Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Two geographies

I have been working on a funding proposal for about a year now to study the two geographies, real and virtual, that many project teams find themselves involved in. The research project includes two other important elements: a focus on the early creative stages of collaboration between people, and a desire to apply (at least) two different sociology methodologies to 'cross-reference' the findings. The individuals I have been planning to study are engineers and scientists involved in space exploration projects. This may change, because the research questions are not exclusive to these people. A priority for this next couple of weeks is to finish the remaining section on the draft proposal as it stands. Immediately thereafter I want to take a step back and re-examine the whole proposal from its starting point, and see if I end up somewhere different.

My desire to review the whole thing has been creeping up on me since the links to the American elements of the project have convincingly fizzled out over the course of the year. The European links were always more tenuous, and that hasn't got any worse, but no better either. So I have to look around for other social contexts to pose my questions in. Perhaps more importantly though, the time that has passed while I have been working on other things has been an opportunity for another realisation to emerge into view. This realisation has come into focus over the last couple of months and is that the 'two geographies' question is very much a personal question as I try to live in one place and work in another.

I moved to rural France about two and half years ago for mostly personal reasons. Things like quality of life for me and my small but perfectly formed family. Not just environmental things, but social things too, at a community level not a state level. That has been an unqualified success I would say. But one of the reasons that these environmental and social conditions still exist here is the relatively low level of economic development here. Which means work is scarce. And work I'd like to do, being pretty choosy, is even more scarce.

We anticipated this, and the plan was very much built around me travelling to the UK and US as part of a working life that included working at a distance from here by phone and web. And even that has worked out too, pretty much.

But there are many thoughts and feelings that emerge from this duality in my lifestyle. It feels rather disjointed at times. Images such as mixing oil and water, trying to fit two incompatible shapes together. When I'm here I'm looking there, when I'm there I'm looking here.

One of the plans we had when we moved here was for me to develop my professional work in a way that was aligned with the life we are living here. Specifically to create a place firmly rooted in the social and physical environment here, dedicated to offering people a complete creative 'problem-solving' experience. The elements here are: a beautiful, peaceful, engaging place to spend time; clean, fresh, organic local food; relaxation therapies including massage and reflexology; and supported creative space, play space, and stimulation to look at things differently and create futures. These elements can serve individuals and professional teams equally well.

For both personal and professional visitors, we wanted to develop relationships for longer than a single visit here. Even if they only ever visit once, we wanted to engage with people before they come and follow that up once they've been. To meet people half way between this world and theirs, to better understand and adapt what we offer to their lives and desires.

Writing this now, I'm still convinced this is a great idea, and realise that some aspects of the past year have been moving us towards it without me being aware of it. One key aspect is the realisation that although other apparently similar examples exist, what we plan to do IS different.

As I reflected a couple of days ago, last year didn't turn out as expected, but in a way it did. In the most important way - that the big picture is still valid, and that the details matter less. So now I will be focusing on the big picture again, and aligning the fundamental elements; the details will take care of themselves, as they always have...

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