It's time to bring separate parts together again so everyone can have the same overview.
January 10th 2015
We're planning early for a positive start to 2015 - both for the Dadamac Community and for a lot of people not previously connected with us - so please mark your diaries.
It's an event in London on Saturday January 10th 2015 about:
- small change and big change
- local and global perspectives
- individual and organisational action
- opportunities for all kinds of involvement
- practical implementations of big visions
- powerful and exciting outcomes
There'll be a clear focus and framework, with enough fluidity for people to influence the content, connect with others, share their own interests, and become part of new ongoing initiatives. We're delighted that our first sponsor is Impact Hub Westminster - so we have a great central London location. We're looking for people to help us on the day, and to help us prepare - and for more sponsors.
The count down to January 10th will affect our other activities
GlobalNet21 Africa and Change Group and Dadamac
The next GlobalNet21 Africa and Change Group meetup is on Tuesday June 10th Africa & Change Group: GN21 & Dadamac - overlapping interests. (for background see Six months of GN21 and Africa group).
There's lots of overlap between the 21st century focus of GlobalNet21 and the January 10th event with its 21st century approach to UK-Africa collaborations. We'll be using some GN21 and Africa meetups to pinpoint these overlaps and feed them into the January event.
The First Thursday Group
After January 10th we'll be developing a new knowledge commons in Dadamac. This will mean better ways of harvesting and sharing the riches of knowledge and information in our community - including the gems that are shared at First Thursdays. First Thursday Group members will count amongst the contributors to the Dadamac knowledge commons and will also be beneficiaries so they need to know more about plans for January 10th.
Next First Thursday meeting is June 5th (time details and link to join us are here).
Dadamac Foundation AGM
There's been a shift of emphasis since the 2013 Dadamac Foundation Annual General Meetings, so I'm looking forward to the 2014 AGM and a new clarity for Dadamac Foundation's future direction - which will be feeding into our event on January 10th.
One of my repeated exclamations in Dadamac over the years has been "I don't do 'stuff' - I do information!" Everything I do in the Dadamac Community is connected with people, ideas, information-sharing and practical activities. How odd then, that usually when I come to a Dadamac Foundation AGM with my two fellow trustees we focus on "stuff" and the financial balance sheet. All the information-related things, and the wider Dadmac Community activities, scarcely get a mention. It's as if Dadamac Foundation (a registered charity) only exists on the sidelines, "rattling the tin" when someone in our community needs to do some relevant fundraising for "stuff". Then it acts as an umbrella (Fast Tractor was the best example). It's time to connect Dadamac Foundation to more of the activities of the Dadamac Community.
The heart of Dadamac is about relationships between people, sharing knowledge, helping each other, i.e values, information and social capital. We've grown up through UK-Africa connections (kept strong by the Internet) and people doing things for other people Our riches are in all the qualitative things that financial balance sheets don't capture. This year's AGM will have more of those riches firmly on the agenda and they are influencing the plans for January 10th.