wonderwebby

Have you heard about narrative therapy before? I think it’s wonderful the way art and media can play a role in therapy, the way we express ourselves and communicate.
Joanna Young, who has a great blog with helpful writing advice, recently posted about MADaboutART
From their site:

MADaboutART’s HIV and empowerment programme for children and young people uses art-based and narrative therapy interventions and experiential learning to build knowledge, skills and confidence. We have established a purpose-built arts and education centre at our base in Nekkies, a township outside Knysna in the Western Cape of South Africa where we run after-schools MAD clubs where children aged 10 upwards can learn about HIV and AIDS and how to protect themselves in a fun and safe environment. We also undertake outreach work with affected and vulnerable populations, both directly and by training teachers and youth workers. We collaborate with libraries and art galleries to create HIV art competitions and community awareness exhibitions. We have just begun our first programme with pre-school children.

You can download Joanna’s Powerful Writing PDF (featuring a quote by yours truly) and make a donation to MadAbout Art on her blog post.

Storytelling is so powerful, isn’t it? So I wonder if blogging, tweeting and putting photos on Flickr counts as therapy?

I find it so inspiring when people:

• start to think beyond themselves and contribute to something greater
• think about ways to make technology make life better
• connect with one another
• learn something new
• enable others
• dream big dreams
• communicate something meaningful
• express something beautiful
• think beyond the everyday
• put purpose into action

It’s a good thing social media allows me to connect with other workplace idealists (and pragmatists and cynics) too!

What are the “ideals” that inspire you at work?

A 26 year old friend who had been running a business for five years while raising money for worthwhile causes around the world, found herself bankrupt after her business plans went awry. What did she do? She decided to volunteer in Uganda to assist at Watoto Baby Bullrushes home, to nurture children abandoned due to AIDS or other hardships - who are then placed in caring homes. She recently received some money to help with her own living expenses and immediately purchased 100 exercise books for school children who had none.

I’m glad to know people like Felicity. And I’m glad I can read about her adventures and comment on photos through her blog and Facebook.

Want to have an original poem written just for you by Matt Moore, see him perform it on YouTube and sponsor a business in the developing world?

Matt has a Kiva poetry auction going on. All you have to choose a topic and make a bid (as an individual or pool together as a group) on Matt’s site by March 31st. Bid here.

About Kiva. “Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. By choosing a loan on Kiva, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the entrepreneur you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.”

In true collaborative spirit, I have put my name forward to contribute to Gavin Heaton and Drew McClellan’s new book .

Last year they created Age of Conversation. They found 100 authors to contribute around 400 words about the subject of the book. 100% percent of the proceeds went to charity.

So, what is the topic of their new book? You can vote on it!

• Marketing Manifesto
• Why Don’t People Get It?
• My Marketing Tragedy (and what I learned)

To vote for a title, go to their SurveyMonkey survey: Click Here to take survey

There is also still time to put your name forward to contribute to the book. There are some basic rules for authorship:

• You will sign over all rights to your chapter
• You understand that all proceeds of the book will be donated to Variety, the Children’s Charity
• You will promote the book, throughout the process, on your blog if you have one
• You’ll embrace the cooperative, collaborative spirit that defined Age of Conversation
• You’ll honor deadlines so Drew does not have to be a nag
• You’ll honor word counts so Gavin doesn’t have to be a nag

I’m really looking forward to it! How about you?

How do you capture a virtual memory? How can you log a moment that happened in a virtual world?

A photo or machinima may capture the image, perhaps I would need to lifelog it to preserve the moment with tags; other snapshots; a real life image of myself at the computer; music playing on the day; links to the real life weather report; a recording of the sound in my home; a few notes about my thoughts on the day; a virtual time capsule of conversations that occurred on my screen.

As an example, a friendly avatar I met recently in AM Radio’s wheat field asked if she could take a photo. Sweet. She sent me the pic today.

The photo brought back the mood and memories of the moment, even tho we didn’t meet face to face or set foot on actual land. If you weren’t there, the photo wouldn’t really have any connection for you. It probably just looks like a cartoonlike postcard. No memories of conversation, sounds, atmosphere, lighting, mood etc. I felt like fairy floss in an Emo landscape.

The photo might give you a glimpse into that surreal moment, but I would really need a lifelog to tell the whole story online.

More amazing snaps of AM Radio’s field on Flickr. If you buy a copy of the field, all proceeds go towards Heifer International feeding the hungry.