Ad-Hoc Impact Camp

Posted by dominik on May 10, 2011 in ad hoc camps, blog | 2 comments

This is the second in a series of posts about a new activism event format we think about a lot these days. We call it “Ad-Hoc Impact Camp”. In the last post “in search for impact” I have collected some background info about why we think a format like this is needed. This post will be about the format itself, what will be needed for its realization and the next steps ahead of us and everybody who wants to get involved in this endeveaur as this is surely something that  only can be approached by a diverse and engaged network.

The Ad-Hoc Impact Camp

The Ad-Hoc Impact Camp is a fast, open, participatory, inclusive format that frames “ad-hoc opportunity spaces” where people can collaboratively engage with a topic and create new solutions. Where they can meet in person, share time, knowledge, skills and experiences, build trusted relationships and collaboratively develop new solutions whenever a new problem of global scale is emerging.

We envision an Ad-Hoc Impact Camp as an unique space of freedom: The freedom to experiment, to think the unthinkable, do the “undoable” and to focus entirely on a chosen topic. It will take place offline and online at the same time to enable intensive face to face collaboration on the one hand and global feedback and input loops on the other hand, to tap into the collective intelligence and listen to as many people as possible.

Deriving from the above some cornerstones of an Ad-Hoc Impact Camp might be

• living and working together in one venue
• duration of at least 7 days to come from idea to first prototype
• fast iterations in sprints and parallel processes of collaborative groupwork (think of agile development like Scrum)
• close interaction with the network (documentation, discussion, voting, feedback, additional support, expert sourcing …)
• a mixture of sponsored and crowdfunded budget to enable the realization, testing and implementation of results

To realize such a camp it will be essential to use and “surf” network effects in the web shortly before the topic reaches mass media awareness. These network effects (= more and more people are talking, posting, liking aso stuff regarding the topic online –> leads to exponential spread of the information throughout the networks –> more awareness and attention for that topic at a certain time) will be helpful at various levels like reaching out to people that want to get involved or kickstarting crowdfunding, so …

… Let´s say it´s day x

There is a global topic emerging (like there was the financial crisis, wikileaks or the revolutions breaking loose in many Arabic countries these days), everybody is talking, writing and reading about and it is about to arrive in mass media. More and more people that know about the idea of the “Ad-Hoc Impact Camps” want to try to take action and don´t want to stop their activism after voting at some poll or sign a petition for or against sth again. To do so these “chaordinators” start to join forces to realize a first prototype and kick-off in a rapide parallel collaboration process. That means that because of time pressure (let´s assume we have 2-3 weeks preparation time before the topic will disappear out of most people´s minds) it will not be possible to use standard project management organisation where a small coreteam is controlling all tasks, next steps and milestones. Consequentially several small teams and individuals will have to start in parallel what could look a little bit like the following, quite colorful:

In addition to the concept of parallel processes in collaboration, when speed is essential and there is only little time for discussing the “right way” (nobody can know anyway at that time), I think for hitting the common goal of an Ad-Hoc Impact Camp the following will be crucial:

At the beginning people involved the most have to gain a common understanding of their expectations, motivations/ (hidden) agenda and goals. Therefore as much energy and time as necessary have to go into the “why” and the “what” while the “how” will unfold on the way powered by the experience of the people involved who´ll bring to the table the methods they have worked best with in the past.

Obligatory feedback & orientation loops we call “heartbeats” will be scheduled every couple of days to check if everything is on track, where changes have to be incorporated and where the most help is needed to remove identified obstacles.

What it takes to make the first Ad-Hoc Impact Camp a reality (besides your and my guts)

We would like to start with the development of a minimal set of common values that will be the basis of all action and that frames a possible Ad-Hoc Impact Camp. This is a work in progress so please feel free to add your thoughts here in the comments or directly at http://untilweseenewland.ietherpad.com/common-values where we collect ours.

Another next step will probably be the development of some kind of “action plan” that can spontaneously function as a commonly agreed on framework that will enable people to channel their collective will and action towards a common goal. Think the picture above in way more elaborated.

To sum it up …

… what we imagine is a global, agile, responsive solution force.
Whenever there´s a new pressuring topic emerging it gets activated by its members to:

• trigger and use network effects
• to connect
  • smart mind´s skills and knowledge
  • and ressources
• to tackle problems in a fast, open and sustainable way.

And Ad-Hoc Impact Camps might become its format where online meets offline activism to create working solutions.

As we really want to get this going we need you, your thoughts & feedback on the above. So if you know people you think we should talk with, if you know organisations who already do sth like the described or if you would like to get involved to further elaborate the sketch please get in touch! Comment here, mail us at hello[at]untilweseenewland[dot]com or when you´re in Berlin, simply drop by at our office at Blücherstr. 22 in Kreuzberg.