You've heard of some of these no doubt, or versions of them...
"The only way to recan a can of worms is to use a bigger can."
"Activity grows to fill the time available."
"Clutter grows to fill the available space."
A little while back I was having a professional declutter, and that has been moderately successful, but there's a new (to me) phenomenon that is posing an interesting question or two ...
The minute I declutter, other opportunities arise and new ideas pop into my head. This is good; I'm happy about it. But it means I need to find some way of dealing with the ideas. I'd like to do some of them, I'd like to share most if not all of them, I'd like someone else to do quite a few of them. I can blog them, and that might help. But what about the ones I want to do? How do I manage the new opportunities and ideas popping up with actually doing some of them?
Use a bigger can? That is find ways to do more. Possible. Delegate, find collaborators, time management, drop other stuff less important or interesting.
Reduce space/time? Putting the limits on can force some pretty tough decisions and help focus. Just see what happens when you need to survive a crisis! If only we could do to succeed what we can do to survive! (Not my own words, but I can't remember where I got them from - an Australian speaker I heard on tape once I think.)
Pass them on? That's part of the blogging thing I suppose. So that's what I plan to do. Blog them, talk to people about them, and be aware of which ones become things I want to do or be involved in myself.
Recent ideas, stream of consciousness style, and with no claims to originality - I'm sure it's all be thought of before ...
An oral/visual history project for all ages around an iconic or historic building, in two different cultures and/or countries. Example, here in the village we have a small building I've talked about over on francerant, and a great social context for it to work here. What would we discover if we were able to see this project alongside one in a disused rural or urban building in Wales, or Lesotho, or the lands of native North Americans? What about comparing it with a ceremonial place not a building? What about looking at the differences that technologies bring out in how the places and memories recreate themselves? Yellowed black and white photos, old artifacts, mobile phone photos, straight story-telling, sampling and music-making?
Photo (or other arts) project aimed at primary schools and/or after-school clubs. Exploring the social and physical environment.
Engaging young people to come to our rural village here and learn to rebuild the dry stone walls.
Review long-term past EU projects aimed at (one I know) women returners, (NOW for example). These projects are eveluated during and at the end of their funding. What do they look like ten years later? Fifteen years later? What, in retrospect made the most significant difference, what is the long-term impact?
Make marks in the local environment. The 'entry' to a village here marked by some collaborative artistic endeavour - gate-posts, standing stone, sculpture. Seasonal renewable markers made of ephemeral material, that invites continuous renewal and creation? At schools or after school clubs. I like this idea of constant renewal and creation, using ephemeral materials.
Blogging, wikis, low-cost ICT around the globe. What archaic structures rule our lives, intervene in ways that create barriers not steps to learning or services or progress? How can these things bypass the power-hungry gatekeepers? What are the implications for higher education? For government and local government? What would a truly distributed local/global higher education 'thing' (community/society/whatever) look like? If universities aren't delivering students what they or their potential employers need, how else can it be done? Without massive, inflexible organisations with significantly redundant capacity?
That's it for now, I feel a France Rant coming on. Anything interest you? Have a word ...
