Patrick:

Once again, I'd like to thank you for your post, and the list of resources you included, and make a few comments on some of your suggestions.

Laptop copies is simple, elegant, excellent

but you need to have two (geographically dispersed) archivists making sure the historical record is preserved; it is amazing how often an earlier version of something is useful in performing some later task, or answering some necessary question.

Flexible scheduling, and indeed never coming into the office, are terrific suggestions to the extent that they don't cut into other functions

like the water cooler conversation, which is where the knowledge management folks tell us the all important "tacit knowledge" is passed on. Which brings me to..

E-meetings. The thing here is that the quality and affordances of the software will have a huge impact on how much can be done "teaming at a distance". There are some fine software offerings out there which can make all the difference

but different folks need different affordances, and (as with a digital equivalent of the water cooler) some of them may not be apparent until you experience their loss.

David Wooley keeps a superb list of different software approaches and their affordances at:

http://thinkofit.com/webconf/index.htm

and

http://thinkofit.com/webconf/workspaces.htm

[ As for event food that is organic, fair trade and locally grown and prepared, just make sure you send me an invitation! ]

*

Actually, I'd like to take this a step further, but i don't want to interrupt the flow of conversation on eco-sustainability, so I'll hold off in this post, and make my suggestion in another, follwoing hot on the heels of this one.

Hellow again:

I'm always inclined to extrapolate out from a good idea (tm) to see if there's a "general case" or wider application, and your idea here strikes me as one of those good ideas (tm) indeed. So let's take this a step further. It's this comment:

QUOTE:

Use drinks produced by Social Enterprises, such as Adina Worldbeat juices, and organic wines from wineries like Frey Vineyards

:UNQUOTE

that I'm spring-boarding from here, leaping to my "general case" idea.

I wonder whether we could create a "ring" of social entrepreneurial ventures, each of which agrees to incorporate the best products and practices of each of the others as appropriate. So it's not just "can you make sure your social endeavor is eco-friendly" but "how many other social projects can we incorporate in our platform on a basis that's group-reciprocal", by which I mean, giving preference to the tools, services, suggestions and products of other group members whenever practicable.. ?

What I'm looking for here, I suppose, is a voluntary ecology of social entrepreneurs, with membership providing both advertising to, and a catalog of options available from, other members.

Does that seem like a possibility?

*

And now back to our major topic here, ecological sustainability...

But first the environmental impact as I recall violating the rules governing workplaces last year but turning off the heating. I could do that, only I work here. Turning a for profit business into a social enterprise revenue stream posed some problems which drove my own little bit of innovation. I could avoid having a fixed premises by deploying a VOIP service which could route support calls to wherever in the world I needed to be, without needing expensive cellphone contact. A web based helpdesk would augment the service and also route to wherever I wanted to pick them up, I could route my incoming VOIP into the helpdesk to have messages forwarded to me as .WAV files.

So I've got that sorted out. Now for the SE "rings". Well they exist, I'm subscribed to two of them at least and I can tell you that as a social business I have had not had one enquiry from these trade directories. As a ICT services business in a world pleading for these kinds of skills it is somewhat surprising. This in the United Kingdom, with it's wholesale endorsement of SE.

I'd go further, to say that some are actively working against us, preaching the SE cause while at the same time delaying payment, to us, the social enterprise supplier.

Today I'm reminded of being chilled, the cashflow crisis at the time of publishing "Death Camps for Children" about the way in which disabled children in Eastern Europe are rendered human disposables. A year later, now with the interest of a media company, we haven't got fare to go and meet them.

I can remember when first the story broke, having a newspaper group as a customer. At the time, they were happy enough with the service, but pretty slow in paying for it. Yet there they were, in the pulpit at a national social enterprise conference. I couldn't go without any income and my social enterprise didn't arouse their interest.

Worse still are government organisations. I'm owed by two of them right now, who've now reached a year without paying. One is involved in international aid itself, and sponsors a social entrepreneur network. Though I write and point out that paying us would go down better than being invited to conferences we can't afford to attend, there's no answer.

Not all government ignores us, fortunately. Our microeconomic strategy paper having been with Ukraine's government for the past year. So far they've announced 2 major components, a network of rehabilitation centres and a national scale adoption programme.

Now back to that newspaper. If I'd know they were interested in international development, we could have helped. After all the project our founder sourced in Russia returned a pretty healthy microfinance project over 5 years. Shock and surprise, they're doing one of their own now and asking for collaboration.

Collaboration that is, in terms of making a donation.

Rings there may be, but not for the individual with a "be the change" inclination.

Jeff:

QUOTE: But first the environmental impact as I recall violating the rules governing workplaces last year but turning off the heating. I could do that, only I work here. Turning a for profit business into a social enterprise revenue stream posed some problems which drove my own little bit of innovation. I could avoid having a fixed premises by deploying a VOIP service which could route support calls to wherever in the world I needed to be, without needing expensive cellphone contact. A web based helpdesk would augment the service and also route to wherever I wanted to pick them up, I could route my incoming VOIP into the helpdesk to have messages forwarded to me as .WAV files. :UNQUOTE

A one man powerhouse, eh? Thanks for keeping to Patrick's topic, I feel a bit guilty for a post that may have somewhat derailed it byt bringing up the idea of "rings". On which topic...

QUOTE: Now for the SE "rings". Well they exist, I'm subscribed to two of them at least and I can tell you that as a social business I have had not had one enquiry from these trade directories. As a ICT services business in a world pleading for these kinds of skills it is somewhat surprising. This in the United Kingdom, with it's wholesale endorsement of SE.

I'd go further, to say that some are actively working against us, preaching the SE cause while at the same time delaying payment, to us, the social enterprise supplier. :UNQUOTE

That's chilling. I think I need to back up a bit, and say that there are no doubt at times good reasons why one SE venture doesn't "intersect" with another, and here I'm thinking mainly of shortage of time and number of plates to be kept in the air. But I'm also getting the feeling that we don't have the kind of friends [almost family] network that is possible, particularly now that we have a common digital meetingplace here at SE.

I'm hoping to make a push in the direction of more communication, more networking and eventually the building of a reliance net shortly.

In the meantime, my hat's off to you.

I'm sorry, I used the same acronym with two meanings in that last post.

Please read the paragraph is question as saying:

That's chilling. I think I need to back up a bit, and say that there are no doubt at times good reasons why one social entrepreneurial venture doesn't "intersect" with another, and here I'm thinking mainly of shortage of time and number of plates to be kept in the air. But I'm also getting the feeling that we don't have the kind of friends [almost family] network that is possible, particularly now that we have a common digital meetingplace here at SocialEdge.

Dear Patrick,

I have been moved by your topics on the forum

first because we are a fair trade org. and secondly our producers , produce handcraft and farm produce , using materials that are environmentally friendly , natural ,common and replenishable.

The possibility is we create a ring of eco-friendly producers ventures and incorperate .This will enable social entrepreneurs from developping countries to interact with buyers directly through our membership.This is a way forward.

Fair Trade Tours in Highland and Lowland Cameroon Community Based Tourism network Cameroon .

NDOPCRAFT is a non government , apolitical and not for profit making fair trade organisation based in Cameroon.

The main objective of NDOPCRAFT is to improve the welbeing and safegaurd the livelihood of marginalised artisans and farmers in rural communities.Whereby producers within the informal sector receive just rewards for the efforts and products.By providing professional and non - exploitative marketing,Responsible and eco-tourism to benefit host communities.

This Fair Trade organisation pending IFAT membership (federation of producers and "alternative" trading organizations) but signitories of the IFAT Code of practice, organises Fair Trade Tours through Highland and Lowland Cameroon. Tourists will live and share the everyday day of rural producer communities, they will learn first hand local handicraft and farming techniques. They will be able as well to visit historical sites and natural conservation areas while joining projects for sustainable development. Price range: medium.

Activities: Bird watching , Wild animal watching , Guided tour .Village experiences, Safaris, Beach, Mountaineering. They operate as well a fair trade handcraft shop at the Artisanal Central Douala where tourists and wholesale buyers of handcrafts are welcome. Client(s) welcomed: Small group (4-8) , Individuals . Target groups: volunteers , teenagers/ students , singles , couples , families with children , seniors .

Accommodation and services

Type(s) of accommodation: Small scale lodging (B&B, farm, guesthouse) hotel.

Sustainability aspects

This Fair Trade organisation is pending IFAT membership. They hope their Advocacy and Campaigns activities pictures, on Trade Justice, IFAT GLOBAL JOURNEY in Cameroon, will be of great advantage to encourage people support or join their campaigns and Advocacy activities.

Nature protection: Support to nature conservation initiatives . Mobility: Luggage pick-up service , Pick-up service offered for visitors . Environmental aspects: Environmentally friendly building materials used , Non-use of polluting substances during garden maintenance / agricultural activities , Bio-degradable cleaning products used , Organic food used/offered , Efficient energy use , Efficient water use . Cultural aspects: Strict architectural rules , Typical-regional architectural style respected , Celebration / stimulation of local cultural traditions , Regional dishes prepared , Garden with traditional and native species , Breeding of regional animal races , Responsible tourism with Indigenous people . Social economic aspects: Financial contribution to local development , Use as much as possible of local services , Stimulate buying of local products , Use or offer local food products , Employment of local population , Employment of local guides . Education and information: Guiding services with attention for sustainability aspects , Environmental, nature, and local cultural education activities for visitors .

Our org is seeking partners to incorperate .