I wanted to say Thank You to everyone for your help this past week with the Fourth Wall Exhibit and Change Camp. Without everyone dedicating their time and energy the Thursday night and Saturday events would have not taken place.

Whether you helped out by participating, note taking during Saturday morning, video taping, hosting or planning the events I'm glad that you had a hand in making everything possible.

I hope that the conversations we had and the action items that we collectively thought up are not lost and that some of them are turned into a reality as ways for citizens like us to become more engaged in our communities, our city and in the way our municipality is run.

Thanks again for everything you did this past week.

Cheers,

Kevin Van Lierop

The following are the notes taken during the Fourth Wall Change Camp event which took place on April 28th, 2012 at Museum London in London, Ontario. The focus of this Change Camp was on community/civic engagement.

• Working Together
• Tools for Engagement
• Engaging Digitally
• Reaching the Hard to Reach
• Youth Engagement
• Civics 101
• Sustainable Engagement

These documents are made available via Google Docs and are open for additions and editing if there is something that was missed on the weekend and needs to be added.

Take Action

If there is a topic or specific item that you’re passionate about moving forward on we encourage you to take the ideas generated, find others who are interested, and run with them.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Dave Meslin presented his Fourth Wall Exhibit on Thursday April 26th, 2012 at Museum London at part of the ChangeCamp London event focused on citizen/civic engagement. If you missed Dave’s talk you can watch it here.

Passionate about citizen engagement? Interested in how to get involved with City Hall?

Join us Saturday April 28th as we discuss the potential for citizen engagement in the City of London and work together towards some points for action.

Bring your ideas on how we break through our own Fourth Wall in London and how we re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation. Explore the concept of Citizen Empowerment, as developed by the Community Engagement Task Force 

Change Camp Details

WHAT: ChangeCamp focused on Community Engagement and Empowerment

WHEN: Saturday, April 28, 9:00 am – 2:30 pm (doors open at 8:30am)

WHERE: Museum London, Community Gallery

COST: Free 

The Fourth Wall

Join us Thursday, April 26 as Toronto-based organiser and artist Dave Meslin presents his Fourth Wall Exhibit in London. If you miss Thursday, go view the exhibit on Friday, April 27. 

About the "Fourth Wall"

The “fourth wall” is a term used to describe the imaginary barrier separating an audience from a stage. When an actor speaks directly to the audience, or an audience member interacts with the cast, the fourth wall has been “broken”.

City Hall also has a fourth wall. Most residents are simply spectators, passively absorbing local politics through headlines and sound bites. How can we break the fourth wall at City Hall and create a culture of local citizen engagement? How can we open the doors to meaningful dialogue and participation, allowing us to collectively build the city we want to live in? 

Opening Reception & Exhibit Details

WHAT: Fourth Wall Exhibit, Presentation and Reception

WHEN: Thursday, April 26, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

WHERE: Museum London, Community Gallery

COST: Free 

The exhibit will also be open to the public on Friday, April 27, noon – 5 pm at Museum London, Community Gallery 

 

Register

Click HERE to register for the Fourth Wall Exhibit reception with Dave Meslin.

Click HERE to register for ChangeCamp London 2012 to put ideas into ation.

 

ChangeCamp London took place on Saturday June 19th, 2010 at Museum London and saw about 100 engaged citizens of London, Ontario come together to start talking and taking action on ways to improve the Forest City. As a means of investment in the city, the end of the day brought many actions to the table and participants brainstormed with one another how these items could evolve, take place and impact the communities they live within.

One of the action items that held the attention of many participants centred around the question “How do we create more community gathering places?“. Although PARK(ing) Day planning began prior to ChangeCamp taking place, it (PARK(ing) Day) is exactly the type of engaging action that ChangeCamp promotes as a way to make an noticeable impact in the community.

PARK(ing) Day, through the creation of temporary public spaces, expresses a concern towards the lack of community gathering places in the city of London. Participants of PARK(ing) Day (space creators, volunteers and sponsors) all are dedicated to ensuring that the future of London contains more community gathering spaces than it does now.

We are happy to have PARK(ing) Day London associated with ChangeCamp London as it represents just on type of citizen lead action and change that London needs.

For complete details and how you can contribute head over to: www.parkingdaylondon.ca

On July 6th 379 Collective and London Fuse will host London's first ChangeCafe at Gigs Grillhouse.

Following up on ideas generated and discussed at ChangeCamp London, this event will focus on voter mobilization and engagement for the fall 2010 election and beyond.

Some of the ideas discussed at ChangeCamp include:

• a 'get out the vote' initiative taking inspiration from Rock the Vote and Vote Dammit
• a non-partisan information portal to disseminate information about the election - polling stations, all candidates meetings, car pools to polls and meetings
• an information portal to collect and disseminate candidate information and their positions on election issues - including social features to let citizens vote on the quality of candidate answers and positions

Complete notes from the action session can be found here.

We hope to walk away with implementation plans and sufficient information to have a ChangeLab/Hackfest where technical implementation of the proposals can be completed.

Date: July 6, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Place: Gigs Grillhouse (MAP)
Contact: savanah@379collective.com or adamsson@gmail.com
 

>>> CLICK HERE TO REGISTER <<<

 

With ChangeCamp London this coming Saturday we wanted to share the schedule and some general guidelines for the day to make the day as successful as possible.  If you have yet to sign up for ChangeCamp you can do so for FREE, however, if you don't have a chance to sign up but still want to come, feel free to show up on Saturday.

Schedule

Because ChangeCamp London follows the general structure of an "un-conference" and is participant lead and driven we are simply providing the general framework for the day to ensure that things move along smoothly.

Session topics and the conversations that develop from them are completely up to the participants and will be created by them throughout the day.

9:30am - Doors Open and Registration 

10:00am - Welcome & Call for Ideas

10:30am - First Session

11:30am - Second Session 

12:30pm - Lunch break (participants responsible for their own)

1:40pm - Welcome Back, Summary of the Morning and Call for Action Items

2:00pm - Action Sessions

3:00pm - Wrap-up & Reflections

Coffee/water/pop/juice & snacks will be available in the AM and PM. 

 

The Law of Two Feet

Making use of the Law of Two Feet, the ChangeCamp "structure" allows for participants to ensure that they are leaning and contributing the entire day.

The Law of Two Feet states:

If you find yourself neither learning or contributing it is your responsibility to respectfully use your own 2 feet to find some place you are learning or contributing. 

So if you aren't putting into a conversation or getting out of it what you want, you have option to leave the table you are at and join another discussion.  No-one will be offended and everyone will be respectful of your choice. The point of the day is to have everyone contributing and working towards a better London, and if you feel another conversation is better suited for you then it is your responsibility to join it.

 

1/n Rule

Because ChangeCamp London is participant driven an everyone who attends is there to improve the City of London, everyone should have an equal opportunity to speak, contribute to and discuss the topics at hand.

What the 1/n Rule states is that if there are n people at a table each person should be speaking 1/n of the time. So if 5 people are discussing one topic each person should be investing 1/5 of the time speaking.

This rule is in place to ensure that all participants are treated as equals (as they are) and to ensure that ideas, concerns and contributions come from each attendee. Just like our diverse city, the voices and opinions of all citizens/participants need to be heard to ensure that equal consideration is being given to any topics from any point of view.

 

Politicking, Soap Boxing etc.

ChangeCamp London is an open gathering of concerned and engaged citizen who want to improve the City of London, now and in the future. 

All attendees, regardless of age, sex, nationality, political affiliation, employment title etc. are equal and should be treated as such throughout ChangeCamp London. ChangeCamp London is to be a democratic, friendly process and any soapboxing, politicking and/or disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated and will be dealt with in a commensurate manner.

There is no doubt that attendees are passionate about their city and specific issues are close to their heart, and in no way are these passions to be silenced during the day. The point is not to exclude anyone from the conversation, but rather to ensure that everyone who has something to say can be heard, and needn't worry about having to shout over someone else's passionate outburst - no matter how popular or unpopular that outburst may be.

We want to ensure that the ChangeCamp environment is as inviting, open and productive as it can possibly be to ensure that productive positive progression is made in the right direction, whatever that might be.

 

Volunteers

We are still looking for volunteers to help out with the day's event.  If you are interested in helping out in this capacity make sure to contact us via Email, Twitter or Facebook or come out tonight to our volunteer meeting at Museum London at 6:30pm.  As previously mentioned, volunteers will be provided with a limited edition ChangeCamp London T-Shirt, recognition during the day's event and the gratitude of organizers and attendees alike.

ChangeCamp London is a citizen driven "un-conference" based on open dialogue to create positive change in the City of London. Organized, staffed and attended by engaged citizens who want to build a more vibrant, engaged and prosperous community, ChangeCamp London strives to discuss issues and take action towards making our city a better place to live.

 

In order for ChangeCamp London to take place on Saturday June 19, 2010 at Museum London (sign up for FREE) the organizing team is looking for a group of individuals who would like to volunteer to help make the day a complete success. 

With no experience or knowledge necessary, just a willingness to help ChangeCamp London take place, we are seeking individuals who are willing to help out in any one of the following positions:

• Session Recorders
• Videographers
• Greeters
• Conversation Facilitators
• Technical Assistants
• General "Go-To" People

Volunteers will act as impartial, non-participating attendees who are there to support the day's events through the communication of ideas and discussions that other attendees provide. By providing open modes of communication, volunteers ensure that all citizens (attendees or not) are provided with impartial documentation of the day's event that will help foster future conversations and action. 

Volunteering offers individuals who do not want to participate in the actual discussions an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful and involved way.

Volunteers must be available on June 19th, 2010 for the entire day, from 9:00am - 4:00pm.

Each volunteer will receive a complimentary ChangeCamp London T-Shirt, recognition during the day's event and the gratitude of organizers and attendees alike.

Volunteer Information Session

We are holding a short but important volunteer information session to answer questions and get people dedicated to helping with ChangeCamp London. The details of this information session are as follows:

Date: Thursday June 17th, 2010

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Museum London - Board Room ( 421 Ridout Street North)

 

If you are not able to make this meeting and would like to volunteer or have any questions regarding volunteering please do not hesitate to contact ChangeCamp London via Email, Twitter or Facebook.

Without the support and dedication of volunteers, ChangeCamp London would not be able to happen. We look to working with members of the community who are committed to making London a better place to live.

 

 

 

In the days leading up to ChangeCamp London we wanted to give the community and opportunity to brainstorm ideas, issues and areas of focus that could be used as discussion topics on Saturday June 19th, 2010. We know that Londoners are passionate about a variety of things and what better way to get people talking, thinking, and collaborating then by having them focus on things that are important to them.

So whether your passion lies in the important roles that arts & culture play in the city, the need for municipal governments to be more open, or the belief that London needs more roads and less green spaces, your ideas are the ones that are important and will ultimately fuel the discussions at ChangeCamp London.

We are looking for the community as a whole to suggest ideas and topics that could be focused on during ChangeCamp London. Developed and presented in the form of a short and concise question, your suggestions will be presented to the community to be voted on, commented on and for similar suggestions to be added.

You are able to submit your suggestions using a variety of services:

• Twitter - use the hash tag #ccldn
• Facebook - post a message to the ChangeCamp London Event Page
• Blog Comment - use the comments below this post to leave your ideas/suggestions
• Google Moderator - See below 

Google Moderator provides a handy little service to help organize thoughts and ideas from a variety of people. If you have something that is passionate to you and would like see discussed, you are welcome to suggest your idea (in the form of a question). Perhaps you have some addition thoughts to add to existing suggestions, something that it should include, you have the option to add those types of comments as well. Google Moderator allows for suggestions to be voted on, so if you believe there is a topic that is more important than others and that should be given attention above all others, feel free to add your endorsement with a '✓', or if you don't believe it to be important add an 'X' to the suggestion.

It is though your suggestions, comments and recommendations that topics for discussion will be formulated at ChangeCamp London.

Please remember to phrase your suggestion in the form of a question as this generally allows for more open input, input that is less bias and that foster's a greater sense of community, collaboration and conversation.

During the morning of ChangeCamp we will look at all suggested ideas, the comments they attracted and their popularity and then use this information to form and fuel our morning discussions, focused on some of the questions, ideas and suggestions that were identified by the community as important to London's future.  

We hope that we can get a broad spectrum of suggestions for topics to help make the conversations at ChangeCamp London as diverse as possible. If you want to attend ChangeCamp London and contribute but have yet to sign up there is still time.  Head over to changecamplondon.eventbrite.com and sign up for FREE. 

Stay tuned to this blog for information regarding Volunteering on Saturday June 19th, 2010. Although the ChangeCamp organizing team is hard at work and on the right track (we think) we can't do it all alone and will be looking to the community to help lend their support and contribution to see that the day is a complete success.