Meeting for a Sustainable ECA

Two questions:

1) Is 25 August deadline set in stone? :wink: I don't think I will be able to make up my mind by then - I just learned about this yesterday and would like to consider it carefuly because commons are important in what I do.

2) Is this going to be remote-ready event? By that I mean are you going to offer remote participation for people that can not travel or choose not to travel? Telepresence technolgy is not available on laptops, tablets and mobile phonse. All you need is people on team willing to enable and facilitate that + good broadband on site. I can share more information how to make that possible, if needed.

Hi Nenad. It would be good to have @fredericsultan's thoughts here. For 1) Yes we consider the deadline seriously just because there's alot of things for us to organize, however I think August 27 (so Sunday evening) is also reasonable and wouldn't delay anything! For 2) I don't think we were considering making it remote ready though we can discuss it. From my perspective we were hoping to have a productive and initmate working and ideas session and streaming etc. can often complicate things. But I'm interested to hear more of what you have in mind! I'm not sure the broadband on site is good enough, actually.

Thnx @nicoleleonard :) If broadband is not good on site then using mobile network WiFi on 3G / 4G LTE could be an option. Access to signal could be checked here: https://opensignal.com - and often WiFi router can be rented from local mobile providers or local commoners could help with that.

There's "Blended meetings and events" section in this guide that explains how it is done: https://medium.com/virtual-teams-for-systemic-change/virtual-team-quick-guide-95736861e4ab

I have two issues with in-person events: (1) high environmental and carbon footprint if long distance travel is required by lots of people and (2) excluding people that can not travel or choose not to travel for whatever reason to attend in-person event, even if now we have technology that enables fully interactive online participation (which is different from just broadcasting content in one-to-many fashion, to be clear). So my take is that in-person events need to become INCLUSIVE for remote participants by being designed as what we call a "blended" event - enabling both in-person and remote participation, side by side. That's what I call remote-ready.

UPDATE: For nominations so far I have: Nicole Leonard, Frederic Sultan, Ann Marie Urtel, Ana Margarida Esteves, Ismael SENE, Thomas de Groot, Timothy Flitcroft.

Considering: Jon Martin Pedersen and Nenad Maljkovic (as link between ECOLISE) and Ivor Stodolsky (timing might be tricky)

So, consider also recommending other people as representatives and especially women!

Am I missing anyone?

Sorry I didn't realize I had to voonteer on Loomio, and just did it by email on the list… So here I am: I'd be very happy to participate to the meeting as well.
Gaelle

Hi there, sorry for the delay for responding.
@nmaljkovic thanks for your coments.
Question 1: the deadline can be postponed for a few days as proposed by Nicole (27 of August) because it will not affect the preparation. The objective we have set is to define the list of participants before September 3 to enable us to finance travel at a reasonable and acceptable cost. It should be good @ivorstodolsky and @nmaljkovic if you want to confirm that you nominate yourself or not. And I will send a reminder on the discussion list.

Question 2: the on-site connection is sufficient to communicate with people remotely, but the logic of the meeting is to encourage a collective work on site. It is a work started at a distance for several months, and it will then continue after the meeting at distance and probably at Madrid too. At this time, the idea is to create good conditions for a small number of people who propose to contribute to ECA by devoting 3 days of their time to the design of ECA funding. I am sure we will be able to share the work online, but I will not be in favor of base the meeting on the online dimension.

What I suggested is blended event, not online, @fredericsultan - that means in-person and remote combined. But never mind, I'm not going to nominate myself this time because I'm not able to travel.

ok @nmaljkovic,I understand your point. I have not a lot of experience with strong methodology of blended event. Let see what can be done for include your proposal during the preparation.

I copy here the message send in the discussion list.

We are very close to the deadline set in the proposal of a Meeting for a Sustainable ECA launched mid-August (see following message and on Loomio thread: https://www.loomio.org/d/lXqS3xaf/meeting-for-a-sustainable-eca).

We have now 8 people that have nominate themselves (for 16 places) : Nicole Leonard, Frederic Sultan, Ann Marie Urtel, Ana Margarida Esteves, Ismael Sene, Thomas de Groot, Timothy Flitcroft and Gaelle Krikorian, with the gender balance 4/4.

We also have 2 people that expressed that they would like to participate but are not sure yet. So we propose to postpone the deadline for these two people to decide by a few days, until August 28, as it will not affect the process of preparation of the meeting.

The objective is to finalize the list of participants before September 3, to enable us 1) to finance travel at a reasonable and acceptable cost, and 2) to respect the principles of gender balance defined in the proposal.

Of course, we know that the deadline was short and that the period of August is not the best one to circulate this type of proposal, so please let us know by responding on the list of discussion or on the Loomio thread if you have any question or comment about the process.

Just received from @amandajansen

"I just requested access to this Loomio group. I may have been less active online lately, but do contribute to rather large commons trajectories. I'd like to nominate myself for participation in October if needed and required. "

Dear all, I guess I was the first to nominate myself (via email) but wonder if I still need to confirm my nomination here on Loomio ;) ...

you're good!

Hey guys.. Do I miss a form or a Google spreadsheet to see openly who has nominated his or herself and how the total is developing? Also do I miss an estimation of time minimally needed per person to be able to produce results afterwards? And something like a procedure or overview of what to expect? I am interested.. to nominate myself.

I am also keen but have the same questions as Amanda Jansen.

This email was sent out by @fredericsultan on Friday. Also, I'm adding a paper with the instructions (similar to what was posted above).

Dear all,

We are very close to the deadline set in the proposal of a Meeting for a Sustainable ECA launched mid-August (see following message and on Loomio thread: https://www.loomio.org/d/lXqS3xaf/meeting-for-a-sustainable-eca).

We have now 8 people that have nominate themselves (for 16 places) : Nicole Leonard, Frederic Sultan, Ann Marie Urtel, Ana Margarida Esteves, Ismael Sene, Thomas de Groot, Timothy Flitcroft and Gaelle Krikorian, with the gender balance 4/4.

We also have 2 people that expressed that they would like to participate but are not sure yet. So we propose to postpone the deadline for these two people to decide by a few days, until August 28, as it will not affect the process of preparation of the meeting.

The objective is to finalize the list of participants before September 3, to enable us 1) to finance travel at a reasonable and acceptable cost, and 2) to respect the principles of gender balance defined in the proposal.

Of course, we know that the deadline was short and that the period of August is not the best one to circulate this type of proposal, so please let us know by responding on the list of discussion or on the Loomio thread if you have any question or comment about the process.

Sincerely
Frédéric Sultan - Remix the Commons
Nicole Leonard

Dear all,
I nominate myself to take part in the meeting in Villarceaux for a sostainable ECA. II see the need for a plan for the management of ECA resources and financing and the importance that it is rooted in the values ​​of the commons and that it reflects the practices we defend.

I think we need more men.. in the team! Looking over the work package.

Hi, I will not be able to go to France in September, I am sorry!

Hi,
Finally, list of self nominated people for the meeting For A Sustainable ECA is the following :
* Nicole Leonard,
* Frederic Sultan,
* Ann Marie Urtel,
* Ana Margarida Esteves,
* Ismael Sene,
* Thomas de Groot,
* Timothy Flitcroft
* Gaelle Krikorian,
* Ivor Stodolsky
* David Hammerstein
* Cristina fiordimela
* Nonty Charity Sabic

The next steps will be to co-organize the logistic ( travel and accomodation) and define the workplan and methodology for the meeting itself. I will share more information and proposal at the beginning of next week.

Best

Hi, could I have more information of what will be required after the meeting, e.g how much time?

Hi Nonty, I think it's hard to give an exact answer on that since it depends what we come up with at the meeting! But there are no hard or fixed limits, it will be up to individuals to take on what works for them as follow-up. In general though, you would continue to participate in our conversation and work. At a minimum, this might mean participating in a follow up phone call, sending some emails, collaborating with another person to write something to send to the larger group.... In terms of time, I guess an hour or so a week for a couple weeks? What do you think @fredericsultan

Hi Nonty, yes, I agree with Nicole. It is hard to evaluate now. The idea is to be able to share the discussion and the results after the meeting at Villarceaux with the other people. So we have to define the method, tool and agenda, so as people can endorse commitments.

Hi @amandajansen
Discussing with @nicoleleonard , I realize that we have made a mistake in the list of nominees! we forgot to include you in the list when you had declared your interest the 25 of August on loomio. I am sorry for this mistake. Are you always interested and available to participate? Can we include you in the meeting ?
Again, sorry for that !!

Dear all, how will we organize transportation from the places where we currently are based to Villarceaux?

Hi Ana, the idea is to arrive for the lunch time at villarceaux. For that, people have to travel to Paris (airports or train station) in the morning and go to the station Cergy by RER (local train) in the north of suburb of Paris. Then, a shuttle will be organized. The return will be during the afternoon 5 of Oct.

Thanks, Frederic. Who will be responsible for booking the flights/trains? In case it will be the responsibility of each participants, will there be support to cover that expense?

Yes, the expenses will be covered and we have the choice for booking.

I take the opportunity of your question to share the last information on the organization we, Nicole and me, wanted to send here tonight or tomorrow :

As you can see in the initial proposal, a demand of financial supports was made at the end of July to the Fondation Terre Solidaire. The answer was at the beginning of August : yes in the principle, but because it is a very new fondation (less than 1 year), there is a process of validation by the council in September. I had a call yesterday with the fondation to know how it will work. The results are :

*The date of the council is the 22 of September.
*I have to send today an update of the initial demand in French and with more information on ECA.

*I have offered that Gazibo (the Coop and formal organization for Remix the commons) will bear the operation in the name of ECA and it is ok - and I hope it is also ok for all of us.

*The foundation will ask for a short report (activitiy/results/perspectives)

So, if we agree with this process, we will be able to book the tickets from the 22/09. It can be done by each participant or we can take that in charge. Meanwhile, we have to prepare the program of the meeting and share some information with the place (the Farm of Villarceaux) like diets or individual special requests.

I hope it helps to have a clearer view !

Yes, so to follow up on @fredericsultan 's comments, I have some things to add:

• We have started a folder here with some background info that is accessible to you on the ECA: http://laferme.wiki/stockage/index.php/s/bNBVS5BxDSqs1ax?path=%2FSustainable_ECA%2FResources_folder

You don't have to read everything, but it will help give a clearer idea especially to those newer to ECA. There is a full report on the first meeting of the ECA in Villarceaux in May 2016 and one after the Brussels meeting in 2017 (to skim, they are quite long). There is also the pdf of the Work Package document (unfinished). This was an attempt to consider a longer term vision for financing the ECA. It's also quite long, and we haven't edited it since June. There is also the ECA website europeancommonsassembly.eu where you can see our Call, working principles, and more content.

I have offered to write up a personal "Diagnostic Note" of what I see to be the currrent state of ECA governance and finance. It will be from my personal perspective so will not reflect any organization's views or that of the "ECA". I hope this note will be easy to digest for our purposes in Villarceaux in October.

I invite others who feel inspired to do the same, and will ask others who have been active in the ECA to do so if they wish.

We also need to consider together a process of work from now until Oct. 2, to define our program at Villarceaux. After a conversation tomorrow afternoon with Frederic, I'll come back with a proposal for this here.

Dietary restrictions:
Please, if you have dietary restrictions (vegan, gluten free, etc.) can you please announce them here? The food at Villarceaux is typically vegetarian by default. Thank you.

Dear all,

The support of the Foundation Terre Solidaire for the meeting Sustainable ECA is just confirmed.

Dear @nicoleleonard @annmarie @anamargaridaesteve @ismaelsene @thomasdegroot2 @timothyflitcroft @gaelle11 @ivorstodolsky @davidhammerstein @cristinafiordimela @nontycharitysabic @amandajansen, I invite you to confirme your availability and book your travel to Paris. You can buy your ticket immediately in the limit of 300 €. If the price is more, please join us, Nicole or me to make the decision.

More details for your travel are in the document attached. Please do not hésitate to ask for any questions regarding the travel and the meeting.

Thanks a lot for your commitment.
Fred

Hi Frederic

I have a couple of questions.

After the meeting is over what time can we expect to be back in Paris so we can book the return journey from there?

Do we take the train from Gare du Nord to Cergy as mentioned earlier in the thread or to Pontoise? Will there be a shuttle from there to Ferme de la Bergerie and also for the return journey?

Many Thanks

Tim Flitcroft

Hi Timothy

After the meeting is over what time can we expect to be back in Paris so we can book the return journey from there?

15/16:00
In case you need to be t Paris before, let us know.

Do we take the train from Gare du Nord to Cergy as mentioned earlier in the thread or to Pontoise?

Cergy-Pontoise is one station. You have to take the train station Gare du Nord (ligne H) to the terminus.

Will there be a shuttle from there to Ferme de la Bergerie and also for the return journey?

Yes, a shuttle will be organised depending at what time you will arrive.

Hi all, here is a document I wrote with my personal perspective on ECA governance funding and activities. It is just a starting base and the ideas need to be discussed and developed more. It would be good to hear feedback and start discussing here.

Frederic and I will also be meeting tomorrow and Paris and will come back with ideas of the program of the meeting. Looking forward to it.

Dear friends,
@nicoleleonard , @annmarie @ivorstodolsky @timothyflitcroft @anamargaridaesteve @amandajansen @ismaelsene @thomasdegroot1 @thomasdegroot2 @gaelle11 @davidhammerstein @cristinafiordimela @nontycharitysabic

With Nicole, we have prepared a proposal of programme for the meeting. It is mainly built on 2 times : one for opening the questions at stake such as : actions, infrastructures and principles we consider important for the future of the dynamic, and the second, for designing the scenario we will propose to the assembly to develop. For each slot of time, we will propose a facilitation adapted to the nature and size of thz group.

Some points to be considered :
* one of the challenges of the meeting is to elaborate a realistic and feasible proposal
* we want to produce and finalized the proposal mainly on the place

* we offer the possibility of a call for those who will not be there but want to contribute
* this moment is self-organized and self-facilitated, so we have to share the roles.

The proposal is accessible as attached document and at : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cJggJj8g4-lhRpAk_gOo6p5ISYWlP_2ddlJStjjeJoc/edit?usp=sharing

Please comment and improve !

Reminder : If you have not already sent the information for your travel, please do it asap. We need it to organze the shuttles from Pontoise to Villarceaux.

Many thanks in advance

Hi all, I'm having a look at the agenda and it looks well considered and thorough, thank you for your work. I would like to add one note of caution, though, that the length of the day, especially the first day, seems too long, at least for my own endurance. I'll be traveling since 5AM the morning of Monday the second (actually, traveling from the night before with just 5 hours sleep in Madrid). If it seems to anyone else that having scheduled time until 10PM may be too much, I'd suggest we try to address topics in an efficient way so we can be freer to discuss, get to know one another better and (unavoidably) work on our own projects in the after dinner hours.

I also have to say that much of my work is not covered by anyone, and by volunteering my time here I do not have the ability to put all of my own deadlines aside. Someday that would be wonderful, LOL! I hope this comment resonates with others because I think time for rest can't be forgotten, even in a tight schedule. Thanks!

P.S., the schedule doc is presently set to "view only", not set to edit

Notes here: https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/1/edit/OXehP4Vsl5GT1GtKLnCH3g/kCYxxD4+b4MSu8Kezp2vDEtF/

https://mensuel.framapad.org/p/EkvoBjSkzc

Hi Nicole,

Could you resend the cryptpad link? This one seems not working.. I am in Cryptpad now by making an account, but cannot access your link.

Amanda Jansen

https://about.me/amanda_jansen ( https://about.me/amanda_jansen?promo=email_sig&utm_source=product&utm_medium=email_sig&utm_campaign=gmail_api )

Hello everyone a brief note to augment my G-doc invitation to edit a doc of meeting notes from this event last week. If you could give any input by next Tuesday the 17th it would be helpful. Any questions please let me know. Thank you all.

Meeting notes doc

Thank you very much Ann-Marie. It's a great job.