3, 2008 | ,

Soc_2
Seeds of Compassion is a 5 day gathering in Seattle, April 11-15, 2008; a collaboration with the Dalai Lama designed to “plant hope” and “nature kindness and compassion in the world, starting with children and all those who touch their lives”.

I was touched to listen to this video by the Dalai Lama, speaking about his concern and hopes for the future of humanity, of which he reminds us we are all a part.

Educator and World Café host Ashley Cooper has been ‘on the scene’ in Seattle, supporting the Seeds of Compassion by
event by bringing World Café principles and practices to the table. She has been helping to design Compassion Circles, spaces for dialogue that will support the Seeds of Compassion event, as well as inform conversations leading up to and following it.

Here is Ashley’s report on the way this space will be created and used during the conference:

On April 13th and 14th (days three and four of the event), there will be a Reflection & Conversation Space for people to reflect, explore, and share their experience of the event and its core mission of seeding compassion.  Through a combination of hosted and self-directed activities, we envision creating a space of compassion, which supports people in practicing compassion and deepening the meaning they make of their conference experience.  Because we anticipate a diverse group of participants with various learning styles, languages and cultural traditions, we will attempt to appreciate the many and varied forms of self-expression by offering space for the following during each 90-minute session:

  • Hosted conversation (i.e. World Café, Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, dialogue, etc.)
  • Hosted art (i.e. tables and wall-space for simple drawing, collage, etc.),
  • Self-directed movement (i.e. floor space for simple stretching, yoga, Tai Chi, progressive relaxation, etc.)
  • Self-directed quietude (i.e. space for meditation, contemplation, journaling, etc.).

We estimate (guestimate!) that we’ll have between 60 and 150 people join us for each of the nine 90 minute sessions to be held in the Alki Room at the Seattle Center.  These sessions will be hosted by teams of four professionals whose collective experience and expertise may include the use of a variety of conversational forms (i.e. World Café,
Appreciative Inquiry, Council Circles, Open Space Technology, etc.) and expressive modes (i.e. Expressive Arts professionals, graphic recorders, recorders of digital stories (audio/video), conveners of story circles, etc.).

The Reflection & Conversation Space at Seeds of Compassion is a place for participants to support each other in practicing compassion and deepen their conference experience. The inviting space will offer a range of hosted and self-directed activities for people to reflect on their experience, share stories, explore possibilities and connect with
one another.  Participants can join a conversation, offer a creative expression, take a stretch break, or simply sit quietly and breathe…

All beings and all forms of being are welcome.

Share Your Thoughts

by | Mar 3, 2008 |

As you read this, the process of renewal is occurring in the communities, cities, businesses and organizations where we work and live, all over the world.

As part of our preparation for the 2nd World Café European Gathering in Bilbao, we would like to share our thoughts on the subject of renewal, and invite you to share your own ideas with us (please just use the ‘comments’ feature below, and tell us what you think):

What role does renewal play in addressing the challenges of the world today?

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