by Day Waterbury, Consensual Ventures, USA

Abstract: In this participatory workshop/exploration we will begin from first principles and emerge with a rough outline for a Collaboration Stack for Global Self-Governance. We will identify certain features and functions it must have, and others which it must not have. We start with the goal of global healing and regeneration: Assuming a set of values or desired outcomes, we have to make sense of where we are and what dynamics are in play in order to make an actionable plan that will move us in the direction of those outcomes. This is a fundamental prerequisite of getting oriented before setting out on a journey. We take the lay of the land and find our north star and, as David Ehrlichman points out in Impact Networks, we "plan for emergence". We will absolutely run into unanticipated challenges and opportunities along the way, so this isn't about an exhaustive mapping exercise. The important thing is to begin, and the first step in beginning, is sensemaking. It isn't really linear because this is also an ongoing activity that is a part of every subsequent step along the way. We can feel the ground under our feet and we make adjustments as necessary, a little this way or that for mud or gravel or a root we just noticed. This is about being agile and ready to respond.