Calling Ubuntu

Ubuntu is my name.

Yesterday, I adopted a dog from the shelter. The shelter rescued the dog from a puppy mill, where it was isolated and living in filthy conditions. There’s an example of an un-human economy at work. (Don Bushnell describes the rescue of his dog from a puppy mill as a “liberation from sex slavery”.) But, is this the only story of this dog’s life? Nope. Let’s start the dog off on a new story line. Walking with the dog, I wondered what to name it.

It isn’t the name per se but the performance of a name that matters. Calling a name is an interaction. A name is an opportunity in the thousands of times the name is called, in the conversations that it sparks up, in what could the name might evoke in hearts, minds and actions. Each time an utterance is performed in the world, that micro-action helps create a world. What world did I want this name to perform?

If naming a dog were like software production, how might I go about this?….For the project, Naming a Dog, I develop a couple User Stories:

Story 1: When a human first hears the dog’s name, new connections are sparked.

Story 2: When two humans interact in relation to the name, it would inspire conversation about interactivism.

Edie and Charlie teaching a Use of Self workshop

With these stories, I started to prototype. The first idea that came to me was to name the dog “Kuja Hapa”, which means “Come Here” in Swahili after Edie Seashore and Charlie Seashore‘s dog, “Khamon Khameer” (sounds like “Come On Come Here”), who passed away a couple years ago. What would the micro-action of calling the dog bring forth? It would promote that the self is an interaction, rather than a noun.

The name might connect people across bridges – Africa and California, Swahili and English, and software and Human and Organization Development. The name would also spread more of Charlie and Edie, whom I love, their work in the use of Self, and memories of both profound and fun moments with them. It would be fun to say, too. Hmm. What else?…

Then, I thought of “Ubuntu”. Ubuntu is a classic African concept for an open collaborative society. It means “I am because we all are”. It essentially is a core idea behind calling the dog “come here” but more to the point.  Ubuntu is also an open source linux distribution, founded in Africa and developed by a global community of thousands of individuals. So, when anyone calls the dog, Ubuntu, what will that micro-action create?  Cool.

Watching Steve Krug's usability testing workshop

What happened in usability testing? I took this story and connected with users…. Before engraving the name into a doggy tag, I first tried an “AB test” with the primary user, the dog, and secondary users, humans.  I compared the performance of A,”Kuja Hapa” with B, “Ubuntu”. I called the dog each in different contexts (house, walking) with different goals (food and exercise). Then, I did a hallway test, having two different humans interact with the dog and telling them the name of the dog.

Calling “Kuja Hapa” was more fun to say and evoked new connections in people’s minds. People focused on their interaction with the dog. Deeper meanings didn’t pop forth in the few conversations. Calling “Ubuntu” led to connecting people to themselves as well as to the dog and me. Interestingly, the dog seemed to respond more quickly to “Ubuntu” in the AB test. (OK, yes, this says something about me as the researcher more than the research)

One conversation about the dog led to watching this video of Nelson Mandela explaining Ubuntu and about working in a global network of collaboration…

Calling the dog Ubuntu offers thousands of opportunities to talk about Ubuntu, networks of production in cultures of respect and accountability. And good thoughts, like “I’d like to install Ubuntu on my computer.” It makes the connection between the dream of “we are interconnected” and fishing the dream in our everyday work.


Who wouldn’t want to call and be called Ubuntu?