Invitation to People of Good Will:

GivingSpace Uplift Academy Design Workshop

www.givingspace.org/benlomond.htm

May 6-7, 2003

Ben Lomond, Ca.

Visit Our Photo Album of the Event

Law of Uplift: the world is a better place than you think, especially after applying the Law of Uplift.

The goal of the Uplift Academy (www.upspace.org) is to create an international, internet-based organization which has the purpose to inform, inspire, and engage people and communities towards greater humanitarian uplift. It seeks to discover successful patterns of uplift and support their replication, particularly scalable small things which may have a large accumulative uplift value when supported at Internet scale.

This workshop is a continuation of previous workshops at Stanford University (www.givingspace.org) and will broaden our focus from the technical to more specific, grassroots, in-country application of these ideas. The workshop will use an Open Space approach to allow participants to follow their interests. The workshop will further develop the tools and projects identified during previous workshops, as well as seek to apply these to specific application areas. For example, in support of HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa as well as the reconstruction of Iraq. Drawing on the over 30 successful Appreciative Inquiry-based “Imagine” projects now underway in a dozen countries, participants will be invited to co-create a new “Imagine Iraq” initiative to link people of good will in Iraq, the US, and other countries to help create a positive future for a beleaguered land and people.

Part of the technology that will bind these efforts, is the innovative use of pattern languages. Richard Gabriel http://www.dreamsongs.com will be participating, who is one of the foremost interpreters of Christopher Alexander’s work on patterns http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/ca.htm.

Bliss Browne, founder of Imagine Chicago and author of Imagination as a Movement http://imaginechicago.org/possibility_publication.html will also be attending.

The workshop will be lead by Mac Odell, a leading Apprecative Inquiry consultant and creator of Appreciative Planning and Action (APA), now being used by a dozen Habitat for Humanity Affiliates, 250 local NGOs, 7,000 women's economic groups, and 130,000 women in rural Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and the USA. The workshop format will be the same as he has used throughout the world.

The workshop will be held in the beautiful coastal redwoods north of Santa Cruz, California, at the Quaker Center http://www.quakercenter.org/. The facilities are simple, but comfortable. Inexpensive on-site lodging is in shared twin-bedded rooms with bathrooms down the hall. Participants may make other lodging arrangements and attend the meeting as “commuters.”

An informal second meeting will begin immediately after the workshop and continue through Thursday, May 8. This will be a more technically oriented discussion of the technology underlying social networks, pattern languages, reputation systems, blogging, syndication, etc. For example, a pattern named “AutonomyInducingHelp” may be applied to Nepal during its civil war, Iraq in its reconstruction, Africa in its AIDS crisis, or in downtown Chicago. Can we create a pattern language to describe uplift? Can we learn which patterns are most successful, and in which contexts? Can we do this at internet-scale, triggering a global cascade of Uplift?

We will seek to discover patterns of uplift from the group, as well as lessons learned and stories from other ‘Imagine’ programs , http://www.globalchicago.net/imagine/wiki/wiki.cgi?ImagineTheWorld the Women’s Empowerment program in Nepal http://www.pactworld.org/programs/country/nepal/stories_nepal.htm , Hello Peace in Jerusalem, http://www.hellopeace.net and many others.

Agenda:

Monday, May 5:

Early bird arrival after 5 PM. No meals planned.

Evening: dinner and informal discussion.

Our “formal” conversations Tuesday and Wednesday are structured around the” 7Ds” of Appreciative Planning & Action, facilitated by Mac Odell.

Tuesday, May 6:

9:00 AM Beginning of formal session. Please arrive on time, as latecomers are disruptive.

1. (Discovery) Let’s share our stories… our discoveries about uplifting experiences that give us hope for the future of our world community; that inspire and call us to take action. Let’s notice what themes and patterns are emerging from our stories.
2. (Dream) Let’s share our dreams and imagine how we might want to see these patterns played out in our world communities. Let’s make explicit what we’ve discovered about our values that inform our dreams and visions for Iraq, for our own lives and commitments. “What is our vision for our children, grandchildren, for our lives, our communities, and our nation which is overflowing with these qualities?”

5:00 PM Completion of first day

Evening Entertainment: Drum Circle/Music organized by Joy Tang

Wednesday, May 7

9:00 beginning of meeting

3. (Design) What is our strategy, our design, to help us move towards achieving these dreams for our children and grandchildren and for our world communities?
4. (Delivery)What is our action plan for beginning to implement this strategy? What is my personal commitment to getting this started in the coming days?
5. (Do it now!) What is the one simple thing we can do right now to get things going?
6. (Dialogue) From this conversation, what have we found particularly exciting? How can we make these even better next time? How can we apply this process, and the other tools developed during this and previous Uplift/GivingSpace meetings, to projects, activities, initiatives close to our own hearts?
7. (Dance & Drum)What can do to celebrate these successes?

5:00 Adjourn Workshop. Overnighters for Social Network Technology meeting may arrive

Thursday, May 8

10:00 all day meeting on the technology of social networks, including uplift pattern languages, tools for global access, and social software alliance topics http://www.socialtext.net/ssa/ This meeting focuses on technology and will have a more geeky nature than the other two days… The goal of this meeting will be to look at ways of implementing the ideas generated in the previous two days.

Meeting Details:

The workshop will be held at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, California, 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, 1 1/2 hours from San Francisco, and 45 minutes from San Jose. See attached page for directions. San Jose airport is the nearest major airport, although San Francisco and Oakland are acceptable alternatives.

This center is a simple but beautiful complex set in the redwood groves in the Santa Cruz Mountains, providing a peaceful setting for our workshop. Accommodations are typically two single beds per room, with a sink in the room and bathrooms down the hall. Guests are asked to bring their own bed sheets (twin size) and towels. The meeting hall is a 5 minute walk from the residence areas, sometimes uphill. Participants may be driven up to the meeting hall, but parking up there is limited. Our very friendly hosts Walter and Stacy Sullivan are available to answer specific questions at (831) 336-8333. They will also able to recommend other lodging at motels in the area if participants prefer.

Participants are requested to clean up their own rooms, and share in clean up after meals. Registration fees will be waived for up to two people who wish to stay after the meeting and clean up the general areas.

Costs:

Costs vary by status. Those able to fund their participation on a corporate account pay the Corporate rate. Others who stay at the lodge pay the Personal rate. Others who attend, but do not stay at the lodge pay the Commuter rate. Payment is acceptable in cash or check at the event, or you can donate on-line to the Visions of a Better World Foundation, the fiscal agent for GivingSpace on the web at http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=04-3244808 and bring your receipt to the meeting.

Item	Includes	Corporate	Personal	Commuter
Basic Fee for Tues and Weds workshop	Two lunches, dinner, breakfast, snacks and beverages, musical entertainment, lodging in shared room on Tues nite.	$495	$100	$60 (no lodging)
Monday Night, May 5	Arrive after 5:00pm Mon eve, shared lodging, breakfast	$75	$40	Free (no lodging)
Weds Nite, May 7	Arrive after 5:00pm Weds eve (or stay over), shared lodging, breakfast, lunch	$75	$40	$25 (includes day use fee)

Registration is via email to register@givingspace.org

Please send your name, contact information, and type of registration to the above email address, or fax it to (858) 756 3618. Please also register yourself as a GivingSpace Friendly Favors user at www.favors.org/gs, and then RSVP for the workshop. And please send in a photo for the Favors system-it makes for a much friendlier network!

For more information

• General questions: Tom Munnecke, Munnecke@stanford.edu office: (650) 331-1122 mobile (858) 245-1599
• Housing arrangements: Heather Wood Ion: hwoodion@adelphia.net (760) 597 0413
• Site arrangements: Nancy Glock-Grueneich nglock@higheredge.org (831) 465-9393
• Music arrangements: Joy Tang joy@onevillage.biz 408.435.0775 is arranging the music/drum circle entertainment for Weds Evening. Bring a musical instrument!

Directions to Quaker Center

1000 Hubbard Gulch Rd

Ben Lomond, CA 95005

Click here for public transit information

or follow these simple directions:

From San Jose and the Bay Area:
Take Highway 17 South toward Santa Cruz. Go over the summit and down the mountain to the second Scotts Valley exit (Mt. Hermon Rd., Felton, Big Basin). Go right at end of ramp.*

From Points South:
Take Highway 101 North to Salinas. Then Highway 183 to Highway 1 North to Highway 17 at Santa Cruz. Take Highway 17 North to the first Scotts Valley exit (Mt. Hermon Rd., Felton, Big Basin). Follow exit which crosses over Highway 17 and becomes Mt. Hermon Rd.*

*From Scotts Valley, CA (Mt. Hermon Rd.):
Take Mt. Hermon Rd. West through Scotts Valley, and continue about 4 miles where it ends in Felton at a "T" intersection with a traffic light. Turn right on Graham Hill Rd. and go one long block to the next traffic light. Turn right again and go North on Highway 9 for 3 miles to Ben Lomond.

From Ben Lomond, CA:
Take Highway 9 North from the light at the center of town. Continue one quarter mile to the EconoLodge (on left). About 150 yards past the motel, Highway 9 widens to include a turning lane. Immediately enter the turning lane and turn left onto Hubbard Gulch Rd. There is a sign for Quaker Center at this intersection. Alba Rd, which is 10 yards further up Highway 9, is more clearly marked. If you accidentally turn onto Alba road, you can turn around and get on Hubbard Gulch from the opposite direction. When the road curves around to the right and you reach the Orthodox Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, you have gone about 100 yards too far.

There are signs for Quaker Center all the way up Hubbard Gulch Rd. At the T intersection 1.3 miles up, watch for specific signs for your group.