Community Indicators: Orton Family Foundation Heart & Soul Photo Contest

I’ve written for years about community indicators. From the Orton Family Foundation comes a nice reification of visual community indicators – photos of our communities. You might want to enter some photos of your community. Or collect those contributed via Flickr as a great indicator of YOUR community.

Orton Family Foundation Heart & Soul Photo Contest

There’s something special about every community—the corner barbershop on Main Street, acres of wilderness, busy local shops, a striking shoreline, lively gathering places and deep-rooted traditions. That character is why people love their towns, it’s why they live there, and it’s also increasingly in danger.

BiddoRochambeau_260x400.jpgEnter the Orton Family Foundation’s first Heart & Soul Photo Contest and help us and citizens of small cities and towns across the country celebrate, nurture and revive community heart and soul—the special cultures, landscapes, economies, traditions and values that make places unique.

    1. Take a photo that captures the heart and soul of a community you love.
    2. Fill out the contest entry form.
    3. Upload up to 5 photos to Flickr and post them to the Community Heart & Soul Photo Contest Group.
    4. Tell your friends, visit often to see new photos, and come back in January to vote for the winners.

The entry period is open from November 5, 2009 until January 5, 2010. Finalists will be announced in late January, followed by public voting to choose the winners. The First Prize winner will receive a Flip minoHD camcorder, and two runners up will receive gift certificates to B&H Photo/Video. All finalists and winners will be showcased on our website and in the Heart & Soul gallery at the COMMUNITYMATTERS10 Conference to be held in Denver, Colorado, October 5th through 7th, 2010.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sending out a little bit of enjoyment as I take time off to celebrate the US Thanksgiving Holiday.  My thanks to all of you who are my known and unknown colleagues, friends and network connections. (I’m a Muppets fan, so this is apt – and going around the net these days!)

Pear & Cranberry Chutney from my Recipe Circle

Pear & Cranberry ChutneyPer many Twitter requests…. Happy Thanksgiving (US holiday, but spirit is universal).

Pear & Cranberry Chutney – Recipe Circle | Google Groups
From: Gifts from the Kitchen, Williams Sonoma Kitchen Library

2 cups (14 oz/40g) firmly packed golden brown sugar
3/4 cu (3 oz/90g) dried cranberries
1/2 cup (4fl oz/125 mil) orange juice
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/75g) minced shallot (I’ve also used red onion)
3 tablespoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I’ve also improvised with other yummy spices like star anise)
3/8 teaspoon read pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lob (500 g) pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dice
4 cups (1 lb/500g) fresh or frozen cranberries

In a heavy non aluminm saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar,  dried cranberries, orange juice, shallot, ginger, vinegar, orange juice, shallot, ginger, vinegar, orange zest, cinnamon, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pears are tender, about 10 minutes.

Increase  the heat to medium high. Add the fresh or frozen cranberries and boil, stirring frequently, until they begin to burst, about 5 minutes.

(the rest is canning directions — you don’t need that do you? I  freeze whatever isn’t scarfed up. Much easier!)

Pretty chutney

Communities of practice: Linking knowledge, policy and practice

From theother66 on Flickr - thanks Allison!Communities of practice: Linking knowledge, policy and practice – is a paper that Simon Hearn from the Overseas Development Institute and I have been puttering on for quite some months. Now it emerges from the editing process at last. (Funny how so many writing projects in my life take so long. Maybe that’s why I like blogging!

The knowledge gained by research is often trapped at the point of origin, caught in the language of research, or simply isolated from those who actually apply that knowledge – the practitioners in the field. Likewise, tacit knowledge from the field rarely reaches the researchers or those making decisions. More effective bridges between knowledge, policy and practice are needed, with communities of practice (CoPs) well positioned to do just that.

This paper describes the basic characteristics of CoPs and provides a rationale for their growing importance in international development. It also suggests some ways in which CoPs can be supported by development agencies, research institutes and donors to strengthen the linkages between knowledge, policy and practice.

Published by ODI.

Communities of Practice: linking knowledge, policy and practice PDF

Photo Credit:

cc on Flickr, Uploaded on February 10, 2009
by theother66

I CAN pronouce Mooloolaba

From theother66 on Flickr, creative commonsThe last leg of my Australian adventure took me north to the Queensland beach town of Mooloolaba. I had been practicing my pronounciation so I would not mess up. Again. Last year I presented via video to the Learning Technologies 2008 conference. This year (Learning Technologies 2009 or Twitter tag #lt2009) I got to be there in the flesh and I wanted to get it right. MOO – LOO – LA – BAH with equal emphasis on all the syllables!

On Wednesday I ran a half day workshop on Technology Stewardship. (As promised, the slides are here.) It was a pleasure to hang out with Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Claire Bray, Paul Doherty, Jay Mair, BronwynDavies, Billy Ramadas, Gillian Smith, Alison Bickford, Colin Warren , and Mary McVay. We explored their own technology stewardship in their communities with the Spidergram exercise, some playing around with the Social Media game cards and conversations about our work. The afternoon flew by.

Digital Habitats Nov09 Frameworks

View more presentations from Nancy White.

Then we retired to the Mooloolaba Surf Club for the official opening cocktail party. Surf Clubs are an important part of Australian coast culture and it was fun to get a peek inside of the place where all the volunteer lifeguards hang out, as well as a critical community center.

The conference proper was Thursday and Friday. I helped kick off Thursday with the keynote, “Me, We and the Network,” where I continued on my theme about the importance of having a line of sight to the full range of learning contexts – individual learning, group or community (bounded), and the wider, free-ranging network environment. In the middle of the talk, I tapped the group in the room to help me sing happy birthday to Larry, since I would miss his birthday on the 21st. They did a brilliant job!

Me Weand Everyone Nov09 Learning Technologies conference

View more presentations from Nancy White.

Tweetclace While in Mooloolaba and surrounding area, I did a little shopping, including a Tweetclace! Bronwyn Stuckey (@Bronst), Joyce Seitzinger (@catspyjamasnz) and I went to the Eumondi markets and I, um, supported the local economy!