The word «sandbox», in German «Sandkasten», is something people associate with a box of sand or with children playing. Well, and those friends that you were playing with in the sand, whether it was on a playground in a city or on the beach, are those who know you not only for a very long time but are also quite close to you.
This is pretty much what Sandbox, a global community of young changemakers (under 30) from various backgrounds, is all about. It’s magic is its diversity and the feeling that you feel «home» with people no matter if they are next door, long-distances away, people you are spending time with, or never met.
Let me give you a taste of it:
Board member of The Hub, who got me thinking again about social entrepreneurship and working on the concept of a community space.
Cracking the Greek Entrepreneurial Ecosystem with Startup Compass
It could be described as the postgraduate school I have never been to and the guidance when I needed friendly advise. Sandboxes connecting the dots I could not see, could not connect alone or reach out.
So, finally after a lot of email and skype calls about bringing Sandbox to Athens, the time has come, and the applications for Sandbox Athens outpost are open. What is a Sandbox outpost? Basically it is a smaller community hub building capacity for a larger hub.
So what is Sandbox about?
A constant 24/7 inspiration and motivation, a magical toolbox to tap in and to play with, but above all it is about relationships for life and creating access to possibilities and opportunities.
It feels like home, no matter the distance.
During the last years, those relationships have incubated me to do what I do better, and to get conscious about what idea sharing can do. Yes, a community can incubate people, it is up to you to give it a try…Lets start with this application, deadline is June 29. :)
Take a seat and let me take a deep breath. We all know that speaking in public is not my strongest asset, yet important if you have to pass a message.
Some months ago, I left Startup Live Athens‘ organizing team. When I initiated it, I took a professional challenge but also a personal one: Not leaving Greece. But setting a vision into reality, implementing it, should not be restricted to personal goals. Its implementation often demands a change of people, environments, conditions, one way or another.
During the last two years I am on board of Loft2work in order to develop it. Well, and it made its way as well. I learned a lot during that journey, most of all to do things differently. So, it is about time for me to make another of those famous steps out of my comfort zone, which I like to refer to. It is about time for me not only to have a different look on reality and to do things differently, but do something different.
I have resigned from Loft2work and will assist its transition phase. The reason is a new step forward, a new venture I am working on. Lets say, it is a spring-off. Stay tuned
In the meanwhile, I will have some of those nice coffees, you can see on the picture.
References and credits Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes that see reality. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
Information about Nikos Kazantzakis, famous for his novel “Zorba The Greek”
Facts in numbers
Report of European Commission 2012, kindly note that Youth Unemployment is 57%, the highest quote in the EU (1) , (2) and (3)
Boroume , which fights food waste by organizing the distribution of surplus food for charity throughout Greece
Omikron Project, a grassroots initiative giving people outside Greece a different picture without the negative stereotypes presented by traditional media outlets that are adding to Greece’s problems.
Special «Thank You» Iasonas Kantas and Mehran Khalili who contributed their photographs for my presentation. Dora Giannopoulou for helping me with visualizing what I wanted to share. Tonia Eliascou for her amazingly calming support to get my thoughts into words.
… and of course Manolis, Lefteris, Nasos, Irini, Ian, Sophia, Andreas, Tasos, Mareva, Petroula and Julian, and of course Sylvie and Hannes for being around.
P.S. Here is the talk… Just in case you are interested.
Summer 2012 in Athens, the first meeting of cultural organizations, informal groups and creatives around the topic of digital literacy and youth engagement took place. The discussion was hosted by SNF and Future Library, led by Hive NYC and its goal was to research how a Hive Pop-Up event could be structured in Athens, and if there is potential for a future Hive Learning Network in Athens.
Local Communities Around The World
Fact is, a large number οf cultural organizations in Greece are not experimenting with digital media nor developing programs especially designed for young people/teenagers. Thoughts on how to reach out to young people and how to engage organizations to collaborate with informal groups and with each other were main issues raised. While the prospective Hive Athens team participated in Mozilla Festival, we learned that those points were shared by many Hives, and most community-based structures.
In order to establish a long-term strategy with tangible results, we started a dialogue with direct and indirect stakeholders in Athens. We started meeting with organizations and informal groups and let them explain to us how they are operating and what they are working on. This is a process that needs time, but personal contact, even if it is just a phone call, engages in a very different way rather than just an email, which is a more constructive communication tool after the first meeting is set up.
What we knew from the start is that our target audience, young people, are very selective and they do not use the channels we grown-ups might use, and that there is a need to get an overview of what happens around us in the area we are tapping in, meaning digital literacy. So where should we start?
Practical steps
1. Collect and structure the material you already have (e.g. contacts, references, work examples, etc.) Example: Leveraging the networks of the one of European Cultural Institutions, EUNIQUE, and informal groups like Plaython, Tutorpool and hackerspaces is one of our major tools, as they already have significant outreach covering the areas we have to dive in: digital literacy, youth, education.
We learn also how to engage them and contribute to what they are working on rather than sourcing their knowledge.
Tip 1: There are also communities that are from organizational interest and could contribute to what Hive is doing and therefore even if we do not have immediate access we need a clear and straight message to engage their peers and reach out to them through their community and their channels.
2. Decide what form of map fits you best e.g. Google maps, Excel sheets, collaboration tools
3. Identify
Set your framework e.g. in our case digital literacy-youth-education and use tags
4. Design
Structure your online and offline communication when you speak about Hive Pop-Up, Hive Learning Network in order to achieve goals and get the information you need
Tip 2: Communicate one task at the time and do not overload people with information.
5. Engage Mapping should not be considered as a tool to support and interconnect the community. It is an interactive process and should not be based on just collecting contact details or naming specific action points, but includes also community building, building up creative social capital which will unveil its potential step by step. It is also a crucial asset for how you communicate with specific targets. Remember the purpose of community mapping and communicate it as a tool for communities’ needs, then take a step back in order to listen.
Community mapping is one of the tools that helps us to gain knowledge of the surrounding organizational structures, formal and informal, as activities, and is also a first step towards community and relationship building, as we are aiming to establish a network including various stakeholders.
This is a guest post originally published on Explore + Create + Share/ Hive Learning Network NYC’s blog, a Mozilla project that was founded through The MacArthur Foundation’s digital media and learning initiative to fuel collaborations between cultural organizations to create new learning pathways and innovative education practices together.
The reason why I write to you, please forgive me for the mass email, is my research for my upcoming talk during Lift Conference, where I am invited to speak during a session on resilience. I am going to pitch Greece from a different angle, sharing experience about unlocking “Untapped cultural and social capital”, that is often being unveiled silently in times of intense pressure.
This is not about me, but about us, your stories. We get 10 minutes on stage in early February together and I invite you to share your stories about things that happen. It is not about showing the current socioeconomic circumstances but the courage we see in people creating from scratch even within those circumstances.
I deeply believe that Greece has all the social and cultural capital to face the challenge and that I am responsible to help it unleash not only because of Greece and its heritage but because every micro or macrosociety is called from times to times to overcome difficulties and strengthen. I stay because I believe in ethos, pathos and logos and because I got reminders to practice those three values with every breath I take and everyone of my heartbeats.
So, yes, I do take feel responsible about what is happening, and I am far too young to give up.
You are more than welcome to drop me a line or/and phone call and talk with me about the examples that you believe are not only interesting stories but also not exposed. Warm Thank You for your precious time and patience.
Greece. For some the headache of Europe, for others an opportunity for Europe. Media reports on strikes, political instability and austerity measures. One year ago, one of the largest peaceful demonstrations took place, right in front of parliament. It was in the form of tents, public discussions and the self-organisation of citizens. Even if it was not supported by the whole population, the movement spread to other Greek cities and the local squares became an open market of public dialogue. What we’ve see over the last two years is the development of grassroots movements in various sectors, with different approaches and changing the dynamics. Politics, society and entrepreneurship are playing a strong role on the public agenda. Fwd Greece Today, Repower Greece and Startup Live Athens are three out of many movements of civil society. They unveil not only questions that have arisen from the socioeconomic crisis but also crucial points for the future of Europe, as Greece is one of the most affected countries.
The recent national elections took place a few weeks ago and were accompanied by pressure from the European Community. What if the movements could speak now to the European Parliament, European Commission, the Troika? How would they describe the situation in Greece and could be done in order to help the country?
“Greece has reached a point where it is in serious need of immediate reforms, social peace and European solidarity. What the previous three years have shown is that our political, social and economic leaders lack basic capacities to negotiate and prepare a national blueprint of strategic reforms for the country to exit its current turmoil,” says Panagiotis Vlachos, one of the initiators of Fwd Greece Today, a political community of dialogue, putting the European character of Greece on the agenda. Vlachos continues: “An unfortunate aspect of this culture of polarisation has been our entry into a continuous election period – with two consecutive general elections – which have brought the administration and the real economy to their limits. The answer to the problem is fast, sincere, deep and structural integration at the financial and the political level. At least, the countries of the European South, mostly affected by their competitiveness deficit should develop a common negotiating front and fight for the continuation of reforms through growth incentives, private and public investments, access to credit and export driven growth. But first, we need to fight uncertainty and the EU’s ‘credibility deficit’ with bold decisions and common financial and funding mechanisms.”
Alexandros Costopoulos, the founder of Repower Greece, a grassroots, public diplomacy initiative, suggests: ”Just as we may lack of self critisism and courage to accept our mistakes, they should have done the same, especially since we all know that regardless of the fiscal choices of Greece the roots of the problem lie in the inabilities of the European structure to form a better union and safeguard member countries by over borrowing (even when much of that is spent for the blooming of other fellow member economies). However, as we have seen repeatedly in economic history, the solution for excess debt, which is mainly what the EU faces with regards to Greece, cannot be found in crippling societies. In Greece we need structural reforms – there is no question about that.”
During last summer, Startup Live Athens was born out of the desire of young entrepreneurial minds to give back to the community: “We do not preach that entrepreneurship is the only solution for Greece, but it definitely is a tool to unlock untapped human potential. After all, if we do not try and test ourselves on difficulties, how will we evolve”, wrote the team behind the initiative, Petroula Karagianni, Xenia Mastropetrou, Lefteris Kontaxis and myself.
Grassroots movements will play a role in the establishment of a new economy in Greece and already help different ideas flourish and develop into innovation and concrete actions.
“Instead of investing and committing our resources to cultivate a fresh, innovative and results oriented way of civic consciousness that could safeguard economic progress and social prosperity, we relied almost solely in constructing a false reality, choosing to evolve as a society on the back of others, mainly on the EU, allowing the lack of meritocracy and the so called political cost to define change, resting on the alibi that this is how things work in Greece,” suggests Costopoulos. “This is a task for the people and in my opinion this is the role of grassroots and thus, of Repo(we)rGreece. To be able to appeal to micro social environments, to blend together voices, opinions, stories, thoughts and ideas and forge solutions that will redefine change and will shape a new economy.”
Vlachos states: “Social and intergenerational justice has never been part of the public agenda. Our generation – aged around 30 – has the credentials to alter the nature of Greek politics, participate, cooperate and bring justice and common reason to the surface of the public agenda and policy making. Forward Greece highlights innovation as one of its major values. Innovation in thinking, acting, policy-making, doing business and bridging social gaps. Innovation needs a reliable institutional and economic environment to flourish. We are determined to support any governmental or non-governmental efforts for sustainable solutions in support of creative and outward looking thinkers and entrepreneurs.”
Entrepreneurial thinking does not only belong to the business world but is also common ground for grassroots movements that aim to impact public dialogue and enhance structural changes within a democratic frame of civil society. What the three movements share is their different approach and their commitment of engaging youth into the discussion about the future of Greece and Europe without excluding them from decision making.
Είναι μεταδιδακτορικός ερευνητικός συνεργάτης στο Imperial College London και ασχολείται με τη μοντελοποίηση και τη χαρτογράφηση του βρεφικού και παιδικού εγκεφάλου. Ανάμεσα στις πολυάριθμες διακρίσεις του, εχει βραβευθεί ως ιδιοφυΐα από το Imperial College London με “Outstanding”, διάκριση που δίνεται με συχνότητα μία φορά τη δεκαετία αν και εφόσον υπάρξει κατάλληλος υποψήφιος. Ήταν ο επίσημος εκπρόσωπος του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου στην ετήσια συνάντηση των εν ζωή Νομπελιστών με τους πιο ταλαντούχους και ιδιοφυής νέους επιστήμονες του κόσμου, μετά από εθνική επιλογή και τελική παγκόσμια κρίση από το Συμβούλιο των Νομπελιστών. Διακρίθηκε το 2007 ως Νευροεπιστήμονας της χρονιάς στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, το 2009 με το βραβείο “NOBELini” και το 2010 παρουσίασε στο Μουσείο Επιστημών του Λονδίνου την πρώτη αλληγορική πρωτότυπη εγκατάσταση «Ο Αλβέρτος στη Χώρα των Νευροπλαστικών», εμπνευσμένη από την έρευνα του και τον αδερφό του Αλβέρτο. Τα εγκαίνια της έκθεσης προλογίστηκαν από το Νομπελίστα Ιατρικής Sir Timothy Hunt. Eίναι δεινός βιολιστής, μιλάει πέντε γλώσσες και έχει διατελέσει Πρόεδρος του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου Νέων.
Image: http://www.chryssa.eu/
Είναι ο Δρ. Ιωάννης Σπυρίδων Γούσιας και δέχτηκε το αίτημα μου για μια συζήτηση κατά στην τελευταία του επίσκεψη στην Ελλάδα, μετά την ομιλία του στο 1ο συνέδριο του δικτύου ellines.com “Έλληνες: Aπό την κρίση στη διάκριση” (1:52:20) και λίγο πριν τις εκλογές στις 6 Μαίου για μια συζήτηση γύρω από την Ελλάδα του σήμερα και την εικόνα της, την πολιτική σκηνή και τις αξίες. Αν και ζει και εργάζεται κυρίως στο εξωτερικό, ήρθε στην Ελλάδα για να ψηφίσει.
Χρειάζονται προσπάθειες που να επικοινωνούν τα θετικά πράγματα που γίνονται στην Ελλάδα; Θεωρείτε πως η πολιτική σκηνή επικοινωνεί ό,τι θετικό γίνεται στον τόπο;
Η πολιτική σκήνη είναι αυτή που πρέπει να επικοινωνεί τι γίνεται, και κατά πόσο το έθνος πηγαίνει μπροστά. Ασχέτως αν αυτή την στιγμή η Βουλή είναι για γελοιογραφία-έπος.
Πολλά πράγματα είναι θέματα εξουσίας, στο πώς το βιώνει ένας ολόκληρος λαός το μέλλον της επόμενης μέρας και πώς βιώνει τις συμφωνίες που κάνουμε με το εξωτερικό. Ό,τι προσπάθεια γίνεται σε ιδιωτικό επίπεδο, μικρές επιχειρηματικές δράσεις, τα συνέδρια TEDx, νέα καλλιτεχνικά σχήματα, όλα υπέροχα – και πάλι έχουν να κάνουν με μικρές μεμονωμένες ομάδες. Βέβαια, αυτές οι δράσεις δε συμβάλλουν στο να αλλαξούν την ηθική και τις αξίες ενός λαού που έχει χάσει την μπάλα.
Στην ομιλία σου στο συνέδριο “Έλληνες: Aπό την κρίση στη διάκριση”, που έγινε πριν ένα μήνα στην Αθήνα, αναφερθήκατε στην απουσία νέων προσώπων. Ποια είναι η αφετηρία αυτής της αναφοράς;
Η απουσία νέων προσώπων είναι δισυπόστατη έννοια. Το νέο πρόσωπο μπορεί να είναι ένας νέος άνθρωπος, ηλικιακά, αλλά και ένα φρέσκο και άκαφτο προσώπο, με σαφή παραπομπή στο ποιοι ασκούν πολιτική στον τόπο. Ποιοι παίρνουν αποφάσεις; Ποιοι ασχολούνται με τα κοινά; Στα δικά μου μάτια, η απουσία νέων προσώπων είναι συνδυασμός πραγμάτων. Με αναφορά στην πολιτική, θεωρώ πως όλο το σκηνικό πρέπει να αλλάξει. Πρέπει να έρθουν νέοι άνθρωποι, ενδεχομένως από νεότερες γενιές – και δεν εννοώ άτομα του κομματικού μηχανισμού που πληρούν μόνο κριτήρια νεότητας ή οικογενειοκρατίας, κατ’ εικόνα και ομοίωση της αρχικής αρχηγικής ομάδας του κάθε κόμματος, ούτε ανθρώπους απλά γνωστούς από καλλιτεχνικούς ή αθλητικούς κύκλους. Θέλω να δω νέους ΑΥΤΟΦΩΤΟΥΣ, δυναμικούς, δημιουργικούς, εργαζόμενους και ΠΕΤΥΧΗΜΕΝΟΥΣ. Οι πιο μεγάλες γενιές μπορεί να έχουν πιο παροχημένες απόψεις, να είναι πιο κοντά σε αυτούς που πρεσβέυουν την πολιτική που ασκείται αυτή τη στιγμή στον τόπο μας. Ενδεχομένως να πρέπει να πλαισιωθεί η πολιτική και με ανθρώπους από το εξωτερικό που δεν έχουν προλάβει να μπουν σε αυτό το σύστημα και έχουν διατηρήσει το ήθος τους, φεύγοντας από την Ελλάδα, πρωτού προλάβουν να γίνουν γρανάζια του συστήματος και αυλικοί. Ανθρώπους που πέτυχαν με την αξία τους, αναγνωρίστηκαν και δεν έχουν ανάγκη από δεκανίκια για να σταθούν. Ανθρώπους που δεν θα παρακαλέσουν, αλλά θα κληθούν από την πολιτεία να βοηθήσουν. Αν βέβαια η πολιτεία θέλει να βοηθηθεί…
Τι χαρακτηρίζει τις συνθήκες για την πετυχημένη πορεία ενός νέου στο εξωτερικό και σε τι διαφέρουν από τις υπάρχουσες συνθήκες στην Ελλάδα;
Όσα συμβαίνουν στην Ελλάδα, συμβαίνουν και αλλού. Μην παρουσιάζουμε το έξω ως ιδανικό.
Εντούτοις έξω είναι διαφορετικά; είτε λόγω σπουδών, μεταπτυχιακών ή διδακτορικών, είτε ξεκινώντας την καριερά σου, γαλουχήσαι πλέον ως ενεργό κομμάτι μίας κοινωνίας που παράγει, βάσει των συνθηκών εκεί. Στο εξωτερικό έχεις πολύ πιο έντονο το αίσθημα δικαίου, αποπληρωμής του κόπου σου, της ιδέας σου. Στο εξωτερικό, ειδικά στο αγγλοσαξονικό σύστημα που ζω, η φρέσκια ιδέα πληρώνεται – αποκτά την αξία της στο βιογραφικό αλλά και στον κύκλο διασύνδεσης, κάτι που δεν γίνεται στην Ελλάδα. Ακόμα και νέους ανθρώπους με νέες ιδέες προσπαθούν να τους καπελώσουν μέσα στις μικρές αυλές που έχει η κάθε μορφή εξουσίας. Αυτό που θα έπρεπε να εισπράξει ο κάθε νέος ως πνευματική ιδιοκτησία (Intellectual Property) για την ιδέα του, μεταφέρεται ως ιδέα του μετριότατου που ηγείται και διαφεντεύει αυτή την αυλή, χάνει τη φρεσκάδα, γιατί δεν μεταφέρεται από τον εγκέφαλο που τη γέννησε. Αυτοί βέβαια οι εγκέφαλοι δεν χάνονται, φεύγουν στο εξωτερικό, όπου η ιδιοφυία επιβραβέβευεται και ακμάζει.
