Co-creating a Collaborative Platform

A key objective of the Education Collaborative is to help develop a variety of community spaces for reflection and analysis, for proposals for action, and for learning by doing. We think that social change requires changing the dominant cultural narratives in which community voices are usually ignored and that promote the idea that “there is no alternative (TINA).” For this we see the need to create more space to share stories that can change that conversation to “another world is possible.”

To complement face-to-face community dialogs and activities, we are exploring the creation of an online collaborative platform integrated in two areas--education and media. And, we are actively seeking people who would like to participate in such an effort. Such a platform could:

  • offer a space to share stories, concerns and experiences

  • help connect people with similar interests through interactive discussion groups on various issues

  • provide mapping, calendars, and news on active projects

  • provide a space to share educational resources and the exchange of diverse forms of knowledge

  • provide tools for multidirectional communication that can help facilitate the elaboration of joint efforts and strategies.

  • Connect us with conversations beyond our own communities

Freely-available online networking technologies, such as media sharing, forums, blogs, project organizers, online surveys, etc., offer valuable tools for increasing awareness and participation. In the creation of these media forms, we are working to develop a set of design principles, such as:

a) Promoting deeper listening skills that help us appreciate ideas and experiences that may be quite different from our own

b) Exploring organizational strategies that further equitable participation and co-creating capacities

c) Amplifying the voices of people who are introducing an alternative narratives to the status quo

d) Advancing a network that could strengthen relationships between separate organizations and help to build a stronger movement for economic and social justice.