[ap_spacing spacing_height=”20px”]Let´s be honest Network Weaving is super fascinating. There are so many activities that we, network weavers, can contribute to to make communities vibrant and effective. Surely, you have your own story and connection to what got you into network weaving. We can seize modern technologies to connect and and share these stories and our learnings.
There is a Facebook group called Network Weaving that currently has about 1800 members. There already has been a vivid exchange of resources and learning through posts and comments. At the beginning of this year some members began further deepening the potential of this amazing community. There are efforts to build a network map and the establishment of regular online formats. In this blog post I will give a short overview of what has been happening so far and how you may participate in the journey.
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Purpose and Needs
Both the mapping efforts and the virtual cafe identified the needs in the community. Both groups found similar themes and purposes, which cover:
- To help the community discover its identities, building trust-based relationships, and encouraging/facilitating collaborations and learning.
- To further build the field of network weaving, understand its potential and role in systemic change.
- To deepen information flows, to connect related capacities and to attract more abundance to our work.
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What has been happening
The network mapping journey
The journey to create a useful network map is highly participative and members of the network weavers facebook group are encouraged to join in any step of the process that is the right fit for them. There are three distinct phases that we are working through; First, we are taking the time to envision and get a better sense of what the community wants, needs and values. Once we have that clarity we’ll move into a technical phase where we’ll build the map. Finally, we’ll work together to make sense of what we are seeing in that map. We kicked off the envisioning phase with twenty seven members of the Facebook group in a zoom session with the larger group having been invited to contribute their perspective in a survey.[ap_spacing spacing_height=”10px”]
The Master Mappers have extensive experience with network mapping. Christine Capra, Sarah Ann Shanahan, Maya Townsend, Lisa Negstad, Jim Best and Drew Mackie serve with their efforts and knowledge to facilitate learning, increase the awareness regarding passions and relationships within our community, and to develop the mapping skills of network weavers. This is the process of the mapping and as you see you can work closer with the Master Mappers, fill in surveys and attend the convenings.
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Next Meeting on the 2nd April 9:00 -10:30 a.m. CT
Register at:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/3e12488a815da90c8c34be5db4a05ad8
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The Virtual Cafes, hosted by an open group of facilitators each month, aim to intensify learning, peer assistance and our service to systemic changes. There have been two cafes so far and the next one is coming up at the 4th of April. The hosts are currently Tim Strasser, Nenad Maljković, Ben Roberts, Jim Best, Keala Young and Adrian Röbke. The hosting group is open. Whomever wants to contribute is very welcome! In the last cafe on the 7th of March we explored our learning wishes and already dove into some of them in an open space, which is one of the many interactive formats we will use to have fun. These wishes to which you can add anytime are a basis for further explorations and journeys.
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Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/248389826079525/?event_time_id=248389829412858
So this is about it. Personally, I feel lots of excitement and curiosity about what we can co-create as a global community. After just three gatherings I have made lots of good connections and I am sure that really cool ideas will emerge when we get together! Looking forward to seeing and hearing you soon!
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Adrian Röbke
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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash