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4 Main notions in wsf common space
In short ....
Activites are what people do together in the wsf process, with many types and forms ranging from a discussion to a big demonstration ( also workshop conference party artistic performance march celebration show -solidarity economy service to participants .etc...)
Activities are organized by a group of activity organizers coming from one or several organisation
Activities are visible in a "program" (listed by date and themes) and open to other participants in the forum process
here is the list of activities
Activities for 2008 mobilization will be all over the planet in any town or village - a workshop in a village organized by two local association, a big demonstration in a town co organized by a large group or organisation
in relation to 2008 mobilization local and national social forums can organize "events" with several "activities"
CONNECTING activities
Connecting together Activities for 2008 mobilization
People of different part of the world that know themselves face to face , because they have meet on occasion of previous wsf , or because they are in the same network of struggles can make contact , and help define and develop a connection between their activities
wsfprocess site helps also to establish connection between activities through mutual selection on the site
Form of the connections is defined between the two activity organizers ( telephone call - chat by internet - visit of delegate from the other activity - tele activity throuhg internet etc...)
Connections are announced in wsfproces site and visible on the map
2 - "PROPOSALS"
As per its charter of principles . "The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of PROPOSALS, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society"
3 - "ORGANISATIONS "
Organisation is any self organized gathering of people participants to WSF process
it can be individuals that are in the same "organisation" existing "in the real world"a power full trade union or NGO, to light structure social movements , to informal communities of individual having only a mail list in common
People gathered in the organisation are the presence of this organisation in wsf common space
4 - "GROUPS"
Group is a self organized gathering of people from various organisations , or no organisation, that want to do something together
the group defines its scope and inclusion policy and can organize discussion activities , present proposal etc...
each group has its own publication space and a mailing list
> back to top of 4 main notions
Activities in Common Space
**** 1/ 3 activities
The type of activities is very varied and can take any form as long as they are compatible with the spirit and word of WSF charter of principles .
The scope of activity has to do with the distinction between WSFprocess and WSF event
A - Activity” can be meant as a short time encounter for doing something together face to face during a social forum event of several day duration ( i-e 2008 Global mobilization next january ) , or in WSF Nairobi 2007, where 1200 activities were held ( see list here after registering in the site
in that case
- the activity in wsfprocess.net Common space will be a cooperative space where to prepare on line this face to face encounter,
- it will be registered in the social forum event program ( go to “add item” and select “ logistics form”)
Note : You can conversely unregister from an event by deleting this logistic file ( go to « content » and delete this logisitic file
note that this logistics file stays as a testimony that this activity has sessioned in nairobi so we advise to keep it)
B - Activity “can be also meant as a mid term project held in the on line on going common space of WSF process proportionned by WSF workspace
-it may then not be registered in/linked to any social forum event
C - Activity” can be somehow a mix of the two above ….
Note :
- you can make a statement about the scope of your activity in the activity workspace registration form that you are about to fill ( field scope of activity) this is an information that may be useful to other wsf participants
- In any case you can delete any of your activities at any time ( go to « content » in your dedicated space menu and « erase »
**** 2/3 Being responsible for an activity
- Organisations promoting one activity registered in Nairobi will be considered by Organisation comittee as collectively accountable for the preparation and holding of this activity in nairobi
- Organisations co- promoting one activity in workspace are deemed responsible for the contents that they produce in their own space in the workspace - ( see the legal notice @@)
**** 3/3 Collaborative work in activity folders
- “activity
” is a subfolder of an organisation or group of organisations, Activity has
a description "form" associated to it , and can contrain all kind of
documents .
This description form is visible in “profile” of activity menu And documents contained in the folder are visible in « view « under the field brief decription edited in the form
- In this activity folder, participants of your group or
organisation can input documents (using “add item” command) to prepare
, to perform and to relate to reflect outcomes of activity
Documents can be imported, created,( add item menu)
copied/pasted (in « content » and « action » menus ) and worked upon or commented.
Comment in a document are activated when editing the document , at the bottom of the form - Note if administrators of the organisation or group promoting this activity have chosen a centralized working mode , only administrators can access “add item” command and create documents
Connecting activities for 2008
2008 mobilization , is an occasion to connect activiities together in order to maintain the international character of WSF process and continue networking despite the distance
Groups that are preparing activities for 2008 can choose (an)other(s) activity(es) outside their continent with which they wants to “connect” themselves (through mutual consultation )
This connection between activities and groups can materialize in various ways:
- through telephone conversation , chat by Internet,
- mutual visits of delegates during the respective activities, teleworkshops by Internet with audio and video,
- These possibilities can be extended as wished.
The organizers of the connected activities cooperate and help mutually to materialize the connection and to produce and edit, communication document of all kind that will give visibility to their activities to be ready during global day January 26/27, and to update it later on if relevant
The consultation can be started by exchanging
messages in wsfprocess.net between the groups that wish to connecting their
activities
the connection is manifested by editing the link to the other activity in the activity presentation in wsfprocess.net, it will then be made visible in a connection list or map
Proposals in wsf common space
**** 1/5 About proposals-of action for social change-------------
As
per its
charter of principles . "The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for
reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of
PROPOSALS, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective
action, by groups and movements of civil society"
- Consequently in this wsf common space site , wsf participants can present/ register (as organization or , more cooperatively, as group of organisation) activities and proposals
- Proposal can
be issued by partner organisations as an outcome of their joined
activity held in wsf process in nairobi or on line .
- Proposal can be taken as reference in some activities organized by proposal promoter willing to discuss it with new possible partners
- in this site you will find 350 proposals presented in wsf2007
**** 2/5 Presenting /submitting a proposal as a "group"
"Group" allow to develop horizontal cooperation
within a group of partners who
are able/ willing to include new partners
- you create or join a group as afiliated to one of your organisation (or in personal capacity)
- you can invite in this group participants of many others organisations, and they will share horizontally the editing rights and responsibility for the preparation of the proposal–
- reminder: the list of the group partners will appear automatically in the list of the partners of this proposal and will be associated as group of partners organisation for this proposal in the WSF process
**** 3 /5 Developing and Supporting a proposal-----------
- Proposals are deemed supported by those organisation that participate in the groups that issue them
( the group can clarify its representation policy option in an explicit document, the presence of an organisation in the group might not mean there is an explicit support of the proposal for instance )
- Getting coopted in a group promoting a proposal means by default
unambiguously supporting an officially consensed” version of their
proposal clearly
visible as such in the dedicated space of the group “- that can take
the form of a series of document that all partners “ sign”
- One or various wsf participating organizations describe an existing or projected transformative action directed towards other possible worlds, that they jointly support , and give indication on related basic implementation questions: what ? why? for what ? who ? where ? when ? how ? etc....
- These partners can then discuss internally their differences of approach in the group about new versions of their proposal , with further description and implementation steps .
- These partners can also form other groups (“ proposal discussion group”) where they can invite organisation that want to discuss the proposals without supporting it
- in any case you can delete a proposal ( go to « content » and erase
**** 4/5 Being accountable for a proposal -----
- Proposals are deemed to be supported by those organisation that
are present in the groups that issue them ( unless otherwise explained
in a "representation policy" document issued by the group)
**** 5/5 Collaborative work inside proposal folders
- In the WSF common space, a proposal is a "folder" ( as in the desktop of any computer) , this folder that has a description "form" associated to it , and can contrain all kind of documents .
- This proposal form is visible in “profile” of the menu availalbe when accessing the proposal
- Documents contained in the folder are visible in « view «
- In this folder, participants of your group or organisation can input documents (using “add item” command) to illustrate a concrete proposal (campaign, transformative action or alternative policy measure) that they want to promote in WSF open space .
- Documents can be imported, created,( add item menu) copied/pasted (in « content » and « action » menus ) and worked upon or commented.
- Comment in a document are activated when editing the document , at the bottom of the form
Note : if administrators of the organisation or group promoting this proposal have chosen a centralized working mode , only administrators can access “add item” command and create documents
> 4 main notions
Groups of partner organisations in WSF Common Space
****** 1/4 – Groups of partner organisations are a tool for easy interconnection between organisation in WSF open space
- After creating a group by clicking on " register group" and filling a « form for registration of a group in WSF Common space « , you will be alone in the newly created group
- Then you can start inviting possible participants from your organisations and from other organisations, either contacting them individually ( select “invite participants” in the newly created group space menu ) or contacting them collectively ( select the organisation you want to approach in "organisations" ,go to its space and click on “ contact participants” )
- you can see how many people are linked with this organisation
Groups are intended as an effective,horizontal, and decentralized tool in wsf process for organisations wishing to prepare jointly activities with other organisations , or wishing to define and support jointly proposals for transformative actions
>>> see the proposal groups from nairobi WSF2007 : search "groups" with the string of character "prop"
***** 2/4 - Scope of groups
Scope of a group of partner organisations is defined jointly inside the group; it can be many things, among which:
A- prepare jointly in the workspace,activities to be held in a social forum event
( e-g Nairobi WSF2007, or 2008 january mobilizations) ,include new
organisations willing to join, and register this activity together, as
collectively responsible partners,
The activity will be registered
in the name of the explicit list of partners in the group , that will
be also visible in activity profile . It can be payed by any of the
partners in coordination within the group
B - perform, in the "on line open space" offered by the workspace site, some collective activities on line
, with a mid term agenda, including new organisations willing to join
- this activity can also be a service project towards other
organisations in Common Space
C - issue on line (or as outcome of a face to face activity in niarobi, a collective proposal for social transformation to make it visible for other organisation and include new organisations willing to support this proposal
D -discuss on line a proposal promoted by another group
- The scope of a group can be a mix of all those things ..The limit of this scope is in fact the concensus and coordination capacity of organisations partneering in the group.
- A wide scope may raise problems for some organisations to step in, because they are suppose to support all that is already promoted , but it is good for creating an effective link between organisations
- A focused and limited scope may result attractive to new partners, that see easily what they are committing to ,
IMPORTANT
Groups do not register in an event , – only the list of partners
organisation in the group register each on its own – groups are only a
vehicle for interconnection of organisations
***** 3 /4 - Collaborative work- in groups-
In the site, a Group corresponds to a folder associated to a form
describing it.( Group description form that is visible in “profile” in
the "group space" menu"
- In this folder activities, proposals, folders and documents can be input ( using “ add item" command )
- Document and folders can be input imported, created, copied/pasted ( go to « content » menu or to « action « menu « ) and worked upon or commented.
- Comments in a document are activated when editing the document , at the bottom of the edit form
- There can be several administrators in the group, coming from various organisations, this is a token for horizontal proceedings of work and discussions within the group cooperative space
- Administrators of the group can chose, in "group space" menu, a « centralized working mode » In this case , only adminisitrators can access “add item” command whereby create activity, proposal, folders, documents and edit those documents
- Any administrator can appoint other people administrator by going to "participants" in the "group space" menu
***** 4/4 -Accountability and cooptation in groups
A group of partner organisations gather participants affiliiated to various organisations.
- New Participants get coopted by those that are already in (starting by the person who creates the group) this is incremental cooptation
- Participants are deemed to act within a group as affiliated to one
explicitly mentioned organisation (or in personal capacity)
- (this is seen in clicking on "participants" in the menu of the group dedicated space).
- Any participant can get out of a group at any time if her/his organisation is not willing any more to support the operation of this group
The
explicit list of organisations partneering in a group through some of
their participants is visible for everyone when accessing the space of
the group and clicking on "profile" - this list mentions the presence of the organisation in the group
a way to get around borderline situation when a person claims to be representative and is not , or when she is not comfortable mentionning the name of her org because the org does not agree on being linked to the group is to include certain people as affiliated to #in personal capacity organisation
- It
is considered that all activities and proposals promoted by a group are
"supported" by all the organsiations partneering in this group.
Of course promoting a proposals is more committing than promoting an experience interchange activity - Any
organisation willing to (or invited to) join a group, (through
participation of some of its members as "delegates- representatives-
affiliates" in this group ), is advised to assess this as a collective
decision committing the whole organisation.
- this
decision should take into account the content of the group space (
which activities and which proposals ) because stepping in the group
will mean support all this content
- if this is not possible then a specific group can be formed with a more limited scope and list of partners where consensus can be found
> 4 main notions
Organisations in wsf common space
****** 1/ 4 - Organisations in WSF Common space
In WSF common space an "organisation" is any collective gathering of individual participants to WSF process. So it can be
- people who want to participate
"in personal capacity" -
join here
- people from universities who want to participate as "scholars in wsf"( look for it and join
- people from parties who want to participate as " members of political parties"
(
any collective entity ranging from a power full trade union or NGO, to
light structure social movements , to informal networks of individual
having only a mail list in common )
In cases of formal
organisations it can be said that participants are member of their
organisation, in more unformal context the term participant is more
realistic
(e–g a gathering of wsf participants willing to volunteer on a given project )
in that case the term participant is probably also more accurate and neutral
There is an important difference between organisation and groups:
- Organisation gather directly individual participants as persons ;
- whereas groups are gathering people in their quality of
participants to an organisation ( even if groups can accept people "in
personal capacity" i-e not linked to an organisation , if they wish so)
After
creating an organisation , you will start inviting other wsf workspace
participants present in the workspace to participate to your
organisation ( select “invite participants” in the newly created group
)
******** 2/4 - Scope of organisations -
In this site the people gathered in an "Organisation" can have
internal life ( around their own mailing list and editing space ) and
external networking life ( in intercommunication and in groups)
the people gathered in an "Organisation" can promote activities and proposal, however doing this directly in
their name will restrict their networking capacity , because they will
not be able to include partners in equitative way in co organizing those activities and proposals
A more
inclusive way to promote things it to create a "group" of people affiliated to partner organisation , that can
promotes activities and proposal in the name of all its partners
organsasitions , and work to enlarge it
******** 3 /4 - Collaborative work- inside organisations
- In this folder participant can ( using “ add item command” ) create activities, proposals, folders and input documents
- Document and folders can be input imported, created, copied/pasted ( go to « content » menu or to « action « menu « in the organisation space menu) and worked upon or commented.
- Comments in a document are activated when editing the document , at the bottom of the form and be the support of bulletin board discussion
- Administrators of the group can chose in organisation space menu a « centralized working mode » In this case « , only adminisitrators can access “add item” command whereby create activity, proposal, folders, documents and edit those documents
Any administrator can appoint other people administrator going to "participants" in the group space menu
****** 4/4 -Accountability and cooptation in organisations - participation in groups
- Participants coopted in an organisation are deemed to act responsibly when acting inside groups of partner organisation in the name of their organisation
- it is part of the collective proceeding that participant report inside the organisation about what they don in its name in groups in various areas of the workspace
- It will be soon possible for all participants to an organisation to know which are the various participations in groups that other participants to this organisation are having –
- Any organisation willing
to (or invited to) join a group of partner organisations, (through
participation of some of its members in this group ), is advised to
assess this as a collective decision committing the whole
real organisation, ( and not only the people inside the " organisation" in the site )
- This
decision should take into account the content and scope of the group,
and see which are activities and proposals which this group promotes.
This is because stepping in the group as affiliated to an organisation may mean( implicitly at least) somehow "supporting"
all tontent and initiatives promoted by a group
a solution to avoid involving organisation when issues are sentitive is that people step in a group as afiliated to # in personnal capacity
- If this is not mutually acceptable, then a specific group can be formed with reduced list of partners, where consensus can be found on a more limited scope
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