ABOUT

INTRODUCTION: The concept of an eCROWD network is entirely speculative and one that arises out of conversations between a group of individuals based in Tasmania, and primarily in the Tamar Region, linked to, and/or working within, various institutions and networks. The 'vision' for the‘network of networks concept’ is a work-in-progress and the inputs of all interested people are welcomed.

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It has been envisaged that Tasmania is well placed to put together community not-for-profit enterprises  of various kinds - or network of enterprises/organisations/institutions – that are designed to service communities of various kinds to better enable them to deliver on their aspirations and cooperatively. Crowd Funding will be an important element  in project development strategies. 

Furthermore, it is envisaged that current regional groups/organisations/institutions may be better placed to deliver more relevant outcomes – fiscal, social & cultural dividends – in a 21st C context if they were to work more collaboratively/cooperatively towards mutual benefits that have a community cum regional focus.

It is envisaged that eCROWD Tasmania will focus on the publication and decimation of information and cultural production in the broadest context – nonetheless somewhat regionally focused in its content. As a consequence of this it is likely that working towards the realisation of a broad range of projects in its broadest context will be the concern for the eCROWD Tasmania network. 

To join or access the network please:

•   use the comments facility on this site below; or

•   email Convenor@ecrowdtasmania.net

PURPOSE FOR BEING

eCROWD Tasmania was established as an informal community oriented network of networks structured to facilitate the development of, and the advocacy of, new understandings of project funding opportunities across a broad spectrum of cultural, environmental and community development projects.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Given that in a broad context scientific, social and cultural discourses can be variously seen as being at the interface between technical innovation, cultural production and social aspirations  – science, technology and industry in other contexts – these activities often find themselves at the cutting edge of social development and cultural change. Against this background a set of  goals and objectives for eCROWD Tasmania are as follows:

1.  To engage regional communities, researchers and its cultural producers in a critical discourse that explores the possibilities and parameters of the interfacing concepts that define and determine cultural production, sustainable living and community development in a real world 21st C context while delivering fiscal, social and cultural dividends;

2.  To be an advocate for, and facilitator for, innovative and sustainable outcomes within Tasmanian regional economies, social  networks and cultural producers – and especially so in relation to current technologies, social structures and cultural practises;

3. To operate in collaboration, cooperation and alliance with like-minded individuals, institutions and groups and where appropriate under the auspices of one or more established project groups that have symbiotic sets of goals and objectives;

4.  To investigate the ways in which social and cultural realities in a regional context interface with current technologies, social structures and cultural production – local and international – and the broad spectrum of research can;

   •  relate to changing, and new, understandings of economies in an eco-context; and   • shape and/or reshape funding opportunities in a 21st Century context;

5.  To be proactive in the initiation of projects that engage researchers, innovators and cultural producers – writers, design practitioners et al – with the wider community towards developing new projects that have currency in a 21st Century  context;

6. To facilitate the development of, and the facilitation of, new interactive networks towards the promotion of new/pioneering projects that engage with current technologies, innovative social structures, sustainable enterprise outcomes and/or community cultural enterprises informed by current regional circumstances;

7.  To be proactive in the publication of, the facilitation of and dissemination of the outcomes of individual, cooperative and collaborative research and cooperative community enterprises relevant to eCROWD Tasmania's raison d’être;

8.   To seek funding and in-kind support for cultural production, community development and scholarship in a broad context plus funding for conferences, symposiums, seminars and education programs that advance the region's community development and that will be of benefit to a broad spectrum of regionally based entrepreneurial activity.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Against the background of a world that is in the throes of dynamic socio-political change driven by the evolution of innovative technologies and the spectre of environmental degradation, an entity such as eCROWD Tasmania should focus upon and be mindful of:

1.  A need to embrace change while being engaged with scholarship and cultural producers of all kinds, and the wider community, in a critical discourse that explores the possibilities and parameters of shifting sensitivities, sensibilities and belief systems in the context of  new technologies and changing ecologies in a real world 21st C context.

2.  Albeit that the Tasmania is not at a point that might be described as a post-consumerist paradigm, plausibly the region is on the cusp of it and thus there is a need to advocate for innovative and sustainable solutions that would fit such a circumstance.

3.  Given the nature of, and the complexity of, the issues that are encompassed by the linked concepts of ‘sustainability’ and ‘cultural change’, the most likely path to relevant outcomes are collaborative. Furthermore, there are already enough organisations/institutions/networks in place that are able make a contribution to the‘problem solving’ and with the capacity to engage with groups in the wider community. Given this, it is counterproductive to attempt to create yet another formal organisation. Rather, it would seem to be both more productive, and more likely that, like minded individuals, institutions and groups that have symbiotic sets of goals and objectives will be better placed to develop appropriate solutions – unlikely solutions even – than an individual or a special purpose group working in isolation and competitively or being insulated from others working toward similar goals.

4.  Against a background where it is envisaged that there is unsustainable competition for resources, there is a need to investigate new and/or innovative ways in which service provision, production networks and social change – and indeed cultural production – can contribute to better (new?) understandings of what‘cultural development', 'sustainability’ and ‘ecological realities’ might entail. Indeed, what is at risk, given the realisation that community resources are finite, and the opportunities to adapt to change are diminishing exponentially, is the imperative to maintain a community's social and cultural well being.

5. Many of our mainstream institutions/organisations have been established within a different paradigm to the one of dynamic change that that is currently unfolding. Consequently, these 'bodies' may well have a great deal more invested in holding their position – maintaining the status quo – than they may in adapting to change let alone not being predisposed to being ‘change agents’. Speculatively at least, and in a 21st C context, there is a need to be proactive and innovative in developing new understandings of the concepts of what an innovative and sustainable community might look like. What is understood to constitute relevant scholarship, viable production networks and relevant cultural production in the context of current, and emerging, cultural and social realities is best determined locally rather than from elsewhere.

6.   In the 21st Century it is clear that the status quo is no longer an ongoing and sustainable option. As was the case in the context of the Industrial Revolution where the concept of the ‘division of labour’ came to the fore and that later evolved into business concepts such as ‘vertical integration’   the facilitation of new interactive networks and technologies promise to deliver outcomes that may otherwise be unrealisable. Furthermore, as time passes new information technologies deliver new networking and project funding opportunities – social networks, cultural networking, financial networks etc. – towards realising sustainable outcomes within the diversity of research efforts, production supply chains and current cultural production in both a regional and‘global’ context.

7.  The key element in the effective dissemination of ideas is their publication. Until relatively recently ‘publishers’, and bureaucracies, were the gatekeepers that helped keep the control that was exercised over the flow of information and its distribution – and at times the propagation of ideas. The interfaces between the information economy and the digital economy allow individuals, groups and institutions to be autonomous and proactive in the publication of ideas – thus circumventing the gatekeepers. Importantly, publication can take a greater range of interfacing formats – print media, electronic media, digital media, exhibitions and dynamic interfaces between them – that can be initiated autonomously in ways that are not constrained by external gatekeepers. This is important in regard to generating critical discourses around contested and contentious ideas. In the 21st Century the saying ”publish or perish” has a new resonance albeit somewhat removed from exclusivity of academe’s cloisters.

8. Notwithstanding the notion that a social cum cultural network of the kind promoted here seeks to collaborate with kindred established organisations and institutions, it needs to be acknowledged that it will be making demands, unplanned for demands, on their budgets, infrastructure and other resources. Consequently, there will be a need to seek funding and sponsorship support for the projects initiated as a part of these collaborations. Given that there are mutual benefits to the collaborators, and very often the sponsors as well, it can be assumed, and with some safety, that funding agencies and sponsors who see advantages in supporting one collaborator will also see enhanced opportunities in supporting collaborative projects.

STRATEGIES

The background and guiding principles against which eCROWD Tasmania has been framed, it is anticipated that its goals and objectives can be realised as follows:

1. Capitalising upon various established networks’ memberships and other relationships relevant to potential key participating collaborators, assist in the development projects and programs – cultural production, research, advocacy and other – that engage with a diversity of community social networks. In doing so, establish a ‘corporate entity/identity’ of some kind that will enable the entity to pursue via;

   •   a network of activists and producers – DOERS;

   •   a network of advisors and facilitators  – MENTORS;

   •   the facilitation of innovative projects relevant to the region;

   •   the advocacy for production and service networks and current cultural production in a real world 21st Century context.

2.  It is envisaged that via various means eCROWD Tasmania – albeit that it may be a somewhat abstract entity – will facilitate the initiation and marketing of speculative projects and programs under the aegis of networked groups/organisations/institutions that advocate innovative and sustainable outcomes within the context of 21st C  technologies, social networks and cultural production.

3.   Establish a coalition of collaborative project teams and networks under the auspices of one or more established groups/organisations/institutions that have symbiotic sets of goals and objectives to those of eCROWD Tasmania. By doing so, the coalition, and the teams/networks collectively, will be better placed to investigate the ways in which social and scientific research, cultural production and technology can contribute to changing imperatives and understandings within 21st Century cultural, social and economic realities in a regional context.

4.  Using the eCROWD Tasmania's evolving network linkages, it is anticipated that it will be possible to initiate various projects devised to engage a diverse network of community based producers, service providers, researchers and cultural producers with each other. Consistent with this, and using the networked resources of community based researchers, the diversity and cultural producers as well as the network’s infrastructure – display spaces, sales outlets, offices, meeting places, etc. – new, and dynamically interactive,  projects and programs will be more feasible than otherwise may be possible.

5.  Assist in the application for, and the search for, funding in collaboration with network members for infrastructure and facilities within the eCROWD network that enhances or complements existing infrastructures and that enables the development of projects and programs in support of the eCROWD raison d’être. Likewise, where appropriate, seek funding and sponsorships – cash and in-kind – for new infrastructure initiatives in collaboration/cooperation with a network member.

6. Establish a publication network – hardcopy, electronic and digital – for the publication of the outcomes of individual, cooperative and collaborative projects relevant to the eCROWD raison d’être. Primarily publications will be directed towards disseminating information about, and the outcomes of, projects, conferences, symposiums and seminars that advance the DOERS linked to eCROWD.

7.  Establish a curated virtual research collection and library network facilitated by a website that identifies objects in public and private collections, and/or in daily use in public and private situations, that demonstrate the regional cultural and social realities and histories – plus the interfaces between the sustainability concept and current design practices.

8.   Facilitate the awarding of scholarships, residencies and fellowships that advance the study of regionally relevant issues and/or research focused upon topics of regional significance. These opportunities will be facilitated via the institute's network and ideally complemented by funding opportunities from other sources – private, corporate, institutional, national,  international.