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  • Tiffany von Emmel 9:36 am on September 2, 2011 Permalink  

    Why do we dreamfish? 

    Hi friends, I am appealing to you for connection.

    A Dreamfish member asked me yesterday, “what is Dreamfish? Why are we doing this? Why did you start Dreamfish?”, And I realized I had been disconnecting and not sharing my love, in the exhaustive scramble of finding resources to keep us going. So, I want to stop that behavior. Breathe. Reach out to you. And tell you why Dreamfish matters to me.

    What makes my heart sing is people, coming to life. Developing growthful environments where people empower themselves to do their dreams. Moving from isolated experiences of self to passionate “yes, i can!” use of self. Dreamfish facilitates growth through connection – this is the heartbeat of Dreamfish.

    Dreamfish is, day-by-day, developing a new model of micro-enterprise development, peer-to-peer development. We’re addressing fundamental problems that traditional models of micro-enterprise development have had for decades. In a micro-enterprise development program (one not involving loans of money), an NGO/nonprofit or government serves adults in local low-income communities who are starting up small businesses with entrepreneurship training, skill development training workshops and mentorship. The challenges are that while local programs help a small number of adults move out of poverty and get businesses going, the cost of service per person is high, the models don’t scale easily up to serve lots of people, and short-term programs don’t provide long-term support.

    But, what drove me to starting Dreamfish is experiencing people’s suffering – People who don’t fit inside a box determined by institutions, giving up on themselves, their dreams, in order to survive. And forget what it feels like to thrive. If for example, you are a senior professional who can’t find a consulting project, the micro-enterprise development model wasn’t designed to serve you. If you are starting a new kind of organization, no go. If you are young, live in a developing country and your lifework is in fuzzy exploration, tough going. Isolated and disconnected, we don’t grow.

    Dreamfish’s aim is to connect us up to generate our own development practices in community. Connected, we free up the brilliant abundant value among us. Connected, we become aware and choiceful with the tons of creativity and skills among us.

    One of my biggest personal challenges is that I disconnect when I am in pain, tired, and in fear. But, really, I know the thing to do is to connect. Maybe you can relate? Many of us are working on personal dreams, ie startups, finding jobs, and such, and have trouble finding time to help others. Yet, if we all show up and serve as support systems for each other, we can each go much farther! Disconnection is vicious cycle. But, so is connection! When we feel inspired and energized in our community, we connect more. So, I am connecting now with you.

    Connection is the first step.

    Here are a few ways to help connect:

    • Get involved in our community tech campaign. Watch video to see our play, share and donate – http://www.indiegogo.com/Dreamfish-Community-Tech
    • September 11, 11-5pm – Hackathon, Barbeque and Music- For ticket to Nairobi event: Contact Shiku and RSVP with MPesa to 350 Ksh to 0705 185 020 (or come to global meetup in chat)
    • Dreamfish Membership – your lifetime membership makes a huge difference. Truly. You can purchase in campaign or with M-Pesa to 0705 185 020
    • Serve as a developer, entrepreneur coach, educator, facilitator, mentor or in Dreamfish leadership and development – contact me.

    Thank you, I appreciate your attention and care.

    Tiff

     

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  • Tiffany von Emmel 8:15 am on September 2, 2011 Permalink  

    Kicking off with a Dance 

    Join me in kicking off our new project, Dreamfish Community Tech. Not only is the project building technology for peer-to-peer development to empower the world’s underserved entrepreneurs, the project also empowers Kenyan youth to develop as successful web professionals.

    To tell you about the project, we made this fun video. You’ll see a campy skit about “what is Dreamfish?”, an experience of peer-to-peer development, in which two young professionals work together on a client project supported by their peer group. Then the group rocks out in a shimmy and shake!

    Dreamfish Tech Dance from Dreamfish on Vimeo.

    The project team includes youth web developers and designers, recently graduating from Nairobits, a training program for youth from Nairobi settlements, working alongside senior professionals that want to make a difference. To facilitate, Grant Bowman, open source community leader, will serve as Dreamfish’s first Technologist-in-Residence and travel from San Francisco Bay, California to Dreamfish Place Nairobi to manage the project team from September through November.

    While working on the project, the youth are also receiving training and mentorship from Dreamfishers in professional communication, consulting skills, software development, collaboration and eco-product design. Thank you to Bernard Owuor, software developer, Polly Bodegener, adult educator, Susaneve Oguya, CTO of MFarm, and Jenny, recycled art product designer, for volunteering as trainers.

    Your help matters!
    Our big challenge is that our youth are living in rough conditions in Nairobi settlements and need tools to work with. Your financial contributions will provide food, water, better housing, laptops and mentorship to support this empowering project. Any size gift makes a meaningful difference. Learn more.

    As a thank you, contributors receive cool perks, donated by Dreamfish members – a free iPad, a weekend in a California guesthouse near the beach, hand-made cups, and more. Check out the perks.

    Come to the party
    Tonight, September 2nd, 11am-5pm, Caffe La Scala, Walnut Creek, California, US

    September 11th,11am-5pm, Hackathon, barbeque and dance at Dreamfish Place Nairobi, Kenya – Contact Shiku to RSVP and MPesa 350Ksh to +254.705.185.020

    If you are a developer or designer and might want to help out, terrific! Please let Grant or me know.
    @grantbow
    @tiffanyvonemmel

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 12:57 pm on December 31, 2010 Permalink  

    Building community with Tech Entrepreneurs in Nairobi 

    In past weeks, I’ve had the honor of working at the iHub as a guest. Founded by Ushahidi folks, iHub is a technology innovation coworking community in Nairobi.

    iHub fuels innovation by enabling a community of coworkers and providing coworking space and reliable internet to a bevy of creative smart technologists. As Tosh, iHub community manager, can tell you, I came with a bit of skepticism about the three tier iHub membership model, the design to filter the flood of applications for membership.  I wondered whether “community”, a messy peer-to-peer thing, could form well with a centralized organization that filters access to resources. But, Tosh was kind enough to give me a guest pass anyway ;-) .

    The proof is in the experience, sawa, sawa…

    Messy Serendipity
    My first day at iHub, surprise. As I am sipping an excellent cup of cappucino, made by Pete, iHub Barrista, here comes the first sign of serendipity. Beth Kanter, a colleague from California, arrives to give a presentation on her terrific book on social media, The Networked Nonprofit, co-authored with Allison Fine. Beth and I had been virtually waving with the intent to get together while in Kenya, after Nancy White had connectively nudged us. And here, she arrives on the doorstep. This led to our fun outing of classic Nairobi experiences with orphan elephants and kissing giraffes the next day.

    Leaders as connectors is an excellent sign of community.
    Relational practices as work are typically not perceived as work and are “disappeared” in engineering organizations that values monetary transactions more than relationships. So, I notice well when I see leaders that do the work of relationship-building. Erik Hersman, co-founder of iHub, exercised some relational skills on multiple levels. At a social level, socially constructing new narratives about African tech innovation , and at an interprersonal level, taking the time to explore with me what might align with my goals and connect me with Akirachix, a group of women technology entrepreneurs who work out of iHub. Over the weeks I was at iHub, I saw many similar acts of people weaving people together. Community leaders modeling relational practices makes a difference.

    Mutual value creation emerging

    So, I met up with dynamic tech entrepreneurs, Jamila Abass and Susaneve Oguya. They are both co-founders of Akirachix and M-Farm, the mobile application for rural farmers. Their mission is to empower women at the margins. Akirachix gives technology training to women in Kenya. They invited me to their next meeting of Akirachix. I offered to connect Akirachix with Dreamfisher Java developers in Silicon Valley that want to give free Java training to women.

    with Susaneve Oguya, Jamila Abass, and Shams Amin

    And, YOU are welcome to join our jam of mutual value production. Susaneve is coordinating technology trainings.  Jamila is starting up two new Dreamfish projects to empower rural women in North East Kenya — a coaching group for young women and an essential oils business startup. If you want to get involved, please do connect Susaneve and Jamila.

    Dancing networks

    Since at iHub, a number of iHub folks have joined Dreamfish. A big welcome to Jamila, Susaneve, Linda Kamau, PHP developer, James Muendo, community tech support,  Bernard Owuor, a C++ developer,  OD consultant Mel Mbugua, Huston Malande, WordPress developer, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy, and Evelien of Narobits.

    When a community fosters growth for its entrepreneurial members, networks dance with the networks. Dances of interactions between networks are not like tightly choreographed ballet but rather like improvisational dance-theater. There are too many unknowns for grand plans up front. Networks of networks are built with acts of  minimal structuring, frequent connection,  fearless experimentation, with constant tweaking to follow patterns of aliveness.

    While physically mostly in California celebrating New Years, I am at this moment grateful to also be community-building in Nairobi with tech entrepreneurs.  Thanks to networks of networks – iHub, Akirachix and Dreamfish.

     

    • Beth Kanter 1:33 pm on December 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for sharing this post. Love it. Are you still in Africa?

      • Tiffany von Emmel 11:10 am on January 2, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Hey Beth, thanks! I am in Santa Barbara, will be in SF Jan 15-30. Hoping we can get together then?

    • Malcolm Arnold 6:42 am on February 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Hello Tiffany,

      Thanks for your post. I am presenting on Ruby Nuby at IHUB this Wed, Mar 2, 2011. If the below is inappropriate please let me know. I am happy to edit. My email is below. Your article comes up as one of the top results for tech groups in Nairobi. We are trying to establish our tech do-good, socio-economic program there. We won a grant from British Airways to see about bring our program to Kenya/Uganda. This attracted an anonymous donor to give 500kg free shipping to both cities for a total of 1000kg. We will ship in computers and set up a training lab. Thanks so much.

      Malcolm Arnold
      Ruby Nuby, Founder

      Help Ruby Nuby and Agile Activism set up our community based tech and entrepreneurial training in Nairobi where we will train the next generation developers and fund companies they and you may start

      Please RSVP at this link, Location is IHUB:
      http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1370620563

      Please feel free to cross post to other lists and please invite leaders in: Education, Technology, Business, Philanthropy, NGO’s and Community Activism.

      Ruby Nuby has won a grant from British Airways to see about bringing our program to Nairobi. Come learn about Ruby Nuby and how we plan to:

      * Create an environment that allows all to to succeed in a collaborative, cooperative manner.
      * Train the next generation of web developers and tech entrepreneurs in Nairobi,
      * Train disadvantaged and at-risk youths and fund their training
      * Fund startup companies and attract additional funding for your companies.
      * Economically develop the arts.
      * Change the educational system from a pay forward model where one incurs debt without a guarantee of a job to a payback model where one collaborates with and contributes to a community and is placed in a career.
      * Empower women to succeed in technology and create incentives for men to help women do so.

      A 25-minute presentation Ruby Nuby and it’s non-profit arm, Agile Activism, followed by a Question and Answer session. Afterwards, we will brainstorm on how we can best take advantage of the 500kg of sponsored shipping to Nairobi from New York that we have obtained. We will use this sponsorship to import the computer gear necessary to set up our program. We just need the community support to make it happen. By using VolunTourism, we will attract the world’s best developers and business leaders to come guest teach/lecture in Nairobi and then they will go on Safari which will economically develop the region’s tourism industry.

      The mission of Ruby Nuby is to provide an environment that facilitates immersive learning by a Community of Contributors(TM) who contribute, learn and succeed by collaborating, cooperating and supporting each other. We work to promote a path to success where equal access, social justice, equability, diversity and sustainability are embraced.

      I have 2 very recently released Ruby on Rails books and a new netbook that will be Ruby Nuby Nairobi Community owned to start a Ruby Nuby/Ruby on Rails/Tech study group here in Nairobi.

      Map to IHUB:

      http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100420412648987917911.00047def651452cf80a23&ll=-1.296147,36.794243&spn=0.012871,0.021415&z=15&source=embed

      Thank you:)
      If you have questions, please email Malcolm Arnold at MalcolmArnoldNYC at gmail.com

  • Tiffany von Emmel 4:51 am on July 21, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: change jam, innovation, knowledge   

    Playing into the Future with a Jam 

    The first Community Leadership Summit was terrific. The group of people who gathered for this summit were a smart mission-driven creative bunch, most of whom also are going this week to OSCON, the Open Source Convention. Free to register and held as an unconference, hats off to the organizer Jono Bacon, Community Manager for Ubuntu.

    During the conference, I co-led a project jam with Mei Lin Fung called Playing into the Future. The goal was to enable individuals to develop project ideas that build towards a positive future. Through the experience and use of artifacts produced in the session, participants could fuel their emerging work. They could also inspire new exhibits in the Program for the Future at The Tech, built upon the collaboration principles of Doug Engelbart, inventor of the mouse and whose team developed hypertext.

    To see what the group looked like in action, here’s a video clip of the session, filmed by Rich Reader.

    Serendipitously, Ubuntu has been running “jams” as well as informal meetups to have people come together to meet other Ubuntu community members and talk about Ubuntu shop. They will soon run another Ubuntu Global Jam. One of the things I like about the design is that by making it over a weekend, everyone can participate in a flexible way that suits their local needs.

    The jam methodology we used at the Community Leadership Summit was a derivitive of Change Jam, another open source event for project innovation. The first change jams were in San Francisco last year. In the tradition of group technologies,  a change jam has these defining characteristics:

    • start with building connectivity as the basis of social innovation, rather than focusing first on ideas or problem-solving
    • apply a performative approach to collaborative inquiry
    • further a shared goal to positively change the world

    A  jam is built upon improvisation principles, such as “Yes, And”, which is decidedly focused on amplifying the positive. To underline this point with a negative ;-) , a jam is not is a problem-solving session. Improvisers, when in an ensemble, practice listening and building upon the connectivity between people and ideas in order to create something new.

    Here are the  instructions for how to do a change jam. You really need three hours to move from forming relationships to project ideation to performance and then to value reflection and group ritual. However, in this session, we experimented with a micro hour version. But, I would recommend the full format, as it is important to have enough to time to set up well and to  generate critical reflection at the end.

    So, why do we do this? A  jam produces results that are not obvious at first, but can lay early ground work for collaborative production. There are four kinds of knowledge that can be produced in a jam:

    1. Relational Knowledge: Knowledge as relationship. When we are in a jam, we build new connections, as we are present, listening to each other. This kind of knowledge is fundamental for addressing the alienation of institutional knowledge, and is also the basis of forming the other kinds of knowledge.

    2. Practical Knowledge: Knowledge as  know-how. Knowledge is not a commodity to be pushed or pulled, but rather, something that we physically cultivate through aesthetic practice. In the jam, through practice and repetition of interaction, people begin to learn systems thinking, moving as an open fluid complex ensemble.

    3. Representational Knowledge: Information. We create meaning together as we see patterns and tell stories. Taking social construction and liberation pedagogy seriously, we involve participants in both appreciative inquiry and critical reflection.

    4. Responsive Knowledge: Stimulate innovation and adult development. The reason that performance, costuming and props are used in a jam are to enable people to experience themselves as practicing active agents in the process of innovation. Practicing performance skills, participants learn to work in the gap between the habits and possibilities unfolding. Based on Vygotskyian human development theory and East Asian philosophy, Responsive Knowledge treats knowledge as capacity to respond.

    Thanks to participants in this session:

    • Mei Lin Fung, Program for the Future
    • Rich Reader - videographer
    • Peter Kaminski - Social Software expert, Dreamfish Community Tech Maven
    • Cliff Figallo, GuildSmith – how local communities will network.
    • Chris, Ubuntu
    • Teresa, Open Solaris
    • Bob Ketner, Virtual Communities Manager at The Tech
    • Aaditya Batia, Developer Intern at The Tech
    • Michael Tiemann, open Science and Tech museum, Signis, RedHat
    • Stina Cooke, Museum Exhibit Designer formerly from Boston Science Museum
    • Veera Swaminathan, Singapore Ambassador for the Program for the Future Challenge
    • Grant Bowman, technologist

    Here are the session notes on the Community Leadership Summit wiki.

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 8:47 am on June 24, 2008 Permalink
    Tags: learning   

    Linking the context of learning 

    I use my blog as a space for learning and reflection. Today, I was asked to write about what I know, and it brought me to sitting here, slowing down to reflect about how much the support systems around us shape our perspectives. My first and most important mentor was my mother, also a woman entrepreneur out to change the world. Interestingly, it is now in my life when I choose to look particularly for guidance and stories about women leaders. I am now reading the book, Women on Top. 

    It is a curious thing to see how I shape the work of my life through the choices of ecosystems that I participate in. I am also having fun with Twitter. As a life mission, I work on problems related to the people side of sustainability, where we need new thinking, new models, and new tools. Seeking to address these issues has led me into wide deep collaborations with many amazing men and women and their pioneering work. To honor them here…. Charlie Seashore and Edie Seashore in the Use of Self,   Peter Park in Participatory Action Research, Anna Halprin in participatory performance with large groups, Wataru Ohashi in somatics and systems thinking, and my co-facilitator and beloved life partner, Dietmar Brinkmann. 

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 5:56 am on November 22, 2007 Permalink
    Tags: holiday, thanksgiving   

    Happy Thanksgiving 

    This morning is Thanksgiving. Dietmar and I walked out this morning with our grocery bags to go to the store. We greeted our neighbors as we walked. As with all holiday mornings in San Francisco, the street was quiet with few cars.We had Mimi Ridges, our shepherd-ridgeback-corgi dog, with us. Mimi sniffed through the fallen leaves for possible chicken bones tossed the previous night. At the store, I enjoyed filling our bags with the ritual stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Dietmar, being German, had no particular attachment to the food's role in the ritual of Thanksgiving, but enjoyed our special slow time together (where on any other day, I would be on the computer and the phone). The cultural difference between us helped me to be aware of how important ritual is and the choices that we make to mark the moment to remember to be grateful. I thought, how grateful I am to give thanks, to have this moment alive, to feel grateful for my Thanksgiving morning.

    Of all holidays, Thanksgiving is the most connecting to the earth. The day reminds me of what matters most to me. Wit this, I would like to share a thanksgiving prayer with you from the Mohawks below. Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends! Tiffany

     

    Thanksgiving Prayer from the Mohawks

    To be a human is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.

    Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.

    Thank you deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.

    We give thanks to green, green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth's floor.

    Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry.

    Fruits and berries, we thanks you for your color and sweetness.

    We are thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.

    Thank you, all the animals of the world, for keeping our precious forests clean.

    All the trees of the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us. Thank you all the birds in the world, for signing your beautiful songs for all to enjoy.

    We give thanks to you gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from the four directions.

    Thank you, Grandfather Thunder Beings, for bringing rains to help all living things grow.

    Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.

    Thank you Grandmother Moon, for growing full every month to light the darkness for children and sparkling waters.

    We give you thanks, twinkling stars, for making the night sky so beautiful and sprinkling morning dew drops on the plants.

    Spirit Protectors of our past and present we thank you for showing us ways to live in peace and harmony with one another.

    And most of all, thank you Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts, so we will be happy and healthy every day and every night.

    Translation by Chief Jake Swamp

    © 1998-2007 American Indian Health Council.
    http://aihc1998.tripod.com/mohawkpr.html

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 6:02 am on November 9, 2007 Permalink
    Tags: brazil, critical pedagogy, , paulo freire, , peter park   

    Paulo Freire: getting to know you 

    http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0826412769.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" align="right" height="129" width="85" />Paulo Freire is known as one the world's most influential educators in history, creating social change through education. In the last fifty years, his ideas and practices have rippled throughout many countries in the world, to touch the lives of millions of children and adults.

    While I have studied and been impacted by Freire, I have not gotten a chance to know him personally. He died in 1997. My mentor, Peter Park, was a close friend of Freire, and speaks with great love for the man.

    I just came across this video of images from his life. Here, we can get to know Paulo Freire, the person.

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 12:01 pm on July 21, 2007 Permalink  

    it’s my birthday 

     


    RockYou Gizmoz

     

    Dear friend, I'm having a birthday party on August 9th to celebrate life and would like to invite you.

    For this invitation, I made a silly animation clip, that is above this text, but you likely cannot see in the email notification. You can see me in costume singing here, when you login to dreamfish, click on this link and push the play button http://www.dreamfish.org/node/527

    Please come to the party and celebrate life with me! A gift is not necessary. Having said that, if you want give me a gift, please make a lovely check out to "Dreamfish/Greenmuseum.org" That would really have me singing.

    where: Tiffany and Dietmar's house in San Francisco

    when: Tuesday, August 9th 7-11pm

     

    RSVP in response to this blog entry, or with Dietmar at dbrinkmann(at)dreamfish(dot)org or 415-643-1511.

     

    lovin life, Tiffany

     

  • Tiffany von Emmel 2:02 am on March 9, 2007 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , participatory   

    Nexus for Change 

    In a few weeks is the Nexus for Change conference, which is all about advancing participatory change methods. I am going to be there with flippers ready. This event promises to be a fertile one. Facilitators, community organizers, leaders, researchers will come together to explore how we facilitate positive change with participatory methods for groups, organizations and communties. Participatory in its design and content and offered at cost, it is more of an unconference. Dreamfish will be there. I hope to see you.

     

    Here's what the organizers say…

    "Our focus will be on leveraging the power of over 60 approaches being used to transform whole organizations and communities as they tackle 21st Century Challenges. These approaches are broadly referred to as large-group methods/interventions, whole system change, or large-scale change. What make them unique are two foundation assumptions: high involvement and a systemic approach to improvement. At this conference, we will be working side-by-side to:

    • Address critical needs at local and global levels,
    • Expand the reach of the methods around the world,
    • Design significant field research projects,
    • Invent new tools, techniques, and applications,
    • Incorporate technology to leverage existing methods,
    • Connect with others to form joint ventures,
    • Innovate educational programs and courses,
    • Craft a common language, and
    • Articulate a platform for this body of work.

    The NEXUS is an opportunity for us to transcend our individual contributions and achieve something bigger than we ever thought possible. We will not know what "bigger" is until we get together."

    $299 registration >

    Here are some of the people who will be there…

    Billie Alban, Emily & Dick Axelrod, Jean Bartunek, Peter Block, Juanita Brown, Barbara Bunker, Tom Devane, Susan Dupre, Merrelyn Emery, David Gershon, Peggy Holman, Cheryl Honey, David Isaacs, Jake Jacobs, Jim Rough, Sylvia James, Sandra Janoff, Stewart Levine, Harrison Owen, Gabriel Shirley, Nancy White, Marvin Weisbord, Diana Whitney, and many many more…

     

     

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