Recording of CAN session Dec 7th + a CAN resource page

Thanks for the resources @Maria - and I would be interested in joining a development group. Will you start a new thread to scope out its purpose? Just for starters ... to explore, as a first phase, the assets and models that we have in this field. What do A/UK and members of this group know about the potential of CANs? Who else is in the field? In order to do that exploration we would need to consolidate our shared understanding of what we mean by a CAN. Your resources are a good start.

Hi all, thanks @Maria and @David. I'm keen to contribute to this.

Following on from David's "...we would need to consolidate our shared understanding of what we mean by a CAN" & "What do... (we) ...know about the potential of CANs?", I feel it might perhaps be helpful to do something like a visioning exercise, particularly focusing on the 'network' aspect. To ask ourselves some questions about both an individual CAN, but also any network of CANs.

Working backwards, these might be something like what's our vision of

1. a thriving and fruitful (network aspect of a) CAN?
2. a successful and effective support structure nurturing emergent networks, so that they are sustained particularly through the sustained involvement of citizens and community groups?
3. how can anyone who wants to help get going on developing a CAN find others similarly motivated, regardless of the kind of area they live in? So this is about including not just (conventionally viewed) 'deprived' areas, but also other areas where perhaps social capital is either thin on the ground, or perhaps just less acknowledged, let alone celebrated.

Thanks @Phil Green - really good scoping, and I'm tempted to add - but before going much further it would be helpful to know from @Maria and @Indra Adnan how much of a steer and resource there will be from A/UK central. Are we to be a self-organising development group, or is there an A/UK framework/agenda leading to a funding bid or whatever?

Following on from this I've done a slight rejig of CASwiki's Networks and UK networks pages

I would say the latter. We're in this together! Let's reconvene and plot.

Really great points @Phil Green and @David Wilcox. In a way the answers to your questions are all there in the work A/UK has already done but scattered around in the links at the top of the google doc. As I see it the job of a development group would be to gather, clarify and expand on this work and create something that clearly communicates what a CAN is, what its potential is etc.

Thanks Maria - good place to start. I'll dig around in the next few days

Ok, so following that line of thought for a minute... does any of the following brief sketch edge us any closer to the kind of thing we might want to co-create?

What if we could write something like:

The Citizens Action Network handbook (or manual)
A Citizens user guide, August 2021

If we wanted to set this up as a sort of book project to help with fundraising could we have it ready before Xmas 2021?

(sections to include)
1. Getting started
2. Ways of working - potentially a huge section, lots of subsections, in a way the core of the handbook
3. The road map to zero carbon for your own local community

What each CAN decides to work on is of course up to them, but potential other sections, viewed as a menu of possibilities:

4. Ecological restoration and the wonders of the natural world
5. Towards a democracy that works for people and planet
6. A fairer, kinder society
7. Towards an economy of abundance

Thanks @Phil Green - I really like the idea of a guide, handbook, manual.
As you have indicated, I think content could have two main perspectives: 1) how do we organise (getting started, ways of working) 2) what are the themes and outcomes we are addressing (ecological restoration, democracy etc).
If we go this route, I would favour developing the outline/framework further, and then animating co-creation by identifying some challenges to explore. These might turn into the howtos in the manual e.g.

• How can we get started in designing our CAN (with all the sub-challenges)?

• Who else is developing CANs nationally/globally and how can we get in touch?

• How can we find out who is doing what in our community?

• How might a CAN address ecological restoration (and other themes)?
  

That approach would help us to research existing resources, and engage people in developing the challenges. As the structured discussion, and editing, progressed, we should see communities of interest emerging.

I'm planning something similar around work in London networks - and with other communities like Coalville. We can choose whatever online tools are needed. Some would be synchronous get-togethers ... e.g. Zoom and Whiteboards ... others asynchronous discussion and learning ... others for content curation (wikis etc)

It's a bit early to jump to tools, but in case of interest, on the discussion and learning front I'm planning to work with https://sutra.co/ and on collaborative resource curation I really like https://wakelet.com/. In building a network of CANs https://www.hylo.com/ looks really attractive.

@Maria @Indra Adnan - should we develop these ideas on our call next Monday?
If you want input on something more specific, I'm developing stuff on how use network and asset maps in building communities and networks.

Yes!
Would you like to sketch out an agenda for the call and we’ll send it out with our co-creators invite?