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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You mention "</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>giving seeking, help giving and reflective
reframing</FONT>" but the diagram in your post says</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"help seeking" rather than "giving
seeking."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The idea of "giving seeking," even if inadvertent,
is pretty interesting: it imagines a community of good samaritans who, as you
note, tend to introduce themselves with their name and what they do, but also
with a question like, "What can I do for you?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Giving seeking" would typify creative collectives
where individuals are constantly volunteering interpretations, revisions and new
ideas. It would also be related to the <A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy#Examples_in_modern_culture">gift
economy</A> which we find especially in the cultural sector where incomes
are chronically low. (e.g. <A
href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~abbing/DOCeconomist/new_book.htm">Abbing</A>) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Giving seeking" would also confirm some of my
experience where "help seeking" didn't actually find a "help giver;" the
problem perhaps being that the project was not, or at least not
obviously, designed for collective participation or producing a collective
benefit. Giving seekers want to see everyone is rowing in the same
direction. Creative collectives want to focus on mutual giving, not
getting.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There is a pretty good summary of Hargadan and
Bechky's article here:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://beyondcreativity.blogs.com/mblog/2006/12/collective_crea.html">http://beyondcreativity.blogs.com/mblog/2006/12/collective_crea.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>cheers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert Labossiere</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=abdulrahman@advany.com
href="mailto:abdulrahman@advany.com">Abdul-Rahman Advany</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=idc@mailman.thing.net
href="mailto:idc@mailman.thing.net">idc@mailman.thing.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 26, 2007 8:38
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [iDC] The right questions for
creative collectives</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hi everyone,<BR><BR>I have been following this list for a long
time, someone suggested I contribute a post I recently wrote. Two days ago I
blogged about "The right questions for creative collectives" on <A
href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/the-right-questions-for-creative-collectives/">http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/the-right-questions-for-creative-collectives/</A>.
I would love your comments/suggestions to this approach of networking (lets
discuss it on this list, Ill post a link on the blog to this thread). <FONT
size=4><BR><BR style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">The
right questions for creative collectives</SPAN></FONT> <ABBR
title=2007-12-24T22:21:53+0000></ABBR>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><IMG alt=questioning.jpg
src="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/questioning.jpg"></P>
<P>One of the tools that make creative networking powerful is the way people
get to know each other by asking the right questions. When you don't know the
right stuff about people its very difficult to determine what you can ask them
and how you can help them (or how they can help you).<SPAN
id=more-23></SPAN></P>
<P>One of the articles I recently read on the topic of collective creativity
by <A href="http://atypon-link.com/INF/loi/orsc" target=_blank>Haragadon</A>
gave me a very clear insight into "creative networking" and the interaction
between people. Let me briefly explain a part of this model to emphasize my
point.</P>
<P>Haragadon mentions three behaviors, giving seeking, help giving and
reflective reframing. The first two behaviors matter a lot for creative
networking. People tend to work alone, and only together when teams are
formed. However this removes flexibility of people being involved, and thereby
reduces creativity. When you tell someone what you are doing or ask them help,
you inform them what you are involved in. When you give help or are involved
in a project you inform people of what you're good at. This information about
you travels by informal communication through your network.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG alt=haragadon.gif
src="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><A
href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif">http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif</A><BR></P>
<P><STRONG>What do you do?</STRONG><BR>The first think after their name most
people tell each other is what they do. I have even been told to prepare a
first line containing my name, current job/activities. For me this would be
"Hi, I am Abdul, Entrepreneur and researcher in the field of IT". However I am
a little hesitant to use this as I have a lot more roles in life then those
two, but sometimes I do.</P>
<P>Most of the time there is always room to ask someone what they do. Some can
describe it in couple of words while others need couple of minutes (or
sometimes people are unable to shut-up about what they do ;)). I sometimes ask
what a person does when someone joins a group conversation or approaches me
and looks like he feels uncomfortable.</P>
<P>Recently I forgot to ask some people what they did, it seems like such a
basic thing. But when you don't know how people fill most of their day, its
difficult to position them inside your network. And what kind of people you
can refer to them.</P>
<P><STRONG>What are you good at?</STRONG><BR>Looking at the model of
Haragadon, this question of "What are you good at?" falls right under the wing
of help seeking. By asking this question you will know when to approach this
person. And what kind of information this person might have.</P>
<P>I had until recently never met people who where good at discovering the
underlying cause of pretenses. The guy I met had a method of questioning to
find the reason behind pretenses. I helped him with some analysis of his
business idea and in return we explored some of the pretenses I had. In the
process of him telling me what he was good at and me experiencing it, it
established a very good feeling of who he was as a person.</P>
<P>I continued to ask people this question and found that I got the essential
information needed to learn what kind of people my network contained.
Currently I know what people are good at, I didn't know by only asking them
what they did. People have so much to offer then what they give at their daily
jobs.</P>
<P><STRONG>How can I help you?</STRONG><BR>Most of the people I know like to
help others, if its in a academic setting, corporate setting or if its just
what they like to do generally. However most of them ask for something in
return, a objective exchange of value from both sides. They are not
interesting in building social capital as a way of helping each other. Social
capital they can use later on because they know what other people are good
at.</P>
<P>Some people I mentioned in my <A
href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/a-new-way-of-creative-networking/"
target=_blank>previous post</A> work based on the concept of valuation
afterwards. They help other people, by giving away information and contacts.
They don't loose anything by giving away those two things. Sometimes they get
involved, and donate their time. By doing this they build a lot of social
capital and get the right information, from the right people and sometimes at
the right time. I will dedicate a post to this effect of networking on
information and on the principle of valuation afterwards.</P>
<P>Couple of weeks ago I met someone who informed me of her plans. I
immediately thought of connecting this person with the other person I spend
some time with. They are currently working together on some very interesting
things. After some time, a classmate of mine needed some info, I didn't
hesitate to ask this person for this information and got a response quickly. I
wonder if I could find an agency who could provide me with that information
that quickly, and they would probably charge my classmate a lot of money. And
only in this case I have build social capital at three sides, connecting two
people and giving one person information by asking the other.</P>
<P>There is one more reason to ask someone this basic question of how you can
help them. Its very difficult to get to know someone by only talking to them.
If you haven't worked together or don't know someone who has, you will only
know what someone tells you. In the years of working with people I have
discovered that you really get to know people when you or others you know
experience how the person in question interacts, what he delivers, what he
contributes, enc. Recently I met someone who seemed to be very knowledgeable,
but when working together I found out how little (s)he knew about the
practical application of her field of expertise.</P>
<P><EM>Dare to ask yourself</EM><BR>Helping people is good but you should also
ask for help yourself. Sometimes if you only tell what you are involved with
people will offer their help but its good to ask people for help because that
gives people time to provide it to you and return a favor. People are very
eager to help each other, don't forget that.</P>
<P><STRONG>The network effect</STRONG><BR>When you get people involved in your
network, they form a other powerful node that adds value to the entire
network. They spread around who you are in their network, they get to know you
by working with your network, and they form a bridge between networks and
making it a larger. Just read <A href="http://www.starfishandspider.com/"
target=_blank>The Starfish and the Spider</A>, great book by Ori Brafman and
Rod A. Beckstrom, to understand this effect in more detail.</P>--
<BR>Abdul-Rahman Advany <BR><BR>IM: <A
href="mailto:abdulrahman@advany.com">abdulrahman@advany.com</A><BR>W: <A
href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/">http://blog.socialbytes.com/</A><BR>Skype:
abdulrahmanadvany<BR>
<P>
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