Well, you don't always need a "project" that is designed for collective
participation or producting a collective benefit. You just need to
believe in people, like to help them, and trust that you will get
something in return (if its money or something else like
access/information). An couple of examples, recently I helped someone
figuring out some problems with her Mac, I didn't ask any money, didn't
even expect anything in return, but I know if I need something she will
try to help me (but I don't expect it, she might not want to help me).
<br><br>Its not always a community of good Samaritans, I am selfish, I
do expect that other people will help me (with contacts/information),
and in the end we will generate some commercial value. If you have
contacts, have the right information, and a stream of good ideas, why
not benefit from that? I am using that to launch some commercial
projects that hopefully will generate money. But I am not in the game
to generate commercial value, but I don't mind money being a product of
my labor (so money isn't my main factor in deciding in what things I
would like to get involved in).
<br><br>I think, for most people, who don't find a help giver, have a
different problem, they are not patient enough (you need to build
reputation, get known within the community) or are only in the
community for their own benefit. They want to invest the least amount
of time but still want to get the most value out of it. You may call it
selfish but its more then that, they people who are taught traditional
economic, and don't understand the value of reputation, informal
communication, power of networks, social capital, enc.
<br><br>Currently I am getting ton's of opportunities because I just
helped people without considering money as a "main" factor of the
equation. Are we that arrogant that we can know before hand what will
be the most fruitful venture? Are financials really a good indicator?
Why would anyone start with something like youtube, google is still
struggling to monetize it, if you would look at the financials? If you
use indicators like most MBA's do, you limit yourself unnecessarily.<br><br>ps. fixed the help seeking stuff :) thinking about your giving seeking arguments :)<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 12/26/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">
R Labossiere</b> <<a href="mailto:admin@klooj.net">admin@klooj.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<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" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">gift
economy</a> which we find especially in the cultural sector where incomes
are chronically low. (e.g. <a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Eabbing/DOCeconomist/new_book.htm" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;"><div><span class="e" id="q_1171832167bf767c_1">
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="background: rgb(228, 228, 228) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
<b>From:</b>
<a title="abdulrahman@advany.com" href="mailto:abdulrahman@advany.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Abdul-Rahman Advany</a> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>To:</b> <a title="idc@mailman.thing.net" href="mailto:idc@mailman.thing.net" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
idc@mailman.thing.net</a> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 26, 2007 8:38
AM</div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><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/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
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"></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></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" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">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" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">abdulrahman@advany.com</a><br>W: <a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://blog.socialbytes.com/</a><br>Skype:
abdulrahmanadvany<br>
</span></div><p>
</p><hr>
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