wonderwebby

Thanks For All The Lentils

Published November 25, 2009 inspiration , non profit , recipe 1 Comment
Tags: fakes, lentil soup, recipe, social media, tweetsgiving

Tonight we had lentil soup for dinner. I don’t always remember to make it, but every now and then life gets so busy that the simplest meal seems to be the best choice. Incredibly, the kids love it and go for seconds and thirds. Simple. Delicious. Easy. Soup.

So here’s to being grateful for the simple things. To keeping things uncomplicated and savouring the Everyday. You might not like lentil soup, but you might have other reminders around you of flavour to be found in the simple things. A tune played on the piano. Or a moment in time (thanks Euan!).

Even an unsophisticated looking Banraku puppet’s evolution of dance changes the way that I’m going to remember the dance we have seen a million times on Facebook (thanks Kayt for sharing in your Google reader!)

Of course, I can’t write something about lentil soup without a reference to Neil. Or without providing a recipe, so here goes Wonderwebby’s Lentil Soup (also known as φακές or fah-kes ) :

Wash and clean 500 grams of green lentils. Boil in plenty of water then once they have come to a rolling boil, drain off the water. Add new water into the saucepan and continue to cook the lentils with 1 diced onion, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 cups of passata di pomodoro(tomato puree), salt and pepper. I like to add some vegetarian chicken flavoured stock. Simmer for half an hour or until cooked. If you like, add a dash of balsamic vinegar to serve.

Do you like to get back to basics sometimes? What’s your version of “lentil soup” to remind you of the simple things? I’d love to know!

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit the TweetsGiving site to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

Tweetsgiving Shapes Up

Published November 24, 2009 non profit , social media marketing Leave a Comment

Social Media makes it so easy for people around the world to make a difference. People like me, a part time working mum. And people just like you. Physical barriers are removed and social networks kick in for good causes.

Over the next two days I’ll be enjoying Tweetsgiving with thousands of people around the world and you can too. It begins 24th Nov 12 noon EST (that’s very early Melbourne time) and runs for 2 days. I saw @MamaLucy share some of the heartwarming stories from a school in Tanzania reaping the rewards of last year’s fundraiser. There was a beautiful sense of community spirit behind the work of Epic Change and plenty of excitement about this year’s Tweetsgiving.

Tweetsgiving Ustream crowd cheers on Mama Lucy

This year the organisers are asking everyone to share thanks and gratitude over the next 48hours on Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and any space you can find on the web!! Find out more on their website. You can even help by simply adding a Turkey to your Avatar!

It’s an opportunity to thank people you know, and reflect on things you’re truly grateful for. As @meshugavi said earlier today, bring your heart, put yourself out there, be vulnerable. It’s kind of refreshing, don’t you think?

If you’re in Melbourne you can also come along to an event on Thurs 26th from 7.30pm, thanks to some amazing people (thank you thank you thank you people because I couldn’t have organised a Melbourne event in-between work and cooking for three hungry boys!) Major hat tip and bow to@sammutimer @lukegrange @celiaprosser @ttam and @mr_billiam for getting this party started!

Events in Canberra and Sydney are also planned and plenty of others all around the world.

RSVP for Melbourne and let people know you are coming: http://tweetupmellers.info/attendance/and you can also be in the running for a door prize:

A thanksgiving TURKEY (plucked and prepped in the form of a $100 ColesOnline Voucher) up for grabs as our door prize on the night, thanks to @colesonline!
A $100 Reward Yourself Card from Incentive House http://rewardyourself.com.au/ which you can spend at a leading retailer in Melbourne including Freedom, Dymocks or Sanity (read more http://bit.ly/163Mo9)
A $100 consultation with Day to Day Lifestyle PA

Brent Masters is planning to be there, and with a little assistance from @marigo will be taking some short videos of people talking about Gratitude to put up onYouTube. Tweetsgiving also have a number of other Gratitude party ideas for the night if you want to help out!

It amazes me to think these events just happened as tweets were sent around the world. I’m so grateful for generous people! How will you celebrate Tweetsgiving?

Jim’s Mo

Published November 17, 2009 non profit Leave a Comment
Tags: coffee minded, movember

As you might have gathered from the disturbing amount of facial hair gracing our streets and Twitter avatars, it’s Movember and loads of people I know are growing moustaches to raise funds for men’s health. Last week I noticed Jim from Coffee Minded at Southbank had a mo, and asked him if he was growing it for Movember.

If you know Jim, he always has a smile for his customers and serves a mean $1 raisin toast along with the joke of the day. But on this occasion he admitted that ONLY HIS FAMILY had donated so far because he didn’t want his customers to feel pressured. So Jim I found your page and now I’m outing your MOVEMBER! If you know Jim and like his coffee, why not surprise him by donating to a good cause

Image originally uploaded by Lady in the Radiator

Tweetsgiving in Melbourne!

Published November 4, 2009 non profit Leave a Comment
Tags: melbourne, tweetsgiving

Guess what? Tweetsgiving in Melbourne is happening!

We will be raising funds for this amazing global event and celebrating on November 26th. Tweetsgiving Funds will “benefit the school, where a dormitory/orphanage, library, school cafeteria and additional classrooms are much needed. In addition, TweetsGiving 2009 seeks to fund new Epic Change partners and fellows in other parts of the world. Beginning in 2010, we’ll be looking for changemakers and social entrepreneurs like Mama Lucy who are transforming their own communities in remarkable ways, who could benefit from substantive investment and enhanced visibility to expand their efforts, and who have inspirational stories of hope that have the power to change our preconceptions of what is possible.”

What are you grateful for?

Tell us what you’re grateful for, donate to this good cause and if you’re in Melbourne come along to The Social in Windsor for a fun night and celebrate Tweetsgiving with us!

Edit: Canberra event details here. Sydney event TBC!

Nancy White comes to town

Published October 27, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: australia, collaboration, digital habitats, matt moore, nancy white, online communities, workshop

A couple of years ago Andy “social bridgebuilder” Piper introduced me to Matt “collaboration seeker” Moore on Twitter. Since then I’ve also met Matt a couple of times on his visits to Melbourne and recently sent him a note about some upcoming workshops he is organising with Nancy “community champion” White. Matt answered my questions about these events around Australia and now I can share them with you!

“Nancy & I met first online when we did a podcast around “blended communities” with Ed Mitchell (from the UK) and then F2F in Seattle last year.” Matt has seen the need for a workshop focusing on online communities emerge as the topic surfaced in many different areas over the last 12 months, including learning, marketing and government.

Nancy White recently finished a book with Etienne Wenger & John D Smith called “Digital Habitats. Matt explains that people attending the workshops can expect “practical tools to help them with online community management, based on many collective decades of experience from Nancy, Etienne, John & others. They’ll get a workshop session that will practice what it preaches in terms of interactivity & blended technology use. And finally, well, Nancy is a live wire – there will not be one dull moment (promise). ” (I believe you Matt, Nancy is on my “must meet in real life” list, especially after her inspiring contribution to WorldShapers pp 41-43)

Nancy White

Nancy White also shared what she hopes people will get out of the workshops. ” I’ll offer some of the frameworks we developed in the book – which have particular application I believe for work based groups, communities of practice and virtual teams.”

“I’d also like to put on the table some of the emerging distinctions between online group facilitation and something that, for lack of a better word, I’d describe as network facilitation, which in fact is new and emerging.”

If you’re interested in attending one of Nancy White’s workshops in Australia this November, check out the time and dates over on Innotecture’s blog. As somone who has experienced both the positive and more challenging aspects of participating in and moderating online communities, I’m really looking forward to joining in with her Melbourne workshop!

The Amber Veil

Published October 19, 2009 motherhood , photography Leave a Comment
Tags: byron bay, dust, dust storm, NSW

In September we spent a week along the lovely beaches of the Northern New South Wales coast of Australia. One sunny morning we woke to news of a severe dust storm hitting Sydney. The Harbour Bridge was back-lit with a spectacular red sky, flights were canceled and reporters covered their faces with handkerchiefs to report the scenes. It was only few hours later while we enjoyed a lazy barbecue brunch outside, and I was planning an afternoon with the family at the beach for our last day in Byron Bay that we noticed a smoky brown haze on the horizon. Now, Sydney is a whole day’s drive away from Byron Bay, but I still wondered if the massive plume of dust might be headed our way.

And so, not too long after washing the dishes from brunch we shut all the doors and windows , settled inside and watched the sky turn amber. I took my cameras down to the beach (why didn’t I take video?!) and soaked in the moment.

The smell of dust filled my nostrils and everything seemed so intense. Okay, it was just a dust storm, but it was incredible seeing the environment we had enjoyed over the last week suddenly change colour, intensity and mood.

The dust filtered our vision so that the only colour we could see outside was a murky, muddy, amber haze. It hovered like a veil covering the larger waves of the ocean and the horizon was no longer a clear blue line in the distance, but a suggestion of what lay beyond. Cape Byron was also masked by the dust which surrounded me. You couldn’t feel the dust particles land on your skin, but the air felt dense like it does on a muggy day. I couldn’t see anyone else on the beach and while I stood in awe, I sensed the dust was now beginning to coat my hair, my eyes and my tastebuds. After soaking in the moment one more time and taking a few quick snaps I walked back briskly through the rainforest to spend the next 12 hours inside with the family playing games and watching movies (rather than wading in the shallows of the ocean under a sunny blue sky as we had planned!)

Anyway, I know this post goes on a little, but I just wanted to share this moment and some photos from before, during and after this very strange day. The colours change a little as some were taken on my iPhone, but you get the idea!

Have you ever witnessed your environment changing before your eyes? I’d love to read about your experience!

Emotional Intelligence meets Social Media

Published October 15, 2009 social media marketing 2 Comments
Tags: EI, emotional intelligence, knowledge solutions, microblogging, social media, study, twitter

Just because I thought you might like to join in this study, which has been extended to November 5th 2009 concludes October 25th, please take a peek…

In their own words (from the delightful @celiaprosser and @lukegrange) :

“Knowledge Solutions together with its research partner, The Australian Brain Sciences Institute at Swinburne University are conducting a groundbreaking study. We want to look at the link between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and effective communication using Online Social Media tools such as Twitter and Yammer.

This is an international study so join in. Become a fan on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ydeuno7 or take a look in more detail at the project at http://tinyurl.com/yzgxyws

We have focussed on effective communication in the concept of microblogging [eg Twitter] as this is the closest form to flow of conscious thought”….”there has not been a tool that has connected so many people so rapidly in the history of communication. Microblogging has also been recognized as being as the most emerging trend for use in business.

The Study: What we want to discover is whether there is a correlation between Social Media usage and skills in Emotional Intelligence and therefore how this affects our behaviour online. We know that EI can be defined as a set of skills which demonstrates how often we perceive, understand, reason with, and manage our own and others’ feelings, emotions and mood states and that this can transform entire companies when applied to all levels and roles. It can also be used to improve individual business functions such as leadership, accountability, sales, and customer service.

What we don’t know, however, is how this links to effective communication online and because there is such an astronomical move to more and more business being done through Twitter we want to know what this means for our ability to communicate and do business – as humans! We are reaching out to you to join us in making the Web more human!

If you create an account on the Knowledge Solutions site ( http://tinyurl.com/yahyt7f ) you will automatically be part of the survey and until the 5th of November be given access to edit the Wiki to help steer it in the right direction.”

Want a Big Aussie Tweetup for Tweetsgiving ‘09?

Published October 8, 2009 non profit 5 Comments
Tags: australia, epic change, mama lucy, orphanage, school, tanzania, tweetsgiving, tweetup

Are you interested in making a difference? Here’s a great idea care of @staceymonk and @meshugavi. Simply turn your end of November Tweetup into an extra special “gratitude event” and help build a classroom and orphanage in Tanzania!

Last year people around the world joined in #Tweetsgiving and helped to raise $11,000 US in less than 48 hours online for nonprofit Epic Change. The funds raised from the last TweetsGiving have now built a classroom in Tanzania where the Twitter handles of donors are painted on the walls!

Epic Change helped a woman called “Mama Lucy”Kamptoni. Mama Lucy once sold chickens, and from what little money she earned built a school near her home in Arusha, Tanzania. She started in 2003 on rented land with only 6 students, and has now built a school that serves over 350 local kids. Last year, the school participated in national exams in Tanzania for the very first time, scoring #1 in the Arusha district, ahead of 116 other schools, including some internationally led with millions in funding.

From Tanzania, Stacey Monk writes,

“The funds raised this year will be used for a dormitory/orphanage, an additional classroom for students to move into Class 7 (the school doesn’t have enough classrooms to have a Class 7 today), as well as the school’s first library and cafeteria. The school has now grown to over 350 local students ages 3-13, and these new facilities are much needed.

We hope that money raised during TweetsGiving will help us find and fund new Epic Change partners and fellows in other parts of the world. Beginning in 2010, our current plan is to begin searching for additional changemakers and social entrepreneurs like Mama Lucy who are transforming their own communities in remarkable ways. We believe there are remarkable people like her who create hope in all parts of the world – and at Epic Change, we intend to invest in their efforts.”

You can continue to donate online and this year you can even help by throwing a gratitude party/Tweetup on November 24th or 25th. From the event details page “Organizers also reach out to local businesses who are willing to make cash or in-kind donations of venue, food, music, and other resources to make your event a success. Epic Change will facilitate online ticket purchase and promote your event on the TweetsGiving community website.

We simply ask that every party provide an opportunity for guests to celebrate and express their gratitude – whether it be for one another, members of your community or unheralded changemakers in the world at large.”

This is where YOU come into the picture. While I’d love to see this happen, Tweetsgiving needs your help. The organisers are leaving it up to each party in each city to come up with a gratitude event idea “You can plan an art project, a concert, an act of guerrilla goodness, a letter writing station, a novel way of highlighting the work of a local changemaker, or something else entirely – we’ll share our ideas with you soon and we can’t wait to see the joyful ideas you all dream up!”

If you have an idea, or would like to be involved in organising a Tweetsgiving event in Australia (or anywhere else) please leave a comment so we can talk about ideas together or get in touch with the Tweetsgiving organisers directly.

Will you join in to create a Big Aussie Tweetup?

Images used with permission by Epic Change

	wonderwebby on Changing the World Through Car…
	Andrew on Changing the World Through Car…
	Changing the World T… on About Wonderwebby
	Ching Ya on Thanks For All The Lentil…
	Shampa on Emotional Intelligence meets S…
	ileaneb on Emotional Intelligence meets S…
	ileaneb on Social Media for a Smarter…

wonderwebby

Jim’s Mo

Tweetsgiving in Melbourne!

Guess what? Tweetsgiving in Melbourne is happening!

Nancy White comes to town

The Amber Veil

Want a Big Aussie Tweetup for Tweetsgiving ‘09?

We simply ask that every party provide an opportunity for guests to celebrate and express their gratitude – whether it be for one another, members of your community or unheralded changemakers in the world at large.”

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